#that was a willing departure though so i kind of get it

[utilitycaster]

all clear! I have stuff to do so I won't get to cooldown/reblogs/writing meta etc until later today but I will be opening the inbox, and most crucially my first thought is "lol Vox Machina, the only party with zero ties to any dunamancy, is going to have to rescue the luxon beacon"

[alienpossession]

You have to do more Mike and definitely explore some shenanigan with Steven back home. And maybe explore the trainee system more like what apushforfolly did in the original version. Love everything you do!

In regards to Mike, well, he did pretty solid for the cause despite Master's departure to the States. The nerd that stayed behind witnessed at first how Mike wasted his potential and charms with endless parties and lonely workout, so one particular night, the nerd intervened during dinner

"You have to go back to your root. Look inside that meat puppet's mind to find his essence as a human and exploit it for the cause, don't just waste your time with aimless parties as if you're still not the Master's subject. He will be disappointed seeing you wasted such a good puppet, you know?"

"Oh, you wanna see me working? You wanna see me utilizing all the charm this puppet has? Just so you know, we travelled from light years away, I deserved some break. But if you challenged me, well, even the entire city can be under my control,"

"Well, I'll let your action and achievement speaks for itself," the nerd said as he left the dinner table, not interested to see Mike any longer unless he brought some tangible proof of his success

----

The following morning

"So it seems like someone is back to his good old routine once again, no more travelling for a while, I'm staying put, so it means I have some more time available for me to kickstart my online coaching program once again. I'm looking for 8 people who are willing to bust their ass and ready to give 100% effort in order to take that physique to the very next level. You will be working with myself, my team, we will guide you along the way and coach you for over 16 weeks period so this will take you up to the end of this year. If you find this interesting, click the link below--"

And as the story ended, the nerd blew his load all over his sweatpants as his thoughts already went ahead with the idea of Mike subduing all the 8 clueless men thinking they'll get better physique with the help of a renowned fitness coach only to be turned into mindless, docile puppets. And that's exactly what happened as the updates started to appear in his chat between Mike for the next couple days. It surely didn't help that the Mike's puppet really managed to drive the points home with his detailed description on the takeover or what kind of conversation he is having with the prey, either on the way to the takeover, mid-way the process or after the whole thing. For example, this video Mike sent to the nerd right at the same night of Mike's morning call for participants drove the nerd to breaking point as Mike said

"Finally, you look better with mini-mes swimming inside your brain, you were so dumbfounded at first when I spat on you huh?"

"Yeah fuck that, you know Joshua is a bit gay for ya, that spat turned him on LOL!"

"Well, you clearly looked quite eager, Josh. Maybe you do like my spit *proceed to spit to Josh gaping mouth, which Josh reciprocated with swallowing it and then licking his lips*"

Right when Josh lunged to Mike for a sloppy kiss and what probably happened right after, the video ended as Mike grabbed his phone right in time to end the videos.....

Several times, rarely though, Mike even boldly have a video call in public with the puppet in tow to describe what went down to the nerd

"Hey there dweeb, I know you know this daddy. Exactly, Frederick is now part of our little collectives! Are you around? We are in his usual cafe where you eyed him a couple weeks ago editing his Youtube content, do swing by if you wanna get stuffed by his dad's cock, yeah you pervert, you watched a good and harmonious family vlogger to lust over the dad and thinking how you can corrupt him, well here he is ready to pummel your mouth with his musty cock fresh from his workout regimen with the reliable Mikey,"

Of course the nerd ran for his life to the cafe 3 blocks from his office upon receiving the video, but again, that's not really a normal occurence as Mike mostly just sent a picture with accompanying short caption after his conversion, like when he described the first puppet he converted after the "call for clients" video released

"Happy to inform that there's a brand new controller inside Leon Walker,"

You gulped as your face turned beet red as you found yourself unable to swallow your lunch due to the shock you got from the text message that just casually popped up in your phone.....is he for real?

"Yeah, I know you subscribed to his OnlyFans, well, look at how helpful I am for you by turning your favorite content creator to give you free, even better and outlandish performance for private! Come join us later tonight in my penthouse for the exhibit! I know you've been commenting how insanely hot it will be for Leon to suck his own cock while getting his butt plugged, well~~~"

Other times, the message that accompanied the possession tend to be even shorter

"Explaining the hierarchy of the puppet to the recent convert, he was such a tool that only knows how to workout, he should be thankful that an alien takeover his body,"

Or "greedy muscle beast of a fucker got what he deserved, turned into 270 lbs bottom bitch with no more free will for a boutique gym boy like me," which caused the nerd to burst out in his day job's office bathroom upon receiving the update

Yet, as explained before, Mike loved details so, when the client is extra special, he went on to great details explaining the whole sequence. For starter, when he explained how he took down Mike's hometown best friend

"You should have seen his face when I slapped the cold slimy alien right to his ear mid-workout. He is Mike's best friend from his previous lives and my memory is so vivid, I can really tell that they both loved each other but simply not informed, some kind of unreciprocated love. And the thing is, the love is reciprocated, they just didn't mention it to each other when they still could. Or maybe it's all just my made up story LOL, both of them are straight as an arrow and he even married last year to this beautiful woman which he will abandon as he is only going to serve Mike now. I mean, you really have to feel that tight hole of his, it's surreal, and that made him a great asset to have around with me. Truly a tale of two best friend finally connected once more and become inseparable ever since"

But there's nothing that prepared the nerd for Mike's latest conquest, as the nerd wakes up this morning to the news that the startup he worked for just got bought by a VC and the deal was finalized last night. The company's messaging app turned chaotic as "CEO Office" released a rather cold statement that there will be a townhall later today to explain on what really went down and what's the direction forward for the startup while all the staffers, even some of the upper management, frantically communicated with quite colorful words among each others.

The nerd tried to contact Mike to explain to him about this dire situation and whether Mike has solution to get the nerd's out from the predicament, but much to his surprise (and sick arousal), Mike sent a video around 30 minutes ago with the simple caption of

"See you in the office"

His softening morning wood went hard once again as if there's a button being pressed and he instantly started to leak as he realized what Mike did. Is Mike for real? His own CEO? The nerd knows that his boss is hot but this is something they discussed before, that he wanted to have an environment where there's no alien whatsoever and just people doing regular jobs to keep some semblance of normalcy in an otherwise crazy world of the extraterrestrial debauchery. Seems like Mike didn't keep that part of the agreement with this breach, but deep down, he's very much aroused that Mike finally didn't listen to him and even went against his wish. As another picture appeared from Mike followed with the sign of him typing another message, the nerd looked at his screen anxiously

"This was yesterday, moments before disaster, for him obviously. In the next 24 hours after this picture is taken, he's braindead, divorced his wife with a simple text message and sell and exit his beloved startups to pursue a lifelong passion for converting people to Master's way outside of this cramped desert country and having a nerd licking his body dry and practically become his live-in servant as they travel across the world. The question is, will the nerd resign from his boring human job and join his braindead former boss he fantasized every night?"

Then, the phone rings, it's his CEO, and he clearly knows what's his answer gonna be

------

Will make Steven's later, wow so happy that some of yall are still excited for this series! Keep the suggestion coming!

[mxtxfanatic]

Why Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli Matter

Even though their time as living characters in the narrative is short, Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli actually have a major influence on how Wei Wuxian chooses to go about his second life.

The comfort that Wei Wuxian couldn't express a desire for but that Jiang Yanli once tried to provide, anyways, without needing a request, he now seeks out in Lan Wangji:

No matter what [Jiang Yanli] said, Wei WuXian continued clinging to the tree, refusing to come down. Afraid that he’d hurt himself, Jiang YanLi put the lantern under the tree and extended her arms to catch him, too worried to leave. Thirty minutes later, Wei WuXian’s hands finally grew sore. He let go of the tree trunk and fell down. Jiang YanLi hurried to catch him, but Wei WuXian still landed with a slam.

—Chapt. 71: Departure, exr

The very instant he had wrapped his arms around the tree trunk, his eyes had warmed. Now, as he looked down, his vision was already blurry. Lan WangJi was standing underneath the tree, staring up at him. He was also clothed in white, but without a lantern. However, under the shower of the moonlight, his entire person was bright and clear, as if engulfed in a sheen of pure light. With his head slightly raised, he was watching Wei WuXian intently. With his gaze at the tree top, he took a few steps closer, as if wishing to extend his arms. Suddenly, Wei WuXian was overcome by a strange yet powerful urge. He wanted to fall down, just like that time many years ago. A voice in his heart said, ‘If he catches me, then I will’...... At the thought of the words ‘I will’, Wei WuXian let go. At the sight of him falling without a hint of a warning, Lan WangJi’s eyes widened. Instinctively, his body moved and the next moment Wei WuXian was in his arms, or, more correctly, in his embrace. ... He could not see Wei WuXian’s face. His face was out of Wei WuXian’s sight as well. But there was no need for Wei WuXian to see. With his eyes closed, he was engulfed in the soft, fresh scent of sandalwood that always lingered on Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian’s voice was hoarse, “Thanks.” He was never really afraid of falling. All these years, he’d fallen plenty. Of course, it still hurt everytime he fell. If there was someone who could catch him, then he couldn’t be happier.

—Chapt. 87: Core Part 9, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

Except Lan Wangji is both willing and capable of protecting Wei Wuxian where Jiang Yanli due to a variety of reasons was not. Because of this, Lan Wangji is able to carry on the torch that Jiang Yanli left behind from Wei Wuxian's first life into his second, such as when he begins to cook for Wei Wuxian.

As for Wen Qing, the lesson that Wei Wuxian learned from his unintentional big sister is so important that he both lives by it and endeavors to pass it on to his shizhi :

After a few steps, [Jin Ling] looked backward and said, “Why are you just standing there? Are you just going to wait for my uncle to come and get you? Let me tell you, don’t think that just because you rescued me, I’ll have some kind of deep gratitude toward you. Especially don’t hang your hopes on me telling you some mushy nonsense.” Defeated, Wei Wuxian strolled up. “You’re young. In your lifetime, there are two pieces of ‘mushy nonsense’ you will always have to utter sooner or later.” “What are they?” Jin Ling asked. “’Thank you,’ and ‘I’m sorry.’” Jin Ling scoffed. “I just won’t say them. What can anyone do about it?” “There will eventually be a day when you’ll say them with tears in your eyes,” Wei Wuxian said. Jin Ling made a derisive noise. Suddenly, Wei Wuxian said, “I’m sorry.” The boy stared blankly. “What?” “On Dafan Mountain, what I said to you. I’m sorry.” It hadn’t been the first time someone had jeered at Jin Ling for lacking a mother to raise him, but no one had ever apologized to him with such seriousness. He didn’t know exactly what the feeling was, but being slapped in the face with such an apology made his entire body prickle with unease.

—Chapt. 24: Malice II, fanyiyi

This scene preludes Jin Ling's softening, where he actually does begin to be more mindful of his words, how he speaks to others, and especially how he interacts with "Mo Xuanyu." The fact that no one had ever seriously apologized to Jin Ling allowed the boy to justify being rude and mean-spirited to others, but the fact that Wei Wuxian does and about something that people had mocked him for often without regret causes him to reevaluate this "uncle" as well as himself. This apology, though it may seem small, is what sparks the actual beginning of Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling's shishu-shizhi relationship, and none of it would have been possible had Wen Qing not torn down the wall of "what need not be spoken."

Because of these two women, Wei Wuxian is able to form closer bonds and live a more fulfilling life during his second chance, and through this, the legacy of his sisters lives on.

[emeritusemeritus]

if you’re taking requests can you do fred x artist!reader maybe? it’s okay if not though! (:

Hi love! Let me start by saying I’m sorry that this completely took on a life of its own. I started writing and I couldn’t stop, too engrossed in the story. I wasn’t sure what kind of art you wanted to include so I made the reader a painter/ designer and an all round creative. I’ve sobbed writing this and I’ve even had to split it into two parts because I’ve fallen down a hole and written over 8 thousand words, not joking.

I hope you enjoy! I shall now go and rest 😂🖤

Part 2 will be posted HERE once it is uploaded.

Warnings: ANGST. Sadness, breakups, illusions to cheating, breakup references. Happy ending I promise! Talks of marriage, proposals, Hagrid and his creatures, Fang being the goodest boy. Lots of tears and sadness but it gets better! Not beta read nor spellchecked, apologies for any mistakes. Timeline is a little wonky (picturing it OOTP just before the twins departure but there’s no war/no Umbridge)

Word count: 4.9k [Part 1&2= 8.2k] 😬

The Artist and the Entrepreneur part 1

You walked into your dorm in an exhausted slump, trying desperately not to sigh too loudly of our sheer exhaustion in order to not wake your dorm mates. It was nearly 11:30pm by the time you had made it back to the dorms, having to wake and then calm down the fat lady who was not willing to listen to your explanation of why you were out so late. You needed to bathe and get to sleep, ready for classes the next morning but you could barely function, trying desperately to summon the energy to undress and make your way to the bathrooms. It was a necessary evil but it had to be done and so you dragged your near-lifeless body to the bathroom and began running a bath, which thankfully filled up quickly with almost perfect temperature water. You grimaced as you peeled the uniform away from your body, wincing at a particularly nasty wound on your right forearm which you would attempt to heal after you'd bathed. Your hands were covered in paint, mud and whatever else had made their way under your nails, arms littered with paint splatters and other vague marks.

Sinking down into the water, you forced yourself to stay awake feeling suddenly soothed by the warm water, both physically and mentally. It had been a hard couple of weeks, stretched beyond your means as your timetable suddenly doubled. You were tired, exhausted and still there was another week to go of this madness, but it would all worth it on the end.

You dried quickly, assisting yourself with a flick of your wand and dressed into your pyjamas, hardly managing to scoop up your dirty uniform on your way back to bed.

5am came much quicker than you'd have liked. It was almost as if you'd closed your eyes and opened them again only a minute later. You crawled out of bed trying again to stay silent and reached for the clean set of uniform and robes on the chair beside your bed, kicking the lump of dirty uniform under your bed to deal with later. You slipped into the bathrooms to dress so that you wouldn't wake anyone and slipped down to the common room, pray in that you didn't see anyone on the way. You cast a glance at the boys dormitory staircase and felt a stab of sorrow thinking of Fred and how you'd barely seen him in the past two weeks. You were often gone before breakfast and not back until well past curfew, not that either of the twins ever abided by the rules.

"Oh shush," you said to the fat lady who had begun her usual spiel of sounding the alarm due to you being out of bed out of hours, not listening nor remembering the speech you'd given everyday for the past two weeks as you attempted to sneak out. You couldn't afford to be discovered by the prefects nor any teachers roaming the corridors, as above board as your mission was- you couldn't risk Fred finding out what you were doing.

Sunlight shone through the windows as you made your way around the castle, holding back a shiver at the coldness of the castle in the late March morning, your robes doing very little to shield you from the chill. You crept out of the castle and marvelled at the beautiful first rays of daylight peaking through the trees of the forbidden forest. You looked ahead and saw that smoke was billowing from the chimney of Hagrid's hut, the only sign of life against the otherwise serene backdrop of the forbidden forest. You made your way slowly, enjoying the peaceful walk down to the hut, hoping that Hagrid had put the kettle on in anticipation of your arrival.

"Morning y/n!" Hagrid says with a wide smile, bustling around in the small hut, much too awake for this time in the morning. Fang in stark contrast lay slumped in his bed and half asleep, continuously disturbed by Hagrid's banging. A steaming cup of tea lay waiting for you on the table and you thank him graciously, taking a soothing sip of the hot liquid. You look at the clock on the wall beside the window as see that it's nearly half 5 now, the sun rising in the sky and greeting an almost ethereal light across the magnificent castle, a sight that still amazed you even seven years later.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Hagrid asks, noticing you gazing up at the castle and you share a smile for a moment, the tiredness having faded now thanks to the alarmingly strong cup of tea that you'd now become accustomed to.

"Ready to get to work now?" He asks, watching you drain the last of the tea from the large mug. You try to hide your disappointment from being dragged out once again to the edge of the forest, knowing that you'd signed up for this. You nod with a smile, navigating around the large table as you move towards to door behind Hagrid. You shoot a look towards Fang, wanting to give him a parting stroke but you notice quickly that he's fallen back to sleep and so you leave him alone to snooze, wishing that you could too.

It was nearly half 8 when you walked into the great hall, taking a brief detour to the bathrooms as you washed your hands and to hide any evidence of your morning. Your early start was already catching up to you and you hid a yawn behind the sleeve of your robe as you walked through the doors of the great hall. You checked your robe one last time for any signs of evidence but thankfully you were clear, noticing only a moment later when you took you'll place at the table that there was a great dollop of pint upon your shoe.

"Here she is," George says from across the table, nodding his head towards you as you climbed onto the bench beside Ron in the gap between him and Neville.

"Switch with Y/n Ronald," Fred says from beside him without a hint of a please. Knowing he won't get any manners out of his older brother, Ron complies and shifts up to allow you to sit beside your boyfriend.

"Thanks Ron," you say, trying to hold off the yawn that was threatening to break free at any moment.

"Morning beautiful, you're late," Fred says, his hand slipping across your back as you pour yourself a large glass of pumpkin juice. He frowns at the coldness of your robes beneath his fingers but doesn't say anything. "You overlay again?"

