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bigboomboi · 3 years

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Kindered Sparks

This is my entry for @gg9183’s soulmate collab - Oof, I was almost late for your birthday ( I know that I'm technically no where near late, but I put this out so much later than I would've rathered. Sorry, I'm a Virgo, mate.) Anyhoo! Happy Birthday! And congratulations on your amazing Milestone! Thank you for organizing this collab too and allowing me to be apart of it! Honestly, I love soulmate pieces so much, so I was so excited seeing this prompt (I'm excited to read the others as well!) My friend helped me put together an idea for a SM connection and I really enjoyed writing it, hope you do as well :) Happy reading!

Fem!reader x Denki Kaminari

Soulmates au; People are born with a dream realm connecting them to their Soulmate. Warning; harsh language, Hurt/comfort, pretty fluffy, cursing. Implied readerxfemale relationship. BakuKiri relationship (I got bullied last time I didn't say that was a pairing, so, just being safe)

Word count; 4.6K

“Another lonely night in this stupid world.” Y/N grumbled staring up at her dreamy night sky.

A sky she was supposed to share with someone else.

In this wonderful, bittersweet world, you were tied to another person. Destiny decided from day one of your birth who you’d be with for the rest of your life and then set you in a special plane of existence only accessible when you fell asleep, once you turned the ripe age of fifteen. The kindred-plane.

A place specially made for you and your soulmate to meet each night when you fall asleep. It was a place to get to know each other without the prying eyes of all those around. A shared dream land you could even decorate and make your own. It was your partner’s and your safe space.

It was a place you guys could explore together, where your imaginations combined like an amazing world of minecraft. Some people made completely different lives in their heads at night. Others used it to see their long distance lovers. Hell, there was a blog story sharing what sounded like a whole scripted tv show where a woman’s soulmate had set off to save her from an uncompromising kingdom.

Sadly though, your shared safe space could be destroyed in a matter of moments. It wasn’t unheard of for your soulmate to reject destiny’s plan and divide your dreams. You could absolutely reject your soulmate and quite literally lock them out of your dreams. All presence of them would disappear from your dreams within a few nights, sometimes even faster, and you’d be left alone with only your creations.

Of course, being divided from your soulmate hurt. But something hurt much worse.

Your soulmate being unintentionally stolen from you. A divide where you lose your soulmate despite neither saying they’d like to divide. A situation where your soulmate dies.

Y/N sighed at the reminiscent of her once was soulmate. So sweet and kind, someone Y/N fully imagined meeting one day in the daylight. Yet, now at the sad age of seventeen, Y/N had no dreams of ever seeing her soulmate ever again.

She only had the one year of memories they made…

“Class, This Y/N. She will be joining our class for her final year of hero training, treat her well.” Aizawa introduced her to the class of 3-A.

“Thank you, Sensei” Y/N bowed slightly. “Nice to meet you all.”

Not even a moment of silence was granted before the class erupted in questions. Half about her quirk, the other half about where she was from. A few off hand questions about why she transferred. All a mess.

“Enough!” Aizawa shouted, hushing the entire class. “You all can get to know her later, on your own terms. For now, Y/N please take your seat.”

Y/N nodded and scurried back to the only free seat in the back. Between a pretty pinkette and sweet looking round faced brunette. Before she was even seated, Aizawa began his lesson.

Y/N quietly sat through the classes of her day, ignoring the judging looks aimed her way, as the new girl. She could hear the quiet whispers going around, speculating what type of person she was and tried to ignore those as well. She was well aware of the fact that she appeared very off-standish.

Dark eye bags, complete resting bitch face that quite literally screamed ‘I will stab you with a pencil if you speak to me’, earbuds tucked into each ear and a hunched over form that could rival Quasimodo. Thankfully, the aura she set into place actually warded off her new classmates for several days.

Up until a week later in the common room where her bubble was invaded.

She didn’t look up at the person sitting next to her and subtly tried to turn up her music. She felt the presence of several others join her and they all stared at her silently until finally, the pinkette she sat next to on her first day, plucked her book from her hands. Y/N slowly looked up at her dully and raised an eyebrow.

She reached out for her book, but the girl pulled it back out of her reach. She tried again, reaching forwards further, but the book was yoinked by a strip of tape, pulling it across the coffee table. Gritting her teeth slightly, Y/N stood up to reach across the table and the music in her ears paused.

The girl had unplugged her headphones.

“You just have no regard for personal belongings of others, hm?” Y/N sighed, sitting down.

“We just want to get to know our new classmate!” The pink girl grinned. “I’m Mina!”

“Hi, Mina. Now give me back my shit.” Y/N tried to grab her phone, only for someone behind her to tug her ear buds away. “Seriously?”

“We’ll give you back your things if you let us get to know you.” Mina smiled.

“Or, you could just give it back.” Y/N tried to grab her earbuds from the bright blonde behind her.

“Nope.’ He said, a grin on his face as well. “I’m Kaminari Denki, nice to meet ya, beautiful.”

Y/N sighed and rolled her eyes. “Or, I could just take my stuff back.”

“You could but there’s five of us and one of you, good luck.” A bitch faced blonde mumbled, flipping through her book.

“Fine. Here’s one thing about me.” Suddenly she appeared behind the bitch blonde and snatched her book. Another one of her appeared behind the one who taped her book away and grabbed her book mark. Two other Y/N’s came into existence on opposite sides of her seating couch to grab her phone and ear buds. All while the original Y/N sat in her place. “Don’t touch my things.”

“Woah, you can make multiple you’s!” The redhead gasped excitedly. “That’s so manly!”

“That’s so cool! They feel so real!” Kaminari said, poking the side of the one near him. It yelped and swatted his hand.

“They are real! Don’t poke me, I’m ticklish!” Y/N snapped, rubbing her side.

“Woah, can you feel this?’ The tape one reached out to pinch the clone’s arm.

Y/N’s other clone smacked him with her book. “Yes, I can feel that! Ow!”

“So your quirk is duplicating yourself? Boring…” Bitch face rolled his eyes, another Y/N appeared behind him and swatted the back of his head.

“My quirk is omni-replication. I can create continuous versions of myself and others. But they can act on their own.” Y/N sighed, bringing herself her book.

“Woah, make another me!” Kaminari grabbed her arm.

“G-Get off of me!” Y/N shoved him away, ignoring the literal spark between them. “I can’t make one of you now!”

“But you just said-.” Mina tried.

“I have to know your ins and outs. Otherwise I’d just make a weird melty blob of you.” Y/N sighed. “I need to know more about you guys before I can make you. I need to know you, how you fight, how your quirk works, I need to know how to play the game before I can participate.”

“So, what I’m hearing is…” Mina smirked. “You need to get to know us to succeed.”

“Oh god…” Y/N groaned. “I have no choice in this do I?”

“We have a specialty of making friends with people that don’t want to be friends.” The red head threw his arm over bitch face’s shoulder.

And thus a new friendship was born.

“Bakugo, why do you keep moving my pillow in our dreams, it’s so not manly.” Kirishima whined.

“Neither is the massive rock sitting in the middle of nowhere, dude.” Bakugo argued.

“It’s not just a rock.” Kirishima mock sniffled. “It’s a boulder.”

Y/N snickered at the reference that earned the kind redhead a smack to the back of his head. “Are you delivering pizza on it?”

“Yes!” Kiri grinned.

“No! Don’t encourage him!” Bakugo shouted.

“Aye, don’t shout at me. Your boyfriend is a literal rock, he’s encouraging himself.” Y/N laughed, throwing a fry at him.

“Oh yeah, what trash has your soulmate cluttered in your dream world?” Bakugo argued back.

Y/N’s laughter silenced and immediately her lips curled into a scowl. A light switched on and they remembered the one rule they had set in place. No one talks about Y/N’s soulmate. Or lack thereof.

“Bakugo!” Mina snapped.

“Shit, I didn’t-.” Y/N didn’t give him the time to apologize and stood up from the lunch table.

“Wait, no, Y/N! He didn’t mean to!” Kaminari grabbed her arm.

She flicked him in the forehead and pulled away. “No, it’s fine. You guys talk about your soulmate shit, I’m going to the training field.”

“Wait, Y/N, really!” Mina tried. “It’s just, we’re so used to casually talking about it!”

“I don’t care if you guys talk about yours, but you know I don’t have one, so we don’t bring up mine!” She huffed, before taking a breath. “You know what? Never mind.”

Y/N ignored her friend’s protest and stomped out of the dinning hall. She rushed to the training area, stopping by the locker room to change and grab gear, briefly.

Activating her quirk she began fist fighting her clone, taking her anger out on herself. Very early on into her friendship with the group she told them she didn’t want to talk about the soulmate shit. At least not her own. She told them she didn’t have one, leaving them to believe she never did.

They were incredibly understanding after they found that it upset her. So much, to the point that she copied Kirishima to punch himself when he kept asking. After that ordeal and several days of being ignored, they respected her wishes of not bringing it up.

She knocked herself down and punched herself in the face. She turned off the connection to the clone so she wouldn’t feel the pain herself. Disconnected clones only had a few minutes to live really and faded away with enough damage. Once that one faded, she created another in its space and continued pounding away.

“Stupid soulmate bullshit.” She huffed each word with a punch. “Stupid divide rule.” Another clone. “Stupid. Fucking. Erg- Everything!”

Y/N beat her final clone to death and didn’t bring a new one out. She sniffled, the tears she’d been holding back for years now finally breaking her dam. She hated the horrible lonely feeling she had been surrounded by for so long. She missed out on so much sleep, just to avoid going to her dream world. She set alarms to wake her up every hour or so to stay away from it and at this point, she was losing her mind.

She cried more thinking back to the last time she had been in her kindred-plane. She’d avoided it for a few days before exhaustion actually hit her like a bus and made her sleep. This time her plain little dream seemed to have adopted new items in her absence.

A bundle of comic books, a guitar, even a really, really big pikachu plushie.

Not that they were placed anywhere in particular. The guitar was outside of the little home she had reimagined, laying haphazardly on the ground. The pikachu was placed in front of a tree, facing it and the books were strewn across her loveseat couch. It was like her dream realm had become a lost and found for thrown away items from other planes. Which, honestly, Y/N could believe, as she didn’t use it so much.

She wished she could just give away her realm and dream of nothingness.

“Y/N?” She jumped, hearing her name and quickly wiped away her tears, ignoring the way they stung her open knuckles.

“Kaminari, I’m not really in the mood to talk.” Y/N muttered.

“Okay, that’s fine. We both know I talk enough for the both of us.” He joked, coming to sit in front of her.

Y/N turned to look away from his seating and ignored him, but he set off into a spiel about a new game he got. He did what he did best when one of his friends were upset, he talked. And normally that worked, but minutes into his yabbering, she started crying again.

“Hey, no! No crying! Crying is sad!” Kaminari tried.

“I am sad Kami!” She snapped. “I am really fucking sad! Everyone gets to have stupid fucking soulmate but me! And all because mine fucking died!”

Kaminari immediately paused his frantic attempts to calm her. “Huh, I thought you said you didn’t have one?”

“I don’t because she died! My god damn soulmate died literally months after meeting each other damn it!” Y/N yelled, sinking her fingers into her hair. “And now my kindred-plane is empty and lonely and shit keeps getting piled into it like a fucking trash can!”

Kaminari was silent for a moment while she cried. He slowly crawled over, closer to her and pulled her into a hug. This wasn’t a moment for talking randomly and he knew that. So they sat for the rest of the lunch period in silence, save for her soft hiccups.

