#I haven’t seen the new show yet but I may. after finals possibly | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

justdontaskme · 2 years

Text

Another Chance

Pairing: Kate Bishop x Reader

Summary: It wasn’t easy to let her go, but at the time it was the only thing you felt was right for the both of you. But now that she’s randomly shown up in your life you’re not sure you’re ready to move on from her.

A/N: There may or may not be a part 2 to this. I haven't decided yet. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

For a Tuesday night, the dinner rush was quite busy, which you welcomed more than anything. It helped make the night go by faster, and the only thing you wanted to do was go home and sleep for three days straight. Even if that wasn’t possible, you could still dream.

Opening up your own little restaurant in New York wasn’t easy, but it had been your dream for the longest time. Things weren’t always easy, especially the first couple of months, where you were constantly anxious of possibly having to close up shop. However, things had finally taken a turn for the better as business had picked up significantly not long after.

Now it was almost one year since the grand opening, and business was booming for a small restaurant. Bills were paid on time with just enough leftover for you to live your rather modest lifestyle and create a decent savings account for future travel. You loved your job, your employees were amazing, so all in all you could say you were happy.

“Um, boss?” Selena called to you, rousing you from your concentration as you finished up the last touches of the dishes going to table 1. You looked up to see a slightly starstruck expression on her face and wondered what had happened out there. Or who was out there. “Someone’s here asking to see you at table 4. They haven’t ordered yet, but insisted on speaking to you first.”

“Tell them I’ll be out in sec, please. Thanks, Sel,” you answered, turning to your sous chef, Esther. “Can you take over? I’ll be right back.”

She nodded. You stopped by your office to clean up a bit before presenting yourself in the dining room. Once you’ve quickly swiped any stray hairs away from your face and straightened your chef’s coat, you set out.

On your way over, you greeted a few of your regulars and checked on a few newer faces. As you approached table 4, you could have sworn the figure facing away from you seemed familiar, but you didn’t know why.

“Hello, I’m Chef Y/N,” at the sound of your voice, the mysterious stranger turned to you with electric blue eyes you would never forget, “Kate?”

The girl gave you a short wave with a tight lipped smile, her nerves apparent from the incessant shaking of her leg and her twiddling thumbs.

It’s been years since you’ve seen the archer, and you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t missed her. In fact, you’d been missing her since the day you broke up. No one needed to know that, though.

The breakup was a bit of a blur to you. It was quick and full of unanswered questions and heavy hearts. You just remembered your heart shattering when you saw Kate’s face fall and her blubbering as she tried to fix something that she didn’t even know was broken.

It had been your choice, but that didn’t make it easier or hurt less. Especially, when Kate would constantly seek you out to try to fix things, to get back to being happy together. But you were firm in your stance. Eventually, you had to cut off all communication with her. It was the only way you’d both move on.

So it was a bit surprising to see your ex-girlfriend sitting in your restaurant years later, looking even more beautiful than when you last saw her. Her body was more toned, her hair just a bit longer and shinier. There were a few more scars from what you could see of her face and hands. You could only imagine everywhere else.

But none of that mattered, you were just happy she was healthy and alive. Everytime she showed up on the news, your anxiety almost crippled you, as you hoped for her to come out unscathed.

“Heard you finally opened your own restaurant, thought I’d come check it out,” the raven-haired girl said, her eyes flitting back and forth between yourself and her hands.

“Uh, yeah. Took some time, but I finally did it,” you smiled a little awkwardly, the tension between the two of you a bit more uncomfortable than you’d like.

“You have a minute?” she asked, gesturing to the open seat across from her.

Nervously, you considered her offer. A part of you was about to make an excuse about needing to back in the kitchen, but another part of you did want to just hear her voice for a little longer. It didn’t even matter that things were awkward between the two of you, her voice was still the most soothing sound you’ve ever heard.

Scanning the restaurant, you figured Chef Esther could handle the orders for a bit. So you indulged yourself, sliding into the booth across from her.

For longer than you cared to admit, the two of you just sat and snuck glances at each other whenever you thought the other wasn’t looking.

“You look good,” you said, breaking the silence and bringing Kate’s attention back to you.

“You, too,” she smiled. “And this place, this place looks great. I love the color scheme. The blue walls with the accent wall of gray, blue, and white. Like it’s not too bright, but not too dark to feel gloomy, “ Kate described, her eyes still exploring the place with wonder. “The white tables lighten up the room a bit. It’s just the way I remember you describing it.”

Your eyes widened, “You remembered all that?”

“Of course. You were always talking about opening your own restaurant,” she reminded you, and you felt embarrassed as you pictured all the drawings that littered your apartment when you were living together. “It was always fun to see all the sketches of your ideas. Looks like it all came together.”

“Yeah, I guess it has. It’ll be a full year in a few weeks,” you said proudly.

“I know,” Kate said, which surprised you. From your perspective, your restaurant had flown under the radar since its inception, which you didn’t mind because it kept the clientele from getting out of hand most days. For Kate to have heard of this place must mean word had spread more than you thought.

“How's the hero life?” Unlike you, Kate had been anything but discreet. Her success was being plastered around the city and everyone wanted to know more about her and the new iterations of the Avengers.

“Good. It’s good. Not everything I thought it would be, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Kate answered.

You nodded but weren’t really sure what you were agreeing to. “Good. I’m happy for you.”

This small talk was weird and nerve wracking but you didn’t know what else to talk about with her.

“So, um, do you know what you want to order? Or did you just stop in to say hello?”

Kate reopened her menu, scanning the list of dishes again. “You know, it’s hard to choose. Everything just sounds so good.”

You smiled, taking that as a huge accomplishment. In an urge to impress her, you wanted to pull out the big guns, “Do you trust me?”

After a rather significant pause, where you considered taking back your words, Kate responded. “Sure, why not?”

“Alright then, I’ll whip you up something off our special menu. Only a few special people know about it,” you sent her a wink before heading back to the kitchen.

When you returned, Esther looked at you with raised eyebrows but said nothing, and you didn’t divulge any details. Instead you got straight to work.

As you were cooking, you were quite intrigued by the fact that the interaction hadn’t been worse. You chalked it up to time mitigating any explosive feelings from getting in the way. It made you think that maybe the two of you could be friends.

For reasons you refuse to admit, you decided to hand deliver the food to Kate, asking your second to take over once more.

“Dinner is served,” you announced, placing the nice board in front of her, watching as her mouth practically watered at the sight.

“Is this?” Kate looked at you for confirmation.

“I almost made you one of our more “refined” dishes,” you rolled your eyes at your own use of air quotes, “but thought this would better fit your taste buds.”

“You always knew me best,” Kate said offhandedly, reaching down to grab the cheeseburger from the board, taking a hearty bite. “Man, I almost forgot how good your cooking was.”

Your face warmed at the compliment.

“I’m glad you like it,” you smiled, “I’ll leave you to it.”

Before you could step away, Kate’s hand shot out to stop you. Shocked, you turned back to her, eyebrows raised.

“Thank you,” Kate said.

“Don’t be a stranger, Kate,” you said, your hand giving her arm a quick squeeze before leaving again.

****

By the time it was last call, the flow of people had died down. Your sous chef went to work cleaning up the kitchen and you began prepping for the brunch rush tomorrow. Like most nights, your employees finished their work and offered to stay, but you quickly brushed them off and told them to get some rest.

After all your tasks were complete, you grabbed your backpack and keys, walking out of the building to see someone with an adorable dog waiting just across the street. They start to make their way over as you’re locking up.

“Kate? What are you still doing here? And who is this beautiful pup?” you crouched down, waiting for the dog to approach you before gently petting the dog’s head.

“You said to not be a stranger,” she shrugged, a small smirk on her face, “And this is Lucky, say hello, bud,” Kate instructed, giving him praises as he followed obediently. “I was wondering if we could walk you home,” she said.

“You don’t have to do that, Kate. Really, I’m just a few blocks away.”

“Come on. It’s late,” you rolled your eyes but took her up on the offer as you led her down the street.

The three of you walked in silence, Lucky nudging your hand with his nose every few steps, which you found so cute. The city was still alive, but it was peaceful with Kate by your side. Most of the earlier tension seemed to have melted away.

It was about halfway to your destination that you felt something in the air shift.

“I know you’ve had a long day, but there’s something I want to ask you,” Kate began, her voice quiet, to the point you had to lean towards her to hear. When she didn’t say anything, you slowed down to look at her. “Did my mom pay you to break up with me?”

You were stunned by her question, but tried your best to hold a steady face. Honestly, since Kate showed up, all you could do was replay your entire relationship in your mind. All the good, the bad, and the end.

“What brought this on?” you asked, concerned but also trying to buy yourself some time to formulate your response.

“I went to see my mom today,” Kate said, her eyes avoiding yours as her grip on Lucky’s leash tightened. “She made this comment about having to pay off a bunch of people to get me to where I am,” Kate explained. “She never said who, but she did say she also paid off some of my exes.”

You took a deep breath. It was time to tell her the truth.

“Yes, your mom offered to pay me off to walk away from us,” you confessed, and that must have been all Kate needed to hear because she was turned around and started heading in the other direction.

Your shoulders dropped as you let out a huge sigh. You considered letting her go, once again feeling it was for the best, but your tired body betrayed you as it sprang into action.

“Kate! Kate, wait, please!” you shouted, jogging to stop her. When you finally caught up to her, you grabbed her arm to keep her from moving further away. “I didn’t take it, I promise.”

“But you still broke up with me,” she stated, her blue eyes lost as she tried to process everything.

You nodded, “Yeah, I did.”

“Why?” her voice cracked and you felt all the unresolved feelings from your sudden break up years ago come bubbling to the surface.

Your throat tightened as the tears started to well up in your eyes, “Because you didn’t need me, Kate. I didn’t want her money, but it helped me come to the conclusion that you would be better off without me.”

Her response was quick. “You don’t know that.”

“Look at us, Kate. I mean seriously look at us. Money aside because I could care less about that, but our lives are so different. You’re a full-fledged Avenger now. You’re a hero like you’ve always wanted to be. And I am just so damn proud of you,” you hiccupped as the tears started to fall. “But you didn’t need me to make all of that happen. You made your dream happen all on your own.”

“It didn’t mean as much because you weren’t there to share it with me,” she whispered. “For so long, you and I talked about our futures together, and one day it just all disappeared. I wasn’t ready to let it go.”

“Kate,” your voice got caught in your throat.

“When my mom told me she paid off my girlfriends, you were the first person I thought of. I thought maybe that’s why you broke up with me. That maybe it wasn’t my fault,” Kate cried, causing Lucky to whine by her side as he tried to comfort her.

“It wasn’t,” you assured her, “you were the most important person in my life, Kate.”

“Then why did you leave me?”

Your heart physically ached. “Because for your dream to come true, I couldn’t make you choose between me and being a hero.”

“Why couldn’t I love you and be a hero at the same time?” she pressed.

You sighed, walking over to the nearest building, pressing your back against it and sliding down until you were sitting on the floor. Your eyes were stuck to her shoes until she followed your actions until she was sitting next to you, Lucky sitting in between her legs.

“When we were dating, I knew you better than anyone else. You’re one of those people that give your all to whatever it is you’re doing. School, archery, dating. All of it,” you said, leaning over to pet the golden retriever. “Hero life takes a huge commitment. Your heart is so big and you want to help everyone. That’s what I loved about you. But I couldn’t sit back and watch you split yourself trying to make everyone happy. It’s impossible.”

Kate sat in silence. Everything in her mind was jumbled and out of sorts.

“I also wanted to be able to share my dream with someone who could be there for me when I needed them. And you couldn’t always be there,” you added sadly. “It didn’t matter how much I loved you because it wouldn’t be enough if you weren’t actually with me.”

All of this changed everything to Kate. There was so much she didn’t know before, and this information had her seeing things differently. But her feelings were the same as they always were. And she had a feeling based on how you talked about your feelings before there was a chance you still felt something too.

“Would you ever consider giving us another shot?”

You scoffed, “Have you been listening to me at all?”

The archer shifted her body so she was fully facing you, her lips pursed as she thought over her words, “I hear you, I do. But what if things could be different now?”

You scoffed, “How?”

“We’re older, wiser now. I can make time for us and still be a good hero. We can grow and change together. You are living your dream and I’m living mine. What if we could find a way to make them coexist?”

“And what if we can’t?” you countered. You didn’t want either of you to get hurt from this relationship a second time. Because this time would probably hurt so much more than before.

“But if we can, it could be the most beautiful thing to experience. I haven’t stopped thinking about us, and I know I still have strong feelings about you. Feelings that I’ll never be able to shake,” Kate said, her thumb stroking your cheek softly as her eyes stared straight into yours. “I think it could be the love of a lifetime, if we let it be.”

“I’m scared,” you admitted, voice barely above a whisper. “We’re different people then me were before.”

“We are,” she agreed, “but I fell in love with you once, and I think I’d fall in love with every version of you.”

“You don’t know that,” you argued.

“And you don’t know that I won’t,” she shot back. “I want to give this another go. But only if you want to,” she said, leaving the ball in your court.

It was all so sudden. You knew things couldn’t go back to how they were. It’s been too long for that, but you also couldn’t ignore the feelings you had. The ones you thought you had abandoned for both of your dreams to come true.

“I want to try again,” Kate was about to cheer before you stopped her, “but only if we go slow. We can’t jump into what he once had.”

“Totally agree. Slow and steady,” Kate’s smile was near blinding at your decision. “Let’s get you home,” Kate said, standing up and offering her hand to help you to your feet. “You need some sleep.”

“Sleep sounds heavenly,” you said, never letting go of her hand, which she responded to by pulling you closer, her lips pressing against the top of your head.

It felt good to be close to her again. To be in her arms and to have her in your life. This was how it was supposed to be.

#kate bishop x reader #kate bishop #mcu x reader

273 notes · View notes

rebelumbrella46 · 1 year

Text

Rewatching TUA - 2x09 “Order 743″

You think the Handler saw what Reginald did with the Umbrellas and decided that she wanted to do the same... so she went after the child who she thinks could overpower the Academy...?

How did she know that Lila had that power...? If Lila's power doesn't manifest if she isn't close to another power...

And why haven't we heard anything about the other 29 kids? (7 Umbrellas with Ben, 6 Sparrows without Ben, and Lila)

The parents decided not to give them away...? Did they die?

In episode 1, we're told that Reginald tried to track down and adopt as many of them as possible... but that's not true... We know Reginald didn't like kids, so he obviously wasn't going to adopt all 43 kids when he only needed seven... but did he choose umbrellas for some reason...? Did he kill the rest...? Is that why he was tracking them all down?

I mean...it's weird that there are 29 other individuals with powers...and no one ever said anything...the news never reported anything other than the fact that 43 women magically gave birth on the same day...

The Umbrellas and the Sparrows don't seem to have ever heard of them... Did Reginald buy the press's silence? Parents?

