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kimbap-r0ll · 2 years

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How do you think Malleus would deal with overblotting and he threatens to put his crush to sleep until they experience true loves kiss, but crush is like “You can do that?! I’ve not been sleeping much lately, so I want you too.… are you going to kiss me in a couple of months to wake me up though or am I going to have to wait for somebody else?”

Omg, you come up with the most fun scenarios. I have a thing for overblot since the designs are so cool, I wonder what Malleus would be like if he were to overblot (it’s probably going to be the end of the world then). Thank you for the ask!

Malleus is more on the yandere side for this too, and the storyline might seem a bit out-of-the-blue, but I hope you enjoy!

Overblot!Malleus x reader

No one expected the fae prince to overblot, not even Lilia. How did this all start? Everyone could only look at you as the answer.

You had arrived to Night Raven College from seemingly nowhere, and you were the only person in the school without magic. You had gotten along with Grim, Ace, and Deuce when you first arrived, and now, after being part of the chaotic school for a while, you had gotten to know a lot more people. One of them happened to be Malleus, one of the greatest magic users in Twisted Wonderland.

A few days before the overblot, you were sitting outside in the school courtyard with the usual trio, eating something you had attempted to bake and talking about how Crewel’s lab that day had been brutal.

“Y/N!!!!” a familiar voice called to you. You and your friends turned to the direction of the voice to see none other than the headmaster himself, running to you with a smile on his face.

“It seems that I have found a way back for you to go home! Aren’t I just the kindest?” he beamed, putting his hands on his hips.

“Really?!” you hadn’t felt your spirit rise as much as it had in this moment. You could finally go home, back to where your friends were, away from this confusing magic, and...

But you remembered. You had many friends here that you might never see again. Looking back at the trio only confirmed this as they gave you a weak smile.

“Hey, at least you don’t have to take Trein’s exam then,” Deuce laughed.

You walked back to Ramshackle with Grim later in the day.

“I can’t believe it, you’re actually leaving!” Grim pouted. “Just when I thought I was getting a henchman!”

“Hey at least you can be housewarden for real now,” you tried to assure him. But he looked up at you with sad eyes as you opened the door to your dorm.

“I won’t see you again, right?” Grim said in a quieter voice, his eyes seemed to droop.

You bit your lip, it was hard thinking you had gotten so close with a talking cat, but it was true. You two had been through ups and downs, all of it together, and now it was just the end.

But no one was more upset about your departure than a certain housewarden.

Sebek had learned you were leaving when you announced it during Vargas’s class. Everyone was telling you good luck and safe travels, also saying tearful goodbyes.

“It seems that the Ramshackle’s leader is leaving now,” Sebek said as he saw Malleus enter the dorm.

“Oh? Is the cat leaving?” Malleus wasn’t sure if Sebek was talking about you or Grim.

“No, y/n,” Sebek replied. “It’s a bit sad that they’re leaving, but-“

Before Sebek could finish, he heard something snap. Looking over at Malleus, he realized the fae prince had broken the phone that was in his hand.

“Ah, lord Malleus,” Sebek tried to reach for the prince but he soon disappeared.

Malleus hadn’t felt this kind of fear before. He was, afraid? The great prince was scared of something? Yes, it was the fact that someone who seemed to understand him, accept him and admire him, was leaving. You were the only person he truly felt a connection to either than Lilia, and was hoping that you would never leave, as horrible as that sounds. He had gotten attached to you after he saw you in Ramshackle as he was taking a walk. The two of you often visited quieter areas of the campus and talked together. It was as if you brightened his days, and made his heartbeat go faster.

He wasn’t going to let you go so quickly.

He ran to your dorm, only to see that the lights were off. Perhaps you were sleeping? You were likely going to have a long trip tomorrow, so you had to be inside. But as soon as he tried to open the door, a ghost showed up next to him.

“Oh, you must be the one kid walking around here often!” the ghost smiled at him.

“Where’s y/n.”

The ghost looked surprised at how dead serious the student was, and swallowed hard.

“Well, y-y/n left a while ago, apparently they’re all packed up and-“

Malleus wasn’t having this. At all. First y/n leaves without saying goodbye, and now he wasn’t invited to bid them farewell?

The stress seemed to be reaching a tipping point.

“...I see,” Malleus looked down at his hand. He was going to be alone again. Like all those centuries, he would see lives fleeting away while he remained the same. But, he couldn’t let you, there had to be a way to stop you!

All the emotions he had bottled up for you seemed to spill over as he realized how he needs to act, quickly.

“I guess I’ll just have to get you by force then.”

The whole building seemed to shake. You even stopped midway while you were climbing the stairs. You held on, wondering what was going on. Lilia, who was concerned that Malleus hadn’t returned to the dorms yet, was walking around to see if he was looking for you. Lilia was right.

The vice dorm leader stepped into what felt like a dark puddle, pieces of rubble floated in the air around him.

“What’s going on, Malleus, is that you?!” Lilia shouted over the rumbling sound that was being caused by whoever was cloaked in a dark smoke. He didn’t need an answer as one glowing emerald eye was enough for Lilia to understand.

Malleus had overblotted.

You were still holding onto the stairs, but you felt the pressure of whatever magic was going on grow stronger every second. Was something, someone approaching you? Before you could think one more time, you suddenly felt like you were being lifted from the stairs and up into the air. Something was holding you. Was it thorns?

“W-wha?!”

You thrashed around, getting cut by the sharp edges until you saw someone floating up the staircase and towards you.

“If you keep moving around like that, you’ll get hurt, human.”

“M-Malleus, Malleus what are you doing?!” you shouted at him. This was unreasonable! You looked at his face, and then his entire body. Only then did you realize he too was going overboard. Why did it happen on the day you were leaving?! There was no one around you, and Lilia was still running after Malleus so he would be a few minutes late to the scene.

“L-look, if you want me to stay, I told you that I can’t!” you tried to reason with the prince. Malleus didn’t look like he was having it however.

“I can make the excuse that you weren’t able to make it to the mirror,” Malleus responded. He was only a few inches away from you now, his hand on your chin so you could look up at him.

“How?” you asked slowly, his gaze was too strong for you to keep eye contact with.

“Well it’s simple, have you heard the tale about the sleeping princess? It’s quite popular in Briar Valley,” he gave you a soft smile. Before you knew it, there was what looked like a barrier around you two, shutting off any access from others. From the corner of your eye, you saw what looked like Lilia and Grim.

“Y/N!” Grim shouted, but you couldn’t hear him due to the magic shield around you and the overblotted housewarden.

“We can’t break through this easily,” Lilia held his magic pen in the air before shooting a beam at the wall, but it didn’t make a single dent, let alone a scratch.

Crowley seemed to be on the opposite side, on the top of the stairs, watching what was going on. He too was trying to break the barrier.

“Malleus! This is unacceptable! What are you doing?!”

“Everyone’s so loud outside, they weren’t even invited,” Malleus muttered. Before you knew it, the two of you were teleported somewhere else.

You were still held by the thorns, but you were now standing. You two seemed to be at one of the towers of the school. It was the same place the two of you had the Gargoyle Study Club meetings. No one knew about this location other than Malleus, you, and Silver, but it wasn’t likely the third member of the club would be coming up here soon.

“That’s a bit better,” Malleus gave you a soft smile, something he used to do often when he saw you talk about your life back in your world.

“As I was saying, the sleeping princess is a famous tale, one where she was under a sleeping curse. The curse would only be lifted once she received a true love’s kiss,” Malleus continued, looking off at the distance somewhere. The skies were beautiful after all that night.

“Ah,” you looked down at the ground.

“You can do that?” you surprised him with your words. “I’ve not been sleeping much lately, and with everything that’s going on right now it doesn’t sound so bad.”

He thought you were joking, but he let you go on.

“I’ve been interested in you as well, so, are you going to kiss me in a couple of months to wake me up? Or am I going to have to wait for somebody else?”

“Child of man, this is no joke,” he looked at you, dead serious in the eyes.

“I know, but with how you don’t want me to go, and how I caused you to overblot, I feel like the least I can do is stay and be asleep.”

“You’re tired.”

“More or less.”

There was a silence in the air. You weren’t sure if playing the situation lightly would get him to come back to his senses. You didn’t want to sleep for eternity, and you didn’t want to risk the chance of Malleus kissing you and you never waking up. So, out of spite, you tried to make things more light-hearted, just like you always tried to brighten his mood.

Malleus closed his eyes and chuckled softly to himself. Suddenly, the whole pressure that was around the two of you seemed to intensify.

“I do not wish to let you go so easily, and as you seem unafraid of a sleeping death, perhaps that is what you truly wish.”

Overblots are hard to stop, and not only that if the overblot is from a powerful mage things could be nearly impossible to stop. Lilia and Grim, along with Crowley, saw the two of you at the tower and rushed up there. But once they reached the top, they saw the two of you, with you in his arms, asleep.

“They're asleep,” Malleus looked at the headmaster, then at Lilia. He was back to normal, with his school uniform and his usual nonchalant aura.

“Draconia, do you know what you did?” Crowley asked. Malleus looked at the headmaster with wide eyes.

“No, I’m afraid I’m not aware. I seemed to have blacked out the moment y/n left for the stairs,” Malleus looked down at you.

“Is y/n okay?” Grim asked, jumping out of Lilia’s arms.

“Yes, they said I was acting strangely before passing out,” Malleus replied.

Somehow, it seems that Malleus was able to return to normal after overblotting, not to mention you were able to stop him from cursing you. You did manage to stay for a little longer, so that both Malleus and you could be less lonely.

“If you did curse me, I don’t know if I would’ve liked it,” you laughed while at the infirmary, Malleus was sitting next to your bed.

“It pains me that I almost did such a thing,” Malleus sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back in the chair.

“But hey, I could’ve gotten a kiss from you, and maybe been less tired” you replied. Before you knew it, Malleus had placed a kiss on your lips.

“There, are you awake now?”

“...As awake as I could be.”

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liesmyth · 1 year

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What is wheel of time and should I start it tomorrow?

you SHOULD.

Wheel of Time is an epic fantasy series by the late Robert Jordan. It's epic in scope, in length, and in its insanely large cast of characters. It's fascinating. The worldbuilding is insane, but also familiar (partly because it relies on widespread fantasy tropes, partly because it made many of those tropes popular for many books published later). The characters are exasperating but deeply human; I love SO many of them and appreciate so many others. It's very Of Its Time in some regards, especially re: its handling of gender roles and sexuality, but it's also surprisingly progressive and queer in intent even when the execution falters, and I really appreciate a lot that it even tried to Go There, because it was Very formative for me as a young teen. It's also one of those books where you can see the author's kinks all over the place (both narrative and otherwise) and tbh? it's a bit cringe but lots of fun. Also it’s very well written; the plot is as Epic as epic fantasy gets but it’s really the character moments that make the reader invested in the story. I just love it a lot, ngl.

Fun fact: I am now today on tumblr dot com, blogging in english, because sometimes around age 15 even though I fucking hated english class in school I just couldn’t wait for the latest books to come out in my country so I had to become fluent enough to read a 700-pages novel by myself. THAT is the grip this series had on me.

Some things I am now into because of reading WoT starting at age eleven.

codependent magical bonds with loyalty kink thrown in (if you’re familiar with TLT, think necro/cav but usually f/m. Not always though :) )

femdom. both F/f and F/m varieties

Propesized Savior trying to kill their humanity to become a figure larger than history (before realizing that's bullshit)

what if monastic(ish) order of sole women but also we had sex about it

unfortunately. a lot of weird kinks. I will elaborate on request but it’s better if I don’t right off the bat.

no, I lied. It wasn’t unfortunate. I appreciate it when authors are brave enough to let the banner of their id fly high

ruined civilizations and newer, less advanced civilizations rising from the wreckage. the collective understanding that you live in a post-apocalypse world. old scientific principles becoming magic

confronting your alternate dimension self, as a treat

dream sex

devil-may-care rogues who actually care a lot

alien morality, or cultural differences so big that they fundamentally are the same thing

people who are SO Wrong about everything but are 100% committed to their own personal moral code

whatever the fuck Mat’s luck had going on

“I know what my destiny is but I say: fuck you”

I can’t stress enough how many of my kinks (narrative; sexy in fiction only; sexy in RL) came directly from this series. Like, I know I’ve already said that but putting together this list made me think and. Oh my god.

SWORD MAIDENS

More practical information: there are 14 books. Yes, I know. The first book is The Eye of the World - it's fun and probably not exceptional even though you can feel the hints of how grand and insane the greater worldbuilding will be, and some characters really shine (Nynaeve!). The second book is where it really gets original, the third book is where I went from "books I like" to "series OF ALL TIME". If you don’t like it by book 4 then give up. If you like book 4 as much as I did you will never ever want to give up.

There's also an Amazon Prime show, currently S1 has been released! I haven't watched it beyond the first ep, but plan to do it soon; it's a lot more f/f than the books and the back half had some pacing issues (partly due to COVID fucking with the production) but definitely very iddy from what I've heard, and I’m very excited to check it out in time for S2.

tldr PLEASE read wheel of time!

#ask #Anonymous #wheel of time #wot #FORMATIVE SERIES OF ALL TIME #btw not worth going into it in the actual post but. when i say 'of its time' i mean 'conceived in the late 80s & plotted in the early 90s'#the author was a vietnam vet from the american south who identified as het & went to a military college #and they are SURPRISINGLY queer even with that #it's one of those cases where i'm like. yeah the execution was clumsy but. the fact that he tried gave Interesting results

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mort-the-destroyer · 1 year

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I’m curious is there an ever after high character you think is underrated?

Hard to say, a lot of ever after high characters in the show don’t get a chance to be fleshed out, so it’s kinda hard to say that they’re underrated if they don’t get a chance to do anything.

I’m sure everyone knows I think that the book version of Duchess is underrated, though it don’t know if I’ve explained it past “she has it bad”

I think Duchess is interesting because her reasons for not being a rebel despite obviously not wanting her story make sense in the books, but not in the show because it leaves out a crucial element of her story.

Duchess is already cursed, and even if she doesn’t sign the book, that doesn’t change. Not following her destiny won’t change her situation, and becoming a rebel will make her an outcast.

Also, her idea to steal a destiny isn’t as unfounded as you might think, in Next Top Villain she is put in the general villainy class against her will, but overhears this is because the headmaster is considering making her the new Evil Queen.

Duchess figures she can use dark magic to stop her curse, so is willing to betray all her friends to avoid her fate, which backfires as she hates being alone.

Her crush on Daring is also completely recontextualized when we learn that she likes him because he was nice to her when she was bullied as a kid, but Daring doesn’t remember her, and is pursuing her best friend Lizzie, which is basically what happens in the fairy tale she’s trying so hard to avoid.

I think it’s also interesting to note how smart she is. In eah she’s actually got the second highest grades (first being apple) and part of the reason she tries so hard to be a villain is because she’s never failed a class before, and wants to keep a high reputation.

Sorry for the long rant but there’s so much to say about her.

I also think ginger is a bit underrated as well, her story in the show is just a lite version of Raven, but she’s actually really interesting in the books!

#eah #ever after high books #ever after high #Raven Queen #Duchess Swan #lizzie hearts #daring charming #read the books please #I’m begging #next top villain

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carewyncromwell · 10 months

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“I’ve always been a smart girl... Always made the grade -- always got the gold star -- I’ve always been a smart girl, But ‘smart girl’ only gets a girl so far... You win at every single game... You want a quest -- they tell you, ‘tough!’ If you don't go, you'll never know If you’ll ever be good enough...”

~“My Grand Plan” from The Lightning Thief (musical)

x~x~x~x

Hey all! I thought I’d go ahead and draw up a proper concept for my HPMA girl Anastasia “Ana” Read, since quite frankly I never envisioned her as skinny, short, or talkative as MC in the game is. The lack of body diversity in the MC’s models in particular, or even among MC’s friends, is actually one of my biggest hang-ups with all of the recent Hogwarts games...as much as I understand up to a point thinking it’d be difficult to program a lot of different outfits or animations for different size models, it’s still a little sad to me how the player character is always programmed to be skinny, and in Magic Awakened in particular, that favoring of skinny character designs is only accented all the more thanks to the quasi-Tim-Burton-esque animation style, which favors toothpick-thin necks and limbs. It’s one of the few aspects of poor representation in Rowling’s original books that I would argue these recent games haven’t tried as hard to address -- we’ve seen attempts at more LGBT+ representation, as well as more positive representation for different cultural backgrounds and disabilities (especially in Hogwarts Mystery), but not as much in regards to rounder body types. And I guess for me, being raised by a woman who struggled with her weight her entire life, that’s a little sad. Regardless, it was nice to draw Ana again after such a long time, particularly using the original game’s model as a kick-off point!

