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doctorbitchcrxft · 2 days

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Hell House | Supernatural Series Rewrite | Dean Winchester x Reader

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader (Eventual)

Warnings: canon violence, canon gore, unwanted sexual advances toward reader (nothing crazy, just uncomfortable flirtation)

Word Count: 6125

Series Rewrite Masterlist

After leaving John and the Daevas behind, you and the boys began heading to Texas to investigate a potential case.

Sam slept in the front seat of the car as Dean cruised down Interstate 35. He looked at you suspiciously, smirking in the rearview mirror.

“What?” you whispered.

“Watch this,” Dean told you, grabbing a plastic spoon from the backseat next to you and put it in Sam’s mouth. Snickering, he took a picture with his phone before turning the music up loud. You rolled your eyes and laughed as Sam jerked up waving his arms and trying to spit the spoon out.

“Ha ha, very funny,” the younger Winchester said un-amusedly.

Dean gave what you could only describe as a giggle. You thought it was adorable. “Sorry, not a lot of scenery here in East Texas; kinda gotta make your own.”

“Man, we're not kids anymore, Dean. We're not going to start that crap up again,” Sam stated.

“Start what up?” you asked.

“Prank stuff. It's stupid, and it always escalates,” Sam explained to you.

Dean mocked, “Aw, what's the matter Sammy, scared you're going to get a little Nair in your shampoo again, huh?” replied Dean.

“Alright, just remember you started it.”

“Ah ha, bring it on baldy.”

“Guys, I am not going to mediate or participate in a prank war,” you jumped in.

“Nobody asked you to, sweetheart,” Dean flippantly responded. “But don’t be surprised if you get caught in the crossfire.”

“Dean—!”

“Where are we anyway?” Sam cut you off.

“A few hours outside of Richardson. Gimme the lowdown again?” Dean asked.

“About a month or two ago, this group of kids goes poking around in this local haunted house.”

“Haunted by what?” you asked.

“Apparently, a pretty misogynistic spirit,” he answered.

“Oh, great,” you grumbled.

Sam laughed. “Legend goes, it takes girls and strings them up in the rafters. Anyway, this group of kids see this dead girl hanging in the cellar.”

You scoffed. “Oh, even better.”

“Anybody ID the corpse?” asked Dean.

“Well, that's the thing. By the time the cops got there the body was gone. So cops are saying the kids were just yanking chains.”

“Maybe the cops are right,” the older brother suggested.

“Maybe, but I read a couple of the kids' firsthand accounts. They seemed pretty sincere,” Sam shrugged.

“Where’d you find those?” you asked.

The brunet hesitated, seeming a little embarrassed. “Well, I knew we were going to be passing through Texas. So, um, last night, I surfed some local… paranormal websites. And I found one.”

“And what's it called?” Dean prompted.

“HellHoundsLair.com.”

“Lemme guess, streaming live out of Mom's basement.”

Sam grinned. “Yeah, probably."

“Yeah. Most of those websites wouldn't know a ghost if it bit 'em in the persqueeter,” Dean quipped.

“Look, we let Dad take off. Which was a mistake, by the way. And now we don't know where the hell he is, so in the meantime, we gotta find ourselves something to hunt. There's no harm checking this thing out.”

“Agreed. But not on the mistake part— I’m not getting involved in that argument,” you said.

“Good call,” Dean responded. “So where do we find these kids?”

“Same place you always find kids in a town like this,” Sam said. He directed his brother to a fast food outlet called “Rodeo Drive.”

You interviewed all of the kids who had been involved in the incident, and the only detail they could agree on in their story was that a teen named Craig had been the one to introduce them to the house.

***

The next day, you went to the record stop Craig worked at and posed as interviewers trying to get his side of the story on a paranormal feature you were writing. Sam had asked him about the house he’d taken his friends to.

“You mean the Hell House?” the teen answered.

“That’s the one,” answered Dean.

“I didn't think there was anything to the story,” Craig shrugged.

“Why don't you tell us the story,” Sam told him.

Craig quieted his voice and looked around for eavesdroppers. “Well, supposedly back in the '30s this farmer, Mordechai Murdoch, used to live in this house with his six daughters. It was during the Depression, his crops were failing, he didn't have enough money to feed his own children. So I guess that's when he went off the deep end.”

“How?” you questioned.

“Well, he figured it was best if his girls died quick, rather than starve to death. So he attacked them. They screamed, begged for him to stop but he just strung 'em up, one after the other. And when he was all finished, he just turned around and hung himself. Now they say that his spirit is trapped in the house forever, stringing up any other girl that goes inside.”

‘Oh, that’s just great.’

“Where'd you hear all this?” Dean questioned.

“My cousin Dana told me. I don't know where she heard it from. Ya gotta realize, I— I didn't believe this for a second.”

“But now you do,” the younger brother finished for him.

“I don't know what the hell to think, man. You guys, I— I'll tell you exactly what I told the police, ok? That girl was real. And she was dead. This was not a prank. I swear to God, I don't wanna go anywhere near that house ever again, okay?”

***

You and the boys headed to the Hell House. It was more like a dilapidated shack at this point; it looked like it had been made with wooden boards that were probably rotting and hollowed out by termites. The path up to the house was muddy, and the house itself was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by woods. Add “woods” on top of “misogynistic ghost,” and you were thoroughly worried about this hunt.

“Can't say I blame the kid,” Sam commented, taking in the appearance of the house.

“Yeah, so much for curb appeal,” quipped Dean. “You gonna be okay, sweetheart? You look like you’re gonna hurl.”

You looked up at Dean. “Well, misogynistic ghosts that kill any girl who goes inside don’t exactly tickle my fancy.”

Dean’s tone became a little more sincere, but still filled with his typical sarcastic charm. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

You rolled your eyes. “I’m fine. I’m a big girl; I can handle myself. Just uneasy, that’s all.”

“Hey, (Y/N)?” Sam asked. “I realized something back in Chicago.”

“What’s that?” you asked while you ducked under the police tape blocking the door.

“You never told us where you’re from. You know we’re from Lawrence, so, what’s your story?”

“Honestly, Sammy, I have no idea,” you responded. “My parents never told me. I don’t have a copy of my birth certificate either. If it weren’t for my mom using my middle name when she was mad at me, I wouldn’t even know what it was. Don’t know my social security number, either. I’m not even confident the government has record of my existence.”

“Huh,” replied Sam. “How’d your mom even have time for a kid if she’s been hunting since you were born?”

You took out your flashlight and continued looking around while you talked to Sam. “That’s the thing, she didn’t. My mom was never really a mom to me, and she certainly wasn’t to my little brother. Even though he was only two years younger than me, I kind of had to fill the role of ‘mom’,” you explained.

Sam looked at you sadly. “I’m sorry.”

“Meh, it’s whatever,” you shrugged. “You got something?”

Dean was looking around with his EMF meter. It was beeping, but not making sounds indicative of a usual reading. “Ye-ah,” he sounded unsure. “The EMF’s no good.”

“Why?” Sam questioned.

Dean looked at the power lines just outside the house. “I think that thing's still got a little juice in it. It's screwing with all the readings.”

“Yeah that'd do it,” Sam sighed.

“Looks like old man Murdock was a bit of a tagger here in his time, though,” Dean stated, looking at the symbols covering the walls.

“And after his time too. That reverse cross has been used by Satanists for centuries, but this sigil of sulfur didn't show up in San Francisco until the '60s,” Sam informed.

You and Dean stared at Sam for a moment before the older brother quipped, “That is exactly why you never get laid.”

You patted Sam’s shoulder. “I think it’s cool,” you assured him.

He returned your smile. “Thanks, (Y/N).”

Dean moved to another wall with a cross with a dot in the middle. The bottom piece of the cross looked almost like a fishhook. “Hey, what about this one? You guys seen this one before?”

Sam shook his head, but you felt a sense of vague recognition, too. “Somewhere, I think.”

“Yeah, me too,” Dean said.

Sam rubbed the symbol. “It's paint. Seems pretty fresh too.”

Dean sighed. “I don't know, Sam. You know I hate to agree with authority figures of any kind, but... the cops may be right about this one.”

A sudden noise had you on high alert. You and Dean flanked one side of the door, guns drawn, and Sam took the other. Dean nodded, and the three of you burst through only to be met with blinding lights in your eyes.

“Oh, cut. It's just a coupla humans,” a nasally male voice said.

The two men before you both donned backpacks and baggy cargo pants. They were around your height and seemed like complete involuntarily-celibate nerds to you.

“What are you guys doing here?” the same guy asked. He held an electrical device in one hand while the other man held a video camera.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dean’s gruff reply came.

“Uh, we belong here; we're professionals?” the man said matter-of-factly.

You scoffed. “Professional what?”

The man eyed you up and down before answering, and you fought the cringe crawling up your spine. “Paranormal Investigators.” He handed you a business card. “There you go, take a look at that, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me that,” you gritted through your teeth.

Dean took the card from you, saying, “Easy, tiger.” He read it and muttered, “Oh, you gotta be kidding me.”

“Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spengler? Hellhoundslair.com. You guys run that website,” Sam noted.

The man who had been looking you up and down who’d identified himself as Ed nodded proudly.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, we're huge fans,” Dean grinned.

“And ahh, we know who you guys are too,” Ed said confidently.

You shot a sideways glance to Dean. “Oh yeah?”

“Amateurs.”

You and Dean immediately lost interest.

Ed continued, “Looking for ghosts and cheap thrills.”

“Yep. So if you guys don't mind, we're trying to conduct a serious scientific investigation here,” Harry finished.

“Really? What have you got so far?” you asked.

“Harry, why dontcha tell 'em about EMF?”

Sam played dumb, too. “EMF?” You could tell he was fighting a smile.

“Electromagnetic field? Spectral entities can cause energy fluctuations that can be read with an EMF detector. Like this bad boy right here.” Harry gestured to the machine Ed was holding, who turned it on.

“Whoa. Whoa. It's 2.8mg,” Harry noted.

“2.8. It's hot in here,” Ed grinned.

Dean whistled in mock admiration. “So you guys ever really seen a ghost before, or…?”

“Once. We were, uh— We were investigating this old house and we saw a vase fall right off the table—”

“By itself,” Harry finished.

