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allforafro · 9 months ago

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the continuation of season 3 or, if you prefer, volume 4

this time all 12 episodes because I didn't have time to deal with it earlier

3.14

I see that Nathan's political career is gaining momentum

who are these masked guys?

Hiro tries to make Ando a hero

I hope they won't argue again

peter got paramedic, this guy really likes helping people

claire still lives in fear of sylar, poor girl

Sylar is dead? I wouldn't be so sure about that, I mean, this guy came close to death 3-4 times, he's a real cockroach

I understand them but they could stop treating her like a child

I told you he's alive, he's like a cockroach

I don't know why, but I was speechless when Sylar was talking to his dad

I see you haven't changed much, Daphne

this African (do you know what his name is) haunts Matt in visions, reminding him of the inevitable fate that awaits him

too late daddy

don't kill him, phew good thing he didn't kill him

This is getting interesting, I mean kidnapping people is bad

I wanted to comment on the idea of "camps for people with abilities", but I think everyone knows what thoughts immediately come to mind

nice to see peter and mohinder seem to have a good relationship

a group of kidnappers and there is a bald man among them - yes

such actions during the day

ouch! it must hurt

why does noah always have to be like this - facepalm

really nathan?

You didn't think peter would agree to this

Matt sees the future? ok

they kidnapped hiro, Ando, go to save him

it's quite cool, he can't draw but when he gained this ability he learned it, not bad

why do they have to have such a difficult relationship

you haven't watched doctor who peter you shouldn't trust hug

Is that boy in the photo is him? cute

this house is a bit weird

it won't be easy to catch sylar

I thought it was yaeko but it was ando's name, I like their friendship 😊

it's sick

what ability do you really have, Peter?

and there's her dad wow!

no peter!

3.15

what a disaster, why do they do this

run hiro run

I would also be shocked if I saw that my friend had white eyes

Girl, you don't know anything about hiding the truth

okay this part is going to be crazy

danko hehe (sorry to everyone whose name is danko but this name makes me laugh)

Nathan, you really thought that this action would be flowers and rainbows

in these clothes? I doubt; They'll think you've escaped from prison

yes, daphne and ando duo again

oh my, these poor people; sylar acts like a typical crazy killer from the show

well, I don't know if his survival now is that comforting since you have to kill him later

just one power, a bit like a rogue

why no one ever comes up with the idea of helping people with abilities but they always have to act aggressively; I know it's because people are afraid of what is different, but...

this is also your daughter nathan

so what? I honestly doubt he would turn a blind eye to it

why does Sylar have a mommy issue (remembers what happened earlier in the series) oh

he does all these terrible things and drink tea; I don't know why but I somehow like the fact that Sylar drinks tea; or maybe it's coffee? no, I decided it was tea - ignore that part, I don't even know what it is lol

the rest are unlucky

Tracy: I have peter; nathana: damn! (good scene)

I'll surprise you, Sylar, but murder is not solution for everyone

sylar has a bad influence on kid

or that's just what you think

I even liked this kid Luke, I hope he doesn't end badly

It was to be expected that it would not be easy

I wonder who Nathan is talking to

rebel? I wonder who it is

angela is - hand movement - she's scary but I like her

oh nathana, nathana, what are you doing?

3.16

Did Sandra suspect that they were hiding something

why is he lying,?checking him? not afraid?

sylar has parents issue

I'm not surprised he didn't believe her

oh no they are already here

run away

I wonder why they had to cancel the wedding

everything is starting to get out of your control nathan

I have no words

help will come but not that quickly

breathe underwater like a fish

maybe you're getting it wrong, hiro

you could have expected that noah

an ambush in a bar is probably a bit of an exaggeration

what did you expect, kid; It'll be better this way Sylar is not good company unless he finally gets his act together

Well, hiro, it's not only power that makes you a hero

do you believe me now?

the fact that sandra didn't seem surprised by what noah was actually doing says a lot

if nathana really did it? ok, nathan is acting weird

so you decided to save him, oh sylar you're getting softer in your old age (kidding, good thing he helped him; like a sucker for redemption arcs, fingers crossed that sylar will change)

I wonder who this rebel is?

they broke up ouch!

She hid that guy Alex's from comic book store at her place

of course, tell yourself that

Danko is that type of person

they drugged him

it's their business, good

3.17

unfortunately matt is right with noah it might not going easy

but I can't live in other way

angry matt is dangerous

the peaceful day is interrupted by the arrival of the second daddy

everyone, but of course there will be exceptions

and you think that by doing this you will fix anything

nathan has a strange understanding of things

Don't argue, boys

that's right, peter will be able to get there faster

they could have expected that this place would be monitored

Damn I like Danko

but noah can't be fooled that easily

it looks like only matt didn't know anything about it

you weren't supposed to kill each other

classic hostage turns his kidnappers against each other so he can escape

Good entrance peter

he did it because not all of them are bad

Listen to him, Peter, because if you go there, it won't be a one-on-one situation

why does he care so much about catching the special ones?

maybe because he didn't want peter to become a killer

Daphne is alive

They've already caught one

so noah and angela have their own plan

3.18

I'm sorry Alex, sometimes it's necessary

it was funny

this rebel again

honesty probably won't help you at this moment

what if not

you see, alex was right

what did you expect

mind powers

crazy things are happening in the world and lyle is playing games; All jokes aside, he wouldn't be of any use to them anyway, and they would only endanger him unnecessarily

Have I already said that Sandra is the best?

you don't deserve this queen noah

he was a sweet child

alex is right claire marriages aren't that bad but you have to remember not to lie to the other person

she really knows more than everyone thought

especially since you probably can't just search their house (or maybe you can? I don't know, I don't know anything about American law)

that's a pretty good idea

he sold his own son; is this woman his mother? so that's why he cuts people's skulls open

it's sad

and we'll figure out how to help others later

I wonder if they will manage to escape

this had to happen

claire really has a thing for dangerous boys

If Peter had his old powers, they wouldn't stand a chance against him

how is it possible that he flew, he can only have one ability at a time,maybe it was nathan who saved him

yes it was nathan

he used your hug trick on you

her whispering in his ear somehow seems suspicious, I wonder what Angela came up with

you better go home kid

Well, it turned out good, I didn't expect such an ending

3.19

hey barbie lol

I don't know

good question

I wonder if it's true

we don't trust each other

Will matt explode?

trust him matt

uuu Danko is starting to suspect Nathan more and more

what?!

Phew

will they die?

it worked

he hit him 🙄

is this his father's house. why his father has so many weird things. you accidentally end up at his house, it's disturbing, so you leave

I didn't see him in the first take

lionel luthor? that is, whatever his father's name was

you have cancer, you die and you still smoke 🤦

nathan vs danko lol

what are they going to do to her?

wow, this is getting interesting

what did he whisper to her?

I doubt that Danko is interested in such information about Nathan, or maybe he is 😏

she saved your ass, now you have to come up with a good plan that will finally work and undo this madness

the most unusual job interview

you might have expected it

wasn't there anything mentioned about such a situation in the first season, and peter also had a similar ability to arthur

interesting life philosophy

cute bunny

Dude, you have a very weird approach to life

the challenges/trials that life (or God, if you prefer) put in front of you are supposed to make us better people than we are - sorry for these moralizing texts

but he probably doesn't know how to do it

because with Angela it's hard to tell what she's on about at this moment

looks like doyle is really trying to change

angela is 👌

thinking doesn't threaten him

Is it just me or did he really sound proud when he said that

she didn't live in texas

I thought that if he found out that Sylar can healed himself, he would want to kill him

that's the advantage of being intoxicated often, after a while your body gets used to it

because nathan is a badass

so he has changed or not

they were tricked into taking care of the child 🤣

3.20

this time it's more of a summary of the episode than a live commentary, but I was eating a kebab and didn't feel like writing

good episode, the action thickens

I like danko - but I think I've already mentioned it

I liked that there was more Angela in this episode - I like her, do you have a problem with that?

I could guess that rebel was a micah, after all his ability allowed him to do all the things that rebel did

It's a pity that Daphne died 🥲

Janice seems fine than in the first season

so this kid is Matt's son after all, I thought it was the policeman with whom Janice cheated on him - but maybe I remembered it wrong, I have the impression that I watched the first season a long time ago, ah! I would love to watch it again

3.21

he can't arrest them from mexico but he could arrest hiro from japan, international law doesn't work like that, I guess

did you just say you would steal this food

awkwardly

I understand that you are angry because your people didn't work out, but you better listen to Noah, because he has more experience in catching people with ability

o lol

I don't swing that way

how did he disappear so quickly?

danko and sylar hmm, not in that sense of course, it's about the team

noah in thoughts: I caught the sylar once, it shouldn't be difficult to do it again

Gambling is a bad idea

don't exaggerate only partially, you can't forget about arthur's participation

he'll probably lose money

wow, what a plot twist

transformation looks painful

I don't think that's what Peter had in mind

lol claire

what?

peter's praying scene was good

that's why you're making a mess

A moment ago they didn't know each other and now they solve riddles together, go to parties, just like homegirl

sylar and danko's banter is hilarious

Maybe I don't know much about it, but there are more things that influence whether you get drunk or not

drunk nathan 🥹

danko and sylar really make a good team, although I don't know if that's a good thing

so that's how they came up with it, clever

that's what he means

this episode was great, probably my favorite of this season

3.22

Trust me, Sylar won't come to life again - wink

it's likely, the two of you have a long history of hanging out together

Weird

it's because of the baby, it looks like you'll have to help mom first

matt and momo broke up

I wonder why Sandra came?

you have a good feeling noah

I hear you sandra but these two seem to be connected in some way or something

conversation in the toilet

I see that sylar still has hidden jealousy towards noah, i.e. he is angry about what bennet did to him

what kind of hat is that lol

I often forget that he is strong

does he have any relatives?

this will be funny

🥲

wtf? lol 😂

you are bad at taking care of children

hmmm?

You're not like that Matt

I like that Danko is a mysterious character

you still have a lot to learn if you want to trick people into shapeshifting

so it only works on appearance, actually it's good because if you changed more, sooner or later you would have an identity crisis

I wonder what kind of thing they were hiding, experiments?

but it's her - facepalm

it's sad

ex-soldier, I have a feeling he might know something about this mysterious case that Angela is going to tell her family about - or maybe I'm having too much imagination

no matt no

you do it to yourself

In the last moment

Damn, the best thing about this is that you don't know who Sylar might be pretending to be, he might even be this Danko

I had the same reaction as you Matt

it's probably not him

oh mother and daughter, if I were abnormal like Sylar, I wouldn't be able to resist laughing (I wouldn't be fit to be a crazy murderer). Noah will soon go crazy, just like Sylar planned, and Danko will be able to get rid of him because Bennet will lose in everyone's eyes. Then they will be able to work safely together

he played dead - they are crazy

coyote sands I wonder what's hidden there

3.23

me too

memories yey!

Zimmerman is back

I think I have some guesses as to what could have happened in Coyote Sands, but I'm not sure because this series has been surprising more than once

so that's where they all knew each other

angela was such a nice big sister

someone out there

peter is right

peter is most often right on moral issues

I understand that you don't want to scare her, but it will probably turn out that you should have told her earlier because then it will be too late

it's because he's your brother

he...he...he really killed these people?

I'm starting to understand why chandra was the way he was in the future, in the present

She disappeared

noah is right, you shouldn't judge others without knowing the truth

An interesting theme in the series is that our heroes go through similar things as their parents and we watch their struggles so that they do not make the same mistakes as their parents

I told you, Angela

massacre! it was a mistake, an accident and they all died because of it except her, a nightmare

26? hmm? 🤔

that's why she stole socks

I don't like the term necessary evil

sylar pretends to be nathan, I guess it had to happen

I have a bad feeling and I want to cry about it

3.24

what about the real taub?

ouch!

I thought that would happen

it was obvious that hiro wouldn't give up that easily

lol looks like danko is winning on every front

yes, he's crazy

Everyone would prefer to be themselves if the alternative was to lose their own personality

Of course, Ando is always the bait 😆

the scene of Sylar's conversation with his mother was sad, man, you should go to therapy

why do they still have problems with cooperation, or rather hiro does

micah is a good kid

Well, that was it for your plan

he decided to help him yey!

ok, that's weird

I have a feeling this is a trap

Fortunately not

Come on Nathan, haven't you learned anything from this whole situation you two went through?

peter is a saint, it would be hard for me to deal with someone like nathan

good thing you followed him

this makes it difficult

no one can be better than the original pathetic little meow meow sexy nathan - ok, sorry, I got carried away 😆

good thing danko saved him, i will never forgive if they kill nathan

so now he's totally immortal lol

3.25

I wanted to comment on it but then I remembered that this series is over 15 years old, so there were fewer people in the world

I'm sorry Claire but it has to be done

at least noah is trying to rehabilitate himself

wow

I thought the same thing

live by the sword, die by the sword

If you kick him, it will be hard for him to get up

it's not fair this guy is overwhelmingly powerful how are they supposed to stop him

come on claire think, this is obviously weird

It probably won't explode, but it might fry your brain

finally, why did he sleep for so long?

before it was just me and now it's us, oh nathan, nathan

an unwanted but necessary alliance

it's getting bad

they involuntarily helped them

You see, Claire, he's weird

You look worse and worse, hiro

no hiro, please let him live

why did he smell her, creepy

okay, this text was funny, considering how awkward this situation is

finally nathan is growing up 🤣

that's what happens with a low budget, they will never show the most interesting fights 😑

whether they succeeded

hey, not the piano, just a bit of culture, people

Telepathy is useful

maybe it wasn't that nathan

good move peter

this is the worst idea in the world

he's gone forever idiots

God, I'm sorry; I don't remember the last time I felt so much about what I was watching

you've already lost him, that's sick

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!

her life has been so fucked up for a long time and she's still be up to, how much things have to get fucked up for her to learn, same thing for noah

so now she controls water in every state of matter

it won't work, you'll end up bad on it, angela

someone in a comment suggested that they could have used claire's blood to revive him; it would be a good idea but angela and noah wouldn't be themselves if they didn't come up with the most crazy idea that would kick them in the ass

oh people, why do the characters I like have to be so stupid and crazy

I don't understand why some people complained season 3 was better than season 2

I can't wait to see what happens next

even though this season was cool, I have the impression that they didn't fully explain Danko's motives, personally I think it's a pity because he was an interesting character

it's a pity that mohinder and sylar didn't have any interaction this season

#heroes review #nbc heroes #too many characters to tag

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stomp-that-ho-regard · 4 years ago

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Retcon

noun

(in a film, television series, or other fictional work) a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events, typically used to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency.

verb

revise (an aspect of a fictional work) retrospectively, typically by introducing a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events.

Retroactive Continuity

Reframing past events to serve a current plot need. [...] In its most basic form, this is any plot point that was not intended from the beginning. [...]

Post-hiatus C2, and the Great Retcon...

(The retconning really started with the playlists, but we’ll come back to those.)

First, some context:

SDCC (July ‘18) - Marisha was asked directly about Beau and Yasha and if she and Ashley had discussed it. “After the first few times that I kinda put the moves on her, we were at break, and I could sense that Ashley was wanting to ask me something. And she was like, ‘Hey, I’m just curious... is Beau- ’ And at that exact moment someone’s like, ‘Yo Ashley! We gotta go! We gotta get on stage!’ And I was like, ‘Bye!’” Then Brian asked, “And you haven’t had a further conversation about it?” Marisha said, “Nope!”

(Seven months into the campaign, and no discussions. Hmm.)

NYCC (Oct. ‘18) - Marisha was asked about who would Beau get flustered over if they ever flirted back, and yes, she said Yasha and laughed, but then said, “It’s like throwing pebbles at a brick wall.” Meaning, she was putting stuff out there and not getting anything back. (And, she really wasn’t. I still remember when a major portion of the fandom, including the diehard shippers [of which I was one at the time], weren’t sure if Ashley was even interested in this. More than that, it wasn’t until the Zuala reveal, that the fandom and the players found out for certain that Yasha was actually into women.)

(To me, Marisha’s answer here also suggests that at this point, there were still no discussions.)

Talks Machina for ep61 (May ‘19) - Marisha was asked ‘What was going through Beau's mind when Yasha revealed her past with Zuala? Has this changed any feelings Beau might have? Or has Beau's character growth allowed her to mature a little more with regards to her feelings about Yasha?’ Which Marisha instantly pegged as a shipping question. And she said, “I’m trying to figure out a way to answer this to not ruin everyone’s internal canon, in their brains. I don’t want people to overestimate Beau’s intentions towards Yasha. But then also, is that on me? Have I been leading everybody on?”

So, you had all of that, all the way up to ep61.

None of this indicates that ‘it’s been happening since ep1′ or that it’s ‘the slowest of slow burns.’ In fact, it shuts that down completely.

Moving forward to the Beau and Fjord convo (ep108)...

Marisha suddenly having Beau say “There was something about Yasha from the moment that I saw her”. She’s retrospectively attempting to give that moment more weight, when (based on the examples above) we know that the over-the-top flirting was just for fun. And truthfully, she really wasn’t flirting with Yasha any differently than she was flirting with any hot female NPC the party crossed paths with.

And now it’s clear that that one line she said is the reason why BY shippers have suddenly clung on to the idea that “It’s been happening since episode one! SLOooOowBuUuuUrn!!!!!” when its clear that it was not planned. (Not before the hiatus-from-hell, anyway.)

Then Marisha having Beau go from describing Jester as “She's fun. She makes me laugh. I like her ridiculous plans. I think she's complicated and layered.” to “It’s easy to lust after her”. I’ll direct you to Talks for ep85. After Marisha had mentioned that it was a bunch of little things that build, and then pinpointed a few of them, Brian tried to make a joke and said “So you’re saying it’s been more a series, than just one moment that you can point to and say ‘It was right here when I went, let’s fuck!’” Marisha specifically countered that with “It’s not even about 'let’s fuck’. It’s nothing sexual in this case.” (Having her backpedal on this so heavily was such a huge gut punch and was the thing that wholly soured everything for me.)

There were so many better, more delicate ways Marisha could’ve had Beau examine/come to grips with her feelings for both women, but all the reduction and saying they were ‘transferable’ was nothing short of insulting.

On that same Talks episode, Marisha also said this: “Going into this campaign all of us were like, ‘No relationships!’ I didn’t want it! I didn’t ask for this!”, while smiling. What this shows me is that she was thinking of a relationship in regards to Beau’s feelings for Jester. As if she was maybe even anticipating this culminating into something? Why even mention relationships at all if this was nothing serious and was always meant to fall by the wayside?

Brian then followed up with, “In my opinion, as a viewer, Beau’s someone who seems to be on the search for innocence. Whether innocence lost or just innocence in general. And to me it makes sense that you would be attracted to someone who exudes genuine and sort of intrinsic innocence.” Marisha replied with “Fairly astute.”

The next question was, ‘Beau has taken a pretty casual, no-strings-attached approach toward sex and relationships so far. How do her feelings for Jester compare to her previous romantic flings?’ Marisha answered immediately and very seriously with, “Noncomparable. It’s more than that.” She wasn’t playing coy and it didn’t take her a century to find the words. She didn’t even have to think about it. Succinct and direct.

How did all of that ‘organically’ disappear completely, after only 14 episodes?

(Everything felt more genuine back then, because it seemed like Marisha was going where the character was taking her, and not where she thought the character should be going.)

Post-hiatus, everyone and their mother are acting like BY is some epic romance-of-the-ages that was all mapped out, and like Beau having feelings for Jester was just some sort of temporary curveball. That Beau was confused, or was just missing Yasha and projected onto Jester.

That’s really fucked up no matter how you try to justify it. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen another piece of media backpedal this hard, and this callously.

None of that squares with what we were shown or with what we were told. Until, everybody made a hard pivot and now they've done (and continue to) do everything they can to rewrite campaign history, even though we have plenty of footage that contradicts the new ‘company line’.

Now, where the retconning truly began, with the playlists...

Remember the first round of playlists? Those were released randomly, whenever the cast felt like posting them. I also don’t remember there being announcements every time one came out either.

This time though, they had a fixed schedule, complete with official twitter announcements. As they started to just get back into the swing of things, Yasha’s playlist was released right after the first episode back.

So, right out of the gate, they had to make sure they started to drill home a certain mindset for viewers. That’s why Yasha had a song called ‘Let Me Hold You’. (Lo and behold, a few episodes in, Beau randomly asks Yasha to hold her.) A few weeks later, Beau’s playlist was released, and there was a song with the caption saying ‘Ultimately, all she really wants is someone to hold, and someone to hold her’. (But sure, no planning here! The wording is just a total coincidence, folks!)

The other song, directly about Yasha, mentions ‘a crush forged in battle’ (ok), and ‘awkward flirtations’ (???). Yasha never openly flirted with Beau before the hiatus, until maybe right after the Obann arc, in a very vague way.

On Beau’s playlist, there’s nothing about Jester. The one track that mentions her is actually about Artagan. Which, after all they’ve been through together, is fucking ridiculous no matter how you slice it.

In addition to that, Marisha had made Beau’s time in Kamordah (ep92/e93), and the incidents with her family and the Hag, about the group now, not about Jester, fully contradicting her own reiterated words that ‘Jester saved Beau’.

When Beau was talking to her dad, reverting back to her old self and getting all riled up, Jester helped her in that moment, and saved her. Yes, the group was very supportive, and yes, Yasha said something to him before they left the house (that Beau was out of earshot for by the way), but Jester was Beau’s rock throughout that whole thing.

With the Hag, when the group was having a hard time coming up with a solution, and they realized they might actually lose Beau, Jester stepped up and took control of the situation. She, single-handedly, saved Beau/the group from the Hag. And with that, Jester also became Beau’s hero.

In both instances, Marisha thanked Laura/Jester. First on Talks for ep92 with both of them on it. She reiterated, “You saved me. You saved Beau.” Then on Twitter after ep93 with, “Still processing last night. Saved by a cupcake? Eh - saved by @LauraBaileyVO ... again.”

