#y’all have to b this selfish to realize

[coryosbaby]

Just a reminder of how shitty these ppl r !! If u won’t support Palestine bc of, idk, the fact that it’s basic human fucking decency to do so and because you want innocent civilians dead, then maybe your rotted brain might process that Israel and the American government funding this genocide affects YOU too 🫵🏻🥰

[dreamgirlvibes]

We live in a culture where we are told we can go find better and do better- thus isolating ourselves and repeating this cycle over and over after small disagreements and ego-driven battles. Only to find ourselves becoming a capsule of emotions, memories and soul ties left with nothing but a false hope. Yes, there are instances where you SHOULD remove yourself and disconnect from people and things that are truly detrimental to your life and well being. But every single time someone fails or doesn’t meet such high standards, we’d rather let go instead of giving grace. We would rather remove what could have been instead of thinking of our own triggered responses and actions. We end up selfishly choosing ourselves instead and left with only ourselves. Traumatized by what is called love but we never truly find it. Taught by instagram memes and twitter posts and led by their manifestations. Guided by the followers of God and not Himself. Walking around the earth with a pride so high that couldn’t be reached but expecting for people to climb our walls. Love used to last back then because people knew what it was to TRY. We hallmark this ‘’90’s’’ r&b era because deep down inside we all want to find a love that stays, a love that never quits, that is vulnerable and faithful. It’s not about the boy groups ‘’begging and pleading’’ for their women. It’s not about the r&b divas expressing their hearts outs and uplifting their men. It’s not even about a nostalgic feeling. It’s about the fact that that we all had examples and situations that made us BELIEVE that the kinda love we deserve is WORTH IT. Worth crying for, worth chasing, worth staying, worth giving and trying. We are now blind to that type of love. We all have our guns in our pockets and weapons ready to aim at any kind of instance that doesn’t deem to be perfect. We have traded healthy love for toxicity and eventually made toxicity a normal thing- so normal we are TERRIFIED to try. Scared to stay. Horrified to look so crazy, so dumb, to be open, to cry, to do, to feel that we’re slowly becoming numb to the idea of it. Some praise singleness as a form of healthiness to the point of normalcy. And not saying that being single is not normal, but it’s the projection we forget about. People’s projections have become our new will and we all then cycle it back and pass It along. Causing all of us to eventually feel like we can do so much better, be so much better, when in reality we don’t even realize that the real work is working on ourselves. Nothing changes if nobody changes. We point the finger at each other when the target should be our own lives. If only you and that person could call it truths and instead instantly erasing the memories and history you’ve built off a disagreement, y’all can find a solution- first by removing the ego and letting vulnerability take its place. However, in this generation, that almost seems like a scam. We have power words we use for people who make simple mistakes- calling their choices a disease and spreading awareness to what could have easily been an apology. We would rather categorize people by names then to understand their reasons. We would rather perceive someone for what we choose to believe instead of allowing that person to find solace in us. Because in this generation- love is merely a concept. It is just a partnership until the contract is broken and when it breaks, we can go find another partner than can fulfill our selfish needs. It is prideful, it is not kind, it envies, dishonors others, self seeking, easily angered, never trusts, delights in seeing evil after departure and eventually fails. EVERYTHING opposite of what the Bible describes to BE LOVE. So do not think it rare that we have an enemy who is seeking to remove this altogether. To keep us soaked up in this concept until we no loner have a fighting chance. To keep us ‘’cutting each other off’’ and ‘’blocking’’ each other altogether because we feel like there is SO MUCH better when in reality the better needs to be YOU. You are the change that the world needs.

If everyone looked at themselves before trying to find this love in everyone else- we will all be facing ourseves and getting hit with the fact that when you finally turn around- you will THEN truly see each other. We will then finally see LOVE for what it is.

[davenportia]

let’s rant about everyone’s least favorite fictional billionaire, donald davenport

i know some of y’all are going to eat this up

TW

donald davenport abused his kids. i posted a tiktok about this and actually got so much hate for it wtf. people were asking what he did and saying he’s a good dad. you can protect your kids without depriving them of things like food and FUCKING GOING UPSTAIRS. they have NEVER left the basement. to them, that’s completely normal. and disney adds laugh tracks to these things like it’s funny? not everything on disney is comical and should be taken seriously. when leo asked “so you’ve never left this room?” chase answered with the fact that all they do is eat, sleep, and train, and then mentioned the shows title. when leo mentions school, bree chimes in and says she wants to go to school. at one point during the premiere, they say (c)”i want to go to the pyramids,” (b)”i want to go to paris” and (a)”i want to go upstairs.” what. the. fuck.

he wanted to send them off over one little mistake. when they went to school for the first time, they caused a bit of trouble. i understand getting mad, but he said they were to have no contact with the outside world after that. leo threw his party, and he decided to send them to the remote facility they almost went to in the first episode. dude, they have NEVER been outside. they’re going to make mistakes. instead of sending them off to fucking antarctica, why don’t you discipline and try to compromise. leo already loved them by then, and he was totally right to be upset. give your kids a chance. they’re like babies. would you send a baby to an offshore facility to be taken care of? exactly.

he is so fucking selfish. i mean chase went alaska (i believe) RISKING HIS LIFE to get davenport something he needed for his thermoblaster or whatever it was idek. when chase came back, he had a small reaction, don’t even remember what he said. when chase showed him whatever he got, donald got excited and went “MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY” and then went “sorry, thank you” and disney once again laughed it off. like tf? you gonna tell your son you’re glad he’s ok?

the entirety of ‘the rats strike back’ episode. think about it.

when douglas blew up the lab, leo mentioned the fact he’s completely broke, and he started crying. he said “i’m crying about the kids” which he obviously wasn’t. disney again put that as a joke. like your kids are missing, basically their room just blew up, and you’re worried about your money? then when the lab rats were receiving an award, he was working on an indestructible car so he could get some job from the president and therefore, money. “i might even share some with you” davenport teased. bree asked if he was serious, to which he answered no as if that were obvious. “so even though it’s OUR awards show, suddenly it’s all about YOU?” chase asked. “you know, for the smartest man in the world, it really took you a while to realize that” he responded. DISNEY LAUGHED IT OFF. this man. he’s a damn billionaire, why does he need more money?

every person he has ever met besides maybe tasha doesn’t like him: salespeople, krane, perry, people he has tried to sell his inventions to, and i understand why. he’s annoying, a narcissist, selfish, and not a good father nor a good person. you can say “he protected his kids” all you want, but he could have taken a different approach to it.

[ana-cantskywalker]

Update update:

Alright I had to ask my sister permission to post this because it’s more about her personally (because I was always kind of a tag along because of the business and my sister was more her actual best friend, because I am a lot younger than they are) and less about us and the business than I thought it would be. But I wanted y’all to know that it is relatively resolved

(B will stand for our ‘friend’ and C will stand for my sister)

Basically, the conversation went like

B: You hurt me because I feel like I prioritize you all of the time and you never do anything for me unless it’s convenient (not true)

C: If you can’t see everything I have done for you over the past year (dropping everything to go help B with her horses for the entire day multiple times, always showing up when she needed help, I have been there every step of this friendship and honestly I have never seen C give so much of herself to someone else. C has done so much for her without complaint and everything B has done, no matter how little effort it was, she is acting like was a huge sacrifice) then I don’t know what I am supposed to do

B: You are a selfish person and you need to change before we can continue to be friends (hello?????)

C: I agree that we both have things to work on

B: No, I am a good person and a good friend, you are a bad friend, and I can’t keep giving myself waiting on you to change your personality (this is paraphrasing she didn’t explicitly say that, but it was heavily implied because she constantly talked highly of herself and how loyal she was and constantly talked poorly about C, like she was just this horrible person while B was perfect. She also implied that C needed to ‘grow up’ which is really rich coming from someone who is extremely immature. And HELLO???? If you are a good person YOU DONT SAY THAT TO YOUR FRIENDS)

C: (trying to change the subject because knowing B no amount of hey, that’s not how this is and here’s why, is going to work and B is just going to lose her temper because she always does) do you realize what the common denominator in all of our arguments is (the business it’s always the business)

B: a character trait (implying that C was the reason and the problem in every argument and that once again B has never done anything wrong. When if fact, her high expectations of us and low expectations of herself are what caused most of them, like what happened Monday)

C: No the business

B: yeah because you don’t do the things you commit to (again, not true. For our event last month, we not only completed everything we were supposed to, but finished some of her stuff, and she still didn’t get everything she was supposed to done)

C: ok if that’s the way you feel about it

Basically the whole conversation was just B came in to crap talk C, and act like the victim when she has caused most all of the problems. C just started saying ok because there was no point in trying to reason with her. People have told us she is a manipulator before and we ignored it because we really wanted it to work out, but we saw how true it was yesterday.

She told us after the shipping ordeal on Monday, she was so upset about being let down that she not only cried on a woman in the shipping depot but then proceeded to go home and get drunk as a skunk, which in my opinion really speaks to her emotionally immaturity (this woman in in her thirties, and married with a kid, not a teenager or 20 year old).

They’ve decided to ‘take a break’ for some space, but C is not going to initiate anything until B does, and even then they can never go back to being close friends the way they were after this.

There were a lot of red flags that we ignored (the fact that we didn’t want to bring her around our family, the fact that we felt like we were constantly walking on eggshells around her to not make her upset, she never did anything for us unless it was convenient etc etc) but now that we’ve seen them we can’t unsee them.

I knew she had some character flaws, but I really didn’t expect her to be that self centered and insensitive to just berate C like that. Honestly, I hate to say this about a person, but I genuinely think she is crazy she’s just very good at hiding it, I don’t see how else she could perceive the situation in the way she did. I think she got upset about last week when we said we wanted to start our own thing but still be close (for the sake of the relationship of all things) and it spiraled into her being the constant victim in the relationship so that she could have someone to blame.

We both want to be on good terms with her as to not destroy our chances of being a witness, but we also cannot allow that kind of stress and negativity back in our lives. Me and C are very very close (like do almost everything together close) and we have never argued as often or as violently as we have the past three months and it’s almost always been over B.

So, after all of this, please pray for my sister. We’re both glad the situation is over and done with, and she feels like she handled it in the way she was supposed to (I agree) but hearing someone that was supposed to be your friend tell you that you are inherently selfish and a terrible person, and that everything about you needs to change is a really hard blow on someone’s mind and soul, (even though she knows it’s not true, and I do too, it’s still difficult to process).

Thank you everyone who did pray for us. We asked the Lord that if he wanted us out of the relationship for B to end it, and she did, so it’s an answered prayer, even if the situation kind of makes me feel gross and disappointed. But again, thank you so so much for your prayers over the past few days :)

I hesitate to bring this up because there are so many people going through so so much worse right now ( I have been so burdened for people in damage from Helene, even more than I normally am for people in disasters), but I could really use some prayers from my friends.

