#listen i know we’re all upset about other parts of this episode | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

crystalninjaphoenix · 9 months ago

Text

Caverns & Creatures - Part One

Paranormal Preteens AU: Episode Twenty-Two

A JSE Fanfic

Before things start getting serious in this AU, let's have a fun adventure! One where I get to be a real nerd XD Much like a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, this adventure got longer than expected, so I had to split it in two. Jackie decides to teach the five younger kids how to play the tabletop game Caverns and Creatures. But Anti is upset that he got left out, and things go crazy from there. Hope I made this fun for people who don't know anything about DnD XD Enjoy! :D

More of this AU | From the Start | Read on AO3 at CrystalNinjaPhoenix

++++++++++++++++++++

“What do you mean it showed up again?!” Chase shouted.

“Shhh!” Marvin hushed him, then glanced around nervously. The cafeteria was always loud and crowded, but there was always a chance that some of the teachers might overhear—especially those who were part of the Circle, and who might be listening in intentionally. “Not so loud.”

“Sorry,” Chase said. “But it’s—it’s just freaky, right?”

“Is that doll with you right now?”

JJ nodded slowly. He opened up his bag, and slowly took out that same plush doll, now wearing a miniature version of their school uniform.

“It changed clothes again,” Marvin muttered, shuddering. “It really is mimicking you.”

JJ hurriedly put it back in his bag. I didn’t put it in my bookbag, but when I checked on it before coming to the cafeteria, it was there, he said.

“Omg,” Stacy gasped. “You’re right, Chase, that is really freaky.”

Chase nodded. “But, uh... what do we do?”

“I don’t know, that’s why we’re asking you!” Marvin insisted. “When it showed up in our room again, we were completely lost.”

“You threw it out the window, yes?” Schneep said. “Did that... do anything? To the doll, or to Jameson?”

The doll is fine, JJ said. As for me... I don’t know. I seem fine. But I don’t think a fall from our window would really hurt, you know? So it’s hard to tell.

“Hmm.” Schneep frowned. “I still do not think we can do much... if we cannot tell that JJ will be safe, it is not worth the risk.”

“Maybe Marvin can pull the greenlight out of the doll?” Chase suggested. “Like he could with the paperpillar?”

Marvin paused. Then he turned to JJ. “Hand it to me.” JJ nodded and took the doll out again, handing it over to him. Marvin screwed his eyes shut, concentrating. Then he shook his head. “I don’t... I don’t know. It’s hard for me to, uh... grab it? It’s like... slippery. If that makes sense.” He handed it back to JJ.

“We can ask Jackie about it,” Stacy said. “Are we, uh, still gonna do that thing on Saturday?”

“Yeah... the thing.” Chase nodded. “We’re gonna do that.”

“You can just say we’re playing Cavern and Creatures, y’know,” Marvin said. “There’s no reason to be scared of it.”

“Well I mean... y’know, I...” Chase stammered. “I have a... Um, that’s like... M-maybe some other time. I mean, I don’t even know if I’ll like the game.”

The group had agreed to meet at Jackie’s house on Saturday around two to try out a game of Caverns and Creatures. This would give Jackie enough time to borrow stuff for the game from his friend Ram, give the others time to think about what sort of characters they wanted to make, and also, conveniently, Stacy’s parents were attending a piano recital for her sister Roxy, and with enough pleading she’d managed to convince them to let Jackie “babysit” her instead of dragging her to the recital as well.

“I’m sure it will be fun, Chase,” Schneep said. “After all, we are doing it together. If you are not enjoying the game, at least you will enjoy us, right?”

Chase laughed. “Yeah. That sounds so cheesy but yeah.”

JJ smiled nervously. I’m excited too. I just... hope nothing happens before then.

Chase hesitated. “I-it’ll be fine, JJ,” he said. “Cheer up.”

JJ’s expression brightened. Alright, I’ll look forward to it.

“I’m sure nothing will happen,” Marvin said, hiding his uncertainty. “We’ll just keep a close eye on the doll in the meantime.”

It will be fine, JJ agreed. It will be fine.

++++++++++++++++++++

“That doesn’t sound fine,” Jackie said.

The next couple days had passed without incident, and now the group was gathered in the living room of Jackie’s house. The doll had once again followed JJ, tagging along in his bag even when he left it home. And it was once again wearing a miniature version of his clothes: today, a button-up yellow shirt and brown pants.

“Well, no, but at least nothing bad’s gone on!” Marvin said.

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean it’s fine,” Jackie insisted. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? You have my phone number.”

JJ shrugged and didn’t answer, putting the doll back in his bag.

“D’you have any ideas, Jackie?” Chase asked, looking up to him.

Jackie sighed. “I dunno, little man. If Marvin can’t pull the greenlight out of it, I just don’t know. I don’t want to risk hurting JJ by destroying it. I mean... it might not work that way, but if it does... I-I guess we just wait and see? If it turns out that it’s hurting JJ more by keeping it around, we’ll try ways to get rid of it.” He paused. “Maybe we could try getting it far away and that teleporting things will stop? But how far away?”

Schneep sighed. “This is a problem.”

“What’s a problem?” Mr. Mann walked into the living room, overhearing Schneep’s last statement.

“Just some school stuff, Dad,” Jackie lied. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it all sorted out.”

“Helping them with their homework?” Mr. Mann chuckled. “I thought you all were going to play a game.”

“We are! This was just, uh, small talk and stuff.”

“Alright, alright. Head on down to the basement whenever you want. If you guys need anything, just shout. And uh, try not to touch my camping supplies, okay?”

“We won’t, Mr. Mann,” Stacy promised.

“We’re going to the basement?” Marvin asked.

“Yep.” Jackie nodded. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”

Jackie led the way. There was a plain wooden door in the middle of the hallway, completely undecorated. He opened it up—giving it a good tug, seemed like it got a bit stuck in the frame—and flicked on a light switch, showing a set of stairs leading downwards, covered in shaggy brown carpet. The group headed down into a hallway, the walls painted a pale yellow. There was a door to the left, ajar, showing a laundry room of some kind. There was also a door to the right. Jackie opened that one up, turning on the light in there as well, and everyone piled in.

Right by the doorway was a bookshelf full of stuff: old board games and boxes for puzzles. Up against the opposite wall, underneath a high-up window, were a series of stacked plastic boxes full of what looked like old clothes. Outdoorsy equipment was stacked in the corners of the room. There’s a desk up against a spot by the wall, with two clunky computers on it. “I set things up already,” Jackie said, indicating the center of the room, where two folding card tables were pressed against each other, forming an island of sorts with some folding chairs around it.

The kids immediately crowded around. A lot of paper covered the surface of the tables. Most of it was a big folding map, sort of like a board for a board game, with a grid pattern overlaid on top of the drawings. At one end of the table was a folding screen of some kind, blocking off a section of the table from view. And in the middle of the island was a shoebox full of dice.

“Whooooa, wait, what?” Marvin reached into a box and picked up a handful of dice. “These are so pretty!”

Jackie laughed. “They better be—I spent a lot on them. But some of them are Ram’s, so try not to lose any. I-I wanted you all to have your own set.”

“Weird shapes,” Chase muttered, picking up one that looked like a pyramid.

“Yep. You’ll mostly be using this one, though.” Jackie grabbed one, holding it in two fingers. “The d20, as it’s called. Here, everyone sit down, I put a character sheet at each place.”

Everyone took their places. Jackie sat at the head of the table, behind the screen. Chase took the seat to his right, and Schneep sat on Chase’s other side. Stacy sat across from Chase, and JJ next to her, leaving Marvin at the other end of the table, bouncing in the chair excitedly.

“Okay, I texted you all a list of possible stuff your character can be, but it might not have been that clear,” Jackie said. “So, um... any questions?”

Stacy raised her hand—like she was in class. “Can I be a vampire?”

Jackie blinked. “Um—”

Chase burst into laughter.

“What’s so funny?!” Stacy said defensively.

“I just—wasn’t expecting that from you!” Chase said, smiling. “It’s kinda fun.”

“Vampires are cool. Are there vampires in Caverns and Creatures?”

“Yeah, there are, but uh... I don’t know if you can play as them.” Jackie picked up a book—looking like a thin textbook—and started flipping through it. “But, uh, if you really want, I can try to... adjust the monster stat block for you? You know you’ll have to be careful of sunlight, right?”

“I can have an umbrella or something,” Stacy said.

What’s the difference between a warrior and a knight? JJ asked.

“Well, a knight is more built around armor and defense, and a warrior is varied,” Jackie said. “And then there’s the martial artist if you want to be fast, the berserker if you want to be strong, and the rogue if you want to be sneaky.”

“That one!” Stacy raised her hand again. “I want to be sneaky. If I stay in the shadows, I can be a vampire.”

Jackie laughed. “That does make sense. Okay, give me a minute, Stacy, I’m gonna have to mess with some stuff for you.” He picked up a pencil and piece of paper and started to write. “Are the rest of you guys sorted?”

“I bet Marvin’s gonna be a witch,” Chase laughed.

“There’s no witch, actually,” Marvin said. “But there are lots of magic ones! Sorcerers, enchanters, wizards, pact-sworns... I like sorcerers best, I think, cause it’s like... the magic is part of you, you know? But wizards do have more spell options, hmm...”

“Can I be one of the bird people?” Schneep asked tentatively. “With the wings? Or will that make things too hard, Jackie?”

“Why would it make things hard?” Jackie asked.

“Well... flying could mean I could fly over things.”

“You do what’s fun to you,” Jackie said, looking up at him and smiling over the screen. “I can work with whatever.”

Schneep nodded slowly. “I, uh... I want to do that. And I want to be a potion master, too.”

“Nice! Underrated class, if you ask me. Your potions work the same as spell slots, you’ll have a limited number of them and during a long rest we can assume you spend some time replacing them.”

Chase shook his head. “The spell slots thing confuses me.”

“Then don’t pick a class that uses them,” Jackie said.

“I’m not gonna. I want to be a hunter. With the bow and stuff.” Chase pantomimed drawing back a bow and arrow. “It’s kinda like my Nerf gun.”

“Alright.” Jackie nodded. “You did seem interested in that when I texted you. JJ? Got an idea for what you want?”

JJ blinked. He looked a bit embarrassed. Don’t laugh.

“None of us are gonna laugh, JJ,” Chase said.

I... want to be a berserker, JJ said, signs small.

“Huh?” Stacy looked surprised. “That doesn’t really seem like you.”

Exactly. I think it’ll be fun to play someone different than me. And I want to hit things.

Jackie grinned. “That’s totally great, Jays. Hitting things is pretty fun in C&C. And Marvin? You decided?”

Marvin had been looking over a handout from Jackie this whole time, listing out the basic differences between the different magic classes. “Uhhh... yeah, I’ll be a sorcerer. A fiend sorcerer.”

Oh! And I’ll be an elf, I forgot to mention that, JJ added.

“Awesome. We don’t get a lot of elf berserkers, that’s not a usual combination.”

Chase frowned. “I just want to be human. Is that boring?”

“Nothing’s boring if it’s fun for you guys,” Jackie assured him. “Really. I usually play a human warrior, that’s about as basic as it gets.” He chuckled. “Okay. Stacy, I think I got some stuff sorted out. With that, I’ll help you guys fill out the sheets. Take these dice, we’re going to roll for your stats. JJ, you’ll want your highest one to be strength, Stacy and Chase, yours should be agility, Marvin, focus on charm, and Schneep, focus on intelligence.”

Some time passed as Jackie helped the kids figure out all their stats and abilities. Marvin and Schneep took the longest, as he had to guide them through what possible spells and potions they wanted to use. Soon, though, they each had the whole sheet filled out.

“That took a while,” Chase said, looking at a clock on the wall. “Like... an hour. And that’s just getting ready?”

“This isn’t normally how it works out,” Jackie said. “But you guys are new. Once you learn more this becomes easier. And there’s also five of you at once.”

“Okay, so what are we playing, then?” Marvin asked excitedly. “What’s our quest?”

“I’m using a one-shot campaign from a kit,” Jackie said, picking up a booklet and showing the others. “Secrets of Suilara. It shouldn’t take too long... but if it does, we can come back to it some other day easily enough.”

Schneep reached into his backpack and pulls out a small notebook and pencil, writing something down. “How do you spell that? Sool...arr...uh?”

“Here, the lid of the box has the name.” Jackie handed it over to him.

“What’re you doing?” Chase asked.

“Taking notes. If we might come back to this later, we need to be sure we don’t forget.”

“Oh that’s a great idea!” Stacy gasped. “I should’ve brought my notebook.”

Jackie laughed. “Alright, everyone put your pieces on the board.” He’d mentioned that they didn’t have miniatures earlier, so everyone had grabbed parts from the board games on the shelves. “Before we get started, we should get snacks. C&C takes a surprising amount of energy.” He stood up. “I’ll go get some. Any requests?”

“D’you have Lassie Trail Mix?” Stacy asked. “My family is very specific about the sort of stuff we can eat and that’s my favorite.”

“I’ll go look,” Jackie promised. “Anything else for anyone?”

“Crisps?” Chase said.

“D’you have pretzels?” Marvin asked.

“Definitely crisps, not sure about pretzels,” Jackie said. “My dad’s probably gonna suggest fruit or something, too.” He stood up. “I’ll be right back. You guys talk about your characters and stuff in the meantime. How they know each other, if they know each other, stuff like that.” He waved at the others and headed out of the room. They could hear him head up the stairs.

“Well... this is going to be fun!” Schneep said cheerfully.

“You guys think so?” Chase asked.

JJ nodded. I’m sure it will be.

The lights overhead flickered. “You guys are having fun without me?”

All at once, the kids turned to look at the corner of the room... the corner where Anti was now standing, shadowy as ever.

“What the fuck?!” Marvin gasped. He whirled towards the doorway. “Jackie!”

“No no no no.” Anti disappeared and reappeared in front of the door, which slammed shut on its own behind him. “Don’t be like that! I can’t believe you all are playing a game without me!”

“Why wouldn’t we be playing a game without you?” Chase demanded. “We don’t really know you!”

Anti blinked. “But—but—you can’t do that without me!”

“Oh fuck off!” Marvin snapped.

“You eff off!” Anti shouted back. He suddenly appeared next to the table, right between Marvin and Schneep. “I heard alllll your explanations. I can play! In fact, I can make it even better.”

Stacy stared at him. “...what do you mean?” She asked, trepidation in her voice.

Anti reached out to the side, and something appeared in his hand. He threw it out onto the table. Seven crystals, irregularly shaped—not like the dice, but clearly meant to serve the same purpose. They landed around the edges of the board and immediately started glowing green.

JJ got to his feet. Marvin shouted “What the fuck?!” Stacy turned towards the doorway.

But before any of them could do anything more than that, the green glow flared, filling the room and blinding them all. When it faded, all of them were gone. And the board was glowing green. Anti leaned over it. The whole thing had become a window, looking down at a forest floor. Anti grinned.

The door to the room opened again, and Jackie poked his head in. “Hey guys, do you want potato or corn cr—” He stopped, eyes going wide. “Wh-what?”

“Hi!” Anti smiled at him, waving.

“What’s going on?! Wh-what did you do to the others?!” Jackie demanded, feeling frozen in place.

“They’re in here!” Anti pointed at the window-like board.

Jackie rushed over, peering down into the window...

++++++++++++++++++++

Chase opened his eyes, and found himself no longer in Jackie’s basement room, but now in a forest. Gentle dappled sunlight coated the forest floor, and bright green moss covered the trunks of the trees. He looked around, confused. Then he looked down at himself, even more confused. His clothes were different. He still had the cap he was wearing, but everything else was different. What sort of costume was this? Dark browns and greens, thick leather armor, and... was that a real knife on his belt? And a real quiver full of arrows?

“What the fuck?”

Chase turned towards the voice and yelped. “Marvin, is that you?!”

“Huh? Yeah.” Marvin blinked at him. His head dipped a little, weighted down by the heavy horns that were now growing out of his head. “Whoa.” He reached up, feeling them. His eyes went wide. “Wait a—wait a minute!” His outfit had changed as well. His cape was still in place, but now he was wearing a pale purple tunic lined with gold. “Do I have—why do I have fucking horns?!”

“Help!” Schneep was lying on his back nearby, trying to get up. He was also wearing a tunic, though his was white and blue, and he had leather armor like Chase’s on over it.

“Oh, yeah, o-of course.” Chase hurried over and helped him up. It was more difficult than expected... because Schneep was not, as Chase first thought, lying on a pile of feathers. He instead had a pair of wings sprouting from his back, in shades of brown and creamy white. “...Schneep?! Are you an angel?!”

“Ah... thank you, Chase?” Schneep said, confused.

“You have fucking wings!” Marvin pointed and shouted.

“What?!”

“Uh... guys?” The voice came from above them that time. They all looked up into the trees, and saw Stacy there, looking white as a sheet—and not from shock. Her glasses were still in place, but her outfit had been replaced by another medieval-style outfit. This one was pink with black frills, and black leather armor. A belt around her chest had three sheathed knives. “H-how do I get down?”

“...climb down?” Chase suggested.

“Thanks, that’s very helpful.”

“Where’s JJ?” Marvin looked around. “Where is he?!”

