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love-takes-work · 6 months

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I've seen a fair number of people interpret Rebecca Sugar's (and the Crew's) decision to put Ruby in a dress as subversive, and I want to discuss why that feels like a clear miss to me.

Every time--every single time--I've heard Rebecca Sugar talk about the queer relationships on this show, it comes with this expression of wholesomeness, and often glazed with a sheen of wistfulness, flavored something like "I needed this as a child and young person, and I didn't have it." Much of Rebecca Sugar's work to bring this wedding (and other unapologetic queer relationships) to the screen was framed as an emergency--as in, we HAVE to get this out there for those kids we used to be, because we know they're drowning.

Yes, it's funny sometimes when people make jokes about Sugar deliberately "adding more gay" or "making it gayer" as a big eff-you to the people who spoke against it, but that doesn't sit right from where I'm standing. It took so much strength (and resulted in so much battle damage) to fight that fight, yes. But from everything I can see from the interviews and conversations I've seen and read, this wasn't served up in a "ha-HA, take THAT!" kind of way. These characters having these kinds of relationships should have been a non-issue, and the fact that their very wholesome kids'-show wedding and very sweet kiss and very adorable love for each other was seen as Political when it should have been just two characters in love is so sad to me.

I've seen dozens of people suggest that Ruby is in a dress and Sapphire is in a suit "to fuck with the bigoted censors in other countries" or "to give the finger to gender roles," but again, I think it is simpler and sweeter than that. Rebecca's said that Ruby in a dress is how she feels in a dress. Celebration and exploration of feminine-coded stuff felt wrong to Rebecca for a long time, like it wasn't hers, because she wasn't really a woman and didn't want it forced on her. As a result she was robbed of all the beauty that should have been a non-issue, from what TV shows and toys she was supposed to enjoy as a kid to what kind of person she was supposed to marry and what she should wear as an adult.

Ruby never got a choice about how she looked really. Once she got to choose her presentation for a significant event, this is what she chose. It means so much more to see that than to construct it primarily as a reactionary measure, as if it would somehow foil the sinister censors in more homophobic countries (who, incidentally, are not therefore forced to show Ruby in a dress even though they tried to hide that Ruby was a "she" or that she was in a romantic relationship with another "she"; y'all, they just don't show the episode).

We see plenty of other examples of gender-role-related expectations being casually stepped on and squashed, like when they took the trouble to give traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine "clothes" to some watermelons to make the audience think there was a husband and wife watermelon only to have the wife be the warrior and the husband stay home with the child. With stuff like that, yeah, sure, maybe it's designed to make you think "oh isn't that very feminist of them!" Or maybe it's more "well why do I see this as a 'reversal' when it's just a thing that happened?" This show is full of ladyish beings who fight and have power. And as for Steven. . . .

Nobody has negative reactions onscreen (or even particularly confused reactions) when Steven wears traditionally feminine clothes, and it is (of course) also not presented as a "boy in a dress gag"--it's not supposed to be funny. When they go all in slathering Steven in literal princess tropes throughout the final act of Season 5, we understand that it's because the powerful Diamonds expect him to be Pink Diamond, not because the show is trying to girlify him or embarrass him or even make the audience think positive thoughts about boys in girls' clothes. It's more neutral than that in my interpretation: "these are literally just pieces of cloth, and while some of them have meaning, they don't inherently have a gender." I don't see this as transgressive. It's just in a world where putting on what you want to wear doesn't HAVE to be a political statement. (Though obviously it CAN be, and plenty of people wear a variety of clothes as a fuck-you to whoever they want to give the finger to. I just don't see that as happening here.)

Don't get me wrong; Rebecca Sugar certainly knew about the politics (intimately) and has lived at many of their intersections. She was not ignorant of how queer people are seen in this world. She was silenced as a bisexual person because her identity supposedly didn't matter if she was with a man and planned to be with that same man forever. She was shunted into "omg a woman did this!" categories over and over again, which she wore uneasily as a nonbinary person while accepting that part of who we are is how the world sees us. But what is it like if everything someone like her embraces is seen as a statement synonymous with "fuck you" to someone else?

She is married to a person who happens to be a man and happens to be Black. Her relationship isn't a "statement" about either of those aspects of his existence; her love is simply something that is. She is Jewish working in a society that's largely Christian. Her cultural perspective to NOT center her cartoon around Christian holidays and Christian morals; her choices to make an alternate world in this specific way is simply something that is. Her queer perspective as a nonbinary bisexual person has helped inform the Gems' radical philosophy of "what if we learned to explore and define ourselves instead of doing the 'jobs' we're assigned and being told it's our nature?" Her decision to include queer people in a broadly queer cartoon isn't designed PRIMARILY as a battle against baddies, or to drown out all the relentless straightness, or to deliciously get our queer little paws all over their kids' TV. It's an act of love.

So this is just to say that though I DO understand that sometimes subversion and intentional transgression are very necessary, I do not think that's the HEART of what's going on at this Gem wedding. We got a wholesome marriage scene between two of the most lovely little flawed-but-still-somehow-perfect characters, and I very much want to see their choices as being about them. About how Ruby feels in a dress. About how Sapphire feels about not having to always wear a dress. About them incorporating a symbol of their union into their separate lives so they can have some independence in their togetherness. About them celebrating their love by letting Steven wipe his schmaltz all over them.

There are many choices in the show that ARE carefully constructed to counter existing narratives, you know, giving the Crystal Gems' only boy all the healing, pink, flower imagery; having a single-sex species that's ladyish with all the members going by "she"; featuring many nurturing male characters who cry and cook and raise kids without mothers; pairing multiple fighty ladies with gentler guys; and importantly, intentionally loading up the show with stories, characters, and imagery any gender will find appealing despite being tasked with expectations to pander to the preteen boy demographic.

But it's very important to me that the inclusion of queer characters and the featuring of their choices be seen primarily as a loving act, and way way less of a "lol screw the bigots." I want our stories to be about us. Yes, I know it's a necessary evil that sometimes our stories are also about fighting Them. But every time I see someone say they put Ruby in the dress to "piss off the homophobes" or "stump the censors" I feel a little gross. Like the time I picked out an outfit I loved and my mom said I only dressed in such an obnoxious way to upset her, and I was baffled because my aesthetic choices, my opinions, my choices had nothing to do with her. Yet they were framed like I chose these clothes primarily to cause some kind of petty harm to her, when not only was it not true but I was not even that kind of person who would gloat over intentionally irritating someone.

The queerness of this show isn't a sneaky, underhanded act trying above all to upset a bigot or celebrate someone's homophobic fury. It lives for itself. Its existence is about itself. It's so we can see ourselves in a show, and it's so people who aren't queer or don't have those experiences can see that we exist, we participate, we want very similar things, and definitely are focusing way more about celebrating our love at our own weddings rather than relishing the thought of bigots tearing their hair out and hating us.

It's dangerous to turn every act of our love into a deliberate movement in a battle strategy when their weddings just get to be weddings.

I think there’s this idea that that [queer characters] is something that applies or should be only discussed with adults that is completely wrong. And I think when you realize that talking to kids about heteronormativity is just like air that you breathe all the time, it’s kind of amazing that that is not true in any other capacity. I think if you wait to tell kids, to tell queer youth that it matters how they feel or that they are even a person, then it’s going to be too late! You have to talk about it—you have to let it be what it gets to be for everyone. I mean, like, I think about, a lot of times I think about sort of fairy tales and Disney movies and the way that love is something that is ALWAYS discussed with children. And I think also there’s this idea that’s like, oh, we should represent, you know, queer characters that are adults, because there are adults that are queer, and you should know that’s something that is happening in the adult world, but that’s not how those films or those stories are told to children. You’re told that YOU should dream about love, about this fulfilling love that YOU’RE going to have. […] The Prince and Snow White are not like someone’s PARENTS. They’re something you want to be, that you are sort of dreaming of a future where you will find happiness. Why shouldn’t everyone have that? It’s really absurd to think that everyone shouldn’t get to have that! --Rebecca Sugar

#steven universe #ruby and sapphire #rebecca sugar #queer relationships #long post #myblog

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antianakin · 8 months

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You know, because one of the reasons you can't get married as a Jedi is because you are supposed to put the needs of the Galaxy before them, implies the Jedi believe a Spouse should be your priority if you're married. Proving that Anakin fails at that too. If he put Padme's needs first, he would have told Yoda what was happening instead of that vague "someone close to me is going to die" dreams shit. Anakin's priority, is Anakin.

I think it's more about expectations. Usually when you get married, there's an expectation that you WILL put your spouse above all else, and that's generally totally fine. A lot of marriage vows include word choices to that effect anyway, as well as this idea that you will remain with this one person for the rest of your life no matter what, etc etc.

THEORETICALLY, you could get married WITHOUT some of these expectations, but then at that point you kind-of run into the question of "why get married rather than just be in a regular relationship then?" What benefits do you get from marriage if you cut out the promise of forever and expectation of being a priority in your spouse's life?

There's also the political aspect of it. Jedi are supposed to be neutral and give equal attention to all of the planets in the Republic and treat all people equally no matter where they're from. But if you're married to someone from a specific planet, even if they're not a political leader of some sort, it sort-of generates a greater connection to that planet and perhaps an expectation that the Jedi might prioritize that planet above others if needed. And that obviously causes problems with the Jedi's neutrality as ambassadors/government workers. (Sidenote: This is why I don't think Obi-Wan would've been in a relationship with Bail and/or Breha even if it were casual because the political issues would still exist no matter what.)

So basically I think they discourage/forbid marriage just to eliminate the TEMPTATION of all of those things. Same with having children, generally. They MIGHT be able to get married and have kids without having the political or personal problems, but they can't really promise it'll NEVER be an issue at any point unless they just abstain. Why put themselves in that position if they don't have to? They can always leave the Order to go have those things if they feel particularly necessary to their happiness in life, obviously, no one's forcing them to stay.

And then Anakin marries Padme and we see him CONSTANTLY put his personal relationship to her above his duty as a Jedi. He literally says as much to Padme in that episode in season 1 where he claims that their feelings for each other should be more important than their ideals. We see Anakin demand things of Padme because they're married which shows that he absolutely has these expectations that Padme will prioritize his needs and wants simply because he's her husband. Anakin's big problem is that he refuses to commit to either the Jedi OR Padme entirely because he's selfish enough to want both without realizing the ways in which he's disrespecting both relationships. Padme doesn't always get the time with him that SHE wants (or the ability to have a family openly) and the Jedi have to live with him blowing them off to go play house with Padme or him being overly emotional on a mission if Padme is involved.

The Jedi aren't necessarily saying a spouse SHOULD get all of your attention, just that it's a normal EXPECTATION from married couples that that's what will happen, and if that expectation isn't met, it can lead to misery and discord in the relationship.

So yes, Anakin fails at prioritizing Padme, too, because he's refusing to commit to her, either. He wants to have his cake and eat it, too, he wants to be married to a sitting Senator AND be a Jedi. He wants to be a big damn hero and prioritize the people and places he cares about most and have all of the power that is afforded to the Jedi specifically because they DON'T do those things all at the same time. He fails Padme and the Jedi in much the same way, and that's honestly a major aspect of his whole character.

