#the chat response to this also killed me shes so iconic
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zelterxc · 2 months ago
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I realized i need to share the most incredible lich name ive ever gotten. This is a woman that would kill you with her strap i think-
She's been converted tho and lives on my railjack //wheeze
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astonmartinii · 2 years ago
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if you’re down to do it i’d love a part 2 to opposites attract with mick 👀
opposites attract part two | mick schumacher social media au
part one
masterlist
pairing: mick schumacher x reader
both beloved and feared in the paddock, y/n y/ln will defend her bf until the end, no matter who it is.
(hope you all enjoy 🫡 i love this pairing)
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yourusername
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liked by danielricciardo, mickschumacher and 477,034
tagged: mickschumacher
yourusername: chat shit, get banged
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user49 so. fucking. iconic
mickschumacher i love you, thank you for defending our family
yourusername always <3
user99 hold on a second... our family??? we engaged?
user53 it's probably just a phrase bestie let's not get too crazy
charles_leclerc i'm so scared of you
yourusername good - you want me to swing at ferrari?
user45 truly the ride or die we all need in our lives
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mickschumacher
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liked by yourusername, sebastianvettel and 882,309 others
mickschumacher: family is everything ❤️
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user49 the fact that he considers y/n family is so so cute
yourusername awww mickey !! i love you guys so much, i'd do anything for y'all xx
gina_schumacher love you all ❤️
mercedesamgf1 family 💜
user23 i'm so glad mick has someone like y/n on his side, not only defending him always but also his family xx
f1wagsupdates
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f1wagsupdates: y/n y/ln makes her first appearance in the paddock since her incident with the paparazzi. she joined mick in the mercedes garage for the weekend - we're glad she's back !!
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user33 lmao mick in the likes he's down so bad
user88 finally some good fucking food
user21 ahhhh did y'all see ted fucking flinch when he saw her i'm glad they all know what a bad bitch she is and she'll call anyone's ass out
yourusername
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tagged: mickschumacher
yourusername: let's rideeeeee or whatever charli xcx said
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user37 war is over y/n is back in the paddock i missed her so much
mickschumacher gonna make it bring your gf to work day every race from now on
yourusername sounds good to me i love the merc catering so much better than haas
user44 LMAO SHE STILL GOT THE DIG IN
estebanocon omg besties back in the paddock
yourusername este bestie !!!! i've missed you and elena need to do something asap xx
f1
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liked by mickschumacher, danielricciardo and 330,671 others
f1: host martin brundle has picked up an illness during the weekend and has chosen y/n y/ln, internet personality and host, to take over his hosting responsibilities on race day 🏁
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user56 i love how they don't mention that she's with mick and that she is a host by trade
mickschumacher i know she'll be the best replacement ever ❤️
yourusername awwww thank you babe xxx
user48 i know this is gonna be the most chaotic grid walk ever
user11 but she'll defo ask the questions we all want to know the answer to cause this ain't her full time job who cares if sky don't like it
danielricciardo can't wait to watch it all unfold
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mickschumacher
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liked by estebanocon, lancestroll and 541,098 others
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mickschumacher: what a weekend for the team, but also for us!! my baby made her grid walk debut and killed it xx i love you and am so so proud of you 💘
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user34 will it ever be my turn
user41 i confess - i think i have a parasocial relationship with these two
user78 me and you bestie
estebanocon ahhhh she was great!!
lancestroll as the kids say i think she slayed 💅
yourusername teehee thank you guys
gina_schumacher doing us all proud!!
yourusername ahhh thank you gina 💛
yourusername added to their story
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[caption: getting the goods for a certain someone's birthday bash]
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liked by danielricciardo, maxverstappen1 and 1,203,455 others
yourusername: i didn't know we had this many friends - sorry switzerland 😞
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danielricciardo i'm never going to another party with you I AM SCARRED
maxverstappen1 you have impressive planning skills - are you open for bookings?
mickschumacher thank you very much baby (you can deal with the noise complaints)
sebastianvettel so this is what we could hear
charles_leclerc you guys are weak - i had a great time, thanks y/n and happy birthday mick !!
estebanocon i love you guys but i wish i wasn't so close to you guys how are we still cleaning up ?
yourusername because we need to make sure things are properly recycled @sebastianvettel
sebastianvettel good good (you don't have to impress me i already love you and mick together)
yourusername thank you for the validation seb
mickschumacher LESS TALKING MORE RECYCLING
mickschumacher
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mickschumacher: thank you for the best birthday ever babygirl! while the party is something i'll never forget, just being able to spend time with you and the rest of our family was the best thing ever. also prize for best birthday gift ever goes to you for tony the goat, i love him and the fact you got him for and i quote "to remind me of my dad and me in the future". i love you and our growing farm family
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user48 A GOAT FOR HIS BIRTHDAY? TO REMIND HIM OF MICHAEL? FOR MICK BEING THE GOAT IN THR FUTURE? I LOVE THEM
estebanocon can't wait to meet the little guy
yourusername i love you baby - you deserve everything !!! @mercedesamgf1 paddock pass for tony when
mercedesamgf1 happy birthday mick! we're on it 🫡 (admin is scared of you)
user39 omg pls grid walk with tony would be so iconic
charles_leclerc so there was a goat at mick's house i just thought i was really drunk
sebastianvettel welcome to the farm dad life mick - happy birthday x
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vickozone · 1 year ago
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The Magnus Archives
-S4 Notes-
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
SOMETHING ABOUT FANART GOES HERE I THINK
<- previous notes
next notes ->
Handwriting translated below:
#121 Oliver. He’s dead and JON! YOU’RE OKAY!
#122 zombies and Jon’s first instinct from waking up from a 6 month coma is to read a statement. Icon.
#123 He just got back and Melanie wants to kill him and something is up with Martin. Also, The Web, I suppose. Coding?
#124 More Simon. What a guy. Also, Jon is… very concerned for Martin…
#125 The Slaughter is back and Melanie! CALM DOWN! MY HEADPHONES ARE ON LIFE SUPPORT AS IT IS!
#126 The Spiral clarity + Martin is being manipulated (SHE STABBED HIM!?)
#127 Another letter to Jonah. AND ELIAS IS JUST CHILLIN IN PRISON. GO OFF, KING!
#128 Breekon is nothing without Hope. The institute and ooo! Jon eye powers!
#129 Guy drowned in grandpa’s house and JON NEEDS AN ANCHOR! Also, very homosexual interaction.
#130 Meat ritual and JON! NO, SELF HARM IS BAD! YOU BETTER NOT DO WHAT I THINK YOU’RE IMPLYING!
#131 AAAA! AAAA! OH. OH NO. Jared is the Boneturner and Helen is an absolute queen <3
#132 Jon saves Daisy!! Yay! She is also The Hunt, but, whatever. The tapes drew him back…
#133 The Hunt ritual, and Basira… has feelingsss. The Hunt is about the chase, not the kill.
#134 The Extinction!? NO. Also Lukas is the worst. Hate that guy.
#135 “Have I ever told you how much I hate the sun?” -Manuela Lol, The Dark, The Vast, and The Lonely funded the space expedition.
#136 Annabelle! Creepy celeb puppet. And Daisy telling Jon he’s not responsible for everything gives hope. Yes! Therapy!
#137 The Slaughter ritual & Gertrude was fond of Gerry :( The Watcher’s Crown??
#138 “And then the sky blinked.” Elias is literally the ‘no need to thank me’ meme and Jonah and Smirke knew about the 14 fears and then he dies or smthn
#139 The life and crimes of Agnes. Jon MAYBE saw Peter’s plan and- PRAISE THE LORD, JON LIKES MARTIN!!
#140 Stupid Maxwell. Also, Santa is working working with the Devine Host (/j) & we’re going on a trip! :D
#141 Salesa statement from boat guy. Oh, Jon, I see why Martin has a crush on you now. 10/10 voice acting on everyone’s part.
#142 JEEZ, JON! You gave this poor woman literal trauma! Goodness…
#143 oh, it’s Manuela! Jon looked AT the darkness and HELEN IS A SAVIOR!
#144 MARTIN! We do NOT talk to people like that! Especially Daisy! This isn’t you! The Extinction is real, I guess, but, come on! Not cool.
#145 Gertrude is COLD. Dude’s head is somewhere in the institute- uh-
#146 5 people? Goodness, Jon. He can’t control it though, can he? Helen got Marcus and Basira is off to meet with Annabelle friggin Cane.
#147 Okay. No, he can control it. I love Anna. I also got Nikola flashbacks. Oh boy.
#148 Not 5 seconds in and Elias gets assaulted. Jon is worried for Martin and he read a statement about The Eye. A.
#149 Concrete Jungle. Oh and Martin is using Lonely powers. Greaaat.
#150 Homophobic endless houses and Melanie really said “nuh uh” to her job
#151 Simon is my new husband. Uhhh. He answered Martin’s questions, yada yada, he has Lonely powers
#152 More of The Buried. Jon and Helen chat more about avatar crap.
#153 Another odd desolation flesh cult, also Trevor and chic is here and he is HUNGRY
#154 Gerry’s dead dad gives a statement. J + M both F bomb, very gay, eye gouging is the only way out. (“It’s pretty drastic.” “What you gotta gouge your eyes out or something?” “…” “…” “…” “Fuck off.” <- funniest conversation in the whole series)
#155 Guy kills others to keep himself alive + MEL IS REMOVING HER EYES- OKAY-
#156 More extinction about an abandoned park and I am very scared for Martin
#157 another extinction- OMG MEL AND GEORGIE! Did… Helen stab Jon?
#158 SO MUCH. Martin played Lukas, Daisy is feral, ELIAS IS JONAH, Not!Sasha is loose, disaster duo is here, Martin is stuck in Lonely, Gertrude wanted ‘Elias’ to kill her. WHAT.
#159 Peter shares his story, is evaporated. “I see you, Jon…”
#160
Look at the sky, Martin. It’s looking back.
I OPEN THE DOOR!
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mc-lukanette · 4 years ago
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GOD Furious Fu genuinely pissed me off SO MUCH so hopefully you don’t mind me coming over here to ask for some kinda Lukanette fix it for that train wreck??? Like, not even anything super detailed, if you don’t feel like it, maybe just “Marinette caves, gives the Miracle Box to Su-Han, gets spotty memories and Luka (+ Kitty Section and Kagami, maybe) help her out and worry over her.” Maybe Tikki even realizes she screwed up. If not it’s fine but Lukanette makes everything better so I had to ask.
Warning: it’s gonna be a ride.
—————
Luka looked over as his phone started ringing, brows raising at the sight of Marinette's icon popping up on the screen. It'd been rare for her to call him after all the complications that came with them dating, so he was surprised to say the least.
Nevertheless, he rested an arm on his guitar and reached across his bed with his other to pick up the phone, answering the call and moving the device to his ear. "Hey, Marinette."
"Hey, Luka..."
His heart sank at the sound of her voice. It was a whole mix of emotions, but above all else, she sounded tired. He wondered what she'd gone through for her voice to play those sorts of notes.
"Did anything happen?"
"No," she answered almost instantaneously. She paused, then let out a small whine. "I-I'm sorry. I'm so used to lying, but—I guess I don't have to do that anymore."
He stayed silent, allowing her to continue.
"I—" Marinette took an audible breath, then let it out, her voice lowering to a whisper as if she were scared of someone else hearing.
"I'm...I'm Ladybug, Luka."
Luka's first reaction was shock, though he couldn't be sure if it was the identity bomb she dropped or just the fact that she told him at all. Then, once the surprise died down, the idea that Marinette was Ladybug wasn't that surprising in itself. and he couldn't imagine who else it could've been otherwise.
Smart, talented, caring, selfless... it all added up.
But that also made it all the more painful when he realized what it meant. Immediately, all the dates that she'd missed and all the things he'd been concerned about made sense, and it hurt.
That was the secret she couldn't share with him, no matter how badly she might've wanted to.
The last thought in particular was odd to him, and he couldn't help voicing it, "I... thank you for telling me, Marinette, but... why now?"
She took another breath, more unsteady this time, like she were a guitar with something jammed inside the base. "Because—I'm about to forget it, and now I can't stop thinking about everything I might forget; how I want someone to know. You were the first - the only - person I thought of." Then, hesitantly, she asked, "Is that okay?"
Luka swallowed, feeling the whiplash of another dropped bomb right before the kind of casual compliment that made his heart race. "Of...of course it is."
She sighed in relief. "Thank you."
He tried to keep quiet, but couldn't hold back from questioning, "You said 'forget'..."
"Yeah, because I'm guardian now. There was someone else before and they gave me the ladybug miraculous, but—" She paused, as if considering something, then seemed to shift the conversation. "See, I didn't know anything about being a hero at the start, and... I screwed up." Before Luka could ask or recall the event, she continued, "I let the first ever akuma go, and it let Hawk Moth spread his butterflies everywhere when Ivan got akumatized again. I fixed it, but it was still my mistake that started it."
"Marinette—"
"—and I always tried. I tried my best no matter what I did. I tried to be a good Ladybug, a good student, a good daughter, a good friend... and I tried to get Adrien's attention." She groaned, though the sound seemed muffled, perhaps by her hand. Her voice cracked as she went on, "That's where everything went so wrong, Luka. I knew I had bad luck, but no matter how hard I tried, things would go bad. It was humiliating, and I kept thinking that maybe I just wasn't trying hard enough. My parents had such a happy relationship and I wanted that, but I was just wasting my time. He was barely in my life but he got put into everything I did, and I made so many mistakes from him. There's a liar in school who wants to turn everyone against me, and Alya thinks I'm just jealous because of Adrien. Chloe convinced me to do things I'm not proud of, and it took a while for me to be Kagami's friend. I didn't listen to my kwami and used my miraculous for my own gain, and..."
"What's wrong with that?" he questioned, voice pained. "What's wrong with using your miraculous for you? You save Paris every other day—"
"—because bad things happen, Luka," she stressed as if it were something urgent. "Bad things happen when I... feel."
There was a pit in his stomach. He knew he shouldn't ask - knew he wouldn't like the answer - but he hoped for better regardless. "Feel... what?"
"Anything."
He hunched forward, not strumming his guitar but running his fingers along the strings, desperate for something to busy himself with. His shoulders were stiff and his chest felt tight, unable to fathom what she'd been going through compared to what he'd merely seen on the surface.
"No matter what I did, no matter what I felt... it was wrong, Luka. I embarrassed Chloe in front of the whole class and she wanted to move to New York. She'd bullied me for years and I was so happy." She sounded conflicted, like instruments that didn't go together. "Adrien told me it was terrible. He didn't know why I could celebrate it. I felt awful, so I gave her a chance; I gave her a miraculous."
Luka anxiously rubbed one of the strings between his thumb and index finger, torn between seething and trying to reassure her despite knowing that she'd cut him off.
"She got it in her head that she deserved it, but with Mayura around, it wasn't safe to let her keep having it. I had to tell her 'no,' and..." She let out a defeated noise. "Do you remember that day? At the park?"
She didn't need to specify, and his voice lost all life at the memory. "Yeah..."
"Adrien and Kagami were together. I let them go. They seemed so happy together and it was the right thing to do, but..."
She paused, and he braced himself.
"When I was going to see the guardian to get a miraculous, I saw them. I got distracted and I forgot to de-transform. Because of me, Hawk Moth found the guardian, and he got the miraculouses from him. By the time I realized what happened, it was too late, and Chloe got akumatized again to ruin me. Those bees you saw—they were hers. They mind-controlled everyone, and that's why your identities were compromised. The guardian had to give up the box with all the miraculouses in it to me - ladybug me - because Hawk Moth was probably about to kill him and become the next guardian." She let out a sob. "Giving up the box... it takes your memory with it."
Luka gripped the string he'd been rubbing.
"I don't know how much he lost, but... anything about the miraculouses was gone. He didn't recognize me. He didn't even recognize the love of his life. He had... feelings, but that was it. All because of me."
"Marinette—" he desperately tried to interject.
She cut him off, as he'd feared, "I'm just fixing my own mistakes. People think I'm a good Ladybug because they don't get that. They don't get that I'm just going in circles. My friends don't believe in me, my parents think I'm too clumsy to carry a tray, and... it always feels like someone - somewhere - is laughing at me, with every screw-up." She whimpered. "What good is a ladybug who gets people akumatized? Who gets her own boyfriend akumatized?"
"I don't blame you for that!" he shouted, intentionally raising his voice to talk over her.
He heard a small noise in response, though he couldn't tell if it was another whimper or a giggle.
"I'm sorry," she said, though what she was apologizing for seemed vague, "and thank you, for always being there for me. I'm glad I have time to talk to you before he gets back."
Luka had to calm himself down to ask worriedly, "He...?"
"The guardian; the one that came before the one I knew. He showed up in my room today and saw how I had all the kwami outside of the box; I guess you're not supposed to do that, and he wasn't happy. He told me about all these rules I broke and how I had to give everything back. I took him to meet Chat Noir, but Chat ran for it when he realized that I'd forget about him. The guardian is chasing him down now and I'm just here, with the box, waiting for him to get back."
Luka leaned back and stared at the ceiling, overwhelmed by the rush of information she'd thrown at him all at once. He hadn't even been the one to experience any of it and he still felt worn down as if he had.
"I—" He paused, not liking how his voice shook. "I wish I could've helped you, Marinette. I wish you hadn't had to do all of that alone. I know you feel like it's your fault, but even the best musicians miss notes and mess up. Please don't blame yourself."
She let out a non-committal noise and he knew then that nothing he said would help her. He was sure that she believed him, but words could only do so much, and unlearning what apparent months of suffering had taught her would be difficult.
Though, he supposed it wouldn't matter. "Will you forget... everything?"
"I don't know, but at least everything about Ladybug or the miraculouses will go." She let out a half-hearted chuckle. "I guess it was all for nothing in the end."
"It wasn't," Luka replied. "Marinette, no matter how many times you feel like you screwed up, you were still an amazing ladybug. Everything you said didn't change my mind about that." After a moment of thought, he added, "And that other guardian... how is he?"
He heard her take a breath, as if to give an automatic answer, but she stopped herself. "...He's away from Paris, living with the love of his life."
"See? That sounds better than being the guardian, in Paris, where Hawk Moth is," he pointed out. "Maybe he forgot more than he would've wanted, but—"
"Luka," she interrupted, as if something had just occurred to her.
He considered finishing what he was saying, but stopped himself in favor of wanting to hear her out. "Yeah?"
"A-ah... mm." She struggled briefly while trying to get the words out. "If—if I forget too much... if I forget you... would you still visit me?"
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about the possibility, but it hadn't been on the forefront of his mind either, mostly for the sake of keeping himself grounded.
After having an internal debate with himself, he settled for asking, "Would you want me to?"
"Don't say it like that," she pleaded. "Don't leave it all up to me. I...I'd understand if you decide you don't want to see me again. I wouldn't blame you, I just—" Her voice lowered to something both shy and fond. "—I'm my best self when I'm with you, Luka. We didn't date for that long, and maybe it would've been better for you if we never met, but I..."
The pause she made had him holding his breath, his grip on the phone tightening. He couldn't believe she would dare to imply that he wouldn't do it all over again; meeting her, writing songs about her, dating her...
Marinette let out a breath, and Luka noted that it sounded so... final, like this was really the end.
"I love you, Luka."
His heart hammered in his chest. "Marinette."
"Thank you, and I'm sorry," she whispered. After going quiet for a few seconds, her tone suddenly shifted as she said, "I have to go now. He's on his way."
Luka took a sharp intake of breath, but the click of the call came before he could speak. He could only stare down at the phone, Marinette's contact image staring back as an emptiness washed over him.
Then, he was on his feet, guitar tossed aside, and he'd never moved so fast before in his life.
—————
Marinette gazed at Luka's picture for a few more seconds, as if doing so would permanently imprint it into her memory, then sighed and tossed it onto her chaise lounge. She rubbed at her eyes, wiping away tiredness and unshed tears, unable to help wondering if Fu falling unconscious after his memory loss was something peaceful for him.
When she uncovered her eyes, she noticed the kwami, all distancing themselves from her but staring at her like she was a corpse in a coffin.
"What...?" she asked, though part of her already knew the answer.
They all exchanged glances, like they were debating telepathically, then Wayzz flew forward.
"I - we - we're so sorry, Marinette," he said. Bowing in respect, he added, "We got so excited, and we only caused you more problems."
Marinette shrugged, only able to offer a defeated smile. "There's nothing we can do now. It's too late to change anything."
Tikki approached, her body hunched over and making her look even smaller than she already was. "I-I should've said something. I let him talk to you like that and I didn't do anything to stop him."
Marinette reached over, tempted to pet or touch her kwami in some way to help reassure her, but pulled back at the last moment, too conflicted about it.
The sound of something landing on the balcony followed, and Marinette stared up at it like she could see through her ceiling.
"...He's here," she stated. After giving one last look at all of her kwami, she focused specifically on Tikki and said, "Spots on."
Su-Han descended into her room, Ladybug standing in the center and wanting nothing more but to get things over with. He approached her, raising his fist and then opening it to show her the ring inside; Chat Noir's ring. Plagg, meanwhile, hovered aimlessly around the room, not meeting anyone's eyes and probably sensing the tension.
"That crybaby was even more of a fool than I'd thought," Su-Han commented, "giving a miraculous to a boy whose face is all over this village."
"What?" Ladybug blurted out. A boy whose face was all over—but that meant—"Adrien?"
Su-Han raised a brow. "A friend of yours?" He promptly scoffed. "That makes him even more foolish."
She couldn't even find it in herself to respond, too busy grappling with so casually being told something she'd intended to never learn about if she could help it.
Adrien was Chat Noir? It explained a little bit of everything and made her feel a lot of everything at the same time, like the two personalities meshed together to create something both shocking yet profoundly upsetting. She saw her memories with Adrien in place of Chat Noir and vice versa, unable to separate the two and pursing her lips as she recognized that, perhaps if things had been a little different...
"Young lady," Su-Han called strictly, pulling her out of her trance. "I don't have time to waste here. Relinquish the Miracle Box to me, at once."
"A-ah..." Ladybug could only nod, still dazed but at least focused enough to respond. She stared down at her hands, staring at the red and single black spot on the back of each, then sighed and closed her eyes, accepting that it was the last time she'd see them.
"I, Ladybug, hereby relinquish the Miracle Box..."
The last feeling she'd remember as Ladybug was a deep, unrelenting regret; regret for all the things she did do, didn't do, and the things that weren't even in her control.
Then, as her mind was fogging and she was slipping into darkness, she felt something else.
She felt free.
—————
Luka didn't bother saying a word to Tom or Sabine when he charged inside the bakery, both of them letting out various shouts of concern as he bolted past them and ran up the stairs. He nearly tripped multiple times, but he never stopped moving. He dashed up each flight until his eyes locked on the door to Marinette's living room.
He opened the door in a hurry, ignoring the sound of it slamming against the wall, and headed right for the stairs to Marinette's room. He threw caution to the wind and pushed open the trap door in the same fashion, his eyes scanning the place in a panic.
Then, his gaze fell upon Marinette, lying there on the floor, earrings gone, and he realized that he was too late. If he were honest, he hadn't known exactly what he'd rushed there to do - try and prevent the memory loss? tell her how wrong she'd been during their call? call out the guardian for treating his beloved so cruelly? - but now that he was there, all he could think about was being there for her.
He took a moment to catch his breath, then approached and knelt down next to her. Slipping his arms underneath her, he lifted her up and brought her over to her chaise lounge, wanting to at least get her off the floor. Her phone had been resting on the chaise’s cushion, but he simply moved it to the table after setting her down.
He paced around the room, raking his fingers through his hair and ruffling it. His mind was still racing, as was his heart, and his running had nothing to do with either. He knew that, whether Marinette had her memory or not, she was the song in his head, and any pain that would come with her not knowing him couldn't compare to the pain of not seeing her again. She wasn't a burden, and no matter how many excuses he might have to come up with, he wasn't going to let her be alone, especially not when she trusted him with a secret that she'd only let him hear.