Going to keep it short so I dont just trauma dump all over your feed, but I feel like some explanation is necessary.

Me and my sister started helping a friend with her small business in the Spring. We got more and more involved, and really saw an opportunity, but we didn't pray or seek wisdom before we jumped in head first, and its coming back around to bite us.

We had a big event last month, and it was horrible, our friend started getting ridiculously upset with us for not dedicating enough time to the business (when we had not only finished all of our projects but also some of hers) and was just generally constantly stressing us out over things. She's just generally really difficult to work with, and then refuses to ever be in the wrong even when she is. Since then we've prayed about what to do, and the Lord gave us some guidance. We knew we couldn't keep being her friend and working so close quarters with her, so we came up with a solution. We were going to start are own business that was similar but would not tap into her market at all and therefore not create competition, and still help her with hers when she needed it, but less than before so we could continue to be friends but not constantly bite each others head off.

We sat down last Wednesday and talked with her about it, and she was fine with it, said it was a good idea even. Well, over the weekend she has gone crazy (I hate to say it but idk how else to describe it) She pitched a fit over my sister not wanting her to be on the patent for a design my sister made from start to finish (she has no reason to be on it, and if we ever give someone permission to use the design for royalties it would mean she gets 50% because technically she would own half) and then today she called us and needed us to meet her with one of the things we had at the house that was sold so she could ship it, but she called 45 minutes before we would have had to leave. We were both busy and couldn't do it and she want ballistic, called us several times, ended up calling my mom multiple times and my mom ended up meeting her somewhere closer so she would leave us alone. She has taken this tiny issue that she caused by not communicating and made us to be the bad guys, told us it was 'unacceptable' and is threatening to end the friendship because my sister wouldn't call her on the drive down to the meeting she had to go to because she was riding with someone else (and its kind of rude to argue with you 'friend' on the phone while someone is driving you somewhere). She is acting like we are being horrible people for not being able to work it out the way she wanted tonight.

Looking back we can see that its always been like this, we've always had to bend over backwards for her while she won't inconvenience herself for us, but its hard to deal with now.

I feel like I am rambling a lot and probably venting too much too people online but I needed to tell someone because the whole ordeal has me really stressed out, and I know that there are people on here who will pray for me. My sister hasn't been sleeping well and I am getting ulcers and I think its because of how much she has stressed us out over the past month and a half an I am sick of it

All this to say, please keep us in your prayers, I'm not trying to gain sympathy or anything, I just really need the Lord to have his hand in this and I would appreciate prayers.

[bo0zey]

boys be mad asl when i don’t giggle n tehe n show cute emotions like bitch my wounded inner child just got done drunk sniveling begging for daddy not to yell n hate her while her intoxicated narcissistic father screamed n gaslit her until she dissociated to euthymic plane 🙄🙄🙄

[angelamajiki]

PARINGS: Brother! Tamaki Amajiki x Female! Sister! Reader

CW: yandere, incest, stealthing, con to noncon, quirk play, riding, manipulation, possessiveness, slight angst, implied kidnapping

AN: thank you to @suzuki-violin-school for beta reading!! @sightoru @bonesoftheimpala come get y’all juice

You always had a strange relationship with your big brother, seeming to be just a touch close for your parent’s liking. But the pair of you never paid too much mind to it. Something about it just felt natural and right. You were thick as thieves, always confiding and comforting each other when no-one else seemed well enough to do the job.

When you ran to your brother’s house the second your first boyfriend broke up with you for a completely arbitrary reason, leaving you to cry on your nii-san’s shoulder to deal with your heartache.

“I told you he was no good for you, bunny. I knew from the start that something was wrong with him. There’s no one that’s good enough for my baby sister.”

Then it happened again. And again. And again, until it seemed like every partner you’ve ever had lost interest after the first few months of your relationship. It was devastating to feel unloved and unwanted, but at least you had your big brother to make everything better. Tamaki always reminded you how much he loved you, how smart and intelligent you were, how anyone would be lucky to have you, and the people who have dumped you were complete fools to not see what a gem you were.

And anyone would be lucky to have your big brother; you reminded him as well. The number seven pro hero who had finally blossomed into a confident, top-tier hero with a heart of gold. He was so strong, not to mention a heartthrob. Maybe it felt wrong to be jealous of the attention he gets from the media for his work along with his looks. Still, maybe it was because you knew better than anyone else that one day, the devotion he showed towards you would be the devotion he showed towards his own partner.

Not that you ever planned to tell him you didn’t want his undivided attention to be cast elsewhere, but just like everything else about your relationship, it flowed out naturally when you were crying about your recent first date that had ghosted you after dinner.

“Tama-nii, I’m never going to find someone! Why does no one want me?”

You sobbed into his chest, clinging to him like you did when you were a child, searching for the lost innocence of your youth in his arms. His strong hands embraced you without question, without judgment, as he kissed the top of your head tenderly while shushing you gently.

“Oh, bunny. That’s not true at all-”

What could he know about your struggle? The media treats him like the very man who hung the stars in the sky, and how could you blame them? He was the moon, the very embodiment of tenderness that waxes and wanes with a gentle, shimmering brilliance that you can’t help but hide in the shadows of.

“Yes, it is! What could you possibly know of not being wanted when you’re just going to end up leaving me like everyone else does?” His silence spoke louder than your own sobbing. “One day, you’ll find someone and leave me to be alone again because no one wants me!”

His hand, that touch you’ve become so familiar with, gently strokes your lower back.

“Who said I don't want you? You're making assumptions, little bunny.”

His words tickled your ear, got your heart racing as he quelled your cries of anguish. “Because I certainly do.”

Nimble fingers tilted your chin up to meet his soft gaze, lust clouding his eye like the calm before the storm.

“B-But not like that-”

“Exactly like that.”

His words lit a fire in your core, but forced ice to run through your veins. Your brother could never have you in the way you wanted him to, the way you needed him to.

“It's not that simple.” You choked out, straining to contain yourself from your fleeting desires. This fleeting feeling of weakness can't let you risk your relationship with your brother, or worse, let him be your everything for just a moment and watch him walk away when he's done. “We can't.”

“And why is that? Isn't it obvious that I'm not going anywhere unless I'm with you?”

His face inched closer to yours, a blush splattering his pale skin up to his ears.

“It’s wrong-”

Your eyes flicked to his lips for a brief moment as you found yourself frozen.

“Not if I love you.”

Plush lips sealed over yours, enveloping you in the tenderness you'd had always envied him for. The love, the obsession he had for you had come crashing down in waves over you as you kissed him back, eager to feed off his affection and attention.

Teeth and tongue clashed together in a messy display of the taboo; hips pushed flush against each other as you whined into his mouth, sobbing in the relief of finally feeling yearned for.

The question of whether or not it was right wasn't plaguing you anymore, not like it did you when you scorned yourself for the infectious desires that coiled in your core late at night. His love cleansed you, cured you of your ailment as his tongue and lips made their way to your neck.

Sweet nothings tickled your ear as he nibbled and kissed along your tender flesh, leaving bright pink spots in his loving wake. The tears from your eyes dripped onto his hair, but neither of you seemed to care.

“Don't cry, my love.”

His words were like a symphony, enthralling you with the melody that he carried in his voice and the song he sung to soothe your overwhelmed state. “Let your big brother take care of you, okay?”

Clothes were discarded in a flurry, tossed somewhere beyond the couch the two of you were grinding on. His hands were so strong, yet so gentle as you were carried like a princess, his princess, to his bed where he no doubt intended to indulge in every one of your desires.

Your knight in shining armor kissed you breathless under the moonlight that trickled through the window, casting his shadow over you. Even now, he stole the limelight but you couldn't find it in yourself to care this time, not when he touched you so lovingly.

Nimble fingers kneaded and pulled at your plump flesh, making their ways down to the wetness between your legs. Shame flushed your face as he throatily chuckled. “Wet for me already, imouto? You're flattering your nii-san.”

The pad of his thumb circled your clit gently, sharp eyes watching as your body jolted and twitched at the sensation. “You’re acting as though you've never been touched before.”

You hear the smile in his voice without even seeing it. It only served to flush your shame even further, avoiding the eyes that were fucking you with everything they had.

“Don’t take those pretty eyes off of me.”

His middle finger prodded gently at your hole, teasing the twitching thing with circles of his forefingers. Shyly, your eyes turned to him, begging, pleading for him to stop teasing already!

And how could he deny such an unspoken request from the love of his life? Tamaki already knew what you wanted before you even did, he always did. He’s been able to read you like a book, already knowing what would be on the next page before it was written.

Still, he liked to tease, or more so needed to. It would fuel him like no other to finally hear you beg for him, beg for the love only he knew how to give you. Not that he would be so selfish to deny you of all that you wanted, he was more than prepared to spoil his lovely princess.

But, the man couldn't deny the inklings of his insecurities coming back to bite him. There was a chance that you could regret this later, that you would run far from his reach the second the realization that you slept with your brother donned on you. Tamaki wouldn't have it, now or ever.

Your moans drew him back to the present as his finger pumped in and out of you, dragging along your spongy, wet walls that gripped him oh so nicely. He could hardly handle the anticipation of getting to feel you around his cock.

“N-Nii-san! I can't wait, want you inside!”

Your broken cry sent a shudder down his spine and a jump to his cock. Such a desperate little thing you were, but you were his desperate little thing.

Maneuvering the both of you, he sat you in his lap while holding your ass flush to his hips.

“You know what to do, pretty girl.”

Swallowing thickly, you pulled his cock out of his boxers and positioned yourself to sink down on it.

“Y-You’ll pull out, right?”

“Of course, imouto.”

That was all you needed. Determined to please him, you pushed just the tip in before sitting all the way down on it. A choked gasp filled the space as you felt the fullness of your brother’s cock inside of you.

“S-So full, nii-san!” He stretched you perfectly, letting any pain fade comfortably into pleasure.

It was then that Tamaki decided he would ruin you, not only for himself but for anyone else who dared to think they would be able to please you.

As you ground your hips down into his, you couldn't help but start to feel him grow inside you. Was this normal for sex?

“Ah! Hold on, it's really starting to hurt nii-san.”

Your hips lifted off of his, only to be slammed back down by those strong hands you've come to love.

“Just relax, princess. I'm doing this because I love you.”

Admittedly, this was his first time to try to manifest this part of his body, but he had to try for you, didn't he? Your future with him depended on it. The kiss he pressed to your temple was to soothe himself more than you, focusing on the horse meat he had eaten early that day just after you called him.

He shushed your struggles, hugging you close and stroking the ever-growing bulge in your stomach as he completed his manifestation.

“There we go.” He kissed your cries of the pain away. “It’s okay, you’re okay, princess.”

You had to understand that he was doing this for both of you. He’d ruin that cunt of yours, make it so no man other than Tamaki and his quirk could ever satisfy you.

