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thecurioustale · 6 months ago

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We Are Seeing How a Pressure Campaign Works, and It Is Very Dirty

(I originally wrote this on Thursday but held off on posting it so as not to oversaturate my posting with political stuff. But it still nags at me each day, so I am finally posting it.)

[UPDATE: Immediately after posting this, I read on The Washington Post that Biden has just dropped out.]

Following up on yesterday's post, I want to point out and call attention to the pressure campaign to push President Biden out from his reelection bid, because I don't know how many people on here (or in the public generally) have the political acumen to recognize and understand what is happening, and this sort of phenomenon, though subtle, is critical to recognize and understand if one wishes to be good at analyzing and understanding the news—not just on this one subject but in general, especially news about politics and business.

Here's the short version: The drop-Biden faction is making a full-court press to get rid of him; they are dead-set on it; and their strategy is "Lie over and over again until it actually becomes true." The news has been full all month of conveniently-anonymous sources making claims that the drop-Biden faction is winning: that the Biden campaign is privately imploding, that more and more people in the Democratic Party establishment and other relevant circles are abandoning Biden and leaving him more isolated than ever, and that even Joe Biden himself is beginning to recognize that his candidacy is "untenable" and he might not be able to stay in the race.

Almost all of these anonymous claims were almost certainly lies at the time they were made, but (sometimes) became true later.

This is an important part of how a pressure campaign works: You try to redefine reality. You frame the opposing side's position as completely untenable with no way forward. You frame your targets as trapped and fatalistic, as if they are caught in a slow-motion train wreck and can see what is coming but are helpless to stop it. You assert that more and more people who are relevant to the matter are realizing and accepting this "reality" and getting on board with the "practical" alternative—which may be risky, yes, but is better than doing nothing. And you give cover to all of this, which is essentially a campaign of gaslighting and lies, by blanketing the discourse with public statements by prominent, relevant individuals who make the case for your side and put their faces and reputations behind it. Following the assassination attempt against Trump, the drop-Biden faction lost a lot of steam...until Representative Adam Schiff (who is extremely respected in Democratic politics and was basically a trump card for the drop-Biden faction) came out and said Biden should exit the race. It worked, and the issue flared back to life and has become more intense than ever in the past two days [Sunday update: and in the several days since].

In politics there is much that never goes public, but I have absolute confidence that, except with the possibility of the past several days, Joe Biden has been nothing less than categorically committed to running for reelection, and that he was telling the unconditional truth in saying so publicly. I think his reflective conversations with family and aides immediately following his performance in the debate ended with him reaffirming that position, and I think he has held that resolve until this most recent and acute phase of the crisis. Biden is not the kind of person who would have played it any other way. I think there was no fatalism and sense of resignation in the Biden campaign, no "slow-motion train wreck," none of it. I think Biden had made his decision to stay in, and the campaign was getting on with campaigning.

I want you to note that President Biden and his representatives keep saying that Biden is staying in the race. The drop-Biden faction keeps saying "The President has an important decision to make"; Biden says he's made it; and the drop-Biden people keep saying "The President has an important decision to make." In other words, for them there is only one correct decision, only one decision they are willing to accept.

Notably, very few of these anonymous claims of the Biden campaign's disintegration have been explicitly confirmed by named sources on-the-record. When you look only at the verifiable facts, it still looks like the drop-Biden faction is on the outside, trying to make hay out of a nonissue and not getting very far with it.

In other words, the Biden campaign wasn't going to unravel on its own. The drop-Biden faction is solely responsible for what is happening.

Pressure campaigns usually don't work, because it's usually very hard to unravel power centers from the outside. What makes this one different is that almost the Democratic Party leadership, the Democratic megadonor class, and (of all things) the mainstream news media all seem to be in on it. Their tactics are working because they have the firepower of the biggest fleet in the sea. When it came out today that Representative Jamie Raskin had written a private letter to Biden to urge him to drop out, for the first time I got the feeling that the drop-Biden faction is actually going to succeed. Apparently Joe Biden had the same reaction, because the latest news as I write this [on Thursday] is that he is reconsidering his commitment to staying in the race. [Sunday update: So far, this reporting has not panned out. The drop-Biden people are now saying that Monday is going to be the big day.] Raskin, Schiff, Pelosi...these are just about the most respectable names there are in Democratic politics. President Obama is reportedly in on it, too, though I've heard other reports that he's not. Numerous governors and senators are publicly in on it. Both Democratic leaders in Congress. Not even the president can repel firepower of that magnitude; it's exactly the sort of "expel-the-foreign-object" autoimmune response that we all so dearly hoped the GOP would have done to Donald Trump in 2015, or if nothing else in the aftermath of his defeat in 2020.

This isn't just the usual "Democrats hate to win" that I mentioned in my first essay. It is almost unthinkable that the entire leadership of a major political party in the US—the healthy major political party, no less—would be so quick in joining a cabal to expel its own sitting president in the July before the election—and seemingly on such a capricious basis! Joe Biden has not behaved meaningfully differently since the debate than he had been doing before. He's the same Biden! It wasn't anything that happened in the debate that caused this degree of galvanization within the Democratic establishment to occur. And it's not just that Biden is down in the polls; Democrats are routinely down in the polls the summer before a presidential election.

To give due consideration to the drop-Biden faction, there must be something else motivating them. Perhaps they have decisive evidence that Biden's cognitive abilities are much worse than is publicly apparent, though I would have a hard time accepting that based on my own witnessing of the President's public behavior in recent weeks. I don't care if he's slow up the stairs of Air Force One. I don't care if he doesn't immediately reocognize a longstanding acquaintance in a busy crowd. I don't care if he flubs his words or speaks quietly. Those things are not dementia; they are a part of aging and there is a difference. So are all these brilliant Democratic VIPs just that dumb? I have a hard time accepting that. So what else might it be?

Perhaps the fascist menace and the specter of a second Trump presidency spooked them like horses and they've lost rational control. Despite their smarts, their savvy, and their long years of experience, I can believe such a thing happening of them. This is something I've studied a lot over the years both as a student of human nature and to deepen the quality of my fiction-writing. Humans, even the best of us, can get caught up in a kind of mass hysteria sometimes. The Republicans are running a convicted felon who wants to end democracy (or rather pervert it to his own use, which is the same thing in practice) and yet is somehow clearly ahead in the polls. America feels like it is turning a corner into something dark and terrible, and both right-wing propaganda and now increasingly the mainstream traditional media are behaving in a way that insinuates that this might be acceptable and even desirable, and in any case is likely if not inevitable. I think they really might be spooked, in the sense of having gone collectively insane.

(Just a quick tangent here to say that Jake Tapper in particular, on CNN, has carried a LOT of water for the drop-Biden faction. I never liked his dour attitude to begin with, but I am disgusted by him after what I've seen in recent days.)

Another possibility is that perhaps this really is the rare conspiracy-coup to actually succeed, and now we are simply in the "snowball effect" stage where the political gravity has changed and everyone who wasn't part of the original conspiracy is just getting sucked into it by its sheer size and force as it rolls on down the news cycle.

And of course there are always a few Democratic stragglers down the ballot in tough reelection campaigns who care more about their own self-interest than anything else.

Whatever their motive(s), and to hearken back to my central thesis in the first essay, the drop-Biden faction lacks the confidence of its convictions. They do not have consensus, and they are not-so-secretly trying to push Kamala Harris off the ticket too. That's why they won't say her name as the obvious replacement when they call for Biden to exit; that's why they frame her natural replacement of Biden as a "coronation" i.e. undesirable; that's why they're calling for an "open primary" despite the fact that we already had a primary election and the formal nomination is in less than a month. And they don't have consensus on who the replacement should be; they are jockeying on this question as we speak. They are a conspiracy at war with itself—weak and self-serving and despicable. This is some surreal bullshit.

And it is incredibly dirty. This is dirty politics. This is party leaders and zillionaires overturning our vote as Democrats to choose Joe Biden to be our party's presidential nominee (and, implicitly, Kamala Harris to be his running mate), with no clear replacement in mind except "not Kamala." This is wrong, and it is fucked up.

And I'm going to tell you right now: It has probably cost us the election. We are probably going to lose because of this. If Joe Biden stays at the top of the ticket, he has been devastatingly damaged by this relentless summer pressure campaign against him. The nature of the supposed problem at the root of all this—Biden's age—is a genie that can't be put back in the bottle. Now that the entire nation has seen just about the entire Democratic party establishment panicking that Biden is not fit to be president, it is extremely difficult to imagine Biden winning this election.

But the thing is, Biden was by far our best shot at winning. He is a stronger candidate than people give him credit for. If he does step aside, Vice President Harris will also almost certainly lose, because she was always a weak candidate, because it's so damn late in the election cycle, and because America is a racist, sexist cesspool sometimes. If Harris takes Biden's place, our best hope is that Democratic messaging can successfully frame this debacle as "We listened to you, the people, and are giving you change: a young, vibrant candidate!" But it's a very, very long shot.

And if both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris get ousted by this cabal, then we are in the worst position of all, because millions of Democratic voters are going to feel betrayed and cut out—and from what I am hearing, this revulsion will be centered in some of the most critical Democratic constituencies, most notably the black community, which has largely been sticking with Biden through this and is well aware of the campaign to not only oust Joe Biden but also push out his black vice-president. [Sunday update: AOC came out and basically said the same thing: The drop-Biden faction wants to drop Harris too; behind the scenes they are fighting among themselves for power.)

Whatever happens, we are probably going to lose in November. Not just the presidency, but both houses of Congress. And I want you to know that the drop-Biden faction is to blame. Some of the best names in Democratic politics—people I still respect, though my respect for them has been firmly damaged by this

But more importantly, to get back to my main point tonight, I want you to recognize that this is what a large-scale pressure campaign looks like. "Lie until the lie becomes true." Is Joe Biden going to drop out? Everyone but Joe Biden keeps saying that he is, including the media (who really shouldn't be saying anything either way).

It's going to take me a long time to understand why this happened, if I ever do. And I also have new questions about the news media that I didn't have before. Jake Tapper on CNN has been the most glaring example of this, but it is media-wide: They've been pushing for this. They want this story to be the top story, and I get the sense that it's as much because of a desire to get rid of Biden as it is a matter of ratings and clicks. The Republican money and connections in the mainstream media want it for obvious reasons: It's the first story in years that distracts from Donald Trump, and it also happens to be just about the most damaging story imaginable for the Democrats. And the Democratic money and connections in the mainstream media seem to be an integral part of the drop-Biden faction, and why they want this to happen is still an open question for me, because from the outside this is like a self-inflicted mortal wound. These idiots have all but destroyed our chances in an existentially critical election.

This is so, so dirty. The Democratic Party, and the mainstream media, have both done America dirty. And I don't understand why they would take leave of their senses like this...but I sure don't like it. And this scenario actually runs afoul of my private list of Democratic Party yellow and red lines that would threaten my support for the party. We are well past the yellow line. You do not overturn elections, even if they are primary elections, so that some invisible back-room cabal can pick our new president and vice president. You just don't do it. We fought to put an end to these back-room dealings; the people should pick the nominees of their party. If neither Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris is on the ballot this November, I will have to have a serious think on what I will do.

Whatever does happen in November, the results-oriented thinking from the drop-Biden faction and their stooges in the media is going to be insufferable. If we lose with Biden at the top of the ticket, the drop-Biden faction will blame everyone but themselves, even though they themselves will have been by far the single biggest factor in weakening him as a candidate. If we lose with Harris at the top of the ticket, that same faction will say we should've had an open convention rather than defaulting to her, and again there will be no admission that the drop-Biden faction caused a series of events where she became the presidential nominee. If we win with Harris at the top of the ticket, the drop-Biden faction will say they were right all along to get Joe Biden off the ticket. And if we win with Biden at the top of the ticket, only in this one scenario will the drop-Biden faction be discredited in the way it so richly deserves to be. In every other scenario, history will be rewritten by the faction to glorify itself and erase the truth of what really happened.

I am quite upset about all this, really really upset, and as someone who mostly retired from news and politics a couple of years ago, I foresee a firmer and broader-reaching recommitment to that principle in my future after this election. For the first time I am finding myself seriously thinking about what will happen with a full Republican government next year. They are not happy thoughts.

It makes me wonder, "What was it all for?" Why does it even matter that I teach you how to recognize pressure campaigns in the news, if this is what America does with all its riches of knowledge?

Anyway, that's the last I'll say about any of this for the time being. For those with the energy to do so, please recognize that a cabal is trying to steal the election, and it is on our side.

#US politics #Joe Biden #Philosophy of politics #Democratic Party

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zenkor123 · 2 months ago

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Random thoughts

Johanna the den

Katniss tried to find out where the den was to find out where Prim was going. Or she knew about the den prior to this.

How did Katniss react to Gale getting demoted for physical altercations with Peeta? (The physical altercation took place in an evening.

Prim once showed Katniss the den(nurses hang out there alot) but Katniss hated the smell of morphling. Prim hadn't gone through the paperwork to drink morphling yet.

Peeta painted his hospital room so as to not see Snowy colors

Theories that Hijacked Peeta hated loving Katniss and Peeta's SA delusions in my fic. It fits like a glove

Peeta only had vague memories if the SA delusions were shown false he could have some base of memories like the night before the arena or times he had a boner accessible to him. But he based his conclusion that Katniss was grieving him on her current behavior and extrapolated looping past memories. His memories could support either conclusion by that point such as they were.

He guessed his pre hijacking favorite colornwas purple by treating his pre hijacking self like assessing the themes of a fictional character.

Katniss probably didn't expect Peeta to come so hard agianst her going to the capitol she did all this work for nothing. If the assassination represents Peeta's gone and I must die, or just pure despair and rage then Peeta has to come with. Going to add that to "beginning of Katniss's rotation." Seeing Katniss try to persuade Peeta is going to be interesting.

Sometimes Peeta sees hallucinations of random stuff from his past, like the fic campfire which describes Peeta Seeing illusions of Ceasar Flickermen. As stated in my fic, with the descriptions of what Peeta's guard does Peeta is obliged to tell his guards about any hallucinations. Katniss has to hear about images she might recognize. It could be brain damage from the mind breaking pill or a flashback that also projects other images from his mind. Morphling which Peeta drinks alot of also cuases hallucinations. In October 5th see saw a random Seam person, Katniss recognized as 12 year old Gale, a type of flower that grew in his mom's garden, and a sink from the bakery. The flashes of his pre hijacking self appeared like scattered debris at random or from an association.

Since Peeta was given cognitive insensitivity to Pain by the capitol so that the original assassination (attack on Katniss) would be even harder to stop, that means Peeta may get bruises but not notice it. The handcuffs (in my fic) he probably is feeling a different sensation then Pain like heavy pressure he also likes tasering himself. There are people irl with that condition who walk on hot coal. Katniss's reaction to seeing Peeta injure himself-rest on radiators. Peeta remembers what Pain is but can't feel new pain.

This condition was given prior to the mind breaking pill in order to prevent the mind breaking pill seizures from killing him (by the capitol)

Katniss lost her appetite on the 3rd day and didn't feel like eating on the 4th. She went through the motions of eating from the 5-7 and had to have nurses feed her in the hospital.

Peeta tried cooking her things to get her to eat given that he was given responsibility for aiding Katniss's recovery. (?) Well Katniss would have even more access to Peeta's food since he cooks just to do something as per episode management. Peeta likes how happy she feels when he gives her stuff. (He likes spreading joy through his cooking in general)

Unknown if Katniss would actually feel joy at receiving food from Peeta or not since Peeta isn't fully back yet. Though Katniss must appreciate that as broken as Peeta is he still makes every effort to prevent her from suffering. He is partially willing to do memory restoration so she does not get hurt.

Guards have a 40 minute documentary made by the hospital in 13 starting with

It has slides with 1980s typewritter noises Katniss found that noise disturbing. This film made Katniss fear for her life even more and increased her self hatred.

Intro

For our new citizens to perform their civic obligations they must conquwr the capitol presence in their minds. From X to Y the capitol special science division conducted Project Shotgun with the aim pf converting Soldiers Mellark and Cresta into muttations with the sole aim of killing Everdeen and Odair. To defeat this presence our great leader Alma Coin has ordered what she terms "exposure therapy" this is the ultimate test of discipline for our new citizens. They can't do it alone that's why a rotation has been ordered. The doctors in 13 have created a film for you to explain what you will be doing as a guard.

Mellark and Odair

for hijacking itself they used a captured capitol film explaining it to students it was found in D2 following the capture of the nut. it is a 15 minute video describing different stages and approaches to hijacking. Katniss wanted to leave the room but she wasn't allowed.

Effects of hijacking

Cognitive insensitivity to Pain

Episodes

Immunity to poisons

Damage to memory recall

Truama episodes

Footage of Annie and Peeta in the hospital

Images of their brains

Warning signs

Stages of an episode

Peeta dozing off

Scars and rashes

Headache

Memories of pain

Triggers

Methods of controlling episodes in each stage

Grounding

Touching

Drawing and writting

It included film of Peeta and Annie describing episodes

Recording of Beetee explaining a incapacitor device and the elasticuffs

Drawings of hallucinations

Film ends with "all hail Coin".

The documentary was aired on d13 television and Peeta watched it. He went absolutely nuts that it was aired. He was suprised that 13 didn't hate him as a result. 13 not hating him and being supportive encouraged him.

Peeta and Annie hosted a radio show with a studio in the hospital including audiopropos,frontline reports and interviews

Squad 452

1. Propo posters

2. Some propo films

3. Radio

Annie is a wrestler

Combat news capitol forces raise militia for defense of the capitol

Capitol attempts to supply anti rebel insurgents in D2 and D5.

Forces deployed in the rocky mountains to provide defense in depth to the capitol

Snow expressed willingness to use nuclear weapons to "restore order and exterminate rebel vermin"

Mutts and bombers released to districts delay rebel advance by distrusting rebel reconstruction efforts.

Last minute Attempts to create resupply for Capitol defenders. Snow tells capitol they will preservere just like Ravinstille did. Calls rebels "rabid animals" and states that savagery is endemic to the districts tells the capitol that districts would drink blood if water was avaliable.

#the hunger games #peeta mellark #everlark #katniss and peeta #mockingjay #thg katniss #suzanne collins #katniss everdeen #thg #added to timeline

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writing-with-olive · 8 months ago

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Dead Immortal: Part 2

Part 1 here, part 3 here

Looks like people pretty resoundingly wanted our protagonist to follow the trail, so that's where we're headed! As in part 1, there will be a poll at the end to decide what happens next (if you have things you wanna see that aren't represented by the poll, feel free to drop those in comments/reblogs :D)

+++++++

You know it's generally a better idea to take a bit of time for yourself to recover before finding other people, wouldn't want to get in another fight before your full strength returned. But at the same time... building that shelter you know you're going to want for the night is a chore you're not particularly keen to deal with.

You pause at the trail's edge, trying to decide which way might bring you toward civilization sooner. Either way, it's going to be a long walk; outside this unnatural cut through the undergrowth, there have been no signs of human life. You decide to walk downhill. Less tiring, and if you're wrong, at least you'll eventually run into water again.

It doesn't start to get truly annoying until a few hours in. Once upon a time, you'd mentioned this propensity to get bored to a friend, and she'd asked how an immortal could experience such a thing, especially so quickly. A fair question, but being immortal, as you've discovered doesn't make the time go by faster. It just means you end up with more stories over the years. You'd said this in response, and she simply chucked a stone at you and told you it might serve you well to try and see the natural beauty in things. Find joy in the little stuff.

Natural beauty. joy.

You watch a small bird dive-bomb a much larger one, screeching all the while. Impeccable form. A little further ahead, you spot a bush with some kind of berry. Raspberries, you find, upon closer inspection. you pluck a few and smile as the sweetness explodes through your mouth. If you had some kind of container, you'd pick more, but you don't trust yourself to avoid crushing them without one.

Afternoon is sliding into evening when the trail abruptly spits you out into a clearing. Ahead of you is what looks to be some kind of large garden, where a few people are busy weeding and tending to beds. Beyond the clearing, homes and a large central gathering space are visible.

You pause. This first interaction after a kind-of death is always the moment of truth. If you'd been dormant for hours, months, decades. If they knew who you were. If you had stayed in the same world or crossed over. You've never crossed, but you know the legends. That if an immortal is killed badly, they might be banished from their world. An immortal wouldn't die for real unless they ran out of new worlds to cross into but a crossing might as well be death. Hopefully. Hopefully. You've stayed.

One of the gardeners sees you, and motions to get their companions' attention. They stand, one setting down tools. A smaller individual turns and heads back towards the homes. While the older ones approach. Your time for undetected observation is over. You study their clothes but they bear no insignia to place them.

Hopefully you'll be able negotiate a place to stay for the night.

feel free to put more input into the tags/reblogs/comments.

#writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writing community #dead immortal #part 2 #writers of tumblr #my fiction #original writing #original story #fantasy #immortality #choose your own adventure #community storytelling #short fiction #olive's writing vibes

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petertingle-yipyip · 2 years ago

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DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER - MATT MURDOCK

four- new girl in town

tags: @americaarse @dusstory @johnmurphys-sass @ironprincessstranger // three // five // masterlist

Pairing: Daredevil x Exodus (Matt x Former Widow!OC)

Word Count: 10,285

Summary: Helping an old friend leads to more trouble than it’s worth, especially when it interferes with the fate of a new friend. Dots are finally connected but is the outcome really worth it?

The next morning, you were dressing for your meeting with Elektra when a knock sounded at your door. You hurried over and opened it to find Karen outside your door with a cup holder full of coffees. You ushered her in before returning to your room to find your blazer.

“So I found out some stuff about Castle yesterday.” She explained from down the hall. “You were right about the DNR, but there’s also lots of government interest… His family.”

“That’s why he did all that, yknow.” You answered, coming back and shrugging your jacket on. “The people he went after were involved with their murder somehow. I just never got to finding out how.”

“You knew?”

“He mentioned his family last night before everything went to shit.” You shrugged as she handed you a cup. “You gonna keep digging?”

“Maybe… Should I? You think it’ll help anything?”

“I think Frank has the chance to push for trial. If I can get us in there, we can represent him and then both of us can try to help him…”

“I don’t know if the boys will wanna do that.”

“You in or not, Page? I can worry about the boys later.”

“I’m in if you are… You seem to be feeling better.” She tried with a hopeful smile.

“Just gotta keep going, yknow? If I let everyone decide who I am, I’ll never really know..” You sipped your drink with the hopes that the warm liquid would dull the cold regret sitting in your chest as you repeated your friend’s words. It didn’t. “Mmm, by the way, I'm gonna be late to the office today.”

Her brows raised in quiet accusation.

“Friend from college has a meeting and needs legal support.” You waved a hand. “It’s nothing bad… I hope.”

“Please tell me this is a Livia thing and not an Exodus thing.” She sighed.

“It is. It’s just about releasing some family money from bad investments. I promise, everything will go through proper channels.”

“What about Matt and Foggy? Shouldn’t they know?”

“You can tell them or I’ll talk to them when I get in.” You shrugged. “They probably won’t be thrilled given who it is but it’s not up to them who I help out. To be fair, Matt would probably be more annoyed than Foggy cause he already told her no.”

“Yeah but if they don’t agree, isn’t it for good reason?”

“Usually I would agree with you and them, but this one isn’t just some-“

Your words were cut short when you heard a thump outside your door. Your head turned to the door and you listened carefully, hearing a light jingle as your doorknob shifted. It was easy to realize that someone was trying to pick the lock.

“Get on the other side of the couch.” You said slowly, reaching for the gun you taped under the table as you set down the cup. “Get down and stay quiet.”

Karen’s eyes went wide but she didn’t argue, moving across the living room quietly. Your mind raced as you inched closer to the door, wondering who it could be. Irish, maybe, settling for you since Frank was locked up. It could’ve been whatever was left of the Dogs of Hell if they saw you on that rooftop that night. But as you peaked out the peephole, you sighed and relaxed.

“I know you’re out there.” You called and leaned against the door, motioning to Karen that she could get up.

“I know you know I’m out here.” She answered as the jingling of your doorknob stopped.

“Then why are you trying to pick the lock instead of knocking?”

“Wasn’t sure I could trust you.”

“Funny.” You pushed yourself off and opened the door, crossing your arms as she stood. “I was thinking the same thing about you.”

“I didn’t come here to fight you.” She said honestly. “I just want to talk, Cousin.”

You sighed inwardly and stepped back into your apartment, tossing your gun on the table before leaning against your countertop. She followed you in and glanced around, offering a small wave to Karen as she plopped two thick envelopes on your table.

“Karen, this is my cousin. Natasha Romanoff.” You said, glaring at Natasha. “Natasha, this is my friend, Karen Page.”

“Holy shit.” Karen breathed. “The Avenger?”

“I haven’t seen her since she escaped the Red Room and left us for dead.”

“That’s not what happened.” Natasha argued.

“You left.” You scoffed. “You left and didn’t come back for any of us. You didn’t help any of us. She’s just a lair.”

“The Red Room is gone.” She urged and you could tell by her desperation that she believed it.

“It’s not.”

“It is.”

“You didn’t take down the Red Room! All you did was abandon us! He despised the rest of us even more after you left! It was practically impossible to escape.”

“But you did.”

“No.” You shook your head firmly. “I made him let me go. You have no idea what I’ve done to get here. You don’t get to act like a savior or a hero when you did nothing to help us.”

“We rigged bombs and-“

“Who’s we?” You scoffed.

“Clint Barton.. It was the final step in my defection to SHIELD.”

“Whatever clears your ledger, hmm? By the way, where’s Yelena? If you’re so sure that place is gone…” You countered and her emotions dropped to disappointment, regret. “You can find me but not your sister?”

“You’re not exactly subtle.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen you in the papers.”

“Чего ты хочешь, кузен? У меня нет на это времени.” You groaned and stepped closer, flattening your hands on the table. (Why are you here, Cousin? I don’t have time for this.)

“Извините, у вас уже были планы убивать людей?” She asked sarcastically. (Sorry, did you have plans to kill people already?)

“Нет, но если ты будешь продолжать злить меня, это можешь быть ты.” (No, but if you keep pissing me off, it can be you.)

“Ты что-то другое.” (You’re something else.)

“Просто скажи, что ты сказал, чтобы я мог забыть, что это когда-либо случалось. Вроде как ты з��был, что мы существуем.” (Just say what you came here to say so I can forget this ever happened. Kinda like how you forgot we existed.)

“Livia.” Karen said at your side. You were so focused on arguing with Natasha that you hadn’t realized she came over. “It’s from the Supreme Court and the New York Courts.”

“My attorney registration and character review.” You realized, sliding the two envelopes apart. “Why did you have these?” You turned on Natasha.

“Your guy at the London safe house gave ‘em to Rick.” She explained with a slight smirk. “Said that he didn’t know how to get a hold of you anymore.”

“Marc?” Your brows furrowed. “Or Steven?”

Natasha shrugged.

“Who are Marc and Steven?” Karen asked you.

“Friends.” You said simply. “Thanks, Natasha. I needed these.” You grabbed the envelopes and shoved them in your bag. “Anything else?”

“Actually, there is.” She nodded. “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“Excuse me?”

“You hated what we did and now you’re doing it by choice.”

“Meaning?”

“I know you’re Exodus. I’d recognize those gauntlets anywhere.”

“And what if she didn’t?” You jerked your head towards Karen and Natasha hesitated, mouth opening for an apology but saying nothing. “What’s your point?”

“You don’t have to-“

“I don’t want to hear it from you. I was his right hand and you were his left so don’t act like you’re so high above me. What I do now is my choice.”

“Is that supposed to make it better?”

“What I do helps people! For once in my goddamn life, I am in control. I don’t have to follow anyone’s orders but my own. But the papers don’t show that part, do they? Just the bodies left behind.” You shook your head, checking your phone to see a text from Elektra about the car out front. “I get enough lecturing and preaching from Daredevil, I don’t need to add hypocrisy from you to the list, too. Lock the door on your way out.”

You slammed the door behind you and hurried out to the car. Inside, Elektra waited for you. You two rode in relative silence after she passed you the folder.

“The research you asked for.”

You flipped the pages and found hard copies of the dealings between her father and Roxxon. You found their corporate ladder, names, and addresses. Everything you needed was there and more. You two were easily ushered into the building, cleared by security, and taken to the conference room.

“I’m sure you all have places to be, things to do. With your wives, your mistresses, but I have questions.” Elektra said smoothly as she twisted open her pen.

There was a sudden feedback ringing through your implant that you tried your best to ignore. You pressed your finger against the scar and the feedback slowly faded away, but that didn’t mean your ears weren’t lightly ringing the whole time.

“The first thing I want to address is this subsidiary.” You said, pulling the list from your folder and pointing out one. “What exactly is it?”

“A medical company.” One of the men answered simply, confident that it would be sufficient.

You chuckled in light annoyance. “What do they do?” You pressed.

“Studies.”

“How specific.” Elektra commented.

“Research for pain relievers, treatments for diseases. The name of which I mostly can’t pronounce.”

The man lied with such ease you wondered if he truly believed it.

“Right, well good thing I can read then. If that’s the case, what organizations are backing the research and testing? And where can I find the preliminary drafts of their research papers?” You asked as two men burst through the door in a panic that they tried to smother. “And also, I’m curious about your acquisition process. There’s no real system or theme here and I would assume, a company as large as yours, would have a specific criteria before investing. How does a ‘medical company’ fit into Roxxon’s long term business plan?”

The lingering sound in your ear finally faded as Elektra closed and hid her pen, making you wonder what type of pen that really was. You two were ushered out under the guise of “something coming up”. Once you got back into the car, you turned to Elektra.

“What’s with the pen?” You asked, nodding to her bag. “It made my ears ring.”

“Your ears?” She mused. “Interesting.. It’s a nifty little trick that crashes nearby servers. But now I’m wondering… What’s in that head of yours that-“

“It’s an implant, like a bluetooth.” You cut in. “It just picked up the signal, I guess.”

Subconsciously, your finger ghosted the region of your scar. You hated getting the implant but you had utilized it often in your recent endeavors. You had taken control of that piece of the Red Room you’d never get rid of. If you lost that advantage… You didn’t want to think of how you would have to adjust, the added caution you’d have to take.

“Mmm.” She hummed.

“You didn’t really need my help today, did you?”

“I guess not.” She shrugged. “But don’t worry. Your little firm can keep the money.”

“It wasn’t really about the money, El.” You groaned and rubbed your eyes. “I thought you-“ You sighed. “I hoped you were being honest, for once. I hoped I was getting my friend back.”

“Now that one stung a bit.” She pouted. “We’ve always been friends, Alivia.”

“Until I left, right?”

“Even then… I’m sorry, but I knew you wouldn’t have come if I told you the truth.”

“For exactly this reason!” You insisted. “I told you, I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t just cut and dry. But you lied.. Why were we really there?”

“Today, we infiltrated Asano, Roxxon’s Japanese branch.” She explained proudly. “With that little bug I planted, I’m pretty sure they’ll come for me but I’m not staying at a building in my name so as far as they’ll know, they’ll just be going after a hacker.”

“Who’s coming?”

“Probably Yakuza.” She shrugged.

“I could’ve sworn Daredevil took care of that a while ago.” You shook your head. “I burned who I assume was the leader alive months ago.”

“Apparently that wasn’t enough.”

“Why not just divest the money and be done? Easiest way, get off scot free and you wouldn’t have had to pay me for doing literally nothing.”

“Because that’s a coward’s way out. Would you do it that way?” She challenged and you pushed your tongue against your cheek as you thought about it. “Exactly. Somebody screwed with me, Alivia, and I don’t like that. Women like us aren’t taken seriously unless we make them. Everyone we meet just wants to sleep with us but I know what you and I are capable of, especially together.”

One thing about Elektra was that she was so damn convincing. The girl was hardly ever told no because she could talk her way into the presidency on a random Tuesday if it’s what she wanted. As irritating as she was, you respected how cunning and determined she had always been.

“And the Yakuza… If they come for you, what are you gonna do then?”

“Fight back, same way I always have… Will you?”

“Will I what?” You scoffed.

“Will you fight with me? We stand together and no one will dare stand against us… Tell me that kind of respect doesn’t entice you.”

“Lately, I’ve been hoping from one war to another. What’s one more tally to add?” You shrugged.

She grinned over at you.

“But I’m not going alone. He didn’t finish this so he needs to be there to clean up the rest of his mess.”

“Who? Daredevil?” Her brows raised teasingly as you pulled up to your apartment building. “You trust him?”

“In a fight, yeah.”

“But not in general?”

“I learned to only trust my friends. I’m hoping you fit in there, too..”

“So who is the man under the mask after all, hmm?”

“Don’t know, don’t care… But you can ask him yourself if it bothers you.” You winked and exited the car before she could ask you anything else.

The rest of the day was relatively calm. Foggy told you that Matt left early for some secret potential client and no one else was coming in, so he was going to leave early. Karen was out doing more Punisher research, which only left you sitting in your apartment.

You decided to open the envelopes Natasha had brought that morning. Pulling them from your bag, you found two small notes written hastily in pencil. Remembering that it came from the London safe house, it was easy to tell the two handwritings apart.

Marc and Steven.

i knew you could do it, xx :) -SG <3

PROUD OF YOU - M

Their short sentiments made your heart yearn, tugging in your chest like someone on the other side had a string attached to it. Your fingers traced their initials, chuckling slightly when you noticed Marc didn’t add an ‘S’. He knew you would know it was him.

Maybe you should call them soon…

You opened the envelopes - careful not to tear the little notes - and admired the papers that always seemed a thousand miles away. Your official approval by the Courts. Your Bar License.

It all felt so surreal to be a real lawyer. It drove a poker into your chest as you realized that it made Exodus that much riskier. Sure, you put your life on the line whenever you slapped that mask on but you could handle that. You defied death more times than anyone really should. Now, not only were your friends potentially at risk if anyone found out, your career was at risk. You could lose everything you had just gotten.

Made you wonder if it was worth it, helping people that way versus the way you and the boys always talked about. Helping through Nelson and Murdock. But if the DA had her high heels on the firm’s throat until the Punisher conviction was done, did it really matter what you did?

Besides, getting disbarred would probably be the best case scenario if everything went wrong.

Regardless, the night fell quickly and you were on the rooftop of your building in your suit. You tapped your burner against your palm as you argued with yourself about calling him. You sat on the ledge and kicked your feet aimlessly, thinking how far you could throw the phone.

You hated the thought of him. You wanted nothing to do with him. But you only knew vaguely of the Yakuza. It wasn’t enough to mount a full offense and help Elektra. Even with her skills and strength, could you two handle highly trained Japanese assassins? Especially not knowing how deep they would come against you? How aggressive they would be?

Maybe… Probably. But to be certain, you needed Daredevil.

You pressed the button and slid your finger over your scar, waiting for the dial tone. You let out a sigh of relief as you heard his voice in your head as he answered.

“And here I thought you didn’t want to talk to me again.” He said sarcastically.

“I don’t.” You agreed and shoved the phone into your belt. “But this is your mess that you didn’t finish. It’s not about me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Yakuza.”

“We- I ended the Yakuza.”

“No, you were being hacked to pieces like a chunk of meat at a butcher shop while I burned their leader alive. Looks like they just took a step back to recover… A man who fights and walks away is a man who fights another day.”

“Goddamnit.” He groaned. “Wait, how do you know?”

“I may have gone with a friend this morning to stir up some trouble.” You shrugged and he scoffed. “It’s none of your business who I work with. It never was.”

“Yeah, whatever. You’ve made that perfectly clear. What do you need me for?”

“I need you to get to her and make sure she’s not targeted tonight. She’s at a penthouse in Midtown.”

“A penthouse? In Midtown?” He repeated in disbelief. “Are you-“ He laughed in annoyance. “Are you talking about Elektra Natchios?”

You made a face to yourself before you answered.

“I’m going to ignore the fact that you know her but yes, Elektra.”

“That’s not really ignor-“

“Moving on!” You said loudly to cut him off. “Will you do this or not?”

“Why should I?”

“Because you know her.” You said simply. “And now that I know you know her, I also know you won’t leave her to fend for herself against God knows how many well trained Japanese assassins.”

“God, you’re manipulative!” He said loudly, angrily.

“Are we done here?” You deadpanned. “You know you love it on the downlow, especially if you know or like Elektra.”

“You’re obnoxious, too.” He continued.

“Glad you finally noticed. What’s next? Gonna call me crazy? Well I’d save your breath on that one. You don’t have to cause I already know. Are we done?”

“Okay, fine.” He huffed. “I’ll head over.”

“… Thank you.”

“I’m not doing it for you.”

“No, course not.” You smiled to yourself. “That would mean I still matter.”

“Why'd you call me anyway?” He asked quietly, genuinely.

“I don’t have any other allies.” You shrugged, your voice sounding distant. You hadn't stopped to think that you were relatively lonely. “You put Frank in jail and anyone else I know that can fight is nowhere near here.”

“So I was your last resort?” He chuckled.

“Pretty much.” You agreed and climbed to your feet. “I’ll head over too, soon as I can. But don’t think this changed anything.”

“No… Course not.”

You ended the call before he could say anything else. Really, you didn’t know if Daredevil could get to Elektra before you could, but you knew having two bodies headed that way would have a better outcome than one. Plus, he had a bit more experience with the Yakuza than you did. Looking at the situation as a whole, bringing Daredevil in had the best possible outcomes.

When you finally reached Elektra’s building, you looped your wire through your belt before securing the hook into the ground. You dropped down, allowing the heels of your boots to skid across the widows as you watched for Elektra’s or Daredevil’s silhouette. It was about the ninth floor - hard to tell from the outside - when you found them already engaged in a fight. You detached the wire and dropped to the balcony, allowing yourself in through the glass double doors.

Elektra and Daredevil were both busy with their own fights, but the third Yakuza member noticed you come in. He hopped off the counter and came at you quickly with his chained weapon. You side-stepped his shot and hooked your hand around the chain. You pulled him forward and punched him in the nose with your chain-wrapped hand. The sick crack echoed through the room and you smirked at the sound.

You ducked under his sloppy swing and wrapped the chain around his neck. You kicked out his knee and yanked the chain up, hearing him cough and gag loudly. You felt the shape blade slice through your glove and your hold on the chain faltered. He tried to get free but you refused to let him, flipping over his shoulder instead and landing both of you on your sides. You shoved your foot between your bodies and pushed him away before angling your wrist and firing your Bite square against his forehead.

You unwrapped the chain from your hand once the man slumped over and got to your feet. You held your bleeding hand to your chest and moved to Elektra and Daredevil as they finished their own fights.

“Hungry?” Elektra asked with an excited smile.

“We need to finish it off.” You said, glancing around for one of the guns with a silencer.

“Relax.” She said easily. “It’s not like they’re going anywhere. And I like the little accent. It’s cute.”

“I didn’t come here to socialize.” You sighed as you let Daredevil grab your hand and gingerly prod at your wound. “I only came here to make sure they didn’t put a bullet in your head. Clearly, you didn’t need me.” You shrugged.

“Seems to be a running theme, don’t you think?”

“I hate you.” You groaned and took your hand back without a word. You stepped over the unconscious bodies until you found their silencer. You lifted it and pulled the trigger four times, once into each of their heads. “Now we’re done.. Good night.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” Daredevil called after you. “You know that.”

“I don’t care.” You spat over your shoulder as you headed towards the double doors you entered in. “The Yakuza have to have their sights on something bigger. They’ll keep coming if you leave them alive to run and tell their little friends.”

“They do have a bigger plan, if you’re interested.” She called, making you stop with a hand on the door. “I’m not going anywhere so you can either work with me or stay out of my way. I could use some partners.”

You spun slowly on your heels with a disbelieving chuckle.

“You come to me, ask for his help and mine, and then threaten me.” You warned. “Now you want to turn around and ask to be partners? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I don’t need partners.” Daredevil scoffed.

“Clearly.” She gestured to you and Daredevil. “But I do. You two are the best fighters I’ve ever seen. Pair your skills with my knowledge, we can hit them fast and hard. They won’t have a chance against all of us.”

“Then you’re gone?” You asked carefully as you weighed your options.

Daredevil scoffed. “Anything for the right price, huh?”

“One night. All I ask is one night where you don’t make me want to punch you in the damn mouth.” You said tightly before focusing back on your conversation with Elektra. “Will you leave… him alone?”

“Who? Matthew?” Her brows raised and you scowled, earning a chuckle from her. “Yes, yes. I’ll leave and I won’t bother you or Matthew again. But I don’t think he’d be too keen on you making that choice for him.”

“He’ll never know it because you’re going to keep your mouth shut… Unless you wanna try and talk to him when your jaw is wired shut.

“Wait.. Matthew?” Daredevil turned to you but you ignored him.

“So we’re in agreement.” Elektra announced happily.

“Hold on.” Daredevil snapped out of his thoughts. You wondered momentarily what gears were turning in his head but you didn’t care to ask.. “I happen to respect human life.”

You scoffed and rolled your eyes.

“If we do this, you both-“ He pointed to you and Elektra. “-have to at least pretend to feel the same way… Nobody dies.”

“Oh my god.” You groaned.

“Understand?”

“Perfectly.” Elektra nodded.

“Ex?”

“Я действительно тебя ненавижу. И я не следую твоему правилу.” You ran a hand over your mouth. (I really hate you. And I’m not following your rule.)

“Exodus.” He said firmly.

