#source of panic 2: i think my mom is mad at me

[starbuck]

this is so funny… i wake up panicking and decide to watch some movies to calm down, watch panic-inducing movies and go “why am i still panicking??”

[imarson404]

Is the death note 2015 drama good?

I’d say yeah, actually. It really was! 8, maybe 8.5 out /10.

i have to be real, I seriously loved watching this series, particularly the second half. I’ll do a spoiler free review first, but I do think I need to make it clear that I did not watch this in the conventional way let’s just say. My sibling and I watched this through a nearly 200 video long playlist of 2 minute clips on YouTube, in Japanese (duh) with Portuguese subtitles- note that neither of us speak Portuguese, nor Japanese, and are only vaguely competent in Spanish and French respectively, so my experience of the series may be a little skewed to how it may come off in its original or properly subbed versions. I cannot speak on how the writing was for the dialogue, for example, but I can talk about the plot, characterisation, etc.

if you want to watch any live action adaptation (that’s not the musical, because GO WATCH THAT) it had better be this one.

SPOILER FREE REVIEW STARTS HERE

first off, the changes. Boy were there changes. Practically the entire plot takes a hard left right from the start, and it keeps on going from there. Vague outlines, like Yotsuba and misa and Mikami and yellow box warehouse remain, but the circumstances are all vastly different. i adored the changes to both Watari and L’s relationship, and both of theirs with near and… Mello. I don’t think it really spoils much for me to say that for some reason known by only the writers of that series and god, Mello is made an alter of Near’s that is represented by a ventriloquist dummy. i also will never be the same after this version of soichiro and Light’s relationship. The fact they seem closer yet more distant, and the parentification of light drives a wedge and brings them together at the same time. As much as I LOVE the original version of them, there is something just more utterly devastating about these two here. The mock execution for example ends with light clinging onto his father while they both sob, and I’m not even joking when I say that it brought me to tears.

speaking of parentification, the reason for that is Dead Mom Trauma. Yeah they killed off Sachiko (which I’m not counting as a spoiler because it’s revealed within the first episode and has no plot relevance other than giving light MORE motive). I’m not too sure why this was necessary, and it’s this type of slightly contrived writing that drops its rating a bit for me. This didn’t need to happen

on the topic of light, he is a VERY different character in this. He’s messier, a nervous wreck half the time, smart but not so infallible as anime or manga light. He panics with raye penber, panics with light, IS A MISA MISA FAN and has a job. He has a best friend and a bully. He’s more average, and knows loss, and his decline is less of a sharp drop off than it is a slow painful descent into utter madness and evil. He’s a babygirl until suddenly you see a flashback and realise he’s not that guy anymore

Ryuk is great. An annoying bastard who watches on through the end.

Misa is also pretty good. She’s pretty similar to the source material tbh, but has a little more agency, and has Mikami as her lawyer, or at least the lawyer who told her her parents murderer was going free, which is interesting

speaking of Mikami, he is a secondary character pretty much the whole way through, and we get to see his build up of resentment towards the criminals who go free despite his efforts, which I very much enjoyed. I always felt like he came out of nowhere a bit in the anime, so this was a welcome change.

before I completely move on from light and miss, btw, light and his friend genuinely go to about 5 SEPARATE ICHIGO BERRY CONCERTS OVER THE SPAN OF LIKE 4 EPISODES?? Ichigo berry is misa’s group in this, and I find it hilarious that light was a fan before even the death note showed up

aaaaand for L. He’s really damn good. His characterisation is widely different from the anime, he’s more optimistic and suave in a way, he smiles and lounges in his chair instead of crouching, and wears white button down shirts and trousers and hands Watari clearly empty pieces of paper to which Watari declares ‘another wilful request!’ And goes on to do some task for him. He has a screensaver on every computer in this hotel room designed as task force hq that changes at night to a nighttime version. He's hot. He’s gay. He’s autistic. He’s totally different to the L we all know and love but at the same time is recognisable as L and loveable in his own way. overall, the plot was pretty good although it was very messy to begin with, raye penber is like,, a main antagonist, for the first 3 eps??? The Shinigami cgi is awful, the fashion is painfully mid 2010s and the characters are very clearly not the same as in the original. if you go into it expecting a perfect 1-1 of the anime, just LA, you’re bound to come back disappointed. If you go into it looking forward to seeing an alternate take on the world of death note, another universe where everything is a little to the left, you’ll thoroughly enjoy it. The emotional beats hit hard, and given it’s a tv drama, the story focuses far more on the characters and their emotions than the mind fuckery we’re used to. What does remain, however, is the Lawlight, to such an extreme degree where I find it plausible that they knew what they were doing. They knew that their relationship could come off as romantic, and played it up. now onto the spoilers!

SPOILERY STUFF STARTS HERE!!!

-

-

-

-

-

I LOVE THIS DAMN SHOW ICL

Light killing his bully and trying to erase the names??? Otoharada almost killing Soichiro??? THE CAMERAS STILL BEING THERE WHEN MISA ARRIVES???!!?!!

gahhh where do I even start. I’ve got FEELINGS about L’s death and Soichiro’s, FEELINGS about the dad friendship of Watari and Soichiro, FEELINGS about the lawlight of it all.

My sibling and I are both staunch supporters of both the Good Dad soichiro and Good Dad Watari perspectives, and we were FED. I scrumpt many screams at just how fed we were getting, that’s how good it was. i guess I’ll start with that. The conversation between soichiro and Watari about their ‘kids’ was genuinely moving, and it was adorable to hear them both talk about how much they love their children.

that made it all the more heartbreaking when soichiro died. At that point, L was dead (which I will get to) and near/Mello was on the run, which left Watari utterly alone. The only person using hq at that point was light, who was fully Evil and he knew it. I screamed so loud it started everyone around me when soichiro said Light’s name while he was monologuing. That is EXACTLY how I wanted a confrontation between them to go down. Soichiro seeing through lights acting and lies and being so distraught that it was true, his son was Kira, and it was obvious the whole time when you knew where to be looking. The way he never took his eyes off of him after L’s death, and the way that that allowed him to see all the little glances and ‘that Kira face you make’ as Ryuk put it. He saw under the mask, and was disgusted by what he saw. When he screamed lights name as he tried to weasel his way out of it like he had done for L’s death, I’d like to think it was the first ounce of fear he’d felt since L had died. And of course he denied denied denied right up until Soichiro tried to burn the note, and THAT was when he screamed and fought and begged, not when his father was writing his own name in the note which he had sworn was a fake. He let his father die, but drew the line at the book being burned.

he pried the notebook out of his own father’s dead vice grip.

without a single ounce of a joke, that was my favourite scene in the series. One of my favourites in DN as a whole. As I said in the non-spoiler section, this contrasted with the mock-execution scene is just so devastating, yotsuba!light loved his dad so damn much, and Kira just watched him kill himself, knowing full well he could stop it.

In tandem, L’s death was so underpinned by the friendship between L and Light as well. They don’t just pretend not the despise each other, they genuinely tolerate, or even get along. Of course I could point out the obvious, like the shower scene or ‘I wish we could have met another way’ ‘this is the only way we could have met’ but i actually want to bring up some smaller points. First off, that moment where Matsuda asks him why he still calls L Ryuga instead of L or Ryuzaki, and he tells him that it’s because he’d rather have Ryuga the friend than L the detective. And even just prior to the ‘I wish we could have met…’ scene, when light thinks he’s about to kill L he sobs as he tells him that all he wanted is to show L his new world, and that he wants to be his friend forever (‘friend’ yeah ok dude). He screams and kisses(?) his head when he does die, and rocks him as he lies there, and holds him close until he’s taken away. And L’s final posthumous video. The one where he says, even though he admits the chance that he was wrong and this video needs to be shown is slim, that he was sorry for doubting Light and that he’s glad to be his friend, and that he would be good enough to come and work with him and Near someday. And Light never gets to see that video.

the scene where L comforts near/Mello after his death is so tragic it hurts. Watari is crying, and he hugs near despite the fact that they seemed pretty detached from each other prior. They’ve lost family, and even Wammy’s in this version are allowed to let emotion overcome them.

somethings I wasn’t too big a fan of included:

raye penber being SUCH A MAJOR ANTAGONIST?? why was he a bigger threat than L for so long. Why was his real name actually Mark Dwellam or something. Why didn’t Naomi exist (well I know we got Himura/Lidner but still) why did light take such a big risk instructing him to write the names IN A CAFE?? He almost killed Light. He figured it out before anyone else really, and it’s so ridiculous that this man really did All That.

also, Yostuba was anticlimactic. The whole arc lasted barely an episode and a half, if that, and I really loved this version of mind wiped light and Misa, so that was a real shame. They figured out about Higuchi so quickly it was hilarious. The CGI when light was pricking his finger to write with was glaring obvious and bad, and duh I didn’t expect the actor to actually do it but it broke immersion a bit when this blob of blood looks so clearly edited in. You can really tell he just pressed the side of the needle into his finger and that made me laugh a bit. The good thing about the bad things is at least they’re funny and not just frustrating.

my final major grievance was just with the pacing. I feel like they hit the sweet spot between episodes 8-10 and then fell flat in the last one a bit. It feels pretty rushed but also like it dragged somehow. The first few eps definitely dragged, while the middle section flew by. also, ichigo berry performs the same song every time.

To conclude, this is a totally different show to the original and the characters reflect that. Light is a nervous wreck far longer than he’s the psychopathic god of the new world, and L is a cool guy who eats fruit pouches(?) and tbh they should kiss cos of that. Light as a clearly gay-coded make up designer slayed. Goodnight all.

[legolasghosty]

Okay but if I go into your inbox and ask for more zombie apocalypse au would that work??? ;D

Alright, but you quite literally asked for it, so don't blame me if this gets crazy!

For those of you who have been politely ignoring my madness, this is in reference to a post canon type zombie apocalypse au. You can read part 1 and part 2 of me spewing randomness about it on those links if you're interested! I blame Inny and whoever that anon was for enabling me.

Soooo I thought we might start this one by looking at the bit that started this whole tangent: Julie and the guys finding zombies of the boy's bodies.

Listen, they don't really see the apocalypse coming, no one does. So, a couple of months after the Orpheum, following many long conversations and stuff, Julie finds where the guys are buried and they all go to visit. It feels both very right, to pay their respects and all, and very wrong, cause visiting your own grave is just creepy, okay?!

Flynn is driving(cause there's no way Julie was up to learning to drive while struggling with losing her mom, even if she has turned 16 by this point), and the ghosts are being antsy in the back seat. Julie turns on the radio, but all the stations keep getting interrupted by some news people yelling about whatever crisis is happening now. Weird. So they just switch to the aux and Julie starts playing old 90s music. The boys appreciate it. Flynn is less of a fan.

They get to the graveyard just as the music gets cut off by Ray calling Julie. That's... not normal. Usually he texts unless it's urgent. Well, once his kids actually taught him how to actually write text messages, not whole emails in a text bubble.

Ray is like, COME HOME NOW, STUFF IS WEIRD AND THERE'S ZOMBIES!!! Julie thinks he's messing with her, cause like... zombies? Really? Everyone knows those aren't real. Flynn points out that everyone thinks ghosts aren't real either while googling it. And oh frick... maybe they should have paid more attention to those breaking news reports.

Look, I don't know how zombie infections start, okay? Haven't really figured that one out yet. But my general theory for this AU is that whatever chemical does it got into some kind of groundwater supply, and thus is in the dirt. It latches on to forms that still harbor some level of organic matter. Or something. I don't know. It's too late to be doing the science of zombies. Regardless, it's infecting dead bodies and the graveyard they are at is much closer to the source than home.

Reggie screams when the first one scrambles out of the ground behind him. Those first few are the newly dead ones, cause they still have the most organic matter attached and the dirt on top of them isn't as packed down from decades of being stepped on.

Alex panics and summons part of his drum kit right on top of it, crushing and killing it. They all kinda stare at it for a second, and then everything gets nuts. More zombies start climbing up from the ground. Flynn may or may not light a couple of them on fire with her mom's lighter. Look, she doesn't really smoke much anymore, but having the lighter around makes her feel better for whatever reason. Flynn doesn't get it but she also doesn't question it.

It's a small graveyard so they manage to take out most of the zombies fairly quickly, once they get over their initial shock... but then they see another zombie forcing its way up. It has a tattered beanie and they can see bones sticking out of its flesh where it has rotted away. And it's not Luke. They all know it's not. But even Luke himself is a bit stunned by the appearance of his own dead body.

Reggie and Alex zombies are coming up behind Luke. Figures that Luke would be the first one up. And none of them really know what to do. Cause, yeah they're zombies, but also, they're the guys???

But then Luke gets between zombie him and Julie and she realizes that, regardless of what the zombie looks like or who the body used to belong to, it's not him. Cause, ghost or not, Luke is standing right there, dead and breathing and trembling a bit in his beat up vans. So she does what any logical person would do: She grabs a big stick(or a shovel lying nearby or something, I don't know) and smacks zombie Luke over the head with it. Hard.

They take out the zombie boys and get in the car. (Reggie may or may not beat up zombie him with his bass.) They take off towards home just as fast as they can. Cause...what else do you do when zombies are suddenly real?

But it does make them sure of one thing: Zombies aren't people. Their souls aren't tied to their corpses, even though said corpses are moving again.

OKAY TIME FOR SOME FLUFFIER STUFF NOW THAT WE HAVE THAT OUT OF THE WAY!!!

The ghosts all start leaving notes and writing stuff down for the non-Julie lifers when she's not around to translate. However, none of them really expected both Carlos and Ray to start leaving notes back. Carlos's are mainly for Reggie, asking random ghost questions and making dumb jokes. Ray leaves notes for all three of them(plus Willie when they find them), usually asking apocalypse type questions or asking if they can get some supply item on their next run, but sometimes it's just random questions about themselves. And all of them get a note at least once a week or so that just says, "Thank you for taking care of my little girl."

Julie figures out how to get zombie guts out of clothing mainly for Alex, who got set off into a full on panic attack when some got on his hoodie. It wasn't really about the hoodie of course, but still. It wasn't that much more complicated than getting blood out of clothes, thank goodness. Alex hugged Julie for like a full five minutes when she gave it back to him, mostly gut free.

The ghosts struggle to actually make physical contact with the zombies, similar to other life or life adjacent forms. Thus they're not the best in a physical fight. However, Reggie gets really good at finding heavy stuff to drop on top of them. Hey, when you're not a living being, you don't have to worry so much about little things like how heavy that box is.

The gang develops a point system for zombie killing. It's mostly the ghosts and kids doing it, in an attempt to bring some humor into a terrifying situation. Bigger zombies are worth more, as are taking out a bunch at once, combo kills, or a takedown that's just objectively cool. Points can be cashed in for random stuff like first dibs on food or specific coveted positions in the cuddle piles they fall into at night.

Speaking of cuddle piles, they become very common, cause with everything going on, Julie, Flynn, and Carlos all start having a really hard time falling asleep alone. The ghosts do as well, but they tend to brush it off more since sleep isn't a biological necessity for them. Thus, cuddle piles become a pretty normal thing to help them all fall asleep.

Okayyyy it's after midnight and this is kinda long, so I'm gonna call that good for now and attempt slumber. Hope y'all enjoyed, or at least are not annoyed at me for once again talking too much about a random AU idea.

(Send me an AU and I'll give you 5+ headcanons about it!)

[eclectickss]

Make Me Feel Special (1/2)

Pairing: Milf!Agatha Harkness x fem!reader

Warnings: Mommy issues/kink, sexual implications, major age gap (reader is of age)

Summary: You are angry at your best friend for turning down the opportunity for something that you would give your life for: a mother.

Word Count: 3K?

Link to Part 2

A/N: Not grammar checked at all! A blurb gone big!(still at writers block on PGATW) But requests are open! I’ve never done one before but i’m willing to try. <3

-

-

-

You entered the apartment and placed your keys in the dish and jacket on it’s hook, making your way into the kitchen to place your to-go food in the fridge. Jane sat at the island on the computer you shared, and you smiled.

“Hey, I picked up sandwiches for dinner. Hope that’s cool.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Your best friend didn’t look up, but it didn’t really bother you. Well, she was your only friend, but still.

You and Jane had been sharing the apartment for years now, The two of you working a good job to afford it and making a livable income. You had been close since high-school, due to your similar social status, but beyond the two of you, nobody was too good at making friends.

From what she had told you, Jane’s mom wasn’t around much when she was growing up. Jane was a teen pregnancy, and ever since she was born, her mom made no time for her daughter. Agatha, was her name.

Agatha came from a wealthy family, though. Her parents (Jane’s grandparents) wouldn’t allow her to use the family money for her child, much less anything else. She struggled with Jane, and therefore the two of them were ever close.

Agatha’s parents died when Jane was in high-school, so her mom inherited their wealth, but their relationship was past salvageable. At least in Jane’s eyes, it was.

Jane was always telling you about how bad of a mom Agatha was and about how you were lucky that you didn’t have to deal with someone like her. Jane didn’t understand though. You would had given anything to have someone like Agatha. Even if she wasn’t around to much, it was still better than nobody at all.

-

-

-

You were now setting the table for two as you pulled the sandwiches out of the fridge, also finding some strawberries to place at the table. You now were looking through the pantry for chips when you heard a knock at the door and Jane moving around to answer it.

“Mom?!” You heard at the door while you still had your head buried in the pantry. Your eyes widened at the name, never expecting to hear it in your life (in that context, at least). You thought Agatha was out of the picture. “What are you doing here?” You stayed silent as you listened from around the corner.

“Well, I think it’s long overdue that we had a talk, Jane, honey.” She sounded a little more raspy than you were expecting, but that doesn’t say much about someone who used to be an addict.

“We don’t do that, Mom. Anyways, now isn’t a good time.” You heard your friend sigh. The woman was your literal mother... you could at least give her five minutes, you thought.

“I want to start, honey. Please just let me in?”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“C’mon, kiddo.” She begged, and you felt a little bad for how Jane was acting. You know her mom wasn’t a great person, but she was still her mom.

You never got to have one of those.

“If this is just you on another one of your sobriety stunts...”

“I’m really trying this time, Jane! I know I fucked up, baby, but please.”

“Fine.” Your friend grumbled. You heard increasing footsteps and your heart raced as you were about to meet the source of Jane’s complaints and drama.

You hurried to sit at the kitchen counter before the two women caught you snooping, but your gaze snaps up just in time to see Agatha Harkness walk into the room.

Jane might have always mentioned that her mother was any and all variations of a bitch, but she failed to mention how attractive the woman was. Her messy brown hair sat on top of an old purple cardigan and worn out jeans, followed by a pair of well-used slip-on shoes. The look together was not extremely flattering, but Agatha somehow pulled it together in a way that made your stomach turn. Your eyes raked her down, but you think she caught you when you met her gaze again. She smirked softly.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you had guests!” She says as her own eyes follow your figure, and you wonder if she’s just doing it to mock you or flatter you. She looks back up with a glimmer in her eye, and you decide on the latter option. Your face goes red, but you try and brush her actions off, not wanting to mistake it for anything else.

“Didn’t I say that this was a bad time?” Jane grumbled.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Harkness. My name is YN.” You smiled as you held out your hand.

“Call me Agatha, darling.” She stared into your eyes. “It’s so nice to finally meet one of Jane’s friends.” You panic under her gaze.

“We were just about to sit down for dinner, if you want to join us. We don’t have any food for you, but-“

“Oh, thank you... I was hoping I could talk to Jane in private, though.” She walked over to the table and took a seat.

“Whatever you have to say to me, you can say it to YN, too.” The two of you joined Agatha at the table.

A long moment of awkward silence passsed between the three of you before your guest finally spoke up.

“I want you in my life, Jane. For real this time.”

Nobody says anything, and dishes stop clattering.

“I know I shoulda done this earlier... hell, I shoulda done this when I got claim to my parent’s money, but I want to look after you. I never got the chance to do that when you were young... cause of all the drinking and working... but I can do that now. I’m ready.”

Jane sat with her mouth open and a half eaten sandwich forgotten on her plate.

“No, Mom, you shoulda done this from the moment I was conceived. You don’t get a second chance with me. I’m not giving you a second chance, or a third or a fourth or whatever number you wanna give yourself. You wanna know why? It’s because I already did that. And you let me down every single time.”

Agatha looked a little speechless.

“Fine, then.” She sighed. “I won’t bother you again.” But it hurt you to watch a daughter turn away her mother, when that was an opportunity that you wanted so badly. “Is it alright if I stay the night, though? It’s a long drive back to my place.”

Jane rolled her eyes, knowing that her mother was being dramatic, but didn’t want to put up with any more of her antics. “I better not see you in the morning. YN can get blankets for the couch.”

-

-

-

“Hey, Jane,” You sighed as you entered her room.

“Hey, YN. I’m sorry you had to deal with the shit show that is my mother. I can’t believe she just walked in here and expected me to accept her pathetic invitation.”

“No, it’s ok. She’s not that bad with me.”

“Well she just met you. I just don’t understand why she thought showing up unannounced would magically make me want a mother again. It’s fucked up.” Jane said, but you couldn’t sit there and watch her tear down something that you wish you had.

“Yeah,” you mumbled and rushed out of her room before she could say anything else.

You walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, then headed over to the sink for some tap water. The cool liquid rushed down your throat as you held down your tears, thankful that nobody was around.

“Hey, Honey,”

Shit. You forgot that Agatha was on the couch.

You turn around to see her meeting your gaze, although her eyes quickly found the way to the rest of your body.

“You doing alright, babygirl?” The nickname made you heat up. She spoke with concern and care; something that Jane chose to ignore, which made you feel bad for Agatha. You wish that Jane wouldn’t take for granted what her mother was trying to offer her.

“Uh... yeah... I guess.” You sigh, hopping up to sit on the counter as you watch the other woman fill her own glass at the sink. “Jane is just... being a little hard right now.” You chose your words carefully, not wanting to lose the trust of your friend but also wanting to gain the trust of another.

“What do you mean?” You realize the situation you have put yourself in.

“It’s just... I didn’t have a mom at all growing up. Or a dad. I had my shitty uncle... until he tossed me into the foster system. I had it real rough... and it still kinda is... but Jane has been helping. That’s why we’re friends at least. She might view me as a charity project, but i’m desperate, I guess.”

“What does all of this have to do with Jane being hard, hon?” She leaned onto the counter across from you.

“She didn’t really have a mom, either... growing up. No offense.”

Agatha shrugged. “I know.”

“But now that she’s given an opportunity to have one, she turns it down... and it makes me jealous. Mad. Angry.” You pause. “I know I’ll never get the chance at a mom, but she has one. And fuck, I would give so much to have that.”

“To have someone like me? A recovering drunk who treated their teen pregnancy like a joke?”Agatha sighed into her hands, but her words meant so much more to you than she may ever know.

“Yeah. To have someone like you. Someone who cares.” At that, she looked up with a new light in her eyes, but you don’t meet her gaze. You don’t want her to see the blush or desire written on your face, so instead, you pull a cigarette out from your jacket pocket.

She watches you as you hop down from the counter to get the lighter out of the junk drawer, paying attention to the way your body moves. You notice how her eyes follow you, but you don’t call her out on it, knowing you would do the same if the roles were reversed.

“You want a hit?” You lift your eyebrow as you raise the smoke to meet her gaze. A glint of humor is caught on her face, and you smirk.

“Sure... why not.” She says as you join her in leaning up against the counter. You bring the cigarette up to your mouth and click the lighter.

“So,” Agatha starts again, both of you a few puffs in. “How did you end up here with Jane?”

