#you guys seem to be misunderstanding what’s happening lol

[eloiseishere]

You guys seem to be misunderstanding a lot of things lol… It’s pretty smart. ANYTHING could be girl math, ANYTHING could be girl dinner.

Girl math: Going to the agent to get a copy of your key cuz you lost it instead of getting a €200 locksmith to open your locked door means that you’ve basically earned 200 quid — and that’s NOT being irresponsible w money??? Like???

Girl dinner: Not hungry? No problem, put what you crave on a plate, and that’s it. A whole charcuterie board? Hell yea — was it filling? Maybe, did it satisfy your potential craving? Probably.

(see tag for more info)

saw someone refer to not knowing how to keep track of your money as "girl math" ......why are we in this weird era of treating women like idiots but repackaging it to sound cute and quirky. We All Need To Stop

[hoshigray]

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐞 [𝐍𝐎𝐓]!! | a JJK series

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: “GO FUCK YOURSELF, SATORU GOJO!” “BETTER THAN FUCKING YOU!” It’s no secret to anyone on this Earth that you and Gojo cannot stand each other. Despite that, the world seems amused to put these two star-crossed lovers haters in the same space. Or worse, have them dwell deeper into their feelings for one another…

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Gojo x fem/afab! reader - explicit content; minors DNI - modern + college AU - frenemies to lovers + mutual pining - fluff + angst + misunderstandings - first kiss - virginity loss - Gojo and reader are at least age 20 - secret relationships; implied friends-with-benefits - sex in shared rooms; college dorms + hotel suite - college parties - use of party games (seven minutes in heaven) - confessions - mention of drug/alcohol abuse - humor bc Gojo and college, lol - Gojo is a cocky, tactless sweetheart, nothing new - cameos of other characters + explicit content will be listed in their respective fics (within the contents).

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞: when I say that I had this series planned out, I mean like mid-October last year planned out, lmaoo!! I'm honestly so psyched to do this series, as it's one of my favorite tropes + relatively short as I'll be busy irl, but we'll do what we can!! i was lowkey feeling this concept when i was re-watching Ranma 1/2 and figured it would work great with Gojo. So, here's to hoping i can properly execute my thoughts with this series, hehehe~

reblogs + comments are appreciated wholeheartedly ❤︎ gif header made by me + fic dividers used are provided by the wonderful @cafekitsune and @animatedglittergraphics-n-more!!

𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑰𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒊𝒓...

All the material below contains explicit 18+ content, so minors do not interact.

₊˚⊹♡ 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 (Feb 1st)

The start of the spring semester is supposed to be fresh and new, not be cramped up in a closet with your frenemy at a party! And what's worse: you actually like the feeling of his lips on yours!?

₊˚⊹♡ 𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 (Feb 7th)

Is it possible to wish to be in the embrace of someone who makes you want to throw them off a cliff? You seem to think so, and the same goes for Gojo. But alas, good things always come to an end, even when not meant to be...

₊˚⊹♡ 𝐒𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲, 𝐈 𝐇𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 (Feb 14th)

Going on a date with the guy who broke your heart is something you’d never thought would happen – especially on Valentine’s Day! But it’s just for him to be in your good graces again, nothing more…Yeah, go ahead and tell yourself that.

𝑨 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒀𝒐𝒖!

Would you like to be tagged when these pieces get released? Lmk in the replies, please, and thank you!

𝑻𝑨𝑮 𝑳𝑰𝑺𝑻 𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑬𝑫!!! Have made a list of the first 50 ppl who asked, but don't worry!! Check back for the stories when they're posted on their respective dates!!

© 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐲2024 ❤︎ These stories have been written by the original poster (me). Do not steal, edit, copy/plagiarize, or post any of my works on your own accounts, in or out of this app. Please and thank you.

[animeomegas]

New Things and Misunderstandings - Naruto Omegas x Alpha!reader

A/N: Happy birthday @omeganronpa !!!! I can't write more because ow, but yay, it's your birthday! I don't know what this post is, I just picked a few of your favs and wrote about misunderstandings lol, but I hope you like it anyway lmaoooo ❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜🤎🖤🩶🤍

Warnings: Just some innuendo lol. And me thinking I'm funny, that needs a warning.

Naruto

*Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto having a drink together*

Sakura: It's your birthday soon, right Naruto? Do you have anything special planned?

Naruto: Uh, not much. Work is crazy, y'know?

Sakura: Ugh, you don't have to tell me. I haven't got my birthday off from the hospital in four years.

Naruto: Yeah, it sucks. I'll probably just spend the evening at home with my alpha. I was thinking of asking for a quickie or something.

Sasuke: *grimacing* Tmi, dobe.

Naruto: What? I've never had one before, so I thought it'd be cool to try.

Sakura: Naruto! No one wants to hear this.

Naruto: Why? You don't like quickies? I always thought they looked tasty. I mean, they aren't ramen of course, but I always get birthday ramen from Ichiraku, so I can't ask my alpha to make it.

Saskue: ...

Sakura: Naruto, spell quickie.

Naruto: Um, okay? I think it's Q-U-I-CH-E.

Sasuke: 🙄

Sakura: 😠

Shikamaru

Alpha: *in the middle of a chat with Kiba* -and Shikaku was so hot yesterday, it's kind of crazy, y'know.

*Shikamaru suddenly walks in, home from work, overhearing*

Shikamaru: What 😐

Alpha: Shika! You're home!

Shikamaru: What 😐

Alpha: We were just talking about how the aircon has given up in the jounin headquarters. You must have heard about it. The common room wasn't too bad once everyone opened the windows, but I was just saying that your father was suffering a lot in his small office.

Shikamaru: *visibly relaxing* Oh, I see. Yes, for once I've been grateful that Naruto keeps me in Hokage tower most of the time.

Alpha: Yeah, I bet!

Shikamaru: Okay, I'm going to take a shower upstairs, I'll be back in a bit. *Shikamaru leaves*

Kiba: ...

Alpha: ...

Kiba: Good save.

Alpha: Thanks 😅

Lee

Lee: *sighs sadly*

Alpha: You okay, baby?

Lee: I... Do you think I'm intimidating? To our fellow Konoha shinobi I mean.

Alpha: I mean, I would hope that they have a healthy respect for your abilities, but I don't think people find you unapproachable. Why do you ask? Did something happen?

Lee: I overheard some people talking in the jounin common room. They were saying that they could suffocate in my thighs... But I would never hurt them like that, even in a spar. Do you think they're... afraid of me? 🥺

Alpha: ...

Lee: ...

Alpha: Oh, baby, no.

Shino

Shino: *visibly relieved* Alpha, you're back from your mission!

Alpha: Yes... Is everything okay?

Shino: No... it's Shihori. I'm... I'm worried about her, but I didn't know what to do and you were away and I was scared I'd make it worse so-

Alpha: Woah, slow down. What happened? Is she okay?

Shino: She's... been drawing things. Horrible things. I don't know where she's getting it from, I didn't want to ask in case I made it worse! What do we do??

Alpha: Deep breaths, what sort of things has she been drawing?

*Shino anxiously opens a drawer and pulls out a stack of drawings. They depict large, scary creatures. A brown bear, a purple rabbit, and a yellow chicken. You immediately remember hearing your fellow parent shinobi complain about the latest horror video game trend that became popular with children*

Alpha: Ah. It's Freddy.

Shihori: *overhearing from the living room* YOU KNOW FREDDY, APPA?!?!

Alpha: Of course. And Bonnie. And Chica.

Shihori: 🤩🤩

Shino: 😧

Itachi

Alpha: Oh, hey, you're back from reconnaissance. Did you catch them doing anything suspicious? Pein seemed really sure there were our guys.

Itachi: No. Unfortunately, they both kept entirely normal schedules for the day, as far as I could tell.

Alpha: Damn. So we came all the way out here for nothing?

Itachi: Not quite. While their conversation was mundane, I believe they may have been using a code.

Alpha: Seriously?

Itachi: Indeed. They mentioned at one point that their compatriots had been 'sixty-nining' each other. I believe that might have been code, although I am not sure of it's meaning.

Alpha: ...

Itachi: What?

Alpha: ...

Itachi: You recognise the code?

Alpha: *suddenly remembering that Itachi had no friends as a teenager and parents that taught him how to dismember people instead of teaching him anything about sex*

Alpha: ...I'll explain on the way back 🫠

[eydi-andrius]

bad idea right?

Synopsis: The plan was to lose your virginity at 30 in a one night stand, so there will be no string attached to mind afterwards. You don't plan to be married, nor to be in a relationship but you do want to feel what sex is. Little did you know that the man you chose that night seems to like you a little bit too much.

Simon “Ghost” Riley, John Price and Konig

a/n: if this becomes well-liked, I may continue it as a short series. And lol yes, this is my first story written for COD. 😩🤺

💀 Simon "Ghost" Riley

Simon is not a good conversationalist but he tried. Despite not replying much, you know he is listening to you. He even stopped you from ordering more alcoholic drinks and requested water when he noticed how you gradually became giggly and touchy. You don't even know how you understand each other, when he tilts his head to the side, you know he is asking for more details. Then, you looked into each other's eyes, understood what that meant, and did the deed until sunrise. You thought that would be the last of it. But then, something happened in your neighborhood, the officers called for a backup and you caught eyes with Simon. Since then, he never left your side. The action created a misunderstanding to people and thinking you two were together.

🍑 John Price

When you met Captain Price, he was such an easy guy to talk to. He has a deep, soothing voice that you liked and enjoy listening to the whole night. He was so thoughtful and asked you for another round when he noticed that your glass was empty. When you started slurring your voice, he insisted that you drink water. He did not stop you however, when you started moving towards him, inching closer, stroking his legs while you tell a story, leaning your head towards his hand when he fixed your unruly small curly hair that fell out of your bun. Long story short, you did the deed. From the car, to his doorstep, in his door and finally on the bed. You were able to leave his house, the next day, at noon, finally the fatigue catching up to him. You choose to sneak out and never make any noise just in case. Upon coming to your house, when you tried pulling out the key from your pocket, you noticed that in your keychain there is a simple ring attached to it. You tried so hard to remember when you received it since it looks so unfamiliar but shook it off when the hangover made your head hurt.

After half a year, you never met Price again but you do admit that every time you remember the ghost of his touch, you shudder and wants to feel it again. Anyway, you were minding your own business one day, when a man caged you in your shopping cart and whispered in you ear “What’s for dinner, dear wife? You owe me that after you left with no details to contact and find you. Hmmm?”

😈 Konig

You two caught eyes when you looked at the corner and a man was sitting there, sipping his drink, while his eyes were locked on you. Seeing how his eyes stare at you and the way you think his adam apple moved very sexily, you smiled at him, and he took it as an invitation to come closer. He sat beside you and at first, you were caught off guard when you heard his high pitched voice. You were expecting something deeper since he is huge like a dangerous bear. But the surprise were soon forgotten when you started talking and funnily enough, he was good in continuing the conversation. Either with his side comments or side puns, usually you don't really like it much, but when he did it, you thought it was cute and fun.

A bit of drink later, he started a somewhat suggestive joke, which you retorted with an innuendo joke. You two were just staring at each other at first, then you just found yourself at the bar’s bathroom, legs spread, panty shoved to the side and his tongue on you. Honestly, you can't remember that much, but when you closed your eyes from an orgasm, the memories seems to be patchy. You can't remember the details, but you felt when your head fell into a cheap bed and heard the creaking as he crawled and kissed your leg from your thighs up to your core. You woke up the next day, sore and barely able to walk. He was just too huge and he went rough once he found his pace and see how you're enjoying it.

Let's just say the bruises you saw on your neck before leaving were tattooed inside your head. You even promised that you will never do that again as you sneakily went out. Later that night, you prepared food for the stray dog you fed. He doesn't like living inside a home so you let him wander with a collar and your contact number. You went out to your backyard and called for him. You had to do it twice before you heard a bark from a bush and happily went over there and called for him again. As you come closer though, you quickly realized that your stray dog was not the only one there, in fact a familiar figure was petting your dog, who happily wags its tail, and when he noticed that you finally saw him in the dark, he barked and you realized you're fucked.

[maritiiny]

Minsung fanfic recommendation part 2

I'm back with my monthly minsung recs > <

again, please always read tags and every story here has mature content!

Hoodie Season by Teasweet - every time jisung wears minhos thing (hoodie) minho goes crazy and jisung as the biggest brat he is uses this for his own good. (the author has locked profile for those who isn't registered in ao3 so if you don't have account txt me on Twitter @.maritiiny and I'll give you pdf)

One too many drinks by ReadingCandle - oh, oh! This one was my absolute favourite. I love it when two dummies in love instead of talking about their feelings they hook up with others to make them jealous. and minho let's jisung to be that kind of dummie until he isn't and read to find out what happens next!

Ruining the Frat Boy: A Guide by Lee Minho by hanahneedssleep - I never mentioned it but (i did millionth times) i LOVE when top seems softie and comes out as absolute maniace lol. frat boy jisung thinks he can top minho but ends up under the absolute mercy of lino (mind you author said it was their first fic and it's one of the best fics i ever read)

Super Bowl by foxiyeny - read it at your own risk T^T misnug public sex in front chan and binnie hehe (running away)

Let your love walk in by adisadastra - you know that jealous jisung is as hottie as jealous minho. from platonic blowjob to non-platonic sex.

Amongst the flock by Mntsnflrs - oh this one is angsty and it was little too angsty for me since i'm too sensitive erm... but yeee happy ending! at was really well written.

Would you make a wish on my love? by brittleheart - oh seems like i read some angsts (I usually don't) but if i did it was worth it! misunderstands and once again not talking about their feelings :( but again happy ending guys!!

The cat('s) boy by inariwife - ok forget angst do yall like hybrid fics? if you don't let me tell you something LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING! some maybe be cringe but this one and other I'll recommend later is good. did i ever lied? no! so read my lovely cat hybrid possessive minho and confused sungie fic!

Marking my territory by teorema - i never liked ex to lovers again but with minsung it starts to get my favourite trope. sungies jealous ex marking his territory that's it, that's the fic!

