#or b. looked great from one angle and nowhere else.

[marclef]

redesigning an OC of mine.... now to debate whether or not to shove him into my Pizza canon......

but now he's even tinier than he used to be 😅

[hemipenal-system]

2 - Muzzled

(author's note: this has some mild mentions of domestic abuse/implied sexual assault in it. read safely)

Siobhan tapped her foot anxiously against the floor of the train. She wasn't normally in this part of the city, especially not this late at night. She couldn't help but be stressed, and her music wasn't working at all to calm her down. Her damn earbuds already didn't fit these ears. They made specially shaped earbud tips for wolves, but they were expensive for only being useful three days a month. The stares she was getting weren't making her feel any less nervous.

It wasn't her fault she looked like this. She didn't exactly want to be a nine foot tall, four hundred pound column of tightly wound muscles and teeth either. Hell, she was bent at an uncomfortable angle to even fit on the train. No one was going to fuck with her, but that didn't help her anxiety. She could feel everyone in her immediate vicinity staring, eyes boring through her thick fur and into the scared creature underneath who was much more scared than she looked.

Thank fuck humans couldn't read werewolf body language for shit. She was doing her best to look aloof, not looking at anyone, zoning off into her music and occasionally glancing at the station map on the wall to check how close she was to her stop. She wasn't looking at them, but they were sure looking at her. Stonemere didn't have a lot of werewolves.

She would have been a rare sight anyway, but she couldn't afford to miss three days of her life right now, so she did her best to dress up regardless of her body looking like this right now. The end result was even more surprising: The aforementioned massive grey-furred werewolf, adorned with a dozen golden clip-on earrings and chains, as well as a matching septum ring, and a green and black flannel that she wore open because it wouldn't close over her massive torso with the biggest pair of jeans she could find. Honestly, it was a great outfit, and she would have felt much cuter literally anywhere else.

At least she got herself a nice berth on the train. There were two empty seats around her in either direction – the only ones in the entire train car. Who would have sat next to her? It seemed like every day there was a new story on the news about "a savage werewolf who snapped out of nowhere and mauled an innocent child," or whatever. The muzzle she had on definitely didn't help.

Stonemere had incredibly strict muzzle laws. Within city limits, werewolves who were permanent residents had to file their shift days and proof of lycanthropy along with proof of residency. (Like it wasn't immediately fucking obvious when she was shifted, since you know, she was a massive fuckoff wolf now) All werewolves, when in an enclosed space with non-wolves, had to wear a muzzle while shifted, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, unless they could get fifteen open unoccupied meters in any direction from them and maintain it over time, replacing the muzzle when that space became unavailable. Failure to comply with these laws was a class B misdemeanor, and the juries here always found a way to rack additional charges on to extend the sentence.

Honestly, Siobhan's muzzle was kind of sexy – at least, she'd heard other wolves say so. It was just a simple black and gold basket muzzle, nothing fancy, but it fit well and gave her breathing room. She'd worn it to a couple parties before and gotten some nice compliments and some fun nights. When she moved into town, a friend of hers recommended the grayfur leatherworker, and she had it made custom with thick leather strapping and golden rivets. Supposedly it gave her a menacing look. She didn't really see it. (The shock collar on her neck added to the effect, but that didn't even have batteries in it. A lot of wolves her age wore it as a symbol of protest.)

There was a smell to her left. She turned. A girl was sitting next to her, looking at her like she needed something. She was tall for a human but seemed small next to Siobhan, and had long blonde hair that ran almost down to her waist. She was drenched in perfume, but the wolf's nose was better than that. She also smelled like blood. Looking into the wolf's dark eyes with much less fear and anger than everyone else on the train, she lifted her hands.

May I sit here? Most wolves lost the ability to speak when they shifted, since their vocal cords weren't shaped for human speech anymore. Younger wolves used assistive text-to-speech apps, but over the years packs in densely populated areas had developed a variant of ASL that they often used to save on the trouble of communicating. Some humans learned it to understand their partners, but why would she have used it? Siobhan's ears worked fine, even if she had earbuds in. Charles Mingus wasn't loud enough to drown out the speech around her.

When she finished talking, she held her hands up, allowing Siobhan to curtly sniff at them. That was something fewer humans knew. It was entirely unnecessary, more a gesture of respect than anything, but it was meaningful. Siobhan looked back at the smaller human, who upon second inspection was practically shaking, eyes red and surrounded by dark circles. Are you alright? Why didn't you speak?

The human tapped two fingers against her mouth, then shook her head. Nonverbal. She took one of Siobhan's hands within one of her own, and kept signing with the other. I need help. The wolf didn't need to ask what she needed help with. The suspiciously finger-shaped bruises on her neck and the small cut over her eyebrow made it clear enough. I got away from him, but I don't know where he is now. She was breathing slowly, carefully. She was trying to hold herself together, and rapidly failing. I don't have anywhere to go.

Siobhan nodded. Stay here. S-I-O-B-H-A-N.

A-S-H-L-E-Y.

Siobhan put one arm around the girl, signing with her other, What did he do to you? The girl looked her in the eyes again, freezing up, before burying her face into the wolf's chest and releasing one shaking, heavy sob after another.

Fuck.

Siobhan draped her head over the human's shoulder, feeling her own eyes begin to water as the girl let out god knows how many horrific experiences silently, quickly dampening the fur she was sobbing into. She couldn't help but sniff the girl a bit. She smelled like blood and perfume. There were hints of smoke, and city grime. She'd had curry at some point, and smoked a couple times since. There was something else, too. When Siobhan processed it, she understood why she was wearing so much perfume. She tapped the human's shoulder, prompting her to look up.

It's a full moon. Why aren't you shifted? Ashley practically started crying again on the spot.

I haven't eaten. I ran four days ago. The shift took a lot of energy. She must have been absolutely starved to stave it off. She was pressing herself closer to Siobhan now, enjoying the feeling of the soft fur on her shoulders from the arm draped over her. She wasn't alright, but she wasn't in danger anymore.

Can you afford to?

Ashley nodded, raising her hands again. He knows I'm a wolf. He would have looked for that. Siobhan understood immediately. She was deliberately starving herself to prevent changing. Every werewolf was conspicuous for these three days. If they were all looking for a wolf, and she wasn't one? That gave her three days to get some ground between her and him before the moon days ended and she would have looked human again. She just had to-

"Ashley!" Both girls' heads snapped up. The man rushing towards them had on a nice suit, but he was disheveled. His brow was stained with sweat, and the way it was going his dress shirt probably would be too. His tie wasn't straight, and one leg of his pants was pulled up slightly. He was a mess. Under the sweat, Siobhan knew his scent. Ashley smelled like his blood, and he smelled like Ashley. One of his sleeves was cuffed halfway up his arm, and he had gauze around his forearm.

If the wolf hadn't been sure already, the look Ashley gave her confirmed it as the human seemed to fold into herself, becoming small in the seat, practically begging her to do something.

"Ashley! I'm so glad you're alright! I was so worried about you, I don't know how you could just run like that! Just come home, baby, alright? We don't need to do things like this! You-"

He stopped as Siobhan stood up, stepping back slightly as the wolf shed her flannel, handing it to the cowering human, who had begun shaking again. Cover your head. People are probably going to start filming. She didn't do anything aggressive, just moving in between Ashley and the man as the girl wrapped the shirt over her had and the lower half of her face. She was right. People were filming. They were trying not to be obvious about it, of course, but Siobhan could see the glint of camera lenses from behind books and backpacks as everyone on the train car watched the spectacle.

The man, to his credit, maintained his confidence fairly well as the wolf twice his size blocked his path to Ashley. "Ash? Who's your friend? I didn't know you knew any other-" As he talked, he moved back forwards, attempting to negotiate Siobhan to the side. Ashley was practically crying again behind her, quick sharp breaths indicative of what was happening to her.

Siobhan didn't mean to snarl. It just sort of happened. The man was trying to move past her, and then he was flat on his ass, scrambling backwards, trying to get to his feet and save face somewhat. Siobhan stopped snarling, but she kept her teeth bared, moving towards Ashley and pulling her close. Nothing was going to happen to this girl, and no amount of bluster this man could conjure was going to get to her anymore.

He could conjure quite a bit of bluster. "I'll be at home, Ashley. When you change your mind and get off this silly escapade of yours, you know where to find me. I can't always-" Siobhan snarled again, and he was gone. She locked eyes with the nearest person holding up a phone, and suddenly all the phones were too. That didn't matter. Ashley was safe and that was the only thing that did.

Come on. I know where we are. There's a really good smoothie place two blocks from here that does twenty-four hour service. Let's figure this out. Ashley nodded eagerly, cracking a weak smile at the wolf, eyes teary and mascara running.

…

Thank you.

Siobhan nodded enthusiastically at Ashley as the latter stared into her smoothie with a strange mixture of gratefulness and embarrassment, taking another bite of her half-eaten ham sandwich with appropriately wolfish intent. Siobhan tried to smile. Don't worry about it at all. I wasn't doing anything else tonight anyway. You can crash on my couch for as long as you need, girl. How are you doing, you know? She gestured vaguely to everything around them.

Ashley shrugged. Oh, I'll be alright. I play a lot of Tetris. Things are looking better now. I can figure it out now. She smiled – an actual smile, not an "I don't know what to do with my face" smile – at Siobhan.

…

Ashley snuggled up under the blanket. The apartment was small, but it was enough for the two of them for now. Siobhan showed her how to work the lights, pausing for a moment to place a single affectionate lick on the very tip of her golden-furred muzzle, before crossing the room and climbing into her own bed, leaving one arm out from under the covers.

Good night, Ash.

"Good night, Siobhan."

[lcksndkys]

Title: Here for you 

Pairing: PJM x reader

Rating: SFW

Genre: fwb au meets hospital au

Word count: 1,475

Summary: after an especially hard day at work, Jimin tries to comfort you, except you don't seem to respond to his usual tactics. 

Warnings: imposter syndrome, a penis wiggle, discussions of medical complications but no death, implied smut

A/N: Hi, all!! There’s a bit of medical lingo. Resident= a physician who practices under the supervision of an attending physician. Attendings= doctors who have completed a residency, and supervise residents. Med surg= medical surgical unit/floor of the hospital where patients are generally, but not limited to, those recovering from some type of surgery. PE/pulmonary embolism= an emergent medical condition where there is a blood clot in the arteries that supply the lungs.

Also, this was written as part of the ghostie drabble marathon with the prompt: Character A gets emotional easily. Character B does not. A catches B crying alone and realizes that they never learned how to comfort B since they were usually the one getting comforted. Please drop a line, anything you want, to let me know what you think!!

You feel like an idiot. 

Head in your hands with your eyes squeezed shut, you inhale slow and deep to calm your stuttering breaths. 

Inhale, pause, exhale. Repeat.

You refuse to break down while at work. Doctors didn’t have that kind of luxury and you can’t sit here forever (even if a small part of you wants to).

Hands braced on the cold, hard concrete of the hospital's dingy stairwell, you're ready to continue with morning rounds when the door suddenly opens.

Fluorescent light floods the dimly lit stairwell.

“Dr. Lee’s lookin for you,” comes Jimin’s concerned voice.

“Fuck,” you whisper at being caught crying like a scared first year intern. You swipe under your eyes, erasing any trace of wetness and avoiding Jimin’s worried gaze. 

“Yeah, I was just- just going down for coffee. I’ll come right back up to med surg” you sputter. You’re nowhere near the cafeteria.

His dark eyes meet yours briefly. Two years of friendship and casual hooking up has him believing he knows you better than most. He knows when you’re lying.

 You make a quick exit, pushing past Jimin, refusing to make eye contact. Heading down towards the cafeteria to keep up pretenses, you decide maybe you do need the extra caffeine. 

Coffee in hand and hearing the death march ringing in your head, you dread meeting with your attending. 

Dr. Lee is a stern, but fair, mentor. She scolds you harshly for your mistake and then gently reminds you that this case will stay with you for the duration of your medical career. She promises you won’t let yourself make the same mistake twice. You hope she’s right.

By the end of the day, you’re feeling wretched. Having worked 80+ hours this week has exhausted you mentally, emotionally, and physically. 

You head to the staff changing rooms not noticing the figure following you. Angrily pulling off your scrub top, you pause at the soft knock at the door.

“It’s me,” comes the quiet of Jimin’s soothing lilt.

In your bra and scrub pants, you crack open the door and peer around him confirming that he’s alone. Opening the door wide enough to slip his lithe body between the cracks, you sigh.  “What do you want, Jimin”

“You had a rough day. I wanted to make you feel better” he rasps, winding his arms around you and pressing his body into yours. 

He easily crowds you against the door, one hand slithering around your waist, the other discreetly locking it.

Mouth slotting against yours, you part your lips wider to allow him to press his tongue to yours. You moan into his kiss, letting him tilt your head, deepening the angle. His hands wander the expanse of your exposed back, down your hips, and landing on the swell of your ass where he palms at the soft flesh.

He kisses you like it’s the last time every time. Ardently and enthusiastically, like he can’t get enough of you. It takes your breath away. 

You give yourself a moment to enjoy his affection, sliding your hands under his scrubs to scratch lightly against the soft skin of his abdominals before pushing him back with a firm hand against his chest. You pretend you don’t feel the rapid thrumming of his heart under your palm. 

“Not tonight, Jimin” you pant. 

You can’t get fully out of your head and into Jimin. Not right now. He lets you withdraw from him with worried eyes. 

The past two years have been hard, but your unforeseen friendship (turned fwb status in the last year) with Jimin has been a nice bonus. He made you laugh, he talked you up to the other nurses and your superiors, he made you cum, (he made your heart race, but you’d never tell him that). You were focused on completing your orthopedic residency and Jimin had hesitantly agreed that there were to be no strings. 

You hastily finish changing, stuffing your scrubs into your bag and making for the door.

Before you can hustle down the hallway and away from the sterile white of the hospital, you’re stopped by a firm, yet gentle, hand around your wrist. With a light tug you’re falling right back into his arms.

“It’s not your fault. You’re a great doctor” he insists, holding you close and pressing his forehead against yours.

Word gets around fast.

You scoff, tearing out of Jimin’s hold. 

Great doctor? A second year resident and you still feel like you’re flying by the seat of your pants. You don’t belong here.

“Shortness of breath, coughing, fatigue, recent surgical procedure, chest pain, lightheadedness when ambulating with physical therapy” you tick each off on your fingers. “Classic signs of a PE, Jimin, and I missed them all” you spit. 

The nurse shrinks back at your harsh words. After two years of friendship- and in Jimin’s opinion, more- he’s never seen you like this. Jimin has always been the emotional one; tenderhearted and in need of comfort after rough days. He’s always turned to you for that. 

“We caught it in time though. He’s gonna be fine” Jimin tries, trying to hold you closer.

Your brow furrows in frustration. He doesn’t get it.

“He could have died!” you burst. A patient could have died because you didn’t catch it when he threw a pulmonary embolism. “Stop trying to pretend you know what I’m thinking!”

At your venomous words, Jimin backs away. “I-I didn’t. I’m sorry. I only wanted to comfort you.” 

Eyes tight and biting his lip, he takes one last look at you before retreating back to his unit. 

You sigh, disappointed in yourself. But you have the next two blessed days off. Hopefully by then, you’ll have grown the nerve to apologize to Jimin for blowing up at him. 

Washing up and throwing your dirty scrubs in the laundry, you curl into your bed, finally allowing yourself to cry.

On day two, your phone pings with a notification. You see that Jimin has sent you a snapchat. 

Intrigued, you tap open the icon and-

Jimin is standing in front of his bathroom mirror- cheeks rosy, hair pushed back to expose his neatly trimmed undercut, ends dripping wet- covered only by a towel hanging from the base of his very erect penis. 

He must’ve just finished showering as you clearly see the beads of water running down his exposed neck and chest in rivers to undoubtedly pool on his bright orange bath mat. 

One hand is holding his phone, the other is waving into the mirror as he repeatedly clenches his pelvic floor muscles to make his rigid cock wiggle in greeting.

“Miss you,” comes his angelic voice.

He continues slowly waving, towel-covered cock bobbing in time with his hand as if purposely synchronized. 

“I hope you’re feeling better today” he says earnestly with a goofy smile.

You cackle at his antics, feeling your mood boost instantaneously. 

Eyes trained on his figure, you try to imprint this short video to the backs of your eyelids. It’s over as quickly as it began, video disappearing. 

Reciprocating, you snap back a shot of your body covered in nothing but his oversized shirt. Then, you open your texts and arrange for Jimin to meet you in an hour at your apartment. 

Waiting for his arrival, you pull out your favorite lube and some condoms in preparation. 

When your doorbell rings, you’re already worked up and ready for him to pound you into your mattress. 

Fixing your lips to his with a soft groan in greeting, you pull him towards your bedroom and pin him down onto the bed. 

You’re both panting when you break away from his plush lips to kiss down the column of his throat.

Jimin purrs beneath you, unable to resist the soft pull of your lips against his sensitive flesh.