“Uhh... we met senior year of high-school. I was fucked up. Shit grades. Wasn’t going to graduate. Drug money to pay off... no job. Jane used your money to pay off my debt. She found me a job. Tutored me. Like I said, I felt like a charity project. But at least I graduated. We both work now and pay for this place together. Maybe it’s not great but we’re both better off than we were a few years ago.”

“Why didn’t she accept anything I tried to give her? Did she tell you?” Agatha was prying, but you didn’t mind.

“You mean after high-school? She didn’t want any help from you. In her words exactly... ‘She wasn’t there for me for the first 18 years of my life, so why should she help out now...’”

“And what do you think about that?”

“I didn’t grow up poor, Agatha. I grew up with nothing. I would have taken any of your offers in a heartbeat, no matter how guilty they made me feel.”

“Good girl.” She nearly whispers, and you turned to face her, but you couldn’t make anything out of the expression written on her face. Your own skin was hot and something was burning in your core, and you didn’t know what to think.

“I’m sorry... what did you just say?” You watched as she put the cigarette out, now giving you her undivided attention.

“So tell me, honey, do you have a boyfriend? I’m assuming a pretty thing like you would have one. Tell me about him.” Part of you wondered where this conversation was going, but the other part assumed that she already knew which direction you leaned in.

“Uhh... not my type.” You stared at her with curiosity.

“So you got a girlfriend, then?” Her new confidence shocked you a little bit.

“Uhh... no.” You tilted your head, and she seemed to pick up on your confusion.

“Good girl.” Your mouth was dry. “You see, mommy doesn’t want you having a girlfriend... no, she wants you all to herself.”

Your eyes widen in shock, but your core aches and cheeks burn. You stare at the woman next to you as a hand slides onto your thigh.

“Oh come on, darling. You said you wanted a mommy, baby. I wanna take care of you. I see the way you look at me. Don’t deny you want me too.” She spins around and pins you to the counter, and you audibly gulp.

“But- Jane.” You whine, already being driven crazy by the proximity of Agatha’s body.

“Jane is kicking me out, baby girl. And you can come live with me. Mommy has a pretty house, honey. I can feed you, clothe you... make you feel good. I can make you feel special.” And God, your soul was ready to leave your body. You wanted this. You could hardly think as her soft lips grazed over the skin on your neck, and a soft moan escaped your throat. Her tongue and teeth pulled at the skin just below your ear, trying to pull a response out of you.

“Mom!” The both of you jumped at the third voice in the room. The two of you turn to Jane in shock. “What the FUCK are you doing!” She rushed over to the two of you, pulling Agatha off of your body. “You can’t just come into my life and try to fuck my friends after someone rejects you!” She pushes her mom back and turns to you.

“Oh my god, YN, are you ok? I cannot believe that she tried to touch you. God, that makes me sick.” She hugged you, but you still couldn’t say anything.

“Jane, honey, you don’t know-“

“Shut up! I can’t even look at you! Get out of my house, mom. I never want to see you again.” Jane’s face turned red with anger.

“Honey-“ Agatha met eyes with you, but you didn’t know what to do.

“Leave! Now.” She seethed and stomped back to the bedroom, expecting Agatha to be gone when she got back.

The woman in front of you moved silently while you still processed what just happened. When she returned with her belongings, she gave you a note, but headed out without saying a word.

After a few minutes, you finally looked at the piece of paper in hand.

If you ever make up your mind...

1286 Lincoln St NW

(673) 867-5309

-Agatha

-

-

-

“YN, are you sure you’re alright? I really never would have expected my mom to touch you or even make you feel uncomfortable. I’m so sorry.” Jane sighed as she sat on the bed.

“I’m fine, J. You don’t have to apologize on her behalf.” You replied, sitting on the chair opposite her.

“I mean what even happened. Why did she do that?”

“Umm... I don’t know. We were just talking and then she started that.”

“What we’re you talking about?”

“Oh, I was just explaining how we met.” You tentatively answered.

“YN you didn’t have to tell her that. I know it’s personal for you, I can’t believe she forced you to talk about it.

“I uhh- actually didn’t mind. I wasn’t forced.”

“Then why would you trust her with something like that? You know how she is.”

“Because...” You thought about your next words carefully. “She cares.” Jane scoffs.

“That must be a different woman we’re talking about, YN. My mom is a selfish bitch who only cares for herself.”

That tipped the iceberg for you.

“You know, Jane? I understand that you and her might never be besties like she wants you to be, but that doesn’t mean you get to fuck her over now that she’s trying.” Your friend looks up at you in shock.

“Well she fucked me over my entire life, so I don’t see why I can’t do the same.”

“Because! Jane! She’s changed! It’s only right that you give her one more shot in your life!”

She took a pause.

“I’m sorry, YN, are you defending my MOM? After everything she’s done to me, and everything i’ve done for you?!”

“Yes. It is sick watching you throw something away that I can only dream of.” You spat angrily.

“Geez, YN. Just- get out of my fucking house. Keep your rent money for the month. Pack your shit and get the hell out of here.” She nearly ran out of the room.

But you weren’t surprised. In fact, you expected this the moment you chose your side.

-

-

-

The knocks resonate through the large door attached to the even larger house. Agatha has money.

You thought Jane was over exaggerating a little bit, but now you understood that she wasn’t. You sighed as your cab sped away, and now all you could do was wait.

Agatha opened the door, slightly shocked to see you, but nevertheless happy.

“Hey baby, what is it?”

You took a deep breath, taking in the sight of the woman who stood in front of you.

“I want you to make me feel special, mommy.”

-

-

-

link to part 2

[jungshookz]

teeny tidbits: emma comes home past curfew & y/n's not happy about it

➺ genre; kindergartenteacher!taehyungiverse!! honk honk humour!! sixteen year old emma reminds y/n of herself and she doesn't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing

➺ wordcount; 1.5k

➺ p.s. this takes place far faR off into the future!! i just thought it'd be nice to see emma as a spunky teenager :'))

(unfortunately i wasn’t able to track down the original maker of this gif but this is where i sourced it from! all credits go to the original creator of course :-))

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

the sound of the front door rattling at four in the morning would usually be something that would terrify pretty much anybody, but for you-

"oh, come on!"

it's really just another day in the life.

"em's home," taehyung reaches over slowly to pat your stomach and wake you up (as if you haven't been up waiting for the past four hours), his voice laced with sleep as he rolls to the side, "i'll go open the-"

"nope." you reach over to turn the lamp on before flicking the covers off and stepping out of bed, adjusting the strap of your tank top before pointing a finger at taehyung, "you're not opening anything."

"okay, well-" taehyung pauses before propping himself up a little to frown at you, "wait, what?"

"you know, i cannot believe her-" you snap, pulling your hair up into a bun as you hurry over to the window, "it's like she likes to be grounded! i told her she could go out with her friends as long as she came back before curfew, but no-"

"well, it's not that late, is it?" taehyung tosses the pillow he's hugging to his chest aside before turning to look at the clock sitting on his bedside table, "it's only- oh. it's 4:18."

you unlock the latch on the window before digging your fingers underneath it and pulling it up with a snap, watching as emma rushes out from the front porch at the sudden noise

"why, good morning, miss kim!" you call out, leaning down against the edge of the open window with a bright smile, "now i can rest well knowing you weren't murdered tonight."

"the door's broken or something!" emma strategically ignores your snarky comment, placing a hand on her hip before sticking her hand up in the air to flash you her keys with a jingle, "my keys aren't working!"

"oh, your keys are fine, sweetheart." you let out a sigh before scrunching your nose, "i triple-locked the doors. better to be safe than to be sorry, right?"

"okay, well-" emma pauses, scratching the back of her neck before gesturing towards the door, "are you gonna open the door for me or what? i really have to pee-"

"you could always take a squat and pee in the bushes." you point out, emma's jaw dropping slightly before she lets out a scoff

"are you serious? i'm not taking a piss in the bushes-"

"well, i guess you should've thought of that before coming home four hours past curfew!" your tone changes as soon as you get to the point and even from here you're able to make out the slight twitch of panic that runs through emma's body

"don't be ridiculous, i'm not four hours past curfew-" emma grumbles, turning to pull her phone out of her purse and glancing at it before pausing for a second and then looking back up at you, "i'm... four hours and twenty minutes past curfew. so take that!"

"you know, i was just being nice and i rounded down, but if you wanna say you were four hours and twenty minutes late, we can definitely say you were four hours and twenty minutes late-"

"mom!" emma whines, stomping her foot down on the ground as she shoves her phone back into her (your!!) purse hastily, "you can't just- are you seriously not going to let me into the house?! you're gonna make me sleep out on the front porch?! i can't- what if the coyotes get me?! if the coyotes get me, you're gonna regret this decision so bad-"

"the only thing that's going to attack you in this neighbourhood are the little girl scouts who won't leave you alone until you buy, like, ten boxes of cookies from them-"

"i'm sixteen, mother!" emma cuts you off with another whine and you can't help but roll your eyes at the sight of your daughter throwing a tantrum on the front lawn, "i'm grown! i should be allowed to go out with my friends and come home whenever i want!"

you thought you were 'grown' at sixteen too

(spoiler alert: that was not the case at all.)

obviously you love your daughter more than anything in the world but you hate that she inherited one of the traits that you're not fond too of: your stubbornness

and look, of course you know that she's getting older and that she should be allowed to go and have (safe) fun with her friends but this isn't the first time she's broken the rules and knowing her, it certainly won't be the last time

and it doesn't help that taehyung always gets to play good cop and you have to be the bad one!!!

like last time when the two of you caught emma climbing into the house through one of the windows and she ended up getting stuck - instead of reprimanding her for coming home late again, taehyung just laughed and immediately went over to help her out

sure, the sight of your daughter flailing around trapped in a small window was hilarious, but someone had to be the serious one in the situation (1) she lied to you about just having a chill night with her friends because you're pretty sure a chill night doesn't involve body glitter and the faint smell of vodka on her breath! 2) she climbed up the side of the house like a maniac and could've gotten seriously injured????) and of course the responsibility to do that fell onto your lap

taehyung's also just not very good at disciplining which is why you usually gently push him aside and take the lead and it looks like it's time for you to turn on your i'm not mad, i'm just very disappointed in you act once again

"you're going to wake your brother up if you keep screaming like that, and you know how fussy he gets when he doesn't get a good night's sleep-"

"he's the world's sleepiest baby, i could blow up fireworks in his room and he'd be fine- dad!" emma's eyes immediately light up when a sleepy taehyung suddenly pops up next to you and you raise a brow when he nudges you aside gently, "oh my god, thank god- mom's literally being insane right now, you have to let me in-"

"what time did you say you'd be home?" taehyung interrupts, "because i think we agreed on midnight when i dropped you off at hope's apartment..."

"i-" emma presses her lips together before letting out a little scoff and rolling her eyes, "okay, yes, we- i said i would be home by midnight, yes." she sighs before suddenly perking up again, "it's not my fault, though! no one goes home before midnight, it's so lame- hope's dad lets her stay out as long as she texts-"

"ah, texts! let's talk about that! didn't you say you'd text us to let us know where you were if you weren't home by midnight?" taehyung points out, crossing his arms over his chest before reaching up to stroke at his chin to feign deep thought, "because my phone hasn't gone off all night... has yours, darling?" he hums, turning to glance at you

"nope!" you chime in with a helpless little shrug and you nearly crack a smile when you see emma reach up to pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration, "my phone has been dead silent. no texts. not even an emoji!"

"you hear that, emma? not even an emoji." taehyung tsks, shaking his head in disappointment, "you know what this means, don't you?"

"i'm grounded for two weeks, i know-"

"two weeks?? oh, you're grounded for a month." taehyung pauses for a second before looking down at her again, "and! and you have to change all of your brother's diapers the whole time you're grounded. also, i just want to let you know that he had sweet potatoes for dinner and you know how gassy he gets after a helping of sweet potatoes-"

"a month?!" emma roars and your eye twitches at how high her voice goes, "you can't ground me for a month, lucas is throwing this huge party next weekend and i have to be there! are you kidding m-"

taehyung slides the window back down before emma gets to say anything else and he turns to face you with a grin before opening his arms slightly, "well?? what did you think??"

"i think... that was probably one of the sexiest things you've ever done for me." you laugh lightly, happily giving him a quick kiss when he leans in for one

"duly noted." taehyung beams before letting out a quick sigh and then turning on his heels to head to the door, "okay, i'm going to go let our daughter into the house now because i don't think my hydrangeas are going to survive being peed on-"

🎙️give emma some diaper changing tips (talk to my characters/send in a message!)

✨why don’t you explore the rest of the library while you’re here? (full fics!)

💫or perhaps you want something shorter to read? (drabbles! mini series!)

🌟or something even shorter? (teeny tidbits like this one!)

[kaypeace21]

What's in a name? (Analysing all the names in stranger things)

*I'll be repeating some names more than once as I break down categories .

Show , book, and tv easterggs

Alot of character names may have deeper meaning but some are also refs to stories they liked. The stranger writers twitter posted a list of movies said to inspire s4 (which I’ll be referencing).

Dart- dustin names him this after d'artagenean (a 3 musketeers book character) and one of Dustin's fav candies (3 muskateers). Similarly his pet turtle yurtle is implied to be named after the dr Seuss’ story 'yertle the turtle'.

Brenner- main character from 'the birds', which was on the st s4 list.

Byers- john byers from x files. The duffers mentioned x files was an inspo for the show. Although John byers (from x files) resembles Murray as an unhinged conspiracy theorist. The documentary paradise lost was also cited as inspo for st- john byers and his son, terry, Michael, and Steve were names in said film

Jim Hopper- in Predator (another st inspo) he was a soldier who was flayed to death in the woods. Another character in the film with a similar fate was “Hawkins”.

Detective Wheeler and elle Holloway- from silent Hill franchise. Another ref mentioned by the Duffers. Holloway was the surname of st's Heather. Elle (is el) and Wheeler is Mike's surname. Wheeler was also on the ep of twiglight zone (another cited ref by the duffers) . In the ep 'mute' sheriff wheeler takes in a mute psychic girl as his foster daughter. So some hints at hopper too . Hopper even mentions el-anor (gilipse) in s1. The surname of a main character in the silent hill series.Lt. Colonel Sullivan (s4) could be a eastergg of silent hill 4 which had a Sullivan character.

Henderson- st twitter mentioned how all the bond films were on the s4 inspiration list . So Dustin's surname being the same as one of the bond characters is a nod. Duffers also mentioned ‘freaks & geeks’ as inspo- and 1 character’s surname was also Henderson (another nod).

Mrs Driscoll (from s3) - a nod to invasion of the body snatchers which was mentioned as inspo by the Duffers. And clear inspo for s3.

Powell (cop and partner of hopper ) - diehard films also on s4 list. He's named after the cop powell.

Callahan (cop and partner of Hopper) - father Callahan ref. He shows up in many of Stephen King novels. The Duffers have cited over 10 novels and books from him as inspo for st

Nancy- she's called ‘Nancy drew’ (from the novels). And the duffers have mentioned they are fans of elmstreet - who's main character was Nancy. Nancy also references 'Oliver twist" ,and that book has a character named Nancy in it. Nancy was also a first Lady in the 80s similar to her friend Barbara- who was also a first Lady in the 80s.Nancy's name might also be inspired by "Nancy Wheeler", a secondary character in the 1970 book Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret written by Judy Blume.

Fred (s4)- apparently a high-school journalist who may be friend or foe. This one is a stretch but given nancy maybe being an elmstreet ref- and her enemy being fred-die kreuger. Fred may have animosity to Nancy and that's why his name is Fred. I mean ... they even cast a new s4 character with Freddie kreuger's original actor.so...

Jason (s4) - is in the 1986 Nancy drew novel (when s4 takes place). He is similar to the duffers description. In the novel he's a rich, popular, arrogant jock and blackmailing students at the high-school . S3 even named one of its episodes after a nancy drew novel- so wouldn't surprise me.

Christie carpenter (s4/reffed in s1 by hopper)- christie is the main character in the hellraiser series (which is on the s4 st list). Carpenter is the surname of the director of 'the thing' name dropped in s3. (The flesh monster in s3 also resembles the thing) , and in s1 mr clarke watches it ,and mike has the thing movie poster in his basement.

Argyle (s4) - die hard 1-2 were on the s4 st list. And is a name of a diehard character.

Max- her name is 'mad max' like the 80s film. But since the Duffers like videogames. Her name may be a ref to max caufield from the ‘life is strange’ game as well. She has a 'never Maxine rule' similar to max in st. But the game character is similar to jonathan as she is a teen photographer and says similar words to jonathan in s1 saying she would rather watch people through a camera than interact with them.

Eddie munson (s4)- not going to lie. I have no proof of this but I immediately thought of the TV character Eddie Munster (the friendly monster ).

Possible comic book easteggs

The duffers are no stranger to comic book references. The duffers have already directly reffed xmen, wonderwoman, and green lantern. Kali's place also has a comic book ref to 'the invisibles' on the wall. While the s4 movie list mentions thor ragnock , age of ultron, and 2 batman films. Some of these refs will go over your head if you haven't read my DID theory. But a lot of this analysis will still be enjoyable. :)

Jane st ives (jane ives aka el). marvel. (jane st ives sees her dad k*ll her mom and vows revenge against him.Sort of similar to what brenner did to terry).

Stephanie harrington (Steve harrington)- 80s marvel comic. DP.7. Will DID ref. Antibody, is a medical resident who can project from his body a dark figure of himself (also called an "antibody", a word play on the medical term) that flies, can become intangible, and transfer its memories to another person by physical contact (mindflayer).  He later merges with the antibody. like how susie refs ‘wizard of earthsea’ -the novel where the young wizard Ged releases a shadow monster (said to be an ancient evil) but it turns out to be the dark aspects of his personality and the only way for the chaos to stop is to accept his darkness and merge as 1.

Barry bauman (Murray bauman) . marvel comics - Will did easteregg.Bauman lived in never ending darkness. He felt, that there was a realm outside the darkness and started to explore the entire content of his brain thus using now more than the usual 10 % .Also had telekinesis.He turned his attention to the stars in order to exact revenge on the human race which spends billions of dollars to kill each other, but wouldn't spend the mere million or so it would have cost to cure him. For his vengeance he transported the suns near our galaxy into his omnipotent brain. As the people of Earth would learn of the disappearing of the suns they would panic and feel Bauman's loneliness before he would destroy Earth.Despite the death of his physical body, Bauman's consciousness somehow survived and began hopping from body to body throughout the galaxy, his powers growing until the Star Thief was recognized as a major threat to galactic society.

Sinclair- last name of xmen rhaine.  Will Did ref. storyline Rahne Sinclair is mentally bonded to Havok against her will(Will/mf).She is subsequently manipulated by the Shadow King. Her bond with Havok causes her to act irrationally, sometimes threatening teammates, sometimes by flirting with them.  She undergoes more than one attempt to undo the bonding, with varying results. Her instability also manifests in many odd dreams, in which her identity is merged into pop culture figures. What’s funny is charlie heaton (jonathan byers) was just in an xmen movie with this Rhaine character.

Victor creel (s4)-sounds like mutant victor creed of the xmen comic. x men Mutant with ab*sive dad and poor socioeconomic background. He had a "birthday tradition" of ab*sing his young relatives on their birthdays. Which reminds me of Lonnie making jonathan cry for a week (because he forced him to k*ll a rabbit on his b-day). Not to mention Lonnie is prob coming back for Will’s b day in s4... so... the name is prob a ref to that ‘birthday tradition’. Could also be a stephen king reference -since Duffers love him. The Creel family was in sk’s book “pet cemetary’-which fun fact (the actress who plays El’s aunt is in the recent remake)!

Yuri (s4)-Yuri Topolov (Russian: Юрий Тополов) was a Soviet scientist and the first foe of the Hulk. 

Dimitri (s4)-Dmitri Bukharin was born in Kuibyshev, Russia (some sources say Moscow).  First appeared in Iron man.

Peter ballard ( s4 character) may just be a hellfire ref . since I guy with last name ballard was a double agent for the hellfire club (name of st s4 ep 1). And ballard means bald which the actor is certainly not lol. I don't think he's literally associated with hellfire but its just a ref. And because its implied in his st character summary despite working for the mental hospital-where brenner is most likely at- he's horrified by the treatment of the psych patients. So that may be where the double agent aspect would come into play.

Ian Hargrove (billy hargrove)- batman comics. had a history of mental health problems dating back to childhood, which his parents were unable to afford treatment for. His brother John hargrove tried to keep him out of trouble but Ian developed an uncanny talent for explosives (will the wise fire powers). He ends up at Archam asylum. Cough billy is Will's alter. Why he has the name billy (a nickname for William) . Jonathan in s2 mentions how he likes the writer vonnegut- who wrote slaughter house 5- the main character was Billy. Already mentioned how it connects to my did theory .

Jason carver (s4)- carver is the last name of the comic hero thunderbolt (in the flash)-the first name of thunderbolt is Will and his brother is named Lonnie. There was also a John carver in the comic.

Holland (barb's last name) last name of Swamp thing. I think its plot has quite a few s4/5 spoilers but Im not diving into it right now.

Names associated with religions or mythology 

(if you’ve read my DID theory- some themes will appear relevant in relation  WIll’s alters or to WIll’s past/tr*uma).

-‘Kali prasad".Kali  is the name of a Hindu goddess . Kali’s iconography and mythology commonly associate her with death,  violence, s*xuality, but also paradoxically -motherly love. In myths ‘she only k*lls demons’ and is described as  ‘overflowing with incomprehensible love for her children’ - (aka ST’s Kali k*lling people from hawkins lab for hurting kids). Her third eye stands for wisdom (like Will the wise).Kali is called at times ‘ the bright fire of truth’ (will the wise/fire powers).The devotee makes her image in his heart and under her influence burns away all limitations and ignorance in the cremation fires. This inner cremation fire in the heart is the gyanagni (fire of knowledge), which kali bestows (cough Will the wise-fire powers). The goddess also could create a darkcloud of lightning (similar to the mf). The phrase “brilliant as a dark cloud” is a snippet of one such prayer dedicated to Kali.The name Kali is derived from the Hindu word that means “time”. Kali receives her name because she devours ‘kala’ (Time)- like clocks ticking when El sees demogorgan/clock being wonky when Will see mf/clocks in s4 promos.’ After devouring time she resumes her own dark formlessness. “This transformative effect can be metaphorically illustrated in the West as a black hole in space” (cough mf cough hopper blackhole/time refs). Kali’s s2 butterfly-“Kali is the Hindu goddess associated with eternal energy. ... The cocoon, butterfly and the karmic golden wheel reflect Her deep connection with life.”And Prasād (her last name) is a material substance that is a religious offering to gods in  Hinduism .

-While, EL is the name of a Cannanite (male) god associated with “salt water “ (pool filled with salt in s1) who “dwelled in a tent” (in s1 Mike’s blanket fort) .And his gray-beard was described as " "full of wisdom.” él’  in Spanish means ‘he’- which could be a nod at her ( androgynous) presentation in s1. El can also be translated to "God" or 'god'. The el character has various mythologies depending on which culture/ religion is using the term 'el'. In the post-biblical period, "el" became a regular element in the names of angels such as "Gabri·el," "Micha·el," and "Azri·el," to denote their status as divine beings.And Jane translates to " Yahweh (god) is gracious/merciful". The cannanite god El was also dubbed “Compassionate God of Mercy.”  Earlier, a ninth century B.C.E. inscription�� identifies Ēl- the name of the Babylonian water god Ea, lord of the watery subterranean abyss (cough watery  dark void in st). Terry (el’s mom-aka Teressa) was originally used in the Middle Ages for a “child baptized in holy water” (El in the sensory water tank/Terry used it too,according to Becky in s1). Eleanor (called this in s1)- can mean "sun ray" (possible the opposite of the ‘shadow monster’ or Kali who can represent a “black hole”). 

