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lucaordeusorlem · 5 months

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Over Decoration Mayhem

This is a stupid little fic I wrote, sleep deprived and haven't written in years. It's for a contest, that got extended so I was like "meh fuck it lessgo" and decided to write this. I will nbow be sleep.

“Surprise??”, Teorus said sheepishly, staring at MC.

“S-? surprise? this.. is a surprise?” Mc, asked rather concerned as they looked at the state of the gods parlor. Across the room, the gods stood rather sheepishly (with the notable lack of Aigo). The mansion was in tatters, decorations strewn about, food everywhere, in their hair, on their clothes, the room was covered roof to floorboards in all things Christmas.

“What on earth happened!?” MC asked

“W-Well…”

*hours earlier*

“Since we’re busy on Christmas, I think we should try to celebrate Christmas early! With MC” Ichthys offered the idea to the group.

“Why would a god celebrate such a silly goldfish tradition that brings us nothing but more work?” Leon snarked.

“Well, because we want to see how goldies celebrate Christmas. We only see it from the reflection pool, I want to experience it, Leo!” Teo chimed in cheerfully. “I agree with Ikky!”

“It's easier said than done, Teo. Humans from all over the world celebrate Christmas in different ways.” huedhaut said matter of factly. “For example, in Japan, Christmas is a holiday for couples and they eat KFC chicken, but in Canada it's a holiday for families where they eat turkey. In North America they open presents on Christmas morning, after this ‘Santa’ character puts them under a tree-”

“Leave it to stupid humans to celebrate breaking and entering.” Scorpio grumbled walking into the parlor.

“Hey! Hey! Scorpy, don't you think we should celebrate Christmas with MC?” Ichthys sung.

“I think we should trash the entire holiday. It brings out nothing but the worst in humans and triples my work load.”

“I never thought there would be a day that I'd agree with Scorpio. Interesting.” Leon chuckled.

“As I was saying, how Christmas is different everywhere, places like Canada and the United Kingdom and the United States celebrate on Christmas day, but places like Mexico, celebrate from the 16th until Christmas Eve, called Las Posadas. Many countries all have their own traditions-”

“SO WHAT YOU’RE SAYING IS WE SHOULD CELEBRATE ALL CULTURES CHRISTMAS?!” Ichthys exclaimed turning to Teo

“No that's not at all wha-”

“AN AMAZING IDEA, HUEDHAUT! YOU’RE SO SMART” Teo beamed.

“Okay, since this is the plan, we need to figure out what cultures we are going to do.” Teo got a serious look on his face.

“Well, let's start with the more common one! Santa! We need a Santa”

“Wait wait! We need a chimney first for Santa to get through.”

“Smart, Teo, smart.” Ichthys snapped his fingers, transforming the cabinet into a working fireplace “Okay now for Santa…”

“Hello, what is everyone doing here?” Dui walked into the parlor- oh how unlucky of him. Ichthys and Teorus shared a look, the plan had been sealed.

“Dui! My man! My friend! My partner in crime!” Ichthys exclaimed walking towards him

“O-oh no… Ikky what did you do now?” Dui looked apprehensive

Ichthys threw his arm over his shoulder

“Relax, relax, I haven't done anything! All of us are setting up a Christmas party for MC!”

“Not all of us, just you two idiots.” Scorpio remarked

“Oh, that seems fun” Dui smiled

“You know, I'm so glad you said that. DUI! We are going to task you with the most important job. Can you handle it?” Ichthys put on an authoritative voice, mocking Zyglavis.

“Oh no… I feel like I've been pulled into something problematic…”

“Good observation.” Hue sighed

“You, Dui, will be the one, the only, SANTA CLAUS!” Ichthys exclaimed with jazz hands.

“Oh, you want me to dress up as Santa for MC? What does Santa do?” Dui took a breath of relief, he could handle such a task.

“In most cultures, Santa is a big man who travels the world in one night, delivering presents to all the good girls and boys.” Hue elaborated for Dui.

“Oh? Kind of like the wishes department. I wonder what happens to the boys and girls who misbehave? Do you think they have something similar to the department of Punishments?”

“Well, in a lot of cultures, they have an anti Claus, most commonly known as Krampus, which is believed to be linked to the Bavarian word for ‘Dead’ or 'Rotten’, or that of the German word ‘Claw’. Depending on the culture, Krampus is a creature who scares the children into behaving, but in others, Krampus physically punishes the children to remind them to behave.” Huedhaut masterfully explained (Not me actually enjoying researching stuff for my little fanfic)

“That kinda reminds me of Scorpy” Ikky laughed

“Keep it up and I’ll feed you to Krampus myself.” Scorpio snarled

“So it’s decided then! Dui will be Santa, and Scorpio will be Krampus!”

“OI! Problem child! Don’t go assuming I’ll be taking part in this period, let alone dressing up as some anti claus demon monster!” Scorpio protested, the familiar blush covering his face in anger.

“Okay, moving on-”

“-Don’t ignore me!”

“Now we need the christmas tree! Let’s get the biggest tree ever!”

“Don’t waste your breath, Scorpio, they’re lost in their own world now.” Huedhaut assured.

“I know they use Pine trees! Here we go!” Ichthys snapped his fingers, a pine tree appearing in the living room.

“Wait! I really like cherries, I think we should have a cherry tree too!” Dui snapped his fingers, appearing beside the pine tree was a cherry tree, with fully ripe fruit.

“Wow! Good idea, let's add our own twist to it as well! I like milk! Let’s have a milk tree!” Teo got excited and snapped his fingers, creating the abomination known as a milk tree.

“Christmas trees need decorations! Okay let’s see” One snap after the other, Ichthys was decorating his tree, following suit, Dui and Teo began to decorate their personal trees.

“I’m putting a pie ornament because cherry pie is yummy.”

“I’m putting a carton of milk ornament on because I love milk! I also put a mini ornament modeled after MC because I love them” Teo said cheerfully

“I put a bunch of toys all over mine, and christmas crackers, some with hidden tricks” Ichthys said, better steer clear of the tree.

“It’s starting to look kind of like Christmas here! Just need lights *snap* maybe some of the popcorn and cranberry things”

“Ooh! Ooh! Popcorn and cherry instead” Dui snapped his fingers

“Alright, now we just need a turkey dinner!” With a final snap of his fingers, Teo had set up a table with a wholesome family turkey dinner, as well as a table of refreshments.

“Okay, we’ve got the North American Christmas taken care of. Let’s do Japan’s!” Ichthys snapped his fingers, putting a massive bucket of fried chicken as the table’s centerpiece.

“Hue, what are some more Christmas cultures we can add?” Teo asked

“Well, in Sweden, they believe Santa rode a goat to deliver the presents, so it is a tradition to build a giant goat made out of straw.”

“We could steal one of Aigo’s goats instead, don’t you think that would be even more lucky?” Ichthys asked

“For the last time, they are heralds…” Said a sleepy voice, almost on cue, the remaining 6 gods, Zyglavis, Karno, Aigonorous, Partheno, Krioff and Tauxolouve entered the gods parlor.

“Aigo! Can we have one of your goa-”

“Can you bring one of your heralds to the party, Aigo?” Dui interrupted Ichthys,

“Party..? Do I have to?”

“No- we just need your goat!”

“Herald….” Aigo grumbled, half asleep, snapping his fingers, summoning his herald, before collapsing on the couch, resuming his slumber.

“Party huh? Seems we came to earth at the perfect time! How rare for all 12 of us to get together at the same time, I say it is a call for a celebration, don’t you agree Krioff?” Partheno smirked and looked around

“You know, a good celebration of the gods is never complete unless Huedhaut brings his wine, whaddya say, Huedhaut??” Partheno asked leisurely sliding over to the couch.

“I guess it is a rather rare occasion, I would be willing to part with some of my brews.”

“Wait! Don’t go taking over our party, this is a party for MC since we can’t spend actual Christmas with them!” Teo whined, pouting.

“That would explain all these decorations, although I’m not sure it would explain the cherry tree- or whatever that thing is…” Zyglavis chimed in

“It’s a milk tree! Get this Zyglavis! Dui is going to dress up as Santa, and Scorpio is going to dress up as Krampus” Ichthys said in a snickered voice.

“You are dressing up?” Zyglavis questioned

“NO! I AM NOT DRESSING UP AS KRAMPUS!” Scorpio yelled in frustration, “My bad I didn't mean to yell at you.”

“So this is all the problem child’s doing?”

“Lighten up Zyglavis, It’s the holiday season on earth and everyone just wants to have a good time, I think even you should sit back and relax, you always work so hard, you deserve a chance to relax” Karno stepped in encouraging Zyglavis to join in on the idea.

“Well, it’s not a bad idea, I can add some chocolate I got from France to the table” Zyglavis snapped his fingers, chocolate now added to the table.

“Maybe some ice cream….too?” Krioff finally spoke up and added ice cream to the table

“Hmmm I wouldn’t be opposed to some of t-those…” Scorpio snapped his finger bringing rabbit apples to the table.

One by one the gods snapped their fingers, filling the table with meatballs, milk, marshmallows, chocolates, wine, fruit, and so much more to their hearts desire until half the room was just a buffet of very NON christmas foods. They did however, choose to include Friend Sundried Emperor Moth Caterpillars, a dish eaten in South Africa during christmas time. As well as two italian desserts eaten at christmas, a raisin and candied fruit filled Panettone and a Pandora topped with icing sugar. A courtesy of Karno, who happens to have an interest in human culture.

“We need more, any other ideas guys? Before we call MC to the mansion?” Ichthys hummed

“Las Posadas, fireworks-”

“No fireworks inside the parlor.” Zyglavis immediately shut down Dui

“What about pinatas? For Las Posadas! We can fill them with MC’s favourite treats.” Tauxolouve chimed in.

“That’s actually a great idea, I can’t wait to see their excitement.” Dui smiled and snapped his fingers, creating a pinata in the shape of a snow globe.

“In the Philippines they have a lantern festival, with lanterns made of bamboo in the shape of stars, MC loves stars. We could add that as well.” Leon chimed in, for the first time with something of interest to say.

“Yes! Good idea Leo!” Teo snapped his fingers, creating an array of lanterns in all shapes and sizes across the already very full parlor.

“Yeah, good idea Leon.” Scorpio snarked, Leon responded only with a glare.

“Alright! I think that’s it! Dui! Scorpio! Transform!” Ichthys clapped his hands together, getting pumped.

“I refuse.” Scorpio said flat out. Dui had snapped his finger changing his outfit into the Santa outfit.

“Oh C’mon Scorpy it's for MC you don't want to make them upset do you?” Partheno chimed in with devilish grin

“Tch… Fine Scorpio was flustered, he snapped his fingers, effectively taking on the role of Krampus.

“YAY! NOW IT’S TIME TO CALL MC!” Teo and Ichthys said in unison.

“Alright I sent a telepathic message to them telling them to come! They should be here soon” Dui said

The gods were very proud of their handy work, hoping that at least one or more of the Christmas themes would be to their liking, although it was very above and beyond, in a very god-like fashion. The god’s chatted amongst themselves as they waited, already having sipped on some of Hue’s wine. Everything was perfect…. Until,

“Something is missing guys…” Dui tilted his head to the side looking at the tree, and Ichthys came to join him.

“Something is missing! I can’t quite put my finger on it but you’re right. Oh no! MC is gonna be here soon and something is missing.”

“In most cultures, the Christmas trees are adorned with a Christmas tree topper, some go with a star, others go with an angel.It’s the last piece added to a tree, and is usually placed by a chosen one. I believe you are missing the tree topper on your christmas tree, ichthys.”

“YOU’RE RIGHT! QUICK GUYS! WE NEED TO PUT THE TREE TOPPER ON THE TREE!”

“Hey since it’s a tradition, can I put it on the tree without powers?” Teo asked.

“Yeah that sounds like a lot of fun.” Dui snapped his fingers creating a star and he placed it on his tree, at the top. “The finishing touches.”

Teorus went to his tree and placed his star on top as well, although he struggled to make it stay on the leaking milk tree, he eventually got it. Ichthys was on his way, he snapped his fingers and created a star big enough to top his tree, and flew to the top of the tree.

“There we gooo…” Ichthys gingerly placed the tree topper at the top of the massive pine tree, although it struggled to stay up, after a few jostles he finally got it shoved deep enough in the pine to stay. “Everything is finally perfect!” Oh boy……if only he knew.

Ichthys jumped down from the top of the tree, happy with his surprise part for MC, when his jacket got caught in the tree (can you see where this is going?) Misfortune struck, the giant pine tree came tumbling down, narrowly missing the buffet tables and other trees and decorations…It was a god's level of luck… It was almost too lucky. Remember those Ichthys special cracklers? What a sight, what a fright, what an unfortunate time to have a prank blow up in your face….. Literally. Upon impact, the cracklers exploded sending streamers, confetti and fireworks across the parlor. They exploded with such force, it knocked over Dui’s cherry tree, right into the food! Everything was ruined. Except for the decorations, until Aigonorous’ herald got scared from the noise and started running around, tipping decorations, knocking over the tables. Everything was in shambled

“Ichthys…” Scorpio said in a low demonic voice “You’re going to meet Krampus”

“I’m sorry! THIS TOTALLY WASN’T MY PLAN!” Ichthys yelled, running from Scorpio. Scorpio angrily stalked towards Ichthys, slipping on potatoes and chocolate about, ready to lay it in to him, when he stepped on a crackler. The goods looked down as Scorpio slowly lifted his foot off.

“Phew nothing happe-” BAM the crackler exploded, all the food wreckage covered them from head to toe, nothing could be salvaged. At the very same time a knock came at the door, they all turned to look at MC, and the shock on their faces\.

“Surprise??”

The end

I wrote this from 6am to 9am basically idk why i saw the prompt thought it was cute and ran with it. If the ending is weird it's because I haven’t slept. This was purely self indulgent and probably stupid but hey my fanfic so I’m proud lol. I did some research to have fun with it and make it accurate. I am a geek and ended up enjoying the research part lol. Not proofreading. If it sucks, it sucks lol.

#star crossed myth #voltage #scm #scm leon #ichthys #leon #voltage inc #scm huedhaut #scm krioff #zyglavis #scm teorus #scm dui #scm partheno #scm tauxolouve #huedhaut #scm aigonorus #scm karno #scm scorpio

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exilethegame · 2 years

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Sorry for long comment.

Hi! So first off I LOVE your game. I have lost many hours of sleep playing and replaying, your characters are so intriguing and well written.

I kinda hate that I am such a “betray or break my trust and your dead to me” type of person because it prevents me from forming bonds with any of the older characters from my commanders past. Except sabir, he’s the homie for asking the logical question of why tf my anti war, merciful and compassionate commander would straight up just go psycho.

Heh, so I gotta ask will I be able to utterly guilt trip everyone throughout the story? I got a taste in the latest chapter and my jaded heart wishes much retribution before any microscopic speck of forgiveness can be given, if any is to be given at all. Syfn will probably get forgiven because I liked her a lot and oof the makeover we gave her face makes me feel bad. But only if she feels any guilt honesty.

Ok sorry for ranting, I love your story so much I am having a hard time shutting up. 😊

Oh but sorry that one person went over board hating on Scorpi baby. (I had a golden scorpi on my playthroughs so, can’t relate)

I get some characters can spark hate like me with Isabella (my mommy issues raged so hard) but these characters are like your babies since you made them. I hope your doing good. 🥺

Hello! I'm glad you've been enjoying the game :)

You'll get a few chances to remind certain characters of what they've done/how they've treated MC in the past, yes, and it's likely possible MC will be able to guilt trip them pretty consistently. However, that being said, depending on how far MC takes it there will be repercussions! Some characters might lash back, some might outright leave, and some may become completely consumed by their guilt... there's a lot of possibilities in how things could take a turn! Point is, if MC is super mean or cruel to a character (justified or not) they probably won't even want MC's forgiveness, or they may otherwise reach a point where they think getting MC's forgiveness is impossible and just give up entirely.

And my characters are definitely my children-- that being said, some of them are downright assholes 💀 People hating them is fine, I just don't necessarily want to be the one people rant to about it when it becomes particularly violent or personal!

Thanks for the ask!

#answered

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dangermousie · 10 months

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Farscape Rewatch: Die Me, Dichotomy, 2x22

First off, what a great title! But also Die Me, Dichotomy is both one of my favorite episodes and one that turns me into a blubbering mess even on rewatch. Arguably, John at the end of the ep, thinking Aeryn is dead and it’s his fault (he never ever excuses himself and takes the easy way out; the doctor tells him he was not in control so it’s not his fault and he rejects it), Scorpius victorious, John not even able to speak but just to scream, is the lowest he gets (though I suppose you can make an argument for DWTB. Farscape’s end of seasoners were always brutal).

In fact, I can never watch DMD without popping in S3’s opener Season of Death soon after (apt name, isn’t it? Season three is even darker than two). I came to Farscape in Season 4, so I can only imagine how insane it must have been to wait over the hiatus for continuance. You know what occurred to me on this rewatch? Why do Moyans simply not tie and sedate Crichton from the start? Fine, they don’t realize how truly dangerous he is and don’t realize he can sabotage the ship, kill any one of them etc etc…But he is clearly not only a loose cannon at that point, he is also in a horrendous amount of psychic pain (man is shaking and mumbling and falling apart even as Aeryn holds him), not to mention is self-harming all over the place: the scene where he looks at himself in the mirror and sees Scorpy so he smashes it through but mirror ‘reappears’ and he keeps smashing and smashing and smashing, and Aeryn comes and sees him basically breaking his hand on a brick wall because of course the mirror is long gone.

