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katethewriter · 2 years

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Kinda Like You

from the New Kid series

Summary: Natasha and New Kid find they have much more in common than they originally believed.

Words: 3.5k~

Pairing: Natasha x little!Reader - Wanda x little!Reader - Wandanat x little!Reader(platonic) - Steve Rogers x Reader(platonic) - WandaNat - Wanda x Natasha

Warnings: mentions of child abuse, neglect, abandonment, tough love from Steve, misguided frustrations

A/N: Who wants to learn more about New Kid's past? Well, that's what we're doing today! This chapter is very dialogue heavy, but they are information sharing so enjoy!

“Pick your battles New Kid,” Steve calls from the side of the mat.

Y/n and Peter have been sparring for the past twenty minutes under the watchful eyes of Captain America while a few others filtered in and out. Currently, Natasha and Tony stand nearby, observing quietly as the 12 and 15 year old fight.

Y/n struggles to break out of the hold that Peter has caught her in.

“Tap out, Y/n. If you had followed through with your swing, he wouldn’t have caught you in the first place,” Steve chastises, “yield and reset.”

With a huff, Y/n taps Peter’s arm, and he releases her. The pair turn to face each other and go again.

The girl lunges for Peter. He is able to quickly dodge the attack and circle her. Before she can react, he has her in another hold. She does her best, but knows she is unable to break free. With a glance to the side, she spots Natasha and Tony whispering to each other. Skepticism clear in their faces.

Y/n sighs and taps out again.

“You always have to be thinking about the next move,” Steve walks onto the mat, “expect he will dodge, be prepared and plan for it.” He looks at Peter and nods his head to the side of the mat. The teen walks off, leaving the super soldier and New Kid in the center of the mat. “Reset.”

The girl prepares to fight her instructor, taking a deep breath to focus before the fight.

Steve attacks first, swinging for Y/n’s shoulder. The girl ducks below his arm. As he steps through the swing, she circles him and lands a kick to his back. She reaches for his arm to twist it behind his back, but he turns. With a swipe of his leg, New Kid’s back hits the mat roughly. She grimaces at the pain coursing through her.

“Always watch your feet.”

Suddenly, a scoff can be heard from the other side of the room.

Y/n turns to see Natasha’s stern look and pursed lips. They lock eyes for only a moment before the red head shakes her head and turns to the door. Steve helps the girl to her feet, and she continues to watch the widow leave the gym.

Natasha hates her. She has to. Y/n’s sure of it. Every time the widow watches her train ends this way, with a look of disapproval and a fast exit.

Actually, that is how many of their interactions end.

Natasha walks in while 12-year-old Y/n is learning mission tactics, she exits quickly.

The widow is dismantling a sniper when New Kid is given a tour of the weaponry. She can’t be more than 10. Natasha doesn’t even spare her a glance as she finishes her task.

She passes her in the gun range, she clenches her jaw and leaves silently with a full magazine.

It seems the only time Natasha can stand to be in the same room as New Kid is at mealtimes.

Y/n watches as the gym doors slide closed behind the retreating red head. She wonders what she did to make the woman hate her so and if there was anything she could do to fix it.

Suddenly an arm is entering her vision rapidly. She ducks just in time to miss Steve’s swing.

“Never take your eyes off your opponent.”

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Wanda trails kisses from Natasha’s shoulder to her neck.

“Hey,” the widow chuckles and pulls away slightly, “I am trying to watch the movie.”

The two have been curled up in Wanda’s bed watching movies all day. They’ve been together for over a year, and they’ve learned to savor the little moments they are able to hide from the rest of the world.

Wanda pauses her kisses briefly, “oh come on, you’ve seen this movie a hundred times.”

“Then why did you pick it?” she asks incredulously.

“Because you’ve seen it a hundred times,” the cheeky Sokovian responds leaning up to press her lips to the Russian’s. This time, Natasha doesn’t pull away. She deepens the kiss as the movie goes forgotten.

They lay there, kissing gently, just happy to be in each other’s arms.

…..then there’s a knock on the door.

“Ignore it,” Natasha says quickly before continuing the kiss.

Wanda shakes her head and pulls away, “I can’t. It’s Y/n; she needs something.”

The widow furrows her brows, “how do you know?”

“Her little thoughts are very loud,” the witch smiles, “I can hear them whether I’m trying to or not.”

Wanda rolls out of the bed, and Natasha groans. She pauses the movie, while the younger woman opens the door to greet little Y/n.

From the hallway, Y/n looks up to Wanda with a small smile.

The witch crinkles her nose with a grin and lowers herself to be closer to eyelevel with the girl. “Why hello, sweet girl! To what do I owe this pleasure?” She ends the question with a gentle boop on the girl’s nose.

“Can you help me put this on?” Y/n asks quietly, holding a dress out to display, “I can’t reach the buttons.” She looks down sadly, trying to hide her gaze from the witch.

Wanda quickly lifts the girl’s chin, so she is looking at her again, “hey, it’s always ok to ask for help, mala(little one). I’d love to help you.”

She stands and opens the door further for Y/n to enter. They only make it three steps into the room before the girl spots Natasha sitting on the bed.

Y/n stands still under Natasha’s gaze. Obviously, she has interrupted something. She shouldn’t be here. She can’t ask for help in front of Natasha. Not when it is very clear that the assassin already doesn’t like her. She is overcome with a large wave of nervousness.

From the bed, Natasha watches Wanda welcome New Kid into the room. The sight of her hits the widow like a truck. It’s the youngest Natasha has ever seen Y/n drop.

Natasha smiles to the girl, “Hey New Kid.”

“Hi,” Y/n shifts on her feet uncomfortably, then looks up to Wanda.

The Sokovian smiles and ushers her to her connected bathroom. “Here,” she takes the child’s hand, “lets go in here to get you changed.”

The two of them slip into the bathroom leaving Natasha alone in the bedroom while Wanda helps Y/n change out of her current clothes and into the dress.

All alone, Natasha tries to think of why seeing Y/n had such an impact on her.

The girl looked to be about 6, definitely the youngest Natasha has ever seen her drop. After a minute of thinking it suddenly makes sense.

She reminds her of Yelena.

The bathroom door opens. The pair reenter the room and sure enough, Y/n looks about (if not exactly) the same age as her sister was right before they left Ohio.

The nostalgia brings a lump to Natasha’s throat. She’s able to fight it back, but that proved difficult. When she looks at the girl in front of her, all she can see is her sister. The sister she never saw again.

“Wow! I love your dress!” the redhead beams, “where’d you get a dress that pretty?”

Y/n stands shyly with her folded clothes in her arms, “Clint gave it to me.” Quickly, the little girl thanks Wanda and makes an escape from the room and the gaze of Natasha.

She’s gone before either of them can say anything.

“What happened?” Natasha asks.

Wanda can only shrug.

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“You should go ask Y/n if she wants to watch with us,” Wanda says from her spot on the couch.

Team movie night would be starting in about 30 minutes. Wanda always liked to be the first one there, so she could claim the “cuddliest couch” before anyone else. It also heightens her chances of being first to pick the movie.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Natasha looks at her girlfriend skeptically, “the movies we typically watch aren’t exactly age appropriate. We don’t want to give the kid nightmares.”

Wanda swipes the remote off the coffee table and smirks, “that’s why I will be picking the first movie. Besides, she’s not that little right now. Her thoughts aren’t loud enough.”

The widow sighs, “Why don’t you go get her? I’ll save your seat. She’ll most likely say yes to you. She’s scared of me.”

“She’s not scared of you-“

“We both saw how she was yesterday,” Natasha states, “she froze when I said hello. She’s terrified of me.”

Wanda reaches for her girlfriend’s hand, “she’s just timid and unsure. Once she warms up to you, you’ll see. She’s the sweetest kid. You just got to coax her out of her shell.” She kisses Natasha’s hand before pointing to the door.

“Go, it’ll be good for both of you.”

Natasha makes her way down the hallway until she reaches Y/n’s door. She knocks, but never gets a reply. After a minute, she knocks again, but still hears nothing.

She presses her ear to the door. A sniffle and a whimper float through the air. The widow pushes open the door and taps lightly, “Y/n?” She calls softly not to scare the girl. “You alright?” She pauses to wait for a response. “I’m coming in, ok?”

Natasha takes a cautious step into the room, and she has to pause for a second.

Aside from the array of clothing Clint had given the girl, there is no sign that a child lives in this room. Maybe Y/n prefers it, but it just reminds Natasha of how she grew up in a place where she was punished for being a kid. Every child should have at least some toys, even one who turns back into an adult.

Natasha follows the sniffles that lead her to the bathroom door. “I can hear you crying. Is there something wrong?”

“Something I could help you with?” Natasha taps on the closed door, and it gives under the pressure.

The door slowly swings open and reveals Y/n standing in front of the mirror with red eyes and a brush in her hand. Her hair is tangled into a large mat near the back of her head. The look on Y/n’s face is all Natasha needs to know the poor thing has been trying to brush it out for who knows how long.

The girl sniffles, “I took a nap, and it was like this when I woke up.” Her lip quivers, “it won’t come out.”

The older woman smiles lightly, “may I?” She holds out her hand for the brush. The girl sighs defeatedly and relinquishes the brush. Natasha places her hands on the girl’s shoulders and squeezes comfortingly. She smiles to Y/n through the mirror and begins to silently brush her hair.

Its quiet again. The only sound passing between them is the brush gently dragging through Y/n’s hair.

Y/n looks into the mirror, watching the older woman intently. She feels small, smaller than she is now. Maybe it’s the widow’s intent focus on her hair or her gentle touch or the complete contrast to the woman’s previous demeanor around her, but whatever it is makes Y/n have to fight the urge to drop younger.

She was 7 when she took her nap, and 13 when she woke up in this dilemma. With how she’s feeling right now, there is no way she would be able to pick how small she dropped. So she just fights it until it fades.

Natasha’s soft touch is comforting her more and more with every pass of the brush. It soothes Y/n enough that she can break the silence.

“Why are you helping me?”

The older woman briefly connects eyes with Y/n through the mirror. She smiles and looks back to her work, “because we’re teammates. Teammates help each other.”

The girl chews on her lip, “but you don’t like me.”

Natasha comes to a complete halt, and she looks to Y/n again. Her face is mixed with confusion and concern, “that’s not true, myshka(little mouse). Why do you think that?” She places her hands on the girl’s shoulders in a way she hopes in comforting.

It does comfort Y/n some, but she still feels nervous to answer her. She knows she will have to eventually, so she might as well get it over with. “You don’t want me to be here. You’re always mad to see me.”

Natasha’s face floods with more confusion.

“You always leave whenever I’m around, like when I’m training, and I lose or when you see me in my lessons, especially weapons you get mad….” Y/n pauses looking up to Natasha with big doe eyes, “did I do something wrong?”

“No,” the widow quickly answers, “no myshka(little mouse), you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Then why do you hate being around me?”

Natasha sighs and continues brushing out the tangles in Y/n’s hair. She understands why the little girl thinks what she thinks, and she knows why she is wrong. The misunderstanding is entirely her fault. She’s just not sure how to explain it to the girl.

She takes a deep breath to center her thoughts, “I don’t hate being around you. Sometimes I just get upset because you just remind me of my past.” She smiles sadly to the girl through the mirror. “I don’t know how much they’ve told you about me, but I grew up in a place that was not very good.”

“The Red Room,” Y/n states.

Natasha nods, “yes, that’s right. The Red Room was a very bad place. They took little girls from their families and trained them to be killers. They made us learn how to fight, how to follow someone, how to shoot, how to do all of it without being seen…. They even… they made us…they made us fight and kill each other.”

Once the widow is sure there are no more tangles in the girl’s hair, she parts it down the middle and begins braiding to keep her hands busy as she continues.

“I left that place because it turned little girls into weapons. I wanted to join a team that was actually trying to do good. Then I see cute little you training just like we did in the Red Room. The reason I get upset is because it makes me think that we’re no better than them.”

Natasha smiles into the mirror catching little eyes with her own, “that’s why I acted that way. It’s not your fault, myshka(little mouse). I’m so sorry I made you feel like it was or that I didn’t want you here.” She continues her braiding, “I think you’re gonna be good member of this team, once we get you ready.”

Y/n watches Natasha intently while she thinks of what to say, “you and me are kinda the same.”

Though she doesn’t look up from her braiding, the older woman is intrigued by the girl’s comment, “what do you mean?”

