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#It’s because it’s like “here are a bunch of ordinary people stuck in a bad situation” and instead of saying
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Nameless crush (ft Piccolo)
Part 1: Curiosity
So beautiful. I found a perfect spot in the forest. A beautiful view of the sun resting on the horizon. Gohan took me her a few weeks back when we were trying to escape fangirls and paparazzi cause I asked to take a picture of him in his Great Saiyan Man outfit. I chuckled at the memory off Gohan almost being stripped naked by a bunch of fan girls.
I stared at the horizon as the fresh breeze hit my face. I enjoyed every minute of it. The peace, the fresh air, the view, nature. You couldn't find any of these in the city. Other than that there was something else about this place that drew me in, I don't know if its just the beauty of mother nature but something in me keeps telling me to come back. Like I'll find something more.
But every time I came back there wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. I took out my earphones from my pocket and placed them in my ears. A song was already playing, probably because I never turn my music off. I listen to music more than I listen to people so I like to something playing just incase I need to tune out someone.
I laid there on the grass and looked up at the semi dark clouds in the sky.
"Hmm, could rain soon."I said to myself. Though I didn't really care if it rained. I don't mind getting wet. I closed my eyes and dozed off. Drifting into my secluded dream world.
I felt a wet, icy drop hit my cheek, though I dismissed it and went back to sleep. It wasn't until I heard a sound of someone moving, that I shot up and looked around, scanning my surroundings.
"Probably just another animal walking past."I said to myself as I let out a breath of relief. Though I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched. It started raining harder. I took out my earphones, my I've already went through my whole playlist so my music stopped playing a while ago. I looked up at the sky, letting the water stream down my face.
"Shouldn't you be indoors right now?"asked a deep, male voice from behind. It startled me but I didn't show it.
"I could ask you the same thing."I replied, my face still enjoying the cool rain. "Its raining cats and dogs out here, why aren't you inside?"
"I like training in the rain sometimes."the man said. "Whats your excuse?"
I stood up and cracked back, my back still facing the man.
"I like the rain out here and I don't feel like going back to the city. Its so peaceful here."
"Don't earthlings usually get sick from sleeping in the rain though?"he asked. "Earthling?" I thought.
Is this guy one of the aliens I've heard of or just weirdo. I heard him take a few steps closer. With my guard up, I turned quickly turned around to face this strange man.
I jumped back in shock to see him right in front of me. His chest so close to my face. It looked like...is he green? His purple gi that stuck to his green, wet, toned body and a white cape that gently flew in the breeze.
"Ok so he's clearly an alien. Dare I look up at his face?"
I slowly lifted my head up at the green man...alien. His dark, ivory eyes looked down at mine. I tried my best to hide my nervousness but I guess he could sense it becuase he took a few steps back.
I stared at his face, his features for a while. He didn't look that bad, actually pretty handsome.
"So are you gonna answer my question or just keep staring?"he questioned with an annoyed tone. It snapped me out of my thoughts breaking me out of the trance I was in.
"Oh yeah, sorry. I was just-"
"Staring at the hideous monster before you?"
I waved my arms frantically in the air, with an embarrassing blush on my face.
"What!? No, no. I mean I was staring but," I trailed off. "You're not hideous, you're actually pretty handsome for an alien. Gah! Not that I'm saying aliens are ugly but-"
He raised his hand, cutting me off. "Its fine. I understand, most people react this way when they see me",he said. "At least before running away screaming. Which I believe now is your cue to do so."
"Why would I do that?"I asked.
"Why not? Most earthlings do." He seemed curious.
"Well I'm not most. Thats stereotypical."I said, glaring at him. His dark, cold eyes staring back.
We glared at each other for about a minute until...I sneezed. He chuckled a bit before going back to his stoic state.
"Whats so funny?"I asked.
"I guess that answers my question."he teased. "You should head home, before it gets worse." He turned and flew up a few feet in the air.
"Hey wait, you can fly? Then why not give me a lift!?",I yelled out. He stopped mid-flight and turned to me with a grin on his face.
"I don't pick up weirdo's who like sleeping in the rain.",he responded. "Sorry but you're on your own. I also noticed that you didn't come here with a car, better start walking."
He then flew off, leaving me here.
"Why you big green–ugh!",I yelled, stomping my foot on the wet ground.
"Guess its my fault anyway. But he could've been a little helpful."
I walked back to the city, it wasn't to far from where I was. Plus it wasn't that bad since the rain lightened. Everything I had on was soaked and the uncomfortably wet clothes made it almost unbearable. But I made it nonetheless.
I opened the door to my apartment, tracking water and mud all over my floor. I stripped and got into the bath. After what happened I didn't feel like another shower. After the 20 minute soak I got into my fuzzy PJs, and slippers and made myself some tea while binge watching My wife and kids. I didn't pay attention to most of it as I was busy thinking of that alien guy I met. I silently cursed when I realised I didn't get his name. My God he was handsome. I needed to take a picture of him next time.
~
I couldn't sleep. My thoughts of this guy kept me up. Question after question hitting my brain whenever I tried to sleep. I needed to know more, to see more, to hear more. I got up around 3 in the morning and packed all my stuff. I wore my favourite black and yellow hoodie, dark jeans and purple sneakers. I left the apartment and headed to the same spot. Multitasking trying to tie my hair and eat a chocolate bar for my "breakfast".
I headed to the spot, the sun started rising in between the moutains. Letting nice warm light hit my face.
"Oh, it's you again." That deep voice, it was definitely him. "Though I didn't expect you to be here so early.",he said, he sounded intrigued. "Or do you always do this every morning?"
"Nope, I couldn't sleep so I decided to come here and explore the forest.",I said.
"Oh really. There's a lot of places to go to but you decided to come to this exact spot. Why?"
I wanted to turn around and look at him but fear of staring into those eyes stopped me.
"I just wanted to enjoy the view first.",I said nervously.
"Ok let me not stop you. Enjoy.",he said somehow knowingly. I heard him walking further away from me with each step.
"Wait.",I said. He stopped. "What's your name?" I turned to him. His back facing me. He glanced over his shoulder, his dark pupils got a glimpse of me.
"Piccolo."he said.
"Piccolo." His name felt sweet when I uttered it. Leaving my lips tingling.
"Nice name.",I happily said.
"I believe this is the part where you tell me yours." He came closer but this time I showed no nervousness. I tried to keep a neutral face but a smile crept out when he took his final step.
"Nope. I don't feel obligated to go around telling my name to strangers."
"You're a weird one."
"Really? Thank you, I was always told I wasn't normal. Now here an alien is, proving everyones point by calling me weird.
He gave me a small smile before levitating with his legs crossed. His eyes never leaving mine. Like he was observing me.
"Didn't anyone tell you its rude to stare?"I asked.
"Thats funny coming from someone who couldn't take their eyes off me yesterday."
I couldn't say anything. I just stared at him as a light blush appeared on my face. A soft chuckle escaped his lips, like he found this amusing.
I let out a fake cough. "What?"
"Why are you nervous?",he questioned. I snapped myself out of it and stood confidently.
"I'm not. Why would I be?" I folded my arms and turned to the side avoiding his gaze.
"Your face."
"What about my face?" I then became self conscious. Was there something on my face?
"Nothing. So you're not going to tell me your name?"he asked, changing the topic.
"No, why do you wanna know anyway?" At this point I was just trying to distract him with questions so he'd stop staring.
"Just curious."
The sound of his feet touching the ground made me quickly turn to face him. He glanced down at my bag for a second before looking back at me.
"Guess I'll see you tomorrow then.",he said before walking away.
"How do you know I'll be here tomorrow?",I asked suspiciously.
"I know you will.",he stated before taking off.
I sighed. Sweet breath of relief. His charcoal coloured eyes stopped staring into my soul. At least I knew his name now.
"Piccolo."
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theriu · 2 years
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An Average Shrub in a Video Game World
This is the story of an average shrub stuck in a video game.
I mean that more literally than you might think, but let’s back up and explain a bit first.
No one actually knows what happened to trap all of the active players inside the world of DragonWatch MMOVRRPG (massive multiplayer online virtual reality role-playing game, for those of you who aren’t massive nerds with a love of acronyms). Heck, I’ve read all the same books you have, I know the cliches: Terrorists holding the playerbase hostage, sentient or glitchy AI manipulating the network, magical overlords sucking peoples’ souls into the real alternate reality the game was unknowingly based on, etc. Could be any of those or something else entirely, but nobody in here has a clue. We were all just playing one day and then MASSIVE PSYCHADELIC TRIP and boom, no one can log off and physical sensitivity is way too realistic. It’s been about three weeks in-game, and no word from the outside. At least the panicking has died down a bit.
Oh, people are trying to find ways out of here. The first popular argument was that if you die in the game, you either A) wake back up outside, or B) die for real. Big hoopla about it at first, but then a few people tried it, and… yeah, turns out the respawn mechanic is working fine. It’s very weird seeing somebody’s digital ghost walking by begrudgingly as they try to track down their body and all the stuff they dropped.
The current trend is trying to beat the game’s main storyline, hoping that will reset it or send the winners back out as a reward, or something along those lines. It’s a high bar, seeing as only a few people had ever beaten it BEFORE the Event. It’s even harder now that dying—while not actually killing you for real—actually FEELS like dying. I’ve managed to avoid that so far, but I’ve been informed by a few people that it gets more tolerable after you’ve died a few times. I will take their word for it.
Anyway, a bunch of the guilds have been working on it, but they’re still getting wiped by the third level of the final quest. There’s, like, ten levels, so it could be a while.
I haven’t, uh, gotten the chance to try that yet. And not because I’m scared! I mean yes, what sane person wouldn’t be, but I’d totally try it if I could. Just, no teams will have me.
It’s not that I’m a bad player, either. I’m not a GREAT player, this is just a hobby for me, but I got my one and only character up to level 80 and I can survive a raid with a decent party. I’m not great or useless, I’m just average. If players could die in this game, I would have lasted at LEAST two days in my normal form! But I’d still be able to help out with smaller enemies and debuffing and healing. I’d be willing and useful. That’s not the issue.
The issue is that… look, I said I was being literal from the start, right? An ordinary. Shrub.
Like a bush.
I’m a bush.
I have been stuck in the shape of a mobile bush for three weeks, and the novelty of it wore off about three weeks ago.
So yeah. This is the story of an average gamer stuck in the most interesting possible gamer adventure scenario. As a shrubbery. If I’m going to have the dumbest fate ever, it might as well give somebody a bit of amusement, so here we go.
———
A/N: Randomly wrote this up after I wondered what a trapped-in-a-video-game story would be like from the perspective of one of the truly average players, not the main hero who saves the day but just one of the other poor shmucks stumbling through the experience. Then I wrote that first line, and…
I have a weakness for puns and situational comedy okay XD;
(To be continued? Maybe?)
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icarus-suraki · 2 years
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dawn, sunburn, sunflower <3
dawn: describe your life with a movie title. Am I supposed to come up with a movie title or use an existing one? What is this asking me? What are the parameters here? Can I use direct-to-video stuff? Is pornography allowed? Could I use the fake porn title of Seven Rears in Tibet? Can it be an English-language title that has nothing to do with the title in the original language? How sarcastic am I allowed to be?
Yeah, no, I can't figure out how to answer this one. I'm just falling down a rabbit hole of movie lists on Wikipedia.
sunburn: what is your favourite hobby? What do you like about it? I feel weird about "hobbies." I've never really thought of things people would count as "hobbies" to be "hobbies." That sounds snobby lmao. But IDK I just did things. I never thought of them as "hobbies" because they never showed up on lists of popular hobbies. I'm gonna say "hobbies" some more so get ready for that.
At the moment, I'm enjoying sewing and making cosplays quite a lot. I admire people who can do all this foam armor and LED lights and animatronic stuff, and I might take on some of those things someday. But right now I'm enjoying figuring out how to best represent or reproduce something in an image in real life. Like how can I get this to drape like that in real life? Or given this character's backstory, would they be more likely to have clothes made of this or that? I like playing with those ideas, which sometimes gets me into trouble. I do bite off more than I can chew, so it's good I'm holding back on the animatronics and all. But I do like studying images and saying "the fuck kind of fabric is that?" or "yeah, no, I'm not doing it that way; this way would be more interesting visually" or just "BITCH, HOW ARE YOU MAKING IT GO THAT WAY?" Sometimes you can get a really good 1:1 match, which is something I've loved since I made a purple vest for a Quatre (Gundam Wing) cosplay way back in the early 2000s. Like, I hung it up in my closet next to the khaki pants and pink shirt I was going to wear with it and it was this great bit of hyperreality--oh, dude, that 2d character's clothes are hanging here in 3 dimensions. I love that weird zoomy feeling I get when I break that dimensional barrier. I mean, just this past May, I stuck a bunch of little silver butterflies meant to decorate a wall all over a bamboo hat and it made me grin every time I walked past it hanging on the back of my door. It's like breaking the 4th wall in reverse. I like that.
And that's gotten me to look into more and other things beyond just "sew a seam." For one thing, although I like to try and make a costume as "realistic" as possible, you've got to think about cosplay like theater as much as anything and be fully ready to cheat on everything if it makes your life easier (see: faking inner linings!). And for another example, I've got a couple of bottles of Rit dye over here because fuck the color selection for the texture I want in some fabric. I'm learning kind of a lot.
Now if this order I put in would get here, I could do some hands-on learning about dying natural fibers…
sunflower: if you could live in any fictional universe, which would you choose? If you've never seen the anime Durarara!!, I highly recommend it--not because it's necessarily a fictional universe I'd want to live in but because there's a line of dialogue in it that has stuck with me for years. Yeah, it's kind of cringy to have a quote from an anime be important but I'm an oldtaku and cringe is dead.
I can't even remember the exact quote but it's something like "you want a different life, you want to find another world, but after three days that world will be ordinary to you and you'll start looking for something even stranger."
This is not to say that changes or strange things are bad or should be avoided. It's more to say that if you think that you'll never get accustomed to something strange and unusual, you'll get accustomed to it sooner than you think. And if you're not careful, you'll just keep chasing that high, looking for something weirder and then something weirder and then something weirder. (And also pay attention to what's around you because things are strange all the time and you just think it's ordinary because you're so used to it. It goes both ways.)
Anyway, that concept of getting used to something new sooner than you expect has followed me around for a long time. Sometimes I'll find myself thinking "Yeah! This is what'll change everything for me!" and then I just think to myself "Ask yourself if that's true in three days." It doesn't necessarily stop me from dip-dying my hair purple, getting the new low-top Converse, driving a new route somewhere, or transferring to a new work location. But it has helped to remind myself how fast the extraordinary can become ordinary.
My point is that it's easy to be like "Oh yeah, I want to live in this fictional universe!" when that universe would pretty soon be as ordinary as the current one. I get it, though. And some universes would probably stay novel longer than others--like if you were at some kind of “school for magic users,” the novelty would last as long as you were learning and using new magic. But after you master the system it's trading "fuck, I forgot to water my tomatoes!" for "fuck, I forgot to water my squiddlebonks!" Squiddlebonks might be purple or something but it's basically the same thing, just in different places.
Fuck this sounds cynical, which is ironic considering the list of potential fictional universes that ran through my head when I read this question. I swear I'm not that cynical! I've just put too much thought into the nitty-gritty of fictional universes, maybe. Like a lack of vaccines and antibiotics and painkillers in Jane Austen Land. Or how the odds are stacked infinitely against being a protagonist (let alone an antagonist) in a fictional universe. I'm just standing behind Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock as he swells a progress here--but not in the very back because there's a kind of distinction in being in the very back too. The odds are not on me being a powerful elf; I'm much more likely to be some rando hobbit or Rohirrim peasant. Not a Jedi, just someone in the background hoping that this fucking galactic war doesn't totally destroy the local economy. Give it up for the long-suffering Ordinary Folk.
Now to really throw a curveball in here, it could be kind of fun to be one of the locals on Summerisle in the 1973 Wicker Man movie. Not that I'm totally keen to be stuck with 1973 technology and medicine and so on, but being part of a little pagan commune would be kind of fun. I already know a lot of the customs so I can just jump right in. I'd still have my religious hang-ups though, so that would make it suck.
Bits of Star Trek, such as I know of it, do make The Future seem bright and possible--which was their intent. I wouldn't be one of the Brave Explorers. I'd just chill on a neat planet, ideally one where I could go on regular flights using wings I'd just strap on (physics suggests that this would be possible in a large enough enclosure of breathable air on the moon), without having to worry about healthcare or income or major conflict or anything. Just do my thing, whatever that might be. Maybe some kind of space librarian, I don't know.
Okay, maybe one of those "gentle fiction" romance novels where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. Maybe you know the ones: where the protagonists fall in love and maybe have some problems along the way but it ends up okay and one of them probably owns a bookstore in some coastal town where there are never any hurricanes. The big problem is whether there's enough sugar left in the store so everyone can bake things for the bake sale to raise money to replace the boiler in the village school. There's no climate change, no political instability, no issues with money, everybody is fine in every way unless it serves the plot in some way. No COVID, no Cult 45, no wage stagnation, no serious worries, no dim and impossible future…
So yeah, total fiction.
Also Durarara!! is really good and I recommend it.
Summertime asks!
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zitasaurusrex · 2 years
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The Werewolf: the Apocalypse campaign I’m in started two years ago, which is an insane sentence to me but! It is a true one. We run every other week and have had some hiccups here and there due to scheduling, so we are not terribly far along on the in-universe calendar, but we are reaching the point where events are popping off as the unplanned, organic result of us tromping around in the sandbox our ST made when we started. And you know? That’s really cool.
We were talking after game today and our ST was telling us about how she didn’t specifically expect us to wind up investigating the current badness we’ve located, it was just on the map and other choices we made led us to notice it.
At least one of those choices actually speaks really well about who our characters are vs the kind of people you can often safely assume that werewolves are. And I’m kind of proud of that?
Werewolf, for the uninitiated, is at its core a game about being a young person inducted into a supernatural shadow war vs the oncoming end of the world. Extreme climate change, deforestation, pollution, hyper commercialism, toxins in food and water due to unchecked greed, weird apocalypse cults, rashes of unexplained deaths, they’re all a symptom of a deep sickness in reality itself. You’re the unlucky assholes that know it’s happening, and were born with superpowers you’re supposed to use to fight an overwhelmingly strong supernatural enemy to do something about it. It can get extremely grim and sometimes really edgy, depending on who your group is and where they go.
Typically, in-universe, it is fair to assume that adult werewolves have done a lot of Hard People Making Hard Choices shit and become desensitized to a lot of horrible things, just as a consequence of growing up as werewolves.
