Anyone else think it's weird that only like half the ghosts in bbc ghosts have spooky powers? Like okay I get it, and I know they don't need to have powers, and this isn't really a criticism, I just think it'd be... neat, y'know?

Honestly tbh it's one of the few things I almost prefer about the cbs version - I like how they expand the lore and give almost all the ghosts powers, it makes things interesting. Trevor and Julian can move things a bit, Thor and Robin can fiddle with the electricity, Mary smells like smoke, Flower gets you high, Fanny can be seen in photos, Isaac smells like dysentery, Alberta can be heard singing, Hetty's husband makes you horny, and Rebecca Wisocky has implied Hetty has a power different to the one the other ghosts thought she had (sending people to hell), so there seems to be an expectation that each ghost in the US version has a power/ability even though not all of em have been revealed yet (i.e. Sasappis, Pete, Crash, and ofc Hetty). And it's the expectation of powers that makes me think it'll be all of them having one as the show goes on. Only 3 of the core cast of 8 ghosts (not including Crash, he's even less relevant than my guy Humphrey) do not have CONFIRMED supernatural abilities. Compared to BBC Ghosts, it's definitely a bit different.

I'm reminded by what Nigel said about Isaac's power - that he still has an effect on the living world from beyond the grave. So it kinda saddens me more than anything that the other 5 ghosts don't have anything like that, yk?

I just-- wouldn't it be cool, and hear me out, if the other British ghosts could do something in that way? Like okay I think it was kingofthefrog's Ghost Swap AU (it's on ao3 and plot bunnies on tumblr) suggested that Kitty can be heard with a spirit box? That's genius. Kinda like Alberta's thing where her singing can be heard and Alexa hears her. I'm not a very creative person, but what if the other ghosts are walked through and it makes the living person feel a certain way or they have an unusual reaction? For example, Kitty walks through someone and they get the giggles and/or dance fever, or it's Thomas and they're suddenly depressed and/or romantic and/or Scottish, or it's Captain and they get butterflies in their stomach/they get all lovesick or their heart starts hammering and/or they're really anxious or get the sudden urge to listen to Kylie Minogue, or it's Humphrey and their neck hurts real bad and the Marseilleise is stuck in their head. Some of those I'm kinda joking but I just think it'd be neat, okay?

Let them have some nifty and/or stupid ghosts powers pls it would be so awesome it would be so cool etc etc

(I mean, BBC Ghosts is ofc over, so... it's not happening. In canon. 😈)

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐘𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐃𝐎𝐋 𝐎𝐂! [ 𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐒𝐀𝐊𝐈 ] 𝐱 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐔𝐏! 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

— [ 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ] ( full drawing at the end of post )

𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐈𝐌. This was the norm with idols. Nothing was wrong with such a premise you surmised, as only fools would believe their idols act the same on camera and behind. It was simple. They had an image and a personality, two completely different things in the entertainment world.

Hayate’s image was this brash, straight to the point, no nonsense person. A man who did not care much about looks, but was completely devoted to the art of music. A startling contrast to his angel like singing voice. Gap Moe, as his fans and manager would put it.

Hayate’s personality behind the cameras however, is what you would say an almost complete one-eighty.

The bi-colored haired boy was total skincare fanatic, he loved fashion, planning out his looks, journaling, and working out for the sake of keeping his body in shape. You say almost because he was incredulously meticulous either-way. You never met a man who was so passionate that it often infected you to do the same in your career and life. He enjoyed idol-work, breathed it, and deserved every bit of success he’d gotten so far.

He was also, still brash even behind the scenes.

“Why the hell would you be jealous of me?” To many, Hayate’s voice was intimidating — rough, and quite loud. It was jarring to see him switching from his speaking one to his singing. But to you who had spend far too long with this man, it was normal. And sometimes normal was something to crave for.

And boy did Hayate enjoy those normal moments between you two.

“Hayate, who wouldn’t be jealous of a man whose group had won several awards in their rookie years, now topping every chart.”

“A complete All-Kill, innit?” Your co-worker spoke from a couple of feet away. He was in charge of styling Hayate’s mess of a hair. The two of you are the only people capable of being physically close to him, aside from his members without being mauled. And you mean mauled in every sense of the term.

“Besides that, you’re just so motivated all the time. It’s like you have endless energy to do what you have to do.”

You noticed Hayate visibly relax, his tense posture almost escaping your eyes earlier. You make a mental note to bring him out to rest again one day. Most likely after your pay-day. Hayate always offered to pay for stuff you two bought on an outing but you just couldn’t do him like that.

Your co-worker chimed in again, “Meanwhile [Y/N] is here downing several [Fave Caffeinated Drink] just to get through the day.”

“Why are you here again?” You and Hayate deadpanned in sync, earning a laugh from all three of you in the room.

“I just . . . have a good. . . source of motivation.” The singer gave you a heavy, alluring stare. His muscle tee allowing you to view his neck slowly turning scarlet.

“He’s all red.”

“Fuck, I completely forgot to blend his neck! Wait, where’s my foundation brush?!” You screeched, running out to find wherever it could have gotten to in the building, knowing you most likely forgot it in the another member’s room. Either completely unaware of Hayate’s intense look, or simply too dense to understand the connotation of it.

Your colleague snorted as the door closed behind you, “You’re going to have to be more obvious than that lover boy, they’re worse than a brick wall.”

“. . .”

“Not even a sure, mate?” The British man sighed. It was always like this. Whenever you were out Hayate would just go silent. Only ever speaking to direct the stylist’s actions. You always insisted that your client saw you two as equal as you’ve never witnessed him acting this way, and every time the hair stylist spoke to you about it he could feel the menacing glare down his spine just provoking him to speak so that Hayate would pounce at an excuse to fire and sue him for defamation.

Once he was done styling the idol’s hair, Mr. Co-Worker backed off immediately. Knowing full well of the consequences of lingering around Hayate any longer.

“I’m back!” You hollered, a limp on your step due to a large man glomping you from behind.

“And who’s that behind you?” Your co-worker sighed. With you around his risk of dying goes down by at least 70%.

“Ehe.” But with Eve of all people to rile Hayate up, he’ll have to crank those chances back up again. The visual of the group had apparently stolen it earlier when he came by to do his daily dues in pushing Hayate one step further to an aneurysm. It was an important duty he had to fulfill as a member of Yesterday’s Dawn, and bringing you into the mix happened to annoy the vocalist the most.

“Don’t ehe me, Soo-bitch! Get the hell out of my make-up room!”

Eve smooches you on the cheek before promptly sticking his tongue out, “BLEGHHHHHH!!!”

You froze in response.

You see the veins protruding on Hayate’s temples and neck, reminding you of the job you came into the room to properly finish. Angry Hayate was something you haven’t seen in a while, but experienced has taught you not to react much and proceed with your job as if he isn’t planning several ways of mutilation at the moment.

It worked as moments later he calmed down and began chatting with you again.

Perhaps you should retract your judgment of his character. Hayate didn’t have sides he just had layers, and you his beloved make-up artist, were in the deepest one.

@yesterdaysdawnofficial just posted something! Check it out?

❤️ 💬 ✈️

1,426,394 likes

yesterdaysdawnofficial just two pretty bois uwu -eve

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yesterdayssleepfxker✅ nice.

yesterdaysfoodfxker✅ BLUDNDJDJ BLUR THE LOGO BLUR THE LOGO

yesterdaysbeauty ✅ there goes our sumsang sponsorship…

maniacforhayate AAAAAAAA OPPAR SaRANGhae

yesterdaysstan in this part of the ydjungle we see hayatus sasakus warding off one of his potential mates via hypnosis. completely uninterested.

_sanctuary_of_flowers_ *fanfic typing intensifies*

[ AUTHOR’S NOTE ]

Hayate was pretty much born from my weird obsession with working out and practicing the violin lately. My parents said that I look and sound hella constipated doing both and so an emotionally constipated yandere just came into mind.

also i “referenced” that one photo of jungkook holding a mirror to jimin’s meme face for this in case you thought the artwork looked familiar. tried using a new hair coloring style ehe.

UNEDITED

want more content like this? check my masterlist or the first few tags for more specific posts.

©️ hana.no.seiiki - yun | 2023. artworks, characters, and story belongs to me. please do not redistribute, repost, or translate without permission.

dontstandmedown replied to this post:

re:tags could you share the playwright you're talking about? :0

No problem! For others, the tags in question are this:

#thinking about this partly because the softer & gentler versions of fanfic discourse keep crossing my dash #and partly because i've written like 30 pages about a playwright i adore who was just not very good at 'original fiction' as we'd define it #both his major works are ... glorified rpf in our context but splendid tragedies in his #and the idea of categorizing /anything/ in that era by originality of conception rather than comedy/tragedy/etc would be buckwild

I am always delighted to share the good news of John Webster! If you're not familiar with him, he was an early seventeenth-century English playwright known for being a slow, painstaking, but reliable writer. He did various collaborations with other playwrights (and acknowledges a bunch of his peers in an author's note to The White Devil, including Jonson and Shakespeare) and wrote some middling plays in various genres that could be more or less termed "original fiction," but he's remembered for two brilliant, bloody tragedies.

The basic premises/plots of both of these were essentially ripped from the headlines of the previous century, and Webster makes zero attempt to conceal that fact.

I couldn't shut up about my guy so more under a cut!

The White Devil is based on the actual murder of Vittoria Accoramboni in the late sixteenth century and the characters in the play are generally given the same or similar names as the real life people in the story as known at the time, so there's no attempt to conceal the play's origins (the anti-heroine/villain???[debatable] is named Vittoria Corombona in the play, for instance).

The original production of The White Devil largely failed, which Webster blamed mainly on bad weather and an audience who just didn't get his ~vision and what he was trying to do. It would not be unsurprising for a contemporary audience to struggle with it given that it's a complicated play in which, among other things, Vittoria is put on trial and rhetorically shreds the underlying misogyny of the entire legal process.

The Duchess of Malfi, generally considered a still greater achievement, is based directly on the murder of Giovanna d'Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi by her brothers (it was presumed, likely correctly). Lope de Vega also wrote a play about this tragedy not long before Webster did, though the plays are very different and it's unlikely that Webster would have had the time or linguistic knowledge necessary to read Lope's version. Probably part of the reason for the differences between Lope's and Webster's takes is that Lope had to be careful about the reception by the Catholic Church given that one of the murderers was a cardinal, while obviously an English Protestant like Webster could say whatever he wanted about eeeeevil cardinals.

Webster takes a lot of artistic license, a normal approach at the time to adapting previously-established narratives, but the source material is very recognizable. One of the commendatory verses at the beginning of the play (blurbs in poetic form from other playwrights) is like "I'm sure the real duchess was cool but she couldn't be as cool as Webster's heroine, wow <3". (One of the other commendations is by another fave of mine, John Ford.)

