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legacy-by-darkryuu · 2 years ago

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Remaster: Step Toward the Future, Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Capitalistic

Also available on Archive of Our Own

Rating: M/Adult

Warning: Sexual content

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Yagami Koji would never go as far to say he didn’t believe in higher powers, he merely…doubted their existence. There was a lot of wrong in the world. He smiled, petrified, as Popuri was stretched out on the couch adjacent to him, reading a magazine and humming along to the music. They’d ‘caught up’ comfortably when Jill was here but Jill and Cliff decided they would go get Chinese. Jill must have deemed him…cozy enough with this situation. No. No, for now, he was actually questioning his doubt as something had placed this whole lot of right in front of him. When he’d already tapped his anxiety down outside after… remeeting his childhood fiancée, he came in and found…a fucking masterpiece sitting on the couch. Koji tried to look anywhere but her but that seemed disrespectful to pure art. She was fucking gorgeous. He was breathless when he just saw her face and then he comes in here with her just wearing a black strappy dress with stockings. The curves. The…God, the curves. And there was not a word created yet he could use for her chest that was appropriate for their magnificence. He tried to shrink away into his music to get his mind straight by listening to a little Toxicity but she asked if he was willing to listen to it on Jill’s system, she hadn’t gotten to hear it since the radio signal got too weak here. Sweet mother of mercy. This. This was why Jill never told him. She was like the answer to his entire life and he’d asked her to marry him thirteen years ago. He knew. Chill, Koji. This…was not a signal, just a wild coincidence. Hell, she probably had a boyfriend! “So, uh, Popuri, these two ‘lovebirds’ are hot and heavy. Um, you getting hitched or anything any time soon?” Popuri snickered, “No way, I’d never date anyone from around here. I guess I should be looking for someone, huh?” Oh. “O-Oh no, being single is great. Wish my sister had taken that route.” With a laugh, Popuri shook her head, “C’mon, Cliff isn’t that bad.” Koji made a face, raising a brow, “…Popuri: have you noticed a drinking habit?” Her scarlet eyes looked up from the magazine, unreadable for a second before she sighed, “…I mean, a little.” Great. “But I think it’s just a mild one. He doesn’t work so--” “I beg the hell your pardon?” Now Popuri was looking away, smiling nervously, as he sat up straighter, incredulous. “What do you mean he doesn’t have a job?! You mean to tell me my sister wakes up every morning to tend a farm and all he does is play Chef Boyardee?” “Well, they work well together though!” “Only one of them is working!” Dear God, he was already arguing with her like they were together, he hadn’t seen her in thirteen years! Popuri rolled her eyes around, “So, if you were with someone, and they didn’t want to work, would you be cool with it because it’s cool for a woman not to work?” “I’mma be honest with you, Popuri: having watched my mother do 36 hour murder shifts doing something she loves for a majority of my life, I probably would not. As long as we’ve dissolved into a capitalistic world, we’re both working until we’re not both working.” Popuri smirked, “Well, I guess it’s good you’re not sexist, just committed to our terrible money system.” “Not committed…trapped.” She smiled and he wished he could figure out what made him so uncharacteristically shy in this situation. If it’d been anyone else, he’d be flirting and making his intentions known. …That was because he was here to figure out what to do next, not have intentions! “I do get what you’re saying, Koji. Just, I’m sure Jill has also asked, but can I ask you not to be too hard on him yet?” …Meh. “Fine, whatever…” His eyes narrowed when the door opened and the ‘happy couple’ entered with bags of Chinese food and apparently beer. Jill was all smiles and he guessed that was enough. “Nii-san, I got you some Heineken.” “Thank you, princess. You didn’t have to do that though.” “Well, we were already in that aisle at the grocery store.” Oh really? Before he could talk himself out of remarking on that, Popuri stood up from, uh, her couch and sat beside him apparently so Cliff and Jill could sit together. Koji swallowed as Jill handed him Hunan chicken. Popuri thanked her as she got a container of Kung Pao Shrimp. He raised a brow when Jill retrieved a cold glass from the freezer and set the Heineken beside him. Cliff also had a Budweiser…so maybe that’s why Jill, who was notoriously against drinking, had frozen glasses, huh? Of course, she and Popuri popped open some wine coolers and were chattering. Relax, Koji, baby sister was…growing up.

Sighing wistfully, he ate his food as Jill turned on a movie. Apparently, this was a tradition of theirs and now it was looking like a double date. Yep, coming to Mineral Town was becoming a very bad idea. Sneaking a look when Popuri laughed at something in Spider-Man, Koji swallowed and rested his cheek in his hand as she leaned on the arm. He looked to Jill and Cliff next, instantly aggravated to find the two snuggled up under a blanket.

Yea…a very bad idea.

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“It’s crazy you remember where I live too, Koji.” Yagami Koji blew into his hands, snickering, as they walked toward the chicken farm. Popuri seemed to realize his crazy memory because he was a trifle bit ahead of her. “I remember a lot of things.” It got late and though Jill offered to let Popuri stay there, she advised she had to get home so she could wake up early to feed the chickens and collect the eggs. “Rick refuses to do it in the cold.” Ugh, what the hell was with these guys? At least take turns. Even though it wasn’t THAT late, he offered to walk her home. Jill gave him a questioning look. What? He wanted to. When Koji was ten years old, though he didn’t recall what exactly made his mother want to do it, she sent him off to stay with his grandfather here. He’d met the man when he was five once but other than that, he’d not talked to him since. Koji went since his mom requested but he’d been wary. Alas, when he arrived, he was easily encompassed by the nature and the farm. His great-grandpa was actually super kind and, even though that was only Koji’s second time meeting him, he felt like he’d known him forever. The man taught him to ride horses and milk cows. It…was great. It was funny, he’d had a conversation with his dad prior to leaving and for some reason they’d been discussing his future significant other. A weird conversation to have with a ten-year-old but his father seemed to have early insight that Koji wasn’t going to be GREAT at relationships…young him hadn’t thought much more about it. Until he met her. Popuri looked somewhat like Lyla, his neighbor and older brother, Shin’s, best friend at the time. With some digging, he realized they were related. He always thought Lyla was pretty but in a more familial way. Popuri though… “Thank you, Koji. You said you’ll be sticking around for a while?” current Popuri said, standing outside of the house. Out of the corner of Koji’s eye, he saw a blind quickly close. Raising a brow, he nodded, “Yea, I got some thinking to do.” She nodded, opening the gate, “Well, maybe we can go up to the plateau one day. It’s still just as pretty.” … “Yea, I’d like that.” “Be safe going back” she warned. “I will. Good night.” “Good night.” Watching her go inside, he let out a breath and headed back to the farm. Popuri met every bit of fancy he had as a young man. She rode bikes with him, played baseball with him, swam in the stream with him, and caught fireflies with him. He used to make her flower crowns and she’d play with his hair. They kissed once. In his young life, he thought she was just so interesting. Koji groaned. Looks like he hadn’t grown up that much.

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Izumi Cliff licked the corner of his lips, his eyes shut as Jill’s mouth worked up and down his shaft. Fuck. Lying in their bed, he forced himself to look down at her bobbing head. She’d pulled her hair back in a ponytail and was…really working. He…was really lucky. And if he kept this up, he was going to be killed. Granted, while he wasn’t certain why he thought Jill would tell her brother ‘no, you can’t stay here’, he’d been shocked when she allowed it. Cliff thought they had a good thing going where her brother wasn’t here to hear him bust one.

However, however, he had to say that, for the most part, Koji did keep to himself. He’d come eat with them sometimes but otherwise, he’d go out around noon and come back in around six. Cliff wondered what a renown partier was finding to do around here. Jill smirked, “You noticed Popuri isn’t coming around a lot now, right?” Popuri? Like… “It’s a long story.” They had seemed very cozy with one another right off the bat. And Cliff was starting to get cozy with the circumstances. Until he started to…notice some things. First, he didn’t realize it but, even though Koji was up until crazy times of the morning, sometimes three when Cliff heard the night owl stop roaming, he got up with Jill to help her with the farm. Now, with the additional help, Jill was sometimes coming back in before Cliff had even started on breakfast. Thus, big brother started making breakfast too. Koji apparently also worked remotely for some place back at his old alma mater, admitting it wasn’t good pay but it was some pay. And, thus, he was now buying groceries for the house. This. This was what his girlfriend was used to: someone that helped. That conversation they had when Koji arrived had him aggravated. It was basically her telling him he wasn’t doing enough. It hurt but, well, if this was what she was used to then hell yea, he was doing under the bare minimum. Money. Money ran the world and if he could start to provide that then he was doing all he could. He moaned as he came, jerking from her mouth. So…he was going to be seriously going to someone with his tail between his legs but he had an idea. “I…do want to try swallowing, Cliff” Jill sat up, pouting. He smiled a bit wickedly, rubbing her thigh, “You shouldn’t say kinky things like that, ‘princess’, big brother might hear.” Jill groaned, rolling her eyes, “He’s out somewhere, last I checked.” “Your brother’s like a ghost, Jill, he could be hanging out in the corner next we look.” Sulking, she stood and went to her adjoining bathroom to rinse her mouth, “That is my beloved big bubby, y’know? I expect you to get along with him.” Cliff wandered in to wash up, shrugging, “…Well, he’s talking to me a little bit.” “For Koji, that’s an accomplishment” she smirked. Kissing her after he clothed himself, Cliff stroked her hair back, “I’ll make lasagna tonight, okay? I’m going to run out and do some errands.” A strange look crossed her face but she smiled, “Okay…I’ll probably just chill here and scribble or something.” He nodded and headed out into the December cold. Of all people, but…he just needed a little something.

Cliff wandered toward the winery, nervous. He’d asked Karen if there was a chance he could work at the grocery store. She assured that her dad made just enough to keep her employed and paid her crumbs. Doug said about the same, that he was just breaking even. The library was all volunteer and he knew for damn sure he wasn’t a blacksmith. This…was pretty much it. Thing was, Duke, the owner of the winery, hated his guts. Guess all those pranks did finally catch up to him. Still, he needed to try. He swallowed and nodded to assure himself, opening the door and entering the store that sold only wine. Duke’s wife, Manna, looked up and smiled, looking a little forced. “Oh, hello…Cliff.”

“Um, hello, ma’am” he greeted politely, “I’m sorry to trouble you.” “One of our best customers? Of course not. What will it be today?” “O-Oh no, I--”

“Manna, will you call that damn daughter of yours? To think we’d have a child selfish enough to leave when I’m old and gray and too old to be doing all this work alone!” snapped Duke, stumbling in.

Cliff’s eyes widened at the man who stared at him before glowering. “And what do you want?!” …Normally he dealt with Manna when he came here. “I…uh…” “Speak up!” “Sir, it sounds like you could use some help around here. I, uh, I know I may cause you a lot of useless trouble now and then, but I would really like to request work” Cliff said, hardly breathing. “What?!” “Now Duke…” said Manna slowly before staring Cliff over, “He is young and…full of energy.”

“And a pain in the ass!” Great. “I’m—I’m sorry, you’re right. All the trouble I’ve caused you and to come back and ask for work, it’s silly of me. I’ll just be going.” “Wait, wait” interrupted Manna, a curious look on her face like when she got a piece of gossip, “Why suddenly do you need work? Your little girlfriend is from a well-off family and that farmhouse is theirs. And you seemed happy just, um…” “Freeloading” grunted Duke. Cliff stifled his glower and swallowed, “I, uh, I want to support myself and Jill. I want to not be such a burden to her. Her brother has been staying with us and…and he’s taken stress off of her just sharing the burden. When he leaves, I want to be able to do the same.”

Duke raised a brow before scoffing. Manna gasped, hitting his arm, “Duke! He’s sincere! And devoted! I miss those days!” “What?! Now see--” Duke started.

“A man wanting to help take care of the love of his life, reforming and humbling in order to take care of someone you care for? It’s truly inspiring to see a youth like that! Jill’s a lucky girl! The farms making plenty of money but you don’t want to be a dead weight to her, of course! How wonderful! Men are so useless these days!” Cliff just stared at her, wide-eyed, nodding slowly as Manna just babbling on and on… “Manna…” grumbled Duke, irritated. “I say we let him work!” she finally finished. “What?! Are you crazy?!” demanded Duke. “Oh Duke, I’m sure he’ll work to his fullest for you! Won’t you?” questioned Manna. “Of course. Just give me one chance to prove myself and I’ll be the best worker possible” Cliff said seriously.

Duke glared at him hotly. Manna leered, “Oh, c’mon Duke, take a risk for once in your life” “…Gah, fine! But if this comes back to bite me, I swear--” Cliff bowed heavily, honestly a little surprised. “It won’t, I promise!”

Duke stared at him, shocked, “S-stop that, idiot. You can start the day after tomorrow. 10 am sharp. Not a second later!”

“You got it! 10 pm!” Cliff said, cheerful as he ran out.

“AM!!” Picking grapes, putting them in the processor…it was manual labor but it wouldn’t—or shouldn’t be the most extensive job he’d ever had. …This would work.

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Yamachi Popuri remembered when she first met Yagami Koji. She also remembered when Yamachi Rod, her father, left their family.

She recalled giggling happily when her father threw her in the air for the last time, kissing her cheek and whispering in her ear that he loved her. He sat her on the ground and turned to Rick, pat his head and told him to take care of the farm and, especially, his little sister and mother. Rod turned to their mother last, pulled her close and whispered to her that she’d finally be well and that everything would be okay. Popuri didn’t know then. She didn’t know what his leaving meant.

After about a year, there was no sign of her father. He seldom called and when he did, he assured his ‘trail was warm’. She recalled sitting by the window, transfixed, praying softly that her father would turn around that corner, returning to them. Her mama, Lillia, would weakly come down the steps and ask what she’s doing. Waiting for daddy, of course. She wanted to show him she lost her last tooth.

Her mother smiled and said he’d probably like that. Maybe? She’d never know, she grew it back in and there was no sign of him.

She’d told herself back then to stay optimistic, that her daddy wouldn’t want her to be sad. She remembered days when her mother wasn’t even able to get out of bed so she would bring her flowers. On one of those fateful days, she recalled getting knocked face forward, right on top of her flowers. She remembered laughter and looking back to find Rick and some of his friends. It hadn’t been Rick but one of his asshole companions that pushed her for no reason. Her older brother let them heckle her. She remembered their words, how nothing was going to make her mother better and that her father left because he couldn’t take it anymore. She belted one of them in the jaw because her brother didn’t stop their words. No, Rick didn’t. Jill’s brother did.

Yagami Koji was the prettiest child. He had silky brown hair and bewitching dark eyes even back then. She supposed because of their mother, he dressed like no other ten-year-old she’d ever met. Koji had just kind of sauntered up with his hands in his pockets, looking bored. He questioned what was going on and she told him about the flowers, about how they were for her mother, and those jerks had ruined them. He offered to pick more with her. For whatever reason, this made them address Koji as a ‘sissy’ and ‘she was wasting her time’. Koji was nonplussed and advised it was no less a waste of time than picking on someone trying to be nice. She’d always remember them saying like a comic book character ‘All-all of us together could clobber you!’ and Koji’s dark little smile with the retort ‘I’d like to see you try’. They made excuses and scattered after that. Koji kept his promise to help her pick new flowers and even made her a crown ‘like a goddess’. Childishly, she corrected him to what her daddy always said, that she was a princess. He laughed.

When Popuri had returned home with a huge bouquet, she’d discovered Rick had ratted her out for talking to strangers. She pouted and told her mother he was the nicest stranger she’d ever met and Lillia sighed, giving her a bit of a lecture before smiling at the girl, thanking her for the flowers. She’d asked about Popuri’s crown of daisies and she told her that Koji had made it for her. Her mom smiled when she said she was going to make cookies for him. She found Koji the next day and gave him the cookies. From then forward, they’d been inseparable. Koji told her about how he was from the city where they’d lived in a mansion. He told her about his doctor father and mother who occasionally designed dresses. ‘Remember Yagada. Mama’s gonna make it big one day’, he’d beamed. Admittedly, she hadn’t been used to that, a mother…working. It was mostly because, for as long as she could remember, her mother hadn’t. Surely she’d seen other women working but Koji’s mother sounded like she was on a different level. She’d actually said that to him then too and he had made a face. Not much had changed. For that time, Popuri completely forgot about her father’s absence, spending every waking second with her new companion. There had been times when his grandfather told her that he couldn’t come out and she’d go home, disappointed, but he’d come out moments later, smiling at her. She noticed on those days that he was extremely pale and tired, having to take rests every few minutes on their mountain visits. It was Jill that advised her this year that Koji had always had immunity issues but didn’t like to make them a big deal. Apparently, that was just how he was…

He’d listened to her better than anyone else and played with her, no matter how silly the game. She told him where her castle was to be and he’d smile. One day, she remembered how he lied in the sweet grass and flowers, closing his eyes. He’d been sick then too. Lying beside him, she had idly put flowers in his hair to make him feel better. She teased that he was a prince now with his crown of daisies. He had smirked, “I doubt it.” On another memorable day, they had been having a picnic on the same plateau where they met. There was a slight nip in the mountain air and she remembered thinking how summer was almost over and Koji would be leaving her too, just like…

It upset her enough that she tried to leave but Koji asked her what she thought of him. She thought very highly of Koji. And in their innocent minds, Koji asked if she’d marry him then. Popuri liked to think that if someone asked her to marry them like that again, sitting in the flowers on a picnic lunch, she’d roll her eyes at the cheesiness of it. Honestly though? She probably would melt. In her more pragmatic youth, she pointed out the flaws with this plan, most of them dealing with their age. Koji promised he would return when it was the right time. He asked if he could give her a kiss. She agreed.

The day Koji left was when he gave her this beautiful real silver necklace. He was actually very, very sick that day which was why he was going back home. His grandfather had allowed her to come in to say her good byes and Koji weakly said that was just for now. It was such a sweet thing, from his devotion to the fact he gave her half a heart necklace and kept the other. As she aged, she wondered if he thought about her, about that summer of gullibility. About…how promises didn’t mean much at the end of the day “Popuri?” She looked up from the windows of one of the small shops, having been staring at Christmas decorations, and smiled some as Koji appeared. He wore mostly black now, wearing a leather coat, a dark scarf, and dark jeans. Even the cigarettes he smoked were black. She guessed they both lost something with age. “Hi, Koji. What’s got you out here?” “Nothing, wanted to grab lunch and heard this Inn place has good food.” Popuri tilted her head, “Oh, Cliff and Jill didn’t cook?” His dark eyes creased some and she had to try not to laugh because she already knew. “I immediately vacated the premises as it is snowing and they used the extra time to…preoccupy themselves, apparently.” “Now, Mr. Yagami-san, I’ve heard about your wily ways. Did you believe your baby sister to be above such?” Popuri said coyly, folding her hands as she started to walk away. Koji snorted, following, “…Well, kind of. And what ‘wily ways’? I’ll have you know I am an innocent virgin.” “Uh huh.” Starting to fall into pace beside her as she headed for the grocery, he rubbed his hands, “So, uh, you busy? Care to grab lunch with me?” Oh. “Well, um…sure. That’d be nice.” “You don’t have to. I know you’re probably busy.” Not at all. “No, lunch would be good. I just know a place other than Doug’s…” “Oh really? I’d take it” he nodded. “It’s a little up the mountains” she warned. Koji seemed nonplussed. “Just like old times.” Popuri blushed a bit but walked with him past the old church and down the lane. He looked off to the side for a moment at a blank space of land, frowning, “…This place has tons of space, Popuri. Like, tons. They never wanted to…grow?” Thinking about it, she shrugged, “Guess not. Progress gets missed around here.” “Hmm.” He was so tall. Back when they were ten, they were the same height. Now he was at least seven, eight inches taller than her. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Koji cleared his throat, “So, uh, your dad really never…got back here, huh?” “No.” “I mean, does he call?” Popuri pursed her lips as they walked up the stone walkway, “…If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not talk about it.” “Ah, I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean--” “I know” she assured. She had spoken with Koji a lot about her father. He told her about his father. Apparently, their father was MIA at one point too—up until they were five. And then he properly came into their lives and stayed there. Popuri…had spent more years without her father than with. And yes, he still called, saying he wanted to get this right. Just now, Popuri wasn’t sure he’d have anything to come back to. Koji didn’t say anything else for their trek and she figured he felt bad for bringing it up. No, that’s what they would have done, once upon a time. She’d be joyful and optimistic and think her papa was just around the corner. She didn’t want him to see how far away that’d gone from her now. “Your girlfriend must miss you, you know? You need to finish your vision quest and get back to her.” He smirked some, “She might be waiting awhile. Especially since I haven’t found her yet.” Popuri smiled and pointed to an old ryokan, “We’ll leave that as lunch chat. That’s the Saioji Inn, they serve really good potstickers.” After they were greeted and seated, Koji removed his coat while she was lost in thought. So little had changed, hadn’t it? The whole…town. Jill really was the most recent change aside from Cliff and Kai. And just…her having lost so much faith. “Mm, I haven’t had a good pork bun in a while.” Popuri looked to him, about to confirm they were delicious, when she paused. Jill told her that her brother was a playboy. Like, he slept around frequently. It sounded like he would have scoffed at monogamy or even romance. When they reunited, she showed him the necklace and he seemed awkward about it. She assumed he found it foolish. Except…

His was nestled around his neck, the same sort of wear she had on hers like perhaps he hadn’t just randomly dug it out of a box recently. Her heart sped up a bit as he opened his menu to the next page, “What do you recommend though?” “Huh? Oh! Um, no, the pork buns are delicious. And their spring rolls too.” Picking up her menu to hide her face, she flushed. Stop being…childish, Popuri. He…he probably had just dug it up, was wearing it for no reason. Don’t…don’t be fooled by innocent promises. Not again.

