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globalrebrand · 2 years

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When You Deny Them

Third Years Part I: Vil, Leona

Warnings: None, not sfw, gn!reader, fluff

A/N: I'll do more of these for the other third years, hopefully.

Vil Schoenheit

With Vil, sex usually happens organically and by mutual invitation. A cuddling session will turn frisky, a scheduled encounter you both have been anticipating all day, (you and Vil are so busy you have to plan sex 😢 but it can still be sexy!)

Otherwise Vil goes off your cues. Touch his thigh and give him sultry look and he’s prepared to put you back in your place for "groping him so brazenly." Crawl into your shared bed and straddle him, or whisper in his ear how much you missed him. After some teasing, Vil will put aside most things to indulge you.

However he’s not used to you not giving him the green light. And Vil prefers you initiate because he likes to feel wanted, it's the ultimately a little ego boost for him. So what does he do when he’s horny but you’re not matching his energy or giving him the signal?

He doesn’t actively seduce you generally. The only times Vil initiates are on special occasions, your birthday, anniversary, etc, or when he’s trying to interrupt your plans so you stay in instead of going out without him.

However, if you keep turning down his advances he'll preen just like a peacock would, metaphorically spreading his tail feathers and flashing them at you.

Vil will put in a little more effort to get your attention. He'll lounge around in silk pajama with the shirt unbuttoned and recline in seductive poses.

He’ll even sneak up on you shirtless, lightly perspiring while wearing some running leggings that show off his toned ass and bulge and whisper in your ear that he's about to take a shower and how boring it would be without you.

If you wave him off he might spill something on you so you have to join him

If those attempts don't work, he'll up the ante. Vil will plan a romantic evening at home, hiring a private chef and serving a meal exclusively of known aphrodisiac foods and red wine. He'll turn on music the two of you can slow dance to on you patio over looking your beautifully maintained garden. Then he presents you with a new piece of jewelry or fancy watch. Hoping that is overtures will entice you. After all what a good partner he is! Spoiling you so.

And if that doesn't work...Vil’s not above playing the jealousy card to rile you.

If he's being subtle he'll post a thirst trap on magicam that will get a lot of attention, if he really wants to make you jealous he'll make sure you see other people fawning over him when you go to events. He hopes you'll get so worked up that you just drag him in to the bathroom and ride him. Pretty please, he won't beg. yet

Vil would never admit it, but he kind of loves then you play hard to get, telling him your busy and denying him, it only makes him all the more eager to finally get you back in his bed, or shower, wherever really since he can be so competitive, but... after a certain time the fun wears off and he has to get more forceful.

He does this by nudging you awake if you fell asleep after completing your nightly skincare routine and telling you that he has something that can ensure you have good dreams (his dick), but if you rebuff him yet again he’ll just shoot straight.

"Is something wrong my love? Have I not made my intentions clear enough? I want you...very badly."

If you tell him you're tired or over worked and thusly not in the mood, he pulls one last resort.

He schedules a vacation where he can have you all to himself.

Vil gets it you are both busy with your respective lives but you both have needs that neither of you are fulfilling with your current routine. If you work he’ll call your boss and tell them he’s taking you on vacation for a month and that if they have a problem with it that he can get you a better job with the snap of his fingers.

He picks an extremely romantic vacation in a gorgeous locale but there's really little point, Vil just wants to keep you in the hotel room.

"Isn't this wonderful, I have you all to myself little one." He'll coo while he curls his arms around you as you look out of a balcony over crystal waters. "Zero distractions. How about you make it up to me? You can start on your knees."

Leona Kingscholar

Sex with Leona is frequent and if it doesn't start as a natural part of how much time you spend napping and cuddling in bed, Leona initiates by telling you exactly what he wants you to do. Sometimes he's sweet and sultry about it, "pretty little herbivore, why don't you go ahead and get yourself off on my dick, yeah?" Other times he's straightforward. "Oi herbivore, get over here and ride me." Depends on his mood.

Regardless, Leona is a man with expectations about the sex he is "owed" in a relationship and if he’s not getting it he’ll be vocal about it. He's horny damn it! You're supposed to take care of that.

If you scold him for being grumpy towards you he’ll probably respond with something snarky like "sorry, I haven’t had my dick sucked in a week" And yes a week is all it takes to have leona protesting about sexual neglect and alienation of affection.

When it comes to you, Leona is absolutely shameless. He goes on the prowl, for you. Stalks you in your (shared) home during the day. He'll tug your undergarments down and grope at you or fondle you over your clothes. He will knock it off if you tell him to in a really firm tone that's not what you want right now, but then he’ll start demanding reasons why the two of you can’t drop everything and fuck in this hallway. The servants would just look the other way so there's really no harm in it, right? wrong

If he’s really desperate he’ll try to service you to entice you. A rare occurrence. You’ll wake up and he’ll be kissing the insides of you thighs and asking if you need him to do anything for you or complaining that he's hungry. Leona makes it very hard to turn him away, but if you have the strength to bat a pining Leona away from your spread thighs power to you.

In another bout of desperation for you, Leona will purposely arrange a situation where you catch him masturbating. On your bed, in the shower, hell even on a couch in a very high traffic area of your home. Shirt unbuttoned, cock out, looking completely unashamed as he asks, "You can help me with this can't you herbivore?"

He'll start walking in on you naked more than he already does to try and strike when you're vulnerable. And while normally Leona's a bit stingy with compliments, they suddenly become free flowing, if a not a little guilt tripping.

"So pretty, herbivore, and for what? Depriving me of this beautiful body. It's such a shame."

After a while Leona makes you a proposition. "If I beat you in chess, I get to do whatever I want with you." He won't take no for an answer (he's painfully stubborn) but the game really isn't fair considering how good Leona is at chess. When he inevitably wins he'll gloat and make sure you make if up to him. He won't tell you, but he really missed your routine intimacy.

"Finally, I can get what I need." Leona purrs as he pulls you into his chest, when you complain about his statement he adds, "Don't worry I'll take care of you too, but you have a lot to make up to me...now on the bed and spread 'em, be quick about it."

#twst wonderland #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #leona smut #leona kingscholar #leona kingscholar x reader #leona x reader #vil schoenheit smut #leona kingscholar smut #vil schoenheit x reader #vil schoenheit #vil x reader #twst scenarios #twst imagines #vil smut

3K notes · View notes

strangersteddierthings · 1 year

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Writing prompt from this list, requested by @luciana-rowan. #60. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to seduce me." with Steve seducing Eddie with dnd.

This was supposed to be like 1.2k tops however you activated my secret trap card, which is DnD.

“Okay, that’s gotta be all there is, right?” Robin asks as she flips through the book again, pausing to flip back and forth between two pages, eyes narrowed like these pages have offended her personally. She’s leaning against the customer side of the counter at Family Video, and Steve is on the other so they can be facing each other.

Steve is double checking all the notes they’ve written out on notebook paper, Robin’s neat print mixed with Steve’s quick scratchy penmanship. They’ve finally condensed the contents (pages and pages of contents) into easier to look through notes and once they close Family Video, Nancy and Jonathan are going to join them at Steve’s and help him and Robin organize the notes in a way that will flow and be easier to follow.

Nancy because she’s good at the organization part, and Jonathan because he’s the only one of them that’s ever even played Dungeons and Dragons, even if it was only twice (he’s a good older brother, after all).

“Jesus Christ, I hope that’s all,” Steve slides the notebook across the counter and offers up a hand for the Dungeons and Dragons book. They swap, to double check that neither has overlooked anything.

“You know,” Robin says, “this is a lot of effort for one game. Do those kids really have all this memorized?”

“Seems like it,” Steve groans, running a hand through his hair. “That’s why I need the cheat sheet. I can’t be holding up their game for twenty minutes just to look up if something is allowed or not.”

Robin looks across the counter and grins at him. “I think it’s so sweet that you’re finally gonna agree to play. Going to this much effort for it, though... You might make Dustin cry.”

“Well, that’s the goal now,” Steve laughs. “Dustin cries or I’m flipping the table.”

“Well, now I want to be there. Either would be great to witness!”

“It’s not too late to make you a character,” Steve says, aiming for nonchalance and knowing that he might have hit the mark for anyone else, but this is Robin, and she’s always seen right through him. She was the one he ranted to this last time Dustin had asked (read: begged) Steve to join a game, the time that worked because Steve could no longer think of reasons to say no. He had said no, though, to Dustin’s face, but once he got home, he scooped up Eddie’s damn Dungeons and Dragons player handbook. Then called and recruited Robin to help.

Robin’s smile softens into something less teasing. “I can join, if it’ll make this less awkward for you.”

Steve’s surprised by her answer. “Oh. You’d- really?”

Robin shrugs. “Yeah, dingus. You might have had a long-standing weird vendetta about being asked to play but. Well, no one’s ever asked me before, so I guess I never had to think about if I would or not. It’s like you said on the phone ‘it might be nice to just to fight imaginary monsters for once’.”

“Our characters could be twins.”

Robin grins but before she can respond the ding of the door chimes. Steve swipes his hands across the counter, causing the book, notebook, and pencils to clatter behind the counter out of view. Back to work.

It all started when Dustin asked him to stay for a game months ago. It was the third Dungeons and Dragons game he’d dropped him off at after they’d survived Hell for the fourth (hopefully final) time.

“We play the game, but it’s also a time to like, catch up and chat,” Dustin said, all but pouting at Steve.

Steve had put his car in park and shut off the engine. “If Wheeler’s basement still smells, I’m leaving.”

“Yes!” Dustin cheered.

So, Steve followed Dustin into the Wheelers’ house, called a hello to Karen Wheeler, and made his way to the basement. There had been several startled looks in Steve’s direction, but he’d just walked past the table and plopped onto the end couch beside El, like it was something he did every day. Eddie, Will, Lucas, Erica, and Mike were already sitting at the table, using whatever they could find as chairs. Dustin and he were the last ones to arrive it seems.

El smiled up at him. “Hi Steve. It is nice to have company. I have been watching by myself, since Max can’t get down the stairs yet.”

Well, fuck. Now he’s got to walk Dustin in every time in case El’s in the basement, all lonely on the couch, watching her boyfriend play make believe. “Happy to keep you company, El. You have any idea what’s happening here?”

“I have an understanding of the story, yes,” El nodded and slid across the couch to be close enough to whisper to Steve. She filled him in on what she knew, which is not much because it was a new campaign, but she had sat with Mike and Will when they made their new characters and had been to the two previous games.

When the game got going, Steve watched as El leaned forward on the couch, elbows on her knees and chin in her hands. She had seemed raptured with the story, so Steve started to listen in, too. Dustin must have done a shit job at explaining how this game was played these last years, because as he had watched it progress it seemed more enjoyable than it had sounded when described.

More than that, Steve watched as the stress of real life melted away from the kids and Eddie. They were no longer a group of outcasts who had gone through Hell and barely survived. They were a group of friends having fun in a way Steve couldn’t remember experiencing since he had been in elementary school.

It was two more games and one pool party at his own house later before Steve got the idea to offer his dining room up for the game. Specifically, because at the pool party he saw Max sitting in his living room and did a double take at her, the pieces slotting together in his mind. Max couldn’t manage the steep stairs at the Wheelers house, but everything she needed to get to at Steve’s house was ground level – kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining table.

Next session before everyone scattered to the wind, Steve had said, “Hey, what do you say about moving this game to my house?”

Everyone sitting at the table whipped around to stare at him, mouths open and everything.

“What? My house doesn’t smell like armpit and, uhh, Max could come hang out again,” Steve shrugged and was almost mowed over by how quickly El threw herself on him, wrapping his waist in a hug.

“Yes! Yes!” She answered for everyone.

The next game was moved to Steve’s house. He’d rotated the couch so it would face the dining room table so Max, El, and he could sit comfortably and had even bought a bunch of snacks and soda.

Eddie had been the first person to show up. It had taken him four trips back and forth from his van to the dining room to unload everything he’d brought.

Steve eyes it all critically. “I haven’t seen you use half this shit when you play at Wheelers, yet to lug it back and forth. Do you really need it?”

Eddie shrugged, “Who knows? Better to have it and not need it or whatever.”

“You load and unload all this shit every game?”

“Yeah. Wheeler helps usually but he isn’t here so….”

“If you had asked, I’d of helped,” Steve said. “I didn’t know you would need it, or if you’d want it.”

“Oh.”

Steve’s not sure what to think of Eddie sometimes. They’re friends now, or at least friend-adjacent. Well, it didn’t used to feel like ‘friend-adjacent’ until Steve started to sit in on the Dungeons and Dragons games. He got to see a freer side of Eddie, then. One that smiled and laughed a bit more than Steve ever saw. It’s fine. Steve’s fine. He’s not- he is not hurt that Eddie hides this part of himself from Steve.

Besides, Steve knows he’s the problem. Because Eddie doesn’t have this problem with Robin, or Nancy, or Jonathan. He’s seen Eddie relaxed and chill when they hang out, so long as Steve keeps his distance. And even if he hadn’t been sure that he was the issue before, he was after the first time they made eye contact during a game (accidentally) and he watched Eddie reigning himself in. Made himself smaller right before his eyes. Steve doesn’t understand why but he does his best to give Eddie space.

He thinks, maybe, that he makes Eddie uncomfortable on some level. He doesn’t know how, or why, or if he can change it.

Anyway, the next few games after that Steve helped Eddie unload and reload his van until he finally offered for Eddie to just keep the things he didn’t need at his house.

“If you don’t, y’know, use all of this to actually plan each session, you can just keep it here,” Steve said as they cleaned up, Max, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin helping, since Eddie had offered to pick them up and drop them off this time.

Eddie paused in his gathering of papers to study Steve before saying, “You sure?”

“Yeah. It’s not like I use the dining table unless you guys are here. So, just take what you use and leave the rest.”

Eddie took the Dungeon Master book but left his copy of the players handbook.

And those series of events have led to this Thursday night, with Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, and himself sitting at his dining room table, making a character sheet for Robin, and polishing up the one Steve had already made, because Steve isn’t embarrassed about asking for help these days. Jonathan even brought him the set of dice Will had given him when he’d played.

Robin’s not going to join until the next game, but she is going to come watch. Jonathan had explained that adding one extra character would be easy to accommodate but adding two was harder.

“So, if you like the game and want to continue, talk to Eddie about finding a good way for Robin to join,” Jonathan says, pushing the finalized ‘cheat’ sheet and character back to Steve. “If you don’t like playing, she can just replace you next game.”

“Dustin’s going to lose his mind tomorrow,” Steve laughs, having found that the papers look good, and he should be ready to go.

“I think we’re all sticking around to see it,” Nancy says. She’s volunteered to bring Mike, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin tomorrow night, and Jonathan is bringing Max and Robin when he brings El and Will.

“Hey guys, thanks for this,” Steve says when they clean up and everyone gathers to head out.

“Anytime, man,” Jonathan nods to him as Nancy gives him a quick side hug. Robin gives him a hug that lasts far longer before following them out the door. Steve had asked if she wanted to stay over but her parents are expecting her home tonight.

Once Steve is alone, he heads to the phone and dials Eddie’s number.

Three rings and, “Wayne speaking.”

“Hi Wayne, it’s Steve. Uh, Steve Harrington,” Steve says.

Wayne doesn’t chuckle into the phone, because Steve’s not certain he can chuckle, but he’s definitely amused when he says, “well, Steve Harrington, Eddie’s not home. I can leave a note for him to call you back. I don’t know when he’ll be here.”

“Oh, a note’s fine. I’m usually up late anyway.”

It’s a little past eleven when his phone rings. Steve is half asleep on the couch, but the ringing wakes him right up. And if he trips over his own feet on the way to the phone, there’s no witnesses so it didn’t really happen, did it? “Eddie?”

A soft laugh on the other end of the line, “it’s like you were expecting me, Harrington.”

“I was. Or, uh, I was hoping you’d call any way, not expecting because that feels like… loaded somehow.”

Silence, then, “so what can I do for you?”