Bosola, the historically mysterious minion of the Duchess's murderous brothers (=Bozolo in the historical narrative) gets an elaborate quasi-redemption arc in the play. And the play is extremely critical of various characters' obsession with and attempts to control the Duchess's sexual behavior (a fixation that is often extremely normalized in early modern British drama, but which comes off really badly here).

Ultimately this obsessiveness leads to her brothers, the Cardinal (=the historical Cardinal Luigi d'Aragona) and Ferdinand (=Carlo d'Aragona) orchestrating her torment and murder in which she emerges with her sanity and integrity intact and dies with dignity. Meanwhile, the Cardinal is exposed as a remorseless villain (he proceeds to murder his mistress with a Bible) and Ferdinand's already-shaky sanity snaps under the realization of what he's done.

Webster's Duchess is often considered the first real female tragic hero in British drama—the tragic is especially significant because tragedy was typically considered a higher art form than comedy and the truly great female characters from that era of drama are often restricted to comedies or secondary roles in tragedy (a marked trend in Shakespeare, for instance). The Duchess in the play is virtuous, strong-willed, witty, and fairly unabashedly sexual in the context of the time, a concept that several hundred years of critics have struggled with. (My favorite OTT complaint is from Martin Sampson, an early 20th century critic who lamented the conspicuous absence of a "strong active man, following righteous things" in Webster's work, to which I say l m a o.)

Anyway, among scholars of early modern British drama, Webster is often considered second only to Shakespeare as a tragedian, on the basis of those two plays. And the modern obsession w/ originality and novelty makes this kind of fascinating, given that his "original" work (in our sense—again, the original vs fanfic dichotomy was not a thing in that cultural context) is sort of meh but his work with pre-existing sources turns them into these staggering dramatic achievements.

Hi Desi ! Can i ask you who is stray kids would date a woc of different ethnicities ? Thank you :)

Oop! 😳 Time to spill some more tea then 🤭

MTL to date a WOC outside of Korea in Stray Kids:

(According to my pendulum, based off of their current energy / preferences)

Felix

I.N

Bang Chan

Changbin

Seungmin

Han

Hyunjin

Lee Know

Top row:

Left is Bang Chan, center is I.N, and right is Felix

Bang chan's reasoning for being third most likely is because he's very sexually enticed by woc outside of his race. They peak his interest and finds them attractive. I am pretty sure he's been with them before. Some of you guys might not want to hear this but it's giving he wants to soar his oats with just about anybody 🫣. I'm not really getting any romantic feelings, so he seems non committal or he would date a foreigner, but would really have to think about if he'd marry one. He's not really mature yet long term for a cross cultural or interracial relationship. Bang Chan is still ignorant in some areas of other cultures (he just wants to fuck 🥱). It's just giving like he is aware of other people's culture and then when dating someone who's not from the same culture, it's like he think would make a better partner than someone hasn't before. A know it all who doesn't really know it all ifykwim. When its like he can't hold any of his relationships down, he constantly searches for new beginnings or the next thing sexually (for any Bang Chan fans ready to fight don't be arguing with me on anon in my inbox!!! This is his energy for now, he's in his fuckboy era, do not put the blame on me for this! Sometimes we won't always hear the most pure or positive messages about our faves and that is okay)

Ngl I.N surprised me 😳 even though I did channeled before that his future spouse was someone that had dual citizenships (Korean and British). I was pleased to hear what his response was on dating a woc outside of his country or race. I.N's view on dating a woc that isn't Korean is quite positive. He shows admiration for them and has more pure intentions than I would say in comparison to Bang Chan (💀 I mean no shade??? but eh, I said what I said). I.N would be very supportive and willing to learn about his partner's culture or traditions. He honestly wouldn't care as long as they have similar family structures. I.N is rebellious by nature, so he just cares about his happiness and the happiness of his loved ones.

Felix's reasoning for being most likely to date a woc is given the fact he feels like he is an outsider in his own country and culture as well. He is Korean, but doesn't feel Korean enough? Felix resonates more with how he grew up in Australia and misses that lifestyle. There is water here and what seems like a beach. Felix could outpour a lot of love towards people that are different from him now and doesn't judge based off of racial stereotypes. Being able to travel overseas and meet new people has allowed him to open his mind and broaden his horizons. It's almost as if he was limiting himself in some areas (caring too much about labels, what's Korean, what's not Korean, what makes him Australian or what doesn't make him Australian). Controversial maybe??? Felix could feel more loved and respected by woc outside of Korea (I laughed I'm sorry 💀). There is a cultural difference so maybe they are more expressive with their love language where as in Korea they show it differently (I.E: a foreign woc might be affectionate and show physical touch, where a Korean woman would exchange gifts). Felix's view on dating woc could be more so a romantic fantasy or he likes the relationships he's seen in movies, television, or music videos. I channeled this before in a reading for him but I always think of Harry Styles and his Grammy's performance for "As It Was" to be his ideal romance. (Felix fr just as delulu as the rest of us LMAOOO 🤧)

Middle row:

Left is Changbin, center is Seungmin, and right is Han

Changbin is down for whatever honestly 💀. He's not the type to search for love but more so takes action only if he wants to experience it. He's romantic in general so if anyone could handle him and his quirks, then he's happy. Changbin would be very charming. I feel like he just needs the opportunity to meet a woc? I don't think he's ever dated a woc outside of Korea fr. "I had the plan, I just needed the platform" type of energy 🤣

Seungmin would be a hot mess I'm sorry 💀 I'm not even gonna sugarcoat it. It's like he wants to but he's not doing it based off of realistic decisions. It's more so he has an idea of what it's like to date a woc outside of Korea, but he's not focusing on the sentimental value of what it means to be in a relationship. Seungmin is very picky in general and makes romantic decisions based off of his illusions (another delulu??? Free the Virgos please). So because of his high expectations he would not be able to form long lasting connections. Also woc could be turned off by his behavior as well, they would most likely call him out or reject him because he's not mature enough. They won't tolerate it. Seungmin would just get his feelings hurt but it would be his own fault for being so damn sassy all the time 😂. He is stubborn though, so he would keep trying until he learns his lesson and also he finds the right person who can match his energy. The person he dates would require a looooot of patience because he is not easy to deal with. Very chaotic energy, but funny!

The reason Han is one of the members who is least likely is because he is more shy and introverted. So going up to a person and asking them out in general is not his thing. If Han were to date a woc that wasn't Korean, he'd have to be most likely friends first. "I have anxiety bruh." (💀). He'd want to take his time and get to know the person regardless of what their race is. I don't think he has much of a preference, it's just about who he's attracted to within that time. Han would be protective of his partner though and would express his love through gifts, money, etc.

Bottom row:

Left is Hyunjin & right is Lee Know

Hyunjin for being one of the members who is least likely to date a non-Korean woc is because he is very traditional. Whenever I do readings regarding his love life he always makes this very clear. He finds some woc (yes I said some because it's not a large number of woc he likes💀) beautiful, but it's not something he wants to go through all the trouble for. Too tedious for his liking. Hyunjin's fanbase is mostly in Korea as well so he could focus more on that because that is the attention he is used to getting from, so he cares more about catering to his fans, his family's expectations, as well as his own personal preferences. It's like he's not closed off to the idea, but Hyunjin doesn't like change. He prefers to stick to what he knows and situations that are predictable. To try being in a cross cultural or interracial relationship, it would make Hyunjin really anxious, nervous, and uncomfortable, because it is a type of environment he is not used to. I can say for sure say he's only ever dated a woman who was Korean or of Asian descent. Hyunjin would have to work on his confidence and care more about his own thoughts than other people's thoughts in order to be with a woc that wasn't Korean.

Lee Know is somewhat similar to Hyunjin's response, with a nicer approach. In his opinion, he feels like it requires courage to be in a relationship with a woc outside of Korea. He believes people who date someone that isn't the same race as them go through a lot of hardship. Channeled message: "I think if I was a father and my child looked like me, or looked like me a little less because they had features like their mama, whether their skin was maybe darker or their hair was a different texture. People would be very cruel and it would make me very upset as a dad. It's not a easy route to take. Maybe in the future when I am more brave I will think about it, as for now I am okay with being a coward!" (PLS 💀)

I hope you guys enjoyed this reading! I will be forming my own harem with these 4, take care besties 💋

Okay so I fucked up with the original post as it wouldn’t let me edit it from drafts after putting a video in there, so I had to start from scratch. So this was the ask, thank you @practically-an-x-man !

Oh wow this is quite a lot to get through! Alrighty let's get going.

Alexander Summers:

First impression:

l'm just going to talk about movie Alex, because I have other thoughts on comic Alex. I knew Lucas Till from other things like Hannah Montana and the YBWM music video, and also because after the drama with Ezra Miller everyone wanted LT to play the new movie flash, so I remember recognising this face when I first watched FC and thinking "oh yeah he's cute", and I liked his whole broody demeanour, but like, that was it. He became an honorary fave just because I knew he was around the mansion when Peter would've been young, so he was in a lot of the 'Cherik raise Peter' fics.

Impression now:

Jamie will tell you that I always develop a love for the more 'obscure’ characters in media, the smaller amount of screen time, the more likely I am to become obsessed. And so when I went back to rewatch the movies I was just pulled in when it came to Alex. I thought he was so interesting with soooo much potential, his dark but almost juvenile demeanour was like a hook, and I loooove his relationship with Charles. It's also amazing to get to experience a movie you love with a new found appreciation for a certain character because you notice so many new things. Every acting choice LT made for this role l've picked up on now, not to sound dramatic but every little detail helps fuel how I see Alex as a character/person, which is someone with so much complexity and depth.

Favourite moment:

Pretty much all of his scenes in Apocalypse, except his death. Even though I prefer FC, I love seeing how much he's grown and how much he's improved just in general. It's so lovely. But also this one specific deleted scene from FC that gives me all the feels,

Idea for a story:

I have a lot of ideas for Alex in the works, they're mainly on hold just because I went to uni this past September so l've been taking a fanfiction writing/reading break. My current main fic that l'm working on (that Jamie will be happy about), is Alex meeting and bonding with six/seven year old Scott after Vietnam. You'll know because you've read my fic but I picture Alex's relationship to be very strained with his parents, but he's making an effort because he's like, 89% sure Scott's going to be a mutant and he doesn't want him to have to deal with the same reactions he got all by himself.

I also have ideas around an OC of mine but I don't tend to talk about my OCs very much.

Unpopular opinion:

Hmm. The Alex fandom is very small so I don't think there are many 'unpopular' opinions. If we circle back to comic Alex, l'm not really a big fan of any of his romantic relationships. I like the characters respectively, I just don't tend to like them together.

Also I just prefer Alex to Scott, which isn't unpopular but it'll piss Jamie juice off :)

Favourite relationship:

Love love love looooove his platonic mentor-student relationship with Charles.

Favourite Headcanon:

Love the idea of Alex picking up on Charles’ British slang while living at the mansion between FC and DoFP. He wouldn’t say them in a British accent, but he’d say things like jacket potato, not baked potato (the second chapter of that fic will be dropping soon), and football instead of soccer, and I feel like Charles would really appreciate it because it would be something Raven used to do. Although I see her doing it in more of a teasing way compared to Alex, Alex is just adapting to his surroundings.

