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#at this point she's pretty secure in her identity y'know
jamiesfootball · 7 months
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thank you for the very thoughtful response! here is the royjamiekeeley leverage snippet!
•••
"You've got a sister?" Jamie asked, chin perched on top of Keeley's head. They were wearing identical, big-eyed, innocent looks. Roy did not look impressed.
"Fucking obviously," he grunted.
"Is she fit?" Keeley asked, expression not wavering.
"Fuck off," Roy said as he returned his attention to his book.
"I bet she's fit," Jamie whispered loudly to Keeley.
"I'll rip out your eyes with a toilet plunger, Tartt," Roy said with a dangerous glance at Jamie.
"Keeley, save me," Jamie said. He cowered dramatically behind Keeley's tiny frame. "My eyes are too pretty to be toilet-plungered!"
"You fucking deserve it," Roy said, standing up and making a swipe at Jamie. Jamie danced out of reach with a loud, obnoxious laugh. "Hold still, you bellend!"
"Can't catch me!" Jamie cackled as he ran all the way around the kitchen. Then, he made a neat circle in the sitting room with Roy in hot pursuit. Keeley hopped up onto the kitchen island, egging them on. Rebecca sat next to Beard, a mug of tea in hand, as they both watched the tireless chase. Ted entered the room, barely avoiding being bowled over, and moved to stand next to them.
"Y'know, sometimes I wonder what it would take for those three to just have a good old-fashioned romp around - if you catch my drift. Cut through some of that tension," he said.
"I think they're already romping, actually," Rebecca said faintly, absorbed in the action.
"Oh, yeah," Beard said. Jamie made a sharp turn past the island to smack a kiss onto Keeley's cheek, and Roy followed suit. "This is like foreplay for them."
"Huh. Well, I guess you have a point there." Ted settled onto the couch on Rebecca's other side, and they all watched Jamie windmill his arms to try and stop his sock-fueled dash so he could screech to a desperate halt. It didn't work, he crashed into the counter, and Roy slammed into his back.
"Gotcha," he growled.
"Keeley!" Jamie cried. "Help, he's gonna eat me!" Keeley muttered something that sounded suspiciously like god, I hope so. Beard hoped he wouldn't have to remind them that there were other people in the vicinity. They'd been very good about leaving when things got hot and heavy. Keep the streak going.
"Not gonna fucking eat you, you muppet, stop bucking the fuck everywhere," Roy said. Keeley slid off the island and took a running leap to land on Roy's back. The man didn't even flinch, just moved one hand to support her leg until her thighs were securely around his waist.
"Is it unethical to be watching this? Is this weird?" Ted asked. His gaze didn't move.
"Maybe," Rebecca said. Her gaze didn't move.
"No," Beard said, and he was damn sure his own gaze was not moving. "It's like a nature documentary."
Ted made a vague noise. Jamie and Keeley were giggling uncontrollably, and Roy was even looking like he wanted to crack a grin. His head moved down to near Jamie's ear, and Jamie audibly snorted with laughter. Then, the snort transformed into a cry.
"Did you just fucking bite me?" His voice was full of shock and disbelief, as well as something that had Beard composing a notice in his head to present to the trio. Hello, please do not have wild kinky sex within earshot of your coworkers. Thanks, Beard. 
"Maybe I will eat you after all," Roy said, his voice low and gravelly.
"Keeley!"
Ooh, this is giving me very strong Eliot-cooking-in-the-kitchen-after-a-heist vibes. The camaraderie, the silliness—the ‘Nate and Sophie off to the side having a normal fucking conversation to sum up the themes of tonight’s episode’ of it all. You’ve somehow captured it all in a little bottle
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dabi-drift · 3 years
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Yaoyorozu, Hawks, Bakugou, Amajiki, Dabi, Mirko & Geten with a Genderfluid S/O:
If you want any characters adding here or to anything else I write, just drop me a comment or an ask!
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Momo Yaoyorozu:
☿ It was hard enough for you to acknowledge your own gender- fully understanding it was a different topic - so coming out to Momo was going to be tough.
☿ Really tough.
☿ She was a lovely girl and a wonderful girlfriend.
☿ But could you really expect her to be supportive of something so complex?
☿ Your gender fluctuated a lot - sometimes you'd feel distinctly outside the binary, and sometimes you'd feel more masculine, or more feminine.
☿ You hadn't noticed this until recently; you rarely gave gender a second thought.
☿ Looking at yourself in the mirror and questioning everything that felt a little off, you'd figured that maybe you just wanted to feel special, a little different.
☿ So you researched. A lot.
☿ You had a system that no-one understood because you were still deep in the closet: a different coloured strand/extension in your hair (on one side only) that stood out but was never questioned.
☿ Red = Feminine, Purple = Non-Binary, Blue = Masculine, Green = Third Gender/Multigender.
☿ Coming out was a decision you spent countless nights debating.
☿ No-one 'deserved' to know, it was really nobody's business…but being gendered correctly 100% of the time did sound nice.
☿ Deep breaths, and positive thoughts.
☿ "I identify as…no, I am genderfluid. You, eh…you should probably know that."
☿ This sweet, precious thing was confused at first.
☿ But you explained it:
☿ "Sometimes I'll feel more masculine, more like a boy, sometimes feminine, neither or both/all genders? I'm still wrapping my head around it too, but eh…it can change a lot. Sometimes a few times a day. Um…sometimes one gender will stick for a while. That's why figuring it out can be…confusing. But it's also enlightening, uh…kinda nice, warm, y'know?"
☿ Instantly says she understands and supports you.
☿ Expect a flurry of hugs and kisses.
☿ Acts like a very proud girlfriend.
☿ Pays extra attention to your hair - never wants to get anything wrong.
☿ If she does, she'll apologise immediately and reprimand herself.
☿ Go easy on her, she'll be an utter mess.
☿ Overall, her love for you is unconditional, and she makes sure that you know she's sorry.
"You shouldn't ever have to be scared to explain who you are."
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Keigo Takami/Hawks:
☿ Keigo knew something was amiss.
☿ You'd been dating for two years, and although he never pried, he couldn’t help noticing the way you'd suddenly become uncomfortable when someone addressed you, or when you stayed in one set of clothes for too long.
☿ It wasn’t always the same, and he just figured it was anxiety and general insecurities coming to the surface.
☿ So he held you closer, wrapped you in his wings and fussed over you for hours (or however long his job would allow).
☿ He didn’t have a lot of time to consult the internet.
☿ He also didn’t want to pressure you into revealing anything.
☿ But now, the topic was unavoidable.
☿ You'd broken down, crying and mumbling to yourself when you thought he couldn’t hear you.
☿ He finds you kneeling in front of the full-length mirror in the bedroom.
☿ Rushes to your side in an instant.
☿ "What did the mirror do to you, dove?"
☿ Very, very worried, feathers shaking around you.
☿ Defensive birb, ready to protect you from that loathsome mirror.
☿ "I-I look so…so girly today! It's awful! My chest, and…and…I don’t have a binder, and I…"
☿ Doesn't understand, but is determined not to worsen your mood.
☿ "Hey, look at me. What are binders, and where would we get one?"
☿ He places both hands on your cheeks, and you lean into him.
☿ "They're…they flatten your chest, um…sports bras and binders…I-I've never bought one, so I don’t know…"
☿ He nods. "Do you wanna come with me to look for one?"
☿ You're perplexed - shouldn’t he be weirded out by this?
☿ He laughs, and somehow, it warms your heart. "I just want you to be happy. I'd do anything to make that happen, angel. You might need to explain all this to me, though. I'm a newbie, after all."
☿ He takes physical notes - nothing will catch this man out.
☿ If someone misgenders you, he'll correct them immediately.
☿ If someone acts ignorant or spiteful, he'll 'politely' tell them how to adjust their attitude, and how to address people outside the gender binary.
☿ I.e, respect them even if you don't have a complete grasp on their identity, and never, ever misgender or marginalise them.
"You are yourself, not how others perceive you."
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Katsuki Bakugou:
☿ You decided to use pronoun badges. There were some awesome-looking designs out there, and you'd been feeling a little more confident lately. It couldn’t hurt to clue your classmates in, right? Plus, you supposed Katsuki ought to know…he was your boyfriend, after all. He'd definitely be pissed if he discovered this a few years down the line, rage about you not placing enough trust in him, and it'd be a huge mess…
☿ You'd never interrogated him on LGBTQ+ issues, so you weren't sure how he'd take your news; he wasn’t always the most accepting (Midoriya & the quirkless community being obvious testaments to that).
☿ Needless to say, instead of being confused, he was frustrated. Why was he with someone who didn’t even know their correct pronouns? He pointed it out, very matter-of-fact.
☿ When your dazzling smile suddenly dropped, he became concerned. Was he the idiot after all? Why did he upset you? What in the Nine Circles of Hell possessed him to do that?? He didn’t even say anything bad! All he mentioned was…
☿ Oh. Shit.
☿ This boy isn't accustomed to apologising, so don’t expect it to flow naturally. He’ll try, because he loves you, but he won't keep eye contact for very long and he'll recant every few seconds.
☿ This perceived insincerity only masks his guilt, though. He’ll beat himself up for years, unless you stop him. This boy has no chill. He's always the first to go off on people when they disrespect or degrade you, so he's gotta make amends in some way, right?
☿️ Honestly, if there are any pronoun badges with really cool or pretty designs, he'll buy them for you. He'll also get for himself, to prove his acceptance and solidarity. He won't ever allow you to feel alone again. He's more than okay with your identity - it changes absolutely nothing about you. If anything, it gives you a sense of completion. He's here for that, 100%.
☿️ You better believe he'll fight for your rights.
☿️ If there's any hate/intolerance directed at you, he'll explode. Quite literally.
☿️ You'll be tasked with ensuring no-one dies. Unless you want them to, of course.
☿️ They'll deserve it.
☿️ Katsuki is very perceptive, so when he gets to grips with it, he'll most likely notice every indication (however subtle) of a gender change. He'll carry spare pronoun badges around, just in case you lose yours.
☿️ Secretly, he's swimming in pride.
☿️ He's kinda like 'Yeah, that's my awesome partner! Look how cool they are, flaunting their pronouns like that, all confident and happy!'
☿️ This boy adores the ever-loving shit out of you. He hates reflecting on the day you came out, because he handled it so poorly at first. Thankfully now though, you're more secure.
"Gender doesn't matter. I'm gonna be a hero, not a hater."
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Tamaki Amajiki:
☿️ (Y/n) wasn’t a dead name, but sometimes the very mention of it made your skin crawl.
☿️ It was a gift from your parents, so you wanted to keep it.
☿️ But it was a very gendered name - you couldn’t escape that.
☿️ So you decided on a few more - ones both your mind and heart adored.
☿️ The names corresponded to different gender identities, and although you weren't out just yet (though you planned to be shortly), they gave you the fluffiest feeling.
☿️ Because you hadn't come out, you didn’t bother making it easy for people - no different coloured bracelets, rings or anything to highlight your gender at the time.
☿️ In your heart, you knew who you were.
☿️ Still…everything seemed tied to the binary - official documents, school, the chatter of other students…you'd seen and heard it all.
☿️ These people didn’t accept non-conformists.
☿️ So why should Tamaki?
☿️ Sure, he was kind-hearted, heroic…amazing, but what would he do? What would he say, when you finally came out? You couldn’t remain in the closet forever.
☿️ No way that was happening! You were human too, your feelings mattered! Surely you were allowed to voice your truth…
☿️ Tamaki loved you.
☿️ He'd be accepting…right? Memorising some more names and pronouns shouldn’t be so tricky.
☿️ To minimise discomfort for both of you, you chose to explain things in his room.
☿️ He got really nervous at first - he thought you wanted to break up.
☿️ Boy was sweating profusely, coming up with all sorts of counter-arguments in his head. He really, really loved you.
☿️ "(Y-Y/n)-"
☿️ "Um, could you maybe call me (O/n) today? It's an…off-spectrum day."
☿️ Cue more confusion than Momo.
☿️ He'll ask about it in a really gentle voice - being anxious himself, he can easily pick up on other people's signs.
☿️ "Basically…my gender's fluid, so…you know how 'sex' is biological and 'gender' is a sense of identity? Well, sometimes I align with my birth sex, sometimes I don't. Today is…one of those days."
☿️ He'll hold your hand while he listens, squeezing it periodically to reassure you.
☿️ Now it's your turn to question the strength of your relationship.
☿️ This boy's love is deep, though; he cares way too much to let anything come between you.
☿️ Plus, nothing about you has actually changed.
☿️ You've just come into yourself, gained more comfort in who you are.
☿️ Tells you how proud he is.
☿️ Asks you to let him know when you sense your gender change, so he never calls you by the wrong name or pronouns.
☿️ It's They/Them today, but who knows about tomorrow? Or even an hour from now?
☿️ Finds gender-neutral compliments and nicknames, and does a ton of research.
☿️ Has an entire script in his head - if you want to come out but can't speak for yourself, Tamaki will push aside his anxiety and recite the words he's practiced a million times.
"You've finally found yourself - only change if it feels right."
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Touya Todoroki/Dabi:
☿️ Your identity was really important and dear to your heart.
☿️ But that didn’t stop those you cared for tearing you apart whenever you tried to speak up.
☿️ Your family, your friends…you loved them, but they just couldn’t accept you.
☿️ So you killed them.
☿️ You went on the run, evading police and heroes alike for years.
☿️ And then, you found the League of Villains - a strange dynamic, kind of like family but much more welcoming.
☿️ Yet, your identity stayed hidden. You didn’t have the strength to harm all these people, if they rejected you.
☿️ Besides, there was more solidarity here than there ever had been with your blood relatives.
☿️ Dabi was your companion, though whether that meant closest friend or love interest, you didn’t know.
☿️ He was observant, transforming his thoughts into words regardless of how that affected people.
☿️ He pointed things out immediately.
☿️ "New bracelet?"
☿️ You paused, half-shocked, half-afraid.
☿️ You knew that he'd see through any lie you posed.
☿️ The truth would be the only thing to save you from his flames.
☿️ "That means something, doesn't it, (Y/n)?"
☿️ Step 1: put the drink down so you don't shatter it in anger.
☿️ "Yeah, um…this colour means 'masculine'. I'm a guy…now."
☿️ His face betrayed nothing.
☿️ "Like a reverse Magne?"