I mean Lila could have passed off as a normal girl because unless she was around another of the kids, her power wouldn't have manifested... but what about powers like Viktor's? Or Klaus... or Five... there's no way if Reginald hadn't adopted them, they would have grown up like normal people... unnoticed... especially Viktor... I think there would have been some reported deaths... just imagine the other kids having similar destructive powers...I don't think Reginald would have let that happen...so what happened to those kids?

I'll be honest, for a moment there... I thought Project Oblivion was going to be similar to the version of Hotel Oblivion in the comics, by turning it into a prison if not for villains... for the other super-powered kids... somehow the door opens and one of them escapes, and that the Sparrows and the Umbrellas would find out and turn on Reginald...

I think that during episode 3x09, Reginald says something about having seen the end of the world many times... Now according to my previous posts in which I talk about the possible powers that the Monocle gives Reginald, it could be possible that in a "Doctor Strange" way, when Reginald observed the children with the Monocle he could see the different futures that awaited him and so he decided to adopt the Umbrellas specifically... because they were the ones that would eventually succeed...

Or it could be that Reginald is aware of other timelines... where he may have tried to adopt different children, that's why he writes so many notes of them.

Klaus makes a comment about how he never let them into his office... what if he kept certain files of the other kids and that’s why he didn't let the Umbrellas snooping around?

Maybe in other lines he adopted some of the Umbrellas with other children... or even Sparrows... maybe Lila, that's how the Handler learned about Lila's power... I mean, from the Infinity Switchboard you can see different timelines.

For example... in 2x08, you can see the version where Viktor stops the assassination of JFK and causes the nuclear war... but that doesn't happen since they save Viktor...

And in S3, Lila sees the version where the Handler kills her, but that never happened because Five rewound time... yet the Infinite Switchboard shows it... which makes sense, since in S3 we are finally told that Five founded the Commission, so they can track all of Five time travels and anomalies...

So maybe the Commission has a record on the 43 kids and Reginald... Or had it, since now it no longer exists...

#The Umbrella Academy #Umbrella Academy #tua #Reginald Hargreeves #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #Allison Hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #ben hargreeves #five hargreeves #Viktor hargreeves #jayme hargreeves #sloane hargreeves #lila pitts #marcus hargreeves #alphonso hargreeves #christopher hargreeves #fei hargreeves

65 notes · View notes

deepspacedukat · 1 year

Note

While requests are still open, can I ask for some good boy Vorik fluff? Maybe he's been attempting to make his affections for the reader known for a while, and she's caught on, but someone else flirts with her in front of him? Jelly boy? 👀

Of course you can, Nonny. Gotta love the fluffy Vulcan disaster mans! 💚 I made Ensign Tabor (a Bajoran crew member) the other guy. I hope this is along the lines of what you wanted, Nonny!

Cross-posted to AO3 here.

~*~

Overt Interest

Vorik (ST:VOY) x Reader

[A/N: This is just fluff, because Vorik.]

Warnings: Jealousy, competitive Vorik, fluff, first kisses, Vulcan kisses, and Vulcan flirting.

~*~

“Ensign?” Looking up from my console, a small smile spread across my lips when I recognized Vorik. “If this is not an inconvenient time, may I speak with you?”

“Of course, Vorik. I always have time for you.” I set down my data PADD and gave him my full attention. “What’s on your mind?”

“I was wondering if you were going to be attending Mister Neelix’s luau tonight?” He looked at me expectantly, and I floundered quietly under the gaze of his beautiful, dark eyes.

“I...well, I haven’t decided yet,” I muttered feeling my cheeks heat up. “What about you? Are you going?”

“Yes. May I ask if there is a specific reason that you are hesitant about making a decision?” Well, I couldn’t tell him that it was because I was scared of making an idiot of myself in front of him in such a public place.

“I don’t really know.” At my quiet excuse, Vorik stepped a little closer and placed his hand lightly on my elbow.

“If you do end up attending, then Neelix’s party will be rendered more pleasant by your presence.” Leaving me stunned, Vorik gave me a small nod and went back to his station. Well...if a handsome, flirtatious Vulcan wanted me to show up, who was I to stay home?

Later that night, I used a few of the replicator rations I’d been saving up to make myself a tasteful dress adorned with Hawaiian flowers. Would Vorik think I was illogical for wearing something so frivolous? I hoped not. After all, he was the only reason I was going in the first place.

When I finally arrived at the holodeck doors, I took a deep breath before stepping inside. People were milling around in leis and tropical attire, sipping fruity beverages and enjoying themselves. I smiled at a few of my crewmates and made my way deeper into the throng of people, hoping to see that familiar combination of pointed ears and dark, fluffy hair that gave me a reason to come here tonight.

Neelix gave me a cheerful little greeting before hurrying off to mingle with more new arrivals. I snagged a drink from a passing waiter and walked over to the edge of the holographic water. Tuning out the tropical music behind me, I took a slow, deep breath and sipped my drink.

There you were. You had come after all! Vorik straightened up and walked over to where you stood sipping a Rekarri starburst.

“It appears my observation in Engineering was accurate,” Vorik called when he was a few feet away from you. As you turned to face him, he noted the confusion on your face and clarified his meaning. “Though you have only just arrived, this gathering is already much more agreeable than it was.”

The shy smile you gave him as you tucked a bit of your hair behind your ear made Vorik’s heart beat faster. He hoped that tonight would be the night that you finally realized how interested he was in you. Vorik had been attempting to make his intentions known for nearly a year. Undoubtedly he’d been too subtle. Tonight he would endeavor to be more overt.

“Well, thank you. That’s very kind of you.” Vorik heard a slight tremble in your voice as you spoke. For a long moment, you paused and let your eyes rove the length of his body. He stood slightly straighter, wanting to present himself in the best light possible. After all, if he wanted you to consider him as a prospective mate, then he needed to make sure he was worthy of a woman like you. “Forgive me for staring. I’ve never seen you in anything but your uniform before.”

“I admit, I have never worn this style of garment before. Given your experience with human apparel, have I chosen the color scheme correctly?” Vorik valued your opinion on the subject - on all subjects if he was being completely honest.

He watched as you took a careful step toward him. As you skimmed your fingertips over the soft fabric covering his chest, his breath hitched in his chest. Did you have any idea what hands meant to Vulcans? Suddenly, his choice not to leave the first couple of buttons on his shirt undone seemed like the worst decision he’d ever made.

“I believe so, Ensign,” you replied looking up into his eyes. Your gaze was decidedly softer than normal...more open. Or was that just an illogical case of wishful thinking on his part? Vorik covered your hand with his where it still rested on his chest, allowing himself a brief pause to mentally acknowledge how much smaller your hand was in comparison to his own. Protectiveness roared in the back of his mind as he took a steadying breath. It was now or never, as Lieutenant Paris had stated that an old Earth saying went.

“Ensign... Ashayam, I–”

“There you are!” An overly exuberant voice called, startling both Vorik and you out of the gentle spell that had previously blanketed you both. With reluctance strong enough for Vorik to feel via his touch telepathy, you tore your eyes from his to see Ensign Tabor bounding over. Vorik felt a stab of irritation that he quickly tamped down. He had observed Tabor trying to flirt with you for approximately three weeks, but the Bajoran couldn’t seem to grasp the idea that you weren’t interested in him. Why had he chosen now to interrupt Vorik’s attempt to make his own feelings known? “I saved you a seat on upper level of the bar. We can see the whole bay from the balcony.”

“I...That’s kind of you, but I, uh–”

“C’mon, gorgeous, you’ll love it,” Tabor said putting his hand on your shoulder and trying to coax you away from Vorik’s side. Jealousy surged through him. Could Tabor not see that your hands were touching his - that the other man was unwelcome during this intimate moment? What right did he have to touch you when you had made it abundantly clear that you had no desire to be the Bajoran’s mate? The respectful thing to do would have been to wait for you to touch him as Vorik had. Instead, he could feel how uncomfortable you were even without the use of touch telepathy.

“Tabor, listen, that’s... that’s really sweet of you to have gone to all that trouble, but I...” As you trailed off searching for a polite way to turn him down, Vorik refused to watch you suffer through this unpleasant interaction any longer, so he reached up and removed the other man’s hand from your shoulder as he spoke.

“Since you are obviously unaware, she is height averse. Such a vista would undoubtedly be unsettling,” Vorik stated, noting the hard edge that had entered his voice. He would need to meditate more deeply tonight after this interaction, since his emotions were clearly closer to the surface than usual - an increasingly common occurrence when it came to you.

“How do you know that?” Your voice came out small and slightly awed as Vorik’s free hand spread out in the middle of your back. He met your eyes in an attempt to convey how seriously he took all of your interactions with him.

“You mentioned it ten days ago in Engineering at approximately fifteen-thirty hours. We were discussing a new rock climbing program designed by Lieutenant Paris while we realigned the warp field stabilizers,” he explained, and given how stunned you appeared about him remembering a single fact about you, it was obvious that this was not a common occurrence for you.

“You remembered that?” Unable to determine the source of your surprise, he gently allowed his mind to reach out and brush against yours. He sensed how moved you were by the simple fact that he had remembered something you said to him, and the rather alarming thought occurred to him that you may not have had anyone listen to your words so fervently before. That would change. Never again would your words fall on deaf ears. Not if Vorik could help it. Even if nobody else in the universe listened to you, he would.

He could remember every syllable you’d said to him since the day you two met on your first shift together in Engineering. The ship wasn’t stuck in the Delta Quadrant back then, but even at that point, Vorik had been aware enough to realize that you held more attraction for him than the prospective mate who had been promised to him - tied to him - since childhood. She would have moved on by now. Voyager would have long since been proclaimed lost and her crew dead. A small part of him was grateful for that turn of events, because now he was free to do what his heart told him it was logical to do: to pursue your affections.

“Naturally, Ashayam. I always listen to you,” Vorik answered. As if Tabor were no longer there, he looked into your eyes hoping that he conveyed his sincerity properly. “I took the liberty of reserving a table for two on the veranda overlooking the rocky side of the shore.”

“That’s my favorite place in this program.” You still sounded surprised.

“That is precisely why I reserved it,” Vorik explained, and you looked at him as if he’d done something miraculous. At some point, the Bajoran had given up and left, but neither of you noticed.

Removing his hands from you for a brief moment, Vorik lifted one of the two leis he was currently wearing and draped it carefully over your neck. If his research of human culture and customs had been accurate about the significance of flowers and their colors, then the blue of the petals symbolized serenity and peace - two traits that Vulcans held in high regard and which you inspired in Vorik in abundance. With the white flowers in his own lei, he hoped to convey his commitment to you and his fidelity should you choose to indulge in his attentions.

Once the little garland adorned you, Vorik offered you his arm - an unusual gesture for a Vulcan - which you didn’t hesitate to accept. Allowing a completely logical glimmer of pride to show through his habitually icy exterior, he walked you over to the table that he’d obtained for the two of you. Taking your seats, you observed each other in silence attempting to ascertain how the other felt.

“The clothing you have selected for this evening’s festivities complements your beauty to perfection,” Vorik finally stated as a slight green blush colored his cheeks. “I...had not believed that you would come tonight.”

“Thank you. You look quite handsome yourself. If I may ask, though, if you didn’t think I’d be here tonight, then why did you go to all this trouble? Please don’t misunderstand - I’m grateful that you did. It just...doesn’t seem very logical to me.” You were correct of course. Vorik reached quietly across the table and placed his hands over yours.

“It was not a logical decision. I may not have believed that you would attend, but...admittedly, I did hope that you would prove me incorrect. I am pleased to see that I was,” he explained, and a secret bolt of delight filtered through him at the shy smile you gave him. Turning your hands palm up beneath his, you made Vorik’s heart thump faster. “Ashayam, I am aware that human courting can last for quite some time before resulting in marriage, so I had hoped to inquire whether you would be interested in engaging in an activity that I believe humans call ‘dating’ with me? I believe that would allow you sufficient time to get to know one another prior to potential bonding.”

Surprise flitted across your features, and for one brief instant Vorik thought that perhaps he’d come across as too direct. What he didn’t expect was for you to lift one of his hands and trace his first two fingers with your own. His breath hitched in his throat at how slow and intentional your movements were. You knew what you were doing. You knew how to kiss a Vulcan.

“Yes, Vorik. I’d like that,” you murmured, and it occurred to him that you might have known how he felt all along. That possibility became a logical certainty when you brought his hand to your lips and spoke quietly. “I thought you’d never ask.”

#deepspacedukat fic #vorik x reader #Ensign Vorik #fluff

91 notes · View notes

ventu-ru · 9 months

Text

My Venture Bros Movie Thoughts (SPOILERS) scene by scene

I’ve watched this film twice already, and I’m about to put it on again for a third time to write my thoughts on it.

For context, I started watching the Venture Bros in January of this year. I was mostly putting it on the background for the lulz but when I saw the season 1 finale, I was hooked. With many of the people in the community saying it gets better with every season, I eagerly watched the series, before finally reaching the finale of season 7 around April/May.

Then, I joined the rest of the community in grieving the Venture Bros’ cancellation because I understood how well written and engaging the story was building up to this point.

Nevertheless, we were able to have a finale in the form of a movie, and I will be going scene by scene and laying down my thoughts because I figured it’d be a pretty cool time capsule of my thoughts.

Scene 1: Finding the homeless Hank decoy. So this was basically the teaser for the movie so I was familiar with this scene, but I think they added some lines that weren’t there before. I’m sure we all saw it coming that it wasn’t going to be Hank, especially now that we know its the first scene in the film.

Opening Credits

Scene 2: Sheila asks Rusty for a simple cheek swab to confirm his relation to Malcolm, but Dean comes in to interrupt them, saying OSI is quitting the search for Hank. Its funny, in a cringe and pathetic way, that Rusty still thinks Sheila likes him. I don’t even like Rusty that much anyway, so it works for me, haha. Dean comes in, complaining that the search is off, which gives Sheila a chance to get Rusty’s coffee mug for DNA sampling before being on her way. The interaction between Dean and his father here tells us what we need to know about why I dislike this man LOL. While Rusty has a point that Hank does weird and zany stuff like this, his nonchalant attitude still bothers me. He doesn’t have clones of his sons anymore so, uh, he should be more worried when they’re in danger, right?? Anyway, Dean has every right to be worried, but Rusty is more worried about his bank account. Billy comes running in after Dean leaves to tell Rusty about the problem with the new product.

Scene 3: Sheila spots Malcolm and Gary spying on her and she has a talk with them before dropping them off at the train station. Malcolm doesn’t want to wait around for DNA tests in order to arch Venture, but it’s under Guild protocol that he does. Sheila gets an emergency call from the Guild and drops Malcolm and Gary off at the station. I’m totally understanding of both sides of the situation. I also love how Gary is literally sitting in the middle of all this despite them having the entire limo space to sit. He’s literally playing the audience surrogate right now. Anyways, I’ve always loved Malcolm and Sheila’s relationship and I really hate to see them fight, but luckily nothing’s been escalated to that extent.