Hank McCoy:

First impression:

I remember quite liking Hank when I first watched FC, I don’t think I had a huge opinion on him but I did enjoy his presence. I liked his bashful relationship with Raven and I think Nicholas Hoult played the character well. He was like in between Alex and then Cherik and Peter for me, I cared about his presence because he was often involved with my top three, but he wasn’t obscure enough for me to develop a proper obsession with.

Impression now:

Kind of the same to be honest, if anything I think I may have gone off him a little bit. Not because of anything huge, but the way he is with Raven in that one scene in FC irks me a little. I do understand his reasoning, as someone with a physical ‘deformity’, I’d do anything to fix it, but I’m also like dude don’t tell this girl she’s not naturally gorgeous-. But overall I do still like him, and I did like his ending in DP too. (Even though I don’t like DP.)

Favourite moment:

Either when he and Logan are fighting in the foyer in DoFP or just his involvement with the montage in FC. Him being like “am I still a bozo?” to Alex, like bro what do you think the obnoxious little blond is gonna say-.

Idea for a story:

I like the idea of potentially writing a small oneshot about Alex and Hank having a conversation, maybe just before Alex leaves for Vietnam. I feel like it’s the only time they’d ever have a vulnerably emotional moment together. Alex wouldn’t admit to Charles he’s worried about going, and Hank would’ve picked up on enough of Alex’s social behaviours to realise it.

Unpopular opinion:

Not sure if this is unpopular but I don’t really ship him endgame with Raven. I ship them as a midgame, but if she had lived in the new timeline I don’t think they would’ve lasted, I think they’re a classic case of right person, wrong time. They were at totally different stages of life.

Favourite relationship:

Love his annoying brotherly relationship with Alex, and his mentor relationship with Charles.

Favourite headcanon:

Sean was the one who got Hank to smoke his first joint, and Hank was so concerned about what it would do to his brain/mutation that he caved and told Charles, as if they aren’t all adults who can make their own informed decisions. I don’t like reducing characters to a caricature, but the idea of Hank shyly telling Charles he’s stoned and has some minor concerns is so funny to me.

Patricia Thornton:

First impression:

In typical Summer fashion, Thornton wasn’t a favourite when I started MacGyver, that was solely Mac and Jack. I just thought she was pretty and badass, and I really enjoyed her banter with Jack. That was kind of all I thought on her.

Impression now:

I. Love. Her. Literally she is such an icon. I came to appreciate her pretty quickly because I binged a lot of MacGyver while I was recovering from my hip surgery, and then when I found out about the traitor storyline I was devastated. I love her snark, her facial expressions, how much of an amazing spy she actually was? I still love her relationship with Jack but I’ve also come to appreciate how she was with Mac and Riley. She wasn’t a helicopter boss/parent, but it’s so clear that beneath the sternness and consistent annoyance, she loved those brats so much.

Favourite moment:

During the Christmas episode, at the end, she’s talking to Mac by the Christmas tree and it’s a clear moment of how she wasn’t just the boss of this team, she was also a friend. She kisses Jack’s cheek, she lets Bozer touch her, she and Mac talk about Christmas gifts, I love it. (I also love her in the fourth episode of season one where she’s beating the shit out of people.

Idea for a story:

I want to write more of her and Mac, I like the idea of her going to see him in the hospital after the incident in S1E1, but he’s at a generic hospital in Italy, and when she and Jack arrive the doctors are like “are you guys family to the patient? 🤔” and they’re like “uh…”. And Jack is like “oh yeah, we’re his aunt and uncle, this is my wife” on a whim and Thornton looks at him like she’s going to take off her shoe and shove the heel up his nose.

Unpopular opinion:

She’s better than Matty. That’s ragingly unpopular but to me she just is, I prefer her dynamic with everyone compared Matty’s character to dynamic with them. And there’s no problem with Matty, I just haven’t warmed to her, like at all. I don’t find banter in her sternness, whereas with Thornton it was more of an exasperation.

Favourite relationship:

I love all of her relationships with the main team, Mac’s is probably my favourite, but I do love how she is with Riley, and Bozer. They’re like her exhausting children and she’s just DONE. And of course her love-hate relationship with Jack is top notch.

Favourite headcanon:

I’ve never talked about this before but I have this deep rooted lore idea that Thornton had a lung transplant as a child. There’s even more lore behind why but I won’t bore you with that, but anyways I have this hc that while on a mission with Jack when they’re first working together, he finds her immunosuppressants in her backpack, and because she hasn’t declared them to anyone on the team, except Oversight ofc, as nobody knows about her lungs, Jack’s first thought is “…she’s dealing drugs.” And confronts her about it, and she’s just like “😒”.

After that, only Jack knows about it, and I like to think that while she’s in prison, he goes to see her and even though he’s mad because he thinks she’s a traitor, he’s still like “they’re giving you your pills for your lungs right?”

Warren Worthington III:

First impression:

I don’t really remember my first impression of Warren. I remember in TLS, when we see him trying to cut out his wings, my first thought was “WOAH IM UNCOMFY”, but overall I think for me he was just sort of…there?

Impression now:

I like him a lot more in TLS than I do in Apocalypse, in Apocalypse I find him a bit obnoxious, but I like the complexities of his situation in TLS, as much as I don’t like the movie itself. I think it’s really interesting to see his development throughout that movie considering he has such little screen time.

Favourite moment:

I do actually quite like the scene where he flies away from his father before he’s forced to have the mutation cure. Very powerful and I think the actor did a nice job.

Idea for a story:

I don’t have one off the top of my head but I like the idea of something to do with he and Alex talking, for my universe they both have somewhat ‘unsupportive’ parents, so that could be an interesting exploration.

Unpopular opinion:

I can’t say I have one because I don’t know the character well enough. Maybe that he kind of annoyed me in Apocalypse? Like I get why he was the way he was, I just didn’t feel emotionally connected to him. I wish they could’ve fleshed it out a little bit more.

Favourite relationship:

I have no idea.

Favourite headcanon:

Again, not really any idea cause I don’t know enough about him, but I’d love to hear a few of yours sometime.

I can’t believe I’m only just finding your IF now! Especially since there are 5 chapters out, which I’ve just binged in one go. This is completely up my alley with the historical-inspired fantasy genre & a genderlocked female MC. Your writing flows beautifully and is perfectly suited for the time period, it made me feel immersed in the setting.

I think my fave aspect is having two MCs with alternating POVs, which not many IFs do. I wasn’t sure I’d like it since I usually only play IFs as a female MC, but Ambrose is likeable and I really feel for him due to everything he’s been through (the flashback with Felix :( ). Although maybe I’m biased because I still like Artemisia a bit more. Her perspective as someone starting out on the “wrong side of history” and a bit more entrenched in the societal conditioning she was brought up with is interesting and I’m excited to see her character arc develop.

I really like the sibling dynamic, especially how differently they think of each other, their family, home, and their persectives on the same topics/situations. You can feel how their life experiences affect this, with Art being more sheltered due to gender roles, whilst Ambrose got to go off to university, meet different types of people, and travel to multiple countries - something i’m sure Art was jealous of, especially one that focuses on learning. It’s just funny that Ambrose thoughts allude to casual premartial sex, but Art takes a hit to her reputation just for going to a childhood friend’s house without a chaperone.

Also I’m not sure if i’m reading this correctly, but it felt like Art thought of Ambrose and their childhood more fondly than vice versa. I’m guessing it’s because she’s younger and her world is still relatively small, it seems like she never met a kindred spirit like Ambrose had in Felix, so comparatively he was a bigger part of her world than she was of his. Seeing the siblings reunite is what I’m most looking forward to, although I’m sure it will be a while off yet.

I really liked the other characters too, Ambrose/Jacob was unexpected but sweet, and Hyder is growing on me 👀 (although I’m worried about how fervent he is about the cause 😭). I’m not sure what the real world equivalent would be for Hyder’s background, but as someone who’s British (South) Asian I thought his character was well done and makes sense (although I may be reading stuff into his characterisation that isn’t there lol). I’m interested how the themes of class, gender, race, colonialism, etc. will continue to be tackled because it’s been done well here in a way that interests me more than most IFs.

I saw you wanted feedback as well, so the main thing I’d say is that it’d be nice to have more choices at times. Even though the MCs are set characters sometimes I wished to have a bit more input. Also is there any way to add saves within each chapter? Anyway sorry this ask is ridiculously long, I can’t wait to see how ch6 goes! <3

Hello!! thank you so much for your lovely thoughtful message - I read it last night and wanted time to properly address all of your comments, it was such a joy to find it in my inbox!

I'm really glad you're enjoying the dual characters - the scope of the game is very wide, and it's more a portrait of a society and a country than it is a single person. But then, it would also be impossible to show that in all of its variety through the eyes of just one individual, due to the trappings of gender, class, and race. Though they are still family, and share an ethnic background and social class, Ambrose and Artemisia's experiences and opinions are profoundly shaped by their gendered upbringings - I'm really happy that that fact shines through in the narration. Though Artemisia is frustrated by her misogynistic society, she's also not immune to contributing to those forces, too. Likewise, Ambrose is also designed to somewhat express how damaging the binarism of gender in this society is to its citizens. They definitely also perceive their family and childhood very differently - you might wonder how trustworthy those recollections are...

I'm particularly happy to know how well Hyder has been received - he's probably my favourite character in the game. And you're right - Hyder does draw inspiration from real-life histories of Anglo-Indian encounters. There's a painting, specifically one from I think 1807, of a biracial family in India with a child, which I think specifically sparked the idea for his character (though he isn't designed to be from one singular real-world nation)! In writing about empire and race, I'm aware I'm necessarily dealing with a large white hegemony - but I also wanted to show that Regency society was not without its diverse aspects, and that should be more of a feature as the narrative progresses. I'm not a person of colour myself, so to hear that you've found something meaningful and resonant about his character is really good to hear - I want to make sure my depiction is respectful, but also nuanced and memorable at the same time!

I'm a researcher of this period, and so overall it's really nice to hear that my writing has that sense of authenticity! I think I was really frustrated at how much Regency romance has been depoliticised and idealised, especially when in academia there's so much focus currently on addressing how even the most innocuous aspects of the period were connected to larger systems of empire, class, and industry - even romance itself, because marital and romantic choices were themselves fraught with huge social and economic repercussions.

It's really helpful to hear constructive critiques as well! A few of my friends helping me with playtesting have talked about the possibility of including more choices and I think that's a very fair criticism. It's particularly an issue with Ambrose's chapters so far, he's a lot more railroaded than his sister (mainly as he's having to exist in seclusion rather than having access to her same social and physical mobility). That will change soon, however... and yes, I'd really like to be able to implement a save function! Apologies for limitations like these - I am relatively very new to Twine and my knowledge does have its boundaries. I'll look into it as a possibility - I'm aware it would make playthroughs that much easier for readers! Thank you so much again, this message really made my day! :)

Happy STS, Kate!

