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#everything being overgrown and completely lost to time is really fun
hotshotshitshow · 3 years
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i dont generally care much for post apocalyptic media bc theres usually like zombies involved which got old a loooong time ago or its the same vibes as the last of us which doesnt really do much for me but im really really appreciating how post apocalypticism is being handled in this game
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bas-writes · 3 years
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Hiya bas! Sending from mobile cause i completely lost track of time! Can i ask for Ace and fem!chubby reader, she wants to go swim, but always does so in shirt and pants and is usually super uncomfortable. Ace gets her a swimsuit to surprise her cause he thinks she just doesnt have any but turns out: shes not comfortable enough in her skin to wear one. Comfort fluff? Thank you so much! Loving the chubby rep, me and my hourglass figure with extra minutes are looking forward to all the chubby fics!
Whoops, how could it happen, it's almost 1k words long and cheesy as hell. But what can I say, I think I've learnt to enjoy writing for this precious himbo. I hope you will love some chubby Reader goods, dear Hazel! 🥰
Remember, boys and girls and non binary beauties, every body is a beach body, if it is on a beach! Don't let assholes make you think other way!
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Giving His Insecure Chubby Girlfriend a Swimsuit
Character: Ace Reader: female CW: hurt/comfort, chubby Reader, insecurity regarding weight and body
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For someone who can’t swim for shit, Ace adores water in all shapes. Once the conditions (summer, summer, sweet summer!) are perfect, he sprints to the closest pool (or any other water, to be honest) and the crew has to chase him before he does something stupid and drowns himself. It’s truly adorable to see him so excited, often surrounded by floaties, water wings and lifebuoys. He looks like an overgrown kid.
Of course, he always drags you with himself. What kind of fun would it be, if you couldn’t join him? You don’t really mind it, water is a perfect way to cool yourself down, and you like to swim—even if swimming in this case is more or less hauling your himbo boyfriend. There’s just one thing…
Yeah. Your body.
You do not feel comfortable with it. Maybe not everyday and not everywhere, but being so exposed, with close to nothing covering your body, with all the eyes on you thanks to Ace’s presence… The mere thought of it cringes you and makes you want to crawl into a hole. Suddenly you feel bigger than you are, you are sure all of the imperfections you try to hide and forget about are perfectly visible. Simply said, all of your confidence just evaporates.
So, whenever Ace convinces you to join him, instead of a swimsuit you wear a shirt and shorts.
He doesn’t make a single comment about it, assuming you simply have nothing else to wear. After all, he has already learnt it’s not easy for you to find something that would be not only your size, but also comfortable, in a good quality and matching your style. And honestly? For him you look good in everything. If you want to wear a shirt and shorts to the pool, then wear it. It’s only fun that matters, right?
But one day as you two get lost in a maze of a town you docked by, he catches you staring at a cute plus size bikini set. He’s ready to grab the wallet and get it for you, but as soon as you realize what he is doing, you quickly drag him away and change topic. Yes, you love this swimsuit, but the thought of wearing it makes you so uncomfortable your heart just clenches. And you know you wouldn’t be able to say no, if Ace—with this childish charm of his—got it for you as a gift.
Of course, you could guess he’s going to get back for it. He’s way too stubborn to give up. But it somehow slipped out of your mind.
It costs him some stealthy prowling (after all, it would be creepy as hell if someone—and you especially—caught him fumbling through your underwear), but eventually Ace gets all the measurements he needs and, happy as ever, finds the way back to the shop. He buys you the bikini you were eyeing with such a gleam in your eyes. Once he sees it closer, he understands why you were so fascinated. It’s simply perfect, so cute and in your favorite color! He can’t wait to see you wearing it!
He bounces like an overexcited kid when you unwrap your gift. You have already forgotten about the swimwear, so the happy tension rubs off on you. What could it be? Maybe the book you discussed with Izo… But it’s way too light for a book. What has this idiot—
Oh.
Your lips visibly tremble when you, desperately trying to hide your struggle, tell him you can’t accept this gift. It’s perfect. It’s cute. It’s so sweet of him. But you can’t.
Ace at first thinks he screwed something up, that he bought a wrong swimsuit. Your heart almost sinks at the sight of his disappointed, anxious eyes. You don’t want to explain yourself, you know once the dam breaks, there’s no way of turning back. But you can’t deal with his sadness.
“Ace, it’s not you. I just… I’d not feel comfortable in it. I’d feel fat and u—”
“Hey.” He frowns. “No negative self-talk. You promised.”
Now it’s turn for his heart to sink at the sight of pain on your face.
“Babe.” Ace scoops you into his arms, pulls you as close as he can, prompts you to rest your head against his body. “You are not ugly. You’re beautiful and breathtaking and so hot you’re burning me. And I love you, I hope you know it?”
He takes a lot of time to shower you with compliments and praise, to kiss your tears away, if you start crying. His words are half teasing and trying to make you laugh, half comforting and serious.
“You don’t have to wear it. I bought it because I know you like it. Don’t feel pressured, okay? Wear you when you feel comfortable enough. But I’m sure you’ll just strike everyone present with your beaming beauty. Well, at least you will strike me. You already make my knees wobbly for you.”
And to prove his point, he easily picks you up and carries you to bed, for some cuddles and tickles—or for whatever you enjoy doing to cheer up, when you’re alone.
The day you feel comfortable to wear his gift, Ace’s eyes almost pop out of sockets at the sight of you in a bikini. As he thought, you look perfect. And on top of that, you wear something from him.
“Damn babe, you have no idea how much you light my fire.”​
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Hi! Idk what came over me but I thought an AU where Sander’s kid is anti-Bowie was the most hilarious thing thanks to @hidden-joy @kylesbishops and @sanderijzermans so I wrote it skdjdj
Disclaimer: it’s all fun and chaos and I don’t really know anything about how to write kids
x, x, x, x, credit to the chaos 🤪
The day Sander Driesen hears the words come out of his child’s mouth is the day he wonders if this is his child at all.
He’s standing there, leather jacket, white t-shirt and all, bleached hair icy even in the summer sun, and he looks down at the small stature in front of him. Grey-green eyes, dark locks and an air of confidence that could only be learned from a certain music-loving individual fill his sight. There’s so much innocence standing before him but a driven insistence breaks through the words spoken.
“Dad,” he hears. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but...I don’t really like David Bowie all that much.”
Sander thinks he’s lost his senses. He is definitely not hearing right. Hell, he’s only a man in his early thirties, he could not be this hard of hearing already. He tries to brace himself on the couch from falling over. Shit, he’s also too young to feel this frail.
“Wh-what do you mean you don’t like David Bowie all that much?”
The question comes out in gasps of air, ragged and winded, like he can’t believe what’s happening. He feels like his world’s spinning, like he’s entered another dimension, like there was no way, absolutely no way, his child doesn’t like David Bowie.
Denial is a pretty powerful thing, though...
See, when Alexandra Driesen was born, she brought light and life to Sander and Robbe’s eyes. She had a chubby face and squishy cheeks and eyes the colour of a summer storm. Her dark hair had been a blessing to match Robbe’s. Everything about her was as perfect as it could get. And then came the perpetual frustrations of parenthood with the screaming and the crying.
Sleep was something to be cherished at the Driesen-Ijzermans household. A few day-naps here and a doze-off there. But God, oh God, did Alexandra know how to cry in the middle of the night. Robbe and Sander spent hours upon hours holding her and swaying her and rocking her on a chair. Sander had read that sometimes music helps so he’d even done all that. Bowie usually floated in the shriek-filled room during these times and yet, Alexandra just wept.
“Come on, baby, just a little bit of sleep. Don’t you get tired of screaming all night?” Sander asked in that exhausted tone of parentese. He held her against the crook of his neck and walked around in sweats until he saw Robbe enter the room with blood-shot eyes and curls disarrayed.
“She’s still crying?” he asked with a rasp in his voice.
“She literally won’t stop and I don’t know what to do, I’ve tried everything. I’ve even got Bowie on for her,” he said.
Robbe took her from his arms and swayed her a little, cooing and kissing her tiny head.
“It’s kind of loud, though,” Robbe said to him as he then stepped over to turn off the music.
And in an instant miracle, the house was all quiet.
It seems that’s what’s always happened and Sander just hadn’t noticed it. Alexandra settled into Robbe’s chest and stretched her mouth in a heavy yawn. Her warmth radiated and glowed through Robbe, but Sander was stunned. He’s completely shocked.
“You-she-“ he stuttered clumsily for a bit. “But it was Bowie,” he said weakly.
How could his own daughter not feel at peace with Bowie? It was a connection he held with him, something connecting him and Robbe and what he hoped would connect their child to them in this little family.
“Hmmm,” Robbe hums pensively. “Maybe Bowie’s not her thing.”
“Not her thing?” Sander just about exploded. Then he suddenly remembered Alexandra’s finally gone to sleep and whispered, seething. “That is not our child!”
“Biologically, no. Legally and emotionally, yes,” smirked Robbe. “Calm down, babe, she’ll learn to like him soon enough. For now, how about we hold off on Bowie for a bit, yeah?”
He swayed her just a little more, just to really make sure she’s easing into sleep and then set her gently back down in her crib.
“How long?” Sander muttered and Robbe gave him a confused look. “How long without Bowie?”
Robbe contemplated.
“Maybe we give it six months or so,” he said.
And now it was Sander who wanted to weep. -
As the months and years went on, Alexandra had gone on without her Bowie-loving phase, only mildly being interested in the lightning bolt plushies and the songs blasting on road trips and the shirts Sander would get for her. Robbe says it just takes time for kids to get into stuff. That it’s better to leave it there in the open for them than to shove it down their throats.
“It’s barely any shoving,” Sander had grumbled.
“I know, babe. But I know how you can get sometimes,” Robbe had placed a soothing kiss upon his lips.
Still, Sander’s worries were increasingly growing.
Then a few years later, they’d adopted another beautiful girl. Mia was a radiant vision of blonde curls and brown eyes. They held a similar warmth that Robbe’s eyes held and Sander couldn’t be happier to lose himself in pools of coffee or dark, earthy soils or any other sort of metaphor for his favourite kind of brown.
To his relief, though, Mia loved listening to Bowie. She loved playing with the lightning bolt plushy and wearing all the shirts and as she grew, she and Sander had lots of music jam sessions blasting Bowie throughout the house. Alexandra was enticed into joining for a bit in the beginning but as time went on, Sander found it that she was making more and more excuses to not be in the same room when Bowie was mentioned.
“Uh, I got homework, Dad,” she’d nervously run her fingers through her hair.
“Uh, Papa needs help with dinner I think,” she’d run out with a tight smile.
“Group project due soon. Léon’s being a piece of shit and not pulling his weight at all.”
“Language,” Robbe would chastise coming around the corner.
“He’s being a dick?” she suggested.
“Fuck him.”
“Sander!”
“Sorry.”
Her interests lay instead in skateboarding with her friends, headphones in her ears listening to rap: BROCKHAMPTON and Stormzy with even a little Ed Sheeran in the mix, and keeping her hair as short as possible. She’d had a bit of a habit wearing overgrown shirts like Robbe did. But Sander found that endearing and he didn’t really think it was a case of ‘not-like-other-girls’ syndrome. He and Robbe just let her wear whatever she wanted.
And in fact, it was at thirteen years of age that Alexandra came out to the family as a boy. Sander remembers it clearly with them all huddled on the couch looking at the person in front of them with beady eyes, waiting.
“Dad, Papa, Mia. I think I’m a boy. I think I’m trans and I’d like to formally introduce myself to you all. I’m Alexander, or just Alex. And I use he/they pronouns.”
Sander had wanted to tear up, emotions flooding inside his rib cage. Happy tears, though, a joyous occasion where his son felt comfortable enough to tell them about this part of himself. That he and Robbe had created a space where he felt safe enough. Loved enough.
“I kept Alexander ‘cause, Sander,” he gestured to Sander. “But really, Alex is fine.”
And Sander wanted to cry all over again.
They’d all been encased in a huge family hug with Mia chirping that she’d ‘always wanted a big brother.’
Robbe and Sander had been quite supportive of it all, calling the school to change both the name and preferred name and asking if Alex was considering wearing a binder or getting a proper haircut. “Yes” to the haircut. “Hold off for a bit” on the binder. He’d whined a “Daaaaaad” when Sander ruffled the short brown locks. Most of Alex’s friends were cool with it, too and while it wasn’t all smooth sailing, he’d never run out of love from his family.
It was a big change and everything, but Sander thought, well...as long as he had his Bowie-loving children, it was all fine. -
It’s his worst nightmare. It’s the stuff that haunts you from the depths of the worst kind of hell, making your limbs feel like jelly. He’s cursing every name and divine entity and he’s really hoping Robbe’s right about those parallel universes because he’d love to hop over to the one where this wasn’t happening right now.
Sander’s having a hard time even looking at Alex in the eye.
“Dad?” he hears his concerned voice.
“I think I need to sit down,” says Sander, grabbing the armrest of the couch, lowering himself onto the cushion.
“It’s really not a big deal,” says Alex.
“Not a big deal?” Sander looks at him with wide eyes. “My own son hates David Bowie.”
“I never said I-“
“The man who infinitely changed my life. Space Oddity, Life on Mars, Ziggy Stardust, Ashes to Ashes. None of them?” Sander waves his arms. “You’re telling me you like none of them?”
“They’re...fine, I guess,” Alex shrugs innocently with a cringe to his face.
“Fine?” Sander squeaks.
“What’s fine?” Robbe trudges to them overhearing the conversation.
“Your son hates Bowie,” Sander squints his eyes at him.
“I do not,” says Alex. “I’m just pretty indifferent to him. He’s not exactly my style,” he shrugs, his hoodie moving with the movement.
“And what is your style?” Robbe laughs as he comes up behind him to rub his shoulders. He looks up at Sander with long lashes and a questioning smile stretching across his face. They share one of those ‘parenting looks.’ The ones where they know it’s not all that serious. But Sander thinks it is.
“A bit of rap, a bit of hip hop, some pop, some mainstream,” Alex lists off. “Not exactly the ‘80s vibes in me,” he laughs.
Robbe cheers as their tastes in music are quite similar and he proceeds to carry out their very own handshake they’d created when Alex was nine. There’s a different one with Sander. Sander, who’s getting more and more agitated by this revelation.
“Oh, okay,” he pats his knees and stands up. “Well, if you two are having such a grand time hating Bowie and bonding over your own music, I’ll just take myself and leave. No child of mine doesn’t like David Bowie,” he says dramatically.
“Sander…” Robbe looks at him.
“Dad…” says Alex.
“No, no. It’s fine. Really,” he begrudgingly walks out of the living room, almost knocking into Mia on the way.
“What’s with him?” she blinks twice and points a finger back.
Robbe sighs as he looks back at Alex.
“Your father, he…” Robbe puts a hand on his shoulder. “Bowie’s practically his life and so are the two of you, so I guess it’s really important to him that you like him, too. He’s just gonna need some time with all this.”
His eyes are apologetic and he gives him a half-smile, hand leaving his shoulder.
Alex takes in the words while Mia wiggles herself onto the couch and finds the tv remote beside her.
“You finally told him about Bowie, huh?” she gives him a gravely sad look. One that says he’s about to be doomed.
Alex just lets out a stressed breath as Robbe follows to go find Sander.
What’s so special about David Bowie anyway?
————————————————————————
Part 2 is coming! IM SO SORRY SKDJJF I just need sleep and rest
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Mine
*Daveed Diggs x Reader
*Request: Anonymous asked: “heyyy i really enjoyed reading your writing of Daveed diggs! Can i request one where Daveed diggs and y/n(maybe like a stagehand or a stage manager) meets in hamiliton, and they are friends with benefits, but they also have feelings for each other, and then daveed gets jealous seeing you flirt with other guys and confesses? (iknow its kinda cheesy but... Thanks!”
*Warnings: Language, jealousy, smut (like this fic starts out immediately with a smut scene), light dom/sub, choking, spanking, use of ‘baby girl’, fingering, oral (female receiving), vaginal sex, dirty talk, grinding, hair pulling, marking, unprotected sex (wrap it up). Let me know if I missed anything!
*A/N: Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all! I’m beginning to notice my smut fics are a lot longer (this one’s about 7.5k). Anyways this got filthy and I think that says a lot about me lol. ALSO BIG WARNING THE FIRST SCENE IN THIS IS A SMUT SCENE SO YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
Tip Jar
**********
You knew you had to get ready for work, but at the moment, you didn’t care. His hand rested heavy on your hip, grip tight enough to bruise, while his other held your body up against his. He pounded into you, low groans and pants right next to your ear letting you know just how close he was. 
“You take me so good, baby girl. So fucking wet for me,” he rasped before biting down on the juncture between your neck and shoulder, muffling his noises. You whined, wanting to hear him just as much as he wanted to hear you. He seemed to get the message, kissing the fresh mark before he started talking again. “You’re gonna be late, but you just had to get fucked, didn’t you? Last night wasn’t enough, you just needed me again. I can feel you getting tighter, are you close, baby?”
“Fuck, Daveed, I’m so close. Please,” you whined as he somehow managed to speed up his thrusts.
“Please what, baby? I wanna hear you say it for me.” 
“Please let me cum!” Daveed practically growled as the words left you, bringing his hand from your waist to rub your clit. He always rewarded your obedience. 
“Cum for me, baby girl,” he demanded. The second he gave permission, you could feel the jolts of pleasure through your body as you coated his length in your release. He didn’t last much longer, his thrusts staggered as he chased his own pleasure. He pushed as deep into you as he could before he came with a loud groan, holding you close to him. “Fuck, you always do so good for me.”
You could already feel the fatigue settling in as Daveed moved you to lay with him, his arms around you. If you weren’t already running behind schedule, you would’ve loved to stay there with him, ignoring the mess between your legs until the last possible second. Maybe you’d both drift back into sleep, then go for a lazier round when you woke up again. Maybe he’d join you in the shower, complaining about how hot you always ran the water. But nope, you were already risking being late. 
“Alright, let me up. I gotta go shower,” you said, trying to get out of his hold.
“No, lay with me a bit longer,” he whined. You tried not to laugh; he was always so clingy after sex, even when you were on a tight schedule like this.
“I don’t wanna be late. You can stay in bed, but I swear if you’re late, I’m gonna kick your ass,” you warned, finally slipping out of the bed. Daveed mumbled something into the pillow, but you ignored him as you left for your bathroom. As you waited for the water to heat up, you assessed the damage he’d done. Hickies adorned your bra line, finger-shaped bruises decorated your hips, and even though it wasn’t too aggressive at the moment, you could tell the bite mark he’d just left on you would bruise nicely. You ran your finger over the mark on the juncture of your neck and shoulder, so tempted to just go back to Daveed’s warmth in your bed. Before you could convince yourself to join him, you jumped in the shower.
You left Daveed in your apartment with another threat to get to the theatre on time and a reminder to lock the door after himself. The two of you never got to the theatre at the same time, trying your best to hide the little friends with benefits situation you had going on. Sure, people could tell you had a little flirty thing between you, but that was just how the two of you being friends worked. It was always nerve wracking when people (see, Lin) tried setting the two of you up, but you managed somehow. You had the feeling it wouldn’t work if the two of you tried anything more than your current arrangement, not matter how much you sincerely hoped it wasn’t true. You weren’t willing to risk it though, content with just being able to sleep with him.
You enjoyed the walk to the theatre every morning, the brisk air waking you up to deal with everything that was bound to happen during the day. Today wasn’t a show day, so that meant you didn’t have to worry about things going wrong ten minutes before curtain. Rehearsal days were actually pretty calm for the most part. Well, as calm as they could be considering at least half the cast were really just overgrown children.
As usual, you were one of the first ones in the theatre. You took the chance to do your initial once-over, making sure things were where they needed to be for the day. Though you technically were supposed to have one of the stagehands do this, you enjoyed the time to yourself before the day started. Quiet moments were rare in the theatre, and the music playing softly in your headphones allowed you to get lost in your work. The next time you’d get the chance to do this would be after rehearsals were done, and by then you would be too tired to enjoy it.
Once your check was done, all you could do was wait for the others to show up. It would be at least another half hour until people started trickling in - Leslie normally being the first to join you. You waited by the Keurig for your coffee to finish pouring, lost in your thoughts for the things you’d need to do for the day. A new stagehand was going to be joining you, and most of your day would be training them. Even though - once again - this was something one of the stagehands could do, you enjoyed doing it. Before you could get lost further in your thoughts, you jumped at the feeling of a hand placed on your waist.
“What the f-” You turned, tugging one of your earbuds out. You were kind of surprised to see Daveed standing there, smiling wide at your reaction. “What the fuck, Diggs?”
“What? You told me not to be late,” he said, still amused at how he managed to scare you. “You know, maybe you shouldn’t have both earbuds in when you’re here alone, you never know who might come in.”
“Yeah, it might be one of the asshole actors,” you bit back, finally managing to get your heart to stop racing. You turned back to grab your coffee, taking enough of a drink to burn your tongue a bit.
“I mean, you weren’t calling me an asshole this morning,” he teased, leaning in until he was just a breath away from kissing you. Despite your body yelling at you to accept his kiss, you put your hand to his chest to push him back a bit.
“Hey, what did we say about work?” You tried to remind him. Almost getting caught at work a couple times really made it so you had to set at least a couple boundaries.
“Aw, am I really not allowed to touch you, baby girl? You know no one’s gonna be here for a while, we have some time,” he tried convincing you, leaning in to press a kiss to your cheek. Even the seemingly innocent action had your heart racing yet again.
“Diggs, chill it,” you said, trying to ignore the slight whine in your tone. He was getting to you and he knew it, but he respected your words enough to step back, going to make his own coffee. “So, why are you here so early? I thought you were going back to sleep.”
“I couldn’t after that little wake up call you gave me,” he teased. You rolled your eyes even as you smiled into your cup. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”
“You guys are gonna run through Act 2, I think. I’m not gonna be too invested in that, though.”
“Aw, why not?”
“We’re getting a new stagehand and I’m gonna train them,” you explained. “I wanna make sure they’re ready to work by the show on Saturday.”
“I’m gonna miss seeing your pretty face trying to act like you’re not staring at me.”
“Bold of you to assume I stare at you when Oak is right there.”
“It’s not assuming since I know you scream my name and not Oak’s.”
“Bold of you to assume I don’t scream his too,” you quickly took another drink to hide your satisfied smile. Daveed looked completely offended, exactly what you were going for with your little jab. If you hadn’t been at work, you knew he would do something about it, but he was just going to have to go about rehearsal dealing with it. You didn’t know if there would be repercussions later, but that was all part of the fun.
“You little…”
“Wow, Daveed actually woke up early today?” Leslie interrupted the two of you, already sounding like he’d been awake and ready to go for ages. You didn’t know how true that was, considering it was barely nine in the morning, but he was always ready to go.
“Dude, I’m capable of waking up early.”
“Really? You were dead before that one interview we had-”
“That was at six in the morning!”
“Get on my level, Diggs. I have to wake up that early every day except for show days,” you teased. “Normally Leslie and I get the chance to hang out before everyone else shows up, you’re kinda killing our routine.”
“You hurt me, (y/n). Here I was thinking I’d surprise you by showing up early, but apparently I’m just unwanted,” Daveed whined, finally taking his coffee so Leslie could make one if he wanted to. Leslie was quick to jump in, making himself a mug of tea for the morning.
