#to be fair i was VERY naive and innocent as a teen | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

marvelcriminalhoe · 2 years

Text

His Sinful Devotion Part 4

Older! Dark! Church guy! Steve Rogers x Innocent! Naive! Preachers daughter! Reader

Guest Staring: Older! Dark! Church guy! Bucky Barnes x Innocent! Naive! Preachers daughter! Reader!

(The smut in this chapter involves Bucky x Reader, not Steve)

Warnings: Age gap, Dark, manipulation, dub con, power imbalance, oral (male receiving), Talks of god, talks of praying, talks of courtship. Talks of sharing woman (past&present) Steve is hardcore manipulative I’m serious, reader is hardcore innocent, groping, innocent kink(is that a thing???), praise kink, daddy kink, small amount of degradation kink. face fucking. chocking. gaging. . I think that’s all? Idk let me know if I’m missing something. Obviously this is very much nsfw and 18+ only

AN1: If you’re here for the smut, it's in the middle. If you're here for the storyline, it's the beginning. If you're here for both, enjoy it all. I know you’ve been waiting for it.

AN2: I would like to state, I love Sharon. I love that she is going to become a villain in the future with Marvel. But in this story, I don’t like her. She will not be a friend. If you don’t like that, too bad. I was going to make an OC, but I’m lazy and didn’t want to. So deal with it.

Word Count: 3,036

Master List

Steve has felt on top of the world since the dinner at your house. Your parents agreed to allow him to court you and Steve knew, his plans were so set in motion, he would be married to you by Christmas. No one would be able to stop him now.

He deserves a wife. A good, obedient, little wife. And that’s exactly what you will be for him. It’s what you’ve been raised to be.

And he does deserve it. Deserves you. Steve has spent his whole life in church, mostly to appease his mother. He spent his youth being sick and frail. His teen years in service to the community. He spent his 20’s overseas with Bucky, fighting in wars for greedy men, and he’s spent the last 10 years being home, being the perfect church guy.

He deserves something good now, for all he's done. For all he continues to do.

And what kind of man would he be, if he didn’t share that with his best friend? The man that has been there with him every step of the way. The man that has taken him in, that has helped him countless of times.

Bucky is Steve’s other half. His brother. He has shared with Steve throughout the years, especially when they were teens and Steve never had any prospects of his own. It’s only fair to repay the favor.

Bucky, like Steve, is currently working on his own little wife, both men wanting to settle down, start families of their own. Steve just happens to be a little ahead of him in the plan.

So until Bucky can start making moves of him own, Steve is more than willing to share bits of you with him. It’s what Bucky would do if the rolls were reversed.

Steve is shaken from his train of thought, when he spots his best friend making his way through the gate, a smirk on the brunettes face.

“Punk.” Bucky pulls Steve into a strong hug. Bucky moved a few states away when the boys got back, wanting to be closer to his sister and her family. But that hasn't changed his and Steve’s relationship at all.

Steve laughs, clapping Bucky’s shoulder, “Jerk. How was your flight?” “Good.” Bucky nods, pulling back to walk to the baggage claim, “But I’m as stiff as a board now.” “Your old back can’t handle those seats?” Steve jokes, earning a glare from his friend, “Shut up, punk.” “Alright, alright.” Steve concedes, “Let’s go. We got stuff to do.”

“And a girl to meet.” Bucky smirks, making Steve roll his eyes, “That all you’re excited about, punk? Haven't seen your best friend in months, ya know.”

Bucky just scoffs, “Come on Stevie, ya know I’m excited to see ya too.” Before he groans, “But, god, that video in the class room? I’ve been hard for 3 weeks now.”

Steve laughs, rolling his eyes as he helps put Bucky’s bag in the trunk of his SUV, “We’ll get you sorted out soon, jerk. Just calm down for a few hours will ya? We gotta hit the service first.”

“Yeah yeah.” Bucky grumbles getting in, “I know how to be good.” Steve gets in, raising a brow at his friend, “Really?” Bucky smirks, “Alright, I know how to pretend.” Both men laughing as Steve drives away from the airport.

Your parents announced to the church about yours and Steve’s courtship that night in church, bringing both of you to the front of the stage for the church to all congratulate you. Steve kept one of his hands on your lower back as the other one shook the hands of the congregation. You both had smiles on your face, and you enjoyed how excited everyone was for the both of you. But you didn’t miss the strained smiles of some of the single women when they would come up, or the way some didn’t even shake your hand, bypassing you entirely.

Steve noticed too. and the pressure on your back grew each time it happened. Steve knew that would happen, and the blatant disrespect you received from some of the women he would not tolerate from here on out. You were his, and he would not allow his girl to be mistreated.

After the announcement, when everyone started leaving, Steve turned to your parents, “Would you mind if I stole her away fro a few hours? My best friend is in town, and I wanted her to enjoy dinner with us.”

Your mother smiled at Steve, “Of course! Both of you have fun.”

“I’ll drop her off later tonight.” Steve nods, shaking your fathers hand before he starts walking you down the aisle towards a brunette man that was waiting by the door. You saw him come in with Steve earlier. He was handsome and tall, much like Steve. He was also built like Steve. Maybe a little shorter, but still well above you.

Steve sits roughly at 6’6, while this man was about 6’4 or 6’5. Barley any difference between the men, besides the hair colors. This man also has much brighter of a blue in his eyes.

The man is watching you as you walk up to him, a small smirk on his face when you reach him, sticking his hand out, “Bucky, nice to meet you doll.”

You send him a shy smile back, taking his rough hand in your much softer one, “Nice to meet you.”

You look up to Steve when you drop Bucky’s hand, who smiles down at you, “Me and Buck go way back. Knew each other since we were kids.” He tells you as he leads you to his car, Bucky getting in behind you as Steve is in the drivers seat.

He drives to his house, a place you've never been. You’ve only ever spent time with him at the church or at the dinner with your parents. But you don’t feel nervous with Steve, especially since you’re courting now. He will be your future husband, should this go the way everyone is expecting it to. Steve unlocks the door, ushering you in. His house is nice, really nice. Much nicer than your house. You aren't entirely sure what Steve does as work, but it definitely pays more than what your parents make working for the church.

You walk around the living room, sitting on the couch gracefully as Steve instructs, as Steve and Bucky head into the kitchen, talking amongst themselves. After a few minutes, both men come into the living room.

“Darling,” Steve gets your attention as he starts putting his jacket back on, “I need to run to the store, grab some stuff for dinner.”

“Oh, okay.” You frown, thinking he had already gotten everything, considering he invited you here for dinner, “Should I come with you?”

Steve shakes his head, walking over to you, and kissing your forehead, “It’s alright, little one, I got it.” He smirks down for you, caressing your cheek with his pointer finger, “You’ll be good for Bucky while I’m gone, yeah?”

You nod your head, “Of course.” You couldn't imagine being unpleasant towards Bucky, who was Steve’s closest friend.

“Good girl.” Steve praises you, leaning down to kiss your forehead one more time, “Do everything he says, okay?”

“O-okay.” You nod, looking behind him a Bucky, who was watching the interaction.

Steve walks to the front door, patting Bucky’s shoulder as he leaves, throwing a, “Have fun you two.” Over his shoulder as the door closes behind him.

Bucky makes his way to where you’re sat on the couch, smiling at you as he sits down close. His leg and shoulder brushing up against yours. “You know, Steve has told me a lot about you.”

You feel yourself become a little flustered at the thought that Steve talks about you, not thinking you’re really anything worth talking about, “Really?”

“Oh yeah.” Bucky nods, “Has told me lots of stories. He can’t shut about about what an angel you are.”

You smile shyly at him, looking down at your hands in your lap. You like that Steve talks about you. Like that he is so sweet and caring. You feel a soft brush on your cheek as fingers grab your chin, making you look back over to the brunette man.

“Don’t look away, doll.” He tells you gently, “You’re too pretty not to stare at.”

You swallow at the endearment, having to focus hard on not looking away again. Your hands fiddling in your lap. Bucky watches you for a few seconds, only making your nerves even more heightened, expecting him to look for a flaw.

Bucky is Steve’s best friend, what if he doesn't like you? Would Steve leave you then? And if Steve doesn’t think your worthy, would anyone?

You finally start to feel like you’re more than your parents daughter, finally have someone with Steve that doesn't treat you like a child all the time. Talking down to you as if you’re nothing. You don’t want to lose that.

The hand he has still grasping your chin, moves to cup your cheek, his thumb caressing your bottom lip, “You have beautiful lips.”

“Tha—thank you.” You stutter out. Besides Steve, no one really pays you any compliments, not like this.

Bucky sighs deeply, “Steve tells me you’re really good at helping him. You like helping, doll?”

“Yes.” You nod quickly, “I love helping. Father says that’s what we’re put here to do.”

Bucky nods at your words, still caressing your bottom lip, “Would you want to help me?”

“Of course!” You answer quickly. Maybe if you help him, he will like you, and will tell Steve he approves of you. Then Steve will like you even more.

“Good girl.” Bucky whispers, letting go of your face and drops his hands down to his jeans, unbuckling his belt. You eyes go wide at his actions when he pulls them down, along with his boxers, and his cock hits his abdomen.

You’ve never seen anyone else but Steve’s, and he told you his is the only one you’re allowed to see, “Uh, Bucky, I—I don’t think—-“

“It’s alright, doll.” Bucky starts lazily stroking his cock as his hardness grows, “Stevie said you could help me.”

“He did?” You question.

“Of course he did, doll.” Bucky takes one of your hands from your lap, helping you stroke him instead of himself, “Would I lie to ya? He’s the one that told me what a helper you are. What a good girl you can be.”

You nod at his words, watching as your hand goes up and down. He’s not as long as Steve, but he is a little thicker. He has more veins than Steve too. Your breathing becomes a little heavier as Bucky lets go of your hand, his finding the back of your head, petting your hair, “Just like that doll, fuck. Go faster.”

You speed up your movements, following his orders. Steve did tell you to listen to him. You feel pressure on the back of your neck as Bucky starts to push you down, “Use your mouth.”

His voice is a lot harsher and lower, making you think he was upset at you. You open your mouth, sucking on him like a popsicle, like Steve taught you to do.

Like Steve has you do every week before class, so he’s not nervous.

“Fucking hell.” Bucky mumbles as he watches you suck him off, “Punk’s got you trained real well.” He throws his head back on the couch, pushing your head down farther.

You’ve never done it like this for Steve, he’s always standing in front of you, and this angle makes it go down your throat farther. You gag a bit, but unlike when that happens with Steve, Bucky doesn't pull you away, “You can take it.”

Bucky lifts his head back up, watching as you fight a little in his hold, but you don’t stop your movements. He knows his girth is a bit wider than Steve’s but your mouth feels so good, he can’t have you stopping now. Bucky needs a little more though. He switches hands, moving his right now onto your head to keep your movements going, as his left one caress your back.

“Get on your knees, doll.” Bucky orders, “Put them on the couch under you.”

You do as instructed, finding it a little difficult considering your position, but after you do it, your neck does start to feel better, not at such a weird angle. Of course, this isn’t why Bucky wanted you like this.

He reaches back, lifting the bottom of your skirt up so he can kneed your ass, making you squeak around him out of surprise. He pushes your head all the way down with his right hand, making you choke a bit as he leaves you there, his pubes brushing against your cheeks. when he lets you continue your movements, his left hand continues to kneed your ass.

As he starts to get closer to his high, Bucky starts bucking up into your mouth, making you choke on him more. “Fuck, doll.” Bucky groans, “You sound so good chocking on my cock.”

Unlike Steve, Bucky’s words are far more vulgar, making you feel weird.

“Such a little slut, chocking like this, huh?” He questions, fully fucking your throat now, still kneading your ass. He laughs when you try to protest with a shake of your head, his words making you feel bad. The surprise sound you make when his hand connects with your ass hard, vibrates around his cock, making him finish far faster than he wanted to. He keeps your head down on him as he continues to buck into your mouth, “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

When all of his cum has been emptied, he lets you up, ordering you to swallow it like Steve does. The running mascara and smeared lipstick on your face makes you look throughly fucked, making him half hard again, but he knows not to push it. You’re still new at all of this. Steve only started making you his for about a month and a half now.

Bucky can’t help but chuckle at how well the blonde already has you trained, in such a short time. Who would have thought Steve was better at this than him?

Bucky wipes the tear tracks on your face, stopping himself from laughing at the small pout you have. He knows it’s because he called you a slut. Steve informed him he’s only ever treated you like a good girl. But Bucky is a little more mean when it comes to these things.

“You did such a good job, doll.” Bucky smiles at you, “Such a good girl.”

“Really?” You question, still pouting. You've never been called a slut before. You didn’t think you were one either. You’re just helping, right? Steve said this was okay. That this was a good thing.

Bucky nods at you, reassuringly, “Steve will be really pleased you helped me so well.”

His words do the desired affect, making you feel more at ease and forgetting the words he said earlier. You did help him and Steve has to be proud of you for helping his best friend. Right?”

As if he knew you two were talking about him, Steve walks through the front door, a few grocery bags in hand. He sets the bags down, walking over to where you and Bucky are. He sends a small, ‘really’, look to Bucky, gesturing to the man that his pants were still down, before turning to you. He kneels down in front of you, wiping the smudges lipstick around your mouth, “Did you two have fun?”

You shrug your shoulders looking over to Bucky before you look back to Steve. The brunette nods his head, “She helped me out real nice, Stevie.”

Steve raises his brow at you, “That so?”

You nod your head but still don’t say anything, wondering if he will be mad. You know he told you to never help anyone out like you help him, but he also told you to listen to Bucky.

Steve puts your fears to rest though when he smiles at you wide, kissing your forehead, “Good job, baby. I’m so proud of you.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.” Steve reassures you, “Bucky is my best friend. You helping him out means so much to me.”

“You’re welcome.” You smile at him, feeling good due to the praise, and the fact you did the right thing.

Steve stands back up, gesturing to the kitchen, “Lets go make some dinner, yeah? Then later you can show Bucky how you help daddy out, too.”

The official announcement from your parents regarding your and Steve’s courtship, brought lots of cheer and congratulations from many of the church members. But there were a few, mostly the single ladies closer to Steve’s age, that were, less-congralutory about it. Sending you dirty looks and side eye glances.

Sharon Carter was one of those woman. She was known as the most eligible woman in the church. Everyone, including herself, believed eventually, Sharon and Steve would end up together, considering he was the most eligible bachelor.

Everyone could see Sharon’s affection for the man and they believed Steve was just taking his time. That he would eventually return the affection. No one expected he would start courting you, a woman, 10 years younger than Sharon, who was younger than Steve herself.

To say Sharon felt scorned by the unexpected announcement was an understatement. She felt, betrayed and disgusted.

How could he want you over her?

But Sharon could not show her discontent with the circumstances. She could not show her jealousy, for then, she would be seen as the bad guy, rather than you.

You, who stole what was supposed to be hers.

She never even saw it coming. Never considered you as a threat. But now she realizes her mistake, and she must find a way to right her wrongs. Sharon believes she deserves the attention, all of the attention you are getting. And she will find a way to get Steve.

*******

taglist: @mansaaay @sofi1sstuff @sidechrisporn @namelesssav @spencerreidsthings

879 notes · View notes

css1992 · 3 years

Text

Guilty Pleasure

[Porn AU]

Summary: Peter and Beck used to be a power couple in the porn industry, but after Beck dumps him, Peter is forced to start over. With no money, no family and nowhere to go, he doesn’t have much choice other than to keep doing porn, so he joins Just4Fans to get back on his feet and then one day he gets a very generous tip from someone under the username of YKWIM.

Warnings: 18+, explicit, references to past non-con/rape (not between main pairing, not explicit), daddy kink, Peter in lingerie, references to gaslighting and abusive relationship (not between main pairing, not explicit). The warnings are for the story as whole, not for this chapter specifically. I’ll add more in the future, if needed.

Read on AO3

Part I / Part II / Part III / Part IV / Part V / Part VI / Part VII / Part VIII / Part IX / Part X / Part XI / Epilogue

-x-

“He can’t do this!” Ned slammed his hands down on the counter between them, as Peter took a swig of the cheap wine he bought with the last ten bucks he had in his wallet. “He isn’t even in all of the videos, at least half of the money is rightfully yours!” He kept going, stating the obvious, but Peter just sighed and shrugged.

“I’m not disagreeing with you, Ned, I’m just relaying what he told me: he’s not gonna give me anything. It’s his channel, his equipment, the money from the subscriptions goes straight to his bank account, so it’s his. It’s all his. His words, by the way.” He took another swig of wine straight from the bottle. He had been drinking from a small glass Ned offered him – he wasn’t a pirate – but it soon proved to be too small to quench his pain, so. Yeah. Pirate style it was.

“You have to sue his ass, Peter, he can’t get away with this,” MJ intervened. She was sitting next to him on a stool by the kitchen counter, so he turned to look at her with a deep frown on his face.

“Did you not hear me saying I just spent my last ten dollars on this bottle of wine? I have, like, twenty four cents left in my pocket. And that’s it. I can’t hire a lawyer, I can’t even feed myself right now!” He raised his voice a little, but quickly got himself back under control and apologized. His friends were not to blame for his predicament – they did try to warn him Beck was bad news, he didn’t want to listen. “And you know what? I don’t give a fuck. He can choke on all of it if he wants, the videos, the money, the subscribers, I don’t fucking care.” It wasn’t true, of course. Well, partially. He really didn’t care about the money, videos, subscribers, etc, but he cared about Beck. He would have given everything else up if it meant he could keep him.

Which was stupid of him, of course. But he certainly wasn’t winning any awards for being a great decision maker.

“It’s still not fair. I mean, I knew that guy was sleazy, but you’d think he’d have the decency to at least give you something, you know? You’ve been together for three years, he’s been making money off your ass for almost as long. How could he just fucking kick you out and not give you a single dime? After all the money you’ve made for him? It’s fucking sick, that guy is fucking psychopath if you ask me.” MJ’s face was turning red from anger, which made Peter smile a little. It felt good to know he was loved by someone, even if he hadn’t been the best friend to them for the past few years.

The thought made him close his eyes for a second, guilt creeping over him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d called either of them – maybe on Ned’s birthday, almost two months earlier. They used to be inseparable, the three of them; the three musketeers, as corny and lame as it sounded. For years, those two were the only family he knew, but when Beck came into his life, everything changed.

Stupid fucking Beck.

Peter used to think of him as his own personal super-hero – it did feel like he had come to save him, after all. They met when he was seventeen, he had been living in foster homes for almost seven years by then, after Ben and May passed away. At the time, he was with his fifth family, and there were so many children in that house, so many of them came and went, that their foster parents didn’t really keep tabs most of the time. It was easy to sneak out, and Peter did, often.

He met Beck on one of his night walks – and their first meeting should have raised all kinds of red flags, but for whatever reason, it didn’t. Beck slowed the car next to him, rolled down the window and asked how much Peter charged for a blowjob. Just like that. The teen gasped at first, but when he looked around for a moment, he realized he wasn’t in the most family friendly neighborhood. There were, in fact, some men and women around him who definitely looked like they were there for that, but Peter was in sweats, for crying out loud, and he definitely looked his age – or even younger than that.

