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iamnotoriginalphil · 17 days ago

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A Textbook Case of Love (Professor!Agatha Harkness x f!Reader)

Synopsis: You're finally graduating but the only person you want to celebrate is missing in action. Perhaps it's time for a big romantic gesture.

Words: 5.5 k

Warnings: Student/teacher relationship, toxic relationship, power imbalance, possessiveness, tattoo, bondage, marking, biting, oral (R giving), fingering (R giving), teasing, swearing, begging, dom!R, sub!Agatha, emotional vulnerability

Tags: @sasheemo @buttercandy16 @chlondykebar @midnight-lestrange @babybeeelle @dontsblameme@grilledcheeseandguavajelly @fuckedupforkhahn @latedawnsearlysunsets92

AN: It's been a whole but I finally managed to write the next part to this series. I have at least one more planned so hopefully I can get that out soonish.

It was the happiest day of your life. You could feel the weight of your parents’ eyes on you as you walked towards the smiling woman. You held out your hand, her palm sliding along yours. Smiling, you turned, a camera going off.

Graduation was a big deal and you were going to milk it for all it was worth.

Your parents had shown up to surprise you that morning, right as you’d been packing up your dorm room. Dragging you away for brunch, they’d wanted to catch up. You, doing your best to dodge questions, had mostly talked about all the research you’d done that year. The shared looks between them suggested they picked up on how evasive you were being and didn’t like it. But you weren’t about to tell them everything you’d been doing that year.

Sitting back down, your eyes scanned the crowd of professors. Your fingers tightened around the curled up piece of paper in your hand.

You’d worked hard, pouring yourself into your final year. Your senior thesis had been a work of art. And the only person you could thank for it hadn’t even bothered to show up.

Walking from Agatha’s that morning, there’d been a spring in your step. You’d been excited, the day finally arriving. After this, there would be no more hiding, no more sneaking around. You could be open about your love for Agatha, could scream it from the rooftops, and no one could do a damned thing about it.

The thought that she wouldn’t be there hadn’t even crossed your mind.

The disappointment settled heavy in your stomach. You knew what it felt like to have that piercing gaze focused solely on you. The weight of it was familiar, comforting due to its origin. Without it, you felt unmoored, like you could disappear into the sky.

You checked out of the rest of the ceremony. More names, more speeches, nothing you cared about. Without the rough voice of Agatha in your ear, none of it mattered. There was only one person you wanted to celebrate with, and you knew you had to make it through dinner with your parents before you could go find her.

“Congratulations, honey,” your dad said as they found you amongst the crowd of new graduates.

“Thanks, Dad,” you said.

Your mom gave you a tight hug, her perfume familiar, bringing up memories of your childhood. It was easy to forget when you were so far from home. You’d thought moving out of state for college would help you spread your wings and grow into the person you were meant to be. You hadn’t considered all the parts of yourself you’d be leaving behind when you did so.

“We’re so proud of you,” your mom said, drawing back.

“Thanks.”

You weren’t sure how to be around them right now. Your stomach was churning with anxiety, your gut telling you something was wrong. Agatha hadn’t said anything the night before, and if she’d been a bit more intense than usual, you hadn’t been complaining. Her bruises still littered your body under your cap and gown. You wanted more.

You followed them back to the car they’d rented, slumping into the back seat like when you’d been a child. You watched Westview pass by as your parents drove, only straightening when you recognised the restaurant you were pulling up in front of.

“You still like Italian, don’t you, honey?” your dad asked, turning to look at you from his place behind the wheel.

“Yeah,” you said, but all you could think about was the last time you’d been there.

And everything that had come after.

It was different from last time, plenty of graduates there with their families to celebrate. You sat at one of the centre tables, so different from the intimate corner you’d holed up in with Agatha. Your knee bobbed, hands caught under your thighs, doing your best not to look over at that corner. You shouldn’t be thinking about that night that changed everything for you. Not while you were there with your parents.

Just the memory sent a throb between your legs.

You looked down at the menu, reading over it. When you glanced up, both of your parents were watching you.

“Everything okay?” you asked.

They shared a glance before your mother leaned forward, her hand clasping yours.

“You’ve felt distant this year,” she said.

“I’ve been busy.” You shrugged, “you know how it is in your senior year.”

“You’ve barely called,” your dad said.

“I told you. I’ve been busy. I graduated top of my class. That doesn’t happen if I kept messing around,” you said.

“We thought, perhaps, you might have been seeing someone,” your mom said, hesitant as if worried about scaring you off.

You tugged your hand out from under hers, your anxiety only making your knee bob harder. Your eyes darted around the restaurant before they returned to your parents.

“The only person I’ve seen with any regularity has been Professor Harkness.” Not technically a lie, “I had too much work to go meeting anyone new.”

“It’s okay if you have been seeing someone, honey,” your dad said.

“Look, Professor Harkness demands a lot from her students. Ask anyone. She has a reputation for being a hard ass. It’s not weird to not have time for anything but studying,” you replied, “I got enough grilling from my friends for not being at every stupid frat party. I don’t need it from you guys too.”

You could play the part of the sullen teenager they remembered from when you last lived with them. Shutting down would only remind them of how stubborn you could be. In order to keep the peace, they’d continue on like everything was fine and they didn’t want to know more.

They’d find out soon enough anyway.

Letting the subject drop, they went back to consulting the menu. You sighed, putting yours down. That same anxiety wasn’t leaving you just because they’d let you slip out of giving answers. All you wanted was to go back home to Agatha and celebrate with her. After all, it was her hard work that got you to this point.

“So what are you thinking you’re going to do now?” your dad asked over his pasta.

“What do you mean?” You prodded at your lasagna, knowing you should eat more, that if Agatha had been beside you it would have been easy to eat.

“Now you have your degree. You know your room is waiting for you back home,” he said.

“Oh. Right. That,” you said.

Truth was, you hadn’t thought about it much. All you knew was there was no chance in hell you were moving back home. Not while Agatha was still in Westview. Your plan extended just as far as Agatha. She was your future. That was all you knew.

“Do you have a job lined up?” your mom asked.

“Not yet.” You pushed some of your food around your plate, “I’m waiting to hear back on some things.”

Namely, what Agatha thought you should do.

“Well, you can wait with us back home. You’ll have no where to go after you move out of your dorm,” your mom said.

“Don’t worry about that. I have a place to stay and it’s better if I stay in town. You never know when you’ll get the call, right?” you replied, “seriously guys, I’ve got this.”

“You’ve worked so hard. You should be allowed to relax now,” your mom said.

“Honey, we’re worried you’re pushing yourself too hard. You’re going to burn yourself out if you don’t take some time to relax,” your dad said.

“You guys practiced this conversation, didn’t you?” You stabbed a piece of pasta, “seriously, I’m fine.”

“You didn’t even come home for Christmas,” your dad said.

“Because I had too much work. I wouldn’t have been any fun if I had,” you said.

“We missed you,” your mum said.

“I missed you guys too. But it was worth it,” you said.

“Top of your class,” your dad said with a small nod of his head. The pride was obvious in his voice.

“So stop worrying about me. I’ve got it all under control,” you said.

They let it drop for the rest of the night. You got the creme brûlée and thought about Agatha with each bite. One day, when your parents weren’t around, you’d taste it from her lips again. You were already dreaming about that day.

Your parents dropped you off at your dorm, your last night there. If you had any say, you wouldn’t be sleeping there. Texting Agatha, you sat on your stripped mattress, a thin single you had no interest in with questionable stains, waiting to hear from her.

You didn’t get a response.

That same anxiety was bubbling away in your gut again. Pacing the room, you stared at the boxes you had packed that day. Four years of your life packed up into a handful of boxes. It seemed so small that way, your life nothing more than the possessions you’d collected over the years. But your life was so much bigger than could be contained in the shoebox of a dorm room you’d been placed in.

Tugging on the sweater you’d worn when you’d left Agatha’s that morning, you snatched up your phone and your keys. A reckless idea had entered your mind. The kind of idea that you thought could end badly, but could end so very well. You were a gambling woman, and you were hoping the pay out would be high on this one.

Later that night, later than was appropriate for a social call, you rang Agatha’s doorbell. The night air had cooled, the wind bitter. You knocked. The house had been dark when you’d shown up, all except for one window. Upstairs, Agatha’s bedroom was bathed in soft light. You knocked again.

“What?” Agatha snarled as she opened the door.

“You weren’t at my graduation today,” you said, “I was very disappointed.”

You pouted, leaning against the doorframe. She growled, stepped back, right into the shadows of the house. Your eyes swept over her. You loved when she wore the robe, the one that clung to her curves and showed off enough skin to make your mouth water.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“See, I lose my place in the dorms tomorrow. I’m not a student anymore. And I have no where to go,” you said.

“And what am I meant to do about that?” she asked.

“Well, I was hoping you might let me stay with you,” you said, keeping your voice light, “it’s not as if I wasn’t practically living here anyway.”

“And why would I let you do that?” she snarled.

“Because I’ve brought you such a nice present to thank you for being the best professor at the college,” you said, “I would have never done so well if it wasn’t for you.”

“You looking for one last fuck for the road?” she asked, stepping back again.

“You ending things with me?” You tried to make it sound like you didn’t care, but your entire body tensed for the blow of rejection that would undo you.

“You’ll be moving on now. And I have a policy. No letting wanton sluts in when they’ll just disappear on me,” she said.

“I’m not disappearing,” you said, “in fact, I’d quite like to stay as long as you’ll have me.”

“Right,” she scoffed.

“You know, my parents asked me to move back home tonight. I said no. And when they asked me what my plans were for the future I only had one,” you said, “you.”

Her eyes swept over you, lingering for a moment on your face. She shook her head but stepped back again.

“Come on then, pet.”

She turned her back on you, wandering further into the house. You grinned, turning to grab your stuff, leaving most of it in the front entrance to be dealt with when it wasn’t the middle of the night. Agatha had disappeared somewhere into the house in the few minutes you’d managed to keep your eye off her.

You closed and locked the front door, the way you had so many times before. Taking the stairs two at a time, you went hunting. If this was some kind of game you intended to win. And your prize was going to be Agatha.

Turns out, you didn’t have to look far. She was lounging on the bed, her glasses resting on the end of her nose, a book resting in her long fingers. Her legs were crossed at the ankle and when she looked up at you, you froze.

“Why didn’t you come today?” you asked.

That same anxiety was back. Perhaps this was her ending things. Perhaps Rio had been right and your relationship had a deadline you didn’t even realise. Built in, the moment you graduated, the entire thing was over. Agatha could throw you out without a second thought.

Maybe she was done with you.

“Can’t you handle yourself if I’m not constantly with you?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I thought we would celebrate together,” you said.

“What’s there to celebrate?” Her smile turned razor sharp, “you graduated. Plenty of people do. You’re nothing special.”

It hurt, her cruelty, but you gritted your teeth and stepped forward.

“I’m special because I’m yours,” you said.

Something shifted in her face. She lent forward, those eyes dragging over your body again, tongue slow as it ran along her lower lip. You shivered, but held your ground. You would stay there as long as she needed.

She rolled her eyes and lent back again, eyes returning to her book.

You waited, being her good girl. Whatever she was thinking, whatever game this was, you were determined to get your prize. She continued ignoring you.

“Don’t you want to see your present?” you asked when the silence grew too long it made you itch.

“If you must,” she said, still not looking up.

Grasping the bottom of the sweater you’d taken from her, you tossed it onto the bed. Her eyes flicked to it then back to her book. Your tank top was next, landing on her foot. She kicked it aside. Your bra landed in her lap.

Her eyes finally dragged up to you. Your teeth sunk into your lower lip as you turned, lifting your arm to show her your ribs. Her sharp inhale was everything you’d hoped it would be.

“Do you like you present?” you asked, doing your best to sound innocent as you asked.

The bed creaked. Fingertips ran over your skin, tracing the letters you’d had inked into your skin. You trembled under her touch.

“Get bored with a pen, did you, pet?” she asked.

“I went and found one of those tattoo parlours open all night. When they asked me who Agatha was, I told them she’s the woman I’m going to spend my life with,” you said, not bothering to tell her that you’d been advised against getting a lover’s name tattooed on your body, “your name will be on me forever because that’s how long I’m going to love you.”

Her fingernails dug into your skin, framing the word you’d had put on your body. It made sense, given she had sunk beneath your skin and was never leaving. She was as much a part of you as your own heart.

“You love me?” she asked, her voice a rasp.

You looked down at her, a hand cupping her cheek, the other tangling in her hair the way you loved to do. Blue eyes swam with something, so beautiful and so heartbreaking. You lent forward until your forehead pressed to hers.

“I do. I love you,” you said.

Her lips pressed to yours, desperate and needy. You bent over her, kissing her back just as desperately, the anxiety finally soothing in your stomach. There was no chance she was ending things when she was dragging you down, her tongue in your mouth, her fingers grasping you hard enough to hurt. You hummed, pushing her back, laying her back on the mattress.

“I’ll be with you forever,” you said before your lips trailed down her throat.

She whimpered, a surprisingly vulnerable sound from her. Your tongue tasted her skin before you sucked on her pulse point. Her head tilted back, giving you more access as her nails scraped down your back.

Your fingers played with the tie of her robe, her body warm beneath you. She made such a soft noise as you dragged your mouth lower, nipping at her collarbone, tongue dipping into the divot between. Her nails dug in to the skin of your back, points of pain only making you pant against her skin.

“What are you doing, kitten?” she asked, voice soft as you laved attention on her body.

“Showing you how much I love you,” you replied, lips brushing skin as you whispered the words, “let me show you. Let me take care of you for once.”

Your eyes met hers. The hesitation was obvious. If there was one thing you knew about Agatha Harkness, it was that she hated giving up control. But all you wanted to do was make her feel good. Prove that she should keep you around forever. That you weren’t going anywhere. That she was yours as much as you were hers. That your name should be inked onto her skin too.

Her fingertips ran over your cheekbone before she nodded. You grinned, lowering your mouth back to her skin as your fingers pulled the knot free. Silk slipped either side of her body, baring her to you. You might have had her sitting on your face the night before, but you would never grow tired of seeing her naked body. She was beautiful, a piece of poetry spread out on the mattress for your eyes only.