Interesting parallel of course, to Aeryn in The Way We Weren’t, where she was the one ‘making hamburger’ out of her hands and John was her voice of sanity. But that is the thing: Aeryn was upset, you can talk it out. Crichton is certifiably insane, and you can’t talk it out at all. Aeryn’s ‘walk it off’ approach where she tries to be the pep coach telling him he is strong and ‘I need you to face reality’ is not working because John is NOT in any way in control of himself. I feel for Aeryn tremendously there. John is not just the man she loves, but he is, for all the Moyans in a way, a little rationality check, and it’s gone completely (never to be reassembled fully again btw). I suppose they don’t sedate him because they are just overwhelmed with everything else that is going on: burnt Moya, Jothee’s back etc etc. And also, because except for Zhaan (who has her own take and brand of insanity, but is also the most distracted; and in fact the chip explores her weakness to break free - I think one of the reasons she sacrifices herself to bring Aeryn back in s3 is because of guilt she feels since it was because of her Chip in control of John got out and Aeryn died), they are all much too pragmatic/practical to really get the danger of a mental collapse and foe because it’s not something physical to shoot at. At least not until it’s too late. But if this is Crichton at his lowest, I have rarely loved Aeryn more than I do here. She has to be strong and together in some horrible circumstances, and the fact that she chooses to tell him she loves him at this juncture (where he is off the edge of despair) is mind bogglingly awesome. But this is Farscape, so we never get what we want even when we get it. Aeryn telling John she loves him is something I wanted to hear for years and as she was saying it, I was cringing away and covering my eyes, because she doesn’t know it, but Crichton is already gone, and now it’s the chip in control so she is spilling her heart to the disgusting abomination of shadow Scorpius. She is so vulnerable there and you can tell how the chip is delighting in ‘playing along’ and toying and UGH. When he uses all these seemingly romantic lines but it’s the gross perversion of every feeling John has ever felt about her, and he delights in ruining something that was a light for John in all that horror.

And when he knocks her out instead of kissing her and licks her face going “that’s my girl.” That is a sheer level of wrong, of horror, that is worse than the Aurora Chair for me because this is so utterly a negation of everything John is and everything he feels for Aeryn and just - this is an ep that keeps cranking up the awfulness and does not stop.

And John telling Aeryn he loves her, in words? Even though neither we the audience, nor the Moyans, nor Aeryn herself, were in doubt for ages? So great, right? It comes during the scene where I always cry: Aeryn’s funeral. Honestly, that whole sequence and the sequence leading to it, kill me. Because Aeryn flying after John, who is completely taken over by the chip, and you know, that no matter the cost to herself, she will shoot him down because she knows John would rather be dead than in Scorpius’ hands. And the chip, wrecking her plane, and so she has to bale out, but she is descending not on solid ground but a frozen lake and her thrusters will melt it…I start sobbing when the chip tells her of that fact ‘in deference to that part of Crichton which still cares.’

And then, nothing else could have made Crichton temporarily free of the hold of the chip but the sheer horror and loss and enormity make him break through and his desperate ‘baby, you are not going to die like this’ makes me sniffle no matter how many times I see it, just as Aeryn’s accepting calm does (she is always a pessimistic fatalist, isn’t she? And combat trained. We see it in Prayer in S4 very starkly, but it’s here as well).

And he sits there, helpless, knowing that he had done this, he has caused the death of the person he loves more than anything, and for whom he is willing to sacrifice anything, his soul and Earth included. And OMG, when she tells him ‘I meant what I said in the neural cluster [I love you]. I hope you did’ and you realize he has no idea what she is talking about, he doesn’t know she told him she loved him, he doesn’t understand her last words I…I…I…I…And then she sinks through the ice but she fights to the surface a time or two and he is trapped there, unable to do anything but watch and there are tears in his eyes, and his stare is utterly blind and he whispers ‘What have I done’ and you can tell he is so numb he is beyond numbness.

And then the funeral, with that music and his face…it’s utter self-loathing (though none of it is his fault. It is not his fault he was tortured and chipped, after all) and a frozen sort of grief. And then OMG, he is cuffed and he asks D’Argo for his knife and he goes to the coffin and I seriously thought he was going to off himself and he looks like he wants to, he stares at the knife, but that’s the thing, he can’t…the chip won’t let him. But also, being Crichton, he probably thinks it’s not punishment enough. And instead, he awkwardly cuts a lock of her hair, and tells her “Aeryn, forgive me. I love you.” For the first time. OK, I am getting wet-eyed again.

And then (I love how Aeryn’s death snapped him so much the chip can’t get control any more, though a darker interpretation is the chip doesn’t care any more since it already signaled Scorpius), he goes for the surgery and when Doc tells him he has to temporarily cut his speech center (and Crichton, more than anyone else, is all about words) he says ‘go ahead, there isn’t anyone I want to talk to anyway.’ This season has broken him down so completely.

And when he is asked (they can be removed) he keeps all memories of Aeryn and I love that so much, I love that he will never take the easy way out, that he will rather live with the horror of his guilt and pain of losing her than not remember her. And of course, then, he is left on the operating table, screaming, not able to talk, Scorpius walking off with the removed chip, leaving John to be destroyed by fruitless search for revenge.

You know, I don’t think Scorpius gets John as yet (neither does Harvey, not for a long time). It’s not hate or revenge that moves Crichton, it’s love. Yes, he would kill Scorpius if he came across him, but if Aeryn wasn’t dead, he would never go looking for him. He is obsessive, true (a way to displace and deflect, IMO), and his obsession makes him a loose cannon without Aeryn as focus (see late S3) but revenge is not his default obsession. Perhaps Scorpius is thinking John is like himself and in a way it’s a twisted compliment. Oh, and I realized something. In order for John to break through chip in DMD when Aeryn is dying, chip must have allowed John to watch all this while helpless. Yikes. (As contrasted with neural cluster when he seems not to have remembered anything at all). Talk about sadistic. Oh, and a final comment: I love that even in such an extremity as he is in DMD, John doesn’t want to be saved if it means killing the frozen Interons. It’s not pure goodness though, it is a deep sense of unworthiness of anyone’s death for him. Oh, and Stark’s proposal to Zhaan? Melts my knees to butter. Melts Zhaan’s too.

PS Because I am a packrat for quotes and things, I saved a quote from the long-defunct TWOP’s recap/analysis for this episode which discusses why it’s named what it’s named. It’s perfection. “I know he wants to die; I know he's split in half. I know one side of him burns like the sun and the other is cramped and bound by darkness. I know he dies three times, in three different ways, and they all have to do with the other side of himself: he becomes Harvey; he loses Aeryn; he loses wormholes, the ability to beg for forgiveness, or pity, or death. I know that the only thing worse than losing speech is losing the desire to speak. I know he begs for death in every way he can throughout the episode. I know that the only thing that keeps him alive is hate, which is a kind of death. I know Aeryn didn't even consider the possibility, because she believes in him so strongly. I know watching it kind of makes you want to die. It's a two-part process, a dichotomy of soul and spirit. If he would lay down his life for her, then the one you mourn is the one that lived.”

#farscape

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measuringbliss · 5 months

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Spider-Man Read-Through 045: Snuff Out the Light (SSM 19-21)

MASTERPOST

This week: a mystery! Because it worked so well the last few times :D

We also see quite a bit of Peter's social life, fanservice, and a character I love is back <3

SSM #19 starts in medias res: Spidey's been captured by the Enforcers and is bullied by then. I already suspect it's not actually Spidey under the mask... especially since he doesn't say anything. That's weird, right?

I suspected as much.

At the Bugle, Peter Parker lets Jameson know that his recent adventures in L.A. didn't let him take any picture.

I know what you are, you fruit <3

I wish he stayed to chat with Gloria. Give her some development!

Know who gets developed? Hector Ayala (White Tiger!) and Holly Gillis, his new romance, gazing at Flash and Sha-Shan from afar. It feels like the first time in ages that we get smooth cast interactions like that. It's neat!

Turns out that Sha-Shan got a new job and an apartment, good for her! Meanwhile, Flash got news from Razorback. He's doing alright, back in his hometown and adulated!

His proposal ('tis the season) is interrupted by the Enforcers, who take everyone hostage at the Coffee Bean until they get to fight Spidey.

Yes please.

Peter thinks the leaves will hide his clothes... just next to a tree that has no leaves. Is it winter? Isn't graduation supposed to be coming soon? What the heck.

All throughout the issue, the mystery of the one who hired the Enforcers is teased, but I can't say I'm particularly invested in it. Doc Ock could be alive, or it could be the Molten Man... Who knows? For now, there isn't any hint. Maybe it's the Empathoid?

It might be the Lightmaster, an early villain from the first issues of SSM. And yeah, it's him. Okay. Whatever. Mysteries are only mysteries when they feature clues.

So Spidey deals with his enemies while everyone escapes, except for that Hector hottie.

The Lightmaster is trying really hard to be menacing.

In SSM #20, Spidey tries to eavesdrop on the cops interrogating the Enforcers, but he can't get new information. He decides to get home, but his skylight is so bad that it breaks...

It's a funny scene and it gives me fanservice. I'll allow it. Maybe SSM has rights after all...

And we get some more of Peter's social life, that's neat! It's nice to see more of the cast, and new characters, especially nonwhite characters!

The Lightmaster interrupts them and kidnaps my beloved Hector. Before leaving, Holly gives Peter Hector's amulets, which he instantly recognizes.

In the Lightmaster's crutches, Hector needs his amulets to survive! And here comes Spidey, ready to help him. I'm kind of shipping them...

The Lightmaster's about to broadcast Spidey's identity to New York itself (or so he thinks!).

As you know, I love those kind of moments!!!

So Hector's true alter ego is revealed to the city, which annoys Holly who keeps flip-flopping on whether she loves him.

The two heroes fight their enemy, who eventually just channels too much energy and dies.

A letter at the end of the issue informs me that Jean DeWolff appeared... in Team-Up. Oh. For such a key character (she has an entire arc, doesn't she?), it's disappointing. Oh well.

I enjoyed those two issues! It was nice to see Hector again <3 And to see more of the cast! This is almost what I expected of the series. We'll see if it continues like that...

For now, there's one last issue we read in this post: #21.

The Scorpion has become a sex symbol, wouldn't you know it!

The issue begins with a soliloquy to catch up new readers. Hell yeah, Scorpy, tell us all about that time Ms. Marvel got rid of you!

Meanwhile, Peter finds MJ, whomst we haven't seen in a while! They kiss, but they quickly talk about MJ's rejection of Peter's proposal. Oof. She's not ready, and a bit upset.

At ESU, Holly's still angry at Hector! It's a smart way to show both Peter and the readers what could happen if Spidey revealed his identity to MJ.

Later, at the Bugle, the Scorpion makes it known that he wants to skin Jameson alive, or something like that. Spidey intervenes, wins the fight, and he soon says that contrary to what the Scorpion believed, he can get rid of his suit just fine, and Spidey tears off his mask.

That's. Uh. That's something. Themes? In MY Spider-Man comics? It's handled ridiculously, but for what's worth, I feel like the groove is finally back with a better social/fights balance.

Next time: Moon Knight!

#spider-man #peter parker #comics #comic books #the scorpion

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shespeaksinsongs · 2 years

Note

🎀 my melody - send me a sfw idea hc about a hp character and i'll either write a hc list, or tell you what i think of it!

Scorp trying a lemon

if you like this i will answer more of your asks with weird draco because i live for the concept. when i was younger i HATED lemons, so this overreaction is accurate by at least one person in the world!

Draco was by far the weirdest person in all of England. You should know - you married him.

Years down the road, when you and him had started your own little family, he occasionally tried to pass on his strange habits down to your son, Scorpius.

He waved a lemon in the small boy's face as your son looked up at you with big blue doe eyes, confused to what was happening.

"It's good, Scorpy, try it." He said, taking a bite from the unpeeled lemon.

"Absolutely not." You shook your head, taking him out of his high chair where he could be safer in your arms. "You are not turning my son into a lemon eater. I won't allow it." You said, stroking the short hair on his head as you continued to feed him the applesauce he was previously eating.

"Ugh, love, you can take the man out of the lemon, but you can't take the lemon out of the man." Draco said, rolling his eyes, as if he didn't just speak in troll gibberish.

"What?" You asked, letting a laugh slip your lips, shaking your head in disbelief. You married the most adorable, dumb, intelligent man on Earth.

Without explaining, Draco took your son from your arms, gently feeding him the last of his applesauce. "Look, he's entranced by it." He said, moving the lemon in front of Scorpius' face, in an eerily hypnotic way.

"Fine." You sighed, secretly wanting to see your son's reaction to the sour fruit. "Just one bite, and if he doesn't like it, that's it. No more trying."

"Of course." Draco nodded, kissing your forehead as he murmured a quick "thank you, love". "Okay, buddy, this is my favorite snack, so you gotta promise you're gonna like it." He said, despite the boy's inability to comprehend speech.

You rolled your eyes, giggling slightly before quieting down as Draco held the lemon up to his son's mouth for him to take a bite out of.

Scorpius, ever the curious one, smiled unknowingly, taking a big bite out of the lemon. His favorite color was yellow. He was bound to be drawn to it at some point.

Immediately, the look of pure disgust was etched upon his face. His eyes shut tight as his mouth wrinkled before he stuck his tongue out, as if to get the sour out into the air. He kicked his legs on dad's thighs, shaking his head as he stretched his arms back towards you.

"Aww, did you not like it, baby?" You asked as he shook his head again, trying to forget the taste. "Your daddy's crazy, isn't he? He eats two of those every morning. Yeah, I know right?" You said as Scorpius reached for his milk bottle.

Handing it to him, Draco rolled his eyes. "He's so your son. Got the dramatics from you." Draco said, nodding, as if he was agreeing with his own point.

"Me? Hate to break this one to you, but that's all from you, my love." You replied, stretching a hand up to caress his cheek.

Draco relaxed into your hand as he gave up on witty retorts. Instead, he pulled you into his side, having Scorpius on his other, as he was still in your arms.

"You didn't like it, monkey?" He asked the younger blond beside him as he chugged his milk in an effort to get rid of the taste. "That's alright. I've got a new food for you. It's called marmite."

i think marmite's a canadian thing but i know a lot of americans struggle to eat it T-T i wonder how yall are built so different. maybe we missed a software update or something.

#draco malfoy #draco malfoy fluff #draco fluff #draco malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy x reader #draco x reader #draco malfoy blurb #draco blurb #baby scorp #baby scorpius #scorpius malfoy #draco malfoy one shot #draco one shot #hlbutterflycelebration

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a-d-curtis · 3 years

Text

Incense

“Are you really that excited about this?” Katara asked, laughing at her husband, ‘the mighty Avatar’, and the giddy way he trotted next to her.

The two walked together hand in hand through the red-tapestried halls of the Firelord’s palace, Katara leading the way to this oft-visited location, navigating which corridors to take, effortlessly winding her way through the mammoth palace like it was a well worn path.

As Aang turned his grey eyes upon her, Katara noted the way his eyes still shone with excitement as they did back when they were kids, even though the smile-lines beside his eyes stayed in more permanent creases now. “Well, I should say so!” he teased, “After you’ve withheld this little pleasure from me all of these years. Yes! Yes, I’m excited to finally be invited to join you!”

Katara stifled a laugh, the sound coming out more as a snort. “Really, Aang? Really?! I just never knew you wanted to come.”

“What?! Why would you think that I wouldn’t want to come?!”

“Well…” Katara began as they rounded the final corner and a woman in a red and gold robe opened the door to the room for them. “I guess I just never thought you would have any… interest in this particular thing.”

Aang looked affronted. “But you’ve come here with everyone else over the years, Katara! Mai, Sokka, even Zuko when he can relax long enough to take a break. You brought Kya even when she was just a little kid, and Bumi can’t seem to get enough!”

Katara turned toward her husband teasingly. “Well, they all, you know…” she rose up on her tiptoes and ran a hand over the smooth arch of her husband’s bald head as she finished, “have hair.” Her eyes laughed even when her mouth held it back.

Aang looked insulted. “Who says you need to have hair!?”

Katara couldn’t hold back her laugh anymore. “Well, it is a hair wash, Aang!”

Aang smirked at her, stroking his beard. “I have hair.”

Katara slapped him playfully across the chest. “You need it on your head, you doofus!”

Aang’s forehead creased as his puppy-dog eyes looked at her dolefully. “Well you took everyone else… I just felt left out.”

Katara laughed again shaking her head in baffled amusement. “All you had to do was tell me you wanted to come."

Aang smiled a flirtatious, one-sided grin. “I figured this was an exclusive ‘by invitation only’ activity.”

Katara laughed and linked her arm through the crook of Aang’s elbow, leading him further into the palace spa. With her other hand she gestured magnanimously “Well then, here you are! The very ‘exclusive’ Palace Hair Wash!”

Before them was a reception room with dimmed lights and a strong aroma of orchids. The calming sound of trickling water could be traced to a fountain that fell from high on the back wall, running over a slanted stone slab carved in the shape of two flying dragons. At the bottom the water ran into a trench that split and continued down two small creeks lined with smoothed stones on either side of the room, creating a cheery trickling sound as it passed. Around the perimeter of the spa heavy red curtains hung covering the entrances to several smaller rooms. A few of the curtains were tied back with thick gold ropes revealing massage tables or big tubs of water within the lowly-lit rooms. In the center of the room stood an elaborately carved golden colored desk, with an elegant, overly made-up elderly woman sitting behind it.

As Katara and Aang approached the center desk, the woman stood with prim stiffness. The elderly woman bowed slightly in Fire Nation custom, the large, ornate black hairpiece on her head tipping forward, causing the beaded strings that hung from either side of her hairpiece to clink softly. “Master Katara, you come again,” she greets with formal curtness. Then turning towards Aang, “And you, Avatar,” her sharp golden eyes darting to his tattoos, her voice laced with cool decorum, “We are honored to have your presence among us.”

Aang bowed to her, replying with jovial warmth, “I’m happy to be here!”

Katara tipped her head to the woman, her voice a bit cooler than usual, “Thank you Madam Uriko. My husband and I have come for a hair wash.”

“Of course,” the woman responded with a smile restricted to just her red painted lips, her eyes still sharp. She waved her large sleeve once and a young woman in red robes rushed forward from where she had stood quietly at the back of the room. “As always,” Madam Uriko’s barbed voice spoke, her piercing eyes not leaving them, “we are at your service.”

As the young woman led Aang and Katara away, Aang glanced back over his shoulder toward Madam Uriko, and shivered. “Is it just me, or does she feel predatory somehow?” Aang asked Katara in a hushed whisper.

Katara leaned in towards Aang whispering, “Madam Uriko has been in charge of this place for decades. One of the old relics of an older time. She’s harmless, just still seeped in beliefs of Fire Nation supremacy. I think it hackles her that Zuko allows non-Fire Nation royalty to use the spa…”

Aang’s brow furrowed for a moment, and Katara guessed at what he was thinking. The two had lamented frequently together of how difficult it was to change the perceptions of those who had been raised on war propaganda. Their little band of child warriors had been able to stop the fighting almost overnight, but the perpetuation of racism, animosity and false-ideologies were much harder to eliminate.