His wide eyes must have given him away, because the older man quickly apologized and showed him a charming, white smile. He made up some excuse about mistaking him for someone else and the boy said it was ok. He was going to keep walking when Beck asked what his name was. Then how old he was. Then where he was going, where he ha come from.

Looking back, Peter knew he should have run. He should have left, because there was no excuse for an adult man like him to keep asking a teenager so many questions right after he basically offered him money to suck his dick. But that Peter, that 17-year-old boy, was still a bit too naive. To have such a handsome man showing interest in him – his kind, blue eyes smiling at him, warm and safe – was inebriating. He actually looked at him. And cared. At least Peter thought he did at the time. And he was so lonely back then, even that little bit of attention meant the world to him.

He should have run, but he stayed. Should have run, but got in his car. Should have run, but ended up giving him a clumsy hand job in the backseat, after just a few sweet promises whispered in his eager ears. Beck was so good with words, he could have convinced Peter to jump off a bridge that very same night if he wanted.

They exchanged phone numbers. For weeks, they texted and called each other, until they could meet again. By then, he was smitten. At twenty, he could see how innocent he had been, how trusting and open he was with a complete stranger. A 32 year-old stranger, at that. Ned and MJ, his only friends from school, warned him that it wasn’t okay. That it was weird for a man his age to be interested in a teenage boy, but Peter said they were wrong. He said he wasn’t just a regular kid, he had been through stuff they could only imagine. He was mature and experienced, and Beck could see that, which was why he liked him.

Looking back now, it was embarrassing how wrong he was. Beck was an illusionist. Sad thing was everyone could see the trapdoor but him.

“So what are you gonna do now?” MJ asked, fishing another bottle of wine from under the counter and placing it in front of Peter, who almost cried in gratitude.

“You mean besides crying myself to sleep for the next few months?” He wasn’t really joking. The only reason he wasn’t crying right at that moment was because he had spent almost three hours bawling his eyes out on a park bench close to their – well, Beck’s – apartment, hoping against hope that Beck would reconsider and come after him. When it became clear it wasn’t going to happen, he headed to the only place he knew he could find refuge – even if he didn’t deserve it.

“Yeah, besides that, obviously.” She opened the wine bottle and before he could take it and drink straight from it, she poured three glasses and Peter sighed, defeated.

“I have no idea.” He answered, only slightly surprised that he actually meant it. He had absolutely no clue what to do. For three years, he hadn’t had to worry about money – or anything, really. Beck took care of everything and he just assumed it would always be like that. That he would always have him by his side to take care of him.

He rubbed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

“Are you going to keep doing porn?” Ned asked, a worried expression on his face. Peter remembered he hated the idea when Beck first suggested it, as soon as he turned eighteen.

People are gonna lose it, Beck said. A pretty little twink and a hot daddy? We’re going to be a hit.

And they were. Their first videos blew up quickly, people were either disgusted by the thought of them together – because of the age gap – or completely enthralled. The haters helped them get more views, and Peter soon learned that there really was no such thing as bad publicity. Beck promoted their videos on twitter, where they accumulated thousands of followers. Peter remembered that, back then, many people sent him worried messages, saying he was too young, that Beck was a predator, that he was taking advantage of him.

In retrospect, they might have been right, after all.

He wasn’t too sure about doing porn when they first started, he knew once they released the first video, there was no going back, there was no way they could ever take it down – the internet was forever. Nothing was ever truly deleted. He wanted to be a dad someday, what if his children ever saw those videos in the future? What would have Ben and May thought? What about his parents?

None of this matters, honey, Beck assured him. These kids don’t even exist yet, don’t worry about them. And your relatives, well… They’re gone, sweetie. You can’t really disappoint them anymore.

So Peter did it. And he was terrified at first, he felt so exposed, people all over the world could see him in his most vulnerable moments, all of him, in every position Beck managed to put him in, in any outfit he thought the public might like, in any setting he thought might bring in more viewers, more subscribers, more money.

Soon, just the two of them weren’t enough. Their viewers wanted to see Peter with other people – other daddies – and Beck saw another opportunity to increase his profit. Peter was strongly against the idea at first, it felt too much like prostitution, which was where he wanted to draw the line, but, again, Beck sweet-talked him into it.

It’s nothing like prostitution, honey, he said. I’ll be there the whole time, I’ll be the one filming and directing, I’ll be the one paying the other actors, all the profits are ours. How is that anything like prostitution? It’s just like what we’ve been doing so far.

So not only there were a bunch of videos of him and Beck out there in the world, there were also lots of videos of him with other men, some of whom were old enough to be his actual dad. There was even one video in particular that he was specially embarrassed by – and sadly enough, that was the most viewed one so far. It was fucking humiliating.

At some point, Peter should have realized it became all about money for Beck – and maybe it had been like that all along, he just hadn’t noticed before. Over the last few months of their relationship, they never had sex just for fun, just for the hell of it. There were always cameras, and lights, and roles to play. Beck never said he loved him anymore. Barely touched him. Barely kissed him. He should have seen it coming. He had been too blind, or just… Didn’t want to see what was happening right before his eyes. He ignored all the signs. The voice in the back of his head telling him something was off.

But anyway, porn. Could he still do it?

“I don’t know,” he answered, finally. He looked at his best friends and sighed with a shrug. “To be honest, it was never something I enjoyed, and I don’t know if I could ever do it without him somehow involved, you know? I did it with him because I felt… Safe? I don’t want to get involved in the actual porn industry, I’ve heard some pretty fucked up stories.” Peter had heard horror stories about other boys in the industry, and even though his own story was no fairy tale, there was nothing so bad that it couldn’t get worse.

“How about Just4Fans?” MJ asked and both Peter and Ned turned to look at her in shock. “What? You guys were pretty popular, right? You won awards and shit, so there must be at least a few hundred people out there who would pay money to see some dirty pictures of you, maybe some short videos. That way you won’t need to go into professional porn and you wouldn’t need a partner, but you could still make decent money. And fast.”

Well, it actually made sense. It wasn’t like there weren’t hundreds of videos of him being fucked raw all over the internet, anyway. A few dirty pictures couldn’t hurt. And besides, it didn’t need to be forever, just until he figured something out.

“That’s… actually not a bad idea,” he conceded, drinking the last of the wine in his glass. MJ sympathetically filled it up again and he mumbled his thanks.

“What do you think he will do now?” Ned asked carefully, and Peter shrugged for what felt like the hundredth time. There was so much he didn’t know.

“Probably keep shooting videos with his new boy-toy.” He managed to say it with a steady voice, but his eyes burned. He still couldn’t believe how… replaceable Beck thought he was.

When he noticed them interacting online a few months earlier, before the boy was even eighteen, Peter was alarmed, but when he confronted the older man about it, he said he was crazy and seeing things, picking up fights for no reason. He always twisted things in a way that, somehow, Peter was the one apologizing to him in the end.

Months later, just weeks after the kid turned eighteen, there he was – homeless, penniless and lost – meanwhile the other guy was probably getting comfortable in his bed. If Peter didn’t hate the kid, he would pity him. In a few years, he would probably meet the same fate.

“Do you think he would take the videos down if you asked?” Ned asked, and Peter scoffed.

“Yeah, right, those videos will still make him a lot of money monthly, he’d never delete them.” And Peter would have to live with the fact that he would always be just one google search away from complete humiliation and exposure. If he ever tried to get a serious job, those videos would stand in the way. If he ever managed to meet somebody decent and good, those videos would be a testament to what sort of person he was in the past. Fuck, some of them were really fucked up.

“So… Should we create fake twitter accounts to trash talk his short dick or what?” MJ was already grabbing her phone and Peter laughed halfheartedly, shaking his head.

“He’s not worth it. Karma will take care of him, I’m sure.” He drank the last of his wine and whimpered sadly. “So… Can I crash with you guys for a few days? I promise I’m not gonna overstay my welcome! I’ll be out of your hair as soon as the Just4Fans thing works out.”

“Of course you can, nerd, stay as long as you need. We’ve got your back, c’mon.” MJ got up from her stool and gestured for him to do the same. “Do you mind taking the couch?” She asked as she headed to her bedroom in the tiny apartment.

“Not at all,” he answered with a sigh of relief, then went to grab his suitcase by the door. Three years together and that was all he had to show for it. A single suitcase with a few changes of clothes, after being kicked out of the house on a cold February night. His eyes burned but he took a deep breath, blinking them rapidly to avoid the tears.

“Then make yourself at home. Our casa es su casa.” MJ placed a pillow on the couch and handed him a thick, warm blanket.

“We’ll figure something out, okay?” Ned clasped him on the shoulder with a gentle smile on his face.

“Okay.” He sighed, feeling like a weight had been lifted off his crushed chest.

He waited for his friends to go into their respective rooms, waited to hear their quiet snores, before he allowed the tears to run freely down his face, replaying everything Beck said to him when he kicked him out.

Before he knew it, he was a sobbing a little, so he buried his face in the pillow to muffle the noise, as he tried to convince himself that things were going to be okay, that he was going to be okay. But at that moment, that was hard to believe.

#starker #peter parker x tony stark

89 notes · View notes

yandere-mha-blog · 3 years

Text

Chapter 10: Man of my word

Words: 2277

The next weeks were the same old same old. Go out with Hawks, find someone to stop, and try to gain what information you could on the HPSC. ONe thing that did catch your interest one day was seeing the U.a Sports festival. You looked over Ta Hawks who was snoring, so you shook his shoulder

“Hawks wake up.” you said

“HUH WHAT WHAT” Hawks said taking a feather off his wings “did someone break in!?”

“No, look, the sports festival is on.” you said

“You mean that weird propaganda the school does each year to show off ‘how cool’ they are.” Hawks said

“Yup that one.” you said “Wasn't there an attack on a bunch of first year students a few ago?”

“Sure was, still go on like everything is the same, blah blha.” Hawks said waving his hand then laying back down to continue his little nap, you tugged on his wig

“Hey wake up, this could be good information.” you said scurrying around for a notebook and pen

“Busy busy little (name), always wanting to learn something new.” Hawks said pointing to a spot where there a blank notebook and pen, you reptivily clicked the pen, still your joyful face soon turned into horror as you saw a giant robot fall on top of a couple of students, Hawks also looked equally as shocked as the two students popped out from underneath them unharmed. You and hawks both gave each other a look of ‘is this real’.

“So much for the safety of their students.” hawks said, before sitting up and resting his chin on his hand, “Oh look,another bird.” “Hmm?” you said looking at a screen to see a student with a Bird head

“Where do you think the head and body meet, i think that's a choker not part of his body.” you said tapping the pen to your lips

“Nah the red is totally a part of his body, hey look, it's the grand canyon, is there where our tax dollars are going?”

“You don't pay taxes hawks.” you said

“Yeesh lucky me, I got the IRS and the HPSC on my ass.” Hawks said, you gave out a small chuckle under your breath as you took in as much infraction as you could, between the mind field and then the horse battle, you were able to get a good hold on the future hero work. THe one on one fight was even more interesting and hawks seem very particule on the bird headed student who was named Tokoyami

“Look ill i'm saying with you talons, my wings and his head it would be pretty cool.” Hawks said, as you shushed him as you kept watching the kid breck the bones in his hand

“Don't you think his quirk is a lot like all mights?” you said “too similar.”

“I don't think All might bones explode.” Hawks said “Still this finger destroying kid has guts, but if he keep going on his path like this-” “His tendons and ligaments are going to be ruined and bye bye arms.” you said interrupting him and kept onlooking the tournament till it was done, and some poor kid was having an episode on top of the podium thrashing around

“Looks like he is having a panic attack.” you said, seeing All might take the muzzle off him and putting the mental, in his mouth.

“I don't think i can watch another round of this, I mean they are teenagers.” you said

“Doesn't matter, the younger they are the easier it is to make em.” hawks said rolling over and wanting to go back to his nap, but you pull his wing open

“Hawks im getting bored of the same old, same old.” you said “Can’t we do something interesting.”

“Hey, I am plenty interesting.” hawks said “besides news is in the underworld right now.”

“What news?” you asked

“Haven't you heard about the hero killer?” Hawks asked

“Briefly, yes.” you said fiddling with one of his fathers on his wing.

“Well he is killing heros as the news puts it, in the underworld he is killing people who get in the way, to me he is sticking it to the HPSC.” Hawks said

“Hawks you have killed people, I have seen you do it.” you said

“Still, I wonder what he is thinking.” HAwks said as he used his wing to splat you down on the ground “Now let me sleep.”

“You are no fun.” you said

A few nights later you were hanging onto the back of Hawks as you were both looking down for anything to do, small fries no real threats, you hadn't gotten you hands dirty tonight

“Hawks.” you said

“Yes?” he replied

“When are we going to do something interesting?” you asked

“Very soon, I have a feeling I'm going to get called in for real soon.” Hawks said “for now lets just relax a bit and take in the view.”

“What favor?” you asked

“Well, you see, I kinda had to sorta maybe get help from this guy to break you out of your confinement from the HPSC.” Hawks said “Only if I did him a favor, he was the same guy who later attacked the USJ, so I'm wondering what or when he will call for me.”

“YOu got help from who now.” you said

“Look, I didn't have any other choice, okay.” Hawks said “Besides nothing I anti used to.”

“Wonder what it could be, because I'm sure if you had been at the USJ, things would've turned out different.” you said “Not sure how i feel about attacking a bunch of kids, hero or not.”

“You like kids?” HAwks asked

“I'm indifferent, I'd never want to hurt one though.” you said “But i’d rather avoid them.” “Lol what are vermin, I love the little scamps.” Hawks said “So young and native, im jelosse.”

“Wish you could have stayed a bit naive for longer hawks?” you asked, he just gave a simple nod of his head

“Still I'm even more pissed at the HPSC for commissioning children and teenagers.” HAwks said “All the more reason why I want to take them down.”

“I wonder what will pop up afterwards.” you thought

And sure enough the day where Tomura called Hawks in came in the upcoming day, you made it very clear to HAwks that since you were the reason he made the agreement you were going with him.

“I asked for a bird, not some cold faced woman.” The man who had a hand on his face said, you decided to remain quiet, you saw the reports and his quirk, still the bandages on his arms, legs and shoulder said that he had a rough couple of weeks.

“Look, I'm here to repay my favor, what do you want?” Hawks said

“I'm gathering a group of people to help me.” He said, hawks took notice of how he was a little less bratty then last time. “And you have a favor to repay me, for helping you save that one.”

A finger was pointed at you.

“That is why I am here, what do you need me to do?” Hawks said

“This one.” Tomura said holding up a photo of the teen who had been bound on the first palace podium was held up between two of his fingers. “I need you and the others to catch him for me and bring him here.”

“Anything else?” Hawks asked

“Yes, don't kill this one, I want to get my hands on him first.” Tomura said holding up a photo of the finger destroying kid “I know you are the fastest villain out there and even on the top 3 most dangerous villains up there, if they see you there, they will know I mean business, and you.” “Me?” you asked

“Yes you, a little college student who ran away to a life of crime under the wing of the Night hawk, or the poor innocent soul who was seduced to the dark side, which one was it?”

“I was bored and wanted a change of pace.” you said, and you saw a crooked smile under the hand on his face “Hawks is just my mentor right now, where he goes i go.”

“Fair enough but if you get caught don't expect another rescue team.” Tomura said, ``Hawks put a wing between the two of you. “hey I'm not here to kill either of you , put the wing down.”

“So you want me to help capture this guy, the guy with the explosions.” Hawks said

“Yup.”

“Well, my wings don't like heat that much.” Hawks said “But i’ll do it, i am a man of my word, but how will this take place.”

“They are going to a training camp soon, you and the others will attack, ruffle their feathers and the others will be there as well, this isn't going to be a repeat of the USJ.” Tomura said “Feel free to because as much maham as you want, just leave this kid alone, and get this kid to me.”

“Hmm the whole class of 1-a.” Hawks said “Not sure how I feel about hurting a bunch of kids, but tell you what, I'll put in my all if i can pick something up while I am there.”

“Pick what up?” Tomura said

“You're Not the only one who thinks a new prodigy is there.” Hawks said, you grabbed one of hawks feathers in anger, he paid no mind.

“Perfect, glad i can rely on you, i'll introduce you to the others with time.” Tomura said “Kurogiri sent me home.”

A black mist portal opened and you and Hawks both went though, and once the portal close you gave hawks a very pissed off look

“What?” He asked

“What the hell was that?” you asked “You want us to go and kidnap a student, incase you forget that guy is out of his mind to think any of those student would turn to villainy, why else would they apply to U.A.'' you said

“Hey calm down chickadee.” Hawks said, putting his hands up in defense “Look I know there is no way any student will listen to him or turn evil, but I do owe him.” Hawks said “And I want to see the kid in person, that was more or less a bluff for him to think I'm going to take this seriously, don't worry i anti trying to replace you, no need to be upset.”

“I'm not upset!” you said

“Yes you were, you were all upset and grabbed my wing trying to pluck me because you thought I wanted to replace you with someone new.” Hawks said, teasing you as you grabbed a handful of his wings “ahh hey watch the feathers!”

“You jerk!” You said thrashing him back and forth then letting him go “Still i don't like the thought of hurting teenagers, and they don't care if they are killed either.”

“(name), do you trust me?” Hawks asked as he patted his feathers down

“I do.” you said

“Then don't worry.” Hawks said “After this we won't have to deal with him again okay.”

“Okay.” you said still with your arms crossed “I still have a bad bad feeling about this, have you ever heard of the domino effect.”

“Yes.” Hawks said “But the good thing is, maybe this will set off the same chain reaction, i mean if a student gets captured, what will people think about the school and their defense, how idiotic they are with the fact that it happened in the first place.”

“True I mean I am going to do it regardless.” you said “This is the deal you made to get me out of there.” as you looked down at your left thumb

So that's the story of how you and hawks ended up looking down from a clift down a bunch of students who were doing a test of courage in the woods, you didn't tell the others one bit.

“Hey chicken, I never thought i'd ever meet you.” the one who had staples all over his body to keep his burnt flesh attached to him said

“I see I'm popular.” Hawks said, then he looked at you

“And is this the girl who you seduce to the dark side?’ He asked

“Back off she came here on her own accord.” Hawks said putting a wing in front of you

“I think she is cute.” A girl who seemed to be rather young said, wondering what her story was “you are the woman with the knife for nails?”

“Talons under my nail beds, but yes.” you said

“Great, you can come with me then.” She said grabbing your arm and hugging it “help me collect some blood.” “(name) you going to be okay?” Hawks asked

“I’ll be fine, i'll see you when this is over Hawks.” you said

“Looks like you got dumped.” Dabi said and the hawks almost whacked him over the head “anyway you know what to do bird brain, Twice you are with me.”

“Got it dabi, no way Jose.” The man said as you and Toga left

“Hey (name) if anything happens just shout for me okay.” Hawks said

“Gross you love birds, aww isn't that sweet.” Twice said again “You two make a great couple, you are like oil and water.”

“Thanks?” Hawks said and the attack and capture was on.

