#on the other it feels morally wrong and irresponsible and stupid not to at least try to study some more when I've been so unproductive
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as-rare-as-trees · 2 years ago
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Terribly BITTER because I can't split into two people just to grab myself by the shoulders and shake me violently
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maxdibert · 5 days ago
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Hi! Could you tell me your top 5 least favorite Harry Potter characters and why?
My 5 most hated characters in Harry Potter are:
5 - Molly Weasley: I can’t stand this woman. I can’t stand how she acts like a morally superior, pure-blood yet holds endless prejudices, especially (and mostly) toward other, younger women. I don’t like her tradwife vibe, and I don’t like how overbearing and suffocating she is. Seriously, in real life, I’d feel the urge to tell her off—she’s that typical annoying woman who doesn’t know where the boundaries are.
4 - Remus Lupin: Zero sympathy for a man almost forty who got a 24-year-old girl pregnant and then abandoned her. Remus Lupin is a coward and a piece of trash, a bullying accomplice who keeps his head down regarding his own actions and needs a 17-year-old to teach him a lesson in manhood. I really wish Tonks had left him and taken off with Teddy to get as far away as possible from that pathetic excuse for a person.
3 - Dumbledore: Starting with the fact that the entire problem of the story basically stems from his irresponsibility with Tom Riddle, which already showed that he was a terrible teacher. He only shows concern for students who can serve his purposes or suck up to him, and his involvement throughout the story shows a moral stance I find nauseating. I mean, he’s a guy who has the nerve to lecture his former students who “chose the wrong path,” but when those same students were under his care, he constantly neglected and rejected them just because they didn’t belong to a certain house. He had the audacity to call Severus Snape “miserable” when it was Dumbledore himself who allowed Snape to be bullied and almost killed without lifting a finger to stop it or punish the bullies. This same Dumbledore scolds Draco Malfoy for not trusting him when from Draco’s first day at Hogwarts, all he saw from the old man was favoritism toward a certain house and certain students, completely ignoring the rest. Honestly, I’d have banned him from teaching. There’s a lot said about Snape as a teacher, but Dumbledore was responsible for everything, allowed terrible things to happen, and turned his back on many vulnerable children and teenagers. Then he acted all surprised when they ended up in bad places. Screw him, hypocritical old man.
2 - Ginny Weasley: The “I’m not like other girls,” the “shut up, Hermione, you don’t know anything about Quidditch,” the “everyone look at me, I hex people, I’m one of the boys, I’m not vain but I’m hot, but I’m not prissy,” the “I make fun of girls who are pretty, flirty, and feminine because I’m a textbook pick-me girl” who is shoved into the end of the series. She’s a character who didn’t matter at all throughout the story; she’s barely mentioned in some books, but suddenly she’s Harry’s love interest because J.K. Rowling needed all her characters to end up married with 468749284 kids, and Harry needed to be part of the Weasley family. So, they had to do something. Ginny is a terrible character, going from irrelevant to some sort of Mary Sue who even the Slytherins drool over and who, of course, is not a “typical girl” because being a “typical girl” in Rowling’s world is somehow the original sin. So, she’s great at sports, hexes people, pulls pranks because she’s so cool, uh uh uh, she’s not like the others, uh uh uh, but she has internalized misogyny that you can smell from here to China. Honestly, someone should have slapped her for being so damn stupid.
1 - James Potter: There’s nothing I haven’t already said about James Potter. He’s a character who really grinds my gears because they try to sell him as some kind of hero, but he was just a spoiled rich kid who decided to torment a poor, vulnerable boy simply because that boy was friends with his crush. He used his social power and status to get away with all the crap he pulled, attacked in groups, lied to his girlfriend saying he’d stopped bullying people when he really hadn’t, and when he was supposed to be locked up in a house with his wife and son, he was off fooling around with his best friend. James Potter was an ass, and defending him is defending classism, elitism, and whitewashing social classes. I’m not going to explain why.
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phantomphangphucker · 7 months ago
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Phic Phight - Death’s Brought Me Company
@Mimca @thesilentbard @carelisswriting @kinglazrus
There are times Vlad is truly baffled at how irresponsible, foolish, reckless, inane, stupid, dangerous, dense, careless, thoughtless, witless, idiotic, and hazardous, Maddie and Jack could be. They were his friends, yes, but they were a menace to everyone around them and he is not impressed with their son becoming their lastest ‘screw up’.
Vlad hums as he sorts through a few papers, there wasn’t too much approvals he needed to go over and sign but it was still work all the same. It would take him a few hours at least, rather than the seven plus hours poor people had to work but well that’s the perks of wealth no matter how questionably immorally acquired. That questionable morality was why he didn’t bring up his business around those friends of his, they didn’t exactly approve of how Vlad got himself to where he is today. He finds it to be rather hypocritical considering those two worked in an area that was highly morally questionable as well, and he highly doubts they’ve achieved everything they have though one hundred percent legal means as well. Alas, he had little interest in arguing such things with them, both could be rather dense after all.
He’s making good time on this application for zoning investigation and work arounds, which was starting to look like he’d definitely have to deal with it personally and with a little intimidation perhaps. Then his phone goes off, he’s tempted to let it simply go to voicemail, no one was truly entitled to his time or immediate attention after all. Then the caller id tells him it’s them, it’s Jack and Maddie, and any ideas of giving the caller(s) the cold shoulder goes out the window. They’d caught up with him four days ago? He’d given them his condolences for their portal, while also adding in some maybe snide remarks about how ‘at least there was no tragic accidents this time’. Secretly, he wanted that to be a success, in part because he knew they’d just keep trying and he’d rather them succeed before hurting themselves. The other part was simply that he can then show them his portal in proper, since they didn’t want seeing his to influence their own work; establish something themselves without others input was something he could respect. But without them being able to sense and feel the flow of ectoplasm even he’s not sure how they’ll manage it. The fact that they’re calling again so soon means either it has indeed worked and they had only needed to fiddle with it a bit more, or someone’s been hurt. All he can do is hope it’s the former, as he picks up the phone, “Maddie? Jack?”.
It’s Maddie’s voice he hears, hearing her voice before Jack’s excited greetings was never a good thing. The last time that happened Jack had gotten himself hospitalised from a head on collision with a semi truck. The time before that, Jack had somehow gotten the house teleported into the mirror dimension, which Vlad hadn’t even known existed. Her voice is worried, “Vlad, I think we messed up”.
Oh no. Vlad sighs, folding up the paperwork that won’t be looked at again today, and puts a few of his fingers to his forehead as he replies, “what happened? Are you two okay?”.
“We’re… fine-”.
“And! Our portals working!”. Ah there’s Jack, there’s excitement in his voice but it’s… far too subdued for the man. Very far too subdued. Something’s gone wrong.
Did a ghost come through their portal? A dangerous one perhaps? Or is the Infinite Realm side location an unpleasant one? Is the portal unstable? There’s lots of possibilities.
“Jack dear, let me explain”.
“Right, sorry Mads. Hey Vlad!”.
Vlad rolls his eyes a little fondly, also slight annoyed of course, Jack could be too eager and exuberant, “yes hello, Jack. Now do explain, Madeline”.
“Maddie”, she clears her throat, “after the portal didn’t work we decided to go for a walk, to try and think in the fresh air and cheer up”.
Perfectly reasonable and expected so far.
“We even formulated a new shaft design we were going to try and work in, but when we got back Jazz… screamed-”.
Jack butts in again, “it was awful and I never want to hear that from my precious princess ever again”; Vlad can hear the man physically shudder. Yes, he supposes hear one’s child scream is never good or pleasant.
“Agreed, Jack. But-”, she sighs, “-it was from the lab, Vlad, so we ran down, worried of course-”. It sounds like she’s bitting her nails, something she only did when very worried. “-the last time anyone screamed in a lab was you and that was terrifying”.
Vlad grumbling, “oh I’m well aware”, shaking his head, “is young Jasmine alright?”.
“Yes, yes, thankfully. But… Danny’s not”. Well butter biscuits, Vlad gets up immediately to go grab his coat as she continues, “apparently Danny saw how upset we were and thought he’d try to fix the portal for us-”.
Vlad pauses with one arm through his jacket sleeve, he almost squawks but he absolutely does not squawk, “what”; he knows a bit of his ghostly power leaked into his voice and that made his response less pleasant on the ears, but he hardly cares. “How did he even get down there”.
She doesn’t chastise him for using his more ghostly voice over phone, meaning she might be concerned enough to have not even noticed, “we… might have forgot to lock the lab when we left-”.
Jack butting in yet again, “but the kids have been drilled on safety! He really should have known not too!”.
Vlad growls low, “they’re children, Jack”, pulling his jacket on fully and taking a breath, “children are not known for abiding by rules and are well known to have invincibility complexes”. Daniel was a stellar and unfortunate example of that. That boy had tried to eat a pie that was actively on fire before, and don’t get him started on the child trying to ‘bake himself’ or the blackbird pie incident.
Maddie swallows, “I know we weren’t as careful as we should have been, Vlad. Danny… wandered inside the portal to see if he could fix it and it turned out we… forgot to unplug it as well and… forgot there was an on switch inside that needed to be turned on”.
Vlad knows well his eyes flash red, “excuse me, would you care to repeat that”, that was practically a threat and he knew it. How could they be so! So! So stupid! So utterly and completely and unbelievably moronic! “You left it plugged in, forgot an on switch INSIDE THE MACHINE, failed to lock the Cracker Jack door, and left a dangerous highly volatile machine in working condition alone while your children were home. Are you two actively TRYING to hospitalise people?!”. It takes some effort to not simply crush his phone, “college I can understand, we were all too excitable, but now? Absolutely not”, growling again, “now. What is Daniel’s condition”. That’s a demand not a question.
He can hear the wince in her voice, good, and her tones shaky, for a change he’s hoping that’s from fear of him. “He’s… he’s out of the hospital now, Vlad. He’s-”.
What. “You mean to tell me he was in hospital and you didn’t call me immediately. Madeline, what the butter biscuits is wrong with you two!”. This was completely unacceptable. He paces in a circle, he wanted her to just hang up already so he can head over there personally and shoot something just to get across how unbelievably pissed and unimpressed he is. As it is he’s seriously debating throwing one of his crystal whiskey glasses at a wall.
“I, we knew you’d be mad and, Vlad, it’s not the same. There’s no ecto-acne, his hair’s the same. The doctor even said he was having a perfectly normal reaction to high voltage electrocution. His vitals weren’t even wonky!”.
Jack blurting out, “we were confused! Relieved but confused!”.
Vlad pauses, stilling, “he… doesn’t have ecto-acne? None of my symptoms?”. That… then perhaps the boy would be fine? Wouldn’t be changed by them?
Maddie clearly bites her lip, “no and I thought that, maybe, if you were around, with your ecto-field, that might change things. I thought it was a risk and I knew you’d come immediately if we called”.
Vlad pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs aggressively. He supposes they very well could have a point there. As there would be no way to safely confirm if Vlad being near would have some effect on someone else who got caught in a portal. It would genuinely be a risk. Even if she had explained that worry to him he knows he would have gone anyway, he wouldn’t have been able to take her at her word. He still can’t, won’t. “I want you to send me his medical records, immediately. I’ll read them on my way”.
“I’d chastise you about distracted flying but, I understand. We’ve poured over them already and they really are normal. But, he’s- something’s not right even if he keeps saying he’s fine”.
Vlad glares at a wall, it melts slightly, “butter biscuits”, at least his tablet pings an email, him transforming as he opens it, it’s the medical files. Him nodding to himself, at least they had the files on standby already, “got them. I’ll be there shortly. However, do know that I am not impressed”, and he hangs up without giving them the chance to say goodbyes or see you soons.
Him flying out a window and flipping through his tablet, the files are… somehow perfectly normal and Vlad is a little baffled. His own records showed himself as having a disturbingly low heart rate and blood pressure, an extreme feverish body temp, and far too few breaths per minute. Daniel’s was: eighty two bpm, one-twenty over eighty mmHg, ninety-seven point nine Fahrenheit, and a respiratory rate of eleven. His respiratory was on the lower end but it wasn’t actively concerning, Vlad himself often averaged only four.
Normal was good. But Madeline said she still felt something wasn’t right, perhaps she was simply paranoid or perhaps the electrocution had simply raised Daniel’s vitals for a period of time. Vlad shaking his head, the fact that the boy had been inside of the portal and electrocuted instead of simply blasted in the face by pure ecto-energy was horrific; but perhaps such an unfortunate experience would prevent him from becoming something no longer truly human. Vlad did consider himself better for how he is now, but that didn’t make the process of become content with it a pleasant one, it also didn’t make being a halfa a good thing as it arguably was not. It was a rather lonely existence, which Vlad would rather not see changed in this particular instance. It could one day get him experimented on by his own government, and under that same government he did not truly have rights. He had nothing he could compare himself to, for curiosities sake or for the sake of his well being. There was also the simple fact that having powers resulted in his view of the world and other people being undeniably altered. The mental changes and instincts were an entirely separate issue, one he’s embraced, but that applies to him and perhaps not to a young teenage boy.
He now rather wished it had been Maddie or Jack that had gotten caught in their own creation, rather than a child.
Either way, he’s here now. Floating invisibly above the FentonWorks building and feeling the desire to blast that sign of theirs out of frustration and annoyance. One would think after what happened with him they’d be even slightly more careful, but apparently not. He lands with a scowl, phasing through the front door and, at the sight that only Maddie and Jack appearing to be around, transforms back into his human form and drops his invisibility; both of them jerk a little and he glares instead of half heartedly apologising or mocking them. “Where is he”. It’s not a question and they know it. Vlad can smell that the boy’s not here, and he’s none too pleased about that.
Jack rubs his neck, “school”. While Maddie winces. Vlad glaring a little more, “he just got of the hospital for at the very least being electrocuted and you sent him to school”.
Maddie standing up from her chair, hands up pacifyingly, “he wanted to, Vlad”, dropping her hands, “even Jazz tried to get him to stay home but he got mad at her for being overbearing and still left”.
Jack frowning, “he’s been making almost every excuse he can to not be here, kinda part of our worry you know?”, and laughs in that awkward way that Vlad knows means he’s upset and possibly even scared.
Vlad rubs his temples and walks in further, “I suppose that’s acceptable then, but what teen actually wants to go to school?”.
“Jazz thinks he’s traumatised and doesn’t want to be around the portal”, Maddie frowns, “which is understandable”.
Vlad scowling, “yes, yes it is”.
Jack tilting his head in confusion, “but he’s still cleaning the lab, like he’s supposed to so I don’t think Jazz’s theory makes sense”.
Vlad blinks at the man, he can’t be serious. “You’re telling me, you have Daniel who was just in a portal accident cleaning your lab? Surrounded by ectoplasm samples and mess. Jack, I am genuinely debating trying to beat you up”. The man looks apologetic rather than frightened, which is a fair bit grating. Giving Maddie a hard look, “how can you justify him being around that if you were worried about him being around me”.
“We don’t really know how different your ecto-field is, Vlad. And you give off a ton more than any samples we have. For all any of us know there could be some form of halfa gene or energy in yours”.
Alright, Vlad can admit that could very well be the case. Sighing, “fine. I still don’t approve”, moving into the kitchen/dinning room fully, “now what about him seems wrong? I know him being avoidant, of you two or the lab or merely the portal would not be enough to set off alarm bells”. After all, such behaviour would be perfectly normal and human.
Maddie frowns and grabs a sample vial out of the fridge, “we found blood and ectoplasm in the bathroom this morning, and remembering what… happened with you and your wings, well”, she hands it over to him and he gets her concern immediately, it looks like one of his own samples. “It’s not separating out like human blood and ghost ectoplasm normally does. Normally does, with any sample that isn’t from you or someone severely contaminated long term”.
Vlad nods at the sample, this was near as good as proof to him. He winces a bit internally though, feeling a bit of a pang of sympathy for the boy. The wings ‘coming out’ as it were, was incredibly unpleasant. He’s glad Jack and Maddie had been there for that, to ‘help’ even if it was mostly them getting things straightened out and cleaning him up when he was frankly too exhausted to do it himself. However this meant they weren’t there for their son, which would be the more important one to be there for. Rolling his right shoulder a bit, “I’m assuming there’s more, because yes, him just being contaminated is a viable option”.
Jack nods, “he keeps dropping things and acts very freaked out after”. Maddie nodding at her husband then looking back to Vlad, “I’m fairly certain I saw his cereal spoon go through his fingers rather than just dropping it. And he has that unnerving aura around him that you do, I might be desensitised to it but that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel it sometimes”, and she laughs playfully a little.
Vlad glaring, flashing his eyes at her, “I’m not in the mood, Madeline”; making her wince. Vlad pinching the bridge of his nose yet again, eyes squeezing shut, “alright, so it would seem that Daniel is mostly likely a halfa now, correct?”. Dropping his hand and eyeing them as they both nod, “yet he did not have ecto-acne or abnormal vitals?”. More nodding, “and he’s being avoidant of a house full of ghost hunting gear as well as the two ghost hunters who reside in it?”.
Maddie smacks herself in the face immediately, Jack thumping his head down on the table. Maddie groaning, “why did we not clue in to that? Ugh. He’s afraid we’re going to hurt him or hunt him”. Jack snapping his head up, “we would never!”.
Vlad gives them a bit of a pitying look, eyeing Jack specifically, “you two found out the same time I did about my altered state of being, there was never a chance for me to have those kinds of worries”, scoffing, “not that I would have. But Daniel is a child. His brain isn’t even fully developed, it’s a wonder he didn’t run away on you. Of course he’s afraid of ghost hunters if he’s a ghost himself”. They both wince at least.
And the then house phone goes off, Maddie picking it up immediately, “hello?”.
Vlad tilts his head, his ghostly hearing making it easy to listen in. “Hey Mrs. Fenton. Was wondering if Danny could spend the night? We got a big project and apparently the dummy forgot to actually do his part”. That reeks of a lie, it’s not a bad one though, he’ll give what sounds like a teen girl that much; it was most likely that Samantha girl.
Maddie eyes the vial now sitting on the table, hopefully she’s thinking what he is, Daniel’s friends knew and were trying to help him, most likely with the fresh wings. Vlad would gamble a concerning amount of money on the belief that Daniel most certainly did not actually go to school and neither did his friends. Maddie shakes her head to herself, “I would really rather he come home, I’m sure any school work he needs to do is important but I’d like him home”.
Vlad rolls his eyes, the woman was going to make the boy a bundle of nerves, so he walks over and phases the phone out of her grip, making her jump. She glares at him and puts her hands on her hips, “what do you think you’re doing?”. Vlad simply smirks, said smirk likely airing on the ‘villainous’ side, before giving his attention to the phone, “tell young Daniel that his godfather would like to see him and that said grandfather is not unfamiliar with certain portal-related accidents, as it were”. Maddie looks worried. Him moving the phone away from his ear and covering the mic, “relax, dear Maddie. Being blunt with the boy is far better than making him scared to come home”.
The, “what are you talking about?!?”, that comes through the phone making all three of them wince from the static and warble. Maddie paling a little and leaning against the counter, after all, that kind of vocal effect was explicitly ghostly and one she’s heard from Vlad quite literally today multiple times. It was more solid proof. A different male voice, that isn’t spectrally infused, pipes up in the background, “dude, your voice?”.
Hmmm, yes his friends did indeed know. Vlad smirking a little again, “Daniel, tell that friend of yours not to worry about your voice, it’s perfectly normal when emotional”.
“Um. Uh. Okay?”. Oh the boy sounds so unsure and freaked out, Vlad almost wants to mock him a little. It sounds like he’s turned his head away from the phone, “um, so apparently what just happened is normal? And my uncle god father guy might be, you know, kinda like me or something? And I should probably actually go home”.
Then the girls voice again, “if your parents shoot you, I’m stabbing them and burying their bodies in my garden”.
The other male sounds like he’s frowning, “do you want us to go with? You know, moral support?”.
It would seem Daniel had good friends. A blessing indeed. Hopefully they were less reckless and idiotic than Vlad’s own friends, regardless of how fond of them he was. However, Vlad has no interest in explaining himself to three teenagers, Daniel needed the information the other two could hear it from him, “I’d much rather not have this conversation with three hormonal teenagers”.
Daniel is clearly still talking to his friends, “okay so that’s a no, Tuck. Apparently we’re too hormonal”.
“More like homicidal, I do have boots with knives inside them”.
“I’m not wearing your shoes, Sam”.
“You don’t need to wear them! Throw them!”.
“Your shoes weigh, like, twenty goddamn pounds?”.
The boy butts into the argument, “I’m not sure that matters anymore, man. You accidentally lifted up my dad’s car”.
“Shut up, Tuck. Ugh”. Daniel’s attention does seem to return to the phone at that, “am I in trouble?”.
Vlad rolls his eyes, “hardly. The only ones in trouble are two reckless scientists who let this happen for a second time”; he throws another glare at the two who smartly wince and glance away.
Daniel almost excited whispers, “oh my god my parents are in trouble, that’s kinda awesome”; his friends laugh in the background.
“Well if you find that amusing, come home and mock them”.
Daniel sighs, “okay fine”.
