#(future) dad!bastian
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it's a sign of the times
Pairing: Sebastian Sallow x f!MC
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3.2K
Summary: request [paraphrased]: "Rivals-to-lovers Sebastian and MC use a Time-Turner to travel to the future with Ominis in search for a cure for Anne. Instead they find a girl who's the spitting image of MC trying to sneak into the Restricted Section in the 1910s, only she has freckles like Sebastian..."
the 'verse continues in "the train ain't even left the station" [AO3]
“Anne-Marie Sallow!” she calls out. “Just where do you think you’re going?”
At once, the three of you freeze.
“Did she say ‘Sallow?’” hisses Ominis. “Did I hear that right?”
“I – no. No,” Sebastian stammers. “There’s no way that’s what she said.”
“Can you please remind me again why I’m even a part of this harebrained scheme?” you ask for at least the third time.
You’re crouched around a small table in one of the far corners of the upper section of the Library. It’s well past curfew, but since you aren’t technically breaking any rules by avoiding the Restricted Section, you’re currently getting away with your loitering, as do most students who are caught studying after hours this close to final exams.
Only, you’re not studying. You’ve been summoned there by Ominis, who despite being your closest friend at Hogwarts is also a conniving, duplicitous liar who neglected to tell you that this whole thing is Sebastian’s idea.
You watch warily as he turns over a contraband Time-Turner in his hands, inspecting its impossibly small dials and knobs. The golden sands inside the hourglass hypnotically shift back and forth while he reads over its inscriptions and consults the guidebook he’d smuggled out of the Restricted Section earlier that same day.
You have no idea where he managed to get the device – perhaps in one of those vaults along the coast in Cragcroftshire that he’d been exploring during the summer term. However, now he’s got it in his head that perhaps the reason you haven’t been able to heal Anne is that the cure to her curse simply hasn’t been invented yet. Therefore, a quick jaunt several years into the future ought to reveal a way to rid Anne of her illness (and maybe even earn his way back into her good graces).
It’s not the first ludicrous and impractical idea he’s had in the past year, nor will it be the last, but it’s certainly one of the more radical ones.
“Merlin’s beard, I’ve already told you,” Sebastian sighs. “Since we’re going forward in time rather than back, this is an unauthorized use, and in case we get stuck in the future, we might need your ancient magic.”
“So I’m an insurance policy?!” you demand.
“Not so much for Sebastian as for me,” Ominis answers plainly. “He thinks he’s got it all sorted out, but I’m not as sure.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Sebastian interjects.
You huff and roll your eyes. “Need I remind you that using a Time-Turner to go forward is expressly forbidden by the Ministry? It’s only to go back.”
“Loads of people have done it, though,” he argues. “I’ve been reading all about it, it’s well-documented.”
“And they’ve all come back to the present?” you demand.
“Yes,” he snaps. “...For the most part.”
You scoff. Unbelievable.
“Do you two honestly think my magic is just an unlimited get-out-of-Azkaban-free pass?” you hiss. “I have no idea how to manipulate time and space. If we get stuck there, we’re stuck there.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure something out like you always do,” Sebastian mutters distractedly as he fiddles with the Time-Turner.
You glance at Ominis pleadingly and he just shrugs.
“You know we can’t let him go alone, we’ll never get him back,” Ominis reasons.
“Is that such a bad thing?” you grumble.
Sebastian shoots you a warning look before he holds up the Time-Turner for the both of you to inspect.
“I have it set to jump forward twenty years,” he explains. “We’ll have to get cozy before we go, as we’ve all got to be wearing it. Physically, we’ll land precisely where we are now, at the same time of day.”
“What if the layout of the Library changes?” you ask skeptically.
“The castle hasn’t changed in centuries,” Ominis points out. “Compared to its history, two decades is indeed quite short.”
“...Fine,” you finally mumble. “Go on, then. Let’s get this over with.”
The three of you stand in a tight circle in a spot tucked away behind some shelves, hoping to remain hidden there after you make the jump forward in time. Sebastian drapes the thin gold chain connected to the Time-Turner around the three of you; it even seems to stretch and extend in length to fit. Then he murmurs a brief incantation to the enchanted timepiece and spins the innermost piece a whopping twenty times.
Your stomach lurches while it turns over and the world around you seems to spin out of control, almost like one of those Muggle carousel rides you saw once as a child. You can barely make out years and years of students and professors walking around you – through you, even – and countless books sliding on and off the shelves until everything comes to a sudden halt and you fall straight to the floor.
Ominis and Sebastian tumble with you, winded.
“That felt bizarre,” Ominis wheezes. “Where are we? Did we travel anywhere?”
“N-no,” Sebastian breathes. “Everything else just… traveled around us.”
You glance around the Library and see that as Ominis had suggested, it looks largely the same. There are some newer books among those you recognize on the shelves, their spines less creased and dyed with more vibrant colors than those of your time.
One title jumps out at you: Advances in Practical Conjuring, 1900-1910
We’re in the 1910s, you think bewilderedly. We’re in a new century.
Mercifully, the layout of the library seems to be largely unchanged. Rows and rows of dimly lit stacks stretch along the length of the grand room with two winding spiral staircases leading down to the lower level.
Once you catch your breath, the three of you cast Disillusionment on yourselves and huddle together to make your way downstairs to the Restricted Section. Ominis leads the way with his wand extended to search for any lingering students or restless ghosts, having long since proven that his spatial awareness bests both yours and Sebastian’s even without his sight.
Your trio makes it downstairs and past the first row of shelves before Ominis stops in his tracks. Sebastian collides with him and then you knock into Sebastian, causing you both to hiss some choice words at each other.
“What’s going on?” you demand in a whisper.
“Someone just came in,” Ominis explains. “The librarian is at the desk and she hasn’t noticed, but a student is coming down the stairs.”
Sure enough, across the room you see a faint flicker of light and can just barely make out the outline of a small student sneaking down the main stairs – must be a young one, you think, no more than thirteen.
“I think it’s a girl,” you offer. “I can see her just over there.”
“What’s she doing?” Sebastian whispers.
“I’m not sure yet,” Ominis says carefully. “She’s past the desk, the librarian didn’t see – oh, for Merlin’s sake.”
“What is it?” you breathe.
“She’s going straight for the Restricted Section,” Ominis mutters. “Just our luck, I suppose.”
The three of you remain crouched behind the shelf while you watch the girl creep ever closer to your hiding spot. You’re panicking inside your head, wondering what possible seams of the universe might immediately be torn to shreds if she were to spot the three of you, but thankfully she seems single-minded in her mission to gain access to the locked collection of books across the room from you.
“She’s tiny,” Sebastian snorts. “I suppose the young ones are even more bold in the future.”
“Weren’t you about her age when you first started to sneak into the Restricted Section?” Ominis reminds him.
Sebastian insists, “No, I was fourteen. I didn’t go in until Anne was attacked. She’s got to be twelve at most, maybe even a first year.”
“Will you two be quiet?” you hiss. “She’s going to hear you!”
Across the room, the Disillusioned girl pulls a key out of the pocket of her robes and starts to insert it into the lock. A girl her age wouldn’t have mastered Alohomora yet, you think, nor would it be effective on this kind of lock. You have no idea how she managed to get a copy of the key, however.
“Do you suppose we could just go in after her?” Sebastian proposes. “She’s nearly got it open, we should take advantage of that.”
“Are you mad?” you scoff. “We can’t be in there at the same time, we’ll get caught!”
“So what if some little girl from the future sees us?” Sebastian argues. “Why wouldn’t she believe we’re just students from her time doing our own research?”
But before you can further explain to Sebastian how astonishingly stupid that idea is, the girl across the room gasps softly and drops her key to the floor. In front of her, the lock is glowing red as if it’s searing hot.
That’s a new security development from your time, you think. It’s rather lucky the three of you didn’t discover that the hard way.
Immediately, the young librarian leaps from her seat and hustles across the room to the Restricted Section’s gated entrance much faster than Madam Scribner ever would have.
“Hang on…” you say under your breath. “Is that – that’s Sophronia!”
“Who?” Ominis asks.
“Sophronia Franklin, she’s a fourth-year in our time,” you explain distractedly. “She’s always lingering in the library, of course she takes over for Scribner once we finish school.”
“I know her,” Sebastian chimes in. “Tried to get me to play a game of trivia in exchange for returning a book on curse breaking I’d been waiting for. Rather precocious, I thought.”
You glare at Sebastian and he merely rolls his eyes.
“I didn’t mean it in a flirtatious way, I was referring to her choice in books,” he grumbles. “Merlin, you’re protective of her.”
“She’s a sweet girl,” you murmur, appreciative of the fact that Sebastian can’t see you blushing. Truthfully, you don’t think much about Sophronia these days, other than that she absolutely cannot catch the three of you in her Library as she’ll easily understand what you’re up to.
Before you can try to convince the boys to call it quits and return to the present, Sophronia rounds the corner and the girl’s Disillusionment charm melts away in surprise.
“Anne-Marie Sallow!” she calls out. “Just where do you think you’re going?”
At once, the three of you freeze.
“Did she say ‘Sallow?’” hisses Ominis. “Did I hear that right?”
“I – no. No,” Sebastian stammers. “There’s no way that’s what she said.”
“Apologies, Madam,” you hear the girl say with a cheeky lilt to her voice. “I was just looking for a book for my aunt, that’s all.”
Just then, Sophronia leans down to pick up the dropped key and all three of you catch a glimpse of the young girl’s face. She’s probably around twelve, like Sebastian had guessed, but her face… Merlin, she could be your younger sister.
Her slightly-upturned nose is nearly identical to yours, only she’s got a small smattering of freckles across hers. Then there’s her chin, which juts out just a bit like yours does, and you’re too far away to make out the color of her eyes but you’re positive that they’re almond-shaped just like your own.
Now that you think about it, her hair is tied back like you always did with yours when you were younger – braided with a green bow at the end, only her hair is a rich, warm brown color.
“...Is that you?” Sebastian asks softly. “How. How are you doing this?”
“That’s not me, I’m right here,” you remind him.
“Hold on, what am I missing?” Ominis whispers.
“That girl looks exactly like this one,” Sebastian insists. “She’s got her nose, her eyes, her face shape. It’s like there’s a second-year version of her, standing right across from us.”
“We’re twenty years into the future,” Ominis reminds you both. “...What if she’s your daughter?”
You feel like the room is starting to spin around you again, and you find yourself pitching to the side before Sebastian quickly tugs on your arm and pulls you back behind the shelf.
“Do not go daft on us now,” he mutters. “I don’t care if that is your daughter–”
“She’s your daughter too, you know,” Ominis chimes in. “In case you were wondering.”
“Wh… What?” Sebastian stutters, and Ominis gestures for the two of you to listen in.
“Goodness, Miss Sallow,” Sophronia sighs. “You really are so much like your father, always sneaking into the Restricted Section.”
You watch as the girl puffs up her chest proudly, a mischievous smirk on her face that doesn’t strike you as particularly like you at all – but rather Sebastian.
“I’ll gladly take that as a compliment, Madam Franklin,” Anne-Marie says.
“While I respect that you are both voracious consumers of knowledge, he, like you, had little respect for the rules of the Restricted Section,” Sophronia continues. “I’ll have to ask you to leave until you get permission from a professor for relevant research or turn fifteen.”
Anne-Marie is still arguing with the librarian as she’s being escorted out. “Perhaps if you would just let me borrow the book for a while–”
“I’m afraid I’ll also have to give you detention this time,” Sophronia interjects. “I can’t keep looking the other way simply because I owe your mother a favor. This is the third time this term!”
Anne-Marie huffs and folds her arms. “But my godfather–”
“Your godfather is a very busy man who would undoubtedly appreciate it if you spent more time staying out of trouble,” Sophronia finishes, “than trying to emulate your father. In fact, I think Ominis would agree with me that one Sebastian Sallow in this world is quite enough!”
Well, that certainly clears things up.
Sophoronia marches Anne-Marie up the stairs and out of the library. The three of you, having already forgotten your original mission, put your heads together without a word so Sebastian can drape the Time-Turner around your necks and return you to the present.
You collapse in a heap on the library floor, but this time it’s fully empty – even the librarian’s desk light is extinguished. You sit in silence for a few moments, and you and Sebastian don’t dare look at each other. Eventually you force yourself to stand and offer Ominis a hand up, steadfastly ignoring the other boy.
“So,” Ominis finally says, barely concealing his smile. “When exactly is it, do you suppose, that the two of you fall hopelessly in love with each other?”
You both curse at him at the same time, and Ominis throws back his head and laughs.
“Shout at me all you want, but that little girl is proof that the two of you are destined for each other,” he crows. “Oh, how brilliant!”
“Come now, Ominis,” Sebastian says with a nervous laugh. “You don’t seriously think that girl is, what… our child or something?”
“That’s precisely what I think,” Ominous answers, smirking. “You said it yourself, she looks exactly like her mother.”
“Stop!” you interject. “I’m not anyone’s mother, in case you forgot.”
“Perhaps not yet,” Ominis agrees primly. “I imagine it will be several more years before Sebastian makes you one.”
Sebastian goes deeply red while you sputter indignantly.
“Thats – that’s foul, Ominis,” you insist. “It’s untoward to even be talking about this!”
Sebastian folds his arms and raises an eyebrow. “Really? You’re that offended by the very idea of us having a child together? I’m hurt.”
“W-well, I just meant that we shouldn’t talk about things that haven’t yet come to pass,” you explain nervously. “Besides, all that is years away. Decades, even.”
Sebastian glances sidelong at you, and you wonder if you’re imagining the way he looks you up and down.
“Right,” he says slowly. “It’s not like we know anything for sure, obviously.”