“I’m glad you understand,” Leslie quipped. “(Y/n) and I have to stick to our routine.”
“I see how it is. I’m gonna go take a nap in my dressing room, come get me when people who aren’t mean get here.” Daveed was practically pouting as he left the two of you, cradling his coffee mug in his hands. As soon as he was out of sight - and earshot - you and Leslie couldn’t hold in your laughter anymore.
“He’s so easy to mess with,” Leslie said once he finally caught his breath. “So, the new stagehand starts today, right?”
“Yeah, I don’t know when they’re supposed to get here, but I’ll probably be training them for the rest of the week.”
“Wait, aren’t you supposed to set when the stagehands get here?”
“Well, yeah, but if people get here early or like a few minutes late then I’m not gonna hold it against them. Public transportation isn’t exactly reliable and traffic is a bitch,” you said, shrugging. “Kinda bummed Angel resigned, though. They were really reliable.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to whip this one into shape pretty fast, though. Don’t worry about rehearsal, I’ll handle it,” Leslie reassured you. If someone could keep an eye on everyone, then rehearsal was bound to go smoothly.
“You’re literally the best, you have no idea how much I appreciate you.” Leslie smiled brightly at your praise.
“You do a lot for us, I just wanna make things easier for you. So, are you and Diggs, you know?”
As amazing as Leslie was, he could also be a bit of a gossip. Not that he would ever share anything, he just liked knowing things. “Nah, you know we’re not like that,” you brushed him off.
“I mean, you could be. I share a dressing room with the guy. I know he likes you,” Leslie said. You had to admit, you were a bit intrigued by this. While you knew the both of you definitely had sexual chemistry - as if the frequent nights spent together weren’t enough to confirm as much - you figured that was where the line was drawn. I mean, you could definitely be physically attracted to someone without being romantically interested in them, and you were sure Daveed only really saw you as a friend. If he didn’t, he would’ve told you by now, right?
“What’re you talking about, Leslie? We’re just friends,” you insisted.
“Sure. So you don’t wanna know what he says about you?”
“And here I was thinking you weren’t a gossip.”
“I’m not usually, I’m just tired of you two dancing around each other.”
“Now you know Diggs can’t dance.”
“Oh haha very funny,” Leslie said deadpan, staring at you. You were trying to use humor to cover up your own curiosity. There was the chance Leslie was just thinking too much into things, being the romantic at heart that he is, and if you got your hopes up just to find out Diggs didn’t actually like you like that? Nope, it wasn’t worth it.
“Thank you, I try,” you said with a smile. “Now, tell me how Nicolette’s doing. I haven’t seen her in a while.”
“You know, sometimes I think you like my wife more than you like me.”
“Of course I like your wife more than I like you.” Leslie held his hand to his chest in mock hurt. You smiled. Mornings with Leslie were always fun.
**********
Everyone else started trickling in within the next half hour or so. Diggs finally came out of his dressing room once Anthony and Oak got to the theatre, having some form of protection from your and Leslie’s “bullying”, as he put it. Once most of the cast got to the theatre, you began looking around for the new stagehand. Just as you were prepared to send them a text, you heard someone coming up behind you. You looked up, prepared to help whoever was coming up to you, when you realized you didn’t recognize this person.
“Uh, hi. Are you (y/n)?” He asked fidgeting with the strap of his messenger bag. Oh Lord, he’s kinda cute. That’s a problem.
“That would be me! Are you Michael?” He nodded, still looking around as though he was scanning the room. Of course he’d be nervous, it was his first day on a pretty major show. He was honestly adorable, and you couldn’t figure out if you wanted to protect him or pursue him. 
“Yeah, uh, sorry I’m a little late.”
“No worries, I know how traffic is. Just try not to be more than fifteen minutes late or I’ll actually have to note it down. Right, I’ll show you where your locker is and then I’ll give you a tour of the place before I start your training. You’ve worked as a stagehand before, right?”
“Yeah, but mainly for community theatre. This is like… really different for me,” he admitted, getting a little flustered. Instead of fiddling with his messenger bag, he went to adjust his glasses, making you melt just a little bit.
“It’s not so bad. C’mon, let’s go,” you nodded towards the locker area, smiling at him. 
Daveed watched you from across the room, wondering who you were talking to. He’d never seen the guy around before, and now you were walking off with him. He turned his attention back to the group he was sitting with. “Hey, Leslie. Who’s that guy (y/n)’s talking to?”
“Oh, I guess her new stagehand showed up,” Leslie commented, following Daveed’s gaze. “They’re gonna be working pretty close while she trains him.”
“Shit, really? Why can’t someone else train him?”
“Hey, Diggs, why do you care so much?” Anthony decided to jump in, seeing a prime opportunity for teasing. “I thought you said y’all were just friends.”
“We are! I just don’t like the idea of her being alone with that guy.”
“You sure you don’t like her? Kinda sounds like you’re jealous,” Oak commented.
“Man, shut up. When are we starting?” Diggs asked, trying to change the subject. He looked around, trying to see if he could spot you from where he was, but you were gone. Shit.
**********
Training the new guy ended up taking a lot more of your time than you expected. He was quick to pick up on the little tech stuff from his previous jobs, but you still had to prime him for working with your crew and the cast. Michael stuck close to your side, asking you about little things to make sure he’d be ready for Saturday’s show. Even when he didn’t have to be there - during breaks and lunch - he still hung out with you, just chatting about anything. You had to admit, you really liked his company. He was a good kid.
Being so busy meant you didn’t really get to hang out with Daveed as much, the only real time you got with him was when he insisted on walking you back to your apartment. There were a couple times when you were walking that Daveed took your hand in his, making your heart race. It wasn’t an uncommon thing for him to do, but with Leslie’s teasing at the back of your mind, you couldn’t help but read more into it. Then again, this was Daveed: your best friend that you happened to sleep with multiple times a week. 
When the two of you got to your building, Daveed would kiss you on the front steps, that little fire and hunger burning in the movements of his lips against yours. Your body and mind buzzed, overwhelmed with the sensation of him, but your exhaustion would nag at the back of your mind, making you break the kiss far too soon for either of your liking. 
“Can I come in?” Daveed would ask, desire evident in the way he looked down at you.
“I’m sorry, I’m just too tired tonight,” you’d apologize even as you wanted to lead him up to your apartment, to your bed. Even though you could tell he was a little disappointed, he nodded, respecting your decision. With a promise to text you when he got back to his place - and the unspoken promise to call until you both fell asleep - Daveed would call a Lyft to take him away for the night.
As you laid in bed, listening to Daveed’s voice over your phone speaker tell you random stories and whatever just popped into his head, you couldn’t help but imagine how nice it would be if you could actually do this. If you could actually fall asleep to him next to you, his arms wrapped around you, maybe pressing a kiss to your head when he thought you were asleep. Sure, when the two of you fucked, he would stay the night and hold you in his arms, talking to you as you drifted off to sleep, but you knew it wasn’t the same. Even though the two of you were friends, you couldn’t imagine you having a right to that if you didn’t provide benefits for the night. So you would settle for the phone calls and the calls of your domestic fantasies.
By the time Saturday rolled around, you were kind of excited. You’d get to sleep in since you didn’t need to be at the theatre until noon, Michael was going to have his first run without you hovering over him like an overprotective mom, and you were finally going to have the chance to spend some time with Daveed after the show. You had to admit, you were looking forward to that last one the most. Not sleeping with him for almost a full week and having that post-show adrenaline? It was going to be fun.
Once you got to the theatre, you were energized. You’d gotten more sleep than you usually did, you decided to splurge a bit on a drink from the overpriced coffee shop down the street, you actually had breakfast for once, things were looking like they were going to be good. As soon as you walked in, Daveed quickly attached himself to your side before Michael had the chance to. This, of course, led to teasing from the others.
“Dude’s acting like he was going through withdrawals,” Anthony joked when he was sure you and Daveed could hear him. He was talking his shit and he wanted you to know it.
“Don’t act like you’re not like this with Jazzy,” you quipped back. As sweet as Anthony (normally) was, he was whipped for Jazzy and everyone knew it.
“Yeah, but she’s my girlfriend. You tryna say something about you and Diggs?” Anthony shot back. Fuck, he had you there.
“Sorry you don’t have any friends so you can’t relate,” Daveed saved you. Anthony glared at him.
“Then what’re all you guys?”
“Coworkers,” you said, completely deadpan. Anthony’s glare turned into a look of hurt. You almost felt bad for him.
“You know what? I don’t like getting bullied like this.”
“Then don’t start shit you can’t finish, Ramos,” you told him. As much of a sweetheart he could be, he was definitely a little shit too. You were beginning to notice that was a bit of a common theme with the people you worked with.
When you and Diggs were in his dressing room later before the show - you putting his mic on for the show - he took your hand and pressed a kiss to your palm. You weren’t used to him being touchy like this, so your immediate response was to gently shove his face with your hand and tell him to stop it while you laughed. He smiled at you, letting you do your job.
“So, you gonna come over tonight after the show?” Daveed asked.
“I dunno, am I?”
“C’mon, it’s been a while. I know I’m not the only one that’s a mess, baby girl.” Heat rushed through you at the pet name, one normally reserved for just the bedroom or when he was trying to rile you up. And he was really succeeding at that second thing. Before you could answer, though, there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”
“Hey, uh, (y/n)?” Michael asked, peeking his head in the room. He brightened up when he saw you were in there, though you had no doubt he’d been asking around to find you. “Can I ask you a quick question before show starts?”
“Yeah, sure thing! Just let me finish up with Diggs’ mic and I’ll be out,” you said. Michael smiled brightly before excusing himself, closing the door again. You looked down at Daveed to find him glaring at the door.
“Yeah, you’re definitely coming to mine tonight.” You just tilted your head in confusion, but Daveed only waved you off. You shrugged, finishing your job. You’d have time to ask him after the show.
**********
The show went by a lot faster than you expected it to. Then again, when you were running around backstage, making sure everyone was ready and in places and didn’t have any costume or tech mishaps, you didn’t have a real concept of time. In the brief break you had during intermission, Michael found himself at your side, gushing about how cool the entire thing was. You watched him with a fond smile, glad things were going well during his first official show. You could feel someone looking at you, though, and looked up to find Daveed watching you, obviously not paying attention to whatever Leslie was telling him.
You kept it at the back of your mind as Act 2 started, getting back to your job. There would be time to question him about everything later. Act 2 flew past just as quickly as Act 1, and you watched in the wings as everyone took their bows. Daveed spotted you, giving you a bright smile. As soon as curtains closed, Daveed rushed up to you.
“Just let me get changed and then we’ll head out,” he told you. You could see him almost lean in, but he stopped himself at the last second, opting to ruffle your hair instead before booking it to his dressing room.
“Asshole!” you called out after him even as you laughed. You went to grab your backpack from your locker, not really having a way to kill time after the show. You could always talk to some of your coworkers, but you were sure they just wanted to head home as soon as possible too. You leaned against the wall, just messing around on your phone, when you heard someone walk up to you.
“Hey, (y/n)! I think the show went great!” Michael said as soon as you looked up.
“Yeah, it really did! I heard good things about you today, but how’d your first day go?” You asked, pushing yourself up from the wall. Michael immediately jumped into telling you about everything, really giving off puppy energy. You didn’t know how long you were talking to him, but you could tell he was dancing around something.
“You know, I really appreciate you taking the time to train me yourself. I’m sure I wouldn’t’ve done half as good if you didn’t. Uh, do you think I could like take you out for drinks or something as thanks if you’re not doing anything right now?” Michael finally said.
“Sorry, she has plans,” Daveed said, seemingly coming out of nowhere to put his arm around your shoulders. You jumped slightly at the sudden contact.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, she’s gonna get fucked until she can’t walk tomorrow.” This immediately drew a gasp of his name from you, but he ignored it and continued. “She’s mine, so you might wanna think again about asking her out.”
Before Michael could even think of saying anything else, Daveed practically dragged you out of the theatre. You struggled to keep up with him, cursing his long legs as you tried to figure out what the hell was going on. A Lyft was already waiting for the two of you outside, and he opened the door for you to get in. The ride was quiet, tension heavy in the air between the two of you, and you could tell the driver was a little uncomfortable even though they had no idea what was going on. As soon as you were in Daveed’s apartment, you turned to him.
“What the hell was that?! You really just said that to the new guy?! What the fuck is your problem?” You demanded as he closed the door behind him.
“He obviously has a crush on you, I needed to make sure he knew where he stood,” Daveed said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Even if he does have a crush on me - which I’m pretty sure he doesn’t - you don’t have the right to do that shit! We’re literally just fucking, it’s not like you’re my boyfriend or anything.” You inhaled sharply as Daveed took a step into your space.
“You don’t get it, do you?” Daveed asked, looking down at you. You tried to straighten up to your full height, but the height difference was still enough to make you feel small.
“Get what?” You tried to keep the venom in your tone even as your heart raced.
“It’s not just fucking. It’s hanging out with you even when we don’t do anything. It’s doing anything to make you smile, even if it’s because you’re bullying me. It’s being nervous to hold your hand but never wanting to let go. It’s wanting to just hold you when we’re in bed, not wanting to let you get up in the morning. I’m so fucking in love with you, and I have been for months now,” Daveed said, cupping your face. “I don’t want you with anyone else. You’re mine.”
“Wait, what?” You didn’t know how to process everything he just told you. You needed a second for it to register, and just as Daveed was about to speak again, you cut him off, pulling him down for a kiss. You didn’t know how to explain it, but this one was different from all the other times you’d kissed him, even from the first one. When you pulled back, you smiled at him. “You’re so sappy.”
“What, did you need time to load?” Daveed teased.
“Well, yeah. I didn’t exactly expect to get a confession from the guy I’ve been silently pining over for way too long now,” you admitted, pulling him back down for another kiss. You almost got upset with the little smile you could feel against your lips, but there were more pressing matters at hand. You broke the kiss again, pleased at the way he seemed to chase your lips. “Now, uh, what was it you told Michael? I was gonna get fucked until I can’t walk tomorrow?”
You could immediately see the change in him, a wicked smile growing on his lips. “You wanna play that game, baby girl?”
You nodded, biting your lip as the air around you seemed to change. The tension from before was back, but instead of the unbearable silence that plagued you on the ride back to his place, it was laced with anticipation. Daveed pulled you back in, one hand on the nape of your neck to hold you to him. His other hand started roaming, tracing lightly along your side before settling on your hip. When he was sure you wouldn’t break the kiss, he brought his other hand down. He bent down slightly, hands moving to your thighs. He pulled back for a breath before giving you a simple demand. “Jump.”
You did as he said, jumping just enough for him to wrap your legs around his waist. He started walking to his bedroom, distracting you with kisses and nips to your neck. The first night you guys spent together, you’d set up some ground rules to not get caught, the first one being absolutely no marks that couldn’t be hidden. That rule seemed to go out the window now that there was nothing to hide. A small whimper escaped you at the mark he was sucking high on your neck, not used to the sensation there.
His distraction worked; before you knew it, he was placing you on the edge of his bed. As soon as his hands were free from carrying you, they went to the front of your shirt, unbuttoning it with practiced ease. His lips followed his hands, kissing down your front. He ended up kneeled between your legs, letting your shirt fall open and frame your figure. “Talk to me, baby girl. What’s the safe word?”
“Red, and yellow if I need a second,” you recited. Just the fact that Daveed made sure to do the check in meant you were in for it, and you couldn’t be more excited.
“Good girl.” You barely had a second to process his words before he pressed up to kiss you, pushing your shirt off of your shoulders. Your bra was quick to follow, and once your top was exposed, Daveed pushed you to lay on your back. He planted his arm beside your head, caging you in as he lowered his body to yours. The kiss would break for a second just to let you get more air before he reclaimed your lips, and as much as you loved kissing Daveed, you needed more. You knew this was all part of his teasing, and as much as you were normally a brat, you needed him.
“Please,” you whimpered out, rolling your hips against his. You could feel his arousal so close to where you needed him, separated only by a few layers of clothes. 
“Please what, baby?” You couldn’t see his smirk, but you knew it was there.
“Touch me.”
“I’m already touching you, isn’t this enough? If you’re gonna be greedy, you gotta tell me what you want.” Against his words, he started trailing his free hand down the side of your face, down your neck, down, down, down, stopping right at your waistband. He pressed his lips to your neck, letting you feel his smile. “What do you want, baby girl?”
“Daveed, fuck, please. I want you to fuck me,” you said, trying to grind into him again. His hand at your waistband held down your hips, not letting you have any room for movement. He sat back on his knees, looking down at you.
“There you go, baby. All you had to do was ask.” He undid your pants, the sound of the zipper seeming to echo in the room as he slowly pulled it down. You wanted to complain about him still teasing, but you knew you wouldn’t get what you wanted if you did. He pulled your pants down and off, you lifting your hips to help ease the way. You reached down to remove your panties, just wanting the job to be done already, but Daveed gently smacked your hands away. “No. I wanna take a bit to look at you, all gorgeous and needy.”
“Stop teasing,” you whined.
“Normally you’re such a brat. What happened?” Daveed asked, still teasing. His hand toyed at the hem of your panties, the slight touch enough to make you shiver.
“I thought you like when I listen to you,” you shot back, finally moving to sit up. You liked his little games, but you were starting to get tired of it. You needed him to touch you, actually touch you, and if he kept going like this, it was going to take forever. Before he could say whatever smart ass remark he was going to, you pulled him by his shirt into a deep kiss. You broke the kiss for a second, starting to tug off his shirt. It didn’t take more than a second for him to realize what you wanted, quickly taking it off. You went back to work, not wanting to give up the slight bit of control you had gained.
You moved your kisses down his neck, wanting to leave some marks of your own. As your hand trailed down to palm his erection through his sweats, he grabbed the back of your hair, forcing you to look at him. His pupils were lust blown, he was panting slightly, and he looked like he was seconds away from losing it. You had the feeling you didn’t look much better. “Nuh uh, baby. Did you forget who’s in charge here?”
“It’s gonna be me if you don’t hurry up,” you challenged. You inhaled sharply when the hand in your hair tightened its hold, but you kept your eyes locked with his.
“There’s the brat I love,” he said with a small huff of amusement, trying not to smile. He moved you back to lay down, finally touching you where you needed him, even if it was still over your panties. “You know how I know you like these little games? You always get so fucking wet for me.”
Daveed pressed one more kiss to your lips before settling between your thighs, pulling your panties off and tossing them somewhere to the side. You leaned back on your elbows, wanting to watch his next moves. He kissed your inner thigh, making your breath hitch as the simple touch lit up your nerves. You could tell he was leaving more marks as he kissed and nipped on the soft skin, not even really registering his hand moving between your legs until you jolted at the slight pressure on your clit.
Daveed moved his attention to your other thigh, repeating the motions as his thumb lazily rubbed over your clit. Your thighs tried to close on their own, only to be met by a sharp bite. Breathy whines and moans escaped your lips, your head rolling back as Daveed took his time. As much as you were expecting him to take you rough and make you beg until you were crying, this slow build up was an entirely different kind of torture. When his fingers finally teased between your folds, guiding the way for his tongue, you couldn’t help your high whine of please. 
He took mercy on you, his tongue teasing your entrance before settling on tracing patterns over your clit. While his mouth worked on your clit, he eased two fingers into you, your arousal making it easy for him. Your hips bucked at the slight burn, but the way he dragged his fingertips along your walls quickly replaced the feeling. Daveed knew exactly how to take you apart, watching your reactions for the slightest changes. Just as your thighs started to quiver, the pool of arousal in you getting to just this side of too much, Daveed pulled away.
“You fucking-”
“Watch what you’re gonna say to me, baby girl. You’re already on thin fucking ice,” he warned, getting up to take off his sweats. Even though you knew he wouldn’t be gone for long, you missed his touch on you. Not that you were gonna let him know that.
“You asshole, I was almost there.” You bit your lip, barely hiding the gasp that threatened to escape you at the smack he gave to your thigh. The skin stung, but the prickling of pleasure was always enough to overwhelm it. 
“I know, sweetheart.” He gave you a wicked smile as he took his place between your thighs again, resting his length against where you needed him. You didn’t even realize you whimpered at the feeling until his thumb started rubbing circles into your thigh. “Aw, someone’s needy. I only want you cumming around me when I say you can, understand?”
You nodded, but Daveed just shook his head, the little pout on his lips mocking you. “Nuh uh, baby girl. Use your words and then I can fuck you the way you want, okay?”
“Yes, I understand,” you finally said, voice smaller than you would’ve liked. You rolled your hips up, trying to feel more of him. Daveed’s hand tightened on your thigh, hard enough that you were sure you were going to have finger-shaped bruises there in the morning. “Now can you please just hurry up and-”
You cut yourself off with a whine as Daveed ran the tip through your folds, collecting your wetness before teasing the head over your entrance. His little self-satisfied smile as he slowly pushed into you was annoying, but you had better things to focus on. He pulled you closer to him, thumb rubbing circles on your thigh yet again as he rolled his hips a few times. As much as he talked about ruining you, you could always tell there was a slight hesitation before he really got into it. You loved his concern, but he did have a promise to keep. His thrusts were still slow and controlled, so you decided to give him some motivation. 
“I know you can go harder than that. You know, I bet Michael would-” This time you were cut off by Daveed’s hand on your throat. You looked up, a small smile gracing your lips at finally getting what you wanted, only to falter a bit at the hard look Daveed was giving you.
“Michael wouldn’t do shit,” Daveed said, finally thrusting into you harder. You knew you shouldn’t be as smug about it as you were, but you were thriving. This was what you’d been waiting for. Your legs wrapped around his waist, your hands fisted in the blanket. Just as you were starting to get comfortable, enjoying the ride, Daveed forced your leg over his shoulder, driving his length deeper into you. “He wouldn’t know how to fuck you like I do. Even if you went to him, you’d be thinking of me. You and this pussy belong. To. Me.”
Daveed punctuated each word with a rough thrust of his hips, making you see stars. You were babbling at this point, whines and moans mixing with your pleas for more. Daveed’s hand rested on your throat, not quite choking you but acting as a reminder to watch yourself. He was treating you with the roughness you craved, and you could feel yourself getting closer as he went on. You didn’t know if you were the one that moved or it was him, but he hit that spot. That spot that had your vision edging with white, that had you yelling out as you came hard, not even bothering to ask permission. Instead of letting you ride it through like he normally did, Daveed pulled out of you, dropping your leg from his shoulder. 
“Wha- why’d you stop?!” You cried out even as Daveed flipped you over to your stomach. He pulled your hips up, arching your back for him before laying a hard smack on your ass.
“Did you ask?” Daveed demanded, smacking the same spot.
“What?”
“What, you get fucked a little and forget your manners?” It finally clicked for you, a little embarrassed that Daveed had to point it out like that. Normally, you’d be apologetic, but you couldn’t really find it in you to care at the moment. You just wanted Daveed to keep fucking you, you could deal with the consequences later. You tried rolling your hips back to his, but his hands kept a tight hold on your hips.
“I’m sorry,” you whined, still not meaning it. “Please.”
