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#but.. they actually work tremendously well together
pwurrz · 11 months
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damn. kaveh and alhaitham really are adhd vs autism huh
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moonstruckme · 3 months
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Hi! I was wondering if you could do poly!marauders with a clumsy s/o? Thank you!
Thanks for requesting love!
cw: blood
poly!marauders x fem!reader ♡ 1.4k words
“I’m going to purchase one of those leashes for unruly toddlers,” James says, thick lashes nearly touching as he squints down at your hand. “And I’m going to keep it around my wrist at all times.” 
“It won’t be as good at catching me as you are,” you point out. You do your best not to wince as he picks a piece of gravel out of your palm, but his eyes flick up to you anyway, an apology in them. 
“No, but at least I’ll be able to keep you close.” 
You laugh a little. “I trip whether you’re nearby or not.” 
“Beg to differ.” He sounds bitter, but James has always had a terrible poker face and the uptilt of his lips betrays him. He spreads ointment over the cuts on your hand before bandaging it. “If I was with you, this would’ve never happened. Guaranteed.” 
“Yes, it’s all your fault.” Remus comes in from the kitchen, maneuvering carefully so as not to get the hot mug he’s carrying anywhere near James. He sets it next to your thigh on the bathroom counter. “Jamie,” his tone is chiding, a bit tired, “why have you started with her hands? She’s bleeding down to her ankles.” 
“It’s nearly dried anyway,” you say, looking down at your shredded knees. Remus feels too bad for you to give you one of his worse reprimanding looks, but his eyes convey tremendous exasperation nonetheless. 
“Because I knew she’d need her hands to hold her tea,” James replies, bumping Remus’ hip lightly with his. “Ease up, I’ve got it. Did you make yourself some tea too?” 
Remus glances towards the kitchen the way an old captain might gaze at the sea. “I thought about it…” 
“Do that,” James says. He finishes up with your other hand, bandaging it carefully. “Actually, would you mind just putting a kettle on? I’ll have a cup, and Sirius might want one too.” 
You frown at that, but neither of your boyfriends see, Remus going into the kitchen with renewed purpose and James smiling slightly to himself as he finishes wrapping your hand. 
“One of these days,” he whispers, backing up a bit so he can work on your knees, “you’re going to have to sit on the couch and feed Remus chocolates for all you put his heart through. We’ll be lucky if the next time you fall he doesn’t have an attack.” 
“What’s Sirius coming here for?” you ask. 
“Well, he does live here.” 
You give him a look, but he doesn’t glance up from cleaning the blood off your shin. “He’s supposed to be shopping with Marlene.” Accusation and betrayal lines your words. “You texted him?” 
James looks up at you now, sympathetic if not quite sorry. “You know I had to. He would’ve murdered me if he’d come home and seen you all bandaged up and nobody had told him.” 
“You could take him,” you grumble. 
He laughs. “I don’t know, sweetheart. He fights dirty.” 
You laugh too, though it’s more a humorous huff. “He can’t come home every time I trip,” you say, twisting the string of your tea bag around your index finger. “It’s not like I need to go to the hospital.” 
James works a larger piece of gravel out of your knee, eyebrows knit together by compassion. “He worries,” he says simply. “He wants to come home every time you hurt yourself, though if you recall, I didn’t tell anyone about you banging your head on the microwave door yesterday, or about when you fell on the stairs last week.” He looks up, grinning when you shrink, abashed. “But when you fall this bad, it’s a bit harder to hide. Sorry, lovie.” 
It’s a double apology, for ratting you out and for the sting of the ointment he smears over your knee. You hiss through your teeth. “Fair enough,” you say. James smooths a large band-aid over the series of shallow cuts, kissing the skin just above it for good measure. “I just don’t like to worry him. Any of you, if I can help it.” 
He shrugs. “I don’t think you can,” he says. You get what he means. Remus is a worrier, Sirius even more so, protective by nature and nurture. And each of your boyfriends cares about you too much to ignore how often you hurt yourself, even if you really think they should be desensitized to it and annoyed with you by now. “But I’m trying to get you cleaned up before he sees you, so hopefully that’ll help.” 
Like James has just issued a summons, the rumble of Sirius’ bike comes from outside. James grimaces as it slows to a stop. 
“I hate that fucking thing,” Remus growls from the kitchen. 
James shoots a sad smile in that direction. You think that you might not single-handedly cause Remus’ heart attack if Sirius gets there first. 
“Where is she?” Sirius calls as soon as he comes in the door. “I assume there’s a blood trail for me to follow?” 
James chuckles. “I told you it wasn’t that grim,” he shouts down the hall, and a second later there are heavy footsteps coming toward you. You brace yourself. 
“Fucking hell.” He halts just in the threshold of the bathroom, then seems to change his mind, striding over to you. His eyes are glued to the bloody mess of your uncovered knee. “Darling, what did you do?” 
You knew what to expect from him, and still your voice comes out smaller than you mean it to. “I missed the curb going out to get the mail,” you say. 
Sirius’ eyes lift to yours, widening. “You fell into the road?” You nod. “You could’ve been hit by a car!”
“There weren’t any cars.” There are almost never any cars on your street, and he knows that. 
“You’re lucky there weren’t,” he says anyway, holding his hand out. You place one of yours in it obediently, palm up. There’s a bit of blood marring the beige bandage, and Sirius makes a terribly soft pitying sound. “Your poor, lovely hands.” He runs a careful finger over the covering. “How bad was it?” he asks James.
“I told you, not horrific,” James says, finishing with getting the debris out of your knee and twisting the cap off the ointment. He looks up to be sure you’re ready before he starts smoothing it on.
“Stitches?” 
“Oh, tons. She’s held together more by thread than skin at this point.” 
You roll your eyes, but Sirius coos, “My poor sweetheart,” and grabs hold of your face to plant a kiss on your lips. You must look as pleasantly surprised as you feel, because he does it again, bending forward to avoid bumping his hip into your knee. 
His thumb sweeps across your cheek as he pulls away, brows furrowed. “Does it hurt?” he asks, and now the mirth has disappeared from his tone. You don’t know how Sirius does that, going from teasing to not in a blink. 
“Not so badly,” you tell him. 
He hums, stroking your face again. “Would you tell me if it did?” 
You feel your lips twitch, and Sirius’ eyes narrow like he knows your answer before you’ve spoken. “Probably not,” you admit, “but it really doesn’t.” 
He stares you down for a minute, murky eyes scanning yours for traces of untruth, his dark brows lowered. You reach up to slot a piece of hair behind his ear, and he cracks, mouth kicking up at the corner. 
“Alright, drink your tea before it gets cold.” 
“I’ve actually made tea for everyone,” Remus calls, not from the kitchen this time but from the living room. “And snacks, so please come eat them.” 
James grins, touch moving up the back of your knee to your thigh as he stands. “Excellent,” he says eagerly. “You’re all fixed up, m’love. Let’s go take care of Rem now.” 
You start to hop down from the counter, but Sirius says, “Wait, wait!” and grabs you by the hips, keeping you in place. “Can you walk?” 
You nod, because duh, your legs are scraped, not broken, but Sirius looks to James, the both of them frowning thoughtfully. 
“Best not to risk reopening them,” James decides, scooping you up off the counter. 
You huff a laugh, rolling your eyes. “Thank you,” you say, rather than this is deeply unnecessary and you’re being ridiculous. James seems to hear both anyway, planting a sloppy, smiley kiss on your cheek. Sirius, satisfied, follows you down the hall. “I didn’t mean to make you my manservant, I swear.” 
“Happy to do it,” he says. “Now drink your tea, it’ll make Rem feel better.”
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loveinhawkins · 1 year
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Barely ten minutes into the hike from Skull Rock to Lover’s Lake, Dustin heaves a sigh like he’s the most long suffering person in the world to ever exist. Steve rolls his eyes.
“Jesus Christ, Henderson, what?”
“I’m bored.”
“God, you’re such a whiner. No, you—you’re like a little kid on a road trip, like, are we there yet?”
Behind them, Max and Lucas snort in almost perfect unison.
Out of the corner of his eye, Steve sees Eddie’s lips twitch into the faint semblance of a smile. It’s very quick, blink and you miss it, before he turns sombre again, looking down at the forest floor. Steve can’t blame the guy; he can’t imagine that he has all that much to smile about.
“I just meant,” Dustin says, “that we could use some entertainment.” He jerks his head meaningfully at Eddie—who thankfully still has his head down so he can’t witness this tremendous lack of subtlety—and mouths, You know, a distraction.
“And I’m the entertainment guy,” Steve says flatly.
“Well, we’ve gotta keep you around for some reason,” Lucas pipes up.
Steve turns around, walks backwards so he can point warningly at him. “Thin ice, Sinclair.”
But it’s all for show, and he keeps walking backwards, pretends to trip on a tree root and narrowly avoid a pratfall. Max actually giggles at that, which is a victory in and of itself, but Eddie’s looking down at his feet.
Hmm.
“If I wanted slapstick, I would’ve called Charlie Chaplin,” Dustin says.
“He’s dead,” Max points out.
Dustin quickly draws a hand over his neck, Cut it out. Which—yeah, that’s fair. Don’t want the conversation straying into stuff that’s too close to… everything.
“So you want education instead?” Steve says. “I think I can remember how to identify, like, some trees and shit from—”
“Forget Lover’s Lake,” Dustin says, “I’m walking you straight into a retirement home.”
Steve opens his mouth, ready to play up his outrage, and then he hears a very soft chuckle from the side. Eddie.
Steve catches Dustin’s eye, winks briefly in reassurance. Nice work.
“Oh, sorry, is that not entertaining enough for you?” Steve turns so he’s front facing again, kicking a few stray twigs as he thinks. “Uh… ooh, did I tell you about the affair? At work?”
“Someone’s having an affair at Family Video?” Lucas says, sounding disgusted.
Max cackles. “The scandal! At a family establishment, no less.”
Dustin points at her. “See, this is why you should play D&D!” he says, annoyingly sing-song. “You’ve got a flair for words.”
“How about I stick my flair right up your—”
“Uh, okay,” Eddie interrupts suddenly. “I need details.”
Aha, Steve thinks, smug. Got you.
“Fire away, Munson.”
“Did someone, like, confess to you while you were ringing them up?”
Steve scoffs. “No, it was—” He cups his mouth, calls, “Hey, Rob?”
Up ahead, Robin and Nancy turn.
“What?”
“The affair shift.”
“Oh!” Robin whacks Nancy on the arm in her enthusiasm. “This is such a good one. Okay, so am I gonna be her or—?”
“No!” Steve says. “You’ve gotta be me, you can’t do her voice right.”
“Ugh, fine, fine. Wait, I need to get into character.”
Robin makes a show of ruffling her hair, and Steve doesn’t even roll his eyes, can only grin as he hears Eddie cough a much stronger laugh into his elbow.
“Nance, count us in,” Robin says.
Nancy looks a mixture of surprised and amused. It only takes a moment of hesitance before she mimes holding a slate, mouths counting down. “Action!”
And they’re off.
It’s probably so stupid, Steve thinks, to be this loud right now, but he can’t bring himself to care—not when he can hear raucous laughter from all directions: Robin captures his flustered, wide-eyed look, while he dramatically re-enacts a woman storming into the store, demanding to see her husband’s account.
And he thinks Eddie actually laughs the loudest when he gets to the reveal: that said account was full of romantic movies the married couple had never seen together.
“Not one,” Steve echoes—and not to brag, but with this delivery? Juilliard, eat your heart out. “Not. One!”
The kids dissolve into more giggles; Robin fights to stay in character as Nancy jokingly calls, “And, scene!”
And Eddie throws back his head, and laughs and laughs.
Happiness is a good look on him, Steve thinks.
They all quieten eventually, but a lightness in mood still remains, as the kids huddle off together—“Hey, shitheads, not too far!” Steve says, far from the first time—and Eddie sidles up, fleetingly knocks their shoulders together.
“Steve Harrington. Who would’ve thought it, huh?”
“Thought what?”
Steve glances over at him, suddenly struck by the fact that the sun will go down soon; and he doesn’t really need to know what Mordor is to know that he’d rather not get there. That he’d rather freeze time, so they could all just walk in the woods forever.
Eddie shrugs. “You’re a good storyteller.” His eyes are soft, like that isn’t all that he’s saying. Like he’s saying Thank you.
Steve shrugs back. “I’m a man of many talents,” he says.
Eddie chuckles, and this time his smile doesn’t fade away.
Steve allows himself a moment or two to admire the scenery, and if that means looking less at the way the sun still shines through the gaps in the branches, and more the way that it illuminates Eddie’s lingering smile, well…
Well, so what?
Right now, we’re happy, Steve finds himself thinking.
They can stay in the Shire for a little while longer.