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Duke had always been disdainful of the blond boy who’d arrived in town about two years ago. He was nothing but trouble from the start, his most egregious crime including sneaking into his cellars and drinking his wine. Sometimes he’d steal Duke’s grapes and gave them to townspeople, saying they were gifts from Duke himself. He was a criminal and the boy didn’t have a hard-working bone in his body. Or so he thought.

He watched from afar, leaning against the door of the small greenhouse, as Cliff picked grapes rapidly, his forehead drenched with sweat. Cliff had managed to pick nearly twenty baskets full to the brim of grapes. Duke raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. So that girl turned the boy around, huh? What a miracle. Funny what a good lay would do. There might be hope for him yet. “Cliff” sang Manna, coming into the greenhouse, “I brought a snack for you!” Cliff stopped, wiping his brow with his hand, and smiled, “I’m fine…” “Ugh, I can’t have you out here, slaving away, without having something to eat! Here’s a sandwich…and you finish it!” Cliff nodded gratefully and ate the sandwich, apparently famished as he demolished it in no time. He glanced at his watch and frowned. It was already seven in the evening. “Well, I guess I can continue…”

“No, no. It’s far too late. Go home and rest” smiled Manna happily. Cliff glanced at her before glancing at Duke. The man grunted, “You did a good share of work today. You can go home.” Cliff didn’t move, however, and Duke growled, “I said--”

“O-Oh no, but…um…the…job?” Duke’s eyes widened before he glared off to the side before saying silently, “If, and only if, you do the same quality of work you did today every day without slacking, will I give you the job.” A wide grin of excitement crossed Cliff’s face and he bowed happily, “Thank you.”

Duke grunted, still hoping he wasn’t making a mistake. Manna giggled and pulled out her coin purse.

“Here’s some money for your trouble, dear. We’ll get you set up with a better payment system soon. For now, buy something nice for Jill.”

Cliff smiled sheepishly as she handed him his payment, “Thank you both so much.” He dashed off, seeming content. Duke stared after him, seeming amazed. “The boy’s been out here for nine whole hours and he’s taking off as if he has all the energy in the world.”

“He’s a good boy and he’ll be a good worker” Manna smiled.

“Perhaps…”

“However…”

He glowered at her, wondering why there was a ‘however’ now. Duke flinched back at the dark look on Manna’s normally cheerful face. “He seems to have an underlying problem that he is managing to keep under control and from affecting his relationship. Do me a favor and don’t think to go and make it worse. Understood?” Duke nodded. Pleased, Manna headed back inside and Duke followed slowly. He only gave the workers he’d liked booze. He doubted he’d ever truly like Cliff, no matter what he ‘proved’ today. Or so he thought.

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Yagami Jill smiled as she sat beside the family Christmas tree in the Yagami home. In the beginning, when she was little, they had a small Christmas tree, something a little more like how they celebrated in Japan. Eventually, they would get bigger and bigger Christmas trees that went up toward the high ceiling. They would decorate it gleefully as children. Nowadays, it was looking a little sparse as they all instantly got distracted by something else about five ornaments in. But, well, given there were six of them, Lyla, and their mom and dad, that was probably enough. Koji and Nelly were sitting on the couch, playing with their new iPods. That was the gift their parents got them all. Their mother got them all nice sweaters and designer jeans too. Oh, and shoes. A full outfit.

While she read online about the holiday losing ‘meaning’ as the gifts grew sparse, that would probably never be the case with her gigantic family. Yes, the sort of…stress of buying all the gifts was already growing tiresome but if she ever felt something was always in high supply in her family, it was appreciation, and…well, that made it feel good still. Koji and Nelly tag-teamed to get the best laptop available so she could start writing again. Koji had noticed that she wasn’t doing that AT ALL now. ‘She’s just busy ogling her boyfriend’, he said dryly. She retorted he had still managed to get distracted and he leered at her. While she could heckle him about that, she kind of thought it was cute that he was, unbeknownst to himself, nursing a crush on Popuri. He’d even bought her a Christmas present for when they went back to Mineral Town. Jill had asked Cliff if he wanted to join them for the holiday but he was poignantly against it. ‘I haven’t celebrated since I was fifteen and I don’t think I intend to start again…’, he’d said. Okay, fine. He pleaded that she not give him a gift too. It all just made her wonder about his family life…

Okamoto Lyla gasped, her legs rested in Shin’s lap, as she played on the Gameboy Advance SP he bought her. “Oh, this IS fun, Shin!” “I told you you’d like it. It’s not just because I’m an ‘army man’” he teased, rubbing her thigh. “I still don’t know if I like that Final Fantasy Tactics as much as the Playstation one” Nelly droned. Tony yawned, sitting in the recliner and looking at television, “Dunno how you guys are playing these crap games now anyway.” “Thanks, Grandpa. We’ll go break out the Magnavox for you. And give me your iPod, I can give you our grandpa’s gramophone” Koji said sarcastically. Jill bit her lip not to laugh as Tony cut his eyes at Koji, the others snickering. “I’m just SAYING. The ones we grew up with are better.” “Don’t listen to him, he’s literally played twenty hours of Fable in one sitting” Shaun snorted, on his new laptop. Tony rolled his eyes around, “I mean, it’s one of the better ones…” Getting up, she stretched on the long chair with Tony, sipping her hot chocolate. He glanced at her, blinking, “…What? You homesick? You can always come back.” “Shaddap” she pouted. …She just wished Cliff was here too, she thought wistfully, as Shin kissed Lyla’s temple. However, she wasn’t going to force Cliff to celebrate their holidays or do anything he didn’t want to. Lately, he’d been running off somewhere from 10 to 7. It…sort of made her wonder because he wouldn’t tell he what it was. A new year. She wanted to get to know Cliff a little better. Right now, she had a lot of questions. And…some of them were about their future. She didn’t have anything in the greenhouse right now that needed to be watered and Koji offered to feed the animals since he had to run an errand early this morning. It’d been a while but she got to sleep in and that was great. However, when she went to bed late last night, Cliff had been in bed with her. When she got up, he was long gone. Where…was he going? What was he doing? Was…was this weird for her to reflect on? A boyfriend didn’t have to give her the whole story, just…

Jill smirked when there was a knock at the door and she knew who it was. Getting up, she drawled, “Koji isn’t here, Popuri.” “Excuse you, I came by to see you” Popuri joked, “That aside, I don’t make house calls for Koji, we just run into one another.” Nodding at that, Jill moved to allow her in with a smile, “I’m teasing…but at the same time, I’m not. What did he get you for Christmas?” “Oh! This really cute mug and a cell phone accessory” Popuri gushed, showing her phone where a chain with flowers hung. …Oh. “Oh, th-that’s cute.” Popuri smirked, sitting at the table, “You sound disappointed.” “Oh, just…thought he’d get you some jewelry or something.” The woman looked confused and Jill waved a hand. Her brother was adamant that ‘those days’ were behind him and he wasn’t ‘into’ Popuri. Except he couldn’t see himself gazing after her sometimes and his slight processing of how he may run into her every other day. She’d teasingly asked had he thought about whether he was going to get a job or go to grad school. He stared at her for a moment and just remarked, “…Huh.” All that aside, Jill…was a little reluctant to say she wanted the two together. There was a very weird history and, at the end of the day, her brother was usually just looking for a quick…tit for tat. As Popuri was a close friend, that wasn’t quite any sort of awkwardness she wanted. Popuri chuckled though, playing with the charm, “He got me real silver at ten years old, Jill, I guess he figured he’d done enough.” Maybe. Popuri smiled at the vase of roses on the table, folding her hands, “Are those from Cliff?” … “Uh, ha, no” Jill laughed airily, standing, “You want tea? I want tea.” “Oh, I want tea all right” Popuri snorted, “Who are these flowers from?” Jill groaned, turning on the white kettle on the stove, looking out of the window, “It’s not sordid, Popuri. When we were back at home, my brothers were discussing how they used to buy me flowers when they were thinking about me and how they hadn’t been doing a good job with it lately so Shin had flowers sent here.” “That’s so sweet! What’s wrong with that?” “They did it so I would know the difference between a guy treating me well and one that’s not. Now that I’m older, I’m not sure I like the implication that buying me things is a sign of being treated well” Jill scoffed, preparing the green tea. Crossing her fingers, Popuri looked thoughtful. “Well, no. But you said your brothers buy you flowers when they’re thinking of you?” “Yea.” “They call you when they think about you too, right?” “Yea…” Popuri smiled, “It’s not presents they’re trying to press, Jill. They’re pressing that no matter how much they have going on, somewhere, you’re always on their mind. You don’t want to be last priority to someone.” …Oh. Jill brought the kettle back over and sat, grumbling, “…Is it weird that Cliff won’t tell me where he, presumably, is working?” “What? He won’t tell you where he works?” “No” she groaned, “…And I don’t need presents from him but it would have been nice if we’d spent Christmas together. Aside from the Christmas tree part, the only other thing we’re doing in my family is eating! And I tell myself ‘well, it’s just a holiday, we should spend time together all times of the year’.” “But he’s got a mysterious job he won’t tell you about” Popuri rolled her eyes, nodding a thanks when she handed her the tea cup. Jill sighed heavily, “…There’s a lot he doesn’t tell me, Popuri. That’s probably not how it should be.” “No, not at all…” Popuri murmured. …The future…wasn’t looking great.

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When Izumi Cliff came into the house at 8:45, he was confused to find no one downstairs. In fact, the lights were off? Did Jill go to sleep early? He went to the bedroom they shared. No one… Maybe she went to dinner with her brother, he surmised, heading upstairs just to see if she happened to be hanging out with him. No…but one Yagami Koji was up here and, of all things, lifting weights and listening to music. He had been facing enough away from the door that Cliff had a window of opportunity to escape…except the man’s eyes cut toward him. Crap. “…Something wrong?” “U-Uh, no. J-Just looking for Jill” he smiled quickly. Jill would talk about how ‘sickly’ Koji was, having been that way since they were children, and that he often had ‘weak moments’. Cliff wasn’t sure when given he was currently doing repeated reps of an 150 pound weight at ease. Ready to back away and sincerely hide, Koji grunted, “She went out with Popuri to get something to eat. Come sit a spell.” Oh no. “U-Uh, that’s--” Koji’s almost black eyes narrowed and Cliff smiled, “T-that’s a good idea! Sitting!” Sitting in an old chair in the corner, Cliff smiled nervously as Koji continued the reps, the soft clang of the metal the only other sound aside from the musical metal. He was about to be killed. “U-Um--” “So, Cliff, you’re probably well aware that my beautiful baby sister is the only sister we have, correct?” Koji said flatly. “W-Well, yes--” “And you’re aware that perfection is unachievable but applied effort is appreciated, correct?” Uh oh. “Um, well…” His pale arms could probably throw Cliff into outer space. “Cliff, where the hell are you working?” “I-I don’t want to--” “I’m sorry, I didn’t word that correctly” Koji droned. Cliff yelped when Koji pushed the weights into his hands which knocked him back. Oh hell. “Cliff, where the fuck do you work? Because, otherwise, we’re going to start assuming your ass doesn’t work but you’re dipping in the redhead from the Inn.” Gawking, Cliff rapidly shook his head, “N-No, no, no! Th-That’s not true, I am working! I-I just haven’t had the heart to tell Jill yet because she’s gonna think it’s a bad idea!” “…Strip club?” “What?! No!” “Dude, there is a total of six job opportunities in this town, three of which are a bag boy, librarian, and blacksmith. What possibly could you have found that Jill would find to be a bad idea?” Ugh. “I…I’m working at the winery. We’re prepping for Spring which is a large wine buying time.” Koji raised a brow, silent for a long moment. Cliff glowered at him, “Is there a problem with that?” “…Maybe. Not necessarily. It’s a start though. My next question is why didn’t you entertain my baby sister’s request to come with her for Christmas?” “I don’t celebrate.” Crossing his arms, Koji looked at him. He felt like his entire essence was being probed and… “Well…not anymore. My…mom didn’t care for it.” Surprisingly, Koji nodded and lifted the weight off of him effortlessly. Shit, maybe he ought to start lifting weights, that was embarrassing. “I heard about your mom. Very pragmatic.” “Tuh, is that the word for it?” Cliff snorted, sitting up straighter, “…I didn’t get paid until after Christmas. I-I didn’t want the humiliation of not having a gift to present Jill without money and then for her to give me one. Next year, I will make a miraculous return to the holiday and shower her.” Koji smirked, “You want there to be a next year? Communicate.” What? “Communicate what? I’m a poor schmuck working for a guy I had to bow down to after I’ve played pranks and made his life a hell for a few years?” “I’m be going to honest with you: that sounds way better than you’re the holidayless Scrooge that will look down on her for celebrating holidays and have nothing to do with her if she does.” Cliff gawked, “Ho-How did she even come to that conclusion?!” Shrugging, Koji set the weights back on the rack he had in the corner, “We’re from a rich family, Cliff. If we take the time to celebrate Christmas, it’s not for gifts, it’s for the actual family-oriented part. We’re mostly family oriented but the holiday excuse helps.” … “…So she…just wanted me to be present” Cliff said quietly. “Bingo” Koji snickered, falling back on his bed, “But, it’s your first little hurdle, I guess, and you don’t know that about her. But you better damn well know it for future references—if there’s a future reference.” He sure hoped. Looking to Koji cautiously, he wondered why her protective brother was giving him advice on not being clueless. “…Anything else I should know?” “Work is a vital part of our capitalistic world and standard of living. Just know you have to show her somewhere in your mind she’s there.” Cliff grimaced and hugged his knees, “…I’ve been pouring over my memories from life. Y’know, when you’ve got one person painting the picture, what’s underneath might look a little different. My mom spent years making me believe that my dad’s way of living was—well, hedonistic. Wealth was sinister. Work hard and work hard forever. Money was supposed to be for providing a roof over your head and food for your belly. Nothing more. It added a really grim outlook.” Koji rolled over and pushed up the window before grabbing a black pack of cigarettes. “Probably a Wasaba thing. It takes a lot for my dad to stop and enjoy himself too. I know if he’d just rolled into being a doctor without my mom, he’d work 365, 24/7 if he could.” “But is that any way to live?” “Of course not” Koji scoffed, cupping the flame from his red Bic lighter as he inhaled, “Don’t get me wrong, wealth can lead you down a whole bunch of rabbit holes to Hell but that’s dependent on the person. I’ve seen your dad give to charities very generously. I’ve seen him front new benefits for hospitals and the needy and back new technology. Yea, maybe he does sit back and go on an island vacation sometimes but we only live once. Your mom thinking that working is the only highlight of life is miserable.” …He wondered what it was about his dad that even attracted his mom. It couldn’t be that he very suddenly became carefree, he was probably like that all along. It had to be the cheating that separated them. “Maybe she had deviated one day and thought there was more to life. Then my dad maybe ruined that.” Koji’s lip quirked, taking a puff, “I heard from Craig it was probably you enjoying life a little too much that made her angsty.” Ugh. “Fuck, that’s a high possibility too. A mother hating that her children don’t have to worry where their next meal is coming from. It’s so incomprehensible I keep heading back to my dad as the problem” Cliff scowled.

“That’s not off the table either” Koji replied. Cliff frowned at that. Maybe… “…I’m thinking you did this for Jill.” “I’ve taken care of my princess since she was a baby. A lot of what I do will be for her” Koji said solemnly. “Well, it would have been just as easy to chuck me out of the window so I will say ‘thanks’ for the advice” Cliff murmured. Koji didn’t say anything else, simply nodding and closing his eyes, occasionally taking a draw. Cliff dismissed himself, figuring the conversation was over. “Cliff.” Pausing, he looked at Koji who hadn’t moved. “…Don’t ever place yourself in a temptation and think you’re strong enough to fight it.” What? Cliff was puzzled, “Oh…okay.” Walking down the steps, musing over that, he smiled when Jill and Popuri entered, chattering. “Hey, you two.” “Oh, hey, Cliff!” Popuri greeted. Jill smiled…some. “Hi, sweetie. How was your day?” “Good…um, Jill, I-I had a chat with your brother and I realize that my…skittishness may be leading to some assumptions” Cliff drawled, twiddling his fingers. “Well…” “I…I got a job. I-I got to see first hand what you’re talking about. Koji helps you with the farm and gives you money for groceries and utilities. It helps to have two hands and makes it easier.” Jill looked surprised, “Well, I…I had guessed. Congratulations! Where at?” “That…may be where you disagree. I…I asked Duke to let me pick grapes with him.” “…Oh.” He tried not to groan at the anxious look on her face. “If…if you think it’s a bad idea, Jill-” “No, no! I-I mean, I have my concerns but it seems like you have pretty solid hours and I’m hoping he’s paying and treating you well.” For the most part. Duke still didn’t seem to trust him that much but Cliff came in on time and did his work thoroughly. It…it was tougher than he assumed it would be, mostly due to the elements and lifting, but it felt a lot less forced than it had when he was a child. At the end of the day, he felt he had the freedom to quit or leave and figure something else out. He was a breadwinner with his mom and that…that was taxing.

Jill gave him a kiss and a smile, rubbing his arm, “Let me make dinner for us. You sit and chill.” He hadn’t been around to make her breakfast in a while…Duke, at Manna’s pressuring, was going to allow Tuesday and Saturday to be his days off unless otherwise requested. Planning it over in his head, he plotted on waffles on Saturday. Hell, he…he could actually buy the groceries himself since he got paid Friday. Koji wandered down the steps after a few minutes, heckling Jill and Popuri about something as the two laughed. Jill…didn’t seem bothered, actually, coming to sit beside him while the lasagna was in the oven to talk about something other than work. When…when he was in Wasaba, that was all his mother wanted to hear about.

This…this might not be so bad.

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End Notes: Good lawd, the Toxicity era was fun. Toxicity was the second album of System of a Down, a ‘nu-metal’ band comprised of Armenian members that are highly political and still one of my absolute favorite bands. Young’ns may recognize them most for Chop Suey!, the lyrics of which sound like absolute gibberish to the untrained ear. ‘I don’t think you trust in my self-righteous suicide’. I will be seeing them in May 2023 for the Sick New World Festival in Vegas.

Final Fantasy Tactics on the Gameboy Advance/SP (the Gameboy that flipped and looks like a mini laptop) was EXCELLENCE. If you play Fire Emblem, it was like that, a turn-based JRPG. There was a version on the first Playstation that is considered one of the best of all time too.

#story of seasons fanfiction #harvest moon fanfiction #darkryuu #writing #fanfiction #step toward the future #claire x cliff #popuri x oc #story of seasons #harvest moon #bokumono #smut #tw: sex

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terramythos · 4 years ago

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TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 12 of 26

Title: A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle #1) (1968)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult, Third-Person

Rating: 8/10

Date Began: 5/6/2021

Date Finished: 5/12/2021

Ged is a talented young magician with incredible potential-- possibly greater than any before him. He sets off to join the wizarding School of Roke, and quickly surpasses all of his peers. But in an act of arrogance, Ged tries to bring back the dead to impress a rival student. He unleashes a malevolent shadow upon the world, leaving him traumatized and permanently scarred.

Soon Ged finds himself hunted by the shadow wherever he goes. None of his magic seems to work on it. Worse, he lives in fear that if the dark creature overtakes him, it will use his body as a weapon to harm others. Ged journeys from island to island in an attempt to find the solution and banish the shadow once and for all.

Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk’s flight on the empty sky.

Content warnings and some spoilers below the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Violence and death, including child death and animal death. Traumatic injury.

As a fiction writer, Ursula K. Le Guin is best known for her Earthsea series, but I haven’t read them until now. She had a big impact on my childhood via a series of picture books called Catwings (they're... about a family of cats who can fly). As an adult, I’ve grown more intrigued as I've learned about Le Guin’s philosophies, especially anticapitalism. I read her famous horror story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas last year and found it unsettling and thought-provoking. So I decided to read some of her longer works! And, of course, speculative fiction is always the way to my heart. My wonderful sister gave me the first four books of Earthsea��for the holidays last year, and I’m finally getting the chance to read them.

Overall I had a good time with A Wizard of Earthsea. It’s structured differently than a lot of fantasy novels I’ve read. While there is a big overarching plot, the individual chapters usually have their own complete story arc. It’s the type of book where you can read one chapter before bed and feel like you got a whole story; each part advances the main narrative while also providing a complete side adventure.

There’s a lot of travel in A Wizard of Earthsea due to the setting. Earthsea is a giant, possibly world-spanning archipelago, meaning there’s a ton of islands, each of which has its own way of life. The conflict naturally has Ged travel from island to island and interact with various peoples and creatures. The closest comparison I can think of is The Odyssey, and I’d be shocked if Le Guin didn’t draw inspiration from that. Both stories involve the protagonist traveling by sea and meeting a variety of characters and mythological creatures through smaller, discrete conflicts and interactions. Usually I find long travel sequences boring, but in this case they were one of my favorite parts of the book. There’s always a sense of anticipation on where Ged’s journey will take him next.

The magic system is also is pretty cool. The idea is that all parts of nature, from humans to goats to oceans, have hidden “true” names. Knowing something (or someone’s) true name gives one power over it (or them). Thus wizards use true names to manipulate nature; giving another person your true name is an act of absolute trust and devotion. However, a big theme of the book is equilibrium. One must always be aware of potential consequences when using magic. Changing the wind in one part of the world could cause a devastating storm one island over. Sort of a butterfly effect type thing.

Even though violence is one of my content warnings, I’m impressed that Le Guin largely circumvents it in the story. In many fantasy stories, a wizard/mage character uses their magic to fight and crush their foes. Not so much in this novel. While Ged clashes with various entities through the story, he usually just outsmarts them. Thus his showdown with a big, fuck-off dragon boils down to Ged guessing its true name and telling it to leave. Antagonists are usually the ones instigating violence.