No more secrets by minsungstreet2514 - promised second hybrid fic where minho who hates to think he is owned by someone is in an open relationship with jisung and it takes one look on sungie's ex sex buddy, model like hyunjin to realize maybe it's not that bad to own and be owned.

happy reading! ><

see yall soon ( i hope)

[mirensiart]

Look, I truly do realize it’s frustrating to be asked the same thing over and over again, but sometimes when looking through a blog to see if something’s been answered, you skip over where it’s been answered, or you don’t quite understand so you ask a similar but different question in hopes of elaboration or for it to make more sense. Yes, sometimes it’s just people not bothering to read the pinned post, but other times it’s an ask for clarification.

Also, when someone asks you what something is, it’s not necessarily them being too lazy to figure it out themselves, it’s often them wanting to initiate a sort of conversation, they want to know what YOU think of something. What is lu? Is it a super cool comic that you like because of the dynamics shown? What is it to YOU? That is what people are asking.

I’m not any of the people to whom you have given the ‘look it up/it’s already been answered’ responses to, but almost every time you say it has more and more felt like a slap in the face and a ‘you’re stupid for asking’.

I want to engage and interact with your content, but the way you respond makes me feel like I have to quadruple check things to make sure it’s not going to get a negative response. Maybe I’m just sensitive, and you’ll just get upset with me (I’m certainly used to it irl), but I feel like it’s important to tell people when they’re coming off as mean and don’t seem to realize it.

I don’t want this to ruin your day or anything, and I truly enjoy your work and think you’re a great artist.

Ok so, I understand where you’re coming from but a couple of things to take into consideration:

1. It’s all about the tone and the way people ask the thing. Some people just come out as entitled and rude, at least to me, which is why it irks me and bothers me. There’s been people who have asked things I’ve answered before, hell the very same question about what linked universe is, I’ve replied to it before with no problems because the person who asked was nice! I do understand not looking at the entire blog for an answer. Another example is the mipha’s grace question, I have gotten it a ton but there are twists to it, some people add interesting details or questions, I don’t mind that at all. It’s when people just come at me with an entitled tone that I don’t like. Maybe I come off as rude myself because tone is so hard to read over text, but I try to be as nice as I can regarding my own circumstances

2. I am doing all of this for free. I have a job and a pretty awful personal life right now lol I create content and I share it with you all and I engage with everyone during my limited free time. I don’t have to reply to everyone, that is true, but I do and I try to as much as I can. I encourage people to send me asks actually since it’s thanks to this that I’ve been able to come out with more ideas for the content I’m making, but sometimes it is too much. I do apologize if I come off rude some days, again I don’t share my personal life online, but I’ve been dealing with the loss of 2 close family members that I lost in a short period of time, so I have bad days. Again it’s not an excuse, and I apologize again for coming off rude, it’s not my intention and sometimes the constant pressure of engaging with people and my own personal problems gets to me. And you guys shouldn’t pay for it.

3. English is not my first language, and i do get meaning and tone mixed up A LOT. I’ve had problems with it before, and I’ve had misunderstandings online cause I took something said to me wrong because of different meanings and ways to say things in Spanish . I’ve come off super rude to people when I’m not trying to cause that phrase or tone is said differently in Spanish and the same has happened vice versa, aka I misunderstand people in English cause some ways to say things come off as super rude here. Again, not an excuse, but it is a problem I’ve been dealing with for a while. I do strive to do better and to learn the language better. So I suppose I can only promise to try harder next time.

All in all, I will be more careful with my tone and my replies from now on, I really don’t want to offend anyone or cause a misunderstanding. I appreciate you telling me though, it helps to remind me that I need to separate my personal life from my online presence, and just not reply to people when I’m not having a good day, since I am more prone to be annoyed that way.

I do hope you have a good day (or night) and I thank you whole heartedly for the honesty. And you’re not sensitive at all anon, I was rude, i appreciate you telling me that. And please don’t feel as if you can’t engage with me, I really want this to be a fun space for everyone, so I’ll try extra hard to make this all a better and safer space for everyone.

[f0point5]

With all the posts about Max’s first win I can’t stop thinking about how Y/N was feeling because it was still their feud era 🥺

do you have any headcanons about it?

I always had a rough idea of what happened after he won, I think it’s mentioned in the smau but I actually had some more detailed thoughts when I saw the reel on Max’s insta so…

Enjoy 🧡

Ps. Please ignore slight inaccuracies, I didn’t check the layout of the track’s parc fermé before writing this lol

**************************

It’s your dad who drags you to yet another race under the guise of actually seeing you for more than thirty minutes at an airport. You hardly bother being upset. The kid he wishes was his is entering his first race for Red Bull Racing, you weren’t expect him to spend the whole weekend with you while that was happening.

Of course Max goes and wins it.

The moment he takes the chequered flag and the garage erupts into noise that can’t even be softened by your headphones, you want to roll your eyes, but you can’t. You’re not sure why your heart is thundering in your chest and you’re lightheaded, but you can’t think straight to figure it out. You don’t even like the guy.

Later, you’ll realise it’s because for all the dislike, awkwardness, and misunderstanding, there’s one thing you know about Max Verstappen, and it’s that he deserves this. He’s deserved it since he was racing around on his stupid little quad bike right over your foot. He deserved it after every win and every rare loss. Every time you watched him load his kart into that battered van when his dad wouldn’t let anyone help him, every time he turned away from anyone who might notice he was crying after Jos spoke to him, every time he stood on that top step looking not happy, just relieved.

You don’t even realise you’re crying until Geri Horner hands you a tissue with a soft smile before she runs off to join her husband. You follow her out to parc fermé where Max is already out of the car, mobbed by people. Barriers aren’t keeping anyone away from F1’s story of the decade.

You’re making your way through the throngs of people without any clear idea of why. You’re not even sure you’re breathing. Your brain certainly feels short of oxygen. Max has his back to you as he talks to one of his pit crew, gesticulating wildly as the guy shakes him by the shoulder.

It takes pretty much all the courage you’ve ever had to tap him on the shoulder. Something in you is surprised he turns to look at you.

“Congratulations,” you say, past a lump in your throat.

He doesn’t say anything. His smile doesn’t fall, but his eyebrows raise, like in this sea of people congratulating him he’s surprised that you did.

“Uh, thanks,” he says squeezing the back of his flushed neck. Even with a grin he can’t dull, he manages to look so damn awkward, and he can’t meet your eyes. “It was a good race, huh?” He snorts out a chuckle like he’s just one a 100 metre dash at a school sports day.

“Oh, fucking hell, Max,” you scoff as you take hold of his wrist and pull him into a hug, one he returns so quickly it makes you laugh, shaking against him.

You squeeze him tighter and he responds in kind. You laugh again, and this time you feel him laughing, too. Maybe something in his sweat transmits his adrenaline, or the heady atmosphere of success just takes over and you lose your mind, because you find yourself wondering what would happen if you just never let him go.

It’s Jos who pulls you apart, giving his son one more hug before pushing him off to where the team is waiting to celebrate with him again. He even turns to you and gives a squeeze around the shoulder and a kiss to the crown of your head, which feels a little like being kissed by the pope.

You shrink back into the crowd of people as photographers move past you to get closer for more pictures. Max doesn’t even seem to notice them, talking to Helmut Marko and his dad, looking like he’s walking on air. You imagine he must feel weightless. You know that for some reason, you do.

“He’s phenomenal,” your dad says beside you. It’s a dig at you, but you don’t even care.

“Yeah,” you agree, watching Max hugging his race engineer, “he is.”

He may be an arrogant dick, but his talent is something you see once in a lifetime if you’re lucky, and today you feel lucky. Your dad may never forgive you for not having talent like that but right then you promise to stop hating Max just because he does.

You’ll never be friends. You’ll never have more in common than a childhood that shattered you and made him invincible. You’ll probably never stop wondering what it’s like to be him.

But when you see him stand on that top step for what you know won’t be the last time, you cheer.

[vaguely-concerned]

Thoughts upon finishing Master and Apprentice! A good double read with Padawan; the ending of that leaving Obi-Wan slightly hopeful about his relationship to Qui-Gon makes for a very sad yet hilarious ‘Local Padawan loses last little bit of hope he didn’t even know he still had’ sort of vibe to the beginning of this one, which is set one (1) year later and Obi-Wan is So Done with Qui-Gon’s whole deal by this point (correctly btw). Also if you can’t tell already I will not be objective or free from bias in this because I love Obi-Wan so much and some of the stuff Qui-Gon pulled made me incandescent with rage on his behalf <3 let’s go

- 'oh obi-wan, you're so mature for your age, I keep forgetting you're only seventeen years old,' qui-gon says, word for word, repeatedly, in master and apprentice, apparently willfully deaf to the industrial-sized warning bells about their relationship dynamic that should probably be setting off in his head. qui-gon believes in vibing with the living force and being in the moment right up until the moment requires him to pay attention to the kid he's raising for more than oh, one and a half minutes of self-effacing inner monologue and then he's like 'well unfortunately there is simply no time for that right now there are prophecies to be pondered'. (the fact that the admission that obi-wan has essentially been left to raise himself emotionally and the resigned reframing of that as 'and maybe that is a good thing!' is part of the olive branch they extend to each other towards the end... will my sadness never end)

- most of all it's so heartbreaking to me that qui-gon seemingly never understands just how much obi-wan as a person is rooted deeply in shame. I don't think that's a feeling that's particularly prevalent in qui-gon's own inner world so he doesn't recognize how central it is in obi-wan's psychology and completely misunderstands and misaligns with him again and again and again and then gets annoyed with obi-wan for that, thus making the shame even deeper. doubly painful because he does see the way rael lives so much of his life out of shame now and feels sad about it, but can't see the way he's contributing to obi-wan doing so. this is what fucks me up so bad about the generational trauma in star wars -- no one here meant to be cruel. for all his faults I do think qui-gon does love obi-wan and doesn't mean to hurt him. but the original sin of the prequels as far as I'm concerned is qui-gon tenderly drying away obi-wan's tears as he's dying even while completely failing to see him, his eyes too fixed on anakin's future to actually be with obi-wan, who's there right now and needs him.

these are simply very different people trying and failing to understand each other, and the harm that can still happen in that… 'if you love me, you don't love me in a way I understand', all the way through the disaster line, even when the love is there, it is there, that’s what hurts the most, it just doesn’t reach where it’s needed, there’s a connection that doesn’t happen. (ironically I think ahsoka doesn't doubt that anakin loves her, it's just uh everything else that went down. so y'know family curse broken! new even more fucked up curse achieved now with more child murder. I mean there already was some child murder in this family but anakin upped the game exponentially) 

- a lil guy who's basically tarzan except the gorillas are replaced with protocol droids and then he becomes a jewel thief is one of the funniest star wars concepts I've ever heard and I hope pax and rahara get to pop up in more star wars media, they’re great fun. (also an idea I think would be super fun to make a character/campaign around in Edge of the Empire or something, everyone playing different droids and then one person being robo-parented lol) 

- was not prepared to have rael posit a theory of what essentially seems to be the jedi version of predestination in his despair, but I do love to see it haha. especially interesting since he, qui-gon and dooku must be among the people alive who've studied the prophecies in most depth, and they've all reached different conclusions -- dooku decides to join the war of light and dark on the side of dark for some reason, qui-gon (possibly the stubbornest fucker the jedi order ever produced) 'turns towards the light not to win some great cosmic game, but because it is the light', and rael in the middle falls into the depressed apathy of 'it doesn't matter what we do here, the outcome is already decided; for there to be true balance there has to be as much dark as light in the world so we're fucked'. but in the end he does take qui-gon's words to heart and turns towards the light rather than accepting dooku's offer, even if he might not believe it makes a difference in the long run. man I love rael. hobo-looking sonofabitch living in a castle for eight years will just suddenly fling out some deep jedi theology huh

- master rael 'I'm gonna make up for the big terrible mistake I made on accident by making an even bigger more premeditated mistake on purpose' averross (affectionate)

- the added layer to dooku’s fascination with prophecy after reading dooku: jedi lost — that his best friend in the world was a seer who couldn’t turn it off and it destroyed him……….. dooku you’re not getting him back if you just understand what he saw you know that right

- the more I read of master and apprentice the more I realize that the reason yoda and qui-gon don't get along is that they're two of the judgiest bitches the jedi order ever produced. They’re like two cats scowling judgmentally at each other from opposite sides of the room pretending to live and let live while going ‘you’re wrong tho’ internally. 

- I dunk on him constantly (not entirely without affection, however grudging), but Qui-Gon is genuinely a really interesting character. He’s so… he’s so. He’s infuriating but he’s infuriating in an equidistant sort of way. You feel me. He’s pissing everyone off equally and he just doesn’t care because again, he’s the stubbornest judgiest bitch around and thinks he’s right all the time. I would be free to just enjoy his ornery ‘no actually I’m right about this’ ass and the chaos he wreaks so much more if Obi-Wan didn’t have to live with the emotional consequences of it lol. 

- poor rael closing in on fifty with his puriteen middle-aged little brother clutching pearls about his getting laid once in a blue moon fhdskjahfas. again a really interesting insight into different ways of interpreting the jedi code, though, I love seeing the jedi not be an ideological monolith. to be fair to rael, having sex sometimes does seem to be the indulgence he has that causes the least conflict with his principles or loyalties so you know what honestly force speed you my friend why not. (and then there's qui-gon 'noooo sex is only okay if you're In Love (implied: like I was)!!!' jinn lmao. I wonder what he'd think of anakin and padme's relationship, would that pass the 'being sufficiently purely in love' test for him) I do like how consistently it’s shown that rael doesn’t mean to be cruel or unkind in anything he says, he always notices something landing too close to home and then pulls carefully back from it instead of pushing on. He seems to be the emotional intelligence powerhouse in this lineage (as long as he doesn’t have his feelings too tangled up in something, at least). 