#star wars #jedi #pro jedi #anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #anakin critical #anakin skywalker critical #attachment #padme amidala #anidala critical #anti anidala

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cmrosens · 7 months

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Worldbuilding notes for queer normative fantasy societies... I have a lot of thoughts about this so here are some notes and questions around 3 of the main ones I have been thinking about recently.

1. How many different structures of formally recognised relationships are there outside of the monogamous spouse version?

If you want a society where relationships themselves are queered, moving away from a monogamous default, think about different forms of union and commitment and whether these can be legally recognised and what the legal/civil ramifications are.

Who recognises these relationships? What is the legal process to get them recognised? If there is no legal process then are we looking at a society where taxes are a communal responsibility and not levelled at individuals?

Is there freedom of movement and if so how much is affordable and feasible - does this have a bearing on queer people even in a queer normative world? What happens if the village is very small and has 3 queer people in it none of whom really like each other? Where do you go to find a partner if you can't travel far?

If the society thinks arranged marriages are normal and there is no concept of marrying for love, and no expectation of attraction only reasonable companionship, and you can have multiple spouses/formal partners for political reasons and to unite families (perhaps to formally team up and spread the cost of those communal taxes, etc) then you may end up with the situation of lots of different relationship structures and someone married off finally coming out as straight, and their formal partner wingmanning them to find someone else to be with.

2. Inheritance law and family connections

In a queer normative society, it would make sense for both biological kids and adopted or fostered kids to be equally accepted and no distinction drawn between them. This has extensive knock-on effects for how society is structured and

Legitimacy may not even mean anything in a society with multiple relationship structures. So how does this all work legally and socially and culturally and politically and economically?

First off: does it matter who your parents are and whether you have a firm grasp of your personal genealogy, or would people just give up on all that because it gets so muddy.

E.g.::::

"I am Bran son of Brom" means nothing when you actually mean, "I am Bran, my mother Ceris was the wife of Carl and she carried me to term and Brom didn't impregnate her, that was Roan, partner of Brom, but to be fair it might also be Carl because we can't really be sure on the timing there, and then Ceris and her other partner Sara both nursed me as a baby and then as a kid it was decided I would have more opportunities in life if I went to live with Brom and Roan and learned their trade, and then Brom as the higher earner and the one contributing most to the communal taxes thought he should be the one to formally adopt me, even though I still mostly lived with Ceris and Carl and Sara until I was 16, because then I would inherit more and be able to pursue a different career path and have money to travel, so when I say I am Bran son of Brom I mean only in the technical legal sense".

It also makes no sense here to say, "I am Bran son of Brom" and erase Ceris, Sara, Carl and Roan from that picture of yourself, particularly if the society is not patriarchal and therefore less likely to reckon lineage in a strict patrilineal way.

In this example, the implications of saying, "I am Bran son of Brom" are that you don't KNOW who your other connections are and you have had a childhood lacking in all the other communal connections others have had. You only know Brom. Were you hermits, living apart from society in a lonely, mountainous region somewhere? That would make sense. But people might still look at you once you say "I am Bran son of Brom" and wait a bit and then be like, "...Brom, and...??"

Like you wouldn't say that. You would instead say something like, "I am Bran of Seven Oaks" because the place is what everyone has in common, or you might say "I am Bran, of the Seven Oaks community" if the people are more important than their location.

Or would communities like this have their own assigned name, if not based on location, then on something else? A symbol or glyph that represents different groups and people adopt this glyph when they enter into a new community, but keep records of the previous ones they have been connected to until there is a whole string of glyphs after their name as a shorthand record of their entire network of relationships? Is this marked on their skin or on some item they wear? Formally inscribed in ledgers and public records?

Do these glyphs appear as a straight line, a row or column, or is there a cobweb or star shape with different sections/points meaning different things, and these symbols/glyohs/letters or whatever are placed in the web or star points?

That might be a cool item of jewellery with things carved on beads and beads added to it, or a massive back tattoo that gets added to all the time until for some it covers their whole body like a map of all the people they have connected with in some official way through their entire lives, especially if you adopt a kid and add in that kid's connections that are now connected to you.

How would people react to those with very few beads and few connections? Would they treat them with pity or with suspicion? What is the story of "Bran son of Brom"??

3. Patriarchy vs Matriarchy vs ....????

First, let's not pretend Matriarchy is a utopia. It is the same thing as patriarchy except women are in charge, and is equally as toxic in terms of structure. A society where 50% of citizens are subject to gender-based power structures is not a good one regardless of which gender is in charge.

Also, this still presents the normative of a gender binary, so you would still have structural oppression of genders who do not conform to or are perceived to undermine that binary. Up to you if your society is like that, but one to consider.

Also if we are talking about a queer normative society with one of those "gender plague" situations so everyone with an X or Y chromosome is dead, trans people and non binary people would still exist, still presenting in the applicable way. Intersex people would still exist, and people who present as "the sex that doesn't get the plague" may still contract it and die of it if you have it linked to chromosomes, because unless you do chromosomal testing you won't always know to look at someone what they have. So there is all that to think about.

Eliminating all cis men from a society doesn't actually get rid of men or masc-presenting people, but it does open things up for a less binary society in general.

If we aren't playing with dodgy science, and we have a queer normative society but you do want to explore some hierarchical structures within it, there are lots of other ways you can do that unrelated to gender.

In fact it doesn't make sense for this fantasy society in the "Bran son of Brom" example to have "gender roles" at all, so what is the internal family structure like in terms of power balance? Is this more about dominant personality vs democracy (just because you agree one person is in charge means nothing in practice if there is a more charismatic option that undermines this elected choice). Is it to do with earning power? If things are decided at communal meetings, who chairs them and why? What is the knock on logical effect on society on a larger scale?

So much stuff to think about there tbh

#writeblr #world building #worldbuilding #queer normative fantasy #writers on tumblr #gay fantasy #lgbtq writer #lgbtqwrimo #lgbtq community #writing fantasy #fantasy world

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nerdforestgirl · 10 days

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Note: A story? Not on May 24th or my birthday? Wild. Enjoy. Set During The Long Distance Dissonance.

Sheldon hung up the phone, and had a smile on his face. He had just called Larry Fowler to get his permission to ask Amy to marry him. He thought the tradition was silly, but he also knew that it would make Amy happy to know that he asked. Amy liked weird old timey stuff like that. It was worth the few minutes to call. Particularly because Mr. Fowler had been all too pleased to give the asked for permission.

Now Sheldon was just at the airport waiting for his flight to take off. He wished he could call his own dad. He always wanted to include his father in big moments. Then Sheldon thought of someone else he wanted to talk to. He pulled out his phone.

Knock Knock he wrote into the text chat. It was a version of the old code they had in their bedrooms as kids. He wanted to make sure she was available to talk instead of just calling. She must be, because a photo of her and her son appeared on his screen as an incoming Facetime call almost immediately.

“Hello, Missy,” Sheldon said into his phone after he answered it.

“What do you want, nerd?” Missy replied.

A little bit of a smile fell across Sheldon's lips at her insult of affection. She was the only person other than perhaps Leonard who could make him smile with teasing.

“I am at the airport. I am going to New Jersey to ask Amy to marry me,” Sheldon told his sister.

“Whoa. Big. Did you tell Mom? She's going to be thrilled.”

Sheldon wondered why he didn't call his mother or Meemaw first. Then he realized that his mother and grandmother would be supportive, but they wouldn't necessarily be honest. He wanted to know if this was a mistake. Not Amy. Amy could never be a mistake. But maybe he was moving too fast. He had only been with her for seven years after all.

“No. I will wait to talk to Mom after Amy agrees,” Sheldon admitted. “Do you think I'm doing the right thing?” he added more quietly.

“Other than the fact that you should've done this years ago, of course,” Missy said. Everyone else always assumed that Sheldon would end up alone, but even when the twins were teenagers, Missy had a feeling that Sheldon would find someone for him. He might be annoying and weird, but there was a charm to Sheldon that Missy could see. The right people always loved him.

“You never regret getting married?” Sheldon asked. He could only have asked this question to his sister. Of course she could tease him for asking, but she never truly judged him. He didn't believe that they had any extra connection from sharing a womb, but she did get him in a way that no one else did. Maybe it was all of those late night talks when they shared a bedroom as kids.

“Oh. I absolutely do, but my husband is an idiot. But you will be the idiot if you don't marry her. It's obvious that you love her,” Missy said.

“How do you know? You have never even met her,” Sheldon reminded her.

“Whose fault is that? You never bring her to come see me. Not even when you've come back to see Mom. And I have eyes and ears. I've seen the way you talk about her. Everyone knows you love her. You even stood up to Meemaw for her. Mom wanted to print the invitations to your wedding then.”

Sheldon appreciated the reminder that he love for Amy was so clear. Not just to himself, but to everyone around him too. Sheldon knew that his sister would never steer him wrong. Not with something this important.

Then Sheldon heard the announcement that his flight was boarding. He knew he should hang up and get on the flight. He didn't want to miss this flight for anything.

“I have to get on my plane, but thanks for taking to me,” he told his sister.

“No problem. Let me know when she says yes,” Missy said.

Sheldon nodded and pressed the button to hang up the call. More than even Stephen Hawking, talking to his sister made him feel like this was definitely the right decision.

#nfg fan fiction

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grey-gazania · 3 months

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I'm sorry someone bombarded you with bitchy comments 😭. While my To Read list is lengthy and continually lengthier (actually I think something of yours with her is on it), I'd like to hear more about Ianneth-Fingon-Maedhros if you want to talk about them.

@polutrope

It wasn't really upsetting, just annoying and honestly a little bit funny. This guy left comments on all six chapters of By Love or at Least Free Will, every time I updated the story, just objecting to the entire premise of the story and ranting about how Elves have incorruptible pure souls and are immune to lust. I was sorely tempted to respond with this quote from "Laws & Customs Among the Eldar":

Even when in after days, as the histories reveal, many of the Eldar in Middle-earth became corrupted, and their hearts darkened by the shadow that lies upon Arda, seldom is any tale told of deeds of lust among them.

'Seldom' is not the same thing as 'never', and furthermore, I don't think lust is even a major theme of my story. It's more about conflicting obligations and unruly hearts.

In the end I deleted the comments without responding, because I have a personal policy of not engaging with people who are acting in bad faith. But I have to assume that this guy has no actual hobbies if he spends his time hate-reading entire stories instead of just...closing the window and moving on with his life. Maybe take up crochet, bro? Or volunteer at a soup kitchen? Watch a TV show that you like? Grow some tomatoes? Do something that will be more fulfilling than typing long screeds on AO3. I promise it will make you a happier person.

Anyway. On to the actual topic of your ask! As you've probably noticed, I am very fond of Russingon. However, I am also very fond of Fingon as Gil-galad's father. At first I balanced these two ideas by keeping my Russingon ideas and my Fingon-father-of-Gil-galad ideas in two separate universes, but then I started really fleshing out Gil-galad's mother, and it made me think some thoughts. To repeat something I said to @cuarthol in a comment on AO3:

...half the genesis of Ianneth was seeing so many stories (in multiple fandoms, not just Tolkien) where the woman is written out of a canon or semi-canon couple to make room for a popular M/M ship instead, without the female character being treated with any respect. I decided that the female perspective on that situation would be a nice change of pace and interesting to write.