“I came from a bad place too,” Y/n explains, “now I’m here, so I can help people.”

“Where are you from?”

“Upstate,” the girl answers matter of factly. She’s not sure how much of her story she should tell. She trusts Natasha, especially after she just spoke of her own childhood. On the other hand, no one knows about how the girl grew up, not even Fury.

Natasha hums, asking Y/n to continue.

“I was engineered,” the girl says as if she is saying ‘the sky is blue’.

The widow freezes, looking up to the girl in shock, “what?”

Y/n suddenly feels small again, but still she continues, “I was engineered in a test tube. Then I was transferred to an artificial womb until I was developed enough to live on my own.”

She twiddles her thumbs, unable to look up at the widow, “They were trying to make a shape shifter like you all thought I was. They tried to alter my DNA, but whatever they did, I think they did it too late. I already had too many cells with my normal DNA. I think that’s why I can only go back. All of me can shift except the cells that came from the ones from my conception.”

Hearing Y/n speak so maturely when she appears barely 13 throws Natasha for a bit. She has to remind herself that Y/n still has an adult brain in there.

“They kept me in their lab,” Y/n continues, “they would do these experiments on me. They would hurt sometimes, a lot of times. They kept trying to figure out where they went wrong. They were trying to fix me.”

Natasha clenches her jaw. She feels a rage she hasn’t felt in a very long time, and she makes a promise to herself that she will never let anyone harm this girl again.

The girl can sense the anger in the older woman, and it has her shrinking in on herself. “Are you mad?”

“Very.”

A breath catches in Y/n’s throat, and Natasha’s thoughts are pulled out of her anger to take in the girl in front of her. The fearful look has returned to Y/n’s face again. The widow kicks herself mentally.

“but not at you,” she reaches a hand out to pick up the girl’s chin, “myshka(little mouse), look at me please. I’m not mad at you. I promise.” She waits quietly until Y/n nods. Natasha smiles warmly, “Good girl. Now, I need you to tell me who had you? What agency?”

Y/n shakes her head, “there wasn’t an agency. It was just my parents… well, the scientists that called themselves my parents.”

“They lived somewhere else, away from the lab. They would go home at night and leave me in the lab.” The girl sighs heavily, “I never left the lab, until I escaped when I was 14. One night after they went home, I broke out of my room. I grabbed as many files about me I could find, and then I left.”

“…and you’ve been on your own since then?”

Y/n nods, “but now I’m here, and you’re gonna teach me how to help people right?” This time Natasha is the one to nod. The girl smiles, “then this much better than the Red Room, and you all are much better than my parents.”

Her words bloom a sense of calmness in Natasha’s chest. She’s just about done with the second braid.

“You know you’re lucky,” the older woman plays with the baby hairs at the base of the girl’s head. She tickles her there until she gets a giggle, “we may not have had good childhoods, but you get a second chance to be a kid.”

Y/n looks up, entirely enraptured by Natasha’s words.

“Not many of us have that chance.” In this moment, the widow can feel a soft spot in her heart that wasn’t there before. A spot that now belongs to Y/n, “its ok to be little around us. I know you’re an adult, but its ok to be a kid. We want you here either way. Definitely me, Wanda and Clint, the rest of them team hasn’t quite caught up yet, but they’re on their way, trust me. You don’t have to hide in your room anymore. Ok?”

Y/n nods with a large grin. She has a new understanding of Natasha. She especially can feel the start of a new friendship. Its hard to believe that just a month or so ago she had no one, no friends. Now, she has three and hopefully more to come.

Being caught stealing by the Avengers might just be the best thing that has ever happened before.

“All done,” Natasha says while she wraps a hair tie to the end of the second braid. She lays the braid down the girl’s shoulder, “what do you think?”

Y/n takes in the sight of her two French braid pigtails and smiles widely. She looks up to the widow who sports her signature one French braid, and she smiles even wider. “Hey, I look kinda like you!”

Natasha chuckles, “yeah, you do New Kid.” She rests her hands on the girl’s shoulders, “there’s about to be a movie night in about 5 minutes, would you like to join us?” She steps into the doorway, outstretching a hand for Y/n to take.

The girl happily takes her hand and follows her lead. As they walk through the halls, their hands swing lightly in between them.

"If you'd like," Natasha proposes, "I could train with you sometime. I'm a much better fighter than Steve anyway." She playfully nudges the girl's side. "I could teach you how to kick his butt."

Y/n smirks, "I think I'd like that."

"Me too."

When the two of them enter the common area hand in hand, they receive more than a few confused glances from the team, except for Wanda who just looks ecstatic. They take their seats. Natasha sits on the couch with Wanda, and New Kid claims the chair nearby.

As the widow settles into her girlfriend’s side, she whispers in Wanda’s ear, “you were right.”

The witch gives her a quizzical look.

“She really is the sweetest kid.”

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A few days later, and New Kid is already doing better. She’s coming out of her room more. She almost always gravitates towards Wanda or Natasha, which is fine by them. Each little interaction with a team member outside of training is making her feel a tiny bit more comfortable around the compound.

It’s not all that much, but a little progress is still progress.

One morning, Y/n opens her door to go to breakfast and nearly steps on a teddy bear sitting in the hallway. The sight of the toy has her itching to drop, but she’s dropped enough recently to control it. She remains her true age as she picks up the bear. Attached to the toy is a note with her name on it.

She fondly holds the bear tight to her chest as she reads the message.

Y/n, Just a reminder that its ok to be a kid. Its ok to want to do kid things. When I was in the Red Room, I wished I had a teddy bear even though toys were strictly forbidden. I thought you might like one too. Since, I’m kinda like you. -Natasha

🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸

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I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think down in the comments below. Also, if you have any ideas for what you would want to read, let me know!

As always, thank you so much for reading and for all your support. Much love!

-k

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Taglist: @battleg03 @thelittlewolfofaretuza @emiivey @dylanobriens-love @madelineleong @sluttyforfemaleavengers @santana1437 @thatonementallyillsimp @oliveoilpenguiny @you-are-beautifully-gorgeous @charcharslide-3 @anon1412 @universallypoetrycheesecake @mary-jinx @princess-kennys-rats @marvel-fan-2021 @ameeelia07 @kneelforloki @ornorr @prettysbliss @nattyolw @yukonasf @thursdayygrrrl @rach2602@ace-of-gay @casualbisexualfroggo @nyctophiliacatcher @ripofflizzie @chrisevansangel @randomnessbecausewhynot @lizlil @uselessastheginlasagnaa @m-h-r-h

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svt-rosalie · 3 months

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. . . ♡ FAMILY ! ? 🌷 MEMBERS ★ ﾟ๑

ׁ ׅ ୨ ❪ relationships! ❫ ୧ ⊹ ࣪

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ NAME — aurore dumont

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ AGE — 49 ❪ march 15, 1974 ❫

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ STATUS — alive

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ FAMILIAL TIES — mother & daughter

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ DESCRIPTION — to say jihye is a mommy’s girl, is an understatement. jihye is her mothers mini me. as a little girl, rosie would take her mothers makeup and dress up in her moms clothes (even though they were a bit too big for her 8 year old frame) and walk down the hall to their living room giving a little runway show, to which her mother would always be her biggest fan and cheer her on.

“oh so gorgeous!” “i have the prettiest daughter in the world!”

as rosalie grew older, her mother became her anchor for teenage years. especially when she became a trainee and was away from her mother for a while (rosalie began living with her grandparents for about a year whilst her parents found a decent house and building for the bakery). there was many late night calls that would lead the poor girl to tears, crying out that she misses her mom. aurore was able to life up her daughter on her dark days and laugh with her daughter on the bright ones and that’s all that rosalie needs.

nothing is more important than the love a mother gives.

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ NAME — park hyeonju

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ AGE — 52 ❪ october 18, 1971 ❫

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ STATUS — alive

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ FAMILIAL TIES — father & daughter

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ DESCRIPTION — hyeonju is a father and everything in between, a best friend, a hype man, and a body guard. now valentine is the biggest daddy’s girl but that doesn’t mean rosalie isn’t next in line in wanting all of her appa’s attention. she loves when her dad ask her to join in on activities he knows she doesn’t enjoy, like going to the hardware store or making renovations to the house, but just wants to spend quality time with her one way or another — and he always goes to the nail salon to get their toes done together after wards. you gotta pamper yourself after all that hard work as rosalie says.

hyeonju always attended everyone of rosalie’s daddy daughter school events and made sure she was the most spoiled girl without making her a brat. she’s his first daughter/child so of course he’s going to make sure she knows she is loved both emotionally and physically. anytime the park family is out on a errands or just to spend family time together, rosalie is always holding her fathers hand or his arm (or on the special occasion he’s giving rosalie a piggy back ride).

rosalie couldn’t ask for a better father, he’s the one there to fight off all the monsters hiding in her closet and hold her close when the nightmares hit too close to home.

“it’s okay my rosebud, flowers can’t bloom without a little rain huh? appa’s here, it’s okay.”

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ NAME — park jiyeong, valentine dumont

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ AGE — 13 ❪ february 14, 2010 ❫

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ STATUS — dead ❪ february 12, 2022 ❫

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ FAMILIAL TIES — little sister & older sister

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ DESCRIPTION — valentine is rosalie’s entire heart, literally. when valentine was born all bets were off — rosalie was obsessed with her and wouldn’t let her out of her sight. she told all her friends and teachers at school that she has a new little sister and that she’s the best thing ever even though she’s stinky sometimes.

valentine grew up basically shadowing everything rosalie did. rosalie went for extra lessons for english, valentine would too even though she liked her french classes more; rosalie would put a little bit of lip gloss on and valentine would always pucker up her lips for some as well saying she wants to be just as pretty as her big sister! everything they did was for each other and with each other, you’d think they were twins.

when rosalie became a trainee, valentine bragged to everyone saying she was going to have the bestest singing sister in the world, mind you valentine was around 3 at this time so all she knew was the videos rosalie would play of girls generation and shinee, so she thought rosalie was going to be the coolest person in the world. she was right.

as valentine grew up and rosalie began to get busier with being an idol, nothing in their relationship changed. rosalie still called every night to her mom and dad and asked for valentine within 5 minutes.

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ NAME — sabrina

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ AGE — 5 years old ❪ 2018 ❫

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ BREED — ragdoll cat, female

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ STATUS — alive

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ DESCRIPTION — sabrina is and always has been jihye’s number one girl. she received sabby as a gift when she was 18 as a birthday gift from her appa after she had been begging for years for a cat. sadly her mama is allergic so her parents had to wait till their oldest was out of the house to allow such a big purchase and why not when she becomes an “adult”!

sabrina only likes rosalie and pixie. anybody that tries to pet her she will hide and slap your hand away (claws not out, she’s not that mean). she’s a sweet girl though, to rosalie, and loves to cuddle and make biscuits. she’ll sleep all night surprisingly and be the most active kitty you’ve ever seen during the day time.

rosalie knows she’ll be heartbroken when sabrina gets older but right now sabrina is still just a little baby who loves to be carried around and played dress up with!

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ NAME — pixie

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ AGE — 2 years old ❪ 2021 ❫

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ BREED — black cocker spaniel, female

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ STATUS — alive

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ DESCRIPTION — pixie is just a little baby. she has no thoughts in her head expect her best friend sabrina the ragdoll, her owner rosalie and treats. she’s such a sweetheart but is genuinely just so coocoo.

she doesn’t go crazy like sabrina will but she’s just dumb. . . to put it mildly. pixie will be walking and is only looking up at rosalie instead of straight ahead of her and bump into a wall, she’ll bark at the floor because she thought she saw another being that wasn’t suppose to be there but it was actually just her own shadow coming from the sun shining in the window.

rosalie has a little like baby walker that she puts pixie in for walks and sometimes sabrina as well. when rosie bought that a lot of people thought she was pregnant. . . nope just for her fur babies. pixie is rosalie’s best friend and often goes with her to practices and oversea events when the group is going to be there for a while (sabrina doesn’t do well on planes so she stays with wonwoo’s family).

taglist — @angie-x3 @alixnsuperstxr @allthings-fandoms @peachyaeger @sakufilms @aysxldea @swagcandyfun @wonwooz1 @s4nsmoon

click here to join the taglist!

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pastryland · 8 months

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lestappen completed fic recommendations

If any of the authors of the fics mentioned here or are tagged and don't want their fics to be here, please let me know and I'll remove it!