“Of course,” you agree. “...I don’t suppose you have any other family members named Sebastian? Distant relatives, perhaps?”
“Why?” he drawls. “Looking to snag a cousin of mine so I won’t be the one to father your children?”
You shove him right into one of the bookshelves, but he laughs like he doesn’t regret it one bit.
“Now now,” Ominis murmurs. “You ought to be kind to your future husband, you don’t want to damage his virility.”
“I have half a mind to put a dent in Sebastian’s virility right here and now to save me some trouble later,” you reply, casually aiming your wand at his groin.
“Have you gone mad?!” he stammers as he takes several steps backward. “Put that thing away!”
“Oh, will you please relax?” you sigh. “We just saw one of your descendants, your ability to procreate is in no danger.”
“You could still put me in the Hospital Wing,” he sulks. “Besides, it’s not just procreation that I use it for.”
Ominis snorts. “Unfortunately, I am intimately aware of that.”
You make a face while Sebastian grins cheekily, offering no apology.
The three of you start to make your way toward the exit into Central Hall, ignoring the weak protests of the prefects stationed outside. As you make your way back toward the Slytherin common room, you all fall silent again, lost in your thoughts.
You aren’t sure how you’re supposed to forget what you saw, you think. In the future, you have a daughter. Her father is Sebastian Sallow, and… and she’s brilliant. Beautiful, courageous, more than a bit headstrong, and as determined as you both are if not more so.
You catch yourself actually grinning, and when you glance over at Sebastian, you see the same expression on his face.
“Anything you care to share?” you ask him.
“I know we probably shouldn’t talk about it,” he starts, “but there is one thing that girl said that I won’t soon forget.”
“What’s that?” you ask.
He’s quiet for a moment, and then he admits, “I heard her say she’s looking for a book for her aunt, and you haven’t got any sisters.”
You smile softly and reach for Sebastian’s hand. “No, I don’t.”
He lets you take his hand in his to give a reassuring squeeze.
“She’s still alive,” Sebastian says quietly. “She… she’s still sick, probably. But she’s still alive in the future. She meets my daughter, and she knows her.”
“She does,” you say. “And – and maybe we don’t quite know how that happens yet, but you can have a little faith, Sebastian. Things will work out the way they’re supposed to, and Anne will be with us for a long, long time. There’s still plenty of time to make things right again.”
He nods wordlessly but doesn’t drop your hand.
Just before you arrive at your common room, Ominis stops in his tracks.
“Hang on… Her name, Anne-Marie?” he asks you. “That sounds like something Sebastian would have picked. How generous of you.”
“Aww,” Sebastian laughs. “You must be so in love with me by then to let me pick the name.”
You grit your teeth and ignore them as you murmur the password to the giant stone snake guarding the door, hoping to get some well-earned rest and be rid of these boys for the night.
“Don’t worry, darling,” Sebastian says as he ducks around you and slips inside the door. “I’ll let you pick the name for the second one, and we can duel for rights to the third.”
You go running off after Sebastian and holler, “You bastard Sebastian Sallow, how many damn children are you expecting?!”
Ominis quickly pulls the door shut behind him and shakes his head.
“Godfather,” he mutters to himself. “I’ll never know peace, will I?”
---
[Get to know more of the Sallow kiddos in "the train ain't even left the station" ❤️]
#hogwarts legacy#hogwarts legacy fic#sebastian sallow#ominis gaunt#sebastian sallow x mc#sebastian sallow x reader#sebastian x mc#sebastian x reader#my fic#time travel#i tried to stick to time-turner lore as much as possible while completely retconning it#(future) dad!bastian
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Behind Closed Doors Master List
Things happen for the powerful behind closed doors.
Things happen for the A-listers who have needs that can't be met, or they don't feel comfortable asking about.
And that's where (Y/N) came in for none other than Chris Evans.
High off his role as Johnny Storm, Chris shot to stardom. But he had dreams far beyond Hollywood.
He wanted to be a dad.
So he found you.
But little did he know that his fate was intertwined with not only yours, but another Marvel co-star that he wouldn't really get to know until years down the road.
The love of your life.
The father of your children...well, most of them, but we'll get to that.
Sebastian swore he loved you from the day he first saw your picture.
And while your relationship may not be in the spotlight, he's made it perfectly clear the family that the two of you created is his everything.
And this is what happens behind closed doors.
Part 1--Before There Was An 'US'
The Contract
The Buildup
The Honeymoon Phase
The Breakdown
The Breakup
Part 2--The Early Years
The Knight In Shining Armour
The Secret
The Secret Life
The New Role
The Mad Hatter
The PR Relationship
The Future
A Wedding, and A Black Eye
Career Day
Saying Sorry Is The Hardest Part
The Tale Of Minka Kelly
Part 3--Finding A Rhythm
The Bronze
Civil War
Slow It Down
Tough Questions In Parenting
Domesticated
Devil All The Time
When The World Shut Down
In The Kitchen, With The Knife
Part 4--When It All Comes To Light
Who Is (Seb)Bastian Stan?
Little Miss Alba Baptiste
Johnny Evans Sees The Truth
What Could Have Been
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The Secret Bedroom of the Forsaken Princess - By Hyeni (8/10)
The author chose to take alot of risks here. Everybody is kind of an asshole in this story, and that's great, but then the ending is really safe and bland. It's not really worth it. There's a ton of buildup. There's a big betrayal, but then the villains just get forgiven. The madness ends with marriage and children.
Princess Llewelyn is not well liked. Her dad is dead. Her mom is "dead", and Queen Dowager Pamela hates her guts. She has a half brother named Bastian, who definitely isn't secretly illegitimate, so she's worthless now. Pamela makes everybody bully her. Llewelyn wants to become a nun and live quietly, but Bastian won't have it. He's King now and he refuses to give her royal permission to give up her title. She has to wait until she is twenty five. Bastian would rather see her live a happy and lazy life, preferably somewhere near him.
There's definitely not something wrong with Bastian don't worry about it.
Poor Llewelyn. She is under a curse. A lust curse. She's been using magical cooling stones to curb her urges, but she's scared. If she gets caught she cannot become a nun. She would most likely get roped into marrying the first man she jumps. She's got very little power. Sex equals an awful future for her, but she wants to do it really bad. Being alone helps, so she pushes everyone away with insults. Nobody is willing to keep secrets for her. She can't trust anybody.
Except Tristan. Tristan is a very loyal knight, who doesn't really know Llewelyn personally. He just cares about the royal family and the country. He gets closer to her when he finds her by accident. Sadly, the curse does force Llewelyn to bed a man. She doesn't even remember who it is after. Tristan is the one that safely carries her back to her chamber.
Yeah. Do I even need to tell you? Duke Almondite is the endgame guy. Her future husband. He's her childhood friend. He's a hero that recently defeated a group of dark magicians. He's famous across the land. He's handsome. When Llewelyn's mother was still alive they were best friends. Almond boy proposed with a rose, and he doesn't understand why Llewelyn hates him now.
He's kinda dumb...or misinformed. Llewelyn's mother was executed for trying to poison Bastion. She kinda sucks. She didn't actually die. Her execution was ordered, but it was all a plot. Llewelyn's mom didn't love the king. She faked her own death to run away with her lover, which is such a dick move. Llewelyn has been suffering under her stepmother for a long time. She doesn't even have guards and she sleeps in an empty annex. All while her mother lives lavishly in a foreign country. By the way Llewelyn genuinely loved her mom, and she is traumatized by her "death". Llewelyn believes that Almond boy is part of the reason why she was "executed". So, basically her mom's bullshit ruined her first love, her entire childhood, and her position as princess.
Almond boy is the man she slept with that night, when she lost control. Almondite has loved her for a long time. He didn't know about the curse. He thought his lady love was finally returning his feelings, so he did have sex with her. He proposes soon after, and Llewelyn remembers everything.
She laughs at him, and says she slept with him in an attempt to soil his reputation.
He's shocked, but he keeps trying to rope her into marrying him.
Almond boy is pretty fucked up by the way. He actually does plot with Pamela at one point. The evil abuser lady. He straight up betrays Llewelyn. He really wants to marry Llewelyn, weather she likes it or not. She really doesn't trust him. He tries to use Pamela's influence as Queen Dowager to force a wedding. He pressures Llewelyn with gifts and public shows of devotion as well. He's kind of obsessed, but he's also kind of a huge dick. I'm honestly shocked that he's...it. He's the man she picks. It makes no sense.
This is the son of the pope, Ernell. He's an excellent character that reveals a lot of great world building. Remember the black magic people that cursed Llewelyn? Those are magicians who dared to act without his permission. The holy pope and his son are secretly IN CHARGE of the dark side of magic. Their public image is very pious and political, but behind closed doors both father and son are violent men of war. No one outside of their organization knows, because the title of pope is such a good mask.
Llewelyn sleeps with him next. She sleeps with lots of men. Lust curse. It's for the plot.
Ernell decides that her favors her. He's very passionate and somewhat scary. His servants are very afraid of him, because he secretly controls the underworld after all. Tristan and Ernell are both entertaining. I kind of forgot about Almond boy. Ernell vows to remove her curse, and he does alot of shady shit to figure out what happened. He wants to kill the foolish magicians who acted on their own, and he's extra mad because on top of that he likes the princess.
Ernell helps Llewelyn figure shit out. Pamela and Bastion cursed her with a couple of hired black magic users. Bastian also killed the old King. Bastian also has two sides. There's some kind of curse in him too. He has a dark side. He's been plotting to keep Llewelyn in the castle with him, forever, which is fucked up for about a million reasons. He knows Pamela is abusive, but whatever. Bastian has complicated feelings for his "sister". He doesn't want to let her out of his sight.
He gets defeated.
Pamela had sex with another man who looked like the king, so she could put a fake on the throne and have power.
You know what that means.
Llewelyn is the only real royal heir. Bastian gets purified. Pamela gets punished. Bastian is a harmless wimp without his dark side curse. Without it he conveniently has no desire to rule, and he's very sorry for the trouble he caused.
Llewelyn marries Almondite, which makes him the real king for real. They have kids. The end.
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So we know Bastian’s enemies include Hours, Jesus Christ, his dad, and reality itself, but who are his allies? Is it just Bellefluer or have some npcs from Andres’ run shown up?
Okay so let's break down Bastian's enemies and allies actually. Like, the ones he either currently already has, or are on his vision board. In addition to his father, his older brother, the king of France, the English army, and the Sun-In-Rags, his notable enemies are:
Olivie d'Arras - Olivie is an evil lying slinky little nightmare slut, and I say that with all the love and respect in the world. She fucked Bastian over about four separate times during his time in Arras, and got away with it scot free, skipping town before he had the chance to murder her about it. She includes the Rending in her personal pantheon of Hours worthy of veneration. She and Bastian were also lovers. Yes, he knew she was an evil nightmare person who was personally responsible for many of his problems when they were sleeping together. He just likes her, okay, fuck off. He ultimately decided they couldn't work together long-term, and it was genuinely...a little sad? They really had a connection. She's planning on terrorizing him unto madness or death. But she needs to go level up a bit first.
Isery von Murnau - On the other end of the spectrum, Bastian managed to piss off a Murnau. Isery and Bastian were actually working together for a while - he reminded her of her brother - and he respected the hell out of her. He wanted to bring her over to the dark side, where her Murnau insight and her swift sword would be put to use building his empire, but he overplayed his hand when he involved her without her knowledge or consent in his assassination of Prince John. She's now left the party and has vowed to destroy him. Bastian quietly has her listed at #2 on his threats list, right under the Plague.
--
Bastian's Allies:
You already know about his wife, the fairy-sage Bellefleur who wants to bring about the end of the Metempiric History, so let's talk about
Volo - Volo is Bastian's squire. He's in love with Bastian. Bastian has recently figured this out. This is bad for Volo, because Bastian's first reaction to anything is "How can I use this?" and Volo is a nice, open-hearted 16 year old boy who has never done anything wrong. Or so you'd think. Volo's actually a weird guy: he's been obsessed with Bastian since he was 11 years old, serving in the Duke's palace, and to anyone other than Bastian, he's haughty, snappish, prissy, and pathologically obsessed with his master. You could torture him to death and he'd never even reveal Bastian's shoe size. You can't buy this kind of loyalty.
Lisbet - Lisbet is Bastian's only friend. She's a half-feral woods girl he found in the trash. She's a provincial hunter with no table manners and a surprisingly sophisticated-if-solipsistic philosophical bent. They spend a lot of time talking about moral relativism. Everyone thinks she's his mistress. They're both basically fine with that, but doubt it will happen any time in the near future. One time she slam-dunked a zombie into a bonfire with her mind. Bastian keeps her close.
Danyau - Danyau is an assassin raised by a vampire who worshipped the Sunflower King, obliterated Danyau's memory in a dark rite which enslaved him to the Sunflower King's will, and sent him out into the world with a lute and two dollars to face the agents of the Rending. Danyau's feelings about all of this are mixed. He's the reason Bastian has had a bisexual awakening. Right now Bastian is, experimentally, treating him like a stray cat: if he keeps putting milk out for him, will Danyau domesticate himself? Time will tell. Danyau does seem to enjoy the milk.
Knight-Captain Nevers - Bastian has the most embarrassing crush on Nevers. Nevers is his liaison to the Burgundian army, and Bastian intends to make him his spymaster. He has the same Lore affiliations as the Black Captain (Edge/Knock) and his hair is full of secrets. One of those secrets is whether or not Bastian might have a shot with him. Nevers is stoic, cunning, ambitious, keeps his own council, and lives by a code, which doesn't seem to prevent him from lying or murdering on behalf of his lord.