☿️ You wondered if that was a genuine question or an attempt at humour.
☿️ Todorokis don't understand jokes.
☿️ "No…she's a transgender woman, I'm genderfluid. I'm not confined to a single gender. It, uh…it changes."
☿️ His nod didn’t instil you with confidence.
☿️ "You out to the others yet?"
☿️ "Didn't think they'd accept me."
☿️ He made a 'Really? You're the least weird of the bunch' face.
☿️ "Ah, I'll just burn 'em if they don't."
☿️ You were too stunned to employ a comeback.
☿️ He contemplated for a while.
☿️ "So, you got any other names?"
☿️ Helps you plan how to come out to the rest of the League.
☿️ Will legitimately burn the haters.
"Found families are more accepting than the real thing."
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Rumi Usagiyama/Mirko:
☿️ You bought three mugs - 'It's a Girl', 'It's a Boy' and 'It's a Mess'.
☿️ The excitement had been bubbling away inside you for weeks.
☿️ Rumi still didn’t know that you were genderfluid, but she was about to learn.
☿️ There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that she'd accept you.
☿️ You hadn't told her yet because it was a big thing - lots to take in, and you needed to be completely sure of it, and of your relationship.
☿️ You weren't gonna tell just anyone.
☿️ Dating Rumi was awesome, and this was just the next stage.
☿️ It didn’t go according to plan.
☿️ Not at first.
☿️ "You're pregnant?!" Was her very concerned response.
☿️ She kept muttering about how she needed some space to think things over.
☿️ Until you dragged her back, exasperated but determined to explain yourself.
☿️ "It's in reference to myself. I wanted to let you know, in a funny way, that I'm genderfluid. There's a Girl and a Boy one, and the other is for Non-Binary."
☿️ She made a noise like she understood, but you saw the confusion.
☿️ "Today's an Enby day, but you might have a girlfriend tomorrow. Or a boyfriend. Who knows?"
☿️ In an instant, the biggest smile took control of her face, and she brought you into a crushing hug.
☿️ "So I could have a girlfriend, a boyfriend and a murder partner??"
☿️ "Eh…if you can do the jail-time, count me in."
☿️ This one won't necessarily search for information herself, but she will consult you whenever she's having a difficult time processing something.
☿️ You're like,, the expert in all things LGBTQ+, and she loves listening to you talk so passionately.
☿️ She's really glad you told her - that you trusted her with something so important.
☿️ She feels loved, and makes sure you do too.
☿️ Asks if you ever thought she'd reject you.
☿️ "Nah. We'll go strong forever, Rumi."
☿️ She's overjoyed, honestly.
"You're so brave for coming out, and if someone doesn’t like it, I'll kick their butt."
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Geten/Iceman:
☿️ Geten didn’t have the faintest clue about gender identities. He accepted male and female, but without a proper education or motivation to learn anything beside his quirk, you didn’t expect him to understand. You would've held it in, if you were strong enough to deal with the constant misgendering.
☿️ If you use Neopronouns, you're especially worried. They aren't as widely welcomed as the general She/He/They. And Geten being the angry, feral gremlin he is, his temper was a major concern.
☿️ You couldn’t change for him, so if he decided to lash out or disapprove, you'd be crushed. You'd obviously have to walk out of the relationship, if he didn’t do so himself. As deeply as your love ran, you simply couldn’t put yourself through such anguish. You weren't of the soundest mind, so to be rejected by Geten…
☿️ He isn't gonna understand unless you sit him down, crack open the slideshow presentation and maybe start crying? He'll feel guilty, but he doesn't ever wanna see you in distress. He said as much, in the beginning of your relationship.
☿️ So cry. Cry your little heart out, and he'll do everything within his power to comfort you. He's not the most receptive to other people's emotions, but with you, it's different. He's always by your side, always watching over you. His hugs are a little stiff, but wrap your arms around him tightly, and he'll protect you with his life.
☿️ "So…genderfluid?"
☿️ His tone is gentle, like he's afraid to cause any more tears.
☿️ "Yeah, um…you identify with your birth sex, right? Well, I don't…not all the time. And if you could…could use those pronouns? That would mean…a lot. To me. It'd mean everything, actually…"
☿️ He's quiet for a while, still trying to make space in his brain for all this new information. It isn't something he needs to 'come around to', though. He'll be completely painful and respectful. He's bound to slip up a few times, but he'll always correct himself.
☿️ Hates seeing you cringe whenever he makes a mistake. Always vows never to let it happen again.
☿️ You're okay though - you know it's gonna take time.
☿️ Angry boi never uses your gender identity as an insult, and openly condemns (threatens) anyone who does. He'll want to prove himself - prove he's gonna love you regardless of gender, regardless of everything!
☿️ Honestly doesn't know why you were so nervous to explain this. When he said his love was unconditional, he wasn’t lying.
“There’s no way I couldn’t accept who you are.”
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maanae · 3 years
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The Court: Origins
Guess who wrote that instead of searching for an appart ? .-.
But kinda like it and I mean there's Hawkgirl so it can't be that bad (yes it's from the animated JL. I mean it's the best girl from that carton. Best. Girl.)
-
Ladybug and Chat Noir meet heros : Wonder Woman is the First (working in Paris ?) and she introduces them to the rest. Because they need help and decent backing. (shinanigans and awkwardiness are totally here, they're fans ok?) But it's a firm 'no' to any direct intervention from foreign heroes who doesn't manage his emotions (akumatized Superman... brr). But they need help. They send Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl. (Wonder Woman would have come, with her own ties with the Miraculous and all, but she's already the ambassador of her people so can't.) Immediately, there are results. Crazy the efficacity of training right? (Master Fu gets an earful along the way, heroes don't like this Gardian way of his)
Ladybug is still his apprentice but she has back-up so she doesn't drown and she trains Chat Noir in secret from Fu. Because y'know, they're p a r t n e r s! (Hawkgirl called bullshit on the inequality between the two and Martian Manhunter said it was a good idea so). Ladybug and Chat Noir totally plan to rope Nino in it too. The Turtle always have more Gardian-vibe than the rest because Protection and Nino is Nino so he's trustworthy. (He could be Grand Gardian in the future but Ladybug is a martyr if anything else and she doesn't want to overburden him. She works on that. (And Chat Noir works on the "self-sacrificing" bit of his personality. Hawkgirl called bullshit on that too)).
They don't know each other's identity but when Chat Noir flirts and Ladybug complains they know it's more for fun than anything else. Sure, they have a tiny tiny crush on each other but they're heroes (teenage heroes) after all, they need the comic relief please.
Marinette and Adrian are more busy than ever and it's hard sometimes but they're not drowning and it's better than what could have been without the Justice League so they manage. Sure, Marinette doesn't design as much as before and Adrian runs on three hours of sleep tops but they manage! Sure they're in high school now but they're in seconde and it can be a lot of work but it's also the year the most laid back of high school so. They can do it.
With help, comes suspects. Did you think Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl were here only as supports? They're might be not as detective-oriented as Batman but they have their own way to have answers. They're still heroes, even if they're not detectives. Chat Noir isn't happy when his father made it on the List and is a serious suspect. And he's not happy when Ladybug supports this theory with her own evidence either. And sure his suspects are believable too but he overlooks Gabriel completely and Ladybug is not impressed with him (Lila comes back at the same time and Marinette is not impressed with Adrien either.) Maybe their argument and all the yelling gave away their identities a little too quickly. Oups.
They ignore each other for two good weeks, in class like in battle, before Hawkgirl forces them to talk. (Communication is important kids). It's not a fun conversation. They somewhat forgive each other even if it's strain in the first weeks. But they work on it (because frienships too need work) and they come to it at least! And sure Hawkmoth landed some good hits during that time but they always win, good relationship or not. They're professionnals guys.
And maybe they become so close they're often taken for a couple. Except she gives him advices about Kagami and he's pushing her in Luka's arms. They're often saying they're more like siblings if ask. At some point Adrien is all but officially adopted by the Dupain-Cheng. (The Lahiffe tried but hey, a whole bakery. They can't hold a candle to that.) It was a happy few months despite the stress and the akumas and amoks. Even with Lila. (because the class isn't full of idiots, yes they find Lila great and yes her war with Marinette and Adrien is weird but they're friends either way. They just... don't go out at the same time with them. They take turns. They think of something to make it work. Because being friends with a whole class is cute but not realistic.)
And then there is a conversation who strucks odd to Adrien. Not even a conversation, just an off-hand comment. Barely a "make sure Duusu obey correctly next time". Just a few seconds. Adrien wouldn't have think of anything if he didn't exactly knew who was Duusu. Oups x2. He took it pretty bad. Poor Chat.
Their plan is simple - in theory (well, more or less, it's still Ladybug we speak of). A sort of "breaking & entering" with thief!Marinette and complice!Adrian. Martian Manhunter in invisibility mode scoots the hallways before the two and Hawkgirl is at the end of the formation, ready for all he can throw at them. Of course it comes crashing down. La faute à pas de chance like we say in French - they come during the Night of Hawkmoth (the one random night in the week where Hawkmoth akumatises someone from a nightmare - look, he needs to sleep to). So when Adrian lets Ladyfox enter, the illusions doesn't fool the high-security systems and he prepares. Time for Scarlet Moth to shine!
He doesn't go to the confrontation this coward - he knows they will kick his ass with their training and help of the Justice League. Nah, he creates several really destructive akumas. Y'know. Criminals and the such he carefully avoided before. Trumps cards! Mayura joins not long after. It's a massacre. They need help. Big help. Big like all the box. (And Not the Justice League because maybe Scarlet Moth isn't at his limit and they can't risk it.)
So they recruit. Rena Rouge, Carapace, Hornet (Queen Bee 2.0), Ryuko, Viperion, Bunnyx, and sometimes random people whom the kwamis sense they have a greater affinity than the other persons in their class. It's still bad. They die - a lot. All of them, except Bunnyx. The number of times she jumped from her Burrow to protect a fellow hero is... frightening. Sometimes she made them exchange their miraculous, to better suit their affinities and needs. It lasts three days.
They win! Somewhat. They're... not broken, almost, mourning their innocence and deeply hurt. But they're alive and Paris is standing and Hawkmoth and Mayura are not - yet - winners so. They take what they can.
Ladybug and Chat Noir don't take back the Miraculous from those who want to fight with them. Some people can't be heroes, can't have the mental for it. Others are desesperate to stop this. And others still are born for it - like them. Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter agreed to train them - they're not in their best mindset either (they didn't see so much destruction since their last world-ending event, it's not an everyday occurrence even for them) but they're adults, professionals. The kids need them so they help, of course. The Court is born, with new heroes and new names. Too many has been compromised during the battle to keep their old, and... they are not the same as before either. Dame Chance (Ladybug - Marinette), Cat Sìth (Cat - Adrian), Alya (Tiger - Tigris), Nino (Turtle - Shield), Chloé (Bee - Hornet), Kagami (Dragon - Kinryu), Luka (Snake - Ouroboros), Alix (Bunny - Bunnyx), Nathaniel (Fox - Renart), Allegra (Rooster - Mélodie), Bridgette (Ox - Niú), Claude (Horse - Kid Mime) and Alan (Dog - Gavroche).
From here, it's hell. Hawkmoth and Mayura send akumas and sentimonsters at a frenetic pace, sometimes switching with a Scarlet Moth Situation (not too otfen because it costs a great deal of energy but at least one on three days). Life in Paris is impossible, the city is lock down, the civilians need to stay home for their security and the heroes all but stop to live. They move in the QG Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter set up at the beginning and scheme. Identities don't matter (and that's an interesting conversation), sleeping, eating, all of that is pushed aside. They can't deal with distractions. That's also a interesting conversation. (Look, some of them don't lose their priorities. Sleep and food are not distractions. But go say that to Marinette, hah.) But nevertheless, their lifes are put on hold for their hunt (and training. the new heroes need it.) No need to say, they're on a fine line from madness.
It lasts two weeks (an eternity) before they attack. The battle is horrible - like all battles - and the Court is spread across all Paris to protect it from the akumas and sentimonsters. Against Hawkmoth and Mayura, it's only Dame Chance, Cat Sìth, Ouroboros, Kinryu and Martian Manhunter.
They win. Finally. And they sleep the month after that, because trauma (very much so), adrenaline and - just - their bodies shut down. Especially Marinette and Adrian.
-
Now, the Box is used as almost full capacity. Nino has the Turtle. So Fu is like 'cool, Marinette is ready!' Hence Marinette is Grand Guardian at 16 (joy. so much.) and as first decision names Adrian and Nino Guardians with her. Fu isn't too please. She doesn't give a flying fuck.
After Hawkmoth Alya, Nathaniel, Bridgette and Claude gave back their miraculous (they were heroes when needed but it isn't a life they want).
The next two years are a lot of juggling between training, learning, apprenticeship and heroing but nowhere near the intensity of their first two years.
Because the Court is still active. Even without Hawkmoth and Mayura (by the way Nooroo and Duusu are absolutely being pampered in the box), they remained active, help the police and all. Especially with the new risk of attacks from terrorists (they couldn't prevent the bombs, only help afterwards and that was... hard. Definitely more so than Hawkmoth because the Cure can't revive these victims. There wasn't any Miraculous involved - only plain, old, ugly humanity).
Btw the Justice League is on speed dial in case they need help for a magical/miraculous/world-ending event and because they're allies now but they're not part of it.
So yes they're heroes but they're teenagers too. Marinette and Luka date one year before they break up and remain friends (and maybe she has a little something with Kagami at one point. maybe), Adrien discovers preferring guys, Nino and Alya are still as in love as ever. They grow up, they graduate high school. Some stay in Paris, others go discover the world.
Alya made a name for herself with the Ladyblog and has a brilliant carrier ahead of her, already thinking of doing something similar to Lois Lane : war reporter, then specialising herself in heroics. She wants to be the best and knows damn well what she needs to do for that (Lila be damned). Chloé flourishes in New York, attempting business and politics degrees (nobody else see Chloe as Mayor of Gotham? I think it would suit her - a broken city needing her help and power. pretty much her). Luka makes soundtracks for movies and makes a name for himself ; in the same sector, Allegra joins the National Orchestra of France. Nino chooses a degree in the cinema, DJing in the weekend. Adrian works with Sabine and Tom, training to inherit, one day, the bakery - Gabriel crumbled with his father and he has no intention to ever build it back. Kagami trains for the Olympics. Alix goes for a degree in archeology - following her family and her miraculous. The comic series relating the aventures of the Court by Nathaniel and Mark is a huge success, assuring their own place in the world. Allan go to Japan for a degree in languages. Bridgette and Marinette goes to China to visit their family (they're totally cousins) and for their respective studies in communication and fashion.