He was so distracted by his thoughts that he almost didn't hear the slight shuffling noise, though the sound of Marinette stirring was what made him fully turn around to look at her. While she laid there, her eyes were half-lidded and unfocused, darting aimlessly around the room as if in search of something.
"Marinette," he whispered, rushing over to her. Bending over the chaise lounge, barely thinking, he asked gently, "Are you okay?"
"Mm..." Her eyes found his, and she blinked a few times before she actually seemed awake enough to answer him. "Luka?"
His breath, his words, his very sound, all caught in his throat. If he were a guitar, his strings would've snapped from the sudden release of tension.
"Y-you... know who I am?" he asked in a small voice.
She tilted her head at him, confused by the question. "Of course I do? You're my boyfriend."
Boyfriend. She said boyfriend. She didn't just remember him, she remembered her feelings for him.
He got misty-eyed from the realization, and Marinette's eyes widened in alarm.
"L-luka?" she called, brows furrowed with concern. She reached up with a hand, sliding it along his cheek. "What's wrong—what happened? I swear I'm okay, I—"
He shook his head, gently holding onto her wrist and feeling the steady rhythm of her pulse to ground himself. "Nothing, Marinette. Nothing happened. You—you just had a bad fall."
"O-oh. I...I'm sorry." She pushed herself up with her free hand. "I'm so clumsy. I didn't mean to worry—"
He couldn't wait any longer. He hugged her, squeezing her with every ounce of love that'd been accumulating since they'd originally broken up. Marinette didn't seem to understand the intensity of his actions, but didn't hesitate to hug him back either, even humming with content and burying her face into his shoulder.
Her song sang freely to him. It wasn't torn or twisted up, playing openly instead of staying locked in a music box. He couldn't have been happier after she'd given him such a scare before, and any remaining questions could come later.
For that moment, he just let their duet play free-er than it'd ever been able to before.
—————
"Luka~" Marinette called from the kitchen. When he looked over to her, she raised two different bottles of iced tea, waving them a bit for emphasis. "Which one do you want?"
He hummed, then pointed to the one in her left hand. She nodded at the decision, then put the other bottle back in the fridge, retrieving a bottled drink of her own before leaving the kitchen to join him on the couch.
The last few weeks had been a bit of a rollercoaster, but not necessarily in a bad way. He'd had to deal with Marinette's memory loss and simultaneously piece together how exactly it'd all worked out, but all in all, it was good for her.
Most of Marinette's memories outside of being Ladybug were in tact, and Luka had realized soon after she'd woken up from her memory loss that the reason she’d forgotten about their break up was exactly because it'd been related to her being Ladybug. He'd tried vaguely to explain it to her as if he hadn't known that she was Ladybug, wondering if those negative feelings still lingered, but they both still wanted to date each other and thus concluded that not dating after all that would've been silly. He knew full well that she wasn't going to be stressed or strapped for time anymore, so it wasn't a subject worth debating over, especially if it meant that they could move back into dating without issue.
She'd initially cried when he assured her that he was happy to continue dating her. She couldn’t comprehend why and he'd merely hugged her in reassurance, imagining that he was also hugging the Marinette of the past who didn't believe he'd want to date her again.
Outside of that, there were additional gaps in Marinette's memory that she couldn't explain, and Luka was certain that they were either Ladybug or guardian-related. Her parents had been particularly concerned by the losses, but Luka noted to himself that the lost memories were for the best. It was as if all of the memories that had caused her stress had evaporated, leaving only good ones behind.
Adrien was the big one, as she hadn't been able to remember him at all. At best, she was uncomfortable around him, and Luka did her the favor of removing any pictures of the guy from her cork board and phone. It took him a while to figure it out, but once he put together that Adrien was Chat Noir, things fell into place. Marinette had explained during their phone call that the previous guardian had lost his memory of the love of his life, but Luka imagined that she might've been his confidant for so long that thinking of her as anything else was impossible. Factor in that Marinette had also explained that her crush on Adrien had seeped into her being Ladybug, and it all added up; so long as the connection between the person and the miraculouses was unavoidable, they were forgotten.
And Marinette seemed all the happier for it. To some degree, it was tragic that Paris didn't have Ladybug anymore, but as far as Luka was concerned, Marinette needed to be rid of Ladybug more than Paris needed her, and Marinette's health took priority over all else.
The new ladybug holder was no replacement from the original, but Luka had expected that. Despite them being an adult and having access to as many lucky charms as they desired, no one could substitute Ladybug's instinct and ability to think on her feet.
But that wasn't Luka's problem, and he wholly intended to make sure that it wasn't Marinette's either. She'd heard that there was a previous ladybug, but had no interest in anything relating to the heroes nor their miraculouses. The most she'd said about them was one time where she'd idly commented that her homeroom and PE teachers had been "busier than she remembered," though she'd brushed it off as being related to her mild memory loss.
He'd giggled at that. He had been prepared to have to fall in love with a slightly different Marinette, but she honestly hadn't changed much; still caring, still generous, and still the adorable mess that he loved so much. She could afford to work on her confidence, sure, but he didn't fall for her due to what Ladybug had given her.
"Luka?"
He blinked, then looked down to her; her and her bright, happy eyes, the darkness underneath having faded long ago. She smiled at him, oblivious to his thoughts and a brow raised in amusement.
"Were you daydreaming?" she asked curiously, her hand covering his and giving it a casual squeeze.
Luka still couldn't quite believe that he was hers and she was his. He recalled Desperada, that fateful day where she - Ladybug at the time - had given him the snake miraculous, presumably after she'd tried to give it to Adrien. He wouldn't have admitted it at the time, but there was a pride in being able to do something that Adrien couldn't. He'd never forgotten her words either, knowing now that they were Marinette's.
"You were the right choice, Luka."
He sighed blissfully, bending down to press his forehead against hers and replying, "I'm just happy."
She let out a small whine at the sudden and sweet gesture, but still pressed back in return. "Me too."
They stayed in that moment until a sudden thumping noise brought them out of it, Luka jerking his head up to stare at where it'd come from: Marinette's room. Immediately recognizing what was happening, he groaned and rubbed his face in irritation.
As expected, the man Luka had come to know as Su-Han emerged, descending the stairs and locking eyes with Marinette. She recoiled, her hands clutching Luka's sleeve as she murmured, "Not you again..."
Luka gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, then got up from the couch and walked around to face Su-Han himself.
The man huffed. "I'm not here for—"
"Marinette wants nothing to do with you," Luka said lowly. He went for the living room door, opening it and gesturing outside. Su-Han followed with an air of self-importance and Luka closed the door behind them, leaving Marinette safely out of the conversation.
"The former ladybug had not even informed me of what she'd done," Su-Han explained. "Therefore, it's time she take responsibility and—"
Luka snapped, "You don't get to blame anything on Marinette. She did everything you asked her to and you made her give up her memories." He purposefully left out the fact that she was better off without said memories. "You're the one who insulted her song before you even got to hear it."
Su-Han squinted, the phrase clearly going over his head. "...What?"
At that point, the sound of footsteps came from downstairs, Luka glancing past the railing to see Tom coming up, perhaps having heard the voices even if he didn't hear any specific words.
The moment he saw Su-Han, Tom glared.
"Honey! That man bothering our daughter is back!" he shouted.
More footsteps followed, this time from Sabine and simultaneously much faster than Tom’s. Su-Han clearly caught on that this would be a repeat of "last time" (one of Luka's fonder memories of seeing the man be dealt with) and quickly fled back into the other room to return to Marinette's balcony and escape.
Once Luka had confirmed that everything was okay, he returned to the couch to sit at Marinette's side again. She tilted her head at him, but didn't ask any questions, Su-Han having become something on a "frequent but harmless weirdo" who she didn't understand.
Luka held an arm out invitingly, then wrapped it around Marinette when she snuggled against him. He used his free hand to open the bottle of iced tea - finding it difficult but also not worth leaving their cuddle to allow for both hands - then tipped the drink to his mouth to take a sip.
"Hey, Luka?" Marinette called, slightly shy in her delivery.
Luka met her gaze, setting the drink back on the table so he could give her his full attention. "Hm?"
"Could we... go on a date tomorrow?" she asked, one of her hands idly fiddling with the fabric of his pant leg. "I was thinking we could go buy a movie to watch? The one with Jagged Stone?"
He didn't know if the request had anything to do with the failed date that she may or may not recall anymore, but regardless, he was grinning like a fool. He pulled her closer, his free hand falling upon one of hers as he nuzzled her. "I'd love that."
He silently looked forward to the day where all the new memories he made with her outmatched the time lost from her old ones.
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johnsamericano · 3 years ago
Text
𝔖𝔲𝔤𝔞𝔯 ℜ𝔲𝔰𝔥 𝔧.𝔧.𝔥
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Hi everyone! As promised, here’s one of the two most voted fic continuations. There will be more chapters to this story though I'm not sure how many yet. Thank you for reading!
warnings: sugar daddy jae, mentions of injuries and hospitals, language.
taglist: @thoreeo @trustmahluv
Sugar rush m.list.
The machine monitoring your father’s heartbeat was the only sound filling the quiet hospital room, where your once healthy father laid unconscious, his perfect, chiseled cheeks adorned with cuts and bruises. Would they leave a mark?
The machine monitoring your father’s heartbeat was the only sound filling the quiet hospital room, where your once healthy father laid unconscious, his perfect, chiseled cheeks adorned with cuts and bruises. Would they leave a mark?
The machine monitoring your father’s heartbeat was the only sound filling the quiet hospital room, where your once healthy father laid unconscious, his perfect, chiseled cheeks adorned with cuts and bruises. Would they leave a mark?
The machine monitoring your father’s heartbeat was the only sound filling the hospital room, where your once healthy father laid unconscious, his perfect, chiseled cheeks adorned with cuts and bruises. Would they leave a mark?
The machine monitoring your father’s heartbeat was the only sound filling the hospital room, where your once healthy father laid unconscious, his perfect, chiseled cheeks adorned with cuts and bruises. Would they leave a mark?
Where did everything go wrong?
Your string of thoughts was cut off by a call from your aunt.
Your string of thoughts was cut off by a call from your aunt.
“Hello?” Your voice was raspy from not using it. There was no one to talk to in the quiet, hospital room but the nurses, who weren't especially keen on chatting.
“How’s your dad, sweetie?”
“They let him out of ICU, but he doesn't look good to me.” Your fingers traced the cuts in his chiseled cheeks that would soon turn into scars, ruining his perfect skin. Your eyes then diverted to his head, thoroughly covered in bandages to protect his damaged skull.
“Honey, I've got bad news...”
“They rejected the case, didn't they?”
“Not precisely.” She deeply inhaled before continuing. “It’s a tough case, almost impossible to win, nonetheless, they're willing to take it. But their fee is a little...”
“Expensive.”
“Yes.”
As expected from the best firm in town, they wouldn't take less than $8,000. Your bank account didn't have enough money to even cover half of it, and with your job at the convenience store, you'd only earn so much to cover your expenses.
“We can take the lawyer that the government provides us with, it would be free.”
“But then I'm sure we’d lose.” You groaned in frustration, using your free hand to rub your forehead. “Don’t worry, I'll find a way to get the money.”
“Why don't we just accept the compensation they're offering? It could pay for the hospital bills and you'd still have some left to pay for your tuition.”
“That would be like putting a price on my father's life. I don't want their money, I want them to make themselves responsible for what they've caused.” The sound of wheels approached the door of your father's room, signaling the nurse was outside with his meds. “It’s okay, Auntie, I'll take care of everything. You can go back home, I know my uncle isn't doing so well.”
“Are you sure, darling?” It was undeniable that she wanted to head back to her little ranch fat away from the hectic city life to take care of her sick husband, but still, her brother was laying down on a hospital bed, fighting for his life.
“Yes, I'm an adult, I'll find a way.”
“Take care of yourself, and don't hesitate to call me if you're having any difficulties. I'll be there in the blink of an eye.” She said before sending a kiss into the speaker, proceeding to hang up.
You sighed. It was never usual for you to ask for help, as you were an extremely prideful and independent person, and you doubted this time would be different.
“Don’t worry, dad. Everything will be alright.”
Three failed job interviews and one more to go. Your feet were killing you, the high heels covering them already worn out from walking to avoid taking the bus. Every penny counted, and as long as your legs worked, you weren't spending any more money than what was necessary.
You sat down in the waiting room of the company, massaging your neck to relieve some tension. College was becoming a burden. Maybe you'd take a semester off to focus on working, that is if someone wanted to hire an inexperienced student.
“Y/n, Y/l/n?”
“Here.” You darted up, gathering your belongings to enter the room on which your life almost literally depended.
You gave all the right answers, earning a polite ‘we’ll contact you’ in return. But you could see that they weren't convinced with your lack of experience, no company in their right mind would be.
As soon as you arrived at your apartment, you slid out of the uncomfortable pencil skirt, tucking yourself under the covers with your phone screen almost hitting your nose.
To take your mind off things, you decided to watch some videos. Halfway in, an ad popped up, interrupting the interior deco video you were watching.
A picture of a girl about your age hugging an older man was right in the middle of your screen. Written with fancy letters, the words ‘make your life simpler’ could be read, followed by what you guessed was the title of the app. Sugar rush.
Out of pure curiosity, your finger tapped at the small icon that led to the app store, absentmindedly clicking the download button. A few seconds later, an icon with the letters ‘SR’ was added to your home screen.
“Log in?” You murmured out loud, squinting your eyes to adjust your eyes to the bright, white homepage.
Just as you were about to click out, the phrase from the ad reappeared, stopping your finger from moving any further.
You could always delete your account if something went wrong, right? Nonetheless, you decided to use a false name, and that's how Melanie Kim’s profile was created. You left the circle of your profile picture empty for now, only filling the spaces that asked about your likes, dislikes, age, and all that stuff that people care about so much.
You knew what the app was for, but that didn't stop you from being surprised when a list of men and women of different ages greeted you. Right then, a small rectangle obstructed your sight, two buttons offering opposite things.
‘Pick the role you'd like to develop.’
Sugar daddy/mommy / Sugar baby.
Clearly, you didn’t have nor the money or the years to be the first, so you clicked the opposite button without giving it more thought.
‘Welcome. You've been registered as a sugar baby at Sugar rush. Meet thousands of men and women willing to finance you for free!’
You hummed.
‘As we're always looking to make our users’ experience better, we've developed Sugar Rush premium, a membership to meet the richest and hottest people in your surroundings. Get the premium version for only $5.95 a month. Click here to get Sugar Rush premium.’
Your finger pad was dangerously close to the blue button, almost grazing the screen of the phone. It was then when you were pulled out of your trance, blinking as if just then you'd realized what you were doing.
“I must be crazy.” You turned off your phone, not bothering to turn on an alarm for the next day. You had no interviews left. You had nowhere to go.
Waking up was getting harder with every passing day. Not being able to call your dad to go out for breakfast or even sending a simple good morning message hurt you deeply. You missed him. But seeing him laying down on a hospital bed, unable to do anything by himself, was even worse.
Ding
A notification filled the silence in your room.
‘Come back, you haven't finished setting up your account yet!’
You scoffed at your past self. What were you even thinking when you downloaded the app?
You simply turned off the phone before standing up to take a relaxing shower. As the water soaked up your tense body, your mind started wandering off back to the app. A million what-ifs filled your head, nonetheless, there was one that remained the most persistent.
‘What if this can pay for a lawyer?’
Your part-time job surely couldn't, and you had no one to assist you financially speaking. The whole idea of paying that ridiculous membership seemed more tempting as your fingers started getting wrinkly under the showerhead.
You decided to take some time to consider it, after all, you still had a week to give the lawyers an answer.
Hot soup seemed like a good option to comfort you, and thankfully, there was a store right in front of your place that claimed to sell the best soups in town.
It wasn't bad, but not nearly as good as the one your dad cooked when you were a kid. You sighed, wondering if you'd ever be able to eat it again. Just then, a woman about your age came into the shop, carrying a couple of bags where names of popular brands could be read. A pinch of jealousy made your heart stir as you glanced at yourself through the reflection in the glass at your side. You looked devastated, your skin pale and your cheekbones slightly sunken, a sign of the lack of rest and food you'd been getting.
Out of pure impulse, you pulled out your phone, clicked on the app you'd recently downloaded, and finally accepted the charges for a premium membership.
‘Welcome, new member of our wide community, click ok to get started!’
Well, no turning back now.
Right after pressing the blue letters with your thumb, you were presented with a list of potential prospects, some of them including pictures, some of them only including name and a brief description of what they were looking for. The minority included their ages, but most left the space blank.
A bunch of old men looking for a youthful, pretty woman to be by their sides, some of them even went as far as writing the weight and height their ideal partner should have. Of course, there were also some women in the look for young meat, but the number of men overpassed them.
About to exit the app in defeat, a profile caught your eye. His pale pink hair was parted, allowing his thick eyebrows to stand out. His high cheekbones made him look like a statue, the details in his face almost too perfect for a mere human. He must be the incarnation of a Greek God, you thought.
‘Jung Yoonoh. 41 years old. Owner of N & C.’
“Should I...?” You asked yourself in a voice lower than a whisper.
He has probably gotten hundreds of messages, so what would be the point of sending one yourself? Your eyes scanned the picture over and over again as the remains of your soup started getting cold.
He was probably the only acceptable man in the whole app, so why not give it a try?
You already spent five whole dollars on it, might as well make it worth the money.
‘Hi.’ Sent.
“Holy crap.” You breathed out, regretting every single action that led you to take such a stupid decision. “Ah!” You squeaked as three small dots appeared beside his profile picture, signaling he was writing a reply.
What if he rejected you right from the beginning? God, that would be so humiliating. His message stopped your train of thought.
‘Hi!’
Followed by:
‘How are you?’
Sweating like a pig, thank you for asking.
‘Fine. You?’ Read.
‘Thrilled. No one had messaged me since I created my account two weeks ago.’
‘How is that possible?’ You imprinted your thoughts on a message.
‘It’s hard to trust people nowadays. I guess people might think either my picture is photoshopped or I'm lying about my job.’
‘Their loss, ig.’ Read.
He was taking some time to answer. Had you said something inappropriate?
‘Hahaha.’
The conversation stopped there, as you didn't know how exactly to answer his message. But a few minutes later, another text from him popped up at your chat.
‘If you're okay with it, we can start talking about a possible arrangement.’
Already? You've known each other for like five minutes. But then again, arrangements were the whole purpose of the app.
‘Sure.’
‘May I ask your reasons for joining the app?’
‘I need urgent money, but my job doesn't pay nearly enough.’ You omitted the part of your agonizing father, he didn't need to know that. ‘And you?’
‘I need someone to be my partner at public spaces.’
‘Alright.’ Read.
‘Do you happen to have some free time tomorrow at lunchtime? I think it’d be better to meet first before making any decisions.’
‘Yeah, I'm free.’
‘Great, I’ll send you the address.’
You thought a day would be enough to prepare yourself, but time passed by quicker than usual, and soon enough, it was time to get ready for your meeting with Mr. Jung. He was only a few years younger than your father, and calling him by his first name wouldn't feel right.
Unsure if you should wear something formal, you threw on a beige (the color you'd agreed on wearing so it’d be easier to recognize each other) summer dress, pairing it with the gold hoops you'd inherited from your grandma to make it look more elegant.
The hardest part of your routine was makeup. Your sunken cheeks couldn't be covered, and only after a few layers of blush and highlighter, you could bring your skin back to life.
On your way to the cafe, you went through the things you'd say when you met him. It was your chance to get your father what he needed.
You stood at the entrance with wide, scared eyes, shyly scanning through the place to look for your date.
“Melanie?” A hand on your shoulder had you jolting. “I’m Jung Yoonoh, nice to meet you.”
What you saw after turning around was breathtaking. A handsome, healthy man, with the most beautiful pair of dimples.
“Nice to meet you.” You managed to blurt out without stuttering, extending your hand to make the greeting more formal. The fake name didn’t seem necessary anymore. “It’s actually y/n, I didn't want to use my real name.”
“I understand. Let’s take a seat.” He offered with a kind smile.
He left you seating at the terrace while he made your order, a latte, and a chocolate cookie. Your fingers played with your hoops anxiously, trying to regulate your breath.
“They’ll bring our food in just a sec.” He offered a warm smile. “Your dress is pretty.” Yoonoh said out of nowhere.
“Thank you.”
“I see you're not a chatty person.” You were about to object, but he started speaking again. “It's not a bad thing! I usually talk a lot, so it’s a nice way to balance things.”
You nodded, seemingly uncomfortable with the man sitting in front of you.
“So, uhm, this is my first time doing this, so I'm not really sure where to begin.” He pulled out a folded paper from the front pocket of his dressing pants. “It’s a bit creased, but I can always print another one. I brought it so you could take a look and let me know if you wanted to change anything. I don't mean to pressure you, but you said it was urgent, so...”
You read the paper under his attentive gaze, making sure not to miss a single word. Everything seemed correct, except...
“Six months?”
“Is that too much?” A small wrinkle formed between his eyebrows, a sign of deep concentration. “Okay, so let's do this instead.”
He took back the contract, pulling out a pen from the pocket in his dressing shirt to correct the original stipulations.
“Four months, and if by the end of them you don't absolutely hate me, we can extend the time. Deal?”
“Just one more thing.”
You cleared your throat, conscious that your following words might jeopardize the whole arrangement.
“Are you sure you want to make it official already?” You had to stop for a moment as the waiter left your orders on top of the wooden table. “I mean, it's not that I have a problem with it, but it's your money and maybe you'd like to give it a better thought.” You resumed.
“The fact that you're concerned about me proves I'm making the right choice. Now, tell me, how much would you like to receive as a weekly allowance?”
Would it be too reckless to ask him straight up for the $8,000?
“H-how much are you willing to give me?” You felt dirty, accepting a stranger’s money like that.
“Whatever you need.” His hand suddenly reached forward to yours, causing every ounce of blood in your body to rush to your face. “There’s no need to be embarrassed, I'm here to help you.” His voice tone dropped, acquiring an almost soothing feeling.
“I need eight thousand by Thursday, next week.” His eyes were wide open, mouth having difficulties remaining closed. “I-I know it's too much, but...”
“I can find a way to give you that money, but I'd like to know the reason why you need it. Just to make sure it's nothing illegal.”
You puffed your cheeks, trying to find an excuse good enough to justify the amount of money you were asking for.
“It isn’t illegal, is it?”
“No!” You retrieved your hand from below his, now embarrassed at the possibility of him having a bad image of you. “I need it for my father.”
“I suppose you don't want to talk about it.” He started at his palm, lips pressed in a thin life. “But when it comes to arrangements like this, we need to trust each other, alright?” You barely knew each other, yet, he demanded to know a very personal detail of your life. Not that he didn't have a good reason for wanting to know, it wasn't a particularly small amount of money.
“He had an accident at work...” You started, fearful of looking up to find pity in his eyes. “I need a lawyer to make his company legally responsible. They intend to throw it under the rug and pay a somewhat decent amount of money to make it go away. The firm I intend to hire is supposedly the best in town, probably my only chance of getting justice.”
“And why don't you just accept it? There's no guarantee that your lawyer will win the case.” You fisted the delicate fabric of your dress, eyes watering as you tried to hold back your anger.
“My father’s life is priceless, and if you think what I'm doing is a waste of money, then fine, we can both look for someone else to help us.” It sounded more aggressive than you'd first intended, but you meant every word that came out of your mouth.
Before you could even stand up, his slim fingers had already wrapped themselves around your wrist.
“I never said that.” He whispered with an almost sad tone. “Come on, sit down.”
He tugged at your arm the slightest, showing off his charming dimples once again.
“I’ll give you the money on one condition...” He raised one of his thick eyebrows. “I’ll go with you to see the lawyer.”
“Why...?”
“That’s my condition, take it or leave it.”
“Okay.”
The days before your meeting with your potential lawyer were nerve-wracking. You'd seen Yoonoh another time to sign the contract, which finally made your arrangement official.
You’d visit your father every day, always hoping he'd be sitting with his arms wide open, ready to hug you. But nothing had changed ever since he first came into that room.