A whistle came from behind a tree trunk. JJ peered around it, then came out and walked over. He was wearing some sort of loose short-sleeved red shirt with a cape made of some sort of fur pelt. His ears had become pointed at the top. And there was a giant freaking weapon strapped to his back. Is that... a flail? JJ had chosen that as his weapon for his character in Caverns and Creatures—oh.

“Are we in the game?!” Chase gasped.

Part of the sky above them seemed to open up, a green glowing circle forming. In the middle of it: Jackie’s worried face. “Guys?! Are you okay?!”

“We’re fine, Jackie!” Schneep shouted, looking up at it. “Are you okay?!”

Jackie laughed. “I-I’m fine! But Anti—”

Anti’s face suddenly appeared, shoving Jackie’s to the side. “C’mon c’mon! Go go go! Where are all the monsters? There’s supposed to be monsters!”

“You put us in the fucking game?!” Marvin shouted. “What is this?! I-is this some sort of weird pocket dimension?!”

“I dunno. I just made it happen.”

How do we get out of here?! JJ asked.

“Yeah, how do we get out of here?!”

“I-I don’t know!” Jackie shouted. “Um—Anti, how do they get out?!” he asked, desperately looking over at him.

“They finish the game, duh.”

“Do you even know how the game ends?!” Jackie asked.

Anti stared at him, blinking.

Jackie sighed, frustrated. “Okay. Looks like I’ll have to CM you guys out of there, then.” He briefly disappeared from sight. The others could hear the sound of him flipping through the book.

“Seriously, how do I get out of this tree?” Stacy asked.

“Just... try climbing down? I-I don’t know how to explain it,” Chase said.

“Okay, okay. Fine.” Stacy stared down at the ground, thinking. Then she pushed herself off the branch—

A series of numbers appeared next to her, pink and mist-like, flipping like they were on a rolling counter. It landed on 02, and then a +5 appeared next to it, bumping the number up to 07. Stacy immediately fell on her face. “Oof!”

“Holy shit!” Marvin gasped. JJ winced.

The guys immediately rushed over to her.

“A-are you okay?!” Chase asked.

“Owww.” Stacy got to her feet. Another number appeared above her head. 10... which then rolled down to a 09.

“Uh... I think you just failed your agility saving throw,” Jackie said. “And you lost a health point because of that.”

Is that just going to happen whenever we try to do anything? JJ said, eyes wide.

“Probably,” Jackie said. “Okay, uh... we’re playing Secrets of Suilara. There’s this opening paragraph of exposition, I-I think you guys need to hear this so you can understand what the hell is going on right now. So, you guys were hired by Dalrun the dwarf to carry a satchel of precious gems to the city of Suilara, through the Kanrrol Forest. One of you should have that.”

“I think I do?” Marvin said, pushing back his cape. He did indeed have a leather satchel on his back.

“Okay, good. I don’t remember, who has the highest navigation skill? Probably Chase, right?”

“I think mine was really high, yeah.” Chase nodded. “I, uh... filled in the little dot next to it. That means I’m really good at it. So... I’ll lead the way, then?”

“Exactly,” Jackie said.

“Alright, uh...” Chase looked around. A set of yellow misty numbers appeared next to his head, rolling, and landing on a 15, and then a +3 made it into an 18. Suddenly, Chase saw it. The way the grass and undergrowth was trampled down, creating a winding trail through the forest. “This way. Let’s go.”

They walked for a while. Stacy found out that the staff strapped to her back was actually an umbrella, which turned out to be needed as the bits of sunlight coming through the trees burned her as she passed by. “I didn’t think I’d actually be a vampire,” she muttered. “Or I would’ve chosen something else.”

Meanwhile, Marvin started immediately trying out magic. He was able to conjure up sparkles, make the smell of freshly-cut grass, and cause a rock he picked up to start glowing. He seemed absolutely delighted by all this, grinning the whole way. Schneep was similarly delighted by all his potions, small glass bottles in various shapes, filled with brightly-colored liquids, all strapped to the belts he had around his waist and chest.

“This is boooring!” Anti suddenly said, chiming in through the window of the sky.

“Well this is how the game goes,” Jackie said, glaring at him.

“No, it’s not! It’s supposed to be more exciting!” Anti leaned forward. “Suddenly—monsters! They appear from the shadows and attack!”

Chase looked up at the window in the sky. “You can’t just make stuff happen by yelling—”

But then growls come from the trees around them.

The group stopped walking all at once. Yellow eyes glowed in the shadows, and five creatures slowly stepped forward. Blue lizard-like creatures, as big as wolves, with clear insectile wings sprouting from their backs. “Are these dragons?!” Stacy said, her voice squeaking.

“Oh shit!” Jackie gasped. “Th-those are fly-dragons! You’re supposed to find them later in the game, if you come back into the forest to find the—okay, um—h-hang on, let me find their stats—”

Numbers appeared over each of the fly-dragons’ heads, rolling through until they landed on different amounts. 09, 04, 13, 15, 18. Then the same thing happened with the kids—Chase: 12, Schneep: 07, Marvin: 17, JJ: 16, and Stacy: 10. “What’s that?” Marvin asked. “Oh! Wait, that’s the turn order, righ—”

One of the fly-dragons lunged forward, teeth snapping. More numbers rolled by its head, landing on a 09 that was deflected as a 17 appeared in front of JJ. The fly-dragon bit onto JJ’s arm but JJ managed to pull it out, and looked down at his unharmed skin in surprise.

“What’s the turn order, again?” Chase asked.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like,” Jackie explained. “You take turns doing things in combat. Looks like it’s Marvin’s turn next, he was the next highest.”

“Oooo.” Marvin grinned excitedly. He cupped his hands together, and a ball of fire formed in them. He threw it towards the fly-dragons. Numbers flew through the air, and the fireball exploded, knocking back three of the dragons. One of them stopped moving, while the other two got back up.

“Marvin, did you just use a fireball spell on these dragons?” Jackie asked.

“Yep, I think so!”

“That... was maybe a bit overkill.” Jackie shook his head. “Anyway, who’s next?”

JJ raised his hand. What do I do?

“Uh... hit people with your big weapon???” Chase said.

Right. JJ reached over his shoulder and grabbed the flail. He adjusted his grip on it a couple times, looking nervous. Then he started to raise it, but lowered it again. Then he walked forward, slowly, towards one of the fly-dragons, which growled—

“Oh just fucking hit it JJ!” Marvin shouted.

JJ jumped in surprise and swung the flail. More numbers appeared in midair, made of blue mist, and they landed on 20—accompanied by a few sparkling fireworks. The spiky ball at the end of the flail hit the fly-dragon right in the face, the number 7 flying out from the impact—which then turned into a 14.

“Huh?! Why’d it turn into something else?” Stacy asked.

“I remember this actually!” Schneep said. “If you land a critical hit then you double the damage of an attack!”

“Ohh so those numbers are us rolling!” Chase nodded. “Good job, Jays!”

JJ blinked, then grinned, excited.

One of the fly-dragons roared and opened its mouth, a column of blue fire pouring out of its mouth and hitting Chase and Schneep. Chase yelped—but the fire didn’t actually hurt. It was very hot, but it didn’t hurt. A little number appeared next to his head: a 12 that rolled down to an 08. He saw more numbers appear next to Schneep: a light blue 09 that became a 05.

“Wait a second—that’s our health, isn’t it?!” Chase gasped. “What happens if it reaches zero?!”

“...oh no.” Jackie turned to stare at Anti. “What happens if their health reaches zero?”

Anti shrugged. “They lose.”

“Do they—”

Another one of the fly-dragons leaped forward, claws extended, and attacked Marvin. He yelped, going down, and a green number by his head went from 07 to 04.

“Shit!” Jackie cursed. “You weren’t supposed to fight the fly-dragons yet! You’re under-leveled, you don’t have enough health! Get out of there, guys!”

“Can we get out of here?!” Chase asked. “What if we’re locked into the level?!”

“This isn’t a video game, you can do whatever you want! And you should want to get out of there right now!”

“Okay!” Chase broke into a run, darting across the ground. But he didn’t get too far before his legs suddenly stopped on their own. “What the heck?!”

“Shit, right, you have limited movement on each turn,” Jackie cursed.

“Uh—this is fine!” Chase reached over his back and grabbed the heavy weight he’d felt there earlier. As he suspected, it was a bow. He notched an arrow, hands moving on their own like he’d been doing this forever. He aimed at one of the burned fly-dragons and fired the arrow. Numbers followed it as it shot towards the dragon. They landed on a 13, only for a 14 to show up above the dragon as the arrow bounced off its scales. “...what?”

“Ah, you didn’t break its armor!” Schneep said, nodding decisively.

“Greaaaat.”

“I think it’s my turn now?” Stacy said. “Hang on, Marvin, I’ll get that dragon off you!” She pulled one of her daggers free and ran over to the dragon pinning Marvin down, stabbing it—the number reading a 16 as she did—and using the force of the motion to push it away. She reached down and grabbed Marvin by the hand, pulling him up and running away, dragging him behind her.

“What the—?!” Chase gasped. “You—you moved so much farther than me!”

“Oh, I remember this! I can use a bonus action to dash!” Stacy said, delighted.

“No fair!”

Another of the fly-dragons breathed fire towards Jameson. He stumbled back, a 16 above his head going down to 14. Then it was Schneep’s turn. He unhooked a potion from his belt and drank from it. A 05 above his head rolled up to a 09.

“What?!” Chase gaped. “What was that?!”

“Healing potion! I have many of them,” Schneep said, running towards him.

“Did I choose the wrong class?!”

A fly-dragon lunged for Stacy, trying to bite her, but she managed to dodge. Another one—the first one who’d attacked—breathed out a column of fire, only for an 01 to appear above its head as the fire just barely missed Schneep.

“Fucking hell!” Marvin gasped. “Just run! Everyone run!”

It took a while, and they had to keep dodging the attacks from the fly-dragons, but eventually they pulled away from them and the dragons disappeared into the distance.

“Oh come on!” Anti leaned up close to the window in the sky. “Boooo! Boooooo!”

“Hey shut the fuck up!” Marvin shouted. “You sprung those fucking dragons on us! You heard what Jackie just said, we weren’t supposed to fight them yet!”

“But you were just walking through the woods! That’s no fun!”

“Get out of the way!” Jackie tried to shove Anti back, but found his hands went right through him. “I’m the CM here! Not you! Okay, uh—so the trees clear up and you see the city of Suilara on the horizon.”

As he said that, the five kids rounded a big tree trunk, and saw it just as described. Buildings made of stone and highlighted with dark wood. Behind the town, a rocky slope rose into the air. A mountain of some kind, maybe? Though it would be a small mountain.

“Okay, let’s hurry over there before more fucking monsters appear,” Marvin said, speeding up a little.

I hope they can help us gain more health back, JJ added.

“What’re you so concerned about?! You got a little burned, I lost like half my hp!” Marvin pointed out.

Maybe you should have picked a class with more health, then.

Marvin shoved him.

The group found their way over to a little road and followed that into the town. Some people walked about, wearing tunics and dresses in the same style that they’d found themselves wearing—though these people’s outfits were less elaborate. “Alright... so this is the town, then,” Chase said, looking around. “What’re we supposed to do, again?”

“Deliver that thing Marvin had, right?” Stacy recalled. “Uh... to who, though?”

“Oh!” That window in the sky was still there, so the group could see Jackie reach over and pick up the booklet he’d shown them earlier. “You’re supposed to find a dwarf named Helga Wolffighter to give that to.”

“Okay... where is she?” Chase asked.

“That is sort of ruining the fun to just ask, is it not?” Schneep pointed out.

“Well—I wasn’t expecting to actually go into the game! And like... have to walk around and stuff. Not to mention if Anti’s right we’ll have to actually ‘beat’ the game to get out of here, so... seems important to do that quickly.”

“You can’t ask!” Anti shouted suddenly. “That’s cheating! It won’t count!”

Jackie looked at him and frowned. Then he turned back to the window. “Sorry guys. Uh... I’ll do everything I can to help without just telling you. And I’ll try to make this fun, like a good CM does.” He laughed nervously. “Okay, um... ask around. Normally this would be a search skill check, I don’t know how you, uh, do that... while in game.”

“If it was like how I climbed out of the tree, then you just like... do it,” Stacy said. “And it either works or doesn’t. D’you guys remember who had the highest search skill? I think mine was a +4 or something.”

“I had a +6,” Schneep says, raising his hand.

Stacy laughed. “Alright. Uh... you take the lead, then?”

Schneep nodded. He wandered out to the front of the group. More of the numbers appeared by his head, landing on a 12 and then getting an additional +6 to make an 18. “Ah yes, that weapon shop over there. It says ‘Wolffighter’, see?” He pointed at a low stone building, which did indeed have the world ‘Wolffighter’ on its sign, along with some other weird symbols. “I think it says it in dwarvish, too. And there is also an inn over there, if we want to find somewhere to stay for the night, first.” He pointed in the opposite direction.

“Hmm. Coooool,” Marvin said. “I think we can go to the inn after we drop off this bag thing. Do we know what’s inside?”

JJ shrugged. He looked up at the window in the sky. Do we know what’s inside?

“Uh—the booklet just says that you know it’s valuable and that you were promised a lot of money to deliver it,” Jackie said. “But if you want to know more, you can... do a recall skill check? Which uh... means just trying to remember? I think?”

JJ nodded. His face screwed up in concentration. The numbers by his head rolled, landing on a 10... but then a -2 appeared, making it an 08. I vaguely remember that it’s... heavy? JJ said.

Marvin laughed. “Your memory is shit! It’s usually better than that!”

Well, it’s not really my memory, is it? JJ said. Right now, we’re all in the place of our characters. And I remember putting a really low number for my intelligence and all its skills.

“Why would you put a low number for your intelligence?” Stacy asked, shocked.

If I was going to be mostly hitting things, it didn’t seem necessary!

“Let’s just, uh... go to that weapons shop,” Chase said slowly.

The five of them headed over there. It looked like they were attracting a few looks from the locals of Suilara. Chase waved at them cheerfully. Some waved back, some didn’t.

When they arrived in the shop, a bell let out a low dingdong sound, announcing their arrival. The shop was filled with, of course, weapons of all types. Mostly swords and axes, which hung on the walls in proud display rows. There were also long spears, some hammers, daggers, staffs, bows and arrows, sticks with spikes on the end—just about any weapon imaginable. There was a counter at the back of the shop, and behind it—a short, stocky woman about four feet tall, with curly brown hair and a curly brown beard to match.

“...beard?” Stacy whispered.

“Yeah, all dwarves have beards,” Jackie said from the window in the sky.

“Well, what can I do you for, travelers?” the woman asked—apparently not hearing Jackie’s comment.

“Hi!” Chase said. “I’m, um... oh, we should probably use our characters’ names, huh? I’m Fahl Trailblazer.”

“And I am Morgana Ebony Rose,” Stacy added, making her voice higher and whispery.

“Why’re you talking like that?” Chase muttered.

“This is how Morgana talks!” Stacy whispered back.

“And my name is Axitios, perhaps you’ve heard of me,” Marvin said, making his voice hoarser and rougher.

“And I am Rhess Zachter!” Schneep added, speaking in a higher, slightly screechier register.

Chase frowned. He turned to JJ. “Should I start talking differently or is that lame?”

JJ shrugged. He turned back to the dwarf woman and signed, spelling it out, And my name is Ion Esinna. Somehow, his signing seemed different than usual. Why was Chase the only one who hadn’t been able to come up with a new voice?

“Great job, guys!” Jackie said encouragingly.

“An unusual group, I see,” said the dwarf woman. “Here to buy?”

“No, we’re actually here to, uh... sell?” Chase said.

“Sell? What d’you have to sell?”

“No, wait, we’re not selling anything!” Marvin quickly added. “We’re looking for Helga Wolffighter, we have a delivery for her from, uh... Dalrun the dwarf. Are you her?”

The dwarf woman seemed to stand to attention. “Aye, that’s me.”

Marvin narrowed his eyes slightly. “Are you really?” More numbers appeared by his head. 16+3. 19. “Oh. I guess you are.” He took the pack off his back. “Now, uh... we were told that we’d receive payment for this.”

“Of course. How much?”

The group paused. Chase looked up at Jackie. “How much are we gonna get?”

“Dalrun promised, uh...” Jackie checked the booklet. “Fifty gold pieces for each of you.”

“Got it.” Stacy nodded, and looked at Helga. “Dalrun promised us a hundred gold pieces for each of us.”

JJ and Marvin burst into laughter. “Stacy!” Schneep said, shocked.

“What? Morgana loves gold and treasure! This is totally in character!”

Helga narrowed her eyes. “That seems an absurd amount, even for this.”

“Well it’s true,” Stacy lied.

“Okay, you’re definitely going to have to do a persuasion skill check for this,” Jackie muttered.

The numbers appeared next to Stacy’s head, landing on an 11+4 to make a 15. “I’ll give you seventy-five each, but I’ll go no higher than that,” Helga said.

“That’s fair,” Stacy said.

Helga reached beneath the counter and, after a bit of rummaging, pulled out five small pouches. “Now... the package, if you’ll please.”