-Will-the s4 st movie lists (‘red dragon’, gods of monsters, & ‘blade runner’ ) mention the artist and writer William Blake  (specifically his painting of the angel michael fighting a dragon in revelations - reffed in st s1). He was one of many painters part of the exhibition of “ The World Turned Upside Down: Apocalyptic Imagery.”The World Turned Upside Down explores the myriad ways that artists in England visualized the apocalypse in a period fraught with political, religious, economic, and cultural change. 

During this period Blake was commissioned to create over a hundred paintings intended to illustrate books of the Bible along with revelations .  He also drew illustrations for the novel Dante’s inferno. Blake’s brutally satirizes oppressive authority in church and state.He said those who proclaim restrictive moral rules and oppressive laws as “goodness” are in themselves evil. Hence to counteract this repression, Blake announces that he is of the “Devil’s Party” (cough hellfire club ref-and dissing the satanic panic of the hellfire club and other marginilised groups) . He also says “men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast.” So Instead of looking for God on remote altars, Blake warns, man should look within.He produced a diverse and symbolically rich œuvre, which embraced the “imagination as “the body of God.” He wrote his own stories based on biblical writings- one includes the fire wielding character of Los (will the wise) who represented jesus. Los (like jesus does in revelations) causes the destruction of the world and the second judgment unfolds. The poem ends with Los’s unfallen state rising up and shepherding in science and removing the dark religions. I also talked about  how this story ‘book of los’ hints at the DID theory-but this is getting long-so you can just read the explanation here if interested. Also, hellooo Both names are William B(yers/lake). Billy (a alter of Will-sharing the name William) in s3 he even wore “lady of pillar” medallion- i.e about jesus/mary.

JOHN (supposedly Jesus’ blood relative- who wrote ‘revelations’.) In scripture John was called “the disciple whom Jesus loved as a brother” .Fire is the most typical element associated with the Saint John's Eve celebration (Jonathan did light the demogorgan on fire). Many scholars consider John & Jesus ("apocalyptic prophets"). Jonathan itself translates to " yahweh (god ) has given" in Hebrew.

Michael- Similar to kali, he’s a religious figure known for killing demons. He’s the arch-angel from the book of revelations (Apocalypse). A evil Beast (with seven heads usually translated to ‘satan’ or ‘dragon’) appears .“it was a 7″ causes Will to be attacked by the demogorgan ( which in d&d is a demon with multiple heads). The Archangel MICHAEL fought and defeated this 7 headed beast/satan. Corresponding with Mike at the end of s1 writing a fictional d&d story for Will (based off defeating the demogorgan) which was about helping kill a 7 HEADED MONSTER! Michael is also the archangel who oversees on Earth the natural element of fire (Mike telling Will the wise to use ‘fireball’ to defeat this same 7 headed monster in the game, at the end of s1)! Ironically though Jesus /Christian god is also associated with 7s a lot (he has 7 angels and during the apocalypse causes 7 plagues , he has 7 candles etc .)cause the number seven, represented ‘perfection’ according to ancient numerology . Will’s b day is March 22- (3) +2+2 =7 (“it was a 7”). Will’s bday even falls in what christians call “the holy week”( the week immediately preceding Easter.)  At the end of s1 they even defeat this 7 headed monster because Will rolls a 14 (which can be broken down into two 7s). Michael & William also have 7 letters in each of their names respectively- equating to this 14. This dragon biblical story (of Michael) is also William blake’s most popular painting. Also, random fact in revelations god has a rainbow throne (with thunder /lightning -will the wise powers- coming from the throne, and seven lit torches next to it ) . He also wears a rainbow halo. Lol. Michael also roughly translates to  ( 'Who like el?' The answer being roughly translated to ' no one like el' ... which i mean literally is saying there is no one similar to her. But I still think its a linguistic pun/ burn that Mike is not actually into El romantically).

Jim (James) hopper- According to the s3 script Hopper’s real name is James. JAMES (JIM) was an apostle to jesus- brother of john. And in the bible was called a ’son of thunder ’. Will’s powers/ hopper being an alter of Will's so technically brother of jonathan and thunder powers. Not to mention David on Instagram saying hopper has " he has risen. like bread" is a Jesus ref to 'he has risen"... even the bread ref could be a catholic ref to the last supper.

  Martin Brenner/marsha holland-  have their first name reference the roman god Mars who was originally a ‘thunder or storm deity’ (will the wise/mf powers). EL (in cannanite mythology) also allowed Baal the storm god to rule the entire earth.

ROBIN- was the God of Thunder’s- Thor’s- favorite bird. And Dustin also means ‘Thor’s stone.’The red belly robin is also an important bird in Christianity. Legend has it that the robin got its red belly from a fire in which it was trying to protect Jesus. Robin also name drops the greek god prometheus- the god of fire (will the wise) who brought human beings life and knowledge. And Steve looks at Robin and says "let there be light" a biblical passage. The robin represents selflessness for a higher truth. 

Barb- Saint BARBara- dad kept her locked away from the outside world (like el/brenner) . He tried to k*ll her when he learned she didn’t believe in his religion- so the dad was punished by “god” who electrocuted him with lightning/lit him on fire. (Will the wise powers).

Nancy- is derived from a medieval diminutive of Annis, an English form of Agnes.  There’s the christian saint Agnes- who was beautiful and from a wealthy family. She was the Christian saint of girls and v*rginity . And the duffers subverted this along with the problematic horror movie trope of the ' v*rgin female heroine surviving while her more se*ually liberated female friends are punished by the villain' ( by having her survive specifically because she decided to have s*x).Agnes was also led out and bound to a stake, but (allegedly) the bundle of wood would not burn, or the flames parted away from her (will the wise fire powers). Also people claimed that any man who tried to r*pe her was struck blind.

Hopper's wife’s name -Dianne- is also the roman goddess of ,nature, hunting and wild animals( and greek equivalent to Artemis) .Becky  means ‘snare’ -for hunting animals .Teressa (Terry) means ' huntress'.  The name was originally used in the Middle Ages for a child baptized in holy water . Name of 2 saints-Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux. Lonnie’s gf (Cynthia) was originally an epithet of the Greek goddess Artemis, as well.

Power couple Angela & jake (s4) - Angela means 'messenger of God". And Jake (also means ”supplanter”) is derived from jacob. Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebecca in genesis. El’s aunt,Becky (Rebecca) is wife of isaac.Other theories claim that Jacob is in fact derived from a hypothetical name like יַעֲקֹבְאֵל (Ya'aqov'el) meaning "may God protect".The name jacob is also where the names James/jim is derived from.

couple Steve spies on in s3- Anna Jacobi & Mark Lewinsky. Anna ( name of the mother of the Virgin Mary) Jacobi ("he who supplants"-aka same meaning as jim since both names are derived from jacob). Mark (”the god mars”-same meaning as martin brenner) .Lewinsky (lion-same name meaning as Lonnie). Also derived from the Hebrew root לוי‎ (leví, “priest”)

Joyce means "lord". Could also be a ref to the ('unofficial') saint Joyce who gave up wealth to live in poverty.

Ted-is the short form of the names Theodore and Edward. Theodore is a Greek name meaning "gift of God", Edward has an English origin and means "wealthy guard." Eddie (from s4) also means ‘wealthy guard”

Holly (nancy and Mike's sis)- Holly meanings are 'One who is pious' or 'sacred'

Karen- can be short for Katherine-one of the first christian saints.”Saint Katherine of the Wheel “(er). A 4th century martyr who suffered t*rture on a spiked wheel.  Wheeler does mean ‘occupational name for a maker of wheels’ after all. 

Gospel of LUKE (lucas?) , or simply Luke, tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Sinclair- Catholic saint of computers and TV screens (i mean... he is in the av club).

MAXimilian was deemed a saint in the 1980s- saint of journalists and radios. (Both aspects of s3)

Saint stephen/steven ( STEVE)-an early disciple and deacon . Considered one of the first m*rtyrs of the church.Stephen is first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as one of seven deacons appointed by the Apostles to distribute food (lol icecream) .According to Orthodox belief, he was the eldest and is therefore called “archdeacon”.

Sara- Her name is a feminine form of sar (Hebrew: שַׂר‎), meaning “chieftain” or “prince."  She was the wife and sister of Abraham (ew -given her being an alter of Will though, such a name doesn’t surprise me). Similar to st Barabara’s dad - Abraham tried to k*ll his son isaac in the name of god. Becky (El's aunt) - is derived from Rebecca - wife of Isaac.

Claudia (Dustin's mom)- Christian woman of Rome greeted by Paul in his second letter to Timothy (in the bible).

Sam mayfield (max's dad) -  Short for Samuel or Samantha, from the Biblical name Shemu'el, which means "God has heard", from the Hebrew shama, meaning "heard" and el, meaning "God". Samuel is rumored to be argyle first name.

Marsha Kelly (s4)- Kelly means "frequents churches" or " bright headed". Given she's a counselor the bright headed pun makes sense. But maybe she's not to be trusted if she frequents churches during a satanic panic arc which was fueled by Christian religious extremism . Or she's someone who contrasts the rest of the religious people in town since she's not originally from hawkins...who knows. x files’ main character was catholic but in one ep she criticized a small town for the satanic panic occurring-and says how accusing these kids who listen to rock as satanic or being k*llers is ludicrous.

Peter ballard (s4) - Peter was also the name of an apostle. 

Tina (side character s2)- like christy (s4) it’s short for Christina which translates to "follower of christ" or 'stream'. Tina was the gal who hosted the t halloween party and also the name of one of Erica’s friends in s3.

Samantha (goth girl jonathan talks to in s2 party) translates to "told by god".

Tommy (s1-2) "God's gift" or "twin".Thomas is the Greek variation of the Aramaic name Ta’oma’. It came about because there were too many apostles named Judas; Jesus renamed one Thomas—meaning "twin"—to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and the Judas also known as Thaddeus.

carol (tommy’s gf)- Carol is the short form of Caroline and the meaning is derived from the English vocabulary word for “song” or “hymn". A hymn being a religious song or poem.

Benny ( who helped El at his dinner) - originally derived from latin bennedictus which means "blessed"

Stacey (s2-3 ) rejected dustin at dance. Stacey- "resurrection "

Grigori (the guy following and tracking hopper, Joyce, and alexi)- The name was adopted by early Christians heedful of the Biblical passage located in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful."grigory now means 'watchful and vigalent'

Alexi- prob based on the russian folklore story of alexy. A clever priest's son who tricks a dragon.

Harrington- similar to Robin's religious animal iconography. Harrington means 'he goat'.The most popular image of the Satanic goat dates back to the ever-mysterious Knights of Templar, who were accused of worshipping an idol known as Baphomet (a 1/2 human 1/2 goat man). Roman Catholic society decried it as a demon that demanded human sacrifice — but it would take a few more centuries before the goat became a truly occult symbol.Anton Lavey adopted Baphomet as the sigil of the Church of Satan in 1966, and it has appeared on countless metal album covers. But, Baphomet isn't the lone source of inspiration for our goat-like depictions of Satan.it's also believed that early Christians, seeking to demonize preexisting Pagan traditions, drew comparisons between the Devil and the Greek god Pan (god of nature), who happened to resemble a goat.Some cited how in revelations- during the apocalypse- Jesus separates the 'lambs from the goats'. ( supposedly Good vs bad)

Given the fact s3 alluded to the satanic panic. A Christian movement in the 80s that demonized and said d&d ,rock music, homosexuality, other religions, stephen King,horror films, wearing black,and non conservative ideology were 'satanic.' I wouldn't be surprised by this possible ref. Heck even William Blake criticized similar religious movements in his own time period. Several movies from the s4 list allude to this. The most obvious being the documentary paradise lost (named after the fictional retelling of satan/adam and eve story) - the documentary directly focuses on a witch hunt of rock loving teens (wrongfully accused of m*rders) in a small town during the satanic panic. Not to mention ironically s4 is hinted to be around easter. So Using such symbolism to address religious fundamentalism and the bigotry/hysteria it can cause isn't surprising. No i’m not lumping all religious people into this negative category- obviously.

Other Names with similar definitions

*Hunting /forests woods, nature, animals

Hunters and people in forrests

name meaning : becky - snare (a trap for catching birds or animals). Teressa-huntress. Dianne/Cynthia (Hopper’s ex wife/Lonnie’s gf) - is a roman/greek goddess of hunting and wild animals.  Rhadaghast- Will's password for cb is a lothr wizard who protects forests/wildlife.martin/marsha- previously god of agriculture/plants.As an agricultural guardian, he was believed to directed his energies toward creating conditions that allow crops to grow, which may include warding off hostile forces of nature (pumpkins rotting in s2). El in phoenician culture was called Elus and its Greek equivalent Cronus (god of agriculture) steve- he goat- associated with pan- god of fields, groves, wooded glens . brenner- ‘someone who cleared forests by burning’. the blond women, Brenner worked with,  Fraizer-  “of the forrest men”

* FUN FACT: Kali’s name originally was going to be ‘Roman’ (which is derived from Romulus-the son of Mars... aka Martin Brenner) .

Trees

Ives and owens- ives means 'yew wood' while Owen means 'yew tree. ' bauman- nickname for someone who lived near a tree.comes from the German word "baum," or "boum" in Middle High and Old German, meaning "tree’. Jennifer hayes- Jennifer  derived from Old English words "jenefer", "genefer" and "jinifer", all of which were variants of Juniper used to describe the juniper tree.Lonnie means "oak tree; or lion". Lion plushie in cb and the lion el has along with the tree establishes a connection between all 3 maybe? Oak groves were especially sacred to  the goddess dianna too. Buckley (it has many different translations) - Old English "boch ley" (with boch meaning beech tree and ley meaning wood, glade or clearing).

Nature

buckley if translated from "bok lee," means meadow, or field. mayfield- open country (field) where madder (mæddre) grows. Holland- wood land, Bruce (who was also possessed) - means WILLow lands . Keith (s2-3) : woods or forrest.Hargrove- meadow filled with rabbits (Jonathan’s hunting story).Holloway is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, or type of tree. Tina means 'river' . Burness (guy who claimed he jumped into quarry)-stream. Neil- cloud. Lowe (Bruce's last name)-This surname is derived from a geographical locality 'at the low,' i.e. the hill. Hayes means "hedged area'.

Flowers

Flo (hopper's secretary)- means flower. Suzie-  lily flower. Susan (Max’s mom)- means lily, lotus flower or rose. Karen (in Japanese can mean)- flower, lotus, or water lily. Heather is also a variety of small shrubs with pink or white flowers which commonly grow in rocky areas.  Erica is a type of "heather" plant. martin/marsha: in the legend of Mars,his mother become pregnant with him using a magic flower- which was given to her by the goddess flora.

Bright (aka intelligent)

Bob- nickname of Robert . Both Bob and Robert mean 'bright, shinning or fame'. Aka smart -he's called ' Bob the brain ' for a reason.

Robin- is also diminutive of Robert . And we all know robin is smart too. Being multilingual/ cracking the code.Robin (like Robert) also means 'bright, shining , or fame.'

Lucas- means "bright" or "shinning" aka he's also a smart cookie. His firework plan saving the day.

Lonnie and Larry (the mayor) can both be nicknames for Lawrence which also means ' bright one' or 'shinning one'. Well... both are cunning I'll give them that. Lonnie is unfortunately ...smart. I think this detail had other foreshadowing. Joyce to Will about Will the wise ' if he's so wise why does he need the fireballs? can't he just outsmart the bad guys? " Will: " yeah. Usually. BUT sometimes the bad guys are smart too." I never understood why on earth Joyce would be with someone as awful as Lonnie in the first place- than be with his literal opposite Bob- but maybe she just found intelligence attractive?

Names associated with thunder/lightning/fire (Like Will/mf/Will the wise)

Byers-reprsents Greek Zeus (god of thunder/lightning). Martin - references the roman god Mars who was originally a ‘thunder or storm deity’ .ROBIN- was the German God of Thunder’s- Thor’s- favorite bird. And Dustin also means ‘Thor’s stone.’Jim- “son of thunder”. Christian god- has throne (surrounded by thunder /lightning). Kali- could summon thunder storms.Nancy/Barb-both saints associated with fire. Kali-is called at times ‘ the bright fire of truth’ /and bestows the fire of knowledge. Robin also name drops the greek god prometheus- the god of fire. Mars -the keeper of Rome's perpetual flame . The Robin bird in a Christian story myth protects Jesus from hell's fire. William Blake- wrote about a fire wielding character of Los who represented jesus. Jesus during end times wields fire. Michael is the archangel who oversees on Earth the natural element of fire. Fire is the most typical element associated with the Saint John's Eve celebration (Saint John- called Jesus’s brother).

Animals (and their symbolism)

Byers- means ‘ cattle shed’.The Greeks considered the bull animal totem to be a symbol of Zeus (god of thunder and lighting - will the wise powers). He is the head of the gods and the almighty ruler of Olympus.  I”n hinduism, Shiva is known as Gorakhnath, means the lord of the cows.  And is also known as, Pasupathinath, the lord of all animals (similar to Rhadaghast). According to some scholars, Shiva’s association with cows and bulls might date back to the Indus Valley period. Cows have a special significance in Hinduism, as aspects of Mother Goddess and as symbols of selfless service. Mahatma Gandhi declared the protection of cows a central feature of Hinduism.Hindus worship cows as the Mother Goddess and symbol of motherhood, kindness and forbearance.”

Tigers: (Sarah’s plushie/ Hawkin’s macott/ Will & Mike have tiger posters in their rooms): The goddess Kali & God Shiva wore a tiger skin (this fact was actually mentioned by Kali in the prequel novel ‘suspicious minds’ ).”In many tribal traditions of India, the tiger (or lion) is worshipped as a god. In some Hindu hymns the domestic fires are compared to the tigers that guard the house.Tigers also figure prominently in many Indian folk-tales, Jataka-stories, and the Panchatantra.”

Lions:(Lonnie means ‘lion’ and el and Will have matching lion plushies)- In the Bible, the lion has two opposite meanings: it is compared to the Devil (1 Pet 5:8) and to Christ (Rev 5:5). Aka: Lonnie is the devil. The kids are the opposite. Nancy also compares the demogorgan to a lion. “In many tribal traditions of India, the lion is worshipped as a god.One of the ten incarnations of Vishnu is Narasimha, who has the head and shoulders of a lion, but the torso of a human.Goddess Durga, a fierce form of Parvathi or Shakti, has a golden lion as her vehicle, while Rahu, a planetary guard, rides upon a black lion as his vehicle.Lions form an important part of Hindu religious art. The face of the lion (simha-mukha) is used in images and sculpture in many Hindu temples to decorate the doors, walls, arches, and windows.The memorial pillar at Saranath  contains four beautifully carved standing lions at the top on a round abacus representing the imperial power. They now constitute the official emblem of the government of India.”

El almost k*lling a cat- “Some superstitious beliefs are also associated with cats in Hinduism. For example, killing a cat is considered a grave sin, for which one may have to offer prayers and give in charity at least seven golden images of the killed cat. “

Harrington- he goat. Buckley- has various translations. Anglo-Saxon: ‘bucc and leah’ meaning goat and wood respectively. And obviously there’s the robin-bird. And I've already discussed their symbolism. Goat= baphomet/pan. 

Robin- thor's fav bird/ helped Jesus from hell's fire.

Buckley- can also translate to " field filled with deer" (like the deer attacked by the demogrogan or the bambi film jon reffed in relation to the hunting story about lonnie).And Karen ( when from it’s Hebrew origins) can mean- antler or horn. Also the caananite God el was usually depicted with animal horns on his head.Diana in Roman art usually is accompanied by a hound (demo dog) or deer.  Because of the story of her turning an attempted r*pist-hunter into a deer/ and then causing dogs to attack him.  Deer is also one of the symbolic animals accepted since early Christianity as an allegory of Jesus Christ and the Christian Disciple. And when associated with Shiva (kali's husband) in Hindu iconography, the deer omen denotes sovereignty over nature and symbolizes the lord of all animals, humans, and the King of the Forest. In many visual and written illustrations, human beings and deer appear as close companions and in some cases, humans adopt the face or antlers of a deer, in images more common in stories of human strife. Deer also have a supernatural significance and appear as apparitions of divinity and in legends of spiritual awakening.

Hargrove- meadow filled with rabbits (like the rabbit lonnie made jonathan k*ll.) Hopper sounds like thumper the rabbit- which jonathan mentions in relation to bunnies . And ... idk... Hopper did make that pun in s3 about bunnies to Larry (lawerence) ? We also have rabbit refs elsewhere like with- el in Benny's. They play the song 'white rabbit' a song referencing Alice in wonderland and in el's room at Terry's house is the white rabbit from that story. Also paralleling to jonathan- el was almost made to k*ll a cat by her father (Cheshire cat aka Alice in wonderland ref + cats are associated with magic powers/witch craft).In Celtic folklore, the rabbit is seen as a supernatural being from the Otherworld.The rabbit symbolism in Christianity has found its way through the Germanic deity Eostre from which the name Easter came to be (s4 will most likely have the Easter holliday).One tale describes the rabbit as the pet of Jesus Christ. And rabbits were often inserted into art of jesus' mother .

Creel- basket or container of fish.fish is taken as symbolizing Christ’s faith, charity, and abundance. A biblical story goes how Christ fed his disciples with 2 fishes and called them “fishers of men.”  The Christians made an acrostic from the Greek word for fish, “ichthys” as early as the first century and it is, “Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter”, meaning Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

Names hinting at character traits (which are very literal)

Mr clarke (science teacher)- clarke means 'scholar'

Dottie (in kali's gang)- she was in an insane asylum . And ‘Dotty’ is a very old British slang term  for 'crazy'

War (usually relates to ‘villains’)

Troy- means ' foot soldier'. Martin brenner: Martin means 'war like'. Lonnie is diminutive of Alonzo or Lawrence. Alonzo means 'ready for battle'.

In contrast to Lonnie, Will can mean "desiring peace. " Axel  who is part of Kali’s crew (who i think Will created along with others ) even means "father is peace."

Twin

Tom (Heather's dad) and Tommy mean ‘twin’. Robin's crush Tammy ('twin') Thompson ( 'son of tom’).

* Besides similar/identical name meanings.There’s also a lot of other repeated names that go into this whole twin/mirror imagery which i find strange... makes me wonder about @strangertheory ‘s version of the did theory. If not...maybe it’s just a allusion to the whole Will vs Will the wise arc (possibly) coming up?

Jennifer hayes (popular girl) & Jen (Mr clarke’s gf). Tina (highschool gal) & Tina- erica’s friend- Tina & christy are also nicknames of christina (s4 character). Susie (dustin’s gf) & susan (max’s mom). Sam (max’s dad) and Samantha (girl at party)/ samuel (possibly argyle). Billy Hargrove, Bill (dianne’s new huband),  and Will-all being nicknames for William. Robin & Bob-nicknames for Robert. Lonnie & Larry-nicknames for Lawerence. Ted  & Eddie being nicknames for Edward.James (Will’s bully), Jim Hopper (real name James), jacobi, and jason- all 4 are derived from jacob . Marsha Holland (barb’s mom) and marsha kelly (therapist s4)/martin relate to mars. Tom (reporter), tommy (highschooler), thompson (other highschooler).

it’s definitely peculiar to repeat names like this in a story. Unless it means ...something... I talked about how David was mentioning alot of doppelganger/twin imagery recently-here. So the name mirroring could just be an allusion to the Will/WW arc coming up ...possibly?

