#or at least his own greatest inconvenience

[hotchfiles]

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ❝ lay down with me ❞ ─ a darling, in any life blurb

pairing: aaron hotchner x reader. summary: the red thread between two people destined to be together may stretch and tangle, but those ties will never break. or: they find out maybe bars aren't all the same. content warnings: alcohol, suggestive talk. not proof read. word count: 2.1k

"Were you... Brushing your teeth?" Yeah he was. And yeah they were still on the jet, but as soon as they got back to HQ he would be on his car for the 45min ride to Arlington to see you. He couldn't risk bad breath on your first date.

Before Aaron could even answer Emily's inconvenient question, Derek came in with another one "Hair freshly cut too, anyone noticed it?" Well he cut his own hair, it would be simply rude not to look his best when he so easily could.

He knew JJ was coming in with something too when she passed by him, so he had to cut it out before "Hey, enough. I’m meeting an old friend after work, just trying to use my time wisely here." His eyes scanned the room for the reactions and even though no one replied, he could see all the little smirking around and whispering between Emily and Derek mostly.

So much for a private life.

He's not the hiding type, if he's in a relationship he has no problem letting people know it, as long as that is it, he enjoys keeping the details to himself. And right now that's all he can really say about you, you're an old friend, just an old friend.

For now.

He was running late now, and very stressed about it. Of course it wasn't the greatest of ideas to go from Quantico to Arlington by driving instead of taking the train, but he wanted to have the choice to take you somewhere else if you wanted to and to get you home safe when the date ended. He was also aware that trains didn't run as late as he might be staying.

He planned the haircut, the hotel shower right before leaving, brushing his teeth while in the jet, having his car ready, but God, did he not plan for the traffic he would have to deal with after 6PM.

But he's a gentleman, so he calls from the car system to warn you about it and he's nervous and anxious because not being present enough and being late or not there at all ruined his marriage and he wants to do better, he really really wants to.

"Oh don't worry babe, I’m still enjoying my wine in my living room. Thought it would be better to wait 'til you were in town to leave, yeah?" Aaron hopes the loud sigh of relief he let out isn't so obvious to you, but it is. You find it endearing. You were reading essays still just minutes ago, you understood him.

You weren't very sure how well would you two work considering that. But you sure as hell wasn't going to give up without at least trying it. And definitely not without a fight.

"Send me your location then, I'll pick you up in... Twenty."

"Uuuh, picking me up? Look at us, it's a real date date now, curfew's at 10PM then, don't forget it." You make him laugh easily with that, your father was a strict man, sometimes you both went to the movies or the park nearby and if you got home at 10:03 was enough for him to sit Aaron down in your living room and tell him all about responsibilities and how he was the boy and so he was supposed to protect you and ensure you were home in time.

"I am curious about what the consequences of not following the curfew will be this time though." Oh he's teasing you now, as if this wasn't your first date and the implications of consequences weren't so... Suggestive, to say the least. But he feels comfortable enough for that.

"Guess you'll have to wait and see then, agent Hotchner." Your voice drips like honey and he's pretty sure he just figured out some sort of deep ingrained fetish he didn't know he had until now. "See you soon, airhead!" You laugh innocently before finishing the call and it drives him mad in the most delicious way.

He thinks those are the most torturous 27 minutes he's ever had to go through his life, but the feeling is completely overrun with almost childish glee as he parks in front of your house. He could fit the choice for a house instead of an apartment easily on your own profile but he didn't need too, you liked your space. Apartments have no space. No privacy. He remembers vividly of a conversation you both had after your cousins were forced into an apartment because of your aunt's divorce.

He dries his palms on his pants quickly not sure if he should go to your door, stay where he is or what. He hasn't done this, the whole date ordeal in a while and it just got to him that he has no idea how people do it these days. What's too much or too little?

Aaron finally decides on leaving the car and waiting near by, after sending you a quick text to inform you he was there. It was a middle ground of sorts, he felt confident in it. Kinda.

It doesn't take you long to leave and lock your door and the sight of you immediately takes his breath away, your smile takes him back some years but your thighs remind him quickly that you are both definitely not fifteen anymore. He shakes his head softly, directing his eyes to a more suitable place for a first date: Your hands. You were holding a flower bouquet.

Flowers.

"Fuck." He mutters to himself in frustration, "I forgot to bring you flowers." You don't seem bothered about it, in fact it makes you smile more as you hand him the bouquet in your hands. "You got these... For me?" Aaron grabs the gift softly with both hands, afraid he's going to break it somehow.

"Yeah, wanted to test my theory that you're still a sap." The way his eyes were shining and his lips turned into the sweetest of smiles were enough proof to you. Aaron was always loving, caring, soft. It was interesting seeing him on the news nowdays, stoic, serious, unbothered. You wanted to see how easy it was to break him.

Turns out very easy. At least to you.

"A sap! I’m surprised I got flowers from a beautiful woman, sue me." He opens the passenger door so you can get in, which you quickly do with a cheeky smile on your face, the gift is carefully placed on the backseat before he's back to your side, seat belt on. Nosy as you are, you're already typing some address on the GPS.

"I heard people talking really good things about this place." You muse while he turns the car on, already following the instructions. "Apparently the beer is great and it stays open til late." He doesn't ask for any clarifications, if that's where you want to go, that's where he'll take you.

The food you've both ordered hasn't arrived at your table yet but Aaron has already gulped down two large beers and is trying so very hard to not show how annoyed he is, it makes you laugh, hard. He follows, laughing along and shaking his head.

"Who told you about this place?" He asks accusingly, you take a sip of your own drink and pretend you didn't hear it. "Who?"

"I don't want to tell you."

"Your students then. You trusted a bunch of twenty somethings with our date. Pitiful." You don't reply, instead you just keep laughing to yourself while you drink. The place is loud. Loud music. Loud college students. Loud busy street. You tell him that's exactly the type of place you would hang out with your girl friends to hook up back in London, his experience isn't the same, the lover boy committed since high school.

"How do they even get to know each other over this nooooise?" Laughing at his annoyance only lasts so long and now you're the one not being able to sort through your thoughts, the food is good though, you both agree while munching on the appetizers that accompany the beer.

In retrospect you should've imagined it would be this time of place by the countless mentions of beer whenever a student recommended it.

"Look around, I don't think they're actually trying to." You follow his gaze and notice that as the hours passed, the more couples formed and the less they were actually talking. Exactly as it was in your own college days. "I'm a bit tipsy so I'll let my curiosity win, you never told me why you divorced the second time." It was out of the blue, you told him the first one wasn't that bad, conflicting views on family and you both married too early in the relationship. The second one was... Harsher.

"Bastard cheated on me." You shrugged, but it was obvious it still got to you, Aaron could see it in your eyes, in your voice tone, and that had nothing to do with being a behavior analyst, and everything to do about how he just... Knew you. "His whore also pressed charges against me when I wasn't even trying to hit her, she just got in the way." He chocked on his beer and almost had to spit it out after that tiny little piece of information you hadn't mentioned before.

"You have a record?"

"He made her drop the charges when I left the apartment to him without a fight. That's why I moved back to the states." He blinks once, twice. Maybe he should be worried, but he also knew that could get a bit aggressive when losing control. Just it always happened to terrible people. "I'm obviously joking, airhead." The relief he feels is followed by an annoyed face for believing such a lie, you touch his forehead softy, smoothing the lines so he doesn't look mad anymore. He takes it as a sign, taking your hand in his and kissing your knuckles, then your hand, and pulls you to him, letting go to touch your chin.

If he wasn't drinking the proximity would inebriate him alone, the way your eyes closed and your cheeks blushed in anticipation, he's sweet, lips touching yours with tender patience, much more patient than you, you who lifted your body just a bit from the chair and pulled him by his collar to deepen the kiss, almost causing a disaster if any of you fell over the table with all the glass cups.

You let him go just after hearing some snickering from the table behind yours, not blaming them for it, it probably looked like an awkward kiss from the outside. But it wasn't.

"That was certainly better than our first one..." You smile sheepishly at him, putting your hands on your lap, nervous.

"You blushed and gripped my shirt." He says looking deep into your eyes, making you tilt your head slightly, showing him your confusion. "It's been thirty years, you did the same thing... You blushed and gripped my shirt."

"So you're telling me you make me feel like a school girl."

"I'm telling you you've just acted like one." You take the comment as a challenge, getting up and taking your chair with you to sit closer to him, brushing your lips to his before going to his ear.

"You're drunk and staying over, so why don't we get a taxi and I'll show you the school girl." You can see the way his neck shivers at your little teasing, but he takes advantage of the new found closeness to kiss you again, with much more hunger but also much faster than the first because he's ready to pay the tab and get out of there.

It wasn't really that hard to find a taxi, being a night time neighborhood, they knew to stay around. Aaron had your bag on one of his hands and the other on your thigh. Your arms went around his and your head laid on his shoulder. None of you talked the whole way there, just feeling each other's presence and the alcohol twirling around your minds and your stomachs.

And you did show him you were not a school girl anymore when you both got to your house: You got him your largest t-shirt and pajama pants, your coziest blanket and after you both changed and took aspirins to try and prevent the headache that would inevitably come, you got your pillows and went to the living room and laid on your big couch with Aaron, cuddling with him as some TV show re-run lured you both to sleep.

It was almost 2AM, and while you could take him to your bedroom and take his clothes off like you wanted to, you both knew it was the middle of the week, he had to wake up early to get his car, you would probably pass out under him anyway.

Cuddling was more than enough for a first date. And at least for Aaron, he was sure he wouldn't let go of your embrace anytime soon.

[bleach-is-yummy]

Okay was it just me or was the wedding between Amaya & Janai done really badly.

Firstly, I just like to say I’m not deaf but over the last couple years I’ve been trying to learn ASL, through college courses and personal research, as I think it’s a really important language for a lot of people to learn. I haven’t been the greatest at it but I’ve been learning more and more steadily as well as learning a lot about the culture through both my deaf professors and some firsthand experiences from other deaf people. 

Having said this watching Amaya and Janai’s wedding this season had me absolutely stunned by how terribly they did my girl Amaya. Don’t get me wrong Ive hardcore shipped both of them since they’ve met but the accessibly of that wedding was just awful. It was so bad I had to go back to Amayas Wikipedia page to make sure I didn’t misunderstand and she was just mute as it would have been impossible for her to have understood anything that was evening said throughout that entire wedding.

No one was signing to her! At first I thought maybe Gren was in her line of sight signing from the background, but then we saw him step out from behind her meaning no one was signing or interpreting for her that entire time! That’s not even to mention that her wife, the person that she is going to swear herself to didn’t even bother to sign her vows meaning that she had to lipread the entire time! I have learned from firsthand accounts that lip reading is an incredibly inconvenient and inaccurate way to have a conversation with people who cannot hear! For God sake, her own interpreter didn’t even sign his speech!! he even had to read out her speech to her wife meaning not only does Janai not speak sign language the primary language her wife uses, but also cannot read it for the most part as well.

Now I probably cannot sign or understand sign that much better than Janai can but then again I am not marrying someone who is deaf! Why did the show runners not have her at least get a rudimentary grasp on the language her wife speaks. If it was an issue with the audience understanding what was being said then why didn’t she just sign along with her speech? I’m am in absolute awe because they usually handled Amaya’s deafness really well but for this wedding it was handled so poorly. She was even facing away from most of the people that were talking making it impossible for her to have gleaned any amount of information from anyone. She had people talking in front of her and she had people talking to her while their mouths were covered or while they were looking down. 