One thing I found odd about the pacing of the book is it slowed down a lot in the last few chapters. There’s a big action sequence with serious consequences around the novel’s midpoint, but everything after that is slower and more reflective. On a surface reading level, I’m not sure I liked this. I’m used to stories ramping up the tension more and more until the end. However, I did like the climax itself, when Ged reveals the shadow’s true name. The central moral of the novel is that one needs to accept everything about themselves, including their past mistakes. Everyone has a dark side, which ties into the central theme of balance, and even the opening poem of the novel (which I used as the excerpt for this review). It’s a pretty universal idea, but Le Guin presents it in a thematically satisfying way.

I tagged this as a Young Adult novel because Le Guin wrote it for a teenage audience. YA didn’t exist as its own genre at the time, but A Wizard of Earthsea is a coming of age story (a staple of YA), and even has a moral message of sorts at the end. However, sometimes it’s really obvious that it’s intended for a younger audience. As I get older, I’ve noticed that YA tends to be pretty blunt about its meaning and symbolism in a way adult novels aren’t. For example, while pursuing the shadow, Ged gets lost in a mysterious fogbank. To me this was a clear callback to the first chapter, where Ged outsmarts a band of barbarians by trapping them in a fog. But Le Guin also made sure to tell me several pages later, in case I missed the parallel. I’m torn on this when reading YA. While I’m not the intended audience, I feel this approach underestimates teenagers’ ability to critically examine a text. But YA teaches many how to view things that way, so I see why authors do it. Teens aren’t a monolith, but it is interesting to see this tendency to over-explain in a novel from 50+ years ago.

A Wizard of Earthsea is surprisingly progressive in many respects. Perhaps the most obvious is race. Ged and most of the main cast are explicitly nonwhite and described as such in the text. This isn’t a huge revelation in 2021, but it’s amazing to see something like that in a mainstream fantasy novel from 1968. Apparently Le Guin struggled with publishers for a long time, as many early covers whitewashed Ged for the sake of “sales” until she gained more creative control. And the (shitty) film/TV adaptations of Earthsea are just as guilty. I went through a LOT of covers while researching this book, and even newer editions often opt for heavily stylized art, nonhuman subjects, etc. The cover I chose is from 1984, when Le Guin presumably had more influence on Ged’s portrayal. I’m interested to see how past book covers stack up when I deep dive on the other books.

However, I found the book to be not so progressive when it came to gender roles (I know, I wasn’t expecting that either). Le Guin makes it very clear that all the famous and powerful wizards/mages in Earthsea are dudes. The wizard school toward the beginning is all dudes. All the adventurers and sailors in the story are dudes. Ged himself makes some pretty sexist comments (though to be fair, that was pre-character development). There are relatively few female characters in the story, and many are either bit parts or (in one case) a seductive, power-hungry villain. Portraying sexism in a fantasy setting isn’t an inherently bad thing. Jemisin’s Dreamblood duology, which I read earlier this year, introduced stringent gender roles in order to explore the insidious nature of misogyny. But A Wizard of Earthsea doesn’t really go beneath the surface level. Yarrow is probably the most well-written female character in the story, and she only shows up in the last few chapters. Again, I’m interested to see how Le Guin handles this in later entries; the next book stars a female protagonist and Ged’s the deuteragonist.

I liked A Wizard of Earthsea overall, and I think it serves as a good introduction to both the series and a central recurring character. While I have some criticisms of the first book, I do realize it’s a relatively early work of Le Guin’s. The last novel in this series was published in 2001, so I’m interested to see how the characters and writing changed over 30+ years.

#2021 reading challenge #8/10 #taylor reads

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astoriias · 4 years ago

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{ cisgender woman, she/her } ❝ Thank god women learned to whisper / though I crave a megaphone. ❞ huh, who’s CAITRIONA BALFE? no, you’re mistaken, that’s actually ASTORIA MALFOY (NEÉ GREENGRASS). she is a 47 year old PUREBLOOD witch who is CHIEF WARLOCK OF THE WIZENGAMOT. she is known for being JUDGEMENTAL, DISHONEST, COLD, RIGID, and CALLOUS but also PRACTICAL, DRIVEN, INNOVATIVE, STEADFAST and DISCIPLINED, so that must be why she always reminds me of the song TOMORROW - MINER and BLACK LEATHER BRIEFCASES, THE CLICK OF HIGH HEELS ON TILE FLOORS, THE LINGERING TASTE OF FAIRY FLOSS, BURGUNDY NAIL POLISH, AND PEARL HAIR PINS. i hear she is aligned with NO ONE so be sure to keep an eye on her.

BIO

Cursed with a blood malediction that left her and her parents preoccupied with maintaining her health throughout early childhood, Astoria grew up without direction, without passion, and without much to do or think about other than staying alive. She did what she was told and completed what was asked of her by her parents: mostly swallowing thick potions that made her head spin and remaining in bed when all she wanted to do was tumble through the lush gardens of the Greengrass estate and scrape her knees like other children. As she grew older and defied Healers’ expectations — making it past 5, then 10, then 15 — Astoria grew weary of the half-life she’d been prescribed. At Hogwarts, she followed her sister Daphne into Slytherin because she didn’t know where else to go.

It took Astoria almost a year at Hogwarts before she would speak up in class or acknowledge anyone with more than a handful of words — and each time she did her heartbeat would quicken, her face would flush. If she was called on by a professor and — Merlin forbid — got the answer wrong, her eyes would fill with tears, her gaze would shift to the floor, and she wouldn’t be able to breathe. One day, outside her second-year Transfiguration class, an annoying boy named Colin saw her heavy breathing and told her about panic attacks — Astoria’s irrational fear of social situations and new people now made sense.

That same annoying boy became her close friend not long after. It was a month into study sessions by the Black Lake that Astoria Greengrass learned that her Colin, the boy who kept a camera slung around his neck at all times and was so nice to her, was Colin Creevey, yes, that Colin Creevey, who was petrified by a Basilisk a year prior for being MUGGLEBORN. Astoria found that didn’t bother her very much. Sure, she never advertised that they were friends and didn’t freely associate with Colin in public places, but he understood her position or in the very least, didn’t protest it. She even got him to join Herbology club — though she insisted that they enter and exit the greenhouse at different times and never spoke directly, his presence was a comforting balm.

Colin tried to get her to join up with the student resistance that was brewing in her third year — but Astoria knew she wasn’t the type to stir up such trouble. She couldn’t stand with the muggleborns and blood traitors no matter how right they were; she couldn’t risk losing her family. Unlike those in Dumbledore’s Army, Astoria didn’t see this conflict in terms of black and white, good vs. evil — there were plenty of others like her, struggling to find themselves in the midst of conflict, battling tradition and family expectations. She kept out of Umbridge’s way during that time. Kept out of her father’s way during that time — while he had no Dark Mark to speak of, his entrepreneurial hands passed cursed objects and ingredients for poisons to any Dark Lord-aligned wix who wanted them.

Through her friendship with Colin and her time in Herbology Club, Astoria learned she was a talented witch in her own right. Formed an identity outside of being the sick girl everyone doted on. Quietly realized that her muggleborn classmates — despite what her pureblood indoctrination taught her — were fully-fledged human beings. To someone who didn’t grow up feeling trapped in the (sometimes socially constructed) confines of a blood illness, perhaps her time in Herbology Club wouldn’t seem so transformative. But for Astoria, it was everything.

Nowadays, Astoria is still defying life expectancy estimations and is perhaps best known for her robust political career. She joined the Ministry as a pupil/intern in its Wizengamot Instruction in Magical Law Program (W.I.M.P.), and in the span of twenty-five years has climbed the ranks to barrister’s assistant, barrister, then Wizengamot member, and finally, the youngest Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot in the last hundred years. She is extremely opinionated about the runnings of the legislature and judiciary, and her past two years as Chief Warlock have been marked by her love for procedure, due process, and fairness -- essentially meaning trials are very thorough and very focused on making sure the Ministry doesn’t overstep its bounds.

BLOOD MALEDICTION

i’m truly on my bullshit and this needs its own section..........,,,,, i’m sorry

I originally started writing Astoria out of pure spite — it enraged and continues to enrage me that all we’re given about this woman is a few lines about her and an off-page (or off-stage, I guess, but Cursed Child is its own beast) death. It makes me mad that she is only defined by her role as a mother and wife to Scorpius and Draco, that she doesn’t get her own ambitions and a life of her own. The racist and sexist underpinnings of the blood malediction/Maledictus concept are par the course for JK but still, bad!

And while I can’t choose for Astoria to have this particular chronic illness and completely divorce it from those origins, I can at least eschew parts of it I don’t like and give a Astoria a rich and fulfilling life with a chronic/potentially terminal illness — not in spite of the blood curse, but because those of us with illnesses and disabilities are people with rich and fulfilling lives, wants, desires, and ambitions.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: I try to be really careful about ableist language when I describe this blood malediction and its effects on Astoria’s life — I think that there is so much to explore regarding chronic illness and what, exactly, we constitute as ‘health’ — but I know that I can fall into the traps of my own internalized ableism. If there are terms or concepts here that make players uncomfortable and/or have harmful effects, let me know! I’m happy to make changes.

So anyway!

— origins of the blood malediction

I don’t have this fully worked out, but I think the Greengrass blood malediction stretches back a good ten generations to a very vindictive-in-her-righteous-cause-Muggleborn-witch cursing the family for their refusal to let her marry their son. It’s not limited to just the girls in the family, because I hate that, but it does affect at least one child per generation, so long as the family continues to marry exclusively purebloods — which they have continued to do, not knowing that their bigotry (though in some cases, real love!) is the reason for the curse’s spread. Astoria’s parents mistakenly believed that since the last few cases of the curse had cropped up in different branches of the Greengrass family — distant cousins living on the Continent — that their children would be spared.

— astoria’s symptoms and treatment

Since it’s a blood curse, I figure Astoria’s symptoms manifest as issues both with her blood and with her cardiovascular system at large. I’d compare it to haemophilia. Her blood itself is thin and cannot clot without healing spells and thickening potions, meaning that nosebleeds are frequent, bruising is easy, and bad cuts can be fatal. She’s at high risk for internal bleeding in her joints, and a big — though often unvoiced fear — of hers is a brain aneurysm that ruptures into a haemorrhage.

(miscarriage tw) These symptoms have waxed and waned her entire life, with particular incidents that have brought her close to death; an accident falling from the garden wall at five, a wayward spell hitting her across the face in second-year DADA, trying for a child. She doesn’t regret that last one — not at all — though it was five weeks after her miscarriage before she was able to stand unassisted, and her Healer’s face when she said “I strongly advise you to not have any more children” haunts her to this day. Scorpius’s birth, possible due to a wonderful surrogate, was alternatively the happiest day of her life. (end miscarriage tw)

Then there come the potions — a barrage of them, to be taken at specific times of day, with extras if she’s bleeding externally or feeling pain in particular areas — that come with side effects like exhaustion, headaches, and nausea. She visits St. Mungo’s once every three months to ensure that the potions are working as intended and has learned to accept her Healers chastising her for the times she skips parts of the regimen or pushes herself too far physically.

PERSONALITY

astoria!!! my love. clearly i have a lot of thoughts and Feelings about her lol,,,,,,,

there isn’t any world or timeline in which astoria would be rushing to join the death eaters -- lol, i’ve always envisioned her being extremely inquisitive and Critical of other people, their motivations, their methods -- this makes her extremely Good at Lawyering and Suspicious of Bullshit. i also have always thought that it was important for her to make a muggleborn friend or two just to really hammer the point home that pureblood nonsense is just that.

still, again, she’s not really motivated by niceness, she doesn’t have a bleeding-heart-sense-of-empathy, she’s kind of snarky and mean. her friends describe her as an acquired taste.

has a massive sweet tooth. her family is regularly concerned she does not eat enough vegetables.

adores her son. just, absolutely thinks he can do no wrong. she and draco agree that most parents think their child is the most perfect and amazing child in the world, but scorpius actually is the most perfect and amazing child in the world, so.

a note on astoria and draco: i think draco doesn’t treat her with pity or kid gloves, and has never underestimated her capacity to get shit done in light of her blood curse. and they have an honesty and rapport with each other that astoria hasn’t been able to cultivate with anyone else. they may not be very great people but they’re great partners and great parents. i luv them ok bye

STATS

GENERAL

name. astoria céline malfoy (née greengrass)

nickname. aster (reserved for use by her sister only!)

birthdate. 1 january 1982

place of birth. greengrass residence via midwifery

family. daphne greengrass (sister), draco malfoy (husband), scorpius malfoy (son)

residence. malfoy manor, wiltshire

occupation. chief warlock of the wizengamot

gender identity. woman

romantic orientation. biromantic

sexuality. bisexual

blood status. pureblood

relationship status. married

pets. a scottish terrier named hades

HOGWARTS / MAGIC

house. slytherin

extracurriculars/leadership. herbology club

allegiance. neutral/no one

n.e.w.t. grades charms (o), transfiguration (o), herbology (o), d.a.d.a (a), potions (a), arithmancy, astronomy (o), history of magic (a), ancient runes (e).

wand. willow, nine inches, unicorn hair core

boggart. tbd

patronus. also tbd! my brain hurts

magical strengths. nonverbal casting, herbology, transfiguration, ancient runes

magical weaknesses. flying, defensive spells, domestic spells

#potterintro #////this is so long #i regret nothing

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maladaptive-ninja-returns · 5 years ago

Text

The Siren & The Healer (8)

Natasha Romanoff arc

Chapter 8: The Raven Haired Man

Platonic Natasha x fem!Reader, Loki x fem!Reader (soulmates?)

Theme: With cracks between the most powerful superheroes of the earth, Natasha Romanoff does not find rest when she is assigned on a mission to find the missing pieces of a puzzling power that once nearly got into the hands- rather, tentacles- of Hydra. In order to unearth the pieces, she must dig through her own past and make a decision that might decide the fate of the earth in the coming wars.

Series: Will contain violence, death, destruction, softness, fluff, smut, friendship, and whatnot

Chapter warnings: alcohol, dreams, shock, love, lots of PDA

A/N: This was written a few years ago with an OC in mind so reader has a name but it is a reader insert.

Word Count: Will I ever be able to find love?

MASTERLIST in bio, love

“Identification.”

“Alianovna. I’m here to see your boss.”

The six and a half feet tall muscled giant looked down at the redhead with emotionless eyes, not making an effort to move even his eyelids.

“The boss isn’t in,” he finally huffed out, eyeing you standing behind the assassin.

“Really, Krugo? Do you want to tell your boss you made her wife walk away from right outside her door?”

Natasha could feel your eyes go wide with a muted gasp barely escaping your lungs. “You are-” you tried to hold the excitement within, balancing your voice- “married. Cool! Very cool! Cool cool cool cool cool cool!”

“Boss’ wife had promised me cookies,” Krugo muttered under his breath.

Natasha smirked and you felt the need to come into full view of the bodyguard with a huge box in your hand. “This must be for you then,” you declared, opening the lid to show huge chocolate chip cookies waiting to be devoured.

Krugo watched the bounty intensely before breaking into a smile. “You never forget.”

“Of course not, Krugo,” Natasha acknowledged with a hug for the cute giant, who went ahead and opened the door for her and you to be let in.

“How do you balance your-” you flailed your hands in the air for the shortage of words for what you were experiencing- “work and personal life?”

Natasha kept walking down the dark corridor till she was at the door marked ‘Restricted entrance’, turning the knob to open it for the both of you. “It’s not that hard when you and your partner are in the same line of business,” she put it mildly before directing you to walk inside the room equipped with monitors, recorders, IR boxes and whatnot. And in the midst of it all stood a woman with her arms across the chest and her demeanour that declared she ran the goddamn place without even saying it.

“Rosa,” the assassin greeted her wife with a tone dipped in the morning dew and spread all over the skin with the utmost tenderness by the lover.

Rosa was an entire world in herself from where you stood. Her soft curls ending from the raven hair into golden brown ends framing her face perfectly. Her lips wore a mocha shade- soft and notoriously sexy at the same time- while everything else was bare. She was dressed in a black blouse over blue jeans being complimented by a black leather jacket and for the second time in one day, you were starting to question your orientation.

“Tasha,” Rosa greeted back- her heavy voice a strong declaration in itself- taking a step towards her wife, bringing her hands to settle on her waist before running up her back as she kissed her. You pretended to find a coffee mug on the table interesting to give the wives some privacy till Natasha made introductions.

“Are we adopting her?” Rosa casually spewed while opening beer bottles for the guests. Natasha burst in giggles while you stood there confused.

“I am an adult,” you stressed, “a full-blown adult, in case you didn’t notice.”

“Beer, adult?”

“No,” you shook your head, “I’d prefer something stronger with the kind of day I’ve had.”

Rosa smirked and you could see the same movements that you saw in Natasha when she first had a conversation with you. She was already studying you up and down. “I’m sorry I have to ask because curiosity is killing me. Are you a black widow too?”

Rosa took a sip of her beer while Natasha sat in her wife’s chair and looked at her with her fingers resting on her lips and other hand caressing the beer bottle in her hand- looking like a human struck with love for the very first time.

“I was,” Rosa stated, sitting down on the table, one leg dangling, “but I got out of the system early and made my way through the world till I settled here. For now. Currently, I’m a Detective and a home-made jewellery maker. What about you?”

“I’m supposed to be studying Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Networks but I’m currently at crossroads with my career decisions and have a couple of nicely suited hitmen chasing me for reason unknown. Your wife says it’s something to do with some ancient weapon that someone might have told me about. But all things ancient- especially the secrets- that I’ve been told about are either violent, racist or incredibly sexist in nature. And none of them mentions any ancient weapons to take out modern Nazis or that creepy guy who keeps calling your wife a...a...what was that word?”

“Rusalka,” Natasha helped, making Rosa’s head whip in her direction with her eyes going wide.

“I thought he was dead!” Natasha shrugged at her wife's reaction.

“Why does he keep calling you a mermaid?” you were genuinely interested in knowing the history there.

“He’s actually calling me a siren when he uses that term,” Natasha mentioned matter-of-factly. Rosa shifted from the table to a chair beside Natasha, taking her arm in her own, letting her fingers entangle slowly to rub away whatever stress she could. “He has always called me that. Ever since we were kids.”

“...because you lured enemies with songs?” You tried to guess.

“Because I was made into a weapon who would lure the enemies with the illusion of becoming what they desired the most. A damsel in distress they could dominate, an invisible records keeper they could blurt out their secrets to, a useless spy they would share their plans with because they had big egos, a lover, a widow, a victim, an object of pleasure, a friend, a keeper. It’s really not that hard to deceive men. I mean, so was every other black widow.”

Your furrowed brows took everything in for those two seconds of silence. “Yeah, the mermaid thing makes sense if every widow was a siren. Mermaids are pretty badass too. On top it a Russian Mermaid? I mean-” you ended the sentence by mimicking an explosion in the head.

Rosa chuckled. “I like her,” she muttered into Natasha’s shoulder before turning to you, “have a drink at the bar. On the house. Tell them my name. And if anyone tries to mess with you tell them they rather mind their business if they don’t want to end up like Damon. They’ll know what it means.”

“Cool!” you exclaimed before going back out into the club, leaving the two lovebirds to finally get some alone time to themselves. Rosa took the opportunity to drag Natasha into the couch with her, wrapping her in her arms and cuddling with her; showering her with kisses till she could feel her wife’s shoulders let go of the stress they had been holding throughout the day.

“Tell me what’s going on, Tasha,” she softly spoke into her ears while Natasha played with Rosa’s hair.

“Whoever Yuri is working with is after Keosha. At first, the theory was that she knows something or has something to do with the weapon Hydra is after. But I’m starting to question that after she saved me from falling debris by just placing her hands under it.”

“What?”

“Yeah! Rosa, she was making chunks of rocks float! When I asked her she said this had happened for the first time. She said she was taught this old Japanese art of healing where the force of the universe is used to heal and protect things. She said when she saw me trapped and about to be hit by the falling ceiling the force worked like an adrenaline rush and she blocked it. Well, the force blocked it. That’s what she kept saying. That she’s just a medium and the force was doing all of it.”

“Weird but okay. Go on.”

“So, Nakia went-oh, she’s-”

“I know who she is. Go on.”

Natasha raised her brows at Rosa, turning her face up a little to be caught off guard by the little peck that came on her forehead. “Nakia talked to her sources and confirmed that there is an existence of monks in Japan who practise this form of healing and are said to take on anyone as a student who is willing to learn. And often in the past, they have experienced a short surge of that...thing to protect people during floods or some catastrophic events. In comparison, what happened today was nothing.”

“Okay. So, if she’s a noob in this healing thing, she won’t be of much use as a weapon to Yuri.”

“Right?”

“Maybe her teacher or someone like that is connected to the weapons?”

“That’s what I’m thinking. The last time the weapon was nearly in Hydra’s hand was in India. Keosha grew up in India till her father moved to Japan with her. Then she was between countries and continents for a while. If they had to come all the way for her, it could mean that the weapon wasn’t that country anymore. Or the person connected to it. And Keosha seems to be the only key.”

Natasha loved the rise of Rosa’s chest when she sighed, the former burying herself in that warmth and closing her eyes. “Looks like you have your work cut out for you, shortcake,” Rosa hummed, stroking those fiery strands to put her love at ease. “Hmm,” Natasha replied, breathing in the familiar scent of cocoa coming from Rosa’s chest, “I do. But for now, I’d rather lay here in your arms.”