Daveed huffed out a little laugh, but when you tried turning your head to look at him, his hand fisted in your hair, pushing your head down into the pillows. You would have complained, but the feeling of him sliding back into you cleared your mind of anything other than him. He was quick to go back to his fast pace, holding your head down to keep you in place. “Don’t know why I fucking asked for an apology, I know you don’t mean it. You just want me to fucking ruin you.”
You couldn’t do anything but whimper at his harsh tone, trying to fuck yourself back on him. But no, he controlled the pace, he controlled your pleasure. You were his. All you could do was take it, trying not to repeat your mistake from earlier. Time seemed to fade away as the sound is his hips against yours, your muffled moans and whines, his small grunts and praise filled the room. It wasn’t until Daveed finally let go of your hair to rub at your clit instead that you could tell he was getting close. His thrusts started getting sloppy and you could feel the build up inside of you yet again.
“Please, baby,” you whined, the two words already being a struggle. You’d hoped it would be enough, but of course it wasn’t.
“You gotta say it, baby girl,” he said, voice slightly strained from how close he was.
“Please let me cum, I wanna cum so bad, please baby please,” you kept going, only able to repeat please, baby until he finally took mercy on you. You were trying your hardest to be good, needing to be good for him, but you didn’t know how long you could keep this going.
“Fuck, such a good girl. Cum for me baby, I wanna feel you.” His permission was all you needed, your orgasm hitting you as soon as you had it. Your legs shook, nerves sensitive as Daveed chased his own release, making you cry out into the room. Daveed followed soon after, pushing deep in you as he called your name in a delicious groan.
The quiet that followed was new, your heavy breathing the only noise breaking the silence. Daveed stayed for a few seconds before slowly pulling out, making you whimper at the sensitivity. You let your hips fall, content to just stay there laying on your stomach, but Daveed had other ideas, rolling you onto your side so he could pull you into his arms.
“Hey,” he said in a near whisper, a little smile on his face as he looked down at you.
“Hey,” you said with a smile of your own. The moment was a bit cheesy, but it made you feel warm inside.
“So, how was that?”
“I mean, it was different.”
“Different good or?”
“Yeah, but just different. Like, knowing that you’re in love with me or whatever.”
“Don’t ‘or whatever’ that! Every time we’ve fucked before I’ve been in love with you,” Daveed seemed to add that last part as an afterthought. Thinking the conversation was done, you started to get up only to be pulled back to the bed. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“To go shower?” You looked at Daveed, tilting your head slightly. You were met by a hungry look, immediately sending a shiver through you.
“We’re not done yet, baby girl.”
**********
Permanent Tag List: @treatallwithkindness, @laic2299
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shesawriter39049 · 3 years
Text
|FEVER| M|
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Pairing: Namjoon X Reader
About- Namjoon just has a kink for letting you do whatever the hell you want with him...Whether that be putting him in a hot pink suit shirtless! Or, telling him he’s a good boy as he fucks you into oblivion!
OR- Namjoon and yourself hooked up 5 months ago when the boys were in London on Tour, and you were the creative director for there British GQ & Harper’s Bazzar Cover! Now, months later he’s prepping to release his second mixtape “RM vs Rap Monster”. Opting to go a complete 360 from his first release Mono in all realms. So, with that being said BigHit thinks he needs someone with a little more... “umph” Take a wild guess as to who they call...
WC:1.2k (Sneak peek)
WARNINGS: Switch OC (Top & Bottom...but there's no real dom/sub tones here) Service top/power bottom Namjoon, praise kink, Fingering, Unprotected sex(Back shot), come play, dirty talk, light choking, light overstimulation, (This is lowkey a little softer than it sounds) The OC kinda leads this, but Joon isin’t the cliché “sub” he just likes letting her take control.
NOTE- Just my take on the OG cliché Artist X Stylist AU (Though she’s more of a full package, Art Director/Stylist/Photographer ETC) I have tried to add some minor elements to make it a little more realistic. I will say I typically stray from “Idol-verse” just because if we’re being real, the cultural difference alone sometimes stunts my creativity...BUT I just had a little fun with this one...so I hope you all enjoy it. Also, I don’t go into much physical details but in my mind regardless of race, aesthetic wise the OC is a huge contrast to what he’s use to which is part of her appeal. I picture a tatted Barbie of some sorts...
SIDE NOTE: No shade, but shade, I was lowkey inspired to write this bc I have very strong opinions about the creative team at BH....
*** Let me know if you guys want the full thing or not...I kidna flaked on posting because it is such a cliché lol
SONG- FEVER DUA LIPA  FT ANGELE
~~~~~~~
“Well, it’s a yes for me” Eyeing him in this Hot pink-fitted Burliti suit, which you paired with a very sheer black Arnar Mar turtle neck. The minute you saw the piece on the runway you’d been dying to get it on someone with melanated skin, and it just so happens, the boys are fresh off the US leg of their stadium tour! So, lucky for you, baby boy’s been in the sun a lot, and Namjoon’s currently a sinful shade of brown and you're totally here for it…
Then to top it off, the mesh material of the turtle neck creates the perfect silhouette around his offensively toned chest, outlining the muscles sinfully. Eternally snorting at the way the fans are gonna thank and curse you out all at the same damn time once they see the looks you’ve pulled for this man!
And yes, you had your crew bring extended shades of foundation and concealer, because his face and neck will match if your name is going to be attached to these damn photos! 
Head tilted to the side as you silently observe the way he rakes over his reflection in the mirror, it’s a sixth sense you’ve acquired as a stylist at this point. Half of your job is essentially being a hype man/self love coach, real shit, a lot of these artist aren't always as...confident as one may think!
And just like clockwork Namjoon runs his palm down his thighs, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles on his pants for the umpteenth time in the span of oh I don’t know 30 seconds? Which in turn prompts you to say….
“You look good Joonie...” Musing over your second glass of Don, the compliment was genuine, tone warm, soothing even, not a hint flirtation insight because that wasn’t your motive. You weren’t trying to get him flustered you’re just trying to gas him up a little, you wanted to see Namjoon get alittle cocky and feel himself!
Ears perking up like an overgrown puppy, head whipping in your direction “Yeah?” The way this man’s eyes just lit up like the soul skyline. I just-goddamn, an almost bashful smile toys on those plush lips of his, and you can’t help the way your chest flutters with nothing but fondness.
“So fuckin cute” Flutters off your lips, as you hide a smile of your own behind a half empty whine glass. The delivery was so faint it almost go lost in the background music floating through the air. However the slight flush hitting his cheeks let you know Namjoon heard you whether he wanted to admit it or not!
”Mmmhmm, the color looks fuckin insane against your skin, not to mention, the way everything's going to pop once we tone your hair a little! “ Eyes drinking him in from head to toe, though there was nothing suggestive playing within your iris. Very much aware of time and place and right now your genuinely looking respectfully! Seeing if any alterations are needed, making sure you like where everything sits along his frame. Making notes in your phone of places you want to pin and adjust later...snapping a couple shots here and there. 
Licking his lips anxiously as he plays with the lapels on the blazer “But like-I mean-I- dont’-It doesn’t look like I’m... trying too hard or anything?” Brows furrowed in the center of his face, jaw tight, wincing slightly at his own words, almost as if he was afraid of your response. The vulnerability within his delivery was more than evident, and no matter how common this is with artist, it’s still just as devastating! Regardless of how much he tried to play it off as if he was just making casual conversation, you can see how blatantly uncomfortable he is . Gazing back at you wide eyed, and uncannily exposed, pointing at the outfit in question. Licking his lips anxiously as he plays with the the blazer, switching posses subtlety trying to get a better feel for the suit.  
You stayed silent for a minute, taking the time to actually process before speaking which is rare, not gonna lie. Gaze piercing as you hop off the bed, wine, and accessories in hand, swaying closer. “It’s fashion”. The baited pause almost implied that’s all you had to say, as if one-word was self-sufficient, and in your mind it was...but you knew better than to just leave it at that.
“Art at its finest Mr. Kim” You smile something a little devious, and he flushes even deeper as you slowly start to invade his space eyes locked with him meaningfully. You can physically see the shift, the closer you get, Namjoon starts fidgeting slightly under your gaze but he doesn't back down.
“It gives you room to play, create...it’s something that let’s us connect to people without saying a damn thing.” Suddenly the hand that wasn’t holding your alcohol has become a prop, flailing around haphazardly as you spoke, pointing at the various pieces hanging on clothes racks in your suite! The penthouse has essentially been transformed into your own personal walk in closet for the next 5 or so days! “It’s a statement. A opportunity to tap into a side of yourself that maybe you can’t always verbally articulate to the world around you! More importantly, it’s supposed to be fun, it’s literally something that can be removed within seconds! I mean we all have to wear clothes so why not just enjoy it?”  Head cocked to the side as you appraise him, brow quirked, eyes warm, yet there's a clear challenge playing within your gaze.
Namjoon’s watching you intently, almost as if he’s taking mental notes as you speak...the heaviness within those dangerously honed eyes of his could almost be unsettling to some, but you quite like it. Made you feel as though he actually gives a flying fuck about what you’re saying.
“In my opinion the only time it looks like someone’s “Trying too hard” Making little air bunnies with your spare hand “Is if they look uncomfortable in what they’re wearing, confidence is key, and I know you know that better than anyone RM!” You muse batting your lashes in Namjoon’s direction, and he dimples back at you, eyes sinking into tiny crescents, face rivaling the color of his suit, trying to hide said smile behind his own glass of champagne.  
“I could put you in a damn clown suit...” Words trailing off your tongue lackadaisically as you grow distracted searching the bar for a specific chain from John Hardy. “Which” Focus snapping back in his direction making the later splutter a little “Would be fire as fuck if I did by the way, but-”  Namjoon ended up cackling midsentence, almost choking on his drink in the process, fist pounding against his sternum.
Yeah..killing the leader of Bangtan wasn’t really high on your list tonight....
“Ayee, none of that shit...” Smacking him in the back a little more so just to be an ass because he wasn’t even choking anymore “Don’t die on me until we at least get this damn photoshoot done, I had to cancel my trip to Jamaica for this shit!”
Now he’s damn near choking and his laugh was contagious, it’s just.. loud, carefree so yes, your cackling, and there's nothing cute about it. But you honestly don’t care, you let yourself get lost in it! Finally able to feel the atmosphere in the room start to shift to something a little less scripted and a little more organic...
Throwing his hands in the air as If he’s waving a nonexistent white flag “I’m sorry, noona” There’s a pout playing in his lips, not exactly aegyo per say, but it’s fuckin adorable “Blame PD-nim, it’s his fault we had to do this so last minute” Wheezes from his throat, in the form of a slight whine, almost rivaling Jimin if I’m honest.
You already know he was laughing more so due to your delivery, specifically, your casual use of profanity over anything else. This is actually something you use to be self-conscious about, especially at your first shoot with the boys, at the shoot for GQ . Well aware it wasn’t as common in Asia for people especially women to use “fuck” like a comma. So you were hoping they wouldn’t be offended, or uncomfortable by your dialect, and, thankfully they didn’t seem to mind. Much like Joonie over here, they found it entertaining over anything.
“Yeah, a huh, sureee...” Eyes rolling to the back of your head playfully as you start lightly altering the suit in question with clips and pens. “Stay still babe” The pet name slipped off your tongue effortlessly, honestly, that's what you call most people in your life. However you were far too focused to notice how wide eyed and flustered the man before you became upon hearing it directed at him so casually.
A faint little “Sorry” muses off his lips as he gnaws on his inner cheek, trying to stay still as you ghetto-rig hems into place until you can get this under your sewing needle.
“ No, but real shit…” You sigh, taking on a slightly more serious tone “If you step in front of that camera like you own the bitch, regardless of what your wearing..., then they can’t tell you shit! If your comfortable there’s no such thing as trying too hard” You shrug nonchalantly like that was the simplest concept known to man, downing the rest of your drink “Alright, that’s all, thanks for coming to my Ted talk” Waving him off as if you’re about to leave the room and he pouted playfully, jokingly begging you not to leave him yet...it felt good to be able to banter like this. The shift continuous shift within the atmosphere was more than welcomed…
Hesitantly you watch his eyes find their way back to the full length mirror, which promptly smacks you back to reality!
Unfortunately you didn't fly all the way to Seoul just to drink,  and shoot shit with Namjoon for hours on end,  your actually here to work…
Sooo...
“Alright” Placing your arms on his shoulders, giving him a reassuring squeeze as you peer over his shoulder. Meeting his gaze through the glass, chin resting gently against the blade. “Back to the reason you came Mr. “I’m sooo anxiously” Shooting him a teasing little smirk in the process “The suit, yay or nay”
So, here’s the thing technically the official fitting is tomorrow, and as far as his team knows he’s in the studio with Yoongi and Hoseok finishing up a song!
Which of course raises the question as to why he’s here..alone..mind you..no staff or security in site.
Just Kim Namjoon and yourself.....
~~~~
Heyyyy, Lemme know if you guys want this or not, it will leave kinda open ended because it was supposed to kinda be a 3 part mini series initially. Part 1 ends the morning of the shoot, the full thing is set to be around 6/7k! Spoiler, the company is going to want to keep her around for more than just Namjoon’s solo project....
Also, YES...I did see that they actually put Tae in that Burliti suit (I wrote this long before that shoot was released)...I actually hated the way it was styled it though...I never thought I’d say this but MGK’s team did a better job than BH....
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omg-imatotalmess · 3 years
Text
Clouds, Leaves, and a Broken Promise
Hey guys! So, I don’t really know where this came from. I promise I’m not sad, and I’m in an okay place. Angst was just what my brain wanted to put into the world tonight. Also, it’s very late, so this might make no sense. Hope you enjoy anyway!
Pairing: George Weasley x Reader 
Requested: No
Warnings: DEATH, angst, mentions of blood, pain, war
Italics = flashback
                                                            ---
The world was quiet. Or it seemed that way, at least. There was very clearly too much going on right in front of you for it to sound so far away. You didn't mind, but you wondered what was going on. So many people were running past you. They looked scared. You had to wonder how anyone could be scared when everything scary was so far away. Maybe you were missing something. 
That was definitely a possibility seeing as you didn't know where you were or why you were there. Hell, you weren't even sure if all of that was real or an elaborate dream. You were leaning towards it being a dream. You couldn't feel anything after all. It was like you were floating, but it also very much seemed like you were lying on the ground. Dreams could be confusing like that sometimes. 
"(Y/N)!" A faint voice called your name. At least, you were pretty sure it was. You turned your eyes to the sky. 
"(Y/N)!" Whoever it was, they seemed awfully upset. You wished you could do something for them, but you weren't sure you could move. Maybe you weren't real. The sky was pretty. 
"Oh god, (Y/N)!" A familiar face finally appeared in your line of sight: red hair, dark eyes, remnants of smile lines all over his definitely not smiling face. Oh. You knew him. George. Your good friend George. 
"You're going to be alright," he said, dropping to his knees beside you.
"Am I not?" you asked. 
"You're going to be fine. We'll nip up to the great hall, get you fixed up, finish up all this nasty business, and get back to normal," he said. Then, briefly, his hands were under you. Suddenly, you felt. 
Was that you screaming? It sure sounded like you. Hard to tell with fire burning through your very bones. The fire consumed you from your core out. Searing the length of your spine, dipping between each vertebra, and nestling somewhere in your left side. Despite it, you felt cold. And tired. You wished that he'd leave you alone so you could look at the sky. How could you enjoy the clouds when it suddenly felt like you were dying? 
You got your wish. After an eternity, or a couple of seconds (you weren't sure), the sky was above you again. So was George's face. He looked nearly as scared as the people you'd seen earlier. You wondered why. The sky was beautiful, and danger was so far away. You were pretty sure you were smiling at him. He didn't smile back. In fact, he looked like he might cry. Unusual for him. 
"What's wrong?" you asked. Your own voice sounded far away. 
"I can't even tell where you're bleeding from," George panicked. Who was bleeding? 
"Fuck. Fuck!" he yelled, pulling at his hair with red hands. "I can't move you by myself. C'mon (Y/N); you have to help me here." 
"Okay." You weren't sure what he was talking about, but you never minded helping him before. Usually, you had fun. Blinking slowly, a cloud shaped like a maple leaf caught your attention. You liked it. It was perfect. Then it wasn't. 
You were breaking. Falling apart so fast you couldn't hope to keep yourself together. When had that started? It felt as though your spine was disconnecting one bone at a time in rapid succession, and your lower half might not have been there at all. Why did this keep happening? You must have started screaming again. This time it didn't last long. Before you knew it, you felt yourself crash against the ground. That only hurt for a second or two. After that, you couldn't feel again. It was better that way. 
"(Y/N), please," George begged, tears clogging up his voice. 
"Don't cry, Georgie," you said. 
"I already lost Fred. I can't lose you too," he said. His voice was too small. Too scared. Too sad.  You desperately wanted to fix it, but you didn't know what was wrong in the first place. 
"I'm right here," you said. Lifting your arm took a herculean effort. You wondered why. Gently, you laid your hand against his arm. Your fingers were as red as his. 
"Don't leave me," he whispered, a sob breaking free from his chest. 
"I'm right here," you said again. Maybe he hadn't heard you the first time. 
"God, I can't help you," he sobbed. You didn't see George cry often. Only one other time you could remember. You hadn't thought of it in a long time, but it was the day you'd met him. 
The weather was chilly, and the trees in the woods behind your house were just starting to lose their leaves. As usual, you'd taken to playing in them, picking up the pretty ones to press later. It had been a good day. You'd found one of the prettiest red, orange leaf you'd ever seen in your young life. And a soft sound caught your attention—a little whimper. 
"Hello?" you called. No one responded. Shrugging, you began to wander in the other direction. Another sound. This time a little sniffle and an accompanying hiccup. 
"Hello?" you tried again. 
"Over here," a small, trembling voice answered. Turning, you squatted down, and there was a boy in the bushes. He looked about your age. Orangey red, slightly overgrown hair fell into his tear-filled eyes. It reminded you of the pretty leaf you found. You just wished he wasn't crying.  
"Whatcha doin' down here?" you asked. 
"'M lost," he said, sniffling. 
"You're bleeding too," you said, pointing to his scraped up legs. As soon as the words were out of your mouth, his lower lip began to tremble. His big dark eyes filled up with tears, and his face screwed up like he was trying to hold back. Smiling, you offered him the leaf you found. 
"Don't worry. I'm here," you said. Standing up, you brushed yourself off and turned towards home. 
"Don't leave me here!" he squeaked, scrambling out of the bush, lanky limbs flying. 
"Never," you laughed. Grabbing his hand, you began to lead him home. "What's your name, by the way?" 
"George," he sniffed, wiping his nose on his shirt sleeve. 
"I'm (Y/N)," you said. With one hand, he held yours like a lifeline, and the other gently held the leaf. 
"(Y/N)," he repeated. 
"(Y/N)!" George's voice broke through your memory. Not the little kid one he'd just had, but his real one. His scratchy, pleading, one. You blinked away the memory. You still weren't sure what was wrong. 
"Are you lost?" you asked. 
"You could say that," he sniffed, sounding completely shattered. 
"I'm here," you said. Leaning your head back, you found your leaf-shaped cloud again. It was like it hadn't moved. 
"Don't leave me," he said. 
"Look," you said. You wanted to point to the cloud, but you found that you couldn't move your arm even with a herculean effort. Instead, you tried to focus harder on the cloud. It seemed to be getting fuzzy. "There." 
"(Y/N)," he said, voice shaking. He saw it too. 
"Just like when we were little," you said. You could feel your eyes beginning to droop. When had you gotten so tired? 
"Yeah," he said tearfully. 
"Yeah," you said. Everything around seemed further away than it had before—everything except George. He still seemed so close. You let your eyes fall closed. 
"No, please, c'mon (Y/N), don't leave me," he plead. 
"Right here," you said. Despite the feeling having drained from your body, you knew he was gripping your hand like you were the only thing keeping him tethered to earth. 
"Don't leave me here," he choked. 
"Never," you promised. 
Then you did. 
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pl-panda · 3 years
Text
The vines that bind us - Chapter 9
Chapter 1 || Previous || Next
------
She opened the window and picked a pencil. With deadly precision she tossed it. The wooden tool sailed through the air until it hit the binoculars and broke one side of them. She huffed and closed the window before pulling the curtains closed. How rude.
Jason cursed under his breath. Any other day he would probably avoid the projectile, but it caught him completely by surprise. By all accounts, it was physically impossible to use a pencil with such precision and force to destroy military-grade night-vision binoculars. At least the memory card was safe so he could give it to replacement later on for analysis.
Still in bad mood after having his gear ruined, Jason zipped to Dupain-Cheng’s window and gave a light knock. No response. Another knock. Still no response. Finally, after the third knock, the blinders opened and the window itself followed, revealing a very angry girl. Jason finally had a chance to get a better look at her. She did, in fact, have blue hair and now that he’d seen it close, he would bet half his paycheque that it was somehow a natural color. The purple too. She must have had her hair dyed for the first day of work. Her eyes were another part that he memorized. They were blue and iridescent green at the same time, giving a slight unnatural aura. Or maybe it was just that she looked ready to murder him.
“Are you done staring?” She asked, clearly annoyed. “You are not my type and much too old. And the stalker routine is plain creepy. Get lost old guy.”
She was about to close the window when he started speaking.
“I actually came to apologize. I did not ‘stalk’ you, thank you very much. I was just checking on you, miss. You do realize that you single-handedly kicked Riddler’s ass and got quite a bit of publicity.”
“Suuure. You do that for every brave citizen?” She asked with a raised eyebrow and a small grin. “You would be really short-staffed. I hope that overgrown furry does pay you for the overtime.” Any traces of amusement disappeared from her face. “Now get lost before I sic Chloe on you. She recently started dating Damian Wayne and the two seem to bond over ruining people. I’m sure you would make a decent target.” Without further ado, Mari closed the window and put the blinders back in place, completely cutting him off. 
Jason didn’t protest. He was too busy processing the fact that Demon Spawn apparently started dating someone. Oh, he would have so much fun teasing the little menace. 
----------------
When the motorbike entered the Batcave, Jason expected to meet perhaps the Replacement or Demon Spawn. He definitely did not expect to see the entire family sans B and Alfred. 
“Do you want to perhaps explain why dad received an angry call about ‘some idiot in red bucket’ stalking her through the window?” Barbara asked. frowning deeply. 
“Or at least why were you stalking her?” Dick added.
“Or where you hid my coffee?” Tim joined.
“Timothy!” Several of them shouted.
“What? It’s important!”
“Back to the matter at hand.” Dick turned back to Jason. “What exactly were you thinking?!” He screamed.
“Geez. You thought about joining some opera?”
“Tt. Answer the question.” Damian interrupted.
“That reminds me. Did you know Demon Spawn got himself a girlfriend?” Jason asked, trying to deflect. He really did not like how they jumped at him.
“Not… important.” Cass stared daggers at him. “Talk.”
“Fine!” he threw hands in the air. “I followed a hunch. And I was right. She is a meta!” He procured his destroyed binoculars. “There is no human way to destroy military-grade equipment like that with just a pencil.”
Tim picked it up and quickly tossed it onto the table nearby. A blue light scanned the products and the bat-computer started to display the scan plus introductory analysis.