But now suddenly, it’s the group. Just the group?

Now, don’t get me wrong. The entire party showing Beau support was incredibly important. The M9 showed her that they value her, that she’s important to them. It solidified the theme of ‘found family’, which was beautiful. But, to not also highlight how crucial Jester was in all of this, after making such a big deal about it?

That is very deliberate retconning of some hugely important, highly emotional moments for Beau that directly involved Jester.

Any of Beau’s organic and genuine connection with Jester (which encompasses their deep friendship as well as Beau’s romantic feelings) has been massively reduced (and now erased), specifically to prop up a supposed ‘deep’ connection with someone else that was barely ever there, is still barely there, and has no actual depth at all.

Case in point, the BY date (ep126) showcased this fact to the most extreme degree...

Yasha’s infamous line: “I fell in love with you in Kamordah.” So, Yasha literally watched Beau relive her childhood trauma, and caught feelings during it. I’m not wrong in thinking that that’s just a little disturbing, am I? Also, if that’s the moment she supposedly fell for her, why did she not offer her any form of help? I mean, besides that one sweet moment with TJ, the entire time Beau was in Kamordah, she was the most broken down she’d ever been and needed some real comfort, which is something Yasha did not give her. (Jester did though. In spades.)

So, on multiple levels, this seems highly out-of-place.

Several people have said that that line was not thought through. In my opinion, it actually was thought through and was only said specifically to have viewers completely dismiss everything else that happened in the Kamordah episodes. Despite the FACT that Beau and Yasha barely interacted during those episodes, they have now stripped down the party’s experience there, and twisted it into a giant BY shipping moment. (Further feeding into the retcon.)

Their ‘trip down memory lane’ was laughable. Most of the things that were mentioned, Yasha wasn’t even around for.

Gee, remember when the cast was actually good at separating what they knew from what their character knew? When you start injecting what you know into your character (who isn’t supposed to know, because they literally were not physically there), you are metagaming.

The entire date was one big metagaming bonanza. And it had to be, or else they would’ve had nothing to talk about. There is not one thing they have to call their own. To people who don’t have BY tunnel vision, it was made glaringly obvious that they have nothing in common and their dynamic is fairly shallow. Meanwhile, the rest of the cast are sitting there watching this unfold, smiling and nodding along as if it all makes perfect sense and isn’t utterly ridiculous. (And I’m sitting here wondering when I got shunted into the Twilight Zone.)

The shallowness holds true for FJ as well. Aside from both of them being from the Menagerie Coast, what exactly do they have in common?

While Fjord has grown as a character, as far as Jester goes, he still does not seem to have the capacity to fully understand her as a person, or fully respect her abilities/emotional strength/intelligence. He doubted her often, which led to Jester getting irritated with him several times over the course of at least the last third of the pre-hiatus episodes. He even continued to doubt her judgment (in regards to the Traveler) in the post-hiatus Rumblecusp episodes. But hey, they’ve kissed now (ep118) so all of that gets wiped clean, and he’s being touted as her ultimate romantic soulmate who’s oh-so-perfect for her.

For fuck’s sake, why does that sound like something pulled right out of a CW show?

(I'm convinced that the only reason FJ is ‘popular’ is because the shippers have projected Travis and Laura’s real-life marriage onto the characters. If Fjord and Jester were played by different people, or Travis and Laura were not together, people would realize how paper-thin and half-assed this pairing is and hardly anyone would care about it.)

Beau and Jester had developed the deepest, most genuine friendship and overall dynamic in the entire party, that should have absolutely been given the chance to be explored further. They constructed a pretty solid foundation that could have easily been built upon, and the fact that it’s been unceremoniously pulverized and snuffed out in favor of such overwhelming tepidity and flavorlessness will never not infuriate me.

Finally, to finish this off, I will say with my whole chest, that that is one of many nasty, rotten patterns that I’ve seen far too much of in all kinds of scripted media, which is...

Not wanting to commit to the thing that’s actually growing organically, because it’ll ruffle too many feathers. It’s too inconvenient. It gets in the way. Because of course, nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants to take a risk, or you know, actually follow where the natural fucking chemistry is taking you. Of course not! Heaven forbid, we go down a different road! You have to go with what’s ‘expected’, no matter what, at the great expense of something new that’s come along that’s clearly better. Even when what’s expected is hollow as fuck and doesn’t make sense anymore, because characters have grown and dynamics have changed, they decide to dig their heels in with the most fanservice-y options instead.

Yet this is UNSCRIPTED media. A D&D campaign, that’s supposed to be mostly improvised. D&D, that’s all about taking chances/going with your gut/making bold choices/etc., from people who have claimed up and down that they “like to see things play out at the table”.

So why are those same disingenuous patterns being utilized here too?

One of the big reasons I got into CR was because I naively believed that because the format was different, that the storytelling would be different. I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about running into this nonsense here. That I wouldn’t have to worry about getting bullshitted, jerked around, and having my intelligence insulted left and right, but alas, here we are.

In conclusion... [TL;DR, kinda?]

Reframing past events (between B & J, and B & Y) to serve a current plot need (railroading BY):

Beau playlist ignores Jester’s importance to what transpired in Kamordah. (minimizing/erasure)

Beau playlist doesn’t acknowledge/hint at Beau’s feelings for Jester. (total erasure. could have at least included a song about feelings being lost, or being confused about feelings for a friend, but Marisha took the cowardly route, and didn’t bother mentioning it at all.)

Beau playlist claims that Beau and Yasha have both been flirting forever. (easily debunked by session footage.)

In her conversation with Fjord, Beau says, “There was something about Yasha from the moment I saw her”. (it was just about hooking up then, and stayed that way for a majority of the campaign. This line suggests that Beau has had ‘deeper feelings’ for and/or has been ‘in love’ with Yasha since the first episode, that this was all intentional build-up, which again, is easily debunked by session footage, panels, and TM.)

In her conversation with Fjord, Beau says, “It’s easy to lust after her.” (minimizing/erasure/twisting of Beau’s feelings for Jester, which Marisha had previously stated were ‘noncomparable’ , ‘more than that’, and that her attraction is ‘nothing sexual in this case.’)

This isn’t a fucking conspiracy theory. This is plain evidence of a planned retcon.

#op #super long post #uber rant #happy thursday! ;)#beaujester #i wrote this up back in december but didn't have the energy to finish it until now #it got longer as i went #guess i still have a lot of bitching left in me lol #that's what happens when you feel like you've been getting kicked in the teeth for nine months

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finnoky · 4 years ago

Note

AU where Quirin takes and raises Eugene after the DK falls

•| Send me a potential AU and I’ll tell you five fun facts |•

Oh you have no idea how much this enables me - I stand by Quirin raising Eugene until the end of time bc it’s what they BOTH deserve

1) Oki so, here we see Eugene taken away as a baby without disclosing an EXACT location — that will not stop Quirin though, who had a stance against cutting him off completely despite it being Edmunds orders [It made sense to send the boy away but to send him to an ORPHANAGE was another story] Quirin finds Eugene a month or so after they get separated, during that time he found a house and a stable farm to raise a kid on [Gotta have an income] and then promptly goes to the orphanage and adopts Eugene.

By then, Eugene’s name has already been changed and frankly... Quirin thinks it suits him, though he occasionally slips up and calls him Horace. He feels a duty to raise the Prince but also kinda has a “My son now” mentality! Disagrees with Edmunds choices + decides... His kingdom is doomed, so he’s gonna ensure Eugene gets a stable upbringing with KNOWLEDGE of the Dark Kingdom without necessarily telling him “Oh BTW you’re the prince”. Being a father is hard and he struggles a lot, esp in early days, it’s a whole new challenge from being a knight but... Not one he really regrets?

Cue some fluff! Knight-dad trying to raise a baby and establish a life in a new country — Over time he grows and becomes Village Leader + Develops a bond with the monarchs based on his knowledge and previous high-rank in society from being a knight! Gets offered a guard position but turns it down in favour of spending time with his toddler son. Eugenes first word is Dada and Quirins never felt so content. Baby fluff of Eugenes milestones — Quirin has Eugene helping on the fields as soon as he can toddle without tripping (tho it’s mostly Eugene playing and running around while Quirin works) Toddler Eugene is a little darling and knows exactly how to use his cuteness to get praise and sweets

2) Eugene starts thievery / acting out soon after Quirin dates and marries Ulla, though it soon become a hobby he usually indulges in with his friend Arnie [though they take on the names of the coolest book characters Flynn Rider and Lance Strongbow!] Quirin thinks it’s just a phase and leans into the whole calling Eugene ‘Flynn’ because... He really loves the books, that’s not too odd? Though he doesn’t know of crimes + just thinks they go out to play a lot. Eugene ignored Ulla for the first few weeks because he doesn’t like the idea of someone new staying around — He doesn’t hate her, it just raises a lot of questions about his mum that Quirin doesn’t know how to answer... He resolved on the explaination that she was very sick and couldn’t take care of him anymore, though loved him dearly — it’s enough to placate him.

Eugene doubles down on stealing when he’s 10 and suddenly there’s gonna be a new baby in the house. [He doesn’t WANT a sibling + worries Quirin will love the baby more than him since he knows he’s adopted & all that though is too scared to ask] Eugene grows an attitude and Quirin finds himself exhausted and constantly caught in petty bickers as Eugene keeps running away + acting up, especially to his wife (Who loves Eugene very much, of course) ‘Flynn’ declares he wants to travel the world and be far away from step-mums and nasty babies, uhhh Domestic fall out stuff?

Things change when baby gets here and suddenly Eugene is a big brother and Quirin is MORE distracted, sometimes they forget to even read him a story and he can’t stand the squirmy little creature... All it does is cry and take what little attention his misbehaviour had earned him... So naturally, petty crime continues + Eugene starts caring less about getting caught, so it becomes more risky. He and Lance befriend some bad influences and start taking Big Kid Crime. It’s fun! Until Eugene is brought home by a guard and Quirin gives him the silent treatment for the next week. Quirin... He loves his sons, both of them, but he just isn’t sure how to handle a distressed 11 year old and a baby, it feels like there’s not enough hours in the day and Eugene is SET on making life harder for everyone.

Eugene stays against ‘Varian’, frequently makes the baby the villain in his games and makes him cry on several occasions. It gets even worse when he starts crawling bc now he can’t get anytime alone, it’s just frustrating! The solution probably comes when Varians starting to talk and he says ‘Oo-gee’ as one of his first words — ‘Lisa’s first word’ style — and Quirin and Ulla admit that Varian is obsessed with Eugene. It’s sorta a wake up call for Eugene to start trying to get along with the kid, and it works! He finds it fun to teach him things & have someone to talk to (even if he just babbles back) By the time Eugene is 12 he’s calling Ulla mum and love spending time with his little brother

3) Right! When Eugene is about 18 he picks up theiving again, mostly because he isn’t suited to the farm life and it’s easy money (Plus how else is he gonna achieve his dream of financial independence?) He moves out the farm under the guise of finding a new life with his best friend, though they quickly realise it’s not amazing when they get tangled up with the Baron + his antics. Eugene visits home every so often and claims everything is fine, it’s going great, he doesn’t need any extra help + his life is just dandy. His dishonesty mostly bc he doesn’t wanna worry Quirin and there’s been a bit of a strain since Ulla passed away.

Life keeps on like this. Eugene ages, steals alchemy supplies for Varian and hides his true income source because he wants to make Quirin and Varian proud! Varian grows up to be more headstrong in what he wants because he has someone standing up for him and telling him he’s proud, though the longer Eugene spends away the harder it gets? He loves it when Eugenes here! But the house feels empty without him, and Quirin is so busy + stressed from Varians experiments that there’s still that desire to do more, prove himself.

4) Movie diverts a bit! Eugene finds out about the hair glow and thinks... If one person knows about this then it’s him, and takes Rapunzel to Old Corona over night rather than a campfire. Varian is ecstatic to see him though gets confused by a random girl Eugene claims to have just found — He’s about to ask questions when Eugene asks if Varian could do his magic thing to find out about her hair. Varian insists it’s alchemy and agrees, dragging Raps down into the lab! Boop gothel talks to her when Varians gathering all the equipment and talks her ear off about how cool Eugene is and asks how they found each other since the story is weird... Experiements start!

Meanwhile Eugene is talking to Quirin, when Quirin pulls out a wanted poster and puts it on the table. He finally found out about how bad Eugenes crimes are and wants answers. Now. Eugene sits and tries to explain its not what it looks like, but Quirin doesn’t wanna hear it. The disappointment is evident and Quirin criticises “I thought you grew out of this, what role model is this for Varian?” Eugene doesn’t have an answer but argues his case that it was to be reliant — and he doesn’t wanna do it anymore anyway! Quirin accuses him of using the girl, while Eugene insists her name is Rapunzel and he’s just helping her, get the crown, be set for life and never have to bother him again.

Their argument is cut short by a Varian coming back upstairs looking frazzled, says there’s something about the magic that’s familiar but he can’t place it — sure is strong tho, and continues gushing and asking Eugene for all the details of what he’s been up to. Eugene... Explains, his usual light-hearted rendition of a great quest, while Quirin leaves and stays upstairs the rest of the night.

Varian sees them off in the morning! Hours after they’re gone Vari is still looking into the magic thing — that’s when he remembers the old legend about a sundrop... about how it saved the Queen... About the Princess. Varian sneaks out the house and heads up to the lantern festival to tell Eugene and Rapunzel his revelation, but he gets there just as Eugene is being lead away by guards. Varian finds Max and tells him how they need to free Eugene + basically... Helps him escape with fewer pub thugs and more alchemy. When they get to the tower Eugene tells Varian to stay on the floor and climbs up to help Raps - Varian stays at the bottom of the tower for approx 10 minutes before finding the back entrance and climbing up. Figure he gets there just as Gothel deages, it’s suddenly and before anyone knows it Varian is the one pushing her out the window bc he saw a stabbed Eugene and put two and two together. Then! Cue New Dream scene, except Varian is sitting on the floor in shock a distance away... After New Dream hug Eugene looks at him and Varian admits that “Ok, magic isn’t that bad”

5) Oh god the series! First off — Raps is closer with Varian in this (that’s becoming a theme...) so doesn’t just throw him out into the blizzard when he comes asking for help. Instead he and Eugene go back to Old Corona together after the storm, Varian isolates himself from guilt + has a tough time dealing with what happened, but he lives in the castle as Eugene starts getting angrier with the king and wants answers for what happened. He’s the one that finds Dark Kingdom stuff and he and Varian work on it together... Eugene has a suspicion he came from the Dark Kingdom so when the rocks start pointing there he’s like dope!

No villain Varian joins them on the trek to the Dark Kingdom + it’s all fun and games, Eugene tries to get more answers from Adira as they travel but she says it’s not her place to say... All he needs to know is the kingdom fell, and everyone was evacuated... She’s almost annoyed as she explains it, then Hector is treble annoyed when he finds out Eugene was raised by QUIRIN since that went against the direct orders... Though Adira defends it and says he was doing his duty of keeping Eugene safe, it’s basically a rift between them that’s confusing until they get to the DK and the revelation happens.

I feel... Moongene could be a thing in this AU? but since I’m running out of points I’ll leave it with Cass taking her canon role! I will point out! when Quirin is freed initially only Varian runs into his arms... Eugene hadn’t really spoken to Quirin properly since their movie fallout & he’s not sure he belongs... Until Quirin holds and arm out to him and pulls him into the hug too (PARALLLELS) and we get a happy reunited family (tho with some issues to work out regarding somethings... they need to rebuild trust, but work on it slowly. Edmund stays ‘Edmund’ to Eugene. He sees Quirin as his father & doesn’t push as much to reconnect with Edmund... Though that makes it easier in a way. There’s less pressure once Edmund understands and they form a friendship, but Quirin is Dad 100% (Sometimes Edmund gets called Dad 2))

#tts #tts au #ask #au ask meme #tangled the series #tangled #varian #Eugene #quirin #alternative universe

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mrsalwayswrite · 4 years ago

Text

Say You’ll Stay - Chapter 7

Fury/Band of Brothers Crossover Fic

We finally meet up with Easy Company!

Tag List: @happyveday @alwaysindecemberfeels @god-of-dramatic-death-scenes @saritanotserena

Series Masterlist // Next Chapter

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

The morning arrived with a slight fog, bringing a sense of otherworldliness with it. As if ghosts stood along the tree line just watching and waiting in complete silence. Everyone moved with shifty feet and wary eyes, voices staying low. The starting of engines only exasperated the stillness around them. It had been decided, with so many men killed and wounded in the company, the whole group would travel to Haguenau. From there the wounded could be evacuated to a hospital and hopefully replacements sent for those lost.

Anna wandered around the tanks, checking in with the other medics and just trying to stay warm. Wrapping her arms around herself, she tried to keep the wintery cold at bay. A coat taken off a soldier, who no longer needed it, now covered her filthy nurse’s uniform. She tried not to think about wearing a dead man's coat, rather imaging it was a spare. Her legs were still exposed to the elements from the knees down to her short uniform boots, making it impossible to fully warm up as she walked around.

"Mount up! Let's go!" The call echoed around from several different mouths, stilling the nervous restlessness hanging over the company.

The wounded were placed on the tanks to ride since they did not have a truck to transport them anymore. Besides the officers and those in the armored division, all the foot soldiers were forced to continue walking. Not a perfect solution but it was all they afford to do right now. Hopefully they could escape another surprise attack.

Ignoring those around her, she made her way towards Fury. Both to keep an eye on the wounded laying or sitting on the tank but to also stick close to the tank's crew. She had woken up that morning, still huddled against Boyd's side, wrapped in Don's leather jacket and the spare blanket from Gordo. They shared what breakfast they could with her before she had to head off and start rounds. Medic Arthur Christianson had taken over lead medic from Joe Hunter. A blow they all felt but this was war and you just learned to keep moving. The two other medics had been courteous enough to her from the beginning so it was not too much of a hardship to work with them.

Each medic had chosen a tank to walk next to and keep an eye on its wounded. She had immediately claimed Fury.

"Anna!"

Looking up, she noticed Boyd staring down at her from his spot on the tank.

"What you doin' down there?"

She glanced around then stared back at him. "Walking." She stated with a casual shrug, not understanding what he was getting at.

Grady chuckled from his spot next to Boyd. Smoke curled around his mouth as he exhaled, the cigarette still between his teeth.

Boyd rolled his eyes with a deadpan expression. "I see that. Thank you. Why ain't you riding?"

"Only wounded are riding. I'm fine, Boyd. I don't mind walking." She tried to assure him, a small smile on her face. Hopefully that masked how cold she actually was and the agitated nerves humming throughout her body. She walked a little further towards the front of the tank. Fury only carried five wounded, spread out along its sides. Stopping at a young soldier with a bandage around his head, she touched his leg to gain his attention. "How are you feeling?"

The brunet opened his eyes, looking down at her from where he reclined on the tank. A shy smile crossed his lips. "My head ain't spinnin' like it was."

"That's good. Let me know if that changes." Patting his leg, she smiled back at him. The young soldier was one she was particularly concerned about. During the initial explosion, he had been thrown back and landed hard on his head, getting knocked unconscious during the process. Eventually he woke back up but with a bloody head wound.

Tucking a few strands of wayward hair behind her ear, she adjusted Joe’s- no, her medic’s satchel across her body. Her heart clenched slightly at the reminder. Her own personal bag had been in the supply truck, now a pile of ash. Her few extra clothing items, her beloved book from home, the few letters she had from her family and friends along with what little money she had been holding onto, all gone. All destroyed in the fire that raged throughout the night as it consumed the supply truck. It hurt more than she thought it would. It was just stuff, but it had helped ground her, remind her of home. Without it, her soul felt slightly adrift. Even as she tried to convince herself it was just stuff, that it was replaceable, that twenty-two men died while she still drew breathe…. she still missed her belongings.

"Hey, dollface. Nice legs you got there."

She pretended to not hear the comment from the lanky soldier sitting on the tank, bandage around his calf. She remembered him. A bullet ricochet hit his calf but he screamed like his guts were being ripped out, then he threatened one of the other medics until he received morphine.

"Ah, c'mon, smile. I just gave you a compliment." He called after her, a sleazy smirk on his face.

"Hey, shut up." Boyd demanded, having turned to glare at the offending soldier.

The arrogant soldier looked over his shoulder at Boyd as if surprised to be called out. "What? Like you can't see them." He snickered, continuing to leer at the nurse.

Anna closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. Unfortunately, she was used to men like that by now. Even if she hated dealing with them. She had a job to do though. War did not care if the men it wounded were good or bad, kind-hearted or arrogant, gentle or dangerous- it took them all. Her job was to save as many as she could from War's grasp. To allow as many men as she could to return to their families one day.

She turned slightly to meet the eyes of the lanky soldier. "Is there something you need, soldier?"

"Aren't you going to check on me, darling?" He winked at her.

In a sudden flurry of movement, Grady roughly shoved the soldier off the tank without preamble. The soldier screamed as he hit the ground, landing on his hurt leg. The sound echoed in the air, bouncing off anything nearby as if to gain momentum in volume. Everyone nearby jumped at the sound, eyes locked on the soldier swearing and rolling on the ground. Anna stared in horror and confusion, a hand over her rapidly beating heart, unsure if she should intervene or stay to the side. Her answer came in the next moment as Grady hopped off the tank to stand between the soldier and Anna.

The soldier screamed, grabbing at his leg as he rocked on the ground. "What the fuck was that for?! Christ, I'm wounded, you asshole!"

"Yeah, shut the hell up." Grady said, just staring down at the soldier. He turned to look at Anna but never turned his back completely on the soldier. "You good?"

She nodded mutely, beyond surprised and made quite speechless by Grady's actions.

"Coon-Ass! What's going on here?" Don stormed towards them, cigarette hanging from his lips and fire in his eyes.

"Nothin', Don. He started talking shit 'bout Anna. I shut him up." Grady shrugged, staring at his commander. A silent understanding seemed to pass between the two. Don gave a curt nod and only after that did he even acknowledge the man on the ground.