"Yeah," you lie, feeling immediately guilty about the fact. "Snape's set us a load of work, took me ages to figure it out last night. Didn't get a lot of sleep." As if to prove your point, the yawn you'd been suppressing finally escapes with so much force that it makes your eyes water.

You manage to force down some toast, staying quiet as the conversation continues around you. The first bell rings and you barely hold back a sigh, detesting the fact that you'd have to get up again.

"I can walk you to potions?" Fred says, holding his hand out to help you off the bench. You're quick to conceal the paint on your shoe and if he notices, he doesn't say anything.

"And have you late for charms again?" You counter, raising an eyebrow at your boyfriend who just shrugs completely unfazed.

"Haven't seen you much lately, thought you'd been avoiding me."

His words feel like a stab directly to your heart, knowing that you were guilty of avoiding him, though it wasn't in a negative way. Your craved the time with him, of mischief in the late hours and spontaneous moments in hidden corridors and empty classrooms.

"I promise I'm not," you say with a smile, trying to vanquish his idea completely as you lean up to press a kiss to his full lips. His arms immediately grab your waist as he pulls you in for a deeper kiss that borders on inappropriate but you relent, unable to resist after not seeing him properly for so long.

"So, potions?" Fred smirks, pulling away. You chuckle, placing your hands on his chest.

"For me? Yes. For you? No, get to charms," you order playfully, leaning up to give him one last peck on the lips before turning away. "See you at lunch!"

You can hear his boyish chuckle as you walk away down the corridor in the opposite direction of him, praying that he would be entirely too focused on the swishing of your behind and that the paint on your shoe would go entirely unseen.

By lunch you were completely exhausted, too tired to even notice the suspicious side-eyes from the identical twins as they watched you poke around at your food and down a second cup of very strong tea, having outwardly complained that the first one was too weak. Uncharacteristically for them, they said nothing and continued to chatter amongst themselves, keeping the conversation open for you though you didn't give much imput.

"Fancy the black lake tonight, after hours?" Fred whispers in your ear, knowing even without looking that a smirk would be tugging at his lips. You inwardly grimaced, cursing your ridiculous secret plan as you wished more than anything that you could join him. You were running out of excuses now, finding it hard to keep track with what you'd already lied about.

"I can't tonight, got an essay for snape in the morning I've still not finished," you say with a guilty expression, almost wincing as the words too-effortlessly tumble out of your mouth. "Friday night I promise?"

He seems put out almost instantly, never one to be able to conceal his emotions well. He looks frustrated, confused and rejected within seconds of each other and gives a halfhearted nod at your counter offer of Friday instead.

The bell rings signalling the end of lunch and you hope for a kiss before parting but lose all hope when you feel his lips briefly brush your hairline and he runs off to catch up with George and Angelina.

You avoided the common room after classes, choosing instead to sneak down to Hagrid's a little early, thankful for Thursday evening Quidditch practice which meant that you wouldn't cross paths with Fred.

"Y/n, I'm nipping out tomorrow on dumbledores orders, think you could nip down and check in everything while I'm gone?" Hagrid says as you out dutifully complete your given task, hoping to get it done quickly so you could try and salvage a bit of time tonight for Fred. His questions throws you off for long enough that you feel a hot gust of fire breezing past your right ear, followed by a burning sensation in the same spot. He's quick to act and gets you out of harms way before any more damage is done whilst you remain slightly frozen in both fear and contemplation. You knew you couldn't say no, in debt to his generosity and so you simply nodded, already dreading the implications of your acceptance.

It's late once again when you arrive at the common room, only half an hour til curfew, and despite your attempts at hiding your tiredness and attempting to appear happy and neutral, you can't help but feel the guilt swirling in your gut when you see Fred and George pedalling their products to the younger students with wide smiles on their faces and still dressed in their quidditch uniforms. You sneak up to Fred once he's done with a sale and slip behind him, placing your hand on his shoulder to alert him to your presence. 

Only, when he turns around his smile slowly fades upon realisation that it's you and your heart immediately begins to break, knowing that it was the other way round. He doesn't instantly reach out for you with his big grabby hands like usual nor does he attempt to kiss you. You try and salvage the situation, putting more effort in, trying to be as normal as possible but he seems to see right through the act.

"Wanna sneak out? I hear the black lake is beautiful this time of night." You say with a smirk, trying desperately to mask your tiredness and to hold it together. He doesn't jump at the chance as you hoped and instead casts a cursory glance to George before turning back to you.

"Can't tonight, got to restock the snack boxes with George," he says, briefly touching your hand before a third year calls his name, hand outstretched ready to buy one of his creations. Your stomach sinks, knowing that it's a lie and the irony of the situation only seems to hurt you more as you feel your eyes well up with fresh tears. You excuse yourself immediately, not even greeting your friends who you can tell are watching the tense exchange and you hope more than anything that no one follows you. You're completely depleted with exhaustion, running on hardly any sleep and completely overworked by your own doing. Suddenly the outcome didn't seem worth it and you regretted ever starting, finding your idea foolish.

You let your tears flow as you shower, passively washing away the fresh marks from the day off your arms, the clear gel and the colourful spatters draining away down the plug hole with your tears. You wince in pain when the water falls directly onto the freshly wounded skin behind your ear and your neck, execrating yourself for missing that spot despite Hagrid's warnings.

Too tired and upset to face going back down to the common room, you give up and reward yourself with an early night, though you feel anything but rewarded.

5am came around once more and more than ever you begrudgingly pulled yourself from the warm bed and slipped into the bathroom, the reminder of Fred's rejection playing on your mind from the second your eyes opened. Had you dreamt about it? Either way his reaction was firmly imprinted on your mind and you couldn't get away from how desperately painful it was to have him reject you like that. You slipped out of the common room on autopilot, closing the door with a little too much force already anticipating the fat lady's usual ranting and slumped off towards Hagrid's hut. The skies looked as sombre and sorrowful as you felt, covering the sky in a dull grey hue that seemed to dull the normally beautiful sunrise. You were quiet this morning, not rude or impolite but simply quiet as you worked alongside Hagrid, consumed by your foreboding thoughts knowing that you would still have to cancel Fred tonight, if he even cared anymore.

Once your morning jobs were complete, you decline any further invite to stay and decide instead to sneak back into the castle for breakfast, hoping you could join your friends and boyfriend like usual. Breakfast had only just begun when you walked into the great hall, having made your usual stop off at the girls bathrooms on the way and you're not surprised when the only person sat at the table is Hermione who's already got her head down in a book. She lifts her head up to greet you happily as you sit opposite her at the table, beginning to place her bookmark on the page she's on but you tell her not to, to enjoy the peace whilst she can. She shoots you a grateful smile and you sit enjoying your second cup of tea in peace, thankful you could make this happen today. You knew it was at the expense of your other jobs and you'd most certainly pay for it in the long run but having half of the morning to reset still felt good.

"Morning," Angelina says as a sits down at the table next to Hermione who this time only says a passive greeting, much too engrossed in her book. Angelina reached immediately for a glass of pumpkin juice before rubbing her eyes and yawning at the early hour.

"Not been sleeping well?" You ask with relative concern for your friend, watching her yawn for a second time within seconds. "Staying up late trying to find a loophole in quidditch rules again?" You joke with a smile, watching as she shoots you a mock glare even though it was most probably true, only to be interrupted by her third yawn.

"I wish! Still never finished reading that rule book," she snorts. "I know there's something there I've missed." She takes a sip of her pumpkin juice and you watch as she swallows down another yawn. "I was at the black lake with the twins last night, didn't get back til late."

It's amazing that you don't choke on your own pumpkin juice as the words glide out of her mouth, your stomach sinking like a stone at the implications. You knew Angelina and there was no malice nor hidden meaning behind her words but it still stings more than getting caught in the path of a Ukrainian Ironbelly. Fred had openly lied to you, had rejected you and had invited Angelina in your place. You're frozen in place by the revelation but Angelina doesn't notice, now heartily tucking into her breakfast, though you do notice hermione peeking over her book to look at you. Tears begin to prickle your eyes as the sinking feeling in your gut consumes you, your thoughts spiralling out of control. He didn't want you anymore, you'd pushed him too far to come back from, all with him in mind.

You barely noticed when Ron, Ginny and Harry appeared at the table but you noticed immediately when you heard two very familiar voices echoing as Fred and George walked into the great hall. You had to leave, you had to get out before then took their places. A part of you, wether it was self-punishment or morbid curiosity wanted to stay and see if Fred would chose to sit next to you, to see if he'd interact with you or be cold and distant but you couldn't do it, knowing that the latter would kill you. You stood up so quickly that you bumped your knee on the bottom of the table with a resounding thud that seemed to draw everyone's attention to you but you didn't stick around to shrivel under their curious gazes. There was no way you could avoid Fred now as he made his way to the table but you couldn't do anything about that. Placing your hand over your mouth, you feigned queasiness and ran out of the hall, straight past Fred and George.

Climbing up the spiralling staircase from potions, your stomach sank when you saw a familiar form resting against one of the pillars in the corridor, his shining red hair leaving no doubt as to who it was. You waited for your fellow classmates to disperse, signalling for Alicia to go ahead with the others, leaving you and Fred alone. You half hoped for the first time ever that you'd gotten the twins mixed up

And that it was actually George that was waiting for you but as you walked over with a faux smile on your face, there was no doubt in your mind that it was Fred.

"Hi," you said, sounding awkward even to your own ears. He gives you a look, apparently having noticed your unusually formal greeting too and reaches out for you as if nothing was wrong. His touch feels wrong, the lies feeling like an impenetrable barrier between you and you don't sink into his touch as you usually did, nor do you make any attempt to reach out for him in return.

"Still want to go to the black lake tonight?" He says, reaching out to play with a strand of your hair from the haphazardly thrown up ponytail. His words feel like a knife, like a taunt of what you missed out in last night. Did he know that you knew about his jaunts last night or was he planning on denying the entire thing and acting like nothing was wrong?

You couldn't bite your tongue any longer, the unyielding sleep deprivation affecting your ability to regulate your emotions and you pulled yourself back out of his reach with a venomous look in your eyes.

"Thought you'd have seen enough of it with Angelina last night,' you spit out, the quickly fading logical part of your brain hardly believing that you were having this conversation with Fred, the downfall of your relationship taking you completely by surprise as it's ungodly pace. He blanches, face flushing pale as his ears turn more and more pink upon hearing your words. His eyes widen momentarily and the sickness in your gut increases as you note how panicked he looks, your fears confirmed that he was intending on not telling you anything.

"Princess," he says, trying to bounce back from his momentary shock as he reaches out for you but you avoid his hand entirely, blocking him by slightly turning your body to the right, away from him.

"My name is y/n," you counter, uncaring for his term of endearment. His brown creases but in a flash it's gone, his gaze now focused on your ear. You watch as his eyes harden, no longer looking guilty as his eyes set into a hard stare that grazes across your face until he finally looks into your eyes, somehow in competition with you for how angry you can gaze at eachother.

"It's not my whereabouts that need questioning though is it?" He says through partially gritted teeth, unrelenting eyes staring into your soul.

"What are you talking about?" You counter, trying desperately to hold onto your anger but it's quickly draining from you under his suspicious scrutiny.

"Seems you forgot to hide that one," he spits, pointing to the mark behind your ear. Your gaze softens immediately as you realise what he's pointing to- the pink mark on your neck. In your haste to not set your hair on fire in potions, you'd quickly tied up your hair and had completely forgotten that the mark on your neck would now be visible.

"Fred," you say, the tables turning on you now as you cower under his powerful gaze.

"Thought it was odd that you kept disappearing," he says with a grumble, his voice sounding so cold and distant that you barely recognise it. "Who is he?"

"What?" You ask suddenly, quietly, completely floored by his accusation, your mouth agape as you look upon the heated gaze of your boyfriend, though you quickly realise it may be the last time you can call him that. Never had you thought that he would have accused you of cheating. Finding out your secret maybe but this? Never.

"You heard me, who is it? Bet it's Towler isn't it," he sneers, almost spitting as he says Kenneth Towler's name to taunt you. "Reckon he's long overdue for a second dose of bulbadox powder."

You're frozen in disbelief at the furthering accusations he's spouting, his mind already wandering back to Kenneth Towler who's skin had erupted into boils during your fifth year thanks to Fred putting Bulbadox powder in his pyjamas when he'd come on to you a bit too strongly during a mid-season Quidditch game. Fred had been so distracted upon seeing Towler attempt to drape his arm around you that it caused him to miss an oncoming bludger that caught the tail end of Wood's broom, throwing him off balance and equating in a deciding goal that had given Ravenclaw the lead, that then resulted in their victory over Gryffindor. Fred had been furious, not at you naturally but at Towler who he'd declared had lost them the whole game and had vowed a form of revenge by adding the bulbadox.

"It is isn't it?" He prods, taking your silence as confirmation.

"No!" You say with vengeance, wanting to shoot down that accusation straight away. "There's no one," you add. He huffs out a humourless laugh that makes your entire body fill with dread.

"Well someone's giving you those marks and it's certainly not me!" He argues, "haven't let me anywhere near you for weeks, which is funny because you're usually up for it whenever."

Your blood runs cold at his words and you resist the instinctual urge to slap him right across his stupid face. It's like the four years of your relationship have been nothing to him; pulled apart and mocked by one single comment that now made you question everything. Was that all it was to him? Were you just easy and available? You felt physically sick by the thought and you were certain that nothing had ever hurt you so deeply before. The boy you'd fallen so helplessly in love for, the one with the fire red hair and the cheeky grin that only ever seemed to have eyes for you had changed so quickly right before your eyes. The very boy that had supported all of your creative dreams, encouraging you to keep painting and keep creating even when you doubted yourself or lacked inspiration. Merlin, most of the time he was your inspiration.

You realise that there's nothing left to say, that any further attempt to defend yourself will only fall on deaf ears and by his last comment, you weren't sure it was worth trying to salvage the joke that had been your relationship. You thought of the secret you'd be hiding, of the real reason you had been sneaking away and lying to him, so far away from his assumption that it was almost laughable- but now completely void of any importance. There was no coming back from this. What you assumed to have been love for the past four years had completely disappeared from his eyes and you knew from this moment onwards that all you would ever see when he gazed upon you would be pure disdain.

It feels like every bone is breaking in your body simultaneously as you walk away, like your heart is directly under the cruciatus curse with the sheer volume of anguish within your body. You've never felt pain like it, completely unable to distinguish exactly where it hurts or why. You let vision is blurred and your body physically hurts, your ears ringing from the screams of pain that resonate around your head but are trapped inside your mind. You don't look at Fred, you can't, nor can you bear to listen for him calling out to you as you walk away, the last glimmer of hope gone. 

You consider returning to your dorm and locking yourself away for the foreseeable future, skipping all of your classes and sobbing until you can't anymore as you body screams for you to do but you can't. You can't let anyone see you like that, nor would you be able to answer anyone's questions or deal with their stares. And so, you run to the one place you knew you'd be safe.

Fang greets you enthusiastically the second you push through the door to the empty hut and collapse against the door with a roaring cry. The anguish in your cries is one that you'd never heard emitted from yourself or any other human and you no longer fight back the floods of tears that fall down your face like an unstoppable river that had broken the dam. Fang, sensing your distress, walks over to you and calmly sits beside you, placing his huge head in your lap as you cry. You hold on to the lovable boarhound like an oversized teddy bear as the tears flow, uncaring about the inevitable puddle of drool that he'll leave in your lap, the comfort of the sweet dog more needed than ever.

You don't know how long you sit there crying with your pal by your side for every moment but eventually the tears begin to slow, your breath finally evening out though your heart still pounds, much like your head. Fang lifts his head slightly, his big eyes peering into yours and you give him a thankful smile through the tears, even if he doesn't know exactly what you're trying to convey. He gives your arm a little nudge and in your near delusional state, you assume that it's a reply to your thankfulness. You chuckle, giving him a good scratch of appreciation on his wrinkled forehead at the absurdity of the situation, but you'd be forever thankful that of all things, Fang was the only one that had held you together in your darkest moment.

[hoodedboy79]

Hey. I just saw your post of the idea to write about Assassins Creed. It’s lovely to see someone who would write about the Assasins, like Bayek (he doesn’t get enough love). I don’t have anything particular in mind but I’d love to see some/or reactions of some kind of Bayek, Arno and/or any you feel comfortable with. Have a nice day :))

Being Best Friends With Them: Bayek, Arno & Jacob.

Just to start off with I'm sorry this took so long for me to do but I've got major writers block atm so these might be ass but I tried. Also Arno might be extra ooc cuz I only brought Unity a few days ago when it went on sale and haven't done more than the beginning yet so apologies in advance 😅

================

Bayek

• The most loyal, lifelong friend you're ever going to get right here.

• Even if you two don't see each other as often anymore after Bayek became a Medjay and started a family.

• Talking about him starting a family, you were one of the first people he told when he found out Aya was expecting.

• Invites you over regularly to eat dinner with him and his family, along with Hepzefa and Rabiah if they are free.

• He loves that his closest people get on so well.

• You accompanying him, Khemu and Chenzira on their hunting trips.

• As much as he wants to confide in you after Khemu's death and Aya's departure, he can't bring himself to. Not only because he doesn't want to speak about it when the wound is so fresh but he doesn't want to burden you with his feelings.

• So he doesn't say much to you before leaving to track down the Heron.