Adeliza de Borgomanero - Adeliza is the newest addition to the party, and is the chatty, big-haired Italian representation that Emily has always craved. She's a revenant, and an obligate cannibal, but if you can look past that, she's probably the nicest person Bastian knows. It's not her fault that she was touched by Mother White after a nearly-fatal brush with a fever as a child. And she didn't know that the monthly "special feast" her parents prepared for her was human flesh. I mean, she knows now. And so does Bastian. But he figures that he can keep her fed. Anyway, his wife likes her. Bellefleur thinks she's funny. Adeliza makes conversation like it's the only thing that keeps her heart beating, and would rather be dragged three miles behind a cart than endure thirty seconds of silence.
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lucienisms;; single muse blog penned by harls. written for havenridgehq. do not interact unless you are apart of the group;
( click below to find the full bio of lucien fernando rivera )
IN CHARACTER
FULL NAME: Lucien Fernando Rivera
NICKNAME: Luci
AGE: 44
DATE OF BIRTH: 9 March 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH: Guatemala
GENDER IDENTIFICATION: Male
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Married
NEIGHBORHOOD: Pinecrest
OCCUPATION: Bookstore Clerk
WORKPLACE: Employee of 'Island Pages'
POSITIVE TRAITS: Devoted, Stoic, Pure
NEGATIVE TRAITS: Emotionally Sensitive, Reserved, Introverted
LENGTH OF TIME IN HAVENRIDGE: 10 Years
FACE CLAIM: Oscar Isaac
BIOGRAPHY
TRIGGER WARNING: Abandonment, Death
The Upbringing; Lucien's biological parents abandoned him when he was just born at the hospital, it was a result of a one night stand that she as a mother didn't want to abort but at the same time just couldn't bare to actually keep him scared of expenses and how much things were going to cost. Because of this the hospital had affiliations with those that were looking to adopt partnering up with orphanages in the area and finding a elder couple to look after him.
The Younger Days; Lucien stayed with the couple right up until high school they couldn't have kids of their own due to their own personal complications so Lucien was some what of the kid they always wanted but never had and it worked out for Luci as he needed some sort of stability in the family department though it didn't really last too long as just after he graduated his non biological parents passed of natural causes, first hiss mom and then his dad.
The Love Story; Bastian and Lucien met when they were in high school, Lucien always knew that he didn't really care about what gender a person was or the overcomplicated specifications of it, he just wanted to be loved, he had a lot of love to give and he wanted someone to give that love too. Bastian and Lucien had chemistry right off the bat and he knew that as long as Bastian loved him then he was going to be there no matter what.
The Beginning; Their life started pretty early and very quickly it wasn't long after graduation that they got married, it was the right thing to do, Lucien didn't really see himself wanting anyone else and he had sort of settled into the relationship enough to know what he wanted, but being a married man definitely made things a lot more real for him, it came with talks of children and places to live, combining everything together and he knew very early on that because of his own roots that adoption was the way to go.
The Present Day; Today Lucien is still in that love filled marriage but he is trying to find out more about his heritage and who he was before, why they left him, are they even still alive? He has a very leads and he doesn't know where they will take him but he feels it's integral to know his past in order to start living and forging the rest of his future.
The Bookstore; Working at the bookstore really was a no brainer, he loved to read, he had a interest in literature in high school and even wrote books that definitely remained unpublished, laying somewhere in a top drawer never to see the light of day because he doesn't have the confidence to do anything with them. But he knew that he had to be affiliated with Island Pages, to be so close to something he was passionate with.
The Hobbies; Some of his other hobbies entail spending time with his kids and really being the dad that he knew he wanted growing up and the dad he thinks that his kids deserve. He is an avid cinematic fan and loves going to the movies, even if it's a movie he doesn't like he will just sit in the cinema just for the experience and the atmosphere. He also has an insane amount of movie facts up his sleeve.
The Personality; Lucien is a pretty calm and sincere person, he doesn't like to pick fights and will usually just go quiet and sad more then he does with anger. He is a loyal companion that will radiate with his actions and the longevity of his relationship, he is quite an intelligent man often really good at reading into people and situations and trying to always be one step ahead ( if he can )
The Family; His family is everything to him, the two don't have much but they bring together what they have to make do with what's in front of them. It never bothered Luci that they weren't overly rich as he thinks money can ruin people but he is more then content with just living day to day and trying to over come any challenges may come their way
The Husband; Bastian has been the one constant thing in his life and it's part of the reason why he will never leave. He has built his home and his life around this one man, the one person that has always given him some sort of purpose throughout his life. He would even go as far to say that Lucien is the way he is because of Bastain, that the two are like two peas in a pod.
EXTRAS
FILLING CONNECTION: Bastian Rivera's Husband
INSPO:
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Idk if this is possible or not or if you've done it already but could you list all the rainbow references in the show?
Haha- talk about pandora’s box. Sure, personally i think the rainbows have multiple meanings -3 meanings to to be exact
1) Rainbows being associated with psychics + Will’s powers plot twist
*We see in the stranger thing novel 'suspicious minds' when overusing powers you may hallucinate rainbows (which are also associated with the void/ monsters in the series) .
Terry: “Spots bloomed behind her eyelids. Every color … as the sunlight turned to rainbows” ( p44-45), “streaks of rainbow appeared (p47)”,“The rainbow stayed with Terry for a long while, but eventually it faded and in its place: darkness. A pit.”(p. 48).
Alice (who sees visions of the future) : “Snarling, snapping monsters,RAINBOW LIGHTS playing in the air around them” (p. 121).
cough Will being in the upsidedown/being chased by “monsters”. And Joyce communicating with Will via “rainbow lights.”
The rainbow room (from s2) also has a rainbow on the door- according to the novel kali drew that rainbow. Similar to Will's rainbow drawing. Kali in the book also creates a rainbow allusion with sunflowers (Terry ref).
Kali: “field of yellow sunflowers grew up around them. A rainbow arcing over the golden tops.” (p. 139). “He noticed she’d drawn up there, a rainbow with her colored pencils. Maybe he’d suggest that for the playroom” (the rainbow room we see in s2) (p. 298)
I also already talked about how Terry saying "breath, sunflower, rainbow " is actually a reference to s1 Will- here (in link including pic of Will and Terry being told to “breath”.
*El in s3 also thinks of papa, her mother , and the rainbow room- cause she sees a cereal box with a rainbow (on it).
Dustin and susie sing a song from the film adaption of the book "never ending story". Which indicates how Will is subconsciously creating the supernatural creatures & people in the series . Before they sing, we also see susie is next to a ‘wizard of oz’ posters & she reads & talks to Dustin about the book "wizard of earthsea'. 2 of the 3 examples have rainbow-related songs (in their film adaptions) & all 3 hint at Will’s powers.
* wizard of earthsea:
It’s about a pre-teen wizard named Ged who has a bowl cut (Will) who casts a powerful spell, but the spell goes awry and instead he releases a shadow creature (by opening a portal between the living & dead- Will is a zombie boy remember?)! The new Archmage, Gensher, describes the shadow as an ancient evil that wishes to possess Ged. But the ‘shadow’ turns out to be a representation of the darkest aspects of his personality. It’ only when he calls the shadow monster by his own name “Ged”(cough mf=will the wise) does the monster stop acting out. The only way to save the world is for ged to then merge with the shadow(and for Ged to accept himself-and “become whole”).This also reminds me of the “Jungian shadow”
* never ending story:
Bastian ( who has a bowl cut- and is from single parent house hold) subconsciously creates a fantasy world being over run by darkness (symbolizing the loss of hope and dreams). One of the characters he creates is Atreyu (El). Atreyu ( was the child deemed the ‘chosen one). “Atreyu is knocked into the sea of possibilities. There he wakes on the shore of abandoned ruins. And Gmorick (mindflayer) then latches his jaws onto Atreyu’s (El’s) leg.”Pretty much what happened to El.”The Empress in the story later tells Atreyu, that despite being told he was the chosen one (he never was). And that it was always Bastian (Will) who was the chosen one-since his imagination created Fantasia (so he’s the only way to stop the darkness from over -running it).”
Will has mental health issues and accidentally writes a “story” about the shadow monster (reflecting his tra*ma). Bastian is depressed (over his parent) and subconsciously creates a story about darkness over-running everything. Like how Hopper describes his depression- like a black hole.
song Dustin & Susie sing:
“Written on the pages is the answer to a never ending story” (cough the books susie referenced - are explaining the answer to what’s causing the mindflayer/upsidedown/the lab...this story )
“DREAM a dream. And what you DREAM will be” ( Will’s imagination making his nightmares come true)
“Rhymes that keep their secrets Will unfold behind the clouds.And there upon a RAINBOW Is the answer to a never ending story.”
(the lyric “rhymes that keep their SECRETS” purposely pans to Will both times the song is sung). Because the ‘SECRET’ is -he’s causing everything. And thus he’s the only way to stop it- or they’ll all be stuck in a never-ending story. The only way to stop it is for Will to face his shadow/the mindflayer (aka the other Will) who is always shown within the STORM CLOUDS . Will needs to create a RAINBOW (out of those storm clouds). Like rainbows that show up AFTER a storm.He’d do this by accepting himself , his tra*ma/mental health relating to his dad, and or his gay identity- then the story will be able to end.Dustin even says “ defeat his RAINBOW of DARKNESS” (and later says a “rainbow is the answer ”(to the story). st book:”The RAINBOW stayed with Terry for a long while, but eventually it faded and in its place: DARKNESS. A pit.”AKA: Will has to face his symbolic darkness and the storm/and than create a rainbow from it- for the story to end...
When Dustin says ‘rainbow of darkness’ he talks about my little pony- where one of their friends became a dragon. in d&d wizards can become dragons &Bastian also summons a dragon with his imagination powers in ‘never ending story’. And Will is associated with dragons: s1he has dragon comic & drawing, s2 Will has dragon poster in his room + watches his friends play dragon game. And again... dungeons & dragons.
Also tw for s.a/parental ab*se (so skip to ‘wizard of oz’ if you prefer ). In the 4th book of wizard of Eathsea (20 years after the original, where ged was the protagonist). The new main protagonist - was r*ped and burned by her father as a child (and in the sequel she became a dragon as a form of empowerment ). which goes with my lonnie theory-sadly.
*wizard of oz:
it’s about a Dorothy creating a mythical world based on people she both likes and dislikes . Dorothy sings in the movie a song about a ‘RAINBOW’ and references ‘DREAMS’ coming true in a mythical land -much like the ‘never ending story’ song (referencing “rainbows”/”dreams” coming to life).
“There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the RAINBOW, Skies are blue,
And the DREAMS that you dare to dream, really do come true...”
We see in s1 Hopper cop-partner calls the lab “emerald city”. Murray in s2 says people “don’t want to look behind the curtain” (to see what’s causing the supernatural -in the film what was literally behind the curtain was a wizard-cough like Will). We also have -lion, tiger, and bear stuffed animals (as a ‘lion, and tigers, and bears-oh my!’ quote )from the film. And David harbor (Hopper) when referencing the s4 rainbow room (quotes the song) and he also quotes a speech from Dorothy-when posting about the cabin the mindflayer destroyed.
2) Rainbow cups (hinting at Lonnie’s return)
We see 2 rainbow cups in the series.
in s2) when Mike & Will are sitting together & saying they’re “crazy together” . This cup next to them says “happy birthday” in rainbow. Later that season- they talk about Will’s birthday-rainbow drawing, Mike&Will meeting & Lonnie leaving. And in s2, we also see in Will’s room a card that says “sorry, I forgot your birthday”(most likely from Lonnie). So both Lonnie & Mike are associated with Will’s bday.
in s3) We see a woman yell “I don’t want her in my house!” (while she sits next to a rainbow cup). reminiscent of Joyce saying to Lonnie “get out of my house”. We also know there are rumors s4 takes place during Will’s birthday & Lonnie’s actor may have been spotted on set. Along with the fact (it’s pretty much confirmed) Mike will be visiting the Byers in s4. However, the woman (next to the rainbow cup) also says “2 visitor only. 2!″
THE 2 VISITORS ARE MIKE &LONNIE (for Will’s b day).
Also, in s3, when El is drinking from cup- she sees a rainbow. And what’s the first word she thinks of? “Papa.”
so rainbow+cup= shitty dads (lonnie & brenner) probably returning
*And of course if that’s the case -Lonnie (the same guy who called Will h*mophobic sl*rs) will not be supportive of Mike & Will’s “friendship”. And will not be nice to Mike (to say the least). Like... imagine Hopper in s3 - but we know he’s not bluffing and the audience won’t have the option to take it as a joke... and yes the s4 movies hint at that...
3) gay symbolism
First we have Mike wheeler. He in s1 has rainbows sheets, rainbow bedroom blinds , and in his basement there’s a heart propelled by a rainbow. This is like how in s3 Mike kisses El and there is a drawing that says "Mike'. And on the drawing is a heart propelled by a rainbow. I already explained how its symbolic of him trying to be straight/fighting his feelings for Will, but wherever he goes a rainbow still follows (even when he tries being romantic with El). He’s trying to hide his “rainbow heart” by dating El- why in s3 (the rainbow-heart in his basement) mysteriously disappeared from his room (but a similar symbol follows Mike even when he kisses El).
Even in s2 when talking about Will (in the AV tech room): Mike is placed in the center of 2 objects : an object with 11 on it & on the right a rainbow apple (this apple is supposed to be an ode to the gay father of computers- but also about the forbidden apple). Hinting at the love triangle of Mike (with El/Will). PLUS, in the ST book ‘worlds turned upsidedown’ they literally show Mike in the AV room- and put the caption “FALLING IN LOVE- with tech” (and placed rainbow flags next to the caption). And of course we have Mike & Will pose next to the rainbow apple- in the AV room.