You were slow as you dragged your hands up over her ribs, cupping her breasts. She sighed, a soft noise, arching into your touch. You spent so much time there, kissing and licking at her skin. She writhed beneath you, softly mewling. When her hands tried to guide you lower, you caught them.

Her growl as you tied them above her head only made you smile.

“Do you want to tell me why you missed my graduation?” you asked, fingers pinching at her nipples.

She moaned, pressing further into your touch, but not answering your questions. You let it go, wanting to assuage your anxiety by making her cum on your tongue. Further proof that she was yours, completely and utterly.

You sucked a slow hickey into the skin on her hip, feeling her wriggle beneath you. With her tied up, and her consent to take care of her, you were going to take your time with her. You were in control this time. She was going to be moaning your name until she forget any other words.

Your fingers were gentle as the dragged up her legs, finding the soft skin of her inner thigh. Your lips wrapped around one nipple, tongue flicking over it. She huffed, but her body was arching towards you, offering herself so nicely for your touch. You hummed, muffled against her skin, feeling her breath catch.

You grasped her thighs, parting them to slot yourself between them. Hovering over her, you took a moment to gaze on her. Squirming, her eyes were hooded, lips parted, cheeks flushed. Blue eyes watched you, smouldering, and you grinned.

“Do you understand how beautiful you are?” you murmured, thumb digging into the crease of her hip.

Her legs fell further open, welcoming you in, urging you closer. You slid further down her body, lips pressing to soft skin, feeling the way her muscles flexed under you. Your tongue tasted the salt on her skin, revelling in her warmth, in how wonderful it felt to get your mouth on her.

“Relax,” you murmured, “let me take care of you.”

She grumbled, but with your hands stroking over her skin, she began to relax under your touch. You wanted to feel her melt into the mattress, to let you take control, to make her feel the way she made you feel. Safe, taken care of, satiated.

Your fingers slid through her folds, feeling her wetness gathering on your fingertips. Her hips pressed up towards you, a wordless command. With your free hand, you pinned her down, exploring her without giving her quite what she wanted. You were going to make her desperate for you. You might even get her to beg.

That would be fun.

Your finger was slow to circle her clit, watching the way her face flushed, the way her breath stuttered, the way her fingers clenched above her head. There was something so lovely about the way her face contorted in pleasure. You would paint a picture of it, hang it in every room you were in, gaze upon it.

“Pet, stop teasing,” she commanded.

“Uh uh,” you said, “you’re not in charge anymore, Professor Harkness.”

The way her legs tightened around you was interesting.

“You like that, huh? You like being fucked by your student? You like when I turn the tables on you?”

Your lips brushed against the skin of her stomach, feeling the muscles jump.

“Want me to call you Professor Harkness as I’m knuckles deep inside you?” you murmured.

The noise she made was delicious.

“I wish they could all see this,” you said, finger resting at her entrance, “see the formidable Professor Harkness begging to be fucked by her star pupil.”

“I’m not.” Her breath caught, “I’m not begging.”

“Not yet,” you promised.

Your tongue ran through her folds, groaning at her taste. Her hips jumped towards your mouth. Your hands slid up her legs, holding them open, hands grasping hard enough to leave bruises on her pretty pale skin. You loved the thought of your handprints on her skin for anyone to see.

Your tongue circle over her clit. Your name was command, but it was shaky. You ignored it, finger dipping into her entrance. Pressing your tongue against her clit, you let her grind against your face for a moment, just long enough to let her think she’d gotten her way.

Your finger pushed in as you drew away. Your teeth sunk into her inner thigh, soft skin sweet on your lips. Her keening noise was beautiful, a symphony to your ears.

“Do you think they’d get a kick out of this? Watching their professor squirm?” you asked her, “do you think they’d like to know you you’re nothing but a desperate little thing?”

“Shut up,” she growled.

“That doesn’t sound like someone who wants to cum,” you said.

You took your hand from between her legs, using the grip on her legs to keep them open, her hot cunt exposed to your gaze. She glistened in the soft light, so pretty, so beautiful.

“If you want to, beg,” you told her, “or don’t you want this, Professor Harkness?”

She glared at you, blue eyes flashing. You waited, having learnt patience at her hand. She’d taught you plenty of lessons during the last year. Now it was time to show her through a practical demonstration.

“Please,” she said eventually, through gritted teeth, jaw tense.

“Tell me, Professor,” you said, leaning forward again, breath ghosting over her glistening folds, “do you think any of them would find you terrifying after seeing you like this?”

Your lips wrapped around her clit before she could say anything, her sass unnecessary when all you wanted was to ruin her. Your name was sweet on her lips as she moaned, hips bucking up into your mouth. You let her, figuring it was time for her to get a little bit more. Just enough to take the edge off. Just enough to drive her crazy.

Your fingers were slow to push into her. Her whimper was so delicious you wanted to drink it in. You hummed, her legs tightening around your head, thighs trying to clamp down on you. Your free hand pried them open again, giving yourself more room.

“Do you think your students would like to know how pretty you look when you’re all whiney and desperate for me?” you asked, fingers curling inside her.

“Don’t be a brat,” she hissed.

“I bet they’d love to know the great Professor Harkness loves being tied up and fucked by her star pupil. I’m sure they’d enjoy watching you come undone so easily by someone just like them,” you said.

“You’re nothing like them,” she ground out.

“No, because none of them will ever get the chance to touch you like this.” Your palm ground against her clit, “none of them will ever know how sweet you taste.”

“Never,” she gasped.

You curled your fingers again, rewarding her. Your name fell from her lips, a whine unlike anything you’d ever heard from her before. A rush of power went through you, heady and addictive. To have a woman like this desperate for you, letting you do this for her, willing to be yours completely and utterly.

“You’re so beautiful,” you murmured.

Her shape inhale made you you grin against the skin of her hipbone. Your teeth nipped at her, your chuckle lost in the loud moan low in her throat, straining against her restraints. Your lips returned to her clit, sucking gently. Her hips pressed up into your mouth.

You felt as her internal walls began to flutter around your fingers. Curling and twisting your fingers, you sucked harshly until she clamped down on you. You eased her through it, slowing your thrusts until she went limp against the mattress. Your tongue lapped at her, cleaning her up. The soft noise she made, shifting underneath you, was delicious.

You drew back, sitting on your heels as you stared down at her. Her eyes were hooded, a lazy smile on her face as she looked back at you. Crawling up her body, you kissed her, letting her taste herself on your tongue. You were careful as you untied her wrists, gently rubbing at them, helping the blood flow back into her fingers.

“Proud of yourself, pet?” she asked.

You sat beside her, leaning back against the headboard, pulling her body against you. Your fingers played with the ends of her hair, wild and dark and wonderful. Your lips pressed to her forehead.

“Very proud,” you said, “mainly because I’m yours.”

She chuckled, but she pressed closer, bare skin against bare skin. You shimmied out of your shorts, kicking them off the bed. Her legs tangled with yours, half draped over you.

“You were really going to let me walk out and never see you again?” you asked.

“I’m not desperate enough to beg you to stay,” she replied.

“You wouldn’t fight for me?” You were surprised by how much that thought hurt.

“I know how that ends. Everyone leaves me,” she said.

Her face pressed into the crook of your neck, hidden from view. Agatha had never been one to indulge in self pity but you couldn’t ignore the tone of her voice. Your hand stroked down her spine, feeling her wiggle closer.

“I won’t,” you said, “I won’t ever leave you.”

The soft noise she made had your heart squeezing painfully. You tightened your arms around her, wanting to absorb her into your being, not able to get close enough.

“I should have been there today,” she said, lips brushing your skin with every word whispered.

“Yes, you should have,” you said.

“I wanted to be there but…” She emerged to look at you, lifting herself enough to stare right into your eyes, “I didn’t want to watch the moment you realised you got exactly what you wanted from me and had no use for me anymore.”

“That’s never going to happen,” you said.

Her eyes dragged down your body again, focusing on the dark ink on your skin, her name a part of you now. Dragging her fingertip over it, tracing each letter like it was something precious, you watched her tongue drag along her lower lip. You rolled, giving her more access to the tattoo.

“I’m yours completely,” you said, voice soft, “I can’t live without you, Agatha. Please don’t send me away. The only place I want to be is wherever you are.”

With anyone else, it would be too intense of a thing to say, but everything with Agatha was intense. Every moment, every feeling, every sentiment. It was overwhelming, all consuming, and everything you wanted. She was everything you wanted.

“How did I get so lucky to find you?” she asked, voice so full of awe.

“You must have been a very good girl,” you said said, grinning at her.

Her nails dragged over your skin before she pinched you, right beneath your new ink. You laughed, pulling her down onto you. It was muffled against her lips as she kissed you. She climbed onto you, straddling your waist. Her fingers splayed over your ribs, keeping contact with your tattoo as her tongue delved into your mouth.

“I want you here with me,” she whispered against your lips as if it was a confession, one that could not be spoken in the harsh light of day.

Your hands ran up her bare thighs before you gripped her hips. She drew back, her hair a curtain between you and the rest of the world. You gazed up at her, so full of something you couldn’t put into words, burning as bright as the stars and as breathtaking as the coldest winter air. Her hand tightened over your ribs, almost bruising as she stared down at you.

“Then I’m going nowhere,” you said.

You waited for her to assess you, those blue eyes darting over your face as if looking for falsehoods. It wasn’t the first time, her assessing gaze familiar to you. It broke your heart that she was constantly on the lookout for lies, that she had been taught everyone would lie to her, that people wanted to hurt her.

You would make every single one of them feel the pain they’d caused her tenfold.

“You’re sure?” she asked.

Your hands cupped her face, gentle and yet demanding. You wanted her looking at you as you told her what she needed to hear, no hiding behind her hair or behind a book. No deflecting. No ability to brush it off.

“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. You’re the only thing that matters in the world. Everything else can burn as long as you remain. My life means nothing without you. You’re all I see,” you said.

Her face broke open into something you hadn’t seen before. Hope and longing and something so soft your heart ached. This wasn’t the fierce Professor Harkness you’d heard about, nor the dismissive woman you’d met all those months ago. Gone were the spikes and self defence and sharp tongue. You thought this might be the real woman under the harsh exterior. Someone desperate to be loved but who had been hurt over and over again until her scars were all she could see.

You’d never loved her more.

“I love you,” she breathed out, her face full of wonder and surprise, and a touch of anxiety as if bracing for her words to be what ended your own feelings.

Instead, your ribcage cracked open, your heart growing in ways you hadn’t thought it could. You’d thought she might love you, her actions enough to give you hope, but to hear the words on her own lips ruined you.

Surging up, you captured her lips in a searing kiss. Pouring every emotion in your body into the kiss, you held her close, like she was something precious, and something you were desperate not to lose. She whimpered, pressing closer, this kiss unlike any you’d shared before. You would live in this moment forever if you could.

When she drew back, there was a light to her, a glow you’d never seen before. It was as if something in her had relaxed. You were in awe, unsure how you’d gotten lucky enough to get her attention. You were nothing in comparison to her. And yet somehow, she’d chosen you and she loved you.

You were the luckiest person in the world.

“I hope you know you’re never getting rid of me now, kitten,” she said, lips pulling up into an impish grin.

“Good.” You rolled, flipping her onto her back, hovering over her, “because I’m going nowhere.”

You spent until dawn proving it to her.

#agatha harkness x reader #agatha harkness imagine #agatha harkness #agatha all along

573 notes · View notes

genericpuff · 7 months ago

Note

i find it funny that one of rachel’s drawings of herself in the afterword that just went up is just fully persephone. is that something she does a lot?

Alright so I've been making it a general rule for myself to like, not harp on Rachel in any way outside of LO as much because frankly the horse is dead now and there's not much left to say outside of what can be analyzed in hindsight. I think despite everything I have to say about her and her work, she still deserves to get away from this nonsense and I don't wanna spend eternity hovering over her shoulder.

But the afterword was posted within the LO series and is clearly meant for readers of LO in the functioning of being an afterword so let's just call it fair game LOL

I will say, on the whole, it does feel very honest and sentimental and I can respect Rachel for taking the time to write out and illustrate her afterword in a way that was personal to both her and her fans. I can understand why she went at it from the angle that she did and I'm not gonna fault her for that.

But there's also something that feels deeply... disingenuous about her approach right from the starting gun. I will say, before I continue, that I'm well aware I am biased towards Rachel as a creator, and I fully acknowledge that I could very well be reading too much into things. This is just my opinion, take it with mountains of salt.

I can get looking back on your own childhood, your past self, whatever, and going "see! it all got better!" because sure! For a lot of creators like Rachel, it must be wild to look back on where they came from and there's a lot of sentimentality on expressing that through an afterword like this where she reflects on where she came from. Though she STILL didn't acknowledge her other comics outside of LO, I can understand if she wants to leave those skeletons in the closet.

But I feel like her drawing herself as a child who's being given an Eisner by her adult self and all that just feels like some gross attempt to disarm any criticism of her because "don't make fun of me, I'm just a sad lonely baby girl!"

She's not a child. Child Rachel didn't grossly misappropriate Greek myth into their own self-indulged vanity project. Child Rachel didn't claim herself a folklorist of a culture's works only to bastardize them completely. Child Rachel didn't create a hostile environment within her fanbase by bullying anyone who she perceived as a threat, sneaking into critical spaces to try and cause trouble, and writing her own clapbacks into her comic. Child Rachel didn't claim to be challenging misogyny and purity culture only to reinforce misogyny and purity culture through her own self-insert baby-virgin-gets-rescued-by-rich-tycoon power fantasy that regularly glorified abuse towards women and the lower class.

30-almost-40-year-old Rachel did though.

At best it comes across as really cringe sentimentality from a Greek-weeb (heh, greeboo) and goes to show how much Rachel inserted herself into Greek myth without ever absorbing its messages or cultural contexts, it was all about her and her feelings as a sad New Zealand girl with dyslexia who thought Persephone's story was about another sad girl being rescued from her "horrible childhood".