“Everything I do depends on the circumstances. I promise nothing. If it comes down to my life or theirs, I’ll choose myself every time.”

“Yeah, you always do.”

“Guess that’s why you’re still alive, huh?”

You pushed through the double doors and reconnected your wire. As the doors were floating shut, you heard one last line from Elektra.

“I can’t believe you haven’t told her.” She laughed.

As you were climbing up to the roof, it made you wonder. Clearly, she was talking to Daredevil but who was she talking about? Was she surprised that he hadn’t told you who he was? Or had she figured it out and she was surprised whoever was under the mask didn’t tell Livia? But the only guy that connected you two was Matt. And what did Daredevil care about a guy named Matthew anyway?

Matt couldn’t be Daredevil… Could he?

The next morning, you were in the conference room with Karen and Foggy. The man slid the small paper bundle to Karen about what happened with the shooting at Metro General. You peaked at it over her shoulder while talking to the man.

“Are you new to New York, Mr. Roth?” You asked casually, though the look Foggy gave you showed that he knew you were poking around for something to undercut him with.

“Born and raised.” He answered quickly, almost defensively. Your brow quirked and you could see on his face that he was worried he said something wrong.

“And this is your first case? Pretty big one for a newbie.” You almost smiled.

“Uh, second actually. I won my first. Domestic violence… I believe in protecting women.”

“Thanks from all of us.” Karen said absently as you made a face. “This says Castle pursued me down the stairwell but I went down and he went up.”

Roth frantically tried to uncap his pen and scribble notes.

“Also I didn’t escape on foot. I had a car. I know I told NYPD about that.”

“Mhmm. Mhmm.”

“I also wasn’t Castle’s only target. That’s just flat out wrong.”

“What about Grotto?” You asked, leaning over to see the statement.

“Where did you get my statement from?” Karen challenged.

“Grotto?” He asked.

“Ты, должно быть, шутишь.” You groaned quietly. “Grote. Elliot Grote.” (You’ve got to be kidding me.)

“Oh! He’s right here under the victims list. Yeah, Ballistics matched him to one of the many guns connected to Frank Castle.”

“Are you sure the ballistics match?” You questioned, thinking back to that night on the rooftop. You remembered pulling your own gun, not using one of Frank’s.

“Yeah, that’s what they tell me.”

“But you didn’t read the report yourself?”

He shook his head.

“So if the report noted a soviet slug with no casing and someone called you on this, you wouldn’t have an answer? Those kinds of bullets are meant to be untraceable so how could they link back to Castle?”

“I- Um- Uh, I’m sorry, Ms…”

“Hmm?” You hummed, proud that you got to him so easily.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Just an example from an old textbook.” You shrugged.

“No. No, it wouldn’t be true. All the ballistics match.”

“In any case, matching ballistics alone, technically, wouldn’t prove he’s the shooter.” You pointed out and leaned your elbows on the table. “Just proves the same weapon.”

“But a guy like Castle isn’t gonna let his guns get into someone else’s hands.”

“Unless he had no more use for that gun. A man who was that active had to have a rotating artillery. And who’s to say that they’re all registered, let alone registered to him. There could be an unnamed third party involved. You don’t really have a lot of experience here, do you, Mr. Roth?” You smiled as you felt his nerves ignite.

“It is my first, uh, murder case. Yes.” He answered nervously.

“And do you know Frank Castle, Mr. Roth? Other than what the DA and the media have told you, of course.”

“What?” He swallowed hard as you saw Matt enter the office.

“I’m just saying…” You shrugged. “It doesn’t seem like you’ve done too much work on this outside of what you’ve been spoon-fed. You had the right to refuse this case, maybe pay a fee if the judge didn’t find your basis adequate, and keep on pushing. But you took it anyway… Why?”

“Early start?” Matt asked with a small smile as he heard the pressure you were carefully placing.

Matt once explained the way you talked to people like Jenga. He said that you were carefully adding and moving new pieces until the entire thing fell apart.

“This is Christopher Roth, the public defender on the Castle case.” Karen introduced.

“I uh.” Roth refused to make eye contact with you again. “I just came to get Ms. Page’s signature on this statement. Once we get that, we’re all done.”

“With this meeting.” Karen specified.

“With this case.” Roth corrected.

“Excuse me?” You chimed in as Matt asked “How so?”

“Castle’s awake. Soon, he’ll plead guilty then it’s open and shut.”

“Open and shut is good.” Foggy nodded. “New York‘ll sleep better when it knows Frank Castle is behind bars. I know I will.”

You slumped back in your chair with arms crossed. You stared at the table in thought, wondering how to get Roth away from the case and you on it.

“Sleep even better when he’s dead.”

“Dead?” Your head popped up. “New York doesn’t have the death penalty.”

“But Delaware does.” Roth answered slowly. You liked that you intimidated him already and you knew that would make it easier for you to get rid of him.

“The I-95.” You sighed and leaned an elbow on the table, rubbing your fingers against your forehead. “Someone hit the Dogs of Hell on I-95.”

“DA Reyes just has to link the killings to Castle and he can be extradited.”

“Are you and DA Reyes friends?” Foggy chimed in.

“I met her once”. He nodded.

“When?”

“Yesterday, when the judge assigned me to the case.”

“How is she going to connect Castle to the I-95 incident?” You asked. “From my understanding of the event, no one from the Dogs of Hell made it back from that run. Meaning no credible witness, only hearsay.”

“But if motive, ballistics, and lack of alibi all line up, there won’t be a need for a witness… DA Reyes is the one who caught the Punisher.”

“She didn’t catch him.” You scoffed. You almost said that you and Daredevil did, but then you remembered that wasn’t common knowledge. “Brett Mahoney did.”

“Still, she’s not going through all these paces to not put the final nail in his coffin.”

“Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, Delaware extradites him.” You said, waving a hand as you spoke. “Would you, Mr. Roth, be able to continue life knowing you helped sentence a man to death? That you didn’t even try to help?”

“Uh- I- No, it wouldn’t be me that did it.” He argued, though his reasoning wasn’t very solid. “I just- I’m doing my job, Miss.��

“Doing your job means defending your client. This isn’t defending him! This is handing him over on a silver platter.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Roth.” Karen announced, sliding the papers back. “I can’t sign this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“We’ll be in touch.” You offered a tight, fake smile before he left.

“That statement he wanted me to sign? Complete work of fiction.” Karen said as she began pacing the room.

“How much you wanna bet Reyes wrote it herself?” You snorted.

“It’d make sense.” Matt agreed carefully, like he had to walk on eggshells around you since your argument the night before. “Keeps Reyes looking clean.”

“We could write an anonymous letter to the judge, get them to assign a new public defender.” Foggy offered.

“Or I can just do it myself.” You muttered with a small shrug.

“No.” Foggy pointed to you.

“Oh, come on.” You tried. “We don’t even have to really defend him. We could just negotiate a plea deal.”

“Something without extradition or the electric chair.” Matt agreed. “Castle still goes away. Reyes gets her ticker-tape parade. Everyone wins.”

“Yeah, everyone except us.” Foggy pressed. “The open sign is up but nobody is walking in. If we keep messing with Reyes, we’ll be shuttered by the end of the month.”

“If we stand up to her, we can put an end to her incessant bullying!” Matt urged.

“And save this guy’s life.” Karen added.

“A murderer who shot at you.” Foggy countered.

“For reasons that I don’t fully understand yet.” She answered smoothly.

“He wasn’t shooting at her. He was shooting at Grotto.” You reasoned. “As bad as this is gonna sound, if he wanted to shoot Karen, he would’ve. You gotta remember he’s not some idiot with a handgun.”

“That doesn’t make it better!” Foggy insisted.

“Roth said Castle is gonna plead guilty, right? So we get in there. We talk to him first.” Matt planned.

“Ask him questions like what really happened to his family and why Reyes wants him dead.” Karen continued.

“We can build a fair plea and show the DA our justice system still has a backbone.”

“This is a bad idea, Matt.” Foggy said firmly.

“Alright, enough!” You cut in. “If you don’t want to do this, Foggy, you don’t have to. I’m not gonna force you. But I will, whether you guys are on my side or not.”

“I’m with Livia.” Karen nodded.

“You can’t defend him, Livia.” Foggy sighed and you felt his resolve crumbling. You just had to push a little farther and he’d agree. “Not on your own, not without a license. You know that..”

You glanced to Karen who offered a small nod of encouragement.

“Unless you know something else that you haven’t told us?” Foggy tried when he caught the look you gave Karen.

Without a word, you stepped past Matt and into the main office where you left your bag. You dug through your bag for your wallet and flipped through it as you came back into the conference room. Your fingers closed around the card so you pulled it out and dropped it on the table.

“I actually can defend Frank.” You said proudly as Foggy picked up the ID. “Perfect chance to test those concentrations in defense and litigation.”

“Is that..” Matt asked as he reached for the card.

“My Bar license.” You nodded as Foggy handed the card back to you so you passed it to Matt.

“When did you even take the Bar?”

“When I first got back into town a while back.” You said honestly as he gave you back your card and shoved it away. “I didn’t plan on staying in New York after the exam. I was gonna go back to London and take some conversion courses but I ended up staying. Everything came in yesterday I think… Look, you guys talk it over but I’m going to see Castle today no matter what you decide. And I’ll do it as an independent party if I have to.”

You thought you felt jealousy from Matt but you figured you were mistaken so you said nothing about it. What was his deal against Frank?

“I won’t connect Nelson and Murdock to this case unless you’re both on board with it.” You added honestly.

“You’re already connected to the firm. You’re a paralegal here.” Foggy explained.

“So fire me. I’ll take the case and when it’s over, you can hire me back.”

“You’re too damn stubborn, you know that?” Foggy sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“Yeah.” You smiled with a shrug. “You should be used to it by now.”

You nodded to Karen and she followed you out of the room, closing the door behind her. You sighed and tossed your wallet towards your bag. You looked up and saw Karen smiling at you. You shook your head with a smile of your own.

“Now that it’s official, can we throw you that party?” Karen teased.

“Let me get Castle off the chopping block first then we’ll talk.” You laughed.

“You’re just stalling.”

“It wouldn’t be much of a party if I know my friend is gonna die.”

After whatever conversation Matt and Foggy had, they were both willing to help defend Castle. The walk to the hospital was quick but it was still plenty of time to mull over the potential of Matt being Daredevil. When you really sat and thought about it, it made enough sense.

The night when Nobu nearly killed Daredevil, Matt claimed he got hit by a car and had a very familiar gash on his side. The morning after Frank shot Daredevil in the head, Matt called off and lost his hearing for a bit. Even the way he talked to Frank on that rooftop, the intention and care he spoke with, it practically slapped you in the face when you thought back on it.

Adding on, Daredevil had a connection to you outside the suit and cared what you thought about him and Exodus. The way Matt listened, paid attention to small things that nobody else did, it reminded you of Daredevil when you thought of them side by side. Elektra mocked him for not telling some version of you the truth. And maybe the most obvious piece…

Foggy knew Daredevil.

You stole a glance at Matt as your group was in the elevator headed up to Frank’s floor. You tried to picture him in the red suit, with the little devil horns and hidden eyes. But every time you saw him, all you could think was how much you adored him. Even if you two were changed, a shifted dynamic that allowed him to date Karen instead - which made you happy to see them happy together - you adored him. You loved him. You always would.

But for him to be Daredevil? That would change everything.

“…did theater in summer camp-” Foggy ranted, drawing your attention back to the current moment. “-which is exactly the type of thing these reporters will find out if they start digging into me.”

“They’ll find the two community theater musicals I did.” You shrugged as the elevator dinged. “Maybe they’ll call us something catchy.”

“You’re not funny.” Foggy deadpanned.

“I’m hilarious.”

“You did musicals?” Karen teased.

“Chicago and Hairspray.” Matt answered with a small smile. “Right?”

“Yeah. Chicago was a good one.” You nodded. “Cell Block Tango. Very inspirational.”

You were about to hold out your arm to walk with him but he reached for Karen instead. You bit down the twinge of sadness and stepped out in front of them instead. You zoned out a bit as Foggy and Matt were talking to Brett, until he tried to usher you four back downstairs.

“I want to represent Frank Castle.” You spoke up. “The public defender is a joke and I believe that I have better resources to defend him and his best interest.”

“Nelson and Murdock is better equipped as a whole.” Matt agreed, reaching over to tap you.

You weren’t sure if it was intended to ask you to calm down or to let you know they were behind you.

“Listen, every firm in the city has passed this case by. You’re chasing the wrong ambulance.”

“DA wants death penalty.” You spoke quietly, folding your hands behind your back. “She’s willing to extradite him out of New York to get it.”

“The public defender is practically begging to roll over and let her do it.” Karen added.

“We figure he’d respond to our strategy of keeping him alive.” Foggy shrugged.

There was certain hesitation bubbling inside of Brett but you could see through it to his belief. He believed that you guys would be best for Frank Castle because even though Frank blew holes through a good amount of the city’s population, Brett knew taking his life wouldn’t bring anyone back. He knew that wasn’t justice.

Your group was searched again, as well as your bags. You found yourself glad that you were too tired to grab your usual pocket knife or small handgun, only a couple of your shock discs were in your purse but they were tucked in a pocket under a pile of change. You were given a quick rundown of rules and expectations for going in before Brett opened the door. Your whole group seemed to freeze at the door for a moment so you took the initiative and stepped in first. Karen came second with Matt in tow and Foggy right behind.

You walked right up to the tape line, the toes of your shoes dancing at the edge. You glanced down and smiled to yourself before walking the line to stand as close to his bedside as you could.

You weren’t worried about getting too close to Frank. He was cuffed to the bed and regardless of that, he knew you. You two began your work together without the mask so he wouldn’t hurt you. The only reasons you stayed back was to not raise any questions among your group or have the cops outside the door burst in and cut your meeting short.

“Frank?” You said simply. “Sorry, Mr. Castle. My name is Livia Yersova. I have my associates with me.” You gestured to your friends.

“Matthew Murdock.” Matt nodded and Frank’s brows furrowed as recognition crossed his features.

“Karen Page.” She smiled nervously.

“Franklin Nelson.” He waved slightly.

“Yeah.” Frank said, looking back to Matt then to you. “I know who you are….” Your brows raised as a small smile crossed your lips. “You protect shitbags.”

“Yeah, maybe.” You chuckled and he cracked the smallest smile. “But maybe that’s why we’re here. We’d like to make you an offer.”

“You think I’m a shitbag?” He joked and you shook your head with an amused eye roll. “Or you think I need protecting?”

“I think you need my help… Our help.”

“We don’t need money for our services. We’re not looking for fame or free advertising.” Matt added. “We don’t have to be here. Weren’t even assigned to your case.” Matt shrugged.

“So why are you?” Frank asked, though he seemed to be talking to you. “Hmm? Why are.. Why are you worried about me?”

“Look around.” You gestured to your friends. “We’re the only ones who are.”

“You’re very good at making powerful enemies, Mr. Castle.” Matt egged and you felt a strange irritation welling up inside him though it seemed he smothered out within a few seconds. You wished he would just shut up and let you do the talking.

“But we can be pretty strong allies.”

“The day you were admitted to Metro-General for the round you took to the head, a do-not-resuscitate order was placed on you.”

“And a shoot-to-kill order, just a few days ago.” Foggy added on from near the door.

Him and Karen were uncertain, scared to be in the same room. But Matt was practically as calm and confident as you had ever felt him to be, save for a few spikes every now and then. It was all the more reason the Daredevil idea made sense. And you hated it.

“Both orders were issued by the District Attorney.” You explained.

“And the fact that she’s had it in for us since we started asking questions tells us we’re on the right track. Someone in the DA’s office wants to dead, Mr. Castle, and we’d like to know why.”

“I’d like to take on your case.” You said honestly. “All of us, we can soften your sentence and give you a shot. In the process, maybe even find out who’s responsible for what happened to you… All of it.”

“We’re talking about your life here, Mr. Castle.” Matt added.

“Like you did for Grotto, hmm?” Frank scoffed. “What good that do him?”

“We did what we could.” You said quietly with a warning glare, though Frank knew better than that. You did, however, start to wonder if he would say something in regards to what you did that night. “You ask me, he was gonna bite the bullet sooner or later.”

“Not very lawyerly of you to say.” Frank turned to you.

“Yeah, but I meant it.”

The sound of Karen’s heels on the tile drew your attention as she stormed to his bedside and shoved a photo in front of him.

“You want answers? So do we but none of us will get them if you’re dead.” She insisted. “Don’t they deserve that?”

“Where did you get that?” Frank asked quickly, near a panic.

You pushed your way between them and put your hands on both of her shoulders. You walked her back until Matt came up behind her and took hold of her arms. You glanced down at the picture and glared at her. Once her eyes met yours, you saw the guilt cast a shadow over her features.

“From your home.” She admitted.

You wiggled your fingers behind your back to keep Frank calm. Looking back to him, you saw his expression was almost heart broken. Betrayed, even. Maybe those were the feelings you should’ve moderated instead, but you thought Karen should see the results of the line she crossed.

“You were in my home?” He asked in an eerily calm tone, thanks to you. “Why were you in my house?”

You heard DA Reyes yelling in the hall so you spoke quickly. Your hand stilled and seemingly, everything else in the room did too. You snapped back from the moment quickly and hurried to Frank’s side, this time ignoring the tape and cuffs as you grabbed his hand.

“Someone is lying about what happened to your family, Frank.” You insisted. “Please, let me help… For Lisa and Frank Jr. For Maria.”

“You four, out! Now!” Reyes screamed as she barged in.

You hesitated beside your friend as his eyes searched your face. You didn’t know what he was looking for but you knew your eyes were pleading. He gave the smallest of sighs and nodded as you were grabbed by your arm and hauled out of the room.

“Are you serious?” You pulled Karen aside and urged quietly. “You went into his home?”

“You wanted answers! I found them!”

“I didn’t ask you to violate his privacy like that!” You hissed. “And that little stunt right there-“ You pointed to the room. “-could’ve gone a lot worse if I didn’t keep it under control.”

“Frank wasn’t going to-“ She tried but you held up a hand to stop her.

“His home was the last untouched thing his family left behind.” You said sadly. “You think he would wanna know that someone he didn’t know was in there snooping around?”

“Elliot Grote.” Reyes pointed out, arrogance oozing off her like slime and to drew you to that conversation. “You can’t represent Castle when one of his victims was your former client.”

“Alleged victim.” Foggy corrected.

“Representing Grotto might’ve complicated matters but then again, all evidence of our work with him and our deal with you has disappeared from the public record.” Matt smoothly added.

“It’s almost as if someone didn’t want it known that you violated a witpro contract, jeopardized the safety of said witness, and ordered a shoot-to-kill on Castle. I guess it all would’ve been fine if it had worked out, could’ve played it off as an ambush… But, please, by all means.” You smiled and held your hands out to the side. “Feel free to confess to all of that in your conflict of interest complaint.”

“Who are you?”

“Livia Yersova.” You held a hand to your chest and mocked her with a bow. “Defense attorney and litigation specialist.”

She scoffed. You could tell she was going to like you.

“Our case files back up our story. How’s your side looking?” Foggy asked.

Reyes was being backed into a corner and you could feel the tension buzzing through your muscles.

“The fact of the matter is, Ms. Reyes, the only person who shouldn’t be here is you. Seeing as it’s a breach of ethics for the prosecuting attorney to communicate with the defendant without his assigned legal counsel present.” Matt said simply.

“If you’ll excuse us, Ms. Reyes, we’d like to resume convincing Mr. Castle that we can actually help him.” You nodded.

“You already did.” Brett cut in from behind Reyes.

“What?” Foggy asked.

“Castle doesn’t want the public defender. Says Yersova and her friends are his lawyers now.”

Your group ducked into one of the other rooms to lay out a plan. While Matt and Foggy started bickering - which they had been doing a lot too now that you thought about it - your phone buzzed in your back pocket. You groaned and stepped outside, lifting your phone to your ear.

“Not a good time.” You said firmly.

“Car’s out front.” She replied smoothly. “Hurry up now.”

“El, I can’t.”

“You said you’d help.”

“I’m not some escort service that you can call up when it’s convenient for you.”

“I know that! Look, I need someone pretty that can lie and throw a punch.. Who better than you?”

“Yeah? How many times that line actually work on anyone?” You rolled your eyes and peaked back at your friends, seeing none of them acknowledging the fact you were gone.

“You wanted me to be honest.”

“You really get on my nerves, yknow that?” You groaned. “Hang on.”

You popped your head back into the room without ending the call, only holding the phone against your shoulder. “Hey, so it’s my landlord. A pipe burst in the apartment upstairs from me and they need to get in and check for flooding. I have to deal with this.. Catch me up tomorrow?”

“Yeah, yeah, for sure.” Foggy nodded. “Or call me when it’s all settled and we can go over to Matt’s or something. I’ll buy dinner.”