“Well, he is right. There is no way that a simple pencil could destroy it.” He pressed some buttons and recording from the last seconds of the item’s life played. They could clearly see her throw a pencil at it and then everything went black. “Or I was wrong.” Tim started to do a series of calculations. 
“Bucket-head might be onto something. With her muscle mass, it would be impossible to throw a pen with enough force. Actually, it’s almost impossible to make that throw. Not with human muscle density…”
Barbara rolled over to him and the two started to work side by side. “But that’s also not probable since the body is not…” 
“She would probably…” 
“Plant fibers have a similar structure, but she would…” 
“Maybe… Unless she is not strong and instead…”
“Um… earth to nerd corner. Can you explain?”
“Jason might have hit the bullseye.” Tim grinned and several groans could’ve been heard. “She is definitely a meta. It still doesn’t explain why you stalked her.”
“Is that not reason enough?” Red Hood asked. He immediately regretted it when Duke stared daggers at him. 
“You do realize, that metahumans are not as rare as it was believed at the beginning?” Tim asked.
“What?”
“Roughly ten percent of humans are born with dormant meta-gene and the number is increasing each year. And about one in twenty people have an active meta-gene. They just don’t go around wrecking everything or don a cape and run around beating people.” Tim spoke in a matter-of-factly tone. 
“What?”
“Yeah. Eidetic memory, or perfect recall for our uneducated bucket-head,” Tim snickered while Jason grumbled.
“I hate that name.”
“I think it will stay for a while.” Stephanie was smiling. “She does have a way with nicknames. First an overgrown furry, then red Buckethead…” She was on the verge of laughing. “I wonder what she does next?”
“As I was saying,” Tim regained the control of the conversation, “eidetic memory is actually one of the earliest forms of registered active meta-ability.”
“What?”
“The gene tends to activate under extreme duress, but, as we learned, the definition of extreme duress varies from person to person.”
“So what? A guy afraid of failing an exam might accidentally unlock super memory?” Jason dismissed it.
“More like if someone lived in years under pressure and is about to crack.” Dick pointed. “I mean there was even this large awareness campaign about four years ago led by Beast Boy. Where were you?”
“Dead.” Jason deadpanned. “I was dead.”
“Oh… I guess you didn’t see Garfield’s movies then?” Steph asked, being the first to break through the heavy atmosphere.
“She is still a meta.” Jason tried to fight, but his arguments were wavering. 
“Which changes nothing. You will go to her tomorrow and apologize.” Tim said categorically. 
“Ugh! Fine. But I got one more interesting fact: Demon Spawn got himself a girlfriend.” He grinned and turned to Damian. Everyone followed his gaze.
“Tt. I have no idea what you are talking about Todd.” 
“That blonde! Charlie saw you two sitting and eating pastries together! She is the new intern!” Dick had a big fat smile on his face and his eyes were almost glittering. “Who is she? How did you two meet?”
“Blonde?” Tim suddenly paled considerably. “There is only one blonde intern. Please tell me you aren’t dating Chloe Bourgeoise of all people!” He squeaked.
Damian wanted to deny it further, but seeing the Replacement’s reaction he changed his mind. The grin that formed on his face was borderline malicious before turning back to the emotionless mask he wore every day. “Yes. She finally admitted that I was not at fault for the cake incident. She is actually tolerable now.” 
“What cake incident?” Steph asked, smelling some juicy story about her ex. That kind of story was the best.
“Tt. When we were at this gala in Paris two years ago, Replacement attacked me and we fell into the birthday cake.”
“It doesn’t sound…” Dick started, but Damian interrupted him.
“The cake had six levels and was about as tall as I am now. Mayor Bourgeoise was not happy that we ruined his precious princess’s birthday.”
“So that’s why we no longer go to Paris?”
“Tt. No. That’s because Jason almost trashed the Louvre.” 
“Right…” Tim mumbled while his eyes closed. In just a moment, he was snoring away on the chair.
“Damn. I thought it would work faster.” Barbara complained while peeling the near-invisible sticker away from his neck. 
-----
Thursday actually passed without any trouble for Marinette. The class finally got it through their collective single brain cell that she had the power to end their trip with two words. She was slowly getting the grip on the work and after some talk with Penny, where the woman practically forced Mari to listen to some additional advice. She was actually offended that the girl didn’t call her immediately. 
She did have to practically drag her barely conscious boss to a meeting in the afternoon, but he didn’t put up much of a fight after she gave him a Tikki Special Coffee. The small goddess giggled inside her pocket the entire time as the boy begged on his knees.
After work, she and Chloe went to the Gotham Zoological Garden. At first, she wanted to go to the Botanic Garden first, but their class was supposed to visit there after work, so the girls went to Zoo instead. Gotham had a much broader collection of birds than Paris did. And the less chance of running into their classmates, the better.
“...He did what?” Chloe asked louder than necessary, but nobody paid the two girls in smart outfits any attention.
“Yeah. But don’t worry. I gave him a piece of my mind.” Mari dismissed it.
“It’s still creepy.”
“I know. That’s why I sicced the police at him.”
“That’s my girl!” 
“Well, I threatened to send you and Damian after him, but I decided it would be too cruel.” She smiled. “Besides, I’ve seen that Red Buckethead is trending already.” She pulled out her phone and showed a post there was a picture of Red Hood next to a reversed red bucket.
FashionMari @QueenGoldie Someone in a red bucket was stalking me. I was torn between calling the police and criticizing their fashion choice. In the end, I did both. 
“Only you Goldie. Only you…”
--------
Friday was press conference day. For once, Mari woke up earlier and got dressed in record time. Chloe watched from the side-lines as the girl moved around like a tornado, preparing everything and triple-checking all arrangements. She changed outfits four times before finally the blonde grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to sit down. 
“Goldie! You know I love you and I would kill for you,” She started, “but if you don’t calm down I will tie you up and leave you here for the day.”
“But…!” Bluenette tried to protest, but Chloe cut her off.
“No buts. We are only sixteen. I for one came here to learn a bit and maybe meet someone. You are supposed to be learning. Nobody said anything about getting a full-time job.”
“The deal…”
“So what if they fire you?” Chloe raised her hands over her head. “Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! You have Gabriel Agreste and Audrey Bourgeoise fighting over who will get you while Jagged Stone is willing to fly over half the world just to give your references in person. You run a very successful flower shop and even more successful boutique.”
“But…” She tried to muster a weak protest, but Chloe’s angry gaze made her wither. 
“I will not let you run yourself dry!” The blonde stated firmly. “So either you take a step back and breathe or I will call your uncle.”
“Not uncle Jagged! he already banned me from drinking coffee!”
“So you will behave?” Chloe asked with a smirk. 
“Fiiiinneee!” Mari couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, Queenie. I needed this. I’m glad I have you as my friend. And sister.” 
“Well of course you needed me! Everyone needs me!” She huffed before her expression became more gentle and she pulled Mari into a hug. 
Downstairs the class was waiting for them. Probably they finally gathered the courage to confront her about Alya’s fate. The girl shouldn’t have lied while filing for promotion. Mari and Chloe stormed past them not even sparing them a glance. Outside, Adrien was already waiting inside the limousine with Gerard at the driver’s seat. 
“I’m glad your driver is finally here.”
“Me too!” The blond boy was practically beaming. “I’m free from Lila’s clutches.”
“Could you drop us at… No. 2 Twine Street?” Mari asked the gorilla, who only grunted in response.
“Um… We should be going to Wayne Tower.”
“Nope.” Mari popped the ‘p’. “You,” she pointed at Adrien, “are an intern in PR. I asked for you to be present at the press conference to help move stuff around and so on.” 
“And me?” Chloe asked. “If you expect me to…” 
“You’re there to support your boyfriend. He was the one that practically demanded that I get you there. He hates publicity.”
“Oh… Good then. Let’s go.”
“Boyfriend?” Adrien asked curiously. “You mean Wayne?”
“Yeah. Apparently Chloe found herself a partner in scheming.”
“I bet that their dates are filled with planning to take over the world.”
“We could’ve taken the world over by lunch if we wanted.” Chloe looked almost offended. “The question is what way would be the most suitable one.” 
All three of them broke into laughter as the car rode through the city of crime.
----
About fifteen minutes before the press conference was scheduled to start, Tim Drake was still not there. None of the Waynes were there in fact. She sent about fifteen angry messages to Mr. Drake and he was still not here, which only fueled her stress and anger. 
The press had no idea so far and they were eagerly awaiting whatever news the company wanted to present. She bit her lower lips. Chloe was on the phone, trying to reach her boyfriend.
“If that idiot doesn’t get here in the next ten minutes, I’m going to consider stabbing him.” 
“Damian?!” Chloe shouted into her phone. 
“Tt. What do you want?”
“First of all, that’s not how you talk to your girlfriend. Second of all, where in the world is your excuse of a brother?! Mari is an inch from going ballistic!”
“Tt. He’s asleep.” Damian answered in an impassionate tone.
Mari leaped over and wrestled the phone from Chloe. “You go to him right this moment or I swear to all that’s holy and…”
“I get it.” He interrupted her, showing signs of irritation. There were some static and the camera blurred for a moment from the fast motion. When it returned, she saw barely awake Tim Drake wearing blue onesies. 
“wah…”
“Get yourself cleaned up and into a suit in the next three minutes!” She shouted. God bless the soundproof backstage.
“Um… But I will never make…”
“I’m certain you have a great webcam somewhere in this big mansion of yours. Set it in the library and call me in the next few minutes. I so hope you were not supposed to be the model because gods help me…” She took a look at his terrified face. “Of course you were…” 
“In my defense…”
“Shut up. Get going!” She hanged up and turned to Adrien and Chloe, who were looking at her with a mixture of fear and awe. “What are you waiting for?!” She tossed a package to the boy. “You get dressed in the new product.” She pushed him outside and into the janitor’s closet on the other side. “And you’re coming with me!” She dragged Chloe toward the main room. The blonde was sent to the technics room to get the feed started while Mari stepped on the scene. The chatter died quickly and all reporters turned to her.
“Hi. Please forgive us for the slight delay. We have minor technical difficulties that are being solved as we speak. In the meantime, you are free to take the seats. The conference is about to start.” 
Behind her, a screen slowly descended. She saw Adrien leaning from the doors leading backstage and smiling at her. 
“Without further ado, I present you Tim Drake, CEO of Wayne Enterprises.”
The image of the teen with black hair appeared on the screen and he waved everyone. He was holding a red cup of coffee with black polka dots, the same Tikki summoned for him the first time. 
Satisfied with herself, Marinette allowed herself a moment of rest. The conference was going well and after a minute of silence for the dead in the recent attack, the presentation began. Adrien was a natural model so it all went great. Wayne Tech in co-operation with Gabriel brand was introducing a new line of ‘smart’ fabric that could withstand medium stress and was almost impossible to dirty or stain. She had to admit it was quite amazing. Apparently, it was partially how Mr. Agreste got her class internship. Granted, Adrien was not supposed to be the model but you don’t look a gifted horse in the mouth. 
Everything was going great until the doors to the room were kicked open and several goons barged in, followed by none other than Two-face. Everyone immediately fell onto the floor. Mari couldn’t help but sigh exasperatedly. Why did it have to go wrong at every turn?
Ignoring the terrified stares, she stormed toward the intruders. “Excuse me, sir?” She asked with an emotionless face.
“What?” The man looked clearly irritated.
“I don’t see your name on the guest list. Did you remember to call in advance?”
“Of course not! Do I look like…” The criminal was clearly angry. 
“Then I apologize, but I must ask you to leave now.” 
“Do you have any idea who I am?” Two-face pulled his gun.
“I’m sorry, sir, but if you are not on on the list, I can’t let you stay.” She said in an emotionless voice. Mari was honestly too tired to care at this point. Maybe at least the evening would be better.
“I’m not sure you get the situation, miss. I’m not here for the interviews. Everyone pull out your wallets and drop them in the sacks!” He shouted while his men started to walk around.
“Hm… That won’t do.” She said. After muttering something under her breath, Mari tossed her clipboard. The spinning board hit one of the mooks in the head, knocking him cold, before bouncing and hitting the next one. After that, it returned to her hand. 
That was enough for Two-Face. He aimed his gun at her, but she moved faster than he anticipated. Within seconds, she grabbed his wrist and pushed it up so he was aiming at the ceiling. She squeezed it hard enough to make him drop the gun right into her other waiting hand. The girl let go of his wrist and disassembled the gun into pieces in what could become record time. 
Now irritated, Mari grabbed Two-face by his tie and pulled him down until they were at the same eye-level. 
“I was trying to do it peacefully sir. I am now ordering you to leave. Otherwise, I will actually have to hurt you.” She leaned closer until she was able to whisper. “And don’t make mistakes, Dent. I can and will hurt you.” For a moment her eyes lost the blue coloring and became entirely iridescent green, glowing slightly. 
Harvey Dent rarely felt fear. His life was more often than not guided by the toss of a coin. Now though, he stared in the eyes of Poison Ivy, except ten times scarier. He was already afraid of that woman after she almost fed him to her ‘precious’.
“I… I am deeply sorry madame.” He spoke carefully. “Men! We are moving out. Leave the bags!” And with that, they were all gone. 
Most of the reporters gave Mari big applause. There was only one angry old man that stared daggers at the girl. 
“You let that scum go away!” He shouted. “He was a criminal.”
“Sir. You are free to go after him if that’s your wish. I’m at work and my job description never included chasing after criminals.”
“But… But…” 
“Anyway, we were in the middle of the press conference if I’m not mistaken.”
-------
NEXT
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liquid-geodes · 3 years
Note
If you're doing writing requests how about BOTW Shiek and Link meeting? Or do you have anything planned out for your really cool Steven Universe au (the one about the diamonds being terrifying sea creatures). Like, do yellow and ue get along, or do they fight? And do they stay away from white?
*vibrates at high velocity*
Why do OR when I can do BOTH
So I have no idea how long this post will be, but if after this text block there's a read more in means I went off REALLY hard in writing and the post got long so I came back here to add the read more okay? Okay.
Botw Sheik Au: So regarding this specific scene I have mentioned before that I have a few ideas I'm tossing around to see which one I like most for the story, so here's one that's been on my mind:
It had been a few days since Link had last encountered that strange Hylian at the Woodland Stable. Whoever they were, they seemed to know a lot about the calamity and the chosen hero... But how? Everything else they had said so far had been spot on, would the master sword truly be hidden within the trees of the Great Hyrule Forest? Link couldn't know for sure, but Hestu was more than happy to hear Link planned on setting out towards the woods he and his korok friends called home.
Finding his way through the forest was challenging enough with the thick fog that shrouded the area, but the mischievous koroks just HAD to have a little fun at his expense. Well, them and just about every woodland creature that snuck up on him through the fog. But he had to admit, Hyrule Forest was a LOT easier to traverse than the entirety of the Faron region.
He hadn't been lost for long when he finally found himself in a clearing, a fallen and hollow log acting as an entryway to what he assumed was Korok Forest. This area was very different compared to the rest of the woods surrounding it. Bright sunlight filtered through the leaves and branches of the trees, the fog dense fog had lifted almost completely, and at the very center of it all, just before a giant tree, sat a sword resting in it's pedestal, the base overgrown with Silent Princess flowers seeping through the cracks in the tiled floor. It was truly a beautiful sight, accompanied by the light strumming of a harp and the excited whispers of little koroks all around him.
As Link takes his first step towards the pedestal the forest suddenly goes quiet, the hushed whispers stopped entirely as a new voice took their place.
"So it wasn't a myth after all. The master sword truly slept within a sea of trees.."
Link looked all around himself before spotting the source of the voice perched above himself on a treebranch.
"You-" Link managed to stutter out.
"Surprised? Our meeting at the stable was no coincidence, Hero of Hyrule."
It was the traveler from the stable, except they didn't sound quite the same. Their words were spoken with a proper and distinctly Sheikah dialect, which was different than that of a traveler from the little village of Lurelin.
"Allow me to properly introduce myself,"
They then jumped down from the branch they had been seated on and landed before the Hylian in a puff of smoke. "I am a Sheikah warrior, entrusted by goddess to guide her chosen hero. You may call me Sheik."
The traveler, now identified as Sheik, didn't quite look like a member of the Sheikah tribe. His skin was a light shade of brown, like that of the Gerudo Champion from his memories except lighter. He had hair that was blonde, much like a Hylian's, which fell over half of his face. Combined with the mask he wore on his face the only facial feature Link could see was a deep crimson eye, which was in fact common in members of the Sheikah race.
"You've no doubt come here to reclaim the Master Sword, am I correct?"
Link nodded firmly, carefully signing out his quest with his hands.
"You need not tell me that, I've been watching over you for some time now... That voice you continue to hear is no doubt that of Princess Zelda. She continues to hold back Calamity Ganon's power from within the innermost sanctum of Hyrule Castle, but her power is waning fast."
Sheik had paused at the end of that sentence, his eye widening in surprise.
That voice... Link hadn't heard Zelda's plea just now, only him. It seemed as if time was running out, but it was hard to be certain with the Calamity's unpredictable nature.
"I fear you may not have the time to reclaim each Divine Beast. This sword is the only thing that can cut through Calamity Ganon's malice, you must reclaim it and head for the castle at once."
Link's eyes widened as he heard the dire tone in Sheik's voice. He was running out of time to run to Zelda's aid, running out of time to put an end to this century long nightmare...
Link's gaze fell firmly on the master sword as he approached it. Sheik had moved away, keeping a distance from the hero as the sword started to react to his presence. Pain flooded the Hylian's body as he tried to pull the sword from it's pedestal, but it wouldn't budge.
Despite the pain Link persisted, the sword still unmoving despite his attempts. Was it supposed to be this hard? Was this what Impa had meant when she said he would have to prove himself worthy of the sword?
He didn't know... But Sheik did.
"Link you must release the sword at once!"
A blinding light radiated from the sword as Link's hands fell from it's handle.
The sword was still in the pedestal.
"This can not be... The sword... It has rejected you..."
Deep Sea Diamond Au:
Regarding this one, Yellow and Blue have a strained relationship. The diamonds are all vicious in their own rights, but Blue and Yellow pale in comparison to White's wrath. They of course are both devastated by Pink's death, but with White lurking deep within the trenches gemkind called home, tension was always high. It was like walking on eggshells constantly, and the stress caused arguments between the two, but in the end, they had to stick together. White couldn't harm them if they stayed together and kept the empire going.
Fear is always at it's peak when a glimpse of bright light can be seen moving among the trenches... She is near, nearer than she has been in a long time. Though her sight was taken from her long ago, no gem can escape her light...
She stalks the more shallow of the trenches, her condescending voice calling out into the darkness: "Staaarliiiight~ Where are you~?"
There's a slight rasp to her voice, the echoes bouncing off the trench walls enough to immobilize you with fear. You must not get caught in her light...
Don't let her light reach you...
You musnt flee too fast or else she will hear you.
"You can't hide forever Starlight~"
Don't. Let. Her. Light. Reach. You.
"I can hear you out there in the darkness... Why do you hide from my light?"
What on Earth has Pink done..?
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themadlostgirl · 3 years
Text
Abandoned (4)
*This one was a week late thanks to finals. Hope this makes up for it!*
~~~
It is strange how normal things can be after having a revelation. Nothing really changes. The sun still rises, waves crash on the sand, and birds sing in the trees. It is all so painstakingly normal.
After I accepted that papa had really left me here, accepted that he had traded me for freedom, I don’t know what I expected. It felt as if the sky should at least be dark and bleak. Rain should be pouring down and the sea should rage like the storm inside me. It was almost comical how I expected such chaos and was greeted with warm days full of sun and sparkling waters.
I stopped looking for the Jolly Roger over the horizon. I stopped counting the days I had been trapped. I stopped trying to recall everything about my life before Neverland in some vain attempt to keep my memories intact. There simply was no reason.
Pan came by to see what I was doing after our nighttime encounter out on the sea. He never revealed himself but I could always tell when he was there. Watching unseen from the trees. Not interfering but not ignoring either.
One day some of the Lost Boys came by me when I was resting at my camp. Upon seeing me they stammered out apologies and ran off back to where they came. My heart panged because I wanted them to stay. I wanted someone to talk to. I thought of going to Tinkerbell but I knew if I did we’d end up talking about papa and I couldn’t put myself through reminders of him right now.
Most nights I heard music coming from the jungle but it didn’t have the hypnotic spell over me as it once had. It as no challenge to ignore it and I wasn’t sure if that was worse or better.
I only ventured towards the camp of the Lost Boys once. The sounds of joy and fun pulled me forward but the reality of what I was choosing kept me from going in. I watched from the sidelines as the boys whooped and jumped and danced around a raging bonfire. It reminded me of the nights where the crew would break out their instruments and dance on the deck. It was nothing pretty but it was fun. I could remember papa teaching me how to dance properly. Standing on his toes...
I reached for my pocketwatch and breathed out remembering how I had hurled it into the sea. I need to stop reminiscing. It’s only causing me more grief. I looked back up at the camp and saw Pan emerge from the shadows. It was as if he had sensed me for he looked right at me. There was a peculiar smile on his face. Almost inviting. He held out a hand towards me, his fingers curling to tempt me to his side.
My feet were rooted in their spot. It wasn’t until Pan took the first step towards me that I was able to move again and took off back into the jungle. I got back to my camp and huddled down in my hut. Why couldn’t I do it? Why couldn’t I just enter the camp? Why couldn’t I move on?
I was just getting my breathing under control when I felt the familiar gaze of someone watching me.
“What do you want, Pan?” I asked, my voice quiet.
“So you have known that I was watching. I couldn’t tell for sure before.” Pan was closer, standing just outside of my hut. He bent down to peer inside at me. “Feel like talking now?”
I scooted out to the entrance. “Why did you follow me?”
“Because this is the first time since you kidnapped me that you’ve sought anyone out. Considering it’s been over a week since then I figured I’d meet you half way.”
“Why?”
“Because you can’t live on your own forever. It’ll drive you mad. I imagine it already has some. That’s why you came to the camp.”
“How come you never said anything? You’ve been watching me for days without a word. Why say something now?”
“Like I said, you sought me out. You wanted space so I figured that I’d wait for you to come to me when you were ready. You can still come back to camp. It’ll be alright.”
My eyes snapped to his. “I don’t want to be a part of your crew.”
He gave a sigh and sat down next to me. “Still don’t trust me?” He asked.
“I’ve accepted the situation I have been forced into. My father traded me for passage out of this hellhole and since crossing realms is no easy feat I do not expect him to be able to come back for me. But…”
“There’s still a part that wants to believe he’s trying to return for you.” Pan’s voice was uncommonly gentle. Almost as if he was talking to a spooked animal. Perhaps that was what I was. A scared little creature that wanted to scuttle back into her hidey hole.
“You must think me a fool,” I scoffed.
“I think you’ve been spurned by someone you trusted and don’t know how to handle it.” He laid a hand on my back. It was surprisingly comforting. “In the years that I have lived I’ve learned a few things. One of them is that loyalty, once lost, is never earned again. Not true loyalty. Even if your father came back for you there is a part of you that would never trust him like you once did.”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
Pan studied me for a moment longer before standing up and holding his hand out for me, “Come along,”
“Where are we going?” I ignored his hand and stood up on my own.
“I’m showing you that you can trust me.”