We also see when Mike and Will says they’re “crazy together” (aka LOVE-as Flo stated) and they’re next to a rainbow cup that says Happy birthday .
And later that season they ref the rainbow ship Will drew for his birthday-which Joyce was "proud" of. And while dancing with a girl (Will according to the script was looking at Mike instead of her) . That girl is wearing a rainbow heart hair pin. This is essentially a parallel to Mike . Will (next to a rainbow heart) is dancing with a girl, but is secretly thinking of Mike. Mike (next to a rainbow heart) is kissing el but secretly thinking of Will (and immediately goes on a movie double date with Will after this). The lyrics of both these scenes indicate they're not happy pretending to be straight. The lyrics for Will are "every smile you fake". And Mike while kissing el is "just a little uncertainty can bring you down" (and during this lyric is when El puts her hands on him-and he removes her hands from him *aka he’s not as confident in the relationship as he pretends to be.
We see in s4 bts that the rainbow heart hair pin (worn by the girl Will dances with) is also worn by nancy while standing next to Robin (who is gay). So being near a ‘rainbow-heart’ is prob a hint a character is gay. Aka robin & Will & Mike.
tumblr user “awhstrangerthings” pointed out the nancy -hair clip detail.
In s1 when troy is calling Will h*mophobic sl*rs (in front of Mike) he wears a rainbow shirt. And max while often critiquing m*leven (in s3) (to Mike) often wears rainbow shirts. I talked about how I thought Troy and max subconsciously remind Mike he isn't straight - so they're associated with the rainbow iconography-post here. Like we see Max with rainbow sheets (like Mike) and than she immediately talks to him on the phone. I mean she could be queer- but I lean to that theory at the moment.
The whole being near rainbows when associating with a queer character makes sense (it’s like a ‘gay-dar”). Similar to Nancy’s hair clip when being near Robin/ that Girl having the same rainbow hair clip when dancing with Will. If we assume this theory than see a pattern with other characters (when speaking about/being near queer coded characters)....
it’s similar to how : When lucas (via subtext) criticizes m*leven- he is also next to a rainbow (in Erica's room). I explained here- why it’s about m*leven.
or when Jonathan says he’s going to hang out with Will (it’s near a rainbow).
This Jonathan moment -Is similar to when Steve ( who has a rainbow bandaid-from the Byers’ house) calls Mike “Nancy” (which is slang for a gay guy)
*another addition: you see in the comments of this post ghostgirlsatin mentioned Dart has a rainbow blanket. But, I noticed a couple of other things.
notice Dustin says "we have to talk- its about my friend ,Will". As Dustin is near rainbow lights and a rainbow bed sheet. Like how
A) rainbows are associated with the supernatural creatures + Will
B) rainbow lights associated with Will
C) rainbows near straight characters when talking about /near queer characters... similar to how Jonathan is near a rainbow when talking about Will
*also can’t tell if that is a ‘rainbow ship’ poster?
We also see Erica has a sunflower & rainbow drawing in her room... at the moment not sure if its just a random easteregg , foreshadowing something supernatural we're not aware of yet? or just for the m*leven diss?
(although given the fact i think some characters were created by Will- and given all the Max &Billy/Will & jonathan parallels ... the rainbow stuff may be a hint Will created them? I mean they even made a Troy comic just to show his dad is a bully.) But, at the moment, i still lean to (some) characters having rainbow iconography because they’re referring to/are near a queer character.
#will byers#byler#mike wheeler#dustin henderson#el hopper#lucas sinclair#max mayfield#steve harrington#robin buckley#nancy wheeler#jonathan byers#jim hopper#joyce byers#stranger things#stanger things theory
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TTM Sexuality List
Yee, had this in my mind for awhile but after some steady time thinking... here’s some official sexuality listings for most of my major characters (so far) 😊. Miiiight update/tweak some of this in the future if the mood strikes me, but for the most part I’m pretty content atm 👍Hope you enjoy!
Gay:
-Professor Juniper
-Masyn
-Cole
-Xoe’s dads (Gabor & Yuneun)
-Finn’s dads (Josev & Mateo)
Lesbian:
-Rosabel
-Jada
-Meirin
-Taiyin
-Everna
-Alyx’s moms (Zera & Neura)
-Jena & Jada’s moms (Etsu & Kichi)
Bisexual:
-Prym
-Zephyr
-Jinger
-Zayn
-Hakem
-Fevrier
-Kiyana (Demi-Bi)
-Bastian
-Sgt. Kodiak
Pansexual:
-Tula
-Xoe
-Autem
-Jena
-Finn
-Beu (Demi-Pan)
-Hogen
-Professor Naya
Straight/Hetero:
-Kain
-Kalybir
-Zia
-Kurtana
-Ana
-Argent (Demi-Hetero)
-Meradyth
Demisexual:
-Aevri
-Briar
-Winnie
-Lyra
-Cable
-Raider
-Elas
-Mila
-Dyani
-Professor Braelen
Asexual/Aromantic:
-Taiyin (Ace Lesbian)
-Professor Ramon (Aro)
Gray-Ace:
-Embyr (Demi/Gray-Ace, specifically)
-Noira
-King Grayle
-Professor Nile
No Label/Questioning:
-Alyx
-Boa
-Headmaster Auran
-Professor Barnaby
-Ivor
#the three mages#headcanon stuff#my ocs#yeah there's a bit of some 'updates' already with a couple sexualities#idk some of them were a lil too vague before so I thought I'd branch em out a bit :p#haven't quite figured out a full sexuality for Ramon yet but idk he's been giving me Aro vibes for some reason
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Jazz
This story has been a work in progress since....shit I wanna say August 28th or so (no idea why I remeber the date that exactly) It started as something I thought I’d just bang out real fast cause my brain refused to work on anything else and now here we are 6mos (only 4 pages) later and I am posting it.
This story references and retcons certain events from some seriously old works of mine
Meet the Family and Grandfather Fuu
I’ve never really done a story directly from Jazz’s perspective despite creating him in 2008-9ish and revamping his design in 2016.
Enjoy
Jazz could have been the best spy.
He had no family to answer to with a growing career as a singer and dancer in touring stage productions. According to his recruiter he had the potential to be a classic honeypot, however his natural charm and friendly nature resulted in many secrets being spilled as though he were a lifelong friend without the need for sexual seduction.
He might never have been one of the fabled Purples but he had the potential to be White. Jazz was on the rise even as he remained unknown behind clandestine meetings and worldwide tours.
Then there had been The Benefit.
It would be years before he would be able to put his finger on what exactly it was that made him notice the man lingering on the edges of the party.
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about him at a glance; average height, blonde, blue eyes behind wire frames, he was even appropriately dressed in a proper tuxedo, he fit right in. And he was cute to boot.
There was just something, more to him.
Which was precisely why he had sidled up to the other with a smile he had been told was charming,
"James Coltrain, but behind the curtain they call me Jazz, cause my hands are dazzling."
The man’s attempts to muffle his laughter turned it to a snort, "Does that ever work?"
"Dunno did it?"
It in fact did.
His name was Bastian.
Their romance was a whirlwind in all but time.
There was the usual dinners and dances with kisses on the doorstep, dates that warmed him and had a taste of normalcy to them.
Then there were the more avante-guard outings; bungee jumping, rock climbing, and other adrenaline pumping activities
Jazz had been shocked and a little turned on at how effectively the blonde had dispatched the opposing team when they had gone to laser tag.
He had considered it an unexpected blessing that his boyfriend was so understanding about his hectic touring schedule and the rare times he had to cancel a date for a mission, though he never gave that reason of course.
In retrospect perhaps he should have seen a red flag in the fact Bastian never invited him to meet his family before. Jumping out of the plane he had known his lover had two younger brothers and an equal number of sisters, that his parents were still alive and he had an extended family that could take ages to explain. He had known that Bastian was something of the black sheep having opted against joining the family business wanting to start his own instead.
It wasn’t until their feet were back on the ground, engagement ring on the blonde’s finger, and he found himself looking down into the annoyed face of Agent Magenta, that his brain scrambled to re-evaluate everything he thought he knew about his lover.
"Hello Albine or is it Jazz now?"
Shamefully his shock gave Magenta the time needed to punch him in the nose.
He had been honestly relieved to see Bastian charge angrily into the room holding a cake. If this had been some kind of long op Bastian would have been pleased with his shock, instead he looked ready to punch him himself.
"Yer Bom ‘s Magenta?!"
“You work for White?!”
Before he could come up with any sort of response to that he found himself covered in cake to go with the blood from his nose as his fiancee shouted at him. Then the tears had come and that was what spurned him back into movement kneeling to put a hand on his shoulder not daring a hug just now.
“You lied to me.”
“You never really told me about your family.”
"Children," Jazz looked up to face the battle scarred mountain that was Bastian’s father, "Yer both kept mum 'cause it's need ter know infermashun, anna ovver one dinnet need ter know. Now yer know. So let's kiss, make up, an enjoy dis lass, lazagg-"
"Lasagna, dear," Magenta corrected out of habit still glaring at him.
"What she said. An' now dat yer each know a bit more, yer c'n safely put yer cards onna table."
"And I’ll start,” the gun-loving woman announced meeting Jazz’s eyes, “You break my son’s heart any further and I beak your neck."
Jazz nearly dismissed the threat having expected it as he finally placed the man in the frilly purple apron with the countless veterans he had been warned about, “Your Dad’s Cassius?!”
“Do you know anyone else that could handle my mother?”
Meeting the parents had been an enlightening disaster but an easily survived one,
Meeting Bastian’s Godfathers on the other hand had been a crucible of sorts.
Puce, or Uncle Fuu as he fiancee insisted on introducing the older agent, did not seem to like him at all. For all that Bastian insisted nothing was wrong Jazz could not help but feel like he was being mentally filleted every time the attention was on him. It wasn’t anything he had done or said as far as he knew, he was simply not family.
Deep green eyes smoldered with the fires of anger, the flames of indignation. Every time Puce looked in his direction, Jazz felt the temperature of his face rise.
He had heard of Spectre of course though in never the same mythical tones as the other Agents, it was still near impossible to resolve the stories he’s heard of Uncle Silas with the tired assassin that has greeted him simply with, “So you’re the boyfriend.”
He was weighed, measured, and, he was sure, found wanting, but he had held his ground. Terrifying as this family was proving to be he loved Bastian and they would have to actually put him six feet under before he’d give the other man up.
It was actually Silas that gave him hope through that particular meal. Here was an agent who had somehow made it into the family while still wearing his own colors. More than that he was an older agent completely at ease with the human tiger he called his lover.
He wanted his own version of that.
With everything out and on the table he and Bastian had finally been able to really talk about the future.
They were both stubborn mules so talking had turned to yelling, then to crying, before coming back to talking. They discussed their jobs, their expectations, whether or not they wanted kids some day, everything they had discussed before and surprisingly little had changed. The anger for each had been about the ability to keep secrets and lie to the other, something they could both agree to never do again.
Really the only thing they had needed to properly discuss was their upcoming nuptials
The Wedding took place in New Orleans during Mardi Gras for the safety of all. Though Jazz was certain they wouldn’t have changed a thing even if their guests had been all civilians.
The only official thing about the whole affair was the officiant themselves. The ceremony was held in front of a bar in the French quarter, their cake was a king’s cake from the first place to have one in stock, it was no real surprise that Uncle Adrian had found the trinket therein. Things had gotten a bit hazy after some hours, he was fairly convinced their Ojen had been switched for something far stronger and less legal. He really wasn’t sure when the picture of himself and his handsome new husband wearing their Mardi Gra themed wedding vests kissing in a fountain was taken but he had it framed and hung in their new home when they returned.
That had been years ago.
He hadn’t regretted a day since.
It was something to think about as he walked the house with his teething son, trying every trick he could think of in hopes they might both get some sleep before he left for an early morning flight on a new mission.
Or when Uncle Fuu had shown up, taken the fussing infant and told him in that same unshakable tone to get some sleep, that he would see to Silas.
Jazz was still a spy and still a damn good one.
But he would never be the best now.
He had people that mattered now, he mattered now.
It was a thought that made him smile as his head hit the pillow.
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It Hurts To Think About it
Part 10 of Life Before Him
CATCH UP!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
MASTERLIST!
Pairing: Liam x Riley
Summary: … Riley and Liam have her parents in cells... what happens when she sees them again?
Word Count: 3,824
Tagged : @starstruckzonkoperatorbat @drakelover78 @queencatherynerhys @devineinterventions2 @jayjay879 @kawairinrin @hopefulmoonobject @flyawayblue56 @gardeningourmet @blackcatkita @syltti78 @diamond-dreamland @theroyalweisme @hhiggs @mfackenthal @bruteforcebears @pens-girl-87 @barbaravalentino @umccall71 @darley1101 @crookedslimecreatorpasta @jamjar84 @starstruckpixelberryhistoryvoid
ASK IF YOU WANT TAGGED! SORRY IF I MISSED ANYONE! (USED THE TAGS FROM MY “ALWAYS” SERIES LET ME KNOW IF ANYONE WANTS UNTAGGED!!!)
I always notice every single spelling mistake or issue after I’ve posted…so apologies in advance!
Liam and Riley headed down to the cells where her mother and father were imprisoned. They came to the huge iron gates in the “basement” part of the palace, they stopped in their tracks long enough for Liam to put the passcode into the lock, the gates buzzed allowing them to enter. Bastian stood at the end of the hall staring into one of the cells. Riley could feel her heart nearly beating out of her chest…she had dreamed of pulling them up for years, of having the satisfaction of rubbing her life she was living now in their faces. As they met Bastian, the two stopped Riley looked into the cells to see the two criminals just sitting there in two opposite cells…not saying a word. As soon as they seen Riley they were shook.