“Well, we, we we we didn't actually see it, we heard it. And something like that… it, uh… it changes you,” Ed said solemnly.

“Yeah. I think I get the picture. We should go, let them get back to work,” Dean broke their stupor. “C’mon, (Y/N).”

He led you and his brother out of the room with the two guys in it. Dean stood behind you protectively.

“What?” you asked him as he led you out of the house.

“Didn’t like how he was looking at you,” he grumbled before seeming to realize what he had just admitted. “And… uh, misogynistic ghosts, and all.”

A smile spread across your face. “Thanks.”

***

You and the boys headed to a diner for some cheap burgers and beer before you decided to hit the road. You couldn’t find any missing persons matching the description of the Jane Doe that had been in the house, nor could Sam find anything on a Mordechai Murdoch. The real man had existed under a different name. You ruled the case a bust, and just wanted to relax a little before leaving town.

“How’s that thing on your leg healing?” Dean asked you, referencing the deep gashes you’d received in Chicago.

“Meh, it’s okay,” you shrugged, taking a sip of your beer. “It’s way better than it was a few days ago.”

“Good,” he nodded before clearing his throat. “So? Sammy, you got anything?”

His brother was scrolling the internet in search of a new case when something caught his attention. “Dude.”

“What?” you and Dean asked in unison.

“The Hell House.”

***

Emergency vehicles and officials hurried about, interviewing witnesses and wheeling out a stretcher with a body bag on it. The sinking feeling you got from the Hell House returned to your stomach as you and the boys approached it.

“What happened?” Dean asked a bystander.

“A couple of cops say a girl hung herself in the house,” explained the bystander. “She was a straight A student with a full ride to UT, too. It just don't make sense.” He walked away from the two of you.

“I don’t understand,” you started. “How could we’ve missed something?”

“I don’t know,” Sam shook his head.

“Back to the drawing board, I guess,” Dean sighed.

You waited for the emergency vehicles to clear out and allow you and the boys the ability to get another look at the house. Two cops remained guarding it, though, to which Sam commented, “I guess the cops don't want anyone else screwing around in there.”

You and the brothers were crouched in the bushes, trying to plan how to get in the house. You then heard whispers that caught your attention, and turned to see Ed and Harry clunkily approaching with cumbersome backpacks and gadgets covering them from head to toe.

“You gotta be kidding me,” Dean grumbled. “I got an idea.”

You shot him a confused look while he stood a little taller and cupped a hand to his mouth. “Who ya gonna call!”

You almost burst out in giggles at his stupid reference.

“Hey, you!” one of the cops called and took off running in the direction of Ed and Harry. The two guys turned and sprinted away. Well, sprinted as much as they could with their heavy packs.

You and the boys rushed into the abandoned house, passing each other weapons from the duffel bag. Dean was transfixed by the symbol on the wall. “Where have I seen that symbol before? It's killing me!”

“Yeah, me too, but we don’t have much time,” you urged him, slapping a shotgun in his hand and pulling him further into the home. You headed down to the basement and took in your dust-covered surroundings. You could feel your allergy beginning to get aggravated while you looked around.

“Hey, Sam. I dare you to take a swig of this,” Dean grinned, holding up a jar he found on one of the shelves.

“What the hell would I do that for?” scoffed the younger brother.

“...I double dare you.”

Sam just shook his head and continued walking.

You flinched and grabbed Dean’s arm at a sound coming from within a cabinet. Dean looked to you and back at the cabinet before the two of you took either side of the cabinet’s doors. At Dean’s nod, you threw the door open. Rats inside it squeaked and scurried away from the light of Sam’s flashlight.

“Arghh!” Dean yelped. “I hate rats.”

Sam scoffed. “You'd rather it was a ghost?”

Dean considered, but nodded. “Yes!” Dean suddenly looked up at something above your head, and you shrieked at the sight of an ax nearly hitting you squarely on your forehead. Dean yanked you away just in time and shielded you with his body protectively. He shot at the ghost of the tall farmer wearing a colorless straw hat that wasn’t at all deterred by the rocksalt. He shot once more, but it was still there. And then the final time, Mordechai disappeared.

“What the hell kind of spirit is immune to rock salt?” Sam questioned frantically.

“I don’t know! Come on, come on!” Dean urged you and his brother.

You ran toward the stairs, and Mordechai smashed his ax down through the shelves right next to your head. You raised your gun at him and shot multiple times, praying it would work. Nothing worked, and you narrowly missed another swing of the ghost’s ax before you fled.

“(Y/N), let’s go!” Sam called, running ahead of you. You and the boys sprinted out of the door of the house, only to be met with flashlights and a camera in your face.

“Get that damn thing outta my face,” Dean commanded before hurrying away again. You and the boys left the Hell House in the dust.

“You okay?” Dean asked you when you returned to the car.

You tried to catch your breath, slumping into the backseat. “Holy shit,” you muttered. “I think so. You?”

He nodded. “Fine.”

“But Dean.”

“Hm.”

“You’re sweet, but I don’t need you to protect me. I can hold my own,” you told him.

Dean scoffed. “It’s a misogynistic ghost, (Y/N). I’m obviously gonna be a little concerned.”

You smiled fondly, but held your position. “I know. Just… I can handle it. You don’t have to worry about me.”

He just grunted in response.

***

The next day, you and the boys were hanging out in their motel room. You and Sam were at your laptops researching while Dean sat on his bed scribbling in a notepad.

“What the hell is this symbol? It's buggin' the hell outta me. This whole damn job's buggin' me. What was with those slit wrists? I thought the legend says he hung himself.”

“That’s what you’ve been scribbling all this time?” You looked up from your laptop. “That symbol?”

“Yeah,” Dean answered. “But seriously, what the hell is going on here?”

Sam jumped in, saying, “And the ax too. I mean, ghosts are usually pretty strict, right? Following the same patterns over and over?”

“But this mook keeps changing,” Dean added.

“Exactly. I'm telling ya, the way the story goes... wait a minute.”

“What?”

“Someone added a new post to the Hell Hound site. Listen to this. 'They say Mordechai Murdock was really a Satanist who chopped up his victims with an ax before slitting his own wrists. Now he's imprisoned in the house for eternity.”

“What the fuck?” you questioned, sliding Sam’s laptop over to yourself. “How the hell is he changing?”

“I don't know,” Dean broke in, “but I think I might have just figured out where it all started.”

***

Your next stop was the music store Craig worked at.

“Hey Craig? Remember us?” Dean asked the teen who was organizing records.

“Guys, look I'm really not in the mood to answer any of your questions ok?” Craig answered.

“Oh, don't worry. We're just here to buy an album, that's all.” Dean flipped through a stack of records, and you looked over his shoulder. You suddenly realized where he was going with this. He picked up a Blue Oyster Cult album, and you nodded in acknowledgment as you put together the symbol had been the logo for the band.

“You know, I couldn't figure out what that symbol was, and then, I realized that it doesn't mean anything. It's the logo for the Blue Oyster Cult,” Dean said, putting the album on the counter across from Craig. “Tell me Craig, you, uh, you into BOC? Or just scaring the hell outta people? Now why 'n't you tell us about that house. Without lying through your ass this time.”

Craig sighed. “Alright, um. My cousin Dana was on break from TCU. Ah, I guess we were just bored, looking for something to do. So I showed her this abandoned dump I found. We thought it would be funny if we made it look like it was haunted. So we painted symbols on the walls; some from some albums, some from some of Dana's theology textbooks. Then, we found out this guy Murdock used to live there so we— we made up some story to go along with that. So they told people, who told other people. And then these two guys put it on their stupid website. Everything just took on a life of its own. I mean I, I thought it was funny at first but... now that girl's dead! It was just a joke, you know. I mean, none of it was real, we made the whole thing up. I swear!”

You knew he hadn’t meant any harm. “Okay. Thank you.”

You and the boys left an emotional Craig standing at the counter.

“If none of it was real how the hell do you explain Mordechai?” Dean asked.

“I have no idea,” you responded.

***

The next morning, you and the boys headed out to get some breakfast and coffee. Sam was shifting uncomfortably every few seconds in his seat. “What’s your deal, dude?” you asked.

His response was a grimace before he explained he thought Mordechai might be a Tulpa. “Okay, so there was this incident in Tibet in 1915. Group of monks visualized a golem in their head. They meditated on it so hard they brought the thing to life. Outta thin air.”

“So?” Dean said.

“That was twenty monks. Imagine what ten thousand web surfers could do. I mean, Craig starts the story about Mordechai, then it spreads, goes online. Now there are countless people all believing in the bastard,” Sam replied.

“Now wait a second. Are you trying to tell me that just because people believe in Mordechai, he's real?”

Sam shifted again. “I don’t know, maybe.”

“People believe in Santa Claus— how come I'm not getting hooked up every Christmas?” Dean remarked.

“ ‘Cause we’re bad people,” you remarked. Dean seemed convinced by your answer.

“And because of this.” Sam turned his phone to you and Dean to show you a photo of a symbol on one of the walls of the Hell House. “That's a Tibetan spirit sigil. On the wall of the house. Craig said they were painting symbols from a theology textbook. I bet they painted this; not even knowing what it was. Now, that sigil has been used for centuries, concentrating meditative thoughts like a magnifying glass. So people are on the HellHounds website, staring at the symbol, thinking about Mordechai… I mean I don't know, but it might be enough to bring a Tulpa to life.”

You shrugged. “That would explain why the bastard keeps changing.”

“Right, as the legend changes, people think different things, so Mordechai himself changes. Like a game of telephone. That would also explain why the rock salt didn't work.” Sam shifted at least five separate times in his chair as he spoke.

“Yeah, because he's not a traditional spirit,” the older brother continued. “Okay. So why don't we just, uh, get this spirit sigil thingie off the wall and off the website?”

“Well, it's not that simple. You see, once Tulpas are created they take on a life of their own,” Sam explained.

“Great. So if he really is a thought form, how the hell are we supposed to kill an idea?”

“Well, it's not gonna be easy with these guys helping us. Check out their homepage.”

Sam showed you and Dean footage from two days ago. “Since they've posted the video, their number of hits have quadrupled in the last day alone.”