Dooku: jedi lost also shows us that dooku absolutely knows rael is out there in the galaxy laying pipe and is, at worst, softly amused by it. So in this little family unit it’s only qui-gon losing his mind over it fjsdkafa I’m so used to having qui-gon be the wild card maverick compared to obi-wan ‘*in tears* but what are the RULES master’ kenobi, it’s so fucking funny that within the context that raised him he’s the stick in the mud 

I guess. the book also had a plot and it was not bad! some interesting insights about how the republic interacted with the big corporations and just how fucked everything already was by this point. I'm a pretty character-driven reader so that's what sticks with me for the most part

- obi-wan’s big teenage rebellion here being that sometimes. Occasionally. When he really loses his temper and gets hot under the collar. He’ll say something slightly passive aggressive out loud instead of keeping it contained inside his head. And qui-gon still can’t handle that gracefully AT ALL he snaps right back fdjskfhas. (I guess he also snitches on qui-gon to the council but well, you know, qui-gon was breaking republic law pretty brazenly at that point I think that moves beyond teenage angst and into ‘...master that’s a wholeass felony’ territory). Obi-Wan does go for a couple of low blows, but like. Nothing that’s not actually true, is the thing. And mostly he blames himself for not being good enough, because surely if he were qui gon wouldn’t treat him like this. Augh. hngh. Pain. suffering. 

- I am not one of the people who think everything would have automatically been just hunky-dory if only qui-gon lived and could have been anakin's master (in fact I would have given it a 50/50 chance of going exponentially worse way faster; being more similar as people is not always a guarantee that a relationship will go smoother and qui-gon is an incredibly difficult man to be close to for any length of time), but the way this book basically presents how the dynamic between dooku, rael and qui-gon could have gone on in the next generation too... it would have been incredibly unfair to obi-wan (as always I think that's just an universal constant lmao) but I think the odds of it turning out okay would have been better if you had him in the mix to run crisis control for both qui-gon and anakin, as he does for each of them individually as best he can anyway. at least he could have been free to be anakin's brother and friend purely in that scenario, without all the added mess of grief and having to take on a parental role there so young. he does basically fill that role in ahsoka's apprenticeship, after all.

- qui-gon finally hugging rael before he leaves the planet (and especially since when they were younger he wanted to, but held himself back from it)... that's still his big brother even with all the shit that's happened since ;_____; when someone teaches you how to swim (literally and symbolically) that shit stays with you I suppose

Relatedly: DOOKU getting hugged, and gladly. What the fuck. Are you all seeing this shit. I’m gonna cry or laugh I’m not sure which one why am I emotionally invested in the galaxy's most problematic grandpa now this sucks

[deathsbestgirl]

syzygy (rewatch)

i really love this episode. mulder and scully are so frustrated with each other, and "out of character" but not really. the most out of character part is the way they're not on the same page about how they investigate, that mulder isn't turning to scully for her thoughts, and scully isn't listening to his theories seriously. but the jealousy, the misunderstanding, their quips really are in character. it's just that they are so frustrated, their actions don't match the way they usually behave. like scully can be mean & petty, but she usually saves that just for mulder. their ribbing is usually friendly & affectionate, but it's like they're trying to piss each other off.

(maybe spoilers for s5) i used to say bad blood seemed more fitting for season three or four, but i think this is the season three version of bad blood. bad blood is so much more good natured, two best friends trying to poke & prod each other and get under the other's skin. syzygy has a similar vibe but not nearly as good natured. they're too frustrated, not listening, not understanding (and not concerned about the trouble they're in like bad blood lol)

anyway. before i get into specific scenes, i feel like i see a lot of people talk about margi & terri like they aren't out of character. i'm sure they have a little bit of mean girl streak in them, like the two best friends giggling in the back of class. i imagine it to be similar to mulder & scully. they save those things for each other and their friendship is something very different than their other relationships. detective white says they're good, smart kids. the last guy they kill, the one that is an accident on their part, he asks what happened to them. they're dressing differently, acting differently. they're mean and aggressive. by the end there's no facade about being nice or scared like there was earlier. they're criticized for being the stereotypical mean teenage girls (or rather, chris carter for writing them like this) but i kind of thought that was the point. obviously we don't see what they're like usually, but there are lines to suggest they're not behaving like themselves. and at the end, they are two scared girls, sobbing & leaning on each other. it looks to me like two girls who don't understand what's been happening. once the syzygy ended, moved out of it's powerful alignment, they crack and fall apart. they're going to be dealing with the fallout from this for a long time.

now into the mulder & scully scenes.

the first driving scene, they're already so annoyed with each other and we have no context about why. it's like they've put us right into that uncomfortable situation where a couple is obviously fighting but won't talk about it in front of other people, and you're stuck navigating a tension you don't understand and isn't your business...and it's affecting you anyway. (it's what detective white walks into and she doesn't understand, at the beginning she really is just trying to do her job. she wants the deaths to stop, she wants their help. she's trying to work with them.)

and i feel like i can't talk about this scene now without thinking of this post. mulder's telling scully detective white said a right at the stoplight, scully's arguing well this is a stop sign go left! and she's wrong. the way they keep the camera on the stop sign and then we see mulder driving back in the direction he said to go, chef's kiss.

in my tags on @casuallycryingoverbooks post i say how their headcanon makes this funnier. like. scully confusing her right & left, making her incredibly bad with directions is SO funny. her being to frustrated to listen to mulder (as he listens to another professional, another woman) and consider maybe she was telling him the wrong thing. like i fully believe scully (and others) would confuse their right & left when they have to reverse it constantly. and i think it's something she would generally remember to consider, so she would often catch it before making the mistake.

next scene, they actually meet "the detective" and scully is so unimpressed, it kills me. all of her usual decorum during cases is completely gone. there is no mask, no professionalism, no kindness. AT A FUNERAL. like that really kills me. this is what's out of character lol however, i do think she actually manages to ask her questions about evidence in a relatively typical scully manner. BUT YOU GUYS. @lesbianmarrow made a post about the framing of different shots, and this is the scene where you can see the shift happen.

you can see scully tracking mulder's movement with her eyes, until they switch to this pov. detective white now between them, caught in the middle of something she doesn't understand. in more than one way. (but also, what is he doing with his face!!)

but oh my god it's just so good?! she is so mad at mulder for his interjection about her skepticism, saying "don't ask me" -- something he will repeat at least one more time in this episode. (personally, i think this should have caught on like "sure. fine. whatever." they are both SO classically annoying in this episode. it's no wonder they're driving each other crazy.)

and when white walks away:

normally...they would enjoy this from each other. best friends and all that.

one of the things mulder & scully established in the pilot is the way they listen to each other and take each other seriously. scully doesn't mock mulder the way others do, instead she offers rational reasons for what's happening. she uses science. mulder is inclined to dismiss science because of what he's seen, but he doesn't (usually) outright dismiss it, especially once her science starts to give them some proof or explains the unexplainable or a solid place to start (when given the chance anyway).

and here, they're not really listening to each other, or maybe just not showing that they are. because later, mulder will tell white that scully is "rigid in a wonderful way" and they're still calling each other when terri & margi find them. they're not working together with their different theories as they usually do. both of their perspectives aren't being used to lead them in the right direction. they both follow different trails, and eventually they meet up later at the conclusion, to yell at the townspeople in sync (detective white with the townspeople this time).

anyway. the scene where they're interviewing margi & terri is interesting. these girls are telling mulder & scully separately about themselves. their grades, cheering, their best friend, future plans with their best friend. mulder & scully are so interesting here. scully is usually a little more forceful in interrogations, but i'm not sure this should be treated like an interrogation yet lol we don't see mulder say or ask anything, but we see scully say "yeah" to terri's introduction and ask questions, while mulder is, i don't even know. staring at the ceiling. (would love someone else's insight here. like i love it but i have no thoughts, no reasoning?)

THEN the new trio is back together listening to the recordings. mulder and scully six feet apart. and white another six feet away. none of them facing each other. none of them are actually on the same page and scully gets forceful again. and mulder does the thing AGAIN, only this time about scully's "impatience" and you can see scully's hand go to her hip as he speaks & circles around to white. oh. oh.

white looking up at mulder. idk why this struck me exactly. (and no scully in frame...)

and she asks him to explain the burning coffin -- "don't ask me." cut to scully offering an explanation, merely looking at the body claiming "i see nothing here to suggest otherwise." i just think that's funny because she's not doing any kind of examination, and yeah i'm sure there would be some visible signs that could suggest something. but she states it so definitively, i just think it's funny. (she always has her scientific theories, but i don't usually feel she's stating it's the Truth until she confirms it. like late on in quagmire she says "regardless of what i believe, there's no hard evidence to what you believe.")

we get "sure. fine. whatever." as she snaps on the latex. after telling them they were crazy lol

and this is when he "ditches" her. and like. detective white asks him what he's doing at her house and he literally freaking says "i was hooping you could help me solve the mystery of the horny beast?" like why did he change it from horned to horny. but anyway, is scully not examining the body to try to explain the fire? it's pretty normal for mulder to do something else until she has any information. SO what she's really mad about when they meet up again is that he went off investigating with detective white. which...also makes sense. LMAO scully is just so mad there's another woman he's working with, and seems to be listening to more than her. she HATES it.

but on a more serious note, here it looks to me like she's actually hurt. she really feels like he ditched her after they had a disagreement. and it kind of feels like a callback to conduit. mulder says to her. "okay scully, so we disagree. it's not the first time and it won't be the last." i don't think mulder thought he was ditching her. he was following a lead while she worked on finding something on boom's body. but he also didn't tell her what he was doing, while they were working a case. not necessarily out of the norm, they do often go in different directions, but they've usually had a lot more back & forth and an understanding. which is severely lacking in this episode. and mulder doesn't respond the way he usually would when scully's upset.

and what she doesn't know is that mulder does kind of defend her. "rigid in a wonderful way" suggesting that he does value her input (not in general, but even in this case. he's just frustrated with her behavior too), but right now, she isn't really acting like herself.

the next part kind of KILLS me. scully tries to explain why it isn't satanic cultists and what's really happening, the psychology of it?? (feel like mulder should be more knowledgeable about this and kind of agree lol) but what i really want to talk about is when they find the bones. mulder & scully both walk over, getting their gloves out. they realize the other is getting ready to put them on and take a look.

i couldn't find good shots on the archive but this gifset shows it. to me, it looks like they both thought for a moment they would have a small truce. until mulder kept talking. scully's reactions keeps registering to me more as hurt than anything else. where i think mulder isn't understanding what the problem is at all (which reminds me of never again). there's something about that way he doesn't see these reactions. they're either not facing each other, sometimes scully does this on purpose. but sometimes she's looking at him, and he isn't looking at her. something about that feels intentional too. because mulder can read her. it's why she often avoids his eyes (not that it usually matters). and she can't hide it when she looks in his eyes, that's why he cups her face & lifts her chin (beyond the sea & irresistible). it's something really sweet about them. the way they can't hide. but here, they don't want to share it.

the next scene is really why everything about scully strikes me as jealousy. before this one, it could be written off as professional jealousy. we've seen that in scully since season one. but we got a little taste of other jealousy in wotc.

i love this for so many reasons. scully is actually yelling at him for his behavior, and he may have made the comment about "this may not be the time" but he acts like he has no idea what's wrong here 🤣 and scully's yelling about his "comportment" but she specifically says "i am not going to be humiliated by you, in front of you..." and like. that's Insane! to me, humiliation is a Big feeling. not just embarrassed, humiliated.

mulder leaning on the wall & the script make me think he does actually understand. season three is a real turning point in their relationship. feelings are coming to the surface despite the ways they try to suppress or deny them. there's a growing awareness, and after then hell of season two, how deep their trust goes, how important their partnership & work is...well it's a struggle. i'm always saying it's a journey. and i think of season three as peak best friends, which yes! but it's just never so simple with these two. there have been layers from the beginning.

on top of all that, they're standing so close. mulder leans in to smell her (to see if she's the one wearing "his favorite perfume," they're invading each other's space again. the eye contact happens!!! and when she storms off, mulder falls against the wall "feeling somehow like he's betrayed a lover." which he hasn't, not yet.

and then my personal favorite part, that also makes me a little queasy...

scully is in her motel room, smoking and angrily muttering about detective white. mulder's in his room mixing a drink in the bottle in the craziest way i've ever seen (but i do remember seeing people talk about this before. cannot for the life of me remember what it was, but apparently it isn't unheard of. except for mulder lol)

and when scully gets the call, she just barges into mulder's room. seeing detective white on top of mulder. what she didn't see was mulder trying to get white out of his room and both of them talking about feeling "weird." i think i've said this somewhere but if scully was in her right mind, if she wasn't so mad at mulder & thought they were sticking around for white...she would have clocked what was happening. and this was the betrayal mulder felt, this is why she's been jealous. but they're partners, friends. they aren't dating. but everything has been palpably shifting for them. they're losing their denial.

(and i just have to say that white was assaulting mulder. this was not consensual. if he really had much to drink, unclear. and white isn't in her right mind either. but.....we don't excuse murder & sa because someone feels weird.)

all of it leading to THIS. just incredible. scully's anger (and hurt) kicking up. feeling justified in how she's been feeling & acting (which is also objectively unprofessional. she's usually the one trying not to step on toes & keep a good relationship with the local pd and here she is just. not doing any of that. she is obnoxious & pushy & condescending. her usual empathy & understanding is almost non-existent.) describing mulder as a "big macho man" is so funny. that's never the impression given to the audience, or scully. they were equals from the beginning, respect a core foundation of their relationship. mulder making fun of her height, hilarious, but also i don't think he's ever made fun of her for that before or after this.

in these two scenes they're both muttering about each other, the things the other said that pissed them off. what's going on between them is personal. they don't get like this about disagreeing on a case. scully always follows him, she questions him, she tries to understand but she doesn't get angry — confused & frustrated, absolutely.

mulder asking white to go with scully is also Insane. and i think it was an important decision. he's the driver (i think it helps him) and he doesn't want to drive with white. but it's absolutely insane because white is just. in the middle of whatever they have going on and she has no idea what she stepped into. but she does as asked and scully & white have such a tense car ride and have to team up when they find the townspeople marching down the road with guns. (AND WHO KILLED ALL THESE BIRDS?! just one of my favorite lines. and also top tier comedy when one hits the car windshield. and scully facing an angry mob of people terrified for their kids & towns, just saying like "it's illegal, there are no satanists" is sooooo funny to me. no fear.)

mulder went back to zrinka and then he finds margi in the garage where scott's body still is, as terri found scully. the girls both blame each other and immediately mulder is calling scully. "i've got your suspect and you've got mine. why does that make sense to me at this point?" i love this because this is the closest to a truce they've had this entire episode. they both did their thing and in the end it comes together. they trap margi & terri in a room together until the clocks strike midnight and everything goes quiet. they yell at everyone in sync. white opens the door to two terrified girls sobbing in each other's arms. it ends as the planets move out alignment, and they haven't solved a thing. are these girls even charged? they have absolutely no evidence, so doubtful.

and it ends as it began, mulder & scully in the car only this time they're leaving & scully's driving, speeding out of town. "shut up, mulder." "sure. fine. whatever."