“Shit, I wasn’t planning on-” he pulls back from you, eyes glazed with desire. “I just wanted to be here for you and make sure you- that we- were ok.”

You stare down at him. “Jimin. I’m sitting on your half hard cock, trying to apologize, and you’re talking right through it” you chuckle. 

He stops you as you lean in again. He’s serious.

“I mean… I also wanted to tell you," he looks shyly up at you. "You’re the only person I’ve been hooking up with,” he quietly admits. “I don’t want anyone else”

You gulp. Have you been stupidly exclusive this whole time? 

“Same,” you whisper, meeting his excited eyes with your confession. 

“So, then, this- you and me- it’s real?” he asks again with an endearing rouge to his cheeks. 

You look into his hopeful gaze and can’t resist him. 

“Ask me again after you take me out on a real date,” you agree easily as his eyes crinkle with happiness, beaming up at you.

[janiedean]

@seethemflying I think Sansa is in the next bracket down of important characters (with Jaime). In the outline, they weren't named as one of the big five, but in the process of writing have grown more important. No way is Sansa's ending going to be anything like Show Sansa's, though (and same with Jaime tbh).

agreed but lemme take a second from cramming to rant about this because I honestly have An Issue

in the sense: I 100% agree that both jaime and sansa are next bracket/secondary main (speaking as someone whose top five is made by ppl who are either secondary main or tertiary main if they have a pov like.... I'm not gonna argue that theon is a main fiver bc he's in my top three) but like what I can't deal with is the following as in that the main five are the main five bc they have in between them all the main themes george wants to tackle + the main plot stuff except for the 'romance is my #1 sense of existing in the plot', as in:

jon is azor ahai + has the chosen one deconstruction trope going on + most likely has the 'I never wanted to be Important™/have a throne but I'll have to for duty' ending + identity arc ie if he's not jon snow first of his name i'm eating my hat

dany has the dragons + the targ ancestry deal + 'I thought I wanted to rule but actually I don't I just want to help ppl' storyline (which is the hill i'm dying on)

bran has the oH WAIT fisher king deconstruction going on + the magic™ storyline + he's most likely kitn + he's tied to uh the literal rebirth of the continent so + how to deal with disability storyline

arya has the I NEED TO REALIZE WHO I AM storyline + the learning to be yourself as a gnc woman storyline + revenge is shit storyline + I'll become a skilled assassin and choose not to act on it unless absolutely necessary storyline + trauma/ptsd storyline tied to losing your own identity

tyrion has the shakesperean hero thing going on as in I have to make peace with the fact that I killed my father/did mistakes + overcoming the societal issues/problems/the prejudice most ppl have for him that’s caused by his disability storyline + he's the only one of these five who doesn't have any magical stuff in his background/only has his brain to rely on + overcoming his family's legacy and making it better storyline

now: a bunch of other minor/secondary characters have all of this (I mean idk theon and jaime have identity + learning to deal with/overcoming societal scorn given by them being disabled/having become disabled in various ways + ptsd, brienne has the gnc woman thing etc) but like each single one of these characters only lacks the OH I HAVE A BIGASS GREAT ROMANCE WITH MY BACKGROUND (I mean gendry exists to be arya's LI but idt it's gonna be important in her future storyline the way it'll be in brienne's to say one).. which oh wait SANSA JAIME AND BRIENNE HAVE, because guess what that's the next secondary bracket where those three characters have it as a main part of the story which is exempt from the politics angle (bc none of them is tied to the iron trap by the plot no none of them jaime doesn't want it, brienne isn't a contender and sansa was supposed to be queen in the beginning so she's obviously not going to be that later no not even qitn that's gonna be bran) and here falls the entire shebang because what half of this fandom doesn't seem to get is that *drumroll* george's favorite angle to tackle when it comes to romance is... THAT EXTERNAL BEAUTY IS NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING AT IN PEOPLE AT THE END OF IT AND GUESS WHAT THAT'S THE MAIN POINT OF ALL OF THEM PLUS THE KNIGHTHOOD DECONSTRUCTION THING and with that I mean:

not counting that sansa's reaction to trauma is written to be specular and opposite to arya's as in arya tends to lose sight of herself/becomes someone else/resorts to violence to survive sansa never loses track of herself/her innate kindness which... is smth I wish dnd remembered, the thing is: sansa is presented in the beginning as 'i'm a twelve year old with all the issues with shallowness a 12yo brought up like me can have and everything I want from life is a good love story', which... guess what she's 100% going to get except

characters need to have an evolution, if sansa wants a handsome pretty guy who'll make her queen in the beginning and she has to realize joffrey was The Worst, do we really think her endgame is being queen of a handsome nice king when her entire schtick is liking songs about knights and wanting true love and someone gentle and brave blah blah? no, and that's exceedingly obvious when the text throws at you in the face that her only two actually viable choices for LI - sandor and tyrion - are.. guys who are either disfigured or disabled or traumatized or all three of them but are actually good people and she has to learn to see beyond looks, and no one else fits that bill period - sansa isn't getting with a pretty guy who'll make her queen, sansa will find love with a guy who's nowhere near pretty or handsome but will love her for who she is and that she will see the good behind the not-handsomeness dot and she'll prob go back north with him and be happy advising bran bc she learned stuff in court at most and I'm dying on that hill, bc again the entire point of her sl is having the nice good love story where she sees beyond external beauty which has been clear from page five of her first pov imvho

never mind that again she wants to be a queen in the beginning and then she realizes it's shit so why would she be one in the end? like not to be that asshole but george isn't exactly pro monarchy and it's obvious he's not going to paint it as an inherently positive thing

this attaches back to the fact that there's a whole knighthood deconstruction happening for which sansa has to realize that the gallant/true knights are not the ones who seem that/look like it/flaunt it around

which brings us to the fact that oh wait sandor and jaime in themselves are true knights in spite of the fact that sandor refuses to even consider himself one and jaime thinks he fucked it up and no one sees them as such

and that the truest knight in westeros who will get recognized as such is brienne

who doesn't look standard hot either

and has the love story with jaime right on page

and jaime also has the love story right on page where he has to realize he's into people that aren't c. especially brienne and so on which is what's happening right now like jb recognizing themselves as true knights™ is part of their whole thing like... it's... important

(this counting that san/san is beauty and the beast played straight with sansa as the beauty while jb is the same trope except reversed on itself five times because both j and b are both of them)

and this would also like make utter sense if oh, wait, jb weren't in the riverlands where sandor also is and if oh wait who has sworn a vow to find sansa like again I'm dying on the hill that brienne kills stoneheart, they go on the quiet isle to recover, sandor is like AH YOU'RE LOOKING FOR SANSA and sansa gets rescued in the vale by the only three true knights in these series including the one that's her actual love interest at least the way I see it and where do you think that's going to end yeah exactly

as in: she'll have the umpteenth proof that all the true knights in these books don't look like the songs and she'll get the one she wanted

(also brienne is way more like sansa than arya in personality so like... parallelism of two girls into romantic stuff getting with the guys they like? except that for b. it's relevant bc she's ugly and she gets with hot guy who's into her and for s. it's relevant bc she's hot and she goes with guy-everyone-considers-a-lost-cause showing that they're not exactly a lost cause)

like sansa is there to a) have half of the main love story plot b) as the resident song expert witness what knighthood actually means, jaime is the resident person doing things for love and finding ways to do it that aren't toxic/finds someone who'll actually love him and not what he represents, brienne is the resident 'I never thought anyone would be into me and I'm pursuing my dreams without a shred of hope they'll go well' and she gets all of that and sandor is there to be sansa's LI and to tell ppl that you can go to rehab and have a decent life even if you were used and abused to hell and back (jaime too tbh) and like none of that has to do with the iron trap, the magic, the zombies and whatnot but it's okay because it's their point in the plot and is2g I just wish people would take characters for what they represent instead of shoehorning them into others's themes/stories just because it's what they want for them, the end

(I could rant about the third bracket of characters ie theon & co & getting over trauma/ptsd without the Love Story™ but I have to get back to study if I wanna fill some prompts later so it's not gonna happen for now but... sorry for the rant I'm just really tired of the whole sansastark will get the iron trap and the north and be the ymbq and get with a guy that looks good for her depending on what we ship not considering the overall reaching plot or her book plot and everyone else will have zero relevance in the story because we said so especially when it means giving all of that to a character who is uh not belonging to any of the categories represented by the main five which are actually kiiindaaaa relevant rep but I'mma just gonna shut up here)

[obae-me]

(Sorry this a but of a rant that I have been thinking about for a while so you can ignore it if you want)

◡̈⋆ʜᴇʟʟᴏ(*´∇`)ﾉ what do you think on the situation with the brothers looking down on human and hating them(Belphi)? Like I personally don't really like it but I mean like I get it & all but like for me, I would personally sit them down & tell them some of the reason why (I think) humans are seen as 'weak' & 'stupid' or even 'bad/evil' etc..(not that we are sometimes) is because for a few reasons like for example:

Humans are weak physically simply because of ⭐evolution⭐but also strong in the sence of emotions like unlike demons & angles, especially around death because we know that it's coming whether we like or not it's kinda the normal for us I the sence that we know how to deal with (sometimes)

Humans are stupid simply because we👏don't👏have 👏enough 👏time like literally if we did had enough time like Solomon is of not I already can basically see us like some of the brothers if not a combo of them but we don't have time so we spend it on things that matter to us

I would put more but like nah... Also I like to somewhere think that the reason why Diablo is interested in human culture or just in human I general is mainly (in my opinion) because of 3 reasons

We're so diverse in a sence were we came up with a lot believes out of nowhere (sorry if that ofens anyone), language, foods, and cultures even though we're the same species

We're so complicated in a sence like how we see the good & bad like for example if person A was a serial killer & was killed by person B in self-defense people would see the as a hero even though they did the same thing as person A & even if person A was clean some people would had praise person But for defending themselves

And final but not least the achievement of them like humans weren't born to have powers (except for witches & wizards) like them, who's power represent their safety net (well at least for me) but humans don't have one but instead we keep going raising to the top & reching for thing that was once a dream like landing on the moon or advancing the tecnology (like tbh I think that at this point demons & angles are coping from the human realm/world)

But anyway I'm gonna stop here because I'm tired of writing also I know that this is just a game but idk sometimes my head go wild with these type of things lol have a nice day/night!

Brain be like brrrrrrrrr

These are some really good takes! I like these!

I also have always thought that most demons fall under the seven sins. Lots of lesser demons are swayed to or created by the brother’s power and influence. So seeing that humans are so individual, so unique in every aspect. That it blows their mind a bit.

And we do know that up to date/modern technology seems super advanced to them, so I think they’d all be in awe of that, of how humans are able to adapt to situations so quickly.

I also think empathy is a big thing, or personification! I feel like it’s harder for demons to remove themselves from the situation and plop themselves into someone else’s shoes. And I’d like to believe they think it’s adorable that humans will give inanimate objects personalities or treat them as if they were “alive”. Like how I tend to buy the more beatup boxes or fruits/veggies because I’m worried no one else will take them home...I’m sure they’d all find that strange.

Anyway, I really like your thoughts on the matter, thanks for sending this in! I hope you have a great day! 💜

[cynergy-laughter]

Obey Me! One Master to Abridge Them All! Ep. 5

5. Rewind... Rewind... Rewind...

Leviathan: W-What?! No, that doesn’t happen!

MC: Uh, yeah it does.

Diavolo: Enn doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would lie about something so detailed... I think we know who the winner is...

Leviathan: No... NNOOOOO! *changes into demon form* You shouldn’t know any of this! You are just a newbie wannabe! You got into TSL in such a short time, and now this... I will not accept this... I will not recognize you as a fan!!! *runs at Enn*

MC: Oh shi- *falls down* Mammon!

Mammon: I’m comin- GAH! *slips on some melted ice cream* Dammit! I can’t get there in time... run!

Levi: I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY A NORMIE!!! *reaches out hands to wring Enn’s neck*

*Freeze!*

MC: *voiceover* This is me, I know what you’re thinking, this is a huge jump from the last time we left off. Oh dang... I look so scared at that frame... who even got that angle of me? Well they deserve a raise... uhh anywho, you’re probably wondering how I got here... well good, fleeting audience, I shall tell you how.

*rewinds two days and two nights ago*

MC: *groaning, brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed* I knew I shouldn’t have eaten that garlic and ghost pepper devil potato salad... best potato salad I’ve ever had, but feels like a detox coming out... *sprays and finishes up in the bathroom*

???: H-Help... Help me...

MC: *eyes widen* Oh please tell me I’m not in a bathroom fever dream...

???: Please... help... follow my voice...

MC: ... Yeah, cause that always goes well...

*follows to the attic stairs anyway*

Lucifer: *pops up out of nowhere* Go back now. There’s nothing up there for you.

MC: For me? Now you’ve piqued my interest.

Lucifer: Well there’s nothing at the peak for you, go back to your room. Don’t ever go up to the attic.

MC: How do you spell attic, by the way?

Lucifer: ... A-T-T-I-C.

MC: Ah! You naughty boy, why were you looking down there?! *puts hands over chest* My eyes are up here.

Lucifer: *blinks and blushed mad, realizing what he just said* Room. Now.

MC: *tries not to laugh as they go to their room*

—————

MC: *sitting at breakfast, alone with Mammon, zoned out*

Mammon: Hey! Are you even listening to me?!

MC: Hmm? Oh, sorry, as soon you started talking crap about me I kinda just turned your ranting into background noise.

Mammon: ...Well... don’t do that, you don’t just skip over The Great Talkative Mammon’s dialogue, that’s rude.

MC: Did you... really just add another adjective to your Name Title?

Mammon: Yeah, what you gonna argue with The Great Infallible Mammon?

MC: I literally made you enter a pact with me two nights ago.

Mammon: Shut up! Gah! Why did I have to be the one who be paired with you. It’s all Levi’s fault that I’m with you in the first place... no, it’s all Lucifer’s fault... none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for him...

MC: *sighs, and goes on another daydream, he wanted to know how to get past Lucifer*

*Earlier last night*

MC: *Casually walks toward the stairs* Hey Lucifer, can I see what’s upstairs, please?

Lucifer: No.

MC: tch, almost had him... *walks back to room*

*present*

Mammon: ...Lucifer’s color scheme reminds me of those OP DeviousArtsy original characters, like Red and Black? Seriously? Get a better outfit, especially if you’re gonna wear brown shoes, why can’t you wear black, you’re already wearing so much of it! Oh and to top it off, his feet reek... not that I’ve... ever smelled them... but I’m saying it, so it’s true-

MC: Mammon, what’s in the attic?

Mammon: Don’t change the subject, right now we’re discussing Lucifer’s feet, which, by the way, freaking stin- wait what?

MC: ... Mammon. Attic. What’s up there?

Mammon: ... Geez, you really don’t know how to mind your business do you?

MC: I do, but I feel like I’m already more involved than anyone could ever realize...

—————

Mammon: *walking with Enn to Levi’s room* If you wanna get past Lucifer and find out what’s in the attic... You’ll need something that Lucifer wants, and I think I know just who to go to for that something...

MC: *looks at Levi’s room door* ... So why the hell are we outside the Ultimate Otaku’s door? What does he have that Lucifer wants?

Mammon: *whispering* There’s a record of the limited cursed edition of the TSL soundtrack in there, he absolutely loves it, so we just gotta ask Levi for it, it’ll be easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

MC: One, don’t ever say that again. Two, I don’t know how easy it’s gonna be since Levi wants nothing to do with me, and three... oh what the hell. *knocks on the door*

Levi: What’s the secret phrase?

MC: *looks at Mammon* Yeah, Mammon, this sure is gonna be lemon squeezy.

Mammon: Okay, Levi, let us in, it’s The Great Older Brother Mammon, and his pact slave.

MC: *leers at Mammon* You’re about to be the Great Fat-Lipped Mammon in a minute.

Mammon: *shied away a couple of steps* At least capitalize the T in the word The...

Levi: I am known by someone outside the door as the Ultimate Otaku, and to gain entry, you must say the secret phrase.

Mammon: *leers at Enn* So great, he was listening the whole time, and you’re calling me names?

MC: Ugh... umm... Rurichan is bae? Mammon’s an idiot? Enn’s a Normie?

Levi: ... while it is all true, bzzt! Wrong! Access denied.

Solomon: *appears behind them* Well, if it isn’t the celebrity and his newfound pet demon~.

MC: *jumps up, and holds Mammon close to them* Get the hell outta here, Goblin King, we ain’t wishing for nothing.

Solomon: *smirks* Sorry for scaring you, Enn. *knocks on the door* The fifth lord...

Levi: ...couldn’t keep his huge rod in his pants and took the Lord of Corruption’s wife to bed...

Solomon: And for the betrayal done unto his home...

Levi: The Lord of Corruption named him the Lord of Lechery, and cursed him with eternal unattainable climax. Secret phrase approved, welcome to my kingdom.

Solomon: *smirks* Peace out suckas. *hits the whip, and nae-naes backward into Levi’s room*

MC: *still holding Mammon protectively* So the Goblin King had an invitation?

