#lost character: [has red eyeliner on] Something Bad Is Happening

[simptasia]

love that boar from LOST

she was a single mother who hated sawyer and she was right

[judediangelo75]

Claws To Wings

Welcome one and all~

I did say I was going to be working on the Talith lore, so here’s another installment of that. So I did some tweaking to the storyline that Jam City had. So the first Valentine’s Day happened in 4th year instead of 5th (because you can unlock I think both Valentine’s Day TLSQs in the same year and it didn’t make too much sense to me). 

Plus there are future true events that happen in 6th year, if you’re already familiar with the Without You/The Man Behind the Necklace series than you already know. During that time, Judith and Talbott are together and have been for quite some time. But before that, they have been pining after each other for years. 

In my first story, “The Scent of Love to the Heart of a Loner Poet”, Talbott is coming to realizing how deep his feelings were for Judith (whose been crushing on him since 3rd year). Between then and now, those feelings have grown and they’ve been dancing around each other. 

There’s gonna be some details here that are definitely gonna be new (because it’s part of a super old character reference I created for her when I first started posting about HPHM content here).

Anyway, enough rambling. On with the story! Enjoy! 💛

MC friend: David Willows ( @that-scouse-wizard )

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

Talbott stood before his mirror, readjusting his tie for probably the fifth time.

He was trying to soothe his nerves. Why you may ask?

Because of the Ball.

The Valentine’s Day Ball.

In his right mind, he would avoid such social gatherings like the plague. But it’s fair to say he hasn’t been much of his right mind ever since he met her.

Judith Harris.

A Hufflepuff witch with pale gold eyes and a heart of gold to match.

He met her alongside her best friend, David Willows, early third year. When they came to him seeking help on becoming Animagi. He was quick to shut both of them down. While David glared and protested, Judith eased the bullheaded Hufflepuff and gave him a shy sad expression along with an apology for disturbing him.

At the time, he wasn’t sure why he suddenly changed his mind to help the two. But as he got older, he did realize it was because of her.

Something about Judith was familiar. And…

He didn’t like the sad look into those bright eyes…

After the two achieved their forms and helped him find his feather necklace, Judith and Talbott became closer. Even to the point where he followed her out to the cemetery and learned about her dead father, Kendrick, on the anniversary of his death.

That’s when he learned that she was a part of his past. 

That single day of his childhood where he made a friend. And developed a bond on a girl who he thought was unique with her long pretty locs and Caribbean accent.

With it being their 5th year, Talbott has gone on two dates with her. Their very first date out by the Black Lake and last year on Valentine’s Day when he learned that he has deeper feelings for her outside of a friendship.

He can still remember the sweet blush on her face after he shyly gave her a kiss on the cheek after gifting her with a heart statue.

Giving her a physical representation of his heart.

He fiddled with the ring she gifted him that day. He always remembers seeing it on a black chain around her neck on occasion. Judith was a person who cares about sentimental value so it’s very likely she gifted him something that has a level importance to her. But he was so stunned when she slipped it onto his finger, and that it fitted perfectly, while announcing that it was her Valentine’s Day gift to him that he forgot to ask…

Maybe today he will. After all, after the Ball, he had a special surprise for her.

Of course, there had to be some last minute changes when he realized a certain Slytherin witch ALSO planned on using the Library and two fairies also got into a squabble. He had at least a day to make the arrangement work and the “Most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts” actually might of done him a favor.

It would be nice to revisit where their tale began.

Talbott sighed, looking over his appearance once more before turning on his heel and leaving his room.

‘I hope she likes what I planned. She’s the only who deserves to see this side of me,’ he thought as he made his way to the Great Hall.

——————

“C’mon Little Tigress! We’re gonna be late,” David huffed, knocking insistently on his best mate’s door.

“I look ridiculous! I’m not going anymore!” Came the stubborn reply from the other side. David rolled his eyes at Judith’s behavior.

They’ve been busting their asses to save the Valentine’s Day Ball from a lonely Madam Pince by using a pining Mr. Filch. However, due to all the planning and finally asking out Merula and Talbott (after Judith finally got over her initial shyness), they didn’t have time to style an outfit for themselves. So they went to the resident Style Wizard for help. 

David’s pick was easy.

Judith however… not so much.

It was fair to say that Judith was more than disgruntled as she looked in the reflection for the suit Andre put together.

“You lost your damn mind Egwu if you think I’m going to the Ball like this. I look like a mom in her mid-30s looking to speak to your manager to file a complaint.”

David was on the floor in tears when he saw the offended look on the Ravenclaw wizard’s face. To be fair, the suit plus the pixie cut that Andre magically put together wasn’t doing his best mate any favors.

However, she didn’t step out to show the dress to them. She tried it on, switch back into her normal clothes, and left without much of another word.

Now David was curious to what could be wrong with Andre’s design for her to believe she looked “ridiculous”.

“C’mon Judith. What’s wrong with it? Surely it can’t be as bad as that suit Andre design,” David coaxed.

“…It’s… a lot…” David wasn’t sure what to make of that and they’re gonna be late if Judith kept this up.

“Judith, it’s either you open the door willingly to show me what you’re talking about or I break into your room to see for myself. We don’t have time for this right now,” David huffed. He didn’t want to late with for his dance with Merula.

Silence ensued and David was half considering going through with his threat when the tell tale sound of the door unlocking hit his eyes. David turned the knob and walked in.

He paused when he took in the sight of his little friend.

Judith was wearing a short black dress decorated with pink and red roses. A small slit can be found on her right leg. White 3-inch open toe heels were on her feet. Her usual ear accessories and earrings were present. A familiar dark red lipstick, dark eyeshadow, and black eyeliner made an appearance on her face. Her hair was out from its normal twists, curls and coils tumbling down her back and a bang swept over her right eye.

“David,” Judith mumbled awkwardly as her friend stared at her. That seemed to have broke the spell on the wizard as he shook his head to recollect himself.

“Well I’ll be damned… you look far from ridiculous, Judith. You look beautiful,” David said with a smile. Judith blushed and rubbed the back of her neck.

“You sure? It’s kind of revealing, don’t you think,” she asked. David cocked his head to the side, rescanning the girl from head to toe.

He could see her point, but it wasn’t as bad she probably thought it was.

The dress fitted her like glove, revealing the curves she was developing as a young woman. While the dress did show quite a bit of skin, it was still respectable.

“No, not really. To Bill and Orion, possibly but they’re big brothers who naturally want to keep every perverted wizard away from you. Hell, I may end up breaking someone’s teeth in if they think they can disrespect you like that. But you look beautiful Little Tigress, don’t think otherwise. Talbott would definitely agree with me,” David stated, watching his fellow Hufflepuff blushed at the name of the boy she’s been crushing on since third year.

David has been watching the two dance around each other since Judith admitted that she fancied the Ravenclaw wizard in the Charms classroom when practicing the Memory Charm. He was waiting for the two to finally get together already.

“If you’re done worrying, we still have a Ball to get to,” David said with a raised brow.

“But-EEP!” David already saw the protest in her eyes was quick to walk across the room and throw Judith over his shoulder. He only resorted to such measures when she was be difficult, and she was definitely being difficult.

“C’mon Little Tigress, your bird boy is waiting for you,” he said as he made his way out of her room. Judith spluttered over her words, mainly out of embarrassment at both what he said and the unnecessary position David has put her in.

“DAVID! Put me down, you brute! I’m in a dress for Merlin’s sake,” she protested loudly, wriggling in David’s unforgiving grip.

‘Damn demon lineage...’ she thought with a grimace.

“I'm well aware, we can clean you up when we're there with a spell, I not missing my chance to dance with Merula,” David said breezily. Judith gave up, allowing herself to be carried off like a sack of potatoes.

“Bloody sap... stupid dance,” she grumbled under her breath. David chuckled at her disgruntled mood.

“You’ll thank me for it by the end of the night, trust me,” he said. Judith pouted.

‘Assuming I don’t hide in a dark corner somewhere first...’

“Do that and I'm casting Lumos Maxima so there's nowhere for you to hide,” David said suddenly, nearly scaring the girl half to death. Judith mentally slapped her forehead out of exasperation. 

She should know better not to think aloud around David, seeing how they’re both Legilmens.

Damn it...

“Fine,” she huffed. Luckily for her, they finally arrived near the entrance of the Great Hall. David finally set her down, and casting a spell that made her look presentable again.

David offered his arm to her.

“Shall we, Little Tigress?” Judith felt her cheeks heating up at the thought of the person waiting on her inside the Great Hall before letting out a sigh. She took her best mate’s arm.

“I guess we shall...”

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

Talbott was chatting alongside with Merula, twirling a red rose between his hands when he heard a whistle. Both turned to make out the figures of their dates not too far from them.

David separated himself from his fellow Hufflepuff to walk up to the two. David gave Talbott a smirk and nodded over in Judith’s direction before stealing Merula away.

Talbott only raised a brow at the Hufflepuff wizard’s behavior before walking up to his date for the night. As he stood in front of her, any words that he was going to say to her, died at the tip of his tongue.

Talbott stared at his date, heart racing with a blush on the high points of his cheekbones as he looked at her from her curls to her high heeled shoes. The silence was starting to unnerve the Hufflepuff witch as her long time love interest stared at her without saying anything.

“Y-you clean up quite nicely, Talbott,” she blurted. She mentally smack herself immediately afterwards.

‘When did I become this awkward, goodness…’

However, seem to have done the trick and snapped Talbott back to reality.

“S-sorry, little bird. I-I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I-It’s just that…” Talbott shook his head, trying to focus.

“It’s just that,” Judith echoed slowly, biting her bottom lip. She was worried that David might’ve been wrong and she looked like a fool in front of the boy she had feelings for.

Talbott stepped closer to her, tilting her head up by her chin so she could look at him. He offered a shy smile.

“You look beautiful, Judith. More lovely and temperate than a summer’s day,” He said softly, placing the rose he had behind her left ear. Judith blushed as she felt her heart race at his barely there touch.

“I-I… thank you, Talbott…” The Ravenclaw wizard smiled at the shy response. Behind them the instruments started seemed to be warming up to play the first song.

“May I have this dance,” Talbott asked, mock bowing to the girl. Judith giggled behind a red manicured hand.

“You may…” Taking her hand Talbott led Judith close to the center of the dance floor, with David and Merula standing not too far from them. The fairies that were lighting up the room swirled around the students, leaving them in awe at the magical moment. In the midst of this, David gave his friend a wink, who in turned returned it with an unimpressed glare. Judith returned her attention back to her date once she felt him take one of her hands

“I’m not usually one who likes public displays, but… I quite like this one… almost as much as I like you,” Talbott quietly admitted as he looked into pale gold eyes.

‘Is it possibly to pass out from blushing so much? Because I think I’m close…’ Judith thought as she ducked her head with a smile. Talbott was being so sweet and kind to her, she wanted to be wrapped up in his arms and dance the night away.

Judith looked back up at him with a teasing grin.

“I hope you like dancing too, because it’s our time to shine…”

————————

Talbott was smiling at the laughing girl in his arms as he spun her around. The two have been in their own little bubble ever since the dance started.

Their shy exteriors melted away leaving behind something much warmer and intimate. Anyone with eyes can see that they were clearly smitten with each other. Which were plenty watching them on occasion.

Red eyes darted around the Great Hall, finding the person he was looking for. He gave the Headmaster a subtle nod which he returned with a knowing smile. Talbott stepped back from Judith to clear his throat with a smile.

“All this dancing is making me thirsty, I think I’m gonna get a refreshment,” he said. Judith smiled at him, making his heart stutter in a lovestruck sigh.

“A refreshment sounds great, actually! I’ll go with you-” 

“N-no need! I-I’ll get one for you! Just...  stay right there,” Talbott stuttered before taking off. Judith’s brows furrowed in confused as she watch Talbott disappear in the darkness.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw the cheery smile of David.

“Cheers, Little Tigress! I see that I was right about you enjoying yourself,” he said with a grin. Judith glared and punched his arm.

“Cheeky bastard,” she growled. David laughed good naturedly while rubbing his arm.

“I’m surprised you’re not with Synde. Seeing how eager you were to get here and be with her,” she retorted. David shrugged.

“Mer said she going to get refreshments for the both of us. She actually suggest I go find you to see how your night was so far,” David replied. Gold eyes narrow out of suspicion.

“That’s a little odd. Talbott just let to do the same thing...”

“Was it? I found it very typical  of Miss Synde and Mr. Winger,” a third voice said. David and Judith turned to see the amused face of their Headmaster.

The pair chatted with Professor Dumbledore for a while when Judith noticed something was amiss.

“It’s bit awhile since Merula and Talbott went to get refreshments. Surely it can’t take that long,” Judith pondered out loud. Dumbledore smiled.

“Clever eye, Miss Harris. That’s because they’re no longer here and they personally asked me to distract you,” he chuckled. David and Judith glanced at each other before looking back up at Dumbledore.

“Professor,” David asked warily. Dumbledore chuckled.

“Mr. Willows, you can head to the library. Miss Harris... while Mr. Winger wasn’t explicit with the location for you to go to, he did say ‘Remember our first date’ as a clue. Enjoy the rest of your storybook fairytale night, you two. You deserve it,” Professor Dumbledore informed the pair with a knowing smile. 

Judith blushed walking out of the Great Hall with David. The two said their goodbyes as Judith made her way outside. Transforming into her Black Sparrowhawk, she couldn’t help but wonder what Talbott had planned at the Black Lake...

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

Judith landed on the shore and transformed back, only to be surprised to find who was waiting for her.

“Lily,” she asked as the little fairy flew around her, buzzing out of excitement. 

What was her little friend doing all the way out here?

The magical creature took ahold of her hand, tugging her to the Boat house. 

“Okay, okay, I’m coming. Just slow down, I am wearing heels after all,” she laughed gently. Judith followed the excited fairy inside only to freeze at the door way.

Standing inside was Talbott. The place looked to have been cleaned out. Numerous fairies including her own lit up the Boathouse in a soft glow. Rose petals scattered the floor, along with some candles. A large heart made up of different colored roses was hung up behind the Ravenclaw wizard. A small table with some chairs of some of the food and drinks form the Ball sat in a corner. Somewhere in the background, there was soft music playing as well.

Talbott walked up to the stunned Hufflepuff witch and took her hand.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, little bird,” he spoke softly. Judith shook her head out of disbelief. 

“W-what is all this, Talbott,” she asked. The young man bit his lip.

“I-I... I may have been planning this while I was at the Owlery... I wanted to surprise you. While I did originally plan to do this in the Library, someone else had the same idea... So I’d figured the Black Lake was the next best thing. I did have some help putting this together,” Talbott admitted.

Lily buzzed, as if she was giggling at the two. Judith rose a brow at her Fairy’s cheeky behavior before chuckling.

“I just thought that... after everything you’ve done for Hogwarts, for me, you deserved a storybook romance,” Talbott said. Judith rescanned the room before offering a smile.

“I had no idea that you could be such a romantic, Talbott. But clearly you are.” Talbott blushed, scratching the back of his neck.

“I guess all that poetry paid off...”

--------

The pair sat and ate, chatting in between. Talbott giving going as far to feed Judith a bit of a cupcake. He ended blushing when he felt her lips touch his fingers tips as she let out a pleased moan. 

Currently they were slow dancing in the middle of the room, listening to the music softly playing in the background.

“This is really amazing, Talbott,” Judith spoke up, daring to look up at red eyes that reminded her of rubies.

“You’re the amazing one, Judith. I was simply following my heart,” Talbott replied, squeezing her closer. That foreign yet familiar scent that clung onto the Hufflepuff filled his nose.

“O-Oh stop it. I am not,” Judith insisted with a nervous laugh. Having Talbott so close to her was causing her heart to beat faster than normal. Talbott stopped dancing in favor of holding her hands. His gaze was unwavering.

“I mean it, little bird. You made this Valentine’s Day  perfect for everyone, even Flich and Pince... And especially for me,” Talbott confessed. Pearly whites flashed at him.

“All I wanted was a magical Valentine’s Day with my date,” Judith started, glancing down for a quick moment to gather herself before looking back up at Talbott through her lashes.

“...And... And I’m so happy that date is you...” And she was. Truly. 

Talbott was the picture perfect gentleman. And the fact he went through great lengths to make Valentine’s Day memorable for her reminded her of happier times from her childhood. Except now it was with someone who likes her for her. 

She hasn’t felt this special in years...

Talbott urged his heart to calm down as he reached for his wand.

“I feel the same way, Judith. And I... made something for you...” Stepping back, Talbott casted a spell, causing a book to appear. Judith blinked out of surprise at the book that hovered between them. Carefully reaching for it, she opened it to a random page somewhere in the beginning.

“...The loner poet listened to the Howler professed the words he wasn’t aware that lived in his heart. Speaking of a deep longing for a girl with otherworldly pale gold eyes. To never leave him because when he looks into her unique irises, he can see future. A future where he would wake up to them every morning. A future where he would look at child with the same eyes as her. A future that would lead to forever together.

He felt his heart stall in his chest, itching to cast a spell to light the Howler ablaze to prevent its words being heard by unwanted ears. It was then he smelled her before he heard her.

A hint of sea breeze that made him feel like he was standing so close the never-ending ocean. Chocolate that reminded him of her skin tone. A variety of fainter sweet scents, most he couldn’t name but the one he could pick out was honey.

Her melodious low voice sung to his eardrums:

“Hey, what did your Valentine Howler say?” He swiftly turned to find pale gold eyes curiously looking up at him. He could feel his heart speed up when he connected the dots.

It was her.

She was the one his heart longed for.

Everything that has transpired that day and this revelation became too much for the loner poet to take. He was quick to deny that his Howler hasn’t said anything, using the opportunity their teacher has created to leave the classroom. 

He needed time. Time to think of what to do next...”

Judith was so engrossed in words written on the page that she didn’t realize that Talbott was now standing behind her.

“It’s not finished, more so of a... work in progress for an ongoing story...” Judith jumped a little when she felt his breath ghost over her visible ear.

“This is about you,” she whispered, releasing the book to float again. She turned to find Talbott staring down at her with half lid eyes.

“It’s about you and me, little bird,” he whispered, cupping one of her cheeks. Judith closed her eyes, leaning into his warm touch. 

There was a shift in the air and she nervous but secretly excited to where this could lead...

Talbott withdrew for a moment forcing Judith to open her eyes again. She notice a heart shaped key necklace in his hand.

“What’s that,” she asked quietly.

“This is the key that unlocks the book. I made it be this way so you can wear it like a necklace. So our story would always be with you,” Talbott answered, carefully placing the it around her neck. A full body shiver raked Judith’s body when she felt the tips of his finger ghost over the sensitive skin.

“I... I never had someone put this much effort for me. To bare your feelings like this, Talbott... I... I don’t know what to say,” Judith confessed quietly. She could barely hear her own voice over the roar of blood rushing to her face combined with the sound of her heartbeat pounding against her eardrums.

Talbott caressed her cheek again.

“I don’t expect an answer from you right away little bird. I’m more than happy to do this for you. You’re the only one who deserves to see this side of me...” Talbott leaned closer aiming to place a kiss on her cheek. Much like he did last year.

What Judith did next surprised both of them. 

Turning her head ever so slightly, she caught Talbott’s lips with her own. This stunned the pair, both remaining motionlessly for a few moments. Just as the Ravenclaw wizard was about to pull back, Judith held him there by his tie, pressing against him. Her painted lips moved against his unresponsive ones slowly, testing the waters and his resolve.

After a moment of deliberation, Talbott gave in and returned the unexpected kiss. With one hand cupping her face, its twin finding refuge on her lower back, pushing her closer still. Judith released his tie in favor of wrapping her arms around his neck, melting in his embrace. Both of them were placed under a cloudy haze as their lips continued to move against one another.

The pair broke apart for air, foreheads resting against one another. Talbott silently licked his lips, picking up the taste of vanilla.

‘She tastes just as sweet as she looks. Good Gods help me...’ came the helpless thought as he found himself at the end of Judith’s sultry stare. 

‘What are you doing to me, Talbott? Why do I feel this way towards you...’

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Talbott,” Judith whispered, placing a soft kiss against the corner of his lips. Talbott shivered at the sound of her voice, which has dipped down an octave. Her accent came out, loud and clear. His hands, which has migrated to her waist, squeezed down on the curve for a few seconds.

He could listen to her speak to him like this for hours...

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Judith... Thank you for being my valentine...” Judith let out soft chuckle, pulling him in for another kiss.

In the midst of this an involuntary thought passed through her mind. One which would shatter the Hufflepuff witch later on.

‘I love you, Talbott...’

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

Some time has passed since the Valentine’s Day Ball. Judith more or less went back to her life as per usual. 

With occasional outing with Talbott when classes and working for Rakepick became too much for her.

It was late at night and she was at the shore of the Black Lake, practicing her spellwork. She always wanted to remain sharp on her skills and it was a way for her to prepare for the upcoming O.W.L.S., which was approaching fast.

She decided to practice the Patronus Charm, seeing how she hasn’t casted it in awhile.

“Expecto Patronum!”

What came out of the tip of her wand shocked her.

Instead of her usual Siberian Tiger was a-

“G-Golden E-Eagle?!” Her eyes watched as the avian predator flew above her before disappearing. 

She shocked her head, not believing what she just saw.

Over and over again, she casted the spell, waiting to see her beloved tiger. Only to watch the animal that came out soar its wings above her.

Her legs gave out from beneath her. 

“No, no, no! How can this be happening?! Patronuses don’t change,” she panicked. A vague memory came resurfaced in her mind.

“Though I have heard of Patronuses changing forms after falling in love...” Judith’s eyes widen.

That voice belonged to Tonks when they were dealing with the Dementor threat from last year.

Another memory surfaced, however, much older...

“Gift this ring to the one your heart desires above all others. It will only fit and accept that one person, anyone else, it’ll reject and return to you...” Tears ran down her cheeks. When she realized what memory it was.

“Gran-Gran...” came the broken whisper. Her grandmother gifted her a magical blue and silver ring before she died. The same ring she gave to Talbott just a year prior. She didn’t remember her dear grandmother’s words when she gave it to him. 

Now that she thought about it, the ring never returned to her. And it was on Talbott’s left ring finger the night of the Ball.

Even as she kissed him, those three words that haunted her since childhood has crossed her flowery dazed mind.

She couldn’t do anything but face the truth. To speak the words that haunted her in form of a Boggart from third year.

“I love Talbott Winger...”