Scene 4: Billy and Pete show Rusty what the problem is with the new HelperPod. It starts floating out of nowhere and can unexpectedly drop when turned off, endangering babies and other smol creatures. My dude is literally not gonna stop the launch because of the new bug and expects Billy to fix it overnight, which Billy explains is not possible. H.E.L.P.eR. sees this new product and runs off, thinking that it’s being replaced.

Almost 5 scenes in and we are off to a good and efficient start! We got 4 plot lines started with Rusty’s product launch, Sheila’s investigation with the Guild, Malcolm’s discontent with the inability to arch, and Dean’s discontent with the OSI’s effort to look for Hank. While the movie’s been efficient so far, we can already see how much is packed in here- and we haven’t even seen Hank yet!

Scene 5: Malcolm and Gary run into Debra at the train station, where its revealed that she was Malcolm’s ex and now she runs ARCH, which piques their interest because they are not associate with the Guild.

Scene 6: The Guild of Calamitous Intent review an unauthorized arching by BrickFrog. Sheila says that this isn’t an isolated event and needs more investigating. A pretty short scene, but sets up that Sheila is trying to investigate this crime and we get Guild banter.

Scene 7: Dean goes to Dr. Orpheus for help finding Hank. He gets attacked by a clothes golem that we find out is Al’s ‘creation’. They recently moved into a new HQ in New York so that’s pretty cool to see. While him and Jefferson kinda play fight with it, Dean talks with Dr. O, who tells him that he’s able to faintly track Hank through visions of past, present and future. Dr. O asks Jefferson if they can use his vehicle, and he agrees, only if Jefferson is the one who drives. This sets up the use of the golem in a scene later that I did not expect.

Scene 8: We finally get to hear from Hank, who is writing in his journal on a train heading to Denver, Colorado. He is also switching to his different personalities as he’s describing his escape from the hospital, to setting up the decoy from the first scene, to traveling around New York before hopping on a train. I questioned the fact that he uses a check signed by himself that traces back to the Venture bank account, but no one else brings this up as a way to track him... so it might have happened the day after OSI dropped the search for Hank? Anyways, I also noticed that the alter-egos come out when Hank is dealing with a lot of grief or danger or just in intense situations. For example, when he was giving up his stuff to the homeless people, he is grieving over letting go of his materials and running away. He was in his batman alter-ego. Then, right after he recalls the betrayal by Sirena and Dean, he imagines all of his alter-egos. This just shows his way of coping. On a side note, when I first saw this scene, I misheard Detective-Hank saying, “There’s only ever one dame who ever left ya...” as “There’s only ever one (Dean) who (never) left ya...” and because they were going to Colorado, I thought he was going to go make a clone of Dean or something, that woulda been WAY CRAZY. So out there, that it would prolly only happen in fan fiction or something crazy like that.

Scene 9: Gary and Malcolm talk about ARCH and eventually look into the business card Gary was given, leading the ARCH ship right to their hideout. I thought it was funny that Gary was making a big deal and drew the connection that Malcolm hated Rusty for stealing his gf, but Malcolm says that thats merely near the bottom of the list of why he hates Venture.

Scene 10: OSI cleans up the crime scene shown back in scene 6, Red Death and Sheila go to do some forensics. YAY SHORELEAVE. I love the little banter of them thinking about Brock vs Red Death. That is definitely something for the fan base to debate over till the end of time. Red Death steals a phone from one of the hennchmen to get to the bottom of this.

Scene 11: Debra leads Malcolm and Gary through ARCH HQ, explaining that ARCH is a global organization that is quiet and efficient. Stuff like this makes me really really REALLY sad that this isn’t going to be continued because it shows the potential for this series to grow and and go in different directions and naturally increase the stakes. Finally, she shows off the different gadgets they can have if they join ARCH.

Scene 12: Now, we’re back to Jefferson, Dr. O and Dean’s road trip to Colorado! Jefferson makes a stop back at his old place and we finally FINALLY get a peak of his life behind the scenes. I’ve been wanting this for forever now cuz he’s been one of my fave characters since I started watching. He states that if they get a head start tomorrow morning, they’ll be with Hank by mid-day tomorrow. It kinda sucks that this was the only time we really got to see more of Jefferson in the whole series, but I’ll take it!

Scene 13: Hank reached the Venture compound at night, but it has been demolished. Feeling dreadful, his detective-Hank alter comes in and tells him to look again. This starts off the sequence of flashbacks throughout the Venture compound that genuinely made me smile in sweet nostalgia (despite seeing the whole series a few months ago) that I bet hit hardest to the people who’ve been with the series day one. It ends with Hank getting a reality check before immediately remembering his coma-dream, where he recalls his ‘mothers’ name- Bobbi St. Simone. Then, he is spotted by Dermott, who believes he still works under OSI.

Scene 14: Rusty is still working on his launch for tomorrow morning, setting up the panel and everything. Billy and Pete head out to get ready for an all-nighter to work on the bugs of the HelperPod. Pretty short scene again, Rusty being narcissistic as usual. “Well, hide the thing under your coat, there might be paparazzi outside.”

Scene 15: Malcolm and Gary sneak into the lair at night to check out the new costumes. I think I liked the old costumes more... but I’m glad that they’re enjoying them and their new features. Malcolm and Gary have the best dynamic, it’s great.

Scene 16: We get a 1960′s trailer for a movie that starred Bobbi St. Simone. Dermott recognizes her face and name because there was an old photo of her given to Rusty that she signed. Dermott’s been hoarding a bunch of the Venture’s stuff LMAO for ‘security purposes’ but Hank isn’t convinced by the excuse. They get interrupted by ‘Mr. Potter’/Ben who wants a polyphase Venturilium converter from Dermott... which idk why he would have that? My guess is that Dermott thinks the gadgets just look cool. Maybe he secretly wants to be included in the Venture Bros’ adventures? idk. Hank watches a PSA from Bobbi and finds out she’s at a zoo of some sorts.

Scene 17: Dr. O wakes from his sleep, seeing the vision of Hank hanging out with Dermott and wakes up Jefferson and Dean to head out. They get ambushed by Jefferson’s enemies and unfortunately, magic doesn’t work on them, so no Jefferson and Dr. O co-op fight scene :( Dean thinks he got bit by one of the vampires. Prolly one of my favorite lines: “Did that sum-bitch just bail on us?” They’re able to escape when they release the golem on them. I bet if this was a season-long, the group would be able to track Jefferson, leading to another fight scene either at the zoo with Hank and Bobbi or with Dermott at his place.

Scene 18: Gary and Malcolm go to arch Venture with their new gear. Also short, not much to say... I love how it starts with Gary exclaiming, ‘Its the Police!’ referencing a band name rather than the actual police.

Scene 19: This scene sort of confused me when I first watched it, but basically, Red Death, Brock and Shoreleave find evidence that frames Sheila as the culprit of the crime sprees and give her the chance to run away.

Scene 20: Back with Gary and Malcolm continuing Scene 18, Debra abandons them in the Venture compound. Luckily, they just have to deal with Sgt. Hatred, not the wrath of Brock, so they’re relatively safe. Debra then sets off the HelperPods through the bug that Billy and Pete were investigating. This makes them all release their own magnetic fields and gravitational forces and make the building float up into space.

Scene 21: Brock sees the building flying out into space and calls Rusty to tell him what’s going on. Rusty finally looks outside and realizes that the building is exiting the earth’s atmosphere. I’m surprised he hasn’t heard the music from the bots yet.

Scene 22: Billy and Pete try to get the HelperPod down, but is only taken down by getting shot at, which Billy tells Rusty in a call.

Scene 23: Red Death’s horse, Daisy guides Sheila to Debra because they believe she’s been the one who framed her.

Scene 24: Dr. O goes to Dermott and asks him about Hanks’ whereabouts. Another one of my fave lines: “Liar! Pants aflame!!” This scene also showcases how scary and physical Dean can actually be, especially when someone he cares about is in danger. (But also when he believes that he’s turning into a vampire). I would have loved for this to be explored in a later season or something because there’s some stuff there that would make Dean a much much more interesting character (imo the fans seem to gravitate to Hank’s character rather than Dean cuz he’s just had more interesting character moments. So I think a storyline tackling this side of Dean would be a great direction for his character).

Scene 25: Hank finally reaches the old zoo where Bobbi is. All his alter-egos come out, skeptical but curious as to who the mother is. He gets attacked by a gorilla, but is saved by Bobbi. When she hears that him and Dean had a falling out, she says that, “Family is- it’s everything, really.”

Scene 26: Billy and Pete finally figure out the vulnerability and call Rusty to explain the situation. They tell him to manually turn off the robots. Shooting them is one way of doing that, but before Billy can communicate the issues with that approach, they lose connection. I kinda liked this scene, since Rusty admits, “I was happier as a middling super-scientist in the middle of nowhere!”

Scene 27: Hunter Gathers decides that they’ll have to shoot down the Ven-Tech building to save people on earth. Brock tries to talk him into saving them, to no avail. I think Brock was tryna go for a ‘Venture may not have a lot but they got me!’ kinda speech, but it falls flat and they laugh at him lol. But then he brings up that Sheila is behind the scenes trying to talk to Debra, and has faith that she’ll put a stop to it.

Scene 28: Sheila and Daisy reach Debra’s apartment and Daisy jumps to a bunch of conclusions about Debra’s plan before she can explain herself. It’s pretty funny because with every conclusion Daisy came up with, I found myself thinking of it as a possibility, but Debra was having none of that LOL.

Scene 29: Bobbi finally gets to explain her story and once again, we get Hank intervening and jumping to conclusions about her being his mother. I think it was pretty amusing, but having it back to back like that and being the same kinda joke (character jumps to ridiculous conclusions after getting a few bread crumbs of info) might get stale after a few viewings. Bobbi finally explains that she isn’t his mother, sending Hank into a confused spiral of emotion, and into another coma. So I think these coma trips have been happening whenever he’s had an emotionally traumatic moment and needs to escape reality. Dr. O and the gang finally reach them and offer to help.

Scene 30: Meanwhile, Malcolm, Gary and Rusty and Sgt. Hatred all agree to work together to take down the HelperPods. Even H.E.L.P.eR. comes to help. Unfortunately, their mission to take down the Pods ends TERRIBLY. It was pretty horrifying to see what happened to the characters because it looked more severe than the usual cartoon injuries they’ve endured in the past. But in retrospect, nothing too crazy for Venture Bros.

Scene 31: Hank sulks in the coma-dream while all his alters come out to play. Dr. O comes to him and tells him that they’re there to rescue him. Hank doesn’t believe he has a place to go back to.

Scene 32: Back in the real world, Bobbi makes it clear to Dean that shes not his mom and he says he already knows, but doesn’t remember seeing her before.

Scene 33: Meanwhile, Debra tries to convince Sheila to join her in ARCH. Sheila defends herself that she’s happy where she is and she chose this life. Debra reveals that she is Force Majeure’s daughter. She also had previous contact with Rusty. “And I gave [Rusty] my...stuff I wasn’t planning on using.” At first, I thought that this was just gadgets or something but now I think its some DNA and reproductive stuff that helped create Dean and Hank? They finally come to an agreement and she turns off the HelperPods that are making the Ven-Tech building up in space.

Scene 34: I think this is the first scene where I can sorta see... the limitations in production. But its only speculation. Back in the Ven-Tech building, the four guys make it through the vents and into a safe space to recuperate. They notice that they are in free fall and need to get on a space ship out of the building to get out safely. They start floating upwards, but then the screen gets dimmer and dimmer implying there are not lights in this part of the building. But it also helps cut down on animation. But they find the mecha, Ventronic, from Season 3.

Scene 35: Hank and Dr. O talk and Dr. O guides Hank back to reality before Dean accidentally stumbles in the dream, gets beaten by Hank’s alters before being saved by Hank. I really really wish this was expanded on in a bit of a more creative and engaging, sorta adventure type of way. I see a lot of potential. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I saw Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish, but I was hoping it would be similar to that. I loved how Dean accidentally got himself tangled up in that for a few seconds before they exited the coma dream... but similar to my last sentence, I truly wish that it was expanded upon. It didn’t feel as satisfying, especially with how hurt Hank was by this betrayal. Furthermore, while Dr. O was a pivotal role in getting to Hank’s coma-dream, I wish it was Dean who brought him out by directly talking to him. Even when they did talk...

Scene 36: They bring Hank out of the coma-dream but notice that the Ven-Tech building is falling from the sky. I’m prolly gonna get into a whole discussion on how to fix this later, but this scene is one of the furthest things from satisfying to me. Which sucks. Hank gets out of his coma-dream and apologizes to Dean about his alter’s beating him up. Dean said he kinda deserves it. But Dean doesn’t apologize to him??? uhhhhhhhhhhh. He wrote a whole ass letter and read it to his brother when he was in a coma, but he never heard any of it so like... even a short sorry would have been something? Or like ‘hey I wrote a letter about the situation and thought you should know. I read it to you while you were in your coma but you probably didn’t hear it, so let me just say I’m sorry...’ IDK it just didn’t sit right with me that Hank was the only one who apologized. Maybe he was going to go into it, but Hank asks about their father and Brock, and then they get interrupted by the falling building so...

Scene 37: This sequence is a call-back to that one episode in Season 3. It was unexpected, but welcome! I enjoyed it at least. The Ventronic and OSI save the building from crash-landing on earth. Instead, it safely lands right where the old Ven-Tech building used to be in Denver, Colorado. Where Jefferson, Dr. O, Hank and Dean are able to go.

Scene 38: Malcolm climbs out of the robot and is crushed by the statue of Jonas Venture, needing immediate medical attention. Ben rushes to the scene, claiming that he can help.

Scene 39: Invisible Debra and Sheila analyze the DNA test results from Malcolm and Rusty- confirming that they are clones instead of brothers. I’m not sure why they chose to be invisible?? Another budget saving technique maybe.

Scene 40: Rusty and Malcolm get the news that they are clones and Rusty’s donation of blood helps Malcolm’s operation succeed. Malcolm is bummed that hes a clone and Rusty is more non-chalant and chuckling, saying that he should have expected this.

Scene 41: Brock, Sgt Hatred, Gary, Jefferson, Dr. O and even H.E.L.P.eR. 2 hang out in the living room area when Ben comes in to deliver the news that they are clones of Jonas. He also notes that Malcolm has 25 baboon in his DNA to counter-act balding, but it made him more aggressive. His code name was also ‘R-22′ meaning there was more than 20 other versions of Rusty. Speaking of which, he comes in the room, looking for the twins so that he could ‘blow their little minds...again.’ His reaction seems a lot more upbeat and light-hearted.

Scene 42: Malcolm sulks in his operation bed until Sheila comes in through the window, still invisible. She cheers him up and this is prolly one of my fave scenes of them, they’re awesome together. Nevertheless, I still felt like it was a short scene of one of my fave duos on the show.