Marvin took the satchel off his back and set it on the counter. Helga picked it up and turned around, looking inside. All at once, the five of them leaned to the sides, trying to catch a glimpse of what was in the satchel. Numbers rolled beside their heads, resulting in a 07, 05, 09, 11, and 17��with Chase having the 17. He was able to see something round and golden, like a volleyball made out of gold. It seemed to be glowing slightly. Then Helga closed the satchel and turned back around, nodding. “Thank you very much. Now, anything else I can do for you?”

I don’t think so? JJ said.

“Very well, then. Pleasure doing business with you.”

After a moment of silence, Schneep said, “I suppose we just... leave?”

And so, they did.

The five of them stood on the street outside the weapon’s shop, watching the city. And all of them... waiting. “Um... we did beat the game, didn’t we?” Chase said, looking up into the window in the sky. “So... why aren’t we... going home?”

“Um... nnnno,” Jackie said slowly. “You... didn’t beat the game.”

“What?!” Stacy shouted.

“Even a short one-shot isn’t just a simple delivery quest like that!” Jackie said. “There’s—at least one more thing you can do.”

Behind him, Anti laughed. “Yeah!” Jackie looked back over his shoulder and glared at him, but Anti didn’t even notice. “That would be laaaame.”

Can’t you do anything, Jackie?! JJ asked.

“I-I don’t know! I don’t know how this happened! And I don’t have any powers or anything. All I can do is help you guys out from up here.” Jackie flipped through the booklet. “Look, uh... Schneep noticed that inn, right? Maybe you should go there for the night.”

The five of them looked around. “We’re not... gonna have to sleep in here, are we?” Chase asked anxiously. “I mean... what would Mom say? I-if we don’t come home?”

“I’m going to get you guys out of there before anyone notices, I promise,” Jackie said fiercely. “The campaign doesn’t last that long, I swear. It... it’ll be fine.” His voice cracked a little.

“W-we have a couple hours before things start getting worrying, i-in any case,” Schneep pointed out. “They will not be expecting us back before then.”

“Look, just go to the inn, I’m going to do everything I can to move this along,” Jackie said.

“Alright, alright.” Chase sighed. “Let’s go, guys.”

The group trickled down the street, heading towards the inn that Schneep had pointed out earlier. It’s called the Unicorn’s Crown. A tall man with a thick beard sells them rooms for twenty gold each—apparently the five of them all had money in their pockets even beforehand. Together they bought three rooms. Stacy insisted on getting one to herself, which none of the guys disagreed with, and from there they split up into Chase and Schneep in one room and Marvin and JJ in the other.

The rooms were on the second floor. Before splitting up, they all gathered in the hallway. The window in the sky remained, Jackie and Anti visible in it. “Uh... start... getting some rest, guys,” Jackie suggested slowly. “You just went through a lot. Rest recovers your health.”

“I have health potions,” Schneep said, taking bottles off his belt. “Who is hurt the most? Marvin, yes?”

“Yeah, I think it’s me, thanks.” Marvin took the offered potion and drank it. “...huh. I expected it to taste like cherry, but it’s basically just water.”

“Strange, yes?” Schneep said. “Now... we rest.”

“Don’t rest for too long!” Anti shouted. “That’ll be boring!”

JJ looked up towards the window and made a very rude gesture.

Anti laughed. “Maybe you’re not so bad after all!”

“Okay, let’s all lie down, then,” Stacy said. “Hopefully soon we’ll be able to get out of here.” And she turned and left the room.

JJ and Marvin left soon after, leaving Schneep and Chase in the room. “Chase...?” Schneep whispered. “We are going to get out of here, yes? I mean... that fight back there was sort of fun, but I do not want to worry Aunt Jess.”

Chase put his arm around him, pulling him close. He brushed against the new wings growing out of Schneep’s back in the process. “It’s going to be fine,” he said. “This is... just another adventure! It’s a pretty crazy one, but we’ve gone through worse. Remember the hospital?”

Schneep nodded slowly. “Well, that was worse for Marvin than the rest of us. But I get your point.”

“Exactly. It will be fine.” Chase smiled.

This was going to be a big adventure. But they’d handle it like all the others.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #septic egos au #jacksepticeye au #chase brody #dr schneeplestein #jameson jackson #marvin the magnificent #jackieboy man #antisepticeye #brigid writes fanfiction #pnptau

12 notes · View notes

silverskull · 2 years ago

Text

The Rookie 518 specumalation...

SO. MANY. THOUGHTS.

UC Chenford is like, my absolute favourite thing, and seeing Jake and Sava again…. Urgh, it’s bringing back all the memories of last summer (the good parts, obvs - the theories and the creativity and the craziness…)

I don’t usually like to speculate on episodes - I just like to let them happen. No point getting bogged down or upset if things don’t happen the way you’d like, and as a community, we can often get caught up in little details that just make us mad at one another 🤯.

THAT SAID, I have no problem doing *fun guessing*, or wondering how certain teasers connect. And since we have a hiatus and this is my favourite subject, let’s go down the rabbit hole…

I actually originally thought they may have taken the clips of Lucy’s interview in the station from last year’s Real Crime ep, but I checked and they did not (different lighting and angles). This is a part where I’m not majorly interested in guessing, but perhaps they do not interview Tim at the start, to keep up the fear factor, so Lucy is interviewed on her own. Followed by her and Tim interviewed at her apartment when it’s revealed he’s not dead. Or perhaps he’s there beside her and it’s just cropped. Not a spec to worry about either way.

Who the redhead is with Tim and Aaron, or why there’s a puff of smoke, I have no idea. But Tim looks good.

NOW.

This is where it gets interesting.

I think Jake gets out of jail (see barbed wire and “this is a high security” sign), and that the lovely image we’re all fainting over is actually really Jake and Sava, not UC Tim and Lucy, or any version of Dim and Juicy. I’m interested to see if Jake has lost weight too, or if his fling with the waitress in Vegas is brought up…

There are a few possibilities here, but I think, basically, there’s an issue between Jake and the guy we see him beating up in the alley. I can’t tell if Jake is really dead, or if the death is a setup by LAPD (if it’s a setup, I want happy Jake and Sava in the sunset afterwards 🌇). It could be some kind of triple cross con, where they pretend they think Tim is dead, but it turns out to be fake Jake. Meanwhile, real Jake is safe somewhere and he meets Sava at the end.

Anyway, he’s probably really dead (which is very, very sad 😭) and the story we’re left with is Lucy going UC as Sava to figure it out. Meanwhile, real Sava is bopping around on her own, devastated by the death of her OTL. (‘Bopping’ and ‘devastated’ should not be used to describe the same moment of time for a character, but here we are. 🤷‍♀️) I think Lopez and Harper take her into the station to tell her about Jake’s death and, maybe, put her into protection for Lucy to go UC.

I think Sava on the bench meeting Beard Guy is actually Lucy, and I can’t be fully sure if Beard Guy is also Alleyway Guy. Possibly. But surely there are more characters involved.

The spoken lines are cut up all over the place. Listen with good speakers, don’t watch the picture, and you’ll hear it. I’m not fully convinced that just because “Tim just disappeared” sounds slightly English means it’s Sava. When Lopez and Harper meet (probably) Sava in the beginning, she doesn’t have an English accent there.

Because of that, I have no inkling whether that’s Lucy or Sava. The only thing is, at the porch, she has her phone out, and the Lucy in the car crash does too. That’s obviously to facilitate the footage for the documentary, but I’m feeling slightly more like it might be Sava because of that.

I don’t know at what point the car crash fits into anything. I can’t tell if it’s Lucy or Sava, and the clothes and hair don’t match any of the other images we have of her. I think something hits her from behind while she’s on a video call, and I think she might be in the front passenger’s seat, but that’s all I can tell from that.

OKAY OKAY, NOW.

The most interesting bit! (According to me!)

What the hell is that massive house?!

There’s no way it’s Jake and Sava’s, so it might be something to do with Alleyway/Beard Guy (slash Jake’s murderer?!). It’s unlikely to be connected to the redhead lady scene, because Tim no longer has his vest on, and the neighbourhood looks entirely different. Either way, Tim and Sava/Lucy are not alone in there.

When Tim finds the secret door, someone is filming (perhaps Aaron’s bodycam/Sava’s phone?) and a third person appears in front of Tim - you get a split second of their hand. So it’s not like he’s hanging out alone, babysitting a grieving Sava, however interesting that might be.

My (second!) favourite thing from this promo was something I missed entirely on every other viewing, until I took the screencaps for this essay. THERE’S A HIDDEN ROOM FULL OF TREASURE. Or something. Probably something more boring, like notes, or art, or a dead body.

Maybe Jake was involved in some sort of heist for this stuff, got killed, LAPD got involved, Lucy goes UC as Sava, while Sava helps out on the LAPD side. Something goes wrong for Lucy (car crash?) and the team have to follow their own leads. Sava gives them this house address and they find the secret passage, but Tim falls through some sort of trap door. He may find the secret room on his own, or maybe they find it together.

Add to all this that set decorator and gentle spoiler man, William DeBiasio hinted that one or other of Chenford are in danger in this episode (just trust me - the tweet tree is too big to repost at this stage!), and the remaining one is worried about them. Because we hear “Tim just disappeared”, and because nothing bad has happened to him so far in the series, I’ve been assuming that the bad thing would happen to him. But really, it would make more sense if it happened to Lucy (back to the car crash/UC issue).

And then it would be Tim taking care of Lucy at her apartment. And since we see the cameras when Sava arrives at the station, Lucy's uniformed interview could be before the op takes place, while the interview at her apartment is afterwards.

Eric Winter was also asked in a cameo message why Lucy would do a documentary about UC, and thus broadcast her face to any potential criminals. He said “it’s all explained” in the episode.

Myself, I have a constant little racket in my head that reminds me “light drama, light drama, light drama”. The Rookie is not a very serious show, and we let a lot of inconsistencies slide. I’ve been letting the True Crime episodes exist outside reality, and just don’t think very deeply about how they affect the ongoing plot. I also love the True Crime episodes, and I cannot understand why people don’t! (You are completely allowed to not like them, I’m just letting you know where I stand!)

So with Eric saying Lucy talking in public about UC is “explained”, I’m wondering if something happens… like she gives up on UC? I’ve not been one of the people who thinks she dislikes it. I never got that feeling from her character. But maybe something in this episode changes her mind; or maybe I’ve been misreading her feelings.

Then again, it may be as simple as - someone uploaded her picture online (at the crash, or somewhere else public). Or Sava was broadcasting the whole thing (and that’s why we keep seeing her on her phone). So Lucy’s face (as Sava) is already out there, and it doesn’t matter in the context of this documentary.

--ETA-- Jake's clothes in the sunset gif are, I think, exactly what he was wearing when Tim and Lucy arrested him, giving more credence to the Jake & Sava theory.

--end ETA-- ANYWAY.

As you may be able to tell by now, I am super, super, SUPER excited about this ep. Some of my favourite bits of everything are going to be in it, and the only cherry that could make it even better would be some form of Chenford kiss. Imagine, less than one season on from 422, and I’m feeling deprived that we haven’t had a kiss in the last few episodes (goddamn that bug the actors got after 512……)

Now that I’ve typed this thesis, watch someone drop a new promo/spoiler that completely negates the entire thing.

WOOHOO, FANGIRLING.

#chenford #the rookie #ACTUAL SPECULATION #can you believe it amanda #i did it #MAYBE #jake and sava #dim and juicy #silverskull explodes #5x18

61 notes · View notes

aqueeracademic · 1 year ago

Text

morse being queer (and other commentary) pt 12:

season 3, episode 4, “Coda”:

- opening with a funeral

- how very camp

- morse taking his lil test 🥰

- morse is such a know it all im obsessed with him

- “only in oxford”

- last time i checked there’s porn everywhere babe

- thursday insinuating they’re gay just to piss them off is so….

- i guess we can’t all be perfect

- also strange is so casually badass i’m fully obsessed with him

- the coughing thing is so embarrassing 😐

- debryn thinking morse is talking about nature studies when he says “stag films”

- he’s so 🥺🥺

- debryn always gives morse a well needed reality check and i respect him sm for it

- i, too, would stare at morse for an entire concert if the opportunity presented itself

- “come and see me”

- morse’s face immediately looks panicked and blushy he’s so embarrassing 🙄

- sam leaving 😭😭😭🔫🔫🔫

- morse is always so flabbergasted by how thursday does business

- “i was frightened for the most part.” “of what?” “of being found out. being found wanting.”

- that’s gay! in case you were confused. it’s gay

- this professor is so weird 😐

- i don’t like him at all! and i don’t like that hes using morse’s previous trauma to guilt him into investigating his wife

- thursday getting suspended for police brutality is… not something i can be all that upset about

- like sucks but 🤷‍♀️

- that’s how it goes

- he needs to rest his cough anyway tbh

- trewlove is SO CUTE I AM OBSESSED

- morse awkwardly whipping out the word bird to really trick the bingo guy into talking to him is so funny to me

- he’s like “the uh… 🤢 b-bird.”

- take a BREATH morse

- i refuse to believe that “spotted dick” is a real thing in the UK

- y’all gotta know how that sounds

- morse is so terrible with women i hate him 😀

- “a fellow must have the latest this or that to impress the ladies” and morse being like 😬

- it’s so gay

- joan being like “you’re right, it’s not your place to say.” and then morse being like 😮 is real!

- “let it go, for your own good.” “that’s rich, coming from you.”

- i HATE THIS DAMN PROFESSOR

- people don’t ever let morse just suffer in peace

- i just spilled water all over myself and missed his entire conversation w that other professor but i’m not gonna rewind we r just gonna live w it

- strange is… getting gradually less cool the longer the show goes on

- like i need him to calm down.

- i know he’s above morse now but he is so like… determined to be perceived as above him it’s uncomfortable

- and beating someone up RIGHT AFTER thursday gets suspended???? let’s get it together

- thursday is incapable of taking critique from morse and i don’t understand why

- he’s RIGHT and you should listen to him

- “morse? people will say we’re in love.”

- that professor is so fucking funny

- also clocked morse as a lil 💅 right away

- bank robbery is so crazy

- not all the main characters being directly affected!!

- bright moves SO DAMN QUICK when strange comes in i love him

- HOLY SHIT

- trewlove’s partner getting shot is so crazy to me she cannot catch a break

- morse is a lot braver than people give him credit for

- he straight up called an ARMED ROBBER stupid without hesitation

- i love him

- morse casually solving an entirely separate case during the robbery is wild

- trewlove 🥺🥺🥺

- winnie 🥺🥺🥺

- bright keeping that gun is something that can be so personal

- this guy is a FUCKING snitch

- a snitch.

- and i can’t stand him!

- debryn pulling up fully prepared to tend to bodies is so sick.

- joan is a RIDE OR DIE TYPE BITCH

- ok he didn’t deserve to die just for snitching but like…. the line “i don’t like liars but i hate a grass” is SO ICONIC

- joan’s reaction to the leader telling his little crony to put morse down is wild

- the way she closes her eyes 🫤🫤🫤

- final straw!

- lowkey thursdays voice….

- just kidding!

- no i’m not.

- coughing up a bullet?

- thursday is the coldest man alive.

- the way my MOM JUST SAID “yeah, you wanna be a hero by selling somebody else out. asshole. he’s a coward.”

- she gets it!

- strange is a ride or die ass bitch and i respect that even if i don’t like him rn

- morse holding joan when the guy blows the lock off 🫤🫤🫤

- i love them

- i don’t ship it!

- but i love them

- “the chambers empty! and he’s too stupid to count to six!”

- morse is so………..

- thursday needs to get his act together 😐

- like u fr gonna murder someone in front of ur daughter??

- THERE WAS A BULLET LEFT??????

- i hate morse

- hes so self sacrificing

- no way he j goes back to his job after all that

- he’s so filled with fear all the time i just need him to breathe

- “love, morse. imagine that.”

- he’s so disrespectful i hate him

- oh my god morse is so fine

- he has NO BUSINESS sitting in that chair like that

- morse realizing he loves her is something that makes me so violent

- i hate him

- i mean i have never related to a fictional character more in my life

- but i hate him

- this MAROON PULL OVER

- he knows he looks good

- “just give it a chance” = “just give me a chance”

- “you mean the world to them. you mean the world…”

- and then being UNABLE TO SAY IT??????????? i’m so fucking sick

- her reaching up to hold his face and him feeling a little hopeful only for it to be her checking his wound

- listen:

- i talk all day about morse being queer and how much he likes men and how he should end up with a man but like

- joan is the second person this SEASON to leave him

- the second person he loves who leaves him in the span of a few months

- he lost jakes in the spring and joan in the fall and he’s all alone for winter 🫤

- so whatever i think about his sexuality isn’t important because either way he KEEPS getting left alone by people he loves and, not only is it important to his character, it fucking HURTS

- and i love him.