After that, somehow, Y/N started talking to her friends the next day. She rationalized that it wasn’t their fault she was sensitive about the subject, they didn’t deserve the aggression. So with a tense apology, she was back to sitting with them at lunch and hanging out.

Y/N was determined to not let her disrupted dreamland destroy her outside reality.

“Okay, really?” Y/N blinked at the ugly rug that appeared draped over her bookshelf. “How the hell did you even get there?”

She tugged it down and stared at it in disgusted contemplation. “Guess you get to go in front of the fireplace…”

Y/N walked towards the warmth and paused, noting that it felt like it took a few more steps than usual. She looked around and found that the picture she carefully centered on the wall was no longer centered. Was her house getting bigger? More and more shit was popping up out of nowhere and her place felt spaceyer…

“What the actual fuck universe?” Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and laid down the new rug.

An odd whooshing noise sounded behind her and she turned around to see a lamp fizzled into existence, a hand accompanying it this time. Y/N fumbled over own feet trying to hurry and grab it. Someone was putting shit in her realm and she was about to find out who.

Actually she wasn’t.

The moment she grabbed the hovering wrist, it was like she had rubbed her socks across her new rug a million times and then touched an outlet. The hand shocked her, hard. She yelped and fell backwards on her butt, accidently taking the lamp down too, except when it fell apart it fell backwards toward the floating hand and disappeared from her plane.

Y/N gasped sitting up out of her bed, the shock kicking her out of her own dream. “Ow, what the hell?”

Y/N looked over at her clock, finding that it was five in the morning. She sighed and climbed out of her bed, grabbing her ear buds and phone. There was no school the next day, it was Saturday so she aimed to sneak down to the common room and spend her day dead on the couch, fighting off sleep again.

Not ten minutes after snuggling into a comfy spot on the couch, it dipped slowly as someone sat on the other end of it. She looked up from her book, to find Kaminari on the other end. He held up a bag of doritos in exchange for her company.

“What are you doing up?” She asked, pulling out her ear buds.

“Got startled awake by something in my dream world.” He answered, holding the bag out to her.

“Ah, that sucks.” She hummed apologetically.

“What about you?” He asked carefully.

Y/N snorted. “Kami, you know I don’t sleep.”

“Yeah, I know, but you’ve been up for the past few days.” He sighed, remembering seeing her in the kitchen at three am. “You’re going to trash your health if you don’t sleep.”

“Eh, it’s alright.” She crunched on a chip, before yawning. “Plus, you stay up every night gaming, bite me.”

“Gladly.” He winked. “But seriously, a lonely dream realm can’t be all bad.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if he was going to continue this topic of conversation. And he did. “I mean mine’s pretty lonely and I think it’s alright.”

“What?” She furrowed his eyebrows.

“My kindred-plane has but just me since like, forever, and I don’t think it’s that bad.” He shrugged.

Kaminari didn’t have a soulmate? That didn’t make sense, he’d tell them about all the adventures he’d run on in his dream. “You said you were helping some Jill girl fight zombies and stuff, just the other day.”

“Yeah, Jill Valentine. From Resident Evil.” He laughed. “I figured out a long time ago that I could just make her up in my dreams if I played the game until I fell asleep. She’s not my soulmate-.”

“You don’t have one…” Y/N whispered, sitting up.

“Nope, never did.” He offered her more chips, but Y/N just looked at him with sad eyes.

She cried in his arms about her soulmate dying and it turned out he never had one in the first place. “Don’t look so sad, Sunshine. It’s okay.”

“Denki, you don’t have a soulmate. That shit sucks.” Y/N flailed her hands.

“Yeah, but at least I didn’t get attached to mine and then they died. That sucks even more.” Kaminari argued.

Y/N slumped back against the couch. “This soulmate business is quite literal shit.”

“Yeah, but other people are pretty happy with it, so it’s okay to me really.” Kaminari hummed, nonchalantly. “Plus, no one can yell at me for my taste in decorations. That can really make or break a relationship ya know.”

Y/N laughed. “Oh yeah, totally. If my soulmate tried to decorate our space with half the shit that seems to appear in my room I’d have to throw hands.”

“Stuff appears in your dream?” Kaminari asked. “What, like, someone’s statue of Scooby doo?”

“Kaminari Denki, please tell me you don’t have a statue of Scooby doo in your kindred.” She tried not to laugh.

“No!” He said quickly. “I have a statue of Scrappy Doo.”

“Oh my god, no, you don’t!” She gasped.

“Yep! There’s a pond in front of my house and he’s in the dead center of it.” He grinned proudly. “And he looks amazing there.”

“Oh I bet he does.” Y/N snickered. “Bet he pulls the whole place together.”

“As a matter of fact he does.” Kaminari declared smugly. “What about your plane? What’s one big special thing you’ve got in it?”

Y/N hummed and thought for a second. “There’s a really big oak tree just behind my house and it’s covered in string lights, with a small ladder up the trunk. There’s a flat area in some of the branches so I can sit up there and read.”

“That sounds beautiful.” Kaminari said, fondly. “I have a tree kind of like that in mine too.”

“Does yours have a massive Pikachu in front of it?” She taunted, laughing.

She just barely missed the furrowing of his eyebrows before he answered. “I’m not entirely sure, I think, I’d have to take a look. I hope I do though, otherwise, I’d have to come steal yours.”

“Absolutely not! He’s my friend!” Y/N gasped and shoved at his leg. “Stick with your Scrappy Doo statue.”

Kaminari smiled. “Fine, fine. But if I don’t have a Pikachu in my dream, you owe me.”

“Mmhm, sure.” Y/N grinned.

For the next few months, Y/N and Kaminari grew closer, having bonded over their lack of soulmates. While they grew closer, not only did Y/N become happier, her kindred-plane seemed to get brighter, despite all the random things finding purchase in her realm and the fact that it was still growing. It was nice, she didn’t hate spending the night there anymore. She didn’t run into the disembodied hand anymore, but that was okay.

With what was happening in reality, she wasn’t too bothered by her dreams anymore. Instead, she focused on her friends, they were a wonderful reminder that life didn’t go to complete shit. For the first time, she actually let these people get close to her and drag her out of her hole she kept herself in.

… And out into the living room to watch the boys yell at each other over Mario Kart.

Y/N cursed and pushed Kaminari’s face away from her own as he laved his tongue across her cheek. “Denki, I swear to god if you don’t stop licking me, I’m going to bite you!”

“Ooh! Promise?” He flirted, smirking. “What else are you gonna do with that mouth?”

“Hurt your feelings, Sparkler boy.” She laughed, squishing his cheeks.

Kaminari threw himself into her arms, taking her to the floor. “So mean, I thought you loved me!”

“Oh yeah, she totally loves you with the way she made you beat yourself up today.” Bakugo snickered.

“Yeah, dude, she used your quirk against you better than you.” Kirishima pipped up.

“Hey, hey, clones don’t get fried when they use their ultimate! They just disappear and another one pops up!” Kaminari argued in defense.

“Jesus, Denki, you’re heavy!” Y/N shoved at his body, half heartedly. “Get off, you loser.”

“Uhg, fine, only because I have a race to win.” He rolled off her, to grab his switch controller.

“Oh thank god, I was going into the light for a second there.” Y/N gasped, dramatically.

Kaminari pinched her leg in retaliation. “Hey, I’m not that heavy!”

“Your head is though.” She stuck her tongue out.

“So mean.” He pouted as she turned to lay her head in his lap.

Y/N giggled as she pulled out her phone, to scroll through Tumblr for a fic to read. Moments went by before a snapchat notification popped up. Tapping on it, she found a common message from Mina.

‘You guys are too cute.’- Pinkiepie

‘We’re just friends, Mi.’-Y/N

A snap picture appeared in their feed and she tapped it open. There she was laying in Kaminari’s lap and there he was looking down at her, sweetly. ‘He’s giving you major heart eyes.’- Pinkiepie

‘Stop taking pictures of people, it’s stalkery.’- Y/N

‘That’s why you took a ss.’ -Pinkiepie

‘Oh fuck off.’- Y/N

‘Oh come on, just give him a chance, neither of you have sm’s so your not stealing him from anyone.’- Pinkiepie

‘You’re*’- Y/N

Y/N sighed and looked up to Kaminari’s face above hers. It apparently hadn’t been uncommon knowledge that Kaminari was Soulmateless, probably why the group had been so confused as to why she was so upset about it. It was normal to them, because it had always been Kaminari’s story.

Would it be so bad to make her own soulmate? Most divided soulmates stayed by themselves for the rest of their lives, but would it be alright if they didn’t?

“Oh, guys! I meant to tell you; I think I actually do have a soulmate!” Kaminari blurted into the air.

His admission quite literally derailed the entire room. Bakugo drove off the map in Mario Kart, Kirishima completely looked away from the game and Mina choked on her spit and her eyes flew to Y/N who paled significantly.

Sero was the only one who appeared unaffected. “Guys, he’s probably just saying that to throw us off, he’s in last.”

“I’m gonna blow you up, you put me in fourth with your little stunt.” Bakugo threatened.

“No, I’m serious!” Kaminari argued. “Over the last few months my dreams have been changing and stuff. Like it was making room for another person. My house is super spacy now, new decorations have been showing up for no reason, like there was a vase of flowers on the floor near my door, and my curtains changed colour, they’re a cute lavender colour now. Plus there’s a really big pikachu next to a beautiful oak tree in my yard.”

“Woah, dude, really?” Kirishima paused the race and turned to his friend.

“Yeah, totally.” Kaminari nodded, subtly looking down to meet Y/N’s wide eyes. “I was super confused for a while.”

“Holy shit, you’re serious.” Sero laughed. “Have you met them yet? Or are they just leaving surprises for you?”

“Well, I’ve seen her a few times, but I haven’t got the chance to talk to her yet, she wakes up pretty fast.” Kaminari shrugged.

“That’s so good Denki, I’m so happy for you.” Mina said softly as Y/N sat up.

“Me too, Denks. But speaking of waking up, I’m tired, so I’m gonna go take a nap.” Y/N hummed, yawning.

“Okay, see you later, Y/N.” They all chimed as she walked away.

“Yeah, see you later.” Kaminari called, carefully.

Y/N tried her best to contain herself and all but ran to her dorm. Along the way, her phone buzzed, no doubt a message from Mina. Once she was in her room, she flew to her bed, never had she been so eager to fall asleep before.

She quickly responded to Mina, ensuring her that she was alright and actually wanted to sleep. Y/N even sent her a reassuring picture of her smile with a short caption ‘I’m off to go see a Pikachu.’ After that, it didn’t take long for her to fall asleep, but it was too long.

Y/N blinked open her eyes, finally appearing in her kindred-plane and spun around, trying to identify things in her dream house. She hurried to open the door and looked over to her tree, with the ever so famous Pikachu there. She turned and jogged in the opposite direction for the one thing she needed to see to make sure she was correct.

There it was. Scrappy Doo. In the middle of her pond.

Y/N jumped up and down, squealing to herself. It was happening, oh my god, it was happening. Now she just had to wait.

And wait she did. She had run back to her tree and climbed up to sit and await her soulmate. The soulmate she actually had again. Someone to share her dream world with again.

She had a soulmate.

Quietly for the next hour, Y/N sat and read one of her books, waiting almost patiently for him. She’d made it through the third chapter when a voice startled her away from the pages.

“Sorry, I couldn’t fall asleep for the life of me.” Kaminari said, smiling.

Y/N bit her lip and grinned. “I thought you missed my cue for a bit there."

"No, I was just a little too excited to fall asleep." He crawled up into her tree nook. "You see, I suddenly got a new person roaming my world almost like, uh, a forever person or something. What's it called?"