Scene 43: Ben gives Hank a watch that Jonas gave him before Rusty was born. He also tells Hank that “Blood doesn’t choose your family, love does. Your grandpap knew that.” Its a very interesting quote, because it tells a different side to the Jonas Venture we’ve learned about throughout the series. Like, I kinda find it hard to believe Jonas would do such a thing LOL. Anyways, this is a really nice moment. I wonder why they included a watch with 2 different time zones. I’m soooo curious to the back story of the watch. Nevertheless, I still wish we had more closure to Hank and Dean’s plotline.

Scene 44: Dean talks with Rusty and asks him who their mother is. Rusty doesn’t give him an answer, saying, “I don’t even know who my mom is!” Before assuring him that, “All you need to know is that the person who gave birth to you loves you.” And Dean hugs him. I don’t like Rusty but moments like these give me hope that if the show continued, we’ll have more human moments for him. Rusty’s dad prolly never hugged him, so I’m glad Dean’s getting at least a lil more hugs. Unfortunately, none from Rusty to Hank :(

Scene 45: Malcolm’s return. Malcolm enters the room, announcing that he will continue arching Venture, using the revelation of his bloodline and genetics as fuel for his hatred. But first, Brock gets him an Uber.

End Credits

Scene 46: Post credit scene. This scene is set in the past, showing Rusty using a synthetic womb to carry Hank and Dean when they were fetuses. H.E.L.P.eR. is in the background singing a lullaby and preparing cribs for the babies[This single-handedly makes me appreciate and love H.E.L.P.eR. even more <3] Rusty’s watch goes off, saying ‘Wake the boys.’ And he says that the boys are ‘about done.’ This basically implies that he’s the one who technically gave birth to them, despite Debra giving him the other reproductive stuff he’d need to create them.

End of Movie Notes

Yeah, so... that was that... Again, the movie just had too much to pack into it, which was just a result of the unfortunate limitations. I truly wished that they had at LEAST 2 hours to make the whole thing, then we would have had much more satisfying character moments. I was the most disappointed with how Hank and Dean’s storyline played out, but considering the limitations the writers had on this project, they did a fantastic job. It could have been much much worse and handled poorly. All in all, it was a good send-off. Too good, since its leaving the fans wanting more. If there’s any way to petition or write physical letters to an organization or anything, I would support that in a heartbeat. I’d send a letter a week or whatever it takes to show my undying support (as you can see, I write a lot, so these letters would be long AFFF). As you can see, I’m still a big fan and would love to see Venture Bros continue, there’s just too much unexplored territory in this story, it’d be a shame for it to go to waste! Depending on my schedule this week, I will write a follow up to this, writing about how I would go about concluding the story for Dean and Hank.

Go, Team Venture!!

#venture bros #venture bros movie #spoilers

13 notes · View notes

lovelyfanatical · 1 year

Text

Hello friends! I'll be trying something new today. This may not be a writing blog, and I haven't written fanfic in years, but the Drukkari brainrot is too real and I had an au idea that wouldn't leave my brain, so I decided to write it down. I make no guarantees that I'll ever finish writing it, but I felt like sharing. Let me know what you think and if you'd like me to keep writing! 😁

I don't have a title for it yet, so welcome to my Drukkari-centric Great British Bake Off au fic (featuring the Eternals, and possibly some other random Marvel characters)!

Druig failed to stifle a particularly long yawn. He was used to getting up early to open the shop, but he usually slept until noon on days when he didn't have to get up. He knew it'd be worth it, though, especially after all the work put into the application process.

After the longest online application he'd ever seen, an interview, multiple screen tests, an awkward psych evaluation, and extensive recipe planning and practice bakes, he was finally here. More specifically, at a hotel, waiting to be picked up along with the other contestants. A couple of them had arrived early like him and introduced themselves - a burly fellow with a kind face whose name started with a G (at least, he thought it was a G) and a small brunette woman who he wanted to call Jack, but he knew that wasn't it - but they were already chattering away while he stayed off to the side. It wasn't long before more began to trickle in: a brunette man with a silver steak in his hair, a stoic blonde woman, a redheaded kid who definitely looked too young to be there, another brunette man, a boisterous fellow who looked more like he was on his way to a fashion show than about to enter a baking competition, an older gentleman who offered the others tea before they left, a pretty young woman whose presence caught the attention of both brunettes, and a tired-looking bespectacled man who accepted the older gentleman's tea offer.

They stood around for a bit, making polite introductions and sipping their beverages. They were just getting around to Druig when it was announced that it was time to board the shuttle. He was the last one in since he'd hung back earlier - that is, until he sat down to find someone scooting in after him. Turning to look at the newcomer, Druig found himself face to face with the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on.

The final contestant was a demure woman with her hair pulled up into a few braids. After she slid in and the door shut behind her, her brown eyes turned toward him, and Druig realized he'd been staring. Before he even had time to be embarrassed, the woman broke into a smile and gave him a little wave. He waved back, feeling his nerves start to dissipate. When she said nothing, he decided to take the first step.

"I'm Druig," he said. Without missing a beat, the woman raised her hands and signed, I'm deaf. He responded with a nod of understanding before signing back, I know a few signs. At this, her eyebrows quickly shot up with surprise, and somehow, her grin grew even wider. She raised her hands again to say, I'm Makkari. After spelling it out and practicing her name sign with him a few times, Druig reintroduced himself. She offered him a hand, which he took. It was calloused but warm, and despite the awkward angle from sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, Druig couldn't help but notice that her hand seemed to fit perfectly in his.

Are you nervous? Makkari signed, moving a bit slower than before to make sure he could follow. A little, he replied, Are you? She smiled cheekily as she mimicked back, A little. But mostly, I'm excited. Her expression softened again as she signed, And I'm glad to have a friend already. Druig could've sworn he felt his heart melting. Me too, he signed back.

Just as quickly as their conversation began, it came to a close as they arrived at their destination. Druig followed Makkari out of the shuttle and the rest of the group came soon after. A woman with dark hair and glasses was waiting for them, though another man immediately pulled Makkari aside and started signing to her. Druig didn't catch everything he said, as he signed rather fast, but he caught an introduction and realized he must be an interpreter. His suspicion was confirmed when he began to interpret for the bespectacled woman.

"Good morning everyone! My name is Darcy and I'm the assistant director of the Great British Bake Off. Here's how this is gonna work."

As Darcy went over the extensive list of rules, Druig found his eyes wandering around the group again. They all listened intently to her words with varying emotions. Makkari's eyes were firmly set on the interpreter, but he could see her foot twitching a bit, as if she were suppressing the urge to tap it as she listened. Druig stifled a smile and tried to listen, but he kept getting drawn back to that twitch.

Before he knew it, the woman had wrapped up her speech and he hadn't retained any information from it. She was moving on to questions, and the man with the streak in his hair - Ikaris, he heard him say - had several. As Druig shifted in his spot, he found himself bumping into Makkari, unaware of how close he'd been standing to her. He raised his hands to apologize, but as he did, he saw that she was smiling - actually, she was laughing but trying not to. At the sight of that, Druig couldn't help himself. He gently bumped her again, causing her to stifle a giggle. She glanced back at him and the interpreter quickly waved a hand to get her attention again. She turned her head back, but not before quickly bumping him back, causing him to smile to himself. This was going to be an interesting day.

That's all I got for now! Likes and feedback would be much appreciated! 🙂

*EDIT: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

#lovelyfanatical shares #drukkari gbbo au #drukkari #eternals #fanfic

20 notes · View notes

acergi · 1 year

Text

Okay I’m gonna try and put together my prediction for a timeline:

I HAVE NOT WATCHED FOR THE FUTURE YET PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL IT IN REPLIES!!!!

Also, this only has stuff in the trailer, so I’m tagging it with spoilers, but there aren’t really any. I’m putting it under the cut because it’s super long stjrsjsrs

First off, the link to the trailer if you haven’t seen it yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIurNjdV-X0

And the promo stuff (cause I mentin them a bit):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_qUdLeKQA8

Episode opens similarly to TTT

So we go back to the DOU. The Collector goes and does whatever they did to the coven heads next. There may be a brief fight (I doubt they could fight for long in that condition), or they never even wake up from the spell and wake up to being used as a puppet.

Based on King’s outfit (by which I mean not wearing those robes), I think this also happens on the DOU. The Collector recogonizes Eda/The Owl Beast, and doesn’t put the weird mind control on her (or tries and it doesn’t work, which could be why Collectors are supposed to lock up all Flying or Swimming things so they last (I think that’s what the book said)). Eda doesn’t win, maybe because she too, was weakened by the spell, and lost an arm (and the collector is crazy powerful), or The Collector vaugely threatens King (or Eda thinks he does and wants to keep King safe). She either ends up locked up by where the coven geads are later seen, or is able to barely escape, but not save King.

Lilith gets away somehow. Maybe the BATTs do too, and I think Hooty? Lilith has a different outfit and way shorter hair, so she must be able to originally get away. Since Eda also does it’s possible she initially gets away. Not many others get away from the DOU.

The parents of the Hexsquad may think the kids are either dead or under the Collector’s influence, since they were last known to be in the area.

Side note: The Collector being called a collector and being trapped in something strongly resembling a pokeball is hilarious to me rn.

Anyway, credits play (or just the show name), and it cuts to the Hexsquad. They do they’re little thing in the forest from all of the New Years promo stuff. If the palisman thing is a trick of the Collector, this happens now, letting the rest of the hexsquad understand the situation a bit better. Since I think they’ll be by the Clawthorne ruins at first, they are in the forest, so all the foresty stuff happens. If the palisman is actually hatching, it won’y happen in the beginning of the episode because that makes absolutely no sense.

I think this is the first place they would go, just to see what’s left and regroup. Some of them may need medical attention *cough* Hunter *cough*. Amity and Luz talk about what happened in the Human Realm/Amity tries to comfort her, maybe Willow finallly does something since she was barely in the last episode. Maybe Gus and Hunter can finally have the Grimwalker/Belos’s memories talk? They decide to go see what’s happening in Bonesbourough/see who they can find/see their parents. I think Willow and Gus live in town, so their parents would be there.

That being said, Amity and Camila are fighting someone in a cave, which could happen more towards the beginning if they are tracking Belos.

Belos has a head start, so he goes back to his stupid cave that he used to live in 300 years ago. He opened it with a glyph combo so I think its his old cave. Can’t exactly have people coming across your genocide plans. I think this episode will be more about the Collector and King, while Belos plans for the finale. I know the blurb says he is also going after the collecor, so maybe this is him regrouping. idk what he’s doing. Maybe he’s hoping he left a palisman in the freezer a couple hundred years ago before he moved out.

Okay the next couple of things happen some time in the middle but idk in what order:

King reads the story to The Collector/we get Collector lore. It seems like there are a bunch of them.

From the handwriting at the bottom, it seems to me like The Collector does not exactly fit in with the other Collectors/disagrees and just wants to play. Also, the last line about wiping everything really concerns me.

Whatever happens to Hooty happens. This could have happened in the beginning and Lilith is just seeing it now which could be for a few reasons:

1. King, who has Hooty manages to escape with Eda

2. Eda gets a hold of him and shows her

However, it is also very possible that this happens now. What’s interesting is that King has Hooty in this shot:

which seems to be Eda trying to rescue King or escape. I would imagine this happens later in the episide as almost a penultimate fight, or a secondary fight while the main fight at hexside is happening, but it’s hard to tell. Either way, I think Eda and Lilith have been camping out somewhere together and this is their daring plan to save King (and maybe the kids if they don’t know where they are). Also, Eda’s curse is starting to come out. And short hair!!

Also, it lowkey looks like the grom tree in the background, so maybe grom is here? The goop thing in the poster looks a lot like grom, and there’s a picture of grom in the memory room later in the trailer.

They go to Hexside where everyone is hanging out.

They look through Luz’s memories for knowledge of Philip Wttebane. I think I saw someone say that they could be looking for that glyph combo he used to get them into the Titan’s skull, where The Collector’s castle seems to be. This gets interrupted by whatever the Collector’s doing. Also, that spider is slitghtly concerning.

Callback to grom, with the grom monster, who I think is going to make a callback in this episode in some way. Maybe in the end of the episode?

Meanwhile, Hunter and Willow are out and about doing some Huntlowy things. They seem to be in town when The Collector and King arrive, so idk what they’re doing.

They arrive in Bonesbourough. Idk why King looks sort of mad. Bump tries to hold them off, but fails, Boom attack, something happens that totally changes things, idk.

I also have no idea what Belos is doing this whole time. Idk what his next plan is, or litterally anything about what the hell he’s trying to do at this point.

#I'll probably think of something else later but oh well #this ended up being really long sorry lol #toh #the owl house #toh s3 #the owl house season 3 #toh spoilers #the owl house spoilers #for the future #toh analysis #toh theory #toh theories

11 notes · View notes

persnickety-peahen · 2 years

Text

finally got caught up on What We Do in the Shadows last night with the hubby and . . . hoo boy that last episode was a doozy and i have a lot of thoughts so this will be a long post (mostly about Freddie himself)

Baby Colin hit puberty overnight and is now Angsty Teen Colin? Nadja’s nightclub might be going under because she has no main attraction anymore? the drama! but then they’re like, look at Guillermo being all happy and cute with his boyf--nope nevermind everything sucks for everyone now because Nandor is relentlessly selfish and awful. like, the guy really just cannot stop? and now Guillermo has to watch his first serious boyfriend cheat on him . . . with a clone of himself . . . who used to be a whole ass different and unique and wonderful person unto herself. a person who, had circumstances been different, maybe could have been a good friend of Guillermo’s as the only other human in the house and also the only other person to really understand the bullshit Nandor puts him through. a person who, although it may have been due to a wish in whole or in part, appreciated Guillermo and openly thanked him for all of his help and wished him well. a person who has slowly had her own individuality, autonomy, and self stripped away from her, piece by piece, wish by wish, by Nandor’s confused attempt at making her “perfect” when what he really wanted was something else all along.

like, fuck, dude. that’s some heavy shit.

i’ve seen a lot of posts already talking about the absolute horror story that is this entire season, but especially this last episode, from Marwa’s perspective. that’s a really important thing to talk about, and i’m glad other people are on it. i have nothing to add on that front, except that i too cannot wait for her inevitable comeback and hope she gets to kick Nandor in the balls at the very least.

something i haven’t seen people really talking about though, is how this episode is also a fucking horror story from Freddie’s perspective.

just imagine, for a minute. you go on a trip to hang out with your long-distance boyfriend and experience all the exciting new things in New York Citay. you have a lovely time; after meeting the dementia patient your boyfriend caretakes for, you go out and get pretzels and dance together and watch a broadway show and get cheesecake and laugh together and get cute touristy pictures and all that jazz. then you go to drop him back off at his place and—

you see yourself, cuddled up with the dementia patient in front of a fire, draped in furs. the other you is clearly nude, and the dementia patient is only wearing a pair of boots. they clearly just had sex. is that even a thing you and your boyfriend have done yet? and what the fuck is that other you? is it a long lost twin? just a doppelganger? some weird fucking real doll bullshit? but no, you’re screaming, and the other you is also screaming in the exact same way and probably also running through the exact same list of possible explanations for what’s happening and didn’t Guillermo say he thought he saw Nandor, the dementia patient, a few times today? was the other you going out with Nandor, following you and Guillermo, doing all the exact same things you were doing? what does this mean what’s happening what—and then all of a sudden everything is fine. Nandor told you and the other you to be cool with each other, so you’re cool with each other. he told you and the other you to like each other, so you like each other. you play charades, and you barely have to motion before the other you knows exactly what it is you’re thinking of. no one has ever understood you so completely. not even your boyfriend, Guillermo.