“fancy seeing you two here…” Riley barked
“you know…I was talking to my loving fiancé, King Liam this morning about your punishment…and d’you know what…Liam and I…we agree that you have to be punished, no matter what…I don’t think you understand the punishment that awaits you for what you did to me…you tried to kill the future queen of Cordonia…do you understand what means….Mother.” Riley looked at the woman without blinking
“well…um…-”
“ooh…you don’t know?” Riley chuckled then looked to her father’s cell “what about you…father? Do you know what that means?”
“um-”
“DIDN’T THINK SO! TREASON! THAT’S WHAT YOU COMMITED AND THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE BEING CHARGED WITH…TREASON! BET YOU DIDN’T THINK OF THAT WHEN YOU TOOK ME AGAINST MY WILL…YOU TIED ME UP AND DEPRIVED ME OF OXYGEN…FOR GOD KNOWS HOW MANY HOURS!! JUST SO YOU COULD GET MONEY…THAT YOU DON’T EVEN NEED! YOU LEFT ME FOR DEAD!” Riley screamed at them…but she didn’t shout angrily…she yelled stoically…like the queen she would be. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU GET SENTENCED WITH IF YOUR CHARGED WITH TREASON? DEATH! SO UNLTIMATELY BY TRYING TO TAKE MY LIFE…AND FAILING…YOU LOSE YOURS! MAYBE IN YOUR NEXT LIFE…YOU’LL LEARN YOUR LESSON FROM THIS ONE!!...YOU DESERVE TO SUFFER LIKE I HAD TO SUFFER…BUT ALL I WANT RIGHT NOW, IS TO GET YOU OUT OF MY LIFE…AND MAKE SURE YOU CAN NEVER COME BACK AND HURT ME AGAIN”
“RILEY PLEASE!!!” Her mother screeched as she stood from the bench and went to run towards the door but was stopped when the shackles that were attached to her wrists and to the floor in front of the bench, pulled her back, causing her to fall to the floor. she hissed as they pulled on her skin.
“aww mommy…did that hurt?” Riley smirked “good…you deserved it!”
“Riley please! We are your family…please don’t do this!” her mother panicked
“HAH! FAMILY? NO THAT’S WHERE YOU’RE MISTAKEN! YOU’RE NOT MY FAMILY YOU NEVER HAVE BEEN…FAMILY DON’T ABONDON EACH OTHER…THEY DON’T HURT EACH OTHER…NOT THE WAY YOU TWO DID…YOU ARE NOTHING! TO ME! YOU MEAN NOTHING! LIAM IS MY FAMILY…HANA…DRAKE…MAXWELL…BERTRAND…OLIVIA! EVEN BASTIAN THEY HAVE ALL DONE MORE FOR ME…THAN YOU EVER HAVE! THEY ARE FAMILY…THEY KNOW THE MEANING OF FAMILY! YOU MAY HAVE GIVEN BIRTH TO ME, YOU MAY HAVE KEPT ME UNDER YOUR ROOF FOR A WHILE…BUT YOU WILL NEVER BE MY FAMILY…YOU THREW ME ASIDE LIKE I WAS DIRT AND NOW I’M GOING TO DO THE SAME TO YOU!” Riley stood as the woman crumbled before her.
“maybe if you hadn’t been such a shitty mom and dad…you wouldn’t be lying on the cold concrete floor of a cell…crying for your life after being told you going to die for what you done…I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart…that you both know…what you did was wrong…all of it…everything…I hope you both understand that this isn’t easy to do…but for my own safety and everyone else’s…it has to be done…you have thirty minutes to say your goodbyes to each other…” Riley sighed as she stepped to the side…allowing Liam to officially charge them.
“I…King Liam of Cordonia, here by charge you, Lillian and Stewart Robertson of treason!...you are being sentenced to death by firing squad… at…twelve-thirty on October 1st you will be taken to the royal courtyard where you will be sent to your death as punishment for your crimes” Liam turned from the cells and took Riley's hand in his then the two left the only sound being Riley mother screaming and crying for her. Riley wiped beneath her eyes she walked away, wiping away the stray tears that fell as her mother called for her. Once the reached the main floor of the palace again Liam pulled Riley to his chest, holding her close. He placed a gentle kiss on her head as she sniffled.
“I’ll be alright” she sighed as she pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped her nose. “no matter what they’ve done…it’s still difficult”
“I know, you’ll be alright, you’ll get through it” he whispered.
“Liam…when is my first appointment with the therapist?”
“one-thirty today. Now…its up to you if you want to come with me, I have to witness the shooting…but you…you don’t have to…I won’t put you through that” Liam sighed
“I feel like for my own good I shouldn’t go…it’s one thing confronting them and accepting that they have to die for what they did to me but it’s another to actually watching their lives being taken from them…I hate them, but I don’t think I could watch anyone having their lives taken from them.”
“listen…it’s not the first time ive had to do it…its hard…it’s difficult to watch a stranger die never mind your parents…I think it’s best that you don’t go.” Liam stated
“thank you…for understanding Liam…” Riley whispered as she wiped her face of the stray tears that had fallen
As Liam went to speak he was interrupted by one of the guards coming from the doors Riley and Liam had not long come through.
“your Majesty…Your Grace…the prisoners will be taken to the courtyard in ten minutes”
“of course, I’ll be along in a moment.”
“I’m sorry you have to watch this Liam” Riley sighed as the guard took his leave, heading back to the cells.
“I’ll get through it…I’d rather me than you” he whispered as he gently cupped Riley's cheeks in his hand, he gently grazed his thumbs over her tear stained cheeks. “this is the next step to getting better…I love you riley” he whispered before gently placing a kiss to her forehead.
“I love you too” she whispered before leaning up to kiss his lips.
“you should go and relax before the therapist gets here”
“yeah” Riley sighed. She was more than nervous about speaking to the therapist, it was one thing talking to Liam about her concerns and her pain, but it was another laying everything on the table to someone you don’t know, but she knew she had to if she wanted to get better.
“I’ll see you later?” she asked
“of course,” Liam smiled.
Once Liam left to go to the courtyard Riley headed upstairs to their quarters.
The courtyard was very rarely used, Liam had only ever seen one execution before, for weeks after it he couldn’t sleep, whenever he did sleep, he would wake up from nightmares. He was nervous, he hated having to watch it, having to sit and just watch someone’s life being torn from them, he knew they deserved it, they hurt Riley, he would have killed them himself if he could, but that wouldn’t have helped. Once he reached the viewing stand, he took a seat in one of the thrones as he watched the trained soldiers lined up on their marks. The first to be brought out was Lillian, she fought the guards to the last minute, her hair was all over the place her clothes where ripped from her struggles to get away from them, her cheeks stained red, she was led to the wooden plank that stood tall, her arms were cuffed together behind her, around the plank as she faced the firing squad. One of the sergeant’s walked over, placing a bland fold over her eyes then, took his place at the end of the line of soldiers, he stood just watching his watch after about thirty seconds he shouted.
“...TAKE YOUR STANDS…AND…FIRE!”
The soldiers all, simultaneously, let one bullet fly each. Liam flinched as the guns went off. just moments later, Stewart was brought out, the same process was followed…
“…TAKE YOUR STANDS…AND…FIRE!”
As the mans body fell limp, Liam let out a deep breathe he didn’t realise he was holding. As the courtyard was cleared Liam just sat…staring into thin air, it was things like this that made him feel the real weight of the crown.
Back in the palace, as Riley reached the royal quarters she wondered about, nervously tidying odd bits and bobs, knowing what was happening, she had to keep herself busy. She headed for their kitchenette and started to make herself some tea, once she had put all the components together and stirred the liquid, as she lifted the mug to her lips, she heard it…
*BANG! *
Riley dropped the mug, letting it crash to floor, shattering everywhere, the boiling liquid scolding her legs.
She cursed and hissed as she tried to pull her trouser from her legs. She broke down into tears when she heard the second one goes off…knowing that, that was it…they were gone, they couldn’t hurt her anymore, not physically anyway.
It was about fifteen minutes later that Liam walked in the door. When he seen her stood there, crying, in the middle of a shattered mug on the floor, with no trousers on and her legs red raw, he quickly approached her.
“Riley what happened?” he asked worried
“I-I was making some t-tea when I heard…when I heard the gun shots” she cried “I dropped the m-mug, it burned my legs”
Liam quickly grabbed a clothe running it under cold water, he then dabbed it gently onto her legs.
“Riley are you alright?” he asked
“I will be…I just…didn’t expect to hear it…I’m…I’m not sure how to feel Liam…I should be happy…they can’t hurt me anymore…they can’t cause me pain…but I can’t help but feel a little sad”
“hey…that’s okay…that’s good…it means you have a heart Riley, they were your parents, as much as they hurt you, at one point in your life…they meant something to you. It’s understandable that you feel sad, but you also understand that it had to be done sweetie.”
“I know…I just…I’m torn”
“I know…I understand” he whispered
After helping Riley sooth, the burns, she changed her trousers whilst Liam cleaned the mess the mug had left.
It was just a few moments later there was a knock at the door.
“come in!” Liam called, Bastian entered the room, quickly bowing his head.
“Your Majesty, Miss Jones is here” he informed him.
“great thank you Bastian…could you show her to my study please and I will have Riley come along in a few minutes” he replied
“of course,” Bastian left the room closing the door behind him, once Liam put the broken mug in the bin and had wiped up the spilled tea he headed for the bedroom where he informed Riley that the therapist had arrived.
“she’s here?”
“yes, Bastian is just showing her to my study, are you ready?” he asked from the door frame
“as ready as I’ll ever be” she sighed then pulled her flat slip ons on, then she headed for the door to their quarters.
“are you coming?” she asked Liam confused as to why he hadn’t followed her
“no sweetie…this is something you have to do on your own sweetie, but you can tell me everything when you’re done, I just…the therapist said on the phone that I can’t be in the room with you during your sessions, not for a couple of weeks, she wants to get to know you and your thoughts without anyone else butting in.” he gave her a comforting smile
“o-okay” she mumbled
“it’s alright…you’ll be fine Riley, I promise” he assured her.
“will you be in here?” she asked nervously
“yes, I will wait right here for you to finish” he smiled
“okay” she mumbled “ill…I’ll see you later” she whispered as she left the room.
Liam wished he could go with her, hold her hand, or even just be present in the room but he couldn’t for her own sake, she had to do this on her own.
Once Riley reached Liam's study, she gently knocked then walked in, she was greeted by a short, brunette woman, she had pulled one of the chairs across from Liam's, over to the other side of the room, sitting it across from the sofa. She stood from her feet and approached Riley, she reached her hand out, gesturing for her to shake it.
“Riley, I’m so happy to finally meet you” she smiled, Riley gently took her hand, shaking it firmly
“it’s great to meet you, miss…”
“jones…but you can call me Ellen”
“okay…Ellen” Riley mumbled.
“why don’t you have a seat” Ellen gestured to the sofa, Riley walked over sitting herself down whilst Ellen sat in the chair opposite her, with a clip board in hand and a pen.
“now Riley…who’s idea was it for you to meet with me?” Obviously knowing it was Liam but she asked anyway.
“it was my fiancé, Liam” Riley replied with a little smile on her face
“the king?”
“yes”
“why did he think you should speak with a therapist?”
“because…I need help…I asked for help…”
“good, that means you want to get better…that’s a good start…so Riley…why do you need help?”
“I…I tried to hurt myself…I took a lot of pills”
“why did you try and hurt yourself?”
“I was having a king of mental breakdown…my um…my parents abandoned me…when I was a little girl, I woke up one morning and they were gone…with my sister…they found out I was engaged to a king and they showed up…after not seeing them from the age of ten…they just showed up” she whispered “out of nowhere”
“and how did that make you feel?”
“angry…I was so angry at them…how dare they leave me the way that they did then show up when they find out I’m marrying a king”
“do you think they came back for money”
“yes…they were always money hungry.”
“Riley, when you realised your parents had left you, when you were a little girl…how did you feel?”
“hurt…I was so hurt, I sat on the porch step for hours watching all the cars that drove by hoping it would be them coming back for me, but they never did…and that made me feel…worthless, like I…like I wasn’t good enough for them…what did I do that made them leave me like that…how bad of a child was I for them to leave me for dead. How much must they have hated me to just…leave me like that, I didn’t have family I didn’t have anyone…the funny thing is though…the maids never turned up that day…or any day after that…they obviously knew they wouldn’t be needed…so they told the maids they were leaving…but they failed to tell me” she sniffled wiping her nose with a tissue. “I cried for weeks...until eventually I just couldn't cry anymore...they weren't coming back I had to be strong there was no one to look after me anymore...I had to look after myself”
“I see…when you think about what they put you through as a child…how do you feel?”
“sad…I want to cry…why didn’t they love me…I was their child…their little girl…” she burst into tears “when they turned up here…I yelled at them so bad…they hurt me and I just couldn’t help but shout at them…when I asked…why they left me…my mother’s reply was that the couldn’t afford to look after me…but the thing is…we had maids…we had the biggest house on the block, my father own a very well-known business, we were the richest family on the block…they weren’t short of money…we had cars…multiple cars…if they were short of money…why didn’t they sell a few of those…or downgrade to a smaller house? Rather than leave their ten-year-old d-daughter to fend for herself. It hurts…it hurts to think about it…it hurts to talk about it” she sobbed.
“how often do you think about it? about what they did?”
“all the time…all the damn time…I don’t want to think about it anymore…I want to get on with my life without this burden hanging over my shoulder…I just want to be happy again...”