If you’d like to learn more about my “Strong But Silent,” daydreamer, Sailor-Moon-loving girl Ana, here’s a masterpost of links to get you started!! Enclosed under the cut is the original unedited sketch, embellished with some extra messy chibi doodles of Ana I did on the same page, in case you’re interested!

Ana’s Moodboard

Ana’s Intro Post and Model Sheet

Ana’s Playlist

Meet Ana’s awesome step-dad, Bradley!

See Ana’s dynamic with her stepdad and stepbrothers!

Bradley’s Moodboard

Preston’s Moodboard

Jasper’s Moodboard

Why Bradley is the best dad ever

The first doodle is kind of based on that first pair of duels with the Frey twins and Cassandra Vole in the game. As I discussed with my friend @dat-silvers-girl, I see Ana being suuuuper quiet the entire time, to the point that everyone thinks she’s really shy or nervous, until she -- seemingly out of nowhere -- uses Wingardium Leviosa to levitate poor Colby a good five feet off the ground and then abruptly drop him, effectively putting an end to the duel before it even got started. (As it turned out, Ana was really inspired by Flitwick’s story about Ron Weasley using the spell on that mountain troll to protect his friends and worked super hard to master the spell herself, with the thought that maybe she could do something that cool someday. It ends up becoming one of Ana’s favorite spells to duel with, though she usually uses it to levitate herself over her opponents to give herself the literal “high ground.”) Ana accepted Cassandra’s invitation to the Dueling Club, as well as challenges Cassandra on the dueling field several more times over the years, out of her strong sense of honor, which is funnily enough rather akin a knight’s -- Ana will never back down from a challenge, and if her loved ones or her view of common decency have been insulted, she will absolutely ask to “take it outside” and fight the dispute out on the dueling field, rather than insult the person back, ignore them, or actively lose her temper and attack them straight out.

The second doodle is Ana in class, a good chunk of the time. Ana isn’t actually that shy, nor is she stuck-up, but she’s much better at writing eloquent essays than coming up with witty phrases or sassy one-liners on a whim. And because of how incredibly sensitive she secretly is (and the bullying she experienced for both her magic and her weight), she’s actually kind of hard to get to know, preferring the company of her fiction books to lots of people. She’s honestly a true “Belle” type, if one thinks of Beauty and the Beast, despite being in the house of Lions.

The last doodle is of Ana with Daniel Page, because, amazingly, these two are on the exact same wave length when it comes to the Statute of Secrecy, though for very different reasons! Ana’s stepfather, Bradley Pinkstone, is a pro-Muggle and Squib rights activist who passionately believes that the Wizarding World should find a way to work alongside the Muggle World, to the extent that the Statute of Secrecy isn’t necessary -- he and his sons even work in a theater alongside Muggles everyday, embracing Muggle technology just as much as they do magic! With Ana being Muggle-born herself, she’s likewise very supportive of the thought that if the two worlds knew more about each other, other little magical kids wouldn’t have to grow up feeling like freaks and outcasts the way she did. That doesn’t mean that Ana would ultimately agree with NOTME’s tactics, though -- she thinks there’s a very big difference between protesting against an unjust law and causing abject terror and chaos. (I personally see Daniel as more of a Ravenclaw/Slytherin type than a Gryffindor type myself, but that’s just my headcanon.)

#hpma #magic awakened #anastasia read #my art #about anastasia #daniel page #cassandra vole #colby frey #fischer frey #bradley pinkstone

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rjalker · 11 months

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Flying Orcs

Believe it or not, there’s actually one species in this setting with powers to match the Raksura. These are the Fell, and they’re our big villains. They can do almost everything the Raksura can do, which is good. It would be a pretty short story otherwise. Unfortunately, the Fell are an inherently evil species, a trope I really thought high fantasy was growing out of.

The Fell aren’t just a group that does bad things. The book is very clear that being evil is in their nature. They’re compared to parasites: feeding off of others and never creating anything for themselves. Except in this case, “feeding” means that they literally eat their enemies. They also constantly stink, which is about the most visceral way to signal that they’re bad.

We’ve explained the problem with this trope before, but the short version is that when stories cast an entire species or race as evil, it reinforces real-life ideas about how certain people are inherently bad. It’s also just hard to believe. The Fell are so cartoonishly destructive that it’s difficult to see how they could have evolved that way, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we learn in later books that an evil god made them that way just because.

On the bright side, the Fell aren’t obviously coded as people of color the way orcs often are, so in that way, they aren’t quite as bad as what Tolkien got up to.* But on the less bright side, their big evil plan is that they want to “breed” with the Raksura to produce powerful offspring.

Oh boy. So now we have an evil species whose main goal is to rape the good guys. I know I said the Fell aren’t obviously POC coded, but that sounds an awful lot like what white supremacists say about anyone with darker skin than them. It also casts the heroes as not just trying to stop rape, but also being disgusted at the idea of any mixing between Fell and Raksura. Gotta keep the bloodlines pure, I guess!

Magical Caste Systems

In the midst of harshing on the Fell, we shouldn’t forget that the Raksura are also loaded with toxic tropes. One of those is their magically enforced caste system. You see, until now I’ve only been describing one type of Raksura called Aeriat.* There’s a second type called Arbora, and they form the Raksura’s labor class. The Aeriat are always the leaders, while the Arbora do the work.

That might sound like an unjust system ripe for overthrow, but instead the book assures us it’s a good system that the Arbora are very happy with. The Arbora don’t have wings, you see, so they’re just less capable than the Aeriat and need their protection. The narration even tries to tell us that it’s the Arbora who are really in charge since the Aeriat don’t want to upset them.

Live link, archived link.

this person missed the part where all Fell have black scales, because she just couldn't resist having Black = evil. So then consorts like Moon get mixed up for "the bad ones".

#Rjalker reads The Books of the Raksura #biological essentialism #how not to write #Martha Wells critical #Martha Wells biological essentialism #The Books of the Raksura bigotry #The Books of the Raksura biological essentialism #The Books of the Raksura racism #The Cloud Roads

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forabeatofadrum · 2 years

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Summary: Simon Snow dies in the White Chapel, and Baz has to live an immortal life without him. Or so he thinks. Every twenty years, when the Veil lifts, Simon and Baz are able to reunite. Something is keeping Simon from moving on, and Baz doesn’t know if he wants to find out what that is, because it would mean letting go.

And if there’s one thing Baz can not do, it’s letting Simon go.

Notes: Welcome to the fic that I affectionally call “damn Baz, you live like this?”, although Christina @facewithoutheart is the one who came up with the title Time After Time (thanks!)

I started this fic before Any Way The Wind Blows got published, so when it was still up in the air whether Baz was immortal or not, so back then I ran with the immortal!Baz idea and it turned into this. A few weeks ago I decided to finally revisit it and I’m happy to tell you that it’s almost finished. Yes, almost. The first four chapters are already finished and I hope to update this every Monday.

Enjoy!

AO3

Before

2016

I almost did not go to the funeral.

In the end, I decided to go there to support Bunce. I wonder if I will ever forget the image of her screaming and clinging to Simon’s lifeless body. I don’t think I ever will.

It was short and, well, sweet. It was a private funeral. The entire World of Mages could mourn their Chosen One, the Greatest Mage who sacrificed himself to defeat the Humdrum.

We mourned Simon.

I didn’t cry. I never do.

After the funeral, Bunce came up to me to tell me that she’s moving to America. She’s going to Chicago. Her boyfriend Micah lives there.

“I never actually planned on going to America,” she had said. Her voice was raw because of all the crying. “Simon always thought that, but no way in hell I was going to leave him.”

Now, she has no reason to stay.

Wellbelove has also decided to leave, but she’s going to California. She wants to become a vet. A Normal vet.

I was never friends with either of them, but having them leave makes me ache. I did go to the funeral, but I did not go to the airport to say goodbye.

A lot of people don’t understand why I have come back to Watford. No one expected me to. This is the place where my mother and my boyfriend were murdered by the Mage.

But people don’t understand how much Watford meant to those two. Simon loved Watford more than anything, including me, probably. And I was not going to be the first drop-out in the Pitch family. My mother would’ve wanted me to finish my education.

It hurts to have the room to myself, though. Mitali Bunce, who is now the Headmistress, even tried to bend the rules, but magic can be unforgiving. I spend most my days outside my room and I spend the nights in Dev and Niall’s room.

I’m so grateful to have them as friends. No one else approaches me. They pity me, since they know what I’ve lost.

Everyone knows the true nature of my relationship with Simon. This was not the grandiose coming out that I had planned, but I also hadn’t planned on Simon being murdered. I still don’t fully understand how it happened. One moment, Simon and the Mage were holding each other. The next, they both dropped dead.

Dev and Niall try their best to distract me from my thoughts, but they weren’t there. They didn’t see what I saw. Still, I appreciate them.

With Bunce gone, I am the top of our class. I am asked to give a speech at the Leaver’s Ceremony. I decline.

2017

I don’t make friends during uni. Dev and Niall have become a couple and they’ve moved to Oxford together.

I try not to be jealous of them.

2022

Mitali Bunce is surprised to see me.

“Well, I must be dreaming,” she says when she reads my application again.

“You’re not, ma’am.”

Mitali looks up from my CV. “You sure you want this?”

I nod. Watford is my home. Watford brings me closer to the ones I’ve lost. I’m ready.

#story: time after time #snowbaz #simon snow series #carry on #holy fuck I wrote #2021 #multichaptered #2022 #this is basically a small prologue!!!!

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destinygoldenstar · 1 year

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Ranking Every Just Dance 2023 Map For New Years

So. New years have arrived. To think I have 75 followers now. That’s insane. You guys are awesome.

I guess I should do something for New Years, huh?

Let’s see...

Oh! I know!

I’m gonna rank every level from Just Dance 2023!

Why am I doing this?

2023.

That’s the only reason.

Okay, for a bit of my background on the game franchise, I’m not a hardcore Just Dance stan, and I am a bad dancer. At least, I was told that by my oh so nice friends ( /j )

However, I remember a lot of fun times I had with the games. One of my friends birthday parties was a dance party with one of the games. In my middle school gym classes around the end of the year, Just Dance was an option to play for the class, and I ALWAYS chose that. We had four people do a dance at a time on the Wii as a little competition. I never won once :(

And even at my senior high school holiday party, we had one of these sessions...

Dancing to the dreaded Rasputin.

That had me drained of energy the rest of the week. That map HAUNTS MY DREAMS.

In terms of myself OWNING a Just Dance Game though... I never did. Yeah, despite my fun, I didn’t own a game myself.

UNTIL this very Christmas, where I got 2023 as a gift from my parents.

I LOVE this game, needless to say. I didn’t even know they were still making Just Dance games since like, 2016, so I was in LOVE with the evolution of the gameplay. And the song choices? MWAH. MY CUP OF TEA RIGHT HERE.

This might be one of my favorite Just Dance games I’ve ever played. (Which is not a high bar, so don’t get mad at me)

I actually made this game my new workout routine. I DESPERATELY need exercise for my weak nerd arms, especially for a community performer who can’t help with stage work even if I tried. So this game is gonna be my fun workout routine every day. A gym? What’s that? (I’m still healthy either way, so leave me alone)

And, well, from this being fresh in my mind, and 2023 in the title, I decided to make this my New Years gift to you all to celebrate 2023.

I bet none of you asked for this.

Keep in mind, I am NOT a good dancer, and from my background of Just Dance, I don’t have a lot of knowledge on what makes a Just Dance map good or not. This is just gonna be based on my enjoyment of these maps. I could love a map that’s poor quality by Just Dance standards. Idk, I wouldn’t know.

ALSO, if you’re gonna ask about the rules of the ALT versions...

I will NOT be ranking ANY of the ones with the actual human coaches.

Those are all TRASH in case you’re wondering. I hate them. They take away from the creativity and magic of Just Dance maps by having them be real backgrounds for me, and I don’t like it when game developers exploit real people for profit.

So I’m just gonna ban those from my mind.

Then there’s the issue of the versions of the maps, one regular and one extreme... I would say I’d only rank the maps separately if they are different from each other enough, but... I can’t determine that.

So I’m just gonna talk about the maps I want to talk about.

If I don’t mention one, I apologize in advance.

So, let’s get this train wreck started...

X Tier

48:

Zooby Doo

I hate Zooby Doo.

Before the dance even started I knew I’d hate this map.

This is baby game bait, and it nauseates me that executives forced this on talented choreographers who worked on this game. The entire map screams, ‘this is for babies, and absolutely no one else’

The song is awful. Must I say more?

The backgrounds are awful. I don’t understand why they’re all inflatables.

The coaches are awful. ONE OF THEM IS NAMED ‘DOODOO’...

...

ANYWAY, the coaches are awful. The designs are really bad with no coherences whatsoever, and the inflatables they’re wearing is so distracting and limits leg movement.

Oh, and it’s a duo map. I don’t like duo maps. I think they rely too heavily on using a partner, which if you’re doing it solo, you basically cannot do the dance. Even the best maps suffer from being duo maps because of this.

And I might, MIGHT have forgiven it all if the dance was at least fun.

It’s not.

There is little to NO choreo at all here. It’s just flailing around to obnoxious music. And when you’re just dying for the map to end, it K E E P S G O I N G.

I am never touching this map ever again.

47:

Stay (Inflatable Version)

...no.

46:

Top Of The World

I like the song.

And that song deserves SO MUCH BETTER.

This in my eyes is only a commercial for a Paddington ripoff.

Actually, if it was Paddington, I think the map would've been so much better. Mostly because I could follow a bear as a dance coach better than a crocodile, which has little limbs and a big tail!

(Also why is the croc sad at the start? That’s never explained)

This dance is easy, and yet it still feels impossible to do because the coach is so unreliable.

And the backgrounds are... not good. Apparently this map REALLY hates color. NOT EVEN FOR THE WRISTBAND THAT’S MEANT TO GUIDE THE PLAYER.

You know, this is a commercial for a CHILDRENS MOVIE, and yet you provide NO COLOR.

That’s absurd to me.

Or, I don’t know how children’s entertainment becomes successful for children.

45:

Danger High Voltage (16 Bit Version)

How do you RUIN the concept of a 16 bit map?

This is how!

Destroy the energy of the original.

Make the 16 bit backgrounds inconsistent and hard to follow.

Make your coach fart to remove enemies.

Make your coach DAB.

Did you know that in one of my middle school community productions? We all had to do a dance battle in a superhero themed show in front of several people, and at the end, we were all supposed to strike a superhero pose.

Then, the directors decided to YEET that idea in favor of the entire stage DABBING. Because ‘it's trendy’.

I hated dabbing ever since.

And I hate it when directors use ‘it’s trendy’ as an excuse.

The dancing really kills any potential this map really had, and the moments I pointed out already destroy it. It’s above the others for at least being a dance I can follow.

Ok Tier

44:

Walking On Sunshine

This is not in the bottom tier because the song is actually kinda catchy.

Other than that, this map is NOT GOOD.

I don’t usually mind coach switches because they’re used in clever ways and aren’t just thrown in there. Here though, there is SO MANY switching coaches that it feels nauseating more than anything else.

And I can tell this is borrowing nostalgia from previous games due to the intro yeeting out a coach for a worse designed version of them. And when half of them are doing their own collective dance, and the other half are doing their own unique one, how am I supposed to understand what to do besides flail about? THE DIRECTIONS DON’T HELP EITHER.

The stick person idea is okay on paper, but is executed terribly. These aren’t stick figures being stick figures, these are knockoffs of previous maps, like I said. And they’re doing a bad job at such.

43:

Stay

There’s only one reason this map is this low.

I HATE this song!

I can’t stand this song.

The censors being incredibly distracting in the map and wherever is the LEAST of it’s problems. I even hate the uncensored version of this song. I think it’s obnoxious and devoid of substance besides trying to win a world record of ‘how much can we cuss in our chorus?’

