#rarely is it because whatever choice she made ended up hurting someone ( this is also possible - just rare ) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rayofsuns · 6 months

Text

Mother Dearest: pt 7

Story Summary: Damian Al Ghul loved his mother to no end but when she threatens to harm the one person he loves more; he has no choice but to go to his father for help.

---

Leona loves wash day. it felt like the only time her and Damian could talk without the other boys interrupting, talking over them or just being downright annoying. it was a day Leona spent with her head in a sink as damian's long nimble fingers massaged shampoo and conditioner into her scalp while she asked whatever questions she could think of. It was a peaceful day for her and Damian, A day they both looked forword to for different reasons.

For Leona it was a chance to ask Damian any and everything, questions Damian wouldn't normal answer. It was one of those rare days that Damian was relaxed, his only concern was keeping soap out of Leona's eyes and that made him easier to talk to.

Damian didn't know why wash day relaxed him, his guess is that it has something to do with focusing on only one thing for a change. Usuually his mind was plagued with every possible danger that can harm his sister. it was the only time that his worries seems to melt away. "When is the last time you got a full night of sleep?" leona asked, eyeing the dark bags under her brother's eyes. Damian let out a laugh.

"Bruce snuck a sleeping pill in my dinner last week. I sleep the whole day." Damian said, his voice heavey with humor as he comb the tangles out of her hair. If it was any other family that sentance would have been concerning; but this isn't a regular family now is it. Damian knew about the pill in his drink yet he drunk it anyways. Nowaday the only way Damian could sleep was with the help of sleeping pills. Everyone in the Manor knew about his sleeping problems so naturally they've decided to get involved.

More than once Damian has had one of his siblings trying (and failing) to get him to take these pills. each taking a different approach.

Dick liked to talk to him about his sleeping schedule. He was one of the only one who didn't try sneaking it into his food or anything. Dick's talks never worked. "How can you protect Leona if you're too sleep deprived?" was his favorite line.

Tim; the hypocrite, was sloppy, the pills will be half dissolved in whatever drink Tim would bring to him out of the 'kindness of his heart'

Jason is more forcefull, often times he tries forcing the pill into Damian's mouth and down his throat himself. those times Jason would leave the manor with fresh stitches and bruises. Damian actually stabbed him one time when things got too rough.

Duke is the only one who didn't care enough to try. "you're not hurting anyone but yourself" he would shrug "as long as you're alert on patrol I don't care how often you sleep" it may have sounded harsh but Duke didn't mean it that way. Duke cared about about his found family so of course he wanted Damian to be healthy but he also didn't want Damian to feel like everyone was ganging up on him.

Cass is the only person (other than Bruce) that Damian has had to keep and eye out for. she like him is an assassin. she knows how to sneak something into someones food. Cass was the only one of his siblings that was has been successful in getting him to unknowingly take the sleeping pills. Damian to this day stills doesn't know how she did it, the only way he knew that she was successful was because he woke up two days later.

Leona hummed out a reponse before decideing not to push the subject knowing how defensive Damian can get when it came to him 'relaxing'. "Can I ask you a question Dami?" Leona asked. Her eyes were closed and her head was laid back in the shampoo sink. "Of course." Damain said, messaging the shampoo in her head.

"I know you don't like talking about her but I just have to know. Why did Talia want me dead?" Leona felt damian stiffen. He didn't really like talking about his mother or most importantly her fall from grace. Leona was ten when Damian explained to her what happened to their Umi and how their mother went crazy resulting in them having to flee from their home. He still remembered the hurt in Leona's eyes when he told her. No ten year old should ever hear that their mother, the one person who was suspose to protect, them wanted them dead.

This was the first time she even asked about her umi. Damian cleared his throat thinking about what to say. "Still to this day I have no idea why. Umi's death hit us both hard and I think her mind just snapped. Umi's death was her fault in a way and she couldn't handle that"

"her fault?" Leona asked, intrigued by this new piece of information.

Damian nodded even though she couldn't see him with her eyes closed. "when Umi died I did some digging. the man who killed our Umi and tried to kill you was from a village Talia eradicated ten monthes before. According to the files I found a woman by the name of Elena Heartfelt had set up a meeting with Talia, she had asked for talia's protection from the village that had been harrassing her in exchange for a gift. Apparently the village dislike the lady, the report didn't say why they dislike her all it said was that they wanted her dead." Damian explained. "what was the gift?" Leona asked, her eyes open and her intrest piqued. Damain shrugged. "it didn't say but I hope it was worth the life of my Umi." Damian took a deep breath trying to keep his anger under control. "What she didn't know was that a small group of man and woman had left few days prior on a hunting trip, when they came back their loved ones were dead. They wanted revenge and they got it." Damian sighed, turning on the water and started rinsing out the shampoo.

the room was quiet until Leona sighed "I wish I could have meet her" she said, Damian's eyebrows furrowed. "Talia?" Leona shook her head. She would never admit it but the thought of Talia scared her. She's never had a desire to come face to face with the woman. "No Umi" she said

Leona has always wondered what her life would have been like if Aaliyah was alive, what type of mother she would have been. From the stories that Damian has told her she was have been an amazing mother.

Damian laughed "you know you look just like her. you have Talia's eyes but other than that you're an exact copy of her." Leona smiled. Damian's favorite thing to paint and draw was Aaliyah. Even at a young age Damian realise the resemblance his Umi and sister shared. If the eyes in the painting were brown it was Aaliyah and if it was Green it was Leona.

Damian smiled fondly "I use to hear stories of people forgetting what the dead looks like. they forget how they talked and how they smiled and it scared the crap out of me. I didn't want to forget my Umi; in my mind she was the only one who actually cared about what I wanted and how I felt. I would lose my mind if I forgot her. you've helped me to remember her." Damian leaned down to place a kiss on Leona's forhead. Leona smiled, reaching up to squeezed Damian's hand.

"Did Umi and dad ever meet?" Leona asked after a moment of silence, Damian shook his head no. "Father knew nothing about Umi until I arrived at the manor with you. I wish they would have met; I'd like to think that they'd be really good friends." Leona smiled softly at what could have been.

Leona studied her brother's face again before sighing, giving his hand another squeeze. "You know I'm safe right? I'm sure she's forgotten all about me so you have nothing to worry about. We. are. safe." Damian sighed, nodding his head even though he wasn't convince. Everynight he goes over every possible plan of attack, every way of entrance and with the manor so being big there's so many. If the Manor security's were to fail and the league found a way in. Damian shook the thought from his head. He just had to make sure they were safe.

"I'll be fine Leona. it's my job to worry about you, you know" Leona groaned. "I just don't want you to worry about me all the time. You know I have other brother's and a father that can protect me." Damian frowned, the room was silent until Leona sighed as she decided to change the subject.

"when you and Jon first became more than friends was it... awkward?" Damian chuckled. "Is it awkard between you and Jace?" Damian asked, Leona blush nodding her head yes. "That's the thing is I don't know if Jace and I are even together." She cleared her throat. "I mean He's going through a lot right now so we haven't really been able to talk about what happened a few months ago" Damian nodded in understanding. Damian thought about his answer before speaking.

"when Jon and I decided to be together it wasn't awkward at all for us. Being friends first seemed to have really helped. Maybe you and Jace just need to sit down and talk about what you want from each other?" Leona shook her head no the best she could since Damian was gently massaging the conditioner in her hair. "I can't. He's going through a lot right now and it'll be selfish of me to add this onto his plate."

John and connie, Jace's parents, had Jace scared to death of them.

They sounded like real sociopaths. They beat him almost everyday. Sometimes it was so bad Jace had to stay home from school for days on end just so he can heal; his body so bruised and beaten he couldn't move and Leona would have to steal pain pills from Alfred's secret stash. Those were the days Leona was most tempted to call Jason, knowing jason would handle it in a heartbeat.

"what's got you so angry?" Damian asked, pulling Leona from her thoughts. Leona relaxed her face; not realising her face was scrunched up in anger. "Nothing; just thinking about Jace." Damian nodded. "Ok. I'm done by the way" Damian said, wrapping Leona's hair in a towel. Leona sighed finally being able to sit up. They moved over to the vanity area. Damian took off the towel and started parting her hair, combing out any knots and greasing her scalp. suddenly the door to the in-home salon slammed open revealing a very stoic looking Bruce. he was in his 'Batman mode'

Leona laughed not taking the look seriously "who died."

---

Leona never ran so fast in her life before, Guilt and shame laid heavy on her chest like an obese elephant. "Leona slow down." Damian said trying to keep up with the frantic girl as she ran through the hospital. Leona ignored her brother as she made her way other to the nurses station. "I'm looking for Jace lovett's room?" Leona asked, her eyes widen with fear. The nurse typed something into the computer before frowning.

"I'm sorry darling but he's still with the doctor, it might take a while before you're able to see him." The nurse said, a sympathetic frown on her face. Leona took a deep breath trying to stop her racing heart. It didn't work. "can you at least tell us what happened?" Leona asked, All Bruce had told her was that he got a call from the hospital saying jace was in the hospital but that was about it. Leona has never been so thankful that John and connie added Bruce to Jace's emergancy contact. other than that they can rot in hell

The nurse looked left and right, almost like she was making sure no one was listening into our conversation before saying "I was outside smoking a cigarette when suddenly this huge white van comes speeding into the ambulance bay. They pushed the boy out of the car not even bothering to slow down or stop." The nurse shook her head. "The police are waiting to question him about who was in the car but like I said the doctor is still with him." she nodded her head to a corner where two policeman were leaning agaisnt the wall. the looked to be bored just standing there a cup of coffee in both of their hands.

Leona's hand balled up into a fist. "leona do you know something?" Bruce asked, His voice was stern and he gave me a look that said 'you better not lie to me' she sighed moving away from the nurse's station and were no one can hear them.

"do you know who did this to him?" Bruce asked sternly.

Leona nodded. she explained everything she knew about the abuse Jace has been going through. She also told them how she stole drugs from Alfred to help Jace. Bruce gave her a disappointed sigh. "we could have helped him Leona, before it went this far." Bruce said. Leona rolled her eyes. "I know that but I couldn't just say 'oh jace trust me you'll be safe from your abusive parents at the manor because my dad is the batman' now could I." Leona snapped. she didn't mean to but she was stressed out. Bruce sighed. "everything is going to be alright Leona. I'll ask Gordan to put out an warrant for John and connies arrest in the meantime he'll come live with us." Leon sighed laying her head on Bruce chest.

"Damian go over and tell the police officer what Leona just told us and make sure they take a report. I wont have them just sweeping this under the rug." Damian nodded before turning and heading over to the police officers. "Family of Jace lovett" an middle age doctor called out into the waiting room.

Leona and Bruce walked over, worry painting her face. "Here" she breathed out. The doctor smiled at her sweetly. "He's a strong young man." she sighed. "he has three fractured ribs, His left was arm broken in two places and his body is just covered in bruises but that is the extant of his injuries but other than that he's going to be ok. He can actually go home today if he'd like" Leona sighed.

"Can we see him?" Leona asked. the doctor nodded "he's a little loopy from the pain killers but yes you can see him. he's in room 2OA" Leona thanked the doctor before leaving to find Jace's room.

Leona has never been so angry before. Angry at herself for not telling Bruce about the abuse and angry at John and connnie for doing this to their son. How can someone be so cruel. "Leona" Jace's voice was low as he called out for her. "Oh Jace" she cried running over to him and throwing herself at his side. leona gasped as Jace let out a groan. Leona stood back up feeling like an idiot for forgetting why jace was laying in this bed in the first place. Two fractured ribs and an broken arm. Leona couldn't imagine the horrors jace had went through only a few hours before.

"sorry" she said, kissing his cheek. Jace let out a low dark laugh as his face turned red. "it's alright, I'm just a little sore" Jace said, pushing Leona's hair, that was still wet, out of her face. Leona glanced at the mirror that was opposite of the small hospital room and flinched at the sight of her hair. Her damp hair stuck to her head on one side while other was sticking in all different directions. She knew the Media was going to have a field day with this; they just couldn't help themselves. Leona sighed, peeling her eyes away from the jagged girl in the mirror and back towords Jace.

Jace eyes seems to be studing the girl infront on him. he seemed to be taking her in; like there was a test about her face and he just had to study for it. "I was so worried" Leona said resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm fine now that you're here" Jace laughed, winking at Leona. Now it was Leona's turn to blush. "Jace--"

"come lay with me" jace asked, his voice low and hoarse. Leona shook her head no. "you're hurt." Leona said, concern written on her face. Jace shrugged, groaning in pain. "just be gentle." Leona eyed Jace, waiting for him to start laughing because he couldn't be serious.

Leona sighed when Jace's face stayed straight and almost emotionless as he stared at her with his sky blue eyes. Eyes that seems to be growing hazier and low by the second. Leona cleared her throat before slowly getting into the small one person bed. The bed was so small that she practically had to lay on top of him, their face so close that their lips almost touched.

"I told my dad about your parents. he said you can come live with us for now on." leona regretted her words the second Jace stiffened beneath her. Jace groaned as he shifted to a more comfortable position. Leona, thinking she was hurting him, tried to jump down from the bed but before she could jace snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her even closer. "you smell good." Jace said, he shoved his nose into her neck and took a beep breath. He was so close that his hot breath tickled her neck when he breathed out making her body become hot with desire.

Leona shook the though away. "Um thanks..." she cleared her throat. "It was wash day." Jace chuckled placing a kiss on her neck before pulling away which she was thankful for. Leona let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding before willing herself to stay calm and focus on Jace.

"You're acting strange J." Leona said, laying her head next to his on his pillow behind them. Jace shrugged "I think I'm done being afraid Lee"

"you'll never have to be afraid again Jace. My family will take care of you, I will take care of you for now on." Leona reasurred. For the first time in her life she understood her brother. The need to protect, to defend flooded her veins. No one was going to hurt them ever again.

Jace looked to be in deep thought, his lips curled downwords in a deep frown. Leona flinched when Jace eyes snapped towords hers. They were dark almost crazyed looking. "You are mine and I am yours" He stated. cupping my cheek with his good hand as his thumb traced my lips. "say it." He demanded. My mouth opened but no words spilled out. "I need to hear you say it" Jace said pulling her face closer; which she didn't think was possible. their lips so close they were almost touching

Jace has never given Leona a reason to fear him; but for some reason she still felt like she was signing a deal with the devil. "I am yours and you are mine." she repeated. Jace smiled a dazed looked in his eyes. Their lips connected in a slow heated kiss. "always and forever." Jace promised.

60 notes · View notes

jaycewrites-192000 · 3 years

Text

You're Grounded Pt. 2

Summery: Smiley and Angry's little sister is still grounded, only this time...things go differently.

Part One Here

Rating: SFW

Pairing(s): Platonic!Nahoya Kawata x Platonic!Little Sister Reader x Platonic!Souya Kawata

(Still no incest my dudes)

Also spoilers for episode 20-21!!

One week had passed, and ever since you were stuck in your room, only allowed to come out to go to school, to eat, and bathroom breaks. Other than that, no luck getting out from your little prison. And you were warned to not sneak out again, or another week would be added. You didn't bother trying, as much as you hate to admit it, your brothers were smarter than they looked. They knew every move you would make and would do everything in their power to stop you.

However, you were allowed to have your phone back. They were s confident that if you were to try and call for backup, they would stop it from happening. You made the best of it though, at least you had someone to talk to now. Emma wanted an explanation as to where you had disappeared to lately and you told her you were grounded, well, double grounded now. When she asked why, you hesitated to tell her. But you did, after she promised not to tell Smiley and Angry of course. She did say that you should tell them why you started that fight in the first place, but...it was a bit more complicated than that.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So, here you were, in your room looking blankly at your door. Every now and then Smiley or Angry, or both of them, would come and check to see if you were still there. Speaking of, your door opened, Angry walked in this time. "Right on time, big brother." You mutter, not bothering to look at him. "Smiley had to run out somewhere real quick. So, I'm gonna stay here until he gets back." He leans against the door after he shut it.

"Whatever." You rolled your eyes. The silence between you two was heavy with tension and awkwardness.

"...Sorry about before. But you really shouldn't have tricked us like that." You didn't respond. "Come on. You're acting childish."

"I am a child dummy. And so are you, so stop acting like your our mother." You glared at him. "Oh, and you wanna talk being childish? You two get into fights every fucking day, and you two rarely ever get punished for it! So how come I get double grounded!?"

"You get double grounded for sneaking out. And you shouldn't be getting into fights at all. As for us, it's different." Angry explained as calmly as he could. "That's bullshit and you know it!" You snapped. "You wouldn't be saying any of this if I were in the same gang as you two!"

"You won't be joining any gangs of any kind!" Angry finally snapped back. It was rare that he would ever raise his voice at you, so you were at a loss for words. Once he saw your shocked face he toned it down. "Just...don't do it again. Please Y/n, you shouldn't be fighting."

And then came more silence. You and Angry never liked whenever there would be a fight between all three of you. But tension had build up ever since you got into that stupid fight. And honestly, you knew that it didn't need to happen but after what happened...after what those jackasses said...What choice did you have?

"Why did you do it anyway?" Angry asks, making you look up from your bed. You opened your mouth to answer, but shut it before looking away again. "Does it really matter?" You asked. "It's done. Nothing I can do about it now."

Before Angry could respond, Smiley walked in. "Heeey, she try to get out again?" He asked. "No..." Angry shook his head. "But she's hiding something." You shot him a glare. "Oh, so we're telling lies now?"

"I don't know, are we?" Angry turned to his brother. "When has Y/n ever started a fight? She rarely gets into fights, and normally she isn't the one to start some shit." Smiley nods his head at his brother's words. "That's a good point. So, wanna talk to us like a big girl?"

"No. Get out." You tell them sternly. "Too bad!" Smiley hopped on your bed and sat beside you. "Better start talking sis."

"Or what?" You challenged. Smiley's grin deepened. "Or else your double grounding will turn into a triple grounding." He tells you. "What!? How's that fair!?" Smiley shrugs. "Just is. Now spill." You resisted the urge to slug your annoying peach hair older brother in the jaw before sighing heavily. "You really wanna know? Fine. I started that fight because some asshole was talking shit about you two! Happy?"