“You’re the best, Fog. Thank you!” You stepped out and headed to the elevator.

“You owe me.” You said into the phone again.

“Money isn’t-“

“Not money.” You cut in. Glancing back, you looked to make sure no one had followed you out. “You know who he is, don’t you?”

“And you want me to tell you?” She asked carefully.

“I just want you to tell me it’s not who I think it is.”

“Depends on what your theory is.”

You nodded to the man who stepped out and switched places, hitting the G button.

“I’ll tell you in the car.”

As you got in, you sat on the seat opposite of her. She gestured to the garment bag beside you and you lifted your brows in question.

“Green is still your color, isn’t it?” She smiled as you unzipped the bag. “Go on. Get changed.”

The dress was a deep olive color. It had a sweetheart neckline with spaghetti straps and off the shoulder sleeves. The bodice was done in a wrap style to cinch your waist while the skirt was to the floor with a deep slit that would sit about mid thigh.

“I’m keeping this.” You smiled as you began to get changed.

“That was the plan, Livvy.” She chuckled. “Shoes are on the floor and a bag too.”

“What do you need me all dressed up for?” You questioned as you wiggled into the dress.

“I’ll explain when he gets here.”

“I’m sorry. When who gets here?”

“Speak of the Devil.” She grinned as the door opened.

You had just gotten the zipper up when he stepped in. You instantly blocked out everything in an effort to hide yourself. You were confused why Matt would be there when she said she would leave him out of it. Besides, he had already told her no, hadn’t he?

“Get undressed.” Elektra said simply as she passed him the outfit she had for him.

You had to give it to her. She always came prepared.

“What?” He asked incredulously.

“The invite says 7pm sharp and we’re waiting on you.”

You glared at her at the mention of ‘we’ but she shot you a playful wink instead.

“I have more important-“

“C’mon, Matthew. We’ve been working so hard. I thought we’d all get boozy and let loose for a night. Just like old times.”

“That’s funny.” Matt moved to leave.

“We’re going to a gala to steal a top secret Roxxon ledger that details certain illegal goings-on in Hell’s Kitchen.” She explained.

You made a face to yourself and reached down to change shoes. Matt’s head cocked towards you when your fingers nudged the buckles but he said nothing. You wondered if he was trying to piece together who you were given that you were as calm and flat as ever and you were intently saying nothing. In any case, he decided to move on and get changed.

“Our way in is Stan Gibson.” She gave you a pointed look.

Someone pretty that can lie and throw a punch.

It made sense now. You thought if there was a similar line she told Matt or if she just showed up and he came running.

“Armed?” Matt asked and it made your brows furrow. An innately specific question that made your suspicions harder to ignore.

“Doubt it.” She shrugged. “Works for Roxxon and according to my intel, every employee carries a keycard that grants them access to their super secret floor in the Yakatomi building.”

“Why Stan?” You mouthed and she smiled slightly, likely amused by your efforts to avoid saying anything in front of Matt.

“What sets our friend Stan apart is that he’s just an accountant. Zero fighting chops.”

You began switching out the items in your bag for the one Elektra brought as Matt spoke. His voice made your eyes glance up and you realized the scars on his torso and thought back to Daredevil’s fight with Nobu. Those were the exact same placements.

You were finding fewer and fewer doubts to hold on to.

“You’re gonna pickpocket his keycard?” He asked with a scoff.

“No. She is.” She pointed to you and you smiled slightly.

“In the middle of a gala?”

“Mhmm.”

You shook your head and went back to your project. You moved a few things you knew you would need along with your shock discs. You felt a wave of disappointment from Elektra and looking up, you found her looking out the window and Matt still getting dressed. You glanced between them, wondering only for a moment what you had missed, and shrugged before using your phone camera and fixing your hair just before you pulled up.

Elektra stood in the middle with you on one side and Matt on the other. Your trio gained the attention of almost everyone in the room and though it made your nerves ignite, you weren’t completely sure the buzzing in your body was a good thing.

“You two must look nice.” Matt commented.

“How would you know?” Elektra teased and you smiled.

“Turned a lot of heads.” Matt answered. “Raising a lot of heart rates.”

A very Daredevil-esque thing to say.

“I need a drink.” You muttered and waved over the server.

“Wait.” He turned to you and reached for your arm but you pushed a glass into his and Elektra’s hands before taking your own. “Livia?”

He was definitely shocked and confused, maybe even a bit panicked. Clearly, if he had known it was you, he would’ve been more discreet. He wouldn’t have said half of what he did, but it was too late to take it back. All he could do now was hope you wouldn’t think anything.

But you were too smart for that.

“Mm?” You hummed as you took a sip. “Yeah, I’m just as shocked as you are.”

“Relax, Matthew.” Elektra teased as raised her glass. “Don’t you just love Jazz?”

“What are you doing here?” Matt turned to you.

“Ms. Natchios, delighted to have you here with us this evening.” A man came over with a wide smile.

“You know I never pass up a chance to have my ass kissed, Mr. Hirochi.” Elektra smiled.

“Then unless your fine company has beaten me to the punch, allow me to be the first kisser this evening.”

“There’s our man.” Elektra nodded as the man left. You turned and saw an older man with a white suit at the bar. You had expected something easy but not that easy.

“Give me five minutes. Men like that are easy enough to work.” You said simply and began walking away, though Matt grabbed your arm to stop you. “Let go of me.”

“You’re not going over there alone.” He said lowly before his head turned, listening for something and the familiarity of it all made you want to punch him. “They’ve upped their security.”

“They’re smarter than they know.” Elektra mused. “Alivia, darling, they’ve got eyes on Stan. You’ve got to be careful.”

“You’re not going to stop me, Matt.” You warned and discreetly tugged your arm away. You turned to Elektra. “Ne le laissez pas m'interrompre.” (Don’t let him interrupt me.)

You approached the man with a wide, welcoming smile. He returned the grin and you made sure to keep his emotions on a playful, intrigued side. You made sure to giggle a bit more and strategically touch his arm to make his interest rise higher and higher. You kept him interested in you - and your fake french accent to pair with your innocently broken English - long enough that when you “accidentally” spilt your dark liquor on his shirt, he wasn’t angry.

“Je suis vraiment désolé ! C'est tellement embarrassant !” You said quickly, covering a hand over your mouth. “Please, let me help. My mother, she teach old French remedy to remove stains. S'il vous plaît. It only takes a bit of um… hand work.” You nodded vigorously with wide, apologetic doe eyes. (I’m so sorry! This is so embarassing! … Please.)

“Hand work?” He chuckled and you felt that idea of arousal rising, enough to make your stomach churn. “Sure thing. Come with me.”

He took your hand and guided you to the bathroom. You rolled your eyes to yourself and glanced around to find Elektra already watching you. You shot a quick wink before disappearing around a corner.

You turned on the tap and grabbed a couple paper towels as Stan removed his jacket. You slipped your fingers into your purse for one of your discs and tucked it into your palm. You began blotting the stain and gently untucking his shirt.

His skin was alive with desire, practically glowing with the want for you to touch him. It was nearly enough to make you gag, but you swallowed your disgust and blocked everything radiating off Stan.

He made a small noise when your fingers undid two of the bottom buttons and you forced a giggle. Looking up at him, you pressed the disc against his lower stomach and watched him convulse until he collapsed. The used disc dropped into your hand so you smashed it against the counter and brushed the remains into the sink. Once it washed away, you let yourself feign panic.

“Au secours ! S'il vous plaît, quelqu'un !” You announced as you stepped back and let his body slump to the ground. (Help! Please, somebody!)

When the two guards rushed in, you acted quickly. You grabbed one man from behind the neck and cracked his head against the marble countertop. You kicked out at the other man’s chest before closing the distance. You gripped his tie and tightened it quickly, shoving the knot into his throat. You held it there until he stopped squirming and fell limp atop his partner.

You flicked your hair from your face as you took their earpieces out. You dropped them to the ground and crushed them under your foot before finding the keycard on Stan’s unconscious frame. You hummed in delight and tucked it into your purse. With one last look in the mirror, you smoothed your dress and your hair before exiting the bathroom to meet with Matt and Elektra.

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thestarrynightslover · 4 years ago

Text

I'll Make It Okay for You - Part 2

Pairing: Harvey Specter x Reader

Word count: 2,765

Warnings: Discussion, yelling, some angst, mentions of drugs, drug abuse, drug withdrawal, rehab facility and insecurities/self-sabotage (very, very slightly, tho).

Summary: You can read Part 1 here. What happens when (y/n) (y/l/n), Harvey’s secret crush and a junior partner at his firm, openly defies him in front of everyone?

Disclaimer: I don’t own the show Suits, or its characters, also not associated with it in any way or know anyone involved with it.

A/N: I think that this turned out better than Part 1? As always, I’m not sure, though. Just to make it clear here, I’m still on season 4 of Suits, so didn’t wanna get too much into any canonic details, self-preservation, lol. Anyhow, I hope you like it, and, ofc, feedback is always appreciated.

(y/n) = (your name) (y/l/n) = (your last name) (y/n/n) = (your nickname)

You and Harvey stayed in the embrace for a while, as you sunk in all the comfort emanating from him. He'd even started stroking your hair. The whole situation felt so intimate, that, by the time the two of you finally pulled away from each other, it was almost as if there was this cloud of embarrassment hovering around you both.

"Err… I'm s- sorry, I shouldn't have, um-" You started saying nervously but he cut you off.

"No, it's okay. And, um, I'm really glad you told me what happened… It's definitely a lot to deal with. And I was a complete asshole this morning. So I'm sorry." For a moment both you and Harvey just smiled at each other, sitting there in a comfortable silence. Until he decided to break it: "So, um, did you get her a lawyer? I'm assuming you wouldn't wanna represent her yourself because it could be problematic…"

"No, uh, yeah. It would be problematic.” You corrected him. “But the most I could do was make the cops get her a public defender, cause I called my dad when I was on the way there and he just wouldn't have me paying for anything else. He is a retired cop, so the pension isn't too great, the pride though… And I’m already covering Lisa's treatment because it's her best shot, but this…"

"And he wants to teach her a lesson." He completed what you were trying to explain.

"Yes."

"And you don't agree with him?" Harvey asked, almost reading your mind.

"Well, it's complicated. Because when I see what Kat's doing with her life… I get just as frustrated as my parents, and I really do want what's best for Henry." The fact that your sister wasn't what's best for her son was only implied. "But she's my little sister, you know?" As he nodded in understanding, you went on: "I wanna help her, but, at least for now, I think I'm just gonna wait and see if mom and dad change their minds… Which I think they will do! I mean, my dad was a cop for years. He knows what those places do to people. As much as we all desperately want her to get her shit together, I don't think that prison is where she'll succeed in doing so." You finished, voice filled with concern.

"Well, I don't think I would be as lenient, and compassionate, as you are, but I do see your point." Harvey told with a sympathetic smile. "Besides, she is your sister. And, trust me, I know what it is like to go out of your way to keep a sibling outta trouble." He added with a tired sigh, making you wonder how much you really knew about the man sitting in front of you.

"Either way, now I don't see much that I can do for her at the moment. Gonna try and have her attorney keep me posted, of course, but…"

"Yeah…"

"I just… I can't help but feel guilty about all of this, you know?" You said, after having stood up and turned your back on him, finally letting on what was bothering you the most to the other lawyer.

"No, not really, I don't." He stated simply while you just looked back at him with a shocked expression on your face. "I mean, there's not a single approach on this that makes me think you're to blame for anything." He explained himself, standing up as well this time.

"Harvey, I-"

"No, (y/n), let me stop you right there. What I see here is a family going through a rough situation with one of its members. Then three of the other members just try to do everything they can to get out of the initial situation, while another one just keeps making more problems for her family. And, right now? Today? You walked out on your bosses, risking a lot, to take care of your nephew. So, tell me again, how is it that any of these things happening to your sister are your fault when you’ve done nothing but help everyone in that goddamn family of yours, huh?" He asked you in a sarcastic tone.

“Well, it is very much my fault because I’m her big sister! I should have been there for her! Advising her, helping her, just, just being her friend…” You confessed your regrets to Harvey. “But, instead, I was too busy making my career.”

“And what the hell’s wrong with that? Look, I’m a big brother too. I get it. Ever since we were kids our parents imbued us with the role of ‘the responsible one’, always telling us to look after the youngest… But, hey! If you just threw all of your work up in the air and left running every time your sister had a run-in with a problem, you wouldn’t have made it this far! Not in this field anyway!” He practically spit the words in your face, going to battle with your self-sabotage, which was a very new side of you for him. “And you’re a freaking great lawyer! One of the best that firm’s ever seen. So don’t be sorry that you didn’t sacrifice all of that for being better than the amazing sister you probably already were!”

“You simply can’t know that.” You stated in a low voice, not really knowing how to respond to everything Harvey had just told you. He really thought all that about you?

“Yes, I can!” He yelled back, stepping closer towards you. “I can know that for a fact, because,” he started again, his face pretty close to yours this time, “because, I’m beginning to finally understand, even if just a little bit, who you really are. And because I always notice all the little things when it comes to you, which, in my experience, is how you actually get to know someone. You know, the details.” He told you in the sweetest tone, giving you a charming-Specter-like smile, he leaned closer, if that was even possible, God, was he gonna kiss you?

You had to pull away slightly, just enough for him to get the message. And, boy, how you regretted it! Sure, normally, you’d have a ton of bad things to say about him, but after that night… It wasn’t really that bad of an idea, the one of Harvey kissing you. No, nuh-uh! What were you thinking?! If much, you and Harvey were beginning a friendship there! And you couldn’t, or wouldn’t, let some ridiculous thoughts about how great he smelled rob you from that opportunity! Your inner struggle was interrupted by him saying:

“Hum, I- I should probably go, right? It’s, um, it’s getting pretty late…” He said nervously. You should be relieved right now. Because this assures that things between you and Harvey (your new friend?) aren’t gonna go too off the railroads anytime soon.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll, uh, I’ll walk you to the door.” So why is it that you sounded almost disappointed when you said that? “You know what they say, you gotta walk people to the door if you ever want them to come back…” You joked a little, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, right.” He shot back simply, with a small smile on his lips. “Bye, (y/n). Have a good night.”

“Thanks, you too.” You watched him turning around to leave when you remembered there was something else that Harvey deserved to hear from you. “Uh, Harvey!” You called out.

“Yeah?” He asked, turning back around to face you. And before you could even think it through one more time, you were already jumping in his arms, wrapping him in a tight hug.

“Thank you. For tonight. For everything.” You told him, as he slowly put his arms around your waist, hugging you back.

“It was no problem, (y/n), really. That’s what friends are for.” And, just like that, your day ⎼ turned into night ⎼ had gone from Earth to Hell, and, now, to Heaven.

---

Around 7:30 in the next morning, as you gathered some of your work stuff, you heard someone knocking on the door. Who could it possibly be this time? You asked yourself while walking there to open it.

Once again you were surprised to be met by none other than Harvey Your-New-Friend Specter standing at your doorstep. With your supposedly locked-up little sister in tow. What the hell?

“Before you say anything,” he started, “this time I come bearing gifts!” He practically beamed at you, as Kat threw herself in your arms.

“Yeah- yeah, um, I can see that.” You stated, still very confused with the whole situation.

“Thank you so much for sending your friend to bail me out, sis!” Your sister squealed out. She looked so pale and thin; winter-like clothes on, even though it was only the beginning of the fall; and she was shaking. Effects of a rushed withdrawal, you guessed. “You’re the best! Now, where’s my little baby?” She asked you, as if everything that had happened was nothing.

“He’s, uh, he’s in a day-care facility. The best in the city, you have nothing to worry about.” You informed her, who seemed rather relieved to hear that news. “Can you, uh, can you please stay here for a minute while I talk to my, uh, my friend in the office, Kat?” You asked her with a calm smile on your lips.

“Yeah, of course. I’m not gonna break anything I promise!” She told you, sounding a lot like a wicked child.

“No, um, I know you won’t. If you want something to eat, please, help yourself.” You assured her, motioning to the kitchen.

“Oh, no! I’m not hungry! Mr.Specter took me to a diner before we came here.” She let you know, which just made you even more surprised, and confused.

“Oh, he did? Well, that was very nice of yours, Harvey. So, come with me?” You asked him in a sort of mockery tone while pointing to the room he’d just been in, the night before.

As soon as the two of you stepped into the office, Harvey started desperately: “(y/n), before you come at me for not running this by you first, just, please, hear me out for a second.” He pleaded with you, to which you just nodded your head. “So, last night. I heard what you said about your dad, and you don’t have to worry about paying me anything. I’m representing your sister as a friend of yours.”

“Wait a second. You mean you’re taking this pro-bono? Harvey, you do that and the whole firm is gonna know. And you promised.” You quickly accused him, even though you were very thankful for the way he just stepped up to solve one of your problems.

“I know! Let me finish, will you?” You nodded again while muttering an apology. “I’m not going to break your trust. And I’m not handling this pro-bono. The only people I’ll have to loop in are Jessica and Donna. And you know they won’t say anything.” He told you, but you were still a bit confused. “And, before you even ask, no, that doesn’t mean that either you or your family will be paying me anything. Also, I got your sister a spot in a top-of-line, very discrete, rehab facility, I have a friend over there, who said we can drop her off at any time. I just, um, figured that it’d be the best if she got professional help this time. Plus, on my talk with her, she agreed to sign papers that make you and your parents Henry’s temporary guardians. I really think that Kat wants to turn her life around this time, (y/n). She was very- Did I do something wrong? Because, err, you know me… I always find it easier to ask for forgiveness instead of permission, but, this time, I really did think that this would make you happy...” He trailed off with a confused look on his face while scratching the back of his neck

“Oh, I am happy.” You told him, still looking absolutely stunned.

“Then why, uh, why don’t you look happy?” He asked, sounding a bit hurt.

“It’s just that… I’m kind of surprised. How did you even think of all those things?”

“I, uh, it’s like I said yesterday, I notice things about you. And I really listened to what you told me last night. So I just started thinking about ways that I could solve this thing for you, ways that I could make you happy again throughout all of this storm.” He told you and it had to be the sweetest thing you’d heard from Harvey (hell, from anyone!) in your entire life. “But I understand that I overstepped, and I’m-” But since he just wouldn’t stop talking anymore, you had to cut him off in order to shut him up.

His eyes were in absolute shock for a moment, as he just stood reactionless in your grip. But then he got the message and pulled you closer, grabbing your waist tightly while your hands stood firmly wrapped around his neck. You were pretty sure that neither one of you was still breathing at that point, but you didn’t care. Because, God, his mouth tasted so good in yours, it was like they’d been made to kiss each other. The despair both of you were investing in the kiss was huge, but it was turning into a calmer kind of fire, as the air started becoming too necessary again. He pulled your mouths apart for a minute, you resting your forehead on his shoulder.

“You know…” He started, still catching his breath. “When I mentioned you coming at me, I hadn’t really envisioned this.” He joked, a victory smile on his lips.

“Ah, well, you know how upset it makes me when you simply won’t shut up.” You shot back with a shrug of your shoulders, smiling at him.

“Huh. Wish you would’ve shut me up like this every other time.” He mocked, earning a smack in the arm from you. “Ouch! Why’d do that?”

“Because you were being a dickhead, ruining our moment.” You gave him a fake irritated glance.

“Oh, c’mon! Tell me you didn’t think about it too!” He challenged, and you didn’t feel like giving him that kind of win at the moment, so you just pulled him back in for another kiss. One that may have lasted a little longer than it should have, considering that you two still needed to take Kat to rehab and, then, go to work so you could try and save your job. But, what could you do if he, and his body, and his mouth, and his eyes, and his everything were the only things that mattered?

As he rested his chin on top of your head ⎼ that was laid on his chest ⎼, you looked up, pulling away a little, him making sure you wouldn’t fall off the small couch. “Thank you, Harvey. For everything you did. For listening. For being here right now. For everything.”

“Don’t thank me, (y/n). You’ll never have to thank me for anything. I just want you to promise me one thing.” He stated seriously.

“What?” You asked, a bit hesitant.

“That, from now on, you’ll tell me all about it, every time you have a problem.” That was easy enough, you thought. But, you being you, simply had to ask.

“So that you can be here for me?” You questioned him with puppy eyes.

He just chuckled lightly. “Well, that too. But, mostly, so that I can make it ⎼ whatever it is ⎼ okay for you.” Your heart was on the edge of not being to take it any longer. What could have you possibly done to deserve that man?

“Okay, I promise.” You said, watching his expression begin to soften already. “But, only if you promise me the same. Because I wanna make it okay for you too.” While you thought Harvey was simply gonna say yes, he started laughing at you.

“Always the kick-ass corporate lawyer, I see.”

“Would you even have me any other way?” You joked back, more relaxed now.

“Yes, of course! I’d have you in any way you came to me. Which is why I promise too.” With that, you didn’t have any other choice but to kiss him again, because crying over the fact that Harvey Surprisingly-Romantic Specter was an absolute cinnamon roll was not an option.