Mammon: *blushing* ... You do know that was the secret phrase right?

MC: ... *knocks on the door* The Fifth Lord-

Levi: Bzzzt! The password has been reset! Bitch you thought! Next time know more about TSL before you try me, normie!

MC: *growls and bangs on the door* GAH! Go to Heaven you K-Pop Justin Bieber!

Mammon: Enn! ENN! Don’t, you don’t wanna get in trouble with Lucifer, not this early in the year... *pulls Enn away*

Levi: *with in the room* You see what I have to deal with? The violent life of the yucky otaku.

Solomon: Hmm...

*interviews*

Solomon: *bursts out laughing* PFFFTHAHAHAHA! K-Pop Justin B-Beihihiberrrr! Oh my god, I have to text that to Asmo... *starts texting* Man, as belligerent as Enn is, they sure know how to roast someone...

MC: Don’t worry, this makes day 4 that he hasn’t noticed. But... I have to find a way to get him to give me the record... God, I don’t know what it is with Levi, he just knows how to push my buttons... have I let him get to me?

—————

Mammon: So... why am I gonna be watching this with that human... and Beel... why are you here?

Beel: A Movie marathon means popcorn, and I had a craving.

Mammon: ... Of course you did.

MC: *comes in with a huge tub of popcorn* Alright, a huge tub of popcorn, extra butter and salt for Beel, a pack of chocolate coins for Mammon, and a sensible bowl of popcorn and soda for myself. Oh, I also made all of us slushees.

Mammon: *blinks* slushees? What are those?

MC: It’s cherry and blue raspberry.

Beel: *eyes widen* Why is it that you continue to amaze me with your snacks?

Mammon: Did you really just ask that question? Did YOU... just ask that question? The bigger question is how did you make these?

MC: Not important. Alright boys, 12 hours ain’t gonna watch itself, let’s get ready... The Tale of The Seven Lords... *presses Play*

————— The next day...

Levi: Human.

MC: *looks at Levi* Wow, look at who decided to grace us with his presence after spending his whole day in his room.

Levi: Don’t talk down to me just cause you have all the time in the world to do what you want, like having a TSL marathon. Totally not fair by the way.

Mammon: Wow, talk about nosy, were you spying on us?

Levi: No, Golden Moron, I heard it from Lucifer.

MC: First of all, don’t steal my joke, I worked hard for that, and second of all, for someone who minds his business, you sure do like knowing everyone else’s.

Levi: I don’t want to hear you talking especially since you are the ruler of not minding your business! Just cause you’re trying to suck up to me, doesn’t mean we’re gonna be all buddy-buddy. So get it through your thick head.

MC: Leviathan, I challenge you to a TSL Fan-Off.

Levi: *blinks* Excuse me? Are you serious? You really think that you, a human normie is gonna out-fan me?! LMMFAO! That’s not even a contest.

MC: Wow, I never knew you were a chicken, Levi.

Levi: ... what?

MC: I’m just saying if you had your own fursona, it would be a chicken. Ba-GAWK!

Levi: ... You take that back. I would N E V E R !

MC: Because you already are Levi, just cause you didn’t accept. An Otaku Chicken, I can see the Fanart now!

Levi: You know what, I was gonna spare you the embarrassment, but now I’m gonna make it my goal to destroy you in that Fan-off, human. When I’m finished with you, your time in the Devildom will be cut short. But, if by some odd miracle you best me, I’ll join Mammon as one of your pacts. Not like it’s ever gonna happen, I mean, I’ve only been following TSL all of a millennia. And that, compared to your 12 hour marathon, should speak to how much more knowledge I have of TSL than you. So let’s see who Fans off more. Student Council hall, today after school, and don’t chicken out.

MC: Heh, just I eat chicken doesn’t mean I am one. I’ll see you then.

*there was an intense stare down, until there was a loud cackling from upstairs*

Asmo: BWAHAHAHA! K-Pop Justin Beiber, I’m done! Solomon, I am done with you! AAAHH! YAAASS!

[jonathanrook]

legally i have to give you intern 2

em you have awoken an ungodly beast inside me so i need to warn everyone that this post is. incomprehensible. but so is mymusic so i guess we're all used to it.

How I feel about this character:

i watched mymusic as it was airing/running/coming out specifically bc i'm a jack stannie, and as a kid melvin was my second favorite character (w scene being in first, obvs) for mostly that reason. he basically hovered around this ranking until my most recent rewatch in the summer of 2020, which was actually spurred by some events in my personal life that vaguely reminded me of scene's season two arc w jeff, and i thought it'd been a funny/nostalgic way to get my mind off things.

(i want to side note here that -- i know you didn't ask, but -- i love jeff. i have since i was a kid. like, obviously not as a person but i think he's honestly the best written character in the series, w indie close in second. idk what it says about the f*nes that their most interesting and well rounded characters are the villains, but i digress. to this day i'm salty that jeff never got added to the theme song and wasn't really included in promotional merch.)

however, in said rewatch, certain things about how he was written started to really get under my skin, and certain moments in particular have really stuck out to me in a negative way. like, for the entirety of season one and a good chunk of season two he's one person, and then he leaves mymusic and we have an entirely different person, but not in a nuanced character building sort of way.

i've said a few of these points before but i'll repeat them here regardless. at the risk of sounding like i've put on a tin-foil hat, it's my sneaking suspicion that scindie was supposed to be endgame, but since fan reception to it was pretty neutral, and scenechart stans were, at the very least, more vocal, changes were made to the intended finale, which is why in the last scene he's basically just. indie. like, if everything about the show was exactly the same but indie was the one who had ended up w scene in the end that would have made so much more sense since a) scene had a crush on indie that he/everyone knew about and b) indie was kind of a dick despite the half-assed attempts at redemption, so both combined make it slightly less weird/out-of-nowhere that he kisses her w/o her consent (since, even though like. implied consent is not real at worst and a fuzzy subject at best but you could argue that scene would want indie to kiss her); and this isn't even taking into consideration that c) melvin is heavily queer-coded in both seasons, with his friendship with nerdcore being, dare i say, homoerotic at times, and his arc about leaving the company and changing his name mirroring nerdcore's almost perfectly (with nerdcore being a character who b*nny [at least] has all but confirmed is actually gay).

i've also been on the fence about melvin's behavior in that final scene making more sense for indie's character being an intentional decision as a way of shoe-horning in a theme about the lasting effects of abuse/cycles of abuse/the corruption of power but i also don't think the f*nes are smart enough for that. however, for the sake of defending my straw theory, i also point to the scene where indie comes to visit the acid factory after melvin told him to shut up, and we see melvin use reggie as a foot-stool, going as far as to say that it feels good to do so (which, in all honesty, i think is a bit that was entirely improvised, since the f*nes were "notorious for never saying cut" [paraphrased from a bts video], but work w me here). he's also given a seltzer mug that perfectly resembles indie's kombucha mug. in these moment melvin is directly emulating the behavior of his previous abuser, purposefully or not, literal moments after being promoted to an equal position of authority, which was totally just included as a joke, but could also be argued is meant to show that he's becoming indie; or, if we acknowledge that the f*nes have no fucking clue what they're doing and were just directing like chickens with their heads cut off, it at least shows that melvin's new position of power is leading him to understand where indie was coming from, which is supported by their conversation in the finale.

the following contains a couple brief mentions of irl sexual assault so if that's something you'd like to avoid skip to the next section!

HOWEVER, that alone isn't what i have a problem with, since i think melvin is completely justified in being a dick to indie (and also reggie enthusiastically consents to being used as an ottoman so good for him i guess). the issue comes completely in how he treats scene in the scenes where the f*nes clearly thought what they were writing was super romantic. like, the fact that the only thing he's got hung on his cubicle wall is a single picture of scene taken from the fucking opening credits (like. how hard would it have been to have. literally any other photo[s] esp since there's an abundance of cute bts pics of the cast in costume that could have been put there) and him scrolling through her twitter at work really creep me out (and at the risk of oversharing the weird, like, social media stalking angle really fucks w me bc that may or may not have been the exact fucking thing i was trying to escape in rewatching mymusic in the first place). also, having him sexually assault scene as a means of comforting her after she had just been sexually assaulted in the same way by someone else was... a choice (which is also, uh, personally familiar).

again, i recognize that demonizing melvin wasn't what the f*nes were trying to do here, and i perhaps seem hypocritical for opening liking jeff, but what makes jeff work is he's intentionally "the bad guy." having melvin do the same things as indie and jeff uncritically only proves further that the f*nes can't write for shit, and ruins his character which had, up until he quit mymusic, been unironically good. like, it's obviously not beneficial that the exact asshole things he does are personally triggering, but the character would still be a mess and i would still dislike him regardless.

i want to say though that jack delivers a surprisingly great performance despite how shoddily his character is constructed and how little experience he has as an actor. like, it's clear he was having a lot of fun on set and i would love to see him in something, like, good; i think he could pull off even like, guest television roles, which is a lot more than can be said for other youtubers.

-----

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

nerdchart should have been canon i'm sorry. i know that close, nonromantic male friendships are valuable, esp between queer men, but also gd wouldn't it have been baller to have a canon interracial mlm ship. like. c'mon. and they could have been such a good friends to lovers story! we already got to see how melvin was the only person nerdcore could really be himself around so it would have been so cool if melvin's self-advocacy arc/flowchart arc had revolved more around nerdcore with a little role-reversal! and then they kiss! like god intended!

also i ship him and indie bc i'm a grubby little gremlin man ohoho. enemies w weird sexual tension? sign me up. not even enemies to lovers i'm not saying this one should have been canon i just love the vibes. do you think melvin and indie ever explored each other's bod-- *gunshot*

-----

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

i wish him and scene had just been bros. god remember in season one when they were just bros that was the life.

alternatively, i wish we'd seen more bonding w him and metal, as a means of reconciling that. uh. moment from season one. along similar lines i would have loved to see him get closer w rayna in a similar way to how she bonded w nerdcore in season two. i think that could have also worked to show how she'd grown between the two seasons.

-----

My unpopular opinion about this character:

HIM. AND. SCENE. SHOULD. HAVE. JUST. BEEN. BROS. (though i think my general dislike of him is pretty unpopular, lmao).

when the show was coming out i don't think it's unfair to say that scenechart/scenetern 2 was the most popular ship (aside from potentially techstep whatever) but luckily we're all gay and have better taste now. unfortunately i totally fell into this camp and scenechart was even my otp for years (until it was arguably more unfortunately usurped by reddie in 2019) and i didn't even realise that it's a hot mess until, again, the summer of 2020.

when actually watching the show the choices the f*nes made in regards to how the ship actually became canon are so odd and out of place, too? okay, so, on one hand everyone just shipped scenechart bc it was the whitest hettiest ship in the show (esp in season two when idol left) aside from scindie (and we already discussed what's wrong w that). but, on the other hand, lainey and jack clearly also just got along? and i suspect that lainey probably also admired jack's work and was happy to be working with him bc we have so many shots throughout even the first season when the ship wasn't the intended endgame of lainey scene looking really fondly at jack melvin at times when it doesn't make much sense at all, esp since she's smitten w indie? this trend continues into the second season which arguably works but it still seems really out of place for him to be the one to ultimately make the first move on her since it's clear she was the one crushing this whole time and also he's gay! this bitch is gay what the fuck!!

-----

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon:

at this point i'm struggling to think of anything i haven't covered yet. oops.

i've talked at length before about how he should have been a woman/lesbian, but the tl;dr is that it would have solved a lot of the queer-coding "problems" that just didn't get resolved in the show. if he'd been a lesbian then not only would the friendship w nerdcore still made sense, but scenechart would have as well (not even mentioning that both of scene's other relationships w men make a lot of sense as comphet anyway).

[whatshouldwecallchronicillness]

hey, sry to bother you, but I don’t rly know where else to ask... for years it’s felt like no matter how much I sleep, I’m always exhausted, never able to keep up in physical activities or homework, my periods are so painful that I can’t get out of bed, my nails crack and fall off, etc, etc, but my doctor always said I’m “just anxious”. I was 87 lbs at one point and they told me I had an “eating disorder”. Im trying to get a new dr but getting nowhere. what should I do?!

You are NEVER bothering me!  I love mail!  (Who doesn’t!?!)  

Oh man, that sounds terrible.  And like me when I first got sick in many ways.  All I can say is don’t give up!  It took me several years and TONS of appointments with many different doctors to figure me out.  If you are only seeing a general practitioner, you may need to look into relevant specialists.  

Also, looking into the mental health angle is great if you have access because a. therapy is great and everyone should go to therapy sometimes, b. a psychiatrist/therapist can tell your doctor that your symptoms aren’t “just anxiety” c. or if the symptoms are mental health in origin, they can help you address them.   IMO any suggestion of a mental health origin of symptoms should always come with a referral to a psychiatrist.  Otherwise, it’s just a cop out by a doctor who doesn’t want to deal with you.  

If you can, have a family member or close friend involved as your advocate because it’s a long hard road.  

Other then that, there’s a few tips I give to newbies or people without a diagnosis:

1. Have a 1 page (front and back is ok) medical history.  This should be easy to read and include:

- your name

-age, birth date

-meds (including doses and why you take them.  can include side effects)

- allergies/contraindications  

- diagnoses

- Brief medical history including surgeries and procedures with dates and outcomes

- doctors

-your pharmacy - name, location, phone number, fax number

- ICE contacts

- Occupational status (mine is Occupational therapist currently unable to work due to symptoms)

  2. Print or write an additional single page for each visit.  You can use it as a reference during the appointment and then give it to the doctor IF THEY WANT IT.  This page could include: 

- your overall health/wellness/functional goal (like mine is to get back to working part time and walking 2 miles 3-5 days/week)  Keep in mind that the goals should be realistic.  

- your goal for this appointment (example: to understand where my shoulder pain is coming from and to make a plan to address it.)

- your functional status (my functional status is: Occupational therapist, currently unable to work due to pain/fatigue.  Volunteers from home 2x/week.  Unable to walk a half block without resting.  Independent for ADLs but difficulty with most IADLs.  Hobbies/socializing/recreation severely limited due to symptoms.  Ambulates by walking, manual wheelchair, or scooter.  Accesses the community via driving or being driven.  Standing tolerance is 2-5 minutes.  Sitting tolerance is 1-3 hours. General quality of life is poor.)  Don’t worry about using medical terms.  I do because I’m used to it for work.  Sometimes I don’t include this part or I shorten it.  It depends on what my goals for the appointment are.    

-A list of 1-3 items of business for the appointment.  You can discuss other things, time permitting, but just have the most pressing issues written down.  (Example:  1. Go over blood test results 2. Go over treatment options 3. Get handicap placard form signed.)     

- A list of 1-3 of your MOST PRESSING symptoms that is relevant to that doctor’s speciality.  Don’t go with a whole long list.  That will freak them out. 

3. Supplemental info NOT TO BE GIVEN TO DOCTOR UNLESS ASKED FOR.  You’ll scare them if you hand them a binder of any kind.  Handing them the pages listed above might be scary enough already.  haha  This should primarily be for YOU to reference during the appointment ONLY when relevant.  This supplemental stuff can include:

-A (very scary) binder of past test results, organized in some logical way - like body systems, test type, date completed, etc.  Bonus points if you highlight any abnormal test results for easier reading.

-A list of all symptoms organized in some way.  I like organizing in clusters.  So I have my adrenal insufficiency symptoms, my spinal cord symptoms, my EDS related injuries, etc.  If you are new, you may not know enough about your symptoms to cluster them.  So you can just list them by body system.

-A timeline of symptoms/tests/diagnoses.  Like, not every thing that’s ever happened.  Just the relevant things.  

-A symptom journal if you keep one.  (I highly recommend it!)

-General notes made ahead of time to help guide the appointment and keep you on track. 

-A calendar to plan future tests/procedures/appointments

-A notepad and pen to write down notes like what tests you need, lifestyle change suggestions, things to try, meds to try, other specialists to see, etc.

-Something you can subtly fiddle with like a paper clip or keychain.   

Well, that turned into a novel.  Hope something somewhere in that wall of text was helpful!  Best of luck on your journey!  

[snezfics-n-shit]

Whumptober Day 31: Halloween

Fandom: Ace Attorney 

Characters: [2001 Half] Gregory Edgeworth, Raymond Shields / [2021 Half] Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Trucy Wright

Notes: Two Halloweens, Two Defense Attorneys, Two Decades Apart. Last day so we’re going to town. Two whumps for the price of one! In the first half, you’ll find some Gregory content. For the second, you’ll see everyone’s favorite disbarred hobo dad. It really is Real DILF Hours this fine Halloween.

                                                   --October 31, 2001--

“Thank you again, Mrs. Wright. You kids have fun!” Gregory watched the group of trick-or-treaters go on their way. It felt almost like a dream to know his son was in that group, trick-or-treating with real friends. For past Halloweens, Gregory and Miles would stay in and read something together until deciding to watch It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown together before usually falling asleep on the couch. While he was more than proud of his son making friends, Gregory felt a little sad when his son told him he would be out. 