And I don’t even hate songs automatically for cussing. Welcome To The Internet is one of the best songs of all time if you’d ask me.

I’m not even one of those ‘new generation music is bad’ people. But I feel like those kind of people point to this song specifically to make their claim.

That’s the only reason why I’m not playing this map again other than to make this list. Because I don’t like the song.

The map otherwise is okay though.

The coach looks nice, I think the city background is pretty and I like the defiance of gravity. I think it could have a Spiderverse-esque feel if it went above and beyond with the concept.

Man, those elements just get overshadowed by a terrible song choice though.

42:

Dynamite

Why does this map feel so dirty?

I get the lyric is ‘Funk and Soul’

Yet to me it sounds like ‘F**king Soul’

One of the dancers lift a finger at one point, and they’re in the back so it makes me think it’s a middle finger.

And at the end that same dancer does a pose you see in a lot of sex stuff.

That’s the most interesting thing about this map. The rest of the map did not do it for me.

The song is... fine.

The choreo is... fine. Though this is the Extreme level, and it wasn’t very hard for me.

The background is... fine. Though they spin the camera around the bar at one point that makes me feel sick. Especially when they show all that junk food afterwards. Unlike a map like Wannabe where the bright colors are controlled with a mundane background without the flare, this map is all bright colors, no exception. This map kinda gave me a seizure. Especially when there’s WAY too much going on.

If you can get behind that, it’s an... okay map. But I don’t think I’m gonna play it again.

41:

Drivers License

I think this one is either you like it or you don’t.

I don’t.

I don’t like this song. That’s fully personal taste for me. And the map nothing to help me get invested in it. It’s so slow and boring, and the choreo is aggressively repetitive.

I think this is meant to be an emotional one, yet it’s clearly trying to hard. The entire focus is on these silhouettes of the couple and the coach looking oh so sad the whole time. If the coach is sad, why would I want to dance, you know?

At least I don’t feel sick dancing to this one.

40:

If You Wanna Party

I think this one does get a LITTLE too much flack. The choreo is actually pretty fun to dance to when you actually play it, and for that alone, I do find myself coming back to it.

Especially Jack Rose’s solo bit. Jack Rose is best coach. I don’t care what anyone says.

What really is the issue here is the song. The song did not do much for me. I don’t find myself listening to this song outside of the map. I am NOT one of those ‘new generation songs suck’ people, I just choose which songs I like and which ones I don’t. I think that’s for a lot of people.

Plus I think the song is pretty nostalgia heavy with these past game maps floating in the background. Personally, I think it would’ve been better to use examples from the first three games or so than what appear to be maps from later in the series. That’s just me tho, and I think it would’ve felt like a better celebration of the franchise than what we got.

I do come back to this one for the choreo, but I personally would’ve been okay with the story mode ending with Majesty.

39:

Telephone (Runaway Version)

I have never been more disappointed with an ALT than this.

You guys probably already know where the original Telephone map is on the list.

For now though, this one is... not great.

First off, they’re seated the whole time.

Second, it’s a duo map, which I don’t like those.

Third, this choreo drains all the energy from the song. There is next to nothing interesting happening to me. I guess the coach’s enthusiasm is enough to save it, and I love the song either way, and I can appreciate the INTENTION of a seated performance, but I expected such a better ALT to Telephone than this.

Why couldn’t we get an Extreme Level of this song?!

38:

Million Dollar Baby

I almost mistaken this one for the real people dance. But TECHNICALLY no.

It’s Ava Max dance coaching her own song with some pretty diamonds everywhere. Pretty pretty.

Whoop dee doo. Moving on.

Good Tier

37:

We Don’t Talk About Bruno

I didn’t know where to place this tbh. I’m still questioning why this exists.

But it has it’s moments. I like how close it resembles the movie version and makes it feel like you’re interacting with the people around you.

The background characters though... yikes.

And I like the choreo on the bridge solo with Mirabel.

I have nothing else to add, just... why?

36:

Sissy That Walk

The placement is simple: This is just not my thing. But it is well made, and I like the coach singing as well and even being ooped by the censors. Not much else to say.

35:

Heat Waves

I actually find this map kinda wholesome. You know, for a robot map and easy choreo and a song I don’t care for. I dunno, this robot coach is adorable, and there’s nothing really bad about this one.

But the choreo does limit the player a little bit, especially when the robot spins it’s arms. Humans don’t have that joint capability sillyheads!

34:

Disco Inferno

This one has some value to it for sure. It has a bit of the charm of Magic, just with a devil instead of an angel. It’s not as good as Magic though, and it’s very... twentieth century. (I never heard of this song before, so I don’t know when it was made)

33:

Playground

Here’s a TOTALLY unpopular opinion...

Arcane is AMAZING.

I don’t talk about it on my blog because it contains certain subjects I fear I won’t be able to talk about without offending someone. Kinda like when I review Dhar Mann. However, it’s easily one of the best quality shows of the DECADE. And we’re only at 2023! And I doubt it’s gonna change!

So of COURSE this amazing show was gonna get a Just Dance map. It just makes sense...

And it’s... okay?

I heard a lot of people say Enemy would’ve been better, and... yeah. But Playground is a good song too. I think our love for Enemy overshadows the rest of the good songs in Arcane quite a bit tbh.

I come back to this one quite a bit more than the others I talked about before actually, which is why it’s higher.

Plus the backgrounds are beautiful and the dance resembles Arcane pretty well. I didn’t even expect there to be any of the psychosis scribbles, but I’m glad they added that there.

My biggest gripe with this though is that this should NOT have been an easy level. Arcane is an INSANE show that is FAR from easy to understand. I think to represent the show, the map should’ve been at least a Hard difficulty.

That would’ve definitely suited Jinx and let her go WILD with this dance. It IS Jinx after all, she would never take things so easy, let alone have her choreo be this repetitive with it’s chorus.

Or it could’ve had an Extreme ALT with Vi in it at least. That would’ve been AMAZING.

Yeah I know it’s a commercial for a show like it was for the crocodile map but... come on. There’s a clear difference in potential here. An Extreme ALT to Playground would make you so much money Just Dance! At least I would’ve played it.

32:

More (Seraphine Version)

This is just more More.

*Cue laugh track*

Let me rephrase that.

This is just More but with Seraphine and easier choreo, and more of a stray from the music video it’s based on, which is fine, I’m glad they tried something different.

Unfortunately, the different they came up with isn’t as interesting as the original More to me. It’s just a ton of blue backgrounds, and Seraphine. Though to be fair, Seraphine alone makes this ALT worth it.

31:

Majesty

I’m sorry. This is one of the goofier ones for me.

But I do have to give the song a LOT of credit for it’s style. Replicating ALL of the story mode’s dancers styles into one is genuinely challenging, and I have to give my props to the battle style of it all.

That said, there’s a few things holding it back for me.

I think this kind of level was missed potential. Basically, when the coaches change up all the time, you only get to pick based off of the first coaches and then you go with whoever is on the side of the map. This makes it difficult for people to pick if they want to dance to the Good or Evil of the dance’s story. This is especially the case for Jack Rose, who switches sides halfway through. Yet you only get to dance with him if you pick Evil. But picking Evil also means you have to dance as these boring raven minion things for fifty percent of the song.

The song itself is also... not my cup of tea. I’m sorry, but I can’t get into it.

This makes the entire dance goofy for me, but I guess since it’s a dance battle, that’s the point. But idk, the heart kiss in the direction part (why you blowing a kiss to an evil witch?) And the way Mihaly just shows up in the crowd WATCHING from the sidelines and letting Sara do all the work.

I feel like if they used a different song and you got to choose which of ALL the coaches present you could play as, this could’ve been a masterpiece. But as is, it’s far from that.

30:

Woman

I can actually get behind this map.

And I don’t even like the song that much.

But for what the dance is, it’s actually kinda easy to get into. I like the coach’s designs and I think the choreo, while easy, is still fine to get into. I was expecting this dance to be so much more aggressively sexual given the song it’s attached to, but I was pleasantly surprised.

There’s not much to say about this one. It’s good. The song just isn’t for me.

29:

Watch Out For This

I have no excuse.

This, quality wise, should not be this high. The choreo and coach designs are hilariously awful. And the song is... geez.

But that’s why I love it. This is THE guilty pleasure map. This is ironic enjoyment. I have a good time with this map and how stupid it is. It’s not well made together, but all it’s faults laugh in its face and come together to make something special.

Everything is SPECTCULARLY mediocre at best.

28:

Radioactive

Yes. I like Radioactive. I think this dance style is very creative and a GREAT arm workout, which is what I’m looking for.

Do not let this fool you. This is a HARD dance to do. That difficulty rating is a lie.

I like how their arms manipulate the backgrounds around them, and the song is... not my favorite from Imagine Dragons. But I don’t hate the song, so I can live with it. Personally, I would’ve gone with Natural.

However, I think this dance is pretty underrated.

27:

Therefore I Am

I don’t really like how the background has the lyrics of the song. It’s annoying, and it also shoves the song’s censors in your face. Which is a shame because otherwise, I wouldn’t have noticed it because I thought the censors were well handled.

This choreo is actually pretty cool to dance to otherwise. And the background is neatly stylized.

And yes, I also looked at Happier Than Ever from 2022. That one is ten times a better Billie Eilish Just Dance map in every single way.

26:

Can’t Stop The Feeling

This map is THE intro to the game. And it shows. Honestly this song is SO dance worthy that I find it very hard to believe it took THIS long for it to get in a game. (Or was it used in a previous game? Idk, let me know)

I know I said I hated the game using real people, but here it’s fine with me because it’s only in an intro and Sara gets an Alter Ego when she steps into the Danceverse. (I love Sara’s coach design btw) The Danceverse itself is so much fun and the song accompanies that very well.

Especially when these dimensions are filled with cameos of previous Just Dance games that I know nothing about. (There was a level that took place in a laundry room?)

That’s really what’s holding it back for me. That and the choreo, being easy and all, is nothing special. I think this map is made for nostalgia bait for hardcore Just Dance fans. For casual players like me, I don’t think it’s gonna do much. But it’s fun.

AND THAT ENDING THO-

25:

Good Ones

Good choreo.

Good background.

Good coach.

A little repetitive but it’s all good.

Would’ve been great if it was longer.

It’s a Good One.

*Cue laugh track*

24:

Toxic (Extreme)

Yeah I’m sorry, this Extreme level didn’t do much for me. This is one instance where I feel like the two levels are different enough to be ranked separately. However, I DO prefer the ‘easier’ version of the map to this.

This one is less creative to me. I get it’s meant to be more ‘dangerous’ with the lasers, but that’s about it. It’s definitely an Extreme level, don’t get me wrong, the rating isn’t a lie, but I don’t care.

There’s not much story to this map whereas the easier version did. This is just ‘sneak past the lasers’

And there is WAY too much spinning in this choreo, which is crazy of a complaint because of how creative some of these spins are. But they get overshadowed when nearly every part of the song has spinning to it.

This level, to me, is just ‘More Toxic’

*cue laugh track*

23:

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

This map is SO ADORABLE OMG

But sadly this is only a cover of the song :(

Really though, I love the use of claymation to put this together. Just Dance didn’t have to do this, but they did.

This, and Pinocchio. Must be the year for claymation.

The dance is so adorable and wholesome, and the backgrounds are so cute that they interact with the song. I like the cat is in the background at one point to foreshadow the ending. Which... WOW.

But sadly it’s a duo map so it loses points for me.

Also I can’t tell if this map hates badgers or they’re just discriminative towards the third wheel of every friend group. Which is occasionally me :(

Super Tier

22:

Danger! High Voltage

Now THIS is what we call, JUST THROW EVERYTHING OFF THE WALL AND HOPE IT STICKS

And I think with the song, this was the right map to do that. I never even heard of this song before this game, and I don’t think I’d listen to it 24/7, but it’s an okay song.

What really sells this map is the coaches and their wild crazy energy. This dance is just one big punk competition on two people trying to best each other, and that’s literally the context of the map.

This one, to me, is the ‘let’s pray to god no one’s watching you dance this’ map. Because they’d question what the heck is going on.

That said, it’s still a duo map. I don’t really like the duo maps. I would do the ALT, but... we talked about it.

21:

I Knew You Were Trouble

Would’ve been higher if the choreo wasn’t so repetitive. (How is this not ranked easy?)

But I do like the song, and I think the map tells the story very well. Plus I enjoy the cosplay in it.

20:

Boy With Luv (Extreme Version)

I don’t have much to say about this besides... solid. Very solid. The song just isn’t my thing. But it’s still a very well put together map.

19:

Boy With Luv

Same thing. I just like the miniature aesthetic more.

18:

As It Was

Great visuals. Chill song but it’s fine. And there’s some relaly neat choreo here like kneeling on the floor in a jump. Love that move actually.

WHY IS THERE A RANDOM PLANE ENGINE IN THE MIDDLE-

17:

Here’s something that’s totally not unpopular of an opinion, but I LOVE K/DA songs.

Yeah I know, the unfollow button is right there.

I’ve seen several of the music videos of them, and I listen to a few of the songs on loop.

But I will admit, More is one of my weaker K/DA songs if I were to rank them. That’s why this is one of the weaker Extreme levels for me.

With that said, I don’t think non-K/DA fans know how much effort was put into this map. The backgrounds, the choreo, the costumes, and even the twist at the last chorus, ALL stem from the music video. And yet it doesn’t feel unnatural to me. Honestly, I condemn them for sticking to the spirit of the music video. Right down to SEREPHINE! *fangirl squeal*

If I had any gripes with it, I think the models they used on the girls don’t work for me too well, as their faces are way too wide for the models in the video that I’m used to. Their costumes also aren’t anything special (though that’s not Just Dance’s fault) And again, this is far from my favorite song from K/DA.

I know I said I didn’t play the previous Just Dance games so often, but I did see a ranking video of 2022, saw Pop Stars was a map, and I checked it out. While I think that map clearly favored Akali when the video it’s based on gave all the girls time to shine (and More seemed to fix that as every girl has a solo bit) I do think I like PopStars as a Just Dance map MORE than... well, MORE, because PopStars is one of my favorite K/DA songs next to Villain, I think the models and costumes are better, and it feels less... busy. And even if they favor Akali in the map, it’s not very hard to see why.

That’s just a me thing tho.

16:

Woman (All Mother Version)

Now THIS is an ALT.

I think the song fits the All Mother so much better than the regular coaches, and she mops the floor with the song’s style. And the choreo here is a lot more fun than the original.

Huh. I prefer an ALT over the original. How about that?

15:

Sweet But Psycho

RASPUTIN, YOU DREADED NIGHTMARE.

Despite that, this map is real pretty. This is definitely one of the more chaotic maps, but I think it works in it’s favor. And the costume of the coach and the rose petals?! WOW.

With that said, this choreo is repetitive. Nearly every chorus is the same. Right down to the verses as well.

It’s a well put together map though, but KEEP RASPUTIN AWAY FROM ME.

14:

Psycho

This one is definitely something special. I think the map utilizes the song to the max. I love the castle going out of sorts as the song goes on, you know, actually UNDERSTANDING what the phrase psycho means! (Sorry Sweet but Psycho)

I also LOVE the costumes of these coaches.

So why is this not any higher?

The choreo.

I’m SORRY. But this isn’t very strong choreo for me. There’s some bits I liked but others I found goofy, like the part where they hold each other and just bop for no reason. I don’t mind goofy choreo if it’s a goofy map, but this is designed to be a more sophisticated map.

And also, Extreme level? No. This was NOT very hard of a dance for me. This feels more like a Hard bordering Medium for me.

If it lived up to the Extreme level label, maybe this’d be higher.

13:

Anything I Do

This song is SO EXHAUSTING.

And that’s a good thing.

I love the style and feel of this map, especially for a song I’ve never heard before. If it weren’t for the slow mo of the dancers in the background and the excessive dropping, which gets old pretty quick and becomes predictable, this could’ve easily made the next tier up.

Perfect Tier

12:

Magic

This is going to sound INCREDIBLY stupid, but...

This map, to me, is CRAZY underrated.