At worst it's an active attempt to play on people's heartstrings by drawing herself as a child who people will naturally not want to criticize. I don't want to assume she's doing it intentionally, I really don't want to leave her afterword on a bad foot, as I can definitely understand as both a creator and a person who struggled with learning disabilities in their own childhood how and why she wants to pay homage to her past and where she came from... but let's just say, as someone who's also gotten way too "lost in the sauce" concerning personal self-reflective projects, I think there's a lot to say about how this confirms that Rachel made LO entirely for herself, about herself, without any actual intention to respect the original myths, because she never truly separated them from herself when she was a child. And, in my humble opinion as someone who has Been There with the self-insert OC's and self-reflective angsty plotlines, I can fully attest to the fact that that's not fucking healthy. Even with personal projects, you NEED to learn to get your head out of the sauce, you NEED to learn to objectively separate yourself from the narrative so the story doesn't fall apart under your own hubris and ego, you NEED to learn to draw a line if you want to have any sort of identity as a human being outside of what you make for people. And that's with just normal original stories, this was a story based on Greek myth which doesn't belong to her.

And this goes for a lot of the things she's said and done in the past, so much of her own "sources" even are tethered to things that she read / watched in her childhood and only vaguely remembers, as if she never mentally left her childhood at all, which just... if the point was to highlight her past and the traumas she went through and how they contributed to her present, an Eisner isn't going to validate those experiences. And drawing attention to her past through the lens of her childhood self absolutely 100% does not absolve her of the negative effect her work has had on the modern Greek myth zeitgeist nor the things she's said and done as a 38 year old woman who should absolutely know better.

The community she entered and took from will forever remain changed by her influence and taking, in many ways not for the better. She has the privilege of walking away and never having to think about it again, with all the awards and accolades that were bought for her, the bravado that she built around being a "folklorist" with zero credentials, and the platform she was given over many other creators struggling to even be heard.

That "place" she claims to have now was built entirely on inserting herself into another culture's works and doing nothing but taking, taking, taking, while offering nothing in return but vanity and lip service. That "place" was paid for and brought to you by Webtoons.

#sorry this got a lot more spiteful than i intended #i'm as ready as she is to move on tbh LOL #like god i hope she walks away from all this #she deserves it and so do we LOL #i know she'll never leave behind greek myth entirely because she obviously has internalized it so hard that she's persephone #but christ just. just take your awards and go lol #lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical #ask me anything #anon ama #ama #anon ask me anything

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kradogsrats · 13 days ago

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Okay, so new day; new insane lore history theory.

Looking at the tapestry from ToX again more closely, after my very quick scan this morning, there are actually five distinct types of soldiers shown:

Based on careful examination of the contemporary armor/uniforms used by the Pentarchy armies, I landed on this breakdown:

I could explain in great detail how I made those distinctions, but honestly it doesn't matter and people don't care. Just trust me, I thought hard about it.

Originally I misidentified there as only being three types of soldiers, because the Katolis/Evenere and Neolandia/Del Bar designs are very similar. Also because the tapestry shows three cities:

Katolis is obvious, and I still think the other two are Berylgarten and Neolandia. The map helpfully tells us there are five known cities in the human kingdoms, complete with little pictures:

I've left out Hinterpeak because it's very obvious none of the tapestry cities is Hinterpeak, Hinterpeak is literally inside a mountain. Del Bar's secondary city, Serpentongue, looks like a candidate based on its map drawing, but ToX tells us that Serpentongue actually looks like this, which is... less representative of what the tapestry shows:

We see Berylgarten briefly in s2 during Viren's flashback sections, where it's a sort of tiered city with towers around a central dome:

I think that's closer to the top tapestry city than Serpentongue is, though it's still fairly abstracted. It also makes more sense for the "capital" city of a kingdom to be represented.

Finally, we have Eboreus, which is a bit of a problem child because we have no long-distance views of Eboreus that I can recall... there are depictions of the inside of the city, but nothing that would characterize its silhouette for us. However, ToX does have another piece of "old" artwork, meant to be probably some kind of fresco, depicting the founding of Neolandia and Eboreus:

(This is the latter, Eboreus half, the right half just shows the people migrating from the east and going through a nomadic tent-based civilization period.)

It doesn't help a ton, except that construction of the city wall is given a pretty dramatic place in the visual narrative. I would definitely assume, from this, that Eboreus is a walled city similar to the bottom tapestry city. Combined with the many-spired depiction on the map, I feel okay about that identification.

It's interesting that they geographically represent only three of the five kingdoms, but if the tapestry pre-dates parts of the kingdoms' formations... well, the kingdom that's a swamp infested with magical megagators and the kingdom where they still choose the next monarch by having a literal melee free-for-all are honestly the ones I'd say probably took the longest to establish like... actual government.

However, something to keep in mind is that while I've been talking about this tapestry like it's a super-old historical document within the setting, it may actually not be from all that far in the past. All we really know is that it shows a conflict between humans and elves, divided by the Border, and that's not exactly a historically unique scenario. The main things that suggest it's showing an earlier time than "now" are that it includes only three cities, and that it clearly depicts mages being heavily involved in warfare. If that was something that was expected at series time, a lot of things would be very different. I could, however, see it being a thing as late as, say, the time of the Orphan Queen. I mention all of this because the tapestry is one of several "old"-looking art pieces in Tales of Xadia, but we have to keep in mind that one of those literally depicts Harrow killing Avizandum, so. It could be very old, it could be not-very old. (I mean, 300 years is still pretty old, in the scope of known human history.)

Really, though, what I wanted to talk about is this:

We have our "Katolian" soldier, but the heraldry on their shield is not the Katolis uneven towers, even though that's already a distinguishing feature of the kingdom (as seen in the city depictions). Instead, it's a layered uh... thing. But it's a thing we've seen before:

The guards at Allhaven Hill have their own heraldry, presumably because they're supposed to be neutral regardless of their kingdom of origin... but it's almost exactly the same overlapping geometric design as we see in the tapestry.

We also have Blondie McKatolis, in the flashback scenes during Zubeia's account of Aaravos's imprisonment, strongly implying that we are seeing representatives of the human kingdoms at the time of the Orphan Queen:

We pretty clearly also have Neolandia, Del Bar, and Evenere at this table. Also Duren, I just always get confused by her since they gave her those purple-y pink accents instead of blue. Why? No idea. What is this, Sleeping Beauty?

Anyway, Blondie up there also does not use the modern Katolian uneven-towers heraldry, nor the crown that matches it. Depending on how long the Aaravos bullshit had been going on, it's not surprising that the Orphan Queen would try for a clean slate when taking the throne. Having just averted devastation on both sides of the Border by working together with Xadia, "finding strength in our differences" is a pretty good choice for new logo inspiration. (I don't actually know how you adopt/change heraldry. But I do know logo design and branding strategy!)

Given that all five kingdoms technically appear in the tapestry, the "Pentarchy" heraldry could already be a united human kingdoms symbol... except then why isn't it on any of the other soldiers? Some of them have shields almost exactly the same as the Katolian soldiers, but no heraldry.

So here's a thought: what if it actually is the Katolian heraldry of the time, or a symbol of the kingdoms united under Katolis?

Katolis is one of the older and larger kingdoms, it's implied to have had a larger and more organized military for a long time (holding most of the Border), and Blondie is the one with Aaravos whispering in his ear. It wouldn't be super weird if Katolis at one point held a higher position than the other kingdoms, whether as "first among equals" or an actual system of vassals with a "high king" or whatever. The center, frontmost piece of the overlapping geometry, so to speak.

We have occasionally gotten weird little hints/implications that the current era of peace between the human kingdoms, even the entire concept of the Pentarchy, is fairly recent. What if that's not because they were all squabbling amongst themselves even after the mage wars wound down, but that prior to the Orphan Queen, they were all varying degrees of vassal states to Katolis? If part of what the Orphan Queen did was reset the human kingdoms as equals, doing a "this symbol now belongs to all of us, not just Katolis, and Katolis will adopt new heraldry" could be a nice gesture.

But yeah, that's how my brain has been spinning today.

#there's a right side half of the tapestry too it's just imo not very interesting bc there's less unique detail #which would be really cool if that's intentional because it's meant as a human-made art piece #and they'd be more interested in distinctions between human groups than between elves #but idk if it's that deep tbh #pentarchy #katolis #kradogsmeta #i probably need to make some kind of history tag ugh

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ccycloneblogging · 10 months ago

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I'm seeing age differences in those relationship charts-

But are those Real age differences, or are they part of their "Character" and not when they were actually made.

I'm assuming the latter because of them "remembering" the cartoon as you've put it- but the idea that they actually had real childhoods (one not just written up on some script) and were kids is both adorable and also very depressing.

Thinking about it, realizing you're an artificial being that was made directly into an teen/adult with only fake memories and stories from a tv show is some prime existential dread. I mean that seem like it could be one of the few things that could truly break the critters- especially for Catnap who seem adamant that there is a world to go back to, only to be faced with "that world- those memories were never real".

That kind of angst seems ripe for picking!

Alright - Combining these together.

Let's start off with a height chart and ages for the Critters! (Plus Angel), and this would be in feet - and yes these are the heights I am trying to keep consistent.

Find the original here.

Okay, more under the cut!

Let's start with our Anon. You are so right. I really want to make these guys have varied bodies, just like I did whenever I draw the FNAF animatronics. So it makes it tricky for me to keep the cartoon proportions, as I just want to lean into anthro proportions. But I strongly agree with you!

Okay. Moving on.

The ages for the Critters are based off of two things. My preference for having some older style toons - and I imagine these are based on their creation and not their ages on the show. I imagine the show kept them ageless, but around the same year. DogDay is our oldest, because I believe whoever created them in universe first thought of him before the other critters. I think the creator of the show originally meant to just have a small show with just DogDay, Bubba, and Picky - for whatever reasons. (She just gives off older vibes to me). Over time, the others were added in for various reasons. Hoppy is our youngest, as I like to think she was a last minute addition to the team to balance them out.

These ages are just what I have listed, but I think none of the critters really view themselves having the same age. I think if you were to ask any of them, their first answer would be at least twenty five. Five years working in PlayCare, ten after the Hour of Joy, and they would simply shrug off the rest.

Then there's Angel, who started working for the company at the age of twenty three. Stayed for three years, then left.

As for childhoods? They have a false one written into each of their characters. Excuse me while I ramble on about what the backgrounds they were "programmed" with.

DogDay was an only child and rather lonely. He decided to take that loneliness and work that much harder to befriend others and create meaningful relationships. He approached each critter one-on-one, and after that? He'd try to hold on to anyone he clicked with. He has so many false memories of his family and his time with his friends before the show's "start". Though... If he actually thinks about it, he starts to question why he never had any pictures of these memories. However, once brought into the "real" world, he adjusted to this realization.

Bubba was the first to be approached, though he knew DogDay when they were children. They grew up together, and DogDay really helped him get past his awkward phase. He spent so much time trying to focus on learning, fascinated by everything he could read about. DogDay helped him come out of his shell and befriend others. He was the first to realize his memories were fake and adjusted incredibly well. As far as he saw it - yes. They weren't "real" creatures in the show, but existing in PlayCare? They were alive. Did the past really matter when the present was far more important?

Picky grew up with a massive family. She is the eldest of her siblings and had always taken on a caretaker kind of role. She happened to meet DogDay towards the end of their childhood, an was confused when this excited dog insisted on dragging her over to meet a rather shy elephant. She found them both to be weird, but she warmed up to them quickly. She struggled with the realization that her memories were fake. After all, this meant that the family she had, the siblings she loved so deeply and cared for... None of that existed. To cope, she ended up taking care of the kids that much more. She was going to heal her sorrows by making new memories.

CatNap happened to wander in to town on their own, deciding to make a life for themselves - despite their young age. They was probably three days into their solitude when DogDay discovered them in a tree. CatNap was confused and insisted that DogDay leave them be, but the pup wasn't backing down. Eventually, he convinced them to come down and join him and Bubba for a picnic. Though CatNap and Bubba didn't get along at first, CatNap and DogDay were inseparable after that day. They discovered their memories were false due to their recall. They poked their head around the councilor's office and discovered too much, and CatNap just couldn't handle it. They still don't believe all of those memories were fake, and they just want to cling to those nonexistent days.

Bobby moved into town with her family, a middle child with three older siblings and one younger adopted sibling. She happened to run into DogDay during a Valentine's Day celebration. She had taken charge of the decorating, and was impressed that DogDay not only wanted to help, but enlisted his friends to help too! This is how she met Bubba, Picky, Kickin and CatNap in their teen years. She couldn't thank them enough and was the first to suggest a weekly meetup for them. She still has not realized these memories are fake, but she is suspicious of some details and has her doubts.

Kickin is the youngest child in his family, adopting a cool persona to help his self esteem issues. He didn't meet the others until later on, in the end on their childhood and the start of their teen years. He met CatNap first on accident, catching the cat being cornered by some larger critters. Despite being so tiny, Kickin' jumped in to defend the cat, and though the two didn't fair well, they immediately bonded. CatNap soon introduced him to DogDay. Though they liked each other, Kickin' always felt the need to one-up him. A rival. He has not realized the memories are fake, but he has no idea.

Crafty was an only child, but incredibly gifted. She happened to find herself in town to study, though she had a small desire to follow her art. She often spent time alone, finding a quiet spot to occasionally doodle between her studies. It was during one of these days when she met DogDay - who had no concept of personal space and leaned on her, asking her what she was drawing. Of course, this scared the hell out of her. Afterwards, DogDay apologized and insisted that he make it up to her by inviting her to the group's weekly hang-out. When Crafty met the others, she was amazed by how welcoming the other Critters were. She then began to start coming up with ideas on friendship charms and was the one to propose the idea. Everyone voted on what type of charm best suited the others. She is deep in denial that her memories are false, but deep down? She thinks she's always known.

Hoppy was the last to join the group. She met DogDay during a sporting event - as he was there to root for Kickin' (and CatNap, though CatNap spent the game sleeping on the benches). He was impressed by her sportsmanship, and she found his sunshine behavior pretty funny. They clicked almost immediately, so he grabbed her hand and quite literally dragged her to the others. While Hoppy didn't get along with the others that quickly, she stuck around. Because Hoppy was a last minute addition to the show, her memories are the most fragmented. It stresses her out if she dwells on it, so she ignores it.

CatNap's insistence on returning to their cartoon is probably the one thing that deeply angers DogDay as well. In the cartoon, they didn't have freewill. They could not feel things outside of their script - at least, not to the same extent. In the "real" world, DogDay felt they could finally be themselves. That they could truly be alive, even though they were technically prisoners to Playtime Co. DogDay couldn't express his love for the others in the cartoon. His friends couldn't be as happy - like Bobby and Hoppy. They could never be together in that world.