I'm not trying to point fingers -- I'll readily admit that I have my male faves just like the next gal and that it's fun to make them kiss -- but the wives and girlfriends don't get a lot of love in fandom, do they? And it doesn't help that the legendarium in general tends to be a bit of a sausage fest. So I decided that Fingon would have a wife and be in love with Maedhros. But instead of focusing just on the forbidden love, I was going to focus on the wife's feelings, too.

Ianneth ("bridge-woman") is one of the Northern Sindar, from the community that lives around Lake Mithrim. She's the daughter of Annael (yes, that Annael), whom I've imagined to be one of the more influential leaders among the Northern Sindar, and particularly among the Elves of Mithrim.

Her betrothal to Fingon starts as a political arrangement. Fingolfin loves Fingon dearly, of course, but he's also been hinting for a while now that Fingon really needs to settle down and start having kids so that there will be a strong line of heirs should Fingolfin die. After all, Argon's dead, and Turgon and Aredhel abruptly fucked off to god-knows-where some three hundred years ago and haven't been seen nor heard from since. Your dad needs some grandsons, Fingon, and this also seems like a ripe opportunity to strengthen the Noldor's alliance with the Northern Sindar.

I don't think political marriage is unknown among the Elves of Beleriand. (For one example in the text, see Celegorm trying to marry Luthien to force Doriath into an alliance.) And the quote I drew the title of the aforementioned Fingon/Ianneth story from, also found in "Laws and Customs Among the Eldar," is:

The Eldar wedded only once in life, and for love or at the least by free will upon either part.

Free will could easily mean, "Are we in love? No. But I'll still marry you, for the good of our peoples, and I'll bring some of Dad's soldiers along with me." That sort of thing happened all the time among real-world nobility, so I see no reason why it can't happen among Elven nobility in Beleriand, too.

At any rate, Fingolfin arranges for Fingon to meet the daughters of some of the more powerful leaders of the Northern Sindar, and he's hint-hint-hinting that Fingon really needs to pick one of them to be his wife. Fingon, having been in love with Maedhros since they were young in Valinor, is not exactly keen on this plan. But he goes along with it anyway because he is a dutiful son, he knows that his father is right about needing to strengthen the line of succession, and he also knows that revealing his (quite taboo!) relationship with Maedhros to his father would probably break Fingolfin's heart.

It takes Fingon a while to decide who to court, but he picks Ianneth because he likes her sense of humor; she has the guts to gently tease him at their first meeting, which he finds quite charming. He doesn't think he can love anyone besides Maedhros, but he does look at Ianneth and think, "This is a woman I could grow to care for and whose companionship I think could enjoy."

The trouble begins when, over the course of their courtship, Fingon starts falling in love with Ianneth without falling out of love with Maedhros. And he doesn't know what to do about this. He can't call off the marriage, and he doesn't want to break things off with Maedhros, so he decides to just...keep the whole thing with Maedhros a secret and marry Ianneth anyway. It's not a good decision, but really, are there any options here that won't end with someone getting hurt? I don't think so.

So we have Ianneth, blissfully ignorant of her husband's infidelity (for now); Fingon, in love with two people at once and feeling horribly guilty about it, but unwilling to pick one partner over the other; and Maedhros, resigned to the situation but still hurting because Fingon is no longer his alone.

Maedhros' feelings are complicated by the fact that, once he meets her, he finds that likes Ianneth. It would be easier, he thinks, if he could write her off as just a political necessity for Fingon, but it turns out that she's charming and intelligent and kind, and he can understand why Fingon loves her. His feelings soften further once Ereiniel is born, because Fingon is so happy being a father, and he loves Fingon, so how can he begrudge him that? There's a line from "Famous Blue Raincoat" by Leonard Cohen that I always think of when I'm getting into Maedhros' head at this point:

And thanks for the trouble you took from [his] eyes. I thought it was there for good, so I never tried.

Things tick along about as smoothly as they can for thirteen years, until, in the aftermath of Fingolfin's death during the Dagor Bragollach, as Fingon prepares to send Ianneth and Ereiniel to the Falas for their safety, Ianneth learns his secret. This is understandably devastating for her, and leaves her wondering if Fingon ever really loved her as she loved him, or if his marriage to her was simply a politically expedient sham.

Add to that the fact that she leaves for the Falas less than ten hours after this revelation and spends most of that ten hours either crying or asleep, as she's too upset to really talk to Fingon about what she's discovered, and it leaves her with this horrible knowledge and all the worst thoughts that come from it gnawing at her nearly a full year until Fingon next comes to Eglarest -- time that she spends as the sole caregiver for her young daughter, among strangers in a foreign city, without her mother or her sister or any of her friends who might have theoretically been able to offer her some emotional support.

Theoretically is a key word there, though, because even if, say, her sister had come to Eglarest, Ianneth isn't sure she'd even be able to tell her. For one thing, she can't help feeling ashamed, because infidelity is very rare among Elves, and she can't help thinking that maybe she failed as a wife somehow, and if she'd done something different, Fingon wouldn't have strayed. Then there's the fact that he's the High King of the Noldor, and if this gets out it could cause a crisis in the Noldorin government and possibly tank the alliance between the House of Fingolfin and the Northern Sindar. Ianneth is a practical woman, and she's of the Northern Sindar -- the people who have been living practically on Morgoth's doorstep for centuries, with no Maia queen's magic girdle to protect them. Their alliance with the Noldor is vital, and she would never want to jeopardize it.

So Ianneth is just...completely alone with this pain. She has no one to turn to, no one who can comfort her. And that pain is central to her story, and a not insignificant part of Ereiniel's story, too.

#polutrope #turns out when you ask me about my ocs i turn into treebeard #ianneth #fingon's wife #fingon #maedhros #gil galad #woman king au #my ocs

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photogirl894 · 1 year

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Thank you for answering right away :) I’ve read some of your stuff and really like it! I’ve never requested before so let me know if I did it right.

I was wondering if you could do a Hunter/f!reader where someone mistakes the two for dating/married when out getting supplies with Omega. Omega always liked the idea of Hunter and reader together especially knowing that reader liked Hunter. If the encounter went south and Omega is determined to play matchmaker and fix the broken situation. Maybe one or two tries goes wrong (she could enlist different Batchers for help with different ideas) maybe after one particularly bad encounter Hunter finally talks to reader and they sort everything out but decide to let Omega go for the win as she tries one last time to get them together, letting her think she accomplished what the two of them already sorted out. Also SFW? Thank you but don’t feel like you have to if you don’t like the idea.

Your request is totally doable, no worries! 😊 Thanks, anon!

"The Matchmaker"

Pairing: Hunter x fem reader

"You know, I think we need to have a talk," Hunter said to you.

The two of you were sitting alone in the Marauder waiting for the others to get back from a supply run on the planet of Naboo when Hunter suddenly made that comment to you.

"About what?" you inquired.

"Omega," he said. "Ever since that day on Alderaan when you and I were mistaken for a married couple in the market, she's been...really pushing for us to be a real couple."

You chuckled. "You don't say?" you asked rhetorically. Omega's attempts at matchmaking had certainly not gone unnoticed by you, especially since she already knew that you had feelings for Hunter. Knowing that and then the comments that had been made in the market only encouraged the young girl to push things even more.

He nodded. "And I know she's gotten the others in on it, too."

"Like when Echo conveniently suggested we be paired off on the last mission?" you recalled.

"Or when Wrecker said I should share my oversized ration bar with you because it was too much for just me?" he added.

Then you laughed. "Or Tech saying you had to be the one to give me mouth-to-mouth when I got electrocuted and knocked unconscious because the accident was your fault and, somehow, you were the only one who knew how to do it properly."

Hunter shyly rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah...he wasn't entirely wrong. That was my fault."

With a snicker, you replied, "I never blamed you for that, don't feel bad."

He brought his hand down from his neck, looking relieved.

In the moment, you felt it was time to let the walls down. He was bound to figure out the truth eventually, especially with Omega's attempts at meddling. You sighed loudly and told him, "Look, Hunter...I have to be honest. It wasn't just the comments about us looking like we're married that got Omega to start acting like this. The truth is: I do have feelings for you and she already knew that. What happened in the market, I guess just spurred her on even more to try and get us to...well, to be together because I know she'd love that...and I would, too." You hung your head slightly and averted your gaze from him. "I just don't know if that's what you want."

Hunter's eyes had widened a little at your confession and a pleased grin slowly etched up on his lips. "(Y/N), are you kidding?"

Your eyes shot up, wondering what he was about to say.

He stood up from his chair, stepped over and took your hands, pulling you up with him. "There a reason I went along with Echo's suggestion of us being paired on that mission...why I followed Wrecker's advice and shared my ration bar with you...and why I did revive you from unconsciousness even when I knew any of the others were capable of doing it." His hand, light as a feather, traced the contour of your cheek, his eyes gazing deep into yours as if he could see into your very soul. "My reason is I care for you, too, and nothing would make me happier than to be with you."

You felt as though your heart was about to explode and excitedly, you threw your arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, his arms wrapping around you and holding you close to him in return.

"May I kiss you?" he asked, his voice low with desire.

"You need to ask?" you asked back, flashing him an inviting smile.

His hand cupped your jaw and his lips descended upon yours with both sweetness and vigor unmatched, his mouth moving perfectly and softly against your own. It was unlike anything you'd ever imagined when you thought about kissing him. In fact, it was better than anything you'd ever dreamt of.

When you came apart and took a moment to catch your breath, you said to him, "With how hard she's been trying, I feel like the next time Omega tries to play matchmaker again, we should let her have a win; play along and let her think her plans finally worked. Don't you think?"

He snickered and nuzzled your nose. "I don't see why not."

With that in mind, the two of stayed in the ship and continued talking, throwing a few kissing sessions in between, until you heard word from the others that they were on their way back to the ship. Once you heard that, you retreated to the back part of the ship and got out a datapad to not let on to the others that you'd been together the whole time.

The others came back and Omega immediately rushed over to Hunter, almost bursting with enthusiasm. "Hunter, I saw something amazing while we were out!" she cried out. When he inquired as to what she saw, she informed him, "There was a beautiful lake we passed by where the sun reflected perfectly off the water and it sparkled like a large jewel! It was so pretty and romantic."

"Romantic, huh?" he repeated, his eyebrows raising slightly. "What are you getting at, Omega?"

She leaned in and whispered, "You should take (Y/N) there. She would love it."

"You think so?"

"Yeah! You two would have fun and I think you need some time alone."

Hunter stole a look back at you in the back of the ship, pretending as though he hadn't already kissed you several times before that moment. Then he gave Omega a grin, stood up and went to where you were sitting.

When you looked up at him, he said, "Omega tells me there's a beautiful lake they passed by. Would you like to come with me and we can maybe...see it together?" he asked you, holding out his hand.

You snuck a look at Omega, who was peeking around the corner with wonder-filled eyes and an eager smile on her face. She was buying your guys' ruse and it made you glad to see her happy. She deserved it.