[fireinmywoods]

Can you explain trauma Kirk has in the cheating scene? Im new to star trek

Welcome!!! I hope you stick around for a while and become fully assimilated into the strange, delightful glory that is Trek fandom.

I can only speak for myself, but when I talk about Jim’s trauma, I’m referring to two main components (under the read-more for discussion of childhood abuse and Tarsus):

1. Jim’s abusive childhood

There’s a deleted scene from Jim’s childhood in the first movie in which his older brother Sam is shown running away from home. It‘s made clear that the “man of the house” Frank is at the very least verbally and emotionally abusive to both kids, and based on baby Jimmy’s reaction to Frank getting in his face, I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine that it had or would later escalate to physical violence.

[Note: Because AOS and especially the extended universe are a hot mess, some pseudo-canon sources describe Frank as their uncle (Winona’s brother) while others have him as their stepfather. I’ve gone with stepfather, because I think it better explains why they stayed in that situation as long as they did.]

Sam says their mom doesn’t understand how Frank treats them when she’s not around (i.e., off-planet with Starfleet), which makes the case for a certain amount of neglect as well. Then there’s the AOS tie-in comic Operation: Annihilate, which shows the aftermath of the car incident, and in which Winona is pretty grossly depicted as an enabler of Frank’s abuse, telling Jimmy that Frank just gets mad sometimes and that he basically needs to suck it up and live with it. For the record, this comic is not part of my personal canon, as I think the exchange I’m describing is lazily characterized and does Winona unnecessarily dirty. (“He’s given us a home” - motherfucker, it’s a post-scarcity economy and you work for Starfleet! Get a goddamn apartment!) That said, I do think Winona bears significant responsibility for leaving her kids in that situation, since the most charitable read is that she wasn’t paying enough attention to realize how Frank was treating them. (I know at least one of my fandom friends disagrees on this point, and I’ll acknowledge that I have a dirty lens when it comes to childhood abuse and the enabling thereof. Your mileage may vary.)

Anyway. In this version of events, Jimmy doesn’t steal the car because he’s some innately shitheaded out-of-control rebel like the final cut suggests. In fact, Sam’s exposition tells us that up until this point Jimmy has been an exceptionally obedient, rule-following, “good” child. Here, he steals the car because Sam leaving and his own realization that he’s never going to be good enough to make Frank happy makes something in him snap. It’s a powerful moment which greatly enhances Jim’s characterization, and if you ask me it’s frankly criminal that they deleted this scene.

2. Tarsus IV

TOS Kirk is a canonical survivor of a famine and genocidal massacre on the colony Tarsus IV. Here again canon is a bit of a mess when it comes to Tarsus IV, and fanon has taken that canon and gone absolutely hog wild with it, but it is firmly established that Jim was just 13 at the time, which...woof. That’s dark as hell.

Now, it is not official AOS canon that this version of Jim was on Tarsus IV at the time of the massacre, but it’s also not official that he wasn’t. My take, which I think is shared by many in fandom, is that AOS Jim was sent there to live with family after the car incident as a sort of “get your head straight” move, and also (in my opinion) because Winona finally started cluing in that it probably wasn’t a great idea to leave him alone with Frank.

The TOS extended universe further establishes that Jim was understandably pretty messed up after the events of Tarsus, and that his father’s intervention was crucial to helping him recover and setting him on the path toward Starfleet and the Enterprise. In AOS, of course, George isn’t around to provide that support, and Jim’s already learned that he can’t rely on his mom, and he’s maybe stuck living with fucking Frank again. All of this builds on his earlier trauma in really terrible ways, and he never has the opportunity to actually heal from any of it.

Aftermath: PTSD and the cheating scene

Again, the abuse and Tarsus IV are both semi-canonical at best. However, I’d argue that they should be considered canon, because Jim’s character arc makes a lot more sense when they’re included. This double whammy of unresolved trauma and the almost total absence of emotional support go a long way toward explaining how the boy who grows up to be TOS Kirk in one timeline instead grows into the Jim Kirk we meet at the bar in 2255 of the Kelvin timeline - a “repeat offender,” reckless, directionless, emotionally detached, quick to meet violence with violence, and so very, very angry.

That’s why the scene where Spock lays into Jim for cheating on the Kobayashi Maru is so painful to me. Jim is up on display at the front of this hall, being stared at by basically everyone he knows, and Spock is criticizing him for missing the point of the exercise - specifically, lecturing him about needing to experience fear and control his reaction to it. Imagine how that would land for someone with as much trauma as Jim is carrying, who endured all he did as a powerless child, and who (in my telling of things) suffers to this day from panic attacks as a result. It’s, uh...it’s not great.

[kitkat1003]

Who Are You Really?

Spirit Masterpost (Ao3 link there)

Chapter 2: Find A Way In

Summary: This town's got quite the cast of characters

Spirit spends the next couple of months on reconnaissance.  They hop over rooftops and monitor the town where the supposed successor lives.  They hadn’t had the time to ask for a description after getting their orders from the Demon Bull Family, and they’re afraid to go back to the trio with their query.

Something about that home is broken. Spirit has spent enough time in a broken home to know it’s not a nice place to be in for long.  Best to stay away unless they’re needed.

The town that the successor lives in is pretty lively. They only assume this is where the successor lives, though, because the successor had arrived to fight Demon Bull King rather quickly and would likely need to be close by.

They watch the city from the rooftops.  Bright colors, people, loud noises—they would hate to be down there, lost in the madness, but from a far enough distance it’s tolerable.

The people are so...loud.  There’s so much stuff here.  So many things, sights, sounds.  It’s awful pretty, especially the glowing stuff.  Spirit tries touching it, but it’s really hot. Whatever it is, it burns.

They’re sitting on top of a skyscraper, taking a break with some cheese tea they got because they were curious about it, when the sky shifts.  The weather begins changing without reason.  That gets them to jump down, because it sounds like a storm is brewing and the higher up you are the more likely you are to be hit by lightning.  Getting hit by lightning does not sound appealing.

They duck down into an alleyway, shifting into human form just as Red comes onto the myriad screens all over the city.  

Spirit has to give him credit, it’s certainly a foreboding speech.  They don’t do well when giving speeches.  Often when they’re sent to intimidate or kill they either write up a script on their way there or stay silent.  Whichever is more effective, anyway.

They lean against the wall as mortals panic, pulling out their nifty little phone.  It’s sturdy, which is good, since they can be a bit clumsy with their things.

‘Red’ They type out.  They gave him their number when they got a phone, excited to have one.  He’d texted them a lot of boxes.  They don’t know what the boxes mean, but they hope they’re nice.

‘I heard your speech up on the screens!  It was very articulate and polite, and threatening!  I think your dad will be mighty impressed with you.

Do you need my assistance?  Please let me know.  I’m in the area, so I can come quickly!

From,

Spirit’

They rock back and forth on their feet, turning their head to the side and watching as the mortals all vanish into their buildings, the streets becoming empty in minutes.  Spirit has to admire the speed of it.  Maybe they got more vigilant after the attack by Demon Bull King.  It’s only been a few months since the attack, long enough to set in some sense of safety but short enough that they would still be on edge.  Spirit knows the timeline of overcoming traumatic experiences.  They start to fade out of the forefront after about half a year if you’re lucky.

Their phone buzzes.  It’s from Red!

They blink at the deluge of boxes, using the little arrow buttons on their phone to scroll down.

‘i don’t need anyone!  Thnx for the compliment’

Spirit blinks a few times, and shrugs.  Red never is very eloquent in text form, and they’ve heard that brevity is the soul of wit!  Whatever that means.  Spirit isn’t quite sure.  Plus, they can understand the desire to do everything by yourself, especially when you’re doing something to prove yourself to someone.

Since the town is pretty much deserted, Spirit takes the time to walk around, get to know the place.  They know it plenty from a bird’s eye view, but whenever you scope out a territory it’s best to know all the angles.  They trace the different side streets with their eyes and memorize the street signs.  They might make a diagram, to make sure the layout sticks in their head.

They’re pretty calm, until they feel the ever ethereal power that comes only from one source.

The Monkey King.

Something like primal terror freezes them in place for a split second, before they race away running as far away from the outpouring of heavenly power that comes with the Monkey King’s presence.  They can’t even think about where they’re going, feet pressing hard against the messy street pavement. T, crunching on glass and debris without thought because they just need to get away.  They know who Monkey King is. They know that they would mean nothing to such a monarch, to such a being.  They have no favors to spare, nothing to keep themself safe, so why wouldn’t he jump on the chance to get rid of them?

Considering their reputation, considering the times they’ve colluded with Monkey King’s enemies, there’s no reason to believe he’d let them live, if he saw them.  No reason to think that he wouldn’t leave them a bloody stain on the pavement the moment they appeared in his line of sight.

Or worse, he’ll \tear out an eye for your insolence.  He clearly doesn’t have a problem pulling out organs, from what you’ve heard in the stories, and with what he did to Macaque?  He’ll ruin you.  Well, at least you’d finally have a normal amount of eyes, right? 

Their breaths come in short bursts.  They climb up to the roof of a short building, curled into a little ball, and shut their eyes.

They don’t manage a single normal breath until they feel the energy of the Monkey King fade out.  He must have left, back to his mountain.  Good.  That means they won’t die today, which really is something!  Every day they manage to live is kind of a surprise, really.  They’re consistently shocked by their ability to keep going.

They carefully sit up and glance down at their feet.  Bleeding, apparently.  Not a surprise, given how they weren’t careful when sprinting through the street, but annoying nonetheless.  They pull out the pieces of glass, clean off the wound with some antibiotic ointment they keep on them at all times (Mom used to make it herself with stuff they scavenged in the forest, and now you can buy an even better version in the store for cheap), and wrap their feet in gauze.

Once that’s done, they lay back, spread eagle on the roof, staring up at the cloudy sky as they try to regulate their breaths.  They’re not exactly steady yet, but at least now they can breathe.  Soon, though, the sky clears, and Spirit has to squint to keep the sun from burning their retinas.  Their phone buzzes in their pocket, and they pull it out, holding it up so the shadow of it falls over their face, blocking the sun a little.

‘The garbage noodle boy will pay!’

They type out a reply.

‘Red.

I don’t know who the noodle boy is, but I’m sorry he made you upset.  Did you have to leave the weather tower?  Do you need anything?

Let me know!

Spirit.’

They get a bunch of boxes and a very hard to follow explanation, but eventually they parse it out.  Noodle boy is the nickname Red has for Monkey King’s successor, and apparently he came in and kicked Red out of the weather tower.  

Spirit asks if Red needs help with his next scheme, but Red declines.  That’s fine.

Spirit knows when they aren’t wanted.

As the sky clears, people begin to peer out their windows, and a few brave souls actually leave their homes.  Within an hour, the city is back to its bustling state, if a little slow as it tries to reset from the panic.  Spirit watches this happens with a fascination one would have with watching ants build a colony.  Well, not in the sense that mortals are just like ants, but they are simple in many ways and complicated in others.  Peril is unknown to them in a way Spirit never could understand, and to see them grapple with the appearance of it and work it into their community and lives is ever fascinating.  Mortals are very tight knit, after all.  Everything affects the collective.

Demons are typically solitary creatures.  They create small clans, sure, but they do not settle, create towns for themselves.

Spirit flits between the different factions and never settles themself.  They have a few caves that could become homes, if they stayed, but they never do.  Not when there are favors to hand out, places to explore.  Besides, an empty home isn’t a fun one to return to.

They’re about to head out, disappear into the forest areas outside of the town for the night, but the roof door to the building opens.

“Hey,” comes a gruff voice.

Spirit freezes.  They turn their head around, slowly, eyes wide.

The figure that stands before them is a stout pig demon, wearing what appears to be a chef’s coat.  He’s got stubble, sharp blue eyes, and small tusks that peek out over his upper lip.  He stares at them without animosity.  Mostly interest and confusion.

Spirit, at a glance, suspects that they’d be able to take him, should he attack.  A second glance, more a read of a soul, proves otherwise.  Whoever this is, there’s a power they’re hiding.  A lot of power.

“Don’t see a lot of monkeys around here,” The demon says.

“Sorry,” Spirit replies, immediately.  “I-uh-I didn’t know this was your roof, I was just sitting up here for the view-I-I’m leaving, so—”

They don’t want to get in a fight.  There’s no point in trying to throw on glamour, appearing human.  And they don’t know how to really explain themselves, either.

The demon raises his hands in a peaceful gesture, trying to put Spirit at ease.  It doesn’t exactly work, considering it reveals the demon’s claws.  Dull as they are, Spirit is sure he knows how to use them.  But they do recognize the sentiment.

“Hey, hey, no need to apologise, ‘s long as you’re not causing trouble,” he gives them a sort of half grin.  “Just figured I’d see what you were up ta, if you were alright.  Not often I find anyone hiding on a roof for a good reason.”

Spirit stares.  They don’t exactly know how to react in this situation, so they just.  Don’t.  Their tail curls around one leg and they wish they could just.  Run.  But then he might chase them.  That wouldn’t be good at all.

“Uh.”  He scratches the back of his neck, seemingly uncomfortable with the silence.  “I’m Pigsy.”

How...appropriate?  Spirit fights a giggle, because of course his name is Pigsy, what else could it be?  The smile worms its way onto their face anyway, and their ears twitch as they look anywhere but at Pigsy.

Pigsy smiles back and chuckles a little.

“Yeah, I know it’s kind of on the nose.  Not my first choice of a name, but apparently it’s everyone else’s,” he snorts.

This time, Spirit does giggle, their nose crinkling with the motion as their smile reaches their eyes.  They relax a little.  If Pigsy is at ease enough to joke, it’ll probably be okay.  They’ll probably be okay.

“You, uh, mind telling me your name?” Pigsy asks them, and they freeze again, suddenly shy.

They fidget, then sigh.  It would be rude to not tell him, even though they wanted to keep a low profile, but Pigsy is asking nicely, and he doesn’t seem mean.  What’s the harm?

“Spirit,” they reply.

With a wave, they leap across the space of the street between the two buildings, sliding down the back side of the building.  It’s easy enough to slip into human form and disappear into the crowds towards the outskirts of the city.

They sleep leaning against a tree.  It isn’t terribly comfortable, but Spirit is used to that.

The next month is spent really getting to know the town.  It’s a huge place, and Spirit wants to be aware of every nook and cranny, just in case.  They’re a bit on edge, too, because Monkey King was here, which means he’s unafraid to come back.  If they’re around when he does, that wouldn’t be good.

But if they know all the secret passageways, just maybe, they’ll be able to outrun him.  From what they hear, the Monkey King cares about mortals, so he’d probably try and mitigate collateral.  If they disappear into a crowd, or get underground, they’d likely escape.

They have plans.  They make them whenever they stop on a skyscraper and let the wind blow through their fur, when they look down at the steep drop and think about catching a hand over a thousand years ago, when they think about every step to the present.  They have a plan for every street corner and alleyway, should they be caught.  They have to.  It’s the only way to survive.

Their plans come to a halt when they feel a soul split.  Well, not split, because that’s not possible, but at the very, least spread out.  All kept together by a thin, golden tether that ties them to their source.  

It starts as just one tether.  Then two.  Three, seven, fifteen, thirty-eight, a hundred—Spirit goes dizzy trying to count them all, up on the tallest building in the town.  The weather tower’s roof basically has seats built into its design, if you push a window open and sit on the glass tile, so it’s fun to climb on top of it.

Eventually, they have to see what is happening, because the city is dancing with golden lights scattered across it, and it’s making Spirit dizzy.

A group of tethers coalesces in a single building, an anti gravity arcade.  Spirit hasn’t gone in, because they like when their feet stick to the ground, and the amount of noise and bright lights is enough to leave them dizzy for decades.  They hop to the roof of it, peering over the ledge to see just who is inside.

“Monkey King?”

Spirit whirls around, and comes face to face with a mortal, wearing a bright orange jacket, red pants, a white shirt with a target on the chest (which, not that Spirit would say, is a bit odd, and is asking for a chest injury), and a red headband.

Then, an identical copy of that mortal appears.  Then another.

Suddenly, Spirit is surrounded.

“Uh,” they start.  “No?”

Regardless of their valiant effort to make it known that they are not the Monkey King, they’re dogpiled quickly, grabbed by tens of hands and carried into the sensory hell that is the anti-gravity arcade.

Considering they’re not being hurt, and considering they can’t move their arms, Spirit doesn’t struggle much.  They just shut their eyes, coiling their tail around their leg and staying as limp as possible.  Resistance seems a bit futile, and if they’re malleable instead of stiff they’re less likely to be damaged during their, uh, transport.

“I’m really not the Monkey King,” they try again, though their voice gets muffled by the many, many figures holding them.

The group stops.  There’s a buzz of chatter before one voice cuts out above everything.

“Alright, alright, what’s the haps?  What’s got y’all making me step away from the porty?” The voice has a very casual lilt to it, but it’s recognizable as the same voice of all the other mortals.

“We found the Monkey King!” One of the clones pipes up.

“You what?!”

“We got him, boss!”

“You—okay, okay, lemme see!  Drop him!”

Spirit is dropped onto the ground unceremoniously, and the crowd parts so they can look up to  this supposed leader.

He looks like the rest of the group, but his orange jacket is tied around his waist and his shirt doesn’t have the target on it the rest of them do.  He’s got his pants bunched up at the base of his boots, blue headphones hanging off his neck, and when he glances down at them, Spirit sees a flash of a sharp tooth poking up over his bottom lip.

“Sorry,” they say.  “I’m, uh, not the Monkey King.”

The ringleader groans, leaning his head back.

“Of course you’re not,” he says, though the tone doesn’t indicate that he’s angry at them, which is nice.  He turns to the group standing behind Spirit, and glares.  “C’mon, boys!  I told ya if you saw the Monkey King, you report back to me.  No goin’ after him, no makin’ a fuss.  If this was the real deal, he’d’ve had you poofed quick!  The Boss might not know how to make us go away yet, but the King definitely does.”

He gives a quick, cursory glance over the group.

“We lose anyone?” he asks.

The group shakes their heads.

“Good.  Now, next time, listen to me!” he shouts.  

Spirit flinches at the sound.

The group, thoroughly chastised, all mumble apologies.  The leader sighs.

“Alright, alright.  Half of you keep on look out, and the rest of you go and play.  We got the arcade to ourselves, after all,” he waves them off, and they scatter.

Once they’re gone, he turns to Spirit.  Spirit stiffens and very carefully picks themself up.

“Sorry ‘bout them,” The leader says.  “They’re not the brightest bunch, and any monkey demon is gonna get them excited.  I told them to look out for the Monkey King, not kidnap him, but you spread one brain cell thin enough and things are bound ta’ get lost in translation.

Spirit glances around.  They look to be backstage somewhere.  The hum of pounding bass is muffled, but they can still hear the music.  There are no flashing lights, which is nice.

“Haven’t seen or heard of ya’, though.” The leader speaks up again, drawing back Spirit’s attention.  “What’s your name?”

“Spirit,” Spirit replies.  “And, um, it’s okay.  They weren’t very rough handling me, so it was fine.  

“Um,” They can tell the leader isn’t an original, they can see the tether, but they have to ask.  “You’re, uh, like them, right?”

The leader shrugs.

“If by ‘like them’ you mean a clone?  Sure,” he leans in close toward them.  “But, uh, keep that on the DL, you know?  Don’t want it gettin’ spread around.”

Spirit blinks a few times.  So, clones.  That isn’t surprising.  Macaque can make clones from his shadows, and he told them that Monkey King can make clones out of hair.  The successor must have inherited that power.

The thing that does confuse them, is

“DL?” they ask.

The leader raises a brow.  “The down low?”

“Uh…” Spirit fidgets and glances at their feet. 

The lingo makes no sense.  Is it a new thing?  They’re really bad at keeping up with trends and dialogues.  Their ears burn with embarrassment.  They must look really stupid.

“Just don’t go tellin’ nobody, alright?” The leader clarifies.

Spirit nods.

“Okay!  But, uh, why are you hiding?” It doesn’t seem to make sense.  If the successor made the clones, why do they feel the need to run from him?

“Cuz the Boss made us, made us do a bunch of his dirty work, and I don’t think he’s gonna like that we got tired of it.” The leader glares out toward where Spirit assumes the rest of the arcade is.  “Free will ain’t something clones are supposed to have.  I’m a little more, uh, on the wild side.  The rest of the boys are pretty simple, so I keep ‘em close so they don’t get into trouble.  And hey,” He smiles, all sharp teeth. “Can’t have a porty if you don’t got a roaring crowd.”

Well then.  That certainly changes things.  Spirit has never wondered about the sentience of clones, considering they’ve never interacted with them for long.  Macaque’s shadow clones are more extensions of himself than they are sentient creatures, and they never talk.  But, if clones really do become sentient, it’s a rather cruel thing to strip that sentience away, right?  So long as they aren’t hurting anyone, anyway.

“That’s fair,” they shrug.  “But, um, if you want to really stand out, maybe some new clothes will help?”

“That a fit check?” The leader smirks.

“A what?”

“Nevermind,” The leader waves a hand.  “What you got in mind?”

Spirit tilts their head to the side in thought.

“I think, um...your aesthetic,” they start.  “It doesn’t fit with, uh, the others, so I could get you some new clothes.  Accessories.  As a favor?” They shrug, a bit self conscious.

The leader is pretty confident, and Spirit is decidedly not.  It’s awkward to think that they could be of service.

A blade has a use, but if you have claws that are just as sharp, why buy the tool?

The leader considers this, and then shrugs.

“Sounds good, 3 eyes,” he agrees. 

Spirit blinks.  “It’s Spirit,” they clarify.

“Sure.” The leader shrugs them off.  “Exit’s down the hall to your right.”

Spirit nods and dashes off.  Slipping into human form is easy as a new set of clothes, though they always have to be wary of their tail, wrapping it around their waist like a belt so as not to arise suspicion.

Sure, demons live in this town, but the ratio seems 10:1 and Spirit prefers to blend in.  Besides, if they get mistaken for Monkey King again, they might just scream, if only to startle the crowd so they can get away.

They flit between stores, looking for something fitting for a character like that clone had been.  Spirit isn’t good at fashion, Macaque picked out their outfit after all, but they do have several eyes for flashy things (two, the third isn’t as entranced by such things).  They grab a pair of visor glasses, pink to accent the blue.  They have these weird lines through them, probably to see through.  Spirit thinks they’d be mighty useful to counteract all the bright lights.  

Then they look for something orange to replace the jacket, since it seems to be a fixture on all the other clones.  They find a kind of garish orange tiger print coat.  It’s pretty wild, and, well, the leader said he was pretty wild.  They toss it over their shoulder and head back toward the arcade.

They come in the same back way, because anything to spare themselves the sensory overload of the arcade is worth it, though they feel eyes from all around watching them as they approach the backstage.

Two large bouncers step in front of Spirit, as they approach the backstage, and Spirit nearly trips and falls in their haste to back away.  They’ve never been a fan of looming figures, and even though they’d probably be the same height as the bouncers if they stood up straight, they’re far too used to hunching down to do anything else.

“U-um,” they manage a whisper, clearing their throat before they continue, trying to speak up above the din of the music blaring in the other room.  “I-uh-I-the boss, uh, wanted me to get him some clothes, so…”

They hold up the items they found as proof, giving the two bouncers a shaky smile.

The two share a look, before one walks toward the stage, leaning down for a moment to talk to someone before straightening back up.

“3 eyes!” 

Spirit fights the urge to wince at the nickname, because they don’t like that they only have three eyes, they don’t like the reminder.  Instead, they sigh and smile awkwardly, waving as the leader saunters over.

