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wheresmymilliondollarman · 1 year

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THE AARON WARNER X READER FIC OMLLLLLLLL I NEED PT. 2 PLEASEEE

aaron warner x ferrars!reader pt. 2

aaron warner continues to make way into your life, and it's only a matter of time before you grow fond of him too.

(taken place during unravel me)

continuation of the hcs from this piece!

a/n: hey y'all.... the long awaited pt 2 is finally here. so sorry for the wait, but i had some major writer's block with this at first, and tbh life has been a lil hectic rn with classes n stuff, so thank you for all the love and support on the first headcannons, and thank you for being patient with me! i truly cant express enough how happy i get when you guys compliment my work <3 as usual, hayden is my personal fc, imagine who you like !

side note: i know reader might seem kind of useless at times even tho she has powers, but it's because she doesn't have a full control of her ability yet, still learning how far it goes, and she doesn't have much practice on defensive uses of it, since a lot of her training is about learning about her powers. hope that makes sense LOL. some big events are going to be briefed over bc i didnt wanna bore y’all with stuff you alr read in the book and wanna focus on warner & reader interactions👍

word count: 8.2k

warnings: some plot changes, vague taylor swift reference, mentions of injuries and blood, some violence

after receiving the note, you immediately crumped it and stuffed it into a random drawer with your clothing. you hadn't told a soul about the message, you feared it would only make the implication of meeting warner again true.

thinking about the note was a pipeline to thinking about aaron warner. thinking about him meant flashing back to the last moment the two of you shared.

his lips on yours, his confessions of his infatuation, and of course, the way your shot him in the chest. you hated how the memory was brung a warm and unfamiliar feeling in your chest, especially thinking back to the kiss.

you told yourself it wasn't a big deal. maybe another member at the base decided to play a prank on you, or perhaps it was just an empty threat. there was no way warner knew your location, so there's no need to tell anyone about the silly note.

but to be extra cautious, you laid off going on missions to the outside for a little bit. plus, it forced juliette to interact with people that weren't you on missions when you weren't there.

you went along with your routine as usual, training with castle and kenji, and hanging out with juliette and adam.

you didn't hate castle by any means, but you find his underlying scrutinization of both you and your sister at times to be bothersome. his constant pushy treatment to juliette never sat right with you either, but since he was the leader of omega point - you knew you had to still show respect for him.

although, you started to notice a strain between the couple recently, mostly from adam's side. there was obviously something he was keeping from juliette.

you comforted your sister to the best of your ability, but you knew not knowing was starting to affect her. kenji also seemed to know whatever this secret was, but was adamant on keeping his lips shut.

however, once castle took adam away in the middle of you guys eating lunch, juliette demanded answers since it was obvious adam himself was struggling to reveal it himself.

this time kenji was helpful and guided you and juliette to the research labs. there you both saw castle engaging adam in some sort of tests, and it sent your sister into a fit of rage, mainly aimed at castle. which then resulted in her angrily punch the ground, causing for a large earthquake that shook the entire establishment.

juliette was passed out for three days before waking up. you worried for her endlessly during those days, it was the one of the only times you intentionally listened for her thoughts, to ensure she was alright, but it was scarily silent. you knew adam also was quite worried for juliette, but castle made sure he kept his distance.

after that, her and adam were on some sort of unofficial break up, and you knew better than to get involved. juliette was also now required to join you and kenji in training, which made for a chaotic, but fun trio.

your powers were getting easier to control, you were working on levitating heavier objects every time. you've practiced mental manipulation on insects and small animals, so you had a gist of to what extent you could control a mind. the most you've done so far was send simple commands like jump, sit, move, etc. kenji always offered to be a test subject for this, but you always declined, not liking the thought of possibly controlling the mind of your friend.

now that you could control when to apprehend thoughts, it made it much easier to make friends without disrespecting people's privacy. while sara and sonya were always kind to you, others had made it sort of clear they wanted to keep their distance to prevent their mind from being read by you. being able to now reassure others that their thoughts weren't being heard made it easier for people to approach you.

much like juliette you found new friends in brendan, with an electric ability, and winston, who had a stretchy ability and also designed the suits for both ferrars.

days at omega point were serene for a bit, everyone following routine and members continuing to patrol areas for any threats of the reestablishment. but it was surely disrupted with the arrival of threatening news.

it was in the middle of the night when you were dragged away from your bed by kenji to castle's office; juliette and adam following suite. he claimed it was an urgent matter that required the presence of the four of you.

there, castle revealed the return of the supreme commander, also known as warner's father - that was big news to you and juliette. it explains how warner was able to be out with his men in the sector so often.

however, news worsened when you found out brendan and winston along with emory and ian were taken by the reestablishment during their patrol. at their missing location was left a note, with specific instructions on how to proceed.

you were shaken by this discovery, it had been only less than 24 hours since you had last spoken with either of them, both you and juliette had had breakfast with brendan and winston.

that wasn't even the end of if, castle instructed that all four of you were to go to this meeting destination.

all of you were taken aback by this, you had initially assumed castle would be the one to see the supreme, since has is the leader and all.

adam and kenji were at the head of the protest against this plan, not wanting to easily comply . both you and juliette remained silent, still taking in all the information given.

you without a doubt were ready to head in for the safety of your friends, but you also didn't like the unpredictability of the situation you all could possibly wander into with the commander.

"the two of you may opt out as you like, but i am requesting the aid of both ferrars, seeing as they are the ones very explicitly instructed to see the supreme - a sort of exchange, them for the hostages. "

again, everyone in the room was stunned with confusion. all having the same question, why would he need both sisters there?

you didn't know the room could've possibly erupted into more chaos than right now. adam was now furious, kenji not too far behind with questions of his own.

you couldn't help but think back to the note you found in your pocket, "see you soon." is this what he had meant? had he known this would occur that long ago?

again, you shook the thought from your mind. aaron warner wasn't the one who sent the order, it was the supreme, so it's possible warner will not even be at the location the four of you are suppose to go to.

no need to think about warner, you told yourself. no need to remember how he kissed you with ferocious passionate intent.

with this newfound knowledge, you knew you couldn't back away from this, not when there were lives at stake, and you didn't have to be familiar with the supreme to know he would not hesitate to take the lives of omega point members.

you looked toward juliette to inquire her thoughts about the situation. you understood from the look on her face that she had a similar plan of action to you. a telepathic (without actually reading her mind this time) message was communicated between both of you, making a mutual agreement.

"we'll do it." you announced over the arguing.

castle was pleased with this decision, but immediately adam objected, and even kenji was hesitant for you both to go through with the plan. however, stubborn as ever, both of you committed to your decision.

preparing for the meeting with warner's father was nerve-racking, worried for the safety of your team, and also the hostages. you and everyone knew this had to be some sort of trap set up by the commander, but there wasn't much you could do besides arm yourself and comply.

the four of you were gathered in castle's office. castle made sure all four of you were equipped with necessary gear for the mission, including having weapons with you.

you attire was the same as usual, a red leather corset-styled top, a matching leather coat-like jacket, black pants in a stretchy material, accompanied with black fingerless gloves and black knee-high boots - except now you had the addition of a harness and holsters up your leg to hold any firearms given to you. the coat did well in concealing a lot of the guns.

luckily, you had a good amount of practice with a gun since the warner incident. you were no james bond, as a man kenji liked to reference, but you had enough skill to defend yourself and others in the face of danger.

"why does warner's father need both sisters?" kenji humorously asked castle, "can't we at least keep one of them, one for the reestablishment and one for omega point."

you scoffed with a grin, entertaining the joke. "i'm sorry, who exactly are you willing to sacrifice to the reestablishment kenji?"

"well, with that attitude i'm starting to lean towards you."

castle goes through the plan once more before having to leave with the rest of omega point. they had to be stationed around building near the meeting point before the four of you arrived.

the time finally arrived for all of you to begin the journey to meeting the commander. since you all were traveling on foot, adam and kenji leading the way, you needed to leave at least an hour before the designated time.

adam was able to successfully turn off his protective shield for kenji to make all of you invisible. it made the journey easier; being able to wander through the land unseen.

after kenji misguided you to the wrong house, you all rushed to get to the correct address, 1542 sycamore. with 50 seconds of time, you all arrived.

juliette made the quick decision to tell kenji and adam to stay hidden, that it was better if warner's dad thought we were alone. in the case of an emergency, they could jump in.

kenji and adam gave a few last words of reassurance, before turning back invisible. then, you and juliette stood in front of the door of meeting house, holding hands before entering the house.

warner's dad did the job of opening the door for you both, inviting you inside even though it was more a of demand, and commenting on your impeccable timing.

once inside, you got a good look at the man. you shouldn't be shocked he was also quite handsome since he is warner's father, but you were still thrown back by his unexpected attractiveness.

unfortunately, you didn't take him his appearance for long before he abruptly & forcefully pushed juliette head against the wall behind her, momentarily knocking her out.

you didn't even get to process the action before you were pushed roughly against the wall, the commanders right forearm holding you down by the throat, while his left hand was disarming you.

almost as if acted on instinct, you pushed him back with a scarlet force, sending him back first onto a nearby table.

you took a second to get react, unsure of what happened, before rushing over to your sister. juliette didn't seem to be bleeding, luckily, but you figured she might have a concussion. much to your surprise, she sat up straighter attempting to act unfazed.

you were roughly yanked away by your wrist and away from juliette. you attempted a second self-defense act, but the commander was first and pulled out his gun, pointing it to your sister.

"try anything else, and i'll shoot her before you could blink."

your silence was a sign of defeat. you stood still as he unarmed you, even taking off your coat for good measure.

he released you finally then went on to do the same to juliette, who was still recovering from the slight blackout she faced from the collision with the wall - he repeated the threat to her, gun pointing in your direction this time.

you swore if you made it out of here alive you were going to learn more defensive uses of your powers to never be in a position like this again.

juliette must've been refocused on the task at hand because she starting asking the commander for the location of the hostages.

you stomach dropped when he disclosed his army is equipped and ready to take down any omega point members who are lingering by.

he went on to elaborate his plan to eliminate the "freaks" that made up the rebellion. but what got your heart beating faster was the mention of warner.

he directs his talk to you, "i admit, your sister, juliette, had piqued my interest quite a bit with her ability and history, i'd never paid much more than a glance in your direction. but what really astounded me, was when my son begged me to spare your life." he smiles, in a terrifying manor, "i just had to meet this girl whose bewitched him and spelled him into such a lovesick fool."

you felt physically stuck to your place as you listened. you didn't have to look at juliette to know she was also frozen.

'did aaron really do that?'

he turns in your direction, "i have every intention to use you to teach my son a lesson, and that will just have to include your death much to your misfortune. i really do hate to waste a pretty face." you face pales at the mention of your death.

then he faces your sister, who had taken a sudden step in front of you, "but that doesn't mean the older ferrars has to suffer the same fate and couldn't prove to be useful to join me in the capitol."

"i'd rather jump off a very steep cliff, thanks."

you wanted to laugh at your sister's retort, but you couldn't help but worry that he'd kill her for her denial. you'd rather be the sole target of his persecution than drag your sister down into it as well.

you reminded yourself adam and kenji were still around, they would surely arrive in time before either of you could be dead. you hoped.

the commander, however, does laugh at your sister's rejection, "a stubborn one you are."

"son, would you come in here, please?"

your eyes widen, warner was here this whole time.

you and juliette glanced at the same time, both being shocked at his presence.

when he appears in the doorway, all the memories of the event in his room come back to haunt you.

his face was void of any emotion, but his stare directed intensely toward you.

there was no time for small talk, because warner's father handed him a gun, meant to kill you. he places it in aaron's hand and aiming it to your head, dishing out the command to 'clean up his mess.'

you wouldn't be surprised if he had intentions to shoot you, you quite literally had shot him the last time you'd seen each other.

juliette let out yells of protests, telling warner to put the gun down.

you were preparing ways to defend yourself, mainly involving levitating an object and throwing it at either person with murderous intent toward you. but you weren't sure how you could hide the movement of your hand, and red glow of your eyes, when the attention was all on you.

but you couldn't help solely stare back into aaron's emerald green eyes. you wondered if this would be your last sight before death.

no, you refused to succumb to death like this, you wouldn't give anderson the pleasure.

you stared back into the green eyes, daring him to take a shot. this could be really courageous or terribly stupid.

then in the next instant, the gun had a new target, his father.

his father didn't look too fazed, confident that his son wouldn't shoot him, even patronizing him for it.

you didn't wait to find out if he would go through with it because now that the attention shifted, you could execute your plan of action.

the supreme and warner were both knocked down by the large heavy table being thrown at them. granted, aaron wasn't your target, but it didn't hurt to knock him down in case he intended to shoot you.

juliette took the opportunity to get the firearms the commander has taken at the beginning, and use the gun to shoot him in the leg. both legs. multiple times.

you were about to reel her back, when kenji appeared out of thin air, literally, and held juliette back from further injuring anderson.

suddenly, you remembered warner was still in the room. you looked around to find him passed out on the ground, a syringe, you guessed kenji used, next to him.

kenji tossed you as roped and told you to bound his arms, so, you knelt down on the floor next to him, carefully shifting him to place the rope.

as you did this, you noticed his features closely, how different he seemed unconscious, at peace. it kind of made him more beautiful.

out of your better judgement, you reached out slowly to touch a lock of his blonde hair, soft.

you immediately pulled your hand away when you thought you felt a stir, but you looked back to his face and he was still unconscious.

maybe, if you had looked a little closer you'd notice the ghost of a small smirk on his lips.

"we're going to take this kid hostage."

you were brought to your current situation with that statement.

"wait, what!" kidnapping wasn't on your to-do list for the day.

however, the most shocking news to be said in this room, was when adam dropped the bomb that the supreme command, warner's father, was his dad - making warner his half brother.

in the midst of all this chaos, omega point had already set off the call to attack, and now were battling against the reestablishment.

there was no time to think about events because kenji was rushing everyone out the door to get back to the safe haven.

the four of you needed to a large distraction so castle could draw back before major disaster since anderson was down and you now had taken warner. juliette promptly stepped up with an idea and create a part two of her earth-shattering ability. - which it turned out working really well because you all were able to make contact with castle.

adam and kenji did the heavy lifting of carrying aaron's heavy body while you and juliette had the task of finding a tank for the four of you to head to omega point in.

once that was settled all of you clambered into the tank, kenji taking the wheel and adam acting as second in command - that left you and juliette in the back with warner.

who was currently to the left of you, slumped against the window side of his seat, and juliette being on your right.

you weren't thrilled to have him smushed next to you. not when you were close enough to smell his cologne and feel the outline of his muscles through his jacket.

a part of you thought he would maybe wake up somewhere during the ride, but his eyes remained close. you know because you were staring at him more than you'd like to admit.

you reminded yourself what he had put you and juliette through, the asylum, the imprisonment, and the tests. it was enough to reel you back in and continue your dislike for warner.

although he was asleep, the bumps on the travel to the underground base made for a lot of jolts of movement and in turn caused warner's body to tumble onto you.

his body was heavy, but somehow it was heavier whenever you had to push him back to his side. it was like a force was trying to keep him on there.

his head somehow always slumped into the hair on the crook of your neck, and at some point, you could've sworn you felt him breathe in through his nose, like a sniff. but you wrote it off as the movement of the vehicle.

you must've passed out at a point because when you opened your eyes, you were lying against warner's shoulder.

your face was a flush of scarlet when you realized your position, but luckily juliette was fast asleep, and the two men were occupied in the front, likely going over today's events. thank god.

not long after, you all arrived at the destination and made it out of the tank.

kenji helped pull you out of the tank, not before leaving a teasing comment.