In TQOL, we explore a very different alternate reality for Bree, but what about Will's alternate reality? Specifically, if IA had never existed for whatever reason, what would Will be doing when we meet him? Would he be happy? And, of course, would he have ever had the opportunity to meet Bree (in either of her two alternate realities)?

Who wants to see what the inside of my brain looks like?!

[Image ID: a spiral notebook with several messy diagrams that look like a mix of a flowchart, a mind map, and a probability tree, detailing all the ways Will's life could have gone differently, including the plots of The Prince of Thieves and The Queen of Lies. There are some random Victorian professions scribbled in the top right corner. The top left corner has CHILD LABOUR written in all caps. End ID.]

Will's alternate reality!! I hadn't ever really given much thought to this, other than a throwaway line in a Jamie chapter somewhere where he wonders what their lives would have been like without IA. Let's discuss.

I think there are so many different stories contained in this question, especially if we entertain the possibility that the Wardrew parents didn't die [when they did in canon].

OK OK first let me address the very obvious CHILD LABOUR note in the picture. 😅 I am OBVIOUSLY staunchly against child labour; it was just a note to myself that in this time period, it was definitely something he might have been subjected to, whether or not the parents were around. Please note that the diagram does point from 'work young' to 'injury/death.' Because child labour is dangerous and bad. Especially in mines, mills, and factories, which might have been common places where kids were 'employed.'

I think Will could potentially head into happily ever after if he'd been forced encouraged not to skip school (as we know he was doing pretty early on) so he could maybe develop better math and literacy skills, meet more people, make connections, and gain a few more transferable skills.

What does HEA look like in this time period? I mean, idk. Maybe he gets into a job he enjoys - not necessarily getting rich but maybe at least having a stable income and not having to worry about starving to death. Maybe he gets married to someone he loves and starts a family. Or maybe that never happens and he happily flirts his way through his entire life like a rascal. 😂

I do think it's realistic to consider some options where he doesn't necessarily get a happy ending, or where he gets It after a great deal of struggle and strife - this is Will, after all. There's no IA, but impulsive and rebellious lil bro just joins someone else's gang. Oops, now we're where we started. 😅 Maybe the family remains in poverty and we're dealing with a workhouse or debtor's prison situation. Maybe, out of desperation, Will joins the navy or army - I can't speak to all time periods, but in the ones I'm familiar with (1812 / 1830s British army), many men enlisted when they felt they had absolutely no other options. I think even without IA, there are a lot of ways Will could screw things up for himself. (love you little buddy!!)

Any chance he could have met Bree somewhere in any of these realities? 💕 Sure, why not!

Maybe he lives a fairly ordinary life and they have a deliciously, disgustingly cliche meet-cute.

Maybe he gets a good job and she comes in one day to...idk, place an order or buy something, or he rolls into her house sweep the chimney, or idk, pick your fave cute Victorian profession. 😊 He immediately flirts with her in this scenario, btw.

Maybe he does some sort of job in her family's home (like Jamie once did) or 😈 in her and her husband's 😈 home, and they meet that way. (I like this one. 😊)

Maybe Bree's parents died when they did so they BOTH work in some rich person's household - she perhaps as a maid or something and he as a gardener or something. (I also like this one. 😊) A similar idea would be where they both work in the same awful, not-so-cushy workplace like a mill, factory, etc.

Thank you for this question! It was so fun to consider and answer. 💕

BB20: Monday 9 October

Apparently, the new mix of the theme tune means ITV avoids paying a domestic abuser. Fun behind the scenes facts!

I really love Yinrun's love of British slang. The way she joyfully says she's "knackered".

Nice seeing Chanelle and Jordan bond.

Hallie is trans! Very lovely coming out scene. BIG fan of the cis women gathering around her for hugs. And first ever Big Brother pronoun circle??

Yinrun comforting Jenkin! My faves unite.

I'm fascinated by Jordan and Henry together. The former a (surely neurodivergent) working class kid who's taught himself to speak like he's in Downton Abbey, the latter a Royalist Tory boarding school kid who grew up with a maid. So far, Jordan adores Henry. Of course he does! Henry's basically Jordan's special interest irl. But ... they are not the same. Curious to see how this friendship develops.

I know I'm being a sucker here, but ARGH I love Farida complimenting Hallie's makeup, including her overuse of she/her pronouns to make it really clear she's ON BOARD.

Anything we can do to decouple religion from bigotry is valuable work.

Olivia's secret task is to avoid being ranked "least entertaining". Classic Big Brother stuff - except it also stops her descending into embittered rage. FIlling the day with singing and cartwheels is making people warm to her.

Interesting moment: Olivia gets wound up after Farida helps herself to Olivia's salmon. As she starts working herself up into a frenzy - Hallie chooses this moment to compliment her jewelry.

This technique of tension-release-via-distraction is very familiar to me from my job, working with people who've had traumatic childhoods [comedians].

(First kpop song used in Big Brother UK I wonder? Instrumental version of Dynamite by BTS.)

Jenkin asked to rank housemates from most to least intelligent, goes entirely by accent. He places Llanelli's Chanelle 3rd from the bottom, in an act of inter-Welsh betrayal.

Noky puts Scouser Paul top of "funniest", and puts Jenkin last in another terrible bit of Cymruphobia.

Henry must rank by "entertaining". He places Olivia second. Since she's not bottom, she's now IMMUNE from eviction now, and I am HYPED! She was in a horrible position, fated to be hated and evicted - and it won't happen now.

Chanelle struggling with the very-low-stakes rejection of being ranked low on kindness. :-(

Early bonding between Jordan, Henry, Trish, and Hallie - bonding by making fun of Olivia. Jordan is VERY good at this. He's astute, and sharing his observations in a way that allows everyone to laugh at Olivia.

And hey, Olivia's salmon rant was ridiculous. As a one-off bit of letting-off-steam, this is fine. But I have a sinking feeling that this is the start of a group of outsiders who socialise by bitching.

Farida and Zak bond over how much they like Olivia. This is nice. I want her to have friends.

Ahh, Trish. People so wanted you to destroy Henry. You have betrayed the left by being friends with him.

Trish hates Tory voters, but recognises that Henry simply doesn't understand a single thing and therefore likes Boris Johnson. (Which is a pretty good working definition of "Tory voter").

Popular phrase this series: True Authentic Self. Hallie is on HRT so she can be her True Authentic Self. How can Jenkin be his True Authentic Self without his suitcase?

This is funny to me, since TAS just makes me think of Tool-Assisted Speedruns, which are the opposite of a True Authentic Self.

Welsh Chanelle tries to chat up bisexual Jordan. These are good identities to bring into a relationship in my experience.

Jordan's extraordinary. I was so worried this show would be in the same space as Love Island. But instead - best case scneario - it's in the same space as The Circle.

1517

Does your head hurt when you cry? No, this has never happened to me. My headaches are almost always work-related/screentime-related.

Who was the last person to comfort you? I’d say Sofie. We were catching up and I was getting her up to speed about The Breakup (apparently she had no idea) and though I don’t think she specifically meant to comfort me, she said things that were really reassuring. Like how my energy is different now, I seem happier, independence suits me, etc.

Are you currently wearing any socks? Nope, I never wear socks indoors.

What's the closest thing to your right hand? Apart from the keyboard, my blanket.

When was the last time you made a wish? Idk I never make them unless I’m at a well or it’s my birthday.

Have you ever watched a foreign film with English subtitles? Regardless of the language I absolutely have to have subtitles on all the time because my sense of hearing can get terrible when watching movies. For Filipino films I like keeping English subs on because I’ll sometimes have a hard time with deeper Filipino words or phrases – and it’s also fun to compare how much of the English translation is accurate.

When was the last time you wore athletic shorts? I’m not sure for shorts, but I wore tights for my spinning class two weeks ago.

Do you think that in the end, everything will fall into place? It’s a nice comforting thought to have but I always prefer to be realistic so I can manage my own expectations.

What's the closest transparent object to you? My phone case.

What was the last thing you swallowed? Water.

Do you like mayonnaise? Did I even spell that right? It’s correct and yes I fucking love mayonnaise, it’s my fave condiment and I can put it on nearly everything even if a dish doesn’t traditionally have mayo in it lol.

Anyways... When was the last time you went out in the rain? Yesterday. Rain’s been more frequent this month but my friends and I had dinner reservations for yesterday, so we pushed through with it – also because Sofie is leaving for the UK next month and it was her only free time; otherwise there’s no telling when we’ll next see her again.

Have you ever seen a Tim Burton movie, like Coraline, 9, etc.? Just Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Do you keep 3D glasses after you've left the movie theatre? No, but I also never go for the 3D option at the cinema. When was the last time you heard a British accent in person? Yesterday, we had a kick out of teasing Sofie for her future British accent once she gets settled in Brighton. gosh I AM SO EXCITED TO VISIT HER IN THE FUTURE

Who was the last person to unsurprisingly disappoint you? My brother.

Do you know what FTW stands for? For the win.

When was the last time you went bowling? 2019, I think? Idk it was with my ex and when it comes to her my memory has already become all muddled and a big blur.

Do you like cats? Sure. But I wouldn’t want one as a pet.

Do you use aerosol hairspray? It's bad for the environment, you know... I don’t use hairspray.

What was the last food you choked on? I never really choke on anything except my own saliva hahaha.

Who was the last person you disappointed? Myself.

Do you really miss someone right now? No, I’m fine.

Do you think anyone can really reach "Nirvana" at some point? I can't speak for anybody else, but personally I don't think that's really a thing, no. < Same.

What's the capital of the state you reside in? We don’t have states.

What is the last advice you gave someone? I can’t remember.

Do you ever dip your fingers in wet candle wax? I wouldn’t dare.

When was the last time you sweat really bad? Two weekends ago when I did spinning with Bea and Liara.

Do you write it, alot or a lot? A lot, because alot isn’t even an option. Does it annoy you when people are always smiling and happy all the time? Not for the most part. The only time it does is if they spread their vibes while actively shoving their way of living down my throat. Like you know how some people would relate happiness to praying/Jesus or the phases of the moon and crystals? You do you, but I personally am just not affected if something is in retrogade or if we’re expecting a full moon or whatever. I don’t directly confront/provoke those people of course; but if I see posts like that I just hide them from my feed or unfollow the person altogether. Last thing I want to do is invalidate someone’s source/s of happiness and peace.

What was the last rule you broke? Using flavored pods because those have been deemed illegal here recently.

Have you ever hazed someone or been hazed? Yeah. The org culture in UP is such that you go through some sort of final rites, or like an initiation. I've always found it stupid but I’m glad that younger generations are straying away from such a dumb, unnecessary tradition.

What is your opinion on abortion? Pro-choice. This shouldn’t even be up for discussion.