Meanwhile, we have our pack.
Our pack are all like 18-19 years old (it gets fucky with the ones that were born and raised as wolves until their werewolf nature emerged, but that’s where those two are mentally) and they’re working on establishing who they are and what they stand for because, you know, 18-19 years old.
They’re doing their best, but they’re not flawless kids. They sometimes make dumb decisions and get into big trouble. They have hopes and fears and blindspots. They’ve by this point killed a bystander once because they couldn’t figure out how else to protect important secrets. Being a werewolf is a very fucked up experience sometimes.
BUT.
Early on in the game the young pack was tasked with investigating the disappearances of several children, during which they found out it was Bad Evil Shit abducting kids to use as sacrifices to try to summon a Bad Evil Thing into the physical world. The pack was a bit clumsy and almost died at one point, but managed to rescue the kid that was still alive and to bring him home to his family. This was really fucking risky for us to be that involved, but we got a little boy home to his family and could feel good about it.
Then, some shit happened and the gang got unstuck from reality into the fae realm for a while. (This is also a thing that can happen to you in werewolf.) When we returned, the family’s oldest daughter had left a message calling for help on our pack leader’s phone. While we were busy being stuck outside reality.
Ah.
The pack could have ignored this. The evil werewolves involved were actually banking on us not caring about these ordinary human people that were tangential to the plots they’d been pulling. They wiped out this family, but (because our ST rolls for things NPCs do) they didn’t do a very clean job on the coverup and the pack found evidence that led us to a safehouse they appear to use from time to time.
And we cared, so we found a whole bunch of intelligence on what this pack of assholes is up to, and a tunnel leading us to a secret site that the ST did not expect us to find. It was there on the map, sure, but she did not lead us to it intentionally at all.
The current mess we are untangling is purely because we didn’t just discard these ordinary human npcs, and when something else horrible happened to them we cared.
It feels really cool to get to emphasize that about these characters. They are young and scared and flawed and they make mistakes, but they care still and that’s what fucking matters.
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voxfuturi · 2 years
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"It's just a routine trip to the past, nothing bad is going to happen." Silver stared down the communication panel of the faithful machine that had ferried him back and forth between times.
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There was nothing like it anywhere else in the world, a curious device that could fold time over and transport him wherever he wanted to go. So long as he gave it a little boost. It all seemed perfectly ordinary, the chaos emerald weighed heavily in his hands as he approached it. Sinking it into the all-to-perfect slot at the side and the device boots up with a menacing growl.
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"Alright, here I go!" Silver knows he's talking to himself but it soothes the anxiety that makes his quills raise high on his body. As he steps into the platform and the gates shut around him, twirling servos behind to warp and spin around his body.
[[CW here for some funky flashy gifs! More below the Cut!]]
It was the BOOM that told him something was wrong, the sirens cut on but it was too late. Something...Weird, had just happened. The chaos emerald started buzzing in place, reality itself changing before his very eyes. This was it, he was a goner and all he could think to say was...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-!"
"OH SHO-"
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Then, things got crazy, everything began to warp, twisting into a corkscrew as a pinhole opened at the corner of Silver's vision and he was sucked through it. Stretched impossibly thin like a piece of spaghetti being whipped across the multiverse and thrown at the cosmic wall to see if he would stick.
He did, oh he stuck alright. He fought the sensation of infinite forces pulling him in every direction and won.
<FSHOOOOOOOOOOM>
The void explodes, colors and shapes return to his vision. Then particulars like glass and...metal? Were those buildings? They had to be! The after image of the chaos emerald was burned into his vision and he had to scrub at his eyes vigorously-. That was when he realized he was falling, he was rapidly accelerating towards the unforgiving concrete ground of a city he did not know.
The Maxwellian Near Eye Display kicks into operation again as Silver sends out a massive pulse of panic driven ESP energy. The teal colored energy swallowing him up as it slows his ascent, not fast enough- not fast-!
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His nose touches the ground, hard enough to make it sting but the rest of him doesn't follow after it with a sickening splat. He's alive? Yea! Okay! He's alive! Everything was upside down so he rotates himself 180 degrees so his feet are under him like they should be. Then he touches the ground, extremely tentatively. Where was he? WHEN was he?
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Nothing looked familiar at all, the MNED just spat out a bunch of garbled coordinates. It couldn't tell him if he was oriented north or south even. A fair few people had noticed, because several pairs of concerned eyes were oriented his way. None of the signs he saw looked like they were written in Neo-Mobian, so he had to be in the past. In a very, very large city, and he had attracted attention. His equipment was damaged, and he wasn't sure if there was a way home. The smoldering connector that had been attached to the Egg-Comm was thoroughly melted into the plastic of his MNED.
It hadn't touched skin, thank goodness.
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panvani · 3 years
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Mochizuki Jun The Case Study of Vanitas Anime da Vinci Interview - pt. 2 -
An interview conducted by Anime da Vinci with mangaka Mochizuki Jun regarding The Case Study of Vanitas. Part one of my translation is here. I said it was going to be two parts there, but I’ll be releasing it in 3, sorry.
In summary: A more in depth description of how Vanitas and Noé were developed, how Mochizuki wants to represent their relationship, Mochizuki’s feelings on “evil,” and how she wants to incorporate death.
Includes translation notes.
Initially, Vanitas was the vampire, and Noé was the human.
- The way Vanitas and Noé are depicted within the story is quite charming. How did those two come to be as they are? With that, how would Mochizuki Jun-sensei go about introducing “this person is Vanitas,” and “this person is Noé (a vampire)”?
Mochizuki Jun: Initially, Vanitas was the vampire, and Noé was the human. Drawing from Sherlock Holmes, Vanitas took the role of Holmes and Noé of Watson. But, no matter what I did with that concept, my boss would look at it and go “I mean, looking at this, the feeling I get is just... well, isn’t this kind of ordinary? In my opinion, it’s just... not interesting,” when providing consultation. Then, I got the advice of “hey, what if the vampire and the human roles were switched?!”  I was like “huh? A human Holmes and a vampire Watson? Wait, that’s- really extremely super cool!!” And it felt like I was suddenly looking at a completely different landscape. Vanitas’ prominent canine teeth are vestiges from those drafts.
MJ: A different friend of mine criticized my design for Vanitas, which is how he ended up developing those two-level side bangs. Noé’s design completely changed from the first drafts to serialization. Originally he had glasses and was more of the straight man of the comedy duo. I was forced to part with those and other ideas.
MJ: If I were to introduce them with a single phrase, it would be like:
Vanitas - A self loathing deviant.[1]
Noé - Body of a man, spirit of a maiden!
- Speaking of those two, even though they’re always butting heads, they still choose to be alongside one another, and end up fighting together to cover each other’s backs. That relationship is so endearing. In what manner does Mochizuki-sensei mean to depict the two of them?
MJ: They’re not friends, and their goals don’t exactly align[2]. Sort of contrarily, they always fight like dogs but still feel a mutual draw to one another. There’s not enough room to cover it all here, you know what I mean? Noé’s naivety frustrates Vanitas, but his foolish earnestness makes Vanitas harbor a desire to be close to him. Noé sees the light of Vanitas’ power which can do things far beyond Noé’s ability, and feels an attraction to the darkness that lurks in Vanitas’ shadow.
- The characters of Vanitas, especially in the case of when a depressed disposition shines through a carefree countenance, always have such impactful expressions. Please tell us if you have any points of fixation when it comes to drawing expressions.
MJ: I don’t have any specific points of fixation when it comes to expressions, but I usually end up redrawing the expression several times when I make a new panel. Whenever I draw a character’s face I end up making the same expression on my own face, so I leave a really bad impression when I draw in front of other people...
MJ: Aside from that, when I read manga by other people I’ll often go “oh, that’s a really good expression!” In those cases, I’ll try to analyze what about the drawing communicates the right emotion, follow that as closely as possible, and keep it in mind when I increase the stock of my own drawn expressions. I wanna get good at drawing...
Try to contain meaningless death within The Case Study of Vanitas.
- Though there are even humans who regard vampires as enemies, neither seems to be “good,” nor does either seem to be “evil.” Please tell us about the feelings you held when you decided to depict neither side as an axis of good or evil.
MJ: Simply rewarding good and punishing evil is bad storytelling. Those easy to swallow “I’m looking for world domination!” type characters always make me ask “Why’s this character want world domination?” “How do they intend to achieve it? For what purpose?” “What about their history led them to that conclusion?” “In the first place, when talking about evil, how was it that what we’re calling evil was decided to be evil?” It’s a really obnoxious way to get my head spinning with ideas as I try to look for an answer I can accept. Before I know it, that “easy to understand enemy” doesn’t really exist to me, no matter where I look.
MJ: Since I wholeheartedly reject “evil,” I think authors who create antagonists whose feelings you can see and relate to are extremely admirable.
- That monologue which began in the first chapter’s finale seemed to contain all sorts of foreshadowing. Has Mochizuki-sensei already envisioned the plot all the way up to the final chapter?
MJ: I haven’t firmly decided all the way to the end yet since I’m the type to not know what she wants to draw, but I’ve pretty much got the rough outline until the story’s conclusion. On my way to that final station called “the story’s end,” there are some stations at which I’m absolutely, inevitably going to have to stop. Still, I feel like it’s up to me as to which route I take on my way there.
MJ: For he who may have stuck with me since my previous works, I’m trying my hardest to work my way up and make the railway line of this current story feel more like a roller coaster.[3] Since in my previous work, Pandora Hearts, I wanted to make a bunch of distinctive events on their way to the last scene, which was supposed to be the highlight of that character’s arc. Because of that, most deaths in Pandora Hearts were made to be cathartic. In The Case Study of Vanitas, I think I want to try to include completely meaningless death.
---
[1] The word Mochizuki uses is 自分嫌い天の邪鬼. 自分嫌い is pretty directly just “self hating,” but 天の邪鬼 literally means “demon from heaven.” In speech, it’s used to mean “pervert” or “contrarian.” The manga translates 天邪鬼 (the same word spelled differently) as “bad tempered,” which I don’t like.
[2] Since I saw another translation for this part: Mochizuki specifically says 仲間とも違う, nakama to mo chigau, which means more literally “[their relationship] is also a different thing than a comrade.” 仲間 is sort of an infamous word among Japanese translation circles. It frequently implies “friend,” but is closer to “person with whom one finds commonality [in faction, ideas, goals, etc.]” Another translation might be “kindred spirit.”
[3] Yeah she starts using a train metaphor it wasn’t fun to translate
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Part 3 here.
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Analyzing Marinette’s hairstyles
So, I’ve actually seen a bunch of different posts and takes of what Marinette’s hairstyles represent and symbolize especially in regard to the episode “Heart Hunter”, but I wanted to go through all the different styles of hair instead of solely focusing on the pigtails/hair down of that particular episode.
With that being said, in no particular order, here we go:
The Bun
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This hairstyle is almost exclusively seen in the episode “Animaestro”. However if you’re paying close attention, you will see Marinette wearing this hairstyle, in the old class picture, featured in “Reflekta”. I find the fact that the show made this connection between these two (scenes? examples?) incredibly interesting and very telling. Putting the class picture aside for a moment, one must analyze Marinette’s behavior in the episode “Animaestro”. To be sure, it isn’t great. For the most part, Marinette acts foolishly and immaturely and her actions in this episode, indirectly lead to the akumatization. Marinette, in her jealous state, goes so far as to join up with Chloe (a person she despises), and attempt childish pranks on Kagami. In short, I think that the bun hairstyle symbolizes a sort of immaturity for Marinette. The fact that she wore this hairstyle when she was younger only goes to prove my point. Marinette is not a perfect character, but her actions in “Animaestro” are arguably some of her worst, and naturally when she has hit a low in her maturity level, she reverts back to a hairstyle of her youth.
The Braid
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The braid can be easily shoved aside as not holding any symbolism, as just a way the design team chose to incorporate the tail in her costume. However, there were a number of ways the tail could have been incorporated into the Ladynoir costume, and as such the braid must be analyzed. Now, a braid can be considered an almost restricting thing, it carefully tucks back locks of hair and traps them better than an ordinary ponytail can. However, the Ladynoir braid almost has a ‘fun’ twist to it (pun not intended but appreciated). It is long (like really long), and we even see her flick it playfully over her shoulder. I think that the braid is supposed to represent that dualism between responsibility and fun that the job of superhero can have. I have heard a lot of people criticize “Reflekdoll” for its lack of parallels. In other words, Chat Noir learns something and better appreciates Ladybug, but the reverse isn’t true, and I would say that in many ways this is true, Ladybug is not privy to the lesson that Chat Noir is. However, I would argue that she did learn something. Ladybug learned that it’s okay for her to have fun and to joke around. Towards the beginning of the episode we see Ladybug chastising Chat Noir for his joking around, however by the end we see Ladybug embrace this approach and even make some jokes herself. The braid shows Marinette acceptance of balance, of the combination of enjoyment and responsibility within her life.
The Space Buns
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This design as well can be attributed to the design team finding a way to show mouse ears, but I’m still going to try to analyze this. I have two different ways to possibly explain this hairstyle. The first being to draw parallels to the bun hairstyle as this is essentially the same thing but two instead of one. The correspondence between the two hairstyles could be seen through Marinette’s feigned naivety in front of Chat Noir. She “accidentally” reveals herself as Marinette and pretends to be less informed than she really is. The other way to translate this hairstyle is as a security blanket so to speak. I haven’t gotten into the metaphorical interpretation of Marinette’s pigtails yet, but I will briefly explain a part of it now (and go into depth a little later). The pigtails serve as a sense of security for Marinette, as a source of status quo. The space buns are that, but elevated. In the episode this hairstyle is featured, “Kwamibuster” (I don’t think I mentioned this before), Marinette is desperate to keep her identity a secret from Chat Noir and develops a convoluted plan (including Multi-mouse) to accomplish this. She wants the security of her identity and wants to use her comfort style at this moment. However, Marinette is trying to distance herself from Ladybug and as such she uses a slight variation of her pigtails in her alternate hero form.
The Ponytail
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I’m gonna be honest and say that I can’t fully analyze this hairstyle as we have not yet seen the episode where this hairstyle makes its second appearance. So I’m just focusing here on the ponytail from “Optigami”. I might make another analysis on the ponytail after “Sentibubbler” comes out but it might make more sense to wait until after the whole season comes out, in case there are new examples of ponytails (or other hairstyles for that matter). I don’t want to say anything about Pegabug’s ponytail, because as I’m sure you know, Miraculous trailers can be very misleading. Anyways, after that ramble, I now focus on Ladybee’s ponytail. To be frank “Optigami” was a bit of a doozy. I watched that episode with a sense of dread that did not lighten by the end of the episode. This isn’t a bad thing, but it was intense for a typical episode of Miraculous, a show where my usual reaction is a mix of “oh this is cute” and cringe (to be fair I cringe easily). But what I like so much about season 4 is that we get more than that (I won’t go into this now because I’m straying from the topic too much). Ladybee comes at a time of great stress for Marinette, she gets stuck in an elevator with someone and is thus unable to transform (let alone the fact that that “someone” is Adrien), she is without the help of Chat Noir and most of the other heroes, and (unbeknownst to her for a majority of the episode) her friend has been replaced with a sentimonster. Yet, despite all of this, Marinette remains cool, calm, and collected. She, unlike Alya, does not fall apart and despair when Senti-Nino is revealed, she knows she has to get the job done. A ponytail gives an image of “getting the job done” of focus. Although the situation is dire and dangerous, Marinette displays her competence in crisis and the ponytail magnifies that trait. I have a feeling that the same will be true for Pegabug, but only time (and the episode coming out) will tell.
Hair Down
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In the two episodes that we have seen Marinette wearing her hair down, they were both in connection with Adrien and her relationship with her. I want to separate the two examples because though they both wind up achieving similar goals in regard to their symbolism, they do it in different ways. Focusing first on “Chat Blanc” Marinette wears her hair down in part to distinguish to the audience the difference between the two timelines. Though the surface level explanation of her hair would be sufficient explanation, this choice of hairstyle also has a deeper interpretation. This being as a metaphor for Marinette’s vulnerability. She is allowing her feelings to be known to Adrien, she is allowing herself to be open and honest about her emotions and with that freedom she lets her hair free as well. It is also significant that she is free from her secret identity (albeit unknowingly) and as she allows Adrien to see the full spectrum of her personality, she frees her hair from its restraint. In “Heart Hunter” too, this hairstyle signifies vulnerability and freedom. In this episode we see Marinette having fun with Adrien and Kagami, without the worry of how she is being perceived by Adrien, without the stress about her feelings for him. It is of great significance that when she lets her guard down, when she “lets her hair down” (both literally and metaphorically), Adrien comments on her beauty. We already know, as viewers, that Adrien has fallen in love with Marinette’s personality as Ladybug. But as Marinette, Adrien has not been privy to her full personality. He has only been given glimpses, as in this episode, to the full extent of her persona. Marinette is seen later on in the episode to revert back to her old hairstyle once she is no longer comfortable, when she feels inadequate compared to Kagami. She puts back on her guise when she feels she needs the security. Which leads us to that source of security.
Pigtails
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I feel a bit bad as I have simplified this hairstyle in earlier paragraphs to a symbol for security. While this definition is a correct one, this hairstyle has more than one explanation. As Marinette’s primary hairstyle, in both her every day and hero outfits, we see this hairstyle A LOT. Because of this, there is an array of interpretation as to what this hairstyle could mean. Starting with the aforementioned, this hairstyle works as a form of security for Marinette. The style required her to hold her hair back, to keep it in check, away from possible disasters and viewers (wind can tangle hair very easily). The pigtails are the antithesis of letting her hair down, a common symbol for freedom and relaxation. The pigtails therefore show that she is on her guard and is protecting herself. The pigtails also represent her quality of being a do-er. She likes to do things, she is an active person, she doesn’t stand aside or wait for things to happen, she works to make them happen. As a do-er she needs focus, she needs a restraint for her hair that could get in her line of sight, and the pigtails do that well. As Ladybug, the same is true. She is focused and determined to accomplish her goals, to succeed in her battles and she needs to tie her hair back to best accomplish this. There is importance in the fact that she chooses to focus herself with pigtails rather than the equally practical ponytail. This can be attributed to the child-like quality that pigtails have. Marinette, simply put, is still a child. Though as a whole she is particularly mature for her age, at times she can show a bit of immaturity. It is interesting to note that as the seasons progress, the more we see her with other hairstyles. As she matures she wears the pigtails less. The pigtails are also a girly hairstyle and show how Marinette is a girly-girl in a plain and easy way. Additionally, the pigtails give her the approachable, girl-next-door look. In simply looking at Marinette one gets the image of her sweetness and good nature. In visual media, it is important to make a connection between personality and visage. In cartoons especially, a character’s design should fit with how they interact with their world, and the pigtails are an immediate signifier as to Marinette’s character. This about sums up my analysis of her pigtails. I know that there are more ways to interpret them, and feel free to comment if you think of any other interpretations!
