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txttletale · 4 months

Note

Overly long disclaimer incoming: This is not anon hate. This is not an argument. This is not accusation. This is not agreement with anyone directly involved. Any feelings of hostility that may be gleaned from this ask are most likely because I struggle with maintaining a professional tone. Because this is not intended to be read as hostile.

This is solely intended as a statement of facts regarding who said what, mixed with light speculation on their intent. It is being sent because I feel that misinterpretation has occurred, and I firmly believe that one should always be as informed as possible on situations they are directly involved in. I hope this ask can make a positive difference.

Okay. Disclaimer over. Sorry it was so long.

I do not think roadhogsbigbelly accused you of being a pedophile yourself, and I don’t believe it was because of your stardew valley take.

I have seen several of his posts on this matter, and it seems he doesn’t like stardew valley (found it boring), his beef with your take was frankly minor and inconsequential, and it was intended to be separate from the larger critique he had of you. He made a few posts saying rather explicitly that they were separate issues, and I believe his initial post was a vagueblog that, on accident, conflated the two issues.

As for the main issue: if i recall correctly, you had reblogged a kink-positive post that turned out to have been made by an open zoophile (and also pedophile?). The zoophile in question is a clear danger to others, as they have a community of pedophiles and zoophiles that welcomes so-called “pro-contact” people.

This was where his accusations originated from, and this was what he focused on. He is concerned about how dangerous people like that are able to infiltrate into kink-positive spaces (is “infiltrate” the right word? I don’t know). His harshest critique of you seems to have been that you did not interrogate the intent of the person when you reblogged, and even that seems to have been mostly expressed in order to turn this into a learning moment for others. I don’t have precise wording (curse you tumblr mobile, for not letting me factcheck myself), but i believe he shared the sentiment that we all could stand to be a little more discerning?

- and I know he knows you have already responded to that criticism. For those unaware: txtlletale’s response was that she cannot be expected to vet the OP of every post on her dash, and that this criticism is thus unreasonable. His response to that response? … I forget, sorry. But I don’t think what you said was unreasonable. Again, my intent is to clear misunderstandings.

The point here is that, I don’t believe “accidentally reblogged a pedophile” and “is a pedophile” are the same statements, and roadhogsbigbelly had made the former statement. In short… I don’t think he was pedojacketing you. Whether he had unfairly judged you, and done so out of a transmisogynistic bias is, of course, a different question entirely. And if anyone else used his words to directly accuse you of pedophilia? Well, fuck em. Assholes.

I hope this makes sense. This ask is anonymous because I do not wish to become the focus of this issue. I am solely presenting information as I understand it. Feel free to fact check for yourself.

I think your anger is valid. These situations are infuriating, as is the culture of distrust that they bring. People on social media are, in general, far too swift to condemnation. You see it all the time, with pedojacketing, with qanon, with countless petty internet arguments. I try my best to reverse this tendency, at least with my own behavior. I don’t think you are a careless person, nor someone with a pattern of spurious accusations against people. I know you’re an intelligent and discerning blogger, which is why I trust you enough to send this ask. I hope I can have a positive impact.

have a good day, and take care of yourself.

(Considering sending an ask about this to him as well, so if you see a weird anon on his blog talking about misinformation hi its me)

i just don't agree with you--like, i don't say this aggressively either but this is just not an honest description of what he said. he called me, verbatim: "a tumblr user who markets incest and loliporn as an inherent part of queer sexuality". nothing in the screenshot mentioned "loliporn" -- nothing i have ever posted about in my fucking live mentions "loliporn" -- and for that matter, obviously, in none of my posts have i ever said that any kink, 'problematic' or not, is 'an inherent part of queer sexuality', and most fucking evilly of all, i don't 'market' these kinks.

like, think for two seconds about the implication of saying i, a trans woman, am "marketing loliporn". i think that goes beyond criticizing that i didn't vet my reblogs (which would obviously be insane in and of itself but i agree would not be pedojacketing). it's literal grooming/social contagion rhetoric. and again i can't emphasize enough he "just assumed" that "loliporn" was involved, despite it having no connection to anything i have ever posted! that + in his absolutely laughable double-down he says "99% of the people who make these sorts of posts are actual fucking pedophiles" as well as "pedophiles are agreeing with you! that’s not great!" which.

like wow that's crazy hey if 99% of people who make "those posts" (about "not being mean to sex freaks", or as i would phrase it, "criticizing the double standard leveraged to initiate mass sexual harassment campaigns against queer people but especially trans people for what they do privately and consensually with other adults" are "actual fucking pedophiles", what is that implying about me? can sherlock holmes get on this case with me?

idk i don't appreciate being told that "he never said 4" when he sure as hell was repeating "2+2" over and over again. & if his critique was 'intended to be separate' then why would he bring it up at all in his original post, multiple times, to clearly imply he doesn't think i should have 'takes' or 'opinions' on anything? regardless of what he did and didn't say about me i think it is pretty fucking clear that this:

is not 'seperate or unrelated'. i think it is really really difficult and requires totally unearned levels of good faith to read this as anything other than explicitly confirming that the point of this post is to use transmisogynistic rhetoric as a cudgel to shut up me up.

you can believe what you like but i know what i read and what was said about me and i will not be lied to.

#ask

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 8 months

Note

WIBTA For Snitching On My Brother?

tl;dr at the end, the submissions a bit long. sorry if this sounds like stupid teen drama, but i needed outside opinions. (tw for mentions of attempted suicide)

so for a bit of context here, me (14nb) and my brother (14m) both have Parental RestrictionsTM on our phones. In my opinion they are way more severe than they need to be. i am not allowed to have any social media at all, my mother barely tolerates discord. I cannot text anyone who is not my direct sibling or parent from 9pm at night to noon the next day and i cant use any "nonessential" apps during that time frame too. my brother has the same restrictions on his phone, but he has safari removed because my mother said he was playing "random internet games". however, he has found ways around this and ways around the app restrictions. i know how he does it. i really dont have any intention of telling our mother, its none of my business and i honestly dont care that much.

I recently moved to a new school. My brother and i were homeschooled prior to this during covid. And it was fine. We went to a homeschool co-op twice a week. A year ago we were both enrolled in Local Community College as dual enrollment students. A semester into that i was Not Vibing Well and ended up having a breakdown and getting a therapist. I would talk to her directly about this but i havent been able to see her in weeks due to scheduling conflicts. The workload seemed too much to me, there was no longer a distinction between School and Home. i felt like i was constantly on the clock, and i barely saw my friends. In addition to other factors at my co-op, I got very lonely. At that time the limits on my phone were 9pm-3pm (it was later edited to 9am to noon) . I cant remember exactly what happened, but i asked my mother to at least change the communication limits so that i could talk to my friends during the day. She said no, stating that I Do Not Need to Communicate With Friends During The School Day. i do not have a real “school day” i am at home basically 5/7 days of the week. And normal kids see their friends every day at school. The argument got dropped then.

Fast forward half a year, i felt increasingly lonely, out of place, bothersome, etc, at my co-op and have decided to try going to Local Public Highschool. This meant leaving my best friend (14f) whom i love dearly (for the purposes of this post i will call her Z). Z is one of my favorite people in the whole world, we got platonically married, I lovingly refer to her as “my wife”, and i would genuinely die for her. She got a phone over the summer which means we have a better way to communicate, replacing discord as the primary communication system. Also at that time one of my best online friends fucked up their discord account somehow and the whole online group moved to text. there's about four of them? J, Other J, B, and L (ages vary from 12-16). I believe only B is directly relevant to this story but the others are worth mentioning. Additional context (tw for mentions of suicide from now on), all of those four are varyingly suicidal. B has attempted before, at least twice I believe. out of the group i am probably the most mentally stable.

School starts! I am already feeling a bit lonely due to leaving Z but we stay positive. I wake up for school at like 530 and check my phone at like 6:45. Woohoo a message from B! It was sent at 4 am. This is concerning. There is a glitch that i can use in order to view texts for between half a second and four seconds, it depends, and i use it. B’s message reads “Bye”. theres no fucking reason that they would be texting me goodbye at 4am in the morning unless they were going to kill themselves. I cannot properly view or respond to that text until noon, so eight hours. I wait to know if my friend is ok for eight hours, and at noon i check my phone again. In that time i’ve received messages from the groupchat. J, Other J, and L all received “bye” texts from B at around the same time period. After a few messages, we know B is ok, i dmed them privately and they responded both in ims and the gc. So they are ok. But i had to wait for eight hours to know that. Later that day i asked my mom if she had considered my proposal (i asked her a day or two before if she would at least turn off communication limits because it is also rather embarrassing to be honest to have to tell other people that oh i cant respond to your message right now, sorry my mom has limits on my phone :D. In addition i get anxious when i send a message that im nervous abt and it doesnt get responded to for hours so i hate leaving messages for longer than two hours). Once again, she said no. it goes against her Views As A Parent for me to have “unrestricted access” to my phone. She offered to add only Z to the list of people i can contact during the limits. This is better than nothing but Z texts more in the groupchat than she does in private messages so it wouldn’t work that well. We argued, it didnt work out, i got pissed off and we both went to bed. i very strongly feel that for like my mental health i need to be able to communicate with my friends better than i can at the moment. And i dont want to wake up to a message from a friend, have it be the last one they ever send, and not be able to respond for hours.

Heres where the part where i could be an asshole comes in. (so sorry that that was really long i didnt know what parts would be needed as context and what were not so i just typed everything i think might be relevant). This isnt something that i am very strongly considering, as i truly dont want to fuck up my relationship with my brother and i love him a lot. I just want opinions on whether it would like be going too far i guess. I am considering offering a trade. I tell my mother how my brother has found ways around his limits, and she turns off the communication limits on my phone. WIBTA if i did that?

TL;DR: would i be the asshole if i snitched on how my brother got around some restrictions in exchange for me being able to communicate with my friends?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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ravenloop · 1 year

Text

-In Time-

Pairing: Yandere!Heimdall X Female!reader

Request (in summary [requested by @oyasumimosura]): Reader is the daughter of Kratos and sister of Atreus. She goes to Asgard with Atreus and is very protective of him. While she's there, she catches the eyes of Heimdall and finds out his feelings for her are far more deeper and darker than she thought. (So sorry this took so long! Also was worried about making Heimdall too OOC so I changed it a bit, hope you don't mind :))

Warnings: Just normal Yandere stuff, Heimdall being creepy and possessive (more towards the end), bit of swearing, some violence.

AN: YALL IM SO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING IN SO LONG 😭 I was busy and honestly didn't even know how long I didn't post in :') so have this request! Trying to clear out my inbox lol. I hope y'all like it cause I Def stressed trying to make it good sjnsj enjoy <3

————————————————————————

There was something so creepy about him.

The way he looked at you. Stared at you. He didn't even think about looking away when your gazes crossed. It was like he wanted things to be awkward between you both.

Not like you wanted any sort of relationship with Heimdall, but it would be nice if he tried to be a little hospitable, would be far better than whatever he was currently doing. Which was—not so shockingly—staring.

You shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, trying to act like you couldn't see him. Though, by now he probably read your mind and knew how you felt. Maybe that's why he kept doing it, he wanted you to feel extremely unwelcomed.

It wasn't like you wanted to come to Asgard in the first place. Your brother, Atreus, did. After a very heated argument back at Sindri's tree home, he ran off and sought out Asgard in spite. Of course he wasn't happy when you tracked him down, your father wouldn't be happy either—considering you went without his permission.

All you wanted was for Atreus to be safe. You'll be damned if you let your little brother get hurt by a bunch of piss-faced gods who think they're above everyone else.

With a sigh, you turned and walked away from the open area where Heimdall and a few other Aesir stood. Still, you could feel those eyes piercing through you like a spear.

"He's a weirdo, right?" You jolted, not expecting someone to talk to you. Turning towards the voice, you noticed Thor's daughter, "Um..."

She snorted at your awkward demeanor, "Relax. Everyone here thinks Heimdall is a jerk." You chuckled slightly at that, at least you knew you weren't alone.

"Im... glad to hear. Thrúd, is it?" She nodded. You've seen her talking to Atreus before leaving back at the lodge. Maybe she didn't have enough time to talk to you then, so she's doing it now. That or her parents didn't want her to.

"And you're Loki's sister, Huh?" She put her hand out, "Nice to meet ya!" Slowly you reached out and grabbed her hand, she shook it roughly. Seems like she's excited.

"He's told me a lot about you. Must be fun having a big sister. I've only had brothers." Oh, right. You remember her brothers, Magni and Modi—the ones father killed.

"Right." Suddenly the situation turned awkward.

"Always have to make newcomers feel threatened or uncomfortable, do you?" A hand landed on your shoulder, making you flinch and turn.

It was Heimdall again.

Good gods, how long was he standing there—was he watching you the entire time?!

This time he wasn't looking at you though, he was staring at Thrúd. She stared back, a frown on her face, "I don't always make people uncomfortable. Right?" She looked at you, making Heimdall do the same.

Both pair of eyes pinned you to your spot. Licking your teeth, you responded, "No, I don't think you do." This was literally your first time talking to her so you didn't know if what you said was even true. Hopefully it was.

Heimdall rolled his eyes, "Lies. Lies. But I will leave you to be her personal toy if that's what you'd like. Nine realms know she hasn't made a single friend since being pushed out." Stepping back, he bowed mockingly before walking off with a laugh. But you didn't miss the way his eyes lingered on you a little longer.