Smiley and Angry looked at each other before turning back to you. "You started a fight because of that?" Angry asks. You furrow your brow in frustration. "It's more than that...they called you guys a smiling freak and a whinny crybaby. They also talked shit about Toman. And when I confronted them about it...they said I couldn't do a thing without my brothers there to protect me...that I was just a weak little girl who needed to stay out of other's way...So, I punched their lights out." You didn't notice you were crying until the end of it.

"I wouldn't have hit them if they would have just apologized and kept their mouths shut." You say with a sniffle. It was quiet until Smiley started laughing. "Man! You went and defended ours and Toman's honor? You really are the best little sister." He pets your head. "Huh?" You look up at him confused. "That was nice of you Y/n, but you didn't need to get hurt over us." Angry made his way over to you.

"W-well they were hurt way more than me." You told him. "I handled it didn't I?"

"Yes but, still. You're safety matters to us way more than a few insults thrown at us. Next time that happens, tell us."

"Yeah! We'll beat the fuck out of them so you don't get in trouble like you did." Smiley added. "Don't be like your dumbass older brothers Y/n. You're going places you know? Don't waste it on fighting like a gangster."

"But you guys are in a gang..." You mutter. "Don't get any ideas Y/n." Said Smiley, despite his smile, he was serious. "We wouldn't know what to do if you were hurt or worse. Just be our tough little sis outside of a gang ok?" You pout slightly but nod anyway. You did consider joining Toman, somehow. Your brothers inspired you in more than one way, and being in a gang was one of them. Not just any gang, a real gang. "The new age of delinquents" as Mikey put it.

It sounded so cool when you heard about it, and you wanted so desperately to be by your brothers side when it finally happens. But it wasn't always cool and badass, after Darken nearly dying and Baji's death, it dawned on you just how dangerous joining a gang could be. And Smiley and Angry be damned if they let their little sister be murdered and they couldn't prevent it.

You didn't know Draken and Baji on a personal level like everyone else in Touman did, but they were so kind to you whenever you were around. Baji even joked that you were like Toman's little sister. His death left a hole in the hearts of Toman, including yours...

"I won't get into anymore fights, but you guys have to promise me something too." Smiley and Angry waited for your word. "Promise me...that you'll be careful and promise me, you guys won't leave us like Baji did..."

The next thing you knew, your brothers were enveloping you in their embrace. "And leave you all alone? No way in hell." Smiley said softly. "We're not going anywhere." Said Angry. You sniffled but managed to smile. "Good. I might say I don't want you around, but you guys are all I got. So ignore me whenever I might say it again, ok?"

"Sure thing." Smiley chuckled. "Oh by the way, you're ungrounded."

You perk up. "Double ungrounded?"

"Yep. Double ungrounded. But you better not go start shit with anyone again, got it?"

"Got it." You giggle.

"Good. Now let's get out of here. I bet you're bored right?" Smiley asked as the three of you left your room. "Bored as fuck."

"There's a new arcade that just opened up. Should we go there?" Angry asked. " Hell yeah!" You and Smiley say in unison.

You still have no idea how you got so lucky as to get ungrounded like you did, but you had a feeling your brothers were never going to punish you as harshly as they did before.

Maybe...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(So I was thinking of making like a little kawata sister series? Idk how well that would play out or how it will be done/written but yeah, stay tuned if that interests you)

#nahoya kawata x reader #nahoya kawata #souya kawata x reader #souya kawata #smiley x reader #smiley tokyo revengers #angry x reader #angry tokyo revengers #tokyo rev x reader #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers

304 notes · View notes

sweetbitterimpossiblecreature · 3 years

Text

A Brief And Concise Summary Of Is Wrong With The ACOTAR Series

I think we can agree that a lot of ACOTAR is pretty iffy. Consider this a very brief refresher.

What's Wrong With Feyre/Rhysand (juxtaposed against Feyre/Tamlin)

Rhysand drugs and sexually assaults her in Book 1

This is "for her own good". Because he "has no choice". Despite the fact that, from what we know of the plot, Amarantha thinks that Clare Beddor was the one Rhysand was diddling, and is only interested in Feyre because Rhysand, "her" man male, has taken an interest in her.

If we extrapolate from this we can figure that Rhysand is the one directly putting her into danger.

Now, let's be clear: drugging someone is bad. Sexually assaulting someone is bad. One could argue there were extenuating circumstances. But if, in such a situation, what your mind goes to is "I know, I should assault this person... for their safety" I have questions about your moral qualities. There were a million things he could have done. He could have done whatever he did to Clare - that is, remove her ability to feel any pain - easily. He could have helped her escape. Under The Mountain, he - while still there unwillingly - has a lot of power, as Amarantha's side piece. Maybe this would have resulted in him being punished- however, he is hundreds of years old and a badass motherfucker, and she is a nineteen year old human girl.

Now, onto Tamlin. Obviously not a lot of people really ship F/T anymore after ACOMAF, because compared to F/R, it's boring. I read another person's post about it, which was very enlightening: they said that Feyre's personality is essentially a mirror. When she is with Rhysand, she's snarky and malicious- because she is "bouncing off" his energy. When she's with Mor she's super feminist and "in awe of her strength". On the other hand, Tamlin is kind of an empty character. He's a pretty boy with anger issues, which should be more interesting than it is. SJM manages to make him bland. Because Feyre has nothing to bounce off of, (a lot of this is from the person's post), she and Tamlin together is mainly just him introducing her to his world.

What Tamlin Does: prevents a skinny twenty year old from going on dangerous missions with him and combat-trained soldiers, accidentally blows up a room with her in it, and, at the end, prevents her from leaving the house.

This is not a Tamlin apologist post. Obviously it was really fucking gross of him to do that, and their relationship was toxic. However, a lot of his abuse stems from their inability to communicate, as well as own negligence. He does not knowingly and purposefully sexually assault her or rape her mind. And tbh, leaving a girl without combat training at home while he goes on missions with a bunch of muscled sentries is... kind of reasonable?

Again: not a Tamlin apologist post. It was abuse. However, if Rhysand is "allowed" to sexually assault, mind-rape, and drug Feyre "for her own safety", why is Tamlin demonized for preventing her from leaving his mansion "for her own safety"?

Another pertinent point: Rhys is never punished for sexually assaulting her. It is brushed off as part of his "mask" or that his hand was forced. Jesus Christ my dudes, his hand was not forced under her skirt. If he has to maintain his gross rapist abuser tyrant oppressor mask... why? Who did that benefit beside him? None of his actions remotely helped Prythian. They were done solely for his buddies - five people safe in a rich hidden city - and no one else, which is explicitly stated.

Finally, the power dynamic is fucked up. Feyre is less than twenty five years old. Rhysand is 500. There is a tendency in fantasy romance to romanticize a centuries year old man with a young girl, because the man does not show symptoms of age, and so it is easily ignorable. However, can we just briefly acknowledge how fucked up it is? Rhys is over five times older than Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and other known predators/abusers. She is twenty. That is really fucking gross. She is in a vulnerable position and he takes rampant advantage of that.

If he had wrinkles, liver problems, and erectile dysfunction, more people would acknowledge it.

Let's be clear: I'm not saying writing a book with an uneven power dynamic is automatically bad. For example, in The Locked Tomb series, which is in my opinion THE BEST FANTASY SERIES THAT HAS GRACED THIS EARTH (lol i'm starting fires), one main character Harrowhark Nonagesimus is in a position of power over Gideon Nav, the other main character. However, this is not glossed over or romanticized. Gideon resents Harrow for this- there is a relationship of mutual antagonism, fraught with unwilling familiarity and intimacy from growing up together. They are roughly the same age. While there is a certain power dynamic (in that world, there is a dynamic of necromancer and cavalier, i.e. sorcerer and sword) the "empowered" character (Harrow) emphatically respects her and does not abuse this power, although both would of course deny this, and she does make a show of threatening and being aloof. In short, while Gideon obeys her, Gideon also has power over Harrow, and the idea of what is essentially slavery is not romanticized.

Feyre Doesn't Face Any Consequences For Her Own Actions

Let me present a radical notion: a guy preventing you from leaving his house does not justify completely fucking ruining his country and harming the people inside it.

In other words: Tamlin does not deserve what she did to him.

I know that sounds iffy. We're conditioned to think that if someone is an abuser, then they are the scum of the earth, they deserve to die, torturing/murdering/doing anything to them is completely A-OK. However, here's another radical notion: someone harming you does not justify you doing worse.

Obviously, the effects of psychological abuse can cause you to hurt other people (see: Nesta), but Feyre deliberately and maliciously (oh, God, that insufferable POV of her in Spring Court; she reads like a cartoonish Disney villain) dismantles his country. She uses sexual manipulation (Lucien), torture (causing the sentry to be whipped), and mind-rape (who didn't she do this to? lol).

A summary of the entire first half of ACOWAR: "It smelled like roses. I hated roses. For this capital offense against my olfactory system, Tamlin and the entire Spring Court deserved to burn in hell. I knew exactly what I was doing. I smiled at him sweetly: no longer a doe, but a wolf. He didn't see my fangs.............." *aesthetic noises*

Man. I'm starting to think SJM had a horrible experience at a Bath & Body Works and took it out on the rest of us. Don't do it, Sarah!! I know Pink Chiffon and Triple Berry Martini are way too strong, but don't take it out on an innocent population!!

She steals from Summer Court (there are, yk, other solutions to theft. Like maybe asking politely) and ruins Spring Court. Her boyfriend - yeesh sorry, MATE - does nothing while a dozen Winter Court children are murdered.

Now: moral ambiguity is not automatically bad. Again using The Locked Tomb as an example, in the second book (spoiler alert), Harrowhark has a sort of moral ambiguity. She was raised from the beginning to worship the King Undying as God, and so she obeys him without question. Because of this, she commits a lot of crimes in His name: she "flips" - i.e. kills - the life force of planets, and she plots murder (albeit the murder of someone who tried to kill her first). There is no attempt to justify this. There is also no attempt to paint her as a virtuous and yet also badass Madonna figure. She is desperate, plagued with the "wreck of herself", and the book clearly displays her moral pitfalls. While her POV is of course colored by her mindset, it also is limited by her lack of information, and we as readers can acknowledge that.

BACK TO ACOTAR: Feyre is seen by everyone as gorgeous, formidable, and essentially perfect. Rhys sees her as flawless, "made for him", wonderful, beautiful, blah blah blah. (THEY ARE SO BAD FOR EACH OTHER; THEY EXCUSE AND GLORIFY EACH OTHER'S CRIMES, IT'S SO BAD, GUYYYS). Tamlin is insanely batshit in love with her, or whatever. To the Night Court she's the High Lady. In this way she personifies the Mary Sue character. (Excerpt from the TV Tropes page on Mary Sues: "She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing. She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story. The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her as one of their True Companions, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting; if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal." Sound familiar?)

There is the Ourobous scene. And yet, paradoxically, while presented as an acknowledgment of her flaws, it is in fact a rejection of them. She sees her own brutality... and instead of recognizing that she has these deep, deep moral flaws and realizing that she needs to grow and be better, she in fact "accepts" them.

Guys: Self love means: "I'm important to me, so I'm going to get a massage today after work", or "heck, why not splurge on some expensive lotion, you only live once" or "you know what? I had a tough day today. I'm going to get that strawberry cupcake". SELF LOVE DOES NOT MEAN "oh, I accept all the war crimes I have done, I love myself". LOVING YOURSELF DOES NOT MEAN ABSOLVING YOURSELF OF ALL WRONGDOING.

It's this refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing that is so grating about ACOTAR. It's so goddamn one-sided. And you can tell that after Book 1, SJM decided to completely change the trajectory simply because of how jarring Book 2 reads compared to the first one.

Also: Feyre is a very, very young girl (compared to the other ruling fey) who did not know how to read for the majority of her life. She has no experience whatsoever in politics. Her being High Lady is not a win for feminism.

Rhysand: He Sucks

First, he is 500 years old. He should be written as such, not as some 20 year old virile frat boy feminist. Fantasy is all the more compelling for its elements of realism, which is a concept that SJM does not appear to grasp.

Second of all, his morals are absurd. He is written as the Second Coming of Christ, as someone who can do no wrong, ever, and his flaws only serve to make Feyre love him more. Anything shitty he does is written as part of his "mask" and she can See Beneath It and knows that it "hurts" him to maintain this "mask".

Fellas, WHY DOES HE HAVE TO MAINTAIN THIS MASK???? There is no reason for it. If A) he does not give a shit about Court of Nightmares (we'll get back to that), only about Velaris, and B) Velaris is hidden/protected from the world, what is he pretending for?

It would not hurt him politically to be seen as someone who cares about his country.

"Pretending" to be "Amarantha's whore" does not in any way shape or form benefit the macro-world that is Prythian. In Amarantha's name, he commits atrocities. He commits war crimes; he systemically oppresses entire societies. It doesn't even really benefit Velaris, because Velaris is already hidden.

Let me put this in a real-world perspective. This would be like if Donald Trump was suddenly like: "I know I was a shitty president but IT WAS ALL PART OF MY MASK, WHICH WAS TO PROTECT THIS MICROCOSM OF PRIVILEGED PEOPLE THAT I CARE ABOUT". Like: okay? Sorry, or whatever, but I don't actually give a shit. What about the parents of the children who died? What about Clare Beddor? What about the people who were held in slavery, murdered, tortured?

Rhysand: omg it sucks that my cousin Mor was oppressed by this toxic misogynistic culture from the Court of Nightmares.

Also Rhysand: lol whatever, who gives a shit about Court of Nightmares. They all suck. They meanie. Lol what did you say? That there might be other girls just like Mor who are oppressed by this system? Lol whatever. I can't do anything, I gotta maintain my Mask. I gotta sit on this throne and show the entire Court that not respecting women is completely okay.

In summary: by parading Feyre around as his "whore" (!!) he demonstrates by example that it is completely okay for the Court of Nightmares to abuse their women.

A good ruler cares about all his people. Rhysand cares about a tiny tiny fraction of his people: those who were fortunate enough to be born into Velaris.

God, I'm exhausted. Onto Nesta:

The only character who successfully breaks the Mary Sue effect Feyre exerts on her people is Nesta. Her POV for the first half is a joy to read.

Obviously it sucks that Nesta was a huge bitch to Feyre for the beginning of her childhood. However, it was wrong for Rhysand to threaten her- he is a man male with a huge insane amount of power, and it is not okay for him to threaten to bring the brunt of it down on a young girl because she was a bitch to his girlfriend.

I've seen a lot of discourse on the morality of F/R sending her out of Velaris. Here is my two cents:

It was okay for them to cut her off of their money. If they don't want to enable her self-harm, that is their choice. Again, it's their money, even if it wasn't fairly earned (Rhysand born into an enormous fortune).

It was not okay for them to banish her from Velaris with the implication that she was an embarrassment. Let me explain.

If Rhysand and Feyre are talking to her as sister/brother-in-law, then that is that. They have the complete right to express disapproval and try to help. However, they should not be using their royal privilege against her.

If they are talking to her as ruler to subject, then they have the power to banish her from the city. However, a ruler would not give a shit about a random subject getting drunk and having sex. So, they should not be talking her about her problems as a ruler to subject.

I've heard it compared to her being sent to rehab. However, rehab is a system designed to help people with certain problems. It has specialized medical centers and involves therapy. Nesta gets her life threatened multiple times. It is not rehab.

In summary: why did SJM inflict this upon us. Throne of Glass was actually good! GAHHH! After the first few books she completely whipped around and introduced the idea of males and mates and fey and that C is actually A and the quality took a huge nosedive. Sigh.

Final horrible but unmistakable truth: The entire ACOTAR series reads like a bad A/B/O fic. I hate to say it but it's true. We're lucky there were no heat cycles. OH WAIT

#anti sjm #anti rhysand #anti acotar #anti acofas #anti acomaf #anti everything #anti feyre #to some extent #mentioned: the locked tomb #mentioned: gideon the ninth #mentioned: harrowhark nonagesimus #anti #strongly anti #pan-int #that's my ao3 tag!#meta #my post

244 notes · View notes

infernalrevenge · 3 years

Note

HCs abt an S/O of Lady D's who's struggling to get her daughters' approval? It's rarely addressed in fanfics, but y'all.. becoming a stepparent is a hard and frustrating journey, especially when mama and kids have such tight bonds. Makes small wins feel so rewarding, tho! What are your thoughts on that? How would D react, how would she help? (or make it harder, in true possessive Mother Hen™ fashion..) Which flybaby would warm up to S/O first? How would S/O try to win each of them over, etc..?

Oooh this is a really cool thought! Not that I have a lot of experience with stepparents but yeah, changes and adjustments in family dynamics like that can't be easy. I think I'm gonna have some fun with this.

When the Dimitrescu sisters found out you were the human dating their mother, at first they were mostly indifferent. Not like it's their business as to who Alcina gets it on with anyway (and they could also be thinking you would quickly turn to lunch if you fuck up badly enough, in which case they would gladly join her in the feast.)

They might quip with you sometimes, but for the most part, you're left alone.

But when they realized you were here to stay and might become a parental figure in their life... oh boy.

You're telling them they have to answer to you now? A mere mortal? On what grounds? Just because you have sex with their mom? They think the fuck not.

Hell, they're individually old enough to be your parent, so truly... what the fuck?

(Part of that fear of you joining the family may come from thinking that Alcina now has someone else to preoccupy herself with, so there's less time for them. Perhaps even less love for them. They can't have that. That can't happen.)

As for your partner's reaction? She's kind of torn. On one hand, she understands how her daughters feel about having a new family member suddenly join the dynamic -- someone they barely know relative to each other. You could have been around for a few years, but they've been all together for more than half a century, and they're doing just fine.

On the other, she wants to see you all getting along. She loves you and wants you to be a part of her life, and of course she also loves her daughters with all her heart.

She's not really sure what to do, so she kind of... ends up not doing anything.

But she is curious as to what you'll do about the situation though, since the sisters would hardly make it a secret that your presence is an annoyance at best, completely unwanted and unwelcome at worst.

Bela, surprisingly, might be the hardest to win over. You would think that, as the eldest, she should be the one to lead by example and be the mature one. Plus, she's always looking for her mother's approval, so approving of you may get her on her good side (and yours.)

But she's very opposed to change, especially one that affects her life this much when it's not her choice.

She lets Cassandra and Daniela get away with pulling harmless pranks on you to get under your skin, or make Alcina mad at you. She pretends to not have a direct hand in them and would passive-aggressively remark on whatever they did.