• When he eventually returns, and is in a slightly better headspace than before he left, he was happy to see you, and Hepzefa, waiting for him.

• You two have a lot to catch up on.

Arno

• Will silently judge every stupid decision you make, his face tells you exactly what he wants to say though to the point it doesn't feel as 'silent' anymore.

• He will help you clean up and or defend you from the consequences of said stupid decision though.

• The type to have clothes made for you, regardless of your social status.

• Depending on your personality, there's going to be a LOT of disagreements between you two due to Arno's stubbornness (and yours, potentially) but he's willing to come to a compromise with you after enough back and forth, he probably won't admit if he was wrong though.

• Arno never truly gets over Élise and has times where his grief rears it's head, sometimes he'll allow you to comfort him even if it's just by sitting in the same room in silence while you both get on with your own things or other times he'll avoid everyone completely and try to keep himself busy with random tasks till he feels ready to see people again.

• Would like to visit the theatre with you occasionally or just relax for once and have a discussion about art or the newest plays.

• Gossip duo 💅🏻

Jacob

• Sheer pandemonium.

• You two together brings the fear of God into people.

• Spending hours with him in the pub, whether it be indulging in drinking games, playing Whist (don't worry he won't drown you in the river if you beat him) or just chatting with the Rooks, Jacob will make sure you enjoy yourself and hopefully get you to stay just another hour (and buy another round).

• Tells Maxwell about you and eventually invites you to accompany them on one of their random outings.

• We all know how that eventually ends.

• Both of you teasing Evie about Henry. Jacob will definitely turn on you though if he finds out you are courting someone/being courted, it isn't just Evie he's willing to tease.

• He would find out as much as he could about the person that you're interested in, especially if their the one trying to court you. He's been betrayed by people close to him before and doesn't want you to go through the same thing if he can help it.

• He'll make almost everything a (friendly) competition with you; Who can climb this building faster? Who can kill the most Blighters in this random street fight? Who can escape the police quicker?, things like that. Evie will even sometimes join in, which usually ends with the twins bickering after she wins.

• You and Jacob really do share the same braincell at times fr.

==============

I haven't done any hc's in a hot minute and I can see why lol. Maybe I'll rewrite these one day or add to it I dunno.

[lightlycareless]

i was re-reading the naomi meets toji fic and i'm just imagining naomi seeing toji and calling him toji-sama but she is with naoya instead or toji sees naoya interacting with naomi

Heya!!

Awww I'm glad you liked it!! And yes, I think I was due writing their interactions :> Naoya could not have a child and not introduce them to Toji, the #1 person he admires in the whole world. Though I think someone here would not appreciate it as much...

Anyways, here are the warnings: none. it's nothing but silly domestic stuff. Though I kind of feel bad for Toji. Also, he might be ooc; I don't really write them but I hope it's still good!! You and Naoya have a baby girl named Naomi. Also, please read this first if you want to get context behind the Toji-sama thing.

Happy reading!!!

The moment Toji sees Naoya and Naomi interact is when everything just makes sense to him. Where he realizes that not only she really is his daughter, but that she actually takes a lot from him.

From their physical appearance to everyday habits, there is no doubt in his mind that Naomi, indeed, is Naoya’s child.

Specifically with that endless yammering the two seem so fond of partaking in.

Toji was conflicted. In one hand, he knew what to expect from kids. They were naturally irritating, so for him to demand otherwise would only gather him with the likes of his ignorant family (and he’d rather die than to do so).

But another part of him hoped that she would take more after you, you know? He’s seen you interact with others, heard the rumors too, how everyone once thought it impossible for someone like you to be with someone like Naoya. You were just too… different. Nice, even.

Yet, here you were, married to an arrogant brat and having kids with him—children that were on route of being chibi Naoya’s, bringing in more havoc than there already was.

And there would be no one to know better than him, after all, since he got a prime example of that after being caught in the middle of their antics one unsuspecting afternoon.

“Toji-kun!” A bright-faced Naoya exclaims while bringing along his equally excited daughter to greet the mysterious, brooding man who just had his plans of passing undetected effectively ruined. “When did you return? You should’ve let me know; we could’ve gotten something to eat together!”

“It’s not like I’m you to be announcing my arrivals and departures…” He murmurs under his breath, yet Naoya still manages to hear it, enough to laugh along.

“I can change that, if you like. Give you the treatment you deserve.”

Toji’s left eye twitches; looks like even after settling down, the ungrateful kid he saw grow up continued to be as ridiculous as ever.

Though it seems your husband now faced competition, and from his own daughter no less.

“Hi, Toji-sama!!” Naomi cheerfully greets, waving her chubby little hand at the man and making both her father gasp, amused by her unforeseen reverence, and Toji chuckle, glad to see that the antics he fueled many days ago still stood strong.

"Hey, kid."

“Toji-sama?” Naoya repeated, genuinely surprised. “How come I never thought of that?”

“That wasn’t an invitation to call me so.” Toji warns.

“Hmm, I guess so. Toji-kun seems to be more fitting anywa—”

“No, papa! It’s Toji-sama, Toji-sama. He wanted to be called that!” Naomi protests with a pout, tugging at her father’s hand to further highlight her words. “Papa…”

“Alright, alright.” Naoya chuckles. “Toji-sama it is—"

“What? No, only she can call me that.”

Because it would be nothing less than obnoxious to hear such words coming from a grown-ass man, specially one as Naoya who was already too much by his own merit.

A type of inner-joke where only Naomi was participant; Naoya could try his luck somewhere else.

“Papa, papa, can I play with Toji-sama?” Naomi would suddenly suggest, making Toji’s heart sink.

Thankfully, your husband wasn’t the jealous type. No, wait, let’s rephrase that. He wasn’t the jealous type with his daughter. Willing to let her go if it meant getting something even better in return!

“Of course you can!” Naoya encourages, enthusiastic at the prospect of two of his favorite people spending quality time together! More so if he was there to see it. “What would you like to play, mochi? Hide and seek?”

“No, papa always wins…” Through cheating, that is. Using his cursed technique to quickly catch up to her, barely giving her any time to hide—it’s safe to say that he’s effectively ruined the enjoyment out of it.

Unless…

“Toji-sama, you seek, we hide!” She offers instead. “But no peeking! No cheating like papa…”

“Now, why would I even agree to—"

An important thing to remember is that for all of his life, Toji considered Naoya to be, deep beneath his arrogance, a coward. The type of man that would throw a rock then hide his hand just to see the chaos he could evoke. But always free of accountability, of course. Doing so countless times just for the laughs of it, careless of who he affects with his actions.

A threat to never take seriously, just a wimpy kid he had the misfortune of sharing blood with.

But that seemed to change with his daughter. In fact, what transpired succeeded even his own expectations. When he once believed him a devoted follower of Naobito’s footsteps, he now presented a certain… overprotectiveness towards little Naomi, subtly growing frustrated at the prospect of upsetting her—and thus, willing to do anything to keep her happy.

Now, isn’t that interesting?

Consider him… not intimidated, never. But rather… intrigued. Enough to indulge your daughter, letting her grab him by the hand and guiding him to whatever garden she concurred to play in, coincidentally, your personal favorite—where you’d often rest after a long day of tending to duties, or simply wanting to bask in its tranquility.

Though as of lately there appeared be a unusual heaviness looming over your body, making everything far more difficult that it really was. A part of you wanted to blame it on the universe, accept that sometimes things happens because they do! Nothing more to it.

But another side of you wants to consider what your staff has been playfully teasing you about: Hinting that your sudden change doesn’t come from fate, but rather… another bundle of joy on its way to you.

And it made sense if you thought about it too! You were presenting the exact same symptoms of your first pregnancy!

Yet, that wasn’t possible. Because you and Naoya had been very careful when intimate, having long planned to have a second child once Naomi was a bit older.

…

…

But you wouldn’t mind hearing another set of footsteps following you everywhere. Another baby for you to cherish, Naoya to spoil, Naomi to play, and Toji to—

Wait, Toji?!

“What in the—” you breathe, eyes wide as you observe the unusual image of your family playing with the man that often kept to himself unfolding before you. And apparently willingly as well! … Kind of, you were still able to perceive a slight annoyance coming from him, undoubtedly overwhelmed by your chattery daughter and pleased husband—the habit of showing off what he’s proud of is something that followed him since he was a child, and always, Toji had to be in the receiving end.

Good to see that some behaviors are never truly gone.

“You found me, Toji-sama! You found me!” She giggled, the opposite reaction of what one would expect.

“You weren’t that hard to find…” He raises an eyebrow.

“It’s my time to look for you now!” Naomi cheers, this is certainly turning out to be much better than she expected! For her, at least.

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Naoya boasts. “Nothing seems to stop her!”

“She reminds me of you when you were young.” Toji quietly perceives, Naoya’s eyes glisten.

“Really, Toji-kun?” After being given the greatest compliment yet, there’s no way he wouldn’t be over the moon. “Well, she is my daughter, aren’t you, little mochi? Naturally, you have to be as talented as me.”

“Yes!” She nods, blushing when Naoya gently patted her head. “But let’s play, papa! I wanna play!”

“Only after giving Toji-san a small break.” You eventually interject, walking over to the group and standing by Naoya’s side, who immediately wrapped his arm around your waist, as usual. “I hope my husband and daughter haven’t exhausted you much.”

“Ah, we could never, right Toji-kun? We were just having fun!”

“Mama, are you gonna play with us?” Naomi asks. “Come on, mama, Toji-sama said he’s going to seek us this time!”

“Really? I thought I heard him say he wanted to eat…” You tease, Naomi pouts. “Also, don’t call him that, pumpkin.

“No, he didn’t.” Naoya responded in defense of his daughter. “He just—”

But you quiet him by gently elbowing him, letting know he was overextending his cousin’s tolerance, much to his dismay.

“I mean—he did mention he was tired” Toji raises an eyebrow, confused by the words that were randomly put in his mouth, though he won’t deny he thought them. “We’ve been at it for a while now, pumpkin. Aren’t you tired… or hungry?”

“No.” Naomi frowns. “I wanna play!”

“Really? Not even for your favorite? Mariya-san said she was going to make it for you…” You insist, forcing Naomi into a predicament you knew she wouldn’t be able to deny. “And we wouldn’t want to keep her waiting, right?”

Naomi’s eyes widen, licking her lips at the thought of her favorite meal.

“Ok mama!” Naomi chirps before looking over to Toji. “Goodbye Toji-sama!! Let’s play later!”

“Naoya, take her please, I gotta do something first and then I’ll join you.”

“Alright.” Naoya kisses you before leaning close to your ear to whisper… “We’re not really eating, are we?”

“We’ll talk about it later.” You smile, kissing him back.

“Bye bye, Toji-sama!!” Naomi says once more, taking a hold of her father’s hand soon after and disappearing into the hallways.

Once alone, Toji takes this moment to sigh, take a breather from doing things that weren’t really on his itinerary, and probably head back into whatever isolation he had planned for the day—right after dealing with you, that is.

“I’m sorry about that.” You say, taking a step closer to him. “Believe me, I know all too well what it is to be overwhelmed by them.”

“As if one Naoya weren’t enough… They’re exact carbon copies.”

“I’ve been told.” You laugh. “Sometimes I wish Naomi looked a bit more like me. If just a tiny bit, you know? I did carry her for 9 months!”

“Well, she’s likable compared to Naoya, I’ll give you that.”

“Hey, Naoya can be likeable too!” You jest back. “He has his charms.”

“I’m sure he does.” Toji responds, suddenly reflecting on Naoya’s overprotectiveness towards his daughter—a trait that no person would expect from him after seeing him grow up.

Yet, he was proved wrong. And not only in the realms of parenthood, but those of marriage as well. Naoya showing that people can change, even when coming from a hideous background as his, if given the right motivation.

A small hope for the Zen’in clan, he supposes, all thanks to you.

And perhaps… a purpose for himself, too?

“You have a good kid; you should be proud.”

“Oh, I… Thanks.” You blush, taken aback by his compliment. “We try our best.”

“For my sake, don’t tell Naoya I said that.”

“Never. My lips are sealed.” You smile. “But…  only if you promise to do something for me.”

Toji raises an eyebrow.

“Don’t encourage my daughter to call you by that honorific.” You ask. “I fear someone of the family has begun to feel… offended by it.” Though jealous would be the most appropriate word.

“Why? It’s only deserving.” He laughs.

“Well, maybe you can try it out when you have kids of your own.” You chuckle. “See if you like it.”

“I don’t think I’ll—”

“You’d be a good father, Toji-san. I now have no doubt about it in my mind.”

Toji blinks, speechless and confused by your words, but most importantly, unable to demand an explanation for you’d begin to retreat soon after, leaving him behind to deal with his doubts by himself.

“Well, I gotta go now, I’ve accidentally burdened Mariya with my daughter and I can only imagine the reaction she’ll have upon learning we’re not having her favorite good!” You say, waving him goodbye as you walk away. “See you around Toji-san!”

Maybe he should’ve run after you, stopped you and demanded justification behind your outrageous accusation. Or maybe he should’ve refuted your ideas without consideration in the first place, catalog them as silly, for there is no way in hell he’d enjoy entertaining a child, and all that it took to get there…

… Though an exception could always be made if it was his child. He’d definitely like to do things to tease them, annoy them; get them to pout and whine, just like brats often do, and get a laugh out of it.

But most importantly, give them a life worth living. One vastly, greatly different from his, like the one he deserved at one point, and save them from all the suffering in the world.

Toji laughs, shaking the idea out of his mind as he heads somewhere, far away from the estate, it doesn’t really matter as long as he’s alone…

To eventually admit that perhaps… he would like to have a bit of that happiness you shared with Naoya—

If there even was someone for him out there.

Imagine being the reason Toji has baby fever hahahahahaha omg that is so sad. But hey, he deserves to be happy too :')

Also, my favorite thing here is that as much as Naoya simps Toji, he'll always put his daughter first. Not sure if someone was questioning this, but here is my answer. I mean... I would hope his family goes first... 🤨🤨 if not, we're going to have a problem lol.

Anyways, thank you so much for sending in this ask!! It was such a joy to write Naoya boasting about Naomi, and Naomi following Toji like her papa did when he was young hahahahaha really, they're identical twins; what a nightmare for him 🤣🤣🤣 owww I wan't to write more about them 🥺❤️

Now, take care, and hope to see you soon!!

[justevelynnnn]

ocean boy.

notes: something a little different. i got inspired by this one fic abt armin seeing an old friend after everything happened so here i am. not proofread😭

also takes place in the actual aot world a year after the rumbling.

context: old childhood friend armin x fem reader (reader is implied to be dark skinned)

you used to be part of the Scouts or Survey corps or whatever a few years ago.

When you look around your new home you think back to those days. Once Eren was captured by Bertholt and Reiner you took it upon yourself to just abandon the team. It became too much. You found a way down and off the wall and took off. So much was going on you knew you were crazy for joining in the first place.

And from what you’ve seen and heard it only got worse.

You now reside in what used to be the Stohess district. The new members of the Garrison, plus some of the old ones who survived, was the only current authority around. It’s been a year since the scary events of the rumbling. When the news came back of the aftermath of the rumbling you couldn’t help but have a panic attack. Imagining all those innocent people, children and pets, getting crushed alive? They say 80% of people died.

And yet here you were. One of the lucky 20% of people.

Did you think you deserved it? No. Not after possibly leaving your friends worried sick. They probably thought you fell off the wall and died or got crushed under the armored titans feet during the fight.

You felt bad for not announcing your departure especially during a moment like that. But what else could you have done? Everyone was so caught up on being this brave warrior willing to give up their lives…

That wasn’t you and it never was.

You only joined the Scouts because they provided food and shelter for refugees back when wall maria was breached. You, Armin, Eren and Mikasa were too young at first but then finally you guys were 12 and able to sign up. At first you didnt really want to. It seemed scary. Even the other options like the Military police or the garrison seemed a bit much.

In the end no one forced you to. Aside from the promised food and proper shelter you only joined for one person….

Armin.

From the day you moved to Shiganshina to when you met Armin you were picked on for looking “different”. You noticed even at a young age you were different and so you were lonely. People were weary of you. But that was until you met Armin. He was sitting under a tree reading a book and you hesitatingly approached him hoping for a new possible friendship.

He was startled at first when you tapped his shoulder but then calmed down. He quietly observed you but you quickly mistakenly took it as him being like everyone else when he was just curious. As you turned to leave he grabbed you hand and told you that you were beautiful. More than anything he’s read about the outside world.

Little did he know that’s exactly where you were from. However you never told him that.

Armin told you about his secret book and everything he saw in it. You knew about most of the stuff already but to see him so excited brought a smile to your face. Especially when he talked about the ocean. He loved the ocean so much when you told your grandma about him you called him “Ocean boy”. It wasn’t just because he loved the ocean though but also because his eyes were as blue and deep as the ocean itself.

You really liked his eyes. Back at home no one had blue eyes.

He was also smart and kind hearted and not like most boys. You didn’t know why you liked being around him so much but you did.

You were happy someone was treating you like you belonged and even more happy his friends were the same. He introduced you after a few weeks of talking and laughing and being children. It was green eyes boy and a black haired girl. Eren,the boy with green eyes, seemed stand off ish at first but he was still nice to you and Mikasa,the girl, was basically your new bestie. When Armin was busy it was you and Mikasa either playing with each others hair or dolls.