Thrúd scowl, "Don't worry about him. He's just being an ass as always. It's nothing new." You nodded. That was strangely relieving. Maybe he'd soon realise you weren't worth it and would leave you alone. Maybe.

____________________

He didn't stop.

Those purple eyes never left your form. They tracked your everywhere. It felt like not even walls could stop him, like he'd just burn holes through them.

Even now, as people talked and murmured amongst themselves in the dining hall, he didn't focus on them. He only focused on one person. You.

The only reason you were even there was because Atreus was. It was late, the moon was high, and he had only just gotten back from a mission Odin sent him on a few minutes ago. It frustrated you how much Odin kept you and your brother separate, and Atreus was too oblivious to notice it.

I need to speak to him privately. We can't stay here any longer, You thought, staring at Atreus as he munched on a piece of bread. It was probably cold.

Opening your mouth, you were about to call his name, but he cut you off by yawning. "I think that mission tired me..." He laughed sheepishly, rubbing his neck, "I'm gonna go sleep."

Atreus stood quickly, moving to leave the hall. "Wait-" You grabbed his shoulder, making him turn, "Atreus, I need to speak to you... In private."

He stared at you. His eyes swiftly glanced over your shoulder before returning to you, "Could... It wait until morning? I'm really tired..." Your brows furrowed. Why was he acting like this? "I- alright..." You let go of him, watching as he smiled at you, saying goodnight before disappearing down the stairs.

It bothered you that he clearly knew it was important, yet decided it could wait, but the look in his eyes told you something was off. And the way he looked past you—at what? At who?

Turning around, your eyes scanned the hall. And you noticed one person—one god—who wasn't there. Heimdall.

That bastard.

The large doors of the lodge swayed the tiniest bit, indicating someone just left, forgetting to close them properly maybe.

You weaved past a few servants in your way, not caring about what they whispered to their fellow acquaintances. You shouldered open the door more aggressively than intended, but you didn't care. Right now you had your mind set on confronting a certain Aesir.

It didn't even cross your mind that whoever left the lodge could have just been a random Aesir that likely didn't even know your name. But to your eyes only one person was missing from that room, and you would have noticed if he went down the stairs in the lodge, right?

Just in case, you kept one hand on the dagger attached to your hip. The one your mother gave you, since your father was far more detached from you when you were a child than he was with Atreus.

You shook the thought from your head. Now wasn't the time to reflect on your childhood. Things have changed. For better and for worse.

Slowly, you stalked through a smaller, narrower path connected to a larger one. It made you less likely to be seen by others, and right now you didn't need people being suspicious of you—far more than they already are—you'd add.

"Looking for me? I feel honoured." You turned around, finding Heimdall emerging from a gap between houses. It was just big enough for a person to make themselves comfortable between.

Not wasting any time, you asked, "What did you tell my brother?" You saw his lips turn upwards ever so slightly, but it was hard to make out his expressions when he was standing so far, in the shadows of the houses, caused by the moon's light.

"You caught onto that quick. Though," His arms raised, extending outwards, "I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. You're one of the smarter... Half-giants I've met. I mean it, really!" Could he answer your question any slower?

"I didn't ask if you think I'm smart. I asked you what the hel you told my brother." You saw his eyes roll. They were the only things that the darkness couldn't hide from you. Every second they glowed brightly.

"I only instructed him one thing..." Heimdall moved closer to you, stepping out of the dark and into the moonlight. Instinctively you pulled out your dagger, aiming it at him. He stopped moving, but by the look on his face, you doubted he was intimidated. "...that he stay away from you, or I'd hurt you in ways that he'd never imagine possible."

That didn't scare you, it may have you feeling a bit uneasy, but not scared. "Is that what you're here to do now? Hurt me?" "No. Something quite the opposite, actually. That is... If you comply." The hand holding your weapon to him didn't falter, not even as he took a step closer.

"You don't scare me, Heimdall." He took another step closer, you stood your ground, "That's exactly what draws me to you."

You scoffed, "My lack of fear for you?"

"That and the lack of consideration you put behind your actions. I mean, how many other people would put a weapon between themselves and I?" The tone of his voice grew more playful, as if the current situation didn't stress him, "When they know damn well it cannot stop me." It was clear it did not.

And to you It became increasingly more clear that you were in a secluded area. Hidden from any and all eyes expect Heimdall's. No one was around. No one could help you. No one would hear you.

He led you here. So you were with him and him only.

You gripped your dagger harder, the muscles in your arm straining, your breathing growing heavier when he stepped even closer, "Try anything and I'll kill you." He stared at you, a frown on his face. And you silently regretted saying that when he didn't speak.

It was tense. Quiet. All Heimdall did was stare into your eyes. You didn't dare tear your gaze away from his.

After a moment, he scoffed, before breaking out into laughter. Moonlight bounced off his golden teeth as he continued laughing, making them shine. "Do you..." He calmed himself down, still smiling widely, "Really think... That you can kill me?" He tutted, eyebrows furrowing in a way that made him look like he was staring at you with pity. "Oh, sunshine... That will never, never happen."

You dashed toward him.

As soon as the last syllable rolled off his tongue, you moved forward. The muscles in your arm burned at the movement, but it was a relief. They were finally able to move after being suspended in the air for so long.

You aimed for his throat. Your mission was to kill him. He gripped your wrist, yanking you towards him before throwing you into a nearby building. Your head banged against the wall and you hissed in pain. Weapon long forgotten, lost somewhere on the ground when Heimdall threw you. Everything became blurry and you closed your eyes for a moment.

When you opened them, Heimdall was kneeling in front of you. "Have we learnt our lesson yet?" His head tilted to the side, eyes staring into your half-opened ones.

Clear your mind. The words of your father echoed through your head. Do not let your enemy know your thoughts.

"No." Your left hand reached up to grip his braids, your right hand punching his face.

He stumbled back, groaning, his hand reaching up to his now bleeding face. You took your chance and ran, heading for the lodge. You needed to find Atreus.

The path seemed a lot more confusing on the way back, or maybe it was your racing mind making it seem like that.

You could hear Heimdall's rushing footsteps growing louder and closer. They were far more quiet than yours, but you could still pick up on them.

Finally, you saw the lodge come into view, the lights on it glowing brightly—but there was one thing that worried you.

Heimdall's footsteps stopped.

But yours didn't. Your legs kept moving. They went even faster now. Just as you were in a meter or two of the lodge, a hand gripped your arm, pulling you behind a house and back into the darkness as a hand covered your mouth.

You squirmed in Heimdall's grip, biting, kicking and doing whatever to try and escape.

Your teeth bit deep into his palm and he gritted his own teeth. The hand around your midsection, holding your back to Heimdall's chest, squeezed tight until there was little air in your lungs.

This caused you to stop moving, your head spinning once more. You heard Heimdall 'tsk', "Now now... Is this any way to treat your lover?" He finally released his hand from your mouth, trusting and knowing you wouldn't scream.

"You're a deranged fuck if you think anyone could ever love you," Venom dripped from your words, "Especially... when you do... stupid shit like this..." The little air in your body slowly disappeared with each word.

Heimdall noticed your struggles, and despite your words, he loosened the grip on your waist. You took in large gasps of air while Heimdall began speaking.

"True. Though being loved is a hard thing to do or come across now." His hand on your torso moved further up until it reached your throat. It didn't do anything, it just lingered there. "So sometimes, you just need to do things like this."

"I wonder why it's so hard for you..." He didn't like your tone. "Don't worry, you'll have plenty time to find out. It's not like you're ever leaving."

Your eyes narrowed, staring at the wooden wall in front of you. Before you could speak, Heimdall did, "And you will be staying here, sunshine. Unless you wanted your brother to have a... Painful death."

"Touch him and I'll-" you choked on your words when he squeezed your throat, stopping your breathing again.

"I won't touch him if you agree to what I'm proposing." His hand let go so you could breath, "And we both know you can't defeat me. So your best option would be complying." Not even the slightest bit did you agree to what he wanted you to. You hated him. This only expanded that feeling.

But your brother...

You wouldn't be able to live with yourself if he died.

"I'll make your life a living nightmare." It wasn't a yes or a no, as much as you wanted to say the latter.

There was a warm feeling on your neck and you recognized it as Heimdall's breath, "Even better. I love a good challenge. Hard to find one when you're a god of my capabilities."

Everything he said made you want to roll your eyes or curl you lips in anger. The hate you had for him was unmatched. The anger that filled your body when near him made you feel like exploding.

"I hate you."

He chuckled and it sounded like what a snowstorm felt like. Cold.

"I know. But don't worry... in time, you'll learn to love me."

No. No, you definitely would not.

#god of war #god of war ragnarök #god of war x reader #gow #gow x reader #god of war heimdall #heimdall x reader #reader insert #x reader #yandere heimdall #yandere heimdall x reader

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galedekarios · 5 months

Note

I really appreciate you defending our boy so valiantly and with such well thought out, concise arguments! As someone who has ADHD, and has struggled with depression my whole life, I immediately latched onto Gale bc I see so much of myself in him!! There is SO much to love about him and he's one of those characters that helps me be more compassionate to myself (self recognition through the other for the win!) so seeing fans constantly shit on him is disheartening and really annoying, but to see the actual DEVELOPERS talk about "yeah that guy sucks he's SO annoying everyone would be better off if he had just killed himself" is.....ooof.

BUT thankfully when I start feeling really upset we've got blogs like you to ride to our favorite wizard's defense and help celebrate all the things we love about this beautiful, complex character! I hope one day we won't have to work so hard to push back against this negativity towards Gale (and any character that isn't that one who fans and devs have deemed perfect and flawless and the only one that matters...) but as long as we do I appreciate all the work and passion you put in to raising up Gale of Waterdeep!

(and sorry this went on forever I just get really discouraged in this fandom sometimes but seeing your posts always build me right back up and I wanted to let you know what a bright spot you are in my bg3 experience! ^^)

thank you for sending me this message! 🖤

i normally try to ignore these things because at the end of the day, they are meaningless.

but... not only does this come from the devs, but this hit a bit too close to home for me as well.

i've been struggling a lot with depression myself for the better part of a decade now.

i'll try to put my feelings into words bc how they have chosen to respond here and the message they are sending actually upsets me. i know i'm repeating myself at this point so sorry for sounding like a broken record myself, but:

gale is clearly coming out of a depression & self-isolation & struggles with suicidal ideation.

there is absolutely no sugarcoating that.

despite that, once he has no choice but to travel again after he's been abducted by the nautiloid, or perhaps because of it, he can't help himself. he can't isolate himself again. he's happy to talk and connect with not only the protag, but also the companions. he talks a lot, he cooks for them, and yes, sometimes he can be overbearing. he tends to overexplain. he corrects himself for talking too much, being too much. he's very aware of that perception of him and it's still an insecurity of his by the time the epilogue rolls around. it's in the devnotes. it's in the way he thanks the protag for encouraging him to attend the get-together at all.

i thought (foolishly, apparently) that at least the people who created the game and who are colleagues with gale's writer, had the emotional maturity and intelligence to recognise that and also see how that could be something a part of their player base emphasises and connects with.

gale being described as the one who annoys everyone and him dying as the "right" ending, as making up for being perceived as "annoying" by those around him, "inconveniencing" them by being ill and asking for a treatment, and his death being contextualised as "giving" back "to the world" is just...

it's so fucking disgusting to me.

#ch: gale dekarios #vg: baldur's gate 3 #series: baldur's gate #text: asks #text: personal #depression cw #suicidal ideation cw #larian critical #bg3 critical

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rollercoasterwords · 1 year

Text

fanfiction being bad is actually a good thing

sorry that one post has just put me into a musing mood abt like. the way people respond to "bad writing" in fanfiction. so i have written a little essay xx

anyway. first off, any measure of "bad writing" is going to be inherently subjective, whether or not people want to acknowledge that. no matter what critera you use to try and claim that ur measure is more "objective," you will still be able to find published fiction that does not meet those criteria, which is part of the reason that i think it is ridiculous in the first place to act as though "book" and "fanfiction" are two diametrically opposed categories of literature in which "book" = good writing and "fanfiction" = bad writing such that the only way to express a book is bad is to claim it's "more like fanfiction than a book" and the only way to elevate fanfiction is to claim that it's "more like a book than fanfiction." and of course there are all the underlying issues with classism racism ableism etc when buying into the myth of the meritocracy of publishing.

but even acknowledging that any measure of "bad writing" is going to be subjective, i don't think it's unfair to cultivate your own standards for what makes writing good versus bad. everyone is going to do that anyway, so what's more important to me is that a person understands what factors are influencing their measurement and acknowledges the subjectivity inherent to this sort of critique. and i do think, generally speaking, that media which exists within a profit economy is fair game for critique as to whether it is "good" or "bad," as i have talked about before on my blog. and i think depending on what criteria you are using to define bad, there will be instances where it makes more or less sense to make normative judgments about the popularity of such media. for example--if someone says "marvel movies shouldn't [normative judgment] be so popular because the writing is cringey," i find that a less compelling argument than "marvel movies shouldn't be so popular because they are military propaganda."

but i don't think that sort of critique about whether writing is "good" or "bad" has a place in fanfiction spaces. aside from the fact that fanfiction exists primarily outside of any profit economy, the reason that you will likely encounter more "bad" writing in fanfiction is that it's a space where many people are actively learning how to write--and that's a good thing. the only way for someone to become a good writer is to do a lot of bad writing first, so i actually think it's great that there's a bunch of shitty fanfiction out there on the internet--every bad fic u come across is a developing writer who's honing their craft, and they've found a perfect space to do so.

and yet i see "bad writing" get brought up a lot regarding fanfiction in two specific ways.