“I’m here to see Mr. Kim.” The secretary's gaze lingered on Jaehyun a few seconds before he finally snapped out of it. “Y/n Y/l/n.”
“Just a second.” He opened his agenda and quickly found your appointment. With a warm smile, he guided you through the corridors of the building, all the way to the elevator. “It’s the only office on the last floor, I'll be at my desk if you need anything.”
Once again, he shot Jae an uneasy glance before the metal doors slid close.
“What was all that?” To be honest, you couldn't care less. But a small chat might calm your nerves and prevent you from throwing up all over the place.
“What do you mean?” He grinned, pressing the button to the top floor.
“You know what I mean.” You scoffed, annoyed at his evasive behavior.
“We just happen to know each other, nothing special.” Before the conversation could continue, a loud ding resonated through the metal cubicle. “Let’s go.” His hand found its place at the small of your back, pushing you towards the glass door. Through it, you could see a black-haired man reading a pile of documents, occasionally raising a photo to examine it with his gold-rimmed glasses supported at the bridge of his elegant nose.
Jaehyun extended his arm over your shoulder to knock on the door, earning an almost annoyed ‘come in’ from the man inside.
“Let’s go.” Once again invading your personal space, he reached for the doorknob with you trapped between his arms.
As soon as the door opened, the man raised his eyes from the documents he was checking.
“What are you doing here, Jung?”
“I knew something was off...” You murmured, loud enough for the man at your side to chuckle.
“I brought you a client, you should be happy.”
“Miss y/n, I suppose. Have a seat.” His demeanor completely changed while speaking directly to you. “I spoke with your aunt last week, she explained the details of the lawsuit, but I must say, it isn't an easy case.”
“I know that, but I've been told you're the best firm in town, I know I'll have more possibilities of winning if you're my lawyer.”
“Best firm in town my ass.”
“Be silent or I’ll kick you out of the building.”
That was enough for Yoonoh to zip his mouth. For a while at least.
“I suppose she also told you about our fee.” He pushed his glasses up using his thumb. “We’d also keep 25% of the lawsuit money assuming we win the case, is that okay with you?”
“Yes-”
“Okay, stop.”
“I’ll call security, Jung.”
“Look at me, y/n.” He squeezed your arms. “This clown is trying to scam you...” He pointed his finger at the lawyer without breaking eye contact. “You’d be spending loads of money for someone who isn't even confident in his abilities. It isn't worth it.”
“And I suppose you'd do better than me, then.” The black-haired man scoffed. “If that's the case, then you can both leave. I'm quite busy at the moment.” With a turn of his wrist, he signaled you to leave the room.
You were fuming, stomping out of the building with Jaehyun right behind you.
“I found a great restaurant nearby, we can go there and-”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Calm down-”
“Don’t tell me to calm down when you just fucked up my only chance to give those bastards what they deserve.” The sun was starting to set, yellow light casting shadows over his tender cheeks.
“Can you listen to me for a second?”
“Are you laughing right now?” You bit your lip, hard, trying to hold back the tsunami of tears threatening to come out of your eyes. “Asshole.”
“Ouch.” He furrowed his eyebrows mockingly. Oh, how close you were to punch that pretty face of his. “Can I explain now?”
You remained silent, staring at the ground with the smallest frown between your eyebrows.
“How do you think I know Kim Doyoung?” Before even giving you a chance to answer, he continued. “That son of a bitch has been stealing my clients for ages.”
“Your clients...?”
“He isn't even that good of a lawyer compared to me.” He scoffed with fake arrogance.
“You're a lawyer?!” You slammed your palms into your face, whining at the newly acquired information. “Why didn't you tell me from the beginning?”
“Just wanted to swing by and annoy him a bit. Don't worry, I wasn't gonna let you accept his deal.” He winked playfully.
The sun was now hidden, the sky darkening as the moon rose to take its shift.
“Though I gotta say, I'm kinda offended I wasn't even an option. I'm a pretty great lawyer, you know?”
“Sorry.”
“I’ll forgive you if you join me for dinner. What do you say?”
As you walked into the darkness of the streets, his shoulder occasionally bumping yours, you wondered if meeting him was a casualty. Maybe the world was finally smiling at you.
251 notes · View notes
rxvenclawwriting · 4 years ago
Text
internet trolls
corpse x fem!reader word count: 1.7k warnings: internet hate, self doubt, mentions of anxiety a/n: sorry this is so dialogue heavy! also it’s lowkey trash because it is 1 in the morning here hahaha
─── ・ 。゚☆: *.☽ .* :☆゚. ───
“good morning everybody!” y/n’s voice sang through corpse’s headset. corpse’s heart skipped a beat when he heard her soft voice. “how are you all doing today?”
“how do you have so much energy?” sean asked causing rae and sykkuno to giggle.
“how do you not have energy?” y/n retorted. everyone had branched off into their own conversations, leaving y/n and corpse sitting there in silence. “morning corpse!”
“oh uh good morning, y/n,” corpse coughed. the personal greeting had caught him off guard since she had said good morning when they woke up. “you’re happy today.”
“it’s a beautiful day to be happy! the sun is shining and we’re all hanging out together!” y/n beamed, a smile stretching across her face. corpse found a smile mirroring hers on his face. somehow her positivity and happiness always rubbed off on him, brightening his life on even the darkest of days.
“going back to sean’s question, how do you have so much energy?” corpse chuckled. “did you stay up drinking coffee again?”
“maybe,” y/n dragged the last syllable out for a few seconds. corpse laughed, knowing for a fact that’s exactly what she did just so she could stay up all night with him.
“alright, who was supposed to be babysitting y/n last night?” rae asked, eliciting booming laughter from everyone on the call. it was no secret that they all babied y/n. she was the youngest out of them after all. well technically so was corpse since they were the same age but no one thought of him as the baby of the group.
“i think it was your turn rae,” sean replied through his giggles. he gasped after a second. “did you leave the child unattended?”
“just for that, we’re voting you out first, rae,” sykkuno said.
the game started and as soon as he could, sykkuno called a meeting. the meeting earned a few groans from the other players until sykkuno spoke. “time to vote rae out!”
“you were serious about that?” rae whined.
“sorry rae,” y/n squeaked.
“face the consequences,” sean said as the small icons popped up under rae’s name.
the game continued with the normal shenanigans and people getting voted off.
“look guys, it’s corpse! let’s follow him for a bit,” y/n said to her viewers. “i wonder how many-“ just as she was about to follow corpse to his next task, he turned around and killed her. “corpse! no!”
she heard corpse laugh from the next room at her sudden outburst. y/n rolled her eyes and stared at her screen in disbelief for a few seconds before switching to look at her chat. chats zoomed by as she tried to reply to as many as possible.
“do they actually take turns ‘babysitting’ you?” y/n read from the screen. “they do not. not to my knowledge at least. but i do FaceTime with someone almost every single night that I’m not streaming. wait! they do babysit me! i can’t believe this.”
she watched the chat fly by when a certain message caught her eye.
‘god she’s so annoying. it’s like she thinks the world revolves around her. she should just stop hanging out with all of them. no one wants her here.’
y/n stared blankly at the screen, her enthusiasm dying in her throat. she was shocked by the sea of chats that seemed to be agreeing with the first chat. soon people started sending in messages saying the person was wrong and that there was no room for hate in her streams.
she sat in silence for the rest of the game, occasionally thanking people for subscribing to her and for their donations. the others hadn’t noticed since she was a ghost and she wasn’t really participating in the game. she watched her view count go up for a bit before it started declining. soon her headphones were filled with the sound of her friends loudly commenting on the game. a small smile made it’s way onto her face as she heard their laughter.
“is y/n still here?” sean asked after a few minutes of conversation.
“i’m here,” she said simply, lacking her normal pep and enthusiasm. “is it time for a new game?”
“yeah,” rae said. “whoever’s host start the game!”
the game started and “IMPOSTOR” flashed across her screen in big bright red letters. she cursed under her breath and prepared for the round. she followed corpse around for a bit to gain his trust, going with him to all of his tasks and leading him to random spots so it seemed like she was also doing tasks.
“when should i kill corpse?” y/n asked her chat. she saw a bunch chats telling her to do it right then and there. she got ready to hit the kill button when all of a sudden corpse ran in the opposite direction from her. she tried to catch up but it was like she disappeared. “well, fuck.”
she decided to hop in a vent and move around the map until she could spot him again. just as she was about to get out of the vent, someone called an emergency meeting.
“i just saw y/n vent!” toast exclaimed. she was in medbay and i saw her vent!”
“impossible. her and i were together the whole game and she didn’t kill me,” corpse said.
“after you left medbay, i went in to do my scan and i saw her go into the vent,” toast explained.
“y/n? did you vent?” corpse asked, his deep voice flooding y/n’s ears. she sighed into the mic shaking her head at the camera.
“yep,” she said. she didn’t really feel like playing anymore, the comment still weighing on her. she was quickly voted off and just watched the rest of the game take place.
her phone buzzed next to her and corpse’s contact photo popped up across her screen.
 is everything okay?
she decided to ignore his text, a feeling of guilt settling in her stomach. she didn’t want him to worry about her. that wasn’t fair. he had a lot going on without the added burden of her emotions. her thoughts began to drift back to the comment. maybe that person was right. maybe her friends didn’t actually want her there. she was almost always the only one to start conversations and she was almost always the last one to be invited to the game. feelings of sadness and anxiety overcame her. maybe, just maybe, there was some truth to their words.
“good game,” y/n laughed softly when the game ended. “well, not for me but you get the point.”
“sorry for getting you out so fast,” toast said laughing.
“it’s okay,” y/n giggled in response. “i think i’m gonna head out for now. sorry guys!”
everyone replied with “see you later y/n!” as she disconnected from the call. she quickly thanked the people who were watching her stream before ending it. slumping in her chair, she covered her face with her hands. small tears streamed down her cheeks as her shoulders shook. 
“corpse,” she choked out. she managed to pull herself off of her chair and she stumbled into his gaming room. 
when he heard the door open, corpse turned his attention from the screen to his disheveled girlfriend. immediately, he muted himself and quickly walked over to her. 
“baby? is everything okay?” he asked cautiously.
“can you...can you please hold me?” y/n choked out. corpse wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close to his chest.
“what happened?” he asked. y/n shook her head against his chest. “baby, please tell me what happened. i can’t help if i don’t know what’s happening.”
“can i just sit with you for a little? i’ll tell you, i just need a little time,” y/n whispered, sniffling every few seconds. 
“okay, love,” corpse mumbled. “do you wanna sit on my lap? or do you want to get your chair and bring it here?”
“can i sit on your lap?” she asked. 
corpse nodded his head and lead her over to his chair. after he sat down, he pulled y/n onto his lap. y/n dug her head into the crook of his neck and hugged him tightly as he resumed the game. he left a hand on y/n’s back, tracing random shapes as he played. corpse played for a few more rounds, laughing and chatting as y/n watched from her spot on his lap. he ended his stream soon after the 10th game, promising he’d play more the next day. he gently lifted y/n’s head off of his shoulder and met her y/e/c eyes. “okay, love. what happened?”
“someone left a mean comment on my stream,” she mumbled. she felt so childish phrasing it like that but she couldn’t figure out any other way to word it.
“what did they say?” corpse could already feel anger bubbling inside of him. how could anyone be mean to her? she was literally the sweetest person on the whole planet.
“they said that i’m annoying, i think the whole world revolves around me and that,” she took a deep breath. “i should stop hanging out with everyone because no one wants me there.”
“you know that’s not true right? we all love you so much. some more than others,” y/n giggled at his bad joke. she reached for his hand and started twisting the rings on his fingers. “don’t let the mean comments get to you, baby. they’re only internet trolls who have nothing better to do. they don’t know you so their opinion doesn’t matter. what really matters is that you are the most positive, loving, caring, and amazing person in the whole world, okay?”
y/n nodded and looked up at corpse. “but what if..”
“no. no what if’s. i love you with my whole heart, y/n, and i’m telling you that the person who said that is completely wrong.”
“what did i do to deserve you?” y/n asked, looking up at him with big doe eyes. 
“i think the real question is, what did i do to deserve you?”
─── ・ 。゚☆: *.☽ .* :☆゚. ───
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sleeping-lilies · 4 years ago
Text
Title: I Get Tim a Cat Because It’s What He Deserves (oh and i guess a group chat 🙄)
a batfam/wayne family groupchat would literally never happen in canon but it would be so fucking funny you all don’t even know, so i will do it anyways.
the chat just kinda... starts. no one know where it came from. who added them. who??? none of their emotionally stunted asses would be caught dead making making a family chat tf? why can’t any of them leave? they smash their phones and then on their laptop a notification pops up like “you’ve joined ‘x’ group” and they’re stuck there. might as well use it ig, but for what???
“everyone who is alive type ‘i’” no one responds so bruce spends hours trying to find out where their bodies are until he finds out everyone just had the chat on mute
“why isn’t alfred on here” “huh. alfred isn’t on here and no one knows who made the chat?” “so whoever made it just left immediately?” “...” “lol anyways”
tim was trying to send a snap to the core four gc but accidentally sent it to the family chat and gets super embarrassed (of course this happens when everyone’s online why wouldn’t they if it makes tim’s life more difficult) and everyone makes fun of him. duke printed out copies and plastered them all over tim’s apartment while tim was out for something and tim nearly murders duke. after that no one puts the chat on mute because this was too funny.
no one actually, like, texts on a regular basis because they’re not like other families 🙄 they only text if it’s really important or someone’s dying.
that’s being said, “dick where is dog” “send doggy” “dog?” “send doggy” “dick when did you get a dog?” “SEND DOGGY” “i demand you send the dog this instant” “dog now.”
damian breaks into dick’s apartment to take a selfie with him and haley (or bitewing, haley is just shorter to type) captioned “she is mine this is a warning to all of you. i will not hesitate if any of you low lives come near her.” and dick is like “??? this is my dog i can’t have anything these days, siblings take everything, man—” oh ya, everyone reacts to the haley photo with a heart. also dick only lets this shit slide with damian, if jason the problem child pulled this shit it would be on sight lmfaooo
- tim: the dog is cute but, but in photography i learned you have to crop out everything unimportant, like this *crops out damian from the photo*
- in other news, tim joined the dead bats club and now only bruce and duke are left 😃🔪
bruce: check in if you are alive. *everyone’s status is online*
u don’t know about y’all, but my bruce wayne is a responsible father who keeps an eye on his kids, or at least does his best, “has anyone seen duke? he has school and i can’t find him” “i will find him... if you give me $50.” “i will give you the money jason just tell me where he is” jason sends a photo of himself and duke laying down on the floor eating pop tarts.
-“literally why do you all keep coming into my apartment” “our apartment, dick” “i pay for this apartment it’s mine, i keep living in blüdhaven for a reason, god, siblings always steal everything that’s your’s—” it’s ok guys dick simultaneously has eldest daughter’s syndrome and absent sibling syndrome, who is doing it like him? legend behavior. anyways, duke and jason left crumbs on the floor and dick beat them up lmao.
“can i have money” “dad” (theyre sent by same person just different text) “yes cass i will sent you as much as you need, $2,000 is enough for shipping with friends?” “dad can i have money too” “dad can i too” “may i have some too dad” “dad” “dad” fhdjdjsks they only call him dad when they’re dying, want something, or are tattling on each other, someone save him 😩
“@everyone the interviewer in the last segment asked me if we have a family chat and i have a feeling they will try to pry into my texts to see what we are texting, please actually send something so they don’t get even more nosy from our lack of communicating” *someone sends the bee movie script*
ok but like, as time goes on they get more comfy texting each other and acting like a normal(ish) family unit that texts a little more. like tattling.
“someone broke the vase in the hallway and if they don’t want me to tell pennyworth who did it they will buy alfred the cat a new scratching post by nightfall” damian is so funny i love him
“HELPPVHRNXKAK” “what’s up with jason?” “cass is sitting on him” “lol” “i think she’s gonna break his arm fhdjdksk” “ANDBSJ I HAT E YO U A LL” “when did you all come to the manor???”
“😂” bruce vs “lol” dick and cass vs “agdhsjak” tim and duke vs “hA” jason vs “i don’t find any of you funny” damian
“damian i am putting your lemon cake pop thingies in the last bottom shelf on the right, i put the code and everything in the safe” “how often does damian even come to your apartment, dick?” “whenever you’re being an asshole bruce” “he’s always an asshole dickhead 🙄” “exactly 🥰”
“dad guess what” “TIM NOOO” “remember when” “TIM TIM TIM” “you told duke to take the day shift” “I WILL NEVER POST YOUR SNAP PHOTOS TO A GROUPCHAT WITH THE ENTIRE SUPERHERO COMMUNITY AGAIN!!!” “and he agreed to if he did his school work first?” “MERCY, MERCY” “what did he do, tim” “fjdjxkskkz duke goes on school zoom meetings during patrol and pretends he doesn’t have a mic and camera and i was watching his helmet footage and it was so funny, the teachers just believe him when he pretends to have really bad network and can barely type in the chat” “my teachers never trusted me that much” “that’s because you made a kid cry once jason stfu” “wait how did u know that cass—“
“AHDBSNZKAJHF” “stfu duke” “what’s wrong with him where is he?” “cain came to visit” “ohhhh” “FHDJFJDJ HELLPPPXSND” “i know you’re taking a video, you little shit, send it” “no todd come here and take one yourself—or don’t, your presence is unwanted” “fucking brat”
“DAD DICK HIT ME” “DAD JASON’S LYING” *bruce wayne online* (he doesn’t fucking respond fhsjskla) (is it because he’s exasperated with them or crying because they called him dad even though it’s a manipulation tactic or both we’ll never know)
“everyone who is alive, type in chat” *everyone is online* then bruce edits the message to say ‘everyone who wants alfred’s cinnamon rolls, type in chat’ “i guess NO ONE wants alfred’s cinnamon rolls, how sad” and the entire chat goes wild lmfao
ok uhhh let’s do on a scale of 1-10 texts most vs is online the most
bruce: 6-texting, 5.9-online because he always makes an effort to text his kids to check up on them and when his kids are texting he will text as well here and there in the convo to interact with them because he never sees and interacts with them normally and he wants to do better 🥲. he get’s minus 0.1 because of that one time jason and dick were fighting and he logged off agdhsjnz
dick: 3-texting, 3.5-online because he’s the only one in this hellhole of a family that has an actual job (in this house we uphold gymnastics teacher grayson 🙏) and sometimes he won’t have energy to text. so. but he does make an effort when he can. he’s online more than he texts because he’s able to sneak looks at the fights when he has downtime during his job and wants to see the drama lmfaooo. also everything goes on in his fucking apartment for some reason, so now he gotta break up a (one sided) fight between cass and tim because someone has to be a responsible adult.
cass: 2-texting, 10-online because she watches more than she texts? she’s more content to watch what’s going on than to join in. also 8/10 she’s usually the one causing the drama that everyone’s texting about, like beating up the others, so she can’t text while beating them up. i mean she could, but she wants to put more energy in beating them up (lovingly) (cass is basically violence (loving)) and watching what everyone’s saying about her fights. she’s always online to catch a glimpse at the drama. also most of her texts are to dick to see bitewing. and ask for money.
jason: texting-8, online-4 because if cass is the one causing drama offline, jason’s causing drama online. jason wants to be chat cryptic but texts the most lmfaoooo. he’s antagonizing his siblings whenever he sees them and whenever he can’t, king shit. he’s online less because he deadass doesn’t care that much, he’ll read the texts later if he really wants to, otherwise either duke or tim will fill him in on the drama. (“jason ur in the chat too—“ “shut up, tim, now tell me how cass beat damian’s ass)
tim: texting-6.44444, online-10, see tim texts a lot just not to the family group chat lmfao, he has REAL FRIENDS 😤 uhh ya, that’s why he’s online all the time, cuz he’s either texting his friends or on his phone doing some shit. broke: tim stays up late working on cases, woke: tim stays up late texting his friends and playing video games over chat. tim just. interacts with his family, gets bullied by them, ya. that’s the life. also he and duke keep throwing hands because it’s the family curse to beat up tim and in this essay i will discuss how dick is the superior sibling because he never tried to kill tim—wait he probably pushed him down the stairs once nvm but it was totally justified, king
duke: texting-4, online-4 because he has, like, school. and daytime patrol. and is like a junior in high school and therefore has a fuck ton of homework. my boy has no time for family and he doesn’t want it because they’re annoying, obviously 🙄. if he wants drama he’ll go into damian’s room and get the drama. diy icon. he’s online as much as he texts but is so fast of a reader he’ll know the drama in time for the next episode of wayne family shit. most of his time online is picking fights with tim and roasting his siblings to a crisp. he’s so mean, guys, legend has it that one time duke told jason that his helmet looked like a shriveled up dildo and that it could never be the gay statement he wanted it to be jason went offline for that entire day in order to cry himself to sleep. at least he got sleep (allegedly) ayyy duke the problem solver.
damian: texting-1.5, online 2 because the only time he’s texting is to ask dick for photos of bitewing and to send photos of his pets back as proper payment. a negotiator ugghhh father like son. damian honestly doesn’t care about the drama he just wants to sketch bitewing (using the photos dick sent as reference) into the Family Portrait Sketch™️ of the rest of the Animal Family™️. it is an honor for damian to create such a piece, picasso the women hater quakes in his grave as such art that blows his dog shit “art” FAR out of the water is developing. anyways, he goes online for that and to throw random barbs at his siblings. like no one is online and damian just throws a “drake is stupid” in chat and just dips. he’s online more to text the other teen titans and jon because they’re better than his dumbass family (and he texts grayson on messenger so fhdjdjsks) true chat cryptic, jason envies him
alfred: 0-texting, 10-online. huh who said that
“duke take down the tik toks, tim is crying”
“who has my sweatshirt??? i will kill you all” “i have it jason” “nvm cass that’s your sweatshirt now i’m sorry for being presumptuous don’t aTTACK ME” fhdjdjsks
“guys i have the day off do you want to hear when delilah said to jonathon it’s so funny” “are those the kids in your gymnastics class?” “ya” “tell us everything”
the bats just... love hearing drama about those kids because they’re so dramatic. apparently alex threw a rubber ball at maya and she tackled them. wild.
time for a round of: WHO SAID IT?!?!
“how do i make my text bold like the rest of you?” —bruce, dick, cass, and jason at some point.
“how do i change my screen name? please change it back to before” -cass when tim changed her name to “hal jordon #1 stan” (“what is a stan” —bruce), (“i don’t like it either change it back” —bruce after finding out what a stan is)
“what the fuck is a pog” —jason
“fucking ‘tik tok’. we used to use vine when i was a teen. i was a front line soldier of great disasters” —dick on one hand lmfao dick is so old but on the other hand holy shit you used vine??? tell us more about the battles fought
“what is a dilf?” —bruce after scrolling through twitter
ok that’s all, my brain is gone.
“cass dick is turning purple get off him” “no. make him give me my scarf back.” “oh dad that’s terrible can you send a video as evidence?”
“GUYS I FOUND A CAT AND IT SCRATCHED ME AND IM GOING TO THE HOSPITAL BUT GUYS!!! CAT!!!” “drake send a photo of the cat immediately” lmfao bruce zooms to the hospital after that text
“GUYS THE CAT HAS AN OWNER I CANT KEEP THE CAT 🥲” “the one time you could prove to be of use and you fail, drake.” “wow tim, find a cat to steal without an owner next time” “timmy, timmy, timmy, i can’t believe you’ve messed up in finding a cat again” “again?” “again?” “again?” “when i adopt a cat i’m not showing any of you, i hate you all” (lmao hard version of guess who is who i’ll give you a hint dick cass and bruce are the confused ones. )ok it’s not hard anymore.
“dad please get me a cat 😳🐱 haha jk 🤣😩 unless 👀😏😃🙏🥰” anyways tim named the cat starry because of her fur-hair-thingy
“they just so you all know steph just crashed in my apartment and i have work in the morning” “i will pick her up in the morning” “you mean tim will, you don’t have a license, cass. anyways”
“dick do you need help moving?” “no, bruce, i think i can handle it, donna and wally are helping me anyways, but thank you” “mOVING???” “OUT OF YOUR APARTMENT???” “DICK THAT SAME APARTMENT ON 666 HELLHOLE AVENUE???” “...ya?” “NOOOOO” anyways they all break into dick’s new apartment when he moves in, walk around it, and then leave. they just... ya... damn, these bats...
anyways that’s all. see ya.