“Let's go fill those heroes full of holes and put them in their place.” Dabi said as hawks took off what an edge lord he thought

#yandere hawks #yandere keigo takami #yandere keigo #yandere takiami #yandere my hero academia #yandere boku no hero academia #yandere

20 notes · View notes

songofastar · 3 years

Note

Same anon, I am into the BU and actually have a video edit in progress for it right now, so I’ve been hyperanalyzing it for a while now lol. I definitely have seen what you said about the TXT characters being more “equal” in terms of their relationships with each other—I can’t remember where I saw this gif, maybe your blog, but I think I remember them playing together as children, so I’m guessing they’re childhood friends? That doesn’t necessarily mean they were friends from age 7-15/16 (actually, how old are the characters? They’re still in school right, and they looked the same age as each other when they were kids, potentially.) They could’ve been friends at age 7 and then met up again as teens….sorry these are such random questions/observations, I’m just excited to talk about this!

Same anon again, I just wanted to share my initial impressions of the characters and hear whether or not they’re accurate in your opinion (I still haven’t seen Doom Night or Eternity so these are incomplete impressions): Yeonjun—seems to be the “main character,” tragic, feels guilty, pained, the most aware of what’s going on. Beomgyu—a catalyst in some way, naively malicious aka he doesn’t really grasp the consequences of what he views as innocent actions, feels like he’s on the fringe of the group. Kai—seemingly very innocent, going with the flow for the most part. Soobin: stressed, so stressed, pretending everything’s okay but hiding the fact that he remembers or foresees via his dreams, actually kinda reminds me the most of Jin despite his dreams being more like Taehyung’s. Taehyun—I don’t trust him and idk why. He feels like the Judas somehow.

Hi again, nonnie! I’ve been swamped with work and school this week so I’m not the quickest with my replies, thank you for your patience. I actually don’t want to spoil or influence your experience with the latest two Star Seekers short films, so if you still haven’t watched Eternally or The Doom’s Night, I’d recommend checking them out first. Totally your call though, so please feel free to read on below when you’re ready.

Regarding the characters as childhood friends: before I can address this, I need to back up a bit and mention that while BU is (now) definitively structured around recurring time loops… the primary “mechanic” or narrative device of Star Seekers has yet to be confirmed. I don’t typically go hunting for theories because I prefer to explore the story mostly on my own (and I don’t like being disappointed when something cool turns out not to be true!). While I don’t have my own firmly held theory that I’m going to argue or advocate for here, I will say I am under the general impression that something is going on in these characters’ lives, and the best way I can describe this impression is as the existence of multiple universes or worlds in which they have experienced different versions of their lives. Some of those worlds look like ours (on the surface, at least), others less so (the “magic island,” for instance). Again, I am not here to convince anyone of this idea; it is my personally held view for now based on what has been presented in the MVs/films and snippets of text. (And I suppose I can go into my reasoning more at some point, but not here!)

I mention this because in at least one version of their lives depicted so far, the group did know each other as children. In The Doom’s Night, we see them gaining an assortment of magical artifacts or weapons (and some fantastical creature friends!) before facing a dragon. When this scene ends and the shot pulls out, we see that they’re playing a game and an older Soobin looks on from afar. So was this all make-believe? A blurring of fantasy and reality? A memory or a vision? We’re left with many questions, but now we have confirmation that they did know each other as children—at some point in time, in some version of their lives. (To be fair, I think it’s also not far-fetched to interpret that they’re representing children at the very beginning of Nap of the Star, too.) The reason I say “some version of their lives” is because in their “idol lives” (see: Magic Island, Eternally, and parts of The Doom’s Night) it is unclear if they’ve known each other since childhood. Based on the way Soobin reacts to young Huening Kai in the strange (otherworldly?) fairground scene in Eternally, I’m inclined to say they didn’t in this version: he appears to recognize Huening Kai not by his face but by his earlier-established habit of standing on the backs of his shoes. (Perhaps up to viewer interpretation though!) As for their ages, I’ve assumed their characters correspond approximately to their real-life ages. In Magic Island, they appear to be students who are also trainees since they refer to the practice room but are traveling on public transportation unaccompanied. In Eternally and Doom’s Night, they have apparently reached a point in their career where they perform a concert (thus, the stadium). Not sure if any of these observations are helpful to you! But I will finish by mentioning that overall, I sense a theme among their characters/relationships of parting and reuniting, by fate or other means (quite reminiscent of BU, though I am making an effort to assess and appreciate Star Seekers on its own, canonic references aside).

As for your character impressions… again, I don’t really want to influence you in a particular direction! Yeonjun and Soobin have been quite central to the existing content, so we will hopefully get more that fleshes out the younger characters in future installments. I would say my impressions are fairly similar to yours, with the exception of Taehyun. Sorry, I’m not sure what is giving you that feeling! :’) To me personally, Beomgyu is the one presented with the most ambiguous intentions, and admittedly a lot of that comes from Magic Island and the way he is often on the fringe or alone in Eternally. We still have a lot to learn about these characters and their story. Though I came to BU in mid/late 2019, I am under the impression that the storyline and details of the characters were quite ambiguous until the release of the Save Me webtoon and Notes. I am crossing my fingers that in addition to a new Star Seekers MV/film, we’ll get a more significant piece of text-based content to work with soon, too!

#asks

5 notes · View notes

nonbinaryhomu · 4 years

Text

kyomami week day iii: very, very angst

oneshot, 1040 words

sorry for any grammar mistakes, english isn’t my native language

i’m very disappointed nobody are talking about that one scene where kyoko was close to becoming a witch and i always thinked about au where mami didn’t save her because she was late, so. here we are

and yeah that’s all additional memory references in there

“I-Is it… the end…?”

Redhead fourteen-year-old girl fell down into a ground, feeling the blood flowing from the corner of her lips. Still not wanting to die here, gathered all her strengths and crawled out from Witch’s Barrier, coughing up red liquid and stretching her hand forward, as if expecting help. This obviously isn’t true, she was all alone, nobody would help her.

This is like her life in this moment showed the end credits. All is over, the audience may diverge, only the main actor still stuck in this end, don’t know what will she do. Her career is over, these are her last moment in this place. She want to scream Please, let me still be there! Don’t leave me, you all! but this doesn’t work, all she can do is cry, because she can’t dry her tears anymore.

Her life lantern flickered and barely smoldered, rotating weakly around its axis. Red flames burned out, leaving only meaningless sediment behind. Darkness fell and through the ever darker lantern it was impossible to see anything; there were only empty holes glowing with despair, which she did not manage to fill during her life. There were so many unfinished things behind her, but maybe it’s even better – her life was so meaningless. All she could do was watch as an impenetrable curtain covers all her dreams.

“You can’t use your magic anymore, didn’t you?” cat-like creature smiled innocently and jumped on her chest. “It really looks like it’s the end for you. You’re useless.”

“But… Why…?” girl choked out hard, looking at creature from under half-closed lids. “It’s not that I just forgot how to use my magic, right…? You must joking, Kyubey…”

“You said you don’t need her anymore, Kyoko” smiled Kyubey and wagged his tail. “Didn’t you see? Your words worked. And, all your magic was to help your beloved family, but they all died, because of you. Isn’t that alright? Object of your wish died, your magic is useless. You are useless.”

“Why… Did you say this to me?” asked Kyoko, transforming from her magical girl outfit to her usual clothes and closing her eyes. “I always though… You aren’t type who help his innocent victims…”

“I’m not helping you” announced Incubator, still with him smile in him face. “I just want to inform you that you die in a moment. All of your magical energy disappeared, and you haven’t any Grief Seeds anymore. This is the situation without exit.”

“What will happen to me?” red-eyed asked again, feeling, how her body starts to get colder, like her heart and even Soul Gem. “This… It will not the painless death, right…?”

“You’ll just turn into a Witch. That’s all, the fate of all magical girls. Although, to be honest, I didn’t think you ever turn into this, but even I can be wrong. Like humans.”

Teen girl sighed deeply, feeling, how her heart was ripped off. She turns into the monster that her dad called her, isn't that fair? She led her family to death, she deserved this fate, she deserved everything, what will happen to her.

But deep in her dying heart one thought flashed out: Let me hug her. Let me hug her once more…

–––

The sun was slowly going down.

Mami sighed heavy, when the winter wind pierced her body. She was so alone in evenings like this. Kyoko didn’t come today too and looks like even Kyubey didn’t want to be with her. When her classmates invited her to walk together, she refused, but now regretted it.

Sun started bounced back on the fountain she passed, what made her remembered times, when she passed this way with her only one magical girl friend. Those times were singing to the accompaniment of an orange sky and trying to stop the sun from switching places with the moon. Those times made her laugh, made her happy. But now, when she was left alone again, from unknown reason, her thoughts were going in one direction: what if she wasn't so afraid to do what she always wanted? When sun was going down and she was focused her eyes on younger girl, saying Let’s go home, so we don’t lose our way, choosing the wrong road, she always wanted to just grab her kouhai’s hand, but was too scared to do this. When their hands were meeting by accident she started apologizing, saying, she didn’t want to this happen. But all of her words were lies. All of her words concealed within themselves tears, what she couldn’t dry anymore.

She didn’t want to be “just friends”, staying just friends wouldn't please her, all of her words were love, what she can’t confess. All the goodbyes, all the “See you tomorrow”, this all made her hoping one day in answer she would hear “Goodbye, I love you”. Of course, she was so wrong and so naive, but she want to be so wrong and so naive, this was the only hope she has left. Sky refused to accept her tears anymore, the evening words sparkled with lonely regret, oh God, she couldn’t bear this feeling. Kyoko will never can hear her thoughts, but if only… If only…

“I can’t take this anymore” escaped from her lips, when she started running to place in town near Mitakihara, only to see that person she wanted to see the most. “I’m sorry, I love you.”

–––

Grief Seed bloomed at the sky above dying Kyoko, making her sure it’s the end. Her life lantern disappeared and even those regretful words didn’t want to cover her heart. She can’t just go back, she can’t go to home and forget about everything. All that is left are tears she can’t dry, the whole world around her turned upside down. Nothing left to her, but…

“W-Wait, please, no!” the gentle and as if from a distance voice what she knew perfectly well started screaming, but she can’t open her eyes, covered with shedding tears. “Sakura-san, don’t say you…!”

This still was the end, no matter how she didn’t want to die in that moment.

The curtain finally fell.

”Sorry and hey, I loved you so much” was her only answer, until world ended to her.

#i love additional memory sm okay #one of my fave kagepro songs #and maybe that cover i based on more suit to chapter 11 but nevermind #kyomami week #puella magi madoka magica #madoka magica #pmmm #madomagi #kyomami #kyoko sakura #mami tomoe #* imu's writing #* my post #;; i want to meet you all in a world without witches || the different story #;; otp: you're the only family i have left || kyomami

15 notes · View notes

alatismeni-theitsa · 4 years

Text

answering anon anti LO asks // S1 Finale

Questions and Answers under the cut, cause this is gonna be long!

(1) Go figure that the LO stans on here are praising Persephone for going evil and killing innocent mortals for PICKING FLOWERS. Do they know by their own logic persephone would murder them too? Over nothing? No wonder the average reader of it is only in their teens, they can’t tell deities are supposed to protect humans, not treat them like playthings to abuse and kill for any minor annoyance.

(2) Wait, so when LO has Demeter starving mortals we’re supposed to see her as a cruel, unredeemable monster, but Persephone is empowered and in the right for murdering mortals because they picked flowers that killed nymphs she didn’t even like? How does that logic work out? How is that fair? Where the justice? Why can’t this spoiled child be held accountable for her own sins?

(3) I was disappointed in lo finale. Everyone talked how great and creppy it looked and i thought since it was a finale they would put some effort in making it look better than usual. But this episode was like every episode-art was ok but not great. In my opinion it was worse than most of episodes bc in every episode there is 1-4 really good looking panels but in this one i didnt see nothing. They could put more effort into "persephone crazy killing moment" and in rest of panels since it was final.

(4) I just read finale... it's bad. And confusing. I think Persephone didn't murder the nymphs herself, they just died because of the villagers while she was yelling at them?? The pacing is really awkward in some moments, and the fact that most people seem to be cheering on her is just... ugh. Also some people are getting angry that she probably will be punished but not Apollo (for now), which is just weird because... sexual assault is horrible, sure, but it's not the same as literal MASS MURDER.

(5) Apparently the LO fandom is ripping each other apart on here trying to either justify Persephone's actions or the other half calling everyone awful and toxic because they're blindly supporting evil actions and how she's now irredeemable. You love to see it. I'm getting the popcorn as we speak.

(6) One thing i find so weird about LO is that there's such a weird emphasis on how Hades looks SO much older than Persephone to where she's confused for his kid. First off, why even mention that when so many are already creeped out by the age gap? Second, how can we tell? The character design is not good at showing this beyond making her looking like a ten year old or making him dress all dorky. Third, if he's actually that old looking then maybe Persephone has some daddy abandonment issues....

(7) Recently smythe posted on twitter drawing of Hades and giant Persephone wich looked like rhea. Its weird bc its not a first time smythe make persephone and rhea very similliar. For example thanatos description of persephone was perfect description of rhea. Maybe smythe wants to make story more greek by making hades have edyp complex XD

(8) I feel like a big problem with LO is it has no idea what it wants to be. Is it a teen drama? A comedy? A modern retelling? A coming of age story? A giant epic? A romance? A social commentary? Because i don't understand how we're supposed to reconcile Persephone being a naive college sophomore, a future (likely violent and cruel) queen, AND mass murderer all at once. If this was spread over several seasons and a long stretch of time i could get it, but it's only been two weeks in comic!

____________________________________________________________

(1) As people from the fandom are saying, some readers are really projecting themselves to those characters so they will justify anything. Technically, the humans who picked flowers in the sacred place were on the wrong. BUT they didn’t know that picking flowers in this place killed nymphs. Persephone could punish them like a just goddess, but slaughtering them is just... evil. And you are right, those teens don’t treat the Greek gods as deities or even cultural figures.

(2) You should know by now that “plain” protagonist with big boobs = good. This is how pop culture works! 😅

(3) I fully agree with you in every point! Smythe needs help with the comic when it comes to pacing and art. Yes, MORE HELP

(4) Yes, from my understanding she wasn’t the one who killed them. Humans happen to gather flowers at this moment and this killed the nymphs. (which is not a thing in Greek mythology BUT OK). I know that it’s very cruel to “compare” crimes but, unfortunatelly, we have to do it in this case. (Because the narrative will push us to think that Persephone is the more just of those two.) LO Persephone deserves more punishment than LO Apollo for what she has done (if the allegations are true).

(5) I think I should see these posts and have some of that hot tea! It’s interesting to see that some people justify Persephone. “She got very mad!!“ they say, as this this an excuse for killing a whole town of people who did nothing. I also watched them say “marrying Hades will be her punishment for what she did“. In what world marrying one of the mightiest and richest gods WHO ALSO LIKES YOU AND WHOM YOU LIKE a punishment for massacre? Also, Hades is a corporation now so it’s not like she will be locked there if she goes.

(6) In the recent video I posted, which had an analysis on LO, it’s specualted that Smythe has a kink for big age gaps and different sizes of people. Hades would probably look like a man in his forties? (The man whom Smythe would fancy). But I agree the character design is terrible and I cannot tell exactly what age he is supposed to look like.

(7) So THIS is how she chose to include Greek culture into the story 😂 Also, the picture is probably a reference to Blade Runner or another sci fi movie, where the protagonist has lost his AI gf and then he realizes she was just a product, after he watched a AI woman just like her on a big screen talking to him. (Link)

(8) This is very true. I had these questions inside me but they were under the surface and never bothered me much. But I think the comic has no clear line, atmosphere, audience etc. Young teens and people over 25 are fans of it. But I don’t think it’s deep enough to have social commentary xD We all suspect that the actions of Persephone will be excused in the end.

#answered #anti lo #hades and persephone

16 notes · View notes

larapavetta · 4 years

Note

Hi! Your blog is curated very beautifully! You write that Lara has a wrought relationship with her parents; and it seems to me that especially with her dad (some tags about him making her cry/not treating her well). How has it affected her? Has Lara had to actively take a balancing force in her family relationships despite perhaps resenting it? Are there lessons about life she has taken away thanks to her her peculiar origin that other kids probably won't learn in years?

[Oh, thanks so much for your nice message, this really made my entire shitty week!;~;

To be fair, most of my relationship headcanons for Lara exist in my head only and they are not consistent or canon-divergent, because they change a lot when I think about Lara's development but now for you, dear anon, I'll give it a try and write down some reasonable thoughts! Enjoy!♥️]

Being born as half Aen Elle and half human, Lara serves as a symbol to unite these two particular races - at least to a small, yet growing degree of their respective societies and cultures. While she isn't particularly badly treated by the Nilfgaardian society in which she grows up during her youth, not everyone approves the fact that she exists; even less so the Aen Elle elves. However, thanks to her mother, Lara learns how to be prepared to deal with racism and discrimination against her kind from a very young age.

Lara's relationship with her parents is not always harmonic and pretty much permeated by problems caused by both sides. Let me elaborate a little more on her complicated relationship with her father first.

When she is little - a naive, innocent child - she really loves her father more than anything. She looks up to Avallac'h, he is her idol and childhood role model. She literally clinges to him, out of fear of being abandoned. Their bond is strong, seemingly unbreakable but with the years, Lara realizes that most of her father's given love is simply based on his wish to have an idealized daughter. This is when she starts to question their relationship. Avallac'h has a different, unhealthy imagination of how Lara should look and act in his eyes. He can't truly acknowledge her flaws and he has high expectations of her, in both skills, talent, behaviour and personality. All the genuine love he shares, all the sacrifices he makes is for a selfish purpose; to shape Lara the way he wants her to be while he never really asks what Lara desires.

As a result, Lara loses connection to her father, as she becomes more and more hostile and repulsed by Avallac'h when she realizes how his love for her hangs on a measuring stick. He keeps pretending to stand on a higher moral ground when he talks to her, he belittles her mental problems and it's hard for him to accept her failures. In truth, Avallac'h simply fears of failing her education and losing control over Lara's development when she hits puberty. Eventually, Lara somehow feels betrayed.

As a princess of Nilfgaard, Lara admires her mother and has a close connection to her since birth. This connection is not supported consistently throughout the years, because Ciri is often busy with politics and at some point she stops taking enough motherly time to spend with her daughter. Ciri struggles with mental issues herself as well, but Lara is too young to actually understand them. However, she always craves her mother's love, suffers from the loneliness that hits and overwhelms her every once in a while. This is when Avallac'h interferes. He provides Lara the love she needs when her mother isn't there for her.

As a baby, Lara helped to establish a peaceful relationship between her parents. She often becomes a victim of her own parents' disputes in her late teens. Both Ciri and Avallach want to be a perfect, flawless parent. As a result, they always have harsh disputes in which they criticize each other about their way of parenting. Lara feels out of place, pressed and eventually isolates herself more and more from them because she believes she's the reason her mother and father are unhappy.

One lesson Lara learned in her early years is that only a very few of her friends are true friends and that many people aren't trustable at all. And that she has to establish boundaries, so her parents, especially her father, won't be able to control and dictate her life.

#answered asks #anon #headcanon #{ lara's parents: they try to save me but i’m too far gone }#//thank you!!#//I hope this smhow makes sense lmao #long post

4 notes · View notes

blasphemous-tiefling · 5 years

Text

I know we all sing Teen Titans (2003) praises, but I just wanna sing some more.