And she was secretly terrified.

Because she knew if he were to confess the same, she was done for.

Her heart would be his. 

And risk breaking if he were to ever leave...

[benkouji726]

Four times they were THAT COUPLE and one time they were REALLY THAT COUPLE

I was writing the last two chapters of my Forlex 5+1 fic when the angst in chapter 5 got to me hard I had to stop and go write some stupidly fluffy stuff. So here it is, some Malex fluff because I only know how to write these two as helplessly in love idiots.

Summary: Four times Alex and Michael show their epic love without even trying to and one time they are obvious about it.

1. Maria and Isobel

Maria wanted to look away, she really did. It was a little bit weird to stare at your ex-boyfriend and your best friend who had finally pulled their heads out of their asses and were currently dating. But she just couldn’t.

To be fair, they didn’t even do much. Alex was saying something, and judging by the serious look on his face and the notes he was showing Guerin, it was not anything casual or flirty, but all business. Guerin appeared to listen earnestly too, he nodded now and then, sometimes interrupted Alex to ask a question or two. In short, they were just having a serious conversation, Maria should know, they were never intentionally being affectionate when she was present, no matter how many times she told them she was totally over Guerin by this point.

So they really didn’t do anything. But the atmosphere around them, somehow exuded intimacy and love, when they looked at each other, even the air seemed thicker. She didn’t know how they did it, and more importantly, how the hell had she missed it before.

Then Alex said something, worry written all over his face. Guerin reached out, closed the notebook in Alex’s hand, and laid his hand there. His pinkie touched Alex’s for about 3 seconds, and Alex visibly relaxed a fraction. Then Guerin pulled back his hand, and they continued to discuss whatever they were talking about, as if nothing happened.

“Ugh, they’re the worst, aren’t they.” Isobel appeared out of nowhere and looked at the couple too, “why do they have to be so in love all the time? It’s inconsiderate to the single ones, not to mention gross.”

Maria was never this grateful for Isobel in her whole life. “So it is not just me, right? I’m not some ex-girlfriend who gets uncomfortable watching her ex and her best friend make heart eyes towards each other?”

Isobel tsked. “Please, the way they look at each other, is SO MUCH MORE than just heart eyes, they could burn the whole place down with only their gaze, it’s nauseating.”

She then stood up, “I can’t watch anymore. I need to break them out of their loving bubble or I’m gonna throw up.”

But she smiled fondly when she walked over.

——————————————

2. Liz and Max

They were having a double-date-turned-movie-night when Liz said, exasperatedly, “Could you please tune it down a notch?”

Michael seemed confused as if he didn’t have a clue why Liz would say such thing to him. “What? You have the remote, you tune it down.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “No, I mean, could you stop being so...” she was lost for words for a moment.

“She meant would you tune down the PDA a notch.” Max, like the knight in a shining armor that he was. came to the rescue.

Michael looked down, to the one foot room between him and Alex on the sofa, and their not-at-all touching bodies, exchanged a question look with Alex, and said, “Last I checked, PDA still means public display of affections, right?”

“And you are practically sitting on Max’s lap.” Alex added.

Liz threw her hands in the air. “We’re doing normal couple stuff! What you two are doing, it’s next level of affection display, OK?”

She pointed an accusing finger to Michael. “Do you even know what we’re watching? Or have you counted all of Alex’s eyelashes at this point?”

To his credit, Michael didn’t even blink. “I was amazed by his eye color because it changed every time the screen light changed, but go on.”

“It’s called reflection you idiot.” Liz was exasperated, “and you did this lip tweak thing every five minutes or so, what was that about? You were like, this close to bursting but still trying to hold it in. It was very distracting.”

There was a little blush this time. “That’s not my fault. Alex has some weird sense of humor, he always laughs at the totally not laughable moments, and I find it cute, so sue me.”

Alex was offended at that. “Well, I find YOU funny, don’t I?”

Michael instantly forgot the existence of Liz and Max, and turned to Alex. “Didn’t say it was bad sense of humor, just weird. And weird can be good, you know. It can be fantastic.”

They looked at each other then, both smiling, until they looked away, Alex’s ears turned a little red, Michael cleared his throat, they didn’t seem to move, but somehow they ended up sitting a bit closer.

Liz sighed. “That’s a no on tuning it down, then.”

————————————

3. Kyle

Kyle had enough.

He was happy for Alex. The guy deserved to be happy, even if his happiness lied on some angry cowboy who disliked him for no reason.

OK there had been a reason, but he proved himself, over and over again, that he was a new man now, even Alex had forgiven him, so Guerin’s dislike was getting a little ridiculous at this point. They couldn’t even have a peaceful conversation without Guerin’s snarky comments, it was tiresome to say the least.

Like now, they were researching the files of Project Shepard together, Alex was showing him some pattern of codes and asked him if he remembered anything from his Dad that could give a keyword to solve the pattern, when Guerin suddenly put a hand around Alex’s shoulder. He didn’t do anything else though, just hand on his shoulder, hips touching, and stood there.

But somehow his demeanor screamed “back off, he’s mine.”

Kyle was a little shocked to be honest. He never saw Guerin like this, and he also didn’t know what he’d done to cause this kind of behavior. He felt like an intruder for standing next to such a blatant display of love and possessiveness.

Then Alex turned a little to Guerin, put his hand into his curls, and pulled, just a fraction, which lasted only a second. When he took back his hand, Guerin took his hand off his shoulder too. His face a shade of pink, his eyes glowing with love and trust. They stood side by side, hips no longer touching.

If anything, Kyle felt even more like an intruder after that.

———————————

4. The whole group

They were having an emergency meeting at the diner.

“I can’t take it anymore”, Isobel whined. “They’re insufferable. I was happy being single, but they just had to ruin it for me!”

“You? What about me? I almost went out with that guy just because they made me feel so lonely!” Maria glared.

“We went together to Planet 7 one night, they were so stupidly in love I almost went home with A GUY too.” Kyle said, if they were competing for the title of “most miserable witness of Malex’s epic love”, he would WIN.

“It’s not easy for the happily dating ones either, OK?” Liz said, “Max is trying so hard these days, because he would turn anything with Mikey into a competition, it’s exhausting.”

“Hey! I’m right here!”

“Anyway”, Liz ignored him, “Halloween is coming. I really don’t want them dressing up like some eternal love story and gazing adoringly into each other’s eyes while in COSTUME. It’s hard to watch when they are in regular clothes already, you know?”

They all nodded. Except for Kyle.

“From what I know, Alex doesn’t do Halloween, so is this precaution really necessary?”

Isobel snorted. “Michael didn’t have any chance to do Halloween before. I heard him talking to Alex yesterday that he would like to do the couple costume thing with him this year. He even brought out his puppy eyes and bashful smile in full mass. I left at that point, because otherwise I’d have to claw my eyes out, but I doubt Alex would refuse Michael anything at that moment.”

Kyle admitted defeat rather quickly.

“So, what do we do?”

———————————

“A themed Halloween party?” Michael asked, with doubt.

“Yes!” Liz replied enthusiastically, “we all have to dress up as the person of our dreams, be it a celebrity or a character, or some historical figure”, she threw a teasing glance towards Max, “it’ll be fun!”

“So, I should just dress up as Alex?”

The whole group groaned.

Alex laughed. “You are doing this so Michael and I won’t do the couple costume, aren’t you.” It was not a question.

Isobel rolled her eyes. “Gee, why would we do that, it’s not like you are THAT COUPLE.”

“That couple?” Alex asked, while leaning into Michael at the word couple, as if he couldn’t help himself. Infuriating thing was, Michael leaned RIGHT BACK.

“You know, the couple that grazes on everybody’s nerves because they are JUST SO IN LOVE that they look like they’re about to jump each other in any given moment but also want to wrap themselves in a warm fluffy blanket and never leave the couch? You are THAT COUPLE.”

“Okay”, Alex said slowly, as if he was struggling to understand, the bastard, “so how would it help the situation if Michael and I dress up as each other at the Halloween party?”

Guerin snorted at that, he seemed SO PROUD OF HIS ALEX for being a dick.

“You are NOT dressing up as each other!” Maria half yelled. “Nobody is dressing up as anybody in this group!”

“Alright! Jesus.” Michael laughed. “We won’t.”

———————————

“What. The. Fuck.” Liz watched Alex and Michael approaching, and she was speechless.

Well, almost. “You promised you won’t dress up as each other, you lied!”

Michael smirked, nose ring and eyeliner firmly in place. “Technically we didn’t. I’m not Alex, I’m his seventeen year old self, and he is a new man now.”

And Alex, honest to God had a curly wig on, smirked in equal measure, “What can I say? You chose an impossible theme for us to do any other costume. Now who’s fault is that?”

Liz hated them so much.

————————————

+1 Cameron

Cameron was waiting for bathroom in wild pony for five minutes now, she was getting impatient.

So when Alex and Michael tumbled out of it, she just couldn’t help herself.

Thing was, they were not even trying to hide the fact that they had been having sex.

Yes, the clothes were intact, the hair obviously combed, they were walking side by side, a reasonable distance between them.

But the satisfied expressions and fucked out bliss were also very evident.

“I always thought sex in wild pony’s bathroom was an urban myth, you know”, she said, conversationally, “who would do it here, I thought, with the smell, the sticky floor and the terrible soundproof condition, surely they would rather up and leave than keeping at it, right?”

Michael, as she predicted, shamelessly smiled, his posture relaxed, slutty even, he winked.

“Worth it for a great lay.”

What she didn’t predict, was for Alex to say, calmly and deadpan.

“And by great lay he means me.”

They continued to leave, now hand in hand.

[yaimlight]

For The Sake Of Writing

A/N: I am struggling with this, with writing in general right now. Can’t find the drive, the desire to do so and I have tried, many a time but nothing comes out, the page stays blank. So I put it all away and decided to write something else, something completely different and unrelated to anything else but even this has been difficult, like pulling teeth to get the words on the page. I have no idea what this but I feel at least a little accomplished that I managed to get it out. I didn’t know what to do with it once finished but I thought I would share it with you guys. It’s not part of a fandom or anything, it’s just me and whatever came out and though I may not be 100% with it I still hope that maybe you will enjoy it.

Love is not the morel of the story. It is not a fix all or a balm to sooth deep wounds and it is definitely not an excuse for any wrongs done. It doesn’t ride in on a white horse and save the day, making everything perfect and happy and all sunshine and rainbows. It doesn’t make a bad person suddenly good and nor does it render all wrong doing excusable.

Love is the biggest lie the world was ever sold. All it ever brings is pain and suffering and people welcome it with open arms and eager smiles.

Idiots the lot of them.

Though you supposed you shouldn’t knock it, people’s misplaced desire for love was what kept you in a job. Well, sort of. You were what came after, when hearts were broken, people’s pried bruised and their reputations damaged. Funny how that was normally the one that hurt the most. People claimed that love was everything yet it was their reputation and wealth they cared more about. When push comes to shove they always picked the material things in life, dressing it up as something other than greed, like that made their actions better, excusable.

Sighing you focused your attention back on the room across the street. The blinds were wide open, the two people as clear as day as you adjusted the scope. You would think they would be a little better at hiding this kind of shit, considering the illicitness of it all but their idocity made your job easier. They looked so happy, the women smiling as she pulled the mans shirt off him, the two of them making quick work of stripping the other down to their underwear and trading passionate kisses and teasing touches.

Objectively the man was attractive with broad shoulders and rippling muscles, his skin perfectly smooth and tanned. It was clear to see he took care of himself, hours spent at the gym as well as in front of the mirror. You knew the type an you would bet money on him being a narcissist, more concerned with himself than the people he was pissing off along the way. He was young though, to caught up in the fact he had caught the eye of someone hot and rich. To young to think about the consequences of his actions. He was probably so fucking smug, landing a women at least a decade older than him that still looked like a model and had enough money not to even notice when hundreds of dollars started to disappear from her account, squirrelled away for a rainy day. Her husband on the other hand had noticed almost straight away and it hadn’t taken long to find out where it was going.

The women fell back on to the bed, the man crawling after her until he hovered over her. You could see the two of them smiling at each other, staring into each other’s eyes like they could see the whole universe there. He leant down, pressing his body against hers as they went back to kissing. Her hands sunk into his black hair, her wedding ring glinting in the light.

You readjusted your aim, lining up the shot as you focused on her ring finger. You breathed in, your finger pressing down and you breath out.

The glass cracked, her eyes going wide as the man slumped lifeless on top of her. A second passed, a beat of a heart. Just a moment where she lead there blood splattered and missing a finger, not understanding what had happened before everything settled and she started to scream. Frantically she shoved the dead body off of her before falling to the floor and scrambled away to a corner, screaming the whole time.

Huffing out in amusement you stepped away from the window and dropped down onto you knees next to your bag. You made quick work of taking your gun apart, placing every bit back into the correct slot without really having to look. Clipping the case shut you slung it over your shoulder, rising to your feet and heading towards the door without a backwards glance. The job was done, there was nothing left for you here now.

You took the stairs, slipping on your sunglasses and cap before shoving your gloved hands into you pockets. It was still sunny enough you could get away with it though dusk was starting to settle in but you would be far enough away by the time your attire started to become suspicious. For now you would blend in with the crowd, be able to slip away unnoticed and unremarkable amongst the other occupants of the building coming and going.

You took the train, skipping the nearest subway station and heading to the next one along, going in the completely wrong direction and changing lines twice, paying in cash and keeping your head down. You lost the glasses after half an hour, the hat an hour latter when you finally got on the right line and sank into one of the ratty sets with a sigh, your gun case safely between you legs. You didn’t worry about closing your eyes and tilting your head back, counting stops in your head and knowing that if someone tried anything you had a switch blade in your jacket pocket with their name on it. You must just give off that air of danger though because no one comes near you, not even taking the empty seats on either side of you but that was fine. It’s how you liked it.

It was dark when you finally got off the subway, hands still shoved into your pockets as you kept your head down and navigated the still busy streets. It didn’t take long for your destination to come into view, the glitzy looking hotel standing out amongst the boring and monochrome buildings next to it. You slipped round the back, smiling and exchanging greetings with the people you passed and slipped into character like you did every other night you came to your other job.

The building was alive, the hustle and bustle of activity having you weaving around people as you made your way through the busy corridors until you could slip into the locker room. It was just as busy in there, people getting ready for their shifts and seemingly being as loud as they possibly could. You let the sound was over you, blocking it out until it was almost like static in the background and focusing instead on the steady beat of your heart as you headed towards the back corner of the room. You stuffed your case in your locker, the black box fitting perfectly inside before pulling out your change of clothes and hanging the garment bag up on the door. It wasn’t idea but it wasn’t the first time you had brought a weapon here and you doubted it would be your last. You did try not to mix jobs, mix lives but on days like this it was unavoidable, you just hadn’t had the time to go home first.

Toeing off your shoes, you quickly stripped down to your underwear, folding your clothes nicely and placing them on to the small shelf, your shoes just fitting at the bottom of the locker next to your case. “Cutting it close tonight Harland,” a teasing voice came from behind and you scoffed, not even bothering to look as you pulled on the white blouse, deft fingers making quick work of the buttons. “You know I like to live dangerously,” you smirked, finally glancing over your shoulder to look at the women leant against the row of lockers next to yours.

Rosie huffed, rolling her eyes at you but her smile still stayed in place on her to red lips. She looked pristine in her black pencil skirt and white blouse, the cut low enough to just show of a hint of cleavage but not enough to be overtly suggestive. Her auburn hair was pulled up into a bun, her emerald bright eyes rimmed in perfectly applied eyeliner and her pale skin looking like porcelain. She looked the picture perfect representation of professionalism, what with her head held high and oozing confidence. Shame it was just a front, the woman was addicted to amphetamines and a borderline alcoholic who was just teetering on the edge of a full blown breakdown but at least she was normally fun to be around.

Turning back to your task you quickly rolled your stockings on, having barely snapped them into place before you were pulling on your own black pencil skirt, slipping on your black kitten heels at the same time and tucking your blouse in. The two of you chatter away about pointless shit as you finish getting ready, platting your hair and doing your makeup whilst Rosie tells you about her boyfriend and how much of a dick he is being about her work hours. You hum along but don’t really comment on the state of her most likely doomed relationship. You’ve had that conversation before and it hadn’t gone well. Lucky for her you had been willing to stick around and take her to the hospital instead of letting he choke on her own vomit. You had thought about it though.

She doesn’t seem to either notice or care that you don’t really participate in the conversation and as you take the lift up to the lobby you contemplate telling her that her precious boyfriend was screwing around with her sister just to get her to shut up but the headache it would bring you outweighed the satisfaction you would get at seeing the shock and hurt on her face. It wasn’t that you wanted to hurt her you just couldn’t stand the constant insistence that she loved the scumbag and their relationship was perfect. It made you want to smack her head against the nearest hard surface until she finally understood how stupid she was or passed out. Whatever one came first.

The lift doors dinged as they opened, Rosie finally falling silent as you both slipped into your rolls. You were on the clock now and it wouldn’t do to be caught gossiping about personal matters by the famous and affluent that frequented the hotel. No instead the two of you would smile and listen, taking in every little detail. You did it because information helped in your other line of work and you had even got wind of a contact or two from guests who didn’t seem to know the meaning of a private conversation. Rosie did it just for the gossip.

It didn’t take long to change over shifts, the list of requests and awaiting check ins surprisingly small. It meant a slow and easy night, only really having to deal with any calls that came from the demanding guests up above and that was fine. It was why you worked the night shifts anyway. You hardly had to interact with people face on and the mindless and repetitive activities brought you a kind of peace that you didn’t really get anywhere else. It‘s why you had stayed, originally getting the job to do recon on the rooms for a job but long after the women had been found dead and the body moved you found yourself reluctant to move on. So you hadn’t. You had an understanding with the owner anyway, having deposed of his abusive farther or him. As long as you didn’t kill anyone else in his hotel he didn’t care what you did and that suited you just fine.

As midnight crept closer a calm fell over the hotel. Most of the guests were sleeping now and those that weren’t were either still at the rooftop bar or would be out partying till the early hours. There had been no calls for the last hour, no idiots stumbling into the lobby and being loud and rude drunks that you wished you could stab in the face when they broke your serenity. Rosie had abandoned you as well, allegedly in search of coffee but you highly doubted that. Most likely she had slipped off to go make eyes at one of the bartenders in the lounge and score a shot of something. The point was that you were blissfully alone, with nothing but silence and admin to keep you company and it was perfect.

It didn’t last long.

The sound of the city beyond flooded the lobby as the doors were open, the warm night air spilling in and interfering with the air conditioning. As quickly as it had all come though it was gone, instead replaced by the steady thump of shoes hitting the tiled floor. Lamenting the loss of your solitude you kept you eyes on your screen, finishing up your notes on room 308 and the new spattering of complaints about its occupants. You didn’t look up as the person got closer, didn’t even acknowledge them when they came to a stop in front of the desk, highly unprofessional but you were technically busy. Surprisingly though they stood there in silence, patiently awaiting you to finish what you were doing. Shocking considering most would be huffing by now or impatiently ringing the bell, even hurling abuse at you.

It was odd, unusual and you weren’t sure how to deal with it so as you submitted the form you plastered a smile on and started the expected greeting as you looked up. “Welcome to the Hotel Astoria. How can I help you...” the words died on your lips, your smile falling as dread filled you. No. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not ever. You had been having such a good day as well.

Your fingers twitched towards the letter opener as you stared straight ahead, trying to work out how best to get rid of the man before you without it being noticed. Eyes like the summer sky stared back at you, endless and bright and almost impossible to pull your attention from but you managed it, letting your eyes slowly drag across the rest of him.

He had gotten older, now in his early thirties instead of his twenties but he still looked just as good. He was tall, with broad shoulders and well defined arm muscles that were straining at the sleeves of his black shirt. His skin was golden, sun kissed and oh so very tempting. His jaw was sharp, a light covering of stubble that gave him a rugged handsomeness apposed to the boyish charm you had known. He still had the same ridiculous haircut though, his blonde hair parted to the side with one side longer than the other, his fringe hanging just over his right eye and looking soft despite the amount of product he had probably used. He looked good, annoyingly so considering the time of night but despite all that it was his smile that held your attention, his lips twisted in a cocky smirk that left you wanting to punch him in the face. God you hated him.

Huffing in laughter Johnathon leant forward, resting his arms on the counter and tipping his head to he side slightly. Your fingers tightened around the letter opener, body tensing as you got ready to attack. “I see I still leave you speechless,” he teased, smirk getting wider and sounding oh so smug. You blinked, his words jogging you out of your stupor and you narrowed your eyes at him, lifting your head up higher to look down your nose at him. “Hardly, I was just trying to decide on the best way to dispose of your body.” You let the letter opener go, instead crossing your arms over your chest and schooling your features, trying not to give away how much you were panicking. He was an idiot, not a threat, not in that way at least.

“You always say the sweetest things,” he winked, exuding confidence as he flipped his fringe out of his eye. You had liked that about him once but now it had your jaw clenching and your fingers twitching with the desire to grab a fistful of his hair and smash his face into the marble countertop. “If you think that’s sweet wait until I tell you about how I’m going to stuff your body in the trash compactor,” you said, voice sickeningly sweet and a smile on your lips.

The idiot actually laughed at that, the sound rich and deep and you didn’t even know you had missed that sound until heard it once more. Huffing you shoved that thought down, trying to drown it under the anger you were currently feeling. He shouldn’t be here, couldn’t be here and yet he stood before you without a care in the world, acting as if this was all some big joke when in reality it was so much worse. “As charming as always. Going to finish it all of with a kiss,” he waggled an eyebrow at you, smirk getting impossibly wider and something inside you snapped.

You moved quickly, one hand darting down to grab the letter opener as the other shot out to grab at the front of his shirt and yanked him forward. His hands slapped down on the counter, his eyes going wide as you leant forwards and pressed the edge of the blade against the delicate skin of his throat. “You have five seconds to explain to me what the hell you are doing here before I shove this through your carotid and watch you choke on your own blood,” you hissed, pressing the blade harder against his throat and watching the way it bobbed as he swallowed. His eyes had gotten darker, his lips parted slightly and breathing deeply, a slight flush to his cheeks. You knew that look and it had no reason to be present in this situation.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” you hissed angrily, jerking away from him like he had burned you, dropping the letter opener on the counter with a clatter as you moved. He had the decency to look embarrassed if only slightly as he coughed nervously and stood up straighter, eyes darting around the room and rubbing at the back of his neck. He licked at his lips, your eyes tracking the movement before you even knew they were doing it. He let out a deep breath, “in my defence I didn’t know...” What ever he was going to say was cut off though as both of your attentions were pulled to the doors.