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ohnoitstbskyen · 15 days
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So, thoughts on the whole Jinx x Lux shipping popularity blowing up? Why it happened, do you think it can work, especially with the context of Arcane involved?
I don't actually know the history of that ship, so I can't tell you much about that (someone else please reblog if you have a good timeline!)
I know it certainly bloomed with the Star Guardian skins, casting Lux and Jinx SPECIFICALLY as opposites and bitter rivals who nonetheless come together when it matters because they are bound by bonds of deep affection and mutual need, which, in the context of magical girls which are sapphic as F*** at a baseline, obviously was going to set some things in motion.
Their dynamic also works pretty well just on the trope level. Lux is a optimistic, bright ray of sunshine who wants to see the best and the good in everyone and everything but struggles tremendously feeling inadequate to her responsibilities, and Jinx is a sardonic, detached, self-destructive force of chaos who aggressively refuses to take anything seriously, and whose carefree demeanor hides a deep well of hurt and sorrow.
That's in Star Guardians, mind you, Jinx is... a bit all over the map as a personality across her incarnations, but they generally work well together as contrasting opposites with something meaningful to offer one another.
In Arcane, I have no idea what Demacia would be like, but assuming it goes like it does in the main canon, Lux and Jinx certainly would share some foundational traumas, both of them on the receiving end of rejection and systemic abuse by oppressive hierarchies, and experiencing severe rejection and abandonment by parental and sibling figures.
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crowhoonter · 1 month
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rating Parahumans guys on how well I think they'd be as parents
Brian: I think Brian would believe he is a great father, but there is too much repressed emotions and depression in there to properly care for and raise a child. 3/10, Not particularly good.
Alec: Alec has lacked a real positive parental unit in his life, and while I don't think he would purposefully be shitty to a kid, I think he might fall back on what he knows from his own youth. Might be a fun older brother though. 3/10, needs to focus on himself first
Danny Hebert: Too sad about his wife dying to properly parent. no further notes. 2/10, Danny please get it together Taylor is relying on you
Armsmaster: Would rub off his worst personality traits onto a kid, resulting in them being the average r/malelivingspace user. Might also encourage child to grow poor facial hair. 1/10, I feel bad for whatever unfortunate soul is consigned to this fate.
Coil: Coil would be an absent father for 90% of your childhood, unless you were useful for his plans. In that case, he would feed you drugs or some other unethical thing and make you work for him (child labor (bad)). 2/10, conditions are poor but you might get to meet some of the other children he has, fixing the playdate situation.
Kaiser: See in story results. -5/10 Nazis don't make good parents.
Uber and Leet: They come as a package deal obviously, and they are actually pretty okay parents, they aren't great obviously but they aren't tremendous failures either. That is until you show up on one of their livestreams and then you are the laughingstock of the school. 4/10 Don't upload your kids online.
Scion: Too sad about his wife dying to properly parent. Also not emotionally available. 1/10, get it together man people are relying on you.
Mark Dallon: Not necessarily a bad parent, but he has a laundry list of problems that he needs to work through before he can begin to think to focus on his kids. 3/10, he's trying by god. He's not doing good but he's trying.
Number Man: He would probably respond to any question his kid asks with some weird philosophical math metaphor. Is a killer cook though. Also math classes would be a breeze. Unfortunately, most of his time is dedicated to cauldron. 5/10, grades will be great.
Accord: The worst type of helicopter parent. He would make itineraries to follow any time his kid went out and would require them home in pristine condition super early. Has a rigorous study schedule and puts a lot of pressure on you to succeed, and you know he wants whats best for you but like its stifling and you aren't really living for you but for him. Sure grades are good but you just can't do it anymore. 4/10, the depression and GPA are soaring.
Jack Slash: As seen in Worm, he is an absolutely killer parent. Has a fun family vibe? check. Engages with his children's interest and allows them to pursue it? check. Keeps his child intellectually and creatively stimulated? check. Takes his family all over the country to see new exciting places and people? check. Dude is simply top tier on the parenting skill. Sure the family dynamic is a bit unorthodox, but when the results look this good can you really argue? 10/10 Jack Slash has got it going on.
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lewisinho · 13 days
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james vowles about lewis on the track limits pod:
"(...) so i'll go into lewis and i'll answer that one, but it isn't just lewis; niki lauda, ross brawn, david richards, you'd be a fool if you didn't take everything out of everyone that you can at any stage that they provide it to you...michael shumacher, as well, all the drivers that I've ever worked with. so with lewis, he has a desire to win that will (btw every champion that i've worked with have exactly the same sort of traits (...) his are very toned, very skilled. he will do what it takes, either to his body, to himself, to his training, to his life to win races. there's nothing that will stand in his way to get there. and it's that dedication that is enormous. every millisecond matters, and what it does is it drives you forward to go: i don't want to let him down by being the one that holds back a millisecond or two of that. every development matters, every moment that he can extract the performance matters as well at the same time, and he brings you on that journey with him.
"the next thing about him is that he's not...engineers can be constrained often by what you believe to be correct, so you don't push outside of those boundaries...he's not. he's constrained by 'let's go and explore all of that again and you never know what you might find', and that's often led to some of the biggest developments i remember actually on f1 cars, the innovations to a certain extent were accidents. you sort of went down a different direction and something happened. and he's very good at pushing engineers outside of comfort into new areas where you think 'there's no point going there, there's nothing there' and all too often you find something and again, that's one of his skills.
“but the final one is, and i am very privileged and i know i am very privileged but i have spent (...) he and i went motorbiking together lots on track, and a lot of the times you wouldn't have known he was there and i remember once actually, we were having dinner together in a restaurant in spain and we had to run, we had to run out of the restaurant because we were being chased by about a thousand people because someone caught on that he was there. i think that mistake was that he tried to pay with a 100 euro bill and that gave it away. but my point to that is that i've had the privilege of knowing him as a human and as a friend and he is a caring human who...think about it: how do you know who in your life to trust because you are lewis hamilton? and the fact that he opened that up for me, to be alongside and as a part of his life meant a tremendous amount to me. and he's an individual (...) i already told you, he will change his life to be there. he goes back to an apartment by himself in monaco and trains. dedication to the absolute level of winning a championship."
via: track limits podcast, ep 9
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fandoms--fluff · 2 months
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Hello i know that i resquest so much but I love your work so can you do more of little Mikaelson baby sister with Hayley where yn is with her and baby hope Hayley treats yn like other daughters because she love her so much that she is sad when yn cry
If I Were Your Mother
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Baby Mikaelson sister reader x Hayley Marshall (and everyone else)
Warnings: Mikael being an ass, death?
A/n: This is set during later season 2, we're gonna forget about Jackson and Hayley together. We're gonna pretend that everyone is happy and Klaus and Hayley don't fight about what's best for Hope or try to take her away from each other every other episode and are actually good together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mikael is back. Davina brought him back from the other side almost a year ago. You've seen Kol and Finn in their new bodies and were completely freaked out by Finn. He had tried to kill you. You wouldn't leave your brothers or Hayley's side no longer than five minutes for almost two weeks.
Mikael had boomed into the abattoir, white oak stake in his hand, ready to kill. He laid his eyes on you the moment you ran into the room where you heard a familiar man's voice yelling. You regretted it as soon as you saw your father. The same father who had been tracking you and your siblings down for the past millennia.
You had thought Nik had already killed him, he told you he had. Did he lie?
Mikael went straight to you. You loudly screamed and tried to vamp speed out of the way, but he was too fast for you. He had caught you in his arms and pressed the stake right at your tiny chest.
As soon as your loud scream pierced the walls of the old building, the room was immediately full of your older siblings; Bekah, Nik, and Lijah, as well as Marcel and Hayley, whom you'd grown really close with since she was pregnant in the early months.
"LET HER GO" Klaus bellowed, his eyes flash a striking amber. His anger is through the roof, no one touches his baby sister and lives, no one. He starts to stalk his way over, followed by Elijah.
"Don't come any closer, boys" Mikael spat at them. You whimpered loudly as tears ran down your reddened cheeks. All you want is your big brothers.
"No" You hit your father's shoulder and tried to pull away from him. All that does is make his grip on you tighten to a painful extent. Even with your vampire healing, it hurts tremendously.
Veins appear under Hayley's eyes, enraged at Mikael for even going near the poor little girl. She uses her hybrid strength and lunges at him. She knocks the white oak stake out of his hands and bites him on the shoulder opposite you. She takes you into her arms and quickly vamps you back over to Marcel before returning to Mikael, along with Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah.
Your big sister grabbed the stake into her hand and vamped towards where Elijah and Klaus were pinning Mikael down each on one side and Hayley's arm was wrapped tightly around his neck. She shoved the stake right through Mikael's heart. Flames blaze across Mikael's body and clothing. His screams echoed through the whole compound.
They all backed away from the burning corpse of the vampire who hunts vampires, watching as he burned from the inside out.
Marcel had you tucked against his chest, hand on the back of your head so you didn't have to watch the fight going down. You sobbed into his shirt, scared out of your mind. You want, you want Hayley.
She was the one who took you from Mikael. You pull away once Marcel's grip slackens a bit after Mikael burns.
You outstretch your arms towards the hybrid. Hayley quickly comes over to you and brings you into her arms gently. She turns back around to the other three originals, Klaus has a hurt look on his face, clearly wishing you had wanted him.
Hayley feels guilty, mouthing 'I'm sorry' to him. Elijah nods in response to her before looking at his younger brother and Rebekah places a hand on his shoulder.
"She has no means to hurt you, Nik. Don't think about it too much. She loves all of us" Rebekah whispers to him. Klaus takes a deep breath before nodding in response to her. He knows he shouldn't hold it against you, you may be over 1000 years old, but you're 2 years old, with a mind and thoughts that come with it, even as a vampire. And he knows you love him, he shouldn't hold it against you.
He nods to Hayley, a smile twitching at his lips, before turning to the burnt to a crisp corpse.
"Well, we should tend to the trash, shall we, sister?" Klaus smirks towards Rebekah. "We shall" She smirks back to him.
Klaus walks over to your tiny, shaking body in Hayley's arms and places a hand on the back of your head before kissing your forehead. He then goes over to their father, putting his arms behind his back as he brainstorms what to do next.
Rebekah walks over to the two of you next and places a kiss on the crown of your head. "I love you, sweetie" She runs her hand through your soft hair before going over to where Nik and Elijah are.
Hayley walks towards the stairs, nodding at Marcel, to which he nods back before walking off to the room he was in before Mikael showed up.
She bounces you in her arms, trying to soothe and calm you down. "Oh, It's okay, Baby. He's gone. He's gone now" She holds you close. you lean into her warmth and grip your pudgy hands on her shirt.
"No need to cry no more," She says, starting to tear up herself. She walks into her room and opens the door to the nursery. She goes over to the crib where a baby Hope lays, eyes open, looking up at the mobile. And now her eyes land on her Mama and you.
You hear the tiny mewling sounds from Hope, and look up from Hayley's chest to the baby. you let go of her shirt with one hand and reach to Hope.
Hope sits up from where she was lying down, looking up at you. She has loved you from the start, even though she can't talk yet, but knows that love is returned back from you
"You want some time with Hope?" Hayley asks you. You've been obsessed with the baby girl since before she was born, you love her just as much as Hayley and Klaus. You immediately nod your head, "Hopey" you say and let out a grin even with the tear tracks on your face.
Hayley lowers you into the crib with her daughter and watches how you immediately get into a silent conversation with her. You both giggle and play together with the small toys scattered in the crib.
She watches as you both play, a smile on her face. If she could adopt you as her own daughter as well, she would have no second thoughts and do it in one fell swoop. But she knows that your family loves you a great deal.
If she were to be your mother, she would love you so much. She would give you the childhood and life you deserve. She would care for you as a mother like she has been for over a year. There's no way she can express just how much she loves you.
"I love you both so much," She tells you both, watching as you cuddle with each other into the soft blanket. Hope has two pacifiers in her hands. She hands one over to you the best she can and you take it in your tiny from her just as tiny hand.
Hope puts the other in her mouth, just as you put the one she handed you into yours. You both suck on the pacifiers, tiny suckling noises filling the room.
Hayley tries not to physically aww at the action. Both of her babies sucking on soothers. She knows you're older than a normal age of a 'baby', but you're just as a baby as Hope is in her eyes. And the same goes for the eyes of your big siblings.
Klaus walks into the bedroom not long after you and Hope doze off, curled into one another. He looks around the room, "Where's my baby sister?" He asks, worried about you after the event of earlier in the day.
"Shh" she holds a finger up to her lips before nodding down at the dark wooden crib.
He follows her instructions and looks down at the crib, his face softening right away. He watches as his two baby girls sleep, sucking on the pacifiers.
Hayley pulls him into the other room, closing the door so she doesn't wake you two up.