I don’t know if I’m blowing this out of proportion or misunderstanding things, but I feel like this wedding could’ve been done so much better if they made it accessible for both parties involved. To me it didn’t feel romantic. It felt like something they put in because the audience wanted these two to get married. It wasn’t something that I was awing at despite shipping these two for so long I really wanted this wedding to be something great and beautiful but the whole time I was just yelling at the screen because how could this be romantic for Amaya, she probably couldn’t even make out most of the things being said. No steps were taken to make this feel like an accessible wedding and it just ruins that whole scene for me. 

[mymainwastoocluttered]

Birthday Cake (Ortho Shroud)

There's actually a tradition about birthday cakes back where the Prefect comes from.

Original idea by @strawberry-pie-thoughts

NOTE: I only write for female reader but everyone is welcome to read it!

Ortho knows all of his brother’s fidgets. And the one Idia is doing right now is the one that means “I’m trying to hide something but I’m too emotional over it to hide properly”, which makes the younger Shroud’s curiosity flare each passing second.

“Brother, what’s the matter?”

“Nuthin’.”

Yet that’s the answer he gets every time. That and a nervous shrug that means “please don’t pressure me into telling you because I will and then I’ll feel bad about it.” At least, Ortho consoles himself, that means whatever his brother is hiding isn’t anything bad or dangerous, just possibly mildly inconvenient. Ortho can deal with “mildly inconvenient”, specially for the sake of his introverted brother who agreed on throwing a party tomorrow at Ignihyde for Ortho’s birthday despite dreading any sort of social event.

Ortho hasn’t had his emotional capacity for very long, but considering what his friends and the internet said, Idia’s efforts are the greatest show of love—not that Ortho ever doubted his brother’s love for him, but it feels good to be reminded. Plus, and this is something he’ll guard in his heart for himself, it feels like Idia is actually seeing him and not him. He truly sees Ortho for who he is, and loves him for him.

“Ortho, it’s past midnight,” Idia’s voice gets Ortho out of his thoughts—getting lost inside his own thoughts, quite the novelty—, prompting the boy to look at the time.

“It is! That means I’m not one year older!”

“Yep, you’re now officially seventeen. Happy birthday, Ortho.”

He can’t help but hug his brother tightly, too happy for words—and too overwhelmed by emotions to even try, even though he has up to 20 languages fully saved in his database. Words also can’t describe the feeling he gets when his brother hugs him back, whispering well wishes under his breath—too shy to say them out loud but too loving to not say them at all.

“We know you’ll have a party later, but we wanted to do something special first…”

“We?”

Just as Idia lets go of him, the door of Idia’s room open to show his girlfriend—and Ortho’s hopefully soon to be sister-in-law—, Prefect (Y/N) (L/N), holding what seems to be… a cake? It’s difficult to tell, because the decorations on it—stars and trees and three figures that look suspiciously like Ortho, Idia and (Y/N) sitting around a bonfire—are moving and if he concentrates, he can hear a soft whirring sound from it.

“Happy Birthday, Ortho!” the girl squeals, handing the cake(?) to Idia so she can squeeze the younger boy into a hug and place very enthusiastic kisses all over his face. “You’re growing up so fast!”

“Technically, I’m still the same size-”

“Mentally and emotionally, dear.”

“Oh. Thank you!”

Though he will admit to already drawing up some designs for future bodies. He can’t look like a child forever, now can he?

“We know you can’t actually eat—yet, anyways. Who knows what will happen in the world of tech?” she winks at his brother, who tries to hide his blushing face behind the cake(?), forgetting that his hair gives his emotions away. “But I remember you really liked the first slice tradition from my country when I told you about it, so we made that sculpture. There’s a part that’s removable, so you can give it to whoever you want~”

Human memory is way more fickle than an android’s, and yet these two did their best to remember something so small and seemingly insignificant. Just to make Ortho happy.

“... I may not have tears, but I feel like I’m crying…”

The couple is quick to hug him, and Ortho has never been happier to be able to feel.

“... can the first slice go to two people?”

“I told you we should separate it in two, tech genius.”

“But then it wouldn’t be the first slice, but the first and second.”

“It’s fine, I can just laser it in half!”

“Ortho, no!”

[ghostinthelibrarywrites]

ooooh for the fake dating prompts: geraskier + #1? pretty please 💜

They were actually quite the good kisser, but they of course would never ever tell them that.

“We need a cover story,” Jaskier says. “If the Duchess thinks you’re here as a witcher, she’ll have her guards throw you out before you have time to get annoyed by all the people.”

Geralt wants to argue, but the bard actually has a good point. “I could pretend to be your bodyguard again. At a gathering this size, there have to be at least a few nobles there you’ve cuckolded.”

Jaskier wrinkles his nose, considering. “You showing up with swords might put her on her guard, whether you're here as a witcher or bodyguard."

“Then what do you suggest?” Geralt crosses his arms over the chest, scowling. After passing a couple of messages for the Redanian Secret Service, the bard thinks he’s some kind of mastermind at espionage.

Jaskier thinks for a moment, then brightens. “I know! You can come as my apprentice who is really my lover.”

“Why not just your apprentice?”

“Because no offense, Geralt, but no one is going to look at you and think you’re in training to become a bard. And gods help us if anyone asks you to sing. So it behooves us if they think that the only reason I keep you around is because of the service you provide to my instrument.” He wiggles his hips.

Geralt feels his lips twitch of their own volition. "Hm, not sure if we can pull that off."

“And whyever not?” Jaskier looks offended.

“If I’m your lover, you’d have to go at least three days without letting anyone else into your pants. Might kill you.”

“I can go three days without sex!” Jaskier plants his hands on his hips.

“Since when?”

“I went nearly two weeks without when we were traveling through Velen!”

“And you bitched the entire time.”

“I would have done that anyway. Velen is terrible.”

Geralt can’t argue with him there. “No one’s going to believe we’re really lovers.”

“Why not?”

"Because no one’s going to think that I’m the kind of person you take to bed," Geralt doesn’t say, thinking of the pretty barmaids and fancy nobles Jaskier normally pursues. Instead, he says, “There will be people you know there. They’ll have seen you with your lovers before.”

“And?” Jaskier arches an eyebrow.

Geralt searches for the right words for a moment. “When you’re sleeping with someone, you’re usually all over them. You can't keep your hands or your lips off them. It’s why you nearly get gelded for fucking the wrong person so often. You’re not subtle.”

Jaskier opens his mouth as if to argue, then closes it. “Then I suppose I’ll have to do that with you.”

Geralt snorts, skeptical.

“What?” Jaskier asks, taking a step closer. “You think it will be such a hardship, draping myself over you?”

The neck of Geralt’s armor feels a little too tight. Did he have it fitted wrong? “No one will buy it.”

Jaskier takes another step, moving into Geralt’s space. “Then we really should start practicing now.”

“I don’t need to practice,” Geralt growls. “I’m not a spotty youth who’s never held a girl’s hand before.”

Not that hand holding comes up much in his intimate encounters, but he’s not going to bring that up.

“Even the greatest master at his craft needs to keep his skills sharp.” Jaskier tilts his head to the side, studying Geralt’s face. “And you’re right. We’re only going to be able to sell this if we look like two people who are used to being intimate with each other. Kiss me.”

Geralt can’t quite school the surprise out of his face. “What?”

“Kiss me,” Jaskier says again. “Do you want to take the Duchess down or not?”

“Not sure how kissing you will help that.”

“We might need to kiss at some point to maintain our cover,” Jaskier says. “Best not to risk it, right?”

Geralt lets his gaze drop to Jaskier’s pink mouth. The bard’s lips have always been inconveniently pretty, especially when they’re parted in stunned offense or curled into a wicked smile. He almost says no, that he’ll figure out another way to get close to the Duchess. It’s best not to let Jaskier anywhere near a contract this dangerous anyway. Jaskier can go back to his succession of pretty lovers and Geralt can find and kill a monster, just like they always do.

He’s about to pull back when Jaskier seems to get tired of waiting for Geralt to make a move. Before Geralt can react, Jaskier’s lips are on his and suddenly, Geralt isn’t thinking about the Duchess or the contract anymore.

Jaskier’s lips are warm and soft against his, tasting of the wine they had with dinner. He doesn’t realize that he’s cupping Jaskier’s face in his hands until he registers the prickle of stubble against his palm. He slides one hand down, over the silky fabric of Jaskier’s doublet, warm from the bard’s body heat. Jaskier shivers as Geralt’s hand rests on his lower back.

Geralt drags Jaskier closer, breath hitching as Jaskier’s fingers tangle in his hair. He can hear Jaskier’s heartbeat hammering and can practically taste the arousal in the air. It would be so easy to drag Jaskier the short distance to the bed, to lose himself in Jaskier’s taste and the feel of him and…

Jaskier pulls away, blinking up at Geralt with the dazed look of someone emerging from a deep sleep. For a moment, they stare at each other. Jaskier’s pretty mouth is swollen from kisses, a sight that sends something hot and possessive surging through Geralt’s belly.

Jaskier clears his throat and laughs, the sound more high-pitched than usual. “And you think we couldn’t pull it off!”

“Pull what off?” It takes Geralt a moment to remember why they were doing this in the first place. The Duchess. The contract. Right.

“Pretending to be two people who are intimately acquainted.” Jaskier waggles his eyebrows. “Now you won’t have to pretend to be unable to get enough of my lips.”

Geralt rolls his eyes. “Sure, bard.”

“Oh, don’t lie to me. You have to admit, that was a damn good kiss.”

“I’ve had better,” Geralt lies.

Jaskier gasps, mouth falling open. It’s a sight that makes Geralt glad that his new armor has a codpiece. “Pure and utter slander! I’ve had it from reputable sources that I’m the finest kisser on this side of the Amell Mountains.”

“You know they’re paid to give you pretty compliments at the Passiflora, right?”

“Brute.” Jaskier pokes Geralt in the chest. “That’s a terrible thing to say to your pretend lover.”

“Forgive me,” Geralt says dryly. “I’ve never had a fake lover before.”

“And at this rate, you never will again.” Jaskier turns on his heel, nose in the air.

With the bard looking away, Geralt reaches up to touch his lips. He can still taste mulled wine and can still feel the warmth of soft pink lips against him. He’d like nothing more than to pull Jaskier close and lose himself in another one of those kisses.

But this is just pretend and Geralt can’t let Jaskier know the effect he has on him. So he wipes away the lingering taste of Jaskier with the back of his hand and goes to sharpen his sword. There’s a monster to kill, after all.

Fake dating prompts

Tag list: @kueble @mollymawkwrites @feral-jaskier @geraltrogerericduhautebellegarde @dawnofbards @thisislisa @tsukiwolf42 @mosaicscale @rockysstupidity @fontegagrilledcheese @kuripon @help-i-need-a-cool-username @julek @flowercrown-bard @eveljerome

[the-lark-ascending69]

android!Robin has several technical problems, the most important ones having to do with her memory card, battery and motor skills.