“You were made to my cock, and mine alone, princess. I'll make you see that.”

The pain was nearly unbearable as he began to thrust up into you, hitting your cervix with the strange cock head he had produced. His hand stayed flush to the bulge on your stomach, stroking it gently as he pounded into you from below.

Your cries and moans meshed together in a perfect melody, one that was always destined to be sung by the both of you, together as one.

Neither of you were going to last long, not with his quirk in play.

“Oh God, I'm gonna cum, princess!” His thrusts became erratic, pounding into you with a new vigor.

“Y-You promised to pull out!” You cried in frustration, feeling his cum fill you up to the brim and dripping out of even with his cock still inside. Tamaki thumbed at your clit to help push you over the edge as he shrunk his cock back down, feeling you cum around him with a cry and shaky legs.

He pulled out, looking at the bulge his cum inside you left behind as he pushed on it gently, watching it gush out of you.

“Now no one else will ever want you.”

[windypuddle]

Ensemble Stars!! > Bungou Stray Dogs, Part 4

This one’s unfortunately also a bit of a doozy to explain, even though it’s smaller. beware of lore.

(A continuation of my Enstars as BSD AU, see other parts below) 

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 5]

once again... so sorry about the formatting. this was going to be very different, as you might guess from the arrangement of character roles. i ended up not having enough characters that fit (and then realized i had extra characters in the agency and guild, but oh well)

look i don’t even want to deal with bram and all that nonsense. with regards to AUs, i usually give up around the current arc. this has to do with how i remake the narrative slightly based on the new characters and dynamics, and i can’t do that if i dont know where the actual canon narrative is going. that being said, the decay of angels are involved in a few arcs that have already wrapped up, so thats all good and fine and workable.

Eichi is an idealist. we all know this from enstars canon. everyone knows this. its the whole reason there’s a plot. it’s just that here he takes the idealism to the level of terrorism. he seeks the book out of a desire for equality, or at least that’s what he tells everyone; in fact it is a desperate and selfish quest to cheat death by rewriting his own fate. he hates his own ability and he hates this cruel world and he hates his illness and this is his way of fixing all of the above.

bonus: he has proper cello posture (i’ve seen some of y’all complain about fyodor)

Wataru is so important too. listen to me. listen closely. this whole au started because i was reading the tempest night story and could not stop making connections between wataei and fyolai. so there you have it. that’s why this AU exists. gay people. Wataru is extremely dedicated to both Eichi and his own constant performance. it is a cage of his own making.

the eccentrics had kind of an informal alliance, about 10 years before canon (to clarify: we’re going with closer to bsd ages ranges here, which means Wataru Shu and Kanata are all around 26 at the time of the main events) but what with the war, they drifted apart. the others view Wataru joining Eichi’s cause as a little bit of a betrayal.

Yuzuru... yeah he’s kind of just there. the decay of angels (a) plays up the angel motif already associated with fine and (b) is generally looking to rearrange the current social structure. Yuzuru is hoping this goal will Fix Everything and get Tori to leave the mafia. (tori is having fun lol)

Tatsumi, as a good Christian boy, is easily radicalized. He spread (admittedly hypocritical) anti-Ability teachings in Europe for a period of time, citing the war as evidence that Abilities cause ruin. He collected a decent following, who mobilized, cultlike, to go after Ability users. they captured Kaname at a certain point in time, and the mafia rescued him, which got him involved and indebted to the mafia. to try and repay this, Kaname went after the cult himself, and was killed. this made Tatsumi reevaluate his goals and join the guild. After his colleagues in the Guild were injured in the conflict, Eichi recruited him for the Decay of Angels with the promise of being rid of all his past crimes and helping

Tsumugi is the one who enables this, as his ability is the Perfect Crime: the one that erases all evidence. goddammit Eichi stop collecting people who are unhealthily devoted to you. eventual redemption arc with the mystery trio but its switch.

[crybabyddl]

I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO REITERATE SOMETHING

Yes, let’s circle back to the beautiful performance of Edge of Great. More specifically the BODY LANGUAGE, particularly Julie and Luke’s, which I will be analyzing with gifs.

Exhibit A

Jealous Luke looks over at Julie and Reggie vibing

Julie is aware that she’s avoiding Luke, which she is doing so bc she realized her feelings for him thanks to Flynn earlier in the episode.

Since Julie has put the task of ignoring Luke upon herself even though she has no obligation to, she ends up failing her own mission. She sees Luke’s reaction to the lack of her attention.

She literally FREEZES. She’s emotionally worried to confront what she’s feeling and it’s beginning to manifest physically.

Exhibit B

It gets better y’all. After Luke finally has even a crumb of Julie’s attention, he beckons her over with his signature head tilt. This is important bc he did this with his longtime bandmate during the soundcheck of what would’ve been their biggest performance. If he feels comfortable enough using that body language with a girl he’s only known for, what, a week and a half(?) then you know this puppy boy’s got it BAD.

Julie is well aware that Luke is getting jealous. But in classic Julie fashion, she will try to tune it out instead of addressing it. Our wicked beauty doesn’t like confrontation and would rather just deny and avoid than potentially make things awkward, especially when she knows Luke would ask her about it at a later time.

The look on Julie’s face. Her eyes widen and the classic tight-lipped awkward smile is present. She’s literally saying “ok enough of that let’s get back to work doo doo doo” with her face. The way her body SWINGS back into performance mode as she faces the audience again. It may have been a split second, but when you’re deliberately trying to avoid looking into the dreamy (dead) eyes of someone you shouldn’t be crushing on, any amount of time feels too long. Plus, she knows Flynn is watching and doesn’t want her to lecture her (but she does anyway bc Flynn is observant and knows her bestie too well to let any action slip past her).

Exhibit C

Keep in mind; NONE OF THE GUYS KNOW WHY JULIE IS AVOIDING LUKE. Flynn, Alex, and Reggie have noticed the Juke chemistry, but it’s still too soon for them to get past the “we like each other but we’re too clueless to notice that we reciprocate” phase, so even though their respective besties know, they are still denying. Besides, Reg, Alex, and Flynn know better than to keep pestering if they want to keep their kneecaps. In reality they’re both smart enough to tell by this point, but for the sake of the plot and to make everything more adorably frustrating, Flynn has the collective brain cell under lock and key, leaving Juke to be like *dog tilting its head and making that “a-roo?” noise*

Anyway, Reggie notices Luke being snubbed after realizing that his extra dose of Julie time was slightly out of the ordinary. Luke is clearly concerned (look at his eyebrows and how his eyes travel from Reggie, to Julie, then to the audience to trying and get his mind off it and bring his focus back to the main goal; the performance.) If he can’t have the moment of connection with Julie that he so desperately craves, he’s gonna fill that void as best he can by connecting with the audience. >:’)

But Reggie’s trying to help Luke brush it off by conveying his reaction as ‘look at julie coming into her own! i told you she was a star! and you thought you were the lead singer? think again buddy this girl’s got you beat!’

But since Reggie isnt a master at hiding his feelings yet, especially around Luke, —who was able to get under his skin earlier (“girls, am i right?”)—Luke was easily able to see through that and interpreted what Reggie was saying as “look at julie go, she all in the zone. you’re literally making heart eyes at her get a grip you’re slacking lmao” (hence luke’s right eyebrow quirking at reggie like ‘dude seriously gimme a break u know i need attention like tinkerbell’) even though Reggie’s true message was a bit less harsh and more lovingly teasing, but it’s Luke, he sees things through his eyes and at his intensity, regardless of who it’s coming from. (This is one of the reasons why Luke comes off as selfish at times.)

Exhibit D

Poor Lukey boi can’t seem to catch a break today! Not only does Julie ignore him, then has a cute lil (platonic but it’s luke so it still makes him jealous >:P) moment, but now she has the AUDACITY to interact with Alex? The guy who was out learning Ghost 101 with this Willie guy instead of rehearsing with the band? What gives?! What’s he got that your moody ghost bf doesn’t? >:’(

He literally just watches, and even glances back in a way that, to me, screams ‘did i see that right? did i just see what i just saw with my own dreamy (but dead) eyes? say sike rn.’ \_(*_*)_/

Meanwhile, Alex pays no mind. I like to think that Alex is fully aware that Luke is an angry boy rn, but has learned to ignore it, especially this bc literally NOTHING happened. Either that or Alex has no clue and just truly thinks nothing of it and is having too much fun to think about Luke’s moody and childish behavior. Either way, Alex is just straight chilling and we love to see it *^_^*

Notice how Reggie is right there vibing with Julie and Alex. Luke feels a bit betrayed like ‘not you too! i know you were the first to turn on me but i figured since you’re such a golden retriever you’d be loyal and come back to my side!😠🥲’

Also; Luke approaches the rest of the group, wanting to be included in at least SOME of the vibing, but when Julie starts dancing and smiling with her buddy Alex, he backs up like

“you know what? nope. nevermind. not doin’ it.”

and the group’s like “i mean hey it’s your loss, but luke we want you to-”

“no, bc you chose to piss me off right in front of my face so no luke time for any of you! no cuddles, no hugs, no nothing! you made your bed, now lie in it and perish.”

Exhibit E & F: This is where it gets a bit interesting and theorized hehe...

Now we all know that this moment is just fucking ICONIC

WEOWH NEOW NEOW!!! WEOW NEHR NEHR NER-NER-NER NEHR NEHR NEOWHR!!! (wer nehr-nehr-ner-ner-nehr-nehr!!) WUEHNER-NEUHNER-NEHR-NEEOW-NEOWH! DLOOLOODDUH-DOODLAH-HOOBLUEH-NEOWHR-NEUEHR-NEEEEEEUOWRH!!!!

But hear me out– HEAR ME OUT!

What if... now don’t shoot the messenger who just so happens to also be the theorist... but what if...

WHAT IF!!! Luke didn’t!! plan this?!!!

Listen i know you’re probably thinking:

“Well uh Nicole, isn’t that kinda the whole point? It literally wasn’t planned until Charlie realized Madi was gonna be standing on the piano so he suggested the idea for the guitar solo to Kenny.”

And you’re right! But here’s the kicker:

What if Luke THE CHARACTER, just decided to do this as an “Alright that’s it! You wanna be like that? Well what if I just hit you with my super awesome radical totally cool wowza guitar skills & make a moment between us? Huh? What do you think about that? Hmm? HMMM???!!!”

He licks his lips & that to me read** like he was nervous (**read rhyming with bed just to clarify) so that means it could’ve been a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment thing.

In the second gif, you can see that Julie’s head is tilted, as if she’s a bit confused, but she’s also delightfully surprised.