Everything was great until that one horrible day.

The day Maria fell.

It was so so scary. Your Grandma brought you inside the walls to be save. There were some eldians back where you lived sneaking in somehow and brought titans with them. You assumed they swam?

Your parents went missing as the town went into a panic at seeing a real titan so your Grandma moved you into Shiganshina to escape.

But she didn’t survive that day.

You lost her and couldn’t find her in the crowds of screaming people but deep down you knew she was gone. You and Mikasa cried over your losses on the boat while Armin comforted you both and Eren declared to kill all the titans.

Yes, Eren was a fighter. And Armin was a dreamer. And Mikasa was a lover and a strong soul. But who were you? What was your purpose other than following then around?

You never wanted to fight those stupid scary things. You never cared about the theories and the secret truth to titans. You just wanted to hide anyway and pray they all just disappeared or leaves you guys alone for once.

Then Eren was a titan too. You felt like life wasn’t real for years.

There was real trauma you developed from this all. When you quit the scouts you wanted to be sure no one found you so you ran to Wall sina and lived in the underground under the Stohess district working at all bar.

You made just enough working there and occasionally stealing and reselling some things do you don’t have to turn to prostitution. You lived in a shitty tiny home with 4 other random people so you guys could split rent and go about your days. Sometimes you snuck out to get fresh air and sunlight.

Days turned into months and months into years. You were now a young woman wondering what was happening on the outside. You got most of your news from word of mouth but also an occidental rare newspaper. That’s how you got updates on the scouts and marley and the rumbling…

You learned after everything was over that Eren and his brother started the whole thing and Armin was the one to finally end Eren. Things slowly went back to as normal as it could be.

Everyone had to move about ground to try and rebuild life. For now rent and food was free so you were trying to enjoy that but you couldn’t shake the depression from knowing 80% of the world was now flat and dead. Why were you here? You’re a coward, a loser.

Armin saved the world from extinction and always had these big crazy dreams and was highly intelligent. What would he think of you now?

As the town attempted to rebuild for another day and clean up a Garrison member announces that a member of the Scouts is coming by the speak to a couple residents and that everyone needs to get inside immediately and be quiet. Simple protocol for when one of the special group people like that stop by.

You go into your new tiny home where you live alone. The town was quiet as everyone was indoors. You just sit drinking tea in your kitchen waiting for the day to pass but then you hear. .. a knock?

But you were being quiet! You leave the kitchen preparing to deal with a Garison member. You collect yourself as you open the door…

When the door is opened you did not expect to see what you saw in front of you…

“…..Armin?”

Oddly enough, you feel more fear than surprise.

In front of you was a boy who slightly towered you. No, a man who slightly towards you. A blonde, blue eyed, softer but stern looking man. He wore a white button down and brown pants. Clothes only higher ups could afford now.

He stared.

And stared.

Like he’s holding his breath, like he’s re living something crazy and couldn’t believe his eyes. And then finally,

“Y/n.”

You wondered why he was here. How he was here. This..was the Scout coming to town?

“How..what..?” Is all you can say. You then notice your appearance isn’t too clean.

You wear a plain green dress that’s probably a couple decades old and your hair hasn’t been brushed properly in weeks.

“………May..i come in?” The man softly asked snapping you out of your embarrassment. Of course you move out the way as he slowly steps inside.

“Armin….” You begin to say. But then realize, what CAN you say? Why you left? Did you miss him?

He looks around like he’s studying the place.

The house was obviously abandoned during the height of everything. You assumed it belonged to an older couple just by how it was decorated. Over the past year you add bits of your own touch but it still looked like a grandparents home.

You watched as your childhood crush friend roamed your dining room and living room and made his was into your kitchen. You started to wonder why he was really here.

He stops in front of your unfinished tea cup.

“This is the same tea captain Levi drinks..” He says softly.

“Oh, yeah well it’s all they have now.”

He stares into the cup a bit longer. Almost like he was deeply thinking of something.

“Do you want to sit somewhere?” You asked but he doesn’t move except his eyes into yours.

They’re still small pools of the ocean or the endless sky. The same ocean and skies you found yourself lost in often as children.

Armin sighed and looked away.

“It’s been years. Years since you…i don’t even know anymore? Everyone thought you….”

“Died?” You finished. “I’m sorry. I can explain everything if that’s why you’re here…”

He doesn’t say anything so you take that as a yes.

“I just……couldn’t do it anymore. I was never a Scout or a solider or any of that. I just didn’t want you guys to leave me. I had no one left, not even my grandmother. Everything was getting to me and everyday was a nightmare so I had to leave.”

You said all that as Armin leaned against the counter on the opposite side and crossed his arms looking at ground and listened.

“What else was i going to do? I didn’t have a dream like you or the drive like Eren… I just wasn’t cut out for it. But i’ve been here the whole time, Min. Living among the last bit of survivors.”

“We missed you. Mikasa was a mess.” Armin says coldly.

You felt horrible. Tears well up in your eyes as you imagine Mikasa depressed over your disappearance.

“Armin-”

“And Eren was only just then getting worse. We had a search party for you after we got Eren back. But you were no where to found. We even had a makeshift funeral…Do you think no one else was scared?!”

Armin is looking at you now staring you down making you feel small.

“I was the weakest on the team. Intelligence can only take you so fucking far, y/n! Do you know i died? I got burnt alive and Levi chose me over Erwin to be revived! Why?? Everyday i have to live with that. Everyone was going through a hell of their own so what makes yours so special?!”

He was looking into your eyes now and turning an angry shade of red.

You shivered.

You had nothing to say. You felt like a failure already for years and this only confirms it.

“What do you have to say, y/n? Why did you leave us, why did you leave…me?”

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t anymore.”

“Why didnt you tell us how you felt? Why did you just leave?”

“I thought you guys would call me a coward.”

He slowly walks towards you and puts his hands on your shoulders. It’s been so long since anyone has touched you let alone your old friend.

“I don’t think you’re a coward.”

“But you said-“

“I think you were like anyone else and was scared. And we’ve all done things to be ashamed of and that, was probably the least worse thing out of all of us. You just left. Eren caused the rumbling. Killed innocents. We all have. I have.”

You look into his eyes with horror as you hear him say he’s killed people. When this whole thing started he was the sweetest boy who couldn’t even hurt a fly. Eren you can imagine maybe but Armin?

“I’ve killed so many people. And i have to live with that also the rest of my life. Everyone does. All you did was leave.”

“My god…” You were in shock. What really went down all those years of you being gone?

“I missed you dearly. It ate me up alive when we thought you were gone. I had so much i wanted to tell you.”

“Like what?”

He looked away. Then he looks back at you and hold your face with both hands, hands now nearly the size of your face.

“I love you.”

Your entire heart dropped to your stomach. Maybe even your fucking ass. Did the boy you had a crush on since you were 9 really just say he loved you? Did he “love” you or did he love you? Your eyes just widened but you said nothing.

“You were so kind to me. By my side even when Mikasa and Eren wasn’t. I love your heart. Your mind. You. I loved you and i wanted to tell you but there was never a good time it seemed. And then you…. disappeared.”

“Armin-“

“Shhh.” He interrupted. “And when i heard you were one of the remaining residents here i just had to come. No way she’s still alive right? No way this is the one and only y/n i was head over heels for right?”

You lift your hands to gently hold Armjns wrists as you looked into his tired eyes. God you missed his eyes.

After a small moment he slowly leans in and kisses you. His lips were dry but passionate. Like you were gone his last kiss ever. You sighed into the kiss as you wrapped your arms around his neck and he lowered his hands to your sides.

The kiss was half a minute long but felt like eternity for you. When he pulled away he hugged you tightly. You still didn’t know what was happening but you were happy. Somehow happy. Even after all this.

“I’m so glad you’re alive. You’re all i have left next to Mikasa.” Armin says into your shoulder.

“I guess the ocean isn’t on that list anymore?”

“No.”

You knew a bit of history from when you went to primary school. You knew Eldia was an island isolated from everyone else and they were supposedly “devils” but you suspected otherwise. You knew marley and eldia had issues and when you moved to eldia and heard this boy speak about the “outside world” and the ocean you knew it was only a matter of time before he learned the truth. Before they all did, at least the naive innocent ones like him.

He pulled away.

“I want you to tell me everything. The truth. I want to know where you are from, what you’ve been doing here…”

You led Armin to a chair by your small dining table and motioned for him to sit. Once sat you started.

“As you probably know know the titans specifically go after you guys. Eldians. So some Eldians were somehow sneaking to where i lived, across the ocean, and somehow titans followed. Confusing but people in my town started to panic. I lost my parents and my grandma was all i had left. She had this crazy idea to move inside the wall where we’d truly be safe. So after a couple week long boat ride and lots of carriage rides we ended up in Shiganshina.” You sighed.

“I lived in the outside world.”

Armin just stared.

“I didn’t say anything because i already stood out so much. At least here i did. Back where i lived everyone looked like me. Dark. And hearing you so interested in the world outside the walls i didn’t want to disappoint you. There isn’t much other than enemies for you guys.”

“Well…”

“Are you upset?”

“I don’t know how to feel honestly. Just a question, what did you guys have to be afraid of if the titans just wanted to eat us?”

“I don’t know that one honestly. I never saw one eat anyone until we got over here. But living so close to those things was scary enough…I’ve always hated titans.”

“You and me both.”

“But i hear the curse is over now?”

“Well, yes. Ymir’s curse has been lifted so…the titans are finally gone. But at what cost?”

Armin looks worn and empty. Completely different from what you’ve seen in the past.

“And i also heard you’re..a commander? What’s that about?”

“Hange sacrificed her self. I was handed down the responsibility of being her replacement.”

“Oh no…I loved her…” You were truly heartbroken at this. Oddly enough she loved titans. Found them fascinating.

“We all did..” Armin sighed. “I’ve been trying to make peace with everyone around us. Especially since we no longer pose a threat.”

“Well, i’m proud of you. You’ve always tried to search for the best answer to things around you.”

“Yes, and what about you? What have you been doing the whole time?”

You looked away, thinking back on the past few years.

“Well, i’ve been living in the underground working at a bar. I shared a place with a couple of people to pay the rent and after all this rumbling drama they moved us up here to rebuild and i’ve been here. Uneventful really.”

“The underground huh…”

“Yeah, nothing special. Wasn’t too fun but i’d rather that than facing titans and the threat of being eaten everyday.”

“I see..” Armin crossed his arms. “So now that we’re all caught up, where do go from here?”

You walked to the window by the front door and looked out at the deserted street in front of you. You thought a moment about your answer.

There’s something you always wanted to do with him…

“You wanna…go see the ocean with me?”

You looked back at him who stayed seated at the table. He looked ahead with his arms resting on the table now and with a tear running down the side of his face.

He nodded.

On the way there Armin joked about how going to see the ocean is what seemed to have caused this mess to begin with.

Once there, you two took your shoes and socks off and roll up your pants and go to sit by the shore. Armin sits and you followed. It’s evening now. The sun was setting. It was truly beautiful.

All you two could do we stare into the distance in silence. Sharing this bittersweet moment. Neither of you knew what the future held or if a future was even possible but now you guys had each other and that’s all that mattered.

Now it was you and him.

You and your ocean boy.

- Sooo i wrote this over the past 2 days… i might make a second part but tbh school is starting up again soon so i don’t know where we go from here. If this does well i might even make it a series.

[meropegaaunt]

EVENTUALLY

Billy Dunne x reader

Implied eventual Graham Dunne x reader

Can be read as a stand-alone or as a sequel to West Coast

Summary: You grow apart from your childhood best friend, Billy.

Warnings: Angst, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, a non-detailed mention of childbirth, implied cheating, and attempted kissing

Word Count: 4,940 words

Author’s Note: If anyone would be interested in a third part of this fic, please let me know in the comments!

© Meropegaaunt 2023

BILLY DUNNE (lead singer, The Six): I don’t remember exactly when it happened, but at one point or another, things between Y/N and I changed. They started to pull away, to keep me at arm’s length, and that . . . that hurt more than I can put into words. For twelve years, we had been inseparable, then boom. Just like that, we were separated.

Don’t get me wrong. I was happy with Camila, happier than I had been in ages, but can one truly find joy without their best friend? No, I don’t think they can.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

Billy and Camila getting together served as a wake-up call. At some point in 1969, you had unknowingly developed feelings for him, had let him into your heart, but now that he was off the market, you felt the need to take a step back, to figure out who you were without your best friend. So you stopped going over to the Dunne household every day, instead opting to spend time with your father or your other friends. As expected, Billy took note of your absence, but when he pushed you for an explanation, you assured him all was well. The year before, he would have immediately noticed that your voice had cracked when offering assurance, revealing your words to be false. Now, though, he was distracted, his mind so wrapped up in other things that he did not notice. (Or so you thought . . .)

Despite the wide berth you were giving Billy, you still saw him at band practice. As per usual, the two of you played side by side, giving your all to the music, and while your musical talents continued to grow, something was off. A tension could be heard, one that neither of you were willing to acknowledge even after Chuck left . . .

His departure was completely unexpected, blindsiding not only you but the rest of the band, because he had been quiet in his discontent, not telling anyone he was going to leave until there was no other choice. He had to, because you had all rode up his stone-paved driveway in Warren’s rickety, beat-up van, expecting to practice, only to realize that the door to Chuck’s garage, your designated practice space, was closed.

“Ah, there he is,” Eddie breathed, kicking open the back door of the van, a half-smoked cigarette hanging from his lips. Out of the back spilled you, him, and Graham, your features all a mask of confusion.

“Hey, Chuck,” you greeted, offering him a wide, sunny smile. The kind that could calm even the most nerve-addled man, because he looked to be in need of assurance. “We‘ve been calling all morning. What’s up?”

There was no time for him to answer, though, before Warren and Billy emerged from the front of the van, the former suspiciously eyeing the closed garage door. “Why’s the garage door closed?”

A beat of tense silence trickled by, depriving the space around you of oxygen, then, “Look, I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just gonna say it. I got into college.”

Warren glanced at you, unable to suppress the soft, surprised chuckle that escaped his mouth. “Huh, all right.”

Your own mouth curved downward in response, showing that you had mixed emotions about the whole ordeal. On one hand, this was good news. Chuck had always been smart, the type that could go far with his brain so long as he applied himself. You could, too, but scholarly pursuits had never appealed to you, not the way music had. Four more years in a classroom personally sounded like torture to you, but if that was what Chuck wanted, then so be it. On the other hand, though, him going to college meant the band would be down both a bassist and a practice space.

“Bro, we didn’t even know you applied,” Graham pointed out, sparing a glance at the rest of the band. No one had a clue about Chuck applying to college until this very moment, because he had stayed silent, closed-lipped.

“Was this, like, before or after I spent all my money on this van?” Warren asked, his surprise bordering the line of disbelief.

“I know. I’m sorry, it’s just . . . they have a really good dental program.”

That was shocking, so much so that it was now your turn for disbelief. “You’re gonna be a dentist?”

“I don’t know. I guess so.”

“Chuck, come on,” Billy huffed, stepping closer to him in an effort to get through to him, to sway his decision. “Please don’t do this. All right? Not now. Not when things are just starting to happen.”

Chuck had thought long and hard about his decision, which was why he stayed firm, hard as stone. “What do you mean, ‘just starting to happen’?”

“Dude, we open for the Winters on Thursday, and that’s just the beginning.”

“This is a real opportunity.”

“So is this.”

“Billy,” Chuck released a deep, exasperated sigh, one that showed just how much he had thought this over. He would not be swayed, even when his closest friends begged him to. “I know this is your dream, man, but just because you want something to happen doesn’t mean it’s going to. Do you really think that there’s a future here?”

“Well, yeah. Chuck, I do.”

“You’re out of your fucking mind.”

With that, Chuck left, leaving a large, bassist-sized hole in the band. It came as a harsh, cutting surprise, but even so, you called after him, “Good luck.”

Your words, though light, did nothing to dispel the tension that had fallen over the group. Eddie seemed to be feeling it most of all, as shown by how he pulled the cigarette from his mouth, turning it over and over in his hands. “We gotta cancel the gig.”

“No, man,” Billy shook his head, refusing to be put out by this one setback. He would not be stymied, not when the band had just gotten started on its rise to greatness. “We’re not canceling.”

“Yeah? What’re we gonna do? We don’t have a bassist, Billy—“

“We’re not canceling,” he repeated, remaining firm, unyielding. Emerald eyes slowly strayed to Eddie, clearing with comprehension, then, “Eddie, you switch over to bass.”

“No.”

You could not help but roll your eyes at the suggestion, because even though Eddie was a team player, there was no way he would switch over without kicking up a storm. He would no doubt complain, spending precious time complaining rather than practicing. That was why you straightened your spine, volunteering, “I’ll do it.”

“Thanks, Y/N. We owe you one.” A pleased grin slid onto Billy’s face, replacing the discontent that had been there moments before. He placed a hand on your shoulder, pressing his gratefulness into your skin in a manner that could have been taken as friendly . . . if only his hand had not lingered a moment longer than it should have.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

GRAHAM DUNNE (lead guitar, the Six): (Smiles) Y/N ended up becoming a better bassist than Chuck, anyway.

─── ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ───

ROD REYES (tour manager): Oh, yeah. I remember the night the Dunne Brothers opened for the Winters, specifically Billy Dunne and Y/N L/N. One look, and I could tell they were rock stars. He was cocksure, knew who to play in the crowd. They had this air about them, the kind that entranced the crowd, really brought out their emotions.