The doors opened once more, a warm breeze filling the space as a women stepped inside. She was stunningly beautiful, with long blonde hair and legs that seemed to go forever and a figure most women would be envious of. She looked like a model, like she had stepped right of the pages of some glossy magazine. “Fuck,” Johnathon mumbled and you tore you eyes away from the women working her way towards the desk to raise an eyebrow at him. He was finally starting to look worried but you didn’t think it was in regards to yourself.

“Sorry darling but you know how Cynthia is, I couldn’t just ignore her call,” she smiled, slipping up to Johnathon’s side and wrapping her arm through his before leaning down and pressing a kiss to his lips. Something twisted in your gut, dark and ugly as you watched them pull apart, the women beaming at Johnathon whilst he offered he a soft smile. You didn’t like it, whatever the feeling was you would have been quiet happy never to experience it again.

“So we good?” she asked, that ridiculously bright smile still on her lips. “Hum?” Johnathon hummed, looking at the other women in confusion and you had to fight the urge to snap out no, nothing was good. They needed to leave, he needed to leave. The two of you had had a deal and him being here was like throwing your kindness back in your face and spitting on it. The blonde tipped her head slightly towards you and he turned to you with a frown. You could practically see it when he realised what she had meant, his eyes widening and lips forming into a small ‘o’. “Oh, yeah, right,” he rushed out, laughing nervously as he turned to look at you.

You already knew what was coming, that heavy feeling of dread back again as you silently begged him not to do it. To say there was a mistake and take his arm candy and just leave before things got bad but you knew he wouldn’t, could see it in his eyes as his looked at you with genuine apology. “Johnathon Harland, checking in,” he mumbled, offering you a small smile and not for the first time this night you had to push down the urge to punch him.

Love was rotten, a twisted ugly thing and all it ever did was make every situation go from bad to worse. It made smart people make mistakes, act stupid and irresponsible when normally they were so calm and collected. Love ruined everything, made people weak, soft and once that set in you could never undo it. It set in like rot, leaving you crumbling into dust. In the end you were better off without it, were stronger for never knowing what it felt like to have that connection with another. It would save everyone a lot of pain, a lot of suffering and maybe the world would be better for it.

You really should have killed him when you were supposed to.

[starkatana]

The Meet Cute

Jason Todd x Female Reader

Summary: Jason meets you for the first time and is smitten by you. It’s your first day of school at Gotham Academy and when Jason sees you at school for the first time everything that can go wrong in front of your crush does.

Author’s note: So, here begins my various one-shots of Jason Todd/Red Hood x Reader//y/n AKA my current obsession. I may compile all of them into chronological order once everything is done. I just really wanted to write and post something. I just have too many WIP’s right now that I need to focus on.

Before Reading: You and Jason meet as seniors in high school.

They aren’t exact ages. This is just a world that I made using these characters because I can. Meaning Jason hasn’t died yet, in this AU (not that it matters for this story – he won’t die and become Red Hood until age 22/23)

Selina is your godmother. You are the child of Selina’s childhood friends. There is no family relationship between you and Jason even though you will be living in Wayne Manor and occasionally call Selina, Auntie.

Sorry if its a little out of character, this is just based on my knowledge that tumblr has given me.

“Are we allowed to be here?” Dick asked as he pulled up the car to the music venue.

“Yeah!” Jason said giddily with excitement. “The venue said, shows are open to those 18+ and I just turned 18!”

“I guess. I feel like we fought crime here before.” Dick looked around the area.

“Where haven’t we fought crime in Gotham.” Jason shrugged, “Let’s go!”

Jason and Dick wait in line for the rock show. The venue marks Jason’s hands with a big stamp that showed he was underage to drink and without Dick, he ran into the venue. Letting the sound of the music envelope him, he moved his way through the crowd when he got caught in a mosh pit and someone much bigger than him grabbed him in and threw him down.

“C‘mon dude!” You effortlessly help Jason up off the floor.

Jason, even though he was 18 and still in high school, he was not a small dude he was Robin at night, and during the day between homework and theatre, he was fighting with the Titans. He was not small. Compared to you, he was a giant, even though, when he stood up he was only a head taller than you. The way you swooped in from the mosh pit to help him up, took his breath away.

“You okay?” you yell over the sound of the music.

Your y/h/c was in a high ponytail and you had the perfect cat-eye eyeliner wing. You looked breathtaking. Sweaty and beautiful you were wearing a black t-shirt that was tied in the front, with ripped black skinny jeans, a red flannel, and black converse high tops. He never loved the color red so much than this moment.

“Hey!” you snap him back to reality as he nods still speechless looking into your y/e/c eyes with the lights and moving in the background.

“Good!” you give him a half-smile, followed by a wink, before going back into the mosh pit.

“There you are!” Dick grabbed Jason’s arm and pulled himself towards Jason “I thought I lost you back there.”

Jason doesn’t move and doesn’t pay attention to Dick as he’s watching your petite form in the crowd. How well you handle yourself as you throw down with the other people in the mosh pit.

“Dick, I think I’m in love.”

“What?” Dick yells over the music “I! Can’t! Hear!”

Jason grabs this brother’s shirt collar and points him over to you “Girl. High pony! Headbanging!” Jason couldn’t take his eyes off you as you headbang to the music. “I. Love. Her.”

Dick looks back and forth between her and him. 

“WHAT?!”

He wanted to hang out with you all night, there was one time during the show where you were crowd surfing and you got on stage with the band and jammed out with them. He ran into you often that night and you two shared some laughs and some dance sessions. It was a night he would remember.

Then his alarm went off. It was the next morning and Jason couldn’t get you out of his head. He got up and got ready for the first day of his senior year. In the kitchen he made himself a bowl of cereal but walking to put the milk back he almost trips on the cat, spilling the milk.

“Do be careful Master Todd.”

“It was the cat!”

Alfred gave him a nod and continued cooking breakfast when Jason sat at the island and when he put his hand down the spoon went flying out of the bowl. “Ah! I’ll clean it.”

“Seems like today just isn’t your day.”

“I’m not superstitious and black cats aren’t bad luck.” Jason shrugged.

“You might not be superstitious but it might just be some bad luck.” and Alfred slid him a salt shaker and pointed over his left shoulder, “don’t forget the family dinner tonight. Now, please excuse me, I have to go wake up Master Drake so you two aren’t late to your first day.”

“Yeah.” Jason sighs and takes the salt and throws some over his left shoulder. Not for him, but for Alfred.

At school, you’re walking through the halls with your coffee, class schedule, and other paperwork in your arms. You’re on your phone when Jason is walking towards you and does a double-take unsure if you were the girl from last night. He jogs over to you and doing so he slips on a banana peel like in the cartoons and crashes into you. Causing you to spill coffee all over yourself.

“I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” Jason says quickly getting up and offering a hand to help you up. You take his hand and when he saw your face, he couldn’t believe his eyes. You were the girl from the show last night.

“I’m good it was just iced.” You wipe off your uniform best you can, but your white blouse was now stained. You looked up at Jason who was quietly staring at you. A cat had run away with his tongue.

“Excuse me.” You use your jacket to cover up your chest, begining to walk away.

“No!”

You stop and furrow your brows at him.

“Fuck, I mean, I’m sorry about your uniform.”

You still have your chest covered. “It’s whatever.” 

“I’ll buy you a replacement coffee later.”

“It’s fine.” Then the warning bell for class rang. “I have to go.” You walk past him and throw away the cup and continue with your day. Jason watched you walk away and slapped himself in the forehead. How did he fuck something up as easy as that?!

Ironically enough, for the rest of the day, you keep running into each other. Literally. After the first incident and before lunch he waves to you. As he walks over to you he trips and falls into you. Knocking all your stuff out of your arms.

“Hi.” Jason sheepishly greets from on top of you.

“Hi.” You shove him off of you and start picking up your things.

“I’m so sorry, I’m usually not this clumsy.” He responds helping you pick things up.

“I’m sure.” You respond with a slightly annoyed tone.

“I’m going to make this all up to you.”

“It’s fine.” You go to reach for your pencil and he does the same and you two bang heads.

“Shit.”

“Fuck.”

You two swore, grabbing your foreheads. You quickly snatch your pencil and get as far away from him as possible.

“I’m sorry!”

At lunch, he sees you at a table outside, and a little bit over behind you he sees a coffee cart. A lightbulb goes off in his head and he buys you a coffee and one for himself. He’s minding his own business and at the same time keeping an eye on you to make sure you haven’t disappeared. Once he gets the coffee, he begins walking over to you. He’s rehearsing what he’s going to say to you once he gets to your table.

Hey, I’m Jason. Sorry about today. No. Hey, were you at the Favorite Places show last night?

But getting caught up in his thoughts he trips over his own feet and spills the iced coffees all over you from behind.

You jump at the sudden burst of cold liquid all over you. “Oh my god!” You get up and turn around you see the same boy from earlier.

“Are you fucking SORRY?!”

Your jaw drops even further than it had already. Jason’s face goes super red. You shake your head and start gathering up your things.

“That’s not,” he gets up from the ground, “What I wanted to say.” He squeaked.

You roll your eyes and continue to ignore him.  With your stuff barely packed away, you grab your jacket uniform, the only dry clothing item you now have on you, and walk away from him. 

“Fuck.” Jason grabbed his head. Today was going great.

On your way to the last period of the day, you two make eye contact across the courtyard. There was something about you that took Jason off guard. When you saw him, you turned around going back inside the building to avoid walking near him. He was devastated.

Later that evening in Wayne Manor:

“Hey Little Wing,“ Dick walked into Jason’s room “ooooo....” he leaned against the door frame. The room is dark and Jason is slumped over his bed, “is this a bad time?”

“Pretty sure the girl from last night was at school today and everything went WRONG.”

“Ouch.” Dick flicked on the light, “What happened?”

“What didn’t happen?!” Jason sat up in bed. “I spilled coffee on her twice, but not just two cups of coffee. Three. She was drenched in ice coffee by lunch.”

“Oh, that sounds like a bad day for her and you.”

“Young masters, please report to the main dining hall, dinner is ready,” Alfred announced over the intercoms.

“You can talk more along the way.”

Jason explained everything that happened at school today to Dick and when they got into the dining room Bruce and Selina were there along with Tim and Damien and the last person that Jason laid his eyes on was you.

Jason’s jaw dropped. 

Your eyes narrowed.

“Jason! Dick! Take a seat this is my goddaughter, y/n.” Selina introduced, “She’ll be staying with us and going to Gotham Academy with you and Tim.”

“Hi, I’m Dick.” he reached out his hand and shook hands with you, “Pleasure meeting you.”

You shakes his hand and gives him a smile in return and Dick takes a seat one away from you, leaving the only space at the table next to you for Jason.

You then turn your attention to Jason. “And you must be Jason.”

Hi.” Jason said sheepishly avoiding eye contact and quickly taking a seat at the table next to you.

“Wow, this is a first.” Selina said, “I have never seen Jason so quiet.”

Jason grows furiously red.

This was the worse karma.

---

My boyfriend said I need to stop sitting on all my stories and that I need to share them with the world. I’m embarrassed and I don’t like people knowing what I’m into.So, better share with all the strangers on the internet! 

Hope you enjoyed it! I’ll be back soon!

[nadiaportia]

Sayelle of Bizatena

art by @ia-bi-tia​

The adventurous disciple with a rare gift

Other bios: Ximena | Deirdra | Heloisa | Cibela

Full name:  Sayelle bint Zahir (”Sayelle, daughter of the Magician”)

Meaning of name: Amalgation of “Sayid” and “Elle”; Arabic for “patient” and French for “she”

Family:

Faarooq al-Rashid and Balqis bint Oaisara: Sayelle’s biological parents. They died when their child was only a baby in an earthquake that was part of what would later be called “The Cataclysm that almost was”, during which both an earthquake as well as a tsunami devasted parts of Bizatena.

Farida bint Zahir: Sayelle’s mentor and adoptive mother. She along the other apprentices of age helped raise the children brought to the Magician’s temple and later on took on the role of tutor in all affairs of life for Sayelle. She is supportive of her ward and protects her affinity for umbramancy as soon as it manifests. 

Khentkawes: A dodo and Sayelle’s familiar. During a trip to an island north of Prakra, Sayelle got lost and injured but was guided back to the village by a perceptive and helpful bird. She decided to leave her peers behind to travel with Sayelle and see the rest of the world like only very few flightless birds living on an island could. Khentkawes is very clever and an equal partner in running Sayelle’s magic shop, responsible for cataloguing the goods kept and sold.

Nickname: Sally

Favourite meal: Tabbouleh, heavy on the spring onions and mint

Favourite drink: Pomegranate juice

Favourite flower: Hibiscus

Favourite color: Turquoise

Birthday: 27th of April

Age: 33 during the events of the game

Zodiac: Taurus

MBTI: ENFJ

Patron Arcana: Wheel of Fortune and the Seven of Cups

Upright: The Wheel turns endlessly with the passage of time, changing fortunes as if by whim.

Reversed: The Wheel must return all to its beginning- life cannot remain in the sun forever.

Upright:  In dreams possibilities seem endless, but the waking world won't wait for you forever.

Reversed:  Sometimes an offer is too good to be true. Be wary of false promises in the coming days.

Gender: Trans female

Sexuality: Bisexual

Height: 1,70 m // 5′6″

Appearance:

Sayelle is of slender build. Her skin is light brown with a cold undertone and she has an angular face. There are freckles on her cheekbones and nose, which is of aquiline shape. She has dark gray eyes and slightly full lips. Her wavy lilac hair is usually braided with some streaks being loose and in her face and her eyebrows are rather thin. 

She usually wears small black glasses on her nose, a golden nostril ring and a golden necklace with a small turquoise pendant. She wears brown lipstick and dark brown winged eyeliner.

She carries herself with ease, a certain light-footedness and confidence.

Visual inspirations:

Golshifteh Farahani

Languages spoken: Bizateni, Zadithi, Prakran, the Common Tongue of the People of the Drylands, Firentian, Kerusksch and the Common Tongue

Magical abilities:

Air-based magic, the ability to conjure storms and manipulating temperatures

Umbramancy; shadow magic that requires a lot of discipline and focus. She can travel faster through darkness, is able to communicate with “the shadows” and has a connection to nocturnal animals and everything that primarily lives in in the dark.

Astral magic; the ability to separate her mind from her body even within the mortal realm, and having her conscience pass into the realms of the dead

Love interests:

Nadia

Deirdra: They were together for a brief time, broke up due to realizing they weren’t in the right headspace to be in a relationship, and during the events of the game have to work through some issues that happened while Vesuvia was a victim of the plague.

In general, like with most of my characters; if they’re compatible sexuality-wise as well as personality-wise, feel free to ship them with your OCs or MCs. Hit me up with a message and we can discuss the details!

Backstory:

After the death of her parents, the young Sayelle was like most children without parents or potential guardians taken to one of many temples where the Magician was revered and his craft taught. Her mentor, a Bizateni magician who herself had grown up at the temple named Farida, taught the young apprentice everything she knew, coming to see her as someone with immense talent, drive and also like she was her own child.

Shortly after her arrival at the temple, Sayelle proved herself to have a great interest in all things that had to do with magic, something she had in common with her late parents but other than them who didn’t show any signs of being able to use magic, Sayelle turned out to be a prodigy. By the time she was ten, children her age paled against her magicks and spell work and she became a peer to many older children who were on her level of knowledge. She found both good friends, admirers of her talents as well as rivals amongst her fellow magicians, and yet grew to see them as siblings, and the adult magicians that taught them the ways of their creed as mentors and in a sense aunts and uncles.

At the age of 17, she symbolically shed the name given to her birth by her parents and took on one of her own choosing, as well as officially binding herself to the Magician with a name, like it happens to all adult residents of the temples. Now legally of age, Sayelle was let into the secret arts of umbramancy - shadow magic - after Farida felt the affinity within her during the many years of training her and soon enough she mastered the spells so well that she was already on Farida’s level. It was sometime after that when the magician Soraya, who was in direct service to the Emir, came to visit the temple to look for potential acolytes to train at the Palace and was immediately drawn towards Sayelle and her master. Umbramancy was a highly revered form of magic, especially because there were very few who didn’t fear it due to its bad reputation or have bothered to get attuned to it - Farida being one of the few who had successfully done so but kept it a secret.

Sayelle and Farida were invited to come to the Palace and vouch for themselves in front of the Emir with Soraya’s help. The ruler was clearly impressed by Sayelle’s talents and thus she and Farida left their life at the temple behind and moved into their chambers at the Palace, now with Sayelle as the resident umbramancer and Farida as her assistant to uphold the lie that Farida had learned umbramancy from Sayelle as her mentor could have very well been executed for keeping these sorts of secrets from the Emir’s eyes and ears at the temple and the magicians at court. Other than Farida, who constantly felt unwell at the Palace and grew annoyed with the nobility’s antics, Sayelle came to enjoy the attention, the ability to buy whatever she desired and be able to live a life she had never even dreamt of.

Years passed but Sayelle came to realize how selfish the Bizateni nobles truly were, but she didn’t think she’d be able to leave as she was the resident umbramancer who technically was upheld more as a symbol of status – having a magician with a very rare specialty and affinity gave a lot of fame to the Bizateni city-state. Yet Farida committed a selfless sacrifice to grant her adoptive daughter and protégée freedom from the court; by claiming as herself as the more powerful umbramancer, she took Sayelle’s place, who from then on returned to the temple in which she grew up on but her abilities still made her highly desirable. She took a leave from Bizatena and ever since worked as an adventurer, exploring ancient ruins and learning from the cultures that used to live there and the ways they utilized magic.

It was during those extensive travels that she not only met her familiar Khentkawes, but also various other wandering magicians and scholars, one of them Asra Alnazar and his then-girlfriend Ximena Rubalcaba. With them she struck up a close friendship which ultimately convinced her to set foot in Vesuvia where she opened a shop for magical utensils and worked as a professional medium and made the acquaintance of Deirdra Margalit, a teacher living in South End, with whom she had a brief relationship and continued to be friends with. When the red plague claimed many lives in the city, she volunteered in helping fight the disease but was powerful when it claimed patients, some of which had been friends and colleagues. She broke off contact to Asra when finding out about him wanting to aid Lucio in a sinister ritual and continued to run her business as usual after the plague ran its course.

More art:

feat. Nadia by @joeyhazell-art​ | post

feat Deirdra by @missrabbitart​ | post

[milanosbitch]

rec list for endhawks gems

as usual during this quarantine, i went through a challenging quest, searched through every single fic on ao3 about a single ship and made a rec list, ended up with around 25 works out of 630. nearly all of them should be free of explicit, problematic and triggering content besides one or two in the mature content sense. and i’ll note those down separately but i always suggest reading the tags before starting a fic regardless the rating, just so you know what you’re diving into. furthermore, there’s this author note at the end of a fic that i’ve found which pretty much sums up my feelings about a mess that’s called todoroki friggin’ enji:

“ I love Hawks and Endeavor together. They're a great dynamic, whether it's platonic or not. I'm a pretty open guy when it comes to shipping, and me and a certain lilviathan love going back and forth with dumb ideas about them.

And that's kind of where the contradictory feelings for the Flaming Garbage Man that is Endeavor kind of come from? Because I really do think he's a very interesting and well-developed character, but I also have a very strong urge to stab him at any given time.

I want to make his life miserable and hurt him, but I also want someone to sit him down and tell him that while he owes his family an apology, they do not owe him forgiveness. I want to see him grow. I want to see him face the repercussions of his actions and move forward. ”

—by Canarianyellow on archiveofourown.org

last notes; starred ones are my personal favorites, and i'm adding to this list as i go,, so look out for updates!! you can find a better formatted version of this list here on google docs.

that being said, here are the gems i found on a yet another holy quest:

Walk Alone by adastrad*

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 3.6K

Summary: You've lost your wings, you've lost your speed, and in the crowd ahead, you've lost him too. How do you know what name to call out when you don't even know what to call yourself?

as usual, kick-starting the list with one of the first fics i’ve read about them. we have some pretty good angst related to the latest manga chapters in our hands and a fascinating second person pov here. the ‘stream of consciousness’ style of wording kicks you right in the ribs, in a good way.

&&.

It's Cold, I Don't Want To Be Lonely

by onlyatitagain

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 3.7K

Summary: When in the presence of Todoroki Enji, it was easy to feel warm and overwhelmed by heat in more ways than just physical. Hawks was very aware of the fire burning in his heart that roared to life whenever he was with his childhood hero, who was now his best friend. The relationship they had was special in the way of how close they had become, Hawks trusted the number one hero with his life and could always count on him no matter the circumstance.

What would happen if he said something and ruined that trust, the friendship they had built over months of knowing each other?

You should never play with fire, unless you want to get burned.

truly a beautiful hurt/comfort fic. enji’s characterization is gentle and might feel slightly OOC, but give it a chance. there is also some pretty cheesy couple stuff at the end and that might not be your cup of tea, just a heads up.

&&.

Fallen by copper_leaf**

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 7.3K

Summary: Hawks’ attempt to infiltrate the League goes wrong.

Enji is the one he turns to.

both its part one and part two, this series can take my soul. literally 7K of sheer hurt/comfort, and a caring enji. hawks’ eyeliner is probably ruined by now. can i say this is probably the best fic i’ve read about them softness-wise? i can.

&&.

Burning Embers by copper_leaf**

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 6K

Summary: Hawks wakes up, wingless, in Enji's arms.

the continuation of the fic above, here’s more content that will make you feel all mushy. a beautiful excerpt from it:

“It’s a flicker of light in the darkness, the last ember left in the heart that still has the power to bring all else to flame.”

&&.

The Bird Who Swallowed a Star*

by angyhawks (Soll)

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 4.5K

Summary: Endeavor remembers Hawks' small hands, how they didn't burn as he danced on his palms.

How Hawks had whispered sweet nothing into his flames, words not important as his lips moved and his voice chirped.

He remember Hawks finding him, small and spent, and gifting him a feather to feed on.

Endeavor wishes a feather had been his only offer.

//in which Endeavor is a fire demon, Hawks is once again tied to the ground, and wouldn't it be nice if they could kiss?

&&.

