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beckface · 3 years

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What would your ideal DTB turning back into Steven fic be like?

I wrote some stuff already about this here but why not I wanna add more

-At first Becky doesn’t know if Reformed!Steven remembers her secret identity (in this case previous Steven did already know)

-He does remember but he lies about knowing, assuming that she wouldn’t want him to know anymore

-While it’s still early after changing back he’s not himself, and it takes him sometimes to heal and become confident in his identity again

-He’s never quite previous Steven OR Twobrains again, but he keeps his core personality

-As she gets older Becky deals with more identity issues and Steven is really the only one who understands

-Scoops interviews him but Steven’s weird and paranoid the whole time and keeps making quips every time Scoops tries to talk

-Violet hates him, like hates him at first because she’s protective of Becky and, from her pov, he’s been fucking with Becky’s head since day 1. Becky tries to reason with Violet but she’s nothing if not stubborn in her beliefs.

-Becky keeps trying to get everyone to accept Steven back though (harder than he’s trying honestly) and Violet just explodes at him one day. After that he’s open and honest about how he regrets hurting his friend, but what’s done is done, and he’s doing everything he can now to fix it. They come to a sort of understanding

-At some point Violet’s mom starts teaching Steven yoga and enforces a healthier lifestyle on him

-I really like Botsford family angst because we can’t have nice things in this house, and I specifically like the idea that Steven just gets a lot of parts of Becky that her family doesn’t, between having known her as the authentic Wordgirl, having known her without any hidden identities, being similar to her in a lot of academic ways and even humor, and having been her teacher and estranged mentor figure, he knows how to talk to her in a very particular way that connects with her, and it causes some insecurities for her parents.

-After revealing her secret identity as WG to her family (just judging based on how they reacted in Twobrains Forgets) I feel like her parents will just start letting her get away with more and won’t exactly parent her as much, and maybe even start treating her like a spectacle instead of their child unconsciously. The Botsfords get excited easily and don’t always consider the implications of their actions.

-This would absolutely make Becky anxious and overthink, and maybe she even tries to act out to get them to treat her normal again

-What if her family is even a little scared of her now

-Imagining a scene where WG is having a kid moment, just kindof being a bit of a brat, and Steven who’s over for dinner or something is the one that scolds her in that sarcastic deadpan “you know what you’re doing” tone he uses in the show when he’s all fed up, while her parents, who have just been not giving her any structure because they assume that since she’s an alien superhero she didn’t really need it, consider that maybe they need to reconnect with their daughter and learn who she is in her entirety, and not just see her as either Becky or Wordgirl.

-I went on a bit of a tangent but okay moving on

-Give. Steven. An ex. Husband. Do it. Don’t be a coward. You know you want to. (this is gonna be it’s own section of backstory and meeting wg feel free to skip if you’re not interested)

•

-And now MAKE that ex husband’s story be that og!Steven was always doing dangerous experiments that kept ALMOST hurting him and the people around him

-The ex husband upset at og!Steven for this and it causes issues in their relationship, but he doesn’t bring it up until the couple were thinking of adopting a baby.

-The ex is like “you need to stop, I want to have a family with you! I want us to have a LIFE together!”

-og!Steven can’t bring himself to stop though, and thinks he’ll be able to start doing safer experiments, or Once he just finishes this one project he’ll stop for sure!

-The couple get really excited and imagine a life together with their possible new child

-og!Steven has the best intentions, but one of his experiments happens to blow up during the house inspection. The adoption falls though. The couple “take a break” from eachother, both heartbroken

-Steven moves to the next city over for a fresh start, Fair City, to try and make something of himself, to prove that he didn’t lose the love of his life and their future family in vain

-He gets a job as a part-time college professor to pay the rent, and buys a little lab for himself that he stays in. He does his best to stay positive though and throws himself into his work, excitedly deciding his next big project (he keeps getting distracted by new ideas though and can’t pick just one thing)

-while mourning over the loss of his hypothetical child guess who he meets :D thats right I can’t stay away from dadbrains for five seconds

-Little five-year old superhero girl crashes through his office, quickly followed by a monkey. Some old lady in a jetpack flys away cackling with a sack of money, and he expects the girl to leave (he’s met a few superheros in his time and they’re pretty indifferent about property destruction)

-She lets the old lady get away though, and apologizes all embarrassed about his lab, she even calls him “sir” all respectfully, and superspeed helps him clean up best she can. It’s messy clean up though, like how a normal little kid would clean their room. He is immediately smitten

-Wordgirl explains that this villain, Granny May, just got a new jetpack that allows her to fly and makes her extra physically tough. Steven helps her think of a way to dismantle the jetpack, and they work together to build a device to defeat her. Steven is having a lot of fun having a lab buddy while inventing, and the kid seems to be enjoying the mental exercise too.

-He finishes it faster then he usually finishes projects, because she helps him stay focused on the task

-Wg looks at him after the defeat and says they make a pretty good team with pure joy in her eyes. Steven feels like she’s his second chance.

-They agree to keep working together and a brand new friendship is born! How wholesome! Nothing bad will ever happen to it I bet!

-After she goes home, Steven goes back to planning his next big project. He thinks about the monkey guy, Wordgirl’s sidekick. It was mildly irritating that she kept having to translate Huggy’s words for Steven, if only there was a device that let humans and animals communicate without her help…

—-

-Okay on the ex-husband note after he changes to Twobrains the guy comes back and is like “Steven… what have you become” and they divorce for good. Steven hasn’t seen him since.

-Maybe they can make up, maybe they can not, but what’s important is that while visiting his family, Steven takes Becky out on a shopping trip to go get food and runs into him

-The guy sees Steven, and sees that he got rid of the mousebrain, and sees that he looks highkey like a mess, and is just like “…you’re back.” THEN he notices that Becky’s holding his hand because she’s 12 and I can do what I want, and thinks that he adopted her, even after all of what the couple went through with the previous adoption falling, and assumes that Becky’s in some kind of danger because of Steven’s experiments

-This leads to some passive aggressive quips which leads to a screaming match in the store

“You ruined our chance at a life together!”

“You left me when I needed you the most!”

-Everyones just awkwardly staring until Becky steps in to 1) correct the guy that she’s not Steven’s daughter, and 2) defend Steven and explain the situation better

-Healing!! More healing!!! Yayyyy healing!! Becky invites the ex husband over for dinner after she calms down the fight, even though it’s not her house or her family, because she has ALL the audacity (love her) and it’s awkward and passive aggressive at first but they eventually talk about their lives together and hug and cry and apologize

-They CAN get back together if you want but for me they’re just going to form a somewhat confusing and rocky friendship and move on to be with other people :D (too many good TB ships for him to end up with what i’m now realizing is just an unnamed oc created purely for character development) The ex does get close to Becky and him and Steven have a weird little platonic parenting relationship around her. He also stayed close with Steven’s family and they all kinda supported eachother when Steven went mouse

•

-Wow that went on wayyy too long but anyways summary; Steven has ex husband drama because I need to make either him or Becky sad or I will EXPLODE

-Moving on to the “Steven needs therapy” section

-Steven keeps Squeaky’s skull around. You know. For shits n giggles. Sometimes he stares at it like it’s talking to him. Something is very very wrong with this man.

-Steven takes up art with encouragement from Violet’s mom. We’ve seen he’s a generally good cartoonist, so I can imagine he’s all around decent at art. Half the time he makes these cute little portraits of people he cares about, and half the time he makes these like, You know those pictures that are captioned with “this was painted by someone with (insert mental illness)”? Yeah those, except they’re creepy mouse themed.

-I just enjoy imagining Squeaky depicted like the nowhere king from centaurworld if anyone knows what i’m on about

-He has a personal vendetta against Mickey Mouse and everyone BEGS him to chill the fuck out about it. Mr. Big is annoyed because he can’t invest stock in Disney anymore or else Steven will hunt him down

-One time Becky came over and could have SWORN she saw Steven eating something that looked like a rat and she just agreed with herself to forget that ever happened

-Steven is weird around cats and cats are weird around Steven it’s like a mutual agreement to avoid each other between this one guy and every single cat in the world

-Steven has phantom migraines a lot, the only thing that really helps is just taking his mind off of it

-he wont even TOUCH any animal-based experiment ideas anymore

-He and Becky like to exchange theories about Lexicon, especially after interactions with both Miss Power and Kid Math

-Kid Math tells steven everything he knows about Hexagon and Lexicon, Steven starts a new book about Hexagon and gets new pages for his Lexicon journel

-He gives Becky back a really old unicorn plushie that she left at his lab YEARRRRS ago, BEFORE twobrains, that he never managed to give back to her before as some sort of preservation of their previous relationship

-Becky finds this sweet and tears up, before saying it’s kind of funny because thats exactly why she reread “Superheroes and You” all the time

-She makes him watch Pretty Princess. He pretends to not get into it. His favorite character is the Pony (Miss Power episode revealed how dead inside that goddamn pony is Steven/Twobrains would ABSOLUTELY love him)

-Despite all the mental turmoil he’s dealing with, everything is okay.

#wordgirl #dr two brains #becky botsford #ask #hc/au #Violet Heaslip #doctor two brains #steven boxleitner #Boxleitner’s Return

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inadequate-nefelibata · 3 years

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i don’t know if it’s the right call to write this. i’m like, weirdly out of touch. It’s 4 am here in Argentina, so if this makes no sense. so be it.

but i feel like when it comes to characters like johnny - aka male (almost always white too) characters who are shown to be violent and misogynisitic or classist (or racist), that are eventually revealed to have a pretty tragic backstory, meant to cast all their past behavior in a tragic light - i almost feel like im completely done with those stories. I’ve seen them a lot and, most of the time, the backstory not only works as a half-way redeption, but also tends to change the nature of their behavior into something that’s... less meaningful. It removes them from a larger context. More on that later.

The thing is, I liked johnny’s redeption as it was shown in the karate kid. no, that’s not right. I do feel like his story was left incomplete. we don’t see him get back up. and it is nice to see him trying to become a better person, rather than just having the suggestion that he could have been better without kreese’s influence.

But im just a bit tired of the same-old “gotcha! he was just an asshole because he was hurting all along.” reveal.

Which is not me saying that the writers are wrong to explore how the cobra kai philosophy could be attractive to bullied/marginalized kids. I see how for Tory or Aisha or Miguel the concept of showing no mercy to an unfair world would make perfect sense. especially coming from a teacher they trust.

But with Johnny, i wanted to see a bit of the other side of the cobra kai target audience.

What does that mean?

While Kreese is very good at reframing his lessons to fit all kinds of students, really, the real reason why the og Cobra kai lessons creates so many bullies is because if conviced them of this:

what the hell is that, you wonder? i don’t really like how it looks but i have tried putting it to words so many times so... eh.

It’s the idea that some people are better than other people, stronger than other people. But most importantly, if you’re weak, that changes your worth as a person. Which is why you don’t deserve to escape whatever kind of violence you are subjected to; those who are weak deserve to be put on their place.

It’s appropiate for a metaphor about US imperialism because it represents an idea that has always been used as a justification of colonialism: “the survival of the fittest”. If a group is weaker than other group, it deserves to be dominated. It deserves to disappear.

This philosophy doesnt come from marginalized groups, and it doesn’t really serve them, even if it can be presented in that way. The lines can be blurred, because human history is complicated as hell but. still. at the end of the day, community is what stops injustice. Not trying to make yourself worthy in the eyes of injust people.

Having said all that, i’m switching lanes for a second to the way in which cobra kai is presented in this show. sometimes it’s like the show want us to believe that people, kids, need to have cracks to absorb kreese’s (or johnny’s) teachings. cracks brought on by trauma or unjustice.

and its kind of related to how the phrase “there are no bad students, only bad teachers” gets interpreted in the context of the show.

I mean, Mr Miyagi doesn’t really go to explain it further so we can read it in many many different ways. But in the show, the idea of a “bad teacher” is closely tied to Kreese’s abusive relationship with Johnny. And, yes, that dimension of the relationship is canon, even in the films. Even in the first film.

But I also think it’s possible to interpret that phrase in a more neutral sense. A “bad teacher” is not necessarily an abusive one. It can just be someone who is kind to their students but still passes down the wrong kind of values.

And, considering the fact that the karate kid was making several points about cultural values, the “teacher” doesn’t even have to be a teacher at all. It can just be a family, a culture.

Kids don’t really need cracks to absorb ideas, kids are like sponges. A pair of perfectly loving parents could raise someone who’s not a great person, if they happen to hold harmful ideas.

So, what annoys me about the idea that cobra kai has finally given us the context of Johnny’s actions its that is seems to imply that, unlike the films, they aren’t saying that he was Evil. That they are instead showing us that he was just a product of his surroundings.

There’s only one problem. The films do portray him as kid that was the product of his surroundings.

The difference it’s that it’s not done exclusively throught painful experiences. It’s also done throught privileged experiences. Two things, not one. (And now, he’s just one)

So one moment in the films that gives us a glimpse into Johnny’s motivations its the tournament scene, Which is impeccable, Mr. Zabka put his entire pussy into it 10/10. I will eventually make a post about that.

But I just. I keep coming back to the Country club scene because it says so much about where Johnny is coming from.

See, Johnny is quite literally being told that he is a better option for Ali that “that boy from Reseda”. He’s also specifically using the fact that her parents are classist to get close to her. Which it’s another example of him not respecting her choices. But I also think that he fully believes this.

His background is not some convenient thing, throw in just because. Classism is part of why he is how he is.

Like, look me in the eyes and tell me these people don’t have their own bussiness-like version of “No mercy” somewhere in their vocabulary.

And then there’s his general behavior towards Ali, that it’s not really that out of place, even now, in a macho film about “getting the girl”. She does not want you, but dont worry! You’ll win her over by trampling all over her boundaries. She’ll come to her senses and see how much of a man you are!

Johnny in the Karate Kid is the product of his surroundings, but not just because he’s a kid who’s being influenced by Kreese. He’s also the product of his surroundings as a privileged kid. As a person that is told, not just by Cobra kai, but by the wider society, that he’s more important than other groups of people. It’s his social class, his position as a white man in the US.

The main source of his violence is the idea that he’s entitled to that violence.

It’s why he got so angry at Daniel when he punched back (or sprinkled back, but that sounds less dramatic). It’s why he hates the fact that Ali chose (chose, not was stolen by) Daniel. She chose a boy from reseda who can’t even fight (who’s weak) over him. Therefore putting everything Johnny has been told about his worth in question. (And just, his attitude towards her, the fact that he thinks he can literally force her to talk to him. It’s so so realistic if you think about all those other things he believes about strength and domination.)

In the movies, these notions of superiority are what makes kids (because we see clearly in the tournament scene that they are still just kids) susceptible to the Cobra kai philosophy.

And it’s so frustrating! It’s so frustrating because the writers saw that and apperantly were like “Nope, that’s not enoght. Something bad must have happened to him. This it’s too simple.”

Too simple?

The show transforms the socio-cultural explanation into an interpersonal, individual explanation. He is just A Person who was influenced by A Person. Specifically, a kid in an abusive household who felt prey to a manipulative teacher (And Kreese now has his Own Sad Explanation). At most, there’s some discussion of Toxic Masculinity (or is there, really?) but, for the most part, his privileged background is ignored.

I appreciate that we get to see him trying to be a better person, I really do. That he’s recovering from the trauma his teacher inflicted on him. But I am just so tired of the tragic reframing of these kinds of behaviors. Johnny deserves compassion for the things that Kreese put him throught. But when it comes to the belief that he was entitled to hurt other people, entitled to Ali, he doesn’t get sad points for that.

I just wish we could have seen how a redemption arc would have looked for a guy like that, for that kind of mentality. Maybe then I could finally enjoy a story where a shitty dude gets to grow from his mistakes without feeling like im supposed to pity him for the hurt he caused.

Cause I am so so so so sick of that, Hollywood!

#long post #johnny lawrence #karate kid #cobra kai meta #cobra kai #i will probably reread this and cringe at the intensity later but oh well #rational me it's not awake rn #she can't stop #me #it¿s late though are ppl even awake #anyway i am enraged and i know it's just a movie / show but ahhhhhh #since forever and ever i've encountered this kinds of stories i am #tired!!!!

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lovelivingmydreams · 4 years

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A might have been part 2

Okay listen. If you really believed for even a moment that I was going to make an alternative past for @kingcreativityau where King got to be friends with baby instinct/fear and write all the way up to the split and then not include everything that happened after... Do you guys know me at all? My brain will not be sattisfied with this narative until i have written at least up until the return. And if there ever comes a time where the og comic comes to a conclusion, you better believe I’ll write how all of those events transpired in this alternate version of the timeline. So like it or not, at least two more parts are coming. So there. Enjoy!

part 1 here

A friendship for the ages

Creativity blinked in confusion. What… What was he doing? He looked up and saw… Himself? “Wow, you are just like me!” they chorused. They looked at each other stunned for a moment before they burst out laughing. They got up and shook hands. “Creativity,” they introduced themselves, laughing once more. “Wow, no kidding,” they snorted. “King?” a broken voice wondered. Both looked up. Curious about who spoke. Someone about their height took a step closer, pushing away from a smaller boy. Wait they knew this guy right? The name was at the tip of their tongue. “Not me. Is he talking to you?” they both wondered, looking at each other. “Guess not,” they shrugged. But King did sound familiar, though it didn’t quite feel like them. “I call Prince!” the one in the red cape declared. “Why?” The green caped one pouted. “Because I was first to call prince!” the prince reasoned. “Oh… That makes sense. Then I’m duke!” duke grinned. They turned to the boy, both grinning widely. Seemingly unaware of the atmosphere surrounding their appearance. Prince stepped forward proudly. “I am Prince!” he announced with a bow. “Nice to officially make your acquaintance.” Because they did know him didn’t they? Why was it such a mess in their heads? “Duke!” the other cackled. “Duke, dukey!” he giggled then. “I’m dukey,” he exclaimed with glee. “This… Is quite the unexpected turn,” a taller boy with glasses said. “Unexpected? You killed king! And all you can say about it is that it was unexpected?” The familiar boy cried, making the tall boy flinch. “Fear, kiddo…” the shorter boy soothed. Fear! “Oh! Fear! You are Fear!” Duke shouted, jumping up and down as he pointed at Fear. “You are our friend right?” Prince added. Fear looked up at them, tears still in their eyes. “Why are you sad? Whom must I slay?” Prince asked. “Yeah! We’ll make them poop their pants!” Duke added. Fear took a step back and shook his head. “You stay away,” he sobbed and took of. “Fear!” the little boy with glasses pleaded. The twins looked at each other. “What did we say?” “Fear simply needs time to ‘mourn’ your previous form. He’s highly emotional, it was to be expected that he would not respond well to such a big change with no time to mentally prepare. Let him have his tantrum. He’ll be back soon,” the tall boy stated firmly, adjusting his glasses. The boys wanted to believe him but both he and the little guy who introduced himself as Morality and the other as Logic cast worried glances in the direction Fear had ran of to. Sometimes they’d disappear in that direction and come back looking sad. Prince and Duke got to know the mindscape and, more importantly, the imagination fairly quickly and both agreed that Thomas was the most amazing person in the world and deserved everything he wanted. Sure Duke could be a bit gross sometimes and Prince could get a bit egocentric and too caught up with his own thoughts. But they were doing well. Logic was frustrated though that neither had interest in homework. And Morality seemed upset that they didn’t care much for playing with the other kids. Not even Thomas’ brothers. Well that was their problem really. The twins had each other. There was one side they were interested in though. Fear. The ‘tantrum' as Logic called it had still not blown over and everyone seemed worried. So, deciding to investigate to satisfy their curiosity they went looking for him. They knew what direction to go in. The others had gone to talk to Fear a bunch of times since he left. All they had to do was walk in the direction they went until they found him right? The walk was long, but eventually they saw a big willow. No Fear though. Was he in the shadowy part of the mind? “Stop!” The twins froze and looked at the willow. Had the tree just shouted at them? “Hello?” Prince called. “Leave me alone!” They knew that voice! The twins ran up to the tree and pushed the branches out of their way and froze. Fear was sitting up in the higher branches, hood pulled over his face and four spider legs springing from underneath his clothes. He looked down and six purple eyes lit up in the dark. “I said go!” he growled. A yellow snake slithered up from a hole in the tree wrapping itself protectively/comfortingly around his figure. “That is so cool!” Duke grinned getting himself a jab into the ribs from his brother. “Fear. We… We just wanted to know why you don’t want to be our friend. Did we do something?” Prince asked gently. “No! I’m keeping everyone safe. People who are nice to me get hurt.” “That isn’t true fear…” the snake hissed gently, surprising the twins. Fear glared at the snake. “Isn’t it Deceit?” he growled, making the snake recoil. “Thought so. Just… Go with them. I’ll be fine,” he muttered as he curled in on himself and wrapped his legs around himself like a cage. “That’s a lie. You aren’t fine,” Deceit objected. “Is he… Is this because we aren’t king?” Prince wondered nervously. For all his grandness he was terrified of falling short. He didn’t want to be less wonderful than this King person. If he wasn’t as good or better than the original, what was the point of him existing? “This has nothing you do with that! Just leave me alone!” Fear growled hiding in his hoodie. The snake sighed and came down, turning into a teen boy. Duke whistled impressed, while Prince looked away. Something about the scaled half of the boy's face made something in his gut twist. It felt like guilt. But he’d never met this side. What could he have done to feel this way? “Maybe you two have more luck,” Deceit muttered as he left the shelter of the Willow. “Finally,” Fear huffed. “Now if you two would kindly go back to the central consciousness and get back to work. Thomas needs you two too much for you to waste time on me.” Prince rolled his eyes. “As if. Logic is making homework and if we try to have fun now we’ll get yelled at.” That caught Fear’s attention. “You aren’t helping?” he asked confused. “Why would we? Homework is boring,” Prince scoffed as he put a hand on his hip and made a gesture with his other as if to indicate how obvious his statement was. “Yeah, we only ‘get in the way’,” Duke chipped in. Sounding like he was quoting Logic. Fear rolled his eyes. Honestly. “Have you not been listening to anything Morality’s been teaching you?” he asked. “I am a prince! I know good from bad!” Prince objected, sounding rather insulted. “Not about being moral… Has Logic been showing you around then?” Fear wondered. He had assumed Morality would take up the role of care taker. But maybe Logic had taken up the task of instructing the new sides in the ways of the mindscape? “Showing us around?” Duke wondered as he and his brother exchanged glances. “Wait… so they just… Expected you two to know what to do?” Fear asked shocked. “What is there to know? We are creativity. We found the imagination and that is that,” Prince huffed. Though he was intrigued by the idea of more, he wasn't going to admit to being I’ll informed. Fear jumped out of the tree and took them both in. “You’re not lying to get me to come back are you?” The confusion on the twin’s faces must’ve been enough. “Fine,” Fear surrendered grumpily as he started walking to the central conscience. “I’ll show you the basics, but then I’m kicking Logic’s behind in gear and heading back home.” The twins protested, but were secretly excited. They’d needed someone to actually break their ties when they disagreed. To actually listen to their stories and give input other than almost blind praise or cold analysis. Not to mention the fact that they had known him as a friend when they woke up while the others had been mostly strangers in their eyes. That had to mean something. Surely he was a fun playmate. When they saw the stress bunnies for the first time they were absolutely delighted to have something to hunt. And surely enough, Fear was enjoying himself too. Fear showed them how to make learning fun for Thomas and he even showed them that playing was more fun with others. And though he insisted he’d leave again soon, and avoided the others for a good while, he stuck around. Prince and Duke soon discovered just how far Fear was willing to go to keep them safe. During the first nightmare Fear encountered with them he defended them fiercely. Actually almost injuring himself. The twins were shocked by this and took better care to make sure Fear didn’t endanger himself for their sake again. “You aren’t really going back to the willow are you?” Prince asked one day, almost timidly, though he tried his best to sound casual. Fear shifted. The twins knew how to work with the others, they understood what to do with stress and worries and fears, they knew who to turn to when trouble arose… But he could find a million reasons not to leave them and he knew why. He had grown attached to them. He’d tried not to. It felt like a betrayal to King and he still worried he’d loose them right when he got comfortable with the new situation. But he couldn’t leave their side now. “Nah. I don’t trust you two not to burn down the mindscape without me keeping an eye on you,” he teased. Prince scoffed and gave him a push. Duke just shrugged, because honestly? He would definitely cause chaos and destruction if Fear didn’t redirect him every once in a while. Fear knew that if he was staying he should talk with Logic and Morality. “Padre! Teach! We got someone here who wants to talk to you,” Prince announced. The two sides turned and the twins made way to show Fear was with them greeting both sides with an awkward wave. Morality gasped and clasped his hands in front of his face. “Kiddo! Are… Are you back to stay?” he asked carefully. “I mean… I’ll stay out of the way if you want. I just… Yeah, I’m back. Those two need babysitting and neither of you are up to that it seems so…” He felt two fists push at his shoulders and chuckled. “You know I’m right,” he grinned. Then he looked up at the two sides he’d been rather rude to. “Listen, I’m still not happy about you guys not including everyone in the decision. But Princey and Duke don’t seem to be upset with you two. Not really, so I can’t be either. You tried to do what was best for Thomas. I can’t be mad about that. I just… I was afraid to let you guys back in I guess.” Fear couldn't meet their eyes. He was sure they hated him by now. He'd been pushing them away and…

Suddenly he was tackled in a hug by Morality.