It was only when Gregory woke up the morning before with a persistent tickle in his throat that he was actually grateful to be the only one at home for the holiday, for at least a few hours. For a moment, he assumed it was simply the doing of Fall allergies, and perhaps some of it was, but the steadily rising feeling of malaise started to tip him off. By the time he was seeing his son off with his group of friends, he was more than ready to turn in for the night at 6:30PM.

Gregory closed the door slowly so he could triple check that the group was traveling safely. Despite having kept a close eye out on his surroundings, he failed to notice a familiar face approaching his home. He thought he could easily resign himself to some cold medicine and an early night until he heard the turning of a doorknob. 

“Miles? Is that you?” He called as far as his hoarse voice could reach.

“No, it’s me, Mr. Edgeworth!” Ray twirled a keychain around and bit into a chocolate bar. “You gave me your spare key, remember? When I helped you bring in that big bag of dog food? Or was it when you had shingles? I forget.”

“Neither.” Gregory shook his head. “I gave you the spare key that time you watched Miles when I had that date.”

“O-Oh, right. How did that go, by the way?”

“Not great. The movie was awful and she demanded a refund after it was over. I don’t think I’ll be going out with anyone on the PTA again.” Gregory coughed a few times in his elbow before noticing what Ray was eating. “Where did you get that?”

“From your candy bowl.” 

“Did you take just one like the sign said?”

Ray shrugged as he pulled about four more chocolate bars from his coat pockets. 

“You should really be handing out the candy to prevent this kind of miscommunication.”

“I’m coming down with a cold, so I think I’ll pass.” Gregory took Ray’s coat to hang on the coat rack, if only to prevent more candy smuggling. “I’m surprised you’re not trick-or-treating.”

“I wanted to spend time with you, Mr. Edgeworth. You said you’ll be staying inside alone this year.” Ray helped himself to the living room couch, pleased to greet the pomeranian lounging there. “Hey, Missile!” He made kissing faces at the pup. “I guess not too alone.”

“Don’t let him lick your face while you have chocolate all over.” Gregory called the dog over to him. “You can rinse your face in the bathroom, and could you bring me the cold medicine from the cabinet?”

“Of course, Mr. Edgeworth!”

“Thank you.” Gregory stole Ray’s spot on the couch and let Missile hop on his lap. Just sitting down was more rest than Gregory had let himself have all day. He looked up to watch Ray return from the bathroom, somehow having gotten his hands on a lollipop.

“How come you’re not using Coldkiller X?” Ray tossed the requested medicine into Gregory’s lap. “It’s been flying off the shelves since it came out; it’s a real hit.” 

“I prefer my usual NyQuil. I’d rather sleep through my colds.”

“You do look like you could use some sleep, Mr. Edgeworth.” Ray wiggled the lollipop stick around in his mouth. “Also, I think it’s really cool you put candy all around your house for Halloween.”

“What do you mean?” Gregory furrowed his brow. 

“These lollipops in your bathroom.” He pulled out the stick to reveal a purple teddy bear pop. “It kinda makes my mouth feel funny, though. I think I’m allergic to something in it.”

“Raymond, that’s--,” Gregory sighed and put his head in his hands, “medicated. It has an anesthetic in it.”

“Oh, huh.” Ray stared at the lollipop before offering it to Gregory. “Do you want it?”

“No, thank you.” Gregory found the offer to be both amusing and repulsive. “I think I’ll be fine just having some tea.” He ushered Missile to direct some affection towards Ray so he could stand up. “Do you want any?”

“Just water is fine.” Ray rubbed his tongue against his front teeth. “I don’t think anything else would taste good right now.”

“At least that means you won’t be stealing any more candy.” Gregory chuckled as he proceeded to start the stove under the kettle. “I also shouldn’t have to tell you that you shouldn’t be eating things from a medicine cabinet.” 

“Got it. ‘Don’t eat candy from the medicine cabinet.’” Ray read aloud from his notepad before eating the page he just wrote on. 

“I feel like I should be concerned that you needed to write that down.” To say nothing of Ray’s paper eating habit, which Gregory stopped questioning after six months into Ray working part-time at the firm. He wanted to say Ray had matured since he had hired him, but it was likely more familiarity with his antics than anything. “Do you want any ice in your water?” Gregory opened the refrigerator door and leaned forward, reaching for the pitcher of water.

“No, that’s fine.” Ray answered, not looking away from Missile, who was staring at him with wide eyes. “Who’s a good boy?”

“I’d like to think I am.” Gregory laughed before standing upright again. Having his head at any angle outside of a very specific range when he had a cold always gave him a head-rush. “AE’SSHHOOUH! Eh’KXNT...chooh” He stifled the second one so Ray wouldn’t say anything about trying to scare him. With it being Halloween, the potential for comments like that was abundant.

“Bless you, Mr. Edgeworth.” In truth, Ray was hardly paying enough attention to really say anything; he was too busy scratching behind Missile’s ears. “You’re such a cool dad, keeping this cutie.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been called ‘cool’ before, at least not sincerely.” Gregory tugged a tissue from the box on the kitchen counter and gently held it under his nose. 

“R-Really? Not even about all your Star Wars stuff?”

“That stuff is exactly--,” Gregory used the tissue to muffle some coughs, “exactly what made me not cool. I only had one friend in high school, and that was Miles’s mother.” He always felt some pain in his chest bringing her up, but he was too caught up in the memory to stop himself. “She was homeschooled before she transferred, so she didn’t really care if I was ‘cool’ or not.” He dropped the tissue into the trash bin before he opened a cupboard and grabbed two plain blue mugs. Cold water in a mug wasn’t a faux pas, was it?

“Are you feverish enough to finally tell me about her?” 

“This cold’s only just started, so no.” Gregory shut off the stove once he saw the steam leaving the kettle. As nice as it would be to have savored that, he didn’t want to keep Ray waiting for his water. “But I guess I can’t avoid talking about Marie forever.” He coated his own mug’s base with honey before topping it with a tea bag. He had no idea exactly what kind of tea it was; he only bought the types his son wrote on the grocery list in skillful handwriting absolutely not inherited from Gregory.

Naturally, when Gregory returned to the living room with both beverages, Ray had reclaimed the seat he had rightfully stolen.  He set Ray’s drink on the coffee table in front of the sofa before finding himself a new seat next to him.

“So, what was she like?” Ray took a long sip of his water, hoping to wash out the anesthetic. 

“Well, for starters, she was my best friend for over ten years.” Gregory moved the tea bag up and down by the string. “She transferred to my high school just after her parents separated. She moved with her dad all the way from the middle of nowhere, so we were both in the same ‘no friends’ boat.”

“Did you two realize the one you loved was right in front of you? Like in a movie?”

“Ah,” Gregory didn’t look up from his mug, “just one of us did. She didn’t feel the same way about me.”

“B-But you guys had a kid together! There had to be something there.” Ray’s jaw dropped when he saw Gregory shake his head. 

“I only realized I loved her after we, uh,” Gregory coughed awkwardly, “you know. I told her and that just ruined everything we had. The last time I saw her before she died was the day she dropped off Miles.”

“Oh, huh.” Ray felt himself tearing up. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not that much of a tearjerker, I promise. I have a son I couldn’t be more proud of. I wouldn’t trade him for the world, even if it meant having Marie in my life for a few extra years.”

“Wha?’ Ray wiped some tears from his eyes. “I’m not that sad. I just, uh, lost an eyelash. Let me find it so I can make a wish.” He grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table to pretend he was searching for that ‘eyelash.’

“Hey, it’s definitely not the time to waste those.” Gregory scolded in jest before taking his own tissue for actual use. “E’kXTT… chuh.” That particular stifle made his head pound.

“It’s Halloween, Mr. Edgeworth. It’s okay if you startle me.” Of course. Why did Gregory think he could get away so easily? “I don’t know how you can hold those in. It was pretty impressive when you did ten of those last month.”

“I wasd’t about to let you bake jokes for the rest of your shift.” Gregory blew his nose forcefully, displeased at the amount of time it took to really feel any benefit. 

“To think I just called you cool.” Ray teased. “I still think you’re cool, though. You made your son’s costume, didn’t you? Signal Red?”

“Indeed I did.” Gregory nodded. He figured his drink had cooled enough to chase down the cold medicine Ray retrieved earlier. “I stayed up all night making it.” He cleared his throat and made a face in reaction to the unfavorable taste of the medicated liquid. “Two nights, actually.”

“No wonder you’re sick. You work too hard and never sleep.” So was that why Ray seemed immune to colds? 

“Once this kicks in, I’ll be sleeping like the dead.” Gregory leaned back. “You can watch TV if you want. Take the remote or a VHS.”

“Woah, really?” Ray made himself at home in front of the VHS shelves with Missile following behind him. “You wanna help me pick out a movie, boy?”

“Just not any movies about a dog. Otherwise, he’ll bark at the screen.”

“Aw, that’s cute! Let’s watch Air Bud, then.”

Thank god for NyQuil.

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

                                                    --October 31, 2021--

      Phoenix was woken up by the sound of footsteps on the entryway’s tile floor accompanied by the excited listing of various candies. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes to take a look at the wall clock. 9:30PM. Miles and Trucy returned an hour late, but it sounded like they had a good time.

“Daddy! We got so much candy! Are you feeling better? Papa Miles said you should eat something healthy, but I won’t tell!” It was as if Trucy didn’t even need to stop to breathe while speaking. 

“Trucy, your father needs to rest.” Miles, who had at least stopped to leave his coat on the rack, needed to catch his breath. “Sorry to wake you, love. I hope you got some sleep since we left.”

“I slept great, yeah. Did you two have a good tibe?” Phoenix looked up at Miles with glassy eyes and a tired smile. 

“We had a wonderful time, but we missed you. It’s a shame you were too sick to come with us.” Miles glanced at the empty bowl and mug on the coffee table. “So you finally ate something?”

“Does that mean Daddy can have some of our candy now?” Trucy lifted her heavy pumpkin shaped basket. “He ate something healthy!”

“Not tonight, I don’t think. Why don’t you change into your pajamas and get ready for bed?” Miles pointed at his watch. “We already came home late.”

“Aw, okay.” Trucy pouted and dragged her feet walking to her bedroom.

Phoenix watched her leave and then frowned at Miles.

“What’s that look for?” 

“You’re doh fud.” Phoenix sniffled. 

“You were the one who wanted me to be more authoritative with her.” Miles was right; every time Trucy wanted something, she would go straight to him if she thought Phoenix would say no. Phoenix found it funny at first, but it got out of hand when Miles rented some ponies for Trucy’s previous birthday, ponies that needed to be cleaned up after. “It’s a school night.”

“I dod’t thigk she’d be up too late just shari’g a couple chocolates.” Phoenix reasoned. The couch made a squeak as he turned on his side.

“Do you think you could even taste them with you being that congested?” Miles peered into the tissue box on the coffee table, finding it empty. He wasn’t pleased to hear Phoenix blowing his nose into a tissue he had definitely used before. 

“Aa’SCHOOUuh! HT’TCHUUUh! Ah, dabbit.” Phoenix cursed at his effort to clear his nose being undone so quickly. “I guess I should just go to sleep.”

“That’s a good idea.” Miles kissed Phoenix’s warm cheek. “Are you coming to bed or staying on the couch for the night?”

“It’s probably a better idea to sleep here.” Phoenix blew his nose again in the crumpled tissue that left the skin it touched sore and red. “You have a trial this week, right? I don’t want you to get sick.” 

“I’ve already accepted that as inevitable.” Miles picked up the living room waste basket to dispose of the tissues that had accumulated on the couch while he was out. “Though I can’t blame you for staying here if you intend on sleeping under more used tissues.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been out since about an hour after you and Trucy left for trick-or-treating.”

Miles winced as he pictured just how many times his boyfriend had reused tissues while he was gone. No wonder his nose was so red Miles could think of a few costumes it would enhance. 

“I’ll take another box from the hall closet for you. Do you want something to drink? I could heat up some apple cider so you can feel festive.”

“That would be great.” 

Miles gave Phoenix another light kiss before heading to the kitchen. He took mental notes of what counters would need cleaning in the morning, particularly where it was undeniable that Phoenix tried refilling his own tea but was too out of it to keep the mug steady. As much as Miles wanted to spend the rest of the night personalizing Phoenix’s cider, it was getting late and Phoenix had no objections to just heating a mug in the microwave. 

While the microwave was doing its job, Miles made a trip to the hall closet to deliver a fresh tissue box to Phoenix. 

“I hope this lasts until morning.” Miles tore off the cardboard covering the opening. “Maybe you could take something so you can sleep easier and use less of these?”

“Yes, please.” Phoenix coughed with his fist pressing against his mouth.

The microwave beeped just as Miles went to retrieve the mug. On his way back, he made a stop at the bathroom to pick up a pack of NyQuil capsules. He blew lightly over the steaming mug to cool it off a little before he brought the drink and medicine to his boyfriend. 

“Here you go, love. Let me know if it’s too hot or not hot enough.”

Phoenix popped out two capsules and washed them down with a large drink of cider. It burned his throat a little, making him tear up, but at least that part was done and over with. It was better than taking the medicine as a liquid, that was for sure.

“Thanks so much, hon. I can’t wait to get some sleep.”

“I’m looking forward to you getting some sleep as well.” Miles picked up the empty bowl and mug from the coffee table so there was only the mug of cider to worry about. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“G’night.”

Miles washed the dishes thoroughly but quickly enough for him to turn in at a reasonable time. He kept silent as he stopped to watch Phoenix finding a comfortable position to sleep in and stayed still for a while in case Phoenix needed anything. 

With a quiet yawn, Miles began his trip through the hall, only to stop suddenly with a hitch of his breath.

“Hh’sshhooh!” He sniffed. “Oh, of course.”

[mystery-deer]

Hi I hope you are fine! I've read most of your b99 fics and I love them so much!!!

I have to say I really like how you write Kevin and Holt it's just so interesting and well written I'm speechless!

I hope you'll post new fics with them!

Have a nice day!

(I hope my English isn't too bad, tbh I'm a French native speaker and always feel nervous when I have to write in English haha)

I’m fine, I’m just in school and all my classes are writing based due to my major which leaves little time for recreational writing at the moment~!! Please don’t worry!!  What a lovely ask, it makes me so happy whenever people compliment my writing! Sometimes I think ‘You’re making this way too deep Arthur’ but then I think....hey....I love to swim. I definitely have a few wips and to show you I’m good for it here’s an excerpt from one!;

“Would you like for me to make a run to the store?” Kevin asked.

“No thank you, Deborah’s already…” She trailed off, distracted. Everything was distracted. She wondered who had more of a right to be upset, her or Kevin? Kevin she guessed. “...It’s being taken care of.”

“Of course, would you like to sit down? I can make coffee for all of us.”

“Including me?” Marcus asked, poking his head out from the hall with a grin.

“Excluding you.” 

“I don’t wanna be ex-cluded.” Marcus said, pronouncing it slowly as he went to the front door and rummaged through his bag. “Uncle Ray said he’d help me with my homework but only history because I’m great at everything else!”

“Yes, I heard you got straight A’s this semester.” Marcus took out a glossy notebook and hesitated, looking at the ground and flipping through the pages idly.

“I got a C in history though. No one else did.” He said, suddenly moping. He had the tone of someone bringing up an old grievance and Laverne could picture Debbie trying to cheer him up in the car on the drive home from school as he frowned at the single C. 

“I’m sure that’s an exaggeration. When I was younger I often struggled in math.” Kevin offered.

Marcus perked up. “Really? But math is easy!”

“Perhaps to you because you’re quite gifted in that sphere. However, I had trouble keeping the numbers straight and one day I got a D.” Marcus gasped softly and shook his head. Laverne smiled and looked out the window. Debbie’s car was coming down the street so she rose to greet her.

“Indeed,” Kevin remarked at Marcus’ shock. “I told all my friends that I had gotten a B and threw the report card out the window of the boy’s bathroom.”

“Did your mom get mad?”

“Oh yes.” Kevin said, tone aggressively neutral.

“My mom didn’t get mad at me, she said- she said that’s okay and I can try again!” Marcus exclaimed, proud.

Kevin’s eyes drifted to Laverne’s, then to the door. “She’s a very kind woman. And she’s right.”

The door opened at that moment and Laverne was glad she’d unlocked it in preparation as her daughter was nearly invisible underneath all the bags she was carrying. 

“Little help?” She called and Kevin rushed over to take a few of the heavier ones. Marcus tugged a bag out of her hands and dragged it to the kitchen, refusing anyone else’s help. Laverne reached for a bag but Debbie angled herself away, stumbling to the kitchen and telling her to rest. 

“I don’t need to rest.” Laverne said, slightly annoyed at being treated as so fragile. She remembered when Debbie had fit on her hip, bah. 

“I don’t mean it like that ma, I just...we’re all kinda weird right now.” Kevin and Laverne both flinched at the acknowledgment as to why they were all here. Marcus rooted through the plastic bags in search of snacks. The coffee machine beeped and Kevin poured the liquid into four mugs.