Paris is heartbroken and very concerned when Dame Chance and Cat Sìth disapear but the Ladyblog remains active so they can explain that they're young, they want to learn to live in this world and they need to attends some Miraculous matters - but of course if Paris or the France or even the world need their help one day, they'd come back.
At 23, Marinette, Adrian, Nino and Alix take a gap year and go to Tibet. Because they're not civilians despite their somewhat inactivity and their Court is cool but they very much need to think about the future, the after them. So they need to rebuild the Order.
Oh. The League/The Untitled/a great bad. Coucou. (book 2?)
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stardustedknuckles · 2 years
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Wait wait so I was just reading through your Asami/Korra posts (which btw are a lovely read) and saw that you're aro/ace!! I'm trying to figure out where exactly I fall on the spectrum. Hypothetically, I like the idea of sex, romance, a relationship etc, but in real life it just doesn't click. I want all of these things having to do with a relationship and love, but I just don't get them y'know. I know the most important thing to do is just not really worry about it, but I was just wondering if you have any experiences or insight or anything you'd be willing to share about being aro/ace?
Btw i love your blog and hope you are having a good day! :)
Oh hi!! So if you go a little further you'll see I technically fall under aro/demi but it's shorter to go with aroace than aroaspec etc.
Anyway! Insights and experience.
Hmm...you know how when people ask your favorite book and you just forget every word you've ever read? I don't have ready-made insights but I can point you to a few wlw fics that might be from a different fandom but which were written specifically to explore the demi/gray ace identity and experience (promise I'm not pumping myself up, a huge number of my fics examine all kinds of stuff I've been through and I get lucky enough to have readers that connect in different ways!)
I will say that so much of what I write when it comes to vulnerability and trust has nothing to do with romance - in fact, the idea of writing romance gets me feeling all kinds of weird and wrong. It's just that to people who do experience attraction, my writing tends to look like their experiences of romance.
But the secret is that I've not really had that trust yet either. And I don't know if I can. I write vulnerability because I understand how it works on paper and I know I want it for myself, but I genuinely don't know how to let myself fall and trust that anyone will catch me. All my energy is spent not falling in the first place. Fic is wish fulfillment for the most part. I do have someone in my life who has seen me at my very worst and I trust her more easily than others with my bad parts because I can't get worse than when we were first friends (and neither can she). There's a kind of security that comes from seeing the darkest part of someone and vice versa, knowing years later that you made it work after that and you can make it work through anything. I'm not sure it's the same thing as learning to trust though. It's like a cheat code that came with a whole lot of strife I'm glad to be past.
Anyway the fics linked here will deal more with the sexual attraction side of things (or lack thereof) since the ship fandom I live in primarily has so much emphasis on trust and vulnerability and will (and therefore looks a lot like romance) but hopefully there's something in there that connects with you! Stay tuned, I might even go there a bit with korrasami depending on how long I stay fixated on them. :)
Fic 1: Discussions of asexuality/attraction and experience with a friendly third party (rated T)
Fic 2: Demi/gray sex and discussions of the experience thereof (rated E)
Fic 3: Demigray character confesses she feels like she might be broken, doesn’t have the terminology for what she feels but makes a pretty nice explanation nonetheless. (rated T)
Hope you enjoy, no pressure to read!
Edit: important note - I categorize her as demigray specifically because it’s one thing to develop attraction after a deep bond has formed (demi) and quite another for that attraction to still be fickle and unreliable in when and how often it shows up (gray). 
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agoddamn · 3 years
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Oh, it's that little Bonteri shit again. Wonder if we're at any time gonna talk about his mom's support for Care Bear genocide or the hilarity of her whining about her husband killed by clones (people with no rights)?
Star Wars is doing that funny thing again where we are TECHNICALLY portraying a democracy but it populates it with characters that run on dynastic inheritance; this Bonteri brat is LITERALLY just Some Fuckin Kid to a bunch of politicians. His mom being a politician is completely irrelevant to his qualifications to be here. But, y'know, The Drama
"We can't just let them take him! He'll be killed!" well maybe if you didn't let RANDOM FUCKING CHILDREN into critical negotiations...
Hang on, why did the droids drag him away anyway? This is being hosted on Mandalore BECAUSE it's neutral. That means that Mandalore's security is supposed to be enforcing the rules.
Am I gonna have to put up with comphet again?
Wait, he ACTUALLY has the title of senator? Even though he's like fourteen? How--ah, what the fuck ever
I do like how Ahsoka has these consistent little...gremlin animations
The backs of these purple senate guards are identical to clone trooper backs (rectangular pack with two lines and a circle on it, cylinder in small of back) because mold reuse is the true king of design
This is legit How You Can Tell how much a series's sense of design leans towards the toyetic; characters designed around being able to share the same mold for major body parts. You also see this a lot in Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, where goons will tend to have a copied chestpiece with unique helmet.
Is this sword logo on the chairs Mandalore's? This ship doesn't look all that art deco, and it was being run by R2, and the senate guards were outside it
This kid is not very smart huh
"There is another option" is it terrorism?
"Like [the Republic] helped my mother?!" you do remember that your mother was not part of the Republic and killed by DOOKU without any chance for the Republic to do anything, right...?
Like, this is a perfectly normal way to process grief but I'd appreciate it if someone pointed out how irrational it is
"a group who are noble and allied with my cause" ah yes, terrorism
How much longer til this little shit dies
[fake shock] Oh my goodness, terrorists!
Ahsoka's winter hood with the montral pockets and little puffballs is really fucking cute
There's often an implication/outright statement in fic that Mandalorian armor is androgynous but that is definitely not the case with what I'm looking at
There's not a whole lotta consistency with Mandalorian names, is there? "Satine" and "Bo-Katan" don't sound like they came from the same planet
Why do I have to deal with a fake relationship plot with Ahsoka and some walking, talking spoiled milk rather than literally anyone fucking else
.............so Bo-Katan's a lesbian
>Mandalorians are bullying droids and this is supposed to be ominous regardless of the fact that our heroes bully droids 24/7
WHATEVER
Death Watch doesn't recognize Ahsoka? Wasn't she pretty publicly involved in ruining their plans?
"Tell your woman to leave us" oh these guys sound VERY egalitarian and not sexist at ALL
Love how these guys are bragging about having Dooku's location as if that information isn't several hours outdated by now and Dooku isn't a guy who moves around a lot
"We are battle droids no longer. Now we are slaves." NOW? Oh, whatever
These guys look vaguely Mongolian? The girl's facial decos made me think Mirialan for a second, but I think they're new. In a very weird cultural appropriation boomerang, this dude's hat looks like Amidala's
"You have taken our women" ...oh, I was not expecting the rape implications to be that, uh, not-implied
So traditionalist Mandos are DEFINITELY pretty fucking misogynist
>there's not even an animation of Ahsoka taking her coat off, it just vanishes between frames
Goddamn, this really does drag when everything that's going to happen is so blatantly choreographed
I'm tired of Deus Ex Artoo
What kind of shitty terrorists don't even bother to take a ship that was parked on their front lawn?
"You know I can't go with you" LITERALLY why??? He hasn't committed any crimes by Republic standards. He's got valuable info on a terrorist group. He has similar goals to Ahsoka and he's just proven himself quite fucking incompetent on his own.
"We could try to change things from the inside" LITERALLY WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?? Dooku is a SITH, there is no "changing from the inside" with that shit!
"We make a pretty good team, don't we?" No
"We'll see each other again" FUCK
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thatpoppinat · 3 years
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A Ladybug’s Confession~
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Warning! Warning! Warning!
I think this is a bit angsty but it depends on the person. :)
_______________________
  I remember my first day on the job vividly. I think about it a lot.
   And you know what? I think it's fair.
   I mean, it'd be hard not to forget how me stopping an old man from being run over by a car and sacrificing macaroons, led me to become a world renowned ladybug themed superhero in a skintight suit, using a magical yoyo to swing across rooftops and purify possessed butterflies created by a man who wants to use two pieces of magic jewelry for reasons unknown.
 Oh, I also have a partner who loves to flirt and get on my nerves while wearing a leather catsuit.
  Seems magical, I know. That's how it felt in the beginning.
   After my partner kept me from having a nervous mental breakdown on live television, that is.
   But time passed, and with that, so did the initial feelings of adrenaline and security.
   Fights started lasting longer and were harder. My parents started questioning me and scolding me for my absences. School stared to become more demanding due to less time in school (thanks, akumas) and my grades started to slip. My tardiness didn't help.
      I started loosing sleep. I couldn't work on my designs as much as I wanted to anymore. I began to notice and question if the people I was defending cared about me for me, and not just what I could do for them.
    I felt like while my partner was being degraded as a sidekick and a scapegoat, I was being held as a golden child: given conditional praise and an impossibly high standard set for me.
  I am a fourteen year old girl.
   I felt like nothing I could do was enough, and I thought about how me trying to give myself to others always ended in disaster. Or me being scolded for trying to defending myself.
   I learned that no matter how much you support others, they're not always going to take that into consideration and help you in a time of need.
   And that some of the people who do notice wrongdoings won't do anything at all.
  And the icing on the cake was when I lost Master Fu.
 Master Fu.
  The one constant in my life. One of the few men on Earth who could read - debatably - the most reliable source of information on the miraculous. The man who guided me, who believed in me.
   A man who lost his memories because of my mistake. Because I let my guard down.
  And now, it's my responsibility to take care of some of the most important artifacts in the universe. With hardly any training.
 … Why would you give it to me? You knew I wasn't ready.
  I feel like I could have saved you. I could've preventing this from happening somehow.
   Maybe if I did, he'd still be here. Listening to my whine about my woes while he felt like he carried a whole world on his shoulders. Making his afternoon tea while telling me stories about his past. Telling me about his old family. The one he was forced to leave.
  … Maybe it was for the better that he lost his memories.
  I deal with these thoughts every day. I can't tell anyone what I'm going through.
  I broke down crying in front of Luka a couple of weeks ago.
  I feel like everything in my life is falling apart.
  And that I can only watch.
  From the beginning, Tikki told me this wasn't going to be this easy.
  But no one ever told me it would be so hard.
   Maybe she just thought there was no way I could've failed this spectacularly. To be fair, neither did I.
   I feel so lost sometimes. Days will go bye and the feeling of emptiness never leaves me. When I feel like running away from my life, I transform into Ladybug and run across the rooftops, and fly to the top of the Eiffel tower - well, it's not actually flying but, it feels like it, honestly.
   When I make it to the top, it's when I get all emotional y'know? It's dark out, some of the city lights are on, no traffic, and the sky is just a beautiful shade of midnight blue. Accompanied by a silver broken moon - I mean, usually a crescent moon, but sometimes a full moon … I don't go out every night . . .
Heh …
 *sigh* And it's quiet.
  So very quiet....
  At the top, I look down and see how grand my city really is.
  Paris: the City of Love.
  My home, my life, my responsibility...
  I look down, and I just take a moment, to breathe - to see how enchantingly beautiful everything is.
  Yet I can also see how vast, and overwhelming everything is, too.
   It's all so overwhelming. I want to tell Chat everything. I want to tell Chat who I am, for us to be closer. For his help and his reassurance that everything will be okay and that we'll through this together.
 To admit to him that I'm scared.
 But after Chat Blanc... New York...
 No, he's dealing with his own struggles right now. He left me in New York after I said cruel things to him when I knew deep down that he'd never purposely do anything to hurt me. He's caring like that. He slips through your defenses like that. He's calming like that.
  I had never considered him leaving me until that day.
 I never thought that our identity reveal could result in the end of the world.
No … we couldn't. We can't. Not now you dumb cat.
 …
 And Adrien.
 Oh Adrien.
 I can never catch my breath around him. No matter how hard I try I my legs turn into putty and I transform into an awkward mess of limbs when he’s near.
 And I don't know why.
 Maybe it's because he was so open and honest to me that fateful day. Maybe it was because he sought me out, even when I thought that he were garbage.He was so open and honest, so caring, and thoughtful. He made me feel valued - important even. Not Ladybug. Marinette.
 Heh, you didn't even ask for your umbrella back. I'm sure you could order a million of them if you wanted to though.
  Not a good way to spend money. But it's a good way to make a woman fall head over heels for you. Just hand it to your mystery love on a rainy day, I'm sure you'll be fine. She'd feel so lucky.
 It hurts so much though.
  Moving on, supporting you and Kagami. You defending Lila. Everything really.
 I always embarrass myself. Whenever I try to confess, something always happens. Not like there's a point. There's no way I'm your mystery girl.
 Sometimes, I wonder if the universe is sending me signs that we're not meant to be together after all.
  And in the end - despite my admittedly creepy tendencies-, all I want is for you to be happy. It's what you deserve after all you've been through.
  Maybe if you rejected me yourself; if you were rude and uncaring. Maybe then it would be easier to get over you. But then why does being with you sound so right?
 Can I stop my fall?
(End)
_______________
I made this at 11:00 at night (can you tell?)
   This is just how I interpreted everything from s3 and how believe Marinette feels after everything. But knowing the writers, they’re probably not gonna show her going through trauma and having nightmares and her stressing out, but you never know.
  As for the Marinette being stressed about Chat leaving and her opinion on how her words were cruel, I believe that she didn't do anything wrong and had the right to be angry, but considering Marinette, she may not think that’s the case.
 She also may not think that she’s Ladybug “in real life”, but I think she is.
_____________________
  I was in a very, very angsty mood while writing this, as you can probably tell XD. This is the second fanfic I’ve made.
  I might continue with the WTWKYN story I made (I might have to change the name though), and I might make an Adrien version of this. Idk, depends on how I feel.
   Overall, I’m pretty proud of this! As always, positive criticism is welcome.
  You can reblog if you want to, I don’t mind.
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marvel-lous-things · 5 years
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(Tungly.hell isn't letting me answer this in ask form so here)
Long ass post time
Okay spidey's rumoured to be coming back but this concept's fucking hilarious anyway so I'm going with it
Aight. So. The Avengers still exist.