“Oh kiddo. Of course you're welcome back!”

“Indeed. Though you might not have been talking to us, we have noticed your efforts. Or was I to believe that the twins suddenly got interested in assisting with schoolwork on their own?”

Fear shrugged as best as he could while still being embraced by the heart.

“From what I heard, yeah? I mean you guys seem to expect them to just know how things work.”

Logic nodded. “I see. Well we did attempt to explain at first, but we failed to communicate with the twins properly.” It had been puzzling to him why the twins couldn’t just follow his instructions. He would have to ask Fear what he’d done to get them suddenly interested in helping out. But almost overnight Logic had gone from overseeing the homework by himself to having two eager assistants making Thomas excited to learn again.

Morality finally let go and grinned up at him. “Guess a dad can sometimes learn a thing or two from his son,” he teased. Recalling how Prince had suddenly started to include his family and classmates in the stories he and Thomas made again. How Duke’s unfiltered curiosity started branching out to other people as well. How had Fear done that? Fear rolled his eyes. “Whatever short…” the teasing remark was cut off as Fear looked Morality up and down a few times. “Did you get taller?” he asked perplexed.

He was sure Morality used to be a head shorter than him. But now the difference was less than an inch.

“Um yeah. I guess…” Morality mused waving his hand above their heads in fascination. “I didn't really notice. Gosh. Maybe I’ll end up taller than you. Wouldn't that be something?” he chuckled.

Fear just shrugged dismissively.

“Nuh uh! We'll be the tallest!” Prince declared. “Just you wait!”

“Fear is going to be a midget forever though!” Duke chuckled.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Fear frowned.

In answer the twins flanked him and he could see they were both taller than him. Not by much, but enough that he couldn't deny it once he paid attention to it. Of course. Even when he was no longer the youngest he was destined to be the baby of the group. Well better remind the twins why he's called Fear then.

“You have five seconds,” he smirked.

“Huh?” Duke wondered.

“Four seconds, “ Fear grinned as his eyes lit up with a violet shine.

“Duke run!” Prince urged and the two took of. Fear chuckled for a few seconds before he let his spider voice echo through the mindscape. “One, Here I come.” And then he took off after the twins.

“He’s a little different isn't he?” Morality mused worriedly as he listened for the sounds in the mindscape, relieved to hear nothing but laughter fill the metaphysical air. Fear was just playing.

“As was to be expected. Fear held a strong attachment to king. More so than either of us. I don't think that I would've been able to convince him to help me stage a coup so to speak if it had come to that.

That loyalty and attachment has now transferred to the twins in some measure, but that does not replace what he had with King. The roles seem to have switched though. He is the caretaker now, though the twins seemed ready to fight on his behalf when they first formed…” Logic summarized looking into his notes. He’d been cataloguing the changes in the Thomasphere after the split and how they correlated to changes in Thomas’ over all wellbeing for future reference.

“They are more equal now,” Morality noted. “Fear wouldn't have dreamed to initiate such a game with King, or to say anything suggesting he needed help. I think… “ Morality frowned. There was no way to say this without sounding terrible. “They might both be happier like this. King… he would want this for Fear,” he decided. King cared for Fear almost as much as he cared for Thomas. It was out of concern for them that he’d asked them to do this. He might not have expected this outcome, but he would understand right?

“So long as the progress of the past week keeps up, Thomas will greatly benefit of the situation.” Logic supplied.

Morality let out a sigh. Thomas would be fine and Fear would fully forgive them with time. And then they could build on this new foundation. He would make sure his family stayed happy. That was his job. He was the dad after all.

It was only a matter of time before the twins would run into Deceit. Especially since the Dukes ideas were unpleasant to Thomas more often than not. Fear usually managed to get Duke to use his ‘inside voice’. Sometimes Prince would notice Fear was getting uncomfortable and reign his brother in. But that couldn’t last forever.

“What is going on here?” Deceit wondered as he walked in on the trio. Duke paused in his rambling and Prince looked up from where he and Fear were sitting on the ground, his arm around the nervous side’s shoulder while Fear had been curled up in a ball trying to block out the images Duke was planting in his head. Once he saw who it was though Prince looked down, he still didn’t like looking at that scaled face.

Fear looked up and went from comforted to comforting. He didn't know what happened, but he did know that for some reason king had changed Deceit and Prince had inherited some sort of phantom guilt.

“Snake-face hi!” Duke on the other hand found it amazing.

“You’re clearly the charmer of the two,” Deceit drawled. Fear was pretty sure that some of his change in attitude had to do with him spending so much time with Dee right after what everyone just called ‘the split’.

He had simply rubbed off on him. “Hi Dee,” Fear smiled tensely. “Fear, good to see you out and about,” Deceit smiled warmly. It was odd. When King first discovered Instinct, he’d been sure he wouldn’t like the new side. He didn’t like how excited King already was for a new friend. And by all accounts he should’ve stayed away from him, but he just couldn’t help but feel a bond with him. They both had a job that wasn’t particularly fun to do, both had parts of them the others disliked. And they both took King’s split hard. Not that he had told Fear of the latter. What was the point? And King hadn’t wanted Fear to know anyway.

“Yeah, I guess you were right. I couldn’t hide away forever,” Fear smiled tensely. “What seems to be the problem here?” Deceit wondered. Something had called him here after all. He knew he couldn’t avoid talking to the twins forever, but he had pretended he could. And now he had to make a stellar first impression. Great. “Oh… Did I do the thing again?” Duke wondered. He didn’t get why the others got upset over is suggestions so much, but they did and he tried to not be too much. But now he really was just having some fun. He wasn't saying Thomas should do anything. He was just making pictures.

Still, Fear was clearly upset. “It’s… It’s fine. You can’t always help it,” Fear assured him. Duke looked around and noticed an abundance of stress bunnies and kittens and puppies, most of them slightly more grotesque than Fear’s usual were. He liked it. But why hadn’t Fear gotten rid of them yet? It wasn’t like him to let them roam free for long.

“Want some help with those?” Deceit wondered as he gestured around. Fear looked at the dozens of creatures and let out a tired sigh. “I’ll get it. Just… I need a moment,” he muttered. “Very well. Duke was it?” Deceit asked. Duke nodded. “I need some help maintaining the Willow. Would you be so kind?” Fear frowned. What? Duke just jumped up with a big smile. “Of course double D!” he grinned. “Wonderful. Fear, Prince, you don’t mind if I borrow him for a couple of hours right?” he asked. Fear looked at Prince who just shrugged. “If he’s okay with it. But he will come back after right?” The prince asked tensely. “Of course. I’ll send him straight to the imagination even,” Deceit bowed before leaving, the Duke following right by his side, ranting about one thing or another. Fear looked at Prince. “You sure you are okay with this? You two haven’t been apart since… Well. Ever.” Prince shrugged again. “I… I think so. We don’t have to be together all the time right?” Fear shrugged. “I guess not,” he allowed. They weren’t one person anymore after all. Fear tried to remember that, but it was still strange sometimes. “I’m going to round up those guys,” he announced as he got up. Prince followed his example. “Want some help with that?” Fear hesitated, he didn’t usually ask anyone for help. The point was that he’d deal with them alone right? He'd just told Dee he could handle it… “Morality says that friends should be able to count on us to help them. So… I want to help,” Prince insisted. Fear smiled at that. “Yeah, sounds fun,” he allowed. As Deceit promised, Duke returned to the imagination after a few hours. All the shadow creatures had been dealt with and Duke was back to a level of crazy Fear could handle. Thomas had not been negatively affected by Dukes mood after he went to the back of the mind it seemed. The twins started going off on their own more often after that. Duke tended to venture to the willow to chat with Deceit for a while, while Prince remained on the front of the mind at all times. Fear wandered between the two. He couldn’t really handle not seeing either for too long. Still things started to get to a new sort of normal and Morality and Logic became more and more convinced every day that they’d done the right thing. Everyone was happier now. That’s what Morality thought, until he found Fear, sitting in a corner of the mind by himself. Which was unusual. “Heya kiddo. Where are the twins?” he wondered gently as he knelt down. He was a good inch taller than Fear by now. Which made Fear officially the shortest of the group, a fact the twins loved to tease him about. “Duke is at the willow and Prince is fighting a dragon or a witch, I don’t know,” Fear shrugged, his eyes shimmering. Had he been crying? “Ok… And why are you here all by yourself?” If Prince was fighting something, Fear would usually stick close by just in case. And sometimes that was indeed needed, though Morality and Logic both wondered if Prince occasionally just liked having Fear save him and fuss over him afterwards.

“I… It just hurt too much today,” he whispered, a sob breaking free. Morality felt a sharp pain in his chest. He knew what Fear meant and he couldn’t believe he never picked up on this. Of course spending time with the twins was hard on Fear. “Oh Kiddo… Do you want a hug?” Fear didn’t always allow physical affection. This time however he seemed to be really in need of some, because he almost immediately latched onto the fatherly side and started sobbing. “I care about them, I really do! But I miss him so much!” he tried to explain. “Of course. Loving them doesn’t take away how you felt about him. I think those feelings actually make each other stronger. Remember what he said? That it didn’t matter what name you used, you’d always be his friend? This is sort of like that,” Morality assured him. “I… I know… Most of the time. But sometimes I feel so bad for liking them, and then I feel bad about feeling bad… What if that never stops? I don’t want to hurt them!” he pleaded “It’ll get better. There will be bad days, but it’ll get better. I miss him too. I know it wasn’t the same as it was for you. But he was important to me too.” “Sorry, I… I didn’t mean-” “No kiddo, that’s not what I meant. I was just trying to say that I understand. And I’m here to listen. Okay? Just come to your dear old dad whenever you need to okay? I’ve got you.” Fear let himself relax into the embrace and cry the tears he’d been holding back for months. He didn’t notice someone was watching them. Morality did though, and he tried not to let the accusatory glare get to him. Deceit could think of this what he wanted. Morality was just trying to look out for his kids. Things got a little better after that. Fear was more relaxed when hanging out in the back of the mind, the vague memories of being an incorporeal instinct not as haunting as they once had been. He got even bolder in his banter with the twins. He was also a bit more comfortable with letting them be without him from time to time. And he got a bit braver when it came to confronting the uglier parts of the past. “I’m just saying. If you ask them they’ll probably change you back,” he insisted as he laid down in the patch of grass underneath the willow. The twins were doing a school project with Logic and he had chosen to catch up with Deceit who still didn’t come up to the central consciousness except to retrieve Duke when needed.

“I don’t want them to change me back Fear, drop it.” “Then why are you hiding away all of the time?” Fear countered. “I know Princey is kinda awkward around you, but that won't get better if he never gets to know you. And the others will warm up to you. I'll have your back remember? No matter what happened between you and him, the twins deserve a chance don't they?” Fear pointed out. Deceit sighed. “I suppose you have a point… And Duke isn’t horrible company,” he allowed. Fear smiled and they both started debating over something Thomas' teacher did that week. The subject laid at rest. Deceit never did ask the twins to return his face to normal. He felt it was fitting honestly. A permanent warning to everyone of what he was. Princey slowly relaxed around Deceit as the later visited the central consciousness more often. And once again things in the mindscape improved.

#kingau #sanders sides #tssides #creativitytwins #virgil sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #janus sanders #this au lives rent free in my head #but i need the space #please send help

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mayonnaisetoffees · 3 years

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Mayo's Fic Recs

List of my favourite fics below the cut; this list is a WIP and completely personal taste; a mix of fandom classics and lesser knowns

Please remember to leave comments and kudos for the authors and podficcers!

*shows particular favourites

Fandoms currently included: Spn, Merlin, Les Mis, BatFam

Fics That Changed Me Fundamentally

Loaded March*** by Footloose. Merlin | E | 1.26M(Series)/ 35k (First part) | 188k hits (First part)

The reason SAS Captain Arthur Pendragon can’t keep a communications specialist in Team Excalibur because none of them are good enough. And then Lieutenant Merlin Emrys gets assigned to his squad, and Arthur does everything he can to prove that Merlin isn’t good enough, either. Except he is.

You can read all about my thoughts on Loaded March here, here, and here. Basically this fic series is beautifully written, has absolutely delicious UST, has found family, magic, and high stakes. It’s been part of my life for almost a decade now, I made friends through LM that I still have to this day, and it genuinely changed me as a person. Plus there are 78k of Extras to itch that I Finished Now What scratch. Parts 1-5 have been podficced and you can find them in works inspired by this one in each part.

Down to Agincourt*** by Seperis. Supernatural | E | 1.12M(Series)/ 154k (First part) | 73k hits (First part)

The world’s already over and they’re already dead. All they’re doing now is marking time until the end.

S7!Dean is transported back to the aftermath of where 5x04 The End left off. Much like LM, DtA was one that I avoided for a while. I didn’t think it would be my thing. I’m not usually into End!verse, it sounded so bleak from the summary, and it sounded so long for something I wasn’t sure about. If you’re reading this and nodding along? You are as much a fool as I was. Yes, it’s the end of the world. But it’s not over yet. This is a beautiful journey in what it means to be yourself, how to survive the end of the world, a How-To for Coups, and a study in food as a love language. I only read this fic this year, but like LM, it has genuinely changed me. Map of the World has been podficced.

Supernatural

Let’s start with the current hyperfixation. All of these are at least passively Dean/Cas unless otherwise stated. I've split into ones from my first time around in the SPN fandom and more recent ones because the vibes are actually really different and it took me some time to adjust (Not in a bad way! In a time has passed they have grown as characters way)

Old-School SPN (AKA the Classics my first time around)

Canon-Compliant or Divergent

Home in Motion* by nomdeplume13 M | 232k | 48k hits

Castiel swore he was done with spur of the moment decisions that permanently changed Dean Winchester's life. A year after the angel's most disastrous, his newest may present the largest challenge of dean's life: Fatherhood.

Did someone say kid!fic in canonverse? This is perfect. Canon divergence from the end of S6. Cas saves a baby from a neglectful mother and gives him to Dean to raise. They all move in with Bobby. Great OCs. Bobby considers Cas his son. Listen everything I say here will not be able to begin to encompass how much I love this fic. Just trust me on this one.

Named* by RC_McLachlan M | 95k | 95k hits

Jesus Christ is dead. Somehow, that isn't the worst part of Dean's week.

With a summary like that, need I say more? No but I'm gonna. This is one of the funniest fics I've ever read, but it doesn't take any emotion from the serious moments, if anything it heightens them. There are so many quotes from this I think about all the time. It was written in 2010 and so there's a bit of misogyny/character assassination of Anna in places.

Second Childhood by CloudyJenn (read by exmanhater) G | 16k (1h30) | 10k hits

"Dude, I can't do this whole thing by myself," Dean said with far more desperation leaking into his tone than he liked. It would just be too much to make it through hell and death and Lucifer only to have Castiel bail on him because of a frigging baby.

They beat the Apocalypse (OG-S5) and then Sam gets de-aged by a spell. I've listened to this so many times I know it by heart, it's an ultimate comfort fic to me.

Defy Any and All Expectation* by Tenoko1 (read by Tenoko1) M | 138k (14hrs) | 37k hits

Chuck's newly released books tell of another war between Heaven and Hell. Team Free Will sets out to try to defy prophecy, only to realize there is a lot more at stake and amiss than the not-quite-accurate words of one Prophet of the Lord. Along the way, Dean and Cas' relationship continues to evolve into something neither expected or were prepared for, all of their lives transforming in ways no one could have expected. But with no shortage of cases, monsters, and mayhem, it's going to require the help of new friends and old enemies if they're to have a hope of saving the world one more time. Alternate Season Six.

So this is a re-written version of Tenoko1's The Path We Choose which I don't think is around anymore. By the time I was reading the re-write as each chapter came out, I knew every single line of TPWC and it wasn't all that much shorter. It's such a perfect canon divergence because they are all 100% in-character. If you're into podfic, you already know what an absolute gift 14 hours is, but if you have never tried podfic before, Tenoko1 is a fantastic place to start. Her voice is soothing and energetic and her Cas sometimes comes to mind when I'm reading fic in Misha's place (sorry Misha)

His Fucking Kids 'Verse by 8sword M | 96k(Series)/ 3k (first part) | 26k hits (first part)

Jesus, the school should just have a parking spot labeled, “Reserved for the Novak-Winchesters,” because Dean’s getting sick of having to cruise around the parking lot looking for a spot every time he gets a call from the principal about Emma.

Emma survives and Dean and Cas are raising her and Claire. This fic series will make you laugh, make you cry, and (nowadays) make you wish Emma had survived to be a part of Wayward Sisters.

One Species Too Many by wallmakerrelict E | 22k | 37k hits

While Dean is laid up for a month after breaking his leg on a hunt, Cas decides that it's a perfect time to adopt a litter of kittens. But even though he's gotten better since Purgatory, Cas still isn't quite the same as he was before fixing Sam's head, and being trapped in a cabin with him for weeks on end is making that all the more obvious to Dean. When Sam takes off on a hunt, Dean has to figure out on his own how to navigate his new relationship with Cas while also helping to raise a bunch of fuzzballs that aren't even cute. Not even a little bit. (Well, maybe a little bit.)

Dean breaks his legs, and honey!Cas brings home some kittens to foster. It's achingly sweet and also painful because you know Dean wants to fix Cas but there's nothing to fix. It is tagged for ableism for this.

Tripping* by Hatteress E | 49k | 78k hits

That time the universe decided Dean belonged with Cas and wasn't afraid to pull out the big guns to make it so. Big guns in this case being obsessive fangirls, archangels turned tricksters and overly enthusiastic cupids. Welcome to Dean's life.

Alt!S5 and it is beautiful. Also any fic with Missouri is an automatic win.

Broadway Musical by Grifitings M | 12k | 79k hits

This is the day that marked the Holy and Blessed Union of Dean Winchester and Jo Harvelle. The merging of prominent bloodlines is always a grand occurrence, but breeding pedigree hunter families like Winchester and Harvelle is something to be rejoiced. It is also something to be meticulously planned, which thankfully the Host is very good at. Or, the romantic comedy where Dean Winchester and Jo Harvelle are destined to get married, Castiel is given the task of playing matchmaker and fails terribly, the entire Heavenly Host becomes a sitcom audience, God warns against male pregnancy, and Jimmy Novak is incredibly unimpressed with angels in general.

Jimmy deserves a sainthood and frankly I don't even want to hear about crack if it's not on the level of the Host yelling at Cas not to touch the butt.

Classic AUs (AKA AUs from my first time around)

Try Something Tuesday by almaasi E | 48k | 144k hits

Dean Winchester teaches a third-grade class. He's new to this whole ‘bisexual’ thing - but by pure happenstance, he meets Castiel: a particularly dapper male librarian who moonlights as a substitute teacher. Dean's curious and Castiel is willing, so why the hell not? Except, fate never intended it to be one-time-only...

This was one of the first spn fics to really really stay with me and it never really left.

Rock 'n' Roll Queer Bar by ChasingRabbits E | 127k(Series)/ 8k (Part1) | 29k hits (Part1)

Ellen and Jo Harvelle run Harvelle's Roadhouse, a bar that unintentionally becomes a beacon for wayward queer souls. Her employees: Dean, the smartass runaway with a big heart and bigger mouth; Castiel, the college drop-out turned hippie; his (surprisingly heterosexual) trouble-making brother Gabriel; and Charlie, who has been told several times that the back room is not to be used for after-hours Dungeons & Dragons games. But there's a lot of love in this place, and a new family for anyone who may otherwise be without.

This series. If you've ever felt unsure or out of place or anxious or just really felt like no-one understood you, this fic is for you. I first found this series when I was coming to terms with my queerness and I genuinely think it was invaluable. Also I am a sucker for the go for a dinner at Cas's family and end up storming out trope.

Play It All Night Long by janie_tangerine (read by Tenoko1) NC17 | 43k (4hrs)

The rom-com-ish one where Dean hosts a late night radio show, Castiel is a regular listener of his who starts calling one day and ends up calling more often than not and Dean finds himself liking it. This, until one day Castiel calls for not exactly petty reasons (just before Dean's brother Sam is visiting with his girlfriend for spring break) and things get very, very crowdy at his place. He also doesn't know it's just the beginning of it. Also features Gabriel, Chuck, Andy, the Roadhouse crew and a huge amount of music quoted. Especially Bob Dylan.

Again, this podfic has got me through many a night of insomnia. Cas calls in after a particularly shitty day and it all goes from there.

New-School SPN (AKA post-2014)

Canon-Compliant or Divergent

Tall Grass by aeli_kindara E | 57k | 28k hits

“I think we should have a garden,” Cas says. Dean looks up from his beer. He hasn’t had that much to drink, but Cas still has a vague look of unreality about him, a splash of living color that doesn’t fit in the bunker’s echoing stillness. Dean didn’t hear him coming. A lot of the time, Cas is so unobtrusive it feels like Dean has the bunker to himself, with Sam away. Dean shakes his head to clear it. “A — garden?” he repeats.

There is a reason you will see this recced time and time again. It healed parts of me I didn't know needed healing.

So Says the Sword* by komodobits E | 85k | 73k hits

The briefing was simple: ‘Stand guard over the Michael Sword until the battle is ready to commence. Await further instructions.’ Castiel doesn’t mind working security duty; he was briefed shortly after the initial salvation of the Sword from the pit, and again before taking up his position. He knows what to do. However, it’s easy to forget that the green room isn’t real. Time moves differently there, the space ever-changing to make a prison of mountains, cathedrals, salt flats, orchards, and whatever Castiel was led to believe about Heaven’s greatest weapon—Dean Winchester is something entirely unexpected

I saw ssts mentioned in like every single If you're getting back into the fandom READ THIS rec list. For good reason. It's described as "canon-adjacent in that seasons one to three happened exactly the same, but when Dean goes to Hell, he is not raised by Castiel". It's one of the most interesting concepts I've read and it's one of those fics where the writing style will stick with you. Castiel POV in a way you've never read before.

Aching in the Absence of You* by sobsicles E | 95k | 9k hits (in 5 days)

Brittle and battle-worn, Cas looks at him over coffee one morning and says, "I need to go," and Dean instantly knows that he's not coming back. He's not really sure how he knows it, but he does. It settles into the pit of his stomach, curling hot and tight like something he instinctively wants to tear out with his bare hands. He takes a breath, and it gets stuck in his throat, hitching there. It hurts, hurts, hurts when he finally exhales. "Yeah," Dean says, "of course you do," and he nods jerkily as he looks down at his phone. He doesn't say goodbye. He doesn't look up from the screen when Cas gets up and leaves the room. He doesn't finish his coffee, or move for a long time. By nightfall, Cas is gone.