1. That show was so good at spotlighting each and every character without making it feel like the others were unimportant. Almost every episode has a focal character and every season focused on fleshing out one character in particular. This was so clever as it highlighted each Titan separately but then tied them back together as a team. Season one focused on Robin and his struggle with Slade- this emphasizes his role as leader, the risks he’s willing to take, and his endless love for the other Titans. Season two, while it focused on Terra and subsequently her relationship with Beast Boy, we get a fair amount of Starfire-central episodes- expanding on her feelings for Robin and her struggles being an alien but that she finds companionship in the Titans and trusts them wholeheartedly. Season three focuses on Cyborg and his heartache over the accident that has made him half machine- but he realizes that he doesn’t need to be “normal” in order to be loved and accepted and he is “normal” within the Teen Titans. Season four focuses on Raven and expands upon her motives for remaining distant and compartmentalizing her emotions- the audience and the Titans see just how much she treasures their friendship and their friendship ends up saving the entire world. Season five focuses on Beast Boy and his upbringing in the Doom Patrol and his past with the Brotherhood of Evil- he ends up leading a team of new Titans who should have never been able to successfully defeat the Brotherhood, WINS, and saves every other Titan, showing the lengths he’ll go to save his friends and that he’s more than just comic relief. And even though each season has an arc that focuses on one character, they still have episodes that focus on the other characters WITHIN THAT SEASON. Season one (Robin) still has Deep Six, an episode about Beast Boy. Season two (Terra / Starfire) still has Only Human, an episode about Cyborg. Season three (Cyborg) still has Haunted, an episode about Robin. Season four (Raven) still has Troq, an episode about Starfire. And season five (Beast Boy) still has Hide and Seek, an episode about Raven. Every season and every episode, despite its central focus, has a full arc with every character and connects all the dots. Very few episodic kids shows have this flow and consistency.

2. This kind of goes with my first point, but the Titans’ friendship, OH MY GOSH. It is made so insanely clear every single episode that these five kiddos LOVE each other. To heck and back, they treasure one another. We get one-on-one moments between every single one of them. Divide and Conquer- Robin and Cyborg. Sisters- Robin and Starfire. Forces of Nature- Starfire and Beast Boy. Nevermore- Raven and Cyborg. Switched- Raven and Starfire. Deception- Starfire and Cyborg. Crash- Cyborg and Beast Boy. The Beast Within- Raven and Beast Boy. Birthmark- Robin and Raven. Homecoming- Beast Boy and Robin. Even with the Titans East and all the crazy enemies and all the other superheroes we meet, this show takes its time to establish and expand upon the five core characters and their relationships with one another. And it’s beautiful. Yes, it is made clear that Cyborg and Beast Boy hang out a lot. And both Starfire and Robin exclusively call each other their “best friends.” But Robin “knows Raven better than anyone.” They have “a bond.” She’s been inside his mind. She knows about the Flying Graysons. She knows about the fatherhood he found in Batman. And he knows how terrified she is of herself. And Cyborg and Starfire repeatedly bond over “not fitting in.” Cyborg knows how it feels to have people call him names based on how he looks. Starfire knows what it’s like to be alienated. Robin understands how much the Doom Patrol means to Beast Boy. Starfire understands that she and Raven are not alike and loves her and tries to care for her in a way that she would like. Cyborg is second in command but never seriously questions Robin’s authority. I could go on, but I’ll stop.

3. The voice actors are all incredible. Scott Menville was in his thirties while recording, and he does sound older and mature, but he also somehow manages to pull off the naive, headstrong innocence of youth. Tara Strong is Tara Strong. Need I say anything more? She captures Raven’s stoicism while also conveying a hint that there’s more there than a bland goth girl. And Greg Cipes is Greg Cipes. Need I say anything more? He MAKES Beast Boy- the quirky delivery on his dumb jokes to the scratchy and high pitched voice of a little boy. Khary Payton has a voice that can be so serious and raw and powerful and yet he can be so sweet and silly and fun in a way that fits Cyborg perfectly. And Hynden Walch is somehow super cute and gentle and innocent and weird all without being annoying in the least.

TLDR: I’m rewatching Teen Titans, and it’s better than I thought. Great character development; coherent, fluent storytelling; excellent voice acting performances; a show I can truly care about.

Prolly gonna post some Robstar in a bit. Stay tuned.

#teen titans #robin #starfire #beast boy #cyborg #raven #dc comics #cartoon network

34 notes · View notes

theirishhalfling · 5 years

Note

31, 32, 39!

31. Tell me about your current party!

I have three current parties in three games and don’t want to play favourites, so bear with ;)

The-one-where-I-play-a-paladin:

- Watcher, human paladin-swashbuckler, a doormat in human form, crown prince of not-Spain, just wants to do help people but by god is that still a lot to hope for, something of babysitter who gets ignored more of the time, was adopted by/adopted a god who’s a vampire, has daddy issues, and all his charisma is in his hair

- Axaliah, half-elf barbarian-sorcerer from the north, very much a sulky teen who likes to get her way, loves the cold and ice magic, and makes Watcher despair the second she opens her mouth 99% of the time

- Gallaren, warforged cavalier, a noble literal suit of armour, pretty down to earth and reliable, has a super cool metal pegaus called Cheval, and someone who’s finally a civilised face who Watcher could seek solace in

- Vetrak, kobold arcana cleric, the newest member of the group, “can you help me with this problem? Oh okay I’ll just follow you instead…:(”, a master of sass, a massive fan of dragons, likes to ride on Galleran’s shoulders, and is the only one who can get away with insulting Axaliah

The-one-where-I-play-a-bard:

- Zeke, gnome bard-warlock, everything must be purple and gold, thinks he’s about twice his height and acts it, a lover of the violin, not the most polite of fellows, a little bit of an alcoholic, has memory issues but not because of the drink, and has a love-hate with his feylord patron who he finds rather attractive but also likely killed everyone he ever knew

- Solomon, half-orc paladin, down-to-earth, a little slow but has some smarts hidden in there, the (usually) voice of reason, a wall of steel who’s perfect to hide behind, spent a while living in the feywild, and the only one to know Zeke has holes in his memory after they blurted secrets at one another trying to solve a puzzle

- Fred, human wild magic sorcerer, who has somehow only been a potted plant once, has blue crystals in his face, very French, might as well be a bard as he likes to play the ‘peep-de-bag’ (bag pipes) a lot of the time, likes to travel around on his broom, and occasional argues wind vs string instruments with Zeke

- Xanthie, wood elf monk, very much a natural girl, doesn’t like being unable to see the sky, can come across as a bit blunt, knows what she wants and will get it, stole a magical horse and flaunted the fact in front of its owner, curb stomped two innocent pixies because she hates fey, and nearly got caught alongside Zeke breaking into a mansion

The-one-where-I-play-a-warlock-and-has-had-two-sessions:

- Eziah, aasimar warlock, the typical holier-than-thou fellow, just wants to impress his patron and earn points, but is actually rather selfish, and is a flashy one who likes his gold

- Lao, aasimar monk, pretty much a hobo who’s never seen a bath in his life, all hair, all tattoos, all the anger and vices, and the kind of person you’d cross the street to avoid

- Darcath, eladrin ranger, on the run from some nasty fey, has no qualms in killing things, very straight to the point, and nearly caused a TPK thanks to the aforementioned nasty fey

- Burge, human druid, an actual teenager but very polite and will call you out on your cursing (Lao), hid under a table during an orc assault, very attached to his horse and cart, and is on the lookout for his missing father

32. Most memorable NPC you’ve encountered in a game you played in.

This is tough, because I’ve come across a lot of NPCs across a fair few games. I think I’d say a young NPC king called Jason from the first game I played with Dekker.

The DM used him as a bit of a comedy character, who the fighter of the group hated and the others didn’t respect because he was so naive, and was essentially a Dekker fanboy. But from a character perspective, Jason was the first person who was actually, y’know, nice to Dekker.

I think Jason believing Dekker was a hero was partly responsible for him actually deciding that maybe he could change as a person. And, in a game of many, many deaths, Jason actually survived. And made Dekker a godparent to his kids once things were cleaned up.

39. Favourite villain you’ve defeated?

This is also a tough one, because as villains go, there have been them across campaigns, but they either have yet to be defeated or we didn’t actually get to defeat them in necessarily a satisfying way. So I can’t necessarily answer this question properly because it’d be easy to pick a boss we’ve fought that was fun, but I wouldn’t call them a ‘favourite villain’.

In Dekker’s game there was an evil NPC king we loved to hate, but his defeat was incredibly lacklustre and swallowed up in a generic mass combat. And the main villain(s) in that campaign we didn’t actually get to defeat ourselves – they just… Died.

On the other hand, the villain in Watcher’s campaign is great, but we’ve yet to defeat him (if we manage it haaaa). He’s a solar, so a nice twist on the good slant of an angelic being, who wants to wipe the world clean (again, he was stopped before). And since we were the ones who re-released him into the world, there’s nothing like the crippling feeling of responsibility and guilt weighing down your shoulders when tackling a villain. He’s been busy killing our loved ones, potential allies, wiped out a large city and is likely stalking us as he gets up to no good in the background.

#dnd questions #many words #many many words

5 notes · View notes

polyworth · 5 years

Note

val, mel, and thea!

Finally I’m getting around to answering the asks I got sent in response to this oc ask meme.

…SO THIS GOT REALLY LONG… Answers are Under The Cut (also thank u Iza ily)

Val:

Full Name: Valerias Amarantos Gender and Sexuality: Masc. NB & BisexualPronouns: He/HimEthnicity/Species: ??????? We Just Don’t Know What Species Val is (his features are based off of Vietnamese people, though– so if he were a person on earth he would be Vietnamese)Birthplace and Birthdate: place - Rhohigh Sec City; Date - 03/27Guilty Pleasures: He’s never guilty abt the things he indulges in I’ll be real with u chief. But a normal person would say: Gambling, Drinking, Over Indulging in GeneralPhobias: Claustrophobia & Nyctophobia – but the fear of the dark only happens if he’s in a small spaceWhat They Would Be Famous For: Oh Lots of things… Murder, for one. Being in line to be a new Territory God is another.What They Would Get Arrested For: Murder, Aggravated Assault, Public Inebriation, Disorderly Conduct, Treason, the list goes onOC You Ship Them With: Mel & Eli are his love interests OC Most Likely To Murder Them: HAHA Oh my god… Viviana & Mel are the two that stick out. I think a better question would be who’s LEAST likely to murder him.Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Adventure / Action moviesLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: when the mentor / parental figure dies for the protagonistTalents and/or Powers: Complete Immortality & Super Strength / EnduranceWhy Someone Might Love Them: Val is honest, straightforward, funny, kinda dumb, and honestly if you’re nice to him he’ll probably do whatever you want. The last part changes a bit as he gets older, though.Why Someone Might Hate Them: Val is impulsive, short tempered, and only selectively cares about other people. He has a very convoluted honor code & is generally unpredictable. He literally cannot be killed & due to very specific trauma doesn’t have any qualms with killing. How They Change: Val goes from being a literal weapon / tool / considering himself as object to finding his personhood & learning to actually empathize with other living beings.Why You Love Them: Val is the culmination of many of my favorite tropes– unkillabe, dumb & innocent, but also just ridiculously OP. He’s very much like… an expression of growing up and learning that not everyone has the same privileges as you. By having him grow & try to make amends for the consequences of his actions, I want to show other people that you can too. He’s very dear to me in that way.

Mel:

Full Name: Melianthus KomosusGender and Sexuality: Nonbinary & PansexualPronouns: He / Him ; They / ThemEthnicity/Species: Cat Anima (no ethnicity has been assigned to Mel yet)Birthplace and Birthdate: place - Rhohigh Sec City ; date - 07/22Guilty Pleasures: Mel likes all the finer things in life– so I would say his guilty pleasure would probably be overspending on things haha. Going shopping for shit he doesn’t need & going out to eat when he’s got food at home, that sort of thing.Phobias: Failure, Abandonment, Not Measuring Up to ExpectationWhat They Would Be Famous For: Killing a GodWhat They Would Get Arrested For: ^^^, that and like… breaking out of prison and a whole lot of other things.OC You Ship Them With: Val & Eli are Mel’s love interests.OC Most Likely To Murder Them: THEA… PROBABLY…. Tbh lots of people probably want to.Favorite Movie/Book Genre: oh this bitch loves romance books, especially romance / mystery.Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: underdog stories. He finds them unrealistic.Talents and/or Powers: Mel is able to manipulate chance to his advantage to any degree he’d like– the drawback being that he will experience and equal amount of bad luck at a later time not of his choosing.Why Someone Might Love Them: Mel is one of those characters where he runs his mouth and acts like he doesn’t give a shit to hide the fact that he gives SO much of a fuck. His actions contradict his words– he says he doesn’t care if so and so gets hurt and then goes out of his way to protect them. Mel has a good heart and ultimately wants things to be fair in a world that is very much UNfair. He’s also prickly & unintentionally VERY funny because of this. Reluctant hero, anyone?Why Someone Might Hate Them: Probably for the same reasons listed above. Younger Mel was also extremely self centered & selfish, and caused a lot of damage manipulating people into doing things that ultimately only benefited him. He’s afraid of any kind of vulnerability & pushes people away instead of communicating his wants & needs. He’s proud and hates being wrong, or being embarrassed, etc.How They Change: Mel learns how to be a responsible & less selfish person, as well as how to open up and admit fault. He basically learns how to take care of someone other than himself.Why You Love Them: Mel was one of the first OCs that was made for Erodea– he’s so… fucking funny to me, honestly. He’s a goddamn Tsundere cat man. He’s all “ugh i hate kids and i want to be left alone for the rest of my miserable failure of a life” and then the SECOND a kid shows up in his life, regardless of the fact that getting involved with her could very well get him killed or worse, he immediately goes “WELL I guess I’m responsible for them now” and just. Goes on a fucking quest. Stupid.

Thea:

Full Name: Thea SantosGender and Sexuality: Cis woman & LesbianPronouns: She / HerEthnicity/Species: Human (Thea has a mixed heritage, so she doesn’t have one specific ethnicity)Birthplace and Birthdate: place - Humanity’s Palace in Niereve ; date - 12/02Guilty Pleasures: sneaking off with her best friend so she can slack off on her studies & official duties as a god, she also likes testing her luck with all sorts of things– this mostly results in her gambling but on a very small scale.Phobias: Being useless, being unable to do what she’s ‘meant’ to do, not ever fully awakening her powers & abilitiesWhat They Would Be Famous For: Being a Literal GodWhat They Would Get Arrested For: Breaking & Entering, Trespassing OC You Ship Them With: Eventually, Rhyanne! Rn they’re both like 16 though.. so.OC Most Likely To Murder Them: I cannot imagine anyone wanting to actually murder Thea. Except for one specific oc but that’s a Secret.Favorite Movie/Book Genre: The likes Murder Mysteries, ironically.Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Parents sacrificing themselves for their kids, also love trianglesTalents and/or Powers: Theoretically Thea should be able to do a large assortment of things, including but not limited to: Telepathic & Empathetic communication with other humans, prophetic visions specifically relating to any human’s fate, dream walking in other human’s dreams, telekinetic abilities, limited teleportation, access to miscellaneous magical spells.Why Someone Might Love Them: Thea is headstrong, compassionate, and easily flustered. She’s earnest in wanting to be the best god to her kind as physically possible but also equally as afraid of failing her people. She’s got a lot of weight on her shoulders for still being just a kid herself at 16. She’s full of love & determination and a definite fixer. She wants to make things Right and has a lot of energy to put towards that end.Why Someone Might Hate Them: She’s 16 and naive, and also 16, so she’s bound to be annoying. She’s self righteous, and leaps without looking, sure that she’s going to be alright when she lands. She’s quick tempered and blunt and doesn’t always consider other people’s feelings before she says things, and is usually convinced she’s right. A downside to her wanting to fix things is that she often does what she thinks will ‘fix’ a situation without thinking things through.How They Change: Thea matures over the course of the story from someone who is lost & trying to find their place and purpose, literally trying to figure out who she is and why, to someone confident in herself and her place, or at least someone who’s comfortable with where she’s going. She learns that even though she’s a God she can’t fix everything and help everyone, and focuses on doing what she can to better the lives she can, one little thing at a time.Why You Love Them: Out of all our OCs Thea has gone through the most dramatic change– we initially had her as a much more meek and mild sort of character, but had a sort of galaxy brain moment when we realized she would be so much more compelling as an obnoxious teen with room to grow. Thea has a heart that wants nothing more than to help and to give, which is at odds with her current abilities, and it’s been such a pleasure watching her sort of come together.

#erodea #Val #Mel #Thea #THANK U IZA #piyo-13

5 notes · View notes

chaos-of-the-abyss · 5 years

Note

After the misogynistic shitshow by Dumb&Dumber, do you have any recommendations (can be books/movies/shows/etc.) for series with women in power written well? Something that is, you know, beyond Dumb&Dumber's two brain cells to understand?

My apologies for how long it took me to answer this, anon.

I’ll be glad to point out to you some well-written stories of women in power. The issue is that I’m not certain what you mean by “women in power”. The most common interpretation that comes to my mind is a woman in political power, but there are several kinds, so I’ll give you a broader range of suggestions.

Now I have to say, I’m no expert in this topic, and I probably can’t give you as many recommendations as I’d like. Sorry about that. And also - all of these series I’m recommending have shortcomings, and none of them are perfect. I’ll make sure to list the (perceived, in my eyes at least) shortcomings of my suggestions. I do have to warn you first, though, that my descriptions contain minor spoilers.

*These are in no particular order

1. Tolkien

Whenever I’m asked a question about a series with well-written women, my first answer is always to read Tolkien’s books. The history of his legendarium spans thousands and thousands of years in earthly time, and even goes back to a time when time itself didn’t exist (a la the creation of the Ainur). There are many, many well-written female characters in the professor’s legendarium, and the best thing, to me, is that they’re varied. Tolkien doesn’t stick to one type of woman to serve as his female ‘icon’, so to speak, he writes women in many different kinds, and I can appreciate all of them.

Some examples: Galadriel is probably the most well-known, and I stan a wise, powerful, revered queen. Other examples include Varda Elentári (I literally worship her lol), Nienna Qalmë-Tári, Melian the Maia, Lúthien Tinúviel, Aredhel Ar-Feiniel, Morwen Eledhwen, and Idril Celebrindal.

Now for the shortcomings. I really only have one shortcoming when it comes to Tolkien, and that’s the fact that he never writes from the direct perspective of his characters, the way, say, GRRM does for ASOIAF. And while that style does have its great points which I enjoy to the fullest, such as leaving everything open for interpretation, it also prevents us from having a full look inside the characters’ heads and completely humanizing them. Although, actually, I tend to enjoy that aspect of Tolkien’s writing, as it allows me to explore and settle on my version of a character (which I usually do through writing fanfiction, lol). Still, this can be a drawback for some.

2. A Song of Ice and Fire

Assuming that ASOIAF’s ending won’t be like the ending for Game of Dumbasses, which I’m 99% certain it won’t be, GRRM generally does quite a good job when writing women in power in the midst of a world as misogynistic and shallow as ASOIAF’s world. He very realistically explores the rewards and consequences of their actions, personalities, and so forth. There is quite a large multitude of female characters in ASOIAF’s world, and they’re all quite varied as well.