You took Hunter's hand and stood up. "Yes, I would love to."

He kept your hand in his as you two left the ship and you both couldn't help but snicker to yourselves as you heard a triumphant "Yes!" behind you.

More Hunter fics

Bad Batch Writing Requests

#star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #bad batch hunter #bad batch prompts #hunter x reader

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ingravinoveritas · 8 months

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nabrrie replied to your post "I thought I was the only one who was weirded out by…”

@ingravinoveritas thanks for the answer and sorry for the rant in your askbox, but your blog feels like a safe place. I wouldn't discuss this on other socials bc I don't have the strength to deal with GT fans. To be an unplanned child is a topic that I still discuss in therapy, so seeing it treated so lightly by a mother as excuse to brag about her sex life disturbed me. Interesting that who claims it's wrong to ship D/M bc it's disrespectful to the kids is ok with this. And for that matter, she’s not a high school girl bragging about her boyfriend. The “I shagged DT and you didn’t” attitude is immature and out of place. You’re having sex with your husband… so? We know that you’re married. David is handsome and fans can be creepy sometimes, but she’s an actress, her father was the Doctor - she must know very well how to deal with the fans. I’m sorry if she feels insecure, but I don’t think she’s handling this very well. And, if she does feel insecure, I don’t think it’s about a bunch of strangers online… And you’re right, no mention of the word love whatsoever… (end of the rant, sorry)

@nabrrie No need to apologize at all! I'm glad you felt safe enough to rant in my inbox. The fact that people are refusing to see anything wrong with that caption solely because it was Georgia who posted it is disturbing to me. (I even saw one person say "If this was anyone else I would be disgusted, but Georgia is an icon.") If your first instinct is to be disgusted by that caption, it should not matter who wrote it. It should not matter that it's "British humor" because humor being British doesn't mean it also can't be wildly unfunny or even hurtful. And it's wildly hypocritical to me that these fans who rail against RPF and say how it could harm their children are the same fans who have no problem with Georgia writing a caption like that.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating: Georgia should not be immune from criticism simply because she is David's wife, or because she is an ally to the LGBTQ community. Being an ally does not mean someone can't be rude or a jerk, because human beings are complicated and can be more than one thing at a time. Calling her out for using her kid's birthday post as an excuse to brag about her own sex life is not some outrageous act--it's a reasonable response, particularly from people such as yourself who have experienced the consequences of being an unplanned child.

It's amazing to me how people have read things into her caption, or made assumptions because of it based on what they want to believe her and David's relationship is. I've seen people say it meant "They were madly in love when they had me," but the word "love" was never used anywhere in that caption. They were madly in drunk when they had her (or at least Georgia was), and that's all it takes to have a baby--two people having sex, whether they are in love or not. And at the end of the day, that is what her caption was actually about: Georgia letting us know that she is having sex with David and the rest of us are not.

But she clearly is insecure, because it looks like she actually did respond to one of the numerous tweets criticizing her this morning:

So, let's take a step back here. She's over on Insta bragging about getting to shag David and how great their sex life is, but instead of actually shagging him, she is searching for her name on Twitter again and taking the time to respond to stuff like this. The paradox is quite something, really.

Also, the fact that she does not or cannot recognize that what she said in that caption is not normal seems to indicate that she thinks she can say and do whatever shes wants, regardless of who it affects or whether it sends her kids out into the world with a very skewed idea of what is "normal." Interestingly, though, I don't think we can say that she doesn't care what people think, because if she didn't, she wouldn't be searching her name (again) and looking for comments to which she can respond.

Whatever the case may be, I agree with you that whatever has her feeling insecure has nothing to do with people online (@irvinis has volunteered a particularly interesting theory on your original Ask). And for someone who has dealt with fans for so many years (as you also mentioned), she definitely is not handling this in the way you would expect. I guess we'll have to see if she pushes back against any of the other critical comments...

#nabrrie #reply post #georgia tennant #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #i don't think anybody here is being a prude either #i am 100% about sex positivity #but there are plenty of places she could brag that aren't her 4-year-old's birthday post #i mean you have to think she will see this someday #because even if Georgia deletes it the Internet is forever #also can we think for a moment how different this would be if the genders were reversed #if G was a man saying he had no self control with wine or his wife #that would seem at least slightly concerning #yet because Georgia's a woman no one seems to care #and any inkling of how David feels about this caption is completely missing #stop giving your blorbo's partners free passes 2k23 #thoughts #discourse

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kandyzee · 3 months

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What's a character everyone likes but you don't?

Thanks for asking!!

I would probably say Sheila is mine. I think she can be funny, and she definitely has some good scenes, but I dont get the overwhelming love everyone seems to have for her.

First, she's just a terrible mother. She neglected Karen (ik this isn't entirely her fault) she let her daughter be groomed by an old man, AND she encouraged them to get married. She then starts fucking her daughters pedo husband cause apparently the kid touching isnt a turn off for her. Sheila particularly kicks out Karen (her daughter who literally just had a child) when she picks Karen's son over her. Karen didn't even want the child in the first place. She starts raising Karen's kid with her pedo ex-husband. I think Sheila definitely loved Karen but she was NOT showing it.

Second, she's a rapist. No wonder Karen has such a fucked up view of concent and sex. Sheila MULTIPLE TIMES fucks Frank when he's screaming no. And it's implied that she did it to her ex-husband, too? That is a full-grown woman. She should understand that it's wrong. And so many people skip past this like it's funny or something.

I canr remember much about Sheila rn but yeah fuck her.

#shameless us #karen jackson #sheila jackson #karen shameless #sheila shameless #sheila is not a good mum #answering asks

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navree · 1 day

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The Velaryons siding with Team Black gets even more ridiculous when you consider that Daemon threw a tantrum (shocker) around the time of the Great Council of 101 AC when Rhaenys was even considered as a candidate opposing Viserys. This fool allegedly gathered together enough resources in preparation to rebel against the crown if it looked like Rhaenys would be selected as heir apparent instead of heir presumptive. Why she would ever forget something like that and allow Laena anywhere near Daemon is beyond my understanding.

None of the Velaryons should be on Team Black at all.

Corlys doesn't particularly like Viserys at all and has been routinely disrespected by him, not just in the matter of being purposefully led on with regards to the Laena marriage but even in how he's treated in Council. He's also absolutely got a grudge about Rhaenys not being on the throne and feeling shafted as a result, not to mention Daemon summarily executed a member of his family without trial, and the disrespect shown to his House should be enough to at least want him to remain neutral.

Rhaenys absolutely doesn't like Rhaenyra, she was deeply antagonistic towards her the second she was proclaimed heir (out of jealousy I guess????) and was also convinced that it wouldn't work out. Not to mention, even beyond how she was treated with the Great Council, look at her kids. Daemon kept Laena away from her family for a good number of years and then she died, only to behave like an ass at her funeral and get married well before was considered appropriate. Rhaenyra "disrespected" Laenor with the Harwin Strong affair and their children, which we know Rhaenys was aware of because she brings it up to Corlys. And she thinks Rhaenyra killed Laenor to marry Daemon, because Rhaenyra has deliberately made it look like she had Laenor murdered, which alone gives her every right to hate Rhaenyra until the end of time. There's no way she would agree to betrothing her granddaughters to the Strongs, there's no way she'd go to Rhaenyra's side in the civil war she predicted just because Rhaenyra hadn't burned Dragonstone down in twelve hours, honestly the character they've written likely should have agreed to Alicent's proposals because that whole "we don't rule ourselves but heavily influence those that do and wield power that way" is literally what she already does with Corlys.

Baela, again, shouldn't be on board with Team Black either. Like I said, she was shunted off to Driftmark because Daemon the Targaryen supremacist wanted to devote all his time and energy to his pureblood Targaryen marriage and subsequent pureblood Targaryen children at the expense of his daughters. And while on Driftmark, she watches Rhaenys rule it alone, act as Lord of the Tides herself. And I'm meant to think she never once thought about how Driftmark should have been Laena's by rights, as Corlys's eldest, and thus her's by rights, as Laena's eldest? She's fine being a consort, a position with considerably less power, to Jace, who she does not know at all because she's spent all her time in either Pentos or Driftmark, while her inheritance, her rights, get passed not even to her little sister, but to some kid who isn't even Laenor's? No, why should she be on board with that after her treatment and how she's been raised? Even if she doesn't have any issues with Rhaenyra herself, the disrespect shown to her and her family by Rhaenyra's faction isn't something she should look past.

Rhaena meanwhile has been treated apparently like shit by Daemon her entire life, all because she didn't have a dragon (and because Daemon is a giant flaming asshole). And like her sister, she has to settle for being a consort, but even worse, to someone who, according to the laws of their country, has absolutely no right to the inheritance he's getting, which should be either her sister's or her's. Again, even if there's no issue with Rhaenyra on Rhaena's end, the treatment from Rhaenyra's allies like Viserys and Daemon is bad enough that it should give her pause. Plus, both Rhaena and Baela were dragged to watch their father get immediately remarried to someone else after their mother just died, that doesn't engender much love towards him or his new wife, who they had only met like two days ago.

None of the Velaryons should support Team Black at all, because the treatment they've received from people who were firmly on board with Rhaenyra's succession (or at least came on board eventually) has been atrocious since Rhaenys was first denied the Iron Throne all those years ago. And you might say "but that's petty why can't they just supported Rhaenyra because of feminism", but 1) feminism does not exist in Westeros, the concept of a movement towards female empowerement and equal treatment does not exist in this country or in the minds of its people, everything is on a case by case basis which is why Rhaenyra herself keeps to male dominated primogeniture when dealing with issues of succession 2) yeah it's petty and selfish, but this is a dynastic struggle between one (1) family. None of them are in this for altruistic reasons, everyone's looking out for themselves and are motivated by their emotions and their desires, not any lofty goals or ambitions. Everyone is selfish here, the Velaryons have the right to be selfish too especially to advance their own self interests.

#personal #answered #anonymous #house velaryon #anti team black #hotd critical #the way they wrote the velaryons on the show is just uhhhhhhhhhh Bad #the schizophrenic characterization of corlys and rhaenys...the utter lack of character given to baela and rhaena...#the shafting of laena and laenor as characters and their interpersonal dynamics...the dumb reasoning for joining rhaenyra...#i have a lot to say about the writing and the decision to make the velaryons the only main POC we get on this show #but it's all bad and part of it is that based on the writing we got from the show #them joining rhaenyra's side makes no sense whatsoever and does not work i do not buy it #i mean hell remember that pic i posted yesterday of baela looking unbothered about jace's upset on luke dying!#like that works but also it doesn't work ugh it's so dumb!