If you don't already know sobsicles, I am delighted to introduce you to the person who will smash you to pieces with a hammer to put you back together Kintsugi-style. This one is post-finale but without 15x18 (it'll make sense as it goes). Cas says he's going to leave again and again Dean doesn't ask him to stay. Full of lines so beautiful they'd make Shakespeare weep, Sobsicles has this way of writing that is so evocative and paints such a clear picture. Fair warning, if you're Dean-coded, this might be A Lot.

dumbassery, denial, doing (the three d's to the destination)** by sobsicles E | 108k | 25k hits

Freedom is just one adjustment after the next. ~~~ Cas hums again. "I think you already have. It's been months since everything settled. All that's left to do is...get used to it, and perhaps—" His voice stalls out, uncharacteristically, and his gaze roams Dean's face with intensity. When he speaks next, his tone is a little raw. "Perhaps what one does with peace is...whatever they want." "What if I don't even know what that is?" Dean grumbles, arching an eyebrow in challenge. "'Cause I know damn well you don't just mean good food and a good bed and time in Baby, not simple wants like that. You mean—ya know, the big things, the wants we didn't get to have before." "Yes," Cas agrees. "If you're not sure, figure it out." "Easier said than done."

Yes, two sobsicles recs back to back. This one I read first and it still holds such a special place in my heart. A sign of a good fic is being able to picture it perfectly. The sign of an amazing fic is that when reading this I was so in Dean's shoes I could feel a pool cue between my hands and Baby behind my back. And I sobbed like a baby in this. It has probably my favourite ending ever. It's genuinely beautiful. If you don't read another on this list, read this one.

Teaching Poetry to Fish by aeli_kindara M | 52k | 14k hits

In which Castiel teaches poetry to fish. Also, himself. Also, eventually, Dean. (A series-long story, diverging slightly from canon after S14.)

The ultimate Cas character study and interwoven with poetry.

So There It Is, I've Said It All by PorcupineGirl (read by Ceewelsh) G | 4k | 13k hits

"Why, do you have something you need to say to me that you don't think I'll like?" I think I'm in love with you. "Yeah. I guess so."

Dean figures out he's in love with Cas then can't stop thinking it. This is genuinely beautiful and if you've ever had trouble actually saying the thing you're thinking, you'll relate to Dean here. I recently did the podfic for this.

you won't find this place alone by amidsizedfrog G | 9.5k |

When Claire said she was dropping out of college to pursue hunting full time, Dean said, “right,” and left the room. Or, the cross-generation conversation about formal education, choosing your own path and figuring out what it looks like to find a family. Or, in other words: "But what I do have is a GED and a give-'em-hell-attitude, and I'll figure it out." - Dean Winchester

This is a beautiful look at education in the hunter world, and I love anything that looks at Dean and Bobby's relationship and this does it perfectly. Also best cameo ever.

Seek to Know You Better by ahurston E | 33k | 23k hits

Dean and Cas, a long stretch of highway, and 36 questions empirically designed to make two people fall in love. As if they weren't already.

This is perfect. It has a lovely slow pace like it has the vibes of an indie film if that makes sense? Like it's two guys going from place to place talking. It was an instant favourite.

Newer AUs (AKA more recent AUs)

And This, Your Living Kiss* by opal_bullets M | 57k | 69k hits

Only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet Jack Allen is just Kansas mechanic Dean Winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. Not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen. Until, that is, a string of coincidences leads Dean to auditing a poetry course with one Dr. Castiel Novak. The professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia's foremost expert on the poetry of Jack Allen.

When I asked which fics were absolute must-reads for someone who'd been out of the fandom a few years, this was said repeatedly. But what really got me to read it was everyone actually told me more about what it meant to them than just the summary. It's a study in poetry, a study in learning who you are and who you used to be, and a reminder that it's never too late.

The Graveyard Shift* by riseofthefallenone, PurgatoryJar E | 620k | 175k hits

Dean’s favourite coffee shop, The Graveyard Shift, is only open after the sun goes down. Which is perfect for him, because that’s exactly when he craves coffee the most while doing the overnight at the fire hall. The coffee shop’s owner is pretty perfect too, but it’s kind of a bummer that Dean never gets to see Cas during the day. In a world where the supernatural live more or less in peace with the rest of humanity, it’s a little impolite to ask Cas just what he really is - or what his dark past entails.

A fantastic magical realism fic - magical creatures live and work with humans. Gabe and Cas run a coffee shop, Dean is a fireman, and the burn is slow and delicious and the intrigue kept me reading for like a week every single spare minute.

Painted Angels by WinJennster E | 106k | 162k hits

Author Castiel Novak has finally hit the big time, with a book based on his failed college relationship with a brilliant painter. He's put all his pain behind him, but at a book signing, he comes face to face with Dean Winchester for the first time in twelve years, and the reunion doesn't go like Cas hoped. Dean's a broken man, with a lot of scars and secrets, shoulders weighed down by his demons and self loathing. Cas sees a second chance with the man he's never stopped loving, but Dean's moved on, and is about to get married. Sam launches a "brilliant" plan to reunite his brother and his best friend, but Cas is worried it will all blow up in their faces, and he'll go through the agony of losing Dean a second time.

The first part of this I actually saved back when I was first in the fandom but I never got around to reading it (I had a To Read folder of 100+ fics that I absolutely dove into when I got back into spn) and the rest of the series finished in 2016 so I'm counting it in this section not the other. On the one hand, I wish I'd read this when it first came out. It's beautiful and heartbreaking, and so visual. On the other hand, I think I appreciated it a lot more now than I would have seven years ago. The parallel of me coming back to the old fandom that I loved dearly with Cas coming back to see someone and places he loved so much really hit. (Although coming back to the spn fandom was much easier and much less heartbreak!)

Finale Fix-Its (yeah fuck you Dabb that this has to be a whole category)

The Goldenrod Revisions by aethylas M | 66k | 15k hits

A rewrite of Supernatural’s final two episodes, expanded into a five episode arc - in which Chuck needs to be defeated, Castiel deserves to be saved, and the characters in this story get a very different ending.

Script format re-write of 15x19 and 15x20 into a 5-episode finale fix-it. As far as I'm concerned, this and chocolatecakecas's American Pie fanvid are the Supernatural finale.

break the skin (to break the barriers)* by sobsicles M | 30k | 9k hits

The first time she meets him, he's nothing more than an almost-missed appointment. ~~~ Dean is silent for a long, tense moment, then he gruffly says, "It's not for banishing the angels. It's to summon them. So, it doesn't—it's not to get rid of 'em, but to draw 'em in." Mitzi can't help but glance up at him at that. His voice is so heavy with so much unexplained pain, and she doesn't understand why, or what angels have to do with it. She knows religion can impact people. She's very aware that it can get complicated, and that it can be a huge source of pain for someone, but Dean sounds grievously wronged, somehow, as if it's a truly personal thing. She pushes through, focusing back on her job, clearing her throat before murmuring, "Well, I guess we all want angels to visit us sometimes." "Just the one," Dean mumbles. "Your guardian angel?" Mitzi asks. Dean breathes out, "Something like that. As close to one as an angel will ever get."

Therapy through getting tattoos and telling your life story to someone who obviously doesn't think it's real. Outsider!POV not just done well, but done literally the best.

Kingdom Come by ahurston E | 17k | 10k hits

Cas wakes up on the coast of Maine. He makes his way home.

I don't know if this counts as finale fix-it as it's more fuck the finale we're ignoring that. There's just so much love and care in this fic.

The Family Business by chai_lattes M | 16k | 5.5k hits

It's all over. It's been weeks since Chuck's defeat and Cas' return from the Empty. There are no threats on the horizon, no apocalypses to stop, but there's something that keeps the Winchesters from being happy. Something that's maybe always been there. On their way back from a hunt, they find John Winchester, back from the dead.

If you're anything like me, you start rubbing your grubby little hands together at the tag John Winchester's A+ Parenting like yes let's address this! This is one of the best examples of John coming back and how it jars with the life that they have built. Also Claire and Jack getting to share screentime!

Merlin

If I have a forever fandom, it's Merlin. I've always kept one foot in this fandom, and it introduced me to fandom, and most importantly to podfic which kinda had an impact. All Merthur unless stated.

Canon-Verse

Seven Magpies by syllic (read by lunchee) E | 33k (3hr15) | 58k hits

Arthur opened his eyes a minute later to the sight of seven magpies streaking across the top of the clearing, their shapes dark against the white clouds and the muted grey of the sky. He tried to remember what it was that seven magpies meant—he'd had a nurse who had sung the rhyme to him as a child—but couldn't. Arthur wakes up somewhere he doesn't recognise, but where he clearly belongs.

Okay so this is an AU but it's Canon-AU so it's going here. Fantastic role reversal fic that you will be thinking about for weeks.

and from your grace, i fell by TheDragon (read by Ceewelsh) T | 4.6k (41mins) | 13k hits

“Where’s Merlin?” he asks the maid. “Where’s that idiot of a Court Sorcerer?!” “Begging your pardon, Your Majesty. I thought you knew,” the maid replies, not daring to look him in the eyes. “He’s taken ill.” “And he couldn’t be bothered to tell me himself that he would be unable to attend today’s council meeting?” Arthur questions, voice full of acid. “He hasn’t woken since he collapsed two days ago, Sire,” the maidservant says, blissfully unaware that what she’s saying the power to stop Arthur’s heart in its tracks.

When I first read this, it had me completely transfixed. I could not stop reading. It was so raw and so full of emotion. I was then lucky enough to get TheDragon in our exchange, so I did a podfic for it and it's probably the most proud I've been of one.

Modern AU

The Student Prince* by FayJay (read by FayJay) M | 145k (15hrs) | 696k hits

A Modern day Merlin AU set at the University of St Andrews, featuring teetotal kickboxers, secret wizards, magnificent bodyguards of various genders, irate fairies, imprisoned dragons, crumbling gothic architecture, arrogant princes, adorable engineering students, stolen gold, magical doorways, attempted assassination, drunken students, shaving foam fights, embarrassing mornings after, The Hammer Dance, duty, responsibility, friendship and true love...

A classic is a classic for a reason. I'm also pretty sure this introduced me to podfics so like special place in my heart x2. Did you know if you filter AO3 by hits on Merlin, this has 426k more hits than the second result? Now that is a Fandom Classic.

Drastically Redefining Protocol* by rageprufrock (read by lunchee) E | 46k (5hr30) | 269k hits

In which Prince Arthur meets Merlin and all hell promptly breaks loose.

As I always say, if this can happen to me and I still love the fic, nothing is going to change that. Arthur hides from his duties in a cupboard and gets stuck in there with a chainsmoking med student.

Fundamental Imperfections by Starlingthefool (read by bravenclawsome) M | 12k (1hr35) | 123k hits

In which an argument about Dickens leads to a Twitter scandal, broken bones, midnight conversations, and transatlantic longing. (Or, an AU with Arthur and Merlin as moderately famous authors.)

This fic has everything: Charles Dickens, long distance texting, Morgana choking a Sherlock cosplayer with his own scarf. This is the ultimate comfort fic and I compare all fics to this even when they're incomparable. I never read the sequel because it was WIP and I was waiting for it to complete, it hasn't been updated since 2015 and apparently ends on an unhappy note, so if you're going to read the sequel you have been warned.

Les Mis

Modern!AU

Overzealous Oddities by YassHomo e/R, Courf/Cosette/Marius, Comb/Ép | G | 6.4k | 4k hits

Courfeyrac: Remember when I smashed our tv and we laughed about it? Enjolras: No. Courfeyrac: Let me rephrase Courfeyrac: I've smashed our tv, lets laugh about it.

I love me a text fic and this is in my opinion the best one around. Just look at that summary. I have quoted that so many times.

But Paris was a very old city and we were young* by GingerNinjaAbi E/R, Courf/Jehan | M | 99k | 42k hits

Perhaps somewhere in between all the cups of coffee, shots of tequila, sunny March days, terrible lumpy jumpers, love, cigarettes, drunken nights and the desire to change the world they'll all leave Paris with a degree in something. Or not. Grantaire's money is on no. But he's a pessimist who's hopelessly in love, so perhaps his opinion shouldn't count.

The ULTIMATE modern!AU tbh.

Tagged by Salomonderiel E/R, Courf/Jehan | E | 155k | 28k hits

So there's this artist. He could probably be compared to Banksy, but he's a lot more... cynical. He shares rooms with a poet who braids his hair with flowers, in a flat near Covent Garden they rent from a short-tempered shop keeper with a penchant for fans and who'd do anything if you mentioned Poland. Sometimes, the three of them will go and deface public buildings in London whilst completely smashed off their heads. And then there's this, shall we say, 'revolutionary'. He has a band of other revolutionaries, who all meet at this cafe by Borough Market. He shares rooms with his best mate, a philosophy student, spends too much time with a flirty guy who has a thing for poets, goes boxing with a guy in a red vest, wants to punch the wet sop who drools on the blonde waitress and is getting tired of this guy who keep breaking his laptops through sheer dumb luck. Thank god the hypochondriac's there to keep an (slightly too) attentive eye on their stress levels. The revolutionary thinks the graffiti artist's work is a waste of space. The artist thinks the revolutionary's campaigns are a waste of time. And all the while, the poet and the flirt drool over each other in the background...

This is perfect and it's funny and it's beautiful and it rips my heart out multiple times.

Canon

To Be Free by kjack89 (read by Ceewelsh) Gen, Cosette/Marius | T | 3.8k (32mins) | 375 hits

Three blows from a bayonet had transfixed Combeferre’s breast, followed by a fall from the barricade as he rapidly lost first blood and then consciousness. But neither of these, it seemed, was enough to kill him, as much as later he might perhaps wish that they were.

I read this because it was on a list kjack89 did of their favourite fics which don't necessarily have the same hits traffic. It's nothing I would have usually read (canon era, not e/R, MCD) but I am so glad I gave it a go. It's a study on what if Combeferre had survived the barricades too and the guilt. This stayed with me for days afterwards until I eventually messaged kjack89 to get permission to podfic it.

BatFam

Canonish (I don't know differences between canons but these are all they're superheros fics)

Robins United by laceymcbain (read by reena_jenkins) Gen | T | 49k (6h15)/ 19k (2h25) (First part) | 103k hits

Bullets, knives, a three story fall, even a fucking crowbar hadn't managed to keep Jason down permanently, but Dick Grayson (and the rest of his "family") was going to kill him with kindness.

The ultimate batbros series. Also if you haven't heard reena_jenkins' podfics before, you are welcome. Pre-pandemic I took a lot of public transport and reena_jenkins kept me sane.

batcoons by drakefeathers (read by reena_jenkins) Gen | G | 6k (49mins) | 14k hits

Jason and raccoons have a lot in common. (Additionally: his so-called family are much bigger pests than the stray animals hanging around his safehouse.)

This is funny, it's heartwarming, and it's a really good character study.

Here Comes the Sun by batsy_rocks Clark/Bruce | T | 19k | 20k hits

Clark Kent is a kind-hearted reporter working in the big city. Bruce Wayne is a stressed dad of four with no idea of what he's doing. Then they meet.

Bruce Wayne is a Tired Single Dad™. It's genuinely such a sweet fic.

#fic rec #spn fic rec #merlin fic rec #les mis fic rec

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turnthepage11 · 3 years

Text

tw: medical discussion, mention of prescription drug use

Personal Post: Appreciate any words of encouragement but honestly just trying to throw my thoughts out to the universe.

I’m struggling so hard right now folks. For context: I am 25. I have a lot of medical issues, rheumatoid arthritis, IBS, ADHD, PCOS. And those are just my long term diseases. When I turned 18 I started having hip pain on my left side accompanied by numbness. I had assumed it was my newly diagnosed arthritis and dismissed it for a few years. Almost three years ago, I finally brought it up to my doctor and long story short, we learned I had a hip impingement which is when there is extra bone on the ball of my hip, making it hurt to walk.

I had surgery last summer for it and while they were in my body, they learned I had a pretty bad labrum tear (on a scale of 1-4, I had a 3) and they fixed it when they removed the extra bone because even though it was decently bad, it never showed up on any of my scans.

Now my surgery didn’t really fix any of my hip problems. My base level of pain was lower, but with any activity it gets pretty high, pretty quickly. (That was context, let’s get to the past 36 hours).

On Friday afternoon, I went to go sit down in my desk chair at school (you know, nothing wild) and as I sit, I felt and heard a loud POP in the front side of my left hip. I yelled so loud, one of the kids who had passed my room a few seconds prior ran back to check on me (one of my sophomores, aka my og crew from year 1).

I stood up immediately and it felt like a muscle had just cramped so I tried walking it off. Sitting hurt the most, followed by standing, then walking so I walked for thirty minutes with a pretty severe limp, hoping that it would slowly go away the more I used it.

It got a little better, not much and then I had to sit for two hours to tutor two students who were on quarantine. Then I had my hour drive home where I turned on my heated seats since usually the heat helps my hip.

Well. It made my lower back hurt INSANELY bad (when it hadn’t hurt previously. Or at least less than my hip had so I hadn’t noticed it). When I got home from my hour commute, I could barely walk and carry my backpack into the house, let alone get up the three steps into my parents’ house.

I took leftover Percocet from my surgery last summer to help with the pain Friday night and it took my 8 pain level down to a 5 and I finally managed to fall asleep.

This morning I woke up and my limp wasn’t as bad, but my hip still hurt and so did my lower back and I was at a 7 on the pain scale. Despite that, I went to breakfast with my family and took another Percocet just so I could see how I would feel around 3 when it wore off since my RA is usually pretty bad in the morning too but calms down by 12 or so and I didn’t want to be worn down from my RA pain and my injury. Even with the Percocet, I was still at 4/5 all morning.

I ended up falling asleep around 11:45 because I don’t sleep too much during the week combined with the med and woke up at 3 at a 7 on the pain scale. I asked my best friend who is a BSN if I needed to go to the ER taking all the above in consideration and the fact that the Percocet didn’t do too terribly much for my pain and she told me I needed to go asap ESPECIALLY because it was my surgery hip.

So I went to my rinky dink rural medicine hospital. They put me in a room for two hours and forgot about me until the doctor finally saw me on his list, came and saw me and said “I don’t know why the hell they put you in this room when I need you in a bed to test your range of motion.” (I was in an old closet with a phlebotomy chair.)

He did range of motion in my hip. Not the worse I’ve ever had but not great either. Said he felt how swollen I was in my hip and thought I might have retorn my labrum or even had one of the strings repairing my labrum last year break. The only thing he could do was a CT, not an MRI, to see if my hip or one of my vertabrae had came out of place. Luckily they hadn’t (though at this point I almost wish they had. It might have been an easier fix.)

He recommended I take three days off of work, go on crutches, and take it easy. I’m a middle/high school English teacher who is semestered by double periods. Missing three days of work is like missing six class days. I barely wanted crutches, I’ve walked like this for a day, how are crutches gonna help? But then I got a steroid shot and it made the pain a solid 8. The doctor kept checking on me and saw me crying so he gave me a shot of morphine and I told him I changed my mind, I wanted the crutches.

I’m hopeful that in the morning I’ll feel at least marginally better. I don’t think I will, but I’m gonna hope for it at least. He gave me steroids, Percocet for the week (which I’ll only be able to take at night because obviously I can’t teach kids while having Percocet in me), and anti nausea meds just in case. But I have to call my doctor who did the surgery for a follow up… which wouldn’t be bad except he’s four hours away. And he’s probably going to request the special MRI I got to confirm I needed surgery. Which I can only get done down where he practices. So that’s two sick days gone right there.

God forbid I actually need surgery to fix a tear FROM SITTING DOWN IN A FUCKING CHAIR. I’ll use all my sick time right there. (I only have 20 days and 3 personal. I take sick days for appointments often because of my specialist appointments and my work bestie is getting married on a Sunday in May so I’m taking a personal day for the following day.) I told my work bestie that the doctor wanted me to take three days off and she said to do it, I had the time and when I pointed out the potential for surgery, she cringed and agreed with what I said about sticking it out for the next three days.

And to top it all off, my parents are acting like I’m over exaggerating. I asked my mom to take my car and drop me off because my legs had started to go weak (which was the entire reason I went to the ER and not the pain. Because I assumed something had happened to my back for my legs to go weak.) She refused, so I drove myself. Was going to drive myself home until the doctor gave me a morphine shot. When I got in the car complaining about my hip, starting to cry about the recommendations, my dad just told me “that’s life kid, deal with it.”

I don’t feel comfortable unloading this on my coworker friends because I know this is a lot. But I’m just so… disappointed. I have lost thirty pounds this year, a major goal of my doctors but never really pushed. Got better at taking my medicine (thank you ADHD diagnosis and medication). But like, I am 25 and might have to have hip surgery… again. And my doctor had said if he had to go in again there was a high chance I would have to get a hip replacement because any additional repairs might be hard with how much damage I had done to my labrum already.

I’m tired, my body is exhausted, I’m already dreading the outcome and time off I’m going to be taking over the next month because of this. I’m annoyed by my parents’ reaction to the whole thing. I’m dreading work this week because I know everyone is going to say something about me being in crutches.

This just sucks folks. I was having such an okay school year until this decided to say “nah, sucks to be you.”

#personal #me #personal problems #in which paige is a medical hot mess

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naivesilver · 3 years

Note

top 5 adaptations of the Fairy from Pinocchio? (or maybe top 5 best AND 5 worst?)

I spent so long staring at this and wondering if I even KNEW five good Fairies, but it turns out I do, albeit mostly for asinine reasons. Anyway AHFAKKJKFHAHJKJA thank you <3

Ask me my top 5 anything

Obviously under the cut because I couldn't resist and did BOTH

The salt AKA the worst of the worst first:

1) Piccolino No Bouken

Surprised? I suppose most would have expected me to put the Disney Fairy first, and I did, too, for a while, but as I was sitting in my car pondering this ranking I realized I was SEETHING with rage about this one, so I had to rearrange things a bit. This, guys, is where my Fairy hate begins - not the book, not the Mouse's interference. This woman.

I hate her. I hate her SO MUCH, for all that I love this adaptation more than most things in the world, and that the choices made about her characterization were a huge inspiration for me. Not only does she not send Pinocchio to school, instead teaching him on her own, she is the only one to actively keep Pinocchio from his father - indeed, she makes the choice for them, saying to Geppetto's face that it would be best for the boy to be taught something before he goes back home. Who the hell are you to make this call, uh? You have known him for a day at most! You left him hanging from a fucking tree all night! I wouldn't trust you with a bloody lapdog, nevermind a child!

Also she lets Pinocchio believe she's dead UNTIL THE VERY END. She turns into a bird while he cries at her tomb. Are we fucking serious now? Leave him alone.

(Yes, this is elementary school me howling for revenge. I've been mad about this longer than reason would let me. Sue me.)

2) Disney's Pinocchio

Bane of my existence. I don't know if anyone remembers that pic of me at the Pinocchio theme park I posted a while ago, but basically in that moment they were putting up a little show to tell children a little bit of the OG story, and they asked the audience if they knew what color the Fairy's hair was - a few said blonde, and I, being on stage next to her, distinctly heard her mutter "dammit, Disney". I've been living with that mantra since then.

Nobody asked you to make that puppet sentient, ma'am. He doesn't owe you shit. Aside from that, just like Jiminy Cricket, she ruined her character in a good two thirds of future adaptation. And while we're speaking of Jiminy, WHY did she think it would be a good idea to entrust a little boy to a slime ball such as him? He's too horny to have an ounce of sense. Conscience, my ass.

Basically...begone, asshole.

3) Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night

This film is so horrible, the Fairy had no chance to be decent at all. A cheap copy of the Disney one, with the addendum that she turns MULTIPLE toys into living beings while holding them responsible for whatever they do after. Basically Victor Frankenstein, but make it a poorly dressed woman from a direct-to-TV movie that shouldn't have existed at all.