Will update this list periodically

❤️ = favorite

⭐️ = I love fics by this author in general

❌ = triggering themes

🔥 = explicit

Devils roll their dice (Angels roll their eyes) - 55k - 🔥

It all started with a crash. Well, technically, it started with a blue-eyed boy with blonde hair getting screamed at in a language he couldn’t understand when he was only 12 years old. He remembered looking at the boy, who couldn’t be much older than himself - (two weeks older, to be exact, he’d learn later) - and watching the spark disappear right out of those icy blue eyes. That was the first memory Charles Leclerc had of Max Verstappen: Watching Jos Verstappen, Max’s own father, scream at this 12 year old child with an intensity that turned his face red and made every blood vessel in his neck look dangerously close to bursting. But if anyone ever were to ask Charles when he started to realize that his feelings towards that same Max Verstappen he had known since childhood had begun to change into something else, something bigger, something terrifying he couldn’t - or wouldn’t - quite put his finger on, he would say that it all started with a crash.Because of fucking course it did.--- OR: The slow-burn story of Lestappen that has brought me back from the dead, which starts with Max's crash at Silverstone in 2021.

salad days - 48k - ❤️ 🔥

“You think you are so much better –“ “I know I am,” Max cut him off again. “But that doesn’t mean that I can’t be beat.” “You want me to beat you?” “I want you to fucking try,” Max said, and over the phone, Charles could hear his cocky little grin. Charles found himself grinning back.

half of a heaven - 39k - ❌ 🔥

“Good evening. I’m Charles,” he offers his hand, which Max takes and for a second, Charles thinks he’s going to kiss the back of it. Some muscle spasms in the tight grip, rough velvet against soft skin. When Charles gets his hand back, it feels like he lost a finger or two in the fight. “What’s your poison, Charles?” Max asks, settling on the barstool like it’s not designed to be the most uncomfortable chair in the world. “Cyanide, usually. I’ll settle for a gin tonic for now.” or, Charles is a supermodel that has learned everything he needs to make his world turn. Now, he has no idea what Max Verstappen wants from him.

glitch - 26k - ❤️ ⭐️

Max hums. “Well, at least that means I won’t bump into Charles Leclerc again.” “Bummer, really,” Daniel says, moving back to his own seat and drinking the little bit of coffee that was still in the cup. “Could’ve been the start of a great love story.” Lando snorts. “Kids, it all started when I told your father, who had won two World Driver Championships at that point, that he sucked at driving.” Max sticks his middle finger up at them, and pulls his noise canceling headphones back over his ears. Only two hours left to go, he thinks, wistfully, and goes back to work.

all's well that ends well (to end up with you) - 21k - 🔥

"I was going to propose to him, and now I think he's going to leave me, so yeah, please… tell me how this could possibly get any fucking worse?" Lando gulps. "I uh... might have... misplaced the ring." *** In which it's summer break, and Max has an engagement ring with a gem the color of the Monaco sea locked in a safe in his closet. He wants to propose to Charles, and he enlists Lando, Oscar, Pierre, and a few other drivers to help make the proposal everything Charles deserves. But nothing in Max's life can ever be simple, and as Mission Lestappen Proposal™ unfolds, Max knows Charles is keeping something important from him. Max can survive Lando losing the ring. But he knows he can't survive losing Charles.

Rules of Engagement - 7k - ❤️ ⭐️

“Take me with you then!” Max felt his eyes go wide, his jaw literally dropping at the suggestion. “Tell them I’m like. Say I’m your fiancé, mate.” The heat had melted Charles’s brain, Max decided, staring at him blankly. “No.” He deadpanned. “Mate it’s genius! You won’t have to do anything, just stand there. Let me handle it. Them. The women.”

mr predestined and the flying dutchman - 80k - 🔥

Max Verstappen, an infamous child actor fresh out of rehab, and Hollywood's rising darling, Charles Leclerc, share nothing in common. Therefore, it's a field day for the public when the two are spotted out on a series of dates, days after they have been confirmed to star in blockbusters coming out the same day. It seems surprising that pretty boy Charles would dirty his hands with the complex intensity of Max, after the traumatizing scandal which led to Max being in rehab in the first place – but the press eats up their laughs like honey, and comment on their every single move. Perhaps this is where the ball drops – because Charles and Max are not as in love as they're portrayed to be. In fact, they're not even dating. Red Bull Records has already lost two of their celebrities to the whirlwind that was the infamy of 2019, and Ferrari Entertainment is dying to claim the next big star. What could go wrong in working together to kill two birds with one stone?

Second Time's the Charm - 7k - ⭐️

“Remember when you said you’d set me up with someone? A few months ago, at George’s wedding?” Charles’s voice is still pinched, as if his throat is trying to suffocate him and put him out of his misery. “Maybe you could do that? If the offer is still standing.” Simultaneously: “How did you know you liked guys?” Max’s tone is flat, as it usually is when he tries to come off as entirely disinterested, but Lando knows his tricks. He shoots upright, looking down at Max with wide eyes before exclaiming, arguably, one of the worst possible responses: “Oh my god, Max, are you fucking gay?” Or: Charles and Max don't know how to date; Alex and Lando try their best to make it happen.

#fic rec #fic rec list #charles leclerc #max verstappen #lestappen

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vipower001 · 2 years

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DP & DC prompt 1:

Imagine danny meeting Martha and Thomas Wayne at one of Vlads Galla type things. Danny just gets dragged along to any Galla his parents are invited bc “You have to visit your uncle Vladie Danno”. So here he is, hanging out by the fruit bowl when this guy comes along and strikes up a conversation with him, and guess who it is…Alfred. So Danny gets talking to this guy bc it’s better than eating his weight at the snack table.

So their talking and then along comes a young Bruce Wayne after he to got bored of all the business talk (Bruce is like 3 years younger than he was when his parents got killed) and so he sees that Alfred has struck up a conversation with another fellow child (even if said child is older than him). So Bruce gets talking with them as well until the Galla is over. They say their goodbyes and think that this is the last time they see each other…surprise surprise it’s not!!!

Vlad actually hosts many parties every year so these three end up meeting a lot. Danny is introduced to the other Wayne’s and the Wayne’s are introduced to the Fentons. Danny actually becomes a close friend to Bruce and starts to see Alfred as a type of godfather/uncle. And Bruce’s and Danny’s parents become friends and have exchanged numbers.

After The Wayne’s are killed Danny doesn’t see Alfred and Bruce anymore. It’s when Bruce, now Batman, has a problem, a ghostly problem, at the manor that he remembers the Fentons. He thinks that Danny has probably forgotten about him and won’t remember him since it’s been so long, but when he calls the Fenton residence Danny picks up.

They then have this whole conversation about asking eachother how have they been and all that, eventually Bruce brings them back on track and asks what can be done about the ghosts and Danny goes “oh I can fix that for you, it’s a low level ghost so it won’t take long” and then says he’ll be there in a few days and then proceeds to hang up. Bruce is just standing there like ‘ok, guess we’ll be have our ghost problem fixed and an old family friend over’.

He tells Alfred and he is just happy that they will be reunited with someone from before Bruce becoming Batman and hopes the Danny can bring a more normal feel to the manor for as long as he is staying. He’s exited to introduce Danny to the bat kids bc he feels like he can hopefully become a part of the family as like an uncle of sorts that isn’t in the crime fighting profession (wishful thinking there Alfred).

When Danny arrives Bruce and Alfred were expecting someone in their like mid 30’s (I couldn’t find an exact age for Bruce when his parents are killed, just know he was between the ages 8-12) but when the open the door their is a guy who hardly looks like he is in his early 20’s. Danny’s half’s status didn’t make him immortal but it did slow his aging down. They eventually brush this off as him just having a baby face and thus making him look young. So Danny goes and says hello and all that and after a bit of reconnecting is alerted of the ghost with his ghost sense. He says he’ll go catch the ghost now and leaves. Not even 20 minutes later he is back and says he got all the ghosts. Alfred and Bruce are impressed but think nothing off it bc he was raised by ghost hunters.

Alfred then asks him to stay for dinner as he is about to leave and Danny accepts. He meets the bat kids and when Jason walks in he gets a sense that he is familiar. Danny doesn’t really act on it in the moment but he tells himself that he will get this kid (bc Danny called anyone younger than him kid) a nice cleansing bath to get rid of the rotten ectoplasm in him and replace it with clean and healthy ectoplasm.

That’s really it. Danny being a friend of the family and becoming the official “ non-hero related uncle”. Jason knows about his half’s status but doesn’t tell the rest of them. You can do whatever you want after the dinner. But yeah…that’s it.

#batman #danny phantom au #danny phantom crossover #danny phantom #Alfred #The Wayne family #the fentons #Vlad is mentioned but not important #jazz is not mentioned bc I forgot about her #I also forgot about Dani but what are you gonna do about it #dp x dc prompt

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cordial-imputresco · 9 months

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One of the most aggravating things in the chonny jash fandom is the feminization and infantilization of heart. If you're my mutual or if we talk a lot you already know where I stand about this but I just need to talk about this with a wider audience before I go insane. Also thanks for 50 followers I promise I'll draw more when I'm not halfway across the globe.

First off, there's no fucking reason to infantilize heart. Genuinely. I think in the album he's only treated like a child when mind called him a boy and a kid. There's no other "proof" other than when MIND LIES ABOUT HEART, and still people write heart like this insolent little kid who cannot do anything for himself.

And, I don't know if these two things are truly related, but as someone who's physically disabled it grinds a particular gear when people make the canon disabled character (anyone who thinks otherwise literally. Why do u want to take rep away from disabled people SOO BADLY) act like a child. I understand it's probably not that for some people but again, why is it so hard to imagine a disabled person who can stick up for themselves?? Heart might rely on soul or mind for certain things since he's blind but he's also his own person. Blindness effects everyone differently but one thing any physically disabled person is sick of it's infantilization and this is still true for fictional characters as well. It's genuinely never okay no matter the context.

Heart is emotionally mature. I'm sorry he is, Heart isn't a 12 year old and Heart has delt with the brunt of the body's emotions for his entire existence. He thinks logically and genuinely makes good points which are rooted in truth while mind makes outrageous claims, constantly makes heart seem like the lesser one and is genuinely so emotionally immature that it's insane. The moment he's given control over their emotions he kinda loses his shit and cannot handle it (the end line of tha and the two songs between THA and TME prove this) and yet people think heart is worse with emotions. Be so honest and give me proof of this other than when he was CONDEMNED TO APATHY.

And if u want proof for that PLEASE just listen to the bidding. Or TSE. Or literally any song that isn't about heart wanting to end his life. He sticks up for himself and specifically he talks back to mind which some fic authors genuinely just forget about?? And I get it write characters how you want to but god am I tired of seeing heart and mind argue and heart could just be replaced with a doll who says the same 3 things. "That's not true :((" "you do that too :(((" and "*sniffle* ur wrong >:((" WHYYYY ARE YOU SO INSISTENT ON MAKING HEART DEPENDENT ON OTHERS THAT HE CANNOT EVEN TALK BACK TO MIND OR SOUL. Heart harbored anger and hate but it seems like some people ignore that and just place him into this box EXACTLY LIKE MIND DID. Why did the mind gaslighting work on you /ref .

Also, since heart is "the emotional side" people lovee to make him feminine and small and it's so upsetting. First off, this idea that emotions r feminine pisses me off because it's just regurgitating misogyny and I'm sick of pretending like it's not. People fucking. Yaoi-ify (only word I can think of right now sorry) heart and mind by making mind this trad masc tall guy with a strong jaw while heart has a softer jawline and is usually smaller. It's so aggravating to me that fanon heart is this soft boi with no genuine fight to him while canonically we have SEEN HIM TALK BACK AND BE MEAN TO MIND??? I get this fandom has a lot of teenagers in it but holy shit can people not do the same shit we were doing 8 fucking years ago with tomtord.

And just one last thing, stop trying to aggressively masculinize mind just because he's emotionally immature and has a deep voice. He's not this intellectual genius debater who is dishing facts towards heart and the few things he does say that are true he says alongside actual lies about heart. Write what you want and draw what you want but please understand the irl implications of your works and understand what type of ideas are you peddling by doing what you're doing.

TLDR: stop being fucking weird about heart and treat him like a grown ass man. He's not a child.

#rant #this is all /srs #please block me if you gen write heart like this #cw caps #chonny jash #cccc #cj heart

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eponastory · 2 months

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Well, now that the Tylenol and other pain meds have kicked in, I want to talk about war.