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beccanoodles · 3 years
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Spike and Faye Pairing Analysis
March 2021
Ah the hit or miss pairing of the century! If you don’t love it, you probably hate it lol. I’m a very analytical person so I love analyzing works of art and overall enjoy deep discussions about them too. I have SO much to say when it comes to Cowboy Bebop (and oh I plan to), but I have decided to start with my very own OTP. Here, I am not really going to discuss Spike and Faye’s feelings for each other, but rather why I think people are drawn to this pairing and why I think they're totally valid. Get ready for a long read!😁
⚠️SPOILER WARNING!!! [Major Cowboy Bebop and the movie Out of the Past spoilers]⚠️
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First off, let’s clear something up. I am confident most of us can agree that Spike was in love with Julia. Some people assume Spike and Faye fans are deranged and disregard Spike and Julia’s romantic relationship to try and make something of Spike and Faye that never was. While some people may have their various theories and opinions on this, generally, I don’t think anyone denies Spike’s love for Julia. As we will see, this pairing is not really driven by who loves who...let’s first look on the surface.
I don’t know your experiences with the series, but in mine, every time I show this to people it never fails for someone to say something along the lines of,
“Wait, they don’t end up together?”
“Why didn’t he kiss her!?”
“He should have stayed with her...”
and so fourth. 
Naturally, this pairing catches many eyes. 
Think about it, you are given two really cool, really hot and really deep characters that are really fun to see together! There are so many parallels between the two and they are arguably the strongest characters of the bunch. Granted, you can agree with this and still not ship them, but these aspects are part of what opens up the door for many fans of the pairing.
However, there is certainly more to this pairing than them simply looking good together right? As the years pass and I’ve now seen the show multiple times, my understanding of it has evolved in many areas, Spike and Faye included. 
Spike and Faye really couldn’t have ended up together. Sure, it’s a nice thought, but It would have been an entirely different show if they had. I don’t feel that the show should have happened any other way and I don’t think many other fans would either. 
So, what am I saying here?
What’s the point of this paring if I don’t think they should have ended up together? 
It is what's so frustrating about them, yet keeps you coming back and what honestly validates this pairing in my opinion. Spike and Faye are not driven by what is, but rather, what could be.  
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I personally feel the themes of classic film Noir are not discussed enough when it comes to Cowboy Bebop! This is one of the show's major influences, especially when it comes to the plot and characters.
One of the common tropes of a film noir is that of a protagonist who is drawn back into his past and ultimate doom, usually by the “seduction” of a femme fatale. In these movies, the women are either a femme fatale [devious, dangerous, mysterious, greedy, troubled, or unreliable] or a woman of virtue [reliable, dutiful, trustworthy, conventional and loving]. 
I am going to use the 1947 classic, Out of the Past to make my comparisons from here on out.
In Out of the Past, Jeff is a former detective who gets caught up in a love triangle between a gangster and his girlfriend Kathie, sound familiar? He attempts to run away with her, but is betrayed and runs off to start a new life in a new town. Here, he meets Ann and falls in love with her, but of course, his past catches up to him and he is drawn back into the world of criminals (largely by Kathie’s involvement). This ultimately results in his and Kathie’s deaths and Ann’s heartbreak. 
Even though Kathie is the femme fatale in this movie, I found myself comparing her more to Julia’s role in the show, than to Faye’s and I found that Faye actually fit best in Ann’s role (this is a bit unusual considering Faye is typically seen as the femme fatale of this show).
Does that mean I think Julia was as ill intentioned as Kathie or that Spike fell in love with Faye? Well, not exactly, let’s look at it a bit further.
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“The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can’t leave alone...Like an angel from the underworld or a devil from paradise.”
Most of what we get about Julia is from Spike’s point of view. From this, we learn she is at the center of Vicious and Spike’s conflict, but aside from that she is basically depicted as “The Virtuous Woman” of a noir. The colors around her are warm and she is shown caring for Spike. There is an innocence and modestly about her as well.
Yet, when we finally do meet Julia, we get a different image. We know she is tied up with dangerous men, but is she herself a dangerous woman?
She is certainly capable of betrayal. 
Suddenly she is a bad-ass-gun-toting woman in leather and black, surrounded by hues of grey and dark blue. Intentional or not, Julia is a major part of what lures Spike back into the past and ultimately to his death. In this case, Julia is the femme fatale of Spike’s story and thus, their relationship is doomed from the start.
Faye, on the other hand, is portrayed in somewhat of a contrast. When we first meet her, she is the clear cut femme fatale, appearing cunning, strong willed and seductive. However, we soon find that she has quite a bit of kindness and naivety hidden behind her facade. She uses the former tactics as a way of emotional (and probably physical) protection. Gren points this out in his conversation with her. 
Gren, 
“You’re just afraid they’d abandon you so you abandoned them. You distanced yourself from the whole thing.”
As the show progresses, we start to see less of her “femme fatale nature” and something more genuine. Think about it, between Hard Luck Woman and RFB Part 2 we don’t see much of Faye as her typical conniving or unreliable self, aside from changing the course of the Bebop maybe. Sure she takes off, but it isn’t at all for the same reasons she did in Jupiter Jazz or Speak Like a Child, for example. 
I would argue we actually see her more trustworthy and caring than ever. Since I don’t want to spend too much time talking about Faye’s character development (not here at least) I’ll give one example of this. 
When she returns to the Bebop after her encounter with Julia in RFB Part 1, she gives Spike the message, even though the outcome might hurt her (i.e. he leaves and/or dies). While she does first say “It’s gonna cost you,” she doesn’t really mean it because she tells him without hesitation only moments later.
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This isn’t to say Faye good, Julia bad. Both women have their layers and even though we know way more about Faye, I don’t get the impression that Julia is selfish and cunning like Kathie was. But I do get the feeling she was enclosed in a world of crime and betrayal the way Kathie was. We really only know the basics of Spike and Julia’s situation. Who knows the details like motive or how long it lasted etc. etc. We can only speculate...
There is a scene towards the end of Out Of The Past, where Kathie tells Jeff to go away with her. This time it is her asking him, just like Julia asks Spike. During this she mentions,
“I never told you I was anything but what I am, you just wanted to imagine I was. That’s why I left you.”
This got me thinking...did Spike imagine Julia as something she wasn’t? Or something he wanted her to be that she just couldn’t be? 
It could explain why we get such contrasted images of her.
There are themes of this “dreamlike” relationship between Jeff and Kathie, similar to Spike and Julia’s “It was all a dream.”
The two of them were going to “live and be free,” probably something neither of them knew how to do and most likely wouldn’t have been able to get away with.
When Jet asks Spike if he can just forget the past, this is his answer.
Spike,
“There was a woman. For the first time in my life I saw a woman that was truly alive. At least that’s what I thought. She was the part of me I had lost, that part that was missing, that I had been longing for.”
I always wondered about this, because Spike is clearly talking about Julia, but right after is when Faye shows up. To me, that spoke volumes...
Faye is a woman who is terribly human and terribly alive.
Going back to Faye and Ann, I find their similarities shine not so much in the “Virtuous Woman,” concept, but rather in Ann’s dedication to Jeff and her optimism for the future. She is also the last person to talk to Jeff before he leaves for the final time, as if he were being presented with one last alternative. Spike spends his last moments with Faye as well, in which she basically begs him not to go and keep him in the present that she has now discovered for herself. She may be stuck, but she is definitely someone that yearns for human connection, love, and life.
The problem is, Spike and Faye are both set in opposite directions. Her’s leads to a future and Spike knows this because he points it out early on (My Funny Valentine). He also knows, his most likely does not. He has already dug himself too deep into this hole, if you will, that there is really no turning back. 
But let’s say none of that was an issue? What could be?
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I sat and watched this movie (Out of the Past) with my mom. She didn’t know anything about it and didn’t know why I was watching it. I wanted her genuine reaction. The whole time she was getting mad at Jeff until the very end. I asked her why and she said that she wanted him to be able to live happily with Ann. I explained to her why he had to do what he did. She understood this, but still couldn’t help but be sad at how things turned out for him, when they could have been good.
Even though Kathie and Jeff are the “lovers,” of this movie, you don’t really want them to end up together. Forget that Kathie has a devious nature, regardless, you know where it has to end and you don’t want to see your hero die.
Like Kathie, Julia symbolizes Spike’s inevitable doom and Like Ann, Faye symbolizes his possible future. 
“I’ll be with you till the end”
                           “You’re the one still tied to the past Spike!”
                                                               “Why do you have to go? Where are you going? What are you gonna do, just throw your life away like it was nothing?!”
It’s two sides of a sad coin...
We want Spike to have a future and because we love the characters of the show, it would be really great if he could have it with them, but that is where the tragedy is. It's only an idea we can think about, a possibility presented to us as it was to Jeff and Spike before their deaths.
The bottom line is, when it comes to Spike and Faye you are really only given a taste. You are not given what you expect to see, which is why I say this ship is driven by what could be. As it is with most of the character relationships in the show, no major breakthroughs are made until the very end, when it's too late. Then it just feels like such wasted potential, but sometimes in life, that's how it is. And thus, we have been given a very classic noir here ladies and gentlemen!
So no, I don’t think people miss the mark when they ship Spike and Faye, nor do I find they invalidate the show by any means. I kind of like that Watanabe switched it up and didn’t do the expected, but left us those subtle hints. He didn’t outright give Spike another lover, but he gave us someone that represents what he could have. Kind of does that with the crew as a whole too!
UGH. I love-hate this show and I love this pairing! Thank you for reading my thoughts and I know this may not be the case or reasoning for everyone, but just based on what I have seen around the community and where this show draws inspiration, this is what I have concluded. I didn’t get into Spike and Faye’s feelings for each other because it gets a little more theoretical there, but I would like to do a post on my thoughts on that as well sometime. I also didn’t touch too much on Spike’s reasoning for choosing to face Vicious in the end, just because I know that will only lead into a whole other analysis lol. But you know I have my thoughts on that and certainly plan to share them 😎 Also, I know I basically spoiled it, but Out of the Past is such a great movie!! I think if you’re a fan of this show it's definitely worth a watch! There are so many more parallels to Cowboy Bebop that I didn’t even mention. Anyways, thanks again and talk to you soon!
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ibijau · 3 years
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I am 100% interested in NHS thinks he's Wen Chao and adopts Xue Yang. Super excited to see it. --HLS
were, here comes the first chapter Xue Yang's Master, or also on AO3
People said that the cultivators’ war was over, and that Qishan Wen had lost. For the folks of Yueyang, it came as a bit of a surprise, since they’d lived all their lives in the shadow of that great sect. Certainly the local sect was Yueyang Chang, and it was to them that most problems were addressed, but it was well known that the real power lay in Qishan. Chang Ci’an tried to pretend he was only putting up with the Wen because of the proximity, but everyone knew he wouldn't have gotten away with half the things he did if he weren’t hugging Wen Ruohan’s knees every chance he got.
And now, Wen Ruohan was dead.
There were all sorts of rumours about that, and no two people could agree on what had happened exactly. Some said it was Nie Mingjue, that great general of the Sunshot Campaign. Others whispered about a Jin spy, or else about his chief torturer who’d felt the wind turn and had decided to be on the right side of history to save his skin. And that was just the most believable rumours, there were also wilder stories repeated and twisted as they travelled from one person to the next. The only thing that never changed, in every story, was that Wen Ruohan had died.
Ultimately, that was all Xue Yang cared about.
With Wen Ruohan dead, his lackey Chang Ci’an was about to find himself in a very delicate position, and the entire town with him, even though most of them didn’t have anything to do with that cultivators’ war. Quite a few people had decided to flee, just in case, and Xue Yang was among them.
It’d been easy, for him, to leave the city where he’d lived all his life. He didn’t have elderly relatives or younger siblings to worry about, since he’d been on his own since quite young. He also didn’t own too much, just some coins he’d stolen here and there, and a cultivation manual that probably wasn’t a real one anyway, but which he clung to just in case. He’d neatly wrapped all that in his second sect of clothes, the ones he used when he went to pickpocket in more affluent neighbourhoods, stolen a bunch of food from the other kids he was sharing an abandoned house with, and then he had just left.
Most people, as they ran from Yueyang, were trying to go east or south, as far away from Qishan as possible, just in case the victors who had conquered that city decided they hadn’t had enough bloodbath yet. Xue Yang, personally, had decided he’d go south, because he knew someone in a place named Kuizhou who would surely find something for him to do, if he said he needed a job. But since quite a few of the richer folks seemed to be headed east, Xue Yang decided he’d go that way first, just for a few days.
By day three, Xue Yang’s little bundle was a lot heavier than it had been when he’d left Yueyang, and it tended to go clink-clinkif he moved a little too fast. Xue Yang hadn’t survived thirteen years by thinking only other people got robbed, so he decided to play it careful and to leave the main road behind for a bit. He’d also stolen a lot of food from careless rich idiots, anyway, so as long as he didn’t get lost, he’d be fine.
The first night after leaving the road behind, Xue Yang slept in an abandoned house in the woods. Or, well, somewhat abandoned. It was a decrepit old place, and the previous owner was still in his bed, almost entirely rotten away. The man had been dead so long he didn’t even smell, for which Xue Yang was half glad. He took out the semi-articulated skeleton and laid it down among the weedy place behind the house that might have been a garden once, not out of respect, but because he hoped to sleep in the bed himself. A vain hope. Most of the bedding had rotten alongside the corpse on it, meaning the dirt floor would be less disgusting to sleep on.
Xue Yang didn’t mind too much. He’d slept in much worse places.
Come morning, he’d checked if there was anything valuable to grab in that small house, then went on his merry way, in the direction he thought had to be south.
It had been easy enough, at first, to know which way he was going. Even a city kid like him knew where the sun rose. But then the forest got denser, and he didn’t see the sun again for a good while, not until roughly noon. At that point, Xue Yang had no idea which way was south or east, and he realised he wouldn’t be able to tell again until later, when he’d see the sun start setting.
Maybe avoiding the main road hadn’t been quite as smart as he’d thought. But then again, between that and risking having his precious loot stolen by someone bigger and stronger than him… he’d rather die in this stupid forest than let anyone take what had become his.
Figuring he couldn’t do much except wait, Xue Yang looked around for a comfortable sitting place and spotted a few fallen trees that would fit the bill nicely. He walked there, jumped on one of the trunks, and discovered a dead man there, hidden from view between two of the trees.
Well, a dead boy, anyway. He didn’t look that much older than Xue Yang, but he was very richly dressed, for someone lost in this stupid forest. It was a shame that most of his clothes were ruined by all the blood that came from a stab wound in his chest and a gash on the side of his head. Xue Yang could have sold that for a fortune. In fact, even with the stains, it might be worth trying to sell. And then there was a dainty little gold guan in his hair, the rings on his hands, and the sword next to him, just as bloodied as the rest of him but clearly of excellent quality and with an elegant sun engraved on the handle. Xue Yang could sell that and buy a horse for his trip south, and then he’d surely no longer have to worry about other thieves if he could just outrun them, right?
Already trying to guess how much he might get from this, Xue Yang bent over the corpse and pulled in its clothes in search of ties.
The next thing he knew he was lying on his back a few feet away from the body, his ears ringing from hitting the ground too hard, his chest hurting as if he’d been punched.
So maybe someone wasn’t quite dead yet, then. Xue Yang hurried to jump on his feet in case the older boy was going to put up a fight, but the rich kid remained motionless on the forest ground, one trembling hand still raised from having pushed Xue Yang away. Very soon that hand was allowed to fall down again, and Xue Yang approached the boy again, more cautiously this time.
The rich kid was barely breathing, but now that Xue Yang knew he was alive, he could see the very slow rise and fall of his chest, too slow to be normal, even for a dying person. Between this, his unexpected strength, and the sword he had, Xue Yang guessed that the boy he’d found wasn’t just an ordinary person.
Which meant that sword had to be worth even more than he’d first thought. Cultivator swords could buy a whole farm, and servants to work it for you, or so Xue Yang had heard. If he could find the right buyer, he’d be set for life, never having to worry about anything ever again. And all he had to do was wait for a rich kid to die, which would happen soon enough. Cultivator or not, those were some nasty wounds. The one on his head looked like it might have been accidental, as if he’d taken a bad fall, but there had to have been intent when he’d been stabbed, and that kid just didn’t look strong enough to last on his own. He’d die before morning, either of exposure or finished off by some animal.
Well, Xue Yang didn’t mind waiting.
The boy, however, seemed to have different ideas. Through some great effort, he turned to look at Xue Yang, looking him over as if trying to assess his worth. People did that a lot, and they rarely liked what they saw in him. But that rich kid must have been really desperate.
“Save me,” he gasped weakly. “He’ll find me. Save me.”
“Who will find you?” Xue Yang asked, finding a comfortable position to sit on one of the fallen trees, so he could watch the boy die.
“He tried to kill me. I don’t know him. He’ll find me. He was so angry…”
Xue Yang frowned at the news. Of course, that rich kid hadn’t ended up like that without a little help. If there was a stabbee, then there had to be a stabber, it only made sense. Xue Yang didn’t particularly care about the life of this complete stranger, but he did care about someone coming to finish the job and taking away the corpse and all those precious items on it. It was Xue Yang’s dream farm at risk there, and he couldn’t allow it.
One option, he thought, was to kill that kid himself and then take what he’d earned before fleeing the scene. But that carried the risk of being discovered by the murderer, who had to be a cultivator as well, since no ordinary person could have harmed a cultivator. Then Xue Yang would be in trouble, with the murderer either trying to kill him as well, or at least forcing him to leave without his loot.
The other option, then, was to take the rich kid somewhere safe and keep him hidden until he did die. The little house where Xue Yang had spent the night wasn’t so far off, if he took that boy there, then the rich kid could die quietly, and Xue Yang could steal all the stuff he wouldn’t need anymore due to being dead.
It was the perfect plan.
The hardest part of that plan was getting the rich kid out of his hiding place. He was half stuck among those fallen trees, and kept moaning miserably as Xue Yang pulled on his limbs to unstuck him. It took effort, especially when Xue Yang had to frequently stop to make sure the boy’s murderer wasn’t around, but he eventually managed to get him out of that spot. Then it was just a matter of pulling him by the arms on the forest ground, since Xue Yang wasn’t quite strong enough to carry him. The boy, at first, wailed weakly and cried upon being dragged around like this, but he eventually passed out and turned quite grey.