1. the idea outlined above, where people devalue fanfiction as a whole and act as though "fanfiction" is synonymous with "bad writing" or somehow an inferior medium.

i see this happening both with people who scoff at fanfiction and with people who try to redeem or elevate fanfiction by placing it in closer proximity to published books (i.e., THIS fic isn't like those other, shitty fics! this one is as good as [insert classic novel/published author/etc here]!!").

quite frankly i think this is evidence that these people have bought wholeheartedly into the publishing industry's myth of meritocracy, something that we should seriously question. but if anything, i also find it sad because i think it is a very limiting way to view fanfiction, which is its own unique art form in my opinion. fanfiction has its own conventions and strengths independent of published fiction, and there are many stylistic and structural elements unique to fanfiction that just don't really work in published books. for example--those 15k oneshots you'll come across every so often with lowercase song titles and prose that kicks your teeth in. that is a style of writing that is pretty unique to fanfic. or those sprawling, 400k+ works where tons of time is spent meandering through characters' lives and relationships--those, too, are somewhat unique to fanfiction, as in published books stories tend to get pared down more. i think those who want to convince people that fanfiction is good should spend less time trying to place it in proximity to published fiction and more time considering how fanfiction functions as a unique art form that is worthy of merit thanks to its uniquity

2. people who throw a fit when they see a fanfic with "bad writing" get attention and praise. usually i see this happen if a fic gets some measure of popularity--suddenly, people will begin to pop up talking about how the fic has "bad writing," and therefore shouldn't be popular.

i think that what gets me with these folks, aside from how obviously their own subjectivity regarding what makes writing good or bad has gone unexamined, is how....vindictive they seem. as if the idea that something they deem "bad" writing could ever be widely enjoyed is personally offensive to them. and i just think this sort of behavior is so stupid for two reasons--first, of course, there is the obvious issue of subjectivity. even if you think something is badly written, your opinion isn't somehow more important to the world than everyone else's. if other people are enjoying a fic, clearly they do not agree with your subjective opinion, and that's fine! you don't have to read a fic if you don't like it, and you can let other people enjoy the story. they are reading the exact same writing as you, and they can draw their own independent conclusions about how good or bad they think it is.

but second--you are not doing anyone any good by screaming about how bad a fic's writing is. like. i think there is perhaps this idea of like "oh this writer is bad but their writing is popular and everyone is telling them it's good, which means they are going to think their bad writing is good and keep writing badly forever." which, again, disregarding the obvious subjectivity, i just....don't think is true. like--if someone is writing badly, and people are going "hey i like this story keep it up!" what will most likely happen is that that person will keep writing, developing their skill the more they write and becoming a better writer. like, it's pretty difficult for writing to just remain stagnant; your writing will change the more you write, inevitably. especially when it comes to fanfiction, where many people are, again, developing their writing skill. but if someone is writing badly, and people are going "boo this sucks!" that writer is much less likely to do the actual thing that would make their writing better (keep writing) and instead more likely to just. stop altogether. in which case it's just like--congratulations on removing some more art from the world! cunt.

anyway. the conclusion i am trying to get at here is that i think people need to stop being so preoccupied with "bad writing" in fanfiction spaces. it's impossible to objectively measure the "goodness" or "badness" of writing in the first place, and trying to do so for any purpose other than making personal decisions about whether you want to read something or like, discussing in private groupchats with friends, usually just results in driving developing writers away from writing entirely and promoting the myth of meritocracy in publishing such that we reify the book/fanfiction dichotomy in which fanfiction will always be assumed to be inferior.

#ranting and raving #txt

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sluttylittlewaste · 29 days

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One super fascinating thing about Kristen's current arc in JY is how much it reflects real-world conversations I've been following about effort and consistency and reliability in relationships. Specifically, I've been reading about the resentment in (primarily het) relationships caused by uneven distribution of mental load and repetivite, constant labor between partners.

Follow me now-

I've seen a few posts on here from people who have ADHD highlighting how realistic it is to their experience that Kristen is SO GOOD for doing grand acts and big miracles, but struggles so deeply with "the boring stuff". Upkeeping social media for Cassandra/YES!, consistently holding meetings to maintain whatever following she does develop for her gods, even just bi-weekly essays. I can't speak to the ADHD experience myself. However, from my relationships with people who have it and a decent amount of the posts I see on this website, that is a consistent manifestation of the disorder.

Dovetailing from that is the very real conversation I've heard time and time again about people whose family/friends/partners refuse to help with the little tasks of keeping a home in order or a project on track, but will pull through for big events under the assumption that it balances things out. It's a conversation that occurs a lot in spaces of studying gender dynamics in relationships - i.e. In a dynamic where the wife is responsible for doing all of the cooking/cleaning/grocery shopping/organizing, the husband will do a singular, high-effort task or grand gesture, "I built you an armoire!", "I took the kids out for a full day so you could relax!" and reference that singular event or task as a counterbalance for smaller tasks they do not aid in (daily dishes, laundry, running errands). This can also take the form of one partner doing grand gestures on occasion, but not showing up in smaller ways throughout the relationship on a day-to-day level.

-Ex. Partner A indicates that would appreciate more frequent affection in the relationship, such as date nights, flowers, non-sexual physical contact, etc. Partner B responds by planning a fancy dinner, gratuitous non-sexual contact/complements, and buying a lavish gift - but they do not increase displays of affection in their daily lives. Partner A mentions that though they appreciate the gesture, it didn't solve the initial problem, and Partner B doesn't understand why all of the obvious effort they put in isn't enough. The cycle continues and resentment grows as both people feel like their needs aren't being met/their efforts aren't being appreciated.

(Sorry if that's an over-explanation, I'm trying to be clear lol)

I think a lot about two things Cassandra said to Kristen:

"You're unreliable." and "It's not fair." in the context of these dynamics.

I've seen a decent number of people talk about how mutually unfair bringing Cassandra back was for both her and Kristen. I have also seen a lot of very valid arguments about Kristen being a LITERAL CHILD who makes a lot of impulsive (re: bad) decisions because she cares so deeply about specific things. We've also seen that Kristen CAN be so good in the little ways (Giving Lydia Barkrock the Help action, supporting Tracker through her bullshit, trying to do okay in school to help Riz). For all intents and purposes, there is no actual lack of effort on Kristen's part - she very obviously cares deeply. However, those efforts are more occasional and case-by-case than something constant, like going out every day to spread the word of Cassandra or doing something boring like homework.

Cassandra, whose entire thing is that she's always there to offer support -"I'm there holding your hand in the dark"- knows these things as well. She knows what Kristen is capable of. The hurt, then, doesn't come from the fact that Kristen can't but because, for some reason, she won't.

In conversations about how certain partners... underperform in relationships, one theme that often arises is that of, "I know he can do it, he simply doesn't." Whether that be daily chores or consistent acts of affection, Partner A has seen Partner B be helpful or put effort into things that they find interesting. There is no question of capability - Partner B can do whatever it is Partner A requests. Partner A thus concludes that Partner B doesn't because they don't want to. -Ex. "He refuses to help me because he doesn't care about me/He doesn't think I'm worth the effort."

While I obviously cannot make a true 1-to-1 comparison between this particular manifestation of Executive Dysfunction in people with ADHD and lackluster partners in relationships (I am aware that it is deeply harmful to imply that being a "bad" partner is in any way correlated to any singular disability), this is a degree of parallelism to be found in the Kristen/Cassandra dynamic and the type of dysfunction I reference in above examples. There is the caveat that if you have ADHD and know you struggle with doing things that are smaller or more tedious/repetitive, you can work with the people in your life to accommodate that. Additionally, men (at least in the US) are traditionally socialized to undervalue the traditional female labor that is caretaking.

That said, in universe, Kristen doesn't seem to know she has ADHD and thus could not articulate her limitations to Cassandra - and even if she could, it might not have solved the problem ( though it could have kept Cassandra from getting so upset).

The entire reason I wrote all of this is that I've seen several responses to the most recent preview for FHJY wherein Kipperlily Copperkettle accuses Kristen of not caring (and, to be clear, Kristen fully does not care about the Presidency. That is very likely what KLCK was referring to, and she is not wrong in being upset if Kristen wins this thing she hasn't even bothered to campaign AT THE SCHOOL for). The trend in the responses has been people listing Kristen's miracles more than anything, and while those do prove that she does CARE about SOME THINGS, it doesn't address the fact that for most people care is displayed through active, consistent, reliable effort rather than big dramatic displays: While the shrimp jump was cool, it does nothing to prove that Kristen gives a shit about student government.

#this is barely coherent #there's just this wild juxtaposition that I feel like comes up a lot on Tumblr #it seems to happen specifically with ND characters that people see a lot of themselves in #where even if the flaws and complications of that Neurodivergence are being assessed and deconstructed #people will plant their feet on “she can do no wrong!”#and sometimes it's whatever because it's just a fictional character #but other times #like with Kristen Applebees #where the defensiveness has the flavor or being deeply honest #which concerns me #like I truly hope y'all are putting more effort into handling real world criticism than you do with fictional shit #the instantaneous demonization of anyone who isn't tooth grindingly supportive of the Bad Kids (namely Kristen) is worrying #kipperlily is allowed to be mad at Kristen for winning! She may have done some shifty shit #but you can't say she didn't try really hard to win #and Kristen didn't even do her own shrimp jump. she only ran because she immediately disliked kipperlily #and ever Kristen's reason for disliking Kipperlily isn't fair???#Like it started before they realized the whole rat grinder conspiracy #she just didn't like that Kipperlily was a Type A overachiever #which has nothing to do with Copperkettle #and everything to do with Kristen's own insecurities #as for the relationship aspect #i have a lot of concerns about how people on Tumblr talk about relationships #let me die #if i die #d20 fhjy #fhjy #dimension 20 #rant #kristen applebees #i guess

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kellykidd · 8 months

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Chapter 4: Always Be Here to Take Care of You

*Gif belongs to its rightful owner, it is not mine*

Pairing: Kelly Severide x reader

Summary: You and your mom get into an argument and you finally get a chance to check on Aaron.

Words: 1.1k

Warnings: Hospitals, mentions of death, parent-child disputes, Kelly Severide being the softest man 🥹

Read on Ao3 here!

Next Chapter: Chapter 5

Notes: Thank you to everyone who keeps coming back to read more chapters of this fic that I love so dearly. As always, a Reblog on any chapter of this fic while mean you get tagged in the posting of new chapters going forward. Enjoy!

Join my taglist here

Tags: @district447 @keabbs @storiesofsvu @marvelcharactersxreader @carnationworld @witchywinchester99 @treehouse-mouse @skullcupcakes @whatismypurpos @cfdhouse51 @youraveragedorkysimp

——

“It just doesn’t feel right, naming your child after your own sister. I’m sorry, you cannot name your baby Alexis.”

“Hold on. You will not talk to your daughter like that,” Kelly defended, “she has birthed a child today. Our child, not yours. She and I have the right to name our child whatever we want.”

You reached over and ended the FaceTime call.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m not changing the name though.”

“Maybe if we give her some time, she’ll come around.”

“Why would she even say something like that?”

“Let’s not focus on her right now. The only people that matter right now are you and Alexis. I’ll take Alexis and let you get some sleep.”

“It’s a good thing I’ve got you to take care of me. I don’t know what I’d do.”

——

Kelly rubbed your arm as to wake you up from your nap.

“Baby, Doctor Calhoun is here. She wants to check on you,” he whispered as you started to open your eyes.

“Thanks,” you exhaled, sitting up in your bed.

“How are you feeling?” Dr Calhoun asked.

“Sore, but my baby is okay and that’s all that matters,” you smiled.

“Any issues with feeding?”

“None so far. Eats like a champ,” you laughed.

“Must be the firehouse blood in her,” Kelly smiled.

“I’ll be back to check on you in a bit,” Doctor Calhoun replied.

As Doctor Calhoun left the room, you passed Alexis to Kelly.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’ve got to go talk to a nurse. Aaron wanted to meet the baby,” you replied, getting the slippers from your bag.

“Let me get you a wheelchair.”

“I’m fine.”

“You just had a baby. I’ll get you a wheelchair and we’ll go together. Take Alexis, I’ll get the wheelchair from the hall.”

You took Alexis from Kelly’s arms. He ran to the hall and brought a wheelchair back in.

“Thank you, baby,” you winced, sitting down.

He smiled, wheeling you over to the nurse’s station.

“Can you help me find a patient?” You asked.

“I can try,” the nurse responded.

“I’m looking for Aaron Whitley. He was here for a valve replacement this morning.”

“Let me check which room he’s in.”

“Thank you.”

As the nurse searched through the records, you rubbed Alexis’ back.

“I’m sorry Mrs Severide. Mr Whitley passed away in surgery. Cardiac arrest.”

“Oh,” tears filled your eyes, “thank you. I guess I’ll go back to my room.”

Kelly brought you back to you room and got you back in your bed.

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” you admitted, tears running down your face, “he came in for a damn valve replacement and we made a plan to meet up after.”

“Matt and Sylvie wanted to come by. Maybe that’ll cheer you up.”

“Aren’t they still on shift?”

“Apparently 51 is getting a little restless because it’s been a light load of calls this shift.” Kelly couldn’t help but chuckle at his own sentence.

“Sure. Invite the firehouse. It would be good for them to meet Alexis.”

“Mind if I take Alexis off your hands while I call Boden?”

“Go for it. I’m going to go talk to the nurses.”