There’s just a quality that some people have. If you took nine guys, plus Mick Jagger, and you put them in a lineup, someone who had never heard of the Rolling Stones before could still point to Jagger and say, “That’s the rock star.” Billy and Y/N had that. And the bad had good sound.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

“Obviously, you got to write your own material,” the famed manager, Rod Reyes, declared, the distinct smells of smoke and sex emanating from him, filling the air. The smell was so strong and potent that it filled your nostrils from your spot beside Graham, burning your throat, but you were happy, too optimistic to mind the burn.

“Well, I-I mean, I do. We do,” Billy replied, his emerald eyes flitting briefly from Rod’s to yours, because the two of you had written the band’s songs together. A multitude of hours had trickled by in which you two had tried to piece together worthwhile ballads, throwing paint at a theoretical wall and seeing what stuck. The first drafts of the songs had been horrid, lacking any harmony or smoothness, but with much shaping, they had been turned into songs that could go a long way. Key word: could. “Most of it’s not good enough yet.”

“What are you writing about?”

“I have this one song called ‘Nevermore’ about the Catonsville Nine.”

“No. Oh! Are you Bob Dylan? Are you Buffy Sainte-Marie? Enough with the political shit. It’s a new decade. No one needs reminding that the world is a mess. People want to feel good again. They want to feel hope. You can write a love song, can’t you?” Rod demanded, a sour look crossing his face at the thought of ‘Nevermore.’ The song had not been bad, sounding pleasant to the ear, but he did not need to hear it to know that it would not go over well with the masses. He turned to Graham, then, “You need to cool it with the solos, brother. Nobody cares about your technical guitar skills. They want to sing. They want to dance. Look, the last thing I’ll say, and this is key, you need to get the fuck out of Pittsburgh. You want to be signed to a label, you want to work with Jimmy Miller, Tom Dowd, Teddy Price—“

The mention of Teddy Price caused a great, perceptible shift in the air. You immediately sat upright, a curious glint working its way into your eyes. “Wait, you know Teddy Price?”

“Yeah, I know everybody, and they’re all in L.A. now. Not London, not New York. California, my friends. That is the place you got to be.”

His words resonated deeply with you three, specifically the brothers, which was why the prospect of going to L.A. was promptly proposed to the rest of the band. As expected, they agreed, and the six of you and Camila set off, riding off in Warren’s van, Lady Peaches, toward your futures.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

Y/N L/N (singer, The Six): I knew the chances of making it big were slim, but I also knew that if I didn’t at least try, I would never forgive myself. The boys wouldn’t either. So I packed up my things and bid Dad farewell. He was sad to see me go, but just as happy that I was going after my dreams.

He didn’t tell me he was sick . . . Probably because he knew I’d have stayed behind to take care of him.

─── ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ───

The City of Angels welcomed you and the Dunne Brothers with open arms, taking you in as one of its own. You got into contact with Rod, hoping that he would set you up with the big guys, specifically Teddy Price, but all he had to offer was a gig at a dank, seedy bar named Filthy McNastys. Its attendants were sketchy, having all sorts of sins to their name, but given that the bar was on the Strip, the band gladly pushed through, giving their all to each and every performance.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

Y/N: The months we spent at McNastys were slow. At first, barely anyone came to see us, but the more shows we played, the more attention we got. People started coming in just to see us, which was fantastic, but there was a problem: we were barely getting paid.

I ended up getting a job as a waiter at this cute little coffee house to help make ends meet, but no matter what we did, it just didn’t seem like it’d be enough.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

“What happened with that producer you went up to?” Eddie asked as you slid into the booth aside him, donning your work uniform. Working at a coffee house was not exactly what you had envisioned yourself doing when you had set off for L.A., but hey, sacrifices had to be made if the group was to stay. “The one with the parrot?”

“Parrot guy passed on us,” Camila answered, having fashioned herself the band’s manager. You thought she was doing a great job, given that she had never done such a thing before. Others did not think as such, though, as shown by Eddie’s next comment.

“Wow. That is bleak.”

“Might want to save half that toast for tomorrow, Eddie,” she retorted, eyeing his toast with an expression of deadly seriousness. Atop the table lay a mound of cash, which was all of the money that the band had amassed since the start of the month. “This is barely enough to cover the rent.”

“Fuck,” Eddie cursed, breathing out a deep sigh. Half his toast was promptly placed in his shirt pocket, being tucked away to be eaten tomorrow.

“Fuck,” you echoed, resting your head atop his shoulder, the move a sign of just how deeply tiredness had settled upon your bones, weighing you down. “I’ll be working another double this weekend, I s’pose.”

Eddie opened his arms in response, letting you lean more closely against him. You did so happily, soaking in his warmth. The action, though gentle, was purely friendly, yet still, unbeknownst to you, two sets of eyes looked upon said action disapprovingly. Both Billy and Graham, despite not wanting to admit it, were jealous, because there you were, snuggling up against another man.

Their jealousy went unnoticed, but your exhaustion did not, as shown by the concern that made its way across Warren’s face. “Fuck it. Maybe old Chuckie was right, huh? Maybe this was all just a big mistake and we should have just stayed at home with our parents, saved money on rent, and become dentists.”

“I mean, I’ve sent out hundreds of photographs. Not a single fucking paper has responded. Should I just quit? No one said it was gonna be easy.”

Camila’s disheartened words drew your attention, causing your head to snap up toward hers. “No, don’t quit. All it takes is one person to make a difference,” you replied, flashing her a weak but warm smile, because even though you had distanced yourself from Billy, you had welcomed her into the group as kindly as you had the new keyboardist, Karen Sirko.

“Also, while we’re talking about stuff, how come I’m the only one without a bed in the house?” Warren deadpanned, heavily yearning for a good night’s sleep in a proper bed. He had been squatting on the couch, after all, and it could be felt in the aches of his back. No twenty year old should feel like they had the back of an old, decrepit man . . .

“Well, you could’ve taken Karen’s room,” Billy pointed out, finally breaking out of his jealous haze.

“No, I couldn’t have. That room is haunted.”

“It’s not haunted.”

“Everybody knows it’s haunted.”

“Oh, come on, Rojas. You don’t want to get all up close and personal with a ghost?” you teased, reaching across Eddie to jostle his arm. Of course, Warren jostled you back, the two of you nearly displacing Eddie’s toast, which he did not like. Not at all.

“Hey, stop! You almost made me drop my pocket toast—“

Sensing that the three of you were on the brink of causing chaos, Karen broke her silence, asking a question that had been bothering her for a long time, “Why are we still called The Dunne Brothers? I mean, four of us aren’t Dunnes, and the last time I checked, I’m nobody’s brother.”

“So you want to change our name?” Billy asked, not even wanting to consider the idea. Truth be told, you had been opposed to the name at the nascence of the band, but given that two of the three original members were Dunnes, your opinion had been the minority.

“I personally think that’s a great idea,” Eddie admitted, earning a sharp, accusatory look from Billy. Said look was sharp enough to cut skin, but he did not wilt, instead adding, “I’m just saying what everybody’s thinking.”

“Well, the name is the name, so . . . That’s how people know us.”

“Yeah, but it’s not exactly doing much for us, though.”

“How about Immaculate Reception?” Warren interjected, causing your nose to crinkle disapprovingly.

“God, no. That’s horrid.”

“We’re not changing the name,” Billy insisted, looking to his brother for help. Graham offered none, though, for he was open to changing the name.

“I mean, listen, if we’re throwing stuff out there, Hercules is still on the table.”

“No! No way!”

“Deliverance, Espionage, Poison.”

“How about Aurora—“

“The six of us will never agree on a name,” Billy cut you off, only liking a single one of the names that had been thrown out. “All right? So let’s just . . .”

His words caused a lightbulb to go off in Karen’s head, as shown by how brightly she grinned, realization donning on her features. “What about The Six?”

“I like The Six.”

“Sure as hell better than Hercules.”

“Y/N?” Graham looked at you, an expectant, questioning look flitting across his face. He had been looking at you more and more as of late with that look, one you could not quite make sense of. “What do you think?”

You opened your mouth to answer, to offer your view of the name, only for the words to die on your tongue when your boss, Dave, yelled out, “Y/N, break’s over. Back on the floor!”

ੈ✩‧₊˚

Y/N: I put in crazy hours at the coffee house, working to the point of exhaustion, but one of my coworkers there, this bright, fiery girl named Daisy Jones, turned what was one of the darkest times of my life into one of the brightest. One day, after working a double together, she pulled me along to watch her and her friend, Simone, perform at the Troubadour.

I thought that was all it was, that I was just going to support them, but then, after Daisy performed, she got this crazy glint in her eye. The kind where you know she’s up to something. She set down her guitar and said, “Now, I’d like to bring a friend of mine up on stage. Come on up and wow us, Y/N L/N.”

I was shocked, to say the least, but Daisy Jones isn’t the type of person you deny, especially in a room with that many people. So I got up on that stage, took Daisy’s guitar, and sang a piece I had been writing on my own called “Equilibrium.” It was about trying to find a balance between who I was with Billy versus without him.

Looking back, it was sad just how deeply intertwined I was with him, even when there was more space between us than ever. At the time, though, I didn’t realize the song was about him.

Hell, I didn’t even realize Teddy Price was in the audience that night. In my defense, though, my obliviousness might’ve been from all the mescaline I was taking at the time . . .

ੈ✩‧₊˚

After your performance, you returned the guitar to Daisy and hopped off the stage, your cheeks bathed in perspiration from exertion. As soon as your feet made contact with the earth, you were off, making a beeline for the star of the night, Simone.

A golden grin immediately slid onto your mouth, showing how happy you were for her in that moment. “Simone, you did great out there.”

“Hey,” she returned the smile, inclining her head to the man she had been chatting with before you had approached. “Y/N L/N, Teddy Price. You two should talk.”

Oh, my God, you thought when his name trickled your ears. It was all you could think, because there was one of the legends of the music industry, handing you his card. Feeling as though you were floating outside of your body, you reached out to take the card into your hands, hoping that he did not notice the slight tremble of your fingers.

“You interested, kid? We could work on some music together.”

“Oh, um, I appreciate it, but I’m not a solo act,” you informed, because at the time, you had only ever performed by yourself on a handful of occasions. They had been fine, perhaps even good, but not as great as when you performed with the band. “I’m in a band, The Six. Any chance you’d be interested in giving us a chance? Just let us play one song for you, that’s all I ask.”

He looked upon you, studying you keenly. A beat passed, then he nodded, agreeing to give The Six a chance. “Okay, kid. I’ll give you a chance. Are you ready?”

“Undoubtedly, yes.”

ੈ✩‧₊˚

BILLY: People think we played one song for Teddy Price and he gave us a record deal. Not true. After that first meeting, he put us through the wringer for months, but it was worth it.

Everything had gone so slowly, and then suddenly it was all happening so fast. We recorded our album in six days, had two weeks off, then it was time to hit the road.

─── ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ───

BILLY: The night before we were set to leave, Camila told me she was seven weeks pregnant, and I . . . I decided we needed to get married right away. We had been planning to have a wedding sometime after the tour but I decided we needed to do it right then. I don’t know why that mattered to me, but the moment I knew she was pregnant I felt like we had to make sure we were a proper family.

CAMILA DUNNE (wife of Billy Dunne): Karen knew an ordained minister. She got his number from a friend of hers and we called him late that night. He came right over.

EDDIE ROUNDTREE (rhythm guitarist, The Six): It was four in the morning.

CAMILA: Karen decorated the porch out back, and Y/N picked some roses from the bushes surrounding the house. They made me this beautiful flower crown and did my hair; it made me feel like a proper bride.

─── ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ───

INTERVIEWER: What do you remember about the tour?

Y/N: More than I’d like to.

GRAHAM: . . .

WARREN ROJAS (drummer, The Six): . . .

KAREN SIRKO (keyboardist, The Six): . . .

BILLY: I, uh . . . It was a long time ago, I don’t remember much.

CAMILA: I remember everything.

GRAHAM: Pretty quickly, we found a rhythm: get to town, sound check, play, party, get on the bus. And the better we started playing, the more we partied. Hotels, girls, drugs. Over and over. Hotels, drugs, girls. For all of us, but especially Billy.

WARREN: Let me sum it up for you: I was getting laid, Graham was getting high, Eddie was getting drunk, Karen and Y/N were getting fed up, and Billy was all four, at once.

Y/N: Billy changed on that first tour. Cracked under the pressure, I think. He turned into a person I didn’t recognize and didn’t like.

And even though I didn’t like him, I still loved him.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

After the wedding, something within Billy had changed, had shifted. He became hard, closed off. You and Graham, two of the people closest to him, were kept at arm’s length, having no choice but to helplessly watch on as he ruined all that was good in his life. He got drunk, high, and angry, and when his anger mounted to an exceedingly high level, he expelled it by sleeping with a nameless woman, one he could use, then discard when he felt better.

Him spiraling hurt you more than you cared to admit, but you were not his family. Not his spouse nor his blood, so it was not your place to set him straight . . . or you thought as such until he tried to rope you into his debauchery.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

Y/N: After the Ottawa show, I went back to my hotel room and started getting ready to go out for the night. I remember, I was just about to get started on my hair when there came a knock at the door. I opened it, expecting to see Graham, but it was Billy. He had been drinking tequila. I could smell it on his breath, and the look in his eye . . . I had never seen him that down, and it made me sad.

I didn’t know what to say, but I let him in. He went and sat down on the bed, and knowing I’d need a drink to get through whatever was to come, I poured myself a glass of whiskey. It was awful, but did its job. I downed the whole thing, then poured two more. One for me, and one for Billy.

BILLY: I honestly don’t know what got into me that night. I just needed to see Y/N, to hold them.

Y/N: He asked me to hold him, so I did. We sat there for a while, not talking, moving, or doing anything. Just holding each other . . . until he tried to kiss me. That pissed me off, because he knew how I felt about him. He had known when he married Camila, yet still, he had married her. Had chosen her.

I jumped up and yelled, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Billy? I mean, honestly, is this the kind of person you want to be?”

And he said, “The booze, the drugs, the girls . . . I’ve been doing them all to try to get you out of my system—“

I slapped him. Hard.

BILLY: Y/N slapped me, and I just kind of sat there, reeling. They looked like they wanted to apologize, but before they could, Graham walked in. You could just tell by the look on his face that he had overheard the whole thing.

GRAHAM: I only heard a tiny bit, but it wasn’t hard to piece together what was happening. It also wasn’t hard to piece together that Y/N wasn’t willing to entertain Billy’s advances, so I pushed him out of the room and into the parking lot. Outside, he paced back and forth and muttered to himself, looking a little crazy. He said, “I fucked it all up. I fucked it all up.”

Deep down, I’d known it was coming, because he loved Y/N the same way I did. So all I could say was, “Just don’t do it again, man. Just don’t do it again.”

ROD: Billy started going at it double time after Ottawa. The coke and girls and booze and all that.

GRAHAM: Camila decided to surprise Billy a few weeks after that. She drove up, five months pregnant, and found him in a . . . compromising position.

EDDIE: She walked in on him getting, well . . . I don’t know how else to say it . . . oral sex, I guess I should say. From a groupie.

Y/N: Camila blew up on Billy. Like, slapped right across the face. Hit him with her bag, too, if memory serves. She asked me to watch him, to make sure he didn’t sink deeper into himself.

And she said, “When he wakes up, give him this letter.” The letter had an ultimatum; he had to get clean before the baby came.

KAREN: He didn’t stop messing around with all of it.

EDDIE: We were all sort of counting down the days. You know, sixty days until Billy has to get clean. Then it was forty days. Then, when it got down to ten days, he was forgetting the words onstage, and I thought he was never gonna clean up.

Y/N: On November 28th, we were in Hartford for a show when one of the stage managers called me offstage. Said there was a call for me. I picked it up, and it was Teddy. “You gotta get Billy home,” he said, because Camila had gone into labor.

BILLY: Y/N took me by the arm and held onto me until we got onto the plane. Then, we landed and they dragged me into this beat-up rental car and drove me to the hospital.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

The rickety old rental car sped into the hospital parking lot, going way faster than the legal speed in an effort to get Billy to his girls as fast as possible. When the car rolled to a stop, though, he did not immediately jump to get out. Confusion overtook your features, prompting you to say, “Well? Go see your girls.”

“I can’t,” he whispered, his voice sad, broken down. Never before had you seen him so shattered.

“You can.”

“I can’t.”

“Billy.”

“Y/N. I can’t have her meet me like this.”

An emotion akin to the anger you had felt back in Ottawa arose beneath your skin, causing you to tighten your hold on the steering wheel, your knuckles flashing white with force. “Okay, then,” you said, eerily calm. “I’m going to be there for Camila and to meet that baby girl, with or without you, Billy. But if I go by myself, you’re going to get help when I come back out. Real help.”

ੈ✩‧₊˚

Y/N: That night, sitting by Camila’s bedside was when I let go of the possibility of Billy. He had a wife and a baby, and if he was going to mess that up, I wasn’t going to play a part in it.