Katara knew that Aang sorrowed, not only for his lost people and culture, but also for the way that even the memory of them had been defiled. Despite Zuko’s efforts to reform education in the Fire Nation to teach the Air Nomad genocide accurately, it was still common to encounter people who still believed the lies taught during the war. It churned Katara’s stomach to know that in 100 years of Fire Nation propaganda, the people had been taught that the Air Nomads were the aggressors, that they had been war-mongers and child-stealers, who swooped in on their flying creatures to slaughter parents and carry away the children of helpless villagers.

Katara still remembers the first time Aang had been called a baby-eater from a terrified old granny. They were in one of the more remote Fire Nation islands, when the old woman had run and swooped up her toddling grandson who had been watching Aang juggle leaves in an airball for a bunch of the local kids. They had still been kids back then, and Katara had confronted the woman, yelling passionately in defense of her boyfriend and the Air Nomads. But Aang had just turned and walked away. When Katara caught up to him, she had listened as Aang quietly recounted a seemingly unrelated story of trying to comfort his crying friend, Samten, when he’d accidentally stepped on a scorpi-beetle while playing airball. Aang told how the two of them had carefully scooped what was left of the tiny squished bug onto a pipa leaf, and performed their best approximation of the “Soaring of the Dead” ritual to send the soul of the scorpi-beetle on gentle breezes into his next life, praying for it to be a good life, full of freedom and enlightenment. Katara and Aang hadn’t talked about what the woman had called him, and he didn’t bring it up again. But Katara knew that the Air Nomads, the memory of whom Sozin and his children slandered, were real people to Aang. They were his culture and heritage, yes; but they were also individuals he had known.

The contrast of what the peaceful Air Nomads had been, and how they were remembered was devastatingly unfair.

In an effort to distract Aang from whatever thoughts he might be slipping into, and pull him back into the present, Katara decided to share a piece of juicy gossip. Pulling on their linked arms to bring Aang’s ear down closer to her, she spoke in a conspiratorial whisper, “Rumor has it Madam Uriko was, um, very close, with Fire Lord Azulon.” The implication of her words caused Aang to wrinkle his nose in disgust. Katara continued, “She’s been working in this spa since she was a young woman, and has bragged to me more than once about how Lord Azulon used to come to her for ‘solace’ from his heavy duties as Fire Lord.”

Aang grimaced comically. And Katara laughed at his expression as she continued, “Madam Uriko is just one of those unchangeable parts of Fire Nation imperialism. I asked Zuko why he keeps her around, and he told me that she technically hasn’t done anything wrong (apart from being super creepy), so he can’t really get rid of her. Aaaand,” Katara dragged the word out with a smirk, “frankly I suspect Zuko is intimidated by her.”

Aang chuckled and chanced a glance back towards the woman again as their host untied the golden rope holding the curtain to their room open. The Madam’s narrowed golden gaze was still on them as the heavy red curtain fell across the doorway, obscuring her from view. “I can see why…” Aang said with a commiserating shudder.

Aang stood still a moment longer, before brightening excitedly, rubbing his hands together eagerly as he said enthusiastically, “Well! Lets bring on this famous hair wash!”

……………….

“So that’s when Zuko gave me that fancy hairbrush set. It was in retribution for the pocket lighters Sokka and I both got him for his birthday.”

Aang spoke from his place lying on the hair wash bed next to hers. Katara smiled as she opened one eye to glance his way, appreciating the large bubbly lather his spa worker had managed to lather on his baldhead. Katara had stifled a laugh at the woman’s expression when Aang had initially lain down, her hands hovering unsurely over his baldhead. But he had smiled affably up at her saying, “I’m sure you’ll figure it out” with a wink. Apparently she had figured it out, because Aang had spent the last twenty minutes sighing in pleasure at the experience.

“Well I really appreciated that gift from Zuko,” Katara said smugly as she closed her eyes again, enjoying the feeling of the spa worker’s hands in her hair as she massaged her scalp and combed out her long tresses in the warm flowing water. “I still use that brush to this day. You’ve got to admit, even with a gag gift, Zuko gives quality.”

Aang chuckled from his place on the hair wash bed next to hers. “Oh absolutely. I kept one of the combs from that set for years, remember?”

Katara laughed again, “Oh yes, I remember. You kept it in your pocket for the sole purpose of pulling it out and combing your beard whenever Zuko was giving a serious speech.”

“I remember fondly the special way he’d glare whenever that comb came out!” Aang laughed jovially.

Katara turned her head to look at her husband again, who now had a warm folded washcloth over his eyes. Even so his hands still gestured animatedly while he talked, his spa worker needing to dodge an especially enthusiastic hand here or there.

Katara smiled as she settled back into her hair wash, sighing in relaxation. She really did love a good palace hair wash – the calm of the dimmed lights, the smell of the flower water and the oils they used in her hair, the sound of the warm water running over her scalp as the woman massaged the base of her neck – it was a little piece of heaven! It was fun to share it with Aang this time.

“Was that before or after Sokka gave Toph those dark glasses?” Katara asked lazily.

“Before, I think,” Aang replied as he sighed again, clearly relishing his ‘sans-hair-head-wash’.

Katara smiled. “Sokka had thought that would be so funny, giving our favorite Blind Bandit sunglasses. Little did he know that she would wear them proudly. Before long, nearly every police officer in Republic City owned a pair.”

Aang chucked. “But that wasn’t nearly as big a backfire as the time I gave a single chopstick to Zuko.”

“Remind me again how a single chopstick is a useless gift for a firebender?”

“Oh it wasn’t because he’s a firebender, Katara! It’s because a single chopstick is useless to anyone! … Or so I thought…” Aang said with chagrin, “But that was before Zuko handed the chopstick to Mai, who with a flick of her arm managed to skewer it securely in the cushion I was sitting on, squarely between my thighs!” Katara could hear the shudder in his voice. “That was before we’d had Tenzin, Katara! Do you know what that could have meant?! For an instant I’d thought that was the end of the Air Nomads for good!”

Katara snorted, knowing full well that Mai would have had that little threat in mind when she threw the chopstick. Although it had taken some time for Katara to warm up to Mai, she now fully appreciated the understated, off-kilter wit of the dark-humored Fire Lady.

“But I thought I had her the next time when I gave her a bag of bison-fur yarn-balls.” Katara could hear the irritation in Aang’s voice when he continued, “Who knew she could make even those hurt…?”

A small snicker had Katara glancing up at the woman washing her hair. Apparently their talking was amusing to those washing their hair; these women undoubtedly would have encountered Mai here as well, and perhaps could appreciate the image of their Fire Lady harassing the Avatar.

But the woman’s mirthful expression hurriedly returned to a professional neutral when the curtain opened and Madam Uriko entered.

The old woman moved gracefully as she stopped in front of the shrine at the front of the small room. Removing a small pressed incense cone from a pouch at her waist, Madam Uriko lit the cone with a small snap of her fingers. Katara was mildly surprised; she hadn’t known that Madam Uriko was a firebender.

“Well Sokka’s birthday is coming up soon, and I’ve got to get him something really useless.” Aang continued talking, probably unaware that Madam Uriko had entered the room.

Madam Uriko lifted the elaborately carved lid of a brass incense burner standing on three spindly legs on the shrine and placed the lit incense pellet inside. After replacing the lid and folding her hands delicately in front of her, Madam Uriko breathed deeply, firebending to coax the fragranced smoke out through the intricate pattern of holes in the lid.

Katara looked toward her husband, washcloth still over his eyes, still moving his hands dramatically as he continued to talk, maybe a bit too loudly. Madam Uriko sent a disdainful look his direction.

“And not useless like that art kit we gave him a few years back,” Aang continued. “I mean, he loved that gift! Sokka completely failed to see any of the irony we all saw when we got it for him…”

Katara decided to ignore the Madam and closed her eyes again, breathing deeply to take in the relaxing aroma of the incense. Katara loved this smell. “You could try finding one of those cloud reading books Aunt Wu used to tell the future…” Katara suggested.

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea, Katara! I’m sure he would— Wait!” Katara heard Aang’s hair washer gasp in surprise. Katara’s eyes sprung open to see Aang sitting up abruptly on the side of the bed, water running down his back from his wet head, the washcloth falling to the floor.

“What is that smell…?” Aang asked, an unexplained apprehension in his voice. Then pointing at the incense burner, he addressed the Madam. “What’s in that burner?”

“It’s incense, Master Avatar,” Madam Uriko said condescendingly. “Surely you’ve smelled incense before.”

Aang ignored her rudeness, and closed his eyes breathing in the scent deeply. His forehead furrowed slightly above his closed eyelids. Katara watched his expression carefully, troubled by her husband’s sudden intensity. Katara noticed Aang swallow thickly, this brows arching in… longing? Sadness? Why was Aang reacting this way?

“Sweetie?” Katara asked softly. But he ignored her, turning instead towards Madam Uriko with a sudden fire in his eyes.

“Where did you get that incense?!” Aang demanded of the woman.

“Get it?” the woman replied coolly, uncowed by Aang’s aggressive tone. “Why it comes from the spa’s private stores. We’ve been burning this incense here in the palace spa for generations. It was a favorite of Firelord Sozin. And of his son, Firelord Azulon.” Madam Uriko said the name like a caress.

Aang took another halted inhale before quickly standing and pushing past the woman, unceremoniously ripping the lid off the burner and tipping the burning cone into his hand. Katara watched his back stiffen visually.

Katara sat up, concerned, her hair washer reaching forward to wring her hair as best she could as water streamed down Katara’s back from her heavy wet hair. But Katara ignored it. “Aang?” she asked anxiously. “What’s wrong?”

Aang turned towards Madam Uriko, holding the cone up in his fingers. “How did this get here?!” He shook it once angrily at her. “This doesn’t belong here!”

Katara was unaccustomed to seeing Aang this heated. He was notoriously even-tempered, and almost never lost his cool. To see Aang this upset alarmed Katara. “Aang?!”

Aang finally turned his eyes toward his wife, anger burning behind them. “This belongs to the Air Nomads!” Aang declared furiously. “See!” Aang turned the cone over, revealing one air spiral symbol pressed into the bottom of the cone. Turning back towards Madam Uriko Aang’s voice nearly yelled, “You have no business having this!”

Madam Uriko stepped back, her expression now clearly daunted by Aang’s intensity. “I assure you, this comes from the palace stores…” she stammered, trying to keep her composure. “It’s been here from before I began working here… as a young woman… I assure you, we--”

Aang’s nose wrinkled in a snarl as he cut her off, “This belongs to the Air Nomads! This is… was… sacred to us!”

And with that Aang fisted the incense in his hand and stormed from the room, knocking the brass burner over with his arm and leaving everyone’s clothes rippling in a stiff wind left in his wake.

…………..

It was late when Katara finally heard the snap of Aang’s glider on the balcony of their guest room in the Fire Palace. The sun had set hours ago, and it was now late enough that the moon had nearly completed her arch across the sky and now hung low over the crest of the volcanic rim of the Caldera, sending her ghostly silver light sideways into their room.

Katara was lying in bed. But she hadn’t slept.

After Aang had stormed out of the Palace spa earlier this evening, Katara had run after him. But even as she had searched for Aang, Katara knew that trying to catch up with a fleeing airbender was futile. The best she could hope for would be to find him wherever he stopped.

Katara had checked with Appa first, but the bison was snoring lazily in his favorite place in the courtyard of the stables, undisturbed. Katara checked their room, the garden, and even the rooftop. No Aang. But Aang’s glider was gone, so Katara knew that the best she could do was wait for him to return.

Knowing this didn’t keep her from being irritated with her husband. And concerned, of course. Mostly concerned. Katara hadn’t seen Aang this upset in years, not since they were very young. She wondered what it was about the incense that had upset him enough to run like he was a child again?

She now lay quietly in their bed and waited as her husband crept noiselessly into their room, his footsteps silent. She watched his profile as he propped his staff carefully against the wall, and removed a satchel from his chest, setting it noiselessly on the ground. The moon’s iridescent glow was on his back, his face in shadow.

“Aang…?”

His shadow stilled.

“I’m sorry, Katara. I’d hoped you were asleep.”

Katara let out a breath from the darkness inside their room. Did he really think she could sleep without knowing where he was and that he was okay? Had twenty years of marriage taught him nothing?

Aang spoke softly from just inside the doorway, his face still in shadowy profile. “I’m sorry I left so rudely this evening. And I’m sorry it is so late…”

Katara wasn’t angry anymore, well not very angry anyway, mostly just concerned. His apologies were secondary to his wellbeing to her at the moment. But she didn’t say anything, sensing that he wasn’t finished.

“I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that. It wasn’t fair to you, and it wasn’t fair to those women doing their jobs at the spa either. I’ll return tomorrow and apologize.”

Something in his voice told Katara that as sincere as his words were, there was a much heavier burden behind them. But he didn’t say anything more. Just stood there facing the darkness, the light of the moon highlighting the blue line on the back of his head, making it look almost silver.

“I just needed some time to… uh, to work through some things.” Aang finally turned towards her, the light now illuminating half of his face. Katara caught her breath at the sadness in expression. Despite the shimmering moonlight, no light danced in Aang’s eye as it usually did. Instead his eyes looked at her with a dark forlorn blackness.

“Oh Aang,” Katara murmured as she pushed the blankets off of her and swept over to him in the darkness, her bare feet cold on the polished floor. “I’ve just been worried. Where were you?”

“I, uh, flew north for a while. Found a small island. Really small. Almost all rocks. I just needed some space to, um… to…”

“Meditate?”

“… well… I did some of that too...” Aang looked down and to the side, a little sheepishly. “But I might have spent most of the time breaking things. Throwing around fire and rocks to cool off a bit.”

Aang looked at her penitently. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run off. I shouldn’t have worried you.”

“Oh Aang, I don’t need anymore apologies.” Katara reached up with her warm hand to touch his face in concern. “But please, let me know how I can help you. Why were you so upset? Why do you look so… so sad?”

Aang brought his hand up between them, opening to reveal the small incense cone from earlier lying benignly on his palm.

“This,” Aang spoke softly, his shoulders slumping, as though the burden of a nation weighed on him.

Katara swallowed a lump in her own throat, remembering that it did.

Katara reached forward, picking up the small pressed cone with her fingers. She ran the pad of her forefinger over the small air swirl stamped into the bottom of it before looking back up at him. “What is it Aang? You said it belonged to the Air Nomads?”

“Yes.” Aang’s brow creased and he took a steadying breath before he continued, trying to explain. “This incense is something I haven’t smelled in… well since before. But it’s a scent I will never forget. One I thought I would never smell again.”

Aang took the incense from Katara, and with a snap of his fingers a flare of yellow heat illuminated their faces for a moment as he lit the end of it. They both watched as a tiny stream of smoke began to trail upward in lazy loops, filling the space with the rich aroma of cedar resin and cardamom, and with a fragrance unnamed but potent, both light and substantial, like the air and the mountains themselves.

“This smell is unmistakable for me.” Aang said as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, his brow softening in memory. “The monks lit this incense during the Ceremony of Mastership. I was wrapped in this scent for ten days while Master Dun and his assistants bestowed my tattoos. Breathing this incense helped fortify me through the, uh, difficult parts of the ceremony; it deepened my meditation.”

Aang swirled a hand lightly above the incense, airbending the smoke into an upward spiral, his eyes unfocused, drifting into the past. “Of course I knew the smell before I ever got my own tattoos. It was part of the ceremony we all participated in to unveil a newly tattooed Master Airbender. Wisps of it were often in the air of my childhood.” A small smile appeared on Aang’s cheek. “But that day… when I got my own tattoos… this smell meant belonging. It was completion. It was a connection to the spirit of Air itself, a bond I shared with all the other Masters.”

Katara watched her husband carefully, her heart throbbing with the pain of knowing that even Aang’s happiest memories were so often undercut with grief.

Aang let out a long breath, relaxing just a bit. “The tattooing ceremony was one of the most spiritual events in my life – back in a time when I knew nothing about being the Avatar; when my greatest aspiration in life was to be a monk, simple and at peace. I tasted that future that day, that peace.”

Katara ached as his shoulders sagged once more and he said quietly, “Of course it didn’t last…”

Aang sighed, looking down at the incense. “I thought this was lost, just like so many parts of my culture. I’m trying to be grateful to have this at all…”

He hesitated. So Katara prompted him, “But?”

“But sometimes I just miss them so much…”

Aang looked sadly into Katara’s eyes. “I would never want you to think that I’m not happy with our life together – I am! Our family, the kids, you in my life, is better than I could ever have asked for.”

Katara took his hand, “But that doesn’t change what you’ve lost, Sweetie. It doesn’t make it all better.”

Aang swallowed, and nodded. “Sometimes I forget. I don’t think about them for a while. Just live in the moment. It’s easier that way. Then it doesn’t hurt so much. I can just move on with my life. Sometimes I believe that I really have moved past it.” He smiled again, despite the wetness in his eyes. “Sometimes it feels like it was all a dream anyway, like my childhood was someone else’s… like maybe it wasn’t even real.”

Aang stood silently for a moment, before looking back down at the incense in his hand. “But when I smelled this today, it all came back to me in an instant. Like I was there again! And they were there, and we were worshipping and celebrating together.” Aang’s face crumpled in grief, his voice a whisper. “For a split second they were all alive again.”

Katara’s heart lurched for Aang, but before she could touch him Aang’s anguish suddenly turned to anger, his face scowling as his words cut out fiercely. “But who knew that all this time our ceremonial incense has been used as ambiance for our, our murderer’s bathhouse!?”

Katara took a surprised step back as Aang’s hand fisted tightly around the incense, his hand turning hotly to flame and crushing the little cone.

“That they used it as perfume for when they bedded their concubines!?”

The flame danced angrily in his eyes as he seethed.

But Aang extinguished the flame, letting it die as quickly as it had flared, the anger in his face dissipating with it, replaced by that same dark sadness.

“What does this,” Aang looked sadly down at the smoking ash in his hand, “teach us about about Sozin’s destruction of the Air Nomads?” A large tear rolled down Aang’s cheek as he closed his eyes tightly. “That apparently Sozin liked how we smelled when we burned.”

A sob caught in Katara’s throat as she scrubbed at the tears she hadn’t realized were falling down her own face. Katara pushed down her own temper that was threatening to flare. One thing she had learned over the course of their marriage, was that when one of them was struggling, the other needed to be strong. And she needed to be calm and strong if she was to help Aang today. Otherwise, she knew him, and he would feel the need to focus on her. But this was all about him right now.