“Great,” you muttered. “But I have an idea. C’mon.” You got up from the table and began heading away.

“Where we going?” Dean questioned.

“To find a copy store.”

Sam got up and began to follow you. “Man, I think I'm allergic to our soap or something.”

Dean laughed and walked after you.

“You did this?!” Sam called.

The only response he got was a laugh from his brother.

“You're a friggin jerk!”

“Oh yeah!” Dean pumped a fist in the air.

***

After you hit the copy store to carry out your idea, you and the boys found Ed and Harry’s trailer park residence and rapped against the door loudly.

“Who is it?” Harry’s voice called.

“Come on out here guys, we hear you in there,” Dean called back. When the door opened, Dean looked over the two men’s shoulders. “Ah, would you look at that! Action figures in their original packaging— what a shock.”

You snickered,but nudged him. “Be polite.”

“Guys, we need to talk,” Sam said.

“Yeah, um, sorry guys. We're ahhh, a little bit busy right now,” Ed responded. “But pretty lady, if you’d like to stay—”

Dean cut him off, gruffly saying, “Okay, well, we'll make it quick. We need you to shut down your website.”

Ed laughed. “Man, you know, these guys got us busted the other night, spent the night in a holding cell—”

“I had to pee in that cell urinal. In front of people. And I get stage fright,” the other goon chimed in.

“Why should we trust you guys?”

“Look, guys. We all know what we saw that night; what's in the house. But now, thanks to your website, there are thousands of people hearing about Mordechai,” the brunet explained.

“That's right. Which means people are gonna keep showing up at the Hell House, running into him in person, somebody could get hurt,” Dean continued.

“Ed, maybe he's got a point, maybe—”

Ed cut his friend off. “Nope.”

“No,” Harry said despite his position moments earlier.

“We have an obligation to our fans, to the truth,” Ed stated.

“Well I have an obligation to kick both your little asses right now—” Dean’s face hardened, and you could see Ed and Harry nearly shit themselves.

You pulled his arm back. “Just forget about it,” you told him. “You could bitch slap ‘em both, I could tell them that thing about Mordechai, but they’re still not gonna listen. Let’s just go.” You turned away.

“Whoa! Whoa!” the guys called after you. “What’d you say about...?”

“Hang on a second here,” Harry said. “What thing about Mordechai, you guys?”

“Don’t tell ‘em, (Y/N),” Sam said.

“But if they agree to shut the website down, Sam—”

“They're not going to do it, you said so yourself,” Dean chimed in.

“No wait. Wait. Don't listen to him ok? We'll do it. We'll do it,” Ed said, stepping closer to you.

You sighed. “Look, it is a really big deal, alright. And it wasn't easy to dig up. So only if we have your word that you'll shut everything down.”

“Totally,” Ed nodded.

Dean handed over some paperwork you’d doctored at the copy shop reluctantly. “It's a death certificate. From the '30s. We got it at the library. Now according to the coroner, the actual cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

“That's right, he didn't hang or cut himself,” added Dean.

Ed’s eyebrows shot up. “He shot himself?”

“Yep. With a .45 pistol. To this day, they say he's terrified of them,” you said.

Dean continued explaining. “Matter of fact, they say if you shoot him with a .45, loaded with these special wrought-iron rounds, it'll kill the son of a bitch.”

Ed and Harry snickered gleefully. Harry spun around and bolted back to the trailer. Ed followed more slowly.

Once they were out of earshot, you held up crossed fingers to the boys. “Here’s hoping.”

***

You and the boys were waiting for Ed and Harry to put out the bogus story you’d given them at a diner later that evening. You sat in the booth between Sam and the wall, and looked over at his laptop while he reloaded the page repeatedly. Dean sat across from you and his brother, pulling the cord of a plaque on the wall of a fisherman holding a big fish. The fisherman’s mouth moved up and down when Dean pulled the cord.

You pulled it again to stop it. “If you pull that damn cord one more time, I’ll kill you.”

Dean sent you a challenging look and pulled the cord again. You pulled it again in response.

“Come on, sweetheart, you need more laughter in your life. You know, you're way too tense.”

“What! I do laugh!” you pouted.

“Not as much as this guy.” He pulled the cord again.

You pulled it to stop it for a final time. “Don’t try me.”

Dean sighed. “They post it yet?”

Sam turned the laptop around to Dean. “We've learned from reputable sources that Mordechai Murdock has a fatal fear of firearms. Alright. How long do we wait?”

“Long enough for the new story to spread,” replied Sam, “and the legend to change. I figure by nightfall, iron rounds will work on the sucker.” Sam lifted his beer and you and Dean lifted yours as well. The three of you tapped them together.

“Sweet,” Dean said. He took a long swig of his beer and Sam grinned. The older of the two tried to put his beer down, but it was stuck to his beer.

Sam cracked up, as did you, and Dean stared at his brother incredulous. “You didn't.”

Sam continued to laugh and held up his tube of super glue. “Oh, I did!”

Dean shook his hand trying to get the beer off and turned his aggravation to you. “You knew about this?”

You felt guilty, but said, “Hey, I told you, I’m Switzerland in this prank war.”

“Oh, it’s on, sweetheart.”

“Dean! I didn’t even do anything! I’m Switzerland! Look, I’ll even help you get it off your hand, okay? Stop pouting.”

Dean grunted, “Fine.”

***

Dean bought the laughing fisherman from the diner and brought it to the woods beyond the Hell House later that night. You wrapped the cord around a rock to weigh the pulley mechanism down to lure the cops away from the house.

You entered the house on alert with your gun drawn, Dean trailing just behind you. “I barely have any skin left on my palm,” he said snarkily.

“So you think Mordechai's home?” you asked as you entered another room.

“I don't know,” Sam answered.

“Me either,” a voice said from behind you.

You wheeled around and pointed your gun at the source of the sound.

“Whoa! Whoa!” Ed said.

“What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?” you yelled.

“We're just trying to get a book and movie deal, ok?” Harry said.

“Motherfucker—” You were cut off by the sound of knives being sharpened coming from the basement. Your guard immediately went back up.

“Oh crap,” Ed said. “Don’t worry (Y/N), I’ll protect you.”

“Oh, get off me, dickhead.” You shrugged his hand off your shoulders.

He crowded way too closely behind you and followed you and the brothers to the basement door.

“Ah guys, you wanna— you wanna open that door for us?” Ed grinned uncomfortably.

“Why don't you?” Dean turned to him, shooting daggers at him.

Mordechai burst through the door at that moment, holding an ax and screaming. You and the boys began emptying your gun chambers into his stomach, but the guns had no effect on him. You then swept the other rooms in search of Ed and Harry.

“What the fuck, didn’t you guys post that bullshit story we gave you?” you asked them when you found them.

“Of course we did,” Ed scoffed.

Sam and Dean appeared behind you.

“But then our server crashed,” Harry explained.

“So it didn't take?” Dean asked rhetorically.

The two men exchanged looks and murmured to themselves.

“So these, these guns don't work.” Dean laughed coldly and raked a hand through his hair. “Great. Sam, any ideas?”

“We are getting outta here,” Harry said. “Come on, Ed.”

Harry and Ed ran past you and Dean to the other room. You noticed Mordechai’s apparition following them before you heard two girlish screeches coming from their direction.

“Hey! Come and get it, you ugly son of a bitch,” you told the ghost.

“Gladly,” Ed said, not realizing you were talking to Mordechai.

You grabbed the hilt of the ax as he tried to take a swing at you, pushing against him with all your might. You were then pinned against the wall, the ax across your throat and constricting your airway,

“Get out of here, now!” you told Ed and Harry. They sprinted out of the door as you struggled against Mordechai, who lifted you up in the air by the ax.

“Guys! Help!” you screamed.

Moments later, Dean appeared. He held up a spray bottle and lit it, making a plume of fire appear.

“Get out of here, now!” Dean told you. You ran past him. You met Sam in another room, clutching your throat.

“You okay?” Sam asked you. He stooped to get eye-level with you.

“Yeah,” you choked out. “Peachy.”

Dean sped into the room next to you. “Mordechai can't leave the house, we can't kill him— We improvise,” he said. He held up his lighter, flicked it, and threw it back into the room behind you. It burst into flames, and you ran after the boys outside.

“That's your solution? Burn the whole damn place to the ground?” Sam asked incredulously.

“Well, nobody will go in anymore. I mean, look, Mordechai can't haunt a house if there's no house to haunt. It's fast and dirty, but it works,” Dean replied simply.

“Well, add arsonists to our rap sheet,” you said.

“What if the legend changes again and Mordechai is allowed to leave the house?” questioned Sam.

“Then we'll just have to come back,” Dean shrugged.

You turned back to the house and watched it burn.

“Kinda makes you wonder. Of all the things we hunted, how many existed just cuz people believed in them,” said Sam. You looked back to him, amazed at how he could be profound in the midst of your situation.

***

You and the boys made one last pit stop by Harry and Ed’s trailer park before you were planning to head out of town. The two guys in question came over to your picnic table carrying grocery bags.

“I was thinking that Mordechai has a really super high attack bonus,” Ed said. “Man, I got the munchies right now.” He turned to the boys. “Gentlemen. And m’lady.”

You cringed.

“Should we tell 'em.” Harry could barely contain his gloating.

“Hey, might as well, you know, they're going to read about it in the trades,” Ed smirked.

“So this morning we got a phone call from a very important Hollywood producer.”

“Oh yeah, wrong number?” Dean snorted.

“No, smart-ass. He read all about the Hell House on our website and wants to option the motion picture rights. Maybe even have us write it.”

They put grocery bags into their completely overloaded car.

“And create the RPG,” Harry added.

“The what?” Dean asked.

“Role playing game,” came Ed’s simple reply. “A little lingo for you. Anyhoo, ah, excuse us, we're off to la-la land.”

“Well, congratulations guys. That sounds really great,” Sam nodded.

“Yeah. That's awesome, best of luck to you,” you said.

“Oh yeah, luck. That has nothing to do with it. It's about talent. Sheer unabashed talent,” Ed grinned. “And you…” he sauntered up to you. “...Call me. You could have a bright future in film.”

You forced a smile at him.