ExcEPT
They're called the Vengeance Boyz
And they are a super secret boyband (more like rly fuckin obscure and unheard of but let's not be mean)
Their lead guitarist is a skinny blond twink named Roger Stevens. He insists that everyone call him Champion USA
Their drummer is a huge buff dude. Played by Chris Hemsworth. In sunglasses. And a he-man wig.
His name is Thorn
Nobody asks why a grown ass man in a dollar store wig and ray ban sunglasses is playing a 17 year old
Which is
Pretty on brand for Hollywood tbh
Oh also
He collects hammers. There's a hammer in the background of every scene he's in. Nobody questions that either. Nobody even notices the hammers. Why are there so many hammers.
Also, Thorn's full name is Throckmorton
Yes like your cousin Throckmorton
(look it up)
Peter did want to join them and he did get an opportunity but he turned it down because becoming lead singer was too much responsibility. He'd rather stick to neighborhood wide karaoke for now.
Then there's nick fury. except there is no nick Fury
It's actually Peter's school principal, Nicki Funaj
She wears an eyepatch on her right eye. It's not damaged or anything she just thinks it looks cool (she's right)
Oh and Happy Hogan is now a woman named Joy Gohan. She's the forehead of security at Peter's school
Also she still has a thing for Aunt May because we can't throw the entire MCU away, now, can we?
(no)
(no we can't)
AND NOW FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT BIT
Tony Stark whomst? We only stan Antoni Starr in this house
CEO of Starr Incorporated, leading manufacturers of high tech prosthetics, also really into research of self sustaining energy for some reason
Y'know, like bic makes condoms and lighters
Or crayons and lighters
Or all three
Or something
whatever
(diversification babey!!!)
Anyway Peter got an internship with Starr Incorporated by accident after he walked into the wrong interview room
Oh and by the way Antoni Starr is played by that one stunt double who Tom Holland mistook for RDJ himself
War Machine is now called Battle Contraption
and it's the pet robot of world renowned robotics pioneer Jiminy Road
He calls it BaCon
Pepper Potts still exists because I love her and I said so
She runs SI's self sustaining energy department and anyone who says otherwise will be jailed
I guess she's renamed to Chilli Potter or some shit idk man
Chilli and Antoni have a son named Marcus Starr who is played by Lexi Rabe with her hair bunched up in a baseball cap
Marcus is always seen wearing absurdly """masculine""" clothing to the point where it's the funniest fucking thing about the franchise
I'm talking a seven year old in cargo pants and a collared camo-patterned shirt with the word MAN written on it in big red text
(yes this is a thinly veiled attempt to keep the ironfam alive)
(shut up)
Peter did build his own suit but only after conveniently finding all the parts to one when he went dumpster diving one day in SI's dumpsters
Nobody knows who threw away a fully functional Spiderman suit in the trash. Along with the accompanying AI.
On a pen drive.
Peter modifies the AI on his windinosaur 98 computer and names it CARMEN
Endgame did happen, but like. In another universe. So. Half the people disappeared and then reappeared again five years later.
There is no explanation
Do not ask for one
(they call it the Bloop)
Thanos is actually a grape juice mascot who gives Peter the creeps
Like the kool aid man
If the kool aid man caused Armageddon in another universe (which, let's be real, he probably did)
The grape juice is called Snappos
Snap-pos
(Heh)
And therein ends my frankly stellar attempt at fixing Sony's plot holes
BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE.
The best goddamn part: Tom Holland is told Absolutely Nothing About Anything. He's just released onto set like a horse in a hospital and expected to deal.
Because he'll spoil Everything the second he hears about it smh the fool
But also because. it's just really fucking funny to mess with him.
His script contains two lines:
(which is an improvement on his MCU scripts let's be real)
"Peter Parker: [improvises] and also says "oHmYgoDitsroBERtdoWnEYjR" every time the decidedly-not-rdj stunt double shows up on screen"
And
"Peter Parker: [takes off shirt at least 18 times. No explanation provided.]"
Tom Holland is completely Jon Snow Kin (i.e knows nothing) and we get to watch his real reaction as the reality of change hits him like a sack of potatoes to the knees
examples include StuntDouble!RDJ shaking his hand and congratulating him on being promoted to paid intern (to what?)
and Miles Morales's dad (played by Terry Crews and Terry Crews only no I will not negotiate) accuses him of identity theft
Oh and finally
Peter Parker is bisexual now
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anxiouslyfred · 2 years
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Angel in the Woods
Summary: Virgil is an angel made to visit Earth for some task despite Heaven keeping a hands off policy in regards to guiding humans. They’d been caught by Roman and are now just visiting when there are small things more easily done from Earth. Roman just moved to try and get to see his Angel’s wings again
/\/\
Virgil shouldn't have been on Earth, well except for the instructions that required they be there and they couldn't argue with for fear of someone suggestion they were falling. They still didn't think going to Earth when Angels now had a stand off approach to looking after humanity was a good idea, especially given just how quickly the Human's were changing and increasing the technology watching everything.
They were just lucky that the only camera to catch their arrival was the security cameras that Roman monitored. Roman had already managed to wipe their arrival and explain it away as a system glitch before ever approaching them.
“Virgillll! You've come back!” Roman trilled, already bouncing through the cottage to greet them.
They raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, new place though. Why'd you move out here?”
“Because I can drive to work and you can spread your wings and relax if I'm out in the woods rather than living in town.” Roman replied, beaming at his own decision. “I thought if I was somewhere with less cameras about my delightful bird of paradise would visit more often.”
“You're kidding about spreading my wings right? That's like literally the number one thing I need to avoid since no humans are meant to know I'm an angel or that we even exist. I've been doing paperwork for weeks just to get you allowed to know.” Virgil scoffed, looking around the area. They could still see the city skyscrapers in the distance from the patio and it looked like there were still neighbours through a gap in the trees. No matter how isolated there would always be people around who could see their wings if Roman remained in commutable distance.
Roman shook his head though, waving over to the closest house when someone came out. “Nope, Julie over there often has wings in her outfits to practise for circus acts. Never asked why she doesn't travel with a circus but she would just think you're in a similar position. Pretty much all my neighbours who might see you go around in weird outfits themselves for whatever reasons.”
Virgil scoffed, shaking their head before turning back into the cabin. “Not happening, Roman. Glad you aren't surrounded by crowds but I'm still not doing that.”
“Come on, my shining star, my guiding light. Please just spread your wings and be comfortable. I know you mentioned finding the strain of hiding them painful after a while and I don't want to see you hurt. Would you feel better if I also wore wings?” Roman coaxed, smiling gently when Virgil threw a shocked look at his offer.
“How?”
Roman curled a finger to have Virgil follow him through to the bedroom. “I brought these a while ago. Apparently someone else saw you arrive and I thought just claiming they must've seen a reflection of me practising for an audition in a costume while watching the cameras was easier than anything else.”
Spread over the bed were some dark silver wings, not as big as Virgil's were but still large enough to hang off the edges. When Virgil had first visited Earth those wings would have been identical to his if not for size and they couldn't tell if Roman still kept an image of that day or if he'd just remembered them well enough to recreate.
“If I do this will you finally let me say what help I need?” Virgil paused, hesitantly reaching out to stroke the wings. Theirs had stopped looking like that at some point, gaining a violet colour that got closer to magenta in the darker parts and seeing how they used to look had an ache for that time, before heaven's orders weren't the only thing they needed to feel accomplished.
“Of course, actually we can do that first. You don't have to have a reason or orders or something to come visit y'know. You could just turn up.” Roman offered, now picking up the fake wings and struggling to put them on until Virgil leant a hand.
“Maybe I'll remember that for next time.” They smiled, following the human through to the computer they'd spotted already. An idea needed planting and Virgil already knew how to get it spread far enough if the right person tweeted it.
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ambivalent-anarchy · 4 years
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Grey
Gender: Female
Pairing: Peter Parker x morally grey! reader
Warning: None
Saw something on Pinterest and had an idea.
This will be a new storyline. Not a fic, just the one-shots will be connected, though you'll be able to read all of them separate and it still makes sense. You can send requests for this storyline just put 'Peter Parker x grey!reader'
Morally grey- a character who does too much good to fully be bad, but too much bad to fully be good and their motives are unclear.
Hope you like it!
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Peter had been warned against people like her.
She kept him on his toes, always switching sides. She wasn't like the other villains he'd known.
Mysterio, Scorpion, Otto Octavius. They were bad. There was no doubt about it. They'd each brought some turmoil on the world in one form or another.
They needed to be stopped. So Spiderman stopped them. Simple as that.
But [Y/N]. She was different.
"Watch out for the morally grey ones," Mr. Stark had told him early in his superhero career. "They're the confusing ones. The ones ya just can't fully be mad at."
Natasha was much more clear with her approach. "Take my advice, kid," she said. "Don't make it personal. I've seen how you act with your villains.. one like that, where they're so close to being good, yet so far. One like that would kill your spirit."
And it certainly seemed Peter had finally found his match.
"Give it up, [Y/N]! I always catch you!"
He'd been tracking her for weeks now. At first it seemed she was just a common thief. But she was smart. She had skills. She had plans. And well, if you wear a costume, you can't just be some common thief.
"You forget, Spiderman!," she chirped as she ran, a large, bulging bag on her back. "We're twelve to seven! I've been coming up lately!"
Peter rolled his eyes as he hopped into action. "Is this just a game to you?"
"I'm just saying," she laughed. "Gotta give credit where credit is due!"
Peter scoffed as he swung to catch up. "You say that as you hold a bag of hundreds of people's stolen money!"
This was her fifth time this week. Going to rich people's banks and sneaking past the security systems and stealing their money.
For a few weeks, Peter hadn't eaten. He hadn't slept. He was practically going crazy searching for her. Trying to pin an M.O. to make it a bit easier for himself. But she was untraceable. The only thing he'd found out about her was her name. Which basically led to nothing being that she was practically a nobody. The only time he could see her was when she made herself visible.
Today, she'd hit the bank Norman Osborn had been storing sums of his money into. But hardly anyone knew that. She'd done her research and some heavy snooping.
"It's mostly just Osborn today, he'll find a way to bounce back! He always does!," she yelled, jumping to the last building on the block.
She looked around desperately as she felt her chaser getting closer. She was trapped. "Crap," she muttered.
"Gotcha," Peter whispered to himself as he swung to the building she stood on. Once there, he quickly webbed the bag from her back.
Quickly noticing what he was doing, [Y/N] caught it just as he began to snatch it. She kept a tight hold on it and they began to fight for dominance, stuck in their own little game of tug-of-war.
"Let...go!," Peter grunted.
"Not on your life," she shot back, feeling her feet slide on the concrete. She was about to lose.
They both realized it as her feet began to give way and her body became airborne, almost crashing into Peter before he quickly moved out of the way.
"Ugh!"
[Y/N] screamed as her entire back crashed into wall of the building. Looking up, she watched as Spiderman grabbed the bag.
"Oh, hell no," she spat.
Peter smirked as he picked up the bag. "Sorry [Y/N]. But I guess it's thirteen to seven now- AGH!"
He collapsed in an instant, feeling something hard sling across his face. It was too hard to be a fist. And God it hurt like hell.
[Y/N] scowled. "You threw me into a wall!," she screamed as hit her nemesis again and again with the butt of her gun. "You asshole!"
Peter grimaced, attempting to grab hold to her wrists and push her off of him. "Well, I didn't BREAK YOUR NOSE!," he hissed through gritted teeth. Luckily, that was the only thing that felt broken of his.
She continued her brutal attack on his upper body, almost as if she's was trying to put the gun through him before he finally got the upper hand and threw her off.
He moved to try to stand, but he fell back down, an entirely new, different pain aside from his face starting.
[Y/N] propped her head up. "Was that your stomach?," she asked.
Aunt May was out of town, so there was no one to make sure Peter had been taking care of himself, which he hadn't. The last thing he'd prepared was a pop-tart, that was still burning in the toaster in his home as he sat on that building.
[Y/N] stood, rubbing her back to relieve some of the pain she felt that was keen on staying. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was your stomach."
Peter scrunched his eyebrows together, confused. Still, he put his fist up to fight, ignoring the heavy and loud rumbling of his stomach.
Rolling her eyes, she threw the gun down. "Well, I'm not gonna fight you now." She moved toward him to pick up the bag he barely had a hold on. Unzipping it and reaching in, she pulled out a few bills and put it in the hand that wasn't pressing his cheek. "Here. Take it."
Peter backed into the wall some more, if that was even possible. "I don't want your dirty money," he protested.
"Well, it's from a rich people bank. It's actually pretty clean," [Y/N] joked before kicking his uninjured leg lightly. "C'mon man, don't be weird just take it, okay?"
"Put the money back in the bag," Peter ordered, making a second attempt to stand. He didn't make it this time either, cursing quietly as he fell back to the ground. Was he hurt or was he just really tired he asked himself.
"You need to eat something."
Peter frowned, wrapping both arms around his grumbling stomach. "You need to mind your own business."
[Y/N] stepped forward slowly, arms held out in front of her, palms up. "You fainted on me last week, remember idiot? And I can hear how hungry you are now." She walked a bit closer, picking up the bills her enemy had thrown on the ground, then looked back up to him. "If you won't take the money, at least let me buy you some food," she bargained.
Peter watched the mixed expressions flicker on her face. Annoyance. Concerned? She sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Look Spiderman, you help everyone. Let someone help you for once. Don't let your pride stop you from taking the help you need to continue saving lives, okay?" She smiled crookedly. "To continue stopping people like me."
Peter stared, mouth agape. "[Y/N], what is this?," he questioned. "You're not nice.. you're rude, a-and you only care about yourself." He winced, shuffling to lay his back on the wall of the building you'd thrown him into moments before.
"Well, I've always preferred 'rough around the edges', but okay," she snickered, rolling her eyes and then looking down at the ground right in front of his feet. This was completely out of her element, but she couldn't help but feel like she was obligated to do it.
"Alright, but.. you hate me," Peter said, looking up to see her completely unreadable face.
She finished stuffing the rest of the money in her bag. "I think you've got me messed up with Doc Oc," she said, wiping off her pants, getting ready to help Spider-man up. "I'm not like most of them, y'know. Us villains aren't all the same. Some of us actually do have some morals."