you have to go back home eventually though, and when you arrive, it’s not the same. you miss the other you. you miss that total understanding. so when you facetime your boyfriend but the other you appears in the background, of course you take some time to talk to him. and when he shows up in England all of a sudden, of course you welcome him into your home—he’s you, so it’s his home too, isn’t it? he’s you, so it’s his bed too, isn’t it? he’s you, so of course he understands you, and that’s what everyone wants in a partner, isn’t it? you forget about Guillermo. why would you remember him when you have the perfect partner right there next to you? /end imagination time

that’s fucking horrifying, isn’t it? poor dude doesn’t even know that the supernatural is real, and he ends the episode in a hypnosis-induced affair with himself. the fact that he and Freddified Marwa end up together is directly related to the hypnosis, is has to be. which means anything that goes on between them is coercion. which means Nandor is effectively SA-ing both of them. not that i think the show will address that angle, of course, because even though it’s a dark/horror comedy, that still feels a little too heavy for them to come out and say so on air—but i do think it’s important for us as the viewers to talk about it. and maybe to ask the showrunners and cast and crew about it too, because whether the SA reading was intended or not, it’s definitely there

and why? why did all of this happen? whether intentionally or subconsciously, the end result of this whole shitshow is that Nandor and Guillermo are both single now. and single people are free to date each other, right? who cares if it took VIOLATING THE BODILY AUTONOMY OF TWO OTHER PEOPLE AND DESTROYING SOMEONE’S ENTIRE SELF to get them there? Nandor certainly doesn’t!

i’m still holding out hope though that Guillermo does care and will tear Nandor a new one for it, and not just for ruining his happiness. i hope Guillermo beats his ass and either knocks some sense into him so he can use his last two wishes responsibly, or he steals the lamp and uses some wishes himself to set things right. . . . or Marwa steals the lamp and uses her wishes to set things right and fuck with Nandor. whatever happens, i just don’t want to see Nandor abuse his wishes and the power they give him over other people anymore. i’m kinda over it. please let him learn his lesson and learn it hard because i cannot watch him relentlessly steamroll other people anymore, especially with the expectation that i laugh at the ridiculousness of it because this is ultimately supposed to be a funny show

18 notes · View notes

princesscatalina99 · 1 year

Text

This will be most likely on instagram but I haven’t fully decided yet.

Small Introduction

Hey there. This isn’t my first roleplay, but it’s my first time doing it on this platform. I’m not sure if I’m using twitter or instagram. I’m leaning towards insta but I may get more people on twitter.. I really hope you guys like this group and we can all have some fun!

Plot

It’s basically what happens in season 3. I put a small synopsis in case you forgot. I may just watch it on Netflix to try and remember everything.

Season 3 took place primarily during Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead's Junior year of high school. Between gang wars, cult rituals, and musical rehearsals, they actually went to prom and took the SATs.

Here’s my character’s backstory. Catalina Andrews doesn’t remember much from her younger years in Riverdale but she remembers more than her mother claims to have. She was a year younger than her brother and he was her favorite person in the world. She remembers the last Christmas they spent together. The Andrews went to the zoo and she saw a red panda and every time they went to see Santa, she begged him for a red panda. And even though it wasn’t a real one, she got a stuffed one that she named Jasper. She remembered going to Pop’s and she got a chocolate milkshake and tried to steal Archie’s French fries.

Well.. all that changed when her mother Mary, for whatever reason, decided to take her away from Archie when she was only 4 years old. Catalina cried as she was torn away from her favorite person in the world. She and Mary moved to Chicago.

While she lived there, she had quite a gloomy life. She hoped every day that she could escape and run back to Riverdale to find her brother. Her mother told her that he would never remember her anymore and he wouldn’t welcome her back. When she was just about to turn 15, she snuck out and ran out. She took her sketchbook, a few snacks and Jasper in her bag and ran out. She has finally arrived in Riverdale after 11 years and no matter what the differences are, she just wants to be with her favorite big brother in all the world. She just hopes her mother wasn’t right and be rejected from her own brother and father.

Rules

1. Please know the show, characters and season before you choose the characters

2. This includes a little bit of sex so please make sure you’re 18+! If you’ve seen riverdale you should probably know that already.

3. I would prefer if my character was the only oc. I don’t want people to take ocs and no canons. So I’d say please choose canons before ocs.

4. Please try to be literate. I would like people to do 3+ lines. Please only speak English and use no *..* when roleplaying and use full sentences.

5. Lgbtqia+ ships are allowed. Please no homophonic slurs or you will be removed.

6. You can play as many characters as you can control.

7. Please try and stay as active as possible.

8. Please stick to the ships I have put down below. You may make new ones if you’d like to.

9. If you would like a course on how to roleplay, just message me and I help.

10. Have fun!

Roles (in alphabetical order)

Alice Smith: Open

Archie Andrews: Open

Betty Cooper: Open

Black Hood: Open

Catalina Andrews: Taken by me

Charles Smith: Open

Cheryl Blossom: Open

Chic “Cooper”: Open

Claudius Blossom: Open

Clifford Blossom: Open

Edgar Evernever: Open

Ethel Muggs: Open

Evelyn Evernever: Open

Fred Andrews: Open

FP Jones: Open

Gargoyle King: Open

Gladys Jones: Open

Hermione Lodge: Open

Hiram Lodge: Open

Jellybean Jones: Open

Joaquin Desantos: Open

Josie McCoy: Open

Jughead Jones: Open

Kevin Keller: Open

Mary Andrews: Open

Moose Mason: Open

Penelope Blossom: Open

Reggie Mantle: Open

Sweet Pea: Open

Toni Topaz: Open

Veronica Lodge: Open

Ships

Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones

Veronica Lodge and Archie Andrews

Cheryl Blossom and Toni Topaz

Kevin Keller and Moose Mason

Mary Andrews and Fred Andrews

Hiram Lodge and Hermione Lodge

Thanks for reading everything! I really hope you have taken the time to read everything through. I hope I’ll see you all here! Please comment below what character(s) you would like to play.

2 notes · View notes

decayiingsoul · 2 years

Text

The Letter She Wrote ッ

This story has a heavy mention of suicide & drug abuse. Please bear that in mind if those are subjects that may disturb you.

Three years, a lot of time to pass. A lot of sunrises, seasons. More hours than one could keep track of. Yet, not enough time for me, it seemed.

Up until now, I thought I had satiated it’s hunger, sown up the hole that had been ripped through my heart, devouring the very life away from me in an attempt to fill the void. The world around me had turned grey, and callous. Even my own vision saw the world in a tormented greyscale view, distorted by my grief and hatred towards anything that surrounded me.

Why did everything get to carry on when she was dead?

That thought alone had been enough to send my mind into a hopeless pit of asking myself the same unanswerable questions over and over again, not to mention the rest of them. Looking back on myself, I was nothing short of disgusted. Repulsed by this toxic, hate fuelled creature I had become.

Was it my fault?

For a long time I had been the same way, stuck in a rut that I could not seem to get out of. For a while, the drugs broke the cycle - but it took me a long time to realise that I had just thrown myself into a new one to escape the old one and that I was, in fact, no better off than before.

But now? Well, now I had thought that I had finally accomplished the impossible. Therapy was my first step, recovery the second - and I had thought that finally, just maybe, I was beginning to repair the damage that this grief had taken out on me.

Until today.

I’ve been through almost an entire bottle of whiskey and my hands are still shaking as I write this. She showed up at my door, today. She showed up at my fucking door, I don’t even know how she found out where I lived. Chelsea’s mother.

She was tearful, full of apology after hollow apology. I still have those words she said to me burned into my brain, back at the funeral when she pinned her daughter’s suicide on me. Blamed me for the drugs, the years of torment from people I didn’t even know. Her mother couldn’t have possibly fathomed back then that it was, on the contrary, her to blame and her alone. Perhaps if she’d been there, her daughter might not have been so vulnerable to the cruelty of the world.

She gave me a letter, told me over and over again how sorry she was that she kept it from me. Tearfully telling me how she had been wrong, how she felt like a failure as a mother. I told her the only one who had ever been owed an apology was Chelsea, before I slammed the door in her face.

I’m still shaking, this happened hours ago and I haven’t moved since I’ve sat down. I can barely think straight. I felt sick when I read my name hastily scrawled on the front of a folded, torn piece of paper. It was yellowed from age, and had clearly been sat somewhere collecting dust for the last three years.

A letter addressed to me. I recognise the handwriting, I recognise that note paper, torn from the page of a red notebook from 2015, even through the age and discolouration, I know exactly what it is. This is the note, the note left beside her.

Perhaps I’d have followed in her footsteps if I hadn’t seen it. The remnants of her head blown off with her father’s hunting shotgun. I can still see specks of faded red on the corner of the page.

I can sit here and read it, or I won’t. I still haven’t made my mind up about that.

I still remember her addiction. It was what drove the wedge between us in the first place, how could I possibly forget? The things that one would do, the lengths people could go for a fix. I had seen the worst of this world, I had grown up around it.

Some people are genuine - they pay the dealers the money they are owed, even if it costs them their food for the week, the rent for the month… Everything came second place to being high.

Some people steal, whether it be money or items to sell, or the drugs themselves. It never really got them very far…

Some people are smart and avoid the drugs altogether. Perhaps it would save a lot of heartache and regrets. I wish I could have saved her, that’s the only thing I wanted back then. Back at the beginning, before I was smart enough to realise that some addicts can never be saved.

Some people can see that, a lot of people can see that. In the midst of my addiction many knew that simple fact that there was a good chance of being the death of myself. Needless to say, I wasn’t particularly one for popularity.

But, some people pretend to care. They pretend to have optimism and hope - they pretend to be surprised when someone takes too much. They pretend to grieve at the funeral, while being high from the stash they swiped from their dead friend’s room. Much like me, as I place that suicide note I wrote, back in my red notebook from 2015…

#writers of tumblr #author #fiction #horror stories #writing #short story #death #grief #addictions #loss #writers on tumblr #writerscorner

4 notes · View notes

jooniens · 2 years

Text

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

Hello and welcome to the blog! This will be both a tag and an introduction to me and my reading style/taste. If I don’t have an answer specific to this year, I will substitute it with a general answer.

As of June 26th, I have read 18 books this year. According to Goodreads that is still 1 book behind schedule (I’m never good enough for you am I Goodreads?) Despite Goodreads attempting to gaslight me, I am very proud of my reading progress this year and I can’t wait to share it with you!

BTW: My Goodreads account will be linked at the end of this post.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

Best book you have read so far in 2022?

Definitely Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. It was my first Sanderson book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a lot more developed than other fantasy books that I have previously read.

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2022?

Well, I have only read one sequel in 2022 (more to come) and that was Well of Ascension, the second book in the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. This book felt mostly like filler but the last 100-150 pages were a whirlwind that I thoroughly enjoyed.

New release you haven’t read yet, but want to?

There are two that come to mind, one being Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. I’ve been anxiously waiting for this release and when it was finally released I couldn’t find it ANYWHERE! Now I can find it but other books just catch my interest first.

Most anticipated release for the second half of 2022?

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I have absolutely loved everything I have read by Reid, she is such a talented author and I can’t wait to read another one of her books. I’m not the biggest fan of the cover (and honestly if the UK version is better I may just wait for it) but I’m nevertheless excited.

Biggest Disappointment?

A full review for this is going to be on my Goodreads (It does contain spoilers so beware) but my biggest disappointment was All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. For being a Pulitzer Prize winner, I had high expectations for this book that it did not meet, again my full review is on Goodreads.

Biggest Surprise?

My biggest surprise this year was American Panda by Gloria Chao. It wasn’t the best thing I have ever read by any means but it was pleasantly surprising and a comforting read.

New Favorite Author?

Brandon Sanderson by far. Ever since I have finished Mistborn I have wanted to start the Stormlight Archive.

Newest Fictional Crush?

KELSIER FROM MISTBORN!!!! I love that man with my entire heart.

Newest Favorite Character?

Kelsier(Mistborn), Vin(Mistborn), Gansey(The Raven Cycle), Darius (Darius the Great Is Not Okay).

Book That Made You Cry?

Ladies, Gentlemen, Theydies, and anyone else, take another shot for Mistborn by Branson Sanderson.

Book that made you happy?

Dumplin’, American Panda, Darius the Great Is Not Okay, and Scythe (My only re-read this year).

Favorite Book to Movie Adaptation you have seen so far this year?

I’m bending the rules on this and I’m just going to say which adaptation I am most excited about which is The Summer I Turned Pretty Amazon Prime original series. The book is not a literary work of genius but it was a comforting read and I hope the show will provide that same level of comfort.

Favorite Review you have written this year?

I’m new to the review game but the only review I have written this year that was in-depth was for All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. My tone was critical in it and possibly a bit rude but I was really upset after I had finished it. I might need to go review that soon....

Most beautiful book you bought this year?

I was on a book-buying ban for most of the year but I have to say it is a tie between Spin The Dawn by Elizabeth Lim and The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Honorable mention goes to (you guessed it) Mistborn and Well of Ascension. The artist did such an amazing job on those covers.

What books do you really need to read by the end of the year?

I have so many that I want to read this year. Up on the list is Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson, The Unhoneymooners, The Poppy War and These Violent Delights.

This concludes the tag! I want to thank you so much for reading and I hope you stick around for the next half of the year!

Much Love,

June <3

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/87465579-emma

#bookblr #bookworm #mid year book freak out tag #bookreviews #bookreviewer #booktok #reader #reading #currentlyreading

3 notes · View notes

myrandomscribbling · 2 years

Text

*sigh* Spoilers for MOM, which I haven’t seen and don’t intend to because, honestly, I’ve had enough of a specific kind of crap. But because of my interests, I’ve come across a number of things I need to respond to.

Bloody gatekeeping bullshit.

“You didn’t see the stinger, and it shows.”

No, I saw the stinger, and was immediately concerned that the character was going to be yet another attempt to capture the “magic” of the Dark Phoenix saga. So far, that appears to be right, and I don’t care for it.

“You’ve never read the comics, and it shows.”

I’ve been a fan of Wanda for literal decades. I know what she’s done in the comics. I also know that just recently there appears to be hope that she has finally, after decades of this shit, taken control of her life and may actually be on a better path, now. Has fixed some part of the damage she caused, and basically taken down multiple “people” that have hurt her. I don’t expect it to last, but I was hoping the movies wouldn’t decide to go with doing all of that again. It’s the “let’s put Gwen Stacey into a new Spider-man reboot and kill her again!”

It’s been done. I don’t need to see it again, thanks.