"Is Mikael dealt with? Gone for good?" She asks him. "Yes, he shall not return, never again. the look on her face, I- I froze, he was going to kill her. And it was my fault" His voice wavers.
"Hey, it's not your fault, and nothing happened. That asshole deserves what he got and everything that's coming his way in hell. You're her big brother, Y/n loves you so much" Hayley pulls the elder into a hug.
Klaus stiffens at first before melting into her arms, breathing in her scent. After ten more seconds, he backs away, looking into her eyes, vulnerability shining through them. He covers it back up before his eyebrows scrunch together and a glint in his eyes.
"Was Y/n using a pacifier?" a smile plays on his lips. "Yeah, our daughter thought she would want one and gave one to her.,. Obviously, she was right. I have a feeling they're not going to allow us to separate them for a while" Hayley chuckles lightly.
"I assume that's the same for you with her as well" He crosses his arms, eyebrow raised in amusement.
"Fair enough" Hayley smirks back to him.
You don't leave Hayley and Hope's side for a little while. You love it when you're all having a cuddle session with Hayley or Klaus, or both of them. The pacifier also is starting to seem like a constant. The only one to have a bad word against it is Elijah, saying that you don't need to develop a bad habit of always wanting one. But that's quickly stopped when Rebekah dragged him out of the room and nicely explained how their baby sister using a soother is at the bottom of the list of their concerns.
You love Hayley, Hope, and your siblings to the moon and back.
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cerise-on-top · 5 months
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Love Languages
What is says in the title. I have no requests right now and I thought now would be a good time to write these, I've been meaning to for over a month now, I think. General fluff, relationship to reader is romantic. GN!reader. Only thing I can think of would be one somewhat dirty joke. But it's literally just Alejandro teaching reader a phrase in Spanish and that's about it.
Price: Acts of Service. He’s been in the military for a while now and, while he may be used to giving orders these days, he remembers the days well where a superior would yell at him to do something. Price is well aware that the chances of survival go up tremendously when everyone is working together as a team, regardless of whether you’ve been given a command to help your pal out or not. It’s almost subconscious, actually. You drop something without you noticing? He’ll pick it up, trailing behind you while carrying it. The dishes need to be done? He’s on it immediately, maybe whistling a song even while he does so. You’re in need of medication? Mans notices when you’re running out before you do and always makes sure to get the prescription and or the meds if he’s able to. And if he can’t then he’ll remind you to pick them up, going with you. As a captain, he’s a busy bee, always filing reports and doing whatnot, so him taking the time out of his day to do something, no matter what, isn’t as small a thing as one might think. It doesn’t even matter how small, repetitive and tedious the task is, he’ll do it just for you. Won’t make a big deal out of it, though, just you noticing he did something for you is more than enough. Give him a kiss in return while thanking him and he’ll be the happiest man alive as well.
Gaz: Words of Affirmation. While it’s hard to pin down one love language for him, he absolutely adores making you feel loved using his words. He can be a cheeky bastard, sassing just about anyone he knows he’ll get away with relatively unharmed, always knowing what to say to make just about any situation go from dreadful to a bit more humorous, for the most part. Gaz does well with words, plus he can also read facial expressions very well. While there might be some guesswork involved from time to time, if you let him, he’ll find the right words fairly quickly. Doesn’t matter if you just want to be told how handsome you look in your new suit, or if you want to be comforted after being let down one too many times. Finding the right time to be silent is also an art, Gaz has mastered it. It comes natural to him, speaking to his loved ones, that is. If he can, he’ll accompany his sweet words with other love languages as well. It’s not uncommon for him to shower you with compliments while twirling you around, giving you a beautiful bracelet, or simply putting his head on your shoulder. This man will hype you up, no matter how insecure you feel. But don’t ever doubt his words, he’s as sincere as it gets with you. If you do then he will make an entire PowerPoint presentation on why you’re as amazing as you are. Has no qualms about holding said presentation either, by the way.
Ghost: Acts of Service. Don’t get me wrong, he loves touching you and getting to touch you, if he could he’d always intertwine his fingers with yours, but he’s not always sure if he should touch you. Would it make you comfortable? Do you even like being touched right now? Sometimes he might be self-indulgent, but it’s not too often. However, performing just about any task for you, he knows that won’t upset you. The trees and hedges need to be cut? You don’t have time to go grocery shopping? Can’t beat this seemingly impossible video game boss? Yeah, he’s got your back. He’s not too shabby at most things in life. Ghost can notice and memorize things very quickly, he’s got enough experience in life to know what to do in most situations plus he loves you dearly, so he’d literally crawl his way to Eden and pick the fruits of the tree of knowledge if you demanded it. If you ask him to do something with you, though, then I can tell you he’s smitten. Loves grocery shopping with you, loves it if you hand him the wrench and hold the flashlight while he repairs something, loves feeding the strays outside your home with you. If you ask him to do something together then he gets the feeling of his affection for you being reciprocated, so never be ashamed to ask him for something. You could literally just ask him for a hug and his heart would soar in the heavens.
Soap: Physical Touch. He grew up with a loving mother who would smother him in hugs whenever she could. He didn’t particularly grow out of that either, he’ll still return any hug his mother gives him to this day. Having grown up in a very physically affectionate household, he took after his family and thus loves touching you in any way he can. Whether it’s ruffling your hair or putting your foreheads together, he just loves being close with his loved ones. Even his friends he’s very touchy feely with. It’s reassuring to him, feeling his loved ones, their warmth, hell, even feeling their pulse is nice. It’s not a given in his line of work, after all. Friend or lover, doesn’t matter, he’ll give you a hug, he’ll cuddle you, he’ll playfight with you. Has a very hard time toning it down and his heart breaks a bit every time someone asks him to not touch them as much, he genuinely can’t help it. When he’s lonely he becomes extra affectionate and isn’t afraid to ask you for some cuddles either, they’re very calming to him. If you return his affection, even if it’s awkward for the both of you, he becomes very happy, almost beaming with joy if you’re not a touchy person normally. Initiate a hug for once and he’ll never want to let you go again. But beware, his hugs are extremely tight. If it wasn’t as embarrassing, I’m sure he’d sleep cuddling something as well. However, it’s not the most manly thing to sleep with a plushie, so he settles for another pillow mostly. Will invite you to take a nap with him, though.
Alejandro: Physical Touch. He’s among the people of his culture who are more tactile. It’s a similar situation to Soap, he learned that from home. While he may not be as prone to being touchy with a friend, unless you’re very close, once you’re lovers he loves nothing more than having his hands on you. Not even in a dirty way, he’s more than content just having his hand on your shoulder too. Will give you massages, lots of kisses and will generally just pull you close to him. Might pick you up and spin you around from time to time as well. He’s a strong lad, so I can assure you, he will be able to pick you up. Not very fond of PDA for privacy reasons, but once you’re home alone, he’ll be all over you. Find a reason to touch him back and he’ll smother you. While he can respect you if you don’t like being touched, he will be sad a bit, but will find alternatives. He’s a very affectionate guy with the ones he loves. For what it’s worth, if you’re not a touchy person and can’t speak Spanish very well, you can say some nonsense and it’ll make him smile every time. Though, beware, he’s not above teaching you things such as “estoy caliente” either. It won’t lead to anything, but he will crack up whenever you say it to Rudy, with the latter being severely disappointed in Alejandro. You trying to speak or learn Spanish shows him that you’re trying to put in effort into learning his culture, which he can appreciate, naturally.
Rodolfo: Quality Time. Much like Ghost, he’ll love you forever if you give him hugs on the regular, maybe a peck on the cheek too if you’re together, but he won’t force anything. It’s ingrained in him that men really shouldn’t be weak, though, ironically, you can see him be just a tad bit softer with lads. A close second for his love language would be gift giving. He earns enough money to buy you something nice from time to time. But other than that, he doesn’t have too much time either, and what little time he does have he wants to spend with you. Sure, he can’t exactly make time for you during a mission, but regardless of how tired he might be, he will drag himself out of bed just to be with you five minutes longer. One activity he particularly enjoys the day after he came home from deployment would be simply taking a nap together. Doesn’t matter if you’re cuddling or not, though he would prefer if you would. He gets to rest, you get to rest, both of you are happy. Besides, whenever he gets to be near you he won’t have to worry about anything happening to you. Considering he’s confident enough in his abilities to keep bad people away from you, he likes having you close as well. You don’t even need to be talking, it could just be the both of you cooking together and eating afterwards, that’s enough to make him content. He can tell when you’re doing your best to make time for him as well, and it warms his heart every time.
Valeria: Gift Giving. She’s the undoubted queen of not having much time for anything at all, and she can’t always make time for you, or most people, either, which is why she’ll opt for other means of showing her affection. While some gifts may take time, those being the special ones, it’s normally something quick she can get you. Some new clothes, some sweets, or something else entirely. She rarely ever gets to give them to you in person, regardless of how badly she wants to see your beaming and surprised face, but she never forgets an important date, her memory is just good like that. Your anniversary, your birthday, your pet’s birthday, she has it all memorized and will get you a gift accordingly. You don’t have to give her anything in return, though, her tastes are very expensive. If you really wanna show her how much you adore her in a way she can easily comprehend, do her some favors. Clean the house, make her a meal, give the soldiers asking for her some misdirections so they won’t catch her. It’s not often she likes someone, much less actually trusting them, but she can appreciate someone, who genuinely wants to help her out, even in the small ways. She might sometimes think that you’re just trying to get a favor out of her, but if you genuinely never ask for anything big even she will doubt her theory and will trust you more. Love goes through the stomach, cook her a delicious meal every once in a while and she’ll love you even more.
Graves: Words of Affirmation. However, it should be noted that that’s just his main way of showing affection, he shows affection in every other way as well, very much so even. It’s hard to pin him down as well, he changes it up every once in a while. But what always stays the same is him giving you small compliments throughout the day. If he can’t tell you how much you’re rocking the garments in person, he’ll leave you a handwritten note to build you up. Very chatty, unlike Gaz, he loves hearing himself speak and will stop at nothing to attain the feeling of just saying something. Considering he’s from the southern part of the United States, he throws around petnames like it’s nothing. If you like it, good, if you don’t, he won’t particularly stop either. In fact, he might get more cheesy and cliche with them as well. Not as eloquent as other people might be, he’s a commander, not a poet, but just as sincere. You look fucking awesome, darlin’. They should make a Met Gala just for you. Will also tease you in a loving way. Bullying his loved ones into blushing is his most genuine way of showing love. Once he teases you, you can be certain this guy really likes you. The formalities are finally over, now he can be genuine and honest with you. Give him strong reactions and he’ll love you even more. Don’t try to fluster him back, though. Conversations like those are competitions and he’s the most sore loser on the planet.
Alex: Physical Touch. Words of Affirmation and Acts of Service are also strong with this one, but I’m limiting myself to one here. As I’ve said a few times already, he loves, loves, loves getting to hug and cuddle you. If you’re together then he has no shame in showing PDA either. Will initiate physical touch, will ask you for physical touch, he’s not ashamed at all. A guy needs what he needs, after all. Even just small touches are more than welcome with him. Hand on your shoulder, his fingers combing through your hair, deliberately leaning against you when he’s tired. Snuggle up to him after a rough day, he’s so gentle with you and will make you feel as loved as he can, either by distracting you with the top ten list of top ten lists of what he loves about you, or by watching a VOD on YouTube with you. Even if you aren’t too touchy, make an effort to initiate physical contact with him, he notices it immediately. Won’t push you, he might stop if you really hate physical contact, but will make it up to you with other love languages. Give him a kiss and he’ll rest his head on your shoulder, with eyes bigger than that of an anime girl. The heart irises are there too, of course. If he’s had a rough day, then please hug him, or better yet, cuddle him. It makes him feel a lot better, drifting off to sleep with your comforting touch. This guy would set a forest ablaze just so you can feel some warmth.
Farah: Quality Time. Unless you’re part of her liberation force, she likely has next to no time for you either. And even then, time alone with her is sparse. You can make plans with her, but chances are she’ll have the revolution on her mind, what her next step should be and how her enemy might prevent her from getting what she wants this time. It’s hard for her too, trust me, but she needs to be prepared, always. It’s not often she actually can do so, but she’ll try to make plans with you without her mind wandering. She’s usually so focused, but also hyper aware of the bad things that could happen. So, sometimes she sits herself down with you and thinks of only the things she wants to do with you. Order takeout, cuddle and maybe read some books as well. Despite not usually being one for things like that, evenings like those will be the only times she’ll try to take better care of herself. By which I mean, if you have a skincare routine, she’ll try it out with you, asking you questions about what this and that might be and what it does. If you have a face mask that evening, she’ll laugh a bit, but won’t be opposed to trying it out either. It’s rather sudden when she does have time, but it’s time well spent. Show her affection in any way, she’ll always appreciate it. Give her a kiss, tell her how much you love her, buy her some fresh baked goods, she’ll fall in love with you all over again, again and again. Once the fighting is done, she’ll repay you with everything she can, give you whatever it is she has to offer and make sure you can feel just as loved.