Androids are supposed to have perfect photographic memory, but Robin's memory is poor even by human standards. She tends to forget where she left her keys, what she was going to do when walking into a room, etc. She forgets her schedule all the time, as well as Nancy's, and can't remember a recipe to save her life. Dustin and Suzie say it's a problem with the connections needed to access her memory card, rather than with the memory card itself. It's fixeable, but extremely difficult and expensive. Robin wants to get this fixed and she's working hard to pay for it - she doesn't want to be an inconvenience. Nancy will support her decision, but she really isn't bothered by Robin's poor memory. She just hopes she's doing it for herself and not to make herself "easier to handle" for other people (she's been told that's what her worth was based on her entire life).

She's only had one memory card her entire life (as far as she knows). Nancy's greatest fear is Robin hitting her head and it breaking. One could potentially take out the memory card and delete it or install a new one - that is Robin's greatest fear.

At one point, her connections get so bad there will be days in which she can't remember Nancy at all, or what her own name is. She'll act almost like a normal android those days - following orders, not speaking unless necessary, not expressing emotion unless instructed to, etc, though her poor motor skills, battery problems and bad memory will make it difficult. It freaks Nancy out every time, and she always tries to get her to snap out of it as if she were human, before accepting that love can't solve this problem, and calling Dustin and Suzie to fix it. She'll pay any price if it means having her Robin back.

Robin lets herself be turned off without complaint, without even the terrified shudder Nancy used to feel when she forcibly did it during their first weeks together. Robin's docile obedience as she let Nancy do this to her, and the way her body went limp in Nancy's arms, never failed to bring Nancy to tears.

It would take days for Dustin and Suzie to fix some of Robin's problems. This one took between one and two weeks. Longest it ever got was 16 days. During that time, Robin would lay lifeless on their workshop's table, her battery sitting somewhere else to prevent her from turning on automatically. Dustin insisted that he and his lady (as he called Suzie) worked best when their kingdom (their workshop) was untouched by foreign hands, so Nancy wasn't always welcome to visit Robin in that state. Nancy was relentless, though, and she usually managed to convince him to let her in for a few minutes. He thinks it's pointless - it's not like Robin can feel her there. She can't even dream. It doesn't change anything. In fact, he worries Nancy will be more disturbed than comforted, because Robin's entire skull, neck and spine will be exposed - only it's not bones and flesh inside, but metal and plastic circuits, plates, chips, wires and pistons. He's careful to at least put her face back in place when Nancy visits. He expects her to be taken aback by the sight, but instead, Nancy's eyes are full of so much worry and care and adoration as she observes Robin's lifeless body. She doesn't dare touch her - she doesn't want to hurt her. But she misses her so deeply.

When it's all finished, Nancy takes her back home with the utmost care and tucks her into bed. She waits by her side until she turns back on, and softly talks to her, asks her how she's feeling, brings her some water and asks her questions, to see if she's back to normal. Because it's all recorded in her memory card, Robin can remember everything - can remember the time she spent not knowing who she is, thought she can't remember if she was self-aware during those episodes. Whenever she wakes up, she's just happy to see Nancy, and wants hugs and cuddles from her, but she begins to cry out of fear as she tries to remember the details of not being. Nancy holds her every time, asks her if she wants to watch cartoons or if she wants her to read a book for her, to keep her from spiraling. She hates seeing Robin look so small and scared, but she also knows she's not scared of anything Nancy can protect her from. The horrors haunting her come from her own mind and her own nature.

(Dustin and Suzie make a copy of Robin's memory card and give it to her, just in case).

Dustin and Suzie take care of any fixes Robin needs. They're much nicer than any other technician at the previous repair shops she's been to. The most usual fixes have to do with weakness and stiffness in her knees and hips, especially on her right leg (it got broken pretty badly during a beating by her last owner - Billy Hargrove. He wanted to make her unable to walk. The person his father sold her to next did a poor job fixing her). These fixes are usually quite simple and take very little time. She will refuse to see them, though, until she reaches her breaking point when she struggles to stand up, or when she suddenly falls to the ground. It always worries Nancy to death - she's terrified of Robin hitting herself and suffering even more damage. It always takes some convincing for Nancy to get her in her car and on their way to Dustin's workshop. Sometimes, the fix will be so simple they don't even need to turn her off. Nancy holds her hand during these.

The third big problem is her battery. Thankfully, her battery is detachable and easily replaceable. They only had a mayor issue with it once, and they had to order a new one. Robin's model is rare enough that it took over a week to get there. During that time, they installed solar pannels in the balcony and Robin had to be connected to them with long, thick cables that stretched all around the apartment. It was more amusing than anything else, having to step around the cables and make sure none of them got accidentally disconnected. Cloudy days made her pretty much useless and had her lying in bed watching cartoons all day. She was completely turned off after sunset and she was up by sunrise. Needless to say, she couldn't leave the apartment for the week and had to call in sick to work.

Good thing was, though, that the new battery worked much better than the previous one. It lasted much longer. Nancy had only seen her this excited a few other times. The way she kicked her bedroom door down with a wide smile on her face as she yelled at her to come to the kitchen just made Nancy smile with adoration. Robin showed her the box in her hands - she was shaking with excitement - and asked Nancy to help her install it. She turned herself off and Nancy did the rest - disconnected cables, take out old battery, install new one. When she turned Robin back on, she was more full of life and energy than she'd ever seen her be. Free from her cables, she immediately grabbed Nancy's hands and dragged her outside - the sun was shining and she wanted to run around in the park, to roll on the grass and count the cloud and photosynthesize with a good book in her hand. To Nancy, she looked like a puppy, or a happy little bird just released from its cage. She could never say no to her, they would spend the entire day outside if Robin wanted to.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale’s Top Ten: Worst Akuma to deal with in real life.

Rules:

1. This is solely based on how difficult life would be if the akuma was active. (Rules being in the city in which the akuma is active)

2. Their effectiveness of getting the Miraculous is not a factor, but their ulterior motives and abilities are. (Basically I’m not going to be the Focus of their goal in most cases)

3.And when I say deal with, it’s being a normal person having to cope with the akuma present.

4. I will be rating them at their absolute worst/most powerful. As to get the most accurate rating

5. This is a personal list, but trust me I have given it some thought.

6. No sentimonsters, so Strikeback isn’t making the list

7. Tv episodes, Specials and movie only.

10. Robostus

Robostus is an akuma that’s slept on. Whether he is taking over all technology to make a giant mech, or hypnotizing people with screens he is a threat. And as a guy that works with technology, I’m in danger. Though in most cases it’s a direct inconvenience at best or I get put in tech storage at best.

9. Simpleman

An akuma that can impact the intellect of EVERYONE IN PARIS. That’s terrifying. And we saw first hand how his simple antics made everyone as smart as Cosmo from fairy odd parents.

My intellect would drop dramatically and I would probably die from being that stupid.

8. Queen Wasp/Miracle Queen

Honestly they are basically the same akuma with slightly different powers but the same method of control. My main gripe is being completely frozen by the venom which is just the worst feeling. Would I be made aware? Comotose? Plus I REALLY hate bees/wasps because of childhood stings. So no thank you. But it’s this low because it is still somehow avoidable.

7. Zombizou

My fear of intimacy aside, this is somehow worse because it spreads like a plague AND, imagine the allegations that would spawn from this. No thank you. That’s a hell no from me dawg.

It’s only this low because as long as I’m not stupid I can avoid it.

6. YanluoShi

Basically the stand in for all Giant akuma. The difference is his death laser kills and He was DECIMATING shanghai. All the other giant akuma were threats but Yanluoshi was just a bit more dangerous. And without heroes, shanghai would be SOL.

The Shanghai special really did have a heck of an akuma threat.

5. Akumatized Hawkmoth

For those who haven’t seen the movie. Hawkmoth akumatizes his own heart and basically gives himself even more power.

He had telekineses and was flinging rubble everywhere, he turned the water in La seine into lava by FLOATING OVER IT. He was creating storms just by existing.He decimated Paris, and civilians were in serious danger.

The only reason he is so low is because he was so focused on ladybug and chat noir and despite the damage to Paris, no one was seriously hurt (except ladybug and chat noir)

4. Syren

She Flooded Paris in minutes. It’s implied a LOT of people got caught in it. Like seriously. I can swim but even I don’t know how well I could handle a suddenly flooded city. At least with the previous entry there were more clear chances of survival. The next entrees have very little survival chances for me

3. Stormy weather

She can make Volcanic eruptions. Category 5 hurricanes. Stormy weather’s powers are easily one of the most dangerous in the series. If she was allowed to go all out, I would put her on Akumatized Hawkmoth in terms of raw power. Now we never see the full extent of it, but she can Manipulate the earth by creating natural disasters. She likely would have wiped Paris off the map if she got her way. So that’s why she’s here.

2. Bubbler

I know you all might think this is a joke, but I’m dead serious. The bubbler is probably the most dangerous direct threat. You know what his goal was? No more adults. Guess what, I’m an adult! And you know what else. He sent EVERY ADULT in a bubble to FLOAT IN SPACE. In the manga Tikki even points out that they would DIE up there. Bubbler combining my two greatest fears. Heights and tight spaces. Plus either I die of suffocation or the bubble pops and my body implodes from space. Or worse, I fall to my death at terminal velocity. My only hope is I can pop the bubble BEFORE then.

1. Chat blanc

You know what your chances of surviving chat blanc are? Zero. He blew up the moon and killed everyone. Either from the result of the moon being destroyed or his power Cataclysming everyone.

He was Alone, this implies everyone else is dead. Not even the heroes on the other side of the world could do ANYTHING!

Survival chance with the other entries was varied. But chat blanc the answer is 0.

[questionableratatouille00]

Basements and other HYDRA Bullshit

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Summary: All was going well until your Boyfriend’s past comes back to haunt him.

Note: Day five of @ailesswhumptober2023! (Hostage/Kidnapping/Held at gunpoint.)

Warnings: Cursing, guns, knives, violence, blood, injuries, Winter Soldier topics. (Torture, murder, etc.)

—————————————————————————

The room felt like it was spinning as you felt warm blood drip down the side of your face. The knife slash to your temple had seemed more of a minor inconvenience at the time, but you now wished you’d stopped to at least quickly bandage it.

“So, you think you can take away the words and you’ll be free? Hm?” The accent of the man speaking was strong, and you knew he was addressing Bucky rather than you.

“The Winter Soldier is gone.” You hissed, not even sparing a glance at Bucky. You couldn’t handle it and you knew it, too.

“The words were only one way to activate HYDRA’s greatest weapon. We have others.” The man grinned devilishly, and it made your stomach flip.

“You’re gonna leave him alone.” Growling as you said this, you tried to force yourself forward. The chains around your wrists bound you to the walls of the dark, cold, and unwelcoming cell you were in.

“You are not in control here!” He rushed out the words as he barked them. He completed his sentence by raising his hand, ready to backhand you across the face. “I am!” He sounded erratic, and absolutely deranged.

“Don’t touch her.” Bucky’s voice was low, and dark.

“Or what?” The man spat, grinning. “What are you going to do about it?” He pulled a small red book from his pocket.

You couldn’t really recognize what the book was, but you knew it was significant. It matched the description of a book Bucky had told you about, the one that haunted him in his dreams and in his flashbacks.

“I’ll fucking kill you.” Bucky glared at the man defiantly, and you attempted to copy his expression.