“Could you, um, come over early tomorrow? Like thirty minutes sooner could work. An hour would be better, though,” Steve looks down and realizes he’s twirly the phone cord around his finger. He stills his hand and yanks it away from the cord, tucking his fist to his chest to keep it in check.

“Oh, I know what you want,” Eddie’s voice says, suggestive in a way Steve can’t decipher, “Yeah, I can come over an hour sooner.”

He’s been caught before he can even surprise anyone, he realizes. That’s the suggestive tone. Eddie knows. And if Eddie knows what he wants, there’s no way Dustin doesn’t already suspect. Ah well. Surprise ruined but it’ll still be fun for the kids. He hopes. Steve puts a smile on his face so he won’t sound upset with himself when he says, “thanks man. I appreciate it. See ya tomorrow.”

Eddie arrives a little more than an hour early but Steve’s not going to complain. He’d been pacing in the kitchen near the front window, so he watched as Eddie pulled up. He has the front door open before Eddie is halfway to the door.

“Someone’s excited,” Eddie wiggles his eyebrows at him as he passes, moving to the dining room to deposit his armful of stuff on the table.

“Nervous, actually,” Steve says, shutting the door and turning to follow. He almost runs into Eddie when he gets to the turn that leads into the kitchen, and dining room beyond it. “Oh, hi. Thought you were at the table.”

Eddie looks confused. “I gotta go grab the lunchbox. Wait- did you say nervous?”

“What do you need your lunchbox for?”

They stand in the kitchen entrance, just kinda blinking at each other for a moment before Eddie says, in a very confused, slow voice, “maaaaybe I don’t know why I’m here early. What did you want?”

Steve heads to the dining room, motioning for Eddie to follow. He pulls out two chairs next to each other, sliding into one and waiting for Eddie to sit in his. Steve reached across the table, to the player’s handbook and the notebook under it, dragging them closer. He turns to be facing Eddie, sitting sideways in his chair now. “I wanted to see if it was okay for another person to join the game. Today.”

Eddie’s eyebrows get lost behind his bangs with how high he raises them. “What? Who do you know that wants to play?”

“Uh, me,” Steve says, pulling the notebook out from under the handbook, taking out his character sheet and flipping the notebook open to the end of his notes, where he’d taken the time to write out some bullet points with ideas for his character backstory. Then he fishes out the dice from his pocket and deposits them on the table.

Eddie is deathly still and absolutely silent. The only movement is his eyes, which flick between the dice, the pages, and Steve’s face. He’s quiet so long that Steve is worried he made a mistake.

“Or, uh, if you’d rather I not- sorry, I just- Dustin tries to invite me all the time so I thought it would be okay,” Steve says, moving to close the notebook. That’s when Eddie comes back to life, his hand flying out to catch Steve’s, halting his hand.

“No! No, of course it’s fine. I’m just- surprised,” Eddie says, slowly, “you’ve been so against it, very vocally, so I’m just surprised.”

“Yeah. I was kind of an asshole about it all, wasn’t I? But when I think about it, like really think about it, I don’t know why I was against even trying it, y’know? Leftover shit from high school, I think. But I’m not that person anymore, so…” Steve shrugs with one shoulder, not sure why he’s telling Eddie these things. They don’t talk like this, usually. Steve finds he wants to, though. “Plus, watching the games, it looks like you guys have fun. Like, real, forget about your day kinda fun. Besides, Erica enjoys it, and she’s the coolest out of all of us. If Erica likes it, it can’t be just a nerd game.”

Eddie laughs and Steve gets to see that carefree smile Eddie seems to reserve for the kids. “Can’t argue with that. Erica is the coolest of this lot.”

“So, here’s what I was thinking,” Steve says, pulling the notebook between them to discuss the ideas Robin and he had come up with. He was going to play a fighter, so he didn’t have to worry about memorizing spells. If Eddie’ll let Robin join, he’d like for them to be twins, or siblings of some sort at least. Eddie nods, jumps on that instantly. Offers for them to have been separated on accident, so they could work on adding Robin more naturally later, with their two characters having been looking for each other this whole time.

Before Steve even realizes it, he’s been word vomiting for far too long about his character’s backstory and why he’d want to join the Party and Eddie has been silent the entire time, just listening to him, a soft smile on his face. “So, that’s what I got for now.”

Eddie let’s out a whistle and says, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me.”

Steve’s brain skips, or freezes, or something, because it just replays that whistle and those words for a few second in his mind before it helpfully supplies the thoughts ‘yes’ and ‘I didn’t know I could seduce you’. He’s just had an epiphany. Unfortunately, his mouth is still working while his brain does this, so it says, “are you feeling seduced, Eds?”

“AHAHA!” Eddie lets out a laugh that is more a bark before he stands up quickly, the chair falling backwards because he hadn’t bothered to scoot the chair back to give him room to stand. “Funny. Dustin’s right, you’re hilarious. I need a cigarette,” and then he all but runs out the front door.

Steve just watches him go before picking up the fallen chair. He can’t wait for Robin to get here. He needs to talk to her.

When Eddie comes back in, it’s with Robin, Jonathan, Max, El, and Will. Steve slaps his notebook shut quickly and hopes that Will didn’t notice it. Eddie is talking animatedly with Will upon entry, though, so he seems safe. Robin fast walks to the table and scoops Steve’s dice and shoves them in her pocket, because Will will recognize them if they stay out.

Steve stands, notebook in hand, and grabs Robin’s wrist with his free hand and drags her out back. He makes sure the slide-glass door is closed firmly and leads her around to the other side of the pool. He doesn’t want any eavesdroppers.

“Robin. Ok, so you remember by sexuality crisis last year?”

“Of course, Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf got you hot under the collar,” Robin says, “how could I forget? You cried about it.”

“You cried about yours, too! I just wasn’t there for it.”

“Not mocking!” Robin holds up her hands in defense, “just saying.”

“Robin. I think I like Eddie.”

“Oh!” her eyes go wide, and her mouth stays in a little ‘o’ shape for a moment. Steve stands there, letting her process. “Oh. Ooohhhhhh. That- that makes sense in my mind in a way I cannot put into words. Of course, it’d be Eddie Munson -the exact opposite of Michael J Fox, by the way- to also get you bothered. Why didn’t I pick up on that? How did I not notice this?”

“Because, despite our best efforts, we have yet to successfully combine,” Steve says, linking his fingers the way Robin had that day in Family Video before unlinking them to flip a hand back and forth between them. “We do not have time for you to have a crisis about it because I am having a crisis about it, and one of us needs to be level-headed.”

“Right,” she sobers instantly. “Right. We cannot spiral together. You first, I’ll wait my turn. So, you like Eddie. Enough to…. Want to do something about it?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, that was a quick answer. You… you really like him. Give me the details. What am I working with here.”

Steve thinks about it. “When he held a broken bottle to my neck, I was terrified. And a little aroused.” Robin says ew. “I’ve thought he was hot since then. But… when he came to at the hospital, all high on the medicine. He’d smiled softly at me and the first thing he said to me was glad you’re here, big boy. I think the actual crush started then.”

“Make sense, tracks, what with your hero complex and praise kink,” Robin nods and paces before turning back to him. “And the realization?”

He can’t argue the hero complex and praise kink thing, because they both know that would be a lie, so he answers, “When I was done rambling about my character idea, he whistled and said If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me and my first thought was yes.”

Robin’s eyes light up before she starts marching in a small circle around him as she thinks out loud. “Fuck, Steve, you really don’t do anything halfway. Alright. So, you want to do something about this, but you have to decide what you want to do. Because you are my soulmate and I want you happy, but like Eddie is also my friend and if you are experimenting… Just. You have to be sure.”

“I’m sure.”

She stops her circling to squint at him and read his mind, he supposes, because her face lights up in delight. “Oh shit! It’s not sexy thoughts! You want to like, hold his hand and cuddle on the couch, and like, cook dinner together and serve him breakfast in bed and bicker about whose turn it is to pick up Dustin from school!”

“Jesus Robin, can you not shout that! We are out here, so they,” he flings his hand in the direction of the house, “don’t hear. But, yeah. I… I like him. A lot.”

“I can see that. Like, really see that. You like him so much that just his company would be enough. Disgusting. Let me think,” she waves him off, like he has been dismissed but instead she’s the one walking away, walking figure eights around area in front of him for a couple minutes before whirling around to say, “You have to make your character a flirt. An outright slut, even. For information gathering purposes of course.”

“What?”

“He plays all the other characters, Stephan,” she says, dragging out his name to make it sound like ‘Steff-fawn’, “and you know he’s good at this… being in character thing! So, like, if you can trip him up by being all flirty, then that’s like, got to be a sign that he likes you, too, right? If he doesn’t like you, he can take it in stride. But! If he’s crushing on you, too, this will be like, too good to be true to him, yeah? That’ll fluster anyone, especially if he plays on our team and probably hasn’t had many guys openly hitting on him. Plus, you can always tell when someone likes you. You haven’t been checking for signs that Eddie might like you because you weren’t even aware it might be possible. And I’m not going to get your hopes up, Eddie could be, like, a totally straight dude, but when will it ever be safer to test this?”

Steve nods. “Yeah… yeah. Eddie is good at this character thing. And I do know when people are interested. And this is safe. If I flirt and he doesn’t react, or if he recoils in disgust, I can write what I’ve done off as it’s the game and I’m just trying to be a good player. Oh God, Robin, what if he’s like not okay with gay people.”

“Then we bodily throw Eddie out your front door, never speak to him again, and tell Will he’s the new Dungeon Master.”

“That seems extreme.”

“It’d be fitting. Eddie didn’t bat an eyelash when I came out to everyone after my date with Vicki. He actually congratulated me. So, if he only hates gay men then he’d be a disgusting lesbian fetishist and he’ll have to go ASAP. I doubt that’s the case, though.”

Steve barks a laugh and jerks his head towards the house, an offer to return inside. They turn towards the house and are greeted by everyone lined up along the glass door and windows that lead to the pool. A few of them (Nancy, Max, Will) have the decency to try and pretend they weren’t watching by turning away quickly but otherwise everyone just stares at each other until Dustin hauls open the glass door and shouts, “Are you two fighting?”

“No, we aren’t fighting,” Steve says as he shoves his way past Dustin and back into the house. “Let me grab the snacks and the game can begin.”

Steve moves to the kitchen, with Robin and Eddie following behind to help gather all chips, dips, candy, and soda and deposit them on any nearby surface in the dining room. Steve then slides into the chair to Eddie’s left, where Dustin usually sits before anyone else can take that seat.

Dustin slides into the chair next to him instead of arguing about it, saying, “Captivated, aren’t you? Guess I’ll let you have my spot so you can pay attention better. Told you this game was great.”

“I’ll be paying plenty of attention, don’t you worry,” Steve says to Dustin before turning to Eddie, who has taken his place at the head of the table, and winking at him, “right, Eds?”

Eddie stops moving for barely any time at all, and honestly, if the whole point of where he sat wasn’t to be close enough to catch and catalogue all of Eddie’s reactions, he would have missed the freeze. “Oh yeah. Steve’s been following the story closely.”

Steve looks around the table and watches the kids exchange glances and shrugs before Eddie begins to recall what happened last game and where the Party is headed now. Steve waits for his cue. Eddie’s got several ways to introduce Steve’s character, just in case the kids don’t grasp onto the plot hooks. But they’re good players, who know when an adventure hook is being dangled in their face. When their characters read the notice board, looking for quests, and come across the one of a man looking to hire help in searching for his lost sister, they buy into it quickly.

“You find yourselves at the tavern where the help wanted poster said to meet. There are three other people inside this early in the day, not including the barkeep.”

“Can I go and ask the barkeep if he knows who put the poster up?” Will asks. Will speaks in the first person who it comes to his character far more often than anyone else, Steve’s noticed.

“Of course. The barkeep is a surly looking dwarf who keeps rearranging the glasses behind the counter. He sees you approaching and listens to your question before saying,” Eddie says in his normal tone, before dropping into a deeper, Scottish accent. “Aye. You passed him on the way in. He’s sitting there, close to the door.”

“Do we approach as a group?” Lucas asks, and after a quick discussion and confirmation that the table their quest giver is sat as has enough seating for them all, they agree to approach together.

Eddie nods and says, “You all approach the table and the figure sitting there looks up as you do. Steve, please describe what they see as they approach you.”

Steve opens his mouth to answer but the table explodes. Dustin shrieks and throws out his hands to grip Steve’s arm and just shake him. “Oh my God. Oh my God. OH MY GOD. STEVE!” Dustin is yelling basically in his ear. Everyone is exclaiming something in excitement, and it gets loud, fast. With no end to the onslaught of screaming in sight, Steve resigns himself to this fate.

It takes far longer than it should for everyone to quiet down, and Steve’s a little red after all of it. Because he hadn’t expected this reaction. He thought Dustin might be a little hyped, sure, but this level of love he feels from all these kids, and for them, and how doing something so small, like joining their game, brings them this much joy… He regrets not joining sooner, honestly.

Finally, they quiet and Steve gets to describe his character, Sir Gregor of House Buckington (Robin’s idea of a last name, he’s not afraid to throw her under the bus for that) and the game progresses. When Steve’s asked to make his first roll of the night, everyone jumps to offer their dice, but he just calls out to Robin. She still has his in her pocket. He shoots a look at Will, who he can see recognizes the dice, and smiles at him as he rolls his first D20.

It's almost two hours into the session before Steve sees his chance to flirt. The Party is trying to negotiate a discount for some healing potions, and they’ve failed their check. They can’t afford the potions and Erica, playing the rogue, offers to try and steal them.

“Can I give Erica advantage by distracting the shop keep?” Steve asks.

Eddie looks intrigued by these. “… Maybe. How would you distract him?”

“Sir Gregor will lean against the counter and say ‘Sorry about my companion’s awkward attempts to swindle you of your goods for a fair price. I should have stepped in sooner, but I was a bit… captivated watching you shut them down’ and try and fluster this guy by flirting with him.”

It’s a mixed bag of reactions from the kids that Steve barely hears because he’s focused on Eddie. Eddie, whose face looks a bit redder than it usually does.

“You wanna… flirt with the shop keep?” Eddie’s voice is a bit higher than normal too. Interesting.

“If that’s allowed.”

“Umm, uh, y-yeah,” Eddie stumbled over his words and Steve can feel himself grinning like the cat that got the cream. Eddie is flustered. Steve has flustered him. Oh. This is going to be a good game. “Roll a persuasion check.” Steve gets a 17. “Lady Applejack, if you would, roll sleight of hand with advantage as Sir Gregor seems to have successfully taken the attention of the shopkeep.”

“I am going to enjoy having Steve play,” Erica says as she picks up her dice. “No one else helps me steal things.”

They play for almost four hours, an hour longer than normal, but Steve is surprised by how quickly it slips by and finds that he’s a little disappointed that it has to end, especially since they’ve stopped one round into combat. It’s a terrible place to stop, but if the kids are any later getting home there might be a reckoning done by some parents. The only reason there isn’t one now is because Nancy, ever practical about things, called all the parents about an hour and a half ago to let them know the kids might be an hour or two late getting home.

“We’ll pick up next week,” Eddie says, standing to get a good look at the battle map to copy it into his notebook.

“You can just leave it out so you don’t have to recreate it,” Steve says, like he does every week. “I won’t mess with it.”

And like every week before, Eddie just pulls out his graph paper and starts to track how many squares apart everyone is as the kids pack up their own things and head out. Steve walks them all to the door and Robin hangs back to talk, waiting on the front step. Steve walks out and shuts the door behind him.

“He’s absolutely into you,” Robin whispers. “Do you know that this means? We can go on double dates! I’ll be Eddie’s fake date, because I’m not sure Vicki and Eddie should be left alone to conspire against us but-“

“I think it’s a bit too soon to be planning double dates, Buckley,” Steve cuts her off. “Yeah, Eddie’s into me. But like… into me? Does he even know he’s into me?”