“Mom, can I have coffee?” Marcus asked again, popping up from the floor to grab her leg. Debbie scratched lightly as his hair. 

“You wouldn’t like it, here, I got you some apple juice instead.” She handed the small container of juice to the boy and he grinned, running off down the hall where he’d come from. “Ah ah ah, Marcus!”

There was a pause and then a reversal as he ran back, out of breath. “Yeah?”

“What do we say?” His mother prompted.

“...Thank you!” He ran to give her a hug before bouncing back down the hall. Debbie rolled her eyes good-naturedly as Kevin let out a soft exhale of laughter.

“He’s a handful that one.” Debbie said.

Laverne hummed. “I believe all children are handfuls, be thankful you only have one.” 

“Every day!” Debbie exclaimed, preparing to cook something. “Every day, I am!”

“I’m going to go check on them.” Kevin said, walking down the hall. Laverne and Debbie exchanged a look.

“Do you think he’s going to be ok?” 

“Why wouldn’t he be? I hardly think anything will happen to him between here and Raymond’s room” Debbie shook her head, ignoring her mother’s joke.

“I mean will Ray be ok.”

She didn’t know. She wished she knew. She wished she knew how to deal with this. “I’m certain he’ll be fine.” She said, standing to help her daughter prepare the sandwiches.

Raymond had always been a bit shy around his father. Laverne didn’t know why but whenever he was around he froze up. Raymond would talk endlessly about what he was doing for school, his friends, his campaign for class president and how he was debating whether or not to ask for help with the speech.

“Why not ask your dad? He’s a very skilled orator.” She’d suggested and Raymond had hesitated before nodding the same way he did when he was offered anything he really wanted. He always paused before accepting, as if he expected the other person to snatch it away. 

That night Raymond was quiet at the dinner table. Debbie was happily babbling in her own toddler language about imaginary adventures she’d been on that day and Clifton was humoring her beautifully, giving Laverne a chance to relax. Though she wasn’t relaxing, she was looking at her son who was playing with his dinner nervously. The hour dragged on until finally as she was clearing the plates she said mildly; “Clifton, Raymond would like to ask you something.” Raymond startled as if a spotlight had suddenly been shined on him and avoided eye contact with his father, who turned to him as he wiped Debbie’s face with a napkin.

“Hm? What is it?”

“I- um…it’s nothing. I can do it myself.”

“Are you sure? I’d be glad to help if you-”

“No thank you, I can do it myself.” 

Raymond had rushed to leave the table after that, running to his room and shutting the door. She and Clifton had exchanged a look and her husband had shrugged good-naturedly. 

“He’ll come when he’s ready.” He’d said but Laverne had the strong sense he wouldn’t, that he wanted to be chased and cajoled and coddled.

“Did Kevin tell you how much?” Debbie asked, slicing cucumbers into perfect, thin slices. She was always skilled at chopping and dicing and Laverne would always let her cut the onions and garlic because she liked the smell and she liked carrying on about how it hurt her eyes.

“Not yet.”

“Twenty thousand dollars.” The number shook her. So many zeroes. So much wasted. Debbie seemed to feel the same way, repeating it under her breath. Laverne pictured her son throwing twenty thousand dollars up into the air, watching it scatter on the wind. Throwing it into a fireplace, shredding it in front of her. 

No, don’t blame him.

She wanted to.

Her gut reaction was to shake him when she’d first gotten the call. To drive to his apartment and shake him and scream and ask him why the hell he would do this, how could he so stupid?

She composed herself. That would get her nowhere. 

[himbowelsh]

Hi! I wanted to ask if you could do the Valentine's A-Z thing for Smokey. If you're uninspired, it's totally fine if you don't, though!! :) in case you do, thank you very much!^^

valentines day alphabet  ( accepting! )

A   :   AFFECTION.   how does your muse show affection?

He’s a very demonstrative person who’s not shy about his physicality, and most at ease around people who are able to take it; sometimes Smokey can even be thoughtless with touch, because he doles it out so casually. he loves to be touched in return, relishing the reassurance it provides   ---   Smokey’s just not someone who enjoys being alone for too long, so brushing shoulders and wrapping arms around people chases those feelings of loneliness away.

B   :   BOUQUET.   does your muse like flowers? which ones are their favourite?

He’s actually very good at picking out just the right bouquet for the occasion! His twin sister has a passion for flowers, so Smokey had to learn, okay?Flowers really aren’t that confusing, once you know how to take care of them. He’s no gardener, but could definitely keep plants alive if he tried.

C   :   CHOCOLATE.   does your muse like chocolate? which one is their favourite?

He’s a casual fan. While he won’t buy it for himself, if someone gives it as a gift  ---  or a bribe  ---  he’ll gladly accept.

D   :   DATE.   what is your muse’s ideal date? where / who with / etc?

He wants to take something completely casual and turn it into something semi-illegal. Let’s go to the movies and try to break into the projector booth, just to see if it’s possible. Best seats in the house! Let’s see if we can “accidentally” get locked in a department store overnight, and run around bouncing on beds and doing weird things in the dressing rooms. Smokey can make most casual things a lot of fun, but he thrives in situations on just the right side of absurd. He’d love a partner who can liven up even the most mundane date! (And hopefully rein him in from doing anything too wild.) 

E   :   EMBRACE.   does your muse like hugs? what are their hugs like?

Again  ----  very driven by physical contact, very liberal giving it out. Smokey hugs like it’s going out of style. He rubs people’s backs, claps their shoulders a bit, sometimes blows in their ear to make them jump...  he’s got a different hug for every occasion.

F   :   FLIRT.   is your muse good at flirting? how do they flirt?

A very playful flirt, with a collection of pickup lines ranging from inspired to creatively-terrifying.

G   :   GIFT.   is your muse good at gift - giving or do they struggle to get it right?

He thinks he’s great at gift-giving. Plenty of people who’ve received gifts from him would beg to disagree. And beg to be able to return the thing. (“Why the hell do I need a Dick Tracy lunchbox, Smokey, I’m a grown-ass man  ---”)  Always gives his gifts with the utmost confidence, even if it’s not something any sane person would want.

H   :   HEART.   is your muse quick or slow to give their heart away?

He definitely needs the right incentive, with the right partner...  but that doesn’t take much. Truth is, Smokey falls in love fast. Once he’s in, he’s in, and it’s not easy to shatter his affections.

I    :   I LOVE YOU.   does your muse find ‘i love you’ easy or hard to say?

Gah, he loves saying it. If he’s in the right mood, he’ll say it twenty times in a day, just because he loves hearing it. When it comes to love, he’s very verbally demonstrative, as well as physically. Saying the Three Big Words isn’t a big deal to Smokey, because by the time he says them, he knows he means it   ----   not like there’s any point holding them back. He’ll be the first to say it in a relationship  (and might hold his breath until his partner says it back, but he’s willing to wait all year).

J   :   JEALOUSY.   does your muse get jealous in a relationship?

Nah, not really. He’s a confident guy, and that confidence extends to his partner   ---   he’s fully confident they’d never do anything to hurt him. And...  honestly, Smokey’s got a wide circle of friends who he’s very affectionate with, so seeing the same behavior from his partner wouldn’t raise any red flags for him at all.

K   :   KISS.   is your muse a good kisser? why / why not?

Smokey is the world’s biggest tease  ---   a very playful kisser, who enjoys stringing his partner along after him. He loves pulling someone close, his arm wrapping around their back completely, a hand cupping their head; he’ll angle them slightly backwards, leaning into the kiss as his mouth finds a rhythm against their own. Slight grazes of teeth and tongue, just enough to leave them tense in his grasp, eager for more...  and then he’ll pull away with a broad grin on his face, inviting them to come get it. Very into love nips, but will pull unexpectedly tender kisses seemingly out of nowhere.

L   :   LOVE.   who does your muse love?

He’s got a lot of love to give, and when it comes to the people he cares about, Smokey loves fiercely. Probably the most important person in his life is his twin sister, Cleta, who he adores; then his parents; then all his friends, who he’d hide a body for without question; and his family should he ever start one, would immediately move to the top of the list.

M   :   MOONLIGHT.   is morning or night a more romantic setting?

He tends to get in a weirdly touchy/romantic mood anywhere around 1 - 3am, aka the hours when any sane person just wants to sleep. He’s tired too, and he knows his partner is, but when the mood strikes...

N   :   NAUGHTY.   what is your muse like in bed?

Smokey is a very attentive lover. He does not work on instinct; it’s all observation, keeping track of what his partner responds to best. Do they shiver when he nips them here? Groan when his tongue does that right there? Very interesting. He files it all away for later, stocking up an arsenal of how best to drive his partner wild. And what a tease  ---   he’ll bring his partner to the brink, only to pull them right back, so many times that they can actually get angry at him. Fisting a hand in his curls and pulling is a guaranteed way to get him compliant; he’s very sensitive at his hips, and will turn to putty if his partner directs their attentions there. 

O   :   ODE.   does your muse have a way with words?

You know he does, baby, you know he does. One of his favorite hobbies is writing long-winded poems just to troll people, but Smokey has also tried his hand at writing short stories before. Love poetry is very different  ---  much more intimate  ---  but Smokey’s sharp enough to do anything if he puts his mind to it, so he’d give it a shot.

P   :   PARTNER.   what does your muse look for in a partner? looks / personality?

Smokey wants someone with a bright personality   ----   someone who lights up every room, with a quick wit and sharp mind. They don’t need to be a social butterfly, just to entertain him; he likes to be kept on his toes. Someone with a great sense of humor, and a great laugh. Someone who loves to read, because so does he, and they can talk about books for hours; someone who makes good coffee in the mornings, and that’s crucial. Smokey really just needs someone who can bounce off of him, take a joke, and make him smile even when it seems the hardest thing in the world. 

Q   :   QUESTION.   would your muse ask the big question or expect their partner to?

If you don’t think this man will plan an elaborate proposal   ---   he’d do the most elaborate thing. He’s probably brainstormed wild proposals long before he even met his partner, just because he figured he’d have to do it someday, and wanted to be ready. Smokey would find some insane way to propose, like on the top of a roller coaster or via skywriting airplane,just to see if he could pull it off. And if it doesn’t, he has no qualms with finding another way, and proposing all over again.

R   :   ROMANCE.   is your muse a romantic or a cynic?

He’s got a super romantic heart, and is 100% willing to laugh at his own optimism. That doesn’t make it any less genuine, or make him any less eager to find love.

S   :   SWEETHEART.   did your muse have a childhood sweetheart?

His sister went through a phase when she wanted to get married, and poor Smokey was the nearest boy she could rope into playing the Wedding game with her. She got her best dress out, a little bouquet of flowers, forced Smokey to make a ring out of an old bottle cap for her...  then, somehow, a bunch of other neighborhood girls got involved. Smokey ended up with six wives, including his sister. None of them wanted anything to do with him by next week. He’s 90% sure none of those marriages are valid today.

T   :   TRUE LOVE.   does your muse believe in true love?

Sure he does! When he meets the right person, Smokey’s determined  ---  that’s going to be it. He’ll be sold. He’ll know them, he’ll love them, and the rest of his life will just be getting to show them. He’s definitely idealized romance in his head, but that’s just because he really wants to fall deeply in love with someone.

U   :   UNREQUITED.   has your muse had their heart broken?

Smokey’s not the type to be completely shattered by a failed romance, even if it were one that meant a lot to him. Something like...  losing someone he loves without warning, or having them die too soon...  that’s the sort of thing capable of breaking his heart.

V   :   VALENTINE.   how does your muse feel about valentine’s day?

It’s a fun night, and he’ll spoil his partner any way they want, but he loves using it as an opportunity to come up with dates no one else would think of. Who else would spend Valentine’s Day renting horses to ride, or going to a haunted house?

W  :   WEDDING.   would your muse get married? why / why not?

Yes! Please marry him! He wants it bad! He’ll ask a dozen times  ---  once he loves someone, he wants nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with them. Marriage sounds like a dream.

X   :   XOXO.   does your muse use / like pet names?

Oh, absolutely! He’ll make lists, just brainstorming as many as he can think of, and leave them lying around the house for his partner to find; he’ll bounce a few off of them, just to see how they’ll work.   (“honeycakes, what are you  ---  no, that doesn’t work, does it?”  // “hey, sugarpuss--” “NOPE.”) Nicknames are a sport for Smokey, and he plays to win.

Y   :   YOURS.   does your muse get protective easily?

Smokey has a very short list of people he’d go ride-or-die for. It includes his sister, his mom, a few close friends, and his partner. Once they’re on that list, no one gets to hurt them, ever.

Z   :   ZZZ.   how many people has your muse slept with?

Honestly, it’s all about finding takers. Smokey’s not shy, but wasn’t exactly rolling in girlfriends back home. Overseas, it’s easier. If asked, he’d probably quote a number much higher than the actual amount.

[canarhys]

hazel levesque headcanons because i love her.

she’s an artist by the heart. not only does she know how to draw and paint, but she is also super good at writing poems and singing. she mostly sings r&b and indie rock, plus some jazz that reminds her of the times back in new orleans. she also plays the bass and has jam sessions constantly.

don’t tell anyone, but she adores activities like jump-rope and hula-hooping, since she’s really just a kid and she has so much energy in her tiny body that she needs to release it by doing kiddie games. she is currently the one of both camps with the highest number of skipping rope jumps, and she will demolish you in jacks.

she stims all the time. she likes bouncing on the balls of her feet and humming to herself, swinging herself back and forth whenever there’s nothing to do or she just feels like it. she plays with the bracelets around her wrists and snaps her fingers out of nowhere. she gets super flustered when someone points it out, so she tries to only do it around people she knows. luckily, her friends tell her that her mannerisms are great.

adrenaline junkie, all the way. piper had taken her ziplining one time and it was one of the best experiences of her life. she’s always the one to go first on a bungee jump, and will ride the tallest rollercoasters at the theme parks she visits. she loves the rush of freedom and euphoria as she drops at a ninety degree angle.

because of the retaliation she had received back in the past, she had stopped cursing for years and got super flustered whenever someone would curse. eventually, she becomes more accustomed to the modern era, and has started cursing once more. although poor jason had a heart attack when she suddenly yelled “fuck!” after she stubbed her toe on the table in the mess hall.

loves. astronomy. to death. she has always had a fascination for stars and planets and the moon, and leo had even gifted her a telescope for her birthday. she often finds herself on the crest of a hill, stargazing with the new tool and drawing the galactical objects into her special sketchbook. if she doesn’t become an illustrator when she’s older, she’ll definitely take the opportunity to become an astronaut.

is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, demigods who has ever lived. this isn’t even a headcanon, it’s pure fact. she can mold the precious metals she summons into sharp knives and spears, and she can manipulate the mist to trick monsters into attacking each other or attacking themselves, manipulating the battlefield to a shocking degree. despite her cheefulness and hopeful disposition, she is someone who should not be messed with at all costs. fuck with her, you perish by her hand.

as much as i love hazel’s spatha, i have something even better -- a scythe. during the quest of the seven, hazel gains a stygian gold scythe from her father (what’s stygian gold? it’s basically just gold dipped in the styx, like nico’s iron sword). she is deadly with it, even though she sometimes looks like she’s cutting grass whenever she wields it. she’s still thinking of a name for it.

has taken the opportunity to paint over all her clothes. she decorates her denim jackets and overalls with moons and stars, wears shirts that she has spray-painted herself, has shoes with embroidery of her design. she’s a goddamn artist, and she will be so till the very end of her days.

has made herself and all of her friends friendship bracelets. she does not even take them off when swimming, for they hold sentimental value to her. she would not even think of throwing them away, since she is desperate to live her second life to the fullest and make as many friendships as she can. for each friend, she makes two bracelets -- one for them, and one for herself. she can’t count how many she has. she doesn’t really care though.

eats spices like the queen she is. she obviously ate gumbo and jambalaya back then, so her taste buds rival the forges of hephaestus to a good degree. also, she can cook really well, and has replicated her mother’s recipes for everyone to enjoy.

her modes of transportation are literally either horse of bike. she rides arion when she needs to make it to destinations quick, since what else would you use the fastest horse alive for? however, if she’s looking for a calm and peaceful stroll, she may bring out her bicycle and bike through the neighborhood, enjoying the wind that beats lightly against her chest and causes her hair to flow in the wind.

also, she is a big horse girl. obviously, she loves arion to death and will never cease in making sure that he is properly cared for, offering him gold nuggets and placing flower crowns in his hair to brighten him up after a long journey. she is also seen constantly in the stables of the camps, chilling out with the horses and resting across their backs, even making arts & crafts as they watch with keen eyes. all of the horses would die for this tiny girl.

is small. she’s the smallest of the seven, but it’s like to the point where she needs to stand on the counter to reach things on the top shelf. she can’t even reach the microwave of the argo ii. the seven make jokes about it from time to time, but if someone else other than them makes fun of hazel for her height, she and/or her friends will unleash the beast.

her fatal flaw is guilt. i used to think it was fear, but i think that is more of piper’s fatal flaw, and her flaw listed in the riordan wiki is too vague and confusing. so it is guilt. she has a problem with beating herself up, not just in large instances such as raising alcyoneus or letting two of her friends fall into tartarus, but in small instances as well. she is guilty over forgetting a birthday even if she does not know that person, she is guilty over being too much for her friends to handle -- she has a guilt complex over the smallest issues to the biggest problems. it had taken control of her life since her mother had looked at her as if she were some sort of mistake. hazel has a ton of mental issues that even the fandom ignores.

but she has friends. they are her family, her ride-or-die and she will fight for them as they will for her. sometimes she is scared they will leave her, that they will realize just how useless she is. but she is not. she is hazel levesque, hero of olympus, and her friends are her home. and through them, hazel can learn to love herself.