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maria-ruta · 9 months

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i miss ronya she was so cool. how's she doing these days

awww thank you!!! <3 <3 <3

I miss her too UvU

the game ended on moment when all the demons were defeated and sent back to hell (except for Nafanya and Gra'azt, who now became leader of big group of drow and continues to get more drow on his side from Lolth(shes not happy about it lol))

Ronya got married to goblin widow Hikt (they threw the bouket in Sarit's face so hehe he's next lol) and now Ronya is mama of Hikt's kids from her last marrige - one allready young adult goblin booy, little girl, and baby boy (I don't remember where I wrote their names rip OTL)

(this hella cool bugbear design is work of my friend @tench-art)

Mao completelly turned into fairy and only had one year and one day left in mortal plane to live, and after that she will be joining the Wild Hunt

And Chiviss ( @tench-art 's character) became small demigod and now he had his own illithyd ship, his paladin friend Valya(they are in love but very slowburn/akward about it) and clone of human monk Lee who now has to help Chiviss by doing good things and help fixing stuff he fucked up - and Chiviss plans to travel across other worlds on his ship

AND WITH ALL THAT Ronya was left the only one to rule Fort Asshole (Sarit gave it that name and it stuck X'D ) the fort, that became shelter for many many people throghout our game - basically it was like big town or small city at this point

The game ended at Ronya being like "wait so whos gonna take care of the Fort now?"

and everyone were like "well now YOU are the queen of Fort Asshole, Ronya! your responsibility now byeeee"

and Ronya was like "WHAT THE FUCK IM NOT GOOD AT POLITICS AND MENAGMENT SHIT!!! IM GOOD AT CRUSHING DEMONS SKULLS WHAT THE FUCK GUYS"

But I think Ronya will found a union with other leaders of the different groups of citizens of Fort Asshole

such as orcs Hector and Azog, who represent the interests of orcs

myconid Lubomab, who represents the interests of myconids

Ronya herself as leader of goblins and bugbears

and half-orc Lidia, who represents the interests of everyone else and all kinds of minorities

and together they will come up with something X'D how to take care of the city and trading and etc. Fort Asshole became very important trading point, since now it has the big portal cirlce to the surface, while the last city(Malonderit, I cant find how the city should be written right, I only remember how it was pronaunced so eh), that had the portal to the surface - doesnt have it anymore. So yeah, Fort Asshole has all the chances of becoming big city eventually

I know from what our DM said, that at some point other bugbears of the city will become overly proud and will think of themselves more than other species, bc "our leader is so cool! she is the best and the strongest, and everyone else is weak loosers" so Ronya would have to beat some sense into them

she would tell them(more like angrily roar) that she would never get where she is now without help of her friends and comrades (hell she even DIED once and they had to get her ass a new fucking body), that everyone is equal here and that they should stop embarrassing her. And she would also add that its not bugbears who are stronger than everybody but its particularly HER who's stronger than everybody XD and if anyone of those bugbear assholes wants to argue with that - they can challange her to battle in orcs' arena and see if they could win her in wrestling battle. nobody's up for it? theN SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!

ALSO Ronya promissed her wife Hikt that she won't be risking her life as much as she did during demon invasion anymore so I guess her life gets less adventurie now

She would gladly teach kids her knowladge of hunting, tracking, scouting, and nature of underdark in general... when she has time lol, bc being leader is hella busy job (she didn't want it but she was choosen to do it U_U )

(idk what else to add haha you can ask anything specific if you want. but im very pleased you want to know more about Ronya, Thank you)

#Ronya #dnd #underdark #bugbears #bugbear #my oc #my art #my ocs #ask #asks #Hikt #goblins

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radioactivepeasant · 1 year

Text

Fic Prompts: Meddling Mar

A warning this chapter for a mention of Dark Warrior Program related violence (because Praxis is just. The worst.) It will be in italics for those who wish to skip it.

Click HERE to go to the chapter index for this fic

(From last time:)

The king studied him for an uncomfortable moment, then his lips twisted at the corner into a smirk.

"You let me fix that haircut you gave yourself, and I'll call it even."

Jak did not appreciate Daxter's howl of laughter. Or Mar agreeing on his behalf.

Nonetheless, he had nothing to trade, and so he grudgingly agreed to let this bizarre ruler fix his hair the following day. Thankfully, Damas didn’t comment on how absolutely abysmal Jak’s handiwork really was. Instead, he just asked questions about preferred length, and what he wanted his hairline to look like.

"What do you mean hairline? I mean, doesn't it just kind of look like that normally?" Jak asked, a little bewildered.

Damas muttered something under his breath, but his expression was kind when Jak turned around.

"You have options, you know. Look at your brother’s hair. We could do it like that, or you could do a fade-"

"A what?"

"...alright, we're starting at square one, then." Damas stood up. "It's a tapered cut, essentially shaved on the sides and "fading" into the rest of the hair. Give me a minute, I think we're going to need the comb my wife uses."

"You're married?!" Mar demanded with an incredulous expression.

"Yes?" Damas raised an eyebrow. "Am I not allowed to be?"

"Well where is she, then?"

The king pointed to the window in the ward, towards the ocean.

"Fishing. She spends two days a week at sea overnight, barring storms."

"Oh. Like Ollie."

Damas didn't know who Ollie was supposed to be, but the name obviously meant something to the older boys. (Older boys: plural. That was going to take some getting used to, trying to remember that the orange mustelid looking thing was evidently a teenage boy with a very unusual condition.)

"What's she like?" Daxter asked, tiptoeing as if he could see her through the window, "Is she hot?"

He quailed under a stern look from Damas.

"She is to be respected. And while I will settle for a verbal warning for a first time, -- considering you have likely not been subjected to particularly reputable influences in Haven -- she is within her rights not to."

Daxter flattened himself against the bed, ears pinned back against his skull. He mimed zipping his lips closed and covered his mouth with both hands. Jak rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Disreputable influences, huh," he snorted. "That would be "loudmouth KG on every street corner and hour shift" in our case."

"And Torn," Mar chipped in.

There was something unusually bitter about the way Jak answered, "Sure. Torn too."

After an awkward few seconds, Jak added, "You can do the fading thing I guess. I don't care either way."

"You should," Damas grumbled, "Didn't anyone ever teach you how to take care of yourself?"

"Nnnnope."

The boy didn’t sound nearly as concerned about that as he should have.

"Ye gods and little fishes," Damas muttered under his breath.

He needed to come up with some kind of guardian, and soon. If he let these three attempt to survive on their own, his wife would skin him alive.

"Alright then. Fade it is. You make sure that razor is sharpened -- run it on the leather strop. Yes, like that -- I'm getting the comb."

It was a calculated move on his part, leaving Jak with a sharp object. It was a gesture of trust -- or more of a leap of faith. Giving Jak the sense that no one objected to him being able to protect himself, while also showing him vulnerability. If the kid was inclined, he could very well try to slit Damas’s throat. Of course, he hoped Jak wouldn't do that. It wouldn't end well for anyone involved. But maybe he'd find the gesture comforting.

Damas dug around upstairs through his wife's cluttered washroom. As sparse as it was, he was amazed by how much junk Phobos managed to drag in. It was always "I'm gonna make something out of that", but then she hopped from project to project as time allowed, leaving half finished blades and combs and cups all over every available surface -- and even some unavailable surfaces.

By the time he'd actually found the comb, Damas had accidentally knocked over a box of shells in the process of being ground up into paint, dislodged a sketch hanging over the mirror, and gotten pigment dust all over the right side of his head when he'd stood up too quickly and knocked his head on a shelf.

His attempts to hide the evidence were mostly successful, but not enough to keep the little Not-Mar from noticing a streak of gold on his cheekbone and hair. He let out a delighted shriek of laughter and pointed, so of course Jak and Daxter turned and stared too.

Ah, the judgement of teenagers. Just what everyone needs.

"Phobos booby-traps her bathroom, I swear," Damas sighed. "At least there were no snapping turtles in the sink this time."

"This time?!" Daxter echoed, alarmed. He fell back onto Mar's pillow. "Eesh. Jak used to do that too, til we got the dog."

Mar stiffened in something akin to panic. "Chopper! Where's Chopper? Did they take her too?"

"Calm down, squirt." Daxter patted Mar's knee. "I left her with Tess. She's gonna be fat and spoiled when we get her back, but Tess won't let anyone hurt her."

Mar relaxed. "Oh. I remember her, she's good."

Daxter grinned. "See? I know what I'm talkin' about." He elbowed their little brother. "Hey hey, maybe Spike King should put some of that glitter on Jak, since he's already having a spa day, huh?"

"Shut up, Dax," Jak huffed.

Jak would never have expected a haircut to be soothing -- embarrassingly.

Nobody was yanking through his tangles, complaining loudly about how "unmanageable" it was. No one was sloshing burning plant extracts into his hair, untwisting his coils into stiff, "good" hair. And somehow, Jak wasn't afraid.

The Baron’s prison had never bothered to cut their victims' hair; they hosed prisoners off to avoid vermin and wash away blood and that was the extent of it. But the Baron still had a habit of yanking prisoners around by the head on his few "inspections".

Especially Jak.

The worst had been a moment when they'd thrown him into the blood-soaked "training course", with the few other surviving members of the experiment. When Jak had refused to salute the Baron. A day when he'd been brave enough to spit in Praxis's face. Enraged, the Baron had hauled him bodily from the ground, hard enough to rip a couple of hairs from his head. He'd flung Jak headlong into the half-cover brick wall for his insolence. It had knocked out one of his canines on impact.

He still hadn't saluted.

Jak was glad they'd never figured out that his first dark transformation had completely regrown his missing tooth. He had absolutely no doubt that the experiments would've taken horrifying new turns if they'd learned about the regeneration. Jak's muscles twitched in a suppressed shudder.

Less than a second later, Damas quickly withdrew his hand.

"What is it?" he asked, "Did I hurt you?"

How had he known that had been a reaction? Even Daxter had trouble telling what was a fear reaction and what was just a spasm.

"Muscle spasm," Jak lied, "Sorry. It happens sometimes."

"....uh-huh."

Damas didn’t sound like he was completely convinced, but he didn't say anything more about it. He rinsed his comb in a bowl of water and continued easing through Jak's hair, gathering it up with a clip on the top of his head. Once or twice he sat back and made thoughtful humming sounds.

"Well, young man, now we find out how well you sharpened that razor." Damas held a hand out, just waiting.

Jak held his breath.

And handed him the blade.

"Well done. I'll be quick," Damas murmured. He trimmed and shaved in careful motions, pausing whenever the castaway tensed up. "This won't take as long as your brother’s hair did-"

Then he whispered, "-and clearly I won't have to bribe you to sit still like I had to with him."

After pausing to imagine the strange king trying to comb a squirming, thrashing Mar's hair, Jak scoffed and grinned.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

They descended into silence, and Mar lost interest after a minute or two. He slid off his bed and began boldly rifling through Damas’s bag before the man reached back and caught his wrist.

"Excuse you!" Damas scolded, "What do you think you're doing?"

Mar shrugged. "Looking for the peg game."

"So ask, barbarian!" Damas gently pushed Mar away. "Pick a pocket like that in the city and you'll bring more trouble down on your head than it's worth. No more of that, understand?"

The little boy scowled. "Your hands were busy! Asking makes people mad at you for bothering them, anyway. What are you scolding me for?"

Wolves. They were raised by wolves. For a moment, Damas felt like he was dealing with one of Mar’s tantrums.

He stared at the little boy incredulously and leaned forward.

"Ask. First. We aren't mind readers. And this isn’t Haven."

Mar's frown deepened. "Fine. Can I have the peg game?"

"I didn't bring it today," Damas answered, "But you may get the green canvas bag out and play Pathway if you like."