“have a nice nap, did you?”

you ignored him, but your face went red in embarrassment. he would never let you live this down.

you took a rest for a whole day before interacting with anyone. you weren't sure if you could handle any other sudden revelation without rest, especially if it involved warner.

castle came to you and juliette to discuss further the plan with warner and such. and you were reminded of the fact adam and him were technically brothers, which was kept a secret between all four of you still.

then castle gave you both the most ridiculous task; to be in charge of the questioning and occasionally visiting the prisoner. his reasoning being you both were the most acquainted with warner, and he'd be more willing to comply with at least one of you.

you wanted to decline; you didn't understand why castle always sent everyone else to do work for him - but you knew your sister was happy to finally have a real assignment for omega point; she wanted to be useful.

so the following day, you began your "mission." you sisters went to where they were holding warner, a room much like where you and juliette slept, but the difference was it closely guarded, not letting the person inside leave.

you greeted the guards, and they had looked very relieved to see you there. apparently, warner has been less than pleasant as an inmate - throwing things and demanding to speak with you, and they informed him the two of you would be arriving to calm him down.

you stepped into the room and noticed the lack of furniture, probably because he was throwing, then you saw warner sitting on a mattress on the floor, indulging himself in some sort of journal that you didn't get to get a look at before he put it away.

he looks up at your arrival with a grin, "hello amor, a pleasure to see you again at last." he scanned your attire, "i have to say, this new look on you has you looking rather ravishing."

you rolled your eyes, fighting the butterflies because of his comment. "how you manage to be a prisoner and still keep that stupid charm goes beyond me."

"i did say i'd see you soon didn't i?"

juliette gave you a confused glance, you hadn't told her about the note, nor the kiss.

you ignored what he said, trying redirect the conversation. you glanced down at his chest, "nice to see you've healed from the shot, for a moment, i thought i'd killed you."

"takes a lot more to kill me i'm afraid, however, if it's by your hand i'm more than willing to greet death like an old friend."

before you could bite back, juliette interrupted your banter with a cough, meant to serve a reminder to you to stay on task.

"right, forgot you were here juliette, perhaps you'd like to step out so your sister and could properly reunite."

god, you hated his suaveness. you hated it even more when it worked in making your heartbeat pick up.

juliette took charge of the conversation and started asking questions relevant to the establishment, but warner would either change the subject or give vague answers.

you both decided to leave after growing tired of the lack of information. you ignored warner's pleas for the company and walked out.

the next day you both tried again, meeting in from of his room. juliette, however had decided a change of tactics.

"i think you should go in without me."

you turned to her confused. she explained he would likely be more cooperative with your presence alone, his actions from yesterday proving to be in support of that.

you denied it, even if part of you believed it. you weren't sure you were ready to be in a room alone with aaron.

nonetheless, juliette left you to your own devices and rushed off, probably to find adam or kenji, before you could protest further.

you cursed her, but prepared to enter the room in front of you.

aaron was lying down, resting an arm behind his head and using the other to throw and object up and down. once he noticed you he sat up in your direction.

he noticed the lack of presence of juliette, and you could tell he was more than pleased.

"finally, i was starting to think your sister would chaperone us forever."

"don't be so eager to be alone, i could shoot you again."

"and i'd willingly take another bullet if it meant another kiss."

you couldn't help the annoying pink tint on your face that came up with the mention of the kiss.

you changed topic, "how were you able to send me that note?"

he smirked, "well for one, i noticed you after our eyes met briefly during your first time outside in the sector. after that, it was blatantly obvious who you were; that disguise did nothing to hide your gorgeous face, unfortunately for you. and then it wasn't hard to order a civilian to drop the note in your pocket while you were distracted."

you were stunned; you really hadn't thought to think he recognized you. you thought you blended in pretty well on those missions.

"okay, stop distracting me, what are your father's plans."

"hmm, maybe if you ask nicely and give me a kiss - i'd be more willing to comply."

you left shortly after that, knowing you weren't going to get much out from him.

it continued like that for a few days; you'd walk in, try to get information, but then he'd turn it back into a way to flirt with you or bring up the kiss.

this time when you walked in, you saw him reading the journal from the first day, and you were able get a better look at it. it was yours.

"hey, what are you doing with my-"

"dear diary, today i checked out a book from the library, there was a rather intimate scene between the main charact-"

you immediately recognized the writing as your own and strided across the room to aaron to snatch your journal back.

warner was quicker, standing up in a snap, keeping a distance from you as read aloud more pages.

you yelled at him to stop, catching up to him, but now he held the book to the ceiling, making it harder for you to reach because of his tall body.

you, much to your embarrassment, jumped up and down to reach the journal, wanting this humiliation to end.

"aaron, just give it back!"

all of a sudden, aaron stopped his teasing and looked down to you, a lopsided smile on his face.

"you called me aaron."

you eyes opened in horror, you just called him aaron, not warner. and he heard it.

"no. no. i said warner, you misheard." it was a terrible attempt at lying.

he smiles even wider, his dimples prominent. he reaches a free hands to lift your chin.

"please, keep saying my name, i do love how it sounds coming from you."

you felt you were gonna explode from all the emotions you were feeling, the room was getting hotter, and your heart was pounding in your ears.

you couldn't get a solid sentence our without babbling in embarrassment. so you took the coward's way - bolting out the room, abandoning the mission to retrieve your journal.

you avoided visits a few times after that incident, you were still cringing at the flashbacks, it worsened when you also remembered he had the contents of your journal and all the embarrassing things and darkest secrets you'd written inside.

unfortunately, that didn't stop you from running into warner.

you were eating lunch with kenji, he was currently explaining some princess film you'd never seen.

"wait, so how did this girl even find out when her birthday was?"

"well, obviously, mother gothel told her."

"why didn't she just lie about her birthday, or not even tell her what a birthday is?"

"i don't know, i didn't make the script."

"also does the ending mean she has power still, or was it the last of her ma-"

"oh my god, can you shut up and just appreciate the greatness that is tangled!"

"hey! you're the on-"

"well, isn't this a surprise."

you turned to the new voice that entered the conversation. aaron warner stood in front of your table, hands behind his back, and castle behind him, likely guiding him somewhere.

then you remembered your last conversation with the leader and came to the conclusion aaron was on his way to be tested, probably like adam had.

castle remained unaware of the blood shared between the two, but you did let it slip you were unable to read your mind, and he was able to make skin contact with your sister.

"well if it isn't my favorite ex-boss." kenji spoke with a mouthful of food.

aaron ignored kenji, much to kenji's offense. "amor, here have you been these days, you left quite flushed after our intimate moment in my cell."

kenji spat out his food at that last bit.

you body was filled to the brim with utter embarrassment and hate toward the way he phrased his wording to make it seem what it wasn't.

you turned to kenji who was coughing continuously, "nothing even happened!" you gave warner a glare, "stop making it seem so.. so-"

"so what, amor? i'd love to know what you think i meant by intimate."

"you are so insufferable."

castle then dragged warner along to the testing area. you couldn't deny you weren't curious to find out if he shared a gift similar to adam.

you were planning to engage with warner the next day, but his guards had come up to you during your training session demanding your presence because apparently warner was in a fit of rage.

worried, you rushed over. entering the room, warner was sitting against the wall, face in his hands. the room was in disarray, broken items of what was already so little, scattered all over the room. even his floor mattress had been tossed.

he barely acknowledged you, so you took it upon yourself to kneel down in from of him, silently asking what happened.

"castle..he told me it's possible i have an... ability. he told me i could change," he laughs humorlessly, "that there was potential for me to be.. different... possibly better."

you stayed silent, unsure of how to respond, as he bitterly ranted about his talk with castle.

"what do you think?”

“what?”

“do you believe i can change? i’d love to know what your opinion is on this, amor.”

you weren’t sure how to respond. “i believe… everyone can choose what they want to be. it’s up to them to decide, even if everyone tell tried to tell you who you are.”

this time, he was the one silent, looking down at his lap, likely in thought.

you took the chance to take in his attire; some black sweatpants, grey socks, and no shirt.

you probably would’ve been flustered to see him shirtless if you didn’t notice some peculiar marks peaking from his shoulder.

silently, you slowly crept to the side of aaron, still distracted. you slide far enough to get a good few of his back.

you internally gasped. his back was littered with lines of scarring - likely whipped. your stomach churned at the thought.

you also notice a big tattoo in the upper middle of his back, in all caps ‘IGNITE’.

you must’ve said it out loud because aaron’s head whipped in your direction. he turned his back away from you once he noticed where your stare was directed.

“no need to say anything, i already know how hideous it looks.”

unsure how to respond, you blurt the first thing out of your head - “i think they look cool. kind of like an abstract piece of art.”

yeah, comforting people wasn’t your forte.

luckily, aaron seemed intrigued by your statement. so you took the chance to request something further.

“can i touch your, erm, back?”

aaron was hesitant for a few moments, but then sighed and turns his back toward you.

you delicately pressed your fingers along the canvas of his back. you could feel every ridge and texture of each scar as your fingers glided over.

aaron flinched at first content, then progressively & visibly melted into your touch.

“why ‘ignite’?”

“why not?” you really hated his vagueness.

an idea popped into your head. you pulled a pen out of your jacket pocket, testing it on your own skin a few times before you started drawing lines on aaron’s skin.

“amor, what are you doing?”

“hang on.” he could feel the ink of the pen etched on his back.

“you know, my original plan was to seduce you with my perfect abs, but i guess luring you with my scars works as well.”

“shut up.” but you were smiling while saying it.

you finished connecting a few lines, “there, perfect.”

"i think you've forgotten i dont have the neck of a giraffe to twist around."

"oh, my bad." you said sheepishly. "do you have a mirror?"

"i did, then i broke it. pieces should be in a corner somewhere."

you mentally scolded his carelessness.

you managed to find a piece big enough for him to see your creation upon his skin.

"i drew a star." you wanted to facepalm at how silly it sounded.

star was a bit of a stretch, you connected lines scarred on his bank to form a lopsided and wonky-shaped star.

he just stared at it, not uttering a word. you moved to try to wipe off the mark, but he grabbed your wrist before you could.

"no," he grins, "i adore it. do more of them."

you did. it was a whole galaxy of stars embedded on him.

he stayed mute as he watched you through the shard of mirror while you doodled, but suddenly he spoke and gave you details as to what his knew of his father's plans and the location of brendon & winston.

"why are you suddenly telling me this, why now?"

"it's what your here for, isn't it."

you rushed over to castle immediately and repeated everything aaron told you. he thanked you for the information before he called in others to draw up a plot of attack. you all were to leave immediately the next day.

castle called a meeting in the lunch hall a few hours later; everyone at omega point was gathered there.

he briefed them on the commander's plans or what the plan was supposed to be so far. of course, people were suspicious of this information coming from warner, not trusting him at all; not that you could blame them.

"he's immune to both of the ferrars abilities, he can touch juliette with no issue and y/n can't get into his head. after this reveal, we did some test, and we've come to find out he's gifted like the rest of us."

the room exploded in chaos, gasps, yells, and protests coming from all different directions. a lot of ongoing looks toward your table. castle raised his voice to calm everyone down.

you and juliette didn't stick around long after, for one you already knew the information being given , and two, the stares and questions were getting annoying and uncomfortable.

however, adam shortly followed the two of you out, desperate to speak to juliette, and you knew why - warner being able to touch her.

they began talking intensely as if you weren't there. you watched from the sidelines as juliette explained her side and adam getting more frustrated.

you butted in at a point, you felt bad for the guy, but your sister came first. “adam, maybe it's best you leave to cool down.”

but your voice of reason only irritated him. “how about you stop inserting yourself into your sister’s affairs and let her speak for herself.”

"what is your issue?"

"this is between juliette and i; she doesn't need you speaking for her."

"you hypocrite, that's what you're doing right now!"

"why don't you go fraternize with warner, that's all you seem to be doing these days." adam venomously spat at you.

as if the mention of his name made him appear, warner's presence made it known. he stepped in front of you, dividing you and adam who got closer as the argument headed.

"kent, you've really got an attribute for being infuriating and vexing."

that set off the fire for an intense standoff between the two. adam, already mad at aaron, started the verbal feud.

it got so heated, kenji inserted himself between the two - trying to stop the commotion. you even grabbed aaron's arm to pull him away.

it was all happening so quick; one moment, they were shooting insults back and forth, the next instant kenji was dropping to the floor clutching his head in pain.

juliette immediately called out for help, finding castle, who brought in sonya and sara to take kenji to the medic.

adam and juliette went trailing after them, but you stayed there stunned. what did you do?

you had a flashback to the experiment - kenji reacting, in the same manner, those soldiers had after you freaked out.

you felt extremely horrible for kenji and you prayed he would be alright.

but you hadn't intended to hurt kenji nor did you exert any force in using your powers. you had better practice with your energy, so it didn't make sense.

aaron, still beside you, reached out to you - but you instinctively took a step back. you weren't sure what was happening to you, and the last thing you wanted was to hurt someone else accidentally.

"probably better you stay back," you looked down at your hands in fright, "i don't have control right now, i'm don't even understand how i did that to kenji."

"because amor, you didn't injure him. i did."

your confusion only deepened with that. then he brought back the mention of his gift, and you put the puzzle pieces together as he spoke.

"so you can basically can absorb someone else's power and use it?"

"a little more complicated than that. i can sense people's energy, like right now i know you're confused and worried for your friend, but also scared of yourself for what you did, or thought you did."

he elaborated, saying he unintentionally manifested your energy when you touched him. when kenji grabbed his arm, in an attempt to pull him away, that was when he projected the energy on him and hurting him in the process.

"wait, so does that mean you have my ability to read minds too?"

"hmm, i haven't given it a chance," he smirks at you "would you like to be my test subject?"

"absolutely not."

later that night, you check with sara and sonya on kenji's condition. they informed you that he was alright, but just needed some rest. after, you met up with castle in his office, finalizing plans for the morning - the beginning of the battle.

before you said goodbye, you had a question that had been crossing your mind.

"why do you trust ar-, er, warner, what's to say he won't turn his back."

"well, i guess i can't say for sure that he won't. i just have to have faith in mr. warner that he will make the right decision for himself. and with your added presence, i'm sure he's more open to that than ever."

"what do you mean?"

"surely you realize he's in love with you. he's even told me himself."

"he..he told you he was in love with me?"

"yes, just after i was discussing his gift with him." he said it like it was the most casual thing.

you stayed to chat briefly after. you directly headed to aaron's room, no longer littered with guards since he was considered a "member." you were able to walk in with no issue.

aaron hadn't been asleep yet when you got there, he was sitting up on his bed, which had a frame now, reading a book.

you didn't give him a chance to react to your sudden intrusion before you started speaking.

"why would you tell castle you're in love with me"

he furrowed his brows, but you kept going - you were set on getting answers.

"how could you just.. say something like that, what is your motive? are you trying to get to me?"

"amor, calm down. i have no motive." he said, standing up and walking toward you.

"then why would you even say that."

"isn't it clear?" he gets nears, a hand going to cradle the underside of your face, "i meant what i said."

"you can't love someone you barely know."

"but that's just it. i do know you. i've read your mind on paper, and experienced you for myself the moment i met you. i know that you hate to be wrong, you want to clench your first when you lie, although juliette is older by a bit - you feel the need to protect her, you're afraid of the dark, but never admit it, you hate yourself for loving your powers, and you want so badly to be accepted here because of your lonely childhood. shall i go on?"

you were flabbergasted by his word, and you couldn't even deny that they weren't true.