Yeah, yeah, cut the crap Dai Li. Your lies are boring.

Many of you know that I have a thing for history. Well, I know for a fact that as long as man has walked this spherical (shut up flat earthers) rock floating in space, there has been some kind of conflict with one another. Over things like religion, politics, resources, women (looking at you, Troy), etc... it's a bloody business.

I'm going to give my grievances about Aang and his role in the war.

1. He really isn't there for all of it.

Remember, he ran away the night of the Air Nomad Genocide. That was the true start of the war. War is complex. You sometimes have more than one side playing a part, and then you have the antagonistic side. Aang did not have any part in the war for one hundred years. He was a child when it started, and he was still a child when it ended.

2. Growing up in war time is going to change your perspective.

Psychologically, trauma shapes a person into thinking a certain way. War is trauma. People who grow up in war time are shaped to either fight or flight. Since Aang was only there for the very end of the war, his separation from that war time trauma is there.

Think of it as witnessing 9/11/01. If you were alive to see it, then it really shaped you. It did for many people I grew up with, who did end up enlisting into the military to fight in the War On Terror. I was twelve years old, and I remember that day very well. It definitely made me see things a lot differently. Those who were born after that often joke around about 9/11 because they didn't witness it as it was happening.

It's an absence of understanding.

3. Aangs role in the war and how he is unprepared.

First off, when he is woken up, he has no idea what has really happened in the last hundred years. That's okay. Then he, as a child, has been put into this role of life or death, but he still acts like a child. I can understand that. It's anxiety and a whole bunch of other things he has to face in a world that moved on without him. He isn't irrelevant, but he missed a good deal, and now he has to live up to expectations.

So how does this affect relationships?

Oh, it does. It heavily impacts relationships. Which is why I'm going to get into this little debate here.

Aang is infatuated with Katara because she represents an outlet for his anxiety.

There, I said it!

That is also why this relationship is... not good. That and he doesn't seem to put her feelings into thought because she is a soothing mechanism. He relies on her for comfort and relief because, well, she is the Heart.

Remember what I said about Katara having to bury her feelings to take care of everyone else's BS? Yeah, that's what is going on here but in a much more selfish way. Aang can't let her go because she is his balm.

I cover this in my story by the way.

But yeah, let's say we stray away from Canon and Katara leaves him...

Yeah, he would likely lose his shit.

Just an opinion, but the way their relationship is set up is just... it screams that sort of dependency from Aang.

But this is because he missed the majority of the war and had to all of a sudden save the world... as a twelve year old. You know what my two younger brothers were doing at 12?

Playing with freaking Legos. (And still do to this day)

Legos.

Okay I'm ranting now, but this topic came up while I was working on my story.

You can ignore it. It's probably all over the place like my ADHD brain is right now.

Peace and ❤️

#i think i may need to cut back on those pain meds #but im not delusional right?#war ha what is it good for #absolutely nothing #zutara #anti kataang #bite me

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thisisarcanereverie · 1 year

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When the World Went to Shit (Chapter 5)

Joel Miller x FEM! Reader

A/N: this is a SPOILER WARNING, this contains spoliers from the third episode (and more to come). This is a day late, watched episode 5 last night for the first time and I needed a moment oh my god. I was barely ready to write about episode 3, now I have to look forward to episode 5. I am already in tears over it.

WARNINGS: Canon level of violence, swears, reader is ready to fight a goddamn child, Joel is sad, talks of grief, PTSD, brief mentions of gore, Eventual Smut, pining (on both ends), grumpy idiots in love, reader is in her late 30's to early to mid 40's. Major character deaths. DISCLAIMER NO CHARACTERS/GIFS/PICS USED ARE MINE.

Summary: 20 years later after the world went to shit you, Joel, and Tess have to take 14 year old Ellie to the Firefly base outside of Boston QZ. What was supposed to be a simple plan turned into something much more complicated.

Prev. Chapter

After leaving the station you continued on your walk, you were thankful for the decent weather at least. No rain or snow or anything really that could slow you down. Once again you were looking around your surroundings, careful to make sure there were no signs of any other person using this trail but you and Joel.

“So…” Ellie started, “how did you guys meet?” she kicked a rock further down the road, one that she had been kicking since a few yards back.

“That’s a random question.” You said, looking at her.

“Well it’s going to be a while until we reach Bill and Franks,” Ellie pointed out, kicking the rock again, “and it’s been killing me, I wanna know!”

“Well,” you started since you knew Joel wouldn’t answer, “we met before the outbreak.”

“But how long before the outbreak?”

“It was 1984.” you said doing the math in your head, “so that would’ve been 18 years or so before the outbreak.” You see her jaw drop and stop kicking the rock.

“Wow,” Ellie gawked, “you both are old, like dinosaur old.” you rolled your eyes and slightly pushed her shoulder.

“Not that old,” You said before pretending to think, “well maybe except Joel.”

“Ha ha ha,” Joel laughed dryly, “good one.” You smiled behind him as you turned to Ellie who was smiling too.

“So that means Joel is older than you?”

“By six or seven odd years,” You said, “his brother Tommy was a friend of mine.”

“How old is Tommy?”

“Let’s get off the subject,” Joel said. You could see his shoulders stiffen at the mention of Tommy. When everything went down and Tommy joined the Firefly’s Joel was livid with him. They were barely on speaking terms before he left and it broke your heart to see the two brothers dissolved into that.

“Holy shit,” you heard Ellie say as she rushed to the side of the road where a small clearing of trees were. An airplane wreckage, when you were younger you were terrified of them but what you wouldn’t give to see a functional one up in the air. You looked over your right to see Joel standing beside you, you wonder if Joel ever reminisced about random, mundane things and missed it like you did. Like running late to work because of traffic so you were forced to listen to the radio as it cleared out, or seeing that one old couple on your way to work that always asked you how your day was. Just the little things like that, that used to be annoying or sweet but were taken advantage of.

“Have you ever flown in one of those?” Ellie asked her eyes never leaving the ruins.

“Sure,” Joel answered, “a few times.”

“So lucky.”

“It didn’t feel like it at the time,” Joel said, his eyes never leaving the plane either, “get shoved into a middle seat and pay 12 bucks for a sandwich.”

“What airline did you use? because that’s fucking criminal.” you asked, sure they put you in crappy middle seats but at least they didn’t overcharge you for a crappy sandwich.

“Dudes,” Ellie said, you looked at her to see her no longer looking at the wreckage but at you and Joel, “you guys got to go up in the sky,”

You looked at the wreckage again, and much like your world it was broken and had casualties. You remember watching the planes dropping from the sky like fiery falling stars. But only they screamed, and burned as they crashed, killing in its wake.

“So did they.” Joel said before continuing the walk, Ellie followed him soon after. You stayed there a moment, had you not canceled your flight that day you could’ve been among those people, amongst all those fiery inferno’s. It was a grim thought, it was even more grim to wonder if you would have been better off if you had.

You took one last look of it as you caught up with the other two, something bothering you in the back of your mind.

You walked further along, sometimes you would take the front and Joel would walk behind you with Ellie or he would walk ahead. Something bothered you about that crash, a mental note you made that seemed to elude you.

“So everything came crashing down in one day?”

“Pretty much.”

“How?” Ellie asked, “I mean, no one was infected with the Cordyceps, everyone is fine, eating in restaurants and flying in planes, and then what? It just happened all at once? How did it even start?” There were a lot of rumors, but no one really knew for sure. “If you have to get bitten to be infected, then who bit the first person? A monkey, I’m willing to bet it was a monkey.”

“It wasn’t a monkey,” Joel groaned, “I thought you went to school?”

“FEDRA school,” Ellie explained, “They didn’t teach us how their shitty government failed to prevent a pandemic.” You wouldn’t expect them to either, their educational system left things to be desired. There was a silence that fell, the start of the end wasn’t something you liked to talk about more than anyone else. It brought back memories that made your heart ache, it brought back your mother and how you never got the chance to tell her goodbye.

“No one knows for sure,” Joel explained, “but the best guess was that the cordyceps mutated and some of it got into the food supply. Probably a basic ingredient like flour or sugar, there were certain types of food that were sold everywhere, all across the country and world. Bread, cereal…pancake mix.” Joel hesitated before listing the last item, something that you didn’t have the heart to ask about, knowing it was something he probably didn’t want to share. However, he had that look in his eye, the one full of grief and rage. The look he only got when he remembered Sarah, and what happened to her. “If you eat enough of it’ll get you infected. So all the tainted foods hit the store shelves around the same time thursday, people bought it, that very night people ate with that food or early Friday morning. Day goes on, people get sick, day goes on even further they get even more sick…and then they start biting…Friday night September 26, 2003 is the night the world went to shit and by Monday everything was gone.”

You remembered why that crash bugged you so much and the note you mentally made as a landmark between here and where you were heading. Your eyes widened as you remembered what you were going to pass in just a few short miles. You turned to look at Joel, who seemingly remembered too as he put a hand in front of the small girl.

There was a long, drawn out silence, one not even Ellie would dare break as she comprehended what she was told. You assumed in FEDRA School they mainly taught locations of things and how to kill. Not how all of this happened in the first place.

There was something bugging you, like a nat you couldn’t swat away. That mental note you made alluding to you until you see a tree with one lone arrow sticking from it. It had been yours when you still had a crossbow.

“We’ll cut across the woods here,” Joel said, pointing to the other trail. He didn’t want Ellie to see it either, which didn’t surprise you. When both he and Tess took you the first time he tried to hide the horrors ahead from you as well.

“Isn’t the road easier?” Ellie asked. She wasn’t wrong, the road was the easiest way, without all the branches and twists and turns. But what laid up the road was something you didn’t want her to see, it was something a girl her age shouldn’t ever have to see.

“Yeah it’s just…” Even Joel was at a loss for words as to describe the scene ahead. “There’s stuff up there that you shouldn’t have to see.”

“Well now I have to see.”

“No,” You said firmly, looking at her, “no you don’t.”

“We don’t want you too,’ Joel added. But in your limited amount of time with Ellie you knew that once she made up her mind there was no talking her out of it. So it didn’t surprise you when Ellie ignored you and continued along, this time she was in front of you.

“Serious, Ellie” Joel said, his voice slightly raised, “there are some things you shouldn’t have to see.”

“Can it hurt me?” Ellie asked.

“No,”

“You’re too honest man!” Ellie said as she turned briefly to face your worried faces before returning to the road ahead of her, “should’ve said ax murderer.” you both looked at each other in defeat, knowing that it wasn’t going to be long until she came across what you were trying to protect her from.

Sure enough, you arrived at the makeshift burial ground. Only nothing was buried and the corpses of defenseless families laid where they fell at the hands of FEDRA soldiers years ago. When you first saw it you could feel your anger towards FEDRA rise. They were all people once, people who trusted FEDRA to keep them safe only for that trust to be repaid by a bullet in their heads. You tried to not look at the rainbow wrapped baby in the decomposed arms of who you assumed was its mother. You look at the short brunette who went silent, her eyes taking in the sight in front of her. Bill told you about these people, how they had been his neighbors. You realized that FEDRA only drove them until the edge of town before executing them.

You stood next to Ellie, who you were sure had a million questions after seeing this.

Or maybe only one.

“About a week after Outbreak day,” you started, “soldiers went through the countryside and evacuated small towns and told them they were going to a QZ…they were if there was room. If there wasn’t any then this happened.”

“These people weren’t sick?” Ellie asked.

“No,” you breathed, “most likely not.”

“Why kill them?” Ellie's eyes narrowed the more she looked at the bodies, “why not just let them be?”

“The dead can’t be infected.” You didn’t sugarcoat it, it wasn’t something you could even if you tried. You patted her arm to keep going, the longer you stayed here the longer you wished you could’ve beaten that FEDRA soldier instead of Joel.

The rest of the way was silent for the most part, Ellie not really being in the mood to ask more questions or to make conversation and you couldn’t blame her. Instead of being worried you were thankful for the silence. Instead you tried to focus on something else other than what you saw back there. Your eyes instinctively went back to Joel, who was quiet, almost pensive. The Joel you grew up with could never have stayed silent for too long, but of course what did you know? You were more Tommy’s friend back then, or at least Tommy was closer in age than Joel was. It was mostly you and him sneaking into movie theaters to watch movies you weren’t allowed to see, or TP someone’s house during Halloween. When you both graduated school you went on to college while he went into the army, Tommy did always want to change the world. Naturally you grew apart, with your focus on your studies and the limited letters that came in, you both lost touch, only regaining it when you’re nearly 30, widowed, and the world was on fire.