Laswell: Gift Giving. She’s not particularly one for physical affection, she much rather shows it through things that reminded her of you. That nail polish looked like it would go well with your new outfit, you’ve been eyeing that necklace for a long time, using a scooter to get around the city was something you’ve been into for a while. She always remembers every single small detail that might be important later on. You like Sanrio. You like motorcycles. You like sports. Because her memory is amazing, she’ll always get you something you’ll like. Even when you forgot something or haven’t thought about it in a while, she’ll remind you. Especially nice things. Brains are always biased towards the bad, she wants you to see the good in yourself and your surroundings. But aside from those two things, she’s rather versatile as well. Her words can make even your biggest insecurities temporarily go away. She isn’t always eloquent, but she can be if she wants to be. Quality Time is a given to her. If she can and you want to as well, she’ll spend every minute of her wake with you. Even when you aren’t around to do any of it and she has time to do so, the dishes will be washed, the clothes in the washing machine will be neatly hung up and the living room will be clean. Now, if you want to make her feel loved, give her some genuine words. She hears lies on the daily and knows when people are being insincere, but seeing you give her a genuine smile while telling her that she looks like a goddess in her new dress sort of does something to her. You don’t need to use the prettiest words, just say what you think, tell her how much you love her, that’s all she really needs.
Nikolai: Acts of Service. Another wildcard, he’ll do whatever makes his partner happy. But if we’re talking about his genuine self, the one that doesn’t do whatever makes you happy, then it’s Acts of Service. It’s unprompted too, for the most part. Whatever he can find out, that makes your life easier, he’ll do. He’s a real handyman for all sorts of things and in real good shape too despite his age. Mans can repair a helicopter, he can do the same for your heater in winter. Never be afraid to walk up to him and complain to him about something not working, he’ll fix it himself in record time if you let him. Doesn’t mind his hands getting dirty either, that’s just what happens. Big things, small things, doesn’t matter. Let him take out the trash or let him fix the engine of your car, he can do both. Hell, if you need someone taken care of in the most brutal way possible, if you need some dirt on someone, he’s also your guy. If he really likes you, then chances are he’ll do some of it for free as well. He’s competent enough in just about everything, he has the experience, so whatever it is you need done, he’ll do it. But if you ever were to do him a favor like that as well, he’ll be overjoyed. Most of the time showing affection is subconscious to him, but once it clicks, and it will fairly quickly since he’s a smart cookie, he’ll give you the most loving smile. You don’t have to kill someone for him, just baking him a delicious pie is more than enough. You make his life easier as it is, but the occasional baked good or gifting him a nice bomber jacket won’t hurt either.
König: Acts of Service. I guess Acts of Service just come with age. Not too big on showing physical affection, not the best with his words either since he can still get nervous around his loved ones from time to time. Another big contender would simply be Quality Time. He much prefers not having to talk all the time, so you knitting while he reads the news would be ideal for him. Being near each other in silence is the best thing he can imagine, that way he can show you how much he loves you without straining himself too much. Acts of Service because he’s old enough to realize that if you really do love someone, you’ll make their life easier in any way, shape or form possible, even if it’s just putting chicken nuggets in the oven just before they come home from work. Besides, despite it being tedious, he doesn’t hate cleaning as much as some other people do. It’s calming to him, seeing his living space be decluttered. So, it helps him and it gives you less work to do at the end of the day. Another way he shows affection is by warding off creeps with his presence. Being around you makes him protective over you. Now, you can spend your time with him in silence, or just occasionally talk, he’ll eat that right up and love it, but you can also give him the occasional hug or cuddle. He won’t mind, but don’t overdo it. He’s not a particularly cuddly person, but he will appreciate you standing on boxes just so he can lean into your shoulder for once, if you’re shorter than him. It’s the small things that count. Another thing he’ll always enjoy is you maybe knitting or crocheting him a scarf. He’s not sensitive to the cold, but he won’t mind being warm either. Spray it with your perfume or cologne too and he could just pick you up and give you a little kiss.
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wokeupdreamy · 6 months
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Strawberries and Cigarettes.
Theodor Nott x Hufflepuff!Reader
summary: you and theo had never talked much, hell you two were complete contraries. he was a stoic, cold slytherin and you were a giddy, always friendly hufflepuff. but what happens if through fate you run into each other one night and it makes you realize that you had never want anything more than to figure out the confusing riddle ‘theodor nott’.
authors note: hi, this is the first fanfiction i am writing (if you don’t count what my fourteen year old self wrote on wattpad, lol) and i actually don’t even know if i am going to keep writing this. i don’t even know if anyone will see this, i still have no clue how tumblr really works…anyways got the idea when i was listening to strawberries&cigaretts by troye sivan.
(also english isn’t my first language so bare with me!)
i don’t even know where this little fanfiction is even headed yet, but i guess we’ll figure that out on the way! alright, that being said, i hope you enjoy this first chapter and let me know if i should continue this little series! <3
warnings: none yet, probably some angst and violence in the later chapters, but the first one is just harmless fluff and theo being mysterious lol
find chapter two here: https://www.tumblr.com/wokeupdreamy/734705717659025408/strawberries-and-cigarettes
word count: 1.9k
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Chapter One:
It was late, almost too late at night when you left the greenhouse. Working on your little extra credit project for Professor Sprout, not that you needed better grades as they were already perfect, you had completely lost track of time.
Only when the faint moon had been shining in through the windows, illuminating the room in an eerie light, you had decided to call it a day, or better a night.
Brushing off the dirty from your uniform, brows furrowed at the stain on your skirt, thinking about how difficult it would be to get out, you nearly collided with the tall figure in front of you.
Shutting your eyes, mentally preparing yourself to hit the cold, grassy ground. But to your surprise a strong arm caught your waist, just in time.
As soon as you had regained your balance, your eyes shot up to see who your mysterious savior was. And almost immediately your eyes were met with his sharp, blue ones.
Theodor Nott.
“Careful where you’re going.” he snickered, his face almost stoic. If you would’ve looked closely, you would’ve seen the faint smirk on his lips, but you were busy catching your breath from the shock.
“Nott.” you stated, a hint of annoyance laced in your voice. It wasn’t that you disliked the brown haired Slytherin, no. But you’d always tried to keep your distance from him, you being a Hufflepuff and him being a Slytherin helping tremendously with that. Sure, you were in the same year, a few boring words and ‘hi’s being exchanged between the two of you when paired up to work together in class but never more.
You doubted that he even knew your name, of course not, why would he? It wasn’t like you were particularly popular, well liked but not popular. Hell, you were the complete opposite of the grumpy boy, always being nice and friendly, offering your help to those who needed it.
“Didn’t see you, I am sorry.” you gave him a small, apologetic smile, realizing that picking a fight with a Slytherin, alone and in the dark, wasn’t probably the smartest idea.
“Of course.” he scoffed, letting go of your waist. The smirk he had worn a minute before had turned into a flat expression, the corners of his lips still turned upwards but the rest of his face being utterly blank, unchanging.
“What were you doing in the green house, at this time of night?” he asked, his eyes wandering down to the mud stains on your skirt.
You looked down and quickly realized how dirty you had actually gotten. The soil from the gardening, together with the mud on the ground, had left a mess of dirt on your usually clean and neatly pressed uniform.
“I was working on my herbology project.” you answered.
“And what are you doing in the grounds at this hour?” you asked, your eyebrows furrowed.
Once again his eyes seemed to look directly into yours and once again the same smirk appeared on his lips.
“Oh, you know.” he murmured, his voice low.
“Can’t sleep.” he added, his arm gesturing to the night sky.
“Have to get some fresh air.” the rest of his face was indifferent, as if nothing and no one was of any significance to him.
You felt like telling him that the Headmaster would surely not be pleased if he caught a student in the grounds at this hour but decided to shut your mouth. It was not like the Slytherin cared for rules, no, you’d seen him go to detention enough times over the years.
The two of you stood there in silence, the wind rustling the trees breaking the still.
And in some stupid way, you couldn’t help but admire the way the faint light from the moon above seemed to cling onto his perfectly sculpted figure. His messy, dark brown hair blowing in the wind and the light shining on his high cheekbones.
He was truly a beautiful specimen that looked like he belonged on the covers of the muggle magazines you read. But you knew that the moment you would have admitted that to him, he would probably laugh it off.
As much as you would have loved to keep looking at him, the cold was starting to seep into your bones. Shivering slightly, you pulled the sleeves of your robe over your hands. The dirt under your nails was still visible.
“Well-“ you started, “I’m afraid I should be going, before someone sees me in out in the grounds at this hour. Professor Sprout wouldn’t be to pleased either.”
You expected him to turn around and go his own way but he just shrugged. “True.” he chuckled, once again surprising you.
And just as quick as the conversation had started, it was over. The boy had turned, his back now to you.
Without looking back, he gestured to the side, as if to invite you to walk beside him.
There was no sign of annoyance or boredom on his face, as if you being there wasn’t that big of a deal.
You hesitated for a moment, before walking up next to him. And as you both walked in silence, you realized just how fast paced he walked.
The grounds were eerily similar to the greenhouse, empty and still and quiet. It felt peaceful, the only sound being that of your footsteps along with the wind. There wasn’t the slightest hint of voices talking or laughter. It felt like you were alone in the world, both of you.
As you walked beside him, you found yourself sneaking peaks at the boy. His hands shoved in the pockets of his robe, his face turned to the path ahead.
Even if you wanted to strike up a conversation, you had no idea how you could do that without it being awkward as hell. So you decided to enjoy the silence for as long as it would last.
But soon, Nott started to talk.
“I’m bored.” not a question. A flat, monotone statement. “I like being around plants.” again, no question.
The boy just wanted to state facts.
The silence lasted for a few more seconds and the you decided to respond. “Oh, yeah?” you asked. “But you don’t even take Herbology?” you furrowed your brows in confusion. Theodor Nott liked being around plants?
“Doesn’t matter. Plants are peaceful.” he stated, his voice just as quiet and flat as before.
“And the greenhouse doesn’t have any people in it.”
You couldn’t help the fact that a small smile crossed your lips. The boy wasn’t that intimidating after all.
“You don’t like people, do you?” you asked, the question coming out before you could even stop yourself. You could’ve cursed at yourself for being so blunt, already mentally preparing yourself for a snarky comment or a rude insult.
But nothing of that sort came.
Theo looked at you, blue eyes piercing into yours as if looking at your soul in particular.
His expression was blank, but the smirk was still playing on his lips.
“What makes you think that?” was his quiet response.
The silence was almost loud, but you felt it was your turn to talk.
“You’ve never exactly been interested in having a conversation, have you?” you questioned him. “In all those Hogwarts years I’ve only seen you talk to a handful people for longer than five minutes.” Again, he just shrugged.
You were expecting him to be annoyed but strangely enough, that wasn’t the case.
A smirk still on his lips, that didn’t seem to go away anytime soon, he looked straight at you.
“Is that bad? Not talking to everyone I see?”
Another long silence fell between the two of you.
“You know, I find it quite amusing. You trying to figure me out.” he finally broke it. His voice was still quiet and emotionless, as if talking was just a chore.
As much as what he said was kind of insulting, it was true. Not to your credit but you didn’t know much about Theo, at least not in comparison to how much you thought you knew others. About your friends and the other students in your year.
“What is there to know about you?” you asked, trying to keep yourself from rolling your eyes at his remarks.
His cold eyes were on you again, he was the one not answering you immediately, as if thinking about his response longer than necessary.
“There is nothing about me.” he finally muttered.
Once more, you were stunned into silence.
His answer was the last thing you expected.
Your brain was racing, asking if there was more to the story.
Maybe the boy really was a loner, you thought.
Before you could find the courage to open your mouth, Nott started over.
“So, you like plants?” he asked, his voice sounding a bit more curious and lively than before.
“Uh- yes.” you answered, your arms crossed in front of you to protect against the cold wind.
You had always liked plants.
There was something very calming and soothing about them. Their quiet energy and their almost peaceful presence.
When you were having a bad day or you felt sad or tired, the greenhouse was the place to be.
It was the one place in Hogwarts where the chaos of everything and everyone was non-existent.
Once again, a silence took over the two of you.
You wanted to say more. Ask him more questions. Be intrigued in what kind of person he was and if there was more to the story about the boy with the cold eyes.
But suddenly you knew that doing that would be useless.
He wouldn’t tell, not to you. Not now, not ever.
And so you kept quiet. Not speaking a word until you reached a familiar spot, the entrance hall.
Unsure of what to do, you entered the castle behind him, hands nervously fumbling with the hem of your skirt as the two of you just stood there.
He would have to go down to his common room, while you would make your way to the Hufflepuff common room near the kitchens.
