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bubbles-for-all-of-us · 6 months

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Pretty like the sun

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a/n the follow up chapter AND This is pretty like the wind series spin offs. This can be read as standalone all you need to know is that Azriel has two adoptive kids with OC - Zofie and Axel. Future stories related to them might include stories specifically decided to Azriel hence why I am taging it as Azriel story too. Don't come at me please. ✨

warning: none? A bit of fighting, blood.

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Zofie's pov:

She had been beaming all morning. Not only had it been the best sleep of her life, but there was something so surreal about waking up in the arms of a man you had the biggest crush on. There was a moment when Zofie was sure that it was her sleepy brain playing a trick on her. That Nyx wasn't there with her. They weren't actually in the same situation. Limbs tangled. But Nyx's arms, which had quite a firm hold on her hips, felt all too real. His breathing did, too. So did his messy hair and slightly pouty lips.

How did one look so adorable in their sleep? Mother, he would be a frowning mess if she called him cute. But he was, and Zofie had to try really hard to suppress the giddy excitement that bubbled in her chest. Nuzzling back into the crook of Nyx's neck, she breathed in his scent. Feeling her body melt into it. Oh, how she missed him when he was away. How oddly lonely she felt. Truth be told, Zofie didn't have many friends. A couple of younger priestesses that Gwyn was teaching, yes, but they practically never talked. So... not friends. But Nyx had always been so keen on getting her attention. She was weary of him at first. He was the most talkative kid she had ever seen. But then Zofie only had a handful of traumatized sanctuary toddlers to compare him to. His bubbly side chipped away with the years, though. More often than not, the smile that was plastered on Nyx's face was nowhere near the smile he used to give her when they were younger.

"You're the cuddliest person I've come across in my entire life," Nyx grumbled, opening one eye to look at her. "So, if I pulled away now..." Zofie muttered, but Nyx's grip on her tightened immediately, "Don't you even think about it?" His morning voice was raspy and, oh, so delicious. "Got you," Zofie breathed out, shaking her head. He never denied her touch. She could watch him roll his eyes at Feyre kissing his cheek, but the next minute he would be right next to Zofie, his fingers subtly reaching for her as their palms brushed against one another.

"Do you think if I don't open my eyes, we can pretend that we don't have to go back?" Nyx muttered, and Zofie could sense the dread in his tone. "Your mom probably misses you a lot," she said softly. "Cause Ma always cries when Axel comes home, so I'm sure the high lady would..." "Don't." Nyx's whole body stiffened. Zofie frowned as specks of red fell onto the sheets. He was mad. Or frustrated, at least. "Did something happen?" Her voice grew weary, and Nyx's face grew ashamed. Hands pulling the girl back to his chest, "Promise it's nothing; I'm sorry, just tired," he breathed out. She didn't say anything after that. Letting the silence stretch over them both.

"My... The high lords are hosting a ball", and Nyx sounded as if this was the most dreadful thing he had to make himself think about once again. Zofie quickly cut in, "You don't want to go?". Nyx huffed, "Something like that." She never really understood if the high lords of the night court enjoyed the festivities themselves. Rhys, Nyx's dad, was a charmer, always quick to tell a joke. His grin never failed at balls and parties. But Zofie had caught him once. Head in hands. Messy hair. Wrinkled shirt. It was such a difference compared to that beaming smile she had seen on her high lord's face only moments ago. "Well, Axel and I will probably be there if our parents are going," Zofie breathed out, hoping to ease some of the tension, but Nyx simply shook his head. "I have a feeling it's the lordship shit," the heir growled before explaining even further, "Preppy parents in desperate need to marry off their children to form bonds between courts."

And here it was. This was the thing Nyx hated with a burning passion. All he wanted was to be normal. A young man still so full of life not some crystal gem for everyone to drool over. He cringed and frowned at all the titles people threw his way. And Zofie... Zofie hated every single female who felt entitled to come and touch him, pull at his hands, and rub at him like cats in heat. "Oh, Nyx," she breathed, her fingers carefully brushing through his hair. His fingers grazed her wrist tenderly. "Everyone is making such a big fuss over it too," he admitted as Zofie nodded in agreement. No wonder he was stressed. Especially if he was also to be left alone. Only with nobility to keep him company all night long.

"Bitch your way through it," Zofie muttered, and Nyx let out the most genuine chuckles she had heard in a while. But it had also died down as quickly as it started, "Will you tell me why you were by the river last night?" Zofie knew this was coming. Nyx had a hard time letting go of the topics he wanted to discuss. And he had been more than clear that he was going to get the answer out of her about this. So fighting this...

"I have a sister," Zofie breathed, her eyes falling to the crisp white sheets on the bed. Nyx shifted slightly, his hand dipping beneath the blanket to run soothingly up her thigh, "I hear a sad note in that," he muttered. And Zofie hated that. She hated that she was still upset over something she genuinely wanted. She didn't care much about having to share her parents' attention for a while. It was everything else that ticked her off. "She's perfect", Zofie let out a deep sigh, "Has wings, no flaws. She's perfectly Azriel's". Her voice died down, overpowered by the growl Nyx had let out. "Has that asshole?", "No, no, I just... it's me," Zofie shook her head, "I felt... irrelevant.".

The room fell silent. She watched as Nyx blinked a couple of times, letting her words sink in, "Don't you talk shit like that about yourself?" His voice had an edge to it. A powerful force. "But it's true; I'm Illyrian but have no wings," Zofie muttered, turning to play with her fingers instead. Admitting her fears and insecurities felt humiliating almost. "I'll always be your wings," Nyx's much bigger palm cupped hers, giving it a little squeeze. "What have I done to deserve you, huh?" Zofie chuckled slightly, hoping to mask the sting in her eyes. Nyx crooked his head to the side. Watching her for a moment, "You didn't have to do anything. I'm the one who's lucky that you were born.".

Nyx's pov:

They had laughed through the whole flight back to the city. And the closer they got, the more Nyx dreaded it. He didn't care much about the shit he was going to get from Rhys. But it's the letting go part that pressed against his chest. He knew, for a fact, that if not tonight, then by the next morning they would be ushered back into the camps up the mountain. Yes, he was happy to learn and to earn a rank, but leaving her here felt like a dreadful task. Not to mention that they weren't allowed to write letters while they were up there. Not to mention that Nyx had a whole box of letters he had written for Zofie. Ones he had written while up there. Ones that no one would ever see.

Zofie had asked him to drop her off at the edge of the forest near the house. "Better if you don't just walk in. You know my dad," she said. However, Nyx felt it the minute Zofie's legs hit the snow beneath her. He had barely let go of her when the claws of darkness pulled him back, nearly sending him to his feet. But he expected this. Escaping the spymaster under the protection of his father's wards was one thing. The moment they were on the perimeter of Velaris, well, let's say that was Azriel's hunting territory. And that male always hunted as if he were starving.

Nyx had seen Azriel pissed more than once, but the frown on his face this time was unmatched. And accompanied by the dark circles beneath his eyes. Yeah, he looked as if he was out for blood. "You forgot yours, young man," the spymaster said through gritted teeth as his shadows roped around the princeling's ankles and wrists.

"Dad, that's enough." Zofie stomped through the thick snow, trying to get in between the two of them. Nyx wished she wasn't there. He hated it when she was there to witness their snarls. "You lost all sense of fun, uncle," Nyx said mockingly. His own hands grew dark, seizing the spymaster's dark, as cold gloominess chased all of Azriel's shadows away. "You had no right to take her like that," Azliel bit back; his wings were arched in a warning, but Nyx didn't skip a beat, doing just the same.

"No one took me," Zofie growled with a huff. And it was the way Azriel had turned back to look down at her that broke the last sense of logic within Nyx. It was the way his big frame looked toward her when Azriel snared, "I wasn't speaking to you, young lady," that undid Nyx. "Why?", he asked bitterly, "Because you forgot that she existed? The new child has already taken too much of your time?". It felt as if the whole world had stopped. Even the snowflakes seemed to have seized in their fall. "Nyx..." he said, meeting Zofie's pleading eyes. Saw her shaking her head in disapproval. But he was truly seeing red. No one had a right to make her. Make his sunshine feel small.

"What did you just say?" Azriel frowned, slightly taken back, but his demeanor was still predatory. The princeling only growled back at the shadowsinger. "Nyx for fuck sake," Zofie pleaded, panic raising to her features as she moved closer to her dad in hopes of putting distance between them. But it was for nothing when Nyx muttered, "You heard me loud and clear, spymaster." Nyx managed to spare Zofie one look. One look before his vision was interrupted by black dots as his head was wiped to the side from the impact. Zofie's shriek pierced the silence, rippling over every surface.

Nyx knew that, in a way, he deserved it, so it didn't surprise him. He had been messing with the habitat of fae males. One who had just become a father. One who's instinct to protect was on such high alert. But he had to. Had to stand up for her. "Papa, please," Zofie pleaded. Nyx wiped the warm liquid trickling down the side of his lip. Oh, he was not going to go down without a fight. "Please, let's just go home. Please, I'm sorry". Her tiny hands were grasping at Azriel's hands, trying to pull him back. "Don't you apologize for him," Nyx snarled, but Zofie's firey eyes met his as she muttered, "Shut up." Only now did Nyx notice the tears streaming down her rosy cheeks. Only now did he see the quiver in her chin.

"Zof," Nyx breathed out, but the girl had simply turned her back on him. "Come on, papa, please," she pleaded once more, and this time it was enough to get Azriel's attention. His chest was still heavy as he breathed through his anger. "If I ever catch you doing anything like this," Azriel snarled, stepping forward to look at Nyx, but Zofie pushed back, putting all of her weight against her dad. "Consider yourself fucking lucky." Azriel flapped his wings a couple of times before reaching for Zofie's hand, tugging her alongside him as the shadows swallowed them both.

Your pov:

Quite frankly, you knew something was wrong from the moment you looked up to see Zofie's pale face when Novie was born. And deep down, you knew that this insecurity that was quite clearly blooming right in front of you was inevitable. You just didn't know it would take a turn like that. Zofie had always been good about voicing her discomfort, and you had always encouraged her to speak her mind, but it seemed as if your love had been lost in the shuffle of it all.

You knocked on her bedroom door gently. It's been a couple of hours since she and Azriel got back home. Your mate, mostly thanks to his lack of sleep, assumed that you both hadn't noticed your girl not being home and, and then hadn't felt them coming home. It was the stench of anger that was dripping from Azriel that was enough to let you know that a fight must have happened. And this sort of frustration as of lately was only brought on by one person.

Without getting an answer, you just let yourself in after a while. Zofie was curled up in a ball, and the blanket Azriel had knitted for her was tightly wrapped around her. That fact must have slipped her mind, considering the fight the two have been in. Sitting down on the very edge, you let your fingers gently brush through Zofie's dark waves.

"Sweetness, why don't you eat up? It's lunchtime", you said gently, nodding towards the plate of warm food you had brought up for her. She simply shook her head, turning away from your touch. A sharp ache pierced your heart. If your children were hurting, so were you. You climbed into the bed, nudging her slightly as you moved to wrap your arms around the girl. Let her be the little spoon.

Zofie laid as still as a statue for a moment before her arms snaked around yours. "Now he will never love me again," Zofie's voice was barely a whisper, but you still managed to hear her perfectly well. "Who, baby?" you asked, running your fingers up and down her arm. She stilled for a moment before looking up to catch your gaze and saying, "Papa." A breath hitched in your throat. "Lovie," you muttered.

Zofie quickly shuffled, sitting up. "First, I don't have wings; now he thinks I'm sneaking behind his back with Nyx," she blurted out in a rush, "And I'm not, I promise." She caught your arm, shaking it slightly. You cupped her face softly and said, "There is nothing wrong with you falling in love." Her face scrunched up so hard that you almost had to laugh. "I'm not in love. I'm not", she stated. "Okay, okay," you muttered, tapping her cheek playfully.

"And Azriel loves you, Zo." Your tone was much firmer now. You understood the fears. Mother, even you still had them. Wondering why? Why had Azriel chosen you, and what did he see in you? So for a teenager to have emotions like that, "He had loved you from the moment he saw you," you added.

Zofie bit her lip as if contemplating her next words for a moment, "But his yellow is fading", she admitted. Her colors. She found comfort in them, but good things usually come with baggage. Understanding the amount of emotion there was still a hard task. "That doesn't mean he stopped loving you. Maybe the color is evolving. Shifting into something different", you said softly. You made a mental note to ask her tutor to find her a book about the colors of emotions to read. Well, one that she hadn't already devoured.

"Hate," those silent words, made your mind halt. You shook your head. "Love has different forms; you'll learn that along the way," You reached up to carefully take her necklace between your fingers. "Papa is on edge right now because a lot of things are changing. He's sensitive because he's lost so much already. Losing all of us would break him without repair." It felt like a lot to unload on her, but she had to see that Azriel's love hadn't just faltered or disappeared because of Novie. Thinking like wings, no wings, scars on no, even the blood bond didn't matter to Azriel. Zofie pinched her eyebrows. "Is he home?", she breathed, "I need to...", "He's out on his broody walk, but I'm sure he'll be back soon," you said softly, reaching for the plate and handing it to her. She was desperate to make sure that she had at least some food in her stomach.

Nyx pov:

He had lost track of how long he had been flying. Nor did he know where he was going, but regardless of his endless attempts to escape it, Nyx knew that he would have to go home eventually. A part of him hoped that Rhys wouldn't have been able to sniff this one out, but then Nyx had lost track of his uncle fairly early on. So Azriel could have already been stomping his foot in his father's office.

"Purple truly suits you." As if on cue, Rhys's voice rang out. He was seated in front of a fireplace. A drink in hand. His usual black button-up shirt hugged his skin. Nyx didn't hate his father. He hated the high-lord aspect of him. Yes, he was different from most. Mother, spare anyone from a father like Beron, but... he still valued his position a bit too much at times. Nyx simply shook his head, shifting to move toward the back patio, but his father's voice stopped him, "I don't remember letting you walk away.".

Nyx let out a bitter chuckle, "Oh, so now I am to obey you too, like a servant?" It was bitter; he knew it. But Nyx just wasn't in the mood—wasn't in the mood to deal with any of this right now. "You're my son," Rhys stated firmly, his purple eyes gleaming. "Doesn't that just suit your story?" Nyx barked back, matching his father's glare. "Nyx," Rhys said in a warning tone, but the princeling was already walking. "I'll be with Mom," he breathed over his shoulder.

The wind that hit his face as he stepped outside soothed his heated cheeks. He always loved the walk towards his mother's gallery. It had always been his favorite time of the day when the two of them would go there. Gods, did he need to clear his head. Anything. Everything. All he could think of was her. Yet... two hands clasped his shoulders, making Nyx quickly spin back, putting whoever was behind him in a chokehold.

"Well, dang, you're on edge, my man," a familiar voice rasped out, and Nyx instantly let go, pushing the figure forward. "What the hell are you doing here?", he whispered. Axel simply smirked before shrugging, even if his eyes lingered on the library door for a bit too long. "I came to see how my dad painted your face," Axel chuckled, "Pretty." Nyx simply flipped his friends off and said, "Fuck off." Yet the corners of his lips did twitch slightly. Axel always had that effect on him. It was hard to not smile around him.

