#like yes this has to be as accurate as humanly possible
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Aska nd ye shall receive!!!!!
SAGau idea!
Reader almost always plays on co-op since they unlocked it alongside their three friends at scheduled intervals when they all have the time.
Said reader can also code, and to make up for the fact that not all their friends can buy or pirate (cuz of lack of cash or storage) games they have, they make mods they add in, then add out, alongside lots of solo beta testing.
(if this isn't possible IRL, suspend your disbelief)
Also theres no NSFW in this ask or being requested it's just jokes a la "3AM challenge gone wrong! Gone sexual"
also there's one implication of catholic trauma
plus capital letters
Sorry if anything makes no sense
Anyways—
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The Backrooms
*insert law & order audio*
Reader, playing Aether. "I added the Backrooms."
The Kaeya Main "Oh God."
The Childe Main "You added the what??"
"Same." «== they're playing and want to adopt Ferminent
"The Backrooms, this fictional idea that even an infant hitting their elbow wrong has the .000001% chance of—this is not mathematically accurate—teleporting you to this uncanny infinite realm, and the only way out is to somehow repeat what got you in there. And I don't think doing either on purpose is humanly feasibly."
"I understood none of that but okay." The four laughing ensued.
"okay but" wheezing "how— how are we gonna get in if you can't do it on purpose??"
"yeah that sounded like a little bit like an oversight."
"a LiTtLe BiT"
"literally just click that button that wasn't on the screen before."
"oh "
pop!
"oooh god. I'm getting catholic flashbacks!"
"oh shit you okay? Do you need a break or—"
"no. No I'm good"
"oh good"
"Any monsters to worry about?"
"yes." They all start laughing "Unless it's bugged in co-op because I only play tested this on single player!"
"backrooms gone wrong! We died! Gone sexual!"
"cops called!" "sixty nine hospitalized!"
"no!" Laughing continues and as it dies down: "we're escaping the backrooms, and I'm using the version with clues to reaching the next levels so we're not stuck here all day."
"so are you gonna help us oooorrrr . . . "
"you're alone, I'm gonna be following you around as you screw around!" The dying laugher peaks again
"you put us in this mess!" "you allowed me too!!!"
And then the loudest inhumane scream ensued, alongside theirs as they scattered.
"Kane pixels monster is real! Is this the Kane pixel backrooms? Oh good we're all fucked!!"
"and the wikidot!" Now only reader was laughing
"are you speaking a different DIALECT?!"
"pretty much" gasp "it's chasing meee!!"
"you deserve it! Daaance deluded puppeteer daaance!!" And then the reader ran in their direction from behind "you used me as a meat shield!"
"to demonstrate we all get four lives! If we die a fifth time, we start at the first level again, repeat!"
"yeah that reassures me" they say sarcastically, now controlling Zhongli "wait first level—?"
"there's arrows on the walls" "tell me where, I'm gonna carry this team"
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"What the heeellll, I can't even see any damage on the monsters" "you can't kill what cannot be killed"
"oh crap." Dies. Xiao takes Zhongli's place
"disorder? In MY backrooms??"
"it's more likely thank you think!"
=================
"Since when did you change from Kaeya to Ayato?"
"since when did you die all the way back to Freminet?"
"I didn't I got gooood!!" Spinning circled around them "Aahh!! Friendly fire! Friendly fire!"
Freminet is replaced with Gaming "I literally hate you"
"I love you too <3 AAAAAA—"
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"guys help! I clipped into the walls!"
"you reap what you soooowww, fucker!" A sword strikes them "AAHHH!!"
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"I think this is what the abyss feels like"
"I think that's an insult" "you've never been in there"
===many deaths & respawns later===
"you're a monster you know that right"
Giggling, "yes yes yes!!"
"we should do that again" "as the one with arthritis from carrying you idiots, I veto it."
"veto denied :D"
The Wither Storm
Playing Kokomi "what is it this time"
"Wither Storm :)" Reader, playing Fischl looks up at them
Playing Xinyan "uh oh"
Eula "on a scale of one to backrooms, how difficult will this one be?" "Collateral damage"
"and that's ignoring the proximity voice chat!"
Fast paced breathing "oh thank God that wasn't a thing in the Backrooms, we were just using discord"
"yeah it's a shaaaame"
"wait, we couldn't lay a finger in the Backrooms"
"you can kill the wither storm and still engage in friendly fire"
"thank goodness!!"
"so what's in store?"
"I'm gonna teleport us to another plane—because we don't want Teyvat harmed in the process—and we're gonna summon the wither storm and kill it."
"let's do it blind."
"yeeeesss!!!"
"did we not learn from the backrooms???"
"no we did not!"
"blind it is! Let's go!"
"wait—!"
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The Wither Storm is summoned! And like a standard wither simple shoots out skulls that destroys where it hits and inflicts withering on any living being.
"WHAT THE HEEELLLL???"
"LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"
"guys get building materials—!" Xinyan is replaced with Lisa who is far, far away from where the death was "And I withered away. And I'm away from everyone
"wow, I can't hear anyone!"
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Beamed up by the Wither Storm: "guys help"
"one I barely heard you, scream next time, two it's already to late for you." Eula is them eaten in one piece by one of the storm's mouths
"oh my fucking god it has a halo . . . It has like four of them" Looking up, far away from the group with Yae Miko, running away after a head faces their way
Far far away, Kaeya takes Eula's place in the plane
(Google image "crackers wither storm" to get what I mean in the last paragraph)
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"bestie!!" Reader controlling Hu Tao walks up a small hill
"Oh my God! Bestie!" Another Hu Tao looks in their ideection, they run towards each other "regroup! Regroup! We gotta regroup cuz the next phase is gonna begin!"
===============
"we did all that work and never even got a nether star" Sitting down with Heizou
"says who?" Back with Fischl ":O"
"the inventory . . . " They habitually jump with Kazuha
"oh, what's this I see?" sticking to Hu Tao after the Wither Storm
"who wants to read the description?" By now everyone opened their inventory to find a fourth of a white, purple tinted four-pointed star
"As testament to your suffering, a piece of the Nether Star joins you growing treasury!! A Devastation reduced to a mere chapter in your life"
"look, I get that after we're done you just remove the mod forever and leave it to gather dust, but at least, at least let us keep this even after removing the Wither Storm mod."
"and let us make a beacon while your at it!"
"sure why the hell not!"
"what the hell is a beacon and will I want in?"
"you all will!!"
"yes we do!"
"you don't even know what it does!x
"and neither do you!"
===============
Personally I imagine that Teyvat is a bit split on this.
On one hand, their Grace is far too happy with their friends who Teyvat deems as fellow Creators they play around with and they're playing around with their divine powers.
On the other hand, making mods and bug testing is time consuming and both of these take attention their Grace could be giving them instead.
They've heard plenty times the Creator complain about their world's spaghetti code, the Reader has cursed the creator—"who the hell made this?"—many times and Teyvatians interpret this as either the Creator having lost their memories or an act of self-hatred or a blend of both.
It doesn't help how Reader curses themselves whenever they find an error in their own code
Though I wonder the thoughts of Vessels from four worlds being used for four gods to meet in scheduled meetings either during normal gameplay or modded gameplay.
No but imagine some vessels doing things their code supposedly shouldn't allowed but it gets brushed off as a mod glitch 😭 lmao, like say, Kaeya muttering "Cataclysm . . ." To himself during the Wither Storm and only barely not being noticed
BRO WHAT WILL LIKE KHAENRI'AH PEOPLE AND ARCHONS AND OTHERS THINK WHEN THEY SEE THE NETHER STAR FRAGMENTS FORM A FOUR-POINTED STAR TOGETHER AKA THE NETHER STAR WHICH IN TEYVAT THE FOUR POINTED STAR IS THE SYMBOL OF KHAENRI'AH?
That's all I have in me today
feel free, not but pressured, to add your own ideas, add onto my ideas, etcetera, etcetera as you please, you got my absolute blessing
take your time as needed
Hope your having a good day!!
Thank you for sending me this.
This is awesome on its own and it must be shared.
But seriously, you're right. Teyvat wants you to be happy, but only with them. So they come up with a plan.
They're going to not work and basically annoy your friends off the game. They know I'll make you sad, but you have them to make you feel better.
If you friends are extra stubborn, then more extreme measures are but in place. Like bugging out, not ascending but taking the materials, and stuff like that.
Eventually when your friends quit the game, you go back to solo mode. Now you spend your time with them. While it makes them sad to see you upset about being able to play with your friends anymore, they'll be your new friends and be the best characters they can for you.
After, you'll be with them soon.
#genshin fanfic#cult au#sagau#creator!reader#sagau lore#genshin x reader#genshin impact x reader#genshin imagines
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fandom needs to both calm the fuck down and also get as SILLY as humanly possible. if I wanted everything I interacted with to be “””””ACCURATE””””” I’d read/watch the source material. I just wanna have a fun silly time tbh?? I get it that it’s hard to read a fic where the character you like is acting a lil outside the canon bounds but you know what?? That shit HITS for someone, let them have it. Let them be a little silly, I say, a little fun, just as a treat! As long as no community or no person is being harmed in the creation and execution of the fan work, it has a place. Yes, even the shit you hate. IT HAS A PLACE!!!
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Okay so weird question, do you have any Will and El headcannons like 'siblings' wise? Because I just really like they're dynamic and I'm curious to what you think
do i have willel sibling headcanons. DO I HAVE WILLEL SIBLING HEADCANONS.
oh yes i do.
i will be referring to them as the twins btw because that is them. the twins. i love them so much. i love the twins. they are. my everything.
i think the two of them have their own secret language kind of? like how toddlers often figure out how to communicate with each other without using actual words. so i think the two of them have little hand signals and looks that they’ll give each other and know EXACTLY what they mean. i think they also have these sentences that seem totally normal to the outside listener but to each other they have hidden meanings. things like “what’s for dinner” mean “i want to leave”, stuff like that. and i think everyone kind of knows that they have this little language but they don’t even attempt to decipher it.
(this secret language drives hopper CRAZY btw)
the twins pretty much never argue. not in a toxic “stuff is unsaid” way, but in a “we just don’t have anything to argue about, our communication is very good” way
when the twins are first getting to know each other, they find out that they have a SHIT ton in common that they never even realized. they like the same foods, music, movies, games, etc. but they also have a healthy amount of differences!
we all know that will is really good at art, and when el learns this, she decides that she wants to find something that she’s good at too. so the twins go on a mission to try out a bunch of different hobbies to find something that el both loves and is good at! and it turns out that she’s amazing at chess and also has quite the green thumb
el and will start a small herb garden together when they realize how good she is at taking care of plants <3
also. dustin cannot believe how amazing el is at chess and gets lowkey jealous and trains himself up to try and beat her (just like mike trains himself to beat max at dig dug), but she’s still better than him lmao
the twins’ favorite disney movie is tangled and they sing every song as loudly as humanly possible when they watch it
which is at least once a week btw
when will passes his clothes on to el, the two of them decide to try and upcycle them and spice them up to make them more her style
they do that thing that max and el do at scoops ahoy where they’ll get food, have like half of it, and then switch with each other
they build a remote control helicopter together. just for funzies
el starts playing softball at school and is REALLY good at it, and she teaches will how to catch and hit pretty accurately
both el and will are pretty prone to nightmares, and when they get them, they go to the other’s room for comfort
if el has nightmares, will stays up reading to her, and if will has nightmares, el plays uno with him while telling him about her day
the books will reads to her are those fairy short chapter books, the “rainbow magic” fairy series? she loves them and these short chapter books actually help her learn to read and understand grammar a lot better
they have a joint birthday party every year (the twins had this idea mutually, they LOVE celebrating together)
thank you SO much for this ask, i loved writing this!! send me more asks for headcanons guys :)
#willel#willel siblings#willel best siblings#willel headcanons#stranger things#stranger things headcanons#el hopper#will byers#cosmicbrowniefan asks
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🎙️ do you have any plans involving silver's possible BPD? Any specific hcs you've been wanting to drop?
//OOC: Not specifically? Just more so “Yeah, given how I interpret this character and research on mental health for many reasons, this seems like a sound headcanon to have.”
I always make sure for my mental health writing that it’s always more scarier for the individual than other people. I do the same thing on @resonatingradiance, my horror pkmnirl blog as that character has DID, and yes that’s part of the psychological horror, but I didn’t want to spread the stigma of mental health conditions because they’re already so stigmatized. Just as a mentally ill person writing. I’m not like. Neurotypical and doing such. Mental health can be scary, it is scary, it’s just how you have to be very careful in writing it if it’s scary or not.
I do a lot of research on these topics and I’m not perfect or a doctor I just have a wack brain and if other people wanted to offer their two cents, I wouldn’t be opposed. I like constructive criticism when writing mental health things. I do not have BPD, only autism and suspecting other comorbid things like EDS and DID myself. (Though… EDS is not mental, it’s physical, you catch my drift it’s comorbid.) It’s possible I could myself but the best source I find for writing these topics humanly is, well, myself, as a mentally ill person. But if I do not have a condition I cannot accurately portray what it’s like as a whole human being to have it as it’s hard for me to quite literally put myself in another person’s shoes despite I believe I have a strong weight in writing emotions of a wide range of characters.
TLDR: Feel free to criticize how I write these topics I love feedback. I don’t have many plans on it besides “Yeah, he sure exists with it” while doing my best research, but I’m only human so if I make a mistake, feel free to tell me!
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An addendum to the last ask, added under the cut;
Part of it is she wants to be desired physically and sexually, as well as just on an emotional basis. Lo has a... complicated relationship with her body, in that she wants to embrace it and enjoy it and show it off, but also sustains a lot of physical harm on a regular basis. She has to patch herself up a lot, and her wish to be seen as an attractive, desirable woman, particularly a feminine woman, can come into conflict with just how scarred and bruised she can get between healing sessions. She doesn't see physical harm as masculine, per se, just not feminine. It makes her... less like herself.
(More specifically, she sees it as dehumanizing, but she hasn't figured that out yet.)
So she needs her partner to be into her body, partially because she needs reassurance that her body isn't just for pain. She wants to feel that she's desirable, be touched, held, grabbed, and yes, even fucked. She needs to feel that her body -that she - isn't just build to take on and tough out as much physical punishment as possible and eventually shake it off, that she can be loved and desired and treated well.
But also... she's a sexual being. She may not have experience, but she has desire and interest, and resents that she seems to be sorted into the categories of either Strong Dominant Lady or Squeaky Clean Mom Friend, neither of which is really accurate. She can be strong and maternal and still want sex where she's not the dominant partner. Truth be told, she's not interested in sexual dominance at all, and finds the idea of playfully emotional and physical submission far more appealing.
It does make things a bit murky, because she knows not everyone experiences sexual attraction in the first place... but it's also not something she wants to let go of. She wants her partner to desire her in as many ways as humanly possible. There really isn't any compromising on that - everything else she can work with, but that desire is bone-deep.
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Love Lines
Pairing: Severus Snape x Divination Professor! Reader
Pronouns: She/Her
Word Count: 1.8k
Summary: Severus was the moon, (Y/N) was the sun and when they came together, they made a beautiful eclipse.