Technically, it’s not the most complicated choreo in the world and is definitely repetitive. (a lot of the easy levels are, to be fair)

However, everything else about the map makes me so giddy whenever I play it. I come back to this level so many times because it’s such a feel good map. The coach is gorgeous, the stars and rainbows help the magic feel, the song itself is magic *cue laugh track*

And the lights around the last third are a very sweet edition.

This is one of my cooldown maps after a workout honestly. Quality wise compared to the others, I shouldn’t love this one as much as I do, but I do anyway. It’s my ranking.

(Also this coach is my avatar)

11:

Rather Be

This one is REALLY underrated. If you were to ask me which of the story mode’s dance style I fall in line the most with, it’s Mihaly.

I can definitely get behind their choreo and the map itself is TOTALLY my style. You know how many times I’ve escaped reality with earbuds and go to magical places?

My college hates earbuds for some reason :(

My biggest gripe is that for a song about going off to imaginary places, they use the same examples every time. I think there’s a bit of wasted potential there. But the world we got is still nice to look at.

This map also has a panda, which reminds me of my sibling, and they never wanna dance with me, so this song is the best way I can dance with them.

Great map that deserves more attention.

10:

Toxic

Is this a remaster?

This is too good for a remaster. I love the secret agent story behind it and the plane background. I love how the coach is disguised for most of the dance, which makes her red spy costume all the more eye catching. I love the choreo for this one, I love how two guys in the VIP section are taking a bath together and yet Just Dance thinks ‘sex’ deserves to be censored, I love how the third chorus has the dancing make her DODGE LASERS, and I love how the pilot dude is okay with this spy flying the plane in the end. I dunno, he’s just like ‘Eh, I’ve been kidnapped and tied up, but she’s hot, so I’ll gladly lose my career and put my passengers in danger.’

I guess the only thing is that the coach is sliding across the scene the whole time and it looks a bit silly.

Great map tho.

Love Me Land

The biggest problem with this map is that it’s too short.

Mostly because the song is too short.

This song is so groovy and fun with excellent choreography that is my jam to dance to. The coach is HOT. The lighting is fantastic. The map, while only one room, utilizes it to the fullest. It’s just a GREAT MAP...

AND IT’S TOO SHORT.

If it was a longer map, this could’ve easily been higher.

Witch

A deliciously villain song. Or dance in this case.

The choreo is repetitive, but I think it works for the witch character, who just wants to control the other dancers to her movements. And there’s still some really impressive parts as well, my favorite part with the arches moving like ticks on clocks.

Great map.

Physical

You know when I said I played this game for a workout?

Well this map seemed to have that in mind.

I LOVE the map just for that. The warmup stretches at the start? THAT GOLD MOVE WHEN YOU GET ON THE FLOOR?! The coach being an energetic queen? The people dancing with her?

This is SO CLOSE to making the top tier. The only thing holding it back is that the choreo in the chorus gets repetitive. It’s fun choreo, but it unfortunately bugs me using it in every chorus with little to no alteration. If it wasn’t for that, it would be top tier.

With that said, I still love this map. Again, the energy is through the roof. It’s been awhile since I heard the song, but I’m glad it’s in the game because it really makes you want to dance. I love the mall background as well, as the interactions with the people in it makes the entire place feel alive, even the colors that get added as you dance are you kidding me?! And I don’t even like malls.

Really, if I were to do the game for the sole purpose of working out, this one is gonna be one of my first picks.

YEAH Tier

Physical (Extreme Version)

The issue I had with the original is gone. And the choreo is harder.

This is basically if the original had no problems and made it to this tier. All the love I had for the original applies here for the most part, except here it’s completely solo designed specifically for workout purposes.

But I am NOT doing that split at the end. You can’t make me.

Now all we need is an Extreme Version to Locked Out Of Heaven and Rather Be.

LESS Zooby Doo Just Dance. Give us what we want!

Locked Out Of Heaven

Jack Rose is best coach.

At first, this looks like a regular good level, but actually experiencing the map itself is on another level.

A wannabe dancer being in the show of an oppressive figure who disapproves of their dancing pride is an okay idea for like, a story. But this is a Just Dance map, the simplicity of that story makes it so much deeper. Especially when we actually get to dance with them as though we’re cheering them on.

I love how the witch is constantly in the background to show that she’s watching him. I love the mic thing he has to dance with. (I actually danced to this with a broomstick) I love how that doesn’t get in the way of the choreo.

Said choreo is excellent. It’s nothing extreme, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a dance to let loose to and imagine yourself in another world where you’re loved and seen, just like the coach imagines.

The only gripe is the word ‘Sex’ being censored for no reason.

I can get past the censors in the game, I know they’re necessary, and they don’t distract me in most maps because the focus is the dance. This is an exception though. ‘Sex’ is not a bad word.

Danger High Voltage had ‘hell’ in it, and no one censored that. That’s bs to me.

Really, that gripe only makes me want to sing to the map when I play it, and I think that makes the experience with the map better for me, so... what could I complain?

Let me know, is Jack Rose in any other Just Dance games? Is he basically the Bruno Mars dancer?

Numb

An artist painting their brains out of a numb state of creativity.

Incredible.

I ADORE this map’s art direction with the pastels. And yet somehow none of it feels like too much. Given the map’s context, too much is kinda what it’s going for.

The coach is phenomenal as well, in both versions of themselves. With the colored version it’s a little hard to see their arms with the sleeves, but I think that’s the point. This choreo wants you to let it all loose.

The way the dance transitions to black and white to all these rapid colors, to the glass shards making both sides collide so seamlessly?!

If I was more familiar with the song, this could’ve made top three.

Bring Me To Life

Did this have to HIT as hard as it did? No. But it did anyway.

This map is phenomenal in so many ways. And I do not usually say that about the duo maps. It makes the Gold Move hard to do without a partner, and with someone like me, doing the Gold Move even with a partner would be... impossible.

That’s the ONLY issue though. The rest of the map is near PERFECT.

I grew up with Evanescence music, and this is my favorite song of theirs. This map not only dances to the song, but they TELL A STORY using the song as well!

These doll coaches are out of time in their happy little clock tower, and though they want to be saved and live longer, the tower’s destroyed, and they themselves have to accept their own demise.

That is HEAVY for Just Dance. And yet it portrays it subtly enough that it does not feel like it’s trying too hard (unlike some other maps).

The choreo also tells this story, with the split being them reaching out to the 4th wall with the��‘save me’ lyric accompanying it. The solo parts of each dancer having the other one reaching out to them. The end part being a hug as they vanish?!

The costumes of the coaches, the tower, the clock background, it’s all phenomenal with it’s atmosphere. It sets the rest of the dance and hooks you in as you just immerse yourself in the dance.

This song deserved an ALT for the people doing the dance solo.

Wannabe

So... I have a few things to say about this one.

First, the song. Before Just Dance, I’ve NEVER heard this song before. But now that I have heard it... YEAH!

I listen to this song on loop now, and currently am as I’m writing this.

And the backgrounds? YEAH!

Are they borrowing from Spiderverse? Not very likely, but still, this map just POPS in the color department and somehow does not feel busy. I don’t know how you pull that off. (Maybe it’s the city background looking mundane on purpose to make this comic book world come to life?)

I dance to this one multiple times JUST so I can catch every detail of the map. And I still don’t think I scratched the surface. The colored sound wave on the speakers? The comic book transitions to different areas of the city? The speech bubbles displaying the lyrics? The effort and creativity is off the roof! I’m scared to take my eyes off the map for even a second because I feel like I missed something.

And it’s not like the dance is lacking either. This is probably my favorite Extreme level choreo of the entire game. I am dead serious. I’m a bad dancer, and yet I want to learn this dance better, especially cosplay as these coaches.

Easy Top Tier map for me. I was caught by surprise for sure.

Telephone

You knew this one would be #1 before you even clicked on the post.

You were just here to see how I ranked the other maps.

Every other ranking I’ve seen has this at either number 1 or number 2, and the ones who put it at number 2 only did so because they had some sort of bias towards their number 1.

After playing it myself...

They weren’t wrong.

They are absolutely right.

EVERYTHING about this map is complete and utter PERFECTION.

I don’t even know where to begin!

First off, the song. This is one of my favorite Lady Gaga songs. I could not be happier seeing this song in the game this time. And I didn’t even anticipate the map to be my favorite at first.

Second, the aesthetic. Genius. For those who don’t know, there’s an extended cut of the song, which is mostly just talking and less song. Basically, it tells the story of a party fanatic getting bailed out of prison and being on the run. Welp, apply it as the aesthetic to the Just Dance map and give us one of the best costumes for a coach of the game! (I love this outfit to death)

Third, the choreo. It’s just Medium level, and yet it has as much energy and pizazz as an Extreme level, without even being an Extreme level. The stomping everywhere, the hand motions, crouching down with sass, the other criminal girls yanking your coach with strings, the upper body only part with the phone and banging at the cell wall?! And so many other moments tat would take forever to mention. Suffice to say, I love Lady Gaga maps. Even before I even got the game, I always wanted to do the Lady Gaga maps.

And what do you know? The coaches from those maps return here and get a bit of the song to themselves! What more do you want? This feels like a tribute to her work for the franchise. And yet these cameos don’t overshadow the main coach of the dance or the others. They’re a part of the map’s story as well. They’re ALL in that prison!

(There’s also the bridge with their mugshots)

This song is on all my playlists in Just Dance, and will probably continue to be on them. I love Telephone that much, for even more reasons than I can give detail to. (The end where they basically just say ‘That’s it, I’m out’? Are you kidding me?!)

There you go, that’s my ranking. Don’t ask me to do the other games.

And Happy New Year and Happy 2023!

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monachopsis-11 · 2 years

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So I’ve decided the best place to start is with how I realized I’m autistic. I honestly hadn’t ever had any exposure to anyone on the spectrum so I had no clue what Autism even was and I’d barely heard it mentioned either. So I’d been doing research online for years about different mental disorders and all kinds of other things trying to self diagnose but I could never find anything with more than a few symptoms I related to. Anyway you could imagine my surprise when I was reading Lady Midnight and relating to Ty Blackthorn intensely. Now I don’t actually have all of the more stereotypical behaviors that he has but it was the first time I’d ever related to a characters behaviors. I’ve always been a huge reader, I read my first magic treehouse book in kindergarten and never stopped and most of my special interests have been books/movies/tv shows/characters. So I’ve definitely found a lot of characters who I related to emotionally because of struggles they were going through that mimicked the things I experienced but with Ty I could actually relate to what he was doing. I don’t remember all of the examples but I remember him organizing his books by color, asking about things other characters said that didn’t make sense to me either, having sensory issues, and wearing headphones. Now this is just off the top of my head but I know there were more as well however in the book the characters are part of a government that doesn’t acknowledge mental health/neurodiversity etc. so the other characters don’t know Ty is autistic. Then all the sudden I’m reading a half a page interaction where another character who grew up in the human world and has basic knowledge of things says:

So I went “huh autistic? This could be worth researching.” And proceeded to create a 37 page Google doc with everything I read that seemed important color coded according to how much each symptom/experience related to me. From there I proceeded to obsess over it for weeks to the point where I felt like I had made it up because suddenly I was realizing all these things that I didn’t think about before like how much eye contact sucks and how stimming can be really soothing whereas in the past I just did eye contact because other people were doing it and I only really stimmed when I was really excited (like jumping up and down flapping my hands etc.) From there I decided to ignore it because I felt like I was making it up or at least exaggerating massively so I tried to focus my attention elsewhere. Elsewhere meaning 4 college courses (Photography, English 1A, English S, Women’s Studies), 2 high school classes (Integrated Math 2), and 4 AP tests (English Literature and Composition, English Language and Composition, European History, and Psychology) without taking any of the corresponding AP classes I might add. So as far as distractions go very effective and very stressful. Finally after deciding that I was ready to think about things I proceeded to do more research, this time about autistic peoples experiences and after realizing how much of a spectrum things are and how sensory issues can change over time etc. I was finally able to accept that I was autistic and look into resources for therapy and hopefully a diagnosis at some point. So while this is obviously the short version of the story it covers the main points which I thought I’d share. Feel free to leave comments/questions as I’d love to talk with anyone who has had similar experiences.

FYI not my image so credit goes to whoever it belongs to 😊

#autistic experiences #self diagnosed autism #autistic women #actually autistic #late diagnosed autistic #ty blackthorn #dark artifices

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pathfinderunlocked · 2 years

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Mind Weaver - CR5 Mesmerist

“Will you walk into my parlor?” said the spider to the fly.

Artwork by Ume on Pixiv. I recolored it (badly) to match the typical skin coloration of driders.

An intrigue enemy for you this time.

The Mind Weaver is a drider mesmerist who works as an assassin, using charm spells, manipulation, or seduction to lure her targets into solitude before killing them. And sometimes eating them to dispose of the evidence.

Your players aren’t likely to immediately find out that this drider is actually a drider unless they grapple her or something. If someone tries to do something like pick her up or hug her while she’s in disguise, she freaks out and claims that she doesn’t like being touched (which gives the target a will save to disbelieve). Her reaction is understandable, on account of the permanent visual-only illusion effect created by Fearsome Guise that makes her look like an elf. Fearsome Guise has a minor fear effect when dismissed, but that’s not nearly as useful as an infinite-duration Disguise Self spell, so she only dismisses it if she’s already in an unavoidable fight to the death.

It’s not typically legal for Disguise Self to make an aberration look like an elf, since it can’t change your creature type. To remedy this problem, she has a unique magic item, the Ring of Mistaken Identity. This ring increases her wealth to about 7000 GP higher than what a CR 5 NPC is supposed to have, so if that bothers you, remove the ring and tell your players that she can turn into an elf because of a unique template she has.

She casts Misdirection on herself each day, replacing her auras with those of a log, and also has a wand of Greater Magic Aura which she uses to hide all magic auras on her body and make her appear as if she has no magical abilities or effects. Misdirection has a DC 17 Will save, but Greater Magic Aura has no saving throw when cast on a creature, so while someone can pretty easily figure out she’s evil by overcoming Misdirection’s saving throw, they probably won’t ever detect the Fearsome Guise illusion or her ring without very powerful magic.

She avoids fair fights, and prefers to kill her targets one-on-one in seclusion before they realize that she’s an enemy. If forced into a larger fight, she’ll use her mind-affecting spells to cause mayhem, and then attempt to flee while her allies deal with the problem. She casts Stricken Heart only as a last resort against a foe that won’t let her surrender and is immune to her mind-affecting spells.

Like all of my NPCs, I’ve included simplified descriptions of many of her class features. I also left a few things out that a mesmerist technically gets as options, but that this NPC would never use.

She’s using the playable drider race stats from the advanced race guide, not the original drider stats from Bestiary I. This makes her one CR weaker, but mesmerists have a lot of unique abilities, and she didn’t need to be any more complicated than she already is.

Mind Weaver - CR 5

Drider Mesmerist 5 CE Large aberration Init +3 Senses darkvision (60 ft); Perception +6

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +3 Dex, +2 natural, -1 size) hp 41 (5d8+20) Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +8 (+6 if affected by non-harmless emotion spell) SR 16

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft.; Climb 20 ft. Melee dagger +2 (1d4/19-20 plus drow poison (DC 13)) or unarmed +2 (1d3) Ranged mwk hand crossbow +6 (1d4/19-20 plus drow poison (DC 13)) (30 ft. range increment) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks fearsome guise, hypnotic stare, painful stare, reflect fear, touch treatment

Mesmerist Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +10) 2nd level (3/day)—misdirection (DC 18), shamefully overdressed (DC 19), stricken heart (DC 17) 1st level (6/day)—charm person (DC 18), innocence, murderous command (DC 18), unnatural lust (DC 18) 0th level (at will)—detect magic, detect poison, ghost sound, mage hand, message, prestidigitation

STATISTICS

Str 10, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 20 Base Atk +3; CMB +4; CMD 17 (29 vs. trip) Feats Greater Spell Focus (enchantment), Spell Focus (enchantment), Spell Focus (illusion) Skills Bluff +15, Climb +8, Disable Device +6, Disguise +13 (+23 with fearsome guise), Diplomacy +13, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nobility) +6, Perception +6, Sleight of Hand +10, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +5 Languages Common, Elven, Halfling, Undercommon SQ towering ego, undersized equipment Gear mwk hand crossbow, 5 bolts poisoned with drow poison, dagger poisoned with drow poison, spider silk bodysuit, ring of mistaken identity, wand of greater magic aura (20 charges), oil of dispel magic, potion of cure moderate wounds, concealable thieves’ tools, drow poison x3, vial of blood from an elven woman, 55 gp

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Drow Poison (Ex) Hand crossbow or dagger—injury; save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/minute for 2 minutes; Initial Effect: Unconsciousness for 1 minute; Secondary Effect: Unconsciousness for 2d4 hours; Cure 1 save.