"You his Sergeant?!" The soldier was yelling, teeth bared like a rabid dog. "He pushed me off the goddamn tank! He can't do that!"

"Yeah? Well, sounds like you fucking deserved it." Don pulled the cigarette from his lips, blowing the smoke out. His eyes quickly shifted to Anna to scan her quickly before dropping back down to the soldier.

"Cause I complimented the fucking nurse? You know what, fuck you! And fuck the bitch!"

Don whipped out his pistol and pointed it at the downed soldier. Every sound ceased. The air froze. No one moved. Tension radiated from the scene. It felt with one wrong move, one wrong sound, Don would shoot. Even the wounded man stared in horror and rage at the pistol aimed at him. Everyone waited to see what Don would do. Anna covered her mouth with her hand, terrified that if she even peeped, Don would shoot the man on accident. When Don spoke next, Anna had never heard him sound so cold, it physically sent shivers down her spine.

"I highly suggest you shut that big mouth of yours before I put fucking hole in your other leg."

If looks could kill, the soldier would have killed the tank commander twice over with the lethal glare he leveled at Don; but he wisely kept his mouth shut. The two stared at each other, almost willing the other to say something and set them both off like ticking time bombs.

After several tense moments, Don was the first to rip his gaze away and look over at Anna. Without a word, he beckoned her over with his hand. Worried and a little intimidated, she hurried over to stand between him and Grady.

"Anna, up you go now." The tank commander stated, nodding towards Fury, the threatening tone not quite fully leached from his voice yet.

"Wha… oh, no, I'm ok, Don. I promise."

Those intense eyes bored into hers, immediately stopping any further excuses from passing her lips. "I can see you shaking like a leaf from the cold. I won't ask you again."

"She can take my spot with Bible." Grady said to Don, looking over her head. "Keep her warmer."

"Good. C'mon then."

Next thing she knew, she was being manhandled by Don. He lifted her up as if she weighed nothing and set her onto the tank, where Boyd took her hand and slipped her into the gunner's spot with him. Her legs immediately felt marginally warmer as they were no longer bared to the cold elements.

Don climbed up to his spot, just on her left. None of the other soldiers, wounded or walking, would meet his gaze as he scanned over those nearby. As if just a shared glance would unleash his terrible ire onto them.

"I could have gotten up by myself." She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as she glanced over at him.

His hands stilled from placing the helmet on his head, his eyes meeting hers for a brief moment. "Whatever you say, doll." He winked quickly at her then looked forward, tapping a hand on his comms to speak. "Alright, let's move out."

After that the tank jerked forward, Boyd had reached over to help keep her upright. Once settled, she tucked her face into her coat; not because of the cold, but in hopes no one would notice the blush on her cheeks. Butterflies danced in her stomach and it took her mentally berating herself to keep the stupid, giddy smile off her face. A simple wink should not have this much of an effect on her. Her mind decided to remind her of how it felt to have his hands on her and how easily he lifted her. That thought made her face heat up even more.

To distract herself, she peeked over her shoulder to see Grady sitting just behind her on the tank, watching the tree line with his mouth slightly open.

Although she still felt somewhat tense around Grady, he no longer looked at her as if she was a piece of meat to be ogled. She had noticed it the prior night as she joined the Fury crew and fell asleep leaning against Boyd. Followed by his strange actions today, she could not help but wonder what changed… if whatever occurred between him and Don in the French town had more of an effect than she realized. Maybe he was not such a bad man after all? Giving people second chances was something her mother preached and Anna found herself trying to do. Maybe now was a perfect example?

Those on Fury rode silently for several miles, just watching the surroundings. Her thoughts turned dark, wondering if she should write Joe Hunter's wife. Obviously his wife would receive a condolence letter from the army but maybe it would help if she received a personal letter too from someone who worked with him? Who knew him and how devoted he was to her? Then again, she did not want his wife to misread her letter somehow and think Anna and Joe had an affair and now Anna was writing a letter out of guilt? Would someone do that? Or would they keep quiet about it? Her thoughts bounced around in her mind like ping pong balls, constantly moving but never actually in a helpful way.

"Where you from, Anna?"

"Mmm?" Boyd's sudden question drew her from her inner musings. She lifted her head to look at him from staring at her nails as she picked at them. It took her an embarrassingly long moment of him staring at her with his eyebrows raised for his question to sink it. Heat filled her cheeks but she hoped it was not too noticeable. "Oh, sorry. I grew up in South Carolina but my family moved to Virginia, so that's where we lived the last few years. What about you?"

He hummed, shifting slightly. "Missouri."

"I've never been there. Do you miss it?"

"I reckon. I miss the people there more, ya know?"

Don cut in, still staring a head. "What he means is, he misses his girl."

Her eyes widened and her head moved so fast from looking at Don on her left side to staring at Boyd on her right, she almost gave herself whiplash. "You have a sweetheart?"

"Yeah." He shrugged casually as if it was not a big deal but the small smile on his lips and the light in his eyes betrayed him.

"And you haven't told me this?! You were getting on my case about seeing if I had one and this whole time you did!" She smack his chest lightly, making him flinch while Don and Grady laughed. "What's her name?"

"Sarah Grace." His eyes softened even just saying her name. "Prettiest woman on God's good earth, I swear."

She smiled at the fondness in his tone.

"We was gonna marry but then the war broke out and I felt called to join up. So she's waitin’ for me. When we get back, I'll start seminary and we'll get married."

"If she's still waiting and not married someone else."

Boyd narrowed his eyes at the mechanic behind Anna. "Grady, you just tryin' to get me riled up. It won't work. I know she'll wait."

"Maybe she done run off with someone already." Grady countered, a smirk on his face.

"I just received a letter from her last month. You know that."

"That was last month…"

"I swear, Grady, if you don't-"

"Alright, alright. Knock it off." Don said, grinning. It was obvious this was a continuous argument but was born out of teasing than any true malice. Boyd mumbled something under his breath, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Well I think it's sweet, Boyd. I'm happy for you." She bumped his shoulder, erasing the scowl on his face. In a split second decision, she looked behind her at Grady. Second chances, she told herself. "Where are you from?"

Initially, he seemed startled that she would ask him but quickly hid the surprise with his usual indifference. "California."

She turned to Don next. "And you?"

"Kentucky."

It felt like she had to physically tear her eyes away from his or else she would be trapped in them. There was an intensity in them that balanced on the edge of exhilarating and terrifying. All it took was a small breeze to push him one way or another. So far she had only seen the kind and protective side of him. Now though, after he pulled the gun on the wounded man, she had seen a brutal side. It reminded her of when Norman mentioned about when he first met Don. Now she could see it, what Don had forced Norman to do. It sent a chill down her spine. People were forced to commit terrible crimes all the time during war. Was this side of Don because of war or just something that lurked under the surface continuously? She found herself worried about the answer.

Boyd interrupted her thoughts, continuing the conversation. "Gordo there is from Texas. Norman is from Pennsylvania."

"Y'all are from all over the place."

"Yep, all it took was Hitler startin’ a war for us to meet."

They all chuckled but grew quiet again at the sobering thought.

Anna could not help but think about where she would be right now if she had not joined the Nurse Corps. She had hoped to go to college and become a teacher. It was not glamorous but the very thought of it brought a smile to her face. Much to society's chagrin, she wanted more from life than to just marry the first man that came around and start having his babies. But it did not matter now. She was not even on the same continent of her birth.

She pushed back the thoughts of before and focused on those around her. The smell of cigarettes from the soldiers surrounding her. The chill in the air that clung to her without reprieve. The sight of what should have been a beautiful forest but set her on edge, expecting another surprise attack. She could not focus on what she was missing out on. War happened. And she answered the call. Even if it had been to get away from her own sins and ruined reputation.

*****

The next afternoon, the company and tanks rolled into Haguenau. Snow dusted everything that had not been trampled yet. The air hung heavy with fatigue and despair. Supposedly the Allies were winning the war, but with the looks on the faces around… you would not suspect that. The sound of a mortar slamming into the ground up ahead made Anna flinch. She could not help but wonder what kind of new hell she had been taken too.

"Let's park in the rear. Don't need those Krauts aiming for our tanks." Don said over the comms.

When the tanks stopped, everything ground to a halt around them, followed by Captain Evans pulling up in his jeep. "Sergeant Collier! You'll come with me. Let's find out who's running this shit show."

"Yes, sir!"

Anna slid off the side of the tank, careful of her cold, bare legs. Instead of riding that day with Boyd, she had instead elected to ride next to a young soldier who had been shot in the shoulder. Tears slipping down his cheeks but the soldier never made a sound. The whole ride she held his hand on his uninjured side. Occasionally, she had to check on the other wounded but she always returned back to the young soldier. He never cried out, just whispered a near silent 'thank you' and held her hand tightly.

She could hear the men being told to stay put until further orders were given. Most were used to the routine by now. Stand around until directed where to go next. It was something she was adjusting too. Ignoring those yelling commands around her, she fixed her mangled uniform and coat as much as possible and looked up at her patient/companion.

"I'll be right back." She tapped the young soldier's leg before walking away in search of Medic Christianson.

She found him talking to one of the other medics, standing near a different tank. "Arthur, what do we do now?" She asked, rubbing her hands together to try and warm them up. Spring and its accompanying warmth could not come soon enough.

"We need to find the aid station they have here. Hopefully get the men moved there and transported to a hospital." He said, lighting a cigarette. After a drag, he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right, I'll go. Keep an eye on those around here."

"I'll come with you." She said probably far too brightly if the looks given to her said anything.

His green eyes narrowed at her a moment before he shrugged. "Fine. Let's go."

She started to follow him, arms wrapped around herself in the large army-issued coat. For a second she wondered if she should tell Boyd where she was going then she dismissed it. He was not her keeper. She was here to do her job.

They wandered into the corpse-like city of Haguenau. It looked desolate. A mere illusion of what it had once been before war corrupted its beauty. Bombed buildings, craters in the streets, the staining of blood scattered along the ground and snow. Anna had never seen a place like this before.

After receiving directions from a passing Sergeant, they found the building housing the aid station. It was a two-story house that looked semi-stable, but far better than others surrounding it. Which was not a high standard. Anna and Arthur quickly ascended the steps and walked inside, not just to get out of the cold but to avoid the sporadic mortars.

"Something you need?" A voice asked them as soon as Arthur closed the door behind them.

The two looked over to see a man watching them from a side room. He had short black hair, thin beard, open face and medic badge on his arm. His head was tilted to the side, the cap on his head sliding slightly with the movement.

"We just arrived with our company and we've got wounded." Arthur said, taking charge and moving another step into the building.

"Uh huh." The man eyed them then turned back and called out toward another room. "Hey, Roe!" He looked back at the two by the door, it was obvious the calculations crossing his mind as he prepared his question. "How many wounded?"

"Eighteen."

"Shit. What happened?"

Anna kept back, allowing Arthur to take the lead. The dark-haired medic's eyes flickered towards her occasionally as if wondering what she was doing there but chose not to ask. Rubbing her hands together, a brief smile lifted the corners of her lips. Just being indoors, the permanent chill in her bones receded just enough she did not worry her legs would turn to icicles. It had only been a few days since the company left the small French town but being continuously outdoors, day and night, was something Anna found she disliked fervently. She looked over as she heard footsteps coming around the corner.

Arthur was still talking to the dark-haired medic, explaining what happened. "They laid landmines in the road, then when we stopped they fired on us from the surrounding woods. Perfect fucking ambush."

"Damn Nazis." The medic shook his head. "You hear that, Gene?"

The one called for came around the corner. He also had dark hair, pale skin and a sharp jawline. His eyes though were dull and a hint of red lingered around his nose like he was getting over a cold. His uniform was clean but even that could not distract from how bone-deep weary he appeared. "I 'eard. We got room upstairs. Won't be an issue."

She froze, her mind whirling. That voice. She recognized it. Not many medics she had encountered had such a distinct Cajun drawl. Her brain frantically raced trying to remember where she knew it from.

"Eugene?" She found herself asking, hesitation in her voice. The man's head whipped over to stare at her. "Eugene Roe?"

"Yes, ma'am. Have we met?"

"Yes… I mean." She tucked some loose stands of her hair behind her ear, nervous that he would not remember her. "It…. It was back in Albourne. We did some training together. I'm Anna… Anna Cooper."

One could watch the light bulb go off in his mind and his eyes light up. "Chérie?" His voice almost held an element of awe to it, that she was here and real.

She nodded, feeling tears fill her eyes. There was something in the simple nickname that tugged at her heart's strings. It reminded her of a time before war. Before blood and screams. Before the memories of death were stronger than memories of home. When it would just be the two of them at the aid station in Albourne practicing bandaging one another or swapping stories of their homes when homesickness struck them.

He hesitated for a moment before walking towards her. Seeing him move, she practically sprinted to him. They collided in that drafty building in Haguenau and for a moment, both felt like they could feel the sunshine on their faces and a spring rain to cleanse the taint of death from their skin. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. His own arms enclosed around her much smaller frame, surrounding her in warmth. Tears slipped down her cheeks, wetting his ODs. For once, she was not even ashamed.

"It's alright, chérie, it's alright."

She laughed wetly, tipping her head up to look at him. "I can't even tell you how happy I am to see you."

"I got that impression."

"Don't ruin the moment, Gene."

He chuckled, pressing a chaste kiss to her forehead. "It's good to see ya too." He released her to step back and fully look at her. It was then he seemed to finally noticed her attire, or lack thereof. His eyes narrowed staring at her bare legs and short uniform boots before jumping back up to her face. "How did ya end up here? And what 'appened to ya uniform? Ya must be freezin'."

"It's a long story...and we ran out of bandages, so…" she shrugged, gesturing to her clothes, self-conscious of her exposed skin.

Gene and the other medic shared a look before Gene looked back. "I expect to ‘ear it later, and we'll find ya some spare ODs. Spina, we got any in the new winter lot?"

"Uh...I think so." The dark-haired medic responded, eyebrows almost touching his forehead.

"How many wounded y’all got?" Gene asked Anna.

"Eighteen."

"Bring 'em here. We'll make room. Medics?"

Arthur answered this time, arms crossed over his chest. "Three medics and Nurse Cooper."

"Good. Know how long y’all stayin'?"

"No." She peeked over at Arthur, who confirmed her answer with a short nod. "We only just arrived."

Gene looked over at Arthur. "Careful bringin' 'em here. We'll get space set and some coffee for ya." He peered down at Anna, eyes softening. "Let's get ya some warmer clothes, chérie."

"I swear you're an angel… a Cajun angel."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Whatever ya say." Putting an arm around her shoulders, he guided her towards a different room.

And for a moment, she was reminded that one could find joy even in the midst of war.

*****

The tank commander stood in the back of the crumbling, dank room observing the scene before him. He had followed Captain Evans and his two lieutenants to the HQ for the battalion holding Haguenau. Personally, he would rather be back with his men instead of here listening to formal introductions. This battalion did specifically ask for him and his platoon, so he steeled himself to get through this.

"I'm Captain Evans of the 103rd Infantry Division. This is Lieutenant Diggs and Lieutenant Cox. Behind them is Staff Sergeant Collier of the Armored Division." The Captain, who was clearly the oldest in the room by at least a decade or two, stood in the middle of what most likely used to be a nice living room, if the damaged chandelier hanging above him said anything. Now the place looked somewhere between trashed and abandoned. His two lieutenants stood just behind him as the introductions took place. "I'll get to the damn point, eh? We were blitz attacked on our way here, lost twenty-two men and another eighteen wounded. Fucking Krauts. I'm requesting permission to regroup and have our wounded taken care of before we move out."

The red-head with the Captain's bars on his jacket nodded quickly, granting permission before Captain Evans even finished asking. "Of course. We don't have a lot to spare but we will what we can." He reached his hand out to shake hands with the grizzled captain. "I'm Captain Winters of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airbourne."

"Paratroopers, eh?" The older man eyed the other captain after shaking hands. "Heard you are some mean bastards. Nice to see the reputation isn't wrong for once."

"Just doing our jobs."

"Right. We'll get outta here, eh? Thank you again, Captain."

"Sure." Captain Winters stated kindly but still with a hint of a guarded tone. "You need anything, ask for myself or Lieutenant Speirs of Easy Company."

With a final nod, Captain Evans and his two lieutenants walked out. A strange silence fell over those in the room after the door slammed shut behind the Infantrymen. Don suddenly felt like he was back in the elementary school yard and was waiting to get picked for a team. Thankfully the silence did not last long.

"Armored Division? Are you our supposed tanks?" A dark-haired man asked, sitting propped up in a corner, flask openly in hand. This was his first time speaking, instead having just watched the prior introductions with a cocky grin.

Don eyed him, noting the Captain bars on his uniform. "Yes, sir. 2nd Armored Division or what's left of it."

Captain Winters stepped forward to shake Don's hand. "Thank you for coming so quickly."

"Yeah, could have used you two months ago. Hell, even a month ago could have saved lives." The other Captain muttered then took a sip from his flask. Don tensed but then noticed the unnamed Captain's aggression seemed more directed at whatever happened two months ago versus Don himself.

The red-head looked over his shoulder. "Nix…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Winters looked back at Don. "How many tanks do you have?"

"Four, sir."

"Good...good. There is talk of some smaller towns nearby we will need you for, to provide assistance with liberating and securing. Until we know for sure, your men find somewhere to stay. As of now, you are under my direct command, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"That'll be all, Sergeant Collier."

Don gave a quick salute and headed back out into the bombed out town. As he walked back towards the tanks, he thought about the man whose command he was now under. Captain Winters. There was a calculating intelligence in his eyes, not in a malicious way, but more as a chess master. When he asked Don about the number of tanks, it was apparent his mind immediately took the information and began processing how best to utilize them. Don also noticed how when a mortar landed particularly close to the building, making the few pictures left on the walls shake, neither the red-headed Captain nor the dark-haired one flinched. At all. The tank commander was unsure fully what to make of the other Captain- this Nix- but he approved so far of what he has seen in Captain Winters. He was a man obviously in control with his authority but was not so far up in the clouds he forgot about his foot soldiers. A rare trait amongst Regiment in Don's opinion.

By the time Don arrived back, it seemed most of the infantrymen had dispersed into the city leaving the tanks and their crews waiting for him. He hoped they could find a decent building to claim without resorting to violence. At this point, he was not above punching a few Privates to make sure his crew got a good roof over their heads.

"What's the orders?" Binkowski asked, eyeing the city warily.

Don sighed, rubbing a hand over his face before answering. "Under a Captain Winters now. Said to stay put until orders are confirmed but sounds like we'll help secure some towns nearby."

"Heard they're paratroopers." Davis said. He leaned against his tank, lighting up a cigarette.

"Yep." The sound of a mortar went off nearby. Don watched Norman startle out of the corner of his eye then rub his nose on his sleeve. He made a mental note to check on the kid once they got settled.

"Paratroopers?" One of Davis' crew muttered, standing just off to the side.

"The idiots that volunteered to jump out of planes." Binkowski answered with a snort and shake of his blond head.

"On purpose?" The crew member's eyes widened. Don tried to remember the man's name. Kohl… Colbert… Coulson… something like that.

Gordo said, sitting on top of Fury. "Heard they are some real sonsofbitches."

Don smirked. "Guess we'll find out. Let's find somewhere to claim before all the houses are filled up."

The men began to move, ready to find somewhere to bunk down. Don surveyed around once more, wondering what awaited them in this hell hole.

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

Alright, what did y’all think of Easy’s introductions? Lemme know what you think!

#Fury movie #fury 2014 #fury fanfic #band of brothers #Band of Brothers fandom #band of brothers fanfic #Don Collier #Don Wardaddy Collier #don collier x OFC #boyd swan #boyd bible swan #Grady Coon-Ass Travis #eugene roe #dick winters #lewis nixon #ww2 #mzwrites

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erenscherub · 3 years ago

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Thank you so much for clarifying! I love your rambling btw lol it give me more insight on both eren and readers feelings that you might not catch in the story. You have me so excited to read the rest of this story. Is it bad that apart of me want eren to get his shit together and they better their relationship together 🙈 everybody is on the fuck eren train lol and I’m just like they need to communicate, get everything out that’s hurting both of them, and work on bettering their marriage and family! ( I do not think him cheating is right btw)

Hello again, Nonnie! It’s great to see you in my inbox 🥰💕💕 you have no idea how happy it makes me to get asks like these and that someone actually reads through my Ted talks tag.

I’m sending you extra virtual hugs ❤️❤️

It’s ok to root for Eren. There’s two friends that go through all the rough drafts and one of them (A) said the same thing you did while the other (E) said Eren had a chance at redemption if he saved the reader from a near death experience.

It’s actually interesting that studies find over half of marriages do survive infidelity, yet only 16% of couples do. You know I think I’ll have to do a chapter centered around the Sunk-Cost fallacy…

Thank you so much Nonnie for that little plot bunny.

Somewhat related commentary below the cut.

When it comes down to it, life is very complex and if you nitpick at all the details, you can’t always simplify relationships to this person was the villain or make rational decisions on the fly like ‘just cut your losses and move on.’

Doesn’t justify cheating at all in the slightest.

But discussions with my friend E always help me see there’s another side to every story. The first arc is almost entirely from the reader’s perspective. It’s very easy for her to remember the amount of times Eren is absent because he wasn’t there during some pretty critical moments. So you could make the argument that he wasn’t there for her the five events when it counted, but what about his defense that you can’t eliminate his previous track record of the hundreds of times the reader was able to rely on him.

While Eren is toxic in this fic because he’s a cheater and insecurity led him to baby-trap the reader, he isn’t the only asshole in this relationship. E pointed out that it almost felt like the reader was keeping Colt and Marcel around like back-ups and doesn’t really do anything to assuage Eren’s insecurities.

While no relationship is perfect the key takeaways:

Communication is key in all relationships. So so many problems can be avoided/solved if people are willing to talk to each other and understand you can’t have it all.