A/N: I got this idea from a thought that came in my head after imagining someone reading the palmistry on Snape's hand and saying “this line means you’re in love with me”. It was supposed to be shorter but I got really into it.
Severus Snape had had it up to here with the new divination professor. She was bright, cheery, and loud and in his opinion, extremely annoying. Every time she'd walk into a room, he couldn't take his eyes off of her....which he found to be quite bothersome. While hearing her name was enough to ruin his day, the rest of the castle couldn't get enough of the young professor. But, who could blame them? She was the type of professor who made learning fun, the type to stay after class if you had questions, the type to let you out of a lesson early just because it was a nice day outside. She wasn’t just adored students, but her fellow professors as well.
When she’d walk into the great hall, everyone’s eyes would light up as bright as Christmas lights. Everyone except Severus that is. He tried his best to ignore the flutter in his chest when she’d smile at him. He convinced himself the warmth in his cheeks when she’d throw her head back in laughter was just a mere change in temperature in the room. He told himself the scent of her vanilla and cream fragrance as she walked by was much too sweet for his liking. But, he was no fool. He couldn’t keep lying to himself about what his heart, his soul wanted. That’s why he tried to distance himself from her, avoiding her whenever humanly possible. But he was no match to her efforts. She always found a way to flock to him, like a moth to a flame.
He found himself pondering these things as he wandered through the forest. He had been out from the castle gathering ingredients needed for tomorrow’s potion. He crossed another item off his list as he placed it into his basket. In reality, he wasn’t very low on the ingredients listed. In fact, he had plenty of them. However this is what he usually did when he found himself having free time. Leaving the castle to avoid her as much as possible. Although he didn’t know, today was in fact, not one of those days.
“Severus! Hey Severus! Wait up!” he turned around to see her running to catch up with him. She had a basket of her own which had a blanket hanging out the side, as she pushed her round glasses up her face. Her attempts were quite futile considering they kept slipping down. Her wild (h/l) (h/c) dancing around in the wind around her. Her sweater draped over the slopes of her shoulders, much too big for her and the same could be said about her jeans. He couldn’t help but find her beautiful, dirt covered shoes and all. When she finally caught up to him, she gave him a wide grin.
“Ah yes, Professor (L/n). Always a pleasure to see you.” He retorted, sarcasm dripping from his words. If it was obvious, it didn’t seem to phase her much at all. ”Is there a reason you’ve charged at me like a fool in the middle of the forest as the sun sets? Shouldn’t you be in the castle by now?” He added on, turning away from her as he continued to walk seemingly unphased by her presence.
“Well I’m not sure if you keep up with the moon cycles but tonight’s a full moon! I always head to a spot I found during my first week here. However, the sun is still out currently and while usually I’d just go and wait, I decided I’d join you in whatever you’re doing! Maybe I could be of some help? I won’t be much trouble, I swear to Merlin!” She finished what she was saying with a warm smile. Severus looked her up and down before sighing and continued to walk which Professor (L/n) took as a sign to follow.
The next hour or so was interesting to say the least. (Y/n) practically skipped next to the man as she followed him through the forest. Every once and a while she’d peek over his shoulder to view his list, finding the next thing needed pointing it out to him before he found it. At some point Severus muttered something along the lines of ‘damn hufflepuffs’ but Miss (L/n) simply didn’t hear him(or chose not to respond).
-----------------
Finally, as the sun finally started to retire and the moon awoke, his list was complete. He turned to the professor, and quickly tried to bid her goodbye. ”Well Miss (L/n) this has been a rather...interesting time. But, it appears my list is complete so I bid you farewell. Enjoy your moon or whatever it is you seemed so eager to get to.” He said as he began to walk off.
“Wait, uh, Severus! Why don’t you join me? I know you’re quite a busy man but if you could find the time I was hoping you would like to view it with me? I think you may enjoy it!” She said hesitantly. ‘Why would she be hoping for me to join her? Don’t get your hopes up Severus, we know where that led to last time.’ He found himself thinking. His face took on a scowl as the silence grew. It was quite awkward as she rocked back and forth on her heels, looking up at him awaiting his response. He realized this and let out an exasperated sigh before giving her a simple nod. That was more than enough for her. She grinned at him, intertwining her free hand with his as she led the way.
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“Oh it’s such a lovely night for this! The sky is so clear. And the stars, oh the stars. I wish I could see this every night, it’s quite breathtaking.” She began to lay the blanket out over the grass. She walked close to the ledge of where they were, looking down at the small pond there. The frogs croaked their song as the crickets played alongside them. It was all quite beautiful. He found himself in thought again. In all his years at Hogwarts, how come he had never come across it? That was the thing he loved about her the most, no matter where she went she left a little piece of wonder and beauty trailing behind her.
She continued to take things out of her basket, placing them on the blanket. She took out two silk cushion-like pillows, along with a thermos. She sat on the pillow before patting the other one as she opened the thermos, pouring the liquid into two porcelain tea cups. He sat down on the other cushion rather stiffly, stealing glances of her out the corner of her eye as he pretended to be gazing at the moon. A warm cup being placed in his hands brought him out of his thoughts. He took a sip, chuckling softly. Hot chocolate. Such a childish drink yet it suited her perfectly. They sat in silence for a bit, the only thing that could be heard was nature’s symphony and the soft hum of the small vintage radio she had sat up.
“You know, I’ve always been interested in the moon and stars. When I was a little girl I’d sit there every night outside of my family’s cottage fascinated by them. When I got a bit older I was fascinated to learn about how they correlate with our existence. How we think, how we act, how we love. I think that’s what made me get into divination in the first place.” She turned to face him as she spoke, her eyes filled with pure adoration for her craft. It reminded him of when he first started to teach potions. He smiled contently, listening to her talk about divination. She was so expressive when she spoke, waving her hands around wildly, her body dancing gracefully. At some point he had to take the cup from her hands because she was spilling bits of coco on herself. That’s when she grabbed his hands. “You know, palmistry is one of my favorite forms of divination because of the endless combinations of lines and marks. Each person's hands tell a different story.” she analyzed the lines of his hands as she spoke, bringing them closer to her face. As she stroked and traced the different lines on his hands he spoke.
“Is that so? I’ll admit, divination was never my best subject. Do tell what’s present.” He said as he gave her his other hand as well. Despite always being a bit skeptical of divination, after hearing her speak so passionately, so sumptuous of the subject was slowly nestling a place in his heart beside hers. He watched as she bit her lip slightly as she gathered her thoughts.
“I apologize if I’m over stepping but this line,” she said tracing the line as she spoke, “Indicates that you will have a lot of struggles during your life. Especially when it comes to loving others. And this one here indicates you’re a lot more sensitive than you let on to be, you care deeply even when you don’t show it.” She smiled after that one, locking eyes with him. The ambiance had clearly shifted in the air. It was more of a somber, bittersweet feeling than before. To lighten the mood, she followed up with a bit of a joke. Or, so she thought it was. “And this one here means you’re in love with me.” she said, trying to remain with a straight face. (y/n) thought he’d give her one of his usual Severus responses. Oh how wrong she was.
“It appears divination is a lot more accurate than I once thought it to be.” He said, holding her hands back as he stroked her small calloused ones with his thumb. He looked up to be met with a wide set of eyes and a look of shock. He felt her hands warm up in his own as she took a dry swallow.
“I’m sorry Severus, am I hearing you correctly? Perhaps I’ve misunderstood you.” she said barely above a whisper. A quiet tone for Miss (L/n) was very uncommon in any situation. Instead of answering verbally, the raven hair man reached up removing the young woman’s glasses. He pulled her closer causing her to fall into his chest. He reached down, tilting her head up oh so delicately as if she’d fall apart if he moved even a tad bit rougher. They both mutually began to inch their lips closer together, eyes closing softly. Their lips danced a delicate and affectionate waltz that tasted of the hot chocolate they had moments ago. He wrapped his arms around her waist, settling his hands at the base of her spine. Her own hands held his face stroking his cheek lightly, his coldness meeting her warmness. They both pulled away from the kiss, resting their foreheads against each other.
He held her close for the remainder of their time together, his cloak wrapped around them both. Neither he or her uttered a word but that was the special thing about that night, neither one needed to in order to convey the deep and immense amount of appreciation they had for one another. Perhaps she was onto something, the moon and stars could not only tell about how we love, but help reveal who we loved as well.
#snape x reader#severus snape#severus snape x y/n#snape x you#professor snape#harry potter imagines#harry potter#harry potter x reader#severus x reader#severus snape x reader
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Gala
☇Pairing: Jumin Han x Reader
☇Pronouns: male; he/him
☇Warning: none that i can think of <3
☇Description: Jumin wasn't planning on getting this emotional, especially at a gala.
☇Note: part two of couch nap for @luckymunchkin ! I got a lil emotional while writing that ending though-
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Poor Jaehee, she had to see all of your guy's advances towards each other
Like right now too.
Jaehee currently stood in front of her boss and best friend, said best friend leaning on heR bosses desk and sending flirty remarks.
'OKAY WE GET IT YOUR G A Y AND IN LOVE', that's what she wished she could scream out right now.
But, alas, if she did she would get embarrassed by all her coworkers AND she knows you would just say
"Is someone jealous~"
And she is not about to deal with her bullshit.
Jumin sits there leaning out of his chair while conversation with you looking like he about to fall off it. Especially when you grazed your hand against his cheek to swipe a strand of his hair behind his ear.
You guys just wouldn't stop flIRTING.
Jaehee grunts as she holds on as tight as possible to the documents in her hands. Quite frustrated with the fact her boss stole her best friends attention from her and also now she has to deal with you flirting every two seconds.
You were still flabbergasted by his actions so you basically heard not even half of what he just said.
At this point people thought you worked for Jumin, i mean, you did spend a lot of time at his office now a days-
You and Jumin hurridly try to collect yourselves as you hear Jaehee give out a small coff.
"Jaehee yes, what is it you need?" Jumin says
You play and fidget with the things on Jumin desk as Jumin and Jaehee talk. Jumin tries his best not to get distracted by it but your excessive pen clicking was hurting his ears.
As Jaehee backs away to her desk Jumin lets out a grunt and puts his hand on top of yours.
"Stop that"
"Heyyy, i can't help it"
"Ill buy you something to fidget with just not my pen"
He always tried to buy you stuff, and even thought you knew he was rich RICH, you still didn't want to annoy him or something.
As you open your mouth to decline him he shushes you up, putting a finger to your lips and standing up from his chair he gives you a small glare
"Shush, also I need you for something"
"Hm?" You hum out and as you look up at him you're surprised with his face close to yours and his hands trapping you on the desk.
If i could accurately describe your thoughts right now im pretty sure it would be something along the lines of "&*$'.×$:_×€:(*€:*_:$*€:,*_€**€#,_*"
His stare is intense as he talks, "My father wants me to bring someone to a gala he's prepared. I don't have anyone, but im sure you might like the idea of a good evening or something"
He stands back from you, slightly adjusting his nicely done cuffs and waits for your answer.
You were not expecting that.
Giving out a small, "sure", and running off your face as hot as the sun and your breath shaky. In the small portion of time you had been obviously flirting he had NEVER done something like that.
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As you pick out your clothes Jaehee is screaming through the phone.
"(Y/N)...we are talking about a HAN gala, there is no way i can calm down. This has to be as perfect as can be"
"JAEHEE CALM DOWN" you yell out as you hurriedly put on your clothes.
"Ill tell Jumin to go easier on you okay, you've been working really hard. Take a break, everything is perfect already anyways Jaehee"
Her words elicit an ugly laugh out of you, never in a million years would you believe that, there's no way.
You hear Jaehee heavily sigh through the phone, "thank you..i know he'll listen to you. You have him wrapped around your finger, you know that right?"
"Its the truth!!"
"Whatever Jaehee, ill see you there" you lightly shake your head and hang up, doing any last details and shaking off any dust that might be on your clothes.
When you get there you're met with the beautiful sight of fairy lights and different colors.
As you walk out you meet Jumins eyes and he softly smiles at you. He usually doesn't do that but he's been doing it much more lately.
Giving your hand a kiss he pats the seat beside him, your blush does not go unnoticed and he lets out a light chuckle.
You grumble as he tells the driver to start the car, after a while you get more comfortable and you make conversation as you get to the gala.
Opening the door you're met with flashes and blinding light. You try to cover your eyes but you flinch as Jumins hand comes into contact with your back.
He ignores everyone around him except the corporates who gave out a wave and nice greetings, leading you to a less crowded area he tells you he has something important to do and now you sit there waiting for him to calm back.
He doesn't give out any reaction, he just slowly walks you through the crowd of people and leave you to the grand entrance.
Zen excitedly picks you up, your feet hover over the ground as you try to hug him as best as possible.
Damn you Jumin, im not good at this stuff.
Hearing an oh so familiar laugh you look all around you, trying to find the culprit as soon as possible.
As you walk around a corner you see familiar head of hair.
There he was!
Giving a light tap to his shoulder you smirk when Zen gives you a bright eyed smile
"Miss me?"
No matter what, damn this man is strong-
"He's here!"
All of you were having a good time until Jaehees breath hitches and she hurriedly gives you the champagne bottle she had in her hands just moments ago.
As you look beyond Zens shoulder you see Jaehee.
"Oh im so sorry, was I interrupting your conversation?" Oh god now you feel bad. You thought he was alone-
"No no, you were just the person i was looking for. We missed you"
You smile at Zen and Jaehee, giving Jaehee a quick hug and engaging in conversation. It was more of Zen flexing his acting and you and Jaehee both being amazed.
Both Jaehee and Zen turn a pale white. Zen stutters before giving you a, "peace out", and running away. Jaehee chasing him, right on his tail.
"Is everything okay-"
You were about to ask up until you felt a slight warmth behind you, looking behind your shoulder you're met with Jumins cold glare.
Damn, so that's how it is huh.
That hurt, thats hurt more then it should have. He doesn't even try to look at you in the eyes, he just keeps looking out at the scenery.
You chuckle nervously as you turn around to meet Jumins eyes
He notices your eyes piercing through him and he huffs, he turns away from you and walks through the crowd. You follow as best as you can, trying not to lose sight of him.
You reach a balcony and you see him resting on the railing, the wind made his hair flow beautifully.
But as much as you wanted to admire him, you knew you guys had to talk.
"Whats wrong?" You go and put your hand on his back like he did to you less than an hour ago but he only pushes it away
"Its fine"
"No its not, whats wro-"
"Can you leave me alone please? I don't want to talk to you or see you right now, its annoying"
It works a little but he knows he needs to go look for you now. Budging the door open he swiftly walks through the crowd once again and as he maps out the second floor of the mansion he knows you're not around here.
When Jumin hears the door to the balcony slam shut he knew he had fucked up.
He panics for a second, running his hand through his hair. Trying to calm his laboring breath and bad thoughts.
"Im sorry, i was jealous of your interactions with Zen. I know you're entitled to all your own emotions but seeing you with him makes my heart ache. I don't know what this feeling is, its so foreign. But i know i don't like seeing you so close to him, I thought we were close-" he chocked up while confessing to you, you grab onto the fabric of his vest as he cries into your shoulder
His shoes click each time he takes another step and he practically skips as many steps as he humanly can while walking down the staircase.