"how do you know this?"

"because, as my dear father put it, it seem you've bewitched me, my mind, and my body."

then he kissed you. and you let him.

and you very much liked it.

it was a longing, messy, kiss - he had you against the wall, lifted by your hips to his height. you wrapped your arms around his neck kissing him deeper, not letting any thoughts or worries flow from you for the moment.

the doors opened. "y/n? are you her-" then a gasp.

you recognized the voice - juliette.

you immediately panicked and pushed aaron away, attempting an explanation yo your sister, but she was already turning her feet and running away.

you gave warner a glance before you ran off in her direction.

you caught up to her, "juliette, please, wait!"

she abruptly stopped her feet and turned to you, "what are you doing y/n? kissing warner, are everything he's done!"

"it's just... i didn't... it's not like-" you struggled to put it into words.

"so what, you- you like the guy who kidnapped us? the one who shot a guy in front of us. experimented - borderline tortured us? he made me hurt a child, y/n. a child! and now you're making out with him."

you were at a loss for words, tears starting to build up at her harsh words.

"you're an idiot if you think you could love him, and even stupider to think a cold heartless person like him could love you. and i won't have anything to do with you if you keep him in your life." and with that she waked off, leaving you in the hall.

you didn't go back to warner after your fight, nor did you go back to your room immediately. you shamefully found an empty closet to cry into for a while. once you were able to breathe normally, you went back to the shared room - luckily everyone was fast asleep.

by morning, everyone was preparing for the rescue of brendan and winston. you and juliette exchanged no words; you attempted - but was shut down every time. she had never been this mad at you. so you just suited up and went to find kenji. kenji sensed the tension between you sisters, but didn't push for information.

you came to found out from castle, aaron warner was gone - he escaped omega point. likely on his way to the reestablishment.

you didn't want to focus on why a part of you was hurt when you heard that.

the battle was not a scene for the light-hearted - anderson's men had already begun gathering civilians and spewing blood. if you didn't have a strong stomach, you'd already be spilling your guts.

midway through dodging bullets and soldiers, you felt a shift in the already dire environment. there was something wrong, and you sensed it.

you urged kenji you felt the need to return to omega point - there was something wrong. he wasn't too convinced by your vague intuition, so you sought off on your own, doing your best to avoid the battlefield.

you ran into juliette at some point, not caring for your argument at the moment, and told her your inkling. she also brushed you off, telling it wasn't a time for your dramatics.

even with no support, you went back - you couldn't ignore this feeling.

you were maybe 200 ft away from omega point when it happened. bombs were dropped on the territory - causing the destruction of the building and any remaining members who stayed behind.

the explosion was powerful - even from where you were standing, it sent you both painfully flying back. you blacked out before you could react to the tragic ending of omega point.

you regained consciousness after consecutive kicks to your ribs and a voice telling you to wake up.

in front of you stood a crippled anderson, standing with he support of a cain. his composure was calm, but you could see the hatred behind his eyes.

you painfully stood up, surveying the area. you were in a house - similar to the one from last time.

you felt weak, dizzy, and the world was a bit blurry. you were leaning on a mantle to support your standing.

"ah, the fatigue your feeling would be my own fault. had those lovely sisters inject you with something. it will incapacitate you enough that you won't be a threat. can't have you flipping tables again."

you were barely registering his words, but when he mentioned sisters it gave you a bit of a jump start. he had sara and sonya.

your words felt faint, but you demanded to know where they were. he assured you they were unharmed, but it did nothing to ease you.

midway your conversation, warner enters the room - shocked to see you there. you probably would've reacted if you weren't so dosed on drugs.

"now that we have this reunion out the way, i'm going to be generous, something you ought to appreciate. you can tell me where your sister is and where the rest of your band of freaks are. you can aid me in destroying them and only after will i grant you the mercy of joining the reestablishment."

"what do you want with juliette?"

"she did this to me," he gestured to his legs, "and now i want my compensation."

no matter the situation with your sister, you'd never give her up.

"go to hell."

he sighs, "a disappointment once again, miss ferrars." he turns to his son, "this is why it's important i teach you this very valuable lesson son."

warner goes rigid, "what do you mean?"

warner pull out his shotgun, "justice, should always be served - even if it has to be by your own means."

then you were shot right in the chest.

you blacked out, then started slipping in and out of consciousness. all you remember is blood spilling from you at a rapid pace, and aaron crouched in front of you.

you remember voices - aarons, sara, and sonya's talking in rushed voices - then it was only aaron.

"hey cmon, amor, stay with me."

"wow... getting in the chest really sucks. i feel really bad about shooting you now." you spoke deliriously.

"it's alright, i just need you to hold on a little longer." his voice strained, holding back anguish.

but you didn't; you passed out, your last thoughts hoping juliette would throw you a nice funeral, enough though she was upset at you.

#aaron warner x reader #aaron warner imagine #aaron warner fanfic #aaron warner #aaron warner anderson #shatter me #shatter me fanfic #unravel me #juliette ferrars #kenji kishimoto #adam kent #x female reader #x y/n #x reader #reader insert #reader imagine #headcannons

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ddarker-dreams · 1 year

Text

Collapse of Paradise.

Yan Childe x M Reader. Commissioned piece.

Warnings: Yandere themes, unhealthy relationships, power imbalance, gaslighting attempts from Mr Childe. Word count: 3k.

It started with the small things.

Synchronicities, perhaps, little blips on a piece of paper that appear seemingly unconnected. No lines could be drawn between them at first glance. Some of these coincidences weren’t necessarily bad; if anything, it was as if you’d hit an unprecedented stroke of luck. When you went to buy groceries at the market, the second you’d go to get your money out, the store clerk would start rambling about how ‘he needed these goods gone anyway’ and lowered the price significantly. In the days that followed, he’d stopped charging you altogether.

You’d found it odd, but he was insistent, countless stories prepared to explain away his altruism.

Then there were the lines. It didn’t matter if they were long or short, many of the people in front of you offered their spot. At first, you hesitantly accepted, but it started to make you feel wrong, so you started gently turning the offers down. After that, you noticed the typically crowded streets of Liyue seemed easier to traverse. Others would scramble to move aside for you, apologizing under their breath if you so much as bumped shoulders or anything of the like.

Eventually, you began to wonder if this stroke of luck might be a veneer for something more sinister.

Were the rumors spreading that you weren’t privy to? Slander and gossip? You couldn’t fathom why, you’ve always kept to yourself, never troubling anyone. For days now, you’ve mentally combed through your memories, searching for any act that could’ve been interpreted as offensive. These brainstorming sessions always end with more questions than answers. You just weren’t the type of person to form ripples in calm water. You favor tranquility, going to lengths to keep it.

You shut the book in your hands with a quiet sigh. Despite having opened it an hour ago, you were only halfway through the first chapter. The plot and characters failed to transport you to another world as you hoped. You slide your bookmark into place — a narwhal-shaped piece, courtesy of your lover — then opt for staring at the ceiling. If you couldn’t distract yourself, maybe you could zone out and turn your traitorous brain off for a bit.

Should you post an apology on a bulletin board, where there’s bound to be lots of foot traffic? You don’t even know what you’re apologizing for, so it might not be the best idea. Maybe you could ask the next person to give you this unwanted special treatment? That doesn’t sound satisfactory either. It could make matters worse if they think you’ve remained blissfully aware of your offense all this time.

Having your home quietly turn hostile is a unique type of pain.

“Hey, what’s with all the sighing? Is the book that bad?”

Sunlight parting through storm clouds — that’s how you’d best describe Ajax. His warmth never failed to reach you. It sought you out, chasing after you for as long as necessary, maneuvering through obstacles like they were nothing. No matter where you hid, he always found you.

“I wish I could tell you. I haven’t made enough progress to determine that yet,” you give him a smile that must look as unconvincing as it feels. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice you sooner. Have you been here for long?”

He juts his thumb toward your front door. “Just snuck in, actually. Not too stealthily either.”

You frown at the implication. Ajax had often playfully complained your front door was squeaky enough to alert the whole neighborhood of his presence whenever he opened it, a sentiment you agreed with. You must’ve really been out of it to not hear those decibel-breaking hinges.

The couch dips to accommodate his weight as he sits next to you. He props his feet up — his boots off, thankfully, you had to remind him countless times — and rests his arms behind his head. You both stay like that for a moment. Your eyes are on his side profile as he thinks, about you, no doubt, the grin you’re so used to seeing on his face uncharacteristically absent. You shift in your seat at the prolonged silence.

He just got back from a long day at work, you’d rather not bother him with your paranoia. For someone who acts so lackadaisical, he’s freakishly perceptive, picking up on your every nuance. He pointed out tics about yourself that even you were unaware of. It didn’t feel fair for him to have to keep guessing what’s been bothering you while you struggled to make up an excuse different from the last time he asked.

Ajax inspects you from the corner of his eye. “Feel up to going out to eat? It’s been a while. As much as I love cooking dinner with you, sometimes it’s nice to take the night off. How about it?”

You gnaw on your bottom lip. He isn’t bringing it up out of consideration for you, you know it, he knows it. And still, it seeps into every aspect of your life. You’ve been avoiding going out. You aren’t a total recluse, there’s still work to be done, but you’ve been staying at home more often than not. At first, you told yourself it was unrelated to the strange predicament you found yourself in. You’d only recently come to terms with the fact that was a lie, meant to lull you into thinking things aren’t that bad.

“If you’re tired, you can relax while I whip something up,” you propose, sounding as cheerful as you can manage. His eyes narrow ever so slightly. “Oh, there are some leftovers from my lunch too. We can just warm that up and—”

“[First].”

You’re looking everywhere but his eyes. “Yes?”

“I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong,” his hand is on your forearm, serving as the anchoring force you so desperately need. His tone isn’t judgmental or irritated by how elusive you’ve been acting. It’s overflowing with patience so sickeningly sweet, that a lump forms in your throat. “You know you can tell me anything.”

The sensation of guilt that washes over you then is unwelcome. You wish you could both keep playing along, but all dreams are destined to end. This conversation and the doors it’d open were bound to happen.

He gives you a squeeze before you part your lips, having sensed your change of heart from the subtlest shift in demeanor.

“I’m not exactly sure how to explain it… I just get the sense people are treating me differently lately. Not in an overtly bad way, but more like they need to be careful around me. I don’t know. It’s weird.”

Another squeeze, this time to your hands, which he takes in his. “When did you start noticing this?”

It’s a question you don’t like the answer to. They’re unrelated blips, you remind yourself. This world you live in is filled with plenty of those. Correlation doesn’t equal causation and all that. Ajax’s gaze never falters from yours. He’s wholly concentrated on you as if nothing else could possibly matter more. This display of unflinching devotion brings forth a fresh sting of guilt. It tingles all over, pricking against your skin.

For a lie, your next words come out surprisingly easy.

“A week or so ago, maybe.”

Ajax is unabashedly inspecting your facial features. He studies every little counter, each dip and groove. The way he examines you now is different from his usual, loving stare. It feels colder, more critical, almost like he’s been charged with determining whether or not you committed a crime. You do what you can to keep yourself from squirming.

You have an easier time breathing when he pulls back, apparently satisfied with the outcome of his search.

“I can’t imagine why that’s happening, but these things naturally tend to resolve themselves with time. Maybe someone overheard something out of context or got overly chatty while drinking. The people of Liyue are reasonable. Keep being you. They’ll see through any of the mistruths they came across.”

His lips curl into the lopsided grin you’re so used to seeing. A part of you is relieved by how he’s handled your admission, though you can’t fathom why. He’s a good man. It doesn’t matter how many hours he’s worked, he’ll stay up late into the night to write replies to his siblings, insisting he wants them to receive their presents as soon as possible. He cares for you, dotes on you, going above and beyond without needing to be asked.

You don’t want to think about the small things if you can avoid it. You want to think about the upcoming trip to Snezhnaya he’s planned, insisting his family wants to meet their future brother-in-law. How he took time away from his busy job to nurse you back to health the last time you fell ill. The almost magical way he can distract you from your problems, whether it be through witty banter or exciting adventures into nature.

He brings your head to rest on his shoulder. You accept the gesture, knowing how he favors being physical with you. Letting him have this seems like a good idea.

Your eyelids flutter shut and you’re back to where you started — struggling to quiet the desperate whispers of your mind. The voices grow more hoarse from how loud they must strain to try and be heard.

Trust is built on open communication, you know this, yet you’re holding back one piece of critical knowledge from him.

That you know all these peculiar interactions began around the time Ajax started courting you.

You’ve watched people convince themselves of things in the past.

It was a sight that brought out a myriad of emotions, namely confusion and pity. Should you let them carry on in their misguided ways? Hope that maybe they snap out of the reverie of their own volition, or someone better equipped might happen by and lend a helping hand? You’d witnessed it in grief-stricken mothers who lost their sons at sea, refusing to attend the funeral while claiming ‘he’s still out there’. Then there were the failed entrepreneurs who put everything into a business for it to just go bust. They’d swear that their investment will pay off eventually, that economies change, it isn’t a total lost cause; the justifications never ended.

It’s strange, going from being an audience member to these predicaments to landing the lead role for yourself.

You see the script, know that the words were written in advance, yet still try clumsily acting through them all the same. What else is there for you to do? Ajax has never harmed you, never given reason for you to openly doubt him. These suspicions were spun by you. His job at the Northland Bank was never a secret, neither was the financial prosperity it brought him. Their collaboration with the Fatui is similarly public knowledge, though the degree of which is unknown.

Picking up a rock, you test its weight in your hand, then give it a calculated toss. It skips across the clear, shimmering water, then plunges into the depths.

“This would certainly make for a nice fishing spot,” a voice casually quips from behind. Your shoulders go stiff. It didn’t take long for him to find you, it never does. “What do you think? Should we make a date out of it?”

You feel the point of his chin press against your neck. “I, uh, might not be the best fishing partner. It requires waking up early and sitting still for hours, doesn’t it? That sounds difficult.”

“Patience is always a good thing to hone, it’s practical. I’ve found mine being tested lately,” he taps you on the side. Once, twice. “That’s the thing, though! It’s important to get pushed to your limits. You’ll never know what you might be capable of otherwise. Wouldn’t you say so, [First]?”

There’s an attempt to turn around and face him, yet what your body wills doesn’t come to fruition. Ajax’s body might appear lean, but it’s strong, almost inhumanly so. It requires no strain on his behalf to keep you rooted in place. You have nowhere to look aside from ahead. The sun is setting now, molten gold easing into shades of amber. You squint, finding the scene both beautiful and difficult to stare at directly.

Sunlight could be as painful as it is beautiful.

“We aren’t right for one another,” you mumble, almost grateful you can’t see his face. “I don’t want to keep doing this. I don’t know what to do.”

He laughs, the sound ringing hollow. His warm breath tickles your ear. “You don’t have to do anything. Neither do I, for that matter. Everything was fine. Everything is fine. What have I done to you to earn this cold behavior, hm? Would you care to tell me?”

Your palms might bleed from how harshly your nails dig into them. “… You haven’t done anything to me.”

“And I wouldn’t, either,” he seems to take pride in confirming. The fact he has to say this in the first place is reason enough to worry.

Waves brush against and retreat from the sandy shoreline. The breeze carries with it hints of the ocean, tousling your hair, ensuring it’ll maintain the scent of saltwater for hours to come. This place that would set your heart at ease any other time fails to comfort you now. Each breath you take grows increasingly unsteady. A damning word that’s been floating around in the recesses of your mind grows louder and louder, demanding your attention. No longer do you have the energy to hush it.