“Right. Could also be in the denial phase, still,” she says, then deepens her voice in a poor imitation of Eddie’s and adds, “I think Steve is hot but in a purely platonic friend-like fashion.”

He laughs, shoving Robin towards Jonathan’s car, where everyone else is loaded and waiting, “go home.”

She leaves laughing and Steve waves them off before going back inside. He finds Eddie at the table, placing the minis carefully back into the tacklebox he keeps them in.

“Seriously, you don’t have to put everything away,” Steve says and Eddie jumps.

“Jesus! Don’t sneak up on me,” Eddie clutches at his heart dramatically.

“I didn’t sneak! You’re lost in your own head if you didn’t hear the door slam or my footsteps,” Steve leans back against the wall, watching Eddie. The other man nods to himself, hands still fiddling with a mini in his hand. The one he’d used for Steve’s character. Steve watches and wishes he could read Eddie’s mind as easily as Robin reads his.

“Thank for playing tonight,” Eddie finally says, placing the mini back onto the table instead of in the tacklebox before turning to Steve. “You did real good.”

Steve gives him a smile he hopes Eddie can see if soft and fond, “yeah? I put a lot of effort into this. Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan helped me.”

“You recruited all three?”

“Yeah. I wanted to put in the effort. I’ve watched several games now; I see how much time you all put into this. It’d be an asshole move to agree to join and not, like, at least read the rules.”

Eddie hums an agreement, “would be kinda asshole-ish, but you’re certainly not an asshole anymore.”

Steve fakes wounded, “you thought I was an asshole?”

“Well, it would be a pretty dick move on my part to think you’re an asshole after everything,” Eddie takes a step towards Steve, then seems startled at himself, like he can’t believe he moved. “Anyway, you willing to play again next week?”

“Yeah, man. Looking forward to it.”

“Cool. Cool,” Eddie nods before turning to gather up the stuff he brought with him. “I’ll see you next week, then.”

“Totally.”

Steve watches Eddie head towards the door and feels something like regret in his stomach. Logically he knows he doesn’t have to rush this. Doesn’t have to fling himself at Eddie immediately now that he knows he wants to, knows that Eddie is at least enough into him to get flustered with his ‘fake’ flirting.

But.

But Steve has lived through four apocalypses and Eddie almost didn’t survive one and life is worth taking a chance on doing things he never thought he’d do (like playing and enjoying a game of Dungeons and Dragons), so- He picks up his D20 from the table and gives it a roll, leaves it up to chance if he should do this now or wait.

It rolls around the table, bounces off the books still left on the table before rolling to a stop.

Eh, 8 is good enough.

“Eddie, wait!” Steve flings open his front door and shouts. Eddie, in the process of backing out of the driveway, brakes. Steve runs across his yard and Eddie, window already cracked, rolls it the rest of the way down.

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go on a date with me,” Steve says, then winces. He used to be better at this. “Please. I mean, go on a date with me. Oh, that sounds worse, like I’m expecting you to. Which I’m not-I don’t expect you to like me just because I like you. Fuck, I’m ruining this. Would you like to go on a date with me, please?”

Eddie just lets him shove his foot in his mouth, but he looks fond more than annoyed. Still, he says, “I, uhh, didn’t know you were… into guys.”

“Guys in general, sure. You, specifically? Ridiculously into you.”

That brings a smile to Eddie’s face. “Yeah?”

“So, uh date tomorrow? After I get off work?”

“Tomorrow,” Eddie agrees easily.

Steve watches Eddie drive away and suddenly he can’t wait for work tomorrow. Robin’s going to implode when he tells her.

Eddie, after getting off the phone with Steve the night before the game: Oh, he wants to do drugs before having to suffer through watching us play dnd again. Better bring my druglunchbox

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #platonic stobin #they're slowly combining they just dont know that yet #my fic

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miindfucked · 3 months

Text

benedict bridgerton fic rec

nsfw fics are marked with🔞. all work has been credited to their respective authors.

It Had To Be You by @fayes-fics

Summary: Modern AU romcom. A love story heavily inspired by When Harry Met Sally.

Chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, (ongoing)

Whatever the Poets Say by @pagesfromthevoid

Teaser: “What if I wanted to wait for you, Benedict?” She repeated, finally using his name. The way it felt on her tongue was almost sinful; but she loved it. “What if I am willing to walk to the ends of the earth and back, simply to see if you could love me?”

Chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen🔞, eighteen🔞, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two🔞, epilogue.

Foolish Endeavor by @murdockparker

Summary: Benedict Bridgerton was certainly no fool. Bad at cards, sure, a bit taller than most, that was a given, but he was seldom called a fool. Though, one could argue that falling for your best friend was a foolish endeavor, indeed.

Chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven🔞, (ongoing)

Somewhere Only We Know by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Five hours of snowfall, four miles from the nearest paved road, three weeks before Christmas, two old friends and one bed….

From A Father To A Son by @thebabblingbrookenook

Summary: Benedict has held his father’s words close to his heart for his entire life. The model of love that his parents provided set an uncompromising standard. All of the pieces to the puzzle didn’t fully align until he fell in love with you. Although his father is gone, Benedict gets to experience the love of his life through the lens of his father’s parting sage wisdom.

(Be)Longing by @fayes-fics

Summary: Mutual rescue, mutual jealousy, longing and belonging.

This Is My Idea by @theship-thewalrus

Summary: based on the song 'this is my idea' from The Swan Princess

This Book Is Dedicated To... by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU. Benedict helps cure some writer's block.

to be loved and to be in love by @desertno3

Summary: You had been best friends with Benedict for as long as you can remember, your relationship forged during the years your mothers were preoccupied with the youngest children and your fathers were busy instilling leadership qualities in the eldest children. It seemed to be a perfect match for a future marriage, or so everyone had thought. However, your first season had come and gone and Benedict had not been as active a participant as his mother had hoped he would be. You had left London betrothed to someone else and that was that. But news about your disastrous betrothal reaches Aubrey Hall in the spring. And it changes everything.

When The World Is Free by @fayes-fics

Sypnosis: It is late summer 1939, when you arrive in Paris from New York to begin a year of adventure. A deal struck with your parents to see a little of the world before settling down and marrying your ‘childhood sweetheart’ Stanley.

You soon find yourself with a spirited young English housemate Eloise, enjoying all that the cosmopolitan European city has to offer…. Until a few weeks later when war is declared. In this newly uncertain world, Eloise’s mother dispatches her brother to bring her home. Your plan is to board a ship back to America… but circumstances conspire to leave you possibly trapped in France with no way home. Eloise refuses to leave the country without you, even as you secretly grow attached to her beguiling brother, Benedict, who is everything Stanley is not.

There appears to be only one solution to your dilemma to ensure safe passage out of the country as invasion seems imminent… but it will mean your life is forever changed, even when the world is free again.

Chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, (ongoing)

Innuendo Bingo by @fayes-fics

Summary: Someone knows a LOT of stupid synonyms for orgasms…

Truth or Dare by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU. A drunken game of Truth or Dare leads to an interesting development.

Rhythm by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU. Filthy talking and dancing with Benedict.

All The Love (Under a Mistletoe) by @seasonsbloom

Summary: modern!au. you have been in love with your best friend's older brother for years. on Christmas eve, things finally come to a head.

Summer Nights by @murdockparker

Summary: Benedict was born to be a father, she was sure of it.

Waking Up by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU. What is the best way to be woken up…?

In the Oven by @murdockparker 🔞

Summary: She was never all that good at baking, so perhaps a bit of assistance from her husband would be a sufficient help?

Inspiration by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Benedict just needs a little inspiration to complete his artwork.

Happy Birthday, Mr Bridgerton by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Benedict's wife gives him the best possible birthday gift.

Transitions by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU, friends to lovers, it’s very distracting when a Bridgerton becomes a triathlete…

Breaking and Fixing by @fayes-fics

Summary: Benedict’s wife likes to fix things (and break them).

Mine by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Benedict's wife gets lots of male attention at a party and he gets very jealous.

A Treat by @fayes-fics 🔞

Prompt: “don’t be shy; come sit on my face, love.”

Acting Up by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Your husband Benedict gives you a treat during a Bridgerton family dinner.

Sonnet #29 by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Your husband Benedict and you have a late night tryst in the billiards room of Bridgerton House.

Lightening & Lilies by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Simply put, greenhouse sex during a thunderstorm.

Tell me (all the ways you missed me) by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Having been apart for 3 weeks, you share an eventful carriage ride.

#benedict bridgerton #benedict bridgerton fic rec #farzana's recs

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crookedkryptonitebeliever · 2 months

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I discovered your blog yesterday, and I confess I became obsessed with Cyprus😫

I hope I'm not bothering, but I wanted to ask if Cyprus would like to have children? And what would he be like as a father

Yves as a parent

Blanche as a parent

Montgomery as a parent

i prommy my other ocs are better than cyprus </3 i do not like this stimky man as much as my other ocs

tw: Transphobia, homophobia, Cyprus is a misogynist, violence

Cyprus isn't necessarily too keen on having children. He very much rather devotes all his time to you. But that doesn't mean he will be a horrible parent like how Yves would be.

If you have a child with him, it's most likely due to an accident or an attempt at baby-trapping you. He would absolutely stop at only one child though, he doesn't want more draining his money and energy.

He would fork over his cheque to hire a nanny to care for his child when they're a baby, choosing to spend his time going on dates and romantic getaways with you, Not to say that he wouldn't change a diaper and lose some sleep to burp them, he just wants to keep the stress under a minimum. Only when they reach age 3, he will step in and handle the disciplinary and developmental side of things.

A daughter would have an easier life than a son. Cyprus would be much softer towards her, paying for her tuition fees and generally becoming that overprotective father figure. He will be very present in her life and yours too, forcing family bonding time whether you or the child likes it or not. You are going to her every piano recital and ballet performance with him, he wouldn't allow himself or you to miss it for the world.

Whoever makes her cry would be pummeled into the ground by Cyprus, she just needs to tell him a name and the deed would be done. In school, Cyprus's daughter would most likely be the mean girl, the queen bee of the bullies because he would be actively encouraging becoming the alpha bitch in class. He would be spoiling her with all kinds of girly things; makeup, the prettiest dress, and all the hair and manicure appointments she would ever want. He would bond with her by taking her out to malls, carrying all her shopping bags as if he were her personal servant.

No chores, just excel in studies. He leaves the burden of teaching her basic survival skills to you, but otherwise, the only requirement for her to meet is straight As on her report card.

He approves of his daughter joining the cheer team, dance classes, or any clubs that elevate her social status while being 'girly' in his eyes.

Cyprus prefers it if she's straight, bagging a boyfriend that would treat her right. However, he would begrudgingly accept if she's a lesbian or bisexual, as long as she's calling the shots in the relationship.

The downside to this is that he would be annoyingly misogynistic at times, giving her slack just because she's "just a female" and couldn't handle things like a man. He wouldn't let her follow in her father's footsteps in boxing, take an interest in 'boyish' things, or even cut her hair shorter than shoulder length.

He would get ugly if his daughter transitioned into a man or took on a more tomboyish personality, yelling and shouting as his worldview crumbles around him. It is excruciatingly hard for Cyprus to accept this, he would most likely disown them and stew in his bitterness and hurt for years to come. When he matures and adopts an open mind with your help and coaxing, he will only be open to reconnecting with his child. However, he wouldn't be the first to apologize, still thinking that his child decided to throw the first punch by killing off his little girl.

He would call his child by their deadname, misgender them, and being an overall patronizing asshole to them. But he is desperately trying to change them back into his daughter, failing to realize that isn't happening.

Nothing will get through to him; inevitably, his child will cut all contact with him. Sending Cyprus into hysterics because he simply cannot accept that some people aren't going to be confined to the sex that they were born with. He would become extremely clingy towards you, though. Fearing that his wife will also leave him too.

But that is if his child is genderqueer. If his daughter grows up to be a straight, cis woman, he would just continue being protective of her, vetting all her partners and scaring away the unworthy boys. She would definitely have a life on her own, but she has to call him from time to time. Because he's a strong believer in "The phone works both ways".

When it comes to sons, there would be no coddling. No spoiling- he would have to earn his own money to get what he wants. No emotional support; if he came home crying, he would receive a barrage of insults for being effeminate, leaving him to fend the bullies off by himself. Cyprus would teach him self-defense in the form of boxing from a very young age, though, making his son a carbon copy of Cyprus in his youth. He would encourage the child to be aggressive, outspoken, and direct, the complete opposite of what he would tell his daughter to do.

Unlike his daughters though, he wouldn't encourage his son to be a bully. Because it's harder for him to get away with it since he would think using his fists. But he does not accept weakness from his son, he would egg him on to continue the fight, but never, ever start it.

He would work his son like a dog, making him mow the lawn, carry heavy furniture, climb up the roof of the house to do gutter maintenance, make him cook and clean, service the cars, whatever labor-intensive and dirty work he could find, Cyprus will make his son do it.

He would bond with his son through boxing, said chores, and man-to-man talks. Competitions on who can lift the heaviest or punch the strongest would be common pastimes between the father and son duo. Despite how he would clearly raise his son with a heavy hand and tough love, Cyprus is a very present father. He gives a damn about his development, not wanting him to be 'useless'.

He doesn't particularly care about his son's grades, as long as he's not held back more than twice in a row, he's fine. Cyprus also doesn't care about his son's taste in women either, as long as his girlfriends don't pose any harm to you or Cyprus, he's fine.

Unfortunately, it's less likely Cyprus would sponsor his college fees unless he's choosing a degree that his father likes. That means, no arts. No medicine either, because Cyprus thinks his son is too stupid to even get through the first semester. The only Bachelor's degree that Cyprus would 100% agree on is something to do with business or finance.

He wouldn't take it well if his son is genderqueer, he would get violent and perhaps break a bone or two if you're not there to stop your husband from hurting your child. Moreover, he couldn't accept the idea that his son was attracted to another man and being dominated by one. It's an instant disownment with a 0% chance of reconciliation.

There aren't many differences between his treatment of his son and his daughter when they're adults, they get their own lives but they have to call Cyprus from time to time to maintain their relationship with him.

Overall, Cyprus isn't the worst parent out there. Although he may be toxic as hell, he is at least there for his children and actually has their best interests at heart.

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere male #yandere oc #yandere x you #male yandere oc x reader #yandere oc x reader #tw yandere #yandere concept #oc cyprus #tw transphobia #tw afab reader #tw homophobia #tw misogyny

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cherienymphe · 1 year

Text

The Less I Know The Better III (JJ Maybank x Reader x Rafe Cameron)

Warnings: eventual NON-CON, eventual DUB-CON, violence, public sex, jealousy, underage drinking, drug use, manipulation, eventual loss of virginity, mild unhealthy relationship, one sided kiara x jj, non canon ages, pogue!reader

➥ banner by @vase-of-lilies | divider by @firefly-graphics

➥ series masterlist

summary: When you start dating Rafe Cameron, no one is more surprised than you when your best friend JJ takes it really well. However, no one is more surprised than JJ when he’s forced to see his once frumpy BFF in an entirely new light, suddenly terrified of losing what he never knew he had to the person he hates most.

“Rafe…”

“It’ll be fine, just watch the road,” he said, waving you off.

You threw him a look, brows drawn together at how casual he was being. You could barely drive your mom’s tiny Honda, let alone this monster of a vehicle he called a truck. As you pulled onto the road, Rafe scooted closer, a hand on the wheel next to yours.

“It’s really not that much different from driving any other car.”

“Do you know how wide I have to swing just to turn in somewhere? Don’t give me that.”

Rafe chuckled, and you wondered what gave him the brilliant idea of making you drive to The Wreck today…in his truck. His arm rested behind you, fingers brushing over your shoulder, and you kept your gaze on the road.

“You think your friends will be there?”

“Um…I don’t know,” you honestly answered. “Probably.”

The rest of the drive was quiet outside of a comment from Rafe on how slow you were driving. He spoke again as you pulled into the parking lot.

“What if I’m really drunk or high one night, and you need to drive us back?”