Some examples: Daenerys Targaryen (my queen from this day until my last day), Arianne Martell (I love her I love her I love her), Asha Greyjoy, Sansa Stark (she’s become rather controversial as of late thanks to Game of Dumbasses, but I still like book!Sansa despite having my gripes about her), Arya Stark, Alysanne Targaryen, Rhaena Targaryen, and Margaery Tyrell. I might even tentatively name Cersei Lannister, who, while certainly not a good example or representation of a woman in power, is a very well-written example of the consequences that living in such a misogynistic, stiflingly patriarchal world such as ASOIAF’s.

Now for the shortcomings. As much as I love ASOIAF, there are some rather sexist and racist themes in it, and also, the fact that there’s such detail about nudity, especially in Dany’s early chapters, when she’s a freaking thirteen-year-old, make me very uncomfortable.

3. Empress Ki

Unlike the others on this list, Empress Ki is not a book series (if it was, though - God, I would buy the books so fast). It’s a Korean drama set in Ancient China during the reign of the Yuan Dynasty established by the Mongol Kublai Khan following the life of a real-life historical figure, Empress Qi. Qi began as the daughter of a lower-ranking noble in Koryo (the name for Korea at the time), a vassal state of China. She was sold as a concubine for the emperor, Toghon Temür. Despite having an empress at the time, Toghon Temür fell in love with Qi and favored her. Eventually, Qi did become empress of the Yuan Dynasty.

Empress Ki, the k-drama, follows this history loosely, but it’s by no means historically accurate. Nevertheless, it paints a dramatized version of Empress Ki’s journey. What I like about the drama is that Empress Ki’s ambition is never framed as evil. She becomes very politically astute and manipulative, even vengeful, but maintains her heroism nevertheless. There was never even any hint of “Oh no, her ambition is making her evil™”. I liked that very much, and it was such a breath of fresh air after the vomit-inducing misogyny that D&D didn’t even try to hide in their writing.

Now for the shortcomings. Unfortunately, since this is set in the royal court of imperial China, where empresses and concubines all lived and all grasped for the emperor’s favor, there is a fair bit of cat-fighting going on between the women, a tired and overused trope. While it’s understandable because of the circumstances the women are in, it still tired me to watch. Empress Ki herself was also subject to being forced to behave, at least publicly, in a very narrow and stereotypical line of behavior for a concubine of the emperor, since she needed support. Imperial China was pretty misogynistic as well, and the k-drama is true to that kind of setting, though unfortunately never addressing or framing it as a particularly bad thing. But as I said, Empress Ki follows real history, and I understand why the writers couldn’t throw in something such as women receiving equal rights to being heirs or something to that effect.

4. The Nevernight Chronicle Series

The Nevernight Chronicles is set in a fantasy world with three suns, in which night only arrives once every few years. The main character is Mia Corvere, who is the daughter of an executed traitor in the Itreyan Republic. The story follows Mia as she goes on a journey for revenge against the people who killed her father, and her aim is to become an assassin of a cult, as she believes this would help her achieve her goals. Sounds cliche, right?

Despite this kind-of-overused trope (kid loses parent, becomes an assassin to avenge them), Nevernight caught my attention because Mia, our protagonist, isn’t exactly human. She’s a darkin, and has the power to bend shadows to her will. This power, though, comes with drawbacks. I can’t say too much more, as this isn’t a very well-known series and much more would be spoilers.

Admittedly, I’ve only read the first book and am still trying to get my hands on the second one. In any case, I’m recommending this because I very much enjoyed the way Mia, as an assassin, was written. There’s a very fine balance between her ruthlessness in trying to become a hired killer and the remnants of her morality. I also liked the writing style, although I suppose it’s not for some. The author uses footnotes to help with his worldbuilding, which I found kind of tedious at times unless the information in them was interesting.

Now for the drawbacks (besides the thing about the writing style, lol). I must warn you: although Mia is sixteen at the start of the series, this series is not classified as YA, but rather as adult fiction. And there’s good reason for that. It has some rather explicit descriptions of extreme violence, blood, and gore, and also, characters are put in mature sexual situations despite being only in their teens. Said scenes were pretty well-written in my opinion, but it still made me uncomfortable. There is also some underlying racism.

5. Game of Queens

Game of Queens . . . had its good points and its not-so-good points. The reason I’m putting it on this list is because it follows the story of the two Biblical queens, Vashti and Esther. As you may know, Vashti was ordered by her husband, the king of Persia Ahasuerus, to appear before him and his men in the men’s banquet hall, which was considered extremely scandalous and something no decent woman should ever do. Vashti refused, and because of her refusal, she was either deposed, exiled, or executed. The Bible doesn’t mention her again.

Ahasuerus’ second queen, Esther, was a Jew but had to hide it (I believe the Persian Empire disliked Jews or something to that effect, but frankly I can’t remember exactly why). However, Ahasuerus, influenced by his villainous counselor, almost ordered war on the Jews. To save her people, Esther revealed her identity as a Jew, putting herself at risk, and pleaded with Ahasuerus to call off the war, which he did.

Anyway, I very much liked Vashti and Esther’s characterization in the books, for different reasons. Vashti I liked because she began as a pawn: naive, carefree, wanting for nothing, and then she began to realize that she was being used. Her story in Game of Queens is about moving past and growing from the manipulated, unthinking child she was into a competent and intelligent manipulator herself. What I find noteworthy, though, is that despite her increasing cunning, she retains her gentle nature, and her kind personality never really changes. Too often have I seen stories where women lose innocence and become cold and hard as they learn to play the political game. And while I enjoy stories like that too, I admit it was very refreshing to see something different.

I liked Esther because she defied the norm of a woman during that era. Esther was a skilled horse rider, and strong and fit physically, not at all delicate. A moment I really, really liked in her story was when her aunt commented that she must be tired after a long journey, and Esther, raised more as her father’s son than her father’s daughter, replied that no, she wasn’t, and that she was very used to traveling much further distances.

Lastly, Vashti and Esther also became friends in Game of Queens, and I very much enjoyed reading the moments of their friendship. There’s no jealousy between them, no pettiness, no catfighting. Just two young women working together and becoming close.

As for the shortcomings, I disliked two things in particular: Amestris, Ahasuerus’ mother, is the classic power-hungry seductress who attempts to manipulate everything from behind the scenes. It’s not that I disliked her in and of herself - she was a very competent, very intelligent woman, but her character is such a stereotype that I felt it detracted from the story. She’s given no real backstory, no real motivation. The other thing I disliked is that Esther fell in love with Ahasuerus at first sight, based only on his handsome looks. For someone as witty, determined, and tough as Esther’s portrayal in Game of Queens, I was disappointed that her falling in love with Ahasuerus was such a swift process with no logical or emotional backdrop.

My dear friend @martaaa1506 also told me that the Wheel of Time series and the Witcher series are very good. I’d actually advise you to check her out for more recommendations, lol.

#tolkien #asoiaf #empress ki #the nevernight chronicle #game of queens #book recs #book recommendations #recommendation #anti got #anti d&d

39 notes · View notes

cartoonfangirl1218 · 5 years

Text

Winner’s Curse Ch. 11

Yep this is a long one, and I’m sorry since it’s mainly an exposition chapter. But I was trying to set up familial ties and character dynamics and inner conflict so it kinda came out like this...Though I’ll admit it may not be the best, I still enjoy it and I hope you do too. Especially with the obscure references. I hope someone can guess whose children, the new characters that appear at the very end are.

“Did you get any news last night?” Aziz sighed when he saw Jordan’s pinched frown.

It was early dawn and the small group was waking up to the smell of stale coffee, the garbage cans, and preparing to start the day.

They had been at it for four days now. Jordan, Jay in his goon disguise Calix magicked up for him, and Calix would leave to meet Uma at the castle and look around for any important documents and spy, always coming back around midnight or later when he and Lala were already fast asleep from full day of frustration and confusion.

Their days were like the blind leading the blind since Aziz didn’t know anything or anyone here, and Lala didn’t frequent the urban section of the Isle enough to know who to potential recruit or where anything was.

They did the best they could with mixed results. Asking questions like “Where is the Aladdin-hating club?” or “Do you want to overthrow tyranny?” was met with suspicion. To be fair, most questions Aziz asked were met with suspicion, even what he thought were innocent ones like the bathroom. He still hadn’t got an answer to that last one and he was a bit concerned.

They had tried following particularly bad-tempered and miserable folks to see if they could be goaded into joining a revolution, but it was clear that no matter how unhappy people were, they weren’t willing to fight against the Coven.

Yesterday, they broke through with one small lead. That lots of minor followers like the Forty Thieves and Hun soldiers, and Hook’s crew liked to go to Gaston’s bar, and tended to have loose lips about their bosses’ going-ons after three kegs of beer. Aziz was hoping in their alcohol-fueled state, they would divulge where to find big guns like Clayton or Morgana. Or at least rile them up to join their people’s revolt.

Jay stretched and yawned, and rubbed the dusty window pane that showed the backroom of Jafar’s Junk Shop. The alleyway behind it was their current sleeping place.

Aziz had wanted to ask why they didn’t just sleep inside since it had been confirmed that the Coven members rarely left Maleficent’s castle and that Jafar’s Junk Shop had been closed for weeks. There was no chance of them getting caught but he sensed that would be a sensitive topic.

There was a certain sort of sadness, nostalgia and perhaps even fear that crossed Jay’s face whenever he peered through the windows which was quite often. Usually when he thought no one was looking.

But Aziz was always observing people around him. He just found it fascinating to watch people’s quirks. Those quirks were always so telling of what people, and usually hinted at something going on beneath the surface of those perfect princess smiles or in this case, the suave confidence of a thief.

From what little he knew of Jay’s relationship with his father was that though Jafar had been neglectful, Jay had idolized the man and was still having a hard time breaking away from all the lessons he had been taught and encouraged over the years such as focusing on himself and viewing relationships as a give-and-take rather than a bond of mutual trust and equality.

Perhaps Jay was remembering his childhood sitting in that junk shop with useless shiny baubles, waiting for praise to be turned away to get something better.

But Aziz’ thoughtful imaginings of the potential inner workings of Jay’s mind soured as he saw Jay take another discreet glance around the group to see if anyone was watching, looked directly past him, and then turned to look through the window again.

Maybe Jay did know Aziz was watching but didn’t care.

It wouldn’t be the first time someone looked right through Aziz. After all, he was apparently a forgettable despite the prestige behind his parentage and what he thought were moderately sizzling good looks.

Very rarely was he featured in Auradon news. Is name was always behind more well-known princes like Chad and Ben or even behind Doug since the media loved the story of the Evil Queen’s daughter falling in love with a dwarf.

It was the same in his own kingdom. He was the third child, third for the throne. Well, second since Zahrat formally relinquished any rights to becoming sultana to Cassima. And he doubted Cassima would ever tire of the job of being Sultana.

It was not like he wanted to be Sultan, but since he was not heir to the throne, people didn’t pay much attention. He wasn’t like the other princes who had royal training for ruling and their marriages and lives planned out.

He was on his own, and his pursuits of parkour, and people-watching and the occasional theft was not that interesting enough to make him stand out.

Unless it was Jay who did it. When Jay did parkour or thievery, people immediately noticed it was he. People easily recognized his swagger and smirk.

Whereas he was a pale imitation of his father, and inferior skill set to Jay to boot.

That’s why Jordan chose him to scour the streets of the Isle without a disguise. In her words, “Aziz you’re great at blending in with a crowd, no one will even notice you. They’ll just think you’re the son of one of the forty thieves or something.”

He blended with the crowd. He looked like any other prince. Like any other thief. Forgettable.

“Day 4 of Castle Reconnaissance has brought no new results. It sucks.” Jordan sighed dramatically, and turned around to pace by the dead-end of the alleyway, tapping at the earchip Carlos had given her. “I’m going to talk Ben and Evie,and see what we should do next if results don’t come quickly.”

“Fine, can you at least give me some baklava before I head out?” Aziz asked which Jordan casually did with a snap of her fingers and a warm piece of baklava appeared in his hands.

“Oh, you’re talking to Ben and Evie. What did the say about Uma?” Jay jumped up to join her and Aziz rolled his eyes.

Jay was still admentally against Jordan’s decision to team up with Uma, and had been hoping the two would agree with him that it was a bad decision and no matter what happened, they wouldn’t help her or Harry or the rest of her crew off the Isle.

However, Ben and Evie both were of the mind to give Uma, and her crew a chance since Ben felt like she had a valid point of how he had broken his pledge to invite other kids off the Isle. Evie believed that every teen on the Isle deserved a chance to grow their potential in Auradon, and that everyone included Uma.

Aziz did agree with Jay that it was probably a bad idea to trust Uma, and an even worse one to promise her a chance to go to Auradon, but he trusted Jordan more. She wasn’t naive, and she undoubtedly was inwardly preparing herself for ways to combat an inevitable betrayal. He also knew that Jordan was still insecure about her role as leader and was probably glad to latch on to Uma who was so put-together and already a respected captain.

“Finally, you’re ready.” Lala got up from where she was polishing her spear, dangerously close to the nose of a still-sleeping Calix.

“Well, you know how it is, I’m a pampered prince. I don’t wake at sunrise like you common hunters.” Aziz faked the haughty air that Chad often used which Lala answered with an eye-roll and mock curtsey.

Surprisingly, he and Lala had settled into a comfortable rapport despite only knowing each other for a week and forced to complete a fruitless, irritating task together.

They worked efficiently together, studying potential targets to follow and ask, and shared the bond of being bored and hangry as they walked through the dusty, surprisingly cold streets. They even shared some jokes over some exceptionally dumb sidekicks getting the boot or wonderings of how one could stoicly walk around with a six arrow embedded into their shoulder like a pincushion. She called him a pampered prince and he jokingly humored her by acting the part.

It probably helped that Lala didn’t think much of him to treat him with hostility.

On the second day of their recruiting mission together, she made a joke, and Aziz didn’t stop himself from saying, “The jungle princess is capable of joking?”

Lala shrugged and replied, “Well, you’re not much of a threat to me. I can relax. I mean you’re so quiet and not such a loud-mouth fake like Jay or anything really. You’re like…. hmm like a sidekick. You observe. You’re not going to outshine me or be able to go up against anyone.”

“He was so quiet.” “Not a threat.” Not like Jay who always managed to draw attention. He didn’t come up with witty lines on the spot like his father.

He was like a supporting character. Friendly, smart, capable of surprising people, but not very special.

He tried. Allah knew he tried. He maintained his grades. He was great at conversation with adults, he studied up on foreign affairs and he could charm diplomats with his mom like a pro. He did tourney and he practiced as much as he could, but he didn’t want to get so over muscled as Herkie as to not being able to perform his usual flips through Agrabah’s alleyways. He loved to go to the dances, and going on adventures in the dunes with some street rats during vacation. He did all the things that fellow royals did, his father did, all the heros did.

And the secret thing was that though he had fun, he always felt like an exhausted, nervous wreck after every single event.

He was never able to stop his mind from thinking during the conversation. Thinking of what he was going to say, if what he wanted to say was stupid or lame, what if the other person got offended, what did the person mean. He would think of a bunch of conversational scenarios, ones geared toward topics he knew, and witty remarks he could use, but those never went into effect because it felt awkward to try. He didn’t want to appear like he was trying too hard.

He was only able to relax and stop those racing thoughts with people he had known for years like his family or Ben and Lonnie. But with others..he always ended up listening more than talking.

He was perfectly fine listening to people. He didn’t feel the need to add useless, extraneous remarks just so he could talk. He would talk when he had something meaningful to say. That’s why he and Jordan got along so well because when she felt like it, she could talk for hours and Aziz could listen to it.

When he listened to others talk about a school scandal, he could hear all the different views and biases and piece together what happened, he could analyze their actions and motives, and why they were reacting in a certain way. It was like a psychological puzzle, and standing behind and listening allowed him to glean more information and more pieces to add in.

For example, everyone saw that Audrey had dyed her hair to match her mother, and assumed it was ‘save face’ after Ben publicly dumped her for Mal, pretending she was over it. Aziz had seen Queen Leah berate Audrey, and surmised that the hair dye was less a reputational pressure but at the influence of familial pressure.

Jordan said he was an amateur psychoanalyst which amused her because she liked listening to his theories about the motives of their classmates; Yet it annoyed her when the tables turned and he tried to encourage her to talk about her feelings like a normal person. She always shut it down with, “Not now, Sherlock Freud. Analyzing me is off-limits.”

Yet in this world, he was required to contribute to the conversation or else, people would forget he was there. Being the backgrounder he was he already heard other students discuss party invitations and he was left off the list since he was ‘boring” and ‘just there.” On the other hand, he was also invited to parties for the same reason. He was so forgettable that it didn’t matter to people if he was in the room or if he wasn’t.

Rationally, he knew he wasn’t boring. He had great stories to tell, and if anyone asked, he would take them for an adventure of a lifetime in the dunes of Agrabah, and teach them tips to tame wild horses, but that wasn’t how people saw him. People usually went by first impressions, and he wasn’t interesting enough to warrant a deeper look.

Though he tried to change and be outgoing as was expected for a prince- He asked his dad for advice under the guise of flirting tips, he memorized Genie’s standup routines, he forced himself to attend every one of the Tourney teams fundraising events, games, and afterparties- But he was always outshone by the other extroverted people in the room. He could act outgoing, but it was always harder for him. It was never going to be enough compared to those who were naturally outgoing. There was always going to be someone better than him.

“Aziz,” Lala snapped her fingers in front of him, “Stop zoning out, and let’s go to the bar.” “You know where the bar is? Yesterday, you said you knew where the docks were and led us to Facilier’s shop.” Aziz said. “It smelled like sea water.” Lala defended.

“It was bayou water. I’m pretty sure bayou water should smell different than sea water.” Aziz retorted.

“Whatever. I do know where Gaston’s bar is though. I have actually been there before, and you find it by following the crowd.” Lala nodded toward what was indeed a large crowd of shuffling, drunk-looking men and women shoving each other to enter the large front entrance that boasted moose antlers in front.

Due to their healthier bodies and sober states, Aziz and Lala were easily able to edge through the sluggish crowd and enter the vast bar area with its permanently wet and sticky floor, numerous wooden tables and roaring French-styled fireplace.

Lala didn’t slow down, tugging Aziz’ arm to go to the backroom where another door led them to a junkyard with more tables, and a hastily constructed wrestling ring with a cage.

They sat down at the nearest table, and began their wait, disinterestedly watching the current match between a Hun and the infamous Stanley that was on Gaston’s team. But their primary focus was on the patrons surrounding them, unfortunately none looked like Agrabahian or like a sea monster in cahoots with Morgana. He did spot one young woman who looked like a more sinister version of Cruella if her black and white hair and maniac smirk was anything to go by.

A few minutes went by when their silent observation was interrupted by a voluptuous yet haggard blonde barmaid with a tray of ribs that were half boiled, and what looked like mold surrounding the edges, “You’re Lala, right? Dad sent this. Good. Enjoy. Bye.”

“Oh, thank you.” Lala flusteredly broke off a bone marrow and handed it to him.