-100/10, at least you're pretty, but by God, SHUT UP.

4) Once Upon a Time

Honest to God if she doesn't keep her filthy hands off my faves she's gonna get a slap across the face so strong her Wish Realm self ought to feel it sting. I am not exaggerating.

Seven seasons in, she hasn't done ANYTHING useful that I can remember. She's not even good at her own fucking job! Not only that, she's traumatized and guilt-tripped a good chunk of the population of Storybrooke, including first and foremost my beloved son August. The Pavlovian reaction I had every time she appeared on screen can't be described in coherent words, only in eagle screeches.

She's wrong. On principle, she's wrong. Let's move on.

5) Luigi Comencini's Le Avventure di Pinocchio

Doesn't rank higher only because she's played by Gina Lollobrigida (my beloved). She's book accurate, which means she'd be annoying as fuck as it is, but what little they added only makes her worse.

She has the gall to tell Pinocchio she'd like to see him happier. Like, apart from the fact that the ghost of his father's deceased wife isn't exactly the most reassuring person to hear it from...Said father has been swallowed by a giant fish. You told that boy he's only going to see his father if he studies hard. You keep turning him into a puppet anytime he misbehaves. What did you expect, that he would do the Macarena every time he entered your house? I am honestly too shocked to say any more. What the fuck.

Okay, I've been enraged enough for a single night. Let's move onto brighter shores!

1) Enzo D'Alò's Pinocchio

Enzo D'Alò knows what the fuck is UP!!! The only one with the courage to let the Fairy be a weird little girl - not only for a short time, but up until the end of the movie! That takes guts! Balls of steel!

I've said before that this movie has nothing memorable to it, and it's true, but also...Pinocchio wanted a sister so bad, and the movie gave him one. And they even explained the plot hole of the medallion with Pinocchio's face in it! That's twice as good as the fact that they cut out the most awful parts of her story, which is already delightful.

Thank you, Mr D'Alò. You have my trust until the end of days.

2) The Adventures of Buratino

Speaking of weird girls, this one is officially balls to the walls enough to gain my respect. She's bothersome to Pinocchio, but she's bothersome to everyone and everything, so I'll let it pass. Her role is exclusively to appear out of nowhere and do batshit insane stuff for no good reason at all. A star.

Plus, other than having an handwashing obsession that I've felt very keenly in the past year and a half, she also has a boyfriend - her and Pierrot are the original girlboss and malewife, I'm not accepting any criticism on the matter.

(Fun fact: when I was a young kid I once dreamt that the Piccolino No Bouken Fairy was dating a big, buff and blonde farmhand. He wooed her by gifting Pinocchio a dog. Apparently I've always been very interested in Fairies getting a love life and staying the fuck away from my specialest little boy.)

3) Pinocchio miniseries

"Serena, but you said you were disappointed in this adaptation so many times!" True. But consider: I am also very, very queer, and Violante Placido being motherly and wearing wispy dresses stirred SOMETHING in 11yo me that I can't very well ignore.

In hindsight, she and the Cricket probably had something going on behind the scenes, which is a shame. Miss Fairy, I swear, you could do better than Luciana Littizzetto in an ill-fitting green suit. She's gonna break your heart and lose your puppet charge in a crowd of little idiots. Do me instead.

4) Pinocchio Vampire Slayer

This woman kills monsters - and she's damn good at it! Honestly, so badass, and such a good mother figure too, even in trying times. I don't want to spoil the comic much to those who haven't read it, but she and Cherry are the highlight of the first volume and I am very fond of them. A+.

5) Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio

This one's book accurate, too, but Garrone did something with her that almost burst in tears in a crowded theater. She's awful, and irritating, but she's...she's so human, too. I can't rage against a Fairy that's so impossibly human even during the smallest of scenes. It breaks me over and over again.

Look at her SMILING, for pity's sake, am I supposed to think there's some warmth in the dead lady? Fuck you, Matteo, what did you do to me? I am an honored Fairy hater. You're going to ruin my reputation if you keep this up.

#ask meme #bewilderemoth #pinocchio #the tag needed some more bullshit from yours truly didn't it

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sa-nddd · 4 years

Text

first mcyt post! this is a dream smp one! let me know what you think :)

Dream SMP headcanons: being the villain >:)

basically, reader is the chew toy of L'manburg. everyone uses her, yet treats her like crap. she's tired of being a toy, and finally unleashes her power.

takes place in the dream smp

warnings: strong language, injury, manipulation, explosives, strong themes

not proofread, it's 5am on a school night and I haven't slept :)

gender identity: cis female, she/her pronouns, no use of name

she was tired.

days, months, years of being pushed over and treated like shit, how didn't they see it coming?

it started in L'manburg's fight for Independence.

She was passionate, wanting to do everything to help her 'friends'.

she gave them shelter, weapons, supplies, and care.

thinking back, all she sees is their faces in red.

fast forward a bit, the war was done!

celebrations nightly, and never was she invited.

she didn't mind, thinking they just were distracted and forgot to send her an invite.

she does live a few miles away, anyways.

then came Schlatt's takeover.

once again, she sent pogtopia crates of her weaponry and materials, only wanting to help.

only to get left by herself, preparing to defeat Schlatt on her own.

when she saw them all walk to the battle field together, she was torn.

Once again, she was left to her own accord, almost getting hit with DREAM'S arrows.

Techno, however, pulled her away.

The only person who showed her an act of kindness.

She fought with a new determination that day.

A few days after that fight, Techno heard a knock from where he was farming potatoes.

Looking up, he saw her standing on the bottom step of pogtopia's stairs, holding an ender chest.

she walked up to him, stopping a safe distance away before placing down her e-chest and opening it.

she pulled out a few things, three stacks of pink fireworks, a few wither skulls, and netherite blocks.

he looked at her in confusion, not understanding why she gave him so many things.

he refused at first, which made her confused.

everyone always took her gifts with open arms, why wasn't he?

when he asked her why she gave him such a expensive gift, she ended up explaining her story, how she was unknowingly being used for her materials.

techno was low-key pissed.

he'd keep her in mind, he promised.

fast forward a bit more, and the two became closer.

since then, techno has taught her everything she needed to know.

how she was manipulated, used, and a victim.

after realizing what techno was telling her was the truth, she decided to stop her generous ways, giving less and less things to her 'friends' and more towards herself and techno.

the two became close, bonding over being used and their power.

the two were a powerful duo, finding strength within eachother.

they were attached at the hip, techno not being this close to anyone other than Phil.

it was surprising, but welcomed.

techno would teach her his ways in fights, and they often collected materials together.

they basically lived together at this point.

he was soft

skipping forward to Manburg's last battle, they agreed on something.

anarchy was the best B)

jk, that they would do everything in their power to destroy every government they could.

As the battle went on, they stood with their backs together, protecting eachother.

as they confronted Schlatt, techno pushed her behind him, not wanting her in reach of the mentally unstable man in front of them.

as they walked to the podium, leaving Schlatt's body behind, the duo stood proudly next to eachother.

the first government they tore apart as partners, it felt great.

they watched, their proud expressions slipping into angry ones as they watched a new government being formed in front of them.

"The fuck?" she whispered out, following techno as he stood up straight, preparing to shout his next words.

she pulled out her ender chest, doing quick work of pulling out her soul and and wither skulls, as well as some xp bottles to heal her and Techno's armour.

as techno started his speech, she handed him the materials, splashing potions in preparation for the blast damage they might take.

then, the ground rumbled beneath them.

They reacted quickly, moving away from the explosives.

Techno pulled out his crossbow and fireworks, firing at any one he saw.

she stood in front of him, her shield up, blocking the debris and blasts from them.

once the explosions passed their area, they got to work spawning in a Wither each.

"You want to be a hero, Tommy? THEN DIE LIKE ONE!"

The withers took off, heads flying everywhere.

As she looked around, she met eyes with a few of her 'friends'.

trey all looked at her with betrayal and anger in their eyes, finally connecting the dots as to why she was being distant.

she just smirked back, causing them surprise.

Techno was done speaking, it was her turn.

"You know, I don't know why I wasted all those years on the wrong side, this is fun."

they looked shocked, not expecting the usually soft girl to be so evil.

"Does the medicine taste good? Cause it didn't for me.

Betrayal is a strange feeling, isn't it?"

"Being used doesn't feel nice. But hey, you live you learn, right?"

She stared them down, eyes glazed over with dark clouds.

"Y'know, I'm a strong believer in Karma.

I'd say Karma comes in different ways for everyone, and we never know what shape or way it'll come to us."

"However, I do know how it will come back to you."

The group let her words sink in, trying to fight off the withers roaming around.

"It's by me!" she chirped.

" and I know exactly how I'm going to do it!" she smiled, pearly whites showing.

"I'm going tear you apart from the inside. just. like. you. did. for. me."

After that, everything was a blur.

she doesn't remember much, only coming back to her senses when Techno pulled her to the lake, pulling out his trident, and passing her her own.

they flew away, going to pack their things and run away.

time skip a few days, her and phil quickly became friends, the same with ghostbur.

Her and Techno are settled down in a cabin far away, having everything then needed.

things were finally good.

She had caring friends, and nice home, and left her old life behind.

it was nice.

time passed, l'manburg with a new plan to take down Technoblade.

would that happen? fuck no LMAOO

TECHNOBLADE NEVER DIESSSS!

anyways

Phil was under house arrest, Techno was taken by the butcher army, and she was pissed.

actually, pissed was an understatement.

she was stood behind Phil's chimney, peaking at the scene in front of her.

she wasn't afraid, she knew techno had a totem on him, as did she. (courtesy of sugar daddy dré)

However, that didn't stop her from jumping down and gripping onto Fundy's hair, pulling it back harshly and pressing her sword into his neck.

She wasn't going to kill him, she has morals, but they didn't know that.

while they were distracted with her, Phil tossed Techno a pickaxe.

He got free, pearling away.

Quackity noticed, running after him while yelling. the rest followed, leaving her unattended with Carl. She took Carl, waving at Phil and Ghostbur before riding back home.

Now, when she went down to the basement and noticed a misplaced block in the floor, she didn't think she'd find a human down there.

Especially Tommy.

Then again, that kid is always ending up in weird situations.

she dragged him upstairs, forcing him to stay put till Techno comes back from trading with the villagers.

while waiting, the two bonded over their experiences with manipulation, Tommy apologizing to her for what he did.

She forgave him, not blaming the young one for following in the adults foot steps. He didn't know better.

Boy, Techno did not expect Tommy and her to be laughing when he stepped in, but alas, it is what it is

Time skip the preparations, the day of the festival has come.

The three were sneaking around in invis pots, going over the plan multiple times.

That was, until she witnessed the Community House, or at least what was left of it.

She fell to her knees, the memories flowing through her mind.

It had been there since the beginning, something she helped to build.

kc when things were simple, no fighting, no war, just friends hanging out.

she remembers the nights where the ogs would stay up building it, sleeping in beds pushed up together.

just her, Dream, George, Sapnap, Callahan, Alyssa, and Sam, having fun, building and joking around.

back before the fight, when Her and Dream yelled at each other over something useless.

before she ran off to L'manburg, who hated her for her relationships with the opposing team, but kept her for her things.

Her invis pot ran out, her body appearing.

Techno panicked, trying to get her to drink another, but she told him it was fine, to trust her.

He hesitated, but turned his attention to Tommy. she snuck off, watching as people slow started swarming around.

tears fell down her cheeks.

she looked around, meeting eyes with Bad.

She ran to his open arms, crying into them.

This was the only place that she had happy memories at, before she met Techno.

The only place that kept her sane.

She let go of bad, turning to Callahan, who gave her a small, sad smile and pulled her into a hug.

She looked to the side after a few seconds, meeting eyes with George, who also hugged her.

she felt someone's arms wrap around her, and she turned around, meeting Sapnap's eyes, and leaning into him.

Finally, she turned to Sam, who was staring at the destruction with tears streaming down his face.

The two of them were the most attached to the community house.

She stumbled into his arms, both of them sniffling into their embrace.

They both kept their arms around each other, turing to the scene in front of them. As Tommy and Tubbo started fighting, she knew that's her sign to go back to Techno. she let go of Sam, meeting eyes with her friends, letting them know she'd be back.

she wiped her face, quickly gearing up before jumping down beside Techno. she joined him in splashing tommy with pots.

then things took a turn. suddenly, Dream has the disks, tommy is on Tubbo's side again, and Techno and her are pearling out of a mob.

She was out of it the whole time, the Community House affecting her alot.

she decided then, it's time to take revenge.

It was the day they were going to destroy L'manburg once and for all.

She was prepared, wither skulls and soul sand filled her pockets, stacks of tnt filling chests in the sky, the black structure towering over l'manburg.

She had a smile on her face, letting out all her stress and anger.

as l'manburg went down, she could feel herself feel more alive, more free.

She stood with Phil and Techno on top of the crater that was once l'manburg, laughing gleefully.

It was over.

The thing that caused he the most pain.

now that Karma has come collect it's dept, she can be herself again.

"C'mon, let's go home."

she smiled at Techno and Phil, wanting nothing more than some tea and sweets.

Her job was done.

for now, at least. >:)

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atarahderek · 4 years

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Wolfwalkers Review

I confess, I have not taken the time to watch the first two movies of Cartoon Saloon’s Irish folklore trilogy (a fact I hope to rectify sooner rather than later). But I did take the time to watch Wolfwalkers...and I fell in love. The animation, the unique style, the music, the story...it was all beautiful. So I thought I’d give my thoughts on it, trying to keep them as spoiler free as I can.

Wolfwalkers had a limited theatrical release and was later released on Apple TV’s streaming service--which does offer a one week free trial if you want to check out their content. It is not the first Cartoon Saloon animation I’ve seen (I watched Breadwinner a few years ago), but it is easily the most beautiful. Being of Irish descent myself, I’m always happy to see good stories set in the lands of my ancestors. Especially stories that make liberal use of Celtic style music. If you have a Celtic heritage you’d like to explore, Wolfwalkers is an excellent celebration of that heritage and worth watching for that alone.

The story

The plot is fairly simplistic: A girl moves to a new town and has a hard time adjusting, meets a friend who stands out just as much as she does, discovers that friend faces a terrible threat, and tries to do whatever she can to help her friend. In this story, Robyn Goodfellowe and her father Bill have moved from northern England to Kilkenny, Ireland (insert South Park joke here). Bill is a hunter, tasked by Lord Oliver Cromwell, who insists on being referred to as Lord Protector and nothing less, with eradicating the wolves who live in the nearby forest so that the woodcutters can clear the forest for farmland. Well, the wolves in the forest have something to say about that. While trying to prove to her father that she can still be a good hunter despite Cromwell’s wishes that she stay in town and work in the scullery, Robyn comes across a girl named Mebh, who reveals herself to be a wolfwalker; a type of werewolf, for lack of a better term, that takes a wolf form whenever her human body sleeps. After a misunderstanding, Mebh accidentally bites Robyn, causing Robyn to become a wolfwalker herself. But her new form makes her an ally to Mebh, who is waiting for her missing mother to return so they can take their wolf pack and find a new forest untouched by Cromwell. Robyn struggles to keep her new secret form from her father and Cromwell, but when Cromwell threatens the wolves and Mebh directly, Robyn can no longer remain silent.

Cartoon Saloon’s history of giving their stories bittersweet endings makes this plot a little less predictable than it would be if it came from any other studio--and a lot less predictable than if it came from Disney (I love Disney, but sometimes they play things too safe or too true to their own favorite tropes). But the ending is quite satisfactory. It did suffer the plot mandated friendship failure in the third act, but to be fair, Robyn’s heart was in the right place, even if her actions weren’t. This film proves that a story doesn’t have to have a bunch of plot twists or be especially complex to be good. There is an elegance in simplicity.

The characters

Robyn is spunky, independent, snarky and skilled in marksmanship. She understandably does not like the new “cage” she’s found herself in under Cromwell’s strict rules. In England, her father let her go hunting with him and gave her a lot more freedom. In Ireland, he is firmly under Cromwell’s thumb. And as Cromwell is not afraid to punish children as if they were adults, Bill fears Robyn will be taken away from him and jailed or put in the stocks. Robyn has started to hear the phrase, “It’s for your own good,” far more often than anything else from her father, and she can’t stand it--right up until she uses the same phrase toward Mebh to protect her from Cromwell. When she becomes a wolfwalker, she suffers anxiety, wanting to hide her wolf form, but also craving freedom more than ever. Robyn is the type of idealist who always imagines herself easily taking a stand against something she believes to be wrong, but when it comes right down to doing just that, she balks at first. But in the end, she is able to stand strong anyway. Even as a child, Robyn shows strong leadership skills and has a mind for strategy--when she’s calm and focused, that is. When she’s out of her element and panicking, she gets herself into quite a few predicaments. Her strengths and flaws make her a well rounded character and prevent her, a young, falcon-owning huntress in 1650 Ireland, from sliding into Mary Sue territory.

Mebh is your standard wild child. She’s fiercely independent, loves to tease, and tends to make bombastic threats toward people who might offend her. She’s at least a few years younger than Robyn, and it shows. Robyn is 12-13 years old, while Mebh seems to be about nine at the most. Mebh takes promises seriously, expects them to be upheld, and is easily hurt when they are broken. Despite having little in common with Robyn, she bonds easily with her within hours of meeting her, teaching her all that she needs to know about being a wolfwalker. She’s a handful for anyone, a fact that baffles Cromwell, who apparently has very little personal experience with children. Kids Mebh’s age are often portrayed as seeming older or younger than they are, but Mebh is portrayed as a very convincing nine-year-old. She’s properly immature, but also old enough to take care of herself while her mother is away. Though she does have over two dozen furry babysitters to take care of her.

Bill Goodfellowe represents the rare Sean Bean role where his character doesn’t die. He’s a widower who is just trying to establish a good life for himself and Robyn. When he gets called to Ireland, he finds himself having to tie down his free spirited daughter, and it’s plain to see he hates doing it. He wants to protect her from the wolves around Kilkenny, but he also wants to protect her from Cromwell’s retribution against anyone who violates his dictatorial laws. Eventually, he has to stand up to Cromwell to protect Robyn, finally realizing that complying with tyranny will not allow him to protect his daughter; it will only put his daughter in more danger.

There’s not much to say about Mebh’s mother Moll. Her whereabouts are unknown until halfway through the second act, and even in the third act she doesn’t play much of a role. She’s a tough but tender matriarch who acts as something of a living MacGuffin. She's also the plot’s punching bag.

The side characters are mostly delightful. Merlin is your standard animal sidekick, but he’s also a very useful means of communicating, being a bird that can talk to Wolfwalkers. A bully named Paidrig turns out to be a useful tool for Robyn, keeping him from being completely repulsive (but only just barely; I’d rank him just below Eustace Clarence Scrubb in the first half of VDT). And Sean Og is criminally underappreciated. Seriously, we need some more love for Sean Og here.

And as for Oliver Cromwell, I have quite a bit to say about him. I’m going to save that for its own post, since it will involve spoilers. Since he is a historical domain character (unlike the others), the approach taken with him was different from what it was for the other antagonistic characters--and for a lot of villains in general. He’s almost Judge Claude Frollo in John Ratcliffe’s body.

The soundtrack

With an abundance of gorgeous Celtic music and a beautifully fitting rendition of “Running with the Wolves” by Aurora, I have only one complaint about the soundtrack: I CANNOT FIND IT FOR SALE ANYWHERE!!!

In summary

It’s beautiful, it’s so very Irish, it’s a quality story about magic wolves (those are rare), and I sincerely believe it is more than a contender for best animated feature this year. Honestly, I liked it better than Soul. Well done, Cartoon Saloon. Well done. Now, to all of you reading this, go support Wolfwalkers!

#Wolfwalkers #review #Cartoon Saloon #animation #Robyn Goodfellowe #Mebh og MacTire #seriously if you know where to find the soundtrack for sale or safe download please tell me

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icecreamkink · 4 years

Text

so i watched cobra kai all in two days and i have so many -

this show has so many cool and smart angles to it, but the same time.... its so stupid oh my god everyone is so dumb literally mr miyagi held all of the braincells in this whole universe

like i am but at the same time i am not surprised it was made like this, bc in hindsight of course there were hordes of ppl simping over johnny lawrence .... but it still amuses me that this is like... an Actual Official Thing

ok this will get long so cut it is

how much fun this cast has is super visible and i love it

i rly enjoy how the world was expanded ! i did grow up watching the karate kid movies, so watching how they progressed the world of the movies so organically was pretty cool. it rly feels like its the same universe

i fucking LOVE stories that are largely about a Thing. dancing ,skating, sports its just so thrilling to experience this all consuming relationship people can have with this type of activity? and martial arts are just that much more intense, so yeah, grown ass men kicking each other around at the lightest provocation and a war veteran caring so much abt teen karate is Ridiculous.... but i love it all because thats the intensity i find so thrilling

was kinda surprised with how much im missing mr. miyagi. first because, like everyone is so unhinged jesus christo, it just really throws into relief how much his character grounded the narrative of the movies. but also hes just a really great character

and on that note it rly Gets Me that the show itself aknowledges that and plays that into daniels angst and all the little ways they sorta weave myiagisms into the whole show........ im not getting emotional over this dumb karate dads show OK

related - i really miss hearing ‘daniel-san’ 🥺🥺

ACE DEGENERATE oh god oh no

they really went down the down and out johnny lawrence route huh. like i was always kinda bummed we see kreese choking him and then we never see him again in the movies, and while i love dumpster fire problematic trash himbo ck johnny, its like......................... actually really sad that his life turned out like this fjngn

everytime i hear ‘babes’ and ‘pussy’ i die a little inside. i know thats the point but i am a v cringe easy person, have mercy (ehe)

loved the way they are constantly drawing parallels between johnny and mr. myiagi of all people. hes the handy man of his building that has a bullied kid asking for help and eventually steps up to teach them karate, beats up a bunch of bullies for him, creates a friendship with said kid, estranged from family, drinks his sorrows away, surprisingly one of the least quick to anger characters (which says more about everyone else really but.... Well.), no schemes or ulterior motives hes just tryna vibe here.... oh and ofc magically heals miguel of is asthma apparently. the true disciple.. meanwhile daniel is his usual messy petty self even tho he wants to be mr myiagi so bad

also interesting about that is how miguels character is a parallel of both johnny and daniel at the same time

overall the parallels in ck are done really well, drawing comparisons and also subverting them constantly. theyre well thought out

THE PARALELOGRAMS

fr tho, the angle being explicitly the cycle of trauma and its effects and how trumatized adults in turn traumatize kids, maliciously or not, is so interesting

but! on the flip side of that, it feels like the writers are getting in their own way @ letting the characters grow. especially this last season. theres only so many times you can do "johnny and daniel are getting along but 5mins later they are (literally) fighting over some dumbass random issue" or "johnny puts in 20% of effort with robby and then gives up" before it gets on your nerves yknow?

i see daniel no longer talks like macchio ingested 15 shots of espresso before every take and idk how to feel about that tbh

interesting tension in daniel, as in, in tkk mr miyagi was there and daniel was frankly, kind of a lil shit, this messy petty spitfire hot tempered sassy kid,(johnny lawrence voice: just... stop being so annoying) but now hes the adult, and he wants to be mr. miyagi... but hes just not, and never will be to his very core and it shakes him and in a way hes trying to find who he is now that he sees himself in a position to be a not! cobra kai figure. i kinda really like that

plus how that relates to his cobra kai trauma. idk if the writers thought abt it Like That, i think so, but in any case, its interesting bc it seems like daniel has told everyone whod listen about johnny lawrence his Pretty Boy Karate Rival and high school and 84 cobra kai... But. no one seems to know what went on in 85 (or 86? idk) which was just so much worse

like ye og cobras were shitheads, but tkk iii is just two hours of daniel being emotionally and physically tortured.