He knew exactly how you felt about his recreational activities, and you rolled your eyes at the card he was playing.

“Maybe you should take that as a sign to cut down on that, no?”

The mocking smile he sent you as you parked told you that he had no plans to do that. He got out before you, coming around to open the driver’s door and help you out. He leaned you against the door as he closed it, trapping you between his arms.

“See, that wasn’t so bad,” he teased, leaning in to brush his lips against yours.

“You say that, now, but it’ll be a whole other story if I crash your precious truck.”

Rafe had a genuine frown on his face when he pulled back, upset by the mere thought before a slow smile spread over his pink lips. His fingers grazed your skin underneath your shirt, pinning you against the truck in question.

“I’ll make you make it up to me,” he teased, but the glint in his eye told you that he was completely serious.

Rafe was so touchy…and you liked it.

You didn’t know if you were just inexperienced and naïve, but it made you feel like he couldn’t get enough of you…and that reassured you. Sometimes you still found it hard to believe that Rafe Cameron wanted you, that Rafe Cameron chose you, and there were moments where you convinced yourself it was all part of some elaborate prank.

But Rafe had never been the type to do anything he didn’t want to do. He was always a no bullshit kind of guy, never one to fake anything, and if anything, he was too in your face about his true intentions sometimes. It was still overwhelming, but you were getting used to it.

His fingers were threaded through yours as he led you into the restaurant, and you were actually a little disappointed that it was empty of your friends. You reminded yourself that you couldn’t take every chance to force them together. The party was good enough and probably should be for a while. Rafe was your boyfriend, but he wasn’t their friend, and it should only matter that they weren’t at each other’s throats.

“You know,” he started after ordering your food. “I was really surprised that JJ was the one to throw that party.”

You looked up at Rafe with a slight frown, something about his tone.

“Not really. He’s my best friend, and he promised to try.”

Rafe didn’t reply right away, simply nodding as he sipped on his water.

“Just seems more like a Pope thing to me. Extending an olive branch like that…”

You had been playing with your straw, pausing at his words. Rafe wasn’t wrong, you supposed. It did seem more like a Pope idea rather than JJ, and you found yourself deep in thought. You remembered the slight shock on JJ’s face that night even though he’d been trying to hide it, and the fact that it was Pope who told you. You swallowed down slight disappointment, telling yourself that it didn’t matter whose idea the party was.

“Are your parents working tonight?” Rafe asked long after your food had come.

“Yeah. My mom said she’d be getting back late though,” you distractedly answered.

Rafe spoke up before you could continue.

“You should come over tonight,” he suggested, making you look up. “Rose and my dad are going to some stupid dinner party, and Sarah’s probably going to be with John B.”

He shrugged, and you looked down towards the table, biting your lip.

“…and Wheezie?”

“Who knows. She likes to lock herself up in her room…”

You’d been alone with Rafe plenty of times before, so it wasn’t a big deal. Hell, the night of the party he’d stayed the night at your house. However, then, you’d both been too drunk to barely even stand, and sex was the last thing on your mind that night.

But you and Rafe had been together for two months, now. You knew his reputation, knew what he was like, and his lack of pressure regarding that aspect of your relationship only made you think about it more. Sure, he teased you sometimes and made jokes about it, but he was respectful every time things got too heated for you. His hands never strayed too far, and he never got too pushy.

It was a green flag, and yet…you wondered if there was something wrong with you.

You knew that your insecurities were just getting the best of you. After all, that’s how a boyfriend was supposed to behave. There wasn’t supposed to be pressure and discomfort and aggressiveness. His behavior made you want him more, and that was how you looked at him with a smile and a shrug.

“Okay.”

Rafe seemed happy with your answer, taking your hand as you finished your food. You took the time to look at him, studying his face and his features. Rafe was pretty, really pretty, and there were so many times where you had to stop yourself from just staring at him. It always made you feel the strangest combination of proud and insecure.

You looked away, forcing those thoughts away as you rubbed your forehead.

All of this was still so new to you. A boyfriend, a relationship, and everything that came with romance. You had to remind yourself that you weren’t the girl you used to be. You weren’t that same girl who only served to be the butt of some asshole’s joke. You no longer isolated yourself at parties, watching JJ and Pope and John B. hitting on every pretty girl, watching Kie get approached by guy after guy asking to dance or just hoping for five minutes of her time.

At some point, you had accepted that that would just never be you, but it didn’t make it sting any less. That stuff wasn’t everything, you knew that better than anyone that so many things were way more important, but after so long, it was impossible not to think that it was you. It was impossible not to think that you weren’t pretty enough or skinny enough or fun enough.

You knew that your mom would tell you that you shouldn’t rely on some guy to feel better about yourself, but what else were you supposed to rely on? Rafe didn’t just make you feel pretty, but like you were the prettiest girl in the world. He looked at you like he never wanted to stop, and before where you just wanted to shrink and hide, now you felt encouraged to open that makeup you’d never touched, hiding it away the moment your mom bought it for you.

You wanted to put on jewelry you had hidden away for years. You wanted t wear things that you hadn’t had the courage to before, constantly telling yourself that you’d look silly. It sounded shallow, you knew that, but Rafe made you feel like you were good enough.

Once Rafe had paid, you both made your way outside, a smile making it’s way onto your face as your eyes landed on Kie, Pope…and JJ. Rafe pressed a kiss to the corner of your mouth, telling you he’d be waiting in the car as you slowed to a stop. Your eyes met JJ’s as Rafe pulled away, unable to read his gaze, but you brushed it off, turning to Kie.

“Kie, I’m going to come by your house later,” you told her. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Cutting date night short?” JJ dryly commented, and you hit his arm.

Kie rolled her eyes at him, smiling back at you with a hint of questioning in her gaze.

“Uh, yeah. Sure.”

You didn’t miss the way her gaze pointedly went between you and Rafe, and you awkwardly waved them goodbye. As you made your way to your boyfriend’s truck, watching as he hopped out to open your door, you glanced over your shoulder. Your eyes met familiar blue ones, and you waved him goodbye again, a slight frown on your face when he took forever to wave you back.

“I want to have sex with Rafe, tonight.”

You hadn’t meant for it to come out so suddenly, and Kiara blinked in shock. You hadn’t even thought to make sure that her parents weren’t home, but you were relieved to find out they weren’t. You stood at her door, looking at her with wide eyes before she finally gathered herself and pulled you inside.

“Um…okay,” she eventually said, clearly not expecting that. “Why?”

You scoffed.

“Why? What do you mean? He’s my boyfriend-.”

“Is this his idea?” she interrupted, sounding angry at the thought.

“No,” you hurried to reassure her. “It’s mine.”

Kie blew out a breath, sitting down on her couch. She looked more nervous than you felt, and you waited for her to say something.

“I knew…I knew that you really liked him, but…”

She trailed off, looking away.

“You’ve been dating for what? Two months? Don’t you think you should wait…?”

You sank down next to her, pulling your feet onto the couch.

“Probably. Maybe…but I don’t want to.”

Kie was quiet for a moment.

“…and you’re sure he’s not pressuring you or…?”

“God, no,” you groaned, jumping back to your feet. “He’s not.”

Kie’s hands were raised when you turned back to her.

“Hey, you can’t blame me for being concerned, alright? It’s Rafe,” she defended herself. “…and he is literally your first boyfriend, and you want to have sex for the first time ever after two months.”

You knew how it sounded.

“It just sounds like it has Rafe written all over it.”

You sighed to yourself, folding your arms over your chest.

“You don’t get it…”

“No, I get it,” Kie assured you. “It’s Rafe and he’s treating you great and making you feel special, but-.”

“Boys have always liked you.”

Kie closed her mouth, swallowing down the rest of her words as you faced her. There was a slight frown between her brows, blinking at your words.

“Guys used to ask me out as a joke.”

“I…I know that,” she quietly replied.

“You know I thought Rafe was playing a joke on me too? I thought it was another sick prank, but it’s not. He likes me,” you shrugged. “My first boyfriend is Rafe Cameron, and…I want it to stay that way.”

You wouldn’t come out and say it, wouldn’t voice your insecurities about your relationship, but Kie read into it anyway. She stood now, brows drawn together as her lips parted.

“Y/N…if you want to have sex with Rafe because you’re afraid he’ll leave you… That’s not for the right reasons.”

You looked away.

“Rafe likes you for you, and if he’ll leave you because you won’t have sex with him, then that’s not some huge loss,” she continued.

“It’s not like he’s ever brought it up or anything,” you mumbled. “…and that just makes me crazier.”

Your gaze found your feet.

“I mean, it’s Rafe, and he hasn’t tried to have sex with me once. Like…like there’s something wrong with me.”

Kie moved towards you, taking your hands in hers. Your gazes met, and hers was sympathetic.

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” she told you. “It sounds like Rafe is being a good boyfriend. It’s good that he isn’t bringing it up, but I know that I can’t stop you from doing what you want.”

You swallowed.

“It’s up to you, but I’m telling you that if you want this just to keep him, that’s not good.”

You swallowed a sigh, looking away.

“If Rafe isn’t pressuring you then why are you pressuring yourself? Don’t you want to wait and make sure you don’t regret it?”

You mulled over her words.

“What if you have sex with him and he dumps you?”

“He wouldn’t,” you hurried to say.

“So, you can be sure of that, but you’re not sure that he won’t if you don’t?”

You pressed your lips together, nodding at her words. You were the one driving your own self crazy, pressuring yourself, and you were reluctant to admit that Kie was making sense. Part of you regretted coming to her because you’d been so sure and determined before, and now…not so much.

“Look…”

You looked at her.

“If you decide to do this, just…relax. Make sure you’re comfortable and he doesn’t do anything you don’t want. You trust him, right?”

You nodded, and she sent you a comforting smile.

“Okay, well that’s what matters.”

She walked you towards her door just as the sound of a bike could be heard outside. Neither of you were surprised at the sight of JJ getting off of his bike, seemingly shocked at the sight of you.

“What’s up?” Kie asked him, both of you walking down her steps.

“Y/N,” he said, smiling at you. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I just came by to bring Kie’s hat.”

He held up the familiar black beanie.

“You left it at John B.’s.”

“I thought you heard me tell Kie I was coming by,” you said with a frown.

JJ blinked.

“Oh. Right.”

“…and you could’ve left that at John B.’s,” Kie told him, taking it. “You didn’t have to come all the way over here just to bring it.”

The smile on Kie’s face didn’t exactly match her words, and JJ shoved his hands in his pockets, looking at you.

“You leaving?”

“Just going to Rafe’s,” you answered, moving to walk past him.

“You wanna come inside? It’s getting kind of late and-.”

“Uh…you know what? I think I’ll drop Y/N off,” he interrupted Kie, and you looked at him with a slight frown.

“You don’t have to. Rafe’s house isn’t that far,” you argued.

“No, it’s fine,” JJ told you, walking back to his bike. “I just came by to drop that off.”

You glanced at Kie, not missing the way her face fell a bit. Her smile was forced as she told you both to be careful. With JJ already on his bike, it seemed silly to try and turn him down again, so you took him up on his offer. You were still so conflicted abut tonight, and you felt weird having JJ drive you to what could potentially be a dick appointment.

Just as Rafe said, the only vehicle in the yard was his. JJ noticed as he stopped his bike, and you climbed off.

“It’s just Rafe here?”

“Probably,” you said with a shrug. “I think Wheezie’s here though.”

JJ looked like he wanted to say something else, but you continued.

“Thanks for the ride,” you told him with a brief hug. “I’ll see you later!”

JJ started to reach for you as you pulled away, but he seemed to think better of it. It seemed like he had something on his mind, glancing at and taking in the Cameron house with an expression you couldn’t name. With a quick smile, he returned the sentiment.

Rafe was by the door, opening it for you as soon as you were close enough. He greeted you with a kiss, lips pressed to yours while one hand rested on the back of your neck. In the back of your mind, you registered that you hadn’t heard JJ start his bike again, and when Rafe finally pulled away, you confirmed that.

You awkwardly waved your best friend goodbye, Rafe pulling you inside before you could see if he’d done the same.

”…and then,” you chuckled. “JJ’s ankles literally hit the back of his head as he flies straight off of the boat.”

Your stomach hurt from laughing so much, struggling to recount the story to Rafe.

“I think he was coughing up water for a good ten minutes.”

You were showered and laying on Rafe’s bed in one of his shirts. He was half next to you half hovering over you, and you practically had the house to yourselves. Kie’s words were still on your mind, had been throughout your whole shower, and even now, laying next to him, you still didn’t know what you wanted.

“Can I ask you something?” you wondered after your laughter had died down, minutes of Rafe just…staring at you.

“Anything,” he murmured, brushing his index finger along your lip.

“Do you…?”

You took a deep breath, swallowing and glancing away.

“I know that we’re literally together, so obviously you think of me that way, but… You want to have sex with me, right?”

Rafe reared back a little at that.

“Not in this exact moment, but in general…”

Rafe chuckled to himself, and now it was your turn to frown.

“Don’t laugh at me!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he laughed to himself, his hair brushing your neck as he shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

He leaned in, brushing his lips over your skin, making you shudder.

“I think about what it would feel like to stretch you out every time we’re together,” he whispered.

“Rafe!”

“What?” he laughed, pulling back. “You’re the one who’s convinced I don’t want to have sex with my girlfriend when I think about fucking the shit out of you every time I see you.”

You felt your face heating up at that, and you moved to sit up, Rafe allowing you to.

“You just…you’ve never brought it up. Not seriously, anyway,” you elaborated.

Rafe’s fingers danced along your thighs, his shirt riding up.

“I don’t want to scare you off,” he told you, dirty blond strands kissing his forehead. “You’re too sweet.”

He rested his chin on your thigh.

“Too…perfect to just let slip through my fingers.”

His words shocked you, and you watched him trace patterns into your skin. You didn’t know what to say to that, stumped by his words, torn between flattered and overwhelmed. Rafe wasn’t just intense with his actions…but also his words.

“So…you really don’t mind waiting?”

Rafe pressed his face into your thigh, laughing to himself again. He nipped at your skin, making you yelp, and the grin he gave you was wolfish. His hair hung into his face, and his teeth winked at you, hands on your legs and holding you in place.

“Considering that I don’t ever plan on letting you go,” he drawled, making you chuckle. “I’ll wait forever if I have to.”

He suddenly yanked you down until you were laying back down, and you yelped as he pushed your thighs apart. The air hit you, your clothes and underwear included in the washing machine, and you shuddered. Your heart was pounding in your chest, and you gasped when he breathed on you, clenching down on nothing.

“…but now we have a problem,” he hummed, reaching with one hand to brush his fingers over your folds. “My girlfriend thinks I don’t want to fuck her stupid.”

His eyes met yours, and the blue of them glinted in the low lighting.

“…and we can’t have that.”

You gasped again when he leaned in to swipe his tongue over you with one slow lick. Your stomach clenched, and you parted your legs more.

“Relax,” Rafe hummed. “Just lie back.”

You did as he instructed, eyes landing on the ceiling just as he tasted you again. One of his hands was pressed against your thigh, fingers digging into your skin, and the other slid through your cunt, parting you and admiring you with a low moan in the back of his throat. When he covered you with his entire mouth, your chest arched towards the ceiling.

Rafe’s tongue slid into you, swirling and moving inside of you, making your head spin. His thumb was gently pressed to your clit, brushing and circling over the bundle of nerves. He ate at you like a man starved, and your chest heaved, body overheating and fingers twisting into his sheets.

“You’re so pretty, baby,” you heard him groan, and a short moan escaped. “So pretty and soft…and wet.”

He dived in again, and you squeezed your eyes shut.

“Rafe,” you whispered.

He sucked on your clit, and you whimpered when you felt the tip of his thumb dip into you. Your toes curled, hips bucking and trying to feel more, but he held back. He trailed his tongue down, the pink muscle meeting his own thumb as they worked together to bring you closer to the edge. When one of your hands met his hair, he pulled away, leaving a parting kiss on your wet mound.