Light by Caahs*

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 2.1K

Summary: Since he was a boy, Hawks gathered an eternal distaste for darkness, which was preserved until his most recent days. However, the blazing figure of Endeavor always came up like his warm source of light, illuminating the most obscure paths and clarifying the most difficult decisions.

&&.

Emotions Are Hard, Love Even More So...

by aurora_whitlock

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 4.4K

Summary: Hawks and Endeavour at the end of a long week. Alone. Together. Its just some cute, fluffy bullshit basically. Warm your hurt little hearts.

&&.

Cuff me to the truth of failure

by Not_A_Valid_Opinion

Rating: Gen

Word Count: 3.4K

Summary: The kid’s eyes are so wide, Hawks can see the entire silhouette of his wings in their reflection. “I want to be you.”

Shit.

“No, you don’t, kid,” he can’t help but promise, can’t stop the sadness in his eyes from flickering into view.

Hawks has dinner with Enji after a bad interview.

&&.

Look at what amounts from the jump

(and I'm never coming down) by

Not_A_Valid_Opinion

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 3K

Summary: He stares at Endeavour with something close to regret, maybe closer to suspicion, but before Endeavour can catch the look it’s gone and replaced with a pursed lip and a glance at his phone. “I’ve gotta go. See you around, Enji.”

But the burly man stops him with his name. “Watch where you’re flying,” he says gruffly, though it’s different. It’s not an order. It’s not a request.

Whatever it is, Hawks takes it as a challenge.

Endeavour is worried about Hawks. Hawks doesn't know what to do with that information.

&&.

You mesmerise me in red and gold

by Arayne

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 4.2K

Summary: Enji has never gotten to tell Hawks what's on his mind so he tries, in several ways, to make it clear how he feels.

&&.

We've got a good thing going

by lehnsherry

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 3.7K

Summary: Enji is watching Shouto, so he notices the way his eyes snap to the kitchen doorway just before he hears the soft footsteps and the rustling of wings, and his heart jumps into his throat. He turns in his seat just in time to see Hawks walk in, eyes still closed and a hand scratching at his messy hair.

“Mornin’, babe, do you know where my -” Hawks breaks into a huge yawn, and then opens his sleepy eyes, and freezes in the doorway like Shouto used his power on him.

Enji’s mouth makes an involuntary sound of embarrassment, and Hawks flushes all the way down to his chest.

&&.

As He Lived by uzumae*

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 2.3K

Summary: Hawks wants to imagine that he still has a place in a world he no longer belongs to.

&&.

future hearts by rire

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 1.2K

Summary: When the rest of Hawks is putting on airs, it’s his wings that give him away.

&&.

Break off a piece of your heart by kettleowl

Rating: Gen

Word Count: 890

Summary: The High-End incident, but they are actors who are too emotionally invested in their roles.

&&.

to take a fall by rire

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 2.3K

Summary: “What’s with that look, Endeavor-san?” Hawks smiles. It doesn't reach his eyes. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. I got what I wanted, didn’t I? Now I’ve got more free time than I know what to do with.”

&&.

A Thousand Flowers by adastrad*

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 440

Summary: "Let's hope the next time the cherry blossoms fall, we will all be smiling."

&&.

#fantheflames by adastrad

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 54.9K

Summary: Todoroki Shoto accidentally, on purpose, and with great regret helps make Hawks/Endeavor happen.

this is wholesome. one hundred percent cheff kiss. peak comedy with a dose of stan twitter. actually a shouto-centric fic and more like an outsider pov of slight endhawks.

&&.

This Gentle Earth by adastrad**

Rating: Gen

Word Count: 4.2K

Summary: Hawks buys a better excuse to keep visiting Musutafu, but damn it. Enji hadn't been looking to adopt.

guaranteed to melt your insides. enji ends up being a plant parent.

&&.

The Winner Takes it All by adastrad

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 25.2K

Summary: Endeavor's eye is gone. He may say his injuries are his own responsibility, but it's Hawks' fault, isn't it? He will give Enji everything he can. His top secret mission will take the rest.

slaps the roof of the fic this baby right here is a shortcut for a brain burn. with a complicated storytelling and equally complex characterizations, which results in a slow but satisfying reading if you’re looking for a detailed story!! there’s seriously so much pining that it keeps you on your tiptoes until the end of it.

&&.

Roasting the Roaster

Rating: Teen & Up

Word Count: 3.7K

Summary:  Hawks gossips with the receptionist at Endeavor Hero Agency about what a dork the boss is, discusses Endeavor lookalike porn, and then ropes Shouto into lunch with Endeavor, whereupon Shouto just roasts his dad the whole time.

Can you roast a man who's already on fire? Apparently, yes. Yes you can.

(includes the hit single Did You Need Some Ice For That Sick Burn by Hawks, ft. Shouto Todoroki)

[Only tangentially related to the other fics in this series.]

slight crack fic for humor but it’s truly well-written. a shouto and hawks team up over endeavor was something i never deeply gave attention to yet it is gold and i need more of it. hawks writes a bop, endeavor’s whole agency thirst over the said man and everything leaves you with tears in your eyes from cackling at these dorks.

&&.

the fics listed below the cut are rated mature or

explicit by the authors, and therefore contain sexual content:

Penumbra by Nicolefrickle

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 1.8K

Summary: Enji wants to touch Hawks' wings. Badly.

this one is rated mature but the theme is only minorly implied so i can say it is safe to read without worrying about the rating. more like a fluff fic with hawks being a happy birb.

&&.

An Imperfect Cage by Crandberrycrush

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 55.5K

Summary: Hawks is an orphan, brought up in a charity school and thrust into the world at eighteen to work as a governor for the Todoroki family, a family that has more secrets than he can hope to unravel.

*A gothic romance based heavily on the novel Jane Eyre*

&&.

Liquid Nitrogen by surveycorpsjean

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 23.8K

Summary: Enji can't figure out why the hell Hawks keeps sleeping in his office.

the plot? the writing? the characterization? everything is perfect. i’m normally uncomfortable with this much amount of smut and debated if i should put this on the list or not, since it might consist of triggering content for some. please read all the tags beforehand starting this piece.

&&.

Palindrome by Nicolefrickle

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 7.9K

Summary: Hawks doesn't realize just how much he needs Endeavor, or why it feels like he's still racing time.

//

A character study of Hawks with flashbacks and inner thoughts, heavy on the Endhawks, heavy on the hurt

[gainaxvel3o]

A Miraculous Tale of Rubybug and Cat Blake Chapter 3

Previous / First / Next

If I don’t, who will?

Glynda Goodwitch was never one for tardiness.

Every year she'd get a new batch of students and they would all be the same. On one hand you have the lazy and unmotivated, the ones who coasted through high school and came here expecting an easy grade.

On the other hand, you have the tired and unfocused. These people struggled to get into Beacon and feel the weigh of expectations thrust upon them. They fear that they will not be able to pos the grade with even a C.

The last group are the ones she both loved and feared. These students are eager, motivated and ready. They are fearless in the face of error and have so much potential ripe to be unlocked.

The common factor among these groups was that they all needed discipline. And she would show them that discipline.

Glynda would most certainly do that for the girl who walked into the room just as she was in the middle of her lecture.

"Good of you to join us Miss Rose," She said. "Take your seat."

Ruby nodded, clearly embarrassed over being called out like this. Glynda wasn't sure which of the groups she fit in yet. She could only hope that the short girl learned her lesson.

"You will be taking your seat next to- OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOU TWO STOP THAT!"

A pair of girls interrupted their passionate make out session to look at their teacher. One of them had long brown haired and blushed furiously at Glynda's outburst. The other one, who had a black beret on her head and a pair of sunglasses, only smirked.

"Sorry teach," Sunglasses girl adjusted them. "We just couldn't keep to ourselves this time."

Glynda was not amused. "Well since you clearly can't manage such a basic task, then you won't mind if I have Miss Rose take Scarletina's seat?"

"I… well." The shy girl said. "No it won't be a problem Miss Goodwitch."

She moved up from her seat, Ruby taking her place on it. The shy girl had to sit next to Ruby, a desk apart from Sunglasses Girl.

Yang had asked her to make friends this year. Ruby felt she was pretty lucky yesterday, Weiss aside. Maybe this time might also work?

"…Hi!" Ruby said whispering to the shy girl. "I'm Ruby?"

She really hoped she wouldn't get yelled at.

"Huh? I'm Velvet. Velvet Scarletina." The shy girl smiled. "Pleased to meet you."

Oh thank God it was another nice one. However, before any more conversation could be said, Glynda had already returned to the lecture.

"We have only 20 minutes before class ends, so pay attention." Ms Goodwitch said to the students. "The Fashion Industry is a harsh and cruel place where only talent and luck will save you. Thousands enter but only few make it to the top. Because of that, we need to perfect our skills to stand out among the crowd."

Ruby took out a pen and wrote down on her notebook. She was already late, but maybe she could get this right. Something had to go right today…

_______________________________________________________________________

After class ended, Ruby made a bee line for the bathroom.

No one was there (which was odd but she rolled with it), so Ruby rubbed the earrings. Out from them came Tikki, who looked concerned.

"Ruby!" She screamed. "I was so worried did something happened?!"

The girl was forlorn. She sighed sadly.

"I'm so sorry Tikki," Ruby said. "I went to look for Nooro but therewasthisbadguyandheturnedpeopleintomonstersandIcouldn't-"

"Slow down Ruby!" Tikki waved her stubby arms in front of her chosen. "I couldn't understand… did you say monsters?"

She nodded. "Yeah… that bad guy I beat up the yesterday, Roman… he had this tacky bowler hat and awful eyeliner and was calling himself Chadwick (like that Pinocchio character) and he turned all the prisoners into these… these donkey people! It was horrible!"

"Donkey… people…?" Tikki tilted her head in confusion. "Now I know something is strange, Nooro is a kind Kwami. His powers shouldn't be able to be used for evil gain."

Ruby herself had question marks written on her face.

"If that's true then how comes Roman was able to get this power?"

"Because he wasn't." Tikki said. "He was borrowing it from whoever is Nooro's chosen… they wee wielding dark power."

"Dark power?" Ruby asked, "What do you mean?"

The red Kwami hesitated. She closed her eyes, ha an utterly serious look on her face. It was the first time Ruby had seen her truly afraid. It worried her immensely.

"Ruby, this is more serious than I thought. The power… it's similar to an ancient evil that me and the previous Miraculous users faced before. When we lost the butterfly miraculous we just thought it was broken. That would have been preferable to this."

Tikki opened her eyes, a fierce glare.

"Nooro's power has been corrupted by the Grimm."

Ruby scratched the back of her head. "Okay… And who are they exactly?"

A few seconds pass.

"Oh right. You don't know the legends…" Tikki blushed a little. However, she regained her composure. "The Grimm were terrible things… evil things. They fed on the negative feelings human beings have and used it to become stronger. Nooro is the Kwami of Compassion. His power is supposed to heal and nurture whoever he possesses, help them overcome their flaws. Instead, his power is being used to corrupt people into monsters!"

"Like some kind of… Grimmification." Ruby hesitated to say, "It would explain his power."

"Yes that's exactly right! We have to find whoever is causing this and beat them!"

"I don't know Tikki… he managed to beat me this time what if he does it again? How do we even depower him?

"Don't worry about you losing that time Ruby!" Tikki quickly reassured. "It was your first real fight, and now that you know more you can do better this time! As for how to depower him…"

She conjured up the yoyo. Tikki opened it up.

"Nooro's power is to posses someone and grant it powers. However, each of these victims have a special item that contains the butterfly possessing them. If you can break it, you can use the yoyo to capture the butterfly and undo their effects on the world."

"Yeah! I can get help from Chat Noir!"

"Chat Noir?" Tikka's eyes widened. "Shit, that means Plagg's out."

"Wait, who's Plagg? Is he a Kwami?" Ruby asked. "What's wrong with him?"

"Him I don't have a problem with. It's his wielders I'm concerned about." Tikki said. "Beware of those chosen by the Cat Miraculous, Ruby. Such people tend to a sketchy history. I wouldn't want to get you hurt by them."

Ruby shrugged. "I dunno Tikki, she seemed nice. She saved me out today and promised she'd help me find Chadwick."

"She did?" The Kwami raised it's stubby arm to her chin, scratching it. "Just be careful. She could be manipulating you for her freedom. Previous users would woo Ladybugs to receive a kiss, made from love… and then leave them at a moment's convenience. I don't want you going through that heartbreak."

Ruby blushed heavily. 'True love's kiss breaks the spell, huh… like a fairy tale.'

Ever since she was a kid, Ruby loved fairy tales. Tales of heroes, princesses and creatures that lurked in the woods, she loved how even though they go through horrible and painful things they would eventually have a happy ending. Maybe even get married! That seemed nice…

Nowadays, she still liked them. They were entertaining, questionable moments from heroes aside. But Blake had been right when she said the real world wasn't like a fairy tale. Ruby kept that in mind when Tikki continued talking.

"We should go find him immediately! When do we get started?"

"I… I have to be with my friends first." Ruby said. "Once dinner is over then I'll get search for Chadwick again. I promise."

If Tikki noticed anything up with Ruby, she did not say. She only nods, and vanished back into the earrings.

Satisfied, Ruby left the stall. She opened the door only for it to bump into someone.

"Blake? Oh I'm so sorry!"

Her new friend waved it off. "Don't worry about it, Ruby. Where are you headed?"

"I was… umm…" Ruby chuckled. "I was heading to the cafeteria!"

"Good. Me too."

"…"

"…"

"So um… wanna walk together?"

"…"

"…"

"Sure."

_______________________________________________________________________

Chadwick sat down on a rooftop, panting heavily.

He had made a reasonable amount of distance from the prison. Roman didn't do that much exercise before or during his stint as a crook so this was a bit more than he could take. He wished he had a cool limo getaway car.

Or a scooter. Scooters were nice.

The more Roman thought about, his entire situation was pretty weird. The moment that butterfly landed on his hand and he heard a voice in his mind Roman thought he had been going crazy, Getting the power to turn people into donkeys and fighting those pesky heroes did nothing to soothe his worries about being insane.

Maybe the voice in his head would stop being vague and finally explain herself. He hoped for that as a glowing violet butterfly symbol appeared over his face again.

“You failed to get the miraculous, Roman.”

"Give me a break, woman." He said. "I was just about to when those stinkin' cops were about shoot me."

“If you hadn't gloated for so long you might have been able to take both. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't take away your power and give it someone competent.”

That wasn't good. Roman had to think about this carefully. If he wanted to keep this power, he needed a plan of attack.

"Wait your disembodied majesty, I may have something that can get your special magic jewels!"

The voice hummed in thought.

“Go on.”

He got down on his knees and begged, "Now see here, Mayor Ironwood's gonna give a speech later today. It's gonna attract a whole lot of press… and a mountain of cockroaches I call people. So many people that I can turn into big grey jackasses and overwhelm those so called heroes and steal those earrings! I can make this work, trust me I won't do any screwing around that isn't in service of your goal!"

Chadwick hoped this would work. He wasn't prepared to go back to being Roman Torchwick, the puny criminal who got caught by a freaking toddler. With this power he can be more.

A feeling of sinister content flowed through him. The voice seemed to have made her choice.

“Very well. This is your second chance. If you fail, it is your own fault.”

Good. This was good. Chadwick gave no one but the air a cruel evil grin.

"Thank you mistress… say, what do I call you anyway? I'm pretty sure sure you're not just a voice in my head."

"Well Mr. Torchwick, I could be your magical godmother or your evil queen. So I guess I'll be your very own… Monarch."

_______________________________________________________________________

"Breaking news! The most unusual prison break!"

Lisa Lavender's voice and image was for all the students to see. The cafeteria watched with passing interest at the latest news to available.

"Reports found that all the prisoners had mysteriously disappeared, with donkeys found all over the place! Ladybug and a mysterious new Cat Girl were last seen fleeing the scene. No word had been given but suspicions are now placed upon Vale's latest vigilante…"

On one table, one Yang Xiao-Long sighed.

"Oh great don't tell me she's a fake. A real shame, If I can't trust an anonymous vigilante who can you trust?"

The same table sat not just her, but her… friends? Acquaintances? She hoped that these people were friends

"They can't be the ones responsible," Jaune said. "Okay maybe the Cat Girl might have done something but Ladybug could be going after the real bad guy!"

"At least she got a better costume," Ren said. "The other one didn't feel like her if I say so."

"I just know that I like Cat Lady's outfit!" Nora yelled while raising her fists up and down. "Quick Ren, do we have time to go shopping for cosplay?"

Yang rolled her eyes. She turned to find her precious sister and roomie walking towards them. Noting the seemingly forlorn look on their faces, Yang wondered if something had happened. If she should ask any questions.

"Yo Rubes! Blakey! Why not come with the cool kids at the table?"

Blake glared at Yang. "Call me that again and I'll end your life."

"What's going on Yang?" Ruby asked trying to prevent a problem. "How's the first day for you?"

"It's been going fine Ruby. Boring, but I met some cool people." Yang pointed at the TV. "We were just talking about Ladybug. People disappeared from prison and the news think it's her and some Cat Girl's fault."

Ruby frowned. 'They didn't say anything about Chadwick? That's so strange… or maybe that's how it is. The bad get away and the good get blamed…'

Blake had her own reaction. 'I expected the cops to cover up for their own incompetence. Police look out for each other, not the people. But… Cat Girl? Seriously? Would it have been that hard to get my name right? At least translate Chat Noir to Black Cat or something, I hate this.'

"Hey Pyrrha, you haven't said anything yet." Jaune said. "What do you think of this thing?"

Pyrrha seemed nervous about something. He wasn't sure what about, but Jaune didn't want her to be left out. She seemed pretty nice.

"Ah, well," Pyrrha said. "I'd rather wait until more information comes through. Sometimes we have to wait for the truth to come through right?"

"Yeah… that makes sense." Jaune nodded. "I hope her name is cleared. She saved my bacon and I'm not sure what I'd do if-"

"Ah, Pyrrha Nikos! Right in our midst!"

The group turned their heads towards the offending voice. The sight of Weiss Schnee with something that wasn't a frown or annoyance would normally be a pretty sight, but the gleam in her eye indicated that trouble was afoot.

The way Pyrrha was shaking from her words rang some bells in Jaune's head. She looked around to see if anyone heard.

"Um, could you please keep it down? I'm not-"

"This will be perfect!" Weiss interrupting. She clearly wasn't paying attention to her discomfort. "The great fashion model combined with the famous Vale athlete! Together we will be unstoppable!"

Everyone at the table looked at Pyrrha. Ren and Nora didn't really care all that much. A pal is a pal after all. Yang had an eyebrow raised. Ruby was rubbing her chin as gears were turning in her head trying to figure something out. Blake just stared impassively, not caring either way.

Weiss kept talking over them. Jaune had previously asked her out because she was pretty, but the way that Pyrrha tensed up at being recognized made him have second thoughts.

"I can see it now! We'll be popular! We'll be even bigger celebrities together! We'll get perfect grades! Nothing can come between us now!"

That about did it. Jaune had stood up now.

"You know what else is great?" Jaune said. "Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to see you again, Snow Angel."

Weiss was irritated at the buffoon from yesterday speaking to her. "You again? Haven't I told you enough that your incessant flirting will get you nowhere?"

"Yeah I figured. But you're not exactly being friendly yourself right now soooo…"

Weiss looked annoyed. Blake observed how Pyrrha seemed relieved when Jaune spoke up. She'll admit that this moment was about the most spine he'd shown but Blake thinks Pyrrha could do a little better than Jaune. He showed basic respect and nothing else.

Still, anything that annoyed Weiss was good in Blake's book.

"Jaune, is it?" Weiss said. "Do you have any idea who you've talking to?

Jaune shrugged. "Not in the slightest. Should I?"

"Miss Schnee, please." Pyrrha begged. "I don't want anyone to know!"

The ice queen ignored her words. "This is Pyrrha Nikos! Graduated top of her class at Sanctum, she's a super star football player who's athletics are known far and wide!"

Looks like the cat was out of the bag. Yang's eyes widened in surprise while Ren and Nora stared at Pyrrha with awe.

Pyrrha for her part was angry. It would have been foolish to think that her secret would be kept hidden for long, but she expected at least a week before it happened. Not immediately the day after arriving. She readied her fist to pummel the offending Weiss right now.

"Really?" Jaune tilted his head in confusion. "Never heard of her."

… What?

Pyrrha reeled a bit from the shock. He really didn't know her? Wonderful words to hear admittedly, but… really? Her fortune couldn't possibly be this good.

Any moment of shock Weiss had quickly disappeared. She scoffed at this clearly moronic ingrate too low for her.

"Oh please, you mean to tell me you're NEVER HEARD of the invincible girl who won the Mistral Football Tournaments four years in a row, establishing a new record!"

Jaune scratched the back of his head. "Can't say I've heard of them no."

Eye twitch. Weiss was feeling a very annoyed eye twitch happening right now.

"There's no way you could not know! She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

A loud gasped was heard. It came from Ruby, looking as if a lightbulb was shining over her head.

"Holy crap you were on my cereal boxes!" She pointed at Pyrrha. "I used to eat Pumpkin Pete's all the time back at Patch and I didn't expect you to be a real person! Holy crud this is SO awesome!"

"Yeah, I remember doing that for a charity event." Pyrrha chuckled, shaking her head. "Sadly the cereal isn't very good for you."

Yang laughed heartily. "That's what I keep telling Ruby, but her sweet tooth overrides her common sense."

"Hey!"

"Wow I can't believe you didn't say anything Pyrrha!" Nora said. "Must be so fun being a famous football player! Closest thing to football was when me and Ren threw badgers at the trees expecting them to break down and reveal HIDDEN TREASURE! They didn't though which is so disappointing."

"I kept telling you it wouldn't work." Ren said. "You find treasure inside of caves, not trees."

"See Ren, this is why you're my other half!"

Weiss rolled her eyes at this most unorthodox nonsense. She simply had to get Pyrrha out of there for her own good.

"So, after hearing all of this do you really think you're in a position to talk to Pyrrha at all? You're not quite on our level."

Jaune frowned. "If she wants to talk to us, then that's her deal, Snow Angel. Not yours."

"Don't be ridiculous." Weiss said. "Pyrrha come with me, you need to be with people of your stature!"

At that, Pyrrha stood up from the chair. She glared at the Schnee with fire in her bright green eyes.

"And I'm telling your right now, I don't want to be around you. I asked you multiple times to stop and you haven't done it. Now leave me alone. I won't say it one more time!"