Life was funny like that sometimes.

It wasn’t long until you got to Bill and Franks, you were half expecting Bill to be on the other side of the gate already asking in his paranoid way who the girl with you was. However, Bill couldn’t move around like he used to and neither could Frank. So when you saw that they weren’t there it didn’t surprise you, when you arrived Joel pushed in the number code and the gate buzzed unlocked. You held open the door for Ellie and walked inside yourself. At first everything seemed alright, but as you approached the house your stomach dropped to your feet and you went cold. The flowers on the porch were dying, even after Frank could no longer move Bill always made sure that the flowers were watered so that Frank would have something beautiful to look at. A million thoughts ran through your mind, what if Bill had fallen? What if something worse happened?

You got your gun out, holding it in your hand steadily as you turned to Joel.

“Something isn’t right.” You said, “the flowers were dying and Bill wasn’t there to meet us at the gate.”

“I agree,” Joel said, “but it isn’t too out of place for Bill not to meet us there.”

“Have you ever known Bill to take kindly to strangers he doesn’t know?”

“Good point.” Joel got his gun out as well as he went through the door first, leaving you second to enter. At first nothing seemed wrong, it was just silent. You figured if you were going to get attacked, it would’ve happened by now.

“Try the bedroom,” You told Joel as you put your gun in your pocket, “I’ll see about the greenhouse.” Joel nodded as he made his way down the hallway, but before you made it to the back door you saw the accent table in the hallway. You thought for sure that you were seeing things until you wiped your finger across only to leave a mark. Dust. You’ve never known this house to get dusty, or cold, but damn was it cold in here. It was too cold for Frank, his condition tended to flare up in the cold it was almost downright torture for him. Panic started to fill you as you went into the dining room, once again there was dust, but also rotten food.

“What the fuck.” Ellie says, astonished, though you could barely hear her over the light pounding in your ears. You looked at the food, dust, and dying flowers, all of it couldn’t have compiled more than maybe a couple of weeks at most.

“I can’t get the door open,” Joel said coming into the dining room, “any luck in the greenhouse?” You didn’t say anything as your mind tried to comprehend what deep in your heart, you knew.

They’re gone.

“Uhh,” You turned to Ellie who held an opened letter and a single key, “it’s addressed to you guys.” You looked at the envelope,

To whomever, but probably Joel

Bill’s handwriting.

“It’s from Bill,” she said as you saw her eyes dart as she read the lines before looking up at you. “It came with this,” she handed him the key she was holding.

“So they’re dead?” Joel asked, Ellie looked apologetic as she nodded.

“You wanna read?” she asked, Joel looked at you but you shook your head, Joel then nodded for Ellie to read.

“August 29th, 2023” Ellie began.

“If you find this…please do not come into the bedroom. We left a window open so the house wouldn’t smell, but it will probably be a sight. I’m guessing you found this Joel, because anyone else would’ve been electrocuted or blown up by one of my traps, hehehehehehe. Take anything you need, the bunker code is the same code for the gate but in reverse…Anyway, I never liked you, but still it’s like we’re friends…almost. And I respect you, So I’m gonna tell you something because you’re probably the only person who will understand. I used to hate the world and I was happy when everyone died…but I was wrong, because there was one person worth saving. That’s what I did, I saved him, and then I protected him. That’s why men like you and me are here, we have a job to do.

And god help any motherfuckers who stand in our way.

I leave you all of my weapons and equipment, use them to keep-”

Ellie stopped suddenly, her eyes darting between you and Joel. You were about to ask what it said when Joel took it, reading it silently.

“What does it say?” You ask, you could see a tense expression on his face as he ignored you. “Joel, what does it say?” he ignored you again, you were about to grab it when he moved it out of your reach. You could feel a tightening feeling in your chest as your eyes narrowed on him, “Joel, what does it say.” he refused to look at you. You were about to ask and reach for it again when Ellie spoke up.

“It said to keep Tess safe.” Ellie said, you turned to face her as Joel put the letter in his pocket. You felt your mouth go dry at her name and your heart break a little more as you understand what Bill said. He knew, and you were willing to bet Frank did as well.

You were silent for a moment, turning away from Joel and Ellie as you gathered what strength you could.

“Stay here.”

You calmly walked out the door and to the side of the house, where they couldn’t see you and you let loose the tears that had been building up ever since you left Boston. You cried as you remembered how you failed to protect Tess and how it should’ve been you, you cried for Frank and Bill and you wished you could’ve done more for them. You let it all out, leaning against the house for support. You didn't cry like this, not since the outbreak. But every feeling you bottled until now seemed to overflow as you cried until your eyes were sore.

When you came back Ellie was in the shower and you assumed Joel was checking out the supplies, so you decided to look around to see if there was anything else that you might need laying around. Hopefully they would both be busy enough that by the time they see you your eyes would be less tender and inflamed. You saw a box of clothes labeled ‘women’. They probably gathered this at the boutique so that you or Tess could go through it and get what you wanted. You were in need of some new clothes, the ones you were wearing were covered in grime and dirt. You searched and found a faded green henley, a new jacket, along with jeans, all new. You also found a few other changes of clothing that you would take with you along with some much needed underwear and bra. You were thankful that they thought of this, considering that this was only supposed to be an overnight job you didn’t pack accordingly in terms of clothes. You packed the other pair of jeans and shirt into your bag along with the two pairs of underwear and socks. They didn’t take up much room in your bag, which you were grateful for, and by the time you had gotten to the closet where he kept the toilet paper you heard Ellie come out of the shower.

“Already snagged three rolls,” She said as she strolled past you, still drying her hair. “The shower is open if you want to get in. There should still be hot water left.”

“Yeah,” you said quietly hoping your voice wouldn’t betray you, “I think I will, thanks.” You would try not to take too much time, out of all three of you Joel probably needed the shower the most. You would die for Joel, but dude needs all the hot water he could get.

You grabbed your new pair of clothes and headed for the still steamy bathroom, you sighed as you already felt the tension that stored in your back release a little as you peeled your previous clothes off your body and hopped into the shower.

As promised the shower didn’t last long, ten minutes at most. Enough to clean yourself and let the hot water relax your nerves. Even when you were going through school and the stress of multiple papers loomed over your head, you seemed to calm down when the water hit you.

You brushed your teeth after and dried yourself, and after making sure that the floor was dry and that there was still hot water left for Joel you exited the bathroom, dressed in your henley and jeans. Part of you wanted to stay here. To bury Bill and Frank and live here away from the QZ, away from the enormous amounts of clickers and infected. But you couldn’t, there were too many memories here. And you wouldn’t disrespect Frank and Bill and move them, you just wouldn’t. Besides, the wiring on the fence was getting old, it probably had another few years before it would need to be replaced.

When you came back down you could see Ellie walking away from the desk. You didn’t think much of it until you walked by her and saw her jaw drop.

“Wow!” Ellie exclaimed, “you don’t smell like a dead horse!” You roll your eyes.

“Haha,” you laughed dryly, “thanks, and here” you said as you tossed her deodorant, she thanked you as she applied it. You were so busy chatting with Ellie that you didn’t notice Joel coming back in, or him looking at you for a moment longer than he knew he should’ve before going upstairs for his turn of the shower.

By the time he was done you had made dinner from what was still good in Bill’s fridge, which wasn’t much. All you could really make were a couple of sandwiches, you didn’t even notice him until Ellie did.

“Well,” Ellie says, “don’t you look pretty! Don’t you think he’s pretty Doc?”

You turned around to see him, his salted hair slicked back from the water, his skin clear of any grime or sweat, and a new set of clothes adorned him as well. The flannel suited him well, at least it didn’t have any holes in it. You think you saw Frank wear it once or twice, but he didn’t fill it out the way Joel did. But you figured that was for the better. You were so busy checking him out that you didn’t notice him doing the same thing, or the flush that was fighting its way to his face.

“I’d say that,” you agreed, tearing your eyes away from him, “yeah.”

“Shut up.” Joel gruffed, trying to hide his embarrassment by tossing another stick of deodorant towards Ellie who tossed it back to him.

“I must stink if both of you handed me deodorant.”

“No”

“Yes.”

You raise an eyebrow at him as he shrugged.

“Let’s get going.” He said, “I already packed the truck up with supplies that we’ll need in order to make it to Tommy.” you nodded as you said one final goodbye to Frank and Bill, hoping that wherever they are, that they were as peaceful there as they were here.

You took the backseat as Ellie and Joel sat up front, choosing to let Ellie’s first car ride be in shotgun. You smiled as she pressed random things.

“First time in a car?”

“It’s like a spaceship!” Joel looked tired as she continued to explore various things.

“No it’s like a piece of shit Chevy S10,” Joel corrected, “but it’ll get us there…I think.” Joel looks over to her a second to see her not paying attention before sighing. “Seat Belts.” You see her look curiously at him as he reaches across her to grab said object and buckled her in. It may be invisible to everyone else, especially himself, but you could see his eyes soften just a tiny bit as he did. You wouldn’t say anything about it, but you knew Joel liked Ellie at least. He sees her as something to protect and that puts a smile on your face, knowing that Joel now has something else to protect.

And in a way so do you.

You left the garage and listened to the track that Ellie picked, watching the house fade in the distance knowing that while you’ll never be back there, at least the people there made the impossible possible. And made a home that was lived in and loved in this crazy, fucked up world.

And life is full of loss

Who knows the cost?

Livin’ in a memory

Of a love that never was

Cause I’ve done everything I know.

To try and change your mind

And I think I’m gonna love you

For a long, long time.

TAGLIST

@burninggracesandbridges

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tarajenkins · 4 months

Text

It's that time again

Time to make a massive post for my thoughts on the Lord Vauthry side of the new Encyclopaedia 3! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Spoiler alert: they aren't positive at all, lmao As it turns out, there is a convenient cover-our-ass disclaimer right off that this book is diegetic. The information in it is supposed to have been gleaned from the Scions. The Scions who, especially in the case of Eulmore's ~dark secrets~, would know jack shit about fuck all.

Admittedly, Hydaelyn should've known at least some of this through the death of her last Oracle, but for whatever reason it slipped her mind to tell us any of it in-game. Whoops!

Or maybe she was relying on that child to be the stopgap against the Rejoining happening too soon, like Selch. She could've at least given credit where it was due, if so. >:T

Twitter had a huge pearl-clutching shitfit the other day about that Oracle's death, which boiled down to "EW GROSS FATTY BEAT A CHILD TO DEATH OMG". The OP showed a screenshot of the page which mentions that Vauthry attacked the Oracle after having a nightmare that she would kill him. But they chose not to link the FIRST part for whatever reason, where it stated the Oracle in question had been fighting Sin Eaters alongside Ran'jit before Vauthry was even born. So unless this Oracle was an infant slayer of Sin Eaters, Vauthry was the child in that scenario--at age TWELVE. A twelve-year-old somehow defeated Hydaelyn's avatar, who was a skilled fighter trained by Ran'jit himself. (Ran'jit was a Master Assassin at five years old, btw. No, really.)

That said, the fanbase in that post naturally bought the OP's failure to math the way Estinien buys his hair ties: like suckers. Players were parroting the misinformation via solo posts and showing their entire ass on fatphobia in this character's tag all day. And, of course, where the fandom forgives and forgets the atrocities of almost every other character, people suddenly seemed very invested in making Vauthry enjoyers EXPLAIN THEMSELVES because this character did THIS.

When that was called out for the glaring hypocrisy, one poster replied it's just that "people are shocked at child abuse suddenly being mentioned and relevant."

Except child abuse has ALWAYS been mentioned and relevant in this game. It also applies to Vauthry himself. Emet-Selch essentially killed Vauthry before he was even born, dooming an infant to a life of madness and violence by fusing the baby with a Lightwarden. His father groomed him on lies for a power grab, Ascians further manipulated him in his madness to raise the Virtues, Ascend Gaia's parents, and who knows what else. What would you call that, if not abuse? Thank Emet-Selch for the previous Oracle being murdered. That wasn't going to happen with a 12-year-old who wasn't corrupted by a Lightwarden.