You frowned, and Rafe chuckled at the anger in your eyes, your own lips parted when you paused.

You watched as Rafe reached into his pants, pulling them down just enough for his cock to spring free. You couldn’t take your eyes off of it, gaze glued to the color and how hard he was. You couldn’t even think straight, mind short circuiting when cupped you. You lifted your hips with a whine, eyes rolling when he pressed the head of him to you.

“Uh uh,” he softly scolded, pressing a hand to your stomach when you tried to move again.

He gently brushed the head of his cock over your skin, hissing, and you watched as the tip of him disappeared between your lips. That was all though. He didn’t push any further, moving the head of him up and down your folds and making you groan. You clenched his sheets again, squirming, but Rafe was strong, holding you down.

The tip of him dipped into you again, and you both moaned. He continued to slide his cock over you and between you, wetting it and hitting your clit with every other thrust. He slid his hand up and down himself as he did, and you could feel a tightening deep in your gut. Your mouth parted, and your lashes fluttered.

“There she is,” you heard him whisper.

With what little movement you were allowed, you rolled your hips, eyes rolling at the feel of him sliding against you and just barely inside of you. When you came, you stopped breathing, breath hitching and chest tightening. It lasted a long time, toes curling and thighs tensing. When you finally breathed again, you whimpered, still shaking as you made a mess all over his hand and his cock and his sheets.

Rafe was still sliding his cock between you, letting you go and using his free hand to push you open with two fingers. He groaned when he came all over you, coating you and watching it drip down between your core. He cursed, lazily dragging the head of his cock against you and smearing his spend over your skin.

“Better?” he panted, leaning in to kiss the corner of your mouth.

You could only nod, still fighting to catch your breath.

#jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x pogue!reader #rafe cameron x pogue!reader #rafe cameron x reader #jj maybank #jj maybanks #Rafe Cameron #dark!jj maybank x reader #obx #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks

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wannabanauthor · 8 days

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I know very little of what’s going on in 9-1-1 outside of BuckTommy content, for mental health reasons, so please forgive any inaccuracies in this headcanon:

After the Kim and Eddie thing, Christopher’s grandparents want to sue for custody by painting Eddie as a bad parent, but when they sue, it activates Eddie’s trap card aka Buck listed as Christopher’s guardian.

Buck informs Tommy of the situation, and seeing as how Tommy is friends with Eddie, he’d be willing to do anything to keep Christopher in Eddie’s life and he cares about Christopher. So he suggests that he and Buck have a quickie wedding at the courthouse, so they can appear to be a united front with a healthy household to raise Christopher in, so Christopher can stay close to Eddie.

It also doubles as a way to make the grandparents look homophobic in court if they try to argue against it. I know a little about the court system, but not enough for this headcanon to make sense in a legal way, so feel free to correct me and add your own ideas.

Then once Eddie and Christopher get the mental health care they need and properly heal, Christopher moves back in with Eddie.

Buck and Tommy decide they like married life and stay married. They all live happily ever after.

I’m not sure this is a headcanon or a fanfic idea. I don’t know. My brain is not at peak performance right now. This is a rough draft idea, who knows.

Please add to it or revise it however you wish, but only BuckTommy shippers please.

If other ships want to steal/borrow this idea for their ship, feel free to screenshot and make your own post with your ship’s tags, but do not tag me in it at all and don’t reply/reblog this post with your ship.

#bucktommy #buck x tommy #evan buckley #tommy kinard #eddie diaz #christopher diaz #headcanon #fanfic idea #idk how to tag this

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kybercrystals94 · 4 months

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They All Fall Down

Read there on AO3!

Febuwhump 2024 | Day 8 | Prompt 8: “Why won’t it stop?”

Rated: G | Words: 1572 | Summary: Stuck in their barracks on Kamino, the cadet Batch try to survive the slow, painful death of boredom. [Character Focus: Cadet Batch]

ADVISEMENT: All training simulations have been canceled for the day, and training rooms are closed. All cadets are ordered to stay in their designated living quarters until further notice. Any and all disturbances during this mandated down time will be dealt with swiftly and with the utmost severity.

Tech reads through the message for the dozenth time, searching for any loophole that he and his brothers might be able to wiggle through to get out of their barracks. They are only scheduled to be cadets for one more standard week. It seemed unfair that they would be held to the same limitations as cadets freshly released from their tubes.

However, the mandate still stands, and Tech’s messages for further clarification have been ignored. It seems they are trapped.

“Hunter,” Wrecker whines, drawing out the last syllable in Hunter’s name to a ridiculous length. “Crosshair won’t stop staring at me.”

Having managed to develop a migraine within the first hour of their imprisonment, Hunter says something from under the pillow he’s sequestered himself to, but his words are suffocated into senseless mumbling.

Crosshair sighs lazily from where he is laying sideways on his bunk, head dropped over the side so that he is looking out at the room upside down. “Stop being such a tubie, Wrecker.”

“I don’t like you staring at me.”

“I’m not staring at you. I’m staring straight ahead.”

“Yeah! Which is at me!”

“If you are sitting in my line of sight, then yes, I’m staring at you. If it bothers you, move.”

“You move! I was sitting here first!”

“No.”

“If you won’t move yourself, I’ll help you,” Wrecker decides, standing up threateningly.

Crosshair smiles. “You just try. Let’s see what happens.”

“May I remind you that disturbances during this time will probably result in lockup,” says Tech.

“Lockup would be better than being stuck in here with him,” Wrecker says, jabbing a finger in Crosshair’s direction.

“Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you.”

“That’s it!” Wrecker yells.

“Hey!” Hunter barks, sitting up and throwing his pillow at Wrecker. His squinting against the light of the room effectively makes him look angrier. “Knock it off, or I’ll turn you both in myself to get some peace and quiet.”

Crosshair huffs and rolls his eyes while Wrecker has the decency to look properly chastised.

Wrecker picks up the weaponized pillow. “Want this back?” he asks Hunter meekly.

Hunter glares at him for several long moments. “No,” he growls before falling back on his bunk and pulling the covers over his head.

A laden hush follows the outburst for approximately five standard minutes.

“You’re still staring at me.”

Tech jumps up and courageously puts himself between his feuding brothers. “We should do a quiet, group activity.”

“Like what?” Crosshair asks dubiously, rolling over and pushing himself up.

“We could play sabaac!” Wrecker suggests excitedly.

Tech casts a weary glance at Hunter’s bunk. “I don’t believe that game would qualify as quiet,” he says.

“What then?” Crosshair stands up and stretches his limbs.

Tech goes and gets the deck of cards. “I’ve been researching some other card games that are more appropriate to quiet environments. Allow me to teach you.”

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

“Tech, do you have any twos?”

“No. Go fish.”

Wrecker groans and picks up a card from the draw pile. He looks at the card and grins wildly. “Ha! This is the card I wanted. Take that, Tech!” He puts down the set of twos in front of him triumphantly.

“While we are playing individually, I am not actively seeking your demise, Wrecker. If I’d had a two, you would have received it with no argument,” Tech mutters.

Crosshair chuckles. “That’s not how I’ve been playing.”

Tech throws the nearly graduated sniper a look. “Yes, I know that you’ve been actively cheating. Despite the simplicity of the game.”

“It’s not cheating, it’s house rules,” Crosshair says.

“They can only be house rules if the whole house agrees, which Wrecker and I have not.”

“Yeah, Cross! Play right or we’ll kick you out of the game,” Wrecker scolds far too loudly, then claps a hand over his mouth.

The three cadets look apprehensively over at Hunter’s bunk and breathe a sigh of relief when the lump that is their sleeping brother doesn’t move.

Crosshair hisses, “Fine. I’ll play by the dumb rules.”

“Thank you, and your opinion is noted.”

They play three more rounds of the game before they become bored. Wrecker suggests some house rules to change up the game; however, his idea is immediately shot down when Tech and Crosshair realize he is basically describing sabaac.

“If you didn’t get so loud whenever we played, maybe Tech wouldn’t have banned it,” Crosshair says irritably.

“I did not ban it, I just recommend we not play it…” Cutting a glance to Hunter’s bunk, Tech lowers his voice to add, “under the circumstances.”

Wrecker fusses with the cards. “How much longer will we be stuck in our barracks?”

“I’m estimating until late meal,” says Tech.

“That’s not for hours!”

“Shh!”

Hunter shifts and sighs, but seems to remain asleep.

“Maker, Wrecker, why do you have to be so loud all the time?” Crosshair mutters.

Wrecker frowns. “I’m being as quiet as I can.”

“I believe that is accurate,” Tech agrees. “He has been several decibels quieter than his average levels.”

“See?” Wrecker crows.

Crosshair rolls his eyes. “We’re so proud of you.”

“What should we do now?” Wrecker asks. He takes two of the cards and leans them against each other, making a triangular structure.

Tech watches with interest, then smiles. “I have an idea.”

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Hunter wakes to the soft chirp of a notification on his data pad. He blinks his eyes open, surprised by the quiet in the barracks. It is never this quiet unless his brothers are gone. Maybe he had slept through the mandatory lockdown, and they had gone to late meal without him. He wouldn’t put it past them, especially after threatening to send them to lockup. Not his finest moment of leadership.

He sits up, rolling his shoulders back to alleviate the stiffness. His migraine is mostly gone, just a lingering ache behind his left eye. He can live with that. Turning to swing his legs over the side of the bunk, Hunter freezes when he sees it: a tower of cards.

And he’s not alone after all.

Crosshair is sitting on Wrecker’s shoulders, reaching up with a card in each hand, poised to place them at the very top of the card palace that nearly reaches the ceiling. It is intricate in its design, with levels and pillars. Hunter is impressed.

“Just a little to the left, Wrecker,” Crosshair says, almost under his breath.

“Carefully,” Tech adds from where he stands across the table from them.

Wrecker shuffles to the left.

“There, good,” Crosshair whispers.

Hunter finds himself holding his breath as Crosshair reaches out and places the cards with the delicate care of an artist.

Hunter grins, reaching for his data pad and taking a holopic. This will be evidence the next time his brothers claim they can’t figure out how to play nice long enough to get anything done.

“That’s it, we did it,” Tech says, “We’ve used every card in our possession to make this structure.”

“We should take a holopic of it,” Wrecker says, almost softly.

“I did,” Hunter says.

He honestly didn’t mean to startle them. He thought that the trained soldiers had seen him sitting up, known they were being observed – even if they hadn’t acknowledged him. He supposes, in hindsight, he shouldn’t have made any such assumptions.

Wrecker nearly jumps out of his skin, which sends Crosshair, still perched on the giant’s shoulders, flailing to keep his balance. Tech whirls around to face Hunter, eyes wide. And all the sudden, combined, swift movements are the house of cards’ demise.

They all watch in devastated anguish as the cards tumble and flutter in soundless destruction. The silence continues long after the last card lands.

Hunter has never felt so small in his entire life.

Tech recovers first. “We knew it was a short-lived endeavor when we undertook the challenge,” he says bravely, but the assurance is thin.

“Would’ve been nice if it lasted longer than two seconds after we finished it though,” Crosshair grumbles, finally slipping down from Wrecker’s shoulders to loom over the carnage.

“I am so sorry,” Hunter says, standing up. “I really didn’t mean to scare you.”

Three sets of eyes look at him, conflicting emotions dancing across their faces.

“We weren’t scared!” Wrecker protests.

Tech averts his gaze. “Correct. We just thought we had inadvertently woken you. We were…surprised.”

Crosshair folds his arms over his chest. “I knew you were awake.”

“Right,” Hunter says, shifting uncomfortably. He holds up the data pad. “I really did get a holopic though.” He looks down at the screen, a notification symbol in the corner. He clicks on it. “And hey, the mandate has been lifted! We can leave the barracks now!”

“Yes, it was lifted two hours ago,” Tech says dismissively, kneeling to begin picking up the scattered remains of what might as well have been their hopes and dreams.

Hunter puts his data pad aside and begins to help gather the cards. “Maybe we can build another one?”

His brothers sigh in unison.

“It will simply not be the same,” Tech verbalizes.

END

✨Let me know if you’d like to be added to my taglist!✨

Taglist: @followthepurrgil @isthereanechoinhere96 @amorfista @mooncommlink @arctrooper69 @nagyanna424 @merkitty49

A/N: If you squint, you can see where I sprinkled the whump in this story XD If you need specifics, I'll just say this: migraine & devastation over lost card tower.

#febuwhump 2024 #febuwhumpday8 #prompt 8: why won’t it stop?#star wars #the bad batch #fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #ao3 writer #tbb tech #tbb hunter #tbb crosshair #tbb wrecker #cadet batch #dash of Whump #fluff #humor #bratty siblings

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mixelation · 10 months

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brainworms of the day: reborn au con shenanigans

i posted before about tori and kakashi going to a ninja fiction con like a tired older sibling taking his kid sister to a con. and i like the idea of them repeating this, because like. kakashi isn't super into interacting with fandom but he likes merch and he gets a kick out of seeing cosplays, and tori likes company and kakashi is pretty cill when he's not actively being a troll. so cons are like Their Thing and kushina gets very mushy over the idea of them bonding so obviously minato always gives them the time off

anyway i had some thoughts for shenanigans

thought one: minato canonically really likes icha icha and i think he deserves to have some fun. at first i was like "i don't think the hokage gets many vacation days, and surely if he DID take a vacation he'd spend it with his family?" but then i remembered he can teleport. minato takes days off all the time with the idea his assistant will just summon him back if there's a problem. he shows up unannounced in a pair of sunglasses

minato: i'm incognito :)

random passerby: the fourth hokage and hatake kakashi group cosplay? this place gets less and less original every year

kakashi and tori are unsure of this addition to their group because this is Their Thing. kakashi gets over it pretty quick because he does like getting casual time to hang out with minato, actually, but tori is annoyed because first of all. how is she supposed to behave normally* if her boss is here. secondly now everyone keeps asking her why SHE'S not in matching cosplay.

minato: do you want my cloak? lotta people in cloaks

tori: NO I DON'T, ACTUALLY

*everyone who knows tori would like to point out that the only change in her behavior is a 15% reduction in swearing.

anyway i am getting a kick out of imagining actual hokage and infamous ninja namikaze minato waiting in the same-day registration line. squatting in a two hour line to get into one of the big panels. taking photos with other minato cosplayers. holding back tears because there's a fourteen year old kakashi cosplayer with a sERVICE DOG ALSO IN COSTUME!!!!!!!!

thought two: sasori crashes a con because he wants to pass on intel about orochimaru or soemthing

tori: oh my god WHY are you HERE

sasori: because you're closer than deidara >:(

tori: no i mean, in public? in the crowded dealER'S ROOM?

sasori: who's going to notice?