Vlad nodding to himself, “good. Now for the love of all the Gouda in the world, do not try to bind or strap down your, let’s say, feathered friends, you’ll just damage them and bent feathers are hardly becoming of a man or boy”. Vlad took expert care of his wings and he wasn’t about to tolerate Daniel not doing the same, or everything forbid misshaping them.
This time Daniel actually squeaks, “okay”, then hangs up.
Vlad feels quite content with himself actually. Looking to Maddie and Jack, who still look rather awkward, “he’s coming. Now hopefully I don’t need to tell you two to avoid staring or trying to take samples from him”, he doesn’t like that they appear slightly confused, “Daniel isn’t me, I was and am an adult and an ecto-ologist myself, he is neither”.
Maddie sighs and nods to herself, “right right, he needs us a parents only and the last thing we’d want to do is make him feel like an experiment”.
Vlad nodding strongly right back, “indeed”.
Jack smacking his fist into his hand and springing up, “oh! We should change so we’re not in the, you know, ghost hunter stuff!”. Vlad chuckling a little, “that’s not a bad idea”, which makes the man run off upstairs. Maddie shaking her head fondly and moving to follow after him; Vlad watching her go.
They were fools but they cared, it was only too bad their foolishness had to bring harm unto others so often. Yes Daniel’s own actions had been foolish, much like Vlad’s had been, but that boy was a child and that made a world of difference. A child should have the expectation that something that could alter their very being and species wouldn’t be left unattended and plugged in inside an unlocked room. Daniel was well within reason to believe that the worst that could happen was a slight burn or small shock, a cut perhaps. Not death, by half or full.
Daniel arrives before his parents actually finish changing, getting in and out of biohazard suits wasn’t exactly easy, even for Vlad since he couldn’t phase through the material. Arguably this was for the best, Vlad was watching the door, leaning back against the kitchen entryway wall, as Daniel sticks his head in cautiously. Daniel spotting him, stares, looking confused, so Vlad gestures at his eyes and flashes them their ghostly red. Daniel jumps a little before relaxing and moving inside fully, he’s… holding a blanket around his shoulders even if it’s not doing much to hide that there’s something large underneath. Vlad definitely wants to mock him, very badly in fact, drawling a very sarcastic, “impeccable fashion choices, Daniel. I applaud you”.
Daniel scowls at him, “what else am I supposed to do, you jerk”, there’s a bit of humour in his eyes so Vlad counts that as a win. Daniel glancing around as the door shuts and he shuffles inside more, “where are, mom and dad?”.
“Upstairs at the moment”, Vlad eyes the ground around the boy, no shadow. Daniel is absolutely a halfa, even with wings he could still technically be merely extremely contaminated, but without a shadow there’s no way he’s fully human. Light simply passed through their kind in the same way it did with ghosts and there was nothing that could be done about that. Which yes, was part of why Vlad preferred to avoid needless public appearances.
Daniel nods, eyeing Vlad, “so, where’s yours? Or were you just yanking my chain?”.
Vlad rolls his eyes at that, pushing himself off the wall and letting his wings unfurl out through the holes he had in the backs off all his clothes these days, crimson red feathers lining the inside and his white ones covering the outside. Stretching one out to flick Daniel in the forehead with the primary feathers. Daniel stares wide-eyed, “how did you do that? How do you hide them?! I have so many questions”.
Vlad chuckles, his blatant curiosity, with no hints of horror or distrubia was a genuinely welcome reaction. It reminded him of Jack, except without getting his very fresh at the time feathers grabbed and prodded. Folding his wings up against his back again, though leaving them out instead of reabsorbing them, “I imagine so”, walking over towards Daniel and grabbing the blanket he’s still using as a cover and pulling it up some, ignoring Daniel’s clear embarrassment. “We’re malleable things, absorbing them inside ourselves is a simple though uncomfortable task”. The constant full sensation in his torso and the aches from wings that wanted to be stretched out could be incredibly annoying and cumbersome. Humming, “yours are much too fresh though, you need to heal first. I can say the colour seems to suit you well though”. The red inner feathers of his own used to confuse him, until he grew up and stablised into his more vampiric appearance anyways. Daniel’s were white and seemed to shimmer or sparkle like fresh snow, which went well with his pale skin; they even felt cold like snow, was his core an ice type perhaps? The black tipping on all the feathers, as well as his lesser coverts and alula feathers being black was a decent accent and went well with his dark hair. If Vlad had to guess, Daniel’s tertial feathers are black as well.
Daniel blinks, apparently a little baffled by how calm Vlad was being, “yours… go with your eyes?”
Alright yes, Vlad laughs at that, “they suit me more than you can tell, boy”.
Daniel snorts at that and rolls his eyes, “whatever, old man”, though his fidgeting fingers give away his nerves.
“Alright! Is he here yet!”, Jack pops down the stairs in his stupid ghost themed overalls, how did that man not understand that those things did not flatter him at all? Jack brightening up at seeing his son, and basically bounding down the stairs. Daniel pulling the wing out of Vlad’s grasp and hiding it under the blanket again, “oh! Um, hi? Dad?”, cringing dramatically, “what are you wearing?!”. See even Daniel understands it’s unbecoming.
Vlad has no desire to play a game of ‘beat around the bush’ so he nods to Jack, and Maddie as she comes down as well, “he doesn’t have a shadow, meaning that yes, he’s a halfa as well”.
“I- wait what?”, Daniel looks down, “what do you mean in don’t have a shadow?”, does a little circle spin ‘thing’ while staring at the ground and blinking, “holy shit I don’t have a shadow”.
“Language, my boy”. Had he seriously not noticed? Well Vlad knows which parent he got that lack of attention to detail from, as endearing as that particular flaw could be it wasn’t a good one.
Maddie gives Vlad a bit of a pinched smile before making a point to hold Jack back from crowding the boy, her walking up and ruffling Daniel’s hair, Daniel eyeing the bare hand cautiously. “To be fair, sweety, we didn’t notice either”.
Perhaps he got it from both of them. How unfortunate. Vlad shakes his head, stepping back a little to let the mother look over her son and the father hover close enough by that it doesn’t quite qualify as crowding. Vlad huffing, “considering you didn’t notice an entire misplaced on switch I’m not sure why I’m surprised”.
Both parents wince but Daniel blinks at him a bit owlishly, it absolutely does not come off as human, “wait, how do you know that?”.
Jack rubbing his neck and getting his son’s attention, “well, we inspected the portal after your, uh, accident. We wanted to know how it happened, since we thought it was completely nonfunctional”.
“Right. Your ground breaking life’s work. Got it”. Even Vlad cringes from that response, it was explicitly bitter.
Jack holds up his hands, looking awkward as he should for that comment. “No not just how you got it to work. More like how it worked at all, every other time we’ve failed it had to be completely reworked so it should have been fine not being unplugged… or locked… which yeah was really stupid of us. Heh”, and rubs his neck.
Vlad sighs, touching a few fingers to his forehead, “what your buffoon of a father is trying to say is that he wanted to know how you were even able to get hurt”, then glaring at Jack, “I am still fully tempted to smack both of you over the head, know that”.
Daniel actually looks amused and pleased at that; progress. And stares a little surprised when Jack smacks Vlad on the back a couple of times, paying no mind to the wings. Muttering to himself, “Huh, I guess they are okay”. Meanwhile Vlad’s simply trying to stop himself from getting knocked over.
Maddie nodding and startling the boy a little, “we’ve had twenty years to get used to him and all the changes that happened, you’re fine and we definitely are not going to shoot you or anything of that sort”. Jack nodding and grinning in agreement readily.
Vlad inspects his nails a little, “I’d be quite annoyed if that wasn’t the case”, waving at Jack dismissively while speaking to Daniel again, “your father was more explicitly responsible for my little accident”, huffing, “though I’ll admit sticking my face directly in front of a potentially viable proto portal was indeed foolish”.
“I mean, at least you didn’t try to put it around your neck to wear it like a collar”.
Vlad blinks at the boy, a bit affronted, “that would be utterly imbecilic rather than just foolish”.
Maddie blinks before putting a hand over her face again, “right, yeah”, looking at Vlad, “we caught him doing that with another proto portal model, that’s why we stopped making them”.
Vlad smacks Daniel over the back of the head immediately, “you are a danger to yourself and a complete moron. Child or no”.
Daniel squawks, “ow! Hey!”, and covers his head with his hands, “it was funny!”; this all resulting in him dropping the blanket, which thumps to the ground quietly considering how much it doing so revealed. Daniel blinking owlishly again and eyeing his folks as they get their first proper glimpse of the wings.
Vlad humming to himself while the boy has an internal crisis or two, “hmmm, I was right, your tertials are indeed black”.
“My, what?”.
Vlad unfolds a wing some and gesture at the fluffier feathers that stayed close to his side and back, “the inner most feathers, the only ones that actually stay ‘fluffy’”, gesturing at Daniel’s fuzzy fluffy feathers, “you have feather down right now, that’ll go away with age”. Vlad only had to put up with that for around two years if he remembers right, Daniel’s would likely stick around for at least four; that thought making him snicker at the boy, “give it a few years, at least four, I’d say”. Daniel pouts at him.
Jack beams, “meaning more time for cute baby ghost pictures!”; that Daniel absolutely fully groans at, burying his face in his hands. “We only have five of Vlad”.
Vlad scowling, “and here I thought I burned all of those”.
“Aren’t you glad you didn’t now?!”, Jack’s grin is almost mean which is strange to see on the jubilant man, “now Danny-boy can see them!”. At least that makes Daniel laugh into his hand.
Vlad rolls his eyes, though he supposes the bonding would be worth the embarrassment. As well as reassuring to the boy that he’s normal, for their species anyways. Though… Daniel still has his wings as scrunched up and as pressed into himself as possible, he wasn’t relaxing them at all. Sighing at the boy, “the more difficult you make healing the longer it’ll take to be able to hide them”.
“Huh?”.
Vlad ignores him, as well as his parents looks of concern, and moves around Daniel to physically grab the wings and force them open and away from his back a bit. Daniel yelping and attempting to jerk out of Vlad’s grasp, “hey!”.
Vlad just glares at the very sloppy stitch work and bandaging attached with, of all things, scotch tap. This would scar horrifically if not corrected immediately, “by Gouda, who did this? This is going to heal horribly even without you trying to scrunch your wings up out of existence. Kitchen table, now, we’re fixing this”. Vlad doesn’t care that the boy is clearly embarrassed when Jack and Maddie tilt their heads over or physically move to get a look and cringe themselves.
At least Daniel does move into the kitchen, not moving his wings at all from the position Vlad effectively moved them into, good, smart boy. Daniel grumbling, “Sam did and I think she did a great job”.
“A great job for a teenager not for a doctor. Any doctor who did this would lose their license on the spot or I’d sue them into bankruptcy”.
Jack brings over their medi kit, the one they’d use on him on the rare occasion it was needed. Vlad liked to pride himself on rarely getting injured even when dealing with ghosts. Of course one can’t employ ghosts without out first proving why they’re the employer and not the employee. Skulker in particular took a while to beat down into submission. Maddie getting out what’s needed from the kit while Daniel sits down on one of the stools, “um, why is the thread in there glowing?”.
Maddie’s response is automatic and she doesn’t take her eyes off of her task, “it’s phase proof, so you won’t accidentally phase it out of your skin”.
“Oh okay, yeah that makes sense I guess”.
Vlad rolls his eyes, “I would hope so. Now hold still and don’t fold your wings in”. It was fairly clear Daniel was more comfortable with him touching his wings, likely because Vlad had his own pair, so Vlad maneuvers the wings around for Maddie as she does her work. Vlad, figuring he might as well use this time to explain and to distract the boy from the pain of this, hums, “Jack and Maddie said you’ve been clumsy, dropping things, so I take it your having issues with the powers?”. Vlad had had some control issues in the beginning, but not much. In fact, Vlad didn’t get his powers for quite a while after his accident and they came one by one and very painfully. They always stung and felt foreign the first few times, it seemed like Daniel might not be having such issues.
Daniel flushing, “oh um, yeah? It’s just comes so easily, naturally or whatever, that it kinda just keeps happening?”.
Vlad quirking a single well manicured eyebrow, “and it doesn’t hurt? At all?”.
Daniel turns his head to give Vlad a confused look, “no? Should it?”.
Jack looks relieved and gets Daniel’s attention, responding before Vlad can, “oh yeah, it was pretty bad every time a new one cropped up. Sure it was cool too! But the pain and it making his ecto-acne flair up really made it kinda suck. I totally freaked out the first time”.
Maddie nodding as she threads some more of the ecto-line, “to be fair, your best friend falling through his bed, and all his medications and monitors, while screaming would be very scary to anyone”.
Vlad huffing, “I will not admit to being terrified at the time”, was saying that basically admitting to it? Absolutely not and no one can convince him otherwise.
Daniel huffing, “then I’m not admitting to being scared either, jerk”, shaking his head gently, hopefully with the purpose of not disturbing Maddie or causing himself more pain. How well he could hide pain was a little concerning. “Should I be worried I’m not getting pain from it and stuff? And each time you got a new one?”, Daniel quirks an eyebrow, “you didn’t just get everything all at once? Ecto-acne?”.
“That level of pain would have likely knocked me unconscious for multiple days, so no. I got my powers slowly over multiple years, which were spent hospitalised”. Humming and tapping his chin, he wonders why they’re different like this? He’s clearly a halfa and not a full ghost, otherwise he wouldn’t look human at all and he wouldn’t still have a human scent; yes it was tinted with ectoplasm but it was still human. Could it be because his own accident was with a proto portal and not a genuine one? Or did the size and power output matter? Perhaps how much of the body was engulfed at once? Since it sounded like Daniel’s entire body was blasted all at once, while only his face was affected. Perhaps that was why Daniel didn’t get ecto-acne?
Jack scratches his head, “I don’t think? you need to worry? There really isn’t an ‘normal’ way this works since Vlad’s the only halfa we all know of. And your, uh accidents, were pretty different”.
Daniel quirks an eyebrow at Jack then turns the look on Vlad, clearly wanting an explanation. Vlad shrugging like talking about it didn’t really bother him, “I got blasted in the face, and only the face, by a proto portal that quite possibly had contaminated ectoplasm in it. Where as it sounds like you got blasted head to toe by a genuine fully functional portal, that would definitely have been using pure ectoplasm otherwise it wouldn’t be working”, frowning, “I also did not get electrocuted, so it is not as if you got out of this pain free”.
Daniel winces, “yeah that wasn’t fun”. Maddie and Jack also wincing, it looks like Maddie’s got the first wing back tear stitched up properly now.
Jack rubbing his neck and eyeing his son, “we are really sorry that happened though”.
Daniel shrugs, making Vlad smack him over the head again, Daniel grumbling and rubbing the back of his head, “ow. And it’s fine, dad. I shouldn’t have been messing with stuff”.
Vlad scoffs, “it shouldn’t have been accessible for you to mess with in the first place”. Making both parents look thoroughly chastised, good.
Daniel glares at Vlad, “I would have picked the lock anyways”.
Maddie glares at his back for that, “since when did you pick up lock picking, mister”.
“Uh, Tuck has a bad habit of locking himself out of his house? Sam thinks it’s too funny to help and he can’t pick a lock to save his life?”.
Vlad grins meanly, “what a budding little criminal you are”.
“Hey!”.
Vlad studiously ignores the glares Maddie and Jack throw him, clearly trying to discourage Vlad from being a more illegal bad influence on their kid. Vlad putting a proud hand to his chest, “perhaps you shall follow in my footsteps and start robbing banks”.
Maddie’s scowl can be heard in her voice, “Vlad”. Jack pouts at him, “you know we would have paid your hospital bills”.
“I have no interest in being indebted to others because of money, such things are beneath me”.
Daniel gives him an affronted look, pity, “I am not robbing banks, what the hell uncle?!? Why would you use powers for that?!? I’d use them to, like, рⷬrͬoͦᴛⷮeͤcͨᴛⷮ people or something first”.
Vlad blinks at the inhuman ghostly subvocal to that, which he’s sure Jack and Maddie didn’t pick up on. They didn’t pick up on it when he himself did it, over that pesky little possession obsession. Perhaps Daniel’s own obsession was protection based… Vlad may have to cautious of that, as he could see himself bothering a protective obsession. Beyond Jack’s and Maddie’s well being, he hardly cares if his endeavours harm others. He’s not going to comment on his suspicions though, it was rude to out another ghosts, or halfas, obsession like that and opened yourself up for attack. Jack grins, “that’s my boy!”. Making Vlad roll his eyes at the large man.
Daniel flushes though and Vlad can pick up on the slightly concerned off put look on his face, the boy likely noticed something was off with his comment. That there was a strong pushy undercurrent of pure want in there and likely in his chest as well; even if he’s positive Daniel’s core hasn’t developed enough for him to genuinely feel it yet. Daniel clearing his throat, “so um, our accidents were really different then”.
Vlad smirks at the boy, who glares back, before nodding his head, “indeed. And I suspect my ecto-acne played a large role in my being in pain and perhaps also why I took years for my powers to develop”.
Jack nods, tapping his chin, “I really wish we knew exactly why that ecto-acne happened”. Vlad nodding readily, it was something they would probably never figure out. (He would later find out, due to his ecto-acne returning and Daniel trying to help him, that it was because of pop in the filtrator. He was incredibly infuriated by that, and Jack apologising profusely didn’t little to temper his anger).
Vlad eyeing Daniel, Maddie seemed almost done with the other wing back tear, “now, care to enlighten me on your abilities? It would be best to confirm if they’re the same as mine”. At the boy eyeing him cautiously Vlad rolls his eyes with a huff, “invisibility, intangibility, gravity nullification or floating in layman’s terms, enhanced senses, increased physical ability and durability, duplication, ecto-blasts, ecto-shields, transformation, overshadowing, healing factor, teleportation, body modification or contortion, mild electrokenisis, pyrokenisis, power augmentation, ecto-twister, and a resistance to anti-ghost tech”. He studiously ignores the proud smile on Maddie’s and Jack’s faces, they always got oddly proud over how powerful he was. Yes he himself took great pride in that, being able to best relatively any ghost he came across, but as full humans they should find that unsettling and perhaps it wounded his pride a little that they did not.
Daniel blinks in that owlish way again, Vlad’s going to have to talk to him about breaking that forming habit, then whistles, “well damn, uncle. That’s nothing to piss at”.
All three adults look at him disgusted. Vlad scowling deeply, “I would rather no one ever piss on me, Daniel. That is disgusting”. Right, he always forgets that Daniel has a rather peculiar and annoying sense of humour.
Maddie shaking her head while doing up the last stitch and standing up, stretching a little and handing her tools off to Jack to clean up, “alright, you’ll be good once I get you bandaged”.
Daniel looks over his shoulder and wing a little awkwardly, “uh, thank you? Thanks, mom”, and forces a smile at her.
She ruffles his hair with a genuine soft smile, “of course, Danny. You’re more than welcome to come to us if you ever get hurt, we can teach Sam and Tuck too if you’re more comfortable with that”. Jack holding up a finger, “and them knowing would probably be a good idea anyway. Never know when you’re going to get hurt!”.
Vlad sighing and massaging his temples, “yes of course, especially since as soon as the ghosts find out there’s another halfa, they’ll want to test your metal”.
Daniel blinks, “what?”, while Maddie sorts out which bandaging she wants to use.
“Fight you, Daniel. It’s part of how ghosts socialise and establish their standing compared to each other. Ghosts are very much rule of the strong”, looking to Jack, “you two have been sticking to teaching him combat, right”. Jack nodding readily, so Vlad nods back, “good”, looking back to Daniel, “now stop dodging the powers question. Your parents aren’t freaked out by mine, they won’t be freaked out by yours”.
Jack giving his son a thumbs up, “dont worry, Danny-boy. And ghosts vary a lot and you’re young and new, so if you’ve got less than Vladdie that’s likely super normal”. Vlad nods like that’s obvious, because it was.
Daniel flushes, “uh, well I don’t think I can do all that? But I think I’m, uh, stronger than I was a few days ago”.
Vlad nodding, “you were freshly formed, as it were, a few days ago. I doubt every single ability you’ll have would have developed immediately or within a few days”.
Daniel chuckles awkwardly and rubs his neck, Maddie tapping in his back to remind him not to move too much, making Daniel look even more awkward, “yeah I guess that makes sense”, tilting his head, “um, so far then, I don’t have anything you don’t I think? Invisibility, intangibility, the gravity thing, the heightened physical ability which I’m guessing is strength and speed and stuff, probably the healing factor, body morphing, I don’t think the voice echo thing counts as a power-”.
Vlad snorts, “it does not, good for intimidation though”.
Daniel makes a face at him but continues, “-my senses are better, and transformation”.
All three adults blink, surprised. Vlad titling his head, “you can transform already? Into your more ghostly appearance?”.
Daniel’s, “yes?”, is very awkward and mousy.
Jack beams and jumps, it’s rather embarrassing and childish. “Awesome! I bet you look awesome and very spooky!”, laughing, “it took ol’ Vladdie, like, six years to do that! And! He usually couldn’t hold it for very long!”.