So, hearing CatNap demand that they just give up their freedom? Yeah. This is probably one of the only things that they fought about.

#thanks for stopping by the inbox!#ccyclone rambles #So many headcanons and there's simply not enough time for me to go into depth any further #Sorry for the rather long post as well

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alipeeps · 2 months ago

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Episode 30

I think I'll have to skip doing gifs for these last few commentaries, or it'll take me days to get through them all... 😭

Oh dang, Zhou Yichen's words are weighing on Li Lun.

Zhu Yan gave Li Lun the Truth Eye?!! 😭

What I don't get about this show is that they act like these two have been enemies for centuries.... but we know from the timeline it's been 8 years! They fell out and Li Lun was sealed 8 years ago just before the blood moon where Zhu Yan lost control.

"How long has it been since we played Go so peacefully?"

"I don't remember anymore"

IT'S BEEN EIGHT FUCKING YEARS!! 😂

It never had to be this way Li Lun, you're the one who made this a zero sum game.

How are his eyes so big?

Yeah but of those two friends, Li Lun, only one is a) a mass murderer, and b) actively choosing to possess and kill the other. When it comes down to a choice of who gets to inhabit one body - the original owner of the body, who is a literal child, has far greater rights to it than the one who stole the body and has killed lots of people.

The thing is... this is lovely and dramatic and all... but it's so unnecessary. All y'all idiots had to do was what I suggested at the end of episode 29 - tie that fucker up until Zhuo Yichen gets back with the sword and then sever his primordial spirit and free Xiao Bai. Why let Li Lun loose to start a fight that risks losing the opportunity to save Bai Jiu?

Also, can we please bear in mind that only recently Zhao Yuanzhou had his inner core damaged and a lot of his demon power consumed... and was warned it would not be a quick recovery.

Ah fuck... and Li Lun knows it. Wait up tho.. he's lost ALL his demon power? And is no different from a human? Is that true? And will he get it back?

Oh nice! Your opponent... is me!

But AGAIN... this is so fucking unnecessary! I mean yeah, badass fight scene and all... but you could have fucking resolved all this safely while Li Lun was unconscious.

Give it up for baby bro!!

Wait did baby bro like.. DIE, die? He's a puppet infused with Pei Siheng's spirit... I didn't think he could die?

Ahhh fuuuck and Wen Xiao is using the baize power (though without the token, it seems?) which could exacerbate her poisoning...

Zhuo Yichen would you please just fucking do whatever it is you need to do to remove Li Lun's primordial spirit, while he is fucking restrained!! Please! You're killing me here!

Great. So Wen Xiao injured herself for nothing because you didn't take advantage of the opportunity offered.

YING LEI!! NOOOOOOOO!!!

Well, this is going fucking great. 4 out of 5 of the team are now incapacitated in some way.

Don't you fucking do it. Don't do it. Not Ying Lei. Please...

Don't die don't die don't die don't die

JFC Bai Jiu will never recover if his body is used to kill Ying Lei...

Oh fuck he's crying... is... is Bai Jiu fighting back?!

DOITDOITDOITDOITDOITPLEASEFUCKINGSAVEHIM

Here you go, stick him in this piece of wood. 😂

Oh fuck not just any piece of wood... the root of Li Lun's pagoda tree... given to Zhu Yan centuries ago... 😭

So that was what Zhao Yuanzhou meant by a draw... a chance for Li Lun still to live. You didn't even give him chance to explain what he was offering Li Lun...

OH FUCK there was more to that "Promise me" that Zhou Yichen agreed to!!

Ying Lei won't let go of him. My heart!!

Oh don't you fucking have Ying Lei die on me now??!!

I don't like this close up of his face with a blurry lens. Don't fucking do this to me...

It was. You're best boy, Ying Lei. You always have been.

I hate this. Please don't let him die.

How can a half-god, half-demon mountain god die from such wounds?

How dare you fucking finally give him the validation he has always been seeking - and always deserved - only as he's dying?

This is killing me. He didn't need to die. And they are dragging it out soooo long. 😭😭😭😭😭

You bastards. You fucking bastards. I am NOT ok.

Xiao Jiu. Come back to us baby boy.

He's going to be devastated about YIng Lei. 😭😭

Oh dang, he wakes up and the first person he sees is his mum!!

I am actually genuinely fucking crying.

So has he lost his demonic power permanently?

So... there's 4.5 eps left to go. Wen Zongyu is dead. Li Lun is defeated. Bai Jiu is rescued.

What's going to be the plot for the next 4 episodes? It can't all be about Wen Xiao's poisoning...

Is shit about to go down with Chongwu camp/the results of Wen Zongyu's demon hybrid experiments?

Why is this show so determined to rip my heart out and stomp on it?

Zhuo Yichen is best big bro

My precious baby mountain god... 😭😭😭

Your girlfriend still needs you, Sijing. The polycule still needs you.

What the fuck was he going to say?!!

After this? After WHAT?!!

Why the fuck is he talking like he might no longer be around to protect Bai Jiu?

This has to have been a hell of a trip for Bai Jiu... he wakes up from being possessed by Li Lun to find:

Mum's back Ying Lei's dead Zhuo daren's a demon

THAT'S A VERY GOOD FUCKING QUESTION, BAI JIU!!!

Why the fuck does it feel like he is saying goodbye?! Is he... is he planning to absorb the poison from Wen Xiao?!!

(Shit. I guess there's no longer an option for Zhao Yuanzhou to do that cos his demon power is gone...)

Fuck me, that is exactly what he's planning, isn't it?

Oh and is Zhao Yuanzhou planning the same? (Sorry, demon daddy, Xiao Zhuo Daren already knows that's the only option).

Are they going to be fighting over who gets to sacrifice themselves to save her?

You're damn right she wouldn't let you.

FUUUUUUCK. This episode destroyed me. I am an emotional wreck.

#fangs of fortune #episode 30 #liveblogging... kinda

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emeraldspiral · 23 days ago

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So I've seen that some people have made mods to OoT to let you use any item as either a child or an adult, or play with Pikmin, or use abilities from BotW/TotK, but I think it would actually be really interesting to do a mod that restores some original content that was cut for time.

Like, as a kid I always thought it was strange that when you first travel to the future there's some guy you've never met and he just gives you your first medallion for free. And his temple is the only one you don't have to purify by defeating the boss in order to awaken the sage, even though that particular temple is in the sacred realm, which is said to have been corrupted by Ganondorf entering and touching the Triforce with evil intentions. Unsurprisingly, it turns out there was supposed to be a Temple of Light that got cut. But later in Twilight Princess they had you enter the ruins of the Temple of Time and enter a dungeon bearing the symbol of the light medallion by walking up a set of ethereal stairs and into another dimension through the very same window Navi flew out of at the end of OoT. So it seems like the intention is that this is meant to actually be Rauru's temple from OoT that always existed offscreen.

But what if someone remade that temple in OoT and reworked the script to make its inclusion fit into the story?

When you first draw the Master Sword it plays the cutscene of Ganondorf entering the sacred realm, then you wake up 7 years later, but in the Temple of Time, not the Chamber of Sages. Sheik greets you and explains what happened instead of Rauru, but instead of directing you to Kakariko to get an item to enter the Forest Temple first, Sheik instead directs you to Ganon's castle to rescue Kaepora Gaepora and then meet up with them back at the ToT.

If you walk out and go back in without rescuing Kaepora Gaepora, Sheik will be there to remind you of the task at hand, but the cutscene where you get the Prelude of Light won't trigger. The rescue Kaepora Gaepora segment is short, and in close proximity to the temple, and you'll still spawn in the temple if you save and quit and reload the game, and there's really no reason for you to run off and do anything else as this point, so it shouldn't be an issue that you can't get the PoL right away. You cannot ignore this mini-quest to do the Forest Temple first. The Chamber of Sages is closed, so none of the sages have awakened yet. If you go into the Kokiri forest you can actually reunite with Saria and talk with her for a bit in the village. You cannot trigger Dampe's race to get the hookshot. He just won't offer to race you if you try. So you can't enter the Forest Temple or any others that require the hookshot or other items you don't get until later in order to access them. If you visit any of the temple locations early the teleportation song cutscenes won't trigger either. So there's really no reason to do anything except rescue Kaepora Gaepora right away.

So you head over to Ganon's castle, which still requires all the sage medallions to make a bridge to get to the front entrance, but the courtyard still exists and there's a way for you to access it and revisit the stealth segment from earlier in the game when you first met Zelda. This time around there's moblins and wallmasters instead of castle guards who will attack/send you back to the start if you get caught. The layout is a little different and trickier to navigate than it was the first time, with new obstacles and pathways. At the end of the castle infiltration segment you find Kaepora Gaepora locked up in a cage, set him free, and he flies you away and drops you off in front of the ToT. Now when you enter, you'll activate the cutscene that gives you the Prelude of Light.

I've seen more than a couple let's players who were new to the game not get the PoL until way late in the game and lament that they didn't have that useful teleportation song earlier because it didn't occur to them to go back to the ToT until the game forces you to, to get into the well before the Shadow Temple. So by having this short segment that directs you to go back to the ToT, before you even visit your first temple, there's pretty much no way you can fail to get the Prelude of Light and learn that you have the ability to become a child again before you've played a significant portion of the adult segment of the game.

So you go in and activate the cutscene to get the Prelude of Light, which now also includes Kaepora Gaepora revealing himself as Rauru the sage and opening up the Temple of Light for you. I think it would be interesting here if within this dungeon there were some hints that the temple feels like home to Navi and she eventually realizes she was born there and is actually not a forest fairy like those that typically pair up with the Kokiri, but a spirit like Fi created for the sole purpose of aiding Link, and that's why when her purpose is fulfilled she flies through that window at the end.

At the end of the temple, instead of walking into a blue light and teleporting, you open a door to enter the Chamber of Sages for the first time. Only then will the other sages can begin to awaken. Now if you visit the Kokiri forest Saria will have heard the call and already left for the Forest Temple, just as she does in the final version of the game.

And that's how I would try to retrofit the lost Light Temple into OoT and make it fit seemlessly like it belonged there all along.

#zelda #legend of zelda #loz #tloz #the legend of zelda #ocarina of time #oot

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fandomnsfw · 2 years ago

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Baddest Bitch PT 2 - Derek Hale x Reader

Pairing: Derek Hale x Reader

Prompt: Because I finally decided to stop torturing people and make a part two after like however long its been since I posted the first one! It was only ever supposed to be a one shot but as I re-read it the other day I was inspired.

Warning: Smut, fluff, everything okay!? We’ve got some Peter Hale snark some Stiles Stilinski curiosity and a whole lot of the sexy and soft Derek Hale so please read ahead if you like all of the above.

A huge thank you to my original beta @lets-imagine-fanfics for editing not only the first part a few years ago, but for editing this part. Her help is honestly a god sent.

ENJOY!!

***********

Previously on Baddest Bitch...

“But yes I would love to go on a date though I think it’s safe to say I’m pretty smitten with you don’t you think? I don’t exactly let anyone knock me up.” You chuckled before reaching over your shoulder and placing a kiss on his cheek.

“Yes well ditto.” Derek grumbled shyly before you both finally let sleep take you.

You slipped out of bed with a smile as you looked over at Derek who was still passed out after your brunch sexy time. You thought you would’ve been doubting yourself for allowing Derek to knot you, let alone even screw you without a condom, it was reckless and so irresponsible but instead you felt content like everything made sense.

You weren’t sure whether it was Derek or the fact that you might’ve made a child but you felt lighter than you had in years. However, you were still sticky so a shower was definitely on the cards. You began walking through the open space but you suddenly overheard the pack enter downstairs and you realised it was 7pm on Friday which meant pack night.

Shit.

You ran back to Dereks bed and slapped him against the bare chest shocking him so much he actually growled at you until he realised it was you. You pulled on your earlobe telling him to listen and his eyes widened immediately, shooting out of bed as he began routing through his draws to grabs jeans and a henley before slipping into them.

You shook your head at his lack of underwear as you ran over to your separate room taking Derek’s sheet with you as you went. You grabbed a paired of black high waist leggings, a red crop top and a pair of thongs. You grabbed your feminine wipes and started wiping any dried cum off of you so it wouldn’t be as noticeable to the other wolves.

You put on the clothes and took a deep breathe, readying yourself incase there was questions. You were usually so confident but for some reason you were worried what the pack would think. God how were you going tell the pack if you did get pregnant? You shook your head and started down the stairs, knowing Derek had gone down already.

You spot the whole pack rumbling through take away containers and realised they must’ve picked food up on the way so you put on a big smile and grabbed a plate. Liam noticed you first and gave you a big smile in return, suddenly he started sniffing the air and you tried not to look guilty because there’s no way a puppy wouldn’t be able to figure out where the smell was coming from with the whole pack in the house, right?

“Why do you smell like sex?” Liam asked stopping the whole pack in their spots as every wolf sniffed of air their eyes widening, while Derek suddenly looked a little too proud and Scott started laughing.

“I told her and Derek to fuck it out… ‘guess they took my advice.” Scott smirked like he’d won a medal.

You shot him a glare before serving yourself food and walking to the dining table without a word. Lydia sat next to you with Stiles following, who sat on the other side and you almost ran then and there. The brainy couple…you were doomed and you knew it.

“So... Derek?” Lydia started and Stiles hummed in thought, thinking about the question he wanted to ask but there were so many he had on his mind he decided to leave the questioning to his girlfriend.

“Interesting development, if you ask me.” Stiles added casually instead, causing you to look at Derek for help but he just looked amused.

“Oh you think this is funny, sweetheart?” You asked Derek, your tone sickly sweet, wiping the smirk from his face.

“You know what I think, Derek here would be to happy answer all your questions. Right, Der?” You asked, feigned innocence dripping from your words.

“I’m taking her out tomorrow that’s all you guy need to know.” Derek grumbled before everyone exploded as you shot him a smirk that let him know you’d won.