Miley Cyrus rings your door bell, and asks for some shelter. You say..? I’d first do whatever I can to prove her identity because that seems sketchy as all hell lol, then once I let her in I’ll probably start off by asking how the hell she ended up in the Philippines. Then I’d get her food, some pilows and a blanket, let her play with my dogs, etc.

What would you say if someone called you at 3 am to have a casual convo? Depends. There’s a very small circle of people I would wake up for because who knows what they’re going through; otherwise I would ignore the call.

Have you ever made a SERIOUS typo, and couldnt go back and change it? I wouldn’t say any of my typos have had any serious or significant implications.

Have you ever yelled at an authority figure? I don’t think so.

When was the last time you had to pee really badly? I can’t seem to remember when it was but recently I was stuck in a situation where I couldn’t pee for a long time that day, to the point that my bladder started really hurting and I was mentally panicking about bladder stones.

What was the last thing you regretted eating? Not eating, but drinking - last night. My stomach just didn’t fare well with my espresso martini and it felt super upset, so there was a point in the dinner with friends that I fell quiet because I was dealing with the ahce. Have you ever met anyone famous? Yes I met Sassa Gurl last June and I’M STILL OVER THE MOON ABOUT IT. I hate this job for the most part but boy does it let me meet my favorite celebs.

How often do you get fountain drinks from a gas station? Never.

Do you like screamo music? Not so much.

Do you know anyone with some serious talent? So many people around me have really strong talents.

When was the last time you made fun of someone? Earlier this evening, but lightheartedly, of course.

What was the last thing you yelled? Also earlier this evening when I was yelling along to a BTS song.

Will you save all your answers? It's no fun if you don't. That’s kind of what I do with the surveys I do here on Tumblr.

I’m going to get raked over the coals for this but whatever, we die like heroes-- Messily, suddenly, and in a demise of our own making.

In the Year of Our Lord 2023, My Fellow Gender-Nonspecific-Bitches-In-Christ, I Ask You:

Why are people in the Hetalia fandom still confusing headcanon and interpretations for CANON?

Stop. Oh my God, just... stop.

Your interpretation of a character is technically valid but that doesn’t mean it’s correct or that it’s canon or that it is license for you to be petty, aggressive, or pushy about how you feel other people need to experience/view things.

Examples below the cut if you feel like getting salty.

Example: Claiming a ship is incestuous just because a JAPANESE MEDIA had a small young lad refer to an older familiar person as “brother”/Nii-san/Onii-chan is actually a wild fucking stretch. (Learn to Weeb Better, y’all.) You’re allowed to not like USUK. The flipside to that is that I am allowed to like it and I shouldn’t have to put up with passive aggressive bullshit because you’ve projected your problems onto something which never had them to begin with. “YOU LIKE USUK THEREFORE YOU LIKE INCEST AND THAT MEANS UR TOXIC :((((((” No. That train of thought actually means you lack critical thinking skills and you need to stop projecting. God forbid a small kid refers to an elder familiar person in a polite way, only to have it translated and taken literally. If you want to interpret it as a father/son relationship and just don’t like the ship? That’s FINE. But don’t act like people who ship it are somehow disgusting for doing so.

Example #2: Stop fucking treating colonialism and imperialism like it was a thing only perpetrated by the Anglosphere. European Empires did the same fucking shit--in fact, they kicked it off way before Britain even started its Navy. You don’t get woke points for picking the low-hanging fruit of the English-speaking side of the internet by pointing out that the British Empire and the United States are soaked in centuries of blood. It’s a good start, sure, just make sure to come back to me when you want to talk about shit like the Portuguese and Spanish slavers, particularly in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. You don’t get to avoid the messier parts of history by covering your ears and pointing fingers away from your faves. (And in case anyone might accuse me of doing the same: Let us not forget the British privateers and pirates who would pirate slaves from other European slave ships to sell the people off at an even larger profit. And all the people literally branded when that shit got officially sanctioned iirc starting with Elizabeth I.) No one is getting off the hook here, and that’s the point.

Example #3: Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments.  Reps are not their governments. Have I made myself clear, or....

Super weird ask, but are there fics like my 2 faves Unexpected by Emara88 and Traditions by Ravenmaiden. Where D has: always loved/liked Hr, D kinda saves Hr, its on D's POV, D is a hopeless inlove guy but at the same time bad ass deatheater turncoat. And Hr may be smart/intelligent but still kinda emotional. i feel like there are many stories like that but the Hr/D dynamin in those 2 stories are quite similar. Also horny/possessive D when it comes to Hr.

Try these:

Fall Silent - Fractured - E, 3 chapters - Draco wants a different future than the one his parents expect him to lead. A story of growth, friendship and thwarted romance.

Where the Line Blurs by mayawrites95 - T, 57 chapters - It’s the middle of sixth year, and Harry has been suspicious of what Draco has been up to. Draco, is confused. For once in his life, he isn’t sure what the right path is. It should be easy, kill off Dumbledore and finally win his father’s respect. So why does it seem so wrong? So what happens when Draco finds that he is on the wrong side of the war?

5 am, waking up by mysterious_intentions - T, 14 chapters - He didn’t want this. Never did. Hermione Granger isn’t some stranger— she is his classmate, someone he spoke to regularly before, someone he saw every day, someone he wasn’t remotely friends with, but someone who wasn’t nothing either.But now, faced with the opportunity to lord his superiority, he finds himself wondering what the fuss is all about. Pureblood and mudblood is just…blood. Blood is blood, and blood is red.A coming-of-age Draco POV story as he returns to his eighth year of Hogwarts and struggles with living in the aftermath of the war.

Project Aphrodite - MrsRen - M, 22 chapters - When a decision from the British Ministry years after the war blindsides the public, Draco doesn’t think it can get much worse. However, when all the blame is placed on the shoulders of someone he’s not supposed to care about anymore, he can’t turn away. It would help if Hermione Granger wasn’t so fucking stubborn, but she’s exactly how he remembers.

Remain Nameless - HeyJude19 - M, 51 chapters, Words: 312,316 - How did it feel? It felt like he was barely holding it together. She, of all people, should shun him. Or yell at him. Curse him. Spit at him. Take out her wand and blast him off the face of the earth. It was crushing guilt and relief and confusion all at once when he looked at Hermione Granger. The monotony of Draco’s daily routine had become both a lifeline and a noose. But this new habit of grabbing morning coffee with Hermione Granger is quickly becoming a reason to get out of bed and is unfortunately forcing him to re-evaluate his inconsequential existence. Hermione is living her life in fragments, separate pieces scattered about, and she can’t find a way to step back and let the full picture form. Why is morning coffee with Draco Malfoy the only thing that makes sense anymore?

- Lisa

this one is for@mistkissedmoon a lil more Dad!Constantine with a ft. from Jason Blood and John would be so terrible at taking care of ppl but still like really care, so I hope I captured that feeling in this

“This was your big emergency?”

Jason Blood gave a blank stare to the British man across from him.

He didn’t usually just drop everything to attend to someone; especially if that person was John Constantine, but ever since the exorcist decided to take care of the Gem of Scath he proposed it would be a good idea for John to keep him on speed dial.

He didn’t actually expect John to use said number.

Constantine was a demon expert in his own right. Jason believed that he was right to assume that the only reason his help would be sought after was only if the apocalypse had begun.

He felt a nerve in his temple twitch in annoyance (and, ashamedly in disappointment).

It's just that when John rang him and pressed for him to come to the House of Mystery, he had simply been expecting more...destruction. Maybe some blood and fire raining from the sky, the earth itself cracking open to release eldritch horrors of all kinds or even complete ripping of the fabrics of reality.

Anything along those lines would have justified his presence being required, but instead, he was met with-

“achoo!”

Jason looked down at the small form below him.

The spawn of evil incarnate was smaller than he thought it would be. If one ignored the glowing red gem wedged into its forehead, it could easily fool for another harmless 7-year old girl.

Especially as it laid half-dazed in its bed, staring up at the ceiling in a lucid trance. With only half its face poking out from under their star themed blanket, it sniffled pitifully due to the snot dripping out its flushed nose.

The room was perfectly mid-temperature, but the child has so drenched in sweat that even the towel on top of its forehead had over-soaked but yet it still shivered as if it was below -0 degrees.

Was the level of the child’s symptoms extreme? Yes.

Was it worth calling him for? Definitely not.

The daughter of Trigon was sick, yes, but it was obviously just the flu.

“That’s what I‘ve been saying.”

Jason turned to the source of the voice—a young woman stood in the doorway and held a tray of what seemed to be cups and bowls.

John had introduced her as Zed and he had just assumed they were in a relationship— to focused on the assumed threat to try to examine their personal lives.

Maybe he should’ve guessed this excursion would be a waste of time by Zed’s expressions. When he arrived she had shot him nothing but apologetic looks. At first, Jason believed the worst laid behind the doors he was led to but as he now knows, that was not the case.

“That idiot thinks it’s some paranormal curse,”, Zed huffed as she sent a glare at the blond man who began to try and defend himself.

“It's been weeks and she's still under the weather. You think Beelzebub gets the bloody sniffles?!”

“But a child of her age would! Especially one who reads in the tub and doesn't dry her hair before going outside in August,” Zed rolled her eyes as she spoke as if the answer was obvious—and they were, "maybe if you stopped treating her as the destroyer of worlds and instead as a 7-year-old, you won't have wasted the poor guys time."

Jason couldn't help but internally agree with her words.

John continued his defence, "All I'm saying is when I got a cold, I just carried on with my day maybe a bit foggy up there but hardly half-dead like Blackbird over 'ere."

Another eye roll from Zed was the only reply.

Approaching them, she extended the tray towards Jason. He gave a look at the cup of tea and noticed it seemed to be next to another 'sweat towel' in a bowl, he cringed a little before rejecting the offer.

Zed just shrugged before dropping the tray onto a side table and drinking the cup herself. Taking a seat at the edge of the bed, her gaze was soft as she stared down at the child, her hands ran through the child short dark tresses in a comforting manner.

Jason studied how she gently cupped the back of the Gem of Scath’s head and raised it, picking up a cup of water from the side and bringing it to the demon’s mouth and it drank with obedience.

The more Jason watched, the less he could even continue to refer to this child as a demon.

Etrigan was a demon—looked like one too.

How could he use the same term he'd use to describe the bastard in him, to describe this tiny looking thing before him? And though he could sense the hellish magic pouring out of her, for now, she was harmless.

"Alright, summon him out."

John's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He gave him a perplexed look before asking, "Excuse me?"

"Etrigan. Your demon buddy," the way John looked and spoke, you could tell he saw no issue with his request, "Just wanna confirm from a primary source whether if this is something worse or natural way of life."

Jason was flabbergasted, 'was this why he was called?!'

John sighed.

Actually looking peeved by Jason's confusion.

To the side, he heard Zed's chuckle as she began to switch the towels on the girls head, "told you he wouldn't do it."

"Oh bog off," John retorted back before turning back to him and placing a hand on Jason's shoulder, "Listen, it's either you or I visit ol' Luci and I'm simply not really...eager to have that encounter. So do me a favour here, and just bloody say the rhyme."