Vlad grumbles, not pouts, grumbles at the man, “I was still healing and it’s an entirely deferent state of being, of course I had issues, Jack”. Jack just grins and laughs a little more.
Daniel tilts his head but chuckles at Vlad, “I think it’s easy, I mean sure I detransform, I guess, accidentally. And it’s kinda weird getting it to work, but when I really remember the how I can do it”.
Maddie nods, giving the bandaging a pat down before staring up, “alright, your good”, moving her head to be more in Danny’s line of sight, “you feel like showing us? Your other form?”, then looking at Vlad with a quirked eyebrow, “I’m sure your uncle Vlad wouldn’t object to showing you his?”.
Vlad waves her off, “oh but of course, you know how much I love to show off”.
Daniel looks at him blatantly curious, though clearly also nervous.
So Vlad steps back a bit and does a little bit of a dramatic bow while letting his transformation rings travel over his body. A little curious about Daniel’s muttered, “why are his black?”. Regardless, Vlad straightens up in his ghostly form, making a point to keep his feet planted in the ground.
Daniel stares a little, tilting his head at an angle that’s a little past humanly possible, “wow you look way different”, then snickering, “very vampire, nice horn hair”.
Vlad is well aware he is being mocked. Today he’ll tolerate such insult, since he’s effectively explaining for the first time being a halfa to another halfa who is also a child, his godson at that. “Yes yes, laugh it up”.
“Did you always look this different?”.
“Yes and no, I bulked up a lot and my hair changed. The fangs, ear points, and claws are all adult ghost traits as well”.
Jack grinning at Daniel, “meaning you shouldn’t have them now but will one day”, and only grins more at his son’s groan.
Vlad nodding, crossing his arms, “and if you get into fights, you’ll likely bulk up at least in ghost form. Now, you wondered at my rings being black, are yours not?”.
Daniel shrinks down a little, “I, um. No?”. And glances around, all three adults giving him encouraging gestures. Daniel flushing a little and clearing his throat, nodding a little. Vlad has a genuinely hard time not mocking the boy when he mutters a very quiet, “I’m going ghost”, before the white -different indeed- rings appear. Perhaps a… catchphrase helped the boy focus on the change? Regardless all three eye the more ghostly version of Daniel as the rings finish their job. Vlad’s almost miffed at how the transformation did seem easy for him, but oh well.
Daniel’s ghost form has a black hazmat suit with white gloves and white boots, his hair’s also a very shocking white. Vlad’s a little surprised his green eyes still have black pupils and white sclera, perhaps that would change as he grew into adulthood? Some ghosts did have black pupils and white sclera though, so it may very well just be the way his eyes are naturally. Daniel… looks incredibly similar to his human half, far more than Vlad ever did. Perhaps it was due to how quickly his ghost form formed? “Well you certainly don’t look all that different”. Daniel just shrugs awkwardly and jumps a little, remaining floating in the air after, at Maddie ruffling his hair; Daniel's hair waved around almost flame-like at the action.
Jack grins at Daniel, “I say it suits you! You have a pretty strong glow too!”.
Vlad leaning over some to hold his own arm up near Daniel’s having to phase through some of the boys left wing, Daniel’s glow is actually brighter than his own, if only by a hair. If Daniel was equal to him in experience and skill then Vlad’s not certain he could actually win. That was slightly concerning, on a ghostly level, no strong ghost liked the potential of a stronger one. But it was also quite thrilling, this boy could perhaps challenge him and could be something special if trained well; that prospect was incredibly enticing actually. Very thrilling indeed. “A strong glow is good, no godson of mine should be weak”.
Daniel blinking and looking at his arm, “so my… glow means I’m strong?”.
All three adults nod, Vlad standing back up right and crossing his arms again, “a stronger glow means you’re shedding off a high output of ecto-energy, it means you’ve got a high amount of natural ecto-energy. That your body self produces and filters a larger amount of ecto-energy”, humming, “though it may very well be that all halfas are powerful by our nature, as it is we don’t have to expend our energy to merely exist; however it does use up energy to remain in our ghost form”.
Daniel nods, soaking up the information, oh having an apprentice was going to be delightful. “Yeah I’ve notice I get tired after a while”, tilting his head a little at Vlad, “and so we, I, am a halfa?”, and looks to his parents for confirmation as well.
All three nodding readily, Jack beaming, “half a ghost, half a human; that’s what all the ghosts went with! Even if most of ‘em would lie just to amuse themselves”.
Vlad shrugs, “many ghosts are alright enough, particularly the useful ones”.
Daniel frowning, “yeah I don’t think I’m going to be ‘using ghosts’”. Vlad scoffing and waving the boy off, far too moral, this one.
Maddie smiles, pleased, “well you will likely get into fights, Vlad’s made it clear that’s unavoidable, so I fully expect you to take target practice and your martial arts a little more seriously”.
Vlad gesturing with a hand, “and ghost power training, of course. A well aimed ecto-blast will get you much further than a thrown punch”.
“And if I can’t do that?”.
“I’ll be baffled if you can’t, but everything has a work around if you look for it”, grinning all fang, “hold up a hand and imagine that tingling vibration throughout your entire body flow into the air above your palm, condensing into a tight pulsating sphere”.
Daniel blinks but stares at his hand, furrowing his brows in concentration, he jumps a little as a green ecto-blast forms above his palm. Him startling himself, of course, results in him losing focus and sending the blast into the ceiling. Him laughing awkwardly, “oops?”.
Jack smacks him on the back, making the boys wings twitch, “no worries, Danno! You should have seen the amount of things Vladdie set on fire!”. Daniel chuckles, loosening up a little, until Jack grabs his wing to inspect them anyways, “now let’s have a look at these! Since you’re all patched up now!”, and basically pulls the floating Daniel off his stool.
The boy giving both Vlad and Maddie slightly pleading looks, Vlad shakes his head while Maddie gives him a soft smile, “just let your dad get it out of his system”. Daniel groans but does let Jack effectively manhandle him, spinning him in the air and stretching out his wings to inspect them better. Eventually Daniel stuck holding onto the table when Jack decides to see just how long Daniel’s wing span was. They were needlessly long wings, frankly. His humerus bone was practically the length of half of Vlad’s wing. Incredibly showy, like a peacock. He’ll have to see if that’s just for show, or if the boy can put genuine speed and power behind them.
Maddie crossing her arms at her husband, “Jack, dear, that’s enough, you’re going to give him a strain at this point”. Daniel grumbling a, “thanks mom”, when Jack sheepishly lets go of the poor boys wings.
“Sorry ‘bout that, Danny-boy!”.
Daniel glances around awkwardly, “it’s, uh, okay, dad”, rubbing his neck, “it’s better than you being scared of me or trying to hunt me or something”.
Jack’s, “we’d never!”, is thankfully immediate. As it should be. Daniel was his own son after all. Vlad would be quite displeased if he found out they were hunting him in any capacity.
Vlad blinking before smirking, turning his head towards the kitchen entry way, based on sound and scent those friends of Daniel’s have shown up, ears pressed up to the door perhaps. Vlad chuckles meanly, “you two can come in, instead of trying to spy. Your friend is perfectly fine”.
Daniel jerking in the air before zipping over to the door as if it was mere second nature to him already. Vlad is absolutely a bit jealous, not that he would admit to such feelings. Jack elbowing him, “he’s got the hang of this a lot faster than you”. Vlad snarls at the man, it’s a ‘playful’ threat and Jack absolutely knows that.
Meanwhile the door opens, a pale goth and dark-skinned geek poking their heads in; the goth’s scowling and the geek’s nervous. Them both rearing their heads back a little at Daniel’s face being practically right in front of their own, “hey! It’s okay, they’re cool, my uncle’s stupidly vampire themed though”.
Vlad sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, “it’s stylish, boy. And I will not be explaining myself to your friends as well”, waving dismissively at the boy, “feel free to burden yourself with that explanation instead”. Regardless the two teens stare at Vlad, wide-eyed.
“So Danny’s not going to get shot, caged, or strapped down?”
“Danny-man, you’re either extremely lucky or stupidly unlucky, take your pick”.
At least the boy had good friends, ones that were seemingly serious about fighting his parents should they harm him. Good. They made for acceptable playmates.
Daniel blurting out, “did you guys notice I don’t have a freaking shadow anymore?”.
Both the teens snapping their heads down and blinking. Tucker shaking his head, “huh. You’d think that would be more noticeable”.
Vlad transforms himself back human as he walks over, eyeing the two teens and drawling, “you'd be surprised how much most people fail to notice”.
Sam snorts at him, “oh you’re the weird uncle, that explains so much”, pointing at Daniel, “doesn’t it, you weirdo”. Daniel simply pouts fondly at her.
Vlad quirking an eyebrow, “the ‘weird uncle’?”.
Daniel eyes him, still floating in the air, “you say some really strange stuff, okay? Like, you swear using food. That’s weird”.
“Far better than using foul language”.
“Gonna disagree on that one”; Daniel transforming back human and landing on the ground almost gracefully. Vlad sighing when the teen realises he’s sans a shirt, covering up with his wings before running up stairs for a likely baggy tank top. Daniel’s friends actively laughing at him before running into the house fully and chasing the boy up the stairs shouting about getting more ‘blackmail’ photos.
Vlad shaking his head before turning to Jack and Maddie who were watching the teens fondly, “I’m assuming you’re going to be doing quite a bit of sewing to make his clothing wearable for at least the time being”.
Maddie nodding at him, “there’s no way he’ll let me cut up his nasa varsity jacket but otherwise, of course”, frowning a little, “so you think he’ll be okay?”.
Vlad looking back up the stairs, “he seems accepting of it, shifting into comfort easily. With support there would be no reason for him not to be mentally well. Physically? I’d say he’s better off than I was, and his ecto-energy feels stable for a child ghost”. Maddie sighs in happy relief and Jack beams, giving him a thumbs up. Vlad still frowns at them, “you two got lucky with him, do not repeat this”.
Maddie’s, “we won’t”, is at least very firm. Jack nodding right after, looking up the stairs himself, “I can’t believe he’s not upset with us”.
Vlad shakes his head, “he blames himself for it entirely, regardless of that being incorrect. Which would be concerning, if I wasn’t fairly certain that he’s okay with this change. Confused, unsure, and nervous, perhaps. But not upset, angry, or sad”.
Maddie sighing again, “good. That’s good. And I agree, he seems more worried about our reaction than about being the way he is now. Being a halfa”, smiling a little, “though I’m sure he’ll ask a lot of questions”.
Jack nodding strongly, and crossing his arms, “as any curious teen should”.
Daniel’s head pops back out of his bedroom, “Vlad! Can we survive in the void of space?!”.
Vlad absolutely knows that tone meant the boy was going to do something impressively stupid. Flying to space most likely. “Yes. But you’re too new, if you lose your ghost form in space and that high up you’ll be in trouble”. The teen pouts at him, “boo. You suck”, and ducks back into his room.
At least it looked like he found a shirt he could get on.
Vlad giving Maddie and Jack pitying looks, “he’s quite the handful”.
Maddie putting a hand over her face and laughing a little. Jack chuckling loudly, “V-man! You were here when Danny attempted to eat a blob ghost!”.
“I unfortunately remember that and do not understand how that didn’t kill him”.
“Neither do we!”.
Maddie shaking her head and eyeing Vlad, “will you be staying a while?”.
Vlad inclines his head, “oh but of course, Maddie dear”, grinning, “I have a young halfa godson to apprentice after all”.
Jack laughs rather awkwardly, not unlike his son, “just don’t forget he’s our son! Don’t do too much of the parenting for us!”.
Vlad smirking, “I make no promises”; Jack, the utter fool, thinks Vlad’s joking. Vlad is not joking. If he can make an heir out of the boy then all the better, Jack and Maddie were hardly truly good parents even if Vlad himself highly doubts he’d be any better. However, Vlad was a halfa, and so was Daniel. Even if Jack and Maddie were truly great parents they wouldn’t be able to fulfil all his needs or fully relate to him. Vlad can and will.
Maddie sighing, picking up better that Vlad’s intentions weren’t exactly pure. “Please don’t. I know he’s a halfa, like you, but try not to get dangerously possessive of him?”.
He scoffs, moving to head upstairs, sending away his wings to make the stairs and hallway easier to navigate, “oh it’s much too late for that, I’m afraid”.
At least they follow him up, smart. Pointless, but smart. Besides, he doesn’t truly believe he can actually get Daniel as exclusively his or under his thumb in any sense. That boy was too moral and headstrong… and chaotic. Vlad opening the boys door to him standing ‘threateningly’ over his friends, wielding fist fulls of feathers like bombs; his friends already have a noteable amount of black and white feathers on them. Vlad sighing, “Daniel, why are you ripping out your feathers?”; Jack is wheeze laughing and Maddie looks like she thinks she’s won.
Daniel blinks, looking at Vlad but otherwise not moving, fist fulls of feather still held up in the air, “I claim comedic effect?”.
Tucker smirks, spitting out a feather, “he’s trying to suffocate us”.
Samantha’s smirk is far more mean, “i threaded some beads into his feathers earlier, he only just noticed. I am very smug”.
Daniel throws his feathers at her without hesitation. Vlad puts a hand to his face and sighs heavily, this boy was a menace in all the wrong ways and his half death was only going to encourage him.
Then Tucker looks to Vlad, “oh, I hacked your company by the way, just in case you abduct Danny or something”. Then going back to smacking Daniel and his wings, while the boy basically assaults both of his friends with the feathered things. Samantha also taking the time to look at Vlad, pointing aggressively at him, “and I have enough money to have you fully killed by somebody who has nothing”. Daniel smacking her harder with a shouted, “murder is bad!”.
Daniel’s friends were not going to help reel the boy in at all. As much as Vlad loves not being alone any more and the prospect of teaching another halfa, he’s a little concerned over what’s been given to him.
Maddie scowling, putting her hands on her hips, “Danny! You’re going to rip the stitching!”. While Jack cheers this mess on, “you go! Danno!”.
Hmmm, yes Vlad’s plate is going to be very full and he’s gotten himself involved in quite the half dead mess.
End.
Prompts: After the accident, the Fentons can't help but notice something wrong with Danny. And since Danny also has that terrible symptom of "being a teenager", he refuses to tell them anything. So they are reaching out to the only person who could possibly help: an old friend in Wisconsin. After the accident, Danny no longer has a shadow, and he isn't the first person to notice its absence. Ghosts have wings. Humans don't.Unfortunately for Danny, his body did not get the memo. In another universe, Maddie and Jack did visit Vlad in the hospital, and stayed in contact. What happens when Danny has his accident twenty years later?
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a-god-in-ruins-rises · 7 months ago
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it is interesting. the thing about christianity that christians most often tout as the reason why christianity is superior is the exact same thing that i always struggled with the most.
that "thing" is the concept of salvation. specifically, salvation from sin (especially original sin).
and i think one of the reasons why paganism appealed is precisely because it didn't have this thing. at least not in the same way.
it just always seems so convoluted to me. it seemed like a solution to a problem they invented. and it doesn't even make any sense.
one specific thing that always confused me was the immaculate conception. it's just strange to me. if god can make it so mary is immaculately conceived and born without original sin....why can't he do that for everyone? yeah i know it's mostly a catholic thing but still.
also, another thing is, i've never understood the significance of jesus' "sacrifice". like....he is god. how is that a sacrifice? he endures a day of suffering and then wakes up in heaven as the ruler of the universe? that suffering must be like stepping on a lego in the grand scheme of things. lmao. his suffering wasn't even unique either. romans crucified people all the time. there were literally two other guys suffering the same fate right next to him.\
also if it's essentially god sacrificing himself to himself....why all the melodrama? why do you have to go through all that to "wash away" everyone's sin? no one else seems to be involved in the transaction. couldn't you do it all without the suffering and the crucifixion.
also, most christians don't even understand how jesus dying is supposed to "save" us in the first place. there are all kinds of theories of atonement. but even among "scholarly" circles there's no real consensus. different churches will tend to one or another. but no one is really sure. ask yourself. how does jesus dying wash away your sins? is his death the devil's ransom? or was it to satisfy god's righteous fury? was it just a moral example? penal substitution? most people have never even really thought about it and took the "jesus died for our sins" refrain for granted.
and the questions continue. why is there sin at all? free will? okay well how can we have free will if god is all knowing? but sure let's grant free will. then why did he put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden? why even insert that kind of temptation? was it a test? why? it's like i tell a child to not eat a donut i placed on a table and then holding a lifelong grudge against them when they inevitably do. it seems so petty and stupid and kind of fucked up and irresponsible. also, like why can't he just show up to everyone and perform miracles and outline the rules clearly to people? if the choice is between salvation and eternal damnation i feel like he should be a bit more clear and direct. why gamble with people's souls? more petty testing? is it all just a game or something?
and i can keep going. but you get the idea. this is so central to christianity and one of the biggest points christians bring up when we discuss religion but it's so convoluted. and it just reads like someone make it up as they go along. and that's fine btw. that's literally what i believe about all religions, even my own. no religion is static and they're all constantly changing and adapting and evolving. and that's fine! but christianity always pretends to be different and superior for that difference. if they were just like "yeah idk it's all just myth and tradition and we're doing our best to interpret it and its mystery ultimately escapes us" or something like that i could respect that. but most christians are like "no. this is the absolute revealed truth and it's why christianity is superior and if you don't believe it you're wrong and going to hell."
lmao.
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yandere-sins · 3 years ago
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His Love
Horrortober Day 4: Needle  |  “It’s just a tiny sting. You won’t notice it at all.”
Day 4! Time is passing so fast... but I am glad to do this challenge :3 I think the biggest challenge for me is actually writing for the character’s I predetermined at the beginning. I find myself wanting to switch them around for prompts but no! I will stick to the list and keep challenging myself ^-^
Warnings: Yandere, TW Needle/Syringe, Kidnapping, Gags and being tied up, Sedation Characters: Dazai Osamu x Reader
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It was wrong.
With tears streaming down your face, you had to recognize that everything you thought had been right was actually terribly wrong. You only just met him. Perhaps it had been a month now. But really, you only just met this wonderful stranger named Dazai. He didn’t just catch your eye, he also pulled at your heartstrings. It was the kind of love you always had wanted, just… it wasn’t. Not really. 
Not if that love meant being held captive, gagged and tied, staring into the face of a madman.
Something about the way he held the needle in his hand, clear drops of something collecting at its nozzle, seemed utterly wrong. Not just morally. Morally it was very wrong. No one should fear getting injected with something unknown. But the way he held it was strange enough to ring alarm bells. As if he didn’t know how to properly use it.
As if he didn’t know what he was doing.
“Shh,” Dazai shushed you calmly, holding down your right leg as you began to move and struggle again. Panic rose inside of you, festering in every inch of your body. NO! you wanted to scream at him, your bare feet trying to kick Dazai or at least the syringe out of his hand. Whatever his plan was, you didn’t want to have anything to do with it. 
You’ve tried being calm, tried being patient with him. When he invited you over to his apartment, only to spike the tea he served you with drugs, you were scared, yes. But you tried your best to work with him and his crazy wishes. No useless question fell off your lips anymore after Dazai stared at you crazed when you asked him if you could leave. You’ve been so good. So why did you have to go through this?
“It’s just a tiny sting. You won’t notice it at all,” Dazai assured you, or rather, reassured you. But with your mouth gagged, you couldn’t tell him how little you feared the needle and how much you feared what it would transfer in your body. With the last bit of effort you could come up with, you looked at him, fixating his eyes with yours. As miserable as you could, you pleaded with him silently to please not do it.
And for a moment, it seemed to work. Dazai merely stared back. You weren’t sure what he saw, maybe it was his own reflection that made him hesitant, but it caught him, made him lower his arm. “You know,” he mumbled, slowly painting his fingers over your leg. It gave you goosebumps, but at the same time, it helped to lower your anxiety, seeing how he relaxed. “I don’t like doing this to you, either.”
Even you knew those were empty words. Just like all the other words he always told you. Dazai’ loved you’, ‘adored you’ even. What a joke. ‘Couldn’t imagine a life without you’ and ‘wished to always be with you’. And he could have! Some part of you believed that if he hadn’t done these things to you—kidnapping and mistreating you in every way possible—then perhaps, you two could have become the couple he wanted. He could have proved you wrong. Proved that the love you always wanted did exist!
You two could have found a way to live. With each other or apart, but in love. Beautiful, pure love. But not like this. Not with him still gripping the syringe in his hand, eyes lowering to leer at your body presented to him like a gift. A gift he wrapped himself while you were unconscious like so many of your days now. Because you were his present to enjoy, no matter if you liked it or not. 
A sigh of relief left you, despite getting stuck on the gag, and you dared to look away, only to feel his grip tighten around your ankle again. Alarmed, you opened your eyes again, looking at a man full of disappointment and anger. Back was the tension that left you before and gone the feeling of safety you irresponsibly allowed yourself to have after the threat seemed banned. 
“I don’t like doing it, but I hate it even more to see you’ve been hiding this from me.”