The pack continued their questioning throughout dinner - even the sheriff had asked one, which had made you laugh because he had asked ‘where will Derek be taking you?’ and Derek went redder than tomato as he clearly hadn’t thought of that yet. You saved him from the unexpected question by saying you wouldn’t mind trying the new Italian place downtown and he sent you an affectionate smile that somehow made everyone stop questioning the pair of you.

You poured yourself and Melissa a glass of red wine before you made your way to the living room. You were about to sit down with you glass when it was taken straight out your hand by Derek who shot you a raised brow and you scoffed at him making Melissa laugh.

“You’re brave going between her and wine.” Chris snorted as Melissa nodded against his shoulder trying to contain her laugh.

Derek raised both brow daring you to argue with him but you just stared him down like the enemy. You looked at the glass weighing your chances at getting your hands on it and not spilling at least half, but you just sighed angrily.

“Get me a juice.” You snapped viciously and Derek nodded before walking back to the kitchen.

“What the fuck just happened…” Stiles muttered in confusion.

“Language, but yeah what my idiot son said.” The sheriff scolded but looked at you confused, with a raised brow.

“I think it’s best we come some aspects of our relationship a secret.” You answered respectfully making the sheriff nod in acceptance, but Stiles just gaped at you, his mind racing a mile a minute.

“Is it a kinky thing?” Stiles gasped, as if the revelation of Derek doing anything kinky was the most hilarious concept to him and you almost keeled over laughing.

“No, but that made my day.” You wheezed as you tried to calm your breathing through the laughter.

“Excuse you.” Derek growled as he came into the room with your juice.

“Shut up, wine stealer.” You snarled as you took your juice resentfully.

Derek rolled his eyes but sat down next to you, wrapping his arm around your shoulders before pressing a gentle kiss to your temple making you instantly relaxed against him. Despite the pout on your face, you cuddled into him causing Lydia to chuckle at the sight from across the room.

******

You eventually drifted into your own thoughts as everyone chatted the night away. You must’ve fallen asleep at some point because the next thing knew you woke up to Derek carrying you upstairs. You stared up at him with a sleepy smile on your face and he looked down at you returning it with the brightest smile you’d seen all night.

He laid you on his bed and you raised a brow at him but didn’t move to get up as he stripped his top and jean leaving him naked but as he started to slide on a pair of boxers you let your pout show. He looked up innocently, like he didn’t know the effect he had on you, only to see your pout making him smirk.

“You can’t still want more, baby?” He chuckled as he remembered the second and third time you went after the first time.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.” You purred as you ripped your top off over your head letting him take in your lack of bra. You crooked your index finger in a come hither way and he was on you, his fingers finding the waistband of your leggings before pulling them down off your body leaving you in your dusky pink thong.

“You’re so beautiful.” Derek whispered against your lips and your eyes widened in shock. You had only ever really done one-night stands so you were never used to being called beautiful. Drunken men weren’t exactly there for the intimacy they were here for one thing only, your body.

“Did I say something wrong?” Derek asked softly and you looked up at him with a frown wondering why he was asking, but then you realised he must’ve sensed your change in mood.

“No. Not at all…no one’s ever called me beautiful in the bedroom just shocked me, Der, that’s all.” You answered softly and his frown was back as he pressed a kiss to your forehead before kissing down your temple to your cheek lovingly.

“Well you are…so beautiful.” Derek whispered into your ear sending a shiver straight down your spine as you clutched the bedding.

His lips left little kisses over every inch of skin from your cheek to your nipples, taking the left one in his mouth, sucking softly making you gently bite your lower lip as you watched him switch to your other nipple to pay it the same attention.

“Don’t get comfortable, baby. I’m about to show you how beautiful you are.” Derek whispered darkly; his voice full of filthy promises.

He wrapped your legs around his waist before picking you up using your ass to support you. He walked to the bathroom across the loft and you gave him a sceptic look but he just shot you a dirty smirk that made your heart race in anticipation.

He stopped in front of the bathroom mirror, signalling for you to get down so you jumped down and looked around the room with a shrug. He spun you around, pulling your bare back against his just as bare chest, one hand on you hip as the other grabbed your cheeks forcing you took look at him through the mirror.

“Watch close.” Derek whispered in your ear his wolf eyes flashing in dimly lit bathroom. You flushed under his gaze feeling a little embarrassed but you nodded gently letting him know you heard him.

Every nerve in your body felt like it was buzzing in anticipation, waiting for his next move but when his hand slowly slid from you cheeks to your throat your eyes flashed as you leaned into his touch. The hand on your hip suddenly tore your underwear straight off your body making you gasp in shock as Derek just gave you a sadistic smirk in return.

His hand slid between your legs, his finger immediately delving into your wet folds making you whimper against him, shamelessly grinding into his fingers. You felt Derek’s chest rumble in satisfaction against your back as teased you massaging your clit at an agonisingly slow pace.

“Look.” Derek growled as his eyes flashed in warning and you finally looked at yourself in the mirror.

Your face was flushed, glowing under the low lighting, your hair was half sticking to your face but the thing you noticed the most, was your expression. You looked so…beautiful…in pure trust and ecstasy in this moment with this man and you smiled at him.

“I only look like this because its you…because I trust you…even enough to take control of me in my most vulnerable position.” You whispered into the quiet room and his expression changed to something you’d never seen on him but you decided it was your favourite look.

“Make love to me.” You knew it wasn’t a question and that didn’t seem to bother Derek because he picked you up like a princess and took you back to his bed.

He laid you down on the bed carefully, pushing his lips onto yours passionately, as he brushed your hair out of your face affectionately while he took himself out of his boxer briefs. You slipped your tongue into his mouth, exploring every inch of him as you went; He tasted like the whiskey he drank earlier, making you smile into the kiss.

He brushed his tip through your wet folds, making you moan against his lips as you clutched onto his biceps in a plea that you needed him, and he clearly heard it because he slowly pushed into you, earning one drawn-out desperate moan as you clung to him like a koala bear. Everything felt more intense, and maybe it was because you were sure this was the first person to ever make love to you, or perhaps it was just Derek. Still, you looked into his eyes as he took one of your hands, intertwining it with his while he started thrusting into you slowly but deeply.

He looked at you with the same look from earlier and you cupped the back of his neck as he nudged against your special spot with every deep thrust and you felt yourself building faster than normal but he nodded letting you know he was close too. Your eyes were blurred with pure pleasure as his hand came down to massage your clit.

“Ahh…Der, m’close.” You moaned softly as you hid your head in his neck, and he pulled back to look into your eyes once more.

His thrusts got a little harder as he got closer to his end, his fingers never stopped moving gently and you couldn’t hold it anymore, the coil in your stomach unravelling as you looked into Derek’s blue wolf eyes through your hooded lids. Your legs wouldn’t stop shaking as Derek came with you, emptying himself inside of you once again.

“F-Fuck…” You whispered as you went lifeless against the bed, Derek resting on top of you but not putting his full weight on you, which you found endearing.

“Maybe I should get that diamond ring after all.” Derek chuckled and you let out a breathless laugh pulling him down for a kiss.

********

It had been about a month or so since you and Derek had started dating while making a baby… A weird concept, you were both aware, which is why no one from the pack is any the wiser. Obviously, you were well aware that you’d have to tell them soon, but for right now you guys didn’t want to deal with judgmental looks from your pack.

You were currently a week late but you couldn’t be sure if that was the stress of wanting to know or if it was, in fact, pregnancy so you bought tests… A lot of them. Derek looked at you like you were crazy when you dumped all 25 packets of different brands on his lap.

“I really don’t think this many is necessary.” Derek stated as you dipped one at a time into the cup of pee, specifically the morning pee you had been holding since you woke up at 7am this morning. The internet said it was better to take it with your first pee of the day something about HCG hormones or something... You didn’t understand most of it.

“And I really don’t think you should be judging me right now since I might be carrying your wolf spawn.” You sassed, making him roll his eyes but dutifully pass you another test to dip in the pee.

“Okay, now we wait!” You cheered happily as you lined the last one on rows and rows of toilet roll you had set out on the coffee table; you were aware it was gross but you planned on cleaning it afterwards, but you needed a large surface for the test, and the dining table didn’t seem like a good idea.

You sat there, your leg bouncing up and down as you watched the tests from the couch anxiously. Derek was pacing at the other side of the coffee table making you look at him with the deadliest glare, before you could tell him to sit down the loft door burst open and you stood up panicking.

You looked up to see Peter, who looked shocked by you and Derek staring at him like he was a trespasser. Your eyes widened as you pointed to Derek signalling for him to get rid of him, but Peter scrunched his face n distaste as he got closer.

“Why does it smell like someone marked there territory in here?” Peter gagged and your eyes widened.

“Don’t come any closer, Hale!” You screamed as you pointed at Derek’s uncle.

“Okay, did I walk in on some weird kinky thing?” Peter asked in distaste.

“Why does everyone think we’re always doing something kinky?!” You screeched, your arms flopping to your side in exasperation.

“Baby…” Derek tried by you immediately cut him off.

“Not now, Derek! I need to know why the pac-”

“Babe! Look!” He shouted, effectively shutting you up you looked at him with a glare before he pointed at the tests.

Every single one was positive. Holy shit, you were pregnant with Derek Hales baby. You looked at him with wide eyes when he stared at you as if trying to see how you felt about it. When your grin broke out, so did his, his arms immediately on your hips to lift you up happily, burying his head in your neck.

Suddenly you were very aware Peter was still stood there, as he hadn’t said anything you glanced over and found him staring directly at all the tests with wide eyes. You looked back at Derek in worry but he stayed silent like he was waiting for Peter to get his bearings.

“Congratulations, dear nephew… Talia would be proud.” Peter stated uncharacteristically gentle and you started sobbing shocking both men.

“Good luck with that. Bye.” Peter added with an arrogant smile on his face as he left Derek to deal with you.

“Peter’s not so bad! People should be nicer to him.” You sobbed making Derek snort humourlessly.

“Oh dear… Isn’t it a little early for the hormones to start?” Derek laughed and you just started sobbing more.

“Why am I crying?!” You cried into his chest, sniffling into his top, his scent instantly calming you.

“When do you want to tell the pack?” Derek asked softly as he kissed the top of your head.

“Tonight.” You sniffled as you pulled away to look at him. You could barely believe you were pregnant despite seeing the 25 tests with your own eyes. You were so happy, and Derek seemed even more excited, which made you proud that you could be the one to give him a family.

You were falling for Derek Hale, and for once, there wasn’t a reason to worry because you felt completely safe doing it.

********

When the pack all wandered in for the usual Friday pack night, you were in the kitchen making mocktails for the whole pack before making a few alcoholic ones for the adults that weren’t pregnant. The pack looked confused as they crowded around the dinner table with the take out bags.

You strolled over to the table as Derek and Peter carried the drink trays out behind you, looking unusually happy, and nobody dared speak like they were concerned for your mental stability. Malia glared at her father as if he was just as insane, while he helped you into your chair.

You made aimless chatter with Lydia, and the pack quickly relaxed so you started serving out the take away food that Scott had brought. You ate more than usual, making Stiles tease you, but you just stuck your tongue out at him causing him to scoff in disbelief.

After everyone had finished the food, the pack started to make their way to the couches and you gave Derek a nod as he stood in front of the pack with a small awkward smile. Everyone looked at him curiously but waited for him to speak, knowing it wasn’t Derek’s forte.

“We have some news, and I’d like everyone to remember mouth filters…” He stated as he directed his gaze to Stiles, who scoffed again, making everyone laugh.

“I’m pregnant.” You stated casually, and the pack just stared for what felt like forever, but then everyone went insane.

“Congratulations, Y/N. You’re gonna make a great mother.” Melissa stated, as she got up from her seat to hug you.

“You’re gonna be a great dad too, Derek. I’m so proud of how far you’ve come.” She added and she pulled Derek into a hug much to his shock.

“Thank you.” He mumbled, a blush taking over his ears and cheeks as he pulled away from Melissa.

“Congrats, man. Honestly, if anyone deserves this it’s you.” Stiles said as he approached Derek and the wolf’s eyes widened in surprise before softening and bringing Stiles into a firm hug, clearly shocking the younger boy, but he laughed and gave into the wolfs hug before pulling away and looking at you.

“You are the only girlfriend he’s had that I actually like.” Stiles whispered playfully and you let out a laugh before bringing him into a hug.

“You’re gonna be great parents.” He added seriously making your smile soften.

“Thank you.” You replied honestly as you pulled away.

“For everything… Like Derek, I have no family left and you guys have given me that. Through everything we’ve been through, that fact has only gotten stronger and for that I will be eternally grateful. I know a lot of you didn’t trust me when I first showed up, but after fighting together and surviving together for so long we’re stronger than any blood related family out there. So, thank you for being my family and I can’t wait to add to it.” You expressed slowly, Melissa and Lydia were crying into their significant others shoulder as you raised your glass in cheers

Everyone raised theirs in return with happy and satisfied smiles on their faces and for once everything felt complete, like finally having a baby on the way made this family more real and suddenly you couldn’t wait until the little one arrived.

#teen wolf #derek hale #teen wolf imagine #teen wolf fluff #smut #fluff #tw #derek hale x reader #derek hale x you #derek x reader #derek x you #derek hale imagine #derek imagine #derek hale smut #teen wolf smut #father!derek hale

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ruinofchimera · 5 months ago

Note

People forget or are too young to remember that when Order of the Phoenix first came out, everyone thought Lily was exceptional because she was coming to the defence of some random slimy unpopular kid she didn’t know just because it was the right thing to do. Nobody theorized for a second back in 2003 that they were friends, let alone best friends, because they DIDN’T ACT LIKE IT. She pays no attention to him in that scene because she’s so dialled in to James even at his worst. People theorized that Snape had a distant crush. Obviously JKR wrote it that way in Book 5 to conceal the Snily connection because it needed to be a big mystery reveal in book 7, but that means she needed to make Lily’s behavior - the flicker of amusement and the bantering with James while her friend is assaulted - in the Book 5 scene work retrospectively from a characterization standpoint in The Prince’s Tale. And she makes it work by painting a picture of a shaky friendship that had turned toxic long before the Mudblood incident, and not just because of his Slytherin associations and the threat of the war. He doesn’t understand why she cares about her sister, she puts all the blame on him for them stealing Petunia’s letter. He minimizes the harm Mulciber does, she tells him that he’s supposed to show gratitude to his abuser for drawing the line at murder. We’re not meant to read it as this loving, warm, equal relationship that Snape fucked up in this one moment.