You hopped back into the wheelchair and brought yourself into the hallway to the nurses station to find the same nurse you had just spoken with.

“Excuse me. Can I ask you if Aaron Whitley had anyone in the waiting room during his surgery?”

“I’ll phone down to the surgical floor and ask for you. Just give me one moment.”

After a few minutes of the nurse talking on the phone, she had finally finished her call.

“The staff on the surgical floor said they spoke with a son to tell him Mr Whitley passed. A young man by the name of Mark Whitley.”

“Is he still here?”

“They said he was saying a final goodbye. If you’d like to speak with him, he should be in 1216.”

“1216? Thank you so much.”

You wheeled yourself back to your room.

“Kelly, I need to go to 1216 right now,” you rushed, “bring Alexis too please.”

Kelly handed Alexis to you and brought you into the elevator.

“Where are we going?” He asked.

“Aaron needs to meet this baby.”

“Baby, Aaron is dead.”

“He still should get the chance to meet her.”

As the elevator dinged, the doors opened and Kelly brought you down the hall to room 1216. A younger man was outside the door.

“Excuse me, are you Mark Whitley?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry, I met your father earlier today. He was going for his valve replacement and I was waiting for my c-section. We spoke on the benches out front and he told me about you. Said he hadn’t seen you in a while so I offered to bring the baby down, to sort of cheer him up.”

“So you knew him almost as well as I did.”

“Do you mind if I pay my respects?”

“Go ahead. I’m not staying.”

Kelly brought you into the room where Aaron was.

“Ready?” He asked, his hands at the top of the sheet covering Aaron’s face.

You nodded slightly as Kelly pulled back the sheet revealing Aaron’s lifeless face.

“I told you I’d bring the baby to see you,” you began to tear up, “she’s healthy and she’s beautiful and you couldn’t stay alive long enough to keep your side of our deal.”

“Baby, this isn’t about Aaron anymore,” Kelly began to rub your back.

“You just had to go through it by yourself. Didn’t tell anyone. There were people who love you. We could’ve helped.”

Tears streamed down your face as you held Alexis a little tighter.

“Why don’t we go back to the room?” Kelly asked, covering Aaron’s face with the sheet.

You nodded and Kelly brought you out of the room and over to the elevator.

Tucking yourself back into your bed and Alexis back in her own, you feel more tears stream down your face.

“Baby,” Kelly started, “what can I do?”

“He just reminds me so much of my dad,” you cried.

He sat on your bed and hugged you, holding your head over his shoulder. Your tears fell on the shoulder of the squad jacket he was wearing.

“Is the whole thing with your mom affecting it?”

“Yeah,” you whimpered.

He rubbed your back as you cried more and more.

“It’ll be okay, baby. It’ll all be okay,” he assured you, “what can I do?”

“Take care of me.”

“Of course baby. I’ll always be here to take care of you.”

#kelly severide imagine #kelly severide fic #kelly severide x reader #kelly severide #chicago fire fic #chicago fire #chicago fire x reader #one Chicago #one chicago fic #Baby Severide fic #kelly severide x you

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defleppardfan1 · 19 days

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'I'm In Love With You' - Jon Bon Jovi x Reader

A/N: Thank you once again to @elliotts-personal-property for helping me overcome the writer's block I had for this fic. To the anon that requested it, I hope you like it. I haven't written for JBJ for ages as my other fic was written months before I posted it, so I hope this is alright 💖💖

Masterlist

The day I met Jon for the first time in the record store started out like any other. I hadn’t anticipated that I would meet the rockstar at all, in fact I was hoping for as little human interaction as possible. Purely because I just wanted to be left in peace whilst I searched through the records.

However, that was not to be. As soon as I walked in the store, I saw that there was only one other person in there. I recognised him straight away. Everyone around here knew who Bon Jovi were. Not that I cared much for them. I didn’t mind their music and had their debut record at home, I just didn’t fall at their feet like most of the people here.

At first I tried to ignore him, moving my way through the store and looking over the stock of records. However, it became more difficult to ignore the singer as when I next looked up he was standing only a few feet away from me. Trying not to catch his attention, I slowly moved away again.

However it was too late. Before I knew it Jon was standing right next to me and I could feel his eyes staring at me.

“Can I help you?” I asked him, barely looking up.

“Not really, just wanted to talk to a pretty lady s’all.” He responded with a wink and a cheeky grin.

“Well unfortunately for you, I’m not in the mood to be spoken to today, sorry.” I lamely excused myself. Part of me felt bad for being rude, but the other part couldn’t find it in me to care. Jon just carried on standing there with a grin on his face, not deterred by my bluntness in any way.

“Do you really listen to this?” He questioned me as he looked at the records I was flicking through. Admittedly synth-pop wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea but that was part of the reason I listened to it. I liked the way that the music I listened to was created for people who didn’t quite fit into society. It was for the misfits who didn’t fit in with the misfits. Listening to artists create music to stand out made me feel more confident in myself.

“Yes I do.” I answered his question. Jon didn’t respond to that and instead just carried on looking at the records I was searching through.

“I’m Jon by the way.” He smiled at me, ignoring the obvious tension between the two of us.

“I’m Y/N.” I half heartedly responded, earning another cheeky grin in return.

Over the next few weeks, this became a regular occurrence. How one manages to bump into a rising rockstar nearly every week I’ll never know but for some reason it kept happening. Our encounters consisted of heated arguments over music, each time we met the disagreements got more intense. At one point I was sure that we would get kicked out of the store but when the owner recognised Jon, he thought against it and just told us to keep it down instead.

I had resigned to the fact that no matter how much I tried to avoid him, every power in the universe was ensuring that I would run into him again. Despite our differences of opinions when it came to music, I found myself almost looking forward to seeing Jon. That should have been my first clue that I was falling in love with him; however, the stubbornness inside of me refused to believe it.

It wasn’t until he went on tour that I realised how badly in love with him I was. I found that our senseless squabbles and the ridiculous comments that were made purely for the sake of it, was actually just me covering for the apparent love I held for him.

When I came to that dreadful realisation, I decided that the best thing to do was to try and stay away from him as much as possible. I didn’t know the specific date in which Jon got back off of tour but it was soon.

Eventually I saw him walking towards the record store one day. Rather than go in like I had planned, I promptly turned away and made my way to another store. If I saw him on the street then I went the other way. Maybe I was being ridiculous but that sounded more appealing than admitting my obviously unrequited feelings.

It was only two weeks after I first saw Jon when he got back off of tour, my luck of avoiding him ran out.

“Y/N.”

Upon hearing my name I turned around, only to see exactly who had called my name. I quickly spun away again and continued walking. The rain was pouring down and all I wanted to do was get home and curl up in my pyjamas. I did not want to face any altercation that may be coming my way.

“Y/N, wait.” Jon called again. Just as I went to speed up, I felt his hand clasp down on my shoulder. “What are you doing? Why are you ignoring me?” Jon asked, inquisitive as always.

“Look Jon, I have to go.” I tried to pull away from him but he was having none of it.

“Why? I haven’t seen you since I got home, where have you been?”

“I’ve been busy Jon.” I tried not to snap at him. Afterall it wasn’t his fault that I had fallen in love with him.

Jon just looked at me. I couldn’t help but stare at him, the way his usually fluffy hair stuck to his face in the rain. How his brow was furrowed in confusion. Even in the rain he looked like the most ethereal man to walk the earth. His lips pouted slightly as he tried to work out why I had been avoiding him.

When I realised that I was staring, I started to pull away, only for Jon to grab me gently by the wrist and tug me back towards him. Being in close proximity to him made my heart race and I could only hope that he couldn’t hear over the noise of the rain.

“Y/N what’s going on?” Jon asked softly as he stared into my eyes.

“Why do you care?” I asked him, though there was no malice in my tone. “We only talk when we are arguing about music, so why do you care if there is something wrong?”

“Because…” Jon stopped for a moment.

Whilst Jon looked for the words to say, I wriggled out of his grip and started to walk away again. I wanted so badly to be wrapped up in his arms and pulled into his chest whilst he kissed me senseless, but in the back of my mind, all I could think about was the consequences of being rejected by him.

I didn’t think my heart could take it if he didn’t feel the same way, which was almost inevitable.

I didn’t get far again before Jon ran in front of me. Putting his hands on my shoulders, he looked into my eyes.

“Something is obviously going on. Please tell me. I can’t help if you won’t let me.”

“You can’t fix this Jon. Just leave me be.” The look in his eyes was nearly killing me.

“Y/N please.” Jon's voice broke into a whisper, it was at that point that I felt tears running down my face, mixed with raindrops. No wonder the man was concerned about me when I stood in front of him crying. “Just talk to me darlin’.”

As soon as he said that the waterworks became unstoppable. The realisation that I was about to be rejected by the one man that I have ever felt like this for, tore my heart into tiny pieces. The emotional pain transformed into a pain in my chest as if my heart was about to break.

“I’m in love with you.” The words spilled out before I could stop them and the shock on Jon’s face replaced the concern immediately. When Jon didn’t say anything I found myself nervously continuing.

“I know that you probably don’t feel the same way and that's why I didn’t want to say anything but now I have and I am making an-” I was cut off from my rambling by a pair of lips on mine.

Jon moved away before I had a chance to reciprocate. “Sorry you were just talking and talking, it's the only way I could think of to get you to calm down.”

I stared up at him, probably resembling a deer in headlights. Before I could even think about what I was doing I stood on my toes to reach him and pressed another kiss to his lips. He immediately reacted and kissed me back with so much passion that I thought I might pass out.

I couldn’t even feel the cold from the rain as I stood in his embrace. My arms wrapped around his neck whilst his hands rested on my hips, pulling me closer to him. When the two of us pulled away again, Jon rested his forehead on mine, not allowing me to move backwards.

“In case you couldn’t tell, I’m in love with you too. I don’t tend to argue with just anyone over and over again.” Jon laughed before pecking me on the nose. Smiling up at him I connected our lips yet again before pulling away and tugging at his hand.

“Where are we going?” He questioned with a small grin on his gorgeous face.

“My place.” I winked, “Gotta get out of these wet clothes.”

#jon bon jovi x reader #jon bon jovi fic #jon bon jovi #bon jovi #ellen’s fic

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bella-rose29 · 8 months

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Nikolai Lantsov x f!reader: Not Your Lover - Chapter 1

This will be a new series I'm writing! I'm going to aim to post a chapter once a week (there may be other things in between) because I have no idea how much time I'll have to be writing now that I'm back in the real world (🥲), but hopefully I can stick to that.

Taya isn't a real place, I made it up and I suck at naming things (that goes for the title of this as well, but I may end up sticking with it like with Arranged Marriages who knows).

Word count: 3.9k

Warnings: swearing, sexual harassment, barely proof-read

Tag list: @a-candle-maker, @bubybubsters, @el-de-phi, @hauntedenthusiasttragedy, @iambored24601, @itsyoboo-jassy, @karensirkobabes, @kentucky-criedfricken, @little8sun, @mvidaaaa, @nalie-98, @naushtheaspiringauthor, @notoakay, @pietromaximoffsbabe, @simbaaas-stuff

Nikolai hadn't slept last night, and now he was regretting getting up and going into town.

Everything was too loud for his aching head, and by the time he'd made it to the mechanic, he was ready to keel over and fall asleep right there.

"Can I help you, mate?"

Nikolai looked up, seeing a man in greasy overalls step through the back door.

"Oh, uh, I'm Dominik, here about the job?"

"Right, right, come in. Sorry about this," he gestured to himself.

"Don't worry about it, I'm used to getting my hands dirty, this is nothing," he flashed a smile, and the mechanic responded with his own.

"Good. Thought you'd just be another pretty boy wanting to get the girls in."

Nikolai laughed. "That's the last thing on my mind right now."

It was true, given what had happened last week. He'd had to end yet another short-term relationship because she'd cheated. Nikolai wanted something real, something more than just physical attraction, and apparently all the partners he was picking just wanted to jump his bones.

After a successful meeting with the owner of the mechanic (Fabrikator, but he didn't use his powers unless he had to) resulting in a job, Nikolai made his way into a mostly empty coffee shop, hoping for some quiet and a very large cup of tea.

He'd used his best friend's name as a cover while he was here in the small port of Taya, not wanting to be swarmed by people hoping for the ex-King of Ravka to be their friend, or heighten his chances at being assassinated. While he might not be royalty anymore, he was still a valuable body with a large sum of money on his head. He hoped that Dominik didn't mind the use, but he figured that he could just go by 'Nik' anyway. He'd used a version of his father's last name as well, deciding that 'Lantsov' would be too much of a giveaway.

"Here you go, sir, enjoy," the waitress said, delivering his tea to his table.

"Thanks." He took a sip, relishing the warmth, and the bell on the door tinkled lightly as two women walked in. Nikolai felt the air leave his body as he took in the younger of the two, not quite understanding how one woman could be as stunning as the one in front of him was.

"I'm just saying! It could be good for you!"

"Ugh, it's not going to be good for me, mum! When has having a boyfriend ever helped me?!"

Interesting.

"I just think that instead of running around trying to get this grant, you should be focusing on your future, settling down, having kids!"

"Well maybe this grant is my future, mum!"

The whole conversation (argument?) had progressed into loud whispers, glances being cast around the small space to check that they weren't disturbing anyone. Nikolai was confused, wondering what the grant was and why the woman's mother couldn't see how much it meant to her daughter. Surely a compromise could be made?

The pair left a few minutes later, taking their drinks with them and having moved on to other topics of conversation.