He withdrew something from the pouch on his belt. It glittered like a jewel but had an odd shape. “This is a magic bean,” He said, “It can take you anywhere you want to go.”
“You’re not giving me that, are you?”
“No. We’re gonna go on a trip.” He grabbed hold of my arm, “Brace yourself, this can get a little rough.”
He dropped the bean on the ground and immediately the ground opened up into a swirling vortex pulling us both in. I clung onto Pan tighter. The journey was disorienting and my head was spinning when we finally were deposited somewhere else.
As the dizziness subsided I was able to note a few things. One, we definitely weren’t on Neverland anymore. We had been dropped on some dock where the cold air reeked of fish. In the distance there was a town. Most of the houses were dark but there looked to be an inn or a tavern that exuded warmth and energy.
Wait, I know this town! We would dock here all the time. This was where I lost--
My blood went cold. “Pan,” I turned to him, “Why are we here?”
“You’ll see,” He motioned for me to follow him. I pulled my coat tighter against me and followed after him into the town. The closer we got to the tavern the louder the cheer inside became. My legs felt like they were being weighted down by cannonballs the closer we got. Without even looking I could remember where everything was. Down that road was the blacksmith. Around that corner was a bakery. To the right of that well was the apothecary.
Pan noticed me lagging behind and grabbed me to keep up with him. “Really Pan,” I tried to pry his hand off my arm as we entered the tavern. “Why are we here?”
“Because he’s here,” Pan pointed to a spot near the back of the tavern.
Sitting at a table surrounded by pirates and wenches was my father playing a card game and drinking.
“Papa…” A part of me wanted to run up to him and hug him and never let him go. Another part of me kept me rooted in my spot. I turned to Pan. “What is this? Why’d you bring me here? To show me what I’ve lost?”
“Not at all,” he released my arm, “This is your chance. Return to him.”
“What?”
“You heard what I said. If you want to you can be reunited with your father and I give you my word I will never bother you again.”
“It’s a trick. A trap of some kind!”
“No tricks here, swordfish. I am being completely serious.”
“You’re releasing me?”
“If that is what you wish.”
I took a tentative step away from Pan. I took another waiting to see if he would stop me but he made no move. I stepped closer and closer to where papa was sitting. This was real. I can go home! After so long I can finally be with my family again!
“Is that the Lady Jones I see?” The sound of a familiar voice silenced any joy I held.
I turned to see who had addressed me. A familiar pirate with overgrown red hair and a stubbly chin walked towards me. He was all muscles and devil-may-care charm wrapped in worn brown leather.  “Karver,” I crossed my arms. “Shouldn’t be surprised you’re here.”
“Are you still sore about the last time we met that you won’t call me Quentin?” he shook his head, “If you’d allow me I’d like to make up for it.”
“I don’t want anything from you. After months of being trapped I have finally gotten away from the hellscape that was Neverland and want to get back to my father and crew.”
“Ah yes,” Karver threw an arm over my shoulders. I tried not to shudder. “Captain Jones was regaling the tavern with the tale earlier. Nasty stuff you all encountered. I was wondering why you weren’t with the crew celebrating.”
“That’s because I only got off the island recently. I haven’t had months to become numb to everything we went through while trapped in Neverland like they have.”
“Months?” Karver’s eyebrows knit together, “Kitten, the crew of the Jolly Roger shot up from the sea like a ghost ship a week ago. They’ve been drinking the town dry ever since.”
“A week? It’s only been a week since they left Neverland? A week!” I fumed. No...no this couldn’t be happening. I was on Neverland by myself for months and it hadn’t even been a week here? I knew time moved differently in Neverland but I never expected this!
“Problem?” Karver asked.
I looked across the tavern at my father. My father who was laughing and drinking with some floozy on his lap without a care in the world. This was the same man who had gone silent for months after mama died. It took him years to be comfortable enough to act like the wolfish pirate I saw before me when mama died. To him I had been bargained away a week ago. A week ago he gave me up to escape and what was it I found? He wasn’t mourning. He wasn’t trying to find a way back to me. He was in a tavern getting drunk and having fun. He was here having the time of his life knowing full well that I was stuck on Neverland at the mercy of Pan and the Lost Boys.
I shoved Karver away and stormed back out of the tavern. Pan was waiting outside.
My voice trembled with anger and betrayal. “He was never going to come back for me. It wasn’t even a thought in his head. Was it?”
“I thought it best if you saw for yourself.” Pan said.
“Why though? I’m his daughter! Don’t I mean anything?”
“Sounds like something to ask him.” Pan nodded towards the tavern.
I shook my head. Bitter tears pouring down my face. “No. I want out of here. I want to leave. Now!”
Pan held out a hand for me. “Do you trust me now, Lost Girl?”
I took one last look inside at the man who raised me. The man who sold me. I took Pan’s hand. “I want to go home.”
Pan smiled and withdrew another bean. The next moment we were falling through a portal on our way back to Neverland. The air was warm once again, the sand was pliant and soft beneath my boots. I took in a deep breath, salty ocean air with just a hint of flowers from the jungle on the tail end of it.
I remembered what I told Pan before we returned. I didn’t say I wanted to go back to Neverland. I said I wanted to go home. When did Neverland become home?
“Feel like coming to camp now?” Pan asked, giving a little tug on our interlaced hands.
“Can we stay here tonight? I don’t think I have the energy to go to your camp right now.”
“We?” Pan asked, “Am I to take it that you want me to stay?”
Heat started to creep up my neck and I gripped his hand tighter. “I don’t want to be alone again.” I admitted. I felt like a child. I was practically begging him to stay here with me.
Pan’s features softened and we sat down. His hand still held mine and he used his other to light a small fire for us. “You won’t be alone ever again, Lost Girl.” he murmured, “I promise.”
---
(Previous) (Next)
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Text
Doctor Strange & Worth: MCU Meta
So this has sat unposted in my drafts for the longest time, but I’ve decided to dust her off and let her see the light of day, after all. These are just some of my thoughts regarding Stephen’s character development and journey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film: his growth from someone who cannot see the true worth in himself or anybody else to someone whose eyes are opened to the beauty of everything. Not to mention how that eye-opening allows him to evolve from someone who cannot love to someone who loves fully and truly, and how Kaecilius plays a vital role in opening his eyes to the error of his ways.
Without further ado, let’s get into it! 
Let’s start with the beginning of the movie.
Stephen flounces around the hospital like he owns the place and flexes his overbearing, boastful personality without a second thought. Like, most people have at least a smidgen of consideration for others and some degree of self-consciousness or ‘filter’ regarding how they treat others, but Stephen has zero. He talks down on staff members, orders people around like inferiors regardless of their status, and acts as though he is God almighty and the hospital would go to the dogs without him, overestimating his self importance. He legit acted like an overgrown child that’s yet to be struck with the reality everything is not about him. Stephen seizes every possible opportunity to show off even when inappropriate, and does all he can to assert his correctness and prioritizes it. It’s clear from the get-go that Stephen has some kind of overinflated sense of self.
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All this would certainly seem to indicate beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a generic arrogant, selfish bastard 101, but let’s skip ahead a bit, just for a sec.
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This line isn’t him joking around, rather, it’s the confirmation that Stephen truly thought his own behavior was endearing. As much as he liked himself, he was convinced everybody else did, too. He genuinely, sincerely was convinced that his antics were somehow winsome and charming. And of course, having been in a position of power as a Chief Surgeon and his state of world renown, there’s no way anybody would have told him otherwise. Nobody would really be frank and honest with him — I mean, yeah, sure, Christine was, but seeing as she was the only one he was on friendly terms with who he held in high regard and was frank with him (exclude Nick, and all probable others Stephen smugly thought very little of, and their opinions), there’s no way he’d take one person’s word over that of the masses. And it’s just obvious how overcrowded he was with sycophants that overfed his deluded ego and made it harder for him to wake up to his own self deception revolving the ‘charm’ he was convinced that he possessed.
Just look at the way he hits on her! Look at the denial! We did too have fun! 
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You know how people say “the bigger they are, the harder they fall?” 
Yeah, this story really does live up to that.
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The lie Stephen was living was cut short when he lost it all and his fall from grace leaves him at the mercy of people’s honesty. All those “people skills” he thought he had do him no favors, and suddenly anybody and everybody can speak freely to him, and he’s not getting sugarcoated responses. He’s no longer treating people as his inferiors however he pleases without lash back.
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And Stephen, who only knows his worth through the reception and acknowledgement of his talent and the amazing feats he had achieved with his hands in the neurological field, now feels the weight of worthlessness crushing down upon him. There are no more CCN interviews, no more speaking engagements. In his own mind, he is useless. And without any worth, there is no reason anyone would want anything to do with him. He cannot accept, within his narrow mindset, that anybody could ever love him in this reduced state. For that reason, he insists that Christine Palmer — that unlike TV reporters or other sycophants, has stayed by his side all this time  — must only linger beside him for her own self gain and reputation. It must simply be an act of pity, because that’s how Stephen sees Christine’s acts of selflessness and her work— nothing but her looking down on other people to boost her own sense of self, as he has.
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And when Stephen goes to Karmar-Taj, he’s completely out of his element and in a setting that is absolutely foreign to him, but navigates all the same, the only way that he knows how to. His thoughtless, proud tendency to view all else as beneath him really comes back to haunt him when it threatens to close the door to magic — and miraculous change and healing for him — forever. 
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By the time Stephen realizes he has misjudged the Ancient One and Kamar-Taj, and that magic is indeed very real and potentially his one last shot at reobtaining his former life, it is too late. He beseeches the Ancient One to teach him the ways of magic, but she has already seen enough of his arrogance to determine him an ill fit for a pupil..
In the end, it is because of Mordo convincing the Ancient One that even a man such as Strange still has worth and he may be of use in the future, reasserting their beliefs that all life has value, no matter how misguided it may be, it need only be redirected and put on the correct path... does the Ancient One agree and allow Strange to return, for a chance at redemption and potentially salvation. 
And so, Stephen begins studying magic. And unsurprisingly, being wrong about magic isn’t enough to hamper his antics. He’s the same old Strange.
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In this scene, Wong tells Stephen when he’s not ready to learn something yet, but Stephen completely challenges and opposes him, going so far as to break the rules of the library Wong protects just so he can continue with his self advancement and conquest towards superiority (and hopefully, healing). He challenges his lessons, preferring to teach himself and refusing to acknowledge that even his teachers could possibly have any superiority to his abilities. 
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 And it’s so hard for Stephen to make sense of, the backlash he receives for these behaviors. He can’t understand how he’s apparently ‘made for the mystic arts’ but is also being told to mind his pace and take everything bit by bit, step by step and not just rush headlong in impatiently as he always has. In his own mind, he’s not doing anything wrong by breaking rules or pushing limits —  it’s all about the results, after all. And this, this is for the most important result of them all... his hands. It doesn’t matter how dirty they have to get, he wants to fix them.
In the medical world, when Stephen showed off, people clapped & praised him because what harm could there be in pushing the limits and crossing the boundaries to save someone’s life? It was okay if he wanted to do something unconventional and risky (like remove a bullet from someone’s brain without a visual) because the ends justified the means, and he always delivered. It didn’t matter what he had to do or how ruthless he was, treating all around him as mere tools at his disposal to achieve what he wanted, without considering what might be at stake. Boundaries were never of the essence to Stephen.
But when he pushes the boundaries of magic and tries out the Ancient One’s Private Collection just to pursue greatness and feed his own ambition, he gets retaliation from both Wong and Mordo and is reprimanded about all the consequences he didn’t think of and other lives he wasn’t considering as he never has been before. And Stephen can barely collect himself and for the first time in the film, is speechless and out of witty remarks to snap. He is just so put off because he’s never been put in that position before, being held accountable for the liabilities of his pursuits for greatness. Simply put, he had never been made to consider the eggs he was breaking to get his omelet, and now, he is.
And he still doesn’t get it. “They  really should put the warnings before the spell,” he says, because clearly it’s not his hastiness or ambition at fault, but the book.
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And he doesn’t get it, and he most likely would have never gotten it or opened up to the Ancient One, Wong, Mordo, or even Christine. No, he had to see it for himself. And see it, he does; in fact, it ends up staring him straight in the face.
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They didn't spend so much screen time drawing parallels between these two over and over for no reason, this was what it was all building up to. Here, Doctor Strange meets his ego’s match. Kaecilius wants to save the world by granting everyone eternal life, preventing all its inhabitants from feeling suffering ever again. A bit like "doing work that will save thousands for years to come," no? 
The influence and efforts of others finally pay off as Stephen begins to apply their thinking, and questions what the cost will be if Kaecilius does that for the whole world, and if that accomplishment would really be as amazing as doing what he can in the immediate moment to spare the/ benefit the lives of individual people... kind of like “saving one drunk idiot with a gun,” right?. And Kaecilius dismisses Strange's interjections, repeats the same words he said to the Ancient one in the beginning... they’re just insignificant specks in an indifferent universe, just sacrifices that must be had to achieve what must be done. He even tries to reason with Strange, and appeal to the very reason he’s in that mess in the first place... his hands, and his deep desire to have them healed and restored.
And for the first time Stephen is looking the devil in the eye, and sees himself.
 “Just look at your face!”  And in that moment, Stephen rejects the man he has been, and can see clearly his flaws for what they are. His ego trip may have blinded him, but in that moment, he got on his own level and saw himself for the first time the way that others saw him, and it wasn’t someone he wanted to be and he recognized the wrongs of his ways. How ambition and the conquest for betterment can consume someone completely, until they’re so blinded in their pursuit for self worth, that they disregard the worth of all the other lives and people around them — it’s all ends that justify the means. It's not actually about doing what's right. It's about accomplishing the greatest feat possible for oneself — this is Kaecellius' ego unleashed, not a sincere quest for world salvation.
And everything bad he didn’t want to become that he saw in Kaecellius, gives way for new direction in all the inspiring goodness he sees in the Ancient One, her final farewell, and her sacrifice of her life to save his and Mordo’s own.
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And in the end, Stephen finally understands what the Ancient One, Wong, and Mordo, and Christine were all on about. It’s not about what change you can create for other people to benefit yourself, Stephen; it's about the change YOU can make to benefit other people, who are so many in number and so much larger than yourself. It’s not about the strength in your hands, and what they can do; but the resolve of your heart, and the strength of your will.
And he learns, because the Ancient One teaches him...
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He uses his own lifeforce to fence off Dormamu from earth, because even if he suffers, everyone else will be safe. He tests the worth that the Ancient One claimed she always saw in him; that could achieve things greater than he ever dreamed, greater than his medical ambitions. The goal-oriented, ruthless man we saw in the beginning becomes someone who learns true purpose and ambition. His life that was hollow and empty, becomes truly fulfilling.
And the most intriguing piece of irony of them all?
After exhausting countless resources, plenty of doctors, libraries, and research archives seeking a way to heal his own hands, he found nothing but failure. But using only his own willpower, he who felt helpless and powerless against his disabled hands, managed to save the entire planet and all those living within it.
Because it wasn't his hands that gave him value, nor was it his work. There was something greater, but he was blind to it in himself, and everybody else, seeing all based on what they could accomplish — their educational background, their medical accomplishments  — a worth greater than him, in the world all around him that he always disregarded and failed to see. Something beautiful, precious.
And parallel to earlier events, when Stephen once again pushes the boundaries of magic, but this time, not in pursuit of greatness of for the betterment of his own hands... he is not received with a vocal reprimandation. On the other hand...
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And here we are, at the end.
Stephen says it again. “You know, you really should read everything, because the warnings come at the beginning of the books.” He pokes fun at Kaecilius, at himself, at their likeness with a humility unlike yet before.
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And Wong laughs. When Stephen went through so many different things trying to make Wong laugh — like he always had his other co-workers— he didn’t. 
But when he put himself and his heart into it, he did.
And no longer is Stephen on the same path as Kaecilius, surrounded by subservient followers, who only did as he told them because of what he was after and the results he promised to be able to deliver on. Now, he surrounds himself with those who genuinely care for him for who he is. No longer is Stephen so blinded by his need to be the greatest person in the room, that he can't see the worth of those around him — of love, of friendship, of companionship.
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popculturebuffet · 3 years
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Ducktales Review: The First Adventure! or Baby Donald Says Eat the Rich
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Welcome back. I’d been looking forward to this one for some time in the hopes of getting one thing i’ve been waiting for.. sadly that thing didn’t come, we’ll get to that, but this was still a fun episode so let’s hop right in. Spoilers in a second but my tag is spoiler tagged soooo.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We open in the 1960′s. Austin Powers just went into Cryo Freeze to prepare for Dr. Evil’s eventual return, The Marvel Universe was in full swing, a teenager in baltimore was battling racisim via a dance show, and Black Heron had just been caught by Agent 22, aka Beakly when she was young and just as gorgeous then as she is now. Heron once again engaged in her usual cartoonish supervillian, and now SHUSH has her.  Meanwhile in a nearbye room a young accountant by the name of Bradford Buzzard is outlining his plan for Director Von Drake: The way he sees it every time a villian costs chaos Shush “Wastes” billions causing MORE chaos to stop it without controlling things. He proposes taking over the world, weeding out the chaos and ruling from the shadows. Naturally, Ludvig isn’t on board with any of this and points out they aren’t super villains. It’s here this episode fully defines something about Bradford’s character. Back in “Let’s Get Dangerous!” when Huey called him a villain, he said he’s not one... at least from his point of view. It’s here, in his youth we get a clear understanding why he dosen’t think so: So far most people we’ve seen in the world of Ducktales take the chaos and insanity of the world in stride: Either just numb to it like most of the citizens, Rolling with it like Daisy and Violet, or diving straight into it like.. pretty much the majority of the cast, either for the love of adventure and treasure like the McDuck/Duck family, or for their own ludcrious ends like Glomgold, Mark Beaks or Magica. To them the world’s fine the way it is and there’s to explore, take or whatever.  To Bradford.. this is madness... he feels all these people are just a bunch of overgrown children, and in some cases actual children, are just making the world worse and worse until one day their going to break it. One day skill, intuition, wit, and knowledge just wont’ be enough. Someday Scrooge, SHUSH or whoever’s standing in the way of evil will fail and the world will fall. This simply can’t go on, and SOMEONE has to control this, someone has to take this world, shake the chaos out of it and MAKE it sane. Make it work the way it’s SUPPOSED to. And to Bradford that’s him. Someone has to, no one else will, so he will. To him SHUSH doing this is just the logical thing: They want peace right? Their fighting for good right? Then what’s better than making the world a utopia? Ending these conflicts and remaking it.  The thing is.. that’s not what Heroes do. As we’ve seen in various stories where the superheroes, the Good Guys take over they do improve things.. but at the cost of free will. At the cost of free thought. At the cost of their morals. They become what they were fighting all those years and have to bloody their hands and keep them bloody just to make THEIR world right. And that’s not Utopia, that’s a dictatorship. The example I always come to, even though there were ones before and after this including Marvel’s incredible Squadron Supreme maxi-series, is Justice League the animated series’ two parter, like most of their episodes really but that’s not the point, a Better World, about an alternate reality where Superman kills Lex Luthor after Luthor kills the flash and hte League take over the world. The thing is.. the world isn’t BETTER. It’s just crime free. You can sweep the chaos and the crime under the rug.. but your not making a better world, your just making YOUR version of it. No one person is a god even if they have a power of one and no one person can or SHOULD be able to decide what’s best for everyone. It’s up to each of us to MAKE the world better, to fight for a better world. That’s what Ludvig knows full well and what Bradford just can’t see. You can’t control the world, you just have to accept the things you can’t change like it being chaotic and change the things you can like injustice. 
Bradford however, who was hired as a favor to his grandmother, can’t though Von Drake lets him off with a warning.. and a laugh about an accountant being able to be a super villian. Bradford however realizes ther’es some truth to that.. he needs someone to teach him out to operate outside the law, and if SHUSH won’t take the world and remake it.. maybe it’s time someone else did.  So in the prison cells of SHUSH, which are conveniently empty outsdide of Heron, Bradford outlines his plan to her. To create a massive orgnization to steal the world and give it the order it needs. To combine their skills: Heron’s for grandeur and crime, and Bradfords for strategy and focus, to take the world. The Orginzation for World Larceny, or OWL, fitting bradford’s hatred for theatrics. Heron objects, adding an F for fiendish, and Bradford relucntantly agrees to get her on board, lets her loose and fakes like he just saw her escape. FOWL is born. And the world would never be the same. Cue credits and cue the rest of the review under the cut. 
After the opening we cut to 1994-5.. sometime around then as it’s hard to get an exact year, and that’s how the crew likes it. Point is it’s the 90′s, and Scrooge is.. busy running his company. We’ll get into the weeds of that in a bit, but this is a different Scrooge, one who while no less capable, has no thirst for adventure or drive. He’s not nearly as miserable as the Scrooge we saw back in Woo-Ooo but he’s still a much less complete man. Anyways alongside him for his planning is Duckworth, whose very much alive at this time, and who tells his boss his sister Hortense left something in his office for him.  To no one suprise, that thing is the twins, at the tender age of i’m guessing 10. Since your probably curious, Della is still voiced by Paget Brewster, just using a slightly different voice like the Triplets and Webby’s voice actors do. It’s just a bit more jarring here since unlike those characters, we’ve seen adult della and thus are used to this voice coming out of a grown woman. It’s not bad and I got used to it eventually but it was jarring at first especially since once again Donald has a completely diffrent voice ACTRESS doing his voice.  This time around it’s cristina valenzuela, of Miraculous Ladybug fame, who I know more for her song work and twitter than her actual work ,but am delighted to see her here and she does a terrific job. I genuneily did not realize it was her, and while not exactly like the late great russi taylor, it is just similar enough to work. 