Once more you were both alone, in silence, both facing the stairs which would lead to your separate paths.
You hesitated, not knowing what to say, what to do, how to take your leave as it seemed like he had no plans on speaking again.
The boy had one of his elbows on the wall and was leaning on it, not looking at you. His hands still in the pockets of his robe.
The longer you stood there, the more uncomfortable the moment became.
“Well…uhm good night to you?” you mumbled, finally mustering up the courage to break the uncomfortable silence.
Theo tilted his head as he looked up at you, his eyes now curious as he stared at you. His face suddenly showing more emotion than before. His smirk was gone.
Silence once more.
But after a moment of thinking, his face once again looked blank.
“Good night to you too.” he muttered, his voice as monotone as before as he started descending the stairs.
Shaking your head, still trying to understand this strange encounter, you started your own way to your common room.
If you had learned one thing tonight, it was that Theodor Nott was a fucking mystery.
And you had never wanted to solve a mystery this badly before.
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ihavemanyhusbands · 5 days
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Vidas Pasadas (Past Lives)
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PART ONE: THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Mini-Series Masterlist
Also on AO3
Pairing: Cooper Howard/The Ghoul x Latina!Reader (Spanish speaking)
WC: 2.5k words
Series Summary: Before the great war, you were an actress—A good friend and frequent co-star of Cooper Howard. After two hundred years in cryogenic stasis, you’re being sent to New Vegas as a performer, but on the way there, things don’t go quite as planned.
Warnings: MINORS DNI, series is 18+, canon typical violence, some angst, friends to lovers-ish?, some miscommunications, eventual smut, chem use, there’ll be some Spanish in there for sure (with translations), cursing, the ghoul being the ghoul, aaaaand that’s all I can think of for now but lmk if anything else!
A/N: This is INCREDIBLY self indulgent, but imagine yourself in these shoes for a moment why don’t you? :) hope you enjoy! pt.1 dedicada ao meu amor @the-devils-littlegirl <33
——————-
The holotape was a little over two hundred years old, but it was in relatively good condition. It contained a talk show interview with two actors who were promoting a Western film. The image was in black and white, fuzzy with time, and the voices sounded tinny. 
“So tell me, both of you, what’s it been like working on so many pictures together?” The interviewer, Holden Boyd, asked. “This must be — what, the fourth one?”
“That’s right. You know, Holden, in all my years in this industry, I have never met anyone more professional,” Cooper Howard, the handsome hero of the film, turned to you, sitting beside him. “But she also knows how to keep things balanced between work and play. We laugh a lot behind the scenes, actually.”
“Really?” Holden asked, leaning forward with renewed interest. “Well, that doesn’t surprise me, you two have some incredible chemistry on screen.”
“Well, gee, Coop, do we really?” You couldn’t help but grin at him, making him chuckle. “Maybe that’s why we keep getting cast together.”
“And how’s his Spanish? Are you teaching him any?” Holden asked you. 
“I’ve certainly tried,” you said, raising an eyebrow in amusement. “Say something, why don’t you?”
Cooper’s smile turned sheepish, shaking his head. “Errr… No muy bueno, pero intento.”
His thick southern accent made you and Holden laugh, invariably charmed. In the background, claps and cheers from the live audience, equally smitten. Cooper always knew how to win people over, it was like second nature to him.
“He’s a natural!” Holden exclaimed. “Say the line Coop, you know the one.”
Cooper cleared his throat, squared his shoulders and pretended to point a gun, his expression fully serious.“Feo, Fuerte, y Formal.”
An eruption of cheers, louder than before. You clapped in delight, smiling ear to ear as you bumped your shoulder against his playfully.
“Ah, I see you’ve found our tapes,” the mechanical voice of vault thirty-one’s overseer startled you. 
You looked down at… it, still not used to interacting with a motorized brain suspended in some sort of tank. Bud, you thought it said its name was. Vaguely familiar, but your memories were still hazy, having been in cryogenic stasis for so long. 
“Why do you have these?” You asked.
“Everything pertaining to Hollywood was preserved for archival purposes. Feel free to watch anything you like,” Bud said. “We have all of your films, as well as interviews, press clippings, and pictures.”
You looked back at the screen, crossing your arms over your chest and trying not to shudder. You had me, too. You thought, stomach turning. A shiny toy shelved away for later use.
You’d gotten a spot in vault thirty one in exchange for compliance — after all, the future would need entertainers, right? And the nostalgia factor would just sell so well. You would be totally set for whatever came… or so they’d said.
It hadn’t seemed like a terrible deal at the time, but you hadn’t truly realized how tremendous the losses would be. Or how much things could veer off course in two centuries. 
Cooper was gone, and so was everyone else you had ever cared for. Bud hadn’t said what happened to your former co-star, but it didn't need to. 
 You had entered the vault all by yourself, with no family or spouse to consider. And just a few days ago, you had been greeted by that same loneliness when you’d emerged from the pod. 
Some things never changed, it seemed. Perhaps New Vegas wouldn’t be a terrible distraction, all things considered.
“Feels like it was only yesterday…” you said, keeping the melancholy out of  your voice.
“Doesn’t it? That’s the best part of the stasis pods. Keeps one fresh,” Bud said, chipper. “How’s your head feeling, by the way?”
“Better,” you sighed. “Barely any pain left.”
“Oh, good. You should be ready to travel to New Vegas in a couple more days. I’ve been in touch with a trusted courier that should be able to escort you there safely.”
A tinge of fear in your chest. “How… bad is it out there?”
“Well, er, it’s… not great. But we’ll get there! I’ve heard New Vegas has a lot more going for it than these parts,” Bud said quickly, not wanting to linger on the negative. “Vault twenty one, where you’ll be staying, was turned into a hotel. Lots of people passing by. I’m sure it’ll be easy for you to attract the crowds.” 
Stepping towards the projector, you ejected the holotape, unable to watch any more. The memories would consume you far too easily, if you let them. That life had crumbled to dust long ago, and there was nothing you could do to change that, either.
What other choice did you have but to trudge forward?
“For both our sakes, Bud, I really hope that’s true.”
————————————-
As with most things, Bud had severely understated just how bad things were on the surface. The sight of it had instantly struck you— Nothing was left but ruins and desert plains stretching as far as the eye could see. No one but you and the courier — a weathered, gruff looking middle-aged man — around for miles.
You’d left your vault suit behind in exchange for the clothes you’d worn when you first went in. You were also given a small survival pack, a tranquilizer gun, and a pip boy, but that was the extent of your belongings.
 The courier handed you a hat and an old scarf to cover yourself from the sun and the sand, instructing you to keep close before whirling around and starting to walk.
Did he even say what his name was? You couldn’t recall, but you were too busy being in shock to care too much.
It was all so unceremonious, unlike what you’d been used to in the past. No cars or any other mode of transportation, no roads to smoothly cruise on. No kind words offered for your departure, except for Bud’s overly enthusiastic Good luck! before opening the vault’s enormous door. 
“Say, how long do you think the… trip is going to take?” You asked, trying to keep your fear at bay. 
“Around three weeks, give or take. That is, if the weather holds and we keep a good pace during the day,” the courier said. “Can’t be out at night around these parts.”
You swallowed hard, wondering what sorts of dangers lurked out there. You had some stunt training, but no actual fighting skills. Hopefully, the tranq gun would be enough, but you also suspected your companion had far deadlier weapons.
Better to stay on his good side, you thought.
“First stop’s at a town called Filly. Got some quick business to take care of there, so we’ll be spending the night,” the courier continued when you didn’t respond. “Keep your head down and let me do the talking. Don’t want anybody to recognize you.”
You nodded, letting out a long sigh. 
“Hopefully they’ve got showers there,” you said, imagining how calming the hot stream of water might be. 
The courier looked at you over his shoulder, incredulous, and barked out a laugh. Your face heated up at his ridicule, mumbling something about vault dwellers to himself with a shake of his head. 
You walked in silence for the next couple of hours, trying to guess what area you might be passing through. Briefly, you wondered if the ruins of your old house still stood somewhere, and if you’d be able to find them. 
But you reminded yourself not to dwell on what no longer existed. 
Soon enough, you started to see signs of humanity. A few stragglers here and there, but the courier steered you in different directions whenever he spotted larger groups. Raiders, he’d told you, a grim look on his face.
 You hurried your step, wanting to put as much distance between you and them as possible. Bud had given you a very basic rundown of what you might encounter on the surface, but while some of it was hard to believe without seeing it firsthand, raiders did not fall under that category.
Still, despite the danger, at least you were reassured that you weren’t the only people left around. 
Filly was a ramshackle town made up of scraps;  A small testament of humanity’s endurance. Vendors were hawking questionable food and other wares at the outskirts of it, the tight pack of more bodies making you nervous. 
Your senses were invaded by smells and noises and even the occasional passerby bumping into you. Life was still brimming, as chaotic as it may seem. Somehow, it made you feel the smallest flicker of hope.
The courier led you through the crowd and down a rickety stairway towards a small square, where there was a little more room to move. The sun was beginning to set, bright tendrils of orange and gold tinting the sky. 
For a brief moment, you stopped to look at it, moved almost to tears by the simple beauty of a sunset. At least, that hadn’t changed either, and you vowed to never take them for granted again. 
“This way,” the courier said, urging you to move. 
Unbeknownst to you, someone had taken notice of the two of you. More specifically, the courier. A hit had been placed on him, worth three hundred caps. There was no reason given for it, but he hadn’t thought to ask questions, anyway. He didn’t much like meddling unnecessarily.
He surreptitiously followed behind, keeping his distance so you wouldn’t notice him. He already stuck out like a sore thumb, what with being a ghoul and all. But, like any bounty hunter worth his salt, he still knew how to lay low.
The courier led you into a repurposed building that rented out closet sized rooms. You paid with a few of the caps Bud had put in your survival pack, relieved that you wouldn’t have to share a room. 
The courier was curt but prudent, in his own way. You were just a task to him, and you knew he would protect you as best as he could because of it. You had nothing against him so far, but you didn’t want to take your chances regardless. 
“Stay in your room, I’m gonna head out for a bit. I’ll bring back some food,” he said, turning to leave.
“Wait!” You hurried behind him, out into the open, where it was growing darker. “Wouldn’t it be better to, uh, stick together?”
“It’s private business,” he grunted, annoyed. “Besides, you’ll be safer in there.”
“But—”
“Hey, you,” you heard from behind you, followed by a commanding whistle. “Sabinez, is it?”
The courier looked up, his eyes immediately widening. “Oh, fuck.”
You followed his gaze, finding a… cowboy. His face was mostly obscured underneath the brim of his hat, but his lack of a nose was still strikingly apparent. Radiation burns marred what little skin you could see, the rest covered in old, tattered leathers. 
A ghoul, from what Bud had described. The see-it-to-believe-it kind of danger. Your stomach dropped.
He was pointing his revolver at the courier – Sabinez –  finger about to squeeze the trigger.
“No, please!” You exclaimed, panicked. 
Foolishly, without even thinking about it, you stepped in front of him, arms extended in an attempt to further shield him. The ghoul raised his hairless eyebrows, both amused and surprised.
“I need him,” you said, heart beating so fast you feared it might leap out of your chest. “Please.”
“How sweet,” the ghoul said mockingly, one hand on his chest. “But as it turns out, sweetheart, I need him, too.”
Before you could react, he raised the barrel of the revolver infinitesimally and fired. A dizzying moment in which the bullet whizzed by your head, and Sabinez’s body slumped behind you, his blood spraying at your back. 
Any onlookers that had stuck around scattered to safety, not wanting to be next in line for whatever the ghoul had planned. You let out a choked sound, too shocked to even scream. Shuddering, you slowly looked over your shoulder, only to avert your gaze quickly.
“No,” you murmured, horrified. “No, no, no…Fuck!”
It was just your luck, encountering death the very first day you finally returned to the surface. You wondered if you should fall to your knees and beg for mercy, but your body refused to move.
The ghoul’s spurs clinked as he stepped towards you, and you raised your hands in surrender, keeping your eyes down.
“You the cargo?” He asked, tilting his head to one side in curiosity. “Let’s get a better look at’cha.”
You whimpered as he grasped one of your arms, his other hand tugging down the scarf that covered half your face. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, eyes roaming over your features.
“Look at me,” he ordered, voice low.
Swallowing hard, you finally dared to look up at him. Tears clung to your lashes, a stray one running down your cheek. He looked more skeletal up close, his eyes sunken in, cheekbones prominent, and of course there was the cavern where his nose would be. 
He removed your hat next, letting go of you and taking a step back. There was something in his expression you couldn’t quite decipher, but you felt a creeping sense of deja vu the longer you looked at him. 
“You…” he said, something like recognition in his voice, as well as disbelief.