"Mm, I don't know. Kinda sounds like you've got a soulmate there, Denki." Y/N whispered as he came closer.

"Fucking finally." He muttered, leaning forwards to connect their lips.

But before he could make contact he ran into her hand first. “But, really, we are going to have to talk about your decorating choices.”

“Yeah, yeah, we can talk about that after this.” Kaminari chuckled and moved her hand to kiss her.

#mha soulmate au #denki kaminari x reader #denki kaminari #bnha denki #bnha x reader #mha oneshot #bnha oneshots #fem reader #female reader #bi reader #pan reader #reader is attracted to multiple genders #gracies soulmate collab #soulmates au

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strangertheory · 3 years

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It's weird because we get an insight into how El feels about EVERY other member of the Party. Annoyed at Lucas for being Mike's wingman, dating Mike, BFFs with Max, lights up with a smile when she sees Dustin. (He's definitely her favorite friend other than Max. Adorably.) But with Will, it's still unclear. He might as well be Steve Harrington. What El feels or thinks about him is just as much of a mystery. I really want the show to start filling in those gaps next season.

We know from the rare instances that El has interacted with Will that she cares about his safety and seems to be genuinely concerned whenever Will is in danger. In season 1 she braves the Upside Down to find him at Castle Byers and begins screaming his name, terrified, when he begins to fade away. In season 2 she immediately asks to see Will when she arrives to save the day and when she is guided into the room where Will is lying unconscious on the bed she looks at him very tenderly and I believe in a way that shows that she cares a lot about his safety. We have never been given a moment that would suggest that El feels anything but kindness and concern towards Will, and in spite of various fan community rivalries (and ideas tossed around in bad faith with what I can only see as being motivated by petty "shipping wars") I truly do not see any moments in the series that would suggest that Will has ever felt any genuine animosity towards El herself. All instances in which Will has expressed an opinion about El (that wasn't tied to Mike being an ass to his friends because of Mike's obsession with El) have been neutral and even positive. In the book Will Byers: Secret Files, Will seems to be in awe of El, shy, and unsure of how to talk to someone who he knows saved his life. ("I didn’t know what to say to her in person. What do you say to someone who saved your life and literally pulled you out of hell? All I could think to say was “hello” and “nice meeting you… again.”")

Ultimately I think that although there could be some tension and conflict between Will and El in season 4 that they will be very close by the end of season 5. I think it will be very important for Will and El to learn to trust and respect one another by the end of the series even if they are at odds with each other at any point in season 4. I look forward to seeing El and Will interact more and become closer as the story continues and I believe that El now living with the Byers family at the end of season 3 represents their ever-increasing proximity to each other's storylines. Whatever may or may not be happening in the series, I am dying to see Will and El's plot-threads and their connections to one another finally addressed and explored.

Will and El's relationship and dynamic with each other is my absolute favorite topic to discuss, but it's rare that anyone else in the fan community focuses on them. Even when I do on occasion notice fans discussing Will and El, many fans seem to believe that since they rarely interact with each other that this means there is no purpose in discussing their relationship.

Ironically, I find that oftentimes when there is a noteworthy absence of something in a story (in this case interaction between El and Will) that this is all the more reason to discuss it and ask "why?" rather than dismiss it as irrelevant. Sometimes what is hidden and what is left unaddressed and unexplored might be more critical to the secrets of a story than what is clearly defined and explored outright.

I am not sure if you have read many of my other posts regarding my theories about what is happening in Stranger Things, but to provide you with some brief context: my interpretation of what might be happening in Stranger Things is somewhat unique compared to the majority of the current fanbase. I theorize that Stranger Things is about a dissociated system and that Will is a host and that El is an alter (specifically a gatekeeper) and that El and Will only interact within the system and within internal worlds of their shared mind.

El and Will's relationship with each other is my favorite topic to discuss, and I would like to share with you some of my former blogposts which you can read if you are interested in both my thoughts on their current interactions, and lack thereof.

Here is a link to my older write-up regarding El and Will's mysterious connection to each other and the rarity of their direct interactions.

I suspect that Will's "Caught between two slides" conversation with Mike is not merely about the relationship between El and Mike or between Will and Mike but more interesting perhaps very, very delicately hinting at the connection between Will and El once again. You can read my thoughts about this here in this blogpost.

I found an excerpt from Will Byers: Secret Files which I believe supports my hypothesis that Stranger Things about a dissociated system and that El can only interact directly with Will within their shared mind and within internal worlds. You can read more on my thoughts on this and view the excerpt here.

El and Will are such wonderful characters and I look forward to seeing their storylines continue and, hopefully, converge in a really beautiful way in seasons 4 and 5. Although I do anticipate that they could potentially have some conflict in their relationship initially due to misunderstandings and perhaps anxieties over sharing so much with one another (both literally while living under the same roof at the Byers', but perhaps also in other more complex ways), I would be more than eager to see them simply become very close and establish a deep trust in each other sooner rather than later.

El and Will learning to trust, understand, and care about each other by the end of the series would make me so, so happy.

* @kaypeace21 has written extensively about the theory that Stranger Things is about a system as well. My thoughts and ideas regarding how this is represented in the show are sometimes notably different than hers, but if this general theory and interpretation of the story and its characters interests you I recommend considering reading both my posts on this subject and also visiting @kaypeace21's blog to see her thoughts on the subject for a different angle.

#stranger things #el and will #will and el #the did theory #will byers #el hopper #el byers #stranger things theories

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i-am-a-bad-influence-writes · 3 years

Text

Red, White, and Blue neon lights

Steve Masterlist - Full Masterlist

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Bucky knew damn well Steve wasn’t going to get any action himself and after the fiasco at the fair, he decided it’d be better to just have him look at women instead of having to keep them entertained. But leave it to Steve to fall in love with a burlesque performer.

Word count: 2616

Author’s note: This is with Steve after the serum. Just pretend they’re on a break from the war or smthng. I know full well that it doesn’t work like that, but I want to do this around the forties. Also, I wrote this quite quickly cause I was inspired so I didn’t preread it. Gif isn’t mine.

In the darkest alleyways of the city, Bucky drags Steve along to a bar with red, white, and blue neon lights forming the, now iconic, uncle Sam poster. From outside, Steve can hear music that is nowhere near the music you ordinarily hear in bars. It slow and sensual. He reads the sign above the door. Doll Dizzy*. America’s finest broads. “Of course they had to word it like that,” Steve thinks to himself, almost visibly shaking his head.

‘Why are we here again,‘ Steve asks Bucky, obviously uncomfortable because of the unfamiliar scene while Bucky looks to fit in.

‘Well, I was thinking-‘

‘That’s never a good idea.‘ Steve gains a slap to the arm from Bucky while he grins at him.

‘Oh shut your hole,‘ Bucky laughs, ‘see, I was thinking. If Captain America is worse at pulling chicks than a chrome dome geezer, than why not bring him somewhere where the girls are already in their unmentionables?‘

‘I feel like I should be offended.‘ Bucky grins again and puts his arm around Steve’s shoulders.

‘Come on, lets just enjoy the night.‘ Steve sighs and nods, following Bucky into the dim establishment. Bucky buys the both of them a ticket and they walk into the bar.

Inside, everything is doused in neon lights. On their left is a bar with more liquor than even Steve could ever consume and in front of them are tables, booths, and a stage. Everything looks quite overly dramatic to Steve. The curtains that cover the stage are the same ones you see at the theater and the booths and tables look a bit more like they belong in a club uptown.

Nevertheless, Bucky guides them to a booth in the back. A little discreet spot and Steve thanks him for it. His image as America’s golden boy is still imminent and he wants to keep it going that way after all that’s happened.

A scarcely clad woman comes to their table and Steve turns a bright shade of red. He tries to look anywhere but her body, but all he gains are giggles and laughs from both the woman and Bucky.

‘Afternoon gents, what can I get ya?‘ She seems friendly, but Steve still finds it hard to stay respectful.

‘My friend here has to get a bit of a buzz,‘ Bucky tells the woman with a pat on Steve’s chest, ‘what’ll do that for me?‘

‘Got just the thing. I’ll be right back.‘

‘Thanks doll.‘ The girl scurries off and Steve finally breathes again. Bucky laughs.

‘Where in the heavens did you bring me?‘

‘It’s a burlesque bar,‘ Bucky grins, ‘it’s about as much fun you can have without anyone being naked.‘

‘I don’t think-‘

‘No, stop,’ Bucky waves a finger in his face, ‘don’t think. Just enjoy the show. It’s just singing and dancing, but the girls just aren’t wearing their petticoats. That so bad?’

‘I suppose not.‘

‘That’s a good lad,‘ Bucky speaks proudly. The girl comes back over with their drinks and puts them down. She brought them a shot and a beer to chase it. Bucky hands Steve a shot and clinks their glasses together. ‘To beautiful women.’

Steve sighs and throws the shot back, knowing it’ll do nothing for him. At least Bucky is having a good time.

The curtain opens and a man in suit stands on the stage holding a piece of paper and a microphone.

‘Good evening gentlemen,‘ he says with a dirty smile. It’s the kind of smile that makes Steve feel dirty to be here. ‘We have some beautiful dolls waiting to perform for you, but first the rules. Rule number one, you don’t touch the girls. Touch the girls and you will be escorted out. Number two, no forceful behavior towards our girls. We care for our girls and we will throw you out. Number three, no vulgar language about our girls. They are here performing for your pleasure. Thank you very much for your attention. We have a beautiful line of women standing ready for you. Rose, Pansy, Lavender, Peony, but right now I have the pleasure to introduce to you, our pride and joy, Jasmine.‘

‘Are those their real names,‘ Steve asks Bucky in a whisper.

‘Of course not,‘ Bucky chuckles.

They watch as the curtains close for a short while. When they open again, a woman in a red, floor-length dress with a sweetheart neckline and a slit all the way up to her hip so you can clearly she see isn’t wearing knickers steps onto the stage. Her lips painted as red as her dress and her hair done beautifully. She stands behind the microphone, barefoot.

The men begin cheering when the piano man starts playing and the girl starts swaying her hips. Steve’s eyes go wide when he hears her voice. She has this southern sound to her voice, but it sounds heavy and dragging. It’s the kind of voice that has a story. It’s to beautiful to be like that naturally. She could put most famous singers to shame in Steve’s opinion.

‘A real looker, ain’t she,‘ Bucky elbows Steve to get his attention, but he just hums in agreement. It doesn’t strike Bucky as anything strange when Steve seems to be staring so intently at the woman. After all, they are here to ogle women.

The number ends too soon. Steve turns his attention back to his glass while Bucky continues to enjoy the women on the stage.

Song after song passes until Jasmine returns to the stage, this time dressed in much less. To Steve, she’s still as beautiful as she was before. He enjoys her singing and her enjoyment in singing. This time around, she seems to be looking at him as well. When she dances, she seems to look for his reaction every time it’s a bit more scandalous.

Or maybe he’s just imagining it. After all, there are lots of guys here. Maybe she’s looking at Bucky. Bucky is much more confident and was always considered the better looking one of them. And suddenly the song has passed.

A few minutes later, their waitress puts a bottle of champagne on their table with three glasses.

‘Oh, we didn’t order this,‘ Steve says, looking at her in confusion. She throws him a smile and just walks off. ‘What was that all about,’ he asks Bucky, but he just shrugs.

‘Good evening gents, may I join you,‘ a female voice asks them. The two look to their side and there she stands. Jasmine dressed in her clothes from the last song, or lack thereof, and a sheer robe tied over it.

‘By all means,‘ Bucky smirks, pulling Steve to his side so she’ll slide into the booth on his side.