“Later, baby,” he grinned. He got in the car next to his buddy and sped away.

“I have a confession to make,” Sam said as the three of you watched them drive off.

“What's that,” prompted Dean.

“I, uh… I was the one that called them and told them I was a producer.”

You and Dean laughed. “Yeah, well, I'm the one who put the dead fish in their back seat,” the latter snickered.

“And I may have been the one to put the cops on ‘em about the Murdoch house fire. And the fact that they don’t have a license plate on that car. Or on their camper.”

Dean and Sam burst out laughing at you. You joined in with them.

“Truce?” The brunet turned to his brother.

“Yeah, truce,” he answered. “At least for the next hundred miles.”

Series Rewrite Taglist: @polireader @brightlilith @atcamillanorrman @jrizzelle @insomnia-bookworm @procrastination20 @mrs-liebgott @djs8891 @tiggytaylor @staple-your-mouth @iloveshawn @jesstherebel @rach5ive @strawberrykiwisdogog @bruhidkjustwannaread @mxltifxnd0m @sunshine-on-marz @big-ol-boat @mgchaser @capncrankle @davina-clairee @chervbs @simpingdeadcharacters @nesnejwritings @stillhere197 @stephshaww @tearsforhan @take-it-on-the-run @iloveyou2mia @maxinehufflepuffprincess @ohgeehowdigethere @here-for-the-extravaganza @seninjakitey @berarenado @s0urw00lf @princessleahorgana @quarterhorse19 @rei0812 @isla-finke-blog @silverdoragon @karacaroldanvers @gayandfairycore @examishbookwyrm @more-espresso-less-depresso-og @mysticmyth

a lot of my tags are broken which makes me very sad. if you see that i've misspelled your tag, please let me know! and make sure you have my post notifs on so a broken tag doesn't stop you from seeing the next chapter!!

#dean winchester x reader #dean winchester x y/n #dean winchester x you #dean x reader #dean x y/n #dean x you #dean winchester #supernatural #spn #supernatural series rewrite #spn series rewrite

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poppitron360 · 3 days

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Ok so in another post I talked about all the reasons why Valzhang is better than Caleo, and I wanted to do one on Valgrace as well (lmk if this should become a series).

Bear in mind I am only on HoH- I haven’t read all of the Caleo bits yet, but I know she ain’t gonna treat him right.

I was originally SUPER sceptical about Valgrace (“I ship them platonically” “Jason is the Token Straight Friend”) and while I don’t think it was ever cannon I 100% THINK IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

Seriously, my eyes have been opened to Valgrace, to the point where the fanfic I’m writing about them currently clocks in at around 5,934 words.

I am OBSESSED. It is a PROBLEM.

And some of the fanarts/fanfics of them are SO CUTE I COULD DIE- it was hard NOT to ship them after reading some of y’all’s stuff. Keep up the good work.

Anyway buckle up ‘cause I’m ‘bouta write a whole dam essay on this.

1. The whole appeal of Jason Grace’s character is that he sees through your insecurities and lifts you up because he is too pure for this world. So narratively speaking, why is he with the most stable character? Yeah, Piper’s got issues, but compared to the others? She’s doing pretty well for herself. I mean, her parents are ALIVE!! Wouldn’t it just make more sense, narratively speaking, to put Jason with the MOST insecure character??? He can support Leo, help him in his arc, and it would give Jason a time to shine by highlighting his best qualities.

2. Throughout most of the books, Jason is the ONLY ONE who actually consistently sees through Leo’s mask. Everyone else’s POV of Leo is “Haha Leo said something funny and goofy and we’re all trying to be serious here, Leo. Gods, he’s soooo annoying!”, whereas Jason’s POV is like “Jason could see that Leo was desperately trying to keep it together for the good of the group, and he thought that was noble and brave and good and kind and awesome.” Like I said above, he’s able to lift Leo up because he sees him, and knows him. Something Calypso never did. There are several interactions, during TLH particularly, where Jason is just like “Hey, Leo? You are great. You are awesome. You have saved our lives multiple times. Whatever just went wrong, it wasn’t your fault. Stop beating yourself up about everything. You are a valued and respected member of this team. I love and appreciate you.” And Leo still puts up those walls with the jokes and the sarcastic remarks, and Jason is nothing but patient with him. Calypso was never like that.

3. I can’t find the line in the book, but there’s a bit in HoH where Jason’s worrying about the “To Storm or Fire, the World must fall” line in the prophecy, and he says words to the effect of “I like living, but I’d rather I die than Leo, anyway horses-” and seriously?? Rick missed a trick by not making them a couple. There is WAY more potential for angst if there’s that romantic feeling involved, knowing one of them is going to die, and both being willing to sacrifice themselves for one another like this is “Merchant of Venice” or something (I will explain the obscure Shakespeare reference in the comments). Calypso would never give up her LIFE for Leo, and Leo would only give up his because she’s hot.

4. Okay, most of this is copy-pasted from my post about Valzhang, but it still applies, and it applies to them maybe more so. They get so much more time together to establish a meaningful relationship. Their arc carries over all five books, and we get to form connections as a reader to them both, so the payoff is a lot more satisfying. Unlike Calypso, Jason is his own character separately, and not just an add-on to Leo’s arc. Their friendship is a key focus in their chapters, and a key point in their character development, as Jason is the first person Leo ever opens up to about his mom. When Calypso showed up, Leo had already gone through that journey of letting down those walls, so it was a lot less meaningful. They had little to no time to develop a relationship, and we never get a chance to care about Calypso as a person. She’s just kind of a plot point for Leo/Percy’s own development, and never her own character.

5. What separates Leo and Calypso from the other relationships in the series is that they were not written for each other. Frank and Hazel? Written for each other. Jason and Piper? Written for each other. Percy and Annabeth? FUCKING WRITTEN TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER. Cal was brought in during BoTL to cockblock Percabeth, and then Rick realised Leo “needed” a girlfriend, so picked her. But you know what two characters were written to be best friends right from the get-go? Like literally it’s established in the first couple pages of the first book? Jason and Leo. Much like how Valzhang were always meant to be rivals, Jason and Leo were always meant to be best friends.

6. Like I said in the last post, Leo doesn’t NEED a girlfriend. He can heal his trauma with friends and found family, learning to love and accept himself, learning that he doesn’t actually need the attention of a hot girl to be valid. Jason is the best person to help him on that journey, seeing as how his character thrives in uplifting others. The only person who ever loved Leo unconditionally died when he was eight. His blood relatives abandoned him, and he clearly wasn’t treated very well in the foster homes. He constantly feels like he has to work to prove he’s earned his place among the Seven because for him, family has never been a guarantee. Jason cares for Leo even when he’s fucked up, even when he’s a crying mess on the floor, even when he feels most like he doesn’t deserve to be cared for. Leo thinks he needs the attention of a hot girl to give him validation. What he really needs is to find a place among his brethren- and Jason offers him that place.

So, kids, that was it for today’s edition of “Why Literally Any Ship Is Better Than Caleo”. Tune in next time for our fav ✨trauma twinsies✨ Valdangelo!

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heysweetheart-writes · 10 hours

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Happy Sunday!

Thank you so much @kiwiana-writes @suseagull04 @tailsbeth-writes @myheartalivewrites @thesleepyskipper

@henryspearl (hiiiii!!) & @taste-thewaste for the tags! Some of you have recently started tagging me in these and it makes me so happy when there's new people adding me to their lists!! (equally devastates me when people stop tagging me but that's a problem for my therapist lol)

I'm very excited to share this bit with y'all because I've been wanting to write the pride chapter for so long and I sort of finally got to it! I was so excited that I texted Morgan at 1am to see if she could take a look at it at some point today and she did because she is the best! Anyway, hope you like this! There's a moodboard that goes with this chapter, you can find it here!

“You look, um— you have. Is that—? Are you wearing an earring?” Alex stammers through his words until he can finally ask a full question. Henry is beyond confused. He looks at June and Nora before he answers Alex, touching his earring briefly. “Yes. It’s a bit ridiculous, I know. A silly attempt at rebellion in college. Pez made me wear it today.” “It’s not ridiculous, it's— it’s cool. Looks cool.” In the corner of his eye, Henry can see June and Nora watching them with their heads going from one to the other like it’s a tennis match, but he tries to ignore that and adds, looking Alex up and down. “You look cool as well. Very— interesting outfit.” Henry hates that he knows he is blushing. He hopes to God it passes as just the summer heat and not the real heat he feels burning from the inside out because of the way Alex is dressed. Toned, with tan muscles exposed and shining in a mix of sweat and glitter that the three of them are wearing all over their bodies, he's a vision. Again, it’s obscene. “Are y’all done ogling each other?” Nora asks, June giggling next to her. “I’ll say it for both of you. Henry, you look amazing. Colours look great on you and you should consider wearing that earring permanently. Alex, you look like a slut, affectionately.”

tags under the cut!

I’m tagging both people I want to see what they’re up to and people I’m hoping will see this snip: @read-and-write- @theprinceandagcd @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @cricketnationrise @pridepages

@clottedcreamfudge @anincompletelist @three-drink-amy @lizzie-bennetdarcy @zwiazdziarka

@priincebutt @firenati0n @bigassbowlingballhead @onward--upward @blueeyedgrlwrites

@getmehighonmagic @ninzied @nocoastposts @wordsofhoneydew @14carrotghoul

@eusuntgratie @onthewaytosomewhere @brokenpartsmightfit @cha-melodius @itsmaybitheway

@i-am-freyja as usual, sorry if you posted and I missed it and if you don't want to be tagged, let me know! And of course, open tag! If you choose to take it, tag me so I can see!

#rwrb #rwrb fic #sentences sunday #my fic #neighbours!au #red white & royal blue #red white and royal blue #fanfiction #firstprince #firstprince fic #firstprince fanfiction #rwrb fanfic #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #nora holleran #june claremont diaz

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piplup335 · 4 hours

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Darkheart x reader!

H E L L O, F E L L A S ! ! ! ! ! ! !