But, let's be real. All the derision of the character's weight during that Twitstorm made it extra obvious what makes him ~problematic~ to them. For their faves, it's "it's just fiction uwu" or the classic ~moral relativism~. For Vauthry, it's rabid foaming because it's clearly a Moral Failing to enjoy THAT character, and we who do must be harassed for it! Case in point, the Twitter OP even pulled out the old uwu ~at least I'm not a ~Vauthry shipper uwu" chestnut, I kid you not. At least, rabid foaming on behalf of vidya game children everywhere until I asked if it was finally time to discuss how many pixel children were murdered by the Rejoinings or Garlean occupation, for a start. Kids freezing in the Brume, etc. Kids made monsters by corrupting them in the womb. You know. A Tuesday. Crickets, then.

"I can't imagine Vauthry ever being a child", someone else posted.

They showed him as a baby in his mother's arms, in the Echo flashback. It's not hard. But I guess it's easier to dehumanize a fat character than it is to think a little.

If anyone else wants to be pissed at me saying all this as they were years ago, I really, really can't be arsed to care. It's rare NOT to see this character's fatness derided in just about any discussion of him. It sure was in his Twitter tags the other day. And, well. Every day. If you want to prove me wrong, though, confront that behavior when you see it, make shutting it down the norm, instead of whining how I'm "too rude" and so that invalidates my points somehow. No shit I'm rude when this "great community" has all the wit of bullies on a playground. Go tone police them instead, maybe.

ANYWAY

On the plus side, some of this new sorta-lore does seem to still back up some of my original in-game theories, but he was already twisted by the corruption from birth. There's no denying that anymore at least, no more hearing stuff from the fanbase like "uwu Emet-Selch gave him a GIFT, Vauthry just abused it uwu". (Who am I kidding, the last part will still happen.) Also, since the actual writers of this book don't stand behind anything written in it, I can still give him the happy ending in AUville that he should have had canonly. ⸜( ˙˘˙)⸝ ♡

What the purpose of this book is when nothing in it is concrete, I have no idea. But if Square can't back off their unimaginative fatphobia, can they at LEAST make Eulmore make sense?

NOPE ( ᐛ )b

Vauthry's father was named Veronth Mudthane, and in this retcon they imply he took more than a minute to decide that allowing a rando to corrupt his baby without asking his wife first was a swell deal. "The Scions" should've at least known the Echo shown in-game just…completely refutes that. But this book also has a blurb for Anogg but shows a portrait of her brother Konogg, so I honestly have to wonder if "The Scions" even played this game.

Vauthry's mother, as per usual, is not given a name or otherwise addressed at all. Because reasons.

"A euphoric Veronth went on to spoil his offspring in extravagant fashion, showering this "new god" with adoration bordering on worship. Such treatment would warp any child's mind, and Vauthry was no exception: he grew up willful, wanton, and possessed of an awful temper."

No exceptions except: Alphinaud, Alisaie, Nanamo, the fandom darlings of Ishgard (arguably excluding Emmanellain but for some reason he always gets a free pass), Hildibrand, Sark Malark, I'm sure I am forgetting some but you get the idea! There's only one difference, I wonder what it could be--

reads book's description of Vauthry's "corpulent chest"

--ah, right. The shitty tropes barely disguised as storytelling. Double standards! It's not just for jackasses in the fanbase anymore! "The Scions" are trying to lay this on "spoiling", when the child was fused with a Lightwarden. Ask Titania how that went for them.

The book goes on to say Vauthry murdered both of his parents at age nine in a fit of temper. You read that right: age nine. With witnesses. Somehow. They go on to mention the witnesses may have been okay with it perhaps because of "a growing mastery over his Lightwarden powers of domination". You know, those powers of domination that didn't exist in-game when Alphinaud chastised the Eulmorans for willfully ignoring the plight of the rest of the world. Those powers of domination that, when they finally were exerted in-game, resulted in the Eulmorans staggering around like drunks, muttering and supremely useless.

In-game, Vauthry wasn't "dominating" anything until he sprouted meatwings and fled to Gulg. Otherwise, Tristol would never have been able to ask to leave? Alphinaud would've been affected, even if the WoL was shielded by the Blessing of Light. Kai-Shirr would have chopped his arm off gladly. The Eulmorans would be blameless for everything Alphinaud and the narrative blamed them for.

In any case, both in this book and in-game, the writers completely gutted their own narrative of Vauthry and/or Eulmore being symbolic of All Things Bad. It's pretty impressive. Vauthry was corrupted by a Lightwarden, like Titania; his mind and behavior were compromised by this from birth. And if he DID control the Eulmorans the whole time, then they had no free will, either.

The book claims Vauthry used Ascension as a cruel game and delighted in ~revealing the truth~ to his victims as they became Sin Eaters. But they never explained why there would be a need to hide any truth with this latest spin on the dumpster fire that is the Eulmore arc.

In-game, there were rules to even request Ascension of him, and it was limited to and at the discretion of the formerly rich free citizenry. Workers could be granted it, but only if their patron vouched for them. The free citizens apparently had to wait until they were at their natural end, as per the Warbler's patron. The random disappearance of so many people from the stagnant population of that tower over the years would cause a panic by any stretch of the imagination. Word would get out, because workers on the inside were shown to be able to visit loved ones in Gate Town. Only allowing Ascension at the natural end of life would cover all that part up, except Vauthry was only 29 years old. The opportunities for Ascension: The Game would've been about as often as Minfilias spawned in that one century. (Which, according to the game, was totally hundreds on hundreds of Minfilias!) Either way makes zero good sense. The convoluted lengths they went through for the sake of these cheap fatphobic tropes is staggering, I s2g.

Meol still doesn't make sense, either. They doubled down on the "fat character eats people" trope in the book, but tbh I've come to expect unoriginality from anything directed by Naoki "Diversity would be unrealistic in my giant magic summon fantasy game" Yoshida.

Sin Eaters are said to have been found in cages next to a butcher table sort of setup, even though in-game, Sin Eaters have no bones, blood, or meat. In fact, the sparklies they dissapate into upon death are rather important to the narrative, as that is what turns people into new Sin Eaters. Meol, you know, that dish which was still entirely optional, and so really contradictory to using it as some master plan to MC the populace.

TL;DR: This is what happens when you phone in lazy tropes instead of a story for a last-minute arc and call it a day. Imagine what we could've had if they'd done some actual thoughtful writing. Also TL;DR:

Mood, Your Lordship

#ffxiv #vauthry #long post #eulmore #character analysis #encyclopaedia eorzea #encyclopaedia eorzea 3

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misteria247 · 1 year

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So y'all know how kids are supposedly sensitive to the paranormal or supernatural?

Well 12 Turtle Tot Leo with his spiritual abilities only they're now heightened. And the end result?

He's able to see Gram Gram Rise Karai and Pop Pop Rise Saki.

It's just a random thing he goes near the shrine with the Hamato family spear and photos and he just sees this ghostly figure and the figure sees him and is like:

"Oh my little one, why are you in here all by yourself?"

And 12 Leo in his little lisp explains that he's exploring and the figure a woman just gives him a small smile of amusement and asks him his name and he tells her. Her eyes get a bit wide before they soften and she's like:

"It's a pleasure to meet you Leonardo Hamato, you can call me Karai."

And afterwards he goes to visit her from time to time, listening to her tales of heroes and other things and it's during one of these meetings that Rise Saki shows up and Rise Karai smiles brightly at him while the toddler is a bit nervous (though he has no idea why) and Rise Karai goes:

"Leonardo, this is my father. Oroku Saki, father this is the little one I've been telling you about that our descendants have been taking care of."

And Rise Saki seeing this small toddler will just give this soft smile and 12 Leo nervously will offer a hesitant smile back. All throughout the meeting Rise Karai notices how the turtle tot seems uneasy around Rise Saki, always watching him with this look that seems several years older than that of a two or three year old child. And she'll watch him concerned and once her father returns to the afterlife she'll ask him what's the matter. And Rise Karai will just pause as she's met with these haunted dark blue hues and 12 Leo responds:

"I don't know why.....but Mr. Saki scares me........I'm sorry Miss. Karai....."

And Rise Karai, she'll feel an ominous shiver down her nonexistent spine at what this toddler said. She'll brush it off and tell him it's okay comforting him and trying to take his mind off of it. It'll only be after Rise Raph who's looking for the toddler takes 12 Leo out of the room to get something to eat the Rise Karai will try to figure out what's gotten this sweet child so frightened. Because he's never met her father personally so him being frightened by him makes no sense. Rise Karai will search for answers, listening to the Rise boys and their older counterparts soft and whispered conversations that they'd have whenever 12 Leo was around. She'll catch snippets of different things.

Hurt knee, nightmares, comatose, near death experiences.

She'll hear these bits and pieces of things she has no clue about. She'll hear how the 12 boys are relieved that 12 Leo's supposedly taking a break from being the leader even if it wasn't intentional. And it's during this that she'll hear a familiar name, one that fills her with dread.

The Shredder.

That's all Rise Karai needs to hear in order to get a somewhat foggy glimpse of what could have possibly happened to the toddler who'd come and visit her just as much as her actual family members. She'll go back to the afterlife thinking about how this boy, who like his brothers seemed so sweet had also had a fight against an alternate variation of her father. She'll think about how 12 Leo had said he was scared of Rise Saki, how he'd seemed like he was afraid that the spirit would hurt him. How in his original age he wasn't as innocent and carefree as he was now.

Rise Karai doesn't want to think about what the implications of 12 Shredder and 12 Leo's battle could have left behind with the boy. Doesn't want to think about how it scarred him and his brothers, just as how Rise Shredder had scarred the Rise boys and Rise Splinter. Because if she does.......

It could very well break her heart.

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banana-breaded · 10 months

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Percy has always unfairly villain-ized Nico.

Upon learning he was a son of Hades, he assumed Nico was vengeful and corrupt. In "The Battle of the Labyrinth" he assumed that Nico was out to kill him, when in fact he was going after Daedalus, who admitted himself that it was his time to go. Not to mention, Nico's bloodlust was because of Minos’ corruption, which never would have occurred in the first place had Percy stopped Nico from leaving, which should have been the obvious course of action.

You don’t let a 10-11 year old, a powerful 10-11 year old who would attract massive amounts of monsters and has just sustained serious amounts of pain, go off by themself for quite obvious reasons. Percy obviously doesn't get the memo because he lets Nico slink away twice, in the end of both "The Titan's Curse" and "The Battle of the Labyrinth." The second time he even reinforced Nico’s belief that he didn’t belong among other demigods. For lack of better words, that’s messed up.

Nico will then go on to do some arguably shady things, but never with malicious intentions (i.e. letting Hades trap Percy and not telling Percy who he is in "The Son of Neptune") and always redeems himself from such actions. Percy however, uses these decisions to discredit all of Nico's suffering.

For the entirety of the "Heroes of Olympus" series, he basically views Nico as a morally grey wild card. He even expresses contempt and aggression towards him, only reigning such emotions in out of pity for his condition after being captured by the twin giants. He often reflects upon Nico's actions in a way that leaves out context, painting him in a villainous light. I don't think he once acknowledges his broken promise to Nico regarding Bianca in the "Heroes of Olympus" series, nor does he ever acknowledge how hurtful it was to Nico when Bianca appeared to him and not her brother. Additionally, whenever remembering how Nico got him trapped, he never seems to recall that Nico didn’t intend to do so and that he couldn't have escaped without Nico. Furthermore, Nico had made his father promise not to hurt Percy, but Percy responded to the trickery with violence against Nico, not the actual guilty party (Hades).

Also, did I mention that Nico is 4 years younger than Percy? In the Titan's Curse, Percy is 14 and Nico is 10. That's a large maturity difference in the tween/teen years and will continue to be throught the series. This means that all of the things Percy holds against Nico were done by a desperate, child from the age of 10 to 12, who had no support system, no real home, and large amounts of inner turmoil and canonical PTSD.

I know I keep reiterating the whole Nico selling out Percy situation but I just think Percy’s reaction was incredibly awful. He made a point to never hurt demigods on Luke’s side, but when Nico “betrayed” him (not really) he immediately wanted to strangle/behead him. Despite the fact that Nico clearly wanted to help Percy and only wanted to detain him temporarily in exchange for deeply meaningful personal information, Percy doesn’t give him a chance for a single second.

Even when it’s made clear that Hades is emotionally abusive to him, he still later feels no remorse for choking this emotionally vulnerable 12 year old. And while it was still the right decision for Nico to negotiate his father joining the war effort, Percy mainly told him to do so to keep him at arm’s length, even though he was sending him into a place where he was clearly unwelcome and would likely be severely punished.