“You can try. But you are a dog, and this is your leash!” He waved the book in front of Bucky’s face, taunting him.

“Who the hell are you?” You asked finally.

“You should ask your companion this. Tell me, Soldat, do you remember her? Do you remember my daughter?” He barked.

You could feel your own heart sink, and with one glance at Bucky, you knew he was feeling the same thing. “Buck, who is this?”

“Victor Rostov.” He stated. “His daughter’s name is—“

“Was. Her name was Alina! She was eight. Eight years old, and you shot her in the head! You’re nothing but a monster! A monster!” Rostov howled as he raged.

“It wasn’t his fault!” You shouted at him. You didn’t want Bucky to have to hear any of this.

“She died at his hands!”

“HYDRA called for no survivors, right? They wouldn’t target a child.” You tried to reason. You didn’t want to think about how they totally would target a child.

“She’d be twenty eight! My daughter, my little girl, will never be able to live. And he can’t even fucking remember her?” Rostov’s voice was filled with pain, and you could tell that she meant a lot to him.

“I remember all of them.” Bucky admitted grimly.

“You deserve to die, monster. And so you shall.” He clicked a gun in his pocket, raising it to Bucky’s forehead.

“Hey! Hey, let’s talk about this.” You gasped, ready to beg. Rostov could hurt you all he wanted, but not Bucky. He couldn’t take Bucky from you.

You panted as blood dripped from your temple onto the ground, making a tiny little puddle. It made you feel sick, just seeing it.

“Why shouldn’t I—“ A loud gunshot rang out through the cell, or really the small basement you were being kept in. You shrieked, tears immediately rushing to your eyes as you screamed.

“Bucky! Bucky! Bucky, no! No!” You sobbed, as Rostov fell to the floor.

“It’s us! It’s us!” A few familiar voices shouted. Natasha, Steve, and Tony.

“It’s not me! It’s not me!” Bucky reassured you at the same time as you wailed.

“Oh my God. Oh my God.” You sobbed. “I thought you got shot. I thought you got shot.” You couldn’t seem to get enough air into your lungs, making your words, which were already mostly sobs, seem a bit breathy.

Steve and Natasha immediately rushed to the to of you, unchaining you from the walls. Tony stayed back in case anybody else was around.

“Not shot there.” Bucky tried to make you feel better, but the truth was that Rostov had shot him in the thigh before he’d died. The two of you were safe, and that was all that mattered.

—————————

“What he said..about the monster thing. It’s not true.” You said as you got to work on patching up Bucky’s thigh.

“Not so sure about that, dollface.”

“It’s not.” You glanced up at him, before looking back down at his thigh. “Promise.”

“If you say so.” He sighed, accepting defeat here. You nodded once, getting ready to bandage the wound.

“I do say so.” After a long pause, you continued. “You gonna be okay?”

“I’ve been through worse. I’ll live.”

“I didn’t ask if you’ll live. I asked if you’ll be okay.”

“I will be okay.” He laughed every so lightly, and you smiled.

He would be okay. And so would you.

[hotcheetohatredwastaken]

Febuwhump Day 12 -- Semiconsciousness

Four hated the portals.

He hated them for a lot of reasons, a lot of good reasons. It was never fun to be swept off of one’s feet and deposited into a world that wasn’t their own. It separated friends from friends—his heart ached for Shadow—inhabitants of eras from their own timelines, it even stole one of his earrings, one rough morning where they were all stolen directly out of their beds. Sometimes the heroes found themselves dropped into chaotic battlefields, into icy tundra, into the very middle of deep lakes, every time without warning before and usually without a chance to catch a breath afterwards. The portals were uncomfortable, inconvenient, and above all, inconsiderate to those that they ferried from era to era as if they were nothing more than cargo to be taken wherever the whims of the Goddess pleased.

But the headaches that came with them, every blasted time. Oh, the headaches, and the nausea, and the disorientation. That was enough to make Four want to hang up his mantle of hero and go take a long, undisturbed nap, hopefully one that lasted forever. Unfortunately, that nap was not available because he was one of those said heroes, and a hero did not rest until their quest was completed, especially not in an era that wasn’t his own.

Still, it seemed that they had been dropped neither into a battle nor a lake this go around, and the grass upon which he found himself lying was nice, all things considered. Four didn’t remember stepping into the portal, and he didn’t remember stepping out, but the headache brewing behind his eyes and between his temples was testament enough to what had happened. The memory would come later, it always did when he thought about it hard enough. But he’d do so later, when everything wasn’t quite so sunny and swoopy and off balance. Four let out a hiss and threw an arm up over his eyes, shielding them from the brightness of the sky that he knew to be looming overhead. He gripped his fingers into the long strands of grass cushioning his rest, anchoring himself to earth spinning underneath his back—if he got up now, in his untethered state, he almost feared he could be flung off of the surface of the planet itself with the momentum of its rotations, and he’d be lost among the stars, his quest forever unfinished.

That’s a little dramatic, Vio, Four thought to himself. Nevertheless, he didn’t let go of his handholds that kept him anchored to the world itself as his head spun and throbbed and churned.

No, that was his stomach churning. He was going to vomit, Four realized with a start of rising panic. Abandoning his hold of the grass, Four only just managed to prop himself onto an elbow and lean over before his stomach emptied its own contents quite violently. Once the contractions wracking his body and compounding with his aching head to make his body into an unholy roar of pain passed—there went Wild’s rice and mushrooms that he’d made them for breakfast—he reared away from the puddle of sick, groaning.

“Foooour~,” Warrior’s voice drawled in a sing-song tone nearby. “Smithy, how’s it going over there? Don’t tell me these portals still get to you.”

Cheeky bastard. Warrior had never had a problem with the portals, owing to his experience with them in his War of Eras, a few years before he’d met the rest of them, he claimed. Realistically, Four knew it was a blessing that at least one of their members could be expected to be completely level-headed upon stepping out of a portal, no matter how bumpy the ride may have been, so that they were equipped to defend themselves and ready to face whatever threat was on the other side of it; right now, Four wished he could make him experience just a fraction of what it felt like, even if he had to throttle him to get the intended effects.

“Alright, Captain,” Four answered blearily as he pushed himself up onto his elbows with the greatest effort. His eyes streamed from the combination of the bright sun, his still-growing headache, and his earlier vomiting—at the thought his stomach clenched, threatening to go again—so that he was only able to open them in little pathetic slits. “Just dizzy.”

“Wow, it really got you this time,” Warrior laughed. Tall boots stopped in front of Four, just at the edge of his vision. “Can you walk, you think?”

Four took stock of his own condition, considering it. His body existed as one uncoordinated pulse of pain—his head throbbing, his stomach churning, the world still tilting and swooping jerkily beneath him, though it didn’t seem in danger of catapulting him into the stratosphere anymore. “No…” Four began, his tongue heavy with guilt. They’d have to compensate for him, again, like they almost always had to. “I don’t think so, Captain. I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for, dear Smithy, we’ve got you,” Warrior quipped back. Those boots walked away, and Four dropped his head into the cool grass, squeezing his eyes shut, as another wave of nausea and dizziness threatened to consume him. “Everything looks to be safe right now. Twilight, can you carry him?”

A grunted answer, then a shadow fell over Four. Four sighed, bracing himself as best as he could manage, and blindly thrust a hand upwards. What had to be Twilight pulled him up and off of his feet completely—Four pressed his lips together tightly as he fought to breathe through the new wave of nausea that arose from the movement, he would not vomit all over Twilight—and he found himself slung over furry shoulders similar to a baby lamb with a broken leg.

“Thanks…” he mumbled, heat rising in his cheeks, as he tucked his forehead against Twilight’s cloak. Nearly every portal, now, the heroes were forced to compensate for him. While the others’ tolerance had grown better over time, his only seemed to get worse and worse. “I hate this…” The words were already past his lips before he realized that he’d said anything at all.

“Don’tchu worry your pretty lil’ head ‘bout a thing,” Twilight answered affectionately. He tugged Four’s hood down over his face for him, sending the bell at the end of it jingling. It blessedly blocked out the worst of the sun, allowing him to un-squint his eyes at last. “You just get yourself some rest, n’ we’ll find you somewhere to lie down for a bit, yeah?”

That sounded like a good idea, actually. In seconds, Four was out, slumbering uneasily against Twilight’s shoulder as the world rocked in a steady rhythm beneath him, the movement no longer nauseating but instead lulling him to deeper sleep.

Read this on ao3! HCH Febuwhump Day 12 — Semiconscious

Or check out the whole series here! HotCheetoHatred's Febuwhump

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Movie Night

Summary: No One Knows AU Part 3, Danny, Sam, and Tucker have a movie night at Sam's house on a rare night off from Danny being grounded.

...

It takes a while, but things do start to mellow out after another couple weeks.  Danny eventually catches up on homework, and now he’s back to only sort-of failing instead of actually failing.  His parents let up on the grounding a little bit, and he’s allowed to spend time at Sam’s house and Tucker’s house sometimes, though nowhere else yet.  He settles into a ghost fighting routine with Jazz and they both work up a rhythm that works well.  (Danny does most of the physical fighting and Jazz does a lot of background strategizing and overlooking of the fight that makes things run way smoother.)

Eventually, he does seem to improve his reputation at least back to where it was pre-Freakshow.  Especially when Jazz manages to make it known he was part of the reason Freakshow was captured and all of the valuables returned.

Unfortunately, the one person it doesn’t seem to have any effect on is Sam, which is really inconvenient given that she’s kind of the point of all this.  Danny can’t blame her, though.  He hasn’t had a chance to talk to her directly as Phantom, and he doesn’t want to just ambush her at school one day, that would be the opposite of helpful.  So Sam’s only one-to-one interaction with him continues to be “that time he tried to kill me by dropping me several stories to the ground.”  Honestly, her being suspicious is probably the logical choice.

He tries hard not to be thinking about that when he’s with her as Danny Fenton, though.  Compartmentalizing can actually be very helpful.  Prevents him from screaming in frustration every time she goes off on a rant about how everyone’s being fooled by that Invis-o-bill idiot again.  (Could she at least not use that stupid name?)

And this week isn’t going to have anything to do with Phantom at all, because the three of them are going to hang out in Sam’s basement with a lineup of scary movies and enough popcorn to put them into a food coma.  (Sam’s three favorite horror movie icons are going to be fighting each other in an upcoming movie, so they’re rewatching all of the old ones first at Sam’s insistence.)

Danny got special permission to go from his parents on account of his improved grades and good behavior, meaning things almost feel normal as he walks up to Sam’s house and knocks on the door.

Sam pulls it open a second later, a bright grin already on her face.  “Danny, finally!  Come on!”  She grabs his wrist and yanks him into the house before Danny can say anything, and pulls him past her parents without letting him get out so much as a hello.

Tucker’s already waiting in the basement when they get down there, and gives Danny a wave in a break from shaking a truly ridiculous amount of salt onto his giant tub of popcorn.

“Yours is on the left,” he says, nodding at one of the three tubs.  “Sam’s has the vegan butter.”

“Thanks Tuck,” he says, picking it up and heading over to his usual movie chair as Sam grabs her own popcorn tub and does the same.

“This is going to be the greatest movie ever,” Sam says, a grin lighting up her face as she turns the giant movie screen on.  “Plus I already bought us tickets, I cannot wait to see it on Friday.”