"That one's hard!" Mar complained with a frustrated grunt. Nonetheless, he pulled out the bag and undid the drawstring to unfold it into a game board.

Jak raised his brows and studied the nondescript grid on the mat. "How does this work?"

Daxter shuffled a stack of battered cardboard squares with lines on them and separated them from several tiny figures.

"You start at a corner and put down tiles to make a road. Can't cross another line or go off the board or you're out."

"You have to trap other travelers in loops or send them off the mat," Mar added.

He pouted.

"Daxter always wins."

This, Jak was shortly to discover, was not an exaggeration. At their warden/potential new boss person's encouragement, Jak picked up a token and joined the game, only to find himself cornered within three turns. Daxter wasn't even that good at the game; Jak and Mar were simply too impulsive to consider strategy on something that wasn't life or death. (And even when things were life or death, they were still reckless.) Now and then Damas made an observation or suggestion, but for the most part he focused on Jak’s hair.

After getting his token run off the board for the seventh time, Jak was getting frustrated. Still, he was too stubborn to admit defeat -- especially in front of someone he was probably going to end up working for. (It was the only way he could think of to pay off whatever their medical care had cost, anyway.)

He was about to demand another rematch when he heard the razor drop into the bowl with a soft splash.

Damas thumped him on the shoulder in a kind of rough, playful gesture and stood to shake hair clippings onto the floor. There was more of it than Jak had expected.

"You're done. Look in this and tell me what you think."

He handed Jak a small, scratched mirror, no bigger than his fist.

Jak stared into the glass and a stranger stared back at him.

The face in the mirror looked softer, rounder. More like Mar than he'd ever believed possible. He was still pale, but it almost looked like the dark circles under his eyes were fading away.

With one finger, Jak traced the sharp, neat, line delineating his forehead from his hair. It would take some getting used to. But he liked how the sides of his head looked.

"Oh," he said softly.

"Oh?" Damas repeated, "Is that good or bad?"

"Good, I think." Jak ran his fingertips through gold coils -- the green was starkly obvious at his temples now -- and idly twisted a longer strand around one finger. "I look..."

I look like someone cares about stuff like my hair. Never had that before.

"It's new," he settled on.

"Better than before, at least," the king said. He shook the last stray hairs from his tunic.

Someone cleared their throat from behind them, and both Jak and Damas turned to find one of the monks a few feet away at the door. She looked faintly perturbed by something -- Jak wondered if seeing a king doing menial tasks was normal or not here -- but waited to be acknowledged. Immediately, Damas gathered up the comb and razor and left their alcove.

"Strip your bedding after the noon rest," he ordered, a little distractedly, "You'll be moving to Alma's building tonight, so your beds need to be ready for new patients."

Then he hurried to the corridor to speak with the monk.

"Ruth, yes? What is it?"

The woman glanced over his shoulder at the boys, and the lines around her mouth deepened. "Word from the medical records keepers, sire."

She fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve, clearly uncomfortable. "It's about the young exiles."

Damas ignored the foreboding whisper in the back of his mind and held his customary facade of stoic thoughtfulness. "Already? I was under the impression that the cheek swabs wouldn't yield results for another two weeks."

A muscle twitched in Ruth's ghostly white cheek. "Tam sent me to inform you that their gene samples are causing some trouble in the system. He requires four extra days to ensure that there has been no contamination of the samples during transfer. In the meantime, he had a question regarding the childrens' fingerprint records. There is an anomaly we are unable to account for, despite it being completely impossible."

"What kind of anomaly?"

Despite the heat of the afternoon, Damas felt a chill across the back of his neck when the monk answered him.

"The younger boy's fingerprints are fully identical to the elder one's, down to the last line. In all ways save the size, they are the prints of the same person."

#jak and daxter #meddling mar au #jak and daxter mar #jak and daxter au #dadmas #king damas #tw violence #the game is based on one i played at a work conference #i can't remember the real name of it #Phobos is going to come home and be like WHO MOVED MY STUFF #spoilers: Mar is IMMEDIATELY going to tattle on Damas to her #free day thursday #fic prompts #writing prompts

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avatar-anna · 2 years

Note

hm.. an angst where the reader has cheated on Harry with another guy, and even though that sucks, Harry still loves the reader so much that he still wants to continue the relationship, and yeah, they end up together despite everything. 🤷‍♀️

sigh...y'all are a sad bunch lmao

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

One Very Big Mistake

"I'm sorry, H, please, it was a mistake!"

"No, a mistake is turning my white laundry red. A mistake is forgetting about date night. What you did was not a mistake. It was intentional. And you can't take it back."

Harry was holding onto his fury with everything he had. Y/n was crying, her mascara running down her face as she tried to explain, tried to make him understand. Seeing her so upset hurt his heart, and he wanted to pull her to his chest to ease her pain, but he couldn't. She had committed the ultimate betrayal, and he couldn't be the one to comfort her. Not now, and possibly not ever. So he held onto his anger, hoping it would put a thick barrier between the two of them.

"I wish I could, Harry," she sobbed, trying to step closer, but Harry just took another step back, which only made her tears fall faster. "I wish I could go back and do things differently. I would never, ever want to hurt you—"

"That's bullshit, Y/n, and you know it!" he seethed. Why was she trying to convince him otherwise? "What did you think was going to happen when you told me? That I would smile and joke about it and we'd move on? We've been together for two years. How did you think sleeping with someone else would make me feel?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry, baby—"

"Don't call me that," Harry said. It used to be a pet name that filled him with warmth and butterflies, and he didn't want the memory of that to be tainted by this argument.

"The only thing you're sorry about is getting caught, Y/n. Were you ever going to tell me? Or was I just supposed to live in ignorant bliss forever?"

She shook her head, almost aggressively so. "No, I was going to tell you, I wanted to tell you the second it happened, but—"

"When? A week from now? A year from now? Or maybe when we were married and had kids so it wouldn't hurt as much? I can't believe I wasted two years of my life with you!"

And that was when Harry started to get choked up. Because outside of her cheating, things had been practically perfect. He was happy, and he thought she was happy too. How long had they been living a lie?

"Don't say that. Please don't say that, Harry. I love you," Y/n cried.

"Clearly you don't, or you wouldn't have done this." He could feel tears starting to form in his eyes, a lump forming in his throat. He couldn't let her see him like this, he wouldn't. "Get out. We're done."

Y/n's eyes widened, like it never occurred to her that Harry, her sweet and gentle Harry, would ever kick her out or talk to her this way. She knew she'd torn their relationship to shreds with one drunken mistake on a night when she was particularly vulnerable, but she wasn't from London, not even close. Her family didn't live here, she didn't have many friends outside of Harry's, and she lived with him. He was her home, and losing that, losing him, felt like a punch to the gut.

"Harry, please, I—I don't have anywhere to go. I promise to find a place to stay later, but please, don't—don't make me leave now. It's late, and I'm—"

"I don't care," Harry said, sounding devoid of any emotion. "You should've thought about that before you got into bed with someone else. Maybe you should go stay with that bloke. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to have you."

Despite his battered heart, the anger that was coursing like fire through his veins, the words he spoke still felt like acid on his tongue. For two years, she meant something to him, and it was hard to ignore.

"Please, Harry. Can I just sleep on the couch? I swear I'll be gone in the morning," Y/n pleaded, though not a shred of hope was in her heart.

Harry wanted to say yes, but that was the problem. He loved Y/n enough to forgive her, so he needed her to be gone as soon as possible so he wouldn't make that mistake. So, not even looking at her, he said, "Get your things and go. I don't want to see you again."

Not looking back, Harry turned and walked away from her, locking himself in his home studio so he wouldn't have to see Y/n as she packed her things and left.

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Y/n was alone and empty.

She'd never regretted anything more in her entire life than walking down to the bar by Harry's house and sitting down. He'd been gone on another one of his writing trips, something he did often so she was used to watching him go and waiting for him to come back.

But that had been the fifth time he'd left his house for a few days in the last couple months. When Harry convinced Y/n to move to London with him, she agreed because they both hated the long distance, and she thought it would bring them closer, both physically and emotionally. Things had been good, but not great. It felt like Harry was always busy all the time, like now that she was here, he didn't have to be as attentive or make as much of an effort if they were closer in proximity to each other. And for a while, Y/n thought so too.

Harry was really only gone for a couple days, and then he'd come back and be all over her. And then he would leave again, and the cycle continued until he stopped trying as much. Putting more effort into his album than his relationship. Y/n knew he got like that the closer he got to finishing a project, but in the past she had her friends and family.

Now she was alone in a country she wasn't very familiar with.

It was hard all by herself. Y/n wandered the halls of Harry's house late at night—she read the books on his shelf, she slowly made her way through Harry's record collection, she stocked his kitchen with all her favorite foods, she even bought yarn and knitting needles to try and replicate the sweater everyone had been recreating online during quarantine. The real thing was in Harry's closet, but she wanted to make one with her own colors.

So one night Y/n decided to go out. Harry hadn't picked up her calls, and it was another night of eating leftovers and watching a movie by herself on Harry's couch. Another night alone in a house that didn't really feel like hers, no matter how long she stayed there. Y/n loved Harry so much, and he made her so happy when he was here, but lately it felt like he was rarely around.

She hadn't planned on doing what she did when she went out to the pub. Y/n just wanted to get out of the house. She'd hardly done so unless it was with Harry or if it was to go to the market or to work. So she walked out of the house, wandered around on the pavement for a bit, and finally ended up at a bar.

He was a nobody, not at all her type, definitely not the kind of person she would ever go out with, which was probably why she let him buy her a drink. He was harmless, and he was just being nice.

But then one drink led to two, and two led to four, and four led to getting in a cab back to his place.

When she woke up the next morning, she felt like she was going to be sick. Her skin crawled with guilt as last night replayed in her head over and over again. These were the kinds of things Y/n was supposed to forget, to black out of her mind, but she was forced to live with the memories, and the knowledge that she'd just done the one thing she never thought she would do. She cheated, and that was something she could never take back.

Y/n felt so guilty she made herself physically ill. That was how Harry found her—leaning against the toilet and waiting for the nausea to pass. He asked her what was wrong, and she immediately started crying.

Harry had never been so angry before, at least not around Y/n. Seeing him that way broke her heart because she knew she was the reason he was acting this way. He was so gentle, so kind. And yeah, he maybe sometimes got a little caught up in his work, but that wasn't an excuse to throw away a two year relationship, which was exactly what Y/n did.

So now she was staying at a hostel, trying to save up enough money to find a real place, or go back home. She could definitely afford a one way ticket, but she wasn't quite ready for that. Staying in London while knowing Harry was there but couldn't see him was the right punishment for her. It was what she deserved after the horrible thing she did.

She never left her room. Even as people came and went about their day, she rarely got out of her lumpy cot. It wasn't right for Y/n to feel this depressed when she was the one to blame for everything, but she couldn't help it. She took something so good, and just put it in a blender and tore it apart.

Her family tried to call, but she didn't pick up, just let her phone die. Y/n didn't do anything. She was just...there, hardly existing.