#endeavour #endeavour itv #endeavour morse #morse #itv endeavour

8 notes · View notes

elytrafemme · 2 years ago

Text

i am once again finding myself drafting up the ending notes for the next cough syrup chapter, and once again find myself too afraid to actually touch the draft.

cough syrup was-- is? was?-- a love letter to so many things. originally, a love letter to the DSMP, but i cannot deny that events within the DSMP community (mostly, the dream situation) are part of the reason why i could not bring myself to work on the fic. originally, a love letter to the mental health revelations i experienced, but so much has changed and i’m healing in a different way and it feels so strange, looking at the DSMP writing again, trying to imagine when i was there and why i’m still there yet everything has changed insurmountably.

part of me wants the fic to be over with in a blink of an eye, so i can move on to other fandom works without feeling chained. another part of me wants to savor this, reignite the community that never really died. another part of me never wants to touch the fic again, to be bitter and angry at the amount of times i’ve used fanfiction as an escape, but then never really escaped. and there’s this other piece of me, too, so outraged at how much other people have loved this fic, so much more than i feel like i have even loved it. but is it outrage, or just me recognizing a responsibility?

i knew that so many creators get upset about not writing frequently, write these long apologies in their notes only to receive responses like “it’s okay!” and “take your time!”. i think about this, and i think about the fics i have waited years for, and i knew this and i know this and part of me says, okay. you aren’t going to do that. you know that you had to step away, so you aren’t going to feel guilty. but i feel guilty for not feeling guilty. wasn’t i supposed to pour my heart out?

cs!tubbo has been theorized by some to have bpd. this was unintentional. i want this to stay unintentional, but in the time between last september and now i’m beginning to realize that bpd is the explanation for the questions i’ve had for so, so long. cs!ranboo’s psychosis was meant to help me with my own, but i’m no longer suffering avidly from psychosis, so whose story am i telling? this fic was my way of exploring a queerplatonic relationship, but i don’t experience queerplatonic attraction, at least i don’t think so, and what i had mistaken for that was just the way my brain works with love and i don’t know how to write this story because it’s no longer my own.

and here’s the selfish bit of it: i want to stop writing this fic because i know people don’t like the dsmp. i try not to care about that, people don’t like a lot of things. i don’t like taylor swift but one of my old friends and i are working on healing things, so we talk about their love of taylor swift and i listen to her songs and think about them and we’re fighting uphill. but in the same way that i demean my hometown to future college roommates, i want to demean my time in the dsmp fandom because i want to be loved so, so badly. and how much of me writing this fic was me just wanting to be loved, so badly.

and i was loved! and the characters were and are loved. but i remember the exact point where the fic started getting popular, and things started changing, and i remember going “this isn’t going to end well”. and for all things considered, it didn’t end badly, but i still remember my first rage episode when i saw someone talking about a fic that wasn’t my own. i remember how scared i was when i did see people talking about it, realizing that there’s this clock ticking inside of me; i knew how this was going to end. and i realized that cough syrup was this living, breathing child of mine, one i cannot abandon or hate or write, all the warnings people gave me about not burning out, and i’m sitting with this fic writing a post about it not even knowing if this is true. not sure how to put it all into words.

my beginnings in fandom began in a broken place. i was thirteen when i really started, and i wanted to write and create and soon i got attention from my broken, messy things, and i got so much attention that people said i was so mature, and then i met some bad people, and i started having public breakdowns, and i left the fandom with a dramatic ending note because it felt like it ripped so much from me. and then i came to dsmp, and i wrote cough syrup from this place of finally, finally escaping this period of trauma-- i say it all the time, but cough syrup was written a month after the most traumatizing period of my life ended. i wrote it to feel free, to feel silly and creative. and it was loved and this time, i wasn’t chasing attention, until i did. and i loved it! i love it! it was a good thing in my life it was undeniably good and it still is! but i think part of me never really learned my lesson, i guess.

and now, i want to write from pain again. i want to write from pain and the little bittersweet spots in life because i am so much older than the girl who started cough syrup. i am older and i am so much more cowardly and i am seeing people realize that the blinding optimism i used to have is no longer a steady track. my life lost its control and cough syrup deserved nothing more than my control, but i can’t stomach it again. i don’t want this fic to fix me. because it isn’t going to do it right, this time.

in one of my ending note drafts, i wrote “this chapter is quite possibly one of the hardest things i have ever written”. the chapter isn’t done. so maybe i’m fatalistic. maybe i think people will be crueler to me than they are. maybe i’m still broken about the two or three mutuals i lost for inexplicable reasons, people who loved cough syrup but i wanted to forget about the fic, to just love me, to rip into me and make me whole again. maybe i’m just addicted to attention and this is all a consequence of that.

cough syrup ends happily. cough syrup ends happily, and part of me finds it unbearable to think that some people waited for that happy ending, only for me to start on the most painful chapters. i want to write this happy ending but i want it to feel like it’s a happy ending for me, but how the fuck can i write that? when is it most poetic? do i write it by graduation? by the time i start college? how do i even move forward with this fic i have to finish but a fic i never want to start?

there have been times i’ve been so anxious about how to progress with cough syrup that i felt like i was going to pass out. there have been times where i was so happy about cough syrup that i wanted to tell the entire world, look at this thing i wrote. look at what i’m capable of. look at the friends i am making because we are all searching for hope. there have been times, more recently, where i wish i was still searching for hope in the ways that feel marketable, creative.

but mostly, i feel like a coward. i feel like i’m giving up on myself. i read the draft, and i hear the crowd roaring, why don’t you love your creation.

and honestly, it’s not that.

i think the mare who wrote cough syrup loved herself. and i think the mare that is writing this, now, is angry that she can’t ask herself, then, would you have ever loved me past the ending of this story?

#nightmare.cough-syrup #nightmare.personal #long post #i know it was only a year ago but it feels like forever #i feel like i was a child asking their parent for a toy #and i don't know how to say no #don't know how to explain that i can't give them that #that i can't do the one thing to make them happy because i'm so afraid #and so angry that it would have been that easy

12 notes · View notes

sleepless-translation · 2 years ago

Text

Phantom Troupe Drama CD English Translation-Track 13

CD : HUNTER×HUNTER～Next Episode Scene 3 幻影旅団 (Link)

Track 13 さらわれた団長 "The kidnapped Leader" starts at 47.15.

Disclaimer:

This is a fun bonus content from the 1999 anime that I decided to translate because I want others to enjoy it too (´꒳`)♡ Do note that some of the characters might act in an unusual comedic manner.

Summary:

This scene takes place at the Beitacle hotel after Chrollo got kidnapped by Kurapika. The troupe members decided to talk about their boss's bad habit. Killua and Gon are supposed to be listening to the whole thing too (which makes it funnier).

[Nobunaga] Boss…!

[Machi] This is because you’re..dense.

[Shizuku] That’s right. Boss is unexpectedly dense.

[Pakunoda] Yeah. If I don't bring it to him, he'll definitely miss out on his meals.

[Kortopi] He’s also greedy.

[Machi] Rather than greedy, he’s kind of possessive, isn’t he? That time I accidentally ate his pudding. After that, for two or three days, every time he saw me he said "pudding… my pudding…"

[Shizuku] Ah! The same thing happened to me too.

[Machi] Such a mild stalker, that guy.

[Pakunoda] But that part of him is cute.

[Nobunaga] That’s because you coddle him all the time, Paku. He’s always gonna be like that.

[Kortopi] Discipline is important.

[Pakunoda] Discipline..? He’s not a dog.

[Machi] If he were a dog, he would just come back on his own.

[Shizuku] Way better than boss, huh.

[Pakunoda] No way… Boss doesn’t need to be taken out for walks, nor does he wet himself.

[Nobunaga] Paku, you’re not making him look any better.

[Kortopi] More like dragging him through the mud.

[Shizuku] Ah! They’re here!

[Phinks] Explain the situation.

[Shizuku] In my case, it was almond jelly.

[Phinks] Huh?

[Feitan] What talk about?

[Machi] We’re talking about Paku coddling the boss too much, which makes him become more like a possessive stalker.

[Shalnark] I'm having trouble following all this.

[Nobunaga] In short, it's about how Boss sulks when Machi accidentally ate his pudding, and when Shizuku accidentally ate his almond jelly.

[Feitan] Straight up.

[Phinks] I get what you guys are saying. Back then, I had eaten his Azuki bar, then he stood by my bedside for three days and three nights.

[Machi] You too, Phinks?!

[Shizuku] I see that you have also been victimized by his unexpected side!

[Phinks] Why is the LEADER of the Phantom Troupe that upset over an ice cream in the first place? While he has us at his beck and call at all times.

[Shalnark] Well, that can’t be helped since we're his subordinates, but over an ice cream..? That’s kinda petty.

[Phinks] I know right?

[Pakunoda] Well, Boss is a person who likes ice cream!

[Kortopi] Pudding and Jelly-

[Pakunoda] Those too.

[Machi] That’s why I call him spoiled.

[Nobunaga] He cherry-picks the good stuff after al.

[Feitan] That, I understand. Boss the type to order from the secret menu at a sushi restaurant.

[Shalnark] Now that you mention it, he never eats the crust of a bread, right?

[Machi] That time, he ate only about five centimeters of the middle of a watermelon that had been split in half.

[Kortopi] Who only eats the strawberries on a shortcake?

[Shizuku] Ah. One time he snatched my food that I left out to eat last.

[Pakunoda] That also happened to me…

[Phinks] Not to mention he only ate the burnt rice of a stone-grilled bibimbap.

[Machi] Jeez. Our Boss is really hopeless, huh.

...

[Chrollo] I have no value as a hostage.

════════ End of track ════════

TL Notes & Commentary:

I've seen some people say "Chrollo eats pudding like a pig" which is half true. Kortopi called him 意地汚い, meaning "greedy, gluttonous, and piggy-like." More on how he hogs his food, less on how he eats it.

The almond jelly is 杏仁豆腐. A jellied dessert made of apricot kernel milk, agar, and sugar.

Machi actually says 粘着質ストーカ. 粘着 literally means “sticky”, so he’s really clingy and persistent. I think Machi is so done with danchou, hence the choice of words.

Azuki Bar

507 notes · View notes

raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 years ago

Note

Grinding on all the characters, have you done thoughts about Farena?

Hmmm 🤔 I'm not sure if I have much to remark on, since we don't have much in the way of Falena lore... but I’ll try to give my thoughts based on what we do already know!

The first thing that I immediately notice about Falena is that he is more attuned to his younger brother’s feelings than Mufasa was to Scar’s. In Leona’s episode 2 (part 27) flashback, Falena expresses disappointment that his little brother wasn’t present to see Cheka being presented to the kingdom. Falena is also noted as having directly addressed Leona’s insecurities while still propping up his strengths: “Leona... You are intelligent. Certainly there are things you can do for this country even though you can't become king." When Leona gets upset and leaves the conversation, you can hear desperation in Falena’s voice; he sounds like he’s pleading for Leona to come back, to please listen to him. Falena never turns violent on him, and he makes attempts to demonstrate that he understands where Leona is coming from. Regardless of what Leona personally thinks of him, Falena is, indeed, a good brother.

By comparison, I can’t say that I recall a single moment when Mufasa ever acknowledged Scar’s frustrations or genuinely tried to encourage him. Mufasa is, at times, actually hostile towards Scar. In the scene where he confronts Scar about not being present at the presentation of Simba, Mufasa’s expression implies not just disappointment, but anger. Furthermore, when Scar proceeds to walk away from his brother and implies that perhaps Mufasa shouldn’t have turned his back on him, Mufasa interprets that as a “challenge”. His pose, face, and roar all insinuate that he was prepared to fight Scar over a sarcastic remark. The Lion King pitches Mufasa to us, the audience, as a good king and a good father, but it is instances like this that make me think that Mufasa certainly wasn’t a good brother. Scar’s wording suggests that he felt betrayed by his own brother, who didn’t seem to be there to emotionally support him in his time of need. In fact, Scar is only called “Scar” because it was a nickname that Mufasa gave him. His own older brother isn’t even going to acknowledge him by his actual name, but rather by a nickname that he got because of an injury--an injury that Scar sustained because he had gotten tricked. Mufasa didn’t take the injury seriously and instead went on to use a physical indication of Scar’s shame to refer to him. I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty insensitive of Mufasa to do 🤡 Even if Scar wasn’t necessarily a good person (lion?), Mufasa shouldn’t have threatened him in the present or remained so ignorant to his suffering and brewing feelings of contempt in the past.

While we’re still comparing Mufasa and Falena, it seems that Falena is actually the opposite of Mufasa in some ways. Falena is described to be bright and cheerful by the palace servants. We also see that he is thoughtful of everyone, including his scorned younger brother. Mufasa, on the other hand, can be jolly, but usually only around his family. He otherwise maintains a businesslike and stern demeanor befitting of a king, but adopts a more playful attitude when he’s able to be around his son. (For example, while Zazu was giving the morning report, Mufasa listened with interest, but decided to turn it into a pouncing lesson when he noticed that Simba was having some fun on his own.) Mufasa is also thoughtful, but on a broader scope--he always keeps the Circle of Life in consideration when ruling, making sure that the predators don’t overhunt, thus throwing the entire ecosystem off balance and endangering all that reside within it. Now, while Mufasa is a good ruler and a bad brother, Falena is a good brother but a bad ruler.

... Well, maybe calling him a “bad” ruler is a bit of a hyperbole, but he’s definitely not as attentive of a ruler as Mufasa was. In Leona’s Birthday Boy vignettes, Leona describes his brother as someone who is “so noisy” and “always wanting to take care of me”. Falena even sends Leona a very expensive rug for a birthday present when it could have been sent to a neighboring country instead to strengthen their friendship (an example that Leona himself gives). It’s clear that Falena cares for his family a lot, as he is implied to also be noisy with his wife and child, Cheka back in the Sunset Savanna. But even though Falena has a kingdom to rule and a family to look after, he did NOT forgot Leona or leave him behind. He keeps trying to reach out to his little brother and offer what gifts and support he can. Can you imagine how much shittier Leona could have turned out if he HADN’T had at least Falena there trying to cushion the blows of all the things the servants said about him? Imagine a Leona that DOES believe that his older brother completely turned his back on him instead of a Leona that is just irritated by Falena’s attempts to coddle him or to make him feel better; the former might have turned out just as bad, if not worse than, Scar--not just vengeful, but completely hateful and unable to be redeemed.

Falena is said to be kind to everyone, but Leona scoffs at this trait and remarks that Falena “should [only think] about our country” and “his concerns aren’t in the right place”. Leona concludes his remarks by saying that “I worry for [our] country’s future with how laidback [Falena] is.” In the chapter 2 flashback I referenced earlier, Leona also has a line that implies that Falena sometimes naps and/or sings all day instead of tending to his royal duties. Obviously, we must consider that we are getting this information from a very biased source (Leona), but I do believe there is some truth to what he has provided to us—because as critical of his brother as Leona is, Leona also demonstrates that he himself is thinking of his country’s future and holds genuine concerns about it due to the way Falena rules. Maybe Falena is far too lenient of a king, and Leona realizes that can make their country look weak to others. There is value in ruling with kindness, but it can also serve as a double-edged sword. It’s something that Leona realizes, but maybe something that Falena overlooks. Again, I’m not saying that Falena is a “bad” ruler, but he probably takes those royal duties less seriously than he should and that he makes space for other things in his life, like his family. If anything, Falena is more like an older Simba (that was living with Timon and Pumba) than like Mufasa: cheery and idealistic, but sharing the same fierce loyalty to his family and friends.

The only area that I would say we are lacking in details for comparison would be in the parental department. I think a lot of us (myself included) assumed that Falena is a loving dad because of how prominent Mufasa and Simba’s father-son relationship was in The Lion King, and I still think that this is also true of Falena. However, I do want to see more concrete lore about Cheka and his dad, since we’ve already gotten bits of Cheka being overly affectionate and loving toward Leona. Is Cheka even worse when it comes to his own dad? 🤣 Or does Cheka show favoritism to his uncle over his dad for some reason??????? How does Falena feel when he hears that Cheka has snuck off from his assigned security and potentially putting himself in danger? I’d really want to know these things!! Show me how much of a doting dad Falena is, TWST 🥰 I am no longer asking--

I think that these differences between Falena and his Disney counterpart lend him a lot of character depth and potential for exploration, despite the lack of screen time that Falena has had in canon. I would be very interested in meeting him in-game and seeing just how much of what Leona has said about him holds true.

#twst analysis #twisted wonderland character analysis #Leona Kingscholar #twst character analysis #twisted wonderland analysis #Cheka Kingscholar #notes from the writing raven #question #Falena Kingscholar #spoilers #Mufasa #Scar #Timon #Pumba #The Lion King #Farena Kingscholar #Simba #Zazu #when I say ‘I don’t have much to say’ I guess it’s actually the code words for ‘I actually have a lot to say’

176 notes · View notes

storiesforallfandoms · 3 years ago

Text

haunted house ~ billy loomis;scream

word count: 1489

request?: no

description: when his girlfriend is terrified by a haunted house, billy promises to protect her no matter what

pairing: billy loomis x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

*to celebrate the start of spooky season!*

I looked up at the abandoned building turned haunted house. I don’t know who decided it was a good idea to make a haunted house out of a place that was supposedly haunted. I definitely don’t know what possessed me to go with my group of friends to the damn haunted house either.

“Do you think we’ll see, like, an actual ghost or something?” Tatum asked as we waited in line to enter the haunted house. “What if we see an actual dead body and we just think it’s a prop?”