*ahem*

I'm back to write! My exam just ended 2h ago, and I'm doing alright! To whoever requested this, I'm so sorry you had to wait so long ;-; I had stuff to do and I had to rush this because I may not be posting for another month or so otherwise ;-;

but yea, enjoy the story! :D

Crossroads. Known for being the lively town which joined all four factions together...and the only thing stopping them from engaging in war.

Blackrock, Playground, Lost Temple and Thieves' Den.

For generations, Blackrock had considered themselves sworn enemies with Playground, and the phighters of Playground thought likewise, so the sight of demons from each faction leaving the other alone instead of going at each other's throats in Crossroads was a treat for everyone.

It also just so happened to be the only place where people of different factions could meet up and relax after a long day of phights.

Someone from Lost Temple could chat with someone from Playgrounds without any conflicts happening on either side.

Someone from Thieves' Den could walk into a bar with someone from Blackrock, and that would be perfectly fine on all sides.

However, Crossroads wasn’t just the number one hangout place for phighters- it was one for the SFOTH deities, too. Especially during their days off.

And sometimes, they just so happened to be in the places no one would expect them to be.

Of course, Firebrand was standing in the centre of it all, boasting to demons about his great power and how he ruled over the entirety of Crossroads.

Other deities hid elsewhere. They watched over Crossroads from the shadows, save for Windforce who went to Banlands to find her son.

They all had a favourite place to watch Crossroads from. Illumina enjoyed standing at the edge of the Crossroads tower, watching demons move around like ants on a grid.

Some of the deities’ favourite spots were slightly unusual, however…

…such as underneath a bridge.

“Freaking finally…”

The weekend was here. You, a phighter, made a living by duelling other demons in “phights”. They were regularly hosted by Dom and Valk, the two famous idols known as Flipside.

They were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and you were participating in these phights to maybe, just maybe, make enough from them to ensure you get to live well for the rest of your life.

You knew you already could, however- because of your lover.

He had everything. Strength, affluence, hell, he was also well-known around the Inpherno.

He had offered you everything you could ever wish for. He just wanted you to be there with him until the end of time.

You refused, however- how could you let your loving boyfriend do all the work?

So, you still worked by phighting- you enjoyed the job, anyway. Your boyfriend would even visit sometimes. Just, well- to annoy the hell out of others.

"A little bit of chaos is fun...don't you think?"

You internally cheered at the sight, but everyone else groaned. Even Biograft, despite it being a robot, seemed to tense up, gripping its energy blades harder...

To you, it was a blessing.

To other players, it was a curse...literally.

“Feeling vulnerable…?”

Just then, the enemy Biograft seemed to falter, its lights dimming. Seemed like he got the curse…

“WHAT THE HELL? AM I NOT VULNERABLE ENOUGH ALREADY?”

Those were his last words before getting obliterated by your ally, Hyperlaser…

Your ally, Shuriken, was chasing down Sword, who was on 15 HP.

“We’re feeling a gust of wind come along…!”

The next thing he knew, Shuriken got blasted upwards…and out of the map.

Of course, Darkheart would make sure that you were out of harm's way before casting another one of his curses. Though, he wasn’t as merciful with your teammates…

So here you sat, after a long day and a hard battle, snuggled up in your boyfriend’s arms.

"Darkheart...I'm exhausted..."

"No need to worry, dear...we'll be here..."

You never really understood why your boyfriend always referred to himself plurally, but it was just another one of his quirks that you adored about him. You loved him, and he loved you back.

His one withered wing wrapped itself around your frame- his own special way of hugging you. Another one of his little habits.

"We just don't want Illumina to get to you, you know...? We're trying not to be too overprotective...who knows what he'd do to you?"

You giggled. Typical Darkheart- always protective of you, fearing for your wellbeing...sparing you from the usual curses he'd inflict on the others- hell, Darkheart would even curse other people if they got too close to his beloved.

As you fell asleep in your boyfriend's arms, you couldn't help but let out a small smile. Seeing your happy expression, Darkheart let out a small chuckle.

"Sleep well, my dearest..."

This was your life. Yourself, with Darkheart by your side. Sure, there were little disputes or disagreements in your relationship, and sometimes people would laugh at you because Darkheart was so much taller than you. But despite all this...

...you couldn't ask for more.

- thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! this is my second (I think lmao) romance fic, so if you have any feedback do leave it in the comments so I can improve my writing for you guys! :D

#phighting!#phighting #phighting x reader #darkheart phighting #darkheart x reader

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hand-picked-star · 2 days

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I am writing this highly controversial thoughts only because @featheredclover had recommended me a fanfic about khushi feeling left out during the basket ball game and then my thoughts went wayward. 😁 I haven't watched the last 33 episodes of ipkknd in a very long time, only some snippets of cute married arshi. But I did watch them 2 days ago just to validate the fact that whatever I think about them was what shown on the screen.All of my thoughts don't just exist in my mind.They also match the narrative too.

And I was right with my previous decision to not watch ipkknd past Arnav's birthday,those are horrible episodes.

Anyways, it's my thoughts on the suicide tract and sheetal tract and how khushi ignored the absolute truths that she knew by heart whenever she was hurt and tried to sheild herself from the pain.These tracks are khushi-centric, I just wished they were well written. My poor baby!!!

Suicide track

Khushi knew with absolute certainity that Arnav doesn't believe in God, she even said so.

So, why she came up with that excuse to justify committing suicide? It's this scene.

Arnav was talking to lavanya, there was no romantic vibes,but but but, he was talking to her very nicely . I am not trying to blame La or Arnav here, La deserved every bit of decency from Arnav because of the way he treated her.And just because he talked with her politely doesn't mean that he is developing feelings for her.Arnav had always shown as a character who was sure about his feelings. He was unsure about khushi not because he didn't know how he felt, it was more about him losing control and later their compatibility and his ego.But when khushi saw and hear him talking to her like that it's bound to hurt her. He didn't even talk to her anymore and when he did it was always mixed with vitriol & bitterness. Here her insecurities raised it's head, a doubt settled in. She was seeing a man talking to his ex-girlfriend nicely,who he was going to marry willingly and somehow broke up suddenly for a reason unknown to her.And here she had hoped based on their holi conversation that there was something between them and it would be alright with time when he would forget his pain that she knew nothing about and the six month timeline would never come,coz he had feeling for her right? But she was realizing that probably she assumed wrong, probably he didn't love her,probably he loved someone else and the marriage would end because why would he be with her if he loved someone else. And she didn't tell it but khushi couldn't live without Arnav too. And Arnav loving someone else was equivalent to death for her.

Thus her mind found out the bizarre idea to cope with the pain.I always thought why the showrunners spent so much time in showing how khushi hallucinating Arnav killing her in different method instead of spending time in significant moment? Like Arnav had softened down a little bit toward her, he was concerned about her, kept asking her family what's wrong with her, he brought a glass of milk to her because she didn't eat enough at dinner,wanted her to see a doctor. In a very long time the rajkumar was winning in battle against the rakhsak. The Love of a lover was overshadowing the love of a brother and son.

Sheetal track

Before going into the sheetal track I was just curious about the easy acceptance of Aarav in the raizada family and even to Arnav.That family was preparing to welcome a child in their house that never came. Subconsciously, they might all saw the unborn,lost child in Aarav.Because even mami was so open with the idea of spoiling Aarav. At this vulnerable time they even Arnav formed a bond with Arnav unknowningly.

And also in regards of Arnav, since he knew Anjali was pregnant, he was preparing himself to be the father-figure of that child. Normally, maternal uncles didn't think like that, but he thought right? He planned to throw Shyam out of shantivan after the child would safely be born.After that he would be taking care of the child.He was preparing himself mentally for that duty. He would have been anything the child needed him to be. So, he was already softened with the idea of being a guardian to a child.

And he also could relate to Aarav,as Arnav also missed his father in his childhood. And all of these khushi misunderstood as bond between a father and a son.

Then let's discuss khushi, just like suicide track, in sheetal track, she also know with absolute certainty that Arnav loved her, she herself said that 'he loved me more than himself' and she also knew that Arnav couldn't live without her.

Then why all through the sheetal track she was so afraid of Arnav leaving her? It wasn't Arnav she was afraid of, she was afraid of her own ideology that if this child came out as Arnav's, she had to leave him so that Arnav provide his parental duty toward the child and it's not just name or financial support, it also include a family, a complete family,consists of both parents and she didn't see herself in that family. And that's why she was almost irrational in her pursuit to find out if Aarav was Arnav's child.

And also that's why she was feeling so left out during that basketball game.Till that day,Arnav didn't talk to Sheetal at all,not really.And it was clear Arnav was passionate about basketball in his college days.And for someone who had a bad childhood, college life certainly was a safe heaven for him. College life was a time when he didn't fully adopted his ASR sheild and had a chance to be his most truest self without any past trauma and responsibilities. And being in a foreign land the 3 indian students clearly formed a good bond. And it was cleared by Arnav that he dated sheetal for a very brief time,so brief to form any physical relationship with her and even broke up with her immediately after graduation, clearly she wasn't important enough to try having a relationship post college. But they were friends before they started dating. Basketball was something they played as friends not as couple.During that basketball game that friendship came out and Arnav wasn't completely ignorant about khushi. He inquired about her after coming inside and asked her where did she disappeared after the game and why she made jalebies. He was teasing her to make her relax but khushi never shared anything with Arnav. And that friendship didn't mean anything to Arnav actually, it was just falling in rhymes with an old friend. And when Arnav realized khushi was upset,he even stop interacting with sheetal beyond polite conversation after that.The marriage and relationship stuff was new for both of them.He was not a mind-reader and khushi rarely expressed what was bothering her.On the other hand,khushi didn't know what to do with the overwhelming possessiveness and insecurities that were brewing inside her.

And I think khushi was not really worried about Arnav having a bonding during the game thinking that he might be developing feelings for her or already had feelings for her. When she started to be bothered with sheetal, it started with the doubt with Aarav's paternity and intensified with the knowledge of their past dating history. She just wanted some solid proof that something romantic between them would be impossible in the future so that even if Aarav was indeed Arnav's child, Aarav's mother won't come in between khushi and Arnav. Thus the banter in basketball game made her worried. She was worried about the fact that if Aarav was proved to be Arnav's son, the family she wanted Arnav to give Aarav would be possible, because clearly Arnav and sheetal could have a relationship again for Aarav's sake.