He was just passed out: Xue Yang checked. But he also wasn’t bleeding anymore, which had to mean he’d die soon.
Luckily, it wasn’t so hard to find the way back to the abandoned little house. At that point, the sun had started setting, so Xue Yang was once again able to use it as a reference point, and he got them to their destination a little before night. Once there, he managed to put the rich kid onto the bed, figuring it probably wouldn’t bother him that someone else had died there not too long ago. And it really wouldn’t be much longer now, because the older boy was deathly pale yet almost burning to the touch, a bad combination. In his experience, anyone who got sick enough to run a high fever had a seventy-five percent chance to die unless they could afford a doctor, or even higher. He’d been close to it himself, when he’d been young and stupid enough to think a cruel man would give him candies for carrying a letter, and just like that rich kid, he’d had nobody to take care of him.
Just like that rich kid, he’d have died alone.
And the rich kid would be alone indeed, because Xue Yang went to sit outside the house to have a dinner of whatever stolen food he had that could be eaten cold. It wasn’t that it bothered him to see someone die, and more that he was still worried about the rich kid’s murderer sneaking on them while he wasn’t paying attention. So he stayed up the entire night, paying attention to the forest’s every noise.
People said nature was quiet, but it was almost as busy as in the city, Xue Yang realised, what with the insects and the foxes and the who-knew-what running around. More than once, he found himself reaching for the rich kid’s sword and jumping to his feet, ready to protect his loot against whatever might threaten it, but nothing bigger than a mouse ever came close. He thought he saw a fox also, but he wasn’t even sure.
The biggest danger in that forest that night was Xue Yang himself, and that was just how he liked it.
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alatismeni-theitsa · 3 years
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(1/2) I know this is some controversial topic and that you sometimes cover US politics, but what do you think the american left needs to improve to reach to more people and be taken more seriously?; It's unbelievable that in the very 2021, apolitical folk are still fallin into the whole "the leftist are a bunch of crazies" narrative, we may do some pushback the last three years against conservative politics.
(2/2)  But it's still not enough; on your personal opinion, what fundamental core value needs to be changed to engage to these apolitical people and that leftist want politics to improve the quality of life of the population without being labeled as a "petulant, whiney children" There's some greek-flavored advice that we can apply to our discourse? Thanks in advance :)
========================== END OF ASK ======================
Ooooo… Great question! And by “great” I mean “Do you want me to go down in flames and get cut a thousand times with pitchforks??” xD But it’s very interesting so I will answer it! And you will be subjected to an essay of 3.200 words 😘💅 (I want to be meticulous, don’t come at me)
Please assume the tone is light and conversational. I am not in a very serious or dramatic mood, and I don’t want to estrange any group by assuming the role of an all knowing tutor or someone who always has the high moral ground. This is just 1am blabbering.
I am not against leftists. On the contrary, I know their side so well that I think I have a solid opinion on its flaws. (I have friends who are left- okay I’ll stop xD) Needless to say, the right side also has flaws and the two sides often share flaws. But right now, we are only talking about the leftists. And of course, #notallleftists xD I recognize that leftists are ordinary and diverse people with empathy and capability of critical thinking and problem-solving (Did I mention I have friends who ar--) Jokes aside, I think my following is quite left leaning and I am not bashing them here. I am criticizing the movement as a whole and trying to see where it can be improved.
***** Anyways, I will generalize the bad traits for the sake of everyone’s time, it’s what I am saying! So, when I say “they” I will probably mean “some” or “the bad apples” etc.  *****
To begin, US leftists don’t want to, but they are accidentally imperialist xD Unfortunately, they don't know much about other countries, and they don’t usually have knowledge of countries they are talking about if they don’t have an immediate connection to them. Not knowing things is fine, but when people on this site are like “ugh Americans” this points to an ignorance and a sort of entitlement that doesn’t occur this often in other countries. My internet cycle is overwhelmingly leftist and yet I continue seeing willingness for ignorance all around - and when I check it’s not by conservatives.
Leftists think their (social and not) politics apply to every country and culture, that people in different countries classify themselves as they do in the US. And when people from those countries talk about their problems, there is always an American that wants to give input based on American politics, and without knowing the situation in this other country they want to talk about. Ironically, the last one is a behavior of conservative politicians. Conservative politicians and citizens sometimes think it’s fine to intervene in other countries for “the greater good”. Well, leftists do the same but on the internet. It stalls conversation and makes it messy and force foreigners to apply to American standards.
Because leftists don't understand social differences between countries, they project their own politics, and that can make them seem obsessed with skin color and blind to cultural diversity. They act like only Americans or certain countries have every lived through colonialism and suffered slaughter and slavery. (Because they don’t feel the need to study and learn further.) To an American that might not be the case, but when Americans converse with foreigners about foreign issues, they seem to have a blind spot.
They act as if only white, cis, straight people can be perpetrators of imperialism. Booyyy I have news xD Yes, of course white, cis, straight people can be perpetrators of imperialism, but the attitude that they are the first to blame, always, it’s faulted. I have many experiences, but let’s start with a very simple one, of an Indian American young woman who thought only a lota can clean you with water in the toilet, and that Europeans haven’t heard of bidets or any other means of cleanliness (or that they have the bathtub RIGHT THERE xD) One of the highlights was a Black woman insisting “Medusa was Black because my grandma told me” despite what Greeks were telling her.
Another thing that stuck with me was the case of a Greek who wanted to write about the people who happen to be a minority in the US (you would call them poc I guess). Many people from those countries were enthusiastic about the project and aided the writer as much as they could, sharing culture and realizing how many things in common they had. But it was from same populations in the US that the writer found people who blamed them for daring to write something outside of their culture. (To explain, most US Americans were fine, but only in the US were some who were hostile). Or, I have seen Chinese Americans being offended by a certain thing (I think it was something about fashion) saying “this is an offense to Chinese culture” meanwhile Chinese people from everywhere else in the world (99% of Chinese, I’d say) said “I don’t understand… this is fine!”
Many US American poc categorize all light skinned Caucasians of the world as White Americans and the rest are the “cultured” Black or Brown people. US Americans are now learning that Slavic cultures exist and it’s… something else to watch leftists realizing light skinned people can have great embroidery and they are not actually stealing Mexican traditional clothing xD (reference to an obscure “calling out” comment on tik tok).
I don’t specifically target US poc here, I am just mentioning that everyone conveniently forgets them as if they are untouchable and never said anything ignorant, while they are as active on social media causes as other Americans. In fact, if most poc are aligned to a side, that would be the Left. They are a very big part of the progressive movement – and that’s why I am giving so much space here for them – but then it seems they can’t have a share of the “bad” things of the leftist movement, only the good. Which is humanly impossible, to be always correct.
That’s one of the problems of leftism, that in a way pardons certain minorities and by doing that it not only lets the problematic bubbles grow but also infantilizes those minorities because it passes the message that “they can never do anything wrong”. While background matters when having an opinion, I see that skin-color goes ridiculously above opinion on these matters, which is not very egalitarian. When I argue with a person, the last thing I see is the person’s skin color. When someone says “ancient Greeks were actually a Black nation ad then they became White” I don’t care how this person looks like. No matter your skin color, you must take responsibility for the misinformation you are spreading. I won’t assume that because someone is a poc that they can’t study and learn more about the matter of discussion.
So… the “issue” doesn’t come from being white, cis, straight etc but from being raised as a US American. I don’t imply by any means that being a US American is bad. The last thing I want to do here is enforce guilt. (If you are feeling guilty already I must be mistaken in my wording so I am sorry for that). I am talking about certain beliefs that come with raised as a US American. Similarly, many beliefs a Greek can have are because of their environment. Everyone is affected by their background in one way or another. 
American leftists believe that even the piss poor British farmers benefited from colonialism – and still benefit perhaps on a systemic scale. So, with the same logic, even the lowest layers of the US American society benefit from imperialism and war crimes overseas. (Truth is the quality of living in the US is great and extremely progressive compared to most of the world, because of the US’ politics. I had analyzed this in a previous post). But American leftists never mention that when it comes to THEIR case, because it doesn’t give them an advantage.
To tie it up with how American leftists see the world, there is youtuber I like, who is a US American woc and one time she said “My country is bombing Brown people” in an annoyed tone and it just sounded so offensive I closed the video. It’s obvious the youtuber doesn’t support the bombing, but it was just the phrasing which left a bitter taste in my mouth the whole day. It was the fact that 1) she could make a statement in an annoyed/joking tone 2) people in those countries don’t identify as “Brown” outside the US (and you are talking about them now) 3) your country is indeed bombing them so maybe at least categorize them as they wish?? They have a certain ethnicity, so mention that and stop categorizing them like dog breeds! They already have the bombs, do you want them to hear Americans categorize them like that?
Moreover, many US leftists think they care about other countries while, in actuality, they don’t. They just want to make other countries have the exact progressive US politics - because that’s the only “correct” political system they know. That shows even in kind of superficial matters. In a movie about Greek mythology, they will make sure there is an American Arab, an American Black person, an American East Asian person etc (which would be a cast that would reflect American diversity, not Mediterranean) and are hesitant to cast Greeks or ask Greeks how the portrayal of the story and figures could be better and respecting.
Another thing, they take everything too personally. They think success and failure of a movement is highly dependent on them as an individual. It’s difficult for them to approach a harsh past or present situation in a levelheaded manner because they don’t realize this situation has been universal. So, they feel a special kind of guilt and that makes them over apologetic but also overzealous (like a righteous self-flogging zealot) and that is what drives people away. They combine that behavior with ignorance about the rest of the world, and you can see why a non-US American might want to keep their distance.
I had some Americans apologizing to me because their ancestors did something to Greeks and just… don’t. I know you have the best intentions, but it makes everyone – even me – feel bad. There is no need for apologizing because 1) you and your family did nothing wrong 2) it was centuries ago 3) this bad shit happens/happened literally everywhere. You might as well apologize for your people knowing how to cook. It’s FINE, really, it’s FINE. For instance, do you think I have a grudge on YOUR people running a slave trade six centuries ago while there was dozen active slavetrades in the area, and while Greeks of the Byzantine empire probably bought slaves some decades before they were sold to slavery themselves? Do you see what a mess this is? Not only it doesn’t fix anything, but you also put unnecessary weight on yourself, as an individual. It’s fine to be aware and trying to fix past mistakes - if it’s possible - but there is a certain delicate process that must be followed. Not… whatever this is.
To continue on the extreme individualism, leftists think it's the end of the world if they have done or said something controversial (and that's also because they have cultivated a culture where any small transgression is a potential danger to the whole society :p aka "the left eats itself"). Around them people feel they must tread on eggshells just in case they phrase a thing wrong or post something that could be linked to a person the Left doesn't like.
The left is also on the extremes, so I have to put 1000 disclaimers every time I say something. (I guarantee that the example with the Chinese people will be translated by some Americans like “Theitsa promotes Asian hate!!”) Do you know who doesn't annoy me if I don't put 1000 disclaimers? Certainly not Conservatives. I had more harassment from leftists than I had from actual nazis, even though my blog is not conservative or (god forbid!!) supportive of nazism or any type of supremacy. Even nazis completely understand my beliefs before they send hate. (It might be odd but I never had one not understanding my point xD) But the leftists who sent hate misinterpret stuff, or they don’t bother reading actual posts. The funny thing is that I usually agree with these progressives in 99% of issues but they don’t care asking or learning, they just decide our morals are opposite. I mean they don’t have to like me, but many leftists don’t even read the basics.
On top of that, leftists rarely want to have a conversation with a conservative. I don't say go and AGREE with a conservative, I say just talk. (see? I feel the need to clarify here because many leftists might say “Theitsa wants us to go and AGREE with conservatives! Does Theitsa want us to become nazis and homophobes???”) How does one feel they have to be sooo righteous and then cauterize every member of society who disagrees with them? Why do leftists rarely want to have a conversation? Some people were ready to attack me for referencing a meme which referenced Steven Crowder, as if that shows I am his supporter 😩 (Guilty by association is strong on the leftist side and it’s very reminiscent of authoritarian tactics, another thing that needs to be improved, to my opinion.)
I don’t support Crowder (I know Crowder has done awful stuff) but I shouldn’t be scared to admit I like the “change my mind” episodes. (Flash news, leftists, you might like a part from a person’s work and not 100% support that person!) I like the episodes because both sides are heard, the conversation is civil (for the most part xD) and I can see the thought process of the two speakers as they explain their worries and what solutions are out there.
Most of all, in those episodes I see how BOTH sides CARE about the SAME problems, it’s just the perspectives that differ. And those conversations highlight the issues the left hasn’t studied very well, so it helps the leftists understand what they need to learn in order to better society. But where the “immaturity“ of the leftist side can show is in the unwillingness to approach the “opponent“ as a human just like them.
(They might instead prefer to call Mexicans white supremacists and claim that “whiteness” has no color because quite a few poc voted Republican, as some leftist news sources have stated)
What is more, is it just my idea or conservatives understand leftists better than leftists understand conservatives? Of course both sides jokes about the other one but I am talking about the serious talks. Leftists just describe conservatives as horrible people who want all minorities to perish and we must not talk to them while, surprisingly, the conservatives are the ones who stereotype less the opposite side. (I am talking about the normal, moderate people). From what I have seen, most simple people who are conservatives DON’T want the US’ ethnic and sexual minorities to perish. They are worried about problems they don’t have a good understanding about. And the only way to make them understand it’s to… talk to them, show them what good the left to offer.
Some leftists think conversation is “emotional labor” but 1) that applies to actual labor as in… jobs, so stop invalidating doctors, nurses, teachers etc, 2) yeah, sorry, sometimes things get difficult and you have to explain your side. (As non US-Americans endlessly have to do for US-Americans). That was, is and will be life until the sun swallows us all. You can’t be THAT militant on social media with 100 posts per day and remembering 50 different campaigns about social issues but the moment someone genuinely asks you for directions on your side you shut them off with “why do you demand labor from me? Do your own research” (hint: most likely they have done their research, but they are stuck, and you don’t help them like this).
If you are very tired and don’t want to explain (as it is your right) you can be polite about it and not blame the individual about their circumstances when they are trying to learn. If you DO want to explain but you get tired, be more organized. Have posts and F.A.Q.s ready, or send them to someone else (a friend, a blog, a youtube channel, an article, whatever). Instead of leftists arguing their positions, sometimes they are like “Do more research and realize I am right.” Yyyeah the other person is not gonna do that – especially because you haven’t pointed them anywhere or supported your position with arguments. Moreover, leftists can have the attitude of “I stand for PROGRESS, how can I ever be wrong??” Weeell things are not black and white and me, you, everyone has the potential to not have a not that beneficial to society position at some issues no matter where we stand on the political compass.
For the “petty whiny children” thing, I believe a lot of people might think that because the youth is usually making noise about progressive issues on social media. It’s true that oftentimes in social media discussions their emotions get the best of them (it’s happened to everyone) but combined with the lack of life experience they may have about the world, the argument sounds silly. (I heard one leftist university student say that the US shouldn’t have borders because borders are bad but then they realized they don’t want people to come and go as they please in the US, so she said there should be SNIPERS in the borders to shot everyone who tries to get in…….)
And, as I mentioned, the leftists are very quick to cancel and attack for the slightest transgression so people prefer to deal with the conservatives who can, at least, take a slight misstep, than meddling with people who are going to cancel them for doing or not doing a small, insignificant, but not ‘woke enough’ thing. Leftists are constantly checking each other to see if they are doing better and better (even in silly issues) and that can be intimidating to someone who is new to politics.
Some leftists get REALLY turned on by righteousness (Frollo villain style) and instead of trying to unite the society, they aim to divide it further. They don’t want to create bridges but burn them and find themselves on the “right side“ of morals.
And, last but not least, they don’t realize leftist propaganda is a thing. Malicious people are EVERYWHERE and they don’t just magically avoid the left. Leftists are not automatically super virtuous people. There are some manipulators and bullies around, so one has to be cautious even with leftist sources. (Cross-examine stuff, always. You might have the best intentions but accidentally share something nonfactual because you trusted a source).
Ok that was all, I think. To anyone who comments, PLEASE keep the tones down, have a conversation, take it slow, remember it doesn’t help us being hateful towards each other. (And causing serious friction wasn’t the purpose of this post). Oh, and if you need a clarification on something I said, before gossiping with your friends about how awful I am, do me the courtesy of first asking me what I meant xD
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mihidecet · 3 years
Text
SBi d&d AU: Tubbo
Aka: Tibi’s MCYT WritingTober, day 20!
From @the-only-gamer-gost ‘s list of prompts, another entry for “Fanmade AU” ahahah And as requested by a super cool anon: “ i'd love to see more of tommy's backstory in the d&d au! especially if we can meet tubbo?” :D
Ask and you shall receive! You can also find Tubbo’s reference sheet made by the wonderful @whatimevendoinhere here! Also, @rigatonipastaroni made a super sweet comic about the reunion, waaay before the chapter was even posted!!
There is nothing quite as sad as a bard with a broken guitar. 
It happens during a fight, a sadly-not-that-unusual spar with a rogue elemental that had decided to mess with a village just because they had been bored. 
Absolutely unrelatable. Tommy's patron had commented, the absolute hypocrite.
Still, the overall business had been quite straightforward: get to the outskirts, find the bad guy, kick their ass, profit. 
Nothing they hadn't done before. 
And like everything they expected to go smoothly, things went wrong. 
Tommy would say that thankfully nobody had gotten hurt, and everyone was perfectly fine, and they'd gotten a particularly big reward for something that standard. 
Wilbur would say, instead, that his guitar had been irreparably damaged, its neck snapped in half and body ripped apart, shards laying on the ground like blood, a gruesome heart-wrenching sight that would haunt him until the end of times. 
Tommy's patron had warned him that his second-degree cousin was a bit dramatic, but maybe it was just standard bard behaviour.
To be fair, the guitar was mostly gone. 
Wilbur had picked up as many pieces as he could and stuffed them in its case, but no amount of mending cantrips had been able to fix it. Phil had tried, but he didn't know how guitars worked and it was hard to discriminate where each shard needed to be placed in order to mold it all back together, like a freakishly hard jigsaw puzzle. 
And Wilbur had been extremely proud of his guitar, as apparently it had been a gift and a memento of his grandiose adventures. Sentimental values and such. 
Not that Tommy could say anything about it, not after the friendship bracelet incident.
For about a week, every time they stopped by a town, they looked for a carpenter first, a musical expert second, and an arcane expert third. 