“Ajax,” you begin, fighting through the impulse to say nothing, for your mouth is terribly dry, “Are you familiar with the alias ‘Childe’?”

A spray of water droplets kisses your cheek after a particularly sizable wave comes crashing down against the shore.

His hands are on your shoulders. Your sense of equilibrium is thrown off by how sharply he turns you around, forcing you to confront a reality you can no longer ignore. The rays of the dying sun are bright, yet his eyes do not reflect them. You’ve never seen those pools of bright blue turn so dull. His lips are set in a straight line, his face mere inches from yours. What you would’ve once considered an intimate moment feels like a perverse invasion of privacy. He’s giving you no space, no time, no air.

You have to remind yourself to breathe, the action no longer involuntary.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” his fingers are on your chin. You wonder how much blood has been shed due to the very hand cradling you. “I keep that portion of myself separate from those I care about.”

He isn’t denying it.

“That isn’t something— something you can just clock out of. People are scared of you. Because they’re scared of you, they’re scared of me.”

He sighs then, the closest thing you’ve gotten to resignation from him so far. “I know, I know. I really did want to avoid that. It isn’t anything I can’t fix. Still, you need to work with me on this.”

“I… what?”

You don’t want to believe you heard him right. You try to take a step back, but he doesn’t allow it, his grip unrelenting. The skin beneath his eyes crinkles when he smiles.

“You were happy,” Ajax states. When you voice no dissent, he continues on. “You must’ve been, if you were willing to overlook your suspicions for as long as you did. Maybe you should be scared of me… maybe you will be, if you keep looking into things you shouldn’t. Or you could make this easy for yourself. We can take things slow, work it out a day at a time.”

Toward the latter half of his proposal, he finally lets you go, yet you don’t make any move to run. It’s as if the sand beneath your feet has been replaced with iron shackles.

You need a moment to compose yourself for your next words to come out. It’ll be the most confrontational you’ve been yet. That thought alone is almost as frightening as the situation itself.

“What makes you think I want to work this out?”

His toothy grin never falters at your challenge, instead, it grows wider. You shiver at the possibility your unusual resistance excites him.

“Do you have what it takes to go the other route?” His voice takes on a condescending lilt. When he sees how you bristle, he laughs, shaking his head and putting his hands up in mock defense. “C’mon, I’m joking. Don’t look at me like that. You’re a smart man, I know you’ll make the right choice.”

You’re not sure what other options you have.

Ajax bends over to grab some stones of his own, just as you did before his unwelcome arrival. He winds his shoulder a few times, then gives it a toss, the rock skipping too many times for you to count. It goes out impossibly far before finally succumbing to its watery prison. He tries to hand you one. You stare at it unblinkingly.

“Something tells me this might be our last romantic outing for a while. Might as well make the most of it,” he nudges it closer.

With some reluctance, you take the rock into your hand. He’s back to throwing the few he collected, beaming while he does so. You thought you were growing adept at playing pretend — that pales in comparison to his abilities. Pleading his case is no longer of any interest to him. He knows what you’re going to choose, he could always read you, and he’s only going to get better at it.

“Nothing about this is romantic,” you finally murmur. This rock fails to glide over the water, plummeting immediately. “That’s a word I’ll struggle to associate with you... Childe.”

He winks and replaces the rock you just threw, his fingers brushing over yours.

“Well, it's a good thing I just love challenges then.”

#childe x reader #yandere childe x reader #genshin impact x reader #yandere genshin impact x reader #yandere #yandere x reader #commissions #my stuff

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ineffably-human · 2 years

Text

I can't get too mad about the Marwa thing. I can understand why it freaks people out, I understand the implications it could have and why instead of being something darkly absurdist, that hits some buttons for people they can't ignore. I can see where it failed, though frankly I haven't seen a single suggestion of an alternative that actually satisfies what this storyline is meant to do. And this storyline is very much meant to do something.

Maybe I was already ready to come out swinging about this because people have just flat out made things up about this character and this situation the whole season. I chew a little more drywall every time I hear a new statement that just never actually happened.

This has gotten very VERY long, please have a cut.

Let's look at pre-the Wedding Wish first:

Nandor did not 'slowly chip away' at Marwa's personality, he made one wish that altered it after she very barely had one to start with.

If this show is good at anything, it's giving us a very strong sense of who a character is over very little time. We can map out a history of Jan just from the photos on her wall. We get a sense of Shanice from her reading of a bottle of medicine and one small monologue about her Mosquito Collector motives. Gail, Meg, Charmaine, The Contessa, Coco, Nandor's wife answering questions by the gazebo with the name I forget, most of these female characters have fewer appearances than Marwa and varying degrees of plot importance but we have at least a half-decent sense of who they are.

But Marwa was the last wife standing after Nandor ruled out everything even slightly objectionable about the others because of how self-destructively insecure and selfish he is. She is never portrayed like a complete person with an inner life to begin with, all the better for him to project this obsession with a perfect past love that almost certainly didn't exist. (Or at least not how Nandor remembers them.) From a Doylist perspective, she could never have shown off more than a hint of who she was/used to be, by design.

The first thing we learn about Marwa is not her scientific space discoveries. The first thing we learn is that while she is first saying her name, Nandor cuts her off and she lets him do it without even blinking. She recites the one fact about her life like she's saying a bio in a playbill. She says she's grateful she found such an intelligent man, for some reason, so she doesn't really understand who she's marrying even if they've been together before. I've heard people observe in later episodes she stands like a Sim - but to me she seemed very flat and robotic in her first appearance.

You guys, learning about this plot I was ready for a person with a personality, I was ready for either wacky poly shenanigans or a whole-ass emotional affair, believe me. Do you know how many songs from Aida I had queued up? And I remember wondering why Marwa didn't feel 'real' to me, not even over-the-top real the way the vampires do. The people saying she was there to be an obstacle to Nandor and Guillermo baffle me, because the moment we meet her, the one thing that's clear to us is Nandor didn't find his great past love. He found a random person. One who is just off the radar enough that she was the last one left. The Baron flat-out refers to her as "the beautiful and charming what's-her-name."

Until the girls' night (which is post-wish), Marwa never exists outside the room Nandor is in. After her brief introduction, she never says anything in that first half of the season that's not about Nandor. There is almost zero difference between that and Go Flip Yourself's litany of "I agree with my husband." Meanwhile Nandor is constantly snapping at her, ignoring her existence, leaving her behind. So she's either a terrible judge of character or will allow fucking anything from this man from the start.

Why yes that is horrible! Pack your bags and escape, etc! But it's not a full, vibrant character who Nandor later whittles down to nothing. Nandor whittled the wives down to Marwa. Because this plot is about his inability to think about other people or have the maturity to be in a true relationship.

The wedding wish, the only one that explicitly makes a long-term change to Marwa's mind, Nandor makes because she voices the first preferences/desires we've heard from her the whole time. At the very least this is new behavior. But Nandor's trying to micromanage flower arrangements on a week of no sleep, not tame a willful person into a submissive doll.

He's a self-obsessed moron so his takeaway when she finally voices her doubts at the wedding is something like "oh shit, she didn't even really want to be with me" - but he's a coward and hey now she does! She even said so! At this big huge wedding he invited everyone to, and that no one believes in! So he doubles down. He has been convincing himself he's in love this whole time, now he's convincing himself it's going awesome with this person he feels basically stuck with.

---

Now, as far as post-Wedding Wish is concerned:

"Like all the same things I like," going by the exact phrasing, doesn't have to get rid of what she likes that Nandor is neutral on. It doesn't have to change anything else about her personality or behavior. It doesn't even mean she has to want all the same things he wants, it certainly doesn't mean she has to do the things he does or to robotically repeat that she agrees with him. I was ready for Marwa to take up sword fighting and bossing Guillermo around and teach Nandor how completely fucking insufferable he can be sometimes, but that isn't what happened either. She feels half there because she was always half there.

Yeah, there's a consent issue, and I feel like the show goes out of its way to show there's nothing sexual going on. The one time they talk about having sex, the Dick Wish screws it up. Nandor walks away in disgust from some very half-hearted dancing about their wedding night. Marwa sleeps in a separate bunk bed in the attic. Between the choice of a bedroom for the two of them and a place where he can be away from her completely (and get fucked by guys and watch Guillermo use the bathroom), Nandor chooses the man cave.

We have two episodes with Marwa after the wish and before 'Freddie'. Ironically, they are the most personality and agency she has had the entire time, they are the events people most often cite about how we "got to know her". (What exactly did we get to know?) And she doesn't seem to hate Nandor even secretly, they just are extremely awkward and bored together. She seems genuinely hopeful that Nandor likes the man cave but since she likes privacy just as much now, and she's not liking a marriage he isn't liking, she tricks him and makes it into her own space.

And the specific Freddie wish is that he wants to turn her into "an exact copy" of Freddie in terms of "looks, personality, everything." Freddie then proceeds to introduce himself to Nandor as if he never met him, and treats Guillermo as if he's a stranger. We could speculate Marwa is in there screaming to get out, sure, but...why would we? We are in a Ship of Theseus situation, where every part of her was replaced. There is no reason that she'd still be there. And there wasn't much of her there to start with.

The 'real' Marwa lived hundreds of years ago, we have no idea what she wanted or how she felt about her life, we have no idea how long her life went on before she died. (Or if she's even dead! She could be one of those vampires in Nandor's village at this point!) But she had her life. It already happened. Anything that happened from the moment Nandor resurrected her (which is already kind of a horrifying act, it just wasn't played as one) was already, as AV Club brilliantly put it, an extension of his own selfish desires.

I could say the djinn's version of Marwa was sort of a doll reduced to her most basic traits. I could say as someone resurrected to be nothing more than the object of 'someone's wife', she was freaking delighted to have Nandor's preferences filling up an empty space for her to use as she liked. I could say she's a fake wife the djinn invented as a decoy. Or that she stops existing whenever she leaves the room. Or that the wish just basically re-deaded her and she'd have been fine with that.

Any of those things would have just as much evidence as what people are speculating instead.

--- I get why you can fill in the worst possible thing in the blanks. There's so much to fill in about exactly who Marwa was, exactly what got changed about her, and whether any aspect of her is left. I think they may have left so much ambiguous to make it less uncomfortable, and instead left everyone thinking about the worst possible version of events.

There also aren't a lot of female characters on this show, and no regular female characters of color, and that is absolutely a deficit the show needs to make up for. Because I truly believe they write great female characters when they're actually trying to write them. Having those other examples would have made a plot like this so much less uncomfortable to watch. But Marwa could have never been that representation, because of what this plot is meant to be about. This plot isn't about Nandermo, or even about Nandor's search for romance at all. This is about all of Nandor's worst tendencies, how he's his own worst enemy.

Because this is probably what Nandor has done his entire life. As a human being Nandor was more of a monster than he is as a literal monster. Like I keep saying, he pillaged, he violently took what he wanted and left the rest to burn. We're told in this last episode that he disemboweled tons of civilians for a tapestry. (A tapestry that, in a cut line from the leaked audition script, he didn't even really like much. If that isn't a metaphor for his shiny object syndrome...)

Even if every single marriage he had was someone in love with him who wanted to be with him, he probably did some version of this: was drawn in very suddenly by the parts he liked (or invented in his head), had a very selfish, empty version of a love affair, got annoyed when things were inconvenient or difficult, and then moved on to the next shiny object.

Freddie is Wife 38 with extra steps, compounded by the djinn lamp being a magic pleasure machine - the exact worst thing to give to a warlord used to taking what he wants (and then being praised for it by everyone around him). His feelings about both Marwa and Freddie are very shallow, and also very real to Nandor in the moment and take up a lot of emotional energy. The 'love' for Freddie would have faded and left him feeling just as hollow.

We just saw the vicious cycle of his life in fast motion, in a way that ends in disaster for everyone involved. (Do you think we'd have gotten Guillermo's horrified 'what the hell is wrong with you' if we weren't supposed to be thinking that right there with him?) The difference here is that we see Nandor made a change. He understands something about love, he thinks outside himself. He does what he believes would make Marwa, 'his' Freddie, and Guillermo happiest. This season is about change.

(I want to point out, also: there's no reason Nandor getting physically beaten up would teach him anything. As a warrior, if anything he'd double down. Guillermo's genuine pain and heartbreak in the midst of what he's done is the only thing that would have gotten through to him. And it did. The hard zoom in on "what I did was...wrong" is because we almost never see him admit those things or apologize in the first place, it's meant to both say 'no shit' and emphasize that this is pretty huge for him.)

Again, I'm not saying this is okay. None of this is okay. It's not supposed to be. It's played for absurdity but it isn't played as meaningless, when the show has been playing much more horrible things for laughs for years.

I'm just saying that a lot of what people are bothered by doesn't really support the facts. It takes everything to its worst conclusion and then acts like that's both supposed to be our takeaway, and we're supposed to find it just great. Of course we aren't. If we were, Nandor would have packed Marwa's bags and made a Freddie clone. He and Guillermo would have gotten into a competition about who could date Freddie the best that would be about their own sexual tension or something. There are many many ways to turn this into something feel-good, and they chose not to.

(Not least because any of those ideas would have left out a lot of what this episode says about narcissism, codependency, Guillermo's own concealing of his identity, the way love means seeing a complete person who exists outside yourself...)

And many, many different staff writers wrote this storyline across the entire season. A number of which were women, several of which were women of color. One of those women of color is Middle Eastern and another is the co-showrunner. Of course women can write misogyny and people of color can write racism, but that also means there's no monolith of identity where the right people with the right identity will feel the right way about something at any given time, and there's only one response to have. The fuckup here, however large or small you believe it to be, did not happen because of two white guys writing this one script secretively in the dead of night.

So, I don't know. That's me. Please consider what was actually being written here, and what we actually saw, and not your headcanons or your subverted expectations. Or the things that built up in your head during the months of leaked material. And if it still makes you too uncomfortable to keep watching, then don't! But I don't think it was thoughtless or pointless, at all. Plus, literally any character can come back in this show, and they often do. So who knows what we'll see as a result of this.

#fandom: wwdits #what we do in the shadows #otp: nandermo #nandor the relentless #char: king himbo #i am a meta gremlin

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xoxoamyas · 5 months

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`` Unspoken Words ,,

rating : more hurt than comfort, but the comfort is still slightly there. a few death implications and ritual mentions

dark wolf!wilbur x gn!reader [ use of you/yours, no use of y/n ]

☆ . dark wolf just wants to help and chat with you after the day you've had. at least now you know he's there for you, even if you can't go to him with everything. <3

note : considering turning this into a bit of a mini series of sorts. might put more lore to it and maybe give it a better plot to go with. i really love this concept, though

masterlist [ ☆ ]

⋆˙⟡

It had been a long day, and you were just trying to settle down.

You were just laying down on the bed in the room the club had provided, staring up at the ceiling. Remembering the prior events of the earlier hours in the day, nausea coursing through you as you tried to figure out your next moves.

You were just an undercover detective trying to figure out the missing persons reports paired with the sightings of blood. You had gotten the lead that it had all sourced down to a “book club” of sorts, likely to be a cult.

After a week of getting to know them, convincing them you were worthy of joining. You couldn't believe yourself. You got in, but at the price of another's life, a final testimony of sorts is what the leader had called it.

Guilt gnawed away at your chest, a feeling of unease and queasiness hitting you hard. You had taken a life that didn't deserve it, and it hurt more than it initially did.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to know you had participated in a ritual, something that bound you to the cult. The leader had promptly given you a name, said to have been chosen by the “Dark Lord” himself.