Oh, your clothes were misplaced and looking for new ones made you late to a date with the Lady? "None of them were very nice anyway. This is doing you a favor."

You found dog poop under your bed and now you reek? "I don't smell that much of a difference."

Getting doused in sticky honey and molasses somehow? "At least Mother has a reason to think you're sweet now."

They would never do anything to hurt you, not unless they want to incur their mother's wrath or sadness, just... little things (hopefully enough to get you to leave.)

But luckily, if you're a patient and persistent person, they (ever so) slowly warm up to you in different ways.

The most important thing to remember is that they're different people despite having a lot of things in common, so your manner of approaching them will have to vary for each sister.

Daniela might be the easiest to win over, such a sociable little fly. She might try to be standoffish at first, but if you bring up a book series that she enjoys reading as a topic for conversation, she can and will keep you there for hours talking about the characters, dissecting certain themes, and explaining her theories of the inner machinations of the plot.

If you actually start reading it upon her recommendation, she becomes ecstatic. Finally, someone other than her sisters she can explain these theories to! And someone who can actually relate and add on to them!

Eventually, she'll come to realize that having you around won't mean the end of their family. It just means they're getting more out of it -- a new member to love, and one who loves them.

Cassandra might be a little territorial about her current interests, so you'll have to take on a different approach.

Maybe try introducing her to something that peripherally matches what she likes now. She seems to really like hunting and torture to take her aggression out on, so uh... maybe try martial arts?

It would be more fun if it was something the both of you were new at, so you could bond over attempting to do things together. Nothing says "I want to get to know my stepdaughter better" like letting her throw you to the mat and laugh in excitement when she gets the technique right.

She is still very stubborn though, so she may take a while to fully convince. Even when it seems like you're on her good side, there's a tiny bit of denial. But she'll come around, no matter how reluctant.

Finally, as for Bela, she just needs to see that, though most of her family now genuinely likes you, that it doesn't have to change a thing about how they feel about her either. They're not going to abandon her or anything that drastic just because someone new has entered their lives.

Seeing her sisters approve of you can be jarring, no matter how long or gradual the process may have been. Like, weren't they switching out your shampoos and putting snakes in your closet last year? Why is everyone buddy buddy now? (Why are they leaving her behind?)

She'll start to act bitter toward everyone, feeling like she's been betrayed and shut herself away. She doesn't even want to see her own mother anymore.

But eventually, you have to talk to Alcina to do something too -- she could see you were making an effort, but she's not making it clear to her daughters what exactly was happening. She should be the first to approach Bela regarding the subject, along with her sisters.

You may need some time alone with her as well to drive the point home too. Having more people in the family doesn't mean less love, but in fact it means more, because now you're there to care for her too.

And she has to admit that seeing her mother care for you, having her sisters like you, it didn't really feel like they were any different towards her. They were more insistent in getting her to spend time with you, sure, but other than that... things were mostly the same.

The acceptance may be begrudging at first, but when she actually gets used to this new norm, she'll come around.

If you want to bond with her, you can teach her something. She likes learning new things, and she'll start to warm up to you more if she has reason to keep going to you to get this new information.

It can be anything -- music, arts, sports, cooking, you name it. Even introducing her to new technology will help get on her good side. You'd be surprised at how quickly she gets into it that you start to wonder why it was so hard to get her to like you in the first place.

Also, just talk to her. As a person, as your new daughter, whatever. Just acknowledge her and be honest. She appreciates the little things.

All in all, it's going to be tough. The journey will have its ups and downs, and not everything is going to be smooth sailing. Communication is key, though, as with any sort of relationship. Let the girls know you care for them just as much as you love and care for their mother. In a way, that's all they really want.

But they're not calling you "mom/dad/parental unit". First name basis with a stepparent (affectionate) all the way.

235 notes · View notes

slasherhaven · 4 years

Note

I just found your account, so hi!! Could I request some HCs for slashers (whatever you’re feeling up to) with an s/o who struggles with homicidal thoughts? Thank you in advance! 💖

The Slashers with a S/O who struggles with homicidal thoughts:

Thomas Hewitt

Super protective. He doesn’t like it at all. He will never feel any differently towards you, he’ll always adore you, but it’s dangerous, you could get hurt and he can’t risk that. But if you decide that this is something that you just have to do, he will try to understand. When the next group rolls in, you can have one to handle, but he isn’t leaving your side just in case something goes wrong. He’s also just there for you if you need some support and comfort when you’re dealing with these horrible thoughts.

New duties. If you go through with the kill and decide this is something you can keep doing, Hoyt is foing to use it against you and tell you that you can help deal with vitcims now. But, on the positive side, Thomas is less reluctant to have you down in the basement with him. And that means more time with your man!

Michael Myers

A little too encouraging. Michael knows you and he knows that you aren’t like him. But if you’re having these thoughts, maybe you understand him more than he thought. He doesn’t care if you kill someone, it won’t change how he feels about you. He’s an enabler.

Date night? Would you like him to take you with him one night? You’ll be able to get a better feel for what it’s actually like to see someone die and to kill someone. He’ll even let you use his knife if you want to give it a go. This is all a very generous offer coming from Michael sooooo do with that what you will.

Jason Voorhees

He is worried about you. Now, he isn’t a hypocrite. He knows that he couldn’t judge you for your thought when he does all the things that he does, but he’s worried about your well being. If the thoughts distress you, he wants to help you. If you plan on going through with some of those thoughts, he’s worried you’ll get hurt.

A controlled environment. He might not like it but if this is something that you really need to do, he will try to be supportive. You can help him defend the camp. You can indulge your thoughts where you are safe, where he can watch and protect you.

Brahms Heelshire

You? His sweet nanny? He’s more surprised than anything. You’re so kind and sweet to him. How could somebody so caring and nurturing have these kind of thoughts.

You aren’t alone. His thoughts are...different. But we all know that he isn’t the most mentally stable, he has darker thoughts. He can be violent and lash out but never with you. He trusts that your thoughts won’t ever be directed at him. That the two of you can share your struggles and help each other cope. Neither of you have to be ashamed around each other.

Bo Sinclair

Feels more understood. He would never admit it but he always wonders what you think of what he does, if it bothers you or not. Maybe you understand him and his own struggles more than he thought. Was this why you don’t judge him for what he does?

Well, if you ever want to give him a hand. Bo is open to letting you help him with the people who try to pass through the town. He’s still very careful with it, not wanting you to be put in any unnecessary danger. He’ll be right by your side, holding your hand through it all. If you want to back out at anytime, you let him know and he’ll take care of it. After that, he will keep you away from all this nasty stuff in the future.

Vincent Sinclair

He had conflicting thoughts. He’s not going to judge you too hard, he’s just worried about you. He knows that what he and his brothers did wasn’t good but he thought that you were...but you had these thoughts so what was he supposed to think? Is that why you seemed so comfortable here? Did he not have to be ashamed about the things he did...at least not with you.

You can be his assistant. He’s always tried to keep you away from the workroom when he had a victim in there but maybe you would enjoy being there with him. He’d make the offer, it’s totally up to you to accept. He reminds you multiple times that you can leave whenever you want if you decide that these these are best kept just as thoughts.

Lester Sinclair

Who is he to judge? It’s not like he and his brothers are upstanding members of society and who doesn’t have their vices? You’re still you and he still loves you. If you just need some acceptance and comfort, he’s on it. If you maybe want to explore those thoughts, he’ll be there for you.

He’ll take you into town. Where better than to explore all these thoughts than Ambrose? You can talk to Bo about helping out. Next time a group of unsuspecting people come by, Lester will take you with him and you can be his partner. He just wants to help you in whatever way you need to to.

Bubba Sawyer

Are you okay?! Bubba could never judge you for your thoughts considering what his family does but he’s worried about the thoughts upsetting you. If they do upset you, he will be eager to comfort you. If you aren’t upset by them and would actually like to act on them, he’ll be supportive but silently fretting about you being in a dangerous situation.

Officially a Sawyer! If you do act on these thoughts, the whole family is supportive of you. Look at you, you’re taking on their traits, you’re helping to provide for the family. Even Drayton considers you family at this point.

Billy Lenz

Relates to your struggle. Billy understands, he’s had some...concerning thoughts as well, but you know all about that. He would never judge you for this because you had always been so accepting to him.

Supporting each other. You have been a miracle to him, replacing those thoughts with something more positive. You make those thoughts fade and he hopes that he can do the same for you. No matter what, the two of you are there to support each other when you’re struggling, you taught him that.

Asa Emory (The Collector)

Will take you to the hotel. You know of the place but have only visited rarely. It’s dangerous and not for the faint of heart, so he likes to keep you away from it. But with this new information, he’s more willing to get you familiar with it. He’s surprised by your confession but in the end knows he can’t be too judgmental, he’s actually interested in how this will play out.

Eases you into it. He’ll show you around, show you his collection, show you a victim he is already holding. He’ll let you watch him work, reminding you that if you want to back out, you have to say so. He can’t help if you don’t speak up. But once you’re standing at the table, knife in hand, him right behind you, he reminds you that it’s now or never. Do you really have the stomach for it?

Jesse Cromeans (Chromeskull)

Supportive. He’s not going to freak out or think differently of you. This is interesting and he wants to explore it further with you. Unless the thoughts distress you, then he will worry and he won’t push you to act on them.

Accompanying him on his ‘business trip’. If you do want to act on those thoughts, you’re coming along with him this time. Even if you normally travel with him, you’ll be playing a part in his ‘work’ this time. He’ll even let you watch some of his tapes so you can prepare yourself for what you’re going to be experiencing. If right then you decide that you can’t do this, that’s perfectly fine. But if you’re still okay to go through with this, Jesse will bring you a victim himself, subduing them so that your first kill can be easy. He doesn’t want to risk your wellbeing at all. He’s right there the whole time and you can back out at any moment, he’ll just deal with them instead.

Otis Driftwood

Want to give it a try? It’s a genuine question, not one to pressure you. Otis knows that this isn’t for everyone and that homicidal thoughts are very different to actually killing somebody. If you want to explore it, he’s super supportive, but if not that’s fine too. He’s oddly...patient about the whole thing.

Proud. If you go through with the kiss and it turns out that you enjoyed it, he is just so proud of you. Look at you, fitting right into the family. It also reaffirms to him that you are happy with him. You’re fucked like the rest of the family, still better than him, but it looks like the two of you were just made for him.

Baby Firefly

What are you waiting for?! Why did you say something sooner! The two of you could have been killing together all this time! She wants to hear every grizzly detail of your thoughts. She is the biggest enabler but reluctantly understands if you don’t want to actually make these thoughts real. But you know where to find her if you change your mind!

Victim shopping. Baby will make a night of it. The two of you heading out with the intention of bringing a victim or two home. She wants you to pick your first kill, this is a big deal! And if you decide you don’t want to kill anyone, you can help her bring her choice back.

Yautja (Predator)

Isn’t quick to judge. His race is known for being ultimate predators, killers, so he’s not going to demonise you over some thoughts. Talk to him, help him understand what you’re struggling with, he is here to help you and support you.

Will train you. If you wish to explore these thoughts in a more...realistic setting. He will help you. He’ll teach you how to focus those thoughts on something more worthy, how to hunt worthy kills and avoid hurting anyone who’s innocent. Will teach you their honour code and how killing can both bring you honour or bring you dishonour. He’ll guide you through it all.

1K notes · View notes

plus-size-reader · 3 years

Text

Engaged

Not Really Goodbye pt.2

Peeta Mellark x Plus size!reader

Word Count:1692 words

Warnings: none

Summary: Peeta having to explain his engagement to you, the woman he loves

Part 1

——————————————————————————————————

Marrying Katniss hadn’t been Peeta’s idea.

Quite frankly, none of this was his idea to start with; not pretending to be together, lying to everyone he cared about, not getting engaged, not going on the tour. It was all stuff he’d been dragged into without even meaning to.

Unfortunately though, that didn’t make it any easier to explain the whole engagement thing to you.

This whole thing was too complicated to just break down, too dangerous to get out of, and even if he wanted to try, Peeta knew the truth. It was too late to get out now, no matter what he did.

Still, it would break your heart, just as it was currently breaking his.

Ever since the two of you were children, you assumed that you would end up being together. You had been inseparable all your lives, never going too far without the other, and your mother often joked that there were no better friends in the world.

That much had always been true.

It wasn’t until you got a bit older that you started really thinking about the possibility that there may never be no two people better suited for one another than you and Peeta were.

He understood you in a way that no one else ever had and being with him was as easy as breathing. By this time in your lives, you were sure that you would end up married, living on a farm somewhere.

Though, clearly, you’d been a fool to believe that.

News of the engagement reached you and the rest of the districts before Peeta and Katniss could even make it back, which meant that he couldn’t explain. All you could do was listen to the broadcasts and try to put the pieces together yourself.

Naturally, it hurt to imagine that everything you’d come to believe was a lie. However, you weren’t shocked that he would rather marry her.

She was incredible.

In all this time since he’d been whisked away to compete in the games, you could see just how much they had bonded. The games were broadcasted all over Panem and you would have had to have been blind to miss it.

Not only was Katniss a fellow victor, and the only other person who had shared experiences with him, but she was also stunningly beautiful and wonderfully strong.

It was something you could have never hoped to compete with.

You only wished, in your wildest dreams, that you could be like her if not for yourself than for his affections.

You wanted nothing more than for Peeta to look at you in the way that he looked at her, like the world started and ended with her, like every action from her could halt his existence entirely.

She had a power of him that you foolishly thought you had, before he went off to the Capital, but that was never going to happen.

You knew Peeta well enough to know that.

That was exactly why, when he did show up at your door trying to explain, you turned him away. If he loved her, and she made him happy, then you wanted him to be with her.

You didn’t want him to feel the need to apologize, which you assumed he was trying to do when he showed up outside your house.

Knowing Peeta, he just didn’t want to hurt you, didn’t want there to be any hard feelings between the two of you. If that was all he needed, there was no need for you to talk it over, you understood exactly what was happening.

You knew a man in love when you saw one, and you didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

For whatever reason though, Peeta was adamant over what he wanted. He wanted to explain himself, and he needed to talk to you. This was all a huge misunderstanding, and he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he didn’t tell you the truth.

...And, at a certain point, you knew that you were going to have to hear him out. At the end of the day, you cared about Peeta and whatever it was that was so important, you knew that it wouldn’t hurt to hear what it was he needed.

“Peeta, I already told you, I get it” you huffed, opening your door to find him standing there again, waiting for the off chance that you would come out.

You had no idea what he was thinking, but there was one thing you knew for sure. He was going to freeze to death if he stood out here any longer.

“No, you really don’t. Please just let me explain” he begged, hoping that for the third time, you would hear him out. He just kept coming here, asking to see you, and each time he was met with the same answer.

Either you weren’t home, or you weren’t going to answer.

“Come in” you sighed finally, opening the door wide enough for him to pass through. It was clear that he wasn’t going to let this go anytime soon.

You were doing your best to just save face, to keep him from seeing how much it had upset you, but you had started to accept it. You were coming to terms with what it would mean, with the fact of the matter, Peeta was going to get married.

Peeta was going to get married, and he wasn’t going to get married to you.

That was just what was happening and there was no use fighting it. If you could understand that, you didn’t get why it was so hard for him.

It seemed simple enough.

“Katniss and I are getting married, but it isn’t because I want to” he grumbled, rubbing his hands together lightly as he started to explain, doing his best to gather his thoughts. It wasn’t until he was in the heat of your home that he realized just how cold it had been, the warm air nipping at his skin.

You nodded, having heard this all before. You felt like you knew, felt like you understood what was going on, but Peeta was far from finished.

This wasn’t about him and Katniss, it wasn’t about a wedding, this was about the two of you and nothing more.

“What are you talking about? Why would you be getting married if you don't want to?” you asked, sitting down beside him on the couch, trying your best to wrap your head around what he was saying.

It didn’t make any sense to you.

For what reason, other than the fact that you loved someone, would you get married? Besides, you saw the way he looked at her while they were in that arena, you knew that he must love her.

That was all you needed to be married.

That was more than most of the people of twelve had and they made it work. Your relationships were formed mostly for survival, and in a desperate attempt to form some kind of life with what you’d been given.

“This is bigger than it seems, but I promise I can explain” he tried, gingerly resting his hand on your knee as he tried to make this work. You weren’t sure that you believed it, but it wouldn’t kill you to give him a chance to make you believe.

So, you settled in for one of the most complicated stories of all your life. Evidently, the events of the games, and what had happened in the capital, was bigger than you could have ever assumed.

It was bigger than both of you.

The more Peeta explained, the more you put together in your head, the more you understood. Of course he had to marry her, if he didn’t, there was no telling what Snow would do.

He had already threatened all of Katniss’ family and you were sure that he’d done the same to Peeta.

There was a chance they would kill you, if this didn’t go the way they wanted, and for Peeta, that was the worst thing that could happen. In all your lives, he’d only ever really had you and if something happened to you, he’d have nothing left.

You were the one. You were the one who came to check on him the night before the reaping, who combed his hair on the day of so he would look nice. You were the only one to come see him before he left for the games.

Every time he needed someone, it was always you there, waiting for him.

If he didn’t have you, Peeta didn’t have anything.

He hated the idea of doing this, of getting married to a woman who wasn’t you, of putting you through this but in the big picture, it was better than losing you. It was better than having to go through life knowing that you died because of a choice he made.

Having to do that would kill him.

It was difficult enough that the two of them had to lie to the world, that he and Katniss didn’t really care for one another in that way. Adding another element, or another person, in your case, would be far too much.

He hated this, but if it was what he had to do to keep you safe, Peeta wasn’t going to apologize for that. You were too important to risk, for any reason.

“I’m so sorry Y/N, I really am. I just don’t have a choice” he huffed, using up all his breath in a hurried attempt to get everything he needed to get out before you started drawing your own conclusions.

...But you didn’t need him to say sorry.

You understood why he was going to do it.

Backing out of the wedding could end all of your lives and as much as you loved him, nothing was worth that. Similarly to Peeta, you figured that a life without him, knowing that he was alive, would be better than one where he died trying to be with you.

It was hardly a fairy tale, but real life rarely was.