He watched as she looked around, muttering to herself. If it were anybody else, they wouldn't have heard her. But with his senses, Peter heard her loud and clear.
'God, give me strength.'
She held her hand out to him. "Come on, let me get you outta here, Spider."
Underneath his mask, Peter's frown deepened. "No, I got it... just go, okay?" He still had a hold on the bag with his webs. He was offering her a chance to escape.
"Don't be an idiot, dude," she scolded. "I just pistol-whipped you. Even if you swing, I'm sure all that wind blowing on your cuts and bruises wouldn't be comfortable..."
Peter blew out a breath. He knew she didn't really want this. So why was she so insistent? She was a criminal and he was the hero. Simple as that. Or at least, it's supposed to be.
But now she was helping him? Offering him a meal? He hated to admit it, but at this moment, he preferred criminals like Doc Oc or Green Goblin. At least they didn't confuse him like this.
But she's didn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. And he did still need to take the cash she'd stolen. So swallowing his pride, he chuckled. "Um, [Y/N]... look.."
-
And now they were in the Olive Garden parking lot.
She'd helped clean most of his cuts in her car (his mask only going up to his nose of course).
After he'd had a bit of time to calm down, he turned his face toward her. "So, um, there's no drive-thru?"
The villain scoffed lightly. "Hell no," she responded. "I'm not throwing my whole day off on you. We're movin' on my schedule bucko. And anytime I lose against you, and not get thrown in lockup, I go drink, okay? That cool with you?," you teased. "Or are you gonna tell me how unhealthy that is Mr. Superhero Guy?"
Peter huffed. "Well, you can go eat. But I'm not taking off my mask. I'll stay here."
"And let you steal back my cash? I don't think so," she retorted.
"So what?," he asked, frankly annoyed at this point. "Spider-Man just walks into an Olive Garden with a random girl?"
"Wouldn't be that way if you'd just take off your mask," [Y/N] defended. "Then it'd just be two random people walking into an Olive Garden."
"That's not an option."
Tapping on the dashboard, she groaned. "C'mon, I take my mask off in front of you all the time! You know who I am. Why can't I know who you are?"
"You don't care about keeping your identity a secret because you have nothing to lose. I'm not the same. I want my loved ones to be safe."
"That's implying that I'd hurt someone you love, Spider-Man. I'm not sadistic," [Y/N] corrected.
Peter frowned. "You literally pistol-whipped me about an hour ago."
"And I just spent that last hour nursing your wounds," she shot back.
"Sometimes you go out of your way to beat me up though."
"That's because sometimes you aggravate me," she laughed. "Occasionally, you deserve to get punched in the face."
"Whatever."
It was quiet again.
Until two minutes later Spiderman's stomach growled once again.
"Look dude, we could always pass you off as a overenthusiastic cosplayer?," she offered. "You wouldn't have to take off your mask that way, but you would get weird looks."
For probably the hundredth time since starting his hunt on her, Peter rolled his eyes. "Why do you want me to eat so much anyway?"
"I don't care about you if that's what you're suggesting," she said. "I just don't like people going hungry. And it's obvious you're not taking care of yourself." Her eyes shifted a bit. "And what's the fun in beating you if I'm not beating you at your highest, right?"
Peter chuckled at [Y/N]'s excuse. "Right.."
-
And now they were sat at a table. [Y/N] in a cute shirt she had in her car and some jeans. Peter still in his Spiderman suit.
Awkward, to say the least.
But the stares from waiters were the least of Peter's worries.
'What am I doing???'
He should've left hours ago. He should've grabbed the money and returned it and taken this girl to jail.
But the more he talked to her, and the way she nursed his wounds without question and gave him some food. It made him think of all the other things he hadn't noticed before.
How she only stole from the rich (which was very bad of course but way better than just taking from everybody). How she never went for kill shots, or even for spots that'd cause heavy injury.
She was a bad guy, yes. But maybe she wasn't a bad guy.
"I'm sorry for that time I shot you, by the way," she spoke in the middle of their meal. "It was meant to just be a warning shot. But you moved and it got your leg. It's been bugging me for a long time. That didn't take too long to heal, did it?"
Peter shook his head as he chewed his food.
"Good," she said. "Also for pistol-whipping you earlier today. I kinda got carried away."
"Yeah, I could tell. It hurts to chew right now," he said.
"Well my back still hurts from being thrown into a wa-"
"Why do you steal?," Peter cut in to ask.
Without any hesitation, [Y/N] responded. "It's just my way."
He frowned. "Just your way?," he repeated. "Haven't you-"
"Don't want a job. Tried them and didn't like them. And there's nothing more schools can teach me. Stealing has the thrill I love and it helps me to get around and, if the opportunity presents itself, to help somebody out."
Peter stared, dumbfounded. So [Y/N] was a good person...who just happened to like stealing? But then that else make her a bad person.
How could one person be so contradictory?
"You are an enigma," Peter marveled.
"Thank you," she replied, taking a sip of her wine.
When it came time to leave, [Y/N] paid and they made their way out of the building, actually laughing together and enjoying themselves.
They made their way back to her car. [Y/N] smiled. "Well, thanks for that, even though I never saw your face the whole time," she giggled. "Wait, does this count as a date? I'm sorta dressed up and you're probably in the best suit you've ever worn." She pinched at a spot of his suit on his shoulder. "Had a semi-fancy dinner-"
Peter held his head back and laughed. "I mean, I guess if you want it to, then it does. But I'm still gonna arrest you if I catch you again."
[Y/N] smirked. "And I'm still gonna steal, so.."
"Right..," Peter sighed. It wasn't like he thought he could actually change her in one night. But someone so insistent on doing a bad thing.
So close, yet so far...
Which made him remember..
"Oh yeah!," he exclaimed as he bursts off running towards the car, leaving a confused [Y/N] behind him.
She didn't get a chance to ask what he was doing before he kicked and busted the tires of her car and broke one of the windows to reach in and steal the bag of money inside.
Jumping onto her car, he pulled his mask up to right above his mouth. "Thanks for the meal! Gotta blast! Remember to stay off the streets!," Peter yelled before he jumped into the air.
Shocked, [Y/N] stood there frozen. "I-i, I-i.... I'M GONNA KILL YOU, SPIDERMAN!!!"
"You say that a lot!," he joked. "I'm beginning to doubt your commitment!"
"Ugh!"
-
"How'd it go, underoos?," Tony asked early the next morning.
Peter looked up from his computer with a unreadable expression on his face. "Hey Mr. Stark," he started. He furrowed his eyebrows. "I think I met one of those villains you used to talk about. The good but bad ones?"
Tony crossed his arms. "And?"
"I think we're kinda friends..."
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fire-the-headcanons · 5 years
Text
"Ah, the scabbard's got an ejector." She reached out and pressed a button on the cylinder in Raven's left hand.
BOOM.
An ice-blue blade shot from the sheath and smashed against the wall, erupting into a jagged star of ice. Raven shrieked as the cylinder nearly tore itself from her grip, dropping her sword to catch it with her other arm.
Carmine paled. "Whoops. That's significantly stronger than standard. Are you all right, dear?"
Follow the Beacon Qrow—Whoops
[This really should have been two chapters. Link to Masterpost] 
The squat stone building looked more like a warehouse than anything else, except for the various chimneys. A set of metal double doors opened straight onto the shop floor, where a half dozen Huntsmen and Huntresses were doing some kind of work on their weapons at the workstations scattered around the room. At the sound of the doors, one of them yanked off her goggles and Qrow recognized the red-haired professor they'd spoken to yesterday.
"Ah, the Taupe twins! You're early!" she said cheerfully, hopping down from her stool. A couple of the floor's other occupants glanced up, but quickly resumed their work. 
"S-sorry," he stammered as she reached them. 
"No problem, I could use a break," she said, gesturing for the two of them to follow her into a much smaller room—probably the classroom, actually, from the number of desks. "It'll be a bit quieter in here."
Raven scowled quizzically at the door. "Aren't they old to be students?" 
"Well, they're not," Carmine said. "Pro Huntsmen use the schools' forges all the time for upgrades, repairs, what have you. It's one of the main benefits of being licensed. And the kingdoms build a few big, well-stocked facilities instead of dozens of small ones that only have the bare essentials. " She rubbed her hands together excitedly. "But school hasn't started yet, so I'll save the lectures for next week! Let's see what you've been using." 
The twins drew their weapons and set them out on the workbench. Carmine kicked a short stool over without even glancing at it and hopped up for a better look.
"Garbage," she said dismissively, flicking Raven's two-handed sword before seizing Qrow's shotgun and popping it open to inspect the Dust assembly. "Though well-maintained. You one-shotted a Beowolf with this? "
"Uh…"
"Again, you did a great job fixing it up," she said, tossing each piece in the scrap bins behind her as she broke it down. "But you didn't come to Beacon to keep using hand-me-downs, did you."
"No, ma'am."
She yanked the Dust assembly free and inspected it. "Hmm. Less terrible." she muttered, setting the assembly carefully back on the bench. "So what do you two have in mind? We don't really have time to forge custom pieces before classes start, but you'll need to use something while we work on your designs."
"Something like that would do," Raven said, looking up at the long single-edged blade hanging on the wall.
"I said basic, not simple," Carmine said. "That's practically a template."
"I want something simple. Easy to maintain."
"Hmm. Y'know, I think the SDC sent something a while back that fits the bill." She stepped down and crossed to a large cabinet emblazoned with the familiar snowflake. "They keep asking me to come and work for them, say they want to expand their weapons catalog beyond just ammunition. As if I'd ever leave Oz hanging like that. Here we are!" she shoved a few rifles out of the way and grabbed a black cylinder. 
"What is it?"
"The blade's removable," Carmine said, seizing the hilt and pulling it from the large scabbard. Instead of a blade, there was a nub about a hand's breadth wide for one to be slotted into. "People have been trying to make swords out of Dust for years—the ultimate engineering challenge. Too brittle and rigid. The Schnees' solution was to give you a few replacements." She angled the scabbard so the twins could see the rainbow of different blades inside. "Let's see how it does, shall we?"
She slotted the hilt back into place and pulled the trigger with an audible click. When she drew it again, it held a glittering, blood-red blade. "Looks like they've suspended powdered Dust in some kind of resin. Crystals of this size would cost a fortune."
"Resin wouldn't hold an edge very well." Raven said.
"There's a few steel blades in there too. But with Dust—" Her aura sparked around her hand and the blade ignited. "Not bad for mass-produced! Wanna give it a swing, kid?"
Raven accepted the blade and scabbard—it was definitely a better size for her than the Professor.
"I'm surprised they didn't put a pistol in the hilt, that's pretty standard these days. We can work on some modifications later." She frowned. "Although… I could have sworn there was some ranged component," Carmine muttered, returning to the locker and hauling out a box from the bottom. "You'll want the manual anyway." 
Raven inspected the hilt of her sword as the Professor dug through dozens of near-identical books. "Here we go!" Carmine beamed, flipping through one. "Ah, the scabbard's got an ejector." She reached out and pressed a button on the cylinder in Raven's left hand.
BOOM.
An ice-blue blade shot from the sheath and smashed against the wall, erupting into a jagged star of ice. Raven shrieked as the cylinder nearly tore itself from her grip, dropping her sword to catch it with her other arm.
Carmine paled. "Whoops. That's significantly stronger than standard. Are you all right, dear?"
"I'm fine," Raven said, strapping the cannon to her belt. Qrow didn't miss the pointed glare she snuck at him over the professor's head.
"A bit excessive," Carmine muttered. "But handy against something big. Anyway! They're manufacturing this with private security in mind, I think, but you know the SDC. You'll be able to walk into any Dust shop and pick up more blades for a pittance." She squinted at the manual. "What do you think?"
Raven retrieved the hilt, careful not to brush anything as flames danced along its length. "It's a good size."
Carmine raised an eyebrow. "Well, uh, why don't you take it outside and get acquainted. I've got a couple other 'basic' options if this one doesn't feel right."
Raven nodded and clipped the scabbard to her belt, turning away.
"What about you, son? How are you with Dust?" the Professor asked, one hand on the cabinet door.
Qrow shrugged. "Kinda lousy."
She nodded, closing the locker. "I always say the modern Huntsmen rely on it too much. Are you looking to stick with dual wielding? Sword and shotgun?"
His face grew embarrassingly warm. "I'd, uh…I'd like to learn to use scythes."
"Scythes?" Carmine looked bewildered.
Qrow stared at the floor, too embarrassed to make eye contact, ears burning like Raven had singed them with that fire blade. At least she wasn't in the room right now.  "...Like the Grimm Reaper?" The professor probably wouldn't even know what he was talking about, why would she know about some obscure character from—
"Oh! Those are kamas, more like sickles than scythes. But there aren't any kama wielders at Beacon, you wouldn't have anyone to teach you."
"…Oh." A blanket of disappointment settled over him. He should have known it wouldn't—
"Hey, cheer up! I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm saying it'll be a challenge," Carmine insisted, tapping him on the elbow with her fist. "But you'll need a more conventional weapon too. Something you can work with in class without your teachers coming to yell at me. So, dual-wielding, or combination?"
"Combination." He wanted to be able to use recoil better…and it probably wasn't a good idea to keep mimicking Bones' style.
"Let's try in here." She opened another cabinet and started flicking through various blades. "How about this?"
"Isn't it a little big?" Qrow asked apprehensively as she dragged a massive broadsword out and extended it—the thing was more than half his height, and at least two palms wide for most of its length. It was so massive the blade retracted in the middle to make it possible to wear.
"They don't put a gun this big on a rapier," she said, tapping the shotgun embedded into the blade. "Besides, it's better quality metal than that hacksaw you brought in. Here." She handed it to him, handle first.
It was surprisingly light, barely heavier than his old sword had been despite being twice its size.  Now that he was holding it though, he could see the blade was hollow.
"We usually use adamant alloys here, it's far lighter and stronger than steel. The blade's width makes it better for defense," Carmine said as Qrow gave it a few experimental swings. Despite its size, it wasn't too hard to wield one-handed. "It's big enough to kind of use as a shield in a pinch—it'll cover your vitals, anyway. Take it outside, swing it around a bit, see if it feels all right."
"O-okay," Qrow said, following the professor out into the yard. There was ice everywhere, and Raven looked fairly pleased as she swung at a practice dummy. She'd always been pretty good with Dust, even if it was hard to come by at home.