The gala was a big, and so was the crowd. But even so, he was able to pinpoint your head through the whole crowd and he runs after you. Not giving a single care about what everyone in the crowd thought.
He tries not to make a scene so with his long legs he goes up behind you and takes you into one of the spare bedrooms.
"Jumin let me go" you barely fight him off, you don't have any energy to. But you know he would obey what you had to say, and just as you thought he let you go.
He suddenly grabs onto you and hugs you close.
You run your hands through his hair. As much as his words hurt, you also know he would never be this emotional around others. So you know he's telling the truth
"Im sorry, please, I didn't mean that I swear. It just came out, I promise i wont do it again. Please don't leave, please-"
Well to him at least it did seem embarrassing, he was raised this way after all.
"Sh sh, i forgive you"
"You do?" He hiccups, his voice is groagy now, he hasn't cried like this in so long. It felt good but also so incredibly embarrassing to do it in front of the person he loved so much.
His hands were glued to the small of your back and his thumb rubbed soft and smooth traces against your skin.
You give his forehead a soft peck and the smile he had that evening finally came back.
He barely thought his actions through before he had you in a close embrace and his lips were against yours.
Your hands were still in his hair and a sigh slips past his lips as he presses his lips harder against yours.
You eyelashes flutter open as he pulls away, but when your eyes meet he closes the gap once again.
If you could stay like this forever you would.
You push away from just a little so you can look at his expression better, his expressions tells you everything. He truly is so, so happy in this moment.
After another passionate kiss he gives out soft pecks to your lips as you both smile, hearts content
"I've never been this happy"
And you wouldn't want it any other way. Seeing Jumin this happy made you just as happy.
You can't help but kiss him again as you see him smile and look at you with soft but loving eyes.
"Is this a good time to say I love you" you say as you chuckle
[1956 words; aug/25/2020]
#virtual luvr is typing#ahh ive barely written these daysss#so sorry its schol fault though so much wORK#anyways i love this#jumin han#mysme jumin#x male reader#x reader#male reader#jumin han x reader#jumin han x mc#jumin han x male reader#jumim hand oneshot#jumin han imagine#mystic messenger imagine#mystic messenger oneshot#mystic messenger x male reader#mystic messenger x reader#mystic messenger
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My Cheating, Amnesic Fiancé
Chapter 8: Wrath
It was your parents.
“Sweetie? We’re sorry we haven’t been able to call you back until now - Jungkook’s parents have been in an uproar ever since noon, trying to find a cheap ticket back to Seoul. We didn’t make you worried, right?”
Your father’s soft, low, humming voice comforted your ear. You had admittedly been slightly concerned when they hadn’t answered even at lunchtime. You had left a voicemail that you had something important to tell them, but not had the time to consider it any longer due to school and battle planning.
“Did you know their boy was in an accident yesterday night?”
Your mother’s sharp voice pierced through the line, making you grimace. She was a lovely woman, strong, determined and the female you admired the most in the whole world, but her voice could seriously cut diamonds.
“Yes,” you said, holding the phone slightly away from your ear as you lowered the volume. “I was with him at AMC and he’s--”
“Good Lord,” your mother exclaimed, interrupting you. You could already see her shocked expression and her clutching her cross necklace. “Was it so bad he had to go to the hospital? What happened?”
“Well, he--”
“I thought he was supposed to be performing with his band yesterday.” your father added.
You sighed. Whenever you spoke with your parents, they were like this. Stuck by the heads, knowing the other so well they could complement as well as end each others’ sentences. They were even equally skilled at interrupting you.
“Hush, darling,” your mother said. “She’s trying to explain. As you were, (Y/N),” she prompted you.
“As I was just about to say before both of you interrupted me,” you began, stepping aside to let an old woman past, “he somehow miraculously survived being hit by a car and only broke his arm. However--”
“There, I told you,” your mother said to presumably your father. “That boy has more vigor than a cat with ninety-nine lives and more luck than is humanly possible. He must have an angel guarding him.”
“Stop dad,” you said before he could voice his input. “Jungkook is alright physically. It’s just that--”
“Did he scratch that handsome face of his?” your mother asked. “Or did he get any other unsightly marring on his body?”
Her tone made it sound like you had told her the Louvre had been set ablaze. She loved expensive art and was particularly fond of old European artistry. The burning of the Louvre would have broken her.
“No, mom,” you said wearily. “But he’s gotten amnesia.”
“What is that?” your father asked after both of them had paused for a beat.
“It means he cannot remember the most recent years of his life.”
“So...?”
“He doesn’t know anything about his company or his members. He is kind of skittish also, and has a hard time trusting people, even the doctors.”
“But he’s quite fine? You’ve met and spoken with him?”
You nodded, even though you knew they couldn’t see you. “Yes, he still knows and trusts me.”
“What about his career?” your mother asked.
“That’s the trickiest part,” you told them, feeling strangely relieved to have someone to share your concerns with. Even if these someones were your parents. “There was a specialist at the hospital who spoke with his manager, who in turn told me. There is a kind of unconventional way to get his memories back, but there’s no guarantee it’ll work. I am going to try and make him remember the past five or so years through...” You hesitated, not really certain what you should call the sloppily written list you had tucked into your back pocket. “...various techniques,” you decided finally.
“I see,” your father said. “I don’t understand why they’re in such a rush back home then.”
“Well, he did get hit by a car,” your mother said pointedly.
“Very well. Now, (Y/N), what was it you just had to tell us?”
You stiffened. It was time for you to tell them you had broken the engagement. You opened your mouth to speak, but found your throat constricted. You swallowed hard, then tried again. To your parents' credit, they didn’t try to push you. Perhaps they had heard the tension in your mere gulp.
“Jungkook…” you began slowly. “He has a girlfriend.”
Your voice broke. Your chest ached. You hated it, but the image of Jungkook and Park Yi-Jae resurfaced in your mind for what felt like the hundredth time. Even though it felt like your heart was threatening to break out of your body, you couldn’t lie and pretend everything was alright. You wouldn’t intercept their love.
Silence. Deafening silence.
“Are you certain?” your mother suddenly asked.
Surprisingly, your father didn’t step in to add something to the conversation.
“I saw them yesterday, before the accident,” you answered. “They looked very happy together.”
“Is it someone you know? Do you know her name?”
“Does he remember her?”
“Park Yi-Jae,” you managed, even as you frowned at the third question. “No,” you told your mother.
“That Park Yi-Jae?” Your father almost raised his voice. He never raised his voice. “The girl always prancing around on TV?”
“Shush, you hypocrite. You always watch her shows."
“I do not!”
“So that’s why they’re in such a hurry back home,” your mother muttered, ignoring your father. “They’re probably going to try and do some damage control and get you back with Jungkook. I told you I didn’t hear it wrong.”
“Wait, you knew?” you wondered incredulously. You felt your fingers tighten around your phone. “Still you wanted me to tell you?”
“We didn’t know what to believe until we had heard it from you, sweetie,” your father said in an attempt to calm you down. “Your mother heard it only faintly. She’s grown so old, we can no longer rely on her magical ears solely.”
Your mother did have eerily good hearing. Not necessarily when she and you argued over some petty things or whenever you told her you needed to bring food for an outdoor trek or something as a child, though that could have been because she stubbornly refused to listen or was too busy working. But she could hear gossip from the other side of a fully sat and vibrantly busy restaurant and hear the first few drops of water before a rainfall.
“You need to get back together with that boy, (Y/N).”
“No,” you said automatically, woken out of your brief reverie.
“Yes you do and you will. It is absolutely imperative.”
“He loves her,” you said stiffly. “Even though he can’t remember, I know he does. The way they were, just, it was--”
“It doesn’t matter, (Y/N). You and Jungkook have to marry.”
“Perhaps,” you said sharply, getting ever angrier. “But not to one another, we don’t.”
“Don’t be childish, of course you two will marry each other. You’re perfect for him and he’s perfect for you. There’s no question you will make a beautiful couple.”
“We don’t want to,” you said coolly. “I don’t want to marry him.”
“Darling, perhaps--” your father began.
“No, don’t you try,” your mother snapped at your father. “(Y/N), this marriage was decided the year the two of you were born. You will not undo it just because Jungkook hurt your feelings by sleeping with another woman.”
“No!” you shouted suddenly. Your eyes stung and your voice sounded wrong, harsh, and the bleak interior of the hallway made for awful acoustics. “It’s nothing like that, don’t you get it? Don’t answer it, by the way, I have homework and other stuff to do, so I can’t talk anymore.”
“We will talk about this when we get back, (Y/F/N).”
Without exchanging goodbyes, you ended the call abruptly. Still, you heard your mother’s voice, as if on repeat inside your skull. The words coiled around you and cut into your skin, like cold metal wire, and you seriously considered punching one of the mailboxes. Deciding that it would cause ten times more harm to you than you could ever hope to inflict on it, you leaned your forehead against the cool, concrete wall and tried your best not to scream in fury, frustration or whatever else the enormous swirl of emotions stewing about in your stomach could be called.
You heard the double glass doors open behind you and two or three pairs of feet hurry inside, probably eager to get in from the cold. You didn’t consider the vague familiarity of their voices as they immediately began whispering loudly. You didn’t even notice someone approaching you until they touched your shoulder lightly.
“Excuse me?” asked a light male voice. “Is everything alright?”
You spun about as you wiped your eyes. The guy recoiled sharply, his eyes widening first in surprise then in something else. He was shorter than the other two guys standing by the elevator with grocery bags in each of their hands, both at a safe running distance toward the entrance doors should you have shown yourself to be some weirdo. All three were dressed casually, like typical guys about your age, and with their faces and hair covered, you almost didn’t recognize them.
But they recognized you.
“(Y/F/N)!”
It was V, or perhaps more accurately: Kim Taehyung. You recognized him for his low voice now and because he was Se-Eun’s favorite member after Jungkook, something she had reprimanded you very heavily about during lunch when you had guessed her “list” completely wrong.
“What is she doing here?” The guy who had approached you on his own looked from his friends to you, obviously confused. You were fairly sure he was Park Jimin.
“Don’t ask me, ask her,” mumbled the third one. He hadn’t taken off his mouth mask so you couldn’t see anything except his eyes. You couldn’t tell who he was, but he was shorter than Taehyung yet taller than Jimin.
Taehyung caught you off guard by approaching you with solid determination, passing Jimin, who had backed a few additional steps, without even a glance. He stopped almost directly in front of you, his eyes hard, his eyebrows knitted tightly together.
“What did you do to Jungkook?” he demanded.
“I--” Your voice broke, and you cleared your throat. “I did nothing to him.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Taehyung strained to lift the hand he held the drooping grocery bag with and pointed a surprisingly long, elegant finger at you. He didn’t touch you, merely hovered it in front of your chest, yet you could feel the tension in the room suddenly skyrocket. “You told him something or did something that made him... angry like that. It’s your fault he can’t remember any one of us and might never be able to perform again. Don’t you get it? It’s your fault!”
It was as if his words breached the dam of guilt you had felt growing larger ever since you got the first call from Kim Sejin. Now, you weren’t about to cry in front of people you barely knew, at least because of the absurdity in the whole situation. Your second way of dealing with emotions seemed much better however, since, unlike the mailboxes, Taehyung’s jaw or nose probably could break without you breaking, too.
“Damn it, Taehyung!”
The guy you hadn’t been able to identify dropped his grocery bags and stormed toward you. He stepped in between the two of you as he firmly pushed Taehyung away, then tore off his mouth mask. Though, from this angle, you could still not see much else than the back of his head and his shoulders.
“It’s nobody’s fault!” he barked. “It was an accident. Jungkook was drunk and wandered a bit off the pavement, while the driver was tired and perhaps shouldn’t have driven. This isn’t really anyone’s fault, least of all (Y/N), who wasn’t even there!”
“Hoseok-hyung is right,” said Jimin quietly. “We can’t just put the blame on something or someone because it’s easy. It’s not right.”
Hoseok. Jung Hoseok. J-Hope. Now, you knew who Taehyung’s nose or jaw savior was.
Taehyung didn’t even seem like he had heard what the other two guys had said. He glared at you, ostensibly furious, and you suddenly wondered what would have happened if Hoseok wouldn’t have stepped in. You doubted an idol would have the folly to harm a civilian, but one never knew.
Then finally, Taehyung broke away from your gaze and went surly toward the elevator. There, he leaned against the wall beside the buttons and checked his phone after placing the grocery bags on the floor.
Hoseok turned around and, noticing how close you two stood together, quickly took a step back. He gave you a friendly smile.
“Sejin-manager told me you slept at the hospital with him,” he said carefully, like he was worried you would snap. “I presume he recognizes you?”
You nodded. You didn’t trust your voice just yet.
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Hoseok, genuine relief filling his eyes and smile. “How is he?”
“He’s annoying,” you couldn't help but say, and was glad to find your tone steady. “He won’t eat, wear the hospital gowns or obey the professionals. I was practically forced to stay there over the night.”
Hoseok chuckled almost hesitantly, as if he didn’t know whether you were kidding or not. “Ah, well, he’s always been a proud kid.”
“Too proud,” you agreed.
“What are you doing here?” asked Jimin. He crouched by the grocery bags Hoseok had dropped and carefully put back the items that had spilled out.
“I came here to pick up some of Jungkook’s clothes.” You held up the largest duffel bag you had found at home, which, if not for the brand name plastered all over it, would have looked like a body bag. You couldn’t wrap your head around why people found stuff like that fashionable. But then, perhaps only morbid people had the means to spend thousands on something as ugly as that bag. Your mother had bought it years ago. “I was just about to call one of you and ask which floor you live on.”
“Sejin gave you our numbers, huh?” Hoseok curled a finger around his chin. “I’m not sure about how I feel with our manager giving our numbers to an unknown girl.”
“I did consider auctioning them out,” you admitted. “Not for the money, but merely to see which type of people believed me and how much they would be willing to spend.”
He frowned, again a bit suspicious about the nature of your words, before he laughed. “Not exactly what I would have done if I were in your shoes, but that’s interesting to hear. Jungkook never told us about you, so I had no idea you had humor like this. Actually… have you eaten dinner yet?”
“No,” you replied before you realized what you had said.
“Great. Eat with us.”
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Could you do an 'I didn't know I was pregnant prompt' where somehow Abby, who's a doctor and won't ever live it down, doesn't realize that she's pregnant until she's in labor. Possibly with it being conveniently when she's alone bar delinquents, and someone has to go track down Kane and inform him of what's going on.
Canon-divergent from early s3 ish. Also featuring Raven being awesome and Clarke trying not to have a breakdown, so hopefully I wrote those two darlings okay. Content warning for vague / non-graphic and questionably medically accurate descriptions of childbirth. PG13ish for that and also swear words. Also on ao3.
The thing about quiet is it doesn’t last. She should’ve knownbetter.
It’s been a year, maybe a little more than that. Time flowsdifferently here, but one of the kids – and Abby knows they are not that anymore,most of them are so much more capable than her, but in her mind they are stillso small – is pretty sure they saw a snowflake yesterday. So, bit more than ayear. And about a year since she broke down and let herself be reckless and…
All of this hits her in the worst way as she realizes whather body is doing. This pain is not cramps, but she can’t blame herself forgetting confused, it’s been a while since she’s had her normal cycle and-
Yeah. This is what she gets for ignoring her own body aswell as she does. Dammit.