Jason looked at the hand on his shoulder like it was a parasite before smacking it off. Taking a breath to compose himself, he turned to the exorcist, " I assure you, there is nothing Etrigan can assist you with that I cannot also offer."

"A huge fuck-off sword?"

Jason glared, "Let me see the child," he spat—obviously ignoring the previous statement.

John put his hands up in surrender before indicating with a turn of his head to the child who had actually risen during their conversation and was now sitting upright—well, slouched and she was staring half-lidded at the wall with the only sign she was awake being her harsh breaths.

He bent down as to be in her level of sight and stuck his hand out, "Hello, my name is Jason Blood, you must be..." "Raven." "-yes, thank you, Zed. They tell me you are a bit under the weather?"

Jason realized halfway that he never learnt the girl's name and had simply just been referring to her as the Gem of Scath. He felt a tinge of guilt for his rudeness, but the dazed stare the girl gave him was confirmation that she was barely conscious enough to even notice.

He also realized it was ridiculous to try to shake a child's hand and was bout to retract it when he felt a pair of smaller ones latch onto his fingers.

Looking up he met a sleepy pair of amethyst eyes trying to focus on him, "N-n-nwot sick...jus-jhwust..uh sleepy and...cwold," with a voice that was softer than a whisper, plus the slurring of her words due to the fever, she was basically incomprehensible.

He was going to try and retract his hand again when he felt something soft come in contact with it. He looked down to see that she had placed her face in the palm of it and wrapped around it like a snake.

With a single muttering of, "...warm...like hellfire", she fell asleep with his hand still under her.

He looked at Constantine.

Not really sure what to do, but the con-man only grinned before giving him a tap on the back, "Good lad Jason, put her to sleep. Even I couldn't do that, let alone Etrigan. Guess I'll leave it to you."

And with that, Zed and John stood up and began to exit the room.

Jason was still in shock to even speak; so before he realized what they were doing, they already switched off the lights and closed the door with a soft click.

He simply stared into the darkness, the only illumination being the moon and stars outside.

Sighing, looked down at the fiend holding his hand prisoner and contemplated yanking her off. She was small. it would incredibly easy to flick her away and then he could simply depart home...but then he felt a squeeze.

As if the girl sensed his thoughts, she clung harder onto his limb like it was a lifeline.

She looked truly at peace right now; her harsh breaths were now nothing but puffs and she was less...sweaty. Demon spawn or not, the girl was no more vulnerable than a newborn fawn at the moment. Jason just didn't have the heart to disturb her peace for his own gain.

Another sigh could be heard in the silent room.

'Maybe an hour longer won't hurt but after that, never accept a favour for John Constantine again.'

hope you like it, feels weird writing characters that aren't just raven and my other faves, hope I didn't make anyone ooc

what are your fave diana wynne jones books that aren’t howl’s moving castle??

Oh whattt a lovely and fun question which I was definitely not secretly hoping someone would ask!!!! Yay!!

Hm okay so, not specifically in order, probably my top fave Diana Wynne Jones books would be:

Deep Secret! Deep Secret is not just one of my favorite books by DWJ but one of my favorite books full stop! It’s so good. Basically, the premise is that there is an infinite series of interconnected worlds, some of which have magic and some of which don’t, at the center of which is a vast interdimensional magical empire. Magic in the multiverse is overseen by an organization of magicians called Magids and there must always be a specific number of Magids in existence. When Rupert, a young Magid living on Earth, discovers that his mentor has died (ish) he becomes unexpectedly responsible for finding and training the next Magid, which is extremely inconvenient timing for him because the aforementioned magical empire is on the brink of civil war and chaos and its his job to stop it. And also almost all of this takes place at...a science fiction convention. It’s amazing.  I have read this book minimum four (probably more) times and every time it’s absolutely delightful and hilarious. I would like to go to the sci fi convention in this novel more than anything. It’s such a good read and its one of her few novels which is specifically aimed at adults, so I would EXTREMELY recommend it. Plus the romance in it is extremely good...not exactly enemy-to-lovers but more like ‘annoys-the-shit-out-of-each-other’ to lovers.  (**One note about this one...there’s a few very briefly mentioned side characters who are gender noncomforming and even tho they are actually portrayed very positively, it’s not necessarily ideal and 100% respectful (basically the protags comment on them being very beautiful and nice but also keep trying to guess their “real” gender). Additionally there’s a different briefly mentioned side character who is fat who isn’t portrayed very nicely. Both of these are brief incidents, just wanted to provide a warning for them)

Dark Lord of Derkholm - Okay this one is weirdly hard to summarize but it’s about this magical fantasy world which has been taken overy and is being used as a tourist destination by a non-magical world (heavily implied to be Earth) for people who want to role play at being in a classic high fantasy story, including fighting and killing THE DARK LORD...who is really just a random magician pretending to be evil. The inhabitants of the fantasy world do not enjoy this and are trying desperately to stop the tours, but unfortunately according to a magical oracle, their best hope of stopping the tours is this year’s Dark Lord, a hapless farmer magician named Derk, and his, um, eccentric family consisting of his glamorous wife, seven children (of whom five are griffins and one is a bard) and a simply improbable amount of magical animals. And also there is a very good dragon.  I think Derkholm is so great as a novel b/c it’s a very funny, loving but sharp, parody of high fantasy stories...but a lot of the time parodies only function as parodies but not as good stories in their own right, you know? But this novel completely functions as a story too, and in fact the first time I read at maybe age nine or ten, the high fantasy parody went completely over my head...but I still loved it. I also really love that this novel is very accessible to all ages, I think I enjoy reading it as an adult just as much as I did as a kid, which is rare.  For anyone who has read Howl’s Moving Castle but nothing else by DWJ and isn’t sure where to start, I think this is a great place to start. (TW: There’s a brief, non-explicit scene which has implied sexual assault.) 

Fire and Hemlock - This may be the most controversial one since it features a romance with a significant age gap where the two characters meet when one is a child and the other an adult. And I fully agree that that’s :/ and normally that trope is NOT my thing but it doesn’t come off at all creepy in this story imo, and if you think you can deal with that then this is a very weird, atmospheric, cool book about storytelling and fairy tales and growing up. The short summary (this is another hard to summarize one) is that as a child, Polly encounters and strikes up a friendship and correspondence with a young man, Tom, which mainly consists of the two of them jointly making up a silly, ongoing fairy tale type story...but things get weird when parts of their story start to come true in real life.  I’ve only read this one twice but it really stuck with me and in fact just describing it here...really makes me want to read it again!

The Chrestomanci Series - So all of the above are either specifically aimed at adults or a general audience whereas the Chrestomanci series is aimed at children, mainly a middle grade type audience. And tbh I started reading them as a kid (fond memory - I bought an omnibus of the first two with my allowance money...b/c it had a cat on the cover!) so I don’t know what it would be like to first read these as an older teen or an adult. BUT. Honestly they are really good and would be a quick read so I do still recommend them. There’s seven overall, with th seventh being a collection of short stories, and they’re only semi-chronological so the reading order isn’t vital. My recommended order (b/c this the order I read them in, haha) is Charmed Life, The Lives of Christopher Chant, The Magicians of Caprona, Witch Week, The Pinhoe Egg, Conrad’s Fate, and then Mixed Magic you can read whenever you want so long as you read it after Charmed Life and The Magicians of Caprona.  So the very core premise of it is not dissimilar to Deep Secret - there’s an infinite series of worlds/universes and there’s a magician, called the Crestomanci in this case, who is responsible for making sure magic isn’t abused across the multiverse. The Chrestomanci is an extremely powerful enchanter who has nine lives, and the novels are various semi-connected stories about the adventures of Chrestomanci as an adult and child. Chrestomanci is a title so it’s not always the same person, but for the majority of the stories it is the same guy and he’s...the best/worst...He’s this extremely handsome, charismatic, powerful enchanter who is very good at his job, loves his wife a lot, wears very beautiful clothes and makes, um, questionable life choices and is very annoying to everyone. I’ve thought about this very hard and I believe that he’s what happens when you take a fundamentally chaotic good person and make him do a fundamentally lawful good job; yes, he’s going to do it and do it well, but he is going to do it in the most chaotic, ridiculous way possible, and he IS going to die at an ALARMING rate, doing things that would not normally kill a person, such as playing cricket and trying to catch stray cats. He also, as previously mentioned, frequently wears very dramatic silk dressing gowns with elaborate embroidery, which the protag of Charmed Life finds deeply alarming.  It’s very odd to me how these books don’t seem to be well known, because the Chrestomanci books were some of my absolute favorite books as a child. I still have my omnibus editions of the first four novels and they are very worn and very beloved. And it’s so WILD to me that I don’t think I have ever talked to someone who also read those as a kid! Like I’m not saying those people don’t exist, I’m sure I just haven’t met them, but that’s so weiiirddddd to me. If I bring up Tamora Pierce or Garth Nix or other authors of weird, eccentric children’s fantasy novels to other avid childhood consumers of fantasy, people usually know what I mean, but Chrestomanci and its just..crickets. Is it b/c she’s British? Anyway all of the Chrestomanci books are very degrees of good, but if I had to pick a favorite, I think, controversial choice here, it would be Conrad’s Fate. Particularly in terms of recommendations to others, Conrad’s Fate works as a standalone and, unlike the other books in the series, it’s aimed more at a YA audience, so if you wanted to read a Chrestomanci novel without getting into the whole series, that’s a good way to go. It’s about a boy, Conrad, who is told that he has a terrible, possibly fatal Fate awaiting him unless he goes to work as a servant at a wealthy, and weird, estate neighboring his town, at which place he encounters things including color changing livery, an extremely annoying teenage Chrestomanci, and the greatest liminal space house EVER. It’s like a combination of an upstairs/downstairs Downton Abbey type social drama with bizarre fantasy shenanigans. How could that not be good??

Also as Honorable Mentions - A Sudden and Wild Magic and The Time of the Ghost. A Sudden and Wild Magic is fun b/c it’s one of her few works aimed specifically at adults and it’s (gasp) a little bit NAUGHTY which I was very surprised and delighted by when I read it. (This may seem like an unfair statement considering that Deep Secret fully has an orgy in it, but Rupert is so fundamentally unnaughty of a character that he completely unnaughtifies the whole novel, whereas Sudden and Wild Magic embraces being a (little bit) naughty.)   The Time of the Ghost on the other hand is weird and haunting and creepy and atmospheric. I only read it once but it’s one of those novels you just think about periodically and go “wait what the fuck that was a weird novel” (Also known as the “Garth Nix” effect) 

FIC WRITER QUESTIONS

Thank you to the lovely @allwaswell16 @runaway-train-works @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed @uhoh-but-yeah-alright and @evilovesyou for tagging me to answer some questions about my writing.