I won’t even bother to hide that your writing hooked me right away. I fervently crave insights from the time when the books were just coming out and people didn’t yet see the whole picture. I find red herring to be a rather delicious literary device, so it’s a pity that I can only imagine how the final twists of the series blew the minds of the audience. Unfortunately, I was still a child at the time, so my brain cells could not yet process the subtleties of the material. Therefore, my judgments were formed after multiple re-readings in adulthood, and by that time, I had been shamelessly robbed of the intrigue.

Many fanon trends take on deeper meaning after you lift the veil of how the material was initially perceived (being misled by the narrator until the very end and all). Taking this into account, it becomes clear where the claims of Lily’s heroism may have come from. Someone in a reblog of my previous post mentioned that even Harry, who held a grudge against Snape, didn’t find the display amusing in the slightest. On the contrary, he was terrified. So even if there was no evidence of Lily and Severus’s friendship to speak of at that time, Lily’s glorification is still dubious to me. But for some people that might be enough to plant the roots of her chivalrous nature.

I see it now. You explained incredibly well why people might have overlooked the red flags in Lily as a friend, given that they didn’t perceive her as more than a mere bystander during the incident. Unfortunately, though, I have very little faith that people still base their opinions on what they read many years ago. I mean, I reread the series just last winter, and I had already forgotten a lot of important details (for example, Lily trying to make Severus feel grateful that James had saved him). And some folk intervene in discussions about Harry Potter when the last time they touched the original material was more than a decade ago? Well, if they seriously rely on their—dare I say—ancient reading, it would be so absurd it would almost be funny. Why am I even surprised? Maybe I’m just jealous of their superior memory.

Whatever. Once again, your meta is a revelation to be reckoned with. I hadn't considered it from this angle before, my critical thinking is almost purring with an enjoyment.

#lily evans #severus snape #marauders

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inkinmyheartandonthepage · 3 months ago

Text

The Ten Thousand Doors of Buckley

Prompt 13 of flufftober is Fantasy AU/Mundane AU! I hope you enjoy and you can read it here on Ao3.

Buck was ten years old when his father tried to drown him in the pond on the edge of their property. Buck wasn’t sure what had set him off this time. Phillip and Margaret Buckley had never really seemed to like him. The only time they ever paid attention to him when he was hurt. It was his sister Maddie who raised him. She played with him and taught him how to read and write and how to wield magic with spells and potions.

Buck had been practicing a simple spell when his mother had walked in, gone pale and started crying. His father had grabbed Buck by the collar and dragged him to the pond and dried to drown him.

What his father didn’t know is that Buck had befriended the water spirit that lived there, and they had saved his life. The same water spirit had shown Buck an old stone arch way in the forest behind their property that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and told him it was a doorway to another world.

When Buck had crept back to the house, Maddie had taken in his sodden clothes and immediately packed as much of their things she could into a rucksack. She made Buck wait by the tree line and when she joined them, she had a fistful of coins Buck knew she had stolen from their father’s study. Buck had taken her to the arch way and told her what the spirit had told him. Maddie had studied the doorway before she squared her shoulders, took Buck’s hand, and pulled them through.

(It wasn’t until later did Buck find out about their brother Daniel and how he had been sick with a curse. How their parents had Buck and had hoped to syphon his magic in order to save Daniel, but it hadn’t worked, and he had died leaving the Buckley’s with a child they didn’t want.)

That was the first of the many doors they had found over the years. They passed through worlds that had familiar tones of their original world and ones that they had never imagined. There was magic in some and not in others. They found different jobs and sometimes they had to resort to stealing to get by (much to their guilt). Sometimes they stayed for a year or two, other times they were forced to flee to a new world as soon as they found another door.

As their original world fell far behind them, finding doors became easier and easier. When Buck turned twenty-six, he and Maddie stepped through another doorway and when they emerged on the other side, they both felt it.

They had found home.

It took them several months to get themselves set up in a city called L.A. It wasn’t the first time they had created new identities. No matter which world they went to, there was always a door keeper as Maddie and Buck had come to call them. They would help them set up new identities, get them the local currency (in exchange for any other form of currency they had), set them up with qualifications so they could get jobs. They would even help them get accommodation and help them in any way they needed as they became adjusted to the world.

The door keeper had helped them find a house and had given them a quick lesson on how the world worked.

“This world,” the door keeper had explained. “Has a low magical energy. Most can’t feel it and often pass it up a coincidence or a trick. As long as you’re not flashy with your magic, you won’t draw any suspicion. Now, this is called a cell phone. This is how everyone communicates these days.”

Buck and Maddie took several months learning everything they could about this world as they settled into their new home.

“This is going to be great,” Maddie had said, eyes shining and voice breathless. “You can feel it too, right?”

“Yeah,” Buck grinned. “This is where we are meant to be.”

Maddie reached out with her pinky finger, hooking it around Buck’s. “You and me against the world.”

“Buckley’s united,” Buck promised.

~*~

“What do you mean you don’t know what baseball is,” Chimney asked, looking horrified.

Eddie watched as their newest probie looked around at them all for guidance. It wasn’t the first time that Evan “Buck” Buckley had said that he had never heard of something that seemed so universal that it still shocked them all. The 118 had been convinced at first that their newest team member was trying to prank them. But as the months went by, the came to realise that Buck just didn’t know.

Buck was eager to learn anything and everything, always asking questions. Despite being a probie, Buck was one of the best firefighters they had ever worked with. He was quick on his feet, instinctual and strong. He took to firefighting like a duck to water and they all loved having him on the team. Especially Eddie.

It had taken him surprise just how quickly the two of them had become good friends. Buck was not only a great work partner who seemed to be able to read Eddie’s mind when out on a call, but he was a great friend. Buck and Christopher, when Eddie had introduced them not long after Buck had first started at the 118, had become fast friends. Eddie would invite Buck over and it wouldn’t be long before Buck and Chris were falling into a research hole or building Lego’s together. It made Eddie stomach swoop whenever he saw them together.

“I haven’t heard of it,” Buck said, looking earnest. “Is it a game?”

“It’s a sport,” Eddie explained. “Chim, put them game on and we’ll explain the rules.”

Buck nodded eagerly while Chimney just shook his head, muttering under his breath about Buck’s lack of education.

“I didn’t grow up here,” Buck had shrugged when they had first asked about it out of concern. “But I really like it here. Feels like home.”

Nobody had teased Buck, but they had all silently agreed to help Buck with whatever learning he wanted. Bobby had taken to teaching Buck how to cook and they had all seen how much Buck enjoyed spending the time with their captain. Nobody teased him when he brought a new book with him every shift, finding time in the slow patches of their shift to read. They were middle-grade books but lately he had started branching out to young adult. Sometimes he would ask for clarification, and they would happily help him out, hiding away their concern that Buck hadn’t received the same education that they had.

They managed to watch an inning before the bell rang and they went sprinting off to a call. It was an easy call but then another came, followed by another and another until finally their shift had ended.

“Why don’t you come back to mine,” Eddie suggested when they were in the locker room getting changed into their civilian clothes. “And we can finish your baseball education.”

Buck brightened as he tugged on a t-shirt. “That would be great.”

Eddie smiled back. “Great. Follow me home?”

Buck nodded and they quickly finished changing before heading out to their cars. When they reached the Diaz home, Christopher was already there, working on his homework. He greeted them cheerfully, giving Buck and extra hug making Eddie grumble teasingly about playing favourites.

Buck insisted on helping Christopher with his homework (and Eddie got the impression that Buck just wanted to learn and so he never discouraged it and Christopher enjoyed teaching Buck what he had learned at school) and when they were finished, they went to the living room where Eddie pulled up an old baseball game.

They spent the afternoon going through the game, Buck’s face often scrunched up in confusion until Eddie had laughed and turned on a movie, Buck flashing him a guilty smile.

“Sorry,” Buck apologised.

Eddie shook his head. “No need to apologise. You gave it a try and didn’t like it. It’s fine.”

Buck had looked relieved, shooting Eddie a bright smile that had Eddie’s heart tripping in his chest.

To say thank you, Buck cooked them dinner and afterward they watched another movie. When Chris started yawning, Eddie ushered him out of the living room to get changed into his pyjamas and to do his nightly routine.

“Buck,” Chris asked as he was getting tucked into bed. “Can you read me a story?��

“Sure,” Buck agreed happily. He perched himself on the edge of the bed, Eddie going on the other side, and they settled onto the small bed. “Everyone ready?”

“Yes!” Chris cheered loudly.

“Wait,” Eddie said, making a show of getting more comfortable, swinging his legs up on the bed, scooting close to a giggling Chris. He smiled cheekily. “Now I’m ready.”

Buck laughed, shaking his head. “Okay. Okay. Once upon a time there was a boy named Evan who lived in place called Narrawooding. He lived there with his sister Maddie who took care of him. She was the greatest sister who taught him to read and write and how to do magic.”

Eddie sunk back into the pillow, enraptured by Buck’s story already.

“One day, the water spirit who lived in their pond took them to a stone arch way. It was a doorway and the spirit told them of all the other worlds that existed behind that door. Evan and Maddie had never felt like they belonged in their world and so, they decided to go on an adventure, and they went through the doorway.”

“They went to a new world?” Christopher gasped, looking at Buck with wide eyes.

“They sure did! They lived high up in the trees in a little hut. Big swinging bridges were connected between the trees so you could move around because it was too dangerous to live on the ground. But one day, Evan fell off the bridge and the village wouldn’t help him. They were too scared to go to the ground and what lived down there. So, Maddie went after him and saved him. On the ground, the found another doorway and decided to go through, finding a new world. Maybe they would belong in the next one.”

“Was Evan okay?” Eddie found himself asked.

Buck looked at Eddie. “He had a few scrapes and broken bones. In the new world, they found a healer who patched him up and was kind enough to teach them healing spells. They stayed there for a while when one day, Maddie came across another door. While they liked the world they had been living in, they still felt like they didn’t belong. They decided to go through again. Together, they visited many new worlds. They learned new languages and met many interesting people. Some worlds had magic, other worlds didn’t. Some people were part animals and in other worlds they had scales. One world had nothing, just empty land. It scared Maddie and Evan so they didn’t stay.”

Eddie shivered and felt Chris do the same.

“Maddie and Evan travelled from world to world until one day, they stepped through a door, and they felt it.”

“Felt what?” Christopher gasped, leaning forward eagerly. Eddie felt himself doing the same.

“Felt that they had finally found home,” Buck beamed. “And so, they made a home and they found people who finally treated them like family in a way they had never had with anyone but each other. And they are living their happy ever after.”

Eddie looked at Buck, his breath hitching in his chest when Buck stared back, blue eyes intense. He swallowed thickly, his body shaking slightly. No. There was no way that Buck’s story was true? Was it?

“Does Evan miss his home at all?” Chris asked quietly.

“He misses some parts. There’s a tree he misses that used to grow in his backyard. Flowers would bloom on the tree twice a year and when they did, he would pluck as many as he could and eat them.”

Chris giggled. “You can’t eat flowers Buck!”

“These ones you could,” Buck said dreamily. “The petals tasted sweet like honey and sometimes Maddie would roast them over a fire, making them crispy.” Buck licked his lips, Eddie drawn to the action. His face flushed hot when Buck winked, and Christopher fell into more giggles.

“That was a good story,” Chris said around a yawn. “I want to hear more of Evan and Maddie’s adventures.”

“Next time,” Buck promised. He hesitated, giving Eddie a searching look before looking back to Chris. “If you would like, you could meet Maddie one day.”

Chris perked back up. “I could?”

“Yeah,” Buck smiled softly. “She would love to meet my Diaz boys.”

And it made Eddie’s stomach tighten as Buck referred to them as his and he swung his legs off the bed, standing up before he could do something stupid like pull Buck into a kiss in front of his son.

“I want to meet her!” Chris said eagerly.

“Another day,” Eddie said. “Now, it’s time for you to go to sleep. Say goodnight.”

“Night Buck,” Chris yawned, snuggling down. “Thank you for my story.”

“Night buddy,” Buck said. “Sleep tight. Don’t let the goobledygloops bite.”

Chris giggled tiredly. “It’s bed bugs, Buck!”

Eddie snorted as Buck got an adorable frown on his face. He kissed his son’s forehead and smoothed down his hair. “Night, Superman.”

“Night dad. Love you,” Chris mumbled and then he was drifting off.

Eddie and Buck left the room quietly, heading back to the living room. Eddie gestured to the couch, and they took a seat, relaxing back into the cushions.

“Are there really bed bugs?” Buck asked, giving Eddie a frown.

“Uh, no. Well, yes, technically there are bed bugs,” Eddie said, flustered.

“There are?” Buck yelped. He looked frantically at Chris room. “How big are they? Do you have traps?”

Eddie reached out and put a hand on Buck’s thigh to stop him from leaping off the couch. “Buck. Chris is fine. There are no bed bugs. I keep his sheets clean and mine. They’re not really an issue. It’s just an expression.”

Buck sunk back into the couch. “Oh. You sure?”

“I’m sure,” Eddie chuckled, shaking his head. He moved his hand away from Buck’s thigh, feeling his cheeks flush hot. Eager to distract himself, Eddie cleared his throat and asked, “You have a sister, Evan?”

“Yeah,” Buck said, smiling softly. “Maddie. I was – I was hoping that you guys would want to meet her. Everyone from the 118 actually. She, uh, she been eager to meet my friends.”

“We’d all love to meet her, Buck,” Eddie promised, overwhelmed that Buck felt comfortable enough to introduce them to someone who was clearly very important to him. Eddie swallowed thickly, mind drifting back to the story. “She moved here with you? Like in your story.”

Buck stared back at Eddie. “Yeah. Maddie raised me, basically.”

Eddie hesitated on his next question. They didn’t really know anything about Buck’s childhood. He was always so open but never really about that and Eddie didn’t want to poke a wound if it was sore.

“You’re parents…”

Buck shrugged. “Don’t know about them anymore. Maddie took me away when I was ten after my dad tried to drown me in the pond.”

Eddie choked. “What?”

Buck waved it off like it was no big deal and Eddie nearly whimpered.