From his trouser’s back pocket, Dazai pulled a black, rectangle object, dangling it in front of your face. Shit, you thought, and you were pretty sure the truth was showing in your expression. You knew exactly what it was: your savior. A phone that the man who came to patch you up after a rough fight with your captor two days ago left you. It had been a risk to have, but you hid it in the cover of your pillow. But without the possibility to use it until now, this random act of kindness had been in vain. You’ve been wanting to dial the emergency contacts, but before you could, Dazai had forced you to rest, leaving you restrained until he came back. But you didn’t think he could find it, even if you never used it. 
“Why must there be secrets between us, my love? You know I hate being deceived, but let’s be honest, did you really think I wouldn’t find it?”
Tugging at your ankle, you yelped, losing the strength in your body to keep yourself up and face him. You’ve been good. All this time, you had been understanding and patient. But who could blame you for clinging to a ray of hope? Shaking your head, you tried to plead with him again, but this time, his expression was merely filled with conceited disappointment. As if he was any better than you. That overprotective, obsessed, and mad asshole. 
“So while I go out and find who dared putting these stupid thoughts in your head, I can’t risk you being as awake and clever as you think you are.”
The syringe came back in sight, and you felt almost defeated, knowing there was nothing you could do against a decision he had already made. There was only hoping for the best and trying to prepare for the awakening by his side later, coddled and suffocating in his chest. 
“Dazai,” you said, but what came out was probably nothing more than blabbering against the gag. If he could say empty words, then so could you. If your survival depended on being sweet and kind to the man who was ruining you with his mere presence, then you would be what he wanted from you. 
His eyes opened wide, his name being such a rare word to hear from you, even if you butchered it with your inability to speak properly. Letting go of your ankle, he climbed on top of you, making it easier to look at him again while you laid down and relaxed. “I love you,” you lied, the feelings never reaching your eyes, but they certainly lifted Dazai’s mood. “Me too!” he sighed, smiling softly. “I love you too.”
It really was just a tiny sting, but against his promise, you felt it painfully in the side of your upper body. Letting out a strained groan, you temporarily tensed before you were sedated, eyes slowly closing as you drifted off to another sleepless night for you. In the cold, dark bunker that Dazai called your home, nothing seemed safe, and nothing was right. You could do everything you dared, but you couldn’t do the things you wanted. 
However, something even Dazai had to realize at some point was that you hadn’t given up yet. You’d never. You had a life before this—one you loved. Even if you had to make yourself small and loveable, endure the hardships of a thousand needles and the love of a psycho who you once thought was the man of your dreams, you wouldn’t give up. You wanted to believe that there was more to life than being here, that there was so much more to see and experience than the trauma you were going through. That there still was true love waiting for you. A love that was stronger than all of this. 
But did you really believe you were stronger than that cunning man who calls you the love of his life?
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ravysu · 4 years ago
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Sannin headcanons and thoughts
The last thing I would like to post for the sannin week. It is still 24.04 here! :D @sannin-central
This is long. Spoiler alert. Mostly Orochimaru, some Tsunade, a little of Jiraiya (because his story is pretty clear and spoken and idk what I can add). Also I recommend to read this meta about Orochimaru, it has influenced me a lot and has some good points. Sorry for any posible grammar mistakes. Also I really should put here a lot of references to the manga or anime but it was something that was piling up for a year and I'm soooooooo lazy. After all, those are just headcanons. Also: Im not excusing Oro's bad stuff here, Im trying to understand the reasons.
Ive already posted some hcs, here, here and here.
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1. First if all, the chronology pic of sannin lifetime based on the info i found on naruto wiki and also some statements about wars from this post. It was tough considering what a mess naruto’s chronology is.
2. Sannin story shows what it cost to be a legend. They're like Team 7 but more realistic. Tsunade literally carried the war but left with nothing and developed a ptsd and have problems to just live on. Also anger control issues. I think she can be pretty bossy and stubborn which is not always nice. Jiraiya is the hero of the day but also very idealistic and can ignore some important details in the real word whether its the fight (he always injured during flashbacks maybe because each time he took too much to handle and on the one hand it's heroistic but on the other is a mistake that can lead your team to situations like in that Iwa cave) or your friends issues (I bet he saw what's going on but thought it's fine until Oro actually got red handed and left). He lives in his world and may have problems to get out to see it through someone else's shoes. As for Orochimaru, it seems like he was a normal guy for 20+ years (I mean, he didn't do crazy criminal shit and had something good in him and it was stated somewhere that it was his teammates influence. It is obvious they considered him as a friend, I don't thinks it was for nothing) but we mostly know his darkest side. Despite being a moster he is a human that have empathy and some ordinary human traits (man just decorates every bit of an environment he is in lol).
3. Tsunade was the leader of team Hiruzen.
4. Tsunade sometimes hit Jiraiya for some stupid things he did or said but never touches Orochimaru even if he did something same. Jiraiya complained about it once and almost got another hit.
5. Jiraiya had problematic parents that didn't care about him much and a lot of time he was wandering in the streets.
6. Judging by the look of Oro bangs and hair, he sometimes cut it off. A stress relief huh? And the fact that he doesn't do it now in Boruto..
7. It was shown that Tsunade and Orochimaru was acknowledged before they become a team. Maybe they did just before, or maybe some longer time before. I prefer the second option and hc that they met because both had no real friends - Orochimaru seemed weird and scary for everyone and Tsunade was Senju so everyone wanted to hang out with her but didn't really care. They weren't seen as what they were - people put the labels on them. But they didn't care about each other's labels and actually saw each other in true lights.
8. Tsunade knew it was an accident and it's not right but still she blamed Orochimaru for Nawaki's death for some time. It was something that seriously damaged their friendship and the team. Orochimaru was mad but also guilty, after all, he was responsible at least as a shinobi since Nawaki was under his watch. So he started to act cold and emotionless and was trying to distance himself from his teammates.
9. Jiraiya was in Ame while Dan died.
10. The whole his orphans mission was a bit irresponsible tbh. They already fought Hanzo and as he stated the conflict between Konoha and Ame is going to an end with Konoha's win. It's weird to stay here for three years in the middle of the war while there were other lands to fight. He left his teammates for some idea. Maybe that caused another crack in their team friendship.
11. If Tsunade would have find a way to live on with her trauma and follow the will of fire and stuff it would affect Orochimaru as well just as her grief affected him. It's like he would get an example that you can live on with this pain. So death isn't above human capability and we are not just the slaves of mortality (sounds stupid but i dont know how else to describe sorry). But as we know what he actually saw is that it broke her crucially to the point she couldnt be herself again. And so the death is above everything.
12. Oro wasn’t just acting as a cold pragmatic bitch in that cave but also tried to save Tsunade. Jiraiya knew it and that’s why he showed this sign to him like "I see what youre doing here" and that stunned Oro because he would prefer to look rather like a cold pragmatic bitch hehe
13. Just a thought. People in the village probably treated Oro as a foreigner or just wouldnt accept him because he looked so differently and had a weird attitude. That's why he sometimes didn't feel that Konoha is his home. After the wars where people were treated as means and tools, even the children, he himself developed this view on people - he dehumanized them and used as the means to his goals, just as his village did. Funny thing some people were straightly dehumanizing him too like Ibiki thought that he was a demon (tho he was a child). And he probably weren't the only one. Anyways the point is that it's logical that Orochimaru don't care about anybody but some few people, he's the product of his era. He's like Naruto that would chose the hatred way. But naruto had some good and understanding people around him and.. Orochimaru had them too, but match how Iruka treated Naruto and this Hiruzen's "I sAw tHe mAliCe in This cHiLd fRoM tHe BegGinNinG". And oro didn't even have a big ass evil fox in him. sry i hate hiruzen
ANYWAYS the moral of the story is not "go criminal if they hurt you" but always treat people like people. Waving my hand to Kant.
14. The reason why Orochimaru didn't pick some good morals to stick with through the hard times no matter what (like, idk, Jiraiya or Naruto) is because 1) I think he is/was pretty depending on people around him 2) the war fucked him and his friends up too much (Nawaki incident + Tsunade) 3) twisted addictions (though I don't think he's that sadistic, we never saw him torturing randoms just for fun, it was always some science experimental shit. He tends to get fun out of cruelty only when it's personal) that maybe developed as a way to sublimate anger and sadness caused by his parents loss (that's what they share with sasuke - unlicke naruto, they knew their parents and it's other kind of pain. Sasuke developed a revenge issue and Orochimaru - cruelty pleasure which... is kinda the same but less epic and more occasional lol).
15. Speaking of that, Orochimaru cared for Sasuke because he saw himself in him.
16. Oro hold grudges against Hiruzen for not choosing him to be Hokage not only because he was ambitious and/or egoistic, but also because Hiruzen was some kind of a father figure for him and his approval was important tho i doubt he was aware of that. He also probably could tell that Hiruzen was suspicios about him when he was a child and that led to many conflicts and was hurting as well.
17. Tsunade knew things weren't pretty with Orochimaru after the wars but she never expected them to be this bad. During the week that she was given in her arc she thought not only about how much she wants to see Nawaki and Dan again despite how wrong would it be but also was trying to bury all the good memories she had left of Orochimaru so it would be easier to kill him.
18. She poisoned Jiraiya exactly because she knew he would not let her do it. Jiraiya was always hesitant to kill and inclined to forgiveness, while Tsunade, as mentioned by Orochimaru, could be merciless (so much so that he was not surprised when Kabuto suggested that she wanted to use Jira for Edo Tensei).
19. That was one of her traits that scared Jiraiya and fascinated Orochimaru.
20. Remember how Oro grabbed Jiraiya's neck when the latter was trying to cover with hair jutsu? On the snake, in Tsnade's arc. Orochimaru could have easily kill Jiraiya by pulling the sword out of the mouth (arteries are right there) but he didn't. As well as he could kill Tsunade when she was still shaking - just aim for the neck or the heart. Instead, he just injured her lung and kicked her which is not a big deal for the kind of shinoby like her at all.. Also he helped Anko not accidentally kill herself but it would be way much profitable to let her do it. "Orochimaru has no feelings".
21. The reason he suddenly wanted to kill Tsunade instead of forcing her to heal his arms as it was planned (which is weird since it will not going to get him heals and he kinda said that he wouldn't want to kill her just minutes ago) is that not only she refused to help him (he thought he could work it out) but she also prefered the village over him (from his point of view). Out if everyone she was the closest to being able to understand him since the village caused her painful losses too but nevertheless she agreed to be on it's side.
22. He wasn't fighting her back in the end partly because he thought he deserved that. Somewhere deep inside hahah.
23. Tsunade got a fear to develop deep bonds so they probably weren't very close with Shizune (also the way she knocked her down in this hotel.. oh).
24. Orochimaru will be here when she'll die.
25. Orochimaru's eng dub to Tsunade: "I often wondered what it would be like to ring that pretty neck yours". No comments.
26. Orochimaru is either bi/pan or ace. Anything or nothing lmao
27. Hiruzen knew about at least some of the Oro’s illegal experiments and was okay just as he was okay with the Foundation all the time. Because it’s useful. Then he has discovered he went too far OR he knew everything and oro just became too inconvenient because of his methods. The way Orochimaru tells Sasuke about reasons they are well treated as the criminals is based on in his experience with Hiruzen.
28. As you may know the lyrics in Orochimaru’s music theme goes “don’t talk with the silence of the heart”. It was taken from one Indian song that also had lines like “don’t question life too much”, ”pain arose somewhere in the chest”, “don’t speak to the wounds of the heart”. Though I’m not sure 100% because I was translating it with some hindi dictionary with like zero knowledge of hindi
29. I like to think that this “silence of the heart” theme and the fact that he called his village a hidden sound village are somehow connected. The hidden sound is the possible explanation of all things waiting to be listened to but the truth is silent and you know it deep in your heart and it bothers you. The world is silent just like the life is meaningless but people can only hear. *Sigh* anyways
30. Orochimaru’s journey is the one about accepting death. When he saw Karin released her chains while was trying to get to Sasuke he understood that the death is a part of human’s strength.
Can’t wait to feel that everything I wrote is wrong or not enough or stupid and obvious lol. Anyways, it’s something that I wanted to share until I move to some other fandom.
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lightlavenders · 4 years ago
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Time for my Entrapdak rant (a.k.a. why Hordak was better for her than literally anyone else, a.k.a. I’m not bias I swear)
as I read through Entrapta/Hordak/princess gang discourse on this site I started to realise the reason why I loved Entrapdak so much in the first place, and I will now talk about that here (some of these points are stolen from better posts). ALSO no matter how much I shit on other characters just know this isn’t an attack of any of them. This is gonna be VERY ENTRAPTA FOCUSED.
OK SO we get introduced to Entrapta pretty early in season 1 and we get to learn a lot about her. It also quickly becomes clear that she’s neurodivergent - something confirmed to be intentional by many of the creators. Entrapta has a passion for technology, science and inventing, and (same as the previous princesses) the best friend squad decide they need her in the alliance so she can build them weapons (whICH SHE NEVER ACTUALLY DOES i think BUT THATS NOT THE POINT). 
Throughout the episode though, the squad (mostly Glimmer bc she’s the one who gets to closely interact with Entrapta the most... Adora being completely out of it and Bow with the kitchen staff) seems to slowly run out of patience for her - Glimmer very obviously puts up a front of tolerance despite her frustration. This is unlike the other episodes, where all the princesses get along in the end and become best friends oh boy! So... we have our only neurodivergent character so far who isn’t really welcomed into the group the same way as the others... and her autistic behaviour is only tolerated because they need her... okay, maybe that’ll change later.
Or not? When Entrapta joins the others on the quest to save Glimmer, she is constantly infantilised by the others and not taken seriously. She runs off to study Horde tech and actually helps rescue Sea Hawk, two very helpful things, but Perfuma talks down to her like a child and PUTS HER ON A LEASH? SHE’S 30!!! SHE WAS TRYING TO HELP! And no one tells Sea Hawk off for getting lost and alerting Scorpia to their presence, which wasn’t helpful at all. Then later, Mermista says she’ll keep an eye on her “in case she decides to befriend any more robots” like okay... she isn’t a child, and she didn’t run off because she wanted to play with robots or something?
Okay, so, Entrapta is left behind, which I won’t blame them for because it definitely looked like she died (they get over it pretty quickly but I digress), and she comes across Catra. Okay! Here’s a chance for Entrapta to make a true friend, right? Or not, because Entrapta and Catra’s friendship is built entirely on manipulation. At least Scorpia was sincere. 
Here Entrapta is again, in a position where she’s being used for her skills and in a we’re-sort-of-friends-but-I-only-tolerate-you-because-you’re-useful situation, with Scorpia probably being her only true friend at the moment. She starts helping out the horde, because they actually let her do what she wants and at the very least don’t treat her like a child. Then, she stumbles into Hordak’s lab.
I’m gonna say this now because I’ll get murdered if I don’t - Hordak is a bad guy. He does bad guy stuff. But so does Entrapta sometimes (I’ll talk about that later) so good morals don’t need to play into their relationship I think. It’s about how they treat each other.
At first, Hordak is very defensive and angry towards Entrapta, as he would be to anyone coming in to his lab without permission and discovering his secret portal project. But then she fixes said portal and he immediately sees her as an intellectual equal. Again, Entrapta has had to prove herself to someone by making herself useful, but it actually goes further. ALSO can I say how Hordak is the ONLY person who interacts directly with Entrapta who doesn’t treat her like a child or emotionally manipulate her, with the exception of Wrong Hordak, Emily, and Imp of all characters... Even Scorpia is guilty of this later.
So, Entrapta and Hordak start working together, and Entrapta is obviously very excited to have someone treat her as an equal (they’re lab partners!!). On top of that, Hordak is also happy to have someone he can actually trust. Catra and Scorpia at separate times both remark on how Entrapta spends all of her time with him now, and who can fucking blame her when he’s the only one that has literally spent all this time growing close to her and understanding her as a person, not just using her, not just tolerating her, not talking down to her constantly. Hordak opens up his trauma to Entrapta and she responds by opening up a bit in return, literally saying that she doesn’t fit in and that Catra doesn’t even talk to her anymore. They are obviously comfortable around each other, and if Hordak was manipulating her, then why was he so distraught when she was taken away? Why did he CRY??? Why did he consider giving up on his life’s purpose and abandoning what is essentially his god for her???
Anyway, stuff happens, and Entrapta shows that she isn’t the irresponsible child everyone thinks she is by agreeing to shut off the portal. But of course, Catra betrays her and sends her away. To die. How nice. Catra tells Hordak that Entrapta betrayed him, and instead of flipping out and turning all Hal Stewart incel “if I can’t have you no one can” he just gets sad... and then later all he really wants is to see her again, even if it is on the battlefield. I’m not sure what he would’ve done so we can’t say for sure, but I seriously doubt he wanted to hurt her.
sidenote - I’m not gonna blame Scorpia for letting Catra doing this, Scorpia had her own shit going on and was essentially trapped in an abusive relationship and she also later makes up for letting Entrapta down by getting her rescued
SO then the best friend squad go to save her from Beast Island, and she’s literally completely given up. Gee, I wonder why. Could it be because it seems like every friend she’s ever had has abandoned her, scolded her, or outright zapped her unconscious and sent her to die in a monster filled island? But the squad save her and affirm to her that they didn’t give up on her and that they’re still her friends. Actions speak louder than words, guys, but okay, cool! To Bow and Adora’s credit, they were the least patronising and mean out of anyone... so, that’s something. Anyway! Affirmations! Some respect from her friends! I hope this lasts... 
It didn’t! Season 5, Entrapta goes along with the others to help find out where Glimmer is. Here is where I quickly have to say something - Entrapta does indeed make some ‘evil’ and stupid decisions sometimes - hacking the black garnet, building robots that attack her old friends, walking out absentmindedly in front of a robot and compromising her team. Some of these things can be explained by her neurodivergence, but do not always justify it. That being said. Entrapta is not evil, she is not stupid, and her “weirdness” does not give her friends the excuse to treat her like a child. 
Here’s where it gets bad!! Perfuma puts Entrapta on a leash AGAIN!!!!!! WHAT? Writers? Wyd?? Not only this, but the others talk about her behind her back, and then scold her without any consideration for how she, as a neurodivergent person, was interpreting the situation. They could’ve explained their feelings to her in a calm way, instead of shunning her and expecting her to pick up on their cues, then exploding at her when they didn’t. THEN THEY CALL HER A BAD FRIEND.... and I feel hypocrisy in this chili’s tonight... and then Scorpia... doesn’t say anything? Girl help. Ik we can’t totally blame her since she was new to the squad and probably didn’t wanna get kicked out or yelled at like with Catra, but please... that is your friend...say something. also why did mermista need to pull her hair and then later say “you’re still a weirdo” like what. why do people ship them? because mermista cried when entrapta ‘died’? Okay??
I think Entrapta actually goes through some character development after this which is pretty cool - she outwardly expresses her concern for Glimmer, which is affirming to her friends the squad, and later at the end of the series, intentionally keeps herself focused during the most high stakes moment instead of running off. I’m not qualified to talk about if these traits, which could be considered traits of autistic people, deserve to be treated as flaws to be fixed, that’s a whole other bag of worms, but yay character development.
Finally, at the end, Hordak properly reunites with Entrapta and he decides to rebel against his creator and his purpose to save her life, showing that Entrapta, and their connection, is his priority now. And once Adora saves Hordak from Prime (thanks Adora), the two finally reunite in a spinning hug - that is literally the most physical contact either of them have had with anyone, how could anyone not believe in their connection and mutual trust???
Mermista gives us one last jab, an understandable one considering Hordak was conquering their planet for years on end, but still - “so, are we all just like, okay with this?” yes girl, we are. He’s literally the only one who ever treated her with real respect and love, the only one who ever prioritised her.
I know some people are gonna be like “just ship her with wrong Hordak” and if you really like that... go ahead I guess? But do we need to force a clone who just got control of his own mind into a relationship, or a girl who is very much in love with someone else into a relationship with one of her friends? You can do what you want though, it’s literally fine, I’m the one who just spent over 1500 words talking about why a 30 year old science woman should go out with an alien warlord.
In conclusion - Hordak and Entrapta deserve each other, because Entrapta deserves someone who treats her right, and I love her.
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bisexualsforprompto · 4 years ago
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This one might be a bit mean. MLB prompt idea. What if anyone could be a true wielder of the Miraculous. But to do so it would require the Kwami 'eat' the heart of their chosen and replace it with their magic. No one not even Fu have gone that far to become a true holder because of the negatives that come with it (I leave that to you). Marinette on the other hand didn't even think twice once she was told about it and became a true wielder. (sorry not really a maribat prompt)
What was she supposed to do?
Hawkmoth had to be stopped and the only way to do that was...
Well it had started off okay. Once she had made the exchange of her heart and soul for the magic of luck she hadn’t really felt a change. She felt a bit lighter; as if a burden almost was lifted off her.
For the first couple weeks she was fine, her friends noticed small differences in her but mostly attributed it to lack to sleep.
After all Marinette was Marinette, right?
Sweet, caring, loving Marinette...
Nothing could change her. They knew that for a fact.
But it began to get harder to deny after some weird happenstances: passing Adrien and Alya without so much as a glance, ignoring her parents, not going to Kitty Section meetings...Her friends noticed that she even stopped designing after awhile.