"She's okay," Axel muttered, making Nyx's eyes snap up at him. Yet he refused to give in to it. "I don't care," he said simply. Axel raised one eyebrow at his friend, tilting his head to the side, and, "Right, so you wouldn't care if I told you that mom got her to eat, and she's much calmer now." Nyx's shoulders eased a bit. Eased almost immediately. A calmness like no other washed over him as he nodded in agreement.

"She asked about you." Now these words struck a chord with Nyx, and his big eyes were instantly searching for Axel. "Did she?", Nyx breathed out desperately. Axel simply chuckled, slowly shaking his head, "No, but I love proving a point." Nyx let out a growl, "I'm so kicking your ass on the sparring mat." But he couldn't help but smile now. Because Axel knew him. And in a way, this was his silent way of approving. Or at least not stepping between him and Zofie.

But Axel's eyes lingered behind his friend, and Nyx's eyes instantly followed suit. Only he caught sight of white robes slipping back inside the library. Nyx instantly turned back to face Axel. "What was that?", he questioned. Axel blinked a couple of times, "What was what?". Oh, but Nyx wasn't stupid. "That look," he muttered, motioning his hand towards Axel's face, "Are you fucking a prestress?" Axel frowned at the question instantly, his eyes finally moving to gaze at his friend, "What the hell, man, wash your mouth." Nyx chuckled slightly, but he knew deep down that the moment they were going to be better on the camp walls, he was going to get his answers one by one. Now all he needed was his sun. His Sunny and for some reason risking a black eye didn't seem that big of a sacrifice.

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Taglist: @sirenpearldust @historygeekqueen @hnyclover @i-am-a-lost-girl16 @naturakaashi @stressed-reader @woodland-mist @goldenmagnolias @nocasdatsgay

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mysteryshoptls · 7 months

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SSR Trey Clover - Platinum Jacket Vignette

"Happy 100th Anniversary"

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Trey: It's pretty fascinating how all these anecdotes that I grew up with are displayed on all these paintings.

Trey: Just as I'd expect from an art museum that's reaching it's 100th year.

Trey: Oh hey, this painting… It has some card soldiers on it. Heh, I feel like I can understand these guys a little bit.

???: Oh, right, all you Heartslabyul guys do the same kind of thing, don't you?

Leona: What's even the point of painting the roses a different color? As someone who cares not an ounce about flowers, I don't get it at all.

Trey: Hey now, Leona, don't say that. It's not done for any specific reason, it's just one of the laws of our dorm.

Trey: Also, I don't really think the card soldiers changed the colors of the roses just for a change of scenery, though.

Trey: They say that the Queen they served loved red roses. They were probably just trying to please her, right?

Trey: But still… painting the roses, huh. I remember there was a bit of trouble with that when I first enrolled here.

Leona: Oho? What kind of trouble could the super pacifist Trey Clover possibly cause?

Trey: It wasn't any big deal. When we were first years, Cater and I were responsible for painting the roses, you see…

Trey: And we mistakenly painted some roses white when they were supposed to be red. That's really it.

Trey: Well, to be fair, the mistake wasn't really our fault, but the fault of our upperclassmen who told us the wrong thing.

Trey: But when the mistake was discovered and the Housewarden at the time asked who caused it… Those upperclassmen placed the blame squarely on our shoulders.

Trey: As punishment, Cater and I were made to leave the dorm for a whole day. That really grinded my gears.

Leona: You say that, but you got some stupid grin on your face. You don't look too angry about it.

Trey: Well, yeah… That'd be because Cater and I put together a plan to get them back.

Leona: So you two schemed something up, huh. You might look gentle and mild-mannered, but I guess there's a reason the Dark Mirror called you.

Trey: We didn't do anything that crazy. I just changed the flavor of those upperclassmen's cake to something a little more invigorating at the next dorm party.

Trey: See, it wasn't anything more than just a silly kid's prank, right? …Well, I had a bit of a hard time after that, though.

Trey: A HARD TIME CONCEALING MY LAUGHTER AS THOSE UPPERCLASSMEN CRIED ABOUT HOW SPICY IT WAS, THAT IS.

Leona: Hahah, how terrifying.

Leona: Well, Cater is one thing… But I see that even someone like you, who's stuck always pacifying that hot-headed Riddle, had an incident like that.

Trey: I mean, isn't that how all the new first years here are like? They're all mischief-makers and rambunctious.

Trey: Even our current first years are way too excitable and are always causing problems, so I sure wasn't an exception.

Trey: Eventually, they'll get used to this school and their dorm, get underclassmen of their own, and even find rivals in other dormitories…

Trey: And step by step, they'll mature into good card soldiers. At least, our Heartslabyul students will.

Trey: Just like we all did.

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Trey: This painting is, let's see… a depiction of "the fairies gifting magic in celebration of the birth of a princess in a certain country."

Trey: The princess herself isn't drawn, but I'm sure she's in the bed that these ladies are peering into.

Trey: But is this actually the scene where they are gifting their presents…? It just looks to me like they're chattering away aimlessly…

Leona: Maybe it's just as you say? They look to me like a bunch of carefree types.

Trey: I'd refute that, but… Well, it's hard to know what actually is true in the stories passed down, I guess.

Trey: Speaking of birthday celebrations and fairies…

Trey: Have you ever heard of the saying that "fairies are born from the laughter of children," Leona?

Leona: Sounds like a tall tale for kids. Never heard of that in my country.

Trey: It's actually a pretty popular myth in the Queendom of Roses.

Trey: Back home, whenever a child is born, that family would bake cakes and gift them to everyone they knew.

Trey: The cupcakes made then are called "fairy cakes," as a nod to that tale.

Leona: Fairy cakes, huh. I can taste the sickly-sweet flavor on my tongue just from the name alone.

Trey: Hahaha… Shoulda known you of all people wouldn't say there was a bit of romanticism in that.

Trey: But that takes me back. I remember when my sister was born, I helped my parents bake a cake, too.

Trey: I was only 4 years old, and didn't really know how to make anything yet, but I did what I could to help.

Trey: We set out the finished cake on a table in our yard, and ate it with family and our neighbors…

Trey: That cake we ate then under the blue sky tasted even better than any other cake I'd ever had.

Trey: And on top of that, all the adults were praising me, saying how "amazing" and "well done" my cake was…

Leona: Can't think there'd be any adult who'd tell a 4-year-old that the cake they made was terrible, though.

Trey: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, when I went back and looked at the pictures of the cake I made back then, it was actually pretty terrible.

Trey: But I took those compliments to heart.

Trey: Because yeah, after that day, I would join them in the kitchen to help bake cakes.

Trey: But truthfully, I would make a mess of the flour just trying to make one layer of the sponge for the cakes, or snag a taste of a few of the cut fruits here and there...

Trey: I'm sure I was a huge bother for my parents, who were trying to work.

Leona: How adorable. You got all excited just from a little flattery. Sounds completely different than the way you are now.

Trey: Please, kids are all like that. Especially me, I was the type that would even climb trees just from the slightest dare.

Trey: I'm really not any different now, either. I'm completely different from you, Leona. I'm just a plain and simple guy.

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Leona: Seems like this is a painting of when the Sorcerer of the Sands got a hold of the magic lamp.

Trey: So, this is the legendary magic lamp, hm. It's a lot smaller than I was expecting… It looks like a teapot made for only one person.

Leona: You know… That kind of response really only shows how shallow your thoughts are. Is that all that comes to mind when you look at a painting showing a scene from that very famous tale?

Leona: This was the lamp that he went through so much and finally got his hands on. Even someone like him, who embodied the spirit of deliberation, might be drowning in absolute elation in this very moment―

Leona: …Or whatever. Anyway, you should read more from this painting than just the size of the lamp, is all.

Trey: Ahaha… I'm just no good at interpreting the actual story behind the art, just from looking at the painting.

Trey: But, based on what you just said, it makes it sound like even someone as great as him, who's left his mark on history, has a human side, huh.

Leona: Even the greats were just people… Although from I remember, he wasn't a human in the end, but a genie.

Trey: That's right, he became a genie in order to overcome the limitation and weakness of a human body. He certainly dreamed big.

Trey: Overcoming weaknesses, huh… If only I could have done that, just as the Sorcerer of the Sands did.

Leona: Huh? Why're you just gazing off into the distance all a sudden?

Trey: Oh, I was just thinking back to how I've recently been running myself ragged trying to overcome this one food I dislike.

Leona: If you don't like it, then just don't eat it. Is it really anything to really overcome?

Trey: Of course it is. Like see, you know how all of the sandwiches and meat dishes in the cafeteria come already covered in that one condiment?

Trey: …I'm talking about mustard. It's tedious for both me and the chef when I have to ask each time for them to remove it, you know?

Trey: Sure, there's a lot of different ways to hide the taste, but I feel it's rude to the chef to change the flavor of something they so painstakingly made.

Trey: That's why I tried so many different ways to overcome my dislike of it, hoping that it would solve everything.

Trey: Every time I made my own dinner in my dorm, I'd add mustard to every dish…

Trey: For about one week or so, I made sure to eat at least one dish each day with mustard in it.

Trey: IN THE END, I EVEN TRIED PUTTING IT IN THE CAKE.

Leona: Well, you sure created a strange, new cake there. So, was it even edible?

Trey: I didn't eat it, so I don't know. My dormmates stopped me, so I wasn't able to actually add it to the cake.

Trey: And so, when they stopped me there, I finally came to a realization.

Trey: If I still can't eat it after all this effort, I should just give up. It isn't something that's going to have a huge impact on my life, after all.

Leona: Hah, took you a while.

Trey: Hahaha… I thought so too.

Trey: Seems like I'm the type where once I start something, I get a little wrapped up in it… This incident really got me reflecting on that habit.

Trey: But hey, thanks to all of that, I can at least eat mustard if it's just there for a bit of flavoring.

Leona: Well, good for you, then. All that continuous mustard eating turned out to be not completely pointless.

Leona: Anyway… All that talk made me thirsty. I'm takin' a break from all this. Bye.

Trey: Okay, see you. …Never thought I'd see the day that Leona would even hold a conversation with me like this. I wonder if it'll rain candy tomorrow or something.

Trey: Alright, next I think I'll go check out one of the paintings of the Great Seven I haven't seen yet… Ooh wait, this one―

Trey: Whenever I see this painting, I always think of "that guy." He's got the same kind of hard-to-read expression on his face.

Trey: I remember back in the day where I'd play along with his pranks and we'd cause a little bit of mischief for people who asked us for directions on the street.

Trey: "Which way ought you go from here? Well, that depends a good deal on where you want to get to!" ―And the like.

Requested by Anonymous.

#twisted wonderland #twst #trey clover #leona kingscholar #twst trey #twst leona #twst translation #twst birthday #mention: cater #mention: riddle #mention: che'nya

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siampie · 3 months

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Risk and Reward||Chapter 3: Scared Of Love

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.4k

Summary: You finally decide to drop the "let's be friends," after your coffee date with Matthew. And you both admit your mutual attraction.

Warnings/tags: angst, fluff, mutual pining, idiots in love, childhood trauma, slight mention of emotional abuse

A/N: Originally, this chapter was supposed to feature teasing Matt but Reader kindly reminded me that things between her and Matt aren't there yet. Those things take time. So, the chapter title changed and I think it’s a little angsty but it fits the story. Also, this song is the one that inspired this fic. Not entirely satisfied with this chapter but I still like it. I hope you enjoy it.

PS: And don’t worry, teasing Matt will make an appearance but a little further down the line.

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Tag list: @marytheweefrenchie, @sunflowersandsapphires, @abbyhaslongshorts, @schneeflocky, @danzer8705

Dividers by @cafekitsune

Song the title is referring to:

Don’t come any closer

Till I tell you that it’s over

‘Cause I rather be alone than be a wreck

We’re both playing with fire

And you’re the one holding the lighter

But if we never start, we’ll never end

Matt had a soft smile on his face, sitting across from you. Your hands were around your warm cup. You couldn’t see his sightless eyes but you knew they were on you. You took a sip before you could answer his question.

“I wanted to be a housewife when I was a kid.” You chuckled when he gave you an incredulous look. “I wanted to be like my mother.” You clarified. “I thought she was doing the greatest job in the world. Taking care of her children and loving them. I wanted to be just like her.”

“What change?” Matt reached out for his cup.

“Well,” You sighed. “When I was eleven, she walked out on us. With no explanations and no goodbyes. So, I sorta decided on another career path.”

“You didn’t want to be like her anymore.” Matt stated quietly.

“Not really. My dad had grown a bad habit of constantly comparing me to her, you know.” You spoke. “It was always negative. And it was always me, specifically. My siblings never got compared to her. Never really understood why.”

When you were younger, right after your mother had walked away, you and your father had gotten into lots of fights. You were both lashing out at each other. Both grieving a loss, both angry and not knowing how to deal with those emotions; you both lashed out. But every time you fought back; he would compare you to your mother. He called you unloving, ungrateful, disloyal. His words had cut deep within you, leaving open wounds that had yet to heal. And all these years of taking care of him, of the home, and of your siblings, stemmed from a need to prove him wrong. You were loving, grateful and loyal. You made sure he knew. You made sure he knew that he was wrong. He had to know.

That need within your heart to prove your father wrong, had mostly come from fear. A fear that he would abandon you just like your mother did. So, you did everything you could to give him a reason to stay. A reason to love you as much as you loved him.

You felt his calloused hand on yours. His hand felt rough but gentle. Your heart skipped a beat. “Your father was wrong to do this. you were only a child. You were hurting as much as he was."

“I know that now." You spoke softly. "But I didn't then. I suppose when you are a kid, you trust the grown-ups around you to protect you, and comfort you. You don't expect them to use their words to hurt you."

“I know what you mean," Matt said.

“You do ?”

“When I lost my father, I was sent to the orphanage." He answered. "The Nuns did not really know how to deal with me—and the person they chose to do so—wasn't really the best."

“Was he blind like you?”

“Yeah,” He nodded. “He taught me everything I know.”

He looked uncomfortable as though he had said too much already. As though, he had let it slip. You had caught him off guard. You didn't push though. Instead, you hummed quietly.

“How did you lose your father? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“He was shot when I was nine.” Matt adjusted his glasses. “He was a boxer, you know. My dad. He lost more than he won, before he, uh—but he could take a punch.” He said fondly. “He always told me ‘It ain’t how you hit the mat, it’s how you get up.’”

You loved the way he spoke of his father. Every word was dripping with love and admiration. But most of all with pride. And aside all of that, there was a pain behind his words, the pain it still felt at the loss.

“That’s a good motto to go by in life.” You observed, your lips turning up at the corner. “I like that. No matter how many times you get knocked down, just keep on getting back up.” You wove your fingers with his, and gave a gentle squeeze. “I’m sure he would have been proud of you. As much as you are of him.”

“Barely, but thanks.” He smiled at you. He refused to take the compliment. You were not the only one who had demons, it seemed.

“He truly would have been proud of you, Matthew. You’re a good man.” You assured him. His sightless gaze dropped to the table, a faint smile on his face. “Are you going shy on me, Murdock?” You teased him.

He chuckled before adjusting his glasses. “You have a—um—a way of doing this.”

“Making you go shy?”

“Among other things.” His lips twitched up at the corner.