“what makes you happy Riley?”
“Liam…Liam makes me happy…he’s my real family, when I’m with Liam…he distracts me…I don’t think about the past…I think about my future with him…I think about the family we’ll one day have…” she smiled through the tears. “I know I’m going to have a good day when I wake up and see his face smiling back at me, he does this thing nearly every morning, where he’ll get out of bed, he’ll make me tea then place it on my bedside table with a little love note beside it” she smiled “I always wished that one day I would be all someone thought about…then I met Liam” she smiled “he’s…everything…to me”
“so why aren’t you happy?”
“my parents…came back…they ruined everything…I was happy…before they showed up…I was happy with my life with Liam…I was finally getting better, I wasn’t thinking about the past as much…I was focusing on my future…our future. Then they came back…I got angry…I broke down…that’s when I tried to hurt myself, I just wanted to end the pain…I couldn’t take it any longer…it was when I woke up that I realised I needed help. Before I had the chance to really speak to Liam about getting help, they…they came back…they took me against my will”
“what happened after they took you?”
“they…they put me in a room…a small room a-about the size of a closet…they locked me in, with no windows, no oxygen…I-I couldn’t breathe” she sobbed “they had a video camera, every thirty minutes for ten minutes they broadcast live across every channel…she suffocated me…” she wept “they tried to kill me…they wanted ransom…but Liam couldn’t, he couldn’t pay it, its Cordonia law that they must never give in to criminals like that, they must never give them what they want”
“did it hurt you that he didn’t give them the money when your life was at risk?”
“no…as the queen in waiting, I knew the law, I knew he couldn’t and I couldn’t expect him to, I told him not to, I didn’t want them thinking they could just walk in here demanding money and get away with it, I hoped he wouldn’t.”
“so how did you get out of the room? what happened after you got out?”
“the kings guard tracked me down…Liam and Drake were the ones who found me first…I wasn’t breathing when they got to me, the doctor said I must have stopped breathing just minutes before they got to me, Liam had to give me mouth to mouth…he saved my life, but when I woke up…I couldn’t remember them, my parents…every memory I had of them had gone…I didn’t remember a few other things as well…my engagement to Liam…finding the man who set me up…a couple of weeks went by and I still hadn’t remember, it was just yesterday that I finally got my memories back…but when they came back…it was like experiencing them all over again…my parents leaving…waking up finding them gone…living in new York alone, the effect of working three jobs, my engagement to Liam, finding Tariq, my parents coming back…the pills…them kidnapping me…being in that room, it all came flooding back at once and it was too much…Liam found me, in the bathroom, balled up on the floor…crying my eyes out, shaking…hurt…he sat down beside me and pulled me into his arms and he just held me…he listened to me…he listen to my pain and my hurt and he talked me through it. It was then that I told him I needed help.”
“what do you think is your main problem Riley?”
“I think…letting go…I have to let go of the past, learn how to accept it…I can’t change it, so I need to accept that it happened and move on, my parents…they committed treason, they were sent to their death earlier today…I think knowing that they can’t hurt me anymore is a huge help…knowing they can’t do anything to hurt me, is a relief, it’s like a weight off of my shoulders.”
“and how did you feel, when your parents were killed?”
“sad…but happy…I felt sad because…they…they were still my parents…they meant something to me at some point in my life…but I knew they had to be punished for what they did, I had accepted the fact that they had to be executed, I was happy because they can’t bother me anymore, I knew why it had to be done and I understood…maybe now I can start to accept what happened, and I can be happy again”
“I think you’re on the tracks of getting there Riley, you’ve opened up a lot today, most people come into the first session with their guard up…but because you want help, your open to letting me in, talking to me, and that’s a great thing because it means we don’t have to sit for three or four weeks trying to get you to open up to me. We will of course need more sessions but I’m positive you’ll find happiness again Riley…but I think that’s all for today”
“really? I feel like ive only been in here ten minutes”
“it flies by, do you feel like you’ve progressed today?”
“I do, every time I talk about it I seems to get that little bit easier”
“it will keep getting easier Riley, I promise” Ellen smiled, she collected her things then pulled her coat on, “now how’s about we make another appointment?” she smiled
“yes definitely”
“alright, how about the same time next week?”
“that sounds great…I’m really looking forward to our next session, if I feel this good after out next session…I’ll be content, I feel like a huge weight is being lifted” Riley smiled as the two women headed for the door. Riley walked Ellen down to her car, waving her off. once the therapist left, Riley quickly made her way to the royal quarters, as she walked in, she called for Liam.
“Liam! Are you here?” …no answer, Riley sighed as she made her way towards their bedroom, as she walked in the lights were out and there Liam lay on the bed…fast asleep. She knew he hadn’t been sleeping very well the last few weeks, with everything that had been happening, he just couldn’t. she slipped her shoes off then walked over, climbed into the bed, she lifted his arm then snuggled into his chest, letting his arm fall over her shoulder.
“how did it go?” he mumbled, not opening his eyes
“good…it was good…I feel…good” she smiled “thank you for contacting her…” she whispered
“I’m glad to hear that” he replied quietly with a slight smile on his face
“I love you Liam…you mean the world to me, I hope you know that” she seen a smile appear on his face, she leaned up and kissed his lips causing him to tighten his arms around her.
“I love you too riley” he whispered into the kiss.
If You Like It...Reblog It <3
#trr#trr choices#trr fanfic#trr liam#choices trr#choices#playchoices#choices app#play choices fanfiction#playchoices fandom#playchoices fanfic#the royal romance#the royal romance fanfic#royal romance fanfic#king liam x mc#liam rys#liam x riley#liam x mc
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Hi K! I was wondering if you could ket us peek at the request list, if that's okay? I'm so interested to see what you have in store for us! If not, that's okay <3 i hope you're doing alright!!
of course!! i'm going to put everything below a cut so you can avoid spoilers if you like, though i am being pretty vague about some things in order to avoid giving away too much 🤫
IMMINENTLY COMING SOON:
Seb/MC (E): “break a sweat” part four [today!]
Seb/MC (PG13): Battling Rookwood and Seb breaking through restraints with ancient magic [perhaps also today or tomorrow morning!]
Seb/MC (PG): Fluff slice-of-life with Sebastian showing MC a tradition she missed as a younger student (vague for spoilers) [tomorrow]
FUTURE ONE-SHOTS:
Seb/MC (probably E/hard PG13): Garreth’s disastrous potion makes rivals Seb/MC swap bodies
Ominis/MC (PG): Seb takes Polyjuice Potion to be Ominis to ask out MC because he's tired of waiting for him to do it
Seb/MC (E): I pick my favorite three romances tropes
Ominis/MC (E): MC is attracted to Ominis speaking Parsletongue
Seb/MC/Garreth (E): “where there’s smoke there’s firewater” part two
Seb/MC (PG13): angsty hurt/comfort with Seb having nightmares
Seb/MC (probably E/hard PG13): double date gone wrong (MC takes Garreth, Seb takes Poppy)
Seb/MC (PG): Seb prepares to ask MC’s dad to propose over winter break
LONGER/CHAPTERED:
Shadow Trio (E): Ominis/MC enemies-to-lovers, angst/fluff/smut in that order, LOTS of canon-compliant lore
Seb/MC (E): Professor Sallow AU, someone’s a single parent but i haven’t figured out who yet (this is VERY early stages)
OWN IDEAS, LOWEST PRIORITY
Ominis/MC: Outdoor sex (for @callmehopeless)
Seb/MC: Oral overstimulation (Seb “doesn’t know when to stop”)
Seb/MC: Angsty canon-ish fix-it fix of sending Sebastian away
Seb/MC: "Sub-bastian" reluctant sub Bash
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Sebastian: 2 + 38; Pete: 5 + 45; Margot: 25; Lucy: 26; Sara Grace: 13; Adelaide: 50? (...I apologize if this is just too many questions.)
oc questions meme that i totally didn’t forget about (except for how i kinda did, but mostly i was just lazy about typing up my longhand from saturday night)
SEBASTIAN2: What's a movie your character really, really doesn't enjoy?
Pretty much any and all horror is probably going to be on Seb’s, “can we please not” list, because he squicks really easily and does not have a good gag reflex when it comes to movies. He also gets emotionally affected and upset really easily, and arguably has an even worse gag reflex when that gets involved.
Like, seriously, even Shaun of the Dead is kinda pushing it, for him
That said? Of the Three Flavours Cornetto movies, the one that really sicks him out is The World’s End, not because the movie itself is that gross, but because he can’t help identifying in really self-loathing ways with Gary King.
So, watching Gary go on his increasingly destructive quest to drink a pint in each of the twelve pubs along Newton Haven’s Golden Mile, even while the world is going to sci-fi Hell and all his old friends are getting really upset with him, makes Seb get unhappy, then distressed, and then violently ill in the nearest wastebasket.
That being said, Requiem for a Dream gets a very special mention on his list because, unfortunately for him, his “it’s complicated” is a hipster fuck who went to film school and thinks it’s cool to brag about having seen RFAD more than once.
(I mean? It is an actual facts accomplishment, Todd, but calm down. Just because it’s an accomplishment doesn’t mean that it’s one that you should brag about, because it mostly makes people think you’re kind of an asshole.
……Which isn’t unfair, bc Todd is kind of an asshole, and unlike Pete, he isn’t self-aware about it, buuuut that’s another matter.)
Either way, Todd being one of Seb’s favorite people means that Seb first had to see RFAD once. To the surprise of no one but Todd (but in fairness, this was still early into their friendship), Seb got violently ill in the nearest wastebasket, cried, and wasn’t impressed when Todd thought him saying, “The horror, the horror” was a, “trying to cope with the movie through grim humor”-style joke based on how, earlier that night, Todd had been complaining about having to read Heart of Darkness for a lit class.
(I mean, it was a Heart of Darkness reference, but…… no, Seb was being completely serious about it. If they hadn’t brought up Heart of Darkness earlier, he would’ve expressed it in some other way, but that was what he came up with in the moment.)
Then, Seb had to see it again, even though once was really more than enough. He could’ve opted out, sure, but unfortunately, there isn’t a lot that he wouldn’t do for the people he loves, which makes him kind of a doormat sometimes, and in this instance, meant that he was easily swayed by Todd promising him that maybe he’d make it through without getting sick this time, since he already knew what was going to happen
(not quite) spoilers: ……Noooot really, nope. If anything, the rewatch made things even worse for Seb.
Then, they tried a third time, and that was the last time Seb ever attempted to sit through the whole thing, largely because Todd got it through his head that…… okay, no, this isn’t a one-time thing, or a coincidence, or anything like that. Seb will always get physically ill at RFAD and when that happens, he definitely ends up puking. So, after the third time, Todd finally quit trying to make Seb sit through it with him.
38: Your character's general opinion on kids. What if they were to have a kid? What if something happened and someone had a kid and your character was the only one who could take care of that child?
In general, Seb likes kids a lot and, when he’s doing okay, he gets along with them pretty well. There are several reasons why he is one of his seven-year-old niece’s favorite uncles, and one of them is that he’s genuinely better than either of his brothers at getting on Marie’s level without either condescending to her, or treating her like a tiny adult just because she’s intellectually gifted.
(To be fair to Max and Ambrose, they try their best — especially Max since, y’know, Marie is his daughter and he is such a dorky, “proud of everything his kid does, ever” dad — but both of them have trouble finding the balance here, which is also fair because lbr? It’s a difficult balance to find, much less maintain.)
The problem is that Seb is not always doing okay. More often than not, he’s way more likely to be Not Okay, and when he’s Not Okay, one of his first impulses is to withdraw from absolutely everyone.
For most of Marie’s life thus far, that has also tended to involve him getting intoxicated — and increasingly, it was, “intoxicated to the point where, at best, it should be termed, ‘getting really fucked up’; and at worst, he would probably be dead if not for his shiny mutant healing factor” — which made him actively avoid being around her, for a laundry list of reasons, including but not limited to:
“What if something happens and I get left alone with her, she could get hurt”
“What if something happens, I get left alone with her, and something happens to me, so she has to watch that and she now doesn’t have a guardian”
“What if I finally run out of extra lives around her, because as someone who has discovered the corpse of someone who died by overdose, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially not her and especially not when she’s so young; even if she might not remember her, finding someone’s corpse will fuck you up and she doesn’t need that in her life”
(—he said, feeling bad about all the broken promises that this usually involved, but also feeling like breaking them and disappointing her was better than potentially dying in some place where his tiny niece could find him, like?
Dying itself? Didn’t sound too bad or like that much of a problem. But dying where the sight of his corpse could potentially traumatize Marie? That would be Terrible.)
“What if I can’t fake like I’m sober well enough for her to believe it — I mean, Max and Linda probably wouldn’t believe it even if I were, but if I’m so obviously not-sober that even Marie gets it, what if she sees it and blames herself for it? She’s gifted but she’s still a kid, and she’s a sensitive kid, and even adults have trouble understanding when something about a person they love being a fuck-up isn’t their fault”
and, “I don’t want her to see me like that, she’s probably one of the only people on the planet who still doesn’t think I’m totally worthless”
(—he said while: 1. not getting it that none of the people who are saved as favorites on his phone — i.e., a grand total of 14 contacts, at that point, out of 1,000+
[though that number includes things like favorite takeout places and NYU campus security, even though he hasn’t been an NYU student since May 2007 and has changed his phone multiple freaking times since then, and even given that he has had good luck with SIM cards, there is no reason for him to still have the number for NYU campus security]
—just…… yeah. None of the people he cares about most actually think that he’s completely worthless. He is literally the only person whom he deals with on a regular basis who thinks that;
and 2. ……uh, yeah, no. Cool intentions, Seb, but at this point, your niece had definitely seen you in a state that you would describe as, “like that.” She’d even seen you, “like that” more than once.