“What if we get possessed?” Stu added. Tatum giggled excitedly and leaned into him.

“We’re not gonna get possessed,” Randy said. “Or see any dead bodies or ghosts. The place is an old abandoned home, not a murder site.”

“Not that we know of,” Stu whispered to Tatum, causing her to giggle again.

I crossed my arms and looked up at the scarily decorated building. Not that it was something I was about to admit to my horror crazy friends, but I was terrified to go into the haunted house. I hated haunted houses, I always did. I went once as a young child with my parents and some asshole thought it would be funny to chase after a five year old with a fake chainsaw. I didn’t know it was fake at the time of course cause, you know, I was five.

Noticing my discomfort, Billy put an arm around my waist and pulled me to him. “Hey, don’t listen to Stu. We won’t see any ghosts or dead bodies, it’s just gonna be a harmless haunted house.”

“Harmless, sure,” I said, trying my best to smile at him.

Stu and Tatum excitedly ran into the haunted house once we got to the front of the line. I could hear Tatum scream the moment she passed through the door, which only made my stomach turn even more.

Randy entered next, followed by an also hesitant Sydney. I was glad not to be the only one who wasn’t excited by this idea. When it came to me and Billy, I was also hesitant at first. Billy pulled on my arm slightly, finally getting my legs to move.

The minute we walked through the door, the air was stuffy from the fog. The lights were so dim that I could barley make out the figures of my friends in front of me or Billy beside me. There was a bright, blinking strobe light that showed the outlines of the bodies around us; whether they were real people or just dummies I couldn’t tell.

The first scare was some kid jumping out from a room wearing a Jason Voorhees mask wielding a fake machete. I screeched and clung to Billy’s arm as he laughed and kept walking. I could hear screaming from the other attendees and jeers from the people playing the characters.

Billy’s hand slipped from mine and my panic began to rise. I still couldn’t see very well and now the strobe lights were starting to disorient me. I just wanted to get to the end and to go home.

I had my arms around myself, as if that would protect me, when a group of kids ran past me, giggling and screaming. They startled me slightly, but not as much as one of the haunted house workers jumping out at me, a mask over his face and a fake chainsaw in his hands. Flashbacks to my first haunted house played before my eyes as I screamed and covered my face. I backed away until I hit a wall, but my attacker kept coming, chainsaw raised over his head. I began to sob in terror as it became evident that the chainsaw wielding maniac wasn’t backing away.

“Hey man! Get the fuck away!”

I recognized Billy’s voice as the chainsaw finally shut off. Through the dim light I could see Billy shoving my attacker away before kneeling down next to me.

“She’s fucking crying, alright? That means back the fuck up and leave her alone!” he snapped as he knelt down next to me. “Are you okay, babe?”

I shook my head, unable to speak due to my sobbing. Billy put an arm around me and pulled me to my feet.

“Keep your head ducked, I’ll get us out of here,” he said.

I tucked my head against shit shoulder as he led me out of the haunted house. I jumped with every scare that came at us, but for the most part I was able to avoid any further upset. Once we walked out through the exit door, I took a deep breath and savored the fresh air in my lungs.

Stu and Tatum were already out and basically dry humping on the fence as they waited for us. Tatum shoved Stu away as Billy and I approached, eyeing me specifically. “What happened to you?”

I shook my head. “I d-don’t wanna t-talk about it.”

“Man, they really got you, huh (Y/N)?” Stu asked. “Which was it? Was it the dude with his guts spilling out everywhere?”

“Leave her alone,” Billy said. “I’m gonna take (Y/N) home, I’ll meet up with you guys later.”

“Awe, why do you guys gotta be such party poopers?” Tatum asked, but Billy ignored her as he brought me to his car.

I looked at myself in the sun visor mirror. My eyes were bloodshot and puffy and my nose was as red as a tomato. I could see the tear streaks now stained on my flushed face. I looked like hell, or at least that I had been to Hell and back.

“You don’t have to drive me home, Billy,” I said when he got into the driver’s seat. “I can call my parents to give me a run home.”

“It seems like you need someone besides your parents right now,” he said. “Besides, I’m not jumping to spend the night with a sexed up couple, my ex-girlfriend, and the horror movie aficionado who would likely talk about how lame that haunted house was the whole night.”

This was enough to put a small smile on my face. Billy smiled back at me and started driving towards my house.

The beginning of the ride was silent besides the static sounds of Billy’s car radio. I rolled down the window to let the air blow on my warm face. I sighed, a sense of guilt eating away at me still for pulling Billy away from our friends.

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked.

“Not really,” I responded.

“Okay, then we don’t have to talk about it.”

It was something I appreciated about Billy. He respected my wishes and didn’t push me further than I wanted to go. There’s not a lot of guys, or a lot of people for that matter, that would do that.

“I hate haunted houses,” I said, resting my head against the seat. “My parents took me to my first one when I was a kid and I got chased by a guy who had a fake chainsaw, like the guy who cornered me back there. That shit stuck with me, I’ve never been to a haunted house since. Not until tonight anyways.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? We didn’t have to go.”

“Cause you seemed so excited by it, and everyone else was going. I didn’t think it would be that bad until I lost you and had a repeat of that episode from when I was five.” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “God, why couldn’t I just fucking get over it?”

“Being traumatized isn’t exactly something you get over,” Billy said. “You were a kid brought into an environment where a kid should never be.”

We pulled up to my house and Billy reached over to put his hand on mine. I looked up at him and smiled. It was nearly impossible to be upset when I had such an amazing guy on my side.

“Next time, I want you to tell me when you don’t want to do something,” he said. “It’s not fair to you, especially if it’s something that will bring up old memories like that.”

“I promise,” I said.

“And I promise to always protect you, no matter what. No one will ever hurt you as long as you have me.”

“I know.”

I leaned forward to kiss him. All the upset I had been feeling just moments before seemed to vanish from my body as his lips pressed against mine. His hand was gently as it caressed my face while the other closed in around my hand.

When I pulled away, I glanced at my house to see that the lights were off, indicating that my parents were likely gone to bed.

“Park down the road and I’ll sneak you in for the night?” I asked.

Billy smiled like a kid on Christmas morning. “Deal.”

#Billy Loomis #billy loomis imagine #billy loomis x reader #Skeet Ulrich #skeet ulrich imagine #skeet ulrich x reader #scream #scream imagine #imagine #one shot #halloween #fanfiction #fanfic #fandom

847 notes · View notes

depressed-teacup-inc · 2 years ago

Text

Wow the Love Square is a mess no matter what

Ok kids exaltation is out, and…oh boy.

Listen, first of all, I know people who like Marichat never get any canon content from miraculous so first of all, congrats to them for having nice things, I hope y’all enjoyed the episode

I… found it a little, just a bit upsetting from Marinette’s part (wow I know what I shocker)

Listen. I don’t hate the love square as a concept. On paper this relationship could have been really entertaining and fun and finally seeing the reverse love square is a nice change of pace. But this episode, especially when you take all the previous season of this show into account, and everything that happened… makes me uncomfortable.

Because Ladybug for 4 season, would always scream at chat Noir to quit being in love with her and to reveal nothing about his identity (even tho the identity rule literally doesn’t matter anymore) now that she wants him (because he’s convenient to her and rather then realized she fucked up because she’s obsessed, not because of Adrien, and that she should take a minute to maybe not date people, but no let’s throw your emotions on the closest male) and he’s like “w-what? What’s the trick here? Didn’t you say it’s dangerous?” She’s like “ohhhh my life is so hardddd why doesn’t he love meeee” YOU HAD YOUR GODDAMN CHANCE TO BE A DECENT HUMAN BEING TO HIM AND YOU MESSED THAT UP

And then with Adrien, she’s outwardly rude, saying on speaker (I’m so glad he didn’t hear her) that he’s a school friend and that tell him that we’re not in school and that he should leave?! Like holy fucking shit, you really don’t know how to treat either personas of the boy with respect! You either obsessed and insist on dating and make creepy fantasies, or be extremely rude to their face!

And then when Chat Noir does what Ladybug told him, and respects and loves marinette so much to the point where he’s like “I am not taking advantage of you like this especially because you don’t know my identity” she legit starts screaming and crying about why everyone controls her and why she doesn’t get to choose who to love!

Marinette is exhibiting every single behavior chat had, to an even more extreme degree, that had people hating him and saying he can’t take no as an answer, and had the show constantly beat him up for!!! But when Marinette does it?! “Oh my god I’m so sorry I shouldn’t dictate who you love”

LIKE THE DOUBLE STANDARD IN THIS FUCKING SHOW SHES LITERALLY DOING ALL THE THINGS THAT PEOPLE AND THE SHOW CRITICIZED CHAT FOR BUT ITS OK BECAUSE SHES MARINETTE

And what’s the lesson from this episode kids? “They should do whatever makes them happy”. Not “hey maybe a civilian hero relationship would be dangerous” not “hey Marinette why are you super in love with me out of nowhere” or “hey Chat is right taking advantage of someone like this and getting into a relationship when one person holds more power over the other is a dangerous an unhealthy thing to do”

The lesson is that Marinette’s always right and whatever she feels right now is ok and right and everyone should listen to her always and forever and just be happy for her. Hooray.

Anyways adrien still manages to be more respectful and kind then marinette ever was (even just kindly asking where Marinette is, rather then immediately declaring his love, and being very cordial to ladybug, and not getting mad at her for flirting), Glaciator got akumatized over stupid shit but ok, and Plagg and Tikki be carrying the show (with the addition of Alya, marinette should not have screamed at my girl like this)

#miraculous ladybug #mlb fandom #adrien agreste #chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #ml spoilers #ml season 5 #ml rants #I swear if marinette acts rude to Adrien like this one more time

49 notes · View notes

the-lone-witch-and-secret-room · 3 years ago

Text

Camila Noceda and Flawed Parenting

A perspective by a flawed person with loving but extremely flawed parents

I’m genuinely baffled at some people’s hostile reaction towards Camila. Like… do any of you have flawless parents that always know the best solution instantly, make no mistakes and never get emotional?

My parents are great. They’re super supportive and I love them very, very much. Overall I think I got very lucky in the parents department.

But god, they are far from flawless. I still live at home, and despite all the good, there’s moments when I can’t take my dad anymore. He’s the kind of dad that stayed up until two am to help me with homework when I was in school, and he does so, so many things to make sure I’m happy. I know that. But despite all of this, I have told my mom in emotional moments before that I’m not sure if I can keep living with him, because for all his good sides, he has a couple of fatal flaws that sometimes make him unbearable.

My mom listens to me and is very open to being educated on certain topics, but she has her flaws, too. She hates when I fight with my dad, and gets so torn up about it that I’ve once apologized to my dad out of fear of her getting into a car crash otherwise. She’s very vocal about certain flaws of mine, and sometimes uses the things she does for me as leverage against me when she gets very emotional.

And both of my parents pay a lot more attention to my brother because he needs it more, because he’s more of a “problem child” while I “seem so capable” even when I’m not.

And guess what? I’m not a perfect child. I make mistakes sometimes, some of them pretty severe. Just like Luz, I’m the kind of person that struggles to communicate certain issues of mine to her parents. I’m stubborn, and when I get emotional, I say very hurtful things sometimes. So do they.

And this has nothing to do with my parents being horrible or abusive. They’re neither of those things.

The takeaway from this should not be that my entire family is made up of terrible people, but that we��re all flawed in our own ways, despite loving each other and trying our best. There’s things about my parents I wish I could change, and there are things about me that my parents wish they could change. And to an extent, that’s perfectly normal.

In our strengths and flaws and frustration with each other, we’re all human.

Specific, spoiler-y Camila and Luz things under the cut since this got very long.

We have no indication that Camila has a pattern of emotionally manipulating Luz. Her “emotional manipulation” as I’ve seen some people put it, is people for some reason thinking that the second you become an adult, you’re suddenly perfect and can no longer make mistakes, lest you’ll be dubbed horrible and abusive.

The whole concept is absurd to me. There is no perfect way to parent. There simply isn’t. Of course, there’s some genuinely abusive patterns that are horrible and inexcusable. But out of the parenting styles that aren’t, which one works depends on a number of factors, one of which absolutely includes that every child is different and has different needs. Camila is an amazing parent for Vee, giving the kid everything she’s ever longed for. She’s not an ideal parent for Luz. And that’s because Luz and Vee have fundamentally different needs.

Likewise, Luz is a pretty great child for Eda, but not a perfect fit for Camila. Luz relates to Eda a lot more than she relates to her mom, and that’s why the two of them have an easier time understanding each other. Both of these mother-child relationships exist, and one is not more doomed to fail than the other, but I think you’ll agree that the better you understand someone and where they’re coming from, the easier it is to communicate, pick up on certain signs, etc.

As mom and daughter, Camila and Luz are both flawed and have issues seeing the other’s perspective because of how different they are. And we should simultaneously acknowledge both of their roles in the issue and give both of them the space to learn and grow past those issues.

Luz struggles to communicate her problems. She doesn’t want to burden people in the demon realm, and it’s a given that this started out as not wanting to burden her mom. So she keeps quiet about her issues. Camila tries hard but can’t read her daughter’s mind, so there’s only so much she can do to understand and help the way Luz needs her to. Hell, Eda, who Luz is a lot more open with than her mom, struggles to help her, because Luz doesn’t tell her what’s wrong. I don’t see anyone calling Eda a terrible mom for that.

Camila tries her best, but she struggles to understand her daughter because of this, and because of how fundamentally different they are. She loves Luz’s creativity, we actively see her supporting it in the new episode—she keeps the weird stuff Luz made because she thinks Luz will regret throwing it away, and even plays along in what she assumes to be some elaborate role play because “she’s glad Luz kept her creativity even though it’s not made things easy for her at school”. But at the beginning of the show, said creativity got out of hand and people got hurt. Luz could’ve gotten hurt. So of course Camila had to interfere. I love Luz dearly, but she thought it was okay to bring snakes to school and set off fireworks inside a school building. Creativity is great. Doing reckless stuff that causes people to get hurt is not.

In sending Luz to camp, Camila tried to have someone else fix her issue because she didn’t know how to help Luz. That was a mistake, and a bad one at that, but she’s realizing that. She looks disheartened when Vee tries to throw out Luz’s stuff, because she never meant to change her daughter or take that part of her away. She just thought Luz needed a reality check—which, for the record, is something the narrative actually agrees with.

Luz spends her time in the demon realm getting reality check after reality check, realizing that even her ideal fantasy world where she has everything she always wanted doesn’t mean she’s free of consequences. She goes overboard constantly, causing:

-Eda to be forced to fly into a trap because Luz is chasing a fantasy (Witches before Wizards)

-Eda to almost be branded by her sister because Luz doesn’t think through why Eda doesn’t use magic to publicly announce her presence constantly (Once Upon a Swap)

-Eda and the twins to get kidnapped by a Slitherbeast because Luz stole Amity’s wand (Adventures in the Elements)

-Her friends to get hurt when she goes overboard trying to help Willow (Wing it like Witches)

-Eda to be captured and almost petrified because Luz thought she could just steal from the Emperor with no consequences in an attempt to help (Agony of a Witch)

I’m like 90% sure these aren’t even all. None of those make her a terrible person, for the record, but as all humans are, she is flawed and makes bad choices. She learns from these experiences and matures, just like her mom had hoped she would at camp. She’s also made friends there, which was another thing Camila wanted for her daughter.

You’ll probably realize that a lot of Luz’s behaviors I mentioned follow one of two patterns: 1. Luz’s idealized fantasy world causing problems, when she walks around with rose tinted glasses and gets people in trouble in the process because she hasn’t thought about the consequences, and 2. Luz trying to help someone she loves, but instead making things worse in the progress. The issue with this one is often that she doesn’t communicate her ideas/listen to the people she’s trying to help—like when Willow and Gus said they’ve had enough of Grudgby, or how she never actually talks to Eda about the healing hat idea before doing something reckless.

…does the latter one sound familiar to you at all? No? Because it’s the exact same thing that Camila did.

Some of the things Luz does are reckless and actively endanger others and herself, and that’s something that I think we need to acknowledge before judging Camila. As Luz’s mom, it’s Camila’s job to interfere in those situations. That she made a mistake while trying to protect Luz doesn’t make her a terrible person, especially as, again, the narrative proves her right to an extent.

I’m not saying her making Luz promise to come back and stay isn’t something that hurt Luz—it absolutely is. But it was born out of desperation. She’s emotional and in shock. She’s so full of pain and regret. She just wants her fourteen year old daughter home safe, and there’s nothing abusive or even morally ambiguous about that.

From Luz’s perspective, what she says is absolutely heartbreaking, but from Camila’s, it’s perfectly reasonable. I doubt Camila has the full picture, but even if she does, she’s had a full fifteen seconds to process that her daughter has not only been lying to her for months, but chose to leave her, and is in the demon realm of all places. Of course she’d be emotional and upset about that! Who wouldn’t? Camila isn’t a robot. If she’d been calm about this I’d be way more concerned, honestly.

My parents don’t get mad that easily, but if I would lie to them for weeks on end, they’d be pissed off too, not even taking the running away from home part into account. That’s a normal thing. People don’t like being lied to. Camila is absolutely devastated in that moment because she’s scared that Luz left because she hates her, when Luz actively states that her leaving wasn’t about her mom—which is another thing we should really be acknowledging.