[lonelywolfinthemiddleofnowhere]

Reading TLH again #4 - the tragedy of Jason/Piper

So we shall begin Piper McLean's character arc!

We had 2 chapters of Jason and in the third, Piper takes the reels of the narrative and we get to know her more inwardly.

I would like to begin this meta stating how Piper, from the three new demigods, are the most calm one.

While Jason is sort of used to this magical world, he feels confused and, because he is a logical person, feels the need to question everything, even if, deeply inside, he already knows the answers to his questions.

Leo is, apparently, excited by the new world he got into. He is curious and not afraid of new things, so he seems happy and satisfied in securing a place for himself in that strange magical camp.

So: Jason is still confused (this phrase is getting repetitive, but this is basically Jason's mental state through the whole book), Leo is excited and Piper is...feeling dreadful, but weirdly accepting.

It made me remember how Piper is actually a really cool-headed character. She doesn't freak out much. From what I remember, she usually keeps her worries and fears for herself, which makes a lot of room for misunderstandings and omission (one of the things that annoyed me about her in my first read).

Interesting observation #1: Piper is in love with Jason

She seems to be deeply in love with him, which is really sad since we already know he was an illusion. Their relationship starts pretty badly because of these manufactured feelings she has for an idea of him.

She is disturbed by the fact that he acts like he doesn't know her. It is, in her view, the most worrying thing that happened in the day.

This is sick u guys, I feel bad for them.

Another thing that made me think about their situation: Piper was the one actively seeking Jason's attention before they met.

Even in her fantasy, she is the one doing the groundwork. It makes Jason appear as a dense boy lol (spoiler: he kinda of is).

And then she tells us that their "relationship" is new. She spent a whole semester working on it before they got together. For her, they were best friends before being lovers. She has been hallucinating with Jason for at least 6 months now.

She can already feel Jason slipping through her fingers like sand. He is escaping her, going far away, somewhere she can't follow. Except she never really had him. He was never hers for her to lose, so what, exactly, is she losing then? Or rather, who?

Their beginning is a tragedy (and so is their ending), but is so much more sad reading their circumstance through Piper's emotional point of view. She feels like she owns him something, and that he owns her something in return. They were supposed to be a pair.

Another thing I would like to comment: Jason has a powerful aura, but if you look closer, he also gives sad vibes. He is a sad character. If Percy is anger, Jason is sadness. (I will make a post especially analyzing the seven's dynamics later)

Interesting observation #2: Annabeth's suspicious already

Annabeth's first feeling towards Jason is ressentiment, like we saw previously.

Here, her ressentiment turns into outright distrust. She is suspicious of him and his entire demeanor is not helping. Annabeth is smart, she is the kind of character that usually doesn't have difficult into look past beyond the Gods schemes.

She knows, she feels, that Jason has something to do with Percy disappearing. The fact he screams NOT GREEK is not helping too.

Jason always has answers he is not aware and Annabeth sees he has history.

Their dynamic is super cool in MoA, seeing them in the beginning is very amusing. They are similar in a lot of things, both are great leaders for the rest of the crew in the Argo II, but here they are getting under each other's skin. Annabeth because of distrust and Jason because of wariness.

Interesting observation #3: The late claim of Leo and Piper

Does anyone else thinks about this weird timing surrounding Leo and Piper's claim?

We know Leo has history with Hera. She has been in his life since he was a kid, so I kind of buy the idea of her shielding his existence until the right time for her plan.

But Piper? From what I remember, the gods didn't meddle with her life until now, in the Wilderness School. I don't understand why Aphrodite took so long to claim her. After the war, every kid should have been brought to camp at 13, and those older should have been there already.

They both don't describe weird encounters with random monster like Percy do in TLT too, so I assume nothing out of ordinary happened in their life up till now (except the whole Leo fiasco, but that wasn't a monster, so I'm not counting).

Coach also says that they are powerful, and their scents are quite strong (not big three strong, but still), so why this timing is so off?

Anyway, I don't have an absolute answer to this, but is something that makes me wonder about things, so I brought it here. Any theories?

Interesting observation #4: Percy's disappearance being a huge thing

The entire camp feels his absence. Percy had rough years at camp, and fought a war to protect it. Everyone there recognizes him as a leader and look up to him for guidance and inspiration (like they did with Luke). This is so satisfying to see, how loved he is!

Percy is not in the book physically, but he is still everywhere. Literally haunts the narrative, I love it (i miss him)!

Interesting observation #5: Piper is fast to judge

From the very first time she lays her eyes upon Drew, she knows they aren't going to be buddies.

Drew also traces fast judgment towards Piper, so maybe is an Aphrodite kid thing, analyzing and defining people in seconds.

Right after we have a lil leader!Jason moment, where he starts asking the important questions for the three of them:

And Piper starting her betrayal arc being sketchy:

Interesting observation #5: Piper can be violent

We had already seen her ready to knock storm spirits without prompt, and now we have her ready to smack Drew's face because she said Piper's hair looked like a dead badger (this is such an Aphrodite kid thing lol)

Bonus points for Piper's quick people judgment (also a very Aphrodite kid thing to me), cause she knows right away to not mess with Annabeth:

Interesting observation #6: Leo is the first being claimed

Jason doesn't count to me cause he already is claimed, he just doesn't remember (and Zeus doesn't acknowledge him). I assume Piper is claimed later because Aphrodite loves to put up a show.

But Hephaestus is pretty efficient in claiming Leo right away. He is a very straightforward god after all, so it makes sense.

Interesting observation #7: Will is Leo's assorted tour guide, and possibly his first Camp Friend

Their interaction is so small and in the beginning of the first book of a series of 5 books that we tend to forget that, before his brothers and sister, Leo's first camp friend/acquaintance was Will Solace. Odd friendship, I know, but it was there for a chapter at least.

Interesting observation #8: Piper is still thinking of Jason as her boyfriend

Piper is getting a whiplash next chapter when Annabeth explains what is happening with Jason to her, because right now, in her head, she still has a boyfriend. A boyfriend who is acting very weirdly, but still her boyfriend.

In the next hours, she is losing him for real. Poor Piper.

And Annabeth is still finding Jason's existence unnerving. His mere presence is rising lots of questions in her head. I love how Annabeth is zero chill, the girl is always plotting or trying to dissected the plot.

Interesting observation #9: Jason has 12 years of military service. He is 15.

Man, Camp Jupiter go all out on the claiming of their kids uh? They literally burn the tattoo on your skin, marking you one of their own.

Jason has been in the legion for twelve years. At this point in the timeline he is 15 y.o. Make the calc guys, this boy has been in active duty since he was THREE YEARS OLD. Unbelievable.

No wonder why Jason has almost none rebel cells in his body. They indoctrinated him with military mentality since, like, forever. All he has always known was duty and honor. Never questioning, always serving. That is part of the reason why he is The Order and Percy is The Chaos. They are foils.

Here we have a lil moment of Jason being tired of people asking questions he doesn't know the answer to. Let ma boy rest, he is amnesic:

Kudos to Annabeth being the unquestionable Camp Leader, ultimately respected by her peers:

With this, I rest my case. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

If you like my insights follow for more!

Jason I

Jason II - Part 1

Jason II - Part 2

[arc852]

28. Distortion

Definition: the action of distorting or the state of being distorted.

Summary: After months of playing this 'game' with Joel, Jimmy is finally caught by the human and fearing for his life. But something seems off about this. Didn't this happen already?

G/t: Joel is normal-sized, Jimmy is a borrower

Warnings: nightmares, fear, and being treated like a pet (briefly)

Word Count: 898

AO3 Link

This is part 2 to Out of Reach! Read that one first or you'll be a little confused!

I'm a bit sick right now and just wrote this in the last half hour-ish, so hopefully this all makes sense lol. I hope you guys enjoy!

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 Jimmy was on the floor this time, when Joel came home.

 Jimmy tensed, caught out right in the middle of the living room, his closest exit a good several feet away. He didn’t know if he would make it but as he felt Joel’s eyes land on him, he knew he had to try.

 So Jimmy ran. He ran as fast as he could, his fear fueled adrenaline pushing him even more. But something was happening. No matter how far Jimmy ran, his escape remained the same distance away. But how was that possible? Jimmy was moving, he knew he was moving.

 The living room seemed to stretch around him, becoming a long hallway as his entrance back into the walls grew farther and farther away. Jimmy tried to keep running but he was being pushed to his limit. He felt slower.

 There was a loud thud coming from right behind him. Jimmy jumped and stopped running in order to turn around and look. Joel was there, his shoe only inches away from Jimmy’s body. Jimmy backed away, his whole body trembling as he tried to look up at Joel’s face.

 Nothing.

 He couldn’t make out Joel’s face for some reason. It was there, he knew it was there, he could make out a large, cruel grin but when he actually tried to pinpoint the details, it was as if things were warped or clouded. It was strange but Jimmy didn’t have time to think much of it as Joel knelt down, his hand reaching for Jimmy.

 Jimmy gasped at the incoming hand and tried to turn back around to run. He pushed himself but he was stuck, unmoving despite his feet taking one step after the other. He turned back around just in time for Joel’s hand to wrap around his body, completely encompassing him in the hand and only leaving half his chest and his head free.

 He squirmed in the grip, fear taking hold of him. He tried pushing back against it but the grip only got tighter. Jimmy stopped, fearing that he would be unable to breath if he kept it up.

 He was brought up to Joel’s face and Jimmy squinted, trying his best to look. Static invaded his vision, but he could still see that malicious smile on his face, his eyes filled with glee now that he had caught his prey.

 “Well, well, well.” Joel chuckled. “Looks like I finally won.” 

 Jimmy couldn’t help but whimper as Joel’s laugh grated on his ears. No, this couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be caught!

 “Now I get to decide what I should do with you. Hmm…you were quite fun to play with. Maybe some sort of pet?” Joel said with another bit of laughter.

 Jimmy shook his head, eyes shut tight as he tried to keep his tears from falling. This was wrong. This shouldn’t be happening, this couldn’t be happening. He--He…he…

 Wait.

 This was wrong because…hadn’t this already happened? Joel had…caught him already. But not like this. What…What was going on?

 “Hey!” Joel yelled, voice angry. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, pet.” 

 Jimmy yelped in fear and opened his eyes despite himself. No, no, this wasn’t right. Joel hadn’t been angry. It had been a misunderstanding, right? 

 Joel’s grip around his body got even tighter and Jimmy felt like he couldn’t breath. He tried to gasp but he couldn’t even do that.

 No, no! This was wrong. This was wrong, this was wrong, this was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrongwrongwrongwrongwrong--

 Jimmy woke up with a gasp. He sat up straight, clutching his chest and breathing as deeply and as much as he could. He let his breathing slow and his mind catch up as he looked around his room.

 He was safe. He was in the walls. It had just been a nightmare.

 Jimmy laid back down, staring at the ceiling. Getting caught wasn’t something his mind had just made up though. He had been caught, finally, by Joel earlier. But not…not like that. The Joel in his nightmare was the Joel that had plagued him for months. He’d have nightmares like this a lot, of Joel catching him and either keeping or killing him.

 But Joel, in real life, had caught him. And it was nothing like his nightmare. Joel had been kind. He had been sorry. Sorry that he hadn’t noticed Jimmy’s fear.

 Jimmy let out a breath. He couldn’t really blame Joel, honestly. He had hid his fear pretty well all things considered. Had met his banter with some of his own. It was no wonder Joel had seen it as a game.

 Maybe he should talk to him. Not now, of course, it was the middle of the night. But later. Maybe…maybe they could start over.

 His nightmare wasn’t real. He knew that to be a hundred percent true. Maybe that’s why Joel’s face had been warped. He knew it had been Joel in his dream but looking back, he couldn’t actually see Joel’s face. It had made it even more terrifying, honestly. But easier for awake Jimmy to distinguish nightmare Joel from real Joel.

 Jimmy sighed and turned over, snuggling deeper into his blankets. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, he would go out there and talk to Joel about all of this.

 But for now, he would go back to sleep.

 Hopefully this time without any more nightmares.

[ezziefae]

Part 2 THOUGHTS ON THE PRISONER"S THRONE PROLOGUE (spoilers)

I linked the prologue in part 1, click to read.

it’s absolutely horrific that Dain went this far to secure the throne. and it’s so sad to think about how Oak could’ve almost died. My poor boy.

well…a few relationships in the family have clearly not changed..

this interaction between jude and cardan is so…*chefs kiss* like wow. it pretty much summarizes their relationship. oh they’re adorable. i mean cardan turning into a snake was definitely an eventful experience for elfhame, if the folk aren’t composing songs about something else then it means that nothing eventful has beaten the snake incident. LOL

oh, speaking about biting..if had the chance to know wren i believe he would actually like her.

the topic of jude and cardan having kids will definitely play a role in this book. as of now, Oak believes Jude doesn’t want kids to make it clear that Oak will be next in line. Holly did say that we will know the answer to that question in this book. what do you guys think will happen?

LOTS OF THING TO UNPACK HERE…

in this part, leander asks oak to play with him, and oak says no. then leander accusingly say to him that Cardan PLAYS with him…

i find myself suprised to hear that, but it makes sense to Cardan’s character. Could holly be telling us that Cardan wouldn’t mind having kids of his own with Jude? could it be that jude and cardan DO want children but aren’t doing it for now to secure Oak’s line in the throne? Cardan does seems very good with Leander, despite him being the son of Locke who destroyed relationships and hurt Cardan’s loved ones. Any thoughts to that? jude and cardan could have their own reasons, maybe they don’t want kids at all, or maybe it’s too soon. But let me remind everyone that children in faerie are rare, and are treasured.

One last thing before we move on..It’s interesting to see that Cardan has told Leander stories about his father. Like what stories are even WORTH telling his KID. he was a terrible person. I’m cackling.