There was no more denying it: Marinette had changed. Everyone in Bustier’s class was worried, even Chloe had shown some remorse; asking one day during Marinette’s absence from school, “What is wrong with Dupain-Chang?”
She stopped answering calls and texts. She stopped playing video games. She only ever showed up to school half of the time.
There was no doubt that everyone missed her. Alya had even tried to tell her once, trying to get her to open up...but with no success. Marinette simply brushed her aside coolly, a cold stare gracing her usually kind face.
Class morale was low. Who knew one person made so much of a difference?
After a months of her behavior, most of the class gave up, resigned to their fate: that this Marinette was here to stay.
In the end it was only Alya, Nino, and Adrien still holding out hope.
It wasn’t that the other members of the class didn’t care about her...just the opposite: without her they couldn’t figure out how to care. Apathy was running in their veins just like it was in Marinette’s.
It felt like losing a friend. Most of the class had gone through the stages of grief, ending grimly at acceptance, but...Adrien was stuck in denial.
“Nathalie,” Adrien whispered on the way to school, “What do you do when someone seems like they changed completely?”
Nathalie looked back at her charge quizzically, “How so?”
“They go from kind and loving to cold and uncaring...” Adrien sighed, analyzing the situation. He still knew the old Marinette was in there somewhere, he just needed to bring her out.
He had tried asking Ladybug earlier but even she had seemed to change. She only showed up for akuma attacks to get the job done. No pound it, no team-bonding, no more “hey kitty.” Only staring at him coldly when he made a mistake and then leaving once the akuma was purified. He half wondered if he did something wrong, but it was kind of hard to know that if Ladybug didn’t stick around enough to ask.
Adrien tried to muffle his frustration. Sure, she had grown significantly as a hero over the last few months. And that’s what was important, right? His feelings didn’t matter as long as Paris was safe...
But it still hurt.
And losing Marinette at the same time...he wasn’t sure how much longer he could handle it.
Nathalie’s quiet response startled Adrien out of his spiral, “Is this about your father, Adrien?”
“F-father? No...I know father...is busy. This is about someone else.”
Nathalie gave him a pained look, “I suppose I’d try to talk to them then.”
“She won’t listen.” Adrien huffed, “I’ve tried over and over to talk to her but...” Suddenly he didn’t even know if he was talking about Marinette or Ladybug.
“Is there any way you can get her in a situation where she’d feel comfortable to talk to you?”
Adrien narrowed his eyes in shame, “Shes never been comfortable around me, but I at least...thought we were friends.”
Nathalie pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose, “She is probably uncomfortable sharing because it’s something personal to her. I’m not saying this will work Adrien, but try to share something with her...”
Adrien looked up at Nathalie. Could that work? Maybe Marinette would feel comfortable sharing her feelings if Adrien told her something that put them on even ground...
But could he do that? Was it worth it?
He knew, he knew what he wanted to tell her, but...
“I can’t.” Adrien sighed, there was no going back from that. He’d have to give up his miraculous and...
Ladybug had seemed better without him these days. Did she even need him anymore? All he did was get in the way it seemed...
Before he knew it the car door was opening for him. He stepped out. He noticed blue pigtails making their way into the school.
He gulped, could he really...?
Walking into Lycee, and then Bustier’s class he caught a glimpse of her.
Eyes void of emotion.
No classic Marinette smile.
No anger either...
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He felt his heart squeeze in his chest. ‘Please Marinette, please...’
Classes dragged on. Adrien watched Marinette like a hawk. He watched her eat alone, ignoring anyone around her, watched her push away her closest friend, watched her deadpan face as she sat in lectures...
When the final bell rang, something in him knew, ‘There is no going back now.’
He watched Marinette pack up. Everyone else filtered out the door. Alya gave him an odd look, and then looked to Marinette. He motioned for her to go and gave her a reassuring smile. Her face feel and she reluctantly left with Nino.
Adrien glanced at Marinette, he could still remember the girl who was once full of life and emotion. He would do anything to have that girl back. He suddenly realized—
“Marinette?” Adrien asked, beckoning her to come closer. She hesitantly agreed, seemingly weighing the pros and cons of listening to Adrien. “I have something to tell you.”
“What?” Marinette deadpanned, as if she couldn’t care less.
“Uhm, it might be easier if I show you actually...” Adrien looked around quickly to make sure nobody was watching. He whispered, “Claws out.”
Only a flicker of shock came from Marinette as Adrien transformed into Chat Noir. He looked at her and watched her face turn stone cold.
She held her hand out, “Why would you tell me this? Now you can never have that ring again.”
“W-what?!” Adrien sputtered, why was that her reaction? “Marinette please— I just shared to you my secret, I trust you. Please know that...you can trust me too, with whatever you’re going through.”
“I’m fine,” she glared, “I am disappointed in you though.”
“Marinette?! What?! Why?”
“How could you give up your power for something so trivial?! Why would you reveal your secret to me for no reason?” She sneered.
Adrien began to get frustrated, he felt tears well up in his eyes, “Because you’re more important than a stupid ring!” He blurted out, thrusting his miraculous to the floor.
Now detransformed, he cried, not meeting Marinette’s eyes, “Please Marinette...we all miss you, can’t you just let me help?”
“You just gave up your chance to save the thousands of people in Paris. Do you not believe their lives and the threat of Hawkmoth is important?”
“You’re still on about my miraculous?!” Adrien seethed, “Marinette...why?! Why...?” He broke down, sliding onto the floor.
Marinette watched, devoid of emotion, her former partner sob on the floor, mourning her own loss. She took in a breath, feeling no remorse whatsoever.
“Adrien Agreste, former wielder of the cat miraculous, I beseech you of your destruction powers.” Marinette said, grabbing his ring from the floor.
“W-what?” He asked. Then a pause, “You’re Ladybug...aren’t you?”
Marinette narrowed her eyes at him, “I must erase your memories of the miraculous now that you have given up your powers.”
“Marinette— Ladybug! Wait! Please...” Adrien softened, “If you’re going to take away my memories can you at least tell me...why have you been acting like this?”
Marinette shut her eyes, “I became a true holder.”
Adrien shot up from the ground, “Y-you...y-you gave up your soul?!” He tore at his hair, “How could you do something so irresponsible?! What made you such a good Ladybug was your compassion! What made you Marinette was your boundless positivity! How could you give that up?!”
“The only thing that matters for Paris is defeating Hawkmoth. I thought Chat Noir knew that.”
“But it shouldn’t come at the cost of you! We wanted to save everyone in Paris that includes you Marinette!”
“I don’t need saving. I am Ladybug.”
“You gave up your emotions, your heart, your personality.” Adrien remarked, “You aren’t Ladybug anymore...”
Marinette frowned and furrowed her eyebrows, “You can’t possibly hope to understand it seems. This power is greater than you and greater than me.”
“No...” Adrien said, “It isn’t.”
“You will not listen to reason,” Marinette chastised, “I must remove your memories now.”
Adrien sighed, “Marinette...”
She began to pull out her guardian book, flipping to the spell she needed. She glared up at Adrien once finding it. “I hope you know what you gave up.”
“I hope you know what you gave up, Marinette.” Adrien breathed, “I hope one day you realize that love...emotions...your soul is worth more than you think. You are worth so much more.”
“Goodbye Adrien.”
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rachetmath · 4 years ago
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What would it be like if rwbyjnor met the dutch, revy and rock
I don't understand the specifics of this request so I'll do this in the best way I can. This going to be long so be ready.
Rwby x Black lagoon
Black Lagoon crosses to Remnant:
Revy and Dutch along with team RWBY, Ren and Nora are fight a bunch of Beowolves while Jaune and Rock are fighting side by side with mostly Jaune doing most of the work while Rock provides a view tips and assisting mostly with what he can find.
Revy: So, let me get this straight you fight shit heads freaks of nature like these like every single day?
Ruby: Yep.
Dutch: And all of you have a very specific weapon that you customize yourselves to be it a blade and firearm?
Ren: Precisely.
Benny: And you have unnatural and natural resources like dust and with highly advanced technology?
Weiss: Yes.
Dutch: And you can use all that as well as this thing called aura along with a semblance?
Nora: Yeah, semblances are like a superpower.
Revy: How super?
Yang: Universal.
Revy: Well-
Revy looks to see Ruby turn her weapon from a sniper rifle to a scythe.
Revy: Dutch, can we stay here?
Dutch: HELL NO!!! Look, I hate to say this, but I much prefer seeing crazy psychos, and bullets fly than this horror fest. Plus, I may not be father but ya'll parents let you do this every day, they are very stupid and irresponsible.
Yang: Hey we're trained for this. Well except one.
Revy: Yeah that guy with Rock over there. He is doing fine but I can tell he's not all your levels. How did even survive let only get into your school?
Ruby: That we don't know or bother asking as long he works.
Revy: Well I can say that it's stupid but I still I wonder how he got in.
*Jaune and Rock side*
Rock: So, let’s get this straight. Your father never bothered to train you and no combat school was willing to accept you, so your best method was to cheat?
Jaune: Yeah, I know, I'm a complete fool.
Rock: I mean if you were willing to work hard to get there despite the risk, I say, you sir have my respect.
Jaune: But I am an idiot, I mean, I lost the only girl you who believed in me.
Rock: Jaune, let me give you a piece of advice. Get over yourself! If you still have even just one friend in this crazy messed up world then you're okay. Trust me, I know a little on how you feel. I mean look me compared to the others, do I look like I'm a mercenary?
Jaune: Why do hang out with them anyways?
Rock: Like you with your friends, mines, I guess appreciate my abilities. Look let's talk about this another time and try to survive this freak show.
Jaune: Deal.
RWBY and JNRO crosses to Black Lagoons:
Team RWBY and JNPR are fighting a mafia group along with Revy and Dutch. Ruby armed with a handgun, an old scythe and sniper with a bayonet, Weiss with a rapier and little knifes, Blake with a handgun and a katana, Yang with a shotgun and iron brazed knuckles, Jaune with an military armed shield, sword and rifle(Dutch taught him how to use it. Surprised it took him a week.) Nora with a grenade launcher, Ren dual wielding pistols and knives and Oscar with a pipe.
Revy: Holy crap, you brats are good even without your powers or usual weapons.
Ruby: We adapt.
Nora: Seriously, you guys do stuff like this every day?
Dutch: For the right price, yes. But yeah, you kids on a natural.
Yang: By the way, thanks for teaching Jaune how to use a gun.
Dutch: Thank Rock for making him listen, he said he wouldn't last long if he didn't. But in all seriously the guy learns quick, I mean, it took him a week to learn how you use that rifle.
Ren: A week! We need to start teaching him and make sure he brings one more often.
Nora: Might makes things easier from here on.
Jaune: Can all of stop talking and focus! We'll talk when we're done. Oscar, hurry up.
Oscar: Oh, I'm sorry but fighting with a pipe is hard!
Jaune: Why didn't you bring a sword!
Oscar: I will not kill!
After a crazy battle, the group along with Rock and Benny celebrated their victory at the bar. While the girls, as well as Ren and Oscar was living it up with Revy, Benny and Dutch, at the front bar Jaune and Rock were talking after Rock told him a stories about how his employers sold him out, the hell he endured in his stay Roanaper, Yukio, and his old client Garcia.
{Rock's side}
Jaune: Damn.
Rock: Yeah.
Jaune: Well, you did what you had to.
Rock: But I didn't have to. I should've walk away and not attached. I'm supposed to be the good guy, Jaune. But this city, I feel like it's eating me alive. All these mafia bosses, war criminals and shit... it's all just getting to me. You know.
Jaune: Yeah, I understand, but what are going to do about it? you made the choice to stay and you got live with it. I mean, hearing all the crap you've done, I somewhat envy you.
Rock: What do you mean?
Jaune: When Chang said pull out, you went in. Every time something bad happens you try to be the good guy and make things better. True it fails at times and from the look of this city, you'll have no choice but to throw righteousness away to survive.  But in my opinion, you still at least stand as the hero of the story.
Rock: *laugh* How so!? Come on tell me, how can I, a piece of under burying shit can possible still be a hero to you. The worthless knight, who can barely fight and couldn't save his partner!?
Jaune: Exactly. Most people survive based on luck.  You on the other hand survived not just on what you know but what learn in return. The world's a crazy place, and most of time you don't know where you'll end up. However, you still have control of what you do next. Your still able to keep people alive. You still do your job. You still try to be nice and maintain some level of morality even if it may never be enough or get you killed. So, trust me when I say this, you have done all what you could. Hell, I barely can do anything.
Rock: Shut up. When it comes down to it your friends are as crazy and trigger happy as Revy. They need somebody like you who can keep them alive. Just keep trying to do right by them and for yourself. Trust me, you can talk down to yourself all you want. But it doesn't change the fact that your alive, you made mistakes and you change. Promise you won't go down how I did, because believe me once you go too far in the darkness you may never come back from it. Or at least not be the same person you were before.  
Jaune: Yeah. Plus, that Revy woman, I think you can trust her to help you back up or shoot you down when you have gone too far.
Rock: Really? How come?
Jaune: She talks about you all the time when she's drunk. She saves you even when you deserve to die for being stupid. And finally, she hasn't killed you yet despite the many times you've pissed her off.
Rock: Speaking of women, which one of those lovely ladies is your girlfriend?
Jaune: Funny I was about ask you the same between Revy and the blonde, named, Eda.
Rock: *laughing* To the C.M.F.?
Jaune:  To the C.M.F *Shared a toast with Rock and started drinking*
{Revy Side}
Ruby: So, Revy?
Revy: What is it little red?
Ruby: Are you and Rock dating?
Revy: *cracks glass cup while blushing* W-w-WHAT!? NO!! Of course not. Why the hell would you ask that?
Nora: You look at him a lot.
Blake: You talk to him the most.
Yang: An unlike most, you call him your partner.
Revy: Well yeah cause he's useful. That’s all. Nothing special.
Weiss: Really, cause when you got drunk last time, we asked you about him, you got an attitude and started talking crazy.
Revy: Oh.
Yang: So how-
Revy: We started off at the wrong foot and we're just making up as we go.
Yang: Well that's great and-
Revy: Can't say the same thing for you guys and your friend Jaune, though.
Nora: Pardon?
Revy: I'm just saying, don't think you know everything about your friend, hell I don't think he cares about any of you.
Blake: *angry glare* What makes you say that?
Revy: Well let’s be clear here. Jaune was loser with dreams, he was willing to make those dreams a reality, no matter the price he didn't know he'll have to pay. And guess what, the debt was do and it caused Pyrrha her life.
Yang: Maybe so but-
Revy: And before you all start giving him praise for what he accomplished, let me ask you something. How did he feel afterwards? I mean, losing the only person to ever provide with some sort of love and respect, a family that never believed in once in his life, I say the kid must been a loser for a long time. And if him and his Sapphron were the only two to ever bother to leave the nest, then that proves that the rest of his siblings are just good for nothing nobodies who scared of the world, or just found more meaning in their lives without having to leave the comfort of their home. Face it, like Rock, your friend got something to prove and he's willing to do whatever it takes to prove himself to everyone. Even if it causes him his life and his humanity.
Ruby: No. No, we won't-
Revy: And what are you people going to do? Hold his hand? Give him those morally great speeches of yours? Pathetic. Just like your friend Pyrrha who died a meaningless death for worthless, foolish old man, who could barely do the job he's was given by god himself.
RWBYN: *angry at Revy comment but grows to accept it*
Ren was about to start threatening however Dutch stops him by reestablishing that one shot can turn the bar into a war zone and showing Ren that Revy always has her trigger finger ready. So, Ren does nothing.
Revy: Face it, you guys aren't capable of saving him. But what do I know, I'm no hero nor do I want to be? The only guy I seem to care about is changing and I don't know how he's going to turn out. To think that I might have to shoot him down someday. But fuck it, that’s just of missed up every world is.
Dutch: Wow Revy you changed.
Revy: What?
Benny: You act less bitchy than you were before and now you’re a little more open with others. Rock must have touched your heart.
Revy: Shut up, Benny. *looking red all over her face*
Everyone laughs at her embarrassment.
Revy: Oh, shut the fuck up you cunts! Hm. Anyways which one you are dating that knight in shining armor anyways since you're all worried about him?
Nora: I already got a boyfriend.
Revy: You mean twinkle toes right there. Mr. Emmo.
Nora: You must want to fight.
Revy: Anyone?
RWBY: Nope.
Revy: *makes a call*
Eda: Hey bitch, what do want?
Revy: Hey Eda do you like blondes? Because I got an average looking-
Eda barges in with her short green skirt and pink top shirt on. She looks at Revy, knowing what she wants, Revy points to Jaune with Rock and Eda makes her. She walks with hips swaying from side to side and sit between Rock and Jaune.
Rock: *surprised* Eda, what are doing here? When you did you get here?
Eda: Oh, Rock honey, I’m just taking advantage of my opportunities. *Sees Jaune staring in amazement. She smiles* Say, I heard rumors about you and your blonde friend right here and was wondering if you two would have some-
Revy and Weiss both break their glasses and make their way over.
Revy and Weiss: STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM YOU CUNT!!!
Revy surprised how Weiss and she were in complete sink and while she smug, Weiss was embarrassed.
Revy: Oh, so you like him like that.
Weiss: *grabs Jaune by the arm and pulls him away* EVERYONE! WE ARE LEAVING!
Jaune: But Weiss I finally found someone I can talk!
Weiss: YOU’LL PLENTY OF PEOPLE TO TALK TO ONCE WE GET HOME!!
Jaune: But Weiss- damn it, later Rock. See you someday.
Rock: God speed brother and remember everything I told you.
Jaune: You as well and good luck.
A bright light was opened and just like that the kids disappeared. Back to their universe. Revy and Rock were smiling but Rock, remembering what Jaune said about trust, ask Revy
Rock: Revy?
Revy: What up, partner?
Rock: Let’s say, I things took too far and made an enemy of someone who would want me killed. Will you be there to kill me instead? Even if you were paid to do so, will be there to stop me?
Revy: *smiles but then covers Rocks eyes so he never sees it* Of course. I got you into this, so you’re my responsibility. Partner.
Rock: *smiles* Thanks.
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things2mustdo · 4 years ago
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By Hara Estroff Marano published March 1, 2007 - last reviewed on June 9, 2016
HEM : Why do you believe that adolescence is an artificial extension of childhood?
RE : In every mammalian species, immediately upon reaching puberty, animals function as adults, often having offspring. We call our offspring "children" well past puberty. The trend started a hundred years ago and now extends childhood well into the 20s. The age at which Americans reach adulthood is increasing—30 is the new 20—and most Americans now believe a person isn't an adult until age 26.
The whole culture collaborates in artificially extending childhood, primarily through the school system and restrictions on labor. The two systems evolved together in the late 19th-century; the advocates of compulsory-education laws also pushed for child-labor laws, restricting the ways young people could work, in part to protect them from the abuses of the new factories. The juvenile justice system came into being at the same time. All of these systems isolate teens from adults, often in problematic ways.
Our current education system was created in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and was modeled after the new factories of the industrial revolution. Public schools, set up to supply the factories with a skilled labor force, crammed education into a relatively small number of years. We have tried to pack more and more in while extending schooling up to age 24 or 25, for some segments of the population. In general, such an approach still reflects factory thinking—get your education now and get it efficiently, in classrooms in lockstep fashion. Unfortunately, most people learn in those classrooms to hate education for the rest of their lives.
The factory system doesn't work in the modern world, because two years after graduation, whatever you learned is out of date. We need education spread over a lifetime, not jammed into the early years—except for such basics as reading, writing, and perhaps citizenship. Past puberty, education needs to be combined in interesting and creative ways with work. The factory school system no longer makes sense.
What are some likely consequences of extending one's childhood?
Imagine what it would feel like—or think back to what it felt like—when your body and mind are telling you you're an adult while the adults around you keep insisting you're a child. This infantilization makes many young people angry or depressed, with their distress carrying over into their families and contributing to our high divorce rate. It's hard to keep a marriage together when there is constant conflict with teens.
We have completely isolated young people from adults and created a peer culture. We stick them in school and keep them from working in any meaningful way, and if they do something wrong we put them in a pen with other "children." In most nonindustrialized societies, young people are integrated into adult society as soon as they are capable, and there is no sign of teen turmoil. Many cultures do not even have a term for adolescence. But we not only created this stage of life: We declared it inevitable. In 1904, American psychologist G. Stanley Hall said it was programmed by evolution. He was wrong.
How is adolescent behavior shaped by societal strictures?
One effect is the creation of a new segment of society just waiting to consume, especially if given money to spend. There are now massive industries—music, clothing, makeup—that revolve around this artificial segment of society and keep it going, with teens spending upward of $200 billion a year almost entirely on trivia.
Ironically, because minors have only limited property rights, they don't have complete control over what they have bought. Think how bizarre that is. If you, as an adult, spend money and bring home a toy, it's your toy and no one can take it away from you. But with a 14-year-old, it's not really his or her toy. Young people can't own things, can't sign contracts, and they can't do anything meaningful without parental permission—permission that can be withdrawn at any time. They can't marry, can't have sex, can't legally drink. The list goes on. They are restricted and infantilized to an extraordinary extent.