A timid knock at your door stalls your thoughts. Breaking your staring contest with the ceiling in favour of looking at the door. Silently contemplating, since you were meant to be asleep.

Screw it, is essentially your next thought process. Standing up and moving towards the door, clicking it unlocked and cracking it open. Met by a familiar brunette with pretty hazel eyes. A flash of surprise crossed his face before he gave a grin, happy that you were up and assuming he hadn't disrupted you. You decide to open the door up a little more, leaning against the threshold and offering a smile. An awful attempt at willing the bad feelings away.

“You did really well tonight,” Dark Wolf, who you had come to learn as Will, smiles widely. His palms pressed together before his fingers moved to tangle and fidget within one another.

“You told me earlier, Wolf, I know.” Your tone is as light as you can make it, trying not to seem so tight and upset. Based on the slight furrow of his brow, you didn't do a good job at hiding that.

“Can I come in?” He asks, but doesn't give any time to answer. Pressing a hand to the door and walking into your room anyway. He's quick to start looking around as you huff out a laugh, closing the door but leaving it unlocked.

“Yeah, sure you can, Wolf.” You cross your arms over your chest, a frown tugging on your lips as you watch him. At some point, he moves to sit on the edge of your bed, looking at you again.

“You can call me Will.” Dark Wolf- Will nervously speaks as his gaze softens a bit before becoming almost unreadable. It always unsettled you when a member would show an emotion that you could put a name to something so unfamiliar right after.

You nod a bit in understanding. “I know, it'll just take a while to get used to it.” Stepping closer to Will, you sit beside him with a bit of space between you two.

This was the first time one of the members had shown up after curfew hours to talk with you. It was odd, especially since Will was so obedient and quick to follow the guidelines. It just goes to show you have to get to know the members of the club a bit more.

“Thank you,” He suddenly says, pressing his hands together as a nervous habit in the process. Unable to look at you anymore as his gaze becomes trained on the closed door.

“For what? I didn't- I don't think I did anything?” You’re more confused than anything, unsure of whatever he was thanking you for.

“For finishing the initiation and ritual.” He speaks just a bit clearer, finally turning to look at you. Something between vulnerability and admiration in his expression. “I like that you're a part of the club now.” He gives a small, soft smile, almost shy looking in the process.

For a moment, you don't know what to say. On one hand, you're ready to cry and have the biggest mental breakdown in the world. On the other hand, he actually looks kind of sweet at the moment.

“I just- I know how hard it was after I did my own.. trials.” He swallows a bit, moving a hand up to tug at the collar of his shirt. “I'm just here to let you know I want to help if you need anything.” He gives a slightly bigger smile now, visibly nervous. He came in knowing there was a chance you'd turn his offer down.

“I appreciate it, Will.” You hum out, unsure of what else you can say. Taking a breath before nodding. “I'd love your help. Getting sorted within the club, y'know?” You give a semi-false smile, one leaning towards awkward over the situation.

Guilt started to gnaw at you once more, this time for a different reason than before.

Will visibly grows excited upon being given an answer, one that he liked no less. He nods almost ecstatically. “Well, I'll show you everything tomorrow, if you want! We'll get your own copy of the book, too.” He stands up, already coming together with a plan.

“I think we're going to be really good friends!” He chimes out, momentarily turning on his heel to face you again. This time, moving towards you with quick ease, taking a hold of one of your hands. “You're going to love this place even more than you did before, I'll make sure of it!”

And it's like your lungs are suddenly being restricted. You're doing this for your job. You mentally remind yourself. An unease edging its way into each of your systems as you watched every move Will made and half-heartedly listened to most of his words spoken.

“Will,” You start, bringing your free hand up to lightly grasp his wrist. Ignoring your heart that felt like it was going to palpitate right out of your chest. “I'm sorry to cut this short,” you start and almost instantly regret it as his brows furrow and his lips tugged into a worried frown. “But can we do this tomorrow? I'm tired after the ritual.” You wanted to spiral by yourself, be left to your own thoughts on what to do from here because now you were in too deep.

“Oh- uhm.. yeah, yeah! Of course!” Will gives a more nervous laugh, retracting his hands from yours and wiping them off on his shirt. He's got a more shaky smile now as he presses his hands into his pants pockets. “You want me to go?” The undertone of the question he asks essentially alluding to if you wanted to be alone.

You nod.

“Yeah, if you don't mind? I just need to gather my thoughts.” You hum a bit, watching as he takes his turn to nod and move around slightly.

Will glances around your bedroom one last time before at you, something on his mind. He decides to save it for when he thinks it will be right for you. The man turns around and heads for the door, hand finding the knob and lightly opening it.

“Have a goodnight,” He says, turning back once more to look at you again. Slight worry crossing his features for just a moment. “I'm just down the hall if you need anything.” The indirect offer of him letting you go to him was nice, but just made a chilly feeling settle in your bones.

“I'll keep that in mind, thank you, Will.” You offer a small smile, watching as he gives a curt nod before finally leaving your bedroom. Closing the door behind him and taking a moment to stand there before slowly trailing away to his own bedroom.

You sigh, left alone once more.

#amyas writes #x reader #dark wolf!wilbur #dark wolf #wilbur x reader #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur x you #wilbur soot x you #wilbur x y/n

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antianakin · 28 days

Note

Not sure if you answered this already but what’s your opinion about the chips in the clones? Lazy writing or missed potential about free will and self expression?

This is a little vague, so I'm going to try to answer this as best I can and then you can let me now how well I did. I'm assuming you're asking me about the general concept of the chips as an explanation for why the clones turned on the Jedi during Order 66 rather than how the chips as a plot device has been handled in a specific piece of media or just over the years in general.

The original concept for why the clones turned on the Jedi was that they were only semi sentient, from what I can tell. In AOTC, Obi-Wan is told that the clones have been genetically modified to "make them less independent than the original host. As a result they are totally obedient, taking any order without question." So they didn't exactly have free will and self expression prior to the chip being introduced at all. Cody seems friendly with Obi-Wan, he has his own specific armor design, and both he and Oddball earlier do have names that Obi-Wan calls them by, but the amount of actual free will and self expression they have is VERY limited. Cody's friendliness only extends until he's given an order to kill Obi-Wan and then it immediately goes away because he doesn't have enough independence to consider if it makes sense or if it's morally wrong. So I'm not sure I'd count this original canon implication about the clones as HAVING a lot of free will and self expression in the clones at all.

The alternative explanation for Order 66 that seems to have existed prior to TCW (and maybe even was the original plan for TCW before they came up with the chips) was that the clones DID have free will and self expression and that they hated the Jedi because they saw the Jedi as the people keeping them enslaved, so they turned on them in Order 66 willingly and the friendliness they showed to the Jedi was all an act. Personally, I don't think this makes a lot of sense for NUMEROUS reasons. One, it doesn't jive with the line from the Kaminoans about how they are less independent and totally obedient due to genetic modifications. Two, it doesn't make sense to me that they'd intentionally show Cody and Obi-Wan being quite friendly if we're supposed to understand that the clones hate the Jedi; it would've been just as easy to have Cody be more professional and Obi-Wan more distant when they interacted with each other. Three, it doesn't make any sense that the intended message would be that the Jedi had genuinely enslaved the clones given that the Jedi are very clearly represented as the good guys here; obviously Lucas created a somewhat morally sticky situation with the clones in general that doesn't really get explored, but that doesn't mean we are intended to see the Jedi as slave owners.

What you get from the introduction of the chips is sort-of a marriage of both concepts. The clones CAN'T resist the order when it comes in and it's something that IS built in genetically, but they also DO have self expression and free will outside of that one moment. Cody and Obi-Wan's friendliness towards each other is REAL and Cody only turns on Obi-Wan because he's mind controlled into it. This allows for the clones to have personalities that are explored a lot more in other media and to build up this extra tragedy in the relationship between the clones and the Jedi without turning the clones into flesh droids or the Jedi into villains. The introduction of the chip also allows for the clones to have a future afterwards, there's a narrative to be told with them post-Order 66 as the chips are either removed or stop working and they have to start realizing what they did and dealing with the implications of it all. We're seeing some of that happen in TBB with Rex and Echo spearheading this entire operation to try to help clones escape the Empire.

So overall I think that the chips being introduced allows for MORE free will and self expression in the clones than usual, it keeps the Jedi from being labeled slavers and villains, and it brings in a lot of extra complexity and nuance to the entire situation that I personally quite enjoy.

#star wars #clone troopers #clones #jedi #order 66

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allbluedepths · 4 months

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More time travel AU thoughts that were originally a reply to @softesttangerines' fantastic thoughts here. This was a reblog, but then I got carried away (like 700+ words of carried away), so I'm making it its own post to not break my mobile dashboard lol. Includes some stuff on teenage Shanks' mindset, current Benn's perspective on meeting teenage Shanks again, and a little bit of Mihawk's perspective on teenage Shanks + their relationship both past and current at the end.

I agreed with everything too hard and then ended up with a megapost. Oops.

Teenage Shanks’ mindset and misconceptions is something I’ve thought about a lot for this AU. Arguably too much. First off, his recklessness? He doesn’t have a fantastic value on his own wellbeing, and it’s still a bit different with his crew — he wouldn’t want to get hurt and leave them high-and-dry without a captain because it wouldn’t be fair to them, but he still doesn’t fully get that they’d be upset about it because they care about him, not just his title.

I think Benn in the original timeline eventually comes to understand this through some odd comments/implications/behaviors from Shanks, but it isn’t stated outright and takes a good while to hit. Plus, by the point Benn has a real inkling about it, Shanks has gotten with the program, so it never lines up to have a time where Benn would really intervene.

(Adding in a note here for me yelling into a pillow because yes that’s 1000% what I was going for with Benn meeting teenage Shanks again and I am Elated. “You might as well take his title” brb going to go cry a whole puddle at that.)

Current Benn? Absolutely yelling at his younger self about how obvious it is and how did he miss it?? (Actual answer: Shanks hadn’t told him a lot about his childhood yet, and he’s not a mind reader. He’s still upset about it, though.) Teenage Shanks is a conundrum of keeping people too close and too far away all at the same time. He loves his crew, but with how recent it’s been since the whole Oro Jackson disbanding and him basically being on his own… the kid has some funky abandonment issues of letting himself believe this crew really is going to last.

And this crew isn’t even his crew. Their captain is missing because he’s the one there now — what are they going to do if he doesn’t return? What’ll happen to him? (Benn’s definitive breaking point is Shanks finally hitting his limit of how much he can bottle up and asking what’ll happen with him if their Shanks can’t come back? Because to him, the answer is he’s not entirely sure but it certainly involves Shanks still staying with them, and to think Shanks doesn’t implicitly understand that is upsetting, and he’s fixing that, now.)

(That part is actually somewhat written, so I really want to post it soon now, haha.)

Fic plot side tangent: while they know it’s likely Devil Fruit shenanigans that caused the whole fiasco, they don’t know if it’s a swap of the two Shanks in the same timeline, a swap with a different timeline, or something else (ex: de-aging). The actual answer is that it effectively creates an alternate/split timeline, so there’s nothing to worry about, but there’s the concern that if they change things for Shanks too much, something will go Wrong.

Benn is by far the one to stick with that the most at first (maybe tied by Mihawk) and he does end up sticking with that to an extent — it works fine for major “plot points” so to speak. But interpersonal stuff? Once Benn starts realizing what he missed the first time around… yeah no, that’s getting fixed like you said. If doing that causes issues down the line, then so be it, but he can’t in good conscience let some of that go.

Mihawk’s bits keep getting cut short because I go on for so long about Benn’s perspective RIP. But yes 100% to all of that. Mihawk may not admit ever (or even fully to himself) that he had his own share of mishandlings in the past, but he’s at a point where there definitely is a hint of regret of how far away he held Shanks for so long, knowing what was to come now. (However, I like to equally think his slight moments of conceding are also out of the knowledge that Shanks wormed his way into his life once — he can definitely do it again in his own time, even better and quicker with some guidance.)

He does 100% think this Shanks is endearing, though — how could you not? At the same time, it definitely reaffirms his appreciation for his Shanks and who he grew into being once day.

(Also: wheezing over Shanks asking Benn for love advice to win over Mihawk. That man has really been put through it, haha.)

#@ time travel anon there's actual fic content coming too but i hope you like this as well haha!#one piece #red haired shanks #benn beckman #mishanks #dracule mihawk #akagami no shanks #time travel au #anyways if you can't tell: i'm more than happy to ramble about this AU at any and all times haha

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thegeminisage · 10 days

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ok, it's star trek update time. tonight we watched ds9's "playing god" and tng's "eye of the beholder."

playing god (ds9):

i'm trying. SO SO SO HARD to get into dax and it's just not working

out of the 3 dax episodes we've had so far this one included two of them have been mid and one of them was just slightly better than average mostly for the questions it prompted in my mind palace, not necessarily the questions asked by the episode itself

in s1 dax had basically no personality, but in s2 when she does have a personality it seems to be a different one every time. like in one episode she was very prissy and in others she's just one of the guys! and then at other times she reverts to this very buttoned up bordering on bland science officer from s1 again

and then every once in awhile she'll be like oh yeah i LOVE sex i LOVE being a super hot woman who everyone wants to FUCK!!! i can get whatever i want with my SEX APPEAL even though my hair is WEIRDLY SHAPED. and look i am so happy for her and she should literally get some but it borders on the kind of misogyny that starts genuinely annoying me. it is kind of like that anime trope where the teen boy gets put into a body with tits and he can't stop messing with them. its like. idk reducing her to a body, or reducing her to jadzia's body, which dax is taking for a ride to feel hot and fuckable?? it's very blurry what's jadzia and what's dax

WHICH is the most fascinating part of dax, which is where the trill ends and the symbiant or however you spell it begins, but we don't get into that quite as much as i'd like

anyway i guess a shifting personality is a natural result of living 7 lifetimes but it doesnt FEEL like thats why theyre doing it, it FEELS like they just cant seem to keep her consistent

that said. while i did not like this episode or this little guy dax was showing around i DID like the implication that curzon was actually a huge fucking asshole. i love that he can be loved by many people but was still an asshole. it's complex. and now one of the people he abused (?) or at least was an asshole to is now. his successor. IT'S COMPLEX!!! what are he and jadzia to each other...imagine meeting curzon dax and then just becoming him. that's wild. so, points for that! genuinely. it just feels like the trill thing is fascinating because of trills and not because of jadzia dax in particular. i'm gonna keep trying to like her. maybe once she starts banging worf things will be different

eye of the beholder (tng):

ohhhh i hated this one so much (suicide cw for this one lol)

firstly, i don't trust tng to handle the subject of suicide any more than i trust them to handle multiple personalities, but they tried to very special episode it anyway. all of them were so shocked at the very THOUGHT of it i guess because they eliminated all mental illness in tos?? but it was so funny in the rage-inducing way like "maybe he needed to think of the obstacles in his life as challenges to overcome!" come on.

also lmao picard like ive never had to report a suicide before...........girl you have literally told 2 people to kill themselves

and then they dropped the very special episode plot halfway through for this psychic mystery...

here's the thing. if everyone had been searching for a REASON someone who seemed to be perfectly happy would do this, and in the end the answer was just "nothing was going on, he was just hiding a lot of pain, even if we don't want to believe that" that would have been a STELLAR gutpunch. but there literally was foul play involved

AND NOT ONLY THAT! BUT THEY FAKED ME OUT WITH WORF E DEANNA

my ONLY consolation was that they were finally kissing and then later fucking but NO!!!! all a dream

i was already conflicted because deanna e worf means a temporary breakup from deanna e riker but i wanted it anyway and i was so happy when they gave it to me and then they KILLED IT? maybe the actors hated it because it fucking sucked

like, no wonder everybody let deanna walk around unsupervised when there was a high suicide danger. she was dreaming. no one in real life would ever allow this

i wish also that creepy men would stop coming to deanna's quarters to be creepy to her

final note: was told the creepy man was in spn. clocked him as alistair almost immediately. faceblind WHO

TOMORROW: ds9's "prophet and loss" and tng's "genesis" (dread).