She reached for Aang, wrapping her arms around him. After a moment, Aang grasped her tightly back, bowing his head to lay his chin over her shoulder.

He shook; and so did she. Crying together for the disgrace and tragedy and uselessness of it all.

“Oh Aang,” Katara whispered into his neck, compassion welling within her. She pulled him closer to her, even as a sob shuddering through his body as he gripped her, holding onto Katara as if to remind himself that not _everyone_was gone, he hadn’t lost it all.

“I don’t want to feel this way. I don’t want to hate them.”

Katara nodded against him. “I know, Aang.”

It’s easy to do nothing. It’s hard to forgive. Words that Aang had spoken to her long ago. And Aang didn’t just spout these words — he lived them. Katara had seen how Aang had chosen forgiveness, over and over again, even-- no especially-- when it was hard.

What many people mistakenly thought -- even herself, before the end of the war -- was that forgiveness came naturally for Aang, or that somehow it was easier for him. But after years of living with this good man, what she had come to learn is that forgiveness was only easier for him because he practiced it all the time. He believed it in, and worked at it everyday.

But sometimes it was still hard.

Katara held him tighter, telling him through her embrace that he is not alone, and that she is here. That she bears this burden with him.

Forgiveness was hard, but he didn’t have to do it alone.

……………

Katara inhaled deeply. She didn’t need to look around at the many smoking burners lining the back of the ceremonial hall to know that the incense was there. The smell was incredible! Enveloping the entire room in its fragrance like the embrace of a supportive friend.

It had been ten years since Aang had disconcertedly discovered that for generations the Fire Nation royalty had been using the Air Nomad’s sacred incense in their palace spa. Although Zuko, Aang and Katara had all tired their best to uncover how the royal family had gotten a hold of the incense in the first place, they were never able to find anything conclusive. Procurement of a conquered people’s incense was apparently not significant enough to merit any documentation.

However, with the help of a surprisingly accommodating Madam Uriko, they were able to study the remaining cones and records in the spa stores. Apparently the royal chandler during the early period of Azulon’s rule, had studied the incense himself, and written out his own recipe. It was likely that the modern cones in the spa had not been made by Air Nomads at all, but had been replicates made by chandler himself. Katara and Aang had wondered in length together about why the royal chandler would continue to include the air nomad symbol on the bottom of each incense cone he made – perhaps he had done it as his own small rebellion against the Fire Nation’s campaigns? Or perhaps he had wanted to keep record of the incense cultural roots? Or perhaps he had just done it to more authentically mimic the original? – there was no way to know. But Aang liked to think that perhaps the chandler had known an Air Nomad personally, perhaps had lost a friend, and maybe he included the symbol in memory of what was lost.

The discovery of the chandler’s recipe had been an incredible find for Aang. He and the acolytes had worked hard to replicate the recipe, and now were fully capable of making their own incense. A scent Aang had thought was lost to time and tragedy, was now a viable part of the new Air Nation’s culture once again!

And now it was time to finally use it for its original purpose. Tenzin was being unveiled a Master Airbender today!

The anointment was a big day for Tenzin; big enough that Kya had delayed leaving on an extended trip she had planned, and Bumi had even taken leave from his service in the United Republic of Nations so he could be present.

However, important event or not, Katara had had to roll her eyes at her grown children’s antics. It seemed that the act of simply stepping foot back on Air Temple Island caused Bumi to reverted from ‘distinguished soldier’ to ‘annoying older brother’ instantly. Even though no one except Aang and his tattooing assistants had been allowed to see Tenzin since his Ceremony of Mastership had begun ten days previous, this hadn’t stopped Bumi from teasing Tenzin from through the closed door. He would gleefully call in suggestions to his dad about how to modify Tenzin’s tats to be a little more interesting. It didn’t help that Aang would flippantly play along, before seeming to remember that this was a sacred ceremony, and finally tell Bumi to get lost.

In addition to bothering his younger brother, Bumi had also taken to flirting with Kya’s girlfriend. While this was mildly amusing to Katara, it was seriously beginning to irritate Kya. Katara tried to remind Kya that Bumi flirted with everyone, while also sternly admonishing Bumi to cool it.

As much as Katara loved having everyone together again, she had to admit that keeping harmony in her small family of strong personalities was harder than it looked. Where was the docile, peacemaking child they so desperately needed? Whenever she would ask, Aang would only stifle a smile and raise his hands in surrender, jokingly claiming that he was not the one to blame for their children’s temperaments! And as exasperated as she might feel, Katara had to laugh at herself, knowing that he wasn’t wrong.

In preparation for the tattooing ceremony, Aang had called in two different tattoo artists – one from the earth kingdom and one from the fire nation, both reportedly the best tattooist in their perspective nations – to help teach Aang how to give Tenzin his tattoos. As Tenzin had neared the end of his training, Aang had admitted to Katara that just being ‘the Last Airbender’ didn’t automatically make him an expert on all Airbender skills. “Giving someone their tattoos is very different than being on the other side of the needle, Katara!” he had worried out loud. The closer Tenzin had gotten to mastership, the more nervous Aang got about how to bestow his tattoos. It was Katara who had suggested he ask for help.

After consulting with the tattoo experts, Aang had told Katara later that although their methods were different than what the Air Nomads had done over a hundred years ago, they seemed to understand enough of the process to take the details and tools he remembered and turn them into a working process. One of them even offered to give Tenzin his tattoos herself. Aang had declined, but expressed how grateful he was for to them for teaching him how.

The night before the commencement of Tenzin’s Ceremony of Mastership, Katara didn’t know who was more anxious: Tenzin or Aang? They were both bundles of nerves, but expressed their apprehension in characteristically different ways: Tenzin tried to hide his concern behind stoic meditation, while Aang couldn’t hold still, needing to “take a little run around the island” about ten times before bedtime.

When Aang had come in to bed the first night after beginning Tenzin’s tattoos, the smell of incense strong on his clothes and body, Katara had asked how it had gone. “I got better at it as the day went on.” Aang had replied. Then with a self-depreciating chuckle he added, “Hopefully nobody will look too closely at the back of Tenzin’s thigh…”

But the process had gone better from there, and ten days later, Katara now sat with Bumi and Kya on cushions near the front of the ceremonial room on Air Temple Island awaiting Tenzin’s anointing.

Katara was immensely proud of Tenzin, and all of his studious hard work. She knew he was aware of the burden he was born with, and in some ways she was sorry to have her son shouldering such a responsibility, but she was proud of the way he took it seriously. She knew Aang worried that Tenzin was ‘too serious’, but Katara, as a serious student of her own bending art, could not be more proud of his diligence and discipline.

Katara had often reflected on the irony that, of her three children, the one that was the least silly and carefree, the one who was a homebody with the seeming least amount of nomadic drive, was the one born with airbending. She’d wondered if perhaps it was meant to be; that airbending could be a way for Tenzin and his father to bond, when their personalities were so singularly opposite.

But as her mind wandered over these thoughts a hush fell over the audience, and she turned to see Aang and Tenzin, wearing a long hooded cloak, walk into the room and down the center aisle to the raised dais. Tears pricked at Katara’s eyes as the tall hooded form of her youngest son knelt reverently at the center of the stage. She looked at her husband, dressed in a formal yellow robe not unlike the one he had worn to Zuko’s coronation, and, catching his eye, noted that Aang’s eyes were also moist with emotion.

Katara cried for most of the ceremony. The image of Tenzin removing his hood to reveal a new blue arrow on his forehead brought a loud sob from her. Kya reached an arm over her shoulders, while Bumi refrained from being irreverent (which was more than Katara would have expected from him). From then on the rest of the ceremony was one big tear-clouded blur.

But the smell of the burning incense was potent and clear, and got even stronger as she felt it swirl around her, ruffling her clothes and inciting the song of the many wind chimes hung throughout the room.

Katara drank in the aroma carried on the wind. Despite the way the incense had found its way back to Aang, Katara couldn’t help but be grateful for this piece of Aang’s culture, of her family’s culture, that had been restored. Aang had admitted to Katara that although for a long time it had bothered him that his people’s sacred incense had been dishonored, he was grateful it had been. At least this way it had been preserved.

Katara breathed in deeply, taking in this scent that was both ancient and new. And something powerful stirred with in her.

Perhaps it was the power of the scent in the air, coupled with the way the wind chimes sang, but as Katara closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, she felt a spiritual tingling across her body, as though they were not alone. Like perhaps the energy of the Air Nomads, the ancestors of her children, were there and rejoicing with them as the first airbender in well over a hundred years, was anointed a Master.

…………….

A/N: I don’t know about you, but sometimes the smell of something can bring back very vivid memories/emotion for me. That was the genesis for this story.

(P.S. Also, I really do have a bald friend who loves getting hair washes. ;)

..................

Other works in this series:

Chant

Artifacts

#older Aang #older kataang #kataang family #air nomad genocide #katara POV #Aang #the last airbender #ALTA #avatar the last airbender #best boy aang #forgiving is hard #hair wash fic #incense fic #tenzin's tattoos #angry aang #aang's tattoos #air nomads #false fire nation propaganda

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tigerdrop · 3 years

Note

Cringe is dead, talk to me about the funny half-life men and their relationship

okay here is my essay. it is titled These Guys Actually Like Each Other, and Gordon Freeman Is Just Kind Of A Dick*

(disclaimer: these are just my 2 cents. dont take me too seriously! im just some guy online who has watched this shit too many times.)

first things first. these guys actually like each other. this is a key aspect of their relationship. benrey, obviously and textually, digs gordon freeman - you dont flirt that heavily with guys you arent into, and so much of what he says and does is geared around making gordon crack up. thats pretty gay.

but the counterpart to this is that gordon freemans pretty fucking gay for benrey, too. you may say, “oh, but word of god says its not requited!” and to you i will say: bull shit. gordon is uniquely obsessed with benrey compared to all the other characters. if gordon didnt like the fucking guy, he wouldnt giggle with him and share in-jokes with him and bring him up every 5 seconds when benreys not around. thats concern, bro. thats worry. thats real shit

but i cant blame people for thinking that gordon freeman genuinely doesnt like benrey. benreys partially responsible for some of the worst things that have happened to him, the Arm Thing among them. and gordons very insistent afterward that he doesnt like benrey. he even goes so far as to try to kill benrey a couple times. to this, i must argue that gordon freeman is just kind of a dick.

lets talk facts here. canon. Lore. from the moment we hop into gordons shoes, we can see that he is a jerk to every npc on his way into black mesa. this is his default: a dude who just runs his mouth and says rude shit. he calls tommy a freak within 5 minutes of meeting him. he infantilizes the guy and barely considers him a real scientist. he doubts that bubby is a real name for like no fuckin reason. in “real life”, this is because its funny, and wayne is trying to make a funny half-life stream. in a textual sense, this is because gordon “hlvrai” freeman is a dick. this is the way he acts, consistently, throughout the series.

(brief aside: this is why the whole “gordon is a nice guy and a great dad” characterization baffles me. the way he actually acts in canon is, in short, bitchy and lacking in self-awareness. and i love that for him, i really do. it makes the moments where he just tries to be a nice guy stand out. but thats the thing: his intermittent moments of decency and kindness are not the whole of his personality! this dude kind of sucks most of the time!)

the way that gordons general asshole attitude extends to benrey is complicated. in fairness, benrey makes it his job to annoy the shit out of gordon as much as possible, and that warrants a negative attitude, but gordons pretty paranoid and ends up blaming benrey for nearly everything that happens to him, regardless of if its warranted. this is a pattern he exhibits both before and after the Arm Thing. its a little bit of a dick move! especially considering that, prior to the whole “betrayal” subplot (which was not exactly planned very far in advance), benrey is no more malicious or annoying than anybody else gordons having to travel with.

(okay, this is kind of a subjective evaluation, but still. my point stands that benrey is not any more of a hindrance to his progress than anybody else in the science crew, and neither is he particularly more violent or murderous. hell, gordon freeman has probably killed more guys than benrey. benrey just tends to get.......special treatment.)

all that said, i am still convinced that gordon really fucking likes benrey. please consider with me the following: it would be remarkably easy for gordon to just ignore him and do what he has to do, but he doesnt. he could stop engaging. he could stop thinking about benrey. he could stop bringing benrey up to the rest of the crew every time benrey leaves to do his own thing for awhile. but he doesnt. and, again, yeah, the extra-textual reason for this is “two guys are doing an improv comedy thing and bouncing off of scorpy is kind of the point”, but within the text it reads to me as gordon not being about to get the dude off his mind.

and this is in addition to all the times we see gordon being genuinely nice and receptive toward benrey! its in the little things: laughing the hardest and longest at benreys jokes. only ever reciprocating that stupid underwater “BBBBB” thing with benrey. trying to catch benrey when he falls, despite his insistence moments earlier that benrey should hop in the wack ass crystal generator and get hypermurdered. fondly remarking that benreys sweet voice sounds beautiful. his sort of flustered responses to most of benreys overt flirting. none of this is the way normal people react to a guy they hate. this is all fuckin gay to me, man.

its this combination of the outward insistence that gordon hates benrey with his inner eagerness to be around him and think about him and engage with him that gives off strong “repression” vibes, to me. for whatever reason - pride, embarrassment, resentment - gordon maintains a front of hating the guy and wanting to kill him for a lot of the series, but it doesnt gel with the way he fucking giggles and plays along half the time that benrey starts fucking with him. its a game, and that game is one of the only ways gordon knows to manifest affection for him.

(remember “oh my god, hes got a knife!”? that was the gayest shit i ever seen in my life. tittering like a schoolgirl while benrey chases him around like “im gonna get you haha”. insanity.)

the cool thing about repression is that you can have it manifest in a lot of ways! and this is where things like “headcanons” and “my own personal affection for repressed bisexual men” come in. a lot of how i characterize their relationship is an extrapolation of a lot of things like gordons canonical insecurity issues/anxiety, gordons whole anti-bootboy thing screaming “internet wokeboy who means well but probably has a lot of repressed baggage” to me, etc.

how do you get massive amounts of sexual repression out of what you see in canon, you might ask? well. if wayne would stop having gordon talking about being jerked off by the suit, or talking about chugging a 40-gal drum of potion and having to hold his piss, or worrying about being eaten by benrey the moment he sees benrey at setscale 10, maybe i would have a higher opinion of gordon “hlvrai” freeman and whatever latent psychosexual issues hes got going on. but here we are

i havent even touched yet upon how benrey feels about gordon. this one is helpfully made a little more plain by the fact that benrey very much wants to suck his dick in canon. (i dont even have to go into details. we all know.) but IMO the best part about this ship isnt just that they dig each other, but how. benrey gets overtly flirtatious in the second half of the series, but IMO his preferred method of flirting is just fucking with gordon: chasing him with knives, shoving him around in a bathroom, trying to get scans of his feet. but all in like a slapstick, giggly, fun-and-games sense, you know? at least when it works.

a lot of the time, though, it doesnt work out that way. he clearly just likes doing it whether or not gordon responds positively. which is, you know, Weird. not very nice. but also in line with the way everybody else treats gordon freeman. gordons kind of the universes chew toy in any given universe, and the same holds true here. hes kind of helpless......subjected to 4 demons attempting to make his life as difficult as possible. in a way its cathartic.

sorry. i got sidetracked. anyway, benrey very much likes to mess with him and unnerve him and demean him and i will be perfectly frank with you: that is hot. i have problems and illnesses and one of them is that i am a masochist who goes crazy for that kind of thing. calling gordon a “dirty lil boy” and telling him to “look at the mess [he] made” is some straight up kink scene shit.

i like to imagine that a lot of this behavior isnt caused just by the guy who played him wanting to be funny and antagonistic, but by benrey as a character not really understanding what constitutes “pushing a joke too far”. hes not human, and whatever he is doesnt have a very normative way of understanding the world around him, full of people who actually get hurt for real and die for real. benrey expresses what seems to be genuine surprise and distress after the Arm Thing, as if he didnt know that his actions would have serious consequences. and it doesnt seem to fully sink in afterward, either.

it reads a lot to me like hes used to video game rules and treating people around him like NPCs. if they get hurt, its no big deal, because its not real. he likes jamming random buttons on gordons interface and seeing what comes out. its probably a lot of fun for him, the same way that seeing a streamer or a youtuber suffer for our amusement is fun. its like, you know, in my opinion, gordons very cute when hes frazzled. hes also cute when hes laughing. pushing gordons buttons has a 50/50 chance of either of these things. and this is how he ultimately flirts with gordon: by pulling his pigtails.

but at the same time, benrey does legit care about gordon and knows some boundaries. benreys the one most often shooting at enemies to protect gordon, and he spent most of the last act trying to convince gordon to turn around and not fight him because they were friends (best friends, to be specific). he just lacks a lot of the emotional intelligence it would take to express the feeling of “he digs gordon and likes seeing his face get all red and sweaty regardless of the cause”. and gordon lacks the emotional intelligence it would take to express the fact that he doesnt know if he likes or hates benrey and hes scared as hell that its the former

because, lets be real. unironic benrey-liking is a sign of problems disorder. just look at all these words ive written about it.

can you imagine? this bizarrely powerful, non-human entity that can shrug off gunfire and grow to the size of a building has decided that youre his new plaything. benreys the bored guy booting up skyrim and fucking around in the console, and gordons the hapless favorite follower that hes taken a liking to. its a really fun dynamic IMO

after all this, its safe to say my title is a little misleading. the asterisk stands for * and So Is Benrey, Actually. they are both kind of awful dudes who thrive off of teasing each other and they deserve each other. and i am crazy about it. thank u for coming to my TED talk

#asky #careposting

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shijiujun · 3 years

Note

hello! your ask box is opened again :) wanted to ask you what were your thoughts on the last 5-6 eps? I saw a lot of commentary and quite a few people apparently didn’t like it. I’ve never read the novel so I’m not sure if it’s because it deviated too far, but I’ve seen people disliking it because *spoiler alert* wkx lied to zzs again (and zzs cried to much, which was apparently uncharacteristic) and yby had to step in to save his life? I’m not sure if the whole Romeo and Juliet thing was pulled in the novel, but how did it actually go? I know wkx didn’t have to die in the original?

okie i think this ask response kind of answers half of your question.