“Your dad’s here?” Aziz looked around trying to spot another Atlantean in the crowd just as everyone jumped up to cheer when the Hun body-slammed Stanley against the cage and began beating him with his own hands. “Wait..you know your dad? I thought most Vks--”

“Most Vks don’t know both their parents, it’s true. But my dad stayed around a little longer. Stop looking around like that, you look like a frantic meerkat. He’s not out here. He must have seen me when we were inside or something. I’m kinda easy to spot with the white hair and all.” Lala said, chewing a bit too nonchalantly on a bone.

“I guess he must have liked you enough for him to send-” Aziz began to say but Lala held up a hand.

“Now don’t get your little happy Auradon beliefs up. He doesn’t like me. I remind him too much of my mom. The women who tried to strangle him. If he comes out to greet us which I sincerely doubt he would ever, you’ll see the marks around his neck. He’ll give you an action-packed story of how he fought off Turblat with only his bare hands, but it wasn’t the gorilla. It was mom.”

“Oh okay,” Aziz deflated a bit. He wasn’t as naive as Lala, and Jay and Uma seemed to think he was. He couldn’t imagine villains like Jafar or the Evil Queen would find it in their selfish hearts to love their children, he was just surprised that Lala seemed to have some sort of relationship with her other parent, and what he thought was a good one with free food. “I can imagine that your dad doesn’t love you as I know most parents love their children. But he hates you specifically because you remind him of Queen La? It’s not like you’re the same.” Aziz said before sheepishly adding, “And would I know who he is? Is he a villain? Or is he just a sidekick?”

“Ha! My mom sleeping with a sidekick? That’ll be the day. My dad’s Muviro. He came from the same tribe as her. Though they didn’t know each other then, and got exiled at different times. And I am like my mom. I look like her. I’m jealous like her.” Lala fiddled with her food.

“You’re not..” Aziz was about to protest, but he trailed off. The Core 4 had proven that they weren’t like their parents, but that didn’t mean they didn’t share the same flaws as their parents, and weren’t capable of acting like them in some moment of anger or weakness. He remembered that Lala wasn’t helping them out of a sense of moral righteousness, she was getting a wish out of this, a wish to have her own kingdom. She wasn’t one of the good guys.

“What do you mean?” Aziz asked, automatically getting riveted with what he imagined should be an intriguing backstory.

Lala hesitated and Aziz could imagine cat-like hackles rising as she trained her slitted cat eyes at him. She looked like she was about to snap with some comment to put him in his place, but then her eyes softened as she considered his face.

She must have remembered how she didn’t consider him a threat and began to speak.

“Well my mom, and dad..um I guess. I don’t know how to say this. I know they weren’t in love. There is no such thing here. But they stayed together for a while. They had had a child before me, and my dad stayed around till I was 7. My mom usually cheated on my dad, but then she found out he dared to cheat on her too. That was bad, but what really made her snap was that he said he could do better than her. You do not tell my mom there is someone better than her. She still hates Tarzan for choosing Jane, and she considers him to be her perfect mate. And my dad, someone who is just a warrior, not a prince or anything saying he could do better than the Queen of Opar…” Lala trailed off with a pregnant pause.

“Yeah, that is a bad move.” Aziz inhaled with empathetic pain as he imagined the vicious scene.

“After that he left, and…He actually didn’t hate me then. He invited me over here to this “civilized” area away from the “nutcase.” That’s what he calls her.

“But...my mom kept saying that he was choosing the slut over us, and I thought about how he could have children with this woman. Would he think those kids were better than me like that woman was better than my mom? And that wasn’t right. I’m his firstborn daughter. I’m the one he taught how to hunt. I’m the one who knows how to specially hunt eagle feathers.

I got jealous, I stalked him and his girl around and I found out she was a prostitute, but I thought she was cheating on him. I told him and said it showed that even she thought she was better than him. He couldn’t do better than mom and I. He didn’t take that well. He said I was just like my mom. Was I planning to murder ‘the other women’ so I could have his attention too even though I thought I was better than him?” So he stopped inviting me, and..yeah.”

“But what about now? If he hates you,why is he giving you food?” Aziz asked, surprised to find that he had almost finished the ribs, mold and all.

“He said one angry La mad at him is enough, he didn’t want to deal with two. So we sometimes come here and chat. We hunt. Not much now since puberty hit, and I got my white hair and all. It’s too difficult to look at me and not see her.” Lala shrugged again, looking down at the table, clearly trying to pretend the whole matter was cool with her and she didn’t care.

Aziz didn’t know what to say. He wanted to pull her into a hug and comfort her but he knew that wasn’t the way here. She’d probably scratch his eyes out first before admitting emotion.

But still.. It was slightly infuriating to think about. Lala had only been 7 years old. It was natural, she didn’t want to be replaced by some new family. Even if her stalking was unwarranted, the intention was kind of good, what with her concern that her dad was dating another woman who thought she was better than him. Albeit in a badly worded argument.

“So what about this brother you mentioned? What did he think of all this?” Aziz tried to smoothly turn the subject to a less intense topic.

“Oh umm nothing. He died before I was born.” Lala answered.

Aziz cringed, “Sorry. I mean not sorry. I guess you didn’t miss much since you never knew him. It’s just that I have a lot of siblings so when there’s family drama, we usually like to discuss it. Or sometimes fight about it if we disagree,” He saw Lala’s confused face, “Ugh, I’ll stop talking. I’ll stop. Right now.”

“I had a lot of siblings too.” Lala said, “Two sisters, three half sisters, and three half brothers. Plus Musala. That was the one I didn’t know.” Aziz whistled, inwardly contrasting her past tense with his present, “Wow nine’s a lot. I have two older sisters, Zahrat and Cassima, well three if you count Jordan, which we all do. One younger bro, Amal and another sister, Noor. Plus a nephew. That’s Zahrat’s son.”

Lala had a pinched smile as she listened to him talk, not because she seemed disgusted but more like she was trying to suppress it. Not that she was succeeding too well, “What do you do together?”

“Uh lots of stuff. Mainly formal banquets because we’re royalty and all, but sand dune surfing, parkour. Though that’s just Cassima and I, but we’re getting the little ones into it. Horseback racing. That’s a big one. We have running tally between all of us, and I’m winning but Zahrat is going to beat me if I don’t win another one before her.” Aziz said, surprised by how enthusiastic he sounded as he talked about them, but then he realized how little he got to talk about his home life. In Auradon, everyone was so concerned with school and fashion and latest Vk gossip/rumors no one cares to ask about home life. They just figure they know all they need to know about Agrabah and his family.

“My siblings and I used to have a tally on our hunts too. We had such fun trying to get many prey as we could in one hour. One time I even convinced Ewuare that a speckled baboon was an actual creature, and he was so determined to be the first to..” She paused, caught in the memory before dismissing it, “I know what you’re thinking. But I didn’t actually care about them. Why should I? They succumbed to the jungle, they were weak.”

Aziz didn’t buy it. If he had his eyes closed he was sure he would have believed her lie. Her matter of factness betrayed no wistful emotion. In fact, she sounded downright annoyed at the fact that weak people existed.

But her look didn’t match her voice. Despite not looking at him, where she looked was telling. She seemed to be staring out to the wrestling ring where the Hun was still beating up Stanley, with a brick this time, but her gaze was unfocused, and her lips were pursed thoughtfully. He wondered when her siblings died-if she had memories of hunting side by side in the jungle, secure in the knowledge that she had one person to trust on this Isle of liars, murderers and thugs.

Or alternatively, if one of the siblings died just a few months old and she secretly wondered about it growing up. “When did they die?” Aziz ventured to ask, whispering with what he hoped was the appropriate amount of reverence.

Lala visibly tensed and then relaxed, and looked at him with a calm poker face.”When I was three, no two, I think, my mom gave birth to twins. One didn’t get a name because she died within a few hours. The other was Taytu Betuvira, she was my dad’s favorite because mom allowed him name her after himself.” The pinched smile returned but Lala bit it back, “I don’t remember much of her. I think, I thought she was cute. Like a baby cub. But she died a year later from a snake bite.”

“So when I was around four, my mom tried again with Rourke for a stronger child. You know, since dad’s kept dying off. Rourke didn’t stick around. Actually, I don’t think he even knows he had a son. Anyway, that son was Ewuare. He was the best.” Lala shook her head with a fond smile, clearly forgetting her “I didn’t care about them, they're weak” statement.

“But my mom wanted more than one child, so she slept with Clayton too. She got Leopold out of him. Clayton visited the jungle more often than Rourke but only when dad wasn’t around. His visits were more for hunting than for Leopold. Leopold was my mom’s son rather than Clayton’s. Clay was Clayton’s son.

It was nice for a while. Ewuare, Leopold, Clay and I. Clayton even let us use his gun sometimes so we could get used to a different weapon. But then Leopold got mauled by Sabor three years ago. He was only 8.” Lala reflexively clenched her fist and unclenched as she talked, her face growing stony with focused anger when she got to the part about Sabor.

“By then my dad was gone, Mom cheated on Clayton with Gaston and got a girl and boy, Amina and Shaka. They were the biggest babies by far. 8 pounds each. I was around 7 I think, and by then, I was expected to pick up the slack in the hunting department. It was awful. Ewuare was a natural hunter but Leopold kept dragging us down by wandering off. I mean I guess I shouldn’t expect more from a 2 year old, but by the time I was 2, I was a very obedient child. I don’t get why she was so relaxed when training him. I-“

“What happened to Amina and Shaka?” Aziz asked, seeing Lala was getting sidetracked by her mother apparently treating her differently from the twins.

“Oh, yes. They grew up, lasted a year longer than Leopold. But Amina ended up in quicksand, and Shaka tried to help her….” Lala paused again, thinking and composing herself to continue.

“Moving on. By the time I was 10, my mom decided she got the strong, powerful child she desired with Mozonroth. Her name was Sarraounia and she was mom’s favorite because she was starting to show natural magical powers once the barrier came down. She could make little illusions out of smoke. Her favorite was to pretend she was a panther. She was obsessed with panthers.”

“Oh no.” Aziz muttered to himself, half-listening to Lala’s comments about panthers and Sarraounia.

Lala cocked her head to the side like a cat which Aziz had to muse, so many things Lala did reminded him of a cat.

How quick her moods could change from curious look to ready to hiss and attack. Even her movements were catlike, full of grace and fluidity whether she walked on her two feet or as she climbed trees on all fours. The way she arched her back and stretched in the morning, and whenever she smirked, it didn’t look human. It looked more like a crafty feline smile.

“What no?” Lala asked.

“Mozonroth’s my uncle.” Little known fact around Auradon was that Mozonroth was Aladdin’s half brother. Aladdin’s very evil sorcerer half brother that ruled over the Black Sands and wanted to rule over Agrabah too.

Aziz should have guessed that Mozonroth had a child. If a man like Lefou could have a child, surely Mozonroth was capable of it. Especially with the alleged hotness that he had heard so much about from Aunt Eden.

“Well, I’m pretty sure he has another child somewhere. I don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl though. It’s not Sarraounia. She died this year from fever.” Lala said taking a few deep inhales and exhales.

“My mom didn’t sleep with only one magical Agrabahian man though. She accidentally had a one night stand with Jafar.” Lala paused, clearly waiting for his reaction.

Aziz’s eyebrows shot up to hide behind his bangs, “So that’s how you know Jay.”

“Not that well. I was 13 and Jay was like 15 and even then he was arrogant and annoying. He kept trying to steal my teeth momentos, and pretended he could fight animals. He still keeps insisting that he is just as good a hunter as I am.” Lala huffed with annoyance at the memory.

“Jafar just came over to the cave to make sure my mom wouldn’t give him parental responsibilities of anything. Not that it mattered. My mom got sick with the yellow fever that was going around here, and almost died. I almost died trying to take care of her and getting the yellow fever. The baby came out dead so that was that.”

“Did Jay get to see it?” Aziz asked, starting to wonder if Jay’s pushed friendliness towards Lala was some sort of attempted almost sibling camaraderie.

“It was a she, and no. Jafar didn’t want to have anything to do with her.”

Aziz realized that she mentioned all her siblings’ deaths, but one. It was obvious she skipped over it, and he knew it must have been something terrible if she was glossing over it completely, but his curiosity urged him to know.

He stopped, opened his mouth and then closed it, and opened before finally asking, “What happened to Ewuare?”

Lala looked away, blinking rapidly, “He died four months ago. My jealousy struck again.”

Aziz waited as Lala pulled herself together after that cryptic comment.

“Like I said Ewuare was the best. He was smart, and fast, and such a good hunter. Such a good hunter. He always knew the right time to strike, and he was determined. My mom sometimes...she’d say Ewuare was better than I am in not getting scratched or I was better than him in hand to hand combat. She was trying to make us compete so we’d work harder. And Ewuare didn’t care who was better at what. But I-I got jealous.”

“Just that week, we got ambushed by coyotes and Ewaure got an awful bite on his shoulder, and I was happy. I knew it was going to leave a huge scar and Mom couldn’t hold my scars over me. So when we managed to fight them off, I continued hunting and let him Ewuare walk home alone. I let him because- “He was the magnificent Ewaure,”- he could heal himself.” Lala turned to face the wrestling ring as her nails dug into the splintered wooden table surface as if she was holding onto a liferaft to keep from drowning in emotion.

“..I-I was wrong. He didn’t get a scar. The coyote bit some vital veins and.. and he bled out as he walked….”

Without thinking, Aziz asked “How did you feel?” and Lala slowly turned to give him a stony stare, her jaw clenched tightly and her eyes filled with unbidden tears.

The tiny voice in his head that sometimes sounded like Jordan berated him, “Not now, Sherlock Freud. Analyzing is off-limits.”

“I mean..um” Aziz stammered, and started talking about the first thing that came to his head, “Uh I get having a little sibling who's obsessed with big dangerous cats. Amal and Noor love our tiger, Rajah. They have these little posters and stuffed tigers all over their rooms. Noor pretended she was a tiger for a whole year and would only communicate in purrs and growls.”

Lala looked down at the table, and looked up, breathing shallowly in a clear attempt to keep grief at bay. At least she looked grateful for the topic change more than annoyed since she eagerly grasped at the opportunity to move on from Ewuare’s death.

“Sarrounia was just as obsessed with panthers which made it pretty easy to train her. I would tell her all panthers had to know how to climb a tree properly so she would stop ignoring me and listen. And she was very eager to mimic cat sounds.” Lala followed it by a very realistic imitation of a leopard’s rasping yowl that caused Aziz to jolt back and nearby patrons stopped their cheering to stare at her.

Aziz laughed nervously from the sudden surprise, “Can you speak leopard?”

“No. I just sound like one. It scares other animals, and people.” Lala nodded satisfied with herself, and made a point to growl at a hefty looking pirate who was still staring curiously at her. “You’ll have to teach me that sometime. I tried to copy Rajah’s growling but I suck at it. I’m much better at speaking monkey.” Aziz said.

“You speak monkey? You’re a prince that speaks monkey?” Lala looked at him in disbelief, her lips quirking up in her usual feline grin as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea.

“Yes. Fluently.” Aziz smiled smugly when Lala began to laugh at his talent, continuing to talk with some mock-indignation, “Though some of my classmates did think I was weird when I started to talk to some monkeys that broke out of the Auradon Zoo which is such a double standard. How come princesses can sing to the birds and the racoons without judgement but when I talk to monkeys in their own language..”

Aziz trailed off seeing that Lala was caught up in the hilarity of the fact he spoke fluent Monkey to listen to him. So he allowed himself the chance to observe her without fear of a berating glare. He was surprised to hear how it breathy her laugh was, ending with a snort after each gasp.

As he looked at her another figure caught his eye and made his heart jump into his throat.

He had seen that face many times in Uncle Genie’s magic “flashback shows.” Though the face was a little dirtier and a little bit bigger as if the man had been sampling one too many baklavas these days.

There was no doubt that it was Abis Mal in the flesh. A helpful clue was the presence of a skeletal thin man that Aziz instinctively knew was Abis’ lazy and constantly annoyed assistant Haroud Hazi Bin.

“There’s Abis Ma!” Aziz hissed, jumping out of his chair to follow the bald bandit and his servant that were heading towards the alleyways.

As the pair left, two slender shadowy figures peeled away from western side of Gaston’s backyard wrestling ring. The dark side where no moonlight illuminated the area giving all manner of people the privacy to drink, to fuck and do what have they.

The two figures sat down where Aziz and Lala had been, licking their dark paws, their eyes glinting with fiendish delight.

“What would we have here, brother? A chance for a family reunion..” The female purred, her sharp teeth glinted brightly in contrast to her night black fur.

“Yes. Mozonroth and Marcellus should have a chance to kill the child of that infuriating Aladdin.” The male smirked, his shendyt fluttering in the night air caught the attention of a pirate’s kid who tried to grab it only to be scratched by the wearer.

“And not only the child of Aladdin, but...any other do gooder who helped him get here. It’s clear he didn’t come on his own.” The girl added, sharpening the claws of her right hand with her left.

The male laughed heartily, “Imagine how they’re going to lacerate him. This is going to be delightful to watch.”

Note on names: Like Ranavalalona, all the names are taken or slightly modified from real life African rulers like Taytu Betul of the Ethiopian Empire, Musa of the Mali Empire, Amina queen of the Zazzau city state, Shaka of the Zulu Kingdom, Ewuare of the Benin empire, and Sarraounia, the sorceress queen of Azna who was heavily associated with panthers. The only exception is Leopold named after King Leopold of Belgium who was a vicious colonizer of Congo and whose bloody hand would probably been respected by villains.

#aziz #winner’s curse #my fanfic #my fanfiction #ocs #chapter eleven #lala #disney descendants

1 note · View note

gaycharr · 5 years

Text

some tweaks / recapping of Marina’s backstory now that I’ve developed her a bit more:

-im thinking the Renworth name probably is more business than political. think old money and a bunch of old traditional humans. have lots of business connections everywhere and an influential name. your average “rich corporate family who really only care about profit at this point” types

-noble father, i think marina’s mother probably wasn’t a noble though. her mother was her dad’s second wife. family didn’t really like her mom much either, for various reasons (most of which could be chalked up to the family being assholes and pissed off that the dad didn’t marry another noble to further strengthen the name / bloodline)

-older half sister, diff mothers. sister’s mom was a full noble (i think her and the dad had an arranged marriage, but they really did care for each other greatly), but she passed away when Marina’s sister was pretty young (probably 3-5).

-I think she’s probably about 6-7 years older than Marina? so she might have been off doing school and various other things a lot when Marina was really young, but even so the two are very close and Marina’s sister never hesitates to stand up for her. she kind of relishes arguing with her family. fuck them.

-family favored her sister more and she was the ‘golden child’, but her sister also renounced the family name when Marina was prob about 15 or so and left to go do her own thing and join the Seraphs and stuff b/c she hates the noble culture and tradition of her family. Marina’s sister was always very vocally opinionated and not afraid to argue, but up until then the family had just brushed it off and let themselves believe it was something that she’d grow out of, preferably just in time to settle down and marry.