like, the third movie is.............chaotic, to put it nicely, and many people ignore it, but the writers clearly didnt. daniels actions are, in a way, responding so much more to the events of tkk iii than to the first movie ie. johnny himself, AND. daniel doesnt rly seem to have dealt with that trauma? he never told sam? doesnt feel like hes ever told amanda? he doesnt even say terrys name out loud? freaks Out over kreese ? the way he reacts to robbys deceit? his FACE when he walks past the new "fear does not exist in this dojo" paint or kreeses photo? hmMm i sense Pain

his fashion tho........... disappointing. where are the flower shirts daniel huh we had one (1) shirt what a tragedy STOP WEARING SUITS ALL THE TIME . also the band ts/grunge bi are a look for johnny but part of me longs for the preppy lovable 80s bully chic johnny lawrence getups

weird that they never used that last moment of karate kid where johnny kinda... snaps out of his anger and hands daniel the trophy almost in tears. like “youre alright larusso, good match” “thanks a lot” that being their last direct interection seems like itd be perfect fruit for cobra kai but... they just dont. weird.

especially when, the FIRST SCENE they see each other, suposedly in 30+ years, the first thing to come out of daniels mouth is QUOTE "u still got those golden locks huh?" WHO SAYS SHIT LIKE THAT DANIEL FUCKING SAN

also amandas immediate reaction "your pretty boy rival?" like. can we talk about the fact that daniel had to have imparted to his wife the very important information that his high school bully/karate rival was like Really Cute and Fucking Hot Actually

the writers Knew exactly what they were doing and honestly.............. power to them

tkk director voice: and billy was just so cute

also I was thinking that daniel sounded strangely fond in that first scene, and i wonder if he developed a weird affection for johnny on the grounds that of all of his Karate Rivals johnny was actually the only one who didn’t actively tried to literally kill him

i was actually delightedly surprised with how great the chemistry between them is, like from the get go i am Invested. their rl friendship totally bleeds through and its fantastic

. granted, idiots enemies to lovers friends is my Thing so i am biased

johnny lawrence: i am down in the dumps, i fucked up my whole life and my sons probably, largely in light of the trauma that the father figure sensei and the philosophy of my karate inflicted on me and all my friends. u know what i should do, as a traumatized, unreliable mess of an adult? teach that same philosophy to some other kids! what could go wrong!

but really i enjoy the setup of it. i kinda like that i watched it late because, season 1 was johnny setting himself up for failure in a way and it was exciting to watch it all go to shit sjfn

Like. his heart might be in the right place, but theres just.... not a way to teach something like ‘strike hard, no mercy’ and not have it fuck up a kid

case and point: aisha, miguel and hawk become annoying as all hell over that bullshit in the end of s1, even before shit gets truly fucked up

billys subtle panicked eyes when he sees hawk and miguel fighting dirty in the all valley was SO GOOD especially in parallel with the panic that is so visible in his face in the movie when kreese tells bobby to injure daniel and in the sweep the leg scene

seen people question wether kreese should have returned and i absolutely think he needed to. johnny needed to realize that cobra kais fundamentals are flawed, at the root, beyond kreese himself being a toxic piece of shit

also who are we kidding? we are here to see the tkk characters play on new playgrounds!

i get what they're doing abt kreeses backstory, ( also. cobra kai. pq eles caem nas cobras djjs sorry) but did it need to take up that much time? feels like they couldve done it in half the run time and developed some other stories better

martin kove has such an evil eye. i love it

love that we get a good follow up to kreese breaks johnnys trophy and tries to CHOKE HIM in the parking lot, which happened in the movie and then....................... was never mentioned again

“the gang is all back together again” aaaa u piece of SHIT

also. terry silver is definetely appearing ha ha ha PAIN i cant wait

seen ppl say kreese was too much of a cartoon villain like..........................oh......... sweetie........... u dont even Know

interested how johnny will fit into that bc kreese was simping rly hard for johnny here. like i did not expect him to be so adamant to have him with cobra kai ... under his control, sure, but he really wants johnny by his side despite already having control of the dojo and how will terry silver self appointed jon kreeses forever simp going to feel abt that?

like bitchs dropping by every episode like ‘joooooohnny ..... come bacc to me joooonny......... this ur last warning! for real this time johnny! i wont say it again! watch me ! im leaving johnny! im rly leaving ! im dragging a chair” and johnny is just like. dont let the door hit ya bitch it was so funny pls

and on that subject oof, johnny! doesnt! Know! he doesnt get that side of daniels cobra kai trauma. and i kind of.............. cannot wait for ck 2021 johnny lawrence to meet terry silver like. what a shit show i need a front row seat and popcorn (imagine terry tries some greasy charm and johnny just roundhouse kicks him in the teeth bc he just doest Not Have the Patience for This. glorious)

feels like we, as a society, should acknowledge that cobra kai will never die................ bc their sense of design is just chefs kiss. their name is COBRA KAI. they have sexie sleeveless black gis. theyve sneks. colorful leather jackets with embroided naja insignia, the get ppl thru the aesthetics. evil geniuses

the flashback cuts : masterpiece behavior

the other takes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of the movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the differente angles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of the FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE CLOSE UP ON JOHNNYS FACE AT THE KICK

that scene of daniel and johnny vibing to 80s music in the car. just. oh my god. the fan wish fullfilment. no thoughts head empty.

the new characters! theyre .... good. but. idk. i really like miguel (save for the annoying phase mid s1 - end s2) and amanda, who is a damn riot and has some functioning braincells, but everyone else is

like dont get me wrong, i dont hate anyone,its not a jane and rafael from jtv situation, and i am interested and invested in their arcs, but i wouldnt say i like Like them, as in, personality wise

like, sams grappling with ptsd was rly gutting and i enjoyed that plus her slight rage issues,

which nicely parallel torys rage issues. torys background is all over the place tho so im pretty on the fence abt her so far

robby deserves better in every way, and i like how smart and cunning and surprisingly sweet he is

hawk............... is there i guess,

demetri is annoying in the best way possible,

carmen is sweet but. i just feel like her character is blunted to make the johnny relationship easier. like when shes furious with him after miguels injury but then forgives him like an episode later? and then convinces him to fight for the tournament bc she had a karate epiphany off screen even tho she was always against it? meh. feels like with the plot thiccening she was swallowed and now shes like a crutch for johnny mora than anything, which is disappointing.

aisha was cool and im kinda mad she wasnt in s3, especially bc a storyline with her tory and sam was like RIGHT THERE , but also... cant say i was super super fond of her... doesnt feel like we ever spent enough time on her

moon the bi icon,

overall its a good cast but the main draw for me remains the og cast

the tory/sam miguel/robby Thing. enjoy how theyre Narrative Foils and i like how their stories were so dramatically entangled but oh god give me a break with the teenage love square for the love of god. if u gonna put us through that at least have the decency to not make it so straight

and honestly some sam/tory miguel/robby romantic tension would even make more sense. just saying!

also im not sure how i feel abt the cobra kai: red miyagi do: blue theyre going with since some of daniels most iconic looks in tkk are also red. like it was a color they (johnny and him) sorta shared. i get it, opposite but complementary but idk... a little too fire nation and water tribe for me .

and like the cobra kai kids are so funny abt it bc their outifts grow progressively more ridiculously coordinated. its like do they group chat every morning before leaving their houses?

robby still sticks out like that tho. he went thru an athleisure/daniel san tsleeves phase and now hes back in the bandts grunge, but his color scheme doesnt fully blend with the other cobra kais. hmmmm.

LOVED LOVED LOVED both the okinawa episode and the cobra kais easy rider episode just such good good heart aching fun

bobby is an icon. he was in tkk and he is now ck hope appears more and more

tommy is like the most iconic background character. all his lines, freaking gold then and now. sigh :(

the framing in the okinawa trip was so good everything was so good

i stand by the fact that kumiko was the love interest daniel had the most chemistry with and shes is overall such a joy to watch, loved to see her again, idola, fashion icon

also tkk ii is good u guys are just mean

also really enjoyed chozens role in the episode, his evolution; i love that they introduced the pressure points (ty lee the blueprint) and! the honk + karate! cousins! absolutely iconic

when kumiko reads mr miyagis letters........ oh my god, my eyes FILLED with tears, it was so heart wrenching :(( tamlyns delivery was so emotional and lovely and its so obvious everyone involved in ck has so much love and respect for pat morita and mr miyagi as character, and i adore that it exists like this electric current through the show

when we were watching i told my sister i thought that ali would be miguels big shot surgeon and ngl i am so disappointed that didnt happen. hire me cobra kai writers

also the johnny ali daniel amanda chemistry? off the charts

AND the sassy retconning of daniel and alis breakup! LMAO ‘I HOPE U DIDNT TELL MR MIYAGI IT WAS MY FAULT’ HFDJJGNKFKSD

i am preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetty sure back injuries dont work like that but oke

daniel and johnny are so good together whenever, like they never actually help the kids or get shit done and end up fighting anyway but its just so much fun when theyre hanging

JOHNNY LAWRENCE AND DANIEL LARUSSO FIGHTING TOGETHER

daniels “plan” on how to get robby to juvie was so stupid. literally were u TRYING to make him hate you. dumbass

parents at those hearing rly brave for ppl that did not do ANYTHING as their kids got involved in a karate gang war until now

“bullshit i heard u were the real bully!” i mightve screeched

this s3 ending was SO DRAMATIC omg

everyone is such a MESS go to THERAPY u unhinged motherfckers

also im sorry but uh. a richass neighborhood in california doesnt have some type of neighborhood watch? the larussos rly dont have any security at all? neighbors wont hear the sound of a damn karate brawl happening next door??? also wasnt tory all like ooo i cant go to juvie, my mom yada yada yet shes always running around town getting into fights even at the rich girls house she was kicked out of school for fighting?? ? ?? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? girl??

stop destroying the larussos house, its so pretty :((((

sam finding her center looking at mr miyagis picture... uwu maybe

robby yelling ‘U ARE WEAAK’@ johnny \as he is easily blocking him is like.... so funny and so sad to me. sweetheart.

also i know it was meant as ‘oh johnny pushes him and HURTS HIM’ but it just looks like robby runs himself into the lockers and IM SO SORRY I FEEL SO BAD BUT IT WAS SO FUNNY

i like that he and tory are the cobra kai kids now. we need ppl we care abt there to not revert to a good vs evil schtick, and this is the most engaging it could be... tho it hurts that these kids cant catch a break

ah yes "lets bet some real shit on the result of this teen karate tournament bc that is always a great idea" is BACK

so daniel saves johnny from kreese..... maybe johnny will save him from terry 🧐

and dojos unite ohohoho. lets SEE how that’ll work out

miguels face of Despair when the ck defectors and the md kids are bickering like 'this is never gonna work' : gold

also. Johnny Lawrence is gonna learn some myiagi-do karate AHAAHSJAKDFH

ive been waiting for this moment all my lifeeee oh lawrd

final thoughts! there are def things i hope the writers will improve on the next season, but i am very excited for it either way AND i feel like it has made me enjoy the movies even more and that is a win for a reboot/sequel to me!!

#m.#did i procrastinate watching this since it came out and only watched it now bc my sister nagged me to when i said we should #watch karate kid over the holidays?#and then binged the whole thing in two days??#mayhaps and what abt it #cobra kai #the karate kid #its funn #y bc like karate kid is a Childhood movie but i wouldnt say #it was like particularly special for me?#like i wasnt in a fandom or anything #but now.#i might be invested #maybe #talvez

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bisexual-horror-fan · 4 years

Note

I would adore to read some of your works surrounding your characters! Especially if there’s already an assemblage of that completed so we needn’t worry about you overworking yourself

Well this seems like as good a time as any to be honest! Let’s go off shall we! So I wrote this a while back, it is mostly about Ginger Handel, the Final Girl to my Slasher OC Victor Pace. James Doron (never posted his offical bio) is also the other main character in this, he works in the same bakery with both Victor and Ginger. I love these three so very much and have written a lot about them already, so I can post more if people like it. This is a big deal because as I am sure you know OG shit isn’t what I post here, yet anyway.

Anger, a conversation, backstory. Here we go some of my original shit! Hope you all enjoy it!

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Rating. SFW. Length. 2.6K. Warnings: Mentions Of A Bad Home Life and Mental Health Struggles. Some Sad Shit. Some Soft Shit. Minor Angst. Anger. Some Backstory.

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How Dare You?

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Ginger was more scared than she had ever been in her whole life.

She was so concerned, worried, freaked the fuck out, she had to go find James and talk to him. She remembered where he lived from when she had stopped by for dinner with James and Victor. It was early, very early, she stood in front of his door and knocked, waiting, waiting, hurry up, come on. Finally the door opened and James was rubbing his eyes and said sleepily.

“Ginger?”

“James.”

“What are you doing here?”

He yawned, leaning against the door frame and Ginger said.

“I have to talk to you.”

“Now? Couldn’t wait until work?”

A tired laugh as he responded and she shook her head, saying seriously.

“No.”

He stared at her for a moment, he realized she seemed serious, he pushed off the door frame before sighing and saying.

“Fucking fine. Come on in.”

She walked in, James flopped down on the couch, Ginger stayed standing, pacing and James asked,

“So what’s the problem?”

“You know those murders?”

He sighed and said.

“Yeah, the ones you are so concerned about, sure.”

“I think…”

A pause. She struggles to find the right wording.

“This is a lot. I just...I think I know who’s doing it.”

That got his attention, he sat up and asked.

“Woah. Ginger really?”

Yes. Thank God, he seems interested. Ginger nodded and continued.

“Yes! Yes, we have to go to the police. I’m sure the murders are being done by one person.”

“Shit. Yeah I’ll help you, what evidence do you have?”

She felt embolden as she continued speaking, almost too quickly, gesturing as she did,

“I don’t have the physical evidence yet but if we can convince the police and get a warrant then I’m sure we will have everything we need.”

“Well c’mon spill. Who is it?”

Ginger hesitated and James gestured with his hands for her to spit it out.

“It’s...I think it’s Victor...”

He looked dumbfounded. He looked up at her and said harsh.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“James, I know, I know! But you have to hear me out!”

“No. No I don’t actually.”

James rolled his eyes and he crossed his arms, leaning back on the couch.

“James I swear to God it’s him! I know it, I-”

James got up and sighed very loudly, hand running through his messy hair.

“Shut up Ginger.”

Ginger tried to speak up and he cut her off right away.

“I said shut up Ginger! Oh my GOD. I cannot believe you.”

“What?”

He rubbed his hand over his face, weight shifting from one foot to the other and he said harshly.

“I said. I can’t believe you! Like Jesus Christ, Ginger, why? Huh? What do you have against the man?”

Ginger started to get a little frustrated at how quickly this was falling apart, at how fast James was getting upset as she said.

“Why are you always defending him?!”

James looked at Ginger, shocked as he said.

“You really don’t know?...”

The realization hit as he vocalized it,

“He didn’t tell you. Course he wouldn’t. Wasn’t his thing to tell. God damn it Victor.”

She heard it but it was almost like he was saying it to himself, he spoke louder as he addressed her again, eyes focused as he glared at her,

“That fucking man still amazes me. This makes me even more upset because you are accusing him of something so AWFUL.”

He was pacing now, almost rambling, still in utter disbelief he seemed mad as hell, he didn’t stop.

“The reason I defend him so much Ginger is because he is the best man I have ever met. He has helped me immensely. He gave me so much, real world experience and personal teaching, he listened to my problems and became my fucking friend. When I was in school, there was this one night and I had to bring in this dessert for a final exam and I fucking dropped it.”

He stopped pacing for a moment and he laughed recalling the memory and recounting it for Ginger.

“Like an idiot I dropped it and I fucking cried and freaked out about how I was going to fail and all my work would be for nothing.”

He remembered being curled over, crying tears of pure frustration, hunched over the mess that was once his dessert, smashed plate and cream and hard work splattered over the tile in the back of the bakery. He remembered Victor crouching down beside him, hand on his back, he looked up and Victor told him.

“Get up. Come on, get up and straighten yourself out, I’ll clean this up and I’ll help you do it again.”

He remembered looking up to him through too many tears as he said,

“Wha-what? Victor i-it’s already 11:30, you’ve stayed too late already, you normally open at 6, you shouldn’t-”

And Victor was rubbing over his back now, a shake of his head as he comforted him,

“James. Nothing you can say is going to change my mind here. I want to help you. I’m going to help you, okay?”

He sniffed and smiled and said.

“Okay.”

He remembered tissues and wiping his face clean, feeling a little embarrassed crying in front of his boss. They played music and talked and laughed and drank coffee and managed to stay awake and remake it even better. Victor insisted on keeping the store closed that day, he drove him to school that day. James passed and Victor and him went out for lunch and over even more coffee he remembers the moment where everything really changed when Victor said.

“I’m proud of you.”

That stopped James dead, mid sip of coffee, he wasn’t exactly used to praise and Victor didn’t stop.

“You have such a passion for this. For what we do, it is amazing how far you’ve come since we started working together, really.”

A pause.

“And I wanted to offer you a full time job at Pace’s Pastries when you are done with school. No obligation to stay forever obviously but you are such a good fit and I would love to have you.”

James agreed readily, easily, he couldn’t believe it. It was like a dream. Life is so good right now and here was Ginger standing there, doubting Victor, it was enraging.

He took a deep breath, his back to Ginger he continued, recalling another time.

“Once. I was mugged and they got a lot of money off me. I had just been to the bank, tuition payment, gone.”

A snap of his fingers for emphasis and he kept talking.

“And when I cried to Victor on the phone about it he fucking payed my tuition that month for me. These past years that man has been nothing but kind to me. Been there for me. Cared for me. I can’t tell you the amount of times he showed me such kindness again and again even if sometimes I probably didn’t deserve it. Everyone in Long Grove can tell you something nice about him! Some sweet, kind thing he has done for them.”

He was facing her again as he continued, louder now, more anger hurled at her.

“EVERY SINGLE ONE GINGER. And then you come in and start throwing accusations at him, why? Is he too nice?! Too fucking likeable?! SO SOMETHING HAS BE WRONG WITH HIM?!”

Ginger was in shock to say the least. She knew Victor was a good guy, that he did a lot for people but she didn’t know just how much he had done for James.

“He is family.”

“What?”

“He is my family Ginger...Like...”

Another sigh, he walked over to the couch and sat down again, he motioned for her to sit too. She took the chair next to the couch and he couldn’t look at her as he continued talking, eyes on the floor, hands on his knees.

“I’ve cried in front of that man too many damn times I swear to God. My family disowned me. I was almost done my last year of school, it was so awful, Victor was there for me.”

Another series of memories recalled, James in the back of house at the bakery, arms folded on the table in front of him, phone call just ended, tears still wet on his face, his dad’s words still ringing in his ears, fragments, hurtful and stinging.

“Never come back here again.”

“No son of mine-”

“Disgraceful.”

“Worthless.”

He heard the door swing open, he got up, wiping at his face, he pocketed his phone and said.

“Hey Victor, sorry I’m still here, I was just going to lock up.”

He tried to talk normally but his voice still sounded thick and raw from so much crying.

“James what’s wrong?”

He forced a smile and turned to look at Victor, still in the doorway as he said.

“Nothing man, uh nothing I’m all good.”

“James.”

Victor stepped closer and James still tried to deny it.

“Really Victor I’m good-I just uh-”

Think of a lie James come on, you burden him too much already, something, think of something.

A hand, strong and steady on his forearm, when did he close his eyes? He opened them again to see Victor, looking so concerned.

“You can talk to me James.”

So nice.

He is so damn nice and he is so open, no one in his family ever wants to talk about anything.

It all came spilling out, he couldn’t stop it, he told him about his home life, his family, his dad. He had started crying somewhere in the middle of telling him and it ended with the both of them sitting on the table in the back, James with his hand near his mouth, looking down, still crying, Victor just being there, listening.

“And then he said he never wants to see me again, to never come back there. They are disowning me Victor.”

He finally finished, Victor waited a moment, to make sure he was done. Hands taking his, strong and sure and grounding, James looked up to him and Victor said.

“Fuck them.”

James laughed a little, Victor wasn’t the type to swear often. He thinks the only time he heard it before now was one afternoon when making candy he got a molten sugar burn, it sounded wrong coming from him, he asked,

“What?”

“Fuck them. James they don’t know what they have in you. You are so talented and smart and so good and it sounds like they don’t act like a family.”

A forign concept to James. He sounded so confused,

“Act like a family?”

A laugh, quiet, a little sad from Victor before he says,

“Family supports each other, listens to each other, is there. Present. Caring, loving. Sounds like they have never been your family.”

James had to agree, they never cared, the only person who did was his younger sister, he was most broken up about that, not seeing her, her having to deal with them alone. Victor wasn’t done.

“I’ll be your family.”

James' heart had never beat harder in his life. He couldn’t accept hearing that so easily, something like that had never been offered to him, it sounded too good to be true. No way.

“Victor what are you saying? You-you’ve done enough, really I-”

“You need a place to go, you have school to finish, you are so close, live with me, take the full time job when you graduate. Figure out what you are doing with no pressure, James I care about you a lot, please let me help you do this.”

Again all he could do was smile through the tears and say,

“Okay.”

Living with Victor was so easy, he never realized that he wanted to go home to a place before, he always was avoiding his old family’s house, but here he actually wanted to go home at night. Being able to relax was life changing. Victor was the only one who came to his graduation, he took pictures and cheered and James felt loved and seen and heard for the first time in his 22 years of life.

James looked so sad, so angry so many things and he looked up from the floor back to Ginger. Less sad, more anger again.

“So...Ginger...I’m fucking sorry if I am a little upset and a little fucking doubtful of you that the man who did all of that and so much more, the man who saved my life, is capable of killing multiple people.”

Ginger doubted herself now. Stumbling through her attempt at a response.

“But...The...I...”

She sighed and James continued, prodding as he asked,

“What? What else?”

Ginger started.

“I don’t think he is mentally well.”

James got up and stepped closer, he scoffed looking down at her and said.

“And what about it Ginger? I know you know about how he got that scar of his. I know people in this town talk, they love him but fuck it IS the biggest thing that has ever happened here so I KNOW you know about it.”

Ginger couldn’t meet his gaze now, speaking quietly, playing with her fingers for a mild distraction, she felt like an idiot.

“Yes I know about how he got it.”

James continued, anger still clear in his tone,

“So if you know about it you know he has been through a lot. He watched his parents and brother die, almost died HIMSELF, so yes it kind of mentally messed him up, he is medicated, he is in therapy, he is working on himself.”

“He goes to therapy?”

He stepped away, walking to the kitchen, he needed coffee, dear God he needed something to help deal with how she was being right now, he continued speaking.

“Yes Ginger, oh my God. He doesn’t really talk about it at work, he is a little sensitive about it and he obviously made the right call, why are you being such a judgmental bitch?”

Now she was shocked, hand to her chest, finally looking back to him,

“I’m being a-”

He cut her off quickly.

“A judgmental bitch. I will say it again and again because the shoe fits.”

Now it was Ginger’s turn to get angry, she got up and followed him to the kitchen. She stood in the doorway and watched him, he seemed so different from how he was at the bakery, she softened. To be fair though she had barged her way in here well before 5 AM on a weekday and demanded to talk to him, accused him that the only family he has is a murderer, of course he is defensive.

Of course he doesn’t believe her.

Yet.

“James. I’m sorry. I know I am asking a lot of you, I know you have history and you don’t want to believe this but what if I could show you?”

She stayed in the doorway. Keeping the distance between them. She felt bad. James got out a second mug, he poured her a cup and picked it up, he held it out, still not looking at her.

“You want to show me Victor is a murderer?”

She stepped into the kitchen and took the cup and said.

“Yes. You are right, I need something hard, real evidence, if we catch him in the act then you will have to believe me.”

James let out a sigh, he shook his head and looked over to her as he said.

“I’m only agreeing to prove you wrong. There is no way it’s him.”

“So you’ll hear me out?”

She asked hopefully, he rolled his eyes and said.

“Yes. If it’ll get you to shut up. Now do you take cream or sugar or both?”