Taglist: @just-a-girl-with-alot-of-issues

#harvey specter x reader #suits #harvey specter #fanfiction #fanfic #imagines #suits fanfiction #suits imagine #harvey specter fanfiction #angst #bickering #harvey specter imagines #harvey specter x you #harvey specter x y/n #fluff #harvey specter fluff #harvey specter angst

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myuni-moon · 3 years ago

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[event requests are now closed]

warnings: yandere content, yandere cult stuff

i will be leaving out the hanged man.

the cards have given you the answers you seek, and everything has been set in motion. here are the themes present in your reading.

Diluc

[VIII - Strength] ; What makes them weak in the knees?

just calling his name makes him weak. you can just be calling him over, and he's stumbling over himself to answer you. it's cute, so to say. his name is just so important to him; it represents all that he is, and hearing you say it, it's proof that you accept all that he is despite all his shortcomings.

[XV - The Devil] ; How possessive are they?

he's not terribly possessive, not he does have his bouts where all he wants to do is to keep you in his company for the rest of the day. usually when that happens, he clears up his entire schedule, and he'll have you stay with him in the manor of the winery. during this time, the maids know better than to disturb him unless it's something important, lest they want to lose their heads.

Kaeya

[VIII - Strength] ; What makes them weak in the knees?

kaeya would be filled with euphoria if you kiss over his eyelids. he so loves it when you untie his eyepatch as you gently press a kiss over the one place on his body he so scorns. it feels nice, refreshing when you kiss him there. it feels like he's being purified and forgiven despite all his sins. it's evidence that you love him, that you accept him.

[XV - The Devil] ; How possessive are they?

just about as much as diluc, if not a bit more. he's subtle, but his possessiveness just stems from jealousy. when he's feeling possessive, he actively spites other acolytes-- mainly zhongli-- either by taunting them or showing off how much you favor him. other than that, he doesn't restrict you or anything. he doesn't want you to hate him for clipping your wings, after all.

Childe

[VIII - Strength] ; What makes them weak in the knees?

it's the bloodlust in your eyes when you see a new foe that makes him absolutely head over heels for you. he's so in love when you let him strike them down and try his hand at someone possibly stronger than him; it riles him right up! plus points if you cheer him on!

[XV - The Devil] ; How possessive are they?

almost as possessive as zhongli. those two are frightening when it comes to their rivalry simply because zhongli wants to keep you safe in one place while childe wants to take you to a place where you can get killed all so you can see him win against some brute. childe just loves having you to himself because no one else knows how amazing it is to be out in the battlefield.

Aether

[VIII - Strength] ; What makes them weak in the knees?

spending time with you gives him the same amount of serotonin if he were to hit jackpot while digging for some treasure. any time spent with you renders him weak in the knees, no matter what it is you're doing. aether enjoys himself fully in your company; you did control his vessel at one point, so it's only right that now that you have a body of your own in their universe. it does make him quite clingy.

[XV - The Devil] ; How possessive are they?

quite possessive, only because he's been with you since the start. he's just really gotten used to you being there that when you aren't, it feels wrong. when he isn't out wandering teyvat, he's with you in your teapot and relaxing. he actually comes by every three of four days because he can't really bear not being with you. his entire existence, at this point, kind of hinges on you.

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eremiie · 4 years ago

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not too bad a dad;

❥ eren babysitting ipad kids falco & gabi, i have had this thought on my mind bc i think their interactions would be so funny, so here this is. (bonus if you get the title referene)

❥ eren x reader | 2.1k words | pure fluff

the first time eren had to babysit was quite questionable.

actually, quite worrying if that's a good way to describe it.

you had falco sit on the couch and watch some television to keep himself entertained for the time being, while you sat in your room leaving eren to stay in the living room as well— that is until he slowly opened the door to your shared bedroom. "yes, eren?" you mumbled turning around to see him just standing, head cracked through the door.

"baby, why isn't he doing anything?"

"eren, he's just watching t.v... what do you want him to do?"

"i don't know... he's just... sitting there. he's so quiet, and just..."

you raised an eyebrow at eren watching him finally coming over to massage your shoulders while looking at your computer screen where you were typing away. "okay... that's a good thing eren, let him sit there."

so eren left, still clearly somewhat unnerved by the little boy for whatever reason, but you shrugged it off, continuing to do your work on the device in front of you.

you weren't sure how much time had passed, but you finally removed your eyes from your screen when you heard the clatter of a large object hit the floor. your eyes darted to the clock in front of you to see that it had been maybe an hour since you last saw both eren and falco, so with a sigh you got up and left the room.

the slight shuffling of objects moving around from the kitchen had caused you to turn towards it, to see falco in the middle of the kitchen floor holding a large baking pan with half baked cinammon rolls, some seemingly flattened, oven mitts on both of his hands, and when he turned around to face you the expression on his face was immediate worry and remorse— not to mention the large flour stains on both his shirt and pants.

it was only then you noticed eren beside him on the floor picking up another flattened roll and placing it back on the pan you assumed it fell off of, flour coating him as well as what you could only assume was other miscellaneous baking products.

"i'm— i'm sorry, i was, i wasn't— he— he," falco stumbled over his words causing eren to look up at you with an innocent boyish smile.

"eren...what in the world." you ignored falco, as you figured he wasn't the root of the issue, seemingly coerced by eren into their dilemma.

"oh hey babe, falco and i were making some cinnamon rolls. i thought it'd be fun." you weren't sure if this was fun for falco, the timid boy practically shaking in his socks.

"he asked me to! i— i—"

"it's okay falco... i know. i know." you shook your head at eren and screamed a look that said ‘clean this up right now.’ eren only giving both you and falco a confused expression before you walked back to your room.

you could only pray colt would trust you enough to let falco come back a second time.

there were other times where you wondered if having your own child with eren was even plausible.

you weren't sure if it was news that spread that you were a "great babysitter" or maybe it was eren who was the great sitter, but somehow you were in the brief possession of another kid, although eren almost refused to take care of her in all. of course, he was in no position to refuse, as you sat him down on the couch opposite while you did your own thing in the kitchen, preparing a meal for the three of you.

eren stared at gabi, eyes narrowed at her as if she was a threat to him, her ipad sitting on her chest as she looked up at eren time to time while she layed on the couch away from him. "what? why do you keep staring at me? weirdo..." gabi rolled her eyes swiping away at the device in front of her.

"baby, she just called me weird! did you hear that?" eren immediately complained hands flailing at his sides and you shook your head even though he couldn't see and even though you did hear. if anything, you weren’t sure if you were taking care of one or two kids.

"nope."

"seriously?" he huffed as gabi began to laugh at him causing him to grimace at her and buck at her somewhat playfully causing her to flinch.

"stop! i can beat you up you know." she gave eren a stink face, putting down her device on her stomach and crossing her arms from where she laid.

"eren, don't." you warned, knowing that despite him being a grown man, he'd bicker back and forth with anybody.

"i wasn't even gonna do anything." eren said back to you, still side eyeing gabi.

"yeah, cause you can't." she taunted as you placed the lid over the pot of rice and slinked your way over to your room to grab your phone, only being gone for maybe two minutes as you checked your notifications in your room, standing at the edge of the bed for a bit.

the minute you stepped back out gabi was on top of eren, pulling at his hair as he struggled to get her off of him, pulling at her hands as his face was scrunched up showing his efforts. he picked her up and threw her down onto the couch, and you slapped your hand to your forehead at his childish antics. "oh my gosh— eren stop acting like a child!" you came over and slapped his shoulder.

"what? we were just playing around!" you tugged eren's ear and pulled him to the couch gabi sat at previously with a stern look. gabi stuck her tongue out at eren as you scolded him from the sofa across from her.

"well you might actually hurt her—"

"he can't hurt me!" you turned around and gave gabi a fake smile.

"i don't want to get in trouble with your parents gabi." you said before looking back to eren. "watch it, eren."

sometimes, eren seemed more knowledgable about kids than you.

"look, see how they got to the other side? that used to symbolize the freedom that they thought they gained, and of course their friend still thinks it represents that but he—"

"falco?" eren interrupted you coming over to sit on the other side of falco, swinging his arm over the backside of the couch, causing you to glare at him.

"eren, i'm trying to explain the show to him."

"baby, he's clearly bored," you looked down at falco and he did seem less enthusiastic than you, but when he looked up at eren, then to you he immediately shook his head.

"no—"

"he probably would rather play ball with me or something. i wanted to earlier but then you made him watch this documentary with you." eren motioned to the tv screen as if it was clearly the most boring thing on earth.

"eren, the documentary isn't boring... he hasn't complained yet." you rolled your eyes, falco's flitting between you and eren as he sat between the two of you. at least you didn’t think it was boring, you couldn’t even count how many times you had seen it. all you knew it that it intrigued you every time, and you could explain it ten times over.

"because you know he doesn't like to complain." eren wrapped his arms around falco's shoulder and pulled him closer, a smirk on his face. "falco, would you rather watch this documentary with ______, or play baseball with me outside?"

falco seemed uncomfortable, and you took notice shoving eren's arm off of him. "eren, if you won't watch it with me then let me watch with falco."

"i've watched it with you like four times baby!"

"no you haven't..." the more you thought about it, falco was pretty quiet the whole first twenty minutes of the documentary you were showing him. as interesting as you thought it was; you weren't sure falco was enjoying it as much as you. "falco... you can go play baseball or catch or whatever with eren. i have some stuff to do anyways." you shrugged, eren pumping his fist and dragging falco to his feet, falco's eyes lighting up a little.

you couldn't help but give a small smile at his eagerness to hang out with eren. "c'mon falco, i used to play with my brother all the time, i'm gonna show you how to pitch really good."

you chuckled to yourself. maybe eren wasn't as bad as an influence as you thought.

of course there were times that eren surprised you, like this one.

"gabi, c'mon let's go eat." your arms were crossed as you leaned against the doorframe watching gabi's hands fiddle with the controller while her eyes darted on the screen in front of her. both her and eren were leaned forwards as he guided her to victory, babbling some game nonsense to her.

"let her play one more round babe, she's has one point on falco." eren held a hand up without looking back at you, murmuring a couple "c'mon," to gabi as she leaned forward even more.

"she has to eat, eren, i gave you guys an extra thirty minutes already."

"please!" gabi said also without looking at you.

you sighed, raising an eyebrow at the pleas of gabi. "i didn't know you guys got along now."

"we've always gotten along." eren replied as if it was the obvious thing in the world, causing your to scoff as he pointed at the screen while gabi spoke into the mic headset on her head.

gabi’s face scrunched up as she stared at the screen more intensely, her eyes suddenly going dark, eyelids dropping. "hey... falco, when did you get that skin?" gabi murmured, bringing her hand up to bring the mic closer to her lips.

"eren bought it for me last time i came over." falco said from the other side of the mic as the sound finally translated over. eren's body went slightly rigid as he side eyed gabi as she slowly turned to him, her eye twitching.

"what?! that's not fair! eren buy me a skin too!" she exclaimed loudly, hands flailing, and you were scared eren’s controller would fly out of her hand.

eren pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing the question was going to come sooner or later. "no, i don't have any money." there they went, bickering again, only proving your earlier point.

"then how did you get falco that skin, and why did you get falco it and not me? i been wanted it before him!" you could only imagine falco rubbing his face from the other side of the screen.

"because—"

"gabi i'll buy you a skin," you said, shifting on your feet as you watched gabi's character die on screen as she argued back and forth with eren. she smiled at your comment then glared at eren as she began to turn around to face the screen fully, jaw dropping at the 'defeat' sign now on display in front of her. "now come, eat—"

"one more round!" both eren and gabi said at the same time, your eyes widening in slight shock.

"okay, okay... one more round."

and lastly, there were times you were sure you wanted to have kids with eren.

"eren are y'all okay?" you spoke through the phone as you drove down the street, on your way back to the apartment you and eren shared. "i got all of us some food too, so we don't have to eat leftovers today. also, get their bags, colt is coming to pick both of them up today, he says thanks for letting him leave them with us this morning."

eren groaned from the other side as he pushed gabi off of him and you heard some yelling before he shuffled around and spoke again. "yeah, yeah, i'll see you soon, i love you." his voice sounded muffled through the phone.

eren was a bit hasty to end the call, you only able to get out an "i love," before the dial tone beeped, and you furrowed your eyebrows, placing your phone in the cupholder and continuing on the road home.

it had been maybe fifteen minutes before you arrived, unbuckling your seat belt and turning off the car. you didn't forget to grab the takeout sitting on the passengers seat as well as your bag before walking up the steps to your apartment. you unlocked the door and stepped inside, locking it back. "eren, baby, i'm home." you said loud enough for him to hear, but no response was returned as you shrugged your shoes off. "don't tell me he took them outside... i just said colt was coming soon." you mumbled to yourself as you made your way to the living room.

the sight caught you off guard, eren sprawled on the floor knocked out from what you assume was sleep, gabi laying down on the couch, falco at her legs sleeping as well, using them as a headrest. both of their bags were laid beside the couch and you let out a laugh. how quick did they fall asleep? it hadn't been long since you were on the phone with eren.

you set down the takeout bags on the kitchen and sauntered over to eren on the floor, his hair framing his face and his brows furrowed together as if he was in deep thought in his sleep. it didn't take much to wake him up, only a couple "baby," and some shakes of his shoulder before he jolted awake.

"huh?" he rubbed his eyes and sat up, head whipping back to the two kids on the couch. "shit, i'm sorry baby..." he immediately apologized, letting out another groan.

you couldn't help but smile and bring eren in for a short kiss on the lips. "you're fine baby, you got their bags and everything, you can go to the room and sleep if they tired you out."

eren pulled you in for a hug as he stood up, you standing with him, and then kissing your forehead. "alright... i love you."

"i love you too."

yeah, you might be sure kids with eren won't be too bad.

#eren x reader #eren yeager x reader #eren jaeger x reader #eren fluff #eren jaeger fluff #eren yeager fluff #falco grice #gabi braun

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embywolf · 3 years ago

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Zelink Week Day 5: Domesticity

Okay so here goes: I suck with grammar stuff, maths/physics are not my strong point, I know nothing of birthing and I've never written anything for fun like this. I had the idea a while ago and it might not work as I decided to try and fit that idea into the prompt for today. I'm very nervous to be posting this and I may well delete it later but for now, here is my first ever attempt. Also no idea how to format it on Tumblr, or at all if I'm being honest but figured I'd add a line as this came out longer than I expected ^_^;

I'm rambling now, can you tell? *Hovers over post button*

_________________________

Day 5 – Domesticity

She had his hand in a vice like grip, knuckles turning white. It ached, but not as much as his heart did at the sounds of her panting and pained screams. He kissed the side of her head where her hair was matted to her face with sweat. His emotions were all over the place but at the same time there was nowhere else he would rather be right now. As much as he hated her to be in any form of pain, he knew it was temporary and would be so worth it.

He murmured into her ear “You’re doing so, so well my love. Not much longer now, you can do this”

She panted hard and fast, anticipating the next contraction. He was perched on the edge of her bed, one leg laid straight alongside her, the other on the floor. He had one arm around her shoulders, hand rubbing soothing motions down her arm while the other was either placed on her stomach or, when her contractions started up again was held tightly in her grip for support.

From her parted legs and bent knees, Impa, her most trusted and loyal friend peeked above the white sheets that were draped over her. She grinned at the both of them before looking straight into Zelda’s eyes “I can see the crown! Another few good pushes and she’ll be with us”

Zelda whimpered. She was so very tired; she wasn’t sure how much more pushing she could do. As if Link had read her mind he spoke softly against her cheek “I know you tired, love. You’re so strong and we’ll soon get to meet our little girl. A few more pushes, can you do that for me?”. Zelda nodded, heaving out a massive breath as she could feel the tension of another contraction beginning.

“Zelda, I need you to give a nice big push with your next contraction” Impa urged. Zelda clenched Link’s hand once again as the contraction came over her. She strained and grunted so hard into the push that her whole face became red and heated and Link couldn’t help but be in awe of her strength. He didn’t think it was possible to love her more than he did right now in this moment.

Although the pregnancy wasn’t exactly planned, they both knew that they had wanted children together eventually. It was a given knowing that she was the reigning sovereign of Hyrule and it was expected of her to have an heir. As was tradition, there always had to be a Zelda successor, so as soon as they found out about the pregnancy everyone had begin called the baby Little Zel (they hadn’t officially decided on a name if they weren’t sticking with tradition, but it was better than called her an ‘it’ or ‘she’).

“Good girl, keep pushing!” Impa urged, the excitement rising in her tone “Her heads out! Continue your panting until you feel the need to push again.”

Link placed the hand that had been running up and down her arm to the side of her head, pushing lightly to encourage her to rest her head against his shoulder. He closed his eyes and run his hand through her hair, humming quietly in an attempt to try to sooth his wife. His wife! How did he end up so lucky? He thought absently.

“Link?” Zelda breathy voice broke through his thoughts

“Hmm?” He stopped his humming at the sound of her voice, opening his eyes to glance at her.

“Thank you for being here for me… for us” she says, placing one hand on her belly. He kissed her sweaty forehead and looked deeply into her eyes “There is no place in the entire world that I would rather be right now. Thank you for letting me be here for the birth of our girl – our daughter, Zelda.”

Her lips curled up in a brief smile and she hummed contentedly at his words before her face scrunched again as her next contraction overcame her.

“One more big push” Impa exclaimed and Zelda tensed her shoulders, sat up slightly and heaved.

“Hear that, Zel? One more big push and she’ll be with us” he was rubbing circles between her shoulder blades now, doing what little he could to somehow try and ease even a fraction of her pain.

“Keep pushin-“ Impa was interrupted as Zelda let out a noise between a shout and a wail. An ear-piercing cry broke out into the room as Little Zel took her first breaths of Hyrulian air.

“She’s here!” Link choked on a sob, catching Zelda in his arms as she flopped back on the bed, panting hard.

“She certainly is!” Impa grinned as she tended to the new born babe. She had checked her airway to ensure it is clear and listened to her strong heartbeat. “She’s a healthy, beautiful baby-“ she started as she began to wrap her up ready to present her to her parents when Impa noticed something… unexpected… “boy” she gasped out in surprise.

Impa placed the boy in his mothers arms who had tears flowing down her face and the biggest smile graced her features. She bundled the baby up looking lovingly down into his face and said in the most heart-warming voice “Hello my boy” she breathed out in a sort of laugh sob “hello ourboy” – she was looking at Link now who was freely crying and looking between both his son (his son! Hylia, he has a son!) and his wife. He placed his hand on top of the babies head, cupping it slightly and rubbing the fine, sand coloured hair there as Zelda leaned in towards him. He kissed Zelda’s head again and looked down at the bundle in her arms, awed and stunned. He was swept up in the feelings of love and pride in the strength of his wife growing this beautiful little life in her body and going through the pain of birthing. “Hello, son” he said in a breathy whisper.

---------

“What does this mean, Impa?” Zelda asked as she nursed her son, who apparently had the appetite of his father. Link was still sat beside her on the bed watching Zelda take to motherhood like a natural, completed besotted with his little family.

“I.. I’m not sure” Impa stood at the foot of the bed which had since been cleaned since the birth. “I plan on speaking with the elders and consulting some of our Sheikah texts to see if this has ever happened before in our history. I suspect not, something this significant would surely be common knowledge among us.”

Link glanced up at this “So you think that Zelda having a son is significant in the eyes of the goddess and not merely a matter of biology?”

“You know the legends as well as I, Link. You know that Hylia incarnate is always female as is the nature of maternal bloodlines” Zelda wasn’t looking at either him or Impa, she was fascinated watching her boy as he greedily suckled. She didn’t care either way that he way a boy, he was hers and she was so totally and utterly in love with him.

“Now that I know he is nursing properly I think it is time to take my leave and investigate this little miracle” Impa smiled warmly “it is also advisable that baby has skin on skin contact with his parents to help with bonding” She looked pointedly at Link “Both his parents”. She stepped towards the door before looking back at the little family “Oh, and your highness? I think you may need to consider a different name for him. Little Zel hardly seems to suit him, don’t you think?” She grinned and made her way out through the door, leaving both doting parents cooing over their new addition.

Once they were alone the little Hylian hiccupped softly, Zelda looked towards Link with pride in her eyes as he stared down at the boy and laughed lightly at the cute noises he was making. “I think it’s time this little one gets some bonding time with his father, don’t you?” She said as she shifted on the bed, cradling the baby gently and holding him out to Link. For a brief moment the baby wriggles at the change in position, stretching his limbs before snuggling up into the crook of Link’s arm. He yawns and one of his outstretched arms meets with Links hand, his tiny fingers curling around one of his fathers. Link choked on a sob as Zelda rests her head on his shoulder

“We need to name him”

“A significant name for a significant boy”

“What do you suggest?” He asks gently, her face falters at that. She has no idea. Neither does he.