"You two spar for a couple minutes and I'll observe," Carmine said, drawing a small pad of paper from her pocket. Raven shrugged and swapped out the glittering ice blade for a metal one. "Don't let your auras fall below fifty percent, you'll want to be fully recovered by the start of school."
"Yes, ma'am," Qrow said, raising his new sword. Raven copied him and stepped to the left. He mirrored her in turn, and they slowly circled, waiting for the other person to move first.
"I didn't think you'd pick something so simple," she said, swinging down in an overhead strike. Qrow pushed forward, swinging up to knock it away even as he stepped right to avoid the spear of ice that shot from her scabbard. It crashed behind him, tinkling like broken glass as the ice grew.
"Careful, Miss Taupe!" Carmine warned. "That's a bit excessive for practice!"
Raven rolled her eyes, striking at Qrow's shoulder. He knocked her blade away again, fired the shotgun to change the blade's direction more quickly, and swung at her exposed side. She flipped back, taking the strike on the scabbard's case.
"It's just to start with." Qrow grinned. His sword wasn't too different from his old one, but Raven's seemed like it was much lighter. He might actually win today, if he could focus on keeping her off-balance.
He leapt forward, sweeping at her shoulder. She ducked beneath it and struck at his knees—he jumped, changing the blade's arc to plant in the ground and kicked with both feet at Raven's stomach.
She stepped back but not far enough—his foot connected with her hip hard enough to send her stumbling back a step. The momentum carried him over the sword, and he landed with both feet behind it as Raven recovered. She screamed as she leapt forward, swinging at his right ear—he fired again, using the recoil to force the sword out of the ground and into her blade's path.
Whomph. Now it was his turn to sprawl back as her knee caught him in the stomach. He parried three more strikes, trying to regain momentum.
There—an opening—her sword was just a little too far out from her center. He sprang forward and leapt right past her exposed side, swinging at her back as he passed. She raised her left hand from the scabbard and caught it, her aura flashing around her hand under the pressure, before jabbing her blade at Qrow's stomach. His own aura glowed from the impact, and again in response as he knocked a second strike aside with the back of his arm and fired the shotgun to wrench his sword from Raven's grip.
"Tournament rules, for pity's sake!" Carmine screeched, and the twins froze in alarm. "I've never seen such a reckless display!"
Qrow stepped back, heart pounding harder now than when they'd been fighting. What had they done wrong?
The professor took a deep breath. "Miss Raven, I would recommend rolling forward in a situation like that. Grabbing your opponent's weapon may seem like an easy way to win, but it will drain your aura exceptionally quickly and get you disqualified from a proper match. Mister Qrow, a simple kick to the knee would have sufficed."
"Yes, ma'am," he said quickly.
"All right. Well. You'd both better call it quits for the day," she continued, still breathing harder than before. "You should make another appointment by the end of the week, so we can begin customizing your weapons. And do yourselves a favor—look up the tournament rules before term starts. Professor Mikado won't hesitate to give you detention despite your current lack of formal training."
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." Qrow's heart was pounding in the back of his throat, and his knuckles were white on the hilt of his sword. He couldn't see what Raven was doing.
Carmine's expression finally seemed to soften. "…Remember, the rules are there to keep you safe too, not just your opponent. A big part of becoming a Huntsman or Huntress is learning your limits. You and your team have to be able to rely on each other, and that means managing risk." She glared at Raven, waiting for a response.
His sister's face was impassive. "Yes, ma'am."
[Again, Carmine Eitri has nothing to do with Carmine Esclados.
I wanted her to do the "crazy engineer" trope, but make her high-empathy and momlike instead of the usual asocial/"lol wut is human" traits that are common with that archetype, especially when it's a woman. Not sure if I got that across as well as I'd hoped but I love her anyway.]
Next Chapter: Summer—First Impressions
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toxicpineapple · 4 years
Text
I did a writing yesterday for Inktober day ten (and I've been doing writings for all the other days too) about depression because it was world mental health day. I decided to post it here because y'know,, life is short.
TWs: Depression, light suicidal ideation, nihilism.
The prompt was "pattern".
---
Life is really just a bunch of patterns.
It’s just a load of things that stay the same from day to day. Things you do habitually, naturally, just because you’ve done them so many other times that it becomes muscle memory. Get up at the same time every morning. Go to the same place, park your car in the same spot if possible. Greet the same people, eat the same things, do the same work. Go home. Unwind in all the same ways as you always do. Deviating from the routine is considered a privilege. Taking a break, getting up later, eating different things. So much as wearing a different colour tie can be considered living a bit on the edge.
In a way there’s something nice about it, that endless routine, because it gives people an appreciation for the smaller things. It makes people more grateful for things that they wouldn’t be, living extremely exciting lives. If every day was different, people would probably stop appreciating the little differences in their day-to-day lives, such as the flavour of their coffee creamer, or the pretty little flower the secretary had tucked behind her ear this morning.
And even so…
Most days, Jayden doesn’t remember what they cover at school. In her classes. She doesn’t remember talking to friends (of which she has very few) and she doesn’t remember what she eats at lunch or how many times she raises her hand to be excused to the bathroom or how many times she has to bend over and retie her shoelaces. The days, being so much of the same and all the time, tend to blur together unless something really terrible happens. Or something really good. But the former is a lot more common than the latter, so she doesn’t tend to consider the latter as a possibility. Because it’s not, not really. And she doesn’t like to lie to herself.
She has her little rituals memorised. That’s pretty normal, she thinks, to do things instinctively without putting much thought into it until they’re called into question. Whether or not her habits are normal has never really been a concern of hers, because she knows that they are. Waking up at six thirty to catch the bus in the morning isn’t uncommon. Brushing her teeth and skipping out on breakfast are pretty universal. Tying her hair up into a ponytail certainly isn’t unique, because many people wear ponytails, and many people wear them better than she does. Her same hoodie, her same ratty Adidas, her same backpack and notebooks and unfinished homework- no parts of her morning routine are special.
She doesn’t notice them, more often than not. Typically Jayden only becomes aware of herself when she’s on the bus, gazing out the window at a world of grey, and wondering when her world ever became so colourless. The bus route she takes is one that many of her classmates take, and the time she takes it at is a pretty universal time for kids wanting to get to school early enough so that they’re not late to class. It’s usually pretty jam packed, but her house is at the beginning of the route, so she’s always on the bus in time to secure herself a seat by the window.
It would be a good spot for people watching, Jayden thinks on some days, if she had any interest in the sea of warm toned faces floating around her.
As things are she trudges off the bus when it rolls up to the spot closest to her school- the one before that, actually, because Jayden doesn’t like the large crowd so she gets off a little bit earlier than everyone else so she can spend the rest of her morning in solitude. It’s just a few minutes longer by foot, so she doesn’t mind it. She is hardly conscious for the walk anyway.
Jayden isn’t exactly a model student. She’s not good at paying attention in class, doesn’t like taking notes until her hand cramps or asking clarifying questions about the material or writing essays or solving equations or even playing the violin, which is her only elective. She doesn’t like homework, either, and so she doesn’t do it. Grades are a minor annoyance to her at best, because she never pays attention to them, and a small part of her is pretty sure that her teachers hate her for it, that they think she doesn’t care about their classes, and they’re not wrong, exactly, but it’s so much more complicated than that and Jayden wishes sometimes that she could explain that it’s not that she doesn’t think their teachings are important, it’s just that she thinks nothing is important. Everything is futile. There’s no point in trying hard if there’s just going to be more of the same.
She sits with the same people at lunch every day. People who call her edgy and depressing, make fun of the hoodie she wears every day without stopping and the bags under her eyes. They rarely call her Jayden. Being friends with them has made her respond to the word “emo.” She doesn’t hate them, though, because it’s not like their assumptions about her are wrong, necessarily, she just doesn’t think they’d understand her feelings so she doesn’t bother trying to correct them. Or talking to them, most times.
A lot of times Jayden exits the school building able to count the number of times that she spoke throughout the day on one hand. Sometimes she doesn’t speak even once.
She sometimes remembers the bus ride home a little bit better just because she’s never able to get on in time to get a seat (much less a window seat) after school so she has to stand, clutching onto the railing for dear life and getting jostled every time to bus makes a stop. Her eyes glaze over and she thinks about nothing- futility, often- but sometimes she snaps out of her reverie, aware that someone is trying to move by her, or speaking to her about the tiny insignia on the sleeve of her hoodie, or that there’s a seat available and she needs to hurry if she wants to snag it before someone else from her school.
When Jayden gets home, usually she sleeps. Sometimes she stares at the ceiling, a large block in her chest and her limbs weighing a million pounds, and occasionally she takes out her homework, blinking uncomprehendingly at all the words and concepts that she doesn’t understand, hasn’t paid attention to since she entered high school three years ago. She’s staring another session of summer school, which she will likely also fail, right in the face, and she has the audacity to not even be intimidated anymore.
Because what she’s learned through experience is that adults say a lot of words like potential and future and integrity but what they actually mean is that they’re not going to make an effort to understand you, they’re just going to keep on asking you to be the person they want you to and be like all the other kids your age until eventually they deem you a lost cause and a problem kid and give up on trying to lecture you.
Her least favourite time of year, by far, is the beginning of a new school year. For a number of reasons (she hates it when her teachers call attendance aloud and she has to announce her identity in front of the class, hates name games and surveys and syllabi even more than that) but mainly because all of her new teachers are bound to assume that she, like everyone else, cares about grades and continuing the loop of wake up, do things, go to sleep, repeat on and on until she ceases to comprehend her own existence. All of those teachers are going to ask her why she doesn’t do her work, and try to work with her.
The more annoying teachers, the ones who act like they care, will send her to the counseling office, and there they already know who she is, so of course it’ll just turn into another staring contest, but when their attempts yield no results, Jayden tends to be the one who is blamed. Because she’s disrespectful. Because she’s apathetic. Because she’s directionless and has no perception of her future.
Not her fault that she understands that she doesn’t have a future.
She doubts that things will ever change. Regardless of the way the world shifts and changes in her lifetime, she’s still not one of the rich, the famous, the talented. She’ll remain where she is, a faceless, nameless, zombie in a crowd of unimportant people without identities. She’ll keep on keeping on, forever.
Even death can’t be counted as an escape. What happens when she dies? Nothing. Obviously, Jayden isn’t religious, or else she would have something to be working towards. She doesn’t believe in an afterlife, or any greater purpose. There’s no reason to exist. No reason to continue. Just the inevitability of everything all ending. Drawing closer and closer with every day. With every meaningless decision she makes. With every awkward dinner with her parents, avoiding eye contact but knowing what they’re thinking. Knowing what question they’re asking themselves in their heads, and each other with their eyes.
Most days Jayden attends school. She copes with the embarrassment that is no longer real embarrassment over not having her work done, over not knowing the material. She shrugs and averts her gaze when the teacher calls on her for an answer. She shuffles through the day, gives thin smiles to her friend, heads home and stows her phone in a drawer so that she can’t see it blinking red with texts she doesn’t care to answer.
But sometimes she doesn’t. Sometimes her alarm goes off at six thirty and she sleeps right through it. Not because she’s particularly tired, or because she can’t stand going to school, but because she just can’t make her limbs move. Her joints feel sore and heavy and stiff, like they need an oil change, and her eyelids weigh a million pounds, so she just lets them fall shut again and allows dreams to wash over her like a shower. She thinks about nothing and stays in bed for the whole day, only crawling out from under the covers to use the bathroom and occasionally splash water on her splotchy red face with the gross stuff in between her eyes and marks from the pillows on her face, wondering why she is this way.
Jayden considers herself (well, she understands herself, rather) to be a disappointment of sorts. Clearly, in this society, the goal isn’t to completely give up like she has. Yes, everything is futile, but working hard at least allows people to pretend that there’s some sort of reason for existing. Going through the motions only becomes tedious when one stops coming up with reasons to keep going through them. If you lie to yourself and say things like, well, after I save up enough money, I’ll move into this city I really want to! you’ll feel motivated enough to keep going. Jayden just lacks the energy to lie to herself.
She knows when she’s lying, after all. Some things she just can’t hide from her own mind. One of them is her cynicism. She knows how things are. There’s no point deluding herself, of all people.
Jayden wakes up at six in the morning one day, half an hour before her alarm, and without thinking much about it slides out of bed and dresses herself. Her movements are sluggish and heavy but she performs the same tasks as always. She doesn’t think about flavour or changing things up because she doesn’t care to. Wearing a different coloured hoodie wouldn’t excite her, it would just make her uncomfortable. That, she thinks as she ties her hair up into the same ponytail as always, might be a part of the problem.
The bus ride to school is different, emptier, but she knows that’s just because everyone is planning on catching the bus half an hour from now. It gives her room to spread out her legs across the seat next to her. She doesn’t, though. She just stares out the window as always, eyelids drooping like she’s going to fall asleep. Part of her wonders what would happen if she did fall asleep on the bus, just rode until the very last stop on its route and slept after that. Slept through all of the other routes, and then all the way to the terminal. Jayden briefly entertains the notion of sleeping on this bus forever, lost and forgotten to time. She decides the idea isn’t so unappealing.
But when the bus rolls up to the stop she usually gets off at, she climbs off, gripping her backpack straps and pretending that she’s invisible. In a way, she kind of is.
The walk the rest of the way to school blurs, and Jayden finds herself in her first period, and then suddenly she’s in fourth, gazing dully at the clock and wondering where the hours went. All the faces around her look the same, now, like they’re all just one person in different clothes, staring at her and judging her and wondering why she can’t even do something as simple as pretend that there’s a meaning to it all.
Lunch arrives and she sits at the same table as she always does, in the same spot with the same sack lunch with the same carrots and apple and peanut butter jelly sandwich that she never eats. She rests her chin on the table, wondering where her friends are, but they never arrive. Instead, someone else sits across from her.
Another one of those blurry, insignificant faces, and Jayden prepares herself to think about something else when the person talks, but then they talk.
“Hi, can I sit here? Sorry, I’m already sitting here, you can still say no, I’m just, like, new here, and it’s so awkward looking for places to sit when it seems like everyone already has friends, y’know?” It’s a girl, Jayden’s age, probably, a junior; her hair is short but a bit unkempt. It curls under her ears, which are slightly pointed at the tops, like she’s a fairy, or something. Her skin is a bronze colour, and her eyes are a striking amber-brown, warm and a little nervous and very friendly. She’s looking at Jayden expectantly, and it takes her a moment to figure out what the stranger is talking about.