You ran your tongue over your lips. His words had a way to make you blush. Just three words but with so much more meaning behind them.

“Is it a bad thing that I do?”

“No, I—I find it refreshing. Keep me on my toes." He joked.

“Oh.” You let out breathless, your eyes landed on your interlaced fingers. His thumb brushed over yours, in a back-and-forth motion. “This starts feeling like date and not so much like two friends catching up over coffee.”

“Would it be so bad if it was?” Matt questioned softly.

“No, I don’t think it would—it’s just—” You paused.

“Yeah?”

You like Matt Murdock. So, would it be so bad if this was a date? Short answer. No. It wouldn’t be. The conversation was easy between the two of you. You two were now leaning over the table. Your fingers were woven together. And it all felt natural. You had opened up to him more freely than you had with others. He already knew more about you than Amelia did. Was there any point in keeping this “let’s be friends,” thing going?

“Just not today.” You told him. “Maybe next time?”

“Are you asking me on a real date?” He smirked.

“Yeah.” Your eyes dropped to the table. Your neckline started to feel warm, your heart was hammering, trying to escape from your ribcage. “Only—if you want to.” You tucked your hair behind your ear with your free hand.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” He huffed out a laugh.

You scoffed. “You still can.” And you smirked.

Matt walked you home as he had done before. You stood facing him, at the bottom of the stairs that led into your building. His hand slid down your arm, to grip your hand. He stepped closer to you. Your eyes roamed his face before settling on his red tinted glasses.

“I like you.” Matt said.

“I like you too.” You smiled at him.

“I would like to take you out on a date.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” You teased him.

He chuckled. “How does dinner sound? Next weekend?”

“Sounds great.” You nodded, smiling.

“Yeah?” He grinned before his forehead touched yours. Your eyes fell shut at the contact.

“Yeah.” You breathed out.

He had let go of your hand. His fingers gently grazed against your neck, before making their way to your jaw. He ran his thumb on your cheek. His nose brushed against yours. His breath was fanning over your lips. Your hands moved to his solid chest. You opened your eyes, they landed immediately on his lips. You could lean in and kiss him. You could just give into the desire to feel his lips against yours. You could. You wanted to. But you just couldn’t bring yourself to close the gap between you. So, instead, you pulled away from him. You cleared your throat.

“Will you let me know when you get home?” You asked him quietly.

“I will.” He cleared his throat, and pushed his glasses back onto his face. “I’ll call you, all right?”

“Okay.” You nodded as he stepped away from you, your hands falling back to your sides. “Have a good day, Matthew.”

“You too.” He smiled at you before turning to leave.

Matthew Murdock liked you. And you liked him too. It was a first for you, really. The butterflies in your stomach had not fizzled out. If anything, they had only grown stronger. Just the thought of him stirred them awake. And yet, you were mad at yourself for not giving in to the desire to kiss him. You had wanted to do it. You just had to lean in. Why didn’t you?

Your brain was constantly working against you. You were able to counter it most days. When it was work related, it was quite easy. But when it came to intimacy, not so much. You spiraled down a pit of self-doubt. Always. Were you supposed to kiss him now? This wasn’t a date. This was two friends catching up over coffee. And yes, his face was really close to yours but did it mean he wanted to kiss you? What if you had read the signs wrong? And did you know how to kiss? No one had ever complained before but would it be good enough for him?

You slammed your hands down on your kitchen counter. “Give it a rest.” You grabbed your spoon, and shovel down a mouthful of ice-cream. “He’s going to call you. He’ll set up a date and a time. And you’ll kiss him then.” You spoke to yourself. “Yeah, if I’d grown a pair since then.”

Your phone rang next to you. Your heart picked up in anticipation. This was it; he was calling you like he had said. You took a deep breath and grabbed your phone. You checked the caller ID to make sure it was him. It was Amelia. Your shoulders slumped, in disappointment. You also suddenly felt stupid. It had only been two days. He’d call when he’d call, right? And he was a lawyer. He was probably busy.

“State mental institution, which patient do you wish to speak with?” You answered the phone.

“Hilarious.” She said dryly. “Pretty Boy hasn’t called you yet?”

“Nope.” You took another spoon of ice-cream.

“How loud are they?”

“Pretty loud.” You sighed miserably. “I shouldn’t have agreed to it.” You felt the tears pricked at the corner of your eyes.

“What?!” Amelia exclaimed. “No, don’t do that. Don’t do that.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“You are.” Amelia said. “Something good happened to you. Something good is happening to you. Matt likes you and you like him. He said he will call you. And he will. So, don’t do the self-pity thing, please.”

“It’s not self-pity. It’s reality.” You argued moving to your couch. “Something good happened, I let myself enjoy it for two seconds. And now—”

“Nothing.” Amelia cut you off. “Nothing bad is going to happen. Something good is happening to you.”

You did not believe her. In your experience, each time you had felt some sort of happiness, it was either ripped away from you or something terrible happened to your family. You felt as though you were being punished by God for feeling some sort of joy. As though you were not allowed to.

Or maybe you were exaggerating, Making a mountain out of molehill. What was the most rational thing? Amelia was most likely right. Matt Murdock would call you. He said he would. He was a lawyer, and he might have gotten busy with work. And it was only Tuesday, after all. Matt would not lie to you.

“Do you want to come over?” You asked her.

“Tequila or Vodka?”

“None of the above.”

“You’re right. I’ll bring both.”

Red pen at the ready. Music blaring in your ears. Drowning out the chatter of your colleagues, the buzzing of the light. You were focused on your recent manuscript; a young adult fantasy. Young adults’ books were one of your favorite genres, when written well. When the plot made sense. But when it didn’t, it drove you up the wall. This one did not exactly do it for you. It wasn't bad, but overall, it was quite a good read. But not exactly your cup of tea. That wasn’t why you were paid. You were paid to proofread the book. You were paid to review errors, not to review the plot.

Your music stopped playing when your phone rang. You took off your headphones and answered the call.

“Welcome to the complaint hotline. Press 1 for minor annoyances. 2 for full-on ranting.” You announced in your best imitation of a customer service voice.

“Complaint hotline?” It was Matt. He sounded confused.

You gasped and straitened in your seat as though he could see you. “Hello Matthew!”

He broke into a chuckle. “Hello to you too. Sounds like you’re having fun?”

“It’s just a silly joke. I thought it was Amelia.” You explained quickly. “I forgot to check the caller ID.” You mumbled under your breath.

“Filtering calls, I see.

"I'm not - I just -," You fumbled to form an answer. You heard him laugh through the phone. “What can I do for you, Matthew?” You dropped your forehead in the palm of your hand.

“I wanted to make sure we were still on for this weekend.” He replied. “Dinner on Saturday night?”

You were thrilled that the date was happening still. You were even more thrilled that he had called as he had said he would. Your face broke into a smile. “Sounds great.” You softly answered.

“At seven?” He offered.

“Perfect.” Your smile only deepened.

“I’ll meet you at your place and we can walk there.”

“And where are you taking me?”

“There’s a Thai restaurant by my place. I thought we could go there.” Matt told you.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Good, so do I.” He admitted. “I’ll see you on Saturday, then?”

“Gladly. I’ll see you on Saturday.” You bit your bottom lip. “Have a good day, Matthew.”

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#matt murdock x reader #matt murdock angst #daredevil x reader #matt murdock #matt murdock fluff #matt murdock fic #matt murdock x you #matt murdock x fem!reader #Spotify

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orangevtae · 1 year

Text

Protector [Din Djarin x Skywalker!Reader]

Summary: Din's been on your track for a while now, but he actually didn't know that you were being hunted for to be delivered to an Empire Lord that has been after you simply because you were part of the Resistance so you both make a deal: you pay him so he protects you till you got to Nevarro so you can pay the price for your own head and you go to your separate ways. But is Din capable of doing it?

Warnings: Even if the story it's written between the events of seasons 1 & 2, maybe there can be some spoilers. Strangers to lovers (kinda?). Murder and death. afab!reader and use of she/her pronouns. Mentions of the Skywalker twins, reader and them are not blood relationed tho. Found family kinda thing. Typical Star Wars and The Mandalorian like violence. Touch starved Din (No one's gonna change my mind on that).

A/N: another day, another Pedro Pascal character. I decided to delete Supernova cause i didn't like the way it was going and i thought about this one and liked the idea better, maybe it will be multi-chapter, still thinking about it. Enjoy! <3

Chapter 1: The Meeting

Din was yet in another icey planet. The snow beneath his feet was fluff, what made his boots smooth down while he heard the crunchy sound of it. The kid was safely neated and warmed on it's satchel by Din's hip as The Mandalorian was with his attention on his track orb that was beeping the louder he walked.

He didn't mind snowy icey planets, his beskar made sure to keep the cold out, he only thought about how this kinda of place seemed to be the prefered ones for the bounties he went after to. The thing is: this bounty in specifically never stopped on a place for more than a week, he got lucky if sometimes they decided to stay for two weeks, but it never lasted.

He has been after you for quite some months now, Din thought that maybe that was the longer he took to find a bounty. It was hard to keep tracks on you, he got near close to capture you once on Coruscant but you got him lost on the multitude on people on there, he only got closer enough to see you flying off on a ship, attentively looking back at him. So now, with you close to reach and him lucky enough to find out about where you were hiding before you took off by the end of the week was everything he asked for.

You knew he was after you, which bounty hunter wasn't? But the fact is: he in specifically was the one that could actually keep his track on you. You made all the others get lost, being tricked whenever they got too close so you could use the force to persuade them to believe that you weren't the person they were looking for.

But this one, this Mandalorian guy, really made up for the legends he had on his shoulders. At first, you were deeply afraid of him, he for himself looked butch enough and with the beskar clad armor he wore, he looked even more intimidating. If he ever so captured you, you were done for.

You don't know how long you were in the run now, you just knew that it had been so long that you blocked your siblings from the force connection you had so just you wouldn't endangering them on this too. You knew Luke and Leia could take care of themselves, they had much more force training than you, but they had their own lifes and you didn't want them in trouble cause of your problems.

It was easy to persuade the others bounty hunters, even if they were in that line of work, not all of them were good on their stealthy, you lost count how many times you got them lost cause they made fools of themselves but with the Mandalorian? You only got lucky the first and only time you were able to drible him and run away before he captured you. Right now, you wouldn't have time to hide or run cause you didn't thought yet about the next planet you would go to because the Mandalorian found you first, so you had two options and neither of them were good enough to do before he shot you with a blaster and it's bye-bye you.

You took a deep breath, you were patiently waiting for him to get to the room you were staying at and you weren't less surprised when you heard the door open and close, the sound of heavy boots making themselves known as he got inside "Don't move" he commanded, his voice a little raspy from the modulator from his helmet.

"So...you finally found me" you commented, voice low.

"Yeah, you were kinda hard to keep track on but not enough" he said "Stand up"

You took a deep breath, it was now or never "Okay, listen, i have a proposal for you" you said as you stood up, hands above your head "I'm pretty sure you don't know who is after me."

"No clue, my job it's just to catch you and bring you" he said, taking slow steps towards you as he stood tall before you, blaster directly aimed to your stomach "and i can bring you in warm or i can bring in cold, you decide it. I'm going to get my payment either way."

"Please, just listen to me" you begged, looking up at him. Your orbs found the T line on his helmet, that was a little tilted down at you since you were a little smaller than him and you almost felt like crying if that would made him listen to you, you didn't care if you were going to be shot, you have to at least try "The man that is looking for me, he's an former Empire Lord. Even if the Empire it's over, there's plenty of man like the one's after me around the galaxy."

"So what?" he said in return.

"So what is that he's after me cause i was part of the Rebellion, got sent on a mission where my purpose was to find and take down the ship he was and the crew members with him by the end of the war. He still was alive after i took everything down and that set a rage on him and he's been looking for me ever since." you let out a deep breath "I never did anything moraly wrong that could cause my name to be around a bounty hunter track orb or to have a farrik Mandalorian after me. He's just after me cause he wants revenge and the Republic doesn't know how to find him cause he is always hidden the dark where their eyes are unable to see and if i wasn't being honest about it i wouldn't come up with such history, it has too much backstory for it to be a teltalle so i can ditch you, so i am asking you to please believe my word."

For a moment, you thought that he wasn't conviced and that he would end up shooting you without needing to think twice He was silent for a few good moments, just shallow breaths being heard from his modulator.

"I don't trust you" he said finally "You could very well just made that up so you could try, so i need something to know that what you are saying it's true."

You almost sighed with relief at it and nodded "Downstairs, the lady on the reception, she was an former Rebellion ally, we fought together many times, she can confirm you my story. I'll be right here when you get back, you have my word."

You heard a deep sigh coming from him "Okay" he said, holsting his blaster back on his hip "If you story is a blanty lie and i discover that that woman downstairs has nothing to do with what you saying, you can expect that when i come back, you are done for."

You nodded your head, feeling your thighs tremble a little "Okay."

"Stay right here, if you move" he held up his tracker "I'll know"

And he went out the door.

You let out a deep breath, your hands were sweating and trembling as you took a seat on the bed beneath you. To say you were scared of him was mere fact, that guy was even broader up close than what you've seen last time from afar. He stood tall before you all the time while having a calm demeanor with a blaster pointed at you ready to shoot if you ever tried anything.

But you wouldn't, cause you actually needed him. Not that you weren't capable of taking care of yourself, cause in reality you could take anyone down in a matter of seconds if you needed, but you needed a safe scape out and you assumed he had a ship and you needed to get to Nevarro without other bounty hunter stumbling into you.

It seemed like hours, it looked like it has been an eternity before the Mandalorian apeared on the door of your room again, closing it after he got inside.

"So?" you asked

"She confirmed your version, but why an Empire scum is after you? Really, i mean" he asked you, putting some weight on his left leg and one of his hands on his hip

"I killed his son" you stated "I didn't knew he was on board of the ship" It got silent suddenly.

It looked like the weight made your shoulders sunk.

It was the first time you ever revealed that, it was an acident, the kid wasn't supposed to be on board when you bombarded the Imperial ship, that kind of information wasn't given cause no one knew he was on board when you and your team were supposed to explode it.

"We didn't know, that kind of info never came to us and when it came...well, it was already done and his father has been after me ever since" you sighed

Mando didn't said anything for a while, only sighed and looked at the satchel at his hip where the Kid was still sleeping peacefully "So, what was your proposal?"

"Take me to Nevarro, i can pay you in double the reward for me and i am guessing you have a ship" you stated to him, squaring your shoulders "I need someone as you to take me there cause i'm always on a track. I just need to get to Nevarro to pay the reward that it's on my head, i guess that that may erase me from the Guild's records"

Din thought for a while. Even on his line of work, it wasn't acceptable to kill kids and he thought that you were paying for something that wasn't your fault and you clearly just wanted a stop to the constant feeling of running away. That didn't mean he trusted you tho.

Plus, he needed the money, he had an extra mouth now so he needed to buy food since the green child under his care never stopped eating amd he wanted him to at least live well under his care.

"I'll take you there, one of the head leaders of the Guild is a friend of mine, i guess he can do that for you if i ask him, it's a more than fair trade i guess" he shrugged, putting his blaster back on the holter "But i don't trust you."