In recent surveys I've found that American teens are subjected to more than 10 times as many restrictions as mainstream adults, twice as many restrictions as active-duty U.S. Marines, and even twice as many as incarcerated felons. Psychologist Diane Dumas and I also found a correlation between infantilization and psychological dysfunction. The more young people are infantilized, the more psychopathology they show.
What's more, since 1960, restrictions on teens have been accelerating. Young people are restricted in ways no adult would be—for example, in some states they are prohibited from entering tanning salons or getting tattoos.
You believe in the inherent competence of teens. What's your evidence?
Dumas and I worked out what makes an adult an adult. We came up with 14 areas of competency—such as interpersonal skills, handling responsibility, leadership—and administered tests to adults and teens in several cities around the country. We found that teens were as competent or nearly as competent as adults in all 14 areas. But when adults estimate how teens will score, their estimates are dramatically below what the teens actually score.
Other long-standing data show that teens are at least as competent as adults. IQ is a quotient that indicates where you stand relative to other people your age; that stays stable. But raw scores of intelligence peak around age 14-15 and shrink thereafter. Scores on virtually all tests of memory peak between ages 13 and 15. Perceptual abilities all peak at that age. Brain size peaks at 14. Incidental memory—what you remember by accident, and not due to mnemonics—is remarkably good in early to mid teens and practically nonexistent by the '50s and '60s.
If teens are so competent, why do they not show it?
What teens do is a small fraction of what they are capable of doing. If you mistreat or restrict them, performance suffers and is extremely misleading. The teens put before us as examples by, say, the music industry tend to be highly incompetent. Teens encourage each other to perform incompetently. One of the anthems of modern pop, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, is all about how we need to behave like we're stupid.
Teens in America are in touch with their peers on average 65 hours a week, compared to about four hours a week in preindustrial cultures. In this country, teens learn virtually everything they know from other teens, who are in turn highly influenced by certain aggressive industries. This makes no sense. Teens should be learning from the people they are about to become. When young people exit the education system and are dumped into the real world, which is not the world of Britney Spears, they have no idea what's going on and have to spend considerable time figuring it out.
There are at least 20 million young people between 13 and 17, and if they are as competent as I think they are, we are just throwing them away.
Do you believe that young people are capable of maintaining long-term relationships and capable of moral reasoning?
Everyone who has looked at the issue has found that teens can experience the love that adults experience. The only difference is that they change partners more, because they are warehoused together, told it's puppy love and not real, and are unable to marry without permission. The assumption is they are not capable. But many distinguished couples today—Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, George and Barbara Bush—married young and have very successful long-term relationships.
According to census data, the divorce rate of males marrying in their teens is lower than that of males marrying in their 20s. Overall the divorce rate of people marrying in their teens is a little higher. Does that mean we should prohibit them from marrying? That's absurd. We should aim to reverse that, telling young people the truth: that they are capable of creating long-term stable relationships. They might fail—but adults do every day, too.
The "friends with benefits" phenomenon is a by-product of isolating adolescents, warehousing them together, and delivering messages that they are incapable of long-term relationships. Obviously they have strong sexual urges and act on them in ways that are irresponsible. We can change that by letting them know they are capable of having more than a hookup.
Studies show that we reach the highest levels of moral reasoning while we're still in our teens. Those capabilities parallel higher-order cognitive reasoning abilities, which peak fairly early. Across the board, teens are far more capable than we think they are.
What's the worst part of the current way we treat teens?
The adversarial relationship between parents and offspring is terrible; it hurts both parents and young people. It tears some people to shreds; they don't understand why it is happening and can't get out of it. They don't realize they are caught in a machine that's driving them apart from their offspring—and it's unnecessary.
What can be done?
I believe that young people should have more options—the option to work, marry, own property, sign contracts, start businesses, make decisions about health care and abortions, live on their own—every right, privilege, or responsibility an adult has. I advocate a competency-based system that focuses on the abilities of the individual. For some it will mean more time in school combined with work, for others it will mean that at age 13 or 15 they can set up an Internet business. Others will enter the workforce and become some sort of apprentice. The exploitative factories are long gone; competent young people deserve the chance to compete where it counts, and many will surprise us.
It's a simple matter to develop competency tests to determine what rights a young person should be given, just as we now have competency tests for driving. When you offer significant rights for passing such a test, it's highly motivating; people who can't pass a high-school history test will never give up trying to pass the written test at the DMV, and they'll virtually always succeed. We need to offer a variety of tests, including a comprehensive test to allow someone to become emancipated without the need for court action. When we dangle significant rewards in front of our young people—including the right to be treated like an adult—many will set aside the trivia of teen culture and work hard to join the adult world.
Are you saying that teens should have more freedom?
No, they already have too much freedom—they are free to spend, to be disrespectful, to stay out all night, to have sex and take drugs. But they're not free to join the adult world, and that's what needs to change.
Unfortunately, the current systems are so entrenched that parents can do little to counter infantilization. No one parent can confer property rights, even though they would be highly motivating. Too often, giving children more responsibility translates into giving them household chores, which just causes more tension and conflict. We have to think beyond chores to meaningful responsibility—responsibility tied to significant rights.
With a competency-based system in place, our focus will start to change. We'll become more conscious of the remarkable things teens can do rather than on culture-driven misbehavior. With luck, we might even be able to abolish adolescence.
The Adolescent Squeeze
Before 1850, laws restricting the behavior of teens were few and far between. Compulsory education laws evolved in tandem with laws restricting labor by young people. Beginning in 1960, the number of laws infantilizing adolescents accelerated dramatically. You may have had a paper route when you were 12, but your children can't.
1600s
1641 Massachusetts law prohibits people under 16 from "smiting" their parents
1800s
1836 Massachusetts passes first law requiring minimal schooling for people under 15 working in factories
1848 Pennsylvania sets 12 as minimum work age for some jobs
1852 Massachusetts passes first universal compulsory education law in U.S., requires three months of schooling for all young people ages 8-14
1880s Some states pass laws restricting various behaviors by young people: smoking, singing on the streets, prostitution, "incorrigible" behavior
1881 American Federation of Labor calls on states to ban people under 14 from working
1898 World's first juvenile court established in Illinois—constitutional rights of minors effectively taken away
1900s
1903 Illinois requires school attendance and restricts youth labor
1918 All states have compulsory education laws in place
1933 First federal law restricting drinking by young people
1936 & 1938 First successful federal laws restricting labor by young people, establishing 16 and 18 as minimum ages for work; still in effect
1940 Most states have laws in place restricting driving by people under 16
1968 Supreme Court upholds states' right to prohibit sale of obscene materials to minors
1968 Movie rating system established to restrict young people from certain films
1970s Supreme Court upholds laws restricting young women's right to abortion
1970s Dramatic increase in involuntary electroshock therapy (ECT) of teens
1980s Many cities and states pass laws restricting teens' access to arcades and other places of amusement; Supreme Court upholds such laws in 1989
1980s Courts uphold states' right to prohibit sale of lottery tickets to minors
1980 to 1998 Rate of involuntary commitment of minors to mental institutions increases 300-400 percent
1984 First national law effectively raising drinking age to 21
1988 Supreme Court denies freedom of press to school newspapers
1989 Missouri court upholds schools' right to prohibit dancing
1989 Court rules school in Florida can ban salacious works by Chaucer and Aristophanes
1990s Curfew laws for young people sweep cities and states
1990s Dramatic increase in use of security systems in schools
1992 Federal law prohibits sale of tobacco products to minors
1997 New federal law makes easier involuntary commitment of teens
2000s
2000+ New laws restricting minors' rights to get tattoos, piercings, and to enter tanning salons spread through U.S.
2000+ Tougher driving laws sweeping through states: full driving rights obtained gradually over a period of years
2000+ Dramatic increase in zero-tolerance laws in schools, resulting in suspensions or dismissals for throwing spitballs, making gun gestures with hand, etc.
2000+ New procedures and laws making it easier to prosecute minors as adults
Currently spreading nationwide:
New rules prohibiting cell phones in schools or use of cell phones by minors while driving
Libraries and schools block access to Internet material by minors
New dress code rules in schools
New rules restricting wearing of potentially offensive clothing or accessories in schools
New laws prohibiting teens from attending parties where alcohol is served (even if they're not drinking)
New laws restricting teens' access to shopping malls
Tracking devices routinely installed in cell phones and cars of teens
New availability of home drug tests for teens
New laws prohibiting minors from driving with any alcohol in bloodstream (zero-tolerance)
Proposals for longer school days, longer school year, and addition of grades 13 and 14 to school curriculum under discussion
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thebestestboyo · 5 years ago
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How Remus Started Working For Patton: Part Four
Tw: Remus being Remus/Swearing/mention of snakes but only for a moment
Masterpost
"Wow, I expected an old warehouse, or perhaps even a shady bar. This is... hilarious." The remark didn't come from Remus, no, this time it came from Virgil.
The group had stopped outside of a quaint-looking bakery, the shimmery blue and yellow sign reading 'Down With The Pastryarchy.' Virg was right though, it didn't seem to fit the vibe of 'gangster.' At least not to Remus. It was cute though! As in how a poison dart frog was cute before you realized it could kill you!
"First of all, warehouse?? Who would set up there? That's just irresponsible! How would you even heat such a large area?? Secondly, have you been inside one? Its just so loud!" Dee stepped inside, letting the others follow.
"For your information, I have been inside a bar. Probably for different reasons than you, ya overgrown garden snake."
"Excuse me! I'm not always up to no good!"
"The news would say differently."
"Society has never portrayed those who work outside its crippling boundaries as good. As you probably don't know Mr. Gloom Sky."
Pat butted into the tussle, wagging a finger at both of the men. "Now now, there's no need to be throwing names around. Its not very sweet of you two."
Those in question turned to look at him, this bubble of sunshine, and at least had some decency to look ashamed. Virgil could at least understand why Demetrius had warned that Patton was a force to be reckoned with.
Remus in the meantime, was laughing. Wait. Why was he laughing???
"That was a good pun. You know, considering the setting?"
Smiling up at him, Pat squeezed his cheek playfully. "I didn't think you'd catch that!"
"Well, I had to cake a chance! It clearly paid off," God Patton was cute. Remus was about to rattle off several more puns before Virgil elbowed his side, cutting him off.
"Less flirting, more getting to the point."
Blushing furiously, Remus swatted at Virgil, both for elbowing him and eluding to potential romantic feelings between him and Patton. Seriously, not everything he said to Pat was flirting!
Ok he was kinda flirting.
Just a little though! He wasn't about to rush anything! Especially when he hadn't asked Patton how he felt on the anatomies of several creatures, and the different ways in which you could steal someone's eye! How would he know if Patton was good for him until then?
For the umpteenth time that morning, Remus's thoughts were cut off, this particular time by Dee. Butts on a fish, he needed to chose a different time for his internal monologues.
"Come then if you're so desperate to find out. The entrance is this way."
Opening a door labeled 'employees only,' he seemed to...descend? Wait what?
A sudden grip on his arm was the only warning before Pat pulled him and Virgil in after, giggling. "You guys will love it! We worked so hard on it!"
"I find that hard to believe..."
This time it was Remus who elbowed Virgil, afraid of him upsetting Patton. "I'm sure it will be great Pat Pie!"
Virg groaned at yet another pun, but let the two of them be dragged down the stairs. It was surprising how they managed to fit this spiral staircase so seamlessly into the bakery, no surprise why someone hadn't found out their base yet. It was hiding in plain sight as far as anyone could tell.
Dee, further up ahead, called back to them, his voice echoing from the tall ceiling needed to fit in the staircase. "Pat, remember the trick step. They don't know about it."
"Oh! Right. Guys, hop over this next one ok?"
"Why would we need to-" Virgil made his mistake of not heeding Dee's warning, being thrown back by the step sliding out from beneath him. "Motherfu-"
"-By the sounds of idiocy I assume he didn't listen." Dee turned back to them, clearly hiding a smile as Remus supported Virgil, only to have the step beneath HIM slide into the wall as well. Before Virgil could snap back at him, all the steps were pushed back into the wall, resulting in all three of them falling the short distance to the ground.
"Oh I like this." Chuckling, Remus helped Patton to his feet with a flourish, before pulling up Virgil as well.
"This is some tomb raider bullshit, I'm calling it out right now."
His smirk all too clear on his face, Dee gestured to a lever right next to where the stairs had been. "No, tomb raider bullshit as you so eloquently call it, would be this lever sending you into a pit of snakes."
Eyes wide, Remus could hardly contain his delight at the prospect. "Does it send us into a pit of snakes??"
"Unfortunately, no. Just into a pit. Snakes wouldn't live well down there, there's no source of food or heat for them to thermoregulate their body temperatures."
Patton turned to face him, voice full of concern as he reached for Remus's hand again. "Plus, what if we fell on them! The poor snakes might get hurt!"
"You are right...but think about how cool it would be!"
"But snakes!"
"Ok, what about...a tank full of jellyfish? They'd have water and the water would stop the jellyfish from getting hurt!" Remus was surprised that Patton so easily took his hand, but it made him feel all fuzzy inside, the good kind. It was very unlike when you got a mouth full of raccoon fur.
Don't...don't ask.
As the two debated the moral complications of jellyfish compared to snakes and eventually to electric eels, Virgil deadlocked his gaze on Demetrius. If glaring could kill, he would have been dead where he stood. Unluckily for Virgil, he just smirked back at him in turn, continuing to lead the group to wherever they seemed to be going. At this point, he couldn't tell.
God what he would do to wipe that stupid look off of his face. It was unfair. He couldn't be hot AND evil! That was just cruel!
And he still had his stupid jacket off, showing his stupid muscular arms, and his stupid face with it's stupid grin was just making the situation worse, and it was all STUPID.
"Take a picture punk. It'll last longer."
"I'm just waiting for you to finally show us this place you've been droning of for the past thirty minutes. It feels like I've been forced to follow you for hours already."
"Don't worry Dark and Stormy, we're already here."
With that, he opened a door into one of the biggest rooms they'd ever seen. Wasn't this underground?? How did it have such a high ceiling?
And it was filled with people who Virgil would normally avoid. They all had that look about them, like if you looked at them wrong, they'd fuck you up. These were the king of people Remus tended to piss off when he was drunk and made everyone in the nearby vicinity regret him doing so.
"We're back you punks!" Dee called out to the group, smiling? Of course he was smiling. He was a gangster.
"Hey welcome back boss! And hello Patton!"
"Who are these two?"
"Where ya been? Normally you're not out so early!"
"These guys new members?"
Honestly it was kinda a lot for Virgil. Remus on the other hand was thrilled about this. They all had something chaotic about them! One of them had a sword??? Who the fuck fights with a sword!? Another was carrying what looked like a jar of live bees? Remus didn't know!!!
"These are visitors. Don't rough them up too much. Patty likes them."
"Dee!" Pat's cheeks tinted pink, clearly embarrassed at being called out. He didn't let go of Remus's hand though like he thought he would, instead tucking himself into Ree's side. Holy fuck. He was using Remus to hide in?? That was a first for him.
"Sorry, this is Patton's...friend, and the friend of Patton's friend." Cheekily, he and Pat exchanged a glance that Ree was too slow to interpret. But it made Pat's face turn even more red, so Remus assumed it was an inside joke or something.
Virgil in the meantime seemed thrown off by how domestic the inside of the base seemed, and being honest, he couldn't blame him. They both assumed it was much less...pleasant? Was that the word? No, there had to be more more suitable for this odd situation....
Calm! It was calm. God Patton was making him feel dizzy from all the sudden affection or something, usually he was better at this!
Remus looked down at the smaller man now cuddling into his side, sighing softly and unclasping their hands to set the overcoat he had brought with him around his shoulders. "You cold or something Pat?" He was ignoring Dee's comment from before, as it clearly was rubbing Patton the wrong way.
"Oh! Um, yes, a little! Thank you." Both of them played into the white lie, brushing it off to make him feel more comfortable. But perhaps Patton wasn't hiding in Remus just from the embarrassment...
Virgil cleared his throat from behind them, reminding the two that Dee had been waiting for them still.
Pat still kept the coat around his shoulders nevertheless, as they all packed into Dee's office.
"So. Remus."
"And me." Virgil interjected, sitting on the arm of couch that faced Dee's desk.
"And Virgil. You're probably confused as to why I made Remus a member of the gang."
"Uh yeah dimwit, you really had to drag us this far just to tell us this?"
Pat frowned at him, going over to sit on the desk near Dee. "That's not particularly nice of you to say."
"Sorry Patton. But I'm serious. This could have gone a lot faster." Virg couldn't believe himself. He was apologizing to the co-leader of a gang?? Just because he gave off disappointed dad vibes did not mean that he was completely trustworthy.
"I thought it best to reveal my hand, so to speak. You do know that telling the authorities about us would be unwise, due to the vast amount of resources we have. It would be a pain to have to move locations and change identities after we've set up shop here."
"So...this is a threat."
"Not necessarily. It's an invitation. For Remus specifically. He doesn't have to participate in our business, I just thought he'd appreciate being able to freely talk with Patton, and being part of our association helps with that."
Remus was...a tad shocked at this news. He was put into a gang...to be able to flirt cause havoc with Patton?
As if he could read his thoughts, Dee waved a hand dismissively. "While normally this doesn't happen, I decided to make it an exception. Originally, you, Virgil, weren't a part of the plan, but as you are Remus's roommate, I wanted to cover my bases."
"Don't tell me you're gonna pierce my ear as well."
"I doubt I could even try without losing a finger. The only reason I did it to Remus was because I was in a hurry."
Pat swung his legs gently as they talked, looking over at Ree for his reaction. It was, intrigued to say the least, Remus seemed to be pretty open to most things. Was that a strength or a downfall of his? Patton couldn't tell. But he did enjoy the coat around his shoulders, smiling to himself as he tucked into it.
Maybe this one would work?
And maybe he'd make a new friend as well! Virgil seemed nice, if not a bit guarded. He supposed that was to be expected, it's not every day that you get told your friend (best friend?) is now a member of a gang that controls half the city.
The words between his brother and Virgil grew muddled, as Patton daydreamed what this meant. It was a little shocking for him to find Remus calling his attention, snapping his fingers from the spot he had taken next to Virgil.
It was enough to get Patton back into reality, and to hear that Dee was asking him a question. "Pat were you listening? I asked what you thought about Virgil being allowed in as well."
"Oh! Sorry Dee Dee, just caught up in some thoughts! Sure Virgil can come in, maybe he can try some of your baked goods!"
Pat had seen the way his brother kept looking at Virg, so he thought he'd...well, help him out a little. Even if it resulted currently in an embarrassed Dee in the meantime. Sorry!
"Wait were you the one to come up with the idea of having your super bad gang cover being a pastry shop??" Virgil grinned mischievously at this new information, and Patton could tell that it lessened the stigma about Dee, at least a little bit.
"Not completely! I just thought it might be a good cover, and Pat had already come up with the name! What was I supposed to do???"
"That's rich! The snake in the grass bakes?"
"Wha- no!!!"
Glancing back over to Remus, Pat was delighted to find him cackling at the chaos Pat had created.
Perhaps this would become their new normal? If it did, Pat definitely wouldn't mind.
-Just an author's note-
Sorry it took so long to finally get to this point! I wasn't expecting the buildup to last four chapters 😅There will certainly be more backstory and action as I write this, so I apologise for how slow it is
Thanks for sticking around through it though! I really appreciate it
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1lymark · 5 years ago
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yellow paint blues || renjun
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→ summary: a few hours before renjun needs to submit his art project, he realizes that he’s run out of yellow paint. luckily, you’re there to help (or not.) → genre: fluff, humor, college!au → words: 3.2K → a/n: dedicated to mary, my lovely patron. as always, this got way out of hand and got longer than i anticipated. i hope you enjoy!
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Renjun had thought that the art course would be an easy A. He hadn’t needed the easy A to begin with anyway––his grades in every other course were beyond stellar, so most people would probably assume that he was doing it to pass time or to gain extra credits. Or so, that was what he wanted people to assume.
In reality, he had signed up for the course because you had wanted to. It wasn’t like you asked him to accompany him; he recalled you mentioning the course in passing a week before registration and somehow, that little comment had wormed its way to the forefront of his mind as he clicked “ADD COURSE” to his already packed schedule.
“Should be easy enough,” he assured himself, patting his own shoulder in untimely congratulations as he thought of the extra three hours in a week that he would get to hang out with you. After all, Renjun’s art skills weren’t shabby, so surely this could not go wrong in any way possible.
He forgot, in his hubris, about the tantalizing taste that procrastination had to offer. The sweet nectar that he had yet to conquer in all his years of education had once again enticed him like a fly to a fire. It was inevitable, and yet… how could he have been so blind?
So there he was, in his room at one in the morning, with more paint on his fingers than he had on his canvas. The blank surface taunted him in his mind, laughing hysterically at the cruel fate he had assigned to himself in the name of love.