338 notes · View notes

ushidoux · 4 years

Text

Be My Last - Iwaizumi x Reader

Summary: You have trouble getting over a past relationship and it’s preventing you from moving forward. (~3.5k words)

Warnings: stubborn ass reader, very slight nsfw at the end

A/N: It took me a long time to write this because I have trouble with fluff and also trouble with characterizing Iwa lmfao, I might need a second watch. I hope you enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

Part 1|| Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5

---

“Are you serious?! Are you really saying no to this face?”

Your best friend was now leaning so far across the fast food dining table that she had practically climbed on top of it, holding up her phone just inches from your face to force you to take a better look at the picture of the blind date she had arranged for you.

Your eyes crossed uncomfortably by reflex and you pulled back sharply to grab the phone from her and take a better look. On second glance, you had to admit that the guy standing next to Oikawa was quite good-looking, a couple inches shorter but with a sturdier build, sharper features and just enough scowl in his facial expression to intrigue you.

In fact, he was exactly your type.

“Just one date,” your friend insisted. “You’ve been pining over your ex for almost a year now! You don’t have to fall in love but maybe a small distraction? Plus, double dates would be so fun, come onnnnn~”

Your friend was only rarely this animated so you knew she really wanted this but the idea of even considering romance again after being dumped so harshly before was so undesirable that you stubbornly shook your head instead and took another bite of your burger.

“___, please?”

You frowned, and your friend’s pout grew deeper once she realized there was a pretty good chance you wouldn’t budge about this. After all, you’d rejected every single person that so much as looked in your direction so effectively these past few months that it had essentially become an afterthought.

She leaned back in her seat, occupying herself now with picking out a particularly long fry off of the platter you were sharing, trying to minimize her disappointment. Despite how much she hoped you would say yes, she could understand why you felt the way you did.

“I’m sorry,” you offered, sipping on your drink. She let out a defeated sigh.

“Well, I’ll try to figure out a compassionate way to let Iwa now that you’re not interested. Honestly, Oikawa will probably be more offended by it than me.”

At this last comment, her eyes twinkled softly with a mild amusement and she started to text her boyfriend. However, knowing that it would possibly be a bigger deal to reject Oikawa’s best friend right off the bat than to just endure a date once, you reconsidered.

“Fine! Stop, I don’t need Tooru yelling in my ears. I’ll go.”

She smiled. You’d fallen right into her trap.

---

Exactly 72 hours later almost to the minute, you found yourself standing before the duo of childhood friends at the entrance of a town fair, your friend by your side.

Oikawa’s partner-in-crime was, to both your surprise and chagrin, even better looking in person. Kinder too, if you discounted the glare he shot at Oikawa when he introduced him mock affectionately as ‘Iwa-chan, his very best friend in the whole wide world’. You stifled a laugh as Iwa released Oikawa from a headlock, and introduced yourself politely to him noticing the very faint pinking of the ears that accompanied the softening of his expression as he shifted his attention to you.

A small fluster you couldn’t help but find cute was evident in his voice as he shared his full name - Iwaizumi Hajime. Strike one.

Strike two was the careful distance he left between you two as you walked through the street fair, just steps behind Oikawa and your friend who trekked confidently and comfortably linked hand in hand. His questions were respectful but pointed, like he truly wanted to get to know you as much as possible, and as he listened he leaned in just so, making sure to hear you clearly over the bustle of the busy crowds.

He helped you with your safety belts as you strapped in together on small thrill rides and you could catch his furtive glances in the corner of your eyes as you laughed and screamed.

A part of you wondered if it was too quick, if it was a bad omen that he already appeared smitten with you despite having just met. However, you had missed the feeling of someone liking you genuinely and explicitly so, dating back from even before you had started having problems in your last relationship, so you appreciated it wholeheartedly.

Strike three was him immediately setting a time and a date to meet again, without the hovering presence of your best friends, which he emphasized loudly to listening ears behind you (Oikawa made his disappointment at being excluded quite apparent by groaning loudly within earshot).

“I really enjoyed spending time with you today, ___.”

It wasn’t too much, wasn’t too little and wasn’t too soon.

“So did I.” You replied with a smile more genuine than you’d had for months.

---

Date two went as smoothly as date one.

Dinner and a movie, a classic. Iwa had chosen a psychological thriller that you had been looking forward to for a couple weeks and prior to meeting you’d started to text back and forth regularly about theories, so thereafter sprang forth endless spirited debates. As the evening progressed, you noticed him yielding earlier and earlier, and you noticed that he got quieter as the night went on, preferring to sit back and watch you talk. You couldn’t tell if it was the few cocktails with dinner but soon you were distracted by eyes that rested on you easily with an accompanied smile. It was enough to make your face grow warm.

“Am I talking too much?” You asked, sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I get like this when I’m excited.”

“I love hearing you talk,” he replied with a small laugh. “No one can talk as much as Oikawa so don’t worry.”

Your smile spread from ear to ear and you could feel your bruised heart grow ever so slightly.

---

Date three, four and five had you swept off your feet and you found yourself falling between hikes, picnics and aquarium trips.

Which was why when your friend called you to gloat about how she was right about you two all along, you realized just how deep you had fallen and almost instantly, that familiar fear that you had been nursing for the past year settled back into your consciousness.

You couldn’t bear another heartbreak. The thought of Iwa’s warm smiles becoming addictive and constantly craving the feel of his hands on your skin only to then be discarded like a participation ribbon hung heavy on you.

“I.. I don’t think I can keep seeing him,” you said, in sudden realization, despite the fact that you had been gushing about your dates just minutes earlier.

You could hear a pause on the other end of the line, and then your friend asked softly, “Is it because you still miss him?”

The other him. Of course you did, you still lived in the apartment the two of you had shared right after college, having given yourself multiple excuses not to move out. You hadn’t even bothered to change the decorations you’d bought together and thus every part of this place reminded you of him.

You even watered the plants he had left behind every morning. You couldn’t tell if it was because you had grown attached to them or worse - because you thought maybe, just maybe, if he ever came back, he’d want to know that you were always nursing your love.

“I’m… not sure,” you replied.

Your friend sighed audibly into the phone.

“You’re missing out on someone great, but I’ll support you regardless.”

---

Your graduate classes ended late the next evening, and you stumbled into your apartment with mild exhaustion, kicking off your shoes and slipping off your jeans before plopping on your bed.

Iwa had said he wanted to come see you, and even though just a few days ago you had been excited at the prospect of spending time with him in your own home, your stomach fluttered with a different type of alarm when you considered the fact that if you were to tell him you were no longer interested in letting whatever was between you bloom, it would have to be now.

Would it be better to tell him over text message or on the phone or in person? You didn’t want to see the look on his face when you hurt him; you knew it would change your resolve.

If you called him on the phone, would you be able to withstand hearing the disappointment in his voice? Would he demand a reason, and would he tell you your weak one wasn’t enough?

If you sent him a simple text and then blocked his number, would you be the awful person too chickenshit to say the words to his face?

Your phone buzzed just as you were paralyzed with your choices.

I’m 20 minutes away. How was your class?

You froze.

20 minutes to make a decision. Would you have him come all this way just to drop him without a very good reason in the comfort of your own home?

You stared at your phone for five minutes longer, perseverating, only to be startled out of your trance when you saw his name flash over the front. You forgot you had read receipts on; it had never been a problem before.

“Hey, are you okay?” His voice dripped of concern. “You read but didn’t answer.”

“Y-yeah, of course! Class was good… I’ll see you in a bit.”

---

You soon wished you hadn’t let Iwa into your apartment. Now that he was here snuggled with you on the couch, close enough that you could take in his scent, all you could think of was the thought of his lips on yours.

5 dates and you hadn’t yet kissed. Maybe that was for the best, you were planning to break up with him anyway, weren’t you?

You weren’t exactly sure when you had crept so close to each other, but your head now rested gently on his shoulder and his hand had at some point snaked around your waist to pull you against him. You could feel your heart pound in your chest as you stayed close in the dark, and maybe you could feel his own heart beat, steady as his breathing despite the tension building in the air.

You had lost track of the plot of the movie on your flat screen long ago, too preoccupied with the flurry of potential ensuing scenes between you in your head.

What would stop you from going full speed ahead? The fear that you wouldn’t matter enough to him once months came to pass and he learned just how far short you fell from his perfect perception of you? Or that you would once again find yourself in darkness, wondering how many times you’d open your heart only to wish you had kept it guarded?

Or maybe it was the reality that you weren’t sure that you really wanted to move on?

Iwa was a good person, he didn’t deserve your hesitation.

He shifted ever so slightly beside you and in the backlight of the flashing scenes on the television screen, you could see his eyes settle on your lips.

“Is it okay if we-,” he started, only to be interrupted by the fact that you had already pulled him in by the shirt collar and were lost in the taste of him on your tongue. You could tell he was surprised, but Iwa leaned into your kiss, pulling you now fully onto his lap and holding you steady by the waist as the two of you made out.

Your hands crept up to his face, fingers gently trailing then cupping the curve of his jaw, and the longer you kissed, the more of him you wanted. When his hands started to tug just slightly at the edge of your shirt to warn you he was going underneath, you tensed but nodded to allow him to palm a breast and roll a nipple between two fingers.

A soft moan left you, renewed when Iwa’s lips left your mouth to kiss a spot just before your earlobe, and his other hand pressed firmly into the small of your back to secure you even closer to him, close enough that you could feel his bulge pressing through his jeans and against your body. Knowing that you could feel him, he whispered breathily into your ear:

“I won’t continue if you don’t want me to.”

Did you want him to continue?

You pulled back from him to study his face, glowing with an earnest desire for you and suddenly you felt so guilty.

“I… I think we should stop here,” you choked out, ignoring the warmth in your cheeks and the flicker of disappointment in his face, and you slowly climbed off him, embarrassed as you stood on your feet.

He didn’t ask why and replied with acceptance.

“Okay.”

---

What he didn’t accept was you finally telling him you no longer wanted to see him in a text message hastily conjured in the middle of the night after a particularly hard day.

He called immediately and you let the phone ring, biting your lip the entire six rings it took for him to give up. He didn’t leave a voice message, but sent you a short text.

I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Can we please talk?

You fought back the urge to cry as you turned over to go to sleep.

He called again in the morning, and when you ignored his call for a second time, the unreasonable part of you waited for a follow-up voicemail or text message which never came. Good for you. You couldn’t understand your own feelings right now and you didn’t deserve to have him sort them out for you.

At least if you acted like a bitch, he would drop you before you could change your mind.

---

“A text message? Really?”

Your friend had dropped by the following Saturday morning for brunch and while you had dreaded this conversation, you had expected it to happen and steeled yourself for the admonishment. You shrugged, avoiding looking at her in the eyes and focusing on watering the plants at your windowsill. Your friend watched you carefully, irritation bubbling within her in response to your stubborn silence.

“I wouldn’t be so insistent if I knew you didn’t like him, but you do! Everyone can see it!”

You didn’t reply, opening your blinds instead. Plants needed lots of sun in addition to water.

“___, I didn’t want to be harsh but he’s not coming back. Even if it’s not with Iwa, please… please get over him.”

You finally turned and gave her a meaningful look, tears now coming to your eyes. Your friend’s mouth fell slightly ajar and realizing just how harsh her truth had been, she got up from your kitchen table and walked over to you to envelop you in a hug as you came undone.

---

A total of three weeks passed, and you finally admitted to yourself that you missed Iwa but it was clearly too late to fix anything. Calling him up would just get you ignored (and rightfully so) and you couldn’t bear to send another text message after ghosting him. Instead you watered your ex’s plants and focused on your classes.

Your best friend had forgiven you for your cruelty even though she let you know she was still suffering from Oikawa’s wrath on your behalf, so instead you decided to distract yourself by going out with other friends and picking up new hobbies.

A girl you were getting to know from class was very excited about a new high-end gym that had opened with nice amenities including a pool and a sauna and free physical training sessions with membership so you indulged her by going as a guest on a weekend.

You had to admit that the place was beautiful, and you made a beeline for the elliptical, a tried and true contraption. She had been making a fuss about one of the instructors being attractive which you had in all honesty paid very little attention to, until she dragged you by the arm to hiss into your ear.

“There he is, don’t look too obviously.”

You turned to find yourself staring straight at Iwaizumi Hajime, physical trainer.

“Oh shit, he’s looking at you,” she whispered, but you were already making your way to the exit. “Wait, where are you going?”

Your pace had gone from a walk to almost a run.

“____!” you heard him call behind you as you scurried as fast as you could off of the premises. Embarrassing. So, so embarrassing.

His voice was starting to sound aggravated, and your run stuttered to a standstill. What were you doing? Running from someone because you told them you didn’t want to date them?

He caught up to you in the parking lot and he no longer smiled; there was a tinge of mild irritation that graced his facial expression as he looked at you.

“Please stop running from me. You don’t need to make it awkward… I... I’m not thinking about it.” He glanced away at the last statement, but you knew he was being sincere while you were being ridiculous.

“I’m sorry,” you muttered, and you thought maybe you would say more but he cut you off.

“You don’t have to be sorry. Have a good workout. If you need any help, I’m available, as are the other instructors.”

Professional and curt, he bowed before turning, and before you realized what you were doing, you found yourself tugging onto the sleeve of his shirt to hold him back. When he looked back to you again, while he didn’t give you the fierce scowl he reserved for Oikawa, his expression was still harsh as he looked down at you, waiting to see what you had to say.

What did you want to say? You already said you were sorry, there wasn’t much else to add.

Words failed you and you recoiled ever so slightly. He sighed audibly, and turned fully to face you.

“___, please don’t play with my feelings.”

You deflated as he waited just a few more moments for you to come up with the courage to say you still wanted him, and when you were unable to come up with the words, he bowed again, and returned to the building.

Moments later, you texted your friend to tell her you were sorry, but you were going home immediately.

---

It was a few minutes past 9pm and you had all but forgotten the sting of Iwa’s words as you focused on homework, listening to lo-fi music to help you concentrate. Your phone buzzed once, and you expected maybe your classmate to yell at you again for ditching her, but instead you found a message from Iwa.

I’m sorry for speaking to you that way.

Your heart thumped hard once in your chest, and you flipped your phone over to get back to work, but it was too late. Your concentration was shot for the night.

I’m ready to listen to whatever you have to say, a second message read.

What would happen if you wore your heart on your sleeve just one more time?

Iwa called you before you could call him, and this time you picked up, breathing a hesitant “Hello?” into the phone.

“___, I like you. A lot,” he paused, as those words sank into your heart. “I’m sorry, I wanted to get that out of the way.”

“I do, too,” you replied just as quickly.

Another pause. You swallowed hard and continued,

“I just don’t want to hurt you.”

His reply was fast. “You couldn’t if you tried.”

You frowned. “You don’t understand… I still think I have some unresolved feelings for someone else, and I just… I don’t want to wrong you in the long run.”

Another pause. You pressed your eyes shut, anticipating the worst, whatever it was. It felt as though you were on the line for ages, until suddenly Iwa finally spoke.

“Try me.”

“What?” Your shock was audible, and he repeated himself.

“Use me if you need to.”

You couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“But-”

“I know we’ve only been seeing each other for a short time, but I can’t explain it… I know I’m willing to risk it.” The confidence in his voice was almost shocking, and it made your heart swell.

“Hajime…”

“May I come over?”

---

The conversation ended with Iwa promising you that he’d make you forget your ex, your faces now just inches from each other, him hovering above you as you laid on your back in the comfort of your bed, eyes feasting on his exemplary physique. Starting up where you left off just three weeks prior, you held onto him for dear life as his hips rolled against you, his body pistoning into you carefully and precisely, his hands gentle and steady, and both of your hearts full.

If you were worried about using him, then don’t. Use him as much as you need to. He was giving you permission, is what he said.

Would you take advantage of him?

Now that you were in his embrace, you found it unlikely: for the very first time in a year, you knew that while you weren’t in love yet, you could feel yourself falling very, very soon.

#iwaizumi x reader #iwa x reader #iwaizumi hajime #iwaizumi hajime x reader #hajime x reader #hajime iwaizumi x reader #haikyuu x reader #mae.writing #haikyuu!#not sfw #series: be my last

428 notes · View notes

elisaphoenix13 · 3 years

Text

When One Works Hard

Commission request from @daisypoisonpen. It was inspired by a TikTok she found and I thought the idea was hilarious. Hope you like it!

Peter knew something was wrong when he got home and fell back onto his bed with his Starkpad when he got home and the internet didn't work. He even tried using the mobile data but that failed to work too. His immediate assumption was that Harley did something, and he got up to walk to Harley's room to confront his brother, but found the older teen looking just as confused. William was sitting on Harley's bed with a book so Peter wasn't sure if he was aware of the issue yet or not, but he was going to hear about it now if he wasn't.

"Hey, did you do something to the internet?" Peter asks and Harley glances up at him from his desk.

"No. I was actually about to come ask you."

Peter shakes his head. "I just got home. Maybe Dad-"

"Dad's not home." William interrupts. "He's had meetings since this morning."

Peter opens his mouth to say something but then he hears small footsteps walking towards him and he leans out of the doorway a bit to find Diana. When she joins him, she holds her Starkpad up to him in confusion.

"Peter, it's not working. Can you fix it?" She asks.

"We're having problems too. The internet is down." He explains. "Maybe Mom knows what's going on."

"Mom doesn't deal with electronics." Harley points out and William closes his book. He wouldn't be getting any reading done until the internet problem was fixed at this rate.

"It wouldn't hurt to ask him anyway. Since Dad's not home, maybe Scott can at least take a look."

Harley snorts. "Dad would break his fingers."

"And Quill will break Dad." Peter says as his brothers get up and follow him out of the room. "And then Mom will find a way to make another time loop and break Quill a million times."

William mutters something about the family being a little too overprotective and psychotic which makes Harley laugh. An angry celestial was very dangerous, but Peter would be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit curious how a time looped battle between Quill and Stephen would go. The Time Stone may no longer exist in a physical sense, but Diana possessed its powers so Stephen would probably find a way to use them through her. If he were desperate enough.

Peter shakes the thought away as the four siblings make it down to the living room where they find Stephen in an armchair and calmly sipping tea. At least it looked calm, but the kids knew better. There was no physical manifestation of the angry aura around the sorcerer, but they knew him well enough to know when Stephen was pissed. Another dead giveaway was the fact that Athena was sitting regally by his feet instead of laying, which meant she could sense Stephen's ire and was reacting accordingly. She wouldn't attack them, but she knew now wasn't the time to be lazing about.