Julie is quick to smile and scrunch her nose at Luke, something she does often. It tells Luke his impulsive action garnered a positive response from his favorite girl. Julie also starts to shake her head, but doesn’t go through the motion in full, which means she’s still a bit nervous to let her guard down. This is probably because she doesn’t know what he’s thinking or what he will do next. The lopsided smile mixed with the suave, gliding steps towards her probably brought her back to her daydream lol.

Luke’s happy bc Julie’s no longer ignoring him. He smiles like a GOOBER bc this chump is simping HARD for our Julie. So cute! :’)

Exhibit G

And hear me when I offer this:

What if Luke poofed the guys out???

I know, I know. It’s a bold claim to make. But the boys are special, considering they are a threat to Caleb (3 gay-variant himbos vs. a gay magician that could’ve been on broadway but decided to make some sort of deal with a devil so he just entertains capitalists who most likely sold their souls to get into the hgc which i will probably elaborate on in a future theory so dont do that bc im gonna lmao idc we all have big brains) So it’s not too crazy to think that they could share some ghost powers.

We know Caleb transported the guys during You Got Nothing to Lose. And the guys have left a place at the exact same time on more than one occasion.

And you may be thinking “well what if the guys poofed out to give juke a moment alone together?” And to that I say...

Look at Reggie. He isn’t looking back at Alex like “dude let’s give them some space.”

The timing of him turning around, at least to me, makes me think Reggie was surprised by Luke approaching the piano. (But also he lowkey was waiting for Luke to prove him wrong by doing something to get Julie’s attention so Reggie isn’t mad. Neither is Alex but he doesn’t like being told how or WHEN to ghost) Luke doesn’t even give his bandmates a warning eyebrow quirk, a hand signal, nothing. Reggie turns to Alex like ‘dude what is he DOING?’ And before he can even really convey that, they go *POOF*

This man had a plan and he was gonna do it, so he did. Whether it’s the power of love, they stopped performing, or Reggie and Alex actually poofed out, the odds worked in Luke’s favor so he and Julie could have a super special moment, a moment special enough to make an actual living person (Nick) wonder if a “hologram” has a better chance at connecting with Julie than he does.

Again, regardless of who made them poof or how they poofed, they mf poofed so Luke’s a happy hamster. (Idk it just sounded fitting instead of happy camper lol wait what if someone had 3 pet hamsters and named them alex reggie and luke🥺 someone buy some hamsters and let me be their godmother or their aunt and i’ll love them from afar.) Anyway, Luke’s thriving, flourishing, his crops are going to grow in time for the harvest.

You can see Julie lean back as she turns to see Luke. It’s... almost as if... She. Wasn’t. Expecting. Him. To. Be. There..??

Honey badger Luke bc he DGAF <|:) Bitch, it’s Luke mf Patterson and he’s gonna,, GET! IN! YOUR! FAAAACE!!!

You CANNOT tell me he’s not doing the absolute MOST to try and seduce Miss Juliana Mariposa Rose Molina.

Yes I’m making a headcanon that Julie has TWO middle names and that one of them is the spanish word for butterfly and that the other is her mother’s name. Also yes, I believe (i believe that we’re just one dream away from who we’re– oh, that’s not what we’re doing? okay, sorry!) that Juliana is Julie’s full name.

In this house we love and respect Juliana Mariposa (Dahlia)** Rose Molina

**I’m just putting Dahlia there for fun bc I can. :) Whether I’d consider it a possible middle name of hers depends. Anyway I just thought it was a cute thing to add bc it goes along with the other middle names I gave her *^_^* Also, I feel like I made a post giving a bunch of the characters middle names lemme see if I can find it later)

Ok i’m done this took me basically all day from like 10am until 4:08. I obviously took breaks in between, but not long ones...😶

[hopemakesstuff]

Protecting Assets

Hey y’all so uhhh I don’t normally do this kind of thing but a couple of my friends and I have been on a major Danganronpa kick these past few months since one friend in particular just recently got in the series, and part of that major kick has been discussing various AUs (mostly of the G/t variety).

One AU in particular that we’ve all latched onto involves sizeshifter!Makoto, wherein one Makoto Naegi has the ability to alter his size somewhat at will, and the various shenanigans that ensue as a result of him trying to keep that ability a secret from his peers. 

So anyway here’s a little fic I wrote based on some various brainstorming we’ve come up with. 

A bit of helpful background info before I jump in: 

Makoto can shrink or grow mostly at will. His abilities are sometimes influenced by his emotional state or physical well-being. (i.e.: he shrinks if he doesn’t get enough sleep or eat enough.) It’s basically a way for his body to conserve energy. 

Makoto’s clothes shrink or grow with him accordingly. Because this is fiction and I do what I want. (Let’s just say his clothes are made from a special kind of material or something idk)

I don’t really have a specific time in mind for when this particular fic takes place, but definitely after the first murder. 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

Makoto’s return to consciousness was a slow one. His senses came back to him gradually, starting with the feeling of soft fabric cocooning him on all sides. It honestly took him a moment to even realize that his eyes were open, given how dark his surroundings were—almost pitch black, save for a thin line of light peeking in overhead. 

His first guess was that he’d probably gotten tangled up in his bedsheets, but… the longer he sat there, the more that didn’t seem quite right. Instead of a mattress beneath him, the only firm surface he could really feel was a wall on his left side. At least, he was pretty sure it was a wall.

Maybe he was laying on some kind of hammock? Of course, that only begged the question of where he was, and how he’d gotten there in the first place. Surely he wasn’t in his dorm room…

Well, wherever he was, it was quiet. Peaceful, even. The faint hum of the air conditioning was the most prominent noise, but he was pretty sure he could hear someone breathing as well. Aside from that, the only other sound Makoto could make out was the occasional turning of a page, as if someone was looking through a book.

He wasn’t alone. 

The desire for answers only grew more urgent as that realization came to him. He obviously wasn’t going to get those answers if he just kept laying around, though. 

Trying to find any decent sort of foothold was a challenge, but Makoto was eventually able to pull himself up to a standing position as he clung to a small portion of the fabric. Then came the process of actually trying to climb his way up toward the opening above him. It took a considerable amount of effort, but after a few moments, he managed to pull it off. 

Poking his head out, the first thing that caught his eye was the array of bookshelves lining the wall just ahead of him, all crammed to maximum capacity.

The library. 

What was he doing in the library?

“Oh, you’re finally awake.” 

Makoto let out a rather undignified yelp in response, nearly losing his grip on the fabric in the process, but it wasn’t necessarily the suddenness of the voice that had startled him. Part of it had to do with the familiarity—he knew that voice, and hearing that person speak was plenty surprising all on its own. But it also had to do with the proximity and volume. Each word practically reverberated through his entire body, shaking him down to the core. Not loud, per se, but… big.

Turning his gaze upward, Makoto immediately locked eyes with the voice’s owner. Those icy blue irises practically pierced through him like a pair of daggers.

“B-Byakuya? Wh—” 

Before he could form a proper question, the sight of a massive hand descending upon him caused Makoto to choke on his words. He didn’t have any time to react as equally massive fingers coiled around him, hoisting him up with all the care of someone retrieving a handkerchief from their pocket. 

That was where he’d been. Byakuya’s pocket. 

That realization alone was more than enough to send his mind reeling—nevermind the lack of concern Byakuya showed when handling him.  

The Togami heir all but dumped him onto the desk, nearly causing him to fall over. Thankfully, Makoto somehow managed to keep his footing. Now he just had to contend with the fact that he was trapped in the library with Byakuya looming over him.

God, it was bad enough that Byakuya already knew his secret. Actually being caught in his most vulnerable state was a nightmare come to life. 

For the longest moment, there was only silence between the two boys. Makoto was almost too nervous to even breathe, let alone speak. 

Eventually, though, Byakuya seemed to grow bored with their little staring contest. 

“How much longer are you going to be stuck like this?” he questioned, setting his book aside and crossing his arms. 

“I… What?” 

“You heard me.” 

Sure, Makoto heard him, but that didn’t make it any less confusing. 

“I don’t… I’m not sure? What happened? Why was I—” 

“You don’t remember? Hmph, figures,” Byakuya huffed. “You fainted right outside your door, and then your little… quirk kicked in. You’re lucky I was the one who found you.” 

Makoto didn’t know if he necessarily agreed, but he wasn’t about to say so. 

His memory started coming back after that, though.

In the aftermath of the last class trial, it would’ve been a huge understatement to say that Makoto was feeling stressed out. He could hardly remember the last time he’d eaten a proper meal. Or gotten a full night of sleep. Normally he was a lot better about taking care of himself, given the consequences that came about with his shifting if he didn’t, but… 

Could anyone really blame him for slacking a bit? 

“So, you… brought me with you to the library?” 

“I can’t keep you in check if your secret gets out prematurely, now can I?”

Ugh. Right. Now things were starting to make more sense. Byakuya just wanted to make sure he still had blackmail material.

“So? How much longer?” The affluent progeny didn't even bother trying to hide his annoyance at having to ask the question a second time.

“Well, um. I mean… it depends,” Makoto tried his best to explain. “How long was I… er, how long has it been since you found me?”

Byakuya looked over at the clock above the door. 

“Just over two hours.” 

Two hours?!

To think he’d been alone with Byakuya for that much time, unconscious and barely more than three inches tall… Makoto didn’t want to let himself dwell on that for too long. 

At least he was still in one piece. 

…For now. 

“Um, I guess I could try shifting back up now?” he offered. 

Byakuya didn’t give any sort of verbal response. He just sat there, watching and waiting. 

Taking that as his cue, Makoto tentatively made his way over to the edge of the desk and sat down. He briefly thought about asking Byakuya to set him on the floor, but quickly pushed that idea aside. Better to avoid any more rough handling if he could. 

Makoto then closed his eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on the task at hand. Even without looking, he could practically feel Byakuya staring at him the entire time. 

But more importantly, after a few moments, he could also feel himself beginning to grow. Namely he could feel the surface of the desk gradually getting smaller and smaller beneath him. 

When he opened his eyes, he was now looking down at Byakuya, if only just slightly. Back to his normal height, thank god.

“Hm. Fascinating.”

All it took was that one word to send a shiver crawling up Makoto’s spine. Just the way Byakuya said it left him more than a little uncomfortable. Like he was some kind of science experiment or something.

“R-Right, well. I should go,” he stammered out rather quickly before hopping off the desk and heading for the door. 

Just as he was about to reach for the handle, he paused to look back over his shoulder. Byakuya had already gone back to reading whatever book he'd been looking through earlier. 

“I, um… Thanks? For making sure no one else saw me like that.” 

Even if Byakuya’s motivations for doing so had been purely selfish, thanking him still felt like the right thing to do. 

A noncommittal grunt was the only reply Makoto got, though. Byakuya didn’t even look up from his book.

Well, there was no point sticking around any longer than he already had. After leaving the library, his next intended destination was the dining hall. Nothing really sounded good if he was being honest, but… for the sake of making sure he didn’t pass out again, he figured it would be best to find something he could stomach.