All Y/n could do was think about the last two years. They were amazing. Harry took her on the best dates, he confided in her and she confided in him; they went on adventures together, she helped him when he was stressed with work and he did the same for her. He kissed her good night and woke her up with good morning texts with little hearts and kissy emojis. He knew Y/n like no one else did, and she knew him. They loved and supported each other. They were everything to each other.

So Harry got a little caught up with his work occasionally, so what? He didn't neglect Y/n. He didn't ignore her, he was just busy. She was whining because he wasn't giving her any attention, what the hell was that about? There was nothing wrong with Harry. She was the problem.

Tears came and went, and so did sleep. She didn't know how long she spent at the hostel, she was awake enough to pay for the cot at the front desk, but other than that, she was in and out of sleep. Y/n wasn't even really tired, but she didn't have any motivation to do much else. She'd taken a leave of absence from work, not that she really needed to anyway. She had a steady job back home, but when she moved, her certification didn't transfer overseas. So she'd been doing odd jobs here and there, but it didn't really matter. Harry always promised to take care of her. But now that that was out of the picture, what was she supposed to do now?

It didn't matter, none of it did. Y/n was alone and miserable, and she deserved it.

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Harry was going out of his mind with worry.

He'd kicked Y/n out, but some selfish, masochistic part of him wanted her to come back, to fight for their relationship, but she didn't. And when a couple of days went by and she still hadn't called or showed up to get the rest of her things, Harry started to worry.

He was still pissed, but he was also still in love with her. He cared about what happened to Y/n, and he just had this feeling that something was wrong.

For days he went back and forth about reaching out to her or not. Harry was still hurt, and he wasn't really ready to make that phone call or hear her excuses. In his mind, nothing ever excused cheating. Y/n was his everything, but then she did the worst thing one could possibly do in a relationship. Y/n didn't flirt, she didn't kiss, she slept with someone else. Harry'd never felt more betrayed in his life.

But that didn't immediately erase all the love and good memories they shared over the last few years. It wasn't like her to just drop off the face of the earth like that, even with their current situation. And she left her stuffed bunny, the same one she'd had since she was a baby. She once told Harry she took it to every new home she'd ever been in, but in her haste to leave his place, she must've left it behind, and now it was just staring at Harry every night. It looked lonely, which only reminded him that she were probably lonely.

Or shacked up with the guy she cheated on you with. That was the bitter thought that came up after Harry felt sorry for Y/n, and he'd been on this relentless, bitter cycle ever since she left.

"I'll call her parents," he said after two weeks had gone by and she still hadn't called or come by the house. "I'll call her parents, and she'll be fine, and I'll move on with my life."

Except her parents hadn't heard from her. No one had. As far as her friends and family knew, Y/n and Harry were still happily in love.

And that was when he really started to worry. It wasn't like her to not talk to her family. She talked to them at least a few times a week, and the fact that she hadn't was cause for suspicion.

Harry was still angry, still hurt, and the idea of reaching out made him feel more things than he was ready to feel. But he couldn't just not check on her knowing that something could be wrong. Y/n cheated on him, but he wasn't a monster.

So he called, but she didn't answer. In fact, his phone wouldn't even connect the call. Did she block him? How the hell was he supposed to get ahold of her?

He searched, and searched, and searched. And the longer he couldn't find her, the more he started to worry, to panic. She could've been anywhere, she could've dropped dead somewhere, and Harry would have no idea. Why did Y/n have to make him worried sick? He was supposed to be trying to get over her, and then she had to go and mess it all up by going AWOL.

Harry finally went to the police when he couldn't find Y/n on his own. It didn't take very long to find her now that he had professional help. She'd checked into some dump a few blocks away from his house. Harry went to the hostel, and it only took a little bribing to let the person at the front desk to let him into her room.

Did he do this?

Y/n was on a cot in the darkest corner of the room, huddled up underneath a thin blanket and a single pillow. Harry's heart squeezed when his eyes landed on her. Whenever they were in bed together, she loved sleeping under a blanket mountain with piles and piles of pillows. Harry could barely get to her, used to ask for entrance into her little pillow/blanket fort when he wanted a kiss.

She cheated, and he was rightfully angry and hurt, but he didn't want her to be...whatever she was under that blanket. Harry felt guilty, and he wasn't supposed to feel guilty. He thought back to the last night he talked to Y/n as he walked over to her little cot. He practically kicked her out like a stray dog. He'd been hurt, reasonably so, but that didn't mean he had to be horrible to her. That's not who he was, even on the worst day of his life.

"Hey," he whispered, but she didn't answer, didn't even move. Resting a hand on her shoulder, he nudged uer. "Y/n. Wake up."

She slowly turned around, and Harry tried not to cry. Her cheeks were hollowed out, her eyes sunken and held no light in them. This wasn't his love, this wasn't Y/n.

"I think I'm dreaming," she mumbled, her voice dry and crackly from disuse.

"No dream. I'm right here."

Y/n shook her head. "No, no. I had a dream just like this," she said. "You came here and you said, 'Baby, what are you doing here? You have a perfectly good bed at home.' And then I tell you it can't be true because you said you never wanted to see me again, but you pick me up and bring me home anyway and tell me you love me and that everything will be alright."

"I'm right here, Y/n," Harry said again, squeezing her arm just the tiniest bit to prove his point. "And I do want to take you home. You shouldn't be here."

"I didn't have anywhere else to go," she sniffled. "I don't—I don't have any family, or—or friends here. I f—followed you here because I love you and—and I wanted to make things easier, and then you were never here, and I—I have nowhere else to go."

Y/n tried to turn back over, but Harry didn't let her. "You do. Let me take you home."

"I don't live there anymore," she said. "Don't worry about me, Harry. I'll be fine."

Harry took a deep breath, considering his words. He'd been stressing over what he wanted to say to Y/n, how he wanted to say it. And he still wasn't really sure, but one thing he couldn't do was sit by and watch her suffer like this.

Y/n made a mistake, he could admit to that now. And when he heard her say, "you were never here," he thought about the last few months. And when he looked back, he realized she might've been right. She certainly shouldn't have cheated, but it seemed like they both understood that. She had been beating herself up for weeks, and...and he loved her too much to let her go.

"I want you to come home, Y/n. Please come home."

"I hurt you. I did the worst thing a girlfriend could possibly do, an—and I'll never forgive myself," she said, her voice shaky as she continued to cry. "You deserve someone who—"

"I don't want anyone else. I know you messed up, but things weren't right between us. I was never home, and I took you away from all your friends and family—"

"No, please don't," Y/n said, sitting up immediately. "This is all on me, Harry. I—Oh my God, I did something unforgivable. Why are you—"

She looked at him curiously, trying to blink back tears and hold back hope. She didn't deserve his grace, and maybe he'd regret it down the road. Maybe he would never be able to let this go, but he was trying now, and that was what mattered.

"Because I love you," he said. Harry's eyes were watery and red, his hair sticking out in different directions because he'd been tugging on it every day since he realized Y/n was virtually missing. "I—I know what you did, and maybe it'll take a long time to get back to a better place, but...I'm in love with you, Y/n. You drive me crazy—crazy in love, just plain crazy—but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to fix things. Y/n, I want to fix things. We were broken long before you...did what you did. It won't be easy, but I want to be with you. I can't stand to see you this way, and—"

"And? What? Harry, please, don't stop talking, I can't—"

"And you left Pebbles at my house, and he's been very lonely without you."

That only made you sob harder, but Harry was there to hold you. "I'm so sorry, H, I'll never stop apologizing. And I love you. I'll never stop loving you. I—I'll do anything to make you forgive me."

There was a part of Harry who wasn't ready, that was still hurt, but a bigger part of him wanted Y/n more. She was his love, and he was hers, and that was how it was supposed to be. One bump in the road, that was all it was. He believed in their love enough to get past this, to move forward. Perhaps that made him naive, perhaps he just felt bad because you were living in a hovel looking so pathetic and sad. Perhaps things wouldn't work, but he wanted them to, and Y/n wanted them to, and that was enough for now.

"Let's just—Let's just go home. We have the rest of our lives to figure things out, okay?"

With shaking hands, she cupped either side of Harry's face. "You mean that? I understand if you just feel bad because I look horrible or if you'll change your mind. I don't want you to do something you don't want to."

Harry rubbed a thumb across her cheek, and she immediately closed her eyes. It was the first time Harry had touched her with intention aside from holding her up. She missed his touch, she missed him so much it physically hurt. She shouldn't have been trying to talk him out of his decision, but she loved him too much to see him hurt or be angry with her.

"Y/n," Harry breathed. He leaned in like he wanted to kiss her, but he stopped himself, not quite ready for that yet. "I want to try. Please let me take you home."

Nodding, you let him lift you out of bed. Harry carried Y/n all the way to his car, whispering at her to never scare him or her family like that again. She was tired, smiling a little as he set her down in the passenger seat.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," she mumbled. "And thank you for keeping Pebbles. You didn't have to do that."

Harry huffed out a laugh, the first time he did anything remotely similar in weeks. Looking over as he drove, he saw that she was fast asleep. He placed a hand on Y/n's knee, needing to feel her, needing to know that she was actually there.

"We'll be alright, won't we?" he asked. Y/n didn't answer, of course, but she wasn't really asking her. He believed it. And maybe he was an idiot for believing it, but he was in love with her, he was pretty sure she was the love of his life. He couldn't let that go, he just couldn't.

Y/n had driven herself into a dark spiral after Harry kicked her out. She made a mistake, and if one day he ever messed up, he hoped she would forgive him too. It wouldn't be easy, but she was worth it.

Harry squeezed her knee, stepping on the gas so he could finally have a good night's sleep with his love and her stuffed bunny tucked under her arm.

"We'll be alright."

#harry styles #harry styles blurb #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfic #harry styles imagine #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles oneshot #harry styles x you #harry styles angst #harry styles writing #harry styles one shot

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yellowjacketsgayfanfic · 1 year

Text

Taissa finally makes a move on you after years of romantic tension

SUBMISSION: Hey would it be possible if u could write some adult Taissa x reader?

That place had fucked everyone up beyond recognition. Well, except maybe for Misty who you were fairly certain was a functioning psychopath. But it had especially not fucked you up.

Most of the girls had come from privileged upper class families from the suburbs. They had what they always wanted. Being hungry, cold, and afraid were not things that they were familiar with. Not in the same way you were.

You'd been the product of the foster care system before. Your mom was a drug addict and you didn't know who your dad was. Sometimes you wondered if you even had one. Maybe you were some kind of alien, produced asexually by a woman who only wanted to use you to get to her next fix.

In a way, there was a breath of relief when you crashed. You could be feral in an environment where being feral was necessary. When you all came back, you didn't acclimate well to say the least. You were homeless for some time, drifting in and out of friends homes and couches, traveling around the country.

Eventually, you wound up back home in Jersey. You'd made your rounds and thought it was time to face your childhood. Well, who were you kidding. You came back home because a journalist reached out to you asking about your time back there. Everything that had happened.

You of course told her to fuck off, but not before figuring out who had hired her to begin with which lead you right back to Tai because all roads off of the beaten path did. You'd finally met up with her and spent some serious time digging into her about how dangerous that was in the same park you often slept in as a teenager to get away from particularly terrible foster homes.