“Anyway. We really like it here. Feels like home and I really want you and Chris to meet her,” Buck said, giving Eddie a shy smile. “You and Chris are really important to me. I – I really like you guys. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

Eddie reached across the space between them, squeezing Buck’s wrist. “You’re important to us too. You’re my best friend Buck and I’m so glad I met you.”

Buck beamed brightly, making Eddie’s stomach flutter.

“Are you and Chris doing anything tomorrow?” Buck asked. “Maybe you could come to mine and meet Maddie?”

“Sound perfect,” Eddie said. “We’ll be there.”

And as Buck grinned at Eddie with a smile that could rival the sun’s, Eddie made a mental note to thank Maddie for saving Buck as a child. He was glad that the two of them had made it to L.A (and did he really believe Buck was from another world? He wasn’t sure but somehow, impossibly, it made sense) and he couldn’t wait to meet Maddie and tell her how amazing he found her brother.

#flufftober2024 #flufftober #ao3 fanfic #buddie #9-1-1 fanfiction #eddie diaz #evan buckley #9-1-1 #buddie 911

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glitchy-anime-fan · 11 months ago

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This might be just me, maybe I’m missing something, but I feel like some people who criticise EPIC!Odysseus for killing an infant but drawing the line at sleeping with Circe might not be taking into consideration how literally every event Odysseus has face since Troy has affected him as a person and how much guilt he’s continually facing.

To preface; THIS IS NOT ME HATING ON OTHER FANS!! I’m not trying to bully anyone or make fun of anyone, this is just something that has been in my head and I need to rant about it. This also only pertains to EPIC’s depiction of Odysseus, not any other interpretation of the character/story!

[minor grammatical edits made on 2/25/2024)

I saw a discussion on here the other day where the parties involved were talking about the changes made between the original Homeric story and EPIC. One of the main points of contention that I remember was how one of them said it rubbed them the wrong way that Odysseus was fine with killing an infant but didn’t want to sleep with Circe. I can totally understand why this may be an odd choice of morality to make, however, we have to keep in mind that the Odysseus from the Troy Saga is VERY different than the Odysseus in the Circe saga. Troy Saga Odysseus appears to be far more confident in himself and his plans; one could even argue that he’s a bit cocky. As stated by Odysseus in the ocean saga, NONE of his own men died in the battle which would add to Odysseus’ confidence and pride. This is vastly different than the grief stricken Odysseus later in the story, but more on that later.

Now the infant scene in question doesn’t necessarily set in stone Odysseus’ moral/ethical code; one could say the situation itself is an ethical dilemma (a problem with no one right answer). Odysseus is told by Zeus, king of the gods, that if he doesn’t kill Hector’s baby than Odysseus’ entire family (perhaps even kingdom) is in grave danger. However, Odysseus doesn’t make a decision right away, I’m mean the entire second song of the saga is Odysseus mulling over his options; kill an infant or risk his families safety. Neither option is preferable and I think “Just a Man” is meant to show that Odysseus isn’t a man who would readily kill a child, no questions asked, just because he was told to. In “The Infant and the Horse” Odysseus is ready to comply until he discovers that the “foe” he’s meant to kill is an infant. I mean, he literally pleads with Zeus to give him another option;

[ODYSSEUS, ZEUS]

I could raise him as my own (He will burn your house and throne)

Or send him far away from home (He'll find you wherever you go)

Make sure his past is never known (The gods will make it known)

I'd rather bleed for ya, down on my knees for ya (He's bringing you down on your knees for ya)

I'm begging please

Oh, this is the will of the gods

Please don't make me do this, don't make me do this

This part alone shows that Odysseus is, in fact, NOT fine with killing a child. Again, the second song in the saga is Odysseus going over his options and even asks for forgiveness when he finally makes his decision. I don’t know about you all, but I don’t think someone who’s okay with killing a child would ask for forgiveness. In this situation it’s very likely that Odysseus made the choice to protect his family and kingdom above all else, which I feel like is a valid choice in this situation. Odysseus was told, by a god, that him and his family would be killed should the baby live, I highly doubt Odysseus at this point was readily willing to try and call Zeus’ bluff.

It’s also not like the action didn’t affect Odysseus later. Again, I’m sure someone who wouldn’t have a guilty conscience about such a heinous act would ask for forgiveness. Similarly, two songs later in “Open Arms”, Polites brings up Odysseus’ guilt at the end when he says “I see in your face, there is so much guilt inside your heart”. Odysseus is clearly guilty about what he’s done, once again reinforcing that he is not “okay with killing an infant”. You can also pick up on it in the way Jay sings Odysseus’ songs following “Just a Man”; Odysseus seems to be more distracted or distant likely due to the shock of his own actions.

Similarly, we have to take into consideration literally every new traumatic incident Odysseus is faced with between the Cyclops and Ocean sagas. In the Cyclops Saga, Polyphemus kills a large number of Odysseus’ crew which would make this the first heavy loss Odysseus’ army would have faced since the war. I can imagine that this loss would have been a huge blow to Odysseus’ pride given the fact that none of his men died in the war. Similarly, since Odysseus is their captain and king, it’s fair to assume that Odysseus may see the deaths as his fault adding to his guilt.

Not only does he lose many in his crew, Odysseus also loses his best friend Polites which greatly effects Odysseus throughout the rest of the musical. In “Keep Your Friends Close” when the crew is scheming to open the bag of wind from Aeolus, they say “Everything's changed since Polites,” referring to how much Polites’ death not only effected Odysseus but also the crew. Odysseus becomes more and more closed off and distrusting which makes sense since it seems Polites was the one that mainly pushed Odysseus to be more open. This is another death that Odysseus can tack onto the growing list of reasons his guilt is eating him alive.

Side note: Odysseus also looses the support of Athena, his patron goddess following “My Goodby”. Athena has been someone who we can assume (given Athena’s story during “Warrior of the mind”) has been guiding Odysseus since he was a child so, even if Odysseus is no longer happy with Athena’s view on being a good warrior, it likely hurt him on some level to loose her. We have to keep in mind; Odysseus also thought of Athena as a friend not just a goddess and has thought this way since he met Athena. If we assume that Athena and Odysseus have never had a fight this bad until “My Goodby” then I think it’s fair to say that the outcome of the fight would negatively impact Odysseus. He may be too prideful to admit it at the time, but I can only imagine how awful it would feel to loose the support of a friend and patron deity at the same time.

I think one of the biggest blows yet for Odysseus comes during “Ruthlessness” when Poseidon and/or the Laestrygonians sink and kill everyone but Odysseus and his immediate crew mates (as in, the crew on Odysseus ship as apposed to those on the other twelve ships). As I mentioned earlier, throughout the ten years Odysseus and his army were in Troy not one of his men died. This changed when they faced Polyphemus, and only worsens when Poseidon attacks. Odysseus goes from having a crew of 600 (at the start of the musical) to 43 following this attack. Not only does he loose nearly all his men, it’s directly Odysseus’ fault it happened in the first place. Poseidon tells Odysseus directly that they “totally could have avoided all this had [Odysseus] just killed [Poseidon’s] son”.

Had Odysseus just listened to Athena at the time and killed Polyphemus, there would have been no one left to tell Poseidon about the attack; the god likely wouldn’t have known. Likewise, had Odysseus not let his hubris get the better of him and not told Polyphemus his full name, even if Poseidon found out his son had died or was left blind, he wouldn’t have known who did it. The whole situation is directly Odysseus’ fault and Poseidon is very clear in letting him know that. This obviously is going to add to Odysseus’ guilt exponentially since this time it truly was his own actions that lead to this scenario. Not to mention that had Odysseus just apologised, Poseidon might have been gracious to the crew.

Now there’s no saying what that would look like for Poseidon, maybe he would have only sunk one or two ships or maybe he was lying, who knows. The main point is that Odysseus was given another chance to get out of this peacefully, but he can’t swallow his pride long enough to say “I’m sorry”. Odysseus instead tries to talk his way out of it and Poseidon isn’t having it; this is another instance of Odysseus’ actions resulting casualties. All of this happens before the Circe saga mind you.

So let’s review all the instances that would be causing Odysseus guilt so far:

He’s been forced to kill a child to save his family and kingdom

He’s lost his best friend and a chunk of his crew to Polyphemus

He’s lost the support of his patron goddess who he has also seen as a friend since childhood

He’s lost 90% of his crew (give or take) due to his own actions

You cannot look at this and tell me that it would not greatly affect your mental health in any way. Odysseus is being weighed down by an immense about of grief and guilt as the story continues. It gets to be so much that in Puppeteer Odysseus tells Eurylochus that while he would like to leave Circe’s island, he can “hardly sleep now knowing everything [they’ve] done”, directly referring to the guilt that keeps weighing on his mind. By this point in the story Odysseus is so wracked with guilt that he would rather risk his own life to save the few men he has left that add anymore to his guilty conscience.

I see this as one reason why Odysseus rejects Circe’s advances. Odysseus went to save his men who were transformed because he already can’t sleep and doesn’t want to add any more guilt onto his mind. Do we really think he would change this stance just so he could sleep with a goddess? The thought of cheating on Penelope would likely cause Odysseus just as much guilt as leaving his men. This situation poses a similar dilemma to the very beginning of the story; Odysseus can either comply and free his men or not. In this moment Odysseus is in a lose-lose situation, however, he doesn’t let that stop him from trying to essentially create a third option that doesn’t add to his guilt.

And he’s successful this time.

Unlike he pleaded with Zeus, is seems that for one reason or another Odysseus is successful in pleading with Circe; he is able to create a third option for himself and his crew. He’s able to create a reality where his remaining crew survives and Odysseus doesn’t add anymore to his guilt.

Again, this is not about the original story, or other interpretations, this is solely based on what we know from EPIC. In short; Odysseus pleaded and begged with Zeus not to make him kill Astyanax, to give him a third peaceful option but failed. Odysseus is given a whole song about his own moral struggle in the options given to him and is then haunted by the guilt of his actions. He is then faced with the death of his crew due to his own actions, becoming not only a point of further guilt but also a shot at his pride. Odysseus looses Athena’s favour and looses Polities. While Odysseus may have begun to cave to Circe, I believe it was ultimately his love for his family and his desire to not add to his guilt that made him reject Circe.

Odysseus was never okay with killing an infant, he felt guilty likely from the moment he made his final decision. By the time he meets Circe, Odysseus would rather attempt to talk his way out (something that hasn’t actually worked till now) than add to his guilt. I’m truly not sure what I’m missing that, in the context of the musical, this isn’t obvious. Maybe it’s because I’m taking EPIC as its own story and not a one-to-one with the source material, who knows.

Sorry this got really long, I just needed to get it out somewhere before it plaques my mind anymore. Once again, I’m not trying to hate on anyone or bully anyone, this is just my own opinion on the matter!

#greek mythology #tagamemnon #epic the musical #epic the circe saga #epic the ocean saga #epic the cyclops saga #epic the troy saga #glitch rants #I feel like this was an intentional timeline for the musical #maybe it’s just me #idk

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trashisstillhere · 7 days ago

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Ok finally they’re done now!

I mostly was just working on their info’s which took longer then I thought it would, especially with extra chores I had to do but now and now it’s dark where I live and I have to go to bed soon already! But thank god I finally am done!

Meet Kirby B. And Dolores Bathory!

Kirby here was originally came up with by @artistic-harlom-world !! They even did a concept sketch of them for me which is what I used to try to draw their design! I ended up using a bit a lot of parts from that sketch cuz I honestly thought it was already so good! I only did a few tiny little changes along with the belt and pants and shoes and that’s it 🥲 but yeah, thanks again pal! I did Dolores myself but I got the ‘Bathory’ part from them too and used it as her last name instead!

Let’s just quickly get to the info shall we?

—————

Kirby B. Info: Kirby is Non binary and in 10th grade before NN came to Norrisville high. They’re a super cool fella who’s looks got every girl in the school heartstruck (as they should!) and they aren’t afraid to be confident!

However, theres more to them than just their style. They lived with only their grandparents (they even somehow live near the school) before they got to the school, they NEVER tell anyone their full last name and they never even talk about their own parents.. well, only their dad. Why? Cuz he’s a literal hillbilly and come on, who would ever want to mention their own father was a hillbilly?

Especially a hillbilly who literally goes by the name: Catfish Booray!

That’s right, they’re the child of THAT man. Thats why they barely talk about their ‘dad’ in the first place! It’s embarrassing! Even though they’re embarrassed to be related to Catfish, they want him to at least ACCEPT them for who they are but even that is difficult… Thankfully, they don’t have to see him so much anymore….

Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. Cause suddenly on Father’s Day, their dad decided to come over at their school! Not only that, but he even started having a fight with both NN and Randy in their ninja forms! This had poor Kirby mortified, causing them to finally lose their cool on their dad and run away…

And right when they were alone in their most vulnerable state, the Sorceress took her chance to use them as her next stanked victim!

Stanked form!

Meant to look like a maned wolf. (Literally my first time trying to draw one too-)

And just like one, they have great mobility, intelligence and strength. Making them a tough opponent to deal with! Get in their way and you will regret it! No seriously, be careful and don’t get too close!

Let only New Ninja, along with Randy by their side, handle it!

——-

Dolores info: Dolores is the new gossip girl of Norrisville high! The reason why she is one is literally because of both Heidi Weinerman and Debbie Kang, they’re her role models and inspiration. And just like them, she will get as much of juicy gossips and reports as she can!

Including ones involving the ninja(s)! >:3

Oh yeah, even Dolores is gonna try to figure out the ninjas identity too!…along with another ‘mystery’.

What mystery? Well….Rumours have started roaming around about there being TWO ninjas in Norrisville now for unknown reasons…. This got her attention real easily. Two ninjas?? That can’t be right, wasn’t there only one for 800 years?? Something isn’t right here! Suspicious, VERY suspicious!!

With this interesting information in hand, Dolores is gonna do a full on investigation and figure out what is going on with this whole two ninjas thing. Taking pictures, get all the info she can get, you name it! And soon, she will know too much, making her soon be another big problem for both NN and Randy!

Basically, she’s literally Debbie Kang 2.0.

But of course, like every other people, she isn’t safe from the stanking out there.

One day her gossip reports suddenly end up disappointing, SO disappointing in fact that she throws a hissy fit!

Leading her to be used by the sorceress!