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

47

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

901,445 (Hoping to hit the Magic Million by the end of the year!)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

1 (One Direction)

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

When Tomorrow Comes 1155

The Baby Whisperer 950

Love, Ever After 898

Harry Poppins 856

Play Me A Memory 760

More under the cut…

5) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh gosh. Uhm. I don’t really write angsty endings? All my fics have Happy Endings and most have epilogues to round them out and tie them up in a bow. Perhaps I’d say If You’re Out There (I’ll Find You Somehow) purely because (spoiler ahead) the epilogue is written 100 years into the future so they’ve both passed.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Interestingly, I would actually say the answer is the same as above, If You’re Out There (I’ll Find You Somehow). The epilogue is so uplifting and I cry happy tears every time I re-read it. It’s written from the POV of their granddaughter and you get to see the world they had a hand in changing for the better through her eyes, so you get a sense of how impactful their lives were on the rest of society. Oof, tearing up right now just thinking about it.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Yeah, I have actually. I really enjoy doing new takes on an existing universes, although they aren’t always the easiest thing to pull off tbh. I’m not sure which I would say is the craziest, but the hardest to write was definitely The Peter Pan/Hook AU.

Harry Poppins - Loosely based on the book/movie Mary Poppins, but without any magical aspects.

Playing To Win - Set in the Big Brother house.

The Pirate and The Piper - A Peter Pan/Hook AU which I took a lot of liberties with.

In The Still Of The Night - My Dirty Dancing AU.

A Hungry Heart - This is a Great British Bake Off AU that is due out in September for the Cliche Fic Fest!

8) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Whoa Nelly. Yeah, I do. All the time. Every fic actually. There’s only one, Exposed, the only fic I’ve published that’s not rated Explicit and doesn’t have smut. But, to be fair, the challenge was to write exactly 666 words and I still managed to get the implication in there. Plus, Louis was naked and Harry was applying body paint for the majority of the story, so like, I think I can get a free pass on that one - I tried!

In terms of what type of smut, I guess it varies depending on the story. I tend not to push the boat out too far, but I do dabble in BDSM in quite a few of my fics. A recurring theme in the comments I receive is that my smut scenes are well constructed and detailed, without being too tedious or drawn out, which is lovely feedback to get because they can be challenging to write.

9) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Absolutely. Every single one.

10) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not often, people are usually so kind, but there have been a couple.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of!

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, quite a lot, particularly on Wattpad, all with my full consent. That said, I’m thinking of stopping this because it’s getting a bit out of hand and I’ve been feeling uncomfortable about it recently for various reasons that I won’t bore you with here. 

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope! I don’t think it’s really my thing tbh. I get very in my head about writing and struggle even to brainstorm or share too much until I’m well into a story.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

Of the 47 fics I’ve written, there are 45 Larry, 1 Narry, and 1 Louis/Dermot O’Leary (I think mine is still the only fic with this ship hahahaa), so that’s probably a good indication of my fave writing ship.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have one lonely WIP sitting on AO3 from 2018. I keep promising myself I’ll finish it and it’s on my schedule every year, then I get distracted by other fics/fests and it gets pushed back. Plus, it needs a complete rewrite because my style has developed so much since I started it, so it’ll be a big job. Based on that, I think that the fic, in its current form, won’t ever be finished as the rewrite will completely wipe out what it was, although the underlying plot will still be there.

16) What are your writing strengths?

World building (or so I’m often told). I write very visually and people often say they can imagine the scene exactly, or that it’s like a movie, or that they think it’s actually a real place I’m describing, when most of the time it absolutely isn’t, it’s just something I’ve created in my weird brain.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue (although my lovely beta disagrees) and telling rather than showing. They’re both things I’m actively working on.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’ve never really considered it. It’s not something I’d shy away from necessarily, but it’s just never come up.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

One Direction. First and only.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Wow. This is really tough because it changes over time. I find that once I’ve finished a fic I don’t want to revisit it for a few months because I’m kind of over it. But I find comfort in them after a while, like I get to go back to that happy place and immerse myself in that world and the characters again, similar to catching up with an old friend. It’s familiar. I think I also like different stories for different reasons and I’m drawn to various ones depending on my mood. My top 3 (although, ask me next week and the list will probably be completely different!) would probably be:

1. If You’re Out There (I’ll Find You Somehow). Written for the hybrid fic fest (a fest I created just for this fic lol). It’s not everyone’s cup of tea due to the hybrid aspect, but it’s one of the stories I feel is the most rounded from a character development perspective and the world building was pretty epic, if I can be so bold as to throw that out there myself!

2. No Going Back. One of my Big Bangs from 2020. I adore the way their relationship develops in this fic and the setting (as remote lighthouse keepers) was such a lot of fun to write. Plus I got to collaborate with an amazing artist who created an entire website as an accompanying travel blog which was truly wonderful.

3. From The Heart. This is a series I wrote for wordplay back in 2019. I had no idea that what I was doing was so unusual and so meta by having Louis essentially write for the equivalent of wordplay in the fic. It was such an fun way to share my writing process and challenges I encounter (exactly how many synonyms tabs do I have open at any one time?!) and I thoroughly enjoyed the outcome (although getting there was definitely a struggle).

~

This was really fun and thanks to anyone who made it this far! Writing brings me so much joy and is a wonderful outlet for all the imaginings in my head, so I appreciate everyone who supports me and joins me on that journey.

~

I’m pretty late with this and I’m not sure who has already done it but I’ll tag @fallinglikethis @homosociallyyours @lululawrence @reminiscingintherain and @beau-soleil-louis if they’d like to do this and haven’t already.

love is learning // sirius black

Summary: Sirius & the reader have a friends-with-benefits relationship – is that enough?

Request: nopeee

A/N: my fave boy and my fave trope?? obviously

Reader: female, prefect

Warnings: British swears? Allusions to sex

“Blimey Pads, you look knackered.”

Sirius Black was loud, obnoxious, charming and always full of life. He tended to be a very prominent character during breakfast in great hall: constantly showing off and making very awful, very theatrical jokes. That was until about 3 months ago. James, Remus and Peter would’ve been worried had they not know the exact reason why his behaviour had taken such a sharp turn.

“I wonder why.” Remus said softly, his smirk disappearing into his mug. Sirius’ dark grey eyes, paralleled only by the bags under his eyes, glared across the table.

“You coming in every night at Merlin knows when would keep me up too, if I wasn’t so used it.” James snorted, biting into his toast as Sirius sent him the driest look he’d ever seen.

“Why don’t you ever stay the night, again?” Peter asked, flicking through his post.

“Because, Wormtail,” James said; a man who had asked the same question himself many a time. “It’s a very complicated situation you see-“

“A very, very complicated situation.” Remus added.

“Yes, you see, they’re just friends-“

“And she always kicks him out, Prongs, don’t forget.”

“Very good point, Mooney. But they’re just friends and well, she’s a prefect, you see, so she doesn’t share her room.”

“Just friends that shag.”

“Friends that shag, indeed.”

Sirius’s expression soured even further as they laughed at him, his grimace drawing his brows further and further together. He grumbled before standing up from the table, his hair falling in front of his face as he stacked his books on top of each other. “Tossers.” He muttered, leaving both the table and their incessant laughter in his wake.

Still chuckling into his tea, Remus looked across the great hall to see you, your tie barely trying, with your chin resting on your fist and your eyes closed. Your friends around you were completely ignoring you, them too accustomed to the aftermath of you and Sirius’ late-night routines. He had potions with you first and he was going to figure out why you and Sirius hadn’t just got together already.

Seeing you walk into potions prompted a smile on his face that he was hard-pressed to conceal: your scowl was identical to Sirius’ and it was abundantly clear you wanted to be anywhere but sitting in potions next to Remus. Life’s hard like that.

“You alright there, Y/N?” he asked as you sat down, slamming your books onto the desk. You merely groaned in response. “Busy night?”

The look you shot him made him laugh.

“That I expected from Potter, but not you, Remus.”

“Alright, alright. Let’s just get you through this class as fast as possible.”

“Perfect.”

Halfway through Slughorn’s class, you couldn’t help but notice how decidedly quiet Remus was. He was practically humming with unanswered questions and it was beginning to annoy you.

“Remus,” you snapped as his foot drummed against the wooden floors for the sixth time. “Ask what you want to ask.”

You didn’t know exactly what your expected, but what he asked was certainly not it.

“Why are you so scared of being with him?”

“What?”

You’d forgotten how observant Remus was. How smart he could be.

“I don’t understand why you’d be so against actually sleeping with him unless you were scared.” He frowned silently and you watched the way the scars on his face twisted. “I don’t understand what you’re scared of.”

You didn’t so much as sigh as exhale very sharply, trying to cover up how much you dreading answering this question. You trusted Remus though; he was a good friend.

“He’s Sirius Black. He’s shagged basically everyone in the year and he’s the most ridiculously obnoxious guy I’ve met in my whole life.” Flicking through your potions textbook to find the instructions for your last potion, you busied your hands with curling the pages. “But he’s a lot more than that. He’s smart and funny and he’s actually really kind and if I know more about him… Like how he is when he sleeps. Or whether he’s ticklish or whatever. I know I will like him a lot more than I should.” You coughed. “Anyway, we’re just friends.”

Remus didn’t reply. He didn’t know how to, really. The end to potions was welcomed in the silence.

You and Sirius’ routine continued until Christmas and whilst you were friends and you did, indeed, shag, there was a very distinct boundary in your relationship that was not to be crossed. You didn’t expect it to be crossed on the last day of term, not even when Sirius grabbed your arm in the corridor between classes. With a smirk on his lips and a familiar light in his eyes, he pulled you closer.

“I heard you were staying over Christmas?”

“Yeah? And?” The feeling of his hand on your upper arm and his breath in your ear as he spoke reminded you of the night before.

“I’m the only one in my dormitory tonight. Everyone’s going home.”

“And?”

He rolled his eyes. “So, come to mine tonight instead.”

You paused, musing slightly and looking past him to avoid his perfect face and perfect eyes and hair. The sky was dark outside but the halls of Hogwarts were vibrant with students excited to return home. When you looked back at him, Sirius’ eyebrow was raised expectantly.

“Sure.”

The rest of the day was uneventful and whilst it was odd to trek to Sirius’ room for your nightly activities, it was no less fun than usual.

Sirius stirred very, very late at night. He didn’t remember falling asleep – the last thing he remembered was your hot breath on his collar bones, your hands on his chest. At first, he heard the thunder, loud and echoing through the room with lightning sending bright flashes through the windows. Then, he heard sniffing. Blinking to rid sleep from his eyes, he tried to focus in the darkness. Thanks to the lightning, he could see the outline of your body; the way you flinched at each fork across the sky and the way your shoulders wobbled with each sniff.

“Y/N?” He whispered, pulling back the covers of his bed and sitting up. “Are you okay?”

He saw you nod but as another flash of lightning lit up your form, he was far from convinced.

“I don’t like thunder?” you said softly, into the darkness. Sirius didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Come here.”

He pulled back the duvet, revealing the place you’d been about ten minutes earlier – only in a very different sense: comfort, not pleasure.