Fearsome Guise (Su) As a standard action, the mind weaver can give herself a fearsome guise. A veil of illusion makes the mind weaver appear to be someone else and then transform into a hideous monster at an opportune time.

While the fearsome guise is active, the mind weaver’s appearance is altered, as disguise self. The mind weaver can dismiss this effect as a free action when she attacks a creature. The illusory appearance briefly makes her appear monstrous, then ends. The mind weaver attempts an Intimidate check to demoralize the target of the triggering attack. The restrictions on attempts to demoralize a target (the target being within 30 feet and able to see and hear the creature attempting the Intimidate check) apply.

This is an illusion (glamer) effect. A creature that interacts with the glamer gets a DC 17 Will save to recognize it as an illusion. The mind weaver typically keeps Fearsome Guise active at all times, disguising herself as a very attractive elven woman (using her Ring of Mistaken Identity to appear as a humanoid instead of an aberration). Reflect Fear (Su) As a standard action, the mind weaver can give herself or another creature the ability to reflect fear. While this effect is active, whenever the subject is affected by a fear effect or is the target of an Intimidate check to demoralize her, as a free action the mind weaver can suppress the fear effect for 1d4 rounds, and any creature that caused this effect must succeed at a Will save or become shaken for 1 round. This ends the Reflect Fear effect.

Undersized Equipment (Ex) Although a drider is Large, its upper torso is the same size as that of a Medium humanoid’s upper torso. As a result, driders use weapons and armor one size category smaller than their actual size.

Touch Treatment (Su) 7 times per day, the mind weaver can remove either the fascinated or shaken condition from a target with a touch. Using the ability is a standard action (or a swift action if the mind weaver uses it on herself).

Hypnotic Stare (Su) The mind weaver can focus her stare on one creature within 30 feet as a swift action. That creature takes a –2 penalty on Will saving throws and damage rolls.

The mind weaver can maintain her stare against only one opponent at a time; it remains in effect until she stares at a new target, the opponent dies, the opponent moves farther than 30 feet away, or the mind weaver falls unconscious or dies. The target doesn’t realize that it is being affected.

The hypnotic stare is a psychic effect, and relies more on the mind weaver’s focus than the target’s perception of her stare. It can’t be avoided in the same ways a gaze attack can. The mind weaver can use this ability even while blinded, but must succeed at a DC 20 concentration check to do so. The penalties from multiple mesmerists’ stares don’t stack, nor do they stack with penalties from witches’ evil eye hexes. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Painful Stare (Su) Once per round, when an attack that deals damage hits the target of the mind weaver’s hypnotic stare, the mind weaver can cause the target to take 2 additional damage. If the mind weaver uses this ability to increase her own damage, the additional damage increases by 1d6. This damage is precision damage and is not multiplied on a critical hit.

Towering Ego (Su) The mind weaver gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus on Will saving throws. If the mind weaver is under any effect that would prevent her from providing the emotional component of psychic spells, she loses this bonus on saving throws. This bonus is already factored into her statistics.

#D&D #pathfinder 1e #aberration #npc #mesmerist

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childabusesurvivor · 11 months

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Sharing - Lost in the Storm

New Post has been published on https://www.childabusesurvivor.net/reviews/2023/06/13/sharing-lost-in-the-storm/

Sharing - Lost in the Storm

“My 10-year-old daughter thinks she should be dead. When I tried to help her, I saw how deep our national crisis really is.”

If you’re not familiar with what it can be like to try and get the proper mental health care in the US you should read this story. However, as you do read it, I need you to understand that this story, as hard as it is, actually represents the better side of the Mental Healthcare system. Ash’s parents have some financial means and expertise to help them navigate the system, even if her Mom had to leave her job. Now imagine what this looks like for someone without those things.

In truth, for the less fortunate it will never get as complicated as it got for Ash and her family, because they never even start into the whole system. It’s essentially closed off to them. (Try to find a therapist or program that accepts Medicaid and has openings for new patients.) The system isn’t capable of placing Ash in the right situation because they don’t really exist within the current educational and healthcare systems. (Count the number of times they are told “We aren’t capable to help her.”) No one has designed a proper treatment for a 10-year-old who wants to die. We’ve also not designed a system that offers resources to people in rural areas where there are few therapists, or to poor and working-class families. Nor have we made insurance companies hold up their requirements to adequately cover mental healthcare. Our system is lacking in many ways. We lose people to mental health issues every day not just because they don’t ask for help, but because they ask for help that doesn’t exist.

I hope Ash and her family can find something that works. I hope that for everyone else too. But I also recognize that getting that result is going to take a lot of hard work. As I’ve said before, 100,000 new therapists aren’t going to suddenly appear. New programs designed to help in different ways aren’t going to magically appear either. We need a commitment to finding new solutions that allow a broader spectrum of possibilities for helping those in need.

https://slate.com/technology/2023/06/child-teen-mental-health-crisis-therapy-help.html

#Family, #Hope, #Insurance, #MentalHealth, #Resources, #Therapy

#Family #Hope #Insurance #Mental Health #Resources #Therapy

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beels-burger-babe · 3 years

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Of Jealousy and Friendship - Pt. 1

Topic number 2 won in the vote to be written next! So without further-a-do, let’s get going!...This ended up being a two part thing. Oh Well. Here’s part one. - B GN! MC Summary: MC makes a lower demon friend who may secretly be hoping for something more than friendship. The Demon Bros are not about to let this happen. Part Two: Here, Epilogue: Here It all started in magical potions. When you first arrived, the course wasn’t so bad since you took it with Beelzebub. The two of you always partnered up; the hour would consist of you jokingly scolding Beel for trying to eat ingredients and making light hearted jokes with one another whenever the teacher turned their back. But once the second semester started, Beel was moved out of the course as it had gotten too expensive to keep him in a class where most of the subject matter was edible. Which left you alone and bored in the classroom as the teacher went on and on about Mandrake roots and what they can be used for. You let out a heavy sigh and plopped your forehead onto the desk. A soft snort came from beside you. You glanced over to see a demon with his feet propped up on his desk staring right back at you out of the corner of his dark green eyes. He smiled at you with a tilt of his head. “The lectures are a total snooze fest right? I joined this class cause I thought we’d be making potions and causing stuff to explode. Not sitting here twisting our thumbs all day.”

You bit back a laugh as you worried glanced over at the professor, who was none-the-wiser to the little conversation the two of you were sharing. You looked back over to the demon. His dark skin caused those hauntingly green eyes of his pop out at all who met his gaze, with carefully trimmed and styled black curls sitting stylishly on the top of his head. There was a playful and mischievous energy to him that reminded you of Belphie, Asmo and Mammon. “Unfortunately suffering through this section of class is mandatory to be allowed to mess around with the fun stuff.” The demon groaned and threw his head back. “Urgh, that’s so unfair. What’s the worst that can happen? The potion explodes and kills us? Newsflash teach, we’re already dead.” You couldn’t help the laugh that slipped out at that one. “Well actually the worse that could happen, for you at least as I am a very mortal human, is that you’d suffer the consequences from one of the potions. Anything from shrinking to de-aging to charms, all kinds of things. I’ve seen the effects of a potion gone wrong a number of times during my time down here. Trust me; you don’t want to be on the receiving end.” He looked over at you with an analytical eye as the corners of his lips tilted upwards. “So you’re the human that everyone’s talking about.” He trailed off, and glanced over at the teacher to make sure they weren’t looking before stretching out his hand towards you. “I’m Cane. You know despite being the talk of RAD, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention your name?” You took his hand into your own and lightly shook it. “I’m MC.”

Cane leaned back into his chair, “It’s a pleasure to finally put a name and face to that glowing reputation of yours, MC. I see your pretty good at this potions thing, and I hear that you’re a lot of fun. How about you meet me downtown for supper later and we can study and get to know each other a little better?” Your initial instinct was to agree, but then you paused as you thought of the brothers. “I don’t know. I don’t think that Lucifer or the others would like it much if I went out on my own.” The demon huffed and light heartedly rolled his eyes. “You won’t be alone, you’ll be with me. I may not be as powerful as them, but I’m still a pretty good fighter.” He teasingly placed a gentle punch onto your shoulder, “Besides, it’s not like they’re boss of you. Are you really going to let a bunch of snobby Lords keep you from making the best of your time in the Devildom?” That last remark hit a nerve. If there was one thing that had spread quite quickly about you around RAD, it was that you were known for being a little reckless, prideful, and never being able to back down from a challenge, and boy did that statement have you itching to prove him wrong. You smiled, a sharp dangerous smile, at Cane. “I’ll go. And we’re going to do so much more than just go to a lame restaurant and study. You want to have fun and take risks? We’ll have fun and take risks. Whatever you want to do...to a degree,” you added in quickly remembering that you were talking to a demon and if you didn’t implement any boundaries there was no telling what you’d get yourself into, “I’m in.” Cane’s eyes sparkled as his smile widened. “Damn. I guess it’s true that you’re a bit of dare devil. Alright, you’re on. Meet me at Hell’s Kitchen a 4pm. We’ll study and hit the books as promised, but afterwards...Get ready for the night of your life.” ***

The brothers were concerned. You had rushed into the House of Lamentation after school and sprinted to your room, changed out of your uniform and promptly shouted that you were “going out” before taking off before any of them could complain. Mammon had tried to argue that someone should follow you, and while that wasn’t a terrible idea, Lucifer wanted to give you the question of the doubt. Worst case scenario, you come back home a little scratched up and learn your lesson about taking off into the dangers of the Devildom. At least that’s what he had thought when you had initially left. It was now bordering midnight, and you had yet to return home. So yeah, the brothers were very concerned. Mammon was pacing and ranting about how this all could’ve been avoided if they had only listened to him for once. Leviathan was trying to distract himself with his game, but everyone could see the worried glances he kept throwing to the entrance and clock as the minutes ticked by. Satan sat near where Mammon and would occasionally scold or correct him, and sometimes even throw in his own ideas on what could be done while he thumbed through a book on location spells. Asmodeus was strangely quiet, sitting near the fire by himself with arms wrapped around his torso as he stared into the flames. He would occasionally move a hand to wipe at his face before it went right back to hugging himself. Beelzebub had lost his appetite. He sat next to Belphie, taking comfort in his twin’s presence, while Belphegor pretended to be unbothered and asleep, even though his mind was racing with the many stupid situations you could’ve gotten yourself into. And Lucifer...He just sat in a door near the entryway, his eyes fixed on the entrance as he silently waited. Finally, just as the clock stroke midnight, they could hear your recognizable laugh from behind the door. “Oh my god! That was incredible! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun in life!” Leviathan stiffened at the statement, his hands gripping tighter onto his game. “What did I tell you? I promised you the night of your life, and I sure as Diavolo always make sure to deliver,” everyone froze at the sound of the teasing male voice. “Though I didn’t expect the Seven Lords’ precious human to be a complete bad ass. You were amazing out there.” Leviathan mumbled something before getting up and leaving the room. Mammon growled lowly and looked at the others, “Anyone know who the hell that is?” Asmo finally stood, wiping at his face as he did, and began to stride towards the door, “Why don’t we find out?” Without waiting for a response, Asmodeus swung the door open and pulled on a bright smile as he reached out and wrapped an arm around you. “MC, darling, you didn’t tell me you were bringing over guests! Don’t tell me you’re trying to have fun without me?” You blinked up at the Asmo before smiling softly at his tactics. “Oh, hey Asmo! I didn’t expect you to be up. Cane here was just dropping me off.” The demon in question didn’t even so much as stiffen as Asmodeus’s dangerous stare shifted over to him. Instead Cane stood there, relaxed, with a shit-eating grin on his face. Asmodeus raised an eyebrow at him and allowed a bit of his demonic aura to exude around him. “Oh really? At this time of night? Makes a demon wonder what kind of mischief the two of you had gotten up to,” while maintaining eye contact with Cane, Asmo rested his chin against your shoulder. “You know dear, if you wanted “fun” that badly all you had to do was ask. I assure you I could’ve shown you a much better time.” He purred and softly kissed your shoulder. You shivered, missing the way Asmo stiffened as he noticed something, and swatted at the Avatar of Lust as you moved away from him. “Down Asmo. It’s nothing like that. Cane’s in my magical potions class. We went out to study together and decided to hit a couple clubs while we were out. No biggy.” “If it’s ‘no biggy’ then why were you out all night without giving us any kind of warning of where you were going or how long you’d be out?” Everyone whirled around as Lucifer stood in the doorway with a frown etched on his face and his arms crossed. He took a step closer to you before freezing mid-step, his nose twitching. His eyes flared red as they fell onto Cane. The lower demon tensed and curled his hands into fists, but seemed to be refusing to back down. Lucifer snarled, “What exactly was it that you said the two of you were up to tonight?” You frowned and stepped between Lucifer and your new friend. “Hey! Stop it! He didn’t do anything, if that’s what you’re implying. And I wasn’t aware that I needed permission for every single thing that I do!” You snapped poking his chest as you moved into his space. “So excuse me for wanting to go out and enjoy myself for once!” Whatever fear Cane had been showing, quickly slipped away at seeing you stand your ground against the mighty first born. “Yeah. What they said.” Lucifer growled and caught your hand into his own, pulling you close and leaning in, “You’d be wise to remember that you are in the Devildom and surrounded by beings that have no where near as good intentions as you’d assume. Being so reckless and naïve down here could get you killed again, I thought you had learned that.” His tone was cold and unapologetic as he practically spat the words in your face. You glared at Lucifer as you yanked your hand out of his grasp. There was so many things you wanted to say to him, but none of them would be right to say in front of an audience. You huffed and turned to face Cane. “I am so sorry about those two. Thanks again for tonight and bringing me home. I’ll see you tomorrow in class, okay?” Cane gave you a side smile as he scratched the back of his neck. “It’s nothing. I had a great time hanging out with you. Hopefully we can do again...under better circumstances. Goodnight MC.” He took a step towards you and pulled you into a hug. You smiled, wondering how Lucifer and Asmo could be stirring up such a fuss about a guy who had been nothing but kind to you, and gently hugged him back. What you couldn’t see, was Cane making direct eye contact with the two other demons, as one of his wrists gently brushed up and down you back and he very lightly nuzzled, so lightly that you could just barely feel it, his face against your neck. “Hey, what’s takin’ everyone so- WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK?!” Mammon stormed forward and yanked you out of the demon’s embrace, already changing into his demon form. “Who the hell do you think you are scenting our human, huh?!” He lifted Cane off the ground by the collar of his shirt, causing the lower demon growl as he scratched at Mammon’s hands. You yanked on Mammon’s jacket and arms and tried to get him to back off. “Woah! Mammon, relax! It was just a hug!” “No it wasn’t,” Satan grumbled as he and the rest of the brothers (excluding Leviathan who was now sulking in his room) stood in the door way. “The fact that you don’t know that makes this even worst. But this isn’t a conversation we should be having out here.” Beel stared down at the demon with a fierce glare. “You should leave while you’re still able. And if you know what’s best for you, you’ll stay away from MC.” “Wha- Beel! Cut that out!” Cane took a step backwards, fear beginning to spill into his expression as he finally realizes just how out-powered and out-numbered he is. Still, he was stubborn pain in the ass; it was part of the reason he had been so drawn to you in the first place as he related to your reckless habits. He held Beelzebub’s glare and returned it with one of his own. “I think that MC can choose for themself who they do and do not hang out with, thanks. They already said they wanted to see me tomorrow so they will. We’re friends after all. And classmates,” his grin sharpened as he continued. “I do have to thank you, Lord Beelzebub, for that opening in magical potions by the way. Never would’ve got in if you hadn’t been kicked out.” Before he could say anymore, he was met with a punch in the face. Belphegore lazily shook out his hand and his looked at Cane with an unbothered expression. “I believe we told you to leave. Now get. The. Fuck. Out.” Cane scoffed and turned to you once more. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Dare Devil.” You would’ve snorted at the nickname, but you were to distracted from the brother’s behavior. “Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow. Get home safe, Cane.” With another nod, the demon left; leaving you alone with six of the seven brothers bubbling with jealousy, anger, and concern.