“Hello,” they show off their pickings.  “I thought these would fit.  Since, uh, neon pink and blue go well together, and, um, I thought this jacket could, uh—”

“It’s way better than the old one!” The leader snatches both items out of Spirit’s hand.

The shades go on his face quick, and he tosses his old jacket so fast it’s a blur as it hits the wall.  He slides the new one onto his shoulders and leans back, hands in his pockets.

“Do I look good?” he asks, then continues without waiting for an answer.  “Nevermind, course I do!  Look at me!”

“I am,” Spirit agrees with a half shrug.

“Nice work, 3 eyes!  The fit fits!” He chuckles, and did his teeth get even sharper in the half an hour or so Spirit has been gone?  They can’t tell.

He plays with the sleeves of the new coat, and glances down at his feet.

“Anyway, uh.” For a moment, he’s almost shy.  “Picked out a name for myself.  Figured keepin’ the old one made no sense and all.”

“Oh?” Spirit keeps their tone carefully neutral, tilting their head to the side.

“Yeah.  Porty.” Porty gives them a wry grin.  “If I say it weird, might as well be my brand, right?”

“Sure?” Brand?  Spirit thought a brand was when you put hot iron on something.  Macaque wanted them to do that to a cow he found, but they couldn’t.  It was too mean.

“Anyway,” Porty’s voice cuts through their confusion.  “I gotta get back to my DJ stand.  Wanna stay for the porty?”

Spirit lets out a nervous laugh.

“Oh, uh, no thank you,” they say, and when Porty frowns, they scramble to explain.  “Not that I don’t, uh, like parties-I—” Well, they’re no good at lying.  “I just have uh, really sensitive eyes and ears.  It would be too loud and bright for me,” Spirit lands on something truthful as they finish, giving Porty a hopeful smile.

Porty’s expression stays carefully neutral, before he bursts into a sharp toothed grin that stretches wide across his face.

“That’s fair, but don’t be a stranger, kay?  Us wild ones gotta stick together!” He nudges their arm.

Spirit thinks Porty is awfully nice and cool, but he talks in ways that make their head spin.

“Got it,” they reply in lieu of asking for clarification, and they disappear out the back door as the music swells again.

They write Porty’s favor into their book just as they start to see the tethers vanish.  One by one, like dying stars flickering out, they disappear.  Spirit watches, wide eyed, as each of over a hundred vanishes.

There's a pit in their stomach, as they think of the giggly, desperate for approval, mostly kind clones suddenly ceasing to exist.  Thinks of the many voices going silent.

Macaque would tell them that clones are a means to an end, a weapon to be discarded after use.  But the successor didn’t discard them after use, he used them and left them, abandoned them.  And now has the audacity to get rid of them when they’re becoming too sentient for his liking?

Spirit doesn’t know the circumstances.  It’s rude to judge a person over things Spirit doesn’t know the full story of.  But they didn’t hate the clones, and Porty, for all his faults, seemed to just want to make a good time for people.  Not the type of good time Spirit would enjoy, but they know others might.

Curled up on the roof of a skyscraper, they watch the lights disappear.  The arcade, a veritable lighthouse of stars, loses its many tethers in an instant.  The mass of light vanishes as if blown away by a gust of wind, until there’s only one left.

The final one, Spirit knows.  

It disappears like the rest.

They break into the arcade that night, and find the coat and glasses on the floor, abandoned.  The arcade is dark and there is broken glass all over the floor, but Spirit steps around it, eyes only for the coat and glasses.  The things they got for him.  To prove that he was more.

Now all that’s left.

They pick the two items up gently and bury them out in the woods.  Maybe Porty wasn’t a real person, maybe he was a means to an end that got out of hand, but Spirit can’t fault anyone who lets them do them a favor.  And besides, sometimes all that’s left of people are memories, and Spirit wants to remember.

They remember Mom, and they know they’re the only one who does.  They can carry that weight for the clones, too, if no one else will.

They get a call from the Long family a month or so after meeting the clone, and isn’t it funny how one of the most affluent, mystically inclined families lives just on the outskirts of the town that Demon Bull King was sealed in?  Spirit wonders if they settled here for that reason, perhaps guarding the staff that the Monkey King left behind, since Monkey King had left it there without any thought.

Spirit doesn’t hate anyone (their father doesn’t count, because they made sure he wasn’t anyone ever, just a memory in Spirit’s mind, forgotten by time as his body burned on its pyre) but they severely dislike the lack of responsibility Monkey King takes.  Not only did he seal away Demon Bull King (Spirit is aware that Demon Bull King was destroying villages and causing a stir, but Monkey King took Red away and what parent wouldn’t be angry?), but he didn’t even stick around to watch over his seal!  He just left it, like the staff alone would be the end-all.  

Spirit would be too anxious to ever leave something that could even possibly be broken.  Maybe they’re paranoid, but they would have at least stuck around, or left a guard, or something!

Honestly, it isn’t surprising that Red managed to break it, eventually.  

They arrive at the Long residence to a sight of a broken down door and demolished artifacts scattered across the entrance hallway.  They blink, three eyes darting around to try and drink everything in.

“Ah, Spirit,” Comes a prim voice.  

Spirit jumps, and turns to find a couple, dressed in green and gold, staring at them.  They’re dolled up, makeup and everything.  Spirit bows, polite.

“Hello,” They greet.  “You’re in need of a favor?”

“Yes,” the woman answers.  “Yesterday, there was an attack on our home by the Demon Bull Family.  Many priceless artifacts were destroyed in the process.  We would like you to salvage as much as you can from the wreck, and clean up the rest.”

So grunt work.  That’s fine.  Typically Spirit is called for that sort of thing, if there are secrets involved.  And when you have priceless artifacts, you don’t want just any random person handling them.  Spirit doesn’t think they’re terribly trustworthy, but if someone asks them to be, they can be.  Keeping their mouth shut is easy because people don’t usually come to them for conversation.

Macaque told them once that they were awfully chatty, but that was when they were younger.  They grew up.  They usually only talk to themselves now.

“Okie doke.” They nod, turning back to the wreckage.

This should take them a few days, if they pull a few all nighters.  They’re pretty bad at sleeping anyway, so at least this time it’ll be on purpose.

They pointedly don’t think about how they told the Demon Bull Family of the artifact that was here.  They pointedly don’t think about how the Demon Bull Family likely attacked this home for said artifact.  What people do with the information they give out is none of their business.  It’s not their fault.

Well.  It is.  Spirit isn’t stupid.  Actions have consequences.  A domino falls and starts a chain reaction.  Regardless of intent, the first domino is the issue.

And Spirit pushed the rest of the pieces down, so the aftermath is their fault.

They start with the biggest pieces of the wreckage, moving out broken stone and whatnot, so that salvaging the finer pieces will be easier.  They’d ask where they’re supposed to move the large pieces of stone, but the two mortals didn’t seem to like them, so they just bring it to the side of the house.  Out of sight for the moment.

They start collecting pieces of broken artifacts, sorting them into different piles for reconstruction later.  They cut their fingers a few times and decide to wrap up their hands in gauze to spare the rest of their fingers from mutilation.

While they’re doing that, someone comes up behind them.

“Hi!”

Spirit jumps a full foot in the air and stumbles to regain their footing, nearly slipping on the dusty tile before steadying.  The gauze not yet secured sticks haphazardly to their sleeves, and they fidget with it as they turn around fully to see who it is that interrupted them.

It looks to be a girl around their age—a little younger, they think.  She’s got the same fine makeup as the two adults who Spirit wagers are her parents, though hers is made less refined in application, instead more youthful and in the form of self expression.  Her green varsity jacket fits in line with her parent’s outfit, green and gold, but the rest of her outfit is a bright white only seen in the marble of the home’s interior.

And then there’s the dragon blade, strapped to her back.  She seems comfortable with it there, which leads them to believe she’s the new wielder.  Which certainly gives her presence weight.  

Spirit lowers themselves to appear non threatening and demure, and they wave, awkwardly, before continuing to affix the gauze to their hands.

“Hello,” they reply. 

“I’m Long Xiaojiao.” The girl bows politely in response.  “But you can call me Mei.”

“Mei,” Spirit repeats, getting used to the word on their tongue, getting over the confusion of someone actually coming up to talk to them when they’re on a job.  “I’m, uh, Spirit.”

“Nice to meet you!” She smiles sunnily up at them.

Spirit stands and fidgets, a little, trying to figure out how to respond.  They don’t know how to interact with people much.  Interacting with Red is easy, they’ve known him for centuries, but with new people, it’s hard.  They’re terribly awkward, and they’re a monkey demon with three eyes.  It isn’t as if they can have conversations with mortals without that becoming a factor.

In fact.

“You know, I haven’t seen a monkey demon before.  Do you know the Monkey King?” she asks.

Spirit winces.  “No,” They respond, quietly.  “He-uh-from what I hear, he’s kind of a recluse, and I don’t interact with many monkey demons,” Spirit shrugs, trying for a smile.

Mei doesn’t seem perturbed by their lack of knowledge, shrugging nonchalantly right back, and Spirit relaxes a fraction.  Like with Pigsy, Mei doesn’t seem to have many expectations on Spirit’s behavior, or requirements of knowledge and or ability.  So far, anyway.

Then again, that could be because they know not to expect anything from Spirit.  Spirit is well known in the demon world to be as worthless as they are useful, and Mei is from a powerful family that Spirit has done favors for before.  The two of them probably knew of Spirit already.  That’s why they’re good at knowing that Spirit knows pretty little.

“Yeah, that’s fair.  My friend MK’s met him, since he’s his successor, but from what I hear from MK, Monkey King doesn’t talk to a lot of people.” She drops the information down in front of Spirit as if it isn’t a bombshell.

Spirit blinks a few times, trying to process the information.  Huh.  So, this girl knows the successor.  Interesting.

“MK?” they ask, curious.

Information is important.  If they perform a favor for Mei, that might get them an in with the successor, which means they’ll have something against the Monkey King and then they can be safe.

“Yup!” Mei whips out her phone, dragon phone case and everything, and shoves the screen up at Spirit, bright light pressing up towards their eyes.

Hand reaching toward their face, reaching digging scraping pain—

Spirit’s back hits the wall.  They don’t remember backing up, just like they don’t remember their breaths picking up, nor do they remember starting to shake.  Eyes wide, they glance around, until they lock eyes with Mei, whose phone is still held up in the air near where their face used to be.

“Oh,” Spirit murmurs, ears rising up from their previously downturned position.  “Sorry.”

Mei drops her arm, brow furrowed in concern.

“I, uh,” Spirit scrambles to explain, because they don’t want her to tell her parents that they’re easily startled, that they’re not good enough, because that could ruin their reputation, that could stop the favor from being kept, it could ruin everything.  “I don’t like.  Things thrown at my face.  Without warning.”

“Oh,” Mei says, softly, gently, glancing at Spirit with something softer and kinder than pity.

“Sorry,” Spirit mutters again, standing up straight.  

They shuffle off, getting back to work at getting the many cracked artifacts off of the ground.  They don’t usually have visceral reactions like that around other people.  The last they can remember is when they were with Red.  He’d waved a hand too close and they’d jumped back.  He didn’t apologize, because Red hates admitting fault, but he did hover over them for a moment, as they regained their bearings.

Mei scuffs her boot on the tile, and then idles over.

“Nah, I get it,” she waves off the apology, though Spirit does question how she could possibly understand when they never told her why.  “Hey, do you have a phone?  I could send you the picture!”

Spirit turns to her, glancing down at the earnest smile on Mei’s face.

“I don’t know if my phone takes photos,” they reply, pulling out the brick of technology out of their pocket.

Mei’s face drops in shock at the sight of it, hands jumping up as if to snatch it from Spirit’s grip. They hand it to her instead, because Spirit can tell she wants to hold it, and Mei looks at it like one would the priceless artifacts shattered around the hall.

“This is...ancient,” she says, delicate, like she doesn’t want to insult them.  “It doesn’t even show emojis!”

“What’s an emoji?” Spirit asks.

Mei drops her face into her hands and groans, before perking back up.

“Can I upgrade it?” she nearly begs, eyes sparkling with excitement.  

Befuddled, Spirit doesn’t immediately agree.  Should they?  They already made Mei upset because they freaked out, it would be rude to deny her something that brings her joy, even if it could come at the expense of Spirit’s phone.

Even more confusing is that, rather than think them stupid for having an inferior product, Mei just wants to fix it up for them.

“Um,” they start, haltingly.  “I like that my phone’s pretty indestructible, and I’ve had it for a while.  Aren’t, um, newer phones more fragile?”

“Not when I make them,” comes Mei’s cheeky reply.  “I’ll even use the materials from this one as a base!  It’ll be the same, just better!  And I’ll be able to send you photos!”

She puts on what Spirit can tell are puppy dog eyes, and Spirit caves instantly.  Mei needn’t use those on them; Spirit knows they’re a pushover.

“Okay,” they acquiesce.

Mei cheers.

“Perfect!  I think I have a charm that will look nice on your phone, too, so I can give you that!” She rocks back and forth on her feet, looking up at the ceiling in thought.

Spirit smiles to themself, setting a collection of pieces on one of the pedestals spared of the destruction.  Tonight, they’ll have to get special glue somewhere to make the cracks nearly unnoticeable.  There’s a demon marketplace a few miles outside of town, so there will probably be some there.

They walk over to the other side of the hall, glancing over at Mei, who follows them.  She fiddles with her phone, and a cursory glance of her screen shows that she’s researching the model of Spirit’s phone for reference.  Huh.  Spirit didn’t know phones could do that.

Their eyes travel from Mei’s phone to the legendary blade on her back.

“You can wield the Jade Dragon Blade?” they ask, aiming for nonchalant and landing on incredulous.  They’re not a good actor.

Instead of puffing out her chest and acting proud, something Spirit would find more characteristic of Mei based on the twenty minutes they’ve spent around her, Mei hunches down a little, looking shy.

“Yeah, I just found out.  It’s, uh, pretty cool.” She shuffles her feet, seemingly reluctant to acknowledge her newfound importance.  “I was never really, uh, what was expected of by my family, so it’s kind of a surprise that I can use it.”

There’s a lot to unpack there, Spirit knows.  High expectations for children of powerful families are to be, well, expected, but it doesn’t mean it’s pleasant.  Spirit doesn’t have to see the tired slump of Mei’s shoulders, with the weight of something wearier than just exhaustion, to know that.  They’ve known it since they saw the fervor and desperation Red worked, the way he swallowed hurt at dismissal.  

It’s a bit sad, they think, that they see it in Mei, too.

“I, uh, I know how to use a bunch of weapons,” They offer off handedly as they continue to work.  “I could teach you some things.  If you want?”

Macaque taught them to use a wide variety of weapons, before they settled on their combat sickles, so they know how to use general blades.  They aren’t a sword master, but they’re sure they could teach Mei the basics.

Mei perks up again.

“Really?  That’d be super helpful.  I think my parents kind of expect me to already know how to use a sword, since I can wield this one, and if I told them I don’t know they’d get me some stuffy tutor or something,” she rolls her eyes at the idea.  

“Once I’m done with this,” Spirit gestures the mess of the entrance hall.  “We could meet up somewhere to start?  Call it a favor.”

Spirit tries not to seem too excited, but opening up a new line of favors with someone is always a fun experience.  A new layer of safety, a new token, even.  If they’re lucky,  Either way, to have Mei’s name in their book would be awful nice.

Mei opens her mouth to accept, but the hard slap of heeled slippers against the marble floors makes them both freeze.

“Xiaojiao,” comes the cold voice of Mei’s mother.  “Spirit is here on a job.  Don’t talk to them.”

“But—”

“Either find someplace else to be or stay in your room.  Now,” Mei’s mother is unrelenting, eyes sharp.

Mei gives Spirit a commiserating smile, and then bounds down the hall, disappearing around the corner.

Once she’s gone, Mei’s mother turns on Spirit, a snarl on her face.  Spirit knows the Long family is one of dragons, but maybe they might have forgotten just how protective dragons are of what is theirs.

“Never,” The voice is a hiss, and Spirit hunches down, curling in on themselves.  “Never talk to my daughter.  You keep away from her.”

Spirit trembles, and nods.  They didn’t want any trouble, really!  They just wanted to help.  And Mei owing them a favor means they could interact with her without being as scared as they are, in general.

But, then again, they suppose having a reputation like theirs does work against you.

They work until nightfall, managing to get most of the hard work done.  There’s still the matter of reconstructing artifacts, which means they need special glue.  So they depart late at night to the demon market a few miles out of town.

It’s more a flea market, not exactly as concrete as some of the other shopping centers Spirit has perused.  It’s actually kind of new, popping up because now that the Demon Bull Family is up and running, demons are crawling in droves to get a piece of the new economic boom.

They find a stand a half an hour into their walk that has the type of glue they need.

“Oh, well there’s a familiar face,” The shopkeep says when Spirit steps up to the stall.

Spirit tilts their head to the side, but doesn’t comment.  “I would like that glue, please,” They practiced saying it a few-fifty-times in their head before stepping up, so they would get it right. They point to the jar they want with a small smile on their face, to be pleasant.

“Alright,” The shopkeep, a fox demon by the ears and swishing tail, takes the jar and wraps it gently.

Spirit reaches into their pocket and pulls out their coin purse, but when they do, the shopkeep laughs.

“No, no, your money is no good here,” The shopkeep says.  “Let me return a favor, to you.”

Spirit blinks a few times, but it isn’t a surprise.  People try and return favors all the time, as if they could ask for anything of Spirit and then return the favor on their terms.  Spirit may do anything for a favor, but they don’t let anyone decide when that favor is returned for a reason.

White splattered red, a smile made dull with crimson spilling over lips.  Returning the favor, returning the favor and dying and never coming back and it’s all your fault why didn’t you stop her—

They sigh, stand up straight, and put on the intimidating smile like Macaque taught them to.  Wide eyes but with a glow that is more a promise than an effect, and a grin with just enough teeth to show that it’s sharp.  It feels weird on their face, but it always works.

“No,” They respond, voice ever quiet.  “I’m the one who deals in favors.  I make the terms.  And I want to pay.”

The marketplace has gone silent.  The shopkeep is frozen in place.  Spirit smiles.

“A-Alright,” the shopkeep finally says, rattling off the total.  

Spirit blinks once, letting the glow in their eyes vanish.  Their shoulders fall as they fumble with their coin purse until they pull out the total.  The shopkeep hands them the bag, and Spirit waves cheerily, turning around and heading toward the exit of the market.

The demons in the market give them a wide berth, but Spirit prefers that.  They like their space.

The whole project for the Long family takes a total of three days, two of which are without sleep.  Spirit is used to not sleeping, whether it be from the usual nightmares or a lack of forethought to go to bed, and so they manage.  Being without sleep leaves them jittery and off kilter, but Mei has seemingly taken her mother’s warning to heart, and Spirit is undisturbed as they work.

They like reconstructing the artifacts.  The heads of the Long family tell them that the family can handle the actual reconstruction of the house, which is a relief considering Spirit knows very little about architecture.  Putting artifacts back together is just like putting together a puzzle, and Spirit loves a good puzzle.  Gets their brain working.

Macaque had puzzles, but his were always more...violent.  Spirit prefers these ones, with the artifacts and without danger.

When they’re done, they’re regarded with distaste but not disappointment, which is nice.  Spirit is pretty sure most people they do deals with don’t particularly like them, because no one likes owing people something.  That’s not Spirit’s problem though!  They always allow people to refuse, but people like convenience, and Spirit is malleable, quiet, unobtrusive, and generally willing to be used as any sort of tool.  They’re more an object than a person, on the job, and that’s good!  It means Spirit is good at whatever they need to be.

They almost forget that they’ve given Mei their phone, because they’re leaving the property when she shouts their name.

They jump a full foot in the air, turning around.

“Hey!” Mei comes sprinting across the courtyard, skidding to a stop in front of them.  “You almost forgot your phone!”

She holds it out, and it looks very little like what Spirit expects.  Gone is the black brick of an item, replaced with a wide, reinforced screen.  The case is sturdy, black with purple accents.  Spirit feels the familiar material in the black sections.  

There’s a little purple lotus charm dangling from one corner.

Spirit holds the phone gingerly, almost afraid they might break it.  They tap on the screen, and it glows!  Spirit taps it a few times, but nothing else happens.

“I have no idea how to use this,” they say, looking over at Mei with wide eyes.

Mei laughs, kind and not at all cruel, which is confusing in and of itself.  Spirit half expected her to think them stupid for not knowing.  But Mei directs Spirit to a stone bench by a pond in the gardens, and carefully explains how the touch screen works, and how to get into the different apps, like contacts and messages.

“I put my number in there,” Mei says, pointing out her contact.  “So that way we can text each other!”

“Oh,” Spirit stares, and then smiles, small and shy and pleased.  “That sounds nice.”

How often is it that someone wants to talk to Spirit?   How often is it that Spirit is told how to contact someone for fun?  For something besides work?  They can only recall Red bothering which is somewhat depressing, but it does nothing to stop the swell of elation that makes their hands shake with the desire to move, at the thought of a new friend.

But to flap their hands like that is childish behavior, so they grip their new phone tight instead.

That doesn’t stop their tail from wagging beneath the bench, though.

Once Mei is done teaching them the basics of modern phone technology, she stands, giving them a sheepish grin.

“I should get going.  If mom finds me here with you, she’ll get real cranky, again,” She smiles.  “Text you later?”

Spirit stands, and their shoulders don’t ache so much.  Subconsciously, they feel the wherewithal to stand tall, for the moment, when Mei gives them such a blinding grin.

“Yeah!

They send their first emoji to Red, a little purple heart and the message ‘Red!  I just learned what emojis are!  I hope you like this one!  From, Spirit.’

Red responds with a bunch of flame emojis, and a single red heart back, stuffed between the fires.  It makes Spirit giggle.  Has Red been sending little fires in every text?  It’s certainly on brand, though they feel it might be a little redundant.  Maybe it’s his theme?

They get a text from Mei.

‘Hey!  I got a race a couple of months from now.  Wanna come watch?  Call it a favor ;D!’

Spirit rocks back and forth on their feet excitedly.

‘Mei,

Sounds fun!  See you then :)

From,

Spirit.’

They add a little purple heart emoji to the end of the text, and receive a barrage of green ones in reply.

Spirit smiles.