[shurisneakers]

espresso [11]

Summary: In which your best friend’s brother begins to set you up on dates when you mention that you haven’t been in a relationship in years, but things don’t go as expected.

Warning:  mentions of past cheating, angst, anger, family problems, homophobia, sadness,

Word count: 4.8k

A/N: im returning after 2 months again oops im sorry does anyone still read this anymore, also this is the longest chapter of espresso so far go us!! this is my entry for @viktordrago‘s writing challenge. listen this chapter seems to be @samingtonwilson approved so i think y’all will like it too. also give her some love, she deserves it

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Previous part- Part 10 || Espresso Masterlist

“Y/N, I’m glad you could make it!”

Stepping into Becca's house cautiously, you sent an awkward wave to Bucky’s mother who beamed at you in disproportionate reciprocation, rushing to help you with your coat and giving you a quick hug in the process.

“Hey Mrs. B." You tried your best to speak through the thickness of your throat, forcing yourself not to stiffen in her embrace. “How ya been?”

“Exhausted,” she laughed, shaking her head gently. “Ain’t easy getting all of them to get along for three days.”

You felt that. You were tired too.

You offered her a sympathetic smile and followed her lead to the dining room, scanning your surroundings for any sign of her son and not engaging in her spirited chatter. 

The house smelled like pine scented candles and vanilla essence, the same as it did every year without fail. Since you were last there two days ago, a large tree now sat in the living room, too tall to stand upright with the top pushing against the low ceiling at an odd angle. It wasn't a real tree but, in your experience, was considered a part of the Barnes family and decorated to the nines.

You quietly slid into the seat next to Rebecca who only then seemed to pick up on your arrival, looking away from her phone. A quick glimpse of surprise flashed over her face, and understandably so.

“I remembered all your favorites,” Becca’s mom proudly gestured around the countertop where dishes were stacked, covered with lids or sheets of foil.

“It smells great.” It wasn’t a lie; it really did smell like a feast, but your wide range of junk food and Netflix at home was just as appealing, if not more.

Still, you forced a tight-lipped smile at her, thanking the heavens that she bought it a second later without so much as a question.

Eyebrows drawn together, you took a closer look at Becca’s mom. The bags under her eyes were more pronounced and her steps were heavier as if carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders was finally getting to her.

She seemed distracted, distant almost. You knew she had learned to detach herself from a lot of the negativity around her over the years but it was beginning to feel like she was tuning out altogether.

You felt Becca lean in to whisper to you, asking for your attention but never once taking her eyes off her mom who had turned to double checking everything she made while giving a brief rundown on each dish. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“How you holdin’ up?”

“Fine,” you answered shortly.

She spared you a brief glance to raise her eyebrow. “Really?”

“Always.” Becca didn't say anything but you didn't miss the slight twitching of her jaw as she looked ahead.

You know she hadn’t expected you to show up after the call you’d shared the night before. It lasted well into the late hours, and you weren’t sure when it had ended since you’d fallen asleep from the emotional toll the evening had taken on you. Obviously, you had left out the parts about Bucky, figuring that it was something you both had to talk about yourselves, whenever time demanded it.

Speaking of whom, he was nowhere to be seen. It was a good thing. Longer the delay, the better.

“How’s your vacation going so far, Y/N?”

You hesitated but quickly recovered. “Good as it can get, Mrs. B.”

She smiled at you before she looking to the clock, “George and Bucky are at the store, they’ll be home any minute.”

“Tell them to take their time, we’re in no hurry,” Rebecca drawled in a dry deadpan, eyes narrowed at her nails to avoid her mother’s glower.

“Please try to be civil tonight.” She sighed, rubbing at her temples. You couldn’t imagine how the last few days must have been for her, stuck in the middle of the endless anger and pettiness from Becca and her dad’s feud.

“Me? Be an intentional pain in the ass? I would never.”

Her mom didn’t bother refuting the statement. She just absentmindedly untied the well-worn apron from her waist and, for a second, you thought she might strangle your best friend with it.

Instead, she hung it on the handle of the oven and exited the room to change into something that wasn’t covered in flour, leaving you both alone.

Becca waited until she was out of sight to spin around in her seat and face you. “Listen, you don’t have to stay here if you don't want to be around people right now. They'd understand.”

“I’ll get through,” you mumbled, shutting your eyes and leaning back in your chair.

“You don’t have to. Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with just because of some dumb tradition.”

“It’s just one evening, Becks,” you muttered as you wrapped your arms around yourself. “Besides, I promised.”

She mulled over your words. Her teeth gently nipped at her bottom lip. “You wanna talk about it?”

“Not really, no.”

“Now or ever?”

“Right now it feels like ever, but we’ll see.”

“I knew I was right to spill my drink on Ronald McDonald.”

“That’s a new one,” you said, cracking one eye open to peek at her.

“It’s the hair,” she huffed as she gestured to the top of her head with a roll of her eyes. “I’m running out of characters, we need to eliminate her soon.”

“If it helps, I don’t think she-“

The reverberation from the loud slamming of the front door interrupted you mid-sentence. Becca stiffened at the boisterous laughter of her dad, and you were about to reach out a hand to comfort her but stopped when you realized it was accompanied by the more subdued chuckles of Bucky.

Fuck.

“Y/N!” Her dad’s voice made you jump from your chair instantly, knowing from years’ of experience that he was an old fashioned man, and sometimes not for the better. “It’s good to see you! How are you?”

“Hey, Mr. Barnes.” He had his hand out for a handshake and you remembered to comply firmly, a satisfied grin growing on his face at your actions. “I’m okay. How are you doing?”

“Clinging to life by a thread at this point, I’m afraid.” He shrugged off his coat and slightly ruffled his neatly combed back hair to get rid of the water droplets that had accumulated there.

You could hear the rustling of a paper bag as Bucky handed something over to his mom but you didn’t spare him a look, instead choosing to keep your eyes trained on his father.

“George!” Bucky’s mom scolded, joining in on the conversation as she placed the bag Bucky handed her on the counter.

“What?” Bucky’s dad laughed. He removed the scarf from his neck and took the place opposite to you at the small rectangular dining table.

You took a second to quickly assess Becca, only to find her mostly unfazed except for the slight edge in the way she was looking at her father and the way her leg was bouncing under the table, a habit she had been asked to get rid of multiple times but never really paid consideration to.

You could see from the corner of your eye Bucky standing awkwardly to the side, trying to find a place to sit down. His issue must have been that the only place left was next to you.

You focused ahead and prayed he would just sit down instead of drawing attention to himself and the glaringly obvious tension between you both.

He appeared to have the same thought, taking the seat but not offering a word of greeting or acknowledgement to you.

_________

You quickly found that your attention wasn’t very missed during the evening as long as you supplied occasional laughs or nods, whichever seemed appropriate given everyone else’s response. Most of your time  was spent watching Becca bounce her leg under the table.

“That’s basically how I started a Steve Buscemi fan club in my first year and didn’t realize I was president until like, six months in.”

“It’s not a club if you were the only member.”

“False, Y/N joined.” You perked up when you heard your name, taking a moment to register what had just been said. Up until then, you’d been playing around with the food on your plate, pushing around any vegetables in your path.

“I did?” you asked when it finally clicked in your brain what had just been said. It was safe to say you had no idea how the conversation ended up there, but you didn’t bother figuring it out.

“Yeah, I gave you a badge and everything.”

“Does Y/N even know she was a part of the club, or…” her mother asked, a good-natured smile on her face as she took a sip from her glass.

“I very much did not.”

“Excuse me, what?” Becca dropped her cutlery incredulously. “I just- okay. Fine. I see how it is.”

Another pretend laugh and you were out of the conversation again, for which you were thankful because it was taking all your energy to talk and your social battery was practically drained to begin with.

You’d forgotten Bucky was next to you until he reached over to fill your glass again, startling you. You had seen his hunched shoulders and a thousand-yard stare on his face make an appearance quite a while ago and it hadn’t changed since then. He looked like he would rather be anywhere than here.

You subtly nodded in thanks, to which he just went back to looking down at the plate. Guess he didn’t see it.

“College was different back in my day,” Bucky’s dad smiled reflectively, placing his fork and knife down to talk, his eye catching yours.

“Is it very different from what it is now?” you asked in response to his nonverbal cue to. You hoped he would launch into one more of his long tirades to pass the time.

“It was a smaller community back then. Most kids you went to school with ended up at the same college as you so y’didn’t make a lot of friends but you sure kept the ones you did.” He sounded wistful, nostalgic. “It’s one of the reasons I tried to get these two to stay here.”

“Oh?” Becca swallowed what she was chewing, her tone challenging. Her eyes were narrowed. Uh-oh. “I thought it was so that you could have complete control over me and my love life.”

A silence that could only be described as awkward ensued. The only sounds were of Becca’s fork and knife scraping against her plate as she ignored the surprise she elicited from her words.

“I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t get yourself mixed with the wrong crowd, Becca.” Her dad laughed but you could tell that it was dry and forced as he picked up his silverware, pretending like nothing out of the ordinary had been said.

“The wrong crowd- alright.“ she scoffed, single eyebrow skeptically cocked.

“Y/N-” he turned his attention to you, expression unaffected. “How did your semester go?”

“It certainly… went,” you tried at a poor attempt to diffuse the tension in the room, which was surprisingly well-received by him. Though at this point anything would be a saving grace for him.

“Ain’t that the same for all of us. Don’t think I ever learned what I paid for.” He shrugged. “What about you, James?”

“Huh?” Bucky only just seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was stuck in, looking around wildly for a second. “Oh, yeah, semester went okay.”

“And Becca?”

“It was okay,” she replied curtly.

“Only okay?” He raised his eyebrow at her. “Is there a specific reason for that?”

“Nope.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” She flashed him a big smile and you could see the look of utter distress begin to set in on her mother’s face.

“Fine.” He cleared his throat. “Because I hope you don’t forget why we’re sending you to college.”

“To fuck girls and make bank,” she muttered under her breath. 

You had to suppress a snort and disguise it weakly as a cough. Real smooth.

“What did you say?” Oh shit.

“Hm?” she asked, feigning surprise.

“I want to know what it is you said to yourself.” His eyebrows were knit together in brewing anger, jaw clenched and eyes cold.

“Alright,” she said easily, fearlessly. Putting her fork and knife down, she leaned forward, her chin on the palm of her hand. Her stare was bold. “I asked why you weren’t asking Bucky all of this.”

 “Becca, don’t-“ her mother started, only to be interrupted by Becca’s dad’s response to her question.

“Oh please,” he scoffed as he looked away in annoyance.  

“No, seriously. Why aren’t you telling Bucky these things? He didn’t say his semester went all that great either.”

Bucky coughed and sunk back into his chair as if to move away from the conversation. You looked at him, tilting your head in a silent bid for him to intervene and put a stop to it before it got out of control.

He bit his lip and remained silent. He didn’t seem to notice your action.

Their dad’s response was defensive. “I’d tell him the same things if I was concerned about him.”

“No, you wouldn’t. We know that.” She shook her head and you could see her leg stop bouncing under the table. “What’s the real reason, huh? You worried I’m gonna go get hitched to the first person I see?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’m sorry, I should have specified.” She cleared her throat. “To the first girl I see?”

You could see his posture straighten further, something you didn’t even think was possible. His Adam’s apple shifted as he swallowed thickly, remaining speechless.

Becca hadn’t moved an inch.

“Did you tell him about Natasha?” She looked at her mother, who was as still as she could be other than a slight shake of her head.

“Who’s Natasha?” Mr. Barnes’ voice cut through before their exchange continued, alternating glances between his wife and her.

Becca leaned back in her seat with a subtly smug expression, arms crossed over her chest. “My girlfriend.”

You inhaled sharply, dreading what was to come.

There was complete silence for a moment before her dad laughed nervously. “I can’t be expected to know every new friend-“

“Not friend. Girlfriend.” She clarified. “Two very different things.”

“Maybe we should discuss this after dinner, hm?” Her mother looked around the table, giving everyone a shaky smile. “Does anyone want anymore-“

“Why? Isn’t this normal dinner talk?” She tightened her arms over her chest further, defiantly. “I tell you about what’s going on in my life, give you a little background on who I’ve been seeing-“

“Not now, Becca.” Her dad’s voice was lower than usual and he was avoiding her stare.

“She’s Russian, by the way. Met her at a party-“

“Rebecca.”

You looked back at Bucky, unsure of what to do.

For the first time that night you met his eyes, only to find him as uncomfortable as you. You could tell he’s biting the inside of his cheek, but he hadn’t said anything yet.

“Been together a couple of months, she’s got a big family-“

“Enough!” Her dad brought his hand down harshly on the table, making you jump and gasp. His fists were clenched to the point of whitening his knuckles, a vein was prominent against the skin of his neck.

Rebecca didn’t bat an eye. “No.”

“Becks-“ Bucky finally tried, snapping you from your daze to reach for her hand. She gripped onto you tightly.

“Stop,” she said to him making him shut his mouth as quickly as he opened it. You could see red rimming her eyes. “Just stop. He needs to hear this.”

She looked back at her dad, a slight quiver almost unnoticeable in her otherwise strong voice. “My girlfriend’s name is Natasha, and I love her. I won't let you erase her existence like how you did with all my ex-girlfriends.”

“You didn’t have ex-girlfriends, this is just one of your-“

“What? Phases?” She paused, waiting for him to agree with her. “It’s not. And even if it was, so fucking what?”

You could see her mother flinch at the curse word but maintained her silence. She looked like she was dissociating from the situation again.

“I’m a lesbian, dad. My girlfriend is bisexual. We’re together,” she emphasized the last part. “It’s about time you accept it or learn to live with it.”

Her chair scraped behind her loudly as she stood up, her hand letting go of yours.

“Dinner was delicious, Ma. Thank you.” She flashed her a shaky smile before spinning on her heel and leaving the room.

Bucky and you shared a nervous glance before you broke it to look at his mother.

With a subtle tilt of her head in the direction Rebecca had gone in, you knew you had her permission to leave so you just quickly stacked your plate on top of Becca’s before taking off behind her.

“Becca!” you called after her, taking two steps at a time to catch up with her.

“M’fine,” she grunted, shoulders stiff as she walked into her room, slamming the door behind her.

“Let me in, Rebecca.” You hastily knocked on the wood.

You could hear loud arguing in the dining room, but you chose not to discern its content. You figured it wasn’t your place to listen in.

“Everything’s fine, Y/N, don’t bother.” Her voice was muffled. You couldn’t tell if she was crying, which only stressed you out more.

You leaned your forehead against the door, hoping your words would be clearer. “You know it isn’t. Just open the door and we can talk about it.” 

The door swung open and you staggered back in an effort to not fall face first to the ground. Becca had pulled on a hoodie and had changed into sweatpants, hair in a loose ponytail.

“Y/N,” she began, “I’m fine. Seriously.”  

“Becca, you don’t have to-“

“I just need to clear my head.” The redness around her eyes had reduced significantly, but was still present. It gave you all the more reason to believe she wasn’t being completely truthful. “Really. I said what I had to say, I just got overwhelmed while doing it.”

You remained silent, lips pressed together in a tight line, waiting for her to go on.

“I just need to be alone for some time, to think some things through. I’m-“ Becca lingered, letting her shoulders relax. “I’m okay. I got this, I promise; just… trust me.”

You stared at her, trying to formulate your next move. Would you be a shitty person if you left her alone like this?

“Tell me if you need anything, and I mean anything. I’ll be right here.”

She nodded, slipping you a small smile before closing the door softly. You heard the click of her lock, indicating that you made the right choice.

You sighed, sinking to the floor adjacent to her door. You could stay there for some more time, just in case. 

You were probably just being too paranoid, but just in case.

You weren’t sure how long you sat there to see if she’d rush back out, but you stopped keeping track after a while.

Someone’s heavy footsteps alerted you of their presence as they paced down the hallway where you were perched. You didn’t have to look up to know who it was. You didn’t spare him a glance even as he paused for a second next to you before joining you on the floor, crossing his legs in front of him.

“She doin’ okay?” Bucky sounded out of breath and you wondered if he ran up the stairs like you had.

“She said she was,” you mumbled, picking at your cuticles. “She isn’t leaving her room though.”

He exhaled, followed by the dull thump of his head falling against the wall behind him. “Beck’s strong. She’ll pull through. Just gotta… just gotta give her some time.”