‘I must say, I never expected Captain America to visit a place like this one,‘ she looks smug, almost proud, ‘I think this kind of corruption calls for celebration. Bucky, darling, could you open the bottle for us. Don’t shoot it please, it’s expensive.‘

Bucky follows her orders to a tea, like a good soldier should. He pours the glasses, handing her the first as a gentleman should. But she seems to have much more attention for the bigger man.

‘Cheers, to your corruption,‘ she says to Steve. He gives her a shy nods and the three take a sip. ‘So how’d this git manage to drag you down here?‘

‘Git?‘

‘What’s that? Can’t take a bit of ragging**, Barnes,‘ she teases, but quickly turns back to Steve, ‘well? You don’t seem a man who goes around in the sticks***.’ Steve isn’t sure what to say. It’s not like there’s any way to talk this into a good thing. He was nearly dragged by his hair.

‘The man has a hard time talking to women,‘ Bucky tells her, ‘so I thought I’d bring him here so he wouldn’t have to talk.‘

‘Ah, like so. Well, if I’m bothering you, you can just say.‘

‘Oh, no, I quite enjoy your company,’ Steve mutters barely audible. She grins brightly an shuffles and bit closer to him. Most of the talking is still done by Bucky and Jasmin, but he quite likes her with them. She leaned into him more and more, teasing and playing with the cuffs of his sleeves.

‘Well gents, thank you for a wonderful night. I best get going if I want to catch the last bus,‘ she smiles and gets up, ‘maybe I’ll see you two around?’ Bucky nods, but Steve is still amazed and quiet. She leaves looking utterly amused and Steve knows he’s blown it. His heart was beating too damn fast for him to be able to get any words from his mouth.

‘Ey, loverboy,‘ Bucky snaps his fingers in front of Steve’s face, ‘you good?‘

‘Yeah, fine.‘

Into the cold of the night they step. Bucky and Steve. Bucky obviously fairly buzzed, Steve awfully sober. If only he’d be able to get at least a little buzzed to match his friend. But hey, at least he doesn’t have to call a cab.

Steve drags Bucky in the direction of the car when he sees this pretty little thing sitting by the bus stop. He recognizes her right away. Jasmine.

‘Evening,‘ he greets with a small smile. She looks at him and smiles, leaning back a little to straighten her back and make herself look bigger.

‘Evening capt’n, did you have a good night,‘ she asks cheerfully.

‘Wonderful. Thank you for spending some time with us,‘ he gives a small nod in appreciation.

‘Your friend ok?‘

‘Buzzed,‘ he explains to her with a shrug, ‘nothing I can’t handle.‘

‘I can see that. He’s basically sleeping.‘

‘You miss your buss?‘ She nods, her smile faltering. ‘Need a ride?‘

‘Sorry I was acting so-‘

‘Don’t bother,‘ she giggles, ‘most proper men get weird around the bar. Just glad you’re one of them. Would be a real shame if Captain America turned out to be a dick, wouldn’t it?‘ He smiles at her joke. He know she’s just saying it to make him feel at ease, but it sounds sincere and he grasps onto that part rather than the other.

‘May I ask your name? I feel strange calling you Jasmine.‘

‘It’s Y/N. Y/N Y/L/N.‘

‘Y/N? That’s a very pretty name,‘ he compliments, trying to sound smooth but the happiness on his face is hard to miss.

‘Thank you.‘ He notices she’s staring at him while he drives. Bucky is snoring in the back seat, but it still feels quite romantic in the front. He does feel nervous, but she makes it feel easier.

‘Say Y/N, I know this isn’t quite how it’s supposed to go, but may I ask you to join me for dinner sometime?‘ He takes a quick peek over at her shocked face.

‘Oh, ehm, wow,‘ she stammers.

‘You don’t have to of course,’ he quickly tells her to make her feel at ease, but then he hears her giggle.

‘I would be honored to join you for dinner,‘ she gleams, ‘I just didn’t expect you to have the guts to ask.‘ She looks to the snoring figure in the back. ‘He’d be proud of you if he heard.’

‘We’re here.‘ Steve parks the car on the curb and runs out to open the door for her on her side. She smiles brightly when he does and takes his hand.

‘Such a gentleman,‘ she comments, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek while she gets up, ‘I like it.‘ His face turns bright red again as he walks her to her front door. ‘Wait here for a second,‘ she asks him before slipping inside. He watches the lights turn on and some rumbling inside. It takes her no longer than a minute or two before she comes back to the door holding a piece of paper. ‘My address and phone number.‘ He nods and takes it, putting it in his breast pocket.

‘I’m sorry I sound so impatient, but would you be free tomorrow,‘ he asks her, ‘see, I don’t know when I’ll be deployed again.‘

‘Tomorrow would be wonderful. Pick me up at six?‘

‘Certainly.‘ The two stare at each other for a moment, his eyes looking at her soft lips. She took off the red lipstick, but they still look amazingly inviting and soft. ‘Would it be improper to kiss you right now?‘

‘It would,‘ she answers with a mischievous smile, ‘but you’ve already seen me in my unmentionables.‘ He takes a step closer to her, gently resting his hands on her hips as she lays her hands on his shoulders.

‘We’ve been doing this whole thing backwards, haven’t we?’ She smiles at him as she feels her heart beating faster and faster. Men like this are hard to come by. And she even found one she actually likes.

‘We have,‘ she answers and presses her lips against his. It’s a short, but wonderful kiss. The both of them gleam when they let go of each other in a state of pure bliss. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.‘ He nods and watches her go inside before he gets back in the car.

‘Who would’ve though.‘ Steve jumps out the sound of Bucky’s voice.

‘Jesus Christ Buck, you scared me,‘ he puts a hand to his chest trying to control his breathing and the adrenaline running through him.

‘I’m proud of you punk,‘ Bucky smiles and pats Steve on the back, ‘she’s quite the catch.‘ Steve smiles proudly, but looks down at the steering wheel.

‘Of course I have to manage to fall in love with a woman completely out of my reach,‘ Steve laughs, ‘it’s not the first time.‘

‘But this woman obviously wants you too,‘ Bucky tells him. They both know they’re revering to Peggy who has always been out of reach for Steve.

‘How can you be so sure about that?‘ Bucky gives him an unbelieving look, confused at Steve’s words.

‘I’m sorry, did you forgot you were just kissing her at the door,‘ he asks the man next to him, ‘believe it or not, this woman is interested in you.‘ Suddenly, Steve gets scared once again. This time because of tapping on the window. Steve rolls his window down and sees Y/N again.

‘Hey, I’m sorry to intrude, but would you want to come inside? Oh, hi Bucky.‘

‘I would love to.‘ She nods with a disappointed look on her face, knowing where this is going.

‘But you have to drive Bucky back.‘

‘I do.‘

‘No you don’t,‘ Bucky stops him, ‘we’re less than a mile from base. I can walk. No problem. Need to sober up anyway. They don’t like drunks at the base.‘ He’s more talking to her than to Steve. He knows the only convincing Steve needs is her convincing. His won’t work. He’s already overused that today.

Before Steve can say anything, Bucky is out of the car. He salutes Steve and Y/N and head in the general direction of the base. Speechless, Steve gets out of the car and follows Y/N inside.

She sits him down on the couch and curls up on the other side, both of them holding a cup of tea. She seems much shyer than before, but a good kind of shy.

‘Tell me if I’m going to fast,‘ she mumbles, ‘but I’ve never met a man quite like you and I’m sure my momma would tell me to keep you as close as I possibly can.‘

‘That’s a big compliment. Thank you,‘ he smiles shyly. She puts her cup of tea on the coffee table and moves towards him on the couch.

‘Can I kiss you again?‘

*Doll dizzy: A boy who’s crazy about girls. **Ragging: Making fun of, nagging. ***In the sticks: Undesirable location.

A white Jasmine stands for sweet love.

#steve rogers x reader #captain america x reader #captain america #captain america fanfic #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfic #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #marvel #steve x reader #cap x reader

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fandomtrxsh19 · 3 years

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FINAL THOUGHTS ON FATE

I just finished Fate and.......... boy do I have thoughts about it. It wasn’t TERRIBLE, just meh. There were somethings I liked, somethings I didn’t like, and somethings I hated. This will contain SPOILERS.

Things I liked:

The sets. Some of the locations were really pretty such as the Greenhouse and outside of the school.

The performances of some of the cast were passable at best. Precious Mustapha’s Aisha and Danny Griffin’s Sky are among the standouts for me.

Bloom vs The Burned Ones: The transformation was a nice callout to the transformations of the original. The fire surrounding her and the fire wings were are really nice and cool touch.

Beatrix was an interesting villain to say the least. I like how she’s a bit of a mystery. I’ve noticed that she’s mostly like Darcy with some powers of Stormy.

The cast interactions: Watching behind the scenes videos and seeing their Instagrams, you can tell that the main girls are really close. You can tell in the Netflix interview that the cast really loved and cares for each other.

The music: I like how they used lesser known songs and others in the scenes, especially in the party scene.

The special effects: How they did the effects for the magic is pretty cool.

Things I didn’t like(strap in):

The Whitewashing: Of course this can’t be ignored or swept under the rug. The is a major issue on the directors and the creative team’s part. One of the things that makes the original so amazingly brilliant is in its diversity, having 3 of the main characters being WOC. This was and still is a bit step in representation on every shows. Winx Club is one of the first shows that I’ve seen where half of the main characters and lots of other characters didn’t look like me, and I LOVED that. The way they casted a white woman in the roles of both Musa and Flora is extremely shocking l and disappointing. Both Elisha and Elliot definitely tried their best with these characters, but this is still a huge issue. Netflix and the creators KNEW about this. The only reason why Flora’s name got changed to Terra is because of the backlash and the fandom calling them out on their bullshit. The way that Aisha’s role has been changed to a stereotype is simply disappointing but not surprising

The Characters: Not going to lie, lots of characters have been messed with and changed in many ways, none are really on a positive way. Bloom is extremely clueless and annoying. She only thinks of herself and whenever she’s on screen, it’s always like she’s internally saying “Everything’s about me. Let’s focus on me.” It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Stella’s just a bitch in this version. She just goes along acting like she’s above it all. This Stella acts like she doesn’t care about the rest of the girls and it’s really infuriating. She just insults these girls that are supposed to be her friends. She just fills the cliche of “ the bitchy blonde” and thanks, I hate it.

The Writing: Where do I start with this? It isn’t later seasons Riverdale bad, but, it’s still terrible. It’s like the writers haven’t even seen or heard of the source material. Just, the lines must’ve felt so awkward for the actors to say. The actors defientley tied their best with what they were given, but that didn’t really make it better in my opinion. They get old fast, especially the way how Bloom kept on saying “mansplaning” whenever she was taking to Sky was just so cringy. They referenced Harry Potter, Earth culture, and movies so many times and I didn’t like it. In the original, the Specilists, Winx, and Trix don’t know a lot about earth culture such as social media, and Harry Potter. I think this helps separate Earth with Magix. The Netflix adaptation decided to yeet that out the window and was like “Lets make this world like our own.” Part of the charm of the original is the even fusion between futuristic and fantasy aesthetics. Guess, they messed up....wow

The fashion: This is obvious. There’s no transformations, no cute and iconic outfits, just clothes that make the cast look bulky. The cast literally look like soccer moms omg. Stella? Wearing black? I don’t know her. Bloom? Wearing red? I don’t know her. Bloom is only shown wearing red ONCE. The whole reason why she mainly wears blue is to contrast her red head, and fire powers. Stella is APPALED, good sir, HOW DARE YOU!!