BASICALLY - TYK is nonchalance and straightforwardness and bluntness at its best, while SHL is the melodramatic version of TYK.

zzs was very nonchalant about 90% of things, and wkx was flirty but not like “puppy eyes look at me!” kind in the book - personally, i don’t hate the change! i do like a more tender zzs and wkx who is way more affectionate - the way they looped in the shidi/shixiong part really adds to that as well.

all in all, there are similarities in characters between TYK and SHL and definitely the plot was stuck to 80% of the time which is quite a feat. and i guess in a live-action you can’t have characters which are too flat, which may work in a novel but not so much for entertainment, visuals and actual line reading, if you get what i mean. i do think xiao chu put a perfect spin to SHL, which made it still TYK but also palatable to watching audiences, it’s not that the TYK story itself is like flat, but more that when you have to add in sound, visuals, CGI, put actual faces to characters, there’s more to adapt to in film production basically.

in terms of plot, tbh, 36 ending was definitely not a favourite for me. i’m OKAY, but not a favourite.

1. WKX lying to ZZS, well okay they kinda explain that, it was half miscomm, and it was still rude of him not to communicate with ZZS on that and that leads to the end where he gives up his life for ZZS because of this mistake kind of, aside from that fact that he wants him to live

2. in the novel, QI Ye and Wu Xi are there to save ZZS. like literally that’s their part to play but SHL totally ripped that out - ermm not that i disapprove, like i said it’s just not a favourite

3. they get to recuperate and spend the rest of their natural lives together - which is something more plausible to me than immortality BUT sure, you know, i’ll go with the flow, it’s just the fact that they half-assed 36 to 37 so the HE in 37 doesn’t seem that believable

4. ZZH himself said that he doesn’t agree with the endings (albeit he hadn’t seen ep 37 yet when he did the interview) - but okay here’s what i get from what he said. firstly, they did SEVERAL BEs, and ZZH referred to 2, including the one we got in 36, and said they were TRAGIC. also how could he not have known if there was a HE if he filmed it? so a lot of us suspect that 37 was spliced, from the part where zzs turns to see wkx and is stunned to see him. in the original plans, apparently they filmed this to be zzs seeing wkx and then realizing he is a figment of his imagination. which is why he looked so stunned to see him. this, to me, is pretty logical.

5. i think the novel ending is still my favourite by far, ZZH believes that SHL ending should have been him being able to live out the rest of his three years with Chengling and WKX at his side

that being said, it’s easier if you look at SHL and TYK as two separate items, which diminishes expectations on both sides hahaha. i mean i’m not complaining, we definitely got more tender, cute, loving moments in SHL than in TYK, and if that’s the ending that makes it work, sure. i’m just saying it’s pretty illogical to me, and it’s not my fave if i had to pick in terms of ending choice.

in terms of yby, i think @leonzhng mentioned on one of her asks about this question as well, the diff between yby in novel and in show. to me it’s not really a huge game-changer but whatever HAHAHA

and no, there was no romeo and juliet shit. like i said in the previous ask, zzs in the novel is pretty much like nonchalant, actually everyone in the novel seems a bit nonchalant except for scorpion king WHO IF I AM NOT WRONG IS AN OLD UNCLE, not like our pretty and adorable scorpy in SHL.

they did change quite a few aspects, i mean we get both! and we can do fix-its and we known canonically they live their domestic life tgt happy and everything in four seasons manor. selective memory works for me HAHAHA

#asks #shl #tyk

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hapticfeedbacksensors · 4 years

Text

So I’ve been thinking about the “what if the HLVRAI crew was DLC in Dead By Daylight” conversation had in the chat of one of Scorpy’s streams a while back; at the time, I think everyone was Very set on the idea of Killer Benry and Survivor Gordon. Survivor Gordon makes perfect sense.

But Killer Benry? Personally, I’m not into it.

Hear me out; Benry did next to nothing to actively (or intentionally) impede the Science Team on their way to Xen outside of the Betrayal, and that was technically only meant to get the military trackers off of them by way of removing Gordon (and maybe just plain get rid of Gordon, kind of unclear on that one tbh). This dude doesn’t even lift a finger to keep himself from getting killed most of the time. The only time he actively started to fight back at all was in the boss fight, where he continued to complain about having to do literally anything. He didn’t even try to stop them from getting to Xen in the first place until they were literally a room away from the portal. He’s not going to be interested in all of the chasing and lugging around that Killers have to do over and over again to please The Entity. Aside from being “the single powerful entity” that the portals were tied to, Benry’s ultimate crime was being obnoxious, killing a few random civilians (which everyone else on the Science Team was also guilty of, often even more so than him), and just being generally useless outside of the one or two times he assisted with a puzzle (this man literally held up a passport at an attack helicopter while even one of the skeletons was trying to help them kill it from the sidelines). He’s a dick, for sure, but he’s also kind of an ineffectual villain due to what I’m assuming is either straight-up laziness or apathy.

I don’t think he’d catch The Entity’s attention; or if he did, he wouldn’t hold it. There’s someone else on the team that fits way better, and would take far less effort (and be far less risky, if we consider that lazy or not, Benry’s still very powerful and dangerous, possibly even to an eldritch entity) to bend to it’s will.

Dr. Coomer.

Dude’s got a bloodlust a vampire would envy, and his grip on ‘reality’ is already tenuous thanks to his trip to the ‘void’. If you’re going by ‘not actually a game’ meta, this man is ripe for the taking for any otherworldy being that wants to plant some murder-seeds in his brain. Based on how it’s literally On Sight with his clones, and how quickly he turned on Gordon as soon as he showed weakness, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that a Bad Ending for him could definitely involve The Entity snatching him up and (very quickly, I’m guessing) persuading him to go ham with the hooks. If Nothing’s Real, then none of this matters in the end, right? And this isn’t even a “Dr. Coomer’s secretly a sinister serial killer” argument, this is literally just “boy does this chipper old man really enjoy the thrill of the fight and also cold-blooded murder.”

(Conversely, going by ‘they are definitely AI and he’s glitching pretty badly’ meta, added with the PD2 stream where they very clearly understood it was a game, putting him in DBD would just be Dr. Coomer happily playing a spooky video game with friends and having the time of his life. They’d all probably rotate the Killer role like most friend groups with enough players for a custom room.).

#hlvrai #not tagging this for D/BD though don't wanna bother those folks lmao #but there's a chance it'll show up anyway because of how Tumblr works #OH WELL *shrug*#anyway I recently got D/BD because of the sale and I started Thinking Thoughts while playing and figured I'd share #I should mention; I've seen a ton of creative Perks and Powers thought up for Benry and I 100% think he could be done as a cool killer #I don't wanna come off as 'oh you guys are wrong it'd never work/happen'#just based on the characterization we have from the streams and the lore of D/BD this scenario seems way more likely to me

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albuspottrss · 4 years

Text

Hpcc part two recap from January Third

The scorpion king spends a lot of time anxiously fiddling with his robes, he doesn’t know what to do with himself :(

Craig!Karl did an excellent high kick as he ran over to the scorpion king (probs to try and impress him ;))

Luke!Yann was making intense eye contact with the scorpion king as he checked whether they were ;) still ;) on ;) for ;) tonight

Yann and Karl do a very enthusiastic chant on “VOLDEMORT”

Lola!Polly pointing out as she spelt f a c t and then doing a very dramatic hair flick

“Taking to the ball” Lola was bobbing up and down like an excited penguin

“Oh Potter” was followed by the loudest “eurghhhhhh” ever like she was genuinely disgusted

“The future is ours to make” she waved her hands in the air and did a dramatic little squeal

As the staircases went off Lola!Polly collapsed down on the stairs and fanned herself after her moment with the scorpion king

The scene in Dracos office is always super super intense with Jon!Scorpius. He gets worked up very quickly, he simply cannot believe his father would be responsible for all these cruel things and he’s learnt to not bottle up how he feels anymore and he just explodes- very similarly to the library scene :(

After getting his head slammed on the table Jon kinda stays there sobbing for a bit, he’s so broken at this awful world he’s found himself in

Draco finds himself crying and fiddling with his wedding ring at the mention of Astoria and hurridly busys himself with tidying his desk as a distraction

Both of the boys were incredibly emotional and crying as they spoke about Scorpius’s mother 🥺

Draco comes to give his son a reassuring tap on the chest, but Scorpius fully flinches himself away from him, he is so scarred by the violent way his father treated him moments ago and doesn’t feel safe

When Jon mentions Albus he got all choked up on the line “my best friend” as if he knew that it was very likely he wouldn’t ever get to see him again

When Hermione whipped her wand out at him Scorpius was so panicked and fell to the floor in terror, he’s so scared and as Hermione is on top of him he lies there shaking and twitching his foot, he’s so scared of the pain that might be inflicted on him :( - which makes the torture scene and the crucios later on so much worse

Scorpius tried to point out to Ron that his wands the wrong way round

I cannot remember for the life of me what was going on here but I have in my notes “Tom reaching out his hands and jazz handing at the dementors” and I felt like that needed to be shared

Scorpius took the biggest gulp before going into the lake, he knows the fate of the world relies on him

I adore how excited Dombus is about seeing a mermaid and then he dramatically re-enacts the ‘pincers’ and flails his arms around dramatically

The lake hug is one of the cutest hugs ever they’re both just so happy to see each other and hug so tight 🥺

Jon whacked the tie into the pool with such force it splashed Dom so hard

Draco imitates the awkward way Scorpius says ‘hello dad’ so sassily with a little wave

Dombus tries so hard to pretend like he’s got no idea what the time turner is - he’s not a good liar ;)

In trouble again! Had some great moments including but not limited to Luke!Yannns iconic staircase cartwheel parkour display, and Rayxia shouting at Ronnie to “go that wayyyyy”

Draco is such a little suck up to Mcgonagall, he sticks his hand up and proudly says “seems fairrrr” he can’t help himself but be a teachers pet

On the stairs when RGW finds out she didn’t exist Ryan!James does the most reassuring shoulder pat, we stan supportive cousins

Doms reply of “no” after the are you okay is so broken and hurt and lost

Albus is properly snuggled up in the slytherin dorm scene, until Scorpius crawls out of bed and gets right round in his face to shout and wake him up

“Malfoy the unanxious” Jon puts his hands on his hips and looks so proud of himself ��

“I’m not sure being fearless is good for your health” on fearless Dom mocked Scorpius’s confident movements and it’s the cutest thing

Jon then sat down on the bed next to Albus as they had their little heart to heart, and Scorpius kept hugging his knees, there was a lot of touching going on here between the boys too

Albus tucks himself back into bed, ready for a good nights sleep before Scorpius ruins that chance

Ronnie!Cbj looked so worried when he realised scorbus were missing, we stan one prefect in training, he gave a determined nod at his orders from Minnie G and ran off as fast as he could

The owlery Scorpius drapes his legs down the stairs and has his hand resting right behind Albus leaning in super close

“A much underestimated part of modern witchcraft”- Scorpius then gave Albus a little nudge and it was super cute

Dombus gets very emotional when describing what the dark au was like :(( he thinks it’s all his fault

Scorpius was crouching as far away from Delphi as possible he was clearly very frightened of her :((

Michelle!Hermione was blushing so hard at the “I bloody love you” and giggling like a little girl as she tapped on Tom!Rons chest

Joward!Draco was full on shaking his head at Rons revelation of Albus and his ‘older girlfriend’ like he knew it couldn’t be true since it’s clear Albus is in love with his own son

After Ron messes up Scorpius’s name and calls him “scrupius” Joward angrily shouted “SCORPI” But got cut off before he could say scorpius and just ended up venting out scorpi and it was very sweet

Scorpius flinched as soon as the wand was pointed at him :(((

After Delphi turns to Scorpius, Albus screamed “NO, no PLEASE NO”

Dombus charges forward at Delphi on the first crucio, hes so desperate to try and save his friend, and when he gets stopped he writhes on the floor in pain but trying to get up and save Scorp

Jon collapses on the floor completly broken after the first crucio, everytime a wand had been pulled at him since the dark au hes flinched, afraid at what awful spell will come out of the wand- I think this is because he’s always been so enfatuated with magic, he loves it and all the clever ways it can be used to help people, but then he sees the horrors it can cause in the dark world and truly appreciates how the awful things it can do, and everytime a wand gets drawn on him he’s terrified, if he could use those awful spells in a situation like that then surely anyone could, and then it finally happens, hes tortured and it breaks him because he knows that another version of himself was using it on innocent people

Before the maze Luke was giving the biggest cheers and Gordon was waving his slytherin scarf around like a windmill

Act Four

In the second EGM there were several shouts of “SHAME” and “ridiculous!”

When Ron stepped up to defend his friends but said he had no idea what was going on everyone clapped

Scorpius nearly started tearing up when they mentioned Ceeby :(

Albus grabbed Scorpius’s hand (once again) to drag him along to godrics hollow :))

Lola waved at Luke after they put the pumpkins down and they did the biggest grin at each other and swunggggg their hands together as they exited :))

When hiding from bathilda bagshot Albus ran the furthest I’ve ever seen him run and had absolutely nowhere to hide so just stood by the wall at the front of the stage with his arms crossed and his head down trying his best to not look toooo suspicious (hint: it didn’t work)

Whilst watching his grandparents, Albus and Scorpius were stood super close together, Albus so happy he’s seeing his grandparents, Scorpius wanting to be as close to Albus as possible to make sure he’s okay

Both of the adorable little nerds were jumping up and down after seeing Bathilda Bagshot

Jamie!Harry is still sobbing over his interaction with Dumbledore and awkwardly turns away when Draco walks in because he doesn’t want to show how vulnerable he really is and puts on a brave face to the world

Joward!Dracos awkward laugh at this office will soon be mine is everything. “Hahahahah. Ha.”

Draco was getting very emotinal about Astoria and the blood malediction

Audience: all decide that this is the perfect moment to have a coughing fit

Albus speaks of his grandma with so much admiration and love

Scorbus are so excited about their plans, Dom grabbed Jons shoulders in pure excitement before realising it wouldn’t work

They both mime out the cot and standing over the baby and when Albus shouts “helpppppppp” dead seriously, he started jazz handing before they both collapsed into laughter at how stupid it was

If you’ve seen Doms Albus you’ll know what I’m on about but the pause after Scorpius says “I’d choose you” hes sooooo touched, and so happy about it that he’s literally speechless, and then he starts to open his mouth to say, ‘I’d choose you too” but then in true awkward Albus style he panics last minute and makes the joke about it but it’s so cute and you can see Scorpius knows that he would choose him too

Jon!Scorp listens so intensely to what Albus has to say, even when he has no idea what is going on, he wants to support him and bounces up and down with Albus because he knows he’s super clever and just needs the encouragement!

Tom!Ron leaning in for a hug after the “you’ve got really nice hair Draco” and Joward being super sassy and turning away

Scorpius ran away from Draco when he came towards him, he’s still haunted by the dark world :(

But then they leaned in for the hug and it lasted foreverrrrr neither of them wanted to let go and when they finally broke apart Joward started holding Jons cheeks 🥺

Albus and Ginny’s hug was super cute as always and then Albus kept his arm wrapped around ginny long after she broke apart

Susie and Jamie are the perfect Hinny, in the church they have a beautiful heart to heart and the they lean in together so that their foreheads are touching and it’s the cutest thing ever

Scorpius is glowing after being referred to as like Hermione, it means so much to him to be referred to the girl who was “the brightest witch of her age” and the current minister for magic

Scorpius does not want his dad to volunteer to be voldemort he’s shaking his head and trying to protect him in case something goes wrong and he loses the last member of his only family :(

After the suggestion of ‘zaPping” Delphi, Draco makes zapping hand actions before he can stop himself and then looks at his hands in absolute disgust

Albus steps in front of his dad when Draco makes a comment, he’s so desperate to protect him

There was a lot of reassuring holding going on with Scorbus as Albus watches his dad turn into voldemort :(

When Ron and Scorpius are looking out for Delphi, they were having a conversation and then Jon made binoculars with his hands to mime his being on the lookout

Dombus takes Harry’s wand away during Lily and James and just holds Jamie’s hand 🥺

Draco was stroking Scorpius’s head :((

Yolly did another hand hold as they walked across the stage and Lola!Polly was giggling :))

Jon says “oh yeah right” after the mention of Rose after their hug so quickly and confused, Rose is literally the last thing on Scorpius’s mind right then bless him

Jamie!Harry did a large shudder before muttering out “pigeons!!”

Jamie!Harry did the biggest laugh at Albus’s pigeon racing joke and it was reallyyyyy sweet

And that’s it on my notes there but I hope it managed to give you some dombus and scone feels and plenty of scorbus 🥺💚 cast four are really something special and I loveeee writing about them so sorry these notes are rather long haha :)

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hp-nextgen-fest · 6 years

Text

2018 HP Next Gen Fest Reveals!

The time has finally come for the 2018 @hp-nextgen-fest reveals!

Thank you so very much to everyone who has made this fest such an amazing success! We were incredibly impressed with the overwhelming enthusiasm you all have for our favorite Next Gen characters. Everyone who submitted stories and art, and those who read, reviewed and recced: You guys are amazing!!

It's been really great seeing everybody's fantastic creations, and we hope you all enjoyed the fest as much as we did!

Without further ado, here's a list of all the amazing participants who worked so hard to create fabulous things for this year's fest!

ART

@mzuul drew Sick Day [James Sirius/Teddy & Albus | General] Albus insists he’s not sick, James and Teddy say otherwise.

@fidgetyweirdo drew Every Christmas From Now On [Albus Severus/Scorpius | General] While decorating their flat for the holidays, the new couple discusses where they should spend Christmas day.

@julcheninred drew Deep Roots, New Growth [Draco & Teddy Gen | General] With Draco’s help, Teddy learns about his Black Family ancestry and helps to restore the damaged tapestry.

@gee-nx drew Ebb Tide [Rose/Padma | Explicit] Rose, normally very shy, finds the courage to get what she wants at a masquerade ball.

@nearly-conscious drew SHE ROCKS!!! [Dominique & Roxanne | General] Summer 2016. Roxanne and Dominique never get tired of playing Quidditch together. The rest of the family does get a little tired of hearing Dominique yell "SHE ROCKS!!!" everytime Roxanne scores a goal, but they don't say a thing.

@fidgetyweirdo drew On Holiday [James Sirius/Teddy | General] It's their first holiday together without the family, but they haven't done much sightseeing. Correction: they haven't done any sightseeing.