[screechthemighty]

I won’t tag this because this character is ~contentious~ and I’ve already thrown enough grenades in this fandom, but like

Honestly I think the biggest issue with Eveline as a character is literally the same problem Mia has: namely, that Capcom put basically no thought into writing her outside of her being a plot device and that leaves her in this weird in-between position in terms of narrative treatment, culpability, that kind of thing.

How it comes across to me is that they wrote a standard Resident Evil antagonist--antagonists who are by and large adults making their own shitty evil decisions for their own gain--but made her a child and slapped on a tragic backstory NOT to give the character nuance, but to explain why she’s a) in Louisiana and b) a creepy little girl (because a spooky ghost child antagonist fits the horror vibe they were going with for this game). The fact that those details of her childhood trauma/abuse aren’t really given much weight creates all kinds of weird disconnects. Like for example:

No one in the narrative outside of a throwaway line from Joe Baker acknowledges that her behavior is the desperate behavior a child looking for family, and since the player academically knows that to be true, it can feel kinda icky that she’s treated not like an abused child, but like an actively malicious entity acting out of pure selfishness.

On the other hand, she did basically abuse the Bakers and Mia for three years, which in turn caused a lot of harm to other people (including the game’s protagonist). The fact that her behavior is written/performed less like a desperate child and more like, to throw a name out there, Miranda, makes it understandable why no one in-game really sympathizes with her.

Also, yeah, all the information is there, but the fact that it’s entirely in documents that Ethan never comments on, one throwaway line, and then tied up in Mia’s bad writing (and y’all already know how I feel about that) makes it almost inconsequential. If you didn’t bother to read all the documents, you wouldn’t know or care that Eveline’s behavior makes sense when you remember she was programmed to act like that. Even if you did, the fact that she’s performed so cruelly takes some of that edge off. It’s like a meta version of her in-universe dehumanization: the Connections treat her like just a product that’s gone wrong, and so does the writing. No reason to sympathize. Just take the threat out.

The problem being that of course a lot of people are going to read those documents, go “wow! that’s messed up!” And then put more thought into it than Capcom, creating some of the discussion I’ve seen about how Eveline Should’ve Lived, Actually.

And y’know what, I kind of agree! A plot, whatever form that might take, wherein a bioweapon that was created to behave a certain way, does so due to both trauma and the weight of psychological conditioning, but realizes due to the assistance of the protagonist that she’s in the wrong and stops would be interesting and unique for the franchise. Alternately, her death could’ve had an element of tragedy to it, drawing on how unfair the whole situation is. Like, you have to kill her, but you wish you didn’t have to. But Resident Evil isn’t really a franchise that does subtlety with its villains (I mean, one guy in 6 is basically a meat transformer) and is better suited to broad anti-corporate points than the subtleties or something like this. So like, I’m not shocked this happened. But it is a bummer.

[dandelionflower]

Felinette Month Day 19

Fallen angel

((Y’all,, words cannot describe how happy I am about this prompt!!))

Marinette was an angel and Felix constantly in awe of her power.

As Ladybug, she was an avenging force, guardian angel of all of Paris. In red and black she fought for their safety and kept them hopeful, kept them happy and secure. She tirelessly threw herself against the forces of evil, with no regard for her personal life, for her own safety. An angel indeed.

As Marinette, it was harder to tell, but once he saw it, he couldn’t stop.

She was a muse of creativity, constantly offering critique and encouragement to her peers and never without a new project of her own.

With her friends, with children, she was a compassionate being. Always giving and never taking for herself. Worrying nonstop for the mental wellbeing of every friend, every aquantince.

She was no goddess, no, she had an abundance of flaws, but she was close, not nearly as hateful and selfish as so many humans were.

She was an angel and Felix counted himself lucky every moment he got to spend in her presence, and when she asked him on a date he knew he was truly blessed by some divine entity.

But now his angel had fallen, and he needed to do something.

It all started when Marinette came by to visit him after school. She was barely even able to make the effort to smile, just collapsed into his arms and asked for cuddles.

She so rarely asked for anything from Felix, no matter how mush he tried to let her know it was fine for her to do so. That was how he knew something was wrong.

But he couldn’t very well ask her, not when she was hurt like this. So he did the only thing he could do; he scooped her into his arms and carried her to his couch, where he showered her in affection, blankets, and snacks.

Marinette didn’t mention it afterwards, beyond an apology for barging in and a “thank you,” for helping her.

“You don’t need to apologize, Netta. That what I’m here for.”

The tension that dropped from her shoulders when he reassured her was enough to make Felix’s heart break.

Later, when they were in a little pillow nest at her house, he brought it up again.

“I think you should come to my school.”

“What?” She looked at him with an odd smile. “Why would you want that?”

“I miss you.” He nudged he shoulder. “And you are very talented, you’d be a perfect fit for Aster. You may miss your friends, but I’m sure that with your expert time management skills you’ll find a way to-“

“I’ll think about it.” Her demeanor chilled in a way that Felix had never seen before.

“Nette, if I overstepped my boundaries in any way,”

“No, it’s just-“ she wilted, “I’m fine. Can we just watch the movie?”

“Of course.”

He gave her parents the paperwork the next day.

When he finally realized what exactly was going wrong, he was at her school.

Aster’s classes had finished early, so Felix thought he would surprise Marinette by picking her up from school to go to the fabric shop for their anniversary.

He texted her to let her know and to make sure she didn’t have any plans. Then he hopped on a train to the Dupain-Cheng bakery to offer his services while he waited for the nearby school bells to ring.

When he got to the school, however, Marinette was alone.

She was never alone when she left the school; every time he had stopped over before she was always walking with the blogger girl, joking with the bloggers girl’s boyfriend, or teasing the model boy. She was never alone.

To make matters worse, the three that she usually walked out with were fawning over some other girl. A girl he recognized.

Lila Rossi. She had joined Aster Academy for acting a few months ago, but got kicked out when it was discovered that the ‘original story’ she had submitted for an assignment was plagiarized from an online post.

She was a known liar, but Felix could at least tolerate her when he thought she had talent. But now, seeing her again, isolating his angel? Lying through her teeth? He couldn’t stand it.

His angel had fallen from grace and he would not stand for it.

He walked up to her, a man on a mission, fully ready to ask questions and demand answers. The look of simultaneous surprise and despair on her face killed any hope of that.

“Felix! Yat are who doing were? Imean, what are you doing here?”

He tilted his head. “I got out of my classes early and came to pick you up for our six month anniversary. I texted you.”

“Oh, uh. My phone,” her eyes flicked to the crowd of students, “isn’t with me at the moment.”

“They took it from you.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “But it’s fine! Papa was planning on getting me a new one after my screen broke one too many times. Let’s just go one our date.” She grabbed his hand.

“One moment dearest.” He kissed her hand, then dropped it, heading towards the gaggle of devils who dared take the possession of an angel. “Excuse me. I believe one of you might have something that belongs to a friend of mine.”

Rossi’s expression soured. “Did she tell you that? She was lying. This phone is mine.”

“I’m sure it is.” He rolled his eyes. “Hand it over.”

“No, Marinette took my phone from me last week and I just got it back!”

Time for plan B. “Do I recognize you?” He leaned in close. “I do; you went to Aster Academy, didn’t you?”

“I did.” She preened. “Top of my class, but it wasn’t up to my standards, so I left.”

“Oh, what exactly wasn’t up to your standards? Could it have been the plagiarism policy?”

“I- I-“

“I’m on the student committee for the benefit of Aster, could I talk with you alone for a second? I’m sure the administration would love to hear your critiques.” He took her by the arm and guided her out of earshot from the rest of the class.

“Phone. Now.”

“You’re not going to tell them anything.” She hissed as she placed it in his hand.

“Of course not. In about a week you shouldn’t be of any concern of mine anyway. But until then,” he patted her head, “play nice.” He walked away, waving as he went. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

Marinette lit up as she saw the phone, running to him and hugging him tight.

He pressed a small kiss to her lips and put the phone in her bag.

“You didn’t have to do that.” She whispered, linking her fingers with his and letting him lead them away from the school.

“No.” He nodded. “I definitely did.”

His angel was avenged and soon she would be joining a different choir.

@felinettenovember

[amor-immortalem]

Everything Undesired chapter 11

Warning: victim blaming, emotinal abuse (Arella recounts her traumatic childhood/she should probably see a therapist to deal with her mommy issues.)

chapter 10

“It... It was my mother....”

The demon stares down at her with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape in shock at the revelation. What kind of mother says that to her own child? He laid his head down on the bed as she carried on because where would he even begin to start with all this?

“It started when my father died in a car crash when I was four... She said it was my fault because I had wanted to go out to the park and he took me. That I should feel guilty for asking for something so selfish, for seeking out his attention on one of his rare days off.... and then it just became common place to blame me for anything thing that she considered even remotely selfish or attention-seeking. Every bad thing that happened to our family was my fault and then... when I told her about what happened to me, she called me a whore. Told me I was probably just lying to get out of trouble and if I wasn’t, what did I expect from hanging around with a man seven years older than I was. That I deserved it and I only had myself to blame. She called me a disgrace to our family and tried to kick me out but when one of my friends’ parents threatened to call the authorities for child abandonment, she let me come back. All I had wanted was someone to tell me i-it wasn’t fault. All I wanted was to earn back her love.”

She let out a sob as she rattled on and Mammon lets her continue. The flood gates had been opened and even though she wanted to stop letting it out, Arella couldn’t.

“When she took her own life after my brother took his, her note for me was only filled with insults. How she wished I hadn’t been born. That I was ungreatful for the life she allowed me to have. That she always hated me and wished she hadn’t kept me. That she blamed me for my brother's death because I was too wrapped up in myself to keep him from doing it and how I would never find anyone who truly loved me because I didn’t deserve it. I thought about taking my life too because she was right. I was a horrible daughter- a horrible person. I loved her so much and that note left me shattered because I knew it was the truth.”

“No, it's not,” his voice is soft.

“Yes, it is! Please agree with me. You don’t have to spare my feelings. Look what I do with you. Whenever I see you talking to one of our female classmates, I always get selfish and interfere regardless of what you two were actually talking about.”

“And? It’s not like I’ve never done it with you. Arella, it is okay to be selfish sometimes and it don't make you a horrible person. You don’t have to bottle your sins all the time like you’ve been doin’. You live with representations of the seven sins, Babe. None of us are gonna care if ya indulge in greed or lust or envy or pride or any of the others for that matter every once in a while, because we do the same thing on a regular basis.”

Arella went to say something in rebuttal but stopped once the baby monitor went off. She tried to squirm out from under Mammon but he stopped her.

“Nu-uh, you’re not gettin' him. Let me take care of him tonight. You’re not gettin' out of this bed, got it?”