“What?”

“Come here.” He stressed. His heart broke at your expression: your brows drawn downwards and your eyes screwed shut at each rumble.

“But-“

“Just come here.”

You thought about it for a moment; too many thoughts racing through your mind. The next flash made your mind up for you. He leant backwards slightly as you removed your trousers and as you crawled onto the bed, he leant back even further. His skin was still warm. His arms crept around you, pulling you closer. So, you lay there. With one hand under you, around your waist, and his other resting quietly, intimately, on your cheek, his eyes bored into yours, even in the darkness.

“I didn’t know you were scared of thunder, love.”

You flinched as the heavy thrum of the sky returned, inching closer to Sirius and placing your hands yet again onto his chest, unsure what to do with them.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” You said, looking up at him as he rested his forehead against yours.

“That’s a shame. There’s a lot I’d like to know.”

You hoped the thunder would hide the way your breath caught in your throat.

“Like what?”

He hummed slightly as he lifted his chin, noticing you wince. He moved his hand to the back of your head, pulling you closer to tuck you into his chest. You were grateful for the comfort his warmth, the rhythm of his breathing.

“I was wondering yesterday what your favourite number is. Your favourite colour. If you like pickles.”

“I was wondering if you were ticklish,” You dragged your hand down his chest to circle his waist: partly to bring him closer, partly to maybe figure it out. “And whether you liked dogs.”

He chuckled slightly, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“I think I’d enjoy you finding out.”  

“Me too.”

There was a comfortable pause. You enjoyed the feeling of Sirius’s thumb  brushing against your hair.

“I don’t think anyone likes pickles.” You pushed the side of your face into his shoulder. “I certainly don’t.”

He hummed again.

“That’s good to know.”

@sammysdewysensitiveeyes So, you asked me not long ago, how I’d feel about Haven as a mutant on Krakoa. As it happens, I’m on an RP Discord where I write her as such, since they allow characters there to be mutants who aren’t mutants in canon, in order to join the RP, since it’s set on Krakoa. I made her a healer, able to heal herself and others. Super on the nose, but it’s what she would want, and it also fulfills *my* desire for her not to be hurt anymore (I mean, she still can be, she’ll just recover) Anyway, in March I wrote this for her in that setting. Featuring Shaw as usual since he’s one of my other muses there and, well, you know I love writing my faves together and their conversations because self-indulgence. No obligation to read, just I remembered I had written it and was like “Oh that’s like what Sammy asked about”

Shaw’s latest job was to spread the Krakoan medicine throughout the country of India. A considerable task; India was made up of no less than 28 states and 8 union territories, with an immense and diverse population. There were the dilapidated slums and rural villages that Westerners most often imagined, but there were also bustling cosmopolitan cities, centers of business and technology and commerce to rival New York, and it was in the biggest of these that Shaw was starting---

Mumbai.

Accompanying him on the recommendation of Charles Xavier was Radha Dastoor---Haven of the healing gardens, whom he had previously met when she had helped with his back. At first Shaw had thought this was a bit racist of Charles, but it turned out not only was Haven from Mumbai specifically herself, she had wonderful connections for the tasks. Her philanthropy had connected her with doctors, hospitals, shelters, and its hidden communities of those suffering afflictions such as the oft-claimed-eradicated leprosy. But, Shaw could have done most of that himself, aside from the hidden colonies. No, where Haven came in most handy was, shockingly, her knowledge of Mumbai’s criminal underworld. Not because she had ever been involved with it, but because she had done so much work getting people out of it---the women and children she had worked to get out of human trafficking rings, the survival sex workers rescued from abusive pimps, the children enticed away from little “found families” of criminals who used them for their dirty work.  . .the list went on. And of course she hadn’t been able to do all that alone, she had been funding an entire network of people to get this done, to keep the rescued parties safe and help them in getting to a new life, to block off or arrest those who tried to take them back or attack the rescuers themselves (Haven had been a target MANY times, but those had been in the days when she’d been kept safe by The Adversary’s powers. . . ) and thus she had an abundance of detectives and double agents on the inside. And because they were on the inside, they could bring in the medicine. . . and bring out the mutants being sold, enslaved, and Heaven wept at what else. Mutants that, for the moment, were staying with them in The Rajmani. Haven’s wealth was originally inherited, but she’d kept it coming---so that she could keep giving it away---through The Rajmani, a luxury heritage hotel on par with the likes of New York’s Ritz or Plaza. In income, anyway. In beauty, it surpassed them both. Well, perhaps that was subjective, but it was built within a restored Mughal Palace, and Shaw had to admit he was impressed with the great domes and slender minarets, the  massive vaulted gateways and delicate ornamentation, the elegant water gardens and charbagh walkways through the carefully cultivated yet lush tropical greenery. Most of all, though, he liked learning the fact that the woman earned at least a little of her own money in some kind of sense, even if by her own admission she only owned it, not managed it. Shaw looked down on those who only inherited wealth, just as they had often looked down on him for earning his. Haven, though, did not seem to look down on him. She didn’t seem to have the proverbial stones to look down on anybody, and she certainly was around people who actually deserved it. She seemed to love being around that type, in fact, went out of her way to benefit them, centered her entire life around it. Some people, Shaw had found, were just mad like that. He suspected that it had something to do with growing up with money, taking it front granted and thus not comprehending its worse. But at least she didn’t dare think she was better than him, so she was that sensible at least. Although it was the last word he’d describe her with. No, if he were to describe Radha “Haven” Dastoor, he’d probably start with insipid, senseless, and downright delusional. But she was also. .  .not an unengaging conversationalist. The reverse, actually. “The Mughals were constantly trying to invade Mumbai,” Haven explained, while Shaw nodded along. He was interested in architecture, and in martial history. “But as much of India as they had conquered, the native Marathis were just as constantly pushing them back. It was touch and go for decades. It surprises me that a Mughal structure remained without being torn down, though it was taken over.” “The native Marathis, you say---are Mughals not native? Or merely from another part of India?” “Well, that’s a complicated question, and the answer is a controversial one, so I till try to explain it as neutrally as I can,” Haven replied, and she indeed sounded neutral. They were standing together on the jharoka, an elaborately carved balcony with a roof, each with a glass of nimbu pani, though Shaw would have preferred a good Scotch. “The Mughal Empire in South Asia was begun by Babur, who came from Central Asia, specifically what is today Uzbekistan. His tribe was of Mongol origin, and the word Mughal is itself derived from “Mongol”. He actually came to South Asia to escape his fellow Uzbeks---it’s a very long story--but instead of being a refugee, he became a conqueror, starting by burning Lahore for two days and killing the last Sultan of the Lodi dynasty in Delhi, and the Lodi dynasty itself was not Indian, but Afghan. India was colonized by the Middle East long before Europe decided to try its hand. But to answer your question. . .they did not begin as Indian, no, but they were a part of our country for two hundred years and left a deep mark in our culture---clothing, food, language, art, and, of course, the buildings. But, the same could also be said of the British, and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone, including myself, who considers the British Raj to have been “Indian” simply because they were there for a long time and forced their ways upon us. At the same time, my mother is a Parsi, a people who originate from Iran, thousands of years ago---Parsi comes from “Persian”. And how can one tell me my mother, who was born and raised here, whose mother’s mothers and father’s fathers were born and raised here, that she was not Indian? And though Babur came from elsewhere, his sons and successors were born and raised here, and often to Indian mothers, and their descendants dwell here still, with no other homeland, so are they not Indian? Because if they were not, then perhaps I am not either, at least by half. Ultimately. . . it depends which Mughals, at what time period, and whom you ask, I suppose.” “And I suppose there’s also a difference between ethnicity and nationality to be considered,” Shaw said, though Haven was now losing his interest with this topic. He’d been more interest in the invasions and warring. “Ethnically, one can be anything, and still nationally be American if you were born there or otherwise have citizenship. But, I suppose you need not contemplate such matters anymore--” He cracked a wry smile as she, with a questioning look, awaited the rest of his sentence. “---after all, we are all Krakoan now, are we not? We’re all mutants, and that’s the only thing that matters.” Haven smiled back, not wryly but sincerely, “Oh, I am now, yes. But I am also still everything I was before. I have been balancing multiple identities my entire life Mr. Shaw, I believe I shall be able to continue to do so. But I must confess--” A moment of hesitation. “--I do not truly think of myself as a mutant yet.” She was not sure what reaction that she had expected to this confession, but it was not what Shaw said next. “I don’t either, Ms. Dastoor.” She looked at him in surprise. “Or rather,” he elaborated, “I do not consider myself a mutant in any sense other than in the way I consider myself to have black hair. It’s a physical fact, but nothing else. It is not a “culture” or “identity” to me, and in truth I find such attitudes to be foolish and even dangerous, not to mention a sign that an individual lacks their own personality and convictions and thus must merely default to group identity politics. Being a mutant tells you nothing about me, Ms. Dastoor, and so if I were to talk about who I am, that’s not something I’d include any more than my eye color.” “That’s an especially interesting perspective from someone on Krakoa’s Council,” said Haven, sounding very curious, “Could I ask you---” But her voice was cut off by the unmistakable sound of gunshots---and from INSIDE the building. “The children!” Haven exclaimed. It was not just her and Shaw that were lodged at The Rajmani tonight; it was where the mutants they had rescued were staying before the journey to the nearest portal tomorrow. And most were, indeed, children. As quickly as she spoke, she was moving back inside from the jharoka, but Shaw grabbed her by the elbow, easily holding her back despite her not being a small or weak woman despite her gentle demeanor. Haven was large, and could carry a grown man. But Shaw didn’t even need to be rough to halt her. “You stay put,” he said sternly, “The guards will handle this.” “Mr. Shaw---” “They are better equipped than you, Ms. Dastoor, you will only interfere--” Shaw and Haven had, of course, not come alone. Shaw had brought several trained mutants on his own payroll---not everyone needed to be one of the X-Men to be capable of handling a few humans and their toys--and they had been tasked with keeping watch over, as Shaw had earlier referred to them as, the latest flock of Krakoa’s little sheep. A statement Haven had also wondered about, though it was far from her mind now. Haven might have been about to argue with him. She might have been about to admit he was right, and she should hang back. But as with her question, she was cut off by a gunshot as she turned her face back to him and started to speak. A gunshot, and bullet through the back of her head. It exited through her right eye, and bounced off Shaw’s face and fell to the floor. She would have as well, had he not caught her as she crumpled. When her healing factor had repaired her enough that she regained consciousness, she was on Krakoa again, as were all the refugees, safe and sound. And so was Shaw. “Well, Ms. Dastoor,” he said, “You’ve been murdered---or rather, nearly so--by perfect strangers for a quirk of your genetics. Nothing can make you more of a mutant than that, wouldn’t you agree?” Haven smiled slightly, “I feel as much a mutant as perhaps a Mughal might feel Indian, Mr. Shaw. Take that as you will.” He took it ambiguously. Which was indeed how she had meant it. == END==