-they also kind of judge Marina b/c her dad met her mom shortly after his first wife passed away so there was low key lots of rumors and venom about how he MUST have been cheating and what not (the reality is just that shit happens. his wife died and then he met marina’s mom while away on a business thing a few months-a year later and fell in love hard)

-a very smart child. also oddly naive and innocent (its the adhd). when she got old enough to realize that people might perceive her in a negative way it really changed her worldview in a shocking way. before about 8 or so she’d p much always approached everyone openly and happily, ready to bond or talk with anyone. Suddenly aware of the disapproval of others, she becomes really quiet and withdrawn after this and a bit of a people pleaser.

-Marina and her parents actually had a really good relationship. Her mother passed away when she was a young teen I think though? It really affected her, because her and her mother were both one of the few ‘commoners’ to enter into the family and her mom often protected her from family criticism and was basically one of Marina’s best friends. (not that the family is very kind to one another to begin w/ but still)

- ^^ that being said, her father is also v supportive but he’s the oldest son of the current family head so esp after his second wife died and his family started putting more pressure on him following, he wasn’t around very much at all after that (often away on business and what not). like he’s there for his daughters but he’s not there. He’s trying to appease his family and live up to / off his own guilts and shames

-Marina always had a great interest in magic (something her family considers frivolous and unimportant at best and dangerous / evil at worst). When her mom was alive it wasn’t so much an issue, her mom probably argued for her behind the scenes (as well as her sister), and so the worst Marina experienced was probably scoffs and remarks about how it was something she’d move on from. but after her mom passed away the pressure from her family for Marina to take up more ‘useful’ interests / hobbies only increased as time went on.

-Since her family wasn’t that supportive though she never really got proper schooling on magic at this point, though she did have open access to all kinds of resources, so she was able to do quite a bit of self teaching. didnt often focus on one kind of magic, instead her interest kind of jumps from type to type. consumes information and books at a scary rate

-didn’t have really any friends her age. she was kind of a socially awkward person at this point, so she wasn’t very good at reaching out to her peers. the most peer interaction she probably had was being tutored in the same classes as other noble children. her being a ‘weird’ noble child who sometimes talked too loud or was too eager and had weird interests in magic didn’t make her very popular to begin with as well.

-For a while Marina DID try to be the ideal noble heir for her family after her mother passed. With her dad being the next head of the business, and her oldest sister having revoked the name already, she did have quite a bit of weight on her irt her family now placing their expectations on her shoulder’s instead of her sister’s. They were harder for her to please though because again, they had favored her sister and already didn’t agree w/ her interests (and after her sister left, they REALLY started being vocal about how anything but doing what the family expects is bad)

-Eventually though, with help from her sister and undercover assistance from her dad (him squirreling away money for her, helping her invest and get her own revenue coming in . . .just in case she upset the family too much or broke away like her sister), she ended up seeking to join the priory even though it angered her family (they didnt agree / understand why she wanted to go research impossible magical things when there was the option to go to a nice business school instead. or maybe even arrange a political business marriage)

-I think she had already had an instant interest in necromancy. Not for any specifically deep reason (though perhaps the early death of her mother contributed subconsciously to her being more into it later on ?). I think she just happened upon a book about it when she was reading random magic tomes as a kid and was just immediately into it. the intricacies and uses are just appealing to her, its a lot you can puzzle out and work with.

-Perhaps a part of her was also drawn to it simply because she knew that of all the magic to REALLY take up, necromancy would probably displease her family the most. like adhd rsd is a bitch especially when you’re younger and don’t realize that’s what it is, so she REALLY hated disappointing anyone, especially authority / familial figures. but even so that didn’t stop her from realizing that they were kind of jackass hypocrites and wanting to rebel and do her own thing

-anyways she joins the priory probably when she’s like ? maybe 17-18? at this point she’s probably managed to get some official magical schooling by herself but nothing that deep. Her family name helps her get the attention of the Priory, and a quick proving of her intelligence / aptitude for magic, PLUS the fact she was mostly self taught till now, means she joins rather easily.

-probably a novice in the priory for about a year or two? then she becomes a magister. at this point, with actual teachers and proper resources (not to mention hands on experience), she’s become REALLY good at magic. She’s excelled at necromancy, able to use it with the comfort and ease that belies a lot of study and practice. She’s also well versed in p much all the other schools of magic, at least in theory. Even if she doesn’t know how to actually USE it herself, she has a fair bit of knowledge on p much all subjects and is always open to learning more about anything.

-her and Sieran were probably bff’s and often got in trouble together. maybe they kissed once ? idk. i need to learn more about Sieran tbh pfff.

-being in the priory and surrounded by others who shared her interest though really helped her bloom from that socially awkward girl who never talked to anyone out of anxiety to a socially awkward girl who loves to socialize anyways and tries not to worry about being a little loud and rambly at times. Even though she doubts herself she really starts to cultivate this natural charisma that just draws other towards her. There’s just something about talking to someone who is as open as Marina is, who isn’t worried about being a little awkward and doesn’t mind some word fumbling from the person she’s talking too, that can really put one at ease.

-she is still connected to her family and still has to deal with them. not sure why she hasn’t left yet, but i think she’s often pondered the idea of taking over her family’s business and turning it into something Good. Either way, i think it’s understandable that even considering it all she’s hesitant to break from her family as her sister did. she still tries to please them, but only enough so that they don’t outright hate her and try to disown her (though it would be hard since her father is the head of the business now and certainly wouldn’t allow that)

#c: marina #long post #sorry i got kinda carried away i was just typing #anyways this is all her backstory development for now #your sister in game is named Debbie right ? i still havent decided if that's canon or not for marina's sister hm.

3 notes · View notes

scriptaed · 7 years

Text

Ink Nemesis | 02

Genre: Angst/Fluff || paparazzi!au; fake dating!au;

Pairing: Reader x Yoongi

Length: 6.9k

Synopsis: As an aspiring writer drowning under the public’s radar, a click of the pen is all you need to accept your supervisor’s offer to co-write an article for the SS - Secrets Spilled, a regular section of your company’s weekly tabloid; but fabricated stories and invasive details aren’t all that you write when you discover Min Yoongi’s dirty little secret.

“You want me, a temporary paparazzi, to pretend I’m dating him, the sensational pop star?”

The blinding flash of the cameras and hands and shrills transcend time and place all in a persistence to invade privacy; because here you are, somehow standing in front of BigHit Entertainment’s CEO, with lights hitting you at every angle as if still running on that fifteen minutes of fame you have only dreamed of receiving for your penmanship—not your facade of a relationship with the heart of all screaming teen’s, Min Yoongi.

The two pairs of eyes follow your every movement throughout the deafening silence, for the spotlight is still on you; but with each tick of their watch comes with a hasty pump of your heart and the fracture of your usual sense of rationality under said pressure.

“Well, I didn’t know you were a tabloid writer until now—and that indeed is a problem—but what’s been said has already been reported more than a hundred times by now, I'm sure,” the man seated before you explains in his rather mundane clothing resembling commoners like you; yet other than his structured wide nose, circular and silver glasses, and imperfect spots of his red, tan complexion, the ease of his shoulders as he reclines into his black leather chair and the confidence that exudes as he conveys his every thought to you, a stranger, tells you his mind is bustling with all sorts of creativity embodying anything but ordinary. “I understand this is a rash decision on my part, but I’m more than willing to pay to accommodate for any repercussions.”

In contradiction to his wise mien worthy of his middle age, the assumptions he creates of you and your supposed indecency renders you offended.

“Are you kidding me?” you gawk, appalled by his lack of judgement. “Do you know how much money you would have to pay me? I’m probably going to be fired or forced to quit the second I step foot into that damn building—” you inhale a sharp breath “—and even if it’s a living hell-hole for me, at least it kept me just barely alive!”

“Again, I’m really sorry,” the man calmly apologizes, the drop of an octave supposedly conveying claimed sympathy. “It was irresponsible of me to drag you into this, but all I can do now is retribute to the best of my abilities. I’m willing to pay 20,000 dollars flat for defamation alone.”

Twenty thousands of dollars? For something that most wouldn't even consider defamation? Suddenly, living without that treached work of yours doesn’t sound too bad at all; plus, that mass of money is enough for you to live the next decade on cup noodles and doing what you really love most: writing.

Maybe you can finally become a serious writer.

Nonetheless, accepting such money without merit strikes against your morals, both as a writer and a human, so further inquiry comes hesitantly, “...alone? Does that mean there’s more—”

“—wait, hold on for just a minute,” the remaining bystander breaks his silence, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to the opposing leg. “Do I, the main victim of this absurd plan, not get a say in this?”

“Alright, fair enough,” the elder sighs and removes his glasses to the table crowded with all sorts of sounding equipment. “Do you have anything more to add, Yoongi?”

“Do I get paid, too?” he deadpans; a moving huff leaves your lips and the both of them turn to glare in the slightest at your direction.

“I’m your boss, Bang Si-hyuk,” the man, identifying as what you recall Solji to commonly refer to as Bang PD, establishes full authority as Yoongi reclines into defense. He further crosses his arms, “I’m only doing this because it’ll help your career.”

“But how is this going to help me?” Yoongi asks.

You’re surprised to see the usual hushed, tranquil presentation of Yoongi’s cutting straight to the chase; and as much as you hate to admit, everything about him is a divergence from you as a person and worker. On what seems to be one pole of the world, Yoongi remains at the top of his industry, powerful, influential, and inspiring, while you remain on the other side, residing in the pithole of your own world as a writer.

No one looks up to you because you have nothing to admire in the first place. As Solji has once proclaimed in her weekly articles, Yoongi is the figure, the epitome of the 21st century’s very dreams. It’s no wonder that naive albeit ambitious children look up to him. Five years have passed since you could legally label yourself as a child, but even you have at some point fallen for the blinding, inevitable pull of his only to gaze longingly—as if someday, when the sun sets east and the moon sets ablaze, a failure like you could stand a minute in his shoes; because while he actively protests against the man controlling his very dreams, you can’t even imagine interacting with your own.

And that’s just one of the million reasons why boys like him would never work out with girls like you.

“Your cold, silent, ‘bad boy’ image used to attract the public’s favor in the past, Yoongi, but consistency is the key to demise in this type of industry.” Bang PD picks up a blue pen and begins tapping on his all knowing temple. “Plus, you’re a bit too alluring to the teens these days. The security downstairs have already caught at least seven fans trying to sneak into your studio just this past week.”

Your ears perk at the intriguing new information, trying to figure in your head whether you agree with said bad boy’s reputation; maybe it’s just that night or your immunity from detached men, but Yoongi doesn’t quite fulfill the rave of the public nor does he fit the bill of a bad boy. Eyes trailing to peak at Yoongi from the corner of your eyes, the boy begins to shift uncomfortably in place with his hands still buried in the pockets of his gray slacks.

“I don’t see how it’s a big enough deal to drag someone completely innocent into this,” he mutters, words slurred and shrouded from under his breath.

So he hasn’t completely forgotten you nor the concept of courtesy.

His boss frowns, furrowing his brows and glancing at you only to avert his eyes back onto Yoongi. Leaning in, his hand raises halfway to its target beside his lips before ultimately collapsing back into the cushions of his seat.

“Don’t you want to get rid of that?” he emphasizes but keeps it vague, because after all, you are a tabloid writer; but despite your lack of an intent to do such immoral things as extracting details from a private conversation, you can’t deny the pique of your curiosity following his ambiguous words.

Yoongi persists to keep his eyes glued to the ground, shifting his weight from one leg to another, as his hands fiddle with the insides of his pocket and his mind struggles to accept the advice of his boss. It’s sweet that he’s looking out for a stranger like you, but the reluctance of furthering his own career and obliging to his boss’s request rubs you the wrong way. Just how much privilege does he have against a person just barely getting by like you?

“I won’t be accepting your money.”

The statement captures the attention of the room as the two men gradually turn their eyes to the woman finally affirming her own authority.

“I apologize, Ms. Y/L/N, but I really would like to repay you—

“—then maybe you shouldn’t have dragged me into this in the first place,” you refute, crossing your arms and huffing. “I want to make a life of myself as a writer; and not just one that goes around stalking celebrities. I want to be a real one, and even if I’m sure thousands of girls would love to be in my position right now, it would be shameful of me to accept such luck, good or bad, and disrespect my dreams like that.”

“Yes, and I respect your wishes,” Bang PD firmly interjects, “but as you’ve stated, you’ll most likely be forced to take a momentary leave from work. How are you going to get by? Because this ‘project’ won’t be ending for another six months or so.”

Six months?

The man is really going out on a limb right now; and is Yoongi really fine with this? With dating someone as ordinary and low-life like you? Especially when he already has a girlfriend?

“I have money saved up. It’ll be enough to last me for six months,” you say after a few seconds of pondering. “And plus, I can still make some money by finally publishing a few more works here and there; I am a writer after all—”

“—but how?” you turn to raise a brow at Yoongi’s knitted ones. “Won’t you receive backlash or irrelevant feedback if you publish under your name?”

The assertiveness in his voice makes you wonder whether his question is one elicited by genuine concern for your well being or for his own career, despite how many times he has proven himself to be a man of silent heed to you in the past; maybe the industry has finally broken your ability to trust.

“I can write under a pseudonym,” you give him an assured smile and he only frowns, staring at you in concern amidst the deafening silence.

Two pseudonyms, actually, if you're being truthful to yourself and him.

“Well, I beg of you to take your time to rethink this and perhaps reconsider in a week or so,” the boss clears his throat, finally sitting up in his seat and swirling around to grab a simple key chain which dangles of a mini plastic quill and a silver key both before tossing it to Yoongi. “In the meantime, Yoongi, go show this miss your studio.”

“My studio?” Yoongi repeats almost indignantly. His boss only nods, but the boy persists to defend his sanctuary. “How does this have anything to do with my studio?”

“If you're going to fake a relationship to the rest of the world, you're going to have to get to know each other,” Bang PD strains.

After watching Yoongi bite his bottom lip with his eyes glued to the floor in stubborn defeat, you're not sure if you find his reluctance endearing or not. For one, your acceptance of carrying out this ridiculous plan is already of utmost generosity, so is showing something is trivial as his workplace that bad of a retribution?

The ungrateful attitude of the room and the uncomfortable tense silence pushes you to your breaking point, when finally, you swing your camera’s strap over your shoulders and breathe out, “it's fine. He doesn't have to show me anything private or anything he's uncomfortable with.”

Your reassurance captures Yoongi’s attention, for he glances up from the hardwood floor to gaze at you with this dark, indecipherable eyes of his.

The following silence tells you that's exactly what he wanted to hear.

“It's not that I'm uncomfortable…” he begins to mutter before trailing off into silence.

“Yoongi…” Bang PD grumbles, rubbing the spot between his creased brows as he sighs laboriously. “Ah, whatever, you guys can decide for yourselves what you want to do. Please just make it believable.”

“Don't worry. Kissing up to my boss’s ass has given me plenty of experience in acting,” you say in spite, giving them one last smile before turning towards the door and gripping the cold silver handle. “Alright, well, I have matters to attend to now.”

More like you have a job to lose now; but a part of you begrudgingly knows that a part of this is your fault for denying their method of compensation.

Before you can turn the handle and remove yourself from the tension, a warm hand rests on your cold ones to prevent you from doing so. Slowly, your eyes trail along his gray sleeves and up until you finally meet his firm gaze—too confident, too comfortable, and oddly too mesmerizing for a locked moment in time between two strangers of two drifting universes.

The steady waves of his eyes beholding the darkest shade of chocolate knock the air out of your lungs. Wicked magic and trifling enticement are the essence of this pivotal moment. Your eyes are begging for you to evade his impending attack, but desire for authority compels you to challenge him head on. Your lips, on the other hand, fail to formulate coherent words as it freezes in a half gaping phase.

“Your number,” he utters.

“What?”

“Your number,” he repeats in the same hushed tone. “So I can keep in contact with you.”

Embarrassment. Vulnerability. Defeat.

Cheeks burning red, you clear your throat and dig into the pockets of your jacket in search for your phone. Yoongi follows suit as he retracts his phone from the pockets of his lavish silver slacks. Quickly, you grasp for his phone—slipping it swiftly away from his unsuspecting grip—and dial in your number.

“There,” you snap, holding his phone up in the air before grabbing his hand and planting it firmly into his pale palms. “Just call when you need me.”

Without another second to waste in the unfamiliar world, you march your way out of the door to return to your own, all amidst the mysterious silence of the divine-like man.

Morning arrives dreadfully late after the entire ordeal last night, for you headed him earlier than most just an hour into their documentary. Once you had left the room and proceeded your way to the main venue, the boys carried on the concert as if nothing had just happened behind the scenes; fortunately for them, the company was able to get ahold of several reporters and temporarily halt them from releasing the astounding news of your relationship with Yoongi, preventing fans from causing distraught throughout the entirety of the premiere.

This morning, however, proves to be a complete opposite, as you toss and turn throughout midnight, just wondering if you had awoken from a dream, a nightmare, or a slap of reality; because for some reason, you can’t help rid yourself of the condescending image of your own figure standing and peering above at Yoongi’s silhouette which can barely be seen high up on a pedestal.

Only a series of violent vibrations of texts are enough to startle you out of your daze.

Xiao Lin [1:35 A.M.] Girl! I didn't know you were dating Min Yoongi of all people! I mean, no one did, who am I kidding? Why didn't you tell me?

Who is Xiao Lin again?

Xiao Lin [1:35 A.M] I thought we were friends ;_;

Oh right, the other “reporter” you had met last night.

Xiao Lin [1:36 A.M.] But then again, I guess you wouldn't tell a reporter like me. Haha!

It’s as if she can read your mind.

Xiao Lin [1:38 A.M.] Want to meet up for some coffee tomorrow morning and chat? I promise I won't exploit any of our conversations. I'll pay for your coffee too!

Revealing yourself out in bright sunlight isn’t exactly the wisest decision considering the frenzy you’re causing throughout all headlines of the internet—and maybe that’s exactly what Xiao Lin wants, because cunning schemes are all you can read despite her facade of a friendly vibe, but you figure there’s still one question you need to have answered before you can finally have a good night’s rest.

Who exactly is that girl you had spotted Yoongi with? And why would Yoongi be fine with conducting such an experiment? Especially with an unqualified girl like you?

The couch bounces you up and onto your two feet as your fingers occupy themselves with a quick text to Xiao Lin; grabbing a coat, some black shades, scarf, and beanie, you’re beginning to feel a lot like celebrity, and you can’t help but wonder if this dress up is something of the regular to someone as popular as Yoongi.

Finally, as you’re pacing to the cafe below your apartment where you had agreed to meet the awaiting reporter, you’re also simultaneously taking a step into the shoes of Yoongi’s influence, fame, and wealth—and the power of it all sends thrill surging through your veins.

“Over here!” you spot a girl familiar to the one you recall from the haze of your memories waving her arms at you as she whispers. “Xiao Lin, remember?”

In an attempt to avoid as much attention as possible, you quickly and silently shuffle your way to the corner table before settling into the cold metal chair across from her. Yet again, today she sports a clean cut fringe and a simple albeit bright red sweater and lipstick.

“Yeah, of course I remember,” you try to grin, “I don’t have a memory of a goldfish.”

The girl laughs louder than you expected—and you can’t decide for yourself whether it’s one of genuity or one of flattery. Hastily, she brings her voice down to a hush, nervously glancing around at the cafe which had taken no notice of you nor her. “Sorry,” she lets out a soft giggle, “I was just trying to call you over without using your name. I didn’t want people bombarding you with questions, cameras, and mics again.”