“That’s fine.” Jayden replies softly. She averts her gaze, so that the other girl doesn’t think she’s weird for staring.
“I’m Margaret, but people call me Maggie, and you can too.” The girl (Maggie) introduces herself, holding out a confident hand to shake, and Jayden looks at it for a long moment, not sure what to do. After an awkward silence, Maggie seems to take the hint and retract her hand. Though her smile doesn’t even falter. “What’s your name? Are you a junior?”
“...Jayden.” Jayden speaks again in the same quiet voice as before. She’s not sure whether or not it would be acceptable to keep talking, but she does, figuring she should answer Maggie’s second question. “And… yeah. You are too…?”
“Uh-huh! What a bad year to transfer in, right? Halfway through, too! But when your parents move, they move, y’know?” Maggie laughs, like this is something relatable, and her laugh is pretty and nice like church bells so Jayden sort of wishes she could laugh as well. “So, is this a good school?”
And then, for the rest of lunch, despite receiving extremely bland answers, Maggie keeps on talking to her. It’s strange, because logically Jayden knows it’s a perfectly normal interaction, and yet… something about it sticks out to her as different. Perhaps it’s the fact that, when Jayden mentions that she doesn’t really pay attention in her classes, or do well at all, Maggie doesn’t treat it like it’s strange. She just shrugs, and says that everyone has their reasons.
When lunch is over, Maggie asks Jayden if she’d like to go somewhere after school.
“Nothing fancy,” Maggie says quickly. “Just, y’know, like, hanging out around the area. Maybe get some ice cream or something. It should be fun! At least, I think so. You don’t have to answer right away, though- if you want to, I’ll be hanging around the front entrance for a bit right after school anyway, so you can come find me. Alright? See you!”
And it’s not as though the prospect of going is a bad one. Jayden thinks that Maggie is a perfectly pleasant sort of person to spend time around. If she should be hanging out with anybody… Maggie works just fine. But at the same time…
Maggie said that it should be fun. And Jayden isn’t sure that she’s even capable of fun anymore. Jayden isn’t sure that she’s even capable of anything anymore. She thinks about all those text messages on her phone from friends who wanted to make plans but she never responded to. All those counselors she avoided eye contact with, the teachers she ignored, her own parents, who she never speaks to when they ask how her day was when she gets home from school. All she knows how to do anymore is disappoint people.
And knowing that everything is futile, that they’ll all end up dead anyway… she’s not sure that this’ll even have any significance to her. It’ll probably just turn into another one of those going through the motions things eventually, if Maggie keeps asking her to hang out and if she keeps saying yes.
Jayden looks out the window. It’s sixth period now. The sun is shining outside, like it has been recently despite it being winter, and the way that it streams through the bare branches of all the deciduous trees is… rather beautiful, actually. She wonders why she’s never noticed that before.
After school, she still hasn’t really made up her mind. She leaves the room and lets her feet carry her, expecting auto-pilot to take over and deliver her, dutifully, to the bus stop, as always. Instead, though, her legs take her to the front of the school, and she looks around for a moment before she spots Maggie. The other girl is sitting on the steps in front of the school, browsing some social media on her phone. She hasn’t noticed Jayden yet. Which means that if she turned around right now and left, Maggie would never know. Her bus will be leaving soon, so, she should probably head out right now if she wants to catch it and be home at the same time as usual. Get back to her routine. Keep trudging through her life and not experiencing any of it.
But…
She takes a deep breath, and then cups her hands around her mouth. “Maggie!” She calls out, and when the other girl turns around, she beams, and Jayden forces her feet to move her forward.
(Blocks away from the school, the afternoon rush of students piles onto Jayden’s bus, and it drives away without her, breaking the pattern.)
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chemicalmagecraft · 5 years
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The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 11
A/N: College stinks. This is a bit of a shorter chapter because of that and the fact that I don't want to start an entire arc mid-chapter. Don't worry though, next chapter's probably going to be a doozy to make up for it.
And in this chapter we see some more of that offscreen character development Bakugou had.
xoxoxo
I gulped. There was a huge mob of reporters standing in front of the gates, worse than any swarm of skeletons my Illusion Barrier could spawn. Their large, beady, camera-like eyes turned to focus on me, and they lurched over to me in a single horde like ravenous, information-hungry zombies. "Young man, have you been in a class with All Might yet?" the leader of the pack asked me.
"Eep," I said. "W-well..." I was cut off from an oppressive feeling coming from my left. I turned to see Kacchan glaring at the press gang.
"We're going to class," Kacchan said coldly. "Would you kindly fuck the hell off?"
"Hey, weren't you that one boy from the sludge mon-" Kacchan glared harder.
"Actually, we were both involved in the sludge monster incident..." I corrected.
"Wasn't the other kid Quirkless?"
"My Quirk is really weird, okay? I only really learned how to use it after that..."
Kacchan angrily cleared his throat. "Now could we please get to our class!?" he demanded.
"But-"
"Pretty fuckin' sure what you're doing is illegal," Kacchan said.
"And it's our job as heroes in training to report crimes in process, right?" I contributed.
"Right, so how 'bout you guys disperse before we go get one of our pro hero teachers, who I'm willing to bet won't like how you won't let us through."
"I really don't," Aizawa-sensei said from behind me. "Now please let my students go to their class unless you have a genuine, valid reason to keep them from their education aside from 'I want to know how All Might teaches.'"
"If it's any consolation, he's nice and gave us some pointers on our Quirks," I said.
"You got your statement, now let us through," Aizawa-sensei said. The crowd let us pass, though the lead reporter lady tried to chase us and was blocked by the security barrier.
"What the hell is with that? I could have died!" The reporter yelled.
"That thing's meant to catch villains who try to enter!" Kacchan yelled. "If it comes down, that means you're trying to trespass!"
Aizawa-sensei sighed. "I'll deal with this. You to get to the classroom."
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Kacchan and I summoned our elementals, causing some oohs and aahs from our classmates. "So these are our elementals," I said. They waved for the class, showing off a small application of their powers as well. "They're sorta like spirits made from a certain element of magic. I don't know if we create them or summon them from nature with the elemental ritual and they don't seem to have any answers. My theory is that they do exist in nature, but without a summoner they're too... primordial, if that makes sense, to do anything. It's only by forming a contract with a summoner that they can take humanoid forms. Any questions?"
"They're so cute!" Mina said.
Pyra smiled. "That wasn't a question, but thank you," she said.
"For whatever reason, they look like kids," Kacchan said. "Apparently how powerful they are is dependent on skill level or something. Our elementals are actually at the second stage or whatever. They looked even younger a couple months ago."
Tokoyami walked up to me and bowed on one knee. "Honored keeper of ancient knowledge, wouldst thou teach me thy power?" he said in a dramatic voice.
"What the fuck did I just listen to?" Kacchan asked to nobody in particular.
"Child of shadow," I said, playing along with him.
"Jesus fucking Christ Deku what the actual fuck," Kacchan groaned.
"Thou art but a fledgling in the ancient art of magyck, yet thy drive to learn is great."
"How the actual fuck did you manage to audibly pronounce 'magic' like that?"
I continued despite Kacchan's interruptions and the popup for Magycked Words. "For thy great ambition, I bequeath upon thee this." I raised my hands into the air, using Inventory to make a scroll slowly materialize from thin air, glowing with magical light. The scroll dropped into my hands and I held it out to him.
"Okay, so would anyone else like to fucking point out that Deku literally fucking had that ready in advance?" Kacchan asked.
"I thank thee for the arcane knowledge thou hast granted upon me," Tokoyami said as he gingerly accepted the scroll from me.
"Hey fun fact apparently words like thee and thou are actually informal, which makes this shitshow a lot more stupid," Kacchan said dourly.
"My only request for thee is to share this arcanum among any of our peers who should ask for it," I told him.
He bowed his head. "I solemnly swear it." He got up, gave me a small smile, and said, "And thank you for playing along..."
"Right, that's it. I'm fucking done. Taking a nap 'til Aizawa-sensei comes back," Kacchan said, then sat down at his desk. "Thanks for not yelling at me, Iida," he muttered before putting his head down.
"I've decided to not be too annoyed about that so long as you don't curse too much when class is actually in session," Iida explained. "Speaking of which, I believe we should take our seats soon. Aizawa shouldn't be too much longer."
"I've actually been here for all of Midoriya's speech, I just wanted to watch," Aizawa-sensei said from behind his desk, causing me to jump. "Now where should you guys be right now?" We all quietly took our seats. "Good. Now, first I'd like apologize if anyone was inconvenienced by the reporters outside. We're taking care of it. Next, I'd like to say that I saw the recordings from yesterday's Hero Basic class and I have some notes. Off the top of my head, Todoroki, you should try to be a little more efficient. Maybe try freezing the room instead of the whole building next time. Mineta, actually try. If anyone wants notes in more detail, talk to me. Now, what we're doing today is going to decide your future." Everyone tensed up. 
"You need to pick a class representative." 
And with that, the mood immediately lightened. Just about everyone raised their hands and asked to be class representative. It made sense; while being the class representative is normally a responsibility that people don't want, in the hero course it's a really good idea because hero agencies tend to notice people who take responsibilities like that.
"Everyone!" Iida shouted over the din. "We need to work this over in an orderly fashion! Perhaps we should put this to vote!"
"Don't we barely know each other?" Asui asked. "And won't everyone vote for themselves?"
"All the better!" Iida stated. "Anyone who has already managed to gain the trust of enough people to get the most votes would most likely be the best candidate for class representative."
After all of the votes were counted, the rankings were put on the board. "How did I get four votes!?" I asked. I really had no idea how that happened. I mean, I voted for Iida.
"Right, Midoriya's the representative and Iida and Yaoyorozu can figure out who's deputy between them," Aizawa-sensei said. After me, Iida and Yaoyorozu were tied for second place with two votes each.
xoxoxo
"I love the food here," Uraraka said as she ate some rice. She, Iida, Kacchan, and I were eating lunch together.
"You're literally eating only rice," Kacchan said.
"Well some of us are on a budget, Kacchan!" Uraraka said.
Kacchan twitched. "Don't fucking call me Kacchan. And can you seriously not afford anything other than rice?"
Uraraka blushed. "My parents don't really have too much money... It's already expensive enough for me to be here..."
Kacchan sighed and got up. "You're really gonna make me buy you something aren't you?"
She flailed her arms in front of her. "N-no! You don't have to do that for me!"
"You need to eat actual fucking food, idiot!"
"I don't want you to have to spend that much money just for me!"
"Too bad, my mom's a model! Just about everything on the menu's fucking chump change to me!"
Uraraka stopped her protesting and gasped. "Your mom's Bakugou Mitsuki! How did I miss that? You guys are almost identical!"
"Fuck if I know."
Uraraka pressed her fingers together and blushed a little. "Y'know, I'd kinda like to know how she looks that young. She's almost forty and she's still pret-"
"Aaaaand I'm gonna stop you right there before you start talking about how hot my mom you just said looks like me is. It's weird enough when strangers do it." He sped off. "I hope you like curry!"
"To answer your question, though," I said after Kacchan left, "it's because her Quirk, Glycerin, makes her sweat moisturizer." I grinned a bit. "It's actually a little interesting. While only the sweat from Kacchan's hands explodes, the sweat all over his body is altered, which is apparently a leftover of his mom's Quirk. Theoretically, Kacchan will age about as well as his mom does thanks to that."
"I didn't know Emitter Quirks could be passed on like that," Iida said. "I thought it was only Mutation Quirks that did that."
"No, Emitter Quirks can do that too, though it's normally a lot more subtle. Even though it's not my Quirk, I'm actually heat-resistant and have slightly more fire affinity because of my dad's Fire Breath, and my mother and I have more water affinity and can cry a lot thanks to her mother's Quirk, Ocular Gushers, which let her shoot water from her tear ducts like some sort of reverse heat vision. I haven't figured out how to do it at will, though now that I think about it I should probably be able to do it with magic." I felt my cheeks heat up at the looks they were giving me and chuckled a bit. "I... like talking about Quirks..."
Uraraka smiled. "I think it's pretty cool! Plus, Yuuei is definitely the kind of school to do that!"
"Thanks," I said. "Though how exactly do you know about Auntie Mitsuki? No offense, but you don't exactly strike me as the type to really follow the fashion world..."
Uraraka blushed. "W-well sometimes I just read the articles!"
For some reason, Raine randomly started cheering loudly. I jumped and Blaise reassured me that she hadn't stabbed anyone or anything before I had to look for her. "Are you okay, Midoriya?" Iida asked.
"O-oh, I'm fine," I smiled. "Raine just started randomly cheering for some reason, so I had to make sure she didn't stab anything. She's really enthusiastic about stabbing things..."
"That's a little disconcerting," Uraraka said.
"She also started gushing about you after seeing you for some reason..."
Uraraka stopped eating her rice and cleared her throat. "Okay, so I'm a little uncomfortable now. Iiiiis there by any chance a way to detect elementals?"
I shrugged. "I only know one detection spell, and it'd only work on tertiary elementals. Oh, by the way, while we're on the subject of tertiary elements, I have reason to believe gravity is one, so you might want to check that."
"Okay, I'll put that on my magic to-do list, right below 'Detect Elemental,'" she said, then began fiddling with her chopsticks. "Hey, let's talk about something that doesn't involve an invisible stabhappy spirit who likes to talk about me? Hey, Deku you're class rep now! Let's talk about how you got two other votes!"
"What do you mean, 'two other votes?'" Iida asked.
"Well Deku obviously voted for himself, and I voted for him too, so who were the other two?"
"Actually I voted for Iida," I butted in, "and if I had to guess, one of the votes for me was Tokoyami because I gave him that scroll."
"AMONG OTHER THINGS, DEKU!" I heard Kacchan's voice from somewhere in the cafeteria.
Dune giggled. "Context." I rolled my eyes.
"I suppose I should add that I voted for you, not myself," Iida added. "And thank you for putting as much faith in me as I put in you. I appreciate it."
"Yeah, thanks to the both of you, too," I grinned. "Both of you voted for me, even though I don't think I really deserve it..."
"Dude, you literally discovered magic," Uraraka said bluntly.