When most Olympian parents talk about how they regret burdening their children with their heritage, it usually doesn't mean much. Yes, they have to fight monsters but in exchange they become powerful. When the Greek deity Hades says this, however, it makes complete sense. The only 3 children he ever has end up experiencing horrific things, having to sacrifice themselves time and time again (or just the once, RIP Bianca di Angelo). On top of this, even the most congenial demigods become biased towards them whether they deserve it or not.

It's sad that there's a hierarchy within the camps and that its determined by parentage rather than character, at least until the demigods in question prove otherwise.

#hazel levesque #rick riordan #percy jackson #heroes of olympus #the heroes of olympus #nico di angelo #camp halfblood #camp jupiter #bianca di angelo #pjo stuff #pjo hades #riordanverse #riordan books #read riordan

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mooncleaver · 2 years

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warnings: the battle of manhattan basically, one mention of g*be, loosely canonical

[14:20]

"she's just- agh! i don't even know why im so frustrated!"

his voice leaked with worry, cracking at its seams with barely contained panic that etched his dialogue, utterly maddened at the thought of you being separated from him. he didn't even have time to react properly when you'd disappeared from his sight to help the others prepare for the imminent battle, leaving like a breeze that left him a tangled mess thinking of how he wouldn't be able to protect you if something—gods forbid—ever happened to you. there was simply no time to act on his thoughts; there were so many lives at risk if any single mistake was made in these fragile moments.

much to percy's deathly relief, he got the chance to visit sally one more time before everything went down. though, it was not as joyful as a trip to his mother's would usually be. his movements were frantic, furiously trying to contact you and not attract any monsters at the same time. he paced around the apartment at least twice in a circle, muffled footsteps thudding like the the ones emanating from his heartbeat, a thousand thoughts whirring in his mind faster than he could comprehend.

“percy,” his mother’s distant voice buzzed in his ear but he was too preoccupied to think it wasn't just a figment of his battered imagination.

sally frowned at her son's condition. he looked out of breath, eyes moving wildly with a burden far too heavy weighing on his shoulder. of course, she knew the perils of the demigod life, already experiencing it first hand when she was held hostage by the god of the underworld. even after she was set free, knowing her son had gone through all of that danger—dangers that a 12 year old should not have to confront, ever—still made her heart palpitate wildly with anxiety and unease. back then.. he was still so innocent to the true cruelty of this world.

all her life sally had done everything she could to protect him, shouldered the rain for him and took bullets life aimed at them. she believed with her whole heart that he was the greatest blessing to her, a ball of happiness contained into this wonder of a boy. he was her light in the darkness, borne of ardor and genuine adoration between her and a man that seemed to be a myth on earth. and that was what their love story felt like: a golden myth between two lost souls looking for solace. but the world was a wicked thing sometimes, slipping through a back door and carving out a person as it took and took from them. when he left, her salvation came in the form of her son with the brightest eyes and the purest of hearts; sally would be damned if something happened to him.

but some things were just.. simply meant to be. things like going through a hurt that would mar someone physically and mentally, but also to come back with a love that allowed one to forgive cruel fate. that didn't mean that she wouldn't fight tooth and nail trying to defy it for her only boy. it was a hard pill to swallow but as the saying goes, if you love something, let it go. with time she learnt to let go, to let him experience the life he was meant to live—all the good and bad, the ones that shaped him to be the valiant boy he is now. in the end, he always came back. her baby boy always came back to her with the same heart that was too big for the world.

and to think that dreadful year was just the beginning of it. now, he was preparing for war with a titan. gearing up with armor that looked as if it’d crumble at the sight of an ill-intent heart, with will power that was only just forged, too fragile to be hurt. absolutely no mother in this world would want to see their child off to war—he was just a boy for goodness sake, only fifteen. although he was a teenager already now, grown and mature for his age, in her eyes he'd always be her baby that would munch on her blue cookies, so small and ingenuous as he sat on the marble counters. her baby who was her driving force, her reason and her motivation to give the both of them a better life, even if it meant marrying someone as vile as gabe ugliano. it pained her deeply to see percy so distressed.

she finally reached out to him gently, trying not to surprise him as she hooked her arms over his elbows. "hey, hey, look at me,"

"what's going on?" percy looked up at her, eyes filled with glassy frustration and cavernous fear for the one he was talking about. sally brushed the stray hairs that lamented his forehead after his relentless messing of it, revealing those ceruleans that she adored so much.

"y/n, she- she just left! didn't even tell me where.. just said that she'd go help the rest and that we'd meet in the battlefield.. we were supposed to go there together but.."

oh.. so it was about her. his best friend that he met at camp, his best friend that he would subconsciously ramble about whenever she asked about how life away from home was going. the one that he always seemed to deviate to, even if the conversation wasn't about her in the first place. the same 'best friend' that was clearly brewing into something more at its seams. sally couldn't help but smile at the way her son was fretting over your safety.

"calm your heart, darling, take a deep breathe. everything's going to be okay." and by the gods, there was absolutely no better place in this world than a mother's embrace. he felt the trepidations disappear the moment he succumbed to her allaying scent, eyes closing as the present finally found clemency in his mind.

she always smelled like milk and honey to him. sometimes with a hint of jasmine or bergamot in fleeting flashes that lingered in his senses, but always milk and honey prevailing. it reminded him of the scent of sweet salvation and oh did he hope that when he dies the promised land was in the arms of his mother.

maybe it was the way sally was caressing his back so tenderly that it reminded him of the way she would do that whenever he felt upset, or maybe it was the way he could feel her heartbeat as he laid his ears against her chest; a heart that beat so passionately with love that it was the sole thing anchoring him in this moment. whatever it was, he knew that it was because she was simply his mother, and a mother's love transcends even words and time.

after letting him come back to his senses for a whim, she cupped the side of his cheek onto her palms, guiding his head to face her with a certain benign only one so passionately loving would show, "it's alright to feel angry or upset. you care about her safety, don't you? care manifests differently in people, percy. and it's okay to feel so vehemently about protecting her. that’s what love does to people.”

percy felt his heart skip a beat.

"i don't-" and she gave him a look that dared him to deny her words once more. percy quickly shut his mouth after, scrunching up his brows. there was so much to say and yet, there was nothing needed to be said. she already understood his heart from a single glance at his face, maybe understood him more than he understood himself.

"i guess.. you're right." he eventually let out, honestly unsure of himself. what did she mean, love? surely it was a kind of familiar or platonic love.. right? like loving a sister. but his heart painfully protested otherwise.

"of course i am." she smiled cheekily, nudging her elbows onto his side as he looked away, clearly embarrassed.

sally pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead, resting the pad of her thumb on the bags under his eyes and it felt like pure magic; as if her mere touch could heal him. "now you just keep a clear mind and go out there to find her, okay?"

"but what about you, paul-" percy panicked again, now thinking about the safety of the two of the most important people in his life.

“don't worry about us, baby. we're gonna go find somewhere safe to stay. besides, if any fool ever tries me, you know i do have quite the experience with the.. ehem, defense tools." defense tools might sound like a little bit of an understatement. his mother knew how to defend herself well of course. hades, he even convinced her to take on taekwondo lessons at some point. not to mention that she does in fact know how to use a gun—only for emergencies, of course. you can never be too safe from potential danger.

percy let out a breathy chuckle at her words. even in the most dire situations, sally would always manage to spark up a happy light inside of him. with a new-found resolute, he took a deep breathe and steeled his heart, now even more determined to find you and protect the people he loved.

“okay. okay.. i'm gonna leave now. please, please be safe. i love you so much, mom.” he almost jumped into her arms again, squeezing his eyes shut at the crook of her neck so he could burn it in his mind her familiar scent, the feeling of her hug.

sally smiled fondly, replying to him in the gentlest of tones. “i love you too percy.”

and just when he was about to leave out the door he felt her grab onto his arm again, now faced with a scarily sudden threatening look that he did not want to fall prey to again, "and no funny business out there, you hear me young man?" percy didn’t need to be told that twice. she really meant it with the way her eyes earned a sharp gleam to them, ready to pounce if anyone were to disobey her.

"yes ma’am."

and maybe percy didn't understand what this 'love' his mother was talking about before, but when you took that poisoned dagger meant for him, willingly risking your own life for the sake of him, he finally knew what it meant to love someone. to have your heart resting on the tip of their fingers, so easily broken if they were to make a single detrimental shift. to love someone so much that it made him afraid to lose. that notion alone turned his fears into a burning passion, a burning passion to care about you with such devotion that would one day be venerated in the stars, glittering so brightly as if his love refused to falter.

ok but like let me just rave about how much i love my mom and how much i love sally jackson through this fic pls

masterlist

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electrikworm · 1 month

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5 times Wrecker protected his siblings and 5 times they protected him: Chapter 2

As cadets, Wrecker gets into a fight with some regs bothering Tech.

Content warning: Blood, Child Abuse

Wrecker and Tech are physically about 11-12 years old in this, whilst the regs are 16-17

Read on Ao3

Chapter Text

As Tech sets off on the familiar path to clone force 99's barracks, he starts taking notes on his datapad. He tries to get the information typed out as soon as he can after a lesson. Doing so greatly reduces the possibility of errors in his writing.

Tech trusts himself to retain all the necessary information, however revising what he's learnt before he is tested is easier done with the relevant notes at hand.

Halfway through writing a summary and halfway back to their barracks, Tech is interrupted by slamming into someone's chest. The training they're going through has made Tech dexterous enough not to fall over, instead stumbling back a few steps.

He walked into a reg, at least 2 standard years older than him based on the height difference. There are three others with him. None of them bare any distinguishing markings, though their hair varies slightly in length.

Tech quickly mutters an apology and tries to move past the group, lowering his gaze to his datapad. One of the regs scoffs. Tech quickens his pace. Not enough to seem like he's trying to run away. He's not a coward, he's just not in the mood to deal with regs.

“What's the point of those goggles if you're still too blind to not run into people right in front of you?” one of the regs sneers.

Tech knows he should keep walking, should ignore them, but the retort leaves his mouth before he can stop it. “You could have stepped out of the way yourself.”

Tech shouldn't have said anything. One of the regs stops him from walking further with a hand on the shoulder, digging his fingers into Techs skin.

“If you're going to disrespect me, have the decency to stop looking at that thing.” With that, the reg with the hand on Techs shoulder pulls the datapad out of his hands and passes it to one of his friends. The reg holds the datapad above his head, arm outstretched, like he's waiting for Tech to try and take it back.

Tech could probably reach it if he jumped. He's not going to do that. “I need that back.” Tech states calmly.

“What do you need a datapad for?” the reg with the datapad says with a laugh, waving it about. Does he really think Tech is stupid enough to try and grab it back?

“Many of my strengths relate to technology, so it is a useful asset in my training, and will continue to be of great use once I graduate.” Tech answers honestly, seemingly amusing the regs. He doubts anything he could say would de-escalate the situation.

“So without this hardware, you're not even special? So much for enhanced.” the one grabbing his shoulder says, spitting the last word like it's poison. More laughter. Tech would like to walk away, can't until they give him back his datapad. Tech twists out of the regs grip, taking a step backwards, tries to glare at them the way Crosshair does. If Crosshair said he managed to scare off some regs by looking at them, maybe Tech can too.

By the way one of the regs snorts with laughter, it isn't quite as intimidating as Tech had hoped.

“Don't you want your datapad back, defect?” the one holding it says, grinning. He's holding it lower now, trying to bait Tech into reaching for it. “You know they'll decommission you if you're not useful, right?”

Tech is going to going to argue with their logic when he's interrupted.

“Hey!” Tech would recognize his brothers booming voice anywhere. Wrecker must have rounded a corner, likely returning from training as well. The sight of his brother is a relief . Faster than the regs can react, Wrecker puts himself between them and Tech, grabbing the one holding the datapad by the arm and returning it to Tech.

Wrecker's tall for his age, almost as tall as the older regs. Definitively stronger than them. Tech still hopes this won't end in a fight.

“Another one?” one of the regs groans.

“Yeah, another one.” Wrecker glares at the group of older clones, doing a better job than Tech did. “You mess with him, you mess with me!”

Even Wrecker doesn't have the desired effect on the regs. If anything, they seem to find his anger funny too. “Are you trying to intimidate us?”

“Stow it.” Wrecker hisses back, moving forward with intent. Tech grabs his sleeve before they can find out what he was planing to do. Wrecker takes the hint, and when Tech turns to walk away, so does he.