"I should have known you'd figure out it was me." Taissa laughed to herself, picking at her cuticles. "You're resourceful like that."

"Wasn't hard. She left with two black eyes and a bruised ego." You shrugged. "I was never going to talk, Tai."

"What about them?" She looked at you. "We don't know them anymore. It's been a long time. What if things changed?"

"Oh, yeah. Let's just spill all of our dirty laundry and tell the nation that we sacrificed our friends out in the forest and ate their bodies for fun." You laughed. "I'm sure things have changed enough for that to be something any of us want anyone to know."

"You laugh now. Have you seen the Ted Bundy fangirls?" Taissa raised her eyebrows. "You'd be swimming in pussy."

"I'm already swimming in pussy, Tai. I don't need to come out as a cannibal to get what I want."

She swallowed. "I wish I could relate."

"Aren't you married?" You made eye contact with her.

"Yeah. I don't know for how much longer, though." She said, obviously dejected. "I don't deserve, Simone."

"No. You don't." You stated flatly. "I don't think any of us really deserve peace."

"You do." She whispered. "You've been just...surviving, your whole life. I always wondered when you were going to be able to relax."

"I'm relaxing." You chuckled. "This park is very relaxing."

"Yeah? Good memories of napping under the bleachers?" Tai turned her body to you, her eyes sad.

"Good memories of chasing after you." You replied. "You always were the only tail I couldn't catch."

That got a smile out of her. A real one. "You were stoic. Gruff, even. That scared me. I guess there was also some shame about hooking up with the weird girl who slept in the fucking park. Well, look how that turned out, right?"

You nodded. "You always were an obnoxiously stuck up Jersey girl. It was kind of hot."

"What am I now?"

"You're still an obnoxious, stuck up Jersey girl. But now you've got trauma, so you have some depth." You smirked. "There's some intimacy to be found here I guess."

It was all so sudden, the way she got on her knees and pounced on you. It was almost animalistic; very primal. She gathered your hair in her hands and mashed her lips into yours. You were calm, tucking your hands under her shirt. Your cold palms ran across her warm back as she kissed your neck.

"You don't know how bad I've wanted this. For decades." You said, squeezing her hips as she began grinding against your thigh.

"You're a fucking fool if you think I didn't want it too." She spat, lowering one of your hands to her crotch. "You're so fucking self-righteous. You always thought you were better than us for being fucked up."

That was when you pinned her down, her back to the grass. You hovered over her and held her arms above her head. "I was better off for being fucked up, and none of you could admit it." You sucked on her neck, nibbling the skin. It would lead a hickey for sure.

"God, shut up, Y/N. Why can't you just fuck me without proving a point?" She shouted.

"Hm." You lifted your head to look her in the eye. "What would be the fun in that?'

#taissa turner #yellowjackets #fanfic #x reader #prompt #drabble

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harrykim · 24 days

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Books read this week

I've been reading a lot so I felt like doing a small breakdown for the books I've read in the past week:

Don't Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban: F/F victorian romance, sweet but nothing special. Chapters flip between the two girls, Beth and Gwen; Gwen is the far more interesting one but Beth is likeable enough (just not that interesting); Beth's mother and Gwen's father are also more interesting — they were previously interested in each other, back before they both married, though they're now both widowed. Beth and her mother are on a time limit to have Beth married as they're losing their home to Beth's uncle and don't have much wealth. Gwen on the other hand has pretty much no interest in marriage. Predictably the girls fall for each other. Doesn't get that deep on social commentary but it isn't devoid of it either. As said, it's sweet, and the epilogue even sets up the M/M romance sequel, which I probably won't read but who knows. 3/5.

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis; loved it. Scifi about a fancy spaceship hotel called the Abeona, though by the time of the story it's seen better days. If you're here for fast paced, action focused plot you should skip this one, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to say. Takes place over a pretty short but unspecified period of time. The chapters are each focused on a character, either a staff member or guest of the hotel, as the storyline happens usually in the background. Each chapter typically goes through a small period of time on the ships journey and flashbacks to their lives. Each chapter is interspersed with 'Lamplighter Dispatches'; the Lamplighter is an anonymous figure sending out criticism and even secrets of the Empire, including the secret to the Emperors 500 year lifespan; both the anti imperial movement and the government have tracked the Lamplighter to the Abeona. The Abeona is a ship that typically the not truly wealthy, but those who wish to seem so patronise, a false luxury seen in the wear on the ship from it's heyday decades ago, and the staff are often people who have left their old lives behind; their flashbacks typically show issues within the Empire, justifying why they end up where they have. The time passage does jump around a little though I didn't find it remotely confusing frankly, it was easy to follow and very clear when things took place in a sequential order from a previous chapter; though this could've been strengthened as the chapters of part 3 do make it feel like the passage of time is something to keep an eye on, whereas previous do not. So again, personally loved it but obviously it won't be for everyone. Could do with a better title, also I don't think the goodreads summary is that good, but it's not a big deal to me. 5/5.

Accidentally in Love with my Best Friend's Brother by Abby Greyson: Romance. In name only because it's fucking terrible don't waste your time even if you like the tropes, those being; fake dating, best friends brother (duh), bullshit nothing rivalry, uh football?, rip off gossip girl with an 'everyone in the whole town ships it but they're oblivious'. I don't understand that last one at all, she's a fucking primary school teacher why would anyone give a fuck about her. None of the characters exist outside the romance in any way. Now this is typical of many romances but it was particularly bad here because it tried to pretend any of them had lives. Their character traits were Smart and Orphan for her and Football for him. Not even going to dignify them with their names. They also just develop whole complexes that never before and never truly will affect their character or personality in any way. Horrific and overly repeated jokes, like I'm talking 5 times a chapter, and the chapters are SHORT. The book literally ends with an 'and everyone clapped' part. Well, before the married with 2 kids epilogue. The writing is also just not good lol. Minus one million/5.

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau: Cute, sweet. Fake dating that doesn't feel drawn out and fanfictiony. Emily is great, and her relationship with Mark is nice; he could be more developed but honestly the best part of the book is Emily's relationship to her mother, who's been trying to set her up with Mark for years; this is why the fake dating happens. Emily feels guilt over not living up to her parents expectations, while also feeling disrespected as an adult, being a published author who also works as a barista and tutor to pay the bills, and lives with a roommate, all at 33. Meanwhile her 4 sisters are all married and have more 'respectable' and stable professions, and children too. The writing does feel a bit... it falls into making Emily a bit too 'relatable' with how often she gets mad at bait twitter articles about millennials being entitled or whatever, which is fine a few times but would feel more justified if it leaned into the authors needing a social media presence to sell their books, but Emily only really occasionally takes photos of her food to post and that's about it, which is fine on it's own but I do think it could've made the aforementioned social media reflections work better. 4/5.

#currently reading you may now kill the bride by kate weston. enjoying it so far #idk if ill do this again lol just wanted to get my thoughts out <3 #save #*

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winterrose527 · 1 year

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for robbcella?

1. Describe their first date.

5. Do they argue often? If so, what do they argue about?

10. Do they share any hobbies or interests? How do these things bring them together?

27. How do they say “I love you” non-verbally?

42. What’s their relationship like with each other’s friends/families?

oooh thank you for the ask my loveliest one

their first date was a loooooong time coming, so it was one of those things where it's not really a first date, they are just fully with each other and loved up and then Robb is like "I should take you on a date" and she's like "... oh... yeah". They have a dinner date though and everyone has lots of opinions (about where he's taking her, what she's wearing). They go some place they've never met before, so consciously trying to make this A Date, rather than a dinner. They keep slipping into easy conversation though before they realize that they are meant to be on A Date. And finally Myrcella just like scrunches her nose and is like 'but I'm in love with you and you're in love with me and I know every vacation you've ever been on and you know all my brothers and have punched two of them so can't we just eat this food and have our millionth conversation and isn't that better than having a perfect first date?' and he just smiles because he realizes he's going to have her by his side and across the table from him for the rest of his life and is like 'yeah sweetheart, it is'

5. no they don't argue often. they definitely go through patches where they are arguing more but that typically has to do with something larger they aren't talking about, usually a milestone that should be coming up in their relationship - getting married, having kids - that one of them feels strongly about and isn't entirely sure how to handle. their tried and true arguments though are that Robb is seemingly physically incapable of closing the kitchen cabinets after opening them & Myrcella doesn't always indulge him if he is feeling jealous - her behavior has never done anything to cause him concern and she refuses to be held responsible every time someone thinks she's hot. that one goes away pretty early in their relationship though because they grow up and get over it.

10. I think their shared hobbies and interests are really the people in their lives, that's how they come together and really mutually enjoy something. They both have their own hobbies though and are definitely supportive of each others. Robb basically follows along with whatever book she's reading because when they're lying on the couch together she's always reading him passages, and he'll be up to date with plot twists. She could not care less about sports, but will go with him to games if one of the guys aren't available, and doesn't mind having them on in the house while she's reading or doing something else because she can tune it out. She's somehow absorbed a lot of knowledge against her will though and so all of a sudden something will happen in a game and she'll just spew something out and Robb is like 👀 and she's like 'what?'

27. oh what a sweet question! they have thousands of ways of doing this. Robb will get up early with the kids on Saturday morning and let her sleep - which she actually can't do but will lounge in bed and enjoy her peace for a little while. Myrcella will organize a low key Stark et. al. family meal when Robb is particularly stressed, knowing that his people recenter him. He'll call her mother, because he knows if he doesn't it's something Cersei will throw at Myrcella (even though Cersei never wants to talk to him actually). She'll spend hours with him in home improvement stores. Favorite dinners and back rubbing and shared gazes and a whole lifetime of taking care of each other.

42. Robb is super close with Gendry (brothers in law twice over) and fully adopts Tommy as another younger sibling. Robert is OBSESSED with Robb and Robb thinks he's basically pond scum but indulges him when he's not upsetting Myrcella. Cersei hates Robb, like HATES him, but will begrudgingly admit he takes very good care of her daughter and grandchildren. Tywin respects him, but wouldn't go so far as to say he likes him. Jaime was going to like him but then saw Robb grab Myrcella's ass one time and has never forgiven him.

Myrcella is a Stark, full stop. She was long before her and Robb got together, and his parents were long praying they'd come to their senses and get together. His siblings are her siblings. Sansa is her oldest and best friend, and Rickon is insanely protective of her, but she's got great relationships with Bran and Arya.

They get along really well with each other's friends, though Jon and Sansa are their go-tos for everything. Jon and Myrcella are just as close as Robb and Sansa so it's very often that some combo of the four of them are together.

Myrcella adores Theon (he thinks he's her favorite which makes Jon and Gendry cackle, but really pisses Tommy off I've just decided), but has very little patience for his antics. Robb has learned not to intervene there and just let them play through whatever side plot they have going on.

Marg has long been the third in Myrcella and Sansa's trio, and she and Robb have a very silly, sometimes flirty relationship unless someone has crossed Marg and Robb is like NOPE NOT ON MY WATCH and she's like dude I've already eviscerated them and also I have three older brothers you weirdo.

I'M SO SORRY THIS GOT SO LONG

#long post #robbcella #head canon

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