Her stare made Weiss take a step back. Her attempt to save this pure maiden from the savage ingrates had clearly failed. Oh well, she would try again another time. She wouldn't be intimidated by anyone. Definitely not going to run with a tail behind her butt because she was scared.

It was definitely that.

"Fine," Weiss turned around, scoffing. "Throw your lot with useless peons! But I'll be there if you need a true equal."

The heiress stormed off in a huff. As she took steps away, everyone on the table smiled in relief.

"Wow you handled her so well Pyrrha!" Nora said. "Maybe we can break her Schnees Knees next!"

"I… really wouldn't want to do that." Pyrrha sat down again, blushing in embarrassment. "I get enough press already. I just want to be a normal girl right now, at least for a while. Normal knees and all."

"I know what that's all about." Ruby said. Then she frowned. "Ohhhh and I have her for a roomie! Crud my life sucks."

Unable to help themselves, everyone laughed. Yang placed an arm on her precious sister's shoulder and rubbed it reassuringly.

"Hey don't worry Rubes. It's one semester. Soon as it's done we'll work on transferring you out of there into another room. "

Ruby smiled. She was so lucky to have a big sister like Yang around. It always seemed like Yang knew what to say, what to do… how to do it… Ever since Ruby was a little girl Yang had been her hero, the light that shined in the dark. In every way that mattered Yang had the qualities of a hero. She could have been a champion if Ruby hadn't been picked.

Maybe she should be. Ruby still had time to rectify it. Maybe Yang can be the hero she could never be. maybe-

"Ow! Stop it! Stop it please!"

Everyone at the table turned from the table. burly looking guy. He had an ugly crew cut and muscles meant for wrestling. He had been grabbing someone by the hair. Aside from a few glares, no one was lifting a finger to help.

"Shit man," Yang said. "Wonder if a teacher's here."

She turned to her sister, but Ruby wasn't there. Yang followed the sound of footsteps and found she was heading for the trouble.

"Hey Ruby? Wait a sec!"

Ruby wasn't listening. The girl instead travelled to where the noise came from. As she got closer, Ruby could hear words being exchanged.

"Fuckin' bitch, not so tough without your girlfriend here huh?!"

The girl- Velvet Scarletina. Ruby remembered her from class- strained against his grip. "Leave me alone, Cardin! You bastard!"

Cardin Winchester grinned. "Yeah? Well who's gonna stop me?"

"Hey!"

He didn't even notice the tight grip on his arm before he felt the punch coming.

_______________________________________________________________________

Blake Belladonna waited outside the conference room.

After the incident at the lunchroom, Ruby and Cardin had been called away to receive discipline. Cardin had left a few minutes earlier, not all that worried. Ruby had been inside longer.

Worry had built up within her. Blake hoped Ruby wouldn't get in trouble.

That worry only increased when the door opened. Ruby stepped out of it, looking… unlike herself. Previously Blake had seen with sunshine and smiles pouring from her very being. Now, Ruby's normally flashy grey eyes seemed dimmed, as if dulled by resignation.

It was not something that made Blake happy.

"You okay?"

Ruby looked at her. Thankfully a small smile seemed to form on her lips.

"Maybe… Surprised to see you here Blake." Ruby said. "Where is everybody?"

Blake shrugged. "The headmaster been called to attend a rally later. Mayor Ironwood will be speaking. I decided to stay behind to get you."

"Oh…" Ruby looked away. "Good."

"… Ruby." Blake said. "What did they say to you?"

The girl didn't seem sure what to say. She then sighed.

"Cardin Winchester acted out of line. But you shouldn't have acted so violently. You have to think about his future prospects." Ruby mimicked. She sighed. "They said if something like this happened again I would be kicked out."

Then, Ruby frowned. "It's so stupid. Cardin was the one hurting people. He got a tiny reprimand, but I'm the one who's punished? I thought it would get better in University… but it doesn't. It's so unfair!"

"I'm not surprised." Blake agreed, nodding sadly. "The world can be pretty unfair."

Ruby nodded, not saying anything.

The pair were walking outside. Ruby had noticed that the students were being filed into a line.

"Why are they lined up? Is it for that rally you mentioned?"

"Yes," Blake answered. "Yang and the others are in a different group. We'll see them later."

"Ooohhhh… nice!" Ruby said. "So what's this Ironwood guy all about? I don't really read much news."

"… Ironwood is… controversial." Blake tried to find the right words. "He's considered popular for raising the economy in Vale but some of his policies have been questionable."

"What do you mean by…" Ruby bit her lip. "Questionable?"

"Well," Blake said. "He increased funding for the police department, allowing them access to military grade guns and weapons."

Ruby raised her eyebrows. "Doesn't that seem… excessive?"

"Some think it's needed."

"What do you think then?"

"… I think it's horrible." Blake said. "I haven't had the best experiences with cops, and the last thing we need is to give them more stuff to harass people with."

"Sounds about right." Ruby scratched her chin. "The sheriff back in Patch acted all high and mighty 'cause he had a gun. Freaked my classmates out whenever he walked near the school waving that thing around. If that's one sheriff imagine the whole department like that."

They walked a bit further as the line continued.

There was a thought that had been nagging at Blake. A relatively simple question she wanted to ask. Considering that they were going to be there for a while, it seemed about as right time as any to start.

"Ruby…" Blake said. "Why did you do that thing earlier?"

The girl turned her head around. "What do you mean?"

"Punching Cardin." Blake said. "You knew you were going to get in trouble, but you did it anyway. Why?"

Ruby frowned.

"… Blake? Remember what I told you last night? How I wanted to be like the heroes of those fairy tales?"

Upon hearing those words, Blake's face morphed into a subtle glare.

"Is that it? You wanted to play a hero?"

"No no, it's just-" Ruby shook her head, pinching her nose. "Listen. Cardin wasn't going to stop harassing Velvet, and no one was standing up for her. No one. If I didn't do something, who would? Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. When someone's in trouble, you have to stand up for what's right even if bad things happen to you. Because if you don't… if I don't… then we would be no better than Cardin. The world's damned if nobody did the right thing. Just like you helped me the other day with Weiss, I had to do something. The fairy tale heroes worked for their happy ending. I'll do the same, maybe for everyone else. You understand?"

"…"

"… Sorry."

"No it's fine."

The two said nothing. They continued their walk.

At this moment, Blake felt an odd mix of emotions. Ruby thought she was saving her that time with Weiss… the girl didn't know. That time, Blake hadn't helped Ruby out of any sense of kindness. All she wanted to humiliate the mighty Weiss Schnee, nothing more.

Blake couldn't even say Chat Noir was helpful. She only helped Ladybug out because Plagg told her she would solve all her problems. A simple kiss was all that was needed, and Blake would wait until they defeated Chadwick to ask her for that.

If there was one thing Blake knew, it was that she was not a good person. A good person would help out of the kindness of their heart, wouldn't help people because it was convenient. A good person wouldn't run away when they did something bad, or stand around and watch as someone was going to get hurt. If she was good, she wouldn't have that accursed Plagg on her fingertips.

Every day, Blake looked at herself in the mirror wondering when she will feel fine. Perhaps…

She looked at the ring in her finger.

Perhaps with this, she might finally feel like herself.

_______________________________________________________________________

The crowd had gathered at Town Hall.

They surrounded a tall platform that was surrounded by several armed guards. The wide metal fences kept the people back.

Amid the cheers and screams of the audience were students either too tired or too jaded to care about the conference either way. One of those was Yang Xiao Long, who, bored out of her skull, searched around for her friend and sister.

"Where's Blake and Ruby?" She said annoyed. "They're supposed to be here aren't they?"

"Hey relax," Jaune smiled. "The crowd's pretty thick after all."

Yang knew as much. Upon hearing claps from the audience, she turned her head to see a tall bearded man in a white suit walking towards the podium. He waved, a practiced smile on his face and a slight shake on his right arm.

He cleared his throat, before taking the microphone into his left hand.

"Thank you all for coming ladies and gentlemen!"

James Ironwood considered himself a lucky man. Having served in the military for years, he knew the value of sacrifice. How men on the frontline were considered expendable by the chain of command, how compromise was necessary in order to complete the mission.

"In just a few months, elections will be heading underway. I will be running a campaign for reelection."

James kept that same attitude in the political arena. He had to pull strings and make alliances in order to get stuff done. Things that have made people uncomfortable, even suspicious. It was worth it in Ironwood's mind.

"Thanks to me, crime rates have gone down by 20% and the city infrastructure has prospered in my time. If you can get me elected again, we can do so much more."

The city is infected by lowlives and scum. He will do whatever it takes to ensure order in his city. He will protect the people from themselves.

His words faded into the background of applause, as Yang heard an apology or two from behind her.

"Sorry we're late," Blake said. "Thick crowd."

"See, I told you!" Jaune pointed at Yang. "Don't be so worried."

Ruby looked up to the podium. "Has he said anything interesting?"

"Eh," Yang said. "Just drumming up publicity for his campaign. Nothing solid, like usual for politicians."

"… on my soul, I promise," Ironwood said. "I promise to do a better job this time around than I did before. I will focus on the real issues affecting this city, and drive them out from our town!"

That got a round of applause from the audience. Ironwood basked in the praise, doing a little bow here and there.

This was not the best part of the job, far from it. The best part of the job is getting behind the desk and going through the boring, practical paperwork that'll allow him to make the big decisions. James smiled. Things were going well.

"Excuse me, Mayor Ironwood! Just a question!"

Now the questions barrage. Sometimes he wished Winter were still there to sort this stuff out.

"Of course," James said confidently. "Just as expected from the press."

"What do you have to say about the Ladybug vigilante? And her Cat-themed assistant?"

Ironwood breathed with a heavy sigh. Of course this would come up. Might as well get it out of the way.

"I will make my position clear. Ladybug is a threat to peaceful society as we know it. If we allow her to run the streets unsupervised she will bring harm the innocent and destabilize order. Her existence will cause an escalation in crime. If she cared to save people, she would join the police. As soon as this meeting is done I will put together a task force to hunt her down."

Now that caused quite a stir. The people were going uproar at Ironwood's declarations, some baffled, some relieved but most of all confusion.

"Guess someone's not a fan." Yang crossed her arms. "Not sure if I'm liking the guy so far."

"He has to pay lip service to law and order." Blake said. "Potential backers wouldn't be too pleased with a politician who openly supports a vigilante."

"That guy's a load of crap!" Nora yelled. "Ladybug's not a bad guy and I'm sure she'd do a way better job of being a mayor than that jerk face over there! Ren do we have the eggs?"

"Nora no"

"Nora YES!"

Ruby herself was not sure how to respond. Ironwood raised a good point. What if she made things worse by stepping in? Roman turned into Chadwick because of her. Maybe-

"Glad to find someone who isn't a fan of that bug!"

Several bowler hats spread around the area. The guards protecting the rally had them stuck to their heads, and dropped their guns. One fired in fear. That caused the crowd to disperse!

"RUN FOR IT!" Someone said. "They're gonna- AH!"

Ruby looked around in horror. Everywhere people ran, there were a couple or so who were writhing in pain, turning into creatures they were never meant to be.

"Get away Ruby!" Yang yelled in her ear. "Run!"

"YANG!"

Ruby felt her sister push her away. She couldn't see Blake, her friends or anyone she recognized in the crowd. Even amid the crowd she was alone.

Her earrings glowed.

Perfect.

_______________________________________________________________________

The situation had turned insane.

It was as if Ladybug was not a lucky charm but a symbol of a doom according to the world of James Ironwood. All it took was saying her name and then the cavalcade of bullshit reigned on him today. To think James was looking forward to a nice meal after this event.

He hid behind the podium. He could that his guards were being turned into hideous beasts, and despair gripped his heart at the thought he could end up like them.

"What the hell is going?!" James tapped his ear piece. "What's causing these attacks!?"

"I don't know sir," The voice on the other line. "Everything is getting chaotic. You need to get out of there."

"Spoken like a true detective," Ironwood said. "This is clearly a terrorist attack. Coordinate the police to block the perimeter."

The static in his ear gave him no answer as to whether his instruction was heard. Just then, Ironwood heard a thud. He surmised that someone had landed on the platform.

"Excuse Mr. Mayor," The stranger leaning his head on the cane. "I hope you don't mind if I take the mike."

Ironwood glared at this gaudy looking villain. He took out the gun from his pocket, only for the criminal to knock it out of his hand with the staff.

"You're a parasite to our city," James said. "I will stop you."

The criminal laughed. "Nah. I don't think so. You just sit there while I wait for the bug."

The man who was Roman Torchwick smirked at the Mayor glaring at him. He never liked Old Ironwood anyway. This has been the second most amazing day of his life. Seeing everyone turn into the horrible monsters they are deep down, causing chaos everywhere… It was truly an honor to see.

He would have to thank the Monarch. Chadwick will get the miraculous, after prying it from Ladybug's dead hands.

"Chadwick!"

Speaking of whom…

"If it isn't the stupid brat I beat earlier," Chadwick turned his head towards the teenage heroine. "Ready to hand over your earrings?"

Ladybug clutched her fists. "You wish. What are you doing here, Chadwick? Why are you involving innocent people into this?"

"Ignoring your remark about innocents." Chadwick said. "I can say with certainty that you are in fact the one responsible for this."

She hesitated. Her eyes widened in fear.

"I… what?"

Good, Roman thought. Shiny knight types tend to be the most easy to manipulate. Just use their sense of shame to your advantage and you win the deck instantly.

"That's right Ladybug, YOU are the one at fault!" Chadwick said. "I was but a mere criminal that night until my new master sent a teeny butterfly and VOILA! Chadwick got his start! I have the power to turn everyone I want into stupid little mules, which I wouldn't have been able to do if you didn't step into the limelight."

The violet symbol of the butterfly appeared over his face.

"Hand over the miraculous my child," A whispery, angry voice could be heard in synch with Roman's own. "and you will save everyone."

She had taken a step back. Roman was close to getting to her. If he kept talking, he would get the Miraculous from her own hands.

"Come on…" He smirked. "Hand it over… and do nothing."

Suddenly Chadwick was struck by a staff to his skull.

He fell to the floor, blood spilling from his mouth. Chadwick looked up to see Ladybug's partner.

"You are a liar and a cheat. Ladybug won't listen to you."

Chat glanced at her partner. Ladybug was breathing in and out, trying to control herself. Chat had seen this sort of thing before. What was needed was encouragement. That was something she could do.

"If Ladybug had not interfered, you would have endangered the life of an innocent boy. You've had a life of crime beforehand. All Ladybug did was beat you before you could perpetrate more harm. She did the right thing then, and she does the right thing now. Whoever your master is, they are not ones to be trusted. If they would endanger the lives of civilians to get the miraculous then how can Ladybug trust them to stand down when she does? The only way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Neither of us will stand aside to let you do as you please. Not now. "

Chat could feel the presence of her lady next to her. Ladybug stood tall, with yoyo in hand.

"Not ever." She said, staring down the criminal in front of her.

Chadwick wiped away from the blood from his mouth. Slowly he got up from the floor, facing the heroes in front of him.

"Stupid girls like you, always demanding things go their way. Fine. I'll just rip off the miraculous from your dead bodies!"

Yang won't lie. The situation was pretty weird.

One minute she and her friends were sitting at a boring political rally. Then everyone was turning into… Donkey dudes? She couldn't really tell what they were.

All she knew was, she had to punch. So she did.

Her hand hurts a bit, but these guys went down easily. That's a good sign.

"LAY OFF MY FRIENDS YOU BUTTS!"

Nora was off to the side whacking people around with her own punches. Now that Yang could take a good look, that girl was jacked! Not quite as much as her, but if Nora told a story about how she suplexed a bear Yang would believe it in a heart beat.

Ren wasn't doing too badly either. He wasn't hitting anyone, but no one was hitting him either. He was swift, moving like the wind to avoid getting swamped.

"Watch out Yang!"

Yang was caught off guard, getting hit from behind.

When she came to, a giant Donkey Man was standing over her. It was snarling, ready to attack anything was in it's way.

And she was right in front of it.

"… hey buddy?" Yang said nervously. "Sorry for hitting your friends?"

"HYAH!"

Something had hit it.

The giant Donkey Men fell to the side. Yang looked up, wondering who could have saved her then. Was it Pyrrha? Nora? Did Jaune do a second cool thing and save her?

Nope.

She certainly didn't expect to see a panicking, scared out of her own mind Weiss Schnee dropping a fire extinguisher.

"You people are idiots!" Weiss was practically screaming. "There are MONSTERS everywhere in this god forsaken street and you're just standing there and fighting?!"

"… Yeah." Yang said. "Seemed about right."

Weiss face palmed at that admission. "Whatever. Come with me, we can get out of here!"

"JAUNE!"

Yang and Weiss turned to the scream. Pyrrha was holding Jaune in her arms… or at least they presume it to be Jaune.

His hoof hands and transforming face are making it hard to be clear.

"Stay with me Jaune!" Pyrrha held Jaune tight. "Fight it! Don't let it control you!"

Yang didn't wait to ask the question. "What happened?"

Pyrrha frowned.

"I was trying to get away, but one of the hats almost landed on me." She said. "He sacrificed himself to save mine."

Jaune groaned in pain. Pyrrha gently rubbed his hair.

"Hey don't worry about it…" Yang tried to reassure her. She wasn't particularly fond of Jaune, but this was too much. "Ladybug will find a way to save him. I'm sure of it."

Yang hoped she did. She wasn't sure what's gonna happen if she couldn't.

_______________________________________________________________________

Roman remember when he thought this was the second best day of his life? He was mistaken.

Trying to dodge Ladybug and Chat Noir's attacks was a tricky feat. Unlike before, where they were exhausted by his Donkey Men, this time they were coordinated. They worked together.

If he tried to jump, Ladybug would use her yoyo to pull him back down. If he tried to run, Chat Noir's staff would bring him in. He would dodge one of the staff's swings, but Ladybug would punch him. He would swing his staff to try hitting them, but that just left him open for another attack.

'It is getting ridiculous!' Chadwick thought. 'Why don't they just give the fuck up and let me go?!'

"Ladybug!" Chat yelled. "The butterfly miraculous needs items to possess people. We need to find the item to break the butterfly out."

"Right." Ladybug nodded. "Working on it."

Ruby remembered Tikki explaining Nooro's power as well. She tried to guess at what item could have been possessed. Her first guess was the cane, but Roman was swinging it around without worrying about it. It was pretty sturdy too.

That left only one other place. How did he transform people into those monsters again…?

"Chat!" Ladybug yelled. "Aim for his hat!"

Chat raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"I think his hat is the key! Break it or something and I can purify it!"

Roman was sweating bricks. He might actually lose…

"You're not stopping me! I have the power!"

He made a desperate charge at Ladybug, swinging his cane at her. However, Ladybug caught it between her hands.

"What the hell-?" Chadwick felt something come out of his head.

"Let's hope you're right, my Lady." Chat said. "Cataclysm."

The black bowler hat in her hand turned grey. Chat Noir gripped it even as the pieces turned to dust. Seconds later the wind carried the destroyed dust away from the palm of her hand. From the ashes, a glowing violet butterfly fluttered away.

"No no no" Chadwick was kicked away, tumbling to the floor. "Stop! Stop!"

Ruby knew what to do. She brought out her yoyo, and tossed it into the air. The yoyo opened up and captured the butterfly.

"Time to de-grimmify!"

"NOOOOOO!"

"Miraculous…CURE!"

The yoyo spun around. A storm of tiny insects burst from it, and covered… everything. Little ladybugs crawled everywhere, covering people, objects, anything in it's path. The average person would be horrified at the wave. It would have been a sign of a mini apocalypse.

However… it was the opposite of that.

The monsters that Chadwick brought into the world were undone. The donkeys returned to their original human shape, little by little.

"What… what happened?" Jaune groggily opened his eyes. "Did we… get em?"

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha held him close. Her eyes threatened to burst into tears. "You're alright!"

"Looks like Ladybug did it." Yang said. "Good on her."

The bugs where everywhere. More and more people were restored to normal. Any sign of damage had disappeared from their spread.

To make a bad pun… it was simply miraculous.

From the podium, Ladybug and Chat Noir were being watched by a curious audience. Some were frightened, unsure of what to say. Others…

They started clapping.

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked on at the audience applauding them. Both of them smiled. They beat the villain and saved everyone. What more would be needed?

"We did it…" Ladybug said, not quite believing those words. "We did it."

"Yeah." Chat placed a hand on Ladybug's shoulder. "We did."

Ladybug grabbed her hand. The two looked at each other again, closely.

"Was… there something you wanted to tell, Chat?" Ladybug had to ask. She needed to be sure about Chat's answer. "Anything at all?"

If she wanted to stop things here, if she wanted to be free from her curse… Ruby wouldn't have a problem. She did plenty, helping her today.

If Blake could hear those thoughts, she would violently banish them.

"No." Chat Noir said firmly. "We have yet to catch our mysterious butterfly villain. I will assist you until we manage to capture her, my lady. I won't let you down."

Hearing Chat say those words sent Ladybug's heart flutter. A blush appeared on her cheeks. She hadn't felt this way since…

Ironwood stood up from his hiding spot. He grabbed the microphone, and stared at the heroes in contempt.

"That criminal was after the likes of you two!" Ironwood yelled. "You two will be put under arrest!"

The crowd went insane. Yells and insults were thrown at the Mayor for his frankly godawful decision.

"What the HELL man?!"

"They saved our lives!"

"FUCK OFF!"

"LADYBUG! LADYBUG! LADYBUG!"

"I guess we should get going," Chat winked at her partner.

Ladybug nodded. "Yeah."

They jumped away from the scene. Ladybug swung in the air with her yoyo, while Chat crawled up the side of a building. The guards were disoriented from the earlier attack, so they didn't even try to fire on them.

Ironwood glared at the vigilantes.

"You won't get away with this, Ladybug. We'll hunt you down."

_______________________________________________________________________

"Oh thank goodness Ruby, thank you!"

Velvet had been crushing Ruby in a rather tight bear hug. She was shaking Ruby around wildly, which made the smaller girl dizzy.

"No problem Velvet," Ruby managed to say. "Stop crushing me."

"Sorry it's just," Velvet put Ruby down, smiling wildly. "Not a lot of people stand up for me, but you did! I'm super grateful for that!"

"Haha… it was nothing…"

"That was not nothing." Sunglasses girl came to the scene. "I'm Coco. Coco Adel. Thanks for helping my girlfriend out. Shame about Cardin not getting punished."