[crimsonandcloverwrites]

bhah ch2 thought dump yeehaw

hmmm it’s 12.30am but I have nothing to lose but my dignity lets get weird

“they’re british? how exotic” pls

jamie taylor arriving on the scene with feral kitten from the railway tracks energy I love her vibe

me: dani u need to learn to communicate better in ur romantic relationships where did u even learn this. dani’s mom for most of dani’s childhood: bet

her pile of boys :’)

bb carson :’’’)

every time eddie’s glasses flare under some kinda light source i get more powerful

“But Danielle is my friend too.” my heart. kindred spirits

teeny jamie oh my god

oh Dani is already so enamoured by her cool cool coolcoolcoo cool literally their whole lives i’m fine i’m fine

“M’ten years old, I’m from Lancashire, and I hate the Beatles” pls i love her

Dani really just gave her the awkward white person smile 10/10 (i don’t wanna add pics/memes into this but I am thinking about that one kid so hard)

jamie ignoring her for days oh tiny child u have no idea what’s comin for u

these kids are really hunting jamie like an animal what is wrong w children

Judy packing extra snacks for Dani. Mom level: expert

Dani hating gym class... girl after my own heart. poor wheezy baby

track star jamie my beloved

Mr Roberts my sworn enemy

Jamie to the rescue pls she’s so cute already so concerned over Dani

panic and worry + indignation and anger really is the dani clayton cocktail huh

dani and carson so smol... so brave

Dani already has the teacher glare down i love it

Carson is so ready to fight these kids have I told u how much I love hm already

“Maybe I should’ve offered her some snacks.” that’s my boy

lmao Dani w the doe eyes getting out of trouble w the twins

jamie looking out for her in gym class is so fucking soft I love this emotionally repressed child who only knows how to express her affection in roundabout ways (the strong must protect the sweet.meme)

please tackle this bastard PE teacher Jamie. for all of us

akdhfskd wait doesn’t rodger end up tryna put the moves on jamie when they’re older. and yet he was jumping her in the stairwell when they’re 10 WHAT GIVES U THE IDEA YOU CAN JUST DO THAT AFTER DOING THAT. WHY ARE MEN. tho i suppose is Jackie any better???? no redemption for bad children

NAN. She’s here

jamie wants to be friends so bad aww

the beginnings of Jamie’s love for gardening via Nan excuse me while I go cry

when I flash the porch light twice.... olivia crain i miss u

Judy n Mike just being like ok we have another occasional-child love that

Jamie calling her Danielle last chapter after knowing how much she hates it hmmmmmmm

ooft ok 2am brain is empty I need to sleep I will continue this debauchry in the morning

oops that ended up being 2 days. anyway

the tireeee swing.... the representation of Dani trusting Jamie w her schemes.... Jamie being like let’s do this wild thing and Dani sort of balancing that out a little with practicality... a tiny perfect match

this whole thing is so soft they’re so soft

lmao Jamie is really like ew why would u wanna kiss a boy. tiny lesbian I love u

“he looks like a mop” dfkgjhfkjghf

eddie is so mean to carson for no reason and I wanna be mad but as an older sibling I cannot fault the realism

Carson says no thank u to needlessly gendered colours he really is the best boy GIVE HIM THE PINK NOODLE

lmaoooo Jamie being like “look at my fucked up bones” so much Nan had to take the x-rays away skjghdfkj i’m howling

awww Dani’s dad is the one that called her Dani why did u have to make me wanna cry in the middle of this pool party.

this whole conversation about ‘i prefer dani but people get uncomfortable when i ask them to call me that so i don’t push it so they’re happy and jamie wants me to just be myself and carson is supportive too’ hmmmm metaphors anyone

another excellent chapter time to reign in how insane i go over childhood friends to lovers so I can focus on the next one

[crystalstar8]

Knights of the Night (ch 19)

Chapter 19

Ch 1, ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5, ch 6, ch 7, ch 8, ch 9, ch 10, ch 11, ch 12, ch 13, ch 14, ch 15, ch 16, ch 17, ch 18, ch 19

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139240/chapters/71536491

pairing: Jungkook x oc

genre: vampire au, college au, twilight, romance

word count: 1,012

warnings: blood (obviously), kidnapping, child kidnapping, needles, France, human trafficking

notes: vampires, vampire au, college, college au, so many twilight references, blood, needles, kidnapping, children, homelessness, dance, ballet, flashbacks, romance, slow burn, probably no smut, idk yet tho, France, French things, attempted genocide, inaccurate French history, bisexual main character, @strawberriewithchocolate-blog @mozy-j  @daechwitad-2​ @zobadak​ @fallenstar-7​​​

summary: Catalina starts college in a small town all the way across the country. She doesn’t know anyone and isn’t exactly looking for friends. She just wants to focus on dance. But when she meets fellow dance major, Jimin, and adventurous, fellow freshman, Jungkook, Catalina ends up discovering a whole new side to the small college town; one that is dangerous but oh so enticing...

When Jimin finally awoke, he was met with a set of big blue eyes staring back at him. He gasped and tried to get away, but the action made his head ache something awful. He held his head in his hands and glanced up. There was a little boy sitting beside his bed staring at him…no. Not his bed. This wasn’t his bed. This was a dingy cot in the corner of a tiny cement room. The little boy was staring at him with wide eyes. He had ahead full of dark, unkempt hair. He was pale and shivering.

“What’s your name?” the boy asked.

“Jimin,” he said. He wanted to panic, but that probably wasn’t the best thing to do right now, for the sake of the child and for the sake of his still throbbing head. “What’s your name?”

“Caleb,” the boy said.

“Do you know where we are, Caleb?” Jimin asked. Caleb shook his head. It was then that he noticed the needle in his arm. The needle was connected to a tube, which ran up to a blood bag on an IV pole. His heart sank. “Fuck,” he whispered.

“That’s a bad word,” said Caleb.

“Sometimes, a situation calls for bad words,” said Jimin. Caleb smiled.

“Yeah, this situation is pretty fucking bad,” he said. Jimin’s eyes widened.

“Just don’t say that around your parents,” said Jimin. The smile fell from Caleb’s face.

“I don’t think I’m gonna see my parents again,” said Caleb.

“Why would you say that?” Jimin asked, carefully peeling the tape off holding the needle down.

“I’m not stupid,” Caleb said, picking at his sweater. “My mom told me that there’s people out there who kidnap kids and sell them. And that’s why I have to be careful with strangers. I saw a ton of people come in here and talk about prices, and they tasted my blood. It’s so creepy! I already had two roommates before you got here. Both of them got sold right away. I bet you’ll be next. The Dracula guys like pretty people who are adults more than they like kids I guess.”

“They don’t like kids?” Jimin asked.

“No,” said Caleb. “Well, they said that my blood is really good ‘cause it’s clean. But they said that kids are too much to deal with. I guess it’s a good thing.”

“Probably is,” said Jimin. He slowly pulled the needle from his arm and then reached for Caleb’s arm. Caleb let him do the same with his needle.

“They’ll get mad,” said Caleb.

“We’ll put them back in in a few hours,” said Jimin. “How often do they come in?”

“Not very often. Like, twice a day to give us food and put the needle in or take it out,” said Caleb.

“We just won’t let them take too much from us,” said Jimin. “Besides, my friends know where I am. They should be coming to rescue us soon.”

“That’s presumptuous,” said Caleb.

“That’s a big word,” said Jimin.

Caleb shrugged and said, “I learned it from a book. I like to read. Do you like reading?”

“I used to,” said Jimin. “Now I’m too busy to read. I go to college, so I have a lot of homework and dance practice.”

“You dance?” Caleb asked. “My big sister is in dance class too.”

“Oh yeah? How old is your sister?” Jimin asked.

“She’s twelve,” said Caleb. “I’m eight. I miss her, even though she’s a jerk sometimes.”

“I’m sure she misses you too,” said Jimin. “You’ll see her again. Hopefully soon.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “You actually showed up!” Makai shouted, standing up to greet them with open arms.

               Yoongi led the way into the room, Catalina and Jungkook following behind.

               “Yoongi is the best one for this role,” said Namjoon.

               “Why? You’re the leader,” said Catalina. “I feel like they’d expect you to be the one going in.”

               Yoongi chuckled and said, “Namjoon is too nervous. He can’t act his way out of a paper bag.”

               “I…well yeah,” Namjoon said, not trying to defend himself. “I can’t act. Or lie.”

               “So, to review,” said Jungkook. “We’re acting as Yoongi’s familiars. We’ll go in, buy Jimin, and then leave?”

               “Right,” said Namjoon. “Nothing else happens that day. We’ll execute the second part of our plan another time.”

               “I suppose I was curious,” said Yoongi, shaking Makai’s hand. Makai had that easy going smile on his face. It was disarming, Catalina needed to stay focused on hating the man.

               It was nerve wracking, being able to just walk into the facility like this. Catalina had never felt this kind of adrenaline before. She tried her best to stay calm and regulate her breathing though. Namjoon warned them that vampires can basically smell fear. They can hear when a human’s heart beats faster and smell when their blood rushes quicker.

               They were standing by the desk in the middle of the lounge-like space. This was the area Catalina and Jungkook saw when they snuck in.

               “Are you looking to buy today?” Makai asked. “Or were you just in the neighborhood?”

               “I’m not sure yet,” said Yoongi. “It depends on if you have anything I like.”

               “I’ve got quite the variety,” said Makai. “And all our products are very high quality. All very healthy and clean.”

               “That’s good to know,” said Yoongi. “Most of these kinds of organizations get their products off the streets, they’re usually riddled with drugs and diseases.”

               Catalina chose not to think about why Yoongi knew that.

               Makai chuckled and said, “I have to admit, we started our company like that. We’ve improved so much over the years though. Anyway, I can give you a tour. If you’d like, there’s a waiting room in the back where your familiars can stay.”

               “No thank you,” said Yoongi. “I’d rather they stay with me. I don’t trust you just yet.”

               “What’s not to trust about this face?” Makai asked, pouting a bit. He burst into laughter. “I’m totally joking. You have no reason to trust me, you barely know me! I hope we can be friends someday though. I like you, Yoongi.”

               With that, Makai led the way deeper into the facility. The first door he opened made Catalina’s heart drop. The woman inside was limp and pale, sitting up against the wall on a cot. Her hair was thin and her lips were blue.

               “We’ve had her for a while, so I would probably let you have her for a hundred if you’re interested,” said Makai. He closed the door and continued down the hall. He pointed at a room through a pair of archways and said, “That’s the recreation room. There’s snacks, if you guys want anything.”

               “Chocolate?” Yoongi asked.

               “Haha! Sure, let’s see,” said Makai. He went in and rummaged through the cupboards. Catalina hung back with Jungkook and took his hand. He squeezed her hand back, leaning in to whisper, “Are you okay?”

               Catalina nodded, even though she was starting to feel queasy. Yoongi came back to them with a mouthful of Dove chocolate, more in his hand.

               “Jungkook will have his phone in his shirt pocket, with the camera facing out. It’ll be recording the entire time,” said Namjoon. “This way, we can map out a basic floor plan.”

               Catalina glanced at the phone in Jungkook’s shirt pocket as they were led deeper into the facility. Makai continued showing them “products”, as he called them. There were so many. Catalina didn’t know how she’d be able to leave them all here today. She hated thinking about Jimin in this situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

               Jimin tried his best to keep track of the days, but without any outside light source and an irregular sleeping schedule, time quickly began to blur together. He had no idea how much time had passed. He what he could though.

               He didn’t let the vampires take too much blood from him and Caleb, just enough so they wouldn’t notice a loss. He made sure he and Caleb ate everything they were given, to keep up their strength. Every few days, or so Jimin figured, they would have a break from being hooked up to the IV. During those days, they made sure to eat and move around as much as they could.

               But after a while, everything began catching up to them. They were slowly losing energy. Jimin hoped his friends would find him soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

               Seeing these people, tired and limp, and hearing Makai list off prices like they were at a car dealership made Catalina feel sick. She knew this kind of thing went on, but to see it with her own eyes was something she would never forget. She had to keep reminding herself that they would come back for these people.

               “This one is a little feisty, but if you keep her drained, she should be fine,” said Makai, closing the door on another cell. “Did you see any you liked? Did you at least like the tour?”

               Catalina’s stomach dropped. That couldn’t have been the last one. Where was Jimin? Did someone already buy him? It hasn’t even been a week!

               Jungkook took her hand and squeezed hard.

               “Do you have anything else?” Yoongi asked. His bored façade was still going strong, or maybe it wasn’t a façade. Catalina couldn’t be sure. Did he even actually care about these humans? Either way, he was doing a good job on this mission.

               “I mean, we have other humans, but they’re not ready for purchase yet,” said Makai.

               “I want to see them,” said Yoongi.

               “Sure, were you looking for something in particular?” asked Makai.

               “Eh…not exactly. I suppose I’ll know when I see it,” said Yoongi.

               Makai pointed to him and said, “I totally understand. Ya know, it’s like buying clothes. Fashion trends change so fast and I never know what I want to buy for summer, or for winter or whatever. But when I see it, I know! Can you believe the early 2000’s are coming back? It just ended! Give it a break for a bit!”

               Makai laughed heartily as he rambled on, leading them to a different hallway. He opened a few doors and introduced a few people inside. These people looked a little less tired than the others. These ones still had a bit of color in their cheeks.

               The third door he opened was the one. Jimin stared back at them with wide eyes. The fear in his eyes melted away when he saw them. But there was another set of frightened eyes staring at them from over Jimin’s shoulder.

               A child sat behind him, clutching Jimin’s t-shirt.

               Yoongi faltered. He didn’t say anything for a moment.

               “Is this the one? Are you having your moment?” Makai asked.

               “How much for both?” Yoongi asked.

               “Oh…well, the kid isn’t for sale,” Makai said.

               “Ten thousand for the kid,” said Yoongi. “One thousand for the other guy.”

               Catalina watched with amusement as Jimin pouted, glaring at Yoongi.

               “Okay, so these guys aren’t really for sale right now,” said Makai. “So you’re gonna have to-“

               “Fifty thousand for both,” said Yoongi. Makai closed his mouth.

               “Ya know what, I like you Yoongi. So I’ll give them to you for fifty and a half,” said Makai.

               “Deal,” said Yoongi. They shook hands, Makai smiling wide.

               “I’m just warning you, this one’s squirrely,” Makai said, pointing to Jimin. “And the kid is too smart for his own good. So do with that what you will.”

               “I have these guys,” Yoongi said, gesturing to Jungkook and Catalina. “I’ll be fine.”

               “Right on, man!” Makai said, slapping Yoongi on the shoulder. “Let’s go to my office.”

               Makai’s office was beautiful; the first thing Catalina noticed was the zen garden in the corner, bamboo shoots rising from the center. The whole office was dim, with stylish, plush furniture filling the space. The sound of running water brought Catalina’s attention to the black stone mini water fountain on the desk at the center of the room.

               Makai went behind the desk and pulled out two forms.

               “Are you paying cash or bitcoin?” Makai asked.

               “What the hell is bitcoin?” Yoongi asked. Makai burst into laughter.

               “Cash it is, then,” he said once he finished laughing. “Just go ahead and sign these for me real quick. This one is a nondisclosure agreement. Don’t go posting about this on social media and definitely don’t tell the cops!”

               Makai laughed again, but Catalina didn’t find any of this funny. She wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

               “And this one is just an agreement stating that once the transaction is complete, the product is nonrefundable and fully your responsibility,” Makai said. Yoongi signed both forms, then pulled several stacks of cash out of his jacket pocket. Catalina and Jungkook’s eyes bulged. He was just carrying all that in his pocket?, Catalina thought with a start.

               Makai laughed and pointed at them. “Looks like your familiars are thinking the same thing I am. You’re gonna get robbed doing stuff like that, man! You’re stronger than the average guy, but vamps like cash too, ya know!”

               “I don’t go shopping very often,” Yoongi said, counting out the stacks of bills.

               “Clearly,” said Makai, double checking the cash, then storing it in one of the desk drawers. The two of them shook hands. “Do you want them delivered or do you want them right now?”

               “I’m parked outside,” said Yoongi. “I can take them now.”

               “Sounds good to me,” said Makai. “Just go ahead and wait outside, I’ll have someone bring them up.”

               “Don’t damage them,” said Yoongi. “I like my products pristine.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

               Jimin and the child clinging to him stayed silent as they got into the car, all the way until Jungkook parked the car in the lot of a Popeye’s just outside of town. Then they all piled out of the car and Catalina and Jungkook immediately tackled Jimin in a tight hug. Yoongi climbed out of the car slowly, then helped the child out of the back seat.

               “What’s your name kid?” Yoongi asked as Catalina and Jungkook fussed over Jimin.

               “Caleb,” he said in a quiet voice.

               “You’re safe now,” said Yoongi. “We’ll get you back to your parents.”

               Caleb’s eyes widened.

               The whole group of them went into the Popeye’s and ordered as much food as everyone wanted. Caleb squeezed into the booth with Jimin, the rest sitting on the other side.

               “These are my friends I was telling you about,” said Jimin.

               “Ooohhh,” Caleb said, eyeing all three of them as he munched on his fries.

               “Are you guys hurt at all? What was it like in there?” Jungkook asked.

               “I mean, it wasn’t even that bad,” said Jimin.

               “Yeah! It wasn’t even that bad!” said Caleb.

               “Okay, I mean, it sucked really bad, and it would have been worse if we got bought by someone else before you got there, but it worked out fine,” said Jimin.

               “Yeah, the situation was pretty fucking bad!” Caleb said, giggling and dunking his chicken strips into too much sauce.

               Catalina and Jungkook’s eyes widened. Jimin and Yoongi just laughed.

               “Don’t say that in front of your parents,” said Jimin, ruffling the kid’s hair.

               “I just can’t wait to see the look on Namjoon’s face when we bring a child home with us,” said Catalina. Yoongi groaned and put his head in his hands.

               “Yeah, I can’t wait either,” he said, sounding like he could, in fact, wait.

[baby-grayson]

Kind Stranger|Epilogue

                                                                                                                 masterlist The year is 2023.

The date is January 1, 2023.

Kathleen Walker is sitting at her desk, in her lab. She is biting the nail of her right thumb while scrolling through a massive spreadsheet of data with her left hand. Above her, fifty-year-old fluorescent lights beam down with a gentle hum. She is alone, working through the New Year’s holiday to wrap up a project that will eventually change her career.

Behind her, mounted in the corner of the room, is a small box TV—maybe 13 inches wide at maximum. That TV was usually reserved for either mundane things, like the weather report, or extremely special occasions, like presidential inaugurations. On that night, Kate had flipped it to a random channel, E!News, providing her some comforting background noise in the dark and eerie laboratory. She grunts softly to herself, feeling as though she is thinking in circles.

The black of night had just fallen on the skyline of LA. Outside her small window, Kate could hear the consistent drumming of rain beating against the pavement. Kate despised the amount of rain LA got in the winter; it was a meek imitation of the wonderful snowfall in her beloved Philadelphia. The pouring rain only adds to her negative feelings about working through the night.

Her bad mood only worsened when the next E!News segment came on. Usually, when something crossed her path about Grayson Dolan, Kate was quick to change the channel or shut off her phone. Not because she harbored negative feelings towards Grayson, but because it wasn’t fair to hear about the life of her ex-boyfriend from third-party news sources, without an avenue to ask him herself or tell him about her new life. When the Dolan Twins would get themselves involved in the rare scandal or controversy, Kate would silently support them, remembering in her heart that they were good people.

And that’s all Grayson Dolan was, a memory. The kind of memory that Kate sometimes wondered if she was glamorizing in her mind, or if Grayson was truly as dreamy as she remembered him.

But Kate’s frustrations only grew when the peppy host on E!News started her latest segment from the small box TV.  

“It has been two weeks since Grayson Dolan announced his engagement to fitness designer and model Sherry Maddox—”  this is usually when Kate would roughly grab the remote and change the channel before any of the report’s words traveled to her brain. However, this time Kate slowly spun in her desk chair to see what Grayson’s new fiancé looked like.

Kate is greeted with the image of curvy, busty, blonde who looks something like a cross between Marilyn Monroe and a Disney Princess. She had bouncy blonde curls and a beauty mark on her upper lip. The TV showed a clip of her hanging onto Grayson’s arm at some event. Kate is struck by Grayson’s image: he really is as every bit of gorgeous as she remembered him. 

Kate brusquely turned around—disinterested, a bit bitter, and ready to get back to her work. She quickly grabbed the remote and muted the TV after hearing the words, “Grayson Dolan is scheduled to celebrate his new engagement to fitness designer and model Sherry Maddox tonight. The pair are reported to be planning their wedding in Califor---” Kate stopped the sound before the reporter could continue.

Kate took a deep breath before returning to her computer. She tried to get back to work. She sincerely tried to grab her calculator and punch in some numbers. Her own brain betrayed her. She dropped the calculator on the surface of her desk and sighed. She huffed and puffed, unsatisfied with her own performance that night.

Her head lifted when she heard a drumming noise coming from the hallway. She thought she was the only person working late on New Years’ day.

Before she can stand from her chair to investigate, a man barrels through the door. She freezes in fear, suddenly acutely aware of the dangers that working alone harbors. In an instant, her pulse quickens to a dangerous rhythm. If she were calm, she would grab her work phone and quickly dial campus police. She is too frozen in fear to move. But her fear fades into awe as she recognizes the sharp jawline of his face and the gold flecks in his eyes—he looked as if he was pulled straight out of her memories from Summer 2020.

Grayson’s eyes hold a veil of panic as he stares back at Kate. He lost his breath for a moment.

This gives Kate the opportunity to peer down and see Grayson dressed in button down shirt and printed, velvet suit pants. A much more formal outfit than anything she had ever seen him in.

Grayson’s mind finds an air bubble of clarity as he drowns in Kate’s big brown eyes, plush round mouth, and the wisps of hair escaping from her ponytail to frame her face. “I’m sorry,” his voice sounded as frantic as that moment felt, “I didn’t know what to do, “He ran his fingers through his hair, clearly disturbing his hair sprayed droop. He took in a hard breath and licked his lips, “I don’t know what I’m doing. But I know what I’m doing,” he nodded softly with wide eyes, “I needed to see you. Now. With everything that’s happening. I needed to see you. To see you like here to like in person. Sherry’s been going crazy since…well she flew her sister Coral out for tonight and was mad when I gave my mom the guest room and not Coral, even though she’s pregnant,  and my mom kept complaining that our colors were dark for an engagement party and we needed more flowers but Sherry doesn’t like any of the florists in LA and Ethan kept telling me to hold it together this is just the energy of the moment but it’s not the energy of the moment it’s the energy of everyday and this is going to be the everyday for the rest of my life and I—well I---” Grayson was breathing as if he had just run a marathon.

“Gray—son” Kate finished, not being comfortable using his nickname when he was basically a stranger. “What are you doing here?” Grayson inhaled deeply and looked down at her. He met her eyes. His gaze lost its wild veil for a moment as he said surely, “Two and a half years ago, I said goodbye to you because I knew I wasn’t ready for the kind of love you brought into my life. Well today, I’m ready for that kind of love but I’m engaged to someone who reminds that I will never get back everything I lost when I gave you up.” A/N: This is the epilogue of Kind Stranger, but is also the teaser for Kind Stranger Book 2: Sweet Enigma. If you would like to be on the tag list for Book 2, please let me know because I will be starting a new tag list. Please let me know what you think, it’s emotionally jarring to be done with Stranger. 

[ravs6709]

These Feelings Inside (How Deep Do They Go)

Chapter 2- A Broken Heart

Read on ao3.

Masterlist. Previous. Next.

Woo, chapter 2 of the fic for the @kotlc2021collab! Fun fact, like all of this chapter was supposed to happen in the first one, but I got carried away with the prologue (which I do like)

Anyways, this is a mermaid (siren) au, so its about time we meet a siren. I've mentioned last time that this was inspired by Siren's Lament. I didn't use those lyrics as the siren song, and instead made my own (with very loose inspiration from SL's version)

And uh... I did record myself singing it, and made a post for it. If you want to listen to it, you can go here! (I'll put a link at the end too)

Warnings I guess? Uh, Sophie goes through a whole panic section at the end. And then the siren lures her and it's indirectly said that she falls off a cliff/whatever and into the water and starts drifting off. Idk how to label that but yeah

Anyways, enjoy!

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Sometimes, I'm still surprised you keep them," Biana said, gesturing to the various flowers that were in the corner of Sophie's room. "I mean, if you ever want him to look at you differently, you're going to have to make a move. You know that, right?"

Even without saying a name, Sophie knew that she was referring to Fitz. It took a long time until she'd admitted the crush to Biana, who had already known. She always liked keeping the flowers that Fitz gave her, and would keep them for as long as possible. They might not be what she wanted, but she still appreciated the fact that he even gifted the flowers to her in the first place.

"It's not like I've kept them all," Sophie pointed out.