Harley nudges Peter closer and he glares back at his older brother before looking back at Stephen. "Hey, Mom? Do you know why the internet isn't working?"

Stephen takes another sip of his tea, looking up at the kids sharply and making them squirm uncomfortably. Even Valerie, who Peter just noticed was a few feet away having a tea party with Levi, was glancing over in their direction nervously. Of course she was also in tune with Stephen, so she also knew something was up, but Peter would bet money she didn't know what. At least not yet. The bottom line was that someone did something really bad, but it couldn't have been Valerie because she would never do anything to anger Stephen and his fury wasn't directed at her in any way.

"Stop right there." Stephen suddenly bites out and the kids all flinch until they realize that Thomas suddenly appeared next to them, holding Lucy.

It still boggled Peter's mind that Stephen was able to see and time things just right whenever Thomas or Pietro were running around. For the most part though, he chalked it up to the fact that Stephen was Mom and moms knew everything. It was amusing to see Pietro adjust to things as quickly as he did, but that was probably because he was tired of being caught by the back of his shirt when he was running where he wasn't supposed to.

"I was being careful! I swear!" Thomas says as Lucy's laughter starts to taper off into giggles. For some reason she loved it when he ran around with her at full speed.

Stephen directs his attention to all of the kids again and leans forward to set his mug down on the coffee table. It clattered loudly when ceramic met the glass surface and there was even a brief screech that made Peter wince. The others didn't react so he figured his spider hearing picked it up.

"I don't ask for much," Stephen starts and folds his hands in front of his face with his elbows on his knees. "I feed you, clothe you, take care of you when you're sick, and countless other things...but even I have my limits." He says.

All of the kids were standing ramrod straight by now. Peter didn't have to look to know that. They rarely saw Stephen seethe like this, especially when it was directed at them.

"I had a very long day of dimension hopping and I was looking forward to getting home and sitting down with some tea." The sorcerer continues. "You know what else I was looking forward to?"

The kids remain silent.

"My triple chocolate cake. You all know chocolate is one of the few things besides my children that I indulge in and I assumed you all knew better to ask when it comes to my chocolate. So what I want to know is...who ate it?" Stephen asks as he sits back in the chair.

Peter finally glanced at his siblings, because he knew he didn't eat it, but he was met with the same questioning and confused glances. Like Stephen said, they all knew better than to eat something that wasn't theirs, especially chocolate. They all knew it was one of the things their mom loved and they all liked seeing Stephen enjoy something because he didn't seem to enjoy a whole lot.

"I... don't think any of us ate it." William says softly.

"Maybe it was one of the team?" Thomas points out.

"Well until they step forward to take responsibility and they replace my cake, the internet will remain down." Stephen says.

Peter frowns. "Why don't I just get you another?"

"Because I don't want the culprit to think they got away with it. As I said before, I don't ask for a lot and someone had the nerve--" Stephen takes a breath. "Either you can help find out who did eat it, or you can join Valerie's tea party."

Athena seemed to like the idea as she finally left Stephen's side to join the little girl at her table and accept the biscuit the cloak offered her. Peter loved his sister and joined her tea parties sometimes, but today he was not in the mood. He had homework to do for one of his college classes anyway and he needed the internet so he vouched to help find the chocolate thief. Diana and William decided to play with her though, so it was up to Harley and Peter to figure out who was stupid enough to eat Mom's cake.

Thomas went back to entertaining Lucy, but if the internet wasn't back up by the time they both got tuckered out, he would probably help them.

Their search turned out to be harder than they expected. Either someone lied, or everyone they asked really was innocent. They first asked Scott and Quill, but Scott was panicking about a deadline with a security project he needed to send to Luis, and Quill basically spoke for both of them.

"Look, I know we have our moments, but even we're not stupid enough to eat your mom's chocolate in whatever form it might be."

Quill had a point, so they moved on after Cassie offered to help. Everyone else basically said the same thing. None of them were stupid enough to eat it, but some of them were a little miffed that the internet was down until further notice. Harley tried asking Friday if she knew anything or if she could turn the WiFi back on, but surprisingly, she didn't know who the thief was and Victor was currently overriding her controls over the WiFi. So the boys had no choice but to go back upstairs and entertain themselves the old fashioned way. Board games, card games, tea party with Valerie…

They tried the tv or offline electronics but Stephen shut those down too. Peter didn't know the sorcerer could be this petty, but whoever the culprit ended up being, he was going to web them to the ceiling with his extra strength web fluid. Although, he supposed the good thing that came out of this was that he spent some quality time with his siblings over board games. He, Harley, Thomas, and Cassie got into a really intense game of Uno, Diana and Valerie continued their tea party with Levi and the pets --Tibbs had joined for treats at some point--, and William bravely put a puzzle together with Stephen while Lucy napped in her playpen.

It was nearing dinner time when Tony got home and Stephen and William were in the middle of making a pasta dish. Stephen was still irked and even Tony could sense his spouse's irritation when he walked into the kitchen.

"Interesting to come home and not see the kids on some sort of electronic device." Tony greets and kisses Stephen. "Hi Duchess. What's wrong?"

"Until further notice, I've shut down all electronics and the internet." Stephen huffs and Tony shrugs.

"You know what? I could use the break. I'll even have an excuse if Pepper sends me twenty thousand emails."

The two oldest boys look up from their game and balk at him. They were hoping Stephen would have calmed down when Tony got home, or that their father would at least get the internet back up, but they were typical parents. If one made a punishment, the other enforced it.

"But I have homework!" Peter exclaims.

"I do too!" Harley says.

Tony takes off his sunglasses. "Well you should have thought about that before you did... whatever it is you did." He looks at Stephen. "What did they do?"

"I'm not just punishing our children. It affects the team too." Stephen says and picks up the pot to drain the pasta. "Someone ate my cake and until they fess up, no one is getting anything done."

"Your triple chocolate cake that you had in the fridge?" Tony asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! I was very much looking forward to it after the long day I had yesterday and this morning--" Stephen rants until Tony interrupts him.

"You mean the triple chocolate cake you ate two days ago while we were in bed and watching a movie together?"

There was a pregnant pause with only the sound of water draining from the colander until Stephen slowly set the empty pot aside and turned to regard his husband. All of the kids were staring at the sorcerer at this point, and considering the blush that was creeping onto Stephen's cheeks, it was safe to assume that he had completely forgotten.

"I...um...that does sound familiar now that you mention it." Stephen mumbles.

Tony chuckles. "Oh, honey…the mom in you is on autopilot that you're starting to forget your indulgences." He leans forward and gives the younger man another peck on the lips. "Tell you what, I'll order you another piece so you can have it after dinner."

Stephen coughs and turns to look at the kids and clears his throat in embarrassment. "I believe I owe you all an apology...so I'm sorry. Victor, you can turn everything back on."

"Right away, Doctor." The AI responds.

"Considering what you do for us, I think we can forgive you." Peter says with a smile. "If any of us did what you do, we'd probably forget something like that too."

"But we have learned something from this!" Harley says and Stephen raises an eyebrow.

"And what would that be?"

"How petty Mom can get over chocolate." Thomas answers.

Stephen actually chuckled a bit at that, and true to Tony's promise, he got another piece of his triple chocolate cake. Which he enjoyed with a hot cup of tea after getting the girls into bed and the boys were occupied with homework. Peter did hear a quiet moan which was evidence enough that the sorcerer was enjoying his chocolate, but knew it would escalate so he closed the door for the blessed sound proofing.

He knew his parents after all.

#stephen strange #supremefamily #ironstrange #tony stark #mama bear stephen strange #mama bear au #harley keener #peter parker #william kaplan #thomas shepherd #diana stark strange (oc)#valerie stark strange (oc)#lucy elina stark strange (oc)

35 notes · View notes

thearchvillain · 3 years

Text

of horsefairs and maidens. part 1

nikolai lantsov x reader

link to part 2

summary: The weather is warm and the air thick with the scent of summer blossoms at the epicentre of horse auctions and races, Caryeva - and Nikolai Lantsov has been bored out of his mind for the past... what feels like an eternity. When even counting how many times his brother has made a fool of himself lost its appeal and became nearly tragic to watch, Nikolai retreated to the edges of the fair only to find that pretty girl Vasily had been dragging around all day hiding on the outskirts, seemingly desperate to escape the supposed Lantsov charm. Or whatever version of it Vasily had offered. "Tomorrow then.", he leaned down beside her, "I'll buy all your father's horses if that's what it takes." Watching her from the side he could just see the tiniest of smirks grace the corner of her lips, "That's an expensive sport you're wanting to try out." "Well, have I ever told you that I have a lot of money?" "Silly me, and here I was thinking you were a mere peasant." "Was it the humility? The rogue charm?"

word count: 2085

warnings: mentions of animal abuse, also Vasily being generally shitty as always

A/N - this is my first attempt at writing this sort of AU/imagine/excerpt, and I’ve gone overboard with the word count (as always), but I hope you will like it! i thought i might fit it into one part, but both Nikolai and the main character had so much to say I figured there would have to be another part thrown in there haha also we have some (briefly) confused!Nikolai, so I hope you enjoy that!

She'd hidden herself well, standing at the very edges of the fair where the trees cast their shadows long and wide in the evening sun, offering a pocket of peace to both the animals and the humans looking for a moment of silence, or cold breeze not laden with the scent of alcohol and sweat and horses.

Nikolai had been watching her for a while, straight-backed and still in her rider's outfit, standing near the rickety fence and looking at the horses not quite suited for the finer crowds that milled around the crown prince back at the heart of the fair. He supposed it was a good place to hide, not so much because of the forest behind them, but because his brother was far too vain to venture this far out.

"I saw you before, you're the girl who's been entertaining the crown prince.", he said, casually, noncommittally. She'd been ignoring the sound of his steps as he'd approached her from behind, drawn in by some sight before her, and even now she didn't so much as glance over her shoulder. Instead, she let out a sound that might have been a snort, but more lady-like, "Well, he's certainly not been entertaining me, so someone had to get the job done."

Nikolai stopped just short of the fence, to her left, and finally when the girl turned her head to see who she was speaking to he could see the brief flash of recognition in her eyes. So she hadn't known who she was speaking to. The surprise stayed there only for the briefest time, then morphed into something that might have been calculation, as if she were weighing her options - to speak of the prince to his brother this way was a dangerous game, at least if one wasn't familiar with Nikolai.

She finally settled on a slight nod, as graceful as it was superficial, "My apologies.", then she cocked an eyebrow, "Tell me, your highness, could this cost me my tongue?"

Cheeky. He smirked, "Only if it's me you're speaking of this way, and even then only because it would be a terrible lie. I'm wonderfully entertaining."

She made a noncommittal sound and looked back at her horses, "Does it run in the family?"

Nikolai felt personally slighted that the giant lump of muscle that was a horse a few meters away from them seemed more interesting to her than he did, but it wasn't like he was going to just back off, "At least give me a chance, it'd be a shame for you to think we're all like that."

"Like what?", she turned her clever eyes back to him and smiled, "You make it sound like I've implied the crown prince is not charming."

"Oh, you haven't. I'm the one implying it.", this seemed to draw out a chuckle from her. Take that, horse. "You're rather good at hiding distaste, I'll give you that."

"Who says I'm not hiding it now?"

"Ouch.", his hand went briefly to his chest in a theatrical display of hurt, "How come you're not nearly as charming to me as you've been to Vasily?"

"Because you don't seem like a jackass. How's that for the capital offence?"

"Personally, I see none, merely a good judge of character."

This time the chuckle she let over her lips was a bit less restrained, and he'd be damned if he didn't take that as a win. Now her eyes slid back to the meadow in front of them, beaten down by horseshoes and boots until it was nothing but mud, and Nikolai watched her watch that same horse she'd been staring at since he'd first spotted her. One could claim it was nothing special if it weren't for its size - he'd be damned if that wasn't the largest horse he'd seen since the army, and probably the roughest-looking.

"Do you have a penchant for the uglier specimen or are you just wondering about his size?"

The girl gave him the dirtiest look he'd been given in a while, "He's not ugly, just old and overworked.", then as if to sound less stern, "But he is a big boy, even for his breed."

Well, that attempt at a joke about his looks fell flat. He wasn't used to that. "How do you know?"

This seemed to be more her tune because she perked up and pointed one long, elegant finger at the horse, "Do you see the way he's walking? And the scars on his flank?", she didn't wait for the answer, he could hear the urgent irritation in her voice, "He's been severely abused - his hind leg has been broken and never set properly, and you rarely see a valuable work animal this scarred from beatings and equipment."

Now Nikolai looked, actually looked, he could see the ridges of old scars crisscrossing his entire body, and something off about the way he ambled around as if to put a distance between himself and the people. "I thought he was a warhorse, that those were battle wounds. Not something his owners would do to him."

He could see her soften a bit when she heard the shock and disgust that laced his tone, her eyes going briefly to him before she looked at the horse again, "Vasily wouldn't even look at him."

"You tried to show him to my brother?"

She frowned at his tone, "I had no choice! My father won't let me buy him, and he's going to be sold for meat if I don't get him before this hell show is over."

"You want to buy him?"

No, actually, this was the dirtiest look he'd received from a woman, "Well, of course. He deserves a peaceful, loving retirement. He's suffered enough."

Now it was Nikolai's turn to look incredulous, "I thought you were letting my brother drag you around like a prized mare because you wanted an actual prized mare."

She sputtered, incredulity lining her features before she finally found her voice, "Excuse me?"

"Not like that --"

"Like what then?"

Nikolai cleared his throat, if only to buy himself time, "Well, this went off the rails fairly quickly."

She turned her entire body towards him now, and he could feel the anger vibrating off her tiny frame in waves, all directed at him, "You were never on the damn rails."

Fair enough. "It says nothing of your character, anyone who listens to his drivel for an entire day should be well-compensated for their emotional trouble."

"I'll need to be well-compensated after this conversation."

"I don't think that old horse will do it though."

She smacked him on the arm. It took Nikolai a second to process what had just happened, as he looked down to his arm where her fist had punched him with all the righteousness of a woman scorned, then back up at her, incredulous once again. "I was joking."

"Try doing it again, but this time make it funny."

When Nikolai didn't answer quickly enough she put her hands on her hips and raised a brow, "Well?"

"Well-- my extensive education in diplomacy tells me I should ease off with the jokes and perhaps try to apologise?"

Her brow somehow went even higher, it made him feel young and squeamish.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were accompanying my brother for your gain."

"Oh, please, of course I've been advising him on horses because I want something out of him, why else would I listen to him compare me to a mare and act like he'd written me a sonnet."

"He compared you to a horse?"

"An expensive one, so it's fine in his mind.", she let out a shaky breath, the anger still simmering beneath the soft rosy tint that coloured her cheeks. Nikolai couldn't help but stare, taken aback by the simplicity of her intentions, her irritation - she'd been keeping her cool the entire day, nodding prettily whenever his brother said something, offering him her expertise only to have it thrown back in her face because she was not meant to be listened to, only showed off. And she was not a girl that wanted to be showed off or ignored, that much was clear.

"What?"

She turned to look at him, and Nikolai caught himself mid-stare, too absorbed in his thoughts to recognize that he'd been looking at her a bit too long. "Nothing, I'm just impressed."

"With what?"

"You.", he smirked, "I mean you've been suffering under his charms all day, then mine, and at the end of it you're restrained enough to only punch me in the arm?"

She frowned, her eyes sliding to his arm, uncertainty on her features, "Can I get in trouble for that?"

"Oh no, I'm into it."

She raised a brow, and Nikolai couldn't help the smirk that passed across his lips. Then he said, out of nowhere, "Will you come to dine with me?"

"As you said, your brother thinks I'm his prized mare."

That was only half a no, so he thought he might still have some wiggle-room left there, "Well I think you're far prettier than that. At least a good racehorse."

"Saints I want to smack you again."

Nikolai leaned in, his voice conspirational, "Well, yeah, that was kind of the point."

That chuckle again. He noticed that the feathery hair at the back of her neck curled delightfully when she turned to look at the fair and wondered briefly what she might look like when she let her hair down from her ponytail. His thoughts were interrupted when she said, "I can't. My father wants me to keep him amused, so Vasily might buy from him instead of the breeder from the next town over."

Nikolai frowned, "So he sent you out to entertain the creepier of the two princes like a well-trained monkey?"

"You just physically can't say a sentence without petting your own ego, can you?"

"Oh, you're noticing that just now?"

She leaned her forearms on the fence, staring out at the distance, "Are you really surprised? My sister probably knows even more than I do about the horses, but it was never about the knowledge."

Nikolai wished he could tell her he was, but he'd been made all too familiar with how these things worked in court, why his mother had paraded him around so much, with his pretty golden curls and charming smiles.

"Tomorrow then.", he leaned down beside her, "I'll buy all your father's horses if that's what it takes."

Watching her from the side he could just see the tiniest of smirks grace the corner of her lips, "That's an expensive sport you're wanting to try out."

"Well, have I ever told you that I have a lot of money?"

"Silly me, and here I was thinking you were a mere peasant."

"Was it the humility? The rogue charm?"

He'd just turned his head to look at her, a smirk playing on his lips, ready to come up with another joke to try and get another laugh from her when his brother's voice carried over from somewhere behind her, "Brother. I see you've met my advisor.", there was an edge to his voice, even if he was all drunken smiles, "She's pretty isn't she?"

"The prettiest.", Nikolai replied, pleasantly, even if he knew that wasn't quite the most interesting thing about her, "Come to save her from me?"

"Always.", Vasily's eyes went to the girl, and Nikolai realised he'd never asked for her name, "Did he bore you?"

"Not at all.", the mask slipped back onto her face, as empty as it was pretty, not that Vasily would ever notice, "I see he's inherited your charm."

"Yes, but not quite all of it."

Nikolai cast a glance her way and offered a slight smirk, something unspoken about it, an intimate joke, "I shall leave you two alone, I'm sure you've found another horse to bore her with, brother."

Vasily cleared his throat, "See you at dinner, little brother."

As he walked away, he could hear Vasily ask her for the details of their conversation, the jealousy seeping into his voice like poison. Then something about the workhorse they'd been looking at, wondering why she'd ever want that broken halfbreed. Nikolai knew why his brother had raised his voice when saying that, knew those words were meant for him more than her, but he was too tired to care. Tomorrow then. Hell, he might actually get himself some horses of his own tomorrow.