“I–Please, I don’t know w-what he did to you but I don’t–” You started to babble, but he interrupted. 
“Where were y’all heading off to?”
“U-um, New Vegas, uh, sir?” You tried to smile placatingly, but it was watery and would slip away at any moment. 
Not only was it strange for him to see you alive and in the flesh, but you were also fearing him. He remembered your earnest smiles, genuinely pleased to see him. Then again, you hadn’t yet recognized who he was. 
He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted you to know, but he also didn’t really want to let you go on your own way. Plus, he’d just killed your only guide, so it was only fair that he took on the job and saw it through.
That way, he could try to find out more about all that had happened, without giving himself away.
“New Vegas, huh,” he mused, letting out a low whistle. “That’s a long ways away, especially if you don’t know where you’re goin’...But it’s your lucky night, sweetheart, ‘cus I just so happen to know the way.”
“R-really? I could pay you if you’d h-help me!” you said quickly, rummaging through your pack to show him some caps. “I’m not sure how much would be enough but… I’ll be making more once I start working.”
“Don’t get your panties in a twist now, we can do some negotiating later,” he drawled, lips curling in a smirk as he looked up at the building behind you. “Hope you don’t mind us bunking together.”
Your entire face heated up. “Uh, you can take his room. It’s already paid for.”
“Well, what a generous fella he was,” he said, tossing your stuff back at you. “Jus’ don’t come runnin’ when you get nightmares. I ain’t much of a cuddler.”
----
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waitmyturtles · 4 months
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Last Twilight, episode 12: final reflections
Wow. It took me all of this past weekend to process this finale, notwithstanding the usual life craziness that has dogged me lately.
Let me preface this whole thing by saying that I'm confused by what I watched. I'd say that, overall -- I actually quite liked this series, and I especially, absolutely ADORED JimmySea, Namtan, and Mark, and their acting. JimmySea kicked major ass, and I really hope they get another big and complicated show to chew on.
I also want to say that between episodes 11 and 12, I felt that I saw uncharacteristic editing clunkiness from Aof Noppharnach and his team that left a lot of necessary emotional and ethical processing on the cutting room floor. I think that's what's ultimately making me feel uneasy about the process of watching this, but -- funnily enough, I'm not nearly as "angry" about the ending as I was with other bad shows that fell apart in their last quarter recently. It was obvious that MhokDay were going to get together.
But I needed to walk a few more steps with them on their journey to that end.
Before I got my eyes on the finale, a few reactions on social media, from Tumblr to Twitter gave me the case of the jibbles. Namely: that the story of Last Twilight would have worked better if Day had stayed blind through the end.
I wasn't really understanding how that construction could work without walking through some sort of ethical minefield.
Now that I've seen the finale -- especially that infamous 4/4 segment -- I understand better what those arguments were saying.
Yet, I'm still dogged by a kind of ethical confusion here. And maybe that was one of the points of this finale, another one of Aof Noppharnach's perhaps now-famous-or-infamous emotionally inconclusive endings.
To me, there are two ethical potholes that this show stumbled on:
1) The ethics WITHIN the fictional piece itself for a character to not depict the process of considering the various fates he might face vis à vis a potentially reversible impairment, and
2) The ethics of a REAL audience ultimately wanting a different outcome for a fictional character to NOT have an impairment reversed.
TL;DR — I don’t think Last Twilight spent enough time having Day consider the permanence or impermanence of the various fates he faced, including permanent blindness. I don’t think the characters, and as such, the audience, spent enough time understanding that a corneal transplant was always going to be Day’s endgame.
Last Twilight was marketed as a show focused on disability, on a man going blind in a society that prioritizes the able-bodied, and how he would adjust to his disability, and of course (this being GMMTV), his falling in love. As fans, we were prepared to receive a whole show about a character with a disability, not as a side pairing, à la Heart and Li Ming in Moonlight Chicken.
It so happened that Day's visual impairment was corneal deterioration -- a condition that could lead to permanent blindness, and thus qualify him for a corneal transplant.
What I'm struggling with is the crux of the ethical dilemma that this show was ALWAYS going to have to deal with: that a corneal impairment of the kind that Day experienced, in the prime of his life, could very well be reversed with surgery, a surgery that has tremendous success rates.
As such -- as we got that clarification in drips throughout the series -- this show was actually not ONLY going to be about the newfound adjustment of a recently-impaired man to an ableist society. It was ALWAYS going to have this door of ANOTHER major change, the reversal of the impairment, just slightly cracked open. I'm not sure that I, as a viewer, was fully prepared for this, even as Night and Mae Mhon spoke about "eye donations" as givens in the middle of the series. I believe the show needed to be much louder, earlier, about the "hope" that Day could "go back" to "living a normal life," instead of framing the high majority of the show around his adjustments to his impairment.
As we went through Day's adjustment to life outside of his room, I believe we needed to hear, FROM DAY HIMSELF, that a corneal transplant was a conclusion that HE believed in, that HE wanted. A failure of this series was that we unfortunately only heard that from his family members, leaving us to only ASSUME that the conclusion of the reversal of his impairment was ALSO Day's intention.
For a story that was very much about an individual's developing agency and self-advocacy: I believe I needed to hear from Day himself that he was good and ready for the final surgery. I only assume that was the case, as I saw his own body and mind in the hospital. But I believe, for dramatic success, that I could have used a basic, "I'm ready," from him, to make segment 4/4 more complete and contextual, against the story of adjustment and resilience we had so far seen before then.
And what a story of adjustment and resilience we had gotten, as Day had established a full career for himself, without Mhok next to him, during one of the time jumps of episode 12.
For my sake, as I process what I watched this weekend, I want to come to grips with what I thought were the major themes of this show, and see if I can come to some sort of sensible conclusion about what happened here.
This show was focused on:
1) the romance between Day and Mhok, 2) Mhok's caretaking and companionship being the lever to help Day out of his room and back into the world from which he had retreated after the onset of his visual impairment, 3) Day slowly learning how to function again in a society that prioritizes the able-bodied vis à vis his visual impairment, 4) Day learning how to self-advocate for himself in the face of those who condescend to him and/or keep him trapped in compassion bias postures,
and more that I'm sure I'm missing, but those are the themes that resonated the most with me.
I think the general feeling on Tumblr is that, save for the romance, that themes 3 and 4 were contradicted out of existence in the face of the sudden flip to the surgery of segment 4/4.
I think not hearing from Day himself that he was ready and willing for the surgery was a lost moment. I don't believe Day was ever acting as if he would choose anything else OTHER than surgery throughout the series. BUT, AT THE SAME TIME: what we had watched prior to 4/4 was his story of adjustment.
My biggest ethical concern here, vis à vis the audience reactions that I've read, is that NO ONE -- in fiction or in real life -- owes me a story of heroism. If there is an individual who has been impaired since birth, or is dealing with a degenerative condition later in their life, and has the opportunity to address or reverse the condition, who am I to say that that individual SHOULD NOT address their condition?
For me, this is huge. I believe this is a huge ethical dilemma that Last Twilight ultimately does not face. I wish this series had been much more centered, earlier on, about the utter REALITY that Day could have his condition reversed by surgery, in words he'd say himself, rather than assumptions made for him, on behalf of his family, who.... I presume were established to be some sort of legal conservators for him, as Mhon continued to be the one to receive eye donation text messages.
(I concede that I don't know if this is a more common set-up for disabled individuals in Thailand, as I would assume in the States, that Day himself would have been the one to receive that message directly.)
For this show to have seemed emotionally and artistically complete: I needed to hear from Day himself that surgery was an endgame that he was banking his hopes on. I also needed to understand, much more statistically clearly vis à vis the show, of the absolute risks that Day faced towards having permanent blindness for the rest of his life. Because the show ALSO needed to focus on the establishment of the romance between Mhok and Day, we missed out on the show taking time to explain to us, the viewers, of the absolute risks that Day faced in any of these scenarios -- and thus, we would have had MUCH more context into the nuances of the resilience that Day needed to establish for himself as he re-adjusted to society, with his numerous fates lying before him.
I'm going to borrow the words of @hallowpen in their final review here, to say that this show at the end needed much more "breathing room." I think @hallowpen is so right in saying it like this, because these two factors that I just laid out, geez -- the first 7/8ths of the series being about Day's social adjustment against the utter suddenness of the successful surgery and his sudden jump back to what's been translated as his "normal life" -- just clash so tonally. (I do wonder if we're getting as nuanced a translation on "normal" as we could be.)
I think this is about the most confused final review of a show that I've written. There is an ethical heaviness to all of this that's weighing on me, that I think I still need time to comb through.
I also feel that I simply do not know enough, by way of my lack of cultural competency into how Thai society approaches issues of public and private health, if Day’s unseen choice to get the surgery would have been a given among majority Thai audiences, AND that majority Thai audiences would not have asked for the kind of internal debates that I think the show could have used.
I feel thrilled that Day can see Poomjai/Mee, after making that wish in episode 11.
But I think, if this show was about a journey for someone to learn how to successfully advocate for his own agency -- that, at the very end, I needed to see that agency exercised, by him, to get to the part of the reversal of the impairment that I assumed he wanted.
Again: Day doesn't owe me his story of heroism. If fiction doesn't want to give me that, from a character with a recent impairment, I don't have the right to ask for it.
But the missing bits of artistry to get me, the viewer, to only an assumption, has led me to surprising ethical places, that will leave me wondering about what happened in this series for a long time.
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slowestlap · 4 months
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Bradley Scanes, Max's trainer during 2020-2023 seasons, did an interview with The Red Flags Podcast (22 Jan 2024)
I took one for the team and transcribed the bits I found interesting enough to share:
[12:40] Talking about the first times Brad met Max and how important it is that you click together well:
I think it's the most important. We had a good conversation in that time, I think the decision probably set on the fact that, for half of the time I was there, he was out driving the car. But I was there, talking to his dad, talking to his family. And really got on with Red Bull and really kinda fit into that mold and did for my whole 4 years with him and it was so nice. And I appreciate Max for this, his dad for this and the rest of the family because I felt part of the family the entire time which was really really nice and you know, we'll stay friends.
[24:00] From what I saw, I saw a guy that was elite. He knew where he wanted to go. You could see the drive, you could see the work ethic. The work ethic was tremendous. And for me it was just, I've gotta create the optimal space for him to be him and him to do him.
[27:30] Talking about flexibility and adaptability being the traits that separates greats from the rest:
He's on the grid being interviewed by two or three different tv stations, or something's happening with the car, he gets in the car and drives exactly the same no matter what's going on. And that's for me what I've seen from the kinda good to great.
[28:25] Was it hard to train him this year when he was so far ahead?
No, no. If anything he was more motivated this year than any year before.
[34:55] I feel like you have to be elite at falling asleep. Is Max like "allright time to go to bed" and he's like "okay [snores]"? Can kinda turn on turn off?
Yeah, he's really good at that.
[48:50] On staying motivated to win:
The mindset to keep winning is there. We love winning and it's what we get out of bed for, it's what we do our work for. We want to win no matter what it is. We going to Monza, going to Belgium, we wanna win that race. We want to win every single race and if the championship comes in the end the championship comes in the end. That's the mentality he has. […] The first one was motivated by winning the first championship, the second one was motivated by seeing off Ferrari and making sure we got the second (wdc) and that we're here to stay. And then the third one we were motivated by winning every single race and setting every single record that we could.
[1:14:55] Talking about other drivers posting tough work out videos while Max posted a lighter work out:
That's the thing actually, it's a conversation we've had before because we have the markers where we need to get to. How you get there doesn't really matter. We managed to do it in the most time efficient way, in the most enjoyable way for Max and how it doesn't impact on the other stuff as much. […] He doesn't like working out, everybody knows that. But when he's in the session he gets after it. It's just shifting that mindset, he might not want to do it ever again but there's not too much encouragement needed actually in session which is always nice. It's nice to work that way.
[1:16:10] If Max pisses you off what exercise are you doing to punish him? What's his least favorite?
Single-leg squats or planks.
[1:17:35] How long can Max plank for?
Decent amount of time. I don't actually remember but we must have hit like 4-5 minutes in pre-season test and a bit longer come summer break.
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toxophilitis · 5 months
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Horny Peeping Sister cont
Chapter 4
In the next few afternoons, Becky and Tom spent plenty of time in bed together. They experimented, learning different ways to please themselves and each other. Sometimes they fucked hard, and sometimes they fucked tenderly. But always they fucked with one ear open, ever alert for their mother.
As they grew more comfortable with their new-found sexuality, Becky relaxed enough to confide in her brother her excitement when it came to watching other people fuck. Tom was thrilled—and relieved—that Becky did not hold his voyeuristic tendencies against him. So, each pleased that the other was also erotic-minded, they decided to go out together one night and see what sexy scenes they could discover in their neighborhood.