So we get to see what the Twins were like when they were the Triplets age: Della is about the same, but with more of Dewey’s impulsiveness, and Donald, much like he’d be a few years and some dead parents later, is a bitter, grungey musician whose constantly on his guitar and railing against the man.. which is Scrooge in this case which is fair. Hortense left a note.. which bothered me as I genuinely expected her to show up and was majorly disappointed she did not. We are in year 4 of this series, season 3 and STILL no appearance of Hortense or mention how she died, as she and Quackmore are still alive by the end of this. Given she’s easily my faviorite part of Life and Times, this bothered me, and the only reason i’m not more upset.. is the clever way they wrote around actually using her. The letter she leaves for Scrooge explaining things is the same one Della herself used in the comic strip, and using a bit of the postcard she left in the cartoons, when leaving Huey, Dewey and Louie with Donald, down to the Twins having left a firecracker in their fathers seat, thus leaving him in the hosptial. As disappointed as I am my favorite Ginger is completely absent once again, this is a brilliant reference, and I have to give them credit for it, so it’s a fair enough trade off.  As for his “Angel Nephew and Niece”, Della wants to dive into adventure while Donald struggles to write a song, singing throughout the episode. It varies in tolerablity, though mostly due to the writing, Cristina is doing fine. Della however is disappointed to find her legendary uncle views his past exploits as merley a means to an end to get his fortune and now he has it he can just focus on building it in the boardroom. This is an intresting take.. and one I could easily have seen happening to the Don Rosa version seen in Life and Times. The Scrooge there himself saw building his wealth as the most important thing until his encounter with Teddy Rosevelt, who taught him experince was what mattered and the having isn’t as fun as the getting. It works for me: This is a scrooge who never got that lesson so once he got to be richest duck in the world, having achieved his life’s goal nothing was left. He’s not miserable like the Scrooge we saw at the start of the series, having lost his love for adventure after loosing his niece/daughter, and having lost his fight. This one has retired.. but because he likely just sees no point in going on. He’s the richest duck in the world, has a vast empire.. no amount of treasure is really going to add to that like it used to, and as he points out in a second Shush has tons of agents at this point to clean up what’s left of FOWL. He’s the man who has everything, so why keep going. It’s weird to see a scrooge without the hunger to keep going, but it makes sense when his belly is full. Without someone to get him to see there’s always another rainbow, he just stopped chasing them. Also a fun nod to the comics I almost forgot to mention is when hearing about the “Gift”, i.e. the twins, Scrooge dreads it’s another surprise party, a nod to life and times where Hortense threw Scrooge one that went.. badly and lead to their entire relationship collapsing. Though Donald did get back at Scrooge for screaming at his parents and Auntie Matilda
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However his busy day is disrupted with a call from Beakly. They’ve found the last known cordinates of Captain Yellowbeak, but FOWL is on them and Scrooge is the only one Beakly trusts for this since they have a leak. Beakly is also director of SHUSH at this point, with Von Drake having retired or died or both at this point. Scrooge reluctantly accepts, while Della is excited at the prospect of a real adventure and Donald ends up sharing her enthusasim as it’d make a good song. Scrooge, naturally, has no intention of bringing them with him to their disapointment and leads Donald to sing another “Suck it the man song” which totally isn’t about Scrooge.... spoilers: It entirely is, he’s just a little dumbass grunge baby and I love him.  We then get a cute sequence of Della popping up in Scrooge’s Luggage and Trunk to try and convince him to let them tag along, before we cut to the Limo, driven by Duckworth at this point, which solves that mystery. Scrooge is firm in having his butler take them back and have them work with him and Duckworth’s fine with that.. but wants overtime, which is fair. Scrooge, being Scrooge, grumbles about not being made of money, proven wrong by gold spilling out of him. Though I do like the update of Scrooge’s classic cheapness when it comes to pay: INstead of barely paying his employees like a monster, he’s simply reluctant to pay extra if he dosen’t have to, and would rather drag two 10 year olds with him on a dangerous adventure than pay overtime, which tracks. It’s also clear if he had to he WOULD actually pay it, either due to legal reasons or his moral standards, he just isn’t happy about it. So he agrees, though he wants Donald to leave the guitar behind which.. given the most Donald’s been able to come up with is “Suck it THE MAN” and “This guy’s a greedy asshole”.. he’s extremely correct and when Donald tries to pull a “YOU CAN’T CENSOR ME MANNNN”, Scrooge just chucks it out of the car.  At the airfield while Della is excited like an rabid chipmunk, and genuinely thinks she can fly a plane because she’s played Outrunner 2.. which I have only vaguely heard of before now. And is apparently just a pc game where you run a lot so I genuinely do not get where Della gets piloting from that.. but she IS Dewey’s mother. So with that in mind the family take off and Scrooge explains what their after: The Papyrus of Binding. It’s a dangerously powerful magical artifact from Ancient Egypt that will make whatever’s written on it happen. The dangerous part is that it’s incredibly literal: As Bradford puts later in the episode, ask for unlimited power, it might zap you dead with a million volts, ask for infinite wealth, prepare to be crushed underneath it. It’s a nice twist on a Monkey’s Paw or Jackass Genie situation. Instead of either the source of the wish granting magic just being inherently evil, or some dickhead screwing with the hero.. it’s just an object that has no ability to interpret nuance, just like your phone with the goddamn autocorrect. It can’t judge intent or tone or meaning, it just gives exactly what it’s asked. It’s a thoroughly interesting concept. 
Something I really like about this episode is the fact it answers some little questions. While none were Hortense related, and I am still grumpy about that even with this coming out a good 17 hours after I watched it due to getting caught up with other stuff, it does have little touches that explain small parts of the lore: Who drove Scrooge? As just mentioned, Duckworth. Who flew scrooge? Paid pilots. Did he have a plane before the sunchaser? Yup. It fills in some small gaps in the world. Stuff we weren’t dying to know but’s stil lintresting. Said pilots in this case however are Heron and Bradford. This episode also fills in Heron’s character, as while we’ve already seen bits and pieces this season she LOVES being a classic, take over the world james bond type villian, like she stepped out of a duck version of kim possible.. and i’m just now realizing there probably IS a duck kim possible somewhere in this world as while far after disney afternoon, it fits too neatly to not be wedged in there with your tailspins and goof troops. I wouldn’t be suprised if there were brid versions of every human based disney afternoon and one saturday morning show. My.. my head’s swimming from this. I could be, and probably am wrong but the sheer idea of this... it’s amazing.  Back to Heron, she just LOVES being evil and destructive, letting the world know she exists and operating on a grand scale. Now we’ve seen more of her while she’s Beakly’s nemisis.. she’s really an evil scrooge.. yes another one. Like Scrooge, at least how he normally is,  she simply gets how the world of Ducktales operates and can take advantage of that to the best of her ablility. Just like adventuering, cartoonish supervilliany is about risk and reward.. sometimes you faceplamnt hard, that’s the risk, but the rewards and rush is worth it. She’s as addicted to grandoise villiany as Scrooge is to adventure by this point. And like Scrooge, and unlike her partner Bradford, she sees the world as it is: Chaotic and one big sandbox to play in. She contrasts Scrooge by the fact that while Scrooge is willing to bust down doors, he still has morals, as well as the wisdom to not go overboard Heron often lacks. It also makes her a good contrast ot the equally skilled Beakly: While Beakly is taciturn, controlled in all things especially her emotions, Heron is bombastic, gloating and borderline insane, and while deadly in a fight, dosen’t exercise any control in her plans, preferring it big and loud despite her partner usually being right about reiging it in.  So Heron evacuates dramatically, taking a grumpy Bradford with them, and sending the plane into a tailspin. 
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I can’t wait for Next Year’s Tailspin episode. I swear to god. I’m hoping for Shere Kahn but this episode has taught me to be okay with disapointment, if a grumpus. Della however shows her natural talent and despite having no real experince with planes, lands it gracefully. While that’s going on, Bradford berates Heron for her plan, pointing out that they COULD have simply landed the plane, then captured the McDuck family and executed them quitely, versus leaving a chance they’ll survive which they do. They AREN’T supervillains.. or at least he thinks he isn’t. Heron does show off her competence though, pointing out that this way they can simply stay low, and FOLLOW the Ducks to the treasure. Bradford is impressed for a second.. till Heron’s evil shows as she plans to use the Papyrus. Bradford loudly objects to this, listing the possible risks shown before. If not used CAREFULLY, it could kill them, and she balks and wants him to just embrace being the Villian already. It’s what I love about their dynamic set up here: While they are equals, Bradford is a better strategist, able to think and plan way in advance, and prefers subterfuge, and if present day is any indicatoin probably used Heron’s flash to distract from the real mission or goal often or to do something on the down low while she kept SHUSH busy. His last two plans, while again requiring some pizzaz, relied on misdrection: having the ducks take care of an immidate threat like their used to.. while he gets exactly what he wants while their busy and whatever they get out of it is either nothing (Impossibin) or something he couldn’t use just yet and thus if he didn’t get it, no loss, but if he did it just moves up the timetable. Not only that but he’s outlasted all three other big bads, lying in the shadows till it was too risky to leave scrooge and play and even THEN, only coming out into the open when forced out. IT’s why he’s Scrooge’s most dangerous opponent: He knows how Scrooge’s other enmities operates as well as Scrooge himself. And since he knows everything he can maneuver Scrooge exactly where he needs him to do exactly what he wants. It’s unknown how the family will beat him, but he’s easily the biggest challenge they’ve had. 
But back to the show and the past, Scrooge bonds with his niece and nephew, retelling stories of his past as they get closer, with Donald ending up high at one point and thus seeing the ship stranded on a mountain. As he recounts a fight with El Capitan, the villian from the ducktales 87 pilot, he counts the story as as a loss: He didn’t get anything from it, no treasure no new contracts. But Della shows him the point he’s been missing; He got a story. Sure he lost.. but he got experince, a tale to tell and a legend grown.Just because you don’t get everything dosen’t mean it wasn’t worth the experince and you can’t hold it in your heart. And this episode shows why this scrooge needed his family: Without Teddy to mentor him, he simply never got that adventure wasn’t about gains or what you get.. it’s about the thrill of it, the enjoyment of discovery and the memories you make.. it’s about the Journey not the destination. 
As Scrooge starts to warm up to that, he finds a gap, with Della volunteering Donald to jump but Scrooge just having the kids hop on his back and pogo caneing across. The family find the Papyrus, and find out why the ship is all the way up here: Captain Yellowbeak, who’s a character from one of barks stories and the one who had the scroll last, wished to escape.. but that just stranded them. He asked for water.. and it drowned his crew.. and finally with the document hteir reading he asked for release... and thus is now a skelington. The kid are happy to have reached the goal.. while Scrooge is back on his Zack Morris phone trying to reschedule things and schedule a SHUSH evac, to the kids annoyance. However Scrooge raining on their parade gets interupted by Heron and Bradford, as Heron can’t resist popping out dramatically and Bradford is UTTERLY furious since she blew his cover, and Scrooge recognizes him from his christmas party, a nice callback. Scroog being scrooge figures out he’s the mole and Bradford runs , furious at Heron. Their conflict is an intresting one: Both have a point but both will not back down. Bradford is right this showboating nonsense has only hindered Heron’s plans.. and Heron is right that Bradford needs to accept he’s the bad guy. Even if he has well meaning motives, he’s the villian, he works with them, he leads them.. he is one.  He just can’t accept he’s wrong or dosen’t have the answers... huh.. I wonder who that reminds you of. And that’s 100% intentional as Frank has outright compared Huey and Bradford and like last season it’s neat to have the main vilian contrast our chosen Duck for the season. 
Heron outfoxes the kids and gets the papyrus and being just an enitrely black hearted bitch, plans to kill them just to spite scrooge.. writing that “his sidekicks will perish on this mission.”.... but Scrooge’s character development, and her choice of words, means nothing happens. As Scrooge outlines, “Their not my sidekicks their my FAMILY, and this isn’t a mission, it’s an ADVENTURE”. Scrooge has finally accepted his life for what it really is.. and the thrill of the chase over what lies at the end. There’s always anothe rainbow.. and he’s finally become the man who will chase every last one. 
OF course this is interupted, and Heron escapes with the papyrus, when a skeletal pirate attacks.. why is Yellow Beak alive, why’d the scroll do this?
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But we get a neat fight as Scrooge fights the skeleton while he sends the kids after Heron. Scrooge gets a cool looking swordfight, while Bradford gets the papyrus, and Yellowbeak even terrifies me what with his bestial roll and fucking centepede crawling out of him.. jesus those things freak me out.  Meanwhile the kids battle Heron, who throws della overboard... and thus for the first time, Donald taps into his beserker rage, snikty snoink, and easily incapaciates the more experinced and fully grown adul, though Della since we’eve been following her kids for the past three seasons, is fine, if suprised by her brother being the goddamn wolverine. 
While heron is out for a second, Scrooge heads after Bradford, and vows to tell Beakly and chase him all across the world. However Bradford gets an utterly awesome moment.. he admits scrooge may be right and probably would.. but since he has the papayrus and is careful in everything he writes his request carefully and perfectly “As far as the ducks are concerned, I was never here.” Grante dit COULD have left scrooge out.. but since he didn’t sday duck family or specificy, and likely knew it’d do that, it instead just means the three bilogical ducks. Bradford dissappears, turning invisble and leaving the papyrus for scrooge, who foils heron by simply writing that this scroll will be lost until one day found by his heirs.
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So Heron takes a fall and looses an arm, again.. or for the first time.. the family is triumphant and despite loosing his goal, Scrooge is convinced he and the kids will find it again. See above. Scrooge then pulls out his phone and tells Duckworth to rework his schedule.. but it’s so he can find someone to run his comapny so he can spend more time with the kids. As for why Hortense would allow this before her still mysterious passing.. i’m guessing A) she notices her brother is happier and more alive than he’s been for a while and B) they just blew up their dad’s ass with a firecracker, and she won’t be able to use it for a while, so she’s double mad, so if it means she gets a moment’s peace and is with someone she trusts.. why not?
So we end on Scrooge packing up, preparing for further adventures.. i’d love a spinoff of this one day. I mean Disney plus needs it, and since Frank is probably going over to Darkwing.. maybe matt could take a crack at this. Just saying. You have the cast ready, a giant world to explore, and 15 years worth adventures. Run that baby damn you! But yeah the inevitble happens and Bradford further proves his magificent bastardry.. by appling for the position of running the company as head of Scrooge’s board, and setting up said board. So now FOWL has unlimited resources, he has a direct eye on what he now realizes is his greatest threat, and the complete trust and faith of both Scrooge and Beakly. It also puts Beakly’s breakdown in context: We now see WHY she went as far as she did: While the revelation was bad for Scrooge, finding out one of his most trusted allies was a traitor the whole time and knew everything about him, for Beakly.. it had to be worse. Finding out one of your best employees, one of the FEW people you ever trusted, and someone you DIRECTLY RECOMMENDED TO SCROOGE, was not only the man who set up your greatest enemies, but had compromised your organization for most of your career. IT’s no wonder she broke down so hard.. while I already gave several reason adding “This level of betrayal and self doubt to the list” only makes it that much harder on her. But for now a partnership is started.. one that very well may end scrooge. 
Final Thoughts: A pretty good episode overall. It’s well paced, to the point I probably forgot a LOT, has some good jokes, and fills in a lot of the gaps in the lore, while giving us a nice insight into bradford and heron. Even without hortense this was a pretty good episode. 
Upcoming Reviews: LIfe and Times; Master of the Mississippi Ride of the Three Cabbleros: The Three Cablleros (House of Mouse) Tomtrospective: Lava Lake Beach
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glapplebloom · 3 years
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Which of these soulless corporate movies is the least soulless?
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Welcome to the Space Jam. Its your chance to do your dance at the Space Jam. Alright? Alright. Both movies are about a Basketball Star Teaming up with the Looney Tunes to play Basketball. So let’s see which one is the better of the two, starting off with...
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THE STORY
Original - Aliens have come to kidnap the Looney Tunes. So they decide to have their fate decided by a Basketball Game. But when the Aliens stole the talent of other NBA players, the Looney Tunes decide to kidnap Michael Jordan (yes, they kidnap Michael Jordan as pointed out by Teen Titans going to the old Space Jam Website). After Hijinks they win the game.
Sequel - Lebron’s son got kidnapped by Al G. Rhythm and to get him back he must beat Al in a Basketball game. Thing is he is forces to get a team and he was sent to the Looney Tunes world where he finds Bugs alone. The others are seeing other Warner Brother properties so Bugs and Lebron work together to get them back. Thing is Lebron wants some heavy hitters and despite his efforts he only got toons. Even worse, the basketball game is not straightforward, more people’s lives are on the line and Al got his son to play for his team. Only until Lebron learned that he shouldn’t push people to be like him do the toons come back and win the game.
Winner - Sequel. Calling the original a plot is giving it too much credit. Its more of a concept that is put together than an actual story. If New Legacy’s story is more complex, its only because it has actual progression as things change.
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THE BASKETBALL STAR
Original - As a kid, Michael Jordan was destined for greatness. He knew he wanted to be a big time basketball star and as a promise to his dad will also become a baseball star. He retired and is trying his best, but he’s not a good baseball player. It doesn’t help that others are treating him as something special (because they all want some free shoes ~Starfire). So when the Looney Tunes kidnap him, he didn’t want to help until the Monstars messed with him. Now back in the game Michael plays like he never lost a step and help the Looney Tunes win.
Sequel - As a kid, Lebron wants to play basketball. But he’s also a kid so he enjoys having fun like playing a Gameboy Game complete with Bugs Bunny’s Crazy Castle. But because of that, he lost the game. His coach at the time said he could become a great basketball player if he focused. So he did and became King James. Now an adult, he wants his kids to be basketball players too, but his youngest son prefer to make video games. This causes a riff that allows AL G. Rhythm to manipulate his son to work with him. Lebron, forced into the Warner Serververse has to make a team and is stuck with the Looney Tunes. He thinks they could win if they stick with the fundamentals but between the new rules and bias ref, they’re losing badly. So badly an argument breaks out between him and the Toons during halftime. When he figures out he’s treating them like his son, he realized the only way to win is to let them be them. With that knowledge, he ask his son for forgiveness and earns it. After winning the game, he lets his son go to the E3 Game Camp instead of the Basketball Camp.
Winner - Sequel. Lebron has an actual connection with Looney Tunes as a kid, was excited to meet Bugs, has a character arc that takes place throughout the entire movie. Even if you think he’s a bad actor, he at least felt like he was invested in the story.
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THE REFERENCES
Original - For Background Easter Eggs, you got a few Looney Tunes Alumni, though they do repeat. Cameos feature other Basketball Stars and Bill Murray. And references are to things of the 90s: Dennis Rodman, Pulp Fiction, Beethoven and Babe, and for some reason Disney. I think the most clever is Larry Bird appearing. In one of the few sports things I know, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were rivals. How do I know this? I played an NES game about their rivalry.
Sequel - Background and References subtle and not were all about Warner owned properties. As old as Casablanca to as new as Rick and Morty. We got to see the DCAU once more, references to old Looney Tunes gags and places, MC Hammer, Hanna-Barbera, Mad Max: Fury Road (and one I think is a Nostalgia Critic Reference) and so much more. In fact here’s a video featuring them all. Favorite of mine, Michael Jordan’s Cameo.
Winner - This is all your own preference so feel free to pick who you think wins here.
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THE SOUNDTRACK
Winner - No competition. Between the title song (turned meme), the inspirational song (sang by someone who doesn’t know how to use a toilet), and the Monstars Anthem the new one can’t compete. But I will say for those thinking that Porky Rapping is “cringe”, the original also had a certain Rabbit rapping. 
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THE VILLAINS
Original - The Big Bad is Mr. Swackhammer, owner of Moron Mountain and voiced by Danny DeVito. Sadly he doesn’t do much but be the big bad boss of Nerdlucks. As their tiny small self, they don’t leave much of an impression but they really stand out after stealing the talent of stars and become Monstars. They become big, mean and slightly more different. 
Sequel - Al G. Rhythm is an algorithm the Warner Brothers studios use to help make movie ideas. He wants some recognition and thinks if he can get Lebron on board he can earn it. Sadly, when Lebron refused, he didn’t take it well. So when he saw Lebron’s son take interest in him and ran away from Lebron, Al used that to his advantage. With that, he makes Lebron force to play a basketball game while manipulating his son to not only allow him access to his data but get him to play as well. The Goon Squads are a result of that as its Lebron’s son’s data on other basketball players mixed with superpowers.
Winner - Give Don Cheadle a Disney+ Show Disney! As great as Danny DeVito is, he’s just not in it long enough like Al. Can be manipulative yet also very agro.
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THE TOONS
This category will be done differently. I’ll be focusing on their takes on Bugs, Lola, and the Rest. I am not including Daffy in this equation because he’s perfect in both.
Bugs - In the original, Bugs is Bugs. Wisecracking, carrot chewing, master manipulator as always. In the Sequel, he’s one of the few that stood in Looney Tunes world because that’s where he could be him. But the loneliness made him miss everyone (after all, how can he pull off schemes and pranks without victims). And while in the original Bugs saves Lola from being squashed, Bugs risks his life to ensure Lebron doesn’t get deleted when executing the glitch. It makes Bugs’ actions seem more noble than just saving the girl he likes. 
Lola - In the original, she’s a “sexy” no nonsense girl who plays basketball, and that’s it. And despite her attitude, became a damsel in distress and Bugs’ prize for rescuing her. in the sequel, she wants to do her own thing, even doing an Amazon Trial to become one, but failed to complete it when Lebron and Bugs was in danger and finding out Lebron’s son was in the line. So she’s there to give the team another good player and also be a moral support. In fact, its thanks to her that Lebron realizes what he’s been doing to his son.
The Rest - If the original got one thing over the Sequel, its number. A lot more Looney Tunes play in their game in comparison. With the exception of Granny who was a cheerleader, every toon was in the game at one point. I can’t say the same for the Sequel. With that said, the Sequel did get to show their personalities more. Like compare Wile E. in both. In one he gives the Monstars a bomb. The other has him using an Acme device, placing bird seed on the button to get the Roadrunner to press it repeatedly, only to have himself be caught in said machine. They all got the chance to do their thing instead of sharing a spit take.
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THE BIG GAME
Original - The Looney Tunes are losing badly in the first half. Why? Because they didn’t go looney for... Reasons. After being tricked into drinking Michael’s “Special Drink”, then they decide to go looney. This allows them to catch up but then the Monstars decide to take them out, which they do despite these attacks being pretty tame to what they can normally take. With a few seconds to go, Michael scores one more basket to win.
Sequel -  The Looney Tunes are losing badly in the first half. Why? Because Lebron is forcing them to play normal basketball despite their opponents and the game itself is anything but normal basketball. When they came back, they came back Looney and managed to catch up and even get ahead. But then Al decides to cheat since he controls the game. Thanks to this being the kid’s game, they know that if they perform a glitch they can take control away from Al long enough to score one more point and win. And thanks to Bugs’ sacrifice and his son moving a power up right underneath him, Lebron slam dunks the final point and wins.
Winner - The sequel. There was no reason for the Looney Tunes to be less looney in the first half in the original and its short live as each one gets taken out. Meanwhile the Sequel gives a valid reason for everything to happen.
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My Winner - Space Jam: A New Legacy
Both movies are basically overgrown commercials trying to get you to buy stuff. The original was based off a Shoe Commercial and banking on your nostalgia on Looney Tunes and Michael Jordan the Basketball player to make you interested in seeing him back on court and new Looney Tunes content. The new one is basically for HBO Max. And both movies have also not credited people who deserve to be credited. But between the two of them a New Legacy actually feels like its trying to justify its existence. 
Lebron has a connection with the toons through childhood, has actual stakes in the game, and actually feels invested in the events. The original was basically the Nike commercial stretched to a movie length. And to me, that makes a New Legacy a better movie.
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rametarin · 3 years
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And further thoughts about the yaoi paddles.
If you’re under 20, and just now learning that fandom seniors in their late 20s, 30s, 40s, even low 50s, used to run around slapping eachother on the ass with yaoi paddles in anime and comic conventions after anime became a household media staple, you probably have.. questions.
You’re probably thinking, “Wow!! It was really lawless and anarchistic back then, wasn’t it! They never heard about personal space or sexual harassment laws! SOCIETY must have been SO different, back then!”
NO. I cannot stress enough, the Yaoi Paddle phenomenon was borne PURELY because the demographic MOST LIKELY to protest and be wet blankets about everything fun and sexual and admittedly VERY SKETCHY sometimes in fiction, and ALWAYS bad in reality.. turned off and said virtually nothing. Wokesters that’d protest about the environment and sexual assault against women would take off their Problem Glasses by night and act like paddling was harmless, contextually acceptable behavior.