#BHF writing #Slasher OC #Victor Pace #Ginger Handel #James Doron #The Pace Brothers #Pace's Pasteries #BHF Orignal #BHF asks #thanks for asking this!#Hope you like it!#Gib feedback if yall want more

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o0o-chibaken-o0o · 5 years

Note

Do you have any rec list with bonds, forced or not between drarry From soulmate bond to magical link, whatever really

OH BOY DO I. This is one of my favorite tropes, and this list (which I made on a whim upon seeing a facebook post about bonding) barely scratches the surface of all the amazing related fics! Enjoy

The Destiny You Sold by @tryslora (59K)- In which Draco knits, Harry makes wands, and things get very tangled up between them.HONESTLY just the memory of this fic is so happy and healing that I’m almost certainly going to reread it a third time within the next week there’s KNITTING!!! But also D/S dynamics and shop-owning and tons of wonderful amazingness

For The Greater Good by @jadepresley (62K)- When Harry and Draco discover they’ve been bonded to one another, neither one of them is prepared for the secrets they slowly begin to uncover. Together, they learn that they can’t escape their past, or the things that have been left hidden there, and that sometimes the only way to move forward is to look back.This fic has SO MANY GREAT THINGS! I started to type them all out but then realized y’all probably don’t want a ton of spoilers and the way the plot of this fic unfolds and everything comes together is just masterful and enthralling and full of surprises!

Lift Your Open Hand by @firethesound (18.5K)- With Draco Malfoy as his assigned partner for the next six weeks of Auror training, Harry had been prepared for things to go poorly. But getting themselves accidentally bonded to each other in the first twenty minutes of their very first assignment seemed going above and beyond, even for them.I love love love this fic! It’s got sort-of bumbling Auror partners!Drarry who get into trouble first thing and then COVER IT UP like a pair of adorable idiots and of course they’re like this will be FINE until it’s not fine and everybody’s in love and Nick Cage is there for some reason and the reader is grinning like a loon

Twice as Much as an Earthquake by @firethesound (18.5K)- Accidental bonding. Breaking and entering. Conspiring, however unwillingly, in the strange one-man war Malfoy’s waging against detention. This isn’t the normal school year Harry anticipated having, but at least it’s not boring.I read this so long ago it is DEFINITELY time for a re-read because all I remember is feeling a great sense of mischief and joy, and like that’s everything we all need in our lives right now.

Unexpected Consequences by lauren3210 (39K)- Harry was going back to school. He was going to play Quidditch, sleep in lessons, hang out with his friends, and generally just enjoy being a kid for a change. And he was also going to do it while being bonded with Malfoy, because apparently life was just going to continue throwing curveballs at him. Harry didn’t know why he expected anything different.This is one of the earliest drarry fics I read (possibly the first eighth year one?) and I have adored it ever sense! It has a wonderful premise, great exploration of issues of consent with a power imbalance, and all your standard amazing bonding tropes– especially roommates!! And Harry being Draco’s protector! OH AND it was written to go with “that picture” (you know the one) and so has an amazing dark mark removal scene that I’ll never forget!

In Evidence of Magical Theory by @bixgirl1 (43.5K)- When a hex meant for Draco accidentally catches Harry as well, they’re forced to learn to understand each other in ways they previously might have thought impossible.In which Harry and Draco can’t fight, so they fall in love instead.OKAY I REMEMBER when I read this fic and was like WHO IS THIS RANDOM AMAZING WRITER??? because it was her first fic and now she’s one of the greats but damn this fic is still a testament to some of the things bix does best and is a must-read!!! Magical theory! Eighth year! Room sharing! BED SHARING! Her first drarry rimming scene!!! (Aww

Salt on the Western Wind by Saras_Girl (60.5K)- When the war isn’t quite as over as it first appears, a guilt-ridden Harry is sent to a mysterious safe-house. Among sandwiches, insomnia, and Mills & Boon, he discovers something quite unexpected. Like every single Saras_Girl fic ever, this fic is a true gem. It’s a relatively simple setting (seeing as they’re stuck in a house) but so realistic and subtle and evocative. The bonding in this fic is more physical than emotional, which is not only an interesting change of pace but also makes for many truly wonderful and embarrassing moments :D

The Comfort of Tea by Omi_Ohmy (20.5K)- A lawn mower, a pertly pink todger, endless cups of tea and a few sly grins. Oh yes, and Harry is cursed to temporarily bond to anyone he gets close to; for some reason that person ends up being Draco, more often than not…OKAY usually bonding fics are all angsty and pining-y, but this one is just fucking ADORABLE and fluffy and warm and cute and it will make you happy!!!!

Soup-pocalypse and the Great Curry Cataclysm by SquadOfCats (104.5K)- Eleven years after the war, Draco Malfoy leads a quiet, boring, and perfectly respectable life, thanks very much. Or, at least he does, until a sudden and very unexpected veela awakening causes him to throw soup all over Harry Potter in the middle of the Ministry cafeteria.This fic was like a revelation when I read it because it was so. damn. good!!! One of my favorite fics of all time and a VERY refreshing take on the veela!Draco trope. Draco is the most hilarious, snarky, relatable narrator and the story is full of pining and tons of entertaining incidents and it’s just a perfect (and long, bless us all!) fic!

Bond by AnnaFugazzi (173.5)- I started to write this before HBP came out, and crossed my fingers that HBP wouldn’t make it totally non-canon. No such luck, I’m afraid. This, therefore, is an AU story, where (SPOILER) still teaches (SPOILER), (SPOILER) didn’t try to (SPOILER), (SPOILER) didn’t succeed in (SPOILER), (SPOILER) never dated (SPOILER), and most importantly, (MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS) never happened.This is like… the OG drarry bonding fic. An absolute classic, for very good reason! Warning for pressure to be intimate because of the bond.

Timeshare by @astolat (14K)- “It’s not for long,” Hermione said. “By the time we get back to Hogwarts, the Unfettering Brew will be ready.”“Listen to you!” Ron said. “He’s got to get through a month with the Dursleys and a month at Malfoy Manor. With Draco Malfoy.”“Yeah, thanks,” Harry said, because he hadn’t just spent the last week contemplating just how much more horrible his summer holidays were about to be than they’d ever been before.My favorite part about this fic is the sweet sweet satisfaction of Draco meeting the Dursleys and being VERY Malfoy about it. But there are also a lot of touching moments of Harry and Draco figuring each other out and learning to respect each other as well.

Dear Uncle Plume by @eidheann (16.5K)- Life after war is nothing like Draco expected. He only hopes he’ll survive it. Especially when his friends are less than sympathetic.OKAY BUT AGONY AUNT DRACO. That’s literally all that needs to be said and if that isn’t enticing to you then who even are you. Also contains great Slytherin friendships, struggling Draco, and secret relationship -> mpreg -> bond -> angst drama

The Sleeping Beauty Curse by who_la_hoop (152.5K)- When Draco Malfoy falls into a cursed sleep and can only be woken – at least, according to the Daily Prophet, that impeccable source of truth – by ‘true love’s kiss’, Harry Potter knows there’s no way on earth he’s the answer to this particular riddle. Is he …?This is a FABULOUS fic, completely hilarious and touching and full of all your favorite tropes, and SO LONG!!! Hours and hours of pure enjoyment :D

The Arrangement by create_serenity (Sivany) (16K)- The arrangement was very simple really, and very convenient. Draco just hadn’t expected it to result in this mess.So veela!Harry and veela!Draco have a deal in which they casually help each other out (with sex, in case that wasn’t obvious) while they search for their true mates, and OF COURSE you know what happens next and honestly what a brilliant idea

Before the World Was Made by daftfear (43K)- Draco has done everything in his power to leave the past behind him. He’s established himself a successful business and built a reputation around the quality of his work and the breadth of his knowledge. But when aurors show up at his shop one afternoon, seeking his expertise on a peculiar item of questionable origins, they completely overthrow the precarious balance in Draco’s life. Trust Potter to bring danger and destruction in his wake, along with a painful reminder of all the things Draco is trying to forget.WHAT BETTER to bond our two boys together than a cursed (wedding!!) ring, right?? Also I love any and all fics with antique shop owner!Draco, and lots of exploration of wizarding history and traditions, and this one does both things so well

Hungry by birdsofshore (24K)- The first thing Harry knew about it was when he woke up lying on a bed in the hospital wing, with his arm firmly stuck to the scrawny, milk-white arm of Draco bloody Malfoy.Another classing must-read bonding fic!!! This time featuring drarry as enemies with their arms literally stuck together in eighth year. AS GOOD AS IT COULD GET. One of my favorite enemies-to-lovers fics AND one of my favorite eighth year fics!

#drarry #bonding fics #forced bonding #drarry fanfic #fic recs #rec list #chibarecs #disclaimer that these are in no particular order #also i have not proofread this post #I'm glad to be posting a rec list again though!!!#please enjoy it :D #my current rate is like... one every 3 months lmao #this is a good one though 16 fab fics!#my problem is that making a list reminds me of all the rereading I need to do #*helpless shrug*#for that reason still no new rec list requests please-- there are more than enough sitting in my inbox

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steve0discusses · 5 years

Text

Yugioh Season Zero: Seto Kaiba's First Kidnapping

It’s Christmas vacation, I have Mannheim Steamroller on repeat, so much chocolate just an arms reach away from me. And I have purposely given myself nothing to do as an attempt to teach myself to do nothing.

So lets watch something weird and revisit Zero.

For those new here, I have been also reviewing most of Season Zero. If you don’t know what that is, you can my recaps in order by clicking this link here.

And like last time, I am not actually affiliated with Team Millennium, and I hope they don’t mind that I am capping their episode. You can find them on Youtube where they are slowly redubbing this season into English, and um--this next episode is the last episode they have! So I don’t know how I’m going to recap the rest?

Probably the same way I did in the first episode where it’s a lot less dialogue and more just...my reaction to it.

And, as always, my disclaimer for the new people that this was made in the 90′s and based off of the OG manga and it is...not the same show. It’s problematic. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s a counter-culture anime from the 90′s. Though this episode is pretty tame, honestly. Weird, but tame.

So, we start off the episode with a very lovingly drawn sky, not sure why it’s on THIS show but it’s here. This post apocalyptic sunset.

And staring directly into this sun going supernova is Seto Kaiba in his green hair, just brooding...

Not sure how he has this view from his Pemberly style mansion, but I dunno, maybe the city is visible from the backyard, or Seto just has really good vision. Either way don’t worry about it, we see Seto vibe out and visualize weird stuff all the time.

So, spurned by his hate for his classmate that beat him in cards once, Seto decides it’s time to enact his revenge by...what sounds a lot like some weird Lord of the Rings Lore and I dunno if it’s a bad translation or I just don’t really know what the hell he’s going off about because I never read the Yugioh version of the Silmarillion. Probably both.

See, while the first couple episodes of this show have different variations on Youtube, this one really only had the Team Millennium version in English (which is fine, there’s just some confusing things) and then the other version I saw skipped half of the episode because I guess they decided this part was boring or something. So forgive the fact that I’m flying on the seat of my pants here and I assume y’all will know all the deets I don’t know. For once, my contribution will be...kind of a lot less words.

So lets get right to it.

(read more under the cut)

Seto, who is in so much denial from Seasons 1-4, that I’ve headcanoned is actually cursed to never admit magic is real, has decided to call upon the (checks notes)

4 Game Masters

Yeah, that’s a new mechanic, these are a thing now. Don’t worry if you never heard of them before, I’ve been capping this show and I also have never heard of the legendary 4 magical Game Masters either.

So at this point these statues start glowing all creepy, and because it’s Yugioh I just kinda assumed...they’d do something.

I’m starting to think that maybe that was supposed to be symbolic, actually. Maybe there was never actually magic in the statues. Maybe it’s part of Seto hallucinating, as always. This whole show kind of runs on being a sort of metal fever dream whenever people get intense about games, so I’m probably not supposed to align it with any established magic laws anyway. It’s just I never know when things are real or just aesthetics, which I enjoy, quite a bit, that it’s open ended--but still it’s somewhat confusing as to if these gargoyles are...a thing now or were just always set dressing to kind of remind us of the cards that come later in the episode.

But, remember the spooky indoor gargoyles in your mind, keep it there, these menacing gargoyles over a fiery sunset...

OK now lets meet the real villain.

There he is. Our villain. And his name? Ripley Sheldon.

MAN to go from spooky gargoyles to Ripley Sheldon. There’s a name. That’s a name all right. I’ve only seen one episode of Big Bang Theory but Sheldon is a name forever ruined for me.

So--sidestory--this one time, my friend was at a wedding in Santa Cruz, which is a pretty beachy hippie town that always smelled like weed before it was legal, and there was just...a doll at the wedding. My friend was seated at a dinner party table just right next to this doll, and the family was like “Ah yes, this is the doll, you have to speak to her. She’s a member of the family.” and my friend had to suffer roleplaying with this doll for hours.

So before you’re like...there’s no way grown ass adults are this weird with dolls in public.

Yes. It happens.

Ah, and it’s the first instances of the Kaiba Corp logo and it’s the same. Complete with helicopter, because that Logo is never done until it’s surrounded by a fast military vehicle of some sort.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh great.

Yo remember that one episode where Yugi almost got his legs chopped off by Arcana and Arcana’s wife was being held behind a curtain, and at the end of the episode Arcana pulls back the curtain and his wife was a manikin the whole time and her head fell off?

Getting those vibes.

Back at school, Miho is busy being the most manipulative human being, this time with losing at cards. Like y’all I am TRYING to give Miho the benefit of a doubt here, but it seems even the translators hated Miho so much they had her refer to herself in the 3rd person. I am trying, really I am, sorry to everyone who loves Miho, I will leave that door open as I watch these--that maybe Miho will...grow on me.

But not this episode.

And then this happened. I guess from the breeze of Honda leaning over too far.

Believe it or not, Yuugi’s vertigo will come back later in this very episode. This whole bizarre scenario was just foreshadowing.

But for reals, Yuugi is so FRAIL in Season Zero. While I appreciate the contrast between Yuugi and Yami Yuugi, I gotta recognize how much Yugi has evolved over 4+ seasons because Yuugi is just...eggshells. Every part of him is polite little eggshells.

But in contrast, you have Anzu who is ready to fight in every single scene she’s in and I’m OK with that.

That and the very clear romantic direction that is just...simple. It’s very simple in Season Zero. That’s nice.

Anzu isn’t even possessed by two ghosts. In fact, between Anzu and Yuugi right now, there are 0 ghosts. So weird. So kosher.

Speaking of weird,

Y’all, I have no explanation for this. I only know so much Kanji.

The translation I watched tried so very hard to do what they could with this, and kudos to them, but...this is what happens with translation, it’s just a very hard job sometimes. So I get how they decided to form this joke into English, but if anyone is like a Japanese speaker and gets the pun that was clearly happening here, feel free to youknow, share the knowledge.

Unfortunately the undubbed episode that exists on Youtube that I found edited out this part so they didn’t have to try and translate it, lol. Either way, I appreciate Orange Jounouchi a lot, as well as the background squids on Squid Jounouchi.

Can you imagine just being in high school, and you get summoned to the Nurses Office? Can you even imagine what rumors would start from that? Like I know Seto wants revenge against Yuugi through cards, but I think he just did. I think he did like maybe one of the worst things you can do to a High Schooler just now. May as well page over the intercom that Yuugi has to pick up his yeast infection ointment.

And this is where we meet...a ridiculous satire. This 30 year old beautiful woman flirting with a child disaster who cannot balance while seated on a low chair.

And predictably, Yuugi lost because things just got THAT weird and awkward. Dunno if the translators put that in there for fun, or if that’s honestly how it was in the original. My bet it was probably exactly that weird in the original. Mostly because this show has a lot of “stranger danger” set ups to teach little children to never trust bad adults and this just seemed like exactly that type of set-up. Don’t trust the overly nice nurse or she’ll steal your cards in a game, kids.

After this really awkward card game (and I’m not going to bother to dive into it because I don’t talk about the card mechanics here), we find out...that Seto’s just been staring at them...the entire time.

Like it has such a voyeuristic vibe to it, it really makes you wonder about Seto’s whole deal just an awful lot. Like Season 1-4 doesn’t really ship Yugi/Kaiba, in my opinion (and just my opinion, I know how y’all feel about the ship and that is a-ok, all ships are welcome here)...but Season Zero ships A LOT. It’s not a serious ship by any means, it’s clearly a crack ship, but they...very clearly know what they’re doing with Seto being this obsessed with Yuugi in this way, omg. It just sounds like a kink to me.

So, ways to beat Yuugi Muto:

steal his stuff halfway through the game, try to kill yourself, rock paper scissors, try to kill Joey Wheeler, or dress up a sex doll like a nurse and have a gross old man have it play cards while he makes a sexy lady voiceover.

(Y’all I’ve been to my share of arcades in my life and I think I’ve only seen like 6 pinball tables total. Do good arcades only exist on TV? I think it’s all a lie.)

Then, because I guess this episode wasn’t going anywhere, Yuugi goes to the arcade to play some video games. The video game is unimportant, and it’s never been brought up before, but he’s dead set on finding it. Because unlike Yugi, Yuugi just doesn’t really have a goal in this series so he just kind of flutters around until someone tells him what to do.

TBH that’s a pretty 90′s thing for a show or a movie to do. To have characters just exist and have things happen to them, but in all, they’re just...wandering. So it’s not so much a knock on the show, it’s just that sometimes it’s a little of a transition to go from a goal being something physical, like finding the lost city of Atlantis before every human’s soul is absorbed into the great Leviathan, to the goal being more of a mental acceptance--Yuugi just learning to accept this curse he doesn’t even know he has yet, and trying to find acceptance in his group of friends.

With Yuugi, we’re kind of just watching his daily life, which is mostly watching him try and sneak games into every spare moment that his local adult has turned around. It has a very slice of life feel to it, but minus the near constant innuendo slice of life tends to have (at least the ones that have been recommended to me)

Now, because this is a show about people getting a real EXTREME comeuppance every time they break the law, what will happen to Yuugi for ignoring his Grandpa’s wishes and going to the arcade before going home?

First, we meet this mushroom haired person.

That’s right kids, NEVER stop by the arcade on the way home from school--1.) The local arcades are almost always 90% boring racing games and busted shooters that came out on the Nintendo 64 when I was a child and 2.) You will get abducted.

And then we get this face swap.

Kaiba just really loves dress-up. No wonder he was hanging out with a guy super into dolls. And like, I went into before how Seto Kaiba is always doused in facsimile energy. He loves faking it up, and apparently that’s been true since Zero.

He introduces that he will have four challenges from four Game Masters and uh so welcome to the...I don’t where this is, but a weird place full of dolls that must exist somewhere in Domino.

I guess this is to make it seem like they have an audience to watch Yuugi fail but even still...what?

So we get kind of a mirror to the scene at the beginning with Miho crying and Honda telling Yuugi to apologize for beating her, except replace Miho with Seto and Honda with this guy who really likes dolls (and Miho is a lot like a cursed doll). Like, if there were a theme to this episode it’s “grow up and stop apologizing when you beat someone in a card game” which isn’t a terrible theme, especially in this show that is about Yuugi learning how to adult.

In fact the “grow the hell up” theme is so strong we have a villain who is just...a big baby who carries dolls around. Kinda makes you wonder if the show would have eventually had Yuugi just...grow out of toys and games completely for the finale. Like in the Yugioh we have now, he can’t, because first off they licensed a hell ton of toys, but also because Yugi does games for his actual job. Even if Pharaoh was gone, Yugi still has to play games all the time. In this case, he could just...be using the games to learn how to do adult things, which is actually why we give kids games in the first place.

But, speculation aside, it’s at this point that a card play knocks Yuugi off of his chair and he passes out. Despite the fact that this isn’t a Shadow game and there...shouldn’t be any magic present. In fact, I don’t think any part of this game in this episode required opening the door of darkness. When he switches to Yami shortly after falling off of his own chair he’s like...yeah this is fine. Seems all above board. No need to kill anybody

And then apparently there’s a type of Dual Monster’s card I was unaware of.

A doll-type.

So I looked it up, is there a doll type card in Yugioh?

And it seems like there’s a lot of dolls, but not like...a type, as far as I can tell. Again, I don’t play this game, I’m only here for the plot and this one just seemed like they really had to reach for Yuugi to have just the right type of card to play.

And again, because this wasn’t a Shadow Duel, our loser just kind of walks away...all the way back to Britain, I guess.

And Seto just stands there behind a window in a rainstorm to allude to his many unshed salty tears, and it cuts to Miho who I guess has learned not to cry when she loses to Yuugi now.

And then she pulls out an absolutely winning tactic. This would win, actually. It’s actually genius.

And that is a very strong

From me. Wow. No thanks. I actually don’t want to see Yuugi do a kissy face ever again, thank you.

Half of you loved that though. This is fine. We’re all different.

Anyway, I assume the game was never played, or Miho won and the show just decided not to show it. If Season Zero Yuugi is a Yuugi that makes out then...that is...shocking. Then again, we’re only like...a third of the way through? I think?

Anyway, it’s...after Christmas because I went out of town for a spell, but I’ll just...post this now. Last post before the new year.

I’ll see y’all in 2020!

#ygo #yugioh #season zero #yuugi muto #anzu #jounoushi #seto kaiba #honda #dolls?#Like lots of creepy dolls?#ripley sheldon #miho #photo recaps #episode recap

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vexedtonightmares · 5 years

Text

- mystery of love: chapter one -

skam nl season three week one: you’re new right?

*a few brief notes before we continue: new chapters will be posted every friday. original characters are faceclaims, i wanted the work to be as visually cinematic as possible which is also why i’ve also incorporated songs into the ‘clips’ as a reference to where they would be played in the show. tws will be given when necessary at the beginning of chapters. this will not follow the exact season 3 storyline laid out in og like any other remake, i hope you like the changes. there’s a good possibility no one will read this, but if you do you’re awesome and thank you for feeding my wish fulfillment.*

ao3 link here

ZATERDAG 23:56 - Do you want to get out of here?

- now playing: super rich kids by frank ocean -

The party was raging all around, but Lucas couldn’t really be bothered to be a part of it. All he had to do was get these beers back to his friends, then they could lock themselves in the bathroom and get high and forget any and all troubles lingering in the corners of his mind.

He cast his eyes around the room, not looking for anyone in particular, but catching sight of people he knew regardless. Isa was dancing in the middle of the room with Janna, and he couldn’t help but smile at their ridiculous dance moves. Things hadn’t quite been the same between them since everything that happened with Kes, but it was a new school year, maybe they could work things out for real.

Liv was talking to Engel near the corner of the room, and Lucas briefly wondered where Noah was. Last he’d heard Noah decided not to move to Berlin and was attending a university nearby, which pleased both him and Liv. Lucas didn’t know Noah or Liv very well, but he’d always liked Liv, and if she was happy with Noah and he was happy with her, he supposed that was all anyone could hope for.

There was a girl standing right by Engel and Liv trying to catch his eye and Lucas ducked away before they could make eye contact, praying she wouldn’t try to follow him. He just didn’t have the energy for that at the moment, didn’t have the energy to pretend.

Finally, he made it to the bathroom, slipping inside stealthily and shutting the door with extreme caution, so as to not alert the girl from the other room if she had followed. Kes grinned up at him in a way that, a few months ago would have had his heart beating rapidly, and Lucas handed him a beer. If his heart still beat a bit rapidly when their hands brushed, he ignored it.

Jayden was there in the bathroom as well, along with another boy Lucas didn’t know very well but Jayden had been hanging out with since the start of the year. Sander, was his name. He seemed nice enough, and he brought weed, so he was good in Lucas’ book.

“Dude what took so long,” Kes asked after Lucas distributed the beers and joined the three of them in the bathtub. He shrugged, shaking his hair from his eyes. It was getting quite long now, longer than he’d had it since he was a kid, but he found he didn’t mind it. Kes, thankfully was growing used to short and nonverbal responses as of late, so he just scooted over to allow Lucas more room and passed him the joint they’d been sharing.