They never managed to fix it. The thing was, it happened to be a weirdly specific and skill-needing task, so nobody they found was either confident enough or prepared enough to do it. 
So they moved on, and the bard's lament continued.
It gets to the point where one night, the innkeeper approaches their table during one of Will's performances - the tiefling had insisted in keeping the tradition of offering his musical entertainment in each tavern they resided in, now with just his voice and sometimes his flute, but being unable to have music as he sang and vice versa was truly different. 
That night, Wilbur is singing a ballad so sad and tear-jerking that the innkeeper actually approaches them and asks if everything is alright. 
"Oh- oh, yes, my apologies, everything is alright. -" Phil instantly responds, looking quite awkward "- It's just that his guitar broke, and we haven't been able to find anyone to fix it. It was of great personal importance." 
The innkeeper nods understandingly, an expression of deep empathetic sadness on their face, before their eyes light up. 
"You know, I might just have what you need. You guys are lucky, the Fixer Upper just arrived a week ago! If he doesn't know how to fix it, nobody will." 
After obtaining a brief explanation of where to find this infamous "Fixer Upper", who apparently works for free and will probably ask for food, shelter or protection as he moves to the next town over, the innkeeper leaves them be, assuring them that it'll be the solution to all their problems. 
Phil finds himself, despite the overall skepticism, feeling a bit of hope. If nothing, at least he might be able to convince Wilbur to buy a new one - make new memories. 
Even Wilbur is less enthusiastic than usual when they tell him, but after all they've been redirected to plenty of miracle workers that turned out to be unable to do anything.
The only thing that feels a bit off, is how Tommy's patron keeps giggling in his head - the way he does when he knows something Tommy doesn't. It's a bother, but Tommy's too tired to try and investigate.
The "Fixer Upper" is staying in a farm just outside the village, apparently sleeping in the barn. 
He comes to the village every couple of months, apparently used to circling back around the same couple of dozen of places, constantly travelling from one to the other and helping out whoever needs something fixed. The innkeeper that recommended him apparently had him fix their son's prosthetic leg, which has been working better than ever. 
The fact that he never asks for compensation is what keeps them all on the defensive: nobody does anything for anyone without coin on the line, so Wilbur is already somewhat expecting to find yet another old relative making deals with young children. 
Yes, he is still a bit bothered by the fact that his second degree cousin spends half of his time inside Tommy's head. 
No, he's not going to bring it up. 
 Approaching the barn, an increasing cacophony of sounds greets them, and Wilbur starts looking less and less convinced and more and more like he wants to leave - not to blame him, the noises are definitely not reassuring. 
They enter the barn, where one side is perfectly fine and the other has a bunch of mechanical and metallic parts strewn on the ground. 
At this point, Techno has a hand on Wilbur's arm, either to instill some confidence in him or to keep him from running away with the shattered guitar.
Then all of them stop, frozen in their tracks, as something completely out of the ordinary appears from behind a wooden wall - that is quite an extraordinary feat, considering the peculiar array of people they are. 
There's a huge block of metal, vaguely rectangular shaped and painted black and yellow, floating towards them. It has what looks like the spinny part of a windmill rotating at embarrassingly high speed over it, and the noise it makes vaguely resembles that of a low hum, or maybe a buzz. 
Two large semi-transparent circles - its … eyes? - emit a soft light that shines against Phil's palm as it bumps against him, the elf cooing with an adoring expression. 
"Hello dear, you're not one of nature's children but you are alive, aren't you?" 
Even Tommy, who has no idea how magic or nature works - he made a pact with a demon for a reason, alright? - can see that it's an impressive display of craftsmanship. 
Wilbur is looking quite confused on Phil's right, but he's no longer needing Techno to keep him from bailing on the whole thing. And to be honest, if somebody's able to make … this, maybe they'll be able to fix his guitar. 
"AH- Visitors! Sorry, I hadn't heard you coming in-" a short figure stumbles in sight from behind a pile of apparently garbage.
The short man, who appears to be human, had wild brown hair, somewhat darker in certain spots where black oil seems to have gotten stuck. There seems to be oil and soot all over his clothes and hands, where bandages cover his fingers.
On his head reside a pair of goggles - multiple lenses of different thicknesses and colours appended to its sides - and he's holding a wrench as if they'd interrupted his work, which would explain the worrying noises. 
The mechanic has a bright welcoming smile on his face when he appears, which immediately falters the moment he sees the infamous mercenary group, expression turning to fear. Which is understandable, given their fame of being quick, efficient and rather costly, unless they're working for the good of all.
Then it turns to shock, when Tommy takes a tentative step forward from behind Phil's back. Which is less understandable.
"Tubbo?" Tommy's voice calls, almost breathless. The boy takes off his goggles and blinks. The wrench he was holding clutters to the ground.
"Holy shit, Toms."
The warlock lets out a strangled yelp, then blinks out of existence in a puff of bright red smoke, reappearing right in front of the other boy and picking him up in a bone crushing hug as he laughs - more joyous than Wilbur's ever heard him - and the two of them fall to the ground.
When Tubbo is still a teenager, he loses his best friend to the prejudice and scorn of their hometown. 
All they need to see are the buddying horns on his forehead, the flames licking at his fingertips, the reddening skin around his eyes, and they banish him. 
They come for him, in the middle of the night, and find nobody but his parents in his home, because Tommy has always been smarter than he let on. 
Half a day earlier, Tommy had said his goodbyes to the last few people that deserved to know where he was going; never once asking for his parents' forgiveness for something he always knew he was going to do - Tubbo had never seen his best friend more sure of anything, even at the worst moments, when the ritual was about to begin, or the few first weeks when he had to use all his coins to buy salve for burns.
And so Tubbo was left alone, left behind. 
It lasted for one day.
Tubbo had never been particularly gifted in the craft his parents had tried to teach him - glass blowing was definitely not his forte, his hands too strong, his grip too tight - and he'd never shown any latent arcane power. Books on the arcane were long, boring and complex, the glyphs all looking the same and mixing with each other on the page. 
But that didn't mean anything to him: he was going to do great things, with or without magic, and he was going to find his best friend again. 
Fate wanted to keep them apart? Tubbo was going to stare Fate in the face and laugh. 
If the glyphs and arcane chants of the mages weren't going to cooperate, he was going to force his hands into the fabric of the arcane plane and pull magic out by himself. 
And again, why stick to prayers and dealings with other entities when he could just make it himself?
To be fair, it does take him a lot more time than the couple of weeks of research and half-and-hour-deal that was Tommy's experience. But Tubbo's always been a quick learner.
The day he finishes his big project, he leaves his home, ready for adventure. 
He has a map of the coast, enough coin to pay for emergencies and a backpack full of the tools he needs to offer his assistance to whomever will need it. 
His marked path will bring him around the same towns. Tommy is bound to pass by at least one of them during his travels. 
Tubbo's going to be alright.
Tommy's eyes are absolutely not, under no circumstances, shining as he tries to squeeze the life out of his best friend. 
Tubbo is just laughing, which is quite rude in Tommy's personal opinion, he should be struggling to breathe due to his impressive strength.
"Look at you! You made it!" The mechanic cheers, squeezing tighter - which, ouch, when did he become strong, it must have been all the working with metal, this is the worst possible outcome. Tommy lets him go for a moment, leaning back to splutter and wave wildly at the mechanical bee still intent on bumping its head against Phil's hand. By the Nine Hells, Tubbo made a living bee with the attitude of a puppy out of metal. 
"I made it?! You made bees!" Tommy protests, feeling a swell of pride for how far his best friend has come. On a completely unrelated note, there must be light shining insistently in his eyes. 
"I know! Aren't they cute! Ah! Let me introduce you to them!" Tubbo exclaims, hurrying to stand up - nearly elbowing Tommy in the gut - and grabbing his hand so that he can drag Tommy towards the bee from earlier. 
Then he stops in his tracks - which makes Tommy slam into his back and get oil stains on his favourite shirt - as he realises there are three other people in the room, all staring at them with varying degrees of amusement. 
"So, what just happened?" Wilbur asks, looking quite shell shocked. 
165 notes · View notes
craftypeaceturtle · 3 years
Text
Distanced, part 1
Summary: A group chat fic! How shall these useless students cope with daily life.
Note: This is my first attempt at anything even remotely like this! I have no idea how this will turn out so feedback is greatly appreciated! Intrulogical. 
Next part here!!
.
MESSAGES: To Remus Prince (Presentation)
Tuesday, 16:15
Hello. This is Logan Sanders from Prof. Smith’s seminar. Do you have any suggestions for how we should go about completing the upcoming assessment?
Remus Prince: who dis
I literally just stated it. Logan Sanders.
I wear the tie.
Remus Prince: OHHH
Remus Prince: Well 1stly
Remus Prince: What’s the best planet in the solar system?
Pardon?
Remus Prince: i LitERaLlY JuSt stAtED iT
That has nothing to do with anything, we just need to get through this project.
Remus Prince: if u want to work then u have to answer
Jupiter. 
Remus Prince: cool.
Remus Prince: You’ll do.
Remus Prince: My name is Remus.
I know. We did actually swap phone numbers. We in fact discussed which topic we would be doing for over fifteen minutes in the seminar. So we have indeed met. If you continue to be obnoxious then this will be a easier project. 
.
MESSAGES: To Remus Sanders (Presentation)
Tuesday, 16:22
Why did you ask that question?
 Remus Prince: I asked my brother that question and he answered earth
Remus Prince: I’ve had trust issues ever since
Roman’s favourite planet is Earth? 
 Remus Prince: HAH
Remus Prince: ye he’s an idiot
Remus Prince: I’ve gotta test everyone now.
Remus Prince: You passed btw
Remus Prince: WAIT!
Remus Prince: Do u know Ro?
Yes, he is my friend and roommate. 
Remus Prince: What was ur name again????????
You can literally scroll up and reread it. I refuse. You got into university for a reason and so you can manage my name.
Remus Prince: jk
Okay then. Do you want to discuss how we should go about creating this powerpoint?
Remus Prince: what’s there to ‘discuss’?
We can separately conduct our research however it is regrettably better to meet up in person to practise not only giving the presentation but also the construction of the presentation itself.
Remus Prince: man you just love sending essays huh
I have written out longer messages. I don’t understand the point of sending a sentence at a time and risk getting interrupted. Plus at least my texting doesn’t seem all like an assault of constant notifications. 
Remus Prince: fair
Shall we say that we should aim to get our presentation research finished by two weeks (15th). That leaves us another two weeks to construct the powerpoint, gather more research if necessary, then practise presenting. 
Remus Prince: k
GROUPCHAT: Goths, Emos, and Remus
Tuesday, 16:26
Octopussy: can I vent for a sec
Octopussy: So! I’m just sitting here. Y’know. Vibing. 
Octopussy: Then out of nowhere the nerd from my class starts messaging me about the group project that’s due a month away
Octopussy: like wtf
Octopussy: nice to know the nerd thing isn’t just appearance
Vigilant: help
Octopussy: he made a big deal about meeting up as well to do this!
Octopussy: No one in the class even cares!
Octopussy: No one is even remotely
Octopussy: Not even close
Octopussy: To thinking about that project right now!
Octopussy: We’ve got ages!
Vigilant: oh sweet jesus
Octopussy: Like! We’ve got a month!
Octopussy: AN ENTIRE MONTH
Octopussy: Like he also wants to meet up as well to practise
Octopus: Like ew.
Top-Hat-Gay: Are you done?
Octopussy: ye
Octopussy: he’s a dick
Vigilant: oh thank god
Top-Hat-Gay: Ha, as if you believe in god.
Vigilant: If it stops Re from not spamming us then I’ll believe whatever. 
Octopussy: rude
Vigilant: bitch
Top-Hat-Gay: On an actually important note, which one of you last used my nail bag?
Octopussy: me!
Octopussy: you need more green 
Top-Hat-Gay: No I fucking don’t!
Top-Hat-Gay: There was an entirely new bottle in there!
Octopussy: I said what I said.
Top-Hat-Gay: I hate you. 
Octopussy: Thank bby
Octopussy: ALSO!
Octopussy: I found out the nerd also lives with Ro.
Top-Hat-Gay: So?
Vigilant: hE’S FORBIDDEN
Top-Hat-Gay: Wait so the nerd is Logan?
Octopussy: He is!
Octopussy: not that it seems to be having any effect on Ro. he’s as dense as a brick.
Top-Hat-Gay: I saw him today going into Remy’s. 
Vigilant: Why are we even talking about him
Vigilant: Like who gives a shit.
Octopussy: dunno
Octopussy: just thought it was weird
Top-Hat-Gay: Maybe you should switch partners. Especially if he wants to meet up at some point.
Octopussy: nah
Octopussy: not worth it
Top-Hat-Gay: A teacher wouldn’t care. They only want to see good grades. They won’t mind moving stuff around for you.
Octopussy: He seems harmless. 
Vigilant: you literally called him a dick after one conversation.
Octopussy: he is a dick
Octopussy: he seems stuffy but just a nerd through and through. He’s not going to be a prick or anything.
Vigilant: This isn’t really about him. He already got you talking about you know who in your first ever conversation. Maybe you shouldn’t hang around him.
Octopussy: I just thought it was interesting
Octopussy: It doesn’t mean jack shit
Octopussy: Not everything I talk about has some grand meaning.
Octopussy: I just thought it was weird that this nerd I share my classes with also lives with my bro. 
Top-Hat-Gay: And that’s perfectly fine Re.
Octopussy: soz V
Octopussy: didn’t mean to blow up in your face
Octopussy: just annoying to feel psycho-analysed 
Vigilant: soz
Octopussy: okay! 
Octopussy: that’s proof enough!
Octopussy: we can behave to each other so ice cream plz!!!!!!!!!!!
Top-Hat-Gay: JESUS CHRIST I SAID THAT AS A JOKE LAST YEAR
Octopussy: I will eat V’s posters unless you give us reward good boy icecream
Vigilant: chocolate pls
Top-Hat-Gay: jesus do you lot know how long it takes for me to put on my cape to go shopping
Vigilant: yes
Vigilant: we are precisely aware of exactly how long it takes
Vigilant: that’s why we don’t go shopping with you
GROUPCHAT: THE FAM ILY
Tuesday, 16:38
Pat-on-the-back: Heya guys, are we all in for dinner tonight?
Logan.S: I am.
YourHopesandDreams: I will be in at 7. If you could be so compassionate to push your meal back until then, I would be truly indebted to you.
Pat-on-the-back:  Fine by me!
Logan.S: I am agreeable.
Pat-on-the-back: Also Lo! Are you finished with your work?
Logan.S: I have finished my to-do list so I am available if I’m needed. 
Pat-on-the-back: No, you’re all good! I just wanted to check. It sounded like you were doing work for like four hours straight.
Logan.S: It took three hours thank you very much. 
Logan.S: So what are we doing for dinner?
Pat-on-the-back: I was thinking lasagne! 
Pat-on-the-back: also! Don’t think I’ll notice that change in topic!
Pat-on-the-back: I thought we all agreed on two hour stretches of work with a 15 min break at least. I mean... it’s even written on our calendar! There’s no way you forgot, did you Mister! 
Logan.S: It’s fine Pat.
Logan.S: Just let it go
Logan.S: I needed to get it done
Logan.S: I don’t need to be babied. 
Logan.S: I’m taking a break now. I’m okay.
Pat-on-the-back: I know, I’m sorry. I just want to make sure. As long as you feel okay then everything’s alright! How was your work anyway?
Logan.S: Fairly ordinary actually. I had to go through some of my notes and rewrite a couple of pages then I had to organise a group project due the 2nd of March. 
Pat-on-the-back: Sounds productive!
Logan.S: Thank you.
YourHopesandDreams: Ew. Group project. Who’s your partner?
Logan.S: We are in entirely different courses, why do you think you would know them?
YourHopesandDreams: Everyone knows the drama students know everyone. 
Logan.S: I’m working with Remus.
YourHopesandDreams: You should ask to swap partners. 
Logan.S: I won’t do so unless I have a genuine reason. I’ve not had any interactions with him previously and while he did seem half-hearted and obnoxious in his messages, he seems harmless. If he messes everything around then I will but I won’t make a fuss unless I have reason to.
Pat-on-the-back: That’s fair but please make sure to tell us if he pulls anything.
YourHopesandDreams: Your loss. 
.
MESSAGES: To Nerd
Wednesday, 3:02
hey u awake
Nerd: What on earth are you doing up at 3am? 
Oh
Soz
Wrong number.
MESSAGES: To Nerd
Wednesday, 3:12
Nerd: What is your favourite planet?
wha
Nerd: I figured it would be fair to ask your test to you. For all I know you could be as uncultured as your brother.
can we not talk about him
I dunno really
I wanna say pluto because they deserve it
but I kinda like saturn best.
Nerd: Any reason why?
Just kinda interesting
Big, lots a moons, ring. 
It’s just a cool planet. 
Nerd: Fair enough.
Do you have a reason to like jupiter?
Nerd: If I’m being honest, my science teacher absolutely adored Jupiter. I don’t know why but that memory of him ranting about how cool it was just really stuck with me. I was only about 8 years old. But I found myself agreeing with him. Back then my fascination was a lot more childish. I thought it was fascinating that since Jupiter was a gas planet it hadn’t been blown away yet. I grew up from that view but the interest never left.
ew that was almost cute.
Nerd: I concur that was very unprofessional.
WAIT
WAIT
HOLD ON
Why hasn’t Jupiter blown away!?!?!?!?!??
Nerd: Excuse me?
8YR OLD YOU IS A GENUIS 
Nerd: There’s no atmosphere in space!
But there’s pressure and junk isn’t there? 
Nerd: The pressure is pulling the mass into the centre which keeps the planet whole.
Do you think we could step on Jupiter?
Nerd: I don’t know.
I thought you knew space!
Nerd: I do biology! To get into a biology degree, I did a bunch of biology based subjects! Why would I know anything about space?
I dunno.
I guess if you look like a nerd people just presume.
Nerd: I’ve personally found it’s the confidence. If you act confident enough then everyone presumes you know exactly what you’re doing and you’re in control, no matter how out of place you look. 
I’ll drink to that!
Wait, in what situation would you have learnt this!?!
Nerd: I have a bad habit of accidentally going to the wrong class and just going along with it rather than anything else. Although I should say I did fantastic in that architectural history class. But this habit has caused some awkward situations. I have also impersonated a store manager to explain why me and my friend were there when really he ran into the warehouse searching for a kitten. 
HAH
That’s brilliant
Using your nerdy powers to overthrow society.
Does this mean you’re a liar?
Nerd: I call it ‘managing life’. 
HAH
Sounds about right.
Why are you awake at this time?