The character erasures: There’s no Winx Club without Tecna. Our tecnomagic icon is one of the pillars of the group. She makes sure descisons are thought through logically and comes up with amazing plans. Her powers are extremely powerful and useful in lots of situations. Also, the lack of Helia, Brandon, and Timmy disappointed me. Those guys are amazing characters and Brandon has an amazing personality and character growth that he goes through. Smh Netflix

The pace: The way scenes and storylines would progress was just awkward. The show starts off with Bloom at Alfea, then meeting Sky and I was just like......”What?” Scenes that are more “down to earth” and “chill went by kinda quickly to get to the “darker” and “edgier” scenes. It just weird and boring sometimes

Miscellaneous: The biphobia in Riven’s character and the fat phobia in the first 20 minutes. Seeing Elliot’s character constantly being bullied, not only broke my heart, but left a really bad taste in my mouth.

Now, these are just my opinions and scratch the surface of my feelings about this. As an adaptation of a preexisting property, I give it a 4/10 and as an independent show, I give it a 5/10. There were some good points and character growth, like the whole thing with Stella and her mom, but it was mostly disappointing.

According to Ignio, he and Brian Young think that animation is only for kids. He has literally said in an interview that this is “for the older fans who grew up with Winx” and “ They would like the darker and edgier version.” This makes me mad since I prefer animation to live action. These showrunners, creators, etc are in the wrong here. There are still lots of other cartoons that have a bright and colorful aesthetic and tell dark stories(I.e Madoka Magica). We don’t want another Vampire Diaries or Riverdale. We’ve already seen enough teens shows that are dark and edgy. What we need/want is a show that tells a story and honors the source material in an appropriate and special way. What we wanted and needed is a Winx Club adaptation that respects the source material, and keeps its fun, bright, and colorful aesthetic. Not, whatever Netwinx gave us. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go rewatch the Nick/4kids/Cinelume dubs and WoW so I can cleanse my palette from what I just watched.

PSA: PLEASE don’t bully or harass any of the actors. They clearly tried their best with what they were given. It isn’t their fault at all.

#winx club #fate the winx saga #fate spoilers #final thoughts #world of winx

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clockworkgraystairs · 4 years

Text

Beg for me || Jurdan Dom-Sub One Shot

Jurdan Smut Week 2020 • DAY 1

@jurdannet @jurdannetrevels

Rating: M

Summary: “I need you.”

“Then say it. Beg for me.”

Masterlist • AO3

Thank you so much @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 for helping me betaing this, even when you’re sleep deprived, I have no words! 🧡

“Look at me, love”

Kneeled before him, Jude lifted her head slowly, her breath coming out in faltering huffs. A prickling sensation ran over her swollen lips. Surely a reaction to the punishing kisses he’d given her just seconds before. The moment their eyes connected, the intensity she saw there sent an anticipatory pulse down to her stomach.

“Do you know why I am doing this?” He said, cocking his head to the side and arms crossed over his chest. His words were low and honeyed.

Oh she definitely did. Yet, she tugged her lip between her teeth.

Arching an eyebrow he hauled the little chain that connected with the leather band around her neck, his movement soft but firm. Answer me, it said.

The corner of her lips quirked up a bit. The only sign of defiance she’d allow her body to show, or at least that’s what she tried. “Because I misbehaved… sir.” She quickly added at the change in his gaze.

He chuckled. “I might not be your boss at this moment, but I would appreciate it if you still minded your manners.” With another tug to the chain he signaled her to stand. “On the bed, dear.”

Heat creeped up her cheeks at the appreciative hum that left his mouth at the full sight of her. Black lace that barely covered part of her body, combined with high stockings framing her long legs. She’d bought it knowing he’d like it, but couldn’t get used to how much skin it showed.

It was almost unfair that he could keep his clothes on. However, she couldn’t really decide if she liked her boss better when he was completely naked, or just like he looked in that moment: bare feet, black trousers and loose white shirt, sleeves rolled up his arms. More than ready to play with her for hours.

The soft mattress sunk under her. Jude lay down, her pulse rose as he walked towards her.

“Hands up.” He commanded. A familiar clang reached her ears from the drawer he was rummaging in, sending a shiver down her back.

She swallowed before obeying. He had plenty of punishments in his repertoire, but only few include that artifact in particular. That narrowed the options.

Cold metal kissed her wrists and Jude gasped. With a small movement she felt the chain of the handcuffs firmly secured to the bed’s headboard. Her chest rose and fell with elaborated breaths.

She was officially at his mercy.

Turning her head back, she watched him loosen his tie and take it off. Popping the first buttons from his shirt open. His carefree movements, along with those mischievous eyes of his always took Jude off guard.

“Enjoying the view?” He asked.

“You know I do, sir.”

“Hmm.” Her boss purred. “Too bad it has to end.” At that he gently coiled his tie around her head, covering her eyes. He tied it tightly to keep it from falling but not enough for it to hurt.

Pulling away, he left her there, aroused and disoriented. Jude tried to sense where he’d gone. Focusing all she could on-

Jude yelped when something soft caressed her torso. A low chuckle came from the left.

The thing about being sight-deprived was that her other senses intensified in a terrible yet exhilarating way. And he knew it very damn well.

Whatever object it was, probably a feather, he used it to roam over every piece of uncovered skin. He trailed it down her arms, her neck, between her shuddering breasts. Dropped kisses here and there, nibbling at her sensitive spots. The sensation was too much and yet not enough, Jude was quickly losing all coherent thoughts. Every time he sucked low moans escaped from her throat.

She breathed his name as his mouth moved down to her hips. He continued his ministrations, carefully avoiding that hot and needy spot between her legs.

“Are you going to defy my decisions in front of my coworkers again?”

Of course she would, they were both aware of that. Especially if it lent to more sessions of this. It was all part of their game. She was brilliant at work, with her intelligence and sharp temper she had everyone around her finger in no time. And he, a promising talent on the rise, did everything on his power to conquer her. Even when it implied hiding it from the whole company.

It felt so good to quarrel in meetings. But it was better when he gave her that look, the one that signaled he would use that same argument against her later. Alone, and naked.

Jude opened her mouth to answer but felt as if her mind had forgotten how to form words. Fuck, she should be doing better than this, she scolded herself. Focus.

He sucked down on her inner thigh, really close to where she desperately wanted him and she cried out, arching her back. The handcuffs rattled against the board. That damned sound always remained to haunt her in her deepest dreams.

Hot breath caressed her core as he spoke again. “I asked you a question.”

She licked her lips. “No sir, I won’t.” He hummed, using his thumb to play with the lace of her panties and pulled them down just a fraction. Then he seemed to change his mind and dragged his hands up her sides earning a protest from her.

Jude felt the mattress shift under his weight, then hot bare skin pressed flush against her as he stretched on top of her. He still wore his pants and even with them, his hardness was evident. She tilted her hips up seeking some friction, but a strong hand held her hips still. She whined one more time and his fingers now grabbed her with enough force to leave bruises.

“What was that again?” His gruff voice was now against her ear.

She moved to put her arms around his neck but a metallic sound and a yank to her wrists reminded Jude of her position. She almost said the word she knew he wanted. But held back, huffing in frustration. “I need you.”

“Then say it.” He groaned, nipping her earlobe. The hand holding her down moved once more, soft fingers positioning on the edge of her underwear. Please, the word was there on the tip of her tongue. With a torturing pace, he slid them under the thin fabric. “Beg for me, Ember.”

“CUT! Excellent, I think we got it. Good work everyone!”

Voices burst around them.

Jude sighed, the air wavering. Seconds later cold air hit her skin as he moved away from her.

The tie was taken from her eyes and the bright light blinded her a moment. The handcuffs shackled again and were off a heartbeat later.

“Hey.” She turned to find Cardan, stripped down to only his trousers, with the offending artifact on his hand. “Are you okay?”

She blinked and sat up, taking in her surroundings. Filming set, not suite room. And Cardan, her co-star, not her boss. Sometimes she really envied Ember, her character. Getting the chance to live the excitement of a forbidden romance. A hot, forbidden romance.

At her lack of answer, he sat next to her and cupped her face. Worry filled his voice. “Jude? Did I overstep?”

“No, no.” Shaking her head, Jude grinned. “You were perfect, I’m just recovering my breath. I tried to put myself more into it this time.”

“I noticed,” Cardan chuckled. “If I’m honest, for a moment I almost forgot we were acting.”

Her heart skipped a beat at his words. Me too, she almost said. Instead she just looked at him. Even out of character there was something in his eyes that captured her in a way she didn’t believe was possible. He was kind, funny and incredibly respectful on and off of the set.

Jude couldn’t help the real fluttering in her stomach in every scene they shot together.

She knew romances weren’t unusual in their line of work, but since she was relatively new, this tv series her first leading role, she was still terrified to ruin it. Most of all, to ruin the friendship she’d built with Cardan in all those months.

Coats were given to them, observations from the director and the screenwriters too and at last, they could leave for the day.

Cardan walked her to her trailer, telling another of his weird experiences he’d had while filming. Tears fell from her eyes from all the laughing.

“I trust you’re laughing at the situation and not actually at me.” He teased.

“Oh I’m definitely laughing at you, no need to ask.”

Making an offended sound he ruffled her hair, Jude shrieking and pulling away.

“Jude,” He said, his tone more serious than before made her stop her mocking too. “Are you sure everything was okay with the scene?”

A blush covered her cheeks. “It was. You know I’m relatively new to this. I guess I’m just getting used to all of it.”

He nodded.

“But, thank you.” She added. “For making sure I’m ok, and...for all of your fun stories that make me relax after. It is...really nice from you.”

Cardan’s wide smile almost left her breathless again.

“It’s nothing.” He hesitated for a second. “I have more stories though… We could... go buy some coffee and I could tell you all of it. If you want to, of course.”

She stared at him, not quite believing his words.

He bit her lip and gave her an apologetic smile. “Think about it, will you? I’d really like to...go out with you someday.”

Jude smiled gradually, feeling her heart nearly jumping out from her chest. “I’ll think about it.” She said softly.

“Let me know.” He walked backwards and winked at her. “And Jude… just for the record, I enjoy being tied up too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 @sweetlyvillainous @aesthetics-11 @thesirenwashere @jurdanhell @nightbringer @b00kworm @mysweetvillain @thefolkofthefic @yafandomsdotnet @vanessa172003 @tessas-herondales

If you wish to be tagged/untagged (or if I forgot to tag you) please let me know!

#jurdan smut week 2020 #jurdan smut week #jurdannet #jurdan #jude duarte #cardan greenbriar #tfota #holly black #tcp #twk #tqon #qon #the folk of the air #the cruel prince #judecardan #jude x cardan #tess writes

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couldntbedamned · 3 years

Text

Maybe If I Hold You Close, Baby We Could Just Let Go

Summary: While the idea of accompanying Stephen to the high-brow fundraisers and charity galas seemed glamorous at first, Peter found the reality turned out to be much more disappointing. Everyone looks down their nose at him; people are forever swarming Stephen and flirting with him; and Peter usually finds himself alone, bored, counting the time until they can leave. However, he keeps attending in the hopes that he'll finally get a chance to dance with Stephen like he'd imagined.

One night he gets to dance with a surprising friend, which may finally lead to a bit of happiness at the damned events going forward.

Or Stephen might take issue, if another friend doesn't take it upon herself to give him a clue.

Warnings/AO3 Tags: Domestic Discipline, Ballroom Dancing, Charity Galas and Fundraisers, Boredom, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Jealousy, Awesome Sharon Carter, Oblivious Stephen Strange, Awesome Christine Palmer, Healthy Relationships, Relationship Discussions, Established Relationship, Peter Parker is of Legal Age, College Student Peter Parker

Maybe If I Hold You Close, Baby We Could Just Let Go

___________

Another quarter, another boring event.