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save-the-spiral · 4 years ago
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PLS PLS LIST THE SWAPS!! TELL ME ABOUT THE SIBLINGS AND ALSO HIFUMI BECAUSE I LOVE HIM (IF YOU WANT!) I will also send more questions in the morning too, excited to see what you’ve been working on!!
OK OK OK !!!!! AHH! So, before assigning talents, I swapped the pools, so for the first game, I use the talents from the second game, and vis versa! For some i listed gender, sexuality, or neurodivergencies, though this isn’t all of them, and I haven’t developed them all to the same level!
This is SO long. I didn’t even bother mentioning things like my plans for the killing games. (I have DR1 planned out in full, but only parts of DR2 and the v3 anime)
THANK YOU FOR THE ASK MY HEART SKIPPED A BEAT IN HAPPINESS WHEN I SAW I HAD NEW ASK NOTIFS!!
LIST:
Trigger Happy Havoc (first game)
Kyoko Kirigiri- Ultimate Luckster- Mastermind (: Sometimes lesbians can be evil okay! was trained as a detective like everyone in her family and didn’t get the ultimate :) she’s definitely not mad about that :) her luck cycle depends on how far she plans things ahead. her good luck is when she’s spontaneous! She hates when ‘normal’ people are accepted by ultimates.
Makoto Naegi- Photographer (Mostly wildlife and nature photography, with Sayaka helping him for some animal photography (: trans and bi <3 One of sayaka’s birds nests in his hair like all the time)
Kiyotaka Ishimaru- Ultimate Swordsman (AUTISTIC ICON, has trained in kendo since he was a kid, then was essentially given away to the Fujisaki clan by his very stressed dad. Semiverbal, rarely speaks.)
Chihiro Fujisaki- Ultimate Yakuza (Taka is her bodyguard! His family is in debt to hers, the Fujisaki clan is the most powerful in Japan. trans icon, of course, dates Sayaka! Very direct, though she’s far more delicate and polite when talking to taka, her best friend)
Sakura Oogami- Ultimate Nurse (Works as an EMT- her clan still is in martial arts, so she’s still very buff, she assists in injuries at the family dojo. Autistic Icon)
Asahina Aoi- Ultimate Gamer (ULTIMATE ADHD. streams and has a ton of fun, will ramble while breaking records, demigirl who loves her girlfriend sakura :)
Mukuro Ikusaba- Ultimate Chef (Works best with ‘cheap’ food, and making them taste good. a byproduct of growing up on the streets with junko, and junko being bored of the same old food they dug out of the trash. now works closely with junko for her teams’ nutritional needs! autistic and sapphic.)
Junko Enoshima- Ultimate Team Manager (there are SO many sports she can never get bored, and the professional scene is always changing! prefers coaching womens’ teams, because being an ultimate brings them more publicity and usually higher pay :)
Mondo Oowada- Ultimate Prince (OH MY BOY. trans adhd icon. now the crown prince of Novoselic, with a reagent in his place until he comes of age. His service dog Chuck is a maltese and an absolute sweetheart. Chihiro takes him under her wing to teach leadership. also dates taka later OF COURSE, though they’re poly and I may add more ppl to their relationship later.)
Celestia Ludenburg- Ultimate Musician (specializes in violin, most strings, though she can play any instrument. grew up poor, dedicated herself to an instrument and persona to cope)
Byakuya Togami- Ultimate Musician (Yep. two musicians. two catty trans gay icons about to throw down. they HATE each other and grew up as rivals. specialize in classical, they literally tore a professional orchestra full of grown adults apart trying to make them side with who was the best musician. they’re so good that they’re matched, and Hope’s Peak accepts them as one student and combined ultimate. they room together. they fight. Literally if one of them gets expelled, the other does too, so they’re STUCK. eventually they become literally inseparable and insufferable together like the WORST siblings. I love them.)
Sayaka Maizono- Breeder (animal handler) (Specializes in birds!!!!!! has songbirds on her shoulders all the time. will give unsettling animal facts without realizing they’re unsettling. sends her songbirds to serenade chihiro when they start dating <3)
Yasuhiro Hagakure- Gymnast (you see this tall goof who acts like an older brother to everyone and wonder HOW he’s a gymnast. he’s completely different in competitions, though still lighthearted. becomes a big brother figure to mukuro and junko especially <3 also trans bc i say so.)
Leon Kuwata- Traditional Dancer (he just. kinda hates it. it takes SO much work and effort but he takes to it naturally. his cousin kanon is NOT like in canon, instead she’s helpful. he’d literally rather be doing anything else. doesn’t know how to do anything like... basic either. can’t cook. cant do his own laundry. everything was dedicated to traditional japanese dancing before he attended HPA.)
Toko Fukawa- Engineer (writes schematics and is very good at it. gets VERY upset when her plans go wrong. her notes are orderly and perfect. host for their system!)
Syo- Mechanic (a factive of genocider syo, NOT an actual killer. she’s a protector mainly, and also is more adept at hands on skills when it comes to fixing things, her hands are less shaky. Her notes are a disaster and she does it to spite Toko.)
Hifumi Yamada- (???) (reserve course) Protagonist! My BOY. HIFUMI IS GOOD OKAY. He’s autistic and loves anime and gaming! he’s not particularly ultimate-leveled at them, or anything else! Attending Hope’s Peak as a reserve course student! At one point he joins the student council as a reserve course representative even if he’s only a freshman :) He’s also a moderator in Hina’s livestream chat, under the username of JusticeHammer, fastest ban hammer this side of the internet. He's internet friends with hina and sakura, and doesn’t realize Oh We Go To the same SCHOOL until he bumps into them. and realizes hina doesnt know what he looks like. but sakura does. its hilarious. he’s aroace, and during the year they’re locked in HPA, is in a queer platonic partnership with Hina and Sakura, while they’re dating each other. it’s great.)
Goodbye Despair! (second game)
Peko Pekoyama- Lucky student (ohohoh. her luck relies on her conviction. if she has doubts her bad luck strikes HARD. trans!, was taken in by Fuyuhiko’s family when she was a baby, grew up as just another kid in the family. They all expected Fuyu to go off to HPA on his own and then BOOM acceptance letter)
Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu- Programmer (He. gets so angry while coding. He has an array of rubber ducks to talk to and work through his coding issues with. trans of course. Very protective of Peko when people say she doesn’t have a ‘real’ ultimate. ADHD and Autistic)
Sonia Nevermind- Writer (Literary Girl) (Her family immigrated to Japan when she was young! She writes a lot of serial killer novels, murder mysteries and horror and all that! Trans and bi :)
Gundham Tanaka- Detective (YEAH my guy is a detective. still talks Like That. Trans and bi and he and Sonia were kinda-dating (t4t autistic power couple in the making) when things started happening. He spends some time with his cool older sister who he looks up to a LOT. He and Sonia talk through things together a lot, they both have those red string walls, one for murder cases, another for a fictional plot lmao.)
Mahiru Koizumi- Moral Compass (my GIRL. autistic. Her morals rely a lot on people taking responsibility and being reliable, and she ends up having to work through some biases she didn’t realize she had when she arrived at HPA. Is still protective of Hiyoko, though that protectiveness is spread a bit thinner to extend to the rest of the class.)
Hiyoko Saionji- Clairvoyant!!! (HI YES I COULD TALK ABOUT HER FOR DAYS. Has actual visions in dreams and when she suddenly faints, but doesn’t really realize they’re uhh Real Visions for a WHILE. uses her status as an ultimate clairvoyant to trick and bully kids when in school for a LONG time, though her homelife wasn’t great with her grandmother trying to find ways to make her visions more consistent. SHES ALSO 12 WHEN SHE JOINS THE 77TH CLASS. she’s just so advanced in academics and her ultimate is so interesting hope’s peak cant HELP but scout her early. she has SO many issues guys no one appreciates hiyoko enough, autistic gifted kid hiyoko my beloved.)
Akane Owari- Gambler (started gambling to help out her family and Got Good at it. is very very conscious of money and food like all the time. Runs the hope’s peak betting pools once she arrives. these ultimates bet on a lot of things. she ALWAYS wins. until she doesnt!!!)
Mikan Tsumiki- Martial Artist (ohhhh Mikan. Still anxious and clumsy (though not like THAT in canon) and literally no one looks at her and thinks Oh The ULTIMATE martial artist?? it isn’t until you see her in the ring that you understand. She started learning self defense as a kid because her (bad) parents essentially said she had to rely on and protect herself and no one else would help.)
Kazuichi Souda- Pop Idol (OH TRANS ICON? he’s nervous and paranoid about Everything still, though now it’s like. oh the entire world is always watching my every move this is Okay (: has the brightest neon album eras. he literally keeps up a like. weird chad persona when interacting with people because he’s masking how hard he’s constantly just internally screaming.)
Nagito Komaeda- Soldier (AHAHAH my mans got issues problems disorder he’s a messssss, this trans guy, this absolute gay. this boy leveled a city of thousands of people with his own hands and some bombs. Still has medical issues, but most of his like. treatments and medicine is hold hostage as long as he stays in line. believes the ends justify the means and anyone who dies to him is obviously weak, because look at him! he’s weak, but that doesn’t matter because he doesn’t have to be the strongest, he just has to be stronger than the weakest scum.)
Chiaki Nanami- Heir (OOF. Agender, uses any pronouns. Doesn’t really. enjoy being the heir. grew up with Byakuya in the same circles. she treats the economy and stock market and stuff like games. enjoys gaming but isn’t good at them. collects so many things. has halls full of collections. Her parents stopped controlling her once she was able to prove she had more money than them and could literally bankrupt them if she wanted.)
Hajime Hinata- Baseball Star (Chiaki’s best friend, his family was upper middle class until he hit it BIG as a baseball star. wants to do BIG things and wants to attend hope’s peak more than anything!! Doesn’t really think of baseball as his THING, just a means to an end! trans :)
Teruteru Hanamura- Biker Gang Leader (started with shaking down some jerks who didn’t pay their food and drink tabs at his mama’s restaurant. now he RUNS their tiny town. His siblings are essentially gang mascots, he works hard to keep them out of trouble (while bringing them to like. meetings where he ends up beating a dude almost to death. its fine). most of what he does it to get more money to keep the restaurant afloat and care for his mama with her health conditions.)
Nekomaru Nidai- Fashionista (the drama. the CHAOS. most people are like ohhh we can never understand this artistic genius when he’s literally just. vibing and has ADHD and a love for coffee. Works a lot on accessible clothing lines for disabled people! Also he and Kazuichi work together sometimes, Nekomaru is good at calming Kaz down and seeing like, the root of whatever problem and making it better. ALSO A TRANS ICON and just flaunts it.)
Imposter- In the hope’s peak days they are impersonating Ryota Mitarai, as a part of the 77th class. In the Killing Game they impersonate Mondo Oowada as the Ultimate Prince. They’re doin’ their best.
Ibuki Mioda- (???) (Izuru Kamakura) Protagonist! Gundham Tanaka’s older sister (though they’re in the same school year). Nonbinary and using just. an array of pronouns alongside she/her, and jokingly fights with gundham for neopronouns like MOM said it’s MY TURN on the rawrself pronouns. She attends the reserve course to stay at her brother’s side. She dresses loudly and acts even louder because !!! she wants to stand out!! in the middle of this drab reserve course hell!!  but when things go down, she wants to be someone, to be worthy of being her amazing brother’s big sister. so she accepts some offers.
NON-KILLING GAME:
Ryota Mitarai- Ultimate Analyst (stays in his room. He’s terrified of the outside world but fascinated by it. watches hope’s peak academy through security feeds, picking up on little details. he just wants to understand things but never looks at the big picture.)
Chisa Yukizome- Ultimate Boxer (Homeroom teacher!! She’s working really hard and believes in everyone! Some are intimidated by talent, but she’s never hurt anyone outside of the ring! Dating Kyosuke)
Juzo Sakakura- Ultimate Student Council President (Has anger issues, though his work at reigning them in assisted in becoming an Ultimate. Was responsible for security and the Hope’s Peak student council. Dating Kyosuke)
Kyosuke Munakata- Ultimate Housekeeper (Meticulous, works himself to the BONE even if he’s good enough to not have to do that. Is working on establishing another Hope’s Peak! Dating Chisa and Jozu!!!)
Seiko Kimura- Ultimate Blacksmith (GIVE MY GIRL KNIVES!! She’s an anxious gal, always wearing a facemask that filters the air in her forge because she has some respiratory problems. she prefers making more decorative pieces like an artist, but sometimes can create utilitarian pieces or tools to fit specific needs. Still a doormat)
Ruruka Ando- Ultimate Pharmacist (She constantly asks Seiko for new tools for her developments in medicine, saying its all for the advancement of humanity, so Seiko denying any request is SELFISH, though she never thinks to make anything for seiko’s health issues. Dating Izayoi. Specializes in medicine for mental health. Not Doing Great :)
Sonosuke Izayoi- Ultimate Confectioner (He loves sweets. LOVES them. Creates things that look plain, ordinary. but taste so GOOD you CRY and maybe ascend for a little bit. sometimes Ando makes cool new drugs to put in the sweets, who knows! It’s a mystery! He always has like. a huge refrigerated case of fresh cakes, and constantly has a lollipop in his own specialty recipe in his mouth.)
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highladyluck · 4 years ago
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Mat/Tuon meta: Will He/Won’t He (Stage A Military Coup)
Back on my Mat/Tuon meta horse! This is about why Tuon is absolutely convinced Mat won't mount a military coup against her, and under what circumstances he just might, actually. Obviously, ‘ware series spoilers. The personal/political dynamic Mat and Tuon have at the end of the series continues to fascinate me. Tuon is well aware that Mat’s prince-consort position, Prince of the Ravens, is a position that could lead a military coup against her leadership; she knows all about the power struggle that imperialist, expansionist government leaders face with respect to their armies and the generals that lead the armies. She also knows at this point that Mat specifically has the skillset to pull that kind of thing off; he has demonstrated political skill even if he's not used to Seanchan customs (she noted that the way he diffused tension in the hell boded well for his ability to handle Seanchan court politics), he quickly inspires personal trust and loyalty in his troops regardless of what troops he's actually leading (see: when he meets back up with the Band in the Altaran wilderness, plus how quickly her own armies took to him), and of course he is brilliant at tactics and strategy (see: the entire series starting at book 4). She is also *certain* that he won't actually use that power against her. He has shown her personal loyalty on numerous other occasions, and Tuon's entire brand and survival strategy is generating personal loyalty due to her power (or potential power), skills, and personal integrity. She knows what personal loyalty looks like and she knows how it works. She's a little appalled at herself for not being afraid of Mat staging a coup, and she even thinks that it's probably not good for her or the empire to *not* be constantly threatened by her top military commander, because she's been conditioned to believe that external threats keep her sharp and focused- but she absolutely does trust him not to be a threat to her. Which is wild!!! You have to understand how wild this is!
Tuon previously only trusted her personal safety to people she thoroughly controls- Selucia, Karede, her damane. She does have a kind of control over Mat, but it's not based on anything she's done or her position, it's based on his personality and choices, and I don't think she thinks she controls him. (I think she believes she has authority over him, and that's at least somewhat true, but that's much different from the total control she has over enslaved people, or even the political control she has over the Blood.) She does also trust people she doesn't entirely control- the people who are almost her peers- but notably she doesn't trust them not to hurt her. She trusts that they'll act in ways benefiting their own self-interest or the interest of the empire, which could mean they might hurt her.
Mat, on the other hand, she trusts not to hurt her except accidentally, by making choices that have implications for her standing. (That's what all the manners lessons are about, she's trying to protect him so he doesn't leave her exposed.) Again, THIS IS WILD. Tuon’s an autocratic empress raised under the threat of assassination from birth, she has MAJOR trust and control issues, and here is someone she does not fully control but whom she implicitly trusts not to physically or even intentionally harm her. Do you think she's ever had that experience in her life before? I can't see how she would have. I think there's room to explore this in a way that would be therapeutic for Tuon, but it's also an extremely tempting vulnerability to exploit narratively. Either way, it's fascinating. So what's Mat's motivation not to harm Tuon, and how much of it does Tuon know? It's both a character thing and a situational thing, and I think Tuon knows about some of it, but not all of it, and she also has some major blind spots about what Mat is capable of. Mat won't intentionally harm her for a couple of general character reasons: he's in love with her, which she knows about and is like 'weird flex, but ok'; I don't know if she really knows how to parse it tbh. Also, because he won't kill a woman, which she knows about and is like 'this dumbassery is going to get my himbo straight-up murdered; however, it's kinda cute'. Also, because he has a saving-people-especially-women-thing, which she may or may not know about; I forget whether it came up in any of her surreal chats with Mat's childhood friends, but even if it did she may not know enough to give it proper context in his motivations, or understand how truly generalized it is. He's also promised to protect her from harm in the past, and while that may have been a time-/situation-limited thing, she's seen that he keeps his promises, assuming he gave the promise in earnest. So while he hasn't necessarily made such a promise recently, she knows that he keeps his word and that's something she values as a mark of integrity and a reason to trust someone. The other reasons she trusts him are more down to circumstances: the Last Battle had him temporarily siding with the Seanchan against their common enemy, the Dark One. I think Tuon's aware that he's not fully committed to the Empire yet, but possibly she doesn't realize the extent to which he is ambivalent, or she thinks it's the kind of thing they can compromise on, like the uniform design, rather than a fundamental disconnect in goals. Or she thinks that once he understands what his responsibilities are, he'll absorb himself into the role the way she has, which is... uh... rather optimistic of her, but we all have our blind spots. Finally, I don't think Mat's fully realized that a military coup (which would likely look like a situation where he spares Tuon's life but gets her off the throne) is an option for him. Or, it's occurred to him, but the circumstance has not yet come up that would justify him taking that path. And I do *not* think Tuon has considered this! She might think he knows that the Prince of Ravens is traditionally a threat to the Empress, but I don't recall that she's actually said that to him. And I don't think she sees a difference between her not being Empress and her being dead- she's conflated 'being in power' with 'staying alive' literally her entire life, and she probably thinks any situation where she's not Empress but still alive, if it's even possible, would be so shameful/painful it would be better to be dead. So it wouldn't occur to her that one outcome of a coup would be to replace her as government head but still keep her alive. And Mat hasn't yet faced a situation where he might have major ethical issues with not just the structure of the army but also the goals of it. (Even his iconic ‘I am accidentally leading an army despite really not wanting to lead an army, because I can’t let these dumbasses get killed’ move was ethically consistent, since he was just trying to run away/save people.) And, as I will never shut up about, he’s done literal war crimes to achieve his goals before- he didn’t stop to give aid after he ambushed the Seanchan in the Altaran forest, even though Teslyn specifically says this is against Randland military convention. And given Mat’s early canonical history of being railroaded into leading military campaigns, I don’t think Mat’s going to balk at leading the Seanchan army just because he doesn’t like the Seanchan empire, though it will matter what specifically he’s asked to do with it and why. I think Mat's way more likely to be willing to lead the reunification of Seanchan than to deal with local Westlands slave uprisings or rebellion. You're going to hit his moral breaking point a lot sooner if there's domestic civil crises. An actual slave revolt or rebellion would get hit with military force, and Mat says as much to Beslan so he's well aware that he'd be, if not in charge, certainly culpable for the Seanchan government response to it. (They might try to prevent it from happening at all with Seekers; but Seekers are mostly focused on the Blood, I think, so I think it's possible that if there's minimal Blood involvement they might not know about it in time to nip it in the bud.) So if you wanted to force Mat to have a crisis of conscience that's one situation you could set up, and I think it's even somewhat likely. Post-TG Seanchan-Westland politics are going to be a Cold War, and many entities in the Westlands would be happy to lend plausibly deniable support to an organic citizen and/or slave uprising! The other thing is, Mat needs to be constantly occupied and he does like using his skills; if he gets an 'acceptable' target for military force he probably will go for it. So if the forces in Seanchan unified under a rando warlord, he'd probably be ok leading the Westlands Seanchan troops there, reasoning that Tuon is probably a better or at least more influenceable ruler than that other guy. (Might be complicated if it was a female unifier, but probably not that much.) He would not be keen on enslaving the free Westlands- not that that’s going to happen as long as the Dragon’s Peace is going on- but a ‘peacekeeping mission in a foreign land’? ...idk, I can see him going for it, especially if he doesn't have enough political capital yet to back up an outright refusal. Mat was conflicted about using the damane he captured in the Last Battle, but he did use her. She was a prisoner of war from the enemy side, which probably eased his conscience a little re: personally owning her, but I don't see anywhere in the text that he had issues commanding Seanchan sul'dam and damane in a less personal way. The Last Battle was an unusual situation, but we've also seen Mat willing to ally or at least put up with plenty of people he dislikes- on personal and ideological grounds- to achieve a goal (see: rescuing Joline) or just figure out his options (see: all that card-playing with nobles in the Stone of Tear while he had emotions about Rand. XD)
So if you wanted to force Mat to have a moral crisis while fighting in Seanchan, you'd make the people he's fighting in Seanchan be people he sympathizes with more than he sympathizes with imperial Seanchan; let's say it's a coalition of rebels who want a different, more equal society. Mat's got gilt by association (thank you for that amazing phrase, Terry Pratchett) and he's not pleased about it, and unlike Tuon, he can envision a situation where she's still alive but not Empress. So I think that'd be another situation that would force him to have a crisis of conscience and start planning a coup or at least using his considerable power for leverage. The key in both cases is that it's not just Mat randomly deciding to take a stand for freedom; frankly, I don't think he would, unless he thought it was the best way to 'rescue' Tuon, and even then he would wait or maneuver until the tactical/strategic landscape was as much in his favor as possible, which is where the external circumstances weakening the Empire come in.
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amethystpath-writes · 4 years ago
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BTHB Communication Suddenly Cut Off
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@badthingshappenbingo
Original work!
Communication Suddenly Cut Off
******
Hero adjusted her shoulder, elbow on the arm of her chair. "No way!" She dropped her spoon into her bowl of cereal. "She actually said that to him?"
On the other end of the line, Friend laughed. "Oh yeah. I don't blame her a single bit! I mean, he was borderline stalking her. You remember when we were at Max & Erma's and he dressed up as a waiter just to see her? Insane."
Picking her spoon back up and shoveling it into her mouth, Hero mumbled a 'Yeah, guess you're right'.
"So what have you been up to? I missed you at the party today. You doing alright?"
Bending forward with legs bent on the cushion, Hero put her bowl on the coffee table in front of her. She grabbed her phone with a hand instead of holding it between her head and shoulder. Hero was cramping enough without having to take up weird body positions.
"I'm alright," she said. "Just exhausted from work, you know?" Exhausted from fighting a villain you hopefully know nothing about.
Friend was silent for a moment. "I get it. It sucks not seeing you though. Maybe we could have a movie night." Her voice pitched at this. "Be exhausted all you want that way. I'll get us some popcorn. And! I'll get the nacho cheese stuff to sprinkle over it!" Hero smiled in her seat. "I'll pick up a few movies from Redbox, too, so we don't have to watch a bunch of oldies. Okay, that's it. That's the plan. Now," Friend hummed then began mumbling, "It's five o'clock and Mom needs eggs from the store. I'll try to be there by-"
The line went fuzzy, a quiet chshhhhhh. "Friend? Hey, you're cutting out." Hero stood from the chair, walking to the window. Maybe there was better reception there? If it was on Friend's end then it didn't matter much, but she could at least try. "Friend? You there?" She pulled the phone away, the screen of her phone lighting up. Hero was on a second call. No name though. Weird. She hung up, or at least tried to. The screen hadn't changed when she tapped the little red phone. Hero tapped it again, but nothing happened.