#personal #star trek blogging #ds9 lb #tng lb

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monstrouslyobsessed · 8 months

Text

some of these are SUPER old, gomen, so it'll be all under the cut for yall sanity. i really need to start answering more timely rip

tw: mild implications of noncon (cerelos), psychological mindfucks (cerelos), mentions of pregnancy (dol)

Oh, I can wait for your content as long as it takes! Creating is not an easy task, so take your time, dear. Ofc, posting everyday is cool, blah-blah, but your health and mental state is much more important. Don't worry about this <3 And talking about DoL, did you get to Ivory Wraith already? Who is your faves generally? —anonymous

did i not answer this before??? tumblr, please. anyway, ye i did! plotwise, very very fascinating. gameplay wise, annoying as heck when i was in middle of things i was working towards to lol i do wish ivory wraith's plot wouldn't be centered around weird anal/ear/whatever pregnancy tho, thats…kinda not my thing kdshkds--and thats coming from someone who writes preg on the regular. pls dev.

Ahhhh don't feel bad! Ur content is top-tier and u r a lovely perfect bun! Even quick look on your post is enough to feel that you're always working hard to give your best – it's we who should be thankful for all food u r giving </3

A lot lot lot of love to ya, dear 🥰 @iwanthistongue

dawww thank you dear <3333 i just wish i have it in me to be the super productive like some of the epic writers on this platform, but i dont dsklhdsl so all i can do is to do my best and provide every so often <3 also sorry that i cant seem to ping you???

Omg you're into dol? Who's your favorite character so far? —anonymous

eden, tbh! i ran into a scenario where they kidnapped me angry after being gone for too long. oof, what happened after that…wheeoooow but most of the characters are pretty dang good too!! i'd like to focus more love on kylar but theyre quite...annoying gameplay wise so…augh lol

i crave more beastfolk content 🤤 maybe something with a male reader dealing with a few yandere beastfolk who are trying to one-up each other and compete for him? male!yandere x male!reader content is a bit hard to find, especially if it's transmale!reader —anonymous

just send in an ask and i'll see what i can do! i found writing male readers (be it cis or not!) a little tricky sometimes, because i always feared crossing that…bad line, yanno? in spite of the contents i write.

that said, i'm all for writing more gays, just need a little nudge and sparks to write one~

have you heard of scp 401? —anonymous

…huh, this is a pron in the making. but no! this is the first ive heard of it. im aware of scp and knew some of its characters but not this one!!

Happy bday! I hope you got yourself a nice treat! —anonymous Happy birthday, dear! 🥳—anonymous Happy (i guess)late birthday, luv!!! Thank you for writing at this special day, hope your day was amazing <3 —anonymous

ohhhh this is months late;;; im so sorry but thank you all so much for your kind bday wishes!! ily all a bunch!!!

OMG YESSSS LORE!!! MORE MORE MORE <333 Thank you for the food, I can't stop re-reading 😭😭😭 —anonymous

ye~i mainly wanted to do more centaur pron tbh LOL glad you liked my nasty bois!

For a few days I had a thought- I hope it's ok to share ahaha- Okay, so – after getting in his grasp his future bride were acting so, so good. Her dedication is admirable, she's a quick learner and charismatic enough to get the liking of the teachers and maids. Her gentle and caring nature shows while she's communicating with others – no surprise everyone likes her. She's the same she was the day he met her... But the thing is, after all of this, she's absolutely terrified of Cerelos. She's not crying and wailing, but she's getting so quiet, so uncomfortable in his company, she always hiding her eyes and never tries to speak first – and she trembles so, so bad every time they're touching! Last time she even fainted from all nerves. How he may act and how mad he would be that servants getting more smiles and laughs than him? —anonymous

hmmm depends on why the darling is frightened tbh are they always afraid or is this started after cerelos took them the first time? i do imagine he'd be pretty upset and even offended, though he won't outwardly show his feelings. he'd probably start ordering the servants to disappear whenever the darling is in sight, be invisible, to further isolate them, to force them either to face their loneliness and/or accept cerelos as their emperor and husband. since humans are in nature social, they'd naturally long for some form of company and possibly some skin to skin contact.

in short, since the coecrced sex doesn't seem to do enough, cerelos would've likely infict some psychological damages on his darling to force them to accept him. he wouldn't be…physically abusive, no, but he will emotionally and mentally cripple his darling without relying on cruel words and uses some amount of gaslighting.

regardless, you will only have him and you will love him. he is, after all, your emperor and husband. why wouldn't you embrace him and his power?

Hi! I hope this is okay to ask: I saw one of your slightly older asks, and you mentioned you have a draft with a slime monster. I'm very curious about that one (but I also love your writing in general!), so I just wanted to ask you if you plan on finishing it —anonymous

.....sdhdflsk i thought i posted it, gosh dang it. well, i'll look into this later. if nothing else, it would be nice to go back and post my shitty 5 minutes thoughts again.

Hello how are you ? Hope you are doing well ❣️ I wanted to ask if you will continue or write anything similar like the rabbit hybrid fic ..it's my fav and i also like the ghost husband fic ..sorry if i made u uncomfortable👉👈...Have a nice day💖 —anonymous

i'm doing better!! <3 ty for checking in, luvvv

and after some waffling around, i considered since human/beastfolk hybrids are so rare and are considered the 'monsters' of their world (ig basically, considered as 'mythical', like yeti's and such, but actually does exist, kind of monsters), i figured it couldn't hurt to make these sad hybrids canon to my universe soooooooo ye i wouldn't mind doing more of them!! also i've done a crocodile hybrid one, if you've missed that one.

no, no, you're good! <3 loves getting asks like this~

the momster is back!!! we missed you, hope you’re having a good day <333 (p.s i am a monster fucker through and through, i will literally read and love anything you write mwah) @letskidaddle

daww youre so sweet!!! <3 ty!! monster fuckers united!!!! and yes you have a lovely day as well!!

whewwww, thats some asks to get through hhhh but man tumblr is so ugly. anyone know the fix to get it back to its simple self??

anyway, im slowly getting into the swing of things. got couple wips i can work on, maybe, and clear the inboxs for a fresh start (sorry to anyone who were waiting on certain things!! you can send them again tho!! a clean slate is needed imo). anyway, hope yall are doing wonderfully <3

#ghosts are curious.👻#☠️not writing...#anonymous #asked #answered

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littleeyesofpallas · 6 months

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How do you feel about Ikomikidomoe and hikone? I personally think they’re nice additions to the world but I’ve barely seen anyone else talk about them

I think I did a post on that at some point actually, but I'm not in a position to go digging thru my archive on mobile. (found it, but it's mostly just poking at kanji in names rather than really commenting on the characters themselves, so I guess I can do more of that here.)

Broadly speaking I'm not really big on the LNs, least of all Narita Ryogo's. I know he is kind of the most beloved of the ancillary creators for actually addressing many of Kubo's obnoxious loose ends, my main beef with him is that even though he ties a lot of them off he never ties them off satisfactorily, and seemingly just for the sake of saying he did it; there's generally no thematic meat to any of it, all his hooksjust kinda amount to shuffling around Kubo's left overs. And granted, maybe that's a little harsh or unfair of an assessment, but I'm also not a big fan of light novels as a gimmicky genre/format to begin with, so take all that with a grain of salt.

Anyway. Of all the things he did over course of three books in Can't Fear Your Own World, I do think Hikone was a really neat idea. I like the general idea of exploring artificial souls and synthetic life forms and the hybrid spirits and how that all relates to the nature of the soulking as a lynchpin of reality, I'm just not super about the specific plot he built around it all.

I'm not especially in love with Ikomikidomoe specifically, I feel like it either needed more or just different lore or that it could have been done without entirely. I really think Hikone being an artificial god candidate and the nature of what that means and as an excuse to explore how the other canonical attempts to replace god could/would have gone was enough to center a story around. In particular I was already not super fond of some of the late throw away lore additions about zanpakutou that exist independent of a singular individual. (ala Nanao's family sword, and Oh-etsu's harem). I feel like it raised a lot of questions that got immediately swept under the rug and added nothing of value to the lore at large. I don't implicitly hate the idea of a zanpakutou that embodies a different kind of identity apart from that of an individual wielder, but that idea feels like it requires a LOT of additional explaining that we never got. So the fact that Tsunayashiro has an ancestral sword for no particularly meaningful reason, and that Ikomikidomoe has its whole convoluted backstory always kind of annoyed me.

It's a shame too because Narita seems to ever so slightly brush up against an idea that Kubo himself danced around in world building --that the identity manifested in one's inner world as a sword spirit, and the mask a hollow forms from its heart are the same thing, and thus a Menos accumulating myriad hollows within itself to consolidate into one uniform identity is basically the same process as what Oh-etsu describes is behind creating an Asauchi. So the idea of a powerful hollow becoming a zanpakutou or something similar has precedent, but the weird convoluted choice to make Ikomikidomoe specifically a product of Ichibee and Oh-etsu's intervention, rather than a natural consequence of a Menos ascending toward Vastolorde doesn't sit well with me.

On a side note, it bugs me that Kubo just casually threw in the idea that Asauchi are made of, what, hundreds if not thousands of shinigami souls(?) and then just NEVER addressed this weird implication that Soul Society, and Oh-etsu personally, have just, like, institutionally and systematically been committing mass genocides on the regular for all of recorded history? Huge huge mess of a world building flub. Not that it "couldn't" be answered, but that it wasn't, and that the effort it would take to patch up the apparent plot holes it introduces would just be so much effort for the sake of nothing but maintaining the status quo of the story.

Since you've got me in this rant, it's almost the same with the Ouken thing. I'm already not fond of the awkward retcon(ish) thing Kubo did with making the keys the bones of the Royal Guard as if that somehow answered any questions, when the bigger issue had been the idea that, literal key or not, each of the royal guard members was implicitly baptized in the fire of an apparent Sodom & Gomorrah catastrophes with whole cities or other swathes of land, densely packed with living, spiritually aware people being scraped off the face of the earth, ala Aizen's unfulfilled (and frankly Kubo's seemingly half forgotten) plans for Karakura.

And in the face of that weirdness there was a fun unaddressed parallel in the Royal Guard's private "cities" floating up in the royal realm with the king's palace looking like the perfect inversion of the hypothetical hole in the ground we were shown during the Ouken explanation. Were those cities populated? By whom?? Or were they empty? I don't know which possibility is more interesting to explore; that the royal guard each had a whole cult of ascended spirits living with them, each under the domain of one guard, or that the guard just lived in the hollow shells of the sacrifice it took for them to ascend alone to nigh demi-god status.

Was it that the ouken itself was the condensed souls of thousands of people, just like the later reveal about both the asauchi and White, and they died or were otherwise sacrificed to make this object(or i guess imbue the object that is living bones into becoming it(?) god the bone keys thing was dumb...), or did the souls serve some other purpose? Could it have been that rather than melting down living souls to make the key, as was kind of implied, that to create or imbue a key with the power required to function as the ouken it simply needed the presence of those souls? Did access to the god realm require being actively worshipped as a god, by thousands of people, a united spiritual power of a singleminded cult, a city of followers united in ascending the key holder into the realm of god? Who the hell knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But on that level, you'd think that's the same as the idea of a family zanpakutou, right? If the zanpkautou imprints or a person to reflect their true inner self which then grows stronger and gains power in the material world thru acknowledging and reconciling with, then implicitly the idea of a zanpakutou shared by a family would imply that its spirit is not a reflection of one person's singular traits, but those shared consistently across generations and in exchange for the lack of personal identity it confers the strength of literally multiple people's worth of power, just all reflected in a single persona.(or maybe not, i dunno, maybe the inner world of a family zanpakutou has some atlab avatar state stuff going on, who knows? Probably not Kubo.) What was the Soukyoku's giant execution blade, its destructive power conspicuously described in a measure of zanpakutou, if not a massive communal zanpakutou?(complete with its own spirit manifest as a phoenix) And what is Ichigo's inner spirit of a younger Yhwach if not the communal spirit of the Quincy bloodline? Andi n the context of these sorts of escalations of scale and power, is then the soul king actually a "human soul" in the way the cycle of human/quincy and shinigami and hollow all traffic in the same base elemental "stuff"? Or was the Soul King not that type of a "person" at all, and just a giant collective zanpakutou, a singular spirit reflecting the inner truth of humanity as a whole, and his "bankai" the wheel of reincarnation itself. Anyway that's veering too far off into speculation and potential headcanon.

Getting back to Hikone, though... I like the idea of there being various different approaches to achieving the hybrid spirit form seemingly central to god status. Ichigo was naturally synthesized that way by the circumstances of his birth, Aizen used the hougyoku and "science" to forcibly and unnaturally synthetize himself, Yhwach was seemingly born not by actively joining disparate elements together but by simply being an offshoot of something that was already a hybrid... And then there's Hikone... and while I feel like plot wise there are a lot of issues to there just having been the means to synthesize artificial life just floating around in the background, while characters like Mayuri and Urahara and even Aizen are out there actively struggling with the process, but I like the idea of a kind of middle ground where, ignoring the stupid contrivance of the Gremmy brain thing, Hikone's fundamental contraction isn't quite artificial "life" in the spiritual sense that Bleach deals in so much as it is a "body" without a brain.

But I like the implicit idea of having to draw a line around that. If you can make a thing that fulfills most of the requirements of life, then which things reserved for living personhood can it do and which can it not? If you elevate that to the level of godhood, then it's a fun question that in the grand scheme of things where apparently someone needs to be stripped of their autonomy and sit in the crystal for forever to hold the world together, then can it just be a fake person with no autonomy to lose in the first place? Where as Aizen thought being god would be cool(and was very probably wrong), and Yhwach doesn't seem to want to be god so much as remove him and replace him with ???(unconfirmed: in which it seemed like(ironically) plan A was originally Juugram, and plan B was Uryuu), Hikone is the Indiana Jones rock and the golden idol solution to the problem: Can I just swap god out for this god-shaped bag of rocks and get away with it?

I'm sorry between being at work, and googling images, and then making this silly edit now, I've totally lost my train of thought... Uh... to summarize:

I like Hikone as an idea: I like "synthetic god" as a plot hook.

I like their name having associations with silk and, like, silk worms, as if they were spun and woven like a fiber but also with cocoon imagery attached.

I also think they're a super cute design.

I'd have liked the artificial souls to have more of plot behind them: like what are Urahara and Mayrui's actual goals in making them in the first place, other than just mad science for mad science's sake

I'd have liked for Ichigo's(and Aizen's for that matter; like how was it different and/or insufficient by comparison to Ichgio, or Yhwach or Hikone) hybrid theme to have a better actual conclusion.

I'd have liked better exploration of the nature of god souls and what that requires/means

#bleach meta #bleach #CFYOW #ubuginu hikone

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bisexualjohnseed · 4 months

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Hi, sorry to bother you but I wanted to ask if you think that Wesker is attracted to Rebecca (bc of easter egg, Wesker Mode in RE0)? I would like to enjoy posts about Wesker but that kinda keeps me from doing it since it would be extremely creepy if he actually got a thing for her since she's only 18.