Nerd: I could ask you that.
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sunnywritesstuff34 · 3 years
Text
Illusions
(Yayyyy. Another one. It’s been a while, sorry. just wanna preface this by saying that like... I usually don’t really give a shit about Obito, but I figured this was a natural progression of the story and I kinda wanted to try and dive into Obito’s psyche a little so. here we go. tell me what you think. @ghostjellyfishheart here’s the next chapter lol. pls mind the tw’s)
TW and CW for: MAJOR UNREALITY, seriously stay safe, Obito is kinda spiraling a lot, grieving, struggling with morality, drinking, alcohol, less then stellar coping mechanisms of all kinds, don’t do this kids, child death, ghost child, dead kid, you don’t like... see her die but Rin is very much not alive, references to suicide, implied suicide, the uchiha massacre is its own warning, murder, its bad. its just. its just bad. did I mention unreality? a lot of that, death of a family member, obito is having a hard time with feelings, probably dis@ssociation, pretentious symbolism, scratch that, definitely dis@ssociation
Obito Uchiha is upset. 
And that is, frankly, ridiculous. Obito does not get upset. What does upset even mean? Is he sad? Mourning, perhaps? Or is he just worried? Either way, its borderline impossible. He shouldn’t be feeling anything. Obito doesn’t feel anything. Sure, he plays at it, when he’s Tobi. He feigns and pretends, he’s good at that. That is what he is, that is all he is. To Itachi, he is Madara. To Konan and Nagito, he is Obito. To everyone else, he is Tobi. Obito has taken on mask after mask after mask on in his life, both figuratively and literally. Sometimes he doesn't know where Obito ends and another begins. Obito does not feel anything, not for anyone that isn't Rin. Never for anyone that isn't Rin, and he left her behind a long time ago. And yet this boy, this child, has him reeling somehow. Has him… well, like before, the only word he can use is upset. He is rattled. And it has been so long, so long since he’s felt anything at all, that he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to fix it. He kept seeing Sasuke in his head, kept remembering memories from years ago when he thought about the kid being gone forever. He remembered the first few years Itachi brought Sasuke to the compound, he remembered spontaneously discovering his obsession with tomatoes by accident with Kisame (who would not stop laughing. He had just never seen anybody. Put an entire tomato in their mouth. And Sasuke did it like it was the most natural thing in the world! Kisame wouldn't shut up about it for at least a week). He remembered helping the boy train with his newly forged chokuto, he remembered the grim determination towards his family and how much it reminded Obito of himself, he remembered all of it. And none of that should have mattered, because it wasn't real. None of it was real, the next world would be. The next world with Rin and Kakashi and Minato-sensei still alive, a world without… without Sasuke. Or any of the other Akatsuki. And that was what he wanted. He was sure that was what he wanted. Only in his room could he show the weakness tightly coiled in his stomach. But there was a knock on his door and it made him straighten up, instantly putting the mask that he just took off back on his face. He walked to the door and opened it, only to find the older Uchiha brother staring back at him. Obito blinked. 
“Itachi-san. What are you… what are you doing here? I- uh… come in.” Obito and Itachi sat down at the small table in Obito’s room and stared at each other awkwardly. “So… how can I help you?” Obito tried to ask, unsure of whether to say it like Tobi or just let his guard down and talk like himself (whoever that was). Itachi cleared his throat. 
“You are the only person in this godforsaken place that has sake that's worth a damn,” Itachi explained calmly. He looked away. “It has… been a long week.” Obito could tell the truth in that statement just from his cousin’s voice. Itachi sounded exhausted, and the perpetual mask of indifference had begun to slip when his little brother went missing. The two of them looked at each other and came to an understanding. For the next few minutes, there was no talking. Obito grabbed some glasses and poured his strongest sake out for the both of them, and they drank in silence. They only actually picked up a conversation once they were both drunk enough for the awkwardness to melt away. 
“He’s likely not dead,” Obito commented bluntly. Itachi only sighed. 
“If he is, I have no idea what I'd do,” Itachi grumbled casually, like it was an ordinary thing to say. “Certainly wouldn't stick around here. Probably follow in Shisui’s footsteps.” Obito only nodded, knowing better than to pry on that particular bit of insight into Itachi’s life. They were silent for a few more minutes before Obito spoke again. 
“The massacre,” Obito started. “I was long gone by the time it happened. What… are you and Sasuke really the only survivors as the rumors say?” Itachi nodded, throwing back another glass. Obito thought about that bitterly, about his grandmother who wouldn't have been spared. Itachi sighed. 
“Right. I've never really talked about this with anyone, and Sasuke and I don't speak about it much. You know how sharingan awakening works, yes?” Obito nodded, mind involuntarily flashing to his own experience. 
“Well I made some genuine friends on my genin team. It was the first time I ever had any friends.” Obito closed his eyes and took another sip. Friends, sharingan awakening. Being crushed under a boulder with your crying teammates looming over you. Thinking, no, don't cry, it doesn't hurt. It really doesn't hurt. I can't feel anything, please don't cry. Watching a particular white haired individual (a traitor, that traitor) desperately try to save you. Losing a part of yourself, a part of yourself you didn't even know you had, and giving it to someone else. Forever living with that, knowing that your other eye is somewhere, because you can still feel it, but not knowing much else. The aching absence that grows from that. He opened his eyes again. “I watched them die, right in front of my eyes. That awakened my Sharingan, and when I went home, my father congratulated me. He congratulated me. It was a nightmare and he was proud. I don't know, that always stuck with me. But anyway,” Itachi paused to drink more sake as the room spun. “Sasuke’s eyes woke during the massacre. I didn't get there in time. He watched our parents die, managed to hide in the closet and keep quiet the whole time so they didn't find him. I got there in time to stop them from killing him, and realized his sharingan had awakened because of everything. I wasn't able to save anyone, but I was able to save him, and that's all that matters.”
“I understand,” Obito replied evenly. “I know what it's like to be too late.”
Itachi’s eyes slid over to him. “Yeah well… whatever. The Uchiha had been planning a coup for a while. Danzo, he gave me a choice. Either kill everyone myself and have Sasuke be spared to live happily in the village. Or, to let them kill everyone, Sasuke included. I didn't… I refused either option and tried to get there but I was too late. They killed everyone in one night, a bunch of Anbu who were deployed for the massacre. Like I said, Sasuke managed to hide. I knew that Danzo would be after us, so I grabbed Sasuke and we got the hell out of dodge. He didn't speak for months afterwards. Not a single word, other than screaming during his nightmares. It was probably a little selfish, but I… I missed him. There was no more ‘Itachi, look at the score I got at the academy!’ or ‘Itachi look, look I learned a new move!’ There was just… nothing. He was so vacant. If he's dead- if he’s dead after everything we’ve been through, I don't- I have no idea what I'll do. We have to find him, and we have to kill the people who took him away from us. We have to.” I know, he wanted to shout. I know, I feel the same way, but I don't know why! Itachi left not long after that, stumbled back to his room, and Obito fell asleep in his armchair. That night he had a dream, a dream of Rin. it had been years since he dreamed of her, usually they were memories and bits and pieces, but this was different. He opened his eyes in his dream to a dark plane filled with ink, darkness stretching in every direction. It was a frequent setting he found himself in, usually the dream would be about him sinking into the oily substance until he couldn't breath. But this time it was low enough to wade in, his feet touching the ground, whatever that was. In the middle of the expanse, there was a bone white skeleton of some creature he didn't recognize, and Rin. He staggered towards her, and she hugged him without a word. In dreams like this he was always covered in blood, the Obito from years past. But now he was just him, and he was maskless.
“Just what have you gotten yourself into now, Obito?” she asked, and it sounded just like her. It wasn't her, he was fairly sure of that, he was dreaming for god’s sake, but it sounded like her. It seemed like her, and that was enough. “It's okay to be worried about the kid,” she said, running fingers through his hair while he tried to calm his breathing. 
“It's not real,” he managed hoarsely. “None of it. Nothing in this world is real, I shouldn't feel anything. So why… Why do I…”
“Does it matter if it's real?” she asked. “It feels real. Maybe it is, Obito.”
“Obito is dead,” he whispered. “At least the one you knew- Obito doesn't exist anymore.” Rin only shook her head, looking past him at nothing at all and smiling sadly.
“I don't believe you,” she said evenly. “You're still Obito. No matter how many names you take or how many masks you wear, I know who you are. And I think you do too.”
“It's not real,” he tried again, weakly. 
“If it's not real, then why do you help Konan with the dishes? If it's not real, then why do you want to save Itachi’s brother so badly? Why do you make plans for Nagato’s dream in the supposed next world when you don't have to? Why do you stick around Deidara to make sure he doesn't get killed? Why do you help Sasori with his puppets? Why, Obito?”
“I can't be Obito,” he muttered quietly. “He’s dead. He died with you.”
“He is right here. He is sitting here with me. You're still you. You'll always be you.”
“B-But…. But Madara-”
“Madara is dead,” she said with finality, shaking her head. “Madara is a dead man now. You are the only thing that can bring him back, and you have a choice.”
“I've never had a choice.”
“You do now. Madara isn't here.”
“This is all just an illusion.” She smiled sadly. 
“I'm an illusion, Obito. Your world is not.”
His dream didn't fade out from there. One second he was sitting in a dark dreamscape with his dead friend, and the next he was in the Akatsuki lair, laying in an armchair, sitting up and gasping for breath. His back hurt and his neck was aching from the weird position he dozed off in, and Obito could already feel the nausea of an inevitable hangover coming on. Still, he sat up properly, stretching his neck and running a hand through his short hair. Itachi was probably passed out in his room or throwing up already, and Obito had a hunch that he’d be feeling the same way pretty soon. He looked down at the floor and forced his eyes to focus. He didn't have time for a drunken hallucination within a drunken hallucination. But when he turned his head, he felt himself recoil and raise his hands to his face. The orange plastic from the ground winked back at him. Obito had taken his mask off. And now it was cracked. 
21 notes · View notes
ku-ro-kai · 3 years
Text
Lust at first bite
Tumblr media
This was inspired by Trevor and sypha from the series Castlevania- personality wise so on
This is a one-shot★
Warning;fluff and angst,sexual tension, blood drinking, heat mentioned,missionary, squirting, praise kink, manipulation,aphrodisiacs, blood, multiple orgasm
He's been sneaking and stealing looks for too long, he's grown tired of it despite his small attempts at gifts he's been getting the nyphms to deliver or trying dispatch a plan in starting a conversation with you without being killed.
To his castle before the huntresses and witches hunt him down, touya was from a Royal bloodline of vampires. He's been going out every sunset in looks for his favorite huntress
She wasn’t like the other huntress’s in his eyes.
He had come to her in the middle of the night,he was looking for fresh virgin blood,he found you out on a night stroll.
He recognized you from flyers that he would come across when wondering in abandoned villages. He came to the conclusion you weren’t no ordinary boring huntress.
You were different,unique is what he would say, your family tree was dangerous to other creatures,coming from witches and huntsman.
(A month ago)
His father warned him about your family,beware of them, don’t never go by the (L/N) markings in the woods,every creature thought your family tree was killed off.
You were out getting fresh air,you couldn’t stand being in rooms with other huntresses and huntsmen, they envied your family,despite their hate for you,there was no escaping the headmasters.your family payed their debt years ago,why were they still inviting you to these silly meetings.
You heard a low groan from behind you,a annoyed sigh left your lips”At this time,show your face”.
Dabi thought you were some stuck up whore at first, “what if I don’t want too?”Gonna skin me and turn me into boots”
You turned around to face the unknown man ,he looked like a victim of fire,ebony hair that was spiked from front to back, blue eyes that sparkled like the ocean on a full moon,he was dressed down to toe in leather ,only a upside cross hanging from his neck,fingers covered in all different metallic silver rings, ones with diamonds,rubies and sapphires.
“Who exactly are you and how’d you get passed the barrier ?”
“You’re barrier is a piece of shit ,sorry darling I just don’t state my name to any stranger."
"It's like that with you vampires? Stuck up"
"Feisty, you huntsman look down on the rest of the world and expect everyone to get on their knees and praise you"
"You monsters have curses put on y'all,so you take your anger out on the huntresses and huntsman,since we hunt you down"
Dabi rubbed his chin, you weren't wrong,if anything he would do anything to take this curse off and have a normal body.
"You're a very stubborn human"
"You're one to talk"
A small chuckle came out, dabi was a man of many lies but he couldn't lie that you weren't an interesting huntress, maybe his favorite out of the ones he met in his life.
"I'll spare your life this time darling but if we come across again, there will be no mercy"
You never met a vampire like him before, he's cocky and comes with too much pride, A total prick.
"Same to you, just keep in mind that sneaking up to your prey comes with being completely silent"
You two parted ways that night and now he hasn't been able to get you off his mind
(Present)
He took you're words to heart, the sunset were his time to go see you.
Quietly hiding in the shadows, you were always out taking a stroll, did you not receive a good capture?
The headmasters have been keeping you stored away from missions,you were completely drowned out from all the drinks you spent at the tavern,only thing in that god forsaken castle was old people and moldy fruits.
You could proceed with skinning this annoyance of a vampire and receiving money
“Do you have nothing to do besides stalk me “
Dabi never understood how you could figure out how he was there,he was the best when it came to sneaking in the shadows,or so he thought.
“Your always walking around this area,I figured I’ll stop by”.
“You’ll be foolish to think I’ll believe that lie”
“Look my name is touya todoroki,first son to the King vampire Enji todoroki but refer to me as dabi for now “
That name was catching like wildfire when you were younger,it was a story of a little vampire boy playing by himself in the mountains near a peasant village ,his father made him go up there if he couldn’t make a flame change it’s color to blue.The boy was too careless with the way he would shoot his fires into trees ,as in result,he struck a branch, that caught half the village on fire ending with getting stuck under a large burning oak tree.Some say he hunted the woods looking in revenge for his father,others say he was in search of better body.
“I’m (name),how long have you’ve been living on your own since the forest fire “
“ for 210 years, it took months for my body to get used to staples"
You had guilt in your eyes,he always saw this in his victim's face when he would suck them dry,the stares he got from their cold,decaying corpse. He loved that look
"Does it hurt?"
"What do you think" he snapped.
"Hey no need to get rude" you looked at the full moon, maybe this prick of a vampire could help you with a drink "dabi wanna go out for a drink"
He looked you dead in the eye "with you? No thanks, trying to finesse me out of my money, I knew you huntresses weren't always good out if the bunch"
"I guess we are both liars than, well I'll just take my leave, if you wanna suck my blood I'll be at the blue soul lake"
You walked away into the forest
"Why that specific area- it's hunted by witches"
"Not the big bad vampire being scared of witches"
"Who the hell said I was scared, if anything I'm just concerned why that cursed part of the forest"
"That cursed place is my home"
Blue soul lake was wretched area, swarming with witches and witchcraft. The only thing is that place is good for is the glowing lake that only shines on a full moon.
"My father told about that place, used to be ritual when witches would bring kids, kill them, sacrifice them to whatever God you nut jobs believed in and kept the skulls and eyes for gross potions. What do y'all do now, pretend to be gypsies"
You chuckled at him "no we don't do anything out of that kind, I just live there because I love the way the lake shines at night and because I grew up there"
Dabi didn't understand why you would just invite a vampire to your house as if it's the normal, he could care less,long as he can be near you, you made him feel whole again, maybe because he hasn't gotten a load off in awhile, where you good at massages?, he could make you queen, give you children and regain his body back with your weird passed down powers
He wasn't thinking right, make you queen? Breed you? Spend the rest of eternity with you? He surely wasn't in love with some thorn in the side huntress,that's below him.
"Dabi why do wear the rings and what's with the silly name"
He got embarrassed, hiding his face “it’s not silly “
"It’s a little silly"
He turned back facing you,you’re warm smile brought him comfort
“The rings are from my mother, she gave all my siblings rings”
“Ah you royals always have the easy life ahead”
“You could say that , I’ll probably still have my body back if it weren’t for my father”
“I guess the stories were right”
“I hate him , I can’t stand to even look myself in the mirror when I remember I used to look like him”
Awkward silence was there for a while
“I could've easily snapped your neck when we first met"
"Why didn't you do it"
"You intrigued me"
"Not me catching your interest -what now you want me to be your queen"
"If if weren't for your cocky mouth,you could be heir to the throne of my queen"
"you like me?!"
"I'll kill where you stand"
You covered your smile with your cape.
"you didn't say no"
Dabi turned away to hide his blushing, you were a silly little thing with the ability to have him head over heels in love with you. You were just food to him now he has to deal with red swallowing his face and this shaking feelings in his chest.
You two reached your home-it wasn't too bad, A little snags and there, he could probably fix it with a little magic, too his disappointment you didn't have nothing crazy going on- it's cozy and warm
He picks up a picture "nice place you got here darling-a little sad there isn't hearts in jars and a shit load of strange plants"
"Are all vampires like this? Assuming all witch descent are into witchcraft"
"Must be the huntsman genes"
Dabi put the picture in his suit pocket, he continued walking around your house coming across from a family tree of pictures
"Dabi what's it like living like a vampire?”
“It’s quite fun,scaring frisky young ones comes with the job,sucking blood all night long is the dream,don’t have to worry about dying since I can live for centuries also the garlic shit is a myth"
You carry a bottle of holy water out "how mad would you be if I sprayed this on you"
"Try me"
After running, what seemed about an hour, you came to a stop leaving you panting on top of the stairs"you sly bastard" your clothes were tattered and scattered all around your house
Dabi covered a burned mark of you splashing him in holy water " just wanted to mark you as mine and only mine, what do you say doll? Wanna come back and live with me"
Dabi show case devilish smile was vacant , now a show of hostile in his face
“What if I come across that corner and bite that neck of yours (name)”
His voice was calm but his demeanor was sinister.you could see red gleaming in his eyes
You saw a flash of black,now you ended up upstairs in the middle of the hallway on your back with vampire in the crook of your neck ,his keen fangs edging on your vital
"...your the devil touya"
He licked a long stripe on your neck, now placing kisses on your jaw "if I'm the devil you must be the devil's woman huh" he let out a raspy chuckle, he lifted your thighs up" your something else you know that (name),Do you get off to me to trying to kill you " he moved to the side staring at the wet mark on your neck.
He licked a long stripe on your neck, now placing kisses on your jaw "if I'm the devil you must be the devil's woman huh" he let out a raspy chuckle, he lifted your thighs up" your something else you know that (name),Do you get off to me to trying to kill you " he moved to the side staring at the wet mark on your neck.