Outside, Nikolai could see the town getting set up for the summer faire, gazebos and bunting being put up and lights being strung for when it got dark. Everything would kick off tomorrow afternoon, and Nikolai was looking forward to celebrating with everybody.

~~~

That night, after spending most of the day in the mechanic's shop working, Nikolai stumbled back home, exhausted from the sheer number of people that had come in needing things fixing. He understood now why Gregor had wanted Nikolai to start working so quickly, but looking around at how many people were actually living in Taya, there weren't many. Tourism wasn't big here either, which was understandable given how tiny this place was, and there was only one hotel (which Nikolai was staying in for the time being) that felt more run-down than the abandoned mansion overlooking the town square, and that was covered in ivy and half falling to pieces. Apparently somebody was trying to fix it up, but given how many people had been hit on the head by a falling beam (four, he'd been told, which was apparently too many for the small population), everybody was reluctant to help work on it.

Finally reaching his room, Nikolai fished out his key and, once inside, slumped onto his bed. It was lumpy, and the sheets were too thin, but it was better than being on the streets. He could have allowed Zoya to pay for a place for him, but he'd wanted to live life as he would have done were he raised by his real father, and given how much he'd enjoyed being Sturmhond, being unknown for who he truly was, Nikolai was happy to go off with a small sum of money to pay for his first few nights, get a job, and go by the name Dominik Opus.

It took him a while to get to sleep, despite how tiring his day had been, and while he tried to drift off his mind kept wandering back to the young woman in the coffee shop that morning, trying to remember what she'd looked like.

~~~

"Hello? Hello? Gregor? You here?" a female voice asked, and Nikolai looked out from under the carriage he was fixing. He recognised it, although were from he couldn't remember, and pushed himself out and up, wiping his hands on a cloth (that wasn't much cleaner than his hands) and turning around.

"Gregor's gone out, just me," he said, then stared in surprise at the woman in front of him. It was the one from the coffee shop, looking somehow more beautiful than she had the day before.

"Oh." Her face filled with mild disgust, and Nikolai wondered how bad he looked. "Well, I'll come back later then."

"I could take a message for you? Or you could hang around? He said he'd be ten minutes basically ten minutes ago, so he should be back any second now."

"I'm good, thanks. Bye."

Well that was rude.

Nikolai frowned, wondering how such a gorgeous woman could be so horrible, when he heard laughter from outside the mechanic.

"You been waiting long?"

"No, no! Seriously, don't worry about it! Here, the box you wanted."

Oh, so she could be nice to Gregor, but not him?

"Thanks, remember, if you ever need anything-"

"Be sure to ask. Yeah, I know. Oh by the way, who's the new guy?"

"Dominik. Goes by Nik most of the time. Why'd you ask?"

"He looks like he won't take it seriously, and I didn't want you to have to take the fallout for accidentally employing another fuckboy."

Ah. That's why she didn't like the look of me.

"It's not gonna happen again, alright? And he is actually good at what he does, for somebody who's not Grisha."

"Ugh, fine. But when this inevitably comes back to bite you in the ass because he's left you to fend for yourself while he goes around every woman in the village, don't come crying to me, Greg."

"Very specific situation, but sure. I'll see you later? I assume you'll be at your stall?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. Hopefully mum doesn't force any more men on me while I'm there."

"You know she just means well."

"Doesn't feel that way, but sure. Bye," she said, and Nikolai saw Gregor waving as he came back into the shop, box in hand.

"Who was she?"

"Y/n L/n. I'm friends with her mother, who's on the town council. Didn't seem to like the look of you much, did she?" He laughed, putting the box to one side. "She's not a big fan of people that look like you, so try not to take it personally. And she's a little frosty towards any newcomer in our town, since we barely get any tourists. I'm sure she'll be happier tonight at the faire, so don't worry too much about it."

"What's she do?"

"Owns the bakery next to the coffee shop." Nikolai knew the one (literally The One, since there weren't any others in town). "Really good baker, too. Shame there's not enough money in this place to keep all the businesses going. But," he shrugged. "People always need things fixing and can't be bothered to do it themselves. How's the carriage coming along?"

~~~

The afternoon was swelteringly hot, with it coming up on the height of summer, and working in the shop was horrible. Far too many people came in with things needing fixing, and while Nikolai and Gregor were glad for the extra footfall, most of the customers were women, having obviously broken something deliberately and wanting to see Nikolai.

One woman was particularly interested, and when she got to the front of the queue that led all the way out of the shop and down the road, Nikolai recognised her as the older woman from the coffee shop this morning, and Y/n's mother.

"Are you single?" she immediately asked. "Not for me, I'm married, not that some of the women here care. It's for my daughter, you see. She says she doesn't want a boyfriend, but personally I think the two of you would look brilliant together, hmm?"

"All fixed, have a nice day!" Nikolai passed back the clock that he had fixed within about two seconds (a loose cog in the mechanism), shooting her a wide smile that he hoped didn't show how badly he wanted to go home. Her smile faltered slightly, then came back twice as strong than before, leaving Nikolai a little blinded.

"I hope I'll see you at the faire tonight, my daughter will be helping me with my stall!"

"I'll be there," he responded tiredly, eyeing up the rest of the line and estimating how much longer he'd have to be here.

"Excellent!"

She walked off, a spring in her step, and Nikolai wondered how such a chipper lady had such a miserable daughter.

I suppose they don't get on too well, he thought, remembering the conversation they'd had in the coffee shop the morning before.

"I hope I'll see you at my stall," the next woman in line purred, pushing her chest forward into Nikolai's face, and he immediately wished he were anywhere but here.

~~~

Y/n was exactly where she wanted to be.

She had been trying for months to get a grant from the town council to do up the abandoned mansion in the square, hoping to turn it into both a bakery and a library with rooms at the top for people to stay, but with her mother in the top position and refusing to budge until Y/n had a boyfriend (she shuddered), there was no hope in sight.

After yet another talk from her mother about how finding a boyfriend might just be what she needed, Y/n had come to the mansion, and felt immediately calmed by the building. The creaking of the timbers wasn't exactly reassuring, but she'd had this dream for as long as she could remember, and being so close to actually achieving it meant that she was happy here. She'd be much happier with a grant, of course, but that wouldn't happen unless she got a boyfriend. She was absolutely certain her mother would already be eyeing up the blond fuckboy from the mechanic, thinking up wild ideas on how to get the two of them together, but he looked so perfectly like he was bad news that Y/n didn't even want to go there.

She sighed, sitting down on the crumbling wall that was definitely a safety hazard and pulling out her notebook. If she couldn't bring her ideas to life, she could at least draw them out (or write them down, her diagrams were atrocious sometimes). All around, people were getting their wares out for the summer faire, the one time of the year that Taya had any kind of tourism, and the narrow streets were already bustling with excited customers. Colourful bunting had been strung across the walkways, held up by lampposts and people's balconies, and lights were mingled in with the strands. Things would properly kick off at five bells, only half an hour away, and Y/n was dreading having to spend four hours next to her mother, no escape as she pointed out every single man within a fifty mile radius.

For now, she sat on the wall, coming up with new ideas or elaborating on old ones for when she finally got the grant (no boyfriend included), occasionally people watching.

~~~

Three hours later, Y/n wanted to go home.

Her mother had done exactly as predicted, and had, in an incredibly non subtle way, convinced every man that came to their stall that Y/n was the best they would ever do, and they should give her a chance.

While Y/n agreed that she was most certainly the best that they could do, she didn't want any of them to be giving her a chance, she just wanted them to buy the pastries that she'd spent the morning preparing. Being the only bakery in town, their produce was in high demand, so they had set up just outside their actual shop to keep a steady stream of baked goods coming to the stall. She was just creating an escape plan when she heard a squeal from her left, and immediately knew that she wasn't going anywhere since her mother had found 'the perfect man' as she put it. Turning, Y/n groaned at the dark haired man in front of their table, and immediately turned back to her right. That wasn't any good either, since the blond fuckboy was stood there.

"Oh, hi!"

He was too smiley, and so obviously one of those guys that would ruin her life, trying the nice guy act in an attempt to win a girl over. He'd probably had everything handed to him because of his looks.

"Hi. How can I help?" His smiled dulled a little at her lack of enthusiasm, but credit where credit's due, he was not backing down.

"One of these, please," he replied, pointing at a loaf of bread. She nodded, bagging it up, and should have realised what was going to happen when his eyes flicked over her shoulder in surprise.

"Is that your mother?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"She's uh... she's really going for him, huh?"

Y/n turned around again (she'd get dizzy if this kept happening), then almost dropped the bag at the sight of her mother chatting up the dark haired man from before, pointing at Y/n.

"I thought she was married? At least, that's what she said this morning."

"Why did you see my mother this morning?"

"She came to the mechanic with a very obviously not broken clock."

"She is married. She's trying to get somebody to date me. I think that's why she's so focused on my love life, because she has this perfect love story and thinks she can replicate it with me. Five vlachka, please."

He handed over the money, taking the bread from her in return.

"Is that why she won't give you the grant? Wait," his eyes widened. "That sounded creepy, I'm sorry. I just heard you in the coffee shop the other morning, and then Gregor said that she was on the council, and I just put that together and if I assumed wrongly then I'm sorry." He seemed apologetic, hands waving frantically.

"My personal life is none of your business. Thank you, goodbye." She was annoyed at how close he was to the truth.

~~~

Nikolai had spent the last half an hour eating his loaf of bread along with a selection of hams and cheeses that he'd bought, combined with glaring at Y/n from where he sat on a bench. He knew that he'd overstepped a boundary in asking the question, but he'd been curious and nothing more, and she had been so brusque in turning him away that it irked him. He understood that she might not want some random guy she'd never met before snooping into her private life, but she could have said it a bit more nicely than that. Nikolai had always believed in being nice to people, no matter how much you wanted their head on a chopping block, because you might be burning bridges before they were even built, but then again he'd grown up in a life of politics, and Y/n had grown up in the quiet port town of Taya.

Watching her interact with other customers was making Nikolai's irritation grow; she seemed to have very little problem with being nice to them, so why couldn't she do it around him? Gregor had mentioned that she didn't like people that "looked like Nikolai", but what did that mean? And why was she judging a book by its cover? Maybe once she got to know him, she'd find that he was actually a pretty great guy to be around. That might be his ego talking, sure, but Nikolai had spent his life learning how to be what people wanted, and it was annoying him that he couldn't figure out what Y/n wanted to see. One thing she definitely did not want to see was single men, coming up with excuses out of nowhere to fend off every one that was sent her way by her mother. Nikolai was sure that he was right, and that Y/n's mother didn't want her starting this venture unless she had a partner, and that was why she hadn't gained the grant. He'd also seen the state of the building, and knew that it was likely that her mother was concerned about how much of herself Y/n would put into this project, thinking by the time she was done there would be no time for grandchildren. He didn't know if Y/n had siblings, but assumedly her mother had expected little ones sooner than this, and time was running out.

Frowning as yet another man was sent Y/n's way (and told to leave by Y/n), Nikolai didn't notice the young woman coming his way until she was practically sat on him she was so close to him on the bench.

"Hi, handsome, not seen you around here before." He recoiled at her tone of voice and at the fingers she was trailing up his arm, doing his best to not look too disgusted.

"Moved a couple of days ago," he replied, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Where you staying? Because I've got room in my bed, if you like?"

"I'm alright, thank you. You'll get tired of having me there. Terrible nightmares that lead to me waking up screaming bloody murder. You'd never get any sleep." He smiled apologetically, hoping she'd get the hint.

"I wasn't planning on doing much sleeping, to be honest. But I'd be happy to comfort you if that's what you need?" Her fingers were still dancing on his shirtsleeve, and Nikolai was becoming increasingly more uncomfortable.

"Really, I'm fine."

"Aw," she pouted, and Nikolai didn't think he'd seen anything less attractive. "You are single, aren't you?" Sensing an out, Nikolai shook his head.

"Sorry, taken man. I think that dark haired guy is free though," he pointed at the man that had been at the bakery stall earlier, then packed up his things to leave.

"Who are you with? If you've only been here a couple of days then it can't be too serious, right?"

Nikolai didn't bother giving an answer, hoping she'd leave him alone. When she stood up to follow him, he internally groaned. His eyes darted around, searching for anybody that could help, and when he met Y/n's she grimaced.

"Need help?" she mouthed, pointing at the woman clamping down on his arm. He was surprised at her actions, and nodded. When she only shrugged and turned away, evil smile on her face, Nikolai huffed, then made a decision.

"Hi, darling. I'm gonna head back, alright?" Y/n whipped her head around to look at him when he tapped her shoulder, and immediately he felt the woman's grip loosen on his arm.

"What?"

"I second that, what?!"

Her mother was involved now, coming over excitedly as she let herself indulge the possibilities.

"I said I was gonna head back, darling," he repeated, a wicked glint coming into his eyes that thankfully her mother didn't notice. Y/n was glaring at him, and if looks could kill he'd be twelve feet under in a ditch, but she'd left him for the wolves (well, wolf), so now he was throwing her to the lions. Served her right, really, for not being nicer. At least this way she might get her grant, and he could get rid of this woman (who was still hanging off of him).

"You're together?" her mother asked, clapping her hands with joy. Nikolai nodded, frowning slightly.

"She didn't tell you? Darling, why didn't you tell her?"

He was enjoying this a little too much, but if it meant that she got a taste of her own medicine and he was left alone by all the other women, it was worth it.