Peter tugged at his collar of his shirt. It was difficult to do without upsetting the silver jacquard bow tie that he’d painstakingly tied earlier that evening. And, it was difficult to do without drawing attention to himself. He wasn’t supposed to draw undue attention to himself, not when important things like grants for the children’s hospital were on the line.

He looked over to where Stephen, looking absolutely mouthwatering in a dark navy tuxedo, chatted amiably with a group of sycophants that always seemed to materialize around him at these things. The great and brilliant Dr. Strange had no lack of admirers.

Admirers that made Peter - at twenty-one and almost finished with his junior year at Columbia - feel like a child.

Stephen was never out of place at these things. Before his accident and the loss of his surgical career, these had been a normal part of his life. He continued to attend them because the name Dr. Strange commanded respect even if he no longer practiced medicine. He couldn’t cut, but he knew the human brain.

Peter, when he’d first started coming with Stephen to these benefit galas, fundraisers, and stuffy-black-tie parties had thought he’d get to spend a fun night out with his boyfriend. (Partner? Boyfriend sounded so childish. Lover just sounded weird.) Maybe they’d dance and Peter would get a chance to show off his secret waltzing skills.

Except every event turned out to be boring, with Stephen’s attention drawn quickly away from Peter, leaving him adrift in a sea of strangers who seemed to regard him as an interloper at best, a gold-digging leech at worst. It stung to be introduced to some important doctor or another only to have that person look down their nose at him and Stephen to not even notice one bit. Worse than that, he was treated to at least a half a dozen men and women hitting on an oblivious Stephen, as if Peter wasn’t right there.

It was kind of infuriating. And depressing.

And it certainly wasn't the kind of thing that was worth taking a night away from campus for.

“You know, if you frown any harder your face will stick that way.”

He knew that voice. Peter looked over, smiled when he realized who it was. “Sharon, what are you doing here?”

Sharon Carter, fellow Avenger and honestly one of the scariest women he’d ever met, looked absolutely radiant in her golden dress and hair styled into waving curls. She smiled. “Chrissy is here making nice with the important rich people. I’m her plus one.” She gave a little curtsey.

Peter grinned. “I’m guessing the two of you finally figured it out?”

Watching the pair of them dance around each other after they’d met one surprised-filled and bloody evening at the Sanctum had been entertaining.

Sharon ducked her head. “Yeah. We uh, we definitely did.”

“Are you as bored as I am?” Peter asked.

“Not quite, but these things do get old after awhile.” She led him to an empty table off to the side of the giant ballroom. They sat, flagged down one of the waitstaff and asked for water.

“I used to think I’d have fun at these kinds of parties,” Peter said, watching couples join and exit the dance floor. “Dressing up, spending the night out with Stephen, maybe some dancing if I got lucky.”

“And yet.”

Peter nodded. “And yet.” He watched a lady with white hair flirt with Stephen who was, as always, oblivious. “I really hate this part.”

Sharon followed his gaze. “Want me to cause a distraction?”

Peter laughed. “No, definitely not. Stephen would know it was my fault and I’d like to be able to sit comfortably tomorrow.”

Sharon gave him a funny look. “What?”

He flushed. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Um.”

Her eyes narrowed and she leaned in. “Peter, does Stephen hurt you?” she asked lowly.

“No!” Peter exclaimed as loudly as he dared. “No, he doesn’t. It’s just… it’s complicated. He’d never hurt me, I swear!”

“Peter.”

“Sharon.” He caved under her unrelenting stare. “Okay. A few months after he and I got together, we had some problems. Stephen’s super protective and I’m super reckless and we couldn’t seem to figure it out. But I didn’t want to give up because he makes me happy. I went online and started looking for help, advice, therapy ideas, whatever. And then I found something.”

He told her the rest of it, the research he’d done, the day he’d broached the subject with Stephen, and the long weeks that followed as Stephen did his own research and they began outlining their dynamic.

“I know it sounds crazy, but it works for us. I’m happy and even though it sucks getting my ass spanked red, I always feel better afterwards, and I don’t know, loved.”

Sharon didn’t say anything for a minutes. She hadn’t interrupted him while he’d spoken, either. Finally, “And all of this is consensual?”

“Yes. Really, it’s not that big of a deal. The two most important rules are that I’m honest and that I take care of myself. Most other things fit under rule number two. And he has to follow those two rules too.”

“And how would causing a scene here break the rules?” Sharon asked.

He watched as another woman tried her best to flirt with Stephen.

“Well, for one thing, I’m supposed to be respectful. I’m not supposed to behave inappropriately in public, either. And if he’s instructed me to do something, I’m supposed to do it. He told me to be on my best behavior tonight, so,” Peter explained. “No scene.”

“Does it happen often?” She asked.

“Does what happen often?”

Sharon looked at him. “The whole punishment thing.”

He considered. “I mean, not so much while I’m at school. But if I’m home for a weekend like this one, or on break, or summer, then it’s not uncommon. I don’t mean to break the rules, I just, I don’t know, go stupid sometimes.” He winced. “Shit. I’m not supposed to talk about myself like that. I don’t think sometimes, and it leads to me messing up.”

“And he doesn’t hold any of it against you?”

“No,” he said simply. “No, he punishes me and then it’s done. We move on. It’s kind of nice, actually. There’s always a clean slate.”

She didn’t say anything. “I know, it’s weird.”

“No, I think it makes sense, in a crazy kind of way. And if it works for you both, and you’re happy, then your secret is safe with me. I won’t tell.”

“Um. Dr. Palmer already knows. She saw the bruising on my ass that day at the Sanctum when she stopped by to do a physical for me.” His face heated. “That was a fun explanation.”

“Does anyone else know?”

Peter shook his head. “It’s not anyone else’s business. And they wouldn’t understand. Mr. Stark and the others think our relationship is messed up to begin with. Could you imagine if they knew about the whole domestic discipline thing we have going on? We’d never hear the end of it.”

“Well, like I said. The secret is safe with me. I’m great with secrets.”

Grateful, Peter grinned. “Thanks. It’s kind of nice to have a friend who knows, honestly.”

“And it’s nice to have a friend who finds these types of get-togethers as unbearable as I do.”

“Why do we come to these?” Peter finally asked as one of the younger gentlemen in attendance - still a number of years older than him - swooped up to Stephen, fawning.

“Because we’re in love and we don’t want to disappoint them.” Sharon looked in another direction, where an older man had wormed his way into Christine’s inner circle.

Peter sat back, crossed his arms. “Love is stupid.”

“Definitely.” The music changed. “Hey, want to dance?”

Peter looked over at her. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, why not? You said you knew how, and we might as well get some enjoyment out of this.”

Peter listened for a few notes. “Sure.”

Figuring he might as well do it right, he stood and held out a hand to her. “May I have this dance?”

“I’d be delighted.”

Peter led her to the dance floor, and they moved into their positions. It was a little different than he was used to, since he’d learned with his Aunt May, who was a few inches shorter than Sharon. But he got his hand settled on her waist, and her hand rested on his shoulder and with a silent count of three, they whirled into the dance with the other couples.

He was about to lose his mind to sheer boredom.

If these were the finest minds available to staff the children’s hospital this fundraising gala was for, Stephen feared for the children.

“Look who’s finally free.”

Stephen looked over to see Christine approaching, beautiful as ever in a deep blue dress. “I could say the same.”

“I’d give anything for a page to the ER right now.”

“I’d give anything for an alien attack.”

“Where’s Peter?”

“Probably charming some rich old woman with his boyish good looks and quick wit.” Stephen smiled. Peter was always so well-behaved at these insufferable things, and never complained about boredom. “What about your guest?”

“Sharon? She’s probably in a corner somewhere devising her fifth back-up plan of how to kill everyone in this place.”

“Only her fifth?”

“She’s had a long week.”

With the two of them talking, no one seemed inclined to approach. Thank goodness for small favors.

“I can’t believe you still come to these stupid things,” Christine told him, grabbing a glass of champagne off the tray of a passing waiter.

“I know I can't practice medicine any longer, let alone cut, but it’s a small way I can help.” He checked his watch. Twenty more minutes. Then he could rescue Peter and they could go home.

“Nothing like having an Avenger show up to generate interest and funds.” She smirked.

“That has nothing to do with it. I’m respected as a doctor.”

“Stephen,” Christine said. She gave him a pitying look. “No. Trust me, it’s the fact that you’re an Avenger - or at least, loosely affiliated with the Avengers - that has people hitting on you.”

“No one’s hitting on me,” Stephen said, frowning. “What are you even talking about?”

The pitying look intensified.

“How can someone so brilliant be so stupid?” Christine wondered. “Stephen, pretty much everyone you’ve talked to has been angling to get you in bed. I don’t know how Peter can stand to put up with it.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” he insisted.

“Check your pockets,” she suggested.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Just check them. I guarantee you have a key card to a room upstairs or someone’s phone number.”

Stephen slid his hands into his jacket pockets and sure enough, there were two room key cards, and a folded slip of paper that had a phone number on it.

“Why would they bother?” He asked, bewildered. “I don’t hide the fact that I’m taken.”

“And you don’t notice how easily they dismiss that when they see Peter?”

“They don-” he trailed off, thought back.

They did, he realized. And he was always so caught up in playing his role, of counting down the time until he and Peter could reasonably leave without appearing rude, that he never noticed. He was always swamped at these things, with lots of questions directed his way. And true, a lot of them were about his battles alongside the Avengers. Nothing was ever asked of Peter, who was all but ignored. A regular college student wasn’t news; they had no idea that regular college student was Spider-Man and had saved the city several times over.

“Like I said, I don’t understand how Peter puts up with it.”

Peter had never said anything. He’d never complained, just arrived with Stephen, let himself be introduced, and then stepped away to find something to occupy his time. Had Peter been miserable all that time?

“If he was bothered, he’d stay something,” Stephen said. But he wasn’t sure about that. Peter had a tendency to downplay things that bothered him, especially if he thought he’d be perceived as an annoyance for them.

“Would he? Knowing how important these stupid things are? How much you and your image bring to them?”

She was absolutely right. As always.

“Would you look at that?”

“Such a lovely sight!”

“It’s nice to see the younger ones take an interest in dancing.”

“She’s gorgeous!”

“He’s the twink of my dreams, if we’re being honest.”

“Oh, be quiet!”

Stephen and Christine looked askance at the source of the voices. A small crowd had gathered near the dance floor, where…

Where Peter and Sharon were dancing what looked like a waltz. They were conversing about something, and whatever it was must have been funny, because both of them giggled.

“Well, would you look at that!” Christine exclaimed. “Did you know he could dance?”

“No,” Stephen said quietly, heart suddenly sore as he watched them. “I didn’t.”

“He’s good,” she said. “He’s leading well, not looking at their feet.”

Peter was. He had a lightness and confidence to him that was easier to see than usual.

“I wonder who they are?”

“I wonder who they came with!”

“He’s so pretty!”

“So is she!”

“I hope he’s not taken.”

“You and me both.”

Stephen eyed the pair who were speaking with great dislike. Unfortunately, they were also two of the biggest donors in attendance. Peter wasn’t allowed to cause a scene, so Stephen causing one would be in poor taste.

The music playing faded to an end and Peter and Sharon stopped their dancing. They were taken aback at the soft applause that greeted them. Peter leaned into Sharon and whispered something, to which she nodded. Then they came towards Stephen and Christine after spotting them.