"You don't have to" you looked him at his helmet, where you guessed his eyes would be "Just take me to Nevarro, i'll pay you and we both go on our separate ways"

"Deal" he tilted his head towards the door signaling for you guys to head out the door.

You grabbed the backpack you always carried with you that had just the few belongings and headed out the room, the lights went off and the door closed behind you and your new companions for a while.

For your lucky, you always remembered to pay your stady on the places you would be in the moment you arrived at them, so you didn't had problems when leaving the in you where. When you put feet outside of it, the cold air hitted you with force and you squeezed the scarf closer to your neck and nose and followed the Mandalorian that was a few steps ahead of you.

When you took steps enough to at least walk by his side in silence, you noticed a pair of green ears peaking out of the satchel he had around his hip, you frowned when it turned it's head and stared at you with it's big orbs. You let out a little smile make itself on your lips when you noticed that it was a baby, he cooed to you and you waved a little before looking front of you to make sure you wouldn't step on some ice that would make you slide face down on the ground. You haven't noticed the baby till now.

You knew that Mandalorians had a costume to take orphans in their care till they delivered them to their family's or they stayed with them of they couldn't find, you were surprised to know that this Mandalorian beside you had that kind of mission on him. It didn't take long to get to the hangar where the Mandalorian had put his ship into.

You let out a quiet whistle at seeing his ship "Wow, Razor Crest. It's been a while since i saw one"

"Ever piloted one?" he asked, this seemed to peak his interest

"No, we had one at the Rebel base, it was only used once" you whispered

"C'mon" he clicked a few buttons on the pad of his arm, making the ramp of the Crest to get down.

When it was down enough, he went ahead of you and climbed it, you followed close behind, when you were inside, the same ramp got up and the Crest was started, lifting off the ground so you decided to go to the cockpit, where the Mandalorian and his little green friend where at and then went off planet.

#din djarin x f!reader #din djarin x reader #din djarin x you #din djarin x female reader #din djarin #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian x y/n #the mandalorian #pedro pascal characters #reader insert #star wars #star wars imagine

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mysecretlittlelibrary · 6 months

Text

A New Home

Pairing: Platonic! Peter Parker & Reader; Reader x Bucky (but that's not really plot relevant)

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: uh none really just mentioning of all the tragedies MCU Peter has endured lmao

Genre: it's pretty fluffy- there's minor angst

Summary: You happen to be the only person who still remembers Peter Parker exists and you are not about to hang him out to dry. So what happens when you take Peter in and basically become his guardian? Well- nothing is simple where super-teens are involved, but you and Peter can certainly handle whatever comes your way. Right?

***

You're worried. You know you've been gone for months and things can change a lot in a few months but it shouldn't be this hard to find Peter. Flying down the streets of New York you finally spot the kid through an open window in a rundown apartment building.

"Parker! There you are! Dude, I've been looking all over the city for you what the hell?" You lean against the window sill, startling Peter when you speak.

"Miss y/n! You know who I am!" Peter blinks at you.

"Well duh, why wouldn't I? And what are you doing in this godawful apartment?"

"Well-" Peter trails off, avoiding your gaze.

"Peter, what did you do?" Your eyes widen.

"I- made the entire world forget who I am?" He says hesitantly. You blink at him for a moment.

"Wh- ho- why would you- what made you think that was a good idea?"

"It wasn't a good idea it was the only idea." He says.

"I- how'd ya figure?" You tilt your head.

"It's a... long story." He mutters.

"So start telling it. Been lookin' for you all over the city so I've got time."

"Okay- it all started when I went on a summer trip to Europe and I met this guy- Mister Mysterio, and it was right after Mr. Stark died and you know, he was pretty important to me and you were away and Mr. Stark left me so much tech that I didn't know what to do with so when Mister Mysterio basically offered to take me under his wing I dunno I thought it'd help me deal with the Mr. Stark thing but he ended up being a super bad dude and I had to fight him and just before I defeated him he like released a video telling the whole world I was Spiderman and also painting me like a bad guy and it totally ruined my life. Like when I started senior year in the fall there were people literally protesting outside of my school! Some wanted me to pay for what I did to Mister Mysterio but others thought I had a reason for what happened since I'm like a neighborhood hero-"

"Well did you?" You ask cutting off Peter's frantic 2x speed recap.

"What?" He blinks at you.

"Have a reason. For whatever happened with Mysterio."

"Of course I did! He wanted to use Stark's tech to take over the world!"

"I'm just pulling your leg kid- I know you'd never harm a dude for no reason." You chuckle. "I'm just dispelling tension because you're speedrunning. So this guy ruined your life by telling the world you're Spiderman. What happened next?"

"Well with all the chaos it caused me in my daily life I went to Mr. Strange to try and fix it."

"You went to Strange." You repeat.

"Yeah cuz he's got that magic stone and with you gone, he's like the only person I know who might've been able to do the thing I was thinking of." Peter shrugs.

"And what was the thing you were thinking of?"

"I was going to see if there was a spell that could make the world forget that I was Spiderman but while we were doing the spell I remembered that there were people I had already told independent of the whole Mysterio thing and I didn't want them to forget because it's so much easier to not have to lie to Ned or MJ or Aunt May so I kept fixing the spell to be more specific than 'everyone forgets Peter Parker is Spiderman' and did you know there are other Spidermen in other versions of reality?!"

"That makes sense." You nod.

"What?"

"I travel through time and space a lot, I've seen hundreds of versions of hundreds of people- there being other Spidermen makes sense. What was your spell?"

"Well I altered it a few times while Mr. Strange was creating it but the last thing I said was something like 'everyone who already knew before should still know' and somehow it brought people who knew other Spidermen here. Specifically two other Spidermen and of course, they were all villains because I guess those guys do not have friends back home-"

"Peter!" You gasp barely holding back your laughter.

"Sorry- that was rude but I was really overwhelmed okay there was a dude who could like control electricity, and a guy made out of sand, and a huge freaking lizard monster, and a guy who dressed like a goblin and he killed Aunt May and there was a dude with gigantic mechanical tentacle arm thingies that came out of his back it was- terrifying."

"Oh honey." You sigh.

"We almost died in the process but me and the other Spidermen managed to kick them back to where they belonged, but Mr. Strange's botched spell was causing a collision of the multiverse so to reverse it we- had to make the whole world forget Peter Parker altogether." Peter says. There are a few moments of silence as you contemplate what to say next. Scolding him seems harsh, he's been through too much since you've last seen him.

"When did that happen? The forget-me-not spell part."

"Like- four months ago." He shrugs.

"And you've just been on your own here since then?" You frown.

"Aunt May's dead- no one else knows who I am- I- I didn't have anywhere to go." He shrugs.

"Do you want to stay here?" You ask.

"What?"

"I- hate this apartment, I don't really like you living here it's- tiny and probably not up to safety codes but if you'd rather stay I can't force you to move I just- I'd feel better if you moved in with me. So I'm asking."

"I don't wanna be a burden."

"Oh don't be ridiculous I could never see you as a burden and you've had a hard enough time in the last year there is no reason for you to have it any harder than it needs to be. If you want to move in with me there's plenty of room." You tell him.

"You mean it?"

"Absolutely." You nod.

"Okay- I'll- pack my things I guess."

"Good." You clap your hands together and climb fully into the apartment to help him.

It takes a few hours but eventually, you get Peter out of that shoebox of his and set him up in what used to be your guest room. He spends a little while in there unpacking until he's apparently too overwhelmed to do any more of it and takes refuge in the living room to watch TV. You're in the kitchen when he comes out and declares unpacking will have to wait and while you don't want to bring his mood down you feel like you have to check in before you can finish the baking you were doing. You take a seat in the armchair next to where Peter is perched on your couch.

"I- didn't get a chance to ask earlier but, how are you dealing with the whole Aunt May thing? You barely got to grieve Tony before it all went to shit it seems."

"I- haven't really had a whole lot of time to dwell on it actually, but I've been to visit her a couple of times."

"If you need anything Peter please ask and I'm serious. We've been family for quite a while as far as I'm concerned but especially now. Can't have you thinking you've got no one left in this world."

"Thanks y/n. Although I seriously don't get how Mr. Strange's spell didn't affect you too." Peter frowns.

"Dunno- maybe I was traveling through time when he did it. Or somewhere in space, outta range." You shrug.

"Lucky for me I guess." He says.

"Very." You stand and ruffle his hair before returning to the kitchen. You're glad he seems to be getting comfortable in your home already. You want him to be comfortable here, he deserves a little comfort after all that's happened. Some time later you hear the lock to your front door click open as you pull cookies out of your oven.

"Y/n?" Bucky's voice calls from the door.

"Kitchen!" You call back setting the tray on the counter. You can hear Bucky making his way down the hall before he enters the kitchen. His smile turns to a look of confusion and he retreats from sight for a moment and then pivots back into the kitchen.

"There's a boy in your living room babe." He points out.

"Yeah, I know that's Peter." You say with a laugh.

"Do we know Peter?"

"I know Peter."

"How?"

"He's-" you pause for a moment. Bucky won't remember him. He barely knew the kid in the first place. "He's my godson." You say. That's probably believable.

"You have a godson?!"

"I have a few godchildren actually- he's just the oldest." You say. Truth.

"He's got siblings?"

"No, he's an only child but I am a godparent to multiple children that are not related to each other."

"Including that one?" Bucky points down the hall in the general direction of your living room.

"Yes including that one. He's moved in with me." You say.

"What?!" Bucky's eyes widen.

"It's a... long story- he's not my nephew or anything I actually didn't know his parents. I was friends with his aunt who ended up responsible for him after his parents died and she made me her- for lack of a better word, successor if anything happened to her once she became his only living family."

"Well, where's his aunt?"

"She died while I was gone." You say. You'll have to make a point to visit Aunt May's grave soon.

"So where's he been?" Bucky asks.

"In a dingey little shoebox of an apartment." You grimace.

"He's old enough that he got his own apartment?"

"Well, he's eighteen but I don't believe in throwing kids to the wolves once they turn eighteen so I told him he could come stay with me because there's no reason for him to be in a shitty apartment struggling to support himself when I have space. Plus he's got basically no other family now, I don't want him to be alone."

"Alright, but you can't make me talk to him." Bucky says.

"My love he's a teenager I don't expect you to have a playdate. I'm looking after him, I'm not making that your responsibility." You chuckle.

"Cool." Bucky snatches a cookie off the counter. "I'm headed to your room for a while." He kisses your cheek and disappears up the stairs. A couple minutes after Bucky disappears Peter comes shuffling into the kitchen.

"Godson?" He asks sitting on one of the stools by the island.

"Hm?" You frown.

"You told Mr. Bucky that I'm your godson."

"Oh- well, it was the first pretty believable thing I could think of. And I think if May thought something would take her from us so soon she'd probably have planned for you to stay with me or Tony." You shrug.

"I think so too." He says after a moment.

"Don't worry too much about Bucky, you know how he is around new people."

"We didn't really get to know each other the first time around but- do you think he'll warm up to me?" Peter asks.

"Aw of course he will. He'd never admit it but Buck's got a secret soft spot for chosen families. It won't be immediate but I'm sure you'll be ganging up on me in no time." You shrug.

"He doesn't seem all that open."

"Well- you know how when kids bring home a puppy they 'found' and their parents grumble about a new responsibility but end up falling in love with the animal anyway?"

"Yeah?"

"Not that you're a stray dog or anything but Bucky's kind of seeing it in the same way. He probably thinks I'll need his help looking after you. Which- on a pretty much unrelated note sweetie, are you still Spiderman?"

"Yeah- just now no one knows. Is that... a problem?" Peter asks hesitantly.

"Now why would that be a problem? I'd be quite the hypocrite to suddenly decide you can't be Spiderman. That's how we met after all." You chuckle, reaching forward and pinching his chin affectionately. "And helping people is what you do. It's what we do. I'd never ask you to stop. But we'll need some regulations."

"Regulations?" His tone makes you giggle a bit.

"Within reason. I just mean I need you to keep me posted. Holler before you go on patrols, and call me if you have any emergencies. Oh, and any time you tell someone your secret I'd like to know."

"Oh, I don't plan to tell anyone. Well- maybe we can tell Mr. Bucky eventually. I agree with those regulations but I don't have anyone else to tell." He shakes his head.

"For now but if you go to college and make friends-"

"Do you think I could?" Peter's eyes widen hopefully.

"Make friends?" You frown.

"Go to college."

"I think you've wiped yourself from the memories of everyone you know- it gives you a unique opportunity to start over however you see fit. I know college was something you were really looking forward to so- if you get your GED you can enroll next fall or this spring if you're ready to start earlier. I'll help you in any way I can if that's what you want." You say. There's a stretch of silence as Peter considers your words.

"I'll think about it." He says.

"You do that. In the meantime just- let's get used to living together. Deal?"

"Deal." He smiles.

"Good. Cookie?" You slide the tray towards him and he takes one happily. You really think this is going to be good for him and it might even be better for you than you expect.

***

A/N: if I wrote more of this would y'all want to read it? It would be anthology style but I think the concept is real cute!

#marvel #marvel fanfiction #Spiderman #Peter Parker #peter parker fanfiction #spiderman fanfiction #Peter Parker & platonic reader #found family fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader

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sapphic-agent · 6 months

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Can you please get into how much the fandom demonizes Rei? Like, I’m not disagreeing that she wasn’t the best mother. But people really turn this woman (who is financially, socially, AND emotionally dependent on her husband and Clan!) into some abusive mother who WANTED to burn Shoto’s face! When it’s obvious that she was begging her mother to take her away from the house because she was too stressed out from Endeavor’s influence and Touya’s death!

I don’t know, I just think she’s not a perfect mother, but nobody can be a perfect mother. She clearly did her best with what she had, and who would’ve believed her if she said Endeavor was an abusive husband and father? The police? Other heroes? No! I bet Endeavor would’ve claimed that SHE was the terrible parent and that she was suffering from PPSD (which, she probably was, four kids, two of which were born when Endeavor started getting obsessed with overcoming All Might? She definitely had that) and she would’ve ended up in the hospital no matter what.

Let's talk about it😈

So I was actually skimming through the manga where Shoto mentions this. He says that his mother was pushed and pushed by Endeavor until she just broke. And I love this because Shoto understands that his mom was in a shitty situation and never intended to hurt him. Unlike this shitty fandom, he's aware enough to see who was the abuser and who was the one who made a mistake.

Let's go over Rei's past for a minute. She:

Grew up in an environment that was at the best neglectful and at the worst abusive

Was sold like an object (and yes this is canon, the Himura Clan canonically sells their children it was a forced marriage, not an arranged marriage)

Married Endeavor and had Touya at 18

Already, she was dealt a shitty hand. Endeavor is also four years older than her, so he was 22 while she was only barely an adult. Even outside her being bought by him, there's a huge power imbalance here. Even if he was polite and nice in the beginning, she was at a major disadvantage in their "relationship."

One of my gripes with Horikoshi and the later parts of the manga is the retcon of the Todoroki past. How Shoto tells the story and how it's portrayed later are very different.

In Shoto's version, Endeavor hit Rei for defending him from Endeavor. In the Touya flashback, she tripped. In Shoto's version, Endeavor only saw his children as means to an end. In the Touya flashback, he's portrayed as caring about them. In Shoto's version, there's a menacing and villainous aura surrounding Endeavor. In the Touya flashback he's portrayed normally.