"I did it accidentally, and we only found out thanks to Kacchan..."
"You managed to discover magic without even meaning to!" Uraraka shouted. I noticed that she'd put her chopsticks down and they had a glowing pink aura around them. She grinned and put her hand on her rice bowl. "Speaking of which," she said, then her rice bowl started glowing pink too. "Iida, pick up my rice bowl."
Iida tried to pick up the rice, but gave up after struggling a bit. "Did you amplify the gravity on your rice?" he asked.
I picked up her chopsticks, which felt like they were made of lead, and used Fuckery Detection on it. "I think she did. This is pretty cool, Uraraka!" Some alarms blared, causing me to drop the really heavy chopsticks. "Warning. Level three security breach," a voice said from the same speakers that the alarms were coming from. "What's that mean?" I asked.
"This is the first time I've actually heard this alarm and I'm a third year!" a student near us shouted over the racket. "It means there's an intruder!" Everyone started panicking and stampeded to the exit, and I was swept away from my friends in the tide of students despite my high STR stat. 
"G-guys!" I tried to shout over the noise. "Someone could get seriously hurt if we keep doing this!" I tried some more, but I just couldn't get anyone to listen to me... Eventually, though, I saw Iida spinning through the air like he was trying to use his Quirk in zero gravity. Before I could do anything, he hit the wall over the emergency exit sign.
"EVERYONE! CALM DOWN!" he shouted, causing the mob to stop. "It's just the media! They managed to make it past the front gate somehow!" He pointed toward some windows. "Take a look! There's nothing to worry about!"
"Oh hey, the spinny guy's right!" One of the students said.
"And the police are coming!"
"Now that we've calmed down, I suggest we form an orderly line. All of that pushing and shoving could've seriously hurt someone!" Everyone followed Iida's orders and calmly evacuated. Except, of course, for Kacchan, who decided to bring Uraraka her curry.
xoxoxo
"We've still got to pick the other class officers," I told the class. "But first, I'd like to step down as class representative. I'm honored, but I don't feel like I'm up to the task. I couldn't help at all when the code three happened, and my deputy managed to calm everyone down and get a handle on the situation. I'm nominating Iida as class representative and Yaoyorozu as his replacement as deputy."
"I can get behind that," Kirishima said. "Iida really handled that situation! Let's hear it for Emergency Exit!"
"Thank you, Midoriya!" Iida said with a bow. "I will not let you down!"
xoxoxo
A/N: So I don't know when Raine turned into Froakie Toga, but she totes did and it's funny.
And speaking of Uraraka, I was going to have gravity magic not have any sort of glow at all, but then I heard that we could be independent together. Also I had a question that I put on my tumblr but nobody actually answered because I only have like twenty followers, so I'mma put it here too. Do you guys think Uraraka would play Pokémon Sun or Moon? This is most assuredly just for curiosity and will not at all have any bearing on anything in this fanfic. No reason at all for asking aside from curiosity. None whatsoever.
EDIT: So it seems that I have made an error in the syntax of my question, which I take full blame for. When I wrote "Do you guys think Uraraka would play Pokémon Sun or Moon?" some people misinterpreted it to be "Do you guys think Uraraka would play Pokémon Sun or Moon?" with an inclusive "or," or asking if you guys thought Uraraka would be willing to play one of those games. At least, that is what I assume happened with the two reviews I got which attempted to answer the question, which I would like to note that I am still grateful for even if they didn't actually answer the question I wanted answered. However, I meant "Do you guys think Uraraka would play Pokémon Sun or Moon?" with an exclusive "or." In other words, in the hypothetical scenario that some omnipotent being were to for whatever reason grant Uraraka a choice between being able to play the game titled Pokémon Sun or the game titled Pokémon Moon despite her economic status, which would be her first choice? Science may be so amazing, but isn't grammar infuriating?
xoxoxo
And guess what! I thought of an omake!
Screenshots
"Midoriya, are you taking notes?" Cementoss asked me. "You aren't touching your notebook."
I jumped a bit. I wasn't really paying too much attention to his lecture because I already knew what he was talking about. "O-oh, I actually found out a way to automatically record lectures word-for-word with my Quirk, so I'm kind of testing that out..."
"Ah, how creative," he complimented me. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you doing?"
"So I've known for a while that my Quirk lets me do things like see subtitles like I'm in a video game, but recently I found out that if I clench my buttcheeks and bite my tongue just right, my Quirk takes a screenshot of my vision that I can view later, HUD and all."
"So what you're saying is that you're taking a screenshot every time my 'text' changes?"
"Yes."
"How many screenshots have you made?"
I checked the new "Gallery" tab. "Fourty."
"I think it might just be easier to write my words down..."
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Do you think we were supposed to be getting MOC!Dean vibes from how excited Dean was to have the Colt back? I mean, he got pissy when the First Blade was taken from him to, though he ultimately ended up giving that to Cas, but y'know... willingly. Idk where I'm going with this, just something I thought of...
Yeah, idk if it was meant to be exactly like Dean and the First Blade but he was definitely being a bit obsessive about it :P Once you sleep with something under your pillow you cross a line where if this was the sitcom version of the show the next day he’d walk into the library and Sam and Cas would have hung an intervention banner :P 
I mean I don’t think we need to go over Dean’s detailed history with the Colt, either in actions or emotionally how much was connected to it and the obvious security a kill-anything weapon has to your well-being (a rare feeling for him although 12x18 proved that could be preeetty useless when not applied properly anyway)… but he was also personifying the gun and he does this with the car and I guess in a way it’s stuff he puts a bit of himself into. 
(I watched 9x10 recently enough to still be laughing at Crowley calling the car Dean’s phallus on wheels - I don’t think that’s an accurate representation of what Baby is to Dean, and 11x04 showing her as a protective womb and somehow almost cosmically attuned to him as a friend is way more accurate, if we don’t go with her being a representation of his soul. But hands down she is feminine and not just because he calls her so, but symbolically. But the Colt. Definitely a phallic representation for Dean.)
But his weirdness about the gun got him in trouble in 12x18, that the bad guys got the better of him, and, well, the dude in 5x09 who complained why do they not put their weapons on a bungee? Highlights the problem of relying on a kill-anything weapon (and pfft now I think about it like this - WAS that foreshadowing that they gain and lose the Colt in one episode immediately after that because Dean dropped it after Lucifer threw him across the field? :P)
I think the problem is this is such a coveted item, it’s its own curse. And I just spent a moment trying to think of what other thing in pop culture I could compare this to aside from the obvious of the One Ring and realised I was thinking of season 3 and the Colt. So. Uh. I feel like there’s a very obvious comparison to some item that was only got through stealing and was its own curse but my brain is ALSO now just saying, hey, rabbit’s foot in 3x03, and at this point I give up. My brain is a mess of Supernatural and I can’t remember anything else any more. 
Anyway, it’s not something spelled out in the text like that, but right before the Colt comes back into play, like bungee guy and his warning about losing weapons, we have this:
SAM It’s a hell of a luck charm.
BOBBY It’s not a luck charm, it’s a curse! She made it to kill people, Sam!See, you touch it, you own it. You own it, sure, you get a run of good luck to beat the Devil.But, you lose it, that luck turns. It turns so bad that you’re dead inside a week.
SAM Well, so I won’t lose it, Bobby.
BOBBY EVERYBODY LOSES IT!
(Lol to “beat the devil” I hate this show sometimes)
Obviously Colt didn’t make it AS a curse - he made it to kill demons and lock a Devil’s gate shut… But from the outset it has the problem that because it can LOCK the gate it can also OPEN it. So the very earliest we see the Colt is two demons coming to get it from Samuel Colt; it’s a beacon of potential and Colt may have used it for good, but there’s an immediate reaction of interest to use it for bad, because it’s power, and power, of course, corrupts. (Like the ring of power, or the First Blade comparison, as two items specifically about the corrupting influence of dark bad power) 
But still. Once it’s there…
SAMUEL COLT (nods) Not bad. (Samuel opens his jacket so Sam can see the colt in his holster) You don’t want it. It’s a curse. Believe me.
SAM Great. Then let me take it off your hands.
Sam actually is given the Colt (and that scene now to me feels like 9x11 riffed off it a LOT - Dean taking the Mark from Cain feels almost identical in mood, only Sam taking on this “curse” was a lot more benign, unless of course it somehow twists time and fate up to make the Colt so much of their problem in the future). Anyway, he takes it to Dean seemingly with permission and no hard feelings from Samuel Colt, and so it’s sort of got a sense of ownership to them, but not exactly the strongest, especially as it may have just been on loan.
Best I can guess, based on the Elkins connection, after they disappeared back to the future, Elkins the bartender came out and saw the ash and had no interest in it, but did see the Colt and took it, then when Samuel Colt came to town it was like no i never saw no gun, and Colt assumes Sam took it (and hey he did want to pass on that curse :P) and that’s it. Elkins passes it down through his family, Daniel Elkins sort of can’t believe what he’s got, and maybe for all we know was a hunter because having the Colt invites trouble and his family had a history of it and had to learn the hard way.
Dean steals the Colt from him in 4x03, and fails to use it while discovering how their family is well and truly cursed with Mary’s deal. 
John wanted it from Daniel Elkins and never got it from him while he was alive because I bet Elkins did not want to share that curse and had some fear about what it would do to John - the Elkins family having it is sort of like Bilbo having it all the time in the shire - he messes around doing party tricks with his magic ring, but the plot doesn’t come for HIM. 
Vampires eventually steal it, John steals it from them, he gives it again to Dean, but retains a loose ownership of being the one who’d be mad about wasting bullets, even if Sam and Dean wave it around and shoot it a few times, John reclaims it and gives it to Azazel. Azazel gives it to Jake. Sam steals it from Jake, Bela steals it from Sam, gives it to Crowley who gives it to Dean, and then immediately steals it back from him and gives it to Ramiel. Ramiel is killed for it by Sam (unintentionally) and Mary steals it, for Mick who gives it to Sam, who gives it to Dean, who Cas steals it from, who loses it to Dagon, who melts it and the poor ghost of Samuel Colt, haunting miles of railroad in the middle of Wyoming, suddenly has his spirit freed and goes up to Heaven at long last like, finally :P 
Pretty much everyone who either steals it or has it stolen from them is killed for it or because of this struggle - losing it is a safer way to not die, so Dean dropping it at the end of 2 time travel escapades, or after attempting to kill Lucifer, sort of means the gun falls off the radar, in a kind of threw it into the deepest ocean way, where it stops being on the board. But the curse is clear and the power struggle for it. 
I think this sort of desirability of it as an item IS the curse, and Dean is best placed of anyone in the world to know about it because he’s been not just connected to the story all along, but also with the time travel things, especially 4x03, intimately connected with its  history in a really weird way. He was the one who shot the phoenix, after all, even if Sam got the Colt in the first place. Dean being the last “true” owner of the Colt is a nice way to end it, in that Dean is the centre of the universe way. But also that Sam brought it to him and Mary stole it for them - the family history, the family curse… (I still think Samuel Colt’s journal was in the Campbell library because there was a family connection)
Also it’s great Cas stole it and shot it and had a part in that - also mirroring Eileen’s attempt to shoot Dagon, which makes me feel like she’s part of the family and should marry Sam >.>
ANYWAY all that said, I think that’s the curse/pull of the Colt, the sort of “my precious” feeling that would come from it. It’s an object soaked in blood and in the supernatural world that seems to leave a mark. I think the gun was actually almost bonded to their story or to Dean, and he would have the Gollum-like intensity over it because it’s been his for hundreds of years all through its existence, in the “i’m my own grandfather” way time travel messes with things. And I think that it wasn’t EVIL per say but the “curse” had a truth to it that Samuel Colt couldn’t even begin to understand what he’d created, and what it would become. And all the people who died for it - all that power and all that swapping hands? If ownership puts a bit of something into a thing like Dean personifying Baby until she looks out for him in turn like 11x04 showed, then think of the gun going through all those hands, and all the evil or desperation they poured into it while coveting its power.
I don’t think it necessarily drove Dean mad in the way if we had a longer arc with it it MIGHT have Gollum’d him like the First Blade did but for the 3 episodes he owned it, it definitely seemed like a danger and I think this is why he was susceptible to it. I think 12x18 in a way might be a great thing to rewatch for Dean and the Colt - how it influenced him in that time, that he was sloppy and filled with bravado… I said in my notes for that episode that he was happily waving his phallic gun around that represented a sort of power and therefore virility he doesn’t normally feel - a GOOD feeling about himself, self-confidence and self-assuredness, and so Dean hooking up felt a natural part of exercising that power. But it made him reckless and vulnerable and so he ended up being the damsel tied to the chair and thrown in a meat locker. Sam, who had a tearful reunion with the Colt and saw it in a completely opposite light to Dean, as a dangerous, cursed tool, as Samuel Colt said and Sam knows full well, had a clarity about it.
I think if Sam kept the Colt Cas probably wouldn’t have stolen it, and the Colt would still be un-melted, because a totally different story would have been told.
But it got to Dean. It probably wouldn’t have CHANGED him long term, but the immediate personality effect was all over 12x18 and it suddenly filled a huge part of the emotional drama of 12x19 where Cas stealing it became a Cas or Colt situation and they were weirdly paralleled closely together (as well as that weird sexual side to Dean owning the Colt that 12x18 explored, being used with the Colt being in his bed, and Cas stealing it from there…) - if it had been some other McGuffin and not The Colt with all its history I think Dean also would have been a lot more chill in 12x19, and not be betrayed, and not waver even for a second to seem like he was messed up enough to be weighing the worth of the Colt against Cas in the first place. 
I don’t think if the Colt hadn’t been melted it would have had a long term affect on their relationship even if Dean would have been upset about Cas taking it…
I am still wondering if they’ll develop that Cas nearly died FOR Mary to steal it and if Dean would ever clearly be made aware that the BMoL stole it from Ramiel and that’s why they were there and what Mary was doing.
I want more on the cursed family history and whether they mention the Colt or not in that, it just existing for a moment in this season has dragged up more than enough of that…
Okay I have way too many thoughts about this ask I went way off point with. 
But yeah, I don’t think the Colt ACTUALLY would have been like the Mark of Cain and First Blade to Dean, but metaphorically that’s the emotional impact it had, with the family history and HIS history with it being the Mark, and the Colt of course being the Blade.
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