"Dabi why is it so hot" you tried to push him off you but he wouldn't budge
"Don't worry doll, the aphrodisiacs are doing that" dabi ran his hands around your waist"those huntsman have treated you so badly, don't you wanna get revenge"
"Yes... But"
Your body was burning in the inside, how did he get his hands on aphrodisiacs? Did he sneak something on his tongue
"Dabi-please" at this point you were begging to have some sort intimacy
He took your face in his hand "but what? Together we can be unstoppable, a powerful couple, rule over kingdoms although You would look better holding my children in that stomach of yours " he ripped your tattered clothes off with ease" all you gotta say is yes darling "
"Yes, fuck yes -please dabi"
His clothes were vacant, you felt something hard press against your outer lips, you begin grinding on to his cock
Your being such a needy bitch in heat" his length closing around your walls like a fitted glove,in such a slow manner ,now accompanied by him placing a hand on the bulge poking in your stomach”your such a good huntress doll, now your becoming my prize possession, mind to ravish every night and every day" he was half way in your pussy,groaning at how tight you are "for a pesky girl, your cunt is perfect".
Dabi got closer to the stained mark on your neck, placing hickes all over it. His thoughts were clouded with marking you as his,nobody can touch you with their filthy hands again .
He pressed his fingers against your throbbing clit, soft rubbing making you walls clench around his shaft.
He pulled out, letting out a deep grunt only to plunge himself with a hard thrust, his tip pushing against your womb.
You let out a groan feeling a sharp pain,his keen nails clawing at your waist, watching your blood pouring out on to floor. The pleasure mixed with the pain sending over the edge,he went a couple thrust before cumming releases a raspy moan,dabi took his fingers licking off your blood.
"You taste just as good too" you heard coming down from your high, dabi pulled out uncovering his seed soaking out, he put your legs over his shoulders "wait dabi" you felt his fangs graze your pearl "don't order me around (name)" you jolted when his two fingers went inside your sopping pussy
He pressed the flat of his tongue on your clit with his fingers working on sending you into another orgasm. The Flicking of his tongue and the curling on that gummy spot, sucking on your inner lips with a small pop.
You couldn't hold it, your juices spraying you and dabi face. "What a slut you are doll" he licked his lips watching you pass out from exhaustion
You woke up in room that didn't belong to you, dressed in a beautiful chemist,with a robe hanging off your shoulders .there was pain in the side of your neck, two swollen puncture holes. you had a aquamarine necklace and blood red ring in your hands,the sounds of the fire popping and cracking on the side of your chair. "dabi?" you called out,hearing steps coming into the room behind you.
"Yes doll" "where are we and what did you do to me" he went over to the fire place to throw in some more wood, a navy blue half buttoned down shirt with black tuxedo pants,he was holding a glass in his hand,the liquid in the cup was too murky to be wine "If I can recall you said yes to staying with me or were the drugs that powerful to have you say anything" you remember saying agreeing to staying with but that doesn't excuse the pain in your neck
"My neck?"
"I had to for the sake of you staying with me,if you continued remaining a human I would've"accidentally" took your blood"
"What about the huntress and huntsman looking for you!"
"I killed them, you were sleep for about a month, for the remaining time I put up warnings to stay away from the castle, would hate to have humans killing our children"
Thank you for reading💖, I will be taking a small break for a while after I post my headcannons
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eyrieofsynapses · 3 years
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so today I just watched the first episode of Almost Paradise! And I’ve gotta say, I am impressed. I already had it on my watchlist but I was planning to wait to watch it for a while until I could let Eliot fade a bit from memory, just so I wouldn’t automatically think of him while watching Kane. But I ran into an article this weekend about how it was filmed in the Philippines and the details of that, and my curiosity was piqued considerably more, so I figured... why not? 
(I also started White Collar this weekend and that was very enjoyable, but that’s a post for another day.) 
Anyway, my brain’s buzzing now, so have some first impressions and reactions, plus initial meta-analysis because I am intrigued. In hindsight I probably should have recorded first impressions while I was watching, but I’ll do my best to remember the bits that stuck out. Warning for... exceedingly long post.
ooo, okay, so he’s got a medical condition. I faaaaintly remember reading about this in the summary but I didn’t pay much attention to that, oops.
telling a guy played by Chris Kane not to get his heartrate up! that’s definitely gonna happen. definitely. one hundred percent. not like this guy loves fighting or anything
(also tbh the joke about, ah, sexual dysfunction admittedly left a sour taste in my mouth, because I do not go for that kind of thing, but... this is Devlin and Kane, so I’m trusting, based off Leverage experience, that they aren’t gonna be too inappropriate. [In hindsight there are actually interesting meta reasons for this so the sour taste has dissipated somewhat.])
this poor doctor. she’s so done with him. 
...he’s definitely not gonna pay attention to the monitor is he
that journal’s gonna get zero use oop
(I was duly impressed when he actually did use it later)
huh, liking how we immediately dive into the effect tourism has had on the Philippines. so we’re getting some commentary here too? I can deal with that
...wow. bad shop. eek
I’m sorry but I am loving the touch with the floorboards and such breaking beneath Alex. the look on his face is just perfect
and the monitor goes off! for tbh the last reason I expected it to first go off for, excellent 
MOTORCYLE? did they give him a motorcycle?!
awww no it’s the baddies who have the motorcycle :(
hmm this should be interesting. loving the look of this leader guy tho
--aaaand good asthetic guy is dead! with an ice pick! creepy and creative! 
bar. no way this could go wrong
internal battle! understandable that Alex wants out, buuuuuuut if he’s anything like I suspect he is--
--yup, picking a fight, with a damn pool cue--
--not picking a fight?
...picking a fight. by being friendly. *sigh*
yuuuuuuuup. that’s definitely good for your heart
badass fighting scene! with a pool cue, that’s a new one! love seeing Kane take ordinary objects and turn them into fighting tools
(ngl this had Eliot vibes. that said I am thrilled to see how damn good these fight scenes are and this is making me even more excited for Redemption)
aaaaaaaaaand oh fuck this was a police setup. which. I actually did not see coming, huh
ahahah they’re pissed! because he messed up their bust? or because he just saved their asses? 
...probably technically the former but I suspect the latter is also true
refusing to get Involved being foreshadowed by his indecision earlier! of course he’s going to get Involved anyway, only question is how
“hitter” I SEE YOU. I SEE YOU AND YOUR REFERENCES. I SEE YOU DEVLIN AND KANE
pfffffffffffFFFFFT the meditation, oh gods
that voice. oh Alex. 
I genuinely cannot tell if this is him actually trying or if this is him begrudgingly making an attempt because he has to
lacquering(?) the doors, which, hey, actually look pretty nice--this place is gonna look good when it’s done isn’t iii--
oh fuck Alex is being attacked
(this is definitely something to be concerned about. yes. totally. not like we haven’t already seen him take down a bunch of guys.)
with a garrot! this is definitely totally not how he’s gonna get Involved
oh my gods the detail with the paint. nothing says Competent like getting irritated at how the baddie interrupted your house restoration
hehehehe Involved
oooh, hmm, he thinks they sent the guy after him? what kind of corruption has Alex faced? I mean it’s not an unreasonable fear, but jeez, it sounds like this has happened to him before. doesn’t say much good about the DEA...
huh, this is a level of disturbed I haven’t seen from Kane before. which, granted, I have only seen him in Leverage, but I’ve never seen him pull this out before. the voice crack is an excellent touch
also, worth noting, Alex is definitely a notable level of... hmm, paranoid? this is just a tad bit frantic, though that’s understandable from a guy who almost got killed while in the middle of an attempted meditation
oh god being cocky in the middle of a briefing. poor Kai 
--being cocky and competence porn! of course he takes the watch and turns it into a lesson
...he must be a hell of a teacher
(also, bonus points for actually using the journal. maybe he’s taking this health thing more seriously than I thought he would?)
may I repeat: COMPETENCE PORN
uh-huh, you’re so not involved, definitely, Alex, not like you’re gonna get pulled straight into this or anything
Ernesto is just watching to see how things play out, Kai is... trying to do things the right way, and Alex...
...Alex gives precisely zero fucks. buddy you are so not subtle
right, walking straight into the lion’s den! radiating confidence! terrifying
this is a disturbing level of truth he’s sharing for this lie. I mean, best lies are crafted from truth, but... jeez
hm. so is Alex also a “I don’t like guns” type guy? 
(probably not for the same reasons as Eliot doesn’t [his is definitely more in the “they make it too easy to kill” department whereas I would guess Alex has either more tactical or PTSD reasons], but, hmm. this is something to watch for)
(did they know they were bringing back Leverage when they set up Almost Paradise? I’m genuinely wondering if they didn’t write some Eliot traits into Alex specifically bc they knew Kane missed playing him)
this is a fantastically confident level of grifting--what exactly did he do in the DEA, precisely?
...ah. cool asthetic guy. stuffed in the freezer. gotta admit, I definitely didn’t see that one coming. creepy! 
(and it looks like you actually managed to shake Alex a little, hah)
aaaaaand in the meantime we have Kai following his advice! in an... interesting way. hm. 
(surprisingly this does not annoy me that much in hindsight. not sure why)
and understandably, this does not go over well! except, oh, fuck, DEA guy. this ain’t gonna be good
...worse. worse than I thought. what happened to you, Alex? former partner? whaaat
“attacks”? 
this gonna be the typical “traumatized white dude has Anger Attacks” type thing? 
honestly I immediately went “probably not” given how it was handled in Leverage. wasn’t sure though. but that does leave the question of what sort of attacks? it doesn’t seem like it’d be meltdowns, so what does that leave? 
hmmm. DEA guy is an Ass. we Do Not Like him. I’ve known Alex for less than half an hour but you do not do that to him. you do not use trauma against your guy, Jerkface. 
cutting a deal? this should be interesting
...well shit. I. am sincerely hoping Kai isn’t about to walk in on anything too bad
this definitely isn’t gonna be a fight though, that I called right off the bat
--bottles. dammit
oh, Christ. attempted OD or just drunk?
just drunk! good! well, very Not Good, but better than the other thing
pffffft dunking him in the water and then him going straight back to the water when he sees her, that is both absolutely hilarious and deeply concerning
aaand I’m agreeing with Kai but also, poor guy just got confronted with a hell of a lot of things that would raise his trau--
...mm. yeah. that’d be it. 
...I. was. not expecting that much backstory info straight off. holy cow, Alex. that is. messed up. someone get this man a hug
“one of the guys that cared too much”
(...like you?)
(or is that why you won’t let yourself care now?)
fuck, there was a lot more to that boat scene than I thought. ow
partner who betrayed him like that? I’m just. gods. 
Trust Issues is definitely gonna be a Thing isn’t it
can we just take a second to appreciate how Christian Kane is playing the absolute hell out of this character
aaaand Kai brings him back to the city for a Heartwarming Reminder of why he was in the game! this is very tropey but it is, as John Rogers has pointed out, an instance of the “well-worn writing tool” rather than feeling cheesy! 
holy crap Kai has lost. a lot of people. oh man
ahahahaha classic “why did you bring me here?” line! you know why, Alex. you know why
oh, and Ernesto gets a chance to help him out! I’m already enjoying this so much
awww and Kai shows up to help encourage him! with coffee! supportive friend and very obvious but honestly okay love interest! good!!!
(what the heck is with Devlin and his crew and sticking Kane with two besties? based on Ernesto’s dynamic with him I’m guessing this isn’t gonna be an OT3 but. I am loving the trend)
“I’m gonna regret this in the morning” pfft
huh, working with the DEA agents. not like he’s gonna go off script or anything. that’s totally not gonna happen is it
hehe irritated look while they’re putting on the mic. he is so very unimpressed
--”little episodes”--episodes? 
moment of appreciation for the un-forced-feeling diversity in these police squads
“how’s the anxiety?” I’m sorry what
hold up, when we say “episodes”--are we talking panic attacks? does Alex have actual goddamn anxiety? 
...actually with PTSD? that would make complete sense. I am... intrigued. I am really hoping that that’s the case, actually, because having seen how well they handled Parker and her PTSD in Leverage (as well as Nate’s and Eliot’s) I have a lot of faith that they could pull that off really well, actually. That would be good. 
ppFFFT TAKING OFF THE WIRES RIGHT OFF THE BAT
wait what. you’re telling them everything? what’s your game here? 
“get that frikkin gun outta my face!” yup, not a fan of guns! no disarming though? huh
(also can we just. appreciate how Kane manages to make “frikkin” sound just as much like the cuss it’s replacing?)
(LET ALEX SAY FUCK)
oh. OH
hi Ernesto! hi Kai! I see what y’all doing
ohhhhhhhhhh Alex you goddamn genius. Getting rid of all of the drugs so there’s no way the precise thing he was claiming to be doing can happen. I like this
THE MEDITATION COMING ON ON THE RECORDING I CAN’T--OH MY GODS
Alex please tell me you know how to disarm a gun. please. guns are not effective at that distance
OH. OH I DID NOT SEE KAI COMING. 
got ‘em! murder confession, how did I not see that coming? good stuff
Kai can fight! 
KAI CAN FUCKING FIGHT WOW
I am very much appreciating Kai right now
also is that a FLYING KICK from Ernesto?
they better give these people more fight scenes
aaaaand straight into the water, oh god. I’m assuming this was a choice made because Alex is familiar with this territory? ...I do not think I want to know where Alex learned to fight underwater.
(I really really really want to know.) 
how the fuck has your monitor not gone off by now Alex
choking him out underwater, okay, wow 
what size are your lungs? this is long
extra kudos for excellent underwater filming and wow I am hoping the actors actually came up for air
(this is also unreasonably beautiful for a scene where you’re choking out a drug lord. the water is so pretty)
Evil DEA guy (no I am not going to learn his name, he doesn’t deserve it) is gonna be Alex’s Agent Sterling, isn’t he? this should be interesting
heh, police chief is taking his side! good stuff, good stuff
(it is very nice to see Alex getting some people in his corner after knowing what hell the DEA put him through)
Alex has fallen so damn hard for Kai. this is very very adorable actually
awww he’s really getting into fixing up the shop, isn’t he? I’m sincerely looking forward to seeing how he gets this up and going, it really looks like he’s enjoying himself
somehow I am starting to wonder if the cocky “oh yeah I’m opening up a gift shop how exciting huh” thing at the start wasn’t... actually genuine. he... is enjoying this, isn’t he? good. very good
I am unreasonably invested in this man’s wellbeing for one episode in
!!!!!!!!! HE GETS HIS PARADE
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
giving him his reason to keep going! yes! yessss
oh Alex you are attached now. you are very attached. good luck my dude and don’t let the trust issues get in the way
this is a good show. this is a heckin awesome show. 
also, side note, it is SO PRETTY
I am just loving loving loving all of the scenery. competence porn AND landscape and city porn. beautiful. perfection. excellent
...that was. much longer than I anticipated oops 
anyway, conclusion: hot damn this is a fun show! I am very excited to keep watching this. Alex officially has my heart, even if he’s a bit of a cocky bastard sometimes. Kane is fucking hilarious. (More reasons to be excited for Redemption!) Kai and Ernesto also have my heart, and I am extremely interested to see their character development. 
Honestly, the beauty is surprising. I didn’t expect to just enjoy how pretty it is. The blues of the ocean, the intense tropical colors, even the run-down gift shop--there’s such a gorgeous aesthetic to it all. If I wasn’t already invested in the characters and plot, I’d be invested for that alone. 
So... I have some thoughts on Alex and the show structure.
He’s obviously very disillusioned. There’s a lot of nods to the idea of war--he’s commonly referring to himself as a soldier, as a veteran, maybe as a casualty. I’m gonna take a totally wild guess here and say this show is going to be focused on the drug issues in the Philippines. (Wow, Synapse, how the heck’d you guess that?) I do find describing the war on drugs as a war, and going into the terminology that comes with it, very appropriate, and I like how this show is actively calling this to attention rather than using it as a convenient plot. They’re actually addressing the issue and discussing its impact. And given how overlooked certain aspects of the impact of the drug war on the Philippines is, this is a good choice, especially in order to alert American viewers to the issue. I’m curious to see how they handle that.
Again, interesting drawing parallels to war, too, and comparing it against the likes of WWI and Vietnam. It really gives that sense of weight to the issue and defines a vital aspect of it: the impact of the war on drugs on the people involved. It emphasizes that the people who are fighting it suffer consequences and PTSD just as a soldier in the field does, and it also emphasizes, with Kai, that it isn’t just the people actively fighting who bear the consequences. It’s also the people on the sidelines--it’s the families, the people on the streets by the gunfights, the economical impact, etcetera. 
But there’s also an element to Alex’s character that automatically makes him relatable to a lot of people... and it has nothing to do with the PTSD, nothing to do with the war on drugs, nothing really to do with the main issues. It is, simply, the intense hopelessness and depression that comes with trying to make a difference. In his case it’s making a difference on a severe worldwide issue. But the vast majority, if not all, of Almost Paradise’s audience should be able to relate to a feeling of never doing enough. And there’s certainly a large section of that group who can relate to being part of a fight that never seems to end. Doesn’t matter what you’re doing--if it’s driven at helping, it rarely ever feels like you ever do enough. But the advice given is excellent. One of the best things to do, when you’re feeling hopeless over this, is to focus on and take deep joy in the impact you do make. 
Alex is an expression of a frustration that a lot of people deal with. This, I think, is one of the reasons why he instantly drew me--and presumably the rest of the audience--in (outside of a fantastic actor and great humor). He’s relatable. He’s something that most people can see a part of themselves in. 
Anyway, symbolism and real-world talk aside, this is just... fun. It’s genuine fun. We’re covering rough issues, but there’s a lot of well-written tropes in here too that are written in that way that makes them enjoyable to relive rather than painful. The humor is delightful and plentiful. There’s a lot of beautiful feel-good moments. I’m suspecting this’ll be a comfort show, and I am perfectly all right with that. 
Onto the next episode!
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lov3nerdstuff · 4 years
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Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 4.8}
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*Severus Snape x OC*
Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.
General warnings: professor x student, blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing
Words: 4.6k
Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!
______________________________
It was the middle of April when Robin finished the very last of Snape's book collection. The day she returned the very last book to him was both a sad and an exciting one, for Robin wasn't entirely sure what he would give her to do next. To her disappointment, he merely remarked that she had read everything he could give her at the present time, and then continued with his work as if it was nothing special. Maybe it wasn't… but somehow Robin had hoped for a little praise at least, if not a prospect of what to do next. Thus she stuck to doing class assignments and readings for a while (she managed half a week, which was already more than anticipated), until at last she just couldn't handle the lack of private studies anymore.