And this is done to make Endeavor look more sympathetic. Which is bad not only because he was an abuser who doesn't deserve sympathy, it also antagonizes Touya and Rei in the process.

(People could argue that Shoto's love for his mother and young age make him an unreliable narrator. But to me this is dismissing the victim. Shoto might have been young, but he recalls enough to tell it in excruciating detail. It was a huge part of his life and writing it off like that does him a disservice)

So there are two instances specifically that people demonize Rei for.

1. Shoto's Burn

Now this is the one that is her responsibility. My thing is though... No one ever said it wasn't? Least of all Rei herself. Once she saw Shoto again, she immediately apologized. During the event itself, she realized what she did and broke down and tried to fix it. She also spent 10 years in asylum paying for what she did (which is more consequence than Endeavor faced btw).

The thing no one seems to acknowledge about this is that this didn't come from nowhere. She didn't do what she did out of cruelty or hatred towards her son. She did it because Endeavor had abused her to the point of insanity. To the point where even seeing them in her kids' faces caused her to have a complete mental breakdown. Which is understandable due to the physical, verbal, financial, and sexual abuse he was putting her through.

You know, there's an irl story like this. A woman was suffering from severe PPD and other mental issues after having four kids I think it was. Doctors and everyone repeatedly told her husband that she souldn't have more kids. He didn't listen (I'm not sure if SA was involved here but I'm inclined to believe it was) and they continued to have more. Eventually one day she snapped and killed her children.

PPD is seriously dangerous when it's left untreated, even worse when that isn't the only thing going on. Rei was no doubt suffering from the ramifications of that, but on top of everything else Endeavor out her through I can't believe she didn't break earlier.

2. Touya's Situation

It baffles that people find it in themselves to blame Rei but feel sympathy towards Endeavor over Touya.

Because on top of every instance of abuse I mentioned above, Rei was also taking care of four kids completely by herself. That would be hard even without her own and Touya's mental issues.

From the manga panel I provided, she was the only one between her and Endeavor taking Touya's mental well-being seriously. She knew how having more kids would affect him and she was right. She was the one who had to deal with Touya lashing out when Endeavor ignored him (which also contributed to her breaking down and burning Shoto due to Touya emulating Endeavor).

Rei is a character who's been judged so unfairly. Partly because Endeavor fanboys, partly because Dabi/Shoto fangirls, and completely because of the misogyny that runs rampant in this fandom. She deserved so much better.

I have a fic giving Rei the justice she deserves if anyone's interested. It features my OC who happens to be Rei's quirkless younger sister. Give it a read if you want

#mha critical #bnha critical #rei todoroki deserves better #tw child abuse #tw marital rape #anti endeavor #anti enji todoroki

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hey-i-am-trying · 11 days

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Dude, IM part of the Spanish community and I thought Roier was being a total ass to Pepito's OG admin. That anon cant speak for us all and I honestly feel like Roier was mean as hell to that poor admin the hole damn time. I remember when he started pointing out the admins were changing and thought it was so rude to call out the REAL PEOPLE who were playing and acting like they HAD to act a specific way (like RIchas) or else he would spend the hole steam yelling at him, hitting him, insulting him as a """"joke"""" I fucking hated watching Roier and Pepito interact and NOT because of Pepito thats for sure. I was so glad when other people started looking after him and I feel so deeply bad for that poor OG admin who didnt get to play THEIR FUCKING character. I hate seeing people be like "we liked the other Pepito cause he fallowed Roier's story better" what about THAT ADMINS story???? As if these arnt real ass people roleplaying but just characters you can rewrite and should fit to form every time. The other eggs can have bad days and bad moods but Pepito cant? Its not only unfair and mean but it proved Pepito's self hatred right till the very end. Pepito's story is "If im not happy and bubbly 100% of the time ill be hated by the people meant to love me no matter what" and thats just shitty. I guess I can understand there was a tonal misunderstanding because Roier is more jokey and non serious and Pepito's OG admin seemed to me more in deep rp mode at all times and maybe that wasnt what was best for Roier's play style, thats fine. But to blame it all on """cultural differences""" and that the admin was rude is honestly just not it.

Thank you both for sharing!

Well, I think I will be fully honest and say that at the time, I stopped to watch any Roier qsmp steam because of Pepito. I didn't necessarly believed ccRoier was a bad person, it was just that the route qRoier's and Pepito's relationship were going was triggering some bad memories. It is weird that we know now that the actors weren't allowed to contact the ccs because you would think the story lines that both Roier and the og admin wanted to tell should required a lot of communication between the player and the actor.

I don't think that is either their fault that they wanted different storyline, but

I think Roier usually is very light-hearted with his humor and jokes about "la chancla"/"o chinelo" are very common place in LATAM, many latino kids are spanked during their childhoods and using it in humor is not a uncommon thing.

I think the context that the og admin is not from LATAM and did not speak spanish as her first language, adds to why they crashed so much in rp/humor style.

I don't think Roier was trying to be insulting, at least not out of charcter, but it is okay to have your own feeling about it.

It sad that I think this could have been avoided if Roier and the admin had a chance to talk.

I do not think that the admin was rude while I was watching but for what others said it was a situation were Roier was trying out of character explaning events of the week when the admin cursed at him. Not having spanish as their first language may have caused the admin to not realize the weight of what they were saying, they probably pretended to be light hearted.

But, well, it wasn't, at least not for those that were watching. And while I will repeat what I said before that the admin shouldn't be treated as trash or if there is something personallly wrong with them, they were rude in a situation, that is it.

#qsmp #otipep #pepitoadmin #qsmp discourse

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obsidianstrawberrymilk · 4 months

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Hello how are you doing? What is your opinion about Tomura, Toga and Dabi?

Hello, I'm going good! Sorry this took me a second to respond to.

Dabi: I actually like Dabi as he is in the manga but I really don't like how the story around him has formed. I think a lot of people lost sympathy for Dabi when it was revealed that he wasn't the perfectly sad victim with torture porn people envisioned, which is disappointing. Horikoshi did this weird thing where he tried to make the LoV sympathetic by doing things such as have them kill a bunch of bigots and show them having genuine bonds and reasons for their actions, but then abruptly changed his tune and did something like depicting them as unhinged mass murderers, mainly to reestablish the whole black and white morality of the series when he was getting a bit too lose to implying there were serious flaws in hero society and the villains gasp had a point?! Anyway, I like him, but now that Endeavour is basically heading the Todoroki family plot, he's been kinda cast aside and made to take the blame for a lot of the issues they're facing rn when it's... literally all Endeavour lmao. Like I don't think he really had to be portrayed as particularly caring or nice for the narrative to acknowledge that he did have a point, and that similar patterns in the Todoroki family are being repeated again, with condemning him for being obvious about and exposing their dysfunction, instead of Endeavour for causing it. Also literally why did he need an ice Quirk as well the whole fucking point was he was an 'imperfect creation' why did he need that what was the point-

Toga: She's cool, kind of boring. Her character is pretty clearly based on some of Horikoshi's weird fetishes, but she's far from the only one, so whatever. I'm really not a fan of hers and Ochako's arc honestly - it feels like they're trying to queerbait without putting in any of the narrative work as to why Toga and Ochako would connect beyond girl and sure, Ochako might feel sympathetic towards Toga, but like her specifically? Villain hero relationships are cool because usually, the villain reveals a new side to the hero, maybe a foil that causes them to question their morality or the person they could have been (ex: Shigaraki for Izuku and Dabi for Shouto). Toga is... not this for Ochako, and Ochako is not this for Toga. Her implied backstory is interesting but I all in all think she's one of the least interesting League members and it's a pity, because we're not really given enough about her.

Shigaraki: I fucking loved his arc for a while there, then they ruined it. Seeing a villain who actually grows from an immature, whiny kid to a legitimate leader who even seems to care about his subordinates was fantastic, and his backstory builds up very well to who he is as a person now. Though, then they regressed him, bought in the inner child that's crying or whatever, and I lost interest. Shigaraki has a compelling character design, was a main villain who grew into the position which is rare, and his Quirk is awesome, and his motivation? Has merit! He had the potential to be a great main villain had they just let him actually grow past AFOs influence, like a mirror to Izuku growing past All Might. But well. They didn't do that. Imo they wasted Shigaraki - for a while there his writing was great and he was one of the best parts of the manga for me.

#sorry this took me forever #mha #my hero academia #bnha #boku no hero academia #mha criticism #tomura shigaraki #tenko shimura #shigaraki tenko #shigaraki tomura #dabi #mha dabi #touya todoroki #todoroki touya #dabi todoroki #toga himiko #himiko toga #thanks for the ask!

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mikodrawnnarratives · 1 month

Text

Okay I finished the BOOK

YAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYA

God I need fanfics of Molly living with Giovanni now like T-T

AHGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH JUS

JU- AHHAHHSHHSHAHDJXBJBSKSJKZBSJS

Everything I ever WANTED

AND NOW THAT IVE FINISHED

My verdict on Lorelai:

I'm glad that whatever growth she may go through, Molly won't be suffering when she inevitably backtracks along the way. It'd be nice to see the two mend their relationship but it is definitely for the better that they've been separated.

I wanna see Lorelai struggle and grow but she shouldn't get anymore opportunities to hurt Molly, much less for the sake of her learning a lesson. So it's better this way imo

And now that Molly isn't there, Lorelai's gonna have to run the shop and learn her lesson through CUSTOMER SERVICE joining zuko and others in the redemption arc trend of becoming redeemed by dealing with bitchy people

I very much don't mind rotating Lorelai in my brain a lil more cuz I don't hate her. I want to bunt her across the room when she hurts Molly ofc, I will not retract my statements, but I hate HER FATHER more than her

Cuz her father has no excuse to be the way he is. I'll get back to Lorelai in a moment cause she is definitely NOT faultless, but HIM?? He enabled all of this. He never checked in with his daughters and was always so inconsiderate of them. AND HES A GROWN MAN! It's telling that Giovanni goes off on him more than he does Lorelai cause in the end, he did nothing.

Back to Lorelai, she feels like a very intentionally immature character. Immature and selfish in a way that contrasts with Molly when Molly is the actual kid. I mean, Lorelai is 17 and all but by that age you can fairly expect someone to grasp not leaving your 12 yr old sibling to suffer under responsibilities your supposed to share.

And Lorelai being immature I think is added to by her fear that she's the reason her mother died. And the grief in all that. I think it's a good enough reason to feel sympathetic for how she's spiraled into this unhealthy coping mechanism and separates her from her father when it comes to being a rotten person.

By the end of the book it still felt like she hadn't grasped WHY what she did was bad to me and I'm kinda hoping that was an intentional writing decision. The book shows how she doesn't grasp some things like what makes someone a genuinely horrible person and so for her to still not quite see how what she did was bad, feels fitting.

By the end of seemed to me like, she KNEW what she did wasnt okay because Giovanni told her off and she was confronted with the truth that, she wasn't the good guy. Yet knowing that didn't make her understand what her actions specifically caused. Despite. Molly telling her.

I want to look up shenanigans between Molly and Giovanni in fics but I also kinda want to see Naven and Lorelai's relationship with the steps she'll make to become a better person

So def a ways away from growing significantly but I like that Naven has stuck around offering his help should she accept it. I mean Giovanni did that too but Naven's role in her story hits HARD

[EDIT: God I'm embarrassed Naven only pointed out Giovanni's card he left behind, ONLY GIOVANNI reached out if she wanted to work on herself to be better BUT I STILL LIKE TO THINK SHE AND NAVEN KEPT IN CONTACT SHUSH he could like give her some tough love]

Speaking of relationships, idk about Giovanni x Lorelai

I mean I still think it could be cute, Lorelai's crushing scenes are hilarious as much as they are sad and envoke feelings of "I just want good things for Lorelai". I def don't think she deserves him rn but I do think that, since Giovanni hasn't shut down her becoming his minion in THE FUTUREE, when she learns to be good at being bad, she has a shot.

Though, it's still a little lost on me if Giovanni has figured out she has been crushing on him HARD. Like, he picked up on her cheating and bullying but did he pick up on any of the signs for her affection?? Makes me think she's gonna have a hard time in the friendzone if she became a minion. Not sure what Giovanni with a crush would look like either tho so.

I have a bit of a hard time seeing Giovanni crushing on her but I still think their dynamic is cute enough! Just dragged down by how awful she's been to everyone and HIS NUMBER 1 MINIONNN

but the more I think about it, I think it'd be great to see them as just friends. Like, getting on the level of best buds and Lorelai loses her crush on him. Both still maintaining the dynamic they had in that last fight with all the bantering cuz they are pretty similar

If they ever became romantic though. Like. Molly and Lorelai's relationship NEEDS to be healed and I think healed for a WHILE. I just can't see it working out otherwise. This would probably need to ring true if they were to become best friends too but EVEN MORE SO if they got mushy (as in the failed baking trials that would compromise 40% of the time they would hang out. Love language quality time)

Anyway

Ngl I already got my own angsty ideas for Lorelai because self hatred + not wanting to be the bad guy is such a delicious combination of traits that contradict each other yet still exist never the less

I wonder how Lorelai reacted the morning she realized Molly was gone and gone for good. I'm betting she at first believed she'd be hanging out with her friends and would be back. Then a day passes. Then another. And another. She asks her father if he's seen Molly and is reminded he doesn't care. I wonder if she confronted Naven about where Molly was, if she'd at first lash out when he doesn't tell her, and that reminds her why this happened.

She probably couldn't wallow in self pity for very long since she'd be working now, but still vry interesting how it'll play out

#also imagine in a session with Naven where he's been teaching lorelai for a while #she's accepted his help even if begrudgingly #and one day she accidentally calls him dad.#hdjsghdsv HAHA CAN YOU IMAGINE HER EMBARRASSMENT #he just. freezes.#she runs away and they never speak of it again #epithet erased prison of plastic #epithet erased prison of plastic spoilers #epithet erased spoilers #epithet erased #prison of plastic #prison of plastic spoilers #lorelai blyndeff #giovanni potage #molly blyndeff #naven nuknuk #is that his last name?#martin blyndeff

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duhragonball · 9 months

Text

Dragon Ball Super Movie 2: Super Hero (5/5)

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA EXISTENCE IS TORMENT RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Okay, so we're now at the last leg of this movie, where everybody teams up to defeat Cell Max. Once Piccolo turned orange and convinced the Gammas that Magenta was evil, the Red Ribbon Army collapsed on the spot. Magenta went to activate Cell Max as a desperate counterattack, but he was killed by Dr. Hedo. However, Magenta still managed to get Cell Max started up before he died, and the first thing Cell Max does is smash up whatever's left of the Red Ribbon base.

It's not clear to me what happened to the rest of the bad guys in this movie. A lot of them probably fled when the battle turned against them, but it's a pretty big facility, and I doubt they all could have evacuated in time. Like, Carmine was knocked unconscious a few minutes ago, and I doubt anyone went to the trouble of getting him to safety before Cell Max showed up. I suppose he could have survived this, but it seems pretty unlikely.