(a group of sasoris in ugly wigs pass by)

anyway the true shenanigan-y part of this is that initially kakashi thinks a weird 25 year old man is chatting tori up. which like. yes? technically true? but kakashi thinks this is just tori falling for the wiles of a hot cosplayer and that he needs to intervene immediately because she's FIFTEEN, you PERVERT--

kakashi: hi :) who's this :)

tori, feeling her spirit leave her body: he likes my sasori fic

sasori:

sasori, in pain: yup. i. do. that's what this is.

kakashi: oh :) how nice :) then i'm sure you won't mind me standing here while you chat :) sharpening my kunai which are totally just props :)

thought three: i think in her later teens/early twenties, tori starts falling back on I HAVE A BOYFRIEND really frequently to get out of conversations. like in theory the card is for "a guy is hitting on me" but she'll also play it for "someone is talking to me and i don't want them to be."

in konoha this strategy works because even if you were just telling her the cafe is closing in five minutes, "but i'm waiting for my boyfriend, uchiha itachi :(" is enough to give this random poor employee pause. these words have meaning in konoha. however i think there's some Shenanigans to be had for her doing this without thinking about it at a con where context is very different.

man she's trapped with bc they're in line and he won't stop trying to get her to give him her room number: boyfriend? prove it.

tori, exasperated: (pulls out a photo she keeps on her)

man:

man: that's uchiha itachi

tori: exactly

man: .....you honestly expect me to believe that? you clearly just have that on you because you're a fan

tori: .....fuck

for bonus shenanigans repeat a similar exchange but it's at a kitty girl stabby ninja con so itachi is there and immediately wonders up afterwards with like. cat ears on.

man: (eyes darting back and forth between the photo and itachi himself, terrified)

itachi: the food options weren't great but i brought you some bread. did the line move?

man: (now looking around to see if anyone ELSE has noticed this)

tori, very blatantly taking his hand: no they just made us rearrange to stop blocking the hallway

itachi: i see

man: (FLEES THE LINE)

thought four: something cute

i don't want tori to be as well known as deidara/itachi in civilian circles, mostly because it'd be funny. but also i don't think she's as flashy as them and a lot of the stuff she does relies on her not being recognizable. and i like the humor of interacting with itachi/deidara stans and cosplayer who just don't recognize her. so there isn't much in the way of tori cosplay/fic/etc even when she's older and has her own Reputation among actual ninja. but okay. imagine. at the ONE con tori can't make there's a lone tori cosplayer. she's sort of haunting the place-- obviously socially awkward and shy. kakashi loses his mind. he summons minato. minato brings kushina. they bother this girl for like hours and low-key make her day even though it's also kind of scary?

kushina has to physically hold tori back from stalking her after she sees the photos. SHE'S JUST GOING TO BREAK INTO HER HOME AND SEE WHAT FANFICTION SHE'S READING NOTHING VIOLENT OR SCARY--

#reborn au

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graveyrdgirl99 · 19 days

Text

So- replaying rdr2 and am at the end of chap 2. Right when Dutch finally made the move to get the gang to a different camp.. saying Micha suggested dewberry creek.

The place is wide open and indefensible. Maybe people have said this before but, my theory is that this was Michas plan all along. Wanting in on the Van Der Linde Gang to get to Dutch because that bounty of his head is irresistible to not take. And Black water was his first try of getting Dutch either killed or arrested by the Law. But it failed, having underestimated Dutch and his Gang. So he uses this chance of failure to get closer to Dutch. I’m assuming Dutch has always had a feral and psychotic side to him. I’m guessing Dutch is aware of the killer inside of himself however actively chooses against it. I think that he was a genuinely good man trying to keep his inner monster quiet but with Micha by his side, that monsters urges are woken. And I believe that Micha has gotten aware of that too. Dutches only mistake was giving Micha the benefit of the doubt which allowed Micha to manipulate his way into Dutch’s mind.

So now after Strawberry and Robbing that stagecoach Micha had time to think of a new plan to fuck the gang over and collect the bounty on Dutch. Having drilled his words into Dutches head he suggests Dewberry Creek. Having probably been there before he noticed people camping at the spot already.. these need to go. With the money from the O’Driscoll stagecoach robbery he hires guns and tells them to do what ever just get rid of them so the spot is ready for the Gang. Having tipped them off that people will be coming to check the place out first. Why do I think so? Well because my German fellow told Arthur and Charles right away that it’s a Trap.

How can this be a trap when we assume that this is just coincidence? They’ve been tipped off by Micha.

After that things go as planned again for Micha, able to lead the Pinkerton to Clemens point and then the big Bank Robbery in Saint Denis. (He’s even wearing a different suit than the gang)

What wasn’t part of his plan is Guarma. However this again is another opportunity to finally get into Dutches mind and play him like a marionette. Dutch’s mind spiraling after hoseas death, the starvation on Guarma, the sun blasting down on them all this was too much and Dutch lost it. You can see how visibly shaken up he is after Guarma. He’s a shell.

I think that Micha got frustrated that all his plans to lead Dutch into a trap failed that he went to the Pinkertons himself and told them everything. Now able to control Dutch, Arthur’s sickness, the members beginning to leave it all plays into his cards.

As Dutch said; for somebody this all is going exactly to plan.

Thank you for coming to my TED-Talk..

Leave your opinions, please! I’d love to know what yall think about this!

#red dead redemption 2 #dutch van der linde #rdr2 community #micha bell #theory

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sushisocks · 11 months

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Okay, another Sean and Lenny meta post, this time also featuring some stuff about Javier. I wanna talk about why I think Sean and Lenny would side with Arthur at the end of RDR2, and bring forth all my reasoning as to why I will die on this hill.

Rant under the read more to spare my mutuals. (Fair warning this is a LONG one babes, there is so much meta)

So, to start, I don't actually think the story of RDR2 would look the same, if at all, were Sean and Lenny not to die their scripted deaths. Even in a version of things where they survive and they go to the same camps, the unfolding of events would by necessity be different due to the impact their personalities and frames of thinking would have on the people around them. However, let's for arguments sake say that in this hypothetical, things are mostly the same, and we're down to that last scene in Beaver Hollow, the last showdown, with Dutch and Micah on one side, and Arthur and John on the other. We know where Javier and Bill go, but where would Sean and Lenny gravitate?

I've already made my stance on the matter clear, so let's really get into why I think Lenny and Sean would choose Arthur's side over Dutch's.

First off, I think it's important to remember that it isn't JUST Dutch vs Arthur, in this scene. In its essential form, it is Dutch & Micah vs Arthur & John. Arthur points at Micah as the rat, and Dutch believes Micah over Arthur. John arrives and accuses Dutch for leaving him to bleed out and die, and Arthur believes John -- not that Dutch denies it.

The point here is, though, that it's not JUST Dutch or Arthur, they're choosing. It is also the people who side with those individuals, whom we must take into account.

Sean and Lenny are canonically Micah-haters, if you will. There are several instances throughout the game, while the two are alive, where they loudly proclaim their dislike of Micah. Sean calling him an 'oily turd' and getting offended at being compared to him, is a near and dear line from the game, for me. And I doubt I have to explain why Lenny isn't besties with the most outwardly racist member of the gang.

"Oh, but Teki!" I hear you say. "Javier is also shown to dislike Micah, and yet he sides with Dutch in the end!" And, see, now you have activated my trap card, so let's really take a look at Javier, before going any further.

Javier is among the most loyal members of the gang -- Arthur literally says this as a camp interaction with him, long before chapter 5 or 6. The fact that Arthur is the one saying it, should tell us something -- this is coming from the man whose loyalty is such a strong character trait it turns into a flaw, and ultimately leads to his demise. And if you think about it, Javier being exceedingly loyal - to the gang, to Dutch - should not be surprising!

When Dutch met Javier, Javier didn't even know English. Javier was starving, on the run, with no safety or know-how, in a country he didn't know nor understand. Javier's story with the gang literally STARTS with Dutch saving him. He is brought into the gang, and in the four years he's there, he is taught English and also shown more respect and compassion than many other places in the US at the time. There are many examples of how Javier is treated as a Mexican in the US, throughout the game, and he, like the other POC in the gang, is allowed to stand up for himself and punish other gang members who slight him (Micah and Bill, in particular). In many ways, Dutch provides through the gang a safety net Javier probably didn't even dream of achieving when he crossed the border.

And then Guarma happens.

I, personally, cannot overstate enough how much I think Javier's experiences on Guarma reinforce his loyalty and blind faith in Dutch. He is tortured, ridiculed, and humiliated, and who is it that opens that cage door and literally pulls Javier out of it all? Carries him over his shoulder out of a compound of Cubans that would rather see their heads on pikes?

You guessed it, it's Dutch. Yes, Arthur does a lot of the heavy lifting, but let's be real - Dutch is the one who gets the credit, as usual. He made the plan, after all, and notably, he IS actually the one grabbing Javier and hauling him out of there.

That means, that the two times we know of, where Javier has been at his absolute worst, Dutch is the one who has saved him. Javier, who is so loyal even Arthur acknowledges the immensity of it. So who is then surprised that he doubles down even harder, when they return to the US, and things take a turn for the worse in Beaver Hollow?

In that moment, at the end of chapter 6, Javier cares more about siding with Dutch, than he cares about Dutch siding with Micah.

And I'll argue a similar case for Bill; he has speeches, camp events, where he straight up says Dutch saved him, saved the people of the gang. This is literally The Thing, with these two, that makes their choices at the end really make sense, in my eyes.

It's also important to note that Javier is literally the most clueless among them when he makes that choice. He wasn't there for most of the conversation leading up to it -- he literally just came from being on watch, to warn them about the encroaching Pinkertons. And, as everyone knows, he doesn't point his gun at Arthur and John, and he nor Bill are there for the horse chase scene, blah blah, those points have been done a million times, you already know them.

"Okay, but Teki," you say, trying to reason with my rambling fanatic self. "How do you know Lenny and Sean wouldn't go down similar paths, if they survived past their scripted deaths?" And I say onto you, verily; because neither of them really have similar savior stories with Dutch, thematically.

I mean for goodness' sake, Sean tried to ROB Dutch and Hosea, upon meeting them intially. They just liked his guts and invited him along, and Sean was like, 'shit why not, aint got nothin better to do!' - paraphrased, of course, but in my heart of hearts that's what he said.

All we know definitely with Lenny is that he joined the gang while traversing the Grizzlies, the year before the events of the game. Whether it was a savior situation or a mutually beneficial situation, isn't actually fully known. We can make assumptions and speculate until we're all blue in the face, but I have stronger points for Lenny's case so let's move on.

So, as I've talked about before, Lenny is acknowledged as among the smarter members of the gang, despite his youth. He is one of the only ones who intellectually challenges Dutch, and he is clearly not afraid to criticise Dutch's ideas and ideals -- when prompted.

(Side note, as I said at the start but want to really emphasize here, I really think chapter 6 is the one that would be the most impacted by Lenny's survival. He has shown himself remarkably aware of societal issues contemporary to his time, so look me in the eyes and tell me you genuinely believe he, as a black man, wouldn't attempt to intervene in some way when Dutch starts fucking with the Wapiti. That kid has balls of steel and audacity up the whazoo, and he's excruciatingly aware of how black people in the US have been royally fucked over by white men. You think he'd see the Wapiti struggling, Dutch scheming, and be like 'oh yay more white man shenanigans! lets go!' ?? bffr!)

Lenny ALSO is among the newer members of the gang; it provides him safety and respect that's hard found outside it, yes, but in my opinion he straight up does not have enough cost sunk into this fallacy, for it to fallacy properly in his head, if you catch my drift. I think if it's not for the fact that he has genuine bonds with people in the gang by the time chapter 6 rolls around, like Charles and Sadie do at that point, he probably would be smart enough to dip, like other characters do.

And that's sort of the thing, too, with both Lenny and Sean. They don't actually have daddy issues in the same way Arthur and John do.

Lenny and Sean are very similar in that they had good relationships with their fathers, and are proud of their parentage -- what wisdom and teachings their fathers managed to impart upon their sons before passing, has stuck with them. They are not in need of a new father figure, and they certainly do not seek it in Dutch(nor Hosea), not like Arthur and John do.

They find a sense of brotherhood in the gang, sure, and they view the other members as family (you can pry their little brother statuses from my cold dead hands), but Dutch is their leader, not their guardian, not their teacher, and certainly not anything close to a father, in their eyes. The fact that Lenny discusses literature with him is indicative of this -- the conversation is one of opinion between would-be equals, not of mentor and protege. The fact that Dutch only really seems interested in Sean as far as he serves as camp clown is also indicative of how Sean might feel about him, too. Dutch literally yells at Sean for taking a break from being the silly goofy distraction, in one camp interaction -- and from the way Sean talks about him, I don't think that sort of behavior has a lot of fatherly associations for the 'irish terrier'.

And that leads us to my pièce de résistance, dear fellow cowboy maniacs (you must be, if you've read thus far). Lenny and Sean are both closer, and friendlier with Arthur, than they are with Dutch. Example: Both of them poking fun at Arthur in ways they do not with Dutch. Sean telling Arthur he loves him - like an insane amount of times. Lenny chooses Arthur to go riding with, time and time again.

And guess what? When we see Sean and Lenny at their lowest, who is it that helps them out?

If you answered Arthur Morgan, give yourself a pat on the back and a gold star sticker!

We are literally introduced to Sean while Arthur leads Javier and Charles into saving him from bounty hunters. Arthur is the one cutting him down from that tree, bringing him upright, making sure he is okay. Arthur is also the one who saves him from being shot to death on the train robbery in Pouring Forth Oil. When Lenny comes to tell the gang about Micah being in jail in Strawberry, he has also just narrowly escaped being lynched, and it is Arthur who brings him away from that experience, calms him down and allows him to relax and let loose again.

Both Sean and Lenny have a deeper, more profound connection to Arthur, than they have Dutch. And consequently, if they were to survive until the end of chapter 6 and were the then much-more-unlikely showdown scene to happen, they would certainly not side with Dutch & Micah, over Arthur & John.

#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #sean macguire #lenny summers #arthur morgan #dutch van der linde #javier escuella #rdr2 meta #rdr thoughts #teki talks #long post #if you read all of this ily #this is several rants and a half but ive been meaning to write it all up for AGES #i get so unironically mad abt ppl saying sean and lenny would side with dutch. this is the hill i die on (among many)

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aspd-culture · 11 months

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I think the House pfp makes me like you a lot more, lol. /srs

We love our very problematic but extremely, sometimes painfully, unflinchingly honest and mostly accurate portrayal of (SPOILERSSSSSS) canon ASPD. Tbh, one of the few accurate portrayals I've seen and the only one that doesn't cover it up with "but he's a good person" or "but they learn to love and change their ways and no longer are like that yay they're cured" or pair the representation with a side of demonization. Special interest infodump below:

We know House does bad things, but in light of that, the show forces you to stare in the face the questions: What does it mean to be a bad person? If it's your intentions, do your bad actions not matter? If it's your actions, do your intentions not matter? Does the effort not to hurt people in spite of your pain and trauma and maladaptive worldview not matter, no matter how hard you try, if you fail? How many failures is considered "being human" and how many makes it "being a bad human"? Does a good or bad person even exist with how fluid and nuanced life and human nature is? Can you, as a fellow flawed human, define a good or bad person and if so what gives you the right? The show demands you look at this man with low empathy and learn to feel for him whether you like it or not. And so many prosocials completely misunderstand the show and paint him as the antagonist when the entire point of the show is (imo) to humanize the people you shove into the "bad" box. Also hhhh I hate the people who say "House is autistic that's why he acts like this!" Nope nope nope he is literally diagnosed with ASPD. Do I think he's got autism too? Possibly, but I think he may understand social cues, body language, subtext, etc too well for it to be that. I would personally guess ASPD+ADHD+MDD. One of his major specialties is dissecting the social boundaries not because the doesn't understand them, but to show the blind spots they leave, the disservice they do us. He knows what he does is against the norm, he knows he doesn't speak like the people around him and he knows how to do it right. He just *doesn't* because he finds value in removing that and finds no value in others' opinions on him. He knows he is seen as terrible and does not care to change it, not because (imo) he was not accepted as a person but because he was traumatized against people as a whole. See also, MIA and unknown father, questionable mother, shitty stepfather, and all the things he hints at but does not tell us outright. House is a lot of things, but socially unaware is not one of them, and whilst there are autistic people like that who are prosocial, I think the show addressed this clearly in the early episode of the autistic (they used the n*zi term but I will not) child who gives him the PSP or gameboy or whichever it was. House sees some of himself in that child, but it is clearly addressed that it's not quite right - that House relates but does not seem to click properly with being autistic. However, in the "soci*path" patient episode, House heavily struggles to separate himself from her, and finds himself repeatedly coming up empty on reasons they aren't the same. In fact, when he finds out it is reversible, it seems to me like he is simultaneously glad to have figured out the puzzle - and maybe to save her from his suffering - and distressed and jealous that she gets to get out of this. She will get to meet people who did not know her that way and be like them and feel like them and feel like one of them. Unlike in the autism episode, the characters around him seem to believe he has it as well. If he is autistic, he has ASPD as well - diagnosed in fact.

It's such a damn good show.

You did not ask for my (as restrained as possible) infodump about House, MD but you activated my special interest trap card.