"I didn't realise this was a thing, sweetheart," she ground out, not that her mother noticed. "Hello, Evelina. Pleasure to see you, as always. Get off my boyfriend before I dropkick you into next fucking month." She smiled sweetly, but malice was in her eyes, and Evelina left within seconds. "You sure you want to go back? There's so much to do!" Now her voice was cloyingly sweet, dripping with fake emotion.

"I've had a long day, and I'll have to be up early tomorrow. The faire's on for the rest of the week, so I'll have plenty of time to do the things I've missed."

"I have so many questions!" her mother chipped in. "When did this start? How did you get her to go out with you? Are you in a serious relationship? Have you had sex?"

"Mother! Saints!"

"Really only yesterday, it was incredibly difficult and I essentially bribed her, I'd like this to be serious, and no we have not. I like to get to know my girlfriend before I go there." At Y/n's snort, he glared at her, pinching her in the ribs. Her mother didn't seem to notice (yet again), too happy that her daughter was finally in a relationship.

"Well," she started, sighing happily. "Y/n, come on down to the town hall tomorrow morning for the meeting, and you just might get that grant!" Y/n's eyes widened, and she didn't say anything until her mother had walked away to serve a customer. Then she appeared to snap out of her daze, grabbing Nikolai by the arm (why did women keep doing that?) and dragging him into a back room in the bakery.

"What, the actual fuck, are you doing?!"

"Helping you and helping me," he shrugged in response, rubbing his upper arm where she'd grabbed him.

"How is this," she gestured furiously between the two of them, "helping either of us?!"

"Helping you, because you do need your mother to give you the grant, and the only way that would happen is if you got some great love story. Helping me, because I'd rather we didn't get quite so many people coming in to the shop with time-wasting repairs. It drives away the bigger customers. Also I think she wanted to eat me alive."

"Evelina? Yeah, she would have done. And you know what? I was content to let that happen."

"Oh I know you were, given you asked if I needed help and then shrugged and left me to fend for myself!"

"Ugh, you are a pain!"

"That's the best you can do?"

"I can think of many other words for what you are, all of them worse."

"Let me know when your brain thinks them up, yeah?"

"Fuck you."

"What, right here? Little bit risky, isn't it?"

"Saints! Do you even hear yourself? You are insufferable! Which is exactly why you need to go out there and tell my mother that you lied, and we are not together, and she needs to stop interfering with my life!"

"If I do that, you don't get your grant. I'll help you work on the building if that makes you feel any better, since nobody around here will, but if I go out there and tell your mother the truth, you can say goodbye to ever getting that mansion."

She paused then, blank expression on her face. Nikolai made to move towards the exit, and his hand was about to push the door open when she sighed and said "Wait." Pinching the bridge of her nose, she sighed again, looking everywhere but at him. "Fine. But we only go along with this for as long as I want to. When I think I have enough from the council that I don't need their support anymore, then this stops. If we cut things off within the week, mum will suspect something, and she'll call back the money. We need to be careful, we need to be smart, and you need to not make me want to kill you, because I'd much rather explain this whole situation than why I need a bag and a shovel and a plot of land."

"Understood."

"I still don't quite get what you're gaining from this, but I won't complain. Also I want the free labour you offered."

"It wasn't free labour that I offered, I'm expecting a little compensation for my time. And I said, it stops the unnecessary repairs and means that Gregor and I can work on the bigger stuff, like carriages for fancy people."

"I'm not paying you. I've gotta use all that money on repairs and shit, so you can take your compensation and stick it up your arse."

"I was thinking more 'make sure you feed me', but fine."

"Oh," she blinked, clearly taken aback. "I can do that. I'm not cooking for you, though. You can do that on your own, dickwad."

"Dominik."

"What?"

"Dominik. Nik for short. It's my name. If we're going to pretend that we're dating, it might help for you to not call me 'dickwad'."

"Oh," she said again. "Makes sense. Y/n is fine. Anything else, I get the shovel."

"Got it. I think I might actually go back," he started, feeling the unease creep up his spine.

"You can't leave me here! Not on my own! Do you have any idea how many questions she's gonna ask me?!"

"Well where do you live then? I'll walk you back, then she can't get upset, right?"

Y/n considered for a moment, head tilted to the side.

"Fine, but don't get any ideas," she pointed at him. "I know how to make sure you never have children."

"That's... okay. Let's uh... let's go?" He hadn't meant for it to be a question, but he was taken aback by her previous statement. She nodded, grimacing slightly as she took the arm he had offered up. "You don't have to look quite so disgusted at the thought of having me as your partner, you know."

"Yes I do. You're not my type in any way, and I can't believe this is happening oh Saints." They'd stepped out, and immediately her mother had come over, asking a million questions.

"Mum! We're gonna go home, okay?"

"I'll walk her back, Mrs L/n," he smiled, and she immediately flapped her hands.

"Please, call me Y/m/n, since we're family now! I want to hear all about this," she waved her hands at the two of them now, "tomorrow after the council meeting, alright?"

"Of course, Y/m/n," he said, and he could practically feel Y/n rolling her eyes. He led her away, heading off in the direction she pointed him in, and tried to push the dread that was working its way through his body. "Where do you live again?"

"Not far. Next street, halfway down. I'm not too far away from the hotel."

"Okay."

She frowned, looking up at him. "You look kinda ill, are you okay? Asking purely because I don't want you throwing up on me."

"I'm fine," he swallowed. "I'll be fine." They fell silent after that, and not long after they came to a stop in front of a gate.

"This is me. Don't come back here or I'll stab you with my kitchen knives. Bye."

Saints, she was weird. And not particularly welcoming either. Nikolai watched her up until she was inside and he heard the door lock, then started walking towards the hotel.

The demon had other ideas.

He'd been trying to force it back down since the bakery about ten minutes ago, but now it wanted out. Nikolai couldn't be sure that it wouldn't go and terrorise people, and while he and the creature sharing his body had some sort of understanding now, he didn't know if he'd be able to control it if it went crazy. Finding a dark alleyway (probably not the best idea, but he had both the demon and his guns if anyone tried anything), he let it out, panting at the effort. It growled at him, clearly unhappy at having been suppressed, and Nikolai gave it the middle finger.

"You couldn't have waited a little longer, huh?" It tilted its head, studying him, then rummaged around in the rubbish in the alley. "Disgusting. You're disgusting, eating that." He huffed, then folded his arms and stood at the entrance, keeping an eye out for anyone that might be walking past and see the demon. He'd be screwed if that happened; everybody had heard about the king that released a demon upon the Fjerdan ranks a few months ago, and there was no chance that he wouldn't be recognised then. He wasn't sure how long the pair of them lingered in the alleyway, but by the time the demon was done, allowing Nikolai to take it back in, he was exhausted, and very grateful for his bed. It didn't take him long to fall asleep, and when he did, he dreamed of her.

Chapter 2

#grishaverse #netflix shadow and bone #nikolai lantsov #nikolai lanstov x reader #nikolai x reader #nikolai lanstov x y/n #nikolai x y/n

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shoezuki · 1 year

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Shoe im too sleep deprived to go zooming on all those screenshots and redownloadong the bird app, may i ask what is happening w the dream drama u posted? I love ur summaries, they make me laugh about things i am gratefully unaware of

My beloved anon im sorry it took me this long. But i am lazy. No other reason really. So i am now chronicling this dhit on my phone. And oh fuck dude is it a trip

SO. this fuckery began with quackity announcing the QSMP. He did so on the 17th of march and whatever the fuck. He mentioned it earlier than this (edit: just checked but the First announcements was the 10th)

And this is all great. New server that fucks. But what truly started all this. Was dream's tweet on his private twitter.

Im gonna try to be kinda impartial qnd jus. Explain it all as is but first i gotta say who says this shit lmao. So quackity announces his new project and is very passionate about it, he tweets more on his alt(?) About how much it means to him to bring his two languages spanish and english together. And dream on private is like 'wow cool! Guys dont get mad at me when i announce the same thing later tho haha' its just so weird.

But anyways. The usmp wasnt even A Thing. Only written instance of dream makin a multilingual server was in a tweet defending himself from copying quackity. (Altho he allegedly mentions in streams or whatever wanting yo do things w other ppl from other languages? But that shit dont count n im not diggin audio n videos out fuck that).

The actual, official announcement of dream makin a usmp was april 2nd (idk why this says the 3rd but whatever) wherein he announces the 'first multilingual smp' with a list of languages that will be on it such as portugese, spanish, english, russian, etc. And that it has live translation.

The same day, quackity releases a tweet labelling the qsmp as the 'first multilingual smp' and that he is introducing a live translation system to it. Mr beast connects that the usmp and qsmp are similar to which dream responds. Quackity doesnt respond, nor does he acknowledge the usmp at all.

Dream's response is essentially theyre different in that qsmp is spanish and english, he announced his live translator first, they had 'similar good ideas'.

So. This sparked a lot of drama and discussion. Because of the 'first multilingual' bit in that people began discrediting qsmp as it was 'only' english and spanish, and therefore was bilingual and not multilingual. Altho others countered thid by saying quackity himself called it a multilingual server in his streams. Not to mention the idea that the translator was copied but regardless both those things are kinda stupid arguments and just drama inspired by the comparisons.

More notably is that dream team were making fun of the 'first multilingual server' bit after this. Dream was liking some jokes at it as well

Dream also liked some. Vaguely sexual/romantic 'they should just kiss already' art of him and quackity?

Also after this dream started somewhat addressing/replying to quackity more. Quackity didnt respond to any of it.

Dream also tweeted this on his private the day after

Most narrowed in on the 'this wouldnt have happened without quackity' and was often interpretted as dream saying quackity HELPED him w it in some way or that there was more collab behind the scenes but we will find that to be false. Because. On april 27th. Dream dropped his magnum opus. Which i will include in one screenshot.

Anyways i seriously encourage reading the full thing here because its. Something. Theres so much. It is literally 1.7k words. A lot of it is repetitive but i will. Try. To summarize it.

Essentially dream is writing that he has been trying to contact quackity for some time now with no response. He has been messaging him about how theyve ended up with similar servers (therefore noting that neither one know of the other). This gets nothing. Dream tries contacting quackity more publically with jokes. Nothing. He starts going through secondary sources by talkin to ppl to message quackity for him (i think some people who dream knows that are on the qsmp. Unsure who) but quackity doesnt say shit. Dream is being absolutely ghosted.

Im also noting this last paragraph in his first tweet where he describes being 'taken back' when quackity announces the qsmp live translator after his usmp announcement, because he 'knew it would cause more drama'.

He says he messages quackity so they can plan how to deal with the 'vitriol' between the teo 'communities' and that the drama can be solved with 'communication'. He is ghosted. He also mentions that he puts the usmp 'on hold' in the 2nd tweet so it all can be dealt with and he can 'extend love and support to quackity'. Most notably he says that its alluded that quackity wouldnt let ppl who were on the usmp couldnt be on the qsmp which dream tries to say makes sense for quackity to do.

Theres apparently a fucking image limit on the tumblr app which ive hit so i am now not using images and speedrunning this shit. But im quoting this one thing exactly as its most important:

"That being said, I’ve seen the communities split against each other and have tons of hate build around this and around the speculations of peoples motives and friendships and so on, and it’s really really harmful to the community as a whole. I have seen more threats, doxing, fights, slander, and hate between a bunch of fan bases that I’ve seen in a very long time. I personally have experienced an elevated level of in real life threats & stalkers & even had the police involved in somebody showing up at my house, & even putting trackers on my family vehicles, surrounding this drama, for the first time since pre-face reveal. That’s really why I feel like I have to say something about it despite me wanting to avoid any kind of serious talk about all of this, especially even talking about communication publicly feels wrong but necessary in this instance. I never like to air out anything that feels or is private, but I feel like in this case it’s really important for my fan base to be aware of my intentions, motives, thought process, and how we got to where we are. I’ve always been a creator that’s very open with my fan base about everything going on in my life and this is a massive thing right now for my friends & me"

His last tweet begins with him saying he 'doesnt want anymore drama' and ends eith him saying he loves quackity and believes this is all just a miscommunication.

Now, obviously, shit blew up. Hes been ratiod a few times by people meming it. Ive seen many people on quackity's 'side' saying that the usmp doesnt even exist yet, dream is the one causing drama, etc. And people on dream's 'side' saying quackity is being horrible and needs address this because its caused dream to be in danger. Most importantly. Quackity didnt address it at all.

But then quackity announced he was going live in an hour. And a lot assumed hed say something. But he didnt. His stream was roughly 15 minutes long and it was entirely quackity announcing that he was introducing brazilian/portugese speaking streamers onto the qsmp.

Anyways. Theres a lot of details but my hand hurts now. A big thing is whether qsmp or usmp was 'first'. Imo theres a lot more pointing towards quackity having had this is store for a longass time, as he had been hinting and a project of his for months and more notably the qsmp is so organized and put together i doubt he couldve had it finished up 'after' dream as dream's nonexistent server was an idea he got after that squidcraft thing in early March i think?

More recently (i think today) i saw that quackity apparently took two emojis off his twitch that were dream roblox characters and i saw people freaking out in r/dwt2 about how quackity could be so petty? But ya. My condolences if youve read all this.

#fuck everyone this aint going under a readmore SUFFER.#anyways. opinion of the author: dream is fucked up hoohmygod.#dream #dream hate #dream neg #discourse #anon

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femininefutbol · 2 years

Text

doctor's orders

request from here

prompt: in the aftermath of some locker room drama you end up becoming close with ana-maria crnogorčević

word count: 3.1k

a/n: i've been having a really hard time lately with motivation and my writing so i'm sorry for the lack of posts but i hope you enjoy this one

“Good morning” you call cheerily making your way into the locker room.