The worst part is, Abby thinks as she paces across herworkspace because so help her she is not letting this nor anything else stopher, she justified everything. Her last implant had expired shortly after shewas widowed, and she’d passed on getting another one because she was on theedge of forty and had zero plans to ever let anyone else touch her and she didn’twant to waste resources like that, and she’d just… forgotten about that detaila year and a half later when she’d gone and taken a new lover anyways. With orwithout the implant, her cycles were always erratic and she stopped trying topredict that ages ago. Nausea got justified when she wasn’t the only person whoate bad meat (turns out mutant might’ve-descended-from-a-raccoon needs to be cookedlonger than that attempt was); a little weight gain because she iseating more, because that’s a possibility now. Said weight pooling in herabdomen is normal enough for a woman her age, right?
She justified everything, she was wrong, and now she is-
Fuck.
Okay, so right now pants are a mistake. They’re soakedthrough anyways, and somehow the idea of someone wandering in and seeing hernaked from the hips down is one of the less embarrassing details of this wholedisaster. Normal people have seven or eight months to process imminent parenthoodbefore it comes. She won’t even have that many hours. Supposedly births getquicker the more a person has had, and given her track record there…
Another wave of pain hits and she grabs the edge of the tablefor support. At least she’s having this crisis – she is trying to use everyword for it but what it is, and she will go through the guilt spiral later – inmedical. Ideal place for this nightmare. If she has to give birth on herown, as is looking more and more likely, at least she is doing so in a safeplace. That’s about the only thing going right here.
There is, after all, the small issue of her partner havingno damn clue about any of this.
Last she checked – and she tries not to hover, she is notthat kind of woman and their more recent trust in each other has eliminatedsome of her tendencies – Marcus is out on a hunting / scavenging daytrip. Whichmeans he may or may not be back before this is over. Either way, explaining howshe managed to be oblivious for close to nine months about something so significantis not going to be a good time and she is more than a little nervous about thatand-
Abby hears the door open behind her. Great. Now thenightmare is complete.
“Are you…” Raven, thank goodness, at least the intruder issomeone who occasionally has common sense. “Screw that, you’re not okay.”
“How willing are you to believe things right now?” Abbyasks, turning her head to look at her friend. Group bonding across generationsis rough, but she sees a different kind of potential in the younger woman thanmost people do. Like this one, if she doesn’t accidentally kill herself beforeshe turns thirty, has some serious untapped leadership potential. And moreimportantly right now, Raven is extremely well-connected and has a highertolerance for crazy than most people. So, again, ideal person.
“From you, pretty cooperative,” Raven shrugs. “What happenedslash who do I need to electrocute?”
“I somehow managed to ignore being pregnant and… it’scoming.” And saying it out loud sounds even more damning than realizing it herselfhalf an hour ago, dragging another person into this mess with her and puttingthat weight on someone who doesn’t need it. “Feel free to judge me.”
“Nah. Not sure what you need me to do but…”
“Get someone. Anyone. Nothing against you as a person but Ido not trust you to-“
Another contraction hits before Abby can sufficientlyexplain why she’d rather not have someone who interacts with technology betterthan people as her backup here. Great. If she factors in the number of timesthis has happened that she really did think were cramps, and how long it’s beensince closing her legs felt like a good idea… shit. Yeah no. There will be noexplaining this to her partner before it’s too late.
“What I’m hearing is radio your idiot and tell him to gethis ass back here as soon as humanly possible but do not tell him whybecause that’ll break him, grab the first person I can find who I’d trust tocatch something and send them in here to help you, and go through the storageroom and hope there’s still baby clothes in that one box I found some in lastmonth. Anything I’m missing?”
If Abby were more mobile, and/or felt less like her body wasabout to explode, she would hug Raven right now. “Yes. I… yes. Thank you.”
“And try to keep this on a need-to-know basis. Far as anyoneelse is concerned, you figured out you were incubating at a normal enough timebut you decided to keep quiet about it because you hate attention. That work?”
“I’m not sure that’s going to be believable when-“
“It’s believable if you’re a couple weeks before your duedate and you can pass that particular dramatic shitshow off as being more aboutthe timing.”
“I’m not sure if you’re an angel or an evil genius.”
“I’d like to think I’m both,” Raven laughs. “Now, if youthink you have enough time here for me to do that, I’m gonna go.”
Abby assesses herself quickly. Unless something somehow goeseven more wrong, she’s got at least half an hour here. “I’ll be alright.”
And again she is alone, she thinks as the door closes behindher. This is… not an absolute worst-case scenario, but pretty damn close. At best,she’s got a lot of explaining to do when it’s all over. At worst…
Describing this as an accident is a serious understatement. Therehas been no conversation about whether or not to have kids together. It neverseemed necessary. They’re older enough that the risk seemed so low, and therearen’t restrictions on that here, and she didn’t think…
She didn’t think. That’s what this all comes down to. A temporaryvacation from her normal instincts and look what that got her. No time tomentally prepare for a tiny vulnerable creature, no time to think about theimplications for her relationship, no time to even find out if her partnerwants this enough to stick around for it, no time to-
Getting closer. She is not attempting to measure herself butshe can feel the process. Timing-wise, she probably is a few weeks earlyhere, in that comfortable space where that won’t mean any problems for thelittle creature and a normal person’s biggest concern would be not being quitedone with their preparations. Whereas she has done no preparations, whatlittle of her fate isn’t in her own hands right now has been entrusted to atwenty-one-year-old who has even less of a baseline for this, and-
It’s all too much, and Abby starts crying. Most confusedemotional release she’s ever had, not sure if it’s stress or fear or pain oranticipation or probably all of those at once. Overload enough that the nextcontraction feels muted by comparison, overload enough to overlook how uncomfortablethis all is.
It’s just a little ironic that this started bent over atable and it may well end that way too, at the rate she’s going. That’ll be funny,in a couple months when any of this can be, maybe.
She hears the door open again and this time multiplefootsteps, this time she is too exhausted to even turn her head, this time-
“Mom? What the hell?”
Limited options, Abby reminds herself. Limited options ofpeople she would trust to be her backup here, and her own – possibly soon to beolder? – daughter is one of them.
“Clarke, I can-“
“Raven filled me in,” Clarke mutters, sounding so familiarlydisapproving. Abby’s always thought her daughter takes much more after her latehusband, but sometimes there are familiar flickers in there. “You basicallyneed me to catch it.”
“Basically, yes. There should be some towels in-“
“I know where things are. Learned my organization systemfrom you.”
“And I can grab stuff,” Raven adds. That would be the secondset of feet, the bright-red jacket Abby can see in her peripheral vision. “Iwould rather not see the nightmare fuel here but I can hold things or whatever.”
“Any luck with-“
Abby swears she can somehow hear Raven roll her eyes. “Wrongperson picked up, but we tried. The group at least knows something is goingdown here and hopefully I yelled enough to-“
The next pain is strong enough to blur Abby’s vision. “Nextone is it.” She’s amazed she can even talk clearly right now, but her presenceis not going away just because she’s in a crisis. She’s gotten through worse. Rarelybeen on this end of it, rarely felt so helpless, but she will not let anythingstop her. “Be ready.”
Around her, the girls attempt as much prep as they can. Abbydoes not know what they’re doing, does not think about it. There is only this. Thereis her, and the little creature that is about to exit her body, and her olderchild who is surprisingly calm about all of this, and another member of theirfamily who is at least trying to do the same, and a black hole where herpartner should be and-
She screams.
She lets it be a blur. She does not want to remember thesefew moments.
She knows one of the girls is hovering under her with alarge towel in hand, and the other one is yelling, and she doesn’t know whichis which and she doesn’t care. She knows that this is at least a familiar pain,and the first part is the worst, and the little creature – now officially hersecond child, she will let herself process that later – is slick andcooperative and how the child of two such stubborn people is so easy to dealwith in its first moments she does not know but-
“I have a little sister,” Clarke says somewhere in thebackground.
Abby wants to collapse. Wants to sleep for a very long time.She focuses on her body, on all the things she knows. There is still pain, waitingfor the afterbirth to come out. She suspects she’s torn but not as badly as itcould’ve been, and her breasts ache and at some point soon that too will beuseful, and-
She fades out. Exhaustion is a wonderful thing. She knowsher body will do what it needs to, and she trusts the girls enough, and… shecan’t do this anymore.
When she wakes up, she’s somehow been moved to the cot –which means someone else has seen her questionable condition, great, just whatshe doesn’t need – and she’s in a clean shirt and someone has placed cold clothbetween her legs to help the hurting and-
“You really didn’t know?”
She’s not awake enough for this shit.
Abby turns her head and yep, there is her partner (but howmuch longer can she call him that, she wonders) in a chair someone must’vebrought in, looking at her like he does not know where to start but he has alot of questions. It’s been a while since she’s had to interpret that look, andshe is concerned.
“I didn’t know,” she repeats. “You’ve known me since we werechildren, you know I can justify anything, I thought-“
“Alright.” And now for the scary-calm. That particularversion has evolved over the past year and a half or so, as Marcus has learned howto be more of a person, but she still knows it too well. He’s harder to readthis way, and more dangerous to those around him. “When I found out… I thought…”
“Do you really think I would’ve hidden this from you if I’dknown?”
“I had to ask.”
“I wouldn’t… I just went through hell,” she hisses. “Involuntarily.Again. And I wouldn’t have had to if I’d paid more attention to myself but youknow I don’t-“
“I believe you.”
She’s not sure she believes him right now, but she isstill too exhausted to move so that fight can wait a day or two. “Where is…” Shedoesn’t know the right word. My daughter? Ours? Which of those will hold longer?
“Raven’s looking after her. You needed to rest, and… I canlook after you here, Raven can keep the baby in her workshop except when sheneeds to feed.”
Abby rolls her eyes. Yeah, keep a newborn in the mostdangerous place in the settlement, great idea. On the other hand, Raven’sspace is at least warm. “And you’re…”
“Still processing,” Marcus finishes. “Someone tried to radious but we were a few miles out, and when we got back I didn’t have time tothink before someone shoved what looked like a bundle of towels in my arms and…”
“It is yours. If that was going to be your next question.”
“It wasn’t. But good to know.”
“I just… I ignored everything, and I…”
He reaches out for her hand, and even that feels like toomuch physical contact right now but it’s a nice gesture anyways. “I’m notblaming you.”
“Well that’s new,” she mutters. He’s been decent for a year,she should have more faith, but… “Are you going to stay?”
And now for the look of stunned horror, the wide eyes and haltedbreaths and for a moment she’s broken him. “Am I… how is that a question?!”
“You are aware how many bad choices I’ve made here…”
“You’ve always been a little impulsive,” he counters. “And stubborn.And usually right. And I don’t know why you think this kind of innocent mistakewould push me away.”
“It’s a screaming liability of a mistake?”
“It’s ours. And I want… if you want…”
“Yeah. You’ve never done this before. You do not realize thehell you’ve just volunteered for.”
“I’m with you. How bad could it be.”
He leans down and kisses her forehead, and the scratch ofhis beard is way too much, and… yeah. They’ll be okay.
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King Falls AM was one of my favorite podcasts of all time. There's a lot of ways I still think it's very good! There's still a lot to enjoy about it. There's ways the show can improve.
However.
I am very uncomfortable with the way that the KFAM creators seem bent lately on doing some of the absolute worst things they could do while running a podcast.
1. Blaming WTNV and other podcasts for "copying them" (Yes I saw Cecil's post and I firmly believe he was talking tounge-in-cheek, they just seemed to think it was a) directed at them b) took it way too personally) Also, you're not the only ones allowed to do a musical episode, guys
2. Making false accusations of DEATH THREATS (like Jesus you guys come on)
3. Refusing to listen to criticism to the point of blocking/unfollowing accounts, steering clear of Tumblr entirely
4. The huge hiatuses. I mean, obviously due to the pandemic I think they're well within their rights to take a while. But even before this hit, their hiatuses last for 8 months-1 year at a time. When you're dealing with a plot that has remained unresolved since the start of the show (and involves queer characters suffering while your straight characters plot is resolved, more on that below) that's not a great time frame, especially compared to other podcasts - which you guys love to do in every way but this one.
5. The uncomfortable racism/sexism/homophobia that they just cannot seem to acknowledge or change. Skinwalkers and non-native VAs voicing native characters is offensive. Having a "Racist Witch" character feels like it's just an excuse to say racist stuff on air and have people get mad because "you can't say that!" Treating all of their female characters as either sweet and kind 100% of the time (Emily) or constantly complaining and being a pain (Lily) to show the "difference" between them. It really feels like they're trying to make one look a lot "better" than the other, and having the lesbian be the "unpleasant" one isn't a great look.
And now we get to a bunch of mishandling when it comes to queer representation. Sammy is a queer main character, but it took them literally 60+ episodes to get them to acknowledge that at all. Archie and Ron were the other queer characters, and I'll be honest here, Archie's character has always made me super uncomfortable? He's literally a complete stereotype in a way that makes me feel he was invented just for the purpose of being a gay stereotype. And while I feel Ron is a better character, he's the stereotype on the other end of the coin, the "manly gay". It feels like they really wanted to have it both ways, and both aren't a good look. Also, I have never liked Jacob Williams as a character because the "depraved bisexual" stereotype is OLD and not at all accurate. Having a hillbilly pervert isn't the source of comedy they seem to think it is.
Not to mention how this show really seems to be advancing the plot when it comes to all the straight characters and not when it comes to the gay ones? Ben and Emily's plot lasted from Episode 2 to Episode 75 with barely a gap. It took up most of the space in the show. It is literally Episode 100 and we have had to wait through 2 hiatuses without any kind of progress in reuniting Jack with Sammy and Lily. It feels like they're using Jack as their method for drama after Ben and Emily finally got their shit together, and now they're going to drag that out as long as humanly possible so they don't have to actually write what happens once he's finally been rescued. Lily's pain at losing her brother is treated as very insignificant, like she's just being a bitch for no reason. Even Sammy is allowed to be as petty as he wants, but she's treated terribly for doing the same thing. Like a lot of other people have said, I'm really scared that it's literally not going to be until the finale or it's going to wind up with one of the gay characters dead. I'm going to be very upset and angry if that happens.
Also in the vein of Sammy, it seems like they give all the credit to Ben for making it so they can all be a family and know what it is to love, like Sammy and Lily's past with Jack just never existed?? Families who have a falling out don't just forget what that kind of thing meant, guys, and they don’t need a straight person who really didn't do much of anything to get the credit for that!
Last thing because it's something that bothers me personally and I know others have disagreed on this: as a non-binary person, it's nice that they tried to include the "and non-binary pals" line, but it would be really nice if they could, y'know, actually have a NB character on the show? It feels like they're trying to get points for something they're not actually doing.
So that's most of everything that's been bothering me. The creator's actions when it comes to all of this make me worried for the future of the show, and how they're actually going to continue once they get around to it. I'm worried it's going to be a lot of excuses and taking potshots at the fans and basically sidestepping everything in the name of "being positive" and I'll be really upset if that happens. Your fans are why the show got big, and while creators really don't owe the fans anything, if you're trying to use the backs of queer fans to advance your show, you at least owe it to them to listen if they say you're stepping on them too hard.