Like your SO is not the enemy. There are times where there will be differences in opinion and ups and downs. But when it comes down to it, we’re all human and everyone makes mistakes.

The golden rule of moderation applies — don’t be a doormat but you do need to have the door open to allow room for error. Or I guess a better way to say it, there is nothing wrong with holding people accountable and calling them out on their shit. But you also have to be understanding that life fucks you up and no one is infalliable to error.

Don’t compromise. Instead you and your SO need to collaborate on the best solution

Also it is a HUGE red flag in relationships if your partner wants to get even and/or teach a lesson. No matter how pissed you may be at someone, you should never want to sabotage them or purposely hurt them.

This relationship is basically a blueprint of shit that shouldn’t happen and I hope no one ends up in a relationship like this.

After I finish this series, I really need to make an AU of this modern AU where Eren doesn’t cheat and they actually follow all the points above and it’s a healthy relationship. Eren’s Ever-After…? Confession Booth?

Ok. Definitely putting this under my Ted talk tag to revisit this idea later.

To whoever actually skimmed through all of this, take care of yourself, bubz! Remember to stay hydrated and get plenty of rest.

#[☆彡] — seasons #[☆彡] — tiresome ted talks #[☆彡] — anon #[☆彡] — random rambles #sending you all my love anon #also giving you an extra hug for popping in my inbox again #I always love talking with all of you #like you have no idea how much these asks help me organize my thoughts for future chapters #because writer’s block sucks ass

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simsadventures · 5 years ago

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After All: Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Summary: It is your first few days at the compound. You meet the team, but Bucky is the one who tries to integrate you the most.

Warnings: none so far

Word Count: 1460 A/N: This is just a first part, I promise it will get better, I just needed to set the scene.

This is an out of canon fic. I can’t even set the time in the MCU universe. Bucky is an Avenger, Tony and Natasha never died. Also, I did my research on prosthetic limbs, but I’m no mean an expert, so I apologise in advance if I messed up.

Series Masterlist__Masterlist

You couldn’t believe it. Your dreams were coming true faster than you thought possible. You were starting a new job at Stark Industries and couldn’t believe your own luck. It was a dream-come-true for every scientist around the world. You knew you were good at your job, having a PhD in physics and mechanics made you a perfect material for many tech companies.

And even though you enjoyed your last job- creating mechanic prosthetics for athletes with disabilities, you couldn’t really say no to Tony Stark. He even visited you personally and tried to convince you that a better future awaits you in his company.

What you didn’t expect was to be one of the lead scientists to work with the Avengers themselves. You thought you’d be more in a lab, working on Stark’s other projects. But he told you that your inventions and ideas were too good to be locked somewhere and wanted to use them to help protect the world.

The idea of the world’s mightiest heroes surrounding you scared you a little. Let’s just say you weren’t the most outgoing person. You didn’t mind spending your time with people, but more often than not, you ended up on your couch, a good book and a glass of wine.

You never were the popular girl at school, wearing glasses and braces was enough for the kids to call you a nerd and not really wanting to spend their time with you. You didn’t mind, though. Your parents taught you to be independent and not really care about other’s people’s opinion on you. It still stung a little sometimes, when the kids would call you names or make practical jokes on you.

But you were a big girl now, and you wouldn’t let anyone treat you like that. You might not be Miss Universe, but you had your value, and you knew all about it.

Your first few days at the compound were hectic, to say the least. You had to learn all the access codes, cooperate with Friday and meet the whole team.

When you finally settled, you actually started to do your job. The first thing to look at was Bucky’s arm. You saw it on the television, but you needed to see it with your own eyes. You thought it was beautiful- old-fashioned, but very well crafted. Even if it was constructed by Hydra- the scientist might have been the bad guy and all, but he was good at his job. You could appreciate that.

You asked Friday to let Mr Barnes know you’d like to see him when he’s got time. You didn’t think that’d be in 20 minutes since you made the call. He walked in all his glory, wearing sweatpants and tightly fitting shirt. You could see his muscles and your mouth watered a little just because of it.

“Hi, uh, Mr Barnes. I didn’t expect you so soon.” You said and offered him a hand to shook, which he did. “It’s Bucky, love. And wasn’t it you calling me here?” He smirked at you, and you blushed. Great, now you were blushing like a teenage girl who never saw a guy before. “Uhm, yeah, I just- never mind. I would like to have a look at your arm if you don’t mind.”

You could see he was a little reluctant, so you added, “I think I might make it more comfortable and overall better, Bucky.” He sighed and rolled up his sleeve to show you where his arm was attached to his body. You could see that someone tried to heal his skin and muscle as much as possible, but the weight of the arm was possibly still too much for his organism.

Tony told you that he tried to make the arm better, but because it was literally a part of Bucky’s body, he thought he’d let you have a better look and find a better solution than Tony’s temporary one.

“How often do you have to take it off?”

“I don’t know, every few weeks because of the therapy I’m doing? My shoulder hurt too much after a few weeks, so I have to take it off, we do physiotherapy, and I’m good to go for another few weeks.”

“Uh-huh.” You just hummed to show you were listening and continued to inspect the arm. Bucky was watching you with interest.

“And you can do everything with that arm? No limitations at all?”

“Depends what you mean, doll face, anything you want me to show you?” He smirked at you, and you just laughed it off. Gosh. He was such a flirt!

“Ok, I think I know what I wanna do with that arm. Can you come in tomorrow morning, so we take all of the measurements and stuff so I can start working on it?”

“You got it, and btw, don’t you wanna come to a movie night tonight? Most of us will be there, and you can see the arm in daily life,” Bucky winked at you and laughed when you rolled your eyes at him. “Alright, Casanova, I’ll be there.”

Bucky smiled at you and left your lab. The rest of the day went by just like your morning, Sam and Natasha being the ones who you talked to and looked at their equipment, and made mental notes and preliminary blueprints of what novelties you wanted to show them.

You loved the job already. The team was really easy to work with, and the resources you suddenly had were immense. You didn’t have to ask for grants and wait for months to be usually denied. Here you just told Tony about your plans and voila, you had all you needed.

When you were finished for the day, you pretty much ran into your room to get ready for the movie night. You knew you didn’t have to do much, you never did (some mascara would be enough), but you wanted to take a shower and get changed from the lab coat to something more. At least a regular pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

You were almost done when you heard a light knock on your door.

“Hey, doll. Here to pick you up, you ready?” you heard Bucky’s voice from behind the door.

“Yeah, just give me a sec, and I’m with you.” You hollered at him and looked at yourself in the mirror for the last time. Ain’t getting better, you thought to yourself and walked out of the room. You walked side by side, making small talk about your day and his day. Within a few days, you learned that all of the Avengers work out like crazy, preparing for the next possible mission.

“And so I kicked Steve’s ass so much, you know? The punk was wailing like a little brat!” You had to laugh at his antics. You couldn’t really imagine Captain American himself “wailing like a brat”, but you let Bucky to it.

When you reached the little cinema built in the compounds, most of the team, and some other agents and lab techs were there. You were happy it wasn’t just the Avengers, you’d probably feel a little out of place.

Everyone greeted you with a warm smile, and for a second, you really felt like you belonged there. It was a nice feeling, for once.

Bucky insisted on you sitting next to him, both of you covered in one blanket, popcorn between you. Someone picked the newest Mission Impossible, despite Steve’d loud protests, because he “wanted to watch a classic, these new movies are just a colourful nothing with a plot that could never happen in real life.” This coming from a superhero, mind you. You had to roll your eyes. Brat.

Bucky threw some popcorn in Steve’s direction, which almost resulted in a popcorn battle, has Clint not stood up and started pestering Steve, Bucky, and Sam like little children.

The whole movie, Bucky kept whispering nonsense into your ear, on how it wasn’t that difficult to jump out of a plane, or how he would beat Tom Cruise’s ass in a battle, single-handedly by his human arm. “Of course you would, Bucky. You’re a freaking superhero, and he is just a normal guy, remember?” He smiled and scooted a little closer to you because “the popcorn’s just too far doll.”

It was weird, but a good weird, sitting there, next to Bucky, with his hand constantly touching yours. Little butterflies erupted in your stomach, but you tried to shoo them away. Bucky was just being friendly, and there was nothing else to it. He was simply a nice guy showing the ropes of the compound and the team to the new girl.

But the butterflies didn’t listen anyway.

Next Chapter >

Tags: @iheartsebastianstan @owlyannah @readermia @kolakube9 @ibookishqueen @thewintersoldierswifu @emogril @the-melancholyfeels @pinkleopardss @supervengerslock @the-soulofdevil

If your name is crossed out, I can’t tag you for some reason, I’m sorry.xx

If you’d like to be tagged comment/message/send an ask. If you like the story, please reblog :) any comments are appreciated, even the critical one. Always a space to get better, so let me know what you guys think.

#bucky barnes #bucky #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #avengers #avengers fanfiction #new fic #new fic alert #first chapter

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thisnerdsadventures · 4 years ago

Text

i accepted a job offer!

it’s been like four years coming, but now announcing the next adventure i will embarking on after college: i’m really excited to share that I accepted a full-time software engineering position at Stripe! (a mid-sized company focused on payment platforms, responsible for a large portion of e-commerce, chances are that if you’ve ever bought something on the internet, your money’s probably gone through Stripe) If you thought that this blog would die after I graduated, you were wrong haha you cannot get rid of my shit content

How it happened

The past few months have been a lot of interviewing (read: a lot), a lot of leetcoding, and a lot of managing timelines and emails. I actually haven’t slept through the night since like September because of my anxiety levels (which is really bad!!!!) so I’m really glad that this whole thing is over. My application season started in mid- to late- August: I had a goal of applying to one company every day, and I kept that up for a couple weeks. Going in, I kind of had a plan of what kind of companies I wanted to apply to - I was planning on taking my return offer originally, but I wanted a few more potential offers to have negotiation leverage when the time came, and I also wanted to see what was out there too. A couple places also reached out to me, so I followed up with them. All in all, I ended up pursuing 10 companies across big tech, a couple unicorns, and some finance firms.

Interview Hell

I have this grand idea of writing a really in-depth guide to how to do interviews + how to find internships + how to handle the system because there are a lot of weird tips and tricks that make it a thousand times easier to get a job, but only if you’re in the know (which is really dumb, as the industry is still pretty gate-keepy). But until then, I’ll just talk about what the interview process was like after this. So I heard back from a lot of those companies asking for what we call “online assessments”, which are basically timed coding tests where you have to code a solution to problem(s) in some x number of minutes or hours. These questions range from coding merge sort to coding a recursive dynamic programming solution to some optimization problem. A lot of companies send these out to everyone and then resume screen, and some might resume screen and then send these out. I admittedly didn’t prepare too much for these, I got pretty lucky and knew how to do most of the problems based off of the years of practice I’d had already (turns out coding every day for like 3 years is actually really good practice already).

A couple companies skipped ahead to the first round phone interview stage. After the online assessments, I got a wave of several first round interview requests, which are usually over the phone for an hour. One of them was a Karat interview, which is some third party, unbiased interview company, and all I remember from this was trying gauge how I did from the body language of my interviewer’s tiny Zoom screen, and I could tell absolutely nothing. It was nerve-wracking. One phone interview lasted for 20 minutes out of the hour it was supposed to take, and I thought I had failed on the spot. I did actually leetcode in preparation for these problems, and most of them ended up being easy - medium questions, usually simple applications with tricky twists, like implementing certain data structures from scratch with O(1) runtime methods. Most of these were early-mid September, squeezed into hour-long breaks in my day.

Final Round Hell

After all these, I ended up moving forward in all of those interviews to the final round, which are usually series of 3-4 video interviews, back to back, usually technical in nature. I thought the one hour phone screens were rough, but this was a real test of stamina. This is also where timing got really tricky for me, because I was trying to time my interviews such that any offers I got would align together in as much of an overlapping window as possible, so that I could negotiate offers a lot easier and see all my options at once.

Preparation for this was also hell - it was a lot of Leetcoding, a lot of interview research online, a lot of going over my stories. I vary between three main stories for all the possible behavioral questions people could ask me: the nonprofit project Amplify that my friends and I worked on, my intro CS class final project, and my previous internship project. In the end though, it was a Lot of leetcoding, I learned so much about graphs and searches and backtracking and DP, I cannot even tell you. I haven’t thought about topological sort since 2017. And somehow, some way, it actually came up in one of my interviews, and WOW i knocked that one out of the park.

My Stripe final round was actually one of the first ones I had way back in mid-September. It was four interviews back to back, three technical, and one more behavioral. I remember feeling generally confident, but not 100% afterwards, mostly just exhausted. Most of my on-sites were in early-mid October - I think I had six days of final interviews over 2 weeks, so I was literally about to pass out at all times. I was really looking forward to travelling this semester too for final rounds (I would’ve gone to New York, Chicago, SF/Bay, Detroit ..... sad). I also had several calls with career centers, people from different companies, recruiters, other info sessions, etc. I started out wearing nice clothes, but in the end, it was over for me - I was in sweats and a tshirt. In this two week period, I was lucky enough to grab a few offers - my return offer, but also a few offers from other companies, including Stripe, whom, at this point, I had given up all hope on, since they told me in late September that they wouldn’t know whether they’d have a spot for me. I remember getting the call back while picnicking with my friends, absolutely shocked I was in the position that I was.

Decision Sweat

At the end of the day, from the places I interviewed with, I ended up getting official offers from 5 places (1 of them being my return offer), 1 tentative offer (I think they ghosted me though because my deadline was too soon), 1 ghost (again, my deadline was too soon so I think they gave up on me), and 1 reject (that one was a really rough interview).

Let me be clear - I hate decision making. I am really bad with any sort of decisions. This process was worse than my college application decision. I’ll make a separate post in about a month or so detailing why I made the decision I made to go to Stripe instead of back to Google, but broadly it was because I wanted to try something new and take risks. It was a really hard decision because my last internship was really awesome and I loved the team I worked on, but ultimately the lack of a guarantee of returning to that team and the allure of working at a new place was too much to overcome. I talked about this every day with my friends and family and mentors, I made a whole decision matrix, but at the end of the day, I did end up flipping a coin on Facetime. Stripe was tails, and the coin flipped tails, and then I screamed and went to sleep. so that was that

I really have to thank the people in my life for bearing with me during this period - I think I must’ve been really obnoxious with how much I was talking about it, but I’m glad that they were there to hear me out every time I flipped my decision. And more generally, my friends and family were the reason I got through MIT, and did all the cool things that I talked about in my interviews and pushed me to learn and strive for the best. And most importantly, they’re the ones who celebrate my interests and accomplishments and push me to try new things. [this whole blog post is one sappy rant about how much i love my friends and how they got me to where i am ok end rant end post]

#what should i tag this now that im out of college #SWE

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years ago

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What I thought about Adventure Time: Distant Lands-”BMO”

Salutations random people of the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Shmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons. And today, I'm going to do one-fourth of what I do best by reviewing "BMO": The first hour-long special of Adventure Time: Distant Lands. Seeing how it's been a week since the special premiered, and that most fans saw it by now, I thought I'd share my thoughts on BMO. Keep in mind, if you haven't seen the special yet, you're final warning against spoilers stops here. Because I'll be spoiling the heck out of this special, by listings everything I like, and don't like. Things like characters, plot elements, and little touches that I thought were worth mentioning. Without further ado, let's start this review off by listing-

WHAT I LIKED

The Animation Quality: You know how Steven Universe: The Movie had animation quality that was ten percent better than the original series? That's basically what the animation in “BMO” is like. It's not the smoothest I've ever seen, and probably not the best Adventure Time has ever looked, but it's still pretty good. There's definitely more attention to detail, shading, and lighting to help make “BMO” look more cinematic than the series. There is one issue I have with the animation, though. But I'll get into that with the dislikes. For now, it's safe to say that the animation is still pretty darn good.

BMO (The Character, not the special): What can I say about this little rascal that hasn't been said already? BMO is still his adorable little self, and more so. There are times when his naivety can be kind of annoying, at least to me, but I'm sure BMO fans will love how he's presented in the special. Especially given the fact that this is the most active BMO has been in the entire series. Throughout most of Adventure Time, BMO has primarily been a source for comedy as well as a tool for characters to use. Even in episodes when BMO does save the day, it's either by accident or by him not understanding the situation. In "BMO," the little robot purposefully solves many problems, and fully understands the situation. The special still manages to keep his naivety by having BMO just not completely understanding how serious the problem is. Weirdly the writers found a perfect way to make BMO a more active role while not giving him a different personality. And personally speaking, the writers executed that idea well.

Y-5: This special may be about BMO, but Y-5 is the real star here. Y-5's personality, design, and overall arc as a character was so much fun and downright adorable to see. It was so surprising because I did not expect to like any new character introduced in Distant Lands. I just assumed that any newcomer would divert attention from the main character that the special would focus on. And while Y-5 does do that, I'm ok with it for three reasons. First, BMO is not a good character to work on his own. He actually needs characters that fully know what's going on for the plot to progress. Second, while Y-5 can hijack the story, sometimes, there are still segments that make it clear that "BMO" is about BMO. Third, Y-5 is already an incredible character, so I'm not going to waste time complaining about her inclusion. She plays the perfect straight man to BMO's antics, and it was so endearing to see her grow as a more confident character. So much so, that I actually consider Y-5 as one of my personal favorite characters. Not just in the special, but in the series overall. Also, I’m sure that there’s some symbolism behind her wanting to be called Y-5, but I’m not touching it. Mostly because I have no idea what I’m talking about in that regard.

The Comedy: There's not much to say here. The jokes are all worth a good chuckle but were never funnier than anything in the series as a whole. Except for that hard-cut to the elf looking angry as he drifts off into space. That was pretty hilarious.

The Drift: I love everything about the Drift. From its design to the background characters, and even the backgrounds themselves. Everything about the Drift just screams hard work and dedication from the cast and crew. It's almost as if everyone involved knew this would be the last time they would work on Adventure Time, so they just poured their hearts and souls into it. And given the fact that they worked so hard on the first special, makes me even more excited for the other three.

Martin returns...sort of: Let's be clear: It is understood by everyone that Mr. M is Martin Mertens. He has the same voice actor, the same mannerisms, and even the same body type. However, what I like isn't the fact that Martin returns. What I love is the fact that "BMO" never reveals that it's Martin. I'm sure some fans might be upset about not getting an official reveal, but I personally don't think it matters. Mostly because it doesn't matter to BMO. BMO doesn't know who Martin is, and has very little connection to the scumbag. So making a big reveal that Mr. M is Martin would just be unnecessary. Overall, I'm ok with the fact that the writers had Martin return to be nothing more than a glorified easter egg. Because honestly, it's what he deserved.

Hugo’s backstory: Again, there's nothing much to say here. It's yet another twist reveal about how a character who seems nice turns out to be quite the twat. There are two things worth mention, though. One, Hugo's personality stays the same. Look back at all Disney twist villains who become vastly different characters before and after the big twist. Compared to Hugo, he seems like a twist villain done right. Once you figured out that Mr. M is Martin, it should be pretty clear that Hugo's not a saint to be partnered up with the guy. Plus, when it's revealed Hugo really is, he still keeps up this charming persona that he uses around people...up until he ditches them like a twit. Another thing worth mentioning is the animation used for the flashback. Dedicated fans might remember that it was the same style used for "Water Park Prank," which might be the worst episode of the series. So it's nice to see the art style used for something good rather than something...not as good.

The solution to “save” the Drift: Most people use the special as an allegory for climate change. Which is why I put "save" in air-quotes because the citizens didn't really save anything. Similar to how we all play our part to save our planet. What the citizens do, though, is come up with solutions that might work as long as they have hope. And I. Freaking. LOVE that! The lesson that "BMO" is trying to teach is incredibly important, both to children and especially to adults. It's so easy to assume that the best solution is to abandon once it gets too hard and take the easy way out. Same as how some people believe it's better to just abandon this planet we call home, rather than put in the work to save it. And to those people: Let me ask you a question. Do you really think that you'll shoot off into space with the people planning to colonize another planet? Or do you think that those people are going to be like Hugo, who will only take along close friends and the rich? Personally, I think it's more likely going to be the latter. Which is why I adore the lesson being taught in "BMO." It might be hard to save the planet at this point, but it's still worth doing. And I can hope everyone else will come to agree with that conclusion.

WHAT I DISLIKED

Olive: I feel bad for saying I don't like Olive because the truth is that I'm more indifferent to them. To me, Olive feels less like a character and more like a plot device. This is because Olive has little to no personality, and all they do nothing but be something that furthers the plot. Although, I do like how Olive can stretch, as well as how they are overprotective over BMO. Other than that, there's not much to work off of.

Inconsistency with Character Designs: This was the problem I had with the animation. At times, characters are pretty inconsistent with how they're drawn. Some scenes, Y-5's eyes are large and cute, and other times they're normal-sized. There also times when BMO's height and width can be pretty inconsistent with what scene he's in. Now to be fair, this is nothing new to Adventure Time. It's a problem that the show has had for quite some time, and fans have come to accept it. However, just because you accept a problem doesn't make it any less of a problem. If anything, it makes it worse because the showrunners still refuse to fix it.

KS-2: Is it weird that the best character in "BMO" is the daughter of the worst character? Because to me, I don't understand how someone as amazing as Y-5 came from someone so rotten as KS-2. To be fair, I get what the writers were going for. They wanted to make a mother who was just another adult that "just doesn't understand." I can see that, but the problem is that the writers went too far with the idea. The way that KS-2 just constantly berates Y-5, as well as refusing to listen, comes off as too cruel. And the fact that the father pointed out how KS-2 never said the words "Y-5 was right," does nothing more than add fuel to the fire. But what's tricky is for all I know, this could have been the intention. And if it's true that the writers wanted to make KS-2 so unlikeable, then they more than succeeded. Although, I will give the crew credit for subverting gender norms by making KS-2 buff and the dad scrawny. I just wish that good intention was put into a good character.