[echidnapower]

Now that Ash's series is over, how do you feel about the decision to write Misty out of the main cast at the end of Johto in 2002? As we know besides brief cameos and the last few eps of MPM, she really did stay off the show for 20 years, 6 series, and somewhere over 850+ or something episodes. Once Hoenn started and May was introduced, the writers likely decided sometime in 2003 they weren't going to bring misty back to the cast (her cameos with Togetic aired this year), and then that was basically it.

I always assumed the writers would have brought Misty back like how the Brock/Tracey switch was reversed after Orange, but I guess May became too popular it convinced the writers they had no reason to bring Misty back to the cast. So they slowly started phasing her out over AG as her cameos/specials started to dwindle, then by the time we got into 2005/2006 she got her final episode for over a decade. Then by the time DP started and they decided to bring Dawn in, that was basically it. They brought in a second new female companion for a second full gen, and Misty didn't get to appear in DP at all.

People tend to forget that long before the modern pokemon era (XY, SM, Journey's, etc), the writers seem to already decide back in the early 2000's from 2002-2010 during the Hoenn/DP era that they weren't going to bring Misty back full time. And as we know, they didn't. It's just kind of ironic to me when you stop to realize how long ago that was, 2002 was the beginning of the millenium, it over 22 years ago now, and Misty left at Gen 2 of the franchise whereas Ash's series went through Gen 8. She basically was only there for like 20% of Ash's series, and missed 80% of the anime.

Do you believe the writers were in the right to remove her? Since you write fanfics with Misty staying, did her departure shock you or did you think the anime couldn't go on without her? In the end I guess it doesn't matter now, but it says a lot so many original fans decided to continue to watch without her year after year.

Well as someone who considers Misty "best girl" I would never condone the decision to have Misty leave the group. What I will say though is that it was clear to me that the writers for the anime back in those early days had no idea what to do with Misty since her "goal" as it were was to become a water-Pokemon Master, but they never took any steps to have Misty actually try to BECOME that. She was playing a support role for Ash and that I feel like was an extreme disservice to her character.

What we did get though was an evolution of her personality over time, as she became less violent with her actions and started seeing Ash more as an equal rather than someone who needed her coaching to become a good trainer, and in that change, the ship started to solidify for me. There were plenty of "shippy moments" during Indigo, but the more Ash grew as a trainer the more it felt like there was room for their relationship to grow.

By the end of her tenure, it was clear to everyone (or me at least) that the very thought of leaving Ash to go take over the gym because of her irresponsible sisters was a source of emotional pain for her. In her mind, Ash wasn't just some brat that stole her bike, he had become her very best friend and (depending on how you choose to interpret it) she'd fallen in love with his passion and devotion to Pokémon, because that's what made him stand out from all the other trainers out there. The lengths he was willing to go to in order to make sure that his Pokémon became the best they could possibly be and the love that he showed them, it even trickled over to his human friends as well, which of course included her.

And even with all the other girls that came along after Misty's departure, you could tell that there was a special bond between her and Ash that was never replicated with anyone else. In my mind, Serena kissing Ash before she left isn't the most impactful scene in the anime, it's the fact that Ash shed tears over Misty leaving because he knew how much he was going to miss her. To my knowledge, aside from her and Brock, Ash didn't cry over anyone else's departure. It was always "until we meet again" and then off he went on his new journey. Even Serena didn't get a tear from Ash over saying goodbye. That honor falls only to Misty (and Brock).

All this being a long-winded explanation for what makes their relationship so special, I'll address the other part of the question. Do I think the writers were right to remove her? Of course not. I think they should have given Misty something to do rather than just stand there with Togepi and cheer Ash on, and in an anime where character growth coincided with aging (yes, aging as in getting older and more mature, something Pokémon is notoriously allergic to), eventually Misty would've had to be given something to do. Their solution I suppose was to give Misty a new goal, one that was separate from her travels with Ash. I don't like it, but I get it.

May and Dawn were the main characters for the next two generations of games and they were made into coordinators so that they wouldn't overlap with Ash's goals. Contests weren't available in B/W I don't think so having Ash travel with Hilda would've been redundant, so they gave Iris to Ash since she was the most...rambunctious character in those games, and Cilan took on the Brock role now that he was finally off pursuing his new path. Back to the old dynamic but it wasn't the same. Iris wasn't Misty, and neither was any of the other girls he went with, Serena included. That BOND just wasn't there. The closest one who got there IMO was Dawn, and ironically aside from Misty herself, I think Dawn got the most returns to the anime out of all the Pokegirls.

I started writing my story over a decade ago with the mindset of "fixing" the anime, by putting Misty back where she wanted to be all along, but now by aging them up a few years (which is what they should have been in the first place) I opened the door for Ash to actually see Misty as more than a friend, paying off all those little moments they'd previously shared where Misty caught his attention when they were traveling together and he saw her as more than just "Misty," she was also "girl" which bizarrely Ash understood better early on in the show and forgot later on somehow with any other male/female interactions. I made Ash and Misty finally get together, strengthening their bond even more as now the titles boyfriend and girlfriend make it so that Ash AND Misty get something out of the relationship. She hasn't done much in the way of training for herself, I'll admit, but the way I write her, Misty doesn't just stand there and support Ash, she's his go-to for companionship, a partner he can count on when the going gets tough, more than the others. She's put on a pedestal as someone special to him, which she already was but now the role is more defined. And Misty now gets to be a big sister to Dawn as their relationship has grown throughout my story. Dawn looks up to Misty now, seeing her as someone she also can turn to when she's struggling with something. Ash is her mentor with training, but in a world where human interactions are more than just "Let's battle," Dawn needs someone to help her navigate those turbulent waters, and that's big sister Misty.

I rambled for a long time and for that I apologize. The anime could and did go on without Misty, and other characters who took her place have their own roles and their own merits. I won't take that away from them. But Misty is special I believe because there's just that bond that is difficult to define in words between her and Ash. They can push each other to their limits unlike any other characters in the show can, and undoubtedly Ash sees her as his very best human friend aside from Brock. If the anime had allowed him to age and grow, there's no doubt in my mind that they would have gotten together anyway, because a bond like that can't be broken by distance. If anything, it would just inevitably bring them together again.

[thetrickster-blr-blog]

ANARKY (Beware The Batman)

This is my own redraw of Anarky from the "Beware The Batman" cartoon. While I know everyone has their own opinions on the show (or don't know it exists), I will admit that it has always been one of my favorite Batman shows. One of the most polarizing things about the show is its inclusion of obscure Batman villains like Professor Pyg & Magpie and using them as placeholders for villains that the studio wouldn't allow them to use. And though I certainly am one to be critical of vast departures in comic-to-screen adaptations, I am willing to forgive certain decisions if they make sense or at least have good reasoning. Case in point: The show's depiction of Anarky.

I will admit that this is kind of a terrible Anarky. He's not a politically conscious teenage anti-hero/anti-villain who masquerades as an adult to further his political rebellion and has an on/off relationship with the Bat Family. Instead, he's basically the show's answer to The Joker, whom the studio wasn't allowed to use due to studio mandates. And while I normally wouldn't be so forgiving of such a change to a character that I like and respect, I am willing to accept it if what they make is at least good. And while this isn't a good Anarky, IT IS A GREAT VILLAIN. One thing I like so much about this Anarky is that they basically made him the "Anti-Batman". He dresses in a nearly accurate costume to Batman's, save for it having a hood, an "A" as its symbol, and being entirely white. He even has similar gadgets, though made to kill people as opposed to Batman's non-lethal gadgets. He's also a master combatant who can hold his own against Batman (He was basically the proto Nemesis). I also like how they use him as a Joker placeholder while still making him his own character. Instead of being a maniacal mass-murdering cartoon villain dressed in a purple tuxedo, he's a much more reserved and calculated mastermind who often manipulates others into unknowingly doing his bidding; like when he tricked Batman and Lady Shiva into nearly unleashing an epidemic or when he teamed up with Harvey Dent to take down Batman, which led to the latter getting scarred and becoming Two-Face. He's also not clown-themed in any way, instead going for more of a Chess theme with him as the "White King" and Batman as the "Black King". I also really like his portrayal by Wallace Langham. Instead of being a very off-the-wall over-the-top hammy performance, he's soft-spoken and mellow, but with hints of malice behind his voice. He kind of sounds like Neil Patrick Harris if he had Schizophrenia. Anarky barely ever loses his cool and hardly ever raises his voice, which adds to his menace.

That's all I have to say really. What are your opinions of "Beware The Batman" or this version of Anarky?

[stxrvel]

we need to talk (5)

series summary: you woke up from a long coma with no memory of a part of your life only to be told by your teammates that you're married to the man you hated seven years ago. even though that seemed to be the only problem, as time goes on you're realizing there's a lot more history and mystery behind the accident that left you in medical care for months. blackouts, more memory loss, mistrust and a strange man who seems to be connected to everything. every day it gets harder to trust anyone around you, but you won't stop until you can finally uncover the truth behind the accident.

chapter summary: bucky thought he'd had a good day, until some kind of information started to appear from every corner.

pairing: bucky barnes x f!reader

words: +2k

warning: some bad words and confusion

note: hello!! i had this chapter planned for about a month now, and really just had to polish some things so it could be published. i made some time into my night time to finish this writing and editing so i could published it soon, and it's finally done! im also half asleep bc it's past midnight and i have to wake up early tomorrow morning, so i hope you guys like this part! feedback is always appreciated!!💜

masterlist | next | series masterlist

Bucky didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that you had stood in front of him that morning and told him you were going for a walk around town, alone, just like that. As a good husband who went through a catastrophic event that almost made him lose the love of his life, he wanted to object, almost that his instincts begged him on its knees because he didn't want to risk losing sight of you in a place with so many possible dangers. But it was true that Bucky couldn't deny you anything, and even if he had tried it would have remained just that, an attempt. He just made sure to remind you to call him if anything happened.

And Bucky really wanted to stay true to his word not to follow you… Bucky really tried to stay seated in front of the big TV in front of his bed in one of the rooms in the Complex, with nice warm weather, soda and food on the nightstand, with the most comfortable pillows he could have ever touched…

But after all he had been through, he was no longer willing to take any chances.

So he left, within minutes of your departure, on tiptoe as if he were in a silent movie. He was trying not to intrude too much, just to look over his shoulder at you to make sure you were safe. Bucky knew you were capable of taking care of yourself if a dangerous situation had to arise, but he felt unable to just stay in the Complex waiting for you to arrive. It was what he had to do, but it wasn't what he wanted to do. And surely if you found out you would be angry, and Bucky would apologize for it, but he wouldn't regret it. He didn't like to think he would become that kind of person, but after the accident and spending over a year watching over you and making sure your surroundings were safe, it was hard to let go of that sense of security and give way to the uncertainty of the unknown.

He glanced at the time on his watch as you entered a sparsely populated coffee shop. It was already past five o'clock. He twisted his lips. He didn't think he was going to lose track of time. He had agreed with himself that morning not to go past three in the afternoon because Steve had asked him to meet him in the main room of the Complex to talk about something. He wasn't really specific about it, which he definitely had to have done to get his attention, only mentioning that Tony and Natasha would also be present. Looking at his watch, Bucky wondered if he'd really missed something important.

He sniffed around inside the cafeteria to find you sitting almost at the back of the store, with a muffin that appeared to be chocolate and a white milkshake on the table. You silently watched the table as you ate. You seemed to enjoy the little things in life. That brought a smile to his face.

It was then that he saw you pull your cell phone out of the brown trench coat you were wearing that day, one that Bucky had once given you.

You held your cell phone to your ear and Bucky was gnawing with curiosity as to who you were calling at that moment. Had you agreed to meet someone or…?

His thoughts came to a screeching halt when he felt his cell phone vibrate inside his pocket. Why were you calling him? He frowned when he saw your name on the screen.

“Yes?” Bucky spoke as he answered.

“Are you just going to stand there for the rest of the afternoon?”

Bucky quirked his eyebrows. When he turned to peer inside the cafeteria, you were already looking at him. Bucky felt the heat rush across his face and a shiver run through his body, but he remained impassive. At what point had you noticed? He couldn't remember the last time something like that had happened to him when he was with you before the accident. Mind you, you were very good at controlling your environment. The poor guy tried to put that out of his head as too many memories of the past started bombarding him.

“Come in,” you spoke again before he could respond or think of anything else. “I want to talk to you about something.”

Bucky didn't grumble. Hanging up the call, he walked at a slyly agitated pace into the shop and approached at a steady pace towards where you were waiting for him. His eyes roaming the way your chin was resting on your interlocked hands, your elbows comfortable on the table, watching him approach as if he was the only person inside that coffee shop. Bucky felt his chest heaving.

“YN, I'm really sorry-”

“You don't have to apologize. Honestly, I was hoping you'd come.”

Even though he knew he should, Bucky hadn't expected that response. Smart girl.

“What? Really?”

“Mhm”

"Why?"

“I figured you couldn't help yourself.”

Bucky snorted barely audibly that, had he not had a woman with her full concentration on him, he surely wouldn't have noticed. He moved his eyes away from her, towards the wall with greenish paint on it, and as much as he wanted to deny it, he was glad to hear you brag as you did before.

“You guessed right.”

When Bucky came back to see you, you had a nice tight-lipped smile adorning your face. He wanted to believe that you had done all that drama all day just to have him as a baby duckling behind you, to admire from afar and know that you would have him by your side in less than a second if need be. But it was impossible for him to overlook the dark circles under your eyes. Bucky knows you so well, he knows you are a person whose dream is a saint. Having dark circles under your eyes that decorate the color of your skin is not something Bucky would stop paying attention to, even if he wanted to continue living in his little bubble.

“So what's that you want to talk about?”

You did not hesitate at his question, at the change of the subject. You were still in the same position, with your head on your hands and your gaze averted, immersed in various thoughts that Bucky wanted to dissipate like fog. What little sparkle your eyes had taken on during that short conversation had faded and given way to a strange sense of unease.

“Do you know if I… used to have powers?”

Bucky pondered your question far more than he would have liked to admit. He had imagined this conversation hundreds of times before, but come the moment in real life, face to face, it became much more unreal for those words to come out of your mouth than when they did inside his head. His face did not twitch or stutter as he responded. His expression only showed curiosity.

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

“Why no one ever told me?"

The man took a deep breath.

“Well, I wanted to and had planned to. But the doctor who was treating you back then told me it was best to wait for you to recover the memories on your own. When that didn't happen, he told me to just find the best time to do it. Then, well, I guess I was still holding out a sliver of hope that you would remember something because every day I woke up expecting to hear you call me to tell me something. Evidently that didn't happen either. When I finally made the decision to tell you, the incident happened, and the next day you had no memory of anything.”

I was hoping you would remember.

“And now?“”

“Now… I hadn't thought about it too much these past few days, between the agitation of knowing what happened and the frustration of hopelessness. But I guess I was hoping for a good time, too. I'm sorry. You deserved to know.”

Forgetting wasn't an option, Bucky knew. And he wasn't going to blame you if you hated him for it now. It was something that was a part of you, a piece of your identity, and how he was able to overlook it was inconceivable. Before, maybe he could understand it, because the accident was so recent and forcing you to remember anything could have caused some permanent damage. After that, when you were beginning to be more open to him and seemed willing, the horrors began again. Bucky wanted to say that he had had an excuse, but the truth was that he had no right to keep that in his head…

“Don't worry.”

The man arched his eyebrows, but watching your expression he realized that he was giving the matter more thought than you should be doing. It seemed like you had barely even heard what he had said.

“Why do you ask?”

Silence answered his words. Bucky remained quiet, detailing the riddle you had for a face. He didn't know what that was all about. The walk, being waiting for him, that question about your powers? Something was definitely cooking, but unlike how Bucky thought the situation would be when it came about, you didn't seem too happy to find out.

“How do I know you're honest with me?”

That question caught him off guard. He even moved back a little, closer to the back of the chair, his face scowling.

“I'm always honest with you. I would never lie to you.”

“Under any circumstances?”

“No.”

“Not even for my own sake?”

“No. What's the point of this, YN?”

Bucky watched your chest constrict with each breath in. The atmosphere became tense from one moment to the next, so dense that he could almost feel the air choking him. He wanted to stay focused on the moment, but besides the suspense of the situation, he was disgruntled to think that you really had to deliberate so much in your mind to trust him…

“I think… I think I remembered something.”

The spasm that ran through his body felt like nothing compared to the short-circuit his head was going through. Had he really heard what he had just heard? He blinked shortly, a ringing in his ears becoming the great protagonist of that act, with a trembling body and a frightened mind. He was afraid to speak and the moment would slip through his fingers.

“What?” he barely mumbled.

“I think I had a memory, or two, but I'm not sure.”

“Why?”

Bucky watched you fidget anxiously on the chair, your gaze on anything, any object or person, but him. Your eyes were on everything but him.

“It didn't look like I was seeing it from my point of view. It looked like… a movie.”

Not letting fear dominate his body, Bucky leaned back in his chair and watched you intently. Your anxious movements gave away that what you were telling him had kept you awake, possibly, all night. And yet you waited so long to tell him.

“It was a place where, surely, there was a battle. And there was Natasha, Tony, Carol and Stephen Strange.”

“You know Strange?” Bucky frowned. He couldn't remember seeing him for months. Since the accident, rather.

“I saw him recently.”

Bucky nodded slightly, and made a mental note of it.

“Okay. So what was going on in the memories you saw?”

“First it looked like they were in the middle of the battle. Stephen, Natasha and Tony. But then it looked like it was all over, and there were all of them with Carol.”