They devised a plan where Tom would tell their mother that he had to go over to a friend’s house one evening to work on a school project. That same evening, Becky agreed to leave her piano lessons a bit early, telling her teacher she had to get home to help her mother. The plan went off without a hitch and the two met just as it was getting dark in an alley not far from their house.
“We’ll try the house on Guava first,” Tom suggested, leading his sister down the back passageway. “They like to have a quick evening fuck once in a while.”
“You mean you’ve watched them before?” Becky asked, trying to walk quietly.
“Sure! Did you think that I just started, like you?”
“Well, no,” Becky replied. “But I didn’t know you knew so much about what other people do.”
“I don’t really know much at all,” Tom laughed. “I just know who likes to fuck and when—and who doesn’t close their curtains. Now come on!”
They hurried down one block, and up the next. Ahead of her, Becky could see one brightly lit window and she felt her stomach tighten when she realized it was their goal. Tom’s hunch had been right. There were people in that room!
“What’d I tell ya?” Tom giggled. “Those horny sons of bitches can’t keep their hands off each other!”
Brother and sister moved around the trashcans across the alley from the back bedroom window, covering themselves as best they could. Then they crouched down and Becky’s eyes went wide when she got her first good look at two people actually fucking.
“I can’t believe it,” she sighed. “Look at them go! How can she take it?”
“I don’t know,” Tom mumbled. “But I know I can’t. Feel this!”
He took her hand and guided it to the front of his pants. Without taking her eyes off the hot sight in front of her, Becky felt his hard-on pounding against the fly of his jeans. She gave it an absent little squeeze and then let it go. Watching other people fucking was such a tremendous new experience, it took all of her concentration.
Inside the sparsely furnished bedroom, an older man and a very young girl were both naked on the bed. The girl, her face turned slightly away from Becky and Tom, was on her hands and knees and the man was taking her from behind with long, powerful strokes. The short dark curls on the girl’s head bounced when he rammed his cock into her, but she seemed to enjoy it. She held her body taut and absorbed his fucking power by slamming her ass back at him each time he filled her with his cock-meat.
As if from a distance, Becky heard her brother slide his zipper down.
Then she sensed as much as heard him start to stroke his rigid prick.
Becky was getting plenty hot herself. The idea of spying on other people while they fucked had excited her but not nearly as much as actually doing it did. She could feel her cunt getting all soft and squishy and she shifted around, rubbing herself against the crotch seam of her jeans.
“Turns you on, huh?” Tom whispered, his hands moving on his cock while he grinned at his obviously excited sister.
“Yeah,” Becky croaked. “Even more than I thought it would.”
Tom laughed, a low and dirty sound. “You gettin’ wet?” he asked.
Becky didn’t have to answer because her brother reached over and cupped the crotch of her jeans. Becky knew her cunt was very juicy and from the way her brother sighed she knew too that her cunt-cream had soaked the crotch of her pants.
“Runnin’ like a river,” Tom sighed, massaging her wet crotch and feeling it become even wetter.
In her crouched position, Becky opened up her thighs and balanced herself on just her tiptoes. With one hand she held onto a nearby trashcan to keep from falling. She pushed her cunt back against her brother’s groping hand and began to pant, his fingers thrilling her even through the covering of denim.
“Wait a minute,” she finally sighed, pulling away from Tom.
His hand again free, Tom went back to jacking on his cock while Becky quickly popped the snap of her jeans and stood up just long enough to pull them and her panties down around her ankles. Then she crouched back down beside him, her naked cunt giving off an odor in the night air.
“Yeahhh,” Tom sighed, guiding her one hand to his prick and then going back to work on her pussy, “this is gonna work out just fine.”
Becky whimpered her agreement as her fingers closed around the swollen shaft of his prick and his hand pressed against her steaming cunt. She felt a gob of her pussy-juice ooze out and smear his palm.
Tom’s cock was cool against her fingers, but after just a few quick strokes, it grew hotter and straighter than ever. She glanced down at it briefly and noticed the sexy way that it stuck out from the open crotch of his pants. Then her eyes flicked back to the horny couple in the bedroom.
The young girl, Becky was sure that she was even younger than she was herself, was down on her elbows with the man still giving it to her from behind. Her back was arched sharply and her naked ass quivered each time she took all of his prick-meat. Sometimes her face was pressed down against her arms and sometimes she tossed it back, rolling it around on her shoulders when she particularly liked the way the older man fucked her.
The man wore an expression of dominance and ecstasy. He gripped the girl around the waist, his fingers nearly reaching all the way around her. As he fucked into her with all his strength, he also pulled her toward him, making sure she got all the cock-meat there was to be had.  From time to time he held her ass pressed against the base of his prick and rolled his hips from side to side, wiggling his prick around in the depths of the girl’s speared cunt-channel.
“Incredible,” Becky sighed, her fingers automatically running up and down the length of her brother’s cock. “In-fuckin’-credible.”
Tom gave another dirty laugh and then jabbed his sister’s cunt with two fingers. Her pussy gripped his fingers very tightly. When he pulled them out, they were slick with her juices, and he smeared those juices across the exposed point of her thrusting clit.
Becky gasped and gave his prick a squeeze of appreciation. She was still very turned on by watching other people fucking, but as she got more used to the idea, found it easier to do two things at once, namely watching them and jerking her brother off.
She rubbed the pearl of pre-cum that she knew without even looking was at the tip of his cock around his straining prick-tip and listened with satisfaction as he sighed in pleasure. Then she gripped his cock tightly and worked the loose outer skin back and up over the solid inner core, feeling her crouching brother wriggling with mounting fuck-lust.
“That feels great,” he panted. “Do you like what I’m doing to your pussy?”
“Y-yess,” Becky sighed, thrusting her pelvis out and opening her cunt up. “Fuck me!”
Becky spoke through gritted teeth, and Tom did as she asked. He pushed his fucking fingers deep inside of her and then opened them up like a pair of scissors, forcing them against the walls of her pussy.
“Oooh,” she gasped, feeling as if he was stretching the shape of her cunt-hole.
In retaliation she took her hand away from his cock long enough to coat it with a pearly layer of spit. Then, her eyes still on the fucking couple, she smeared the tip of his prick with her wetness and proceeded to smooth the lubricant all down the sides of his prick.
“Ahhh,” Tom moaned, “yeahhh.”
Becky’s hand moved faster and smoother than ever now with the layer of spit between it and the loose skin of Tom’s hard-on. She relaxed her wrist and beat his meat just as he had taught her during their few but furious days of fucking.
As she massaged his cock, she made sure that her fingertips stayed against the sensitive vein that ran the length of his prick-shaft.  Becky didn’t understand why but her brother was extra-sensitive on that spot and so she massaged it, wanting to please him as much as possible.
Above her own panting she could hear her brother’s loud breathing. They were turning each other on with their hands and fingers, making their young fuck-parts hum with arousal. Becky had never dreamed that anything could feel so good as fingering her brother while he fingered her and they both spied on another couple fucking.
Inside the house the young girl that now making push-up motions with her arms. Sometimes her upper body was flat against the rumpled bed, her small tits squished beneath her. Other times she held herself up, her back straight, her tits pointing downward, two pink cones of flesh.  But whatever she did seemed to excite the man more, and he fucked her with quicker strokes than ever, jarring her with his fucking prick.
Becky found herself moving with the same rhythm as the girl who was getting fucked. As the girl took the man’s cock, Becky rocked forward and back, helping her brother fuck her with his pointed fingers. The night air was cool against the soft skin of Becky’s bare legs, but up toward her crotch she was as hot as a pistol.
With one hand tight around her brother’s prick and the other bracing her up against the trashcan, Becky could move only a little. But even that small bit of motion was enough in this sexy setting. She watched the man move his hands from the girl’s waist to the soft cheeks of her ass. His fingers dug into her pliant flesh and the girl opened her mouth, obviously crying out in pleasure and pain. She wiggled her ass in the man’s grip and Becky felt her own pussy lurch. It was the most erotic thing she had ever witnessed, even better than the sexy photos that she and Vicky had shared.
Although he was an experienced voyeur and had watched this particular couple fucking before, tonight seemed special to Tom, too. His dark head bobbed as he jammed his fingers into his sister’s pussy and moved with her hand, helping it jack him off. Her cunt-juice felt oily as it filled his hand and ran down to his wrist. How he wished he could fuck Becky right now just like the man in the house was fucking the young girl. Who was she? Tom wondered. Was she his daughter, or maybe his daughter’s friend, or maybe a babysitter? Tom’s horny mind went wild with the possibilities, and he fucked Becky’s cunt with his hand all that much better.
Becky rocked from side to side, making Tom’s fingers move more inside of her. Sometimes he gouged at the soft inner tissues of her pussy with his fingernails and it hurt her a little bit. But her soothing juices and his usually satisfying finger-fucking were quick to ease her pain and she thrust out to meet him, her cunt sucking around his jamming digits.
“Think she’s his kid?” Tom panted, his mouth very near to his sister’s ear. The question caught Becky off guard, and she only moaned in response.
“She can’t be his wife, do you think? She doesn’t look that old, and I can’t see any ring,” Tom continued, his hips thrusting up through the circle of Becky’s fingers as he spoke.
Becky moaned.
“Do you know her?” he asked, quickly looking over at Becky’s flushed face.
Becky absently shook her head.
Tom grinned when he saw how hot she was. Her whole face was distorted with passion and her tongue hung out the corner of her mouth. It was no wonder she couldn’t answer him, the boy realized.
“You’re almost there, huh?” he asked, his laughing eyes now trained on Becky.
“Uh-huh,” she gasped, her eyes rolling back in her head as he rubbed his greasy fingers across her clit.
“Then let’s go!”
Becky almost lost her delicate balance as her brother tore into her cunt with a new kind of frenzy. His fingers, now three of them, filled the mouth of her cunt completely and he let them fly in and out of the fluttering opening. Then, to further her pleasant torture, he began to revolve his thumb over her clit while he fucked her with his other fingers.
“Oh Tom!” she gasped as her fingers, too, increased their speed up and down the shaft of his prick.
For many minutes the two teenagers pounded each other like never before. Becky bit her bottom lip with the power of her efforts and Tom panted like a stallion, his balls rolling around until they slipped from the confines of his jeans and dangled in the night air. As Becky pumped his prick, his balls began to dance, jerked and jarred by her violent fucking motions.
Their eyes grew wider and wider as it became apparent that the man in the house was about to come. His fucking strokes became frantic and then he jammed his cock into the girl completely and bent forward, over her back, gripping her hanging tits and hugging her to him. Becky and Tom could see the way his ass twitched and they each imagined the thick stream of jism that he was depositing far up inside the young girl.
Tom’s prick vibrated in his sister’s hand as he watched the little brunette grind her parted ass-cheeks against the base of the man’s creaming cock. Her cheek was against the bed and her back sloped upward to meet the man’s hairy belly. Her ass twitched back and forth just a little bit, wringing the last of his come from his beefy balls.
Becky slammed her hand from the base of his prick-head to the root of his cock, holding his shaft tightly in her sweaty hand. Tom jerked his hips too, and together they brought him off just as the man in the house began to stir, picking himself up off the back of the kneeling girl.
“Yeah, Beckkky!” he gasped, keeping his voice low. “Uhhh!”
Becky’s hand jacked furiously on his spewing prick and his cream flew off in every direction. Becky took a few drops of it against her jacking hand and a few more on her bare legs and the side of one cheek.  She stuck her tongue out and tried to lick away the bits of his cream that dotted her face.
As he came, Tom let his fingers slack off in their fucking of her. But his come was a quick one and before the man had even pulled his cream-soaked cock from the cunt of the young girl, Tom’s moment had passed and he again focused his efforts on bringing off his sister.
Becky had been so close for so long that it didn’t take much for Tom to fuck her climax right out of her. Of course, he had some help as Becky watched the large older man coax the girl down onto her back and then fall between her splayed thighs to lick up his own cream.
“Oh fuck!” Becky gasped, the combination too much for her. “Here I come!”
“Do it baby, yeah!”
As much as he wanted to see the old man eating the young girl, Tom wanted to watch his sister come even more. Now, in the subdued light, he saw her face contort and her eyes roll as he felt her pussy dance around his embedded fingers. He kept his hand moving and it slid around in her juicy, climaxing cunt, instantly making the boy’s cock hard as a rock again.
Becky sighed and moaned, her knees waving apart and together around her brother’s pumping hand. The knuckles of the hand that gripped the trashcan went white with the effort as Becky swooned with pleasure and satisfaction. Her cunt pulsed with her climax, one moment feeling very taut and the next very loose and open. Tom kept fucking her until the last shudder passed through her body. Then he gavce her a moment to recouperate before he patted her moist, naked ass and shocked her back to reality.
“Come on,” he said, struggling to get his new hard-on into his pants.
“We better get home before Mom has a cow.”