Stanked form of Dolores!

An ocelot! (Why? Idk. Thought it would be kinda cool lol.)

Like one, she has keen sight and very good hearing, making it hard to hide from her.

Hopefully New Ninja will be able to stop her!

—-

Size comparisons with NN!

And done! Now if you excuse me, I need to go to bed-

#Rc9gn #randy cunningham 9th grade ninja oc #randy cunningham 9th grade ninja #ninja show #new ninja au #new ninja #ocs #Rc9gn ocs #finally done!!#Hope y’all like them!!

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crimsonprimrose-crime · 2 months ago

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HAJI COLLECTION

It's Finals weeks, you know what that means... time to fixate on my favorite anime character. I did promise yall lol but it's mostly rough translate coz English nor Japanese are my mother tongue lol

(he's just so beautiful yall 😔🩷)

Table of Contents.

Part 1.

Haji, Love and Destiny [Rough Translation]

An interview with Director Fujisaki, Producer Omatsu, and Producer Ochikoshi

Haji: The Main Character

Originally, they wanted to call him Kuroi Tsubasa. They even enjoyed calling him ‘Tsubasa-kun’. Saya’s character is fix as they wanted to base her from the movie Saya. But, for this anime, they wanted three male characters to be Saya’s chevalier. A high school boy, a guy who turned into a chiropteran, and a guy who’s good with swords. They ended up merging all three to turn into Haji.

The Secret Behind the Cello

They wanted Haji to have this “stalker” vibes that “will always look after her” from the very beginning but they weren’t expecting him to use the cello as his weapon. The image of Haji is just some guy who received Saya’s blood and his image to be like a murderer. But they removed the murderer image. They then thought of just having him as a punching bag, who’ll receive all blows from the enemy and David will be the one to draw them in for Saya. They think it’s better to have someone who can protect you with their body (lol). They just can’t imagine Haji fighting at first. They even considered him doing judo but they think it won’t look good.

The cello’s purpose is originally just for the plot. They weren’t expecting it to be swung around like a stick. The cello is 30kg and was meant to store swords. Again, fighting with the cello is unexpected for them. Ever since it was used as weapon, the producers said they’ve rarely seen Haji open the case.

Characterization, Visual, and Fashion

They wanted Haji’s voice to be both sexy and lustrous. But they realize that he’s a character that talk less so they ended up with the voice he has now. They made him talk with less “masu” so he wouldn’t sound like a woman. (I didn’t understand that part lol sry).

For his character design, they made him dress in a hanging, loose manner. As to fit the “If you are in the future, you are not a person of the future. You aren’t also a person of the past. You are not a person and you don’t have a place to belong. You are a strange person” kind of vibe. They also wanted Haji to compliment Saya’s beauty, in a way. Saya who seemingly look like a normal girl who then stands out with a good-looking Haji. They also gave Haji a naïve and half-asleep look.

They were planning to make him talk and laugh more at some point. But he ended up not doing it. (why though ;-; we all want a happy, smiley Haji). Though they do want him to laugh at the end. They did made him talk more at the last seasons but only talked logically. Though they think that made Haji look really good and that he feels more human. Haji then became a character that went beyond the position he was placed in.

For his image, they wanted him to look like a beautiful young man like Bjorn Andersen. Haji’s original hair is supposed to be short until it was change to a long hair. It was due to them asking female staffs which is better. They all think the long hair suits him much better. It’s effect is like when a character removes his glasses and then revealed a very much good looking person. The director even wanted him to pose with his right hand on his belt, untie his hair, and take off his jacket. (anyone wanna draw Haji in those poses????? That’s so hot tbh.) The very reason they dressed him with long costumes because it look better when they are fluttering. Haji’s fashion decision has taken more time than a small night.

(Bjorn Andersen's image.)

Haji’s Past

When writing the history [of Saya and of the Zoo], they thought of Haji’s background to be a child adopted by Amshel to be a potential bridegroom for Saya and is also his adopted son. That’s why he was able to move around the zoo. He’s not just a playmate to Saya. He also received education and lived a decent life. Also learned manners. Other than that, he is a “master geisha” because he has acquired all the skills necessary for life. He can cook, he can clean a household. Not good at fishing though.

Age and Setting

Haji’s 19 years old. He’s 15, or 2 years older than that at the beginning. He wants to surpass Saya. In Saya’s point of view, he’s a kid who suddenly grew much taller than her and turned into a good-looking older brother. Saya had mixed feelings about it and of Haji’s complicated gaze. They made him 3 years older than Saya to give him a much maturer position. As for his name, there are no other Romanian name that clicked. The word Haji has a surprisingly goo sound. A nickname-like word, close to Saya.

Haji’s Love

At first, Haji sees Saya as a close older sister. But sometimes sees his mother’s image in her. However, to bring out their awkwardness, they made them fight over trivial things and for them to also open up to each other. The director originally wanted them to just be a family than a romantic bond, like a older sister-younger brother vibe. But the producers sees the potential romantic relationship. Though they think that Saya doesn’t really Haji as a man. Haji gradually developed romantic feelings for her. But feared that if he confessed, their relationship will fall apart. The fact that he is holding back is what makes Haji so adorable. Haji’s expression of love is probably the most essential part. As he gets to know Saya, the more he gets shaken but it is his strength to control it. However, from a romantic point of view, both are very clumsy lovers. It’s hard to watch.

Haji is the most happy when he’s with Saya. If she wants him close, he is there. If she wants him away, he’ll watch from a distance. His aesthetic is to match Saya. Haji doesn’t ask for anything for himself, he takes great joy in giving or when she’s happy. He is smart, or rather, has the tendency to look at things very objectively. He looks at things from a distance which is why he can see everything around him. That’s why he thinks George is an amazing person because he was able to make Saya happy and that’s why he thought it is the right place for Saya.

The Fate of Saya, The Fate of Haji.

Everyone’s asking the director to make Haji happy but he often contemplated on what really makes Haji happy. For Haji, he believes that he only exist in the past. They hope that Haji’s longing to open up a future with Saya will be fulfilled. Haji’s wish is to free Saya from all the battles in whatever way she wants and that will make him really happy. Saya’s fate is always tied to something like that and Haji just want her free. Saya has lived her whole life wanting to be free and Haji’s putting all his energy to fulfill it. To Haji, it never mattered what he wants even if he’ll never have the kind of relationship he wants with Saya. Even if he’ll have to ‘fulfill his promise’ to Saya, he’ll be happy to do so. Though if Haji loses Saya, he wouldn’t be able to survive.

What change Haji is that he saw the Saya with the Miyagusuku family in Okinawa. He saw Saya smile. If he didn’t saw that, he would have continued that dark path of the promise. But somewhere in Haji’s mind, he saw a different path which Saya didn’t know. Haji didn’t mind to take that path even if he’ll die just to make Saya happy.

Haji is the star actor of the show. He paved the way til the end. He became the foundation of Blood Plus. Haji was the difference between Blood+ and Blood: The Last Vampire movie.

Watch out for Part 2! (Yall can correct me with other translations!)

#blood+#blood plus #bloodplus #blood plus haji #saya otonashi #please give blood plus lots of love #hajisaya #saya x haji #production i.g

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wantednuzlocke · 3 days ago

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Alright, wow a whopping 100% of y'all voted to see some retrospectives on my Orre Nuzlocke Comic so alright. Let's do this. Kicking off with the prologue.

Meta Stuff

So first of all, I am not one of the OG fans of Game Cube Pokémon games. I actually missed out on that timeline, mainly due to not owning a Game Cube. That said, the ads from back then hadn't gone unnoticed by child me. And I was obsessed with the idea that there was a 3D pokémon adventure game out there and I never got to play it.

Through a freaky chain of coincidences I eventually got a Game Cube by complete chance at a random thrift store I visited on a whim. And by the time I got my hands on a copy of Pokémon Colosseum, I had already dipped my toes quite a bit into comic making, though mainly through a different type of community that wasn't Pokémon related.

Despite my extreme curiosity about the game as a kid, I never actually looked up let's plays or walkthroughs of any kind to sate it. So it was going to be a whole blind experience for me. And my dumb ass figured I could make a nuzlocke out of it to spice things up.

So... Yeah... I dove in blind... I recorded it as well in case I would make an impulse decision to make a comic out of it. And I sure as hell took the impulse. But this was a comic before the current Wanted! was in the works. This one was actually an uncolored long-form comic. And the entire prologue was compressed into a singular page.

This run was going to be a lot more silly, and also a lot less labor intensive. I usually didn't go with coloring as it meant I would have to draw backgrounds... You might see what I mean once I get to the retrospectives of other chapters.

Game Talk

In order to better work with the source material I did some research and paid close attention to dialogue... Except, since we're just talking prologue here, there isn't really much dialogue to begin with. But there sure as hell is a whole lot of action.

The cutscene starts off with a semi-upbeat kind of music in the background as we pan over the deserts, until we hit the Snagem Hideout, where the music immediately turns sour. Like, clearly these guys we're seeing right now are not good people. And then BOOM the base blows up. Enter the protagonist going over to steal a snag machine before making a run for it on his motorcycle with his two dogs. He then presses a button to make the base blow up a SECOND TIME.

Plot Planning and Comic development

I think based on the first version of Wanted! it seems I originally hadn't planned for Yume to be part of Team Snagem, but actually just went in and went ahead to steal the snag machine.

Definitely one trend I stuck to was both versions of Wanted! have only one explosion in it. Which has mainly to do with the fact that I kind of prefer subtlety. And... Considering Wes is technically a Team Snagem member. He deadass could've just walked in casually and taken the snag machine without anyone batting an eye and THEN blow up the base, since it was remote controlled anyway. But no, he had to immediately alert everyone of the fact that he was going to backstab them by blowing up the base TWICE. But this is my comic. In which I replaced Wes with my own OC, so I could handle the plot MY WAY.

Tbh I feel like a lot of the games events were in many ways progressing the plot through... Well... Your enemies being conveniently incompetent at their jobs. And the moment I had started digging through the details after the fact in my recordings... Well... I figured a fun way to tackle this nuzlocke was to have a OC protagonist pointing out the stupidity whenever it occurred.

Like yes, one of her personality traits is that she can't help but point out the flaws in others vocally when they do make mistakes she feels are stupid. Though she also knows it often falls upon deaf ears. So she's just kinda given up at this point and more often than not, with how much Orre is in shambles, the mistakes don't matter either. No one is going to stop these criminals from doing their thing. Even if they made stupid mistakes. And nobody learns when there are no consequences.

Also, looking back at the prologue, I had NO IDEA how TINY the Team Snagem crew actually was. I pictured it as a pretty big criminal organization, just like Cipher was. But turns out it's literally just 6 guys, and Gonzap. And here I was, painstakingly making unique designs, expecting to not have to reuse the same ones too often. But by some freak-miracle I drew like 6 designs in the prologue anyway, so... I guess... Everyone was there... Save for one particular individual, but we'll talk about him some other time. ówo;;

And now you're probably thinking: "Hey Yume, why did you reboot Wanted! from the beginning?". Good question, the harddisk of my computer with all my gameplay footage on it died. Along with the notes I had. So there was no reference material left to continue the comic and I basically would've had to start over. And I also hadn't touched my original save file in so long it wasn't actually motivating to continue playing with it. So I shut down the file somewhere around the Cipher Lab and started over from the beginning.

I know this still technically doesn't answer the question of why I didn't just continue with the comic but using the new game file details, as all there really was was the start of Phenac City and not much else. But long story short, I had been rolling into Original Character Tournamentss for a while and been hitting a comic burnout. Specifically on the fact that I made a lot of hastily drawn, low visual quality comics. Rolling out 20 to 30 comic pages on a 2 month deadline schedule for the past few years was getting to me in a way that made me think comic making isn't something I liked doing. I wasn't entirely happy with the work I delivered as it often had to be compressed with how many details I work out in scripting phase, and there was barely any time to really make things look nice.

So Wanted! was basically going to be my "take it easy and release when it's done, no need to compress plot let's go do everything I always wanted to do with a comic." kind of cooling down project. No schedules, No stress, just taking time to draw well. So i figured the best way to start out was to make a clean slate. I managed to draw a whopping... two pages. Before completely losing steam and passion for the project. Page three had been sitting in my files half-finished for almost a whole year. Part of that was me just not looking forward to pouring the amount of effort I initially put into it. Part of it was the fact that the file was sitting on my obnoxiously slow laptop, while I generally had a desktop on hand for drawing. And for the longest time I couldn't be arsed to transfer the file through the cloud so I could work on it on my desktop. So basically, if you were surprised by the sudden drop in quality after the first two pages into the third one... Here is your answer to what the heck happened. ~

Additionally I was invited by someone else to team up with them for another OCT. Which made me drop all my personal projects so I could focus on that instead. Around that point I had expected that project would eventually just perish like all my other comic projects did.

But when my laptop was on its very last legs, I transferred the entire storage of that laptop onto my main computer, and the brainworms were gnawing at me again to continue my work. I had the gameplay notes to start with, I had all the recordings from that second nuzlocke playthrough. And the push to give it one last shot sent me back into trying again, but this time, more focus on plot, less focus on making it look perfect. Using a generous deadline schedule to at least have a steady flow of pages and enough fire under my ass to keep me going. And before I knew it, the prologue was completed and released. And even though I went on a vacation shortly after that prologue, I actually came back to work on it and since then never had a hiatus again.

But yeah other than that. I hadn't played the post game for Pokémon Colosseum at this time yet. And finding source material on this online is uh... Quite a challenge. So I had no hecking clue what the original snag machines before the one Wes wore looked like. So I just kinda imagined this giant factory machine that uses a massive generator for power, and basically mass-produced snag balls for Team Snagem to use. But turns out the original snag machine literally was a vending machine on wheels with arms. What the fuck? XD

All things considered, it's a miracle I even managed to work on this comic at all. Considering this was also the window of time in which I rolled into the Final Fantasy 14 rabbit hole, and that game had me in a death-grip. But at the time I was in a community that focused on getting comic stuff done daily, by spending at least 30 minutes daily to work on anything comic related. And it really helped me keep a routine and not fall too deep in the FFXIV addiction at the time.

That's all I got for this retrospective on the prologue. Until next time owo/

#Not comic #Retrospective #Prologue #pokémon colosseum

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