BINGOOOO, this is the reason why oak thinks cardan doesn’t like him!! from what it looks like, it seems like it’s a misunderstanding. But Tiernan did mention that “He knows.” So Cardan might definitely be suspicious of something.

Part 3 here!!

[mechformers]

Ma Miles - Ch. 17

9.5k words

Chapter warning: Oh gosh, where do I even start... Wound cleaning and dressing, "sponge bath", grief, panic attack, Mo'at should be a warning in and of herself lol, what did I even write??? I am not responsible for anything that happens in chapter 17 alright! Oh, boner alert... Come to think of it - I guess Quaritch's horrible flirting should be a warning too

So... this got a bit longer and later than I had intended lol I would absolutely love any and all comments you would want to give me, be it a clean "neat" or an unintelligible long ramble!

(If you want to be tagged with the updated chapters, please leave your @ myusername in the comments! )

Previous chapter | Masterpost | Chapter 18

The sea gently laps against the roots below your kelku, the sound soothing as you sit cross-legged in your nest, staring down at your sleeping son while you run your fingers over your songcord, the new beads bringing deep sorrow to your heart. Pressing your voice through your lips, the sound fills the kelku as you sing, remembering each bead as you go. Spider smiles in his sleep and it makes your heart soar within your chest. Your son was safe once more, removed from the dangers that had surrounded you for far too long. Finishing your songcord, you’re surprised to see Jake Sully standing in the doorway, a conflicted expression on his bruised face. Smiling gently at him, you welcome him to sit by your nest with a nod of your head.

“Are they -” Jake tries, his voice breaking as he tries to reel in the conflict raging within him, “The addition was beautiful, I’m sorry I listened in on it without your permission,”

“Who they were with us meant something to me, Jake Sully,” You hum as you look down at the bead between your fingers that represents the recom unit.

“Just call me Jake, Y/n. We have known each other long enough by now,” Jake offers, his voice gentle as he watches you turn the bead between your fingers once more. “How is he?”

“The demon has not moved,” You growl pathetically as your ears flatten against your skull and your tail trashes angrily behind you.

“Yeah, he had that effect on people,” Jake chuckles softly even though he looks uncomfortable.

“What effect?” You huff out a little harsher than you had intended to.

“The anger and frustration that you’re feeling, I don’t think there’s anyone he’s ever crossed paths with who hasn’t felt the same,” The words are meant to bring you comfort, yet, as the realization sets in, it only brings you immense sadness.

Had the demon really been like this to everyone he ever met? Had he really had no one by his side that he could have been himself with? He must have… He managed to create Spider with a mate, after all. The thought sours your mood even more as your tail thrashes behind you. His unit seemed fond of him too, so he couldn’t have been completely alone.

“Tell me about him,” You hear yourself saying, your desperation to know more, to grab and hold onto anything that would point somewhere in the direction that all of this was just one big misunderstanding, clear in your voice.

“About the Colonel?” Jake does a double take, his eyes widening.

“Yes, tell me about him,” You confirm, turning your hopeful eyes to him, “Please,”

“Um… I don’t know what there is to say. You obviously know the important details,” Jake starts, his eyebrows furrowing with unease.

“That is not the important details. Who was he when he was not this Colonel?” You plead with him, the passion in your voice obviously enough to sway him.

“I didn’t know him for very long, but in the time before our relationship turned sour, he was a decent enough guy. Typical bonehead Marine, stern, direct, but behind all of that, he took care of his own,” Jake starts before taking a deep sigh. You smile at the way you recognize what Jake is describing.

“He would always go that extra mile for his people - for his family. But there was always this thing looming over him, a pressure that always had him moving forward, never quite standing still. If he wasn’t training the troops, giving safety briefings, or being in meetings, he was cooped up in his office doing paperwork until late at night.” The way Jake describes him makes the same sad feeling from before drape over you again. What Jake was describing was not a life…

“When he wasn’t at the base, he was always on the move. You see, Quaritch led from the frontline, always taking the first step to pave the path for his people, to make sure that it was the right line of motion.” Jake huffed before immediately freezing, the fond memory obviously not one he expected to have.

“Quaritch made a lot of horrible decisions as head of security for the RDA, but he always looked for the right path to take, the one that would lead to the smallest amount of casualties on both sides. You see, in basic training, you're taught to make quick decisions under fire. To view everything through the pinhole of surviving the moment.” Jake got a far-off look in his eyes and you got the feeling that there was more to the words than what you were talking about right now.

“When none of your choices are good, you make the best of the bad ones. There's no room for second-guessing. No time for regret.” Jake continues before meeting your eyes head-on, ”That comes later. A luxury for the living, so to say."

“Quaritch was no exception. I could see it in his eyes after a bad mission. It was in the way he snapped at people or avoided the big bosses at all possible costs. He would try his best to hide it, but it was in everything he did for many days after.” The words felt hollow as Jake spoke them. Although you understand them, you can't quite wrap your head around the action behind them.

“Why did he not refuse to do these missions?” You can’t help but ask, immediately noticing how Jake shakes his head as he huffs a humorless chuckle.

“It didn’t - doesn’t - work like that, Y/n.” He quickly corrects himself and you get the dawning feeling that he’s speaking from experience. “Once you got a job that paid well enough, you needed to dig your claws in to keep it. Earth, the planet we were from, has become hostile, our Great Mother brutally murdered by the greed of the few, and the desperation to simply just survive of the many. If you were lucky enough to get a job on Pandora, you made sure to keep it. Besides, he didn’t have much choice in the matter. Everyone is replaceable for the RDA - if Quaritch had refused, another, possibly worse, person would have simply just taken his place and done it anyway,”

What Jake says is disturbing, sending chills down your spine. Did the sky people really treasure life that poorly? Did they really just replace each other if someone refused to do what was obviously wrong? You stare back at Jake with big eyes as the silence stretches on.

“You know, I hadn’t really thought about it that way before,” Jake starts, another conflicted look crossing his face. “Quaritch valued loyalty above all else, didn’t matter who you were or who you had been. When he accepted you into his unit, that was a clean slate for you, a new chance at life for when you rotated back home.”

“His values do not excuse his actions,” Mo’at grounds from behind you, making the both of you turn your heads in her direction, only to see Tonowari standing by her side with his arms crossed.

“Tsahìk,” You greet Mo’at, before looking at Tonowari, “Olo’eyktan, I see you,”

“How is your son?” Tonowari asks, his uncertain eyes looking at Spider’s sleeping form.

“Spider is doing well, Olo’eyktan,” Your little kelku feels crowded with the five of you inside, but it means little when Mo’at huffs and presses past Tonowari.

“Spider is going to be a great hunter, a mighty warrior. You do not need to worry about him,” Your Tsahìk looks so proud as she speaks about your son, her head held high as she walks over to the supplies she left the day before. “Y/n, we have lessons to get to,”

“Yes, Tsahìk,” You mumble as you hurry over to her side, bending your head as you pass Tonowari.

“I guess that is our cue to leave,” Jake chuckles as he gets to his own feet.

“I specifically remember giving you an order to be with your family today, to not let me see you moving around,” Tonowari rumbles as he crosses his massive arms over his equally massive chest while pinning Jake with a harsh stare.

“What can I say, my friend…” Jake grins as he spreads his arms, palms up.

“How Neytiri deals with you is beyond me,” Tonowari chuckles, rolling his eyes as he shakes his head. Wrapping an arm around Jake’s shoulders, the bigger man steers Jake’s smaller body out of the marui pod.

“How has his rest been?” Mo’at asks while laying supplies on a woven mat before her.

“His rest has been sure, Tsahìk,” You reply before sitting down beside her, taking the mortar she has offered you.

“And yours?” Mo’at’s knowing eyes pierce through you as you sigh deeply.

“Troubled,” You eventually respond honestly, knowing that the older woman would know whether you replied or not.

“If you are to heal the demon, you will need to be rested. I do not share my lessons with just anyone, Y/n” Mo’at’s voice leaves no room for argument.

If you were being honest with yourself, you felt gratitude for getting the chance to learn from the Tsahìk herself. With no particular skills of your own, you had been shuffled around to where there was a need for extra hands, your whole life. It wasn’t as if you were untalented, you just hadn’t found the right path for you. But maybe going through tsakarem, for however long it would be taught to you, would be the missing link in your life, finally offering you a chance to be useful to your clan.

For the following week, Mo’at teaches you how to crush ingredients into different textures, teaches you what herbs would help with healing wounds specific to the demon’s injuries, and how to assess his condition throughout the day as he lay unconscious. It’s incredibly hard work, but somehow, you make it work. Spider is gone most of the day anyway, so instead of sitting alone in the kelku to watch over the demon, you welcome the older woman’s guidance.

“You have done well,” Mo’at hums one afternoon after you cleaned and redressed the demon’s wounds.

Whatever Mo’at was feeding him sure kick-started his weight gain. As if you hadn’t been struggling before, the demon grew heavier and heavier with each day that went by, making cleaning his body extremely difficult. The awkward positions you had found yourself in while buckling under his weight would have you blushing for years to come. Mo’at’s voice still rings clear in your ears when she commented that modesty had no room in a Tsahìk’s life. Sighing deeply, you had powered through, but with his growing deadweight, it had taken longer and longer to complete the task.

“Wait, was that an actual compliment I heard?” Jake’s voice calls from the doorway, his grin spreading lazily across his face as he looks at Mo’at.

The older woman huffs fondly, the smallest of smiles pulling on her lips while she tries to ignore her daughter’s mate. Jake chuckles as he walks further inside, his long legs swaying lazily as he comes to a crouch before you.

“Do you need help with him?” He smiles down at you as you struggle to lift the demon into place.

“She must need to learn how to do this alone,” Mo’at hums as she walks around your kelku, her eyes sharp following your every move as you struggle to get the demon back in his makeshift nest.

“I’m fine, Jake,” You smile up at him as you shift your hold on the demon, “Thank you,”

“Alright,” Jake just chuckles as he looks up at Mo’at.

“Can you take Y/n to the cove of ancestors?” Mo’at asks, making both of your heads snap to her position by the seaside opening of the marui pod.

“Y-yeah, sure,” Jake replies, his voice breaking a little. Curiosity is written all over his face, but he knows better than to ask by now, something you do not.

“The cove of ancestors?” You repeat questioningly, watching as Mo’at turns to you, her all-seeing eyes pinning you to the woven mat you’re kneeling on.

“You will know when you arrive, Eywa will show you the way,” The reply doesn’t make sense at all, but when Mo’at motions for you to get up to your feet, you do.

“When you have found what you’re looking for, spend the rest of your day with your son. I will watch over the demon,” You’re not about to be told twice, so as your ears twitch excitedly, you get to your feet, and with one last look back at the den, you leave your kelku behind for the first time since you arrived.

Walking beside Jake, you let your eyes fall on the beautiful marui pods that make the village. They’re decorated in beautifully vibrant colors, with shells, stones, and everything else the sea would willingly offer the Metkayina. The sand is warm and wet when you step down from the woven mats that made the bridges between each marui pod. You can’t help but dig your toes into it, grinning childishly as you chuckle.

“You’ve probably never ridden an ilu before, so we’ll take my skimwing. She will get us there quicker.” Jake grins over at you, so obviously knowing something that you don’t.

“I have seen the ilu outside of our kelku, but I have never ridden one,” You confirm, only making Jake grin wider.

“You will love the skimwing then,” This childishly excited side of Jake is new to you, one you have never seen before while he served your people as the Olo’eyktan. You decide then and there that you like this side of him.

You do not, however, like the skimwing. Clutching onto Jake’s middle, he howls with laughter as the skimwing quickly takes you in and out of the water as she flies. It’s quick, it’s challenging and it’s absolutely nothing like riding an ikran. At that moment as you’re plastered to Toruk Makto, you wish you had called for Hawnu instead. When you eventually come to a stop though, the scenery takes your breath away. The last time you had been here, Hawnu had flown low with the small ship behind him while you desperately clutched onto Neteyam’s body, and the time before…

“It’s beautiful,” You whisper in awe as Jake greets a small family as they swim past you on their ilus.

“Isn’t it?” Jake hums back, leaning back now that the skimwing slows down. “The first time I was here, we held a funeral without a body,”

Your gasp comes involuntarily. Clutching his shoulder, you don’t know what to say to him as you move further into the cove, the floating rocks paving way for the beauty that lay within. Letting your eyes roam the huge cove, you realize that it looks so much different than you remembered. Like Jake, you had held your own funeral without the bodies needed to connect with the Great Mother.

“Come on,” Jake turns back and smiles gently at you before breaking tsaheylu with his skimwing.

“When we get down there, I’ll give you a txampaysye, it will help you breathe underwater. Make tsaheylu with it and it will breathe for you,” Jake explains, a gentle smile on his face.

“I will not need one, Jake. I have already been down there nine times before. I will not struggle with the journey,” Swallowing audibly, Jake’s eyebrows furrow before he reaches out to squeeze your knee.

“Alright, come on then,” Nodding, you slide off of the skimwing, taking deep breaths before you let yourself sink beneath the water's surface.

Following Jake’s lead, you swim down until you reach the glowing spirit tree. It’s just as beautiful as you remembered it to be, but this time, you have the chance to really look at its surroundings. Letting your eyes roam around the gorgeous area, you notice how Jake has already connected to Ranteng Utralti. You wonder who it is he’s visiting, perhaps a friend lost in a battøe that should have never been. Tsu’tey’s name comes to mind as you make your way over to one of its vines. The two had become brothers before the final battle and through the years, you knew that both Jake and Neytiri missed him.

Connecting to Ranteng Utralti, you’re immediately brought back to a place you knew all too well. Grinning, you let yourself walk forward as you approach the childish group of recoms currently splashing water at each other in the pond. Z-Dog and Brown balance on the log bobbing in the water as Lopez, and Prager float in the water below them. They’re all grinning and laughing as they try to be something called a “king of the mountain”.

Turning back, you’re prepared to see the rest of the unit lounging on the bank, but to your surprise, only Seanfike stares back at you, the man sitting cross-legged as his tail slaps happily behind him. Narrowing your eyes, you can’t help the way your ears pin back flat against your skull. Something wasn’t right…

“What’s wrong?” Seanfike immediately asks, noticing your worried face.

“Where are the others?” You ask him, seeing how his own face furrows in confusion.