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So I happened to re-stumble upon your editorial for Tangled (which I love) and I got the mild impression you aren't a big fan of Frozen and I got curious.
Warning: Personal opinions herein. Proceed with caution.
Yes, the House of Bogwater has a great deal of respect for Tangled, hehe. 🌻
While I wish I could tell you I have this bitter, seething hatred for Frozen (as that would make for a more entertaining post), the truth of the matter is that I don't really have very strong negative feelings towards it. As a movie, I think it's perfectly fine, and when it first came out, I absolutely loved it. I have a very fond memory of my dad taking me to see it on opening day (I was 14 at the time, and super excited about it). But I quickly grew somewhat jaded towards the movie in the months that followed its release due to the staggering amount of publicity it got--people just wouldn't shut up about this movie. And normally that kind of thing doesn't bother me, except that when I compare the creative and artistic merit of Frozen to Disney movies of the past....it's really not that special. I think the main reason it got so much attention was because the whole movie was very carefully constructed to appeal to the consumer base. Some of its themes and messages just felt like "cheat codes" written into the plot to ensure that the film would generate as much revenue as humanly possible. Like, while they could've done something really neat with the theme of "don't rush into love," they ended up just making this super bland, oversimplified moral to beat kids over the head with and appeal to the crowd of people who like to take pot shots at old-school Disney films simply for the fun of it. I've actually never met a real child who believes it's fine to marry someone you have known for literally a few hours. Most kids I know are able to tell the difference between idealized fiction meant for entertainment purposes only, and reality.
Again, this isn't me saying the movie is bad--visually, it's stunning, and the music is more than worthy of the awards it would go on to win. And I've mentioned before that Frozen actually has the most simple and accurate definition of love that I've ever encountered in any piece of media: "Love is putting someone else's needs before yours." A fantastic message, especially for 21st century audiences! But I guess if I had to describe the film as a whole, it'd just be Very Nice. It didn't actually feel groundbreaking, or revolutionary, or "the greatest Disney movie of the decade," as I remember one reviewer putting it. In fact, when compared to other Disney movies, Frozen falls flat in a lot of little ways. So I guess I have something of a love-hate relationship with it. There are very good things in it that I really like, but I'm also turned off by the elements that were shoehorned in there just to appeal to the market (I'm talking the painfully on-the-nose meta commentary about past Disney films and the decision to make Elsa one of the protagonists because they didn't want Let it Go to be a Villain Song).
What negative feelings I do have for Frozen were ultimately compounded by the fact that this movie massively overshadowed Tangled in the public eye, meaning fewer people would bother to give that film a try if they hadn't already. And, as you are already aware, I am of the opinion that Tangled is an absolutely phenomenal movie that tends to be overlooked in the Disney roster as "just another princess movie." So for that reason alone, I have to say Frozen doesn't rank super high on my list of Disney films.
Thanks so much for the ask, Non! ✨
(Edit: Forgot to mention that the original Hans Christian Anderson fairytale that inspired Frozen absolutely SLAPS, and the movie bears zero resemblance to it. Which I think is a shame).
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Welcome back, everyone!
A quick note before we begin: after the previous recap a couple of lovely friends and anons explained to me some discrepancies in my work, mainly about how Fox's semblance functions and how much info we’ve gotten on that previously. They're worth a read if (like me) you haven't read After the Fall and would like a more accurate picture of this whole project. However, I have to admit that sadly past!me didn’t think through the usefulness of those posts and tag them appropriately... so they’re just somewhere in the mess that is the “rwby” and “mymetas” tags. Still, I wanted to acknowledge their existence, both for your potential use and as another disclaimer along the lines of, “I’m reading what amounts to a sequel and recapping as I go. Prepare for a bumpy ride.”
We're on chapter five now (of twenty-two! Holy god I’m slow!!) and truth be told I actually enjoyed this opening. We're in Yatsuhashi's head this time around and he's likewise enjoying Vacuo's Meeting Spot, an "artificial oasis" that reminds him of his mother's healing gardens. I wonder what "healing" means in this particular context. A generalized benefit to your body, mind, and spirit in the form of meditation? Or a more literal, magic-based healing with its roots in aura use? In a world with RWBY's possibilities, a healing garden that someone like Ozpin might run—let's take time to settle ourselves and reflect—vs. one that someone like Jaune would create—let me use my semblance to literally heal your wounds—are rather different things. I'd be interested to know which category (or another) Yatsuhashi's mother falls under.
Regardless, it's a satisfyingly quiet scene. Yatsuhashi comments on both the beauty of the oasis as well as how that beauty, in turn, raises the desert in his eyes. Nothing like not having to deal with a hard landscape to make that landscape seem more bearable, alluring even, and this moment managed to capture that feeling rather well. The only downside is that, in a recurring theme, I once again got whiplash upon realizing that Yatsuhashi is not standing alone in the peace of the early morning, like the description had led me to believe. Apparently Velvet is there. As well as the whole freaking student body! Myers* has this strange habit of writing one kind of scene only to suddenly reveal that the scene is actually radically different from what his writing had encouraged you to imagine. Yatsuhashi is going on about healing, natural beauty, and the peace of an early morning. What's peaceful about dozens of students speculating beside him? Have you ever met a school of sleep deprived young adults dealing with a surprise announcement before breakfast? That’s as far from peaceful as humanly possible.
Mood, kid.
(*Also yes, we're working to write Myers' name correctly this chapter. If I'm going to drag his work so much the least I can do is not add an additional 'e' to his name lol.)
Along with the entirety of Shade Academy to break the peace, Yatsuhashi tells us about dromedons and mole crabs. The former, according to the wiki, is a "camel-like Grimm that can spit acidic venom" and also sports an armored hump. Fun! The latter, according to Yatsuhashi, is a "horrifying" creature that "slept just below the sand and could cut a person in two with their massive claws." And they're the normal, non-grimm animals! Screw Salem. Humanity needs huntsmen just to keep people safe from the everyday wildlife. Crabs cut people in two, Zwei is capable of being set on fire and launched at a mech... it's a miracle that anyone ever steps outside their home.
I do write this with full knowledge that Australia exists, but still.
As Yatsuhashi moves away from thoughts of killer crabs, we begin what is easily the strangest bit of repetition this chapter. Yatsuhashi's shoulder is sore from having tried to break down the hideout door and I'm going, "Wait no, you used your sword” and frantically flipping back through my PDF. To Myers' credit, there is a detail that suggests Yatsuhashi uh... rammed the door? I think? Last chapter he "Stepped forward and Fox heard him grunt with exertion." That's the only thing I can think of that would explain his shoulder unexpectedly being sore hours later: if he'd charged it instead of doing something insane like, oh, I don't know, trying the doorknob first. Odd choice of continuity, but okay. What's super weird though is that Myers repeats the detail again:
Yatsuhashi crossed his arms, then grimaced as a fresh pain shot through his shoulder. Come on, Aura, he thought. Do your thing.
I'm sorry, how badly did you hurt your shoulder? Why does a supposedly intelligent student immediately resort to what is apparently somewhat serious self-harm when faced with a closed door? Why is Myers choosing this of all things to tell us about? Is this incredibly random shoulder injury going to hinder Yatsuhashi during the test? Spoilers: I don't think it does considering that I searched for "shoulder" in my PDF and there's just a lot of hands on shoulders coming up, but nothing that, at first glance, seems to make this kind of set up necessary. So I say again: weird.
Meanwhile, weirdness doesn’t even acknowledge the continued inconsistencies with aura. Jaune heals a cut on his cheek instantaneously, but hours later Yatsuhashi needs to gripe at his aura to hop-to already? So either Jaune’s aura is far more powerful than the average person’s (never established outside of Pyrrha’s “You have a lot of it” comment), or Yatsuhashi really hurt his shoulder that badly. Hard enough that with the rest of the night and early morning to heal him, his aura is still working overtime.
Alrighty then.
So the whole student body is just kind of hanging out, striking up casual conversations. Velvet asks how Yatsuhashi is doing and he says he's fine, "Thanks to you." Wait... what did Velvet do? I mean yeah, she was there last night and she's here now, but so is the rest of the team. I don't really recall her helping Yatsuhashi in any specific way. As is the norm now, I remain mildly, endlessly confused by this novel.
But we don’t have time to delve into the gratitude attached to events I’m not actually sure happened. There’s more chit chat going on as everyone tries to figure out why they've been summoned so early in the morning. "It's not always about us," Velvet says and I nod along in agreement even though I know, as a reader, that it's absolutely about them. "As I'm often reminding Coco."
Coco fires back with how it "could be about us," noting that it would be pretty coincidental if something else was going on right now, plus Rumpole may have realized they were out last night. (Remember, Yatsuhashi wasn't subtle about trying to break down that door). This is one of those moments where I agree wholeheartedly with Coco's logic, but kind of hate to encourage the 'It's all about us' attitude. Velvet might be smiling, but as previously established this is an ongoing theme within RWBY's characterization that it could really stand to do without.
Yatsuhashi then offers some "unsolicited advice" about how Rumpole could afford to slow down some and "let things come at their own pace," to which I respond, "Huh?" Where in the world did this come from? Previously the whole group—including Yatsuhashi, considering he didn't speak out against it—was concerned that Rumpole wasn't doing enough to track down the Crown. That is, do more, move faster, get it done already. You haven’t gotten it done? Okay, we’ll do it instead. Now he's providing this subtle criticism in response to a meeting, as if that's an inherently odd or bad thing for a headmistress to do. You want the woman to do extra work faster but slow down when it comes to her actual job?
It reads to me like Myers is trying to put a lot of wise-sounding dialogue into Yatsuhashi's mouth—you know, the Asian character who keeps bringing up things like meditation and mindfulness—but hasn't bothered to think about whether that dialogue makes any sense. Of course, we then immediately backtrack to reveal that his comment was really about Coco not pushing the team too hard, but... that's not what he said? And Coco clearly didn't get the message. And the hidden meaning of the words didn't come across too well if your reader is squinting at what was said until the author has to straight up go, 'This is what Yatsuhashi actually meant.' Maybe just... have him say that? Give us some significant looks towards Coco, at the very least. Something to clue us in here that Yatsuhashi is (weirdly) blaming Rumpole for Coco's flaw.
Then he just ruins the whole scene further by mentally commenting that if all this extra work was hard on them, "what would it do to SSSN?" Ugh, look. I don't even like SSSN very much. I didn't shed a tear when they left the main series and would shrug if they ever came back, so you know the story is ragging on them too much when I'm standing up for the group at the bottom of my Character Adoration list. The duality of 'SSSN is so incompetent I don't even know how they're alive' and 'That, in comparison, makes us the best team ever' got old forty pages ago, yet I have the distinct feeling it won't be letting up any time soon.
Headmaster Theodore finally arrives to break up this thrilling conversation and the students erupt into thunderous applause. "It was what [he] expected. It was what he inspired whenever he appeared." That... is absolutely hilarious. This guy is so much of a showman, so insanely over the top, that he expects people to treat his everyday appearance as a spectacle worthy of praise and they agree. You know who he reminds me of?
The king himself, Alex Louis Armstrong. I'm digging this already. It's absurd and I will forever question RWBY's ability to balance comedy with its darker tones... but I'm counting this one as a win so far. There's got to be something to praise about this book.
Just as important, we get a description of Theodore's positively insane outfit. I immediately googled to see if someone had drawn him and the fandom did not disappoint. I'm not going to include the image here in case the artist, Edisu, doesn't want their work reposted like that, but I highly recommend you check out the link and get a visual.
The only thing left to say about this fashion monstrosity is that he has a "flowing gray-blue cape, the color of a stormy sky." I'll let our favorite textile engineer make my point for me:
Honestly, between Ruby's cape and Weiss' hair someone is going to end up in trouble one of these days.
In this world free of horrific cape tragedies, we've segued into a flashback which is, frankly, kind of boring compared to the others we’ve gotten. It's just the group meeting Theodore, information and characterization that could have easily been distributed to the audience in the present. It's starting to feel like the structure of including a flashback each chapter is hindering Myers somewhat, just because every chapter doesn’t necessarily need one, but that’s far from the biggest issue to tackle.
We learn that Theodore (really Rumpole) did a bunch of research on all the students involved in the Vytal Festival and they're very pleased that Team CFVY has joined them now, despite the horrific circumstances. We again hear about how judgmental Coco can be, that her judgements are rarely wrong... but if they are wrong she's the last to admit it. So really that's less of a 'This character has good instincts about other people' and more 'This character is just, as said, judgmental and then stubborn about it when she’s wrong.' Theodore, however, seems like a cool dude:
“Ah, she speaks!” Theodore strode toward Velvet. His voice softened. “You didn’t fail, my dear. You fought. You stayed, far longer than anyone would have asked or expected of a student. And now you’re here. Do you want to be here? Will you fight for Shade the way you did for Beacon, Velvet Scarlatina?”
This is great. This is the kind of reassurance I would expect from a headmaster who, thus far, has received a fair amount of praise. Unlike his students, Theodore understands the risks Beacon students took and when it was time for them to make a life-saving retreat. He's inspiring while also being empathetic and honestly? That's the most I've had that 'You're a good person' sense from RWBY in a very long time.
Now watch Theodore turn out to be evil lol.
He cuts the tension of the serious conversation by proclaiming that if any of them doubt whether they should be here, they should take it up with him via a fight. Theodore announces this while striking a pose. I say again:
We then get some more reflection on how Theodore compares to Ozpin:
Ozpin had believed in you before you did, almost like he knew your true potential, despite what your transcripts or fighting abilities looked like. Theodore believed you had potential, but you had to earn it and prove yourself to him first.
I agree with that and I'm pleased to see that this time the comparison didn't involve criticizing Ozpin in an effort to build Theodore up. It’s likewise a useful description and I think it provides us with at least one interpretation of why the RWBYJNR group has discarded Ozpin so thoroughly. The addition "despite what your transcripts or fighting abilities looked like" implies that Ozpin sees potential in everyone. It doesn't matter how presumably flawed you might be—in physical strength, like Jaune; in morals, like Lionheart— Ozpin will see the good in you and give that good a fighting chance. That's why he's the one tasked with doing something as crazy as uniting the whole world because he's the one person capable of seeing that potential in literally everyone. That much is true. But the flipside of this is that, unlike when in interacting with someone like Theodore, no one expects to have to work for Ozpin's faith, his praise... his trust. With Theodore you have to "earn" the respect he gives you right from the start. With Ozpin it's free! So surely that means such faith extends to every possible situation, right?
Which is when you run into trouble. When the situation is no longer "I'll give you a chance in my school" but something much more serious like "I'm risking the whole world on your character." Ozpin is an optimist, but he's also cautious as hell (with good reason), so though he sees the potential in everyone he knows he can't let his own hope for humanity blind him to reality. That person might betray you. They might turn on you. They might give up and hurt you in the process... even if you want to believe that people are simply better than that. Wanting doesn’t make it so.