The club was lit in a golden glow off the walls with a dance floor separated from the bar with a decent sitting arrangement right in the middle that faced the stage for occasional performances. You enjoyed tonight’s performance by someone who went by the name Serena with a Long Island in your hand and another on its way. It was relaxing, the serenade of the sweet voice mixed with whatever incense was burning inside this place to make it smell so good. Wonder what Rosa’s looking for in such a place.

“Hey, beautiful. Can I buy you a drink?”

You had jumped at the voice being so close to you before turning around to see a man leaning on the bar, next to you, almost at the edge of invading your personal space.

“I have one, thanks,” you politely declined, going back to enjoy the performance.

“Come on, sweet cheeks,” the man continued, stepping closer this time to raise all the alarms in your body, “let’s take a corner and get to know each other a little.”

Your brows crinkled hard and turned to face him. “I’m sorry, are you hard of hearing? Or is something wrong with your sight?” The man did not know what to say so you continued. “Are you sure you can hear clearly? Because I just said no. And if that doesn’t suffice, do I look like someone who would be ready to bang the first person she sees in the club?”

The man made incoherent noises like a lost ostrich, not sure what to say. “She’s wearing a Hello Kitty t shirt with baggy jeans to a club, man. How could she not be more obvious?!”

“Yes! Thank you!” you acknowledged the other voice next to you, turning to see a middle aged man with a french goatee and shaded glasses nursing a glass of whiskey on the rocks that were raised in your direction.

“Aren’t you too young to be drinking?” the man shot his head back a little with a shade of confusion as he looked at you. You could not help but notice the expensive blue suit he wore to tell you he wasn’t some low life, unlike the other guy who made himself scarce as soon as the embarrassment hit him.

“Aren’t you too old to be wearing glasses inside a club?” you hit back, raising your glass to clink his.

“No, but seriously,” he continued after taking a sip of his whiskey, “you look too young. Hey, Marvin, did you check her ID? Did you come here alone?”

“Oh my G-”

“What! This isn’t a place for kids. Wait, are you safe? Are you in some kind of danger? Look at me. Look at me. Blink twice if you’re being used by some shady peeps for some shady businesses.”

An eye contest later- which this man lost- you finally spoke. “I’m fine. I’m here with a friend. And I am an adult. So, do you mind if I have my drink in peace?”

He raised his hands in peace and went back to his own drink.

A long satisfying sip later, something started bugging you. “Have we met before?”

“Me?” The man asked just to be sure. “You? I'm sure I would've remembered Hello Kitty."

You kept staring at him till your brain hurt. "Ugh! I swear I feel like I've seen you somewhere. But for some reason, you seem much...younger?"

The man feels his head jolt and his eyes nearly pop out. "You mean I was younger when we met? Allegedly."

"No. I mean when we met, you seemed old and...and wrinkled and definitely tired. Like dead tired."

Before he could say anything, he got caught in your eyes searching for something on his shoulder. "What."

"Is your arm okay?" You poked him over his blazer, making him smack yours away.

"Hey! My arm's okay. Don't touch me!"

"Huh...maybe it was someone else then?" You stared at his arm for a while before giving up. "You don't seem like the type to suit up in some weird funky suit anyways."

The man's back went straight as an arrow. "Okay, listen, young lady. One, no one wears and pulls off suits like me. Two, there hasn't been any mofo born who can do it like me. And three, why are we still talking?"

"Oh, I'm sitting here because you're giving off such a dad vibe that no douchebag has come over to offer me a drink. And you're sitting here because you are waiting for someone that clearly hasn't shown up yet," you concluded, popping a peanut in your mouth before taking a good sip of your Tea.

"Phone Call for you, Mr Stark." The bartender drove a metaphorical sword through the whole conversation with a wireless phone in his hand.

"Looks like you a busy man, Mr Stark. See ya later."

"Hey," the man addressed as Stark called out for you when you left your seat at the bar, "you better not be running into trouble, kid."

You guffawed, trying to hold your stomach to not barf any of the liquor you just had. "Thanks for the advice, dad, but it looks like trouble is kinda my thing now."

With that last salutation, you tried to make your way back to wherever you came from- your drunken brain trying to make sense of the passageways that appeared in front of you.

In those very passageways you tried to make sense of dreams- the ones that reluctantly came to you- and some unrelated memories that somehow always found its way to mingle with the present, no matter where you were, what you were doing; there always seemed to be ghosts of the past revolving around you, questioning your existence.

“Stark,” Your tongue repeated that name, time and again, like some forgotten flavour wanting to be revisited by your brain forcefully. Oh...only if you knew. Only if you knew.

I have to go to the loo. Where the fuck is the fucking loo?! It was a nightmare for two minutes before you finally found the door with the engravings shouting out “female” before you ran in and shut the door behind you and let the dams break as soon as the mirror showed you your sweet face.

You knew it was just the drinks but the feelings inside you poured themselves out, trying to find an outlet they could before they were shut down.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What the fuck is happening?! I never asked for this?! What the fuck is happening?! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Oh Fuck! Why am I crying? Why am I CRYING?!!”

As if to answer your prayers behind those closed eyes, you saw a green pair of eyes looking straight at you with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. “You are stronger than you give yourself credit for,” they announced in your direction, forcing you to get up and find your way. And so you did.

Turning the knob you barged into that one room you knew was safe.

“WE HAVE TO FIND MY MASTER, NAT! SHE’S IN JAPAN!”

It was one of those moments when- even though you were proud of yourself, you did not want to live anymore, thanks to the peak of drunkenness you were currently swimming in. The flush of heat in your cheek was proof enough to drive you out when you saw Natasha and Rosa busy in...having the time of their life.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry,” you nearly felt yourself cry before bowing to the host and running outside, never remembering Krugo leading you to the VVIP lounge where the Stark guy let you sleep with your head on his lap while he waited for the news on his friend and gently patted you to sleep while constantly cursing himself and calling his girlfriend to ask what to do in case of a drunken kid sleeping in his lap.

Loki woke up with a headache- a low compensation for what he had experienced right before he had been tormented into a coma.

“What happened?”

Though the question was a genuine throwback from his end, it irritated the hell out of the sisters who had tried to mend the biggest crises of their lives seconds ago.

“You hit your head and went into a coma” Nebula narrated with ease and patience fit for a storyteller of the ancient times. “Here, drink this,” she offered him some water.

Loki, reluctant to be deceived by any more mind tricks, observed the water in Nebula’s hands before being convinced it was safe to drink.

“Why are we even helping him?” Loki heard Gamora utter those words before being given a judgmental stare by her sister to quiet down and let her take the lead.

“Are you alright?” the younger one asked the God with genuine concern in those beady eyes as she wiped away the blood from the wound slowly healing in Loki’ head.

Loki did not give a convincing answer before drowning- once again- in the maze of the leftover chaotic flashbacks he was witnessing of some life unknown- something different to his own existence before he regained control of his presence; his true present.

“I’m fine,” he finally blurted out, his hands still grasping onto the metal rod in the ship that was helping him maintain his equilibrium. “Where’s the loo?”

Even though it was satisfying for the entire spaceship for the moment, it wasn’t sufficient for him. He walked with a pretentious walk towards the loo before locking the door behind him as he tried to balance his mind. His fingers was digging into his temple while he was trying to get to the root of whatever he had been witnessing- the incoherent cries, tumbling buildings, fast-paced heartbeats, chaos and whatnot till he was focused on those y/e/c eyes reflecting the cheap lights of some shady dancefloor till they were mixed in them, dancing and mingling with them right till the second a heavy voice rang in your ears. “We have to get you to a safe place.” If it weren’t for the emergency, Loki’s subconscious was sure of having already mingled with the sweet poison that was those eyes and be lost in them.

You were sure you had cried. Cried while Natasha and Rosa tried to get you out of the club and to the plane waiting for you by the edge of the city, You were pretty sure Aneka wanted to throw you out of the jet if weren’t for Natasha and Nakia holding her back, asking you to drink water after every thirty minutes.

“Where are we going?” Your teary, subconscious state asked Nakia.

“Japan,” she answered before she was content that you had ample amount of water and that Aneka was at a considerable distance from you as possible. For now.

“Who is that guy with that long, black, sexy hair?” you asked a genuinely confused Natasha.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about sweetie” were the last words you heard before slumber took over everything in this dark world.

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ofhamlcts · 5 years ago

Text

hi all!!! I’m Emily and I am absolutely thrilled to be here writing with you! I seriously cannot wait to begin plotting and writing and all of the angst we’re going to kill each other with! but for now, i’ll quit my rambling and start introducing the mess that is my child.

without further ado: larissa griffith aka hamlet

PINTEREST / APPLICATION

I do not - and will never - expect you to read my long ass, rambly application because we are all adults with lives!!! below, i’ve summarised the most important information into short(er) bullet points for your consumption! these should give you a good insight into who lar is as a character and serve as a launch pad for plotting!!!

(TW: Alcoholism and abuse)

larissa has strong roots in Britain's working class, going all the way back to the industrial revolution. traditionally miners, her entire family has a chip on their shoulder about Thatcher and that stand off with the miners, forcing them to turn abandon their traditions and livelihoods. instead, her mother was/is a careworker and her father was a factory worker.

she grew up poor - dirt poor - but her mother forbade her from knowing it. instead, she enlisted lysander to conceal the truth; a kindness on both their parts. she encouraged the pair to “make their own magic” - bus-trips to neighbouring towns to substitute for far-flung holidays, treasure hunts in charity shops instead of newly wrapped birthday treats, bargain hunting in supermarkets instead of gourmet dishes.

Lysander was at the centre of her childhood. Two years her senior, they were a two-pieced puzzle, complementary in their opposites. The boy with the bleeding heart, he was kindness personified; the first to befriend an outcast, accepting of people’s shortcomings, optimistic in his belief that the trajectory of life was up. Lysander was both best friend and brother, co-conspirator and protector.

Shit hit the fan after the 2008 financial crash. Her mother’s pay was frozen and her father was laid off. Faced with failure as a provider, husband and father - his identity eroded - he transformed into something else. He drank. A lot. At first, the drinking isn’t so bad. Between one and five glasses, he’s a joy. He sings Christmas songs in July and dances like he’ll never have the chance to again. After that comes the bits Larissa never saw. Arguments between her parents - over money, unemployment and benefits - soon grow physical. At the end of the night, her father always begs for forgiveness and promises to never drink again. Her mother always forgives him. And he always breaks his word. Lysander ensured she never knew what was going on in their house.

He protected her in other ways too. when Larissa was eleven, her father came home drunk and demanded she go with him on a father-daughter road trip. lysander intervened, first attempting to reason with him. when that fails, he orders you out. child that she was, larissa wriggled free from her father’s trip and fled to lysander’s room, where she knew she’d always be safe. hours later, Lysander pulled back the covers, his face shaded in dried blood and hastily applied bandages. come on, he urged, it’s time to go on an adventure.

Adventure turned out to be two children and one shaken mother moving into their grandparents house thirty minutes outside of Edinburgh. Determined to ensure that abuse didn’t blight their future, she insisted on both siblings sitting and passing entrance exams and scholarship interviews for the leading private school. Both she and Lysander passed. But from the very beginning, it was clear that they were different from everyone else. The other students had double-barrelled surnames and parents who were titans of industry and the creme-de-la-creme of society. Possessed by their own self-worth, they were the very embodiment of entitlement. Larissa despised them instantly, taking their existence as proof of a fundamental ill in the universe. It wasn’t fair that they had so much when she had so little, or that their families continued to be whole.

Lysander saw things differently. Fire and water, sun and moon - she had always known there were fundamental differences between the two of them, but hadn’t thought they would ever drive them apart. Whilst Larissa spurned her new school, preferring to bury her head in her work and befriend the librarians, Lysander threw himself head first into his new life, choosing to see the opportunity and kindness in his new peers. Bit by bit, the gulf between them widened - until they led separate lives. It broke her heart. Larissa didn’t know what to do with her sorrow except unleash it upon Lysander, leading to their one and only argument. She accused him of looking down upon his family and of being ashamed of them. She even used the words class traitor

Fences were only mended between the two of them on account of Larissa finding out what had really happened between her mother and her father - and realising the truth of her own past. Once she understood what Lysander had done to protect her, Larissa bit her lip and swallowed her pride; knocking on his door to apologise. From that moment forward, she swore she would do whatever she could to repay him.

More than anything else, Larissa felt guilty that she hadn’t known about her father’s true nature. Remorseful that she hadn’t helped. Whilst her family told her not to chastise herself, pointing out she had only been a child - Larissa insisted on bearing a cross and atoning for her sins. From then on, she swore to repay the kindness shown to her by her mother and Lysander and dedicate her life to protecting society’s most vulnerable, single handedly correcting the injustices she witnessed, whether they be gender, racial or class.

Larissa entered Ashcroft with her fists curled, ready to go to war and burn the establishment to the ground if that was what it took to succeed. Mind already made up, she decided that Ashcroft was like every other university - dominated by white men, more obsessed with statistics than welfare and infected with rampant sexism.

Sure enough, she got to work immediately. Unable to bite her lip, Larissa called out every slight, intentional or otherwise. Headstrong and stubborn, once she has the bit between her teeth she’s restless in her pursuit. In her two-and-a-bit years at Ashcroft, she’s prosecuted several successful campaigns. From picking apart the English literature reading list for being too colonial, calling out Lecturers on their sexist bullshit and launching a petition to force Ashcroft to divest from fossil fuel investments, no cause escapes her attention. By far, her most ambitious campaign was in her first year, once she discovered that Ashcroft’s cleaners - as agency workers - were being denied fair wages, holiday leave and sick pay. Outraged, she spearheaded a campaign to bring them ‘in-house’; the first person to arrive and the last person to leave the picket lines.

Larissa initially rejected Oberon Ashcroft’s invitation into the Imperium society. Invited after she stormed into his office and delivered a list of cleaners demands, she refused to join until he acceded to the cleaner’s demands. He did so immediately - trapping her in her own promises.

Larissa’s dislike for Octavia was no big secret. Her brother’s taste in partners has always been poor - so whilst she wasn’t surprised he went for another blonde heiress, Larissa was disappointed; knowing that it could only end in heartbreak for her brother. Girls like Octavia did not end up with boys from families like hers.

There’s no such thing as justice. That’s Larissa’s new motto; practically every other sentence out of her mouth since Lysander was arrested. Whilst her brother put - and continues to place - his father in the judicial system, she saw the writing on the wall from the beginning - suspecting that he was one small pawn in someone else’s game. There is no doubt in her mind that Lysander is innocent - nor has there ever been any.

Larissa offered to lie on the stand for Lysander; offering him the alibi that would have seen him slip the noose around his neck. He forbid her, telling her to think of her career, her freedom, her life. He didn’t know that there wasn’t a life worth living without him in it.

Besides, her life has changed beyond all recognition. Some of those changes are of her own making. Stricken by grief, she’s abandoned almost everyone and everyone who meant anything. Theresa was the first to fall by the wayside, abandoned without a moment’s thought. It’s too selfish to try to be happy whilst her brother rots. Academics go next - her grades slip letter by letter, until Headmaster Ashcroft writes sternly worded letters warning of a scholarship loss. She’s even lost interest in her causes; all injustices paling in comparison to the one committed against Lysander. In short, she’s turned against the world, half-gladly.

Coming back to Ashcroft was a bad idea, but she’ll never admit it. Her newly minted title of “sister of the murderer” is not an easy one to bear. Someone starts a rumour that she’ll be expelled from the Imperium Society. More people hope it’s true. Never apt at biting her tongue, she punches them - and half a dozen more - in the face.

Larissa has tried to convince Lysander to fight back - to launch an appeal, do an interview with the media to tell his story - to do something, anything! Every time, his answer is the same. Sadly, he shakes his head.

Octavia comes in the space between dreams and nightmares. Her beauty has been snatched from her, drained with her life force. She finds this version of Octavia an easier one to stomach. Without facade, Larissa can stare directly into her soul. How is it that dead, Octavia feels more human to her? Younger too - before her eyes, Larissa sees Octavia as she must have once been - a little girl with all the fire of life inside of her. Any hate borne towards her in life softens into pity. Catching her glancing at a photo of her and Lysander, Larissa asks the one question that will shake the universe. Did he kill you? With only half a second to consider the weight of that question - and whether she wants to hear the answer, Octavia shakes her head. No.

Larissa makes Octavia a promise. She swears not to rest until she finds the person who did. Not for her, but for Lysander.

#spectreintro #about #jesus christ this got long #so long that i couldnt justify putting like the fun hcs in #but just know that shes a stubborn bitch and oh my god that chip on her shoulder is MASSIVE #she hates injustice and rich ppl in particular and especially those who think her brother is guilty #very very very flawed #but also deeply humorous #with that very dry sarcastic very british sense of humour

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hellagayweird0 · 6 years ago

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Jay’s Season 14 Episode Chat

Episode 5

Enjoy my random thoughts!

~ Excuse me, what is this girl doing alone? I love her but WHY IS THERE NO ADULT WITH HER SHE’S SMALL AND FRAGILE

~ Oooooooklahoma, where this girl just runs off on her ooooown

~ I love a nice field trip to a graveyard, someone is coming for Ms. Frizzle’s career

~ Vlogging hunters, I LOVE THIS. Also me if I was a hunter 😂

~ I think I’m in love with Maggie. Can we get some nice JayxMaggie fics please? 😂

~ MAGGIE MY WIFE NOOOO! Excuse me, whoever just dared to put their hands on her, DON’T HURT HER OR I SWEAR-

~ TEACHER SAM UM YES PLEASE

~ Fuuuuuuuuck he looks good

~ Sam: “Let’s get to work.” Me: *breaks out into song* “LET’S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS-”

~ SAM’S LITTLE CUP I’M CRYING 😂 Is it just him being a giant of a human or is that cup tiny I NEED ANSWERS

~ Sam with a whistle GIMME

~ Sam creating hunter check-ins is giving me LIFE. HE’S. A. SMART. BEAN.

~ Hey Dean sass, ima need you to tone yourself down

~ CAS AND JACK ARE ON A NICE FATHER/SON HUNTING TRIP TOGETHER THIS IS WHAT THE SHOW NEEDS AND I SUPPORT IT 100%

~ Sam tippity tappin’ away (have I mentioned I love this man?)

~ Dean’s reaction to this guy in the cemetery is a mood

~ I loooove this guy meeting them at the house 😂

~ OK BOBBY AND MARY I SEE YOU LOOKIN’ LIKE MICHAEL AND CAS, WHAT CHA TRYING TO SAY, HUH? WRITERS, ANYONE? ANSWERS?

~ BOBBY SASS YES WE NEED THIS

~ Bobby said idjits I REPEAT BOBBY SAID IDJITS

~ Ok but Maggie shouldn’t have been out there alone in the first place, just saying

~ Jared has forever made “Milk Run” funny (he said stuff at a con) and I can’t stop giggling at Bobby’s line

~ Woah woah, Bobby, I’m gonna need you to stop yelling at my Sammy or I will somehow throw you back into the AU myself

~ Bobby: “She wasn’t ready!” My mind:

~ “A real leader would’ve seen that a mile away.” THE FUCK BOBBY?? HOW DARE YOU? SAM IS A REAL LEADER, HE’S DOING HIS BEST, AND HE’S DOING AN AMAZING JOB. YES OF COURSE MAGGIE SHOULD’VE NEVER BEEN ON HER OWN, BUT DON’T BLAME SAM FOR HER GETTING TAKEN BY THE MONSTER. AND DON’T SAY HE ISN’T A REAL LEADER. (I actually got so mad at this part 😂 no one says stuff like that to my boy and gets away with it)

~ YES MARY, THANK YOU!! LISTEN TO MAMA WINCHESTER!

~ No Sammy, Bobby isn’t right, this isn’t your fault, DON’T PUT YOURSELF DOWN

~ I mean, I agree Mary, BUT, he was honestly born to be hooked on demon blood and use his powers (you know, THE ONES THE SHOW JUST CASUALLY FORGETS) for not so great things BUT OK 😂

~ Welcome to the show/family, no one wants to talk about anything

~ OH HI JOHN NICE FOR THEM TO MENTION YOU 😂 (i still don’t like you a ton but hello)

~ MARY NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOU TO “PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE”, FOCUS ON MICHAEL AND THE OTHER EVILS OF THE WORLD BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT

~ I LOVE MARY AND SAM BONDING MOMENTS, CAN WE HAVE MORE IN FUTURE EPISODES PLEASE AND THANK YOU

~ “You think I was too hard on your brother back there.” Me:

~ I need a scene where Dean goes off on Bobby for yelling at his baby brother, ANYONE ELSE WITH ME?

~ Dean, so help me, if you insult the Sammy beard ONE MORE TIME

~ Aw Sam respecting his mother and what she wants LOOK AT HIM BEING AN ADORABLE BABY

~ Creepy abandoned shed, great

~ BOBBY WTF DON’T RUN OFF ON YOUR OWN HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING??

~ I love when monsters turn into chalk dust

~ “What are you doing in my house?” WHY WASN’T THAT THE FIRST QUESTION OUT OF YOUR MOUTH?

~ How tf did you get cleaned up so quickly and easily, Dean 😂

~ Oh sweetie, anything (besides Destiel apparently *COUGH*) is possible in this universe

~ “I’m not really up for a heart-to-heart.” It’s ok, Dean never is either

~ This girl 😂 “I don’t want to talk about what’s going on.....but here’s the entire story-”

~ I’M SO PROUD OF DEAN BEING A GREAT LISTENER AND GIVING ADVICE

~ Dean: *gives this speech about letting the past go and stuff* Girl: “Is that what you do?” Me: “NO HE BOTTLES UP HIS FEELINGS AND REFUSES TO TALK ABOUT ANYTHING GOING ON-”

~ Ok wait I’m sorry, was Sam just waiting for them to finish talking so he could walk down the hall? 😂 What took him so long?