And that's exactly she end up doing. After finding out Aarav was Arnav's, she attempted to leave Arnav so that he could give Aarav a complete family but she was in a way selfish herself too, she left the person she knew couldn't live without her because she couldn't bear the pain of seeing him with anyone else. She forgot all her promises, even promises she made mere few hours ago, just to escape the pain.She left before Arnav had a chance to leave her or tell her to leave. That's why when Arnav got hold of her insecurities he told her 'Arnav aur khushi hamesha saath rehenge' to assure her.

And khushi learnt a special lesson that night.What did loving really mean? Being there when all is fine? or being there no matter what? especially when nothing is fine. After realizing that khushi stood beside Arnav keeping aside her fear.She also learnt what did loving Arnav really mean, that tough guy needed someone to love him as he was and not to abandon him again like his mother did.

And the thing about knowing all the stuff about Arnav that sheetal knew but Khushi didn't. Doesn't that knowledge come with time,with living with the person,one learn new things about their partners everyday, but end of the day,these are all general knowledge, khushi knew the real Arnav,what he valued,what he feared.She helped him brought out the Arnav that he buried under the ASR mask.It wasn't sheetal that brought out the Arnav that played basketball and played drums.No it was khushi, khushi gave him the confidence to be his true self in the middle of his past trauma and responsibilities not in isolation.

I have watched that game very carefully without any bias.The moment that khushi was watching so carefully when Arnav and sheetal was about to collide, sheetal was so aggressive, Arnav was looking at her with a WTF face, I don't know about anyone,but I found it funny. If Khushi actually focused on participating in the game instead of being so worried, she would had noticed how easily Arnav gave the ball up to khushi or the smile he gave her when she was up against him. 😊

I was thinking about the formation of sheetal track similar with the contact marriage track, where in sheetal track khushi did the same thing that Arnav did to khushi during contract marriage track. Here I came to a horrifying theory how the sheetal track could have gone terribly wrong if not the show ended when it ended. We might see a forced marriage or almost a forced marriage again but between Arnav and sheetal, on khushi's request as Arnav was doing everything khushi requested him to do.I am thankful that we didn't have to see that kind of plot and it ended where it ended.

And that also tied around the question of redemption on khushi's side in sheetal track and on Arnav's side in contact marriage track.Khushi forgave Arnav instantly for every hurt he done and similarly Arnav also forgave khushi instantly as they both understand and love each other beyond anything else,a bond beyond anything else, stronger than anything else. A bond stronger & powerful than any bond Arnav could have made by playing basketball and playing drums.

My Scattered thoughts (13/?)

#ipkknd #iss pyaar ko kya naam doon #arnav singh raizada #khushi kumari gupta #arshi #my scattered thoughts

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idksmtms · 2 days

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long story short (Cillian Murphy x reader) - evermore series

A/N: Surprise oneshot in honour of my being back! I’ve been wanting to write a cute and kind of fun story recently and the idea I had for this gave me inspiration. Also, I tried to write this in a more natural tone, like the way I might actually talk, so let me know what you thought of that style! I hope you enjoy it!

P.s. This is shorter than like every other piece I’ve written on here but I kinda love it hehehe.

Summary: Your boyfriend takes you out on a date and asks a question that leads to an absurd conversation.

Word count: 1,515

Trigger Warnings: 18+, she/her pronouns, AFAB reader, profanity, men being icky (but not Cillian obvi), just funny made up bad date stories, not proofread but they never are (please let me know if I missed any)

Disclaimer: This is written purely for fictional purposes and for the sake of writing. No disrespect is intended to the real people portrayed/concerned in this scenario.

Always appreciate comments, likes, and reblogs :)

“Alright, what’s a bad date you’ve been on, then?” Cillian asked, sipping from his wine glass and raising an eyebrow at you. You laughed heartily, most likely much too loud for this rather dark and ambient restaurant. You leaned back in your chair, clutched your stomach, and beamed at him.

“I have too many stories, my love,” you jokingly wiped at your eye and he just shook his head, rolling his eyes with a smile before reaching across the table to try and grab your hand. You slipped it quickly into his, grinning as he began stroking the back of your hand with his thumb.

“Go on then, darling, tell me one at least,” he urged, pulling gently on each one of your fingers.

“Ok, ok,” you sighed, using your other hand to push your hair over your shoulder. You learned forward onto your elbows and smiled.

“I’m excited to hear it now,” he chimed in, and you began giggling again. Gosh, he just made you so giddy without even trying.

“Ok, so, about three years before I met you, I was on Hinge and I was chatting with this guy, Eddie, and he was cute and all, not amazing, but I guess we got along. Anyway, he asked to meet up and I kinda said ‘fuck it, sure’ because - to be honest - I was bored. First red flag was that he wanted to pick me up from my house, which I was like ‘no way, no thanks, you don’t get to know where I live yet’. But anyway, he wanted to take me to laser tag! I mean, I thought about it in two ways, because on the one hand that could be really fun and it was such a unique date idea, but then on the other hand it was so weird. Like how were we supposed to talk and see if our personalities matched if we were too busy trying to shoot people?” You threw your hands up in the air as you huffed and you noticed the little cheeky grin on Cillian’s face.

You had always been a bit of a rambler. You liked to talk it seemed, and you had an awful habit of including unnecessary details into stories. You somehow started three other stories within the original and you never realised until you saw that little smile on Cillian’s face and realised you had begun to veer away again. He always told you he loved it. He always said that his favourite activity was to just sit next to you and listen to the millions of stories you had to tell and the little random details you always added, or the gossip you were much too excited to share with anyone close to you, but it always left you a bit bashful. You knew your tendency to just talk and talk and talk and it made you a little insecure sometimes.

“Sorry, irrelevant, anyway,” you took a deep breath in and reached forward to hold his hand again. “So I agreed to it, and I am not kidding when I tell you that this man spent the entire time chasing other people and shooting them as if he was actually in a war. I mean, full on sprinting and grunting and just yelling in victory every time he shot someone. Cilli, I am not even joking, he even came and shot me and I sat outside the hall until the end of the timeslot - half an hour by the way - waiting for this man. I was shell shocked! He took me to some cafe, ate like everything on the menu which, I mean, no wonder, he had just gone to war in there. Long story short, I blocked his number and unmatched him and prayed I would never see him again.”

You let out a long sigh as Cillian chuckled, deep and jovial, your favourite sound. He dropped his head and shook it as he laughed, and when he looked up again there was a pink glow to his cheeks which made you beam. You reached out and gently ran your fingers over the apple of his cheek and those sharp cheekbones of his, before tucking some of the longer strands of his hair behind his ear.

“God, that’s hilarious,” he breathed deeply, sipping from his wineglass to try and catch his breath.

“It was not. I mean, it is now, but at the time I was just shocked and confused and angry because like what the fuck??” You furrowed your brows and kind of shook your head because it seemed obvious that that was a shit idea.

“You said there were other ones,” he began, clearing his throat, “what’s another horrendous date you’ve been on?”

“Hm, let me think about it,” you purse your lips, and tilt your head to the side, eyes to the ceiling. “Oh! Ok, I thought of one. This one was quite bad, actually. I was in my first year of university, so I was like nineteen at the time, and one of my friends - it was Cath, actually! Yeah! So Cath knew this guy. He had gone to sixth form with her but like they weren’t close, they just kind of knew each other from there. Anyway, he was in one of my societies and we got to talking and he asked me out to a cafe and I was like ��yeah! Sure!’ I mean this was the uni experience, right? Like go out with boys and just have fun? At this point, I didn’t really know if he was aloof or a douche because one time when we had seen him on campus, he just pretended he didn’t know her, even though they’ve literally spoken many times before. I mean, she reasoned that maybe he just didn’t notice her or he didn’t realise it was her, but like she literally waved at him and he just blanked her. Anywayyyy, we went to the cafe and at first it was fine, like we had surface chat and just kinda talked about society stuff, but then I mentioned that I was friends with Cath because she lived in my building and we got along quite well. I kid you not, this man then went on a twenty minute rant about how he absolutely hated her because one of Cath’s friends, not even Cath but one of her friends, went out with him in sixth form once but then never again and she never told him why she stopped talking to him, but then he found out from someone that it was because she thought he smelled and had questionable hygiene!” Cillian pressed a hand to his mouth to control his laugh, eyes squinted as he chuckled uncontrollably.

Your face now hurt from smiling because it was rare for him to laugh so deeply and unabashedly. Though he was quite free with his smiles and enjoyed a good chuckle as much as the next person, he was rather stoic at times, and when you had first started dating you weren’t sure of how he felt most of the time. While you slowly came to learn the little nuances that exposed his emotions, your life’s mission was to make him laugh as much as you always did.

“Cillian, how did he have so much to say that he ranted for twenty minutes?! How?!” You laughed, eyes wide. “I mean, I sat there, mouth open, listening to this boy complain endlessly about a girl from sixth form. Like bro, please move on, because she clearly did. Oh my god, and you know what the worst part is??”

“What?” He wheezed out, pressing a hand to his abdomen as he laughed.

“He actually did smell!” You began cackling, pressing your forehead down to the table as you laughed and laughed and laughed.

At this point you were sure people were looking at both of you, wondering what was wrong that you were both laughing like hysterical children, but you wouldn’t have it any other way.

“That is horrendous,” he finally breathed out, wiping at the corners of his eyes as his body shook with residual trembles of laughter. Every time you looked at each other, you began spluttering again and it took you at least five minutes to try and gather yourselves again.

“Believe me, it was,” you sighed exaggeratedly before chuckling and shaking your head.

Both of you sat there for a few minutes, relishing in the silence. He reached out to hold your hand and smiled down at the table, again just gently stroking your fingers and palms until your entire arm quivered from the ticklish little touches.

“So, long story short,” you began in a whisper, “they were all the wrong guys, but then I met this gorgeous Irish man, who took me for a picnic, and listened to everything I had to say, and asked me out again, and again, and again-”

“Long story short, I met the love of my life,” he interrupted, bringing your hand up to his lips and kissing it.