“B-But you were out all day with Asmo, aren’t you-”

“Take a break, Treasure.” he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I can handle him and if he’s really fussin’ for ya, I’ll bring him back here but I want you to be the selfish one for once in this relationship and take some time for yourself.” The demon rolls off her and heads see what his son needs.

------------------------------------------------------

As he managed to get close to the baby’s room, the crying suddenly stopped. The Avatar of Greed wonders if maybe Cyrus had just woken up from a bad dream and managed to comfort himself back to sleep. He still decided checking up on the kid was best and carried on- infants were so delicate and anything could go wrong at any time. It wasn’t until he heard Lucifer giving instruction to someone else that Mammon realized what was going on. He remembered back to his conversation with the Avatar of Pride this morning. He was teaching one of their younger brothers how to care for a baby- a valuable skill for the future if one of them decided they wanted kids of their own.

He approached the door; the sight was almost enough to make him laugh. The twins were trying their best to follow Lucifer’s instructions. Belphie was attempting to change Cyrus’ diaper and trying to figure out which way the clean one went on while Beel was trying to figure out how exactly to work the bottle warmer.

“Lucifer, which way does this damn thing go on?”

“Flip it around, Belphegor, you almost put it on backwards.”

“How hot should a bottle be before he can have it?”

“Turn it to 37 degrees- a normal human body temperature. Any hotter may can burn his mouth. The warmer will let you know when it’s ready.”

“Hey, quit squirming, you little snot. I’m trying to get your diaper on.”

Mammon cleared his throat. “I can take him now. Y’all look like you’re havin’ trouble...”

“I’ll guide them through it, Mammon. They had an interest in learning. Go on and go back to your room.” The eldest replied. “We can handle it.”

“Are ya sure?”

“We’re sure,” the twins responded as they tried to focus on their tasks.

And there was the guilt again, brought about from seeing his brothers helping when they didn’t need to. He told Arella he would take care of their son tonight and now it felt like he was just shirking the responsibility onto them.

“Are... are ya sure?”

“Yes,” The three of them responded.

“It’ll be good practice for our kids if we decide to have any,” the Avatar of Gluttony said.

“Yeah, our mates can’t be the ones doing all the work and I would rather not look like a fool with my first kid in front of them.” The seventh-born nods. “So, go on. We got this.”

“Alright then,” The white-haired demon turned to leave before a panicked cry erupted from Cyrus and he turned back around immediately, his parental instincts going wild, “hey, hey, whatcha cryin for kiddo? I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

Cyrus only continued to cry, attempting to reach his little hands up for his father. Mammon only grasped the infant’s hands in his.

“I know, I know, these ain’t the people who usually take care of ya.”

The little one only let out little whines, gradually calming down as Belphegor fastened the diaper around his waist.

“There, see, that wasn’t so bad, was it? You’re okay,” Mammon went to go pull away so he could sit him up, but Cyrus took it as a sign that his father was going to leave again and let out a shriek as he kicked his legs. Everyone covered their ears at the sound. “Cyrus, stop! I can’t hold ya when you’re screamin’ like that.” Since when had he gotten so clingy. Mammon forgot just how clingy newborns got to be.

“I think... maybe its best we leave.” Lucifer sighed as he mulled over why Cyrus might be acting this way. It wasn’t normal clinginess for an infant of his age and then it dawned on him. It was a fear response. Both he and Beel were there the night his biological mother and her sisters were dealt with and Cyrus heard all of that and was just now seeming to remember that night. “Beel, we need to leave right now. Belphegor can stay, but the two of us cannot be here right now.”

“Huh? Why?” The Avatar of Gluttony looked confused but a stern look from his oldest brother made him realize what exactly was happening and followed Lucifer out without any more questions.

As soon as the pair of demons were gone the screaming started to die down.

“Yeesh, what’s up with that, kid.” Mammon asked as he picked his son up, like he could answer his father. “Hey, Belphie the bottle should be ready. Hand it to me, will ya?”

“Yeah... I think Cyrus might be scared of Lucifer and Beel. He only screams like that when he sees Satan...”

Blue to gold gradient widened as he looked down at the infant whose eyes were glued to the doorway and his stomach dropped. “Oh...Oh no... He remembers...”

———————————————————————-

Next

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[bitchassbucky]

Ok so I had the sweetest fluffy angsty dream last night but it ended before anything *exciting* could happen and I was very disappointed

Basically for some reason I was also participating in a combat mission along side Bucky??? In my daydreams I'm always a civilian so I don't know where that came from, lmao.

Anyway, we weren't even supposed to be in combat. We had gone to a location in town to get some info and then we were supposed to go back to our safehouse where Sam was waiting for us.

But then before we could even go in to grab the info Bucky got distracted cuz there was a woman out front that he knew somehow and clearly he was very surprised that she was there, but then he realized it was a trap and yelled at me to get down right before a grenade went off and all of a sudden there were men who had gotten out of a van at the other side of this field next to the building that were firing at us. Bucky was laying down and firing back and I was on the ground behind him. But the woman was up to no good so then her and I went to the other side of the building so we wouldn't be hit by bullets but we fought and I think eventually I like ran her over with a truck? Idk, lmao.

I went back to where Bucky was and he had taken out the other men but he was injured really badly and so I had to help him into the car and drive him back to the safehouse.

Ofc there were only two bedrooms in the safehouse. A master bedroom and a single bedroom. Sam being the dork he is had already taken the single bedroom cuz he didn't want to have to share a bed with anyone. Be it me OR Bucky.

So I took Bucky into the master bedroom which conviently had a master bathroom attached and I attended his wounds and then basically gave him a sponge bath, lmao.

He was tired af so since he had already been stripped down to his boxers from the sponge bath, I just helped him into bed.

He was worried about me but I only had minor injuries from my fight with the woman so I just took a shower and then patched myself up a bit.

Then I got into bed with him and it was a king size bed so I could have stayed on one side of the bed but no, I'm selfish so I cuddled up to Bucky and slept like that. Oh, and I was only wearing panties.

Anyway, the next morning came and Sam had made like muffins or something and he opened the master bedroom door without knocking so that he could wake us up

Which he did, but then he was like, "y'all are nasty, just sleeping naked with each other."

(we had the covers up so he couldn't tell that we were only half naked)

And he just walked out cuz he was done with our shenanigans.

Anyway, Bucky was surprised that I was cuddled up to him cuz I hadn't admitted my feelings to him yet 😢😢

And we were just starting to talk about it but then my alarm went off 🙄🙄🙄

I was just wondering if you could bless me with any thoughts (or thots, Whichever you're in the mood for)

okay before my Thoughts(tm) let me introduce u to my very good friend who writes *chef’s kiss* amazing hurt/comfort fics @sgt-seabass

YES OKAY BUT CONTINUING YOUR BADASS DREAM and you both wake up all CUDDLED like that and his heart his hammering out of his chest but he pretends 2 b sleeping bche doesn’t want to wake you up. then Sam, like the sweetheart he is, cooked food for y’all and accidentally “wakes” Bucky and you up.

So after some rightfully awkward moment, maybe he’ll brush his injuries off as “just a scratch—I’m a super soldier, y’know?”

and this somehow irks you and you’re just like, “maybe a thank you would suffice, you asshole. you scared the shit out of me, i thought you were going to die before i get to tell you that i-“

“that you what?”

“that i have feelings for you”

and then cue soft, needy sexy time and a nasty round two in the shower.

Sam is just eating all the food because y’all never went down for breakfast

[katnissmellarkkk]

Andddd here’s my chappy three thoughts 🥳🥳🥳

Hmmm Katniss saying that her mother has a dress made of velvet is actually really interesting because it shows that Mrs. Everdeen Lily-Rose really was well-er off before she married Katniss’ father Hunter.

Or did she get the velvet dress from Maysilee? Oh well, who knows.

Aww, Katniss’ nervous habit of touching soft things repeatedly to soothe herself 🤧🤧.

“Crying is not an option. There will be more cameras at the train station.” — someone tell that to Peeta 🤣🤣🤣.

Okay I gotta stop picking on Primmers, I know but like. How small is she that she sits on Katniss’ lap like a toddler but then in the following year is the same height as her? Doesn’t matter I know but still I wonder.

Okay so Mrs. E is the doctor for the people of the Seam? Idk I never thought about this but who does people like Peeta or Madge or Delly go to if they’re sick or hurt? Is there a still running apothecary shop that Katniss never mentions? Are her grandparents still running the family biz?

Also okay, I gotta stop having so many thoughts on all the lil details I know but like. Katniss says here she’s familiar with the herbs her mother doesn’t grow on her own so like a). Katniss is more of a healer than she leads on because no average person knows what kind of plant is medicinal and b). Her mother is just growing herbs and Katniss never mentions it again in the whole series? Or I just missed it.

Okay imma move on from this one singular paragraph but Gale and her made a pact a year ago that they’ll supply each other’s family with game if they were to be reaped... I’m feeling like their close friendship is probably only one year old then? Idk. Just my interpretation.

Honestly I love Katniss getting mad at her mom here.

She’s sixteen, for God’s sake, of course she’s angry at what her mother’s illness put her through.

Also I lowkey like that her mother got mad back because that lady in the movies had zero personality.

“Boys who are two to three times my size.” She sounds so little, omg 🥺🥺🥺.

“I don’t care if we’re rich, I just really want you to come home” 🤧🤧🤧😩😩😩😩 okay Primmers, you got me here.

“the Peacekeeper is at the door, signaling our time is up, and we're all hugging one another so hard it hurts and all I'm saying is ‘I love you. I love you both.’ And they're saying it back...” this is so sad leave me be 😫😫😫😫

Katniss is burying her face in a pillow to block out her emotions this is too much for me 🥵🥵🥵

Omg I forgot Peeta’s father visits Katniss 😅

Why does he visit Katniss?

She describes Peeta’s father as a “big, broad-shouldered man.” And then describes Peeta as stocky. Idk the comparison of the two descriptions has always led me to think Peeta is gonna be a big dude when he grows up like his father. This made no sense and had zero correlation but I thought, so I said it, no regrets

Oh he brought her cookies 🤧

WAIT WAIT WAIT. I just had a new thought, y’all. What if instead of the baker bringing cookies being a thing he does for all tributes, what if he’s bringing the cookies because Peeta asked him to, because he made them and wants to give them to Katniss and knows she’ll never accept / trust them coming from her competition? What if that’s the real reason the baker visited her in the first place? Because Peeta asked him to? This was such a shipper comment but idc, no regrets, remember?

Omg Peeta’s father is just mute 🤣🤣🤣

Between an abusive, angry mother and a mute for a father, the Mellark brothers must have had a fairytale of a childhood 😅😅😅😅.

But seriously #PoorPeetaMyBaby

Aww Peeta’s father is gonna help keep Prim alive 😭

Omg I just remembered he’s her mother’s ex boyfriend. Haidon Mellark, as I named him in my fics.