“What do you mean? They’re right behind you,” Seanfike points to the recom’s playing in the pond behind you.

“No, where is Lyle?” You start, but a grin spreads across Seanfike’s face as he chuckles at something behind you.

“Seanfike, please listen,” You press, desperation clutching your chest, “Where are Mansk, Ja, and Lyle?”

“I dunno, they’re probably around here somewhere. Haven’t really seen them in a while,” He eventually replies, confusion deeply etched into his face. “Why?”

A heavy feeling grows inside of you as you realize that they hadn’t been accepted by the Great Mother. Your attempt at putting their souls to rest failed as their bodies had never been united with Eywa. Your chest hurts as you feel tears pressing from your eyes. There’s a wail building in your chest, but below water, as you were, your mouth only fills with water. Distressed, Seanfike clutches your shoulders as Brown’s head comes to rest on your shoulder. All around you, the recom unit, what was left of them crowded you, wrapping their arms around you to hold you close.

“Breathe,” Brown whispers, his gentle voice stinging like a blade against your skin.

You’re roughly pulled from the vine you’re attached to, Jake’s scared eyes pulling at your body to take you up again, but you pull away from him. Struggling underwater, Jake suddenly freezes as he looks behind you, his eyebrows furrowing at something. Turning, your eyes go wide at what you see. From the glowing golden tendrils of Ranteng Utralti, four songcords flat upward, as if presented as something sacred.

To you, they were…

Kicking your legs, you reach for the rejected songcords as you glide through the water. Clutching them to your chest, you curl in on yourself as sorrow overtakes you. Eywa had accepted them, had held them within her warmth until you came and ruined everything. Distantly, you realize that you’re being pulled to the surface, but it isn’t before you’re hauled onto a rock and your lungs desperately gasp for air that you register it.

Coughing and gasping, you wail mournfully as you’re gathered up into warm arms. A hand smooths your wet hair back from your face as you’re rocked, but all you can think about is the songcords clenched tightly in your hands. Other Metkayina gathers around you with sympathetic looks on their faces as they ask Jake what they can do to help, or if they can get the Olo’eyktan. But Jake just shakes his head as he holds you through your heartache.

By the time eclipse arrives, Jake has managed to get you back to the village, his gentle hand leading you out of the water where Spider and Tonowari stand waiting for you. Your son meets you before you’ve managed to emerge fully, his small hand clutching onto the leather of your tweng. Shifting the songcords to one hand, you offer the free one to Spider, feeling how he immediately takes it in his. Although your heart is heavy, you find comfort in his small, warm hand as he clings to yours.

The communal meal goes by in a blur, your son’s worried eyes following your every move. You know that he wants to ask about the songcords still clutched tightly in your hand, but like you, he waits until you’re ready to talk, giving you the time you need to collect your thoughts. Jake and Tonowari keep sending you worried looks, even Ronal looks your way once, her knowing eyes lingering on you before turning away again. It feels like a relief when Spider eventually finishes his meal and you’re able to excuse yourselves from the clan.

Walking hand in hand, you slowly lead Spider down the woven bridges to your kelku, the flickering lights from inside greeting you as you let your son enter first. Taking a deep breath, you follow through, closing the flap behind you. Mo’at, of course, takes one look at you and immediately knows. You want to be angry at her knowledge, but you find that you’re grateful for her understanding when she nods minutely before getting up to leave you alone.

Moving about your kelku, you watch as Spider washes his feet in the little bowl on the other side, his little nighttime routine before going to sleep. Slowly, he settles down in your nest, the blankets nestled tightly around him as he cuddles up. Walking up to sit beside him, you listen as he lets out a deep, sleepy sigh. Closing your eyes, you part your lips as the first words leave your mouth.

“I couldn’t find their bodies,” You whisper, knowing that your son is listening intently. “So I made these songcords for them, hoping that the Great Mother would show them mercy and accept the offering,”

The silence feels cold inside of your kelku, the soft sound from Spider’s exopack the only noise besides the water below your marui pod. It should have been calming, but as your heart clenches painfully in your chest, you’re unable to find any real comfort in it. Turning your head to look at Spider, you see the shimmering in his beautiful brown eyes. Cupping his face in your free hand, you smile sadly at him before getting up to lie down beside him.

“Here, I will sing their cords for you,” You hum as you pull your son closer to your chest.

Sleep finds you shortly after you have finished recounting their milestones, your son’s face as he turns in your arms, surprisingly happy as he closes his beautiful eyes. Cupping the back of his head, you let your eyes drift to the songcords still clutched in the hand below Spider’s head. Closing your eyes, you don't even notice when you drift off, leaving the stress and heartache of the day behind.

It’s another early morning when you wake up the next day. Your body feels heavy as you roll Spider to the side to step out of your nest, the warm glow of the sun greeting you through the cracks as you approach the flaps. Opening them, you let the fresh, salty air clean away the heaviness of sleep from your kelku. Looking down at the songcords in your hand, you sigh deeply. The Great Mother’s will was not without reason, you had to trust that.

Turning to stare at the demon, you find his songcord in your hand, turning your bead between your fingers as you make up your mind. If he could be here before you, alive and real, then Lyle, Mansk, and Ja had to be alive somewhere too. Closing your eyes, you take a deep breath as you settle your resolve. Walking over to your nest, you dig until you reach the bottom of the corner that saw little use. Looking at the songcords in your hands one last time, you hide them at the bottom before arranging the nest back to how it was.

Working through your own morning routine, you gather fresh water into bowls before starting on fresh salves and pastes for the demon’s first change. For once, the demon doesn’t seem quite as heavy when you move him while cleaning his body, making your work that much easier. When Spider wakes, you’ve already finished up, the last lingering feeling of despair leaving you as your son sends a cheeky grin your way. He’s telling you about the plans he has for the day when there’s a knock on your kelku, Jake, Neteyam, and Lo’ak smiling gently at you from the outside.

“Thought some fresh food would be good,” Jake offers as you gesture for them to come inside.

Of course, Spider rushes through his breakfast before the soles of the boys feet are the only thing Jake and you see as they hightail out of your kelku, leaving only the fleeting sound of their snickering as they poke fun at something Neteyam said. The kelku falls into a comfortable silence before Jake eventually breaks it with small talk. You sit, chatting like that until it’s time to change the demon again.

Preparing what you needed, you continue to talk with Jake as you start what was now routine for you. Mixing a freshly smelling surly leaf into the water, you dip a clean cloth into it before starting to clean the demon’s arms. Jake leans back on the wall behind him as you go about cleaning the demon, changing to a new clean cloth when it’s time for his face.

“And then she looked at me as if I had grown a second set of ears,” Jake chuckles, his grin wide as he retells the story about how Neytiri had taught him the way of the people all those years ago.

“And then, what did you do?” With a grin of your own, you chuckle as you wipe the demon’s brow, letting your hand linger as you look over at Jake.

“Am I dreaming, Princess?” The demon rumbles lazily, a sappy smile forming on his lips as he lifts his hand to caress your cheek.

Snapping your head back down to look at him, your grin slips into a frown as you slap his hand away as if it burnt you. Hiss furiously at him, you get up to your feet while you drop the wet cloth in your hand. The demon was asleep just moments ago, his sleeping draft given that morning assured that. Had you managed to mess up the mixture somehow? It must be the only explanation as to why the demon was now awake. You watch as his smiling face morphs into something a little sad as his ears droop, but all you can think about is what you did wrong as your wide, scared eyes lift up to meet Jake’s equally surprised ones.

“Aww… What did I do this time, sweetheart?” The demon’s lazy rumble turns charming as he smirks up at you, a cocky grin on his face.

“Quiet your tongue, demon,” You refuse to use his English as you hiss furiously again, noting how his sad, droopy ears pin back flat against his skull instead.

“Yes, ma’am,” He hums, a fond kind of smile spreading across his lips as he closes his eyes and breaches contently.

“How are you feeling, Quaritch?” Jake asks, his voice is low, gentle even, but the reaction is still instantaneous in the demon.

His eyes pop open with both alarm and fear, and it makes something clench painfully in your chest. The demon tries to jump to his feet to get into a defensive position, the move no doubt second nature to him, but with his muscles weak from disuse and his body still exhausted from trying to heal itself, he wobbles under his weight. Still, the demon fights to get into a defensive position, swaying and stumbling as he takes a protective stand before you, pushing you behind him.

“I’m not here to fight, Quaritch,” Jake states quickly, even though anger steadily becomes evident on his face.

“Like hell, you aren’t,” The demon sneers back, his ears flat against his skull as his tail whips anxiously behind him, smacking you with every back-and-forth motion.

From behind, you can recognize how good he looks in a normal tweng, how the soft leather hugs his narrow hips, or how strong the base of his tail is. But at that moment you find that you’re done with his bullshit and the situation his presence has forced you to be in. Grabbing the base of his kuru, you kick his legs out from under him, wrestling his slightly weaker body into the makeshift nest he’s been resting in.

“You stay and you be silent,” You hiss at him furiously, the English command registering immediately as his ears lower submissively. To your surprise, the demon looks almost ashamed, the fight leaving his much bigger body as he stares up at you with big eyes, his tail twitching anxiously beside your hip.

“Yes, Ma’am,” The demon mumbles, his voice rough with disuse as he looks away, unable to meet your eyes any longer.

“Answer him,” You demand, your voice leaving no room for argument.

There’s a tense silence spreading over your kelku as the demon refuses to do anything - as if a petulant child. He’s not meeting your eyes, not even looking in Jake’s direction. He’s clutching the ribs on his right side and you get the grueling feeling that all your hard work has just been wasted on the demon. Hissing, you step over him on your way to leave when his hand desperately grabs your tail.

“Wait!” He croaks and there’s an urgency in his voice, as if he’s genuinely afraid, that has you turning around to look down at him.

The demon is still laying in his makeshift bed where you put him, only having moved enough to grab your tail. Reluctantly, he slowly lets go of your tail, as if he’s testing if you’ll flee or not. Only when you’ve stood still for what he deems long enough does he roll all the way over to his back again. There’s a battle going on within him, one that looks painful enough that you want to reach out to him, to help soothe his troubles as much as possible, but you don’t. Eventually, his conflicted eyes meet yours, as if looking for strength before they close on a deep, rugged sigh.

“I’m peachy,” The demon bites, eyes opening to stare directly at Jake.

“Skxawng,” You scold with a click of your tongue while crossing your arms over your chest.

“Alright, alright, relax already,” He grumbles, reminding you of Spider the few times you’ve had disagreements. “I’m sore, alright. Ribs hurting like shit,”

The admission seems to pain him as his face darkens with embarrassment. He still scowls at Jake in the corner of your kelku, but your immediate worry is the pain that he’s apparently in. Stepping over the demon, you grab the ingredients for the salve that would help with his pain. Sitting down beside him, you cross your legs as you start to grind the ingredients into the bowl. There’s an uncomfortable silence in the marui pod, until it’s disturbed by Spider running into your kelku, laughter in his beautiful voice as he smiles at you.

“Mom,” Spider grins, his happiness all but blinding you as you look up, just in time to see your son’s smile dropping from his face as he freezes, only for Neteyam to run into him from behind.

“Yo, what’s up, bro?” Neteyam snickers as he sidesteps Spider, only to stop dead in his tracks. “D-dad…”

Jake reaches out for his oldest son, offering support when he recognizes fear in his voice. Neteyam grabs his father’s hand before quickly stepping closer to him, but the demon doesn’t care. His initial reaction was a slight widening of his eyes, but just as quickly as his eyes shifted to Neteyam, they’re back on your son again.

“Spider,” The demon croaks, voice pleading. He doesn’t dare to move, but his ears rotate, open and alert, to your son as he stares.

“Come,” You tell him, looking at the spot beside you while still crushing the ingredients into a smooth salve. “Sit,”

“We will be fine, Jake,” You look up at Toruk Makto, noting how his chest has puffed out, his legs spread wide as he covers his son protectively.

“You sure? It’s no trouble staying, Y/n,” Jake assures you, and even though you know he would like to take his son anywhere but here, you know that if you needed him to stay, he would.

“There are words that need to be said between us,” You sigh, feeling the emotional turmoil that this is taking on you weighing heavily on your shoulders as you come to the conclusion that maybe your son shouldn’t be here for this conversation after all. “Will you take Spider with you?”

Nodding, Jake gently leads Neteyam and Spider through the doors, spearing one last look at the demon before disappearing from view. You have no doubt in his mind that he will be back soon, if only under the disguise of having forgotten something. Sighing, you continue the grind, watching as the paste turns creamy and then, finally, a smooth light green salve.

“Point to where the pain is,” You snap quickly at the demon, breaking the silence that once more had spread across your kelku.

“Slower,” The demon rumbles, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Pain. Point,” You growl, your impatience bleeding over into annoyance when he sighs.

“Here,” He points to his right side, just below his nipple, “And here,”

Nodding your head, you crouch over him, spreading your legs over his hips before sitting down on the meat of his thighs. To feel the demon’s warm skin against the inside of your sensitive thighs brings a lump to your throat, but shortly after, you’re pulled out of your thoughts when the demon growls.

“The hell?” The growl is dangerously deep as he gets up to his elbows, wincing at the pressure it gives his ribs. “The fuck are my clothes, woman?”

The sharpness of his yellow eyes sends butterflies through your stomach, but you refuse to make it excite you. The demon had made his nest, now he needed to lay in it.

“Gone.” You huff down at him, narrowing your eyes.

“What do you mean gone?” He bites back just as quickly, his own eyes narrowing.

“When I found you, you had soiled yourself. Your tweng could not be saved,” He doesn’t understand what you’re saying, his face all twisted as he tries to make sense of it.

“My twe- The hell you saying, woman?” The demon tries to sit up, but you easily push him back down again, noticing how the motion brings him pain.

“Like a baby, you dirty your tweng,” You repeat, this time in English so that he’ll understand.

You don’t have to wait long for him to do so. Almost immediately, his eyes go wide as his face turns dark, his eyebrows narrowing while he clenches his jaw shut. He doesn’t meet your eyes, instead deciding to stare at something else on your face.

“You mean to say that you undressed me while I was out like a light?” His voice is dangerously even when he speaks and had you still feared him, you would have probably backed off of him.

“I do not know this meaning,” You huff back at him, holding your ground.