The project should have been simple enough: it was a self-expression piece, wherein the objective was to present what makes them happiest. His professor was lenient to the point of negligent, allowing her students to use any medium they pleased for this first assignment. Macaroni and glue, string and popsicle sticks, scrap paper with a drunken doodle… She was open-minded to anything under the sun. However, the thing about Renjun was that he was an overachiever to a fault, so even though he could’ve theoretically slapped a Spotify playlist together on a CD and called it a day, he simply was not spiritually able to hand in anything less than perfect.
So of course Renjun chose to paint for his first project. Painting wasn’t even his strongest suit, but he wanted to challenge himself, or so he said when he had loudly announced that to you almost a week ago.
A week ago. He had an entire week to finish, with no other pressing assignments or tests in between, and yet he still found himself in this predicament. Thus was the fate of unending suffering that every university student must face.
You had texted him a few hours ago, asking to see a picture of his work. Despite your excitement to take this course, you had always been a bit self-conscious about your art pieces, though you have never expressed this to anyone. Renjun could see it in the way that you would close in on yourself when people ask to see your work, quickly redirecting the conversation elsewhere once people have their eyes off of you.
Not him though––you always showed each other your works. It made Renjun’s heart race just a little bit every time you exposed this side of yourself, and so he made a promise to always give you any sort of reassurance you might need.
Unfortunately for this time, he was a bit too busy trying not to drown in his own irresponsibility to answer you properly when you had texted.
to: renjunnie from: y/n-chi
hey!! how’s your project holding up? can i see yours? i finished mine just now and idk if i’m happy with it tbh…
to: y/n-chi from: renjunnie
not… going well… send reinforcements… T_T i think i’m gonna rot now…
to: renjunnie from: y/n-chi
eh??? the infallible huang renjun is suffering??? from a first year art assignment??? someone call the catholics, because i think the rapture is coming
to: y/n-chi from: renjunnie
y/n don’t be mean >:( this is srs!! i think i have inhaled enough paint fumes to fail a drug test by now
to: renjunnie from: y/n-chi
tsk. that’s what you get for procrastinating, babe. sending my thoughts and prayers!! txt me updates so i know you don’t die from paint ingestion ^^
If you weren’t so god damn cute, he would have smothered you (with his love) by now. Even if you didn’t know it, your texts had given him enough motivation to get something on the canvas, even though none of his drafts seemed to be good enough at the moment.
What was it that made Renjun happy, anyway? He liked listening to music, but that was as generic as it gets… Who didn’t like music? He also liked reading and travelling, though those don’t seem to be too appealing to paint either. Some of his friends had joked that he should just paint a bunch of Moomin, so that he wouldn’t really need to paint because it would mostly be white anyway.
Those things just seemed too shallow for him. While they were things that he enjoyed, he wouldn’t want to be that guy who showed up to class with a half-assed doodle and some stupid explanation like “happiness is what you make of it.” No, he would be better than that.
There was something quite obvious that he could use for his project, or rather, someone. It would be too embarrassing though––not that he was embarrassed of you, by any means. He just wasn’t brave enough to do it, not yet at least. Someday, he’ll have the heart to tell you his feelings, but for now… he was stuck with a blank canvas and an emptier mind.
The clock read 3:30AM when Renjun had decided to throw all his morals to the wind and just paint a field of sunflowers out of desperation. He thought that if all else failed, maybe he would submit that and say something about how he remembered going to a place like that in his childhood. It would be a complete lie, since his family hardly went out to nature spots like that, but at least you would like the painting. Sunflowers were your favorite, after all.
Halfway through his painting however, he realized that his tube of yellow paint was looking awfully empty. He squeezed it as much as he could, scrapping it out as much of the remaining paint as physically possible.
“Crap,” he moans out, looking at his half-colored canvas forlornly. There were still at least six sunflowers to be painted, though he had already painted most of the background. This couldn’t do; he had no time to start over. The art supply shop didn’t open until at least 9AM, but his classes start shortly after that. There was no way he could pull this off at this rate. Unless…
He reached for his phone from his table, almost tripping over his easel in his haste to grab it. He knew you were an early riser, though he doubted you’d be awake even at this ungodly hour. He just hoped to whatever entity up in the clouds that you would pick up your phone and not start cussing him out for ruining your sleep. Though it was hard to imagine you getting mad at him for anything, as he knew you always had a bit of a soft spot for him.
To his relief, you answered on the fifth ring.
“Hello?” You murmured quietly, voice still sounding rough with sleep. Renjun could hear you smacking your lips sleepily, the mental image of it all eliciting a grin on his face. He wanted to know how you looked right now, with your impossibly cute bedhead and droopy eyes.
“Y/N? You awake?”
You yawned, the sound of rustling sheets accompanying your reply. “I am now, I guess. It’s… 4AM? What gives? You don’t normally wake this early. Unless…”
“Yup,” Renjun sighed, head hanging in defeat. “Kinda haven’t slept all night. The project isn’t coming along too well.”
“Aww,” you cooed. Renjun perked up a little at your tone.
Then, “Tough shit.”
Renjun flinched at that, staring wide-eyed at his phone before returning it to his ear. “Excuse me?”
“Well, if you hadn’t been goofing off the entire week before, you wouldn’t be in this mess, would you? Now excuse me… I have another two hours of sleep before my alarm is supposed to go off, so I’ll see you later! Peace,” was all you said before promptly hanging up.
The room was silent as Renjun stood in the middle of his room, shocked beyond all belief. Was that really you that he had just spoken to? Where was the kind, empathetic friend he had come to know and love? Perhaps lack of sleep really does change a person for the worse.
Undeterred by your rejection, Renjun decided to head over to your house anyway. Was he probably going to get his ass handed to him for disturbing you even more? Probably. Was he willing to face the consequences of your fiery wrath? Absolutely. Was he going to enjoy getting berated by you as he stared, lovestruck, at your cute pajamas and angry, puffy eyes? Undoubtedly.
Luckily, your house was only a few blocks away, although Renjun still ran all the way because he was (maybe, slightly, on a little bit) afraid of the dark. So what if he screamed a little when a cat jumped out of some trashcans? No one saw, and that was all that mattered.
He arrived at your place in record time, the dark window panes indicating that you were still, in fact, asleep. He tried opening the door to no avail, not being able to find the spare key you used to place under the mat. With no other option in sight, there was one last thing he could do…
Tap. Tap. Tap.
There was something tapping incessantly against your window for a couple minutes now. At first, you had ignored the sound completely, assuming that it was the first drops of rain before a storm. After a while, you began to realize that rain did not sound like that, and it reminded you more like a finger tapping or knocking. That was impossible though, because you lived on the second floor of a shared house. Surely, it wasn’t what you thought it was––
Before you could contemplate further, you phone started to ring for the second time that night, and the pieces of the puzzle immediately fall into place. It was him, that fucking bastard. Grumbling loudly, you grasped your phone against your ear, a chain of swears tumbling out of your lips quicker than any seasoned rapper out there.
“Wait, Y/N! Lemme explain—“
“Renjun, I swear if I go downstairs right now and find you throwing pebbles at my window to disrupt my sleep even further, you better believe I’m calling the cops on you, friend or not!”
“I just need yellow paint!” He cried out, loud enough that you can hear him from outside. You hiss at him to keep quiet, worried that his noise would also wake up your roommates.
“No, Renjun! You have to learn to be more responsible! You can’t always expect things to go your way without proper preparation! 4.0 GPA or not, I’m not letting you keep doing this––hold on,” you paused, stopping mid-sentence. There had been loud thunk just outside your bedroom wall. There was a suspicious lack of response on Renjun’s end, though you can hear his heavy breathing through the speakers. You slipped out of your covers, padding your way to the window. You peered over, squinting blearily at the darkness of the night.
“Renjun? What are you––“ You gasped before finishing, slamming open the windows and letting the cool breeze gently brush your face. The sight before you was not as great as the wind, though. “Are you fucking crazy? Stop climbing before you get hurt!”
“Almost there,” Renjun grunted, his hands grasping tightly on your ledge. You watched in stunned silence as the gangly boy hoisted himself over and into your bedroom with the ease of someone who had done that at least a few times before. It took you a while before you could find your bearings as you stood, mouth agape, at the beaming boy now standing before you with neon green paint on his cheek.
“Hey,” he greets, smiling.
It took all the energy in your body to keep your hand from meeting his cheek (either to caress him or to slap him? No one was for certain.) “You could’ve fucking died.”
Renjun lifted both his arms into the air and shook his legs around. He shot you a cheeky look, faking contemplativeness. “I feel pretty alive, I would say. All limbs in working order, as far as I know.”
Oh my god. You were friends with a maniac!
“This is so unlike you,” you said. “You’re never this relentlessly annoying.”
“Well, you wouldn’t let me finish my urgent plea on the phone, so of course I had to take drastic measures! I’m gonna fail this GPA booster course, and then I’ll die, and then it’ll be your fault!” He said in one breath, grin never faltering. As his gaze flitted around the room, he noticed your finished project, sitting on your desk and covered in plastic to hide its contents from the world. “Ooh, is that your submission? can I see?”
You rushed over to it, hiding it behind your back with a huff. “Absolutely not! You lost all privileges from me the moment you called me up at 4AM! Now get out of my house before I really call the cops.”
He pouted, deflating visibly. “Okay, look… I know I’m being a prick right now, but you really gotta help me! I ran out of yellow paint and you’re the only person who can help me!”
You were not sure why, but hearing that reason coming from Renjun of all people was making your blood boil in anger. He went all this way to your house, throwing pebbles out your window like some cliché romcom protagonist, even climbing up a building, just to ask for fucking yellow paint?!
“Are you hearing yourself, Huang Renjun? I’m going to kill you!” You grabbed a few of the still open paint tubes by your desk, squeezing its contents all over his clothes in a fit of rage. He gasped, crying out in anguish as globs of blue and red marred the cute little Moomins on his shirt.
“You did not just do that!” He yelled, slapping the paint out of your hands. You were pretty shocked yourself, though you can’t help but giggle a little at how flabbergasted he looked.
“That’s what you get for being ridiculous, you stupid shit––hey, stop! Put down that cup of paint water now before I––NO!”
Murky black water splashes down your left cheek and onto your pajamas, the gross, cold sensation making you splutter out indignantly at the smirking boy. “Oh my god, you absolute bastard!”
It did not take long for the argument to dissolve into a full-blown paint fight as the two of you sprayed each other with every bit of available art supply in your room. Paint, brushes, pens, and markers were launched into the air, both of you screaming in both anger and delight as you hit the other with every type of projectile imagineable.
Renjun jumped across the bed, searching your bedside table for more ammo once you managed to hoard most of them on your side. It didn’t take long for him to find one of your unopened bottles of yellow paint, and he hooted in victory as he held it up in the air like a trophy.
“Yes, I found it! Ceasefire, Y/N! I got what I wanted!”
“And you think I’m supposed to stop just because you’re happy?” You screeched back, readying a large amount of black paint on one of your paintbrushes like a makeshift catapult. “Drop that paint bottle if you wanna live, Renjun!”
It was in that moment when one of your roommates suddenly barged in to the scene, her entire being blazing with heat as she furiously accessed the room. There you were, paint dripping from every inch of your body, with a similarly painted boy on the other side of your bed with a little 50mL bottle of yellow paint in his open fist. No one made a sound for a moment, afraid to explain what the hell you both were doing, until––
“I’m not even going to ask. Just shut up before I get you evicted,” Yeri growled, slamming the door with the frame rattling in her wake.
“Oh god, she’s going to kill me tomorrow,” you moaned, dropping the paintbrush and dropping your head against your newly painted bed. Not looking at him, you pointed your finger in his general direction, forcing him to stop as he tried to covertly escape through the window. “Don’t you dare move another muscle. You are helping me clean my room before class, or so help me I’ll paint angry eyebrows on all your Moomin plushies.”
That got him moving to help you quickly, at least. With the two of you working together instead of fighting, you managed to get all your bedsheets into the washer and most of the paint splatters removed from your walls and floor in record time. Thankfully there wasn’t much damage on your room, as you and Renjun were the main casualties of the paint war.
While the two of you finished up, you hadn’t realized that the sun had already begun its approach into the sky, meaning that it was time to get ready for class.
“Shit, I won’t be able to shower in time,” you whined, fruitlessly picking at the paint clumping your hair together. You gave Renjun the evil eye, who had the decency to look sheepish at least.
“Wait, hold that thought,” he said, grasping your hand in his as he appraised you with an odd look. His brows were furrowed, thinking deeply as he traced the strokes of yellow and blue on your cheeks, all the way to your neck. His proximity made the blood rush to your face, and you hoped that the paint was doing a good job covering your flush.
It was an odd sensation, feeling so aware of your friend’s presence. You never noticed how cute he looked until that moment, when he was so focused and thoughtful like this. He had always looked handsome to you, but for whatever reason, the dash of red on the corner of his lip never looked more enticing than it did then.
After a bit more staring, he smiled softly at you, tucking a bit of your hair behind your ear with the sort of gentleness that you have come to associate with him. Your stupid, funny, smart, lovable Renjun. The only boy that you could never stay mad at.
“I think I have my submission for my art project right here,” he said, simply and honestly.
You giggled a bit, not quite understanding. “Well, you got the yellow paint, right? Shouldn’t you head home and try to finish your painting before class starts? You got a bit of time, I think.”
He shook his head, cupping your face like something to be held. Like something to be admired. There was something blooming inside your chest; a field of sunflowers, all of them reaching towards the light right in front of you.
The sun grinned at you, and the sunflowers rejoiced. “Nah. I think I’m good. More than good.”  
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buddaimond · 5 years ago
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Kristen Stewart is having a huge moment in her career with Charlie’s Angels coming to theaters in November and Underwater coming in January. But so far the 29-year-old has been focusing her energies on promoting her independent movie Seberg, the tragic story of American actress Jean Seberg whose life was essentially destroyed by late ‘60s FBI surveillance when she supported the Black Panthers and had an affair with one of their leaders. Stewart is keen to spread the word about Seberg on the 40th anniversary of her death at age 40.
In Venice, at the world premiere, she admitted “we should definitely know her for more than her short haircut and movies.” Stewart then moved on to the Toronto, Deauville and London Film Festivals. Though her biggest splash was made at the Zurich Film Festival, where she gave a Masterclass, a press conference, and where I sat down with her for an exclusive interview. Seberg comes out through Amazon in December.
COLLIDER: You seem to be doing more promotion for Seberg than Charlie’s Angels. Is there a reason for that?
KRISTEN STEWART: It’s funny you mention that as I was thinking about that this morning. Maybe it’s just been a minute since I was really proud of a smaller movie that I’ve done. I’d like people to see this one and unless you go to festivals and engage with the cinematic culture that could give you that opportunity to be seen, there’s no way to do that. So I support this movie, I think it’s good, and I think it’s a good time to tell the story. It’s been cool to travel with it because I also just love the festival vibe. I like traveling around and talking to people about movie stuff. It doesn’t feel like I’m selling a film. It feels like I’m supporting it and getting it out there for sure, but not in a way that it feels like my job. It’s a nice way to complete the experience of making a film. You get this opportunity to articulate the reasons why you made it and it completes the process.
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How did you come to work on the film, which is the second film by Australian, London-based theatre director Benedict Andrews? It’s about the life of Jean Seberg but is not a straightforward biopic as it concentrates on the fraught period of her life.
STEWART: I spent a bit of time on the jury with Cate Blanchett in Cannes (2018) and I’d just met Beno and was thinking about working with him and she immediately said, “Do it!” She’d worked with him on stage, he’s done a lot of opera, a realm I knew very little about. His first film Una was so incredible and so contained, just an undeniably original movie. When we had our first meeting about Jean he felt so precious and particular and his protective nature felt really contagious and he made me want to get to know her. At that point I’d only seen Breathless and learning about the story I was wildly blown away by the fact that we don’t know what happened to her and why she receded and became somebody we lost too early.
Is it possible now for an actress or even a woman who is political to be blacklisted by the US government as Seberg was?
STEWART: No, I don’t think so. A lot of people are speaking against Trump, a lot of people are speaking against things they’re not into and they’re speaking very loudly. There are just too many of us now.
Seberg was also crucified because of her sexuality, for being with a black (married) man. Your life has been in the tabloids so you must be able to relate to that.
STEWART: Yes of course. I come from a staunchly moral country as if we all share those rules. As if there could possibly be a set of rules that applies to everyone and their own individual happiness, which is absurd. But at least we’re talking about it a little more than we ever have.
It’s actually a good time to be a woman in this business with #timesup.
STEWART: I think it’s such an exciting time to be a woman who’s allowed to make films right now. There are so many stories that are going to be unearthed that have otherwise been ignored for a long time. Not that some of those stories won’t be told by men. There will be a trickle down effect. Some of my favorite experiences have been with male directors. We’re just becoming more honest about the female experience and that’s very exciting.
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How was it making Charlie’s Angels directed by Elizabeth Banks, who also plays Bosley in the film? Was it fun?
STEWART: It was really fun. Liz is really funny. It was her idea to revive the movies. I’d never worked with her before but I’ve always been a huge fan. Tonally we’re so different—she can squeeze a joke or a laugh out of anything and I’m the furthest from that. So I was so shocked that she saw me like that, like, “Hey you’re a goofball and I think we should play around together because nobody does that with you.” And I was like, “What? But you’re right, nobody ever does that with me.” So she got in there and it was this really tender act and I was so thankful and ultimately she wrote a really warm, grounded—also very silly, stupid, sometimes slapstick—but also really well-intentioned movie. It’s rad. She took this story we’ve grew up with and took the superhero aspect out if it and made the girls really relatable and accessible but also very aspirational. There’s this network of women across the globe who are connected and are really unstoppable. So it’s not like there are these three unattainable women who can fly or do kung fu while suspended in the air. No, these girls are actually smart and it’s about women who are friends and who are good people working together. It’s like a women-at-work story that’s also absurd sometimes. It didn’t lose the kitschy thing because she’s fucking silly.
Are you a goofball yourself?
STEWART: Mmm, sometimes.
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Did you enjoy the comedy/action?
STEWART: My character is wily. I’m the really irresponsible older sister who takes care of these girls. Sabina would take a bullet for you but she never really knows what time it is or where she’s supposed to be. So it was fun to be just a dumb-ass.
Do you want to do more of the fun dumb-ass? I guess it has to be with exactly the right person like Ellzabeth?
STEWART: I would love to play around a little bit more. I like serious movies but yes of course.
You’ve directed a short film and a few music videos and now you’re about to direct your first feature The Chronology of Water based on the memoir by Portland-based writer Lidia Yuknavitch. Why has this story captured your imagination so much?
STEWART: It was such an incredible experience reading the book. Sometimes you encounter material that articulates something you aren’t able to yet feel within you and it’s striking as hell when someone does it for you. It’s an exceedingly cool time for women to tell stories right now, the perspective is changing and I thought this was so real. This woman is a brilliant writer and uses language and plays with words in a way that I’ve never seen before. Also there’s a coming-of-age story embedded in this thing that is so confronting and not just raw for the sake of being startling, but is actually real. I don’t think it’s impossible for the male perspective to tell epic female stories, it’s just that this is so embedded in this book about a woman processing pain and shame and repurposing it and creating art as savior. It’s sort of this art-as-savior and swimming-as-solace story. It’s a real-word, body-fuck story. The way she inhabits a body and the way she speaks about it is unlike anything I’ve ever read. So I want to see it; I’ve never seen that in a movie.
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Are you writing the script or are you working on it together with Lidia?
STEWART: It’s definitely a collaborative process, but I’ve adapted it. It’s such a choose-your-own-adventure story. Whoever would have ended up making it, it has to be your own take on it. There’s so much to be had, it’s so non-linear, it’s so transient. It’s like water; it’s impossible to slip down the same stream.
Will you star in it or will you stay behind the camera?
STEWART: I’m not really right for it. Whoever plays the lead needs to play 17 to 40, so it’s a really wide range. I don’t know who that is at the moment. Hopefully I’m going to direct it next year.
With Twilight did you know how big it would become when you agreed to play Bella?
STEWART: The books were a big deal in the young adult novel realm, but it wasn’t in popular culture yet. I hadn’t heard of the book at that point and thought I was auditioning for a normal movie. It didn’t stand out as this gaping opportunity, it was just something that I liked. That was a cool audition process too. Catherine [Hardwicke] and I worked together for ages auditioning a bunch of other people for all the other parts. It was very normal—until it wasn’t.
What did you enjoy about playing Bella?
STEWART: When you read that book you are her. It’s such an immersive experience. So more so than with other parts the way to get close to it and make it feel true was to really own it and make it my own rather than be faithful to a text. I guess you can say that about most work, but this in particular was fun to be there. I was a teenager, it was such a visceral time to be alive and any 17-year-old knows what I’m talking about. It was just about capturing something so immediate, that first awakening, that ownership of your body and desire, all of it. It’s like having people tell you that it’s wrong and what you shouldn’t do. It’s a fierce commitment to something you believe in and was such a cool story to tell at that age.
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You made five Twilight movies. Do you still see other cast members? Do you have a big WhatsApp group?