“I.. I really don’t know. Any names I can think of are all girls names and that would be assuming we broke with tradition and didn’t use Zelda. Like Hope or Harmony – something that signifies the fact he was born after the calamity was vanquished.”

“You say something significant, right?” To which Zelda nods “What about ‘Rise’ as in surp-rise? After all he certainly is a surprise”. “Link please, be serious.” She looked at him with a raised brow.

“Okay, what about Finn. As in the end of the calamity?”

“No, he doesn’t look like a Finn”

“Miri like ‘Miracle’?”

“Nope”.

“Hmmm” Link ponders for a while, mummering to himself “He was born in a time of peace, where balance has been restored and tranquillity reigns –“ Link cuts himself short. “What about Quill? As in Tranquillity. That’s what his birth represents Afterall, tranquillity after a hard-won battle”

Zelda looks into the face of the child in his arms, sleeping peacefully nestled against his chest. “You know, I quite like it. It suits him. What do you think, Quill?” Zelda smiles after testing the name out loud and as if he was in agreement one of the babies cheeks scrunched up adorably, the edge of his mouth raising slightly as if he was smiling.

---------

Once Zelda and Quill had been given the all clear by the Doctors the new family were allowed to leave the infirmary and go back to their suite. Quill had been sleeping soundly in the bassinette that was placed by Zelda’s side of the bed which gave Zelda chance to rest herself. She was exhausted and sore, and as much as she wanted to keep just staring at her new son her body was struggling to stay awake. She fell asleep listening to Quills gentle breathing as Link was emptying the bags that they had taken with them to the infirmary when her labour had started. As he went to put something away in their bedroom, he noticed that Zelda had fallen asleep and stood leaning against the doorframe to just watch and take in the beautiful sight before him. While they slept Link showered to try and wake himself up a little. Zelda’s labour had been intense and long lasting, he has stayed up with her throughout it all and he was determined to let her rest while he took care of the both of them.

He came out of the bathroom with his hair down and messy from being towel dried, said towel draped over his shoulders to avoid getting his bare back soaked. He was wearing only his trousers as he busied himself around the room. He stopped what he was doing when he heard Quill start to stir and he seen Zelda’s face twitch slightly as if she was about to rouse from her sleep. Deciding she had had nowhere near enough rest yet Link picked Quill up from his basket and held him against his chest mumbling slightly as to not wake her.

“I’m here, little one” he said softly. “Mummy is resting right now and we need to be quiet to let her sleep, okay?”. He walked to the other side of the bed where he carefully lay down beside Zelda, his back propped against the pillows and his son resting against his chest. The boy calmed down upon contact with his father as Link patted his back soothingly. Quill burped then bunched his hands in the towel around Links shoulders who let out a small chuckle and began stroking his back softly. This repetitive and calming motion lulled both to sleep and it was Zelda that roused first, opening her eyes to the sight of Link and Quill snoozing together. It struck her then just how much like Link he is, he certainly had his hair and maybe his eyes. From the little glimpses Zelda had gotten his eyes looked like they may be blue but he had his mother’s nose and the same chubby cheeks that Zelda had had as a child.

She lay there in silence, enjoying the moment when a soft knock came at the door. Link roused from his nap and Quill stirred but didn’t awaken. “Come in” Zelda spoke softly but loud enough to be heard through the door, which opened as Impa popped her head around the door glancing around to look for the room occupants. “Your highness?” She questioned as Zelda rose from the bed wincing “I can come back at a more convenient time?” She said as she noticed Zelda emerging slowly and carefully from the bedroom

“Not at all Impa, please take a seat. I trust you are here having sought council with the elders?” Zelda lowered herself into one of the lounge chairs slowly, using the arm rests to support her before gesturing for Impa to take a seat at the chair opposite. Link, upon hearing Impa’s voice joined them in the lounge area, Quill’s head resting gently on his shoulder as his little legs were curled beneath him against his fathers chest. Link had draped the towel in such a way to cover most of his chest but was sure to leave the shoulder Quill was resting on exposed. He nodded and smiled warmly at Impa as he handed the baby to Zelda as he started fussing quietly. When he was settled in her arms Link glanced down at her lovingly and gave her a quick peck on the head and rubbed his knuckles softly against Quill’s cheek before heading back into the bedroom to retrieve a clean shirt.

Once he was fully dressed and had bought a tray of tea to the table between the two women, he took a seat next to Zelda as she slowly rocked the baby in her arms.

“As you both know I warped to Kakariko this afternoon to consult the ancient texts and speak with those much older and wiser than myself.” Impa began, her head tilted to one side as she watched the family in front of her fondly.

“Did you find anything of interest” Link piped up; his voice slightly hoarse from sleep.

Impa nodded, a small smile gracing her lips “I did.” To which Zelda looked up into Impa’s eyes and awaited what she had to say.

“So, as I suspected, have a male heir has never happened in the history of the royal family blessed by the goddess. I found an old passage in one of the very ancient tomes that we barely look at due to its fragile state. If I translated correctly, which according to the librarian I did, the passage spoke of a triangle that varies from the triforce in that it is more of mathematical equation rather than anything else. It speaks of forces that occur in nature and being able to calculate the distance, speed and time of an object which, apparently, if applied to the triforce gives us the answer to the calamities end.”

Zelda raised her eyebrow “but the calamity has been defeated in the past before, and still there has been no male heir born to the triforce of wisdom afterwards. So why now?”

“Because the equation has never been fully solved before” Impa says with a knowing smile. It wasn’t often that Zelda was slow on the uptake so Impa decided to continue, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen from the table in front of her in order to demonstrate what she means.

“If we place the triforce pieces in their usual positions with power at the top, wisdom bottom left and courage bottom right…” Impa draws the triforce as it has always been known “…and then we apply the mathematical formular gathered from the texts…” She draws a horizontal line below power then a vertical line between courage and wisdom “…we get the equation for defeating the calamity permanently.” She glances up at the two of them where she is perched on the end of her seat.

“I.. I’m sorry Impa but I don’t quite follow.” Zelda admitted honestly, to which Link was grateful as it meant he didn’t need to admit out loud that he too was confused - If Zelda wasn’t quite grasping it then he didn’t feel so stupid after all.

Impa wrote the equivalent formulae to accompany the triangle, also adding an ‘x’ between the vertical line. The equation read p = w x c. Zelda gasped slightly as she finally understood “Wait, so you’re saying that… that”

Impa nodding again “that’s exactly what I’m saying. The prophecy suggests that for the calamity to be beaten permanently, never to be reincarnated again then wisdom and courage need to combine. This has never happened before as previous incarnates of wisdom and courage have never been together in this way and certainly never producing offspring.”

Zelda looked to Link then, speaking softly almost in a trance “our son is a blessing from Hylia telling us that it’s over. And not just for this generation but for eternity!” Zelda’s eyes were misted up as she looked at Quill.

“In order to overcome the bane of power, wisdom and courage must combine not only in battle but also in surrender. The coming together of the two produces a force so great that not even malice incarnate can prevail.” Impa quoted from the text and gestured to the boy in Zelda’s arms.

---------

A few weeks later once Zelda had sufficiently recovered from birth and the new family had had some bonding time, the champions and the Sheikah scientists were invited to the castle for a private celebration of both the end of calamities and to introduce Quill to their friends before a formal announcement to the kingdom.

The gathering was held in a private pagoda in the castle courtyard near to the gardens with a spread of delicious foods to cater to everyone’s tastes. The group were sat together awaiting the arrival of the guest of honour. They stand when they see Zelda and Link approaching the table and as they get closer they could see Zelda’s eyes were already misty with tears of pride as she stood in front of all her most treasured friends, with Links left arm resting across her lower back and her son in her arms facing away from the group.

“Everyone” Zelda spoke in a soft but clear voice “Link and I are so very happy that you are here to join us. Your bravery and skill have proven vitally important to get where we are today, and as I know you are all aware the calamity is over and shall never plague this world again.” Everyone around her nodding and made small, gratifying sounds of approval. “It is now, in this time of great peace and tranquillity that I would like to introduce to our blessing and proof of our everlasting victory.” At this, Zelda jostled the boy in her arms carefully. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet Quill!” Zelda beamed as she turned Quill in her arms so that he was facing her treasured allies and friends.

Most of the group cooed and ‘awwed’ at Quill, and even Revali dropped his snide remarks to look over the baby with a small nod of his head to Link. It was then that realisation hit him, as he watched his wife's wide smile and beaming face as she conversed joyously with those her held most dear – they had done it. They had given Hyrule the peace it so desperately deserved after all this time. This was now the age of tranquillity, and all across Hyrule the people would be able to safely indulge in a life free of calamity, a life of true domesticity.

#Regretting this already #Legend of Zelda #Zelink #I'm going to hide now #May delete later #Zelink fic #zelinkweek #AoC #age of calamity

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oingo233 · 4 years ago

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You Are Beautiful (1)

Summary: Sirius Black was entranced since the moment he saw you. He had to have you but you are convinced his feelings are fleeting, and will only hurt you. People inside and outside of your relationship meddle in the makings of something that could be beautiful... or disastrous. Will love and confidence win? Or will doubt and uncertainty tear you both down?

Young Sirius Black x Pus SizedFemReader

Warning: one inappropriate joke lol, fluff I suppose and nothing else really. All the real stuff comes later :0

Authors note: I mostly write my xreader fics as neutral but as this is a request, I wrote this as fem. But if anyone would like a male version or neutral version let me know and I will copy this but obviously change readers gender (and it's no burden to me I'd love to make more readers feel included and represented). Also reader is plus sized and she is confident and strong throughout the fic -because plus sized characters aren't represented like that in film/books alot (but if looking for amazing and empowering plus sized female characters Nina Zenik from Six of Crows owns my entire heart and changed how I saw myself personally and I would recommend that book for anyone really)- but as any human she has her insecurities because beauty standards are unattainable and have a way excluding so many people and making us feel less than beautiful. As a plus sized/overweight person myself, I understand how we have to fight to feel beautiful and fight this internalized bias we have when we look in the mirror. But WE ARE BEAUTIFUL. WE ARE WORTHY OF MAGAZINGE COVERS AND COMPLIMENTS AND ABOVE ALL SELF LOVE!! The self insert character in this has fought for her confidence, but it will shake and stumble throughout the series and Sirius and friends are there for her to help her realize for herself how beautiful she truly is, once again. So I hope I didn't stray too far from the request :) Enjoy....

Word Count: 1.8

Authors Note: About halfway through I decided to make it a series oops-

****Blabbering Idiot****

Sirius Black is a man of many, many words. In fact, I'm sure if he was writing this he could quickly turn it into one of the most entertaining novels ever written. He'd describe the laughter of his friends for a whole page. Tell a hilarious joke on the next. Then he'd describe the wind blowing through the open halls and courtyard and the spring sun. He could write about a great many things in great detail. (But he wouldn't because he doesn't quite enjoy writing as much as he does anything else, but that's above the point.)

As I said, Sirius Black is a man of many words. So it was such a curious thing when he first saw you. It was an astounding thing really, because for the first time he found something that rendered him completely speechless.

The sun was peeking through the open corridor and pooled onto you, caressing your skin and hair in an ethereal glow. Highlighting curves that brought both sinful and sweet thoughts running through him. It was as if the universe was telling him, look at what we've created, look at this beautiful creature. But he could hardly believe that this world could create something so lovely and kind. You threw your head back in laughter at something your friend said and suddenly the world is back to normal and all he can hear is your laughter and the sound of his friends curiosity at what could have possibly kept him from the conversation about muggle rock compared to Wizard bands. In fact, James was so passionate about it half the hall turned to listen to his rendition of The Chain by Fleetwood Mac.

But he didn't care, he took a feeble step towards you and suddenly felt so nervous his hands began to sweat. He stuttered and coughed up his words just for a simple "hello" in your direction only for the wind blowing through the halls to carry it away. And his friends laughed at him as he watched you walk too far from where he wanted you. Because, oh did he want you.

Sirus POV:

"I'm telling you, I won't be able to sleep tonight unless I know who she is," Sirius says for not the first time that evening. James started to laugh.

"Why? Because you'll be too busy thinking of her?" James said, laughing as he made a very suggestive hand motion. Peter cackled and Remus rolled his eyes, trying to find the cleaner side of his humor but instead he couldn't help but snort. Sirius pushed James's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm sure Lily would love to know how familiar with that feeling you are," Sirius says and James stopped laughing immediately, his eyes narrowed.

"Please, you wouldn't dare. And I will deny all accusations, you'll be made out to be a liar. Then the mystery girl will never love you. Is that what you want, Pads?" James joked with a single arch of his brow. Sirius just rolled his eyes. He was only half paying attention, he has been scouring the hallways since he first saw that girl. He wanted to speak to her again, or maybe just stare for a bit. If things went well, he'd be able to do both those things on a date. But he hasn't seen her since that morning and his heart felt oddly shallow. He wanted those butterflies he had when looking at her to come back and overwhelm him again.

"What'll it matter if I don't even know who she is? Or- or if I can't talk to her? No one falls in love with a blabbering idiot," Sirius says. Remus shrugs.

"Lily fell in love with James," he says, Peter laughed again.

"Yeah, regardless of what he does at night," Peter added and now both James and Sirius were rolling their eyes. James and Lily just recently stopped denying their feelings for one another and gave into the sexual tension and mutual pining. Their relationship was still fairly new but they act as if they've been together for years. Sirius supposed that in a way, they have been.

Sirius would watch them giggling, hand and hand in the hall. He'd see them cuddling in the common room, or coming back after dates with rosy cheeks and beaming smiles. Sirius would never admit it out loud, but his heart cried out when he saw them like that. He rarely ever felt lonely. He could have any girl or boy he wanted if he really tried, but for what? One fun night? Only for one more morning where he wakes up alone? He wanted more than that whenever he saw Lily and James, their happiness was palpable. Their love was suffocating.

Sirius always thought he'd find the one after Hogwarts, if at all. But when he saw her... well that changed everything. In a flash he saw himself with her, their hands intertwined and her head thrown back in laughter. Rosy cheeks and bruised lips. Warm beds and making love... being in love. He nearly felt silly after and yet, he knew that even if he did sleep tonight, it would be her he'd dream of.

"Ello' guys!" Lily said, bouncing up to James who kissed her cheek. They walked with their arms looped and Sirius glared at the easy sign of affection. He thought of his parents, how they would be stiff with one another except for in quiet moments, when he'd pass through a hall and glance into their room. He'd spot a quick kiss on the cheek, and soft squeeze of the hand. It were those odd moments for him, that struck him so strongly with a sharp bitterness. They don't deserve softness and love, he'd think, how can such cruel creatures even feel such things? But even then, he'd walk away seeing them as still awful creatures born from the depths of hell, but more human.

"That's her," Sirius whispered so quietly Remus almost didn't hear it. In fact, Sirius didn’t think Remus heard it at all, but it was rather his look of longing towards the Great Hall entrance that gave him away. Because standing right there, was you.

Your hair was a little wind blown, messy around your face, bits of iit shaped your round cheeks and soft eyes. Sirius eyed you up and down and cursed clothes and cursed shyness and cursed his own head for thinking he could even talk to you. But most of all, he cursed a group of boys who walked past you.

Sirius was a confident boy, he knew how to spot someone who held their head up just as high as he did, and you were very much one of those people. You were giggling as you stole a biscuit from a friend and popped it into your mouth, you covered your mouth as you laughed when they complained with a little smile of their own.

"It's just so yummy, and I haven't eaten since breakfast." He heard you say, your friend just shook his head and handed you a plate as you sat down next to him. But right before you could get comfortable a sneering group of boys stole a piece of food from your hand and said something rather rude.

Sirius didn't even realize he had been walking towards you, this girl he has never even spoken too, yet thought of so endearingly, until he was standing right before the boys and had the pack leaders wrist firmly in his grip.

"Drop it boy, c'mon, drop it," he teased. It was humiliating for the boy and he knew it by the laughing and sneering others directed towards the group of boys, but Sirius did not care. The boy dropped the biscuit and looked as if his tail was tucked into his legs. "Good boy," he said, ruffling his hair until it was a knotted mess, the boy winced at just how hard Sirius dug his knuckles into his scalp, Sirius relented with a satisfied smirk.

Sirius’s voice took on a much harsher tone, "Now scram." The boys were out of their seats and in new ones within seconds.

Sirius felt his mood shift completely once they left, because now all eyes were on him, yours included. He looked up at you rather shyly, his hair falling in strands over his forehead. He tucked it behind his ear and found some confidence in the way your eyes followed the movement and how you blushed. He gave you his best smile, hoping his charm wasn't as weak as his legs felt at that moment.

"Hello, I'm Sirius... Sirius Black." Then, like an idiot he put his hand out for you to shake, what charmer just shakes the ladies hand? He stopped belittling himself the moment you softly placed your hand in his.

"It's nice to meet you, Sirius, and thanks for helping me. I know how to handle those filthy 'dogs'" you said, smiling as you remembered the way he spoke to them, he chuckled. "But I suppose it's nice not always having to," you finished with a bright smile on your face. He felt his own cheeks heat up and he nodded but could not think of anything better to say.

"Name," he said, you raised your brows. He cleared his throat, "your name?"

"Oh, how rude of me," you said and then you laughed, that same laugh that caught his attention and has yet to let go. "I'm (y/n) (y/l/n)."

"Nice to meet you," he said, it was as if he couldn't feel the appalled stares of your friends because all he could see was the blush on your cheeks and your head thrown back in laughter. He swallowed thickly before making his way back to his friends. They all wore raised brows and smirks, and he knew they were about to bite into him.

"Treating them like dogs, really? A bit ironic don't you think," Lily said, James shrugged

"That's why it was so good," he said, high fiving Sirius.

"But it admittedly went downhill from there," Peter was sure to add, just like Sirius knew one of them would. Sirius just laughed, too elated to finally know who you were.

"Don't start," he said, but it was too late.

All in union they sputtered out the lame word that will plague Sirius' memory of that moment forever, "Name?"

They cackled at him and ruffled his hair all the way to their seats, but Sirius knew they were pleased for him. And Sirius didn't mind, he could feel the pretty eyes of a pretty girl following him across the room. If only someone told him how important she would become to him, maybe he would have looked back at her and never looked away.

Taglist <3

@enchantedblackrose

#sirius black #sirius black fanfiction #sirius black angst #sirius black fluff #sirius black x y/n #sirius black x reader #young sirius x reader #young sirius black #young sirius imagine #harry potter fandom #the marauders #plus sized reader #sirius black x plus sized reader

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dimonds456 · 5 years ago

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Gem Steven’s gem is flipped upside-down. (Theory/Speculation time!)

SPOILERS FOR @spudinacup’s SU AU “Gone Wrong”!

Also WARNING: long post!

So recently, someone pointed out that Steven has a scar on his torso going across his gem’s location, which I found interesting in and of itself. Makes sense, since he wasn’t able to heal it since he DIED and his gem was shoved out of his body before it got the chance to heal him. That slash mark is there now. Wow, neat! Nice detai-

Wait.

Hold on a sec.

Is his gem... flipped upside-down? Well, it’s been like this for a while, maybe it’s just a creative choi-

...oh.

This is VERY intentional.

So I did some digging, and found much more symbolism and possible foreshadowing, and now I want to throw out my theory about Gem Steven here, including his potential arc and character development. I’ll try to keep everything brief while still blowing your minds, and I’ll try to get across what my jumbled mind has come up with.

Spud please notice me.

I will not be uploading photos to go with everything I say (go reread the comic after this and verify for yourself what all I’ve said), but I’ll show visuals when they’re necessary. I do not claim ANY of this art as mine (I wish my art was this good ;u; ), all of it belongs to Spudinacup and their SU AU, which has all kinds of hidden symbolism, foreshadowing, and visual cues we haven’t picked up on yet, as I’ve just learned while researching this theory. This ain’t your run-of-the-mill AU, everything in here is intentional. Scott Spud doesn’t do coincidences. So I’ll point out that stuff in screenshots.

Okay let’s go.

SO! To begin with, let’s talk about why his gem may have flipped, and to realize that, we have to know when. We don’t see the gem much, but we do see it constantly through Chapter 1, where it is normal. The pentagon is pointed upward. However, in Chapter 2, this is where we see it flipped upside down. When did that happen? We didn’t see it. I believe it happened in that first scene in the bathroom, right after we left. The butterflies were swarming angrily, and Steven was very lost in thought.

Notice whenever those butterflies appear. They seem to show up every time he thinks about who he is. Is he still Steven, or is he someone else now? Steven is dead. Everyone is mourning him, trying to heal him, but Gem is still here. So if Steven is dead, but Gem is still alive, that must mean he isn’t Steven then, right? But then that undoes everything we learned in “Change Your Mind.” He IS Steven. He’s always been Steven. But that’s when they were together...