“How can you sympathize with someone who did those things?”

I don’t sympathize with her for what she did, I sympathize with what she’s gone through. Maybe others actually like her this way, people root for Darth Vader, after all, but that’s not me. I am just so very tired of seeing trauma and mental illness used to make another villain. What she did was absolutely awful, but there were lines in those things I don’t think she should have crossed. Like, wanting to kill a child to be with hers, or wanting to take children away from their loving mother. But she did. For reasons.

I’m not supporting her. as presented. I’m dismissing the writing for her. It’s tired and old, and so am I.

“You can’t save everyone and some people go down darker paths!”

Yes. It’s true. It’s also not in any way profound. And until the number of times a traumatized, powerful woman is able to come back from that trauma rather than becoming a monster that I come across no longer outnumbers the ones that do better, not necessarily becoming “good” and “pacifistic” but just *better*, I am going to view this as the destructive, hackneyed trope that it is.

Maybe I’m just not noticing because the ones that do better aren’t as obvious? It’s possible. But some more spectacular “I made it stories” might be nice, anyway.

“You’re just reacting this way because she’s pretty.”

I’ve reacted this way to a mutated mandrill. At least he got a better ending, if this is in fact her ending. And, honestly? The fact that traditionally good looking women are so often written this way makes me wonder about the creators that want to put them through this crap, more than a little. Not calling out any individual creators, because that would not be fair, but about trends and society as a whole.

“She came back at the end!”

She did. And then died. A powerful woman sacrificing her life to right what she did doesn’t have near the appeal it used to, especially in this case. Again, if she’s actually dead. Whether she’s meant to be alive or not is entirely irrelevant until she is slated to make another appearance.

It’s interesting that they had Moon Knight, where the star has some severe problems and trauma, and he’s mostly a hero. He’ll kill, and there is a still darker thing there as well, but the two principals eventually come to terms. And then there’s Wanda. I wonder where the difference lies?

It might not be sexism on the part of the current creators as I just implied, but let’s be clear, even if it’s not consciously, all those times that it happened to her that they’re drawing from? Almost certainly informed by misogyny to a greater or lesser extent. And I only say “almost certainly” because there were so many, some of them might not have come from wanting to hurt this fictional woman. Again.

But, at least she was ultimately written to come back from those events. Frequently by other writers.

In the comics, she’s come back from this kind of thing multiple times. Mostly, those events were not so personal or visceral (there are exceptions), and I feel like that’s harder to come back from. They have limited time to do anything about this because of the nature of movie making as opposed to comics, and I won’t hold my breath. They have an out, because she was under the influence of more than just grief and pain but also of corrupting magic, but if they just leave her dead after this, it goes in the bin with so many other characters.

That Olson wants to do the “No more mutants” thing doesn’t give me a lot of hope, even if there is more to her story. But this is about the character and how she’s portrayed, not about the actress, who has some problems being cast in this role in the first place. Maybe it’s better for her to be gone, but the treatment of the character in that case would still leave a bad taste in my mouth.

As always, yes, this kind of writing is sometimes, maybe even often, done for traumatized men as well. It’s just I run across it so much more for women, especially powerful women, that it’s what I’m going to focus on.

#scarlet witch #fandom critical #multiverse of madness #mom spoilers #moon knight spoilers #wanda maximoff

2 notes · View notes

lemonjoonah · 3 years

Text

The Garden Thief (M)

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader Word Count: 9.3K Genre: Hybrid AU, romance/drama/comedy, enemies to lovers Warnings: Unprotected sex, oral sex (fem. rec.), they get down and dirty outside but no one else is there to see them, cum play? (just a little), there’s also a bit of mud (sorry, but also not sorry, they’re outside what do you want from me?!?!), referenced hybrid neglect and oppression (hybrids are wrongfully deemed as pets by law and the majority of society).

Summary: Your beloved vegetable patch has once again been victimized by a hungry thief in the night. The prime suspect? Jeon Jungkook, your neighbour's rabbit hybrid. But when you finally confront him, he pleads innocent, and proposes a plan to clear his name.

A/N: I wrote this fic’s premise and opening scene for the ‘A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Game’ that I played oh so long ago and now I’ve finally finished the tale!

...

“Oh for fuck’s sake, not again!” You swear upon seeing the leafy green remains of several carrots lying in your garden, inches from where they used to be buried. This maddening mystery of the vanishing vegetables has been playing out all summer. You’ve set out deterrents for every possible garden pest, rolling out chicken wire and spraying natural remedies to repel anything from bugs to small rodents. Yet you still wake to find that your garden has been robbed in the night. The only possible suspect you haven’t been able to protect against resides just next door, in fact—

You squint up at the boarded fence, spotting a pair of long dark ears peeking out over the posts. “Jungkook, is that you?”

The ears immediately disappear, ducking down behind the barrier. The sound of his hurried footsteps trailing away are followed only by the slamming of a door.

You rush into and through your own house carrying the wilted carrot greens. Exiting out the front, and over to the house next to yours, where you repeatedly press the bell.

The entry whips open on the fourth ring to reveal Jungkook. His face is flushed, beads of sweat racing down his brow, and a shirt that one would normally use to cover their chest, is instead thrown over his shoulder. “Something wrong neighbour?” He asks with a carrot stick in hand. Bringing it to his mouth, he taunts you with a bite and crooked grin.

“Is-is your caretaker home?” You stutter trying your best to swallow your nerves. Concentrating hard on his face, you plead with your eyes not to wander down. That’s exactly what he wants, a reason to put you off your mission, to make you so flustered that you have to walk away. He’s always trying to use his allure against you, and you hate how often he succeeds doing just that...

“No, he’s at work.”

“When will he be back?”

“Not sure, maybe a week, or two? He’s on a business trip.”

Your gaze falters in it’s determination for a brief second as a drop of sweat descends from his neck to his chest. Holding your breath you watch it’s path, tracing the valleys between his muscles. When Jungkook finally wipes it away your brain catches up and scolds you for your weakness. “And he left you here, alone?” You ask, while trying to recollect your dignity, reminding yourself of how much grief he has put you through.

“Of course.” Jungkook’s smile grows. “I’m not just some common pet. I know how to behave myself.”

The statement makes your brow twitch, enraging you enough to overcome his tactics. “I know you haven’t been here long, but you should know, people typically don’t like it when someone steals from their yard.” You lecture him, waving the carrot tops in front of his face. “So stop treating my garden like your own personal snack bar!”

“Now why would I take from you? I have plenty of food here, even got another delivery this morning.” The hybrid kicks at a box next him filled with a vibrant collection of fresh produce and grains.

“I don’t know why. I just know it was you.”

“Prove it.” He prods, while taking the last bite of the vegetable from his hand.

The loud crunching gnaws on your composure, stripping you of any patience you may have had for the hybrid. “This all started when you moved in, and I’ve ruled everything else out!” You shout, but as good as it might feel to finally vent your anger, you feel as though you’re somehow playing into his hand.

“That doesn’t seem like very good evidence. It’s circumstantial at best. If you want to find out who the real culprit is you should have a stake out.”

“A stake out?”

“Yeah, you know, watch over the garden for the night, catch the criminal in the act. I could even help if you’d like.”

You scoff at the ridiculous notion. “You really think I should invite you over to guard my crops?”

“I do, so I’ll come over tonight? Say around seven?” You open your mouth to object, but the rabbit hybrid jumps from one statement to the next casually inviting himself into your own home. “Perfect. See you then.”

“I didn’t-no wait, that was sar-” The door closes between you before you can finish. Leaving you baffled and alone on the doorstep. You ready to knock but stop just before your knuckles hit the wood. Trying again right now is a lost cause, it’ll just play into his game. So why waste your breath when you know it’ll just end the same way? Tonight then, as he suggested, that’s when you’ll be ready to hit him with some hard evidence that he won’t be able to refute.

Admitting defeat for now, you retreat back to your garden to pick the surviving vegetables and contemplate the encounter. You wish your could have just spoken to Jungkook’s caretaker—fuck what was his name again? You’ve only seen the man a couple times since they took the house, but at least he doesn't give you a nervous knot in your stomach, or leave you confused and speechless like his hybrid does.

It’s been three months since they moved in. You were excited at first, to have new neighbours in your almost vacant cul-de-sac. Buyers don’t seem to be interested in the old houses with large lots in your area. Too much work to maintain, and not enough good job prospects to go around. So when you saw the sold sign go up you were beyond thrilled. Greeting the new residents with a fruit basket and a smile.

The rabbit hybrid you now know as Jungkook appeared rather shy at first, you did your best to welcome him. Always greeting him when he was outside, trying to engage him in small chat, but the first time you caught him during his workout everything changed. Until that point you had not considered him as anything but a prospective friend. You were stunned to see him in such a confident state, throwing around his weights like they were nothing. In that moment, with you too nervous to admit that you found him attractive, you became the anxious and blubbering fool in his presence, and he, unfortunately, took note. The once quiet and cute rabbit, became a flirtatious and bratty bunny.

And since then, whenever you would work in your garden he’d be on the other side of the fence grunting and panting. Staying close to the gap in the divider, a missing panel you had yet to replace. On days like today you would often look up from your radishes and accidentally lock eyes with the hybrid, drenched in sweat and showing off his skills.

Out of respect and self preservation you tried your best to not to pay attention, to keep your nose buried in your garden, but as the weeks went by the vegetables under your care started to disappear. The ample crops you tended to in the evening, lessened by morning, with only the refuse remaining to indicate it’s former presence. You didn’t want to point fingers immediately, but today was the final straw, and tonight no matter how hard he tries to distract you, you will find him guilty.

After harvesting the choice crops for the day and watering the rest. You dust yourself off, settling inside and in front of your computer; opening the visitors page for your place of work, the city's greenhouse conservatory. To help promote the centre in the community the staff all take turns writing articles revolving around their own projects or home gardens, and you’re up next in the rotation. You stare at the blank document for several minutes trying your best to concentrate on the task, but you are unable to think of anything other than the mischievous hybrid next door.

Embracing the topic of your aggravation, you start the post off with a title sure to catch the eye of any reader, ‘Garden Thieves.’

‘We’ve all been there, finding a tomato just about to reach its peak ripeness. We give it another day to grow into perfection, only to find it missing later on. In your absence something else has taken it into its own clutches. I myself have been dealing with a vegetable thief for several weeks, so if you are struggling like I am, here are a few things that might help. ’

You proceed to outline several garden pests uploading photos of their damage, along with quick remedies to deter their presence. Netting to block the sparrows, raised beds and fences to keep out most rodents or mammals, and a caffeine solution to stave off slugs.

‘I hope this may help you all in your efforts to keep your plants safe, but I must add a disclaimer. Unfortunately nothing here is completely foolproof. Even if you do follow all of these steps you still might lose some of your crops to a crafty critter. But I wish you the best of luck on all of your backyard battles. I myself plan to face off with my own long-eared menace tonight.’

You finish your post with a smile. Sending it off to your coworker Namjoon to get his approval before you make it public.

He calls a few minutes later, his laughter carrying through the speaker. “That was easily the best article you’ve written all year. You should definitely post it.”

“Thanks.” You chuckle, hitting the submit button. At the very least feeling a bit relieved to have one less task weighing on your mind. “I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. I take it you’re still having trouble with that hybrid neighbour of yours?”

“Yeah,” you groan. You’ve complained to Namjoon about the issue several times in the past month. It must have been all too easy for him to read between the lines and see what set you off to create this specific entry. “But he refuses to admit it was him. It’s like he’s trying to make me question my skills as a gardener and I hate it! I went over to talk to his caretaker but he’s away on business for a couple weeks.”

“He left him alone for that long? What about food?”

“He’s been getting deliveries. By the looks of it, he has a healthier diet than I do.”

Namjoon pauses on the line giving you only a simple, “Huh...” in a long break.

“What?”

“Well it’s just-” A loud buzzing sound erupts through the phone line cutting off his answer. A noise you know to indicate someone is at the back door. “That’s weird. I didn’t think we were supposed to get anything delivered today. No one else is here.... did you have anything scheduled to come in?”

“No.” You double check the calendar sitting on your desk. “I shouldn’t have anything until next Monday.”

Namjoon puts you on hold while he checks on the reason for the interruption, returning only a minute later. “It’s a delivery all right, but are you sure these aren’t yours? I’m seeing a lot of tropical species on the invoice. Combretum rotundifolium, Heliconia angusta, Myrciaria dubia-”

You mouth a swear as Namjoon carries on with his list. It’s obvious they are indeed the specimens of your expected batch. You're in the process of redesigning one of the tropical habitats. The lead director was adamant that the conservatory host a butterfly exhibition in the next coming year, and in order to support the grandiose endeavour you are required to introduce a vast amount of new flowering species over the next few months. “How many in total?”

“About two dozen. Looking pretty rough from the journey too.”

You’re not surprised by their current state. This summer is already one of the hottest and driest on record, and all the stock you had received this season was excessively wilted and near death because of it. “Do we have any holding houses with humidifiers available?”

“Not at the moment,” There’s a clatter in the background as Namjoon sorts through what must be the slack of clipboards. “But I’ve got the inspection chart here and your last delivery did just finish it’s quarantine. No signs of pests or illness, so they’re clear to plant. That should free up some space for you.”

“That’ll have to do. Thanks for checking.” Standing up from your desk with a sorrowful sigh. You mourn the loss or your afternoon off as you start to dress for a day of hard labour. Throwing on your work-issued overalls over your t-shirt and shorts. Unfortunately you can’t just leave the new stock to sit out under the beating sun. With little humidity outside and no protection they’ll be burnt to a crisp if you delay too long. But the worst part is that your planting staff isn’t scheduled until later in the week, and that volume of work will put you well into the middle of the night before you complete it. “I’ll be in soon to deal with it.”

“That’s a lot of planting to do on your own. I can help if you-”

“I can’t take you away from your trees, isn’t there a bonsai exhibition next week you have to prepare them for?” He’s been agonizing over this showcase for so long you couldn’t possibly inconvenience him now with your own troubles. “It’s fine, really. I’ll call to see if anyone else is willing to come in today.” You hang up letting Namjoon return to his tasks, and work your way down the contacts for the gardening staff as you prepare yourself to leave. Though as expected, all of those who answer have prior commitments and won’t be able to assist.

Grabbing your badge and plans for the updates to the garden you slip back out into the noon-day sun, so strong it’s turned your car into an oven on wheels. You’re just about to pull it into reverse when you spot the blinds shift in your neighbour’s window. Prompting you to recall the plans he had made for tonight.

With all the work you have, it’s doubtful you’ll be back home for seven. You return to Jungkook’s door to give him the news. He has it open before you can even knock, his usual smirk crawling across his face as he greets you.

“About tonight... something has come up at work and I really don’t know how late I’ll be.”

His ears perk up. “You’re going into the conservatory?”

“Yeah,” you respond, somewhat shocked that he remembered where you work. It’s been a couple months since you mentioned it while introducing yourself to him and his caretaker. “An order came in earlier than expected. I’ll likely be planting all day and night.”