She ignored the fact that the ones that she had thrown away were too old to be kept.

Unfortunately, Biana knew that. "If they didn't wilt so easily, you'd be keeping them all. But you ignored my question. You know that you'll have to make a move, right?"

"Biana, he gave me a yellow rose first. He's the one who made his feelings clear first. What am I supposed to say? Oh yeah, I've had a crush on you for like eight years now, and I never mentioned it before because you've been giving me signs that you clearly see me as a friend? Is that what you want me to tell him?"

Biana shrugged. "When you say it like that…"

"Even if saying that did work, it's not like I'd be able to actually say it. My brain just runs non-stop but then the moment I make eye contact everything just stops."

"Sophie, when has he not been understanding of you?"

That was true. A lot of people didn't take the effort to try and understand Sophie, but Fitz did. The way he was so respectful- despite the fact that it should have been basic decency- was one of the numerous reasons why Sophie loved him.

"I know he'll be understanding, but that's just going to make things even more awkward."

"I guess. Should we go down now?"

"Sure."

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Oh, Fitz, you're here! What are you doing?" Sophie asked.

While he did come over often, he was usually busy on Thursdays, which was why Sophie was surprised to see him.

"I'm free this time, so I figured that I'd drop by," he explained.

She liked that he was around for the visit. Working at the shop wasn't boring, but it was more entertaining when she had someone to pass the time with. 

He walked closer to her, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Also," he whispered. "I'm making sure that plans for tonight go well."

She glanced at Biana for a moment, who was on her phone. Sophie whispered back. "Your house or mine? I think yours would probably be better."

"What's the movie for tonight? That movie Biana said that she wanted to watch?"

"That's the plan."

"I don't get why you two always get secretive about the birthday movie night," Biana said.

Both Sophie and Fitz spun towards her, and it turned out that she still wasn't looking up from her phone.

"We've been doing this for years ."

"It's the birthday spirit we're trying to achieve, and you know that!" Fitz defended.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

•~•~•~•~•~•

The couches at Everglen were really comfortable. It was even more comfortable to be sitting with her friends. The birthday person was often the one who sat in the center, and Sophie smiled as Biana wrapped an arm around her. Occasionally Dex would join them, but he wasn't available this time.

The movie was playing, but they were only somewhat paying attention to what was going on. Sophie paid more attention to the clock, which showed 11:58 p.m. Just two minutes away from midnight, or Biana's birthday. She counted down the seconds, until it was finally time.

"Happy birthday!" she cheered.

"Happy birthday!" Fitz repeated.

"Thanks, both of you."

•~•~•~•~•~•

"You'll be fine, right?" Sophie asked.

"Sophie, it's just one day," Edaline said, exasperated. "You don't have to feel bad about taking a day off."

"Tell us how the game goes!" Grady added.

Biana's university team had managed to make it to the finals for volleyball, so Sophie and Fitz planned to go support her. But it also meant that neither of them would be at the shop.

"You'll text me if you need help though, right?"

"Yes, we'll text you. You can leave, it looks like Fitz is waiting for you." Edaline pointed to the entrance, where Fitz was indeed standing.

"Bye mom, bye dad!" she said, before kissing them both on the cheek.

Fitz took her hand as they walked to the car. She concentrated so hard on trying to stop herself from blushing that she didn't realize when they stopped walking.

She'd been pining after Fitz for around eight years, and her feelings had gotten easier to work with. Most of the time, at least. But during the times like this, those feelings that she suppressed would fight to be released. He was casually affectionate, which was great (sometimes she found it hard to initiate the contact, no matter how much she wanted it), but it constantly did things to her heart.

Each time it happened, she had to remind herself that no , he wasn't flirting with her or acting out of romantic interest. That was just how he was.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, let go of his hand, then went in the car. It was silent on the way there, but she needed that silence in order to prepare herself. She took out her headphones once they were almost there.

"Sophie?" Fitz called out.

She responded with a hum.

"You know how it is. If it gets too loud, squeeze my arm."

She hummed again.

Then they arrived, and made their way to the seats. Biana was brilliant on the court, and she seemed to be doing even better than usual. By the end of the game, the cheering got loud, but not bad enough that it hurt. Biana's team had won by a decent amount.

"Congrats, Biana!" Fitz cheered once it was over and they met up.

"It feels unbelievable, because that was the finals? I can't believe we just won!"

"I knew you could do it," Sophie stated.

"I mean yeah, but the other uni was also really good! Guess it wasn't their day, huh?"

"It was definitely your day though," Fitz replied.

•~•~•~•~•~•

"I hate the fact that horns exist," Fitz groaned.

"What, so you like being hit by blue shells?" Sophie asked.

"Obviously not! But I like hitting you with them!"

"If you're able to get blue shells, it's clear that you aren't good at the game!"

It was game night again, and they were playing the newest version of Mario Kart, a game that was nostalgic to them. They were sitting in Sophie's room this time. Biana wasn't there, as she was busy studying with Dex.

"Look, if you aren't second place all the CPUs are there and you aren't safe," he retorted.

"Then just don't be third place? It's not that hard?"

Somehow, he managed to actually do that, and was quickly approaching her kart. It was the end of the final lap, and he passed her. But she got a red shell, shot him right before the finish line, then won first place.

"Excuse me?" he shouted. "Why do you get the red shells?"

She turned towards him with a smirk, only to be startled by the proximity. All she could see were those teal eyes, and the snarky reply she had planned to make was now forgotten. His eyes were wide, and he seemed to barely be breathing. It felt like time had frozen.

Could she take the risk and close the gap between them?

Should I?

Before she could make up her mind, he turned away, and he even moved slightly further away.

He's keeping his distance…

The realization was a hard blow to her, because that wasn't something he had ever done before. Was he that bothered by it?

"I thought you were good at the game," Fitz teased.

But unless Sophie was imagining it, his tone wasn't as lighthearted as it usually was. She tried to channel the frustration and use it to focus on the game, but she was doing worse. Ninth place. She hadn't scored so low in a while.

"Looks like that was the last game," he pointed out. "I'll head home now."

"Bye, Fitz."

She winced at her voice, because she was doing a terrible job at pretending that she was okay. Once she was sure that he left, she buried her face in her hands and just sat there. What was going on? Was Fitz mad at her? That would be the only reason why he would distance himself like that.

But why? Did she do something wrong? If she knew, she'd try and set things right. But what was she supposed to do?

Even though her room was large, she felt restricted. Too small, too hot, too suffocating. She couldn't breathe.

Her actions after that were a blur. She'd grabbed a sweater and went outside. She walked aimlessly along a path. The area seemed vaguely familiar, but she couldn't tell where she was.

The wind was cool against her face, the only thing that kept her remotely aware of her surroundings. There may have even been rain too.

Breathe. You need to breathe .

The voice sounded strangely like Fitz's, and it reminded her of when she had a panic attack and Fitz was there to help her. But he wasn't here this time. Was he going to start avoiding her? What about Biana? Did she have a problem with her too? W-

There was a hum, loud and melodic. She looked around for the source.

 

'Oh you, with that broken heart.'

 

"Who's there?"

 

'You, whose life's falling apart.'

 

Almost as if against her will, her mind replayed the moment of Fitz turning away from her. The rain fell harder, making it harder to see anything except her own imagination.

 

'Have you come here to the sea,

To drown in your memories?'

 

If Fitz and Biana were going to distance themselves, what was she going to do? Ten years worth of memories, were they just going to be tossed aside?

 

'The weight of them is too strong,

Crushing you, it's all so wrong.'

 

Different memories kept emerging. Her first meeting with Biana. Her first meeting with Fitz. Exchanging flowers with Fitz. Weren't the worst memories the ones that started off good? They were the ones that had you soaring, until you're being dragged towards the ground.

 

'May the waves wash all the tears,

That you've gathered through the years.'

 

Sophie knew that she could show her emotions around her friends, but she hated doing it. She had a tendency to suppress her sadness and tears and right now felt like a good time to just let it out.

Very distantly, she could feel herself walking towards the source of the singing.

 

'But what if there was a way,

To make the pain go away?'

 

Was that a thing? She hated doubting her friends, it hurt so much. But if she could just not worry, wouldn't that be better? Wouldn't that ease so much of her pain?

 

'To leave behind your sorrows,

Enter a new tomorrow.'

 

If tomorrow could come and ease away all of her pain, shouldn't she take that chance? Her foot caught against the ground, and now she was tumbling forward, and fell into the water.

 

'I have an offer for you,

You can start your life anew.'

 

The fall was by no means something that snapped her out of her daze, but Sophie found herself slightly more aware. Starting your life anew? Did she want that? Did she want to leave behind the people she loved?

Wasn't that what she worried Fitz was doing? Throwing their love away?

Sophie thought of the memories that they'd shared. It hurt, but they were the best memories that Sophie had. Would it ever be worth it to throw away all those good times just to abandon a potentially bad one?

I want my life , she told herself. I'm happiest with them. But… it's hard.

 

'You can escape the abyss.'

 

The voice was so much louder now, and she tried to move away, but her body wouldn't move.

 

'All I ask is for one kiss.'

 

She couldn't see, and she could vaguely feel a pair of lips press against her own. She was just drifting, in both her thoughts and the sea. She kept drifting until she could no longer feel anything.

•~•~•~•~•~•

You can find the song here!

Kotlc taglist- @keefeinnit @impostertamsong @my-swan-song @subrosasteath

Want to be added/removed from the taglist? Just let me know!

[bookdragonlibrary]

Miraculous Ladybug New York

The voices sound normal in French but seem so wrong in English and I don’t know what gives me this impression :/

There are a lot of things I loved in this episode/film:

First I’m glad the comic seems to not be canon anymore since it is Ladybug and Chat noir’s first trip to New York and they never met the US heroes before.

Cosmo Bug and Astrochat! I hope we will have a closer look and a longer utilisation in season 4 because this transformation looks so cool but was too short!

Miss Bustier being pregnant! So was she calling Miss because she is young and not because she is not married yet?

Marinette being to short to unlock the automatic door. 

Marinette in denial with Adrien is just a friend, meaning Adrien was also in denial of his feelings for Marinette this whole time :D 

A Black woman for the President of USA, the creators literally saying fuck the current timeline.

A black and a Native american girls as main US heroes (I mean they have most of the screen time of US heroes + about our heroes age) and a multiracial homoparental family. When Majestia says “it’s time to be our true selves” she isn’t only talking about Knight owl being a woman, but also about the both of them being a couple right? Maybe the Americans know Knight Owl and Majestia are going out but since they don’t know Knight Owl is a woman…

Adrien, aware or not, trying to be close to Marinette and knowing she did everything for him: making him come to NY, making the banderole when he left, etc. What if he changed target from Ladybug to Marinette?

Ladybug smiling fondly at Chat noir’s explanations at the beginning and accepting the flower. 

Aeon stepping in front of Ladybug to save her from the Cataclysm. Imagine how Chat noir would have been devasted if he killed his lady D: 

The Miraculous of the Eagle is the Miraculous of Freedom. Its power is to unlock whatever is holding back someone to reach their true potential, like fear, morality, etc. It’s like a big power up of what you would look like at 100%. Imagine Marinette if she is touched by this! :o no more clumsiness, only her confidence all the time! 

I’m glad the Americans Miraculi are based on American Native culture. Meaning the Miraculous spread across the world are the sources of the local myths, legends and symboles. Ladybug’s box is from Asia. So maybe we will have a European guardian, a Greek one with Miraculous based on the Zodiac signs, as they are based on Greek mythology and constellations’ names. But also boxes based on Celtic and Viking myths! We will have a Shanghai special soon, so maybe the third World Special will be with the European box. I mean with Miraculous World could be film length special about other boxes just like New York and Shanghai are. Maybe they will make more like those, maybe one per continent (the crew talked about Brazil so a South America episode, so we would have an episode in Africa and Oceania! :D)

Adrien transforms in Chat noir just to protect Marinette. He makes his presence known in NY, with the possibility of Ladybug knowing of this, to protect Marinette.

Sabrina finding a life outside Chloé and maybe having a crush in USA :) Plus, it’s an interracial couple :)

Barbara x Olympia, the Supermoms of the ML universe :) So Jesse and Eon are sisters? Since they both called Barbara and Olympia moms? And that they seem together?

The little kitty to make Ladybug know if there’s a problem in Paris. I hope Marinette will make a ladybug version just so Chat noir can know if something is wrong in Paris so he could transform. You know, since they can communicate only if they are both transformed…

Did you notice the irony of Marinette makes Adrien coming in NY and then being mad at Chat noir for being in NY >< The reveal when they’ll realise all the quiproquos from the start xD

Other things I think wasn’t understood by most of the fandom and my opinion:

Mayura making an sentimonster looking like Robustus in Paris to make it seems Hawkmoth was still in Paris. But I don’t understand Hawkmoth’s plan to give a Miraculous to the villain. He never made a stupid move like than, excepting when he made a Miraculous the akumatised object for Queen Wasp.

Yellow roses symbolising friendship is a new symbole, but they do symbolise jealousy in the past. On the Internet, it explains it was to sell more of these roses they changed to meaning. So Ladybug and Chat noir were both right about it. Chat noir is trying to show platonic affection and support to Ladybug

Marinette going back to her antics like in season 1. Well, it’s not easy to move on from someone and Marinette never had closure to help her doing it. By that I mean a clear no from Adrien because she never succeeded to tell him what she felt so of course, she still have a little hope. About her antics, she tried so much to flirt with Adrien or to confess to him since 3 seasons/a year, she doesn’t know how to act as a friend with him, so she panics and here we go. Marinette has anxiety easily. So she has to plan every scenario/the worst scenario to reassure her. But being friend with Adrien is new territory. So Marinette becomes error 404 ^^ I mean, before she would have be thrilled to spend time with Adrien, especially sitting next to him on the plane like she was where they were on the train. But now that’s too overwhelmed for her. 

Adrien wanted to tell Ladybug he’s going away too right away, but Plagg told him not to, because he wants his friend to have free and good time too because Adrien deserves it. Maybe they would have find a solution like the Horse Miraculous or going back to Paris thanks to the astrosuit. 

I think Ladybug say she can’t trust Chat noir anymore out of anger and doesn’t really mean it. We know she cares about Chat noir 

About Chat quitting. It’s not because he came to NY without telling Ladybug, I think the main reason he wanted to quit because he could have actually kill someone. We’re talking about Adrien the cinnamon roll. Do you think about how traumatic it would be to kill someone? By accident, yes, but the consequence is still here and the person would have been an innocent. He would have kill Ladybug if Aeon didn’t intervene and if she wasn’t a gynoid, she would have die for real. Maybe she knew she’ll be fine thanks to the Miracle cure or she just wanted to save a human life. So it’s the combo of nearly kill someone + Ladybug won’t trust him anymore that makes him think he’s not worthy of being a hero anymore.

I read people complained about Ladybug being perfect and awesome. Just wanna remind it’s from Adrien’s point of view, just like Adrien is perfect from Marinette’s one. Not that they’re perfect as people, but the other see them at such for them. When you’re in love you don’t see the person as perfect as a person, but as your partner because they are what you’re looking for in a partner. Adrien likes strong girls, with confidence, who want to fight for others and help them. Marinette likes boys who are gentle, sweet, generous, romantic, calm and relax to counterbalance her ball of energy. That’s why they see Ladybug and Adrien are perfect according to their standards. 

I’m not sure where Adrigami and Lukanette are… The second one seems to be in standby, Luka giving Marinette time to move on from Adrien and I stand that. Maybe the first one is processing thing, Kagami also giving time to Adrien to clear his heart. We didn’t hear Adrien’s clear answer since the finale. Or are they secretly dating because of their strict parents? The kiss seems to be on the cheek (pretty close from the lips from our point of view, but still not on the lips) so I don’t think they are dating yet, so the Adrinette was cheating? I don’t even think Nino and Alya know about them or Adrien knows he’s in love with Marinette or that his behavior makes it appears like such. He wants to spend time with her, to be with her, he’s thankful of her, wants to protect her, but still processing his feelings. Kagami and Adrien never had friends before, least of all a girl/boyfriend. I’m not sure they know what dating supposes to look like. Maybe Kagami confused feeling closed to Adrien because they live the same situation and being in love with him? I love Kagami and Luka but I know Adrigami and Lukanette won’t be endgame anyway so I try to not bring myself to much in those ships… But I hope they will end up with each other! 

Adrien isn’t a cheater. First, we don’t know yet if Adrigami is dating or not. Plus we see Adrinette interactions are romantic because we know they’re endgame and we know Marinette is in love with Adrien. (I’m not even sure Adrien is conscious that his behaviour could be interpreted as romantic.) So it’s just our perception that makes those moments romantic. Otherwise, Adrien did nothing wrong! What did he do? He was happy to be sitted next to a friend so he won’t spend a 12 hours flight alone (not like he can talk to his bodyguard or Mendeleiev...), thanked Marinette for made him come to NY, hugged her, helped her with automatic doors, hided with her because they were sneaking out, share a hot dog and they have been locked in a room. Yes, they danced but it was Alya who asked Jess to turn it into a slow. And dancing with someone else isn’t cheating anyway.

About Alya and Nino… Alya knows Marinette is in denial of her feelings and she might be frustrated because to her point of view, Marinette is giving up without a clear answer from Adrien. She didn’t know Adrien told her he’s in love with a girl (Ladybug, in Pupeteer 2) and from Marinette’s POV it’s Kagami who is also in love of Adrien. That’s why she stepped back in the S3 finale without knowing Adrien might have giving up on Ladybug (because she told him a clear no) and is trying to be closer to her. Alya doesn’t understand why Marinette is giving up on her feelings and from her and Nino’s POV Adrien is also crushing on her but isn’t aware of it and/or doesn’t know it’s reciprocal. From their POV, it’s like Marinette’s one on Adrien and Kagami: they both think Marinette and Adrien are in love wih each other but not aware of it. Alya isn’t giving up on Marinette because she think she is so close to hapiness and reciprocal feelings to give up just now.

New York being romantic… Well maybe it’s Hollywood’s fault and since a lot of French never went to USA, their only views of this country are films and series so their opinion might be biased? (Just like people think Paris is romantic when… it’s maybe not true anymore… It’s not the City of lights from before…) Same for USA being the country of freedom. It’s just become US save the world in every of their movies, against terrorists or aliens or whatever.

About Nino calling Adrien a baby chick, a little cultural explanation is needed here :) Chicks have not the same meaning in French than in English. While in English it refers to girls in a sexual/flirting way, in French it’s a cute pet name you call your child or a cheesy one for your boy/girlfriend. So Nino refers to Adrien as being innocent, like in a naive and oblivious way. 

Too many heroes in NY. It seems Hot Dog Dan and the firelights heroes are recurent NY heroes. But the other ones could live elsewhere and just come to NY because there were a big threat wih Techno Pirate. Since United Heroez are based on Justice League and the Avengers (or other groups of heroes, but I would say mostly the JL), they could have way to communicate and to travel fast across the USA right?

Questions: 

Where are the power of the US superheroes come from? From the bracelets?

Why Jesse and Eon have to supervise the Miraclass? Does Olympia and Barbara know Marinette and Adrien are Ladybug and Chat noir? Nope, they were surprised they are in NY. So why? To be sure they’ll be safe since they are a lot of supervillains in USA? (Since you know, they’re not a one-time villain because of an akuma here)

Was it Aeon’s fault if the door didn’t open for Marinette and Adrien? Or it’s really because Marinette has the size of a child? xD By the way, do the US door retract when they meet an “obstacle” or it was just for the comedy?

Am I the only one who think Aeon look like an Egyptian goddess in her hero form?

Tsurugi-san (forgot Kagami’s mom’s name) should know Gabriel is Hawkmoth, or at least he’s in NY because he is driving in a autopilot car from Tsurugi’s label. There is something going on between her, Gabriel and Audrey (see the end of the episode Feast).

We see Adrien protecting Marinette a lot during attacks. Is this a building or a foreshadowing of him realising he’s in love with Marinette (I mean being conscious of his feelings) because he will see her hurt during a attack? (Marinette could be fine, transforming in Ladybug just before being really hurt or killed by something but Adrien won’t know Ladybug next to him is also Marinette so… angst and tear?) could be Adrinette or Marichat but this scenario could also be a reverse with Ladynoir. Marinette seems to be more and more fond of Chat noir with time passed.

With the special, I think the love square would be changed in S4. Chat noir still cares about Ladybug but he’s not pursuing her anymore. So still banter but not flirting for ladynoir? But Ladybug makes heart eyes when Chat noir gabble about flowers and their symbolism :3 I don’t know if Ladybug will see Chat noir romantically but they may have an even stronger bond after all they have been through! So reverse Adrinette like in the special? So maybe... more Marichat? :D

Well that’s all I thought at the moment. Maybe I’ll add new things when I rewatch it for the x times. If you have language or cultural questions, don’t hesitate! I will add the answer to this post! ;D

[jjmaybankwildtimes]

That Beautiful Boy Pt. 3

JJ Maybank x OC

Summary// Eleanor Raines has been through hell and back in foster care. When she’s placed in a new home with an abusive foster dad and a beautiful broken boy inside, she faced with new adventures and forced to face her past.

Part 1, Part 2

WC// 1.1k

Warnings// Mild Cursing, Panic Attacks, Mentions of Abuse (squint a bit), Skinny shaming, self doubt

Authors Note// Hey!! I hope you all enjoy this part and please let me know if I missed any warnings!! Also again I am not a very good writer but I hope you like the fic nonetheless. I’d love any feedback you want to share or suggestions<3 Also the flashbacks are back ;)

——————————————————————————

That morning I woke up earlier than either of the boys. I decided the least I could do was go and get some groceries for the Chateau. I looked around the small kitchen and noticed the snacks the guys had. Finishing up the small list I made, grabbing my money from the shift yesterday, I headed out the door. I borrowed a blue bike that was leaned up against the side of the house, praying the guys wouldn’t mind.

After finding the grocery store and loading up the bags on the handle bars, I headed off. Noticing a small thrift shop on the way back, I reminded myself that I needed some new clothes. I had to leave in a rush from the group home I was at, besides, most of my clothes were stolen by the other girls.

“A group home?” I whimpered to my caseworker Jordan. “Yes Eleanor, you know what happens when you are rehoused due to misbehavior.”. I admit, I had been a brat, but I had good reason. Also a group home would be better than being anywhere near Jonathan and his family. Maybe. Some deep and unwanted part of me missed them.

Shuddering, I returned from my day dream and trudged up the steps to the group home for girls.

I quickly hiked back to the Chateau, finding the boys to still be asleep. I happily put up the groceries and pulled out the pancake mix. After a minor issue with the stove, turns out two of the burners don’t work and one other makes huge sparks, I finished up a large stack of pancakes. I also got blueberries because they are my favorite and chocolate chips, because I’ve had lots of experience with boys and pancakes.

Suddenly, I heard two alarms going off. I began to rethink everything. What if they didn’t want me snooping in their kitchen? What if they are mad at me for using the bike? What if they don’t like pancakes?

When they walked out I began to ramble,

“I’m so sorry, I wanted to do something nice, so I got groceries but I looked through your cabinets and borrowed your bike and then I made pancakes, but I don’t even know if you guys like pancakes-“ I was cut off by two hands on my shoulders.

“Woah Ellie, breathe, you made pancakes, you are great!” John B reassured me.

“You’re not mad?” I meekly whispered.

“Blondie, you made pancakes? Damn, can we keep you around from a while?” This time JJ encouraged me.

“I got blueberries because they are my favorite, but I got chocolate chips too.” I smiled a bit looking up at the guys.

“Yum! Let’s eat!” John B grabbed a plate.