Lucas took a long drag, staring up at the ceiling as he exhaled, smoke drifting up higher and higher until it spread out and disappeared completely. There was a metaphor in there somewhere, he was sure of it, but then again he’d never been the best at identifying metaphors. That was why his focus was in science, not literature. He liked the idea of literature, but there was so much analysis it zapped the enjoyment out of it.

“Easy there, I barely know you, who says you get to hog all the weed?” Sander snapped, reaching over to pluck the joint from between his fingers. Lucas blushed a bright shade of red and dipped his head down, shaking his curls back in front of his face.

“Sorry,” he said. He wasn’t sorry, because there wasn’t really anything real to be sorry for, but apologizing just made him feel better about most things.

Sander raised his eyebrows and grinned. “So you do speak?”

Lucas looked up at him with narrowed eyes. “What?”

“Those are the first words I’ve heard you say all night. One might think you’re not having any fun.” Sander smiled at him with a grin to wide for his face so it was hard to tell if he was teasing in a good natured way or not.

He was right, though. Lucas really wasn’t having any fun, but he knew better than to say so. He simply shrugged again and quipped, “Maybe I haven’t had anything to say because you haven’t said anything worth responding to.”

Kes choked on his beer, covering his mouth to hide a laugh, and Lucas relaxed. Sander’s grin grew even wider. “Remind me why we haven’t hung out much until now?”

The teasing had been good natured, then. Noted. “I had no idea who you were until a month ago,” Lucas said, and Sander nodded.

“Right back at you.” He passed the joint back, ignoring Kes and Jayden’s indignant scoffs as he reached over them. “Well here’s to friendships formed in ex-girlfriend’s bathtubs.”

Lucas tried not to shift uncomfortably when reminded that they were in Isa’s house, and Kes didn’t react at all, so maybe they were in the clear. It was a good sign that they were even there, at Isa’s house, and that Kes and Isa weren’t trying to make each other jealous all night. Lucas doubted Isa would have stooped to that level, but he knew Kes had been searching for something to fill the Isa shaped void in his heart for a while there. Maybe he’d realized he didn’t need to focus so hard on filling it.

The door opened with a bang and all four boys looked up at once, Lucas passing the joint over to Kes hurriedly. Kes looked at him amusedly and he rolled his eyes, looking back at the intruder. Shit, it was the girl from upstairs. Maybe she wouldn’t recognize him? But no, of course he couldn’t be so lucky, he saw the light in her eyes when they met his.

“Sorry, I didn’t know this bathroom was occupied,” the girl said with a blush, tucking her hair behind her ear. She was pretty, really pretty, and Lucas wished more than anything that he was interested in her the same way she clearly was into him, if her red faced glances his way were any indication.

“No problem,” Sander said with another grin. Lucas wondered if it was a front or if he really was carefree enough he smiled that easily. He held out the joint to her. “Do you want a hit?”

She ducked her head. “I’ve never— I’m not sure I’d do it right.”

“Lucas can show you,” Jayden chimed in, and Lucas had to resist the urge to glare at him. From Jayden’s perspective, he should be celebrating having this girl’s attention.

“I hope you’re Lucas,” she said, looking him in the eye. Beside him, Kes let out a low whistle, jostling Lucas to get out of the bathtub. He did so, and in doing so, he forced himself to become the other version of himself, the one that loved this attention and was grateful to have a beautiful girl looking at him like that.

He smiled at her, hoping it didn’t look forced. “I hope you’re not disappointed,” he countered, hating himself for it.

She dropped her eyes but grinned nonetheless. “You look like Troye Sivan,” she said.

Normally, he would have taken that as a compliment, but he really couldn’t do so here without admitting he knew who Troye Sivan was, so instead he stayed silent and held out his hand for the joint and raised it to his lips once Kes passed it to him, taking a slow drag and maybe showing off a little bit. If he was going to perform, may as well go all in.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said, “If I teach you, you tell me your name so I can know you a little better.”

“I’d give you that without the lesson.” Her voice was breathy and light, and he felt sick.

“Well I need some incentive, don’t I?” he teased. Maybe she would get bored of this banter and he would be in the clear.

Instead, she raised one of her eyebrows. “Why don’t you teach me and then we’ll see about that incentive?”

He smiled again at her, taking the joint back from where he’d tucked it behind his ear. The whole time he taught her how to smoke it, all he could think was that he hoped the boys were convinced. None of them had said a word and he was too anxious to look at them on the off chance they knew he was faking everything.

Unfortunately, he was a good teacher, and the girl smoked the joint in a way that told Lucas she’d only been pretending it was her first time. He couldn’t really blame her, he’d done a great many things to catch Kes’ attention in the past, many of which he wasn’t very proud of. He could tell she’d been hoping he’d shotgun with her, but he needed to get way more drunk before he decided to do that.

“My name’s Sofie,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes at him. Or maybe she was just blinking, he really didn’t know.

“Lucas,” he said, holding out his hand, even though she already knew that.

She clasped his hand lightly, pulling him closer. “Well, Lucas, how about that incentive?”

For the record, he knew what the “incentive” was before she even leaned in. But whatever, she was pretty, she seemed nice, and all of his friends were staring right at him. What was he supposed to do? Say “No thanks, actually, I think I’m into guys”? Yeah, right.

It wasn’t a bad kiss, as far as kisses went. He put his hands on her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck, because girls liked that or whatever. He felt a pat on the back and broke away a moment to see Sander, Jayden, and Kes leaving the bathroom. Sander plucked the joint from behind Lucas’ ear and saluted him, Jayden whistling as he passed by.

As soon as they were gone and Lucas was alone with Sofie, he dropped his performance for the most part. He was sure she could sense a shift, because she frowned almost immediately. “What’s wrong?”

He forced another smile and shook his head, trying to clear his mind. “Nothing, nothing,” he assured her, even though the true answer was more like everything, everything.

That seemed to satisfy her, though, because she leaned back in and he obliged her, kissing her the way he wanted to be kissed by someone he actually liked. There were no fireworks, no spark, but he’d long given up on finding that with anybody. If he had to coast through life like this, so be it, it was what he deserved for the shit he’d done, particularly to Isa and Kes.

“Do you want to get out of here?” she asked breathlessly, bright blue eyes shining even in the dim light of the bathroom.

“Um, sure,” he responded, completely unenthusiastically, but she didn’t seem to care. Hopefully there would be some sort of distraction upstairs that could come between the two of them.

He held her hand lazily, guiding her out of the bathroom and back upstairs where the party was still in full swing. He nearly ran directly into Engel, who had a concerned look on her face.

“Lucas! Have you seen Isa?” she asked hurriedly, looking over his head as she spoke.

Sofie gripped his hand tighter and he almost laughed. Yeah, she should definitely have been worried about Engel stealing him away. “Isa? No, not for a while…” he answered, realizing she’d asked a question. “Why?”

Engel bit her lip and looked back towards the door. “The police are here, there was a noise complaint or something.”

He had hoped for a distraction, and this would have to do.

“Shit,” he said, more worriedly than necessary. He dropped Sofie’s hand. “I’ll go ask Kes if he’s seen her.” He was going to do nothing of the sort, but neither Sofie nor Engel needed to know that.

“Thank you so much, I don’t want to talk to them because I’m a little tipsy and…” Engel was still talking, but Lucas stopped paying attention. While Sofie’s attention was on Engel, trying to console her, Lucas slipped away, maneuvering around the house and all the people in it until he made his way to Isa’s bedroom, thankfully vacant, and slipped out through her window.

He honestly couldn’t believe that had worked as well as it had.

“Excuse me?” a voice said behind him.

Or maybe not.

He turned slowly, trying to look like he was definitely not a little bit drunk and high. It was probably a failed attempt, but at least he tried.

“How old are you?” the officer asked, looking him up and down.

“Seventeen,” he answered automatically, because it wasn’t a crime to have a drink at that age. The weed was another issue, and he prayed she didn’t smell it on him.

She narrowed her eyes, as he’d expected. “If you’re seventeen why did you sneak out the window instead of the front door like everyone else?”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sneaking, it was just less crowded, and I was already in the room with the window.”

“Mhmm,” she hummed, clearly unconvinced, “And what’s your name?”

“Ralph,” he said, the first name that came to his head, “Ralph Hansen.”

“Ralph Hansen,” she repeated, and he nodded. She looked him up and down again. “Wait here.”

As she turned to walk away, Lucas weighed his options. One, he could try to run for it, though he didn’t know how far he’d get. Two, he could wait there for her, which was probably the stupidest option. Three, he could—

Lucas gasped for breath as the wind was nearly knocked out of him and he suddenly realized he’d been picked up like a rag doll and thrown over someone’s shoulder, someone who was running. He lifted his head and saw Kes and Jayden running and laughing to his right, so he could only assume Sander had picked him up.

He coughed, trying to regain his breath. “Sander? You can let me down.”

“You’re oddly light,” was all Sander said in response, keeping him slung over his shoulder. It was only when they were far enough away that none of the police would look for them that Sander finally let him down.

“Thanks,” he said, out of breath even though he hadn’t been the one running. “I owe you one.”

“I’ll take payment in the form of Shakespearean sonnets,” Sander said.

“Um, ok,” Lucas agreed, because what else could he say?

“Try saying that ten times fast,” Jayden was saying to Kes, doubled over to catch his breath, “Shakespearean sonnets, Shakespearean sonnets, shapekeriskan smomnets, shakira in a prom dress, asthma and a rhombus…”

Kes started laughing again, which made Lucas laugh, and suddenly all four of them were clutching their lungs, laughing so hard tears fell from their eyes. Maybe the night hadn’t gone exactly how he’d hoped, but at least it ended with him laughing with his best friends, not in the arms of some girl he could never love the way she probably deserved.

Kes threw his arm around Lucas’ shoulders and the four of them started to stumble their way to the bus stop, moon guiding them overhead. It had been quite the night.

- now playing: 8teen by khalid -

ZONDAG 10:22 - You got home late last night.

There was no hangover when Lucas awoke, which was always a good sign. He hadn’t drank that much the night before, but he never knew when a decent sized hangover would strike. There wasn’t much reason for him to get out of bed, so he stayed there, light falling in waves across his face from the half closed curtains over his bedroom window.

It was moments like this, in complete solitude, with the sunshine streaming in and the bare white walls of his room fresh and clean, that he didn’t mind being in his home. Most times, though, he hated it here, wished he was anywhere else. Guilt roiled around in his stomach every time he had that thought, but he couldn’t deny it was true.

Maybe if his dad wasn’t the way he was and his mom wasn’t as absent as she was, things would be different. But they weren’t, so he suffered in silence.

Sometimes it hurt, physically, to know that his mom was hurting so deeply inside and he couldn’t do anything about it. She was bipolar, but she didn’t have episodes very often anymore and when they did come he knew what to do, so that wasn’t even an issue really, there was more to her absence than that. It was like she stopped wanting to care, or try, but it wasn’t a depressive episode. There came a point earlier that year when she stopped greeting him after school, then stopped talking to him altogether. At first he’d been petrified he’d done something wrong, or that she found out the secret he was hiding, but later he started to think maybe his dad had something to do with it.

He’d left the two of them during Lucas’ mother’s last manic episode, but he still came around often enough to leave an air of tension over their household at all times. He’d never known how to respond to Lucas’ mother’s episodes, and he wasn’t the most tolerant person in the world, so Lucas wondered if maybe his mother had just heard how useless she was so many times that she’d started to believe it. He himself had heard all sorts of things from his father over the years, but now he was better at blocking them out.

He opened his phone to find a bunch of messages from his group chat with the boys and rubbed his eyes as he started to read them.

Kes: sander, you still have the weed right?

Sander: yeah, why?

Kes: cops found some at isa’s and she thinks it’s mine x_x

Jayden: lmaoo bro

Sander: yikes, well you can tell her it’s not ours for sure

Kes: sweet thanks

Jayden: why isn’t luc responding? luuuuuuuc

Kes: he’s probably still asleep

Sander: it’s half past ten?

Kes: not all of us wake up at 5 am for no reason

Sander: i detect shade

Kes: you would be: correct

Sander: 🖕🏾🖕🏾

Kes: :)

Jayden: shut up guys i wanna know about lucas and the girl he pulled last night 👀

Sander: he didn’t pull a girl, we pulled him away from the cops

Jayden: you know what i mean

Jayden: are you still talking to her luc?

Lucas didn’t know why he’d expected anything different. He hadn’t been talking to Sofie, but, as he exited out of his texts and moved to Instagram, he did see he had a new dm request. The username was sof_heide, which could really only be one person, but he played dumb and clicked on the user’s profile just to be sure

He groaned, he would deal with her later, but if he put off dealing with his friends, they would just get more persistent.

Lucas: morning

Jayden: there he is!

Kes: details…?

Sander: ^^

Lucas: there’s not much to tell. after you guys left we made out a little bit more and we were gonna go bad to her place, but then the cops showed up and we got separated

Kes: sorry dude :/

Lucas: it’s not a big deal, she’s not the only girl in the world

Kes: too true ;)))

Lucas: anyway, i gotta go, my mom needs me. see you losers at school tomorrow

Kes: 😘😘

Jayden: i miss you already 😪

Sander: you guys are so weird

Sander: but i’ll miss you too 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Lucas rolled his eyes and shut off his phone, tossing it onto the opposite side of his bed. Some day. Some day he wouldn’t continually lie to his friends about his life. Today was not that day, but he promised himself it would be soon.

- now playing: idle town by conan gray -

By the time Lucas made his way into his kitchen for breakfast, his mom was already sitting there, staring out the window with a cup of coffee in her hand. He poured himself some cereal and sat across from her, shooting her a small smile that she didn’t return.

“Morning,” he said.

She looked at him, finally. “You got home late last night.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, ducking his head.

“I’m not mad, I was just stating a fact.”

“Ok.” He didn’t know what else to say. That’s how it always was these days. His mom didn’t seem to want to be his mom anymore, she just existed to acknowledge his existence every once and awhile, make vague comments, and drink her coffee. He knew it wasn’t her disorder talking either, because he’d lived with her almost eighteen years and knew more about her than he knew about anyone else. This detachment, it was new to them both.

“I saved the new season of Stranger Things,” he said, even though he’d watched it already with Kes ages ago. “We could have a lazy day and watch it together?”

His mother looked him up and down. “Don’t you have homework?”

“It’s the beginning of the year, I don’t have much yet,” Lucas explained. He’d already finished most of it anyway, schoolwork came easily to him.

She hummed, looking towards the window once again. Lucas followed her gaze, resting on a bird eating out of one of the bird feeders out in their yard. “I have some things to do. You can go ahead and watch by yourself.”

“Ok,” he said softly, turning his attention back to his cereal. It tasted stale and dry, which was fitting. His whole life was stale and dry, and even though he was aware of this, everyday he hoped for something different. It hadn’t happened yet, but he didn’t know when was appropriate to give up hope. Maybe he should have already.

He and his mother sat the rest of the time he ate in silence, and she didn’t look back at him once, even though he watched her nearly the entire time. Sometimes he wished he could be like Liv or Jayden and just live with a couple roommates instead of dealing with everything going on at home. But he would miss his mother too much, even if she was pretty mentally and emotionally absent as of late.

There was really no winning, but when had Lucas ever won a decent hand at anything in life.

MAANDAG 13:17 - Here’s to the culture club!

- now playing: wild by troye sivan -

Lucas was eating his lunch, ignoring his friends, which was pretty common as of late. He didn’t want to talk about girls, and he definitely didn’t want to talk about Sofie, so it was better if he just pretended to listen to the point that the three others forgot he was even there.

He let his gaze wander around the room and at snagged on a boy standing at the other end of the room talking to someone. Lucas had never seen him before, was he new? He was… Lucas didn’t have a word other than beautiful. He didn’t look like the kind of person who belonged in high school, he looked like the type of person who belonged on magazine covers and film screens. Lucas found himself smiling as the boy smiled at whoever he was talking to, and wishing he could have been the one to make him smile.

“Hello!”

Lucas was jolted out of his daze by Engel standing in front of their table. He saw Kes and Jayden exchange glances, while Sander grinned up at her. “Hello!” he said, with the same amount of enthusiasm.

Engel smiled wider. “How are you guys? Good Monday?”

“As good as Mondays can get,” Kes offered, looking around her. Lucas was sure he was looking for Isa, not that he’d ever admit it.

“I have a proposition,” Engel said, still smiling softly in a way that seemed to come naturally to her. Lucas actually liked Engel and the other girls a lot, but he knew that his friends thought Engel could be a bit much sometimes.

“We’re listening,” Jayden said seriously, and Sander shoved him in the side.

Engel continued, unperturbed. “We— and by we I mean me, Isa, Liv, and Janna— are starting a culture club! Our experiences in Tallinn were so enriching, and we wanted to create an opportunity for others to experience something like that, so we created the culture club! We’ll do fundraisers throughout the year, and at the end of the year the whole club will go on a trip to the culturally enriching destination of our choosing!”

As far as clubs and ideas went, this wasn’t the worst one he’d ever heard. Honestly, even if it was, Engel probably already knew they would all say yes to her anyway. If they’d been at her sad excuse for a Tallinn fundraiser, they would be there for this too. Plus, getting a vacation out of it was an upside.

She looked at them eagerly, awaiting their reactions, not even noticing when Isa, Liv, and Janna joined her. Isa was glaring at Kes, which probably meant that she didn’t believe him when he said the weed the cops found wasn’t his.

“We’ll be there,” Kes said, looking pointedly away from Isa.

Engel smiled wider, looking at her friends smugly. “Awesome!”

“It starts at 18h. Please try not to be late,” Liv added, looking at Jayden specifically.

“Anything for you Livvie,” he teased, blowing her a kiss. Liv flipped him off as Isa laughed beside her, placing her head on Liv’s shoulder. Sometimes Lucas wished he was Liv and Ralph’s roommate instead of Jayden. Ok, a lot of times.

“18h,” Isa reminded them, pointing at each of them in turn, “If you’re late we’ll…” She paused, trying to think of some punishment.

“We’ll guillotine you,” Janna offered.

“We’ll guillotine you!” Isa finished, then looked up at Janna in shock. “Wait, no, what the fuck? Where did that come from?”

Janna wiggled her eyebrows and the two of them busted out laughing. Engel looked like she both wanted to smack the two of them and join their laughter.

“Seeing as I’m in the business of avoiding the guillotine, I promise I’ll be there on time,” Sander said, grinning at Isa brightly. Lucas glanced over at Kes to see how he was reacting, but he wasn’t paying attention to Sander. Lucas prayed to god Sander didn’t have a thing for Isa, because he really couldn’t deal with any more Isa and Kes and other people's drama. He had enough to deal with already.

“Thank you,” Isa said, giving him a nod.

“I’ll be there on time as well,” Lucas felt the need to add, realizing just then that they were the first words he’d said the entire time they’d been at lunch. No one else seemed to notice though, thankfully.

“If Luc’s there, I’m there,” Kes said with a grin, fist bumping Lucas over Sander’s head.

“If all my friends are there, I’m there,” Jayden joked, earning him not a fist bump, but a light shove.

“Will there be snacks?” Sander called out, but the girls were already walking away, moving onto the next group of people they could invite to join their club. Lucas tried to look for the boy he’d seen earlier, but he was gone. Maybe he’d never been there at all and Lucas’ brain had just been so bored it had conjured up the most beautiful boy he’d ever seen.

Whatever the case, Lucas tried to tune back into the conversation, pasting a smile on his face and pretending that his mind wasn’t elsewhere.

“Here’s to the culture club!” he heard one of them exclaim, and sighed. Vive la culture club and all that!

WOENSDAG 9:39 - I think the word you’re looking for is egotistical.

He’d really hoped that this year he’d get a biology teacher who knew what a bra was. The last time he’d pointed this out to Kes, Kes had just said that ‘wasn’t very women’s rights of him’, so he hadn’t said anything since. Not that he didn’t support women’s rights, obviously he did, but he didn’t really want to see his fifty something year old teacher’s nipples during science class.

Physics was one of his favorite classes regardless, he’d always much preferred science to literature or history. Most everything in science was absolute, and he appreciated that. Even if things weren’t absolute, there was always a theory to test, an experiment to try. There were answers, more often than not, answers that didn’t lie in symbolism and bullshit.

What was a better way to distract from personal things he couldn’t control than to focus on the things he could? He could get good grades if he studied and worked hard enough and he could have fun nights out with friends if he didn’t overthink every invitation. When everything felt out of control he liked to think about the future, about all the things he’d do when he wasn’t the mess of a seventeen year old boy.

Like being out and proud, going on dates with boys or hooking up with a person he was actually attracted to, not one he thought would impress his friends. He’d tried to hook up with a few guys in secret through Grindr, but he’d always been scared to go all the way with people he knew didn’t actually care about him in the way he craved. Late at night he’d let himself fantasize about finding a boy he liked, who actually liked him back. It went without saying that those fantasies stayed fantasies.

He was so zoned out staring that he didn’t register when Isa sat beside him until she cleared her throat.

“Hi?” He hated himself for being so awkward around her, especially when she’d gone out of her way to make sure he knew she forgave him.

“Hello,” she said, adding nothing else.

He looked around the room. “Not that I’m mad you’re sitting by me or anything, but why?”

She usually sat with Janna at the front of the class, and he usually sat with Jayden. Jayden was a terrible lab partner, but at least he didn’t have to be partnered with someone random.

“Kes told you about the weed?” she asked without further preamble. Ah, so that’s what this was about.

“Ies, I swear it wasn’t us—” he began, but she cut him off.

“That’s what Kes said too.”

He sighed. “Well then you should believe us. You can ask Jayden and Sander too.”

She considered him carefully, narrowing her eyes. “I believe you,” she decided.

“Thank you. Then…?” He gestured, wondering what else she needed.

“I need you guys to actually show up to Engel’s meeting.”

Lucas smirked at her. “I thought the four of you came up with the idea together?”

Isa laughed, leaning back in her chair. “Please. You know very well that Janna and I were hungover, Liv was distracted by Noah, and we all agreed because none of us were really listening. That doesn’t mean we don’t care or anything though.”

“Of course not,” he agreed, raising one eyebrow, and she shoved his shoulder.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” They smiled at each other and it was like everything was back to how it was a year ago. Lucas really had missed hanging out just the two of them.

“Perfect!” their teacher said, and both of them shot their heads to where she stood in front of them. “Lucas, Isa, you can be partners then.”

Isa looked like she was about to argue, then glanced at where Janna and Jayden were bent over in hysterics over god knew what. “Ok,” she said, which surprised Lucas to the point that he didn’t argue either.

When the teacher handed out their worksheets, Isa just shrugged and nodded to their friends. “I figure with you I’ll actually get some work done.”

“You figure correctly,” Lucas confirmed, pulling his worksheet within readable distance. “Oh, this is easy, it’s just on Newton’s laws of motion.”

“Right…” Isa trailed off, looking at her worksheet like it was a foreign language. Lucas grinned and folded his arms on top of the table.

“I forgot how shitty at science you are.”

She glared at him. “Shut up! There’s got to be a subject you’re not great at.”

“Nope, I’m perfect.”

“Now that’s definitely not true. Maybe you need to brush up on your vocabulary, I think the word you’re looking for is egotistical,” she countered, placing her head in one hand and grinning sarcastically at him.

“You’re a menace, Keijser,” he said, mostly because he meant it. She was a menace, but one he would happily endure.

She scoffed, then looked at him pointedly. “Right back at you, VDH.”

“VDH?” he raised his eyebrows.

“Van der Heijden takes so much effort,” she complained.

Now it was his turn to scoff at her. “It’s a pretty standard surname.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not way too much effort to say out loud.”

He stuck his tongue out at her, and she returned the gesture. They were children, is what they were, but they were still doing better than Jayden and Janna, from the looks of it. Those two were an unlikely pairing, but one that made sense at the same time. The things they’d get up to if they became friends… Lucas didn’t even want to know.