If someone who had as little interaction with Ozpin as Team CFVY did nevertheless developed such a strong sense of, "Yeah, he believes in everyone!" then it seems likely that Team RWBY, already sporting a special connection with him, thought they were shoe-ins for every possible secret and task they might ask of him. Their time at Beacon was defined largely by both intentional favoritism and coincidences that could arguably be read as such. Ruby gets to go to Beacon two years early. She gets to be team leader. The sisters stay together despite teams supposedly being random. Team RWBY goes on missions not meant for first years. Team RWBY is given a nudge-nudge-wink-wink about The White Fang so that they can do what they’re able to help. Team RWBY was friends with Pyrrha, next in line for the Maiden powers. They got used to Ozpin simultaneously solving all the real problems that showed up and letting them play at being important, all while the rest of the school had to follow normal rules. They’re special. But then Beacon falls, the game is over, and they're blindsided by having to earn trust and privileges in the real world. Playing at huntresses in the safety of your headmaster’s school is over and Ruby in particular never got that there was a massive difference between that and a real war where the fate of the world hangs on your trustworthiness and ability to keep it together. It’s why she announces to the Argus guards that she is a huntress while attacking the people she’s meant to protect.
Which would be a fantastic arc to give them if the show ever had someone sit the group down and tell them how childish and selfish they're being. Instead, they're still being handed that trust and privilege—you can go into Atlas despite stealing from the military, you get your licenses years early, you get to carry an incalculably valuable relic around—while likewise still getting mad that the adults around them don't give them more. This comparison here, though realistically just a throwaway passage in a novel rather iffily connected to its original series, starts to highlight the excellent situation RT set up... and then didn't do anything with.
But I've gone on about this long enough. There are just two other things I'd like to point out about this flashback. The first is that it may help us get a handle on Ozpin's age (if we're willing to accept these books as canon, despite their other inconsistencies). Earlier we're told that "Headmaster Theodore’s whole style should have been ridiculous for a man likely in his forties, maybe older" and here, in describing their different approaches, we get "Headmaster Ozpin, who had been younger but seemed much older." So that could potentially put Ozpin his his late 30s if he's noticeably younger than Theodore in his 40s. Or, in his 40s if the "maybe older" part is right and Theodore is in his 50s. I can’t imagine that Theodore is in his 60s. Not much to go on, admittedly, but I'll take whatever I can get. The interesting thing is that if Ozpin really is that young and Qrow is now (presumably) in his early 40s, wouldn't that have made them basically the same age during his Beacon days? Perhaps even giving us an Ozpin who was younger than his oldest students? I don't know. It's really less of a definitive piece of information and more messy speculation to add to the pile—which is par the course for RWBY nowadays.
The second detail I wanted to point out was that despite all their supposed differences, Headmaster Theodore and Professor Rumpole have a very Ozpin-Glynda relationship going on. For all the cosmetic changes it boils down to the same dynamic. Both headmasters are powerful, quirky men who at first glance appear to be rather useless at their jobs, requiring the confident headmistress to swoop in and manage the daily running of a school. Those two do the heavy lifting while their bosses work wonders from behind the scenes (a la The Wizard). When I read Rumpole chastising Theodore for claiming he investigated the students, or when she reminds him that there isn't time to have an impromptu duel with his students, I couldn't help but think about Glynda reluctantly letting Ozpin invite Ruby to Beacon early, or cleaning up the cafeteria while he shrugs off the mess. To be clear, I don't necessarily mean this as a criticism, just an observation. In truth I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it adds to the overall sense that Shade is just Beacon with a slightly different coat of paint. As I've mentioned previously, for all the text's insistence that Shade isn't like the other schools, the story hasn't done a good job of demonstrating that cultural difference in any meaningful way and similarities like this only add to the feeling that this isn't really a unique Kingdom—or at least not one with a firm enough identity to be persuasively unique. Same rule breaking team sneaking out on their own mission. Same secondary team who’s talented, but not as special as the protagonists. Same strange man with his responsible woman running the school. The details differ, obviously, but the structure feels largely the same.
As mentioned above, once the flashback ends Theodore tries to spar with one of the students but is quickly shut down by Rumpole because, you know, they have a meeting to hold. Apparently there have been complaints lately from the local security about Shade students interfering with official huntsmen business.
“I told you it was about us,” Coco muttered.
Coco, when you hear that people are pissed that you, an unlicensed student, are disrupting the careers of professionals every night the takeaway should not be, 'Aha! I knew it was all about me.'
Yatsuhashi at least provides a more nuanced perspective. "This wasn’t right, though. If they hadn’t interfered, those Huntsmen would have kidnapped an innocent person." He's right. They did help someone, but what they've failed to learn is that an individual good deed does not excuse the unlawful steps they took in getting there. If Team CFVY had just been out on the town and happened to spot some shady characters pulling shit, then put a stop to their kidnapping, that's fine. That's heroic. What is not heroic is them going out with the express purpose of fixing a situation that trained professionals told them they should not be trying to fix—key word being “trying,” given that they all understand Rumpole’s worry that they’ll make things worse. It was enough to send them back home last night... after Yatsuhashi failed to break into the hideout. The problem is not the "I helped someone who needed it" part but rather the "I'm arrogant enough to think that my presence is necessary" bit.
If having students conducting investigations was wanted or necessary, it would be a part of the curriculum: acknowledged or otherwise. AKA yes, Ruby. It would be very helpful if you'd head on off to Mountain Glenn, under the observation of a seasoned huntsmen, and report back if there's any dubious activity going on over there. Ozpin said, 'Yes please' to the extra (highly controlled) help while these professionals are saying, 'No thanks.' The fact that Team CFVY acts is if they're justified in continuing this investigation—and worse, that the story keeps validating those feelings—undermines their otherwise heroic actions. RWBY really is a series that struggles with giving its protagonists compelling reasons for getting involved in the fight. ‘Because I want to help’ might be a noble motivation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. The Mountain Glenn mission was like a chef allowing a talented, aspiring teen to help them with a dish, all of it done under their tutelage. Team CFVY’s investigation is like the teen sneaking into the kitchen after dark to doctor all the prep for the next day’s cooking under the assumption that they’ll make it even better. Hell, maybe they will! But that’s not the point. Your help was not invited — explicitly denied, actually —and there’s a very good chance you’ll mess something up.
So because this group of eight continually insists that they know best, the whole school is required to stay on campus after nightfall. Huzzah!
It’s just too bad these consequences hurt others just as much as Team CFVY. The other students are pissed about this. I would be too! Team CFVY remains adamant though that they did the right thing, no guilt here, relying on the reader inaccurately comparing ‘saving lives’ with ‘losing free time off campus’ in order to come out on Team CFVY's side. They still fail to understand that helping people is not the reason they’re being punished.
Theodore and Rumpole reiterate that they are working on a solution and that no one else should be getting involved. Team CVFY is no more persuaded by this speech than they were the previous ones. The announcement then segues into discussion of the former Haven students which produces... boos from the audience?? My god, what is wrong with this school? I mean I get it, school is brutal—both in real life and fiction—especially when the social dynamics of your school are written much more like a high school than a college, but usually if characters are going to drag new students it's in the semi-privacy of a bathroom or an empty hall. Groaning over the existence of war survivors in front of your headmaster is a level of confident cruelty I didn't expect.
Then again, RWBY is the show that gave us Cardin pulling on Velvet's ears in the middle of the cafeteria, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.
Theodore quickly bypasses the whole 'A decent number of my students hate these other students' issue and instead acknowledges that it is "difficult to adjust to a new school, an entirely new group of classmates, and most of all to life in Vacuo. Yet some of you have been separated from your original training teams.” Which is a nice way of saying that a good number of these teammates are dead. So what's the solution here?
Reinitiation Ceremony!
I'm sarcastic, but in all honesty I don't hate this idea. Far from it. Partly because I have a strong love of competitions in shonen-esque stories. Tests, trials, the obligatory tournament arc... they've always been some of my favorite parts of a series, largely because they allow the author to develop whacky and creative challenges that show off important characterization. See: Killua using a skateboard during the tunnel run before deciding that if Gon can manage running it, he can too; or Izuku using the mines and a piece of scrap to blast himself ahead of Bakugo and Todoroki. The structure of such tests forces characters to demonstrate creativity and critical thinking skills alongside strength, and that in turn reminds us of why they're our heroes. RWBY managed this a little bit with the Vytal Festival, but overall I don’t think the teams did anything particularly impressive to win. Team RWBY worked together, Nora hit people really hard with her hammer, Weiss' injury pissed off Yang enough to tap into more power... it was all stuff we had seen before and very little of it required planning or creativity. The Vytal Festival functioned more to set up the plot developments of Volume 3, which is fine, though for a while I had hoped that we would get a huntsmen license exam to do this sort of work... which obviously didn’t happen. Disappointing, but we’re at least getting something like that here.
So I love the concept. I even love the general reasoning behind holding the ceremony at all. Anyone who had spent five minutes on this blog knows that I think the groups need to learn to play well with others. Yet I also can't deny that the team dynamics provide stability for these characters, even if they've come to rely on that stability to an unhealthy degree. We've got students whose teams were presented to them not just as a professional tool, but their primary support system. You live with these people, attend all the same classes, spend your free time together, and survive life-threatening situations on a fairly regular basis. It's work, family, and friendship all rolled into one, so if the headmaster suddenly says that you get a new team, that's a whole lot more devastating than just learning that you've got a new project group to deal with. It shouldn't have come to that—a school looking to teach a profession that requires working with a wide variety of individuals should never have told four students to rely one each other and each other alone—but now that we're here you can't just break them apart with no notice. Especially with a traumatic war going on. It's hard to come to a new school, meet new people, learn a new culture... so let me rip away the one piece of familiarity you have left.
Of course, I don't really think that the teams will be broken up irrevocably, if at all. Rather, I simply want to acknowledge that despite my appreciation for these kinds of stories and despite my desire that the teams get some distance... it shouldn't be done like this. Even more-so when it’s abundantly clear—to us if not the instructors—that this little stunt is causing their students to re-live a whole bucket load of trauma. Yatsuhashi thinks about how this feels like an “out of body experience” and “It reminded [him] uncomfortably of the evacuation of Beacon Academy… He felt his breath catch in his throat.” Coco’s order to stick together “[brought] him back to the moment,” re-emphasizing that he was lost in the past for a while there. He’s clearly struggling.
Now, to be fair, this could all fall under the category of flawed characters. Meaning, anytime something awful happens in fiction we can interpret that as a skill on the part of the author: they wanted to write a scenario where the teachers are screwing up and unintentionally hurting their students. Or they know they’re hurting their students and consider that to be an acceptable sacrifice under the justification of ‘They have to get over Beacon at some point!’ There are lots of ways to paint this as Myers/RT writing complex, human characters who make ambiguous choices—a testament to their ability to write “realistically.” But to be frank I don’t really buy it. Simply because I’ve had a lot of experience now with how RWBY handles subjects like trauma and it’s only rarely been written respectfully and engagingly. I could be proven wrong as the novel continues, but it seems more likely that Myers wrote the instructors coming up with this test, wrote Yatsuhashi panicking over it, and intends to continually imply that these two things are separate plot points. Bringing both together in a narratively useful way would require acknowledging the instructors’ motivations—Why this test? Why now? Do they realize the harm they’re causing? If so, do they think it’s worth it?—and then coming to some sort of resolution, either via some recovery on CFVY’s part due to the instructors’ choices (this test did help us move past Beacon), or the instructors learning something about empathy and trauma via CFVY’s reaction (we never should have done this). I highly doubt we’ll get either.
Thus, everyone is (justifiably) horrified. The teams are gone and either the shock of that made Team CFVY prioritize feelings of safety over strategy, or they're just not going to demonstrate any of the intelligence I look for in this kind of arc, because they immediately start obsessing over staying together.
He needed to keep his team close to him. Especially Velvet. If they weren’t separated, they couldn’t be assigned to different teams.
Yatsuhashi, that is not at all what Rumpole told you:
“It’s already begun,” Rumpole said. “Everything you do from this moment forward will factor into your evaluations for new teams.”
Where in the world did you get the idea that you wouldn't be assigned a new team so long as you stuck with your old one? If I were one of the instructors here that choice would make me more likely to separate them. "Everything you do from this moment," Rumpole says, meaning that how they respond to this information is a part of the test. The team that panics and refuses to separate is the team that either can't function without one another, or at the very least believes that they can't. They're not willing to work with others and thus they're precisely the type that needs to learn this skillset. You're the ones they'll want to give new teammates to.
Of course, fate has different ideas about how things should go down. And by "fate" I mean "A completely ridiculous plot device." Team CFVY is separated because... the crowd is large I guess? It’s ridiculous. Four fighters already standing beside one another and who are now hyper-focused on staying together are not going to get swept away by a Shade size crowd who probably also want to stick with their own teammates. There are far better, far more convincing ways to keep them apart. Ozpin shot students one-by-one into the forest! Literally anything other than what we got, really.
Still, that’s what we wound up with. Yatsuhashi and Coco both try to keep the team together only for the immense power of other people existing putting a stop to their plan. Alrighty then. Before they’re dramatically swept away on different ships, however, we do get two other noteworthy bits of information that I'd like to end on. The first is Rumpole’s announcement that “When you reach your destination, your goal will be to locate a gold figurine and bring it back to the school” to which Fox replies, “Great. Glad this is fair for everyone. Who can see.” And you know what? He's right. Maybe Fox and I will both be proven wrong (I feel like I'm writing that a lot this chapter...) but unless there's some miscommunication here or a surprise in store, a goal of "locat[ing] a gold figurine" is indeed a sight based challenge and, when placed in a test that is deliberately separating Fox from his team, puts him at a severe disadvantage.
The second is simply that the year levels of the students will not be a factor in the creation of new teams. “What year we are? Yatsu thought. This can’t be right. How could a first-year keep up with fourth-years?” to which I respond, "Um... that's the entire show?" The webseries RWBY is about how Team RWBY, starting out as first years, has surpassed everyone around them, to the point where they're now beating the best team in Atlas. Time-wise they're still second years—far as I can figure out, anyway—so if second years can beat elite military operations, a first year can stand toe-to-toe with second, third, and fourth years. More crucial to Yatsuhashi's thought process—because as an in-world character he doesn't necessarily know what Team RWBY has been up to post-Volume 3—he's still seen how well first years did at Beacon. Ruby was let in two years early. Pyrrha is such a phenomenally talented fighter her face is on their cereal boxes. A first year, Yang, went on to compete in the Vytal Tournament final (even if it was rigged. Yatsuhashi doesn't know that), and Team CFVY fought beside a number of first years at the Battle of Beacon. Now, you all know that I think education and experience are damn important. I'm not saying Yatsuhashi is flat-out wrong to question whether there would be any issues attached to slamming, say, a first year, two second years, and a fourth year into one team (especially when you consider practical questions like going to classes), but the general takeaway of "How could they keep up?" seems a tad strange. You know first years can keep up. You watched it happen, both in your former school's curriculum—first years get to go on an upper-level mission—and in real life battle. This knee-jerk response reads as even worse after five chapters of looking down on Team SSSN. Team CFVY really thinks highly of themselves, huh.