“I thought ticket sales didn’t open until Monday,” Tucker says as he finally sits down, apparently done taking years off his life with the amount of salt he’s using.

“There’s still a couple advantages to being filthy rich,” Sam says.  “We have three reserved seats right in the middle of the theatre.  I decided to cheat just this once.”

Danny snorts.  “Figures you’d break for horror movies.”

“Hey, I’m not breaking anything.  This is a one-time thing,” Sam says very seriously.

“Sure,” Danny says, giving her a teasing smile.

“I mean it!”

“Uh-huh.”

“I think Danny’s just telling you to get off your high horse,” Tucker says with a smile of his own.  “So much for hating being rich, huh?”

“Guys.”

“We’re just teasing, Sam,” Danny says, nudging her in the side.  “You know we’re gonna love having those seats too.”

Sam gives him a not-very-serious-glare, and then starts grinning again as she turns back to start the first movie.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t care either way,” she says.  “I don’t think anything could ruin this week for me.”

Danny smiles at her for a second, enjoying the image of her being so happy.  He settles back into his own chair and tosses a first handful of popcorn into his mouth.  Horror movies may not actually scare him much anymore, but Sam loves them enough that it’s incredibly easy to care, if only just for her sake.

Tucker still hides his head between his hands at a couple points, but he sticks it out through the whole movie, which is impressive enough for him.

“God,” Sam says, leaning back with a grin after the credits finally roll.  “It’s still good.  Isn’t it still good Danny?”

“It’s still good,” Danny agrees with a fond smile.

“Speak for yourself,” Tucker mutters, from his clenched up position in his own chair.

“Well I hope you’re ready for more tomorrow night!” Sam says with a grin at him.

Tucker gives her a look.  “You’re both so lucky that you’re my only friends.”

“Aww, he loves us,” Danny says.

“He does,” Sam says, putting a hand to her chest as if moved.  “Isn’t it so sweet, Danny?”

“It is, Sam, it really is.”

“I hate you both.”

“Inclined not to believe you,” Danny says with a grin.

Tucker rolls his eyes and sits up.  “Please, I would totally be sitting out on this if it wasn’t the only thing outside of school your parents were letting you do with us.”

“Somehow, still inclined not to believe you.”

Tucker crosses his arms with an annoyed huff, meaning Danny is totally right.

“Tell you what, you can bring a cooldown movie tomorrow night,” Sam says.  “That way we can all stay longer and you don’t have to go home terrified.”

“Except I still do tonight,” Tucker says.

“Not much I can do about that, you didn’t bring another movie.”

“I’ll walk home with you, Tuck,” Danny says, standing.

Tucker gives him a curious look.  “Do you have time to do that and still make curfew?  I thought you’re parents were being really strict about that.”

“I have my ways,” Danny says.  “See you at school tomorrow, Sam.”

“See ya!” Sam calls.  “Don’t let my parents yell at you on the way out!”

“That’s easier said than done,” Danny mutters, but they both head up the steps anyway.

They do actually make it out without any yelling, though they don’t manage to avoid a couple glares.

Tucker turns to him as they start the walk towards his house.  “I am glad your parents are letting up on you a bit, though,” he says.  “Especially considering you being gone wasn’t actually your fault.”

Danny nods, though he doesn’t really want to talk about it.  “Yeah, I don’t think they can really stay mad for too long.  I think it’s also pretty clear to them that I learned my lesson, which helps.”

“Your lesson about not getting kidnapped?” Tucker asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Still not gonna tell them, but thanks, Tucker.”

“Still don’t understand why, but alright.  I won’t push.”

“Thank you,” Danny says, and he means it.  “I do think the whole experience has thoroughly ruined circuses for me, though.”

“You and Sam both,” Tucker says.  “Though I think maybe part of that was Invis-o-bill’s fault.”

Danny winces and doesn’t say anything.

“Hey, you okay?” Tucker asks, clearly noticing.

“Fine,” Danny lies.  “Look, we’re here.”

He gestures at Tucker’s house just a couple houses down.

Tucker keeps looking at him as they walk.

“I’m not gonna push,” he says again as they reach his house, turning to face Danny.  “Just know that offer to tell me anything is still open.”

Danny looks at him, chewing on his lip.  “Hey,” he says quietly.  “You know I’d never want to hurt you guys, right?”

Tucker blinks.  “Uh, yeah, duh.  Was that in question?”

Danny huffs a laugh.  “No.”

Tucker looks at him another second.  “Danny,” he says.  “You know what happened wasn’t your fault, right?  I mean, how would that even work?”

And it’s funny, because he does know that, mostly.  Sure, the issue with Sam is tangled up in guilt and worry and other complicated feelings, but when it comes to actually being gone those weeks, he does know it’s not his fault.  He means it when he says that to Jazz.

But now, looking at Tucker, that stupid long-familiar voice creeps up in the back of his head: He wouldn’t be saying that if he knew.

Danny shakes his head, mostly to tell his brain to knock it off.

“I know,” he says to Tucker.  “I just… I hate that you guys were so scared for me.  I don’t want to worry you.”

“Dude,” Tucker says.  “You’re our best friend, that’s our job when you get hurt.”

“It’s not like that’s new,” Danny points out.  “Dash shoves me into lockers all the time.”

“Dash doesn’t kidnap you and hold you hostage for several weeks,” Tucker says.  “Little bit of a difference there.  And for the record, I get worried when Dash messes with you too.”

Danny shakes his head.  “It’s really not a big deal,” he mutters.  “I’m fine.”

“Danny,” Tucker says.  “Please stop lying to me.”

Danny looks down.  “No.”

They both stand there in silence for a couple seconds.

“I have to go,” Danny says finally.  “Curfew.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Tucker agrees quietly.

Danny waits until Tucker goes back inside to slip down a side alleyway, transform, and fly home.

[ryoryeonggu]

After years and years, I admit that my opinions with TVDU have changed a lot. For example, I no longer feel the burning hatred towards Elena when I realize how suck her life is (and she did have her moments). But no one could ever bloody convince me that killing Kol wasn't a selfish hypocritical action on her and the MF gang's part, and only because of plot armor that she (and her friends) survived after pulling that shit. Nope. Not a chance.

Point number 1: "Elena only killed Kol to save her brother, that's self defense."

Like it wasn't her who lured him into her house in the first place. Like it wasn't the point of her whole plan at the very beginning is using the death of his entire sireline to complete The Hunter Mark. To get the damn cure for herself. Let's get a quick reminder of how she was fully aware of the consequences and what she's doing:

Elena: If you kill one Original vampire, their entire sire line will die with them. That's thousands, maybe tens of thousands of vampires.

Elena: Think about it. Kol's sire line must stretch to the moon by now. If Jeremy kills Kol, every vampire that he's ever turned, not to mention everyone that they've turned, will die, which means the hunter's mark will be complete and we'll have our key to finding the cure.

Some would argue that it's after Kol compelled Damon to kill Jeremy. But please don't say that there's no other choice since there's Klaus trying to dagger him! For the girl and people who have deluded themselves into thinking her planning a genocide was to protect her brother, she sure did a good job protecting him by having Jeremy fight an Original with some guns and crossbows (like it could've worked in a making-sense world).

Btw hey, how about using the dagger that bloody Matt stole to use it on Rebekah, how about using it to dagger Kol instead? It's still utterly stupid and reckless to challenge an Original vampire either way, but at least could've "protected your brother" without murdering 10000 and more innocent person who did nothing to you. How about that?

#dontwannakill100letskill10000ppinstead #elenaslogic

Point number 2: “It’s not plot armor, Elena is smart and capable than people giving her credit for”…

Okay that could’ve been debatable... if her plan wasn’t stupid af.

I already read those arguments about how Kol isn’t the greatest fighter out of The Originals squad (can’t blame them since the writers kept letting him get bested ridiculously). About his strength might be numb and his skills might be affected after centuries spending on the coffin. About how Kol was cocky, arrogant and underestimated Elena and co. And you know what, that’s fair. That’s some good point I could get behind to explain why Kol didn’t just tear Elena and her brother apart in a few seconds as soon as he entered The Gilbert house.

But let’s not pretend when you saw with your own eyes, that Kol wasn’t in the upper hand in the whole fight. Even they did prepare themselves with all those hunter equipment, attempted to trap him or attack him with surprise. Kol, with all possible inconveniences listed above, still managed to overpower Elena and Jeremy, throwing them away with no sweats like some rag dolls. Not to mention Kol had several chances to just kill Elena and be done with it, like when he pinned her to the wall, and stabbed her. Why didn’t he just rip her heart out of her chest? When he stated clearly on the phone with Klaus that he was going to kill Elena? Why stopped there? No reason. (And why did he froze like that in the kitchen scene as if he was waiting to be killed? 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️) Kol didn’t underestimate Elena, it's Elena who underestimated Kol. And now we all agree that she and her brother would’ve eaten sh*t and dead, or been armless if it wasn’t for all plot armor, stop fooling yourself.

Another hole of Elena’s “smart and capable” plan is… HOW? What tf was she thinking how she’s gonna kill him??? Like, we all know the only way to kill an Original is the white oak stake… which they didn’t have. The only ones who knew Kol had it were Klaus and Rebekah. And I doubt they just casually mentioned to their enemies in very short of time that their brother had the murder weapon which could kill them all. And let’s pretend they did for some reason, how could they be sure Kol would just bring the white oak state along to the house? He could've kept it somewhere safe, he could've destroyed it already. And there’re no indication or hint that they knew where it was. They planned to steal a dagger to use on Rebekah, to deal with the aftermath, but they didn’t bother to find the crucial weapon for the plan? And Kol just happened to bring the weapon to their door, how convenient. How clever.

Conclusions? Being with poor Elena and defending her all you want (like I couldn't careless with all other matters) but please don't pull the self defense card in this case or go as far as she really just survived purely on her "skills" or her "intelligence". Like, sure. She made a plan, lured Kol into her house to murder him, planned to kill 10000+ people and dgaf about the possibility of the world ending just because she couldn't handle being a vampire. The entire mess afterwards was because of her doings. And don't get me started on how the hell she thought she could get away with killing Klaus and Elijah's little brother and planned to dagger their baby sister later. But yeah, of course, somehow she did. Plot armor. Pointless.

[haunted-creations]

Different Friend Types HC's Pt. 1

I wanted to do some platonic friendship hc's so I picked characters that fit certain types of friends. ^-^

💚 The Doting Parent – Makoto Tachibana (Free!)

Makoto is totally the type to fuss and care for you much like a doting parent regardless of how competent you are. He’s always looking out for you and wants to make sure you’re doing well.

If you’re not very good at taking care of yourself, Makoto will step in and help. He already has some experience with his own siblings and Haruka after all, what's one more? He’ll make sure you’re on time for whatever you have to do, he’ll kindly fuss and try to get you to go outside if you don’t get out enough, make sure you're not skipping meals, drinking enough liquids, keep you on task and help you with anything you need to get done. If you’re feeling down or upset about anything, he’s right there with a kind smile and asking what you need from him.

Makoto gets embarrassed if you try to take care of him and if he's unable to take care of himself for whatever reason, he'll constantly apologize for it because he doesn't want to inconvenience you. But when he's able, he'll definitely either get you a thank you gift or return that care two fold. It's not often anybody takes care of him so he appreciates it greatly and will let you know that.