#house md spoilers #dr greg house #house md #gregory house #I will live and die by my love of this show #and I have not finished season 8 yet #and I am not ready no matter how it ends #tho admittedly season 8 does kinda suck only in comparison to the rest of it #aspd-culture-is #aspd culture is #aspd culture #actually aspd #aspd #aspd awareness #actually antisocial #antisocial personality disorder #aspd traits #anons welcome

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gatalentan · 1 year

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can u actually go over the significance of the sunflowers on the work wives’ table again? I think I missed it the first time and it sounds interesting

You have activated my trap card. Here is my thesis on the Work Wives Sunflowers.

Ok, I want to preface this by saying this is totally just a little bit of fun, and I am not totally deluded as to think this is A Thing. I have no expectations about this ship being canon, or there being Secret Meanings. It's more spotting a pattern and running with it. However, similarly - there is symbolism in this show in terms of costuming and set design, such as Janine's "love" necklace appearing and disappearing during story beats, writing on the teachers' boards being plot-relevant, etc, so it's not me being totally outlandish! For nearly 30 consecutive there hasn't been any decorations on the table, only practical items like salt, pepper, a basket of leaflets/condiments, a napkin holder etc (with the exception of Pilot, where the tables were in a different configuration, the WW are at a different table and all the tables have a little plant). For eg, here is all of S1:

In Fire, the table was damaged during a lapse of Barbara's mental health, where she became very insular with her own internal pain and didn't reach out to Melissa about it. It goes without saying that in the WW lore this table is basically a second home. The only time either of them sits anywhere else is when they fight, when Melissa ends up "sleeping on the couch" (other tables). This table getting damaged was a huge deal to Barbara and an inciting incident in her finally telling Melissa about Gerald's health problems and how it was upsetting her.

The table obviously had to be replaced after the fire damage, and was. In Teacher Conference, there is a new table, and a little bouquet has appeared, which stays through the next episode Mural Arts, squirreled away behind all the dinner paraphernalia.

But in Teacher Appreciation, the sunflowers appeared, huge and bright, two of them, a centrepiece, right there from the cold open.

An episode which, as we know, was a massive turning point in their relationship, where they fought, traded some really, really low blows that cut deep, but this time apologised on screen and reconciled - and one in which Barbara is wearing bright yellow when they do.

Immediately my squirrelly little brain started making connections about this, because they're SO bright and LARGE and PROMINENT and there wasn't any prominent decoration on the table before. My initial thought was oh, it's teacher appreciation day, this can be dismissed easily as just a gift from one of the kids. But we saw a lot of gifts being given to them all in this ep, and the flowers aren't among them. It was @cdyssey who made the stitch for me that this is probably Barbara christening/homecoming the table/the physical manifestation of their friendship/relationship after her lapse damaged it in an episode which re-cements their connection after the events of Fire, and in an episode where their bond is tested. Flowers are her thing. It has to be Barbara.

We also haven't seen any other gift that was given become a recurring feature. They are always facing the wide-angle camera, two bright faces for the two of them in the configuration they always sit in, side by side. Barbara Howard, who loves flowers, no doubt has read up on flower language before. Sunflowers are representative of "silent love, loyalty, admiration, arrogance and unspoken love". This was, without a doubt, a deliberate choice, and so, so thematically relevant for not only the unspoken but incredibly strong bonds of their relationship (platonic, romantic or otherwise), but also the arrogance for which Barbara (and Melissa) took their relationship (and the symbolism of their shared table) for granted in the episode where they appeared, and in Fire where she didn't open up to Melissa and share her pain.

The sunflowers are a physical manifestation of what Barbara feels about her relationship with Melissa, and the sanctuary that is their second home: the table. A safety and enduring loyalty that has lasted decades and seen countless other colleagues and friendships and even Melissa's marriage come and go. For each other, they are a reliable, ever-present constant, a beam of sunlight no matter what they are weathering together. The sunflowers stayed on the table for the following episode, disappeared 2x20 when Melissa was sat at the table alone (and was stressed and unmoored the whole episode), and the reappeared in 2x21, when the WW returned to the table again. And not only reappearing, but reappearing in a yellow outfit.

This cements to me that this is Barbara bringing them in each Monday - when she doesn't come into the lounge, the flowers aren't there.

As an addendum, I haven't re-checked the full series proper, but another time sunflowers have appeared in relation to WW is during another turning-point scene in 1x06, the "maybe this is it for me" scene with Barbara, Melissa & Gerald eating lunch that leads to Barbara encouraging Melissa to date again... but which also contains this look, where Barbara's mask nearly, fully slips one of the most significant times in the whole series and is a foundational moment in WW ship lore. Again, there are two sunflowers in this scene.

Yes, this whole thing is me being a delulu girl. Yes, it's me making tenuous connections for a non-canon ship and making a meal out of scraps. Yes, I fully enjoy this little theory and subscribe to it, and welcome anyone else to play around in the mud with me, too. If you wanna take this idea for fic etc, GO GO GO!

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

#work wives #melissa x barbara #barlissa #chatalentan

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listen-to-the-inner-walrus · 11 months

Note

can you explain why you dont believe the titanic switch conspiracy theory? didnt they find a propeller with "olympic" written on it amongst the wreckage?

i feel like the phrase "you just activated my trap card" applies here but i have also never watched yu-gi-oh so dont fully know the correct use of that. anyway whats the text limit on a tumblr post because i think i might hit it with this response.

before we begin (if you wanna join me on this fucking journey), ill just drop some useful sources on the topic:

olympic & titanic - an analysis of the robin gardiner conspiracy theory dissertation by mark chirnside in july 2006

titanic or olympic: which ship sank? by steve hall and bruce beveridge

olympic & titanic: the truth behind the conspiracy by steve hall and bruce beveridge

with that shipkeeping housekeeping out of the way, lets jump into it after the cut

so hands up, how many people knew that this theory originated in a book from 1995?

yeah, its a pretty modern theory considering titanic sank in 1912. the theory originated in the riddle of the titanic by robin gardiner and dan van der dat.

and the theory argues that the ships were switched and titanic (actually olympic) was deliberately sank as part of an insurance scam. now they didnt do this at all for shits and giggles. instead, the theory posits that the navy enquiry that followed the 1911 collision between hms hawke and olympic was biased which meant white star line couldnt recover the costs of repair from lloyds (the insurance company), and therefore, they wrote olmpic off as too damaged to be repaired, lied about the amount of damage, switched the ships and sank olympic disguised as titanic to recover some costs.

far-fetched? oh definitely and it gets worse, but ill leave that til later in this gargantuan response because its really fucking funny.

(seriously, i recommend you read til the end or just skip to the part where i start talking about the sinking itself because fam, gardiners theory gets wild )

according to van der dat, who is a dutch journalist and naval history writer with an incredibly dutch name, gardiner had wrote the manuscript after researching the titanic for however many years and sent it to his literary agent. this agent had previously worked with van der dat and so sent it to him to double-check the information by going back to the original sources. he then rewrote the book with line-by-line consultation with gardiner.

and would you like to hear a quote from van der dat regarding the theory? i think you would:

"the publishers were disillusioned when the theory did not stand up"

he also, in correspondence with titanic author and researcher paul lee, called it "bilge" which is a fun ship joke alongside calling the theory bullshit.

anyway, the publishers went ahead with the book anyway because fuck integrity, i guess... thats kinda harsh considering this first book (oh yeah, theres more) was praised for stellar research and for being balanced, and the final chapter of the book literally acknowledges that the wreck has titanics shipyard number (401) on it, hence disproving the theory.

in 1997, it was published in the us under the name the titanic conspiracy - cover-ups and mysteries of the worlds most famous sea disaster, and it sold like sliced bread in 1928 because 1997 was titanic fever, baby!

unsurprisingly, gardiner's following books (titanic: the ship that never sank? in 1998; the history of the white star line in 2001; the great titanic conspiracy in 2010) were a lot less well-received and were not co-authored by van der dat.

"but wait, kai!" you might shout if youre up to date with issues of the times from 1914, "what about raymond asquith's comments? he was junior counsel for the board of trade at the sinking inquiry!"

and i would say, what about it? the letter asquith wrote to the times was a sarcastic letter in response to a prior stance taken by the paper.

yes, he said "the architect, the owner, and the captain to repair their desperate fortunes by sinking the ship and sharing the insurance money" but said letter also included the phrase "manipulating dummy icebergs".

if were taking sarcastic or satirical responses outside of their original contexts as serious quotes, then i guess i need to cancel my dropout subscription since the company holds the opinion that oj simpson is innocent.

and while were here, that single deathbed confession from james fenton is not evidence of anything. his name is not on any crew lists or survivor lists, and not a single payment was ever claimed by a crewman called james fenton. he was not on board the titanic and his claims hold no weight.

now, my go-to explanation as to why i dont believe the switch theory is that their insurance scam would have lost them money and they would know that it would have lost them money.

see, it cost white star (which was a subsidiary of the international mercantile marine) £1.5million/$7.5million to build titanic and they insured it by lloyds (you can check their records on their website) for £1million/$5million.

you dont have to be good at maths to see a problem here.

they didnt just not insure the rest; it was self-insured by imm's insurance fund, but that still means theyd have lost £500,000/$2.5million on the sunken ship.

this whole insurance thing was established by uh the united states senate inquiry report:

"the vessel fully equipped, cost £1,500,000 sterling, or about $7,500,000. at the time of the accident the vessel carried insurance of £1,000,000 sterling or about $5,000,000, the remaining risk being carried by the company's insurance fund."

oh and the £1,000,009 insurance was announced in the daily mirror on 16th april 1912

and the insurance scam seemingly thought up by someones whose first and only introduction to maths was golf isnt the only way white star would have lost money on this.

after the sinking, olympic was temporarily pulled from service to increase safety measures like adding more lifeboats. obviously, a logical move made by a company with a brand new, safer ship on their hands who were desperate for any money they can make.

white star also halted construction of britannic, titanics other sister ship, in order to alter the design and make it safer. this costs quite a bit of money and is, again, an odd choice for a company apparently desperate for money.

and hey, question for you guys: if you were alive in 1913 and needed to cross the atlantic, would you

a) choose the near identical sister ship of that ship that sank last year and was the deadliest sinking of a ship at that time

b) choose any other option such as the lusitania or the mauretania or the ss france or the ss imperator

personally id take my chances with option a, idk about you

yeah so the point im making here is that the sinking of the titanic was what the kids say

a marketing disaster

it was the loss of the newest flagship on its maiden fucking voyage and it had been touted as "practically unsinkable". maybe just maybe people wouldnt feel that comfortable getting on a white star line ship after that.

i dont have any figures for you because reading through a detailed account of white stars history just is not on my to-do list, but that doesnt even matter. what matters is that its clearly a massive risk and who the fuck is taking that risk?

as titanic author, senan molony states:

"one doesnt need to compare designs and count portholes - a moments serious consideration of the reputational risk involved - individually and collectively - is all that is required to end any entertainment of the notion"

anyway, you guys wanna compare designs and count portholes? yeah? okay, here we go!

may i present a non-exhaustive list of differences between the ships:

olympics wheelhouse was curved; titanics was flat

titanic was 4 inches longer

the porthole arrangements on shelter deck c were different

on b deck, olympic had a 1st class promenade; titanic had 2 private verandahs and suites (put a pin in this by the way, it comes back in the best of ways)

titanic had additional cabins on promenade deck a

olympics promenade was open all the way along; on titanic, the forward half of the 1st class promenade on a-deck was enclosed with retractable glass screens

on titanic, the forward bridge wings aft docking bridge on the stern extended over the ships side by a couple of feet; this would not be true for olympic until the 1912/13 refit

the officers deck house was pushed out more on titanic

the iron gates of the elevators were different between the ships and this is evident in the wreck itself

their propellers had different pitches and hence not interchangeable (pitch is a theoretical concept which is like the distance a propeller would move if it turned once through something solid, yeah i dont know either)

the wireless cabin had an outside window on olympic, but not titanic

further, it was placed on the port side of the officers deck house on olympic but amidship on titanic

they had different air vent arrangements around the funnels

white star line cut the ships names into the shell-plating at the bow and stern, four feet high and a ½ inch deep

now, please, close your eyes, take a deep breath and consider how much money it would cost to switch just the list above. now compare all of that to the -£500,000/$2.5million youre losing in the insurance scam.

truly, a spend less on candles situation.

and while we're here, shall we quickly talk about how much hush money white star would be paying to silence everyone about this since its apparently an illegal insurance scam.

not to make another non-exhaustive list but heres just who i can think of that youd have to silence:

the 15,000 workers employed directly by the shipyard

the 20,000+ workers in support services or sub contractors

any permanent or casual staff at the belfast dock and harbour comission

all of the officers and crew who came directly from olympic onto titanic such as the captain or stewardess violet jessop (puppet history fans rise up) who interestingly remarked on how improved titanic was compared to olympic

any staff at white star, imm and harland & wolff (where she was built) who would be in the know such as designers

passengers who had previously sailed on olympic who then sailed on titanic

just like anyone in belfast who walked past while the ships were docked together

olympics wreckers: thomas wards & sons who kept huge loose-leaf ledgers for each ships. the one for olympic was 72 pages long and funnily enough olympics yard number and builders I'd frequently appear in it, as seen below

bob ballard who was the one who found titanic. hes known as a very honest man and didnt even claim salvage rights on titanic because he assumed everyone else would also recognise it was a gravesite. he also said "i think it is the titanic at the bottom of the ocean"

every other explorer or researcher like james fucking cameron or us navy consultant and titanic wreck explorer, parks stephenson

its been estimated likely over 60,000 people were involved in just the building of titanic. this was ⅕ of belfasts population and ⅓ of the working population. heres a photo of them leaving olympic at the end of the day

now maybe im just a fool, but that looks like a lot of people you need to silence, and unless white star were blackmailing them or idk fucking killing them i guess, thats a lot of hush money just in the photo above.

i mean, theres also the claim, from noted liar james fenton, that the surviving crew were forced to sign the official secrets act of 1911, but that act was about espionage that benefits the enemy military so im not sure how this is relevant to the switch, and also, again, the guy was never on the ship.

are you perhaps starting to get the picture as to why i dont believe the conspiracy theory because im still going.

okay so as established, if the ships were switched, there would have clearly been a lot of work that would need to be done to switch the ships.

and i only mentioned some of the structural differences, i didnt get into the aesthetic differences like the floor tiles and carpeting being different colours, or how the lounge furniture in each ship having the ship name on them.

mind you, this is what titanic looked like (in the foreground) when olympic was first docked next to her:

this was taken around october 11. olympic docked next to titanic on october 7th for repairs after that whole catastrophic collision.

now how much time do you think it was before olympic sailed away? mind you, titanic has already been launched at this point and just needs to be fitted-out, and that normally takes around 4 to 6 months?

oh, what was that? 44 days? why, kid, youre going somewhere. it was 44 days exactly!

now, i dont think i need to get into the fact that the dock only had 1 crane (which you needed to install and uninstall funnels and machinery) that physically couldnt reach olympic unless she was moved or how olympic was painted white for her launch and then painted black and that the white paint would get exposed in rough weather so the same would have to be applied to titanic so it would look convincingly like olympic.

i mean, you have that information now, but im hoping just by the words "44 days", you might get how off the wall insane it is to suggest white star was able to switch the ships so well no one noticed for decades in 44 fucking days.

"wait kai, youre forgetting that they were docked together again!" you shout, "after olympic threw a propeller, they were docked together from march 1st to march 7th 1912"

and i dont know dude, im pretty sure white star cant warp space time so i really dont know what eight extra days is gonna do.

i hate to strawman but man, the late robin gardiner would have won a gold medal in scarecrow hide and seek.

lets also take a quick detour into the idea that olympics repairs were so expensive.

without getting into gardiners claims about the damage because theres no evidence of it and as mark chirnside states "there are no credible sources indicating that the damage to olympic was worse than reported at the time - and indeed ample sworn expert testimony to the contrary", lets just quickly go over some financial stuff.

during the case, it was unofficially estimated that the damage didnt exceed $125,000. imm, by including lost passenger receipts, wanted to claim for as high as $750,000, but they lost that case.

during the year 1911, imms surplus profit was $822,062. so weve got:

750,000 > 822,062

now as we might remember from key stage 1 maths, the bigger number eats the smaller number, aka, their surplus profit covered the costs of repair.

aka, no ill-advised insurance scam needed.