That one fic where he was thought to be Prim’s real father is just playing now in my head, rent free.

But does Katniss not realize that he may be offering to help Prim as a favor to her? Like she claims Prim is just so wonderful people adore her but there’s like zero evidence in the text that make her endearing? Okay I need to turn this bus around, I need to find a love for Primmy Deen.

Madge is not one for preamble apparently. No “hi, how are you? I’m sorry you’re gonna die? What will your last meal be?” Just right to “here, wear this family heirloom of mine, k thanks.”

I like that Madge had to kiss her cheek for Katniss to realize they were friends 😅😅😅.

I remember always loving her and Gale’s hug here. I’ve always felt like it was platonic, but especially when I first read the books and had zero preference one way or another for Gale or Peeta, I really liked how she said even with nothing romantic between them, “when he opens his arms, I don’t hesitate to go to him” or something I’m paraphrasing ok I’m lazy

Also though, this is the first time they’ve ever hugged? Idk why that surprises me? It shouldn’t because where is a hug gonna fit into a hunting trip 😅🤣😂 “I just caught a deer!” “let’s celebrate with a hug!”

I like that Katniss remembers how her father even failed to make a good bow sometimes. Random, I know.

I like that the Capitol weren’t entertained by the people freezing to deaths because it wasn’t bloody enough 🤭🙃

“How different can it be [to kill a human vs an animal]?” She’s about to find out, Gale 🥺. And when she comes back you won’t understand 🙄😔

What did Gale want to say before the Peacekeepers dragged him away?

I used to think it was a confession of love but I’m actually sure it wasn’t now? Just the wording “remember I-“ doesn’t sound like it, considering he never confessed anything prior to her coming home.

I’m assuming now he was just gonna give her some more advice to stay alive 🤷🏼‍♀️. Clearly if it were relevant it would have made its way to the others books.

Aww, she’s never been inside a car before 😭😭. I didn’t even know they had cars in this universe but okay.

I notice though how she says “In the Seam, we travel on foot.” So is Peeta just riding his trolly down the street every day with the other merchants then? 🤣

Peeta just openly crying on camera 😅😢.

I like how Katniss is like “ooo is this an act to get sponsors?” when in reality Peeta’s like “no, I’m just a soft and genuine boy ™️”

Omg I just realized this totally goes along with Peeta’s thing later on “I want to die as myself”

He’s refusing to hold back his emotions because he thinks he’s doomed to die and he’s already refusing to pretend to be or feel something ingenious.

But a Johanna mention in book 1 chapter 3 woohoo 🥳🥳🥳 also Katniss comparing Jo and Peeta is kind of like foreshadowing of their shared torture in book 3.

Omg she just called Peeta broad-shouldered and strong. 🥰🥰🥰 my headcanon for his post-canon body is confirmed

Also why does Katniss keep allotting his strength to carrying bread trays around? Are they heavy? Why have I never once heard of people who carry bread trays being strong? I always thought Peeta was really strong because he learned to fight in order to defend himself against his mother but that’s probably wrong.

But if a mother is abusive, it can lead to one of the kids being physically violent as well and we know Peeta isn’t but he has two older brothers I’m gonna cut myself off now but I think we all smelled what I just stepped in.

Also I just find it so fascinating now how she regards herself vs Peeta here.

When talking about herself, she says, “The competition will be far beyond my abilities. [...] Oh, there'll be people like me, too. People to weed out before the real fun begins.” But when she talks about Peeta, she immediately says, “It would take an awful lot of weeping to convince anyone to overlook him.”

It’s just funny how she discounted herself right from the start but thought he was a real contender and then come to find out, Peeta believes it’s the exact opposite 😂🙃. They’re both so stupid I can’t even take it.

Wait did they actually give the location of the Capitol and the location of District Twelve in today’s world? And I just overlooked it? Brb I’m gonna go to google maps right quick.

Okay so basically what I gathered is the Capitol is probably in New Mexico and District Twelve is somewhere between Kentucky and Alabama. Irrelevant I know. But just a reminder now to everyone that Katniss and Peeta are literally speaking, crying and screaming in thick, backwoods southern accents.

It’s literally so sad how everything for Katniss is about food. Like every motive she has, every action she does is about preventing starvation ever again. 🤧🤧🤧

First mockingjay mention 🤭🤭.

“My father was particularly fond of mockingjays” 😭😭😭 I bet he was 😭😭😭😭

We always go on and on about how Katniss is a mockingjay or her children are mockingjays but Katniss herself here says mockingjays represent her father imma cry, y’all 😫😫😫😫

“It’s like having a piece of my father with me, protecting me” shut up shut up shut up shut up

Awww, Katniss has never had food like this before 😔😔😔

Neither has Peeta 🤧🤧

Katniss disliking the way Effie put the two kids from the year before down and so began to eat like a pig just to prove her point, is so her. And the beginning of her fighting for the underdog.

Omg the Rue introduction 🥺🥺🥺

Bahahahaha the commenters calling District Twelve backwards but charming 😅😅😅 they really are the hillbilly district

Peeta’s unexpected laugh 🥺🥺🥺 I love you, baby

“He was drunk. He’s drunk every year.” “Every day.” Katniss and Peeta are already finishing each other’s sentiments and teaming up to get on Effie’s nerves I love them so much 😍

Oh my God, Effie, you selfish jerk. They’re kids having fun for like one second, no need to throw in their faces they’re gonna die if the drunk won’t help them. I’d forgotten why I don’t really like the book version of her. I actually prefer her as comedic relief in the movies.

I actually just realized I really dislike Effie Trinket, I hope they never speak to her again Post-Mockingjay. Idc how you’re raised you don’t need to treat teenagers who are sentenced to a probable death badly just because they laughed at you 🙄🙄🙄😡😡😡😡. They didn’t even really laugh at her, she’s just annoying and awful, we don’t stan Effie in this household.

Okay, that’s all for my thoughts on chapter three! Until next time, y’all ! If anyone actually read this long mess of a post.

[thegreatestofheck]

Wedding Dress ⋄ JJ Maybank ⋄

request -  hey!! can u do a jj fic with slight angst where she’s a kook (but basically a pogue like Kie) and they’re already in an established, serious relationship and he wants to marry her but doesn’t know if he can provide for her which causes some tension bc she doesn’t know what’s going on but make it really fluffy with a proposal at the end??

word count - 1.6k warnings - None, just fluff.  synopsis - JJ makes a promise to himself that he’s now not sure he can keep.  a/n - Thank you so much for the request @gwenandtheunfortunatename! It was a super cute idea. Also, messing around with the way I have everything set up, so let me know if it’s any better for y’all! I’m sorry if it’s short and I’m sorry if it’s not what you wanted, but here it is!

                                                             ***

The first time JJ had seen you in a wedding dress, you both were in middle school. You were the lead in a school play and JJ had come to see you, sitting in a cushioned chair that you had reserved just for him. 

He thought you looked beautiful, even if the dress was torn at the hem and at least three times too big for you. He thought, for a Kook school, you’d think they would have the money to get you a dress to wear that fit. But to him, it didn’t matter. You were radiant, beautiful, shining like a star in the white, lace dress. 

From that day, years before you even started dating, JJ promised himself that he was going to see you in a wedding dress again. And JJ knew it wasn’t going to be some random guy marrying you at the alter. No, it would be him. 

But he later learned that things were a lot more complicated than he thought. 

He was dirt poor with no aspirations, no inheritance, nothing to offer. You were filthy rich with opportunities out the wazoo, job offers galore, favors to call in to spare. He had promised himself he was going to marry you when you were just kids, but now you were grown and he realized he had nothing to give to you. 

Somehow, he managed to get you to go on a date with him and then he managed to get to call you his, but he didn’t have the strength to think about things any further than that. 

You had always hung around him and his friends, even if you were considered a Kook. And those years that you all spent together were amazing, but you weren’t kids anymore. 

Pope and Kie had both gone off to college. Sarah moved to the Mainland to attend Chapel Hill and John B had moved with her. You all chatted as often as you could, but with Kie and Pope being in completely different time zones and busy with school, finding the time was nearly impossible.

That left just you and JJ, spending your days working, smoking, and surfing. You were still young, you had no reason to feel the need to go to college and find a career just yet and your parents weren’t pressuring you to either. But JJ couldn’t help but think of the future. 

He knew that he wanted you by his side for the rest of his life, but he was afraid of holding you back. He saw so much potential in you and he was afraid of being the one that kept you from reaching that potential. 

The thought of marrying you was always on his mind, but there were just so many things that made that seem impossible. 

You could feel him pulling away from you, even as you lay beside him in the warm sun. His arm brushed up against yours, his breathing soft and gentle, but he couldn’t have been farther away. 

“What are you thinking?” You asked him, rolling onto your side and resting your head against your arm. JJ sighed, his eyes closed as the sun kissed his skin. 

“Why did you stay?” he asked in response. You scowled. 

“What do you mean?”

He turned to look at you. 

“You could have gone anywhere, done anything after we graduated. Why did you stay?”

You sat up, pulling your knees to your chest as you looked down at him. You could tell something was bothering him. It had been bothering him for days, he just refused to tell you what it was. 

“I stayed because this is my home,” you said finally. “My place is here...with you.”

JJ rolled his eyes in a non-mocking many and joined you in an upright position, but he sat with his back to you. With a scowl, you tried to lean around him to see his face. 

“Jay, what’s wrong?” You put a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled himself away from your touch. Startled by his sudden abrasiveness, you sat back. “Talk to me.” 

He stood suddenly and looked down at you. You couldn’t see the look on his face because of the sun shining behind his head, but you could tell that whatever he was thinking, it wasn’t good. 

“You should be out there,” JJ said, waving his hand out toward the ocean. “Doing something with your life. Not slumming it with me.” 

JJ turned to walk away, but you stood after him and grabbed him by the wrist. 

“Where is this coming from?” You saw the pain in his eyes caused by the thoughts that his father had drilled into his skull. “You know that’s never how I saw you, how I saw us.” 

“Yeah?” There was pain masked by bitterness in his voice. “Maybe you need to get your eyes checked because whether or not you see it that way, that’s how it is.” 

“Why are you saying this?” You asked, his words cutting deep. You’d heard it plenty of times from your peers, you didn’t need to be hearing it from your boyfriend, too. 

“There’s so much you can do, y/n. And all those things you can do are better than me.” 

You stepped closer to him, reaching out to brush your hand against his arm. 

“That’s my choice to make, isn’t it?” He shifted his jaw and lowered his head. “And if I chose you, that’s still my choice to make.” 

You felt JJ’s muscles tighten and you trialed your hand down his arm, holding his fingers in your hand. 