“You fucking took my clothes off and dressed me in this shit,” The demon raises his voice as he sneers at you from below, his ears slicked back against his skull.

“Would you have preferred to wear soiled armor?” The deadpan comeback makes the demon growl angrily.

“Wha- in English, woman!” The demon huffs, his frustration only growing.

“Should I take you here with a dirty tweng?” The reaction is, once more, immediate. The demon growls furiously, his despair so easy to read as he cups his hands over his tweng.

Huffing at his ridiculous modesty, you lower your body once more, sitting down on the meat of his thighs. Slapping his hands away from his tweng, you watch as he immediately covers it with his hands again. You do not understand what it is he’s doing, so you slap his hands away again, only for the demon to cover his tweng again, his face growing an even darker shade. Grabbing his wrists, you tear them away from the front of his tweng, pinning them to the makeshift nest below him, only for the demon to snap them right back again.

“Stop it,” You hiss at him, your ears folding back in annoyance.

“You stop it!” The demon’s voice is high, almost childish as he looks up at you. He’s still not able to meet your eyes.

“You are like a child,” Grabbing his wrists once more, you tear them away while he fights you. In the end, his weakened state makes him lose the battle. “Do not move, demon.”

Huffing, the demon turns his head to look away from you. It finally gives you the space you need to work. Leaning over him, you spread your hands over the demon’s pectorals, fanning your fingers until your thumbs meet in the middle. You try to feel if his lungs expand equally, but the demon only takes shallow breaths, as if he’s consciously fighting you every step of the way.

“Deep breaths,” You tell him and to your utter surprise, he follows your command without complaining.

Guiding him through the examination Mo’at had taught you, you’re surprised that he doesn’t fight you. He states motionless as you press your fingers down his sternum, checking for tenderness in and around his chest wall. With a finger between each of his ribs, you percuss while listening for hyperresonant sounds. The demon hisses when you reach his right side, but otherwise stays quiet. It’s only when you scoot back to put your ear to his chest that he freezes.

“What are you doing?” He drawls, his head finally moving back to look down at you.

“Be silent and breathe regularly,” You hum back as you press your ear to his warm skin.

His heart beats loudly in his chest, almost too loud, and his breathing is too fast, but you’re still able to listen to his lungs. Moving your head further down to the bottom of his ribcage, you feel his stomach tighten against your cheek as his breath stutters.

“Oh, sweet mother,” You can hear him whisper above you, but then he manages to breathe carefully, somewhat close to what his breathing was while he was asleep.

Moving to the other side, you do the same. Sitting up again, confusion strikes you as you find the demon has screwed his eyes shut, his jaw tightly clenched as his hands have created tight fists by his side. Reaching over to take one of his hands in yours, you open the fist to hold his hand, sliding your smaller hand into his bigger one.

“Tell me, where does it hurt?” You ask him gently, only to receive a snort and a smirk in return.

“Trust me, sweetheart, you don’t want to know,” He mumbles, his drawls so thick that you struggle to understand the words. “I’m just fine, darling,”

Letting go of his hand, you move further up on the met of his thighs to get a better position. After asking him to take deep breaths, you press your fingers over his vital organs, starting under his ribs. With each exhale, you feel for any enlargements, for any tenderness. Moving further down you do the same, watching him closely just in case he wouldn’t say anything about the pain. It’s not until you put your hands on each side of the top of his hip bones that he tenses.

“Do this hurt?” You ask him as you gently make the organ move between your hands.

You only receive a gasp in return as the demon closes his eyes, his lips slightly parted and his breath becomes ragged. There’s something wrong, but he doesn’t want to tell you what it is. Moving over to the other side brings forth the same reaction. You’re about to demand he tells you where the pain is from when your hand brushes against something it should not have. Looking between your wide-spread thighs a huge bulge stares back at you from beneath the demon’s tweng. With wide eyes, your head snaps up to meet the dangerously sharp ones of the demon. His lips have parted more, the tips of his fangs visible from the plumpness of his lips. You can feel your irises dilate as the warm scent of the demon reaches your nose.

“Maybe you did want to know after all, mama,” The demon’s husky voice has dropped several octaves, the deep rumble all but rattling through your ribcage as your own core responds to his scent.

Until his words register in your suddenly foggy mind. Hissing, you jump off of him as if burned. The disappointment is clear as day when the demon flops his head down on his makeshift nest again. Stomping around your kelku, you grab your blade before walking to the door.

“Use the salve in the bowl on your pain, and drink water,” You growl before stepping outside. The fresh, salty air greets you as its warm winds caress your heated skin. It feels great.

“Trouble in paradise?” Jake chuckles softly, making you jump.

“What?” You’re caught so off guard that you don’t know what to say.

“You seem distressed, Y/n,” Jake squeezes your shoulder gently as he bends to look into your eyes.

“Would you not be distressed if you had to live with him after everything he has done?” Your words come out much harsher than you had intended to, but you find that they ring no less true than what you feel.

The demon had taken everything that you had. He had snatched every breath from your lungs, had made you feel, had made you care only to turn his back to you at the first opportunity he got. He had taken everything you taught him and used it against you. Still, when his body lay beaten and broken at death’s door, you had stood by his side. You had cleaned his body and healed his wounds while he rested. You had kept him alive when all he deserved was to be washed out in the sand, a dark moment in Na’vi history. Jake just looks at you with knowing eyes. You can no more help the sigh that leaves you than you can keep your shoulders from sagging under the weight of Jake’s hand.

By the time you get Spider, the demon has been asleep for many hours, but you still make a mental note to up the sleeping draft you mix with his water. Sighing, you watch as Spider curls into your nest, his smaller body tired after yet another day filled with new and exciting adventures. Smiling to yourself, you step over to the demon, pulling the blanket off of him. Sitting down, you start the cleaning routine, removing leaves on the deeper wounds while cleaning old salve from shallower cuts. By the time you had finished, you felt the weight of the day in your tired eyes. Curling up beside Spider, you’re happy to see that his beautiful brown eyes glitter as he stares at you. Smiling, he bumps his masked forehead to yours as he sighs happily. It doesn’t take long before you’re asleep, warm and tired as your son’s heartbeat plays the most beautiful rhythm you have ever heard in your life.

Which is why you’re so confused when you wake up to the rumbled growls of a much darker character. Turning your head, you’re met with the demon’s sharp eyes as he huffs with frustration. He hasn’t moved from his makeshift nest apart from sitting up, the blanket tightly wrapped around him. Groaning, you rub the sleep from your face as you yawn. This would apparently be another day when the demon would be awake. Annoyed, you start to plan a way to slip him more of the sleeping draft. Maybe, if you were lucky, he would drink the entire bowl and choke on -

“Woman, stop ignoring me,” The demon growls, his voice annoying in the silence of the early morning. “Where are my weapons?”

“Where I found you,” You respond lazily as you sit up in your nest to stare at him.

“The hell you mean by that, darling?" He sneers, the anger blazing in his sharp eyes.

“I left everything when I took your armor off,” You sigh, pinching the broad bridge of your nose as you pray to Eywa to give you strength.

“Now why in the ever-loving hell would you do that, sweetheart?” His voice cuts deep like a blade through the soft underbelly of a beast as his eyes narrow.

“You have no need of them,” You start, watching as his chest puffs while his face contorts into one big frown, ready to spit angrily. “But I took your blade with us. It’s in Cupcake’s bag.”

“Cupcake?” At the mention of his ikran, the demon halts, his eyes turning from angry to hopeful in a matter of seconds. “Is she alright?”

The demon’s voice is gentle when he asks, yet, the urgency behind his question shines through. He cares deeply for his ikran. The knowledge warms something deep within you, making your own annoyance bleed away.

“She is safe with Hawnu,” You confirm, offering what you hope is a comforting smile.

The demon takes a deep breath, wincing slightly before he lets out a sigh. In your own stressed state, you have failed to realize that he must have his own set of stress going on in his life. Something must have triggered his sudden change of heart. The man you had come to know, the man behind this… this unrecognizable mask, something drastic would have had to happen for him to leave all reason and just act. In the back of your mind, Jake’s words ring loud and clear. ‘When none of your choices are good, you make the best of the bad ones.’

“Thanks,” The demon mumbles, his voice calm and relieved.

You’re about to ask what happened when Spider yawns beside you. Looking down at your son you smile as his beautiful brown eyes open to greet you. Reaching forward, you brush the hair from his forehead, chuckling lightly as he swats at your hand before brushing the rest of his hair away by himself. Sitting up in your nest, his easy smile drops to one of uncertainty as he notices the demon. Looking up, you notice how the demon furrows his brows before taking a deep breath.

“Good morning, Spider,” He drawls, his voice warm and heavy, like a blanket during thunderstorms.

Spider doesn’t reply though, and although you want to tut at him for being rude, you don’t. His father had broken something sacred, something only he could make right again. The only thing you could do was to offer your son the support and safety he needed when he needed it. Getting to your feet, you offer Spider a fruit for breakfast, smiling gently at him when he slices the fruit in two and offers you the first dice of meat. Reaching forward, you cup the back of his messy head before leaning down to place a kiss on the top of his head, letting your lips linger for a moment too long before pulling back. Looking up at you, the conflict on your son’s face makes you smile sadly down at him. You wish more than anything that you could take this hardship away from him, that you could make his life as joyful as he has made yours. When he sighs and looks over to his father though, pride explodes within you at the strength you see in his small form.

But as Spider opens his mouth, no doubt to offer his father food, Neytiri and Jake enter your kelku, the older woman’s smile slipping from her face when sharp eyes meet hers. Before you’re able to react, the demon is up on his feet, staggering unsteadily as he pushes Spider and you behind him as he takes a defensive stand before you. The way he hisses sends a chill down your spine and makes the tip of your tail twitch with unease. When the deep growl leaves the cavity of his chest, an immediate biological reaction course through you, forcing you to reach out for safety while clutching your so to your side. Your heart beats wildly as you hold onto the demon’s tail, your hand gripping so hard that your fingers grow cold. Distantly, you can hear Jake tell you that everything is alright, that you’re safe, but the demon’s furious growls want nothing to do with the Toruk Makto’s words. It’s only then that your frozen body thaws, your fear bleeding out of you as Jake’s words reach your mind. Taking in the situation before you, Neytiri hisses and snarls, her blade drawn and pointing at the demon, while her mate desperately tries to calm the situation behind her.

“Get your batshit crazy wife away from my family, Corporal,” The demon sneers, his tail whipping furiously beneath your hand.

Letting go of the demon’s tail, you slap the back of his head, having understood what he just said, knowing it was not nice words.

“If you come near my son again, I will skin you alive, woman,” You have never heard him sound this venomous before, his fury sending dread through your body.

As Jake hisses in response to the threat to his mate's life, the feeling that something is wrong settles heavily in the pit of your stomach once more. Pushing Spider further behind you, you try to sidestep the demon, but his long arms keep pushing you back as he shifts his defensive stand with each move you make.

“Be nice,” You scold him, holding his arm still as you finally step out from behind him.

“You don’t know, do you?” He huffs a flat chuckle, but there’s no humor in it as his dangerously sharp eyes meet yours.

“What do I not know?” You ask confused, a heavy stone dropping in your stomach as the unease doubles up.

“How she held our son at knifepoint, how she ran her blade across his chest, drawing blood before going in for the killing blow,” The demon’s words are spat so venomously, with such pure hatred, that it leaves no room for questioning.

Yet, you can’t help the gasp from leaving your lips as another, much colder chill runs down your spine. Looking down at the long, crusting wound across your son’s chest, you walk through your belief that he had hurt himself during his escape, like with the other cuts and bruises. But now that you really look at the wound, as you look beyond the healing flesh, you realize that the wound is too clean to have happened by accident.

“Quaritch was holding Kiri at knifepoint too, threatening to kill her if I didn’t surrender. Y/n he took our children just to draw me out. We thought we had just lost Neteyam by Quaritch’s demand,” Jake hurried to say, his voice pleading with you.

But all you can hear is that Neytiri ran her blade across your innocent son’s chest, drawing his blood before going in for the killing blow to end his life. Turning to Neytiri you see how her blade has lowered, her hands slack by her sides as she stares ahead, her expression empty behind her eyes.

“A son for a son, wasn’t that what you said?” The demon sneers and his fury with Neytiri all but drips from the sound.

“Oh, shit,” You can hear Jake whisper, but your ears start ringing as the words sink in and you understand what has been said.

“Is this true, sister?” You turn to Neytiri, praying to the Great Mother that it wasn’t so, that this was just one of the demon’s and Jake's many lies.

“Yes,” Neytiri doesn’t even deny it, but the older woman doesn’t look proud about it either.

A wounded sound leaves your throat as your mind goes blank with pain. Distantly, you feel tears start to roll down your face at the betrayal of your sister’s actions. You’re screaming, but you can’t hear it, unable to stop it as sobs rush through your body. Strong arms wrap around you and before you know it you’re going down, the warm body behind you following you down as your knees hit the woven ground of your kelku. You’re wailing, but all you can hear is Neytiri’s ‘Yes’ ringing through your mind.

The demon tries to comfort you, his big hand holding your head against his chest as you cry. Spider steps closer too, his small arms wrapping around your shoulders as he presses his head to your back. It doesn’t help. Reaching out for your son, you clasp your hand around his, noting how his hand is so small where it’s held by yours, and suddenly, the image of Neytiri holding a blade to your son’s small body flashes before your mind. In the end, rage is the only thing left inside of your empty heart.

“We’re supposed to protect the children,” You whisper morseso to yourself, your voice almost inaudible. But you know they've heard you by the way they all flinch at your words.

“We’re supposed to protect the children,” You say louder as you push away from the demon’s embrace, slapping at his arms and chest to get away when he reaches for you when you turn to face Neytiri again.

“We’re supposed to protect the children!” You scream at her, but she won’t meet your eyes. Stepping away from the demon, you stare at both of them, truly seeing them for the first time in your life before continuing. “And you use them to hurt each other,”

You watch as both of them flinch, their ears pinned back so close to their skulls that had you not known they were there, you would have missed them. Their tails have curled protectively around their legs, their heads lowered in shame, but somehow, they still have the audacity to meet your eyes when you stare at them.

“I saved your son while desperately searching for my own and this is how you repay me,” Your words fall like stones in the silent marui pod.