You are back training with the squad for the first time in a few months. You had previously stopped training and playing for the entire months of December and January. Instead you spent that time focusing all your attention on studying for the MIR exam, your final medical school exam before you are able to begin your residency. This break was expected by your coaches and an easy adjustment for the team as you have always been a bench player. You only ever wanted to play football due to passion but that passion had somehow landed you a relatively secure place on the FC Barcelona squad even if your appearances were few and far between.

You receive little to no response from the players who are in the room although it doesn’t phase you. Prior to your extended leave of absence you weren’t particularly close with many members of the team, well besides one. Jenni, your ex girlfriend and the person who has caused the mess that you are unexpectedly returning to.

“Finally back, Dr (Y/N)” Mapi states with a sneer, the odd action being your first indication that something had occurred while you were gone.

“I am, nice to see you” you respond sweetly and simply not playing into the clearly baiting conversation that Mapi is trying to start.

“I heard you had enough time to get around while you were ‘studying’” Mapi states, continuing whatever argument she is clearly trying to start.

“What?” you ask, a genuinely confused tone comes through your voice as you have no clue what she is even talking about.

“Oh drop it (Y/N), we all know you were out cheating on Jenni when you were supposedly having all this time off to ‘study’” Mapi explains further.

This causes the pieces to all slot together and you understand what is going on. Clearly while you had been away, genuinely studying to become a doctor, your ex girlfriend had told the team that the reason the two of you broke up was due to you cheating on her. The revelation causes a pang of anguish to course through your chest. Not only because Jenni would be so cruel as to turn your teammates against you, but also because it reminds you of the actual reason the two of you broke up.

“I didn’t cheat on Jenni” you state simply, walking away from Mapi and effectively ending the conversation not particularly caring if the defender believes you or not.

Rather than stick around the locker room with a bunch of people who are under the assumption that you would be so cruel as to cheat on someone you grab your boots heading out towards the pitch.

Once you are out of the locker room you take a deep breath, making your way over to the edge of the pitch, leaning on the metal fence looking out at pitches.

You had spent so much time during the last few weeks considering if you should even join back with Barcelona. You had the perfect opportunity for a way out with your upcoming residency being an extremely logical excuse. But you love football and playing for a team like Barcelona is the highest honour you could imagine in the world of football, especially as a homegrown culé.

You sigh, while you feel so at home here at the pitch just a few feet away in the locker room is a completely different story, with that place feeling like an absolute nightmare in comparison.

“Welcome back” a sudden voice startles you out of your thoughts, you hadn’t expected anyone to bother speaking to you.

“Oh my god” you breathe out, attempting to calm your heart that is now beating far too quickly. Once your heart finds a steady rhythm again you turn your head, curious about who is even bothering to speak to you.

You are met with the piercing blue eyes of Ana and while you hadn’t expected anyone to speak to you, if you had to guess one person who would she would be one of the last people on that list.

“Sorry for scaring you” she is the first one to speak again. The two of you had been leaning against the metal fencing in silence for a few minutes but obviously Ana was looking for a little more than silence.

“No it’s okay, I just didn’t expect anyone to really talk to me. I’m not sure if you were there at the time but your girlfriend didn’t give me the warmest reception so I assumed that word had been thrown around that I cheated on Jenni” you explain.

“I was there. Mapi isn’t my girlfriend anymore and yes Jenni did tell everyone that you cheated on her, I never really believed her though” She answers all of your unofficial questions.

Funnily enough she leaves you with many more questions in return, though you don’t bother asking, not wanting to push too much when it seems like she is the only one really willing to talk to you.

“Oh well, thank you then. I don’t feel that I really need to defend myself, I have never felt that anyone here has been too fond of me anyway so this is just the icing on the cake for them but I do want to say that I definitely didn’t cheat on her” you respond. For some reason you are nervous about how Ana views you, while it hadn’t mattered to you if anyone else believed that you didn't cheat, in this moment you actually care quite a lot about if she believes you or not.

Ana subtly moves closer to you, her shoulder touching yours, the point of contact being the first semblance of comfort that you have felt this morning.

“Working on your next conquest (Y/N)?” the voice is easily distinguishable, you turn around quickly, seeing your ex-girlfriend and a number of your teammates, all laughing at Jenni's comment.

You turn to reply, and it is clear by the look of annoyance on your face that whatever you say is going to be out of anger.

Before you can though Ana moves, touching your shoulder gently. “Don’t worry about them (Y/N), they aren’t worth it, especially not her” Ana comforts you, her comment works as your shoulders drop and the look of annoyance leaves your face, the small smile returning at Ana’s actions.

“Thank you”

“Of course” Ana smiles at you, the two of you taking the rest of your teammate exiting the locker room as your cue to begin warm ups.

While you have been dreading continuing to play with Barcelona there are two reasons that you continue to make the effort, football and Ana.

Playing football is something that always makes things better for you, the feeling of a ball at your feet making any other issues you may be having completely disappear. But currently playing with Barcelona doesn’t always have that same effect sadly, Every training session is crueling. While you are playing well, every touch takes so much effort with basically no one even bothering to pass to you or everyone purposely going hard on you. But even through all that, the bout of injuries making it’s way through the squad Jonatan has asked if you would be willing to be a starter for the time being, he thinks you are exactly what the squad need to be able to make it through the rest of the season and even hopefully win the Champions League.

But Ana, now she really is a reason for you to show up, she has been nothing but incredible to you over the past few months that you have been back. You hadn’t expected to develop a friendship with Ana after that first day back at training, you appreciated that she talked to you but you assumed that would be the end of it. Instead she has made an effort to speak to you every single day, partnering with you for drills, speaking to you about anything and everything and now even asking you if you’d like to do things with her outside of training. It had been sort of inevitable that you would develop feelings for the Swiss player.

It is now the end of March and you are preparing to come on at half-time during the Champions League match at Camp Nou against Real Madrid, in front of a sold out crowd. You had never imagined that you would be in this position, being able to play football for your childhood team in what will be the biggest game of your career.

Getting into the game is rather easy for you, and playing now brings back that feeling that you usually have when playing, nothing else matters, none of your issues are present as you run around the pitch. It is also made so much easier by your teammates actually playing with you rather than against you, all the rough training makes this match feel easy in comparison with each and every pass you receive or make landing perfectly.

In the 52nd minute a pass is sent your way, it is rather high which causes you to trap it with your chest, by the time you bring it down to your foot there is a Real Madrid player right in front of you. While you should pass it you know that you can score from this far out and the Real Madrid keeper is off her line, knowing this you take a shot, the ball flying through the air, chipping the keeper in the process and landing perfectly in the back of the net.

You did it, you just scored in a Champions League game, before you can even progress what you are doing you are at the bench jumping into Ana’s arms, she is the only person on the team who matters to you at this point. Even though your goal was important in changing the pace of the game and bringing Barcelona back the lead you dont care to celebrate with the rest of your team.

“You are playing incredibly (Y/N/N) keep it up” Ana whispers to you, holding on tightly for a few more moments before letting you go so the game can continue.

“Thank you Ana” you smile brightly at the blonde, running back towards the halfway line so the game can continue.

After your goal the rest of your involvement in the game is a little less impressive but you enjoy yourself until the final whistle blows anyway.

While everyone makes their way around congratulating each other or consoling Real Madrid players you only have eyes for Ana, watching as she makes her way around the sweet smile never leaving her face.

You must zone out as next thing you know Ana is wrapping her arms around you speaking congratulations into your ear, once you realise what is happening you wrap your arms around her as well.

“You wanna go meet some fans?” she asks after the two of you have stood in each others arms for a suspicious amount of time.

“Only if you come with me” you respond, grasping her arm and pulling her towards the side of her pitch with you.

Ana watches as you speak with children, signing their jerseys and making conversation, the look on her face can only be described as pure admiration.

You turn back to her after signing a few things, catching her dopey lovestruck look but thinking nothing, assuming she is just happy about the game.

“Lets go over to the rest of the group, keep up appearances” you speak. Ana just nods at you smiling, grabbing onto your hand, the two of you walking over to the group hand-in-hand not thinking much of it.

“Careful with her Ana, she isn’t known to be faithful” Mapi warns as the two of you join in with the rest of the group. The comment brings down your mood immediately, almost ruining the entire day for you with a single comment.

“Don’t worry about her” Ana looks directly into your eyes, her caring smile overturning any negative thoughts that have begun to surface.

“You two are probably perfect for each other” Mapi snarks again, not being able to just leave the situation alone.

While her comment was supposed to be hurtful, but instead it causes butterflies to erupt in your stomach, you could only hope that you and Ana would be perfect for each other.

It has been a few weeks since the game at Camp Nou and thus a few weeks since the entire world began to speculate that Ana and yourself are dating. You have decided that today is the day that you will finally work up the courage to actually make a move, to determine if she does reciprocate feelings for you.

The two of you are sitting at the beach watching the sunset, something that has become something of a tradition since your first day back at training. There is a comfortable silence, one that leaves you alone to try and work up the courage to be able to do something about your crush.

You are forced out of your thoughts by Ana tapping your shoulder gently.

“So are you ready to tell me why you and Jenni actually broke up?” Ana asks,

“Are you ready to tell me why you and Mapi broke up?” you counter with a small smirk.

“She said she fell out of love with me, this it was just the natural progression of a relationship and that it wasn’t meant to be between us, b-” Ana stops herself from continuing with what she was about to say, not even wanting accept herself the real reason that Mapi broke up with her.

“But Mapi isn’t one for long term commitment, and someone new and exciting came along” you answer for her, already knowing more than well enough what Mapi is like.

“Exactly that” Ana sighs.

“Well since you told me, I guess you deserve to know why Jenni and I broke up” you state, your comment making Ana perk up.

“Please” she asks sweetly, while part of the reason she wants to know is pure curiosity she also really just wants to understand so she can comfort you in a more effective way than just general uplifting comments.

“To make it as simple as possible she told me that I don’t deserve my spot at Barcelona, followed by her telling me that I would never be a successful doctor either, just hours before my MIR exam” you inform Ana. The actual situation was much more complicated but those comments from Jenni were truly what broke you and caused you to finally end things.

“Did she make these sort of comments a lot?” Ana asks carefully, she has already guessed the progression of the relationship but she wants you to be able to feel comfortable enough to actually tell her yourself.

“Sometimes, they weren’t usually that bad, that one was the worst, and she wasn’t wrong either” you sigh, while you never wanted to admit it you know that Jenni was correct, there is no way that you could ever be a good enough footballer or doctor if you can’t choose between them.

Ana reaches over towards your lap, grabbing your hand in hers, the action causes you to suddenly look at her face, trying to understand what she is doing.

“(Y/N) you are an incredible footballer, you run circles around half of the fulltime players, you are a game changer whenever you are subbed on and all of the fans love you, I think there is almost just as many little boys and girls with (Y/N) on the back of their shirt as there are with Alexia. I can only imagine how much of an incredible doctor you are or will be as well, you put 100% effort into everything you do so there is no way you won’t be amazing at that as well” Ana speaks sweetly.

But by the time she is finished the two of you have your foreheads touching, you are staring into each other’s eyes and this is exactly what you have wanted but you still aren’t sure if it is what Ana would want.

“Fuck it” you whisper, closing the gap between you two, your lips meeting hers, immediately the two of you fall into a natural rhythm, your hands making their way to the back of her neck while hers grip your waist gently.

When you finally pull away Ana dramatically falls back onto the sand, her hand covering her forehead.

“Are you okay?” you ask nervously as you hover over her, you hope that you haven’t ruined things between her. You begin to curse yourself, she is the only person you have in your corner at the moment and you hate that you may have accidentally ruined things.

“Push one of epi, stat” Ana jokes.

“Did you just quote grey’s anatomy?” you ask in disbelief, all your mental strife clearing as you laugh at Ana’’s statement.

“Of course, did you just ignore my orders to ask a ridiculous question while the patient could be dying?” Ana asks back.

“I’m the doctor, I think I should be the one giving orders around here not you” you speak suggestively, straddling Ana’s waist, leaving her laying in the sand giggling underneath her.

“Okay doctor, and what would you suggest for a patient who is in shock that the person she has a crush on just kissed her?”

“Another kiss” you answer immediately, happiness takes over you completely, knowing that Ana feels the same way, that these feelings you have aren’t just one sided and you can continue to have her in your life, in the way you have been dreaming of.

Ana leans up, this time she is the one with her hands finding their way behind the back of your head. The two of you continue to passionately kiss for quite some time, only really stopping when you both run out of air and need to breathe.

“So did it work?” you ask, referring to the medical conversation the two of you had prior.

“I need to follow the doctor's orders more often” She answers, pecking your lips quickly before the two of you fall into fits of giggles.

#ana-maria crnogorčević #ana-maria crnogorčević x reader #ana-maria crnogorčević imagine #ana-maria crnogorcevic #ana-maria crnogorcevic x reader #ana-maria crnogorcevic imagine #amc #amc x reader #amc imagine #woso #woso imagine #woso imagines #fcb femení #woso x reader #swiss wnt #switzerland

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fangirleaconmigo · 2 years

Text

I Can't Believe It's Not Fanon Part III

Otherwise known as...

Witcher facts that sound like Geraskier fic writers made them up, but that are, in fact, book canon.