#nikolai lantsov #nikolai lantsov x reader #nikolai lantsov imagine #grishaverse #shadow and bone #of horsefairs and maidens #reposting this to the new standalone blog!#for practicality's sake #really sorry for the confusion tough <3 #i'll be posting part 2 and other excerpts on this blog from now on :)

137 notes · View notes

kneelbeforeclefairy · 3 years

Text

Okay my problem with sylki isn't it's selfcest or they're the same person. It's literally fiction, loosen up Tumblr puritans if anyones gonna get down with themselves it's Loki. If it's not your thing, no shame, but there's nothing WRONG with it as, as I've mentioned , it's FICTION, has no bearing on who you ar as person what fictional ships you like, and has no real world consequences because it isn't even possible.

My problem isn't even the "he's bi why can't he be in a gay relationship" cause, yes, why CAN'T he, but he can also be in a "straight" relationship too. That's the point of being bi. Also at least Tom's Loki is gender fluid , Sylvie probably is too, so any realtionship between them is automatically queer cause they're both enby, and neither are a woman or a man .

(but YES it does feel disingenuous of marvel to take a charecter who has had no love interest for SIX MOVIES , and shown no romantic or sexual interest in anyone, reveal he's bisexual and THEN get him together with a woman in the next episode. Like, Loki's bi, and nothing marvel will do can ever take that away from me, but ....it does feel like having your cake and eating it too. We'd be very happy with no love interest too)

It isn't even that I don't like Sylvie herself. I DO. I LOVE her Loki, her version of Loki's life, the ways they're similar, the ways they're different. The way I think she kind of reminds Loki of Thor sometimes (angry blondes gonna hit something she shouldn't hit. Must stop before it gets worse!) (Cause that moment when she was about to kill he who remains , Loki's tactic to calm her down and reasons behind it were eerily similar to him stopping Thor from attacking the frost Giants in movie 1) I think that Sylvie is a rare occurance--a female charecter that is fully developed, has goals and wants of her own, and isn't just a love interest. I would very much like to see more of her.

My problem is. Loki. LOKI Loki. Tom's Loki, is our mail charecter. Main characters must go through charecter development. They must have a WANT and to contrast with it a NEED. they must pursue said WANT and at the end of the day , get not necessarily what they WANT but what they NEED.

So what does Loki WANT? Well in episode one we get a very clear want. Loki wants to destroy the TVA. He wants to figure out who's behind this and get rid of them. Right. Good. That's the plot.

Now we're looking at his internal arc. Mobius lays it out, again, in episode one. Loki is, BAD. He causes pain and suffering wherever he goes and hurts everyone he loves. He does bad things. And his role in this game of destiny is to be Bad, so other can be good. Loki realizes that about himself, and he hates it. He doesn't really want to be Bad. And he certainly doesn't want to be a pawn in others stories. So meld the internal arc, the NEED to the WANT and Loki wants to destroy the TVA so that he can get away from his destiny to hurt people and see what else he's capable of.

(this entire arc was also done a lot better in Ragnarok. )

Okay so. We jump around. Loki tricks people, Loki gains information. He meets Sylvie. Their goals align. Sylvie wants to destroy the TVA. Very well and good.

Now thematically, this is where the want and the need should start switching at the midpoint. The midpoint of the series s of course episode 3, when Loki realizes the TVA isn't all it seems to be and everyone is a varient.

And here's where it falls apart. There's that fun scene with Sif where she criticizes Loki for being a worm or whatever. I thought that was going to go somewhere but it didn't. But after that Loki's plotline fizzles out. He no longer really wants to destroy the TVA, Sylvie does. The show now becomes about HER goal to do that. And Loki's need sort of...disappears. instead of growing or learning something about himself, his need seems to be Love Sylvie. And that doesn't add up.

So either this is EXTREMELY lazy writing.

(yes. Yes it is)

Or someone thought that the way to fulfuil all of Loki's emotional needs--whicj we've seen develop over, let me state this again SIX MOVIES-- were to give him a love interest. Not to mention they thought that was the culmination of his plot NEED. Loki WANTS To destroy the TVA but NEEDS to...fall in love?

There's an argument to be made for a very literal reading of he needs to accept himself, but not only is that not what's being set up here, it's fucking stupid because loving Sylvie who--while they're the same person technically--has had a completely different life, personality, choices, has nothing to do with accepting THIS Loki.

So then we do this main charecter switch. Loki now just follows along Sylvie's goal. He has no more need, and no more real want. Sylvie has a want, but no need either. And the one moment when Loki tries to talk her down, and says he can't risk the universe in exchange for power really falls flat because Loki is not seen to WANT To rule the universe through the tva. He's way past that.

So in an attempt to just tie up loose ends what he got, instead of self actualization, instead of charecter development, instead or ANYTHING, was a kiss.

Because in Hollywoodland, kisses solve everything. And that's where my aro ass jumps off the film school horse and onto the UGKGBVSJJBE keysmash horse. Because they really do believe that it is Good Writing to do that because Love Solves Everything .

And I'm pissy.

#hey remember wjen i went to film school'#loki spoilers

47 notes · View notes

thepapergirlandthespiegelman · 3 years

Text

Castlevania Season 4: I’m not mad, just disappointed

Season 4 is poorly written fanfiction, which is...better than a lot of things could be, I guess.

Spoilers below the cut.

Content warning: trauma, sexual assault, psychological manipulation

The Gods Have Had a Change of Heart

Or, “Season 3 Blocked and Ignored”

Season 3 felt like the fabric of the universe had been twisted just to inflict additional pain. Season 4 overcompensates in the other direction; trauma evaporates, and good things happen for no other reason than to make our favorite characters happy.

The Season 3 finale left two characters in particular totally devastated: Alucard and Hector. Alucard is violently betrayed in a horrifying sexual assault by the first two people he’s spoken to since Trevor and Sypha left. He ends up killing them in self-defense and puts their bodies on stakes outside the castle, alluding to his father’s habit of doing so and potentially hinting at a turn toward evil. Hector is seduced by Lenore and then enslaved using a magic ring.

Yet at the start of Season 4, it’s as if these things never happened. Alucard is troubled, but not totally devastated, certainly not evil. Taka and Sumi are referenced in exactly one conversation with new character, Greta, in which she says the rather tactless throwaway line, “I had a boyfriend and girlfriend at the same time once. But they never tried to kill me.” Hector is nominally imprisoned, but immediately seems highly agentic, perhaps even more so than before. He studies, lays traps, and makes secret plans with other people. Furthermore, his relationship with Lenore is completely transformed. From falling to his knees in abject horror and despair at being enslaved, he suddenly switches to light banter, in what is apparently a basically okay, mutually enjoyed romantic/sexual relationship. Manipulative, selfish Lenore is now a sympathetic character struggling to reconcile her own role and feelings with Carmilla’s plans.

The events of season 3 happened, remaining canon in the most basic, literal sense. But the emotional weight attached to them has disappeared into thin air.

Not gonna lie, I did breathe a sigh of relief when I saw that Alucard and Hector were okay. I’m soft-hearted! I don’t like seeing characters I like suffer! I mean, conflict is important, and I can deal with (or even enjoy in a certain sense) seeing characters suffer if it makes sense and serves a narrative purpose. But as far as I can tell, the season 3 finale was nothing more than lurid, meaningless violence. I probably wouldn’t have continued watching the show if it devolved into nothing more than finding novel ways to torture the characters.

Still, it doesn’t feel quite right to pretend like nothing happened either. Or, really, not that nothing happened, but that those things didn’t matter, didn’t hurt, didn’t leave lasting scars. That’s...almost kind of worse.

But, I thought, I can sort of forgive this sudden shift in the stars, given that there may have been some sort of change in creative direction relating to Ellis’ decreased involvement with the show.* Plus, season 3 was insanity. It’s not like it was full of great writing choices, so if we quietly ignore some of them, maybe that’s for the best.

*I only later learned that Netflix actually chose to continue with Ellis’ season 4 scripts. It is not lost on me that maybe Ellis doesn’t know how to write about the lasting effects of traumatic sexual experiences or how power dynamics can make a sexual relationship problematic because he doesn’t understand that those things exist.

Characters Being Nobody and Nothing Happening

Pretty Pictures, Not Much Else

Unfortunately, the disconnect between seasons 3 and 4 isn’t the only problem with this season. Although I felt that season 4 was a bit less boring than season 3 (I particularly enjoyed some of the earlier episodes of season 4), it suffers from the same basic problems of Characters Being Nobody and Nothing Happening.

None of the characters experience any significant development, let alone any sort of coherent arc. Sypha has changed slightly, becoming more rough and jaded. I did really like the scene where she talks about becoming the kind of person who says “shit.” I think it really speaks to how entering into a relationship with someone means taking on aspects of their lifestyle, and how that can change you in ways that you can’t predict and therefore can’t exactly “agree” to. Sometimes those changes are good, sometimes they’re bad, sometimes they’re neutral, and sometimes it’s difficult to know. But you have to accept that you’re sacrificing some aspects of the person that you could have been if you chose to live completely independently, or with someone else.

Trevor really hasn’t changed since season 1 when he first decided to take up the mantle of hero again. Likewise with Alucard. Hector and Lenore change, as previously noted, but that change is sudden, jarring, and occurs completely off screen in between seasons 3 and 4. Carmilla dies as exactly as she lived: bitter, angry, and violent. Saint Germain just kind of...gets fucked over in a nonsensical subplot, which is its own whole can of worms.

We also get several new characters in season 4, none of whom have developed personalities or motives, nor do they develop any of those things over the course of the season: Greta, Zamfir, Varney, Ratko.

And nobody. Does. Anything.

Trevor and Sypha spend the entire season trying to explore and aid Targoviste, which comes to absolutely nothing. They’re unable to help anyone, Zamfir dies, and they end up just jumping through a magic portal to the actually relevant subplot in the finale. Carmilla literally does little more than draw maps until she’s ultimately killed. Hector plays a minor role in Saint Germain’s extraction of Dracula from Hell; otherwise, he and Lenore basically just exchange banter. Saint Germain does sort of do some stuff? But it’s often unclear how he’s made his connections, who the people who are helping him are, or what exactly he’s doing in terms of his magic beyond “whatever it takes to get back to his lover.”

Sure, there are fight scenes, but they feel meaningless. There’s no context, no stakes. There’s also a LOT of dialogue, and it is. Not well written. Exposition is embarrassingly clumsy at times, and the philosophical musings are cliche at best, muddled and confusing at worst. There’s just not all that much going on.

That is, except for Isaac. But more on him in a second.

What Kind of Show Is This?

When the plot line adapted from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse ended with season 2, the show struggled to establish a new identity.

Despite nominally dealing with themes like whether humanity is inherently good or evil and how to cope with wrongdoing and loss, seasons 1 and 2 ultimately boiled down to a pretty generic action-adventure/fantasy plot with found family/power of friendship elements. Main characters Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard don’t really wrestle with big philosophical questions or suffer any major defeats. They know that they have to take down Dracula for the good of the world, and they work together as a team to do it, with a little character development relating to their various backstories sprinkled in.

Then season 3 happened, and things got weird. The trio is broken up for what feels like a pretty trivial reason—Alucard has to protect the castle and Belmont hold, I guess? And the result of that decision is that the dynamics for the three main characters are completely unbalanced.

Ellis openly admits that he basically went feral with the writing of season 3, and it shows. The messaging in seasons 1 and 2 was cliche, but consistent. The message of season 3? Anyone’s guess.

Season 4 reversed the darkening of tone from season 3, but shares its inability to pick a story and tell it.

Isaac is the Main Character

Always has been.

While I can’t say that his character or arc are perfect, I can say that he actually has a character and an arc. He starts off motivated by his fierce loyalty to Dracula, then has to struggle to find his purpose once Dracula is gone. He goes from subservient to agentic. He goes from fully endorsing the genocide of humanity and not caring about his own life to seeing some worth in humans and genuinely wanting to live. He has an interesting moment that deepens our understanding of what night creatures are, while also serving as an exploration of the meaning of one’s fundamental nature. Most importantly, these changes happen naturally over the course of the show. They never feel forced or out of the blue, and while I feel like even more could have been done with Isaac’s character, there’s a lot to appreciate about what is there.

If there’s any thread holding Castlevania as a single, coherent work together, it’s Isaac. Not only is his character the best executed and the most coherent over the course of the show, his character explores themes that are larger than himself and relevant to the show as a whole, like those mentioned earlier: misanthropy versus a belief in the value of humanity; the ability to go beyond one’s “nature” or initial circumstances; and how to respond to being wronged or losing something important to you. Exploring the individual lives of characters is great, but really good writing usually requires going beyond that to reflect on broader questions and ideas. Isaac is the only character here that serves that larger purpose.

Sorry...I Just Don’t Buy It

The season 4 finale is crazy, although in a different way from season 3′s.

Varney being Death makes no sense on several different levels. I’m not going to spend a lot of time picking that particular plot twist apart, but I will talk about why I think it doesn’t work at the largest scale, and how I think season 4 might have been done better.

Last minute twists with zero foreshadowing are rarely a good idea, and this is no exception. Why introduce this “Death” entity at the last minute to be the most important battle of the season? The finale of the entire show, even? Besides the lack of logic or emotional buildup, this robs the show of the opportunity to make use of the antagonists that it already has. Since Dracula died, Carmilla has been the obvious choice for a new big bad. Why hasn’t she done more?

Season 4 feels crowded with characters and plot lines that amount to nothing. Why not bring some of these characters together? If Carmilla is the main antagonist, how come she never meets any of the protagonists (except Hector, who is a pretty minor player in this ecosystem) or even affects them in any way?

Season 4 feels like maybe it was trying to make something out of season 3 and the model that it presented, but it ultimately fails to do so. The writers throw the trio back together at the end anyway, so why not have them rejoin sooner and work together? Maybe Sypha and Trevor’s past experience with Saint Germain could have helped Alucard and Greta piece together what he was plotting sooner, rather than all four of them being completely blindsided by it in the penultimate episode. (Sypha and Trevor know that someone is trying to resurrect Dracula, but they fail to find out any actual detail about the plans, despite their supposed attempts.) Have characters actually do stuff, figure stuff out, advance the plot!

Likewise, maybe Carmilla becomes aware of Saint Germain’s scheming, sees it as a threat, and tries to take him down. Maybe she tries to get involved and somehow use alchemy or the Infinite Corridor to her own benefit. What does it look like when power-hungry Carmilla, who wants to rule the world, finds out there’s an entire multiverse out there? That could easily set her up to be a foil to Saint Germain, causing him to realize that what he’s doing is wrong.

What actually ended up happening in the show feels disjointed and often empty. In particular, most of the events that happen in the last two episodes just don’t really work for me. I didn’t like Trevor suddenly sacrificing himself to this random, new, super powerful enemy, or how the gems and dagger that he found just happened to be the perfect weapon to kill this new enemy, or how he inexplicably returns from the dead.

This kind of thing is what I mean when I say that this season feels like fanfiction. Trevor comes back from the dead for no discernible reason other than that it would really suck if he died. Greta as a character seems to literally only exist to be Alucard’s girlfriend and support him so that he doesn’t have to continue to be alone and potentially turn evil. Alucard’s trauma from Taka and Sumi and Hector’s trauma from Lenore are both conveniently erased. Even Dracula and Lisa are resurrected somehow and get their happy ending. And it’s like, I guess I prefer deus ex machina to the opposite (Does that have a name? When everything is going well but then something terrible happens for no reason other than to make things worse for the characters?), but they’re both bad writing.

God. This isn’t even getting into what happened with the Council of Sisters. And I don’t even really like those characters, but that doesn’t mean I want to see their characters handled poorly.

I’m not sorry that I watched until the end, but I can’t in good faith recommend the show as a whole. If you’ve yet to watch Castlevania, just stop at the end of season 2. While there are some shining moments in seasons 3 and 4 (4 more than 3), it’s just really not worth it.

#review #thoughts #television #animation #adult animation #video game adaptation #fantasy #Netflix #Netflix Original #Castlevania #storytelling #writing #characters #plot #character development #vampires #Isaac (Castlevania)

45 notes · View notes

xylemloz · 3 years

Note

Character ask meme:

The Obligatory First

Also

Twilight if you don't mind

ok this will be pretty hard because there isn't much content OR fan content of first LOL

first

What I love about them: he is the only hero that understood the full scope of what he was getting into, and held almost no bitterness in his heart about it. he knew the consequences and made every choice himself to be the hero. he's been faced with the worst of humanity by being freaking tortured for a crime he didn't commit, but still lets them use him and takes up the mantle of the hero because he appreciates the best of humanity and loves his home. that is so sexy of him What I hate about them: the fact that he exists for only like 30 pages that are like... not confirmed canon? i wish he had more time to grow because he had a lot of potential. rarely do i find any people who care about him as much as i do simply because all content of him can be consumed in 10 minutes and isn't even in the common knowledge of many. i honestly don't blame them Favorite Moment/Quote: when he said "all of you seek my answer. you use me whenever it suits you" then still reforged the master sword i lost my mind. perfect example of how aware he is that he's expendable by the end of all this but again, is given a choice, and chooses to do the heroic thing What I would like to see more focus on: well he literally DOESNT get focused on. so i guess i want more focus on the fact he exists??? What I would like to see less focus on: NO i want more focus on this guy i have yet to see anyone outside of like 10 people focus on him Favorite pairing with: first x the grind. this man is hustling, got no time for love. Favorite friendship: honestly with the timeshift stone shenanigans i really think i would love the dynamic between him and sky. tired guy and silly guy just hanging out. tired man has a hidden mischievousness and enables sky's batshit behavior. "can i eat this [weird treasure from the surface] it looks very juicy and tasty" "i aint paying for the medical bill but i want to see you try" kind of vibe. you know. NOTP: i guess with anyone? i'm not into shipping him with anyone, but i also don't have any strong feelings Against any pairing

Favorite headcanon: he wants to be touched but at the same time he's scared of it. like he's been imprisoned for many years so i bet human contact is awesome but it's also hard to separate when someone wants to touch just normally or has ill intent and wants to cause hurt

twilight

What I love about them: literally just a guy. just a normal farmer boy in his farmer adoptive family in his farmer village. he is way out of his depth when he gets shoved into the predicament he's in, with no idea of how hero stuff works, and then really only cares about saving the village kids at first. everyone's like "for the sake of hyrule" and whatever but he's just a family man. does all the shit he does just to keep them safe. it's only as he meets more people along the way that he understands what his importance as the hero is. it's very nice

What I hate about them: honestly, in the game and LU, i find him kind of boring. he doesn't emote much, he doesn't Show much outside of caring about the kids, etc. in LU he is just kind of like Time Jr. and his entire identity is just being related to Time and also secretly being a wolf. not really a captivating guy

Favorite Moment/Quote: literally had to think so hard about this one but i've decided that i'd have to say (from LU) it's when he was pulling legend's leg about wolves not being pets. from the game itself i would probably say him saving colin on eldin bridge was the most epic thing mine eyes have laid upon

What I would like to see more focus on: him actually being a little crazy a little wild. clearly this dude is out of his mind and he should be given permission to be the troublemaker his heart knows he is deep down. he would dropkick the other heroes in a play fight man idk

What I would like to see less focus on: the fact that he's directly related to the hero of time. he's his own guy doing his own thing

Favorite pairing with: i'm not huge on anything but midna good i guess? i see her more like a really close friend though

Favorite friendship: MIDNA. i love how much the both of them grow and midna goes from being a jerk who selfishly uses link to get what she wants to actually caring for him when she realizes that he doesn't mind. midna uses him to her advantage by using his family as bait but realizes as she sees his love for those people that it is very much real just like her lvoe for her kingdom. and the fact that she was being an asshole because she really was just scared of being in this new weak form and wanting to get back to the throne as fast as possible by pushing link around... cheers to that bro. when they come to an understanding and she starts speaking softly and tenderly to him... FUCKING CHEERS to that bro.