Honestly, it feels like our authors didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the implications of the dialogue/thoughts they’re giving to the characters which is, again, par for the course at this point. Like the questions attached to the test, this feels less like giving Yatsuhashi a flaw (he, as an in-world character, hasn't bothered to think through whether his knee-jerk assumption about first years is supported by his experiences) and more like a flaw of the creators. That sounds like a legitimate concern—in the same way that Yatsuhashi's advice to Rumpole sounds generically wise—but poke at it a bit and you start finding a number of cracks. An author who is well aware of the world they've built and strives to adhere to it might have had Yatsuhashi acknowledge some of the amazing things he's seen first years do and still conclude that there are problems with this decision. That's legit. As it stands, Yatsuhashi just sounds ignorant and (again) overly confident, which I don't trust to be a moment of character insight as opposed to an authorial blip.
Which is about where we end. The team is split on different airships, no one is happy about it, and we're left with this somewhat unsettling image:
Headmaster Theodore was waving and whooping, like it was all some terrific game, while Professor Rumpole watched silently, her hair whipping around in the wind and an unsettling grin on her face.
This gives me some hope that the story will treat the problems attached to this test respectfully. The description of Theodore acting "like it was all some terrific game" is a mark against his character and Rumpole straight up has an "unsettling grin on her face." Is she one of the baddies? Potentially. Will I ever again get adult characters who aren't depicted as inept, traitorous, or just so flawed that they unwittingly cause great damage to their students? Probably not. These two desires remain constantly at war with one another. RWBY introduces issues that the story should tackle, but the only issues it acknowledges are those attached to the adults. So we have everyone doing a range of iffy things, but only the elders are likely to be punished or (better yet) learn something over the course of the tale. The double standard remains so strong across the franchise that at this point I just want to raise a THE ADULTS DID NOTHING WRONG banner and call it a day. Not because they're actually free of mistakes or even, at times, downright cruelty, but because if our protagonists constantly get that free pass I'm not sure why everyone else can't too.
Anyone for a spot of denial?
But I've now written nearly twice as much as the actual chapter in question. It's time to stop! At this rate I’ll have written the equivalent of five Before the Dawns in my attempt to recap just one. #yikes
Until Chapter Six 💜
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Between al the gifs set and posts I'm starting to getting curious about that asian serie (the unbreakable? The unteamable? Sorry, I'm bad with titles) so I have some question before diving in head first.
What is the plot about exactly? From what I've understood is two brother, one of witch is a necromant fighting things in China (?) and there is some sort of romance? And a lady that I think is a witch? Idk.
Also, any warning that I should be ready for when I start watching? Major trigger? Like, if it was a fic, witch tag would use? Especially for gore, blood, violence, things like that, because I'm a little squeamish...
And at the end: where can I watch it? Possibility subtitled in english, because sure as hell I don't speak any Asiatic language (except a couple of weabo terms from my anime days, but you know, is not feasible).
Thanks in advace for your help! Like, really, thank you <3
- A maybe future fan
OH HONEY OK LET ME HELP
Yes, it's called "The Untamed" and I watched it on Netflix with subtitles. I don't think there is a dubbed version?? But the videos are also on YouTube, and there is a translated novel that I will later post the link for. The show is a REALLY good and an accurate representation of the book, with some minor changes. But on the whole, I really enjoyed both watching the show and reading the book.
AS FOR PLOT!!
It's a Chinese fairy tale setting. Ancient Chinese dress and such, with magic and spiritual beliefs, and Chinese folklore. I'm not as familiar with Chinese folklore, so it was very enjoyable to learn about it. The plot itself is about these Clans (think of noble houses) who all practice what I can best describe as "Ghost hunting", but that is a MAJOR understatement. Think of Japan's shinigami and ghost hunting and putting unsettled souls at rest. The unsettled souls are typically shown as "zombies", or just walking corpses. Dead people with unsolved business or grudges come back as walking corpses. It's more campy than scary, so don't be alarmed. I personally don't like Western Zombies, and these are nothing like that. That being said, there are plenty of mangled bodies and body horror. There are clan politics and war that can get a little confusing, but still easy to follow.
Ugh, how to even describe the PLOT.
First we get 30 episodes of backstory, where we see three siblings attend this "school", where the troublesome brother (known as Wei Wuxian) gets into all sorts of mischief and makes it his personal mission to send the Perfect Student (known as Lan Wangji) to the loony bin by breaking as many rules as humanly possible. The school antics are WONDERFUL. The backstory takes us through the story of how Wei Wuxian begins to forsake the "good" path of culvitating spirits, for the "evil" path of manipulating spirits and ghosts for his own gain. Lots of misunderstanding about that. There's love, heartbreak, and drama. Wei Wuxian cracks and breaks in my FAVORITE trope of good guy going insane.
The show starts off with Wei Wuxian falling off a cliff to his death.
HOWEVER. About 10 years later (THEY SAY 16 IN THE SHOW BUT THE BOOK IS MORE ACCURATE), someone with so much rage and hatred actually sacrifices his own body to bring Wei Wuxian's soul back. However, in exchange for his new body, Wei Wuxian must find and carry out this person's revenge, or the wounds on his body will never heal.
So Wei Wuxian thinks on his feet, gathers information, and thankfully runs headlong into his boyfriend from the school days, and together they investigate some rather disturbing events about the death of another major character, and how it's connected to some very important people. It seems their steps are also being watched, and guided, by an unseen hand.
IT'S VERY GAY, BUT IT'S ALL SUBTEXT. I understand that Chinese restrictions ban the overt representation of homosexual behavior, but they are very much in love, and very much married in the book. Like for real. Married and consummated. I have squealed and kicked the couch for how FUCKING IN LOVE THEY ARE.
As for trigger warnings!!
Blood. Lots of it. People get killed, heads get cut off, bodies get mangled. But it's not like Western gore that tries to be as realistic and as gross as possible. I dont like gore, and I was able to handle this. A lot of times the characters will just randomly spit out blood to show that they have internal injuries, or have used too much spiritual energy.
Character deaths. This show has EVERYTHING from fluff to slow burn to DEEP AGONISING ANGUISH. A couple of characters even commits suicide, but it's not dwelled upon.
Torture. Not explicit, but we see the results. Like one person gets their eyes gouged out, and we see a bandage over their eyes. Punishment that is basically torture. Stuff like that.
Violence. Lots of fighting bc there is a clan war.
It's up to you if you think it's too much, but personally it is much easier to watch than Western shows like Walking Dead. I HATE zombies, but these guys are ok. Also, they are called "puppets" bc Wei Wuxian can control them.
THIS WAS REALLY LONG BUT I HOPE IT INTRIGUES YOU AND YOU GO AND WATCH SOME OF IT. The first two episodes are in the "future" arc, and then it goes back in time to when they are young. PLEASE COME BACK AND SCREAM AT MEEEEEEEE.
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If you’re still doing your prompt requests could you do herongraystairs + 5??? Thank you so much 💖💖
Here you go! I went ahead and answered another ask with this same fic, so @autumnangel20, your ask for numbers 1 and 20 is answered here.
Warning: This does contain smut. The smut is most probably not very historically accurate, but it’s harder than you’d think to write Victorian praise kinks. This contains some angst, some plot.
Jem wondered, as he kept eating his toast, what he had done to deserve Will Herondale.
He wondered this often, some days in a 'how had he received this blessing' way and some days in a 'the Angel had it out for him and wanted him to suffer' type of way.
Today was the first type, though by all usual methods of determination he should have been wondering the second. Will was even more boisterous than usual, rambling about all sorts of nonsense. Charlotte looked like she was regretting every decision that led her up to this moment as Will reenacted what Jem thought was supposed to be Will's own death via duck.
All Jem could do was stare at Will as he reached one arm towards the sky, other hand pressing to his heart. While Jessamine looked annoyed, Jem was hyper focused on the enticing strip of skin that was Will's collarbone.
"Oh, Angel above, Will." Charlotte set her fork down with a thunk. "Your toast has hardened, your tea is cold, just sit down and finish your breakfast."
"I was showing my eventual brutal end at the hands of the ducks," Will said sullenly, as he got up and brushed himself off.
"Ducks don't have hands," Jem muttered, and Will gave him a betrayed look. Jessamine snickered.
"And if you do not stop harping on about ducks, I shall have you killed before the ducks can."
'Have him killed', Jem noted, not kill him herself. Jessamine's refusal to be a Shadowhunter had caused Charlotte more annoyance over the last three months than Will's antics, something that put out Will and made Jessamine oddly proud.
Breakfast finished in silence, with the exception of Jem almost upsetting his tea when Will brushed his hand up high on Jem's thigh. Will gave him a smile with enough of a smirk in it for Jem to know it had not been accidental.
When Will had left the room, speaking very loudly to an annoyed looking Sophie, Jessamine gave a great sigh.
“How I wish I did not have to see him quite so often.”
“Jessamine, be polite,” Charlotte said wearily, taking a slow sip from her tea.
Jessamine humphed. Jem knew Will could be tiresome, but this knowledge was now slightly diluted by three months worth of memories of Will’s kisses. Instead of the usual exasperation and defence that anyone complaining about Will usually inspired in Jem, Jem felt surprisingly furious. Just because Jessamine was incapable of seeing Will as he truly was did not mean it was Will’s fault. Though Jem knew that it was.
Jem stood and left the room without saying anything. He made his way back to his bedroom, determined to drown his annoyance in music. Vivaldi was always exceptional at catching Jem up and taking him to a place where there was no drug, no Law, nothing to make Will lash out and drink himself to oblivion.
When he got to his room, Jem shut the door firmly, blocking out the sound of Will’s boisterous voice from downstairs.
…
Jem drew the bow across the strings slowly, drawing out the note. His hand trembled at the end, causing the note to become sharp. He cursed under his breath, continuing with the song. These last months, the yin fin had affected his strength more and more. His next few notes came out in a rush as he ford his hand to steady.
Jem’s annoyance at the yin fin only heightened as he remembered Will’s mouth frantic against his own, Will having to initiate everything, them having to stop out of fear of Jem’s exhaustion or falling ill. And oh, Will. Will and his lashing out, Will and his drinking, Will and his pushing everyone away. Will was mercurial, in the exact sense of the world, one moment being kind and loving and gentle the next being all anger and sharp words and shoving Jem away.
Jem let himself be lost in the music, let it wash away all his fears and worry and annoyance at the yin fen and Will and the Law. The Law, which made it illegal for them to do many of the things they do nearly every day. Jem gritted his teeth as the music slowed. He shut his eyes, trying to turn his thoughts to the music. Vivaldi, he thought. Not Will Herondale, not the Law, not yin fin.
It almost worked. Peace and near contentment filled him, and he was nearing the end of the song when someone knocked on his door. He sighed through his nose and ceased his playing.
“Yes?”
The door opened and Will poked his head in. For all the grief Will had caused Jem, his heart still quickened and he still smiled when he saw Will.
“That was an extremely melancholy song you were just playing.”
Jem relaxed his grip on the violin and the hand holding his bow dropped to his side. Will took this as an invitation and strode into the room, collapsing with as much drama as was humanly possible onto Jem’s bed. Jem was momentarily diverted by the image of Will laying on his bed, shirt open and hair mussed, and had to instantly return to the conversation to avoid an unfortunate reaction.
“I was practicing for your funeral,” He responded, leaning one hip against his desk. “For when the ducks finally get you.”
Will laughed, and looked as though he was going to say something ridiculous. Instead, he propped himself up on his elbows.
“James, I know you speak in jest, but I must know. Why were you playing something so very sad?”
Jem sighed, and Will continued talking.
“You are not feeling too bad today, I hope.” Will’s bright blue eyes peer up at him in the dimness of the room.
“No, I am quite fine. Stronger than usual, in fact.”
“Then, you are not-” Will broke off, frowning. “You are not regretting…”
He gestured vaguely, and Jem straightened.
“No! No, I do not regret our joining.” Jem stopped, and looked out his window. The curtain was mostly drawn across it, but there was a sliver through which he could see the courtyard, and beyond it, Fleet Street. He remembered first coming to London, how dull and gray everything looked. How he had despised the cold and wet at first, how it had sent him into coughing fits and made him feel worse constantly. And how the tiny black haired boy, so full of acerbic words and vicious wit, had made those first days easier somehow.
“Come now, Jem, old boy.” Will sprung off the bed. Jem jerked back to the moment and turned to raise an eyebrow at Will. “Come, I will not have you moping around.”
“I am not moping-”
Will lept into a fighting stance, fists up, and tossed his glorious black hair out of his eyes.
“Fight me.”
“Pardon?”
“Sparring will take your mind off of what you were just now thinking, whatever it was.” Jem doubted that, seeing as what was largely on his mind was Will, and every time they sparred they ended tangled up together, mouths pressed in desperate, needy motions. Still, Will bobbed on his feet slightly, grinning wickedly. “So…fight me.”
Jem set down his violin.
“You just want me to pin you against the wall again.”
“Last time was a fluke. I shall be pinning you against the wall this time.”
Jem snorted. “Is that a challenge?”
Will’s eyes flashed. Jem moved, bringing his arms up to block his face. Nothing had happened whatsoever on any patrols for a month, and Jem was beginning to fill with nervous energy. Normally his illness prohibited such fidgeting, but when he had nothing better to spend his energy on, he found himself aching for a fight.
They circled each other, Jem determined not to make the first attack. He had almost lost patience when Will jabbed at him, swinging low and fast. With some surprise, Jem jumped back. He blocked the punch, striking at Will’s shoulder with his other hand. Will danced back before the hit could land.
They continued this way for some time, one of them darting in for a hit then leaping back before one could land on themselves. Finally, Jem managed to catch hold on Will’s loose sleeve and pull him in close. They grappled, both hitting lighter than was strictly necessary. At one point, they toppled onto the bed, wrestling for control. Jem ended up pinning Will, and his feeling of victory was slightly lessened by the sight of Will beneath him, cheeks flushed, hair tousled, eyes bright.
“It appears you did end up pinning me after all, though not against a wall.” Will’s voice was a little too casual, and his gaze was largely fixed on Jem’s lips. There was so little space between them and Will was breathing hard and then Jem was kissing him, unable to do anything else.
Will kissed back instantly, body arching under Jem. Jem sat up and yanked his shirt off, unable to even feel the fury he usually did upon seeing his skinny form. All he could think about was getting his lips back on Will’s. He went to place his hands next to Will’s head, but Will placed a hand against his chest.
“You pinning me was actually quite nice.”
Jem’s surprise melted into satisfaction and he once again placed his hands on Will’s wrists. Will made a soft noise under him as Jem squeezed. Very, very quickly, Jem was intensely dissatisfied with kissing. He transferred his grip to one hand, the other going to unbutton Will’s shirt. He got it undone and lightly pinched one of Will’s nipples, almost as an afterthought. Will made a noise in the back of his throat and his eyes fluttered shut. Interesting, Jem thought, and experimented with placing his mouth where his fingers were. He was rewarded with a little whimper.
Jem, almost without thinking, brought his now free hand down to unbutton Will’s pants. As he went to shove them down, he stopped. Sat up. Let go of Will’s hands. This was far as they had gone before. Through some unspoken agreement, they had restrained their activities to kissing. Jem met Will’s eyes. Will nodded, then breathed an additional “Oh, yes.”