The first chase scene in the Jungle Pod: This is mostly a nitpick, but it's still something that bothers me. Because having BMO getting chased away from his radio, to then have him end back where he originally was, felt like padding to me. Because why else would you have BMO go through all of that danger, only to have him end up at square one. Maybe the writers included the scene to build tension, but even if that's true, there could have been a better way to do it. Like while BMO's being chased, he somehow gets closer to his goal, rather than end up in a loop. And if the scene really was just for padding, then pad that time with literally anything else. Like maybe use the time to show KS-2's gentle side, or doing more to tease Hugo's true self. I know it would only be a few minutes, but actually make those minutes count for something.

It’s a Prequel?: After my initial viewing, my reaction to the ending was, "Oh, BMO found Finn and Jake's descendants." Then when actual smart people pointed out that "BMO" was a prequel, my reaction became "Oh, that makes way more sense." But then I started thinking about the fact that the special was a prequel, and the more I thought about it, the more holes I found. Or, at least, two holes that I found. First off, why does BMO have a heroic nature in this special? At first, I thought that maybe the years living with Finn and Jake taught BMO how to be a hero, but BMO hasn't met Finn yet. So I guess BMO felt like a heroic personality the entire time? Even though he never acted like this before in the series, unless he thought he was playing a game? Another thing I noticed is Martin's line about kids calling out their deadbeat parents. Why would he say that? Martin hasn't met Finn yet, either. Therefore Martin doesn't have the experience of being called a deadbeat parent. So does this mean that Martin has other children in the universe who calls him out on his crap? Or is it most likely that the writers wanted to give another clue that Mr. M was Martin, but briefly forgot the series timeline? I think it's most likely the latter, even though the former sounds way more interesting. And before people want to kill me because they actually love the story being a prequel, I want to point out, this is another nitpick. The fact that "BMO" is a prequel doesn't bother me too much, but I still can't help but feel confused when thinking about it.

As a whole, I give “BMO” an A-. BMO is as adorable as ever, Y-5 is an astounding character, I love the moral that the special is trying to teach, and the entire thing just screams effort. Is it perfect? No. Does it have problems? Yes, but not anything that makes me think the special was unwatchable. I enjoyed it, and something tells me that if you're an Adventure Time fan, you enjoy it too. "BMO" was a great introduction to Distant Lands, and here's hoping the other specials will be even better.

(And here’s also hoping that “Obsidian” will deliver that sweet, sweet Bubbline goodness that fans have been demanding for years.)

#adventure time distant lands #bmo #y-5 #adventure time distant lands spoilers #what i thought about

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jennaschererwrites · 4 years ago

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Inside the Groundbreaking Queer Reboot of ‘She-Ra’ | Rolling Stone

We’re all shaped by the myths we grow up with, whether it’s the stories we learn from holy books or Saturday morning cartoons. Kids who see themselves as the hero learn to center themselves in their own life stories. Kids who see their experiences relegated to the sidelines, or not represented at all, come away with a very different lesson — one that can take years to unlearn.

Which is exactly what makes a show like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power so vital. Since its premiere in 2018, Noelle Stevenson’s reboot of the cult Eighties cartoon has joined a revolution in the world of children’s animation, combining classic genre storytelling with diverse representation and a progressive worldview (see also: Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra, Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time and Steven Universe). In its fifth and final season, which dropped on Netflix last month, She-Ra rounded out its 52-episode run by centering a queer romance — specifically, between its hero, Adora, and her best frenemy Catra — and positing that such a love can, quite literally, save the world.

“I knew from the start that it wasn’t going to be easy,” says Stevenson, speaking via phone from Los Angeles. “Because this is She-Ra. To have the culmination of her arc be this lesbian love plot is a big deal! And I understood that. But I also felt that it was really important.”

The original She-Ra: Princess of Power was a 1985 Filmation spin-off of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which itself was based on a line of Mattel action figures. Set on the planet of Etheria, She-Ra follows a band of magical princesses in their rebellion against the Evil Horde, a totalitarian sci-fi regime bent on global domination. Adora is an ex-Horde soldier who joins the rebellion after she gains the ability to transform into She-Ra, a superpowered Chosen One with glowing blue eyes, a mystical sword, and a very cool outfit.

In 2015, when Stevenson, then 23, found out that DreamWorks Animation was looking for someone to pitch a new take on She-Ra, she jumped at the chance. She was already an Eisner Award-winning cartoonist and writer who had made a name for herself with works like her web comic-turned-graphic novel Nimona and the Boom! Studios series Lumberjanes.

“The world [of She-Ra] is so incredibly vibrant, and has so many powerful female characters. It’s this world that has all my interests rolled into one: It’s got the flying ponies and superpowers and all of these things that, immediately, I was like, ‘I want to do this. I want to be the one to do this,’” she says.

While Stevenson’s reimagination of the world of Etheria pays tribute to its predecessor, it includes some key differences. The reboot transforms the musclebound, scantily-clad grownups of the original series into awkward teens in much more practical (but still very sparkly) clothing. In addition to embracing a diversity of races, genders, and body types, the She-Ra reboot fleshes out the characters and their backstories, giving them fully-fledged arcs and complicating the good/evil binary of the original. The princesses of the rebellion aren’t simply heroic, and the soldiers of the Horde aren’t simply villains; everyone’s just a human being (or scorpion person or alien clone or flying horse, as the case may be) trying to make their way in a world that doesn’t offer easy solutions. It’s also, incidentally, really funny.

For Stevenson, it was crucial that the characters felt three-dimensional, and that it was their choices that guided the direction of the storytelling. “The characters all began with a deep personal flaw, and the process of making the show was kind of giving them the room to process those flaws. But we wanted it to feel organic. We wanted the characters to feel like real people that we knew,” she explains.

From the start, She-Ra’s most compelling tension was always between Adora (Aimee Carrero) and Catra (AJ Michalka), Adora’s childhood best friend who becomes her bitterest rival after Adora leaves the Horde to join the rebellion. In the show’s first four seasons, the two continually fight and reconcile and break apart again, their obsession with each other marking them as something more than frenemies.

“It’s a dynamic that I find really interesting: the attraction and the tension between the villain and the hero, especially when they know each other better than anyone. They love each other, but there’s something between them that cannot be overcome,” Stevenson says.

Stevenson always knew that she wanted the relationship between Catra and Adora to be a romantic one; but she had to walk a fine line, because she didn’t know if the studio would give her the go-ahead to put an explicitly lesbian love story front and center. At first, as in Steven Universe, Rebecca Sugar’s radically progressive series that aired its final episodes earlier this year, she steeped the world of the She-Ra reboot in queerness. The show features multiple side characters in same-sex relationships, characters who flout traditional gender roles, and even a nonbinary character (Double Trouble, voiced by transgender writer and activist Jacob Tobia).

Still, Stevenson, herself a gay woman, wanted young viewers to be able to see a queer relationship that wasn’t just incidental, but central to the plot of the entire series. “I’ve loved these stories my entire life, you know? I was a huge Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fan as a kid. But there weren’t a lot of characters that I felt personally represented by,” she says. “We love what makes these stories classic, but we’ve seen them all culminate in the same kind of romance so many times: The hero gets the girl, he gets the kiss, and then he saves the world. And it’s not just [swapping] the man and the woman for two women. You have to actually approach it from a standpoint of: How do you make these stories, at their roots, queer?

“So that’s what I was trying to do — for little queer kids to see that this is normal, that these are stories that can happen and that exist, and that can center them and make them feel seen and understood.”

Whether or not Adora and Catra’s romance would become canonical was in the hands of the studio, and it was a risk Stevenson couldn’t be sure it would be willing to take. So the show played a long game — hinting at a romantic dynamic between the two without making it explicit, for fear of disappointing fans in the end if they weren’t able to deliver. Fortunately, a groundswell of viewer support for a potential relationship between the characters — a phenomenon known in the fan community as “shipping” — allowed Stevenson to make a case to the studio for supporting the story she wanted to tell with She-Ra.

“Just as I had hoped, people started picking up on this tension and getting really passionate about it,” she says. “It was immediately one of the strongest fandom ships right out of the gate. And that was when I finally showed my hand and was like, ‘Look. We’ve got a bunch of people who, just off Season One, are really, really excited about the gay representation in this show. I have been planning for this. And here’s how it needs to end, and not just because I want a moment that everyone’s gonna talk about. It’s the logical conclusion of both their character arcs. They need each other.’”

Finally, after years of hedging their bets, Stevenson and her collaborators got the go-ahead from DreamWorks. “I really wanted it to be so central to the plot that if at any point they were like, ‘Oh, we changed our minds, we want to take it out again,’ they wouldn’t be able to, because it would be so baked in,” she explains. “The temperature is not always right, and depending on what’s happening in the world, not everyone wants to be the studio that sticks their neck out and makes a statement like this. You will get a flat ‘no’ sometimes. But if you bide your time, or you come at it from another angle, that can change. You just have to keep pushing.”

Feedback for the conclusion of She-Ra has been overwhelmingly positive both from critics and fans. Viewer support has been pouring out in the form of social media posts, YouTube reaction videos, and fan art and fan fiction. Stevenson, who first made a name for herself online with Lord of the Rings and Avengers fan art, has been blown away by the support from She-Ra lovers. “That’s how you know that you’re successful at what you set out to do — if people are getting inspired by the stories that you’re telling. I think that that’s the beauty of fan work, is that it’s an evolution of the genre. We take that inspiration and create something new all the time.”

Unfettered by restrictions, the final season of She-Ra is a tightly plotted, character-driven masterwork, featuring a slow-burn redemption arc, a harrowing villain, and a timely message about the power of love and unity against the forces of repression and tyranny. It’s a show about becoming kinder and more open in the face of unrelenting darkness, about banding together to prepare for the worst, but always hoping for the best in spite of overwhelming odds.

Stevenson says that she and her team began work on She-Ra in the aftermath of the 2016 election. “The veil was ripped off, and we had to reckon with a world that we hadn’t expected. And that theme of relying on each other and being stronger together became so much more relevant,” she recalls. “I remember writing one script after a particularly bad news day where it just felt like nothing was ever going to be OK again. It’s an episode where Adora realizes that there are supposed to be stars in the sky, and there aren’t any more stars. And as Aimee [Carrero] was recording the lines, she was crying, and we were crying, because we were all experiencing this together — the idea that things were changing in maybe irreparable ways.”

The refrain of She-Ra’s catchy-as-hell power-pop theme song is “We must be strong, and we must be brave.” According to Stevenson, that’s easier said than done; but the whole point of the series is that you have to try anyway. It’s a message that rings especially true at this moment in our world when it seems like everything is spinning out of control, and it’s all too easy to feel helpless.

“It always comes back to this — when you realize that there’s a great evil or a great darkness that won’t just go away from one fight,” Stevenson says. “It boils up, and it can be pushed back down, but it’s something that we’ll probably have to be fighting for the rest of our lives. That’s really hard to do, and it makes you really tired sometimes, and it can be really scary. But when you are surrounded by the people that you love, and when you have that love for the people around you, then that strength is possible.”

#she ra #she ra and the princesses of power #rolling stone #noelle stevenson #catradora #adora x catra #catra #adora #lgbtq #Jenna scherer #animation #cartoons #interview #representation

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like-sands-of-time · 5 years ago

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ok real talk here.. the end of fourth year should have been when Dumbledore sat Harry down and explained the prophecy, his true destiny, and what he needed to do to best prepare himself for the ultimate final duel. literally the entire series would have gone down differently. there are so many plot points I have a problem with but even if we ignore randomly adding family members at the end of the third book and we ignore what eventually happens to them both to fix that one point in the series it would literally fix everything.

Harry had just had his first duel with Voldemort and suffered the cruciatus curse, found out that Crouch Jr. had been spying all year as Moody, watched, helplessly, Cedric Diggory die... he was as prepared then as he would ever be to hear that information. it was foolish and manipulative of Dumbledore to not sit him down then. even if he didn't yet know about Voldemorts horcruxes (and ultimately that harry would have to sacrifice himself) he still would have been able to explain to harry why he was who he was. He would have expressed his valid concerns that now that V was back he would be attempting to torture Harry mentally as he did many of his victims but especially Harry, he would have then told him Occlumency was the best and only solution to that problem, he would have also explained that Harry needed to learn more advanced protective, shield, and duelling spells. after all of this he would need to explain that the resistance force known as the Order was reforming on the DL and that they were establishing a safehouse.

if he explained all of this the summer before fifth year wouldn't have been so lonely and plagued with depression and suffering for Harry. he would have had his new purpose, a new understanding, and achievable goals. once they established Grimmauld Place as HQ he could have been moved there to work on Occlumency with Dumbledore and duelling spells with Sirius. this would have allowed Sirius a job he could do despite not being able to be seen, it would have given him a purpose and he wouldn't have been surrounded by his demons just like Harry. the two would have bonded more naturally as harry would have been originally seeing a "dad" figure and Sirius a "best friend" before getting to know one another and becoming like brothers.

Harry probably wouldn't have avoided the dementor attack, as that was done by V, but he wouldn't have been alone and thus safer. the trial still would have resulted in a "valid" reason for Fudge to insert a spy into Hogwarts but Harry wouldn't have been so reckless and angry as Occlumency lessons were really successful. he would have wanted them to be as well so V had no easy ways to get in his head anymore. he would have also had an entire summers worth of good memories with Sirius, Remus when he wasnt on a mission, and Hermione and Ron later. he wouldnt have been allowed to feel excluded courtesy Voldemort and he would have been even closer to everyone. pretty much the entirety of fifth year would have gone down differently, except for him starting the DA.

after Harry was deemed a successful Occlumens Dumbledore still would have wanted Harry to get in Vs head to see if he could get more information. harry would have been made into a useful spy for the Order. except, without the prophecy and without a way to get Harry to the DOM V would have been forced to stay underground longer. the summer after fifth year Dumbledore would probably have been convinced by a very adamant Harry and a pleased Sirius to move the protective wards from the Dursleys to Grimmauld Place. that summer would have gone much the same way with Harry getting better at dueling spells and maybe getting up to some mischief with Sirius as the two would have settled a bit. Sirius probably had the house redecorated, getting rid of a lot of the dark magic heirlooms (mundungus fletcher took some including the locket) and they would be working on making it far more pleasant for the two of them. Harry might have convinced Sirius to teach him to become an animagus last Christmas during the summer holidays so by the beginning of sixth year he's accomplished fairly a lot.

it's at the end of the summer when Dumbledore asks him to approach a potential teacher that will be useful in the coming term.. Harry learns that he needs to get close to Slughorn to get the memory Dumbledore needs to confirm his suspicions. Dumbledore also begins showing Harry his memories and Harry slowly works out what it is that Dumbledores looking for but doesn't yet understand his part in it.

it's after the memory is retrieved (probably way sooner because Harry has gotten smarter about the whole thing) and harry accompanies Dumbledore to get the locket that he realizes Dumbledore has lied to him. he's kept the secret of Horcruces from him even when he had one already. he sees glimpses of Dumbledores thoughts when he tries to get in his head but Dumbledore tells him to leave anyway. Harry knows Snape is a double spy so he plays up his anger so V will think it's safe to return.

after the school is taken over Harry escapes back to Grimmauld place to tell everything to Sirius who has decided to come out of hiding, using spells that make him look different, in order to help harry look for the Horcruces remaining. that's how the summer after sixth year goes. the two of them planning out and researching where the objects could be alongside Hermione and Remus. Once they have a plan they set out only it's a lot different this time because Umbridge doesn't have the locket yet, and Ron and Hermione are off to Hogwarts to finish their last year of school. Theyre both very trained after practicing with Harry and Sirius and their task is to help prepare fellow classmates for what's to come as they know Hogwarts has been compromised as well as to look about the castle to find where any of the founders belongings could be.

Harry already has destroyed the diary and Dumbledore the ring but he knew only that there were 7 total. he knew from Dumbledores memories in the pensieve what the objects were but not where they were. that was their goal.

Remus and Hagrid are tasked with trying to convince "dark" creatures to aid them so it's just Sirius and Harry but with the help they got that summer they know roughly what they're doing. Fletcher was the one who took the locket which Harry remembered being a fake. when he showed Sirius the note with the initials R.A.B. Sirius had a moment mourning his brother. he knew he had died but he never knew he was brave enough to openly defy Voldemort. this only helps to further focus the two on their mission to avenge those brave enough to stand against him.

they get the locket fairly easily, but it's finding the sword that's the problem. they carry on searching for the other Horcruces. it's Christmastime before they know it and Harry asks if they can visit the cemetery in Godrics Hollow to leave flowers for his parents. it's there they discover Nagini in the form of Bathilda Bagshot. they kill the snake, not knowing she's a horcrux until harry feels the pain of V afterward. this leaves them with the locket, cup, and diadem.

Hermione and Luna are able to convince Helena Ravenclaw to tell them where the diadem is to help destroy it but when the go to the room of requirement they are followed by Draco and his friends. while the girls manage to locate the diadem they're surrounded by the Slytherins who attack. luckily they're prepared but Crabbe sets the room on fire and the diadem is dropped when they're trying to escape. it burns in the fiendfyre ultimately destroying yet another horcrux. harry feels Vs pain and knows he's getting weaker. they only have to find the cup and destroy it and the locket.

it's when they stop to rest at Bill and Fleur's house they descover what the rest of the Order has been up to. Ollivander is upstairs healing, after someone in the Order managed to rescue him, and Harry decides to ask about the deathly hallows that was drawn into Hermione's book. Ollivander reluctantly explains the elder wand and why he was attacked. they establish Dumbledore had it but that it now belongs to Draco whom Harry remembers disarmed Dumbledore. this leads them to sneak into Malfoy mansion where they discover that Bellatrix has the cup in her vault.

Dobby comes to the rescue for Harry and Sirius and they return back to the safehouse with Bill and Fleur to plan their break-in. after they manage to get the cup they take it and the locket back to the safehouse before realizing they need to get back into Hogwarts to speak to Hermione again. They go to Aberforth who shows them the way and once there they meet with Hermione, Ron, Luna and the rest of the DA. Hermione believes they need to find the Sword of Gryffindor to destroy the cup and locket but she's not sure where it is. Snape knows they're in the castle now and they have an "argument" where he gives Harry his memories and tells him it's urgent before Snape leaves and McGonagall takes over as Headmistress. harry grabs Sirius and the two run to the Head office where the pensieve is. they both watch his memories and even Sirius is struck silent, not knowing how lily and Snape originally met or how close he felt to her. the memories switch and they learn that Dumbledore has yet again deceived harry because he knew all along harry would have to sacrifice himself when the time came in order to save the world.

Sirius and Harry return to the office before harry makes a plan. for Sirius to stay behind and him to go to the forest. if he makes it that's a bonus but all Harry has left to do is destroy the cup and locket. when they look over Harry notices the sword and pulls it out of the hat. he quickly destroys both only leaving Sirius the task of using the last spell on Voldemort. they go downstairs where Harry says goodbye to Ron, Hermione, and Luna all of whom he is very grateful for. harry, now truly exhausted and unknowing of whether V killing the horcrux within will destroy harry too but accepting his fate and knowing the final task to Sirius will be complete he makes his way to the forest as content as he can be with his life knowing for years that this is what he trained for. V taunts him before using the killing curse.

harry believes he's dead when he sees Dumbledore again before Dumbledore explains what has happened. Harry realizes he's can live if he does this right and pretends to be dead even as he comes back to himself. harry is carried back to the school where V intends to show off the body and taunt those at Hogwarts who defied him. Sirius tries to get into his mind though and realizes he's still alive. he then stands tall in front of all of Hogwarts and defies his family and everything the Blacks were proud of. he tells V he knew of his brothers espionage and plays dumb saying that even though Harry's dead the war between good and evil still continues. he knows harry can hear him so he's waiting for a sign.

when harry jumps up out of Hagrids arms everyone gasps and when students escape inside and Death Eaters start escaping Sirius uses Vs focus on Harry to attack Voldemort and kill him once and for all. harry uses his wand as well and it's far too much against the weak, old, Tom Riddle. harry and Sirius embrace while the school cheers in the background before everyone focuses on helping the wounded and rebuilding the school and it's wards.

harry approaches Snape later who apologizes for his harsh treatment over the years. he explains his childhood hatred of James Potter and Sirius Black but that it was no excuse and no matter what he went through harry still remained humble, something so very Lily that he couldn't help but care somewhat for him. harry accepts his apology on the condition that he find wormtail and finally give Sirius the justice he deserves. Pettigrew randomly appears on the doorsteps of the ministry with a note explaining everything a week later. the ministry have no excuse other than to investigate.

when they find Sirius is innocent they exonerate him, give him honours for his work in the war and even offer his former position as auror to him. sirius refuses on the grounds of wanting to settle and live a normal life with Harry finally. harry also doesn't want to be an auror anymore given that he's spent his entire life fighting the forces of evil. the two of them settle into their own little cottage where Remus also lives.

Snape, at the advice and research of Hermione, works on an improved treatment for lycanthropy to help Remus and many others and Remus, Harry, Sirius, Hermione and Luna all help at the founding of a school for werewolves.

#hmm #sort of a hc but not?#how it should have happened and what would have gone down as a result of that #harry potter #albus dumbledore #sirius black #hermione granger #luna lovegood #ron weasley #bill weasley #fleur delacour #remus lupin #hagrid #voldemort #how it should have gone #just my thoughts #honestly this is soo long its more like a drabble rip

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idk-mlb-is-reals-cute44 · 5 years ago

Text

Miraculous Secret Santa gift part 4!

For @clockworkgalaxies

~••~

“A certain master told me you were my partner,” the man winked, “I’m Chat Noir!”

“You’re here to help me?”

Chat Noir nodded. (And gave her finger guns. Silly—but kind of cute.)

Marinette felt herself sagging with relief (she would take all the help she could get!) but stopped herself.

“Prove it,” she said, putting up her guard, “How do I know you’re not really working for... for him?!”

She pointed at the closed door, behind which was the purple room.

“Look, Master Fu explained everything to me,” Chat said, “I promise I’m not abusing my miraculous like he is. I didn’t even know any of this was going down! My friend snuck me out to a pub in the city and then some man brought me into his back room, saying things about destiny, and then, well! Here we are!”