"Oh she was great!" Velvet hugged Coco. "I expected something like that to happen. I'm just glad she didn't sent away or something."

"Haha, that's true." Coco said. "Listen, Rubes? Me and Velvet need to do some work but thanks a lot. Hope to see more of ya in class."

The pair walked from Ruby.

Well that was nice. Ruby would say she did good today. She considered that a win. With that, Ruby turned around to head to her dorm.

Problem was, her dorm was all the way to the other side of the University. She'd have to cross the courtyard to do it.

It was also raining.

"I guess today wasn't so lucky," Ruby sighed. "Oh well. One bad thing in a day of good things I guess."

She was about to make a step, when she felt something over her head.

"Hey."

Ruby turned to see that Blake was standing next to her. She was holding an umbrella over her head.

"I was…. heading in the same direction." Blake said. "Maybe we could share?

Ruby blushed, but nodded.

The two headed out, the umbrella over their heads.

Ruby stole glances at Blake. She thought Blake looked so pretty then… it's like Chat Noir, the way she swore to help her and how she said she wouldn't let her down. Ruby knew that Blake wouldn't let her down either. Funny… both Blake and Chat Noir both caused her to blush so much today. She wasn't sure what that meant.

Blake thought about Ruby. All things considered, Ruby looked pretty cute right about now with the way she blushed. She also thought of Ladybug. Blake could have asked Ladybug for a kiss so she could go back to normal. Ladybug even seemed to give her an opportunity to do so. But then that would mean people would get hurt, and Ladybug would be alone. She won't let her down. Ladybug and Ruby inspired the good in her, it seemed.

As Blake protected Ruby from the rain, neither noticed two sets of eyes staring at them.

"I'm just gonna say it Ren," Nora said. "They're gonna be together together."

"It's incredibly obvious Nora."

[prinz-alexiares]

Deputy Blair R. O’Connell

I’ve had this OC since, like, 2018 but I was too lazy to assemble her design together so here she is lol

BASIC INFO

Name: Blair Rhiannon O’Connell

Nickname: Deputy/Dep, Blair, Ree (only by family)

Age: 26

Birthdate: January 19th

Gender: Female

Ethnicity/Nationality: Irish-Welsh-American

Height/Weight: 172 cm / 68 kg

Blood Type: B

Occupation: USAF Marksman (former), Deputy Sheriff of Hope County 

Hair Color: Black with red-brown undertone

Eye Color: Grey

Likes:

Winter

Guns ‘N Roses

Rain

Open nature and mountains

Spicy food

Canine animals

Warm bath

.50 cal firearms

Dislikes:

Sweets

Summer

Crowded places

Being teased/played with

Shotgun

Empty desert

Hobbies:

Outdoor related activities such as fishing, hunting, camping, and hiking

Looking at animal memes

Randomly wandering outside or sit somewhere in the forest and do nothing

Reading peculiar books

Petting all the dogs in the ‘hood

Fixing/cleaning/modifying her weapons while blasting classic rock songs on the radio

Soaking herself in a bathtub full of warm water

Personality:

Blair has a bold style and vibe, and she carries a rather thuggish demeanor. She looks and acts more masculine, although she also shows her femininity in a lot of ways as well.

She is somewhat reckless, often acts first before she thinks. She introspectively sees this as her weakness, as she repeatedly made bad decisions in the past that negatively affected people around her. But on a brighter side, she comes out as an ‘action’ person who gets things done. It also makes her seem more courageous and reliable than most people.

She can get very selfish. A lot of decisions she makes would consider her ideals stronger than anything else. But the good side is that she always wants to do the ‘right thing’ by helping others or solve problems, although the result still relies heavily on her own judgement.

She describes herself as ‘childish and mature at the same time’, hinting at her recklessness and self-centered tendencies as being ‘childish’, while her natural leader and calculating nature as the ‘mature’ side. Her service in the USAF had helped her to polish her leadership and logical thinking skills, although they sometimes are hindered by her emotions.

Five Songs in Her Playlist:

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

Guns ‘N Roses - November Rain

Queens of The Stone Age - Make It Wit Chu

Guns ‘N Roses - Paradise City

Radiohead - High and Dry

‘GET TO KNOW THIS FELLA BETTER’ SECTION

Childhood

Blair was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a devoted Catholic family as an only child. Her business consultant father was an immigrant from Ireland, and her teacher mother was a Welsh-American. They enrolled her into all-girls Catholic schools throughout her elementary and a half of her junior high-school years. However, that didn’t stop her from developing interest in hobbies more commonly enjoyed by boys. She enjoyed baseball, soccer, wall climbing, skateboarding, and plenty of other outdoor activities. She also made friends with boys around her neighborhood and used to walk her dogs with them as well.

During her school years, she was very competitive at school and very confident with herself. She liked presenting her work, actively asking and answering questions during lessons, and she was becoming more and more critical about her surroundings. Her teachers disliked her boldness, as it was seen as a sign of disobedience. They tried to shut her down by treating her differently than her other peers; giving her more disadvantages and having her voice ignored in the classrooms. Young Blair got discouraged and frustrated that she threw a lot of tantrums and started to become less and less compromising when she was faced with problems. She then began to show her violent tendencies as she repeatedly involved in fistfights and physical bullying. Her parents were mad at her once she was given detention from school, but upon learning the truth, they moved her to a mixed, secular private school.

However, her violent tendencies were never addressed properly thus carried until later in her life.

Before Eden’s Gate

Blair was first introduced to open nature, firearms, and hunting when she celebrated winter holiday at her grandfather’s place in Montana. He was a Vietnam War veteran, and through him she learned about the old M1903 Springfield and Winchester Model 70 for the first time. Blair had been visiting him almost every winter holiday since she was 13, learning all the stuff about guns and hunting. She was very fascinated and inspired by her grandfather that she planned to follow in his footsteps to live as a hunter.

But her metropolitan parents were against her ideas, which disappointed her. They later discussed her future and agreed upon a condition that Blair would return to formal school, taking defense studies, and/or enlisting herself in the military or police department. She did enlist to the USAF, spending about 4-5 years in service. She was in the marksman course and tasked as sniper for an Advanced Designated Marksman team in the Middle-East. She was known to be a formidable marksman with plenty of kill records. Although she didn’t experience much combat, it was enough for her to see how complex and dangerous things were, and killing people because she was told to do so wasn’t a pleasure. She also lost her teammate once; a spotter, shot by an enemy sniper.

Once she got home, she spilled the surprising news to her parents that she quit the military. She tried to seek redemption from the extreme guilt she brought home from the war. She went to Montana and stayed in her late grandfather’s cabin while thinking about what to do next. She then applied to several police and sheriff offices in Montana, wishing she’d make things up by protecting people as a police officer. Not long after, she got accepted in a sheriff office located in a remote county, telling her that they’re in dire need of someone capable of handling civil unrest situations. She wondered why, and chose to go.

PEG Turmoil

Blair tried to make peace with her past, but being involved in PEG turmoil forced her to relive her past instead. At first, seeing no way out, she decided to play along; rescuing resistance members, destroying PEG infrastructures, and becoming the pawn for the local residents’ revenge against the cult. But the more people she killed, the more destruction she created, the more frustrated she became. She started to put the Seeds’ words into her consideration. She also spoke to some of the locals who wished there would be another way to deal with the Peggies instead of going all out civil war.

She is stuck between acknowledging that the cult is probably right, that what she’s done is a severe crime and makes her no different than the cult, but she can’t leave behind the people and everything she has been fighting for.

Relationships:

Joseph Seed: The man just feels unsettling for her. Like there is something about him that makes her guts tell her how he is a trustworthy person. But her brain tells her he’s a psychopath who murders everyone to get his way with the world he resents. She hasn’t figured out whether she can trust his words or not.

John Seed: She thinks of him as a typical upper-class man with enormous wealth and power in possession who likes to exploit those who are more inferior than him. He has a superiority complex, perhaps, and Blair has heard about what happened between him and his adoptive family. She also knows his ‘obsession’ towards her, and she prefers to use it as a weapon to taunt him.

Jacob Seed: The Seed she can relate to the most, but also feels like an intense rival of hers. She has complicated feelings about him; she respects him. His values and views make sense to a certain extent, but she can’t deny that he IS a war criminal and he must be held responsible for all the horrible shit he has done. But after all the destruction she created, she comes into terms that they both are of the same kind after all. However, she won’t be intensely facing him off if not for the brainwashing trials and his hunting rituals.

Faith Seed: She feels nothing but pity towards her. She has heard what Joseph has done to her, and what happened to the previous ‘Faiths’. She treats Faith as nothing more than Joseph’s pawn, who probably has no freedom in making any decision at all.

Trivia:

Her name ‘Blair’ is of Scottish-Gaelic origin. It means ‘plain’, ‘field’, or ‘battlefield’, while her middle name ‘Rhiannon’ is of old Celtic origin which means ‘divine queen’. Her surname ‘O’Connell’ is a common Irish surname which means ‘wolf’ or ‘hound’. 

When her hair isn’t tied up, it has medium length that almost reaches her shoulders.

She equips red and grey-checkered MBP .50 with cylinder suppressor, cherry-painted silenced M60, red-painted silenced SMG-11, and a red-painted RPG. When she isn’t in her stealthy mood, she packs Jacob’s rifle and M249.

She has had a smoking habit since high school. She stopped smoking for a while during her service in USAF, but continued after she quit the military. Her favorite cigarette is Lucky Strike.

She is addicted to eyeliner.

She wears her military dog tag as a memorabilia.

Her type of man is someone who can tame and handle her ‘chaotic side’.

Unlike her family, she isn’t religious.

She believes that she is sterile, that’s why she feels like less of a woman.

I want to add some more details but shit isn’t this a freaking long post. I’ll just update them later. Procrastination is the key to better original character design.

[sephiwhore]

Ok but literally all the cyberpunk oc questions? LETS GO CHOOM!!! -thosetwistedtales

Bet you didn’t think I’d actually do it >:3 Okay well I technically didn’t, I did skip some of them cause I couldn’t think of anything, I’d already answered it, or the answer was just “no”.

Without further ado I present, All The Questions about Tess, answered under the cut!

— BASICS

full name: Tess Valere

birthday: She has no idea, and for most of her life she didn’t even know birthdays were a thing

gender and pronouns: Female, she/her

nicknames or aliases: V (obviously), her surrogate brother called her Tessa

sexuality: a big ol bisexual

ethnicity: a big ol white girl

affiliations [corporation/gang/themselves/etc]: she grew up on the streets of Heywood, so certain Valentinos would help her out now and again. She’s nowhere near loyal to them, but she’ll try to avoid killing them during jobs

what languages do they speak?: English, conversational Spanish, and she knows a handful of Japanese words

— PERSONALITY

alignment: Chaotic Good, but she dabbles in Chaotic Neutral

color(s) you associate with them: cyan and black and after Johnny comes into her life, red

theme song: Unbreakable by Fireflight

what heavenly virtue would you assign them? Humility

what deadly sin would you assign them? Wrath

what is their biggest strength? Sheer fucking perseverence, mostly fueled by spite

what is their biggest fear? Losing the people she loves, because throughout her life those have been few and far between and she’s lost a good number of them

what is their biggest weakness? Again, the people she loves

are they confident in their abilities? Oh you bet your ass she is, so confident that she stormed Arasaka Tower with nothing but her revolver and her cyberdeck

what is their opinion on cybernetics? They’re a necessary evil. Her brother dealt with cyberpsychosis so in a way she resents cybernetics, but she also knows that you won’t get far as a merc in Night City without a few implants

do they have a good sense of humor? Yes, very dry and sarcastic

how do they cry? When she cries it’s either from rage or panic, very little in between

how do they laugh? Quite subdued, usually the most you’ll get out of her is a hearty chuckle. Very rarely does she go into a full laughing fit

do they smoke? She started smoking after Johnny popped up in her head cause she felt bad for his situation (after she stopped hating him anyway) and figured she could give him this one thing. And now she smokes like a chimney.

do they drink? She’s been dealing with alcohol dependence and borderline alcoholism for half of her life

what kind of drunk are they? As she drinks more it progresses from pretty chill, then VERY affectionate, and then Fightey

do they take any drugs? She knows how she is with alcohol so she avoids drugs like the plague

— COMBAT

preferred weapon: For close/mid-range, a nice beefy revolver (Overture) or Johnny’s Malorian. Long range, a sniper rifle.

combat style [stealth/melee/brute force/etc] Depending on the environment, it’s either stealth with a silenced pistol and lots of quickhacks, a John Wick style headshots-galore shootout, or sniping from a distance

primary stats [ex: intellect] Intelligence and Reflexes

biggest weakness in combat: She sometimes forgets to watch her back, and tends to ignore injuries and see the fight through when retreating would probably be the best course of action

threaten or charm? Depends on the target, she’s great at both

lethal or non-lethal? For corpos, the more malicious gangs (Tygers, Animals, 6th Street), or anyone who has hurt innocents, full lethal. If she’s just infiltrating a warehouse full of workers, non-lethal

leave quietly or send a message? She sends a message WHILE leaving quietly

strategy or improvise? Improvise

— APPEARANCE

hair style and color [is it natural? do they change it a lot?] She has synthhair so she can change the style and color at will (I have no idea if that’s how it actually works but I say it is) but she usually sticks to come kind of short sideshave/undercut in some shade of blue.

eye color: Natural eye color is green, but she usually has black scleras with a red circle

height: I had her at 5’8 until yesterday when I realized ya know what, I want a tall girl. So she’s 6 feet.

describe their body type: Skinny, small tiddies, but still fairly curvy

describe their style: Dark colors, leather jackets, lots of boots (also Johnny’s tank top and aviators)

do they wear makeup? Very smudgey eyeliner. Her upper lip is tattooed black and she usually leaves the bottom one bare

tattoos? any significant ones? Lots of tattoos that I haven’t figured out yet, except fir a modified version of the Valentinos neck tattoo, the V being to honor her brother Ven (she took on the name V to honor him too)

scars? Random ones here and there from random gunshots, stabbings, and other work-related injuries

piercings? A bunch that I can’t remember off the top of my head

cybernetics? Gorilla arms, the charge jump ankle ones, eventually she gets synth lungs as a preventative measure cause of the whole smoking thing

— FAVORITES

favorite place in night city: The streets of Heywood because they’re home to her, despite all the awful memories growing up. After Johnny comes along, she starts to like high places, and she loves to hang out on the patio outside Kerry’s house

favorite tv show and/or movie: She loves horror movies, except ghost one cause she doesn’t believe in ghosts so she just finds them dumb

favorite vehicle. do they prefer cars or motorcycles? Vastly prefers motorcycles, she hasn’t really driven a car much since she was a teenager. Her favorite is Jackie’s Arch.

favorite food: She sees food solely as a source of fuel, she will eat whatever is easiest

favorite drink: Tequila

favorite song: Black Dog :3

favorite type of weather: She LOVES the rain (but the water kind, not the acid kind)

favorite radio station: Vexelstrom, and then Morro Rock cause Samurai :3

favorite pastime: Working out, shooting ranges, Jackie and Vik got her into occasional boxing

— RELATIONSHIPS

what are their parents like? what kind of relationship do they have with your character? She had no memory of her parents and assumes they’re both dead

do they have any other family members? what kind of relationship do they have? She has a “brother”, who she knew only as Vendetta (or V). He found her on the streets and took her in when she was 10, and raised her from then on until he “died” 12 years later. Their relationship was great, despite the fact that he was not a very nice person to everyone else but her. 

who is their closest friend? Of course Jackie, and then Kerry (and Johnny ofc)

who are their other friends if they have them? Nope! :D

what are their exes like? any significant ones? She’s never really had a serious relationship, mostly just flings and acquaintances-with-benefits

are they in a relationship? with who and how is it going? Johnny! And it’s uh. Well, ya know.

who are their enemies? She has a passionate hatred for whichever corpo makes cyberpsychosis medication, and for Max Tac cause she sees them as responsible for the loss of her brother. And of course Arasaka.

have they ever lost anyone important to them? Her brother, Jackie, Johnny

would they betray their own morals for their loved ones? Abso-fucking-lutely

have they ever sacrificed something for someone they care about? if so, what? In one of my two canons for her, she gives Johnny her body

— BACKGROUND

where did they grow up in night city? if not from night city, where are they from? The streets of Heywood, then in a shitty apartment in Heywood

how would you describe their childhood? Miserable

were they well-off, poor or somewhere in between when growing up? After Ven took her in, they did have an apartment but because he needed monthly baloperidol (cyberpsycho meds) injections, they were quite poor

what kind of education did they receive? The only real education she ever got was “how to shoot a gun”

what is the biggest lesson they learned growing up? Everything and everyone in the world is going to try its best to destroy you. Destroy it first.

what is their happiest memory? A few weeks after Ven took her in and and it finally hit her, this was real, she had a home, someone that cared for her, and she never had to go hungry again,

what is their most painful memory? Watching her brother, in the middle of a psychotic break, being gunned down. After that it would be saying goodbye to Johnny (in the canon where that happens)

have they kept any meaningful mementos from their past? One of the revolvers she owns was given to her by her brother, and all of her piercings and a couple of her tattoos were done by him so they’re mementos, in a way

is there anything they would change about their past? She would do anything to save her brother.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste, ch. 8

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi’s Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste’s Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi’s Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we’re all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone’s well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila’s brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary: The Parentification Computation

Notes:  Luka’s characterization is somewhat based on a conversation with some folks  about the possibility of Luka having Atlas personality due to parentification, which is basically the impact when a child has to act as a parent, sometimes to their own parent but also to their siblings.

AO3 link

Chapters 1-2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

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Adrien had felt a bit guilty when he took advantage of the rush to return to the suite to disappear to transform—he knew they’d worry, since the Akuma was likely going to look for him, but he had to help Ladybug defeat it.

The Akuma sucked the color and joy out of whatever it touched, the power turning into clothing and accessories that resembled Luka’s. It made an odd amount of sense, if the Akuma was a fan upset by Adrien’s fake relationship. So far it had leather pants, ornate boots, a leather jacket, kohl around its eyes, black fingernails, and hair that was black with… rainbow tips?

As Chat Noir got closer, he realized he recognized the person under all that.

“Wayhem?”

The Akuma turned toward him, face contorted in a sneer. “That’s Fade-Out to you! No one else can be happy until I am! Give me your Miraculous!”

He’d figured it was a fan, but had never imagined Wayhem would be the one, that he’d harbored feelings like that for Adrien. He’d been completely blind to it. What else had he been blind to?

Chat barely dodged when Fade-Out tried to grab him, then was pulled out of danger by Ladybug’s yoyo.

“I think the Akuma is in his glove,” she said as Fade-Out tried to find a way up to them.

When Chat peered, he could see on his right hand was a black fingerless motorcycle glove; embossed on the back was Adrien’s face. It was probably the face from his life-size cardboard cut-out he’d signed for Wayhem after he’d acted as Adrien’s body-double when Gorilla was Akumatized.

“So I need to let him get close enough to touch me, make sure I hit the glove.”

Ladybug frowned. “It’s too risky. Let’s see what we get with Lucky Charm!”

A red-and-black postless pillory fell into her arms, and she grimaced at it.

“I guess we need to immobilize him?” Chat asked.

Ladybug sighed. “You know my Lucky Charms aren’t that simple, chaton.”

She glanced around, seemingly looking for an answer, then pointed at a road sign, the one to rue du Chat-qui-Pêche, the smallest street in Paris—or, rather, the narrowest.

“The pillory will just barely fit in there, and with the drainpipes…”

Chat grinned. “Shall we pillory an Akuma, m’Lady?”

It took less than a minute of cat puns to get Fade-Out chasing him, and the moment the Akuma was in the alley, Ladybug snapped the pillory around his neck. His forward motion was halted so abruptly when it caught on a drainpipe that he lost his feet and wound up with his hands splayed on the pavement. Chat was able to Cataclysm the glove quickly and with no danger.

Then it was just a matter of Ladybug purifying the Akuma, unlatching the pillory, and tossing it in the air to release the Miraculous Cure, and Wayhem was on his hands and knees in the tiny street.

Once they’d fist-bumped, Chat turned her way. “I’ll handle the young man—I’ve more time before I detransform.”

Ladybug smiled and nodded, then yoyoed away.

Wayhem was staring up at him in dawning horror. “Oh, no. I was Akumatized?”

Chat offered him a hand. “Yeah. You okay?”

Once on his feet, Wayhem leaned against the wall with a sigh. “It’s so dumb. I was just a little jealous. I didn’t— Well, there’s this guy who’s a model, Adrien Agreste?”

He nodded, figuring he was expected to.

“Well, I was a ridiculous fanboy for a while, and kinda obsessive, and then he asked for my help when he was targeted by an Akuma. We became friends. And he… well, he just announced he has a boyfriend.”

Wayhem winced, rubbing his neck, his expression embarrassed.

“I didn’t even know… that was an option.”

Chat patted his shoulder; he felt badly that Wayhem had gotten caught up in this, but it was over and done with—and Adrien wouldn’t go back and fake-date Lila even knowing this.

“Honestly, maybe it wasn’t, though. You don’t know how he met his boyfriend or the circumstances,” he finally offered.

“I know.” Wayhem sighed. “It was just a moment of disappointment, you know?”

“And Hawkass took advantage.” Chat offered him a smile. “Just try to be happy for your friend, then. There’s someone out there for you.”

That got a little smile, just as the Miraculous beeped at him.

“That’s my cue to skiddoo!”

He gave the boy a little salute and was gratified when he got the same back, then he vaulted away, back toward the hotel.

Once he found a place to detransform and give Plagg some cheese, he snuck in and back to the suite, only to find Luka in the midst of pacing, Marinette and Penny looking concerned, and Jagged looking a bit irate.

When Luka saw him, he immediately stopped, and something in the older boy’s body language eased. It struck Adrien suddenly that Luka had been worried, something he hadn’t figured would happen.

“Sorry, wound up getting stuck downstairs. Figured I’d stay put until the Ladyblog put out the all clear.”

“Same thing happened to me,” Marinette offered.

Luka dragged his fingers through his hair. “It’s fine. These things happen.”

Jagged snorted. “You’re not fine, kid. You’re a bloody mess. Practically chewed all the polish off his nails. It was like when Penny misplaces me, only worse.”

“I don’t misplace you,” she muttered. “You wander off and terrorize people with Fang.”