STEWART: We all have a group chat (jokes). But we all see each other, I run into people all the time. I can’t make it to Taylor’s Halloween party, which bums me out, I’m going to be in New York. Rob’s great, he’s doing well, he’s going to be Batman and I’m very proud of him. It’s nice. In terms of the group we’ve all disbanded now for so long. I have individual relationships with everyone, but it’s not this thing that you would assume binds us in this way where we go, “Remember that?” We’ve all become real whole people who still know each other. I’m really thankful for that.
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calenlily · 6 years ago
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Thoughts on Kylara (and Lessa and women in Dragonflight-era Pern in general)
What’s up, friends, it’s meta rambling time.
I've always thought that Kylara, particularly as she was written in DF, was really interesting and had a lot of potential.
One of my least favorite things about McCaffrey's writing is her tendency towards virgin/whore dichotomies, and Kylara falls afoul of that, hard.
She's introduced in DF as a foil to Lessa, and she's a really good foil for Lessa. I feel like they're kind of dark mirrors of each other. Both of them are very strong-willed women, both of them are survivors, both of them are skilled manipulators, both of them are prideful and ambitious, and honestly both of them are pretty self-centered early in DF. Their biggest differences are that Kylara is hypersexual, having found her looks and her sexuality are her best tool for manipulating men, while Lessa's experiences have caused her to go frigid, that Lessa seems to have something of an innate moral compass that is never shown in Kylara, and that Lessa's experiences prior to Search were pretty uniformly traumatic, whereas Kylara's past was one of being simultaneously spoiled and dehumanized. Their duality has something of a "there but for the grace" quality; there is a certain sense that Kylara is who Lessa could have become - which suggests that Lessa is also who Kylara could have become.
In DF, Kylara is a woman with sufficient good qualities that she is handpicked to be Benden's second goldrider, and her worst sin is being a spoiled brat. There are some hints that that's turning in a sinister direction towards the end of the story, but she's still very much a redeemable character.
And then DQ recasts her as a foil for Brekke. But while Lessa, especially in DF, has quite a bit of darkness to her, Brekke is practically a Purity Sue, and here's where the virgin/whore dichotomy kicks in with a vengeance. In order to contrast with blindingly white Brekke, Kylara is painted as one-dimensionally dark. She is presented as a depraved harlot, irresponsible, spiteful, contemptuous, and without redeeming quality.
(Even then, I cannot see her as wholly unsympathetic. There is enough shown of how she came to be that way that I feel she is more tragic than anything else. She believes that she was shunted off to Southern to keep her out of the way - and she's not wrong - and that festers. She is a spoiled brat given free reign, with access to nearly unchecked power but no real responsibility or purpose, which feeds her self-centered nature. She is a skilled manipulator with no one who can really challenge or stand up to her, which feeds her overconfidence and contempt towards others. She is an ambitious woman with nowhere to go. I cannot condone her beliefs or actions, but I can to a large extent understand them.)
She is also a sexual submissive, and at least a bit of a masochist. (My feeling is that most of the masochism she indulges in comes out of her need for psychological domination being unfulfilled. But then I'm not a masochist; it could certainly be interpreted differently.) In the book that's treated as part of her depravity, but as someone who doesn't think being kinky is sick or wrong, I think it could be reinterpreted as a very interesting dimension to her character.
I think one of the keys to understanding Kylara's character is remembering the position of women on Pern in DF-era, and how that has played out in her life.
Because, at that time, being a woman on Pern was pretty damn sucky. We see this more than anywhere else in Lady Gemma, who had the crapsackiest life of all, but we also see it in the expectations for a Weyrwoman that Lessa has to deal with, and we see it in Kylara's life. Pernese society at the time was a setting where women were generally illiterate, their worth reckoned primarily as marriage pawns and breeders, and really not expected to have much control over their own lives. Kylara, as a high-ranking noblewoman, grows up privileged, pampered, and well-aware of the fact that her fate is going to be being married off to whoever her brother the Lord feels it most advantageous to secure an alliance with. One of her most formative experiences is her mother being cast aside in favor of a younger and shinier model. She knows that's not what she wants her life to be. And she takes two important lessons from it - that what power a woman has is in her influence on the men in her life, and that a woman is only worth anything so long as she is desirable to men.
And Kylara learns, no doubt quite early on, that she is very desirable to men. And Kylara isn't stupid. I don't think she's incredibly intelligent (certainly Lessa is smarter), but she is quick-witted and has a high social IQ. She wants as much control as possible over her life, and she learns that she can use her attractiveness to get it. Kylara's beauty and sexuality become her sword and shield (much as Lessa's projected ugliness and forgettability are hers at Ruatha), and she gets to be very good at using them. I expect a lot of her vanity initially stemmed from this fact.
She starts out focused on survival (which admittedly in her definition means having the position and comforts she is accustomed to having, but that doesn't mean the trauma that fuels it isn't real). But as she realizes how effectively she can manipulate men, I suspect her arrogance and ambition grow considerably.
And then she is brought to Benden on Search, which in the end is not much more than trading one group of men who want to use her for their own purposes for another. But she doesn't Impress. As a failed Candidate, she is left to make her own place in the Weyr, with no one having an agenda for her or particularly caring what she does. She has more autonomy than she's ever had before, but she's also a nobody, and that doesn't sit well with her. Kylara doesn't just want freedom, she wants power. So she sets about to gain in the Weyr the kinds of comforts and status she had at home, the best way she knows how - by alluring men. And if she hadn't before (because it's never particularly made clear what the expectations of Pernese noblewomen are in regards to premarital sex), she learns then a few other important things about herself, namely that she enjoys sex and has a high sex drive. And so sex becomes one more weapon in her arsenal.
She has developed a worldview in which other women cannot be other than rivals, while men ... well, she has a very complex relationship with men. She hates them for the authority they have over her, for the fact that she has to play these games and work through them in order to have control of her own affairs. She has contempt for them for how easily she can manipulate them. Those who do not succumb to her charms anger her, and yet they are the ones she wants most. The submissive in her craves domination, but she is loathe to yield to anyone she perceives are weaker, which is pretty much everyone. It's a very bitter and unfulfilling way to live.
She's gotten very good at looking out for number one, but she's never had a real purpose. She has ambition in spades, but all she's ever had to turn it to is amassing power for power's sake. She's inspired lust and infatuation in countless men, but never respect.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think she could have matured past being self-centered if she'd had the chance to work towards something real, to do something that mattered. I think just maybe, if she'd had a chance to win respect (and respect someone else in turn), she would have been compelled to work towards it. And she could have become a much better person than she did.
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theglassishalfsomething · 6 years ago
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Darcy Interviews Bing: Romance
 1. Do you believe in love at first sight? If so, convince me!
I do believe in it! Proof: a family friend of mine met his wife at a Catholic youth group meeting and told the friend he went with to the gathering as they were leaving that he couldn’t live without her. He just knew. They’ve been married for 30+ years now. 
Look- we’ve talked about this. I don’t believe in relationship at first sight- that’s crazy. And I don’t think that the love is fully formed or mature but I think it’s real, I think it’s love, and I think it can happen at first sight (meeting). 
I’m not saying it’s the only way people fall in love. It’s not the way a lot of people do and that’s totally fine. I also think it’s something that irresponsible people can use as an excuse for irresponsible behavior and it doesn’t justify anything in terms of recklessness or even foolishness. You still have to get to know someone before you commit to dating them, you shouldn’t be reckless. But what’s in your heart, though fragile, undeveloped, “no proof, not much” IS love. That’s what it IS. It’s not something else! 
And in a sense all love is love at first sight. As Christopher Marlowe says, “Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?” Sometimes it just takes us longer to see it- the first sight happens down the road but it still happens in a moment. I totally get why people love the Darcy/Lizzy love story more than a more conventional love at first sight. I too am probably more moved by “I cannot fix on the hour or the spot or the look or the words that laid the foundation; it is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I’d begun” than “I just knew” but then idk !!! they’re both beautiful!!
I tend to get in fights with people about this and I haven’t yet succeeded in convincing anyone of this and also it doesn’t really matter because I think it’s probably wiser that people don’t go around believing it and being convinced that the cute person you made eye contact with on public transportation is THE ONE and you “just know”. But I just. In my heart of hearts I believe it’s real. 
Matt Damon met his wife at a bar okay!!!! Saw her across the room !!!! and KNEW. I didn’t make that up- that happened to him.
2. If you could spend an hour talking about love with one person, living or dead, who would it be?
Well, in truth I’d talk about it with my family and friends but as I already DO that I’m going to go with Taylor Swift and/or (hopefully and) Jane Austen. I think it would be pretty funny if they were both prosaic about it though. Being an artist and being an explainer/rhetorician aren’t the same thing and I love the idea of both of them being not very eloquent about something they’re so GOOD at talking about in other ways. Like the way you once described Megan Whalen Turner and Adam Driver as discussing their work in the same matter-of-fact, understated, unflowery way. (I think about that a lot.)
This question got away from me. I’d still want to talk to Taylor about it though haha. 
3. Do you think that “opposites attract” is a more consistently true principle of successful romance, or can two similar people work together?
WHAT A GOOD QUESTION AND ONE ON WHICH I HAVE MUSED MUCH SINCE YOU FIRST POSED IT TO ME
I think in the end it comes back to the idea of balance. (#reylo, #willieverstopbeingthemostannoyingaboutthisNO) Romances, friendships, any kind of relationship works great and beautifully when there are complementary differences that create a natural check and balance between two people. We’ve all got to steady each other out you know. But romance especially calls for those differences in temperament and even outlook where faults as much as virtues help keep the other in check/help push the other to grow. Damon is so sarcastic, Elena is so sincere. She grounds him and cuts through his defenses; he draws her out of her seriousness and out of her head and makes her have a little more fun. Ben is contemplative and thoughtful and questioning, Rey reckless, impulsive, and action-driven. He steadies Rey’s unthinking action, she helps shake him out of his inaction. They’re better together. I could go on.
“Opposites attract” has definitely been overblown because I think having the same fundamental priorities and beliefs and values is most important in a marriage- the most important thing let’s be real- and even in terms of interests and outlook similarities are good. But the edge of difference in personality and approach is good- it’s what creates the spark! It’s what makes it work. Thank God (truly) that we aren’t all the same.
4. What is the greatest lie about romance that is widely accepted?
That romantic love can be separated from morality, from charity, and thrive. It can’t. As Lewis says in The Four Loves, “The rebellious slogan 'All for love' is really love's death warrant (date of execution, for the moment, left blank).”
On a (somewhat loosely) connected note, that’s why I side-eye those romances that start out and then continue against the wishes and support of family, friends, a wider community. I don’t want to overstate it! Parents, friends, community can be close-minded, unfair, hateful, wrong etc. FOR SURE. But marriages that start out against everyone else in their circle with no intention or desire for reconciliation, with just the two people involved feeling that “this is us against the world, we can defeat all odds!” are not a good idea. A couple’s reasons for cutting ties and starting out in isolation may be necessary but should never be undertaken lightly or as a matter of course because we all need support. We need each other. 
“We’re In Love And Anyone Who Says We Cannot Do Whatever We Want Because Of That Hates True Love” feels like a default attitude in today’s culture, especially for teenagers, whenever any objections are raised. Objections should be raised. Sit DOWN and be willing to work your way through them and prove that you’ve thought about them and are ready for the risks and the work involved to make this the best thing it can possibly be. Stop being stupid!!! Your love is not the answer to everything!!!!! Your love cannot be your sole guide!!!! 
But I mean, true love that wants the true good can. But that’s different from passion, emotion and it’s not what everyone is operating from you know? We’re messy and human.
5. What do you dream of for your own romantic future, if you do?
Judging by these answers, it seems that I think it’s far too big a risk!!
But I mean, dreaming. Hmm. wow this is making me feel very shy. (Can I lower my font size so it’s like I’m whispering.) I want.............I don’t know. Alright, apart from someone who agreed with me on what was most fundamentally important- faith especially obviously- I’d want to love and be loved very deeply. I want all the things we talk about- friendship, trust, someone who helps me grow, someone who challenges me, someone who loves me a lot whom I loved as much in return. It’s- yeah. This isn’t a good answer but it’s such a hard question. 
6. Is I love you the most romantic thing that can be said, or are there other words you would choose?
you know I think “I love you” IS the most romantic thing !!! !!! Before you asked this I would have thought that I didn’t think that and I do love other verbal ways of expressing love but there is something about the words themselves that get to me. Whenever I hear it onscreen I kind of tear up a little bit. It’s why I always tend to ship canon couples at least a little bit because it’s like “BUT THEY LOVE EACH OTHER”. You know how I feel about Tyler and Caroline which is not much but there’s that one scene where he writes her a letter and it’s like “I will always love you” and i’m like “SHOOT ME I CAN’T TAKE IT.” 
They’re such beautiful words, so straightforward. So ageless. They don’t change! Human beings have been saying them to each other for centuries.
7. How, in this crazy fandom world, do we identify relationships that are ACTUALLY toxic, versus those that are growing/developing/in need of work?
ahem ahem aHEM A relationship isn’t toxic because screenwriters decide to have the characters say it is without backing that up or with writing bad decisions. I’m not bitter I say bitterly with a bitter expression. 
Relationships that are built on nothing but bad things- selfishness, control, abuse, lies- are toxic. Relationships that are separated from the pursuit of the good are toxic. 
That said, and it’s a big “that said”, we’re all broken, we’re all damaged, we’re all wounded and sinful and I believe that things can get better, that people can heal so a lot of rhetoric around this topic strikes me as wrong. Tumblr especially tends to label conflict, challenge, and imperfections as toxicity and it’s just- no. Those are all parts of a healthy relationship in this fallen world. 
Another way of putting it is that I think, in fiction especially, relationships that don’t DEAL with anything, that don’t involve the struggle of communication are not good. Lies and surface-level resolutions aren’t good.
I’m not qualified enough to talk more about it. (I mean it hasn’t stopped me so far but it’s stopping me here.)
8. Is love a choice?
Yes, but you can’t always control how you feel initially. You can always control what you do though, and it’s the doing that’s the most of love. To paraphrase Lewis, the feeling is just the spark that ignited it. 
(*sings* “I can’t decide if it’s a choice, getting swept away”)
9. How do you like your romance, in fiction: full of light and sunshine, warm and constant, or tragically resolute?
All of the above. If I had to choose one I’d say “warm and constant” but all of it absolutely kills me. Screams into the void. 
10. Tell me what kind of man I should marry.
Someone principled, steady, witty, kind. Also someone who’s a good cook and also who likes dogs so that you know they’re real and have at least one fault in your eyes.
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schraubd · 6 years ago
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When The Mask Comes Off ... What's Beneath Doesn't Look All That Different
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, explains why he is "glad" to be called an antisemite.
“There is one race that cannot be criticized. If you are anti-Semitic, it seems almost as if you are a criminal,” Mohamad said in an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, denying that he disliked Jews, as such. “Anti-Semitic is a term that is invented to prevent people from criticizing the Jews for doing wrong things.”
“When somebody does wrong, I don’t care how big they are. They may be powerful countries but if they do something wrong, I exercise my right of free speech. They criticize me, why can’t I criticize them?”
Mohamad, an avowed anti-Semite, was sworn in as prime minister in May, nearly two decades after he last held office. He is well known for his anti-Semitic rhetoric, writing on his personal blog in 2012 that “Jews rule this world by proxy.”
He has also said, “I am glad to be labeled anti-Semitic […] How can I be otherwise, when the Jews who so often talk of the horrors they suffered during the Holocaust show the same Nazi cruelty and hard-heartedness towards not just their enemies but even towards their allies should any try to stop the senseless killing of their Palestinian enemies.”
This, of course, is rather naked. It speaks of Jews (although the de rigueur conflation with Israel is present), and it does not shy away from (indeed it actively embraces) the idea of antisemitism. In that sense, it is almost too easy of a case. And this is not remotely out of character for Mohamad either. But where these passages may be of some use is in highlighting how certain antisemitic tropes work in a context where they are freely and openly attached to an antisemitic ideology, the better to spot them when they appear without such an overt gloss. Basically everything Mohamad is saying is something that, dressed up (a little) more nicely, is a common feature of discourse about Jews in global society today. First, there is the claim that the real victims of antisemitism are those accused of it -- antisemitism is not (or is not primarily) a genuine form of oppression for Jews, but rather is a perk Jews enjoy to shield ourselves from critical review. Compare here Bruce Robbins "The real issue here is anti-Semitism; that is, accusing people of it" or Naomi Klein suggesting that some Jews "think we get one get-away-with-genocide-free-card." Second, there is the argument that in taking on the Jews, he is taking on someone or something "big". Here he really dips between referring to "Jews" generally and "Israel" specifically (For the record, Malaysia has four times the population of Israel across a territory almost sixteen times its size). Of course, the perception of Jews as inherently "big" -- domineering, cabalistic, pulling the strings -- has deep pride of place in antisemitic rhetoric. Mohamad is appealing to a notion whereby antisemitism always is a form of "punching up", "a movement of the little people against an intangible, global form of domination".  This perspective has come to occupy a critical role in the narrative Corbyn supporters tell of Jewish outrage -- both in the view that Corbyn, in antagonizing the Jews, is tackling the powerful, and in the view that the Jewish backlash is itself attributable to some nefarious conspiracy Next, there is the invocation of "free speech". Of course, this particular ploy should by now be familiar to anyone forced to endure alt-right trolling of college campuses -- when they choose to be racist, it's just free speech! And if you call it racist, you're suppressing their free speech! But this device makes its appearance regarding antisemitism too, and has done so for a very long time. Jewish Voice for Peace's old blog was titled "MuzzleWatch", and one of the major fringe groups backing the Corbynistas and opposing Jewish efforts to raise awareness of antisemitism in the UK is named "Free Speech on Israel". Glenn Greenwald has likewise dismissed the widespread adoption of the IHRA antisemitism definition as part of a "global campaign to outlaw criticisms of Israel as bigotry". Then there's the comparison of "Jews" (represented through Israel) to Nazis -- we're all familiar with that play, and I'm glad to see it here if only for completion's sake. But we'll conclude with the most striking bit, and the one that perhaps seems least applicable to more workaday antisemitic cases: where Mohamad says he is "glad" to be called antisemitic. Here one might say I'm actually being a touch unfair to Mohamad, for what I suspect he means is something more like "while antisemitism -- appropriately (and narrowly) defined -- is terrible; what is called antisemitic in public discourse are actually good, noble, and virtuous positions that one should be proud to hold." This is buttressed by the caveat Mohamad gave at the beginning, where he denies that he "dislikes Jews, as such." Once again, this has parallels. Steve Bannon notoriously said that being called racist is a "badge of honor"; Steven Salaita's contention that antisemitism has become "honorable" thanks to Zionism plays on the same turf. In all cases, the claim actually isn't "it is good to hate outgroups"; it's something more like "what outgroups claim is hateful, actually is good". Now, to be clear -- that's still a BS response, partially because it is too clever by half, partially because it depends on an epistemic injustice directed against the outgroups whereby their assessments of their own experience of inequality is so unreliable that one should be "honored" if they feel threatened by you. But at least formally, it reduces down to a claim that "one can and should dislike X group insofar as they act in A B C bad ways, or support D E F bad policies." Which actually circles back, strangely enough, to my Tablet Magazine article on Open Hillel's intervention in the SFSU antisemitism debate. In that article, I cited Bernard Williams for the proposition that virtually no form of racism holds itself out as being a product of raw, unadorned antipathy. It always comes attached to claims that are at least on-face about something that qualifies as a candidate for a reasonable position. Wrote Williams:
Few can be found who will explain their practice merely by saying, 'But they're black: and it is my moral principle to treat black men differently from others'. If any reasons are given at all, they will be reasons that seek to correlate the fact of blackness with certain other considerations which are at least candidates for relevance to the question of how a man should be treated: such as insensitivity, brute stupidity, ineducable irresponsibility, etc. Now these reasons are very often rationalizations, and the correlations claimed are either not really believed, or quite irrationally believed, by those who claim them. But this is a different point; the argument concerns what counts as a moral reason, and the rationalizer broadly agrees with others about what counts as such -- the trouble with him is that his reasons are dictated by his politics, and not conversely. The Nazis' 'anthropologists' who tried to construct theories of Aryanism were paying, in very poor coin, the homage of irrationality to reason.
So too here. I quoted Mohamad's words extensively because to my mind they represent an unquestionable case of antisemitism. But his caveat that he does not dislike Jews "as such" is one that Open Hillel's standard of antisemitism has great trouble grappling with. If Mohamad's point is that he doesn't dislike Jews-qua-Jews, only the bloodthirsty ones, the Zionist ones, the Nazi-like ones, the ones who are "big" and the ones who censor his free speech -- is that antisemitism? Cast in that light, Mohamad isn't actually all that different from the peers I've been comparing him to; perhaps just a little rougher around the edges. And that, ultimately, is the real point here. One might think that Mahathir Mohamad represents what happens when the screen of respectability comes down and an antisemite simply says what he thinks. But it turns out that, when that happens, what one sees doesn't look all that different from what one sees when the mask stays on. Mohamad uses tropes and claims and devices that are common in discourse about Jews by people who have far more claim to respectability than Mohamad does. One would like to think that's an indictment of the respectable. But it just as easily can become a defense of what we otherwise would think of as undeniable antisemitism. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2L1o6Gj
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