Abusive parents suck and abuse should obviously never be apologized or trivialized, but saying something hurtful in the heat of the moment isn’t the same thing as being an abusive parent. My parents have done this. I’ve done this. And yes, those things can be emotionally manipulative, but there’s a huge difference in whether that’s a habit or a person speaking out of hurt and desperation in a very specific context. I doubt there’s anyone on the entire planet that hasn’t had a bad moment where they’ve said something like this because they were hurting. People lash out when they hurt, and they beg for reassurance when they’re scared. That’s something we all do.

The whole mindset of “all parents have to be perfect and can never get upset or make any mistakes” is harmful as hell, and honestly also very unrealistic. No parent is perfect, and especially people like me who have a relationship with their parents that’s very good overall should know that.

Once you have a child, parenting is a non-stop learning process, every day for the rest of your life. Taking away that room to grow and expecting perfection isn’t helping anyone, especially not struggling single parents.

And I see Camila as someone who is very willing to learn, because at the end of the day, all she wants is for Luz to be happy. Let’s give her some time to wrap her head around this whole situation. Let’s see what she says once she sees for herself how happy Luz is in that world, may it be via the videos eventually coming through or Camila visiting and meeting Luz’s found family, her friends and her girlfriend.

Ultimately, I don’t think Camila will force Luz to stay at home, but we have to give her some time. She wants what’s best for Luz, and she’s gonna need some convincing that a dangerous magical world is what’s best. I feel like that’s very normal considering the circumstances.

Her and Luz need to work on their communication on both ends, they both have things to learn, but I’m certain they’ll manage to fix their relationship in the long run.

If the bunk bed is any indication, I think Vee is gonna stay in the human realm permanently while Luz sleeps at home but keeps attending Hexside in the daytime. That feels like a solution that keeps everyone happy, and allows Luz to spend time with all the people she loves. I can’t see her being forced to choose at the end.

As a closing statement: Eda isn’t an ideal mom, Amity isn’t an ideal friend or girlfriend and neither is Luz, Lilith isn’t an ideal sister… but that’s because no one is ever an ideal anything. Being flawed is a big part of being human. Everyone has different facets to their personality. Their flaws are what makes them such great, relatable, believable characters.

And I feel the same way about Camila. She’s an extremely believable character that reminds me of my own parents, flawed but very loving nonetheless.

(Also honestly, I think it’s pretty telling that some of you guys immediately bash the black single mom that’s obviously trying her hardest while giving the benefit of the doubt to Alador, who has been portrayed as neglecting and threatened his six year old daughter on screen. This was already a thing before we knew much about either of them, and I’m disappointed but unfortunately not very surprised that it still is.)

979 notes · View notes

cjsinkythoughts · 4 years ago

Text

Right From Left

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Reader

Word Count: 3085

Warnings: !FATWS SPOILERS!, Cursing, Zemo being a punk, Bucky getting a little scary, some feelings, Sam being his fantastic, amazing, caring for everyone self

A/N: Here it is! At long last! I’ve been waiting for this episode and it was…holy fuck. I barely have words. And I can’t start or else I’ll be ranting for pages. Anyways, I know this Part is a little on the shorter side - not by much, but it still is - and it doesn’t even cover half the episode, but I’ve had a long day and I’m tired, so I’m going to sleep. I wanted to stop before Walker entered the picture too, because then I’m just gonna get more riled up and I’m working later. I’ll probably have another part out today, and then I’ll finish it tomorrow. Unless I can finish it today. I’ll try, but no promises.

Feel free to rant to me about the episode or the show, too, guys! My friends and I have been going back and forth about it for the past few hours. I’d love to hear your thoughts! I think that’s all for now.

As always, this isn’t beta’d so please excuse any mistakes! Thank you for reading, be kind to yourself and others, enjoy this part and stay tuned!

FATWS Masterlist

cjsinkythoughts Masterlist

!SPOILERS BELOW CUT!

You were avoiding him.

When you first got to Latvia, he had pulled you aside, eyes wide and pleading. “Doll, listen-”

“I really don’t think right now is the time to have the discussion we’re about to have.” Shaking your head, you avoided his gaze, your stomach twisting into knots. It was too much for you to handle; you couldn’t focus on the mission at hand and try to unravel the emotions that were making your gut flip like a gymnast. There were too many thoughts in your head, and you needed a clear mind.

“But-”

“Once this is all done, and our lives aren’t in danger. Once we’re back home, then we can talk, okay? Just…please. Not here. Not now.”

And he dropped it.

It wasn’t that you didn’t want to talk about it. You just couldn’t. You had always been a ‘leave your baggage at the door’ type of person. Don’t mix work with personal. Not like you had much “personal” anyways when you first decided that was how it should be. And then your coworkers became family and your motto got a lot harder to follow. But you still followed it. And you would continue to follow it.

But that made you start avoiding him. Whether you meant to or not, everyone noticed, but no one said anything. Sam shot you a look when you didn’t offer to go with Bucky when he had to check something out. Zemo raised an eyebrow when he came back and, instead of immediately questioning him, you sat still on the couch, eyes glancing up briefly, before going back to playing with the strings of your hoodie.

You were paying attention to their conversation, especially when Karli Morgenthau was brought up, you just didn’t join in. Not even when Zemo mentioned the Avengers, eyeing you to see your reaction.

Honestly, you were tired, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Your shoulder hurt, your brain couldn’t process what the guys were talking about, and your heart couldn’t take any more hits.

It was something you’d been thinking about…you just thought it’d come after this mission.

“She will not stop. She will escalate until you kill her…or she kills you.”

“Maybe you’re wrong Zemo. The Serum never corrupted Steve.”

For the first time since he first walked in, your eyes met Bucky’s. “Touche.” Zemo pointed at Bucky with a pastry around his finger. “But there has never been another Steve Rogers, has there?”

But you couldn’t wait until after this mission. Not when he was so connected to it. “I think I’m gonna go home.” You blurted out before Zemo and Bucky could argue further, Bucky slumping down onto the opposite side of the couch.

The moment the words left your lips, Sam and Bucky shot up, staring at you in disbelief.

“Wait, hold up. What? Now? We’re so close-”

“Why? Is it your arm? Is it hurting? You should’ve told us-”

“I’m just tired.” You cut in, shaking your head. “That’s all. I didn’t expect this to be drawn out this long when you called, Sammy.”

Bucky’s hand twitched as he hesitatingly scooted closer to you. “Doll, if this is because what happened on the jet-”

“It’s not, Buck.” You tried to give him a convincing smile, but you knew by the look in his eyes that he didn’t buy it for one second. You reached over to squeeze his hand, and when you pulled back, he held on tighter, a sigh escaping his lips as he stared down at your linked hands.

“Okay…if you wanna go home, we can get you home. Just…” His head turned back to you, a pleading pout on his features. “Just…stay. Another day. Please. You can keep avoiding me, I won’t even say another word to you if you don’t want. But stay. Just for one more day.”

Chewing on your cheek, you finally nodded slightly. “Okay. One more day.”

His eyes lit up, before his face fell again when you took your hand back and curled into the corner of the couch. “Let’s talk shop, boys.”

“Okay. So, from my understanding, Donya is like a pillar of the community, right?” Sam easily changed the topic back to the situation at hand, giving you a reassuring wink when you smiled at him gratefully. “So when I was a kid, my Tee Tee passed away.”

Bucky screwed his face up in confusion, straightening his head from where he had it leaned back. “Your - your Tee Tee?”

Sam gave him a look. “Yeah. My-my Tee Tee, yeah.”

Bucky looked at him weirdly. “Who is your Tee Tee?”

The exchange made you giggle a little bit, shaking your head. “Bucky’s a city boy from the 40’s, remember, Sammy?”

“Fine.” Sam rolled his eyes. “When I was a kid my aunt passed away.”

Bucky gave a slight huff, making you chuckle again. You stopped when he smiled over at you, but your grin didn’t leave your face. Even when they were the ones to give you a headache, your fellas were damn entertaining, that’s for sure.

With a sort-of plan in place - the gathering for Donya being no more than a theory, but the only idea you really had - you stretched out from your spot on the couch, twisting to crack your back. “Zemo.” The man stopped his rummaging through the cabinets and looked over his shoulder at you, an eyebrow raised. “Go put some clothes on. We’ve got work to do.”

He gave you an unimpressed look, opening his mouth, but Sam beat him to the punch. “Do as the lady says, man. You’re already walking on a tightrope after you shot Nagel!” Zemo waved dismissively at Sam’s exclamation, heading into a separate room to change out of his robe. “That guy is gonna drive me up the wall.”

“Don’t let him get to that pretty head of yours, Sammy.” You hummed, standing up, wincing slightly as you stretched your sore shoulder over your head.

You could tell Bucky wanted to say something, the way he snapped forwards, hands moving down his thigh like he was leaning over to reach for you, his eyes locked on your injured joint, but, just as he said earlier, he didn’t say a word. But the part that made you upset was…you didn’t stop him. You didn’t tell him it was okay for him to talk to you. You didn’t reassure him that you weren’t purposely trying to avoid him. You simply moved over to the kitchen to get something to drink.

It hurt worse than your shoulder, but you couldn’t handle it. Not then. Not with such an important part of the mission coming up. So you didn’t say anything. You just sipped your water, switching into tactic mode as your mind ran through the scenarios of what could possibly go down in the next 24 hours before you went home.

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

Walking under the arch, you couldn’t help but feel saddened as Zemo told you about what the courtyard used to look like. Thanos messed the world up so much more than you realized and, as much as you hated to admit it, the Avengers did have a part in it. Not that they - you - were in the wrong, necessarily. You truly believed you did what anyone in that situation, with the skills and abilities and knowledge the team had, would do what you did. Or tried to do.

“I’m gonna take a look around upstairs.” Sam stated, looking up at the upper stories of the building, before glancing at Bucky. “See what you can find out here. And keep an eye on him.”

“I’ll come with you.” You said, turning on your heel to follow Sam. The back of Bucky’s gloved hand brushed against yours, and instinctually you turned your palm to link your fingers and squeezing. You let go quickly once you realized what you were doing, nearly tripping up the stairs to get to Sam, not daring to wait for Bucky’s reaction.

“You’re an idiot.” He stated simply as soon as you met him at the top of the stairs.

“Can we focus on finding Donya right now, please?” You grumbled, moving forwards cautiously, peeking around the corner. You frowned when you saw two guys at the end of the hallway, looking back at you and Sam warily.

“You need to hear what he has to say, cher.”

You sighed, rubbing your forehead. “I know I do. I know. But I can’t. Not right now. I’m just trying to get this over with first. I don’t want too many things on my plate. I might choke.” It already felt like you were drowning most nights.

He paused at your words, giving you a once over, before nodding. “Okay. I can respect that.”

“Thank you.” You told him earnestly. “Now let’s try to get something from these people.”

He nodded in agreement and you two continued forwards with your search. Room after room, people walked out before you could get anything from them, locking doors behind them. The Flag Smashers logo was everywhere, but you expected nothing less from a refugee camp that practically worshipped what they were doing.

Even when you did get a guy to talk to you, he immediately shut you down, leaving you and Sam dejected. The fact that the world had gotten so bad that these people couldn’t trust you and Sam - Avengers; people who used to be heroes and bring hope to others - it made your heart sink.

“C’mon, Y/N.”

“Are we wrong?”

He froze at your question, his lips pressing together. “About what, exactly?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. I just…I guess I can’t tell right from left anymore. I always assumed that the Avengers were the good guys. That the actions we’ve taken in the past were us making the world a better place, but…Sokovia and Ultron. Germany and the whole civil war thing we had going on. The entire world and Thanos. We don’t truly ever win. Do we?”

“I can’t answer that for you.” Sam shook his head. “I can’t tell you what to believe or who to believe in. But I can tell you that we’ve made a difference. Steve, Nat, Tony…they made a difference.”

“But was it a good difference? Was it a change? There’s a difference between changing the world and just making it different, Sam.”

He blinked at you, nodding slowly. “Yeah. I guess you’re right. And I don’t have that answer for you either. But they tried. They did what they thought was right. No matter if it was or not. And isn’t that all we can do? Try?”

His words made you think back to the conversation you had with Bucky once he learned about John Walker, which seemed so long ago. When you told him it wasn’t Sam’s fault. That he was just trying. That he did what he thought was right.

And maybe he was wrong. But he made a decision. It was his decision. To do the right thing. And right then, not for the first time, you could see exactly what Steve saw in the man in front of you.

“You’re a good man, Sam.”

Sam grinned, slinging an arm around your shoulders and squeezing. “And you’re an incredible person, Y/N. Let’s go see if Bucky and the Baron got anything.”

You snickered at his mocking tone towards Zemo and nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

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

You didn’t like it. You didn’t like it one bit. So far, Zemo kept proving you wrong. Even when it seemed like he was about to jump ship, he came back. No matter how many opportunities he had to escape, he never did. And it was making you even more suspicious.

You stayed out of Bucky and Sam’s conversation, although you had to agree with Sam’s point, especially with the conversation you just had.

Your thoughts were running a thousand miles a minute, only to be interrupted by Zemo information about the funeral this afternoon. Guess a snake will always be a snake.

“And you, uh, didn’t think this was important information?” You questioned, eyes narrowed and brow pinched.

He shrugged. “You have it now, don’t you, princess?”

Bucky growled at the nickname, leaning back on the couch, threatening Zemo with the Dora Milaje.

You can’t remember a time you’ve ever been scared of Bucky. Maybe a little threatened and intimidated by the Winter Soldier, but never scared of Bucky. And when he stood up after Zemo mentioned leverage, you didn’t expect anything from it; maybe another choke hold or something. So the glass hitting the wall, the clench in his jaw as he spoke gruffly to the Baron, for a mere second, he kind of frightened you. Maybe it was all the emotions you’d been through the past few weeks or maybe it was the adrenaline that seemed to be pulsing through your veins 24/7 nowadays. Whatever it was, it made you flinch, bolting up as Sam did.

You left the room quickly, hearing Sam say something about making a call, hoping to calm your racing heart.

“Doll?” You sat up from the bed you were laying on, legs hanging off the edge. Bucky stood in the doorway, nervously shifting his feet. “I know I said I’d leave you alone, but…”

You gave the bed a pat next to you and he gladly accepted the invitation, padding over to sit besides you. “I don’t want you to leave me alone, Buck. You’re my best friend. I-I just need to take it one thing at a time right now.”

He nodded. “I get it. I wasn’t…I wasn’t coming in to talk to you about that. You said we’ll talk about it later, so we’ll talk about it later.”

“I appreciate that, Bucky.” You smiled at him, before frowning. “What did you wanna talk about then? Are you okay?”

“Did I…did I scare you?”

You blinked at his question, tilting your head. “What?”

Jerking his head to the doorway he explained, “just then. With Zemo. Your heart spiked.”

“No.” You answered immediately. You would never ever admit that he kind of did scare you. It was just for a second and you knew how his brain worked; he’d beat himself up over it, go over his actions for hours instead of getting the rest he so desperately needs and deserves. He didn’t need that on his conscience right now. “I wasn’t - I just…you startled me. I wasn’t expecting that reaction-”

“I didn’t like the way he talked to you.” He spat out, glaring at his hands in his lap. “And then the smug bastard thought he was gonna get away with holding back information like that and I just…I dunno.”

His hand came off his thigh, but he hesitated. Before he could put it down again, you slipped your hand under his, linking your fingers, running your thumb in circles against his palm. “Don’t let him get to you, Buck. Don’t give him the satisfaction.”

A sigh left his lips and he nodded. “I know, I know. It’s just…hard. After everything he put me through - put us through - I…I just hate that he’s really our only option.”

You frowned, shifting on the bed to face him, one leg bending beneath you while the other still hung over. “Why are you so obsessed with catching these guys?”

“I wanna do something right.” He murmured, playing with your fingers. “I’ve done so much wrong…I just wanna do something right. And I feel...responsible for it, I guess. In a way. It’s Super Soldier Serum. I thought I was the only one after Steve…” He froze at the blonde’s mention, giving you a side-eyed glance. You nudged him, silently telling him to continue, that it was okay to talk about him. “And Sam’s right, you know. She’s just a kid. So…I dunno. I wanna help. I wanna do something right. And catching them would help. It’s right. Right?”

You nodded firmly. “I understand where they’re coming from. Karli’s just trying to help the world. But she’s doing it wrong. And that I know for absolute certainty. Which is good, I guess. I was talking to Sam early and I mentioned not knowing my right from my left recently. It’s good I know something, huh? And for you it should be easy telling your right from your left.” You joked, tracing the gold lines on his metal arm. “I guess you’re just gonna have to stay besides me to help me remember.”

Looking up, you found Bucky staring at you with something you recognized in his eyes, but didn’t want to name. “Three hours, forty two minutes and thirty one seconds.”

“What?”

“That’s how long I didn’t talk to you. It was too long.”

You sighed, ducking your head. “Bucky, I’m sorry-”

“I’m sorry. For anything and everything I’ve ever done wrong. I won’t mention the plane or anything we’ve talked about until you bring it up first. I promise. Just…just don’t ignore me anymore? I'm not sure I can handle it for much longer.”