Tech thinks to himself that that could have ended a lot worse, then immediately regrets letting that thought cross his mind when one of the regs calls after them.

“Take that datapad and those goggles away and you'd be decommissioned in hours.”

“What did you just say?” Wrecker snarls as he snaps back round. He's punched the reg that said it before even Tech with his enhanced mental capability can think about stopping him.

The entire fight only lasts a few seconds, but it feels a lot longer to Tech. It's loud, it's chaotic, Tech's pretty sure he just saw Wrecker grab one of the regs by the hair. Tech isn't going to let his brother fight alone, but just as he's regained his bearings, just as he's about to throw his own punch, the fight is interrupted.

“Osik, someone's coming!” one of the regs yells. They run off and Tech grabs Wreckers sleeve once again and starts pulling him in the opposite direction.

“Come on Wrecker.” Tech hisses in an effort to get his vod to hurry up. “We'll get in trouble.” Wrecker picks up the pace. After a good while of running and rounding a few corners they slow down. They didn't run in the right direction to get back to their barracks, but Tech knows his way around this area of Tipoca City more than well enough to lead them back on the way they want to be.

Tech gets a good look at Wrecker now. He's got a nosebleed and a split lip, blood running down the lower half of his face freely and off of his chin. “You're dripping blood.” Tech states. Wrecker tries to use his hand to stop the blood flow, but it seeps between his fingers in seconds.

“I think I bit myself.” Wrecker mumbles from behind his hand, sounding nasal. They walk in silence for a while. “I'd never let them decommission you, Tech.” Wrecker suddenly goes very earnest.

“They wouldn't decommission me over something so silly anyway.” Wrecker smiles at that, then lifts his hand in a way that lets Tech know exactly what he has in mind. Tech doesn't like it. “Don't even think about ruffling my hair with your bloody hands.”

“Hey, there's no blood on this hand.” For emphasis, Wrecker wipes the hand not trying to stop the blood running out of his nose and mouth on his trousers.

“Don't.” Tech warns. With a huff, Wrecker lets his arm hang. After a while, Tech breaks the silence. “Thank you.”

Wrecker huffs again, amused this time. “No need, it was nothing.”

Wrecker starts trying to ask Tech how his day was, but only get halfway through the question, the next corner they round leaving their path blocked by one of the facility staff. A human woman by the looks of it, and if Tech had to guess, he'd say she looks rather annoyed. Both the clones freeze.

“CT-9903, you will come with me and you will do so quietly.” Neither Wrecker or Tech do anything but share a quick worried glance. “Do not make me repeat myself.” She sounds really annoyed now.

That snaps Wrecker out of his stupor enough to nod and start moving. He smiles at Tech as he does, blood still running down his face. The sight does not make Tech feel any better.

“What is this about?” Tech asks, knowing it must be about the fight a few minutes ago. The regs must have told on them.

“This is about CT-9903 exhibiting a series of violent outbursts recently, and does not concern you.” The staff member answers, turning her back on Tech as she ushers Wrecker away. They have been getting in a lot of fights recently, though Wrecker hardly started even half of them. Finishing them, that Wrecker did do. It still hardly seems fair to Tech that Wrecker take all the blame.

Tech does nothing as his brother is lead away. Nothing he could say would change the outcome here either. He just walks the rest of the way back to their barracks feeling defeated.

Hunter and Crosshair are already there when Tech arrives, having a conversation that sounds a lot like it could turn into an argument any time soon.

“Wreckers in trouble.” Tech states instead of greeting his brothers.

“What?” Hunter looks ready to fight someone. Crosshair doesn't say anything, but his stance is similar to Hunters. Tech explains the situation to them, the confrontation with the regs, the fight, Wrecker being lead away. None of them ask where their brother was brought, they all know the answer. Disobedient clones get put in isolation, every member of their squad's been there before.

“You're lucky I wasn't there.” Crosshair hisses. “I would have killed those regs.”

Tech rolls his eyes. “No you wouldn't have.”

They don't talk about Wrecker. There's nothing they can do to change his situation.

Later, after they've eaten and went to bed, Tech can't sleep. He keeps thinking about Wrecker. It's irrational to worry about him, Tech knows where Wrecker is. Still, he is haunted by the thought that that blood covered smile would be the last he'd ever see of him. It's really the regs fault for putting the thought of decommissioning into Tech's head.

Tech feels like a fool when he quietly slips out of their barracks and carefully navigates the still corridors. Getting into the room with the isolations tanks is easier than it should be. Tech had managed to get in before, even at a younger age. It's dark, save for the faint light the tanks give off. They look almost like bacta tanks, the liquid filling them just missing the blue tint bacta has.

Four of the tanks are occupied. As always, Wrecker sticks out immediately. Tech spares little attention for the regs floating in the other tanks, heading straight to stand in front of the one housing his little brother. Even behind the breath mask, Tech can see little was done against the injuries Wrecker sustained in the fight, clear swelling and bruises showing.

But, Tech's unfounded worry has been calmed. Wrecker is fine, he's alive and no worse off then when tech last saw him. He'll be out of the tank in a couple days, and they'll take it from there.

Tech knocks on the transparisteel separating him from his brother, hoping Wrecker will sense his presence but knowing there's no chance he will. They're called isolation tanks for a reason. Still, a small part of Tech likes to believe he is helping Wrecker by simply being there. Nobody likes isolation, it wouldn't be a punishment if it was pleasant, but Wrecker, social and in need of physical proximity as he is, responds particularly bad. Last time, he spent weeks after his release clinging to his brothers, outright refusing to sleep unless he was holding one of them.

“I'm sorry.” Tech says as he knocks on the tank again. Wrecker wouldn't be here if Tech had successfully dealt with the dispute with the regs himself.

At this point, Tech should leave. He's assured himself of Wreckers safety, there's no need to stay. Instead, he sits down, leaning his head against the cool exterior of the tank and starts to quietly talk about his day, answering the question Wrecker never got to finish asking.

#tbb #tbb wrecker #tbb tech #my writing #I used to headcanon Tech being younger than Wrecker #since we got their canon CT numbers I've started to really like the idea of Wrecker being the younger one

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crossroadsdimension · 1 year

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Okay okay okay okay. I’ve had some time to go do irl stuff and just chew on this episode so I think I can come in swinging.

With how fast-paced Stampede is, Studio Orange did a really good job with holding Vash’s secrets over our heads, as well as establishing plot and the world.

This’ll get into Ep 7 spoilers (as well as Maximum and Trigun spoilers up to the point Ep 7 ends, along with some of the plot points Stampede covers already), so I’ll put all this under a readmore. That, and this got Very Long.

I’ll be referring to each source as:

Manga/Maximum

90s anime/Trigun

‘23 anime/Stampede

I think firstly, they’re treating this as a half-FMA Brotherhood, half-original work. I say that because it doesn’t entirely follow the original manga (or the 90s anime for obvious reasons), but it does seem to assume you’re coming in knowing these characters from somewhere first. My dad said the two shows “sharpen each other,” so if you approach Stampede knowing that it came from somewhere else and you have that knowledge, it’ll make Stampede all that more enjoyable.

Which is part of the reason why they make clear part of Vash’s origin -- that he was on the spaceships when they crashed -- and that he is a Plant that much sooner than the 90s anime did.

But to get back to Stampede’s episodes -- we have 12 episodes this season, and they wanted to get the groundwork of the plot done as quickly as possible to make sure we’re hooked for what’s coming. That means establishing setting, characters, conflicts, and all the good good world-building that makes people go nuts for characters.

So telling us right off the bat “hey, we’re on a desert world where colony ships crashed” makes sense for episode 1. Get that out of the way, establish setting. Get us introduced to Meryl and Roberto -- the eyes of the new and old fans respectively -- and get us introduced to Vash, in a new form but still the lovable pacifist gunslinger who uses his goofy side as a thin mask to hide his true, quiet, sad, serious self. This gives us most of our main characters for the season.

Then we get Vash’s philosophy in Episode 2 -- save everyone on the planet, no matter who they are or what they do, and no matter how difficult it is to do so.

Episode 3 introduces us to Knives and his cronies, even if we don’t get the name for the organization here. We have established conflict -- Vash’s fight against Knives, and his fight to figure out and hone his philosophy further, to establish the side he fights on.

Episode 4 gives us Wolfwood, and hints that “hey, he may not be here for entirely good reasons.” But it’s good to establish all the main characters early in the plot. That, and this is the start of Act 2 according to Studio Orange, which is a perfect time to bring in someone who represents Vash’s conflict with his philosophy and act as a foil for his character.

Episode 5 establishes the plant cult, their experimentation, and one of the larger hints about Vash and what he is. We had hints before, with the circuitry pattern on his child self in Ep 1-3, and his superhuman sight, excellent marksmanship, and superhuman hearing. But here, it shows us that he hasn’t physically aged in the last 20 years, and this is the first time Meryl and Roberto realize “Oh, we may be in over our heads.” Or, at least, Roberto does. Meryl just smells more of a story than what she’s been told or has heard.

Ep 5 also establishes the conflict between Vash and Wolfwood as foils -- whether or not you have to kill someone, or if you can let them live. This is what Wolfwood is here for. He is a kind man who doesn’t want to kill people, but sees that he has no choice. Vash, by contrast, is a kind man who doesn’t want to kill people, and thinks he has other options, doing everything he can to make them reality. Both are going to show that their outlooks on life are right and wrong, and they’re going to rub off on each other.

Ep 6 goes to establish further information about the plant cult (now given a name, the Eye of Michael), using the “monster of the week” (sorry Livio), and his connection to Wolfwood. More world-building, more fights, and a nice juicy amount of backstory about our traveling undertaker (including Legato’s first appearance!). Not to mention more establishment for Vash’s strange abilities -- I mean, you saw him punch Livio across the deck without winding up for the punch. Skinny plant boy is strong, stronger than the average human.

And then we get to Episode 7 this week, giving us more backstory for Wolfwood and Livio (hence the episode’s title), on the backdrop of the Bad Lads clamoring onto the ship for a robbery and safely bringing Meryl and Roberto on board. Which likely failed because 1) Vash came in and beat them all up in hand-to-hand and 2) they likely saw the ion cannon charging up and decided it was better to skadoodle. At least they have more of a desire to stay alive this time than in Trigun. All episode, we continue to get hints that Vash and Wolfwood are more than the sum of their parts -- pushing the ion cannon away from Hopeland, Vash’s knowledge of Lost Technology, and Vash’s acknowledgement of Wolfwood’s connection to Livio and his eagerness to help Wolfwood “wake Livio up.”

Oh, right. And more development for Legato, who decided he wanted to force Wolfwood to kill Livio and watch his home die because he wanted to make Wolfwood lose his ability to love others and decide that “my home is dead, might as well destroy everything around me and take the world down with me.” Trying to reel a loose cannon in line with that idea is only asking for trouble -- for the instigator. I see Legato getting his head blown open the first chance Wolfwood has.

And to wrap it all up, we end Episode 7 on the reveal that “Oh yeah, by the way, Vash is a Plant. We’ve been dropping hints about his inhuman nature, and it makes sense to confirm it here -- both for the newbies, and the old fans who already know. Time to wrap up this act and start a new one!”

Now, If you’ve read Maximum, they do show Vash talking with a Plant on the sandsteamer, like they did with Stampede’s episode this week. It even happens during a Bad Lads invasion of a sandsteamer, when it goes wild and is about to crash (except in Maximum and Trigun they’re sending it off a cliff). They don’t show this scene in Trigun, however, instead focusing on Kite as he’s using his dad’s plans to save the steamer, redeeming himself for his earlier actions. This artificially lengthens the amount of time folks have to question how Vash knows stuff -- like the robots in Trigun’s Ep 9, where he made a comment about them being well past their expiration date, and knew how to shut down the facility.

I think, when people complain about Stampede showing things “right away,” a lot of it comes from what they remember of the Trigun anime, rather than Maximum. We get larger hints in Maximum, so they give us larger hints in Stampede. Especially when you take into account the “hey, we’re remixing the plot of an old anime and an old manga that people already know.”

All in all, I think Orange is doing a very good job working with what they have, and that will only become more clear the more we move forward, and the more we have to look back on.

And I am very much looking forward to having more of the full picture.

#cross' rambling #trigun #trigun maximum #trigun stampede #trigun maximum spoilers #vash the stampede #nicholas d wolfwood #meryl stryfe #roberto de niro #this was very Vash-centric because he's the main character #but that's what I was aiming for

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