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pippytmi · 3 years

Note

Supercorp + Hogwarts AU + meet messy + "is that the best you can do?"

“Hey, do you guys want to see a muggle magic trick?”

Kara doesn’t have to look up to know Alex and Kelly are exchanging glances over Nia’s head. Nia is the best witch in the fifth year hands-down, but her grasp of muggle illusions leave a lot to be desired.

“Sure…” Kelly agrees, politely but unsurely, while Alex shakes her head.

“If this is that stupid coin trick again, Nia—” she starts, but Nia is already squeezing between them on the grass, unfolding a pack of muggle playing cards.

“It is not,” Nia says. “Prepare to be amazed! Yvette says I’m really good at this one.”

“Oh, joy,” Alex mutters under her breath, which turns into a pained yelp when Kelly elbows her in the ribs.

Kara finally raises her gaze from the newspaper she’s been half-reading, fully prepared to commit to Nia’s trick, but then she catches a glimpse of dark hair and a brisk pace. It’s Lena Luthor, notorious loner, actually sitting outside by the black lake with her books.

It’s odd—Lena never sits outside. People talk; Lena doesn’t have many friends (someone even started a rumor that Lillian Luthor pays Jess, another sixth year, to hang out with Lena). In fact, the only time anyone really sees Lena is in class, or in the Slytherin common room when Jess is also there. Kara sees her even less (only when Slytherin and Gryffindor share classrooms), but that doesn’t make the hopeless crush she’s fostered on her since they were eleven any less potent.

Kelly starts clapping suddenly, reluctantly dragging Kara’s eyes from Lena (who is reading a book; Kara is wondering just what kind of book it is). “Aw, Nia, that was good!” she says. “Do it again!”

Even Alex is curiously lifting up the cards one by one, as if trying to determine the trick herself. “Did you use actual magic for this?” she asks.

“I’m just that good,” Nia brags, though the way she tries to expertly shuffle the cards right back into their box suggests otherwise; half of them spill onto the grass. “Oh man!”

“I’ve got this,” Kara says, absentmindedly reaching for her wand. “Accio—”

“Kara, no!”

Oh, that’s right, Kara thinks belatedly. My wand is broken. It had been an unfortunate event on the Quidditch pitch involving an overzealous Hufflepuff seeker (Winn is still very apologetic about it, but it can’t be helped now). Unfortunately, Kara never seems to quite remember that magic is off-limits until it can be fixed.

And even more unfortunate is the fact that her mind and her words have begun to converge; she’s thinking about the book Lena is reading while glancing at the cards, and her mouth is forming silent words, and really it’s not a surprise at all when said book rockets out of Lena’s hands and aims right for Nia’s head.

No one dies, though, nor do they have to make the unpleasant trudge to the infirmary—Kelly is far quicker than any of Kara’s botched magic, and the book explodes into nothing when she mutters a firm, “Evanesco.”

“Kelly!” Kara forgets, for a second, about the whole Nia-about-to-break-her-face thing; her heart drops to the pit of her stomach at the thought that something of Lena Luthor’s has been reduced to figurative dust. What if that book was personal? What if it was special? What if it was—

“Excuse me,” says a quiet, sudden voice, and Kara just about falls over in the grass at the sight of Lena Luthor standing there. “I think you summoned my book.”

Kelly winces. “Oh, actually—”

“I destroyed it,” Kara blurts out, because really, this is her fault and Nia still has a face so the least Kara can do is take a fall for a friend. “I’m sorry. My wand is broken, and I was trying to summon some cards, but I was looking at you and thinking about your book and it just…I’m sorry. Again. I can pay for it?” She immediately begins digging into the pockets of her robes, but all she manages to scrounge up is a broken sugar quill and a drawing on a torn sheet of paper that depicts Professor Grant as a dragon.

For a moment, all Lena does is stare down at Kara in a peculiarly quizzical way. She doesn’t seem mad or anything, just perplexed. A second later she says, “You were thinking about ‘Voyages with Vampires’ strongly enough to summon it? I don’t really enjoy Gilderoy Lockhart books myself.”

“To be fair,” Kara’s quick to defend herself, “I couldn’t read the title from this far.”

“Right. You decided you wanted to snatch my book from me because it was mine.” And just like that, the curious expression on Lena’s face drops entirely, twists into something resigned and exhausted. “Is that the best you can do? Petty little child games?”

“What? No, I would never—”

“Because last week Eve Tessmacher hit me with a furnunculus curse that was far more clever than this,” Lena all but sneers. “It’s always the pig-headed Gryffindors that aim out of their league.”

“You wanna say that again?” Alex is jumping up, her wand brandished out, and Lena glances from her to Kara to Kelly to Nia, as if just realizing how potentially outnumbered she could be.

Except, well, that’s so not the issue. Kara hastens to stand between Alex’s wand and Lena’s body, nearly knocking her sister over in the process. “No! No, I didn’t do that as a prank, I—” She pauses, feels her cheeks go hot, and then rushes out, “Ijustthinkyou’rereallypretty!”

Alex lowers her wand; Kara can tell, because Alex uses it to jab her in the ribs. “Oh, bloody hell,” Alex grumbles, and she nudges Kelly to join her. “I think that’s our cue. I’d rather study for Potions than watch this.”

Kelly obligingly drags Nia along, who looks like she wants to protest, but eventually Nia caves in—though not without trying to wink conspiringly at Kara, which doesn’t work because Nia “winks” with both eyes.

“But—” Kara watches as her friends scatter, and then she is left with the heavy, accusatory gaze of Lena Luthor. She tries to smile, but imagines her attempt is more of a wince than anything. “Did I mention that I’m sorry?”

Lena takes a step forward. She raises her chin in the air, no less guarded, but her eyes convey a tiny bit of that earlier curiosity all the same. “You’ve already had your fun, Kara Danvers,” she says. “But I will give you credit, no one has played the ‘I have a crush on you’ prank yet.”

Kara frowns. “Do people really play pranks on you so much?”

“I am the weird little sister of a boy who tried to blow up Hogwarts,” Lena all but deadpans. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re way more than Lex Luthor’s sister, and that’s just...really mean,” Kara says, words bursting out before she even pauses to rein them in. “I mean, you are so smart! Last year you saved a bunch of first years who wandered into the Forbidden Forest. A-and you never tried out for Quidditch, but sometimes you fly with Jess on the pitch and you’re so fast you could easily run circles around anyone on the Slytherin team. You’re the coolest person ever. Even when you were eleven, you—” Finally, her brain starts to catch up with her mouth, and Kara flushes hotter than she ever thought possible. “Oh, gosh. I’m sorry. I swear, I didn’t mean for that to sound…stalker-y. I only know about the first year thing because Professor Grant’s son was new that year and I was supposed to be babysitting him. And then the flying, well, sometimes I go to the pitch with Winn whenever he wants to practice—”

“Kara. You can breathe any time you want,” Lena prompts, and Kara pauses to do exactly that.

“Sorry,” Kara adds, again, after she’s let her lungs rest a bit. Her whole body feels shivery from head to toe, like she is seconds away from fainting, and honestly? She just might. “Anyway. Um. I can replace that book if you want. Or I can give you the money and you can pick out a better one, since you said you weren’t a fan? Whatever you want.”

Lena is quiet for a beat. “What were you going to say before? About when I was eleven?”

Kara bites her lip so hard she knows she will inevitably have to ask Kelly to heal it later. “Oh, that,” she says evasively. “I meant, when you were eleven, and I walked face-first into the wrong wall trying to get to platform nine and three quarters, and you didn’t even laugh at me. You just...helped me up, and promised you would walk with me to the train until I found my family again.”

“I remember,” Lena says, and her voice is softening, as is her expression. “You somehow got lost between platforms seven and eight. Your sister was furious when she caught up with us.”

“Yeah.” And Kara finds herself smiling at that memory; this time it’s a real smile, and she couldn’t stop it if she tried. “That was really nice.” She wants to mention more—how even when Lillian Luthor scowled at Kara’s hand-me-downs, Lena complimented her right away on the shirt that had once been Alex’s—but all Kara does right now is step back. “I’ve bothered you enough, I think. Will you…let me know? About the book?”

“I don’t care about the book,” Lena says, and she swallows, loud enough that Kara can hear it. “Do you mean it?”

“That you’re...nice?”

“Yes.” Lena’s cheeks are a faint pink color, and Kara’s entire mouth goes dry.

“Well, yeah,” Kara says, and in that moment—with Lena blushing, and Kara’s chest tightening—they both know that she’s confessing to so much more than thinking Lena is nice. “So. Um.” She squares her shoulders, and prepares to be brave enough to live up to the Gryffindor name: “Can I buy you something that’s not a book? Sometime? Maybe on our next trip to Hogsmeade?”

“Like a date?” Lena asks, so impossibly soft, and Kara nods.

“Exactly like a date,” Kara says, and honestly, she should demand ten points to Gryffindor herself because her voice does not waver once.

And Lena Luthor smiles, just cautious enough to show how unsure she is, but still warm enough that Kara’s heart skips a beat. “Okay,” she says. “But on one condition: I’ll handle any magic until then.”

“Deal,” Kara agrees, and it’s official; breaking her wand might have been the best thing that has ever happened to her, ever.

#took some liberties w/the meet messy hope thats ok!!!#supercorp #supergirl #i need a fic tag #i went as vague as possible w/the hp setting :///#hope its not too glaringly obvious how little i know about hp #now to tackle the other 5 hp aus in my inbox....yall want to see me suffer so bad #(jk i love all the prompts in my inbox ur all too sweet)#🥺❤️

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bratkook · 3 years

Text

almost. (m) jjk.

not yet, almost, right now

pairing. jungkook x reader genre. fluff, baby angst, smut word count. 6.4k warnings. two idiots!!, pining, masturbation (m. and f.), use of vibrator, accidental voyeurism?, more feelings come to light!! summary. jungkook tries to be the best wingman he could be in your new venture after your breakup. he could do it, right? note. part two of not yet, some more feelings are exposed, please don’t hate oc she is but a pendeja that doesn’t see the obvious feelings jungkook has but she has good intentions i promise<3 there will most likely be a final part,,if you guys are into it lmao okie bye

The cool summer breeze flows around you as you’re sitting under the shade, eyes focused on the chaos of runny yolk and hashbrowns that is your breakfast. Jungkook on the other hand, is focused on you. His signature yellow shades block out the sun reflecting from passing cars, concealing his eyes just enough for you to not see him blatantly staring at you while you stuff your face.

The charmed smile he has falters slightly when you look directly at him, hashbrown lingering by your lip as you repeat his name. “Sorry, what?”

Your brows come together as you smile at his zoned out state, something you had grown fond of in the years of knowing him, always enjoying the small dazed look that graced his face whenever he was lost in his thoughts. His lips push out slightly in question, curious eyes wondering just what you could have been asking him.

“I was saying that I think I’m giving up on crushes and love.” You say it so easily, mind made up as you grin at him before continuing to shovel hashbrowns into your mouth, only pausing to take a sip of your iced coffee.

Jungkook tries his best to seem unaffected, nodding along in interest as he takes a steady bite of his own food. “Really?”

“Yeah,” you sigh, taking a look around at the people surrounding you: friends having breakfast together and snapping photos, couples feeding each other food with smiles on their faces, a lone man with his dog perched on the seat across from his while he worked on his computer. You briefly wonder if all of them, even the dog, have better luck with love than you do.

“I think I’m cursed,” you continue. “All of my exes have been assholes, and I’ve always been too blind to see it until it’s over and I’m left crying over Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.”

“Maybe you’re just looking for love in the wrong places,” Jungkook shrugs, internally screaming because he’s who you should be looking at if you wanted love.

Not to toot his own horn, but Jungkook liked to think he was a good guy, a great boyfriend even. His previous track record of relationships could attest to that, all of them ending on mutual terms, still friendly and civil with each other. He’s almost certain if there was a Yelp page for him it would be at least 4.5 stars with comments raving about how great he is, even little anecdotal touches about how he always gave away his hoodies or offered to cook breakfast.

He was a god damn catch, why couldn’t you see that?

“Maybe prince charming is a lot closer than you think,” he grumbles out, stabbing his omelette with a little more force than necessary, fork clanking against the plate. And when you gasp in realization he freezes, slowly looking back up at you and seeing the way your eyes widen.

“Wait, maybe you’re right!” Your hand shoots across the table, gripping onto his forearm and it sends a shock throughout him, skin tingling at your touch. “You know that coffee shop below our building? That cute barista always puts a heart next to my name. Do you think I should ask for his number?”

Jungkook blinks once, slowly twirls his fork in his hand and blinks again before staring up at the sky, mentally asking why he couldn’t just go out and say it. “Hm, I don’t think you should.“

With a defeated sigh you retract your hand, slumping back into your seat and grabbing your iced coffee once more, stirring the straw and ice around as you nod. “True. What if he feels obligated to give it to me just because he doesn’t want to get fired in case I go all Karen on his ass.”

That wasn’t why Jungkook had said not to, but sure, that works too, so he hums along.

“I bet he draws hearts on all the other girls cups too.” You huff, playfully wiping a tear under your eye with a smile.

“I’ve actually—“

“You know what I—“

You both freeze mid sentence, Jungkook’s cheeks tinted a light pink as he stutters on his words, wide eyes staring at you as if he had caught himself before you cut him off. But as you’re about to tell him to go on, he waves you off and urges you to speak first.

“I was just gonna say that maybe I should go through that wild phase people usually go through after breakups.”

He sets his silverware down on the plate and sips his water, giving you an odd look. “Wild phase? Like you wanna dye your hair red and get bangs?”

“No,” you cackle, ruffling a hand through your own hair as you picture yourself with that combination. “I should just go out and hook up with people. I feel like I’ve either been in a relationship or entirely single, so it could be fun right?”

“Uh, maybe...” he trails off, rolling his lips together in thought, not exactly fond of hearing you say that when he had felt the confession about to roll off his tongue. He takes a slow breath, trying to see this from a neutral point, the point of a supportive friend wanting to help you get over a breakup.

“How do you go about it?”

“Me?” he chokes, pointing at his chest as if there was magically some other person you could be addressing.

“Yes, you. Need I remind you, we share a wall between our beds.” You roll your eyes, but the smile on your face shows that you’re speaking of this lightly, not entirely annoyed by the fact that you had heard Jungkook during his own fair share of hook ups.

He’s not ashamed of it, but considering he never really brought up being able to hear you, he thought you’d pretend to never hear him. It wasn’t too often that he had a girl over, the number of hookups only increasing after you got with Hajoon and loosely cut ties with Jungkook. But from what you had heard—and seen thanks to your nosey self looking through peep holes once they left—it was very rarely the same girl.

So to you, Jungkook was a pro at the art of hookups.

“Right, sorry,” he grimaces, a sheepish smile on his lips as he wonders just how many times his activities kept you up at night.

“It’s fine, consider us even.” A teasing laugh follows your statement, enjoying the flustered look on his face, how his cheeks get even darker in embarrassment. Jungkook was used to the two of you talking like this, neither of you having a filter especially when it came to sexual aspects, but he hadn’t had a conversation like this since before you got with Hajoon. It would take some getting used to again.

“So, give me the tips. Where do you find people?”

Jungkook leans back into his chair, arms stretching out on either side of him, short sleeves of his black tee bunching up and revealing more of his tattoos and the rippling of his muscles. With a small laugh he rakes his hand through his fluffy hair, giving you a small smile. “Honestly? Anywhere. I’ve gotten girl’s numbers at the gym and at coffee shops, but bars are the best bet for something quick.”

“Ugh, fuck you and your pretty privilege.”

“What?” he guffaws, smiling wide and showing you his adorable smile as he laughs loudly, not caring about the attention he draws to your table. He doesn’t even realize how the table full of girls is now trying to discreetly stare at him, because his eyes are on you. You see it though, and it further proves your point. “What the hell is pretty privilege?”