“I can help,” he offers, already stepping out to join you, and locking the door behind him.

“You want to help?”

“Of course, isn’t that the neighbourly thing to do?”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t want it or expect it from someone who terrorizes my own garden.”

“Allegedly,” Jungkook corrects. “And wouldn’t you rather have me with you, under your supervision, than here, all alone with only a measly fence between me and your impressive bell pepper harvest?”

“Stay away from my peppers!” You scold, pointing your finger at him. “Even if I wanted to take you, what about your caretaker? Don’t you need his permission to leave and work?”

“He’s never paid attention to my whereabouts before, and it’s not work if you don’t pay me. I’ll just be a volunteer. You have people volunteer all the time right?”

“Yes but-”

“I’ll be on my best behaviour.”

“Alright, fine.” You finally agree though with a heavy dose of reluctance. Namjoon often brings his own hybrid in so it shouldn’t be a problem. “But if I see you nibble on even a single leaf, you’re coming straight back here.”

“Deal.” He rushes past you straight to your passenger seat and buckles himself in. Practically bouncing with excitement beside you as you pull out and head towards the conservatory.

The minutes pass and you try your best to focus on the road but you’ve never been so close to Jungkook in such a small space. And with his built frame taking up most of the car, he’s hard for you to ignore. His ears folded against the roof and his shoulders so wide they brush repeatedly against yours.

“Ever been to the conservatory before?” You ask, trying to divert your mind from the battle which builds inside you. A wavering war between frustration and attraction, with the former trying it’s best to pin down the latter, a move which only arouses the latter more...

“No, I’ve wanted to go ever since you mentioned it but my caretaker hasn’t had the time.”

“Oh.” A sense of pity joins the ranks of your emotions, nudging at you as you pull into the lot. “Sorry, I didn’t-”

“Why are you sorry?” Jungkook asks in a low whisper, snapping back to his flirtatious behaviours. His mouth turns up at the corner as he leans into you, so close that his drooping ears graze the top of your head. “Would you have taken me earlier if I had mentioned it?”

“N-no,” you choke out. Placing your hand on his solid chest, you push him back and away. As tempting as his advance might be to accept, you know his forwardness to be nothing more than an act to make a fool of you. Why else would he try to both seduce you, and steal from right under your nose? “You’re only here today because I am in desperate need of help, and I can’t trust you to be alone.”

...

You lead him through the unoccupied greenhouses. The conservation is closed to the public today (as it is every Monday and Tuesday); which usually allows for some time off, but at least now it’ll give you a chance to work unimpeded by visitors. Your own curated section is located in the most humid of all the houses, set in such a way to mimic the tropical environment you are attempting to represent.

The first stop is the holding house where the carts of new stock wait just outside. Grabbing an empty trolly you enter and start to load up those that are ready to plant. Jungkook following your actions does the same, easily lifting the heavy planters that you yourself struggle with. “Thanks,” you whisper as he relieves you of a particularly burdensome tree. To which he smiles in return.

After making the switch, by placing the recent delivery in the house for it’s quarantine, you lead him to the supply closet. Where you collect a couple shovels, trowels, and two pairs of gloves. As you continue to scan for anything else you might require, Jungkook pops in behind looking at the shelves with a sense of curiosity. He reaches up and over you to a spray bottle labeled ‘slug repellent.’

“We won’t need that, it’s for the outdoor gardens,” You explain. “It’s just a mixture of ca-”

“Caffeine and water?”

You snap your gaze to him. “How do you know that?”

He bites his lip as a snicker starts to escape. “Just a bit of morning reading. I found an interesting article with that particular tidbit. One which also happened to reference the exploits of a long-eared menace.”

“Y-you read the conservatory blog? You read my post? No one reads that, there can’t have been more than ten views!”

“Which is such a shame.” He goads you. “I’ve found your work to be both informative and comical. You really have me rooting for you in your quest to catch your thief.”

You groan in utter fury. “Why must you be so-so-”

“Handsome? Funny? Caring?”

“Antagonizing!”

“Because you seem to take more notice when I am.” Jungkook answers, with a turn of his heel, his tail poking out from under his shirt as he starts to walk away with the cart. “And I like seeing that perplexed look of yours. Your nose is cute when you scrunch it up like that.”

You remain in the shed, your traitorous heart beating erratically over the fact that he called a part of you cute. While your more sensible side grabs your nose and smooths out the wrinkles he referenced.

“Should we get to work?” He calls out after you. “The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go home and expose that bandit of yours.”

You roll your eyes and follow him out, before taking the lead to your tropical glasshouse. The air sticks to your skin the moment you enter. Jungkook lets out a long exhale behind you tugging on the collar of his shirt. “Is it always like this in here?”

“It’s a bit warmer today, but not by much. Are you already regretting your decision to help?” You tease him.

“Nope,” he answers, slinging a shovel over his shoulder. “Show me where to dig, and I’ll get to it.”

Pulling out your plans for the new exhibit arrangement, you select a couple species placing them on the empty plots of garden as directed, careful to allow for future growth. Jungkook follows behind digging out their new homes faster than at least three of your staff members combined.

You stare at him for a second, unable to believe the pace at which he’s going. “Something wrong?” He asks, pausing to lock eyes with you.

“No, I just didn’t think you’d be so quick at digging.”

“I’m part rabbit, what did you expect?” Jungkook boasts with a chuckle and a raised brow. “I share their strengths. Especially when it comes to burrowing and fu-”

His words are cut short when a fresh breeze from the outside washes over the both of you, a sure sign that someone must have entered the greenhouse. Your neighbour goes rigid, his nose lifts into the air and his ears fall back flat against his head. “Jungkook what’s-” Leaping up he closes the gap and grabs you. Tucking you into him with his chin resting on your head, where a warm and earthy scent envelopes you. His breaths are quick and deep, causing his chest to rapidly rise and fall against your back.

Namjoon’s voice calls out to you. “... are you in here?”

“Over here!” You yell out in reply, before turning back to the hybrid who still has you locked in his clutches. “What the hell Jungkook? Let me go! Now’s not the time for your games.” Sure it might feel nice to be wrapped in his arms, to get lost amidst his aroma. At any other time you might even consider taking a moment before chastising his boldness. But here? Now? And with Namjoon coming to greet you? No, this is too much.

You try to push him away like you have before, but this time it’s as if he’s set in stone, and not registering you at all. He focuses only on the direction your coworker's voice hailed from. “That scent, he smells like-”

“There you are.” Namjoon interrupts stepping around a flowering bush and into view, looking surprised by your guest. “Oh, hello there.”

The point of Jungkook's chin rubs against your head as he grips you even tighter. Embarrassed and confused by the hybrids embrace. “Jungkook, this is Namjoon.” You introduce your coworker while delivering an elbow to Jungkook’s gut. He finally snaps out of his trace and lets you go though he continues to hover behind. “He works with the bonsai of the conservatory.”

“You must be the neighbour I’ve heard so much about, it’s nice to finally meet you.” Namjoon extends his hand to the hybrid, but Jungkook ignores the gesture, choosing to glare instead, with his nostrils flared and his ears pinned back.

“Jungkook?” You whisper trying to chase him from his mood.

Namjoon gives him a nervous smile. “You probably smell my hybrid, on me don’t you?”

“A hybrid?” Jungkook confirms, his eyes narrowed at Namjoon.

“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t intend to scare you. I’m sure the scent of a predator, especially a tiger, is a bit of a shock. He’s harmless, I promise.”

“Is Taehyung here?” You ask, hoping to see his affectionate part-feline companion.

“Nah, he’s with a friend today. I needed to get some work done and he’d be more of a distraction than a help... but it would seem that didn’t stop him from scenting my shirt before I left.” Namjoon explains, and then turns to your neighbour again. “Jungkook would you mind if I borrow her for a second? I need help with one of my tropical species.”

Jungkook gives a solemn nod. For the first time since you’ve known him, he looks frightened, and somewhat hesitant to release you over to your coworker.

Worried by his current disposition, you reassure him with a squeeze on his arm. “Just keep digging where I’ve placed those pots and I’ll be right back.”

Namjoon leads you into the adjacent greenhouse where you can continue to keep watch of Jungkook through the pains of glass. But the instant the doors close between you, Namjoon starts bombarding you with questions. “Why didn’t you tell me? How long has it been going on? ”

You take a step back having been caught off guard. “Tell you what?”

“About you and Jungkook! Is the feuding neighbours just a cover story?” Namjoon’s eyes are wide and hopeful as he carries on, not letting you fit a single word in. “Don’t worry, I won’t inform anyone you're together. I know it’s not easy having a human-hybrid relationship out in the open. But I think you should be careful about going out into public because he’s far too obvious about it.”

“We’re not- we’re not a couple. Why would you think such a thing?”

“Because the way held you, he looked like he was marking you with his own scent. That’s what rabbits do isn’t it? They rub their chins on what they want to claim as their own.”

“They do what?” You ask, stunned by the possibility, before the realism settles back in. It must just be Jungkook’s idea of a joke. “No, that’s not what he’s doing, our connection is nothing remotely like that. Don’t get me wrong he’s very attractive, and he knows it.” You mutter the last part under your breath. “But-”

“But you really are having trouble with him. It's not a cover?”

“You think I would keep something like that from you?” Namjoon over the years has come to be your closest confidant. A good friend and coworker, you would never dream of hiding something like that from him.

“I suppose not.”

“Is that why you brought me back here, to question my relationship status?”

“Not entirely.” Namjoon shakes his head with a small dimpled smile and changes the subject. “I do actually want to get your help with one of my new acquisitions.” He points out an unusual tree on his work bench, much too big for the pot it’s currently situated in. It’s extensive roots spill out over the top and threaten to swallow the pot whole. “A Ficus microcarpa, far from the most sought after species when it comes to reputable bonsai, but I couldn’t pass this one up. It has such good character.”

“What made it grow in such a way?” You examine the plant and it’s container with care, prying between the roots and taking note of cracks starting to form in the terracotta.

“The last owner neglected it for far too long. It sat hidden in the back of a commercial greenhouse, still under the watering and fertilizing system, but since it was confined to such a small space it tried to root it’s way out. If I were to guess, it probably hasn’t seen a new pot for at least five years.”

“It’s a miracle it survived.” You nod impressed by the tree’s determination. “What’s your plan for it?”

“Give it what it wants, let it leach out. I doubt I would be able to pry it out entirely without causing significant damage to the roots that are gripping the sides, so instead I want to put another bellow to catch it and give it the fresh soil and room it needs.” Namjoon lays the tree and pot down on the table, and asks you to hold and support the trunk, while he taps and pokes at the bottom of the vessel with a metal trowel. Enlarging the cracks, but not breaking the pot fully. It’s a tedious process. The small chunks of clay are removed piece by piece, giving him access to see and free some of the tightly bound roots inside.

While your coworker continues his task, your eyes are free to wonder. You check on Jungkook through the glass, as he kneels in front of the garden bed digging even faster than before.

Namjoon appears to notice your distracted state. “How's he doing?”

“Fine I guess.” You whisper. “He’s acting stranger than usual today though. He stole from my garden again. Invited himself over to my house, then here, and you saw what he did back there.”

“Huh...” Namjoon mutters, trailing off the same way he did on the phone.

“What is this ‘huh’ you keep giving me? You know I don’t like games Namjoon. If you have something you want to say, say it.”

“It’s about what you said earlier, how his caretaker leaves for extended periods of time. Usually if an animal is alone for too long they look for ways to stimulate themselves and resort to their natural instincts, scavenging and such. But he’s a hybrid and therefore part human, so if you were isolated and restricted to your house what would you do?”

“Probably look for the closest person I could find. So he’s acting out in my garden and teasing me, because he’s lonely?”

“I think so.” Namjoon responds as he extracts another root, freeing it from its confines.

“But why?” You ask, worried for the answer to come. “Why wouldn’t he just say something?”

“There could be a number of reasons. He might not understand what he’s doing on a conscious level, or he might be afraid to show any sign of weakness to you or anyone else. Jungkook is part prey animal, and humans are all too often predators.”

“If that’s the case...” You curse yourself for not realizing it sooner. The fury you held for him slowly fades away as you replay every encounter in your mind. He was literally jumping at the chance to spend time with you, to help you with your work, and you were to blind to see it. Your anger over your missing vegetables is so trivial in comparison to what he must have been going through. The loneliness he must have felt, and the inability to admit it, you can’t imagine how he suffered through it alone. “What can I do to help him? I have no legal claim to him Namjoon. What can I do within such limitations?”

He looks down at his work in progress. “The way I see it you and he, like this small tree, have three options. You could maintain the status quo, leave him be, but how long will he be able to survive like he is? Creeping over the edge but grasping on to nothingness?”

You shake your head vehemently rejecting the idea while Namjoon continues.

“You could report his caretaker for neglect, breaking the container entirely, but that too could be very damaging to him, tearing him away entirely could put him in a state of shock, and in a home that is no better for him, while the legal battle is decided. Or...” Namjoon grabs another container, slightly wider than the one in which the plant is seated. Filling it with substrate he takes the tree clinging to it’s partial pot and places it on top. Pressing the newly freed roots down into the soil.

“You could support him, give him a better home just outside of his own where he can be himself and access what he needs. I personally think it’s your safest option for now.” Namjoon leads over inspecting the bonsai and lowers his voice to an almost inaudible whisper. “Until the day, when it is possible to fully cast the pot aside.”

You nod, though now left to grapple with what you could possibly have to offer the hybrid. “I’m not sure I would be the best person to care for him.”

“I think Jungkook would disagree. He was already trying to scent you. That to me, implies his desire for something more in the realm of an intimate relationship.” You choke on your breath as Namjoon comes to an additional conclusion. Upon seeing your distress he makes a suggestion. “Of course you could keep it strictly to friendship between the two of you and I’m sure that will improve his situation, but his other needs will need to be met for him to feel completely at home...”

“His other needs? You think he wants to be with me? Intimately?! No! Surely he would have acted differently if that was his intent! He’s done nothing but tease me when he catches me even remotely looking in his direction.”

“So you have been looking at him!” Namjoon taunts you with a massive grin. Apologizing a second later when you proceed to glare at him. “But to answer your question, no, not necessarily. You have to remember most of society deems him a lesser being. He could be feeling a lot of guilt and pressure not to engage with you in that way. Though he might not outright say it, I bet his instincts will continue to shine through. I’ll even prove it to you.” Namjoon takes off a glove and rubs your head. “I bet this rabbit of yours will take less than a minute before he tries to replace the smell of my hand with his own again... trust me.”

You shake your head in disbelief. “I should probably get back to him.” You are just about to step away when your thoughts return to the long neglected plant. “Where do you plan to house that when you’re finished? Ficuses naturally belong in a more tropical location don’t they?”

“They do, especially if I want to give it a better chance. It’s going to need a place far more humid than this space.”

“Was this all your calculated way of guilting me to store it in my greenhouse too?”