~ What kind of flashlight has an on/off switch on the bottom?

~ Yay, my husband found my wife 😂

~ SAM YOU GOT THE CHALK DUST TOO

~ Aw no Maggie this isn’t your fault at all, don’t blame yourself

~ WHAT ARE YOU DOING BOBBY

~ I love when AU!Bobby has a kid

~ Oh that’s a lil bit of a stab

~ MARY TO THE RESCUE

~ FFS, WHY DOES NO ONE BACK UP WHEN SOMEONE IS WALKING TOWARDS THEM? IF THEY DID, THEY WOULDN’T GET HIT. THESE CHARACTERS HAVE LEARNED NOTHING 😂

~ Close your everything, he’s gonna turn into cha- and there he goes

~ Dean, you motherfucker, you could’ve used any line to get her out of the room, AND YOU CHOSE “Could you go make me a sandwich?” YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE MOST SEXIST LINES OUT THERE 😂 Writers, wtf??

~ YES QUEEN, GET THAT SASS

~ Wait a second, if the djinn is taking blood from this guy, wouldn’t people notice the bags filling up instead of going down?? AM I THE ONLY ONE THINKING ABOUT THIS? 😂

~ Oh Michael, you little fu-

~ Aww Maggie *hugs*

~ WTF HAPPENED WITH THE DJINN, WHY DID HE FREAK OUT WHEN HE WAS DOING HIS THING TO DEAN, WHY DID DEAN GET A BURST OF ENERGY AND BEAT THIS GUY SUDDENLY? I’M TELLING YOU, MICHAEL ISN’T GONE

~ Ok, so we know now that Michael set up traps for everyone. AWESOME

~ AW THEY’RE ALL SO HAPPY TO SEE MAGGIE, I’M SCREAMING, I LOVE THIS

~ YES DEAN GIVE YOUR BROTHER THE PRAISE HE DESERVES

~ I’m still mad at Bobby for yelling at Sam, but I want to hug him right now. I feel so bad for him

~ SHE DID LEARN FROM THE BEST, YES

~ I almost had a heart attack at “Boys, we need to talk.” I THOUGHT THERE WAS GONNA BE A FULL ON RELATIONSHIP CONFESSION

~ DONNA YAY HI MOM, also of course she has a garden gnome 😂 I love her so much

~ THANK YOU FOR TALKING WITH SAM, BOBBY

~ Sam’s lil smile *collapses*

~ MARY STEPPING BACK INTO THAT MOM ROLE IS SO NICE AND I APPRECIATE TF OUT OF THIS

~ GARTH I MISS YOU MY SWEET BOY

~ Lol yes buddy system, I support this 😂

~ WHO WAS SAM CALLING

~”Traps for hunters. Friggin’ awesome.” My thoughts exactly

~ “From what I- from what we- ....from what he did.” THAT LINE RIGHT THERE IS SO IMPORTANT! Dean is finally accepting that what Michael (not Dean, not Michael AND Dean, but just Michael) did wasn’t him and he isn’t to blame at all. This was a needed line, and I appreciate the writers for putting that in. It means SO MUCH

~ Dean can’t get a fuckin’ break, poor baby. CAN WE GIVE DEAN A WELL DESERVED BREAK?

~ Yeah, let’s beat this son of a bitch (even though I actually really like Michael 😂)

Alright, well, that’s the episode chat! I really liked this episode a ton. I miss Cas and Jack, but they’re off together, so that’s nice. WE GET CHARLIE NEXT EPISODE, WHICH I’M SO EXCITED FOR! I’ve missed my AU wife. I hope we get Rowena back soon. Ketch too (I guess 😂)

#spn #supernatural #spn season 14 #spn season 14 spoilers #14x5 #episode chat

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themyskira · 7 years ago

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Amazons Attack! - part 10

PREVIOUSLY! Supergirl and Wonder Girl smashed up an internment camp for women associated with Amazons (where ‘associated’ can mean anything from ‘known acquaintance of Wonder Woman’ to ‘looks a bit feminist’), succeeding only in getting Cassie’s mother injured and the rest of the Teen Titans arrested for the crime of collaboration with subversives (where ‘collaboration’ means ‘trying to stop’).

For their next trick, the Girls Super and Wonder successfully helped to crash Air Force One, get a bunch of people killed and almost murder the damn President of the United States, before Superman came and gave them a stern talking-to.

This time: the Teen Titans teach us that the right way to resist oppression is to look quietly disapproving until the system gets embarrassed and sorts itself out, and Supergirl is an actual monster.

Part 10: Teen Titans #49 — Adam Beechen (writer) and Al Barrionuevo (artist), and Supergirl #20 — Tony Bedard (writer) and Renato Guedes (artist)

The Teen Titans’ “arrest” is immediately revealed to be a fakeout — the colonel in command of the camp swiftly marches over, orders her men to stand down and asks the team to help relocate the detainees from the half-destroyed camp.

(Colonel Wallace, who is cast as a good soldier in a bad situation, is a white woman. Major Hanratty — the aggressive, over-zealous, sexist soldier who tried to arrest the Titans — is a black man. The implications of this become increasingly Unfortunate as the issue unfolds.)

Ravager is outraged, comparing the situation to the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, but Robin insists that “going against the government won’t help this situation. We just have to make sure things don’t get any worse”. So that’s what they do, because according to Beechen the only two options in this situation are to violently attack the soldiers like Cassie did or to reluctantly aid the government’s wrongful detention of innocent women and trust the system to work itself out.

Am I reading too much into this to think that this sends kind of a dodgy message to the reader? I mean, bearing in mind that this crossover is a (clumsy) analogy for the War on Terror and was written in the context of ongoing US atrocities — the fact that Beechen appears to dismiss all forms of protest and resistance as irresponsible and detrimental… really sucks?

The women are loaded onto a train and the Titans fly alongside as escorts, until they’re waylaid by a squadron of Amazons led by oh fuck me please don’t drag Artemis into this craphole

“CHILDREN, HOLD! ARTEMIS COMMANDS YOU!”

Artemis explains that she is looking for Cassie, who undertook a mission for Hippolyta to down Air Force One and take the President captive, only to abandon her mission and flee.

Let me list all the things that are wrong with this.

Cassie and Kara were not sent to bring down Air Force One (they managed that through their own incompetence)

Artemis couldn’t possibly know that Cassie and Kara “abandoned” their mission, because none of the Amazons sent to attack Air Force One returned

All Artemis knows is that the Amazons’ mounts returned riderless and bloody, implying that the mission went horribly wrong

Artemis cannot physically be here right now because there’s a big fuck-off forcefield trapping her in DC

The Titans politely explain that they have not seen Cassie or Kara, and Artemis is like, ‘I trust you guys, but unfortunately that doesn’t help me, so I’mma take you all hostage to lure your friends to me, k?’

The Amazons attack, the Titans land heavily on top of the train, which barely avoids derailing. We get of shot of Helena Sandsmark inside the train exclaiming, “Cassie—?”, which cracks me the hell up. ‘Violence? Property damage? Endangerment of bystanders? It must be my daughter!’

Outside, everybody yells at Artemis to mind the innocent civilians. And Artemis, who thus far has been one of the few voices of reason among the Amazons, and a consistent opponent of attacking bystanders, is suddenly flippant about the idea of mass civilian casualties. “Such is war … they are our enemies”.

Then she glimpses the train’s passengers and gasps theatrically.

“—Eh? Women? Under armed guard? WHAT MANNER OF TRAIN IS THIS?!”

So, what, you’re allowed to commit despicable crimes against innocents but nobody else is? Because you were perfectly at peace with murdering everybody on the train a second ago.

Pegging Colonel Wallace as the leader, Artemis yells at her that she’s a traitor to all women.

“Much in this war puzzles me, but these things I know: Women should not shackle their own kind and this will not stand! AMAZONS… ATTACK!”

Yes, let’s attack the fast-moving train full of innocent hostages, that’s sure to go well for all involved.

One rando Amazon is taking Cassie and Kara’s potential betrayal super hard.

“I can’t believe Supergirl would abandon our cause for these… these cowards, hiding behind their guns! She’s our friend! Friends don’t take different sides in a war!”

So, I take it you’re new to comics crossovers, then.

Rando Amazon continues to obsess over Supergirl until Kid Devil pushes her into a lake a few pages later.

It goes on like this for a few pages. More fighting, more poorly-written trading of insults. Ravager declares, “I don’t know who’s worse… the Army for bringing back internment, one of America’s worst memories… or you Amazons, for making ‘em feel like it was necessary!”, which… eeeeeeeeeeeeeeno.

Leaving aside the tortured dialogue, of all the crimes that can be laid at the Amazons feet in this story, internment is not one of them. They didn’t “make” the US government feel that wrongfully detaining innocent people was necessary, any more than the Japanese military “made” the real US government wrongfully segregate, arrest and incarcerate over a hundred thousand innocent Japanese Americans. The Amazons committed an act of war, and pre-existing American bigotry and hatred and ignorance led the government to punish their own citizens despite a lack of evidence of any national security threat.

By implication, here, Adam Beechen is absolving the US government of responsibility for the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans.

Meanwhile, Colonel Wallace isn’t jumping to indiscriminate slaughter fast enough for Major Hanratty, who threatens mutiny.

“Listen, I know that witch with the sword got to you. But you are a soldier first. And if you can’t do what needs to be done, I will.”

The fight causes the train to jump the tracks. M’gann is able to stop it and prevent a crash, just as Superman arrives with Wonder Girl and Supergirl.

Artemis calls on Cassie and Kara to stand with the Amazons; they, of course, refuse.

Artemis: And you, Cassandra? Have you forgotten where your loyalties lie? Cassie: The gods gave me my powers, Artemis, but I’m not a god. And I’m not an Amazon. I’m a woman. And I’m a daughter. My loyalties lie with my family… and with doing what’s right. Tim: What about us, Cassie, are we still— Cassie: Not now, Robin, just… not now.

Way to step on somebody else’s moment, Timbo. And yeah, middle of a live battlefield, maybe not the best time to work out where your friendship stands.

As for Cassie, she is a god (well, demigod, by way of an admittedly crappy retcon), she is an Amazon (not by birth, sure, but she’s earned the right to call herself one), and when she says ‘I’m not an Amazon, I’m a woman’, I can’t help but hear, ‘I’m not a feminist, I’m a humanist’.

Superman pressures Colonel Wallace to let the women go, because it’s the right thing to do. This, again, goes exactly as you’d expect: Colonel Wallace agrees that the orders she’s following are unjust and decides to release everyone; Major Hanratty responds by declaring that he’s assuming command and absolutely nobody will be released.

A few of women decide to make a break for it while they have the chance, leading to this piece of white feminist nonsense:

Woman: Now’s our chance, while they’re sorting all this out… Helena: What—? No, don’t! Let them talk it over, this will all resolve itself peacefully...! Woman: We’re getting out of here. We’ll never have a better chance…

White woman telling a black woman not to make any waves and trust the authorities to sort things out. Cool feminism you got there.

The soldiers see a group of women fleeing. Hanratty mistakes Helena for the ringleader and orders everyone to shoot her. Of course, the Titans save her, and Superman destroys all the soldiers’ equipment. The Amazons hug and make up with Cassie and Kara, then return to DC (you know, the city they’re supposed to be trapped in with no means of getting out) to continuing raining death on America.

Cassie apologies to the Titans, smooches Robin, and good lord this art is appalling.

So that’s it for the Teen Titans in this crossover. Supergirl #20 picks up where this issue leaves off, and it’s so unbelievably dull that I’m not even going to give it a separate post.

The issue opens with a flashback to the attack on Air Force One. With the plane rapidly losing altitude, a terrified flight attendant called Ranay phones her husband — Greg, a DC accountant — to say what might be her final goodbye. She’s talking to him when the plane crashes and the phone is flung out of her hand, leaving Greg believing that his wife is dead and Supergirl is to blame.

That’s page one. If y’all think you know where the rest of this issue is going, you’re probably right.

Still in the flashback, we see Kara and Cassie rushing to help the injured crew and passengers as if they’re not the villains in this story.

Kara: Is everyone okay? I tried to soften the impact… Man: You shot us down in the first place! Kara [VO]: Actually, it was the Amazons, but why argue? It sure felt like my fault.

THAT’S BECAUSE IT IS YOUR FAULT, YOU INSUFFERABLE TWIT. You agreed to kidnap the president. You threatened to bring the plane down. You punched through the GODDAMN FUSELAGE. And all of that happened before the Amazons even arrived on the scene.

In the present, Superman has left Supergirl and Wonder Girl with the Teen Titans. Kara tells Cassie says that she’s going to be in huge trouble when all of this has wrapped up:

“Trust me, this war with the Amazons is nothing compared to the verbal beat-down I’ll get once things die down.”

Oh, I’m sure. Thousands of Americans are dead and the entire state of Kansas is a smoking ruin, but that’s nothing compared to the stern words that Kara’s going to cop.

To ease her hurt feelings, Kara decides to help the rescue efforts in DC (which, again, is supposed to be SEALED OFF FROM THE WORLD).

Meanwhile, Greg’s office is being evacuated, with four heavily armed military personnel guarding the civilians’ escape. It takes two Amazons in a primitive horse-drawn chariot all of five seconds to cut them down, which even for this crossover is ridiculous. Fortunately, grieving-husband-with-a-vendetta Greg is also an ex-Marine! He scoops up a rocket launcher and incinerates the charioteers, then grabs a gun and begins firing.

More Amazons descend on the civilians, which is when Supergirl joins the fight. She defeats them, but only after they’ve shot her in the side with an enchanted arrow.

Greg pulls the arrow out of her with more violence than is strictly necessary and, after an oblivious Kara explains that she’s vulnerable to magic, surreptitiously pockets the arrow in case he needs to indulge in some light revenge murder later on.

Kara’s just happy to have people fawning over her again.

Civilian 1: Can you stand? Civilian 2: If you hadn’t shown up when you did… Kara [VO] The relief in their faces, the gratitude in their voices — this is why I needed to come here. Just to know I’m doing some good, to know that I’m wanted…

That’s why she needed to come here. Not to use her abilities to help people in imminent danger — to get a quick ego boost.

Greg confronts Kara about the Air Force One attack and demands to know if Kara killed his wife. And that’s when the giant Cyclops attacks.

Battling the monster, Kara engages in some more historical revisionism.

“Just this morning, I’d hoped the Amazons could accept me as one of their own. Then they unleashed these monstrosities on innocent people. I guess you never really know somebody until you meet their pets.”

Bull. Fucking. Shit. The Cyclopes were in the very first wave of attacks. Right before the Amazons got to mass-slaughtering civilians and setting literally all of Kansas on fire — all of which you knew about when you agreed to kidnap the president.

Greg grabs his gun and begins firing at the Cyclops while the others run for cover.

“And then there’s this guy, who has every reason to hate me. No way am I letting him die without getting a chance to tell him I’m sorry.”

So what I’m hearing is, you’re not protecting him because you care about humanity and believe passionately in using your extraordinary gifts to help others, you’re protecting him so you can feel better about yourself.

Kara saves Greg and catches the brunt of the Cyclops’ attack. She’s flung through the air, crashing through the wall of a childcare centre.

Kara [VO]: Oh, boy. They must’ve hidden here since the invasion started. Kara: Hey, is everybody okay? I didn’t mean to crash in like that, but I promise I’ll keep you safe. [pause] Hello? [pause] Doesn’t anybody have anything to say? Everyone: AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

The self-absorbed jerk is so busy fishing for some validation that she completely forgets about the huge fuck-off Cyclops advancing on the building.

Resolving that she won’t let innocents get hurt again, Kara tries to draw the Cyclops away, but the fight’s not going well. Greg mutters that it would “serve her right” if she got smashed to bits, then sighs and decides to help. He hands her the enchanted arrow and tells her to go for the eye, which works.

Kara thanks Greg, and he admits he was holding onto the arrow to kill her.

Greg: I… I was on the phone with her… You should’ve heard the fear in her voice… and Ranay, she’s not scared of anything… and then the plane crashes… and the line goes dead… Kara: I’m sooo sorry.

I know it’s intended to be for emphasis, but that elongated ‘so’ just reads as sarcastic.

They talk it out — blah blah wanted to fix things, blah blah the world is more complicated, blah blah that reminds me of my tour of duty in Somalia — and then Greg gets a phone call from his wife and she’s fine. All the while, Superman watches Kara paternalistically from above.

Next time: Catwoman infiltrates Lady ISIS!

#when shamazons attack #comics talk

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thelegendofclarke · 7 years ago

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What do you think about Sansa not carrying out Littlefingers execution? I kinda wish she did it herself as her father said the one who sentenced should be the one to carry it out. It seems dumb to have her delegate it. But I guess Lf was on Arya’s hit list so...

Hey Anon! I’m so sorry it took so. long. for me to answer this, but I needed a break from the ol’ Ask Box…

Ooohhh Swordgate! Yet another Stark Sister wank that refuses to die.

“I kinda wish she did it herself as her father said the one who sentenced should be the one to carry it out. It seems dumb to have her delegate it.”

I think that essentially, you are falling into the trap of being far too literal. First of all, if you take “he who passes the sentence swings the sword” as literally as you are here, and take that logic through to it’s natural conclusion, it honestly produces a relatively sexist and ableist result. Not that I think you are being either, Anon! I just think it can be easy to accept words or “lessons” at face value and not ~dig deeper~ or ~look beyond~ to their full potential extent.

Think of it this way: if it had been Bran who passed LF’s sentence instead of Sansa, but Arya still carried out the execution, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. I have seen no claims that Bran also should never be in charge of Winterfell because he is disabled and cannot lead soldiers into battle or carry out beheadings himself. Or what about Rickon; what if Rickon had survived and was serving as Lord of Winterfell or KitN? There is no way that 10 year old Rickon would have been able to lift a long sword and strike it with enough force to remove someone’s head. Even grown ass man Theon couldn’t do that, it would have to be done by proxy. And even Catelyn? I have seen no one criticizing her for asking the men at the Inn to help her take Tyrion into custody. It is extremely uncommon for women in the series to be skilled at any type of physical combat. Women like Brienne, Arya, or the Sand Snakes; they are exception, not the rule. Yet I have seen no arguments about Bran, Rickon, or Catelyn bringing dishonor to the Stark name due to their lack of physical capabilities; because that’s not what being a leader is really about. The Stark “pass the sentence, swing the sword” adage has never been about physical capability. It has always been about responsibility and accountability.

Yes, Ned Stark did carry out all the executions of his sentences himself; and yes, he did teach his sons to do the same. However, being the person to do the literal, physical act is not what’s at the core of the sentiment. What is the core of the sentiment is that human lives have value, and recognizing that ending one is not to be taken lightly.

Here is what Ned tells Bran in the beheading scene in s1:

“The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.”

And here is the similar excerpt from AGoT:

“The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

“One day, Bran, you will be Robb’s bannerman, holding a keep of your own for your brother and your king, and justice will fall to you. When that day comes, you must take no pleasure in the task, but neither must you look away. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.” (AGoT, Bran I)

“Pass the sentence, swing the sword” is meant so much more symbolically than literally. This epitaph is about taking responsibility and accountability for your actions. It’s saying that part of being a lord, or a warden, or a ruler, or any type of leader at all is recognizing the importance of your orders and the effects that they on the people you are leading. It’s about being conscious of your responsibility to the people you rule over. It’s about acknowledging that taking another human life is no small thing and shouldn’t be treated as such. It’s not saying that having the physical ability and being able to kill is what makes a good leader, it’s saying that appreciating the significance of human life is. To use this quote as a way to shame or criticize characters for having limited physical abilities is a pretty sexist and ableist misapplication.

And it’s not just about accountability, is it also about compassion and mercy. It is about not dehumanizing or distancing oneself from the criminals being executed. It is about treating people as people and recognizing that every single life matters, regardless of any other consideration. It is about treating people with respect and dignity, even when they are being executed. It is about facing the actual truth of what taking a life is, and demanding it be treated as the monumental thing it is. It is about acting with honor. To reduce this saying to one merely about physical capabilities and being able to kill someone yourself, honestly I think that takes so much away from the true lesson of the message.

And in response to your question, I pose this one: why would Sansa carry out the execution? Honestly though, why?? Why would Sansa, who has never wielded a weapon against another character in the entirety of the series, take it upon herself to carry out the execution? When her sister, who she knows is extremely skilled in the areas of combat, is more than ready and willing to do so?! I am not saying Sansa couldn’t have found some way to do it, I am just asking why on earth would she?? Narratively and logically, that just doesn’t make much sense. In the series plot so far, Arya and Sansa have been in radically different environments and developing radically different skills that can be used for different purposes. Narratively all that happened for a reason: Arya learned how to handle weapons properly whereas Sansa didn’t. She has the skills to take a man’s life quickly and cleanly. She has the ability to carry out an execution with mercy and dignity, just like their father taught them to. And Sansa was standing right there beside her, she looked in to LF’s eyes as he was dying, she never looked away. (And I’m not even going to get into the fact that I would bet my left boob that if Sansa had been the one to knife LF, there would be sooo much complaining about “Sansa stealing from Arya again” and “Sansa taking Arya’s traits and skills” and “Sansa being a Mary Sue.”)

This scene is being interpreted as Arya passing Sansa’s sentence when in reality, the sentence was on behalf of all of House Stark. It was as much Bran and Arya’s sentence for LF’s crimes against their family as it was Sansa’s. His exposure and execution was a plan that they all played an integral part in from the beginning. They were acting together as a family. This was the show’s way of depicting to us how the remaining members of House Stark can still come together and work as a unified body after so much time apart. That they are still a family, that they are still a pack.