She had already finished most of the library books about potions, herbology, and magical creatures, which is why she decided to find a new topic to read up on rather than trying to find more books on the topics she already had studied profoundly. Thus she started reading all the books about the dark arts the library had to offer, but more out of interest in the mysteries that hid behind the generic title than out of preference for the correlating class. And really, it was a weirdly broad topic. Everything that wasn't allowed or was dangerous to use fell into this category, but more often than not Robin wondered why exactly something was considered 'forbidden' or at least unappreciated to use. Sure, most of the things described in her newest reads were potentially harmful for someone involved, but honestly, so were kitchen knives, or golf clubs, or cars. And nobody bothered forbidding them either.
That's the only revelation she's had by the time exams rolled around, and the exact point where she found herself stuck at now as she sat in the potions classroom like always, on a Friday evening in the second week of June. Not even a week before she would have to go back to her parents' house for the summer.
"Do you have a minute?" Robin asked as she looked over at Snape to her right with an inquiring expression. Some time in March she had started sitting at the side table next to his desk rather than at her usual seat in the students' rows when she came here for coffee and work at night. Admittedly, she'd occasionally been sitting there way before March already, whenever students were in the classroom for detention, but somehow after one particularly detention-heavy week in March, she hadn't bothered going back to her original seat, and he hadn't bothered asking her to. That's how she came to sit at the table next to his desk permanently now, in the evenings at least.
"Of course. I wanted to talk to you about a certain issue anyway, but feel free to start." He replied and closed the book he'd been reading for the last hour to meet Robin's gaze.
"You probably noticed that I've been reading up on the whole 'dark arts' thing over the last weeks, except for the week studying for my exams that is, and well… I just don't understand why there is such a thing as dark arts in the first place." Robin shrugged and closed her own book as well. "It's just more spells that happen to be a tad more dangerous than others. But the danger is just a potential, isn't it? I mean… the magic isn't good or bad in itself, it's the person using it who determines that. And calling it 'dark magic' is kind of taking the responsibility of making this choice from the witch or wizard who makes it."
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"I mean…" She sighed and paused for a second to think of a good example. "Take a kitchen knife, for example. It's just a tool in itself, and only because some people use it to stab others doesn't make it inherently bad, nor do the people who use it to chop vegetables make it an inherently good thing. It has the potential to be both, and if one isn't aware of that, there always is a danger in its use."
"I agree."
"So why do we learn in school that there is good magic and bad magic? Why don't we learn to work with the responsibility of dealing with a neutral magic that leaves it entirely up to us how to use it?" That was the actual question Robin had been meaning to ask, but it had taken a while to find a way to phrase it.
"Because it is easier to keep people on a predetermined path if you map it out in front of them. Tell them what you think is good by giving them something that is bad in contrast, and the majority will let it guide them according to your very wish. That is how politics work, and as despicable as it is, the school is a political issue no matter what the headmaster says. Also, the dunderheads we teach couldn't deal with such a responsibility."
"That doesn't sound like an answer a professor would normally give." Robin smiled in amusement at his last comment.
"Your questions aren't something a student would normally ask." He returned with a shrug and an expression that made Robin chuckle.
"I guess you're right about that. And I do see your point. Thanks for the honest answer." She sighed and felt like he was probably right. What is taught and what isn't was all politics… and that meant it didn't always make sense. Huh, what a sad end for her private studies of the mysterious dark arts.
"Of course I'm honest with you, there would be no point in anything else."
"So… what issue did you want to talk about?" Robin inquired a few seconds later and tried not to showcase her curiosity all too much.
"There have been rumors for a while now…" He started, and Robin grew nervous immediately. Rumors were always bad, and somehow she always seemed to be entirely oblivious to them. Most of them at least.
"If it's that one that I failed transfiguration, that is entirely made up! I got an 'Exceeds Expectations' on this year's exam, and McGonagall was merely making a joke when she said she would give me a 'Dreadful' if I kept going over the maximum essay length!" Robin blurted out before Snape even had a chance to continue with what he meant to say.
"That is a rumor I have been entirely unaware of, but seeing as I know of your grades, it is also entirely irrelevant." He replied with a doubtful expression. "Is that the only rumor you have heard of?"
"Well, yeah…" Robin shrugged and looked down at her table as she bit her bottom lip. "Recently, yes." Maybe she shouldn't be so exclusively concerned about her own issues and actually start taking notice of the real world more often.
"There has been talk for a good two weeks about an unofficial end of term celebration. A party, hosted by a group of sixth years for the entire house and whoever is invited. Obviously the professors are not to know of this happening, but I like to pay attention to the ongoings within the student community. You don't happen to know anything more about the issue, do you?" His eyebrows rose in question, and for some reason Robin felt as if he seriously expected her to know what he was talking about.
A Slytherin party everyone was invited to… well, everyone except for Robin as it seemed. She didn't usually care about these things, but somehow it hurt a little nonetheless that absolutely nobody had bothered inviting her. Did her roommates know about this? Or were the first years generally excluded? She had absolutely no idea, she hadn't even heard of it at all. Hell, even Snape knew more about it than she did! A burning shame with a hollowing tail of pathetic sadness crept from the pit of her stomach up to her heart and wrapped it in a veil of unwanted shadows.
"I… didn't even know there was a party at all. This is the first time I hear about it." She finally managed to reply, but her voice was way too quiet for her own liking. Really, this shouldn't even be bothering her! "I would tell you if I knew anything about it, I promise. I'm sorry…"
For a moment, Snape actually looked fairly uncomfortable upon her words, and Robin wondered if she had said anything stupid yet again. But she had no idea what it could be, and therefore she simply looked down at her book in silence. She would like to help him, really… but there was little she could do now.
"Do you even speak to the people in your year at all?" He asked after a moment, honestly inquiring rather than scolding her.
"I do talk to Theresa usually…" Robin shrugged. "Only about class issues though. Some other people outside of my own house too. But the only students in Slytherins I talk to are Cas and Jorien, and while they're both extraordinarily bright and truly lovely girls, they're far from being familiars to me. Maybe they know more about the party than I do though. I could ask them, if you would like."
"There will be no need for that. I was hoping you knew about it, but otherwise I have no intention to intervene."
"You don't?" Robin looked up with a frown. "But aren't they breaking a bunch of rules?"
"I would assume so. However as long as they stay within the castle and do not wander… I usually ignore occurrences like this."
"Why?"
"Because there isn't even half a week of term left, and I would rather spend that in peace and quiet than with fifty students in detention. As long as they do not cause or suffer any harm, I let them proceed and get it over with."
"Then why did you ask me about it in the first place?"
"I was wondering what kept you from attending, seeing as you still were here and not on your way. And I was curious about the specifics of the event, which I unfortunately have not had the luck to overhear."
"Even if I had known about this stupid party, I probably wouldn't have gone anyway." Robin shrugged with a badly feigned indifference. "I'm no fan of those events, nor would I have been appreciated there as it seems."
"Then why does it upset you that you were previously unaware of it?"
"I'm not upset." Robin shot right back, but upon his 'who are you kidding' expression, she rolled her eyes and gave a truthful response. "I mean… yes, I'm inattentive to these things sometimes, as I don't particularly care about the students' world, but if even the professors know about this stupid party… I just can't imagine that I merely missed the talk about it, which obviously has been going on if you could overhear it. Which in return means that I was intentionally excluded. That's just… I don't know. I shouldn't be upset about it, I don't even like these people. It's unreasonable to be sad about it."
"Emotions usually are unreasonable." He mused in return and Robin found herself nodding on instinct. Emotions are unreasonable, but they are an unavoidable pain in the butt nonetheless.
"So… that party is tonight?" Robin asked then, for she didn't know what else to say.
"It should be happening right now, however I am unaware of the specific location. You are intelligent though, certainly you could find out where it takes place."
"Oh, I wasn't asking because of that. I know when I'm not welcome. And as I said, I don't care about parties. Or crowds. Or other people. I'm quite happy with the company I have." She stated and hoped that it wouldn't make him uncomfortable again, but he just listened to her words with the usual undivided attention, which brought a small smile to Robin's lips as she added, "The only thing I miss is the-..."
"Music?"
"Yes!" Her smile widened to a visible degree where it reached her eyes as well. "How did you know?"
He didn't reply, and only kept looking at Robin for a moment in silence accompanied by an expression of contemplation. Finally he turned away, and stood up. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Robin frowned as she complied though and followed Snape out of the classroom, which he locked behind them before heading down the hallway.
"You will see." Was the only and very much cryptic reply he gave, and somehow Robin didn't feel as much nervous about the situation as purely excited. She didn't bother hiding her smirk, and only ignored the renewing waves of pleasant tingles on her skin as she followed him up the stairs and through the empty castle.
They passed by any location Robin could've imagined Snape to lead her to, and only moved from one story up to the next until they arrived on the seventh floor. What the hell was he up to? Robin didn't have an inkling, and only grew even more confused when he told her to stay standing in the middle of a random crossing of hallways. But she obeyed without questioning him (he wouldn't have given an answer anyway) and stood frozen to the spot as she watched with a humored frown on her face how he paced up and down the hallway in front of her. Upon her chuckles however, she received a small glare that made her bite the insides of her cheeks to keep from straight out laughing. Whatever he was doing, it was both irritating and amusing.
Both sentiments faded from Robin's mind in a moment's notice however once a large door started materializing in the very wall she stood facing. It was almost as large as the one leading to the great hall, but undoubtedly more ornamented, and Robin's lips parted as she stared at the unusual occurrence in awe.
"After you." He said in manner that for him was unusually smug, and Robin's heart skipped a beat as she moved to open the door indeed.
What lay beyond it was undoubtedly the most peculiar and yet the most fascinating thing she had ever seen. A room larger than she could fathom currently, larger than she ever would've imagined to be found inside this castle, filled with mountains upon mountains of various objects stacked upon each other in complete randomness. The things found in here were absolutely overwhelming in their incredible amount and diversity, and Robin didn't even know where to look first as she stood helplessly frozen in the doorway. It was rather overwhelming indeed.
"Welcome to the room of requirement, or in this instance, the room of hidden things." Snape said in a more quiet tone now, as he steered Robin further into the room by her shoulders so that he could close the door behind them.
"What on earth is this?" Robin wondered as she let her eyes travel over the mountains of objects. There was one of everything in existence in here, she was absolutely sure of that. Maybe she was just dreaming all of this. She didn't care to wake up though.
"A mystery, and a secret. The room of requirement is a peculiar piece of magic, as it turns into whatever someone needs the most in the instant. It can be made to appear in the way you just witnessed, by having a clear picture of what it is one needs in mind. The room of hidden things is one of the countless forms the room of requirement can take on, and it has been used to hide and store any kind of thing for centuries."
"It's absolutely incredible, it's…" Robin replied quietly, too awestruck to even bother hiding the sentiment, and finally unfroze enough to saunter through the mountains of things. "Something so entirely impossible that it just has to exist."
"Indeed. It is almost impossible to find by accident, and the vast majority of people is unaware of the existence of this room in the first place. I would like for it to remain that way."
"I won't lose a word about it. I promise." Robin finally could tear her eyes off the room to look at Snape once more. "Why did you bring me here though? If it's such a secret, why take the risk?"
"You are no risk, I am well aware of that." He replied easily, and Robin felt an immediate sense of pride in that. "I brought you here because in a place where there is everything, there is always what you are looking for."
Before Robin could ask what exactly he meant by that, he spoke a few more muttered words and then the deep silence of the huge hall was replaced by a crackle, and finally by the sound of music. Robin looked around to find a possible origin of it, but the source remained hidden from her sight. The sound alone sufficed to brighten her smile though, and she closed her eyes to simply listen in contentment. It had been so long since she had gotten to enjoy music without the disturbing sounds of people talking or dancing or moving… and music at Hogwarts generally was scarce anyway. So now, for a long while, she simply stood there in between the mountains of fascinating things with her eyes closed and let the sound wrap around her senses. She breathed in the music like the cold air of the night that didn't exist in here, for time wasn't a dimension of relevance in this place. Everything about this room was timeless, ancient and modern at once, and Robin felt like she had entered a different reality beyond the limits of imagination. An impossible reality indeed.
It was one of those rare moments where she felt flooded and filled up by an infinite number of highly intense emotions that blended together like colors to form a blinding white light. A moment where an unimaginable intensity of feeling didn't cause her to implode into darkness but to explode into blissful light. A moment she wouldn't forget. At last she opened her eyes again, and found that Snape was looking at her with a doubtful expression yet again.
"What?" She asked with a smile, frowning at him in return.
"Are you alright?"
"Are you concerned?"
"Yes."
"Wow… good to know that me being happy is such a scary sight." Robin let out a laugh she couldn't help and shook her head to herself. "Sorry, sarcasm isn't an appropriate answer to honesty. I'm very alright, actually. As close to perfect as I could be, I believe. Thank you for that."
"Get over it already, will you... It was merely music and a dusty old room, hardly something to be so very delighted about."
"You cannot seriously deny that you did something nice by bringing me here. It's not even possible to deny!" Robin laughed again and didn't even care if he scolded her for it.
"I can try." He replied with a glare and a scowl, and Robin smiled to herself as she looked down at the ground in a defeat as feigned as his distaste. Maybe she should help him with the trying.
"So, if you didn't bring me here to be nice, what did you hope to find in here then? Maybe I could help looking for it." She suggested with an innocent smile she actually could convey for once, even if only due to the fact that she would seriously love to have a look around.
"I shall see to that myself. Go ahead and look around if you wish to though, but I ask you to be careful and not to touch anything. Many of the objects in here are more harmful than they look."
"Well, if something happens to me, you could just leave my body in here and nobody will ever find it. Problem solved." Robin shrugged with a nonchalant expression, but a smirk came onto her lips nonetheless as Snape rolled his eyes in return.
"If you keep sassing me, I might actually consider that." He replied and turned to walk off without another glance, and Robin's jaw dropped in sheer amusement. Then, with the biggest grin on her face, she went to take a look around at last.
… … …
It was after almost an hour of searching through stuff by herself that Robin found something that made her stop and stare. Not because it was particularly noticeable or interesting in itself, but because it existed in the first place. That was odd enough to give Robin some serious chills. Maybe she should tell Snape about it… or better yet, show him. Because nobody would believe it otherwise.
"Uh, professor?" She called into the open room in the hopes that he would hear her, wherever he might be. "I… found something you should take a look at."
"Is it urgent or merely interesting?" He asked from somewhere off to the left, and Robin thought for a second.
"Well, urgent is the wrong word, but I don't think I want to leave this room without you seeing this. It's… remarkable." She finally replied with an insecure frown to herself, and at the object in question.
"Could you be even more imprecise than that?" He sounded annoyed, but was getting closer at least.
"It's no threat, if that's what you mean. Just… eerie." She finished the statement in a tone too quiet to be heard far, but a mere few seconds later he was standing next to her already.
"Now, what is so remarkable that I needed to see it?" He sighed with a look at Robin instead of the pile she stood in front of, but his eyes followed her line of sight even before she could answer his question and he froze at the sight just like Robin had. "That… is remarkable indeed."
"Told you so." She replied before she could decide better not to, but he let it slip anyway.
What they were both looking at now was a large, framed, but unmoving portrait. A portrait of a young woman who looked exactly like Robin, only perhaps a few years older. But the similarity was undeniable.
"Did you touch it?"
"Of course not!" Robin protested immediately. "I actually do take advice when I deem it useful!"
"Did anything else happen that might be considered unusual?"
"No… I was just looking at all the things, and then I saw this. Nothing moved, or glowed, or changed or whatever it could have done. A perfectly ordinary painting." She shrugged and finally averted her eyes from the image.
"Perhaps it is only a coincidence. Over the course of the centuries there surely have been a few people who look like you." He tried to reason, but also didn't sound too convinced about what he was saying.
"That would explain the similarity between her and me. But then how do you explain this?" Robin asked quietly, and pulled her necklace with the locket on it over the collar of her shirt into the open. "Look what she's wearing around her neck… A different necklace, admittedly, but the locket is the very same as mine."
For another two seconds he inspected the painting, then stepped so close to Robin that he could take the small piece of jewelry out of her hand and study it with the same intense gaze. Bloody hell… she would've taken the necklace off if he had just given her a moment longer to do so. Instead, he now stood so close that every single sense of hers was heightened to the unbearable. Hopefully he couldn't hear the ridiculous pace of her heart as it almost leapt out of her chest with every beat… if he did, she might just have to blame it on her scary similarity to the painting.
Somehow, the more she tried to ignore these things, the feelings and tingles and thoughts, the stronger they came lashing back at her in the end. It really was unfair. She didn't want to like him so much… and she didn't want to enjoy it. Hopefully this stupid teenage-crush thing would be over soon; she's had enough after a full year of repressing it.
"You have had this for a while, haven't you?" He finally spoke up again before he looked Robin in the eye for a few silent seconds, then dropped the locket and took a few steps backwards.
"What?" Robin's mind was in a minor haze, and she needed a second to remember how to breathe. Gods, this was ridiculous. It was torture and bliss at the same time. Maybe she could blame it on hormones, or something likely unlikely.
"The locket has been in your possession for how long?" He repeated, but without the feigned annoyance Robin had expected.
"I… bought it in an antiquity shop in Diagon Alley during the Christmas break of my first year here. That would be three and a half years ago." She finally got her brain to work again, and shook the unnecessary feelings out of her otherwise functioning system.
"And you have been wearing it ever since?"
"Yes."
"Anything unusual?"
"No. Not at all. I put the same charm on it as on my backpack though, but it has never caused me any problems." Robin shrugged with a calm expression. "Do you think this portrait is anything more than just a big coincidence?"
"I have no idea. But I have seen coincidences far stranger than this one, so it is very much possible that it is nothing more."
"I mean… last year, when we made that potion to see which spells had affected me, there was no influence of another kind on me other than that prank thing, right? So this shouldn't be affecting me, seeing as I've had the locket for far longer than that."
"I hadn't considered that, but I do agree. Perhaps it is merely a coincidence. Still, I-..."
"You expect me to tell you immediately when or if something odd occurs." Robin added before he could.
"Indeed." He replied with a small glare in return, but Robin didn't let it fool her at all as they left the portrait where it was and made their way back towards the doorway back into the real world.
"Did you find what you were looking for, by the way? The reason we came here?" She asked with a new smile, looking up at Snape once they stepped through the doors and into the dark hallway.
For a moment he simply returned her gaze in silence, giving her one of those enigmatic looks that said everything and nothing at once, until he finally replied with words once they started making their way back towards the dungeons. "Yes, I believe I did."
And yet, he hadn't taken a single thing out of the room he hadn't brought there himself in the first place; it was only Robin, and the very smile on her lips.
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