“Okay.”

“Do you know if before my accident they all had a mission together?”

Bucky sighed, evoking. Before that accident happened, Bucky had spent a good bit of time in the medical wing. Before and during that situation, Bucky had an injury that kept him out in the field for quite some time, and because of that he missed quite a few things regarding the team. Of course, you were constantly keeping him informed, and the information from that day was definitely clear in his head still. Despite that, even though he knew he should remember, he still had questions about what had happened that day. He used to mix some memories of that day with memories of other days nearby, but some things he could remember clearly. He just had to strain a little to remember and…

“There were several occasions when a large group of the team had to leave at the same time. And the people you mention are very few. There were probably more people.”

“But I didn't see anyone else.”

Bucky sighed. Your disgruntled face filled all his worries and his instincts were geared to get rid of that excess stress on your face. Bucky didn't like to talk about that day anymore, but he didn't plan on keeping anything from you from now on.

“The last time they went out on a mission, which was the time you had the accident, it was Steve, Tony, Natasha, Wanda, Clint, Carol and they called in Strange as backup.”

“You didn't go?”

Bucky shook his head.

“I'd been hurt. Shoulder. It wasn't too serious, healed soon after. But the recommendation was harsh: no missions. So I couldn't go on that one.”

Then, finally, you could look him in the eye. Bucky felt the fog lifting and could see more clearly. Your silence accompanied him in his torment and in his haystack of memories. He wanted to know what was going through your head as you had such a sweet, soft expression unlike how you had been just seconds ago when you murmured, “Maybe it was for the best.”

Heart afloat, Bucky shook his head slightly.

“Do you think your memory is about that last mission?”

Your eyes were still on his, and they stayed that way for another couple of seconds until the fog flooded back into his field of vision.

“Maybe… in the memory they were talking about something that had gone wrong.”

“The accident.”

“Yes. But if that was the case, then it's not my memory, is it?”

Right. Bucky now understood why you were hesitating so much between all your words. You were walking on too unfamiliar ground.

“Ah, I understand. That's why you doubted it was a memory.”

“Yes! Because it doesn't make sense for me to remember something I wasn't present for, if at the time all that was happening I was hurt.”

“Definitely. But then how did that come to you?”

Bucky noticed the doubt on your face, as crystalline as the gleam of glass.

“YN, did something else happen?”

“I told you I saw Strange. The day I met him, I had those images in my head. He just walked past me, but it was as if his gaze triggered everything that happened afterwards.”

“So he caused this.”

“I think so.”

Bucky nodded, but he sensed there was more to it, the way you pursed your lips, fidgeted on the chair, and avoided his gaze. You'd been doing all that for as long as you'd been telling him things, but when you finally told him something, at the end, he could stare at you, and that's when Bucky knew you'd gotten it all out. But now…

“We need to talk to them, then.”

“What?”

“Let's go and talk. Surely there's a reason behind that.”

“But what if they're lying? What if they wouldn't have done it with a good intention?”

“I don't think so. I mean, I've known them for quite a while and I know the relationships you had with them, and I know they wouldn't do anything on purpose to hurt you.”

Bucky noticed the glint of fear in your eyes and it was contagious. He doubted his own words then. There was something else…

“Y/N-”

He moved his hands from his lap, where he kept them constantly hidden, and tried to bring them closer to yours on the table, but your reflexes were more skillful and before you could have any hint of contact, you disappeared from his physical field. Unable to keep your gaze on his, Bucky understood that he should not insist any longer. He leaned back on the chair again and waited for something… anything.

“I'll think about it.”

“YN…”

“I'm going now. You don't have to follow me, it won't be long before I'm back at the Complex.”

“Hey,” Bucky couldn't stop his mouth, but when he caught your attention and your eyes were on his, he didn't risk stopping. “You know you can trust me, right? Of all the people on this planet, you can trust me with anything. I know you don't remember anything about me or what we went through together, but I swear I'm willing to do anything, anything at all, if you only ask. I'm on your side, always, that's never going to change, okay?”

Bucky still saw the haze, but he felt hopeful. A slight nod from you without looking away was more than enough answer for all his inner doubts.

Within seconds, you left the cafeteria.

-

Bucky soon returned to the Complex after that talk, increasingly eager to confront Steve. He had more questions than he should have, although the information you had shared with him was not in the big picture a great revelation.

Except for Stephen Strange. That was unusual.

Steve Rogers was right where he said he would be waiting for him at three o'clock that day. Next to him, Natasha Romanoff sprawled over part of the L-shaped couch in the middle of the large room of the Complex. Bucky barely caught a glimpse of Steve's shoulders moving before he acknowledged his presence.

“Bucky,” his friend greeted him, turning around to observe him. Natasha from her position raised her head, and straightened up on the seat in quick movements.

He walked a little further into the room, with the gaze of his two friends of work on him, watching him so carefully that he soon felt like a cornered gazelle.

No. No, no, no, no, no. The ones who should be cornered should have been them.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

Steve shared a none-too-disguised complicit look with Natasha before answering:

“Well, we could wait until we're complete to start-”

“I don't care that Stark isn't here. You are here. So tell me,” Bucky retorted, clasping his hands. “What did you guys want to talk about?”

He stressed each word heavily, reminding them that he was a man of little patience at the right times.

“It's a touchy subject,” in that moment, Natasha spoke up.

“All the more reason you should start talking.”

“Bucky, believe me, it's better if we're all.”

“I'm having a little trouble doing that, Steve.”

Bucky didn't do much to disguise the anger he felt at the confusion, because somehow he felt that what you had told him and what Steve had wanted to tell him were things that were better understood if he put them together. Whatever these people were willing to tell him, it definitely had to be related to what had happened to you. Steve didn't usually treat any subject with such diplomacy. And, if it was about you, it was clear that it wasn't just any subject.

“Why are you talking like that?” Steve stood up, his wary gaze on Bucky's angry face.

“Stop deflecting the subject. You hadn't made such a big deal about this meeting when you told me about it this morning. Was it always this important or did it only become relevant during the last few hours?”

“It was always important,” Steve nodded, his breathing heavy in time with his partner.

“You have no reason to be angry right now, Barnes.”

Why the fuck do they say things like that?

Natasha's voice, folded arms sitting on the armrest of the couch, brought back memories of one of the most horrible moments of his life.

“And you guys have no reason to be acting this suspicious, but see yourselves.”

“We're not acting-”

“Drop it,” Bucky interrupted Steve, and shifted his body to head for the exit of the room. “Better call me when you want to talk about something serious, like adults.”

And Bucky thought he could leave that there, maybe the subject would die and in time he'd realize he wasn't right. And it would be the first time he'd be happy he'd been wrong about something.

But the red and blue flashes that appeared in front of him as he was about to leave the room made him wish he wasn't so quick to claim victory.

Strange was standing in front of him, right at the exit of the room. His arms were crossed over his chest and his gaze was fixed on the man who continued to clasp his hands.

“He already knows,” Stephen spoke up, “Or at least part of it.”

Bucky felt a chill run through his body, not as welcome as the one he felt when you told him you'd remembered something.

“I don't want you going near her again,” Bucky almost growled through his teeth.

“Or what, Barnes, you'll stop me with your little metal hand?”

“Strange,” Natasha raised her voice.

Alluded barely let out a short laugh.

“I'm trying to help her.”

“Well, it's backfiring on you.”

“Does she remember what happened?” Steve walked over to Bucky, who gave him barely a sidelong glance.

“What the heck happened?”

Steve pursed his lips, and again shared that weird look with the other two present. Bucky was starting to get too exasperated and soon he wouldn't have as much patience and would have any more stuck up courage to take it anymore.

“I think you need to sit down to hear this.”

It was Carol Danvers who spoke, no doubt. Behind his back was her, surely with a river of people that Bucky had no desire to face at the moment. He didn't like the pace this situation was taking, nor the pace the day had taken. Why couldn't he stay in on a quiet afternoon, sipping vanilla milkshakes with chocolate muffins? Why was the world constantly taking pains to snatch away any hint of happiness from him?

“I think you've been wondering a lot of things about what happened that day for a while now,” Carol spoke again, and though Bucky really didn't want to face what seemed to be about to happen, he turned around to look at the blonde who was talking to him, with several people now filling the room.

He didn't even have to name them. He just had to remember that day, and remember how the names of each of them had come out of your mouth that day. The day that, unbeknownst to him, would be the last day he would share with his old friend joy.

“Sit. Let's talk.”

----

n/a. thank u all for reading! hope u have a great day wherever you are <3

Taglist: @cjand10 @yallgotkik @ruffdog921 @coracal @its-just-kayy @pono-pura-vida @vampiresarezombies @kaz11283 @vicmc624

[monstroso]

Home on the range!! Im surprised to see it in a poll, i often feel im the only one i know who is aware of the evil yodeling hypnosis villain. Do you have any thoughts you wish to share about that movie? I find it quite fun!!

This will maybe be the most controversial opinion to come out of the mid-sney poll, but (aside from the film which I personally voted for. Great Mouse Detective Sweep, etc.) I think Home On The Range is the best of the films listed.

I love that it has three female leads with no romance subplot. I love the character designs on all three leads and the immediate interplay between the personalities. I love that it comes from an era where Disney could still make *comedy* animation, even if it missed the mark in a lot of ways.

Disney in the mid-2000s wasn't the "feel-good nostalgia" company yet, they hadn't hit their stride and so were still willing to experiment with different kinds of stories in the new millennium.

And it's not even a true departure. I think the yodeling cow-rustling sequence hearkens back to the "Pink Elephants On Parade" days in a deliberate way! Stuff like that just doesn't happen in Disney movies anymore except in very controlled story moments, because it's weird. But we like it *because* it's weird!

(My senior animation film also was a silly story with an action sequence set in a fantastical wild-west, so I might be somewhat impartial here.)

Disney likes to remind us that animation can be beautiful and breathtaking. It can enhance the things about reality that are wonderful and make the real feel hyper-real. But it can also completely bend reality to be fun and silly and *un*-real, and those kinds of movies can and should exist too! Home On The Range might be ridiculous and over-the-top, but I like it because it reminds me of the days when that was still something Disney might do. They leave this kind of thing to Illumination and DreamWorks now.

My feelings aside though, I'd love to see Home On The Range get a retroactive fandom on tumblr where people ship the cows together. Maggie could be a butch lesbian icon! I'm just saying.

Thanks for the ask!

[honuofhawaii]

Okay spoilers for the Percy Jackson show up through episode 6. Spoilers for the Lightning Thief and spoilers for Mark of Athena and House of Hades. And theorizing!

Im not kidding

Okay so Percy was given four pearls in the show. Wow. That’s a major departure.

He still has the Prophecy “you will fail to save what matters most in the end” so he can’t save Sally. Or they’ll change the meaning of that, but I don’t think they will.

I think he’s going to loose a pearl. I think one of the peals will fall into Tartarus when Kronos tries to suck them all in. Which leads me to my potential tin foil.

So I think there’s a good chance we’ll get all of PJO. They’re doing a fantastic job and the show has to be doing well commercially. While I don’t think it would be a good idea to adapt HOO in live action, it definitely could be done in animation (just bc it’s all supposed to take place when Percy is 17, and the kids will be visibly aging as the seasons go on even though only a year is supposed to pass. animation doesn’t have that draw back, and they can do some really cool stylization and not blow a cgi budget out of the water.)

Anyway Percy and Annabeth fall into Tartarus (I said I wasn’t kidding on the spoilers) what if they find the pearl. They can’t use it, bc it would mean leaving someone behind. But just I think it would be a great call back and reinforce the conversation on the ledge. Bc once they fell, even though Percy caught them, he wouldn’t have been able to clime out, even if he was willing to drop annabeth (I could barely get my fingers to type that bc that would never be a consideration). The Pearl is a equal opportunity for one of them to get free…okay not quite equal, Percy would be fine no matter where he popped up in the ocean, annabeth would need to hope to be near shore). To get free after they’ve already seen the horrors. They know exsactly the kind of hell they’re walking through, and they both refuse. Bc they would rather walk through hell together.

[andimoon]

Unknown Thoughts (Part 4)

Genre: Angst / Fluff / Romance / Eventual Smut

Warnings: Um, idk for this one. Maybe be prepared to be stressed.

Work count: 2.8K

Prologue, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Finally, a letter from her beloved. Finally, after months of busyness and silence, she finally received an invitation to visit him. Baekhyun’s letters reached the Lady countless times, words of longing and contempt over their distance. And each and every word made Vivian want to run to him, to tell him everything, to embrace him and beg forgiveness for her months of silence. Her fingertips grazed over his lovely writing and released the ache in her chest into a soft hum. As much as she missed him, she knew she needed to keep on edge and that would be a difficult task when Baekhyun knew how to break down all of her walls. When everything he did left Vivian feeling like a puddle on the ground.

She would need Eloise’s support in keeping their secret. They’d done the thing her prince had told her not to do.

“No, absolutely not.” One of the rare instances where she saw genuine anger behind those black eyes. “How could you give up that much time to that woman?”

“Baekhyun, that woman saved my life. She’s the only reason I’m in front of you right now.” She was practically yelling at him and she could see the hurt takeover his face. With a steady breath, she lowered her tone, willing herself to calm down, “I can’t just let her die, especially when I have so much time to give.”

His eyebrows furrowed and his frown deepened. Vivian hated it. “So much to give? What about your time with me? Is it worthless to you?” Worthless? Her time with him was the most valuable thing in the world. Did he not see how important this was to warrant such a thing? He sat on the mattress where he’d made love to her the night before. When he had that smile plastered on his gorgeous face and the love in his eyes as he stared only at her. Her fingertips traced his cheeks as she leaned onto her knees in front of him, willing him to stare into her eyes just as he had the night before.

“My love,” she begged, “I need to save her. Please.”

That argument happened nearly a year prior and after being far too persistent she finally convinced him to meet with her closest friend. Vivian was certain that when they met he would finally realize how important it was to have Eloise in her life. “Please try to get along with her. Ellie is the closest thing I have to a sister.”

“Only for you,” was his response and yet his efforts were obvious to the lady, though the maid didn’t seem interested even as he tried to break down every wall that divided them. Eloise had always been kind and formal with everyone other than Vivian. She knew that was the way Ellie had always been, but even still, she desperately wanted her beloved and closest friend to get along with one another.

Despite the Transferring having occurred months ago, the noble couldn’t help but still wonder if Baekhyun’s prayers were the cause of the error with the procedure. His energy always had a magic within it so it couldn’t have been that far out of the range of possibility. Another deep grounding breath and she finally packed up the sweet letter along with her most valuable possessions into her smallest case.

A voice rang out from behind the door along with a soft knock, “My lady, The Duke has requested that you join him for breakfast this morning.”

“Alright, I’ll be right there.” This was fortunate timing, she’d be able to tell Kyungsoo about their change of plans. Surely he wouldn’t mind, they’d already taken away so much of his time. Kyungsoo always had so much to do, she wasn’t surprised that upon hearing of their departure he took the opportunity to return to it. The day was busy and passed quickly as a result, but Vivian kept contemplating everything that had happened. Ellie had lost most of her memories, which didn’t seem to be returning, but it was nice to see her returning to some semblance of normalcy. Perhaps since her lover and her maiden were not that close to begin with he wouldn’t notice the changes in her.

Baekhyun didn’t even know when Eloise’s last day would be, there was no way for him to know the procedure had already taken place. So it bought Vivian time to come up with the right way to tell him about it, but she knew for a fact that the news needed to come from her lips. If her prince heard about it from anyone else… She feared his reaction.

“It’ll be okay.” She reminded herself in a soft huff, smoothing her hands over the front of her gown. Eloise’s presence in the carriage made the trip bearable. Most of her stresses were successfully smothered by the time they arrive to her lover’s castle.

The lavish display was normal for Baekhyun, and the way his eyes instantly locked with hers, the utter adoration is his gaze. He was her everything, her very breath and the reason her blood flowed under her skin. The world disappeared, only his smile, his warmth in the fingertips that reached for her and held on for dear life. It had been so long she thought her soul would shatter in his absence. She longed to embrace him and never let go. “My love,” she breathed out, holding his hand just as tightly between both of hers, “it’s been so long, I’m glad to see you.”

“Why haven’t you responded to any of my letters? Did they not reach you?” His pout made her chuckle, just a second ago he was acting like a god on top of the world, and now he was complaining like that, with the press together of his pretty pink lips and the furrow of his eyebrows.

Vivian wanted to press her thumb against the little wrinkle and a small kiss to his lips. “I’m sorry, my love,” she was sure he could sense the teasing in her tone with the way his head tilted to get a better look at her, “Kyungsoo invited me to visit. I thought it would be a good opportunity for Eloise and I to get away for a little while.” His pout deepened at the mention of the other man and she tried to bite back her smile, leaning in a little closer to her lover, “So please don’t be mad, okay?” The softest huff left his chest followed by a rather dramatic sigh.

“You did enjoy your stay with The Duke?” his tone slightly mocking the title but Vivian knew that her lover adored the man just as much as she did.

“I did. It was a pleasant trip.” Now that she had her dose of the prince and was able to think clearly for a moment she risked a glance at Eloise who was a solid two meters away. Baekhyun followed her gaze and he made a small sound of confusion, a thousand thoughts flashing behind his eyes and Vivian feared her betrothed was noticing something in her maid’s demeanor.