You nodded, watching your fingertips dance along his scruffy jaw. “I won’t.” He caught your wrist, opening his mouth, before shaking his head and closing it. “What?”

He shook his head again. “Not until you bring it up.”

“We will talk, James. I promise.”

“You don’t have to explain. I get it. I really do. It’s okay. As long as we’re okay for right now, I can hold it in a bit longer.”

You nearly asked him what he was holding in, but you quickly shoved the question out of your mind, knowing it would take you down a conversation you couldn’t possibly have right then. “How long do you think we have?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Zemo just said that it’s this afternoon. Why?”

“I started reading The Great Gatsby on the plane. I’ve got it on my phone. It kinda reminds me of you. Do you-do you think we have time to read some? Only if you want, I mean. Like we used to do in Wakanda?”

He grinned and nodded, scooting up on the bed and flopping down into the pillows. You smiled back, following his lead. Once you were comfortable, your phone out with the chapter you were on, Bucky scooted closer, laying his head on your stomach, hugging your waist.

“Is this okay?”

Your fingers found home in his hair and you nodded when he looked up at you for an answer. “Yeah. It’s perfect, Buckaroo.”

2K notes · View notes

h0tchner · 3 years ago

Text

Any Age, Any Day, Anywhere (Part 1) - aaron hotchner x fem!reader

pairing: aaron hotchner x fem!reader

summary: WRITTEN FOR AN ANON REQUEST: "ok hi so u already wrote a jealous reader and was wondering whats your take on jealous hotch? i mostly see him in fics as possessive and yeah being the leader type i would think he could also be possessive but i also think that he would just be sad like ya know he doubts himself as we saw in some episodes and i think he would need assurance and a lot of convincing that u only love him but if you’ve given that to him then thats the time he would be possessive and god i would love to imagine a possessive and feral aaron hotchner"

word count: 3.5k

includes: kissing, so much freaking adorable fluff, talk of body insecurities, insecure!hotch, protective!hotch, wifey reader, super brief mentions of pregnancy, alcohol, confrontation with a drunk asshole (derek & hotch are all over it tho dw), party at papa rossi's!, smut to come in next chapter...

rating: 18+ (technically there is no smut in this part, but there are adult themes such as drinking, kissing, etc.).

a/n: HELLO BESTIES! This is part one of a two-part fic! The next part will be pure filth, so keep your eyes peeled for some feral hotch content... ALSO! PLS (!!!!!!!!!!!) interact if you liked this, rb, comment, like and/or send me a request if you have ideas for future fics! i love y’all! - rivka💞

“Aaron! Can you come here for a sec?” you call out to your husband from the bathroom, muttering curses under your breath as you try (and fail) for the third time to zip up the back of your black cocktail dress.

“Sure, I just need a minute,” he replies from the bedroom closet, securing the last opalescent button on the arm of his white dress shirt. He looks at himself in the closet mirror, zeroing in at the bags under his eyes and the sprinkling of grey in his stubble. He looks… tired. Tired and old. And he hates it.

Even though Aaron is only in his late-40s, he has lived lifetimes; years of working as Unit Chief of the BAU will do that to a man. Every horror he’s seen and every person he’s lost has weighed on his body and mind. In the past few months, amidst work changes and a new baby, he’s been exhausted and in fear that he’s letting himself go. Of course, being the stoic man that he is, he’s done his absolute best to hide these feelings from you. Tonight, however, he doesn’t know if he can. It’ll be your first night out together as a couple since welcoming baby girl Hotchner to the family four months ago. With no pressing family or work distractions, he just knows that you’ll be able to sense his apprehensions. It’s only a matter of when.

Taking in a breath, he turns a little to the side, frowning at his profile. Aaron winces a little at his “dad bod,” but quickly recovers from the discomfort, milliseconds after it flashes across his face.

“Aaron Hotchner get your handsome butt in here and help me zip my dress! We’re gonna be late,” you exclaim, trying one last time to reach the zipper before giving up and crossing your arms in defeat. You lean back lightly against the countertop facing the door, letting the fabric slip off your shoulders, and wait for your husband to rescue you from the hell that is this dress.

At the sound of your voice, Aaron snaps out of his trance. He shakes his head lightly, as if to physically erase the intrusive thoughts, and clears his throat. Grabbing his suit jacket off the hanger, he flicks off the closet light and closes the door behind him.

Languidly, he meanders from the closet toward the bathroom. He drags his feet a little longer than he normally would, still feeling off and a little bit shy about his appearance.

“Aaron,” you sing, “I’m waiting for –,” your jaw drops mid-sentence when Aaron appears in the doorway.

“Oh fuck,” you breathe out before you can stop yourself, eyes widening at the sight of the gorgeous man in front of you.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, crossing over to you, searching your face for any ounce of reprieve.

“Nothing, nothing’s wrong,” you’re quick to reply, standing from your leaning position to meet him, holding out your hands.

He takes them in his own, cocking his head slightly, his soft hazel eyes boring into yours.

You shift forward, moving up on your toes to peck his soft pink lips.

He sighs into the kiss, feeling the warmth of your lips against his own. It feels so good that it almost makes him forget about how he is feeling… almost. But the dark thoughts come back, and he pulls away from you a bit, reluctantly.

Aaron clears his throat.

“You called me?” He questions, but it sounds more like a fact.

“Yeah,” you give his hands a squeeze. “I needed you to zip up my dress, but now,” you lean in again, “I kinda want you to rip it off me.” You offer him a sultry smirk, moving your hands up to rest on his broad chest. He moves his hands to settle on your hips.

You lick your lips and let your eyes rake over his body, taking in every ounce of his sexy frame. The way his crisp, white dress shirt hugs his solid body makes you go weak in the knees. His strong, toned legs in those black dress pants? Yes please. His soft black hair and salt and pepper stubble on his face are practically begging to be touched. He looks good. Damn good.

“You look…” you pause, tapping a finger lightly against his pectoral, searching for the right word, “…delicious.”

Aaron blushes lightly at your ogling, offering you a sad smile as he squeezes his eyes shut out of embarrassment.

You sense the falter in his demeanor, knowing that there’s something else nagging at him far beyond his usual flustering when you vocalize your attraction to him.

“Honey,” you implore, looping your hands around his neck to bring his forehead down to touch yours. “What’s going on in that big, beautiful brain of yours?”

“It’s nothing,” he mutters, swallowing, rubbing soft circles into your sides.

“It’s something,” you counter, carding a hand through his hair at the nape of his neck. You scratch lightly at his scalp, waiting for him to speak. You’ve learned that the best thing to do when Aaron gets in a mood is to give him some time to gather his thoughts. Keeping him close, physically, is a way to show him some comfort without pressuring him to speak. It encourages him, without words, that your arms are a safe place.

“I don’t…” he starts, and then stops himself. His dark eyebrows furrow and his mouth presses into a thin line.

“Mhm?” you question, fingers still tangled in his thick, black locks.

He pulls his forehead away from yours and locks eyes with you. You let your hands be still now, a silent gesture to show him that you’re listening.

He takes in a breath.

“I don’t look the way I used to,” he says quietly, shifting his eyes away from yours.

“What do you mean,” you urge him to continue.

“I mean, I don’t look like I did five years ago. Two years ago. Four months ago. I mean, I was practically a different man when we first met. I was younger, fitter…” he trails off, visibly upset.

“Yes, Aaron, you were,” you agree, keeping your tone temperate.

His eyes snap to yours, confused. It’s clear that was not what he was expecting you to say.

“You were a different man,” you continue gently, resuming your pacifying touch in his hair, “and I was a different woman.”

Aaron lets out a huff.

“Do you love me any less now than you did five years ago?” You ask him.

“Of course not,” he’s quick to answer.

“Why is that?” You prod.

“You’re gorgeous, inside and out. You’re funny, smart, loving…” he begins, but you interrupt him before he can go on.

“And,” you butt in, “if I were to go completely grey, gain thirty pounds, and only wear a potato sack to work every day would you love me any less?”

Aaron huffs again, but this time he’s fighting a smile. He’s starting to catch on. You watch as a spark of levity returns to his eyes. He holds you a little tighter.

“No. There’s nothing you could do or say to make me love you any less,” he grumbles in annoyance, but his upturned lip and matching eyebrow tell a different story.

“Ditto, baby,” you smile up at him. “I love you at any age, any day, anywhere, and there is nothing in the world that can make me change my mind.”

He dips down then, capturing you in a kiss, grinning against your lips.

You giggle as Aaron works his way down your jawline and neck, gasping as he kisses the soft skin at the junction of your neck and shoulder, thick fingers gripping the sides of your hips. He moves his lips back up to your earlobe, nipping at it lightly as you let out another soft gasp.

“You always know the right thing to say,” he whispers into your ear, pressing another kiss right underneath it.

“Aaron, I know I said I wanted you to take this dress off me,” you say breathlessly as Aaron nips at your shoulder again, “but Rossi will kill us if we don’t show up tonight. Plus, I really want the chance to show off my super sexy FBI husband. It’s been far too long.”

He lets out a low groan into your skin and gives your hips a squeeze, nuzzling his head into your neck.

“Yeah,” he mumbles, “you’re right.”

“Aren’t I always,” you snort, eliciting a chuckle from your husband as you turn around in his arms to let him zip you up.

He takes his time, letting his fingers brush lightly over your spine as he draws the zipper over your back. When he’s done and the clasp is latched, he kisses one shoulder lightly, and then the other.

“Thank you,” you whisper, leaning back against his warm body.

“No, honey,” he kisses the top of your head, “thank you.”

_____________________________________________________________

By the time you and Aaron arrive at Rossi’s mansion, the party is already in full swing. Judging by the number of cars in the makeshift parking lot on his spacious front lawn, there must be at least fifty, maybe even a hundred people here.

Despite the bustle of the evening, it doesn’t take long for you two to find Emily, Penelope, and Derek in the living room, drinks in hand, snacking on some very expensive looking food.

“Hey, look! It’s the Hotchners!” Emily cheers, teetering on the arm of the leather couch, wine glass in hand.

“Hello beautiful BAU power-couple!” Penelope chimes in from the seat next to her, cuddled up into Derek’s side.

You laugh and let go of Aaron’s hand, walking over to greet your friends.

“Hey hot stuff, look at you, look at you!” Derek chimes in, eyeing you up and down before standing to shake Aaron’s hand.

“Oh, please,” you roll your eyes at him as you give Emily a big hug.

“And you don’t look bad yourself, boss man!” Derek adds.

You shoot your husband an ‘I told you so’ look over your shoulder, before untangling your arms from Emily and giving Penelope an equally enthusiastic squeeze.

“It’s good to see you all,” Aaron smiles lightly, all dimples in the low light. He steps in to give Emily and Penelope soft hugs.

“Let’s go get you a drink,” Derek says to Aaron, clapping him on the back.

“White?” Aaron looks to you, even though he already knows the answer.

“Yes please,” you respond, “thank you.”

“Be back soon,” he smiles easily, kissing your cheek, making your heart ache.

Aaron and Derek turn and exit the room together.

Penelope drunkenly pats the seat next to her, and you plop down on the couch.

“We’ve missed you like this!” Emily exclaims, gesturing between the three of you and around the room. “I can’t believe we’ve had to wait nine whole months plusanother four just to have a drink with our best friend again.”

You laugh at her, tilting your head back lightly. “Well, you guys got a beautiful little niece out of it, doesn’t that make up for all the wild girl’s nights I missed?”

Emily sighs, dramatically, “I guess so,” she jests.

“Oh, for sure.” Penelope adds. “You look freaking gorgeous, by the way. I mean, I would have never guessed you were creating a tiny human in that body only a few months ago!”

You blush lightly at her words, “You flatter me far too much, Pen. I owe this,” you gesture down at your figure, “all to Spanx!”

“Amen!” Emily toasts. You raise an imaginary glass to theirs and pretend to clink, taking a swig of invisible liquid.

“Are J.J. and Will here?” You ask them after they’ve had a few more sips of their wine.

“Yeah, yeah,” Emily nods, “they’re around somewhere.”

You take a moment and look around the room, taking in all the sights and the sounds of the party. You see some faces you recognize from around the bureau, but others you don’t. Just as you’re about to turn back to your friends, someone catches your eye. One face stands out from the crowd: he’s a young, suave-looking man in a sharp navy suit. Sandy hair perfectly gelled, shiny brown loafers, and bright blue eyes looking right at you. In another life you would have been exhilarated by his attention, apparent charm, and good looks, but now? Now, you’re married to the love of your life with an amazing stepson and a wonderful baby girl. His wolfish gaze means absolutely nothing to you. You simply flash him a curt smile and turn back to Emily and Penelope without a second thought.

You and your friends resume your chatter, waiting for the men to return with more drinks... only they don’t. Perhaps its “new mother anxiety” talking, but the longer your husband is gone, the more you start to grow concerned. A few more minutes pass of antics, laughter, and catching up until the nagging voice in the back of your head turns into an all-out scream. All you know is that you’re suddenly feeling very overwhelmed need to be with Aaron. So, you announce to your friends that you’re going to hunt down Derek and your husband.

You stand from the couch and smooth out the skirt of your dress with the promise to be back in a few minutes.

You walk out of the living room and into the grand foyer, following the same route as Aaron had earlier. Your black kitten heels click on the marble flooring, the skirt of your dress swishing lightly as you walk with purpose towards the kitchen. You’re so concentrated on reaching your destination that you don’t realize the man who had been watching you in the living room was now hot at your heels, following you through the house. It’s only when a hand reaches out and jerks your arm backward that you stop, startled, just past the grand staircase, turning face to face with him.

“You’re not an easy woman to get alone,” he smirks, reeking of alcohol, still gripping your arm, tight. Up close he is decidedly not as handsome as the low light of the living room made him seem. In fact, he seems… creepy. Really, really, really, creepy.

“Can I help you?” You blink at him, pulling your arm out of his vice grip.

“You sure can, baby,” he steps closer to you, voice oozing with sleaze. You gag at the liquor on his breath.

Moving away, you scowl at him, crossing your arms across your chest.

“What’s say you and I head upstairs for a little while? I’m dying to get my hands on your body.” He jerks his head toward the staircase, reaching out to grab your arm again.

You’re fuming at this point, ready give him a piece of your mind when a stern voice beats you to it.

“Excuse me, what do you think you’re doing?” Aaron articulates, approaching you both with Derek not far behind.

You breathe a sigh of relief as your husband glares at the drunken man vengefully, coming to stand by your side. Aaron pulls you into him, roughly, hand tight around your waist. The anger radiating off your husband is equally terrifying and HOT.

“Take a walk, man,” Derek adds in, coming to stand next to the drunken asshole. The man looks from you, to Aaron, then over to Derek, and finally back at you.

“Whatever,” the man grumbles, putting his hands up, “she’s not worth it anyway. Not pretty enough for the hassle. I just thought she looked like an easy lay.”

“That’s enough,” Aaron snaps, seething. “Leave now, before I make you,” your husband growls. He angles his body forward so you’re slightly behind him. A shiver passes through you at his fierce protectiveness.

“Fine, I’m going to get another drink,” the man utters.

“No,” Aaron interjects, “the party. Leave the party or I’ll have you removed.”

“What’s your problem?” The creepy man retorts, this time, more confrontationally.

“My problem?” Aaron says, angrily. You feel his entire body tense at the accusation.

“Hotch,” Derek warns, “I’ll take care of it. You guys go enjoy yourselves. Forget about him.”

“Come on, Aaron,” you tug on his suit jacket lightly, eyes pleading… but Aaron doesn’t budge from his spot. He only holds you tighter as he continues to stare down the man as Derek ushers him away and towards the front door. He doesn’t falter until they are out of sight.

“Aaron?” You repeat.

He looks down at you, finally, blinking away the fury until all that’s left is an all-consuming love. He releases you from his protective hold, and you face him.

“I’m okay,” you assure him in earnest, letting out a shaky breath.

“Honey, I’m so sorry,” he breathes, bringing his hands up to cup your face.

“Aaron, it’s okay, really,” you bite your lip, shifting your eyes away from his.

“You’re so beautiful,” Aaron kisses your forehead, and then the top of your head. “So, so beautiful, and I’m so sorry.”

“Aaron, can we just go home?” You ask.

“Sure,” he kisses your head one last time before weaving his fingers between yours and guiding you gently toward the back exit.

_____________________________________________________________

The car ride home is quiet. The only sounds are the occasional click of the turn signal, and the hum of the wheels on the road. Aaron is still upset, and so are you, but you’re also… something else. Something you can’t quite put your finger on. You feel guilty for ruining the evening, guilty that you FEEL guilty for something you had no control over, hungry, tired, and… horny? Oh, and guilty for feeling horny.

It isn’t helping that one of Aaron’s hands is planted firmly on your thigh. He lifts it only to adjust the air conditioning or to scratch his nose, but otherwise it remains on you the whole way home. When he pulls into the driveway of your shared house, and shuts the car off, he still doesn’t move it.

“Honey?” You turn your head to look at him. His eyes are closed. You take in the strong features of his profile, noting the prominence of his nose and the way his eyelashes rest on his high cheekbones.