@nearly-conscious drew Pining [Lily Luna/Rose | General] It's a wonder no one besides Hugo has noticed that Lily Luna is pining for Rose.

ART + FIC

@maesterchill drew & wrote Swim To Me [James Sirius/Teddy | Teen] Nestled within the Lake District, among rolling green hills, spindly birch trees and tall pine trees, lay Teddy’s cottage, just a stone's throw from a serene lake; the perfect place to swim in the warm late-summer sun. There was just one problem: James’s fear of swimming. "I’ll teach you", Teddy said. "I’ll make it fun." James was sold on the idea pretty quick. Being in close contact with the half-naked object of his crush? It was a no brainer.

FIC

@nerdherderette wrote Drink Me [James Sirius/Teddy; Albus Severus/James Sirius/Teddy | NC-17] Before going to bed on his 18th birthday, Albus drinks one of Weasley Wizard Wheezes' newest wish-fulfillment potions, his gift from Lily.

lash_larue wrote Lavender's Iris [Lily Luna/Lavender | Teen] Lily does some hard thinking before her upcoming wedding. What she discovers is a bit of a surprise to her.

@letsdothepanic wrote Close To Me [James Sirius/Teddy | Explicit] “I can’t believe you want to suck your own cock.” “No, the other way around. I wanna see me suck my cock. It’s a world of difference, Tedward. Keep up!”

@gracerene09 wrote Activate [Draco/James Sirius | Explicit] Draco always figured he was a common Beta, and though he may have had childhood dreams of presenting as an Alpha, after forty years of living he's made his peace with his lot in life. He had a loving relationship with his late Beta wife, has an amazing son, and his work at his Apothecary and Potions shop keeps him occupied. Draco has a very pleasant life indeed, until one day his son drags James Sirius Potter into his life and everything gets turned on its head.

@maraudersaffair wrote Waiting for You [James Sirius/Teddy | Explicit] When James was sixteen, Teddy agreed to take his virginity if he made it to eighteen without losing it. He never thought James would make it the two years without shagging anyone, but now James is eighteen and asking Teddy to fulfill his promise.

@alis-anne wrote My Potter Boyfriend [James Sirius/Scorpius | Mature] Scorpius has a Potter boyfriend, it’s just not the one everyone thinks.

rillalicious wrote On the Same Side [Charlie/Teddy | Mature] Teddy is heading to Romania to protest a proposed anti-dragon law. He finds an interesting ally there.

@josiemoone wrote It's Just A Little Bond. Bond. [James Sirius/Teddy | Mature] When James and Teddy are pushed to the limits of their relationship, which include a bonding charm and several secrets, will they feel as strongly when everything is out in the open?

@thealmostrhetoricalquestion wrote Where The Apples Grow In Winter [Albus Severus/Scorpius | Teen] Albus was determined not to join in with the Owl Exchange at first, but he didn't count on the awkward charms of a sweet, lonely boy who, by history's reckoning, he was definitely supposed to hate.

@all-drarry-to-me wrote Mile Markers and Wizarding Wonders [James Sirius/Teddy | Teen] James plans a road trip to see the Seven Wizarding Wonders and Teddy ends up coming along. Cue weeks and weeks of bed sharing, accidental cuddling, Teddy's musical selections, a bit of stargazing and lots and lots of figuring each other out during long drives across Europe.

@violetclarity wrote Neapolitan [James Sirius/Scorpius/Teddy | Explicit] Scorpius never felt bad about fancying both James and Teddy, because he never thought he had a chance with either of them. So when it turns out that they both like him back, what’s a bloke to do? (Take advantage of the situation. Obviously.)

@call-me-hopelesss wrote Alt Er Love (Everything Is Love) [James Sirius/Teddy | Teen] There are sparks flying between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Albus and Scorpius are sure of it. So they do the most logical thing everyone would do in their situation: They ask James and Teddy for their help playing matchmaker. Thinking about love 24/7 comes easy for Albus and Scorpius, but for James and Teddy, it makes it harder and harder to pretend the feelings they hold for each other are strictly platonic... This is the one where the boys try to set Draco and Harry up five times and one time they don't.

@niakantorka wrote Love Our Way [Albus Severus/Blaise | Explicit] Blaise loves Albus. He also loves Albus' pale skin and how it contrasts so well with his own rich colour. Fortunate for him, it is just the same for Albus.

@fidgetyweirdo wrote These Hearts They Race... [Albus Severus/Scorpius | Mature] Albus thought that three weeks without his secret boyfriend had been hard enough, but now that Scorpius has arrived the lack of privacy in the Potter house may actually kill him.

@restlessandordinary wrote Show Me Where Your Love Lies [James Sirius/Teddy | Explicit] At 23 James is one of the top Seekers in the world, Witch Weekly's most eligible bachelor 4 years running and never far from the front pages of the paper. Oh, and he just so happens to be a virgin desperately in love with Teddy, both facts he plans to take to his grave. But when the Daily Prophet runs a story on "England's Most Eligible Virgin" all the secrets James has worked so hard to conceal begin to come out.

@sylviawitch wrote Can You See Me? [Albus Severus/Teddy | Teen] Albus has been watching Teddy since he was fifteen.

randowskie wrote Dreams Do Come True [James Sirius/Teddy | Mature] Teddy has it bad for James, but he knows that James is completely off limits and not interested. When a date with James is being auctioned off for charity, Teddy realizes he may not be able to keep his feelings quiet.

titti wrote The Clock That Changed Life [Draco/James Sirius | General] James is reluctant to come out, but when Draco gets cursed, he realises what's truly important to him.

@goldentruth813 wrote my youth is yours [James Sirius/Teddy | Explicit] At twenty-eight years old James is a respected Auror with a comfortable life. And alright, perhaps his love life is a bit lackluster and something has always seemed like it was missing. But he’s got a job he loves and Teddy as his Auror partner and best mate. That's more than enough for James. At least until an Auror raid gone wrong leaves James in his eighteen-year-old body grappling with feelings he thought he’d left in the past.

@littlerose13writes wrote Chess and Gobstones [Albus Severus/Scorpius | Mature] James sighed and shook his head. “You want to run with me because you have something you want to ask me. You’re not asking Scorpius, which means it’s about Scorpius. I’m right, aren’t I?” Albus scowled at his brother’s smug expression and muttered the most unenthusiastic confirmation he could. James’ grin grew wider as he started gesticulating with both hands. “So it’s about your boyfriend, and you’re not asking Mum, like you did when you needed help with his Christmas present, which means it’s about sex.”

@regblvck wrote Let it Bloom [Lily Luna/Pansy | Explicit] After their one-night stand, Lily had thought she wouldn’t be seeing more of Pansy. She’d never been so happy to be wrong.

barry_manilows_wardrobe wrote They would have told me, right? [James Sirius/Scorpius | Teen] Albus had heard the rumours. It was hard not to when his best mates were the subject. He loved them. Scorp and James. He really did. But he wouldn't complain if they decided to take it down a notch, though. Snaps with the people they presumably actually dated. Maybe a statement to the press. But Scorpius would just laugh in that disarming way he had from years of PR witches' work to smooth out the awkward. We're just mates. And then turn around and he would have Jamie on his lap, handsy as only two boys living out of suitcases and Quidditch locker rooms could be. They were up in each other's pockets so long now, it was impossible to think of one without the other. The press had a name for that: Scames.

@faeheyjesper wrote The Boyfriend Look™ [James Sirius/Teddy | General] General reviews for Teddy’s taste in clothes include: a sartorial travesty (Albus Potter), absolutely painful (Lily Potter), very 80s (Hugo Granger-Weasley). James just sees Teddy.

@mykesprit wrote Love and Letters [Albus Severus/Scorpius | Teen] A series of letters between Unspeakable Scorpius Malfoy and Professor Albus Potter.

@cassiaratheslytherpuff wrote Rarely Pure and Never Simple [James Sirius/Teddy | Explicit] James really enjoys his life. He likes sharing a flat with his best mate, Teddy. He likes being work-partners with said best mate. He likes going out at the weekends and shagging random girls. At least, that’s what he tells people. The truth isn’t that simple, and when James accidentally manages to get hit by a curse that makes him unable to lie he learns that hiding the fact that he’s completely and utterly arse over tit in love with Teddy is more complicated than expected.

@rose-grangerweasleyisbae wrote I Have To Tell You Something [Lily Luna Gen | General] Lily used to love family dinners until divorce, Quidditch contracts and one too many arguments ruined the atmosphere. Now that things were finally getting better, she's forced to bring her own problems to the table. Because even her tough-woman act isn't strong enough to hide the demons in her mind anymore.

@nifflers-n-nargles wrote Everything He Ever Wanted [James Sirius/Teddy | Teen] James has had a lot of favorite things in his life...or has he?

torino10154 wrote Out of Hand [Albus Severus/Harry | Explicit] Al gets into constant trouble at school and Harry is at his wit's end. Maybe a firm hand will set him right.

@shiftylinguini wrote Hallo Spaceboy [James Sirius/Teddy | Teen] “If this mirror could talk,” James remembers declaring, already one drink down and trying to tidy up his ridiculous costume eyeliner, “it would say we look bloody amazing.” Teddy’s arm was warm when he wrapped it around James’s shoulder, pulling him closer. “We always do, love.” Teddy tugged on a long curl of James’s hair before tucking it behind his ear, then smoothing the whole lot of it back. “We’re the fittest blokes at the party, us.” James’d had to give up on the eyeliner after that; he was grinning too hard, flushed and happy and basking in Teddy’s attention (fit blokes, we’re fit blokes, that’s us), and he couldn't bloody stop.

@huggingscorbus wrote the salacious ideas of peculiar boys [Albus Severus/Scorpius | Explicit] Albus and Scorpius have never been lacking on the idea front, but this time, rather than trying to change time and consequentially resurrecting a great darkness and eternal gloom, they've decided to try out something a little more... sexually experimental. alternatively titled: fellas, is it gay to jerk off your best friend?

@mindabbles wrote The Frame [James Sirius/Sirius| Explicit] What are the ethical complications of falling for a person you're named after? How about the logistical complications of falling for someone who shouldn’t be alive? James would rather, he finds, not look too closely at either, not when Sirius makes him forget anyone else exists.

#jeddy #scorbus #HP Next Generation #hp next gen #harry potter next gen #hpnextgenfest #Harry Potter #2018 fest #masterlist #reveals #mod post

87 notes · View notes

sxgiittxriius · 6 years

Text

Blaise Babysitting the Malfoy’s

"Aaaaannnnd he scores!" Three boys sat on the floor surrounded by pillows to break their fall as their sister sat near them reading a book.

Taking a chance seeing as the boys were occupied, Blaise sighs and grinned.

"Would you rather eat 100 bricks or a matter baby?"

The moment of peaceful happiness of holding the mini figures 'flying' around the room was broken by the sound of Blaise's voice.

The children he was babysitting turned away from their toys and book looked at him, confusion all over their faces.

Blaise was currently babysitting the Malfoy children, while his married friends were going out for dinner, he lounged on the couch, one of Hermiones' book in hand as he read, though now it was rested on his chest as he turned to face the children.

His question had come out of nowhere. The boys and Lyra had been quietly playing by their own at the living room floor when uncle Blaise had asked and now they were looking at each other in confusion.

Eat a 100 bricks....

Or a what? A baby...?

Their eyes flitted back and forth amongst themselves as if to see if maybe one of them knew just what that was before little Lyra asked, "What's a matter baby?"

Blaise's face broke out in a grin. "Nothing, sweetheart. How are you?"

The confusion drained off of the oldest, Scorpius's face.

He knew what his uncle Blaise was doing and started to gather up his toy broom and the mini Slytherin quidditch team.

Once they were all together, Scorpius stood and turned on his heel. A brief silence filled the room until Blaise heard the the door to the boys' bedroom open and close, the other two children then stood up and stood up, followed their brother and Blaise heard other doors open and close two more times and Blaise was left all alone.

Or so he thought.

"Uncle Blaise, that's not a very smart joke." Lyra stated as she begin to walk away to the library.

Blaise couldn't say he was surprised that his joke wasn't a huge hit. Disappointed, yes. But not really surprised. Not with those four being their children, anyways.

He opened the book and went back to reading on How to Attract a Females Attention, he wondered what Hermione did with this book and why she ever needed it.

Step One:

Make quality eye contact.

If there was one thing that Blaise hated about being out and about, it was the crowds of women he'd have to accounter in public, asking him to go to their parents and ask for their daughters hand. It was irritating and tiring, why couldn't they leave him alone. He'd rather spend the day with the Malfoy kids...

The next day was a fantastic day for Blaise, it was Saturday. That means he gets to see the Malfoy children.

Flicking dust away from his clothes after leaving the floo, Blaise was greeted with the prettiest sight he's ever seen on her.

"Uncle Blaise, do you want to read a book with me?" seven year old Lyra Malfoy asked wearing a light blue dress that contemplated with her fair skin and curly platinum hair she got from Draco.

"Where's your parents, Princess?"

"They're in their room."

"You came here to greet me alone?" He squatted down to her height.

"Well, Scorpy, Hype and Leo are eating their dinner." She grinned.

"Don't call me Scorpy!" His voice could be heard from the kitchen.

Blaise chuckled as he heard the eldest of the Malfoy family not far from where he stood. He then heard a shocked gasp and turned towards his Goddaughter.

"What is it?"

"Did it hurt?" Her small browns burrow in worry.

Knowing this joke very well he replied with, "When I fell from heavens? Why ye-"

"You have a cut on your neck Uncle Blaise, this is not a time for jokes." She pointed at the gash on his being.

"I have a what now??" He ran towards the glass window, to see a red line going from his face to his neck. Then scowled when he remembered what he went through earlier to leave the presence of many women.

When he didn't hear Lyra behind him, Blaise turned to find her coming out of a room holding a red box with a white plus on it.

"So does it hurt?"

"Not really, but they did say that I had snoo in my blood."

Lyra blinked and frowned, "What's snoo?"

"Oh, not much, what's new with you!"

Blaise has never seen utter disappointment from anyone other than his wife when he told her the same joke the other day. Seeing it from his favourite Malfoy sweetheart's eyes as the light left her eyes, she left without helping him treat his wound.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" He exclaimed.

Blaise sighed as no one in this family would let him live with his jokes, he took out his wand and healed himself.

Hermione had allowed the four children and the male adults to build another fort. The couch was currently cushion-less and all their blankets been stripped from their beds and were instead draped over the couch, the chairs from the dining table and whatever assorted furniture they could drag into the living room. Draco wanted to build their fort with magic until his daughter and youngest son yelled 'no'.

It was rather amusing, whatever chance Draco had when they weren't looking, he took out his wand and did small magic of putting the blankets quicker, until Leo yelled out "Daddy, you can't use magic!" And the youngest at age 6 pulled the blankets off and went back to what he was doing before.

It helped that they were supplied with drinks and snacks, so they could cuddle the inside the fort and were only a shout away for anyone to put on the next movie or bring them more snacks.

It wasn't an hour later, empty bowls and lolly wrappings on the floor, when Scorpius came into the kitchen to find his mother cooking dinner.

"When's dinner?"

"In another half an hour or so. Did the movie finish?" Hermione questioned as she turned the chicken over.

"No, but we ran out of snacks."

"How about we make a deal. You can go back and give me all the bowls and wrappers and I'll give you more." She smiled at her son as he bolted out and a minute later came back what she wanted.

"Alright here are the remaining snacks I'll give out before dinner."

"Thank you mother."

Hermione turned to check on the meal on the stove, taking a bite she didn't hear anyone behind her, when Blaise stood and smirked.

"Mrs Malfoy! What're you eating under there?

"Huh?" Hermione lifter her head as she turned to face him. "What're you talking about? Under where? If you noticed in not under anything."

"You eat underwear, Granger?" His nose scrunched and he scooted backwards. "That's pretty gross."

She glared as if he was something bad she accidentally stepped on under her shoes towards her work place. Blaise sighed as it was another failure to make anyone in this household laugh.

The door to the manor swung in and the babysitter shuffled into the living room. He observed the children as the separately did their own things.

Hyperion stood with a bottle of food flakes feeding his fishes.

Leo laid on the carpet as he stared at nothingness and next to him was his brother, Scorpius reading; Quidditch Through the Ages.

And finally, the only daughter and his favourite, sat Lyra with one of the elves, making cookies.

The parents went out for another date and his wife was out with their son on another mother-son outing. Even his own family couldn't take his jokes.

"What are you making there, sweetheart?"

"We're making cookies. Mum said if I made enough we can send them to Grandpa and Grandma Malfoy."

"Ah. Okay. I ask because, it kinda smells like updog." Blaise pinched his nose as he turned away from her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hyperion getting off the chair and slowly making his way towards him.

"What is updog, Master Blaise?" The elf had asked.

"Nothing much, how about you?"

The elf was elated to have someone ask about his day, but unlike the children all three sighed and took a deep breath before yelling, "Do it Hype!"

Blaise frowned and look at the child out of fear and amusement, what can he do? Call his wife to take him home? He laughed silently.

Hyperion inhaled as he picked the telephone and pressed his mother's number from memory and placed the phone to his ear.

There was a slight pause before the whispery voice of whoever was on the other side answered.

"Mummy."

Blaise's breath hitched in fear.

The voice answered and Hyperion gave a nod as presumably his mother continued to speak on the other side. After a while, Hyperion turned slowly in Blaise's direction and a small smirked appeared, "Mmhm. He did it again. So, please come home."

Knowing what kind of pain Hermione Malfoy throws when she punched Draco a million times in the past for making her upset, it never sounded or looked good. Blaise's face in shock after hearing the second child of the Malfoy-Granger family to call his beloved mother to literally kill him with her fist.

"Hype, what kind of treachery is this?! Why do you kids hate me!"

BONUS:

It was Blaise's birthday; Lyra and Draco walked around hand in hand as they look for something to give to him.

"Daddy, do you think Uncle Blaise reads?"

He chuckled as a memory from his childhood resurfaced. "He never opened a proper book as far as I can remember."

"Then, do you think he'd like this?" She questioned as she held in her two hands; A Mastermind of Jokes for Idiots.

"Where'd you get that?" He frowned as the word Idiot sprawled on the cover.

"Uncle George gave it to me when I told him we were looking for presents."

Draco sighed in relief when he realised she didn't know the word.

"I'm sure he'd love it, Love."

She gave him a bright smile as they walked home, not before his daughter asked the question he dreaded.

"Daddy, what's an Idiot?"