Instead of viewing Sansa and Arya (and Bran for that matter). as three separate actors, there is an entirely different way to view the scene. Sansa, Bran and Arya were acting together as three parts of a unified body: the justice system.

Judge, Jury, and Executioner. Those are the three arms of the law and all three are necessary for justice to be served.

The Jury (Bran)- examines the evidence and evaluates it’s veracity and credibility

The Judge (Sansa)- applies the law to the evidence and passes the sentence

The Executioner (Arya)- enforces the law and administers justice by carrying out the sentence accordingly

Personally, this is how I viewed the scene from the get go, as a metaphor for the justice system. I realize that I might only think that way because I have spent the past, like, eight years getting it bashed into my head through my various degrees. But still, to me it made it a lot of sense and was relatively obvious to see it that way. The three arms of the law aren’t separate, they operate together in unity to make sure justice is served. Each plays an integral role in criminal due process. They are three parts that make a whole; with out one the other two are essentially rendered moot. With out one arm, the whole system falls apart. What good is having a jury and executioner with no judge to interpret and apply the law? What good is having an executioner and judge with no jury to examine and evaluate the evidence? And finally, what good is having a judge and jury if there is no one to enforce the law or execute the sentence? With out some kind of punishment, consequences, or retribution for illegal acts, there is hardly a point to the criminal justice system as a whole. They need each other.

Ned’s most important lesson he taught his children was this:

“When the snows fall and the white winds blow the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.”

Arya and Sansa need each other, all the Starks need each other. They are parts of a whole, they are a pack. And I just don’t see anything dumb or dishonorable about that.

#someone was talking about this on my dash earlier #and it reminded me this was in my drafts #sorry for the last response anon!#got for ts #asoiaf for ts #hbo got #got spoilers #sansa stark #arya stark #swordgate #alys answers #alys meta #anonymous

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politicaltheatre · 4 years ago

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Empathy, pt.1

Fun Fact #1: The Italian name for Easter, “Pasqua”, is derived from the Hebrew name for Passover, “Pesach”.

Fun Fact #2: The Italian name for Passover is “Pasqua ebraica”, which translates to “Jewish Easter”.

Truthfully, neither of those facts is especially fun, but they do illustrate beautifully the way we use language to place those with whom we share our world as others, as outside the land in which they live and the legal system that should protect them as equals.

In this case, which goes back to when the Roman Empire ruled all of the Mediterranean - “the center of the world” - early Christians sought to separate themselves from their religion’s Jewish roots by separating Jews from their own holiday. The Roman Christians married the Jewish celebration of survival and rebirth to their own celebration of the new year - what we now call “April Fool’s Day” - and the rest is actual history.

We do this kind of thing all the time. It isn’t just taking things from other cultures and making them our own, it is divorcing those people from our culture in order to deny them credit for their creations. It is a way to deny accountability to them. If they remain outside of us, we may value them and their contributions less.

Which, sadly, brings us to the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. This past Passover week, Chauvin’s defense attorney, Eric Nelson, put on a full, despicable show, attempting not only to blame the victim for his own murder but the witnesses, too.

It’s how Nelson chose to portray the traumatized witnesses, two of them in particular, that reveals an unpleasant truth about how we continue to choose to separate certain people from us and how he hopes the jury will, too.

Genevieve Hansen is an EMT, someone not only trained to save lives but inclined to do so, as her choice of career should attest. Not only was she an eyewitness to a helpless man being suffocated on a city street, she attempted to help him and, arguably, the police officers harming him.

Hansen, however, is a woman, something Nelson sought to weaponize against her. He portrayed her not as a concerned citizen with training and expertise attempting to help, but as a nosy, pushy, busy-body forcing herself into a situation and interfering, exactly the kind of stereotype often used to attack many women’s credibility.

In using this attack, Nelson not only sought to separate Hansen from her skills, experience, and value as a medical professional, and with those her credibility as a witness, he sought to place blame on her for antagonizing the police into inaction.

Think about that. Nelson’s suggestion, his defense of his client, was that because Hansen was so insistent that they should stop, they instead became less likely to stop. If only she had kept her mouth shut…

This “double-down” defense isn’t something new. Small children use it all the time. And politicians. Remember when the Republicans in Congress complained about “hurt feelings” to justify not voting for President Biden’s cabinet pick despite, well, all of Trump’s presidency? And how Biden failing to come to them on his Covid-19 was used to justify voting against that? This was it in a courtroom.

What Nelson attempted to do to Donald Williams, who testified before Hansen, was even worse.

Williams is professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter seen in multiple videos of the murder trying to reason with the police officers to get them to stop. He could be seen in those videos growing more and more frustrated the longer Chauvin continued pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck, but notably he never lost his temper, and, just as important, only once, early on, did he even step off the sidewalk. He was never not aware of the limits of what he could do. He never not aware of what would be done to him should he defy those limits. He was, in more than one sense, restrained.

Nelson, however, sought to portray Williams as an angry, aggressive Black man, a loud mouthed, taunting troublemaker, a stereotype meant to remove all empathy we might have for him and anything he might have to say. He, too, was blamed for making the officers afraid and thus reinforcing their decision not to stop suffocating Floyd.

With each witness, Nelson’s hope was that his passive-aggressive questioning could draw out an aggressive response, because that could offer justification for a jury member to choose to side with his client. He failed completely with Williams, whose composure may well have been helped by his fight training, but who, like Hansen, also very likely came to his profession because of the value he had already placed on that discipline in his life.

Hansen, on the other hand, fell into a trap, first attempting to complete a sentence and then insisting, when told to stop talking by the judge, that that was all she was attempting to do. The judge seemingly fell into the same trap, speaking to her not as an inexperienced witness who spoke a few too many words attempting to clarify her response but as someone who was aggressively picking a fight, which she wasn’t. The video of their exchange shows as much.

The videos of both Hansen and Williams at the time of the murder likewise shows two visibly non-threatening people trying to draw police officers’ attention to the threat posed to a human life. Were they frustrated? Of course, they were. Were they increasingly agitated? Shouldn’t they have been given what was at stake? Were they angry at the end of it? Again, having attempted to save a life and having repeatedly been kept from doing that, shouldn’t they have been?

To ask those questions is to seek to remove empathy from their decision making. Those seen witnessing George Floyd’s murder clearly saw him as a man, someone with a right to life. To ask eyewitnesses in that situation to divorce themselves from that value should be impossible. At least, it should be if we want to have the society we keep telling ourselves we want to have.

For the Eric Nelsons of this world, it’s all a game. You do what you must to get your client to an acquittal or at least a hung jury. You blame the victim. You blame the witnesses. You prey on bigotry and seek to focus attention on what makes them different, what makes them others, and what makes them, sadly, disposable.

That, they would gladly tell you, is the way the game is played. That it is seen that way is yet another attempt to remove empathy from decision making and with it accountability.

The continued attempts to portray the officers merely as servants to a higher authority are no different. When they claim that there were rules that they had to follow and obey, they seek to separate themselves from accountability for what they did. They also seek to portray those challenging those actions as disrespecting the law and a threat regardless of their empathic intentions and lack of aggression.

That portrayal, of course, is a lie. The trial’s first witness, Jena Scurry, is a 911 dispatcher. She saw the murder through a live security camera feed, one the jury will have seen, and she was horrified. Nelson could not and would not attack her credibility. He wouldn’t dare. That he then went on to use racist and sexist stereotypes to attack Williams and Hansen is all the more offensive for it.

That Scurry, Chauvin’s former supervisor, and the Minneapolis Chief of Police, all working within a culture that actively casts anyone not in uniform as an “other”, will have testified against Chauvin to deny that portrayal says more than we could have believed just ten months ago.

Even more than that, it establishes a precedent, one that should be applied to departments everywhere. The idea that the police may be fallible and must be held to the highest standard of accountability for their behavior must be encouraged to take root and must be nurtured so that it may grow and flourish.

We hear the word “empathy” and think it means something soft and weak, that to be empathic is to be soft and weak. What those denigrating it and fighting against it want us to reject is not weakness but accountability, because without empathy there is no accountability. We cannot have one without the other.

Whatever our views on religion and the concept of a higher power or authority in our lives, when we look at holidays such as Passover and Easter, we should ask ourselves about what our ancestors, whether they observed one or the other or neither, thought about coming out of a cold, difficult winter. What values did they embrace and why?

These holidays tell us that they valued coming together and staying together and being able to rely on each other. They brought food to a common table and shared it. They reminded themselves to be grateful for what little they had as they shared it and because they shared it.

They made sure to recognize each other as equals, with an equal voice and an equal right to safety and shelter. They even left an extra place at the table, just in case.

The only ones who who rejected, if any were rejected at all, were those who sought to place others outside, those who sought to keep more for themselves, and those who sought to exploit others for their own profit.

The spring is a time of building something new. As we struggle to remember and to hold onto these values, let us ask ourselves what kind of world we want to live in. Is it one in which we make a game of denying others a voice? Is it one in which we justify racism or sexism as a means to an end? Or is it one in which we hold ourselves accountable to others because that is what we ask of them in return?

- Daniel Ward

#empathy #accountability #george floyd #black lives matter #racism #politics #sexism #a means to an end #jim crow #bullying #passive aggression #game play #religion #passover #pesach #easter #pasqua #spring #long reads

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therealdragonnerdagain · 8 years ago

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This is so true.

When I joined the service and was going through basic training, I suddenly had access to nutritional foods on a daily basis -- rather than only occasionally.

I remember being surprised at how this boosted my ability to think and function and perform in my job. The military is always VERY careful to feed their soldiers with a purpose.

Sometimes starving us was a part of our field training, which was supposed to simulate a situation where we might get stuck without food for a very long time.

But if we ever had a class that required us to be awake, alert, and able to think and function, they would feed us really well so that we could perform our studies.

Having access to fresh fruits and vegetables every day was amazing after a lifetime of only getting them some of the time (single parent household, two siblings, one income).

How healthy you are has a direct affect on your brain's ability to function. How healthy your parents are has a direct affect on your initial intelligence when you're born.

This is why pyramid societies always have poor people who are malnourished and thus of lower intelligence -- though there are exceptions because sometimes food drives and charities provide brain nourishing nutritional foods the poor wouldn’t get otherwise.

Meanwhile, the upper class in every society has more intelligent, highly functioning, talented people. Why? Because they're simply better than everyone else? No. Because their ancestors hoarded all the resources in that environment, then passed that wealth down generation after generation, creating refined lords and ignorant peasants, ensuring that their children always had the best food, clean clothing, and a healthy environment with scores of opportunities in which to nurture and encourage their varying interests.

The reasons why the most talented writers in America and Europe are straight, white (usually sexist and racist) men is because they have been afforded every opportunity to live healthily, to have their talents nurtured, and to grow and flourish in their environment (while at the same time being raised within a system that teaches them misogyny and racism are a-okay).

Remember a couple years back I talked about my elderly racist Creative Writing teacher at my first college? Instead of nurturing my skills as a writer, she did everything in her power to mentally shatter me. She constantly humiliated me, handwaved my participation in every discussion, accused me of just copying famous writers because “Monkey see, monkey do,” and even read one of my stories aloud to the class hoping they would mock me -- they applauded. Which only pissed her off and made her keep bullying more than ever.

When it seemed she hadn't bullied me into not writing anymore, she teamed up with my English Composition teacher, who picked up the bullying where she left off.

Both teachers gave me failing grades I really didn't deserve. This resulted in me having to take both classes over at a new college -- which I passed.

White writers don't have to go into a writing class and wonder if they are going to ridiculed to tears because of their skin color. They don't have to worry that a teacher is going to give them an undeserved F because they are white -- their teachers are usually white! This is called White Privilege.

Imagine if these two teachers had nurtured me and encouraged me and helped me become a better writer -- instead of mocking me, ridiculing me, shattering my confidence, and giving me poor grades I didn't deserve???

I would be a better writer right now. I think by the time I retook those classes, the damage was already done to my psyche (I am mentally ill).

And if the entertainment industry wasn't so racist itself, maybe I would have gone on to be like Neil Gaiman or Joss Whedon.

But the industry is very bigoted, and I learned immediately just how much discrimination there was when I went on my self-publishing venture last year. Remember that? Yeah, it turned out badly. I actually faced double the discrimination for writing about brown women who also happened to be queer. Wait, no. I guess that's triple the discrimination -- racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Alas, only white men can be awarded for mediocrity. People of color always have to be extraordinary to achieve anything in any field. Also, we have to write about people whose race and sexuality is either white and straight or obscure.

Yeah. Gaiman is easily a mediocre writer. Get mad.

Point is, this is how systemic oppression works. You deny people the things they need to function on the same level as you. Then you discriminate against them in just about every field. And what will happen? They remain poor, destitute, uneducated, malnourished, and trapped in cycles of endless poverty.

This is how it all works.

And the only reason racists are scrambling to come up with excuses for it? They can not look in the mirror and acknowledge their own shittiness.

Changing the world starts with changing ourselves. I firmly believe that the only way to make a change is if we each as individuals look in the mirror and make a conscious effort to be better people.

As I mentioned on this blog, I grew up in a generation where ableist slurs (lame, retard) were considered okay. Because I want to treat others with the basic decency and respect they deserve, because I know how it feels to be treated with anything less, because I don't want to contribute to a toxic ableist culture, I have make an effort everyday not to use those slurs I grew up with.

Because I understand that using those slurs is ableist, even if I'm not albiest myself.

Everyone has something they need to work on as a person.

And do you really want to be a racist??? Or a sexist? Or any kind of bigot? All prejudice is founded on some irrational, emotional response to an experience. Your wife dumping your sorry ass is not a rational reason to hate all women. One black person being rude to you on Twitter is not a rational reason to hate all black people.

In case it needs to be said, there is no rational reason to hate an entire group of people.

#shit reddit says #black lives matter #me

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entertheolivezone · 8 years ago

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Okay, so made for tv Disney movie time. *cracks knuckles* Descendants 2 time!

Oh shit the evil kids are casting a spell

No, wait...they're singing?

They're singing out how evil they are.

Tina thinks that this probably takes place in the past.

They're giving everyone apples that make them evil.

Oh shit, Mal's mommy issues are back. Like, already. We're not even through the first song.

No, wait, everyone has mommy issue.

The apples made everyone evil and also made they learn a bunch of over-produced dance moves.

OH SHIT MAL'S BEEN STEPFORDED!

Ben's trying to stop her from getting roasted by the press.

Ooh, he sent the press away to stop them from asking uncomfortable questions. That's questionable, politically.

Tina's all mad because part of Mal's good guy makeover is dressing her LIKE BEN'S MOM.

Apparently being the king's girlfriend means running everything.

Mal look

They showed Mal spitting out food at Aladdin and Jasmine's. Fuck you, Mal.

Mal's using magic to keep up! Evie's mad at her! It's all season 6 of Buffy in here!

Tina: *gasp!* They're MAGIC-SHAMING her!

Evie got rid of her mirror? Why? That shit was so useful.

Tina: Yeah Evie, it's weird that Mal's nervous about being the steady girlfriend of the President-For-Life.

TIME FOR SUUUUUUUBTEEEEEEEEEEEXT

Evie's super in respectiability politics.

Jay's really into orgies.

But he doesn't want Carlos there.

Oh my god, are they trying to play Carlos as straight?

OH MY GOD ARE THEY TRYING TO PLAY CARLOS AS STRAIGHT

Well Jane, maybe if you weren't crawling up Mal's ass she wouldn't make evil eyes at you.

Apparently everyone thinks Ben's going to marry Mal. Makes sense, they're all the kids of Disney characters.

Ben's trying to get a stained glass couples picture of him and Mal. I sense a plot point.

Tina: Just wear a sign that says "Desperate," Ben.

Shut up, Jane.

Why is Chad going to Evie for fashion tips? She hates his ass.

Chad's gonna try to usurp. Dang.

After having locker room sex with Jay, apparently.

Evie's got cash now from selling her designs. Upgrade your boyfriend too.

Okay, Ben is trying waaaaaaaaay too hard.

Mal's really easily bought off.

OH SHIT FENCING.

Too much cherography.

Who says FINISH HIM at a fencing match?

Wait, are they just doing Mulan but with Lonnie as Mulan and a fencing team as the Chinese army.

They are.

Chad is sexist, surprising nobody.

As is the rulebook.

Geez Jay, stand up for your friends.

STOP TRYING TO MAKE CARLOS STRAIGHT.

And jeez, don't make him straight so he can date Jane.

Jane sucks.

OOPS FORGOT YOU GREW UP IN ABJECT POVERTY HA HA I'M JANE

Ugh, a friendzone joke.

...did Mal just have an evilgasm?

Wow, going into surprsingly casual detail about Carlos' abusive childhood.

Hey Chad, don't break into other people's rooms while those people are in there.

What's with the 3-D printer stuff?

Mal made Carlos a truth gummy. So he can be honest. About being attracted to Jane. Yeah, sure, whatever you so.

The dog ate the gummi and now we're in a talking dog movie.Wasn't expecting that.

Poor Carlos. Did that dog imply he has crabs?

Welcome to the movie, Hook's kid.

This kid is 500% drama.

I think we're meeting kid!Ursula.

Oh geez, these were the kids who weren't cool enough to join Mal's gang. That's a low bar.

Kid!Ursula is named Uma. I know because they're singing a whole song called " My Name is Uma (please buy my dolls)"

She wants to take over the world because she didn't get into the first movie.

I think Harry Hook is going to be this movie's "character who seems like he want have sex with everyone in every scene he's in." (A role previously held by Ben in the last movie.)

Oh shit, Ursula does not like it when people sing in her bar. Her bar that is mostly populated with teenagers played by twenty year olds.

Harry Hook is getting handsy with Gaston Jr.

Mal is performing traditional feminity to please Ben. Gross.

Uh oh, Ben found her magic book.

Ben, don't be an asshole about this.

Okay Mal, magically date-raping your boyfriend can't be the solution to all of your problems.

Ben doesn't get how the class system works.

Bad saving throw, Ben.

Uh oh, Mal's running away with her lizard mom. Back to Bad Guy island.

Mal, did you forget that everyone hated you back home?

We're getting a leitmotiff from the first movie. Mal's going bad again.

Being King-for-Life can't be that stressful if a dance is your main concern.

At least Ben admits that it's his fault that Mal ran to the island.

Tina: It's so sad that sixteen Ben already realizes that he's doomed to repeat the cycle of abuse he parents went through.

Looks like the old gang is going back to the island. And they're gonna disquise Ben. AWESOME.

Aw, Evie doesn't want to get trapped in the place she had her hellish childhood.

Tina: OH MY GOD THIS IS THE PLOT OF WHITE NIGHTS

Lady Tremaine owns a styling parlor. Yes. Mal's gonna get a re-evil makeover.

Kid!Stepsister is definitely a character who definitely existed before this.

This salon has a giant picture of Lucifer the Cat. Good.

Oh good, they had a spare costume from Katy Perry's California Girls video for Mal to wear.

Harry's trying to intimidate Mal, but she's knows he's Uma's bitch.

Ha ha, Ben's dressed like an evil longshoreman.

All of the ex-evil kids are afraid of being trapped where they had their incredibly abusive childhoods. Ben almost walks into a vent.

Ben, stop wandering off.

Oh, Ben. You sweet, stupid baby.

Are the ex-evil kids teaching Ben about the evils of the class system through song? Yes. Yes, they are.

"Remember the way to be cool is to be oppressed and hopeless."

Ben is having way too fun here.

He just danced into Gaston Jr. And the subtext returns.

Ben's just going into their secret hideout alone? I know he's here to have a serious talk with Mal, but they don't know who else could've moved in.

That dude still doesn't get it. I'd say that he should just leave her alone, but it's obvious her insecurities about fitting in are the root of their problems.

Aw, Mal thinks that the myth of upward social mobility is bullshit and that's why she can't date Ben.

She's so upset about this that she won't even talk to her gal pal!

Harry Hook has grabbed Ben! Those two shouldn't be in the same room together. All of the goggles in the world couldn't contain that much sexual chemistry.

If Mal wants to see Ben again, she'll have to face Uma in a fight that definitely probably won't involve singing and dancing.

Sorry ex-evil kids, Mal's gotta do this alone.

OH SHIT MAL'S SITTING IN A CHAIR BACKWORDS.

"I'M SO FLATTERED THAT YOU DREAM OF ME!"

Uma wants to nail Mal to the wall. In more ways than one.

This is the way all disputes between villains are solved. By arm wrestling.

Uma wants...the fairy Godmother's wand? Is it the first movie again?

They're going to use the previous established 3-D printer to make a fake. What an odd thing to be running plot point.

Girls sure do like talking about hair I guess.

Dizzy just reminded Evie that she'll never be more than an island girl.

Oh geez, now Chad knows about it. And Lonnie.

Tina: They just gave up the whole pretense that this society is a democracy.

Why does Chad think he'll be next in line for the throne?

Dizzy: Boy, it sure sucks being an untouchable.

...are Mal and Evie going to make out?

...ARE MAL AND EVIE BREAKING UP?

Aw, Evie's willing to subject herself to abject poverty to stay with Mal and Mal won't let her.

Now they're having a romantic montage of moments between these two characters as they sing a song about how much they love each other.

Forehead bump of love.

This is one of the least subtle things ever.

Tina: There is no part of this that is not a love song.

And we cut to Jay and Carlos sleeping on top of each other. WELL

I appreciate how much everyone does not want this movie to become a talking dog movie.

Mulan grew a personality in between movies. Tina doesn't know how to feel. On one had, it was well needed. On the other, she's basically a completely different person now.

HARRY HOOK IS STROKING BEN'S FACE WITH HIS HOOK!