“The thought might have crossed my mind.” Namjoon gives you a sly grin. “But my logic is still sound in regards to Jungkook. He needs someone, he needs a better home... and it would seem he’s chosen you.”

...

You wander back to your greenhouse, still full of doubt. Finding Jungkook to have finished most of the required digging.

“Sorry for leaving you.”

“You-you okay?” He asks, upon seeing the dazed look on your face and then scowling in the direction that Namjoon led you.

“Fine, he just needed help with one of his plants. Sorry about earlier, I didn’t think you’d be affected by the scent of his hybrid, Taehyung is rather sweet though, you’d like him.”

“You trust him then?” Jungkook grumbles as he pierces his shovel into the ground. “You trust Namjoon and his hybrid?”

“Of course, why shouldn’t I?”

“Because it wasn’t just a tiger that I smelled. He’s been around a lot of hybrids. Every scent on him told me to run, all of them put there by dangerous predators.”

“Oh,” you shoot back in surprise. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Taehyung is rather popular, he has a lot of friends and Namjoon often caters them at his place. You don’t need to worry, you're safe here.”

“It’s not myself I’m worried about.”

Jungkook inches closer as you crouch to place the plants in the holes he dug. His nose twitches as he takes a deep breath, his eyes watching while you bury the root ball in the warm soil, firmly securing the trunk of the young tree.

While you are leaning down, Jungkook reaches across to the other side of you. Grabbing the trowel to your right despite the fact that the same tool can be found on his left. The bottom of his chin grazes the top of your head and lingers for a spell. Your heart stops in that moment while questioning his motives. Though Namjoon said he’d do just this, you still can’t be entirely sure that it proves him correct; Jungkook might just not have seen the other option available to him, and he’s never bothered about invading your space. This could be nothing, though there’s a small growing part of you that wants it more and more to be something.

“He’s a good guy,” you promise, returning to the conversation so as to not dwell on his actions. “He even suggested that I should bring you along more often, if you’re interested in spending some of your days here.”

“He did?”

You nod. A small white lie, but not entirely incorrect, and if it gets him to accept Namjoon easier you’ll all be better for it. “I wouldn’t expect you to work, but you're more than welcome to just hang around. The staff here could always use some company and I’m sure it would beat staying at home alone all day.”

“I would like that. I would like that a lot, but would you want me to keep you company too?”

“If that’s what you want to do.”

“No, I need to know if that’s what you want.” He looks over to you pinning you down in his line of sight.

“I suppose I would....” You answer and turn your head, unable to bear the nerves that his gaze brings. The both of you fall quiet. Knowing what you know now, being free of your anger for him leaves you vulnerable, open to his persuasion, and now you are no longer certain of how to act. So you start to rely on what has made him comfortable in the past, and interject with a new condition to bring an end to the awkward silence. “As long as you treat this garden better than mine back home.”

Jungkook lets out a long laugh. “I have nothing but the highest respect for your garden.”

...

When planting is finished your clothes are entirely saturated in sweat and your muscles aching from use. It’s hard to believe how much you’ve both done in such a short amount of time. While carting up the supplies, Jungkook’s eyes catch on something behind you. You look around spotting the newly potted bonsai on a back table. Namjoon must have dropped it off while you both were busy.

Looking at it now you can’t help but notice how even the shape of its leaves remind you of the hybrid’s ears, long, pointed, and reaching up to the sky. You consider your friend's words one more time and while Jungkook leans over to inspect the tree. Reaching out to his back, your hand shakes with hesitation before setting down on a spot just below his shoulder. He softens under your touch, a low hum leaving his lips. His attention turns from the plant to you. With your hand still in place, your arm is now wrapped around him, leaving only an inch between the two of you. You stand there fixed and unmoving, but content in the knowledge, that you seem to have left him speechless this time. His eyes darting away from yours, to your lips, your neck, and finally the hand you place upon his chest.

Only to have the moment broken when you can hear and feel the rumble from his stomach. His nervous laugh follows as he reaches up to scratch behind his ear.

“Hungry?”

He nods in response, his eyes wide as he remains unusually silent.

“Come on, I’ll buy you dinner.” You offer as you turn him around to head to the car.

...

You both settle on a take out spot, and return home to wash up and eat.

After finishing your meal and tearing off your overalls, you both settle down on the hammock in your yard. With Jungkook’s legs long enough to touch the ground, he slowly rocks the seat back and forth. He’s been near silent since that close moment together. He’s never had a problem with banter and flirtation, but now you’ve come to notice that any attention which can’t be passed off as a joke causes him to flounder.

Laying back in the hammock, both full and content, your eyes threaten to close after the long day as Jungkook continues to sit beside you. The sound of crickets lulling you to sleep. “Keep an eye out for that thief of mine will you?” You may not like games but if it makes him comfortable, and keeps him talking, you’ll continue to play this ruse with him.

“You trust me to keep watch without your supervision?”

“Are you suggesting I shouldn’t?”

“No, it’s just a lot more credit than you usually give me.”

“I think you’ve earned it.” You whisper as you finally drift off.

It feels like only a few minutes of rest before the sun sets and the air turns cool. Jungkook’s chin comes to rest on the top of your head like it did back in the greenhouse. He shifts his weight, burrowing his arms around and behind to cover you as he takes deep breaths. You lean into him seeking the warmth of his chest. No longer restricted by your childish anger to enjoy his company is a welcome relief, you only wish you could relinquish him of any of his own troubles and doubts. And then, you feel it, a drop of cold rain hitting your neck. The hammock moves again as he adjusts, the back of his fingers running across the damp spot. Another finds your cheek and he wipes that away too, your skin shivering in response.

But when a speck lands your mouth he stops. You wait, a second, then two. Your anticipation grows with face heating up and your chest tightening as you continue to crave his touch. You want him to wipe it away, to touch you, to act on whatever desires he might be keeping. You part your lips with the desperate hope that he will take the hint. Rejoicing when the warm pad of his thumb spreads the drop across the delicate skin.

He comes down on to you, his mouth catching any and all remains of the droplet as he encases your lips. Jungkook places a hand on your neck while the other grabs the ropes of the hammock, his legs straddle your hips. The scattered rain turns to a downpour as he remains fixed to your mouth, even his form isn’t enough to shield you from the current washing down from the sky.

As your hands reach up to his own damp and curling locks entwining your fingers in the strands he moans and nips. But as quickly as it started, so too does it end. When Jungkook snaps up as though jolted from a dream. His ears point back as an apology flows from him. “I-I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Jungkook,” you call out to him but he ignores you as he tries to detangle himself. When one foot hits the ground. You grab his waist and try again. “Jungkook, you don’t have to be sorry.” But instead of stopping he merely pulls you off and along with him, sending you both to the muddy ground, but this time with you on top of him.

“Are you okay?” He asks the loud pouring of the rain forcing him to raise the volume of his voice.

You chuckle at his concern considering he’s the one flat on his back. “I think I should be asking you that question instead.” You pause as he mirrors your grin. “Why did you stop? Did I do something wrong?”

“No.” He looks up at you, his brow furrowing. “You did nothing wrong. It was me. I was the one acting on my instincts. I shouldn’t have done that when I know how much you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you...” You explain, trying your best not to be drowned out by the water cascading down. “The things you did might have annoyed me, but I get it now. I’m just sorry it took me so long to notice.”

“Notice what?”

“How fucked up your situation is. For not realizing how alone you must have been. How caged you must have felt. I’ve been so focused on my own little world that I didn’t realize what was happening or why you were acting the way you were. I like you, a lot, but I was too wrapped up in my frustration to say how I felt...”

“It’s not your fault.”

You shake your head. “I am not innocent in this. I should have been paying more attention.”

“Then pay attention to me now.” He begs with his round eyes shining up at you.

“But in what way? As a neighbour, as a friend, or maybe something more?" Your voice cracks in desperation, trying to find his needs while also hoping they are the same as yours. “Is that why you were always teasing me the way you did? You wanted something more?”

“You really want to know?” Jungkook’s tone is low as it grips on to his every word. “I did it because it was the only thing that could distract me from my incessant need for you. Seeing your reactions and having your attention kept me in check. I’m very different from you and I’m aware it could cause a problem. I wasn’t sure if you could ever fully want me because of that.” He reaches to rub around the base of his ears. “But every day that I looked over I wanted to hold you, to claim you, to take you right here on this very spot. So often I dreamed of jumping the fence and coming for you instead of...”

You smile down at him, noting his near admission. “Instead of?”

“Instead of watching from a distance.” He smirks, catching and narrowly fixing his statement. Pleading guilty only to his longing for you.

“Then do it.” You demand of him.

He groans from his position beneath you. “Don’t tease me like that.”

“I’m not. You weren’t the only one peeking through the fence Jungkook.” Reaching up to your collar you tug off your shirt. He follows your lead with his own to reveal his sculpted chest he’s taunted you with so many times. “I don’t care if we’re different from each other. I don’t care if it causes a problem.” You shift back on his body traveling from your seat near his stomach down to his hips, his clothed dick firm and pressing against you. A moan escapes his lips, confirming that you’ve made your point. “There’s no one else nearby, so if you want me so much that you’re willing to fuck me out here, in the rain and mud-”

His hands come to grip your waist, and in one swift motion, he lifts you off, maneuvering out from underneath, to fall into place behind you. From there he pushes you down to your hands and knees, his body bent over yours. “You have no idea how much I want to.” He whispers with a kiss to your bare shoulder damp from the rain that continues to pour.

He takes off your bra before his face moves down your back, nose trailing against your skin and pausing at your shorts. Unfastening the button he pulls them down, freeing you of your underwear too before they are both cast aside. “I want to smell you, and taste you.” Jungkook takes in a deep breath, wrapping an arm around your legs, and barring your thighs. He buries his face between your legs, his tongue reaching out to deliver a long lick to your folds pausing after every lap.

Your palms dig into the ground, the cool mud coming to the surface to meet them. You buck against his tongue but the forearm holding you remains firm, sending your squirming downward to bury your elbows in the soggy grass too.

Jungkook chuckles as you inadvertently give him a better angle. From behind you can hear the zipper of his own shorts. Rubbing the head of his cock against your damp folds, he covers it with the slick of your slit, and with a long groan he eases it inside. He’s slow at first, letting you savor the girth and warmth of him. So you start to edge back and forward on his cock. Taking the time to enjoy every inch, along with the sounds that leave him. But when he returns to take control, the first thrust is so powerful, his thighs hit your ass with a loud clap, and every jolt of his hips after, drives you further down each time.

A stuttering groan escapes him as he fills you. Thinking he’s finished you lean forwards and until his cock pulls out, but in response he grabs your waist. Turning you over, back to the ground on top of the discarded clothes and facing him.

He lowers himself pressing his chest against yours. His fingers reach to grab your chin and take a kiss. His cock, despite having come only moments before, is hard once more and poised to enter once again.

“How are you-” You manage to squeeze a few words in the gaps between his kisses as he draws breath. “Ready for more-” Another pass of his tongue. “Already?”

“You have my hybrid traits to thank for that.” He moves to nibble on the side of your throat. “I have more to give you, if you want it.”

You nod unable to emit any noise other than a gasp as his mouth finds a sensitive spot on your neck. His dick forges in again, your slick and his cum dripping out of you as he fills you with himself instead.

You’ve avoided touching him with your own hands as they are patched with mud, but as his thrusts grow more powerful than even before, you’re forced to grab on his arms and chest. Leaving behind streaks of dirt which display the path of your grip. Jungkook doesn’t seem to mind though, in fact looks rather encouraged by your touch, and the marks you leave him.

“What a dirty woman you are, and getting me all messy too.” He scoffs while admiring your handiwork. “Can I return the favour?”

“Help me come first and you can do whatever the fuck you want.” You gasp on the brink of your climax.

His ears perk up and a grin streaks across his face. “Close are you?” He grabs your calf and wraps your leg around his back, the other follows suit and his hand comes to rest on your lower back pushing you up and into him effectively grinding your mount against him.

You gasp and flinch with the sudden pressure, but he holds you firm as your back arches to meet him.

His hips beat on at a rapid pace, a small whimper escapes him as you reach the peak, tipping you over the edge. The chilling rain can in no way can douse the searing heat that spreads through you. You're still gasping when his jaw clamps down hard, his teeth poised upon your skin. The first pulse of his cock comes inside, but on the second he pulls out to splatter your chest and stomach with the rest. His hand comes to clutch his shaft, spilling more out and on to you with each stroke.

After every remaining drop has been cast on you he smiles, dragging his fingers across the rain drenched mess of mud and cum on your skin. “Never thought I’d ever see you so thoroughly soiled.”

You giggle at his remarks through your deep breaths. “And now that you do, what do you think?”

“I think it suits you, the dirt, the rain, and me...” He lowers himself down onto you, with his head now resting upon your shoulder. “It’s too bad though. Now I just want more, but we’re both far too filthy to carry on like this.”

You turn to whisper at the base of his ear. “Who says we can’t continue in the shower...”

...

You wake early the next morning with the sun spilling into the room, lighting up your bed, and the hybrid sleeping next to you. His ears and nose twitching as he continues to rest. Slipping out from the covers, and into a set of clean gardening clothes, you exit the room with as little sound as possible.

On the tile floor of your hall, muddy footprints trail from your backdoor to your bathroom. A smile pulls at your lips as you recall the events which brought them there. Jungkook had been so excited to keep going he picked you up and rushed you inside.

The feeling from the warm water and hands in contrast to the cool rain was enough to bring back the waves of pleasure. He was so thorough in washing you down, you might have to ask him to join you for another this morning and repay the favour.

Outside in the garden you find all your harvest from the day before present and untouched. You’re pleased by this new development, but it’s not the fact that your crops are intact which makes you happy, it’s the comfort in knowing that Jungkook didn’t feel the need to take them.

A few minutes later the hybrid in question comes up behind you wrapping his arms around your waist pulling with him a blanket he took from the bed to cover the both of you. “Morning.” He mumbles, as his nose finds the crook of your neck where he exhales with a deep and relaxed sigh.

“Morning.” You respond, enjoying the tickle of his breath before you turn around to better see him. “It seems the thief didn’t strike last night. ”

“I guess they found a new garden to plunder and devour?” Jungkook suggests, giving you a sly grin, before he opens his mouth again. It’s easy to see that he’s getting ready to confess, his face shifts to a stern expression as he looks down at the ground, the guilt weighing heavily upon his brow. Placing your index to his lips you stop him. No longer needing to hear those words of admission, you offer a new proposal instead.

“Maybe, but that was just one night. The thief might still come back. So if it’s alright with you I would like you to stay here. Until we can be sure they won’t return.”

Jungkook lets out a satisfied chuckle, pushing aside your finger and pulling you tighter into his warm embrace. “You’re right, I suppose it would be safer if I stayed.” His lips plant a kiss on the top of your head where he then rests his chin. “A temptation as enticing as this, shouldn’t be left alone and unattended.”

...

#jungkook smut #hybrid jungkook #bts hybrid au #bts fluff #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #bts the garden thief #bts smut #jungkook x reader

3K notes · View notes