Yaoi Paddle shit appeared because something absolutely magical happened in scifi and fantasy fandoms. It survived purely because boys didn’t complain, or their complaints were not taken seriously. I promise you, I assure you, if you grew up in the late 80s, your night time TV was INUNDATED with heavy handed messages about how sexual harassment (always male-on-woman flavored) was wrong, even proxy or indirect violence to women (tossing rubber gloves in their lap) was wrong, and to never, ever, ever do that thing or they’d rub your nose in it and consider you mentally diseased until the day you died.
Fandom was always niche, with sci-fi and fantasy stuff being off in its own little corner. Conventions, before the internet was king, was one of few places where more rural, disparate suburban and city-definition isolated geeks, nerds and dreamers could get together and just cut loose. Comic books, novels, video games. All that GOOD shit. But if you knew a girl in the 80s and 90s, you knew a girl that knew a girl that was getting them to be less tolerant and “more conscious and aware” (80s and 90s parlance for Woke) and when that happened, a new persona was created. A new bunch of dialogue options, created.
Suddenly they didn’t say stuff like, “Ew. Why is this character dressed like a SLUT? Typical male writers. Like we’d ever draw ourselves in this or put ourselves in this.” Because that’d be a personal, subjective opinion. Instead, the option to say, “It’s endemic in our western culture that male chauvinist authors and writers in a patriarchal system exploit femininity in media and reproduce misogynistic culture.”
And so assured this was true by mob mentality AND the idea that learned, educated, acredited and tenured academics had this opinion, they were scientists, and so they were right, permeated. Suddenly girl-fans had outlets to have justified apprehension for everything they saw and didn’t like or, if they actually liked it, STILL interpreted it through their lenses to be on, “the right side of history.”
It made fandom miserable and a sausage fest for a while, if only out of fear of driving away female friends. You couldn’t share that shit unless you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that your female peers and friends wouldn’t disregard you like a “typical misogynistic western male” for enjoying that stuff.
Sentiments and peer pressure thoughts emerged. Like, “The comic industry is hostile and cruel to women that try and enter it, and they exploit the image of women for cheap dollars.” So they simply weren’t interested in comics- mostly- unless the comics were written by women and sold with that virtue in mind. In which case, you had boys glowingly mentioning just how much they liked this authentically written adventure by this female comic author. Isn’t that just so special? Not like those horrid anti-woman cigar smoking old man stories, right?
There was always something to nag and get vitriolic about with the media. That’s part of why the Whedon brand of feminist writing got so popular in the 90s. it was low hanging fruit of peppy “sassy” girl characters doing girly things. They weren’t like “other” girls written in comics and cartoons. They were actually girly. Not idealized infantalized children, like those horrible white men write, you know.
Well. Things were looking really bleak for the forseeable future. Lots of boys just felt like comics and cartoons were lost to girls that weren’t specifically into them, and that meant more sausage fest conventions or hobbies, and signing off hope on those things being respected and accepted on the merits of what they are and were. The girls had embraced serials-filed-off radfem rhetoric and lenses, sometimes without even knowing the origins of where those truisms like the Male Gaze even came from, just assuming it was true and indisputable. And it complimented their insecurities, so they’d embrace that shit until they couldn’t anymore.
And then.. something absolutely miraculous and amazing happened that blindsided this whole vitriolic culture.
Anime.
And amazingly, every complaint that a lot of nerdy girls had about the very much sanitized, policed and made PG writing and characterization of characters in western comics and cartoons, just... fucking up and vanished. Seemingly within a fucking YEAR, the entire social culture of Problem Finders, finding everything wrong about these stories, the characters, the writer and the company that produced them being misogynistic male chauvinism, dried up. Those voices quieted, or were shut out of the groups.
Media from Japan was some of the most infantilizing, sexist, tittelating shit compared to mainstream American comics and cartoons and video games, and girls fluttered to it like flies to shit. We had Buffy basically subverting boogymen that a bunch of girls had been taught were still relevant after the 1950s by fighting crime in melee combat with men, and winning, while wearing jogging pants and cracking sassy, like Lola Bunny being a “tough girl.”
Japan had doe eyed, waif bodied ballet dancers that basically farted iridescent glitter, hearts and all the symbols and shapes of the Lucky Charms, riding unicorns and fighting evil in cute outfits. Being childish and not at all mature or professional to show how womanly and competent they were, basically being overgrown 11 year old girls fresh off the playground swing set.
And the fangirls loved it. Those nagging voices that would speak up and remind them about misogynistic, male chauvinistic “societies” and culture? Just.. they fucking VANISHED from the mind for AN ENTIRE GENERATION. I’m not exaggerating. Tolerance and fun and innocence was back again. The problem-glasses felt too ostracized and alienated, or didn’t even want to wear them anymore for personal reasons, and the Radfem Baby Wokes just seemed to grow out of that collective hysteria and pretend it never happened and never existed.
That’s why the very EXISTENCE of Yaoi Paddles at conventions was just so fucking bizarre to those of us that lived up to that point. After, “Stay in your own personal space, boy. DON’T even TOUCH a GIRL unless she VERBALLY AND PUBLICLY CONSENTS or it’s proof you’re just living up to this misogynistic, objectifying society’s evil history!” was drilled into us, day on the playground by day on the playground, by women with axes to grind and good-boy sycophants performing sharing those sentiments for brownie points, it was so fucking surreal to IMAGINE girls just running around sexually assaulting and physically assaulting random strangers because they thought they looked like cute, gay men.
It wasn’t that they didn’t know any better beforehand, it’s that they COMPLETELY put those sentiments away and up and decided, as girls, it was okay to violate male autonomy because they weren’t women, and “it’s okay to paddle a yaoi boy ^.^!” With NO self-awareness whatsoever.
The very fact it existed is testament to how attention starved boys were for girls approving gaze and playful interaction, that they’d tolerate some pocky fingered little cow stranger smacking them on the ass with a plank of wood because it was a socially acceptable way to just interact with girls in their lonely assed fandom and interest. It was an acceptable way to meet girls and positively interact. That’s the degrading bullshit boys said virtually nothing about at the hayday of yaoi paddles, purely to be welcoming to girls in anime and hentai approving spaces.
WE GREW UP hearing and watching horror stories and boogymen stories about true crime and sitcoms and crime shows about evil evil men violating the personal space of women for lewd and lecherous reasons. We had it drilled into our heads that the tolerance for boys and men doing that was negatives, and the general sentiment was men caught doing that (to women, or children of any sex) were effectively free game for any violence you personally felt like unloading on them, confident that in such outraged rape and sexual assault hating times, juries would excuse that passion as a defense.
So if you look back on the era of Yaoi Paddles and think. “WOW. That must be like driving cars before they invented seat belts and cough medicine before they invented the drug safety and scheduling legal system!”.. NO.
It was not like the 50s-70s, where many of the rules hadn’t been written yet so it was anarchy and chaos. Yaoi Paddles existed almost PURELY because girls HAD no rules if they didn’t want to respect them. The Yaoi Paddle phenomenon flew in direct opposition to how interactions were supposed to go, and ABSOLUTELY NO ONE would tolerate the reverse; no cis straight man could walk around randomly smacking women on the ass with a plank of even foam in pantomime, or ‘floating hand’ pretending to be a perverted character. The double standard was GLARING. The Double Standard was a fucking bugbear that had grown from a tiny screaming goblin and was now hanging upside down from the ceiling, roaring.
But because it was GIRLS inflicting it on BOYS, absolutely no party cared enough to raise a stink about it. The Radfems kept their mouths shut, because boys were the recipients. The Radfem Sympathizers really wanted to spank boys, so suddenly they couldn’t find their problem glasses and instead put on their neko ears. The boys were either stoic and amused by it or really wanted to be seen as cool and not buzzkills, so they tolerated to reveled in it.
Many times when you hear about things that happened either when you were a child just too young to really personally experience a thing, or before you were born, we’re quick to assume it’s a medieval place and the people were so uncultured as to have never pondered the social problems of spanking one another on the ass unprovoked. Violation of personal space, personal sovereignty- all that. That was NOT okay at the time. It happened because fujoshi decided it was okay and nobody argued with them to not do hat, or they were told to stop and did it anyway.
And as I’ve laid it out, that is the most bizarre and surreal element to the whole thing. They DID know better, but felt it didn’t apply to THEM because they were girls, and a girl slapping a boy on the ass “as a joke” didn’t mean anything- because it wasn’t happening TO them, FROM a man.
And irony of ironies, it was NEVER okay, EVER, throughout that entire era, for the reverse to be a thing. It was very specifically and exclusively not. As a man if you ran around slapping cute looking girls with the Yuri Paddle, you goin’ to either juvy hall, or prison, boi. Both sexes knew it. And yet, yaoi paddles STILL became a thing.
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thebluemoonwolf · 3 years
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The Inheritance Cycle as Guardians
Ive been playing a lot of Destiny 2 and have also been rereading The Inheritance Cycle so this came into being. I'm fulfilling a niche, and that niche is just me. Sorry in advance I only did a few characters.
Eragon: rezed on earth, in a abandoned town somewhere in the country.  He is an old light practicing both warlock and titan aspects. He is the type that probably hung with Saladin and his Iron Wolves, for a time at least. Otherwise he kept to himself. Saphira, his ghost, uses the Knights Peace Shell. Refuses to rez him for a week when he titan smashed into the side of a cliff trying to kill a Kell. The aftershock is the only thing that saved him.
Murtagh: he is a new light, found on earth in a desert. He died about five times trying to outrun some fallen. He learned how to hide his tracks soon after that,, with his ghost help of course. He is a hunter and specializes using solar, he's a gunslinger through and through. His ghost, Thorn, uses the Crimson Shell. They get along well and Thorn enjoys bring sent on missions by zavala. Thorn and Targe gossip about their Guardians to each other.
Angela: 100% one of the first warlock risen. Uses all classes and switches to what she needs. Her ghost, Solembum, uses the Nine Lives Shell. She practices in Thanatonaut. She keeps to herself and usually hangs around the old Ishtar collectives to see what information she can pull from the golden age. Currently she only comes by the tower whenever Eva Lavante is holding an event or holiday. They get along very well.  Her ghost is often seen with her, but he can sometimes venture out on his own while she is busy looting old golden age tech on Venus.
Arya: An awoken, as well as a new light. Her ghost found her around old Cabal rigs in the EDZ and it seems like the place she died in suffered from a cabal attack. She specializes using Nightstalker, "The Way of The Trapper". Her ghost, Fírnen, uses the Bursting Wisdom Shell. They get along well, but Fírnen often corrects her fighting style and hates how she goes off alone without a fireteam deep in the Cosmodrome. Fírnen really hates the hive and does his best to Protect Arya when the wizards start to sing.
Oromis: A distributary born Awoken. His body was found deep in the jungle of vex overrun Venus. He is one of the Risen, and made his way out of hostile Venus with a trashy jumpship that crash landed somewhere around old Chicago. The crash had killed him, his ghost, Glaedr, who uses the Alchemical Dawn Shell revived him quickly enough only for Oromis to be overrun by a swarm of hive thralls. He is a solar warlock that uses Dawnblade Specifically "Well of Radiance". He also practices in the Thanatonaut and tries to figure out the way of the world through his death dreams. He at one point, climbed Felwinters peak much to his ghost annoyance. He keeps to himself, but his favorite place to be is the Ishtar academy on Venus. He often thinks about things back in the golden age, how they could of been and what made everything go so horribly wrong. He had an interest in Ahamkaras, and when Guardians had to kill them he stepped away from the city and the tower completely. He meet Osiris and at one point they had often shared information. When Osiris consumed himself with the vex, Oromis respected that and left the man to his devices. Glaedr and Sagira are the best of friends and Sagira often comes around to see how they are doing.
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Some vocabulary for my Inheritance Cycle peeps who I doubt know what I'm talking about lol
Ghost: a little fancy robot who was created to find their specific guardian. (Kinda like how a dragon bonds with someone, except these people can't die permanently)
Rezed: the action your ghost does to revive your horrifically dead body. Not even being blown to atoms will stop your ghost from rezing you.
Titan: a type of Guardian class that specializes in heavy hitting. They use all fists and no brain. Ironically the best titans are military commanders.
Warlock: a type of guardian class that specializes in the mind. They believe everything is linked. They often are associated with bookworms.
Hunters: a type of Guardian class that specializes in close combat. They are silent, quick, and deadly. Hunters are loners and don't stick to groups. They are known to travel alone but are the best at knowing how to kick back and cause havoc.
Awoken: A type of human that was affected by some weird dark and light hababaloo that caused them to turn blue and live in a place nobody else but them can touch. So basically, space elves.
Distributary: the birthplace of the Awoken. Only they know where this place is, and nobody but them can visit it. (Ellesméra)
Void, solar, arc: types of Guardian subclasses that people choose from. They are abilities born from using their ghost and the light.
Kell: A big ol blue alien that has quite literally eaten way too much and is way too strong and overgrown. Headbuttting a Kell causes a guardian to break their neck, the biggest ones have four arms.
Vex: evil robots, nobody knows where they originally came from or how they were created.
Hive: evil... things. They were found on the moon originally and their only purpose is to end guardian life to feed the life essence that controls them, their worms.
Thanatonaut: When a guardian dies, sometimes they get visions. Maybe it's visions of the future or merely dreams of their past life, nobody knows. Warlocks often partake in this to try and get a better understanding of the world, so with the help of their ghost they kill themselves over and over until they get a vision. Usually this upsets the person's ghost but they are also usually compliant.
New/old light/risen: The name for a specific generation of Guardians. The Risen were the first among earth and often didn't pick any specific class to call themselves so it was a mix of abilities. Old lights are just old, but not as old as risen. They have picked a class and stuck to it. New lights are usually within their first few years of Guardian work.
Ishtar Collective: A database in the game, full of old human knowledge before the Guardians. It has all been lost or destroyed, nobody knows why but the ruins still exist in game.
Iron Wolves: A form of Risen who helped early settlers of humans stay safe and usually warded off other Risen who meant people harm.
Ahamkara: Special types of dragons who made their home on early Venus. They usually hung out with the Awoken, but these dragons make your desire a reality. The bigger you wish the bigger they grow. They are a massive "Monkey's paw. Hunted to extinction after the Awoken found out how bad it was to deal with them, Guardians usually keep their bones as trophies.
Felwinters peak: A place at the top of a very high mountain. Guardians climbed up it often. They died a lot on the way up and often frozen to death. Fun times really.
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drabbledragon · 3 years
Text
Linktober: Surprise
This post is very close to the day 4 deadline but honestly, I had a lot of fun creating and tampering with the plot! Be cautious, though, because there is quite a bit of violence in this one.
AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26749021/chapters/65454667
Summary: A new friend is brought to camp, and it surprises a certain Ordonian
Warnings: Some violence
Day 4: Surprise
It was a surprisingly cold day out, Twilight mused, although that’s to be expected as the season goes further into fall. The cold, crisp air and colorful leaves reminded him of his home back in Ordon Village; if memory serves, he would be harvesting Ordonian pumpkins with Fado right now.
He sighed wistfully and tended to the campfire with a long stick. He wondered how everyone back home was doing. Beth, Talo, Malo, and certainly Colin missed him, and he was sure Fado was struggling to herd all the goats back into their house without his and Epona’s help. And of course there was his mentor, Rusl - well, one of his mentors, he supposed, now that he met Time - along with his wife, Uli, who were most likely busy taking care of their newborn child; it’s a shame that he was never able to meet their new baby, but if he knew anything about Rusl, he would excitedly tell Twilight all about his child from sunup to sundown.
And how could he forget Midna? Their meeting may have happened by chance but he felt that they were destined to meet. They had grown to be close friends during their travels across Hyrule - maybe even more than that - and not a single day goes by where he doesn’t think about her. He wondered what would happen if he managed to say what was on his mind before she disappeared into the Mirror of Twilight; if his thoughts and feelings would be enough to make her stay, or allow him to live in the Twilight Realm alongside her. He could only speculate at this point. 
He nearly jumped out of his skin when a tan snout poked at his shoulder.
“Wild, is that a bear?!” He shouted, and he looked up to see his protege sitting idly on the creature’s back, a goofy grin on his face.
“Yeah, isn’t it great? I was out looking for herbs when I found a bear following me around! He looked like he was hungry so I did a little bit of fishing for him -”
Which meant Wild had jumped into a river, Twilight frowned, again.
“- And then we became best friends! Like he watched me cook them by the fire and everything! Although he was starting to lose his patience towards the end.” He shrugged nonchalantly as if a bear watching him cook was just another daily occurrence. “ Anyways, did you know he’s a big fan of Hearty Salmon? I’m more of a Voltfin Trout guy myself but to each their own, y’know?”
Twilight was barely able to make it through the whole story without pinching the bridge of his nose, “ Wild, you can’t just bring a bear to camp. You know full - well that that thing likes to go through food and attack anything it sees moving.”
“But he won’t, I promise!” The smile from Wild’s face had now given way to a defensive look, “ He’s very polite and friendly and hasn’t done anything to hurt me at all! Plus you always let dogs and cats follow you around, and you don’t even care when Legend brings a whole flock of seagulls to camp!”
The Hero of Legend stopped whatever he was doing at the mention of his name and gave the two a pointed look, “ Hey, you two leave the seagulls out of this.” But he was paid no mind.
“That’s because cats, dogs, and seagulls aren’t actively trying to maul me to death!” The Ordonian’s voice dropped to a lower volume in order to prevent the others from overhearing. “ You know how many times I almost got killed by a bear? Eight, and five of those times were as a wolf. The last thing I need right now is to make that number nine, or to have anyone die thanks to some idiot bringing a bear into camp. Really, you’re like the only one here who’s constantly putting us in danger.”
Perhaps he went too far on that one. He watched all the fight leave his protege like a potion being drained of its contents, giving way to wide eyes and a pale complexion.
“Wait, Cub, I didn’t -”
But Wild didn’t want to hear it. With a gentle tug of the bear’s fur, the Hero of Wilds nudged his companion towards the forest and left, not a single hint of hesitance shown in his actions. 
Twilight watched as the figure disappeared behind tall trees and overgrown bushes, and a large part of him just wanted to shift into his Twili form and run after their trail, but he paused instead.
Wait, why should Twilight go after him? Sure, he’s his mentor and all and he feels like he has a personal obligation to protect the kid but now that he thinks about it, hasn’t he been coddling him too much? Too many times has he taken to his Twili form to find a lost Wild that had wandered to the other half of a Hyrule just because he had a need for adventure, and too many times had he had to answer to Time for the crazy stunt his charge had decided to pull just for curiosity’s sake. Despite being 117 years old, Wild acted like a child - a feral child, at that - that would rather spend the whole day messing around in an open field rather than helping the people who needed him the most.
He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. Seriously, how was Wild supposed to grow up and take responsibility for himself if Twilight was always there to bail him out? Maybe it’s about time for the Hero of Wilds to learn that he can’t just do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He’ll learn in due time, Twilight assured himself, and he’ll be back by tonight for sure.
With that being said, he turned his back and went to go tend to the fire.
Wild wasn’t back that night. Everything seemed well among the remaining heroes, though: Warriors and Legend were locked in their usual banter, Wind and Four were telling exaggerated stories about their adventures, and Sky, Time, and Hyrule were all idly sitting by, amused by everyone’s antics; the only real difference tonight was Twilight and Wild, where the latter was nowhere to be found and the former worried profusely about his charge’s absence. 
Twilight restlessly tapped his foot against the ground and stared into what Hyrule would call dinner. Seriously, where was Wild? The Ordonian thought that he would be back in maybe two, three hours max but it had been ten hours, and there was still no sign of him. Had he gotten hurt? Was he attacked by a hoard of Darias or Gerus that Hyrule often warned them about? Had a Zora grabbed him by the ankle and drowned him in a river? Twilight knew that his protege was very friendly towards Zoras so it really wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.
“Go.”
He looked up to Time and stuttered out, “ H - Huh?”
Without ever shifting his gaze from the fire, he quietly whispered to his protege, “You’re worried about the cub, aren’t you? So you should go and find him; I’ll cover for you in the meantime.”
He processed the words for a few seconds, and then nodded. The old man was right: no matter how irresponsible, thoughtless, and careless Wild could be at times, he was still his protege, and as his mentor, Twilight should be there with him every step of the way, ready to help him up when he couldn’t find his footing in a situation. He left the group without so much as a sound, and as soon as he was out of sight, transformed into his Twili form and left, fervently following the scent of the former champion’s trail.
It had been about ten minutes by the time Twilight had finally found Wild. He was located in a small clearing of trees with, oddly enough, his bear companion laying down next to him; there was a small campfire going with a makeshift pot held over it, and the wolf could easily smell the tantalizing taste of Salmon Risotto.
He shook his head: this wasn’t the time to be salivating over the smell of real food. With a gentle command to his Shadow Crystal, his form shifted to that of a Hylian’s.
“Cub, I -”
Go away, Wild signed, and as if to emphasize, the large bear beside him growled.
The Ordonian immediately took a two steps back and sighed. This was going to be hard: not only did he have to worry about his friend fleeing if he got too close, but he also had to worry about a bear potentially running up and attacking him, and he really didn’t feel like defending himself from a creature twice his size. He finally chose to settle himself on the ground instead, intent on making himself seem as small and non - threatening as possible.
“Listen, I didn’t mean anything I said back there, alright? We got stranded in Hyrule’s Hyrule, we’ve been travelling for days, infected monsters are always showing up and trying to kill us, and I guess I was thinking about what was going on back home, so I was just really stressed out this afternoon. When you brought a bear to camp, I guess that was the final straw and I just took out all my anger on you. I mean, yeah, you really shouldn’t bring a bear of all things to a camp but that thing about you always putting us into trouble was completely wrong. If anything, we put ourselves into trouble, and it has nothing to do with you being here.”
He watched anxiously as his protege stirred the pot, never daring to meet Twilight’s own concerned gaze. He could see the bear beside Wild carefully watching him, paws resting readily on the ground as if it was anticipating for the Hero of Twilight’s one bad slip - up. After what seemed like centuries, the former champion finally let go of his ladle and brought his hands up to sign again,
You’re wrong, and that made Twilight lean forward, my whole life’s been nothing but bringing trouble to everyone. Back when my Hyrule wasn’t destroyed, everything I ever did just made things worse: I followed Zelda around, and she hated me; I protected people from danger, and now the Yiga are trying to kill me; I did everything I possibly could to prevent Zelda from dying, and I literally ended up dying right in the middle of Fort Hateno, and I was lucky that Impa was willing to put me in the Shrine of Resurrection. Now I’m here with eight different Links from eight different timelines and it looks like everywhere I go, trouble always follows. Just two weeks ago I led a bunch of Bokoblins to us because I took a couple of their weapons, and then five days ago I dyed Warriors’s hair green because I tossed him a green potion and it hit a branch and spilled all over him. 
“Well that could happen to anyone,” Twilight interrupted, “ Those bottles are fragile so one small hit and they’ll shatter.”
Fine, but what about everything else? The Yiga, my Zelda, my Hyrule - everything’s a mess because I can’t get my life together; I can’t even remember what my life was like in the first place!
“That’s different! The part about your Hyrule being destroyed is all Ganon’s fault, not yours!”