NOTP: i dont have one. people can ship whatever and i will look at it and go like that is pretty cool

Favorite headcanon: no way this guy could acclimate to a slow and quiet village life after his entire journey of literally killing the king of evil. having no one to confide to about the entire journey (nobody but midna saw what he truly experienced), i think he would find trouble trying to get anyone in the village to understand what really happened to him. so he would probably leave ordon post-game and try to find a way to meet midna again

#why did this take me so long #writing words very hard #first #lu first #lu twilight #long post #xyask #PLEASE argue with me if you have thoughts #i spent too long on this to not get people defending/criticizing these characters #i wanna hear it i swear

37 notes · View notes

softrozene · 3 years

Text

Stars and Dreams

Anonymous requested: Hello!!! (＾ω＾) Can I request one-shot soulmate au and (magic au? Idk if you name that. 😅) Law x fem! S/O? Okay it's more like a legend. If a person meet another person (in form of a star) in their dreams they're are soulmates together. Law sees her, her appearance is form of a star but he can hear her voice clear and well. Same opposite for fem! S/O. The timeline is somewhere in Punk Hazard. And she's by the strawhats crew. When she meets Law she thinks "hey! His voice is sounds familiar." She has often dream it if she sleeps. She has also heard the legend of soulmates. If they touch each other. Then both in their body shines a bright light. Like magic. And if they sleep again. Then she sees not the star form but person Law standing before her. That's it. I hope it's not to difficult. 😅 And take your time all you need.

Alright! The first request of the year! I saved it from last year because I am beaming with confidence (and I am such a sucker for fluff and soulmates alkdafs) FLDSA I don’t think this classifies as a magic au but I sure as heck am putting that down because stars??? They are freaking magical fluff to me. This was so fun to do so thank you for requesting it!

Trafalgar Law x Female Reader

Warnings: Fluff- tooth-rotting fluff, Slight angst that is fixed with more fluff, probably grammar like always- Technical spoilers for Punk Hazard but I try to be as vague as possible and skip to the end of it.

Words: 1746

You loved going to sleep. You loved it so much and the whole crew knows why- You are one of the lucky few who has been blessed to have a soulmate. Some would consider it not lucky at all since it is so uncommon and more like a legend- But you love it so much.

You love the idea of solely being someone’s and them solely being yours.

The first time you had this dream was roughly when you were twenty. The shock that this legend of seeing your soulmate in the form of a star was beyond shocking to you. He was too bright of a light as a star, and you wondered if you appeared that way to him- If you were just as bright and mysterious to him. Even so, you loved to stare into the light of the star. Even if you could not see his physical form you knew immediately that you loved him. The second you heard his voice too- You melted. He was perfect in every way even if you have yet to learn more about him.

The part that saddened you was even though you could talk to him in your dream- You were not really talking to him. It was only a dream so whatever information his voice gave you, was all in your head. You had no true way of knowing who he is, what he liked, his name, where he was from, absolutely nothing. It made you a bit heartbroken because this was the sad part- You were destined to be together but the only thing you had to go off from was the sound of his voice.

So, it was around six years ago long before you joined the Straw Hats that the dreams started. The dreams were vague and very rare to happen at first until you did join the Straw Hats two years ago.

They got more constant and you loved to fall asleep and dream away to hear his voice. You tried to memorize it for when you were awake in the real world on islands. To try and pinpoint his voice but it was in vain.

Slowly- Ever so slowly, you began to accept the fact that you may never meet him. It broke your heart, but you began to accept it while you and the Straw Hats were split up, and eventually, it just hurt to go to sleep and dream of someone meant to be yours, but you may never have. You started to avoid sleeping.

~*~

For Law- Things were different.

When he first got the dream at age twenty, he denied it. He thought that soulmates were just strictly legends- Something not real. Until that dream and because of how much it made him feel- Alive and surprised that he may be able to love someone and receive their love in return, it frankly scared him.

He avoided sleep whenever he could- He avoided the fact that he has a soulmate.

He did not want one- He did not want to risk losing the person meant for him since he just kept losing people when he was younger.

It terrifies him and he hates it.

He will be stubborn for the next six years but eventually as the dreams got more frequent and he had no choice but to hear your sweet voice- He started to fall and hard.

It pissed him off greatly but since he slowly started to give in and felt the overwhelming love drift to him in his sleep from your star, he… Started to love to sleep when he can. He enjoyed it so much. To hear your sweet feminine voice call for him- Even if it may just be his mind doing that for you he loved it nonetheless.

Though- He did realize he could not let his dreams, his soulmate, ruin his plans for Doflamingo. He tried to keep a strict schedule and since he knew the possibility of dying was there- He tried to sleep and hear your voice so it can be one last comfort he has before the possibility of the next day taking his life comes.

He pursued his plan- Got to Punk Hazard, waited for someone he put his bid on to get there- Monkey D. Luffy to create an alliance with him. What he did not anticipate was to hear that familiar voice coming from his crew.

It became unreal to him and he did think he was going a bit crazy- But… According to the legends, all he had to do was touch you then after this terrible mission he can sleep, and hopefully- He will find out if you really are his soulmate or if this was all just a terrible dream leading him on and making him believe he can be loved in this unforgiving world.

~*~

You were exhausted. And really grumpy. Those two things did not match well, and it made your brain foggy- Definitely not a good thing when you got to Punk Hazard. An island that seemed to be swarming with enemies.

It was cold and you were miserable- Then you heard an annoying voice trying to make an alliance with your captain- Wait, you know that voice.

You couldn’t place it, but you were fairly certain it may have been from your dream. That is your initial thought until Robin informs you that they all met him back Sabaody Archipelago- Trafalgar Law. You do not recall- You remember a polar bear but that is it.

While everyone was fighting you had gotten lost with Zoro and the poor fool got split up with you and you were looking all over for him so you can’t really remember much. It is a shame since that mostly means you met him- Maybe you think it was his voice because of how loopy you are. You should really sleep after all this.

It becomes a hassle to keep up with everyone, but you are used to being exhausted now and days. The others do keep an eye on you when you become a bit dazed, they help you a lot.

Eventually- All the chaos your crew, Law, and the marines ensue on the island comes to an end- Law has Caesar successfully tied down for the next part of the plan he wants you guys to help him with- Going to Dressrosa.

But for now- Everyone, including the marines, is enjoying dinner together after that long and hectic journey of bringing Punk Hazard’s facility to an end. You wait patiently for your food- Waiting for everyone else to get their fill- Even arguing with Sanji and Chopper (who has been concerned about your health) that you can wait.

You sit down and feel the exhaustion creep up on you and nearly smother you then and there but then- You feel a hand on your shoulder and a warm bowl of stew being offered to you.

You look up to see it is Law who has his eyes narrowed down at you.

“You should listen to your doctor more. He informed me about your sleeping habits, and it isn’t good to be low on energy so you should eat up,” He states rather coldly.

You do not take it to heart. You smile and thank him.

“I appreciate the worry now that we will be working together. Oh- I suppose we still do not know each other well from Sabaody. I am (Name),” You say softly.

He narrows his eyes down but replies, “Trafalgar Law… Unfortunately, (Name) we did not have the pleasure of meeting at Sabaody. I would have remembered but it is wonderful to finally meet you now. You should rest up.”

He leaves before you can process what he said. You are shocked- Because if you truly did not meet him but just his crewmember… Then that means you may not be that loopy. That the voice you fell in love with but have been avoiding is really his.

You hate to say it but… You feel the need to fall asleep. You hate the feeling of hope just in case you are wrong.

~*~

Law is excited. He touched your shoulder, thankfully not like a creep, but as a genuinely concerned doctor. Now he just needs to wait to see if the star will turn to you tonight- He hopes it does but the part of him that does not want to risk losing anyone ever again also hopes it doesn’t.

They sleep there that night deciding to rest up before going on the move to Dressrosa- And like always he is excited to go to sleep, to hear her voice.

Sleep came fast and easy for him- He welcomes the bliss of a clear mind and how he lands in a meadow-like area surrounded by stars- The main star being his soulmate’s form. He waits with anticipation and slowly the star does begin to transform. He can’t help the blush on his face or how he feels the sudden happiness that it is true.

The star turns into your physical form.

He finally found his soulmate.

~*~

Upon waking up- You feel heated. You feel a total sense of comfort and you feel better. That was one of the most peaceful nights of sleep you got since you avoided sleeping and- It was worth falling asleep. You could cry tears of joy from seeing the star turn into Law.

But now that you are awake and you know who your soulmate is- How do you go about it? Do you even assume he had the same thing happen to him?

You are suddenly anxious as the smell of food wakes you up further. That means people will be gathering for breakfast and you all are off to Dressrosa afterward. That means you get to see Law- You feel even more anxious.

However, you do not get the time you needed to compose yourself.

Instead, you hear a knock on the girl’s door- Nami and Robin long awake and letting you sleep since you haven’t lately, and you feel your nerves light on fire as you open the door to see Law standing there.

You notice the blush on his face and the gentle look in his eyes. He decides to address the issue first. You can hear the happiness in his voice.

“So- We are soulmates.”

You smile back.

“Yeah- I guess we are.”

#my writing #trafalgar law #trafalgar law x reader #one piece #one piece x reader #fanfiction #one shot #one piece fanfiction #one piece one shot #fluff #soulmate au #female reader #one piece oneshot

160 notes · View notes

imagine-lcorp · 3 years

Text

Between Two Lungs (One Shot)

A/N: Hello dears, so here it is the infamous fic I’ve been writing. I really hope this fullfils my dream of crushing your hearts once again and that you have a fun time agonizing over this final choice. Because yes, I’ve made this a multiending fic...As always, remember to tell me what you think, is it something you want me to keep doing for other fics? Also, how did you feel after this? pls let me know. Also i made this PLAYLIST if you want to add some feeling to this while reading... Enjoy!

Lena Luthor x R/Hanahaki AU//Word Count: 3,464

-------------------------------------------------

It is possible to die of a broken heart.

You look it up somewhere in the internet. It's similar to a heart attack, caused by a very strong and emotionally stressful event. The death of a loved one, a breakup, a betrayal. It's treatable and rarely fatal. Following the recommendations of your doctor, you can make a full recovery within weeks. Still, it is possible to die of it.

You don't have a broken heart. You wish you had one. Because love, the one only you feel, is growing inside of you and it is much worse than that.

Thankfully, compared to others your condition it's not as painful as it could be.

You have heard about people with roses inside them, how their thorns puncture their pharynges with every breath they take. Others don't get flowers. They get apple or cherry trees with their fruits pouring juice inside their lungs and out of their mouths. Some others have pines and spruces, with cones constricting their organs and rib-cages until they bones break.

So you look at the small white petal that lays in your hand and think that, in your case, it is something almost magnanimous.

Plumerias have no thorns and, even though some can be a bit thick, their branches are soft enough to bend around your heart and lungs without much trouble. Their petals, small and delicate, rise easily up your throat without lacerating it in a coughing fit.

Maybe, you want to think in a very optimist way, if you can keep that love from growing further, you won't have to suffer through it.

Maybe.

So you prescribe for your own heart solitude and abstinence.

The first one is the easiest.

You tell your friends you are sick and need some time to recover. Most of them get worried as they don't know yet what illness has fallen upon you in these troublesome times.

"You know, If you wanted, I could get you a full medical examination." Alex offers with a raised eyebrow, giving you the look of the always concerned big sister.

"Thanks, but it's alright." You assure them with a smile. "I was thinking about spending some time at home anyway."

After a lot of questions you manage to dodge in the end, they decide there's no reason to doubt your intentions. So they leave you to your own devices.

Homemade remedies, or herbicides depending on who you ask, seem to help as you spend your days at home. Drinking some salt water with lemon in the morning, or a couple of vinegar tablespoons in a cup of tea before going to bed. They don't taste that bad once you get used to the flavor and these help you ease the new bitterness that you taste in the back of your throat.

The second is a bit harder.

You have to stop yourself from dreaming her, thinking her, missing her.

She has texted you a few times already, wanting to know how you're doing and offering her help if you don't feel like you're doing okay on your own. You handle it as best as you can. You text back, consistently enough and with measured time and words, so you don't raise any red flags. When you don't seem to answer she calls, but just thinking about hearing her voice makes your chest hurt a little.

You never answer. She doesn't try to call again. You spit your first handful of flowers after that.

It's all fine, you lie to yourself, at least until the pain reaches your insides and white petals come out of you mouth dappled in red.

"You need to tell her." Kara says softly as she pats your back after another coughing fit.

You cover your mouth with your hand, making sure there are no signs of blood or petals as you tight it into a fist. "Tell who what?"

"Tell Lena about the flowers." She sighs when she fells you freeze under her touch. "Sorry. Alex told me if I could get a clear shot at your lungs maybe we could figure out how to help. I didn't expect it to be... well, flowers."

It shouldn't come as a surprise to you but you are still amazed at how easy it is to forget Kara has x-ray vision when she's not wearing her suit. With or without it, she's still the same caring and protective person you have always known. It also explains why she has been so adamant about having lunch together, at least once a week, after your failed attempt at convincing her you were doing well after a month alone. You couldn't expect less from your best friend, you remind yourself as you catch your breath.

"How do you know it's her?" The taste is bitter as you swallow the rest of blood and petals in your mouth.

"It's plumerias, isn't it?" She rubs your back again as you regain you posture. "They are her favorites."

There are a couple of red tainted petals in your palm when you open your hand. "Yeah, they are."

Kara looks at you and you see something in her you don't think you have ever seen before in the Girl of Steel. But you recognize it, because you feel the same way. Hopeless. Helpless. Powerless.

"(Y/N)." She says like she's already grieving. "It's spreading fast."

The easiest way to get ride of the disease is by removing its seed from your heart, the doctor says. No more than an hour in the operating room and your respiratory system would be as good as new. Common symptoms after the surgery can include aches between your shoulder blades, ribs, back of the neck or chest, weakness and hoarseness in your voice, and, in general, some memory loss and the inability to experiment intense or deep affection towards another person. Most of these stop shortly after you recover, except for the last one.

More experimental methods have been developed with the help of biotherapy. Experts in Japan are said to have reduced the spread of the flowers with other plants like kudzu or barberry, while someone in Europe has been using thrips to eat the plant and control its growth. It's like using maggots to eat your wounds, the doctor explains more enthusiastic than you feel.

You could, of course, try the simplest of things and confess your love.

It only takes to be loved in return for you to heal before any permanent damage is done. The seed that grows in your heart will almost instantly wither, the cough will purge the last of the flowers out of your lungs, and your recovery will last only a couple of weeks. You will breathe again.

But, if your love goes unrequited, you'll reach your fatal end in a matter of days. Doctors will give you a double dose of morphine or induce a coma trying to ease your pain. Flowers, fruits and cones bloom, branches and thorns grow. You convulse and gasp until your last breath when the biggest flowers come out of your mouth. All until your thorax is transformed, beautifully and violently, into a garden of flesh and blood.

Anyone who has seen it happen will tell you, how shocking it is to witness such a thing.

Whatever the case, this only serves to confirm what you already know. You can't be optimistic anymore.

You're dying and you will die, soon with flowers in your lungs or after many years with a loveless heart. Because this life and death of yours, you think, cannot be, shall not be, decided by a coin in the air.

And yet.

"It's flowers...in my lungs." You can almost tell which direction the flower stalks take inside your chest as the words form in your mouth.

"Oh." Lena says as she starts to fidget with her hands.

The anger, that had been growing inside her after weeks of vague replies and evasions, vanishes in her eyes the moment she understands what you're going through.

"Have you...talked to the other person?"

"No, not really. Not yet." You try not to lose your composure as you feel the flowers threatening to rise up your throat.

"Will you?" She asks.

You take a deep breath, feeling the gravity pull your already heavy heart down. "It's plumerias."

"Plumerias?" You can see the moment it dawns on Lena, and the look she gives you makes you wish again you could die of a broken heart instead.

"Miss Luthor, I'm sorry but the board meeting will start shortly."

Jess opens the door a second later and it gives you time to look at the other side and place your hand in your chest. As if that could possibly stop your heart and lungs from collapsing.

"Thank you, Jess. I'll be there." Lena dismisses her with a nod and looks again at you.

She doesn't say anything else and you feel a coughing fit building in your lungs. Stronger than you have ever felt it.

"(Y/N)!" She leaves her chair, running towards you.

You cover your mouth as your chest feels like a boxer is using it as a punching bag. I doesn't feel like it will end quick and when it finally does the only thing that remains is pain.

You thank the chair that holds you in place as you catch your breath.

"I'm fine. It's fine." You don't want her to see it, but she manages to catch a glimpse of the bloody petals that cover your palm once you recover.

"No, it's not, (Y/N). You're dying and I-"

"It's not your fault." You cut her off, shaking your head and taking a little napkin from you pocket to clean yourself as best as you can.