Next time she tapped the counting timer that told her how long she was on a call with Friend. The phone call returned normally and the other disappeared. She shook her head.
"H-ero? I th-ink-"
Hero cut to the chase. The call wasn't getting any better. "What time?"
Chshhhhhh.
Damnit, Hero thought, and peeked at her phone again. 'Unknown Caller' it read for a second time. "Hello?" she said impatiently. No answer. "Hellooo?" Nothing.
She hit the home screen, tapping the text message icon then tapped on Friend's contact. 'Hey. Phones are acting weird. What time do you think you'll be here?' Hero typed. Hitting send, a red and encircled X appeared. 'Message failed to send' it said below. She touched the X and then touched where it said 'Retry'. The X reappeared. Hero repeated the process once. Twice. Three times. Four. Five. Nothing, nothing, nothing. "What the hell?" Her phone was slow sometimes, but never this bad. "She'll get here when she gets here I guess."
Her phone began to ring just as she tossed it on the couch across the room. Sighing, she went to pick it back up. 'Unknown Caller'. No. If it was important, they could leave a message or text her. Hero didn't pick up from numbers she didn't know, or from numbers that didn't appear on screen. She pushed the lock button on the side of the phone, rejecting the call.
"How rude, rejecting my call."
Hero froze. Her shoulders drew tight, her spine straightened so much that it cramped as badly as when she held her phone with a shoulder. Her jaw clenched and her eyes went wide, staring vacantly at the couch cushion in front of her. Was Hero breathing? If she was, she didn't feel it.
"Won't talk to me on the phone and now not in person either, hm?"
Goosebumps rose along her arms as she heard the villain stepping closer. How had he gotten in? She turned. "How did you find me? Where did you get my information? What else do you know?" Information being both her address and phone number, maybe even her specific phone if he was able to block her communications the way he did.
Villain looked so casual, he always did. You'd never expect him to be a madman who plotted humanity's demise. He looked like a fancy historian; brown pants, black turtleneck, plaid and half buttoned jacket. He had his hands planted in his pants pockets now. Hero still had no idea how he managed to get inside of her apartment.
He chuckled at her uptight-ness. "Can't we just chat for once- for a minute before you question my how-comings and motives?"
"No," Hero responded shortly.
Villain fake-pouted. "How's come? You and your friend seem great. I would love to gossip to you the same way."
Hero rolled her eyes. Her shoulders were still tense, but she was relaxing- not so far that she wasn't prepared, but just enough that she wasn't uptight beyond movement. "You didn't answer me. What else do you know? How did you learn anything about me?"
He smiled at her. "Now that's a fun story. Guess I get to monologue after all."
"Make it short."
"Or what?" He dazzled her with a wider smile, one that showed teeth. Was it just her or were they sharpened? It was just her, definitely just her- and her anxiety, her terror.
Villain strode to the chair Hero had been sitting in just minutes ago. He plopped down, ankle on knee, arms on either side. "Go on," he told her. "Sit."
"Maybe you should stand."
He chuckled without moving. "Darling, I don't think you understand how easy I have been on you. In multiple ways, actually." His eyes fell from her own to the couch behind her. "Sit." Villain looked at Hero again and she swore something changed in his eyes. They almost seemed darker. She obeyed.
"Now, I think you recall that little stalker of your friend?" Hero squinted, but nodded. "Did you know he's able to take up the appearance of anyone he wishes?" He didn't wait for a response. "In that, he's also able to project his own appearance onto bystanders, even control what they would do as him. Very talented, very...mindfully aware."
Hero shook her head. "Where are you going with this?"
He shushed her, softly, as if she was a baby. "He came under my employment about a month ago. Remind me," he said, "how long ago it was that your friend became ill."
Her eyes went wide and she nearly launched from her seat, realizing what he meant. Villain might attack her if she acted out so suddenly though. Hero remained seated.
"What have you done with her?" she demanded. It made sense what he said. Whoever his worker was, he made himself look like Friend 2 then made anyone else appear like him. But where was Friend 2 if she hadn't been with Hero and Friend all along?
"Nothing too dastardly. She isn't starving, but I'm sure she would appreciate a nice chicken dinner."
"And Friend?" she asked, somewhat panicked. Friend was okay, she had to be. Yeah, the phone call ended somewhat abruptly, but that was just because Villain interfered. Beyond that, she was fine, right?
Villain shrugged. "What do you think?"
Her eyes stung with tears she refused to let fall. She shook her head. "Why are you here? What are you doing?"
"Entertaining myself mostly. You're my opponent. I wanted to brag."
"I'll kill you," she swore. "If not tonight, I will find you like you did me, and I'll kill you when I do."
Villain's eyes twinkled from afar. "Cute. Very cute." He laughed heartily. "I told you already that I've been easy on you, right?" Again, he didn't wait for an answer. "I'm here for more than bragging rights. I want you to come with me. I've given you opportunity enough to back down on your own; I'm giving you another now. Come with, or I'll have to force your hand."
Her eyes became squinted and her lip lifted. "I'm sorry?"
"Surrender," Villain said simply. His legs uncrossed and he leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "If you don't I'll take you away forcibly."
Hero huffed a laugh. "As if you could. When have you ever bested me?" In truth, she was terrified. He was being serious, no amusement crossing his features. And the number of times he'd mentioned 'going easy on her'...what if he was telling the truth?
"Try something now then. Lunge at me." His lips were in a straight line. No emotion.
She considered him. Serious. He's serious. Villain was inviting her to attack him. Maybe she should take the opportunity.
Without another thought, she leaped from the couch, ready to tackle Villain, even though he was in a chair. She would have knocked the whole chair back if she could. But, something stopped her, a- a wall of sorts, one that glimmered like a bubble. "What-?" She touched that wall. Her fingers couldn't pass through. Shaking her head, she spun on a heel trying to return to the couch. Unfortunately she ran into another wall. "You're doing this," Hero muttered, facing Villain once again. She swallowed seeing his smile.
"So, you'll come with on your own. Otherwise I can push you along myself, and I think that would be rather humiliating, don't you?"
"This doesn't prove anything. You can push me, but you can't command me."
"Isn't it the same?" Villain sighed seeing Hero's fiery stubbornness. "Fine then. Let's have a little charade." He stood from Hero's chair, face forming into something...something Hero didn't quite understand. "I forgot to grab something to drink before I came here. Do you have something for me to drink, Hero?"
Her lips moved. "Yes, of course, Villain. Let me show you to the kitchen." Her hand flew to her mouth afterward. She hadn't said that. She hadn't said that. Hero's eyes found Villain's.
"Lead the way," he said.
Hero's feet moved on their own, leading the two to her kitchen despite how she tried to resist. She couldn't even feel herself pulling back. There was no resistance except for in her thoughts. She began unwillingly talking again. "There's some water bottles in the bottom right drawer. Fruit punch juice boxes on the left- though my younger cousin will be disappointed when she finds not only me missing, but her juice as well." 'When she finds not only me missing.' So this was how Villain would take her, by commanding her just like she said he couldn't.
What was almost worse was that what Villain made her say was exactly right. Water bottles, bottom right drawer. Fruit punch juice boxes in the left drawer. One of three things could have happened. One, Villain had that stalker, body-switching guy, go through her home while she was gone. Two, Villain himself went through her house while Hero was absent, or when he somehow snuck into her house while simultaneously messing with her phone today. Three, he had access to her mind. The last one would have sounded ridiculous if it weren't for the way Villain was controlling her now.
"You're realizing you have no choice now, aren't you?"
Hero nodded her head. She couldn't tell whether it was her doing it or if Villain was still possessing her. Either way, he was right.
"Why?" she asked. Villain tilted his head. Hero believed he could have gotten his answer if he wanted. Still, she continued, "Why are you doing this? Taking me? Is it not enough that you've taken my friends?"
Her body turned to the exit. She began walking through, walking to the front door of her apartment. They were really leaving. She was going to get sick.
"I'm tired of you fighting is all. It will be much easier to accomplish my goals if I don't have to worry about turning you away every time."
"Then kill me." She swallowed after she said it. Hero didn't really want him to kill her, but she also didn't want to be taken. Villain said Friend 2 was okay, not starving, but would certainly be happier if she was given more. Hero had a feeling she wouldn't be given the same treatment. Villain might actually starve her because of her putting a kink in all of his plans, for not surrendering when she was given multiple chances to.
"Am I really so awful to be around?" Villain asked behind her as she led the way to the elevators. "I should think my style makes up for any unpleasantness. This jacket was bought yesterday. I'm rather dashing in it, aren't I?"
Just as unwillingly as before, Hero said, "Yes, very."
******
Requests are accepted!
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heronpoxed · 4 years ago
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SONS OF ANARCHY SPOILERS
Idk man, the show’s been over for 6 years but still BEWARE
So I’ve been thinking a lot about Jax and Tara and about how fabulous Tara is and what an ass Jax is for cheating on her more than once because well, I’m a simple hoe and I love them more than life and they’re the reason I started watching SOA in the first place and I’d literally die for them no matter what.
So! Kurt Sutter stated in his IG Q&A that cheating on Tara was Jax’s way to punish himself because deep down he knew that he wasn’t worthy of her love (see the screenshot below). Well, y’all, it does make sense and it’s is refreshing for a simple hoe like me to know that cheating was Jax’s self-punishment and that he knew like the rest of us that Tara was too good for him (if you haven’t already noticed, this post is mainly for Tara stans and if you don’t have the heart for reading the praise of my girl, I suggest you stop reading), but I think there’s another explanation that goes along with the ‘self-punishment‘ thing.
Bobby Munson, the absolute legend, who was actually the only one who fully appreciated everything that Tara did for the club, states in s6: “Jax is someone who needs to be with someone.” Jax hates being alone and feeling lonely. He hates being emotionally and ideally contradicted and it’s shown numerous times in the show. So whenever he’s upset with Tara like a little child he goes to the arms of women that will definitely worship and make him feel like a big boy, but all this is always based on his sadness and hurt feelings (his hurt ego too, but I believe it’s mostly his hurt feelings) whenever Tara ‘upsets’ him.
The first time he cheats on Tara is with Wendy right after Donna’s murder. Jax and Tara are in a fight during that time and after THAT GLORIOUS SLAP he’s hurt and his ego is damaged. Wendy is there, offering him comfort and pleasure. I don’t think anyone doubts that if Jax and Tara knew exactly where they stood in their relationship, he would’ve gone to Tara for comfort and consolation. And an episode later he delivers this legendary line: “...because when I’m inside someone there’s only one face I see.” -and we’re automatically calm.
The second time he cheats on Tara is with Ima when Abel is kidnapped. He knows it’s not safe for her with SAMCRO during this hard and dangerous time, knows that she’s too stubborn and too in love with him and Abel to just pack up and leave. So he does one thing he’s sure will push her away to protect her, but right after Tara leaves the house with this iconic line: “...well, guess what?! The prince doesn’t always get his way.” - he goes after her with a pained and anguished face, clearly wanting to apologize and make things right, but he’s too late because she’s already gone.
Then he cheats on Tara with Colette when Tara’s in jail. Of course, he feels responsible for her arrest, but he’s also hurt like a little kid (again) because Tara doesn’t want him in court and goes to Colette to feel like a big boy again. (Ugh, bitch, the immaturity of this!! Tara was doing time FOR and BECAUSE of him and he couldn’t keep it in his pants for 10 fucking days when Tara was faithful to him for 14 months when he was inside)
So the last time is with Colette again when he finds out Tara’s divorcing him and taking the boys. I think that even though Jax stuggles to admit it, deep down he knows that he’s the reason for driving Tara away and making her act so radically. He says as much: “I understand why you did everything you did. I’m sorry being with me took you to that place.” and let’s not forget his face when Tara says: “...what happened to me?” Right after she walks in on Jax with Colette.
Bonus:
Winsome is the first person Jax sleeps with after Tara’s death and we all know how he breaks down when he realizes that the woman he was making love to was imagined and not present there physically in flesh. I think this was the first time I realized that “because when I’m inside someone there is only one face I see” proves true. And the scene is extra heartbreaking when you know that Tara’s actually dead this time not just away in Chicago.
Jax sleeps with Wendy right after he kills his wife’s murderer. I do think that it was the first time he truly enjoyed intimacy after Tara’s death but I feel like it was just like the ‘Donna’s death situation’. Anyway, though, the scene speaks for itself.
Okay so why the fuck did I write all this you ask. Well, one of the reasons is that I have way too much free time to spare but the main reason is to show that Jax cheats on my baby girl whenever he feels even the littlest bit upset with her. His infidelity is driven solely by loneliness which he can’t stand, so it’s clear that he uses sex as a coping mechanism, which, I think is the most immature way to deal with relationship issues but no one asked for my opinion right?
Anyway, neither Jax nor Opie btw is capable of dealing with their relationships in a mature way so they both use sex and women unjustifiably to avoid confrontation. This, too, is confirmed in season 1 when Jax says “Eh, you really wanna talk about this, huh? Cause one upside of Wendy, she was usually too wasted for relationship chats.”
I’m not justifying Jax’s infidelity or behavior. I’m just saying that his unfaithfulness has other deeper and twisted explanation that stems from Jax’s inability to cope with being alone and to face relationship problems maturely. You may not even agree with me and not think that Jax is wrong in the matter and that opinion is totally valid. But this is how I personally see this side of Jax.
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unmaskedagain · 5 years ago
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Sorry (Not Sorry) Queen Mari AU Continuation
            Okay, here’s the Latest in the Queen of Mean AU. I received an ask for Sorry Not Sorry by Demi Lovato. And I just thought the song worked really well with my overall theme. However i’m severely running out of ideas for this so decide to try my hand at  asks for drabbles. I put in three superhero quotes in this fic. Send me ask with the answers to what hero or supervillian said the quote and i’ll do my utter best to get the drabble out at soon as possible. Also in this fic, i’m assuming Marc wasn’t in the same class.
youtube
When the new team Miraculous showed up to confront the Akuma, the entirety of Paris stopped. This was not the standard tag-team duo of Ladybug and Chat Noir. It wasn’t even the fearless five that Ladybug, Chat Noir, Queen Bee, Rena Rouge and Carapace that showed up when the world really needed them.
No this was something else entirely.
Chat Noir never saw it coming. Or rather, the old Chat Noir never saw coming.
Marinette smirked at she dodged an attack. The feeling of relief and the utter excitement shot through her like lightning. Adrien looking up from the crowd, looking utterly lost and heartbroken was…
Honestly, the fact Marinette hadn’t suddenly broken out in song like life had suddenly turned to a freaking Disney movie was ridiculous. Utterly Ridiculous, as Chloe would say.
That look meant he had arrived. That look meant all of Adrien’s dreams of a second chance and talking “sense” into Ladybug had just shattered.
Yes, Marinette thought, this was what revenge looked like.
Marinette stood in a heavily armored costume. She had arrived to scene first. Her outfit was mostly black and not skin tight. The ladybug red with dots had been limited to body armor and gear. She wings now; see-through, shimmery, red ones. Her only issue one the antennas on her head. (When Marinette finally got Tikki to confess that an outfit change was possible, the little god insisted on getting some say in it.) Her hair was up in bun.
A loud roar was heard through the carnival, signaling that the next hero had arrived. Brightroar landed with a menacing growl. His black hair slicked framed a pair of golden eyes. His suit was a mix of gold and black.
Viperion (Luka) and Ryuko (Kagami) quickly joined in next to them. Queen Bee fluttered onto the scene and landed gracefully beside Marinette.
The icing on the cake was when Blanche Renarde arrived. Her icy blond hair swinging in two pig tales. Gone was the orange and white that the old fox Rena Rouge had sported. Instead, the white fox looked like she walked right out of the Arctic in an all-white suit that turned every head.
“On your left,” Chat Noir shouted as he entered the fight. Or rather the new Chat Noir shouted. He landed gracefully next to her and attacked the Cotton Candy Akuma. (Some poor little girl had dropped her cotton candy and Hawkmoth had taken advantage of her dismay; the sicko) Felix was doing a remarkable job replacing the old, rabid Chat. The crowd gasped and awed. nd Marinette could hear Alya scream about a replacement.
The New Chat Noir wore a more heavily armored suit that was less of a skin-tight leather monstrosity and more like something someone could actually wear into combat. (Apparently, it was possible to redesign the suit… And boy was Marinette going to have words with Tikki.) His hair was long and shot out a lion’s mane.
If the Ice fox was the icing on the cake. Chat Noir was the crown jewel.
This was the new team Miraculous. This was 10 out of 10. This was the best they’d ever been.
Payback was a bitch,
And Ladybug had just proven herself to be the baddest.
           The clear hurt and confusion on Alya’s face as she looked upon her replacement was sweet. Because FINALLY knew what it was like. What the shock of being backstabbed and replaced felt like. It had hurt like for Marinette to be so easily replaced by Lila by her so-called best friend.
           And Marinette knew it must have killed Alya to be replaced by her icon, her hero, her muse.
           But it would only get worse.
           As the fight commenced, every now and then she would catch Alya and Adrien looking miserable and ready to demand answers. And, In Adrien’s case, beg for his miraculous back. But there were no second chances
Everything had happened a little less than a week ago.
And it had been savage.
Adrien’s Chat Noir had once again arrived late to the fight. (Which made no sense as the Akuma has once again appeared in school, during lunchtime.) He jumped down with a quick, “Sorry for the tardiness, my lady.”
Then he had pouted when he saw Viperion and Queen Bee there to assist; glaring at the snake and proclaiming that they were necessary.
To which queen bee had snapped, “More necessary then some mangy Alley Chat.”
Chat Noir had then looked to Ladybug to defend him and when all he got was a blank stare, he threw a tantrum. When that got to the response. Chat finally hissed, “Then if I’m not needed, then maybe I’ll just leave.”
It wasn’t surprising, now that Marinette knew just who was behind that mask of his. Sweet, Childish, naive, foolish, gutless Adrien Agreste. Marinette could have forgiven Chat for his actions done when wasn’t suited up if he had proved himself. If Chat Noir had been reliable, dedicated, hardworking. Or even remotely serious about being a hero of Paris, then
Marinette could’ve looked the other way. She wasn’t the type of person to take personal feelings into work.
Business and real-life was separate.
Somehow, even with Gabriel as a father, Adrien never learned that lesson. Never learned to put aside personal feelings and grudges to get the job done. To be professional.
Instead, Chat Noir was immature. He rushed into battle, sometimes getting himself killed. He was always late. Sometimes never showing at all. He flirted incessantly and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
No, Ladybug wasn’t interested.
No, Ladybug didn’t want to date you.
No hard feelings, but seriously no means no.
And when Ladybug finally had enough and called him out, being as forceful as she could, that once again Ladybug would never date Chat Noir. Chat would throw a tantrum, refuse to help her fight whatever Akuma they were up against; risking lives and Ladybug’s own safety.
The first few times it happened Ladybug had given in and apologized first; all but beg Chat Noir to come back. Then Chat would go back to flirting and proclaiming them soulmates.
After the first few times… well, Marinette had enough. She never went to go get him. Either she would bring Queen Bee or Viperion to help her. Or she would defeat the Akuma herself.
Chat proclaimed them partners but never understood what that meant.
The fight had been long and deadly to the point where all three heroes were convinced Hawkmoth was actively trying to kill them now. Each had to disappear to recharge and come back multiple times. It had spread throughout Paris and back to the school again. But no matter how hurt it was clear they were, no matter how much trouble they were in, Chat Noir never came back.
He left them all without a second thought.
When the fight was over, and the new heroes helped Ladybug prove once again why Chat Noir wasn’t needed, Marinette finally decided enough was enough. Maybe she should’ve taken it easy on him. He had been her partner, albeit a sorry excuse one.
But Nah.
Because at that point Ladybug was bleeding and bruised everywhere. She had watched Queen Bee fall from the sky like Iron Man fell from that wormhole when New York had been attacked. And both Viperion and Ladybug raced to the falling hero with everything they had. If Ladybug had been a second too late to catch her, Queen Bee would’ve died. She’d have smashed into concrete and it would’ve been the end of Chloe.
That was something Marinette could never forgive.
Enough was enough. Chat Noir was a bad hero. And Ladybug could admit that. She knew it. She couldn’t just pretend like she used to.
This was real
And knowing it’s real means you gotta make a decision.
One, keep denying it.
Or two… do something about it.
Her fists clenched as she surveyed the wreckage that Paris from atop the school. Hawkmoth had to be stopped. He had gone too far, she thought with a shake of her head. And with a quick shout of “Miraculous Ladybug!” Everything had been reversed. Like nothing had happened.
“My lady,” Chat chimed as he landed in front of her.
           Speaking of assholes who’d gone too far, “Chat Noir.” Ladybug said blankly. For once it wasn’t anger that coursed through her veins. It was something worse, something darker. And Marinette wondered if this was what pure hate felt like.
“Quite the fight,” Chat said as he bounced from one foot to another.
           The only thing that any of three heroes from taking was their Kwamis whispering in their ears. Plus Viperion was holding up, and holding back a snarling Queen Bee,
“Take the ring,” Tikki hissed in her ear.
           Marinette nodded. “A regular old deathmatch.” She had an idea, a plan.
           A smug look appeared on Chat Noir’s face, “Bet you wish I was there.” Then that stupid smirk appeared on his face and Marinette nearly lost it.  “I think an apology is in order, my lady.” Chat gave her an expectant look that made Marinette glad that she could breathe fire because the alley chat would be toast.
           Instead, Ladybug smiled softly, “You’re right.”  She said to the shock of the two standing behind her and the pleased surprise of the one in front of her. “An apology is needed.”
           She walked slowly to Chat Noir, swinging her hips a bit more than usual. When she got to him, Ladybug wrapped her arms around Chat Noir’s shoulders and hugged him. She hugged for their time together. She hugged to for the man she thought he could be.
           Ladybug hugged Chat Noir for the hero she had hoped he would become. And hugged him even harder for that same hero she now realized he never would become. Because that the little boy hiding behind the mask didn’t have in him to become the hero Paris needed, the world needed.
           She pulled back slowly out of the hug and let her hands drift from his should to his own and held them tightly. “Chat Noir, I’m sorry.” And with a flash, Ladybug yanked the ring off his finger. “That I’m not sorry.”
           There was a shout a green light erupted around Chat, and when it was gone Adrien Agreste stood in his place; to the horror-filled gasps of Queen Bee and Viperion.
           Adrien stood in utter shock. His mind trying to catch up to what had just taken place.
“You’re not worthy to wear this ring,” Ladybug stated. “You are not worthy to Chat Noir, to be a hero. You are reckless, immature, and unprofessional. I would rather face ten thousand akumas alone than work with you again. You’re weak and I’ve outgrown you.”
           With that, the three heroes walked away, leaving the blond on the roof of the school.
“Goodbye, Adrien,” Ladybug said as they disappeared.
“I don’t need this!!!” Adrien had shouted after them angrily, finally snapping out of his shock. “I don’t need you. I have bigger things to do. Better things. Watch. I’ll be the best hero ever!”
           Ladybug hadn’t wasted time getting new partners; getting her team ready. And it turned out there were actual tests that could be performed to show who was worthy of a miraculous. Not just who saved the right old man.
           Through the tests, Felix had become Chat Noir. Marc had taken the lion Kwami Sharptooth and become Brightroar. And Aurore had become Blanche Renarde. The last two, Marinette had been training for months before deciding they had been ready for their first appearance.
           Felix had taken a few days to train but had been a natural. Like he’d been born to be Chat Noir but somehow the universe had screwed up and made it Adrien.
Ladybug decides to call them to face an easier Akuma; such as the cotton candy monster wreaking havoc on the carnival.
           Becoming better than they ever wore before was the finest way to kill. The team defeating the Akuma like it was nothing had to have been a bitter pill for Hawkmoth, Adrien, and Alya to swallow.
           Ladybug bet it stung. To, in fact, see that the grass had only gotten greener on Ladybug’s side of things now that the old Chat Noir had retired.
           It was a new day. The entire world was better than it had been; everything was sunshine and technicolor… for Marinette and everyone on her side. But for everyone else, it would only get worse.