Then why couldn’t I live up to be a true Hero of Courage like the rest of you? Why couldn’t I just stop this whole thing from happening in the first place?
Twilight was growing frustrated. Where was Wild getting the notion that he could’ve prevented an immortal evil demon from corrupting his Guardians? He was just a 17 year old kid back then, for Hylia’s sake! 
He opened his mouth to respond back, retort at the ready, when a sudden axe whizzed by and lodged itself into the tree behind him. His surprised gaze quickly met Wild’s for a brief moment before he abruptly stood up, Ordonian sword at the ready. Just a few seconds later, a horde of snarling enemies pushed their way from the forest and surrounded the heroes from all sides.
The Hero of Twilight knitted his brows as he slowly stepped back toward the center of the clearing, “ Darias? But I thought Hyrule said they only show up around Death Mountain!”
“Infected.” Was all Wild whispered back, but Twilight completely understood. It had become a common occurrence by now to see monsters that they were sure only showed up in one place and one timeline now showing up all over different eras; and as if some of them having to fight monsters that they never encountered before wasn’t enough, the enemies’ blood seemed to make them stronger, allowing them to have the upperhand on any poor passerby they could fight.
And it looks like Twilight and Wild were a couple of those poor passersby.
The Hero of Twilight swiftly leaned his head away as one of the Darias swung its axe and in the same breath, the former pierced its chest and forced his sword up, causing the enemy to crumple to the ground in defeat. He rose his sword out of the corpse and grimaced: black blood, these are infected.
He perked up when he heard the dull thuds of feet running towards him and ducked just in time to avoid a monster from either side going to swing at him with their respective axes. He winced when the sound of two heads clunking filled the quiet night air and hastily got back onto his feet to slash at the two Darias writhing on the ground. 
He felt light on his feet as he continued to attack the oncoming enemies. Some came to attack him on their own while others stayed stubbornly in pairs, but the process was all the same regardless: step, lean, duck, sidestep, block, spin, and end his foe with a well - practiced stab. If there were two coming at him, he just needed to be quicker, and that was no problem for a hero who was used to facing five Shadow Beasts at a time. 
Every now and then he would catch a quick glimpse of his protege fighting just a few steps beside him, and just like always, every attack was graceful and cleverly calculated. The Ordonian grinned: Wild may act like a child at times, but he took his fighting seriously, and it showed through his undeterred concentration. No enemy should have ever made the mistake of crossing paths with the Champion of Hyrule.
The last enemy fell down in a graceless heap, and Twilight wasted no time in ending its life with an Ending Blow. There was something poetic about it, he mused as he sheathed his sword, ending a battle with an attack that his predecessor had taught him long ago.
He took an eager step forward towards his protege, congratulatory praises at the ready, when a scaled hand reached from behind and dug into his shoulder.
“Twilight!”
Wild’s shocked shriek rang through the air and Twilight had to do everything in his power to make sure that his pained yelp didn’t join it. His other hand scrambled to grab at the Daria’s wrist and when he did, he used every bit of energy he had left to force it back. The threat of an axe raised just above his head made adrenaline rush through his veins, and he became acutely aware of the blood running down his shoulder and soaking into his tunic; but he couldn’t pay any mind to it, because he needed to focus on biding time for a panicked Wild so he could swipe through his Sheikah Slate and find the weapon he needed.
But he didn’t need to wait for that because in a blink of an eye, a rush of brown fur dug its fangs into the enemy’s side and pushed its body aside, freeing the Hero of Twilight from the Daria’s grip. He watched the brown mass - which he now noticed was Wild’s bear companion - tear at the infected foe with sharp white claws and no mercy. The animal finally stepped back when the creature had been torn to shreds, and took a few seconds to make sure it was dead.
Twilight’s breath hitched when the bear started to pad towards him. He wouldn’t necessarily say that he had a fear of bears per se, but the sight of the very same creature that liked to use him for hunting practice was walking towards him did tend to make him feel a little bit unnerved.
However, to his complete and utter surprise, instead of the animal coming over to attack him, it instead gently nudged at his side and whined. 
He froze. Was this bear trying to comfort him? 
And with that very same suspicion in mind, the Hero of Twilight reached his free hand forward and tentatively placed it on the creature’s head, ruffling the fur in the same way the other Links did when he was a wolf.
“You saved me back there,” He smiled sincerely, “ Thank you.”
The creature yawned back in response.
He startled when he felt a gentle hand touch his good shoulder, and turned just in time to see the Hero of Wilds offering him a red potion.
“For your shoulder,” He urged, and when he saw his mentor ready to protest, he added in a quick, “ Don’t worry, I got 25 more in my bag.”
Twilight drank it greedily, and felt its healing effects immediately. He could dimly feel the gentle knitting of skin beneath his tunic, and when he looked at the injury, he found that there was nothing left but a few white scars; but even those would fade in a day or so.
He looked to see the former champion staring at the ground with his curtain of hair hiding his eyes, “ Jeeze, that was stupid of me. I should’ve kept an extra set of arrows at the ready; I could’ve helped you the second that Daria got you.”
“You did help me, well -” The Ordonian patted the bear standing quietly beside him. “ - your bear helped me, but you know what I mean. Sure, the thing saved me and all but if it wasn’t for you taming him in the first place, I wouldn’t have a ten foot tall animal here to save me. So really, because of you, I avoided getting an axe to the head.”
The Hero of Wilds beamed at him and for some reason, his small smile reminded him of Colin’s back home. 
Ah, he wondered how Ordon Village was doing back home; how much Colin, Beth, Talo, and Malo grew up while he was away, and how Rusl and Uli were doing with their newborn, and how Mayor Bo and Ilia were running and keeping the town safe, and how Fado was doing with preparing the ranch for the winter; and how could he forget Midna? The leader of the Twili, the one who was always there to guide him on his adventure, the one he had grown to love. He missed them all dearly, but he knew he wasn’t alone.
Twilight ruffled a hand through his protege’s hair, “ Y’know, as much trouble as you are, I wouldn’t trade you for the world.”
Because when Wild laughed, he was reminded that the Hero of Wilds was his family, too, and he would do anything to protect the ones he loved. 
<Previous Next>
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berri-hopefulspouse · 3 years
Text
-- Remembering Me --
And I oop. Not gonna be all fancy with the ~Description shit~ this time.
Just know these things;
Ships: Zhongven, Aether x OC/Self insert
TW: Flashbacks, injury, Emotional Neglect Implications, ~Abandonment Issues tm~, Suggestive language, general swearing
Taking a deep breath, dark brown eyes look out over the evening sky. It was quiet, save for the panting breath of a small group, who sat there for a few minutes to gather themselves together and regroup. Another quiet evening along the mountains of Liyue…
This group had been traveling together for a little while, to the point that their hair had started getting a bit overgrown. How annoying. Still, for now until they settled down for a little while, they were keeping their hair tied up a bit, with some help from their friends.
At the head of the group, Aether- determined as he was- glanced back towards the group with a small grin. 
“Caught your breath? Ren, Venti, Zhongli?” 
“Enough to make the jump, yeah. What about you two?” Ren responded, a smile on their features. Still, something about them had seemed off. Had been off most of that day, Aether couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was...and frankly, given their nature, he was afraid to ask. He watched as they turned their expression to Venti and Zhongli, the former sitting on the latter’s shoulders. 
“You act like I can get winded,” Venti joked lightly, “I am Barbatos after all.” 
“Keep making that joke and I won't hesitate to throw you off the cliff myself.” Ren quipped back, tease in their tone but full intention in their voice. Venti only laughs, knowing that they would, but likely won't. 
“I can manage to cross the gap, yes.” Zhongli responded curtly with a small nod. 
“...You do realize you’ll have to put Venti down to use the glider properly, right?” Aether pointed out, although knowing how this would likely go. Sure enough, Venti pouts and clings to Zhongli by the neck. 
“No!” 
“Venti, dear…” Zhongli sighs and takes a step to try and pry the clingy archon off of him, “It's just until we cross the gap. It’s getting late anyway, we’ll likely be setting up camp once we cross the gap.” 
Watching the two bicker lightly back and forth for a few moments, Ren sighs, reaching into their bag to make sure their glider was properly situated. Still, as they went to do so, Aether put a hand on their shoulder. 
“Everything alright?” He figured he’d at least ask, tilting his head to the side. 
“...Yeah, of course, why?” They smiled, again, but it was...fake. He knew that, and he knew they knew it too.
“You just seemed kind’ve distant lately, that's all.” He responded, taking a moment to sit while the couple behind him sorted the situation out. Looking briefly over his shoulder, he saw Venti’s arms were now wound completely around Zhongli’s face, with the latter in question trying to pry him off. But, much like a cat, Venti would only slipped out of his grasp and cling even harder. 
“...Just been thinking, that's all.” They mumbled after a moment, “You mentioned before how you were looking for your sister...And that you were a traveler from a completely different world.” 
“Yeah?” As he spoke, he took out an apple, biting into it quietly. 
“...When I asked you before, you didn't answer my question… But I knew the answer already. When everything is said and done, when this is all over… You’ll likely just leave again. You and your sister. You’ll just up and leave all the people you met here behind. Leave all the lives you changed behind…” They hesitated to continue speaking before sighing, looking down past the cliff, the ground hundreds of feet below, “Leave me behind…” 
Aether couldn't bring himself to really speak. They had brought this up in the past, that was true...and even then, Aether was uncertain of how to respond. Of course, being realistic, the likelihood was that that inevitability was still further down the line- likely months, maybe even a few years in the future depending on his luck. But, even so… It was still an inevitability. 
As he fumbled with his tongue on the words to speak, they gave a melancholy chuckle and shook their head. 
“Still, I get it, I mean!...Big otherworldly guy, you have such a strong destiny ahead of you and I mean...I’m just some guy who happens to have a hydro vision and the patience of a twig.” 
“Ren, you’re not-” 
Ren quickly shook their head, “No, no. It's fine. I’ve known that for practically my whole life…It's something I've grown used to.” 
Aether raised an eyebrow at that, about to question what they meant with that last statement, before they stood up and looked behind them, quickly trying to end the conversation. 
“Hey! Barbatos! Morax!” Well, guess that does end the conversation, at least for now. It seemed that the more Aether tried to talk to them, the more questions he ended up left with. 
The two looked towards the brunette, Zhongli huffing in annoyance. 
“I told you not to call me that.” He mumbled around Venti’s hand, which was clung to his mouth. 
“Have you two sorted out your whole...mess?” They gestured to how Venti was still feverishly clung to Zhongli, his legs now wrapped awkwardly around the taller archon’s torso. 
“Does it look like we have?” Zhongli muttered bluntly, and Ren sighed and pinched the bridge of their nose, walking over to the pair. Aether sighed, following suit. He’ll have to ask at a later point. 
“Venti, it's just for a short while okay?” The brunette looked up to their friend, eyebrows furrowed.
“No!!!” He remained stubborn, pouting and hiding his face into the crevice of Zhongli’s neck. Taking a deep breath to keep their composure together, they wracked their brain for a few moments before pursing their lips in a meek attempt to not start smirking. 
“You know, once we set up camp on the other side of the cliff, me and Aether will likely go to sleep right away...Leaving you two to do whatever you want, really…” They rose an eyebrow at that, cheekily chuckling, “Cuddling, kissing...etcetera.”
At the mention of possible etcetera, Venti practically sprung off of Zhongli, a cheeky and mischievous grin on his face.
“Well, why didn't you say so earlier? Let's go!” 
“Leave it to Venti to be swayed by the promise of draconian dick.” Ren shook their head with a laugh, Venti chuckling as well as the two headed to the cliff. Zhongli only flustered in response, and rather than saying anything at all in response to the antics, simply covered his mouth with a gloved hand and followed the two in tow. Ren snickered noting to themselves how his face was dusted in a light shade of pink.
Aether couldn’t help but chuckle, deciding not to think much of the statement at this point. As far as he knew, Ren had been best friends with Venti since before he met them- so it wasn’t much of a surprise that they knew what would kick the poetic Archon along. 
Now that they were all ready to head out though, the group couldn’t help but grin. Gliding was usually a fun experience for them, bringing memories of goofy accidents and bittersweet promises. Sure, it was just to cross over from one giant mountain to the next; but it was still a moment to be shared only by them- that was for certain.
Zhongli took off first, somewhat hesitant on leaving the ground as he usually was- but as he sprinted and leapt off the cliff, the subtle little click of the glider unfolded- dark brown wings unfolding from the depths of his bag. 
Venti followed in tow, almost as easily as breathing. Simply meandering off the cliff himself, his braided pigtails glowed as the lightest puff of what remained of his archon powers sent him a bit higher into the air, bright teal glider wings fluttering out behind him as he soared up and over.
Ren was next in tow, taking a moment or so to calm their nerves and just focus on gliding rather than the anxiety of falling that has had them gripped since they had awoken in Mondstadt all those months ago. Still, being cheeky, they looked back to Aether with a still-fake smirk, leaping behind them off the cliff before their glider clicked to life, a soft darker blue set of wings from their glider popping out. 
Aether, being the leader of the party, usually went last- mostly so he could keep an eye on everyone else and keep any incidents from happening. He shook his head with a laugh at his friend’s antics, a sheepish little blush coating his face for a few moments before calming himself down and resolving to leap off the cliff himself, a mishmash of light brown and soft teal wings from his own glider catching his fall. 
In the air, it was mostly silent. Silent save for the quiet chirps of wildlife around them- mostly birds in the air- and the wisp of wind all around them as they slowly started to make their way across the gap. Ahead of them, Ren watched Venti quietly staring at Zhongli- mainly his ass- from behind the taller Liyue Archon. Glancing slightly over their shoulder, Aether looked lost in thought, but stared straight on ahead towards his destination- determined as he always was. 
Looking back ahead of them, Ren couldn’t help but think about the conversation they were having earlier with Aether. Truth was, they couldn’t be feeling worse. They cared about him, a lot, and they cared about the relationships they made. But, like always, it seemed that they were destined to be left behind while the people around them accomplished things they never could. 
‘Like always.’ 
That phrase bounced around in their head idly, and they couldn’t help but furrow their eyebrows in confusion. 
There was a lot they didn’t remember- in fact as far as they’re concerned, they don’t remember the life they had before waking up in Mondstadt. Venti was their first friend, even if he had a few commitment issues. But that feeling….that fear of being abandoned, even without their memories- it lingered and festered deep within them.
...For the life of them, they couldn’t remember why.
And a part of them wondered if they even wanted to know. 
Yet, that phrase kept bouncing around in their mind. Like a ping pong ball, or a slime repeatedly attacking, it kept repeating. It felt like they knew why, it felt like there was a scratching at the back of their head. A flickering. A flickering feeling, a flickering thought… 
A flickering...memory?
‘She’ll never come around.’
A voice. It was familiar. Very familiar. It was...their own. 
‘She just hurts me...leaves me...she left me behind so she could be with him. How could she do that to her own daughter?’
In one blink, they were still flying alongside their party. In the next, it was dark...it was raining. Occasionally, shots of lightning lit up the sky, and the sound of rain was only as loud as the thoughts that had prattled around their head. The rain that hit their cheek was just as cold, as the tears that fell from their cheeks were warm- leaving them clammy. Both from the chill, and the anxiety that had their hands shading around their makeshift glider. The same one they had haphazardly handmade specifically for this reason. To get away. To run. To be free, finally. 
Their heart kept pounding out of their chest...it took a few days, but they barely slept. They barely stopped to eat. They just kept running. They didn’t know if their family would do a search for them, and frankly they just wanted to get as far away from them as possible. 
Not to mention, there was the stinging sensation of cuts and bruises along their body... Even during their escape, they had run into plenty of goons and monsters. Most of their equipment aside from their glider was stolen...they just had to keep running. They had to get somewhere safe.
‘I have to keep moving. I have to keep going. I can’t stop running, I can’t give in to everything yet, I can’t-’ 
Their thoughts were still running a mile a minute, have been since they had run off on their parents all those days ago. There was a faint hum of their thoughts, what they could only assume was the reason behind their escape, but it was just out of reach of their present-day self.
The makeshift glider was struggling. Made out of various shabby materials, and you had to grab onto the handles on the sides to keep from falling. It shook in the wind, threatening to fall apart, as lightning once more shot across the sky, bright and angry.
A face came into their thoughts. Dark brown hair, that cascaded down past her shoulders- and a cold...almost calculated stare of bright blue eyes.
A shudder wracks through their body. Landing for a brief moment, they didn’t know exactly which way they were going, or even if the direction was correct. They had just been hopping between mountain points for the past few hours. They felt so cold though, between lethargy and malnutrition, not to mention dehydration. All of that, faced with the cold winds of a storm overhead. 
However, their thoughts were interrupted by a feeling, almost like static, like the air was heating up around them-!
Before they could think twice to move, lightning shot up from the ground below them, striking them straight through the makeshift glider and splicing it clean in two. A screech of pain wracks through their body, all before starting to plummet unforgivingly towards the ground below.
Their vision spotted, unconsciousness starting to creep in towards them...and for some reason, there was a sense of acceptance in the deepest parts of their mind. They did everything they could...would it really be a shame for someone like them to really meet their end this way?...At the very least, it would be out of everyone else’s way…
But, right before their consciousness slipped away, they saw, just out of the corner of their vision, a bright teal burst of wind- and a blur quickly reaching out to catch them before they met the ground-
“Soren!”
They snapped out of their thoughts- their memories- long enough to realize what happened….the shock of the memory had shut off their glider, sending them plummeting down again. Venti was the one who shouted after them, the party quickly flying down after them to try and catch them before they gave themselves a concussion.
Eyes widening as their situation dawned upon them, they turned and reached around trying to unlock their glider once again, but despite the subtle clicks of their bag- nothing happened. Was the damn thing stuck?!
Swearing to themselves in a low tongue, they did small somersaults in the air as they tried to wrestle their bag off of them to fix their glider. However, the more time that was passing, the faster they were falling, and the faster they were coming closer to likely getting themselves killed. 
Aether’s eyes widened when he seemed to realize none of them would be able to catch them quick enough. Thinking on the spot, he looked to Venti and Zhongli before forming a quick idea.
“Venti, the bushes!” He called out to the anemo archon, and after a moment of thought, Venti nodded in agreement, gliding down a bit more and with a twist of his hand- yanking a flurry of leaves and bushes over where they’d likely meet their impact. 
Despite all of that, their heart rate was quickening and they couldn’t breathe, they just had to focus and- and-!
Squeezing their eyes tight, their brain had resolved to just shut off in the face of their fear and anxieties being too much for them to handle, curling into a ball around their bag as they- unconscious- thunked into the bush Venti had yanked over.
Fluttering back down to the ground, Aether put his hands on his knees with an exhausted little sigh. He didn’t know what happened, one moment they were in front of them, and in the next they were falling- expression blank as if they were completely lost in thought. Venti and Zhongli landed in tow, as Aether pulled himself together and walked over to the bundle of leaves where they were laid. 
Taking off a glove, he put a hand to their wrist. They were alive, thankfully. Their pulse was racing though, likely a result of panic. Giving a quiet sigh of relief, he looks back to Venti and Zhongli.
“They should be fine… they seemed to just black out. They might have a minor head wound, and be suffering from shock, but they’ll live.” He said to the two Archons, “Guess we’ll be setting up camp down here tonight.”
Nodding to themselves, the group was strangely quiet, as they went about laying down camp for the night.
➽───────────────❥
...Ugh.
Their head hurt.
It hurt a lot. 
Taking a slow breath, their eyes slowly opened as their eyebrows furrowed, vision hazy as their world came back into view. What happened? Where were they now? Several questions were just mindlessly playing in their mind, but it all faded to white noise as they slowly tried to sit up.
“Whoa, hey,” Aether’s voice immediately caught their attention, eyes shifting to the front of a tent where he stood, “Be careful there...you took quite a bad fall. You’re lucky you’ve got two anemo users on your side.” 
Ren just groaned as the memories came flashing back- both the memory they had recalled earlier...and the, frankly, embarrassing display that happened after.
“Fuck me, I’m so sorry about that. I don’t know what happened, I just-”
Aether shook his head, “None of that. It doesn’t matter what happened or how, all that matters is that you’re alright. Just...get some rest, okay? I made some food for everyone to eat for the night, I’ll bring some in for you.”
“No, you don’t need to go through all that trouble-” Ren protested, trying to get to their feet but only pausing as Aether put a gloved hand over their mouth. 
“Let us take care of you for once, okay? You always are telling us when we need to take a break and to not overexert ourselves, so it’d be hypocritical not to show that same kindness to yourself.” He spoke sternly, soft amber eyes staring directly at them. Despite the situation, they found their face dusted in a galactic blush.
“...O-Okay,” They mumbled around his glove, and he smiled and sighed, letting his arm drop.
“If you need anything, let me know okay?” Aether gave a gentle nod to them, “I’ll be in to sleep a little while later.”
As he walked back out of the tent, Ren simply laid back down, staring at the soft browns of the tent and the sky outside its flaps. It looked like it was night now, so no doubt quite some time passed between then and now. There were so many thoughts just trying to rattle around in their head...that night.. That was only a few short days before they woke up in Mondstadt, that they knew for certain. 
Still, the more they tried to focus on that memory and process it, the more they just found themselves thinking of Aether and flustering up all over again. Damnit all, why must he be so fucking cute! They huffed in annoyance and lightly bit at their hand, growling under their breath as they tried to focus on anything else other than how pretty his soft amber eyes were…
They don’t know how much time passed, but soon enough Aether came back into the tent with two plates, Paimon holding a couple cups herself.
“Hey! Hope you weren’t waiting too long,” Aether spoke as he sat down next to them. Ren’s eyes widened in confusion in realizing he brought both a plate for them, and for himself.
“Aren’t you going to go eat with the others?” They asked, managing to sit back up. There was a dull ache in their spine, but it was nothing that some rest wouldn’t heal.
“For one thing, Venti and Zhongli ate earlier. For another, I feel like if I...well, ‘interrupted’ right now, I wouldn’t hear the end of it from Venti.” Aether explained, a nervous flush across his face. Ren had to forcibly swallow the quiet squeal.
“Pfft-” They giggled, “Okay, that sounds about right.”  
“Besides,” As Paimon set down the two drinks, she winked to Aether who spoke as she floated back out to go to her own separate smaller tent- preferring her privacy, “I like spending time with you...you know?” 
“Archons, you’re fucking adorable,” The words slipped aimlessly past their lips without much hesitation. Only to blush even further and put a hand over their mouth. 
Silence took over the tent for a few moments as Aether stared at them in shock, blushing to the tips of his ears. 
Ren just nervously coughed into their arm and looked away, scratching the back of their head.
“A-anyway!! Let’s eat.” Ren quickly dismissed, grabbing the cup and bringing it to their mouth. All before Aether put an arm around their shoulder and yanked them close to his side. After blushing even more for a few quiet moments, they quietly gave a silent smile.
...Sure, things were complicated right now, between Aether’s destiny and their own abandonment issues but...for now, they didn’t have to think about it right then. 
For now, they just appreciated being alive...and being allowed to be around him. Being in his arms like this, even for just a little while. So for now...they’d just eat in a pleasant silence, occasionally blushing and giggling as they looked to each other.
Tomorrow was another day...and with it, another day full of adventure. In the end, that’s all this was. Life was their adventure.
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