Behind them, Tonowari stands tall, his warriors no doubt calling him to the marui pod for him to see what the wailing and shouting is about. His eyes are wide as he stands behind the Sullys, ears flat against his mighty hair, while his tail thrashes behind him.

“You are both unworthy to call yourselves parents in the presence of Eywa.” You sneer at them, your fury making your skin grow cold, threatening to make your teeth clatter against each other.

“You do not deserve them,” Your voice is surprisingly calm when you speak, making their ears twitch with the change, as if the defeat in your voice was somehow worse than the rage.

Wrapping your hand around Spider’s arm, you walk out of your kelku without looking back. You needed to find Hawnu, needed to feel the wind through your hair, needed to take your son to a place where you knew he would be safe, where you knew he would be protected. When you had calmed down enough, you had a whole cave full of things you would need to talk to him about, but for right now, you just needed to feel safe, if only for a little while. With your heart broken and bleeding in your chest, you call for Hawnu, your ikran immediately responding with his own screech, Cupcake’s complimentary screech following just behind.

“Do you have space for one more?” Mo’at’s voice asks gently from behind and you’re too tired to argue with the older woman, so instead, you just nod as the tears roll down your face. Maybe she would know why the Great Mother had turned her back on you…

Chapter 16 | Masterpost | Chapter 18

[jackrabbit-fandom]

Hi hi hi!!! I saw you write for one piece and was wondering if I could request something for luffy thats probably a little too specific..????

I headcannon luffy is somewhere on the aro/ace or gray spectrum and would just be so interested in reading about reader having feelings for him because hes like just you know luffy our boy😭 and luffy considers reader as practically oul mate type thsts how close they are.

Maybe like he feels just a tiny bit of something but decides to leave that until after he becomes king of the pirates but if its too hard you dont have to do this😭😭

Like doesnt have to be anything long or too grand and its okay if you dont want to write it🙏but thank you so much in advanve if you make it! ^^ (also hopefully no events that happen after sabaody because thats where i am right now im sorry but you dont have to if yoh dont want!😭💔)

AroAce Luffy headcanons (sorta)

So I'm not super versed on the aro part of the spectrum, but i am on the ace side, so i know more given that. Ether way, luffy is one of my favorites, and this is one of my own headcanons for him. More so, headcannon style then "story" cause im still trying to figure that part out, lol

Firstly, I'll say that to make this work, im going more so in the demi-romantic/sexual side. I am of the opinion that while he is slightly oblivious, and let's be honest, kinda dumb at times, luffy isn't completely clueless to these things.

Nothing too big here, gender neutral pronouns, fluff/tiny bit of angst, It's a tiny suggestive, but it's not really anything bad, Mabye, a bit of crack cause luffy

Sorry if this wasn't exactly what you were looking for. Like i said, I've never done this before, but hopefully, you liked it anyway

~Jack

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having feelings for this guy would be kinda hard, mainly because he's very obvious when people do like him. Hed likely just assumed your best buds for a while unless you get the courage to just tell him. This can get frustrating when he's constantly hugging you and hanging around you.

If we do go fully on aroace luffy, it'd probably hurt a bit. He'd probably fully ignore your feelings for him or just not notice. It would be more so a one-sided pinning. If you're part of his crew, he likely clings onto you like he does with the others, which could also make things worse

If you confess to him now, he'd just straight up tell you he's not interested, or he doesn't care about that kinda thing

However, if we go more of a demi route and you confess, theres a few outcomes:

The first one is that he just bluntly says he's not interested, just like in the aroace one, which is kinda harsh but not fully unexpected. I don't think he'd mean it to actually hurt you, but he does mainly seem to tell the truth with these things

The second would be where he misunderstands your confession somehow? And it ends up as a kind of "i love you." "i love you too, buddy!" Thing which just gets awkward....

The third is where he's known you for quite some time and has been able to get close enough to develop some feelings. With him, he's a very loyal friend, but in terms of relationships, he's not used to feeling that kind of love, i guess? So it'd likely take him a bit of time to get used to the feeling and figure out what to do with it. It likely does come with confusion and a few questions, but as i said, he's not COMPLETELY clueless. He knows what a relationship is, at least. You'd have to essentially be his soulmate, which in his mind is likely someone who has his sense of humor and can cook. Obviously, he has a bit more to that, such as he'd prefer someone who doesn't manipulate or hurt ithers for their own personal gain

If he were to start a relationship, i do think it would have to be after he became king of the pirates. He doesn't really want many distractions in his adventure when it comes to that kind of relationship. Plus, like i said, he'd have to be very close to you, so assuming you a strawhat as well, I'd give him plenty of time to grow attached. So once his goal was reached, he may be willing to try a relationship. I still see him as a very goofy person even then, so he'd probably still just treat you like his best buddy but with a new title.

Like i said, i dont think much would change when it comes to how he treats you. He's already very affectionate with his crew, so he likely acts the same with you. If you asked, though, i think he'd try to give you a bit more than the others, but it still wouldn't be a big difference. Though if you asked for a kiss... you might end up with the sloppiest wettest smooch in the world right on your cheek.

Given that he's inexperienced, he might ask the others for some advice which likely wouldn't end well, its ether zoro giving him the dumbest awnsers sense they share a brain cell, sanji attempting to give luffy 'gentleman lessons" and getting frustrated, usopp acting like a expert just to not be that, or him finally getting to nami and robin and getting actual advice. That would somehow backfire anyway.

On the side of Ace, i don't think he'd be very interested in that kind of stuff. It's been confirmed that he reacts towards the bath scenes and such due to usopp being there. He just doesn't strike me as the type to be overly active in that area, again i dont think hes clueless,i doubt makima never gave him and his brother 'the talk' he just doesnt care for it. It's just never been something he's been interested in. He likely overheard Shanks talking about it at some point but didn't really care.

One piece and luffy are not my own characters, though the headcannons themselves are mine

Sorry for any grammer or spelling errors.

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

Just saw this thing from another fandom I follow thought it might be interesting for SDV 👀

Bachelors/Bachelorette (up to you which one and how many!) pining, courting or flirting? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

*not sure SDV comes from what era lol but maybe they have their own modern courting???*

Let's go crazy and do all bachelors/bachelorettes, shall we, dear anon? ;)

SDV bachelors:

Step aside everyone, a professional in his field enters the stage! After all, Alex is not only a (not yet recognized) master of sports, but also a master of flirting. It's enough for him to flex his biceps, shower with compliments and courtship - and all the girls (and not only) will be his! Although despite all this pathos, he is very careful in choosing a partner, because he is still a gentle and kind guy and wants a serious relationship.

Ordering a pizza at the Saloon for two, a skateboard trick show, gift chocolates or other small treats - Sam does a pretty good job of courting. He is too cheerful to pinning, and with flirting he, unfortunately, weaves in the middle of a sentence and something incomprehensible and funny comes out. On the other hand, bad flirting can make a partner laugh, and they will open their heart to the young prankster, so you could say that Sam can sometimes flirt well (although not aware of it).

Pinning for Sebastian. It's... quite difficult for him to express his own emotions, and sometimes he doesn't consider himself capable of such a thing. Sometimes you can notice his sad look if a person passes by who is not indifferent to him. Here, either the Farmer must be the first to confess their feelings to him, or Sam and Abby help their emo friend.

Hell, that's pretty hard to tell with Elliott, because I think he can be both courting and flirting. Just look at this red-haired gallant man - he seems to have come out of a book about a love story! A hopeless romantic who, despite his impressive ability to make the perfect compliment, can blush himself if you flirt back with him.

Oh my poor chicken man, sitting somewhere in the corner and pinning. No, I can say for sure that Shane can confidently flirt and court. But it seems to me that this will only happen if he is already dating the Farmer. His therapy is going slowly but surely, but for now, low self-esteem and the idea that "there will still be someone better than him" does not allow him to discover his hidden potential to be a romantic.

How to flirt? Date, flowers? Is there a guide for beginners? Harvey can cure your cold or diarrhea, but he's not very good at flirting. Although the courting is quite tolerable and even romantic, but only if the poor doctor stops being nervous and afraid that something will go wrong with the courtship.

SDV bachelorettes:

I think it's pretty obvious that Penny is pinning. She is a very shy and modest girl who won't take the first step in admitting her feelings for anyone. Dreamy, in love, but at the same time insecure and fearful. One thought of rejection or an awkward situation (or worse, a misunderstanding that could turn into a loss of friendship) drives a young teacher into depression.

Haley, due to her popularity, learned about flirting everything. All her fans gave her gifts and followed her, making the slightly spoiled girl the center of all attention. Of course, this was still in school, but something Haley had left from the arsenal to bestow a compliment on someone who is dear to her heart. And if in earlier years Haley did it for the sake of attention out of self-interest, now the compliment from the girl is sincere.

Courting AND flirting because Abigail is capable of so much. So much energy boils in the girl that she will often call the Farmer to hang out in the mines, in search of adventure. Nothing extreme, of course, but Abby will often flirt, compliment them while fighting monsters, and also give them gifts in the form of a found beautiful gem.

Surprisingly, Emily is very adept at courting someone. And every time she has new and unusual ideas in courtship - she is a bright and colorful person, which means courtship will be the same.

Leah is a very confident woman, and she is quite adept at flirting. The artist does not hesitate to give a couple of pleasant compliments to the interlocutor of interest, but don't think that she is frivolous in this. If Leah praises someone, it means there is something for it, and this person is really dear to her.

With Maru, I'm a little undecided. It seems to me that she is not very capable of flirting and courtship. But at the same time, pinning also doesn't fit her character. Young and energetic - she just doesn't have time to yearn for the Farmer. And yet, when the ideas for new inventions ran out and a small creative crisis began, Maru sometimes begins to have bouts of melancholy, smoothly turning into daydreaming about a possible partner.

[welcome-to-tracy]

Headcanons Obey Me: «I don't love you». Part 1.

Synopsis: MC breaks off her relationship with one of brothers because they no longer loves him. There's probably leaving them for someone else.

TW: ANGST.

GN!Reader. Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan.

A/N: Hi! I started writing this at four in the morning, just because I wanted a little angst. Ahhaha.

Lucifer:

— To say these words to the Avatar of Pride seems almost impossible.

— But you make up your mind when he says that Diavolo will invite you both to one of his parties as a couple.

— «No. I don't love you, sorry».

— Lucifer can't immediately believe what he's heard. However, he quickly pulls himself together and closes his eyes: «Okay. May I ask why?».

— «I love someone else».

— He doesn't ask anything else. Demon nods, ostensibly respecting your decision, puts his hand to his chest and says that you have nothing to worry about.

— You hurriedly get out of the office. As soon as you slam the door behind you, you hear a sound as if someone is overturning furniture and smashing the whole room.

— Lucifer is absolutely calm every time you see each other. Polite questions about how you are doing and whether his brothers are bothering you; invitations to dinner and even help with your studies.

— But you see how every time he clenches his palm into a fist for several seconds and clenches his teeth.

— He may not show it in front of you, but his brothers see a dark aura that actually comes from Lucifer and will be with him for the next hundred years.

— He buries his nose in the documents when he sees you flirting with someone else and wants to tear that someone apart, but for your sake he is ready to just accept it.

— To be honest, Lucifer hates you. He wants to strangle with his own hands: you hurt his pride, but... Every time you smile (even if not for him), he feels like he's in love.

Mammon:

— When you say you don't love him, he thinks you're joking. Lol, how can you not love the Great Mammon, you dumb human.

— But you explain to him that this is not a joke and then he does not understand why. What did he do wrong? You see how the carefree smile disappears from Mammon's face and you see the sincere misunderstanding in his eyes.

— «T-this is just no... nonsense! You just sa-said some stupid thing again, you...»

— «Sorry me...».

— You go back to your room, leaving Mammon alone.

— You don't know it, but he's actually going to his room right now and crying.

— He will really try to get you back and draw your attention to himself. But when he realizes that it's useless, he just gives up and goes at the casino.

— In fact, Mammon stopped coming to your room. He is very hurt and he does not react so strongly to insults from his brothers.

— The next time you see him, he tries to joke and pretends that he is the same as before, but you notice how he looks away because he can't look at you.

— He secretly dreams of hearing you say "I love you, Mammon!" again and seeing you smile just for him. But you won't say that.

Leviathan:

— Dumn, you're the most violent person in the world, you just absolutely killed this guy and destroyed the remnants of his self-esteem, what's wrong with you, bitch?!

— You were sitting in his room when Levi with a twinkle in his eyes, was telling you about a new MMORPG based on a popular anime that he watched recently.

— Out of habit, he gently took your hand and smiled happily. It was hard to tell him about the breakup at such a moment, but you knew you had to do it.

— «Levi...».

— «...It's just SUPER immersive. The graphics are so good that I'm LITERALLY confusing the game with life, we should to go into it together somehow and...».

— «LEVI!», – he only stopped talking when you screamed.

— «Yeah, MC? Something happened?»

— You exhaled, and then said what you've been wanting for a long time. You don't love him anymore.

— Both of you are silent for a while, and then he smiles tightly and nods.

— «It's okay, I'm just a nasty otaku. I knew sooner or later you'd figure it out and just leave me. I'll be fine».

— You see the drops of tears trembling on his eyelashes. Maybe you even want to comfort Levi (or not), but in any case, the demon asks you to leave his room, and you realize that now is not the time to argue.

— He hesitates to do this for a very long time, but a week after your breakup, he asks in the chat what the reason is. Besides the fact that he is, of course, so vile, pathetic and worthless that it's just a shame to be in a relationship with him.

— «I'm just in love with someone else».

— You don't get an answer.

— Levi hates it. Enrages. Annoy. He's jealous. Angry. ...and he's in so much pain.

— The next time he sees you with someone else, the Avatar of Envy assumes its demonic form, but calms down when he sees your scared and disappointed face.

— He apologizes, looks down and returns to his room. He probably won't be out of there very soon...

A/N: Levi suddenly turned out to be the longest???????? I just feel so sorry for this boy, gosh, you made him believe that you loved him, and then you left him so cruelly. You're just such a bitch, baby! 😭😭😭

I will try to write the second part!!

If there are any grammatical errors, then write to me in the comments or messages. Remember that English is not my native language. :^