           Marinette let the de-akumatised butterfly go as she fluttered easily onto the ground; right in front of the crowd; Alya and Adrien eyes on her.
            Chat Noir leaped over. “That was a job well done.”
“You’re not Chat Noir!” Alya suddenly shouted, her phone in her hand clearing recording. The other reporters in the audience raised their mics higher. “Who are you?”
“It’s not who I am underneath,” Chat Noir stated. “But what I do that defines me.”
“But What happened to the old Chat?” Alya continued with anger clear on her face. “Is he coming back? Is Rena Rouge coming back.”
“He was deemed unfit for the position,” Chat answered. “I have taken over permanently. Any other heroes replaced were replaced for the same reasons.” With that, he turned his attention back to Ladybug. “Shall I escort you home, Ladybug?”
“You know where she lives?!” Adrien asked with a strangled voice.
           Felix smirked at the boy he had replaced. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” He gave a careless shrug. “We’re dating after all.”
           The two heroes turned and walked away. Ladybug cast a smirk over her shoulder at the former heroes Chat Noir and Rena Rouge.
Sorry not sorry.
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punkscowardschampions · 4 years ago
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Ronnie & Joe
Ronnie: [is gonna rock up late despite literally living with Charlie so enjoy the entrance everybody]
Joe: [when you weren’t invited but still gonna show up like you have somewhere better to be, love that for you, the effort we’ve not gone to because we live here so it’s kinda okay but not really Joseph, also I imagine kinda shook she ended up showing]
Ronnie: [likewise in the sense that she dresses the same everywhere she goes unless it’s a job interview or court appearance lol but we know she looks good if you’re Joseph and into it, I imagine her zoning in on Jamie immediately like who the fuck is this and then oh I’ve heard nothing about you kinda energy soz gal]
Joe: [rude but not untrue in this case, at least Charlie can make it seem like you’re joking and Joe can go get you a drink like soz this is all we have energy ‘cos in jokes]
Ronnie: [I highly doubt they have enough seats around that table so I also imagine her dragging up something to sit on like yeah I’m here to stay bitches and drinking Joe’s drink while he’s gone as a throwback to when she did when they met at that gig and cos we’re obvs claiming him LOL]
Joe: [we know the food is gonna be studenty anyway so having smaller portions won’t kill any of us lmao, just dying at how shocked Sophie is having to conceal she is, host on queen, boring boyfriend having no opinions of course]
Ronnie: [don’t worry gal depending how much of a jealous rage we get into we probably won’t be eating it so you’ll still have brownies left, her face would be iconic and I totally picture Marc on his phone the entire time because Paul used to do that when he was with Trace]
Joe: [giving nothing to this bizarre situation, too real, Charlie and Sophie holding this together, soz guys, Joe jus amused af, do we sit opposite or next to hmm]
Ronnie: [read that as soz gays, ILY mum & dad, I think he needs to sit opposite Jamie so that she can accuse them of eye fucking each other or whatever so probably next to]
Joe: [okay yes gather ‘round everyone]
Ronnie: she lives here
Joe: yeah I told you, Silent Bob’s gf
Ronnie: you said he had a bitch not shes been chained to the radiator since youse lot moved in
Joe: maybe that’s his secret
Ronnie: whens he letting you have your go
Joe: got my own radiator you can have a go on when this is over
Joe: not to brag or nothing
Ronnie: wont be over til the fat flatmate sings & the other one sucking you off while her & mariah duet and the boyfriend pretends he aint watching youse instead is fuck all to brag about
Joe: be lucky if it got close to that level of mildly interesting
Joe: where are you in all this then
Ronnie: under the sink looking for drain cleaner or whatever else i can drink
Joe: why do you get to have all the fun?
Ronnie: i dont waste my time asking bullshit questions
Joe: how are we gonna waste our time
Ronnie: im gonna kill your shared girlfriend & youre gonna cry about it
Joe: I don’t think I am
Joe: no amount of tragedy is gonna breakthrough the chemical fog
Ronnie: you would if you could
Joe: [🙄 at her]
Ronnie: [tips however much is left of her drink into his lap not at all accidentally but we know Charlie and Soph will pretend it was]
Joe: [whip them off to go get changed boy]
Ronnie: [when you wanna follow him but you just gotta glare instead]
Joe: [probably taking whatever we’ve got in to make this go easier, ‘scuse us, so much missing out]
Ronnie: [you know she turned up already on something so do what you gotta do Joseph]
Joe: [Jamie should be talking to you about uni things thus alienating everyone else a lil ‘cos that is a bit rude and will annoy you gal]
Ronnie: [fully just opening up a wound over here literally cos she was already jealous but did not realise they had this much shit in common or anything in common actually so we’re just livid and bleeding]
Joe: [Sophie just running with the kitchen roll like omg do we have bandages guys like oh babe you truly only mean well, Charlie just giving the can you not looks of it all, Joe just jealous because we’ve obviously got our long sleeves]
Ronnie: [a spoken out loud fuck you at everyone but mainly Joe as we go to the bathroom to not deal with this but instead evoke the energy of when Mae downed that mouthwash because she definitely would and also go through the cabinets for anything sharp obvs]
Joe: [at least you can go under the guise of checking on her but really you’re just seeing what she’s doing]
Ronnie: [1000% have not locked the door because we wanted him to follow us but that won’t stop her telling him to get out because walking contradiction forever]
Joe: [locks it behind him in response]
Ronnie: [the most intense glare in response because could not be more livid rn]
Joe: [grabbing wherever the wound is like we’re gonna kiss it better or something like Soph for a casual bit of blood drinking]
Ronnie: [obviously have to push him away really hard because we’re obviously really into it and excuse you boy we’re trying to be angry and hate you, soz to all the flatmates when you hear that crashing about]
Joe: [lmao this tiny bathroom getting destroyed, steady yourself and her despite that clearly not being what she wants right now, roll up a sleeve ‘you never did the X’]
Ronnie: [the glorious visual of trying to get past him to leave/push him away again at the same time in a small space so you just end up pressed up against each other and the door making eye contact and it’s hot af ‘you never took me anywhere’]
Joe: [‘so let me’ do you mean let’s get out of here or in a saucy way either or you skinny as hell girl so if you not really trying to leave it’s easy not to let you]
Ronnie: [‘she’ll let you’ because we’re not just dropping this even if we want to]
Joe: [‘who?’ like an oblivious boy ‘cos clearly not where our head is]
Ronnie: [a really vicious read of Jamie based on what we’re learned this evening that I’m not gonna do because I am not that mean but it’s obvious it’s her and not Sophie we’re talking about, hope you don’t hear us gal]
Joe: [‘I’m not interested’ in every sense right now ‘and you know that, stop pissing about’]
Ronnie: [‘wasn’t any other cunt round the table hanging on her every fucking word, I know that’ because that was blatant Jamie]
Joe: [‘I can’t help it that her fella’s an accountant’ what do you do Marc, do any of us know lol, shrugs ‘we go to the same school, that’s it’ and a look like whatever the fuck this is is clearly more]
Ronnie: [she would wanna lol but we can’t because still mad ‘that’s it?’ not actually a question though more like you better be telling the truth boy ‘why the fuck have you never told me about her then?’]
Joe: [‘I thought I had when I said he had a girlfriend’ not not a lie ‘none of them are what I want to talk about, that’s it’]
Ronnie: [‘you were thinking with this’ grabbing his dick when we say so ‘that’s it’ cos even if that was true Joseph we shade the rest of the flatmates often and you know damn well we love doing it]
Joe: [shakes head even though we are very clearly into that ‘she’s no Soph’ like it wouldn’t be as funny soz]
Ronnie: [‘is right’ like yeah I know you actually seriously wanna get with her, and moving away but not to leave but to pick back up whatever implement we were gonna hurt ourselves with before he came in but didn’t get chance to because we’re genuinely upset]
Joe: [literally putting ourselves in front of it like no ‘Ronnie’ like I don’t know how you’re going to even put it into words boy so it’s mainly a !!! look]
Ronnie: [a look that starts out like don’t try and stop me/fuck you but turns into !! when his does like say something/do something if you mean it]
Joe: [got to go in and kiss you whilst making her push whatever she was gonna use on herself into him, now or never, enjoy the tension finally getting released]
Ronnie: [obviously we’re kissing you back so we all know what’s gonna happen next lol, soz flatmates I really hope you can’t hear anything, especially Charlie cos you actually know they’re related]
Joe: [it is not a big flat so keep quiet, just think he’s comforting her for all this time or what, god bless]
Ronnie: [she would be trying to keep quiet but not for y’all more so he thinks she’s unimpressed/not that into it but that would literally last all of a second because she’s obviously very into it]
Joe: [the levels you aren’t gonna wanna go back in but can’t be seen as being romantic lads]
Ronnie: [I could easily have her leave if we want though because it’s a fact that she doesn’t wanna be here and everyone would be relieved except Joseph]
Joe: [that probably makes sense, honestly, and you’ve freaked them all out, as was the point]
Ronnie: [and lbr you’ve freaked yourselves out with how good that hook up was too so]
Joe: [just go hide in your room like you’re very taxed by that in an acceptable way boy]
Ronnie: [god knows where you’re gonna go gal but please don’t OD again like you literally did in Margate no time ago]
Joe: [the headfuckery]
Ronnie: [poor Charlie just like UMMM WTF cos she must look bad even for her rn and we’ve behaved terribly and then literally legged it so]
Joe: [thank god you’re such a natural party go-er so you can make up some excuse to put them all at relative ease but yeah, for sure like excuse me]
Ronnie: [might be fun to do a convo between them when we’re done with this one]
Joe: [I’m down even though I really haven’t used him yet, I’ll give it a go]
Ronnie: [yeah it’s been forever since we did the group chats with them and Bronson and Bea it feels like another life, I can send you the convo we did where she told him she met Joe if you like cos I re-read that the other day and it was pretty good]
Ronnie: [but the real question is who’s gonna break first and start a convo and how long are we leaving it?]
Joe: [please do ‘cos did not realize we’d done that tbh]
Joe: [I could make a case for either of them, him to prove he meant it as he left it last time but her so she can’t automatically be on the ‘it meant nothing’ total defensive hmm]
Joe: [some hours later when the party is over, or could be]
Joe: Charlie was going pub, he’s left here though
Ronnie: [even later because whatever she’s doing she’s messy and can’t reply to the extent that she doesn’t need to because he won’t be expecting her to and yet here we are]
Ronnie: did whitney ask you to pass it on to us cos hes still disappointed like
Joe: couldn’t say
Joe: just letting you know that you’ll have a free gaff for a while longer
Ronnie: where have i chucked the other one for the sake of this free gaff in your mind mckenna
Joe: alright, free rooms better than fuck all
Ronnie: its his emmy oggie i aint there either
Joe: anywhere good?
Ronnie: compared to what
Joe: established it’s no brag compared to tonight
Ronnie: not gonna stop you comparing me & her
Joe: compare to what?
Joe: pleasantries over cocopops
Ronnie: youll be interested in eating her out now youve got what you wanted off me
Ronnie: 9 is easier to carve than an 8 and you wont look like youre trying to copy the infinity sign one of your other exes wouldve got inked on her
Joe: it’s not remotely the fucking same
Joe: if I was arsed about getting my numbers up there’s millions of girls in this city I could hit up before you
Ronnie: yeah youre not related to any of em and theyd have less clue how to shoot up than you do
Joe: even if the related bit was ringing 100% true, you’re the only user in town now?
Joe: you don’t have to pervert it when it already was
Ronnie: youre already romanticising it like a fucking 13 year old so yeah i do cause one of us has to get real
Joe: you reckon I’m so okay with it just because I can admit I wanted it
Joe: who do you reckon you’re lying to like I weren’t there
Ronnie: who do you reckon youre talking to like i didnt fucking leave you there for a reason
Joe: Fuck off
Ronnie: i did
Joe: for someone who reckons they’re so open, you chat so much shit
Ronnie: open to what soft lad infection
Joe: scars and trackmarks on your sleeve
Ronnie: yeah
Joe: you didn’t miss much
Ronnie: no shit you didnt just invite me cause you wanted to fuck me
Ronnie: can do that anywhere
Joe: yeah and you didn’t just wanna come to make Soph cry, like
Ronnie: i owed you
Joe: get it off your to-do list then
Joe: well done
Ronnie: stop crying youll never look as ugly as horse girl doing it or go for as long as her
Joe: you love her, we all 👀
Ronnie: i said shut up
Joe: no, you say something that’s not stupid
Ronnie: what for fucks sake
Ronnie: what did you reckon id say when you started chatting shit like nothing happened
Joe: alright, I don’t know
Joe: it happened, right
Ronnie: you werent hallucinating
Joe: nothing that makes that happen in the bathroom cupboard
Joe: I don’t regret it, I know that
Ronnie: meant to be made up to hear it am i
Joe: nah, probably not
Joe: but you wanted me to talk about it so I am
Ronnie: i wanted you to take the fucking hint when i legged it as soon as
Joe: you could’ve blocked me, so
Joe: pardon me for not taking it that seriously
Ronnie: not your crazy ex & i couldnt deny you your bullshit heroics
Ronnie: mary aint carrying me anywhere and i know how bad you wanna see me turn blue
Joe: you like having a stalker, is what you mean
Ronnie: block me and get your whore flatmate to tell you what she likes about you
Ronnie: weve established i aint got the talent to sing no cunts praises
Joe: we’ve established I’m not interested in that
Ronnie: cause you want me to tell you how smart you are at fucking me instead of beat the shit out of you
Ronnie: it wont last
Joe: familys forever, sis
Ronnie: not to your ma baby
Ronnie: did i look enough like her for you
Joe: what do you reckon
Joe: your theory, not mine
Ronnie: mustve youve still not fucked off
Joe: you’ve got room for another face tat or two
Ronnie: go do that then
Joe: you can leave out the yes sir
Joe: not my fantasy
Ronnie: no shit like youve been my bitch since you hit send on facebook
Joe: 😂
Joe: I’ve been worse
Ronnie: you trying to turn me on or what its a bit late for it
Joe: just the once, alright
Joe: bit cliche but probably for the best considering
Joe: very sensible of you
Ronnie: cliche that my da didnt stick around long enough for his side of the family to properly cut or sew me up so ive gotta regret not getting chance to put a razor blade inside me before you 💔
Ronnie: now youre gonna reckon i care youve said the once ll do when i just hate you & hate how you fuck even more
Joe: Could’ve said it was about as much fun as
Joe: it’s alright
Joe: both confused, clearly
Ronnie: youre not confused youre fucking smug
Joe: hardly another achievement for the fridge door
Joe: what’s to be smug about
Ronnie: probably for the best i dont answer that if thats how you feel
Joe: come on
Joe: aside from proving you were full of shit about not wanting to as well
Ronnie: fuck you
Joe: you don’t want me to say how I really feel
Ronnie: making me cum earlier dont mean you know what i want now
Joe: right, you want me to declare my love so you get more out of telling me to fuck off, that’s more like it
Ronnie: do i fuck
Joe: then what do you want
Ronnie: like you give the slightest shit
Joe: I do too
Ronnie: no you dont
Joe: I fucking do
Joe: [prove it in a way only y’all would, carve her name or something]
Ronnie: [send him your own pics of the bite marks you’re covered in which is a self harming thing you’ve not done since you were a kid because it’s been a headfuck every second since you two met and we’re not coping honey]
Joe: you hungry?
Joe: you didn’t eat fuck all, I mean
Joe: could get something not dubiously prepared by Soph
Ronnie: hungry as you are funny
Joe: I weren’t trying to be
Joe: on the spectrum, or whatever you said
Ronnie: you wish you had the excuse or the musical prodigy status
Joe: 💔 about that genuinely
Joe: just a dickhead
Ronnie: yeah
Joe: I don’t know what to say
Joe: there’s no point saying I’m sorry
Ronnie: no point is right youre not sorry
Joe: nah
Joe: it’d be lovely for you if I’d found you and you were fine
Joe: but like you said, it ain’t about me or her, it’s about loads of shit and you clearly weren’t so
Joe: just seems pointless
Ronnie: im made up you finally got your head round it
Joe: Yeah well, I didn’t tell you I was a good person
Joe: don’t mean I don’t give no fucks, just ‘cos I ain’t trying to save you
Ronnie: you keep telling me you aint like it matters to me who you are
Joe: yeah, it doesn’t in why you’re fucked
Joe: but what do you want from me
Ronnie: its your fucking fault im like this climbing the walls same as when i was a kid
Joe: yeah ‘cos you were doing really great before weren’t ya
Ronnie: all you give a fuck about is letting yourself off the fucking hook
Joe: Blame me then what does it change
Joe: do something about it other than fucking yourself up, I don’t care
Ronnie: stop lying that youre bothered if your only answer to me losing my mind is that i was before
Joe: I can’t help you
Joe: If you thought I could, though why the fuck you would
Joe: then I am sorry
Ronnie: 💔🖕
Joe: I’ve got my own problems
Joe: if I had any solutions, I’d light ‘em up and shoot them into myself first, naturally
Ronnie: youve got a solution i gave it to you
Ronnie: why the fuck would you make me feel something
Joe: Selfishness
Joe: pure and simple
Ronnie: on your way to a grown up habit im dead proud
Joe: what more could I want
Ronnie: that to scab over seeing as youve finally admitted its bullshit
Joe: I still think about you constantly
Joe: I still want to know everything about you
Joe: I’d rot with you
Ronnie: youve got your own problems to think about
Joe: yeah, and that’s hell
Joe: I’ve done plenty of that
Ronnie: yeah and youve got your escape
Joe: take yours
Joe: can have plan bs and cs even if a is the best
Ronnie: youre the kid who tells the rest to jump off a bridge
Ronnie: cute
Joe: you’re implying I wouldn’t and all
Ronnie: i dont give a shit what you do but i aint giving you the satisfaction of being the last fuck i ever had
Ronnie: youd cling to life long enough to write a pathetic song about it
Joe: that’s the nicest thing you’ve said
Joe: which is saying something ‘cos you’re so sweet, like
Ronnie: youre welcome
Joe: I’ll do a Dylan style ballad about all your 👼🏼 deeds
Ronnie: thats the biggest turn off out of everything youve ever said or done
Joe: thank god, you’re insatiable 😏
Ronnie: once you said
Joe: not for my benefit
Ronnie: its all only for your benefit remember
Joe: if that were true you’d still be here
Ronnie: if it was true i could be
Joe: come back
Ronnie: cant ive got a face tat to get done
Joe: I understand
Joe: my art isn’t there yet
Joe: won’t ruin your beauty
Ronnie: go ed and chuck yourself off a bridge you dont have to wait for me to boot your door in & do you in for chatting shit
Joe: well I am already devvo I’m not a prodigy so yeah, add lack of a steady hand to the list of failures
Joe: probably the meds
Joe: you know being poetic is all I do, why have we downgraded it to chatting shit 💔
Ronnie: why are you calling me beautiful when you could write it in your suicide note for your ma theres your downgrade
Joe: you’re too romantic for your own good
Joe: I wouldn’t be writing a note, sorry to dash your illusions
Ronnie: not me saying i get you mckenna thats your delusion
Ronnie: what are you gonna draw on me then
Joe: you do but it’s more fun to take the piss and pretend you don’t so
Joe: That is the question
Joe: won’t brand you, don’t worry
Ronnie: if i dont want it ill cut it out no pressure
Joe: it’s just skin right
Ronnie: yeah
Joe: how olds your oldest scar
Ronnie: older than you
Joe: what did you do
Ronnie: i used to take headbanging literally
Joe: ah, the floor never saw you coming, yeah
Joe: I have a head scar too [cos he either does or did on the stalker show idk but there we go with a photo like she probably knows hun]
Ronnie: [I just imagine her smiling to herself like yeah I know nerd]
Ronnie: cant both be poets had to express myself somehow before i pushed a safety pin through my cheek
Joe: that explains the permanent 😾
Joe: fucked the muscles, like
Ronnie: your shit jokes do
Joe: it was always easier to just start fights to get hurt
Joe: when I was a kid
Joe: though you work out ways to be sneaky fast, if you have to
Ronnie: they didnt wanna fight me
Joe: everyday sexism strikes again
Ronnie: fuck off not cos im a girl
Joe: why then
Ronnie: wouldnt be me getting hurt and if i was i didnt care
Ronnie: all those mental problems you told that call centre cunt about like
Joe: ‘course you were too proud to make it count
Joe: have to let them get some punches in or there was no point, yeah
Ronnie: no point in fitz flouncing in either fun though
Joe: true
Joe: I’ve got a brother and all, I remember what it’s like
Ronnie: scraps never went far enough
Joe: yeah
Joe: most kids aren’t that psycho
Ronnie: 💔
Joe: being misunderstood served me so well for the whole musician thing so whatever, I guess
Ronnie: i mightve bothered keeping some of my bastards about if they were guaranteed nutters thatd serve you well
Joe: you’d get your own room then, like
Joe: even if you had to pack them to the rafters
Ronnie: for a stalker youre dead concerned about my privacy
Joe: nah, ‘course not
Joe: I’d rather have a place to do the gear without the possibility of Soph or Charlie 🥺ing at us obvs, nothing but selfishness
Ronnie: theres loads of places
Joe: you can show me
Ronnie: is she there now she can let me in
Joe: no idea
Joe: their room is near the door, makes sense they’d be your first victims
Ronnie: youre too selfish to get off your arse and do it
Joe: if you’re coming I’ll carry you in myself, you know that
Ronnie: ill be there and youll still be going on about what youre gonna do
Ronnie: no wonder the other kids kept smacking you
Joe: yeah, all mouth me, deffo what I was known for
Joe: not a euphemism and I don’t think they were wishing it was but who knows
Ronnie: you sure you dont want charlie giving you the eye
Ronnie: how it sounds
Joe: I’m alright, tah
Joe: pretty sure he’s over it now I’m enabling you
Ronnie: hes over everything thats not horse girls from kent but reckons the fucking lost causes are us
Joe: He clearly just gives a shit about appearances
Joe: looking nice, polite
Joe: they’ll never speak again, like
Ronnie: forget him
Ronnie: open the door
Joe: [do that boy]
Ronnie: [boop his little head scar as you come in like oh there it is]
Joe: [‘s’not even a good story’ and producing some takeaway moment from the kitchen as you go through ‘cos the dinner party was not heavy on the dinner bit]
Ronnie: [a look like ffs because people caring in any way ew no but we are gonna eat it because probably haven't since that Margate moment]
Joe: [shrugging like bitch I’m hungry as we tuck in, obviously]
Ronnie: [kick him while you've still got your big boots on but playfully not aggressively]
Joe: [😏 but in a more genuine way than that cocky face looks, I am vibing Chinese not that that matters but there we go]
Ronnie: [weirdly I also thought that maybe because it's one of the grossest haha but yeah eat your food lads]
Joe: [greasy greasy goodness, love the subtle shade if any of them come out for a cuppa or whatever like oh hello again lol]
Ronnie: [I hope it's oblivious Marc just living his life]
Joe: [that’d be most amusing, unbothered, casually]
Ronnie: [I just imagine them doing stuff to try and make him notice like when people stack stuff on a sleeping person but idk what you could do in that little kitchen]
Joe: [for sure, just being subtly annoying/weird and he is just like does not compute ‘cos we mind our own business, so childish]
Ronnie: [love that for you two]
Joe: [we stan the regression for you]
1 note · View note
acefrogmonarch · 5 years ago
Text
Lets chat
This is mostly going to look at Sakura's involvement in the ship, because it mostly revolves around her feelings. If there any refutes please leave them in the notes.
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Now SS is seen as a ship in the Naruto fandom. It consists of Sasuke and Sakura in a romantic/sexual setting. It can be a great ship but let's dwell on that later.
For now, it's time to actually look at the ship and see where it stands. Sakura loves Sasuke. It can't be refuted by the characters or JVA or Kishimoto but where does that love come from?
I've been going through the manga and other people's opinions to make something of my own. That is generally how someone can come to a conclusion but enough about human interactions!
Let's start with Sakura!
Sakura is first seen as a fangirl that crushes on Sasuke. That is how we generally see her. Obsessing over Sasuke and his image.