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sineala · 2 days

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What do you think of Iron Man Volume 2? The Heroes Reborn stuff

When you asked this, I had not read any of v2 -- for any title -- beyond isolated panels, and I was fully prepared to tell you it was bad.

Then I thought, "No, I haven't actually read v2 properly, and I shouldn't just say that without having read it. I should form my own opinion. And IM v2 is only 13 issues." So I just read it.

It's still bad.

The sad thing is that it's not actually the worst comic I've read. It's bad, but it's only… medium bad? I have definitely read things that are worse than Iron Man v2. That doesn't mean it's in any way good. It's just not The Worst.

(It's The Crossing. The Crossing is worse than IM v2. If you have any other answer to "what is the worst comic book?" then I know that you have not read The Crossing because there is no other possible answer. Nothing is worse than The Crossing. Please do not take this paragraph as some kind of reverse-psychology encouragement to try to read The Crossing. It is so bad. It is bad in a way that no other comic can even approach. You will be sorry. I own it in hardcover.)

Insofar as anything would have been able to improve the IM v2 reading experience, it turns out that reading IM v2 in isolation doesn't do it a lot of favors. I didn't know this before I read any of it, but there are multiple issues that are crossovers with FF, Cap, and Avengers v2 -- and they're the kind of four-part crossover where each part is really in a different book, so it's hard to wing it. I knew that the #13 issues were Wildstorm crossovers, and in the case of IM v2 #13 specifically StormWatch (which I am familiar with in the sense that I've read The Authority so I know who Jenny Sparks is, but I don't know that I ever read the original StormWatch, because it's been a while). Anyway, it turns out that #6 and #12 are also the same kind of four-part crossover, so like a quarter of this comic is already incomprehensible crossovers! Great!

I do actually own the other three v2 series, and I could in fact have read them along with this, but I decided I had suffered enough.

The other thing I didn't realize is that these v2 series don't actually explain how everyone got back to 616. I thought they would! They did not! It turns out this is covered in Heroes Reborn: The Return, which is a separate miniseries taking place after v2 and is not the same thing as Heroes Return (either of them) which is obviously a different thing. Thanks, comics. I did go and skim that to get a general idea of the plot. It's not as bad as v2, possibly because Peter David was doing the writing, and the art is also less bad.

Because, yeah, the IM v2 art is horrendous. The best thing I can say about it is that it's not quite as bad as The Crossing and also that, luckily, IM v2 is not the v2 book Rob Liefeld was drawing, although everyone who was drawing these books appears to have wanted to be Rob Liefeld, in terms of style. But this doesn't mean you are free from horrors like this:

The IM v2 armor design is also bad. I say this as someone who does not normally care about armor in the sense that armor doesn't usually affect whether I like a run, as it does for some Iron Man fans. Is it nice if Tony has aesthetically-pleasing armor? Sure! Who doesn't want to look at nice things? But if a run has good writing, Tony could be wearing a cardboard box and I wouldn't care. In my favorite IM run, he literally lives in a cardboard box and later constructs a superhero outfit out of other superheroes' spare uniform bits!

However, the v2 armor sure got hit with the ugly stick:

So that's not… really helping.

The actual plot was-- I mean, yeah, no, it wasn't great, and it did start out with Tony being terrible and uncaring, and then approximately 50% of it was about the Hulk, who was not the character I'd come here to read about, and there were the aforementioned inexplicable crossovers.

What was left of the plot didn't make much sense, and I'm not sure if any of this was actually explained clearly in the other books, but as far as I can tell what was going on was that all the heroes here were dropped onto Counter-Earth here after fighting Onslaught, and given memories and backstories to suggest that they'd always been here, and a lot of their backstories weren't the same. In Tony's case, he wasn't the original Iron Man; this was Conner O'Reilly (Rebel), one of Tony's friends from college, who died being Iron Man. Tony then ends up being Iron Man but of course Rebel isn't really permanently dead and he comes back to fight Titanium Man with Tony. The series treats this information like you of course already knew it and it already happened, which, since comic books already do this while talking about things that did actually happen in previous comics, makes it even more incomprehensible. I spent like three issues wondering if I was actually supposed to know this character.

(Somehow Rebel shows up again in Fabian Nicieza's Thunderbolts run. IDK how, I haven't read it. I have, like, five T-Bolts books in my TBR pile. I do fully intend to read T-Bolts at some point. It just hasn't happened yet.)

I will say that the one interesting thing about reading IM v2 here was how much of it ended up in the MCU. I wasn't expecting that. I know people always say that about Ults, and I can definitely see where the MCU took some inspiration from Ults, but no one ever says that about v2. And I can see why they would do it, because both Ults and v2 are reimagined versions that are trying to tell a story that sort of evokes the feel of 616 without the reader actually needing to be familiar with decades of comics. Which is, you know, the thing the MCU wanted to do, so it makes sense. I just hadn't realized the MCU had borrowed any of this.

What did the MCU take from IM v2? Probably the most notable aspect is Tony being BFFs with Bruce Banner. Here in the v2 backstory, Tony, Bruce, Reed, Doom, and Hank all went to college together and became friends (or frenemies, in the case of Doom). Everyone on that list other than Bruce already had some kind of connection to Tony in 616. Mostly science friendship. Or, uh, science enmity, in the case of Doom. Bruce actually didn't have any connection to Tony, in 616. The Hulk leaves the Avengers in issue #3 and pretty much does not come back until after comics start getting MCU-ified. I think the Hulk being on Hickman's initial Avengers team and also Bendis' Avengers Assemble is when that started happening. So that's all starting in 2012, for sure.

Bruce does not play well with others in 616; the main team he's ever associated with is the Defenders, whose raison d'être is not playing well with others -- like, Namor's on the Defenders. 616 Tony and 616 Bruce were absolutely not BFFs and Hulk was never a regular Avenger; every so often, when they were building new teams, the Avengers called and asked him if he wanted to come back and he told them to fuck off. Tony's never, like, calling him up for advice. They're not friends. If you are here from MCU fandom, I really want to stress this. They're not friends. If Tony needs a science buddy, he probably calls Reed Richards. And yet, here, in v2, Bruce and Tony are lifelong BFFs! They were roommates in college! Tony cares deeply about him, to the point that half the plot of this series is actually about him trying to help the Hulk! I really wasn't expecting that.

The other thing in IM v2 that might look familiar to you, the MCU fan, is Tony/Pepper. They clearly have some UST all throughout v2 -- which, sure, is a thing they had in 616 -- but here, they actually sleep together, which they had never done in 616 at the time. (This actually happens in Heroes Reborn: The Return #4, if you've read IM v2 and are wondering how you missed it.) The only time Tony and Pepper sleep together in 616 is during World's Most Wanted, an arc that came out in 2009, which was clearly after IM1 and also clearly taking inspiration from IM1 because Tony gets a glowy light in his chest by the end of the arc after that one. So, yeah… it looks like MCU grabbed the canon Tony/Pepper too.

(Over in Cap v2, Steve is actually a robot fucker. He has also slept with robots on regular Earth-616. Come on, MCU! Why are you cowards?)

So, yeah. It's not by any means a great comic, but IM v2 is not the worst comic I have ever read, and it's actually kind of an interesting read from the perspective of seeing what they borrowed for MCU. I'm not saying you should run out and read this right now or anything, though. I personally took a bunch of plot notes while I was reading this just so I would never have to read it again.

Also, please enjoy this page from IM v2 #9 in which Tony brings Thor to Avengers Mansion to show him his hole.

Please note that Tony wishes that he had instead chosen to show his hole to Steve. This is all I am going to say about this.

#replies #rezonan

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mcmorare · 17 days

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spent most of the day doing some stuff with my beads because i haven't Made things in a while and i love making funky earrings so !! i am Trying to learn actual beading patterns instead of just using them as accents and i think it turned out pretty good for first attempts :D

#‘ a rambling mess ‘ - ooc.#i am also Trying to get better at being happy with my little crafts even if they turn out a little wonky (such as the little raspberry)#and i am excited i have THREE occasions coming up where i get to bake fun things and for one of them i get to do cookie decorating again #anyways!! i will be here in a bit and i am Going to write!!!#as always. send me things (if u wanna..)

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averlym · 8 months

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ghostwriter (their grandma would tell them she'd lose half her soul)

#or smth smth. having a lot of Thoughts. anyways here's the piece i've been working on and sometimes u have to just say Done #there's a lot of thinks but i am maybe a bit tired and so tmr i'll come in and add all the Tags that i'd personally want to get from myself #maybe i'll reblog the extras tmr too. this is an incredibly self indulgent piece + it probably deserves a tag ramble essay or smth #ig for now we see how it stands for itself + in the meantime:#adamandi #beatrix valeria campbell #hello!! i'm back with belated tags yippee!! alright so for funsies i'm going to make it sound like i'm going bonkers over this :3 #the eye shine... the glowy eye... it's like phaethon shine but also smth about eyes to windows to the soul and like #there's two beatrixes here! half the soul. lost part doing things specific to the phaethon and here it's portrayed as tearing off her name #because that's really; truly; when it all starts!! also notable for the ghostly beatrix is i did it more painterly and cloaked in shadow and #fading into the bg. i think i was super duper specificish about where the glow comes from! front lighting back lighting beloved!!! like help #let's put it this way- beatrix face always glowy. important parts of paper also glowy. it's just that different elements are turned away #from the viewer by each beatrix!! also also. let's talk about the very gently implied blood and red etcetera #like the red string is canonical and i love personally the whole red strings of fate thing even though it's not Here Applicable exactly but #that definitely was an influence! and also the blood in the bg... i'm starting to think this is a recurring trend. but anyway shadowy bea #the other strings hang while the red string loops!! so like that one string feels almost alive. it's a sort of whimsical i put on the same #as metaphorical glowy eye!! also also the eye is lowkey influenced by the whole idea of Eyes and Spotlights within the show and also glow #as in power as in heyyy you ever think about writing as a visual medium huh #speaking of writing!! there is no beatrix thingy complete in my head without text sorrry but the black text overlays are always so >>> to me #and in the sense of art styles and overlays shoutout to all the black crosshatching outline thingys because For Some Reason in my mind #of all the characters beatrix feels like the bnw ink printed illustrations you get in books idk #fun fact! i spent so long rendering this and that was fine i liked it! but then trying to figure out text to go on the papers was a Thing #i tried to do. but then gave up on! sometimes i have to pick my battles and graphic design is indubitably Not my passion bc Fonts #fun facts about this is i Actually did start with a quick sketch in mind and there's been so many changed elements. in the og the front #paper for instance had 'ardess murders' written on it and the back one said phaethon interviews.. i like the nominee list better it feels #more narrative-esque and less passive than her just holding her writing.! other elements that got discontinued were that #front beatrix was supposed to blur into the other ghostly beatrix but i couldn't do it without sacrificing clarity so... no... no blurry #oh and the red string morphing at the ends to smth more abstract was always there from the start!! og had more floating papers #and also a silhouette of vincent and a scalpel bc 'one who pulls the strings' but that (pun intended)! got cut (hahahahahahaha) (sorry)#used also to be a lot of print room clutter but that got cut to bc compositionally i made beatrix larger (learned lesson from last art)

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daisybell-on-a-carousel · 1 month

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It had started because some people had misheard something Phantom said. One singular letter was responsible for the mess he was in right now.