Maybe Marie didn’t entirely get it or understand what was going on — and bc she was a grand total of five when you went to rehab, the initial explanation that she would’ve gotten out of her parents would’ve been something like, “Uncle Bastian is very sick right now, and he’s going to be okay, but he had to go away to see the doctors who have special training to help him get better”
—but she still definitely saw you, “like that.”
And then, a few days before Christmas 2014, Marie got to see him while he was, courtesy of some regrettable heat of the moment decision-making, cold turkey detoxing because she had been promised a playdate, and Seb was cognizant enough to do that if Max and Marie came to his place instead (on the plus: six dogs), and Pete was free to come over as chaperone (since Max trusts him, but not Todd or Margot)
And that playdate did involve an attempt at explaining an idea that even adults sometimes have trouble with, in a way that a six-year-old would understand, but oddly enough, the concept had to do with why pit bulls have a bad reputation that they do not deserve, and why some people are assholes who abuse their dogs
The concept of, “Uncle Bastian is sick right now because he decided to recommit himself to sobriety and broke up with his latest bad idea, but instead of trying to do this a bit more responsibly — i.e., talking to a doctor and getting weaned off of everything safely — he just got rid of all of his pills, alcohol, and assorted paraphernalia, and didn’t remember why this might’ve been a bad way to handle things until he started getting sick at church on Sunday morning”?
Like, yeah, they had to change the wording a bit, but that made perfect sense to Marie
(—which her uncle is really not proud of, since the fact that she understands this as well as she does at her age is pretty much entirely his fault, but…… it’s not like he can undo any of his decisions here)
(nor can anybody else undo theirs, because none of my mutants are allowed to have time travel powers, period.
Any “minor time manipulation” is exclusively limited to shit like, “it’s actually enhanced speed that goes so fast that they essentially enter bullet-time, or have GOTTA GO FAST!! super-moments, like the Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse movies did with their whitewashed Quicksilver, or like the one bit of the “Three Hundred Big Boys” episode of classic Futurama, where Fry drinks so much coffee that he speeds up into a magical super-fast state of calm or something)”
But they are not actually examples of, “time manipulation,” much less time travel, because time travel powers are silly and they too easily either destroy all semblance of continuity or turn into hella over-powered game-breakers that violate the agency of literally everyone who isn’t using them
—or, worse, cause all kinds of moral and ethical dilemmas like, “well, if Superman can turn back time by flying really fast around the Earth because that makes sense, then why doesn’t he just go back and kill Hitler? why is it more morally defensible for him to let the Holocaust happen than not?”
—and because frankly, I don’t want to deal with that, so, no one in my universe gets to have any legitimate time travel or time manipulation-related powers, end of discussion
But anyway, I was saying)
Right. So, Marie generally understood the concept of, “so, your uncle was once more abusing his substances of choice for a sustained period of time, but now he isn’t, and rather than doing the safe thing, he did the quick thing based on heat of the moment, emotional decision-making, which involves him being sick for several days”
Animal abuse, on the other hand, did not make any sense to her at all
But that’s an entirely different matter and I’m so far off the point right now that it’s not even funny.
BACK ON THE ORIGINAL, ORIGINAL TOPIC
……so, yeah, uh.
Seb has some hangups about being around kids, but they mostly involve, “oh my god, I don’t have my life together at all and what if I am actively detrimental to the well-being of the kid(s)” — and for all some of this is an understandable fear for him to have, based on a lot of precedent from him…… uh?
Other parts of it are legitimate nonsense, based in a potent mix of hella self-loathing, hella bullheaded refusal to forgive himself for just about anything, hella letting his imagination get the better of him and rationalizing justifications for this without realizing that they’re not as accurate to reality as he thinks, and holy unrecognized generalized anxiety disorder, batman
At the moment, he’s fine with the only kids who are actually his being his six dogs, and has given essentially no thought to ever being a parent to human children, partly because he assumes that it won’t ever happen (bc he can’t see anyone wanting to have kids with him, and feels like, “it wouldn’t be fair on the kids to stick them with me, like that’s just unconscionable”), and partly because what little thought he has given the idea? Has been deeply terrifying
He’s marginally less terrified of something happening to Max and Linda, at least from a practical standpoint, because Seb knows that custody of Marie goes to his and Max’s parents, first, should anything happen to both of Marie’s parents
Like, he doesn’t WANT anything to happen to either his brother or his sister-in-law, much less both of them, and he might not admit it to himself, but if something happened to Max, Seb would be a Mess about it.
But at the same time, he could cope with it better because as much as he loves Marie, he wouldn’t be her legal guardian and she’d be in the competent, caring hands of her grandparents
If it ever happened that he wound up with custody of her and any potential future siblings she ends up with…… well.
There are three major possibilities for why that might happen: 1. Seb somehow redeemed himself to Max and Linda so much that the part where he’s Marie’s godfather became more than a ceremonial thing, and he actually did get switched to the person who gets custody of Marie if anything happens to both of her parents;
2. Abe and Marceline both died, and Seb had redeemed himself to Max and Linda enough to be the first-alternate to his and Max’s parents on the, “who gets custody of Marie” hierarchy;
or 3. Whether he redeemed himself or not, nothing was actually made official, but everybody else died or couldn’t be contacted (or is kind of stuck in mutant supermax, awaiting trial for various charges of fraud, conspiracy, bribery, election-related tampering, rape, sexual assault, torture, murder, illicit use of metahuman abilities, tax evasion, and possibly treason, as Conrad eventually will be), so Seb ends up as Marie’s guardian by default
Regardless of the situation here, uh. His first reaction is going to be to make himself hold it together as best as he can until Marie is in bed and asleep for the night, and then just try to have a meltdown as quietly as possible so as not to wake her up. Because, even in the situations where he did something to redeem himself to Max and Linda, abruptly being saddled with custody of his tiny niece after an undefined something happened to his big brother and his sister-in-law?
……Yeah, Seb’s not going to handle that well, at first
I mean, he will step up and try to keep it together and try to do his absolute best to take care of Marie and be a good, responsible, and loving guardian to her
But he’s an easily stressed out Disaster, and he would not handle the initial shock of losing Max and Linda well (+/- the rest of their family, too), and he would really, really need a lot of help with this, both in terms of, “keeping it together emotionally because he needs to grieve and deal with the stress here or it’s not going to make any of this less horrible for the tiny human who just lost her parents”
and in terms of, “Seb has never cared for a tiny human for any real extended period of time before, and there is a HUUUUGE difference between being a favored uncle who spends time with her, usually with at least one more consistently responsible chaperone, and can make lunch and take her to the zoo and whatnot……… and actually being a parent”
PETE5: Your character is partial to people who _____? (Are tall, have blue eyes, tend to be rowdy, etc)
In general, Pete tends to be partial to people who are, “interesting,” “different,” or at the very least, “not boring,” which is about all he ever says on the subject because his opinion is, “lmao, I don’t need to explain myself to you.” In fairness to him, “interesting” could mean a lot of things for Pete.
e.g., Aside from them just having been through a lot together since, Seb first went from, “freshman I’m supposed to babysit and ‘mentor’ or whatever because Sister Mary Ignatius said so” to, “actual friend” because of his reactions to seeing sides of Pete other than the witty, effervescent, charming façade that he put on in high school.
Like, the side of Pete that was a karaoke prince, which usually only came out at parties when he was sufficiently drunk, or in the sanctity of his bedroom with his cassette player and his sister Cora’s hairbrush;
the side of Pete that professes that his music taste is, “I don’t care anything but country” and yet adores Dolly Parton, and says that she doesn’t count as country because she is a Diva and divas transcend genre, obviously;
the side of Pete that was anxiously hyper-protective of the shoebox under his bed where he kept his collection of pics of cute guys that he clipped out of Cora’s discarded teen girly and, “young ladies’ interests” magazines (Luke Perry circa 90210 and the guys of Buffy made a lot of appearances in said shoebox because Pete collected said pics in 1995-2001);
the side of Pete that has a lot of insecurities, many of which are grounded in how he has trouble reconciling how much he loves being around people and wants to be popular, with how much he, A., doesn’t actually like most people, and B., is terrified that his shit-bag Dad was probably right and he is fundamentally unlovable;
and the side of Pete that baby-talks at cats for 10+ minutes without getting bored, or showing any signs of stopping at all until said cats get tired of him and leave.
And it’s not like Pete let Seb see said sides of him as some kind of test or anything like that. Some of them came out by happy accident
While others came out because Pete still thought of Seb as, “that freshman who is my peer mentorship kid now or whatever, I guess, and wouldn’t you know it, I got matched up with the one who might be the only other gay kid at St. Andrew’s who doesn’t think he needs to hate himself for it,” and Seb really wanted Pete to like him and tried so hard to be accommodating and unobtrusive that Pete did, sometimes, kinda forget he was still there.
But then Seb found most of these things genuinely endearing in one way or another, which Pete found deeply confusing, so he took more of an active interest because he wanted to find out what Seb’s deal was…… and eventually, he had to conclude that Seb’s deal was just wanting to be his friend, and not because he got anything extra out of it or because of the version of himself that Pete played at school, but because he liked Pete exactly as he was.
By that time, Pete had learned about enough of Seb’s quirks to say that he was, “different and not boring” for other reasons, but… yeah, no. The big reason why Seb was initially, “different and not boring” was that he genuinely wanted to be Pete’s friend
Romantically, though, Pete tends to insist that his preference is, “Chris Evans or at least Chris Evans-adjacent.” It’s true that he has a big Thing for Chris Evans, but it’s nowhere near as all-consuming as he likes to make it out to be (but most people probably don’t get to know that because…… mmm, nah. Pete doesn’t want to talk about it with you, probably).
Historically speaking, he has tended to date other guys in theatre, but that’s more due to proximity than actual preference. He likes people who can keep him on his toes, in general but especially intellectually.
Being, “taller than him but not by as much as Sebastian” is also a good thing, because while he likes guys who are taller (and… I mean. He’s 5’10”, so it’s not like he’s short or anything), being over 6’3” is a deal-breaker because he already has a best friend who’s 6’3” (and the guy he wants his best friend to please date already is 6’1”), and being around too many people who are noticeably taller than Pete kinda makes him feel short and potentially threatened.
But, seriously, if anyone has Chris Evans’s number? Pete wants it. Please.
………What?! He said, “Please.”
45: Your character would _______ for a klondike bar.
Pete would not go out of his way or really do anything in particular for a klondike bar because he doesn’t want one, because if he’s going to eat ice cream, then it’s going to be interesting and quality ice cream, and not something cheap and kinda gross that he could get at 7-11 at 2 AM.
He would, however, invite everyone else to do all manner of ridiculous shit for a klondike bar. Just wait for him to make popcorn before you start, okay?
MARGOT25: When put into X situation, your character is calm and collected and patient, while others may be anywhere from confused to panicking and screaming. Talk about X-Situation and why it means what it does to your character.
This could be said about Margot in most situations, really. She’s an example of someone who could definitely be called an introverted extrovert, because she has superficial ease at dealing with people
Despite how she, like Pete, doesn’t really like most people, she’d actually rather be around people than not because she hates feeling unproductive and mentally sluggish, and one of the ways that she gets the most mental stimulation is being around people and listening to them, if not always talking to them
Also, when she’s not around people, it’s easy for her to slip into, “this is why you don’t leave some people alone with their thoughts” territory (which, for Margot, generally involves forcing herself to come up with ideas, which most often means schemes that are probably really bad ideas, but she doesn’t fact-check very well, and when she goes over them for holes, she’ll put safety measures and backups in place for the wrong things — which would be fine, if these things stayed limited to the realm of her elaborate fantasy life as a masterclass art thief, but they usually don’t. Whoops.)
(Pete, on the other hand, would rather be around people than not because he thrives off of social stimulation and affection [though good luck getting him to admit that], and when he slides into, “this is why you don’t leave some people alone with their thoughts” territory, it tends to involve the, “maybe my Dad was right and I’m just unlovable” thing)
—but either way, despite having ostensible ease in dealing with people (and being Extroverted in the MBTI sense, being an ENTP), she’s nevertheless introverted in the sense of playing her actual feelings close to her chest, not opening up to most people (even her boys — Seb, Pete, and Todd — have trouble getting her to be more open about her feelings or what’s going on for her without needing to either needle her a bit, or wait for Margot to open up or get too emotionally overwhelmed to keep it down on her own)
The flip-side of this is that it’s easy for her to go into an intellectual mode while everyone else is losing their heads, even when they are, for example, stuck in the middle of a super-villain’s attack on her office (which, seeing as she’s an accountant and her firm has some pretty big deal contracts with companies like Lockheed and Boeing, plus a handful of contracts with local government in Baltimore as well as the U.S. Federal government, happens…
…eh, it’s not something that happens every month? But there’s an Incident of some kind at her office more regularly than there would be if she worked at Coca-Cola, Nestlé, or D.H. Morgan, but less regularly than there would be if she worked at somewhere that’s way more immediately accessible or target-able, like a bank or a Walmart or a Starbucks or the production company that makes the All-Stars’ big shiny reality show)
Frankly, she should lose her head more often, because it’s pretty damn unhealthy to force herself to repress everything and stay cool while, for example, keeping her head down and just trying to ignore it while Those Two Super-Tools are fumbling all over the pre-written speeches they were given to throw at the people they’re trying to get certain invoices and books from, and it would be laughable if they didn’t have, y’know, guns and possibly henchmen who are infinitely more competent than they are
(which is usually what happens when Those Two Super-Tools go on any given job, because seriously, Edward and Dezi are just BAD. at EVERYTHING. if they weren’t super-fascists with deeply off-putting personalities and over-inflated senses of white straight male entitlement, you could almost feel bad for them because they want so much to be good at something but they suck at everything, like they are just terrible)
—or, like. If your no romo soulmate person has been kidnapped by ecoterrorists because he didn’t believe his ex when said ex flat-out admitted to being an ecoterrorist (because, “seriously, what kind of ecoterrorist admits to being an ecoterrorist on the first date?”), then it would be understandable to, like…… take a break and not work on your own attempts at finding and saving him, working behind the backs of the people who are trying to do so in an official capacity, and doing it with tools of your own devising or purchasing that aren’t necessarily reliable
Buuuuuut y’know what Margot did when that happened?