If you're the type to become a dual parent friend with Makoto, you two are gonna be quite the pair. Sometimes you'll both become almost overwhelmed with how much you two take on to help your friends, but you two will always be in sync catching wherever the other falls short. It's a lot of work for sure but you guys easily become an essential core to your friend group and really make it feel like a family. Outside of your friend group though, you and Makoto definitely at least take one day every week to do a spa day or have a chill lazy hangout day together to refresh yourselves.

"Hey, how've you been? Are you eating and drinking enough? How's your sleep? Ah don't call me mom, I just want to make sure you're ok, you know...?"

☀️ Your #1 Fan – Mirio Togata (BNHA)

Mirio is the best cheerleader you’ll ever have in your corner. He's all about bringing out people's greatest potential and any buddy of his is guaranteed to feel supported and self-assured.

Even though Mirio's an overall high energy optimist, he understands that everybody can have different preferences for what they want in encouragement. He also understands that sometimes people just need general support and he's more than willing to provide just that. He'll never push you to do anything you don't want to do or force optimism on you. He just wants you to know he's got your back.

Mirio’s favorite kind of motivation is to hype people up! Compliments and praises left and right, motivational talks all over the place if needed, he’ll make sure you won’t leave without at least some upgrade in your confidence. He’ll even chant his encouragement to you with enough energy for a whole crowd. He believes in you 1000% even if you don’t, and by no means do mistakes or failures mean you’re any less of an amazing person in his eyes because it's all part of the process of progress. You're trying and that's what really matters!

If you’re one of those people that aren’t quite that high energy and have trouble with motivation, he’s got you. He’ll listen to what troubles you and gives calmer words of encouragement. If you need help with doing things that are too overwhelming for you, he’s ready to assist in any way he can to make it easier. If you need a little push to do something that scares you, he’s there to be your safety net and express how proud he is that you had the courage to try. If you feel like you can’t do anything because life is just too hard, he’ll tell you that that’s ok. He’s proud of you for trying to push through because it takes a lot of strength to endure what you’re going through. If you ever need anything, he’ll always be there for you.

“There’s my awesome buddy! How’s being the best person in the world going for ya? Nah it’s not an exaggeration, it’s the truth! Honest!”

💀 Partner in Crime – Guzma (Pokémon)

Guzma’s that type of friend that’s fun to get in trouble with and may or may not be a bad influence on you. Parents hate him lol.

Despite Guzma’s delinquent ways he has a moral compass in there. He wouldn’t go as far as to do anything truly heinous, he’s just here to let loose and have fun. His kind of misfit fun is pranking people (especially assholes), maybe a little vandalizing and stealing things from said assholes, graffiti, trespassing to explore abandoned places, hitting up underground parties or clubs, etc. If there’s anything you haven’t tried that you weren’t sure about or didn’t want to do alone, he’s totally down for it. If anything, he might be the safest person to have around for whatever it is because he always makes sure to look out for you when you guys get up to stuff.

Guzma would never snitch on you for anything, momma didn’t raise no snitch. You won’t realize it until he does this or if you guys start playing with hypotheticals, but Guzma will give himself up or take the blame to protect you if needed. He’s aware that the way he lives isn’t a good lifestyle and he’ll partially blame himself for letting you almost get in trouble. But it hardly gets up to that point because he’s pretty good at getting you guys out of trouble whether it be through clever street smarts or intimidation. Also you know, he's got a whole gang/family to back him up and by extension back you up.

FOR LEGAL REASONS, I DO NOT CONDONE THIS AND IT’S A JOKE-: Assuming you and Guzma are thick as thieves, he’d help you get away with murder. There will be no questions. The less he knows, the better, but you're gonna be handling the majority of taking care of the body. He'll put up with a lot, but the dead gives him the jeebies.

“You and me? We're like chaos and destruction in human form. The world's gonna be shakin' at the mention of us, just you wait!”

😏 Are Y'all Dating or...? (The Bestie) – Oikawa Tooru (HQ)

Oikawa’s that type of friend to be so close with you that people wonder and ask if you two are dating. The answer is always no…uNLESS…!!

Oikawa wants to do ALL the things with you and you two never truly get tired of each other. There will be many sleepovers, shopping trips, gossip, spa days, trying new things together, road trips. Each of your families and friends will be well acquainted with you two to the point that it’s almost annoying how much you two bring each other up to people. His other good friend Iwa-chan is kind of relieved at first that there’s someone else to take on Oikawa’s antics, but soon realizes that it’s become double trouble for him as a result.

For Oikawa it’s like he’s found his platonic soulmate and he couldn’t imagine his life without you. Which is why he’s also pretty protective of you and becomes suspicious of any newcomers, though he knows how to respect your boundaries and let you live your life how you want. If you have a crush that he gets good enough vibes from, he will hype you up and try to figure out a plan to help you two get together. If anyone hurts you, he will get them back for it in a crafty yet subtle way that will simultaneously make it obvious to only that person that he’s the source of their torment.

At first people thought you guys were like siblings but with the amount of joking you guys do about cuddling and how excessively you compliment each other, people’s perceptions quickly turned. Some people might even want you two to get together, but you guys aren’t into each other like that. You’re both just platonically comfortable and close enough to make those kinds of jokes and find it amusing that people even think you two are romantically involved.

“Bestie!! I found this new café that just opened up, we gotta go try it! And tell me all about this new person you’ve got your eye on~”

👿😈The Chaotic Gremlin(s) – Denji & Power (CSM)

Denji and Power are about the same type of gremlin with slightly different quirks and might as well be a packaged deal, so here we are.

What could go wrong with these two? Literally everything. If you choose to hang out with these two you know exactly what you signed up for. You’re going to constantly get in trouble with them for destroying large amounts of property. You will be dragged into devil fights and often become the damsel in distress if you don’t have a way to protect yourself, but at least these two will literally rip the devil to shreds or be ripped to shreds to protect you. While this is nice, you’ll more than likely end up with broken bones anyways because Denji accidentally drops you from a considerable height or Power flings you out of the way without considering what the impact could do to you, much less looking where she flings you. You better be durable.

Denji and Power are constantly bickering and since you’re a third addition to this now group, they’re gonna fight over you. They come up with strange and nonsensical ways to compete in spending time with you or even just getting your attention. You’ve basically become the older sibling that the younger siblings will do anything to gain your favor and praises. Whether you use this to your advantage or not is up to you, but I have a sneaking suspicion you get these two into trouble in doing so and quickly make your escape before they can blame you for it.

On a more wholesome side of things, Denji and Power would be like a brother and sister for you. If they do anything they find personally impressive, they want you to witness it and praise them. As mentioned before they always want to win you over: Denji trying to be genuinely considerate of you and make you laugh while Power will sabotage him and even go as far as to cause trouble on purpose and accuse him of being the culprit. They’re basically your feral guard dogs, so if anybody ever harasses you these two will be threatening them with things worse than death. Whenever they want to play games or go out, you’re always dragged along. Sure their constant quarreling and grapple for your attention can get annoying, but that comes with the territory and you wouldn't have it any other way with these dummies.

Power: “The great Power demands your presence! Let’s go. Leave stinky Denji.” Denji: “Hey no fair, it’s my turn to hang out with them! And you stink worse!!”

[mikki-does-simp]

Words aren't worth shit. (Kuroiro Shihai x GN!reader)

surprise you guys, i came back from my grave for the kajillionth time! frankly, i'm slightly sick of interacting with almost of the MHA fandom, but my love for 1B seems to never ever waver, so i'll try my very best to stick to more longform fanfiction and post more-often so that the people who deserve it have actual content.

A/N: i wrote this in literally two adjacent blocks starting at 1AM and ending around 5 AM with a sleep from 4-4:30, so forgive any flow inconsistences or grammar/spelling mistakes because i say fuck the beta

edit: actually never mind next time i will appreciate a beta run more i left so many spaces that were just- *unfilled*

socially awkward kuroiro AND tactical manipulator kuroiro CAN co-exist, it just has to be written in a very specific way, though. despite that, with you, he feels like a cat covered in wet spaghetti, but like, in a good way.

Who the hell came up with the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words"? Or hell, who altered it to have it to relate an action? Kuroiro didn't really seem to convince himself of it, no matter how hard he tried. It wasn't like he was indifferent to works of art- after all, he considered himself a sort of artistic guy... but when it came to a flash, a picture in his mind, a memory- usually it only took up about thirteen words in his mind. He considered himself a writer. Dare he say a poet. He kept piles upon piles of journals of his writing, and where people could not suffice, pen and paper were his greatest confidants. As much as he liked pencils, pens were just- ironically more artistic; even if he had to scribble at the paper if he misspelled a word or accidentally placed the lettering way too close.

He clenched a few papers between his hands, skimming over the writing as he stood in wait for what might be a pinnacle moment of his life. There were too many mistakes in his mind- so many scribbles it seemed like a quarter of each page was just a section or a word, blacked out in ink. He sighed, inwardly admitting that staying up until two am in the morning writing this was a terrible idea it's not like the author is doing the EXACT same thing down to the hour, but he could just not wait. Thoughts seemed to be always running through his head at light speed, from dawn to dusk and in between his dreams like a sickness of his. This is when he started to pace around with the pages in his hand, having to really mentally prepare himself for what he set up on what seemed to be the first impromptu thought of his entire life so far.

Kuroiro had somehow deluded himself so hard that he decided that he was going to profess his feelings for you within the next moment. Or at the very least, his fond admiration for your pieces, large or small that create the entire puzzle. He had slipped a piece of plain notebook paper under your door, even; that's how casual he tried to seem about it, as it could mean a lot of different things under different connotations if you ask someone to meet you. It wasn't a fancy sort of greeting or letter like he would have spent countless hours imagining he would, but it would make due. His pen and paper were becoming restless in it's own right, sick of hearing the same thought in a different variant over and over and over again. He had decided to meet you about fifteen minutes before the dormitory curfew, as to both make it less inconvenient for you and to make sure he had an escape route if anything went wrong. Yet again, his mind seems to be in a race with everything around it, dreaming up every possibility. Every triumph, every pitfall. The churns in his stomach grew more intense as he began to doubt himself,

It didn't take too long for you to meet him, with the casually dressed notebook paper folded in one of your hands. You pocketed it, then closed the gap of distance between you and Kuroiro, standing in front of him with a curious look to the papers in his hand- and how he looked like how he was going to vomit up a hairball. It raised some eyebrows, sure; but you seemed to understand his nature- his mannerisms, his idiosyncrasies: you seemed to accept them as they were, with no complaints otherwise about who he was. Human. A breath of fresh air for a guy like him, really. He didn't even greet you properly for a moment, already seeming to clam up, enamored by your beauty. It took a couple seconds for him to actually remember why he brought the two of you here- but when he did, he slowly looked to the writing in front of him, starting to read it out. Unfortunately for you, it was incredibly difficult to decipher what he was actually saying- he used so many elusive synonyms that the average person wouldn't be familiar with in terms of linguistics, and he would often go back to read a part if he messed it up, or pause for a moment to try and figure out what he was trying to say himself. The more and more he talked, the more Kuroiro realized this the sole brainless idea he had in a very long time- at least in his book, so out of some sort of shame, he started getting quieter as he read. His posture crumpled up more than it was before, and he was mumbling so badly, that it was even hard for him to hear the words that were spewing out of his mouth as he tried to read back He dropped the small stack of papers, much to your confusion; then, much to his incredible embarrassment, he felt his legs start to buckle despite himself as he kneeled to the floor, covering his face with his hands and starting to mumble a little louder about how incredibly awkward this situation was and that you should just forget it ever happened. He couldn't anymore, everything seemed to catch up to him in his incredulity...