Hi!!! It's no bother at all. This exact topic has haunted me for a long time, actually, so I'd love an excuse to ramble about it.

TL;DR: No, I don't think that Wesker is attracted to Rebecca. Take it with a grain of salt, have fun, and enjoy the sunglasses man to your hearts content.

---

Since Capcom nor the original RE2 team have ever come out with their exact intentions behind the Rebecca photo, we can only really speculate what they were trying to do there. Were they trying to hint that Wesker has some weird sexual obsession with Rebecca? Unlikely, IMO. Were they trying to sprinkle a little secret fan service into their game? YES, definitely!

It was pretty common for games of that era- especially Japanese games- to add some kind of fan service like that into their games, devs loved that shit. Still do. But because fan service has basically no reason behind it, they usually ended up adding it in really weird and random ways. In RE2, the only real place it would have made sense for the photo to be would have been the S.T.A.R.S office and, my guess is, since Chris's desk already had a lot of items connected to it, Wesker's desk just was the next logical conclusion for them. Re2make was just playing to nostalgia.

You also have to realize that if he really did have a thing for her, that probably would have come up at some point in literally any other way. Wesker mode in RE0 is explicitly just a fun little costume mode and an act of fan service in its own right. There isn't any changes to the story, cutscenes, or dialogue, only gameplay. As well, if he had a thing for her, you'd think it would have been considered important enough that OTHER games might have used it as a plot point. Like, re5, maybe? Perhaps they would have put her in Jill's role, or made Wesker come after her in some other way. Instead, she's just an unlockable companion for Chris, nothing more.

Anyway, sorry for such a long-winded answer to your question, but NO, I don't think Wesker is attracted to Rebecca. I think he is just a victim of unfortunate circumstances that have implicated him in having a thing for a girl literally 20 years his junior. Maybe I'm wrong, but as it stands I think you're safe to enjoy him as much as you damn well please, as long as you just don't think about it all too hard.

#thank you for asking me this specifically bc it gave me something to do on the bus #i also love talking about my favs and how theyre treated in their media #resident evil #albert wesker

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dandylovesturtles · 11 months

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For the emoji ask:

⛔️, ❌️ and 🧠 (Donnie)

⛔ tons, but for ROTTMNT the only one I think is the lair games fic I've talked about on here before. tldr: Donnie and Leo's sibling rivalry boils over, they get mad, they fight, they make up, everything is happy again.

I'll stick what I did write of it under the read more after I answer the other questions.

❌ setting aside the obvious dead dove sorta stuff, I'm at a point where I don't really like writing Major Character Death as the main point of the story (as an incidental plot point is a little different). I'm also not really interested in hurt/no comfort, there's gotta be at least SOMETHING there lol.

I'm also not really interested in "everyone has a normal life" type AUs (like coffee shop or high school)

I'm sure there are more I just can't think of right now lol

🧠 (Donnie) I love the headcanon that when Donnie merged with the technodrome he fell a little in love with it. The implications of that are just *chef's kiss*

Donnie feeling so bad because that thing was used to end the world! But he's also never felt so fully and wholly understood. So accepted. So loved.

He feels the scars on his shell and he wishes he was still connected.

Anyway fic stuff (for the first question) under the cut:

“Welcome, one and all, to the Seventh Annual Lair Games! As is tradition, the first place winner of last year’s competition will now give a rousing speech!”

“Boooo!” Leo jeered as Donnie stepped up beside Splinter, his first place medal swinging around his neck. “Boooo!”

“Silence from the peanut gallery!” Donnie demanded, glaring at him, and Leo smirked back. It was what he deserved for being a sore winner - all he’d done for the last week was recount his victory from the last year, to the point that even Mikey was getting annoyed with him.

(When Leo had said as much, Raph just replied that he was a sore winner too. To which, of course, he said pish posh.)

“Ahem,” Donnie continued, folding his hands behind his back. “Gentlemen, as winner of last year’s Lair Games, I want to start this speech by offering some uplifting words. I want this to be a fun day for all of us, and so I hope you play fair, leave it all out on the field, and prepare to eat nitrogen oxides BECAUSE YOU’RE ALL GETTING SMOKED AGAIN!”

“Oh brother,” Leo heard Mikey mutter under his breath, and he chuckled.

“Now as for the prize, I think I have come up with something that will pique your interest-”

“I’m not switching rooms with you,” Leo called.

“-something that is not my room, random audience member. No, I have something better.” He theatrically cleared his throat again. “The three losing brothers will have to do whatever the winning brother says for exactly one week, starting from the moment the competition ends, and the losing brothers can only say nice things about him.”

“Hey, wait, does that mean we can ask you to build anything we want?”

“What-”

Raph gasped, pumping his arm excitedly in his seat. “I can finally get my skate hawks!”

“That’s not-”

“Pizza oven pizza oven pizza oven!” Mikey cheered, throwing his arms up in elation.

“Hey, stop interrupting, this is my speech!” Donnie folded his arms, glaring down at them. “Why are you all assuming I’ll lose, anyway?”

“Uh, no offense, Donnie,” said Raph, “but you always lose.”

“I’m literally standing on the winner’s podium! Right now!” He waved the medal. “Do you not see this!?”

“Eh, last year was a fluke.” Leo waved his hand as though to erase the past. “Great idea with the prize, though; can’t wait until you guys are all calling me “Master Leo”! Ooo, or maybe I should go with “Your Highness”? Oh, or what about, “The Great and Powerful and Handsome Leonardo”?”

“Why don’t you just go ahead and add “humble” to that, too?”

“Great note, Raph. “The Great and Powerful and Handsome and Humble Leonardo”!”

“Oh no! We will be calling you no such thing, because after I win it is I who you will be calling “The Great Genius Donatello”!”

“If I win, you guys can just call me Mikey.”

“Hey guys, a note from your production crew,” April cut in. “Are you going to spend all day on this, because if so I’m gonna break for lunch.”

#writer ask game #lol forgot my tags

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ambrosialdesire · 1 month

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God it’s my favourite thing when an author just builds their AUs by answering a bunch of discrete little asks cacoethes Reiner is on ‼️ my ‼️ mind‼️ 24/7‼️

Would Reiner control readers social groups? What would happen if reader cheated on him would he go apeshit or just do the good ol baby trap

AW TYSM FOR YOUR SUPPORT ANON 🥰🥰 i just love talking about cacoëthes, it’s my absolute bread and butter (and probably the first series that i finished in the ~10+ years i've been writing lol)

reiner definitely controls reader's social groups when he can. before bonding with porco, she was only really allowed to speak with the warriors and his family. anyone else either doesn't pay any mind to her or was too afraid of her (since she originated from paradis and is well-known to be married to the armored titan holder), but very select few like the fisherman that helped her can hold a conversation with her and ignore the status she has. tbh reiner really can't control who she talks to since he's out and about a lot but i think in another ask, i've mentioned that he hired some people to keep watch of her if she's doing anything suspicious or behind his back but they don't really keep complete watch on her bc wtf else is a housewife gonna do (this is literally their undoing bc she got away with a lot before the escape attempt happened 💀💀).

but like after the whole porco shit and the escaping, he never leaves her side and literally goes with her everywhere. groceries, shopping, even a simple stroll to stretch her legs, he's coming with her. conversations with any stranger are cut short and if the warriors are nearby, they'll only get a brief hello and a wave from them. reiner's so smothering that it's even more unbearable and reader never gets the chance for some peace until he leaves for more fighting. BUTTTT when he leaves and the house becomes all quiet, reader can't admit it aloud but she started hating the silence and starts missing his presence, as clingy as he is hehe

I LITERALLLLLYYYYY HAD THIS IDEA BACK WHEN I STARTED THE 2ND PART OF CACOETHES AND WHEN I WAS WRITING THE PORCO PARTS ABOUT LIKE A DIVERGENCE OF THE PLOT WHERE IT'S PORCO'S POV AND HE AND READER GET TOGETHER BEHIND REINER'S BACK. i kinda did wanted to originally add an implication that reader was sleeping with porco but since i was trying to go about this by how the characters were in the actual plot of aot (even tho when i started this blog and posted the first part, i hadn't watched the series since like 2013-2014 so i was extremely rusty when i came back to it), i felt like porco would never try sleeping with his vice captain's wife; maybe he would cause he'd prolly do it out of spite or get on reiner's nerves or has this cocky attitude about being able to get away with it, something to that extent. however, i think he's too prideful to be sleeping with an "island devil" he kinda likes and sorta has a slight amount of respect towards reiner (just bc he's a higher rank and that's about it).

i'm still going to actually make a fic about that plot eventually so everyone can see how reiner acts like in a jealous rage (i also sorta talked about it in a kink ask with the blog's most frequent asking anon, bow anon ( aka 🎀 anon (shoutout to you, you absolute horndog 🫶) if you look around in my answered posts or the love-message tag), and i have another request that's in the works about reiner's jealousy in more detail).

i heavily enjoy talking about cacoëthes and like you said, building upon its silly little fic-verse. sorry to my other fics due to my outspoken favoritism 😭😭 now that i think about it, out of all of them, bounded/boundless and cacoëthes gets asks the most and down boy, down and inamorato gets the least lmfao

#love-message #cacoëthes ask #yandere reiner

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cookinguptales · 2 years

Note

ive been feeling a bit disenchanted with season 4. maybe its cause im dreading the finale based on the vague spoilers i saw, or the treatment of marwa or how the "the gang is separated unexpectedly" twist of s3 was totaly glossed over... i dunno. how are you feeling about it?

No specific spoilers here for 4.09 and 4.10, but just in case people want to avoid even my vague feelings and criticisms, I'm putting my answer behind a cut. Plus, as always, this did get long.

Honestly, I'm feeling a bit disenchanted, too. I'll write some meta about my exact reasoning after the episode airs tonight (and even more after the finale airs), but I just... Now that I know how the rest of the season is going to go, it kind of puts a lot of things I've been putting up with for the rest of the season into sharp relief. I thought certain storylines were going somewhere so I put up with the way they were being written, but now that I know they're not going anywhere with them, I've had to come to terms with the fact that what I thought was maybe hints was actually just lazy writing. That's kind of where I've been at the past couple days. Looking at the lil bits we've been picking through on fandom and realizing that they never really intended to flesh out any of those things or take them in any interesting directions.

I also agree thoroughly with Marwa. It's one of the things that's been a growing concern of mine throughout the season, and now that we have spoilers... idk, again, I'll talk about this a lot more thoroughly tonight? But I hate this storyline now. I also hate what I'm now seeing as an overdependence on hypnosis and Djinn-facilitated personality transplants, too. Like... I can recognize now that it's a season-long issue. Like damn, stop using this to dig yourself out of plot holes. It's lazy writing and the implications get creepy very quickly. I thought they were doing these things on purpose to criticize it later but maybe?? they're not??

I'd say the big two disappointments for me are Marwa and Guillermo... I won't get into details with Marwa, but Guillermo... yeah. I've been saying it since literally the premiere aired, but the whole one-year gap was a killer. I hate that we just don't hear from any of them for a year when they are doing important things. We miss all of Laszlo's bumbling through the beginnings of parenthood. We miss Nandor's journeys, for the most part. We miss Nadja's growing disenchantment with the council. And Guillermo, Guillermo gets the worst of it. He has the most change and the least of it is shown onscreen.

And I kept hoping they'd go back to it. They'd go back to what he must have been feeling and the decisions he must have made. That they'd explain why his focuses and motivations seem different. Why he's stopped being a weird little busybody who's a lil freak about the others' personal lives. Like... I cannot get over his behavior at the wedding. I keep trying to find a way to make it make sense! I don't care if he was no longer in love with Nandor or not! It didn't make sense for the nosiest, most interfering character in the entire cast to be the only one not to object! Mr. We All Need To Grieve Colin Robinson? Mr. I'm Going to Manipulate Everyone? Mr. Gail?

But as far as I can tell, they're really never going to meaningfully engage with any of that. And no, just saying that he got a boyfriend is not enough for me. You don't get a total personality transplant when you start dating someone! If you want me to buy that all these changes happened, you have to show me how they did! I feel so... idk, cheated with Guillermo. And when I'm feeling uncharitable, it makes me feel like they've adapted his personality to be whatever it needs to be to forward the plot elements they decided on. That's just... it's not good writing, and that is not a criticism I am accustomed to making with this show.

I have thoughts about Nandor, too, but it's a lot harder to talk about those without delving into spoilers... But I do think that in some ways his character has regressed as well. I think some of it might be purposeful...? Like a one step forward, two steps back situation? But I'll reserve my judgment on that one a little more until I've actually seen the episode.

It's odd, because I feel like Guillermo and Nandor have actually had some really nice moments in s4... when we're not focusing on the (imo) truly disastrous storylines that are their romances. It's like all preexisting characterization just flies out the window sometimes and that's so frustrating.

As for 4.09 in particular, too... I'm not going to say any spoilers, but it is bewildering to me to see my sense of humor diverge so wildly from a show that's always made me laugh more than any other, especially because the writers of the episode wrote two of the best episodes of the entire series. I haven't seen the episode yet, so maybe it will be way less bad than I'm expecting! I'm holding onto that hope. But I cannot see how they could make the spoilers I know funny and not just. Very upsetting to me, actually. There's a sort of cruelty there that WWDITS has never quite hit in the past, for all that it tortures its characters, and it goes into some tropes that I just find overtly creepy, honestly. I do not think I'm going to enjoy watching this episode at all, which is a feeling I have never experienced from WWDITS before.

As for the cliffhanger in 4.10... I have to say I find it unconvincing. I just don't believe it'll have lasting implications, and moreover, after seeing the way they casually disregarded the emotional arcs they set up in the s3 finale, I no longer feel like we have any guarantee that the events of 4.09 and 4.10 will ever be dealt with in s5, either. I'll talk about this in more detail after it happens, obviously, but like. It does feel like they're going WOW, ARE WE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO THIS? and I'm just sitting here like. no... you're obviously not... So it doesn't feel all that cliffhanger-y, tbh.

It's odd, because the one aspect of this season I was most convinced I would hate (Baby Colin) has been the one thing that I've felt genuinely touched by. I feel like this show has been at its best when it's used Baby Colin to delve into ideas of family and fatherhood and belonging, and it frustrates me a little that the back half of the season put that on the back burner for pretty extended periods only to return to it in the finale. The pacing is off.

I think in general the back end of the season has been... weird. 4.08 notwithstanding, because I think it's kinda it's own thing... I know we've gone around and around and around with episode order and such but I really do feel like some of these late-stage episodes smack of rewrites. I keep thinking about the fact that the Djinn wasn't supposed to be in this many episodes and I really have to wonder how that affected the Marwa and Freddie storylines, which I feel are by far the weakest part of the season.

Like damn, I thought they were gonna fuck me up because of the implications for my OTP, but I can write my way out of 4.10 fairly easily, if we're just talking OTP. I never thought that these storylines were gonna make me lose faith in the writing team. I feel a little adrift, if I'm being honest with you.

I felt myself just instantly shift into fix-it fic mode as soon as I learned about the events of 4.09 and just. It's never where I wanted to be with this show. I've been a diehard WWDITS fan since the movie first came out and it's always been a franchise where I've respected the writing above all else. Not every episode of WWDITS and Wellington Paranormal is an absolute banger, but I've enjoyed all of them and loved most of them. Nothing has made me laugh like WWDITS and I've come to be truly invested in the characters. So to see things to go so spectacularly sideways so quickly has me like... ah...