Marinette wanted to trust him. She really did.

But...

“Prove it.”

“How?” Chat Noir asked.

“Prove that you’re really on my side by...” Marinette faultered. What could she ask of him? He was no more trustworthy to her as she was to him.

She sighed, and then offered him a small smile.

“I’m... Ladybug,” Marinette said, and it wasn’t the most creative name but it could’ve been worse for something she made up in the spot.

She stuck out her hand, and he shook it.

“Well met, Ladybug,” Chat Noir said, “I admire your caution. But I promise, we’re on the same side.”

“I’m choosing to believe you,” she said, “For now. Please don’t let me down.”

“I won’t.”

Marinette, no, Ladybug, felt a little heat rise in her cheeks and the sincerity in his voice—but quickly banished the feeling and instead turned to the door.

“I want to find a way,” she said, “To save one of them.”

She opened the door, checked to see if there was anyone there (there wasn’t) and strolled in. Chat followed her.

“Any ideas?” Ladybug asked.

Chat sucked in a breath.

“I feel like I’m gonna puke,” he said, voice strained.

“Do you here the voices too?” Ladybug asked, tuning out the pleas for help that were a constant background soundtrack to this room.

“Yes,” Chat said, “I heard them once, before, from afar. But this...”

He turned a little green.

“This is horrible.”

“Something is off,” Ladybug agreed, “Spmething is wrong. Which is why we’re going to save someone. Her.”

She pointed at Mylene.

“Why her?” Chat asked.

Ladybug opened her mouth, and closed it.

No personal detail. Personal details meant he might know enough to guess who she was. (And she had promised Tikki. No more reveals.)

So instead, she went with the frustratingly vague response of, “I have my reasons.”

Chat nodded.

“Ok.”

They circled Mylene, looking for a clue on how to break her out. Marinette knocked on the purple pillar, but although it was see-through and seemed to be made of light, it was terribly solid. Impenetrable.

Ladybug tried saying her name, but to no avail. Mylene gave no response.

(Ladybug tried to shove down the guilt. She couldn’t have known this would happen to Mylene. She had just given Mylene the space she asked for.)

Ladybug sat down on the floor, defeated.

“I have no ideas,” she admitted, and then laughed without humor. “That’s a new one. I’m usually pretty creative. Not when it matters, I guess.”

And then suddenly she was chocking down tears—except not very successfully, because they spilled over anyway.

“Maybe I’m not cut out for this,” she whispered, “I’m not a hero. I’m not a fighter. That’s... that’s my best friend. She’d be better at this.”

She hadn’t meant to cry, but it was so frustrating. There was no solution in sight, and Marinette didn’t even know how to begin with this problem.

Chat Noir crouched down next to her.

“Hey, hey,” Chat said, “Don’t say that.”

Ladybug frowned.

“It’s true,” she said, “My best friend would be better at this.”

“Look,,” Chat said, and paused, and sighed, “I know I don’t know you. But in the, what, ten minutes since we met, right, I’ve already seen your bravery, and-and you care about these people. It’s obvious: you have heart. That’s way more important than having the ability to... I don’t know. Punch someone’s lights out.”

And then Ladybug was laughing as she scrubbed away the tears.

“You’re good at this,” she said.

“At what?” Chat asked.

“At cheering people—or me, at least—up,” she said, and then scooted closer and hugged him, even though he was right: they’d met ten minutes ago.

Chat, thankfully, returned the hug, squeezing her reassuringly.

“Ok,” Ladybug said after a moment, getting to her feet (aided by her miraculous-made grace and wearing-heels-ability), and stared at Mylene, and ran everything Tikki had said about her powers over in her head.

While a lucky charm that was supposed to be whatever she needed would be helpful, she really didn’t know how that would help with an impenetrable magic pillar, and she didn’t want to waste the power to get something useless or that she didn’t know how to use. So that left—

Ooooh. Wait. Idea!

“Did your... fairy,” Ladybug started, hoping he’d been accompanied by a magical being as well so she didn’t sound like a freak, “Tell you what your special power was?”

“Yeah, Plagg said I had something called Cataclysm, so I destroy... anything... I... touch...”

He turned to her, wide-eyed.

“I’m an idiot,” he whispered, grinning.

“You’re not!” Ladybug said, excited, “Try it!”

Chat Noir yelled “Cataclysm!” And slammed his palm against the pillar. The purple light dissipated—but they still had one small problem.

Even though there wasn’t anyone controlling her at that very moment, Mylene was still possessed. And her base mode, without orders, seemed to be “attack.”

The guitar pick was not an effective weapon, so Ladybug was relieved until Mylene clenched her fist around it and swung a punch at Ladybug.

Alya was right, Ladybug thought as she staggered back from the blow, They do have insane super strength.

Chat was blocking her swings (seeing his partner getting hit was good enough warning to be prepared) and yelled, “You alright there, M’lady?”

“I’m fine!” Ladybug said, “My pride’s a little wounded, but I think the miraculous protects us from getting too hurt.”

She studied the battle, not too concerned (Chat seemed to have it under control).

“How’re we supposed to get the guitar pick?” Ladybug asked, “That’s the object that’s being used to possess her!”

“We really need to come up with some shorthand,” Chat grumbled, and then said, “I don’t have any ideas about getting the object being used to possess her! It’s in her fist, right? Can we...” he grunted, dodging a blow, “Uh, pry her hand open?”

“Not while she’s attacking us,” Ladybug mused, and then remembered something.

“I have a yo-yo!” she yelled, “It’s magic, I think. Tikki gave it to me! I put it...” She patted her sides. “Oh crap! I left it in my room!”

“Okay, then, any other ideas?”

Ladybug paused, considering everything.

“Sorry, Mylene,” she said, and then clocked the girl over the head with her boot, knocking her out.

She found the guitar pick and snapped it, hoping it worked. Nothing changed—but Mylene was still unconscious, so that made sense.

“What do we do now?” Chat asked.

“I... know someone who can help.”

~••~

Ladybug helped Luka clear the lab table so they could lie Mylene down on it. Chat stood in the corner, holding Mylene piggy-back style.

“I would ask,” Luka said, “But I figure everything you explain that isn’t already obvious would confuse me more.”

“I’ll give you the full story later,” Ladybug whispered, not sure if she wanted Chat to know that Luka was privy to all of her secrets. (Or, most of them at least.)

Luka nodded and gave her a smile.

“Now,” he said, shelving the last vial, “Bring the patient here. Does anyone want to help me make the healing tonic?”

“Sure,” Ladybug And Chat said in unison.

“Trusting me now, aye?” Luka teased, and Ladybug went red as Chat looked back and forth between then curiously.

“I do trust you,” Ladybug said, “Obviously. Otherwise I would’ve gone to the other wizard of the castle to help me.”

“Oh, I see,” Luka laughed, “Are you telling me I have competition for my job? Who’s the new start up? Anyone I know?”

Ladybug grinned a little too.

Luka gave them a series of easy tasks (chopping, mushing, whisking) And Chat asked about each and every step. Ladybug didn’t know him well, but she couldn’t help but smile endearingly (and noticed Luka doing the same).

Chat was very excited to be helping the wizard out. Very curious. He offered to help Luka sing the spells, and his smile practically blinded Ladybug when Luka agreed.

Cute, Ladybug thought.

When the healing tonic was ready, Ladybug helped Luka to get Mylene to swallow it, and the girl woke up coughing.

“Where am I?” she asked, surrounded by strangers (as far as she knew).

“We’re here to help,” Chat assured.

“Let’s take you back to Ivan, ok?” Ladybug said, helping Mylene off the Gabe and to her feet, “He’s been worried sick about you.”

“You know Ivan?” Mylene asked.

Ladybug tensed and glanced at Chat.

“We’ve... met,” was all Ladybug said.

Needless to say, Ivan was practically crying when they brought Mylene back up to the kitchens, and she was crying too, and the sound woke everyone else up and it was a huge bombardment of “Thank you for bringing her home!” and “We’re forever in your dept!” and thus Ladybug And Chat Noir’s anonymity was somewhat destroyed.

Ladybug didn’t really mind, though. Seeing her friends so happy was worth it.

The two parted ways, and Marinette dropped the transformation in a bathroom, sneaking back up to her room.

Alya, of course, asked to hear everything, and Marinette oblidged.

(Any and all teasing about Luka was met with faked obliviousness.)

“So what are you going to do now?” Alya asked.

“I have no idea,” Marinette confessed, “We have no leads. We found the room, but there’s never anyone there, except for the one time. And there’s nothing in the room besides... the people.”

“You guys could set up a patrol of the castle?” Alya suggested, “I could help when I’m not busy watching Adrien.”

“Thank you, Alya,” Marinette said, “You’re a lifesaver.”

“I know!”

“Hey,” Marinette asked, “Why aren’t you with Adrien tonight?”

Alya hesitated.

“King Gabriel... set him up to meet with potential matches.”

Marinette winced. “Poor him.”

“I heard he snuck away,” Alya slyly added, “Suprised King Gabriel hasn’t stormed over here already demanding I help find him. Maybe... he’s trying to keep his options open? For a certain someone? You two really hit it off at breakfast today!”

Marinette flushed and hit Alya with a pillow.

“Don’t shoot the messenger!” Alya laughed.

“Yeah, well,” Marinette faltered, “It’s probably best I keep my mind off boys for now. Ladybug should take priority. I have a mission.”

Alya rolled her eyes.

“Don’t give me that,” she said, “I have a mission too—a well paying job—and that doesn’t keep me from snogging Nino begins the stables!”

“Alya!” Marinette shrieked, “Tell me everything!”

She tried not to think too much about the unsurmountable task before her for the rest of the night.

~••~

“What does this mean?” Marinette asked, slamming her head into the table.

“Don’t give up!” Luka laughed. “If you’re going to be be messing with ancient, powerful magic, it’ll come in handy to know this stuff!”

“How will knowing the notes to a toad-summoning song help me defeat Mr. Evil Purple Man?”

“Mr. Evil Purple Man?” Luka raised an eyebrow, “You guys really need to come up with snappier names for these things.”

“You avoided the question!”

“It won’t,” Luka said, “But just think: when you’re cornered by an evil witch in the woods, who will let you free if you give her either all of your hair or a whole bunch of toads, you’ll be grateful I taught you a toad-summoning spell.”

“I could pull off being bald,” Marinette said, turning the page.

“I’m sure you could.”

It was right after lunchtime, and Alya was busy babysitting Prince Adrien, so Marinette was with Luka, combing through dusty, boring tombs. “Magic-For-Beginners” one was called, and Marinette had tried to read that first, but found it too hard. She was now skimming, “A Dummy’s Guide To Magic.”

Needless to say, she would not be pursuing a career in wizardry or witchcraft anytime soon.

“This is giving me a headache,” Marinette said, shoving the book away (Perhaps a bit more roughly than she had to). “Can’t I, like... chop some more magic plants or whatever? I grew up in a bakery. I’m an A+ chopper.”

“You’re so smart!” Luka said, “I’m sure you can handle this.”

“Just because I’m smart doesn’t mean I like reading moldy books written a million years ago,” Marinette grumbled, but picked back up the book and renewed her efforts.

The room was silent, except for the calm bubbling of potions and such. Or, it was silent for a moment.

“Luka! I barely managed to slip away, but I—” Chat Noir, and then cut himself off. “Marinette? What are you doing down here?”

“Uhhhhhhh...” she said, thinking up a lie, “I was so thankful you helped my friend Mylene that I wanted to... Um... help Luka out! In return.”

(She’d never stopped to consider how he’d learnt her name.)

“Oh,” he said, “Well, I was here to do the very same thing.” And Marinette wasn’t sure, but was that a hint of... competitiveness in his voice?

“We all have two hands,” Luka whispered, chuckling a little.

“What?” Marinette asked.

“Nothing.” Luka winked at her. “Anyway, Chat, I’m sorry to say that the only thing I’m doing right now is torturing our friend here with reading material.”

He said “reading material” like a parent might say “the boogeyman” while trying to scare their kids on Halloween. Marinette scoffed and told him to shut up.

“I know a bit about magic!” Chat said, suddenly very excited, “Maybe I could help!”

“I’m a lost cause,” Marinette said.

Luka rolled his eyes.

“You know magic?” Luka then asked him.

Chat blushed. “Only a little. And in theory.”

“I’m sure you’re not giving yourself enough credit,” Marinette noted absently, skimming a page about the usefulness of skunk tongues. (Gross.)

Chat blushed a bit more now.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can help with? No... spell prep or anything?”

“Me too,” Marinette said, “I would take anything over reading about various skunk parts.”

“You’re welcome to just hang out,” Luka said, “But I suppose you two could come out on an ingredient finding trip with me.”

“Why didn’t you offer this before?” Marinette asked, slamming the book shut.

“I’m not out of anything important just yet,” Luka said, “But if you guys truly don’t have anything else to do besides complain about my bookshelf...”

He smiled at them to show he didn’t really mean it.

“Where would be go?” Chat asked.

“Nothing far. Just out into the forest. We can stick nearby.”

“Out into the forest?” Chat sounded incredulous, “Unacompanied?”

Luka nodded slowly, looking a little confused.

“Let’s go!” Marinette declared, “Off, to the forest!”

~••~

Marinette was officially very concerned about Chat.

He had, apparently, never been in the forest unaccompanied before. And she knew he lived in the castle—the forest was barely three steps past the edge of the castle grounds.

Who is he? Marinette couldn’t help wondering.

Gathering wizardry ingredients was fun. Marinette was in charge of spotting mushrooms, and Chat’s job was to spot all the flowers. They made a game out of it: who could spot the most?

Marinette was grateful for the chance to stretch her legs, the normal, unmagical way. (Although she did trip over more than one tree root.)

Marinette was also trying to get to know the two better. She asked simple questions like what’s your favorite color? (Luka’s, unsurprisingly, was blue. Chat’s was green.) what’s your favorite food? (fish and croissants, respectively) and what would you bring to a desert island? (they would both bring a boat, cleverly).

She didn’t dare ask anything too deep, but she was encroaching on dangerous territory when she asked about their families, it seemed. Chat’s whole body tended up.

She quickly changed the subject.

“Do either of you like card games?”

It was a great time. Everyone was laughing as Marinette recounted the disastrous Flour Incident of two years ago.

Then Marinette heard the voices.

Marinette. Help. Marinette.

She had gotten used to the quiet echo of them in the purple room. But it was so much stronger now.

She could tell Chat heard it too.

Help. Help. Marinette, help us!

It was getting closer.

Closer.

Right there!

“What’s wrong?” Luka started to ask, but he was quickly shushed by Marinette.

“The voices,” she whispered cryptically.

“Like from the room?” Luka whispered back.

Chat nodded.

Closer.

Barely a foot away.

Marinette! Help!

Creeping, quiet as a mouse, Marinette tiptoed to where she heard the voices coming from.

She peered from the brush, and barely stopped herself from gasping.

King Gabriel.

He was standing in the forest, and thank goodness, he hadn’t noticed them yet.

Marinette yanked Chat and Luka down to a crouch behind the bush and watched him.

“The king,” Chat whispered, and he sounded conflicted. Part afraid. Part... something Marinette couldn’t decipher.

“Nooroo, dark wings rise!” King Gabriel said, and then he was in a purple suit and Marinette was filled with nausea so great she was worried she’d give them away by projectile vomiting.

She had been right.

The king was... doing all of this.

That still left the question: why?

And what was he doing in the forest?

The second question was quickly answered when he brushed away a curtain of hanging branches, mummering a spell and revealing...

Marinette sucked in a breath sharply between her teeth.

The corpse of the dead queen, in a glass casket. Somehow, she was still in perfect shape, no rot or mold at all.

The king didn’t do anything else. He just kind of stood there, staring at her.

Marinette wanted to suggest they attack him, then and there, get the whole thing over with. But she looked over at Chat, and saw he looked so damn heartbroken and... lost. Hardly in any condition to fight.

Plus, Marinette wasn’t transformed, and the glitzy affair of changing that fact would surely give away their element of surprise.

Best to leave the... confrontation for another day.

“Come,” Marinette whispered, and then crept away. Luka followed, and then Chat did too, although it took him a second longer to tear his eyes away from the scene.

As soon as they were far enough away, Marinette started running, and, hearing their footsteps crashing through the forest, could tell they were running too.

She ran into the castle, down the staircase, and then the three of them were in Luka’s lab, panting and totally flabbergasted.

Luka said a few words that Marinette didn’t know the meaning of, but that she could easily guess were pretty foul.

“W-What do we do now?” Chat asked, and his voice sounded kind of broken.

No one had an answer for him.

~••~

Chat didn’t show up the next night to plan with Ladybug.

Or the next.

She asked Luka if he’d seen him. Luka had not.

It was possible he was busy, but after hearing the way he sounded after they’d seen the kind in the forest... she was worried something worse was going on.

And he wasn’t there the next night, or the next, or the next, or the next.

It had been more than a week.

No sign of Chat.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, no progress was made on any other front.

Alya couldn’t help with patrols. Adrien kept slipping away, every night, and Alya was in charge of tracking him down. (He refused to tell anyone where he went.)

Luka And Marinette didn’t find anything out about the king. They tried to rummage around in his study while he was out riding. Nothing suspicious. Nothing that could point to his motivation.

No leads.

Marinette was so desperate she even followed him around one day as Ladybug, but... nothing.

She kept catching him on days where he was to busy to be sinister. And if he wasn’t doing something mundane... she couldn’t find him.

It wasn’t like she could just march up into his office and attack him. She didn’t know what his miraculous looked like. There would be too many guards.

And she needed Chat.

She couldn’t do this alone.

(Or, alone + Luka. But Luka quickly confessed to not being the fighting type, although he promised to support her in any other way he could.)

In summary: she was in a stump. A useless, unproductive pickle.

Having dinner with the king was torture.

She sat next to Alya and Luka, but it was terribly hard to pretend like nothing was wrong. Like she didn’t want to leap over the table and strangle the king until he gave her some answers.

Without Chat’s cataclysm, she couldn’t free the possessed people (“Seriously. Get a shorthand.”), and even if he was there, so many new people appeared each night it wouldn’t been useless to try.

The room was nearly the size of a ballroom. And it was nearing maximum capacity. In fact, the pillars were so close together that it had probably passed maximum capacity a while ago.

Marinette didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t just do nothing.

“Lucky charm!” she yelled, but her powers gave her nothing. They were stumped too.

“I’m sorry,” Tikki said, “Chat’s your other half. It’s impossible for you to fight this battle without him, just like he’d be unable to fight this battle without you.”

Two weeks passed.

Marinette finally figured out how to free the possessed people, using a drill (a drill!) her lucky charm gave her, but it was so time consuming she could barely manage to free one a day, not to mention fighting them and finding a way to snatch their object all by herself, which was doable but not preferable.

“This sucks,” she told Luka.

And he, usually a staunch optimist to the end, said, “I know.”

The only good thing that had happened that two weeks was her friendship with Luka had grown. And she’s been seeing Adrien more often, because Alya was always dragging her off to some tea party or cricket match where Adrien would be.

Part 5 coming

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sunstainedpages · 6 years ago

Text

The Barrel Of Her Gun Pt.2

Look At Me

Natasha x reader

Words: 1435

AN: This is the second part to The Barrel Of Her Gun series. One or two tears may have been shed. I’m really like writing this. The third part may not be out for a little while since I’m going away for a couple of days and then life gets crazy after that. Enjoy!💖

Pt.1 Relief Pt.3 Bad Dream

You wake up in a bright hospital room; a huge contrast to the cell you’d been holed up in. Sitting up, you can feel the IV drip that was coming from your hand; not remembering how you got here you started to call out. “Hey. Someone. Please I’d like to speak to someone,” and as if on queue the room flooded with doctors and nurses. Their words were spinning around your head and you couldn’t understand a single thing. Looking up you notice Tony; Steve and Bucky stood around your door; your eyes instantly light up.

After numerous tests, the doctors turn to leave and the avengers shuffle in. Awkward silence follows. “I uh guess you guys deserve an explanation.” You mumble now not daring to look at any of them. Gingerly, Tony sits on the edge of your bed and places a hand on your knee; you’ve always seen Tony as a father figure ever since you’d been found by the avengers.

You remember that day so clearly; the day that your life changed, and you became happy; the day Iron Man carried your nearly lifeless body and made sure you had the best help to nurse you back to health.

Steve takes a step towards you, “Y/N while we understand why you sacrificed yourself, it…it frustrated us because we could’ve and would’ve found another way; a way that didn’t involve you having to leave.”

Tony buts in… ”at the end of the day we are just happy you’re home kiddo.”

A small smile graces your lips, “I know that there might possibly have been a different solution, but I didn’t want to risk it,” you glance at Bucky, “I know what Hydra can do, the damage they will cause when they want something…” Bucky clears his throat.

“Y/N I understand that. Out of everyone here I understand the most why you wouldn’t want to risk it. But we are team and more importantly we are family. It’s taken me a while to accept that, accept the fact that you must risk it. You must risk losing the people you love, to stay with the people you love; and Y/N I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we aren’t the average people. We aren’t that easy to get rid of” Bucky chuckles and you feel at ease once again.

They sit with you for a couple of hours; talking; laughing and catching you up on everything you’d miss. Being surrounded by the two super soldiers and Tony you almost forget about the fact that you hadn’t seen Natasha; she hadn’t come to make sure you were ok. Your mood shifts; from the happy bubbling self you were five minutes ago; now your eyes were full of longing and a forced smile was plastered on your lips. The guys notice and decide you need some time alone, Bucky’s the first to leave, giving you a small nod as he exists. Tony places a kiss on your forehead “chin up kiddo” he murmurs as he heads out of the room. Only you and Steve were left in the hospital room, Steve places a hand on your shoulder “give her some time Y/N. I know it’s hard but you’ll both get through this,” and with that he takes his leave.