He turned his attention back to Isa. “I fear we’ve created a monster.”

She tore her gaze from their friends and nodded soberly. “I was thinking the same thing.”

A small grin, the quirk of a lip, and then they were laughing like they used to before it all went to hell. Maybe hell was relative, after all. Lucas hoped so.

- now playing: maybe by half alive -

VRIJDAG 18:00 - You’re new, right?

- now playing: true affection by the blow -

The music was turned up loud enough in Lucas’ headphones that he could ignore everything else going on around him, just the way he liked it. He was wondering what the odds were that he was the only one of his friends to show up, but then he figured Kes would probably be there no matter what. Jayden probably would be too, now that him and Janna were best friends or whatever. Isa and Lucas had been very thrown off by this development, even though they were technically responsible for it.

Lucas walked into the room at on the dot, surprised to see Jayden, Sander, and Kes already seated. He was usually the earliest of them all. At least he wasn’t late, it seemed no one had come yet except for the girls and the boys. Isa gave Lucas a wide grin and a thumbs up when he walked in, and he smiled in return, taking a seat beside Kes.

“Why was Isa so happy to see you? I just got a nod,” Kes complained, leaning back in his chair.

Lucas shrugged. “I let her copy my physics worksheet earlier this week.”

“Ah, that’ll do it,” Kes agreed, interrupted by the arrival of a few others. Lucas watched them all walk in and silently swore to himself when he saw Sofie accompanied by a few friends. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and she beelined towards the four of them.

“Hey, Lucas,” she said, smiling shyly.

He forced a smile of his own. “Hi.”

“Did you, um, see my message?” she asked, biting her lip. Her friends giggled around her and Lucas died a few times internally.

He decided to play dumb, so thankful he hadn’t accepted or acknowledged her message request. “Um, no?” he furrowed his brows for believability’s sake.

“On Instagram?” she clarified, smile dimming.

He shrugged apologetically, sensing his friends eyes on him and knowing exactly what they were thinking. “I’ll check later, my phone’s dead right now,” he promised, and her smile sprang back into place.

“Great,” she said, “Um, I’ll leave you guys be now, then. Talk to you later.”

As she walked away Lucas finally relented and looked at his flabbergasted friends.

“Dude!” Sander said, blinking in disbelief. “A girl that hot messages you and you don’t ‘see’ it?”

“I didn’t see it!”

Sander rolled his eyes, clearly not believing him. “I don’t get you, man. You nearly go all the way with her the other night and then pretend like you don’t know her a week later? Don’t string her along if you’re not interested, but if you are, go for it.”

“This is literally the second time I’ve talked to her! I’m not stringing her along, I barely even know her,” Lucas argued, voice a hushed but somewhat irritated whisper.

“I’m just saying.” Sander looked at him pointedly, and Lucas rolled his eyes, facing the front of the room. Once he did so he was stunned in his seat. He blinked a few times to make sure what he was seeing wasn’t a trick.

It was the boy from the other day, standing in the front of the room talking to Engel. Lucas couldn’t make out what they were saying, but when he smiled that same smile from the cafeteria Lucas nearly combusted on the spot. He was in trouble all right.

The boy turned then, and Lucas didn’t have time to look away, causing their eyes to meet for a brief second. Maybe it was just him, but he swore a light sparked in the other boy’s eyes. But then he looked away again, returning his attention to Engel before making his way over to the seats and sitting a row behind Lucas and his friends.

Lucas refused to turn around, even though he wanted to more than anything. He thought of how embarrassing it would be to be caught staring, and kept his eyes forward.

“Welcome to the culture club, everybody!” Engel said, and Lucas focused closely on her words to keep his mind off the boy behind him.

“I’m Engel,” she continued, “And this is Liv, Isa, and Janna. We started this club because we all went to Tallinn at the end of last school year, and the experience was so enriching for all of us that we wanted to share the opportunity to do something like that again with others! Um, we’ll be putting together fundraisers throughout the year to save up for our new trip, and every week we can focus on a different culture to learn about and make food from that culture…” Engel’s voice was a bit shaky, and she looked at Liv gratefully when she put a hand on her shoulder. Lucas wondered how many times she would say ‘enriching’ over the course of the meeting.

Jayden raised his hand, and Engel nodded to him with a smile. “Where are we going for our ‘cultural trip’?”

“Oh… um, that’s a good question!” Engel laughed nervously, and Liv took over.

“We’ll vote on it at our last meeting before the holidays, that way we have enough time to consider our options and enough time to plan all the details,” she explained.

Engel nodded gratefully. “Exactly! Since this is our first meeting, I figured we’d separate into small groups and exchange stories of what cultures we come from, and then we can share as a group!”

Lucas discreetly checked the time on his phone. Not that he had anywhere to be, but he did want to get home and make dinner for himself and his mother, just in case she forgot to eat again. He should call her just to make sure she knew why he was going to be home late. By the time he looked back up, Kes, Jayden, and Sander were already in the middle of a conversation. About girls, not culture, but whatever.

“Hey, I need to call my mom really quick, so I’m going to dip out for a second,” Lucas said to Kes, standing from his chair. Thankfully Engel wasn’t paying attention, and at Kes’ nod Lucas was able to slip out of the room undetected.

He went to the bathroom for privacy and typed in his mom’s number, pacing around while he waited for her to pick up. The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and Lucas was finally forced to give up, swearing and tossing his phone to the ground, probably not the best idea. He was so caught up in his frustration that he didn’t realize someone else had entered until they spoke.

“You look like you could use a joint.” Lucas scooped up his phone (thankfully unbroken), face red with embarrassment. Then he looked at the intruder and blushed further. It was him.

“Sorry, I was just— it doesn’t matter,” Lucas tried to explain, rubbing the back of his neck.

The boy smiled, not the same way he had earlier, this one was a subtle uptick of the corner of his mouth, and pulled a joint from behind his ear, holding it up to Lucas. “Is that a yes, then?”

Lucas found himself smiling as well in the same sort of half serious half teasing manner. “Do you do this often? Go around handing out joints to strangers?”

“‘You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me,’” the boy said, raising one eyebrow.

“Um…” How did he respond to that.

The boy sensed his discomfort and laughed, lighting up the joint right there in the bathroom. “It’s F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby?”

“Oh, yeah.” Lucas had read that one a little while ago, but he definitely didn’t remember it well enough to quote it. “Thought I recognized it.”

“Liar, you did not.”

Apparently he wasn’t as good at bullshitting as he thought. “I have read it,” he promised.

“You should read it again,” the boy suggested, passing the joint after taking a long drag.

As Lucas raised it to his lips he found it impossible not to stare at the boy’s lips, blushing as he realized this. It wasn’t his fault that this boy had an ethereal look about him, like he came from another world entirely. Lucas wondered if the world he’d come from was better than this one. “I’ve never seen the point in rereading things,” he admitted, and the boy snatched the joint back so fast Lucas didn’t have time to react.

“Your weed privileges have been revoked,” he said with a scandalized expression.

“Oh, they have, have they?”

“How else are you supposed to truly comprehend a piece of literature, take in all the nuances and details you missed the first time, appreciate the work fully if you only read it once?” the boy gesticulated wildly with his hands as he spoke, looking like Kes when he was on one of his political tirades.

Lucas thought about it a moment, then shrugged. “I guess I’ve never thought about it like that.”

“Same goes for films,” the boy continued, pointing at Lucas with the joint before taking a quick drag. “If you watch them once how will you understand it to its complete potential? You’re too busy taking in the plot to see the cinematography and how it interacts with the soundstage, or how the actors move about the space, what kind of world has been crafted so masterfully for your entertainment.”

“Because I definitely watch the Fast and the Furious for the stellar cinematography,” Lucas joked, reaching for the joint only to have it pulled out of reach once again.

“Tell me you did not just say that.”

Lucas shrugged like, so what if I did? “Are you pro or anti Fast and the Furious?”

The boy considered this. “While I can understand the cultural impact of the franchise,” he began, “I just really don’t think it’s something to use as an example when talking about masterful cinema.”

“Do you always speak this eloquently?” Lucas wondered aloud, earning him a raised eyebrow and weed privileges.

“It’s the writer in me, I suppose,” the boy answered, accompanied by a shrug.

“Writer, huh?”

Another shrug. “Maybe.”

There was a beat of silence where the two of them just looked at one another. It was comfortable, was silence supposed to feel this comfortable with someone you’ve only just met? “You’re new, right?” Lucas asked when he worked up the nerve to break the silence.

The boy nodded. “What gave it away?”

“The fact that I’ve gone to school with everyone else here for years and I’ve never seen you before.” It was partly a lie, but he couldn’t very well say he’d seen him Monday and hadn’t stopped thinking about him since.

The boy laughed, resting his hands back on the counter. “That’ll do it. Yes, I’m new. I transferred here for my final year.”

Lucas nodded, not saying what he was thinking. It was odd that he’d transfer in his final year, but not unheard of, Lucas supposed. “Well, I’m glad you’re here,” he said before he could stop himself.

“Oh, yeah?” the boy grinned that beautifully bright grin, and Lucas found himself nodding again.

“Yeah.”

The door banged open and Liv walked in, looking back and forth between the two of them in surprise.

“Liv?” She looked at him. “You know this is the men’s bathroom?”

She crossed her arms, looking at him pointedly. “You know you’re not allowed to smoke on school grounds?”

“Sorry, that was my fault,” the boy cut in, extinguishing what was left of the joint and smiling at her apologetically. Liv narrowed her eyes at him, but accepted his apology with a shrug.

“You’re just lucky I found you, not Engel,” she said, and Lucas cracked a smile, silently agreeing with her. Her face turned apprehensive. “The meeting wasn’t horrible, right?”

“Not at all. It was great,” Lucas lied. In truth, he hadn’t spent much time at the actual meeting, though it had run a bit boring while he was there.

The boy nodded along with him. “Such a good idea,” he added.

Liv turned her attention back to him and placed a hand to her temple, shutting her eyes and grimacing. “I’m so sorry, I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Liv.”

She held out her hand and the boy took it, smiling sincerely. “Kaz,” he responded, eyes meeting Lucas’ for a brief moment as if he was speaking directly to him. Kaz. It fit him perfectly, a name that seemed a bit harsh and cacophonic on the outside, but was really quite beautiful at the same time.

“Well, it’s great to meet you Kaz. I’ll see you around? Preferably at the next meeting?” she asked hopefully, and Kaz laughed.

“I’ll be there,” he promised, looking at Lucas.

“I’ll be there too,” Lucas found himself saying, ignoring Liv completely.

Kaz. Lucas really wanted to know him, and he got the feeling that Kaz wanted to know him too.

- now playing: boys by charli xcx -

+ meet kaz

#skam nl #skam #skam nl fic #lucas van der heijden #season 3 #mystery of love

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ladysarahsakura · 5 years

Text

Stein’s daughter

My apologise if you believe Professor Stein is OOC in this story. Also like many of my posts, this is an OG character I created to immerse myself into the world Soul Eater. If you’d like to see X Reader stories they will come I promise. Obviously, I don’t own Soul Eater I only own the characters I created to represent me and my weapons. Love you all!

Dr Franken Stein had a rough childhood. Combining the issues he had with his longing to dissect with how doctors who tried to ‘fix him’ would poke and prod him, it’s safe to say he wasn’t too happy with the way his childhood turned out. He was slightly jealous when he found out his ex-weapon partner-Spirit Albarn- was not only getting married but having a child on the way as well. Stein had many concerns about having a child and getting married: could he have found anyone to deal with him and his oddities? What about the madness within him that causes the need for dissecting, would he pass it on to his children? What if one day he did something to the child? Or his partner? He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did. One way to fill the small void he had since he was scared to father a child and be a spouse was to choose one or two days a week to go to Death City’s orphanage where he would teach the older children- the younger ones, around 4 or so years old feared him- about animals he’s dissected or told stories of his old missions when he was at the DWMA as a student. These children looked past his stitches, his scars, and the screw/bolt protruding from the side of his head, and saw a scientist that made teaching fun for them. A couple of nurses that cared for said children were a bit unsure of Stein but the children adored him. One nurse, who oversaw new babies from a couple of months to 3 years, formed a friendship with Stein and he assisted her in preparing the food and formulas for the infants and toddlers at the Orphanage. On a sunny day in August, Stein’s life was about to change. The morning of the 27th of August in 1998, the orphanage welcomed its first-week old baby in 10 years. The small baby girl had been left on the doorstep at about 2 AM and the head nurse rushed to the door upon hearing the rapid knocking. They immediately fed the girl bottled formula, weighted her, took her temperature and swaddled her. Upon the infant nurse returning for her shift at around 5 AM, she immediately began round the clock care for the baby after the head nurse told her everything and even had the assistance of a pair of fraternal twins- Rocky and Roxy Takahashi, four-year-old, black-haired, green-eyed cuties who lost their parents to a kishin, took turns keeping an eye on baby girl, reading to her, and keeping watch on her as she slept soundly during naptime. On this day during his weekly visit is when Stein first sees the small infant, only 6 pounds but very healthy, wispy blond hairs already on her head, sleeping soundly in her crib in a light purple sleeper, Stein attempts to not wake the baby up as he converses with her nurse on her health and how she came to be in the orphanage this day. Rocky and Roxy also decided to move into the room with the baby to keep an eye on her at night, attaching themselves to her quickly, treating her like they would their own baby sister and Stein smiled slightly at the sight of the twins playing with the baby girl. Nearly a month passed and the baby girl was growing steadily, was happy and healthy, babbling happily to her friends and caregiver, and had still somehow had not been named. The twin children argued back an forth over what to name the infant girl, the caregiver just chuckled before ushering the rowdy 4-year-olds out for the baby’s nap and they stopped upon seeing Stein watching them interact again with the baby as the nurse slowly put her to bed. To stop the twins bickering, Stein suggested a simple name for the baby girl that he felt the twins would agree on: Sarah, Hebrew for lady, princess, and noblewoman. The baby had been such a sweet baby since she came to the orphanage she deserved a name as such since the twins called her their Princess anyway, also it was a name Stein liked. The girl just seemed like a Sarah. They immediately loved it and made certain to tell the baby her name once she awoke.Over a course of eight months, Sarah began to crawl, tugging herself up at times on her crib, a pants leg, or with the helping hand of her caregiver and the twins. She was slowly learning to walk with the help of Roxy and Rocky holding her hands and walking behind her. Aside from her being a little small, she was exactly where she should be in development. Overall, she was a happy, cheerful, sweet baby girl. By June 1999, she was walking even better, holding herself on the wall or holding onto her caregiver’s pants leg and waddling beside her around her room- they didn’t let her explore much except her room and the hallway outside it- and Stein still watched the baby girl develop from a distance, worried his appearance would scare her as it did the other younger children. He didn’t understand why he was drawn to the infant and worked so hard to make sure she was developing properly, conversing with the caregiver when she would get sick or have a rash or wouldn’t eat some foods. Stein knew better than to believe he could adopt a child, to care for and father them, what if he scared them once they saw his tendencies? What if he snapped and hurt them? He had a couple of friends that would assist him in raising a child for he had spoken about it many times to them, wanting an outsiders opinion on if he would ever be a decent father. Marie Mjolnir and Sid Barrett both said they would assist him when he needed them to. A young Sid was already partially caring for a baby boy named Black☆Star who had been found by him on a mission almost a year prior and he said several times how if Stein adopted the girl how sweet it would be if she and Black☆Star would be friends later in life. Stein had to admit, he did find himself drawn to the small child even after years of saying he wouldn’t be good enough to be a father. He tried to converse with her caregiver about her progress and the two adults remained unaware of the infant waddling slightly back from her spot from the corner of the hallway where her twin friends were attempting to get her to walk towards them. Sarah caught sight of Stein and proceeded to waddle towards the stranger she saw many times but never really met. The twins watched as the blonde, little girl waddled her way up to be near Stein, her summer dress swished slightly with every uneven step she took with her chubby baby legs towards her desired destination which was towards the person she knew of but never saw who conversed still with her caregiver unknowing of the baby they spoke of waddling/walking straight towards them. Her caregiver noticed Sarah first but pretended to not notice as she waddled closer to Stein, Roxy and Rocky giggling from the end of the hall. Stein still talked for a moment before feeling a soft tug on his lab coat. Looking down, he met the baby browns of the child he had been meaning to avoid in fear of scaring her as he did all other young children. His green-grey eyes widened and he stiffened, waiting patiently for baby Sarah to begin crying or wailing at his stitches, his bolt/screw, or his towering height but what he got next shocked him more than anything. Sarah reached up with her chubby baby arms and made grabby hands, a sign she wanted to be picked up...by Stein. He slowly relaxed and slid down to the floor, hesitantly, before she surprised him again by clamouring onto his lap and grasped onto his shirt. Her baby hands examined his own, his clothes and his face and hair as she did with everyone she found interesting and she didn't know it but Stein’s heart began to melt. She touched his mouth, his chin, his nose, his glasses- which he then took off to keep them from accidentally being broken- then her hands made their pathway towards his hair. Again, he braced for a scream or crying, instead, he found baby Sarah place a small hand on the screw/bolt and cocked her head to the side at it. Stein smiled softly and reached up to turn it and Sarah grinned and clapped at hearing a slight click click click from the turning. She grinned and babbled cutely, showing her newly grown bottom teeth and she too tried turning the bolt only to find her baby hands weren’t strong enough. Noticing her confused head tilt again, Stein reached up to twist it again and her face lit up. To get her mind off the screw/bolt, Stein held out his hand to her to examine and she happily did so. She continued to play with his hands, his jacket, she’d trace her fingers around his nose, eyes, scar, and babble happily, even speaking a few real words here and there she had been learning. Stein smiled softly at the baby in his arms, relaxing as she continued memorising him. He continued to talk to her caregiver who had sat beside him and was joined by the twins. She grinned when Sarah began to cuddle into Stein’s shirt as he held her in a large hand as she gripped his finger tightly. He completely relaxed and smoothed her hair away from her closed eyes and she mumbled quietly, did she just say, papa? Soon she was sound asleep, snuggling into his shirt and mumbling softly. Her nurse chuckled, “ You’re really great with her. And she seems awfully attached to you. Have you made up your mind about adopting her?” Stein gaped at the woman, “Me? Adopt her? No, no I couldn’t. Not only is my lab completely unsafe for a baby or a kid in general but I doubt I would be a very good father.” His face fell slightly, imagining all the bad things that could happen to the innocent child. Sarah’s caregiver placed a tender hand on his shoulder, “ Come now, Stein. You’d be an amazing father. Look at everything you’ve done for the older children- teaching them, getting them interested in science and animals- also everything you’ve done for Sarah. You’ve helped with formula’s when she wasn’t liking the previous one, you helped make a salve for her diaper rash since store bought didn’t work on her, you’re attached to this baby and I can tell she’s attached to you.” “ But what if something happens? I mean, I would never intentionally hurt her, but my mind…” The caregiver softly smiled. “Then bring in a trusted friend. Caring for a child could be an experiment for you two as caring for any child would be. You can baby proof a certain section of your home for solely her and not let her past that area and have your friends assist you in helping care for her. The choice is entirely yours but,” she glanced down at the little baby, “ I believe someone already made up her own mind.” She chuckled at the infant resting happily in the scientist's hand. He pondered on for a bit on the what ifs. What if he did adopt this girl? Would he be a good parent? Could he provide a happy home for her? A safe home? Could he really be able to do it so simply? Study how to raise a child and asking Sid and Marie for help? What if something went wrong? What if he couldn’t keep his dissecting thoughts from her? Or worse what if he completely lost it. Soon he chose to go home, after unlatching the infant from her strong grip on his finger and shirt, he phoned Marie and Sid to come over for a talk to weigh the pros and cons for raising her or any child. During their meeting, Marie offered to stay with Stein for a bit to help him raise the child if he chose to adopt her and Sid offered to take her to school with Black☆Star, have play dates and such to assist in her development. Both friends swore to assist Stein in his choices no matter what. On that note, Stein wrote a list of pros and cons which by the end the pros outweighed the cons and he finally made up his mind. With Sid and Marie’s help, the babyproofed a section of the Patchwork Lab: every doorknob, corner, outlet, put a big lock on is lab and cleared out three side rooms for her beside his bedroom. Each room was baby proofed and he labelled each room for different things such as her bedroom, a playroom, and a library/study. Stein, with Sid’s help since he was assisting in raising a baby Black☆Star, helped create a feeding chart and Stein made a chart for when she would get older so she would have a routine she could adapt to in case he was called on a mission- which was rare but could still happen and would ease whoever kept an eye on her then. Marie went out and bought everything a baby would need: diapers, clothes, changing pad, blankets, burp cloths, a new crib, a playpen, a carrier, towels, baby bottles, a stroller, and many many stuffies and toys to amuse Sarah. By the next morning, Stein began the long path to adopting the baby girl filled with home studies and paperwork. He would go visit Sarah every day and personally assist her in learning to balance herself, helping her with her words, he even quit smoking to get the better chance of her actually being adopted by him. This went on for three whole months until all the paperwork and home studies were done. By the end of September, Stein had a daughter. Upon entering her new home, Stein and her caregiver agreed to a trial period. He had one week to see if he could handle a one-year-old and if he couldn’t, his would giver her back to the orphanage and gift all he and Marie had purchased to her to keep. The twins were saddened by not being able to see their younger friend but they were happy when Stein told them he or Marie would come to get them every weekend to bond with Sarah that way she would never forget them. Stein had given the baby girl a few gifts that were more scientific, like a stuffed frog she could “dissect” by taking apart the velcro straps on its torso and insides, he had hand knitted sweaters for her and a few blankets, even stitched little doll figures that looked like her, Stein, Sid, Marie, Rocky, Roxy, and her caregiver. Her favourite was the one that resembled Stein and she slept with it in her new crib in her new home beside her new papa who had set up a cot in her room to keep watch on her first few nights. Sarah slept soundly in her new home and grew steadily. By her fourth birthday, they found out she was a meister and that the twins were weapons. Around the same age, she had begun to question why she didn’t look like her papa and Stein had told her the truth, “ Yes, darling. We don’t look a bit alike, do we? But that doesn’t matter, little one. Because you chose me to be your papa that day when you were a baby and I knew you were my darling daughter. Nothing and no one will ever change that. Stein didn’t enrol Sarah into school instead Marie came and would teach her and she trained with Sid and Stein to get physically and stronger on her own before she became meister to a weapon partner. Sarah grew into a loving both the normal things any child would as well as having a growing curiosity about life to the point of her assisting her papa in his scientific studies. Miss Marie would take her to meet with Sid and Black☆Star where he boasted several times about wanting to surpass Lord Death and stated that when Sarah finally joined the DWMA with him, he’d challenge her to their first duel. By the time Sarah became of age to bond with a weapon, she bonded with both Rocky and Roxy which explains why they bonded so quickly at the orphanage. Poor Stein had to get Marie to help the year prior when Sarah got her first period and he didn’t want to embarrass her by having that whole talk. By age fourteen, the trio had gone on many missions to collect Kishin souls as requested by Lord Death even if they weren’t students of the DWMA yet. Sarah chose to postpone her studies at the DWMA for a little while longer since she was learning about her papa’s evils and he confessed to only feeling calm with her or Marie home with him. Marie still taught Sarah and she learned to bend her own wavelength to heal as well as having papa’s ability to use it as a defence without a weapon and learned that the twins had multiple weapon forms which Sarah could easily wield. She made tremendous progress and not once did she lose her love of life and sense of freedom. Stein couldn’t have been a prouder father, however; he was scared for when she would enrol into the DWMA which was now also a college for older children who wished to have further teachings. Would she be ridiculed for being his child even if it wasn’t biologically? Would she be ashamed? Would she still be happy? There was one way to find out. Byt the morning before her next mission, he enrolled her into the DWMA at the age of nineteen. When she returned home she would be a student.

#soul eater #Stein x reader #Stein x Daughter reader

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