“You two looked wonderful out there,” Christine told them. “Peter, where did you learn to dance like that?”

“Oh, um, I took a class with my Aunt May back when I was fourteen. She’d actually signed up for it with my Uncle Ben, but he died. She wasn’t going to take the class then, but I thought it would be good for her to get out of the apartment, so I went with her. It was fun. And embarrassing, but we had a good time.”

Christine and Sharon were both looking at Peter like he was the most precious thing in the universe.

“Thanks for dancing with me,” Sharon said to Peter.

“Any time,” he told her. “I’ve never danced at one of these things, so it was nice!”

“Well,” Sharon said with a wink. “I’m glad I could be your first.”

Peter blushed red.

“Sharon,” Christine said warningly.

“Everyone needs a platonic dance partner,” Sharon insisted, unrepentant.

“Peter,” Stephen broke in. “It’s time to go home.”

“Oh!” Peter said. “I didn’t realize we’d been here that long.”

“We weren’t, but I’ve completed my business and honestly there are some people here who would very much like to make a play for you and I'm not in the mood to put them in their place.”

Peter shrugged. “Okay, but you never have a problem when they make a play for you.”

Sharon and Christine both winced and Stephen narrowed his eyes.

“We’ll discuss this when we get home,” Stephen said.

Peter frowned but seemed to sense that Stephen wasn’t in the mood to deal with backtalk. “Alright,” he said glumly.

Stephen said their goodnights to Christine and Sharon and led Peter out.

Peter didn’t say anything during the cab ride home. Stephen made as if to speak but stopped himself a few different times. Had taxi cabs always been this small? Surely not.

Relieved to finally be home, Peter all but leapt out of the cab while Stephen paid and rushed up the steps of the Sanctum. He had the sense to wait for Stephen before going inside, at least.

Different emotions battled in him. Relief to be home and away from a crowd that made no secret of how lacking they found him. Annoyance that Stephen would want to make sure no one there made a play for him but didn’t seem to feel that way about himself. And just a little bit of happiness, because as far as the damn things went, this one had been pretty bearable. It was due to Sharon, he knew, but Stephen had not cared for her little joke. Hell, he was probably annoyed that Peter had even danced with her!

“Do you need some time?” Stephen asked, walking in behind him.

“Can I change, first? Get out of this dumb getup and into something that actually suits me?”

“By all means,” Stephen allowed. “But it does suit you. You look very handsome in it.”

Peter shrugged. Apparently he’d looked too handsome tonight. “I’ll be back down.”

Stephen looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself.

When Peter returned, Stephen had changed his clothes as well, swapping his tuxedo for a pair of flannel pants, a long-sleeved Columbia tee, and a pair of thick woolen socks. Peter almost smiled when he realized that he’d dressed nearly the same, except his shirt bore a picture of the Enterprise rather than Columbia’s name.

“Have a seat,” Stephen said, handing Peter a mug that turned out to be hot chocolate.

Peter sat, cupping the mug and curling into himself.

Stephen sat on the sofa as well, relaxed and with his own mug.

“Can you tell me why you come to the galas and fundraisers with me if you don’t like them?”

Peter frowned. That wasn’t the question he’d been expecting. “What?”

Stephen’s expression was one of fond amusement. “You’re not in trouble, Peter. Not really. I’m just curious why you come with me to these events when you’re miserable the entire time we’re there.”

“You invite me,” Peter said. “And I thought it was one of the relationship rules. Not one of the rules we have, just like, a relationship rule. And I guess I thought that maybe we’d get to spend time together at them. It never happens, but it doesn’t stop the hoping.” He went to say more, then stopped.

“What?”

“In some way I think… I think I’m trying to prove that I can belong in your world.”

“Why would you think you don’t belong?”

Peter busied himself with sipping his hot chocolate while he debated exactly how to phrase it.

“You never notice,” he said finally. “Whenever we show up, you introduce me as your partner, and you never notice, but those people look at me like I’m an interloper, or just some stupid pretty boy hanging off your arm, hoping to score money or whatever. Then you get swept away by other doctors and rich people and I’m just… kind of left to entertain myself and not cause a scene and embarrass you. Then we go home.” He sipped again. “And it’s not that big of a deal, because I know I’m not a gold-digger, and you know that I’m not, and honestly I make more money as a part-time Avenger than you do from your medical writing, but it gets lonely at those things.”

The mug refilled and he sipped some more. “Tonight, was actually kind of nice, because while Sharon’s not exactly in the same boat, Christine gets swarmed, too, and she’s left to be bored by herself. It was nice to have someone to actually talk to. And dance with.” He looked down into his mug. “But it ended up upsetting you anyways.”

“Peter, I-”

“I didn't hide out in a corner somewhere and people saw me, thought I was attractive, and you didn’t like that,” Peter interrupted. “And I understand why you didn’t like it, because I don’t like the way people hit on you and slip their spare room keys or phone numbers into your pockets.”

“I didn’t realize they were still doing that,” Stephen said. “They would do it when I could still practice medicine, before my accident. It honestly never occurred to me that they’d keep doing it even after-” he held up his trembling, scarred hands. “-I ended up with these. Or after essentially going broke in a desperate attempt to fix them.”

“No one cared about your hands,” Peter told him. “They didn’t then, and they don’t now. They care that you’re good looking and an Avenger.”

“And it’s my fault for not suspecting that,” Stephen said. “It's also my fault for not realizing how horrible these stupid events are for you, even if you never complained. I hate the damned things, so I can’t for the life of me figure out why I thought you didn’t.”

Peter knew the expression he had to be sporting wasn’t flattering in the least, but he couldn’t help it. “You don’t like them?”

“I hate them,” Stephen said flatly. “Well, most of them. I liked the ones that were about celebrating me and my accomplishments. Otherwise, they were a necessary evil before my accident and I only go the ones I do now because I care about the causes they support, like children’s hospitals or neurological health. They’re mostly filled with self-important morons, terrible food, and the most mind-numbing conversation you’ll ever encounter.”

“If they suck so much, why invite me?” Peter asked. “Because, rude.”

“I suppose I’d hoped that you being there would make them bearable for a change. Only that obviously didn’t work out, because we were both miserable. I’m sorry for that. It’s been very unfair to you.”

“It was kind of nice, tonight. Until you got upset after I danced with Sharon.”

“I was upset, but not for the reasons you think,” Stephen said.

“That sounds fake, but okay,” Peter said. Stephen was… well, he’d always been possessive. Peter still remembered the pounding he’d gotten in bed when Stephen had met the college student Peter had lost his virginity to his freshman year.

Stephen just gave him a look. “Peter.”

“Stephen.” Peter countered.

“I’ve gotten better,” Stephen said, defensively. “A little bit, at least. I was upset because I realized that I’d been neglecting you whenever we attended an event like that. I should have been the one dancing with you, not her.”

“Still sounds a little sus,” Peter said. “Like I’m not allowed to dance with anyone but you.”

“You are,” Stephen said, and Peter could see it was a struggle for him to say it. “Of course, you are. I just wish I’d realized that I could have been dancing with you so much sooner.”

“That’s not going to keep people there from seeing me as some kind of toy you keep around.”

“You’re not a toy!” Stephen insisted heatedly.

“I know that, and you know that. Those people don’t, though, and you’ve never given them any reason to think otherwise.”

“That’s not fair!”

“How? You don’t stick around me when we’re there, and you never notice when someone is rude to me. It makes no sense because no one pays more attention to me than you do, and at those things it’s like I’m invisible! And I get that raising money for the causes is more important than my ego, I do! I don’t need you to be glued by my side, either. But you only got upset when you heard people noticing me and commenting how attractive they found me.” He sipped again. “What is it about those stupid events that turns you into someone that I hardly recognize?” He frowned, scrunching his nose. “And why the hell am I so bothered that I don’t fit in?” he muttered to himself.

“I’m very sorry,” Stephen said. “Ignoring you and leaving you to fend for yourself was never my intention.”

“I know that,” Peter assured him. “It still hurts.”

“I used to be a very different person,” Stephen said. “Back before my accident. Up until I finally started applying myself at Kamar-Taj, if I’m being honest.”

“Which you’re supposed to be,” Peter said quietly.

“Peter,” Stephen warned. “Anyways, I hadn’t realized that I regressed back into that man at the galas and fundraisers. I should have noticed something was off. If you ever decide to come to another one, I’ll make sure you don’t feel left out.”

“I don’t have to come?”

“No,” Stephen assured him. “I honestly thought you kept attending because you somehow enjoyed them. Now that I know better, it’s fine if you don’t want to.”

Peter nodded. “If we go again, can we, you know, dance? That’s all I wanted, when you started inviting me.”

Stephen smiled. “Come with me.”

“Why?”

“Because I told you to,” Stephen said, firmly.

It took a lot of effort, but Peter managed to keep from rolling his eyes. “Fine, then.”

He followed Stephen into a room he hadn’t been in before. That in itself wasn’t too surprising - the Sanctum had so many secrets, was essentially alive.

It was a large room, with an elaborate tiled marble floor. A series of three ancient chandeliers lit up, joined by matching sconces along the walls. Also on the walls were intricate tapestries of various symbols Peter recognized from books he’d seen Stephen read, consult, translate. The seal of the Vishanti was on a few, the Crest of Cyttorak on other, along with runes associated with Raggador.

“The Sanctum has a ballroom?” Peter asked, spinning as he looked around and took the sight in.

“The Sanctum has many rooms,” Stephen said. He took his phone out, did some tapping and scrolling, and set it down on an old, ornately carved table against the wall. A slow, but lovely instrumental song started playing.

He looked at Peter, held out his hand. “Will you dance with me?”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. Dance with me.”

Feeling a little foolish, Peter took Stephen’s hand. “Is this just a way for you to get out of the doghouse?”

Stephen smirked as he drew Peter in close. “Not only.”

Stephen moved. Peter followed.

Dancing with Stephen, following his lead… it surpassed everything Peter had hoped for the first time he’d been asked to send a gala with him. Stephen’s touch was light yet confident as he moved them around the ballroom with the music floating around them. One song bled into another and still, they kept dancing.

“I should have asked you to dance a long time ago,” Stephen said quietly as they turned.

“You asked now,” Peter told him. “And as long as this isn’t the last time we do this; I can live with that.”

“It definitely won’t be the last time,” Stephen promised.

They danced for what felt like lifetimes, warmth and happiness radiating from Peter, so content to finally be dancing with Stephen like he’d wanted for so long.

When the music finally faded away, they just sort of swayed in place, still wrapped up in each other.

“That was nice,” Peter said quietly as he rested his head against Stephen’s chest, heard the steady heartbeat that sounded home to him. They were sprawled out on the plush couch in the living room just a few doors down from their bedroom. “Really nice.”

“Nice enough that you could entertain the thought of coming to another event with me?” Stephen asked.

“I mean, I supposed I could,” Peter said. He nestled further into Stephen’s side. “I’ll get to dance with you, which is the best. And I actually have a friend who might be there, too.”

Stephen said nothing, though Peter could practically see the thoughts swirling in that brilliant mind of his.

“For fuck’s sake!” Peter exclaimed. “She’s dating Christine and I’m dating you! She’s not even my type!”

“Which is why I don’t have a problem with it,” Stephen finally said. “I’m glad you have friends, Peter. I really am.” He tilted Peter’s head up, kissed him softly. “If anyone should have a friend to enjoy the damned things with, it’s you. Besides,” he added, after kissing him a bit more forcefully. “I know you’ll be in my bed at the end of the night, under me, taking me.”

“Y-yeah,” Peter breathed out. “Definitely.”

“In fact, let me give you a preview, hmm?”

Pleased, Peter did.