You kneeled down to the floor with him, starting to pick up the papers for him. His hand reflexively moved to instantly snatch the papers from you- to hide away and confide yet again in the caverns of pen and paper- but he stops himself, opting to ball his hand into a fist to do so as he starts on an attempt to quell his mild panicked breathing. He felt so... soppy. Dare he say even- pathetic in a way. It took a moment, but he eventually found the strength to look you in the eye, and they lock, the watercolor to his monochrome. You pick up the rest of the pages, and even if it is incredibly messy and out of order, you remember how he reached to grab them from you, and although it confused you on why he would do that, you respected him too much to pry; in a state where he was cracking on all sides of a sphere, where he looked so oddly vulnerable. If you weren't too preoccupied with being concerned about the way he was acting, it would have felt good, about how he seemed to trust you being within this state

"Hey..." you interjected, slowly starting to offer both your held papers; and your free outstretched hand over to Kuroiro, "Take the time you need. You'll find a way to say what you need to say... and I'll flag you down with signals so it won't- get lost within the waters."

You had sort of an idea what was happening- but you could ask for more context later, as Kuroiro seemed a little too nervewracked to answer your questions. He took the both of you off guard, as he shuffled a little closer, his own arms beginning to outstretch as he simply took your simple outstretched gesture to wrap his arms around you in a shakey but gentle embrace. In that very moment, he couldn't believe it but... no words could describe what he felt. He almost lost himself in trying to figure it out, but at the same time, you quelled the tide all the same as you held each-other there.

[radical-revolution]

THE GREAT SPIRITUAL BYPASS

The Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist John Welwood coined the wonderful phrase “spiritual bypassing”, which means, in his own words, “trying to rise above the raw and messy side of our humanness before we have fully faced and made peace with it.”

I so agree with John Welwood. I think one of the biggest shadow sides of spirituality in general is that it can make us lose touch with our humanity. We dream of the heavens and forget the earth. Which is ironic, since our deep humanity IS the source of our most profound spirituality, so we’re kind of shooting ourselves in the foot there.

In the name of peace, we go to war with ourselves. In the name of being non-violent, or at least seeing ourselves as non-violent, we repress, suppress, deny and hide aspects of ourselves that don’t conform to that ideal, that image. We bury our anger, our grief, our fear. We swallow words we need to speak, say yes when we mean no, avoid setting boundaries in order to be “compassionate” and “kind” and “unconditionally loving”, and not hurt others’ feelings. We stifle our passions, our creativity, our sensuality, our deep, raw, intense, messy humanity, in order to appear to be “still” and “silent” and “calm” and “non-reactive”. We smile when really we’re breaking apart inside, stay quiet and still when we feel like screaming. In other words, we ignore our buried trauma. We push away those painful, inconvenient, shameful and embarrassing parts of ourselves. We avoid the darkness and try to reach the light, and then call ourselves… “spiritual”!

But whatever we suppress and repress in ourselves doesn’t go away. However enlightened or peaceful or “deeply rooted in Pure Awareness” we pretend to be, those un-met, unprocessed, unseen and unenlightened energies stay rooted in our bodies, in our nervous systems, in our muscles, manifesting in our dreams and nightmares. The monster inside us doesn’t go away by singing mantras, contorting ourselves into yoga postures, praying to the guru or visiting ashrams. The monster only goes away once it’s met in a really embodied way. And to meet it we’re going to have to be brave and stop pretending. We’re going to have to stop being perfect and spiritual and unconditionally loving and wise and good and calm and neutral, and tell the truth of our actual human experience. We’re going to have to really meet our inner child. Feel the grief, the anger, the terror that’s lurking inside. Feel it and process it and validate it and give it expression in a healthy way. And then, and only then, the darkness inside us may turn out to be our greatest light-source. Our wounds may give us an insane amount of wisdom and courage. Our pains may help us find our passions. But we can’t skip over the trauma. We can’t skip to en-lightenment without en-lightening ALL our parts. Without making room for the sorrow, the joy, the tears and the laughter, the anger and the awe.

I have learnt this the hard way. I used to run from feelings. I used to be scared of them, judge others for having them. Now, feelings are my dearest friends and companions, and sources of joy and creativity. I used to believe enlightenment was a transcendent state, free from sadness, free from anger, free from doubt. But that was my mind telling me that. That was my spiritual ego, the part of me that wanted to be special, that wanted to escape, that wanted to be superior and safe. I came to realise that enlightenment, if there is any such thing, is a deeply vibrantly alive ocean, filled with beautiful waves of anger and sorrow and fear and doubt and joy and bliss, filled with all of humanity, filled with deep feeling, and no feeling is pushed away, and all feelings can be felt and can move through and can be expressed in a truthful and authentic way. I don’t need to pretend to be free, or pretend to be peaceful, or pretend to be wise, or pretend to be neutral, or pretend to be more evolved than anyone else, or pretend to be anything at all. Just being alive is enough – alive, and open, and curious, and playful, and deeply human, and committed to this path of ever-deepening adventure in the Unknown.

We cannot bypass our trauma because then we are bypassing life itself, and life won’t let us bypass it anyway. Our trauma, when faced, will heal us, break us open to more life, make us more compassionate, more authentic. When not faced, it will drain us, make us act out unconsciously, it will hurt us and the ones we love, it will make us addicted, it will make us sick, it will destroy relationships and make us false beings. So we can’t bypass our hurt and angry places in the name of spirituality, because we want to be true, real, authentic. We want to heal, and be Whole. True spirituality calls us to face everything. Everything inside of us that needs to be faced. It calls us to face our hot, sticky, dark, embarrassing, angry, scared, shaky and sexy and fiery places. It calls us to speak up, even if we are terrified and feel like we want to vomit. It calls us to finally express what’s inside us, even if we lose all our friends. It calls us to be deeply human as much as we are Pure Awareness, deeply humble as much as we are divine, earthy and messy and imperfect as much as we are absolute and transcendent.

We don’t get to be perfect, but we get to be real… and that is the greatest prize of all.

- Jeff Foster

[thereallybadidea]

Things about Alastor in season 1 I haven't seen anyone talk about:

~S1 spoilers ahead~

1. He never interjects in anyone else's parts in the songs he's in. He sings smoothly and doesn't get distracted while others try to interrupt or yell at him. It gives the impression that he's always put together and never bothered. The closest he gets is asking Lucifer to butt out of his song, which is the most rattled we see until the finale.

2. In Hells Greatest Dad, he sings the line about least resistance after stacking things on to Charlie to carry just to show he can "fix" the issue. In the next section, Luci shows Charlie he can help with angelic power, but didn't do anything to inconvenience her to begin with.

3. He seems to be fine when things go wrong, almost as if he's predicting the outcome and tailoring it to suit him. I think the first episode shows this with how he agreed to help film the advert, but didn't have to have it air properly because it got interrupted. But it's really clear with Mimzy: when she arrives, he's really welcoming, showing off by being a good host in front of everyone. He knows she's going to bring trouble, so he blows off Husk when he tries to warn him. Then he goes and defends the hotel in a very showy way. It's only when he's kicking Mimzy out that he does it quietly away from everyone. Yes, he did say she can stay if she's actually looking for redemption, but he knew she wouldn't, which goes against him saying earlier that she should get settled in and it would look terrible if he was kicking out someone who came to him for help. She also implies he would never care about the hotel and that could raise questions about his loyalty.

4. For an overlord, he sure doesn't make any soul-bargaining deals in the whole season. Vox instantly picks up that he's getting nice and close with the princess of Hell, probably to make a deal with her. And at the one perfect opportunity, he doesn't do it. It's bad timing and would be a hard sell, even with his charisma, but I think he actually isn't allowed to. He might own Husk, but I think as part of his 7 year hiatus and whatever deal he made, it was stipulated that he can't make any new deals for souls. He *wants* to be all-powerful and souls = power, but he's constrained by his deal.

5. If black eyes means someone sold their soul and red eyes means they own a soul, the fact that Alastor's eyes are only black when he's in a demonic form might mean, like Angel Dust, he's only controlled by his deal under certain conditions. He has powers beyond the usual and I think it might be from deals he made while he was still alive.

Basically, I think he's a lot more evil than he appears at first glance. He schemes and controls his public image and reputation like a fanatic. And then everything works out for him. The ONLY time we've seen him lose is in the final fight. And I think his breakdown in the finale is actually a hurt ego thing, not because he's tied to an insanely cruel contract like AD.

[supermarine-silvally]

Well, this turned out angstier than I intended lol but at least I kept it to under 1000 words!

Summary: An innocent question from Perona leads to Yara unleashing some of her anger at her father, unaware of who might be listening.

Caution: Spoilers for the Marineford arc ahead. Tagging @oneirataxia-girl and @auxiliarydetective because you guys know what happens but fair warning to anyone who doesn't know how that arc ends.

“So what’s the deal, anyways?” Perona asked as she floated by the couch. “With you and ol’ Hawky, I mean.”

Yara shrugged and continued running the cloth up and down Yoake’s thin blade, wiping off the humandrill blood. “What’s there to say? I’m only here to get stronger so I can kill Teach and that magma bastard.”

“Yeah, but he’s your dad, isn’t he?”

“Only in a biological sense.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s get something straight, ghost princess.” Yara glanced up for a second, meeting Perona’s eyes before returning to cleaning her sword. “Dracule Mihawk might be my father, but there’s only one man who I recognize as my dad-- and that’s Edward Newgate. He loved us-- all sixteen-hundred of us-- like we were his own children, which is more than I can say for certain other people.”

“Harsh.”

“Not as harsh as abandoning your baby at a convent and cutting all contact with her for the next nineteen years.”

Perona stopped. “Oooh, damn. Is that what he did to you?”

“Pretty much, yeah. I guess my existence became too inconvenient for becoming the World’s Greatest Swordsman or whatever.” Yara let out a bitter laugh. “Which, you know what? I could almost forgive. Being a pirate is dangerous, and he doesn’t have a crew, so it’s not like he could just hand me off to someone else to look after while he goes and does sword things. So, sure. Leave me to spend the next thirteen years getting yelled at by nuns. But he never kept in touch. Never checked up on me, or gave me any indication about who I even was. I had no idea he was my father until I was about eight, and even finding that out was a complete coincidence.”

“What happened?”

“I discovered an old bounty poster at a market one day with his face on it, from before he joined the Seven Warlords. As soon as I saw his eyes…” She trailed off, before shaking her head. “I knew I finally had something of an answer to the question I’d been asking myself my entire life. When I showed it to the Mother Superior, she confirmed my suspicions. …That was a strange day. I went from being a nameless orphan with a funny eye to the daughter of one of the most powerful pirates roaming the seas, all before dinner.”