Yeah, she stayed awake for several days, doing that thing that I just said with the unsanctioned attempts at finding Seb on her own, and only crashed out after Seb had been retrieved, when she and Todd got on a train up to Penn Station (where they needed to switch to a train to Ossining)
LUCY26: Conversely, when put into Z-Situation, your character faints/screams/freezes with terror/is otherwise unable to respond properly in the situation and should probably not be allowed to lead here. Talk about Z-Situation and what it means to your character.
On one hand, it’s not that Lucy shouldn’t be allowed to go clubbing, and she’ll handle it just fine once you give her a couple minutes to adjust to it
But her initial reaction to a club environment — and to most places that are loud and full of people, whether they’re clubs or Times Square or Disney World or a music festival or whatever — is to kind of freeze up and go, “ehhhhhhh” for reasons involving there being a lot of sensory information that’s suddenly swooping in to be all, “HELLO THERE LUCY YOU SO WANT TO BE OVERWHELMED RIGHT NOW, YEAH? :DDDDD”
—which also sucks for her because she really LOVES new sensory experiences. They excite her, she wants to DO ALL THE THINGS and stick her hands into everything and LEARN STUFF OMG THIS IS ALL SO COOL OKAY, and she thrives on new experiences like this…… but when they actually start happening, she needs a bit of time to adjust before she can actually enjoy any of it because all of that sensory input will be overwhelming at first, and she hasn’t really learned how to slowly slip into things or strategies for managing all of the sensory overload, yet
—and on the other hand, public speaking. She shouldn’t be wholly barred from this either, because, again? Give her a moment to just get herself acclimated, and she’ll be fine. But public speaking is still nerve-inducing and scary, especially since she’s usually doing this for reasons she thinks of as Super Important, so she doesn’t want to screw anything up, and that perfectionism makes it worse, so she gets nervous and awkward and starts trying to force things, and she can easily end up putting her foot in her mouth if she tries to improvise without thinking
But really, if you just give her a couple moments or help her to get ready, she should be fine
SARA GRACE13: Your character does ____ or avoids ____ because they associate it with having a good/bad day.
Sara Grace is one of those people who dresses better, does more elaborate makeup (which sometimes stays in “natural look” territory; sometimes goes in “there’s contouring but it’s otherwise not too far off from the ‘natural look’ makeup that she does”; and sometimes straight up goes into, “i want to look otherworldly and possibly from the moon” territory), and puts more effort into her appearance in general as she gets more and more stressed, because she has to have control over something, jeez
—which, on one hand, means that she associates these kinds of behaviors with having a bad day or a bad time of things in general, and if she shows up to something in higher heels than she’d usually wear, a cute dress with a frilly short petticoat, and makeup that she describes as, “pastel vampire princess” or, “queen of the Unseelie Court” or similar, then it’s a really good bet that she isn’t feeling well, and she might not want to talk about it, but you should probably be gentler with her than usual
for the sake of helping with visualization: I’ve been picturing Asha Bromfield as Sara Grace
ADELAIDE50: Some people take all the paperclips out of the box and chain them together. Name something useless your character does but never bothered to stop.
Alphabetizing M&M’s and Skittles by color before eating them
Which is even more useless because she’ll then portion them off into groups of five to actually eat them, and they get mixed up all over again
Saving all the orange Starbursts for last
Silently naming the animals she sees — e.g., ducks at the park — and then concocting moderately elaborate little soap operas for all of them in her head, unless someone interrupts her and keeps her attention focused elsewhere
#builttobalance#memes for ts#mine: writing#that story with the mutants that i should find a working title for fml#oc questions#sebastian moncrieff: mutant disaster#pete arden: dramatic disaster#sara grace kelley#adelaide moncrieff: ambitious disaster#margot gabriel: chainsmoking disaster#lucy murphy: hemokinetic disaster#drugs cw// addiction cw// death ref//#shitty tags i'm sorry i'm running out the door for therapy i'll fix them later <3
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The Airport Lounge Conundrum — Airline Innovation Report
European and U.S. airlines have made some significant cuts to product but they continue to invest in lounges. Pictured is the fruit buffet at a United Airlines club. Dion Hinchcliffe / Flickr
Skift Take: Airline lounges are rarely as opulent as the promotional pictures suggest. Yet passengers seem to love them. Why? Will they persist forever?
— Brian Sumers
The Skift Airline Innovation Report is our weekly newsletter focused on the business of airline innovation. We will look closely at the technological, financial, and design trends at airlines and airports that are driving the next-generation aviation industry.
We also provide insights on developments in passenger experience, ancillary services, revenue management, loyalty, technology, marketing, airport innovation, the competitive landscape, startups, and changing passenger behavior. I write and curate the newsletter, and we send it on Wednesdays. You can find previous issues of the newsletter here.
As airlines in Europe and the United States cut seat pitch, in-seat television screens and free food on short-haul flights — sometimes even in business class — executives often defend themselves by saying passengers may want more perks but few will pay for them.
But even as cuts continue, many carriers refuse to end lounge access. At these not-so-exclusive clubs, passengers often eat cheese cubes and crackers, sip cheap wine and fight for seating. Yes, most airlines have some nice clubs, usually at hubs, often reserved for long-haul business and first class travelers, but many more lounges are dreary, and uninviting.
Yet it’s remarkable how much passengers want to visit rooms with worn furniture, forlorn buffets, and coffee tables filled with empty plates and cups. In the United States, travelers often pay for memberships, mostly for at least $500 per year, while in Europe and elsewhere, mid-level elite frequent flyers and business class passengers get in free. Some banks also grant lounge memberships as part of a credit card’s annual fee.
Airline executives might prefer it otherwise. Some airlines probably can make lounges money-makers by selling a lot of memberships, opening clubs to passengers from other airlines, using these facilities to entice more travelers to apply for airline-branded credit cards, or joining Priority Pass, a network of more than 1,000 lounges worldwide. Priority Pass pays an airline each time a member enters.
But in the aggregate, it seems unlikely clubs are major revenue producers, since carriers not only must operate their lounges, but also must pay others to accept their passengers where they do not have one.
Still, British Airways has not touched the perk even though it has been on a cost-cutting binge, with short-haul business class passengers sitting in seats with 30-inch pitch, same as Ryanair in coach. British Airways even charges many short-haul business class passengers to choose a seat in advance, and prices start at about 20 pounds ($27.50).
But buy a British Airways Club Europe ticket from London to nearly anywhere in Europe, and you’ll visit a departure lounge for free. You’ll also get access if you’re a mid-level elite frequent flyer on British Airways, or one of its partners, including American Airlines. This is not an insignificant expense for British Airways, or its partners.
A few carriers seek to reduce lounge expenses. SAS recently cut lounge access at some airports, mostly in secondary European cities, because it no longer wanted to pay third-party operators to accept its customers. In the United States, JetBlue Airways does not have lounges, even for travelers flying in its Mint business class. It is a competitor for American, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, all of which offer club access for flights from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
If they could get away with it, more airlines probably would cut lounge access, at least to some passengers, or at some airports. But passengers seem to demand it, and airlines may fear customers would defect to another airline or alliance if the perk disappeared.
What do you think it is about lounges? Why are they one of the few perks airlines seem reluctant to take away? And why do customers like these clubs so much?
Send me your thoughts via email [[email protected]] or find me on Twitter. I’m @briansumers.
— Brian Sumers, Airline Business Reporter
Stories of the Week
Delta Finds Passengers Paying for Upgrades With Their Own Money Is Big Business: Delta has been upfront about why it upgrades fewer domestic passengers to first class. “Any business where you give the majority of your best product away for free doesn’t work,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian told me in September. Many passengers who once expected upgrades were business travelers flying on an expense account. But when Delta took away some of their upgrades, something unusual happened — customers started buying up with their own money.
Virgin America Is No Longer an Airline in the Government’s Eyes: Virgin America loyalists, especially in San Francisco and Los Angeles, loved the upstart airline, but it never really caught on elsewhere. It lacked the size and scope to compete with major network carriers. Last week, Virgin America lost its operating certificate, and its flights now operate under Alaska’s. Officially, that means Virgin America isn’t an airline anymore. By April, when Alaska merges the two reservations systems, Virgin America will be just about gone.
New York JFK Is Getting a Centurion Lounge From American Express: An AMEX executive told me these clubs are the top travel-related perk for Platinum and Centurion cardholders. And it’s almost certain the lounges help American Express attract and retain cardholders in New York and elsewhere. But this is a massive investment. How much do you think it costs to rent and configure 15,000 square feet in JFK Terminal 4?
U.S. Airlines Cancelled Fewer Flights Than Usual in November: This is not a fluke. Many U.S. airlines are emphasizing completion factor, and that is paying dividends. As with many operational metrics, Delta is far in the lead. But United’s improving, too.
Airbus Casts Doubt on the Future Production of the World’s Largest Jet: For a couple of decades, airlines didn’t seem to know how to best use the Boeing 757. Its engines had too much power for the routes the jets flew, causing the 757 to burn more fuel than similarly sized planes. But then Boeing stopped producing the jet, and airlines figured it out. It’s a perfect airplane for transatlantic routes with thin demand. Will something similar happen with the A380 if Airbus stops making it in a few years? Will the A380 have its moment in the 2030s at slot-controlled airports with limited capacity? Maybe by then more airlines will want gigantic jets.
Troubled Mexican Airline Interjet Grounds Some of Its Aircraft: You probably don’t need to be an aircraft maintenance expert to know Interjet never should have bought the Sukhoi Superjet 100. Sure, the Mexican discounter got a great deal, and maybe on paper it “was the best choice for Interjet given Mexico City’s temperatures, altitudes and the routes they were intended to cover,” as the airline’s CEO told Bloomberg. But no other airline in the Americas flies the Russian-made jet. Even in a best-case scenario, Interjet was going to struggle with maintenance. But now that the jet has proved far less reliable than the airline’s Airbus fleet, the situation is dire.
Those 4-Digit Flight Designations? Their Days May Be Numbered: The Los Angeles Times has a cute story about flight numbers, reporting that many larger airlines are running out of possible numbers. So far, according to the story, airlines don’t have much of a solution, though it notes some carriers use the same flight numbers for out-and-back flights. Here’s one short-term solution: Many airlines avoid unlucky numbers for flights, such as any number starting with 13. Perhaps it’s time to retire that convention.
Coming Up
I’m working on a story about airlines that allow economy class travelers to buy up to a business class-style experience, even while sitting in a seat with 30 or 32 inches of pitch.
Last week, I interviewed Ghislaine Van Branteghem, Air France’s catering product manager for long-haul flights, about her airline’s premium food offering. On many flights, Air France not only gives out the usual free food, but also sells high-end meals, such as a quintessentially French meal with duck foie gras as starter, lamb stew as a main course, camembert as a cheese course, and chocolate Paris-Brest, a French pastry, as dessert. From several U.S. cities, it’s available for $25, or 8,500 frequent flyer miles.
I learned only two to three percent of long-haul passengers buy the special meals, part of Air France’s a la carte menu, and that classic French food often sells best. Van Branteghem said meals are more popular on U.S. routes than on African ones. And while the program produces revenue, for now, she said, it’s more about offering customers a choice.
“The main objective is to increase our customer satisfaction but we also have a margin from the a la carte meal,” she said. “It’s also not a very important margin. What is important is to give the customer the choice and to improve satisfaction. We think if the customer is satisfied they will fly again with us.”
Van Branteghem said free meals will remain on long-haul routes, and selling food is not a test to see if the airline can some day charge for all food on longer routes.
Look for the full story soon.
Flying with a Baby
I’m a newish dad, and last year, I took my now nine-month-old on eight flights, enough to make me something of a baby travel expert. Last week, I shared some of my new knowledge with Conde Nast Traveler for a story called, Everything You Need to Know About Flying with a Baby.
I realize I’m in the minority here, but I don’t understand why parents would hold a baby on their lap for an entire flight. Yes, it’s expensive to buy your kid a seat, but so many aspects about having children are expensive. Sometimes, you need to err on the side of caution, even if the risk of disaster is low. At least that’s my opinion.
Here’s what I say in the piece.
“You wouldn’t hold your baby in your lap in a car, even if you were only going a mile away at ten mph. So why would you hold your baby on an airplane racing on a runway at 150 mph? It makes no sense, and it’s not safe. In severe turbulence, or in a survivable crash, you may not be able to hold onto your baby. There have been some pushes in the past to make car seats required, but there’s never much appetite for it. That’s a shame, because it’s the right thing to do. You’ll have to buy a seat for your child at age two, anyway. You might as well start early.”
What do you think? Do you agree? Or do you think I’m being too harsh, considering most kids do just fine without a car seat?
Send me an email with your thoughts. I’m at [email protected].
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Skift Airline Business Reporter Brian Sumers [[email protected]] curates the Skift Airline Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Wednesday. Have a story idea? Or a juicy news tip? Want to share a memo? Send me an email or tweet me.
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