The death, the break, the betrayal. You feel it all as worry and pity finally merge in her eyes. There's also guilt when she looks at you. It is there along with everything else she doesn't feel for you. So you don't want an apology, especially not from her, especially not like this.

"You're my friend and I just- I wanted you to know. I got my surgery already programmed."

"Surgery?" You watch her draw back a bit in surprise.

"I'll be fine." You lie again.

"(Y/N), I-"

"Miss Luthor, the board-"

"I know!" Lena snaps and, when she realizes the magnitude of her reaction, she retracts, taking a deep breath for herself before answering. "Sorry, yes. Do you think you could hold it for a minute?"

"You should go." You say with a small voice before any of them can say more. "The meeting, sounds important."

"(Y/N)..." The way she pronounces your name makes you want to be over with this already. You just can't stand it anymore.

"We'll talk later." You say. "We got time."

She wants to argue, you know, but you won't, can't, do it. Still, you pull a little smile for her.

"We'll talk later." She replies with a nod.

There will be time for another conversation. There will be time. There will be time. There will be time. You repeat it like a mantra to help you carry yourself out of her office.

Everything else after that passes like a blur.

You know you reach the front door of the building, with the voice of the receptionist behind your back offering to call for help. You stumble on the sidewalk trying to hold onto light poles and signposts to keep yourself from falling. You clutch your hand in your chest as the pain reaches its peak. Flowers come pouring out of your mouth and you gasp for air as you finally fall.

You're delirious by the time you land on the hospital bed.

Many faces come and go then, doctors, nurses, friends, ghosts, both the living and the death. The only constants are your dying gasps and the painful beating of your heart until the morphine does its work. It helps you see, with certain clarity the only face that can make a difference.

"You listen to me, alright? I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier." You open your heavy lids at the sound of her voice, and you see those emerald eyes for what could be the last time. "I love you, (Y/N), please, I love you."

You hear her words, or you don't, or it is simply to late to care anymore. The coin is in the air and there's no more time.

***

☞ You let yourself drift into darkness as the plumerias are pulled to a better light. The garden is gone and what is left behind is only an empty carcass. You cannot stand the emptiness and your heart does what it should have done from the beginning. It breaks and breaks and breaks...

***

☞ Your mind tries to grasp her words but you find your heart too weak to keep a hold of them. So you let them pass through like a shadow. No need for them anymore as the anesthesia and the scalpel give you a break from all this suffering. There will be no flowers and it is, truly, not as bad as it could be...

***

☞ Her words suddenly hit you in their full meaning and your mind does its best to keep and save them into your heart. Even through branches and petals, it has the effect of an echo chamber, repeating those words like a healing prayer. I love you. I love you. I love you...

#Between Two Lungs #One shot #lena luthor #lena luthor x reader #lena luthor imagine #lena luthor imagines #lena luthor x you #lena x reader #lena x you

194 notes · View notes

xiaomoxu · 3 years

Text

Lucien’s Rumors & Secrets – Season 2: 暗蚀 “Eclipse (Internal Erosion)”

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT!! ⚠️

Latest Rumors & Secrets from CN server which hasn’t been released in EN server. Contains detailed spoiler from the main story. It comes with Lucien’s Karma for Chapter 10-13 Season 2.

CHAPTER 1

Part.1

"Lucien, are you really anxious to go back?"

"Sorry, Professor Ren, I do have important matters in China."

"Then at least, let’s go for dinner after this.”

"I appreciate your kindness, but the time may be a little tight." Lucien smiled apologetically, "When you want to go back to China, let me do your favor. The research I mentioned earlier, I will start as soon as possible."

Part.2

Professor Ren watched him neatly put the things on the desk into the cardboard box, and sighed softly. From studying to becoming a member of this institute, Lucien is his most proud student. Both academic and work are hard to fault. He believed that Lucien could do well from scratch after returning to China, but...

"Well, I can't hold you back, but there is one more thing I must ask you."

Lucien stopped his hand movement, "You said."

Part.3

"We have known each other for several years, and I found that you are always alone no matter what. You are indeed much better than most people, but have you never thought about trying to let others into your world?"

"I understand that many things do depend on the strength of the team.”

Professor Ren shook his head, "I mean something outside of work, about yourself."

"Thank you for your concern, but for me, this is great now."

Part.4

After Lucien finished speaking, he continued to bow his head to pack his things. Professor Ren looked at him for a while and suddenly smiled.

"Forget it, I can't figure out what you young people are thinking, Lucien, in fact, everyone is a very good subject on their own, and you can study it if you have time.

Professor Ren smiled and patted Lucien on the shoulder, without saying more.

Part.5

The plane flew smoothly in the night sky, the lights in the cabin were turned off, and Lucien closed his book and closed his eyes to take a nap. In about ten minutes, light suddenly appeared in the pitch-black vision. Lucien fixed his eyes to distinguish it, and there seemed to be a field of flowers in front of him. The fine rain was lightly tapping the flowers. When he was about to turn around to take a look, a mass of warmth hit his back, and soon some kind of cool liquid was soaked his clothes. He turned his head and saw a girl burying her head on his back and whispering. The flower field behind her was stained with color because of her presence. The blue and purple hydrangea clusters trembling in the light rain, like a girl's intermittent breathing.

The plane bumped and awakened Lucien from his dream. He slowly opened his eyes, as if he could still smell the faint fragrance of flowers.

Part.6

It was the kind of lucid dream that he couldn't refuse. Even in light sleep, he would find a gap and get into his mind. He should have felt irritable, but the real color and temperature in the dream made him a little nostalgic.

Lucien subconsciously stroked his heart, waiting for his heartbeat to stabilize. It seems that there are some emotions that are rarely experienced. He wants to catch but can't catch it, so he can only try to figure it out a little bit patiently.

However, in a few hours, those familiar street scenes in the dream will appear in front of him.

He believes that he will find a way to solve the mystery here, or meet the girl in his dream who bring color.

CHAPTER 2

Part.1

The first independent research paper of the institute was successfully published. The researchers breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to celebrate. As the initiator of this research, Lucien naturally couldn't escape the celebration wine. On the way to the bar after work, the young researchers couldn't help whispering: Professor Lucien, who is always immersed in scientific research, has been to the bar, what is the amount of alcohol, and how will he deal with the girls who strike up?

Lucien followed the group of people and walked into the bar. The boss behind the bar saw him sharply, raised his hand to greet him, and then personally led everyone to a deck.

"Please sit down. It's quiet here. Professor Lucien specially asked me to reserve a place.

Part.2

Lucien motioned his colleagues to sit first. However, everyone hadn't recovered from the surprise, so he had to take a seat first and briefly explained.

"When I was not busy before, I would come to sit and chat with the guests here."

The boss handed over the wine list and followed Lucien's words smoothly.

"Who can you talk to Professor Lucien? I don't know how many people come to me every day to see him."

"The boss is joking, what really makes you linger is your special tone." Lucien handed the wine list to the colleagues around him. “Today, I invite everyone to drink whatever they want. "

Part.3

After a few glasses of wine, the researchers who usually don't drink much were a little drunk, Lucien also leaned on the back of the sofa, letting him relax for a while. In fact, he has no thoughts of celebration. This paper is just to make the research institute appear in a wider field of vision. It will be more convenient to be noticed by some necessary people in the future.

It was getting late, and Lucien found an excuse to leave temporarily and was going to settle the bill in advance. The boss was changing discs in the operating room, and the gentle jazz was flooding the bar. Lucien realized that the noise tonight had ended a little early.

Part.4

“It is raining heavily tonight, and it is estimated that not many people will come to play." The boss settled the bill quickly, and didn't forget to help Lucien get a discount. "A Foggy Day, Professor Lucien played this song when he first came here, did I remember correctly?"

Lucien smiled and nodded, and subconsciously looked at the glass window that was not far away. Late at night, the rain came quickly and violently. As long as someone opened the door, the wind that penetrated into the house would blow a string of aluminum film ornaments on the window up and down. The shattered reflections and the rain marks on the glass windows made the scene in the aftermath blurry.

The boss took out a paper towel for the guests to wipe off the rain, Lucien thought about it, and took one and folded it easily. An "experience" that had never been experienced before dragged his fingers, and soon folded out a paper crane.

Part.5

The boss caught a glimpse of what was in his hand and was about to say something, but he saw Lucien quickly take the paper crane apart again. On the recovered tissue, there was nothing but a few creases, but he stared at it for a long time.

"Professor Lucien?"

The boss's voice rang in his ears, Lucien finally recovered and withdrew his gaze.

"Sorry, I may have drunk a bit too much today."

Part.6

"Don't be greedy, you should rest early for scientific research."

Lucien nodded and thanked the boss, walked to the bathroom, and took a deep breath into the mirror. The moment he folded the paper crane, he suddenly thought that someone had left a wish related to him in it, and that was exactly what he wanted. He opened the paper crane and tried to capture the traces of this wish, but found nothing.

Some kind of hot and inexplicable pain wrapped his heartbeat. Is it drunk, or is it a lucid dream?

Part.7

At this moment, he really wanted to sleep, but it was not for rest, but for the dream to complete the broken picture. He had to admit that no matter how vigilant he was, he still couldn't ignore the existence in the dream. But chasing such a unknown thing is too risky, should I bet on it? The phone in his pocket vibrated suddenly, interrupting Lucien's thought. The girl's name appeared on the screen and congratulated him on his successful publication of the paper. He looked at the name and typed a few words almost without thinking. "where are you?"

Part.8

She responded quickly, saying that she was at home, and then asked him if he was okay. Lucien's fingers paused, and she quickly covered up her gaffe with other topics.

If there is any sign of reality in the nothingness in the dream, it is "color". He has only seen such a color in one person. Lucien put away the phone and made a decision quickly.

He wants to be closer to her, maybe it would be a good choice to be a neighbor.

CHAPTER 3

Part.1

On the second day, the atmosphere of the institute was a little bit wrong. Lucien greeted his colleagues as usual, but found that everyone's sights were a little dodge, only the intern Pete came over and asked him in a low voice

"Professor Lucien, do you have a headache?"

"It doesn't hurt, what's the matter?"

"That's good, we don't know how much you drink, and we are worried that we persuaded you to overdo it last night"

"No, I know my limit."

Part.2

He looked around the people in the office, probably because of a hangover, everyone seemed a little slouched. Lucien sighed lightly, turned and walked into the office.

Half an hour later, the researchers received Lucien's puffs. Professor Lucien ordered puffs, which sounded as weird as "Professor Lucien went to the bar". After looking at each other for a while, Pete was appointed by everyone again and sent Lucien's share into his office.

"Thank you."

Part.3

Lucien looked up from the information, took the paper bag that Pete handed him, and saw his hesitant expression.

"what's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing! It's just a bit of a surprise. For the first time I know you like sweets."

“At this time, energy needs to be replenished quickly to make follow-up and less mistakes on works." Lucien smiled faintly, took the pile of materials on hand and gave it to Pete after he finished eating, “copy it for me and send it to everyone."

Part.4

Pete hurriedly picked it up and was about to leave the office. Before closing the door, he glanced at Professor Lucien, who was full of energy behind his desk, and his admiration increased.

Lucien opened the paper bag only when Pete left.

The rich aroma burst into the nasal cavity instantly, making Lucien feel strange for a moment, but the choice just now did not make him feel unreasonable. It seems that this kind of sweets is also a "frequent customer" in this research institute.

Part.5

Lucien hesitated, took out the puff and tasted it, frowning slightly.

It's too sweet, not his favorite taste.

...But what kind of flavor does he like?

Obviously he doesn't eat sweets very much, but inexplicably preset the sweetness. Even when he sees tears, he also knows what kind of saltiness it is because he has felt it in the scenes that suddenly appeared.

Part.6

Lucien had long understood that they were not ordinary illusions, but he did not expect that he would even be influenced. He experienced many things he had never experienced before in these untouchable pictures, like a mirror image of a certain fact.

He suddenly realized that maybe he didn't have any favorite taste, but the tip of his tongue remembered the taste he tasted for the first time, which has since defined his cognition.

Once the taste is developed, it is difficult to change it.

CHAPTER 4

Part.1

Lucien stood under the lush camphor tree again.

This is the place he visits most often in his dreams. Perhaps it overlaps with the experience in reality. He once thought that the picture here would never change into a big snow, wheat field, camphor tree, and waiting alone under the tree little boy. But this time, the picture didn't unfold as he knew it: the white snow dissipated, revealing the golden wheat field, and under the camphor tree, besides myself when I was a child, there was also a little girl. She folded a colorful paper crane like a magic trick and gave it to him. He stretched out his hand to take it, and the colorful colors leaped in his pupils.

He heard the girl ask him in an expectant tone if he would come here to meet her tomorrow. It sounded like an appointment to ask a question, but he didn't hear his answer.

Part.2

The dream stopped abruptly, Lucien opened his eyes and moved his sore neck. The finger subconsciously stroked the inner pocket of the jacket, and the red peace knot was still placed there. He seems to have become accustomed to such subtle deviations, which has become a way for him to distinguish between dreams and dreams.

In the gloomy laboratory, the Dream Recorder was hibernating quietly, and Lucien's face was reflected on the darkened screen. This machine has been secretly tested for four years. No matter how fragmented the dreams recorded each time, Lucien will print out the records and keep them. Today these records have been very thick, but there are still no clues that can reveal the secrets of dreams.

Part.3

Lucien opened the piece of printing paper at random, which recorded a dream not long ago.

He remembered that in that dream he was sitting next to a hospital bed, holding one hand

Holding a girl’s hand, and holding a book in the other hand. The book reads "Dreaming and madness seem to have the same substance. Their mechanism is the same..."

Part.4

The emotion that always follows the girl in the dream is once again wrapped in the chest. It is a desire to understand, almost desperate, but there is often pity and contradiction. He can assume that these scenes are real, but he maintains constant doubts about such emotions.

No matter how difficult the predicament is, Lucien seldom feels fear. He doesn't understand what is worth standing still under that urgent will. Lucien sorted out his emotions and turned on the machine in front of him again.

In the face of a huge unknown, everyone has a moment of madness due to being overwhelmed, and perhaps his current state is also like this. But he did not deny these dreams, because they just proved that something irreversible had happened.

CHAPTER 5

Part.1

When Lucien handed the record to Hypnos, the latter's gaze stayed on him for a while.

"Ares...no, Professor Lucien. Your recent experiments seem to have become more frequent."

"I just want to improve efficiency."

"Do you really think these fragmented dreams are useful?"

" If you want to form a perfect picture, a piece of fragments can't be missing.." Lucien met his gaze. "At present, it seems that only I can help you spell out the perfect world you want.”

Part.2

Hypnos raised his mouth slightly, "Your style is still more like Ares."

"As long as the purpose can be achieved, identity does not matter." Lucien looked at the subway station not far away, and walked towards that side first. "I also look forward to your efficiency, Hypnos."

The empty subway moved slowly, carrying its first passenger to the spring that has yet to come.

Part.3

Lucien got out of the car and stepped into the familiar wheat field. There was a lonely figure under the lush camphor tree with a kite in his arms. Lucien looked at it for a while and walked over and sat beside the little boy. The little boy didn't seem surprised by his arrival, he didn't even turn his head. The two people sat side by side in silence for a long time, and the little boy finally spoke.

"Have you found the person in your dream?"

"Not sure yet."

"Can I see her again?"

“We will see it.”

Part.4

Confirming that the dream was stable enough, Lucien stood up with the trunk behind him, his vision suddenly lit up.

He raised his head and found that the snow in front of him was gone, leaving only an endless wheat field. Several kites were raised high, like carefree birds. This was not what he had seen in his dreams, so he stood there and didn't move.

The wind started, Lucien narrowed his eyes slightly, and suddenly felt his little finger hooked. He turned his head and saw a clear smiling face-- was his neighbor, "rival", the girl who always wanted to be vigilant in front of him and often did stupid things.

Part.5

She didn't seem to mind Lucien's dazed expression, she still looked at him with eyebrows and shook his fingers.

Is it her... Is it her? Is she making an appointment with him?

Lucien eagerly wanted to grab her hand, but before touching her, all the scenes in front of him suddenly disappeared.

The fragments of spring remained in his eyes, and were washed away by a blank white. The heavy snow still didn't stop.

Part.6

Lucien looked up at the luxuriant camphor tree on his side, feeling that it looked like a kind of solemn guardian. Before he found the key, he would never open the secret door to him easily. However, at this moment, he seems to see a certain corner of his heart that has been in the dust for a long time, so that the complex emotions born from dreams can be traced slightly.

He has always wanted to know where these pictures came from, how they are related to the deviation of the world, and who is the person in the unclear dream; and behind all these desires, it is hoped that these pictures exist for a long time.

Perhaps when he didn't realize it, there were already people visiting in his world. He will also want to place something on a certain person, such as an agreement that will not miss an appointment, or a watch over the sky.

Part.7

Lucien left the dream. When he opened his eyes on the subway, Hypnos was sitting not far away.

"How, is it the effect you want?"

"It's very stable, but there is still one area that needs adjustment." Lucien turned his head and looked at the train door. "In this dream, there is always a part that cannot be opened. I suspect that will be the key to the whole dream."

"I just restored this dream based on your records. If you can't open it yourself, I can't help it."

Part.8

"This is not my own dream. Someone will help me open it."

"What do you need me to do?"

Lucien pondered for a moment, raising his eyes to look at the person opposite.

"Create a condition where the door can be opened to welcome guests."

Hypnos raised the corners of his lips slightly, "It seems that Professor Lucien has already chosen someone in his heart."

Part.9

Lucien lowered his eyes, and some interesting memories flashed in his mind.

The shadow under the desk, ten boxes of "small syringes" that disappeared, and "Miracle Finder"

Whether intentionally or not, the girl had given him many excuses to approach her, and invited her to step into this illusory dream.

He is looking forward to what kind of new world she can open up.

---END---

I swear, every time I translate Lucien’s part, my heartache is getting worse. Please let him be happy for once!! (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)

Notes: I’m not planning to take another R&S after this (*/ω＼) Hope you guys enjoy reading this translation. Let me know if there’s a mistake ^^ THANK YOU~

#mlqc #mlqc r&s #mlqc rumors & secrets #mlqc lucien #mlqc cn #lucien #mlqc translation

88 notes · View notes