You closed your eyes. You just wanted to sleep. It was just so tiring; everything was so tiring.

“’m sorry you got caught up in this.” He pulled his knees up so they were tucked against him. “It shouldn’t-“

“Why didn’t you stand up for her down there?” you cut him off and opened your eyes to look at him. “You’re her brother. She needed support and you-“

“Think of what just happened. Would that have helped?” he asked coolly.

“It sure would have helped her-“

“This isn’t the first time it’s happened, you know that.” He turned his head towards you. “We’ve been through this before, I’ve been through this before. I’ve tried to help, so many times. It ends up with either Becca or my dad despising me. It’s just… it’s exhausting.”

You bit your tongue and forced yourself to calm down before your anger got the best of you. You knew about this, Bucky himself telling you about his involvement. How you let yourself forget it so carelessly was beyond you.

“You’re right, though.” He shrugged, surprising you. “I told my dad this time that if he cuts her off, he can- he can do the same for me. ‘M sticking by her side.”

He let out a shaky breath.

“I’m sorry,” you said softly.

He shrugged again, looking straight ahead at the wall. He was chewing on his lip, eyebrows pulled together as he toyed with what you just noticed were bandages on his left knuckles. You wondered how the hell he managed to get those within two days.

It was close to nine thirty. You were beginning to question if you should pack up and go since there was no sound coming from Becca’s end. She had probably gone to sleep.

“I’m gonna-“ you began to tell Bucky that you were leaving, only to be interrupted.

“I didn’t do it, y’know,” he said quietly.

You stop for a moment before you finally look at him. “Do what?”

It was a dumb question. You knew exactly what he was talking about. You just weren’t sure if this was the time or place to talk about it.

“Set you up like that. I had no idea he was going to be there.”

“I know, I shouldn’t have said that.” You didn’t bother hiding that you knew it was plain overreaction on your end. It would be completely out of his nature. “But it doesn’t mean you didn’t know about him and Dot, or that you didn’t pair me up with people you knew I wouldn’t like.”

“You really believe that I wouldn’t tell you about Dot and Rumlow if I knew?” He twisted his body to face you. “That I’d spend even a second with her if I knew she was the girl he cheated with?”

“Rumlow and you spent too long together for me to not believe you had not even the slightest clue, Bucky-“

“But I didn’t. Rumlow and I- we never got along. Never spent any time that I wasn’t forced to with him. Couldn’t stand the guy, especially since-“ Bucky hesitated, before clearing his throat. “Doesn’t matter. The point is I wasn’t aware at all.”

“Especially since what?”

“What?”

“You said you didn’t like him especially since what?” you pressed on it, your curiosity too eager to ignore even though it was probably insignificant anyway.

“It’s nothing, doesn’t even matter now.” He scanned you for a second. “He just had a chance at something I never did.”

“At what?”

“Nothing, Y/N, just drop it.”

“Fine.” It didn’t make sense to dwell on it further if it just meant you getting riled up on something small that didn’t even matter. “What about the others?”

“Who?” He squinted, trying to find a connection to what you were talking about.

“Vision. Tony. I don’t even remember the others.”

He sighed and rubbed his temples. “If you’re asking whether I handpicked people you’d hate just to make you waste your time and energy, the answer is I didn’t.”

You crossed your arms over your chest. “Well-“

“But-” he continued at the same time as you, in all seriousness. You both went quiet at the same time until he clenched his eyes shut and shook his head. “Nevermind.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing, it’s bullshit.”

“I didn’t care about the last one, but this clearly includes me so speak up.” You narrowed your eyes at him.

“Both of them include you,” he said under his breath, almost inaudible expect for the fact that you were sitting right next to him and you could even hear every breath he took.

“Wait, what?”

He stared at you, panic written on his face. “I didn’t think you’d hear that.”

“I did, so explain it.”

“I told you, it’s nothing-“

“Why are you being so secretive all of a sudden?” you exclaimed, throwing your hands up. “I don’t get it, what’s your issue here? Why do you keep hinting at things like you expect me to understand everything?”

“I don’t expect you to understand any of it, Y/N, because you haven’t all these years,” he snapped, making you tilt your head in confusion.

Your eyebrows were raised so high you thought they might touch your hairline. “Excuse me?” 

“I couldn’t make it more obvious at this point.” He sounded annoyed, but it didn’t seem directed at you. That didn’t make it less infuriating though.

“What the hell are you talking about, Bucky?” you were amazed at how cryptic he could be.

“If you still haven’t gotten it, then-“

“Is this about the cups?” you interjected, mouth moving faster than your brain. “Because I know about them.”

He froze midway running his hand through his hair in frustration. “The what?” 

“I know you write stuff on them,” you continued calmly, realizing you had hit some kind of a spot. You didn’t tell him you didn’t know what exactly he wrote on them because no one had told you yet.

“Oh.” He choked out. “For how long have you- have you known?”

“A month or so.” You shrugged. “So if that’s what you’re referring to then-“

You trailed off, not knowing what to say next. He had gone still. An uncomfortable silence blanketed you both.

He swallowed thickly, jaw clenching. “I guess I have my answer then.”

He wordlessly got to his feet, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and began walking towards his room two doors down, leaving you utterly confused.

“What?” You scrambled to your feet to follow him. “Where are you-“

“Listen, Y/N, I got it,” he murmured, “I’m sorry I brought it up. You don’t have to explain anything.”

“Yeah, you might be the only one here who got anything, buddy.” You grabbed onto his shoulder in an effort to get his attention. “Will you please just stop-“

“I got your message,” he said quietly, stopping in front of his door. “Loud and clear.”

“James-“ You frowned because suddenly this felt way bigger than what you previously thought it to be. It was just a disagreement; you didn’t expect to see yourself losing a lifelong friendship over it.

“I’m, uh, sorry about the dates. I know you won’t believe me, but I truly didn’t mean for them to turn out like that.” He twisted the lock to his door open and walked in.

You chose to stay at the doorway, not wanting to intrude on his personal space without asking him if he was alright with it. You didn’t know what to say, he just seemed so dejected for some reason he wasn’t letting on.

He went to his table, pulling open a drawer and shifted some books from it before retrieving something else. He wiped at it with his sleeve, briefly looking at it while returning to where you were standing.

“This is yours,” he mumbled, handing it over to you. “As promised, since I didn’t keep up my end of the promise.”

It was a white envelope, frayed at the edges but still fairly surviving the years of being kept in the drawer. It didn’t take you more than three seconds to realize what it was.

It was the letter he promised you at the beginning of your deal.

“I’ll see you later. Have a good Christmas, Y/N.” He forced a small smile on his face before gently closing the door, leaving you alone in the corridor.

You flipped the envelope over to the front, fingers scrabbling to open it. After a few seconds of tripping over your own impatience, you tore the top open. You pulled out the paper, stomach lurching at the sight of his handwriting.

Dear Dolores:

Part 12

[sylvanfreckles]

Into the Unknown (Whumptober 2020)

Thanks, guys, I’ve had this song stuck in my head all day!

Summary: (11.22 AU) It's finally time to beat Amara, but Dean's not letting Lucifer wear Cas to the prom. Even if that means serving as a vessel himself.

* * *

“Yeah, great, solid plan,” Dean clapped his hands. “There's, uh, there's just one thing.” Instantly all eyes were on him—Sam's were apprehensive, Chuck's were mildly curious, and Lucifer's were downright patronizing. It was the third gaze that had him swallowing and looking away. “It's...it's Cas.”

“Oh, brother,” Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Your little pet is safe with me, don't worry so much,” he sneered, resting one hand on his chest.

“That's kind of my point. Wouldn't, uh, wouldn't it be better if you were separated? If we had some additional fire power?”

Lucifer snorted and folded his arms, but it was Chuck who replied. “Castiel's in no shape to battle,” he said. “As it is, keeping him with Lucifer's vessel is probably the right move.”

“But that's Cas's vessel,” Dean snapped before he could help himself. He'd known God hadn't given two shits about the angels in practically forever, but this was going too far.

Chuck held up a conciliatory hand. “Be that as it may, we don't have another vessel for Lucifer, unless one of you wants to volunteer.”

The devil leaned forward, grinning all over Cas's face. “Yeah, Sammy, what do you say? Wanna be bunk buddies again?”

Dean automatically stepped in front of his brother, earning a bitter laugh from Lucifer. “Then we go with option B.”

“We don't have time to find him another vessel either,” Chuck argued. “Trust me, Dean, this is the best way.”

“Yeah, no thanks. You've got a vessel right here.” He said the words in a rush before he could overthink them too much. Much as he hated the idea of being an angel condom—this was Cas. And if Castiel could be a suitable vessel for an archangel...maybe an archangel vessel could hold a lower angel, just for a little while.

“Dean?” Sam hissed, Dean waved him off to shut him up.

“It just makes sense,” he said, trying to convince the others. “Lucifer's got more than enough power on his own to take on Amara, and with both of them in there Cas can't pitch in.”

“I already told you, he's in no condition to fight,” Chuck interrupted. “There's barely anything left of him anyway, the battle would just burn him out.”

Dean flinched. It sounded an awful lot like Chuck didn't expect Cas to survive this battle. “And what about me?” he asked.

Chuck gave a long-suffering sigh and turned to face him directly. “You can't always have everything, Dean. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.”

It was probably wrong to hate the creator of the universe, at least face-to-face, but that was what was boiling up in Dean at that moment. Chuck wanted to talk about sacrifices? When he could have stepped in and stopped this at any time?

Dean forced those comments back, knowing it would do no good to start another argument under these circumstances. “I mean this, this...connection I have. What if I try to stop you?”

Lucifer snorted again. “As if you could,” he teased. He rested one hand on Dean's shoulder—on the wrong shoulder—and squeezed lightly. “I'll make sure little Castiel has a chance to say good-bye.”

“If he was possessing me,” Dean raised his voice over the devil's teasing, “he could swap in and stop me if I tried to interfere.”

The devil was laughing again, but Chuck actually looked thoughtful. He waved one hand and Lucifer stiffened. “Let's let him decide,” Chuck said simply.

Lucifer stiffened. Then he slumped over, shoulders bent, forehead furrowed in obvious discomfort. Wary eyes darted around taking in the bunker, Chuck, the Winchesters...before resting on the ground in front of him.

Dean took a step forward. “Cas?”

When Cas raised his head enough to meet Dean's gaze, the hunter nearly stumbled back at the misery he saw there. “Hello, Dean.”

They didn't have much time. “Cas, buddy, the final battle is coming, and-”

“He already knows,” Chuck interrupted impatiently. “Castiel. Would you rather stay in there with Lucifer or hitch a ride with Dean here?” Seeing the vast change in Chuck's attitude now that his favorite son was in the background was infuriating. It was like Cas was barely worth his time, no more useful than meatsuit for the devil.

Dean angled himself between Chuck and Cas and gripped his friend by the shoulders. “Come on, man. At least until the battle is over and we can get you sole custody of your body.” He didn't care that Chuck, and probably Lucifer now, was seeing right through his story about wanting Cas to protect himself from Amara. This was all about getting his friend away from the devil.

Cas had looked down, and even now refused to meet Dean's gaze. “You don't know what you're asking.”

“I don't care,” Dean shook his head. He thought he could feel Sam moving in to stand close to his shoulder, offering support. “You've gotta get out of there, man.”

“We don't have time for this,” Chuck interrupted again. He easily moved Dean aside and stood in front of Cas, arms folded. “Your choice. You can help Lucifer win against Amara, or you can tag along with your buddy over there.”

Cas's eyes flickered to Dean's just for a moment, and he could see the depth of misery and pain the angel was holding back. He couldn't imagine Lucifer had been leaving Cas alone all this time, and while he'd never hosted the devil himself he'd seen what that had done to Sammy. And then Chuck's words...like Cas was somehow abandoning the fight by fleeing the brother who wanted nothing more than to make him suffer.

“We need you, man,” Dean said over Chuck's shoulder. There were so many things he wanted to say, he wanted to apologize, to beg for Cas to stay with them, to remind him how much they loved and cared for him. “You're our brother, Cas. You need to know that.”

This time Cas met his eyes for longer than a second. There was something else in there, some hint of turbulent emotions, and the angel gave a slow nod.

“All right!” Chuck clapped his hands. “Hold on in there, boys. This might get a little rough.” He held his hand against Cas's chest, palm out, fingers spread. Cas convulsed back, arching his back as though an invisible hook behind his sternum was holding him up, then his throat began to glow.

“He can leave himself!” Dean protested.

“We don't have time,” Chuck replied over his shoulder. Cas's mouth and eyes were glowing, and as the Winchesters watched a stream of blue-white poured out of his mouth to coil into a ball in Chuck's hand.

Chuck turned around, studying the ball of Cas's essence with a strange expression. For a moment Dean was afraid the creator was going to squeeze his fist closed and extinguish Cas for good, but he simply held the ball of light out toward Dean.

Dean opened his mouth to ask what to do next, and the light streamed out of Chuck's hand and into him. He stumbled back, feeling Sam grab him by the arms, as Cas's essence flowed into his body to settle somewhere beneath his sternum. For a split second he tasted ozone and iron, then his senses were flooded with a rush of information from a thousand senses he didn't actually have in his physical body.

“He may need a minute,” Chuck commented. For a dizzying moment Dean stared at the creator of the universe through one pair of eyes that somehow saw in a dozen different dimension, then the world went black.

* * *

When Dean woke up he was lying on his back in a featureless gray room. It looked like one of the dorm rooms in the bunker, except without furniture or any distinguishing features.

“Hello, Dean.”

He whipped his head around to see Cas sitting against the opposite wall, knees drawn up to his chest. The angel looked terrible—dark circles under his eyes, face pale and fragile-looking, and somehow way too thin even though this was obviously a mental projection and not his physical form.

Dean pushed himself up and scooted around until he was sitting cross-legged against the wall. “You all right?” he asked. Cas almost flinched at the question, and—holy shit, were those bruises? What the hell had Lucifer been doing to him?

His fury built at the evidence of what his friend had been through and the walls around them groaned in response. Cas looked up fearfully, eyes wild. “You're angry.”

“Damn right I am!” Dean burst out. Cas flinched back again, nearly curling into himself. “Look at what he did to you? Why shouldn't I be angry!”

Cas wouldn't meet his eyes again. “You have every right to be angry.”

This was getting nowhere. Dean shoved himself up to his feet and stalked over to Cas, who seemed to be bracing himself for a confrontation. Dean lowered himself to sit next to the angel, facing him, and tried to force his voice to be gentle. “I'm angry at him, Cas. Not you.”

“But this is my fault,” Cas said simply. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “After everything you've sacrificed I'm the one who let the devil walk out of the cage.”

“Yeah,” Dean let out a sigh. “Not saying that was the best plan, but you were desperate.”

Cas shot him a glance and seemed to relax a little as though he realized Dean wasn't there to berate him. “I was just trying to help,” he said quietly.

“And you do help,” Dean replied. He scooted around to sit against the wall, shoulder-to-shoulder with Cas. The rumble in the walls had eased back as he got a better control over his anger—if this place reflected whatever he was feeling, he'd have to think happy thoughts or whatever. Cas was in bad enough shape as it was, he'd never get better if he was surrounded by so much anger. “I should have seen it sooner, man, I'm so sorry. I should have known that wasn't you in there.”

The angel sighed, and he relaxed a little bit more as Dean's remorse filtered through the room, bringing in the truth of his words. “Well, he is the father of deception.”

Dean snorted. “Understatement.”

They sat in companionable silence for a moment as Dean tried to focus on all the feelings of affection and care and trust he felt for Cas. He was determined to wrap the angel up in every bit of goodwill they could muster and send him back to his vessel even better than before. “You okay?” he finally asked after a few minutes.

Cas brought his hands out to study them, flexing the fingers. “Lucifer is not a gentle guest,” he replied. His voice was subdued, and Dean could only imagine what Cas was trying to hide. “His very presence tore through my vessel and it was burning my grace out just to keep us both alive.”

Horrified, Dean could only stare at Cas's calm facade. “Your vessel?”

“I'm sure Chuck can strengthen it for the confrontation.” Cas's voice was bitter and he wrapped his arms around his middle, curling in on himself again.

Dean blew out a breath and leaned back against the wall. After a moment he wrapped on arm around Cas's shoulders and tugged him close. “After this, let's ditch the old man and hit Maui. You, me, and Sammy, nothing but warm sand and cold beer.”

“Hmm,” Cas leaned his head back against the wall, his hair barely brushing Dean's arm. “If we survive this.”

“Yeah. If we survive.”

* * *

“Dean?” Sam, long floppy hair and all, was staring down worriedly into Dean's face as he regained consciousness.

He sat up, nearly knocking heads with his brother, and looked around wildly for a moment, half-expecting Cas to be next to him. It was just Sam, of course...with Chuck and Lucifer a short distance away studiously ignoring each other.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked quietly. “You know...both of you?”

Dean rested a hand over his heart, where he was sure he could feel a flutter of Cas's presence. “Just fine, Sammy. Let's get this over with.”