They thought Phantom had said "Dad"

He had not, not this time at least, he was, admittedly, rather prone to accidentally calling Jack "Dad" because the man actually was. Though those moments were nothing compared to this.

It had spread like wildfire throughout the school, and then the city as a whole. Phantom had a dad, a dad who was visiting next week. That's what they knew, and theories and questions were already abound. Was Phantom's dad alive? Or dead too? What was their relationship like? Was this mysterious dad Phantom's blood (ectoplasm?) father? Or was Phantom adopted? How similar were they?

Dan just laughed at Danny over the phone when he tried explaining the situation to his older self before he came by to visit.

#danny phantom #i was going to make a proper fic but um. i couldn't choose a direction to go in with it. so heres just me writing down the concept ndksnsks #i just think Dan pretending to be Danny Phantom's dad would be really funny #obv they look similar. maybe people'll assume the DP logo is some sort of family symbol lol #honestly this could work post or pre agit. though the bit here is written as post #pretending not even necessary people could just assume. the “family drama” thatd ensue from a pre agit Dan who is Very Much trying to kill #would be very fun i think #and he'd most certainly play along if he was aware of the assumption #anyway daisybell stop making dp posts at midnight am to inevitably wake up and hate how they're worded challenge impossible

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jahiera · 8 months

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I think there’s a definite problem though with the amount of art and fics being HEAVILY Astarion with cis women. That reeks of his queerness being erased. There should be a healthy balance of Astarion with different partners, but the “default” in the fandom is always him with a woman. As a gay man it’s very frustrating.

Okay so. in however much any of this matters. 1. Shoving this under a cut for people who are tired of seeing the discourse (I am too, I tend to scroll really really fast past it.) 2. I know the fandom discourse machine looooves super firm and snarky opinion jabs summed up in 169 words or less but I am literally incapable of not elaborating so. sorry YOU asked. since it’s also probably relevant, Im coming at this with the Mega Dyke with the fuck around and find out perspective irt my life experiences and queerness. I don’t generally care about niche queer internet discourse and I don’t generally care about fandom discourse, so you can tell how bored I am at work rn that I’m deep diving into this. tldr yeah you’re not wrong I agree that astarion’s queerness is erased in certain spaces but that has nothing to do with being attracted to women. my funny hot take is once again that astarion is a he/him evil femme to me so. let’s MOVE.

I received the second one within the first few minutes of the first, and I’m goingggg to proceed on good faith and with the idea that I think we’re all in agreement for the most part, because I think we are. But I’m going to address the most obvious thing that. I don’t really…. think is necessarily the point in this. first of all, I empathize that it suuuucks to not see as many works made for your main pairing of choice (there’s generally a deficit for literally everyone BUT astarion to boot too.) however ultimately fanworks are exactly that: fanworks, and they’re made For Free and posted by a Fan Author who has done this As A Hobby, “a problem nobody is addressing” in this context is……. you are one google doc and keyboard away from writing what you want to see in the world. or, I don’t know. encourage + comment + follow up on fic authors that write what you enjoy. fic is not paid content and the fic authors in bg3 are writing for themselves and what they put out, that they wrote for FREE, is up to them. I once again empathize with not seeing as much of a specific thing as you would like, and I definitely empathize with seeing a popularization of specific characterization that makes you want to scream, cry, throw up, etc. which brings me to what I can actually comment on and critique here. (general note: if you proceed to misread me on the basis of “people can do what they want!!” I assure you. you can do whatever you want forever. I do not care. I am not mad. I am minding my business 90% of the time. do I like domstarion? no. but it is NOT my concern nor my judgement.)

“That reeks of his queerness being erased. There should be a healthy balance of Astarion with different partners, but the “default” in the fandom is always him with a woman.” <- so! now that we have “it’s all for free man idk what you want me to say here” out of the way. we CAN critique something real in this that I do agree with. the sort of…. honestly kind of fascinating (derogatory) trends of what I’ll call Straightifying astarion for lack of a better word.

this brings me to the point I kind of offhandedly made in the previous post, about how there IS nuance to be said on astarion’s queerness getting erased. I do actually agree with you that in some spheres of the bg3 fandom, his queerness has been heavily sanitized and he’s become something of a placeholder for Sexy Vampire Boyfriend romance tropes. he’s mostly there to be a stand-in for a sexy dom vampire man; MANY of his complex character traits that have literally Nothing to do with romance have been basically entirely removed to serve a specific idealized idea of him that suit the scene. it’s frustrating! I find it frustrating. I also agree that within this specific Brand of Mischaracterized Astarion, he’s been so……….. reduced down to this that his more overt queerness is basically entirely removed. however, the issue is not that he’s with a woman in this? the issue is that the writer is not incorporating a sort of.. overarching queer lens, for lack of a better term, to the characterization they’ve got going on. you can write whatever you want forever, but it’s not written in a vacuum, I agree.

Since these are all popular straight romance tropes, he falls directly into the pit of Sexy Man (straight) very quickly, and his attraction toward others (let alone, good god, his complex relationship to sex, sexuality, desire? good fucking luck finding something thoughtful in there about that) tends to fall by the wayside as a result. It is what you would expect but it’s not without room for critique in what I think we’re aligned on; which is seeing astarion’s queerness erased is maddeninggg. And it is EXTREMELY frustrating to see if you’re someone like me, or possibly yourself, who’s into 1. really analyzing characterization and 2. really into exploring queer dynamics in writing + lit + media many different formats. THIS—the sanitization, the removal of astarion’s queerness—this is what is irksome as a queer reader.

however. the issue I’m seeing is that ^^^^^ this brand of mischaracterization is 1. being conflated with simply that he’s with women, and 2. the frustration of having less content (understandable) is turning into a very WEIRD dialogue in which the extreme of “well actually he wouldn’t even want to fuck women!!” is the stance to take (very weird) (kind of misogynistic) (kind of also reeks of continuing to talk about women as sex objects that astarion would not or would want to fuck) (astarion himself doesn’t even want to fuck for about 90% of his romance so maybe we should talk about that too) — rather than that it would be nice if his queerness would be addressed more openly and with more nuance and clarity than it currently is in That Particular Sphere Of Astarion Characterization. and, of course, the idea that it would be nice if he was portrayed with other kinds of partners! which I agree with and equally appreciate.

but there is no default. literally, there’s no default. what you’re seeing is what people are making of their own tavs, and maybe you would like to see more of another kind, but it doesn’t hold up as an actual fandom critique. what holds up is when we dive into how people write him; how do they write his personality, what traits are being exaggerated and what traits are being ignored; IS his queerness remembered within the text at all? and beyond that, how is that queerness treated when it is written? because I’ve seen the other extreme in which it’s The Homophobic Gay Stereotypes That Maybe We All Agreed At One Point Were Equally Offensive To Exaggerate To The Point Of Horror. half the discussion I see AROUND his queerness amounts to “omg he’s such a slutty flamboyant little fag” but in a quirky haha internet way. very “fruity is a nice alternative to saying queer!” “calling a gay guy fruity in the real world will get you punched out.” vibes in here sometimes and it is EQUALLY weird.

anyways. Astarion’s a multifaceted character which means the first thing everyone did was pick one or two traits to exaggerate and cling to and these color the entire reading of his character rather than taking in the whole. i agree that means his queerness got put to the wayside in some formats of him, and that’s deeply unfortunate + very frustrating. but fanfic is free, so I’m not with you that there’s a Problem That Needs Addressing so much as that’s what people are creating, and you should add to what you want to see in the world.

I’m not going to go on a tangent about how “oh let m/f be a thing!!” because I ALSO agree literally no one needs to be told “m/f is okay to do ❤️” we live in the real world here. and it’s really mindboggling how in some iterations he’s been turned into Straightstarion rather than his CANON QUEERNESS being applicable in every format of every relationship dynamic he could ever possibly be in. However. However. the answer to that is not? acting like the baseline attraction to women is the problem. if the way you’re talking about attraction to women feels rooted in upset about not relating to it and feeling like you’re forced to either relate to it or simply not engage, I do Get It, but at the risk of opening up an entirely different can of worms that needs an entirely different essay to address, gay men are not immune to misogyny and if the language used while talking about women is also objectifying or belittling women to some extent or acting as though attraction to women makes his queerness lesser. newsflash. that is still misogyny (and biphobia). it is not about defending straightness here, it’s entirely that reducing women down to sex objects even in the conversations about not seeing women sexually is alive and well (and repulsive), and that’s what I mean when I say I can hear the “lol I don’t fuck WOMEN that’s DISGUSTING” behind some of the other side of the conversation here. also this is an entirely separate essay but queerness will almost never exist in an easily consumable binary and trying to type him by his character traits is also. kind of weird. just as a thing.

#critical /#this feels like such a I will die on any hill. I am going to forget about this now #like again I’m not even disagreeing with some of you but other things in here. it’s a little bit deeper than that #or as deep as fandom discourse is anyways.#now that the high of soap boxing has worn off as I write these tags I’m like good lord.#I will NOT let inanities ruin this game for me.#sorry that’s once again not really directed at you anon but in general #good faith! we keep good faith!

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