He called out to her, using the nickname Vivian called her by. The nickname she had given him permission to use. The name he used when he tried to befriend Eloise. Vivian knew that. She knew that, but still hearing the casual words, the seriousness behind his tongue. It felt foreign. He noticed something.

He called to her again and this time Vivian silently urged her to act normal. This was okay. But Eloise’s silence was deafening. Those amber eyes downturned and the same look of surprise she had when they met with Kyungsoo. Luckily there were no tears this time, but Vivian made a mental note to talk with her when they had a chance. She needed to know what was going on inside her maiden’s brain.

The walk was long and uncomfortably awkward as they made their way to a parlor room, one that had seen a major renovation. “Wow, Baekhyun, this is incredible.” His contagious smile lit up his face and he took a seat on a gold accented couch, he patted the spot next to him but Vivian knew better than to be that close with Eloise in the room. She shot a little crunch in her nose as she sat across from him. Those black eyes and that knowing smirk on his lips left her breathless.

“We’re so behind on wedding plans, I hope you know.” Vivian almost believed him. Baekhyun loved to tease but he would never actually let anything for her fall behind schedule.

“I see,” she hummed, “this is quite serious. We really must do something about it.”

He leaned onto his knees and the look on his face told Vivian she was about to regret playing along. “I can think of a few things, Princess.” She shot him a warning. Now was not the time or place for his shameless flirting. Not when Eloise was in the room with them. The prince hummed in amusement before shifting his attention back to the woman he wasn’t supposed to be ignoring this way. In the silence they heard the way her breath came out in short huffs, Eloise’s knuckles had gone white from how tightly she held onto her skirt. Was she afraid? Perhaps it was unfair of Vivian to ask such a thing from Ellie.

His seriousness was back as he tried to get the maiden to speak again and Vivian’s heart sank. This was getting too close for comfort, if she was going to step in, it should be now before he realized anything more. “She’s been having a hard week, my love,” she tried to keep her voice as light hearted as possible, “Perhaps we should let her rest.” It wasn’t a lie so she had no reason to feel afraid, yet the seriousness behind his eyes, the slight jut of his jaw and the bob of his Adam’s apple with that forced swallow. It all had her trembling. He needed to agree. Eloise needed to step away before their secret was revealed.

Much to her relief he did. Whatever the prince had noticed, he didn’t mention it even after the maid had left them. This was the first time Vivian felt uncomfortable alone with her beloved. The nerves slammed against every bone in her body, and she smothered the feeling the instant it arose in her. “A hard week?”

“You know how straightforward Kyungsoo can be,” she was lying through her teeth and it tasted like spoiled milk on her tongue. It felt so wrong but she knew better than to admit wrongdoing. He knew. He knew she was lying and the scornful downturn of his lips left her biting her own.

“Vivian.” He used her real name. He was upset. He knew.

She masked her worry with a light hearted brush off, “I brought you gifts from our visit. We should open them.”

“Vivian,” he started again, “What happened?”

“What do you mean? The gifts? It’s been so long since I saw you, you were on my mind the entire—“

“Vivian.” He stood and in an instant he was looming over her, the anger roaring off of him in waves. He knew. It was irrefutable at this point and Viv closed her eyes, a defeated sigh leaving her lips.

“I told you,” she hadn’t done anything to be ashamed of, it was her body, her life line, her family, “I needed to save her.” No matter what he did, Vivian held onto the knowledge that he loved her. He would never hurt her. Baekhyun was silent and she saw as the anger slowly disappear behind his eyes, she watched as he sank to his knees in front of her exactly as she had done the last time they talked about this exact situation. No words were spoken as he reached for her hand, tracing those beautiful fingertips over the mark on her wrist. The ‘96’ previously edged into her skin was replaced by ‘66’ and his eyebrows dug together in pain. “My love,” she reached for his face, searching for his eyes, “It’s alright. I’m alright. I’m here, I’m alive. And that time is yours, I promise.”

After what felt like an eternity he finally let out a sound, a small breath that told her Baekhyun believed her. He trusted her and he leaned back onto his heels from his spot on the ground. “And Eloise?”

Eloise. She was different, that much was clear to everyone involved. “She,” the words got stuck in a lump at the back of her throat, “She lost her memories.” The warmth of his palm against her cheek comforted her and Vivian leaned into his touch.

“I’m sorry.” It was genuine. He felt remorse for the impossible choice he had forced her to make.

“It’ll be alright.” The same line she’d been repeating to herself for months, willing her mind to believe the words. “This is an opportunity to give her a good life. She’s worked so hard her whole life, taking care of me. It’s time I do the same for her.” His eyes lowered once more and Vivian lifted his chin, needing him to know how important this was. “I can only do that if you’re by my side. I’m stronger when you’re with me.”

He searched her gaze for a moment, licking his lips and swallowing down whatever words he wanted to say. A small nod of his head and he leaned up to kiss her, relishing in the softness of his lips against her own and her fingertips sought the feathery hair at the nape of his neck. It had been so long since she felt his warmth, the sweet love that melted from his tongue and the press of his forehead against her own. “I’m here. I’ll always be by your side.” His reassurance swelled in her chest and the relief exploded through her, her smile came naturally for the first time in months. They spent most of the day together, making up for lost time in any way they could, but Vivian knew she needed to talk to Eloise tonight.

Somehow, by the grace of some god, she managed to convince her lover to leave her alone. Surely he’d gone to bed already. Surely after the near hour she waited, the coast was clear. The need to hide her actions burrowed itself in her stomach, it felt wrong but necessary for some reason. The looming halls held no place to hide and she moved quickly, ducking around corners whenever she heard the echoes of sounds around her, and eventually Vivian arrived at her maiden’s hall. Only, she didn’t find the solidarity she anticipated, instead the prince stood at the entrance. Outwardly laughing and teasing the maiden. “You’re cute when you try to be serious.” The familiarity in his tone, the smile on his face, Vivian had never seen him react that way to anyone but her, and her heart sank. She could feel the shift in energy.

Their words blurred but Vivian could hear stifled whisper-yells from the maiden. The world around them felt heavy with infatuation and desire. And it was directed at Eloise. How could he do this to her? What had he done, exactly? And why did her chest feel like it was crumbling into a million pieces? She didn’t know how long she had stayed up against that wall. How long her mind stayed thoughtless, how long she recounted that moment in her brain. Warm hands held onto her arms, sturdy and safe, and amber eyes nervous and trembling.

“What the hell was that?” Eloise looked manic, pacing and pulling at her hair, “the prince was just here, did you see what happened?” She was speaking so fast, so agitated Vivian knew that her maiden wasn’t involved the way she initially thought. The silence was overwhelming, the pacing continued just as fast and Eloise was biting at her fingers, too engrossed in her own thoughts to say anything for far too long. Until, “I have to ask you a weird question, Vivie.” A deep breath and the maiden was sitting beside her, “Have,” holding her hands so tightly, “Have the prince and… me ever had moments like that before? Were he and I ever close?”

The look in her eyes. Not curiosity, desperation. As if her answer would mean the end of life itself. “Why are you…?” Of course they hadn’t ever been that close, Eloise didn’t… like Baekhyun’s advancements. She didn’t let him break down any walls, but she couldn’t remember him being so coy and direct, either. Had he always been that way? Vivian was trying to recall the moments when the efforts were made. It was superficial compliments and the simple nickname. Sweet smiles and courtesy he showed everyone. Where had this moment come from? But still, the fear in her maiden’s eyes was odd. As if it was so much bigger than Vivian could even comprehend.

“Vivian, I need you to listen to what I’m about to tell you,” she took a deep breath and steeled her gaze before continuing, “I’m not Eloise. I know what’s going to happen over the next year and you’re going to lose everything.”

Previous

@makemedoitlikedis @kawaii--mommy @soobadnoonecanstopher @colognedecigarette @doitsosweet @shewantsmeshesgotme @ira-itzel @nadiecomonadia @mgg-81 @scentlacigarette

[marwyn]

what are your overall opinions on the greens and blacks, as characters and as factions?

your favorite and least favorite things, the changes you would make? All that jazz.

To simplify things I’ll mostly address the show’s portrayal, and sometimes how it relates to the book. Some of the following is drawn from earlier posts of mine too.

Rhaenyra: I like her willfulness and pride and what you could even call hauteur. I do think Milly!Nyra was often better written, to the extent where she and Emma!Nyra sometimes seem like different characters altogether, and her Season 2 storyline in particular felt stagnant at times. I thought it was completely fine to portray her as a reasonable person who had doubts about plunging the realm into war (it’s straight from the book even) but it got repetitive. However, the people who are angry about her interest in women are the weakest link and it’s also not even a departure from the books sorry xo

Daemon: What if the archetypal gothic uncle were a morally dubious deuteragonist and explicit love interest for the heroine instead of an all-out villain. Well I am thrilled that HOTD supplied the answer. Obviously I also appreciated his weirwood dream of Bloodraven and Dany in Season 2 but the aftermath with his sudden pivot to unequivocally supporting Rhaenyra was incredibly abrupt, which I mostly attribute to the fact that the episode count was cut down last minute by WB. I also think they should have let him be bisexual

Rhaenys: She has some good scenes (I liked her conversation with Alicent in “The Green Council”) but I think the show struggled to write her coherently around the events of the books, i.e. having her burst into Aegon’s coronation and do…nothing, since the story had to go on, and it was a similar situation when she refused to go with Daemon to jump Aemond. I’ve harped on this before but I also think it’s kind of bizarre that the show acknowledged her Baratheon heritage and gave her silver hair anyway given that the entirety of GoT S1 hinged on “the seed is strong,” and furthermore it creates an odd narrative of “ONLY bastard Targs have different hair colors,” when all of the trueborn Dance-era Targs also have Andal (Rhaenys’s mother Jocelyn Baratheon, Rhaenyra’s mother Aemma Arryn) and/or First Men (Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s grandmother Alarra Massey) ancestry.

Jace: I think HOTD often leans into a “show-don’t tell” sensibility in regard to characterization and motivation and this is sometimes very fun for me as a viewer with the room it leaves for analysis and interpretation but other times the characters just come across as under-written. I don’t have much of a sense of who Jace IS outside of his insecurity and his relationship with Rhaenyra (which is admittedly interesting and neat to compare and contrast with Aemond and Alicent). The massive scaling-down of his relationship with Cregan Stark in the show is also a bit of a shame, and another reason I suspect the show won’t progress much past Rhaenyra’s death, because Cregan going SO hard for her faction in the book even after her death and Jace’s has more emotional impact if it goes beyond the whole “Starks are loyal” thing. I get how it wouldn’t have worked with the time constraints for the show though, and I did like the implication that the Starks also knew about the Song of Ice and Fire and were tithing people to the Wall in preparation.

Baela: Much of what I said about Jace applies to her too. I like the little she DOES get to do but I wish the show gave her more opportunities to display her personality. I like the fact that she’s named after Daemon’s father per the books and I wish the show would work that in somehow; I like how hard she and Rhaena tried to protect Aegon during his predatory regency and I hope the show adapts at least a little of that too

Rhaena: I suppose I can see why HOTD combined her storyline with Nettles’ because otherwise she would have been offscreen until the end of the show, plus the cast is already quite large and hard to balance as it is. That being said the amount of time spent on Ulf and especially Hugh was pretty over-the-top, and it took a lot of the suspense out of the Red Sowing bc you KNOW they’re going to be successful even if you haven’t read the book. Anyway I wouldn’t be surprised if this substitution was planned from the beginning since the show set up Rhaena’s sense of neglect from Daemon (which she seems to link to her lack of a dragon) back in Season 1 and now they’re going to be flying around together during the war. I’m quite curious to see it, honestly

Alicent: I can see why the decision to age her down in the show was controversial but she did start reading to Jaehaerys in the book when she was 15 and was rumored to have slept with him as well which tracks with the route the show took. I do appreciate a good ruthless and conniving matriarch but I think HOTD would have had a hard time distinguishing her from Cersei if they’d leaned more in this direction

Aegon: I think he’s pretty well-written in the show and as we’ve discussed before the idea that he was shortchanged and there’s this amazing book characterization that was overlooked is just completely unfounded. The show even made him more sympathetic with the way Alicent and Otto treated him as a teen and by having him reflect on the emotional neglect from Viserys

Aemond: Whenever I start to think about Aemond I realize that I do actually find him quite intriguing. There’s a striking parallel between his relationship with Alicent and Jace’s relationship with Rhaenyra—the responsibility, the need to prove themselves, and in contrast, Jace’s affirmation of Rhaenyra as his mother AND monarch versus Aemond telling Alicent to go back to the kitchen as soon as he’s made regent. The suggestion of romantic feelings for Helaena which seem inextricable from his desire to be their family’s scion in place of Aegon, the abundance of early trauma with which he is absolutely not dealing well…lots of good material

Helaena: The almost exclusive association of dragons with warfare on the show is unsurprising on several levels but it could have been nice to see her with her dragon in a peaceful context. This isn’t readily apparent on the show but Dreamfyre was fully-grown when Helaena claimed her and thus she would have risked her life to do so which makes it odd that she doesn’t seem to care about flying even for the joy of it

Criston: I do think the show probably chose the most interesting option and I like his messed-up Lancelotism

I don’t have anything too novel to say about the factions as a whole but I’ll add to this if I think of anything

[izzythehutt]

This is why we lie, Jesse!

Everyone talks about the (many) times that Walt lied to/consciously used the truth to manipulate Jesse over the course of Breaking Bad, but rarely do I see people discuss one of the few times he was completely honest with him—the scene where they discuss the buyout in 5x06, also titled "Buyout."

Just two men, separated by a sea of shadows and sage furniture

This scene gets somewhat overshadowed by the hilarious, awful dinner with Skyler that follows it, but I find it fascinating—particularly its placement at the tail-end of their partnership, an episode before they have the infamous Almost Final Breakup You Are Not Worth Five Million Bucks Fight.

This might be the scene where Walt is the most honest with Jesse about...almost anything.

There's no game here—it's just two people, with a complicated and close relationship, each trying to convince the other to do something they don't want to do. Walt decides in this case to just be candid about why he does not want to sell his share of the methylamine, presumably because he thinks Jesse will be understanding of his motives, maybe even sympathetic to him.

And given what happens, you can see why he defaults back to lies and manipulation.

Walter used honesty! It was super ineffective!

First of all, the fact that he invites Jesse to his home in the first place is a major change from the norm for them. You could chock it up to him subconsciously wanting to piss off his wife (which later happens), but there's a level of intimacy there. Walt has a very specific way of compartmentalizing his crime and civilian life, and part of that is keeping Jesse far, far away from the latter.

Maybe it's just because he's tired, or because he's drinking (was there ever a scene where Walt was honest on this show where him being drunk or drugged wasn't the cause?) but I honestly can't point to a single moment in this conversation that feels manipulative. For Walt it's vulnerable, a rather intimate admission of a weakness—he's kind of abrupt and rude, too, but Jesse knows him well enough to see that's way more honest for Mr. White than when he's being overly "nice"—being nice is exclusively for moments of manipulation or the product of guilt when it comes to their relationship.

And he really gets personal about his past, which is so not something he does in his relationship with Jesse. As far as we know the only other person he's ever confessed that he's been harboring these feelings about his departure from Gray Matter to is Gretchen (though in her case it was an accusation that he was cut out, in Jesse's case it's admitting he thinks he made the mistake which cost his children "their birthright.")

He is actually willing to admit to Jesse that he made a poor business decision in his youth that he's regretted ever since. He's willing to just put it out on the table and frame his desire to stay in the drug business as being about personal ambition (his own potential.)

The only thing he doesn't admit is the fact that his breakup with Gretchen is probably why he left the company, which could be the subject of a whole 'nother meta.

And how does Jesse respond to this candor, this honesty?

Jesse remembering fonder days of nearly strangling Mr. White to death in the RV

You can see the disillusionment happening in real time. The scales are falling from his eyes on-screen! Jesse really did take Walt's 'family man' motivations at face value, and to realize that his mentor's temperamental personality is actually a cope for his profound wounds and deep-seated resentment at his thwarted ambitions...I think it legit disturbs him.

Maybe for the first time, he really sees Walt for who he is—someone who wants money for his family after he's gone, that he could understand. Someone for whom "empire building" is so appealing in and of itself he doesn't care if people die or its built on an addictive drug that destroys lives? Uh....

This is one of the many things that separates them—Jesse just isn't naturally ambitious in the same way. Walt may have taught him to "apply himself", but the inherited perfectionist tendencies were really in service of gaining Walt's love and respect, not gratifying his own ego.

For Walt, being honest is presenting things in a way that he would find compelling, and he and Jesse are so wildly different (Jesse still has a conscience, for one thing) that he always has to consciously take advantage of their differences to get what he wants out of him.

Now this? This is a conscious manipulation. It's also an admission of something painful and deeply personal (the fact that Skyler told him she'll be happy when he's dead) but with the clear intent of, if not guilting poor soft Jesse who also knows what it's like to be rejected by your family into changing his mind about the buyout, at least making him feel bad about it. Because if there's one thing Walt is good at, it's punishing his loved one for not falling in line.

This makes Walt's desperate clinging to the relationship in the next episode even more tragic, because as fucked up as they are, this is probably the most emotionally intimate relationship he's got at this point. Sure, Jesse's horrified by him, but he's marginally less horrified by him than Skyler is!