So let's talk about Cell Max. Apparently when Dr. Gero came up with the idea of Cell, he forwarded all of his notes and design specifications to Magenta at Red Pharmaceutical Company. RPC tried to make use of the data after Gero's death, but they couldn't figure it out, probably because the real breakthroughs in Cell's creation were accomplished by Gero's computer in an alternate future. But Magenta knew the Original Cell could get the job done, so he wanted one of his own, and when he learned of Dr. Hedo he thought he finally had the man to make Cell Max a reality.

And Hedo delivered... mostly. Cell Max's body was completed first, but it was going to take a lot longer to develop his brain, and Hedo wasn't particularly eager to work on Cell Max because he liked the superheroic Gammas better. He warned Magenta not to use Cell Max, because he would just run wild and destroy the world Magenta wanted to conquer.

And you know, it's poetic that Magenta's last act was to release this mindless engine of destruction, because that's really all the Red Ribbon Army ever was. Magenta mocked Dr. Hedo's fixation on super heroes, but Magenta's fixation was on the Red Ribbon Army, a failed mercenary group brought down by its idiotic leader.

Red's story ended with his army destroyed, and then Black went on a lunatic rampage on what was left of the Red Ribbon base. Dr. Gero's story ended with his own androids turning on him, and then Cell activates and nearly destroys the world with little concern for Gero's agenda. And now Magenta lies dead in his own stronghold, while Cell Max goes on a rampage.

It always turns out the same way, but with Magenta, we shouldn't be too surprised, because he admired Red and Gero so much. He saw their spectacular failures and convinced himself that they almost won, and if he just gave it one more try, he could get it right this time. But instead, Magenta just wound up sharing their fate, because this is the only way it could ever end. The Red Ribbon Army isn't some noble cause. It's just a bunch of goons who push around innocent people. And the problem with the whole 'might-makes-right' philosophy is that sooner or later you run into someone mightier who pushes back. Commander Red ran into Goku. Dr. Gero ran into Vegeta and his own creations. Cell ran into Gohan.

And I guess Magenta's failure to understand that is what led him to idolize the original Cell so much. I mean, it's kind of ridiculous that he would have asked Dr. Hedo to make a new one. Hedo was a kid when Cell threatened to destroy the Earth, but Magenta ought to have remembered that broadcast. He must have understood that Cell wasn't loyal to the Red Ribbon cause. When he announced the Cell Games, he didn't say anything about sparing the RPC. But I think Magenta never considered any of this. He just knew that Cell was powerful and he wanted one. For men like Magenta, the power is the point. Whether or not you can control the power is a minor detail. It was probably more important to Magenta that he was the one who got to push the button, regardless of the consequences.

Okay, so I kind of got off-track. What is Cell Max, exactly? Well, Hedo's a much better scientist than Gero was, so he managed to take Gero's incomplete "recipe" and make a bigger, even more powerful version of Cell. The downside is that this version is dumb as a bag of hammers. He just stomps around and screams a lot. He seems to have a canny fighting skill behind all that bestial rage, but that's it. You won't find any of the smarmy taunting or mindgames that we used to see from the original Cell. This version might be more powerful, but it's not perfect.

To put it another way, Cell Max absolutely sucks, and I mean that as a compliment. This movie kind of needed a final boss to offset the morally conflicted Hedo and Gammas, and Cell Max makes a good choice for that role. We don't need a cunning, invincible super villain for the last 20 minutes of this movie. There just isn't time for that. What we need is a doomsday weapon unleashed by Magenta in a final act of spite. Magenta probably thought he was getting revenge with this last strike, but this is the good guys' chance to do the classic superhero bit where they have a misunderstanding, fight, and then team up to tackle the real threat.

Also, as a fan of Cell, I just like this novel way of bringing him back in the Dragon Ball Super era. We've already seen Frieza revived and Broly revamped for the canon. Bringing back Cell seemed like a very obvious play, except it's a really dumb idea. Cell was a failure. He took on the whole world and lost, dying alone in a barren waste. Most of the world had no idea who he was or where he came from, and he didn't have flunkies who would wish him back to life the way Sorbet brought back Frieza. It makes much, much more sense that a character like Magenta would rather build a new Cell than bother with the original. And this only emphasizes Cell's inhumanity. He's not a villain, he's a weapon, to be discarded and replaced when he becomes obsolete. Is the new model better? That all depends on how many targets it can hit.

Broadly speaking, Cell Max loos like Semiperfect Cell from DBZ. The same bulky proportions, the same fish lips, etc. The difference is that Cell Max still has wings, which were curiously absent from Semiperfect Cell. Also, Cell Max is unique for his naughty red color, and his tail comes out of his butt like Frieza's, instead of sticking out from between his shoulder blades. Oh, and his feet look like hiking boots.

Also, the end of his tail isn't a stinger. It's like this club-looking thing that can shoot hot pink lasers. I've seen fans draw Cell Max in a "perfect form", which mostly looks like the Original Cell with Cell Max's red and green colorations, and it's interesting to look at, but it kind of misses the point. Cell Max isn't designed to absorb something else and achieve a completed form. This is as good as it gets for Cell Max. I mean, Dr. Hedo seemed to think he would be smarter and easier to control with time, but we really have no way to be sure of that, do we?

All right, let me try to get on with the plot here. The Gammas immediately attack Cell Max, not only because of their heroic natures, but because they know how dangerous Cell Max is. Piccolo leads the Z-Fighters to help out, and the Gammas explain that they need to aim for Max's head, because Dr. Hedo added a weak spot there. If you blast through his cranium, it'll trigger an explosion powerful enough to destroy Max's cells, but even the "weak spot" is still pretty damn strong. Also Cell Max is quite the artful dodger, so it takes a while for anyone to land a blow. Piccolo manages to pull it off, but the attack isn't powerful enough to be effective.

"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH EVERYTHING HURTS SO MUCH! WHAT AM I? WHY AM I? AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

As Cell Max destroys more of the base, the ground starts to give way under Pan's feet, and she can't make it to the safety of Bulma's airship. Krillin tells her to fly, but we know she can't do that yet. But she tries really hard and finally learns to fly! I guess she just needed the right motivation. Piccolo reminded her of her Saiyan blood at the start of the movie, and he was trying to reassure her, but Saiyan power isn't just a blessing, it's something you earn through turmoil and hardship. Maybe Pan had to be in deadly peril for her to make this next leap forward. It's like how Gohan was when he clobbered Raditz.

Back at the fight, everyone realizes they need to attack with greater intensity to stop Cell Max, so Goten and Trunks do a Fusion. But they fuck it up and turn into Fat Gotenks. He can't even turn Super Saiyan, but Gotenks is no quitter, so he charges in anyway, and manages to headbutt Cell hard enough to crack his exoskeleton. I guess they're doing chip damage to his head? Like Piccolo hit him pretty damn hard earlier, and now this, so they must be making some progress, right? Anyway, Piccolo praises this moment as the first time a failed Fusion actually does something useful.

Speaking of this, remember how Goten and Trunks had two different opportunities to use Fusion in GT, and they just... didn't do it for no good reason, even though it would have been awesome and cool? Remember how GT had no idea what to do with Piccolo, so they just killed him off and made him live in Hell? Remember how GT fucking sucked, and this movie does the opposite of those things and it's hella rad? I don't know, I just thought I should point that out.

At this point, Gamma 2 decides to go for broke, and he asks everyone else to keep Cell busy while he readies a strike onto his noggin, basically what Gotenks did, only with more power behind it. Gamma 1 is upset about this, but 2 tells him he needs to protect Dr. Hedo, who's still alive in the rubble. "Now who's being sloppy?" 2 asks 1. Because he didn't check his sensors to make sure Hedo was okay, you see.

So they all fight, but then 18 almost gets hit, when...

Kienzan, motherfucker! First rule of being a Cell, dipshit, you're gonna have to go through Krillin.

Solar Flare! Oh! Ohhhhhhhh! Krillin is the MVP once again!

So this sets up Cell Max perfectly for Gamma 2's attack, and he comes straight down... into Max's left forearm, because he managed to block it just in time. But to 2's credit, he keeps pushing, and seems to smash through anyway...

But it's no good. Cell Max's left arm falls off, and it looks like much of his body has been turned to ash, but he's still alive. Enraged, he tries to stomp on Gamma 2, but Piccolo won't have it and he ORANGES UP. As he pushes back on Max's foot, Krillin shows up to help, and tells Piccolo to grow his body, just like he did when he fought Goku at the 23rd World Tournament. I love how Krillin doesn't just tell him this, he helps push back on Max's foot while he talks. Krillin's the real superhero here.

Piccolo's like "Oh yeah, I forgot I can do that," which annoyed some fans. I get it, it's kind of silly that he would forget a thing like this, but it was a long time ago, and it didn't work on Goku at all, so I can understand how he might have forgotten about this ability. Also, it's pretty sweet how Piccolo has so many cool powers that even he has trouble keeping them straight. He's forgotten more about being awesome than we'll ever know.

And while this does give him some much-needed leverage against Cell Max, getting big like this doesn't make him stronger, so they're not much better off than they were before. Piccolo still has plan though. he gives Gohan the senzu bean he brought with him and tells Gohan to eat it. He means to keep Cell Max busy and hopefully Gohan will get enough power built up to deliver a killing blow.

So for a while, they have a good old fashion Big Boy Wrassle, but the tide quickly shifts in favor of Cell Max. Gohan still isn't ready, so Krillin leads a desperate charge to distract Max and give Piccolo a chance. But they all get taken out, and it ends up being all in Piccolo's hands again. He refuses to quit, and does everything he can to hold Max down.

And when it looks like Piccolo is finally beaten, something snaps in Gohan, and we get....

Gohan Beast! Well, they don't call it that in this movie, but that's the name for it, apparently. I remember when the movie premiered in Japan, and I kept seeing trending tags on Twitter for "Orange Piccolo", "Cell Max" and "Gohan Blanco", and thinking "What the hell happens in this movie?"

So... Gohan Beast. Basically it's like the moment where he went SSJ2 for the first time, stacked on top of Mystic Gohan. At least, that's how I see it. Remember, Goku's plan at the Cell Games was to get Gohan as powerful as he could possibly get as a Super Saiyan, so that whenever Gohan tapped into his "hidden power", it would push him into some higher form. Back then, it was SSJ2, but now, he's at his current maximum level, then he sees a good friend in dire straights, and it's pushed him into some new level. And it looks a lot like his SSJ2 form from when he was a kid, but with white or silver hair this time, and red lightning, I guess. Anyway, some people hate this form, but I don't mind it one bit. If Gohan's snapping and kicking ass, I don't care what he looks like. If he turned into a rodeo clown in this scene, I'd still be marking out.

Cell Max punches Gohan and he's like "Naw. Naw." Then he kicks the shit out of Max and starts preparing his attack. Max does his own big energy move, but Gohan doesn't give a fuck because he's in his edgy mode now. Blast that Linkin Park music, because we're doin' it.

Of course, Gohan still needs to get a clear shot, but Piccolo's not out of this yet. He just remembered another cool power he has: Stretchy Arms! Get fucked, Cell Max!

And how will Gohan capitalize on this moment? Three words: Special Beam Cannon! Hell yeah! No wonder Gohan transformed. He had to build up a lot of power just to set up this technique, so seeing Piccolo get wrecked during the charge-up must have really put him over the edge.

And that's it. Cell Max explodes, everyone gets clear of the blast, and the good guys win. Piccolo asks Gohan how he learned to do the Special Beam Cannon, and Gohan explains that he trained on it in secret. A ha! You see, Piccolo? You thought Gohan was slacking off in his training, but he was actually working on things you didn't even know about!

And this sums up the Piccolo's character arc in this movie. Piccolo tries so hard to get someone else to take the lead in this film. When he can't raise Goku or Vegeta, he starts scheming to traumatize Gohan and make him fired up enough to become the big hero. And yet, in the end, Piccolo was the big hero of this movie. He was so busy trying to get someone else to handle things that he couldn't see it. But he was the one who infiltrated the enemy base, he was the one who got the cool new power up, he was the one who flipped the Gammas, and he came up with the plan to beat Cell Max. Sure, his plan was to get Gohan to fire the kill shot, but what was that kill shot? Piccolo's signature techique, which Gohan learned on his own, simply because Piccolo was such a great role model and mentor to him over all these years.

Unfortunately, Gamma 2 died in his attack on Cell Max. He used up all his energy in that move, which apparently causes his entire body to disintegrate. Piccolo consoles Hedo by observing that 2's stunt significantly weakened Cell Max's attacks, making it possible for the rest of them to finish what Gamma 2 started. "He was a real superhero", Piccolo says, which is probably as great an honor as Gamma 2 could have hoped for.

Hedo admits that he basically knew what Magenta was all about, but he played along anyway in order to get the money for his research. But with Gamma 2's death, he now realizes the error of his ways. Gamma 2 didn't do anything wrong, but he was the one who paid for Hedo's reckless alliance with the Red Ribbon. He offers to turn himself in to the authorities, but Krillin objects to this, saying the authorities can't handle someone like Hedo. Remember, this movie opened with him getting out of prison, and everyone was relieved to see him go.

Instead, Piccolo suggests they all overlook this incident, and Hedo asks Bulma if he can work for her now. She's impressed with his bulletproof skin treatment, and thinks she can find a place for him in their cosmetics business. And Gamma 1 can be some sort of security guard. Fair enough.

So that about wraps things up, except for one last bit of business. Pan pulls Piccolo aside to show off how she learned to fly during the battle. She swoops around and everything, and Piccolo proudly tells her that she'll begin the next phase of her training tomorrow. Hooray!

Then we get a post-credits scene where it turns out Goku and Vegeta have been fighting this entire time, and they're finally at the end of their evenly-matched bout. They're so exhausted that they can barely move, but Vegeta manages to kind of gently shove Goku with his fist, knocking him over and earning the victory. Then he falls over as he celebrates. Goku's fine with it because he's a class act, naturally.

As for the spectators, Beerus fell asleep during the fight, and Whis almost forgot he was supposed to be officiating. Cheelai sat through the whole thing, but she was bored the whole time. She looks to Broly for solidarity, but he and Lemo were moved to manly tears at this epic combat spectacle. "Men!" Cheelai says. Look, if you and Broly are gonna be a thing, Cheelai, you have to respect his interests. I'm just glad Broly has something like this to get passionate about. In the last movie he was so repressed and timid. It's great that Whis put on this no-transforming no-ki-blast fight specifically for Broly's benefit, and he seems to have gotten a lot out of it. And it's kind of cute how Cheelai couldn't care less, but she's way off the mark. This was great.

And that's it for Super Hero. I was worried I'd run out of image space for this post, but somehow I managed to get it all in under 30 images. Let me see how many I have left...

Yeah, this was a cool shot of Gohan Beast, or Beast Gohan, or whatever you want to call it.

Nice simultaneous punch with Cell Max and Piccolo. The eternal struggle between red and orange.

Yeah, I forgot to talk about 18's yoga pants and shorter haircut. Some people hate this look, but this is peak 18 in my book. Krillin's a lucky man, I tell you what.

D'awwwww...

"RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH SOMEONE PLEASE LET ME DIE RAAAAAAAHHHHHHH--Oh! Oh, that's much better. Thank you. Well, I'd better start exploding then. Raaah."

Wow I had a lot of image space left, didn't I? I thought this was going to be a lot tougher than it was.