Sighing, you lean back on your pillows and cry, letting the waves of emotions crash into you and drowning in your thoughts. Every day was the same; you woke up; and then whichever team member was free would come sit with you and then they’d leave. Leave you even more broken and destroyed then you were when the rescued you a week ago.

It was your last night in the hospital before you got discharged back to the compound, and you were dreading it. “Ugh” you scream as you sit up in the hospital bed. “WHY WHY WHY? Why won’t she come see me” you break down into sobs, “I need to see her” You weren’t talking to anyone, there wasn’t anyone around to talk to. You were glad there wasn’t as you continued to cry yourself to sleep.

The next morning rolled around, you were up bright and early signing the papers to get you out of the hospital. Walking towards the elevators that led to the compound you were greeted by Tony, “hey kiddo’ he ruffled your hair “looking forward to being back?”

Smiling back at him, you nod, “can’t wait to get back to normality.” Though you had a sneaking suspicion things would be far from normal. You both step inside the elevator, “Hey F.R.I.D.A.Y.”

“Hello Miss Y/L/N. It’s good to see you back.” F.R.I.D.A.Y says, “the rest of the team are in the kitchen.”

“Ok. Thanks. I’ll head down there later” you say stepping out and heading towards your bedroom. Pushing open your door, you enter to see your room was exactly as you left it; or maybe even tidier. Deciding not to waste anytime you head for a shower, after not being able to shower for four and a half months, the hot water was a very nice welcome. “I’m never taking showering for granted ever again.” You chuckle to yourself as you step out of the on suite and into your bedroom. Finding a comfy pair of sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt you contemplate whether to face Natasha today. ‘The irony. I’m an avenger, I face scary things and run into danger on a daily basis. But I’m more scared to face my girlfriend.’ You think to yourself. Making up your mind, you ask F.R.I.D.A.Y to ask Nat to meet you in your room. “if I don’t do this now I’ll never do it” you murmur to yourself as you wait for the red-headed assassin.

Jumping, at the harsh knock that land on your door, you shake yourself out of your thoughts. As calmly as you can you walk towards the door; opening it slowly. Mumbling a quiet “hey” you step aside and let her in. “I uh guess we need to talk” you laugh nervously not really knowing how to start.

“Yeah. I guess.” Natasha says bluntly as she sits down in the armchair you have in the corner of the room. Sitting on the bed opposite her, you look at her face; eyes that no longer shine a bright emerald green; the dark bags that sit underneath them. Watching her movements, you notice how everything is slow and forced; how she looks like a shell of the woman you love. Usually you could read her like an open book; you’d spent so much time together; the assassin had finally let her walls down. Not anymore. The walls you’d spent so long taking down had been rebuilt higher and stronger. Staring at your girlfriend now all you could see was a stone-cold expression.

“Nat. I know you are mad. You have every right to be. But please look at me.” You pause hoping to catch her gaze but to no avail. “I didn’t think I had a choice. I didn’t want Hydra to hurt you or the rest of the team. I don’t know what I could do with myself if they hurt you or worse. Natasha please. I’m sorry…”

“Would you make the same decision again?” Natasha asks, not evening moving her gaze from the window.

The question shocked you “No? No. If I was put in that position again, I would make the same decision. I would sacrifice myself again to protect you. I’d do anything to protect me.”

“Y/N I don’t want you to protect me. I wanted you here with me. I’d much rather face the consequences of Hydra with you by my side then you sacrificing yourself. I don’t get how you couldn’t see that, I’d face anything if I had you by my side.”

Natasha’s outburst shocked you. “I’m sorry Nat. I guess I just wanted to be a hero. I wanted to save everyone,” you sigh; running your fingers through your hair, “but I’m here now.” Looking up at her, you’d thought maybe you had gotten through to her. Apparently not.

“I’m sorry Y/N” Natasha says, and you can hear the crack in her voice, she heads towards your door.

“Natasha. Please. Please don’t walk away. Please don’t walk away without looking at me” you whimper as she closes your door. “Just look at me!” you scream at the now empty room. Sinking down onto your bed; you curl up and let the tsunami of tears pour out of your eyes.

You sacrificed yourself to save the woman you love, but in the end, you just lost her.

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff x reader #wlw #wlw imagine #bucky x reader #steve x reader #tony x reader #avengers #avengers imagine #avengers x reader #black widow #black widow imagine

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justoneday-namjoonii · 7 years ago

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Midnight Circus pt.6

☾pairing: Jungkook(?)♡→ reader ☾genre: Angst. Fluff. Mature content. bad boy summer fling au ☾summary: “You’re ten times hotter this summer, you know that?” ☾Series status statement: “I don’t know how this happened...” a/n: ok so its a little scattered and I know I took forever but I hope the finish product makes up for the lateness^^

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | coming soon

“Can anyone tell me how many paintings by Claude Monet titled Water Lilies?”

Art appreciation. It seemed interesting enough so you went ahead and signed up for it. The professor had the class study, Claude Monet, this week, you knew the answer but decided to give the other students a chance. Speaking of the other students, Taehyung, Beah, and Namjoon attended this class as well. You sat somewhere near the front of the class, resting your head on your propped up forearm—your mind was elsewhere.

“Yes?” You glanced to the right to see Taehyung raising his hand.

“250 oil paintings.”

“Correct. Can anyone tell me why?” He gave the class the opportunity to answer the easy question and you took it upon yourself to answer—you slowly raised your hand.

“Yes, Mr. Kim?” Namjoon must’ve raised his hand faster than you because now the class was curious about what he had to say.

He cleared his throat. “Monet was fond of his flower garden at his home in Giverny, it was the inspiration for a lot of his work, it was the center of his focus in last thirty years of his artistic life.” The information flowed off of his tongue like a poem made to mesmerize all who overhear.

“That is correct. Now class. . .”

He trailed off into something else but you were more interested in the buzz of your phone, it was a message.

[1:40] Namjoon: You knew the answer to that, we were just talking about it earlier.

You slowly eased out your phone so that it wasn’t in full view of the professor and typed slowly.

[1:40] You: yes but u raised your hand first and didnt give me time [1:41] Namjoon: ill make sure to give it to you next time then

When you felt the teacher was observing your way, you tucked your phone away, not to be answered until the class is dismissed. The clock was on your side today because before you knew it, the professor released you all early c=for a change. Students fleed the class like ants run to sugary spilled soda, they all had somewhere to be but you preferred to take your sweet time. You easily slid the notebook in your backpack and grabbed your bottle as you slung the bag over your shoulders.

“Miss L/n,” Your professor called out to you as he was exiting the classroom.

“Yes, professor?”

“I didn’t get to respond to your email but I thoroughly enjoyed your research paper, it was well organized and you presented your information eloquently.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“Keep up the good work.” The middle-aged man smiled as he cleaned off the dry erase board. You smiled, walking out of the classroom with less weight on your shoulders.

“Hey,” A familiar voice came from somewhere behind you and you looked back to see Namjoon, walking a bit faster so he could stroll beside you. “are you and Jen, Taehyung, and Beah still on for studying for this evening? If so, I can still help you guys out.”

“Uh, yeah,” You did have a pretty big test coming up, “I probably should.”

“Good. I have a paper to finish so I’ll head over there now.”

“Alright, tell everyone I’ll be there soon, I need to get a book from the library.” You bid him farewell as he walked out through the exit.

You walked through the campus, passing by the library because apparently both of you needed to pick up a book for your classes. The sun shined through the campus, the warmth cascaded within the building and created a tranquil atmosphere for the busy students that scattered throughout the school. Since the book you were looking for had nothing to do with the one he was looking for, you went to different corners of the library.

Namjoon peeked through the bookshelves, searching for the book. He found it easily but he waited around, recognizing that you were still searching for yours.

“Where is it?” You mumbled, still not finding the book.

“Y/n,” You felt hands on your shoulders and you turned to see who it was, “I haven’t seen you in a good minute.” Hoseok. You completely forgot that he used to work in the bookstore, you didn’t know he still hung out here.

“Oh my gosh, Hoseok.” You beamed, embracing him. “Hi, it’s so nice to see you again, how have been?”

“Good, my schedule is pretty busy this semester. I haven’t had a lot of free time lately.” He spoke but you were distracted by his unfailing beauty. He was glowing, a sweet smile and a kind expression resting on his face. “Are you looking for anything in particular? I used to work here so I might as well help you out.”

“Thanks, do you know where- What’s the name of it again...” You reached into your pocket for the piece of paper that you wrote the book title on. “That’s what I’m looking for.” He inspected the paper.

“Ah, I know where this is. It’s over here.” He began to walk off somewhere and you followed him. Hoseok had always been so sweet and kind, he and Jimin went to the same dance studio you went to. He worked as a part-time instructor there until he could get transferred to the school he really wanted to study dance at.

“Here you are.” He gestured to the bookcase.

“Thanks, Hobi.”

“No problem, I’ll see you later.”

He waved goodbye. You went to the counter to purchase the book, it took a minute or so and you were out of the store and going to your car so you could get to the cafe where everyone was probably waiting on you.

“Hey...” She nudged his bare shoulder, the heat of his skin sent a nauseating spiral of guilt, shame, and discomfort to the pit of her stomach. “My mom will be home in an hour, you have to go...” She pulled the duvet up to cover her chest, he was slowly coming to. She nudged his warm arm again, this time with a little more force. “Jungkook, get your clothes on...”

His eyes fluttered open upon the call of his name. Typical—he was waking up in another unfamiliar bed, wearing nothing but boxers and a sinful scent. “What?” He seethed, already annoyed by her nagging voice and visible attitude.

“You have to go, my mom will be home soon...” She stammered, fumbling through her drawer for some clothes to throw on to cover herself. Jungkook narrowed his brow as he sat up to gather himself, he replayed what took place between them and sighed. What is this, the fifth or sixth person this week? He decided to stop counting after this one. He went to the floor to gather his discarded clothes from last night and slipped them on without a word. The brunette, on the other hand, was your classic suburban-nonconformist-chick who won’t show gratitude to the parents who provide for her. He’s not the first guys she’s had over, she knew the drill too well. She wasn’t his ideal pick either. She was a bit too common for his taste, a little obnoxious, but the night was ending quickly and he didn’t have time to be picky. Her clothes were easy off and that’s all he required at the time.

When he glanced at the girl, she was getting situated to go to the shower and for the life of him, he couldn’t remember her name. He stared at her as he tied his shoes, trying to remember, Shelby, Shannon, Sarah, Stephanie? Something with an S...

”Do you have any Tylenol?” He massaged his temples as he was on his out of her bedroom, he had a little bit of a hangover.

“Yeah,” She ran to her purse, searching for the little bottle, “here.”

He took the bottle and shook it lightly to get on little pill out. He gave it back and nonchalantly made his way towards to the front door, her heart began to plummet into her stomach—what had she done?

“Wait,” She voiced shyly, “will I see you again?”

He laughed, cracking the door to stand in the doorway. “Maybe.” He left her with that.

That meant she wouldn’t see him again, not here, not with her.

He drove, not really biased on where to but he didn’t want to go home. The rumbling of his stomach indicated that he needed something to eat. He went to the nearest fast food place to get a burger and fries, y’know, something healthy. He was supposed to be in class but he assumed that but by the time he gets there, it’ll already be over.

Oddly enough, he went home.

To his surprise, his mom was home and she had a lot of questions.

”Where were you?” She was at the kitchen island with a mug of coffee in hand, the demeanor of a brute criminal interrogator.

“A friends.” He shrugged, casually walking off to his bedroom.

“Get back over here.” She hissed—that was the,’if you know what’s good for you, you better get back over here’ voice, he willed himself to tread lightly now. “I come home, working hard to provide for our family and when I get back you’re not even here. And I’m not stupid Jungkook, don’t think for a second that I’m buying that ‘I was at a friends house crap.’”

“Does it matter where I was? You and dad are never here anyway, so why should I be?” He frowned. “Why do you suddenly care?”

“Because you’re my son and I love you.” She sighed when his jaw clenched with the darkening of his eyes. “I know it’s not easy, and I wish I hadn’t brought you into this but there’s nothing I can do. You said you didn’t want to live with your dad, why are you giving me such a hard time?”

“I’m giving you a hard time?” He had to refrain from going off on her and the only way he could do that was if he left this house. Without a word, he ran upstairs to gather a few things in a backpack and when he came back downstairs she just stared at him. He had always been like this, bad at expressing his negative emotions without hurting someone, so his solution was to leave. “I’ll be back in a few days.” He stated.

“Jungkook there is no reason for you to-”

“I need my own space right now and I’m not in the mood for a lecture, mom.” He left the house, his mother not really even knowing what to say or how to get her son to change his mind. And it was just that, she didn’t know Jungkook anymore, she was unaware of his daily life. She always said, ‘as long as you get good grades and don’t get anyone pregnant, you can stay under this roof.’ She felt as if he needed a bit more structure than that, but there’s nothing she can do about it now. He’s going through a rebellious phase and she’s taking the brunt of it.

Jungkook went to Yoongi’s apartment.

He let him in without hesitation and went back to his room to study.

Jungkook found refuge in that worn out couch, he had more to stress about than finals and sleep seemed to be his temporary solution. He was called into work suddenly and he grudgingly drove to the bowling alley. He spent hours fitting antsy kids and adults for worn out old rental bowling shoes.

“Over here!” Namjoon raised a hand to get your attention when you entered the cafe full of stressed students studying for finals. You walked over to your group of friends and sat beside Jennie.

“Hey, guys.” You began unloading your books on the cramped table.

“Y/n, hey, sorry to ask but do you have the notes from the professor Welsh? I couldn’t make it to class and no one had the notes from the lecture on pdf.” Jennie pushed her glasses up on her face, pencil tight in her hand.

“Yeah, I’ll send it to you.” You pulled out your computer and began going through your files, searching for the notes you worked so hard to get. When you sent it, she showed the utmost gratitude by buying you a matcha latte. You sat across from Namjoon and he was completely enveloped in his paper—being head of the class must be burdensome, having to keep your grades up to maintain the honorable title. School was always something constant in your life, without it you felt like you were a void, an empty with no purpose. You only felt like that sometimes—other times you craved freedom, to dream under the stars with smoke tainting your breath from loving on a dangerous spirit. You sort of experienced that, maybe not to its full effect but you know what it’s like to get close to boys like Jungkook and you didn’t like it—not anymore at least.

You brought your mind back to the task at hand, your math and final project. The job they gave you was to collect the data and write the slides for the 19th-century economy. A few hours went by and the cafe was still heavy with customers, even at this hour. Suddenly, you felt something graze your ankle, someone's foot?

You looked from side to side, then right in front of you to see Namjoon grinning at his laptop. You looked at him with the sole purpose of catching his attention, but he didn’t look up, that’s when you received a message on your computer.

Namjoon: I meant to talk to you about the other night, r u okay

You furrowed your brows at the message, not immediately understanding what he was referring to. When you looked up at him he glanced at you but then he began typing something.

Namjoon: Jungkook was trying to follow you, I managed to stop him. Are you ok?

You: Yeah I’m ok

He titled his head, he knew that you weren’t ‘ok’ but now wasn’t the time to talk about it, your face pretty much said that it wasn’t the place or time.

“I need a break.” Beah sat her book down with a pout. “Anybody up for pizza?”

“If we go get pizza, we’ll never finish.” You tried to dismiss the idea but they weren’t in the mood to be focused and responsible anymore.

“How about we order food here?” Namjoon suggested.

“I know! Yoongi hyung is home, why don’t we take some pizza over to his place?” Taehyung proposed.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Jennie went in on this crusade and you gave up trying to keep the studying here. Everyone began packing up their stuff and before you knew it, you were still packing up and Namjoon lingered behind.

“I wanted to ask, what did he do that made you so upset? He didn’t hit you or anything, did he?” If so, he was prepared to kill the kid. You slung your bag over your shoulder and walked out to the parking lot with Namjoon by your side. He came with Taehyung but you assumed he could ride with you to Yoongi’s.

“No, he didn’t hit me.” You reassured him, plopping down into the driver's seat. “He was mad that I was there, he just didn’t want to see me I guess...” Your words were but a mumble, not wishing to reminisce about that mistake of yours. “He also kissed me.” Namjoon made a perplexed expression. “Can you believe him? One minute he’s yelling the next he’s trying to kiss me. I slapped him and went home.“

“That’s my girl.” Namjoon giggled. “Now I know why he was so mad, you probably bruised his pride. He needed a wake-up call like that, not everyone is going to take his crap, he needs to learn that.” That fact made you smirk a bit, you felt like you had the upper hand as of now.

“Why is he like this?...” You sounded tired like you’ve asked yourself this question before. “I don’t understand why he treats me like that...”

Namjoon had to think before giving you his answer, did Jungkook even have a reason? He assumed that the kid just acted like that because of childhood habits; he was selfish, greedy, aggressive even. “I-...I really don’t know, he’s only ever treated you this way, I think it’s just apart of his growing up process.” He scratched the back of his head in thought. “Even though he is an adult...He-”

“He saw me in the pool with Jimin, that was it!” Your abrupt outburst had Namjoon curious onto what else you had to say.

“I don’t know what I was doing, I liked Jimin, I really did...” Your lips were turned down in a quivering frown. “I had a crush on him since forever and I never thought in a million years that he would give me the time of day, but he did, he told me that he liked me too and I was happy....” Your fingers were tight on the steering wheel, still trying to remain in control of the vehicle despite your frustration. “Jungkook kept sending these mean messages, I don’t even want to repeat the things he said, he was livid, over nothing Joon, absolutely nothing...” You stopped at the red light, holding back any signs of tears—this was nothing to cry about.

“I know you liked him. I wish it could’ve happened another way for you two but it just didn’t work out. I’m sorry I can’t help more...” This was the first time he heard how Jungkook found out about you and Jimin, now he understood a bit better. Jungkook went out there, looking for you and you were necking with one of his bestfriends—there’s the big picture. Jungkook was hurt, jealous—insecure. Something he wanted didn’t want him back, it wanted someone else. Can you imagine how it must’ve felt when he saw you, genuinely showering Jimin with affection after what you two had been doing? He was overwhelmed, he felt betrayed and used for the first time in a long long time, and that was the problem. He didn’t have the right to respond that way, you weren’t his; a few unchaste kisses and touching of bodies does not a relationship make. And Jungkook knew that. He knew that he didn’t want a bond from this and neither did you, so you and Jimin shouldn’t have been a problem.

“I can understand why he was so angry now.” Namjoon gazed out of the window, a dispirited expression on his face. “I think for the first time in his life, his heart was vulnerable and he was no longer in control. You were tugging his heartstrings in every which direction and you didn’t even know it.” The mental picture brought a fond grin to his lips.

You blinked, attempting to process what he meant by that. “Me? I thought you were on my side here. I shouldn’t be penalized for his feeling-”

“No, no, no, I don’t mean it like that, of course, you shouldn’t. IIt’s just- Jungkook really hates feeling he’s not wanted, just like everybody else, he wants to feel desired. When he saw you- You I’m saying he felt like you were cheating on him, using him.” How were you supposed to use Jungkook? What could you possibly gain from that?

“You can’t cheat when there’s no relationship- And if it were him, he’d tell the unlucky girl to get over it because it’s not a relationship anyway. And if anything, he’s been using me. He doesn’t have the right to catch feelings but not punish me for it.”

“Yes, I agree, but I know Jungkook well enough to know this, his head, heart, and body are all in different spheres. He just doesn’t know how to make those three parts of himself work in unison and the result of that is situations like this.” Namjoon sighed, seeing that you two had arrived at the apartment already. “But that’s no excuse, he has to grow out of that and face the music like the rest of us.”

You two got out of the car and you ran over to help Taehyung with the pizza and Namjoon took it upon himself to knock on the door. Yoongi lazily opened the door, not phased by the sudden arrival. You helped bring the food inside and before you knew it you were plopped on the couch, forgetting everything related to finals and indulging in the cheesy, salty goodness of the pizza.

“Hi Jungkook.” Irene. “A 7 1/2 please.” She came to the counter, looking at him like a hyena would a raw steak—he looked good to her. Jungkook knew her from around and she knew him but rarely did they interact.

“Okay.” He turned to look for the women's 7 1/2 box but it was empty. He searched around, dreading having to go to the overstock room to get them, he peeked up at her with doe eyes. “We’re out of 7 1/2′s can you do a 7 or an 8?” He raised his brows, seeing that she was smiling at him. “Well, I’m about to clock out so I’ll ask my manager to-”

“No, that’s okay.” She leaned against the counter, a grin still present on her lips. “You said you’re about to clock out, yeah? Are you busy?” Her eyes raking up and down his body, the slight bulging of his biceps under the work polo intrigued her in every way possible.

“No, why?” He countered with the crook of his brow, she followed him as he walked along the lengthy counter to go punch in his hours.

“Just curious...” Pearly whites digging into her bottom lip as he walked passed her, she followed him without clear intent. She put a hand on his chest, stopping him from walking away from her, she brought her face close to his, the proximity of closeness made him laugh—that’s what she wanted.

In a matter of minutes, they were in the alleyway between two unsuspecting buildings, classy.

“J-jungkook.” She manages to choke out through his relentless assault on her clavicle, it was more painful than anything and she wondered why he was being so forceful. When he lead her out here her stomach lurched in excitement and they were in the little corner where she was sure no one could see. “Y-you okay?” He was aggressive.

He responded with a rough nip to her neck followed by a tantalizing lick to soothe the pinch; she figured he was just in a feisty mood so she went with the flow. His hands found her bare waist and chest, not deciding on which one to seek comfort in. He was all over her, not providing her the leeway to control much but her hands. At this point, his shirt was wrinkled up and her lipstick was smeared into an abstract of lecherous hunger on her lips.

Jungkook snarled when her hand wandered up to his stomach to his chest but not close to where he wanted it. She gripped his collar to take his mouth away from her neck and have a nice long look at his deep, almost opaque orbs—he looked so intense and focused. “Are you trying to make look like I’ve been mauled? Damn.” She was referring to the love bites on her once cream-colored flesh. His cheeks were glowing a light pink when he left the heat of her neck, he was already feeling cold.