Did all of the gay subtext fly out of Carlos and coat everyone else?

...Harry Hook is counting down the minutes until he gets to stick his hook in Ben. His words, not mine.

Ben's trying to get out of this using his one main skill from the first movie: seduction.

He's going all in, but Uma's not buying what he's selling.

Oh great, the talking dog is here.

Everyone's off to save the group's collective boyfriend. (Ben.)

Time for some good old fashioned sing-fight-dancing.

Tina: Is this supposed to a rap battle?

Yes. Yes, it.

"ALL IT TAKES IS ONE SWING AND I'LL HUMILATE HIM."

Oh god, Ben's trying to defuse the situation by seducing a whole crowd at once. I know it worked in the first movie, but this is so not your territory.

Turns out the talking dog thing was a plot point.

Gaston Jr wants Ben to tell his mom that he's still single.

Like, yeah, the wand was fake, but why did Uma just assume that she could do magic?

FIGHT SCENE WITHOUT RAPPING

Well, that extra's dead.

...did Harry and Jay hook up in the past?

Quick, everyone swordfight with whichever character you have the most sexual chemistry with.

Except Evie and Lonnie, who just get extras because we ran out of front-credited characters.

Harry's taking another crack at Ben because of course he is.

The good guys are escaping in a limo because Ben's real power is privilege.

Uh oh, Mal left her evil spellbook behind.

Ben just realized that his duty as King-For-Life is to everyone, not just the people in the magical suburbs.

Lonnie is going to bang Jay SO HARD.

Tina: OH MY GOD THE REAL PROBLEM IS THAT THE GIRLS NEVER LISTEN TO THE GUYS.

Carlos is totally pitching an orgy.

A therapy orgy.

Tina: This is where everyone is realizing that fuck Respectability Politics.

Carlos, that's not the right problem to focus on. Of course Ben's not in love with you just because of the spellbook, that's why he was all mad that you were using it early. Also because you were trying to use magic to wipe his mind.

The dog is trying to get Carlos to be hetrosexual. So that happened.

Tina called Jay using a loophole in the fencing handbook to get Lonnie on the team. By making her captain! And she's gonna make all those boys grovel at her feet.

Ugh, Doug.

Evie, you can do better.

Doug thinks that Evie might be banging Happy's son because he has a dark streak.

Tina: Why can't we see Happy's son? An evil Happy is so much better than Doug!

BOOOOOOOO.

Oh, Carlos is trying to ask out Jane. I repeat, BOOOOOOOOOO.

We went from one of the worst hetro romances in the movie to the other.

Chad needs find his chill.

Evie is trying to establish Dizzy as an up and coming designer to get her off of the island.

Is Jane just dating Carlos to get back at her mom? That's gross. Don't use people like that.

Ew, the manservant just told Mal to work it. She's, like, sixteen. Back off, creepy.

Mal: Father-tested, Mother-approved.

Ben invited Uma! Wow, dude is really doing the groundwork to set up this threeway.

Tina: Ben is going to bring over the villains over one at a time. With his dick.

Nah, it looks like Uma probably used magic to brainwash him. The dude has no luck in the "getting magically brainwashed into dating girls" department.

Or lots of luck in that department, depending on your view of things.

How are they not getting this? This is exactly what THEY did to him last movie?

Tina: They're dancing to an orchestral version of Kiss the Girl. That makes sense.

Boy, now's a dick time to unveil that stained glass window of Mal that Ben comissioned.

Uma used the book to command Ben to bring down the mystical barrier seperating the Island of Poor People from the rest of the country. This is...a bad thing, apparently?

They're doing the thing in which two people stand on opposite sides of a room and try to get the dog to come to them, except with Ben instead of a dog.

True love's kiss, wah wah wah.

Tina: Why's Uma jumping in the water? Me: Maybe she's going to pull an Ursula and turn into a giant octopus woman.

Holy shit, I was kidding.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand now Mal's a dragon.

Think Ben still wants that threesome?

WELL APPARENTLY HE DOES.

Tina: I know Ben's right, but also shut up Ben. I want to see a giant octopus lady fight a dragon.

It took him a while, but Ben finally managed to seduce Uma.

They came so close to having a good message.

Oh, okay. Apparently segregation is wrong, but only in some cases. That's...better, I guess?

And so everyone who didn't live in the island of abject poverty lived happily ever after.

Looks like Carlos is getting that orgy he was gunning for earlier.

Mal and Evie are working the subtext right to the bitter end. And Ben's getting that threesome one way or another.

Oh right, Doug exists.

Tina: Why is everyone dancing in the water? You can tell that the choreographer thought that this would look so much cooler than it does.

I guess Mal and Ben are engaged now? Well, I guess having a wife who can turn into a dragon would come in handy if you were King-For-Life ruling over a bunch of recently deposed royals. Especially since Chad is definitely going to try to overthrow him at some point.

Uma just broke the fourth wall and threatened another sequel.

Hey, they saved the cover of a classic Disney song for the credits.

Tina: Pop cover of Kiss the Girl better than rap cover of Be Our Guest?

Me: It'd pretty much have to be.

#i may have been somewhat intoxicated when i wrote this

18 notes · View notes

yuniesan · 8 years ago

Text

Rucas Adult AU - The Agent and the Hitman

The Agent and the Hitman

Rucas adult au one-shot

This is a short one-shot, about 7,100 words. Maybe one day when I don’t have a million other things to write I’ll come back to this. Well depending on the response I get. If people like it I’ll rewrite the whole thing and put in Lucas’ perspective, as well as everything else I wanted to put into it but couldn’t because I have ideas forming for my other fics right now.

This story was inspired by a conversation I had with @katdvs it’s not a complete story, just an idea

-Tied Up-

Riley’s head hurt, her arms hurt, she couldn’t understand what was happening except that every time she tried to open her eyes the blaring lights above her head only made the migraine worse. She tried to remember how she got there, why she was tied up, where had everything gone absolutely wrong.

“Stop moving,” a rough male voice said, reminding Riley of the person she was running after when everything had gone to hell. She couldn’t help but grunt a curse when she realized that she was tied up, to the one person she never wanted to be tied up to.

“Agent Matthews,” a far off voice said. “It’s about time you joined us.”

“Fuck you,” was all she said as the pounding in her head got worse.

The far off voice laughed, and it sounded vaguely familiar but she couldn’t place it. “I’ll just leave the two of you tied up here while you think of my proposition. Join my ranks, or die. Death would be too easy for you I know, but I’m good at brainwashing federal agents. I just have to break you a little.”

Riley tried to think about it for a second before she spoke. “How about… A big fat no,” she said trying to will the headache to go away, but someone hit her on her back before the door slammed shut leaving her tied up to the one person she didn’t want to be anywhere near at that moment.

She thought about how it had gone south so quickly, she was chasing an infamous hitman, who had been dormant for a few years. Her first big solo assignment, they wanted her to fail because they wanted her out of the unit. Of course a female in a specialized FBI task force was a cause for concern for her colleagues. So they gave her the task of finding and apprehending Lucas Friar. After months of dead ends, she had tracked him down to a small Texas town, where she had run into him literally on the street.

The first thing she did was a rookie mistake, she had been asking about him and hadn’t thought to put her badge away. So of course he ran the moment he saw it, and she chased after him because she knew he could vanish and make her job harder. He was fast but she knew she was faster, she blamed it on years of running from bullies before she joined the track team and began to use it to her advantage. Her agility helped her when she joined the academy, it helped her when she ran the obstacle course, and of course after hard work she had graduated top in her class, only to be stuck with a bunch of sexist pigs in her division who thought women shouldn’t be in a specialized task force.

They ended up in an alley where the two of them had been cornered, and shot in the back with some kind of tranquilizer. She must have hit her head on something on the way down because her head was killing her. Now she was stuck with Lucas Friar tied to her and all her brain could do was try to salvage what was left of her brain cells from the fall. She couldn’t think of how to get out at all.

“So this is interesting,” he said making her realize how close she was when she could feel his breath on her skin. “I never thought I’d get caught, with a federal agent too.”

“I hate you,” she said trying very hard not to bite him in retaliation for running away from her.

“Why were you after me Agent Matthews,” he said and she could feel the smirk he was giving her. “I mean no one has had the balls to come after me in five years, and I stopped killing people about four years ago.”

“Yeah I know, since the DeMarco hit,” she said sighing. “I’ve studied your file, you were just supposed to be the one I needed to catch so the jackasses I work with would finally take me serious. Of course I didn’t think it would end with me being tied to you, and being told to turn on the government.”

“I’m pretty sure they were after me and got you a collateral,” he said. She could feel his muscles move as he tugged on their restraints. “I’m also pretty sure that your precious agency didn’t give you the full file on me.”

That made her open her eyes to face him, she didn’t know what he was talking about and now it was bothering her. “What do you mean?”

He laughed as he gave the chain holding them up a tug. “I think I can get us out of here,” he told her instead. “I’ll explain once we’re out but for now we have to work together.”

Riley gritted her teeth before muttering out “Fine,” because her arms were killing her and she needed an aspirin to deal with the migraine that was attempting to kill her.

It took them another ten minutes before he could yank the chains hard enough to pull them off the ceiling. She noticed that they hadn’t been bolted very well to the ceiling but she didn’t care once her arms were no longer trapped. The problem was that they were still tied to one another.

“This will have to do for now,” he said as he took her hand and pulled her towards the door.

“How long have you been awake?” she said once they were on the other side of the room.

“I woke up about twenty minutes before you did, and I got the same speech they gave you, although I used more curse words and I probably spit at one of the guards.”

“Bully for you,” she said trying not to smack him once. She had the urge to but she didn’t do it.

They worked together for a good hour getting around the warehouse where they were being held, it was made up of corridors and boxes. They were as quiet as they could be, sneaking around a large number of guards before they found a door that went outside. The door had an alarm, but Riley knew how to bypass the whole system so she worked to get them out which was harder than she expected but it was also doable. Once they made it outside they were once again sneaking around guard after guard until Friar pulled her towards a nearby car and pushed her inside.

“We’re not going to hotwire a car now, we don’t have time,” she said but instead he opened the glove compartment and pulled out the keys. “Well that works too.”

“Never doubt stupid henchmen, they will be their own downfall,” he said smiling before pulling away. The alarms went off the moment they noticed the car moving, especially since they were inside of the car and the windows weren’t tinted. pressed down on the gas and they flew through the gates as they drove as fast as they could.

“The care probably has a tracker,” she said looking around to see if anyone was following them. “We need to ditch it.”

“I’m getting us there,” he said winding through the streets. “Where are we anyway?”

“I know where we are and that’s all that matters,” he said as they made it to an alley and he stopped the car only to yank her out.

“My arms are still attached to these things Friar,” she screamed at him as he pulled.

“No time just move it,” he said pulling her into another alley and rushing them through the darkened streets. She didn’t know what time it was but considering the lack of people around them it was late enough they nobody would question the fact that they were tied to one another. After a series of turns and several alleys they were inside of a garage the was barely lit by the street light. He pulled her into what looked like an RV and sat her down.

“Where are we?”

“This is my emergency escape plan, originally it was supposed to be just me, but in the end I have a guest, and a partner,” he said as he pulled out a case and pulled out some tools. “We need to get on the road as soon as possible.”

“I have to go back to my field office,” she started but he stopped her.

“You’re being set up,” he said. “I don’t know why, and I’ll explain once we’re on the road but first we need to get out of these cuffs, and even our clothes. They could have put trackers in them.”

“You want to run me through a microwave while you’re at it to make sure they didn’t implant me with something.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

“Really,” she said surprised by his answer.

“Precautions need to be made, I’m not going to give up my retirement because some idiot with the urge to take over the world put a tracker in my skin.”

“Fine you win, geez,” she said as she watched him pick the lock on the cuffs that bound them to one another. “Maybe we could go to one of those MRI places you see in big cities, one of those would fry it easily.”

“Good thinking,” he said as his wrist came free. “I will used these on you if you try to run from me. These men aren’t all that friendly.”

“Says the assassin,” she said as she rolled her eyes. He gave her a strange look before he set to work on her cuffs. He made quick work of getting them off only to reveal angry welts, and cuts from when they were bolted to the ceiling. Without a word he walked to the kitchen area pulled out a first aid kit and dressed her wounds. After wards he pointed out the back and told her to get cleaned up before starting the RV and driving off.

They found one of those MRI places and he made quick work checking for trackers using the machines but he didn’t find anything. She was glad that nothing showed up, because it felt wrong for them to do anything like that. When they were on the road again, she finally cleaned up dressing in a pair of his sweats and an overly large shirt that if it were on him would look like it was a second skin.

“Where are we going?” she asked when she realized that they had been on the road for several hours.

“A Safe house,” was all he said before he got quiet again.

Riley wanted to ask him about what he wanted to explain to her about her job, but instead worked on finding them something to eat. Mostly what they had were canned goods which meant that his companion didn’t normally hide out in an RV that was meant to drive cross country. She gave him some food before settling on the table trying to remember why she wanted to work as an agent in the first place. It had something to do with her need to fix everything in middle school, and protecting the people she loved, but now she was on the run and Friar wouldn’t let her get to a phone.

--Safe House--

“Get up,” someone said as they pushed on her shoulder. Riley wanted nothing more than to roll over and wrap herself up in a blanket, but when she turned over she fell onto the floor if the RV.

It took her a minute to realize where she was, and then she remembered the very real assassin she had fallen asleep next to.

“Crap,” she said as she scrambled to get up, she couldn’t believe that she had let her guard down next to him.

“Take your time,” he said with a smirk on his face and she couldn’t deal with him doing that.

She rushed to her feet only to sway into his arms from the blood rushing to her head, her brown eyes met his green and she could feel her traitor heart jumped from the contact. Muttering a thanks she quickly rushed out of his arms and rushed back to sit down on the seat. He moved to the back of the RV and walked out a moment later with a bag in his hand, before climb out of the RV and gesturing for her to follow him. They didn’t talk on their way into a cabin that was just off to the side of the RV. Once inside he pointed at the couch before slowly check the perimeter of the house, and checking the rooms.

When he walked back towards where she was sitting he faced her, giving her the first real look at his bright green eyes. Her heart skipped once again and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had met him before.

“I take it that you haven’t realized that we know each other,” he said causing her eyes to go wide with the realization that he looked like someone but she couldn’t place it. “Kindergarten in New York, you were five at the time, I was six. I had to miss a year because I had to have surgery for an accident so I started the same time you did.”

She remembered his face, he looked so sad and quiet at the time, but they quickly became friends along with Maya who she still knew and Farkle, who now runs his father’s company. “You left in first grade, I remember crying for months because you were gone.”

“We moved to Texas, since my dad was in the military, and after Texas we were in Europe and probably another twelve countries after that,” he said a sadness in his eyes. “I’m glad you remember.”

“I still don’t understand any of this,” she said wondering all of a sudden why the people she worked with sent her into a situation that she couldn’t handle, why the little boy she had a crush on when she was a child is in front of her, a known assassin.

He sighed before pulling himself off the couch he had sat down on and walking over to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, she watched him the whole time trying to place the face of the little boy she remembered with the man standing in front of her.

“I’ll start from the beginning,” he said as he made his way back to her. “I was recruited by the CIA after college, my father being who he was gave me an automatic in with any government agency. They made it seem as though I was the rouge agent that I left but I was actually in deep cover for five years working with several syndicates and governments while at the same time I sent back information to our government.”

“But, why would my division give me your file and tell me to prove myself?”

“I think that they were using me as a way to give you to the cartel, you’re a high level asset in the FBI considering your mother’s job as a lawyer, she’s very good at what she does, in the end they want someone she’s working against freed and they would do anything… including turning her daughter into one of their cronies, or even slaves.”

Riley sat there as everything sunk in, her mother was in the middle of what is called the trial of the century, as her firm was tasked with making sure that the leader of a Mexican drug cartel, who was responsible for the death of three senators, and several embassy employees, would be sentences to death.

“You mean to tell me,” she whispered thinking about her job and the men she worked with. “They set me up to fail… but for what?”

“What else,” he said looking up at her. “For money, I was in Texas because I was tasked with finding you, and making you think that you were on my tail when I was actually supposed to extract you and bring you back with me. Apparently your location was also given to others. I wasn’t expecting them to catch up with us so soon, hence we got tied up together.”

“Are we safe here? Is my family safe?”

“Your family is under protection, they thought you were safe until the intelligence came in that your team had gone rogue, each of them were paid over ten million each for information on you and your capture. Although they might all die now considering they don’t have you.”

Riley stood up not knowing what to do and started pacing around the room. “I don’t know what to think, or what I have to do.”

“We’re staying here tonight, tomorrow we’re taking the car and driving to headquarters,” he said looking at her. “The bathroom is over there and the closet is filled with clothes for both men and women, I suggest you get something comfortable on in case… well in case everything goes to shit.”

She nodded and walked off towards the only bedroom in the whole cabin, there was only one bed, taking up the space, the closet was the size of a large bedroom, filled to the brim with clothing. She walked in looking for anything in her size, grabbing shoes and shirts, sadly none of the underwear seemed to fit her so when she went into the bath room she washed her panties in the sink and held them out to dry.

Turning on the shower she grabbed a towel and placed it as close to the tub as she could. Once inside she washed her hair and scrubbed her skin before the tears began to flow. She had been trying to make it in a division that was mostly made out of men, who in the end probably only asked for her because of who she was.

When she finished she walked out and got dressed, packing her underwear into a bag she found in the closet she packed some extra clothes for herself along with a pair of converse. She picked up a pair of boots and put them on, the converse were for when they were in the city, she knew that if they had to run in the middle of the night she needed to have the boots on to deal with the climb through the hills behind the cabin.

Lucas was still sitting in the living room when she walked out from the room, he had several guns in front of him, and he was clean shaven which meant that he had gone to shower in the RV while she was cleaning herself up.

“What now?” she asked as he looked up to meet her eyes.

“Get some rest, wake up early and keep moving,” he said.

“I’ll take first watch,” she said knowing that he hadn’t slept at all but he shook his head.

“I can function on a lot less sleep than you, I’ve had years of practice. Mainly because I was always alert, the only time I ever slept through the night since I started this job was when I was in an underground bunker run by the agency, so just rest.”

She nodded before walking back to the room and laying her head down, she thought she had slept enough while they had been driving but for some reason her eyes became heavy and she found herself falling asleep.

---On the Run---

Riley nearly screamed when a hand was placed over her mouth, and a heavy body was on top of her dragging her to the ground.

“They’re here,” Lucas said as he pulled her towards the closet. He grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulders. When they were inside of the closet Lucas dug through the back of the closet before opening a small hatch and pushing her towards it.

“Where does this go?” she whispered.

“It leads to an underground tunnel,” he said as they made their way through the hole in the wall. Lucas had a pack on his own back, which made Riley wonder when he had the chance to pack it, but then remembered the guns he had and the fact that he was an undercover agent for the CIA.

They walked in silence for an hour, the tunnel was long but also very dark. Lucas made sure they took the right turns each them they reached a fork in the tunnels. Riley didn’t say a word, she was trained to get through any kind of op they sent her on, even though she only wanted to be a profiler and catch the bad guys. She was never supposed to be in this kind of danger. The kind where her life as well as the lives of everyone she knew was at stake.

Once they were out of the tunnels, Riley was faced with another dilemma they were in the woods without the car they were supposed to have, and she wasn’t sure if he had packed food. Instead he grabbed her hand and pulled her forward, she followed without stopping without thinking. They had to keep moving through the dark woods, neither one of them spoke as they walked. Riley made sure to keep up, grabbing a long branch that she could use to steady herself as well as a weapon if she needed to use it.

They had walked for hours, when the sun was directly over them she knew it was close to midday. She learned that from years of camping with her Uncle Shawn, he took pictures and taught her to use a camera, he also taught her to survive in serious situations. She needed to thank him one day for that.

Lucas stopped when they reached the river and sat down, digging through his bag and handing her a bottle of water.

“I put some food in your pack while you were sleeping,” he said as he took a quick drink. “If we ration it we could make it through this in a few days without them knowing where we were.”

“Thank you,’’ she said looking at him. “For everything, when I started this I didn’t realize that you were that little boy. Now you saved me like you did back when we were kids and I slipped off the trail and you pulled me up from that ditch.”

“I had a different last name back then, we used my mother’s maiden name when we lived in New York, and it was because it was for our protection.”

“Your parents were brave people if that was the life you lived.”

“Yes they were, they gave me what I needed to keep going and I’m grateful for that.”

They stayed silent as the river rushed by in front of them, Riley lost in her thoughts about that life, and how it influenced her into going into the FBI. She wanted to find that little boy because she thought someone horrible had happened to him. Now he was sitting next to her looking like he had aged faster than he should have because of the work he took on. He wasn’t the same little boy, but she hoped that the same little boy who once talked about saving animals when he was six years old, and saved her life on that trail so long ago was still hidden somewhere in there. For now, they just needed to keep moving even though her legs felt like jelly from being on foot for so long.

They began to walk up stream hoping to find a crossing or else they would have to swim, they almost lost hope when they found an empty cabin not far from where they had begun to walk.

“How did they find us?” she asked once they had gotten inside. Lucas looked up at her as though he had been thinking the same thing but couldn’t think of anything. “Maybe there was something on our clothes, and even though we check our skin we didn’t think to check the clothing.”

“I checked, while you were in the MRI machine Riley, there was nothing.”

“Shoes maybe,” she sighed. “It had to be something or else how would they be able to track us.”

“I don’t know but if they’re still behind us we need to keep moving.”

“Yeah, let’s just rest here for a little while, check for anything we can find and keep moving.”