People have told me they're interested in this series, so I've made another! (full list of posts at the end)

For this post I'm discussing:

A popular headcanon/fanon that involves Geralt traveling with Jaskier for years before learning his birth name. The fanon scene where he learns Jaskier's birth name usually involves someone addressing Jaskier as “Julian Alfred Pankratz” and Geralt going “Excuse me Julian what? Pankratz Who?”

In this headcanon, (which is usually a funny scene) Jaskier has kept his family origins/noble birth a secret, and there is more to him than Geralt realized.

Jaskier having two separate names has inspired a lot of creativity in the fandom. People play with the concept of how Jaskier feels about his name, why he would try to separate himself from his family, etc etc. Queer fans especially may relate to alienation from family, fighting to establish your own identity, and changing your name. It is *throws glitter* transformative fandom.

Now, in TWN, Jaskier introduces himself as Julian Alfred Pankratz multiple times in Geralt’s vicinity. So, if you’ve only watched TWN, the headcanon that Jaskier has hidden his family name/nobility from Geralt for years might seem like pure fanon.

Well folks. In case you didn’t know...

It’s canon.

(sorry I may never stop using my Beyond Belief Jonathan Frakes gifs for this)

Now, I am going to share that passage with you with my analysis.

But first I want to set the stage for what the passage tells us about Geralt and Dandelion’s relationship. Then I’ll theorize why Dandelion has hidden his true name from Geralt.

As always, minor book spoilers. I try to extract only the quotes I need to analyze, without spoiling the plot.

So, Geralt thinks that he knows everything there is to know about Dandelion. After all, he does know quite a bit. He knows that Dandelion had literacy beat into him at a temple school. He knows how and when he fell in love with poetry. His knowledge about Dandelion does imply many nights of aimless conversation. And Geralt has been listening!

Also, Geralt sees Dandelion as a motormouth who can’t keep secrets to save his life! Geralt laments his lack of discretion and tact on many occasions. He calls him a “prattler”. Which, tough but fair.

Combine those two things and you have a witcher who believes there is nothing new to learn about his simple friend. In Sword of Destiny, they have an argument and Geralt says as much.

So in this scene, Geralt is upset at Dandelion for flirting with girls at a party. They are back in their shared room and arguing. (I’m going to do an analysis about that in my ‘Geralt and Dandelion share beds’ post, but I won’t go into detail here) But for the purposes of this post, at the end of this argument, Geralt insists that he knows Dandelion well. Dandelion responds:

“You only think you know me. Don’t forget: I'm complicated by nature.”

“Dandelion,” the Witcher sighed, now genuinely tired. “You’re a cynic, a lecher, a womanizer, and a liar. And there’s nothing, believe me, nothing complicated about that. Good night.”

Dandelion only replies:

“Goodnight, Geralt.”

Sword of Destiny page 208

But does Geralt know him as well as he thinks he does? Two books later, Geralt is in the forest with his friends. They are searching for some potential informants who might help them find Ciri. They come upon some druid pilgrims being slaughtered by bandits and Nilfgaardians. Geralt and Milva (his archer friend and love of my life) jump in and start defending them, killing the bandits bloody and violent.

Once they’ve killed them all, some knights appear out of nowhere. Geralt doesn’t want to be skewered by their lances, and Milva thinks they’ll be arrested for killing Nilfgaardians, so they hide under a wagon. By the way, whenever knights appear in the story, you know it is going to be hilarious and ridiculous. They are always very competent but also very very pompous and the way they interact with Geralt is always gold. And if the witcher books are good at one thing, it’s effectively weaving horrors with humor.

So anyway, the knights approach and one of them calls out:

“Get out!...Drop your weapons and get out!”

The knights make various threats, thinking Geralt and co. are in league with the bandits.

Geralt and Milva emerge, and one of the knights recognizes Geralt.

So the knight he helped says:

“Free them with all haste!” he called. “They are not bandits, but upright and honest folk!...And that fellow is a goodly knight!”

A bit earlier on in the forest, Geralt saved this knight from bandits. The man mistook Geralt for a knight, and Geralt didn’t correct him. He basically said ‘oh let’s not talk heraldry there’s no time’ (LMAO) and ran off to find and help his friends.

The other knights are incredulous. They look at Geralt and don’t believe that he is a knight. The man assures them.

...”I give you my word! This doughty fellow saved my life when I was in need, after I was flung to the ground by the ne’er-do-wells. He is called Geralt of Rivia.”

So the other knight turns to Geralt and asks...

“Arms?”

Well, Geralt has no arms or heraldry because he isn’t a knight. But his response is hilarious.

“I’m forbidden from revealing them,” the Witcher grunted. “I can share neither my true name nor my arms. I have taken knightly vows. I am the errant Geralt.”

I’m dying laughing at that point. Geralt has such a complicated relationship with knights. He resents them a bit. They are often very religious, which is usually associated with believing witchers are abominations. So. Not good. But he wanted to be one, and would love to be seen as heroic, whether he admits it or not. He also admires their skill and competence. However, he finds their pretentiousness totally absurd. It’s complicated! Geralt automatically reverts to his driest most wilting sarcasm whenever he’s around them. I think it’s partly a defense mechanism. (that’s just me editorializing)

But ok, anyway, Dandelion appears with his ‘lute and his ever present tube of scrolls’. praising Geralt for rescuing them not a moment too soon.

And then one of the knights, the one that doubted Geralt’s bona fides as a knight:

“...leaned over in his saddle, and his eyes shone. Viscount Julian?”

Hm, a wrinkle! Dandelion recognizes him and replies:

“Baron de Peyrac-Peyran?”

Geralt doesn’t seem to notice. He’s preoccupied with something else (finding the informants) and he tries to talk to the Baron. But, the baron ignores him because he:

...only had eyes, it seemed, for Dandelion. “Pon my word,” he drawled. “My eyes do not deceive me! It’s Viscount Julian in person. Ha! The Duchess will be pleased!”

At this point it registers with Geralt and he asks:

“Who is Viscount Julian?” the Witcher asked curiously.

He has no clue whatsoever. Five books in.

“That would be me,” Dandelion muttered. “Don’t interfere, Geralt.”

Dandelion is like...you’ve saved all of us from bandits but these people are barons and this is the part where I deal with things. It kind of reminds me of Stede telling Ed he can deal with all the asshole nobles in OFMD. Like. These are my people, this is what I do.

The knights are adamant that they must take “Viscount Julian” at once to Beauclaire Castle to the local Duchess, who would want to see him. Geralt says he can’t. He has unfinished business with these informants that he must carry out. Dandelion insists on going with Geralt.

“Me too,” Dandelion muttered, “I’m with you too...”

So, Dandelion turns down the opportunity to go to a luxurious castle with people who adore him, which is very very suspect. Geralt doesn’t need him on this mini-mission. The knights are a little offended, saying that they insist on taking Dandelion, that he doesn’t have a choice, and that the rest of them would be welcome too.

“As the companions of Viscount Julian, Her Grace, Lady Henarietta, would have gladly received you with all due respect and invited you to stay at the castle, but why, if you scorn her hospitality...”

So, their association with Dandelion would get them all kinds of special treatment. Geralt insists he does not scorn her hospitality and will catch up to them. He will meet them at Beauclair Castle. Then Geralt gets in a little joke. He says...

“We shall unfailingly go there. If only,” he added knowingly and with emphasis, “to ensure that no disgrace or dishonor befalls our comrade, Dandelion. I meant, Julian, by thunder.”

He is letting them know that if anything happens to Dandelion, they will answer for it. But he also gets in a little dig at Dandelion for having sprung this on him, and also the knights, who keep saying “Pon my word” and “By thunder” which Geralt thinks is pretentious as hell. (He makes fun of them a few times for it but they never notice.) The baron misses his sarcasm.

“Pon my word!” the baron suddenly laughed. “No disgrace nor dishonor will befall Viscount Julian. I’m prepared to give my word on it! For I omitted to tell you, viscount, that Duke Raymund died of apoplexy two years past.”

That is when we find out why Dandelion didn’t want to go with them. Not surprisingly, it was because the husband wanted him dead. We also get a taste of Dandelion’s utter lack of filter and signature lack of tact.

“Ha, ha!” Dandelion shouted, beaming all over. “The Duke kicked the bucket! These truly are marvelous and joyous tidings!”

You can just picture everyone looking at him like....excuse me? Because he quickly catches himself and changes course.

“I mean, I meant to say, sorrow and grief, a great loss. May the earth lay lightly on him. Lol very meaningful and sincere Dandelion. And then he agrees to go with them. If that is the case, let’s ride with all haste to Beauclair noble knights!”

After Geralt rides away with Milva and Angoulême (another member of his party, a teenager I adore) Angoulême says:

“Dandelion claims that Duchess Henarietta is madly in love with him.”

Geralt is dismissive.

“Dandelion always claims that.”

The Tower of the Swallow, pages 250-260

(This is a bit off topic but Angoulême’s first reference to Dandelion in the books was to call him a ‘comely fellow’ which I thought was cute.)

Ok, so that was the time Geralt found out Dandelion’s family name and title, and learned that maybe he didn’t know everything there was to know about his best friend. It has a remarkable resemblance to all the fanon, at least some of which was written without knowledge of book canon. It just fits!

Your bonus...Ciri Finds Out The Same Way goes like this...

In the final book, Lady of the Lake, Geralt and Ciri return to Beauclair. They come upon some, shall we say, legal proceedings, where Dandelion is being charged with (among other things) debauchery and harlotry: (honestly, it does sound like him)

“Good gentlemen and burghers of Beauclair and the surroundings!” he read thunderously and funereally from an unrolled parchment. “It is known that Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove, alias Dandelion--

“Pancratts what?” Ciri whispered a question.

Lady of the Lake page 470

Now remember, Ciri knows Dandelion. Dandelion was even responsible for watching her when Geralt and Yen went to the Thanedd ball. But his family name is still news to her.

It is a funny running joke. And it makes his character a bit intriguing. There is always more to him than meets the eye. Why does Dandelion do this? Why does he hide his identity, and for so long?

It isn’t to hide from vengeful husbands, because he has committed just as many indiscretions as Dandelion. So there is no protection in that name. It isn’t that he has left his family entirely behind or that he refuses to be called Julian. In Season of Storms, his cousin Ferrant de Lettenhove calls him Julian, and he doesn’t seem to mind at all.*

I’ve seen one fan theorize that the “Viscount” title is more of a scam on Dandelion’s part. But Geralt does meet his cousin in Season of Storms, as mentioned above, so there is that proof of who his family is. Also, his cousin has a very respectable government position.

Dandelion does makes an offhand remark in Baptism of Fire that I think is pretty revealing. Geralt and his friends (including Dandelion) are all spending the evening talking shit and getting wasted on moonshine in Regis’s summer shack. (one of the best scenes in all the books) And Dandelion, drunk as hell, says:

“Ah, well.” Dandelion looked around the shack with a slightly vacant stare. If the Countess de Lettenhove could see me like this.”

The only person listening to him at this point is Milva who asks:

“Who?”

“Never mind. Bloody hell, this moonshine really does loosen the tongue...Geralt? Should I pour you another one Geralt?”

“Leave him be,” Milva said, “Let him sleep.”

Baptism of Fire, page 138

Now, I could be wrong, and am happy to hear other theories, but that sounds like his family would disapprove of his lifestyle. It is the only time I can remember him letting anything slip, and he immediately curses the moonshine for making him slip.

There are also moments that imply how odd, even bizarre it is to see a poet out in a war zone wading through corpses in harm's way instead of (as Milva says) “writing rhymes in a quiet spot somewhere.” He’s always seen as out of place, and unsuitable for the dangerous mission. What he is doing isn't normal or typical for a poet. So it's reasonable to think his family probably disapproves, and hiding his connection is his way of either keeping them off his back for soiling the family name, or just as a way to escape whatever weight his family exerts on his life and decisions.

But why wouldn’t he tell Geralt? It isn’t like Geralt is going to tell people. Maybe there is something deeper or more traumatic there that even he (the prattler) doesn't want to discuss.

I haven’t finished my reread, so I may think differently after I do. I do notice so many more things the second time around, and I may come up with more ideas or relevant passages. So if anyone else has any thoughts about anything obvious I’ve missed, let me know.

So yeah, that’s my take on Jaskier’s name, and Geralt finding out about it!

Alright, the other I Can't Believe It's Not Fanon posts and I've linked the ones I've finished. I'll come back and add links as I go:

A shape shifter reads Geralt's mind, then turns into Jaskier because he knows that’s the best way to protect himself.

Geralt and Jaskier share beds.

Geralt and Jaskier share clothes.

Geralt may play it cool to his face, but he thinks Jaskier has a gorgeous voice.

Jaskier has a voice so beautiful, it can calm a monster.

Geralt drops everything to protect Jaskier, every time, even in the middle of battles when there are other people around to protect.

Geralt can smell lust

Bad guys kidnap Jaskier in order to get to get to Geralt. Geralt slaughters every single one of them.

They also share a kiss in a few of the translations, but not all. It's a very "y yo también" situation.

*There are all kinds of continuity issues with that novel. It was the last one in publication order, but ostensibly it takes place chronologically between The Last Wish and Season of Storms. So then, Geralt would have already known when he ‘found’ out in The Tower of Swallows.

But Sapko really doesn’t seem to care about things like continuity or timelines or maps or a medieval setting that is consistent with a real life historical setting. He just writes the stories and lets us nerds fight about the details.

#the witcher #geraskier #the witcher books #geralt of rivia #jaskier #gerlion #dandelion #i can't believe it's not fanon #canon or fanon

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