Draco inwardly sighed, his wife is going to kill him.

#dramione #hermione granger #harry potter #draco malfoy #draco malfoy x hermione granger #dramione oneshots #fanfiction #scorpius malfoy #dramione family time #harry potter fanfiction #draco x hermione #constellations #lyra #scopius #leo #hyperion

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elaera23 · 6 years

Text

Girls Night - Part 4 (Final)

Fandom: Voltage (Crossover)

Characters: MC1, MC2, MC3 x SITS / KBTBB / SCM

Contains: Humor, Smut, Fluff, a lot of swearing, alcohol and dirty talk 😈

⏩ Here you can find Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this Story

Again a big thanks to my amazing co-author @vega-in-wonderland for this amazing cooperation, @hifftn for their inspirations of the bidders’ stories and @justjen523 for correcting everything 😘💕

Summary:

The dark Prince crushing on a female Karno and female Partheno seducing our beloved flirt of a thief. And that’s only what happened in the background while our drunk ladies openly put the guys to shame! But the drunk always state the truth, don’t they? While they are making the guys burn up in embarrassment, it shows that there may be deeper feelings behind these words than they’d believe themselves. Something that may or may not apply to our dear uptight Minister. See for yourself.

MC1: MC from Scandal in the Spotlight

MC2: MC from Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

MC3: MC from Star Crossed Myth

MC3: You know I’m quite fond of him even if he can be stoic, severe and a stick in the mud sometimes.

MC1: Yeah, we know you have a crush on Ziggy. And you love his hair.

MC3 [blushes]: No it’s not like that…

MC2: Suuuure.

Leon: Look at the goldfish – our divine kitchen scale has a secret admirer?

Zyglavis [blushes]: No, I’m sure she just meant it in a friendly way…

Ichthys [starts singing]: MC3 and Ziggy, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

Scorpio: Shut up problem child or I swear I’m gonna break my rule of not hittin’ a woman!

Ichthys [hiding behind Dui]: Eeeek, scary Scorpy, stay away from me!!!

MC3: Anyways, last week I wanted to bring him some of his favorite chocolate, the one they sell just across the street from my apartment. On my way to his room I saw Ikky sneaking away and instantly got a bad feeling about it. I mean, I love his pranks, but sometimes they go overboard, especially with Zyglavis. He let me in and the moment Ziggy closed the door the whole fucking room just… exploded.

MC1 & MC2: WHAT?!

MC3: Yes, the mattress, the cover, all the pillows, the cushion of the arm chairs, even his shelf with the books, everything blew up in our face leaving the whole room in chaos, shattered material falling down on us like snowflakes in winter. After everything calmed down I realized that he was holding me in a tight embrace, protecting me from what happened just moments ago.

MC1: Aaaaw so cute! That’s something I could use for my lyrics – well, maybe without the exploding pillows and stuff. [laughs]

MC3: It was… quite sweet. He just kept holding me, asking me if I was okay. I looked deeply in his silvery eyes and nodded. [sighs] It felt like a dream. He even forgot to chase after Ikky, something he usually does right away. Just when it would have started to get awkward, I realized how ridiculous we must have looked with all that stuffing material scattered all over us.

Zyglavis: Despite her initial reaction from the explosion, she still found herself able to laugh over such a reckless and dangerous prank. Honestly Ichthys, it is one thing to direct your pranks at me but to endanger MC3? [shoots Ichthys an incredulous look] Though, I cannot deny how adorable she looked at that moment. [smiling wryly]

MC3: I know that Zyglavis puts a lot of emphasis on his hair, even if he would never admit it. So I carefully asked if I should help him getting rid of all the things that were stuck in it and surprisingly, he accepted.

Karno: Well, this is a surprise; Zyglavis actually allowed someone to touch his hair? What a nice novelty.

Leon: Considering the fact that he could have just snapped his fingers… [smirks]

MC2: To be honest, I don’t see anything strange about what happened…

MC3: I’m not finished yet… So, he hands me the most beautiful brush I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and we sat down on the remnants of the destroyed bed. He gave me a cautious look as he freed his ponytail from the band he was wearing so it would be easier for me to remove all the stuffing that had found its way into his beautiful purplish-blue hair. He let his strands gracefully fall around his shoulders and even though they were tousled and covered with stuff, I was mesmerized by the beauty his hair was exuded. A little distracted by the gorgeous view I carefully began to remove feather by feather out of the long strands, touching his silky hair as if it were a delicate flower. Zyglavis seemed quite tense, but I assumed it was just a side effect from the explosion we just witnessed a few minutes ago. The moment I started to pull my fingers through his strands, carefully combing the tips, a soft moan escaped his lips…

MC1: Whaaaaaat?

MC2: Oohh that is kinky, so what happened next?

MC3: Well… I-I ehm… I wasn’t sure if it was just coincidence, so I repositioned myself, one leg on each of his sides and then carefully started to comb his strands from the base to the tips and… Wow. He just totally lost control over his normally strict demeanor… So, I was curious how far I could go, how much he would be willing to let me do. The more I stroked his hair, the more he let go. His head fell back and his lips were slightly parted as another sexy moan filled the air. He was soooo relaxed in a way I’ve never seen before. I was so turned on by the sounds he was making and the way he was leaning against my chest seemingly lost in sheer pleasure. I got so flustered by his mere touch and the tingling he caused in my body that I had to excuse myself. Totally flustered I quickly apologized to him and ran out of the mansion into my apartment where I immediately took a very cold shower.

MC2 [laughs]: Oh, my poor friend He really got you all wound up huh?

MC1: Such a shame you didn’t do more. [smirks]

MC3: What?! N-No, of course not! He’s not interested in these kinds of things, especially not with me…

MC1: Oh come on hun! He totally likes you, otherwise he would’ve never let you touch his precious hair!

MC3: C-Can we now just change the subject please?

Scoprio [raising an eyebrow]: So Zig… Ya making fun of me for accepting food from her when you let her brush your hair?

Huedhaut [now studying the drinks menu]: Let’s not forget he embraced her, which is presumably the reason he forgot to chase after Ichthys, isn’t it?

Leon: You’re all forgetting the most important part, he pulled the stick out of his ass for once and obviously melted in MC’s hands. It seems Ponytail is finally of an age to be interested in such things.

Teorus: Yeah, who knows what would have happened if Goldie hadn’t run away?

Huedhaut: I think you can tell judging by the color of his face.

Zyglavis [his cheeks on fire]: All of you, that is quite enough! And more importantly where is Partheno? It’s been a half an hour since-

Partheno [stumbling back to the table]: Sorry, I just took a walk outside.

[Ichthys & Teorus grinning]

Ichthys: Suuuure, we know what THAT means! [winks]

[Waiter brings the girls another round of cocktails]

MC1: Does anyone want my cherry?

[Dui turns his head, ready to speak up but Scorpio slaps a hand over his mouth]

Scorpio: Are you stupid?! You’re not blowing our cover for a freaking cherry!

Dui [disappointed, mumbling through Scorpio’s hand]: Buw I wan’ wone!

MC3: I’ll take that, thank you. [Pops cherry in her mouth and starts chewing, a few seconds later she sticks out her tongue with the cherry stems formed into a knot]

MC2: Wow, since when do you know how to do that?

MC3: One of the Gods does it all the time, so I thought I should teach myself.

MC2: You know what they say right? People who can do that are excellent kissers.

MC3: Yeah, I bet that guy is excellent with his tongue in other areas as well…

[Dui blushes slightly]

MC3: He could probably make you cum with a single stroke over your pussy. I’d love to find that out…

[Shadow Dui takes over the body]: Oh Baby, I can show you here and now…

Scorpio [grabs his arm and knocks him out]: Damn, his other half is annoying…

MC3: By the way it’s the cinnamon roll we talked about before – Dui.

Scorpio [snorts]: …More like a sinnamon roll.

MC2: But that didn’t sound so innocent. [laughs]

MC3: Well he is a cinnamon roll when he’s not drunk. [laughs] But it really is fascinating. Dui and Shadow Dui couldn’t be more different from each other. One side is very gentle and sweet, and the other side is wild and rough.

MC1: That sounds exciting. It’s like having sex with two different men if you think about it.

MC2: A mix of gentle and wild… I like that.

MC3 [dreamingly sighing]: Me too…

MC2: But if he constantly switches personalities, will he ever finish?

MC3: Honestly? I wouldn‘t mind going at it all night with him.

[Shadow Dui wakes up again]

MC1: If you had to choose one, which one would you pick?

MC3: That’s impossible. They are both Dui.

Shadow Dui: Oh, someone wants to be punished later… [attempts to leave the table again]

Scorpio: For fuck sake [grabs Shadow Dui by the collar] Sit your freakin’ ass down you moron!

[Dui takes over the body]: Huh? Scorpio, why are you making a scene?

Scorpio: …I’m so done with this shit.

MC3: Honestly, I’m so curious about him, I actually thought about tempting him a little bit. Of course I would do it in an innocent way…

MC2: Oh yeah?

MC3: Yep! Since he loves cherries so much I would make some marmalade and invite him over to let him taste it – he could lick it off my finger of course, while I innocently look into his eyes.

MC2: That’s the exact opposite of innocent…

MC3: I can imagine him licking it off of different places on my body leaving hickeys all over my skin.

[Scorpio looks at Dui, fearing Shadow Dui is about to take over his body again]

Ichthys [pokes Dui]: Hey, Dui?

Dui: [has a predatory gaze in his eyes]

Scorpio: Ok, now he’s frozen.

MC1: Oh I know! Hickeys are soooo hot, don’t you think MC2?

MC3 [thinking: I’m sure Scorps is fighting with Shadow Dui right now, trying to stop him from doing anything stupid] [chuckles]

MC2: That is something I definitely endorse.

MC3: Yeah… that and scratch marks.

MC2: Oh, you’d have to be a real monster in bed to just casually leave scratch marks…

MC1: [chuckles]

MC3: What’s wrong?

MC1: No, I was just remembering something about our leader. He has a “monster-mode” as well, when it comes to composing music.

MC3: And just what was it you remembered about him?

MC1: Well the incident with Kyo wasn’t the only thing that happened in the week where the A/C was broken… Actually it was quite dramatic to be honest. One day I made myself some caramel tea in the kitchen late in the evening.

MC2: How can you drink tea when it’s so hot?!

MC1: Some magazine wrote an article about how to survive a heat wave the best. And they said it’s good to drink warm things as the body automatically cools down as a result. As I was low on sugar I added some caramel to gather enough energy to finish the lyrics. Anyways, I was sitting on the cool floor when I realized I was stuck with my lyrics. Taka had shown me his idea for the music, but I couldn’t entirely remember it anymore. I went up to his room and knocked but didn’t receive a response. So I carefully opened the door and nearly got slayed by the heat wave that came out. Thinking back I realized I hadn’t seen him in over a day. When I entered his room, the window was closed and completely fogged; it felt like I just stepped into a sauna… I saw him lying on the floor next to his chair motionless, just wearing his boxers, caramel wrappers scattered around the whole place. For your information, caramel is his favorite sweet.

MC3: Oh lord, what happened?!

MC1: I was quite sure he fainted due to the heat and because he had certainly forgotten to eat and drink again while he was composing. My body moved on its own to check his pulse which was way too weak and his breathing was strained. I started to panic, but my emergency mode turned on and I automatically turned him over on his back and started performing CPR, hoping his pulse would stabilize.

MC2: And then? I mean was he okay?!

MC1: I was so full of adrenaline that I couldn’t even enjoy his half naked body or realize that after two or three rescue breaths he started to move again. Still fully concentrated on giving him the next rescue breath I suddenly felt how his long fingers moved through my hair from behind and then he just… kissed me. First he was gentle, caressing my lips with his, slowly exploring my mouth with his tongue; I mean it was just…. Wow.

Nagito: Leader, you kissed MC1 and didn’t tell us?! How is she? Does she taste good? [grins]

Takashi: A gentleman does not kiss and tell.

Kyohei: Doesn’t sound very gentlemanly to kiss a girl who thinks you are dying and tries to revive you. [smirks]

MC1: At some point he pulled away, seductively licking his lips and with a sensual smile the only thing he said was “Your taste brought me back to life, I want more”. He leaned in again and in that moment I snapped back to my senses. I just stood up, surely blushing furiously, excused myself and ran out of his room. I couldn’t look him in the eyes for over a week. By the way, same counts for Kyo after the bath incident.

MC3: …And you are telling me I should have done more with Zyglavis when you don’t even have the guts for THAT?!

MC1: S-Shut up… it wasn’t so easy… I ehm... really like Taka, I mean he is a genius and all, but I’m sure the kiss was more of a reflex to my CPR and nothing more. [blushes]

Kyohei: Damn Taka, you of all of us?

Takashi: What?

Kyohei: Don’t “what?” me! Why didn’t you tell us you had feelings for MC1?

Takashi: I was still half-unconscious so I barely remember it... [blushes]

Kyohei [smiling knowingly]: Yeah, sure. [shifting his gaze back to MC’s table, muttering under his breath] Like I haven’t known him for over a decade…

MC2: Well, he does sound like a very intense guy… They say still waters run deep, don’t they?

MC1: That certainly applies to him.

MC3: [sighing dreamily]

MC1: What are you fantasizing about?

MC3: Huh?

MC1: I know that look, what were you dreaming about?

MC3: Well, now that you’re asking, there is a guy in the Department of Punishments, Krioff. He’s quiet but somehow intense at the same time. So much that I had a pretty vivid daydream about him a few days ago…

MC2 [claps her hands]: Oohh, isn’t that the muscle-man with the dangerous hand you sent us a picture of some time ago?

MC1: He looks soooo hot… I really have a thing for men with silver hair… So please give me some details hun!

Iori: What, she likes old farts? What the hell is she talking about?

Ryo: Hey I’m not an old fart!

Nagito: You think grey would suit me, Ryo? I would do everything to attract her attention. [smirks]

Kota: No, your cock would do everything to get her attention.

Kyohei: Considering the fantasy she blabbered about I don’t think it’ll take a lot for Nagi to get it.

Dui: Krioff, what is she talking about?

Krioff: How the heck should I know?

MC3: Well… I imagined him being my teacher. And we did all kinds of… things.

[MC3 thoughts move back to her daydream, as a picture of Krioff appears in her mind]

Huedhaut [lifting his gaze from the menu]: Krioff, a teacher? This sounds interesting.

MC3: He has this utterly strict demeanor so I’d love to take control and see him flustered for a change. God, I bet he is a real beast between the sheets! When he’d be teaching a class, I could hide under his table, slowly open his pants, kiss his thighs…

Leon: Oh-ho, Krioff are you listening?

Krioff: [almost burning up of embarrassment]

Zyglavis: Krioff, calm yourself I can already feel the temperature rising!

MC3: Of course I’d first tease him a little by slowly rubbing his cock through his boxers, and closely observe how he reacts in front of his students. I would see how he tries to stifle the surprise on his face due to what’s happening beneath the table and how his cheeks turn slightly pink. I wouldn’t rush as I know he had a full lesson to spare. So I’d free his already semi-hard cock from the narrowness of his pants and slightly lick the pre-cum off the tip. He’d inconspicuously snatch a view beneath his table to lock eyes with me while I was still caressing his now rock hard length. I’d throw him a seductive smile pressing my index finger onto my lips already knowing he was complete putty in my hands. I’d slowly trail my tongue along the throbbing vein on the downside of his hardness up to the tip. And girls… he is huuuuge! So in my fantasy I assure you I’d give him the best blowjob he’s ever had.

[MC3 makes a short break to take a deep breath and suppress the throbbing that began to form up again in her core, sweat shimmering on her temples]

MC3: Puuhh, is it getting really hot in here or is it just the excitement of my story? [laughs]

Scorpio: Damn it Krioff, compose yourself! Your hand is already heating up the whole fuckin’ bar!

MC3: Ok where was I – aahh yes! It’d turn me on so much to see how he tries to keep his composure while I was suck his godly cock, taking his whole length between my luscious lips. After a few more sucks he would bury his large hand in my hair, clearly savoring the pleasure I was spoiling him with. I could feel how he was getting closer to his release and just as he was ready to cum I would abruptly stop. He’d let out a whimper and try to push my head down again, eager for his own release. “Professor is everything alright?”, a concerned student would ask. He would lightly cough and assure he just had a headache. Suppressing a chuckle I wouldn’t want to be too cruel so I’d start to rub his cock again while my tongue swirled around his tip. My biting and sucking quickly bringing him to the edge again, and I’d let him push my head down his hardness at a faster pace. I could catch a glimpse of his face, his free hand covering his forehead, eyes tightly shut and his lips slightly parted.

I could hear his panting and the moment he finally releases he furrows his brows, letting out a loud sigh, knowing well he was suppressing far sexier sounds, as he spilled all his delicious cum into my mouth. Gladly swallowing every drop of it, I’d let him catch his breath. He’d gently caress my face, a smile playing around his lips, thankful for the joy I brought him on this terrible Monday morning. He wouldn’t be aware that I still wasn’t done with him for this lesson.

MC2: God girl, this is SO hot, now I’m sweating too! [starts to take of her cardigan]

MC3: I’m not finished yet. [smiles]

MC3: After class he would pull me out of the room without saying a word, leading me to his office. He’d push me onto his table, my legs straddling his waist. He’d shred my soaked panties with his teeth and fiercely lick my wet pussy like it was the most delicious ice cream he ever tasted…

Krioff [abruptly stands up]: I gotta use the bathroom!

Dui: Krioff, what are you-

Krioff [blushing even more]: Shut up!

Scorpio: Let him go, as long as it prevents him from burning down the whole friggin’ place! He already turned a cushion into ashes!

MC3: He’s not the only God I fantasize about though… There is this intensely hot one, who is also an artist and-

MC2: As hot as Ota?

MC3: Oh honey, they don’t play in the same league. They don’t even play the same sport. Honestly, everywhere he goes all the women lose their minds within a five mile radius. He is mature, sophisticated, charming and the epitome of sexiness…

MC2: You know those are nearly the same words which I used to describe Shunichiro? [smirks]

MC3: Oh! Well sorry hun, I mean Shun is hot but, Lou is a God with thousands of years’ experience, I don’t think he is fit to hold a candle to him. Not now, not ever.

Eisuke [furrows his brows]: What the hell does that woman mean “with thousands of years’ experience”? I thought the talk about those so called “Gods” and their so called “abilities” was just some kind of joke?