"thousands of people in belfast would have seen the switch operation - and yet there is not one word in the papers of reporters or photographers rushing out to find out what was happening."

-dr paul lee

so this is the section where i ask how did no one fucking notice?

no one on titanic, who had previously sailed on olympic, ever said anything about the switch other than one guy who was literally not on the ship at any point.

no one who has ever explored the wreck or done research on it has definitively stated it was olympic. rather, they have definitively stated otherwise.

for example, what remains of the base on the wheelhouse shows it to be straight and not curved, and as you might remember: titanics wheelhouse was heterosexual straight and olympics was curved.

(id be impressed if you did remember)

also, as parks stephenson has stated:

"weve got actual high def images of this wreck. ive seen with my own eyes. weve identified the name titanic on the port bow"

its difficult to make out but its there; the name is on the fucking ship.

also, as you might remember, titanics b-deck was different to olympics. the 2 suites there were nicknamed the "millionaire suites" and jim cameron has used rovs to go inside of them.

funnily enough, robin gardiner has gone on the record saying that these suites didnt exist so make of that what you will.

and further, no one noticed anything about olympic even though she sailed for 24 more years. theres no written record of anything, theres nothing in the board of trade reports, theres no photographic proof and theres not even fucking hearsay.

she served as a damn troopship in ww1, youd figure someone would figure it out as all of her fittings were ripped out.

but no, theres nothing.

as i mentioned above, olympic was scrapped in 1935, but some of her fittings were auctioned off and still exist today. and these have the number 400 on them because that was her shipyard number. titanics was 401 and the wreck reflects this also:

the wooden parts are from olympic; the other has been salvaged from titanics wreck.

theres even the famous myth that olympic or olympus as one person told me is written on the propeller at the bottom of the ocean. its not, but you can see the number 401 written on it:

and while were disproving myths about the name olympic being on the titanic, the story about olympic being engraved on titanics lifeboats is also false:

theres no written testimony, no sketches and no photographs of this.

white star didnt engrave names onto lifeboats, the names were on metal plates that were screwed on

do you really think they did all of this work but just didnt fucking swap the lifeboats? if theyre this stupid, how did it take until 1995 for someone to figure it out?

we can also discuss the stupid olympic room thing while were here. see theres a maritime superstition that changing the name on a ship is bad luck and obviously, if youre swapping the ships, youre changing the names.

so to... get around this? cheat luck? outsmart superstition? i dont fucking know, to take a detour to avoid this, white star named a room "the olympic room."

i cannot find any evidence at all that this room ever existed. its not in the design plans or the blueprints, and no passenger or crew has ever said it existed, so im pretty sure the room just didnt exist.

and even if it did exist, titanic was in the olympic class of ships. thats what olympic, titanic and britannic were. its not weird to have an olympic room on an olympic class ship. i mean it is weird in this case since the room didnt exist, but you get my point.

and heres some quickfire myths and falsehoods

the myth about the 14 vs 16 bow portholes is also a false. yes, titanic had 14 portholes on launch but an extra 2 were added before her maiden voyage so yes, the ship photographed departing southampton with 16 bow portholes is the titanic, and do you really think it would take 83 years to figure this out if it was this easy?

similarly, titanic did have evenly spaced b-deck windows on launch, but then the extra verandahs and suites were added so the window configuration was altered, so that photograph is off the titanic.

the idea that titanic had a 2 degree list to port like the olympic before her is evidence of the switch theory is, to borrow a word from dan van der dat, bilge. plenty of ships at the time and now have minor lists. the one on titanic was only recorded by 2 passengers and we know that the list was related to coal consumption. it means nothing.

jp morgan (owner of imm) did not cancel last minute. as mark baber points out on encyclopedia titanica, it was announced in the new york times that hed be in venice on april 23. at that time, transatlantic voyages took at least 5 days so it would at least be a 10 day round trip and likely not give him time to get to venice for the opening of a store of whatever it was.

also, j bruce ismays wife and kids also didnt cancel last minute. theyd already decided to go on holiday to wales rather than sail on titanic.

addendum to that point: if ismay knew it was going to be sank deliberately and so warned his wife, why would he get on board himself? further, why would harland and wolff designer thomas andrews (who did not survive by the way) get on board?

and we're finally at my favourite part of this entire mess: the sinking itself.

see, a deliberate sinking doesnt really make sense for titanic because the conditions under which she sank has led to the descriptor "freak sinking."

these are: a new moon meaning less light, unusually calm ocean that disallowed lookouts to watch for foam as waves hit any icebergs, ice having drifted further south than normal for that time of year, and a sideways glancing blow that breached more watertight compartments than the ship could handle and stay afloat.

and idk dude, is there not an easier way? like maybe some light arson. just call it an accidental fire that got out of control and led to the ship being a write-off, this isnt difficult.

but you see gardiner has an answer to this, and i am laughing as im typing this, he claims that:

titanic didnt hit an iceberg, it hit an imm rescue ship.

thats right, this guy fully says titanic didnt hit an iceberg. apparently it hit another ship and NO ONE FUCKING NOTICED

i mean we have testimony from survivors but fuck them i guess.

he claims that as titanic was apparently a "steel double-hulled vessel" so an iceberg simply couldnt inflict so much damage.

yeah titanic wasnt double-hulled. she had a double bottom, but it was only after titanic that shipbuilders were like ah maybe full double hulls arent an unnecessary expense after all.

theres also the issue of uh no evidence of this rescue ship ever existing? at all? i dont know where it came from, i dont know where it went, and who fucking knows, maybe it was called the rms cotton eyed joe.

yeah so weve got a theory riddled with problems and im just gonna introduce some more problems with this theory as gardiner has also alleged that:

the original plan was to open the seacocks and slowly flood the ship, but this was interrupted by titanic hitting another ship

1) titanic didnt have seacocks? and 2) was the rest of it a coincidence then? i think its meant to be a coincidence.

i believe his theory is alleging that the crew on titanic would open the seacocks that didnt exist to flood the ship slowly, and that the imm rescue ship that also didnt exist was in the area in advance to help evacuate passengers, alongside other ships such as the ss californian.

this is that ship that was like 10 miles away or something and didnt respond to titanics distress signals. according to gardiner, they were expecting a rendezvous with titanic according to the "original plan", but never received it.

instead, they saw the rockets of the fabled imm rescue ship and helped them instead.

this is fucking stupid.

i cant be charitable here, its a fucking stupid theory. i mean, that imm ship did not exist, and also californian is a ridiculous choice for a rescue ship. her capacity was 47 passengers and 55 crew; there were more than 2200 people on board titanic.

to counteract this argument, gardiner alleges carpathia was also in on the scheme as a rescue ship. she, at least, had capacity for the passengers, but theres also several problems with this too.

for one, it was fucking 50 miles away and famously arrived several hours after the sinking even though the captain had her running at top speed to get there.

for two, carpathia was owned by cunard, white stars rival. was their rival line in on the insurance scam??? how much money did they have to pay cunard for this????? why? just why?

do you understand why i dont believe it? please tell me you understand. i need you to understand. i need you to tell me that you understand that the guy who created this conspiracy claimed titanic didnt hit an iceberg.

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pencilofawesomeness · 25 days

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Hey Pencil, can I ask you what you think of Neuvilette's character after the end of the current Archon quest? Not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed at how he and everyone else treated Furina, but I was curious about your thoughts on the matter

ohohohohohohohoho anon. Dear sweet anon, you've activated my trap card, otherwise known as the Pencil Essay card, because I have sooooo many thoughts about this.

I will say though, I see Neuvilette in context of the story quests too, especially Furina's, as well as his friendship stories and voicelines. So, er, spoilers for that I suppose, but I can't separate those bits away from his character at this point. Anyway.

I frickin love Neuvilette. As a character, he checks a lot of boxes of traits that I adore, like being hella old, a dragon, somewhat isolated from normalcy, a cinnamon roll that can kill you, and Doing His Best. Now, as an important addendum to this, the fact that he is a dragon is a crucial part of the basis, because that's where a lot of conflict starts. He's separated from his kind, he's not a human yet he is confined to a human form, he remembers that the elemental authority should be his but Celestia took it and the archons have it now. The idea he has that he will forever be isolated, and that there will forever be a certain taste of bad blood between him and the rest of the world is founded. And yet. AND YET. Long ago, Focalors asks for him to help lead Fontaine, and he!!! Agrees!!! Neuvilette's character is rooted in a sense of justice and fairness, and in such, he tries to remain open-minded, and thus, he must witness things for himself. When he is presented a change in perspective, he accepts it.

Honestly I thought the Archon Quest did this rather nicely. He worked with Furina, believing her to be Focalors, for years. While Furina did waaay too good of a job in being as showy as possible, their close proximity meant that some of her true ethics and anxieties did make themselves known to Neuvilette. He knew when Furina was panicking and lying, just not why. Likewise, he has had inklings of when she's been sincere, and also, has a better perspective on how other people perceive her. More on that in a second.

Knowing what we know in hindsight, the Archon Quest is....very harsh. But. I understand why it happened that way. It was very clear that neither the Traveler nor Neuvilette wanted to put Furina on trial, however, neither of them were able to get her to tell the truth in private, and time was of the essence. The threat of a whole populace dying (and!!!! People have already died at this point!!!! Civilians!!!) is kind of a big deal. Something happens, or they all die; full stop. Hence, calling out the big guns. Which, to their credit, was just meant as a display of pressure on an actual deity, not an actual trial with death sentences and the discovery that Furina was a stressed out human all along. Focalors wanted that, however, so all according to plan. But very much not what Neuvilette wanted.

Fast forward. For Neuvilette, I think there is something really special to be said that he cares about both Focalors and Furina. He's only ever seen glimpses of both, but when Focalors aims to die to give Neuvilette back what is rightfully his, he protests! He doesn't want that! If there was a way for Focalors to undo the sea, he would accepted that, despite the janky usurped power thing. She is making a divine sacrifice, one that nobody else will truly know, and he mourns the person that is lost for it. Meanwhile, for all that Furina acted as a mask, and acted as if she was entirely self-sustainable, Neuvilette has shown to be concerned over her as a person. He caves so quickly to meet with Arlecchino when it's clear she's nervous, he asks Traveler to look after her, he tries to ask her when she's clearly being flighty. Even little things, like when he tells Traveler to acknowledge Furina at the beginning of the quest when she's showing off, because he knows she equates attention to success (just not why) and he is throwing her a bone. Yes, he is exasperated just as frequently, but Furina is not making it easy at that stage. Her entire schtick is to purposely keep people at arm's length, to be entertaining before she's likable, so really, I think there's an impressive amount of patience to be had.

The thing I have noticed about Neuvilette is that he is the kind of just that is caring. The law is for the sake of the people, and thus, people have become his focus. He denies this for a long time on account of believing himself to be forever an Other, but it is persistent all the same. He quickly wants to see the melusines treated well and with respect when they are integrated with society. He wants to see justice for those who are hurt. He understands, even, when those who do wrong are not bad people, like with Wriothesley. Neuvilette is, at his core, a kind person; however, he is terrible at expressing care in ways we would expect it. In part because he's just Like That, and in other part because he spent so long unaware of it. Usually, this means that he takes things at face value. If a melusine is being threatened, then there is a problem regarding humans' view of melusines again; if Wriothesley crawls out of hell with a Vision and the new title of Duke, then that means he found something to live for and he will support it; if Furina asks for space, then he tries to give her space. Neuvilette is a sincere person, even if sometimes he misunderstands the emotional complexity afoot.

Back to Furina. When it's revealed that she is a human, and she absolutely crashes, Neuvilette may not be the picture of fatherly comfort, but he is there for her in the way she asks, and even, in the ways she doesn't. She wants to be left alone, because Furina is tired of a facade and at this point she believes that everyone will hate both the fake her and the real her. Neuvillete obliges, and he arranges to pay for her apartment and food and make sure she is taken care of, when Furina is clearly not thinking that far ahead. It's clear that he would visit more often, but he's busy being the effective Archon now, and also, he doesn't think Furina would want that. Face value interpretations and all that. However, Neuvilette still appreciates the good that Furina did accomplish, in the mask and out of it. He doesn't fully understand Furina's hangups, but he respects what she does or doesn't want to do.

Now, Furina absolutely hit that depressive slump of a crash. Homegirl is living off of noodles like a broke college student. She thinks the world hates her and that everyone only put up with her because she was the archon and a superstar. Did she need someone to intervene? Sure. But she pushed Neuvilette and Clorinde away when they awkwardly tried, so Furina has to go through the long story quest way, and come to a bit of her own realization that people genuinely respected her ability to act as a skill and a thing of beauty, not just as a lie.

Furina's story quest offers the very best presentation of how Neuvilette sees her, and how, in his own way, he apologizes but also respects everything she has done and is. When Furina goes on stage, despite her valid reservations, and she gives it her all for that actresses sake, and she gives it her all because its real to her too, and Neuvilette sees this and sees her bravery, her spirit, and all of the hard work that Furina has given Fontaine for 500 years. So he tears a chunk off of his power and he gives it to her, in the form of a Vision.

The Visions are such a wonderful representation, because now that Neuvilette is the sole sovereign, without Celestia's janky throne in the way, he has full power over the granting of Visions. He can stop if he wants, because Visions are made by ripping chunks off of the god in question, but Neuvilette has studied and he has learned that humans are amazing and they earn their ambition, and he wants to give to that. So it's an incredibly purposeful gesture here and it carries the meaning of his care and respect in ways that he cannot articulate.

Neuvilette is kind. He's stiff, dutiful to a fault, has trouble being vulnerable and recognizing it in others, but he is trying, and he is kind. He gives credit where credit is do, and he tries to do the right thing, even when he misses the mark. He accepts when he's wrong, though, like with Focalors and Furina, like with missing how the general populace adores the melusines now, like with Childe when he honestly was baffled by the oratrice's absurd verdict. He's an old dragon and he's slow to catch up, but he makes that effort anyway, which I think is really neat. Neuvilette learns and he implements that. In Lantern Rite, he listened to Furina and finally managed to take a vacation, and he made a dumb little dragon ladle and had fun doing it. And he walked away from that realizing why taking a break was important.

So, er, yeah. I think Neuvilette is neat. Furina too. I really wish we can see them interacting more now that Furina is finally getting it through her skull that people do, in fact, want to be her friend and spend time with her, and I would love to see more on the implications that Traveler has told him of the other archons' exploits and he is forced to admit that they also either have no idea what's going on or that they known of them took the elemental authority on purpose/for the sake of it, but that's either an end-game thing or we'll never get it. Alas. Still I think Fontaine and all of hydro is in good hands with him.

Also he's an awkward dragon yall know I love grandpa dragon men who have parental bones but have no idea how to use them on purpose. I have. a type. of course I'm looking hard at neuvilette he's got the whole package

So uhhhhhh yeah. Yeah. I will. End it there.

#genshin impact #neuvillette #pencil essay #anon #ask #character analysis #if you look closely you can tell I love furina's story quest #i wrote this unedited at 3-4 am so #like most of my tumblr essays this is not my best work #but it is my raw unhinged work which is why we are all on this hellsite #but yeah honestly i do give neuv credit for his patience #if i had to deal with furina acting like that i would have strangled her #the cast doesn't get clued in on her inner actions until the last second #we get a bit like with arle stabbing her when she was petting a cat #also its mad frustrating to try to help someone who refuses help so I get it #especially when nobody knew furina's reason #because she couldn't tell anyone #focalors' master plan was brilliant but cruel #which they both knew going into this #so uhhh yeah the archon quest was rough but I get it

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