Your wild hands gesture towards him, a look of disbelief on your face as you do so. “You! Of course girls line up to hand you their number, have you seen yourself? Pretty privilege,” you jab your fork at him in time with your final words, a smirk on your glossy lips.

Jungkook feels his confidence grow at your casual compliment, tongue prodding at his cheek as he stares down at his food, trying not to smile too hard. You thought he was pretty, that was a win in his book.

“C’mon,” he teases, foot gently nudging your leg underneath the table. “You could totally score someone's number. Plus there's always apps if you just wanna test the water.”

You give your plate a contemplated stare, “Sure, how hard could it be?”

Admittedly, the answer to that question was: not hard at all. You had met all your previous boyfriends in person, through mutual friends or shared classes back in college, never once dipping your toe into the world of Tinder or Bumble. Who knew all it would take was a couple of selfies and the strategic body shot to have boys circling around you like some new-age, slightly filthier version of rapunzel.

Jungkook knew though, not at all shocked by how quickly you get a match the following day when he’s at your place. His eyes are focused on the screen in front of him, helping you beat a level in your favorite game that you had been stuck on. But the second you gasp as if you’ve won the lottery, he pauses the game entirely and gives you an odd look.

“What?”

His answer comes in the form of your phone thrusted in his direction, lit up screen displaying your profile picture and the one of the boy you had just matched with. Jung Hoseok. Jungkook’s eyes narrow as he reads the name, trying to remember it in case he somehow had a friend in common that knew all the dirt on him.

He has a similar pair of yellow shades on his own head, thicker black rims around them and a charming smile on his face. Jungkook chuckles to himself. Yellow shades? How original.

“What do I say?” you question, eyes looking nervous as you wiggle the phone in his face. The small white bar beneath your match urges you to start a conversation, and coming up with the right words to say makes you overthink it all.

“Just say hi and tack on some cute emoji. It’s not that hard,” he laughs, pushing the phone back at you. Jungkook knew you could start the message off any way you wanted and this Jung Hoseok would eat it right up. How could he not, the alluring smile in your profile photo would draw anyone in.

“Okay, I did it.” Your phone is instantly locked and chucked aside in an attempt to be forgotten, choosing to grab the remote out of Jungkook’s hands for another distraction. It only lasts a brief second before you’re killed by the boss Jungkook was trying to defeat.

“Really?” Jungkook huffs, yanking the remote back into his hands, needing a distraction himself. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that you were searching for a fuck buddy while he sat beside you. How crazy would it be if he suggested being your fuck buddy, offered to help you through this so called wild phase you were searching for.

No. That’s not what he wants.

Would he enjoy it? Sure. But he could already imagine how much worse his heart would hurt if his feelings came to light and yours were non-existent. That is if you’d even agree to it.

“Relax, he’s probably thinking of what to reply.”

You make a noise of disagreement, fingers itching to unlock your device to see if it was true, slowly inching towards it until you finally grab it and go back onto the app. Jungkook just chuckles as he goes back to helping you with your game, not wanting to look at you as you giggle at your device. He could already imagine what this guy was telling you for you to turn into a giddy mess not even two minutes in.

He tunes it all out, eyes focused on the screen, fingers gripping the remote with a little more force than needed. His concentration helps him though, finally passing the level you’ve been stuck on for the past two weeks.

“You’re welcome,” he sighs, making a show of stretching out and sending you a smile, having it falter slightly when he sees your eyes still focused on the screen of your phone. With a frown he looks back at the television, saving the game before turning it off altogether.

Once he gets up from the couch, making his way over to the media console to store the remotes, is when you look up at him. “You’re right, this is easy!”

Jungkook doesn’t feel the usual pride that comes with being right, but the cheerful look on your face prevents him from feeling salty. Coming back towards the couch, he sits beside you once more, facing you as he rests his elbow on the back cushion to lean on. “Told you so.”

He keeps that same smile on his face as you mention how quick Hoseok was to ask you out on a date, even as you bring up the fact that this date would be at his place, and Jungkook could decipher netflix and chill any way some greasy boy tried to conceal it.

“I hope he knows I don’t want anything serious,” you mumble, chewing on your fingernail as you scroll through the messages.

Jungkook could almost laugh at how blissfully unaware you were of the piranha infested water that was the great sea of Tinder. Of course this yellow sunglass wearing wannabe version of him knows you don’t want anything serious, why else would he be so quick to invite you over with the cheeky excuse to watch movies.

All he can do is shrug as he stares at you, lips pressed together in an effort to not say something that would totally ruin everything. Instead, Jungkook does everything he can to be the best version of a wingman you could get. He tells you the ins and outs of hookups, how you should definitely not text him the minute you leave his place and tell him you had fun, don’t talk about anything super personal involving family or your work, and if he doesn’t offer to go down on you but expects a blowjob he’s a loser.

It’s solid advice that you mentally jot down, subjecting him to further questions your mind comes up with and even asking him for help on an outfit via text the night of your hangout with Jung Hoseok.

Jungkook stares at the photos for a little too long if he’s being honest. They weren’t spectacular selfies that you had taken much effort for, their sole purpose being showing off the outfit, but the way you look so focused as you snapped the shot had him zooming into your face and smiling like an idiot. When you double text him with a long line of question marks he snaps out of it, deciding on the second option you picked of mom jeans and a cropped shirt. Cute and casual, and definitely something Jungkook preferred, but he’d never tell you that.

When you finally text him a thumbs up and tell him you’re on your way out he just hearts the message before locking his device and trudging to the living room. It’s not often that he wallows in self pity, spacing those days out so far he barely remembers them. But they usually went exactly like this, ordering a large meat lovers pizza with extra cheese, drinking far too many Mike’s hard lemonade—because despite how much they made his stomach hurt they were tasty so he didn’t care—and binge watching his comfort show: Modern Family.

But even as he sulks on his couch, practically sinking into the cushions with horrible posture and a slice of pizza resting on his chest, he can’t find it in himself to chuckle at Cam and Mitch’s usual banter. He’s too busy thinking about which movie you’re currently watching, if you were watching it. Who’s Jungkook kidding though, you were totally getting your guts rearranged right now.

Taking an aggressive bite out of the crust he frowns and raises the volume up on his television, attempting to drown the mocking voice in his head calling him a loser for not admitting to his feelings. He knew this, knew he should have said something when he wanted to at breakfast, but Jungkook was afraid that if he confessed as you were talking about hooking up, that you’d see him as taking advantage of a situation instead of being genuine. I mean who wouldn’t? You say you want something casual and suddenly he’s spilling his heart out and you’re supposed to believe he’s not some pig trying to butter you up. He didn’t want to get labeled as a creepy neighbor after the good times you’ve had.

“So stupid,” he grumbles to himself as he takes another swig, the last drops of the alcohol hitting his tongue with a tangy aftertaste. As he sits up to place the empty bottle onto his coffee table his muscles ache, neck stiff from the unfortunate position it had been subjected to for the last three hours. With a small huff he’s rolling his shoulders, reaching for his discarded phone to see the time—and also check if you’d sent him some SOS text—but he finds nothing besides the bright numbers indicating that it was nearing midnight.

In true pity party day fashion, he doesn’t even bother cleaning up after his mess, just tossing the dirty dishes into the sink to be washed tomorrow when he would force himself to be in a better mood. Instead, he grabs a water and his phone and waddles into his bedroom.

The moonlight illuminates the space enough for him to keep the light switch off, undressing from his crumb covered sweats and shirt, choosing to remain in his boxers as he slipped under the cold duvet. The sheets feel fresh against his hot cheeks, flush from the alcohol, cooling him down and making his body relax.

Jungkook knows he should sleep, needing to be up early tomorrow for work, but he can’t stop his mind from wandering into dangerous territory. His buzzed brain has no qualms imagining exactly what you were doing right now, wondering if you’d be the type to act shy at a guy’s house for the first time, if you’d initiate the first move or not. Jungkook had only seen it up close once under the flash of strobe lights and the haze of alcohol, but he can still picture the soft smile on your face before you go in for a kiss, and he grumbles under his breath when he realizes that he wouldn’t be the one kissing you tonight.

What he doesn’t know, is that you wouldn’t be the one getting kissed tonight either. The Jung Hoseok you had perceived through Tinder, assuming he was all casual and DTF with his netflix and chill suggestion, had been anything but. What you thought would be a steamy night, ended up becoming a nice dinner and comedy watched, morphing into some version of game night where you discovered he was a little too competitive than you were used to. The only action you got was a kiss to your cheek as he walked you to your car and a promise for another date. A promise you would not be keeping.

So as Jungkook lays in bed while his thoughts turn into some fantasy of you moaning out his name, you shuffle into your bedroom and slip into your pajamas with a defeated sigh. You had already texted your best friend telling her what a bust tonight had been, deciding to just tell Jungkook all about it tomorrow because you knew he was most likely fast asleep now. And as you settle under your own covers, inches away from Jungkook with only a wall seperating you, you decide to just call it a night and pretend it never happened.

Just as you shut your eyes, nuzzling into your pillow, you hear the first moan come from behind the wall. A small cry of despair escapes you as you bury your face into your sheets, tugging them up and over your head to block the sound of Jungkook getting some action the same night you had been left high and dry. Of course he would, assuming you’d be getting the same treatment at your date's place, why wouldn’t he take advantage of your absence and not have to muffle his partner’s moans the way he usually did.

You’re just going to ignore it, until you hear a moan that sounds strangely like your own name. Maybe it's wishful thinking on your part, your horny brain deciding to pretend that Jungkook was calling for you instead of whoever he was with. It might be a little wrong for you to have that fantasy of your neighbor, but you aren’t blind. He’s hot, and adorably sweet, the perfect package for any girl he tried to swoon. And judging by the cries you’ve heard of lucky girls prior, you know he was good in bed.

You’re just desperate now. That’s the excuse you tell yourself as you slowly settle onto your back, feeling your body warm up when you focus on his muffled groans, desperate and needy. As your hand slowly slides down your shirt, you shut your eyes, biting down onto your lip to muffle any sound you could make when your fingers slip underneath your pants and past your underwear.

Jungkook on the other hand doesn’t care about his volume. His boxers are tugged down his thighs, knees bent as he slowly ruts into his sticky palm. His hand is tacky with the lube he had messily squirted on, thick cock glistening in the light coming in from his window. He can’t look away from it, mouth dropped open as he groans, imagining it was your hand tightly wrapped around him, your spit covering his cock instead of that strawberry flavored lube.

“Ah fuck,” he moans, shutting his eyes and throwing his head back onto his soft pillows when his thumb rubs along his slit. It continues to leak beads of precum, quickly wiped away to join the mess on his cock when his hand slides back down and squeezes along his base.

You hear that loud and clear, and when the female voice you’re expecting never follows, you realize he must be taking care of himself. It makes you feel a little less guilty now as your fingers trail along your slit, collecting the slick coating your folds before you softly circle your clit. A choked gasp fills the air at the small sensation, your body already wired after having expected to get some action tonight; it totally had nothing to do with your hot neighbor jacking off inches away from you.

With your eyes fluttering shut, you strain your ears to make out any other noise, muffling your own groans with a hand pressed against your mouth. The bed creaks lightly underneath you as you roll your hips into your hand, getting into a smooth rhythm that makes your body buzz.

Slowly, your imagination runs wild, and you wonder just what Jungkook was thinking of as he did this. Was he watching some porn as he did it, using his own filthy thoughts to push himself to ecstacy, or was this just something he needed to do to be able to sleep?

“Shit, so good,” he groans out, voice raspy, but you can sense his desperation through the drywall. It’s what has you sinking a single digit into your drenched entrance, biting down onto your lower lip when you feel the glide of your walls as you start to thrust into yourself, easing in another and mewling at the slight stretch.

Jungkook would absolutely give his left leg to know what your pussy felt like, he didn’t even care how disgusting he sounded by admitting that to himself, it was true. Blame it on the hard lemonade that made his stomach ache and his mind unfiltered, but he could almost visualize how you’d look above him, could practically feel the warmth of your core wrapped around him, dripping down his length as he fucked into you.

He knows you’re loud in bed, never being one to conceal your cries of pleasure and he would die happy to hear his name come out of your mouth as you creamed his cock. But for now, his hand would have to do.

His lids feel too heavy, jaw slack as the pleasure flows through his body. The wet squelch of his palm fills the room, mingling with his pants and groans, air growing thick around him. It’s been a while since Jungkook had jacked off, and even longer since he’d been able to do it shamelessly in bed without the fear of you hearing him, but now that he thought you were gone he can’t find it in himself to cover his mouth or groan into his pillows like he usually did.

The pent up frustration fogs up his mind, cranks the lust up to 11 until his free hand is gripping his sheets beside him, bed frame creaking as his thrusts speed up. The thuds of his headboard hitting the wall come from behind you, a choked moan blending in with it, and it has you scrambling for your bedside drawer.

The pajamas you wear get yanked off your legs and tossed aside after you grab your trusty vibrator, settling onto your back once more with huff. All it takes is a press of a button for the device to come to life, buzzing in your hand as you trail it up your thighs. A gasp escapes you when you pass it over your mound, brushing against your clit and sending a jolt of pleasure through you.

“Oh my god,” you whimper when you finally press the vibrating head directly onto your sensitive clit, legs spreading further apart as you increase the intensity. You could clearly hear the raise in Jungkook’s moans, and that's when the first irrational thought pops into your mind.

How easy would it be for you to head over to his place and deal with both of your problems. Surely Jungkook wouldn’t have an issue with you offering to suck his dick, wouldn’t mind letting you sink down onto him if it was just a friendly favor.

The little devil on your shoulder tells you it would be mutually beneficial, urging you to get up and walk to Jungkook’s with the vibrator still in your hand, but you can’t. This alone felt like enough of a dirty secret, a secret you’d have absolutely no problem keeping because although you feel slightly ashamed, you couldn’t deny how turned on you are.

The flashes of all the times you’ve heard Jungkook with other people play in your mind, the screams of his name that he tried to muffle, pleas for him to go faster, the resounding smack of his palm on flesh that always left you wide eyed when you heard it. And you start to wonder if maybe you’d be into that, the feeling of his large tattooed hand connecting with your ass, gently tapping against your cheek for you to open up for his cock.

That fantasy is like the first ember needed to start the fire inside of you, spreading uncontrollably until you’re bucking into your vibrator, teeth biting down on your lip to keep any potential moans of his name from slipping out.

“Fuck, fuck,” he chants, the same fire burning within him. Maybe your minds are linked telepathically, his thoughts gravitating to the same filthy fantasy you had. Jungkook was very much an ass man, knowing very well how good your butt looked in jeans from how often he stared at it, he could only imagine how good it would look as he fucked you from behind. Picturing the way it would bounce back from the force of his thrusts, eyes glued to the way you’d soak his cock, mimicking the tightness of your walls with a firm grip of his palm.

Jungkook can sense his orgasm approaching, leaves his chest feeling tight as he pants, legs gliding along his sheets for leverage to continue fucking into his hand. You’re not far off either, vibrator set to the highest setting you can practically feel your bones rattling, free hand slipped under your shirt as you pinch at your pebbled nipples. You’re both on the brink of falling over the edge, the same question playing in your mind: where would you want Jungkook to cum?

As his moans get breathier, whiny in a way you’d never imagine them to be, you mentally decide that you’d want him to cum inside of you, wanting to see the way his cute face would twist up in pleasure as he filled you up. Jungkook hopes you would, throwing all responsible thinking aside for that sweet moment of ecstasy and the mental picture is enough to finally push him over.

“Ah shit, baby,” he cries out in his room—thankfully having half the mind to not cry out your name as he came—eyes rolling back as his cock twitches in his palm, ribbons of cum splashing onto his stomach and chest. The warmth hits his skin, more droplets continuing to leak out as his palm milks his orgasm, stomach hiccuping and back arching from the stimulation.

The choked moan is what has your own orgasm washing over you, your palm slapping over your mouth so hard you know you’ll feel the ache later but you don’t care. A muffled gasp blends with the buzzing of your toy, thighs tensing up as your body tingles and writhes around on your sheets.

The only thing you can think of is Jungkook, the charming smile he’d give you when he listened to you rant about anything, his annoying habit of rolling up his sleeves to show off his muscles, the cute scowl on his face whenever you managed to beat him at Mario Kart, and the soft feeling of his alcohol coated lips on yours. It leaves you feeling warm as your orgasm flows through you, lying limp on the bed as you mewl at the sensitivity.