A glance at Luka’s nails confirmed Jagged’s words, though. Most of his black nailpolish was gone.

“Oh. Well, we can get the spa folks up again. I kind of want mine done, too,” Adrien commented.

Luka frowned, then nodded. “Sorry… I just… I’m responsible for Juleka, and you both went missing, and the Akuma attack, and…”

Marinette stood, putting a hand on his arm. “Hey. You’re not responsible for me, or for Adrien.”

“But I’m his boyfriend now.”

Adrien blinked. “Is that how it works?”

Maybe it was—sometimes in movies and TV shows that was how it worked.

“No.” Penny’s voice was almost deadly. “That’s not how it works. You’re not his caregiver.”

Luka looked uncertain, like he was ready to argue.

Jagged scowled at him. “Nope, kid. I know Anarka’s a free spirit, but you’re not responsible for the world.”

Marinette offered Luka a hesitant smile. “You’ve got an independent boyfriend, Luka.”

The smile Luka attempted back looked very feeble.

“I’m sorry I worried you, Luka,” Adrien said, scratching the back of his head anxiously. “Most of the time my father keeps me shut in my room and forgets about me. So I didn’t think to let you guys know… but I didn’t have my phone on me, either. Whoops.”

Jagged turned the scowl on Adrien. “Okay, that’s gotta be addressed, too. So not okay. Social media blitz.”

Penny gestured to the computer. “You have a picture to post, anyway. Might as well fire some shots while you’re at it.”

Marinette and Luka exchanged a dark look, and then Luka drew himself up. “Okay. Your dad’s an asshole. Let’s air some dirty laundry?”

Adrien grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”

[fragmentoftemptation]

The Spiral

Fandom: BNHA/ MHA

Characters: Shouto Todoroki, Dabi

Rating: Explicit (18+)

Artwork: @tweendeck

It was... Dabi. He had Touya's crystal blue eyes, but Shouto could barely recognize the man in front of him. Instead of bright red hair, he had shorter spiked Raven black hair. His entire lower jaw was covered in an intricate tattoo of black roses and vines that went all the way down his neck and disappeared under his shirt, more peaking out in full sleeves on each arm. He had snakebites and a spiked labret on his bottom lip, matching studs on the outside of each eyebrow, two subdermals at the top of sharpcut cheekbones, and more earrings than Shouto could count. He had thick black eyeliner under each eye, and his bottom lip was painted black to blend in with his tattoo. He was wearing a leather jacket and a tight blank tank underneath.

And he was actually there. In front of Shouto. For the first time in four years.

Hurry up and get in here before anyone else sees you," Touya urged, a note of annoyance in his voice. "And close the door."

Shouto nodded, closing the door quickly, and hurrying to sit down across from his brother. Touya fished a joint out of his pocket, a short burst of blue flame from his fingertips lighting it up. He took a deep hit as he looked at Shouto. Finally, he exhaled the smoke, flashing a lazy smile.

"It's good to see you Shouto," he said. "You look good. Almost too good. I expected you to wear something less like sex on legs."

"I wanted to fit in. I didn't want anyone to recognize me." Shouto admitted shyly, a definite blush rising to his cheeks.

"Well you definitely fit in. Guess I should be glad my old clothes are still being used. I would have thought daddy dearest tossed it all."

"He thinks we did. I had it all moved into storage with mom's stuff. I wanted you to have it for once you come back home." Shouto knew how childish it sounded. Four years later, he knew Touya would never come back to the house, but his stuff had been a way for Shouto to hold onto hope since he disappeared.

Touya's smile dropped. He sighed heavily.

"That's not going to happen. Shouto, that's not my life anymore. I belong here."

"But you don't have too Touya, you still-"

"Shhh..." Touya shushed him, standing up and peaking outside the door. "You can't use that name here. It's dangerous."

"It's your name." Shouto insisted.

"No. It's not anymore. Fuck Shouto. I don't know how you recognized me in the forest. But I know you have been googling me and the league and you have to stop. You are going to stir up trouble if you haven't already. This is all I have. And you don't want anything to do with it."

"Come home," Shouto could feel the tears gathering. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He would not cry. "Just come. Endeavor has the news in his pocket. He will help you twist the story, you don't have to work for the league."

"I can't. It's not that simple."

"Why not."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"No. It wouldn't make a difference."

"It would to me!" Shouto yelled, standing up and leaning into Touya's face. Four years! Four years alone in that house with that asshole. "You left me with him. After years of promising me that we would leave together. That we wouldn't have to live in that house forever, and then you just left. You owe me an explanation, dammit!" He sat back down, glaring at his brother and trying to steady his breathing.

"You think you know what happened four years ago. You have no idea." Touya replied quietly, staring into a cup on the table.

"I know more than you think."

"Why? Because you checked out the police record?” His brother’s eyes shot up to meet Shouto’s. Shouto was taken back for a moment by how cold and emotionless they looked. He could see now how some of his classmates had described them that way. Touya’s hands were shaking, and he took another hit. “Yeah, I know about your attempts to find me. Shigaraki has kept an eye on anyone looking for me over the years. You're the only one Shouto. You're the only one who cared that Touya Todoroki was gone. And I don't care if you memorized that case file, you would still have no idea what really happened. Every word was a fucking lie."

"Then tell me the truth. Tell me what really happened!"

Dabi got quiet.

“It's not going to change anything."

"Fine. I still deserve to know the truth."

"Do you remember when Endeavor went on a talk show and told the world that you were training to be his successor despite the weak right side you had inherited from Mom?"

"Yes," Shouto remembered it well. After the accident with his mom, Shouto favored his right side. He barely used his fire during training. Endeavor resented it, and pulled that stunt to try and publicly embarrass him about his ice. After that day, Shouto swore he would never use his fire again. He didn’t need that bastard or his quirk to become a hero.

"It was a few days after that. You and he had gotten into an argument during training the night before. He was pissed. The next day was one of my intern days, and Endeavor decided he was going to be my patrol partner. He bitched and moaned and complained about you. Said he was going to find a way to make you use your left side. Whether you wanted to or not. I told him to shut the fuck up.” Dabi laughed, but it was a cold sound. “He didn’t take that very well. Reported me for aggressive behavior. About an hour later, we got called in for a bank robbery. Biggest crime I had gotten to help with since starting my internship. Endeavor was the highest ranked hero on site, so he became the mission lead. He was fighting with some villain in the bank, but they were a smart group. Two of the others split up, one had over a million yen with him, the other had a little girl as a hostage. Endeavor told me to retrieve the money, that another hero was on his way to retrieve the hostage. So I did. But I had only chased him a block when I found myself facing off against four of them. Even with a powerful quirk, I wasn’t enough to stop them. They beat the shit out of me and left with the money. When I got back to the scene, the other hero hadn’t arrived in time. The little girl had been killed.”

Dabi took a minute. His breathing was heavy. Shouto felt bad. It was clear this was a difficult memory for him. But he had to know. If he had any chance of understanding. He had to know what happened. So he waited, and after a moment, Dabi continued.

“Endeavor was pissed that I hadn’t retrieved the money. When we got back to the agency, I was in bad shape. Any other hero would have gone to the infirmary, but Endeavor handed me an icepack and told me to get to work on the paperwork. When I asked him what for, he told me that as my mistake had both cost the little girl her life and failed the primary objective of the mission, that it was my responsibility to complete all the paperwork for the death and the lost yen. My mistake. My fucking mistake.” Dabi took a sip of his drink, and a hit. His left hand was gripping his cup so hard his knuckles were white. “I knew it was no use arguing. There had been no other heroes around to witness his orders. So I took the paperwork. It took me hours, and I was exhausted by the time I got home.

When I got home, I found Endeavor in the training room. He was sitting in a chair smoking a cigar and staring at you. You were laying on the other side of the room, unconscious with your head resting in a puddle of blood. You had split the back of your head open and had some burns on your chest. It was clear you had tried to fight back, and your right arm had been overused. It was raw and bloody, and looked like dad had pushed you way past minor frostbite from quirk overuse. When I asked him what had happened, he shrugged and told me that one day you would use your left side, one way or another. I started to gather you up to take you to the hospital, and he told me to leave you and go to bed. He said you would never learn your lesson if we healed you.”

“And I snapped. The next thing I knew, I was attacking him with my flames. I don’t really know what I expected to accomplish, but I attacked him with everything I had. But the bastard is strong, and I was already in bad shape from the day. He left me with third-degree burns all over my face and arms. He knew he had fucked up right away, and was forced to call the hospital. But to cover up for his abuse, he said I attacked you because I was on drugs. He paid someone off to falsify a drug test saying I had done LSD. Luckily the hospital was able to minimize the damage, though the burns were too severe to completely heal the scars. The doctors recommended one month in the hospital for healing and physical therapy for my face and arms.”

“A week later, Endeavor checked me out of the hospital in the middle of the night, and drove me to the worst part of town. He said he would never abide to have a child who would raise a hand against him. I had lost the right to be called a Todoroki. He told me to leave town. He said if he ever saw me again, he would have mom killed in the hospital. And he would Shouto. He really would have. He had you, that was all he ever needed from her. He left me there, and reported me as a runaway. He cut access to all my accounts, and closed all of my cards. I had nothing but the clothes on my back. It was Shigaraki who helped me. If he hadn’t taken me in, I probably would have died.”

Shouto felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He thought he might be physically sick. His mind warred between the police report and Touya’s chilling memories. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know where to begin. He knew Endeavor was low, and he knew the pro hero had paid people off to spin a story in his favor before. But even he hadn’t thought his father was capable of sinking so low. Endeavor had nearly killed two of his children that night. He had left Touya for dead.

Touya laughed, another cold and bitter laugh as he raised the joint back up to his lips.

“Do you feel better, Shouto? Will it help you sleep better at night, knowing the truth?”

Shouto looked up at Touya. At Dabi. This wasn’t fair. Endeavor shouldn’t be able to get away with this.

“We can fix it. If we work together, we can go to the newspaper without him knowing. We can set the record straight. You and I could get an apartment, and we could both escape that asshole.” Shouto was reaching for strings, anything. There had to be a way to fix this.

“That sounds real nice, Shouto. But there is no going back. I have done things in these past four years. I didn’t just run away and sit on my fucking thumbs. I am a member of the League of Villains. If you knew the things I have done, you would be disgusted. There is no more Touya Todoroki, Shouto. Dabi is all that is left.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21759583/chapters/51915700

[alicepink-me]

Secret Admirer

Story Summary:

With the help of Chat Noir, Marinette sends a love letter to Adrien. After that, there’s an exchange of many letters between Marinette and Adrien. Marinette is excited but later questions if she is actually writing to Adrien and thinks Chat Noir might actually be writing to her instead. Marinette tries to make sense of her love life and who her secret admirer actually is.

Chapter 13: Partners

"What if Adrien is mad at me?!" Marinette sat up on her bed and held her cheeks. "Maybe I shouldn't have done that, Tikki. I should've just talked to him. I'm risking too much."

"I'm sure Adrien isn't mad at you, Marinette." Tikki assured.

"But I gave him my diary." She breathed. "All of my secrets, all of my Ladybug business, and all of my feelings. This can only go one of two ways." Marinette hopped off her bed and walked down her stairs. "I haven't actually talked to Chat Noir, knowing he's Adrien yet, so our communication is a little spotty and that's an overstatement. I don't know how he'll react to my diary or today's event in general. It could be good or bad. I don't think an in between is even possible."

"Stay positive." Tikki encouraged. "I'm sure he'll be happy."

"I hope so, Tikki." Marinette sighed. "All I know is that he can't be mad at me for being Ladybug because I didn't kill him when I found out he was Chat Noir." Marinette moved to the giant pink chest in her room and opened it. After digging through it for a minute, she pulled out the small, black mailbox. "Maybe I should put this back up." Her fingers ran over the side, feeling ever edge. She smiled. "It does bring back memories." Marinette walked over to her desk and set the mailbox down. She flipped the red thing up and down while she thought.

"Whatever happens Marinette, don't lose your confidence. Even if that was Chat Noir's advice, it's still true and you should stick to it." Tikki advised before flying over and sitting on the mailbox. "If Adrien changes his mind after all of this or he wants a break, we need to respect that. It is a lot of information all at once, so he may want time alone to think it over. You know how much it was and even though you procrastinated, you made up your mind in a week or two. Adrien may need more time."

"I know, Tikki. I will respect him." She looked down, biting her lip. "Whatever he chooses, I'm glad that we did all this. I would've never known his feelings if I had never made a move, even if I was aided by Chat Noir, which is still a little confusing to think about. But I don't regret any of it. I don't regret the letters, I don't regret taking time away from Chat Noir to put myself first, and I don't regret giving Adrien my diary, maybe a little, but not really. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Like I can be free whether I have a boyfriend or not. And I trust him. I trust Chat Noir and I think we'll be great partners after this no matter what."

"That's great Marinette." Tikki cheered.

"But I really hope he likes me." Marinette groaned, causing Tikki to roll her eyes. She backed up, but before turning around, she ran into something tall and gasped.

A black leather clad hand clasped her arm. Marinette felt his warmth behind her, his breath fanned the top of her head. (Basically imagine Sakura and Sasuke during the battle against Kaguya.) Marinette swallowed nervously and took a moment to breathe. She turned around and her bluebells met his emeralds. An indescribable grin appeared on her face and she jolted forward to squeeze him in a hug. Marinette buried her face in his chest, nearly tearing up with joy.

Chat Noir wrapped his arms around her gently and rested his chin on top of her head. "Don't worry I still like you." He closed his eyes and embraced the moment.

They kept each other warm and held one another tighter for a few minutes. It was so peaceful. It destroyed any lack of communication and doubts. "You came back." Marinette mumbled.

"I can't believe you thought I wouldn't." Chat pulled back and held her face. "You mean so much to me, Marinette." His thumb brushed her cheek. "And that won't change. Whether you're Ladybug or Marinette, you're still amazing. You're still the girl I fell for. And after everything I've experienced in my life and now everything we've been through, I know that will never change. I-"

Marinette pulled his face down and smashed her lips to his. Chat's eyes widened for a second before he kissed her back. It was magical. Completely different from their first, a new warmth. This one was more aggressive and needy. Chat Noir really wished he wasn't a full foot taller than Marinette. Just before they couldn't last any longer, Marinette broke the kiss for a breather.

"Ugh! I've been wanting to kiss you since I gave you my diary!" Marinette panted, a huge grin on her face.

"Really?" He scratched the back of his head.

Marinette smiled up at him. "Well, actually, I've wanted to kiss Adrien for like three years, but Chat Noir, more like four hours."

"Four hours? Why four hours?" His hands rested on her waist. "Was Chat Noir just too handsome for you before?"

"No. I've always been focused on Adrien rather than even try to see Chat Noir differently." Marinette stared up at him. "And I left your house like four hours ago."

"No you didn't."

She scrunched her eyebrows. "Yeah, I did. I left your house at like 8 p.m."

"Marinette . . . " Chat held her face. "It's 5 a.m."

"What! No it's not." She crossed her arms.

He turned her around to face her desk. Marinette saw her alarm clock sitting in the corner. 5:05 a.m.

"No way . . . " She whispered, her chin dropped.

"It's been maybe . . . nine hours." Chat grinned, proud of himself. "You stayed up all night thinking about me." Marinette's face turned red as she looked away from him. "I'm quite flattered actually. After reading about everything in your diary, I thought you at least thought about me everyday, but I didn't realize you were losing sleep over me."

"Oh, don't get all high and mighty." She faced away with a pout, arms crossed.

Chat poked her cheek. "Come on, I'm just teasing you."

He tilted his head to look at her. His smile was as soft as his eyes. He really admired her. Marinette had light purple bags under her eyes and her eyeliner was a little smudged. Both pigtails were a little loose and some of her bangs stuck up.

'She's so beautiful.' Chat thought. He hadn't noticed any of that stuff when he first arrived, but if he focused past her beauty, he could. It was as if Marinette had an everlasting glow every time he saw her. Chat Noir swiftly picked her up bridal style. Marinette easily lost balance, but soon held onto him.

"What are you doing?" Her voice shook.

"You need to sleep." He said, carrying her up the staircase. "I think now that we've clarified a few things, I think we can get some sleep now." Chat set her down on top of her covers.

"You don't have to leave." Marinette scooted to the corner of her bed, giving him room. "I'm not even that tired."

"No, I should probably get going anyway." He brushed back his hair. "I haven't gotten much sleep either." He turned to leave.

Marinette grabbed his hand. Chat looked back at her, but she looked down. Marinette didn't want him to leave yet, but she didn't really know what to say. There were still a ton of questions, but she couldn't find the words.

She bit her lip. "You . . . you like me, right?" She stared at his leather clad hand as she held his fingers.

Chat Noir's eyes turned sad. "How-" Marinette looked up. "Claws off . . . " He whispered before sitting down and pulling her to him. He held her face to his chest, embracing her tightly. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? I'm the one who should be apologizing." She mumbled.

"Because I've made too many mistakes-" He sniffled. "You know, I didn't forget to go to bed like you did. I spent about an hour and a half reading your diary and another hour rereading it. I didn't really know what to do or say, so I just went to bed, but . . . I couldn't. I was awake all night, thinking about you, trying to figure things out. Then . . . at like 4 a.m. . . . I couldn't take it anymore and I needed to come see you. I realized there was no need to think things through because I had already decided. No matter how much I tried to make sense of things, I'd always choose you."

"And I thought I was the only one being kept up at night."

Adrien cracked a smile for a second. "But I'm mainly sorry for how I treated you before. As a friend." Marinette cringed at that word. "I read all of your feelings and I realized how much I never understood them. I felt like it was my fault you had to try so hard to get noticed. You planned such elaborate schemes to impress me or just to get my attention, but I never noticed. There were several times you tried to tell me your feelings, but blamed yourself when they failed. But . . . " He sniffled. "But it wasn't your fault. It was mine. You didn't need to be brave. You didn't need to push yourself so hard. I should've realized what was going on, but I didn't understand." He shook his head. "It just frustrates me. I've always been sheltered and isolated from not only the outside world but people. I took etiquette and mannerisms classes when I was five till I was ten. They only ever taught me how to be polite in different countries, greet people, and how to be friendly. Most of it was to be used on business trips with my father and uphold a good character for the public. I was never taught about emotions. None of that."

Marinette could barely move since she was smooshed against him but moved her free hand to his side, right below his ribs. "That explains so much." She commented. "But it's not your fault because you weren't raised knowing. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Yeah, but I still need to accept some of the blame. Every time I see people, that same politeness routine kicks in and that's all I ever think I'm supposed to do." Adrien sighed. "Of course I've seen movies, but that's all scripted. I've learned to give advice and how to understand the basics, but it's not the same. I never understood you. I never understood anyone fully, but you . . . you were always a mystery to me. There were so many times that I thought you hated me and there were so many times that I tried to figure out why you always stuttered around me." Marinette rubbed his side as he tensed up. A teardrop fell on her head. "I just wish I knew before and according to your diary, I was the clueless one here because everyone else apparently figured it out."

Even though Adrien was holding Marinette tightly, she managed to wiggle free enough to sit up. Marinette grabbed the sides of his face and smashed her lips to his. Her thumb rolled over his cheek and he loosened his grip on her. Marinette pulled back, but this time she wasn't smiling. Her eyebrows were stern and her eyes serious.

"Stop it." Her voice shook. "Don't worry about my diary. I wanted you to read it, but not so you could blame yourself. I don't want you to regret the way you think or the way you are. You are fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I don't want you to change." She leaned her forehead against his. "I fell for you just the way you are. Whether you noticed me or not was not gonna change that."

There was a minute of silence. Both kept there eyes closed and foreheads touching.

"I guess I should reread it a second time." Adrien chuckled. "See it differently."

"You were right about us both needing sleep." Marinette pulled her head away and laughed. She trailed her hand to his and interlocked their fingers.

"Yeah, I got a photoshoot in like five hours anyway." Adrien stated, scooting towards the trapdoor. "Goodnight." He looked in her eyes. The hurt in his wasn't so bad when he did.

"Goodnight." Marinette replied, staring up at him. She cracked a smile.

Adrien took a sharp inhale, his heart beating in his ears. It was almost too rapid for him to breathe. He felt so warm. It kind of reminded him of when he was little and grew up with his mom. But this was stronger. This feeling was sort of new and it was now.

"I love you." He blurted, his head pounding.

Marinette's mouth fell open and her eyes widened. "Wh-" She couldn't speak.

. . . 

@liebredavinci @i-am-so-done-like @yo-jes @ashtheteenagewitch @too-involved @ms-epicness @zazzlejazzle @cocoa-beanzzz @thedisneyestprincess @lightkeykid

[moonsworllld]

Stupid people

I need to rant about something but I don't feel like bothering my friends.

You can read it. You can ignore it. Do whatever you want.

My sister was pampering herself, which is a thing that can take hours. I'm not even joking. She has a record of 5 hours and 26 minutes. And as someone who's longest time to prepare  themself has been 15 minutes I think my sister is an alien. I don't mind it unless I have to go the bathroom.

Anyway, I'm deviating from the subject. Today it was the usual. My sister asking how I find her hair, her eyebrows, her eyeliner (I know nothing about those things good Lord!) etc.. then she went to put on a dress. I knew that dress. I was there when she bought it 1 year ago. But at the time it was bigger on her, kind of floating. So whithout thinking about it I said "Oh. You took some weight" (the story isn't going where you think). She froze and looked at me with big wide eyes. Then she started laughing with her hands on her knees. When she straightened herself, her eyes were red and she was crying. I was shocked. Really shocked. So I kind of didn't see when she started walking until she was hugging me. I'm an awkward bean so I just stood there not understanding what was happening. She started whispering 'Thank you'. Over and over again, crying on my shoulder. At this point I'm still lost but I'm tapping her back trying to comfort her (yeah I was awkward doing that too). I think we stood there for a good 5 minutes. She let go of me, saying "I'm really happy to hear that"

My sister is skinny. Victoria secret type of skinny. Which is a thing people remind her often and not in a good way. It took me less than a minute to remember all those stories where someone told her she "should eat", ask her if she was "anorexic" etc...etc... She was always laughing when telling me about those. As though it was a joke and she didn't care at all. I wonder why it took me so long to realise she was lying. But those words must have cut deep. Leaving a tattoo of disgusting colours inside her brain. And I think it's hard to hear those things being said to you when your culture has a reputation of having women with big curves. It's like they find you lacking. Like you don't correspond with the criteria of beauty in your own house and it's definitely not better outside when people simply don't like your type.