“But you have a choice to make too,” you whispered to him and he finally looked up at you. You had seen his piercing blue eyes a thousand times before, but you would never get used to it, especially when he looked at you like that. “You can listen to what other people say about you, listen to what your dad says about you or....” You gave his hand a small squeeze as he looked away. “You can chose me. Chose to listen to me when I say that I love you and I want you more than anything my parents could give me, more than anything anyone could give me.” 

You wanted to know what was going through his head so that you could figure out how to convince him that you didn’t care about the money or school or jobs, that if you just had him, you would be set for life. 

“I can’t be selfish,” he said, as if still trying to convince himself. “Making you stay with me when you could have a better life with someone who could provide for you...I can’t take that away from you.” 

“Darling, you’re not taking anything!” You grabbed his other hand in yours, giving him a smile. “Ask me to give myself to you and I will. I want you, JJ. I don’t care what comes along with that.” 

JJ looked away from you again. He wanted to push you away. He thought he was trying to do the right thing, you just had to convince him otherwise. 

“Even if all you’ll ever be is a fisherman’s wife?” His voice broke and he fought to keep his gaze away from yours. It was like he couldn’t bare the weight of the look your eyes. 

With a small sigh, you put your finger underneath his jaw and turned him to face you. 

“If you would just ask me, I would say yes.” Your words were no louder than a whisper. You leaned closer, breath by breath. “Just ask.” 

“y/n...”

“I’m already yours, JJ, just ask.”

JJ shut his eyes and pressed his forehead to yours, shifting his hands in yours until they were laced together. You closed your eyes too, breathing in his scent. It was warm, like the smoldering coals of a fire. In all your life since you had known him, being around him always made you feel so safe, even when the world was crumbling around you. And that didn’t change even now. 

“Marry me,” he whispered. A smile tugged at your lips and you could feel your eyes begin to fill with tears. You’d just been waiting for him to ask, hoping to yourself that he would. 

“I would love nothing more,” you whispered in reply. Leaning forward, you sealed your acceptance with a kiss. 

At first, JJ didn’t react, almost as if he was waiting for you to take it back. But when you didn’t pull away, he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you in as tight as he could and then even closer. 

The last time JJ saw you in a wedding dress, tears were in his eyes as he stood at the alter. This time, the hem wasn’t torn and it fit just right. Still, you shone just as brilliantly in the white lace now as you had then. 

After all these years, JJ had followed through with his promise. He saw you in a wedding dress once again and he was the one standing at the alter waiting for you. 

Whatever was coming your way, the two of you would handle it. Even if his tux was a rental and your mom refused to come to the wedding and the officiator was just Papa Heyward with a certificate he got back in 1993. You had already made it through a murderous treasure hunt together and a thousand more trials, he was convinced that whatever storm blew your way, you could weather it. 

As long as you were by his side, JJ didn’t care what else happened. He had you and that was all he needed. 

[firelxdykatara]

um not to start anything “zuko had everything handed to him by the end of the show even though it took him until nearly the very end to realize he’s wrong: a country, a crown, his girlfriend that HE left behind, the love of his uncle that zuko spent most of the show yelling at and being a dick to, and that’s why he just doesn’t deserve ANYWAY I’M JOKING but this is how y’all be talking about aang” who even talks about aang this why????

It sounds to me like some Aang stans grossly misunderstand criticisms surrounding the writing of Aang’s arc in book 3, in particular during the finale.

This is actually a pattern I’ve noticed with distressing frequency, particularly of late: any criticism of Aang at all--of his actions, the narrative scaffolding surrounding them (never having to apologize for kissing Katara without her consent, for example), or of the failings in the way his narrative was handled (in book 3 especially)--is written off as hate and derided by stans who I can only assume believe that the writing of his character arc was perfect and he never did anything wrong that deserves fair criticism ever in his life.

To this, I can only state my firm disagreement.

The thing is, they don’t really have any counter arguments to refute the points that actually get made (which isn’t to say there aren’t bad faith criticisms of his character just like everyone else, but unlike most of the cast, ppl seem far more inclined to act like there are no valid criticisms of his character or his writing), which is likely why they just write it all off as unfounded hatred of their precious bean fave and ignore it accordingly. But that doesn’t, like, make the issues with his writing, or with book 3 as a whole, go away, and the fact that they refuse to engage with good faith criticism (and, in fact, often refuse to engage with criticism at all by pretending there’s no foundation for any of it--I’ve actually seen people try to justify Aang’s actions in, for example, Bato of the Water Tribe by insisting that Sokka and Katara were actually worse and that Aang lying to them shouldn’t be held against him because they were Mean About It which.... yeah I could go off for days about that alone) says more about their lack of actual engagement with the text of the show than it does about the people who are criticizing his character.

The things that we say were handed to Aang--the deus ex lionturtle (which gave him energybending), the Rock of Destiny (aka the thing that gave him back the Avatar State without having to even attempt to do the work to unblock his chakras again himself), and Katara, presented to him as the prize he’d won at the very end of the show--are things that he did not do the work to actually earn.

Which will probably get some peoples’ backs up, so let me rephrase--the narrative did not put in the work to show how he actually earned these things, preferring to waste time with pointless filler in the front half of the season and then only bring up problems and then solve them within the four episode finale because they left no more room for these very plot critical points earlier in the show. Take Aang’s unwillingness to kill Ozai, for example--this is something that absolutely should have come up far earlier in the season (prior to the invasion at least), and the fact that it didn’t says two things: one, that because the writers knew Aang wasn’t actually going to face Ozai during the eclipse, they didn’t think it mattered to follow through on what Aang planned to do if the invasion had been successful; and two, his sudden clinging to his people’s pacifism seems directly at odds with where the entire narrative of the show had been headed to that point. Why is he suddenly insisting he’s the consummate pacifist when we’ve seen evidence in the show of not only Aang reacting in violence and vengeance (towards the sandbenders, and that wasp he killed), but also evidence that Air Nomads were not the sort of pacifists who would roll over and just let someone commit genocide (the fire nation corpses surrounding Monk Gyatso, clear evidence [which Aang never seems to so much as consider at any point during the series, despite the fact that it could have been a point of much-needed growth and maturation, or at least examining his own people’s beliefs and realizing that, at twelve, he had a flawed and incomplete understanding of his own culture] that even Aang’s mentor was willing to kill in order to protect his home and his people)? Why, if he’s so damn pacifistic, did he never seem to consider with guilt any of the lives he took while in the Avatar state and fused with the Ocean Spirit?

And no, by the way, I’m not saying he’s to blame for the deaths Koizilla caused, but I am saying that it doesn’t make sense that he feels no remorse over all of that blood. Particularly since we see that he considers actions taken while in the Avatar State to be his own--he feels guilty when he goes into the AS and scares his friends, and he very specifically removes himself from the AS to avoid killing Ozai, which tells me that he does consider the AS’ actions to be his own. And if all life is sacred to him to the point where he won’t even eat meat (although Air Nomad vegetarianism makes no sense, but that’s another rant entirely) why doesn’t he so much as mourn for the lives lost during the attack?

These are all questions which the narrative itself never considered, and it’s frustrating because many of them are questions which should have been asked--and answered, or at least attempted--in the course of the final act of Aang’s character arc. He had a great set up going into the third book, with Monk Gyatso’s teachings filling in some of the blanks in Aang’s (again, flawed and incomplete--I challenge anyone to try telling me that if they were completely removed from their culture at age twelve, and it was subsequently wiped completely from the face of the earth, that they’d have anything close to a deep and nuanced understanding of it; twelve-year-olds don’t have a deep and nuanced understanding of anything, nevermind an entire culture and worldview, which is why Aang kept parroting soundbytes from the monks without actually understanding them) understanding of Air Nomad beliefs, but this thread was completely dropped in favor of... I’m still not sure, honestly.

Was Aang running away from his problems and effectively lying to his friends (does he ever actually come clean about being completely unable to access the Avatar State of his own volition?) more important than going back to the Guru, or at least his teachings, and coming to understand his own culture? Where was his arc of regaining the Avatar State because he worked for it, because he tried to re-open his chakras and, for example, came to understand what letting go of his attachment to Katara really means? (That’s actually one of the most frustrating bits, because a) he gets to have his possessive and unhealthy attachment to Katara and get the Avatar State back, despite paying lipservice to letting her go at the end of book 2; and b) he never seems to get what ‘attachment’ the Guru was actually referring to--letting go of Katara doesn’t mean he had to stop caring about or even loving her, but it does mean he was supposed to give up his selfish and possessive attachment to her, which means no nodding when some actor in a play calls fake!Katara ‘the Avatar’s girl’ and no assuming they were supposed to be in a romantic relationship despite never actually asking about her feelings and no kissing her without her consent just because he wanted her to feel the same way about him and didn’t care whether or not she actually did [otherwise he would have asked, and he never once even tried].)

Instead, rather than having a season-long arc of re-navigating his chakras, opening them, and regaining the Avatar State under his own power, he gets thrown against a well-placed rock which does all the work for him at the very last second. Energybending, which wasn’t even thought of as a possibility earlier in the season, rather than being a concept he comes to discover on his own as he navigates his chakras for a second time and comes to understand the how the energy flows between each one, is likewise just given to him by a third party, with no work necessary on his part. And as for Katara, well, I’ve ranted at length about that in the past, but their last one-on-one interaction before the epilogue is when Aang kisses her without her consent, and she gets pissed off about it and storms off. There is nothing to bridge the gap between that and make-out city, nothing at any point indicating Katara’s feelings (because, as far as Kataang was concerned, her feelings never mattered) and how they were changing, no apology from Aang for violating her boundaries, no understanding of what he did wrong and why it was wrong. Nothing. Not a single conversation.

That is why we say that Katara was handed to him like a trophy. Because she was. Kataang was endgame not because it made any sense for Katara, but because Aang was the hero, and he saved the day, and he deserved to get his forever girl on top of it. There was never any real attempt to broach Katara’s feelings on the matter--she’s never shown reflecting on their pre-invasion kiss (in fact, by all appearances she completely forgot it even happened), and she is never once asked what her feelings are, not by Aang or the narrative--because, at the end of the day, they didn’t matter. Aang was getting the girl he wanted, and that was that.

We say that Aang was handed these things without working for them because the entire narrative of book three seemed particularly engineered to making sure he didn’t have to. Zuko, meanwhile, had to work for everything he achieved--the gaang’s trust, Katara’s in particular, his crown and his kingdom. (No, he didn’t particularly work to get Mai back, but that’s a whole other discussion, and he would’ve been much better off if she never showed up again after TBR.) He didn’t get to take any shortcuts. Aang’s arc is all shortcuts, at least in book 3, and that’s when they attempted to show how he got from point a to point b at all.

Anyway, the situations couldn’t possibly be any more different, and idk who said that but whomever it is clearly does not understand where the criticisms about Aang and his hamstringed book 3 arc are coming from.