“I almost punched him.” Aaron whispers, opening his eyes to look over at you sheepishly.

“You what,” you exhale, mouth slightly agape.

“That guy,” he continues, bringing his left hand up to pinch his nose. “I almost punched him for saying that about you.”

You snort, amused by his confession.

Your husband lets out a short laugh, squeezing your thigh as he does.

“I would’ve liked to see that.” You’re grinning now and so is he.

He flashes his eyes at you and laughs again, this time less anxiously. You join him, feeling the tension dissipate with every passing moment.

“My big, bad FBI man decking a barely-legal drunk dickhead for making a move on his wife? Where can I get my tickets?” You joke.

As you say the words “his wife,” Aaron’s breath hitches in his throat. His hand on your thigh presses down instinctively. Neither of his reactions go unnoticed.

You lay a hand over his where it rests on your leg.

“You know, Aaron,” you begin.

He looks over at you, jaw tight, but this time it isn’t from anger.

“This is the first time we’ve had the house all to ourselves in months,” you pull his hand off you and bring it up to your lips. You press a kiss to his palm, and then to his wrist.

“This… is true,” he breathes out, studying you, taking you in.

“So, I’m just wondering:” you grin, linking your fingers with his, “are you going to carry your wife into our house, Aaron? Or do I have to walk myself?”

459 notes · View notes

kanansdume · 2 years ago

Text

Okay, I have to admit, part of the reason for this re-watch was to see if some of the arcs I was meh about it the first time through I actually like MORE on a re-watch.

So far, everything I’ve liked I still like and the things I was more meh about I’m still meh about or worse.

BUT

I actually have changed my mind for one very important arc and that is Ezra’s alliance with Maul on Malachor.

The first time I watched this I couldn’t understand why he turned to Maul so easily and seemed to turn on Kanan with ZERO hint previously in this season of any real animosity between them that hadn’t already been dealt with. Yes, Ezra was frustrated at the multiple demands on his time and increased responsibility but after he met Hondo he recommitted himself to the duty he’d taken on as a Jedi, a Rebel, and a member of the Ghost crew, and was seemingly fine after that. Yes, Ezra was upset about the conflict between Kanan and Rex and continuously tried to escape that, but Kanan and Rex's relationship become more cordial and friendly about halfway through the season and never seems to hit any speedbumps afterwards. So there was no real good reason for Ezra to be upset enough with Kanan that he’d willingly choose a Sith Lord over Kanan.

But I think I was looking for the wrong thing. Because as much as Ezra is a parallel for Anakin and the Kanan/Ezra relationship parallels Obi-Wan and Anakin’s, they’re not the same. Ezra’s issue here isn’t really about Kanan at all, he doesn’t think Kanan’s holding him back, he’s not UPSET with Kanan.

We’re told what the problem is by Yoda in an earlier episode where they go to the Lothal temple: Ezra’s hitting that very dangerous stage in his training where he’s improving really rapidly and is starting to get very comfortable and confident. He’s NOT completely trained, he’s still in the middle of his training, but because he’s improving so quickly in this stage, he’s getting OVER confident which can be dangerous when he chooses not to listen to other people with more experience and dismiss red flags because he thinks he knows better. This is a very normal thing to happen to people, Ezra’s not particularly special for going through this, this isn’t a sign that Ezra’s especially arrogant or susceptible to darker temptations and habits. But it IS something to watch out for, to be aware of, and that Kanan has to help him combat.

And THAT’S what’s happening on Malachor. It’s not that Ezra is particularly upset with Kanan or that there was some rift in their relationship I had missed. It was just Ezra being overconfident and chafing against Kanan’s protective instincts when faced with his student choosing to trust a literal Sith Lord. He wants to PROVE himself to Kanan, he wants Kanan to see him as an equal and is taking Kanan’s attempts to protect him from Maul as a sign that Kanan DOESN’T respect him the same way. And of course Maul, being particularly Sith-y here, is doing almost exactly the same thing Palpatine always did for Anakin: tell him exactly what he wants to hear and let him do whatever he wants to do. Which, for someone in Ezra’s position where he’s feeling overconfident in his own abilities and wants to be treated as an equal and move ahead quicker than he’s maybe ready for, feels like the same thing as respect and is very flattering.

Kanan, by contrast, is learning a different lesson. Kanan’s vision was about recognizing when he has to just trust he’s taught Ezra as much as he can and just trust that Ezra will ultimately make the right decision. To bring back the parallel to Obi-Wan and Anakin here, this is the exact same arc we saw playing out in Attack of the Clones. Kanan tries to step in between Ezra and Maul and it only causes Ezra to think Kanan doesn’t trust him, so the next time Kanan is offered that choice, he steps back, steps aside, and chooses to trust that Ezra will ultimately make the right choice.

And while Ezra DOES make the mistake of starting up the Sith battlestation, he also ultimately makes the choice NOT TO FALL TO IT, he REFUSES to let the Sith battlestation turn him against his friends and fall to its temptations. And in the end, he stands together with Kanan to remove the holocron and turn off the battlestation. Kanan’s trust is rewarded.

I’m so glad I rewatched this show, this was a really nice thing to change my mind about and be able to see from a new perspective.

#star wars rebels #ezra bridger #kanan jarrus #darth maul #ezra #kanan #rebels

40 notes · View notes

fandom-imagines-stories · 4 years ago

Text

Worth the World

Spike x Reader

Words: 2459

Summary: On a particularly bad day, the reader can barely bring herself to get out of bed. Spike does his best to comfort his girlfriend without being overbearing.

Notes: This is inspired by one of my favorite fics ever by @suckmysupernatural. I got this idea when having a depressive episode myself, so I hope you guys enjoy a little comfort fic with one of my favorite vamps. Plus, I’ve never written for Spike before and since I’m getting back into Buffy, I thought this would be the perfect time. (Also, this is entirely based on my own experience, so it might not be everyone’s experience with this kind of thing {but please be nice, I just used a few of the things I felt so it’s all based on my own emotions and insecurities!}) Enjoy!

Warnings: Depression, self-loathing, anxiety (This imagine was really just a way for me to put down my emotions and write something comforting, but I hope you all like it too)

You didn’t want to move. You weren’t really sure if you could. Your limbs just felt… heavy. Forcing your legs to move, you slowly swung them over the side of the bed, using all the strength you could muster to sit up straight.

It wasn’t that something terrible had happened. In fact, the day before had gone pretty well. You’d spent most of it watching movies with Willow and Buffy and, when the sunset, you went on a long evening walk with your boyfriend. There were no deadly forces plotting world domination, no vengeful vamps after you or your friends. Hell, your favorite restaurant was open and you brought home leftovers for breakfast.

Now, the idea of eating made your stomach turn. You managed to shuffle your way to the kitchen of your apartment, but just stood in front of the counter, leaning on the marble top for support. Just standing there felt like it took every ounce of energy you had. It was almost painful, tears pricking the corners of your eyes. You did your best to keep them from falling. You had places to be today, meeting up with the gang and you didn’t want to worry them with your moping.

With slow steps, you made your way back to your room to get dressed. Of course, most of your clothes were dirty and you didn’t care enough to wash them. So you threw a sweatshirt over your pajama top and put on some shoes, hoping no one would ask about it. You caught your reflection and felt that dark, empty feeling in your chest grow. Pathetic. Your shoulders sagged forward and you blinked away more tears as you watched them well in your eyes. You didn’t have the right to feel like this. How much had Buffy been through and she still greeted every day with a smile. Everything was perfect and yet you were pathetic enough to still want to crawl back into bed. You just hoped that you would feel better by the time you saw everyone. Especially Spike.

You sat with your legs pulled up to your chest. Xander and Willow were debating whether or not using wooden bullets would be a good vamp killer. Buffy was listening in amusement and Giles just looked exasperated, distracting himself by putting books back in their proper place on the shelves. No one said anything about your pajamas. You actually felt kind of invisible, like no one even really knew you were there. It made the empty feeling that much worse.

“What do you think, Y/N?”

“Xander, don’t you think that’s a little insensitive?”

“What? It’s not like we’re planning on dusting her boyfriend. Even if he is annoying and evil and-”

“Xander.” Willow said sternly. When you looked up, everyone’s eyes were on you.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention.” Your voice held little to no emotion. You were almost too exhausted to feel anything. You just felt hollow.

“If I shot Spike with a wooden bullet do you think he would, you know,” Xander made a motion with his hands that was meant to simulate a vampire dying. “Just theoretically, of course.”

Everyone was expecting a witty remark. You and Xander were close and teased each other often, especially about your relationship with Spike. Instead, you just shrugged, your eyes fixating on a spot on the table.

“Maybe.”

The group collectively exchanged a look of concern, but didn’t press anything. After all, what reason could there be for you to be upset? They knew that if something had happened with Spike, you would tell them and there weren’t any recent deaths to worry about, so they continued on with their playful conversations about breaking curses and some movie that they had watched recently. It felt like you were intruding- like an unwanted bystander that everyone wished would just disappear. While no one had said anything like that, the thoughts filled your head nonetheless.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, but you’d never told them. An episode like this hadn’t happened in months so you had hoped they had stopped. Some days you were as happy as you ever had been, but others you felt like a burden. Worthless and pathetic- pitying yourself for no reason at all.

Spike didn’t even know, even after almost a year of dating. You never dreamed of telling him. Spike was always saying that you were the strong one. You were the one that helped him through every day of his endless living. He got his soul for you. What would he say if he saw you like this? If he knew the doubts and loathing going through your head. He would know that you’re weak and vulnerable and you didn’t want that to happen.

So you didn’t tell them. You kept all of your thoughts inside of you as they ate away at your mind. On the outside, you just looked tired. Everyone knew that you stayed awake into the late hours because of Spike, so you hoped that’s what they would think. You were tired, but it wasn’t from lack of sleep. It was like your body just wanted to give up. Maybe if you could just wake yourself up, everything would go back to normal.

Buffy and Willow went out for coffee, so you went with them, hoping the caffeine would be enough to shake you out of this. Instead, it just made you more jumpy and anxious. The cup shook in your hand, but you kept drinking, still hoping that it would give you enough energy to fake it. This, like your out-of-it demeanor, did not go unnoticed.

“Hey, are you feeling okay?” Buffy asked, suddenly stopping her conversation with Willow about shoes. At first, you didn’t realize she was talking to you. You were so focused on the thoughts swarming around in your head, you hadn’t noticed they were both looking at you with concern.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you’ve been spacing out all morning. What’s going on?”

“I guess I’m just tired.” You shrugged, grimacing from the effort the small movement took.

“Are you sure? Did Spike do something stupid, because you know I’ll-”

“Really, Buffy, I’m okay. I think I just need to go home and rest for a while.” You finished the rest of the coffee, feeling your heart beat faster as the anxiety built up in your chest. “I’ll see you guys later, okay?”

“Okay.” Buffy gave you a skeptical glance and Willow smiled sincerely.

“Feel better, Y/N.”

“I’ll see you guys later.” You faked the best smile you could before turning away from them.

“Is she going to be okay?” Willow wondered, watching the way you nervously messed with the hem of your shirt as you walked. Buffy narrowed her eyes and grabbed her bag.

“I don’t know, but if she won’t talk to us about it, there’s one person she will.”

“Oh do we have to go there? You know that place gives me the creeps.” Willow whined. Buffy just gave her a look and the two trekked off in search of your sun-hating boyfriend.

You stood in the middle of your living room as the tears slowly started to pour down your cheeks. The coffee must have given you enough energy to cry and now you couldn’t stop. You couldn’t speak, you couldn’t move, you just stood, frozen by the overwhelming emptiness inside you. Pathetic. Useless. Worthless. Everything was swirling around your head, breaking you down further until you had to lean against the window sill to stay standing.

You could faintly hear something outside your door, but you made no motion to open it. It sounded far away, or maybe you were just blocking it out. All you could hear was your heart pounding, along with the hundreds of doubts rattling in your head. It was until the door burst open that you flinched.

“First, the slayer comes banging on my crypt, telling me that something’s wrong and then you leave me to break down your door- if I could die, you would have scared me to death. Why didn’t you open the door?” Spike huffed in frustration. You didn’t turn around. Frankly, you hardly noticed he was there. His irritation quickly faded, replaced by worry. “Y/N, love, what is it?”

You still didn’t respond, keeping your back turned with your hands clinging to the window sill to keep from falling. Spike approached you slowly and you thought you heard his footsteps, but part of you thought you were just imagining him. Why would he come for you? It was the middle of the day and the sun was high in the sky. A rush of guilt washed over you. He came here despite the danger of being burned and you didn’t even have a reason. You’d put him at risk for your own pitiful problems.

“Darling, why won’t you look at me?” He took another step towards you, but stopped. The sun’s rays created a shield around you, preventing him from pulling you into his arms. “If you could just lower the blinds, that would make this far less awkward.”

“You d-didn’t need to come here. T-the sun.” You stammered. You wanted to reach for the curtains, but you still couldn’t move your arms without your legs giving out.

“A little sunlight isn’t going to stop from me from getting to you,” he said sincerely. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him rush to the window, the sound of his skin sizzling in the light made you let go of the ledge. Your legs buckled just as he got the curtains closed.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” You had hurt him. All you had to do was reach up and shut out the sunlight and you couldn’t even do that. He burned himself just to reach you.

“It’s alright. I’ve got you. It’s alright.” He held you up for a moment before sinking to the floor to hold you in his lap. “I’ve got you love, I’ve got you.”

“Y-you shouldn’t be here, Spike. I’m not-” You hid your face from his view so he would see the tears. “I’m not worth all of this. There’s something wrong with me. One minute I’m fine and the next I’m like this and I don’t even know why. I don’t have a reason to feel like this. It’s like I’m… broken or something.”

“You aren’t broken.” Spike said softly, tucking your head under his chin and gently rocking you back and forth. “You’re human.”

He held you like that for a long while, not saying anything or even moving off of the floor. He didn’t make you look at him until he was sure you had relaxed enough. Putting a finger under your chin, he gently lifted your face to meet his.

“I’m sorry about all this.” You sniffed, using your sleeve to wipe some of the dampness off your cheeks.

“I don’t want to hear those worse from you for the rest of the day.” Spike gave you a small smile and pressed a kiss to your forehead. “I would trek across deserts wrapped in a blanket if it meant being here with you. Every second is worth it.” Now, he lowered his lips down to yours for a slow, sweet kiss. When he pulled back, his eyes were shining with the soul of a man in love. “To me, love, you’re worth the world.”

You stared into his eyes and knew that he meant every single word. While it didn’t chase away your doubts or the empty feeling in your chest, it helped you see that this feeling would end. And for now, that was enough.

“I love you.” You whispered, pulling him closer. He kissed the top of your head.

“I love you too, darling.” He hooked his arm under your knees and stood, holding you against his chest. “Now, why don’t I get you something to eat and we can spend the day in bed?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “I’ll behave, I promise.”

“Spike.” You laughed lightly.

“There,” He beamed, “I knew I could get a smile.”

He carried you into your room and placed you on your usual side of the bed, laying your fluffiest blanket over top of you. Then he vanished into your kitchen, the sound of your cupboards opening and shutting reminding you that he had no idea where anything was. It almost made you smile. He came back in with a bowl of your favorite cereal, a class of milk, and a thin leather bound journal.

“What’s that?” You wondered as he climbed into the bed beside you. He handed you the cereal and milk and put his arm around you, pulling you close.

“Eat your cereal.” He ordered teasingly, opening up to the first page. You tried to look over his shoulder, but he pulled the book away, laughing. “Do you want me to read or not?”

“What is it?” Your curiosity made your tone amused and playful. You were starting to sound like you again.

“Well, ever since I got this pesky soul back, I’ve had an unbearable amount of feelings running about in my head, so I figured I could at least put them to good use.”

“Spike, are they…?” You perked up with excitement. He smiled sheepishly.

“Poems.” He looked down at seemingly endless pages of his writings and back at you. “They’re mostly about you, of course. I thought, maybe, you’d like to hear them. See if they’d make you feel a little better.” You were almost too awestruck to nod.

“I’d really like that.”

With your cereal in hand, you curled up beside him, laying your head back against his shoulder. He read softly and slowly, his gentleness with his words almost lulling you to sleep. The poems were beautiful, forcing you to stay awake if only to hear one more word. Spike felt you relaxed against him as he read and paused his reading to kiss your forehead, then your cheek, and lastly your lips.

You felt the emptiness for a few more days, but each day, he was by your side, making sure you ate and gave yourself time to breathe. By the time you started to feel normal again, he’d read most of his poems and continued to write more and you were able to go for your evening walks without feeling exhausted. Your friends were more than supportive and helped you through it all while still giving you the space you needed.

It wasn’t the last time an episode like this happened, but now you always knew that, no matter what, you’d never be alone.

General Tag: @rae-gar-targaryen; @takemepedropascal; @childhood-imagination; @mylovegoesto; @yellowbadgergirl; @itmejado; @suckmyapplejacks; @kendahl0216

#spike x reader #james marsters #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #btvs #spike #spike buffy #xander harris #buffy summers #willow rosenberg #buffyverse #comfort fic #depressive episode #comfort boyfriend fic #cute

450 notes · View notes