Now that's the opinion of Naruto and probably anyone that is new to the Naruto series. However, as the story progresses we see how Sakura stops seeing Sasuke as an idea. As an unattainable and unapproachable force.
We see Sakura treat Sasuke more as a person, once they are in a team and spend some time together. Sakura realizes that Sasuke isn't perfect and can be hurt, unlike her idealized version of him. It doesn't make her stop chasing him. It drives her more because he was always the invincable Uchiha. The first time this becomes a reality is during the infamous 'c-rank mission turning into an A-rank'.
The Zabuza arc. The most iconic and memorable thing to happen to them. As a team and trying to find their Nindo, their ninja way. It shows how harsh the Ninja world really is. 
Back to Sakura; this is her turning point. This is the point that she wanted to change herself because she wants to help others and Sasuke. Because she's scared for him and his life. Up until this point, she has been thrown into the Ninja world without really knowing the full dangers.
She was from a civilian family, she was bullied by others because of her appearance but was saved by Ino. But, because she's always had to be saved. She finds out what her nindo way is: to save others.
This is her drive and this is what pushes her until Sasuke's revenge and hatred, consume him. At this point Sakura has stopped looking at the fantasized version of her crush and sees Sasuke underneath his mask, underneath his hatred.
Then the Chunin exams begin; it is the second time where Sakura finds herself in a helpless situation. At this moment, Sakura has barely made any progress with herself, but she is slowly improving. She acknowledges that even Naruto is ahead of her. This is the first change in character. She knows she isn't as strong as Sasuke, to protect him or help him.
She drowns in her insecurities, so she takes Sasuke's insult to heart. "You're annoying." But she is also encouraged by his acknowledgement when he notices that she can read Genjutsu like the back of her hand.
That's her drive. His approval, it conflicts me to point out the difference as to why this isn't necessarily good. If he was her mentor, it would have been fine. If he was older and a positive role figure for her, it would have been better.
But they are Ninja and compliments are either going to make them bitter or happy. But because he is a peer, her crush. It is unhealthy. To set her personality, her self importance, solely on one person? -as a person and on a growing girl? It affects them and it influences them greatly
Now, the chunin exam comes and goes and so does Sasuke. He leaves the village but before that Sakura tries to make him stay. She pushes her love to him and he rejects her because he has a vendetta. He has a goal outside of the village. A duty to his clan, his mother and to Itachi. But what sakura does is wrong.
I will point out, at any point, how their actions are wrong.
Sakura pushing her love onto Sasuke to make him stop leaving the village is emotional abuse. A small incident, yes, but she tried. Maybe she wasn't going to hurt herself if he left but her unwanted feelings and trying to guilt him into staying is the problem here.
"I had fun on this team and I know you did too." Is a line that stuck with me, throughout this whole interaction. She's trying to get him to understand that he wasn't alone but she wasn't putting his feelings into consideration.
Emotional abuse may be a strong word for something like this but it shows that they don't know that it's wrong. If he had felt guilt this would have stopped him, but he doesn't. It's his mission and stubbornness that lets him leave her behind.
Sakura is stuck at point A again, he leaves. She's helpless again. She isn't acknowledged by him anymore. So she begs Naruto to get him back. To her, to him, to the team. Because she can't help but feel useless and that it's her fault.
She's there in the aftermath. To clean up the wounds and get stronger. She has to rely on herself at the point because Naruto soon leaves to get stronger, as well.
This is the end of Genin Sakura. Shippuden Sakura is a different person entirely.
But before that, let's stop. I want to mention something. Sakura isn't a girl that will commit to something just because someone else is. I'm referring to her rivalry with Ino.
Before she knew that Ino liked Sasuke, Sakura liked Sasuke's admiration. Then she saw how Ino reacted to Sakura's obvious crush and started noticing more social cues. I.E. Hinata's crush on Naruto and his dullness to his surroundings. But oblivious to her own turmoil until Ino and her talk things out as teens.
Ugh shippuden. Let's get this over with..
Sakura returns with the confidence she lacked from when she was a Genin. That is a given. That is supposed to happen, you realize something you didn't before and move forward with your life and choices. But she doesn't ask for forgiveness from her friends for her attitude.
Because it's her attitude. She built herself up because no one else can do that for her. It still doesn't excuse her, she has to realize a border between herself and her actions. They have meaning and they have weight. It doesn't affect Naruto because nothing stops him but that doesn't mean that it's okay.
Moving on to the ship and yes: this issue will be back with NS.
Onto SS shippuden!
Sakura is more mature and is still after Sasuke. Because she feels responsible? Because she feels like she can support him? Because she wants to help? None of those are love. They are obligations. They are promises. They can be confused as love.
She might have felt guilty because she hadn't done as much when she was younger. It's at this point where I can't see Sakura as in love. Because of her guilt, because she feels responsible for him and his actions. But I will try to find some way to see it. Or understand it as such.
Something I didn't mention before is the curse mark and Sakura's reaction to it. The reason why I saved it to now is because it mostly represents how much has changed between them and how much of their old bond has deteriorated. It shows a passage of time between them.
The curse mark and Sasuke's obsession have been influenced and enhanced by the curse mark. That scared Sakura back when she was a genin, In the forest of death. she didn't want that to happen to him, to lose himself in that hatred. Meeting Sasuke back in Orochimaru's abandoned lab and seeing him for the first time: Shocked her.
He's no longer the Sasuke she knew from before but that didn't stop her from helping him. If it was "undying" love or obligation, I wouldn't know.
This makes her stance on wanting to kill Sasuke that less confusing; at least to me. It's her love/obligation that makes her resolve. She owes it to him. To stop his pain, to help him; even if it's killing her to go through with it.
But she doesn't follow through because it felt like betraying his goal and her love for him.
I will not be looking at her false confession: that will be covered in the NS analysis.
I only have one thing to say about that: in regards to SS. It makes sakura's feelings for Sasuke look like an inconvenience. To the mission, to her duty and to her team, because it is. But not because it inconveniences everyone else: just her.
Naruto turns it into his goal. Kakashi owes Sasuke, the proper mentor he should have been instead of being lenient. Sakura lets her feelings get into the way of the mission time and time again. The false confession, too flustered to stop him or kill him. Almost giving up on him and risking the mission. Almost killed by him.. twice.
I'm not solely blaming Sakura but Naruto and Kakshi both could've taken themselves out of the situation and go around to deal with conflicting feelings much later. Kakashi stops being the designated jonin leader because he couldn't stop Naruto like Yamato can. Naruto went with Jiraiya to help with the Kurama's chakra and get stronger.
Edit: Okay. Maybe Naruto isn't the best example but both Sakura and Him have priblems when dealing with Sasuke.
They let Sasuke's abandonment be a learning experience. Sakura is the only person behind and still stuck in the past. Because it is something she desperately clings to. It's why she doesn't give up and why she tries a false confession; it's a normalcy she wants back.
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The war is probably the only place I can play off after this point. Because it's the most interactions between them at that point. Sakura meeting Sasuke on the battlefield is like living a nightmare. The one place she didn't expect him to show up and he still surprises her.
But she still doesn't know him, not like before. Fighting with him again, side by side, instead of against; is a sign of trust she isn't ready but will do because it's her duty. But she probably wants to show off and show she may look the same but is a different person entirely.
I wish this is the path she took. Instead we see her quickly bring him back into her life and rejuvenate Team 7. It's a bittersweet/nostalgic moment; the climax before the battle. It's just like before. Before he left. Except it shouldn't. It's the last battle to determine all, they are about to die. I get that but there should be boundaries.
"I'm not here for you, I'm here to protect the Ninja alliance." Sakura should have said something along those lines. But it's a shounen battle manga, that doesn't talk about feelings, moving on. They have a lot to talk about and during the black period, it should be a process of healing.
Yes, I'm still on this scene. Sakura's love can be described as unconditional. She will always hold a torch for him. Because she cares for him and his goals. That is what she's made to be and I hate it.
It's consistent, supportive, and it's to help him. Unconditional can be made out to be parental or motherly but for Sakura it's an innocent kind of love. It's passionate.
Should I even go analyze the two attempted murders? I'd rather go over Sasuke's love.
Now Sasuke's love is a much more simple case compared to Sakura.
Sasuke doesn't love or accept Sakura's love until adulthood.
Because he's no longer a curious and hopeful child and is now a socially awkward adult.
Because he's no longer a curious and hopeful child and is now a socially awkward adult.
He doesn't know what to do with that.
He doesn't know what to do with that.
He doesn't know how to handle that. His whole life, full of vengeance and looking for answers. A single goal but now; he no longer has a drive. So he looks within himself and seeks atonement for his actions.
He stays busy because he knows he's going to have to answer her. He needs answers within himself to see if he can accept her love. He might not feel worthy or okay with her love, after all, he put her through hell. 
I sincerely hope he begs for fucking forgiveness from Sakura after this whole shit show of shippuden.
If Sakura's love is unconditional then Sasuke's is appreciated. He's thankful to Naruto and Sakura, they didn't give up on him. It might not be pure, adult, lust, passionate, or innocent; But it is there.
I don't see the men being as self aware of their actions or feelings. In the sense that they don't feel guilty for their actions. Men and women justify it, they all have too. Because they are ninjas and it's at this point where guilt may not have a huge impact on them.
"To finish the mission." and "No matter what." It's these thoughts and feelings that make up their personality. To commit to something, to finish what you started without fail and with your life.
Regardless, Shippuden and Boruto both make a great point that Sakura knows Sasuke, Intimately and Fully. She took the time to understand his pain and hatred. She took the time to help him, even when he didn't want it.
Sasuke didn't do that for Sakura, he can barely accept her love and acceptance. The knowledge that someone loves him, is enough.
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Sasusaku is a good ship that supports each other. Sasuke is greatful for Sakura's constant signs of affection, even if he can't accept them. Sakura looks to Sasuke as a goal, one she needs to find within herself. She envies his skill but doesn't let that stop her or let her become bitter towards him.
That's the bare necessities, the foundation. But it progresses into something horrible and I stop shipping at that point.
Edit: The clear reason to me, as to why Sasuke liked Sakura back, is because he admires her strength. The strength that saved him from his emotional darkness and inner turmoil.
At this point he allowed himself to stop wallowing in self pity and hatred and let her in. This is adult Sasuke, this is resolve for her. So he tries to love again.
If that last statement doesn't make sense, it's because of Itachi. That should explain enough, if it doesn't go to notes!
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ryttu3k · 4 years ago
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I want to have them all on Tumblr, so. Here are my reaction posts, in order, for Resolution of the Daleks and season 12, part 1!
Resolution of the Daleks
Thoughts on Doctor Who - Resolution! Spoilers, obviously!
Okay, negative first, just to get it out of the way. Doctor Who, I really appreciate that you consistently have queer minor characters and queer couples. Just super casual and all, as it should be. Now can you please stop killing off half of said couples? Angstrom's wife, Frankie, now this young guy? It's really not cool.
Don't think the voiceover worked. I feel the prologue would have worked better with just visuals.
Again, Yaz didn't have much to do. The Doctor got a ton of action, Ryan and Graham both had significant interactions with Aaron, Yaz was... just kind of there. I'm hoping that when the show comes back in a year, now that Ryan has largely dealt with his issues, Yaz will get more attention?
UNIT was killed by Brexit?! Fuckin' rude!
Okay, on to the positive!
The Dalek was, frankly, fucking scary. Despite knowing that the Doctor would beat it, obviously, it caused huge swathes of damage and racked up a... rather high body count. Like it felt like a proper threat. Also, its ability to stop the TARDIS tracking it and stuff. Lin's terror felt extremely genuine and it was just nice and horrific overall, like - if it wasn't for the Doctor, it would feel like a genuine threat to the entire Earth.
(Also, it shut down the wifi. On New Years Day. What a monster!)
Oh man that Dalek laughter. Creepy as fuck. The Doctor dragging it in via hologram to dare it to laugh in her face? Fucking iconic.
"I've learned to think like a Dalek." Oof.
Doctor vs Dalek. Not just the physical aspect, but the mental part - the Doctor recognising the seriousness of it, but also having that element of cockiness ("Oh, mate") because, frankly, she's dealt with bigger threats. She's right when she points out that the biggest problem will be if regular humans try to engage it!
Elements of Dark!Doctor when she asks the team - almost desperately - if she gave it enough chances, if she was nice enough. Because the Doctor can get fucking scary around Daleks and she knows it. She's nice. She's friendly. But she's also the Doctor, and the Doctor has done some really damn questionable things to stop the Daleks, and she knows that. Fantastically done and I still desperately want some proper Dark!Doctor.
Really liked the parallels between the Doctor using scrap to make her sonic screwdriver, vs the Dalek using scrap to make its armour. The Doctor makes a tool, the Dalek makes items of war. Of course, well, the Doctor is probably more dangerous just with a swiss army sonic than a Dalek blaster...
I love how the whole, "Dads are complicated... so I've heard" bit could refer to either the loom thing or the Doctor having actual parents or the Doctor being a shitty dad themself XD
Graham was so excited to show off the TARDIS! Like he's just going, "How cool is this?!"
There were some legitimately funny moments! Graham's chair, "I suppose... we'll have to have a... conversation?", "Junkyard chic"... UNIT was killed by Brexit like that's so awful but. But in a kind of funny way.
Okay, now the unsure. Ryan, Graham, and Aaron. Ryan and Graham have sorted out their issues - but Aaron is still such a big overshadowing part of it that it's a bit of a shock when he comes back in. As someone with a similarly shit biological father, I was completely empathising with Ryan in the coffee shop conversation. And I do understand why they wanted reconciliation, so they showed Aaron as acknowledging his bullshit and Ryan ultimately choosing to forgive and save him.
But it's just... not that easy. It's not all going to be perfect just because they stopped a Dalek together. Aaron's neglect hurt Ryan really badly, and it just felt... too easy? Like it helped that Aaron was genuinely contrite, and that he had that good stepfather talk with Graham, but just... yeah, not sure how I feel about it, honestly.
The Doctor's first words to him being, "You weren't at Grace's funeral. Ryan waited for you, you let him down" were so, so good. Like the Doctor is just going "fuck you I'm his father now". Like tbh I think she was 100% prepared to yeet him off the TARDIS and be done with it. Like damn don't emotionally hurt one of her crew.
Some wonderfully savage lines, though. The Doctor's, "You're almost making up for your parenting deficit!"; Aaron and Ryan's, "Is that how you talk to your dad?" "I don't know, he's not been around"; Graham's fucking smirk when Ryan pointedly calls him 'Gramps'.
I did see a suggestion that would have made it much better - instead of the Dalek capturing Aaron, it captures Ryan. First, it ups the threat in the mind of the Doctor and Team TARDIS - this isn't some dickhead, this is one of them. And instead, it's Aaron who reaches out to Ryan, Aaron who risks his life, Aaron who has to come through for Ryan, instead of the other way around. Also would have tied in beautifully with, "Family isn't about DNA, or a name. It's about what you do, and you haven't done enough."
Also, 'srs tech skillz'. With a Z. Doctor why.
In conclusion, I am going to fight Nigel Farage for killing UNIT.
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Spyfall part 1
Current response to Doctor Who: making a near-literal SDKFJHGSDASDKFH sound, grabbing a cushion, nearly throWING THE CUSHION.
More intelligent commentary when my brain comes back online.
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Okay. Am calm. Am good! We're good.
MAJOR SPOILERS for Doctor Who: Spyfall, part 1!
So yeah I actually literally screamed (kind of... scream-laugh-holy-shit-yes). Like, even before Dhawan finished speaking the, "Or should I say spy... Master?" line because of the way he had said 'spymaster' in full in the line before and there's nothing that grabs my brain like that one word in that one context. It wasn't quite as mindblowing as the Utopia reveal, since, let's face it, it's only been a season since we last saw that magnificant arsehole, but still.
(Actually, since I didn't watch Twelve's run, the last time I saw them was exactly a decade ago in The End of Time, broadcast New Years Day 2010. And I still fucking cry over, "Get out of the way." So. That may have been why I literally screamed lmao)
I mean. It's the Master. I can't not. They're my favourite jerk. This is probably slightly concerning.
Anyway. Comments!
The good
Episode was just flat-out exciting. It reminded me both of the Three and Ten eras, a bit? Fun gadgets, fancy suits, and what ends up being a giant game! Did start wondering when they were talking about spies and codes and stuff. It's basically a puzzle that's been set up for the Doctor to solve. Plus, the way she was pretty much enlisted into it! Thirteen and Dhawan!Master might end up having a more Pertwee-Delgado-esque dynamic, maybe? I would be down for that!
(My introductory episode to the Master was The Mind of Evil. Let's just put it that way XD)
"I'm her best enemy." <3
I mean, in retrospect, isolated house full of high-tech stuff and a wall full of books about the Doctor... oh honey. Long, looong game of playing Spies and Conspiracies just for, apparently, the sheer funsies of it. Oh, honey. They're such a disaster and I love them.
The reveal scene, Jodie's acting. The way she just... freezes and hunches in on herself. She's been hiding her past more than other Doctors have in the past, and suddenly, here is her past!! Right here!! Laughing and joking and right there in front of her! And she's just like, "Ohhh shit, I was not ready to have this conversation again..."
Yasmin and Ryan's dynamic. I do like that they split up the usual combos of Thirteen-Yasmin and Graham-Ryan for once, because I do like seeing the way they play off each other! It makes them feel more cohesive as a group. I liked Ryan trying to comfort Yasmin after her experience.
Post-reveal, I'm now wondering if the weird zappy forest thing is the Master's TARDIS? Something to do with changing and processing DNA into something else? Something based around neurons, with the electric travelling system? Am also wondering what happened to Yasmin while in there, since she seemed to be processed in some way, and I'm wondering if she had part of her DNA rewritten as well - or maybe if she's been replaced entirely, like she's currently piloting an alien version of her own body while her actual self is still in there. They did already do that with Flesh!Amy, though.
Once this arc is over, I think Thirteen is definitely going to have to sit down and tell the Fam who the hell she actually is. Graham is having some serious questions, and the Master was definitely egging that on, pre-reveal.
How much do I love that even in a tux, the Doctor still has the culottes and boots? A lot, that is how much. Also, how much do I love the Doctor in a suit and on a motorbike? A lot, that is how much.
"I've had an upgrade." <3
Thirteen playing Snap. It's okay, Thirteen, you still win my heart <3
"Worst! Uber! Ever!!"
"Kisses!" Yes, we know ;) They've been texting! Someone write me a WhatsApp chat fic with plenty of subtext and double meaning, I require it. Also, memes. You know it's true. The Master isn't a Time Lord, they're a Meme Lord.
"Everything you think you know is a lie." Season hook? :o
The hmm
Main concern is how they're handling the Master's characterisation? Last we saw, they were so ready to jump the Doctor ship. Now it's back to games. Kind of wondering if that means the Master is just at the point of being resigned that they and the Doctor just don't work and so is going back to games because at least it makes them happy, but I'm happy to wait until next week to see how things play out!
Did see a suggestion that this is the Master from one of the alternate universes (or at least that seems to be the general consensus on why there were multiple maps), so not actually necessarily the same version as Missy. Alternatively, this could actually be a pre-Missy version! Maybe between Simm!Master and Missy, since we never actually see that regeneration?
Actually, if this is the one immediately before Missy and this two-parter ends with the Master regenerating and we actually do get Thirteen and Missy together on screen I may cry.
(Like I'm aro-ace and agender but I'm still so gay for both of them. There is no word other for this emotion other than 'I'm gay'.)
I kind of wish someone had double-checked the name of the company because VOR running the world is. Is. "Right now, VOR is more powerful than most nations." Just. *pinches bridge of nose* Like okay you know how we say 'oh yeah just google it' 'yeah I googled it' are they really gonna say 'yeah I just VO
'I'm going to V
I can't say it. I can't.
Apparently the Australia scenes were filmed in South Africa. Kind of assumed it wasn't really Australia as soon as I saw actually greenery in the background h e h.
Highkey wish I could have seen Missy and Thirteen together. Dhawan!Master is very fun so far but. Missy and Thirteen. See comment above about the Master's characterisation!
...ABC are you really going to keep to Thursday night broadcasts even after the UK switches their Sunday nights / our Monday mornings? Well that's a good way to guarantee I'll be watching them online first! I was happy to wait twelve hours or so so I could watch it with Mum, but like hell I'm going to wait three and a half days!
In conclusion, am dead, send help, is it Monday morning yet?
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Spyfall part 2
Thoughts on Doctor Who: Spyfall, part 2!
GALLIFREY LOOOOORE.
Oh man I'm hyped. We got a teeny teaser to the Timeless Child way back last decade but now we may actually get to see what the fuck is going on. And hell, if nothing else, at least the discovery is being teased to be so devastating it did undo Missy's characterisation. If this incarnation of the Master is after her, at least. Still not necessarily anything to suggest that. The Master will likely be recurring over this season, so we'll find out more, at least!
God, the Master is so fucked up. Like. He's seen something apparently so massively traumatic that he had to destroy his own planet and legitimately does look broken by it? Unless he was acting, but I did not get that impression from the message at the end. And the only way he can think of to get the Doctor's attention is to start his old tricks? Not sure if it's better or worse for him to be pre-Missy tbh.
It's just... such an interesting dynamic. Also I really want to read into the whole... scene where the Master asks the Doctor to kneel and call him 'Master' in front of everyone - then, when she does (defiantly! Stubbornly!), he... kneels to be at the same level as her. Like, "I'm going to play these BDSM-esque power games with you but when it comes down to it, I still consider us equal."
Anyway the Master is def a service top.
This comment from Tumblr user upslapmeal:
"'why would it stop? I mean how else would I get your attention’ what did I say about the Master being like a cat knocking things off shelves"
I mean. Yeah.
"Contact." Old school.
The Companions! They get a capital C because they were rad as hell. I love them all deciding that what they do next is: carry on to save the world. Like they're all heroic af without the Doctor and it's so good.
"Don't make me do a soft-shoe shuffle!"
And questioning at the end, oooh man. There are some Implications there, yeah. They've found out some surface information, yes, but no real hint at the deeper trauma. And given what this coming season is hinting at, I strongly suspect we will indeed be getting that deeper trauma and maybe even Dark!Doctor. Gallifrey does tend to bring it out of them...
The whole on-the-run thing seemed to definitely be a callback to Sound of Drums. Uh, what's that going to do long-term? Send out a worldwide message saying, "Sorry, our bad, they're fine"? I mean, last time that happened... okay, Jack was already with Torchwood and so is used to Not Really Existing, but Martha definitely couldn't go back to fuckin' medical school. She ended up at UNIT and then went independent. They did not return to their normal lives.
Barton: needs a goddamn punch. He killed his mother what the fuck. On the plus side, at least he seems to have thoroughly destroyed his career? Be interesting to see if he reappears later, you don't go from the most powerful person on the planet to massive pariah overnight without Repercussions.
On to our guest characters! I hate to brag but I guessed who Ada was as soon as I heard her first name and saw her outfit. I mean the computers theme was already there, who else would she be? :D And I admittedly didn't know who Noor Inayat Khan was except in passing, but still. Little upset about the erased memories (Donna ;_; ), but I can see why the Doctor did it and like... this way, I'm glad they were able to avoid the implications of, "Ada only developed computing because she had already seen the future." Like people said that with Rosa Parks even though the Doctor said explicitly to only ensure there were enough seats filled and the act itself was all Rosa, so they may have wanted to play it safe.
I... really want to comment on how Ada definitely was crushing on the Doctor (and really, who wouldn't?), but she was a real person so I shall avoid those implications. (But really though!)
Doctor how many times have you been in someone's liver. This is some Magic School Bus Inside The Human Body bullshit and I love it.
Doctor's recording: "First of all, you're not gonna die! Second of all, don't talk back to the screens, obviously I'm a recording and I can't hear ya. Third, don't panic. Especially you, Graham."
Graham, panicking: "I'M NOT PANICKING!"
Doctor's recording: "Yes, you were! And I did just say, don't talk back to the screens!"
Graham: "????!?!!"