...And so the butterflies swarm.

Notice how the first one shows up when he looks at himself in the mirror. When you look in a mirror, you should see yourself, right? But who IS he? In the show, butterflies represent thoughts and ideas, mostly dark ones, disturbing ones, or ones you don’t want to think about. Well, he already spent WAY too long proving who he was, so now to do it again sucks.

But he isn’t Steven anymore. He’s on the couch being mourned. But he’s already proved he IS Steven before, and it’s this uncertainty that is making his mind swirl. I believe this is why he flipped his gem. Just upside-down, so it’s a small thing no one will notice, while he tries to figure it out. In doing so, he’s separated himself from “Steven”, as they’re not one and the same anymore, and the flipped gem shows this. He’s someone else right now. Maybe. He’s not sure.

So what do we call you for right now? Steven. He already proved he was Steven, so until he’s proved otherwise, Steven it is. Now he just has to figure out what exactly that name means and wether or not he still fits that quota.

Flipped gem/Pink Diamond imagery is EVERYWHERE, mostly hidden in drastic shadows or in panels. It’s things you don’t notice at first, until they’re staring you in the face. See if you can spot them from the 3 screenshots below.

There’s probably more hidden throughout the comic, these are just the ones I’ve found that I feel confident enough to show as hard evidence.

So, what does it all mean? We’ll talk about the screenshots in order, left to right.

First, the Diamond is hidden as the panel in the center. In it, Human Steven lies upside down while the gem-panel is technically upside right. This can be interpreted in a few ways, but what that means to me is that something isn’t right here. If you flip Steven back around so he’s upside right, the gem is now upside down. Notice Gem Steven looking towards his human half on the bottom panel there, clutching his shirt over his gem. It’s a motion we’ve seen Steven do a TON throughout the show, anytime he’s thinking about Rose/Pink, who he is, or complicated gem stuff as a whole. Because early on, his identity was always shrouded in shadow. THAT is Steven, on the couch, without his gem. So for Gem Steven to call himself Steven is inaccurate, but also not at the same time. It’s all swarming in his head, and thus, the gem is flipped.

Next, he’s just broken the rejuvenator. This was probably the hardest to spot of the three, but if you look at the panel where Bismuth asks “feel better?” you will see, in the background, a white line cut through the soft pink hues. Look closer. It’s the outline of the gem, but it’s flipped correctly this time. This is because Bismuth seems to be the only person NOT saying Steven is dead, and treating his gem half one and the same. Is she unnerved? Yeah, but who WOULDN’T be? This is still Steven we’re talking about, as emotionally blocked as he is. He’s aware of why everyone is being weird around him, so to see Bismuth trying her best to treat him with familiarity instead of a completely different, new, dangerous stranger is really calming and helps to calm the storm a bit.

Notice the gem is flipped correctly. This is because he feels like Steven right now. Bismuth has been constant confirmation that he is still Steven, no matter the circumstances. Notice how his eyes dialate back to a larger size. They do that a lot in the comic, articulating his emotions without changing the rest of his face. It’s a clever detail to keep track of. His eyes grow more relaxed, dialating bigger when she pats his shoulder, asking if he feels better after destroying the weapon that killed him. It’s a huge relief for him to hear. So, the gem is correct.

Finally, we see Bismuth telling Greg that his son is dead, which is very contradictory to what Bis was saying earlier (in Steven’s eyes). Where is the gem on that frame? Look at Steven’s shadow. There it is, facets and all. To us, the gem is correct, but think about it this way: if Steven were actually replaced with the gem in that frame, what would it look like, Pink’s or White’s? That’s right. The point is coming from his feet, meaning it would look more like White’s, meaning it is back to being flipped upside down. Again, Bismuth just said Steven is dead, meaning he’s back to questioning his whole entire identity. So it’s back to being flipped upside-down.

It seems that the orientation of the symbolic gems hidden throughout panels show quite clearly where his head is at in terms of who he is. If it’s upside down, he’s separating himself from the cold meatball on the couch, whereas when it’s normal/upside right, he is associating himself WITH the cold meatball on the couch.

Notice he’s been grabbing at his gem a lot recently, too, all things he does while in turmoil over who- or WHAT- he is. He cannot heal right now. He can’t use his powers. Some powers are new and unfamiliar (see the more recent pages where Lapis struck out with water and he blocked with those hexagonal shields/walls). “Steven HEALS people.” He can’t, so who is he?

This is something he’ll need to have an answer to by the time the comic is done, and this is a mission for Gem Steven and Gem Steven alone. If his human half were alive (and content without his gem), he’d probably call himself “Steven” no questions asked, since he GOT his answer already, two years ago. But Gem can’t do that, not when everyone keeps drawing all these lines between the two. He needs to learn what being “Steven” means, and know that he is a part of a greater whole, but on his own, he is STILL Steven. Everyone else needs to realize this, too, and stop separating the two. It’s gonna be rough, since it may feel like replacing what they lost, but is it really? It’s going to be a tough road to trek, and I don’t know what anyone’s answer is gonna be (that’s the big mystery here, after all), but I’m here for it.

Remember, all of this has been speculation on what may happen based on facts and clues Spud has presented us with. I’m not claiming to know how Gem Steven’s arc will end, but I am throwing my hat into the ring on where I THINK it will go. Either way, the foreshadowing, symbolism, and unspoken characterizations here have been excellent, and I’m looking forward to seeing everything play out. Spud, your mind is incredible, and whatever you’ve got planned over there, I’m confident the answer will be satisfactory.

I’ll shut up now. Thank you for reading this huge meta post, and go read Spud’s comic. You can find it at @suaugonewrong or on Spud’s Tumblr, which was linked above. If you think I’m wrong or have a counter argument, bring it. Let’s talk, cause this is genuinely interesting and fun to dissect. I wanna talk about it OwO

Thank you. You may now continue scrolling.

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reflections-in-a-critical-eye · 3 years ago

Note

I will admit I don't know much about this new webtoon, but I will say I'm not super worried about the additional parasocial stuff that will come out of it. Army, in general and especially on twt, pretty actively fights BH when they put out content that crosses the line. I'm not sure if you are active on other social medias, but ever since the the game BTS World (where you played as bts' managers) came out and got a lot of backlash, the backlash from army about this kind of content has only grown. For example, I believe last year, BH tried to push this drama that would use bts' real names as the characters but be played by actors, and it got a tone of backlash from koreans and I haven't seen BH even try to bring it up again since. Or even recently, Hybe EDU (the part of hybe that does like "learn korean with bts") put out some new feature where you could learn korean by acting like the members were in a class with you and you got to meet them in school and talk to them. Once again, the tweet about the anouncement got so much backlash, Hybe actually deleted it and I haven't heard about the feature again since. Even when the trailers for the webtoon came out, I saw a TON of criticism for it being to "stalker-esque" because it was meant to look like cctv footage. Obviously there are going to be young people who eat this stuff up, but in general, the loudest part of the fandom often speaks out when BH tries to push it too far.

I think the boys are obviously under a lot of pressure but they all seem to be in a way better headspace recently based on their interviews and just general comments they have made, when it comes to dealing with the pressure and expectations. I can't speak for bts, but I feel like they are at a point where they don't have anything left to prove artistically. I'm not saying they're beyonce or elton john or anything like that, but after their string of #1's and their top selling albums and all of their awards, its kind of like, welp nothing left but to just make music for ourselves, ya know? And I feel like based on comments yoongi has made recently, that is kinda of where they are at, obviously we won't know until they release more music, but that seems like where they are at to me. I do unfortunately think the boys are still under a ton of societal pressure, both about things in Korea as well as being expected to be knowledgeable about everything going on abroad as well. All kpop idols are heavily scrutinized, but I can't imagine how it feels for bts after working with the president, being called "korea's pride" by koreans, working with the UN, etc. I would be terrified of fucking up if I was in their shoes, not even just as representatives of korea, but as being one of the biggest representatives for asians globally. Like them getting covid, something that unfortunately happens everyday and has become even more common now that the most recent strain is so contagious, turned into a lot of westerners using it as an excuse to be racist towards asians in general and further blame them for covid.

To comment on the first part of your message, I hope you're right. In this particular instance, Army's influence should be a good thing, if they are going to say something about content that is not in line with the BTS brand for whatever reason out there. Not sure how much effect it can have in the long run when it comes to a company's business choices, but speaking up can't hurt. But I have to say, complaining about Chacko promo clips because of the CCTV footage as being too stalker-esque is a bit ironic, don't you think? Not when we have 2 seasons of In The Soop with them living in houses full of motion tracking cameras. We all feel as voyeurs already.

Anon, nothing left to prove artistically? After being in group for only 9 years and all of them in their 20s? All you mention are achievements in terms of numbers, as if that's some sort of proof that they did all they could do. What artist, one that is dedicated to what they do, that has talent and passion, would ever feel like it's ever enough? Some do this their entire lives, go through periods of change, reinvent themselves, despite the full shelf of awards and money. In a way you are right, at this moment in time they do not have anything worthy to show from an artistic pov, but not for the reasons you mention. The way I see it, they need a reset, after they did all they could do to win those #1's cause at this point, it doesn't look that good. They are the most popular, but in terms of music quality, they are lacking. That should be the most important aspect of it all.

There was always the option to make music for themselves and not to win some big award or cater to a western audience that thinks Dynamite or Butter are good songs, let alone PTD.

#asks

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lucemferto · 4 years ago

Video

youtube

I talk about the current troubles of the Dream SMP.

If you want to help me out, please reblog! You can also retweet my tweet and upvote my reddit post. Thank you.

Script under the cut

I really hope Technoblade succeeds in breaking Dream out of prison.

Now why would I say that? Well, it’s because there’s this feeling in the fandom right now that Dream SMP Season 3 is … going slow. That there’s not much happening. Some have blamed it on the pace of how lore streams are doled out, saying we get too little lore stretched out over too much time. Others postulate that it’s the quality of the lore – that the individual plot points are badly told or that the high production value of certain streams prevent the story from gaining momentum.

Now, because I’m me, I think I identified the problem as something that’s structurally wrong with Season 3 as opposed to Seasons 1 and 2. In order to explain that we must look at one of my favourite narratological theories: the Three-Act-Structure.

But before we get into that, here’s your obligatory reminder to please like this video, comment your thoughts down below in order to help me with YouTube’s algorithm and subscribe if you really like my stuff. Please feel free to check out my social media presences and share my videos on there so that more people have the chance to see them. Thank you so much.

Let’s get back to the video:

Chapter 1: The Three-Act-Structure Explained

The Three-Act-Structure as a model to explain narratives finds its roots far in the past with its earliest recorded instance being in the fourth century by the Roman grammarian Aelius Donatus though similar ideas were also expressed by everyone’s favourite Greek philosopher Aristotle.

Since then, the model has been continuously evolved and used throughout recorded history. There are also alternative models such as the Five-Act-Structure, the Six-Act-Structure, the Eight-Act-Structure, the … Nine-Act-Structure, Jesus Christ. But the Three-Act-Structure has reigned the undisputed champion in modern-day creation and analysis of narratives.

The particulars of the Three-Act-Structure as we know it today were codified in Syd Field’s 1979 work “Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting”, which has since become the Go-To-Work when it comes being a screenwriter in Hollywood. You want to write a script? You need the read the “Screenplay”.

The modern Three-Act-Structure is comprised of the following points/sequences:

- The Backstory/Exposition: Exactly what it says on the tin. Sets up the Ordinary World that the characters inhabit, let’s us know about what character’s general deal is. It serves as an introduction to the story and world of your narrative.

- The Point of Attack: This one is not often talked about and doesn’t feature in every story, but it’s still worth mentioning. This is where the major tension/conflict/dramatic question (structurally, these terms fulfil roughly the same function) is set into motion. It usually doesn’t include the protagonists of the story, but rather the antagonists.

- The Inciting Incident: This is where the protagonists are sent on their way. We are introduced to their personal conflict and given a reason as to why they would have to leave the Ordinary World behind.

- The Turning Point: This marks the end of Act I, where the personal conflicts of the protagonists and the major conflict of the overarching story intersect and coalesce. It is the natural fallout of the inciting incident, the big dramatic status quo change that we need in order to get the story going.

This naturally leads into Act II, where all the minor character conflicts are resolved and integrated into the larger conflict. This is what is referred to as the Rising Action: through the resolution and incorporation of the minor conflicts into the major conflicts, the story gains momentum. The action rises.

This act has two big culminations:

- The Mid Point: The first culmination or Mid-Point sees some sort of shift in the major conflict. Maybe all the minor conflicts set-up in Act I are resolved and thus the major conflict becomes the full focus or the major conflict gains an additional factor. Instead of defeating the evil bad guy, the Heroes now have to defeat the Bad Guy and save the Damsel

- The Lowest Point: The Lowest Point marks the end of Act II. Here the villains are just short of victory or maybe even achieve victory. In a romantic movie, this is the cliché end of Act II fallout which naturally leads into chasing the Hero chasing the love interest into an airport.

With the Lowest Point, the Heroes begin the third act almost or fully defeated. The stakes are high and everything seems hopeless. But then comes:

- The Twist/Resolution: Usually, the twist coincides with either the protagonist or some sort of character having a eureka-moment or resolving their personal conflict – their Want vs. Need.

- The Climax: With their problems resolved, the protagonists can venture forth to stop the villains or antagonistic force or save their love life.

- The Dénouement: After the villain’s defeat/the resolution of the final conflict, the protagonist returns to the ordinary world, but changed by their experiences. The Dénouement is the one part of Act III, that can really drag it out – think the many, many endings of Return of the King for instance.

Up until now, I usually focused on that end of Act II/Act III-part when discussing the storytelling of the Dream SMP such as the Final Disc War, November 16th or Doomsday. Because Doomsday wasn’t just the Lowest Point in terms of storytelling quality.

But for Season 3, I instead want to focus on this section, The Inciting Incident and The Turning Point. Because this is where the current storytelling falters. The narrative has failed to pick up momentum, something that is achieved through a successful Inciting Incident and Turning Point.

So, I want to make the theory palpable and apply the Three-Act-Structure – with focus on Act I and early Act II – to all three Seasons of the Dream SMP to see where Seasons 1 & 2 succeeded and Season 3 failed.

Chapter 2: The Three-Act-Structure Applied

Despite being much less written out and planned and more focused on the roleplay-aspect, both Season 1 and Season 2 somehow stumbled into recreating the Three-Act-Structure pretty well (S2 had its problem, but on the whole, it was still generally discernible).

I’m not here to discuss why narrative conventions and tools of literary analysis are applicable to something as seemingly idiosyncratic as the Dream SMP, I will do that in a future video. For the purposes of this video, we will simply have to take it at face value that these tools are applicable.

Season 1, which was probably the most consistently and competently written out of the three seasons thus far, has a very clear major tension/conflict: Who gets to steer the fate of L’Manburg, whether that be through stewardship or dissolution. It ties deeply into the personal conflict of our protagonist Wilbur as well as the external threat as represented by our villain JSchlatt, the best character in the story.

And not just that, basically every character whether that be Tommy, Tubbo, Niki, Fundy, Dream or Technoblade is invested in seeing this major tension resolved.

All this is achieved through a wonderful inciting incident and turning point. The inciting incident, the personal conflict for our protagonists, is Wilbur calling a presidential election. He wants to solidify power; his personal conflict being gaining full control over L’Manburg – I will talk about it more in my Wilbur-video.

This leads to the Turning Point, which in this case is a very natural cause and effect: Wilbur loses the election his sense of self shattered and JSchlatt, best character, takes over L’Manburg declares himself Emperor and exiles Tommy and Wilbur. The protagonists are forced out of their Ordinary World and the dynamic of the server is changed forever. The Main Tension or Major Conflict has been fully established.

This has server-wide consequences that every character is impacted by. All the many personal conflict are now framed by this all-encompassing major conflict. Thus, everything feels like it’s building up towards the same climax. Whether that be Fundy’s personal conflict as a deep-undercover spy, Niki’s conflict as the resistance in Manburg, Quackity’s struggle for power under Schlatt or the threat of Schlatt trying to expand Manberg into Dream SMP territory.

This even applies to the most disconnected conflict in Act II: The War between Sapnap and Tommy. Because even here, Sapnap’s stated goal is to gather enough power to take over Manberg. Now, that the power dynamic has shifted once it has signalled to other antagonists that the power dynamic can shift once more. The Balance of the Ordinary World is disrupted.

And from the Pogtopia-side, this conflict serves as a great way to not only build up their team, but also as a mini-version of their major conflict. If they cannot defeat Sapnap, what chance do they stand against Big Bad Emperor Schlatt.

Season 2, in spite of all the problems that it has, also managed to pull off the inciting incident and turning point rather well. The Inciting Incident here being Tommy burning down George’s house – his intent being to gain some leverage to win his discs back – which then again lead very gracefully into the Turning Point: Tommy being exiled from L’Manburg.

Tommy’s personal conflict – regaining his discs – was folded into the major conflict: Breaking Dream’s grip over the SMP (and in effect creating a new power dynamic on the server).

Tommy’s exile led to Tubbo being pushed by Quackity to institute the Butcher Army – an antagonistic force intent on making L’Manberg the strongest nation on the server; in effect dethroning Dream. This would of course lead to Hog Hunt and Technoblade’s involvement; ultimately bringing a lot of momentum into the narrative.

Now, Season 2 doesn’t pull this off as graciously as Season 1: You will have noticed that both the Inciting Incident as well as the Turning Point are pretty exclusively focused on Tommy which leads to the major conflict revolving mostly around Tommy and the characters in his orbit – which is not ideal when dealing with an ever-expanding ensemble cast.

While Season 1’s Inciting Incident and Turning Point also had Wilbur as their centre point, they were open enough to allow for other characters such as Quackity, Sapnap and most crucially Schlatt to naturally integrate themselves into the narrative.

What also doesn’t help is that the Rising Action up until the Midpoint is almost exclusively focused on Tommy as I discussed in my Philza-video. There is dramatic and narrative momentum, but it comes at the expense of basically every other character or storyline. The Butcher Army and New L’Manburg are painfully underexplored.

But still, despite its flaws, Season 2 managed to get the ball rolling. So where did Season 3 go wrong?

The main problem that Season 3 has is that it presented us with a large number of potential inciting incidents, but no concrete turning point. We have a lot of personal conflicts, but are as of yet missing the big major tension or conflict that ties it all together; that gives the framework in which the personal conflicts of the characters can intersect and resolve.

I think just to showcase how scattershot Season 3’s storytelling is right now; I’ll have to list all the big plot points of the season as they happened:

1. Tommy meets with the Egg and shows an immunity to it. The Egg orders the Eggpire to kill Tommy in order to proceed with their plan

2. The prison gets into lockdown mode, while Tommy is visiting Dream

3. Tommy gets killed by Dream

4. Tommy gets resurrected by Dream

5. Technoblade and Ranboo come into contact with the Egg

6. Quackity comes into contact with the Egg

7. The Syndicate meets up and checks out Snowchester

8. Tubbo loses a nuke

9. The Red Banquet

10. Tommy breaks into the prison

11. Wilbur gets resurrected

Now, quite a number of those could have worked as either inciting incidents or turning point with some narrowing the scope of the narrative more than other. The early points involving Tommy for instance would have pushed him again into the role protagonist akin to how it worked in Season 2, while others like the Syndicate, the Red Banquet or Wilbur’s resurrection would have established the respectively involved groups or characters as the drivers of the major tension.

But none of these avenues are taken. All these conflicts are still insular; their resolutions don’t build to anything.

Tommy’s resurrection – which in my opinion is the first plot point that could have been used as the Turning Point relatively easily – changes the course of the prison and Las Nevadas-storyline, but has little to no impact on the Eggpire, Syndicate or Nuke-storylines.

Similarly, Tubbo losing the nuke could have led to the major tension becoming every faction hunting for the missing nuke in order to fulfil their personal agendas. But again, no dice.

And this just keeps adding up and up. Each new plot point subconsciously leads the viewer to expect that this will be the one to establish a major, unifying tension for the season – and then nothing comes of it. Though the volume of “lore” is still relatively high, the narrative momentum that is needed in order to make the viewer invested in the storyline is diminished with every potential turning point that is ignored in favour of more set-up.

And this structural problem of Season 3 when compared to Seasons 1 and 2 is made the most apparent when looking at …

Chapter 3: The Eggpire

Oh, my poor boys. Where did it all go wrong?

To give some context: The Eggpire or Crimson-storyline actually started in the middle of Season 2, where they managed the impossible: Establishing a storyline with some narrative momentum and impact outside of the major conflict.

So, how did they do that and do it successfully at that?

The first thing we need to understand is that the Season 2 Eggpire-storyline basically involved no one from the “principal cast”. As such, the story was not chained to the developments that were going on there – such as Exile, Hog Hunt, the Green Festival, etc. – and instead had more freedom to do their own stuff.