Well, anyway, this was a fantastic movie. It was so great that I was kind of stressing out about how to cover it properly, but now that it's over I feel pretty good about the whole thing. I don't know if they'll make another Dragon Ball movie. It makes sense, considering how much money this one made, but you never can tell. All I know is that I'm pretty excited for whatever they do next.

And yeah, that's all I've got for this movie, but we're not done with Super Hero just yet. No, now I need to cover the manga adaptation of this movie, and if my calculations are correct, that should be wrapping up next week, so that's some excellent timing there. I will see you then!

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autisticlio · 3 months

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I guess while I am rambling about Promare, here is some analysis I made regarding Lio in October.

Text vers under cut

in regards to promare stuff, I was editing the wiki page for the one burnish prison and kinda thought about how lio reacts to thyma waking up like the instant meis points it out, he hurries to her side and crouches next to her

like that tells me that lio is such a caring person cause he sees this poor woman and immediately hurries to comfort her

at this point, he doesn't even know her name. it's a similar thing with the kids where the instant he sees them, he is shocked at the implications of that and stops being annoyed at the guards

lio is so kind when he wants to be. it's just he doesn't show it that much cause how much he gets beaten up in the film and doesn't fully open up to Galo until the lio de galon fightlike he gathered all these burnish and made a little hideout for them to feel safe, he gets groceries himself for them, he plays with the kids in the art book. he is such a good leader figureik the kakusei scene everyone tends to focus on, but there's a lot of little details on how he treats the burnish that is filled with such love and kindnessobvs im not saying he's a big softie. it's more that so much of the film and outside media give these little bits of humanity he has

it's so nice to see these little details when he isn't doing his cold exterior cause he trusts the burnish fully, which is what gets him betrayed by the old man

plus after the cave scene, there's a bit where lio is leaning against the window in a truck in thought

the implication there is that he is thinking about what Galo said before about just fitting him. it could be that he tried before, or at least considered it, but knows it didn't work out that or it's a case of recalling that Galo attempted to save Thyma and Lio thinking 'hm, maybe he isn't as bad as i thought'

obvs we don't know the specific thoughts, but we know that something that Galo did has him contemplating to himself

he's also shown to be upset after trying to save Thyma. the other burnish are happy, thinking she is safe, but lio is upset likely knowing it wasn't enough

it's fun to look at these details and kinda see the gears ticking in his head cause unlike Galo, he doesn't always say what he's thinking cause he keeps to himself

people think the only way lio can be interesting if he's pissed all the time. in truth though, Lio is clever, passionate, caring, and emotive (maybe even moreso than Galo in some cases)

underneath his cold facade

the thing is Lio is only now letting himself get emotional

and it's likely thanks to the cave scene cause that scene had him open up to galo, someone non burnish for once and galo actually listened

galo willingly wanted to help save thyma knowing she's burnish

lio doesn't know that he went to confront Kray from what i recall, but he began to trust Galo so much that he's willing to protect him from kray

he is devastated when he thinks Kray managed to kill galo

i think it's so weird no one points that out

cause galo opened his eyes to letting himself be him, to take pride in himself, only to see him be flung off a mech and be shocked knowing he's likely next

like we know Galo will be fine, but lio doesn't

know if his flames were enough to protect him also like. lio also heard that kray tried to kill galo multiple times and also killed his family. he was in that scene too fjfjfn

like he heard kray rambling and was like 'wow i really hate this fucker even more'

like his story is about finding acceptance in those who care about you and letting yourself be true to yourself in a world that hates you no wonder i found out i was bi and trans because of him

#promare #i talk #lio fotia

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kidnamedbird · 21 days

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Hello all!

It's me, Kid Named Bird from Team Kid Named Bird. For clarification, I'm actually named after the team, not the other way around. I'm the lead translator and dialogue letterer for Beyblade X, or at least I was. I am heartbroken to announce our indefinite hiatus from the BeyX manga; if we do get back to it, we'd finish off all the year one content (up to the likely incoming subtitle/branding change) and all of the extras that go with it. This would leave us with a finite amount of work for us to do and a nice archival version of the beginnings of X.

To explain why we're ending our release, I'd like to say it's not because we don't want to. We'd love to continue on this project because we all really adore this manga. It's hard not to grow fond of something you've poured so much time into. I never really even planned on forming the team to translate the manga until the first chapter was about to come out. I had translated the prologue chapter as a fun side-project — I learned how to letter and translate because of it! So once some of my veteran scanlator friends and some brave newbies hopped on the project with me, I felt like we could actually take a bite out of this massive undertaking. A 36-72 page manga every month for a team of mostly employed/student volunteers is insane, especially when you consider the amount of redraws we had to do on this specific work. There were so many text overlays we had to draw over or speedlines (blech!!) we had to clean up, and usually tens of pages of them. Sometimes we had to do the work of a weekly manga series translation to get our stuff out depending on the amount of pages we did. After a while, that took a toll on our team. We can only do so many 50 pagers in a row before it completely consumes all of our free time outside of our full time work or education. I knew that as soon as we got behind by one chapter, we'd not be able to catch back up. It would just cause us too much grief and stress. I didn't want to do that to my team of unpaid volunteers, so I made the choice to throw in the towel. We were doing pretty professional work for free, and we got burnt out. We all had entire lives outside of BeyX, and I wanted my team to live them. It wasn't a decision I made lightly, or without reason. The official release is coming out soon, and if you don't mind the dub names, the previews looked pretty good! They seem to be Singapore/South East Asian exclusive for now, but I'm sure someone will snag the scans for them. Also, the anime, for the first time in Bey history, is almost exactly the same plot-wise! Previous series manga and anime have diverged wisely, but as the manga and anime have an overlapping writing staff this time, the stories hit almost all the same beats. If anything, I think the anime takes the manga's story and gives it far more breathing room and better pacing. The extra character-focus episodes have done wonders to help develop the cast further and make Bird's journey of perseverance all the more compelling. You will still get to experience the story of X in different ways, but maybe without us. If we had the time, energy, and ability to sustain our bodies, we'd still be working on this manga, I promise you that. The kind words we have gotten from our readers have meant the world to me (I tear up at them sometimes!). I hope that one day, we can return to finish off the first year of BeyX content. If we don't, then oops! Every member of our team has other projects we work on, so you can find us there. I can't tell you what those projects are for our privacy and safety, but we do them! For now, this is Team Kid Named Bird spinning out.

3! 2! 1! Let it rip with us next time, whenever that may be! Thank you so much for supporting us!

#beyblade #beyblade x #posuka demizu

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writingrenna · 1 year

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Grusha x GN!Reader

"Descent to Reality"

A story where you're a well-meaning, if not reckless student going down the Victory Road path who befriends Grusha along the way. As usual, you're a gender neutral reader

Also, for once, you have a named Pokémon; an overprotective Falinks! You also like steel Pokémon (not specifically steel type, but Pokémon with steel elements like armor or metallic bodies or whatever)

Your relationship with Grusha is full of banter and genuine care

Accidentally became a whole thing. You'll see

Tone/Ending: Angsty, Sweet, Hinting at a Budding Relationship

Warnings: You are both dealing with mental illnesses, but it is what it is. Grusha has a panic attack at one point, and you recognize some stuff in your own behavior

Word Count: A bit less than 5,000

--v-Vv-

You walk up to the mouth of Dalizapa Passage on your way to Glaseado Mountain. Your brief stop in Zapapico prepared you for this trek, getting some rest and gathering whatever you'd need up in the blistering summits.

You look down at your trusty sidekick Falinks with a smile.

"Ya'll ready for this?"

The six of them all stood in formation, letting out a short yet mighty battle cry. Your smile broadened into a bright grin at this.

"Good to hear! I know that blue-haired bully will be a BREEZE for you all!"

You were joking of course, but that still didn't stop you from freezing when you heard his voice.

"Blue-haired bully, eh? Heartbreaking, how could you be so cruel?"

You turn to see him, hands in his pockets with his Cetoddle by his side, a cane slung over its shoulder in a cross-body bag. He had one eyebrow raised despite his amusement, feigning offense.

"Oh, speaking of- hey, Grusha!"

He walks closer toward you.

"I take it you're ready to face my gym?"

He tuts under his scarf.

"Bold. You know I've only gotten harder to beat after that champion came through, right?"

You scoff at him, crossing your arms and tossing your head back, eyes closed.

"And so have I. That kid getting so strong so fast only raised the standards of the entire region!"

Grusha nods, looking down at the ground momentarily before continuing.

"Well, in any case, you're gonna need to give me a bit of time. Really don't feel like starting a battle the second I get back up there."

You nod at him, understanding completely.

"Yeah, don't worry, this benefits us both. You get some time to yourself, and I get to train some more on the way up. Might as well prepare for yet another defeat while you're up there waiting for me."

His faces briefly flashes with a strange emotion you couldn't quite pinpoint, but he shakes it off.

"Ah, that confidence will certainly be your downfall. But I must admit, I'd almost admire it if it wasn't so misplaced."

Your face contorted to one of genuine offense for a few seconds, mouth hanging open and eyebrows knitted together as your Falinks looked up at you in worry. Grusha didn't even give you time to respond before taking his leave, waving as he walked by.

"Well then, I guess I'll be seeing you, if you're not still frozen in place, that is. Be sure not to die on the way up, okay?"

They get a good ways up the path when you finally snap out of it. You turn towards him, yelling out a rebuttal that causes even a lurking Sneasel nearby to turn to you in shock.

"T-try me!"

Neither he nor his Cetoddle pay you any mind.

--v-Vv-

Falinks wrecked mayhem on Glaseado Mountain, taking down quite a few mons with ease. You excitedly registered a few new ones to your Pokédex, even deciding to add a Bronzong to the secondary team you were planning in boxes.

"Huh. Guess I like Pokémon with a lot of steel!" You muse to yourself, looking at Falinks and thinking about a Charcadet you planned on using for said team. Falinks responded, dancing a little together with happy little expressions on their faces.

No matter what, you'd always keep them on your team.

You hear a noise that snaps you out of your happy thoughts. A little cry coming from lower down the mountainside. You walk over towards the edge of the cliff you were on to see-

"A SNOM!?"

Snom had actually eluded you during your entire trip up the mountain. Heck, even some Greavard, with their little tricks to stay hidden, were found by you. Did you just... not notice the little thing? Were you going through so fast it blended in with it's surroundings?

You shook your head.

"Okay, Falinks! I'm going down."

The group of Pokémon by your side looked down the mountainside for a second, glanced at the nearby path, and then looked back up at you, completely silent save for the clinking of their shells.

Odd.

You simply pulled out their Pokéball and called them back inside. It was easier to simply slide down so you don't lose the Snom, but you didn't want them getting hurt or separated in the process.

You hype yourself up, being pulled back by your rotom phone the first try, before carefully planting your feet and sliding down. It was... steep, especially near the end (which was essentially just an abrupt drop), but you managed, landing right beside the tiny ice larvae.

You reach for the Pokéball of another member of the team, one who didn't have a huge type advantage over it.

"AH-huh?"

The familiar glow of a Pokémon emerging from its Pokéball came into view, but when it settled, you saw... Falinks?

You then realize your hand is simply hovering over your belt.

Strange.

Why did they come out on their own?

They look up at where you just slid from (which was certainly more than a story or two) before quickly looking back to you. You're still as a statue, taking in the obvious concern on their faces as they look up to you, chirping softly as if asking if you're Ok. Before you know it, Snom has run off, but you're far more concerned with your little army.

"I- Falinks?"

They keep staring at you when you feel someone's hands clamp down on your shoulders.

"You."

The voice is low yet forceful, dragging out the word slightly, causing you to jolt.

"Grusha?"

"What on earth was that?"

His voice. It was... authoritative.

"Gru... sha?"

You can't seem to understand what it is exactly he's trying to point out. He continues.

"I saw that. WHY would you risk it all for a- a SNOM of all things? It's like you've done this before! Have you??"

Risk... it all...

His arms are shaking as he forces himself to continue.

"And to think, I thought you hearing my story would make you less reckless. Was I a fool? A fool to hope you'd ever think past the moment? I wasn't even doing anything to- I wasn't supposed to be- but you just... y-you could've-"

He rips his hands away from you in an instant. You take this opportunity to turn around and look at him.

His chest had started heaving heavily as his breaths came out sharp, frequent. He abruptly pulled his scarf down, eyes unfocused and darting back and forth over a fixed point somewhere past you, trying to focus on something, anything. His body swayed slightly as he stumbled back to lean against a rock.

Cetoddle is already trying to gently redirect his attention from the situation, sitting him down and laying next to him, giving him time to steady his breathing while leaning against him, reaching over and rubbing the arm opposite it to ensure it holds him tight.

You don't know what to do. Cetoddle seems to already know what it's doing, and you aren't sure you'd be of much help.

"...are you okay...?

He let out one large breath before looking up at the sky, closing his eyes and mumbling something you can't quite hear to himself a few times.

You give him space, but you decide to stay put.

His breathing calms down a little after a while, right hand coming out of his pocket. His Cetoddle took this hand and sandwhiched it in its flippers, looking at him and trilling softly to see if he was Ok.

His breathing is shallow, but stable as he nods, glancing at you before gulping down a breath and standing up to follow the terra whale, letting Cetoddle lead him back up the path without another word, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

--v-Vv-

You're lying in bed at the Zapapico Inn. Your eyes are glued to your phone, although you aren't sure what you're expecting. The feeling of dread had your insides tangled in a death grip, a pang of guilt shooting through you whenever you remembered your carelessness, his disappointment...

The terror in his eyes.

And you felt even more guilty once you realized you didn't fully understand what he went through.

You sigh, looking at Falinks on the ground staring up at you. They seemed to sense something was off, so they kept watch. You couldn't help but think about their weird behavior yesterday, however. Sure, they were usually worried about your shenanigans, but why did they seem to be... distracting you, purposefully staring you down without making an effort to communicate so you wouldn't move?

"...you saw him coming, didn't you?"

They all, for once, stop their march, freezing in place at this question. That was all the answer you needed, but when they all looked to the floor in shame, a misplaced feeling of betrayal crept up and got thrown into the mix.

"Of course!"

You turn over, refusing to acknowledge the fact that your good friend Grusha, as well as your trusty companions all felt that you were too thoughtless this time around.

Falinks' concern is valid. They were right to basically call you out on it, to get you caught. In fact, if you didn't feel so... at fault, you'd appreciate this more, seeing that they cared for you as an individual, and not just as that person that caught them.

But no, you felt... dumb.

Curling up in bed a little, you felt a few tears fall. The sound of your Falinks jumping up and running around the bed to comfort you rang out in your ears, but you didn't pay them any mind. You didn't pay anything any mind, really. Was this just how you were? Ignoring everything and hoping things would turn out alright? Would Falinks grow tired of you? Did Grusha already give up on you?

You take a hesitant peek at them, feeling the brass reach out and gently rub your hand. They were in their tower formation, looking up at you in worry.

The sound of your phone vibrating caught your attention. You pick it up, looking at the latest notification.

Grusha

Come by tmrw, if u want

--v-Vv-

You walk into the arena. Very few people were here, but they all seemed excited. That's normal.

What isn't normal, however, is Grusha looking out onto the horizon on the other side of the battle court, the Great Crater of Paldea in full view. That isn't his usual spot...