[kob131]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XgKp9jj4Is

*sigh* Great, yet ANOTHER ‘Let’s rewrite Adam’ argument made by miss ‘It’s hard to keep track of RWBY characters like Zwei.’

“Degredation of Adam’s character from Blake’s mentor to an abusive ex to a whiny incel who makes insults like it’s his Pokémon name.”

A. “Blake’s mentor” is not a character. It is a description and not even a bare bones one.

B. What is the difference between an abusive ex and an incel exactly? They’re both used to describe despicable people in relation to romance.

C. That is not what incel. You’re using it as a generic insult and thus that last description may as well say ‘Adam bad’ for all the substance it has.

D. Adam always made stupid insults. People laughed at his voice in the Black Trailer and in Volume 3 for fuck’s sake.

And E. What WOULD you make Adam that wouldn’t just make him every generic freedom fighter?

“We’re gonna drop the abusive angel completely and go with Monty’s original plan-”

Done.

You just killed your own video by assuming a dead man’s intention with no fucking reason other than ‘mouthpiece.’

I have no reason to accept anything you say in good faith after this. Before you say that you wanted to change as little as possible then change a massive aspect while using a corpse as a meat shield from criticism.

You are owed nothing from this point on.

‘You don’t doodle your abuser in your notebook-”

Unless, you know, think about them. But hey, why use your brain when you can rely on the inevitable RWBY haters to drown out all criticism?

‘The abuse angle is the worst explored in the show-”

Proof?

No?

Considering your history, I HIGHLY doubt that.

“*Insert Adam into the Volume 2 train fight instead of the WF Lieutennat because he was an out of nowhere threta*”

...

So the Black Trailer and the Volume 2 finale never happened...or you’re an incompetent idiot.

“It gives the scene more weight because we know who Adam is-”

We also know who the WF lieutenant is AND we don’t waste an important character for a worthless fight that amounts to nothing as the train fights ultimately mean NOTHING.

Congrats, you made Adam worse because his first in series fight had him giving a good performance. Here, he can’t even kill Weiss (and in fact, as I am about to explain, he’d get CURB STOMPED by Weiss.)

Just as well, you’ll need to completely change his weakness. Adam is a glass cannon, he can dish out a lot of damage and move quickly but one good hit knocks him down. Makes sense since he’s not exactly big and buff and he can’t fight back when someone isn’t intimidated by him. It also makes him dangerous to Yang as she relies on taking hits at first which she can’t do with Adam because she often flings herself in ways that make dodging impossible. It also makes sense why Blake can fuck him over and why she can get fucked over: she’s also fragile but evasive which connects her with Adam too.

But say he fights, I dunno, someone who can zip around quickly in a manner that he can’t block the attacks and would logically get fucked over quickly by. Like say, a Semblance that zips you from spot to spot like WEISS’. 

Yeah, he’d lose in an instant against Weiss because he’s never seen to be able to block attacks moving that fast and he’d get fucked over quick. So you’d need to up his durability and suddenly he loses a logical weakness that is represented by his personality, connecting him to Blake, basically making him a Yang clone and now you need a NEW weakness. Suddenly a lot of Adam’s interesting elements SHATTER.

This is why Adam rewrites suck. None of you think through your writing. You make the same mistakes that Miles and Kerry made but with less experience, less insight and less care and then pile on EVEN MORE flaws.

Worst of all, the bullshit you give about ‘knowing his threat level’ ignores other factors like appearance, attitude and fighting style. Oh wait, I know why. If we include those, the WF Lieutennat suddenly becomes a clear threat. His appearance is distinctly different from the WF goons, with his tall and thick frame indicating he’s strong and durable while his choice of weapon shows he would have a strong but slow fighting style and his attitude shows that if Weiss loses she could very well die a PAINFUL death by a sadist chainsaw wielding terrorist. (’More tension’ my ass.)

You throw out so much just for ONE point that was accomplished in the original anyway. What the fuck else are you gonna muck up?

“Have adam be there to show Adam working with Torchwick-”

Which Blake would already assume since the WF is working with Torchwick and Adam LEADS the WF. But I guess Blake is too stupid to do basic math.

“Then have Adam let Blake run away-”

WHAT THE FUCK?!

Run to where?! They are in an enclosed space! Adam should be chasing after her! He has every reason to chase after her, both personal and professional!

“Then we can have dialogue that goes something like this in Volume 3: Adam: “I don’t want to have to fight you but I will if I have to. Blake: No no, Humans aren’t bad people! Adam: I have seen what they can do. Your family kept you safe. I wasn’t so lucky-”

Cool, so he’s every generic ‘sympathetic’ freedom fighter now.

Instead of being a deconstruction of the noble wounded freedom fighter, showing how such a person would be impossible for such a situation from the extremity of the harm done to him, the manipulation by his superiors for their own ends and his own faults, he’s just a generic pity bag now.

No wait, a SHITTY generic pity bag now because in the Black Trailer, he explictedly tried to blow up innocent people on a train. Blake even questioned him on it and he said ‘So?’. That isn’t the reaction of some noble but misguided person, that’s the reaction of someone so far off the deep end they’ve lost basic sympathy.

Trying to make him out to be noble here would be like trying to make me believe Raven is this secret loving mother or this protector: their actions in the past CONTRADICT this.

‘But Twiinks never said that-’

Her choice of words did. The words you choose your characters to say speaks about how we are suppose to view them. Adam’s word choice in the original communicates a dangerous sadism and madness built from pain and a lack of emotional maturity. This version communicates a sadness stemming from a supposed kindness that Adam SHOULDN’T have.

‘But it tells us what they’re stances on humans are-’

So did the original while also why we should route for Blake over Adam (i.e. she’s still sane and tries to be kind while Adam has lost it and is being cruel and vindictive.)

We literally lost something here.

“He truly feels like this is the only way to help Fanaus-”

So we're now working off the assumption he cares about the Fanaus and not just himself and his own pain, deconstructing how real life movements become corrupted from their original purpose by focusing on their own personal pain than a universal kindness.

Cool, so Adam isn’t Adam anymore.

“Adam still stabs Sienna but it’s about the orgnazation instead of a lame power grab-”

*rolls eyes*

I really hate these rewrites. Why do you even bother with Adam if you tear out the character and insert someone completely different? 

“Adam is remorseful, Sienna says something like ‘I would rather die than give you the organization’, and Adam apologizes. Perfect scene.”

A cheesy line that rings hollow and more OOC. Wonder-fucking-ful. I also looked ahead and saw that you are changing Adam’s character short to be about getting his scar. (More on that mess when we get to it.) So Adam being used by Sienna to push for her more violent agenda over Ghira’s peaceful one, something used by the show to show we shouldn’t be shitty to each other (AKA A core theme) still exists. Meaning that what should be Sienna paying for her sins by having the very person she used to push her agenda take it to its logical extreme, kill her in turn and destroy her work is just nonsensical pity begging.

I also assume Adam declaring his idea of Fanaus Supremacy and basically quoting Mein Kampf is still in the show since you never address that. Cool, so either I pity a woman who screwed this man’s life or I pity Furry Hitler. *slow claps*

“During the Volume 5 fight, his breaks and we see his scar-”

...

I’m not even surprised by how dumb this shit is. 

Adam’s scarf reveal in Volume 6 was wonderful and one of the best moments in the show. For so long, we saw Adam as someone who was destructive and hateful for no reason and right there, the audience is forced to see that while his actions are inexcusable, his reasons are very human and very real. He’s not a monster, he’s a person whose consumed by pain. At the very end of his life, Adam wasn’t a monster: he was a sorrowful reminder of what pain does to a person.

What does the scar reveal do here? ... Nothing. Seeing his face in full means nothing. Twiinks doesn’t even say anything about it. It’s just there because she wants a look of remorse and thinks that can’t be accomplished with the mask. Even though we could see him cry or have a look of sorrowful anguish. Adam can emote fine without his mask.

I just-I can’t believe this.

”The Adam short is now instead of a bunch of emotionless fight scenes now about how Adam got his scar-”

...

Just more pissing on what makes Adam good. Yeah yeah...

The Adam short is not just a bunch of emotionless fight scenes. The fight scene you show (of Adam protecting Ghira) shows so much. It shows the struggles of the peaceful White Fang, it shows Adam being shocked at killing a human as he hadn’t fallen yet, it shows Sienna using Adam to push her violence without concern for his well being and it shows how he got it into his head killing was fine.

That was ONE scene. ONE. Your scar replacement as a whole would have less impact (as we can tell how got it from context clues) than ONE scene.

Are you guys getting WHY I hate rewrites of RWBY so much?

“Adam finds Oscar-”

If this doesn’t end with “and then he kills Oscar” I don’t care. Even this version of Adam would jump at killing a human and would have no idea Oscar knows Blake.

And it doesn’t. Great. BTW, Oscar wouldn’t know about the plan at this point so him showing up at the CCT tower isn’t explained and this scene is pointless.

“Adam would show up at the CCT tower, killing the CCT guards while ranting about equality and justice. Blake jumps in, leading him away to the waterfall. She says ‘Adam, you’ve gone too far! You’re just as bad as the people who hurt you!’“

Gee, that wasn’t clear when he tried BLOWING UP A TRAIN FULL OF INNOCENT PEOPLE?!

Also, Twiinks tries to push this idea that Blake wants to reconnect with Adam (which makes no sense as she LEFT Adam).

“Now we have the decapitation scene-”

We know she’s not gonna die, the fear came from the destruction of beacon and Yang being injuried. Of course Blake isn’t gonna die here.

“-moved to a thematically appreciate moment in the story-”

Considering you didn’t give two shits about thematic before, why the fuck would I care now?

“-Yang isn’t involved as to not muddy how if it was self defense.-”

So Yang’s arc is just scrapped and instead of having someone around who went through similar shit as Adam with a similar mindset and personality to dislay how wrong he is, we have a far shittier version that doesn’t even serve it’s purpose as protecting friends and family is covered by self defense and the people who bitched now would still bitch because Adam dying is the issue, not self defense.

“We see regret in Adam’s eyes-”

Means nothing because he was just a loon at this point out of nowhere and he’s still a terrible person. See, the thing is you can give a pitiable side to characters like Adam but you have to accept there is still good reason to hate him. Trying to hammer sympathy at us is just gonna make him less sympathetic.

“We shouldn’t be developing the budding relationship-”

It wasn’t.

That wasn’t a fucking romantic scene, it was an emotional breakdown after a stressful 

“By making Adam an understandable character-”

This is perhaps the most insulting part.

Adam IS understandable. Just because you don’t sympathize with him doesn’t mean you can’t see how he became this way. He was enslaved at a young age, branded in a way that robbed him of so much, he tried to make things better but because of forces outside of his control and his own issues, he lost his way and became what made him: someone cruel and uncaring of others. And yet, even as he does terrible things, we can still see that even he is a victim of the world, lamenting his fall and who he could have been.

That is something that fits the tone of RWBY so much better than a generic freedom fighter turned crazy person. Not to mention all the brilliant details you scrapped for shallow and boring details that any run of the mill show could do.

You improved NOTHING here. You just turned Adam from an interesting deconstruction and a cautionary tale of what we can become to every revolutionary in western media which, considering America’s origins, are a dime a dozen.

I’ll say it again: This is why I hate rewrites. You didn’t put nearly as much thought and effort into the show as the creators did and yet you stand on their work, rot it from the inside and try pedaling a worse version because it fits some people’s delusions.

Every time I look into you Twiinks, you become worse. How far will YOU fall?

[sparrowsabre7]

Just noticed that another codec tune is the start of "rockabye baby".

Anyway, didn't bother writing up my last few trips as not much eventful happened, still trudging around the mountain at this point.

Back at Heartman's room, giving the BT model a hearty tap for the lulz.

Heartman's telling me about how Mama's body has high concentrations of midicholorians, sorry, Chiral matter, more than is usual for the average human. All this serious expo talk being delivered with a birds eye view down the corpse's cleavage. Stay classy Hideo!

Weird, Heartman's about to go down but he just said he restarted a second ago... oh shit son! He modified the network timers to have no record of the conversation, this is some serious conspiracy shit! He says the BT that went to grab the BT baby was Mama's sould, still somehow tethered to her body by the umbilical cord. Deadman's being patched in and throwing more shade on Die-Hardman. The umbilical cord I delivered was Bridget's, she apparently had it outside of her body, with no necrotisation, just like Mama. Meaning the cord was somehow connected to the beach. My guess is she maybe had a BT baby or somehow the first BB was born from her rather than a braindead mother.

Heartboi now goes on to say chiralium has been found at all major extinction events and theorises that the death stranding is merely the latest in a long line of earth's contact with a beach and thus were are in the middle of a new extinction era. He's saying that some archaeological and paleontological discoveries may not have been frozen in the sense of ice but frozen in time as though on the beach. He links this argument with evidence of several remains having the same umbilical cord but not for childbirth, as o e is found on a dinosaur, but as a strand to the beach, just like the BTs have cords.

So these corded beings are not just connected to the beach but potentially also the "extinction entity" that caused a death stranding, implying Bridget was one too.

Assuming Bridget was an EE then Amelie may also be one, hence Higgs' interest.

*pause to catch breath*

Ok, right. Better... do... stuff then.

Got to link up the Chiral station then cross the tar. Fuck me this is an arduous journey, made more so by the fact there's no private room to figuratively and literally recharge my batteries at Heartman's. Ok here I go, using some randos bike as long as I ca- oh BT town. Great. This is horrible, I'm having to build a generator in the middle of this shithole because I can't fight back without a power skeleton as I'm carrying too much. Ah a private room up ahead, thank god.

Are you FUCKING joking!? It's not even built, why put it on the map. Selfish twat.

Finally out of the mountains; grass! A bike! Yes, now we're talking! Hope I don't run into any more trouble, he said sarcastically hoping that in doing so he would prevent trouble.

Ah of course. The "BT here sign" was a red herring. It's actually terrorists. Fuck's sake. Literally just driven right into their camp.I am so unprepared.

"That looks shallow" he thought, stupidly, as he crashed directly into a stream and was flung unceremoniously off the trike. Guess I'm legging it the last *checks notes* 852 metres. That's not so bad I suppose.

Just going to sit on this rock and then stand in the river to recover stamina and canteen respectively.

Jesus Christ nearly lost all cargo after misjudging my stamina in the river. Luckily it all washed up next to me but by god this has been a tough trek.

Thank god, just about made it. Please let me rest now.

Nope, gotta cross the tar. Ok. Fine. Looks like the method is to get caught by a BT according to the emails, which seem to have replaced "Colonel tells you" as the modus operandi for giving hints.

Literally nowhere nearby for me to properly rest so just got to sleep out exposed for a while until I hopefully regain some stamina.

Not much but let's see. Oh ok, got my stamina 100% refilled just for this sequence. Nice! Another spectacular set piece, running across the tar supermerged buildings, like a gloopy Inception. Amelie was stood in the tar at the end like an oily jesus but it ended up triggering a cutscene where I got dragged down and sent to the beach, where Amelie is singing London bridge is falling down. Just a thought, how come Amelie has clothes but Sam doesn't? It was the same when we saw Heartman's beach: he and all its inhabitants were fully clothed.

Anyway, Sam wakes up and Higgs is there to be creepy and monologue about masks. I feel like I wasn't paying proper attention or missed something because I thought Higgs already had Amelie but he's saying once the Chiral networks online he will be able to track her location. He then puts his gold skull mask on Sam which burns him but leaves no mark and seems to have no other effect so fuck knows what that was about. Oh and he licks Sam; which I am actually happy about because it retroactively makes it a little less weird that he licked Fragile, he's just a guy who licks people.

Die-Hardman says the last stage is here so just need to connect the distro and then Edge Knot; "take your time, and do it right." Not 10 seconds later he's calling to say "Sam, what's the hold up? Get that centre online." Prick.

I take a nap and Amelie is now teleporting around my room like Higgs being vague about secrets and that her real name is Amerigo after the first man to discover America. "Sam says what about Columbus?" and Amelie says, "it's a lie, America is all a lie".

*Deep breath* ok, now I am all here for Columbus erasure, and sure maybe Amerigo did see America first or whatever, but ultimately it's still horseshit because a) the vikings got there way earlier and b) PEOPLE ALREADY LIVED THERE. Like, fuck, the "it's built on a lie" thing still rings true but definitely coming at it from the wrong angle. It's like Kojima did a BIT of research to try and get an "a ha!" moment over the audience, perhaps not considering that most people no longer actually give a shit about the "discovery" of America and generally agree Columbus is a turd anyway.

Back to the game, she confirms she is an extinction entity and thus we need to get to her before Higgs. She also drops in that she was born on a beach, so she must have been connected to the umbilical cord Bridget had.

In any case, I'm getting the feeling that Higgs is gearing up for a boss fight and given nothing else is on this rock that seems a fairly solid theory. It's amazing given how underpopulated the rest of the game is, that this area somehow still manages to feel more lonely than the rest of the game. Maybe because it's one of the few city escapes and there's no landscape around. It's like Henry David Thoreau said, we are never truly alone in nature.