The Eggpire-storyline in Season 2 was for the most part self-contained. So much so, that people were viewing it not as a part of the on-going narrative, but rather in the vein of Tales from the SMP: A story that stands alone, the resolution of which would have no impact on the server as a whole.

And, to be fair, they could have gone that route. But the writer(s) behind the Eggpire-storyline decided to be more ambitious.

The Eggpire-storyline in Season 2 follows its own mini-version of the Three-Act-Structure, with BadBoyHalo serving as its protagonist. The big narrative movements coincide and are influenced with dramatic movement in his own personal conflict. He is the Wilbur of this storylines – the once good man (relatively speaking), who falls from Grace.

Now, the thing that makes the Eggpire-storyline in Season 2 quite brilliant is that they ultimately tied the resolution of their tension into the major conflict/tension of the Season 2.

Doomsday saw the Lowest Point of the main storyline of Season 2. With L’Manburg’s destruction and Dream’s future imprisonment, there was a huge power vacuum on the server – a power vacuum that BadBoyHalo, now fully under the control of the Egg, was ready to fill.

The climax of the Eggpire-storyline in Season 2 saw the rise of the Eggpire as they spread the seeds of the Crimson in the L’Manburg-crater, intent on taking over server – thus adding onto the dramatic tension that Doomsday already established, making the Lowest Point feel even more foreboding and successfully linking their erstwhile separate storyline to the main tension of the overall narrative. The villains for Season 3 seemed to be perfectly set-up.

And then Season 3 rolled around and they … bungled it completely.

Though the Eggpire eventually came into contact with almost every active character in Season 3 – such as Tommy, Tubbo, Ranboo, Technoblade and Quackity – they completely failed at driving the major conflict and establishing themselves as the main antagonistic force of the storyline the same way Schlatt and Dream had done in the Seasons prior.

The biggest missed opportunity in that regard is without a doubt the Red Banquet. Now, I talked in the past about how the Red Banquet failed just on its own – at least a specific aspect of it – but now we’ll have to talk about how the Red Banquet fails in the context of Season 3.

Because this was the moment that all the storylines could have been brought together. The Eggpire could have succeeded in their endeavour and established themselves as the most prominent force on the serve. This event would have impacted the server as a whole and thus the entire storyline.

Immediately we would have had a major conflict to drive all other storylines – such as Tommy’s storyline, Snowchester, the Syndicate, Kinoko Kingdom and Las Nevadas – to stop the Eggpire from fully taking over the server. All the character-specific conflicts could have then happened within the framing of this major tension.

Maybe Tubbo and the rest are hunting for the nuke, because they think it’s the only way to stop the Eggpire. Maybe the Eggpire wants to free Dream, because he could be of use for the Crimson. Tommy could get abducted by the Eggpire because he is some sort of chosen one or whatever and the onus would fall on the other characters to save him and stop the villains – so Tommy would become the damsel effectively.

Maybe they decide that the only way to defeat the Eggpire is to bring back Wilbur and that’s how that storyline gets integrated. Maybe the disparate forces disagree on that or other plot-points and there’s some infighting between them.

But still: All conflicts would be unified by this one major tension. The Red Banquet would have been the Turning Point to lead into Act II of Season 3, where all the problems would be viewed with the knowledge that the Eggpire and the Crimson was looming in the distance.

Alas, we did not get that. Instead, the Red Banquet turned out to be just another plot point in a long line of plot points that promises more in the future. Smaller personal conflicts are resolved just within the limited scope of their individual storyline and a major tension is yet to be seen.

When Bad says that there’s just one more Egg-stream planned, I hope he’s either misleading or not being clear enough on what he means. Because if this was it; if the Eggpire-storyline just kinda dies here – too connected to all other storyline to be seen as standalone and yet too separated to be enjoyed in the context of Season 3 as a whole – then it would be a worse writing choice than Doomsday.

Epilogue: How the Prison Break can bring it all together

To bring it all back to the sentence I opened this video with: I hope Technoblade succeeds in breaking Dream out of prison, because this could finally be the Turning Point that introduces a major tension to the narrative of Season 3.

I hoped that Wilbur’s resurrection would fill that role, but disappointingly that plot point is again relegated to driving the tension of a few chosen storylines instead of providing a major tension for all players involved.

And with five months into Season 3, this Act 1 has gone on for far too long! For comparison, the entire written storyline of Season 1 encompassed 4 months. Season 2 took place in only 2 months. Season 3 has already exceeded both their runtimes and still seems to have yet to truly start.

Whether Technoblade breaks Dream out or Quackity succeeds in trapping Technoblade in Pandora’s Vault – there needs to be a turning point somewhere in sight.

Because my biggest fear is that we’re already past it. That the Eggpire-storyline will just fizzle out and that some other plot point will retroactively reveal itself as the turning point – because that would mean that Season 3 would have a horrifically unfocused, saggy and just generally unengaging second act. And that would be a shame.

Thank you so much for watching. Once again, please feel free to like, comment and subscribe. The links to my social media are all in the description down below. I have a bunch of stuff planned for the future including a very long video on Wilbur as well as two videos that have nothing to do with Dream SMP.

Until then, please be excite.

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x0401x · 4 years ago

Text

Kagerou Poject Reboot: RealSound Interview

Jin x Shirakami Mashirou x Yuumao

Their takes on the changes that each of them has witnessed in the past ten years and the things they have been seeing in the whirlpool that is the VOCALOID scene.

Translation commissioned by the amazing @sodasexual!

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of Kagerou Project, the Re:boot project has commenced. An interview has been carried out to ask about its background and prospects.

The ones we have interviewed are a trio consisting of the author of Kagerou Project and multi-creator Jin, as well as Shirakami Mashirou (bass) and Yuumao (drums/Hitorie), who are also production members of the original music piece and were listed as the performance team of “Children Record (Re:boot)”, which was released the other day as the first part of the Re:boot project.

We had them talk about the true intentions behind “Re:boot”, which means “to restart”, about the recordings where they created the concept of “overcoming the original composition” and about the near future, including the new song, along with the steps they have taken in the past ten years.

The “pain” that comes with creating something unprecedented.

——How did Kagerou Project’s Re:boot project begin?

Jin: Kagerou Project was set into motion back in 2011, so this year is the turning point of ten years since then. In that meantime, there were lots of things I fretted over, but as I discussed with the people around me about whether there was anything I could do, we came up with the idea of “remaking the old compositions”. I thought if that’s what we were going to do, then I wanted to try doing it with the original members of Children Record, so I contacted the two.

——How did each of you feel when Shirakami Mashirou-san and Yuumao-san received the proposal of a remake?

Jin: Regarding Mashirou-san, I was contacting him for the first in a long time. “Let’s go out for a drive,” I told him.

Shirakami: Right, right. We went on a car drive together. Just us seeing each other already felt nostalgic in itself, so we talked like normal about lots of things and were like, “Yeah, it was fun back then”. I felt that “Aah, I’m looking forward to this”.

Jin: While talking to the staff, I honestly felt uneasy about creating something new, even though it was a remake. If I had to use a word to represent these ten years in which I’ve been writing novels and making music for Kagerou Project, it was extremely “painful” to me. So I wanted to talk to Mashirou-san first-thing. On a different occasion, when a staff member asked me, “Have you been keeping in contact with Mashirou-san lately?”, I suggested, “If it’s okay, can I contact him myself?”, and then invited him for the drive. Rather than the request for the remake, I firstly wanted to discuss with him, “I’m planning on doing this thing; what do you think?”

Shirakami: There was one more person taking part in that drive, right?

Jin: That’s right. Since the coronavirus was going on, we went driving in three separate cars, and the third person was INPNE-kun, who made the video of Children Record Re:boot. That was INPINE-kun and Mashirou-san’s first meeting. At that time, INPNE-kun hadn’t started working on the video yet, but thinking back on it now, I’m glad the two of them were introduced to each other that way. It feels like our hearts bound the music and the video together.

——Yuumao-san, what about you?

Yuumao: Jin-kun and I were seeing each other constantly. I had received a request to tackle the recordings of the songs he had been making until now. Amidst that, there was a day when I received a request, amongst other matters, and was scheduled to “record Children Record”. Up to around three days before the recording, I spent my time wondering, “What’s this supposed to be?” (laughs).

——Jin-san, what did you think when choosing Shirakami-san and Yuumao-san, the original duo?

Jin: I only felt that I wanted to do it with these two. I didn’t have any other choice in the first place. I’m awfully fond of the contents that they performed in the original song, and I had no complaints other than towards my own abilities for making musical arrangements.

——You said earlier that “the past ten years were extremely painful”, but what kind of feeling was it?

Jin: The year when I began these activities, 2011, was the time when I was attending a vocational school; the band I was playing with back then disbanded midway, but by sheer coincidence, the older brother of a friend of mine was using VOCALOIDs and he taught me about them, so I really started doing it without any backing. Having played in a band until then, there was a lot of passion and many messages that I wanted to convey inside me, so this project was about me taking them and beginning to paddle off, and one of the aspects of it was that VOCALOID made the things I wanted to do into a reality. But that was a period where it felt like the VOCALOID culture wasn’t yet acknowledged. On top of that, other than the music, Kagerou Project had novels, and a lot of it had no precedents, so I believe there were parts of it that were difficult to understand for people who weren’t already into it. I didn’t know if the path I was going through was right or wrong. But the people around me kept telling me “not to take my foot off the accelerator”. In that sense, I definitely have negative memories of it. I also had the feeling that I was estranged from the music scene.

——Indeed, the music of Kagerou Project is unmistakably rock, and I believe it was something that pierced through Japan’s rock culture, but I think you might have felt that you were not understood by the rock bands of back then.

Jin: That’s right. Surprisingly, the people around me, including creators and those who were in bands, gave off an air of ridicule with a “he’s a faker” kind of nuance to it. I understood the awesomeness of rock bands, so of course, there were times when I’d wonder, “What is it that I’m doing?”. During these ten years, there was a moment halfway when I almost broke down. Due to many primary factors, I might’ve been unable to go on – like, there was a time when I found myself thinking that it was weird to keep it up while I was so at loss. There was also a period where I was unable to create anything for Kagerou Project.

——When did that happen, exactly?

Jin: Rather than breaking down all of a sudden, it’s more like I slowly became unable to create any more. Although I was being criticized on one side, I was also being demanded on another, so I was at a level where I was obligated to write. However, while all sorts of emotions were whirling up, I suddenly thought of something. There was a time when I got closure from that feeling of “not being acknowledged” that I mentioned earlier.

——When was that?

Jin: Around the time when I was making the previous album (“Mekakucity Reload”, which was released in November 2018). I was called “inexperienced” and “unskilled” not only in the rock scene but also in the light novel scene, so I made effort to sweep it all away. It felt like I was being treated like a tumor in everything I did. But then I suddenly thought, “Yeah, that’s fine”. There was a moment one day when the mists actually cleared, like, “What was I so at loss about?” It’s not like I’ve been going at it just so that someone would praise me. If anything, I lived my life constantly being made fun of. I’m no good at sports, I’m not smart, and I by no means did I ever excel at communicating with people at all. By the moment that I thought, if this is my character, then maybe being praised isn’t the only right answer, I was suddenly alleviated. If I’m being called a “child deceiver”, then I’m going to do that with all my might and apply myself to it, is what I thought. I refused to go to school for a while when I was in middle school, yet I had the feeling that I wanted to face this part of me, not in a fashionable or trendy way but in a miserable state, and fight him head-on. I guess that’s what suited me best. To me, Shirakami-san and Yuumao-san are people with a “chosen vision”. They have the sense to perceive beauty. I think I don’t have that in me. Which is why I was in pain. I was in a dilemma where I couldn’t grasp music as an art. However, it’s not like I’m making fun of hamburgers, but I started to think that I wanted to compete using something punk, something hamburger-like. It took me a while to get there.

——How do you feel after listening to what Jin-san just said, Yuumao-san and Shirakami-san?

Yuumao: Jin-kun said just now that he was “fretting” and “stuck”, but I knew about his circumstances to a certain extent, so I imagined that he was unable to move on. But while talking about all sorts of things with Jin-kun, when producing stuff in the last three to four years, we had the feeling that it basically boils down to “if we don’t provide this and that, it won’t be interesting”. This isn’t limited to KagePro – I just personally felt that the productions of his works were shifting towards not “making something good”, but rather making something that could be properly verbalized. For me, as someone on the performing side, I was also in a situation where, rather than just providing good content one way or another, I became increasingly able to explain it. In the end, we change just like that, is what I felt. And you base yourself on this to make new songs, right?

Jin: That’s right.

Yuumao: Thought so. That’s why I feel like the stuff that will come from you in the future will have stronger colors.

——Shirakami-san, what about you? How did the scenario change in the past decade and how do you think that you have been progressing as a musician?

Shirakami: The biggest change that I felt the most on my skin is that the huge Vocaloid movement itself has completely gained familiarity with the public in the last ten years. About a while after I had started associating with Mafumafu-kun, amongst the musicians that I’ve met, the number of people who came up to tell me, “I’ve been listening to Vocaloid” has increased. It’s been one round ever since we began doing this stuff, and the people who were the consumers back then became producers, is what I mean. That’s not us, the first generation – it’s a kind of follower generation, and we’ve completely permeated them. The context of what was born not only from VOCALOID but also the so-called internet culture has blended with the category named “ordinary rock bands”. That’s what I’ve been feeling for three or four years now. Therefore, the “feeling of being a knock-off” that Jin-kun innitially talked about has disappeared with the change of times, so to speak. I feel this keenly even in regards to myself and I think it’s an objective truth. However, from a personal point of view, even though changes are happening in many places, what is fundamentally required of us hasn’t changed much. For example, I believe that VTubers are also getting public familiarity now, but I think the reason why VTubers are trendy is that there are human beings underneath. For VOCALOID, too, the composers, so-called Vocalo-P’s, are the ones who get popularity, and one way or another, there’s also a phenomenom where the songs sung by popular Utaite become widespread. In the end, I think what matters is the fact that there are people behind it. I personally think we have to create stuff that we can be proud of while paying close attention to these things. In short, just because all internet content is intangible isn’t enough; we, the creators, have to carry the literacy of how society is going to approve of us.

Jin: That’s right. I think that VOCALOID music up to this point, Kagerou Project included, will have to be supplemented. Since we have words that are so easy to understand, such as “rock band”, “singer” and “songwriter”, for example, people go, “What the heck is a Vocalo-P, then?” At first, there was this impression that we were being given a weird alias by strangers, and I also felt like the adults, the people who are in control of the media, made us into something easy to digest. In regards to “deceiving children”, in order to earn money the fastest with it and make it spread the widest, the most effective method was probably to make it marketable, simple to understand and easy for adults to put labels on.

Therefore, I think that things such as “What is it that I can’t give up on?” and “What did I even want to do to begin with?” are the true identity of the realization that I mentioned earlier. It’s like wondering whether or not you can say aloud in the middle of a classroom that you “enjoy anime” or “really like cute characters”. Back in those days, I couldn’t to it at all. The class had castes. But I want to say this in a loud voice. Rather than trendy and fashionable overseas music, I much sooner believe in Summon Night EX-THESE’s theme song (“Byakuya” by Matsumoto Eiko) and other such music that I’ve always liked. Therefore, I want to start off from the fact that people think, “Aah, this guy has no sense”. It’s like I’m saying sorry to my middle school second-year self for almost forgetting the feelings I had back then. I seriously don’t care about winning. Being number one or being famous doesn’t matter at all to me. Only, I just don’t want people to act on their own accord like I’m a loser. I think that means I want to do something to fix this.

Earning recognition for creating KagePro content is still a few ways ahead.

——Back in 2013, we had a conversation between Jin-san and Suganami Eijun-san from THE BACK HORN, and back then, Jin-san said, “I’m handing bombs over to my grade school and middle school selves”. And that live concerts were the detonators.

Jin: That’s right.

——Regarding KagePro, I feel that this thing about “handing bombs over” is very prominent. Just as Shirakami-san said, VOCALOID “earned its own rights”, but in KagePro’s case, when I see the responses to the reboot, each and every one of the comments is very passionate.

Yuumao: Lately, be it with KagePro or Hitorie, the number of people who say either that they’re listening or had been listening to VOCALOID in the past year and a half has truly increased a lot. I kind of feel on my skin that many people are getting rooted in it.

——Jin-san, do you feel this too?

Jin: No, I don’t. This is a twisted way of putting it, but I think it’s a few ways ahead for us to receive that evaluation. I feel like it’s not over yet. When I started off by myself and decided to move on from my child self to the future, I wasn’t acknowledged by my elders and seniors. I feel inside me that this still isn’t over. I intend to be in a whirlpool. It hasn’t been proven yet whether I’m a knock-off or not. It makes me really happy that there are people who were influenced by us, but that opinion doesn’t make me change my mind.

——Jin-san, how do you think of KagePro in the near future?

Jin: When I look toward the future, I simply want to finish it. I will be taking my time to create content, but first things first, I want to devote myself to the completion of this project. I definitely won’t abandon it midway. I have this firmly in mind now. As for its contents, it’s mainly two things. For now, firstly, we have started the reboot from Children Record, but of course, there’s also a reboot for the project’s story. Moreover, there will be new developments coming next. There are also new songs and new stuff story-wise. And I want to do them with these two members, for as much as they allow. There’s the possibility that I’ll be making the drums play at 200 BPM when we’re in our 50’s. I think the announcements will be slow, but I’m very positive about this, so I myself am looking forward to it too. And, on the other hand, I also would like to ask these two for their ideas in regards to making music for this project and their opinions, like what they want to work hard on.

——What do you mean?

Jin: I honestly think that Children Record was extremely well-done. When it comes to creating something new, I want to destroy the approach that I’ve been using until now. How about it?

Shirakami: If we’re talking about approach, I believe we’ve been witnessing all sorts of possibilities. We went to studios together the past ten years for that, but we can also do it online like we did this time. Ah, we haven’t gone on a training camp yet.

Jin: I want to go on one.

Yuumao: For sure.

Shirakami: That might be interesting too. Now, if we’re talking just about the bass, it seems this production will turn out as one where I’ll get to confirm once again up to what point I can go – that’s what I thought when listening to you talk. I think the stance of trying to challenge yourself no matter how much you age is, of course, the way that musicians should be and I believe that challenging myself is the path I’m going to take, but there are genres, ideologies and aestheticss when it comes to music makers and performers. Personally, amongst the things that I’ve been producing together with Jin-kun until now, whenever we had a subject in front of us, we would only think about how to do our utmost to give a displayable form to it, but be it with the phrasing, nuance or melody, I feel like we have options for all of them. In a sense, there’s a side of Yuumao and I that has been branded as performers as we worked on productions with Jin-kun. So the extension of the straight line that we have been charting until now is, of course, still there. Now that ten years have passed, if I can make new songs with you from now on, I seriously think it might be okay to reflect once again on how my style is being processed. It’s as if it has matured. I have chosen this job out of free will, so one way or another, I’m aware that it’ll be important to keep polishing it from now onwards.

Jin: Thank you very much. That’s literally it. Even in the current Children Record, I think there’s some aspect of it that was made up from the minds of you two, the rhythm section members. Both Mashirou-san and Yuumao-san make new proposals every time. You never try to trace the past at all. The way you think about sound is insanely serious.

Yuumao: I’m planning to do my best to create sounds in a more loose manner from now on. As for what I mean by “loose”, to put it simply, I think it’s quite important to be inspired by present-time musical instruments, and that we get influence from that, when we’re making the sound details. I think it’s bad if we don’t accept and face these things. In particular, I believe that the bass and drums are the parts that change the most. KagePro won’t change yet it has changed, and I think we should keep bringing out that aspect of it.

――Indeed, as a concept, this reboot is not something made to arrange things in a completely different direction from before. Be it a ballad or programmed music, for instance, there would be nothing of that in it. It’s a remake, a rebuild – at any rate, it felt like you are building it up.

Jin: Thank you very much. In the end, we also shouldn’t think that we just perfomed it over again. So it felt like a rematch. We were all at home, but we did that recording ready to beat our selves from about eight years ago. What should I do to make the original members say that this one “was cooler” than the precious song called Children Record? I think I was able to find an answer to that one.

Shirakami: In a way, using VOCALOID might have been its forte. For example, whenever a band remade a song from ten years ago, I usually felt that “the vocals have none of the freshness that they had back then” or “the reckless feel from that time was better”. But because it’s VOCALOID, that part doesn’t change. It might be that we managed to grant positive changes only to the good points.

Jin: I see. I think that’s possible. My mindset this time was to play the guitar so much that my fingers would bleed. I want to take on more challenges from now onward too.

#kagerou project #kagepro #mekakucity actors #kagerou daze #kagerou project reboot #jin #shirakami mashirou #yuumao #realsound #interview #my translation

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