Jem slid down the bed, keeping his eyes firmly on Will’s.
“Tell me when to stop.” Will made a breathless noise of assent and Jem frowned. “William. I’m serious. Tell me when to stop.”
“I will. I swear on the Angel.”
With that, Jem pulled Will’s trousers off of him. He was taken aback momentarily. Will was so much larger than he had thought. Will gave him a concerned look but Jem just lowered himself over Will again. One hand caught up Will’s wrists again, and the other began to stroke oh-so-slowly. Will made such delightful noises and Jem wondered why on earth they hadn’t done this before.
Will’s noises became a little more desperate and Jem pulled back. Will protested, but Jem just spit in his hand.
“Spread your legs.”
...
Will wailed, fingers spasming under Jem’s grip. Jem thrust in again. Will began to whimper as Jem sped up. Jem braced his hand on Will’s knee, other hand still firmly pinning Will’s wrists to the bed. Will’s cheeks were flushed, and his mouth was open as he panted.
“You look,” Jem gritted out, in between thrusts. “So gorgeous right now.”
Will’s eyes snapped open. He looked shocked, and slightly taken aback. Jem experimented again.
“With your mouth open so wide, you’re just begging to suck on something.”
Will whimpered, and Jem swore he saw Will’s cock twitch. Jem smiled lightly and made a mental note to keep talking. But first…
He sped up, thrusting in as deep as he could go and squeezing Will’s wrists. Will made soft little noises, feet bracing against the bed.
“You look so good, all fucked out like this.”
Will moaned at that, full and unabashed, Jem felt himself racing to the edge fast, so he reached a hand between them and squeezed Will’s cock. Will came instantly, and Jem pulled out and came across Will’s stomach from the feeling of Will’s convulsing around him. Will cried out, back arching and legs spasming wide.
Jem shoved himself off and rolled to the side. Will took the moment to breathe and stop the trembling in his limbs. Jem chuckled, more a sharp exhale of breath than an actual laugh. They lay next to each other for a moment, catching their breath and laying in the afterglow.
“You’re really quite good at that.”
Jem looked over at Will, examining his profile in the firelight.
“Which bit?”
Will waved a hand, though the motion was more of a flop than a graceful movement.
“Just-” Will’s sighed out a breath. “All of it.”
Jem snorted lightly, rubbing a hand down Will’s arm gently. He had worried that it would be awkward, that there would be fumbling and limbs sticking out and Will pitying Jem’s lack of skills. But the second Jem had gotten Will under him, all that fear had melted away. Hearing Will mumble soft little ‘please’s and ‘oh, Jem’s felt more natural than anything he had ever done in his entire life.
“Hey, Carstairs?”
Jem blinked back to the present, smiling at the ‘Carstairs’.
“Yes?”
“Just to clarify.” There was a little hitch in his voice. “Did we just sleep together?”
...
Hope you liked it :) Sorry it took so long to answer!
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ABC headcanons part 4. Gil Legume
WARNING!!!! THIS POST CONTAINS NSFT MATERIAL
His relationship with Lonnie will be included with this seeing as it makes no sense to me to not include it if you know what I mean
A = Aftercare (What they’re like after the act). Gils a sweetheart. He’s incredibly attentive. And he doesn’t even think of cleaning himself up until he’s sure Lonnie’s comfortable
B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s). He loves his own arms and his muscles. Perfect for hugging his friends you see. And he loves Lonnie’s legs and back
C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically). He doesn’t mind it. He’ll try anything once really. But only if Lonnie asks him to
D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs). Contrary to his amiable and generally non leading nature. Gil is fully capable of completely taking total control of everything in a sexual situation. And Lonnie could not be more thankful for it if she tried
E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?). Well. He had experience with his ex’s. It’s not something he’s proud of. But every single move he has is of his own devising. So the ex don’t really factor into his capabilities all that much. And yes. He definitely knows what he’s doing. And then some
F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying). He has two. On his side. Because he likes to spoon. And standing in front of a full length mirror. Because he likes looking at his and Lonnie’s expressions but finds face to face too boring
G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc). He may be fully in control at all times but this guy is also a total goofball. He’ll crack jokes, laugh in the middle of it and just have his 100 watt smile plastered on his face throughout the whole session. He’s just a naturally happy goofy person. And it never changes. Even when he’s in the middle of the act
H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc). He used to let his body hair all grow out. But since he came to Auradon and learned about proper physical hygiene he’s started to manscape. And he’s gotten very good at it. He’s smooth all over now. He still lets his lions mane grow out though. And yes. Every hair on his body is the same dark blond as his head hair
I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…). Like I said. He’s a sweetheart. He tries to make it romantic as possible. Even during the act when he takes full control he’s still as kind as humanly possible
J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon). He’s a big endorser of it. But he’s much more discreet about it then Lonnie is.
K = Kink (One or more of their kinks). He loves dressing up as superheroes. Any superhero. His favourite is Thor though. And it goes very well with Lonnie’s fixation on swords
L = Location (Favourite places to do the do). The private showers at the gym. Or the restroom at a gala
M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going). Lonnie wearing his tracksuit tops. Just. His tracksuit tops. Plus any physically demanding activity like ROAR or a trip to the gym.
N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs). He won’t insult her. And he won’t hurt her. And he hates being restrained. It brings back memories he’d prefer to forget
O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc). He likes making Lonnie happy so he prefers giving. But he won’t turn down the chance of receiving when it’s offered. Plus. He’s a veritable prodigy. So her happiness is more than warranted
P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc). Gil likes to start off slow. But ends up going very fast. Lonnie has no complaints though.
Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc). He prefers to take his time. But he has no objection to a quickie if that’s all they have time for
R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc). A lot of their experiments involve different swords and superhero costumes. As for risk. Well their favourite locations to do it in include the showers at the gym and the restrooms at a gala. So you do the math
S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…). This guy is a machine. His personal best is four times in one day. Each “time” can last from twenty minutes to an hour
T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?). If you count swords and incredibly accurate superhero costumes as toys. Then yes. They do have toys. And yes. They both use them. On themselves and each other
U = Unfair (how much they like to tease). He sort of does accidentally. Mostly sending Lonnie a picture or video of himself with an example of an idea or a situation he’s thought of without any thought of how tempting it would be to her. He apologises though. Mostly by letting her set the pace for the night
V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make). He makes a lot of noise. Whooping. Laughing. Jokes. Refer to “G” for more detail
W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice). He likes it when both he and Lonnie dress up and dark world!Thor. And he’s always wanted to do it in a room full of mirrors
X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words). Let’s just say that Jay isn’t the only one who won the generic lottery southern equipment wise. And he’s very proud of it
Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?). Fairly high. Remember he’s 19 years old by part three. Plus. Some of his biggest motivations are ROAR practice and workouts at the gym. So he’s pretty much always ready for it
Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards). He only goes to sleep after he’s absolutely sure that Lonnie’s all cleaned up and comfortable. Like I said at the beginning. He’s a sweetheart and he’s incredibly attentive
#disney descendants#li lonnie#gil legume#gilonnie#lonniegil#gil x lonnie#lonnie x gil#zendaya!mal#nsft#abc smut#alphabet smut
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I don't expect a super serious answer from this, but I'm just curious. in a perfect world, how would hs^2 be written? do you have any particular headcanons or plot lines that would be interesting to explore? I understand the hesitation in answering a question like this, because other people might try to discredit your critiques under the guise of "well its not ur headcanons so that's why ur mad". anyways, just curious because I respect your perspective and ideas
In complete honesty? The first thing I would consider vital is a diverse team of people - genuinely diverse - to consider every point of representation with. I’m talking people of different races (to avoid the anti-black coding of Gamzee), with mental illnesses (to avoid the ableism in both Gamzee and Dirk), with different gender identities (to more accurately and healthily portray Jade, Roxy, Vriska, June - any character we could feasibly want to make trans or nonbinary), with different romanticisms and sexualities (so that we could write genuine MLM and WLW relationships without falling into homophobic pitfalls; to avoid biphobic stereotypes), and overall, with different traumatic experiences and triggers (so that we could more accurately gauge what triggers would need to be tagged and how to go over them in an appropriate and respectful manner).
We could never be 100% perfect, but with a team like that, we could at least get close to it.
Additionally, I’d bring back either fan prompts or closely listen to fan theories and conversations. Homestuck^2 was touted to be written with the fandom in mind; to consider the direction we were asking it to go in, while basing it around a general barebones structure. I’d want to make sure we were including as much of that in as humanly possible. So, if a fan theory seemed like it’d fit into the story? I’d want to include that with the rest of the text; if the fans liked a specific character? I’d want to try and include them more often. Little things to show that we’re listening and that we’re writing the story WITH the fans - like how early Homestuck used to be.
On an actual storyline basis, I really do love the concept of Meat and Candy; that there’s one timeline that goes off the rails and one that is very rigidly stuck to a track. I wouldn’t want to change that concept entirely, but I would want to make it more palpatable for people to read.
This would mean, for me, absolutely getting rid of anything to do with Yiffany. I’d completely replace that with Dave and Jade having a child together via ectobiology; how Jade has to raise their child in Dave’s absence after he goes missing, how that affects her, who she turns to for comfort and help.
I’d want to focus Candy more on that feeling of helplessness and dissociation. On John feeling adrift in a world that doesn’t quite connect with him, that doesn’t entirely feel real; how that would affect his relationships, his friends, his family. In this timeline, all of the rebellion stuff would be completely background to the interpersonal connections everyone has (the things that supposedly don’t matter, as is the point of Candy), with much more emphasis on how useless and frivolous the whole war is. It’d get to a point where nobody actually knows why they’re fighting anymore except for the fact that they are, and that even Jane, who started it out of a genuine fear for the human race, is getting tired of it, is losing resources, is starting to realise that she’s drifting away from her own child.
A truce would be garnered, started by Jane who just very much wants to reconnect with her son, with Karkat taking on the role as troll emissiary. It features long talks in a large, empty room, pouring over papers, where Jane admits that she doesn’t actually know what anyone is up to these days, how long it’s been since she’s seen her husband, since she’s seen John, and Karkat quietly confesses that it’s been several years since he’s seen Dave or Jade, and that he misses them both.
After that, a lot of the content of Candy would focus on healing. They would get back to their happily ever after, even though some things would never be the same, and there would still be inconsequentialities. It would also correspond with John coming to the slow realisation that he really doesn’t need a plot to be happy at all; that just because it doesn’t matter to the overarching story doesn’t mean it can’t matter to him.
The Candy timeline, therefore, would close early; it would fade from our view just as Dirk feared, but it would be happy and content, and free from any further meddling. I’d essentially want to enforce this idea that, yes, we can still have happy endings - even if they aren’t “full of meaning”. They can still be satisfying.
The Meat timeline, on the other hand, would have a significant focus on Dirk and his attempts to continue the plot. I think it would be fun, admittedly, if nothing went the way he thought it would. That after all of his villany and his acceptance of destruction in order to facilitate something he thought would be better, he actually just lost complete and utter control.
The plot isn’t something that he alone can continue. It’s created with character conflict, with motivations and rises and falls and losses and gains; trying to recreate SBURB, to try and restart the cycle, isn’t what a plot needs to be. It isn’t what he thinks it will do.
I’m unsure if you’ve seen this recently, but there’s been a lot of fanwork around the Lord!Jake English idea that went around several years back (when people saw the Caliborn sona). Now, this I’d want to put into it.
Jake, fed up with being stepped on, walked over, hurt, suffering from the trauma of being completely and utterly ruined by Dirk, absolutely flips shit. He chases after Dirk to seek revenge, to cut short whatever bullshit he’s trying to do, and therefore much of the comic becomes this constant back and forth with an increasing fear for Dirk the closer Jake gets as he traverses Paradox Space.
It’s very much clear that when Jake arrives, Dirk will lose. There’s no question about it. Nobody suggests that anything else will happen. There’s several arguments on Meat’s Earth C over whether or not they should try to stop Jake, or let him stop Dirk - and whether or not Jake will calm down afterwards or continue his rampage.
In the end, Dirk fails. Jake catches up to him, and just before he hits the killing blow, the entire thing goes dark. Our narrator dead, the plot abandoned; there is nothing more to see. This I would want to use to enforce the idea that, yes, plot can still be satisfying as hell and still have integral moments and be heavy and harsh - but it can also end in a way that leaves open questions because that shows that it isn’t the best ending you can get.
And then we jump back to Terezi, using her Seer powers. Both timelines have been her trying to use her powers to See what’s in store, where she should go, what she should do. She’s still floating through Paradox Space, looking for Vriska, and as such she’s met with this... sort of internal dilemma.
She knows, now, that the chances of her dying out here are high. She also knows that even if she does survive, she’s pretty much never going to see Vriska again anyway. She knows there’s a chance at a happier relationship with John, and that the only way she can get that is if she somehow manages to make a timeline where Meat and Candy merge together at once.
So, she flies back. She manages to arrive on Earth C the day of John’s big decision, and interrupts him before he can go to the picnic. Through their dialogue, John gets it stuck in his head that, hey, there’s something BIGGER out here that you need to do, but you need to do that amazing thing again where you make a third Choice.
When John arrives at the picnic, he decides to eat some of the pumpkin instead - to which you might be thinking, what pumpkin? The one he put there, of course, using his retcon powers.
So we start on the Pumpkin timeline, written entirely in the 1st person narrative from John’s POV. It’s a completely biased interpretation of what’s going on, but it’s honest to John’s own thoughts and feelings, too, allowing everyone to act the way they usually would do without any influence, but still having a narrative touch.
It shows John actively fighting to free the timeline from Dirk’s and Alternate Calliope’s narrative controls, those little hooks they’ve planted in it since time began, with a lot of back-and-forth as the two talk to John through the narration (which, he hears their voices as thoughts in his head).
John attempts to free them both from their own biases and chains, encouraging Alternate!Calliope to leave the space she’s isolated herself in and join Earth C while convincing Dirk to undo the bullshit villain schtick he’s on (and that plot or no plot, there’s still a reason worth living for).
It’d be a timeline filled with references back to original Homestuck (and funny quips from both Alternate!Calliope and Dirk along the way), a lot of morality discussion, plenty of theorising on narrative control and arcs and the placement of plot and fluff in a satisfying story, and have plenty of representation and romance and hints towards kids, too (such as nonbinary RoxyJaneCallie, DaveJadeKat, aromantic Jake, JohnDirk [because I couldn’t stop myself, honestly, with how their Classpects work so well hand in hand], and definitely RoseMary being the first to adopt a child that they absolutely do not call Vriska).
It’d fill plotholes the fandom wants to be filled, and it’d have drama, of course, in the form of figuring out a way to destroy Lord English that doesn’t inherently lead to the Candy timeline. But it’d go back and forth between the heavy, plot-filled moments and the slower, relationship-based moments, with more humanising and development of Dirk and Alternate!Calliope and John as rounded characters.
That’s the best my tired mind can come up with right now. It’s something I’ve daydreamed about a lot, actually; how I’d rewrite Homestuck^2, or what my own ending to Homestuck would be using it as a foundation. I hope it makes sense! It’s a fun little thought experiment, honestly.
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