“Why’re you in such a rush?-” He shoved his mouth against hers, swallowing her protests until they were nothing but moans—he didn’t come here to chitchat. They kissed for a little while, he easily battled her tongue into submission with his own, he would go so far as to say he was being a little nasty with it. But right now, he didn’t care what it looked like, as long as he could overstimulate himself with the feeling.

He pulled back, chest heaving lightly with a wetness coating his chin and strawberry colored lips. “Isn’t this what you wanted? Hm?” He smirked, their clothes were in shambles when he stopped to ask her. “You like this, don’t you? Shit, I know you do,” He smirked to himself, “I can see it on your face...” His hands doing their own thing to bring her to her metaphorical knees.

“Mhm.” She nodded, getting into character when his tone became authoritative and stern.

“Yeah?...” He nibbled on the cherry flavor that lingered on his lips, that’s why her lips were so bright red and plush. In the height of the moment, he clutched her jaw and slipped an index finger in the disturbingly warm cavern, because in hindsight, that’s all he was looking for out of this—warmth, he wanted to feel warm again. She bit him lightly, just applying enough pressure to grin. “Mm.” He scoffed, slipping the finger out and wiping her saliva on her clothes. “What do you want? Tell me what you want.” He demanded, wanting to hear her articulate it word by word.

“You, please.” She cooed. “I want you Jungkook, I don’t care how.” Now she sounded too desperate—but weren’t they both?

“Yeah?” He taunted with a throaty voice. “Let me hear you say it again...” He mumbled, more to himself than her. “Say it again, I want to hear you say it...” She obliged to his request, repeating over and over that he was all she wanted, craved to hear that. It triggered an influx of dopamine to his brain, it was like he was floating when he heard that one simple, yet, significant phrase, ‘I want you.’ “Fuck, turn around...”

Warmth.

For a moment, he felt a warmth, soft skin mangled together and he was in euphoria.

He got to feel wanted, even if it was only physical desire, and even if it only lasted for so long, he got to feel it and that had to mean something. It was satisfaction he was looking for but He hadn’t found it. When they finished, Irene clutched onto nothing when he pushed her further with an arm snaked around her stomach like a restraint. He felt a dirty, disgusting feeling—the high was over and it was time to say goodnight.

Night after night, girl after easy girl, in an attempt to fill that hollow space. Those girls would fill him to the brim for a short second just to drain him dry in seconds, and he’d do the same to them. He could have it his way, not have to lift a finger and they would swoon over him, fight each other if it meant spending their night with the midnight’s offspring. When it was all said and done, he cleaned up, fumbling to zip his pants up as Irene walked off in a hurry, saying she was supposed to be somewhere an hour ago or something like that.

He went to his car in the back of the building and sat there dejected -- he regrets it, he felt remorse that made him want to cry and so he did. Tears escape his eyes and trickled down his cheeks. Sitting in the dark of the parking lot, sobbing into the steering wheel with trembling fingers—he felt cold again, it chilled down to his bones.

“Well, I should head home, my parents don’t want me out too late.” It was just you and Namjoon left while Yoongi was still in his room, Taehyung and Beah had gone home but you were pretty invested in this book when they left. Namjoon looked up at you from his computer. “Are you done with chapter 13?”

“Yeah, I finished it.” You began to pack up your stuff, tired and ready to go to get in your soft, cozy bed.

“Y/n, can you throw those towels in the dryer.” You heard Yoongi voice from his bedroom. “And throw those pizza boxes out.”

“This is your house Yoongi, I’m not your maid.” You grudgingly stood to your feet and went to do it anyway, it was the least you could do since he invited everyone into his place. Well, more like, let everyone invite themselves. You went to the little laundry area near the kitchen and did as he asked, Namjoon watched you with his glasses teetering at the tip of his nose.

“I guess I’ll head out too.” He announced, slinging his packed bag over your shoulder.

“Wait, I’ll walk you to your car.” You stopped what he was doing and walked with him outside.

“Remember when you told me you’d look after me?” You spoke suddenly standing at the car door with a dreamy look on your face.

“How could I forget?” He smiled, his dimples looking as deep as the craters on the moon.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about that, a lot actually...” You twiddled your fingers absentmindedly. “You’re a really good friend, like, you care a lot about me, more so than most people.”

“What are friends for, right? If I can’t help you in some way then what am I here for? That’s just how I think.” He crossed his arms, leaning against the car to look at you with a sweet smile.

“Well, thank you.” You stood up on your tippy toes and pecked his cheek—he blushed immediately.

“Y-y/n?” He laughed nervously. “What was that for?”

“I don’t know, just for being you...” You were suddenly shy as he got into his car, bidding you farewell. You went back to the apartment to fold those towels for Yoongi.

Jungkook found somewhere to park and watch the lights for a little while, the tears had dried and he was calm again. He got himself together and drove back to Yoongi’s place. When he made it there, he pulled out the spare key and jiggled it in the lock before it popped open. “Hey, I’m back hyung.” Yoongi made a sound of acknowledgment. He sighed, throwing his heavy body on the couch. He noticed that there were a bunch of folded towels on the couch so he sat them on the center table. He laughed a little, he’s never seen Yoongi as the type to do laundry publicly. He was tired, even with the tv on he started to get droopy-eyed.

Someone was in the house. You had to use the bathroom before you left and you weren’t expecting anyone else to come over. Too anxious to walk out to see who it was, you slowly turned off the light and peeked out. There he was, watching tv the couch, curled up like a kid.

Why is he here? You wanted to be angry but you were more curious than anything. For a while you just watched him; he’d take a sip of water, weave his hand through his hair, habitual little things. It’s been weeks since you last saw him and you were happy about that, you were mad at him. He yelled at you and kissed you without permission, in front of a bunch of people and even tried to chase you.

After a little while, he was out cold and you took that opportunity to sneak out. You crawled out of the bathroom and into the living to get your bag, he was silent, not moving an inch as he slept peacefully. You managed to make it to the front door and you were just about to twist the mob when you felt a presence behind you, a heat. You couldn’t move, you were perfectly capable of walking out—why are you just standing here?

“You-...You left your sweater.” When you looked back he had wiped at his eyes in an attempt to hide any signs of sleep. “This is yours, isn’t it?” He stared at you, why were you over Yoongi’s, alone. “I remember you had it at the cabins.” You nodded and took the sweater, twisting the nob but not opening it yet, tear a started to well at your eyes. He’s always treated you differently, poked fun at you and made you feel out of place. He’d taunt you and try to annoy you whenever he got the chance, he wasn’t good and you didn’t want him, you didn’t want to want someone like him. You hand to chant in your mind, Ignore him, leave him, don’t say anything-

“You hurt me...” You looked back at him, he was surprised you even spoke. “I shouldn’t give you the time of day, you know that don’t you?” He scratched the back of his neck, pressing his lips together and making his dimples appear lightly, he was nervous. “You got mad at me for being around you and then you kissed me.” You frowned. “What is wrong with you!?” You shouted, probably disturbing Yoongi’s silence

He blinked and began to feel a tremendous amount of guilt weigh down on him.

“You tried to follow me, you called me a backstabbing slut, a whore...You act like I cheated on you! Like I violated something sacred when you really had no right to be jealous, we aren’t together. I am not yours, I have never been close to being yours and you know that. All we did was fool around and it didn’t mean anything to you. It shouldn’t have meant anything to me, you played with me and for some reason I let you...You don’t care about me Jungkook, you said it yourself, you just want my body, remember? You just come back for ‘the physical shit’ as you put it...you don’t even feel guilty either-”

“I screwed up.” He breathed heavily, anxious to start speaking “But just hear me out. I’m sorry, I’m sorry for everything, I was a douchebag.” His teeth sunk into his bottom lip. “I do some bad things y/n, really bad and dirty things, and when it’s done I feel sick to my stomach- I don’t know what it is, I just never get full enough, so, I do it over and over to fill myself up but I still feel empty...” You could only imagine what he meant as ‘bad things.’ “And cold...” He paused. “Even with all the bodies I’ve sunk myself in to get that warm feeling I can never get it to last, I can’t be satisfied and it’s killing me. I told you that I can’t stop thinking about you, the way you kiss, your laugh, the way you talk, it’s always in my mind-” He was just rambling now. “I’m just trying to forget you.”

“That’s really touching Jungkook.” You retorted in sarcasm.

He swallowed. “But it’s not working and I don’t know what to do. I even hooked up with a girl that once bullied you, a few girls actually...” He suddenly confessed. “When I realized it, I wanted to die. I knew you would hate me for it, you should hate me for a lot of things...”

“You’re right, I should hate you.” That physically stung him, your words were like daggers to his soul. “But I don’t, and that’s what I hate about you, Jungkook. Not that you emotionally scar me for life but because here I am, talking to you like it never happened.” And that was the truth. “We’re not lovers, we’re not in a friendship let alone a relationship, I won’t put this much emotional energy into something that’ll hurt me.”

He choked back a sob, was it really nothing to you? “I-...I don’t want to hurt you. I know I was mean but I was just upset. When I saw you and Jimin in that pool- I don’t know,” He exhaled shakily. “I felt hurt...”

“Well, I felt the same way when you yelled at me but I didn’t publicly humiliate you. Where is the connection between your emotions and your reactions? You’re not a child, you know better than to lash out the way that you do.” You were starting to sound like a mom the way you scolded him.

“I’m just asking for you to forgive me, that’s all...”

“Would that soothe your guilty conscious or something? If you get my forgiveness, what do I get, hm? I’ll be like you now, I don’t want to do anything that won’t benefit me...Doesn’t feel so good, does it?”

That was harsher than you intended.

“You get my vulnerability.” He replied timidly. “My weakness, my pain, you get to see me at my lowest...” Out of the blue, he started to cry, silently. The sight took your breath away—you had never seen him like this, absolutely vulnerable. A few tears escaped his eyes and you’re heart lurched, you were witnessing such a personal moment and you almost felt guilty. “I’m begging you...”

You started to feel terrible, he was really sincere about this. “Jungkook,” You sighed, “look, I forgive you okay? But that doesn’t mean-”

The melodic buzz of your phone interrupted the moment, it was your mom. “Hello? Sorry, I lost track of time studying, I’m on my way now.” Jungkook could hear your mom over the phone. “Love you too, bye.” You hung and tucked the phone back in your pocket. “I have to go...”

Jungkook wiped away his tears and nodded, accepting the fact that you had to leave. You suddenly reached into your bag, searching for something until he pulled it out, his earbuds. “I uh, I never gave them back, so, here.” He extended his hand and you dropped them into his palm, was this a peace offering he thought.

“Thanks.” He looked down at his hand and slowly, out of sheer faith, he brought his face close to yours, noses getting too close for comfort. You stared him in the eye, his lips parted in desperation but you refused to quit their whine for attention. You felt your self almost meet his lips by instinct, knowing they remembered the dance they’ve done so many times at the campground. You placed a hand on his chest to deny his request though. He mentally winced at the rejection but it didn’t change a thing because, in a matter of seconds, you were out the door and he stood there alone—cold.

“Don’t forget to turn the TV off, I can’t sleep with it on.” Yoongi peeked out of his room nonchalantly to see Jungkook walking back from the front door, he figured he’d ask later. Jungkookk went to sleep on the couch, the silence lulling him into a state of peace.

You are the sun that rose again in my life The return of my childhood dreams

I don't know what this feeling is. Perhaps, I'm in a dream, are you there too? My surroundings become more and more transparent, but I still see you.

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officialthiamlibrary · 6 years ago

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Hello! Hello! So excited to share another fantastic creator this time on BTS. Thanks to everyone who’s given this series love and interest. It’s because of you that we keep highlighting the lovely talent in this fandom and today, is no exception. The writer of Compared to the Moon, Six/Seven, and more, parttimehuman, somehow stumbled into our ship and we’re damn happy she’s decided to stay haha. Read on to learn more about her.

Mercy! Ayyy, thanks for letting me besiege you with questions lol. Since the Thiam fandom is quite familiar with one another by now, any facts about you or your life that we’d be surprised to know?

I have a bachelor degree in financial mathematics. (Although I’m not sure how surprising that is.)

That’s wild, mostly because I can’t imagine beasting through an entire degree of math alone. Completely random, but I doubt I’ll have a chance to ask this again. In Shows/Movies, when the characters are in Math class and answering questions on the board, have you ever looked at their solution and thought, “wrong.” I always wondered if those were accurate.

Bold of you to assume that I still know high school math just because I’ve studied the more advanced stuff. Still, it has happened, yeah.

Ahh, touche, touche. Why don’t we actually talk about Teen Wolf and Thiam now lol. How did you find your way to the Thiam fandom? What about them drew you in?

It was a long and not very easy way, to be honest. I think I didn’t get beyond the pilot episode of Teen Wolf until the third try. I had over a month of free time after I graduated from uni, so naturally, I was bored. I finally watched all seasons. Thiam as a ship? Yeah, I’m not going to pretend like it was anything other than Cody Christian’s sexy ass that made that happen. And Theo’s heart-eyes for Liam in 6b of course. I wrote two fics, didn’t mean to stick around for long, and then I was invited to a certain Discord…

What do you think changed between your first time watching and your third?

You want me to be really honest? I had more time, was a little more bored out, had less other options. That’s about it.

Alol nothing but the truth here. Well, now that you’ve fully accepted the TW lifestyle, how would you put your own touches on a Season 7 spin off. What would be your very first scene and very last scene of the pilot episode? As an artist, how would you put your personal touch on those two scenes?

The first scene would be a steamy face-punching/make-out session between Liam and Theo. With proper lighting. Brett would be alive. Liam would look exactly like Dylan Sprayberry does. The last scene would be Theo falling asleep in an actual bed. With Liam’s arms wrapped around him. And forehead kisses. There would be a fist bump somewhere in that episode. And probably a lacrosse game. It would basically be an AU where it never gets dark because we all deserve to see properly after 6 seasons of TW.

“Proper Lighting,” *Slow Clap.* Honestly, we are owed that at this point. As a creator, do you only write Thiam? Any other fandoms or Pairings? Novels or Stories with Original Characters?

No. Actually, I believe these days I write slightly more for other pairings from Teen Wolf. I also have a longfic for another fandom in the works (The Raven Cycle). I will probably write a novel one day, I have quite a collection with abandoned attempts, actually. Apart from that, just like I do in the Thiam pack, I like to write my friends from real life little stories. I guess none of my characters are truly original, strictly speaking, because they’re always either borrowed from a fandom or I insert people I personally know in my stories.

Yessss! Just started the Raven Thieves and it’s my everything. Of all your stories, what’s been your favorite(s) to write or reread thus far?

Compared to the Moon. If I were to make a list here, the 26 chapters of Compared would be the first 26 points on it. After that I’d put My Sister’s Keeper, although it had me crying like a baby. As for smut, I’d say The Hot Cop Showdown, which is about Theo and Liam both turning up at a bachelor party in a police uniform, only that one of them’s an actual police officer, and one’s a stripper. The fun in that was that I wrote it live for a bunch of people who were guessing who was who, and I made my decision completely spontaneously.

Yass let’s definitely talk Compared to the Moon quickly because the worldbuilding is quite intriguing. First, for anyone unfamiliar could you offer a quick summary? How did you come up with what colors corresponds with an emotion? On an average day, what would your color undertone be?

Compared to the Moon is a High School AU where everyone is human, with the little bonus that people show their emotions as colors beneath their skin. While Liam, captain of the lacrosse team, bears a quite prominent red mark in his neck and back and is generally unable to control his colors, Theo, who’s new in school and the lacrosse team, doesn’t have any. They get off on the wrong foot, become roommates, fall in love. There’s a whole lot of drama. And a happy ending, but they do have to work a lot for it.

The idea to that fic came from a drunken conversation with my best friend who doesn’t give a single shit about Teen Wolf or my fics, but the thought had stuck with me. I did a bit of research on the meaning of different colors, but as I continued writing it, I more and more decided to not pay too much attention to that. One of the messages I wanted to convey was to not judge a book by its cover, which, of course, happens a lot in a world where people carry their emotions right under their skin. But the point is that you still never know. What exactly does Liam’s red stand for? Anger? Aggression? Pain? Blood? Or maybe passion? Leadership? Courage? Love?

And what does it mean that Theo doesn’t show them? Is he any less of a human being because of that? Does he not feel?

By the time I got towards the ending of the story, I’d realized that I didn’t want to answer any of these questions. And even if I had wanted to, I couldn’t have.

As for me, I feel like I’d be a little more blue and a little more yellow than I’d be other colors, for reasons I cannot explain.

That’s honestly lovely, especially since each color has a myriad of hues and therefore meanings. Including Compared to the Moon, would you say there’s one trope weaving your stories together?

Probably some form of bed sharing/sleeping together/cuddling. One of them watching the other. Someone who’s usually kept awake by nightmares finally getting some rest. Lazy mornings in bed together. Hand holding. Eskimo kisses. Innocent touches. Just a whole lot of vulnerability and trust and softness.

And I remember reading way back when (like Truth or Chimera haha) days that you write all of your stories by hand. Can you go into your writing process a little? Do you still keep everything you’ve written?

I don’t do that anymore. I write my notes per hand, also sometimes a few lines or ideas, but that’s about it. I’ve published around 600k words in the last year, so at some point I gave it up with the handwriting. I still have all my notes, though, among them the letter Theo wrote to Liam in Compared to the Moon. I’m a notebook hoarder, and I find that there’s a certain aesthetic to handwritten things, but now I mostly just sit in bed with my laptop and a kitty when I write.

Whatttt, live writing!?! How does it feel to write openly like that? Do you think it’s changed the way you create?

I mostly write my smut live. It’s amazing because the people who are following it can throw in their own ideas and make wishes. Many times that’s resulted in me taking a story into directions I wouldn’t have thought of myself. It’s a challenge, because you have to let go of the idea of changing something you’ve already written. Ultimately, I do it because the pressure of people literally waiting for the next sentence gets me to actually sit my ass down and type words.

I think it’s made me more spontaneous and more open to the idea of going into unknown directions. Most of the time, I have no idea what I want to write when I start writing it. But I’ve definitely learned not to stress myself about that. Some of the best things happen while live writing. By the way, almost all of Six and Seven has been written live.

Ok, it’s got to be asked lol. Six and Seven. How?! How do you write such steamy scenes and still retain the essence of the characters. Any writing wisdom to impart for writers who want to improve their smut skills?

This is a tough question, because if I’m being honest, I think the least about what I’m doing when I’m writing smut. I just go with it. I think a few good things to keep in mind are these: Call a dick a dick. Please and thank you. Consent is sexy, safe sex is sexy. There is no such thing as too much lube. Bananas and sex should never be combined. Communication is key. Literally. Dirty talk is the absolute best thing a smut writer can do, if you ask me. Them talking about their likes and preferences? Hot! One of them making the other ask for what they need? Hot! A nickname, a “Sir”, a praise, some begging? Hot, hot, hot, hot.

Other than that, one thing I really want to say here: Forget about who tops and bottoms. That is literally the least important decision to make. It doesn’t even cross my mind when I start writing a story. It also doesn’t have anything to do with who’s the taller or stronger one, or who’s the dominant one, or more experienced. That’s all bullshit.

Apart from that, your kinks are valid. Write the fucking hell out of them, seriously.

Everything. Everything about this is the best. I’m so tempted to say, “Introducing Behind the Screen with parttimehuman!” without the wrap of questions because of how helpful your advice is lol. I suppose, one final random question before we close up: If you were in a Breakfast Club detention situation with five characters from Teen Wolf, who would give you the wildest, most satisfying day. Who would be your teacher? And what’s one thing the six of you would end up doing?

I feel like Liam and Theo would be there, probably because they started punching each other in the middle of class. Stiles seems like the most likely one to have annoyed a teacher into giving him detention. Malia is there for skipping maths too many times. And Isaac. Nobody knows how exactly he ended up there, but everyone’s pretty appreciative of his sarcastic comments. We’d pass the time discussing conspiracy theories about what the hell is wrong with Beacon Hills. Coach Bobby Finstock would let us go early, because remember, Stiles is canonically like a son to him. And Daddy Finstock just can’t say no to his chaotic favorite boy.

Hahaha, Daddy Finstock. Finally, what’s next for you? In life or fandom or both?

In life? If only I knew. I might leave my home town (again) and go to uni (again), but I generally enjoy having no plan.

In fandom? A fucking lot. The Big Bang is getting closer and I am thrilled. I’m working on a whole list of other things, as always. Then there’s a special project that is for now a secret, a couple of awesome people will celebrate their birthdays soon, and Christmas presents are in the works. The Snow White AU will finally break some hearts soon. In case anybody reading this is still waiting for something, I swear that if I made you a promise, then I have it on a sticky note somewhere. Don’t give up on me! Prompts are always welcome (just don’t make me write angst).

And anything else you’d like to share?

If there’s anything I’d like to share, then it’s encouragement. From one introverted fandom lunatic to all the others out there. Never feel weird for loving something. Never feel ashamed of being passionate about what you love. Never let anybody stop you from obsessing over a character, or a ship, or a show, or whatever thing. Write that fic you think nobody will want to read. Draw the thing that’s been in your head forever. Share your love. There are more people out there waiting for exactly that thing to exist than you think. Write that comment, share your obsessions, never feel afraid to reach out. As for the Thiam fandom, some of the kindest people you will ever meet are in there.

My inbox is always open. For anybody.

On a proper cyclical endnote, Behind the Screens presents Mercy to you! You know what I’m going to say: the conversation doesn’t stop here. Meet her at these places:

Main Tumblr: flyde

Inbox/Ask: flyde ask

AO3: parttimehuman

Thank you for letting us get to know more about you! And thank you all for reading and requesting her. As always, if you have a Thiam Creator that you fan over, send us their names. Likewise, if you as the creator, would like to be a part of the Behind the Screens series, give us a shout too! We’d love to get to know you, as well.

@flyde

#thiam #teen wolf #behind the screens #flyde #officialthiamlibrary #mod: minna

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