I'm readjusting, I think. idk. I've been thinking a lot. I've been talking to my cat a lot. lmao. I still have some hopes for certain elements of the last two episodes and I did really, really enjoy certain parts of season 4. It just... didn't ever end up being as cohesive as I'd hoped, nor did it have the same loyalty to characterization that I was expecting. (And it really, really did not seem to have any respect for most of its new characters.) It's frustrating to have bad so thoroughly mixed in with the good and to have to puzzle out which things don't work for you and which things do. It'd be easier if I just hated all of it! But I really didn't.

Either way, anon, you're definitely gonna see a LOT of words from me over the next two weeks. I have a lot of things to talk about and a lot of feelings to express and honestly, I'm really hoping I end up having meta to write about things I like, too. But who knows? I guess we'll see.

#replies #wwdits #wwdits s4 spoilers #vague references to wwdits leaks #wwdits leaks

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destinyc1020 · 9 months

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babes did you pay attention to the film? all of the questions were answered. It was a painfully surface film

What was up with the airplane crashing in the distance that Florence's character saw?? 🥴

It was a glitch in the simulation. The more her conscious started to question, the more glitches occurred.

What was up with the mini little earthquakes that everyone was just used to? Was it trains? Was it leakage from the "real life"?

I always interpreted these as just reminders that the men are working on something. A reminder that they are there for a bigger goal.

Why did Olivia's character know what was up from the get-go? Who told her? How did she find out? Did she ALWAYS know?

girl… she literally says she cannot conceive in the real world. She said she gets to be with her kids in victory. I think it’s implied she and her husband chose to enter the simulation together so they could have their family.

Why does banging your head against the glass cause you to get out of the VR realm?

If you’re talking about the dance class that isn’t getting out, that’s psychosis. If you’re talking about headquarters, it’s assumed that’s headquarters and is a way out.

How did Harry's character get his wife to be able to undergo the VR life? Was he drugging her? Were ALL of these husbands drugging their wives? Were some of these dudes just choosing random women to be their VR wives?? Like, what on earth?

There is a scene where you see blood on the bathroom floor in their real apartment and her being dragged away from her pov. Easy to assume he drugged her to get her under the simulation. Yes, the implication is that men could kidnap any woman and put her under.

When did Chris Pine's wife know that he was a fraud?? Like, was she always suspecting? OR did that ONE phone convo that she over heard do something to her?

I always assumed Chris Pine’s wife was also a bad guy. She let him run things to be the submissive wife. But when she killed him and said whatever she said I interpreted that as her thinking she could have run victory better.

Who were the men in red jackets? Were they all under VR simulation as well?

Men who who for the simulation. And are there to reprogram anyone who steps out of line. I always assumed they worked for the “game makers” if you will

Why does killing you in the VIRTUAL WORLD kill you in the REAL WORLD, when everything that's going on is just FAKE anyway?? 🥴 That was the BIGGEST mystery to me lol. Didn't make sense AT all.

I always assumed your body still experienced the trauma…. but again the film is painfully surface and poorly written so who tf knows

Thanks Anon 👍🏾

You're right, I had forgotten Olivia's character had said that she preferred life in Victory. I got the impression her real kids died.

Maybe there weren't as many unanswered questions and plot holes as I thought lol 😆

Idk, it just felt like at the end I was left thinking:

"THAT'S IT????" 🥴

I wanted MORE lol

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mariacallous · 1 year

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In the summer of 2018, a little-known Russian journalist arrived in Washington with a bold plan to test the limits of U.S. freedom of speech. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election was in full swing, and the media pulsated with stories of alleged Russian spies, collusion, and plots to undermine U.S. democracy.

Alexander Malkevich was the latest emissary of Russia’s hopes for poisoning U.S. political discourse, this time using a news site called USA Really, tied to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the wealthy ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin behind the infamous social media “troll factory” and sponsor of the mercenary outfit Wagner Group. Unlike previous Russian influence efforts, Malkevich spoke openly about his plans, which included opening an office a block from the White House. “I want to make this media interesting and very much involved in the everyday life of Americans,” he told Foreign Policy in an interview at the time. “And maybe, in some years I can be a Pulitzer Prize winner.”

His lofty ambitions were short-lived. Malkevich was ejected from his office—a WeWork—just hours after he arrived. Facebook shuttered the publication’s page within a day of its launch, and his attempts to hold a protest in front of the White House sputtered out. After being sanctioned by the Treasury Department later that same year, his days of headline-grabbing sojourns to the United States were over.

It is tempting to write Malkevich off as a bumbling provocateur. But his career trajectory is a microcosm of Russia’s move-fast-and-break-things approach to its overseas influence operations. Despite his inauspicious start, Malkevich was back in the headlines a year later after founding the Foundation for National Values Protection, which the State Department has described as seeking to “facilitate global influence operations on behalf of Yevgeniy Prigozhin.” Malkevich trained his sights on Africa, where political instability, suspicion of former colonial powers, and a lack of oversight from social media giants provided an opening for Moscow to expand its reach through official and unofficial means. The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program now offers a $10 million bounty for information about Malkevich and his activities.

Malkevich is just a single node in a worldwide influence network engineered by the Kremlin and its allies over the past decade, as Russia has assiduously sought to reestablish itself as a player of consequence on the world stage and undermine the West. The end goal has been clear from the start: “To end American primacy in world affairs,” said Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow with the Washington Institute. The toolkit has spanned conventional statecraft such as diplomacy, espionage, and the leveraging of natural resources to more shadowy means including covert political interference, cozying up to the far right, and the use of mercenary groups.

It’s always been tough to determine just how successful Moscow has been as it claws at countries’ weak seams, be it racial tensions, inequality, or xenophobia. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put these influence efforts to the test as Moscow seeks to undermine support for Kyiv, advance its own narrative about the war, and bolster its relationships in the global south in search of new markets to shore up its heavily sanctioned economy.

The question of whether it has worked will likely be answered in the coming months as the war drags into winter and Kyiv’s Western partners grapple with spiraling energy prices, stiff economic headwinds, and an uphill battle to win hearts and minds in the developing world. It will have profound implications for Ukraine and the rest of the world.

“What we’re seeing now play out are all these strands coming together,” said Angela Stent, author of Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest. “Given the situation Russia is in, in terms of its poor performance in this war, it’s quite remarkable that they still maintain all of these partnerships and relationships with different countries and groups.”

Toward the end of his second term as Russian president, Putin took to the stage in the ballroom of the resplendent Hotel Bayerischer Hof at the 2007 Munich security conference to deliver a speech that would reverberate for years. Taking aim directly at the United States, he decried a world where “there is one master, one sovereign.” It was the clearest iteration at that time of the Russian leader’s darkening worldview, but it wasn’t until he returned to the presidency in 2012 that he began in earnest to try to reshape the global order.

While the overarching goal of Russia’s foreign policy has remained steadfast over the past decade, its means have been marked by flexibility, relentlessness, and at times a sadistic creativity. Earlier this year in Mali, the French military captured drone footage of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group staging a mass grave using real bodies at the site of a former French military base before attempting to use social media to pin the blame on Paris.

In the West, as diplomatic ties soured in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Moscow has relied on a spectrum of underhanded tactics to curry favor and sow division, from attempting to overthrow the government of Montenegro in 2016 to leaking thousands of emails from French President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign on the eve of his election in 2017.

“Across the board, there have been different wake-up calls,” said Kyllike Sillaste-Elling, undersecretary for political affairs at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Since 2014, Russia has spent more than $300 million in covert financing of political parties across four continents, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment released earlier this year. Such sums are a drop in the ocean by the multibillion-dollar standards of U.S. elections, but they have the potential to go a lot further amid comparatively lean election spending elsewhere. In Europe, Moscow has sought to inflame political sore spots from Catalonia’s independence aspirations to tensions over immigration, all while courting fringe political figures on the far left and right. Before they were banned by the European Union in March in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s state-backed broadcasters RT and Sputnik put out a steady drumbeat of disinformation, amplified by constellations of fake social media accounts.

The shadowy nature of Russia’s exploits makes it difficult for Western countries to respond in kind. “The activities themselves are often not serious enough for you to respond in any sort of major way, if you don’t want to risk a really dangerous escalation, but it’s also not so insignificant that you can do nothing,” said Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

In Germany, the cozy relationship between the Kremlin and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder gave rise to a new word—“Schröderization”—which has been used by analysts to describe the Kremlin’s efforts to win over European elites. As one of his last acts as chancellor in 2005, Schröder signed a deal giving the green light for the construction of the first Nord Stream gas pipeline, which runs from Russia to Germany, bypassing Ukraine and the Baltic states. Shortly after leaving office, Schröder received a call from Putin himself asking him to become chairman of the company overseeing the pipeline’s construction, and he later went on to work as a lobbyist for the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The project would go on to become a lightning rod within Europe and in Germany’s relationship with the United States, where successive administrations argued that the pipeline would leave Europe dangerously dependent on Russian gas while depriving Ukraine of much-needed transit revenues. After years of fraught diplomacy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspended completion of the pipeline in February when it became clear that Putin was on a war footing. But even as the pipeline lay unused, it was still utilized to send a message to Europe when a series of explosions ripped through both Nord Stream 1 and 2 in September, underscoring the vulnerability of the continent’s critical infrastructure in its northern seas. Although investigations are ongoing, suspicion quickly fell on Moscow.

“There’s one thing to bear in mind, and that’s that the Russians are opportunistic,” Braw said. “It’s highly unlikely that eight, 10, 12 years ago they thought, ‘We’ll build a pipeline, and then in the year 2022, we’ll sabotage it.’”

As tensions rose with the West following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Moscow sought to deepen its relationships with countries beyond the West, using a hybrid approach that included more conventional diplomacy as well as a suite of shadowy tactics. Facing Western sanctions, Moscow bolstered its ties with China while the Russian military’s intervention in the Syrian civil war in support of embattled President Bashar al-Assad in 2015 heralded Russia’s return to the chess board of the Middle East. “Putin was determined not to let the United States topple another dictator,” Borshchevskaya said.

Analysts will often describe Putin’s approach to his overseas exploits as playing a weak hand well, a maxim best exemplified by Russia’s decadelong effort to make inroads in Africa. By conventional metrics such as trade, investment, or foreign aid, Russia’s presence on the continent pales in comparison to those of the United States, China, and Europe. But by lending out its Wagner mercenaries and its expertise on political interference, Moscow has made itself indispensable to authoritarian regimes and power players from Libya to the Central African Republic, giving Russia outsized influence. In Africa’s Sahel region, which has experienced seven coups in just over two years, Russian disinformation networks tied to Prigozhin have sought to co-opt conversations about decolonization to stoke animosity toward France, the former colonial power in the region, while simultaneously calling for a greater Russian presence.

“It’s very cheap, and it’s a very good return on investment,” said a French official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

There was a moment in the spring, as Russia pounded Ukrainian cities with missile strikes, when it seemed like the Kremlin’s years of trying to weave a global web of influence had amounted to nothing. In a rare display of global unity, 141 countries voted to condemn the Russian invasion at an emergency meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, while Europe underwent in months the kind of shifts that usually take a generation. Germany halted completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and vowed to ramp up its defense spending. Sweden and Finland abandoned their long-standing policies of nonalignment and applied to join NATO, while the EU put on a unified front to impose a series of increasingly punitive sanctions on Moscow and welcome millions of Ukrainian refugees.

“If the [General Assembly] vote tells you anything, and if the state of European policy tells you anything, it seems like in the end you can have all the influence networks you want, [but] if you do something so egregious, that network isn’t going to be able to deliver because it’s so beyond the pale,” said Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist with the Rand Corporation.

Perhaps the single most glaring failure of Moscow’s efforts to bend a country to its will is Ukraine itself. With extensive shared historical, linguistic, and cultural ties, Ukraine, in theory, should have been the easiest country for Moscow to woo. For decades, Russia invested heavily in maintaining a network of proxies at all levels of Ukrainian society, while the country’s intelligence agencies were widely reported to be infiltrated by Moscow’s spies. But the more stifling the Kremlin’s embrace became, the more Ukrainians pulled away, leading Russia to resort to an all-out invasion in a bid to permanently bring Kyiv to heel.

“If you have to keep invading your neighbor to get them to do what you want, it’s a sign of the weakness of your other means of statecraft,” Charap said. Not only did Russia fail to keep Ukraine within its orbit using a whole suite of influence and coercion tactics, it catastrophically misread how the country would respond to an invasion, as the opening phase of Russia’s military campaign appears to have been predicated on the assumption that Kyiv would fold within a matter of days.

Heading into the winter, Europe faces spiking energy prices, high inflation, and the possibility of a recession. Protesters have already taken to the streets across Europe in response to the spiraling cost of living. Many analysts fear that such tensions could provide an inroad for Russia to sow discord and undermine European support for Ukraine.

The election of a far-right coalition government in Italy, composed of parties with a history of being sympathetic toward Moscow, served as a stark reminder of how the consensus-based decision-making style of the EU and NATO could be easily disrupted by just one member, although new Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vociferously supported Ukraine. For now, at least, current and former European officials are bullish about the fractious bloc’s ability to hang together.

“Actually, I’m quite optimistic,” said Mikk Marran, the former head of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service. “I’m quite optimistic. I think that the West has been considerably or quite united.”

When it comes to the rest of the world, current and former Western officials see an uphill battle in efforts to isolate Putin as the global south contends with rising food and energy prices sparked by a war in which they have no immediate stake. While Biden called for Russia to be expelled from the G-20 group of the world’s leading economies in March, Putin received a standing invitation to the group’s meeting in Bali this week as its host, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, tried to tamp down tensions over the war.

“It seems like a lot of this so far has worked out,” Stent said. “What it hasn’t done is help their military performance, but it has enabled them to maintain a global influence and a global presence, which is not necessarily warranted by the nature of their economy and their form of government.”

While few countries beyond the global gallery of rogues—Belarus, Iran, North Korea—have openly sided with Moscow, many have proven willing to compartmentalize the war from their wider relationship with Russia. India and China abstained from both U.N. General Assembly votes condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine, while Beijing’s diplomats and state media have echoed the Kremlin’s talking points about the war. As Western nations have frantically sought to cut their dependence on Russian oil, Asian economies, most notably India, have capitalized on heavy resource discounts by Moscow to feed their refineries.

In the Middle East and North Africa, where rising grain and oil prices have been most acutely felt, governments have by and large sought to refrain from taking sides. “The region wanted to stay neutral, even American allies,” Borshchevskaya said. This was most glaring in the decision of the oil cartel OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, to cut oil production, driving prices higher and blunting the impact of sanctions on Russia’s economy. “You can also see that other American allies were simply too nervous or too afraid to anger Russia,” she said.

In Africa, where Russia has sought to expand its reach in recent years, Moscow’s narrative that the war in Ukraine is a conflict between East and West has prevailed, said Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. After being ousted from Europe in the wake of the war, Russia’s overseas state broadcaster, RT, announced plans to set up its first African bureau in South Africa.

Just over half of the countries in Africa voted to condemn the invasion at the United Nations. For those that didn’t, there is a spectrum of considerations at play. “There’s the obvious reality that you have some regimes that are actively colluding with the Russians, like in the Central African Republic or Mali, and they’re highly indebted to and compromised by Russia,” Siegle said, while others, from Uganda to Guinea, would likely welcome a greater Russian presence.

And then there are the countries that see little gain in crossing one of the world’s more disruptive powers. “From the perspective of many African leaders, they don’t gain a lot from condemning Russia. But if they condemn Russia, there is a cost to that, and Russia has been clear that it will hold a grudge with those who vote against it,” Siegle said.

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