I want an entire series of the Master having a really infuriating seventy-seven years on Earth. Please.
Comments on continuity issues regarding that, "It's worse than Jodrell Bank!" "Did I ever apologise for that?" "No." "Good." exchange XD;; Like people are going, "Continuity error!! It was the Pharos Project, not Jodrell Bank!!" and like. Pharos was a project. Jodrell Bank is an observatory. You can do projects at observatories. Also, you can refer to projects by location, too. Am I referring to the Canberra Deep Space Communication Project or Tidbinbilla Station? Both! They refer to the same thing! In the Whoniverse, they likely did the Pharos Project at Jodrell Bank, and just had some lighthearted bantz about that time where the Master killed the Doctor, no biggie.
So, onwards to... an apparently unrelated episode for next week! Also, the Kassavin? Still there. Like. The Master only gave suggestions. They still have all those agents everywhere! They're still ready to act! And yeah, now they have the Master in their hands, so... I wonder if they'll make the Timeless Child a long, ongoing arc, and have the much more immediate threat of the Kassavin as the season finale?
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Orphan 55
Thoughts on Doctor Who - Orphan 55!
...whew.
First thought: anvilicious, but some anvils need to be dropped, because, uh, have you seen the world lately.
It feels like quite a brittle episode? Even beyond the immediate tension of 'there are large angry creatures trying to kill everyone', there's just this sense of... like, tension. There's the tension between Benni and Vilma, which at first is kind of a sweet tension then becomes a life-threatening and sad tension. There's the tension between Roger Parslow Silas and his dad, with Silas not being taken seriously (although I do think him running out while they're in life-threatening danger is a bit much). The obvious and major tension between Bella and Kane that drives the whole episode, yes.
And there's also the tension amongst Team TARDIS! The episode starts with the Doctor still in Some Kinda Way about last week, and I felt a bit of tension between Yaz and Ryan? She seemed rather unimpressed by Bella, at any rate. I do like how organic the relationship between Ryan and Graham feels, at least. "It ain't the aliens that are gonna kill me, it’s worrying about you!"
Set and costume building, I felt, was kind of... eh? I liked how Tranquility itself looked, but the tunnels looked Very Generic, and some of the looks I felt didn't really work. Silas and his dad's green hair just looked very obviously fake, and I saw a description of Hyph3n-with-a-three looking like a cross between a Jellicle Cat and John Candy in Spaceballs (which... yeah, honestly). And I'm not sure about the Dregs, although I did initially have the thought that whatever the original inhabitants of the planet were, they must have been humanoid was amusingly accurate...
"I just pulled this out of a friend of mine! >:("
"Oh! ...We do not make any judgments on our guests and fully support any way you choose to enjoy yourself here at Tranquility Spa! ^_^;;"
"... ... ...It wasn't recreational! o.O"
God you could feel Hyph3n-with-a-three's embarrassment...
"If I had crayons and half a can of Spam, I could build you from scratch!" Excuse me I am at least Tofurky.
Also a logical issue on the whole journey to find Benni, because frankly, it just wasn't... sensible. Okay, bring a kid. Father of the year right there. Okay, bring an old woman. Granted, she could have insisted because it was her man-friend they were looking for, but surely she would have known she would slow them down? Her 'heroic sacrifice' felt very wasted, because dammit, she could have survived if she had stayed in the Dome where it was at least a bit safer!
"At least three eighths of a plan, right here! ...Two eights. I'll be honest, all I've got is the letter 'P'..."
So the Doctor is almost at the point of passing out from oxygen loss but hang on, let her first indulge her curiosity...
The sheer existence of orphan planets is very depressing. The sheer fact that there's at least fifty-five is very depressing.
There's an interesting comment about how straight after discussion of the reveal, the first shot of the preview is the Statue of Liberty. Very Planet of the Apes! (No apes next time, just Tesla vs Edison!) Also feeling a strong connection to Midnight (stunning resort on dangerous planet with a very personal enemy), and I saw a comment about Thirteen unintentionally The-End-Of-The-World-ing the Fam (and making a connection between 'very angry trees' and the Forests of Cheem). Bit of Ravolox. Bit of... fuck what was it... Curse of Fenric.
Although, we know that the Earth will eventually be consumed by the sun, and it was done in a way that was like... it was its time. This was not its time, was a colossal fuck-up on a planetary scale (and the Doctor continues to be 'eat the rich'), but it's also only one potential future. Which is good, because that got dark. Even more than The End of the World, even more than Utopia, even more than fuckin' Frontios, because this is the near-future. The shots we saw of the destruction were modern day! That was the Dome of the Rock you saw getting bombed!
"Be smarter than what made you." PAGING THE GOVERNMENT...
Going to put it on a solid... maybe 7/10? Some really good elements in there, but also some clunkers, and unfortunately not a patch on the same writer's It Takes You Away, which was one of the strongest of the last season.
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Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror
Thoughts on Doctor Who - Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror!
Opinion before episode: man, Tesla's cool. Opinion after episode: man, Tesla is fuckin' cool! :D That was a well-done personality-based historical, absolutely - I think it's my second-favourite personality-based historical only to Rosa (there are other pseudo-historical based ones set in the past that I love, but they're not personality-based; the Human Nature duology is a good example).
But yeah, Tesla just came across as a really, really cool character. Genius and he knew it, yes, and the real Tesla did have some questionable views (sexism, mostly), but otherwise the archetypal Idealistic Genius who wants to change the world for the better. Contrast with Edison, who was... a businessman. With, like, a really punchable face. Still pretty intelligent, but... very, very punchable. I've read about the Tesla-Edison feud before and always sided with Tesla, and let's face it, so did the writer XD
Good mix of character combinations - with a lot of characters, it's easy for someone to get sidelined, but this managed to handle Thirteen and the Fam, and Tesla, Dorothy, and Edison, pretty well. There were some neat combinations, like Ryan and Dorothy bonding over the sense of adventure, and Graham and Edison's confrontation; I also really loved the whole conversation between Thirteen and Tesla on the joy of just... creating. There's actually a very nice overlap between arts and sciences.
Antagonists - not bad? I feel a lot of people were expecting the Racnoss, and there was such a similarity that I would have liked at least a throwaway line about how the Skithra were related or something. Ooh man she definitely brought out Dark!Doctor, though. Teleporting the queen back to the ship, specifically so she can be fried? I mean, she might have survived it. Might. And just that fantastic little change of expression when the queen asks the Doctor if she's ever seen a dead planet before! Whittaker pulled that one off.
There's a very interesting compare and contrast between the Skithra and Edison, I found. Thirteen has her speech about how once the Skithra are gone, they won't be remembered. Caput. Forgotten. They left nothing behind. Compare and contrast to Edison, who was openly accused of using other people's work, but who's able to learn from his mistakes, end on an even(ish) setting with Tesla, and who does get remembered. Which kind of stings, honestly, if you look at Tesla's actual history.
Like. Apparently that, "The man just didn't understand the American sense of humour," line was an actual historical line, according to Tesla's own records. The absolute main reason for the difference in fame and recognition is that Tesla was a genius who didn't know how to market. Edison was a marketer who could invent a bit. So in conclusion Edison is a dick and Tesla needs more respect, the end.
Favourite lines and scenes:
Tesla: "Is - is this your own design?" Thirteen: "I made it! Mainly out of spoons! :D" Tesla: "You're an inventor! :D" Thirteen: "I have my moments." Tesla: "I knew it! So you... so, you can understand how it feels, you know, when you have an idea, and - and to make it real. I don't think there's any greater thrill!" Thirteen: "I couldn't agree more." Tesla: "You... you spoke of aliens. People here laugh at the very idea." Thirteen: "But not you." Tesla: "Well, apparently I'm not like other people. It can be difficult, you know, to feel no one else sees the world the way you do. It's like you're, uh..." Thirteen: "...out of place."
Graham: "Yeah, still. I bet you'd jump at the chance to have him back working for you, wouldn't ya?" Edison: "Yeah?" Graham: "Yeah!" Edison: "How d'you figure that?" Graham: "'Cause I had a supervisor like you at my old depot. And men like you don't pay a bloke that much attention unless you think there's a payout comin'."
Thirteen: "I wouldn't go killing me and Yaz. 'Cause Yaz... can tell you what this is." Yaz: "It's a camera!" Thirteen: "Bingo!" *FLASH!*
Edison: "I couldn't figure it out either." Tesla: "The internal dimensions transcend the external." Thirteen: *GRIN* Edison: ._.
Thirteen: "You do realise, it's killing Edison that they want you and not him? ;D"
Graham: "Don't worry. This ain't our first rodeo!" Ryan: "We've never been to a rodeo." Graham: "...you're not helping, Ryan..."
Thirteen: "And what are you queen of, exactly? A stolen ship and second-hand guns? A queen of shreds and patches. You're not a ruler, you're a parasite." Queen: "And what are you? So clever, stealing onto my ship, taking what I claim as mine. But where has it got you? No weapons. No armour. No escape. Just the desperate hope you might change my mind." Thirteen: "No, we are way past that. I gave you your chance." Queen: "A chance to be like you?" Thirteen: "A chance to evolve. But you were too stupid to take it. When you die, there'll be nothing left behind - just a trail of blood and other people's brilliance. No one will even know you existed."
(Side note: I love that this speech was actually in front of the companions. They're starting to see that things are Not Okay.)
Thirteen: "Don't give up." Yaz: "Whatever anyone says." Tesla: "Well, let them talk. The present is theirs. I work for the future... and the future is mine."
Favourite incorrect lines:
Thirteen and Tesla, firing at the ship: "VIBE CHECK!"
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Fugitive of the Judoon
I'M GONNA... NEED A HOT MOMENT TO PROCESS THAT...
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WELL I. UH. OKAY.
lmao I'm serious I don't even know where to begin.
Uh, some very disorganised comments on Doctor Who - Fugitive of the Judoon!
I squealed when I heard Jack's voice then saw him in the flesh. I gasped audibly when 'Ruth' broke the glass. I yelped when we saw the buried TARDIS. I MAY HAVE SCREAMED A LITTLE WHEN 'RUTH' INTRODUCED HERSELF.
(Also can we talk about her outfit. That was on point.)
I'm getting a very... very early vibe? She didn't know what the sonic screwdriver was, and that was introduced with Troughton. Since we saw the Hartnell-Troughton regeneration, she must be pre-Hartnell? Maybe a Doctor whose memories were rewritten to the point that they thought the Hartnell incarnation was the earliest? Not to mention that was a pretty old-school-looking TARDIS!
Alternatively, maybe between Troughton and Pertwee? Either option has some inconsistency - if she's post Troughton, she should have known what the sonic was, although it admittedly did look very different. Plus, her TARDIS is already its police box shape, which was implied to have set in the junkyard. Also, we never actually do see the regeneration between Two and Three, and it could explain why Gallifrey was after her - she escaped after her trial after The War Games!
Definitely early, though.
Alternatively alternatively, Thirteen actually does say 'time is swirling around me'. Maybe an alternate timeline. Something to tie back to the Timeless Child?
"I've lived for thousands of years, so long I've lost count. I've had so many faces. How long have you known me? You don't know me. Not even a little bit."
That wasn't just aimed at the companions. I feel that was aimed at the Doctor themself.
(Related: the response from the fam was flat-out beautiful. Doesn't matter who she was or who she'll be. They know her now, and they love her.)
Just. Wow. Wow.
Really cool note from Twitter - disguised name was Ruth Clayton. Ruth = 'friend, companion'. Clayton = 'of the Earth'. She literally named herself 'friend of the Earth'.
"You're probably a bit confused right now."
I mean. Yeah. Confused and intrigued and what.
"Don't do points! I do points! Points are my thing!"
Jack. Jack. Smooching Graham, hitting on all the companions, getting into Shenanigans! The Lone Cyberman - I wonder if that's a totally different crisis that isn't even related to the current Gallifrey-Timeless Child one? The more important part is Jack's presence - the presence of another time traveller with a... unique relationship with the universe. The actual warning could be a red herring, but Jack showing up anywhere in the first place is a sign that something is happening with time?
Orphan 55 had a timeline that may or may not have been the 'real' one. Being only a potential future kind of doesn't work with what we know of established DW continuity, so I'm liking the 'alternate timeline' theory, maybe?
Ryan: "I liked him. Kind of cheesy."
Yaz: "But good cheesy."
Thirteen, smiling: "That's Jack."
Graham just standing there going, "He kissed me tho? ...Wasn't bad, actually."
"Is she safe?" Jack, honestly, is she ever safe?
"When she needs me... I'll be there." Oh yeah, he's so coming back later this season.
Also, Judoon, chameleon arch, the Master, Jack - getting big season 29 vibes here and that's a big thumbs up for me because that's my favourite season. We just need Martha to make an appearance now!
...hehe honestly, between Jodie's entire existence, and now, in the span of five episodes, introducing Dhawan!Master, Gat, and now Jo Martin as the first black female Doctor, and reintroducing Jack, one of the most overtly and openly queer characters on the series, the 'Doctor Who is too PC!' bunch are going to be so mad XD
"A platoon of Judoon... near the moon." / "Look at you, your platoon of Judoon near the... that lagoon..."
Man. The close-up in the very first shot of the watch. Nice tie-in.
"The Doctor never uses weapons!" "I know! Shut up! >.>"
Where do the Kasaavin come into play? Is this something they've done by integrating themselves throughout time and space? Maybe they're fraying the fabric?
My mind is blown. I can't wait for the rest of this season :D
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[Part 2 - Praxeus to The Timeless Children]
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villainever · 6 years ago
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Touch Them, Talk to Them: Villaneve & Nuance in Villanelle's Psychopathy (2x07)
okay there is SO much to say about 2x07, but none of you want to read 10k words of analysis, so im going to pick one topic and stick to it (for now). in this post, im going to talk about how this episode is – I believe – a response to: a) villanelle’s season 1 claim that what she wants is, among other things, “someone to watch movies with”, b) eve’s question, “you really don’t feel anything?”, and c) martin’s assertion that to psychopaths, there are only “i / it” relationships. i think aaron is a fantastic opposite/parallel to villanelle, because i believe that a great antagonist doesn’t just provide practical obstacles in the plot-path of the protagonist, but removes obstacles in their character-path. an example of what i meant by this is that in season 1, villanelle killed bill, killed frank, ruined evidence, impeded the investigation, and messed eve around (obstructing her plot-path). but she also drove eve to confront the (sociopathic) personality traits that she’d been repressing, and helped eve find her sense of purpose, confidence and power (smoothing her character-path). in season 2, however, villanelle has been shifted from an ~antagonist~ (ostensibly, as she doesn’t fully conform to this reductive role) to a protagonist, and aaron replaces her as the mysterious Other. just as we had with eve/villanelle, he is both Like and Not-Like villanelle. it’s the likeness that makes him an interesting (and dangerous) opponent for her, but it’s the not-likeness that’s so significant.
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in 2x06, villanelle has her iconic “boredom” speech, and monologues about how nothing makes her feel anything. so at the start of 2x07, eve asks her if that’s all true – although it seemed authentic, it’s fair enough of eve to ask, considering how often and easily villanelle lies while playing her characters, and that villanelle prompts her (“you’ll feel better if you talk about it”). villanelle’s reply is that she doesn’t actually KNOW if she’s telling the truth or not. i don’t think she’s deflecting here; she appears subtly, but genuinely, torn. she DOESN’T know. 
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she wants to give eve a real answer, but she can’t. this is probably the result of a whole lot of mixed information: she’s obviously been told she’s a psychopath (by lawyers and therapists and fellow prisoners and konstantin, then eve), and she knows she enjoys killing people, controlling them, and she is often bored, too, like she said, but none of those things feels like enough. so she offers eve the most she can give: “i feel things when i’m with you.” and while she definitely means this – we could’ve guessed it, considering the lengths she’ll go to to even end up in the same country as eve – she’s still conflicted.
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so then, in the last quarter of 2x07, we get this scene between villanelle and aaron:
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he describes them as “voids”, and villanelle doesn’t hesitate before agreeing. she’s a psychopath, right? she must be a void. she’s not “nice and normal”. she doesn’t mind stabbing or suffocating or toying with other people. between her and aaron, there’s this heartbeat of dissonant kinship. she’s already joked that they might be “soulmates”, so here, she’s just chatting with him. she’s certain they’re fundamentally the same, and there’s not much to be learned from this, so she’s mostly humouring him. so she asks something out of mild interest, but she thinks she already knows the answer.
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“do you ever get lonely?” villanelle does. she finds being cooped up by herself to be tedious, and uses the time to prepare her next interactions – elaborately faking her death for konstantin; planning new presents or tricks or reminders for eve. importantly, in defiance of the “incapable of ‘i / you’ relationships” idea, she is able to apply this notion of isolation to eve. in 2x06, she tells konstantin she’s texting eve “because [eve] might be lonely”. sure, villanelle primarily wants to know how much of an impact she had by killing someone right in front of eve, but she’s not really lying; she can follow and understand the emotional process of “niko left - today’s been a high-stakes day - eve is alone - eve might want somebody to decompress with”. and she feels compelled to offer eve that, to make things better for her. but:
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like i said, villanelle has been trying to reach out on the common ground she percieves them as having. she expects to relate to aaron in every way, because he’s a psychopath, too. except aaron goes on about how he knows so much about people, how he observes them. villanelle often does this as well – stalking eve in clothing stores back in season 1, googling her, watching through her windows, etc. but that’s not even near to enough of eve for villanelle, so her reaction is one of confusion. “you don’t want to talk to them? touch them? sleep with them?" 
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"god, no.” aaron’s inflection is almost one of disgust, and definitely one of superiority. it’s like she’s asked him if he’s interested in hanging out with rocks. he can’t imagine having any involvement behind mild amusement at the opportunity to manipulate people, like toys. “do you?” he asks.
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“yeah! i do. all the time.” it’s an immediate knee-jerk response, and though it’s soft, it’s emphatic. villanelle doesn’t doubt her answer. as the shot pans out, she gives a slight gasp, and almost smiles (mirroring that slight smile through her sobs in amsterdam). aaron remains impassive.
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i believe that this exchange is maybe the MOST important of the episode, second only to eve/villanelle’s semi-sex scene. i also believe that it’s this conversation with aaron that leads villanelle to breaching that last unspoken barrier between her and eve. to be clear, i’m not trying to say villanelle isn’t a psychopath. one revelation does not fifty people un-kill. just a handful of hours before this moment, she murdered gemma with a plastic bag. so i’m not suggesting villanelle is just like any of us. she’s not, eve’s not, and we don’t want them to be. my point is that this moment clarifies a lot for villanelle. she’s been trying to figure out her own capacity for emotion and connection. one thing that she’s considered a fact about herself since before the pilot is that she “wants someone to watch movies with”. she expresses this desire to eve and konstantin with no hesitation; she’s sure, and this becomes a tacit premise in a lot of her reasoning over the whole show. i suspect villanelle doesn’t have any long-term understanding of what that really means, but she wants it anyway. she also plans most of her life around being able to get closer to eve, whether by teasing her or helping her or steering those in eve’s life to create the required conditions for a confrontation.
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which is why aaron telling her he has NO need for human contact is such a big deal. because villanelle obviously DOES. she needs it, she wants it, she always has. anna, eve; villanelle develops romances that run deep – even though she’s no longer obsessed with anna by season 1, she still clearly feels a connection to her, and i don’t think she’d have killed her if anna hadn’t killed herself. then there’s konstantin, and she’s a little shit to him, but she definitely missed him, if the way she ran into his arms in 2x03 after being forced to put up with raymond for ten minutes is any indication. villanelle and konstantin have a rapport, and they trust each other (in that they both know each other well enough to guess when they might betray each other, and can account for it accordingly). essentially, until now, villanelle has been running with the equation “aaron = psychopath; me = psychopath; thus, aaron = me”. she’d assumed that part of psychopathy was just the level of human interest she has – which is why she doesn’t have an issue telling eve “like us, you mean”, even though eve has a long-term relationship and friends: that amount of involvement is still realistic for them, right? but aaron doesn’t have this need for people. so now, “aaron =/= me” for villanelle.
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crucially, this interaction gives villanelle CONTEXT. rather than dealing in absolutes, she now has a spectrum of psychopathy: “aaron –> me –> eve –> carolyn –> konstantin –> etc.” aaron has inadvertently told her that what she feels is real. maybe she’d almost believed that, seeing as psychopaths can’t feel anything, can only have the “i / it”, that what she experienced was an infatuation or illusion (although this was shaken by eve stabbing her and by crying in amsterdam); but here’s aaron confirming that the idea of fascination with/caring for people has never even occurred to him. and it does NOTHING BUT occur to villanelle. eve runs circles around her head.
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let’s look at that in practice. aaron’s most significant relationship is with his sister, who he treats like crap. he’s got her babysat, won’t listen to her opinions (“the grownups are talking, amber”), disrespects a friend she likes, calls her a “thickie”. then villanelle, the closest thing he has to a friend – he watches her without her consent, plays dress-up and stay-still like she’s a doll, tells her what she’s going to do (“spit it out”) and instructs her on how she should feel (“you’ll be bored”). but villanelle? her most important relationship is with eve. and sure, she makes really fucked up choices, but she also makes an effort to consider how eve might feel, what eve might want, what might appeal to her. AND, she’s IMPROVED at that. for example, in 1x03, she kills bill to get eve’s attention, but it’s at the price of hurting her. by 2x07, though, villanelle won’t kill niko. it’s mostly selfish – she doesn’t want eve to be mad at her – but if it were aaron, he’d try and force eve to be un-mad somehow, with money or threats, etc. (not that aaron would bother; he wouldn’t mind if she hated him) villanelle, though, she wants eve to ACTUALLY love her, not to HAVE to love her. villanelle is manipulative, obviously (e.g. telling niko that eve stabbed her to cause a rift between them), but she sees these indirect manipulations as a way to arrange things how she wants (it doesn’t really occur that there might be an alternative), and attempts to course-correct when eve sometimes gets upset. this is huge for villanelle. aaron gives her something NOBODY else can, by being like her, but less like her than she’d believed. the distinction between them might seem minute to viewers who have the full range of emotions/empathy, but for villanelle, that small difference means the world. it means her and eve are REAL, or real enough. martin said, “don’t add, take away”. but aaron proves that that can be true by degrees; villanelle is dotted with minuses, but fewer minuses than aaron. this is set up throughout the episode, kicked off thematically by eve’s question, but compounded by aaron’s consistent use of villanelle like a thing. THIS is an “i / it” dynamic. “stay there, exactly like that”. “wear this”. “these are your clothes now”. “we’re leaving”. “you’ll get ice-cream, and i’ll watch you eat it”. to him, villanelle is a totally disposable puppet. but over and over and over we’ve been shown that this ISN’T how villanelle perceives eve, and that’s definitely cemented in amsterdam, when villanelle breaks down over eve “forgetting” her. 
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aaron, like villanelle, has up until this point mistaken them for exactly alike, but they’ve been miscommunicating all along. at lunch, villanelle said, “i dont like rich men” – meaning, i like women, specifically eve, and i have my own resources. aaron counters, “but you like money”. he’s misinterpreted, and thinks villanelle means, like him, that she never wants to have sex or talk with other humans. instead, he concludes that she likes the material object of money, and the subsequent ability to aquire items which might spark some kind of response – and this lines up with villanelle’s later remark about liking to buy and own things, which aaron recognises in himself. they’re replying to each other, but really, they’re having slightly different conversations. so what does this mean, overall? we’ve known forever that villanelle wants eve to be the person she “watches movies with”, but this conversation tells villanelle she could maybe be that person to eve, too. villanelle can “love” in her own unique way, can be present. and because eve’s stepping off the ledge and meeting her in the middle, neither of them will have to be anything other than who they actually are. and they can be who they actually are, together. this analysis got a lot more muddled than i wanted it to, because im a lil wine drunk after haning out with some friends, but i had Thoughts. i have many more Thoughts about the villaneve hookup, hugo, gemma’s death, why aaron is such a creepy villain, carolyn’s plans, etc. but i’ll leave it here for now. i hope this made some sense lmfao.
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