Again? Oh, is she referring to last night when the paparazzi had spotted you with Yoongi?

Her unexpected consideration catches you off guard, and as much as you hate to admit, it warms your heart that finally someone sympathizes with you; sure, you can’t let your guard down when you consider the field of work she’s from, but it’s ironically nice to have her by your side—even if you’re just a temporary colleague until Solji returns.

And yet, truly, you realize only those crafted from similar statuses can relate to one another.

“Thanks,” is all you can say before breaking out into a sheepish grin, and Lin smiles even wider at the sight of your growing comfort around her.

“Of course,” she coos before sliding a cup of coffee across the table towards you. “Here, as promised, one cup of warm coffee.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to,” you instinctively say, but the nagging feeling of nonexistent glaring eyes from every angle pushes you out of your usual business-like formality. “But then, again, considering the risk I’m taking to meet you, someone I barely know, I guess you do owe me one.”

Lin snorts, nearly cascading into a fit of cackles before she holds herself back and takes a sip of her coffee. “I like you… and your way with words, especially since you’re just a rookie journalist,” she laughs when a scoff leaves your lips for reasons she might never know.

“So why are you so eager to spend time with a low-life rookie like me?”

“Oh, you know I don’t mean it like that,” she grins, turning her cup in circles on the table her eyes are glued to. “I’m just so happy to finally have someone my age to talk and relate to. Let’s stop being strangers and try to be friends. What do you say?”

The giddy non-stop grin of hers is nearly impossible to deny, and considering all the inside scoops and tips you might be benefiting from such friendship, there really is no reason to stop yourself; so as a sign of a concurrence, you nod your head and reciprocate a smile.

Throughout the morning, you and Lin chat about all sorts of things,and to your surprise, none of them consists of work-related topics. It’s hard for you to admit, but a real friendship could possibly spark from this symbiotic one. From her cunning, flattering ways of conversing to your snarky sense of humor to sync with your recent mood, you begin to wonder how closed off from the world you had become.

What if this is the exact type of friendship Lin was striving for and you're the only one being overly wary of her true intentions?

The guilt gnaws at you from inside out until the topic takes a drastic turn for the worse.

“Speaking of clothes,” Lin can barely manage to say after a fit of laughs, “I see you have a really… conservative style.”

“Me? Conservative?” you repeat, brows raising as your eyes behind a pair of dark shades follow her line of sight to stare at the scarf hovering over half of your face. “Oh… this…”

Did she purposely allude to this in an attempt to gather writing material? But considering the odd getup of yours, it's only natural for a friend to ask something as simple as that. Odd.

Since when did you get so self-absorbed?

“Oh, I'm sorry… I'm sure you don't want to talk about that—”

“—no, it's fine. I figure I should get it off my chest anyways,” you sigh and Lin quirks a brow before scooting closer.

“Are you sure?”

“Might as well; and plus, if I ever see an article about our conversation, I'll know exactly who to blame,” you quip and she snorts.

“Deal,” she grins before hastily lowering her voice into an eager whisper. “So you’re dating him?”

Here you go; it’s now or never.

Pausing for a few seconds to register the question she had just asked, you hesitantly nod in choppy motions.

“Oh my god. For how long now?”

“Um…” you mumble. Neither Yoongi nor his boss had prepared you for this, but an odd part of you tells you to keep your word and loyalty; you have to make this believable. “Several months now…”

“Wow, that’s pretty long for a relationship between a celebrity and a non-celebrity,” she gasps. “Because I would’ve never guessed who you were in relations to the boys when I first met you—not that you’re not pretty, because you are, but it’s just that you seemed so out of place—”

“—oh, it was my first time attending my… boyfriend’s event,” you give her a pressed smile.

“So were you working as a reporter prior to dating him?” she furrows her brows in wonder, tilting her head to the side. “Or is this all just an act to keep people from suspecting the truth?”

“The latter,” you simply answer, because the more she asks, the more you grow to suspect her of her own intentions. “Well, not exactly. It’s complicated.”

“Ah, well something doesn’t totally line up to me, but I won’t press my new friend any further. Don’t want to scare her away just yet,” she winks and the tension in your shoulders and legs release in relief. Your heart has finally been granted mercy when, suddenly, she jumps in her seat and chimes, “and if you’re already scared by me, I’ll trade you some information in return, so if the day ever comes, we can always blackmail each other!”

You scoff, “the sign of a true friendship, indeed.”

“Of course. You can tell I have experience with friends, right?” she jokes, grabbing her phone and swiping a few pictures through what you suppose to be her album. Turning the phone, she holds the screen just a foot from your eyes which widen at the familiar looking figure of the girl displayed. “Remember that girl on your camera who I said looks awfully like my boss’s daughter? Well, I figured out that it’s because she is my boss’s daughter.”

Really?

The thought of Yoongi actually dating someone of immense power and influence infuriates you for some reason—probably because you’re admittedly jealous of her position and income—but all you can do is grit your teeth and feign a smile to conceal the authenticity of your relationship with Yoongi; you had promised him, after all, and it’s not like it would benefit you at this point to spill his love life.

“And what’s so blackmail material about that?” you purse your lips.

“No wonder you’re a rookie,” she sighs and you can’t help but take her words to offense. “Sure, it may seem completely normal for someone like her to attend potential business partner’s grand events. It’s all a part of business. But, you see, our company has been asking to partner with BigHit Entertainment for months now, and we’ve only been denied countless times.”

“What if this is their last resort? To use their daughter, a beautiful one at that, and entice one of the boys into agreement?” you theorize, genuinely curious.

“Hm, that sounds awfully dark to use her like that,” Xiao Lin frowns before nodding, “maybe; I see your point, but I’m not sure about that. I checked her working schedule that’s been leaked online and BigHit’s premiere wasn’t anywhere on that list.”

“So…”

“I’m thinking she’s a superfan of BTS,” Lin confidently states, nodding her head as if to confirm her own theory.

“Well, whatever it is, I don’t care,” you refute a bit more harshly than you intend; the fury in your stomach grows by the second. Should you show the remaining photo you had captured that night to Lin? Should you ask her for advice? Or insight? Doing so would be leaking crucial information to your enemy, both as Yoongi’s supposed partner and as the temporary writer of Secrets Spilled. Luckily, your usual sense of rationality makes a timely return as you spout, “as long as she’s not a delusion fan of Yoongi’s.”

“Ooh,” Lin sing-songs with a cheeky grin, “sassy, and rightfully so; I like it.”

A scoff escapes your lips as you shrug, but the casual facade front of yours is broken when a series of vibrations sends you jumping in your seat.

Him [1:41 P.M.] Y/N, this is Yoongi. Where are you right now? I thought it over last night, and I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I’ll be waiting for you in my studio.

Him [1:42 P.M.] I’ll be there for the rest of the evening.

Him [1:42 P.M.] You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.

Him [1:42 P.M.] It’s just an award for getting through this all.

Him [1:42 P.M.] Here’s the address. Again, you don’t have to come if you’re busy or upset.

An award? What exactly does he really think of this whole ordeal? Do you seem like an obedient puppy that needs to be rewarded by his owner? And why does he keep insisting that you don’t have to come? It’s as if in reality he actually doesn’t want you to come in the first place and is only asking out of common courtesy… or maybe his boss forced him to after a night of persistent arguments behind your back.

Whatever the reason is, your anger and confusion urge you towards vengeance as you slip your phone into your pockets and scoot your chair back loudly without a care.

“What is it? Do you have to go now?” Lin looks up at you in dejection.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, Lin,” you apologize, but the guilt vanishes the second a smile replaces the frown on her face at the call of her nickname. “I’ll meet with you again someday.”

“Soon?”

“Sure,” you laugh, gathering your purse and preparing yourself for a long day ahead of you. “See you later.”

“Mhm,” your friend nods eagerly before calling out, “have fun, you love birds!”

As you storm off with your resolve for answers set, love is the last thing you want to hear in relations to Yoongi.

The drive to Yoongi’s studio situated in BigHit’s headquarters doesn’t take you more than a couple of minutes, but the time to prepare yourself and your planned dialogue delays you into the last minutes of sunset.

“Oh? Is that you, Y/N?” a man with tan skin and warm blond locks greets you right as you pull out your phone to notify Yoongi of your arrival. The quizzical look on your scarf-covered face elicits a chuckle from said man. “I’m Namjoon. I’ve heard the entire story from our boss… not so much from Yoongi, haha.”

“I’m not surprised,” you retort. “Who would be proud of dating someone like me? And don’t worry, I don’t go around boasting of my ‘relationship’ with him either.”

“Oof, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Namjoon laughs, taken aback by your aggressive demeanor. “I can see the support behind your claim though! I’m liking the scarf.”

What are you doing? You should be blowing off steam at Yoongi, not Namjoon, an innocent bystander.

“...sorry,” you mumble, eyes shifting to the dim shadows casted upon the concrete sidewalk. “I’m a bit tired, not really in a good mood.”

“I understand,” he assures, shaking his head along with his hands before burying them back into his pockets. “It’s our fault for dragging you into this mess anyway.”

“It’s fine…”

“What’re you here for?”

“Um…” you mutter, pulling out your phone in an urge to prove yourself. “Yoongi invited me to his studio.”

“I trust you. You don’t have to pull out your phone,” Namjoon chortles, eyes widening shortly after. “But really? Yoongi? His studio?”

“Yeah…?”

“You’re either incredibly lucky or incredibly charming,” he muses and continues when he notices the quirk in your brow. “Barely anyone gets to step foot into Yoongi’s studio, especially by his invitation.”

You’re neither lucky nor charming. You’re just so terribly unlucky to be caught up in a situation like this that anyone, including Yoongi, would begin to empathize for you. By rebelling against Yoongi’s will and entering his studio, you’ll be getting back at him for dragging you into this in the first place.

“And why’s that? Have you ever entered before?”

“Well, of course. I’m his band mate. But he seldom asks me for advice,” he laughs, patting a hand behind your shoulder and pushing you forward to his side. “Come on, I’ll show you the way.”

The lavish, skyscraper of a building fares far superior to the company you expect to be fired from very soon, but the friendly mien and intriguing conversations of Namjoon’s keeps you from being overwhelmed… but that only adds to your intimidation the second he leaves your side and you find yourself standing right before the door to Yoongi’s studio.

Black paint and handles locked, everything is practically screaming at you to leave.

This is a bad idea.

There’s really no going back the second you enter.

Turning on the balls of your heels, you make a last minute decision to bolt when the door behind you creaks open.

“Y/N?”

Speak of the devil.

“Yeah, that’s me,” you sigh, whirling back around with a pressed smile.

Yoongi stands there in what surprises you to be the most casual clothing you’ve ever seen. A black beanie, gray sweater, and black basketball shorts are a drastic change from the full on tuxedo he had been sporting last night.

If you’re being honest with yourself, the cost of his outfit probably sums up to be half of the price of what you’re wearing right now.

This can’t be Yoongi. No, not the one you so despise. Not the one that has you fuming under your breath throughout the night, right?

“I didn’t know you were coming,” he simply states, gazing at you without a hint of expression to give him away.

“Oh, sorry,” you fold your hands behind your back. “I thought you were going to be here either way.”

“Yeah. Fair enough,” he agrees and holds the door open. Glancing up from the hardwood floor leading to the dark grey carpeting of his studio, you stare at him with wide eyes. Yoongi’s eyes shift from you, the side, and back to you as he shifts his weight and quirks a brow, “didn’t you come here to see my studio?”

“Oh, right,” you quickly blurt, shuffling your way into the room, “well, don’t mind if I do, then.”

The hefty door slams closed behind him, and if it weren’t for your eyes, you wouldn’t have noticed Yoongi standing there before you. Other than the humming buzz of his three wide monitors and computer, paired with black headphones and all sorts of unfamiliar devices, the sound proof walls along with Yoongi’s silence send chills down your back. Suddenly, you feel the need to fill the space with what you came here to do.

With his hands in his pockets and his front turned towards you, you figure he’s keeping a watch on you in case you touch any of his elaborate equipment. Turning around and away from his wooden desk, you’re just about to speak when he begins first.

“I saw the news this morning,” he utters. “Are you alright?”

So he has? No, of course he has; he’s the main subject of the rumors after all.

“Yeah,” you gulp. “I haven’t read the comments yet.”

“Oh, well, you shouldn’t,” he pauses, “I don’t usually read the news.”

“That’s because they aren’t news.”

Yoongi glances at you in surprise at your quick remark before nodding with pressed lips, “agreed.” At least there’s one thing you two can agree on. “But I had to read them this morning to make sure they weren’t slandering you.”

“Oh…” you mumble, dejected by guilt. “Thanks.”

“No need,” he shakes his head, “it’s our fault you’re in this mess, anyways.”

“...yeah,” a deep breath in and out helps calm your racing pulse. “So are you sure you’re fine with all of this? What if someone misunderstands?”

“What do you mean?” he quirks a brow. “My whole life is a misunderstanding anyways, so this isn’t new.”

“No, but, for example,” you pause before blurting, “what if your girlfriend sees the news?”

“My girlfriend?” he wrinkles his nose. “No, don’t worry, that won’t happen.”

Lies. You saw him with his girlfriend just last night.

“Are you sure?”

His lips turn upside down and he frowns at you as if something had gone haywire in your head. Reclining from your persistence, your eyes avert to the side as Yoongi remains in silence.

“I’m sorry, by the way.”

His words catch you by surprise.

Peering up from the ground, you find Yoongi’s eyes settled on yours; he isn’t laughing, he isn’t smiling, he isn’t even frowning that judgemental frown he had on before, he’s being sincere about his apology.

“I wanted to apologize to you in person and not on text for upsetting you last night,” he continues, voice low and unwavering. “I was already dragging you through so much trouble, but I acted as if you were a hindrance. So while this isn’t the best offer to make it up to you, I hope my studio is cool enough to keep you from hating me.”

Either his years of acting under the power of his authorities helped him or his sense of morality isn’t too far from yours,

“I mean, it’s alright,” you muse, “the studio, that is.”

“And it’s also alright if you keep hating me,” he shrugs and you gape at his remark.

“Touche,” you scoff. “But more importantly, there’s something that’s been on my mind for a while now.”

Yoongi nods, silently conveying for you to proceed.

“I’m just… I’m confused as to why you guys picked me. You could’ve picked anyone else—” you could’ve picked the girl you were making out with “—I mean, anyone has more influence and relevance than me.”

Yoongi blinks blankly at you before answering, “my boss saw us talking after I brought you backstage. He never really sees me interacting with people, not to mention a girl, outside of work, so he thought that our chemistry would make for a more believable story.”

“Ah... you don’t talk with people other than your band mates?”

He shrugs as if to answer yes.

“Then will I also be the first to hear a snippet of your works in progress?”

“I don’t know about that…” he mumbles, scratching the back of his head.”

“But don’t you post previews for your fans, anyways?”

“Are you my fan?”

“Well,” you scoff, “I have to pretend to be.”

“Well, you’re doing a good job considering how needy you’re being,” he remarks; you’re finally getting a hang of his type of humor. “First, you intrude into my studio, and now you’re asking me about previews.”

“Okay, fine. How do I get into the all-knowing Min Yoongi fanclub, then?”

“You can’t. It’s overfilled,” Yoongi shrugs with a smirk. “But you said you’re a writer, correct? I’ll trade you a ten second snippet of my tracks for a page of your works.”

“No!” you immediately answer.

“See?”

“But you’re an immensely popular artist. Everyone recognizes your works. You should have confidence in yourself,” you spew. “I, on the other hand, only get—what—a few hundred views? Maybe two or so comments?”

“I don’t get your point. Creators are all the same regardless of how big or small we are,” he equivocates. “The quality of your works are independent of numbers.”

Of course. His ignorance is starting to show through again.

You scoff, “easy for you to say.”

“Look, I didn’t make it big right off the bat, either, Y/N,” he shuffles in place as you begin pacing around the room.

“Yeah, but all I’m saying is you should have more confidence in yourself since you’ve already been recognized!”

“Alright, then according to you, how are you going to be recognized if you aren’t even willing to share your own pieces?” he quips and you’re stumped on how to answer.

“...I am sharing them—online,” you stammer. “Just not with you.”

“Oh?” he raises a brow. “And what do you post about?”

Why is he asking you so many questions? Rather than genuine curiosity, all you’re receiving are harsh judgements being made on you.

Clearing your throat, you gulp. “...romance. Young adult novels.”

Your answer renders him even more baffled than before; his brows raise and his eyes narrow, “forgive me, I actually meant to ask what do you write about. It’s not bad that you write those, but… you don’t strike me as a teen romantic?”

“I do,” you affirm. “Sometimes I write personal anecdotes. I just don’t post them. Those don’t appeal to the general public.”

“And why does that matter?”

His constant stream of questions are beginning to irritate you.

Why is he trying to test you?

Who is he to judge you?

“First, Mr. Know It All, I’ll appeal to the public, make it big, then and only then will I truly be able to write what I want,” you spit.

“Those are some big dreams,” he only states. “Familiar ones, too.”

“Familiar ones?” you repeat, scoffing. “Sorry, but in my kind of world, dreaming is all you can do.”

“Do you have a backup plan?”

“A what?”

“A backup plan; in case it doesn’t work out, you have something to fall back on.”

“Are you serious right now?” you gape. “I don’t have time to do anything but chase my dreams right now! I know it’s hard for someone like you to believe, but it’s true.”

“I’m just trying to help you,” he argues, brows furrowing as he takes a defensive stance. “Because you know what happens to all dreams? They end.”

“Well, I’m a dreamer. Dreamers are reckless and courageous; we do all sorts of things without realizing nor caring for repercussions.”

Yoongi takes a deep breath and loudly sighs, groaning and ruffling his hair underneath his beanie. “I don’t think you’re getting what I’m trying to say here. I want you to succeed, Y/N, but what are you going to do when it doesn’t work out?”

Laughing in disbelief at his ego, you shake your head and sigh, “I can live as your housewife since I am your girlfriend after all.”

Your joke only incites silence from Yoongi; that damn, stupid and judgemental silence of his. He stares at you, frowning and wrinkling his nose at your remark. You haven’t felt more vulnerable than you do now in years.

“It was just a joke, okay,” making your way past him and to the door, you sigh. “You know what? I’m tired. I’m leaving. Text me whenever you need me to kiss up to the public. I might need some of the fame myself.”

With that, you make your departure.

And Yoongi doesn’t even care enough to hold you back.

Solji [11:11 P.M.] Y/N! I’m busy with my honeymoon and all, but I wanted to check in on you! You’re still going to write the article for SS, right?

At first you were hesitant, confused, and even guilty of going behind Yoongi’s back—even if he’s just your pretend boyfriend—and writing articles on him just to make money; but after seeing how stuck up he must be tonight, you figure this is your only way to get back at him and show him your way of life is more practical, more realistic than his life of a celebrity.

Because even a low-life like you can rise to power.

As promised, here’s a behind the scenes picture of the boys at the grand premiere, making their way to the top of the stage where the rest of the world awaits them.

[Picture uploading: 10%]

I’ll be a temporary replacement for the SS in the next few weeks.

Hope I’ll get to know you all!

- xoxo Ink Nemesis.

968 notes · View notes