JJ stood and looked at me for a minute. It made me feel tiny, but not in a bad way. I was short, 5’2” and really thin. I had always thought to a fault. I had short, dirty blonde hair with beach like curls and pale olive skin with lots of freckles in the summer. My large brown eyes were definitely my best attribute in my opinion. Thinking of this brought me back to an ugly memory.

I was standing there with a tiny baby girl in my arms, screaming my head off, “I don’t want to Jonathan! I don’t want your help not if it comes with that cost!”.

“But why not?” he screamed back, “No one else would ever want that anyway! Not with that anorexic body!”. Tears streaming down my face, the baby in my arms began to cry. I rocked and shushed, trying to calm her down. I knew I couldn’t get her to stop, she was cold and her brother was a major source of body heat. I knew it, he knew, goodness even the baby knew it.

Looking to Jonathan, who had an evil grin on his face, I mentally kicked myself. But I had no other choice. Thinking about the chore list, the baby, and the four other siblings that would get home from school in an hour, I handed Jonathan his little sister. “Later tonight?” I questioned. “Yes, ma’am” He winked. I tried not to vomit in my mouth, as I went to clean the kitchen.

“Hey, Ellie? Ellie Belly?” JJ shook my shoulders.

“Sorry” Returned from my nightmare like daydream, “What’d you say?”

“Just that blueberries were my favorite too.” He smiled and patted my shoulder.

I spent the day surfing with John B and JJ. I wiped out, a lot. “So blondie, you are definitely not the best surfer in the obx!” JJ joked “Hey! Give me a break, it’s been seven years!” I laughed as we began the trek home.

I could barely stand by the time we got back to the Chateau I was so sore, but I didn’t care. Laughing as John B used a French accent you order pizza, I was quickly halted. In one split second JJ raised his hand to high five John B. Seeing this from my peripheral vision I flinched. Of course, both the boys noticed. Tearing up, I glanced down at my shoes. “Ellie, are you okay?” John B asked tentatively. I simply nodded and shakily went to stand up. I walked outside and didn’t stop until I got to the dock. Looking out over the water I told myself to breathe, but I felt that panicky feeling set in. No no no, this can’t be happening right now, but all I could think about was his hand and how many places it hurt me.

Preoccupied with sobbing and trying to regain control of my breathing, I didn’t notice JJ had followed me out the door. When I turned and saw him, he looked apprehensive. Despite this, he walked up to me. I though he was going to hit me or yell at me but he just wrapped me in his arms. “Hey, hey, Ellie breathe, just breathe.” JJ soothed. I tried and found myself focusing on his breathing which helped. A minute after I calmed down, JJ released me from his grip. Missing his warmth, I wrapped my arms around myself and smiled up at him. “Sorry.” I whispered. “No worries, believe me I’ve been there myself quite a few times.” We walked back to the Chateau in silence, ate pizza, laughed some more and went to sleep.

As I crawled into the guest bed, JJ knocked on the door frame. “Hey.” I said looking towards the absolutely breathtaking boy. “Hey Ellie Belly, if you ever need to talk, I’ve got you okay?”. I felt a warmth grow in my chest. “Okay, thank you JJ” I’ve never had anyone tell me that since my mom died. It felt happy. “Goodnight El.”, “Still trying new nicknames I see, goodnight JJ.” With a wink, he was gone.

I once again slept a deep sleep in the house I was quickly growing to deeply care for.

Sending lots of love and happy thoughts to each of you!! xoxo Abi

[tanakavox]

Jaune?! Jaune?! It's time to go to school!"

The blond begrudgingly opened his eyes to the sounds of hands hitting the door to his room.

"Mom, stop banging on my door! Jaune growled, rolling over to cover his eyes with his pillow. "I can't get any sleep with the noise!"

"No, Jaune. You haven't gone to school for nearly 2 months, and I'm putting my foot down! How do you expect to make new friends at school if you stay in your room all the time?!"

Jaune sat up in his bed and threw his pillow at the door. "I don't want to be friends with any idiots at school! HelI, don't NEED to go to school. I'm smarter than the teachers there too!"

June Arc sighed as she walked away from the door. She had tried to get Jaune to come out of his room for the past 3 weeks. When her son had come home from school near the beginning of the school year, saying he didn't want to go to school anymore, she didn't question it. She could see how sad and angry he was, and allowed him to stay home for a week. But then a week became two, then three, then a month. He almost never left his room, let alone socialize with kids his age.

If only her husband, Aruthur was here. He could at least talk to him, but he was busy with research in England.

But based off his last message to her, he was going to send something that would help their son. June didn't know what it was, she just hoped it got there soon.

Jaune groaned as he landed back in his bed. He didn't need to go back to school. He wasn't just bragging when he said he was smarter than the many of teachers. Jaune Arc had a genius-level intelligence, something he took pride in. Even more though, he knew how to use it. It was the reason he stopped going to school, the teachers and students hated how much smarter he was, and the bullying became too much to bear.

"She doesn't get it. Those moronic apes couldn't teach me a damn thing. Jaune said to himself with a scowl.

He jolted up when a muffled voice entered his room. "You know, you shouldn't talk to your mama like that!" A high pitched voice squeaked out. Jaune looked over his room in a panic, trying to find the source of the voice.

He looked out of his window and saw a small boy with freckles, looking to be no older than 7 or 8. He was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, and was hanging on to the talons of a large hawk. To add on to it, the boy had a large yellowtail fish on his back, wiggling around trying to get free.. Jaune stare at this unusual sight for a few seconds for laughing and turning on his side.

"I guess that candy bar in my desk was bad!" He chuckled as he closed his eyes. "I'm seeing stuff now. Nothing a little nap can't cure"

"Hey, don't ignore me! The little boy cried out. He steer the hawk right though Jaune's window sending shards of glass everywhere. Jaune screamed as the glass hit him, causing small bits of pain dotting themselves across his skin.

"Not a dream! Definitely not a dream!"

The boy ignored the teens screams, walking up to him and handed him a letter with a silly grin on his face.

"I'm Oscar Pine! Your dad spent me from England to France! He told me to give this to you when I got here."

Jaune, intrigued by the mention of his father, ignored the light pain and snatched the letter out of the boy's hand and began to read the letter.

"Dear Jaune, It's been awhile hasn't it champ? I heard from your mom that you haven't been to school in a while. Now I understand that going there doesn't really challenge you so I understand if you don't want to go back. But, I figured you be bored at home doing nothing, so I spend you Oscar to look after. Well, him and his mysterious book. It has this weird language that I can't read, and Oscar can't remember anything at all. Family, where he came from nothing. I found him lying in the forest near death with that book. Since I can't really take care of Oscar or learn about the book with my current workload, I'm sending the little tyke and his book to you.

Love, Dad.

"Here!" Oscar squeaked, holding out a green book. He had covered himself up with a green cloak. "I'm going to go eat my fish!"

Jaune took the book from Oscar stared at the book for a few seconds. Oscar as Jaune stared at the book grabbed the still wiggling fish opened his mouth and began to scarf the fish down in no time flat.

"This is what Dad sent me? Some snot nosed brat?! Jaune began to shake in anger.

"So… Where do I sleep?" Oscar asked as he finished his fish.

"No where!" Jaune shout as he ran toward oscar. "You're gonna get lost! Oz… er… whatever your name is!"

At that moment, Oscar's eyes went white and the book began to glow. Oscar's mouth opened and a bolt of lighting came out and nearly hit Jaune. The teen eyes widen in horror and dived out of the way.

Jaune's voice became a whisper. "What the hell are you!"

Oscar's eyes returned to their normal green color, and he looked down at Jaune. "What are you doing on the floor silly?"

Jaune could only think of doing one thing in that moment. Calling for his mom. "MOOOOM!"

XoxoX

"You're just a cutie pie aren't you, Oscar!" June cooed. "Oh, I could just eat you up!"

"Mom, didn't you hear me?! He came in on a hawk! He shot lighting out of his mouth!" Jaune waved his hands frantically as he spoke.

June sighed as she turned to look tiredly at her son.

"Jaune, did you eat that candy bar in your desk? I told you wasn't any good."

"Just look at the glass from the window! And all the cuts on my… arms?" He tried to point at the cuts, but they seemed to have disappeared. "I…. I think I need more sleep."

"Yes dear, you clearly do. Kids can't shoot lighting out their mouths. Isn't that right, Oscar?" June's voice raised to a cutesy tone.

Oscar parotted June. "Yeah, kids can't shoot lighting!"

Jaune glared at the younger boy and began to walk back to his room.

"If your going back to bed take Oscar with you! Poor thing must be tired after such a long trip."

Jaune's blood ran cold at the suggestion.

"On second thought I'll just go to school!" He said as he rushed out the door. "I'll be taking the brat's book, bye!" He ran as fast as his legs could take him out of the door.

"Jaune! Don't take Oscar's book!" June shouted after her son, but by that point Jaune was already gone. June sighed and sat Oscar down in a chair as she starts to cook something up for the boy. "I'm sorry Oscar. Jaune wasn't like this a month ago."

"I know, Sir Arthur told me." Oscar replied, watching June start to cook. "That's why I'm here, to help Jaune become a better person!" June laughed a bit and patted Oscar on the head.

"Well, I'm happy to hear that Oscar. Thank you."

XoxoX

Jaune looked at his school with a huff. He had promised himself he would never come back to this place, but he was standing at the door of homeroom class.

"Well, Mr. Arc, I'm surprised to see you back here." A snobbish voice called out. Jaune turned to see his homeroom teacher, Peter Port. Jaune never liked Port, the old man spent more time babbling on then actually teaching. And from what Jaune could tell, the feeling was mutual.

"Well, I am. And I'm ready to start 'learning' again." Jaune said, forcing a smile on. Port stared at Jaune for a moment before walking back to the front of the classroom.

"Very well. , go take your seat and wait for class to begin." Jaune sigh and walked over to his old desk. It looked the same as it did last time he was here, if a little dustier. He took his seat and as more and more students came in he heard the whispers and the glares.

"Oh look who's back. Guess he thought he was finally deemed us worthy enough to grace us with his presence."

"Smarty pants Arc is back? Ugh, why couldn't that asshole stay home?"

Jaune grit his teeth and tuned them out, taking out the book he had taken from Oscar, deciding to read that over listening to Port's boring despite looking it over in every angle he could only read one line colored in.

"The first spell: Ozkeriu." Jaune muttered to himself. "What does that mean?

"Arc!" Port shouted. Since you seem to want nothing more than to daydream, let me take you back to reality. Answer the question on the board!"

Jaune lazily raised an eye to the board and answered. "A=14 B=2 C=10."

"Oh. That's right." Port turned back to the board and continued his lecture.

"Seriously old man? Gonna get on me for reading?" Jaune thought to himself leaning back in his chair. "Most teachers would beg their students to read." Jaune sighe and tried to go back to the book but heard the whispers again.

"Smart ass. Why bother coming if you're too smart to learn?

"What a prick, stop looking down at us and go home jackass."

"You make us all feel like idiots and then look down on us for it. Go home you dick!"

Jaune didn't say anything or look at them. He waited for the lunch bell to ring so he could go home.

XoxoX

Oscar looked up at Jaune from the bag he had disguised himself in when he followed him to school. He saw that most of the time that guy with the thing on his lips spoke, Jaune was busy reading the book he had taken from him instead.

"How is he supposed to learn anything if he doesn't pay attention?" Oscar thought while watching the older boy.

"Arc!" Oscar turned to see the teacher barking at Jaune to answer a question, which he did with ease. Oscar looked at Jaune with wonder in his eyes.

"Jaune's really smart!" Then Oscar heard the whispers from the other teens.

"Smart ass. Why bother coming if you're too smart to learn?

"What a prick, stop looking down at us and go home jackass."

"You make us all feel like idiots and then look down on us for it. Go home you dick!

Oscar was shocked to hear such things come from the other students. Why were they so mad that Jaune got the answer right? The boy turned to look at Jaune's unreadable face. When he saw Jaune get up, he stealthily followed after him. Seeing that Jaune was walking toward the gates to leave school, he started to call out to Jaune. However, someone beat him to the punch.

"You're leaving already Jaune?" Oscar looked up to see a pretty girl around Jaune's age. She had long brown hair, and she was looking at the blonde with a hint of disappointment and sadness. "It's only lunch, and you haven't come to school in so long. Please at least stay until the end of the day."

He didn't meet her gaze. "It's not a big deal Velvet. It's not like I can learn anything here." Jaune muttered. Oscar wonder why he didn't, they seemed to be friends… she wasn't getting angry at him, at least.

"Well… I wanna hang out again like we used to back when we were kids." Velvet's eyes lit up. "Maybe I can use the excuse of you tutoring me like we use-"

"Stop." Jaune's voice was quieter, but both of the people in the courtyard could still hear him. Velvet looked at Jaune in confusion.

"Stop what?" She asked.

"Stop acting like you care. I don't want, nor do I need, your pity."

Oscar chose that moment to jump out of his bag. "She's not pretending, you big dummy!" Oscar shouted. "She just wants to hang out with her friend again! What are you being such a jerk for?!"

Jaune's blood ran cold at the sight of Oscar. Once he got over the shock, his voice rose into an unholy screech "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Cross post from Fanfiction.net.

My first complete overhaul au I wrote. Gash bell/Zatch bell au.

Yes I know Jaune is kinda of a dick in this au. He was gonna get better.

[serendipityjxmn]

I Hate You, Park Jimin!

Chapter 3

Words Count: 2.7k

TW:

Link to Chapter 2

Link to Chapter 4

I was done with classes for the day. I glanced at my watch. Ah Young should be done by this time too. We had the same class this morning but she had taxation classes just now while I took financial reporting. I texted her but there was no reply so there I was standing awkwardly in front of my locker looking at my empty phone.

I sighed as I looked up. About 3 metres away, I noticed a familiar back, Park Jimin. He was at his own locker, and seemed to be forcing his books into his locker. Beside him leaning against the locker was Kim Taehyung, his ultimate best friend and absolute partner in crime. He too had the divine visuals, perfectly sculpted features. Damn those jawlines. A combination of Park Jimin and Kim Taehyung were very dangerous.

At that moment, Kim Taehyung’s eyes flickered at me. I froze. Is it possible that Kim Taehyung can read minds? Then he looked at Jimin. He said something and there’s a high probability that it was about me because Jimin stopped whatever he was doing and turned around, his eyes finding me.

My eyes widened. Shit. Thank God I was saved from the embarrassment of staring at the two Godly handsome men by Ah Young running towards me.

“Hana!” She said as she flung herself towards me, breathless. “I’m sorry I was late! I got called by Professor Kay on my essay.” She rolled her eyes as she opened her locker door and stacked her books inside.

“It’s fine,” I said. My whole body still tensing because I was unsure whether Jimin was still staring at me. I sneaked a peek. And yes- I regretted it instantly. My eyes met his. Immediately I looked down at my shoes.

“Hana-ya.” Ah Young nudged me.

“Hmm?” I said without looking up, pretending to be particularly interested in my shoes today.

“Hana.” She called me again.

“Hmmm..”

“Park Jimin is staring at you.” Her voice went serious.

As if my whole body could get anymore stiffer. “No, he’s not.”

“He. Is. Coming. Here.”

“What?” I looked up and momentarily I thought I forgot how to breathe as Jimin made his way towards me.

Suddenly I felt a firm hand clasped my elbow and the last thing I saw before I was whisked away by Jimin was Ah Young’s shocked expression with her mouth wide open. He steered me away for a good five minutes and I could see other students turning twice at the sight of us. He pulled me into an empty lecture hall and after closing the door carefully behind him, he turned around to face me.

Wait, I was mad at him right? So I put up the coldest expression I could.

He cocked his head to one side and I swear he looked so hot. I cursed my own brain as I felt my anger evaporated effortlessly. “You’re bad at being angry.” He smiled in amusement.

I snorted. “What do you want Park Jimin? I don’t think we have any business with each other anymore.”

“Let’s do it.”

What? My eyes went round. “What did you say?”

“I said let’s do it.” He calmly repeated.

I regarded him for a moment. Was he trying to pull a prank on me? “Why?”

“I need to graduate and there’s nothing for you to lose I guess.”

I considered his point. It was true, there was nothing for me to lose. The amount of money offered to me as mentioned by Ms Choi was lucrative. Triple the amount I earned from my part-time job at the cafe. Does Jimin know about my financial situations? I mean, I can live by but it would be nice to have savings or being able to afford nice gifts for my mom. But I wasn’t going to let him get his way so easily. “No thanks.” Before turning on my heels and making my way out of the lecture hall, I could see his shocked and confused expression. Oh, how I want to picture and savour the image of shocked Jimin forever.

The next morning I woke up feeling content. As I brushed my hair, I smirked as the image of shocked Jimin crept into my mind. The rude, obnoxious, vain, self-centred and full of himself Park Jimin. Park Jimin, THE bad boy. And to think that I somehow managed to put a shock expression on that Godly features of his face.

I arrived at the campus feeling giddy. I don’t have the same classes with Ah Young this morning so I was saved by her infinite inquisition, for now.

As soon as I was done filling my bag with the next subject’s books, someone shut my locker door. I looked up to see Ah Young. She crossed her arms.

“What?” I said, feigning innocence as I turned on my heels. I knew what was coming.

“Oh no girl. You’re not running away.” She blocked my path.

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. “What?”

She threw me an incredulous look. “You need to spill the tea, sister! You and Park Jimin. What is going on?” She was almost half screaming and her hands were now on both side of her waist.

“Oh my god- keep it low!” I glared at her as I glanced sideways, making sure no one was paying attention to us. I dragged her to the cafeteria and chose the furthest seat available away from any other human in existence. Then I told her everything. I was dead serious but I almost couldn’t suppress my laugh each time Ah Young ‘oohh’ and ‘ahhh’ at the appropriate time.

“What the fuck?!” She was literally hyperventilating.

I nodded as if saying ‘I know right.’

“Oh my god! I can’t believe it. This is your chance to get into his dick!” She shrieked while vigorously tapping the table.

My eyes widened. “Ah Young!!!” I glanced around. Thank God no one had their eyes on us.

She seemed oblivious to my state of panic. “What? Don’t tell me you don’t have a slight crush on him? He’s a fine piece of ass.” She stared into space dreamily. “I wonder how rough he is in bed.”

“Oh My God!!” I quickly clasped my hands on her mouth, afraid that she would drop another bomb. Trust my best friend to be this straightforward.

“Hhvgrnkk-“ Her voice muffled below my hands.

I chuckled but released my hands anyway.

“But I said no to him.”

At this, her mouth went agape. “Are you kidding me?”

I shrugged. “He was getting too cocky! I am sure as hell not going to feed his ego.”

“You can’t be serious! You have this golden opportunity to get his dick and you’re throwing it away just like that?”

“You’re making me sound like a slut. Girl, it’s just a study session.”

“I know. But it can always evolve to something else.” She winked at me.

“Yah!” I wanted to hit her but she was quicker. She stood up and ran away, laughing.

Days passed and every single day I caught Jimin trying to catch my gaze. He seemed pissed off that I’ve been trying extra hard to avoid any eye contact with him. Ah Young kept telling me to stop my act already though. Apparently I am throwing my chance away of getting into the divine man that he is, Park Jimin’s pants. I ignored her every single time. I smiled satisfactorily. This is my victory.

I was happily skipping my way out of Ms Choi’s room after I submitted my assignment that evening when I felt my wrist being pulled by someone and the next thing I know I was in an empty lecture hall.

“What the-“ I almost cursed when I saw Jimin pushing me against the door. The close proximity was making my breath uneven. Park Jimin with orange hair was illegal.

“So you thought it was fun to test me?” He said, his voice low. His hands on both side of my head. His face inching closer to mine.

“W-what are you going to do?” Damn it, I stuttered. I looked away.

“I’ll show you how fun it is to test me.” His tone laced with threat. I gulped. What is he trying to do?

He inched closer and closer. When I felt like he wouldn’t stop, I mustered as much courage and pushed his shoulders away while closing my eyes.

To be frank, I was scared of his next action. But I didn’t sense any movement so I slowly open my eyes and I saw Jimin blinking at me. His face confused as he stared at my palms on his chest and back at my face.

“I-“ I began but no words came out. I felt my cheeks reddening and I pulled my hands away.

He smirked. “I haven’t even laid a finger on you and your face is already this red.” To my relief, he backed away. “So, I guess if you don’t want anything of this sort happening again, I suggest that you accept the proposal.”

I considered saying yes, I really did. But my pride just won’t let me especially when he tried to threaten me with what-? Trying to touch me? Park Jimin is indeed a jerk. So, naturally and firmly, I replied, “No.” My pride stood up, clapped loudly and bowed with a flourish. I smirked at him and turned on my heels immediately.

Days after that, I think Jimin had sort of gave up trying to earn a simple ‘yes’ from me. I couldn’t care less. I was happy enough that he practically had to beg although obviously he didn’t because he tried to threaten me but it’s his loss so I just continued to fan my ego.

Ah Young on the other hand seemed to disagree with me. “You’re probably the only person in this world who dared to say no to Park Jimin.” She said as she shook her head at me.

Lunchtime that day, we both decided to eat outside near the bleachers. There were a few boys playing basketball at the court. We sat there munching on our food.

“You know, I really think it’s time for you to say yes to Jimin now.” Ah Young said as she took a huge bite out of her Subway.

I rolled my eyes. “Not again, honey.”

“I mean seriously! How long do you think you can run away from him? He may be hot as fuck but he is also scary as hell.” She reminded me.

As if on cue, we heard some noises that caught our attention. We searched the court to find the source. We sat quite far at the bleachers so I zoomed my eyesight to my best ability and could make out some boys were fighting at the court.

“Holy shit- see? I told you Jimin is some scary shit.” Ah Young said, her eyes fixated to the court.

What? I squinted my eyes. Holy fuck- I could see Jimin was in a fight with one of the boys playing basketball. I did not realize he was one of the players just now. The way he threw his punches mercilessly.. I shuddered. Perhaps Ah Young was right, I should probably stop messing with him. He’d beat me into a pulp in an instant if he wanted to. But would he? Another voice popped in my mind. I never see him beat girls. But best not test his patience Kim Hana. The small voice in my head nodded in agreement.

That evening, as soon as I was finished with my classes, I stood waiting at my locker. Jimin’s classes finished at four too today. I watched his locker like a hawk, waiting for his appearance while also trying to remain inconspicuous. A few minutes after that, he walked past me and went straight to his locker. Beside him was Kim Taehyung.

I had no idea since when did the prospect of talking to Jimin become so easy, I found myself taking strides towards him. Jimin had his back on me while Taehyung leaned against his locker. When Taehyung saw me, he gave a signal to Jimin. Shit, now that I’m here it felt like my legs had turned Jell-O. He turned around and there he was, his visuals blinding me as usual. I struggled to remain composure.

He raised his brows at me. “Yes? What can I help you with?”

Shit. Am I going to say it? Have I really decided this? My mental war must’ve gone on for quite some time as Jimin had now propped his elbow on his locker door. “Let’s do it.” There, I said it.

He then leaned in closer and closer to me I had to step back. “Are you sure about this?” He asked, his voice low. I cursed because it’s unfair to how sexy he sounded.

“Yes.” I answered.

He raised his brow as if perplexed by how easy I came to a conclusion.

I drew a breath. “I’ll tell you when to meet. Since this is very sudden, give me some time to prepare-“

“Tomorrow.” He cut me.

“But I haven’t-“

“2 PM. Library.” He finalised, already turning on his heels while Taehyung followed suit after regarding me for a moment.

Link to Chapter 4

Posted on 200505 09:53PM