He took Becky’s hand and helped her unsteadily to her feet. Like a zombie she pulled up her pants and ran her fingers through her hair.  Then, with Tom waiting to follow in a few minutes, she took one last look at the hot pussy-eating that was going on in the house and hurried off toward her home.
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beelijah4894 · 15 days
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I want to examine Chilcuck's change in relationship with Marcille
Quite frankly, I want to discuss the way his general trust changes and how it affects him.
Marcille and Chilcuck are good coworkers, especially at the start of the show. They respect boundaries and share a teasingly platonic relationship. Beyond that, they are fairly good friends; not extremely close but still good. For lack of a better explanation, they are close enough to be able to show genuine concern for the others comfortability rather than just their safety. For example, when Marcille is attack by the slime, Chilchuck offers his hanky to blow out the excess. Or when Marcille helped Chilchuck stitch up his neck wrap.
This show does a tremendous job of showing how these characters have already gotten to know each other and that they know each other well. When Chilchuck is trapped with the mimic, he trusts Marcille would be concerned enough to get help, but also knows her well enough to know she probably fell back asleep. Still, Chilchuck does trust these people. Enough even to share his age and very minor details about his life outside the dungeon.
A scene that really shows Chilchuck's trust in the group is right before the Undine attack when he is laying out the plan for the rest of the trip. It shows just how well they work together and Chil doesn't have to worry about too many details. He knows he is with a strong group. In fact, I'd say they are at their strongest right before and during the dragon attack. They make a plan together and work out each others strengths, in which Chil is able to help in the actual fight. (another less important fact, but when Laios is mentioning how they used to fight dragons, children isn't even named).
Then, the resurrection happens. Chilchuck is the number one person against it. So why does he stay? Why doesn't he stop it or leave the party? There are quite a few reasons. He can't go home without his party, he'd never survive. But he also doesn't want them to die and I think deep down, he does trust their judgement. They've stayed alive this long doing things he wasn't comfortable with and, while this is an extreme, he does have some form of trust there.
Chilchuck is such a follower of what is ethically right and he obviously doesn't agree with this. While, on the other side, Marcille thinks that "there is no morality in magic." It drives a stake through that bond because they both feel so strongly about it. And all of those adventures they had before almost don't matter when Chilchuck is talking to Laios about how, "[He] always found it strange. A well off elf girl wanting to explore the dungeon." (quote may not be exactly correct). Chil doesn't trust "that Marcille" anymore, at least, not as much as he used to. It doesn't help that she is frightening when she is walking the mini dragons away.
When Chil is complaining about his group to the orc (I can't remember her name, forgive me), he admits that they are consistently near death and how his party is reckless and stupid. We know now that he is afraid of losing them and was generally projecting his own feelings of fear. Marcille is included in this, as he complains about her. He, however, mentions her life after the dungeon. "How is she going to live a normal life after this?" He does care for her, but I believe he is projecting here also. How would he live a normal life after witnessing that. What would he do if they're found out?
And this is projected onto Marcille after a while. When Marcille is teaching Laios healing magic and Marcille and Chilchuck discuss party relationships. He implies that she shouldn't have even been let into the group. "I wish he had a better judge of character. That way he'd never find himself in a situation involving black magic." Not to mention in this episode, This being the shot after he says this. They are metaphorically further apart than they have been up until this point and Laios is right in the middle of it.
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That friendship is still there. We can see it in places like when Marcille is just holding Chilchuck during the cleaners episode and he's not really angry. But that trust and fear is still there. We see in the Chimera episode, Chilchuck trying to let Marcille know about Shuro and a few others knowing what happened; he is still unhappy to be in this situation and wants to find a way out, but there really isn't a way out.
"I knew it. I had a feeling it would turn out like this. Dammit!"
"Sorry, guys…"
followed by Chilchucks defeated expression. No reassurance, but no fighting either.
This wasn't my best analysis but I am putting my one year of college to use!
I can't wait to see how this changes and expands. I am still only on anime right now, bc my manga are on back order but I'll get there soon enough! @burnazog
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Text
One of Us is Guilty; Epilogue (Final)
Azul is now gone, but the actual room is known. Perhaps they will live to tell this tale.
Characters; Vil Schoenheit, Jade Leech, Silver, Azul Ashengrotto, Cater Diamond, Rook Hunt
Content; Murder mystery, the ending of this tale
Content Warnings; Blood, injury, death, murder, kidnapping (aka dead dove content)
Word Count; 1.3 K
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Epilogue (Part 1) | Epilogue (Final)
Do not put my work into AI If you enjoy my writing, check out my masterlist
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Azul was gone, in much a similar manner as Cater — the only evidence serving that he was there being the shattered glasses that now lay on the ground.
“AZUL!” Jade was too late though, and this was the most emotion that he had really shown that night; the bottled emotions finally coming to the surface. 
He knelt down and carefully picked up the glasses, paying no mind to the tiny shards that pricked at his skin through his gloves. Paying no mind to the pinpricks of scarlet that had begun to stain the white fabric. And he stared at the broken glass; in a way, it represented their night. Normal enough at first, but once you got too close, it cuts at you and makes you bleed… it hurts you. And Jade was hurting, he had been since he had found the Prefect’s body earlier that night. 
There was no time though; to mourn, to panic, to freeze. Time would come later, now was the time for action; to stop this here and now.
“Sorry,” Jade breathed, dusting himself off, and pocketing Azul’s glasses. “Are you both alright?”
Silver and Vil both looked at Jade, taking in the slight tremble of his hands as well as the pinpricks of blood that stained his gloves. The calm mask had slipped for a mere second, but they both knew that this affected Jade just as much as it affected them.
“None of us are alright,” Vil sighed, massaging his temples. “And you don’t need to apologize; it’s okay to not be alright… especially in this situation.”
Silver nodded his head in agreement. “If it were Malleus… I would have the same reaction,” he whispered. “You’re strong, Jade.”
Jade pursed his lips but said nothing, instead just offering them both a silent nod; he got the message, but he also knew this was neither the time nor place to lose control of himself. 
“But if the teacher’s lounge wasn’t the room–” Silver mused.
“The library,” Vil exclaimed, eyes widening at the realization. “Think about it; where was Rook at the beginning of all this? The library!” Vil calmed himself down though, since that outburst was quite unlike him. “And if Cater and Azul are being held there, that’s where they will likely be.”
Silver and Jade looked at each other before looking back at Vil, and they followed after him, hands on their pens; ready for the worst, but hoping for the best. Because hope was the only thing that they had now.
The library was brightly lit up, almost harshly so. And although it was bright, the brightness cast equally as dark shadows.
Rook was nowhere to be seen, and that was both reassuring and a cause for dread. If he wasn’t here, he could be anywhere — hiding.
“Stay together,” Vil murmured, taking the lead again.
Silver and Jade looked at each other, each of them taking to a side of Vil; Silver to his left, and Jade to his right. 
“MhmMMMMM!” 
Muffled yelling; at least one of them was alive.
Following the muffled sounds, Vil, Silver and Jade found themselves in a sheltered alcove of the library. And amongst the dusty books that rarely got any use was Cater, who was looking at the trio with tears in his eyes, and Azul, who was currently unconscious.
They were both alive. And while the trio felt tremendous relief that they were both alive, they couldn’t help but question why. 
Why did Rook spare them? Why did he kill Crowley? Why did he kill Crowley and Professor Crewel with magic, yet he slit the Ramshackle Prefect’s throat? Expired love potions caused some nasty side effects, but nothing to this level of violence and bloodlust.
Jade acted first though, cutting Cater free of his bounds first; using the broken glass from Azul’s glasses to cut through the ropes. 
Once Cater was free of the ropes, he ripped the gag off, taking it heaving breaths. “Get out,” he hissed, gripping Jade’s shoulders. “He’s planning something and you need to get out!”
Jade stared into Cater’s eyes and nodded, and took his hands off his shoulders before moving over to Azul. “We will, but not without both of you,” he said just loud enough that Cater could barely make it out.
Vil and Silver covered Jade as he cut through Azul’s ropes, and then carried his house warden like a bag of potatoes over his shoulder. Yes, he would be livid once he woke up, but this allowed Jade to carry Azul while wielding his pen, should he need to protect himself, Azul, or the group.
And right as they were about to cross the threshold of the library’s doors, they slammed shut, and all the lights died out.
It was a trap, but I already knew that. It was too easy. Vil thought to himself, and brought out his pen, illuminating their immediate area in a purple glow.
“Ah, leaving so soon?” Rook’s voice called out from the darkness, a breathy chuckle echoing off the walls.
Vil grabbed a book, and while the others were looking at him with shock — since now is not the time to read — he paid them no mind. “It seems that you caught us,” he answered, hoping that some banter would allow him to do what he needed to do. 
Give me a few minutes of time, please. Vil looked into the darkness, searching for that familiar face. “It is awfully rude of you though, to leave your guests in the dark. After all, you can only see the fairest of them all with proper lighting.”
Leave, get out now. Vil’s message got across though, and using the third-year’s distraction, Jade (still with Azul over his shoulder), Silver and Cater managed to slip through the door.
“Roi du Poison, what are you planning? Do you think I would be so foolish to accept anything from you knowing how your unique magic works?” Rook finally stepped out from the darkness, just enough to where he was faintly visible.
Vil quirked his brow at Rook and shook his head, “No, I know you well enough.” But do you know me when I’ve been backed into a corner? “And I know that the real Rook wouldn’t do any of this. It’s the duty of the beautiful to take responsibility for all of their choices. So — Take. Responsibility.” Vil hissed, his grip tightening on the book. 
Rook cocked his head, staring at Vil with empty eyes, the sclera still stained black. “Why does the cat chase the mouse, even though its food dish is full? Why does someone hunt, but not for food?” Rook mused, taking a few steps closer, not breaking eye contact with Vil.
Just a bit closer.
“For sport. For the thrill,” Vil tutted. “Was that what all of this was for then? For you to just have fun hunting down your professors and peers just because you were bored?!”
Rook stopped walking, just an arm's distance away from Vil. “No, it wasn’t fun; they didn’t know…”
Now.
Vil took a breath, stealing his nerves. “You trapped yourself, and you shall remain trapped until we find a way to fix this,” he placed a hand on Rook’s shoulder, and once Rook looked at Vil’s hand in curiosity, Vil pushed the book he was holding to Rook’s chest.
Remain trapped until we find a way to fix this.
And the book sucked Rook into its pages; a prison of paper. And Vil slumped to the floor. Out of relief — that for now, it was over — but also exhaustion. He was so tired.
And while, yes, Rook was now caught, he and the others still had far to go. With reporting everything that had happened. To figuring out how to free Rook and reverse the effects of the potion. To working through the trauma they all had lived through, since this whole ordeal definitely had taken its toll on all of them.
...
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...
...
Fin!
Author's Note; Thank you to everyone who voted throughout the duration of this event. Without you, none of this would be possible. I hope that you enjoyed this event as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
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self-winding · 8 months
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I think part of the reason that terfs and redpillers (by which I mean the, shall we say less egalitarian strains of MRAs) are able to win so many converts is that many of their critiques of mainstream feminism are actually valid. Because mainstream feminism (and by extension, mainstream trans activism) is a weird, lurching, awkward Frankenstein monster cobbled together from several conflicting schools of thought stitched together with "common sense" attempts to appeal to normies. Also it's not internally consistent. Ask two feminists what it means to be a feminist and you will get two completely different responses.
Terfs and redpillers point out the obvious flaws. They say things like "people do not have some kind of magical ineffable gender essence inside them that's completely separate from both socialization and biology" or "feminism constantly downplays the ways that men are disadvantaged in society and refuses to admit that women might have any gender-based privilege" and it feels to onlookers like someone is finally daring to point out that the emperor has no clothes. Because that's kinda the case. And the onlookers are then primed to accept the ideologies that these folks are peddling, even though those ideologies are as bad as or worse than mainstream feminism. Because they think, "Well, if the other guys/gals are wrong, then these ones must have the Real Truth."
People don't like to do the work of picking and choosing individual ideas based on whether or not those ideas make sense, they want a package. They want a bundled deal, they want a preexisting set of values that comes with a community and all the validation that goes along with it. If their current package is riddled with flaws, then they feel like they have to choose one of the alternative ones.
But you don't actually have to. Most value packages are not actually internally coherent and consistent, because they evolve in a haphazard fashion based on aligned goals and networks of alliances and a lot of other unpredictable factors. You will generally get better results with an a la carte selection.
There is tremendous pressure against this from the package-dealers. Stuff like, "If you endorse even one idea from Camp X or if you say anything that sounds even vaguely like what they are saying, you are One of Them and you are tacitly endorsing everything they stand for and are partially responsible for the atrocities that the worst of them have committed."
But that isn't true. It's important to be able to say, "You know, this person has some truly awful ideas but also some important insights."
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