Yara dropped the bloodied cloth onto the floor and picked up a clean one, gently massaging it against the black blade. “I used to hate my left eye, you know. I didn’t understand why I looked like this, only that it made the other kids stare at me as if there was something wrong with me. For the longest time, I wore an eyepatch over it. Both to hide my association with Mihawk, and to keep people from thinking I was some sort of freak.” A sad smile rose to her lips, her tone softening. “Ace changed that. It was the first time anyone had ever made me feel beautiful.”

But as soon as the smile came, it vanished. “Not that it matters now. Ace is gone. Pops is gone. Most of the Whitebeard Pirates are gone. Perhaps being Mihawk’s daughter is all I have left.”

Perona opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it again, apparently changing her mind and letting Yara continue. 

“Damn Mihawk. What pisses me off the most is that the man acts like he’s never had a challenge in his entire life,” the young swordswoman muttered, raising her blade in the air and studying it under the light. “But you know what would’ve really been a challenge? Maybe alleviated some of that infamous boredom of his? Raising his fucking child. I think he probably expected me to find out about him somehow and then show up in twenty years to throw down the gauntlet, but if he thinks I want anything to do with him beyond strengthening my swordplay and haki, then he’s delusional. I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of a real fight.”

Yara lowered Yoake, placing it down on the couch beside her before giving the scabbard a quick wipe. “Ace and I used to talk about our shitty fathers all the time, and while his situation was terrible and I can’t even begin to imagine the pressure that was put on him his entire life, at least Gold Roger had the courtesy to be fucking dead. Mihawk couldn’t even give me that much.”

Perona’s eyes widened. “Uh, Yara--”

“--And you know what? If I could snap my fingers and change it so that he died while my mother lived, I would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t regret being born, but I do regret having such a useless father who couldn’t even do the bare minimum and send me the occasional birthday card.”

“Ya-ra.” Perona tapped her finger into the air twice, indicating towards something across the room. 

Yara turned around. Standing just behind her was Mihawk, his expression unreadable.

She leapt to her feet like a startled cat, meeting his stoic gaze with a ferocious glare. “What do you want?!”

Mihawk did not flinch. “Your observation haki needs some improvement,” was all he said. 

Yara’s eyes narrowed, a fierce, hot anger bubbling in her chest. “Oh, fuck you,” she spat, allowing it to boil over. “I’m glad you heard all that. You’ll never be even half the father Whitebeard was.” Whirling around, she slid Yoake back into its scabbard and stormed off. 

Silence descended upon the room as Mihawk and Perona watched her go. Zoro, who had arrived at the door behind Mihawk, did a prompt one-eighty-degree turn and quickly left.

[usagirln12003]

Itachi Uchiha: Hogwarts AU

Itachi Uchiha was a Pureblood wizard that was born on the 9th of June 1975 and started attending Hogwarts on the 1st of September 1986, being sorted into Ravenclaw house.

He had a Beech wand with a Phoenix Feather Core.

His Patronus was a Weasel.

His favorite subject was Transfiguration and his least favorite subject was Herbology.

From a young age, Itachi was calm and insightful, showing noticeable maturity for his age and knowledge on how to deal with every situation. For all his accomplishments, talent, and popularity, Itachi was a rather humble man. Never arrogant about his own abilities nor underestimating others, most things he said would be unbiased and accurate. If an opponent exceeded his expectations or posed a legitimate challenge to him or his allies, Itachi would freely admit it. As a seven-year-old, his reasoning was on par with the minister. Having studied history, not just of his family or Hogwarts but of the world, he gained a broader appreciation of what was important. Learning so much enabled him to understand how events of the past came to happen and, when he applied that same understanding into the future, he became concerned for where things were going. At the same time, Itachi was still fairly naïve as a child in many real-world scenarios and as such was willing to learn from his peers on how to differentiate situations. He lived at a distance, observing individuals and ideas without getting directly involved so that he could fully understand them.

Although this approach prevented him from becoming close with many people, it enabled him to think and act without prejudice or preconceptions, instead evaluating things strictly on their own merits. During his Hogwarts years, Itachi unintentionally gained many friends and admirers for his genuine concern for others despite his passive nature. He would think about his classmates and origins of magic and its future. For this reason, he never became arrogant about his own abilities or accomplishments; to which, most views or statements he made were usually well-based, seeing the situation for what it was. From this he had no self-righteous loyalty to his family that was so common among the Uchiha; though he loved his family and wanted the best for them, he knew there were more important things than the Uchiha's personal aspirations. Itachi's dream was to become minister one day, though he kept it hidden from others. Itachi was also one of the few Hogwarts students to hold no grudge against Naruto Uzumaki, believing Naruto to be the greatest victim of the Third Wizarding War and showed him kindness whenever they met by chance.

A pacifist at heart, Itachi did not actually like duelling and would avoid it when he could. As such, he preferred to rely on harmless jinxes as a first option, ending duels with as little damage as possible. When he couldn't avoid actual combat, he would end the duel as quickly as he could, all the while holding back as much as possible. Despite this, Itachi felt his own needs were secondary to the greater good's and to that end he decided to become an auror after graduating. He trained tirelessly to improve himself as quickly as he could and subjected himself to all of the auror life's inconveniences without complaint for the simple motivation of being useful to others. His commitment borderlined recklessness, due to training privately using extremely deadly methods such as dodging curses performed by his classmates.

Being so accomplished as a wizard enabled Itachi to approach problems less violently than others would, satisfying his peace-loving nature. These two extremes of his personality came into conflict as events moved toward the Uchiha family Downfall; he did not want to harm his family and sought a peaceful resolution, but knew that the path with the least bloodshed would be the family's extermination. When the Uchiha family refused to deter from their plans, Itachi was pushed over the edge and his normally polite attitude to his relatives became more violent, criticising them openly and lashing out at them for the choices that sealed their fates and his own. Despite this, at his heart, Itachi truly hated what he had to do for sake of preserving peace, trembling with hesitation as he prepared to kill his parents and crying upon doing it. With Izumi, valuing her companionship, and aware of her feelings for him, Itachi opted to kill Izumi first while she was asleep, allowing her death to be quick and peaceful.

While at heart still a pacifist, in the wake of slaughtering his own family, Itachi displayed a wrathful and merciless side, particularly to those who wronged or attempted to the people he cared for. In revenge for Yashiro Uchiha's cowardly manipulations of his father from the shadows and helping to provoke war against the ministry while keeping free of responsibility himself, Itachi used the Cruciatus Curse after making Yashiro realise how weak he was. Itachi would later use the Unforgivables to execute the helpless hit wizard Sugaru in revenge for Sugaru poisoning Shisui. He even threatened Danzō that he would reveal all the classified information he had on the ministry to foreign ministries should the wizard renege on his promise of sparing Sasuke, despite the potential damage this could inflict to the wizard population in England.

Despite the traumas he endured from killing his own family, Itachi did not blame the ministry who gave him the mission; though he did not trust Danzō on a personal level, he knew Danzō only had the wizarding world's best interests at heart. But Itachi – partly out of the necessity of his assignment to join Akatsuki – was greatly changed after the massacre, rarely if ever showing emotion. He became more prone to displays of force and permitted certain violent habits of his partner, Kisame, under the pretence that it furthered Akatsuki's goals. After learning everything that Itachi endured, Hashirama openly considered Itachi a greater wizard than himself. Itachi could not and would not fully shake his pacifistic ways, and would run from confrontation or rein in Kisame if the likelihood of collateral damage became too high for themselves or others. In addition, Itachi would continue to show his morality at times, as he expressed disgust at Orochimaru's lack of care for human life. While Kisame would sometimes protest, he considered Itachi a good friend and would listen to his instructions. Itachi also had a decent partnership with his previous partner Jūzō, showing respect to him and after his death, placing the remains of his wand in Jūzō's hand. While warning his new partner Kisame that being comrade killers meant they are destined to an unpleasant end, he disagreed with the former's premature determination that they are both terrible people, believing that humans only recognise what they truly are at the end of their lives.

The wizarding world's peace and protection was always forefront in Itachi's mind, but it was his dedication to his brother, Sasuke, that took priority in every situation. From the time of Sasuke's infancy, Itachi tasked himself with looking after him. Itachi even correctly guessed Sasuke's gender before his younger brother's birth. They'd spend whole days together in the woods around the Uchiha mansion having adventures and accomplishing self-appointed missions. When Itachi became an accomplished wizard and took much of their father's attention, Itachi would make special time to fill their father's shoes for Sasuke's benefit, at times even refusing his father's wishes in order to make Sasuke happy. In turn Sasuke wished to be just like his older brother and would often ask Itachi to teach him different spells. Itachi would almost never do so, poking his forehead and promising to teach him some other time. Unfortunately, none of these promises were ever kept.

It was Sasuke's safety that ultimately convinced Itachi to go through with killing the rest of the Uchiha, believing his own damnation was worth it if it ensured Sasuke's survival. Even though he did it for Sasuke, Itachi wanted to be punished for his crimes and selected Sasuke as the one to take vengeance against him. To push Sasuke in this direction, Itachi withheld the true reason for his actions and instead took on the persona of a man who had no love for his younger brother. Per the persona, Itachi cared about Sasuke only because of his Pureblood status. His actions in Akatsuki were meant to reinforce this persona, and whenever he met Sasuke over the years he would taunt his weakness and encourage him to get strong enough to kill him. His plan was that, once he had been killed, Sasuke would be hailed as a hero. Itachi never wanted Sasuke to learn the truth surrounding the Uchiha's massacre, and if he did he hoped the memory of a hateful older brother would cause him to not believe it. Itachi's constant pursuit of peace, coupled with the paramount secrecy of his missions and his capacity to care about those around him, led Itachi to take on every burden himself, believing he needed no help from comrades.

After he died and was temporarily reincarnated with the Ressurection Stone, Itachi discovered that his plans largely failed; Sasuke is not a hero, he did find out the truth about what Itachi did, and now he aimed to destroy the ministry for its role in Itachi and the Uchiha family's suffering. He then began to see the flaw in his original plans: he had been trying to manipulate Sasuke rather than be honest with him and trust in his own strength. Acknowledging the mistakes, Itachi was free to be himself instead of the persona he fabricated, being openly kind to others and displaying a dry sense of humour even in stressful situations. He put his trust in Naruto Uzumaki to stop Sasuke from proceeding further down the path of darkness, and after Naruto proclaimed that he will stop the war himself, warned Naruto against forgetting the value of his friends like he himself and "Madara" did, reminding him how those he loved helped him come so far. Itachi later even showed empathy to his enemy Kabuto Yakushi, likening Kabuto's arrogance and belief in nothing being beyond him to Itachi's own living self, telling him that such a path can only lead to failure, at the same time seeing finally acknowledging his true self for who he is and forgiving himself for his mistakes. Itachi further displayed a reflective side, refusing Sasuke's claims that he was perfect and telling him that perfection can never be obtained by one individual. Itachi came to believe sometimes two people of completely opposite personalities are two sides of the same coin; that when they learn to work together, they can succeed in things they are unable to accomplish alone, a possible reference to how he and Kisame were complete opposites but were capable of compensating for each other's weaknesses. He was also finally open and honest with Sasuke during their final meeting, admitting what he did and even sharing information Sasuke did not already know. He apologised to Sasuke for failing in his responsibilities as an older brother, wondering if being up front with Sasuke from the beginning might have allowed them to avoid the Uchiha's destruction. In their final moments together, Itachi told Sasuke he did not need forgiveness and that he will always love him no matter what.