Baba: Mmhh… I also thought they were just talking about some strange game. I mean, there are games especially designed for women. What are they called… otame… omate… No wait… otome games!

Ota: Why the hell would you know something like that?!

Baba: Shut up, Ota. You are not in the position to ask me such a question after what I learned about you today.

MC3: He once suggested to paint me naked… I actually wanted to say yes. But I’d prefer if he did body painting on me directly.

Tauxolouve [muttering under his breath]: We can arrange that anytime, little lady…

MC3: And then we could ravish each other on a big piece of paper and see what kind of art our lovemaking would create.

[MC1 & MC2 are on cloud nine]

MC3: But he never has relationships that last longer than two weeks. What a stupid rule.

MC1: Two weeks is enough to fuck your brains out.

MC3: Not with him honey… not with him. I could orgasm on the spot just by looking at him. If it were up to me he could spend eternity inside me.

MC1: Spend eternity inside me… [starts daydreaming]

Kota: There she drifts off into her own little world again.

Ryo: It’s the source where all her lyrics come from, so don’t complain about it.

Kota [blushing]: I’m not.

MC3: Earth to MC1! Come back to us!

MC1: Huh? Uh, sorry girls.

Kota: She’s such a klutz.

MC1: Hah, one my colleagues always teases me about my habit of daydreaming.

[All gazes shift to Kota]

Kota: What’s wrong about stating the truth?

MC2: Oh, that one you always say behaves like a cat?

MC1: Yep, that’s him… Heh. [grins evilly]

Kyohei: Prep yourself, Kota, after tonight we know that grin means no good for any of us.

MC3: What is it?

MC1: Oh, I was just thinking that he even behaves more like a cat then the others know.

Nagito: Huh? What did you do, Ko?

Kota: …

MC1: One day he came home very late after a shooting, and I was still in the living room working on lyrics, when he sat down next to me and fell asleep right on the spot.

MC1: I took a picture of him, look.

MC3: What is it about guys always looking a hundred times more adorable when asleep?

MC2: I know right? [bewitched by the photo]

MC1: Oh wait hun. He didn’t notice of course, because he was completely knocked out, but in his sleep, he positioned his head right on my lap. He looked so adorable, and before I realized what I was doing I had already started to fondle his neck, and guess what he did - he let out the cutest purrs.

Nagito: Aww, Ko really is like a cat!

Kota [blushing furiously]: Shut up, this is the first time I’m hearing of this!

MC1: Oh there is more, he even started to curl his fingers into my dress, leaning further into my touch, as if he wanted more. [chuckles] Of course I couldn’t resist in making a record of this unique incident. You wanna see it?

MC2 & MC3: Umm… YES!

MC1: [shows video]

MC2 & MC3 [squealing]: AAAAWWWW…. Soooo cuuuute!

Kota [his face bright red]: Dammit, I’m a MAN and not CUTE!

Kyohei: Yeah sure Kitty.

Scorpio [looks at Leon and clicks his tongue]: Tch. Great, as if one pussy isn’t enough to handle.

-- a little later --

MC1 [sipping on her cocktail]: Wow… This one tastes excellent.

MC3: Let me try. [takes a sip] Hm. It’s okay, but not as good as the alcohol one of the Gods makes. I swear, it’s the best thing you’ve ever tasted. You should come over and have a taste if you two have the time!

Leon: Oh-ho, I am pretty intrigued by that idea. [smirks]

Huedhaut: [disinterested, not averting his gaze from the magazine he is reading]

MC3: Last time, we had a small gathering at the mansion, pretty much everyone was hammered, so I decided to shake is cool demeanor a little.

MC2: What did you do?

MC3 [smirking]: Heh… Well, I was quite drunk as well, so… I went up to him and told him straight up that I think he is totally into me.

Zyglavis: Like the wisest man in the heavens would fall for a trick like that.

Huedhaut: [covers his increasing nervousness by sipping on his wine]

MC3: He said „you’re right, all I think about is you and how much I want to devour you“ in such a monotone voice… I swear, if you look up the word “sarcasm” in a dictionary you’ll find his picture right next to it.

MC2: What a jerk…

MC3: I didn’t let it end like that of course.

[The rest of the Gods raise their heads]

Leon: Hue, what is the meaning of this?

Huedhaut [flipping the page of the magazine]: Wouldn’t you like to know.

MC3: I acted hurt, came closer and put my hand on his cheek, saying „but I have fallen for you… I know you don’t feel the same way about me but... I wanted you to know, or else I would have regretted it, I’m sorry“, as I gazed deeply into his eyes, slowly starting to close the distance between our lips.

MC1: Did he fall for it?

Zylgavis: No.

MC3: Yes!

[Zyglavis spits out his drink, his eyes as wide as saucers]

MC1 [laughs out loud]: You’re a genuis!

MC3: His large hand cupped my face and just as he was willing to kiss me I smiled proudly, gave him a small peck on the cheek and left him standing there, totally perplexed about what happened a moment ago.

Huedhaut [face as red as a tomato]: So this is what humiliation feels like? In that case I’m not really interested in experiencing it ever again.

MC2: You’re a bad, bad girl MC3! I like it!

Karno: Hmm… This is kind of surprising. I wouldn’t have thought that MC3 would be so inconsiderate, in the light of the fact of the kind of relationship she had with Hue in her past life.

Zyglavis: I have to agree, MC3 is usually so thoughtful and aware of other people’s feelings.

Huedhaut [gaze lowered, mumbling]: The fact that she doesn’t know about our past relationship may excuse her behavior.

Leon: What do you mean she doesn’t know?

Huedhaut: What part of this phrase is confusing you in particular? I never told her.

Leon [looks at Hue incredulously]: Don’t you think she has the right to know? You will clear this up Hue, otherwise I will.

Huedhaut: Fine, I will seek the necessary dialogue with her the next acceptable opportunity.

MC3: By the way girls, there’s something I’ve been worrying about…

MC1: What’s that?

MC3: Did you ever have a dream that felt SO real that in the end you couldn’t tell whether it was a dream or something that actually happened?

MC2: Yeah, I’m still hoping my current life is only a very realistic dream that I’ll soon wake up from.

MC1: Tell us from the start, what happened?

MC3: It was with the sleepy God. You know, this guy really loves marshmallows, so I took him shopping with me. When we were done it started to rain cats and dogs, we were soaking wet when we arrived at my place. We took a bath - MC1 stop smirking like that – separately and he offered to stay with me until I fell asleep.

[The Gods are looking at Aigonorus who dozed off in his chair]

Tauxolouve: Figures.

MC3: The thing is, he is super cute… especially when he is sleeping. So I didn’t really mind that he embraced me… [remembers the evening]

[Tauxolouve taps Aigonorus on the shoulder]

MC3: He has such strong arms and I absolutely love his smell. Like a mix of heaven and marshmallows.

[Tauxolouve is now violently shaking Aigonorus’ shoulder]

Aigonorus [still half asleep, mumbling]: …Whaddaya want?!

Tauxolouve: Be quiet and listen. She is talking about you and it’s criminally cute.

MC3: So we fell asleep. I dreamed that he wouldn’t wake up in the morning, and he was defenseless so… I crawled under the sheets as I position myself between his legs, slightly parting them so I could sit more comfortably. First I trailed kisses down his belly along his treasure-trail, playfully running my finger along the seam of his shorts always checking if he was really asleep. With no sign of waking up I simply continued by slowly pull his shorts down so I could finally take care of his already slightly erected manhood. I treated him really gently, moving my hand up and down his cock, licking it like a delicious treat until it was ready for my lips. I observed him the whole time, carefully checking that he did not wake up. His breathing quickly became fidgety, the muscles contracting to my movements and the best part was that he even softly started to moan, his eyes moving under his lids - he was clearly dreaming.

MC2 [smirks]: …And what a nice dream it was.

MC3 [grins]: Only the best for my sleeping beauty.

Aigonorus [blushing hard]: …

Tauxolouve [completely baffled]: Forget what I said about that cute stuff.

MC3: After a few more minutes he even grabbed my hair unconsciously which made me shriek back for a short moment, but he was still dreaming. So I continued to pleasure him, reading the reactions of his body that let me know he was getting closer to the edge. The moment he finally came a long moan escaped his lips, his big hands tightly grabbing my hair, his cock throbbing in my mouth, spilling his delicious cum into me. As I “cleaned” him up I carefully pulled his pants up again and positioned myself back in his arms. He woke with a start just a few moments later, his forehead dripping wet. “Is everything ok Ai?”, I asked him innocently. “Y-Yeah, e-ehm… Just had a v-very vivid dream”, he replies, his cheeks visibly flushed. “Oh… I hope it was about me... I smiled sweetly. “S-Sort of… Meh. You would never do something like that“, he said before lying down on the bed again, pulling me into a tight embrace, so unfortunately he didn’t notice the smug grin on my face.

MC1: What was it that you were worrying about again?

MC3: Oh, right! Well, I woke up for real later on and he was already awake, looking at me with loving eyes, gently whispering “That was nice, let’s do that again sometime”, and without another word he left, leaving me completely baffled. So I don’t know whether I was dreaming or if I actually did THAT and fell asleep again and couldn’t remember later-

MC2: Calm down MC3, I’m sure he only meant about the marshmallow thing with his comment!

MC3: You may be right.

Aigonorus: …Yeah, the marshmallows and something even sweeter.

Taxolouve: What do you mean “something even sweeter”?!

Aigonorus: Meh. You don’t have to know everything Lou.

[All gods look at Aigo, not sure if he was joking or if there was more behind his comment]

MC3: Okay ladies, enough of the dirty talk, let’s go to the dance floor and dance our asses off!

MC1: Yeah, let’s go and show those guys how to have fun!

MC2: Awwww, what a pity, i wasn’t even finished with all of the bidders! [laughs]

MC3: Haha, we have plenty of time hun, tell us next time [winks at MC2]

[The girls stand up and cheerfully walk onto the dancefloor, not sure what the night still holds for them]

THE END (?)

**** Credits **** Vega and I wanted to thank every one of you for your amazing support, all the comments and your awesome feedback! It was planned to be a humorous series which should brighten up the reader’s day and I was really touched to hear that we were able to actually move some of you. Please let us know what were your favourite parts, what did surprise you the most and let you laugh the hardest - we are really curious to know! We hope some of you will also support us in future projects (and we assure you, there will be plenty). We notice every like, comment, reblog and message you send us and are so grateful for it ❤❤❤ Have a look at my Masterpost for more content or at Vega’s running series “The Rise of Aries” if you want to support us further ❤ With lots of love

Tamara & Vega

****

Tagging: all my Ziggy lovers: @justjen523 @therake-1996 @starcrossedmyth-lovers @emilyplaysotome and for the others: @hifftn @voltage-my2dlove @scorpioslover @iluvsexyvoltageguys @you-wandered-here @mypaygoesto2dmen @kasurina @otomesaurusrex @kasurina @nitelotus @speakfearlessly1989 @smith623 @mrsnaaz

#voltage fanfic #voltage crossover #scandal in the spotlight #star crossed myth #kissed by the baddest bidder #fanfic #voltage #girls night series #my fanfiction #sits #kbtbb #scm #scm fanfic #kbtbb fanfic #sits fanfic

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asheternal · 5 years

Text

[DO NOT REBLOG PLEASE.]

(THIS IS NOT FACT, IT’S JUST MY PERSONAL VIEW. Keep that in mind! How I interpret media is probably different than your own perception! This also has one vague personal anecdote about my past with abuse as forewarning.)

(Also I avoid canon names as to keep this shit out of tags so this may sound incredibly dorky, apologies.)

This by no means is meant to discredit or harm abuse victims- please take this as a “bringing some nuance” to the discussion rather than an outright attack on someone’s ideas/beliefs. If I wanted to or planned to attack people- I’d reblog them and go off. This is a discussion on the concept, not anyone specifically. If you see the ship as abuse personally- that’s your perspective. I have no right to tell you not to think that way and this mini-essay does not carry that intent.

C*tradora is a ship people are starting to consider abusive and while I agree in present context it might be to a degree (though I’d call it TOXIC, not abusive) I feel like people forget that things between both of them can very much change.

Abuse cycles only exist when the line is indoctrinated into believing that their behavior is right- when it’s a situation where they can’t find outside support to break that thinking... though Cat has two key characters who will most likely push her to a redemption arc- Scorpy and Entra. Both can be easily re-goodguy-ised due to their already neutral stances on the horde vs. everyone else, and it’s clear Cat relies on them both to some degree as she’d have never fully gotten the chance to overcome BADMOM without them.That can lead into Cat trying to make amends with Ador- bringing up her abandonment issues, possibly finding her homeland- finding out that she’s the princess of beasts or idk attractive cat people. It’s a very open plotline if you look at her original iteration from the 80s.

Sidenote- this argument was a common one back when barnmates was released and people shouted that lap//idot was abusive when it really wasn’t. It was toxic, that is until Peri learned to respect Lapis’ identity and allowed Lapis to approach her on her own merit. It took true redemption to finally push both of them to their true selves- to true recovery. Both had to lose everything before they could remotely consider healing, be it limb enhancers or having to flee to the moon out of fear. (Even if their progress wasn’t really shown, rushed writing of a subplot is a valid crit. of their relationship.)

The abuser in that ship was neither of the two involved- it was the abuse they suffered from their upbringing, from homeworld, which is very similar to the evil horde. In ALL of their cases, they only learn and heal once AWAY from their abusers, the narrative of “cat is becoming an abuser BAD SHIP” is one that is very.. understandable to some extent, but also sort of harmful to people who suffered parental abuse or other forms of systematic abuse. It’s saying “this pair is bad- all people who were abused will become abusers” and that’s frankly untrue and very nihilistic. I’d say if you’re a victim who never got help/didn’t fully recover long after escaping, you have a higher probability of becoming an abuser or showing abusive tendencies, but the notion that Cat WILL become an abuser or IS becoming one is highly flawed IN MY OPINION.

I’d argue that cat struggles with being toxic herself while in the horde, though once she distances herself she’ll become less and less consumed by it. We won’t see this until we see more of the show- it’s only the FIRST SEASON, so making big assumptions like “this ship will ALWAYS be abusive” is incredibly shallow. This isn’t an issue you can apply black and white thinking to- it’s an incredibly grey sort of relationship. Likewise- cat is still a TEENAGER (I know it’s hard to remember with some animation styles) and until you hit a certain age (it varies from 18-21, it’s an ongoing argument I’d rather not open up as I have a very individual based belief that it’s all on your personal development rather than age) who is living under AN ABUSIVE DICTATORSHIP where they intentionally brainwash these youngins into being super soldiers. It’s very much implied that cat was abused more heavily for developing feelings for her equal, hence why BADMOM was so keen on abusing cat. It’s why she was seen as “poisoning” Ador and was responsible for behavior Ador did that she was by no means in control of.

Alright, anecdote time because abuse and abandonment issues are like.. a big thing with my past. I used to, when I was in an abusive relationship/friendship, do what Cat does to some degree- when I could escape I didn’t. When I could do the right thing I didn’t. When I could hold my own view on the world I didn’t. When everyone told me I could get away from the abuse I didn’t and yknow why?

It’s easier to let it keep happening while being fully aware it happens. Hence why Cat KNOWING BADMOM was abusing them was such a hit in the face. Cat is a VICTIM, she doesn’t know anything better than what she has and the thought of having NOTHING is far more horrifying than the “comfort” of your normalcy- which is far from normal, it’s abuse. As an outsider, even as a possible victim yourself, it can seem so.. irrational for someone to keep going back, it can seem like they’re just reveling in the “power” aligning with abusers as a victim can have, but it’s anything but that. Sure- you can ham it up and act like that’s your intention, that you’re no victim, that you’re just “doing what’s right” but in the end all you’re doing is admitting you’ve fallen to the parasitic existence that is being a true abuser.

What happens when the victim, the host, is subject to repeated failures in the eyes of an abuser? You’re abandoned, thrown away. You’re demoted, mocked, called a “traitor” and left to fend for yourself. (In a hypothetical horde that is. Real life isn’t as theatrical... I’d hope.) Those people who wanted to help you may not be around still- you may have scared them off, they may have forgotten about you, they may have given up. Though in time alone you start seeing the world for what it is, eventually people come back once they see you’re away from your controller- you begin healing. People will return, just not the people you expect to- not your abuser, not your abuser’s abuser. Friends, people who saw the good in you but couldn’t handle seeing you destroy yourself or others for a twisted, sick abuser.

Though, with healing comes guilt, and with guilt comes understanding. The road to redemption isn’t a single action, it’s a chain that starts once you realize how messed up your situation is. I see that in Cat- starting with when she gave Ador her sword back, admitting without her she has no purpose to her abuser, no purpose for herself. “Letting go” of her feelings for Ador is not literal- it’s never that simple, they fester- it’s a sign that the grasp her abuser had on her is starting to break, so she has to do more drastic things to justify her actions, she has to desperately find some form of “usefulness” to the horde otherwise Ador was right. Otherwise BADMOM was, to some twisted degree, right. Cat is, by the definition of the Horde- weak, because she LOVES her lifelong teammate, her role model, her best friend. Love is not allowed under the rule of the Horde as it means she’d turn on them if it meant helping who she loved, so that was routinely beat into her. Ador never showed the same “weakness” in her- she could ignore her feelings and get results, she was always useful to the horde and losing her to her discovering she is capable of feeling things the horde deems unfit made her undesirable to the big bad guy.

If I am proven wrong and cat is later on shown to be 100% abusive, then yes- I won’t defend the ship at all on that. Though in the current state it’s a far more complex situation than “is cat an abuser” or not.

This sounds like a youtube script I know, so I’ll leave you with this last thought:

We can’t mend an abuser, but we can clean off the toxicity from a victim, thus preventing good people from becoming that which torments them. It’s not going to be solved by asking people to leave their situations- it takes a lot more effort to push someone to their own conclusions which is ultimately the best way to help someone caught in that sort of situation. You cannot force someone blinded by an abuser to “see the truth” if they refuse to, though you can influence their views and offer perspective to a situation they once saw as black and white.

In the end- the true evil is the system and parental figures these characters were raised by, not each other. I hope this could bring even just a little grey thought to those reading.

Thank you.

#hey ash whatcha sayin #ultimate analysis #its back again!!! the tag!!!#sorry if this is a mess of disjointed ideas im a tad messed up due to sleep problems but i hope the core concept at least lands #long post

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