When you realize your thoughts have strayed from ‘pure sexy Jungkook fantasyland’, and switched over to ‘Jeon Jungkook your adorable neighbor’, your eyes go wide, finger immediately going to turn off the vibrator. In your haste to shut it off, you click the wrong button, changing the pulsing settings and nearly screaming when the device starts to buzz erratically against your overly sensitive clit.

With a strained gasp you yank it away from yourself, turn it off and throw it aside, horribly miscalculating the size of your bed and watching in horror as it lands on the floor with a loud thud. The complete silence from both sides makes the noise sound deafening, and all you can do is sit on your bed, half naked, and hope Jungkook is still too busy basking in his post orgasm bliss to hear the bang.

Although the blood is still pumping in his ears, he heard the thud clearly. His heart stops in his chest as he lays there, too scared to breathe in case he’d somehow make too much noise, suddenly afraid of being too loud after he had just made a show of himself. Jungkook slowly sits himself up, grimacing at the stickiness on his stomach before pressing his ear against his headboard to try to hear anything else.

All you want to do is yank the covers over yourself and go to sleep, pretend your horrendous date and your dirty thoughts about your friend never happened. The sobering mentality that comes after an orgasm settles into you, leaving you staring at the floor with a crease between your brows as you wonder what the hell came over you.

When Jungkook hears nothing else, he sighs in relief, hauling himself out of bed to grab another pair of underwear before entering his bathroom to clean up. As he stares at his own reflection in the mirror, he frowns at how pathetic he feels. The throbbing headache of his earlier drinks is already starting to kick in, body now sweaty from exertion, stomach covered in his cum.

“Such a loser,” he grumbles out, grabbing a wad of tissues to wipe away the mess on his skin before walking back out. Here he was, getting off to the thought of you, while you were out having your post-breakup wild phase.

His hands grab his phone as he reaches his nightstand, flopping back onto the bed and unlocking the device. It’s now one in the morning, and you still hadn’t text him, which either meant you were having the time of your life, or Jungkook had to track down this Jung Hoseok. The slightly protective side of him won’t allow him to sleep until he hears back from you, fingers already typing out a message and hitting send.

Jungkook 1:23am : you safe or am i gonna have to go all Liam Neeson on this guy?

When your phone vibrates on your nightstand you gasp, grabbing it before it could make any more noise. Seeing Jungkook’s name flash on the screen makes your blood run cold, already imagining what the text could be: calling you dirty for getting off on him, making fun of you, telling you to come ove—no stop that.

Finally mustering up the courage, you open it up, a small laugh spilling out as you read his message, relief flooding through you as you realize that meant he thought you were still with Hoseok.

Y/N 1:26am : oh yeah, you gonna show him your very particular set of skills? lol

Y/N 1:26am : i just got home though

Y/N 1:26am : like right now

Y/N 1:26am : still sitting in my living room

Y/N 1:27am : haha

He laughs at your string of texts, something you hear as he settles into bed. Jungkook ebbs away the small feeling of jealousy in his chest, trying to see the silver lining of this. You weren’t rushing to tell him anything about your date which meant it either went so good you wanted to keep it to yourself, or it was subpar and you wouldn’t be seeing this yellow sunglass wearing copycat again.

Jungkook 1:29am : glad you got home safe, goodnight y/n!

Sending back a goodnight text, you lock your phone and slide deeper into bed, pulling the sheets up to your chin as you stare at the ceiling. You already know the only thing you’ll be dreaming about is your cute neighbor with a bunny smile and body proportions that contradicted it. And as Jungkook lays in bed, wondering if he’ll have to push the crush aside, you’re barely coming to terms with the fact that the small glowing feeling that came with being around him might be something else.

Every single one of your interactions gets rewinded and played back like a seamless montage, remembering just how many almost moments there was between you. The way his eyes would flash down to your lips whenever you playfully argued on your couch, hands yanking the remotes from his in a game of tug of war that left you way too close in the heat of the moment. How he’d let you braid his hair anytime you found a new youtube tutorial, his starry eyes staring at you with so much adoration it made your stomach flip, brushing it off as love for a friend.

Then came the jokes from your friends, constantly teasing you about Jungkook, playfully saying they would try to sleep with him just because they liked the scowl on your face, and how quickly you tried to play it off. How the sweet old lady from the convenience store downstairs always assumed you were dating when you came in together, the low jab she sent when you walked in with Hajoon and she said she preferred you with Jungkook. That argument had been one of the ones that left him bolting out of your apartment with a nasty slam of the door, spewing nasty words at you, calling you blind for not seeing it and dumb for acting like you had no idea what he was talking about.

And for the first time, you come to the sudden realization that Hajoon was right. His deep set insecurities about Jungkook had stemmed from scraps of the truth, not just from him but from you too. The amount of times you’d find a way to slide Jungkook’s name into a conversation about anything, telling him funny stories about him, too lost in thought to see that while you were giggling as you reminisce, he was staring at you in disbelief.

The final thought that makes you want a blackhole to swallow you up, comes in the form of you, grabbing Jungkook’s face before planting a kiss on his unsuspecting lips at the club. You want to scream into your pillow as you recall it, how he had almost leaned back in to kiss you again before you had sobered him up with your dumb question rooted in revenge.

“Oh my god, I’m such a bitch.” you whimper. Subjecting Jungkook to be your wingman, jokingly telling him he should be your fake boyfriend more often, asking him for tips with hook ups. If everyone else could see it but you, he probably thought you were purposely friendzoning him.

The guilt piles on top of you as you start to piece together every moment that flew over your head, only making you bury yourself deeper into your sheets. It makes your heart twist, taking note of how Jungkook was always so quick to put a smile on his face despite how naive you were to it all, wondering if maybe it was too late to try to make something of this now. How many times could you call Jungkook ‘bro’ and treat him like you didn’t see him romantically, before he decided there was no hope for him anymore.

So as you force yourself to sleep, nerves and uncertainty weighing heavy on your mind, Jungkook snores away as he dreams of the almost moments that could have been.

#heartsforbts #btswritingcafe #btsghostie #bangtansorciere #bangtaninn #ficswithluv #btscreatorscorner #jungkook smut #jeongguk smut #bts smut #jungkook angst #jeon jungkook #bts fics #new

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sunder-soul · 3 years

Text

PROMPT 1: Hellooooooo! First off ur writing goes off, second off listen to this idea that i truly think u can bring to life... reader n tom r in a relationship and someone tried to slip tom to love potion but ofc he doesn't fall for it and his gf is like ??? and then they rub their relationship in her face LOL. anyways no worried just thought this would slap! Admire u n ur work!!

PROMPT 2: hey i love your the last of your rules series and everything else you’ve written. i’m not very creative so idk what exactly i’m looking for plot wise i just trust you since everything you’ve written is good but i was wondering if maybe you could write a tom x ravenclaw reader please. the ravenclaw reader tends to be more emotionally reserved and isn’t big on physical affection and maybe tom finds that interesting in a way? idk this idea might suck but felt like asking anyways...

Decided to combine these two because I could see them working really well together… :D

･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

Retribution

Summary: After somebody tries to slip Tom a love potion to break up him and Ravenclaw Reader’s relationship, they get a little bit theatrical in response...

Wordcount: 1.8k

Content warning: none.

･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

“Good morning,” says Tom evenly, lifting a wide-brimmed cup to his lips and taking an even sip as he looks at you.

“Is it?” you say dryly, sitting down opposite him at the Slytherin table and pulling out the new Magical Theory textbook. “Have you looked over this yet?”

“I have,” Tom replies with a very small smile. “Not to your liking?”

“Sophus writes like it’s still the seventeenth century,” you say with a shake of your head, “which isn’t surprising considering I don’t think he included a single reference from the last two hundred years… I mean honestly –” you wave at the title on the front of the book, “– ‘Corpus Magikus?’ Even the title makes it sound ancient.”

“Did you have any criticisms about the actual content per chance?” Tom asks as he lifts his tea again – though it doesn’t quite hide the amused smile on his lips. “Or did you not manage to get past the articulation?”

You give him a look. “The articulation is just as important as the content.”

“I completely disagree,” he replies easily, his cup clinking as he rests it back on its saucer, “regardless of how it is written, his points are extremely sophisticated.”

“I’m not talking about the quality of his points, I’m talking about how well he makes them accessible,” you say at once, picking up a piece of toast and buttering it lightly, “he can have the best criticisms of Magical Theory in the world and no one will care if they can’t understand what he’s saying.”

Tom arches a brow and leans forward on the table, resting on his forearms. “You’re placing the responsibility of understanding an argument on the person presenting it, and not the person receiving it,” he says fluidly, “personally when I find something difficult to understand, I take it as an indicator that I need to return to the topic after better preparing myself.”

“That works fine as an individualistic perspective,” you reply at once, leaning forward to match him, “but a book isn’t written for an individual, is it? It’s written for an audience. A book like this is measured by how wide an audience it can reach, meaning the responsibility is half on him to write accessibly, and half on the audience to go away and fill the holes in our own understanding. That’s when information is dispersed most effectively.”

“Your priority is the dispersion of information as a whole and not the expansion of your personal field of knowledge, and that is the crux of our differing opinion,” Tom says, sitting up straighter and tilting his head calmly.

“I am very aware,” you say dryly, “but you shouldn’t dismiss the importance of charisma when it comes to spreading information. After all, academics aren’t exactly known to be the most charismatic people most of the time, so you end up with intelligent, useful tomes that are utterly incomprehensible to most people –” you nod at the text again, “whilst compelling idiotic drivel is widely consumed.”

The Daily Prophet lands with a thump on your breakfast plate as the delivery owl swoops away with a mournful hoot, and you share a pointed, very wry look with Tom.

Tom breathes a little laugh and laces his fingers around his cup. “So you’re not looking forward to Magical Theory, then.”

“I am,” you amend, frowning, “I just hope the class follows more like Waffling’s work than this.”

“Of course you like Waffling,” Tom smirks, lifting his cup, “he effectively writes in verse –”

Tom suddenly freezes, his brow furrowing lightly. You raise a brow at his sudden reaction. “What?”

He looks down at his tea, still frowning.

“Tom?” you prompt, bemused.

“Someone has attempted to drug me,” he says in complete seriousness, looking up at you.

You stare back, bewildered. “Is… is this more Tom humour?” you ask after a moment, “you seriously need more practice at making jokes, Tom, you really are terrible at it –”

“I’m not joking,” Tom interrupts crisply.

Your scrutiny drops to the cup in his hand. “How can you tell?”

“My tea smells like you.”

Your brows raise. “Excuse me?”

“My tea,” he repeats evenly, his dark eyes coming alight with a flicker of amusement as he leans closer, his cup still in one hand, “rather suddenly smells like you. I can only assume someone has managed to slip Amortentia into my cup sometime during this conversation.”

You blink at him. “Oh,” you say simply.

Tom’s lips curve into a more defined smirk at your expression.

“Well who’s trying to drug you then?” you ask quickly, looking away.

“An excellent question,” he says silkily, eyes still on you. “Their motive is hardly a mystery, so that should narrow it down.”

You roll your eyes and level him with a flat look. “Nothing could narrow it down less, Tom,” you drawl, “half the school is in love with you, and the other half is in denial about being in love with you.”

Tom arches a brow and looks very pleased with himself. “Should I drink it and we can find out?” he asks in amusement, lifting the cup.

You huff a laugh and take a bite of your toast. “Go on then, but don’t expect any sympathy from me when you’re pouring your heart out to some random stranger in front of the whole school a minute from now.”

His hand freezes with the rim of his cup an inch from his mouth, amusement faltering.

“That’s what I thought,” you smirk. “If you want to play it that way you’re going to have to be smarter than that.”

“Oh?” he asks, dark eyes narrowing. “And what would you suggest?”

“If someone drugged you during this conversation then they’re probably watching for your reaction,” you say casually around bites of your toast, “so just look out for someone who’s waiting for you to dramatically break up with me.”

“According to you, that would be the entire school,” Tom mutters, looking significantly more disgruntled than before.

A grin slowly builds on your face. “That was nearly a real joke, Tom,” you say ironically, “Merlin you’ve come so far…”

He shoots you a flat glare and you snicker. “Alright, sorry, I’ll stop – look, if I storm out of here looking upset and you act all conflicted and brooding for the rest of the day, whoever it was will probably try to come talk to you.”

“How theatrical,” Tom deadpans.

You shrug. “Do you want to know who drugged you or not?”

His eyes remain on yours for a moment, and then he lifts the tea to his lips. You watch him pretend to drink, your eyes lingering on the tea glistening on his lips as he lowers the cup.

“Don’t lick your lips,” you say quietly, not quite able to look away.

Tom’s other hand shifts slightly where it’s resting on the table between you, and the tea vanishes both from his lips and the cup. You give him another dry look. “Show off,” you accuse, smiling, “wandless and non-verbal, huh?”

“If you ask nicely, I’ll teach you how to do it,” he smirks.

You huff a laugh and slide Corpus Magikus back into your bag. “I should make my dramatic exit soon,” you say casually, finishing your toast and looking around the hall absently. “Perhaps we should have a fight first.”

“That would make it more convincing, yes,” he says delicately, still looking amused.

“What shall we fight about?"

Tom’s expression immediately cools and he leans in so close that you can see the patterns in his dark irises. “The content doesn’t matter,” he says smoothly, a glimmer in his eyes despite his utterly blank expression, “rather, the articulation.”

You hold his gaze for a second, fighting the urge to smile. You force yourself to stand suddenly, as if he’s said something of great offence. “I’ve never seen you so quickly converted to my opinion, Tom,” you say icily, leaning down to him over the table and hoping it looks like you’re angry.

“You made your argument very convincingly,” Tom says immediately, lifting his chin coolly.

“Actively demonstrating my point, I suppose,” you snap, standing straight. “I’m going to storm out now.”

“I’ll see you in class,” he says dismissively, pouring himself more tea.

You turn on your heel and leave, ignoring the curious eyes following you on your way out and not letting the smile break on your face until you’re well outside the Hall. Now all you have to do is wait.

･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

“Amelia Staghart,” Tom says in your ear before swiftly sitting down next to you in Potions that afternoon.

You raise a brow at him, watching as he arranges his Potions kit on the desk – Staghart is sitting a few desks behind you at that very moment and can most definitely see the both of you. “Are we no longer having a fight?”

“I grew tired of that pretence rather quickly,” Tom says curtly.

You smirk. “Did she talk to you?”

“Yes.” He looks decidedly irritated.

“A lot, huh.”

He shoots you a glare and you bite back another smile. “Are you going to report her then?” you ask, writing the date out on your parchment.

“No,” Tom says softly. You glance up curiously at his tone and find his dark eyes watching you write, before they flick up to yours. “I can think of a more pertinent retribution for her to endure,” he finishes quietly, not looking away.

“Retribution?” you echo, arching a brow with a slight smile. “And you accuse me of being theatrical.”

But Tom only leans closer and – to general astonishment – places a very gentle kiss on your cheek. His lips linger soft and warm on your skin for a moment as you’re frozen in place, staring at him as he slowly draws away an inch. His eyes roam your face as you blink in surprise, his lips curving into another humorous smile at your expression when there’s a sudden SMASH from behind you.

The entire class turns from where they’ve been staring wide-eyed at Tom’s display of affection to see Staghart’s inkwell knocked asunder on her desk, spreading black ink across the wood and dripping down to the floor, her eyes wide and her expression thunderstruck as she stares at you.

“Clean that up at once, Staghart!” Slughorn says disapprovingly as he strides into the room. “I certainly hope your clumsiness does not extend through today’s lesson – we’re brewing poisons today, class!”

Staghart goes red as the rest of the students titter and chatter, furiously glaring at the pool of ink dripping into her lap.

You glance at Tom and share a silent look of amusement before the two of you simultaneously turn back to your notes, still smirking.

#Tom riddle #tom marvolo riddle #tom riddle x oc #tom riddle x reader #tom riddle x y/n #tom riddle x you #established relationship #ravenclaw reader #amortentia #tom riddle fanfiction #tom riddle imagine #tom riddle fic #tom riddle fanfic #harry potter #minific #retribution #prompt #Anon #gn reader

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