Their stop hadn’t lasted long before Lucas found a truck in the back, it was an old 1970’s model and that’s when it hit her. “The car,” she said looking at him. “Both the car and the RV had GPS systems, that’s how they found us.”

“Shit,” he muttered before looking at her. “That means that the car we stole had the ability to track any nearby vehicles so of course it tagged the GPS in the RV.”

“So that means whoever is running this, whatever it is, well they’re either pretty smart or they have someone on the inside who knows what they’re doing.”

“Well if we take this truck the odds of them finding us is very slim, but we might need to change our looks a bit so we don’t stand out like a sore thumb.”

“There was a bottle of hair dye in the back and I could cut my hair too,” she said thinking about how much they were going through just to get to Virginia. She didn’t want to go to the FBI fearing that they had a leak inside of her division, and not knowing who was on their side, the only option was to go to the CIA with Lucas and hope for better results.

Riley worked on her hair for an hour, dyeing and cutting it into a bob cut, she had gone from a medium brunette to a dark black color. Lucas buzzed his hair short and grabbed a baseball cap from one of the bedrooms. When she was done she looked like a different person, and she realized that the old Riley was gone the minute her unit sold her out just to get to her mother.

They were on the road again soon after Lucas found the car keys, he made sure there was no GPS system on the car, no electronics, not even a radio. Anything that could be used to track them was gutted out of the car. Lucas called his handler while they were on the road, giving him a code. Riley could only think about the craziness everything that was happening. They talked about their lives since they last saw each other, she told him about her little brother, her father being her teacher, the fact that she had never really fell in love. He told her about his family’s travels, growing up in Europe learning languages, and wondering why they had moved so often. They caught up and it made her heart ache thinking about how their lives would have been different if their families weren’t so work oriented.

They were an hour out of Virginia when they stopped at an old camp ground, Riley noticed that Lucas was falling asleep at the wheel, that when she realized that he hadn’t slept since they woke up tied to one another.

“You need to sleep,” she said looking at him.

“I know,” he said. “Four hours at the most.”

It was dark outside no one would know that they were there since they hid the car behind a large set of bushes. Lucas pulled out some sleeping bags that they had brought at a second hand store and laid them on the bed of the truck. They both set up their things in case they needed to ditch the car in a hurry and she watched the sky as he fell asleep next to her. She felt her eyes close soon after, her dreams were filled with thoughts of being caught and tortured until they got what they wanted. It wasn’t the best sleep she had ever had.

----Something More----

When Riley woke up in the middle of the night she felt warmer than the weather that surrounded her during the final days of summer. She was the little spoon as she felt the warm breath behind her neck. Lucas was behind her holding her close, and it made her feel safe, while at the same time awakening her sense. She tried to move but he pulled her closer and breathed in her scent, which only sent shivers down her spine.

“Lucas,” she called out to him hoping to wake him up. “Lucas you need to wake up.”

When he pulled her even closer to his body, she could feel his growing erection which only made her more aware of the fact that she hadn’t been in a relationship since Charlie during her freshman year of college. They had dated throughout high school and only broke up after he went cross country to school. They tried to work, they ended up breaking up half way through the year because they couldn’t deal with the long distance. At the time she was relived because she hadn’t really loved him, although she liked him as a friend over the years, but it didn’t feel complete to her. Now in Lucas’ arms she felt the tingling feeling on her skin, the rapid beat of her heart, and the pooling sensation in her belly.

“Lucas,” she said jostling him hoping he would wake up.

“I don’t know if it’s the rush of what we’re going through or the fact that I haven’t had a woman in my arms for a long time, but I want to revel in this sensation a little longer,” he said but instead of keeping her close he pulled away. “But I know this is not the time, but maybe one day.”

“Yeah,” she said missing the warmth of his body against hers.

They were on the road soon after, as the sun slowly rose over the horizon, neither spoke about what had happened while they were asleep. As they reached CIA headquarters Riley realized that maybe her journey with Lucas was coming to an end. She didn’t think that she could truly let go of him that easily, the sadness she had once had over him when he left her so long ago was coming back.

They walked through the front doors, soon they were greeted by Lucas’ handler as well as a group of agents who worked within a special division. They were escorted towards a lower level floor and debriefed on what happened. Everything was a reminder of what she had lived through in the last 48 hours, her life would never be the same.

“Riley,” Mr. James, Lucas’ handler said. “I want to extend my apologizes over what has happened, but we would also like to offer you a job here, and a mission.”

“What kind of mission,” she said thinking about how changing agencies would change what she did.

“A double agent,” he said looking at her. Lucas watching them with wide eyes. “Someone in your field office is setting all of this up. You will walk through the doors with Lucas, acting as though you’re bringing him in. Together I want the two of you to infiltrate the office, copy the files and get out as soon as possible.”

“Do you know who is doing this?” she asked curious to see what they already knew.

“We’re not sure who is under their command, but we know that the director and the deputy director both had substantial cash withdrawals within the last twenty-four hours. This all stems from the case your mother is working on.”

“They hired me, they interviewed me,” she said thinking back. “They knew who I was, who my mother was when I went in there and they used that to their advantage.”

“Will you work with us?”

“Yes,” she said as she stood up.

Other agents flooded the room handing Riley everything from her hotel room back in Texas, her spare badge her suits even her hand cuffs. They needed to make it work, so they ripped through her clothes to make it seem as though she had been dragging Lucas with her since Texas. The two of them made their way back to the car that they had stolen from the cabin, Lucas was cuffed to the door on one side, and to her on the other. He had been given weapons in his shoes, but if they took them away from him he would be going in their blind.

The drive to the FBI offices wasn’t long, the two of them rehearsed what they were going to say as they drove over, and once inside the building they were escorted to the interrogation rooms near her office. Lucas sat inside while Riley began logging into the system to file her report, she was fabricating everything while a small drive given to her by a woman named Smackle, was running through the FBI servers in her sector.

Riley felt her heart pounding as her bosses called her into the office and congratulated her for capturing a known assassin, they offered her a drink but she declined. Telling them that she wanted to finish her report and catch up on her work before the end of the day, which included interrogating Lucas.

As the day went on she realized that they were keeping her from the interrogation room with Lucas, she wasn’t leaving until she saw him. The CIA had sent over papers stating that Lucas was their jurisdiction and was to be handed over promptly, which actually meant that they were going to extract him. He left soon afterwards with his handler acting as one of the agents there to pick him up.

She got ready and went home for the first time since the whole thing happened, forty-eight hours of her life filled with a crazy cross country chase. When the cab dropped her off in front of her building she felt like she was going to be able to make it through everything.

Her revere didn’t last long, once she was in the apartment someone grabbed her and pushed her against the wall. She didn’t stop to think and grabbed her side arm and hit the attacker with it. Soon after someone else was behind her pulling her towards the bedroom, she grabbed the lamp on her end table in the living room and used it as a weapon against her attackers. When her hands were free she activated the alarm under the table and grabbed the nearest thing she could use as a weapon as the first guy found his footing. She couldn’t shoot them, they needed to be alive because she was sure that they could lead them to whoever was pulling the strings behind their operation.

She swung at the first guy when the second one grabbed her leg and pulled her to the ground. She could feel all of the air get knocked out of her lungs as she hit the ground. The front door swung open and someone dressed in black appeared, pulling out a gun and shooting at the two men in her apartment.

Riley felt herself trying to catch her breath as the man who burst into the apartment was followed by two others. She saw his green eyes through his mask and realized it was Lucas.

“You didn’t kill them did you?” she said looking at the two bodies on the ground.

“Nah, used a tranquilizer on them so they should be out for a while,” he said smiling at her. “You did good.”

“Yeah well I want to live,” she said smiling back at him.

The two men were taken out of the apartment, soon after the paramedics showed up to check her over. She only had bruises, so she went with Lucas and his handler to the CIA to talk.

Her bosses were arrested not long after she left, along with most of the agents in her unit, apparently they had all been dirty, and the hidden files showed it. They asked about what had happened while she had been in the office, as well as the drink she had declined. They had tested the glass to find trace amount of some unknown drug, which meant that they wanted to make sure that she was taken to whoever was pulling the strings.

“Do I even have a job?” she asked once they debriefed her on everything. “I need a job.”

“The offer still stands,” Mr. James said. “We do need a couple to go undercover in the United Kingdom, and you both would work out perfectly since you worked so well together just to get here.”

“What about my family?”

“They’re alright, after the trial your family will be placed on protective custody and given a new identity until we take down the cell responsible for everything. The reason we need someone overseas is because the cell in question runs deep and together the two of you would infiltrate their ranks and give us the information we need to take them down.”

“So what we’ll be married?” Lucas asked looking at the man in front of him.

“Yes, and both of you will have jobs within their ranks from the moment you walk through the door, Riley you’re going to be the granddaughter of the man who works as our informant, he’s already high up. The story is that you were raised in the states and only recently learned that he was your grandfather.”

“So what I give up my family, my life for this job?”

“Either that or you go into protective custody and run for the rest of your life.”

-----Married Life-----

Riley and Lucas both took on the assignment, they were to go into deep cover a month after what had happened with her first job. They worked on photoshopping Riley’s new life, including a wedding and reception, as well as a honeymoon between the two of them. In the months since, Riley and Lucas have intergraded into their lives with her so called grandfather. The two of them kissed on occasion to make everything look real but with each moment they shared Riley remembered that moment on the back of the truck and the fact that Lucas made her feel something deep within her.

One day she decided to take charge of the situation, after a party both of them had to attend, she pulled him aside and into a nearby corner, but when she kissed him he had just used it as a way to keep their targets from knowing what they were up to. She felt stupid for using a mission to act out on her growing feelings. They finished their work, acting as though they were going to make out in the nearby room, broke into the computer and took what they needed. Making sure to ruffle up their clothes and hair in case anyone walked in. Most of the men thought it was adorable because they were still in their honeymoon phase but for Riley she only wished that something would actually happen.

They worked like this during several events, before Riley started getting frustrated, but she also knew that she was working and couldn’t really talk to Lucas about it. Months went by the investigation turned up leads for the agencies working with them so when the mission was over and the two of them went back to the states for their debriefing Riley felt like she had gotten nowhere. They were assigned a job in Boston together, once again married and working within the same organization they had been working with overseas but Riley’s frustrations only grew. Her life with Lucas, her life on the job, she felt like she was getting nowhere especially since she wanted to be a profiler and not an undercover agent.

“Riley,” Lucas called to her one day when she was lost in her own head. “Earth to Riley,” he waved his hand in front of her face.

“Sorry,” she said after a minute. “I guess I lost myself in my own thoughts.”

“I need to talk to you about something,” he said as he sat down in front of her. “I know that we’re not really in a position to date other people, and under the eyes of the law our marriage is legal for all intents and purposes because of what we do.”

“Lucas,” she said stopping him before he could continue. “If you don’t want to be with me just tell me.”

“I want to be with you, I’ve wanted to be with you for a while. All of the times we kissed I’ve had to stop myself from jumping on top of you because we had a mission at hand. We still do, but in the end I guess that we should date.”

“You want to date your wife,” she said looking at him as if he were offering her the world. “Finally, I never thought you would ask.”

“Seriously you didn’t say anything either,” he said to her.

“I tried but instead I would kiss you and you would act that it was for the mission and in the end… I guess we need to work on our communication skills outside of the job don’t we.”

“Yes, and I think we should start with a date this Friday night, at that little Bistro on the corner.”

She smiled at him, “So can we institute a date night, so we would have to talk about anything but the mission?”

“Yes, and we can talk about stupid things and watch movies, and when we’re done with this mission we can move to the middle of nowhere and start our lives there if we have to because honestly I don’t think I want to be an agent anymore.”

“That works for me,” she said as she wrapped her arms around him. “We’ll be Mr. and Mrs. Smith until we’re done and then we’ll disappear, I think we could go to the mountains somewhere and just start our lives there.”

“Mountains you say,” he laughed. “How about just upstate New York, a small city, or a medium sized town, somewhere that we can have a life.”

“We’re planning our lives like we know this will happen.”

“Well in our business, it’s nice to find something to look forward to.”

“Yes it is.”

#riley matthews #lucas friar #rucas adult au #rucas fanfic #rucas #rucas fanfiction #theagentandthehitman #liley #liley fanfic #liley fanfiction #this is what happens when I'm trying to get an idea out of my head #the longer version will probably have more adult scenes #riley x lucas

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ruffoverthinksthings · 8 years ago

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The Xiongnu and You: A Headcanon Guide to Mulan’s “Huns” in the Descendants Verse

What do you think happened to the Huns after they were sent to the Isle? Personally, I think that Auradon sent most of the Xiongnu (Shan Yu's people) to the isle to avoid future problems.

In my opinion, I think Mulan would have been a better movie if we had mention on why the Huns attacked China. I think it would have shown more than the ‘Good’ vs. ‘Evil’ mentality. I mean, wars happen for a reason, either a legitimate or stupid reason, but a reason regardless.

Like what if the war was because Shan Yu wanted to expand his empire for goods and the economy.

For my fic that I’m writing, I’ve been doing research on Shan Yu’s people, the Xiongnu and the Chinese relations and it’s a lot more complicated than ‘Oh, he’s attacking because he’s evil.’

Wouldn’t been interesting if Shan Yu was a little more complex? Like yeah, he invaded a country and burned down a town, but who's to say that the Chinese army didn’t burn down a Xiongnu village. We only see from Mulan’s POV, so we didn’t see everything at happened during the war throughout all of China.

War is complex and tricky and when written down, it is in the POV of the winners.

My oc, who’s the daughter of Shan Yu is not evil, although she is not the friendliest of people, she takes pride in her people and heritage. I can see her being pissed off in history class at Auradon Prep when they are going through Chinese history and they are portraying her people as barbarians. She states that it’s more complex than that.

@mazuru7

Yes, Auradon did in fact send some or most of the Xiongnu people (or “Huns,” as Mulan misnames them) because of the War with China, and their history before that. Little bit of background context, a mix of historical accounts and my own headcanons because Mulan is an anachronistic mess as is:

The war depicted in the movie happens after the Warring States Period, where the six states of Han, Zhao, Yan, Wei, Chu, and Qi, were conquered and unified by the seventh Qin state, and became the first unified “China.” In my research, there was mention of them expanding into the territories occupied by nomadic people like the Xiongnu, and even the Xiongnu being conquered and enslaved by the various Chinese states during, and before this period.

During the Han Dynasty, the period where the “Great Wall” was built, they have been mentioned to have repeatedly attacked and invaded China, the progress of their societies relying entirely China’s because they constantly sought and demanded “tribute” from them, had marriages between the Xiongnu and China (that didn’t last long or were successful, politically speaking, and weren’t popular decisions--“humiliating” is a word used), and some Chinese leaders that hired Xiongnu generals, only to have them turn against their masters and start their own independent states.

Whether this is necessity after having lost their lands and being forced to rely on China for their daily needs, or the same greed and lust for power that leads other states to go on military conquest and dominate others, is up to you.

What I can say definitively, though, is that yes, the War and Shan Yu’s behaviour was much more than just “Oh, he’s evil.” In Mulan, China is painted as this noble, civilized society that is fighting a war of self-defense, but History is Written by the Winners indeed, and it’s not like many pinnacles of society and progress didn’t bloody their hands and have some ugly, ugly pasts indeed.

Examples and the rest of this long piece below.

Rome was a big fan of the coliseum and going to war to expand their territory, and much of their infrastructure ran on slavery,

Western Europe, which most of Auradon belongs to, invaded, robbed, and conquered numerous countries and indigenous peoples for their own selfish needs, and

America had many sordid business in becoming the “Shining City on the Hill,” like the extermination of Native American tribes, African-American Slavery, and of course, their less than glorious wars, such as the Iraq war.

That the Chinese may have also burned a Xiongnu village is just one “evil” action among many: as mentioned above, the Chinese were the ones that invaded, conquered, and enslaved the nomadic Xiongnu people, and I don’t doubt that what accounts we do have were heavily biased.

Who’s to say that all of the behaviours we’ve seen from them—the raids, the faltering marriages, the betrayal of their Chinese masters—wasn’t done from desperation, necessity, and a desire to turn away from the tyrants that had “corralled them like farm animals,” as I assume Shan Yu might say?

There was also the possibility that before China fused with Auradon, emboldened by their victory against the Huns and the marriage alliance in Mulan’s sequel, they were already well on their way to pushing back against the Xiongnu, exterminating or scattering them to the point where historians don’t even bother to mention them anymore.

Maybe all of the Xiongnu were thrown onto the Isle, maybe some of them were spared, but I can guarantee you that the ones that did end up there alongside Shan Yu are very bitter about their situation, to say the least.

They harbour an inherent distrust and disgust towards Auradon and especially that of China, seeing them as tyrants masquerading as “the Good Guys,” and would rather die before they subscribe to Maleficent’s rule. I imagine that they actually separated from the Isle society at large, ruling either a mountainous, hostile region of the wilds, or being a third party vying for territory and control over the Badlands alongside Queen La and Scar.

Like with China, I’d imagine they frequently get into military and violent conflict with the “inland” Islanders, fighting with them for scraps and disrupting Maleficent’s operations to secure necessary supplies and luxuries, much like the “tributes” from China from before, only much more desperate.

In line with this, the Xiongnu VKs aren’t really part of the culture, seen as outsiders, troublemakers, and enemies that you should never consider working with—if Shan Yu’s Descendant is portrayed as also going to Dragon Hall rather than coming over to raise hell every once in a while, I’m assuming it’s a “know your enemy” sort of deal rather than them “willingly being indoctrinated by your petty immortal empress.”

Both the adults and the kids culture likely relies on these key tenements.

Unbreakable In-Group Loyalty, “the Horde above all else,” with them refusing to be abusive or cruel to each other unless someone truly gets out of line

Militaristic Society, based on a strict hierarchy that decides who controls how many soldiers, who organizes the raids, and who gets to parcel out the spoils of war and who gets to enjoy the “tributes” they extract from Maleficent or the other residents

Shan Yu and his descendants being at the top of this hierarchy, by virtue of infamy and “still having it” when it comes to fending off challengers

“Taker” Mentality, in that they don’t even bother to set up any form of agriculture or permanent living like their ancestors, living true to their nomadic past by shuffling around the Isle and raiding what they need from Maleficent

Strong Emphasis On Military Training And Martial Prowess, though instead of horseback archery, it’s now guerilla tactics, using stealth, shock, and the element of surprise to catch their enemies unaware, or pilfer all of the enemies goods without them ever noticing you’re there

Deity-like Worship To Horses And The “Great Lands Of Old,” a myth they propagate about a bountiful land of pastures where they were free to ride and live, until the “Conquerors” (the Chinese) came, greedily took everything from themselves, forced the Xiongnu to attack them out of desperation, and had the gall to call them the cruel, heartless barbarians and separate them from their ancestral lands forever, trapping them in a hellhole where they would be trapped behind a barrier, forever forced to longingly look at it, but never able to return

Please note that the above is just the Xiongnu belief, and could be actual history from the perspective of the “losing” side, propaganda, or a mix of both, as serves their needs to spur and combine their people towards one common enemy.

Should you, or anyone else wish to play a VK that is either Shan Yu’s descendant (male, female, or non-binary, it doesn’t matter as they’re still of Shan Yu’s blood and sexist ideals falter in the face of need and the lack of infrastructure to support it), or a member of their “Horde,” here’s some behaviours, scenarios, and beliefs you may find useful and a springboard for your ideas:

Anti-Establishment Beliefs, thinking the current state of Auradon like one “giant, gold-plated and gem-encrusted toilet your ‘glorious leader’ sits on like it’s actually a throne,” being disgusted with the laws, rules of civility, and systemic means of oppressing the people and “keeping them in place,” along with a strong desire to rebel, establish their own “free” society, possibly coordinating with the Sidekick League and other outcasts like the Merry Men and Maidens

Strong Anti-Consumer Culture Bent, mostly because I headcanon China as a giant producer and consumer of goods, and they see that the rampant “buy, buy, buy” for more convenience, comfort, and speed has made the Auradonian people “fat, useless, and lazy”

Frequent Run-Ins With the Royal Guard, for raising trouble, stealing without remorse, or intentionally provoking them into combat to test their skills. Because the Guard has spent 20 years without any real fights or combat, and the veterans of actual war are retired or in desk jobs for ageing, the Guard fails, and fails BADLY in the face of the Xiongnu VKs—oftentimes, it takes one hit to down them and they’re disgusted that they don’t even try to get back up

Tourney and Other Sports Emphasis, their way of legally engaging with “war” with the AKs without getting into trouble, treating the trophies like conquests, and abusing the system to gain privilege, legitimacy, and numbers with their new “horde.” I wouldn’t be surprised if they make up a new Xiongnu people united by love of sports, and get in bloody conflict with the Tourney fans from Greece, Sparta especially.

Love Of Horses And The Outdoors, being the ones able to tame and ride the “can’t tame ‘em, can’t ride ‘em” steeds in the stables of Auradon, fond of exploring the forests of Sherwood, the hills of Dunbroch, and the mountains of Arendelle, and generally finding careers as either environmental preservationists, forest rangers, shepherds, or a new breed of highwaymen and raiders making hell for Auradon at large

Alienation And Constant Conflict With The Regular VKs, such as the Rotten Four, the Second Wavers (Freddie, CJ, Zevon, Uma, Gil, Harry, and the rest of the Pirate Crew), and any Third-Onwards Wavers you can think of. These kids were not friends nor even frenemies on the Isle, have probably gotten into some very unfriendly disagreements, and still see each other as competition, what stands between them and getting to eat today or starve, bruised and battered physically and emotionally.

If you have more questions, or you feel this was unsatisfactory, please feel free to ask.

#the xiongnu and you #Descendants #Disney #headcanon

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