"I see you decided to show up. Brave choice."

He said the things he'd usually say, but his tone was flat. Not forced, but devoid of energy.

You frowned. Did he... not want you to show up?

He turned, walking to his spot and looking at you.

"I'll be real here. I don't really know how to start this battle, so let's just get our Pokémon to do the talking, okay?"

And with that, he sent out his Frosmoth.

--v-Vv-

It was a tough battle. He wasn't kidding when he said he got stronger. But you and your Falinks, your last mon standing, were still in the running to victory.

"I'm impressed! You really seemed to learn a lot on your journey so far. You're quite a fighter."

That compliment felt... off. He continued, ignoring your visible confusion.

"But that doesn't matter. You may have escaped an icy doom before, but like a sudden hail storm in the summer, the avalanche of defeat may often... sneak up on you."

He charged up his Terra Orb before throwing it, engulfing Altaria in a crystal that shone like the stars. When she broke out, you shielded your eyes, only to prematurely pry them open again when you heard a gasp from the crowd.

Altaria has Terastallized into a pure- flying type?

"Wha- hey! Grusha!"

Your eyes are wide and panicked. His are just full of sadness.

"I-I thought... you always do stuff like that. I don't know if you bother to remember, but the mountain thing isn't the only needlessly dangerous stunt you've pulled during the time I've known you alone. I can't imagine what you did before we met to embolden you so much."

You're too stunned to speak.

"I thought, maybe, I could ignore it. I was always able to brush it off as you not putting yourself in any real danger. 'The other students do wild things all the time, it's normal!' But no, this is your life now. And if halting your journey for a bit... if making a show of this is what it takes to get through to you, then so be it."

"Grusha... but... is this allowed? I know- how wrong it is. I'll be nothing but careful from now on, I promise! Just don't lose your job over this, it's all you have left!"

And with this comment, he goes from stone cold and serious to- limp. His arms slump for a second, looking away from you, fighting back the urge to break down before he lowers his head, shaking it without responding.

Well... shaking his head 'no' is a response. Just not one you're emotionally ready to deal with right now.

You can barely make a noise. Even your mighty warriors flinch when you somehow manage to command them to use... something. What was it? Who knows. It didn't matter now.

He shouts his command, arm shooting up with gusto, head still hanging low.

"Altaria, Hurricane!"

And in an instant, your Falinks are blown back, knocked out in one violent flurry of wind and frost.

--v-Vv-

You're too dazed to do anything, arms feeling heavy as you look down at your little friends all strewn about on the battle court. You're on your knees. When did that happen? Your head is swimming with so many questions and concepts as you recall your Falinks.

You stare out in front of you, looking down at the icy ground below you.

Grusha is escorted away by his worried Cetoddle, ignoring the crowd's hushed whispers and bewildered stares.

You don't know what to do. You don't know what to think.

How the hell will you make up for this? Worrying him so much he put his whole career on the line to get you to see reason? To get you to take him seriously?

--v-Vv-

You sat across from the man, his expression never changing as he took in your tale. You somehow managed to catch him on his lunch break, a man very close to La Primera when it comes to public facing figures in the league. He knows who you are, so he decided to let you talk in a private corner of the Treasure Eatery.

"S-so, yeah. That's why he did it, from my perspective. He was tired of me getting in danger and decided to show me it was hurting others, too. For that, I am sorry. But PLEASE don't punish him because of me! Isn't that a good thing? The league looking out for the people of Paldea, no matter the risk?"

He slowly chewed the last bite in his mouth, swallowing it before responding.

"I'm afraid it isn't up to me. The chairwoman is already well aware of this incident. Whether he's let go or not depends on many factors outside of anyone's control."

You knew you'd most likely get an answer like that, but it didn't stop you from tearing up. He looks at you with pity in his eyes for a split second before adjusting his tie and speaking to you, expression back to its usual indifference.

"I know- it's disappointing. I've come to respect him quite a bit during his time in the league. He took what life could offer him and aimed as high as he could go. Despite not being able to chase his greatest ambitions and fearing any more loss, he never let his circumstances keep him down there when the accident happened..."

He paused.

"For him to risk it all, he must really love you. No matter the outcome, you're worth it, to him."

And with that, your loose tears become a full-fledged sob, leaning over the table and resting your head in your hands.

"But... but WHY!?"

He leaned in slightly.

"He once admitted to Ryme and me that he appreciates you sticking by and actually liking him despite his 'moodiness'. He also told some of us at a group event that he admires the fact that you can keep up with and match his sarcasm. Small, or odd as it may seem, things like that can make the heart grow fonder, can thaw even the coldest of hearts."

You look up at the man. His expression stayed static, but you swear you see a glimmer of some foreign light in his eyes.

'He must be a sucker for romance...' You idly thought.

Oh, seems like you're able to think your usual unhinged thoughts again.

Wait. Romance?

You decide to ignore this thought.

"But, wait... Larry, I..."

You didn't actually have anything to say, but...

"Is he... is he alright?"

He took a moment to respond.

"...last I heard, he said he did what he had to, but didn't elaborate on his feelings."

"Ah."

Sounds like him.

You simply hung your head.

"...I'm sorry."

He glanced at a watch under his sleeve, but he decided to offer one last word of advice.

"I'm not here to tell you off or warn you to be more careful, I'm sure you've had plenty of time to realize that yourself. But he never gave up on you. Even if you feel like what you did was unforgivable, he doesn't, so take charge and do what's best, because what's best for you is best for him, too."

"Bu-but, wh-what if that was his last a-act? What if he plans on abandoning me now that I'm at m-my w- or-orss-st?"

"Well, everyone has the right to call it quits, but I doubt that was his goal going in. Either way, offer him the chance to talk it out. What he decides to do then is up to him, but please, either way, don't punish yourself over this forever. The past can't be changed, but the future is meant to be built upon the lessons of today."

You take this answer in. He's right. He deserves the opportunity to say what he needs to, even if that thing might shatter your world. Because sometimes, you have to do something scary, like face someone you've hurt, intentionally or not.

You sigh before offering up a weak smile.

"Thanks, Larry. Really, you've helped a lot."

He stands up, adjusting his tie one more time before grabbing his suitcase.

"I only wish I could help more. I will bring this up with La Primera, but sadly, I cannot go into more details on internal affairs even if you're directly involved in it. You will have to wait for the outcome. I wish you and Grusha good luck, though."

He then nods and departs.

--v-Vv-

It has been three weeks since that fateful gym battle.

You walk up to the gilded doorplate. A neutral meeting spot was arranged for you and Grusha to talk. Ryme was kind enough to let him use her VIP pass to reserve some time in the private room of a restaurant she frequents. It's secluded, neither of you come here (at least, if he ever has, he doesn't come enough to talk about it), and you'd never stumble upon it by just existing in the world, thus not accidentally rousing bad feelings or memories in either of you.

You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding and gently knocked.

You hear the familiar sound of a Cetoddle's cry.

You grip the handle and look down at your own Pokémon, who were standing in a 'V' shaped formation.

You know they love you, but you can't help but look into their little eyes and feel the urge to apologize yet again for something they've already well and truly forgiven you for- out of fear that they resent you.

You shake off this feeling, opening the door.

This is it.

You walk through, letting them all in as well before closing the door.

You pause for a second, kind of afraid to look at him.

But you power through.

Your stomach flips when you spot him at a large floor-to-ceiling window, looking out onto the icy landscape and crashing ocean waves in the far off distance.

He looked so serene despite the circumstances. As if he belongs here, amongst all this beauty and prestige.

Standing here, you felt like a poser.

You can't help but smile, however, imagining Ryme booking him this reservation just to make a tough conversation a little easier. Just so he wouldn't stumble upon a place of bad memories. She always had a soft spot for him.

At least you know for sure he'll still have her, even if he's-

The sound of your name snaps you out of it.

"Wh-wha?"

"I was saying 'hi'." He replied. You immediately feel bad for spacing out at the greeting, of all things.

"I'm- I, s-sorry-"

"Chill out, this isn't easy for me either."

You heart sank. Was he going to...?

"I get it, if you don't have your head on straight right now. I didn't expect you to come in all cold and calculated or anything."

He was being far more considerate than you'd expect someone to be in this situation.

'What situation? Who else is going through this?'

You shook that thought off. Not helpful.

"Okay, so, um... wow, I uh..."

He took a moment to see if you'd add on to this.

"Hm, I see. Glad to hear."

You feel a quirk of the lip at that remark, but you refused to smile when someone you hurt needed to hear a proper apology.

At least his sarcasm is still intact.

"Sorry, lemme try again. I'm sorry I'm always so reckless. I knew you were worried about me, but I just thought I could... I thought everything would just be okay, that if I do crazy stuff but stay careful enough, I wouldn't get hurt. But, you're right. The risk isn't worth it. And for that, I apologize, for always toeing that line despite your warnings."

He takes your statement in.

"Okay. Thanks for that."

Your face scrunches up a bit. That's it?

"Wh-"

You can't believe it. He hasn't added onto this statement yet.

"...that's... that's all you have to say??"

His posture loosened all at once as he let out a drawn-out sigh. You didn't even realize he was tense.

With a shake of his head, he says "Gimme a second to think, will you?"

You tense up, waving your hands defensively despite the fact that he's still turned away.

"Ah! Sorry!"

He lets out a huff in response. You give him time to mull over what he wants to say.

"Alright, look. I don't want this to be a big... 'thing', alright?"

He does quotes with his fingers, which you can still tell despite his mittens.

"We don't need a big, emotional, blow-up argument to settle this. Trust me, I don't have the time for stuff like that."

He then hung his head momentarily before finally turning to you. He looked somewhat tired, although you refused to look him in the eyes right now.

"I just want to know why. Why are you always so reckless?"

You pause. You... truthfully never thought about it. You idly wondered what it was like being in his head, what it was in his mind that made him so worried about things you didn't give a second thought to. Why he looks back on things he experienced and feels so strongly about them when you usually just move on, or why you have to dig so deep down inside yourself to understand why your mind or actions react to things in the ways that they do when you don't even actively connect the dots. Why you-

That's when it hit you.

"I..."

Your eyes were wide, looking down at the ground.

"I guess I just don't process fear the way most people do. Like, I don't get alarmed by danger as badly as most people. Even now, I..."

You pause. You were definitely going to have to unpack this later. Were you less mentally sound than you thought you were? You got through life just fine, but something that's so inate in most people eluded you. But right now, we're talking about your recklessness.

You take a mental note to thank Grusha for this confrontation later, whether it's to him directly, or just as a part of the story on how you figured yourself out.

"...well, I know things are dangerous, but I guess it doesn't click with me to avoid them."

He... stared at you. You were worried he was put off by this epiphany.

"I see."

You didn't know what this meant, so you met his tired eyes again to get some clarification.

"Does... that mean you don't wanna be around me anymore...?"

He sighed heavily.

"No, of course not. I'm not dumping you over this. It's just... more context for your behavior."

You smile. Genuinely, and against your will. You've only just now realized there might be a reason why you're always so reckless and #unbothered, but it felt nice, having him accept you, when before people would just leave you to your own devices and not bother trying.

"Okay, cool."

You let out a sigh of relief. He took your expression in.

"You know, your health is important. I take my mental and physical health very seriously, as you can see here."

He gestures toward Cetoddle.

"Just having Falinks around seems to keep your spirits up. But that's your journey, and this is mine. I'd like to know ways to help you, though. Would you consider going to therapy to at least see if that suits you? It could be a great start for you in unpacking everything."

You considered this. Maybe therapy could help your transition into... understanding exactly what it is your brain did while being wired in the womb? You were strangely Ok with all this, despite having the realization of a lifetime. Man, more reason why you should get this checked out.

"Yeah, that sounds alright. I'd like that."

He nods.

"Cool cool. Glad to finally be getting somewhere with you."

You freeze.

Oh, right. The whole reason you were here.

Oh no!

"Your job!"

He flinched, closing one eye.

"Ah. Yes, that. Well, I still have it, but... I am currently in a sort of probationary period."

Your heart did something weird in your chest.

"I... see."

You looked down.

The uncertainty was the worst part to you.

"I'm sorry, Grusha. I'm sorry about your job. I'm sorry I pushed you so far. I'm sorry I didn't see how much my actions affected people, how much risk I was putting on myself..."

He waved a hand up a little.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Is all he could say.

--v-Vv-

You grabbed your order, thanking the lady that gave you the ice cream cones before turning back to him, the both of you sitting in a quiet spot of Porto Marinada with your Pokémon.

"Here ya go, Gru!"

He glared at you before accepting it.

"Thanks..." He slowly intoned, although you can tell he doesn't mean it.

You sat next to him before abruptly feeling a wave of sadness wash over you.

You still felt terrible, but you wished you could feel terrible in a way that made sense.

Ah well.

"I'm sorry, Grusha. For everything."

"We're cool."

"I-"

You lick your cone before deciding it's too much effort to really try and eat it right now.

"I'm sorry you... got me at my 'finna be my worst'..."

"..."

"...and also right before my 'oh my Gods I'm mentally ill' thing, gotta be rough dealing with all this at once, right?"

He doesn't say anything right away, deep in thought, before turning to you and responding.

"Look, you are who you are, and I liked you before, right? I never expected perfection. Knowing what's going on with you is only a positive."

He turns away from you.

"As long as you steer away from the self-destructive stuff when you're aware it's bad, we'll be good. And I know you're self-aware, even if you don't always understand or trust that awareness. You'll keep figuring things out, and I'll stick by you. Through thick and thin, alright?"

You smile. You know he means it. You know he'll always be there, despite how messy you are, because he loves you. Even without ever saying it, you know.

So you promise to be good to yourself every step of the way. And when you're good to yourself, you're good to him. Because you as you are is enough for him. And because he accepts you, no matter what you realize, no matter where your journey happens to take you, because you are you. Every little thing you've done made the you of today, and every little thing you do today will begin to shape the you of tomorrow. The good, the bad, the tragic, the triumphant, every zig-zag and straight line and wave, that's you. That is what he wants. He wants YOU, the full experience.

As weird as that thought was (maybe even being unable to articulate yourself was a symptom?), you know one thing for certain;

He wouldn't change a thing about you, because you're you.

A/N

Was originally gonna be a story where Falinks doesn't understand your relationship with Grusha and are protective when it comes to him, but then it went into a totally different direction...

Can you tell I can't articulate myself well? Can you also tell I'm #mentallyill? I won't say what it is exactly, but at least I can pull from my own experiences when writing. I apologize if every expy seems emotionally stunted, though, I don't know how a "normal" person thinks, but I'll try my best!

The mention of him having a cane at the beginning seemed random, but I'll get deeper into that later if I write for these two more

Also, if I write more for this expy, what if their Falinks are named Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, Hum, and Drum, with Drum being the brass? Could be cute. They'd be going for a rhyme, not saying they're boring. Plus, drum, rhythm, keeping in time, military drum for the troopers, it works, Hum could be the one in the very back

PLEASE FORGIVE ANY MISTAKES I WAS WRITING THIS IN A M O O D BUT I LIKE THE STORY REGARDLESS LMAO

#gym leader grusha #gender neutral reader #pokemon scarlet and violet #grusha x reader #angst #positive ending #spoilers #forgot to tag with spoilers! im so sorry

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