I wonder why some people have the right to open their mouth. What about thinking before doing so? What one say may seems small. But it has an impact and can scare for life.

My sister is beautiful. She is intelligent. With a bad character and so many other flaws. But Lord is she incredible. And I want the head of all those who made her feel like she wasn't.

[cmeliabones]

                                      i used to be broken.     i used to be shards of iron and ice,                         a whirlwind of broken glass,     until I learned to be more.

DILAN DENIZ? No, that’s actually AMELIA BONES from the MARAUDERS ERA. You know, the child of ENDER BONES and IRMAK BONES NÉÉ KUNDAKÇI ? Only 25 years old, this SLYTHERIN alumni works as a LEGAL ADVISOR AT THE WIZENGAMOT and is sided with THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. SHE identifies as A CIS WOMAN and is a PUREBLOOD who is known to be SECRETIVE, CYNICAL and SELF-NEGLECTFUL but also JUST, AMBITIOUS and LEVELHEADED.

LINKS – pinboard, stats. CHARACTER PARALLELS – laurel castillo (htgawm), peggy carter (mcu), spencer hastings (pll), rebecca bunch (crazy ex-girlfriend), raquel murillo (la casa de papel) AESTHETIC – a blood red lipstick mark on a drained cup of coffee, knuckles bruised from collapsing against a wall, smoking through the crack of your window in the middle of the night, striped blouses, chipped black nailpolish, downing vodka without wincing, wiping sweat off your eyebrow while laughing, sinking down in the shower and not getting up for half an hour, eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man, a longing for something without quite knowing what it is, a sense for justice that burns you up (and hopefully takes the whole world with it one day), something weighing down on your shoulder at all times, the inability to sleep if the world is too quiet HEADS UP – there are some triggers in this intro (specifically: burn out, anxiety, alcohol, smoking, self destructiveness, death and grief). all are trigger warned in front of the bulletpoints theyre mentioned in!

backstory ( 1955 - 1973 )

amelia bones grows up happy. with two older brothers & a set of loving parents, there was such room to grow. her parents are openminded and supportive and allow her fire and mind to expand and grow. she grows up valuing family and empathy and acceptance and fairness, and will always fall back on these values.

a bit of background on her parents: 

her father comes from the bones family, which has been a prominent magical family in eurasia for centuries (mostly for their influence in politics & international cooperation, and their progressiveness). after the global wizarding war, her father’s grandfather and his wife migrated to england after he was offered a position at the ministry, which he got offered due to his efforts during the war. word of their (good & wonderful!) reputation then spread in the UK, too, and they soon became a respected pureblood family (not that they cared about blood status, not at all, and i think plenty of purebloods didn’t care much for the bones --- too progressive and idealistic and proactive).

amelia’s father followed in his own father’s footsteps and joined the department of international cooperation, through which he met irmak, a turkish witch who worked for an international ngo advocating for worldwide women’s rights. they started as coworkers, and soon fell for one another and soon marriage followed, and then their three kids

amelia loves her family. they’re her entire world.

she was the last of her siblings to go to hogwarts, which just made her all the more excited, i think. amelia envied her brothers for getting to go before her, though, very much so. either way ---- amelia was a hatstall, stuck between hufflepuff and slytherin, stuck between her deep sense of justice and her cunning ambition. in the end, she was sorted in slytherin, but she would have thrived in either house, really. 

she walked towards that green-and-silver table with such pride in her face and back, proving that she’d fit right in

i think she was sorted in slytherin in the end as her ambition allows her to do more with her sense of justice. it’s the road towards her goals, her goals being reaching justice and righteousness and her ideals.

anxiety / panic attacks / alcohol & smoking / self destructiveness / burn out tw || amelia put immense pressure on herself all through hogwarts, not only wanting the best grades, but also wanting to be a helpful and put together individual. in her fourth year, she burns herself out --- there’s no energy left in her body. she started having more panic attacks, her anxiety growing with the pile of assignments she was unable to finish, and amelia -- for a while -- lost sight of herself, unsure how she was ever able to be so productive, to do so much. 

amelia starts smoking. she starts drinking. she yells at the whomping willow. she finds release in anything that will quiet her brain and she loses control, for a while --- detentions grow, as do her absences in class, and her grades drop. after a few months, she steps to slughorn, telling him that she’s not okay, that she needs help. (i imagine he was a bit startled, not by the news (as there had probably been reports of the change in amelia’s behaviour), but by the way she approached him, so maturely.)

admitting she wasn’t okay was the main step she needed and soon amelia was learning where her weaknesses lied, and how she could cope with stress, and how she should dose her work so she wouldnt end up this way again. and slowly but surely, amelia rebuilt her good grades, and prepared herself for those looming OWLs. end of tws

her last three years at hogwarts are spent studying, hard. amelia also became prefect & eventually head girl ( this is not definitive! just. putting it down in case ), and spent the rest of her time preparing for a career at the ministry --- that was where her ambition lied, after all. especially with the turmoil and unrest growing in the wizarding world, amelia’s sense for justice GREW, and she wanted to do something about it badly: the ministry was a flawed system, that much she knew, but she also knew that there were good people there (her dad, her grandfather, etc.) and that there was always room for change and growth

amelia cares SO MUCH about justice, it’s just something she’s always done. she has a very deep sense of justice herself, is very just in judging and approaching people. she’s also open about this & will call you out on her shit ( i imagine she did a fair amount of this in the slytherin common room ) but in a calm and collected way

ended up graduating with seven NEWTs, all with either E’s or O’s. we stan an overachieving icon. 

post graduation ( 1973 - 1980 )

anxiety tw | amelia started working as an administrative assistant at the wizengamot, interning under a member at the same time, slowly climbing the ranks and preparing for a successful career. it’s stressful, and sometimes anxiety inducing, but amelia sticks to her coping mechanisms that she’s developed over the years (both good and bad) and mostly thrives. end of tw

(parental) death, murder, grief tw | when she’s twenty, her parents are murdered. at that point, amelia had still been living at home, but she’d been at work when it all happened --- returning to a dark mark above the place she grew up in. her parents had been murdered for not meeting the vision of what purebloods were supposed to be, another pair of victims of a cruel war ( and the start of the bones’ downfall :( )

self destructiveness tw | amelia fell back in old patterns for a while, forgetting to take care of herself, raging against a world that wouldn’t listen. she took the time she had gotten off work to grief and drowned herself in distractions and things that only seemed to make things worse, in the long run end of tw

and then she returned to work and was done. done, with feeling like she’d drown in her grief, and so she turned cold. it wasn’t hard -- amelia had always been quite levelheaded, able to look at situations with emotional distance and objectivity, and now she did the same with her life. she joined the order as well, even though she had previously doubted them ( she thought them unorganised, chaotic rebels, and she had to eat her words, partly, after she joined ). amelia grew bitter and secretive and cynical, but she worked harder than she had ever before, wanting to see a better world as soon as possible --- for her brothers and their families, for all the families still whole, for fucking everyone, to be honest.

death of children tw | re: her brothers and their families, she thinks that theyre both stupid for having kids in this time. look at what happens every day! look at what happened to their parents! why would you risk orphaning your children?!

not that she voices those opinions. they’re dark and mean and she swallows them and keeps them locked up. 

of course, she was kind of right. edgar and his kids did die. lmao. when she found out, though, she didn’t think “told you so”, she just hated herself a bit more. end of all tws

right now, amelia is a legal advisor at the wizengamot, assisting with cases, working on arguments and compiling evidence, always bristling at how useless aurors are at paperwork. she hates the ministry, partly, but wants to fix it from within. her dream is to get a seat at the wizengamot, and eventually grow further, too. her ambitions run deep, as does her idealism, and together those will get her far.

she’s also more closed off than she was before. i think that amelia was a lot warmer as a teen, and definitely a lot more spontaneous. now, though, she is focused deeply on the tasks at hand and cynical, scared of loving more people than she already does. there’s more to lose when you have more people you love, and all that stuff --- but still, amelia is kind and approachable, but there’s always a hint of distance and coolness. 

does Not take good care of herself. amelia sleeps too little, drinks too much coffee, does not eat enough fruits & veggies and constantly abandons her needs when there’s other, more important things. and there are always more important things ( especially considering she seeks for them )

death & murder tw | the timestamp kind of sent amelia into a state of despair, for a hot second. learning that her brother and his family were killed in the war chilled her to her bones. learning that she was murdered in the far but near future confused her, and scared her. she took a moment to recenter herself, to take in all this new information, and then got to work. i imagine that amelia just stormed into the ministry/the dmle and started working to fix this, using her future position as an argument to have a proper role in the developments. ( merlin knows that the ministry can use a good set of brains, after all, and she has a more than good set. ) she also stuck with the order, of course.

amelia also took it upon herself to research a LOT about the future fates of people she suspected of death eater activity, to know who to trust and who not to. read a lot of archived newspapers and such over the past month. too many. end of tw

personality & details

career woman. fuck the glass ceiling, she’ll break it with her high heels and kiss the shards with her red lipstick and grin while doing it. amelia is successful and will be even more successful and nothing but death can stop her from reaching her goals

in the end, that’s why she was killed --- bc she was unstoppable. if it wasnt for voldemort, she WOULD HAVE become minister for magic, mark my words

caffeine dependent as fuck

kickboxes to let go off some steam and cropped up Stress. she has been doing it ever since her the summer after her fourth year and has a mean right hook and can break your nose if she wants to, but chooses not to. (would rather fight you with words, anyway.)

a levelheaded, realistic queen. 

workaholic, pls tell her to take a break!!!!

she has a deerhound doggo called jimmy and she loves him SO MUCH. dogs are Everything to amelia. she loves dogs so much. 

“men ain’t shit” -- amelia bones, thrice a day, at least

listen she’s just a Queen, that’s all ive got

[justakidwithopinions-blog]

Preface

First I would like to tell you why I chose this particular movie; This movie is about a mental – turned into a physical- disorder called body dysmorphia and in this special case anorexia. I’m pretty sure you know what these terms mean but since I’m here to review it and dare I say “criticise” it, I’m going to give a summarized explanation.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), or body dysmorphia, is a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance. These flaws are often unnoticeable to others.

Anorexia an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat.

Now on to why I chose this movie, I have been dealing with BDD for many years now that at this point I don’t even remember when it started, I was a “fat” kid that everyone (parents, family, friends and even strangers) would judge and or make fun of. That made me very much aware of my “ugly” and “abnormal” body and the cherry on top is that when I hit puberty my breasts turned out saggy and there I was left with the judging eyes of my mother –and other close female family relatives- that would point that out every so often that I’m looking forward to getting surgery on them this summer to “fix” them and that means forming into a build-up standard made by the human race. I went on a pretty strict diet when I was 16 and lost 11 kg and since then I’ve been keeping this strange diet where I eat nothing beyond 5 pm (sometimes 7 pm depending on when I eat my dinner) and basically eating less than 1000 calories a day and well as everyone encourages you to do so exercise; by now so many of my friends and relatives say that I don’t or that I refuse to eat anything and that it is unhealthy, which is ironic cause they were the ones that made fun of me and judged me when I was fat and now that I’m considered “skinny” I “Don’t eat anything and torturing myself for nothing and putting too much pressure on myself”, well guess what? I still consider myself fat, I still want to lose at least 5 kg and have an impossible dream to get anorexia. Yes, I do wish I have a deadly disease and this movie clearly shows why not to wish that upon yourself and how you need to live. Not just as in breathing but as in being alive, enjoying the moment, loving, caring and being loved! Which I haven’t felt in a while. That’s the reason I chose it because not only it shows you the good sides of life that everyone dreams of but it also shows the struggles and how hard it is to reach the good sides and that we – I in this case- take so many things for granted.

   To The Bone

The movie starts with some people in a group therapy session and a girl saying that how the media presents us with a cake, like it’s a reward then in the next page they show some sad fat girl and some fit girl next to her that says I went on this diet and got fit and the girl continues by complaining about the media saying that it wants to torture us, which I think is a great way to start a movie about anorexia, you see, many people – especially women – are often criticized by the world around them, we have magazines that judge celebrities about how fat they’ve gotten while red circling some tummy rolls on a person who’s at most a size 5; since we live in a society that people make shrines out of celebrities and look so high up to some people, we see those red circles, look into the mirror and say “well I have more tummy rolls, I’m a size 6! People must hate me, people probably don’t like me, I will never be loved…” and it goes on forever, comparing yourself to some sort of standard that the media has created just to sell whatever product they have. The movie then shows the main character Ellen, a young woman in her early 20’s that has black eyeliner all around her eye and is going for an “artistic” and “depressive” look, because it’s quite popular right now and apparently having depression makes you cool. She goes on by saying rude words and then it’s shown that she has been thrown out of yet another group therapy and in-patient. It’s then showed that she’s smoking cigarettes while being welcomed by her father’s house-keeper. This movie brings out so many good points, one of them being smoking; so many youngsters smoke either because they want to fit in with their group of friends or society or it’s because smoking is a sex thing and doing it makes you look “Hotter” and more “attractive” in this movie Ellen smokes to eat less as many anorexic people tend to do. Ellen then proves to her sister at dinner that she has memorized the calories of everything, meaning that she counts every single calorie she consumes and wants to keep in under control, she seems to have a good bond with her sister. Later we’re introduced to a new key character, Ellen’s step-mother, Susan. Susan has a pep talk with Ellen saying that her father is upset at her and Ellen asks why the father himself isn’t present to express that, Susan comes up with excuses and then asks to weigh Ellen, in the process of weighing, Ellen takes off most of her clothing and Susan is scared and worried that she just looks “too thin”, she then takes a picture of Ellen’s body and asks if she thinks she looks beautiful which she responds with no, at this point of the movie I don’t think Ellen says she doesn’t look beautiful because of how thin she is, I think she says that because she’s not thin enough for her own standards, the thing with these types of disorders is that the person becomes a perfectionist and weirdly enough has their own standard of what is perfect and what is not and so she didn’t think she was perfect because she had probably gained weight in the in-patient she was thrown out of. Later it cuts to Ellen’s parents fighting behind the closed doors and the sisters sneaking out of the house. As I mentioned before they seem to have a pretty good relationship, they laugh about how messed up their family is and Ellen says that she’s probably going to be kicked out of her own house (again, which we’ll get to that) or get sent to treatment, which Kelly gives a respond in a way so commonly used by the people close to the diseased person that don’t have a clue what’s actually going on “Okay, so eat.” to which Ellen responds “I eat,” the thing is that Kelly does actually care about Ellen in the most selfless way possible (as we proceed, there’s going to be a family therapy which I think is one of the best and realistic scenes of the movie since it shows how the family can effect on one’s health and how even one person caring can make you accomplish a lot) because when Ellen says “I’ve got it under control, Nothing bad is going to happen.” She says one of the most iconic lines “How many people do you think are down there? Like, two million? I bet a bunch of them who are about to die just said the exact same thing.”

Fast-forwarding to Ellen getting submitted into a new in-patient and it showing that the new doctor is pretty straight forward that he doesn’t want to give anyone “hope” neither he’s interested in patients that don’t want to live anymore. As she gets submitted to the in-patient, the story begins, the story of rising and falling in life while having a mental disorder. We’re introduced to another major role in the movie which is Luke and other patients that are going through what she’s going through in their own special way. What this movie beautifully represents is the variety of how people deal with having a mental disorder and how it may appear on someone, for example, you may think that someone with a disorder that mentally doesn’t allow them to eat anything to be very thin but we can see an obese girl having BDD. A thing that stands to me is that they never once mention the word “anorexia” by its full term, they might call themselves “rexies” from time to time, but no one wants to admit that they have a mental illness or even admit that they are sick. We see a quite unique group of people, someone who’s “tubed” and lives in “pony-land” even though they might be past their 20’s and is afraid of healing because she doesn’t believe that she’s sick and gets nausea thinking about food, A pregnant lady that got knocked-up by a random guy but wants to keep the baby and has a beautiful line (that even Ellen herself points out) “I just want to think about something besides me for once” which what a mental disorder in my opinion (especially in this case) is about “being too obsessed with yourself, that you think the world orbits around you” and my favourite character, Luke. He’s there because he has a “dream” a “goal” he wants to heal and keeps giving people a new perspective that they should too find a goal in life and try to get better for it. He’s optimistic but you can see throughout the movie that he’s just as broken as the others, that he as well wants to lose hope and die, but for the others he’s comfort, sometimes he might be overwhelming to the other patients as he might get too optimistic and cheerful –something that people with mental illnesses either don’t want to see or even be- but at the end, he’s the one that “saves” Eli (as she changes her name, which props to her doctor cause I really think that that was a really good idea, it somehow is a starting step towards a big change in life) although the doctor was really helpful because personally, I like people (especially therapists) to be straight forward, and their conversation

 “I just don't see the point.

- There is no point. Or at least, big picture, we don't get to know what it is. Why we live, why Megan lost the baby, why that girl killed herself.

- You're not reassuring me, doctor.

- I can't reassure you. This idea you have that there's a way to be safe...it's childish and cowardly. It stops you from experiencing anything, including anything good.

- You don't think I feel bad enough already? I know I'm messed up... but you're supposed to teach me how not to be.

-You know, how. Stop waiting for life to be easy. Stop hoping for somebody to save you. You don't need another person lying to you. Things don't all add up. But you're resilient. Face some hard facts and you could have an incredible life”

Was a major breaking point. In the movie Eli’s family play a big role in her life as we can see in the family therapy session most of them are self-centered and want to blame one another for Eli’s situation, her mother coming out as gay to her at the age of 13 and getting a divorce from her father and marrying her best friend, her father not being at the picture at all as we don’t even see him once in the movie because he keeps coming up with excuses that he can’t be there for his daughter that has a big negative effect on Eli as she’s always asking whether her father is showing up or not, two step-mums which show their full support, Susan which she now lives with and is really trying so hard to bond with Eli and is knocking on every door to find a cure for her and Olive that seems to be very strict but kind as well, A sister –Kelly- which I’ve already discussed, that shows to be a very caring younger sister. At the end of the movie Eli decides to visit her mother, they have a really heartbreaking scene in the tent that her mother points out that when Eli was born she had postpartum depression and how she couldn’t hold Eli as baby and she’s regretting it so she offers that she should feed her like a baby (a way that a friend recommended) which at first Eli said no to but then when her mother wants to leave quoting that she accepts if Eli doesn’t want to live anymore she cries out her name saying that she wants to be fed and rocked to sleep.

There are three final points that I want to discuss:

1.       The rain scene: doctor Beckham scheduled a trip for the whole group to a place that has fake rain. Rain in the popular culture is a symbol of life and that’s why doctor Beckham decided to bring them there, to show them how it feels to be alive. It was so beautifully painted and I think everyone at that specific moment, even Eli who has a very dark view on life felt amazing and wanted to be alive and most importantly stay alive.

2.       Eli’s relationship with Luke: as they get know each other better, they tend to be good friends, finding some same interests and having the polar opposite opinions in life really matched them up. We can see that Luke has known Eli for a while now throughout her paintings and artworks on her blog and Eli was his muse until she took the blog down (because someone killed herself because of her works and sent her a letter). Luke finds out what her favourite candy is and gets her that candy forcing her to smell, touch and then take a bite out of it which she refuses and yells at Luke saying that he shouldn’t be too pleased with himself, Luke then takes her on a date as he has earned points (because he has been eating and gaining weight) which at first Eli refuses but then accepts as Luke says they can walk the whole way and she will gain no weight if she eats, the restaurant scene is pretty intimate, showing how good they’re bonding and how Luke is lovingly looking at her and is sad that she chews the food and then spits it out even though she finds it very delicious and is actually hungry. The second swing scene is where they have an immediate rise and fall, first opening up about things like virginity and sex and Luke asking if she was abused sexually when she was younger which she says the “casual groping” as women tend to grow out breasts and the “slurs” which they both ironically discuss how women are just objects for men –which this was one of the good points the movie brought up, how women get cat-called so often that they don’t even view it as sexual harassment anymore and how it’s a problem in society and how it deeply affects women and objectifies them and we need to shine light on it- he says that she needs to be touched by someone who cares about her and kisses her, as the kiss deepens, Luke says that he’s falling in love with her and that was so irrational for her that she breaks them off and says they haven’t known each other enough to fall in love and Luke blames her on that behalf. We don’t see the relationship getting fixed or better as Eli wants to get out of the house Luke says to her that she’s his only hope in life since his dream of being a ballerina is crushed due to the fact that his knee now needs surgery but she just leaves him to get out. At the end as she has the dream (which is my final point of discussion) we see Luke in her dream and how he helps her survive and come back to the house. (I personally hope they get back together!)

3.       Eli’s final dream/coma: after her heartbreaking scene with her mother she takes a late-night trip to the desert as she gets tired and lays down, she wakes up in some sort of after-life (as she has been eating poorly the past few days and she has finally achieved her goal of fitting her arm into her fist meaning that she has lost her hope and there isn’t much left of her) she’s looking healthy and is greeted by Luke pointing out a tree, on the next scene she’s sitting both under the tree and on the tree with Luke, sharing an intimate moment with him and looking up at herself feeling discussed with her now full-of-hope self. Luke asks her to look at herself to which she looks down to see herself lying on the ground, naked, dead, to the bone; she finally realises what she has done to herself and what the effects of her death may be and when she wakes up she’s finally happy to be alive and looks joyfully at life. Now she’s ready to heal, finds out who actually cares about her as she tightly hugs her step mum Susan which she found annoying at first (because she actually cared) and now wants to try one last time.

 Final thoughts: This movie was directed by Marti Nixon a woman in her early 50’s which was loosely based on her own life experience and wants to shine a light on a mental disorder that is quite popular amongst women. I think it had a really good point-of-view and discussed so many taboo things in society, such as LGBTQ+ rights, mental disorders and toxic family behaviours. I would definitely recommend everyone to watch it and not take things they have in life for granted and how they should review their behaviour towards life and other people –and how deeply one wrong action can change a person’s life entirely- and take better care of themselves and their beloved ones (as we can see that Eli was an effect from a failed relationship of two people who probably didn’t want kids or didn’t know how to raise one and how Eli blames herself for all that mentioning that she’s not viewed as a “person” anymore in her parents’ life but rather as a “problem.”)  And not respond with “you just want attention” if someone opens up about a struggle to you.

 -Negin Hamesh 10/06/19, a brief review of the movie “To the bone (2017)” directed and written by Marti Nixon.