And the next time he attended a gala on Stephen’s arm, he enjoyed himself. He danced with Sharon, with Christine, and best of all, with Stephen. Sure enough, Stephen’s words proved true.

#spiderstrange #spideystrange #peter parker x stephen #stephen strange x peter parker #domestic discipline #couldntbedamned fic

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anony-mouse-writer · 3 years

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well if netflix is allowed to give us a crappy washed out edgelord version of winx, then im allowed to post my weird worldbuilding takes on winx club that ive been making for the last year and a half since i rewatched the show. (also i watched the 4kids version so apologies about the names)

general worldbuilding: the three schools of magix are there to train the defenders of the realms.

red fountain trains paladins and knights to protect the kingdoms and their people.

alfea trains magic users to protect the magic of the realms with a concentration on personal transformation and growth.

cloud tower trains magic users to protect the realms themsleves with a concentration on study and magical artificery. because of the rogue witches who tried to steal the dragonfire, there has been a certain amount of tension between the witches and everyone else for a few decades.

bloom: is slightly... odd growing up. sometimes her eyes glow and her base temp is a few degrees higher than is strictly healthy and she is drawn to warm spaces like lizards or cats. her mom invests in a greenhouse extension for her flowershop and no one comments on the hammock bloom strings up to sleep in. she says she’s never picked any major or job in the future because she’s okay where she is at the flower shop, but really its because she feels like shes missing something important and can’t figure it out. it doesn’t go away completely when she gets alfea either, but when she finally gets to sparks/domino, she realizes its because she is carrying the embodiment of an entire realm’s magic in her and that kinda messes up your magic a bit.

stella: solaria has several branches of royalty, but they are mainly split into the three solar courts and the lunar and stellar courts. her father is the king of the first solar courts and her mother is the queen of the lunar court. after their divorce, stella spent far more time dealing with courtly intrigue than she did practicing magic and she ends up getting held back a year at alfea due to missing several fundamental lessons. she tends to be more concerned with official standing and presentation than power or magics, but her alfea/red fountain friends are helping to teach her how normal non-manipulative friendships work.

shes sort of friends with prince skye and squire brandon and when they were kids they came up with a half-cocked plan where she married skye and dated brandon in secret and skye could fall in love with whoever he wanted and then they would be stella’s attendent so it was all covert. it was not a great plan, but it did involve several awkward third-wheeling dates on skye’s behalf and he has so much friendly blackmail in the two of them.

tecna: tecna comes from a planet where instinctual magic is a dying art. if anything, most magic users end up at cloud tower to study artificery, but tecna is determined to learn about raw magic and its applications in magi-tech. magi-tech is different from artificery because artifacts are meant to be used by magic users usually for magical or combative purposes whereas magi-tech is mean to be used by anyone for everyday applications (ie scanners, holograms, etc)

tecna’s species dosn’t have innate genders, but instead pick their gender presentations as they grow older (if at all). tecna picks female so she can attend alfea, but eventually realizes that female feels right and starts to wear less androgynous outfits on ocassion.

musa: musa’s mom used classical instruments (chinese classical, not western) and her dad used a lot more contemporary styles and tools, but together, they produced beautiful music. when her mom died, her dad grew to resent the classical instruments that reminded him of her and musa grew up with only contemporary influences. musa meets galitea (the other fairy from harmonix) in her second year of school and they have long discussions (and eventually jam sessions about musa’s inexperience with any classical or traditional instruments. musa starts to learn the flute and a few of the instruments her mom left her in secret and only tells her dad about it during the concert where she performs with them for the first time. she goes on to make fusion classical/contemporary music.

musa still has an arc with riven, but after season 1 when they break up, she spends season 2 out of any romantic relationships and season 3 realizes she has feelings for galitea. im still not sure if i want her coming to terms with her bisexuality to be tied to her coming to terms with classical music or not.

flora: floras people can talk to plants. this makes eating plants awkward. ergo, floras people are obligate carnivores who also gain energy via photosynthesis. flora is a scientist first and foremost. she studies and wants to develop new ways for plants to thrive in foreign environments without becoming invasive species and is working with both magi-tech and pure magic to find ways for people to get the most out of plants for various medicinal and magical purposes without causing any harm to the plants.

she also works on humanoid-floral communications and spends a lot of time with pumpkin-mytra and later human-myrta learning to break curses which was not her original plan but it was Very Important and so she learned it and ten it was kinda fun so she stuck with it.

layla/aisha: her parents traditional views and ideas are important to them and to ruling tides. aisha has little choice but to accept them and has no outlet for her true self for a long time, leading to some heavy suppression and anxiety. when she gets to meet the pixies, she makes friends for the first time and they teach her a bit about being herself. she still has struggles with expressing her true feelings and swings between respecting her kingdom’s traditions and resenting them for making her be someone she’s not for so long. as she develops as a person and a fairy, she learns eventually to reconcile the two in a way that might not please her parents entirely, but allows for growth and tradition both. she gets along weirdly well with stella who helps her on this journey a lot.

aisha also spends time with fairies and red fountainers (and later possibly even some witches) coming up with better communication lines and various protections for magical creatures who don’t necessarily have specific realms (ie the pixies) since they lack any kind of protection from larger threats besides their own.

other characters:

daphne is a from the fairy school of magic so her job was to protect the magic of sparks/domino when the rogue witches attacked, so she stuffed it (aka the dragonfire) into the crown princess and hid her on a null planet so the coven couldnt find it.

myrta not only moves from the witches school of magics to the fairy school of magics, but she is trans. she gets an arc where flora and later helia help her to figure out her powers and also how to be comfortable as her own person outside of her friendships with lucy or even flora.

riven is a good fighter but a better mage. he wants to best his peers in fighting, and hates that he feels he call of magic pretty strongly. darcy takes advantage of this and encourages him to abandon his magic while draining him of his power. when he is chased from cloud tower and falls, he uses his skills in tandem with a bit of magic to survive. he remains wary of his powers, but eventually learns to accept them and learns to be a mage and a fighter which is Simply Not Done, but honestly at this point riven is done listening to everyone else so he does what he wants and becomes great at both.

the trix spend season one pretending to be regular witches. they play up the ‘mean girls’ routine and spend a lot of time stirring chaos and malcontent at cloud tower. when they finally give up the pretense and try to take the dragon fire for real, they lose a bit of the mean girls vibe and work towards the rogue witch coven’s goal of stealing the magic of various realms. their work in cloud tower does not dissapear and there is a time where a lot of witches have to unlearn a lot of toxic behavior and it sucks a lot.

#winx #winx club #worldbuilding #this all has been living in my head for A G E S #alfea #writing #op #mouse’s life

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quentyl · 4 years

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What does ATLA tell us about Ursa?

For context, originally this started as a response to an ask. I felt like I couldn’t answer properly without going over Ursa’s portrayal in the show first, ergo this very long post. I’ll answer the actual question later.

Ursa only appears in one episode of the show (not counting Azula’s hallucination), has about a dozen lines, and apart from that is mentioned just a very few times. That’s not much, but there’s still a lot we can infer from that limited screen time.

Without further ado, let’s talk about Ursa as a mother first:

In her first scene, she’s sitting with Zuko on the ground and feeding turtle-ducks, giving off an aura of tranquility, relaxation and effortless grace. Even contentment. This is how the show chose to introduce her to the viewer: as someone who can laugh with her kid, be affectionate, and enjoy a peaceful moment.

Of course, she’s not just affectionate and sweet in this scene, she’s also protective. She says it plainly: “Zuko, that's what moms are like. If you mess with their babies, they're gonna bite you back.” At that moment, she was just joking with Zuko, but it foreshadows what she’s going to do a few days later, when the Fire Lord himself tries to mess with her baby: she bites back like a true mother. Ozai said that she did “vicious, treasonous things” that night. She herself, just before her disappearance, basically admits to having done terrible things, and she can’t leave without telling Zuko why, she needs him to know: “Everything I've done, I've done to protect you.” It’s interesting to note the plural here (“vicious things”, “everything”). So, though we aren’t shown anything directly, the show still seems to insist on the fact that Ursa got her hands dirty to save Zuko, that she killed Azulon herself and actually might have had to do other unpleasant things to accomplish that. So in spite of the lightness that seems to emanate from her at first, there is a dark side to Ursa.

Wrt Azulon and Ursa’s personality, there is another moment that is telling: when Zuko fails his demonstration before the Fire Lord, she does not hesitate to go over to comfort him, acting as if they are alone in the room. As if the most powerful man in the world isn’t watching, as if this isn’t a formal audience, as if she isn’t wasting the time of the Fire Lord. She tells Zuko that she loved watching him, as if it wasn’t Azulon’s opinion that mattered. She just throws propriety and caution through the window, Zuko’s hurt feelings eclipsing everything else in her mind, and forgets to give a fuck about her lord’s opinion (or her husband’s for that matter).

Ursa is also presented as her children’s primary authority figure, the one who’s charged with watching over them, giving them news, and preparing them for surprise meetings. But more than just an authority figure, she’s presented as the main good influence in their life, the one who teaches them about right and wrong. She makes Zuko play with Azula because she thinks they should bond as siblings (from the way Azula manipulates her using this, we can assume it’s a point Ursa has stressed as important in the past). She teaches Zuko to see things from others’ point of views (the mom turtleduck), she admonishes Azula without losing patience when her daughter shows lack of consideration for her uncle’s life, she reprimands her more strongly when she’s being deliberately insolent.

To summarize the above points: Ursa in the flashbacks is (almost) portrayed as the ideal parent: gracious, affectionate, playful, comforting, fiercely protective, authoritative, respectable, and the person who provides moral guidance to her children.

Ok but what about “our mom liked Zuko more than me” and “my own mother thought I was a monster” and “even you fear me”? Well, first things first, these are Azula’s thoughts, years after her mother abandoned her in order to protect her brother. While we have to respect her feelings, they do not necessarily match who the real Ursa was and thought. In particular, I think the Ursa we saw in the flashbacks didn’t seem to think of her daughter as a monster, or to be afraid of her at all - or she wouldn’t have forced Zuko to play with her (she does wonder “what is wrong with that child” but that’s in reaction to Azula making a deliberately provocative and ominous comment: she’d been acting borderline treasonous and kinda worryingly obsessed with the succession). Personally, I think that it’s more likely Azula who sees herself as a monster, not Ursa, and she projected that unto her mother because Ursa was the one who taught her how to distinguish between right and wrong and she believes that her mother wouldn’t have approved of the person she chose (and keeps choosing) to be.

That said, Zuko absolutely may have been Ursa’s favorite (studies found that most parents have one). Zuko himself doesn’t argue the point with his sister, and Ursa’s character description on the old Avatar website supports this (Zuko is flat-out described as “her favorite child”). Note that this doesn’t necessarily translate into Azula being treated unfairly by her mother. All we know for sure is that 14 years old Azula feels her mother liked Zuko more and that this thought hurts her deeply (personally, I tend to think that it hurts Azula more as a teenager than as a child, because it ties into her teenage self's deep well of anxiety about being unlovable in general - a “monster”).

The rest under the cut.

Now that I’ve gone over how she was portrayed as a mother, I think it’s time to delve into her and her husband’s dynamic, and how it fits into her relationship with their kids:

(Disclaimer: note that Ozai and Ursa never interact during the flashbacks, so to know more about their relationship we have to read the subtext - and since it is subtext and not text, basically everything below is technically just my interpretation, and at best I can only argue that it is the most fitting interpretation.)

Let’s go back a moment to “What is wrong with that child?”: Ursa sounds genuinely puzzled here. But she shouldn’t be puzzled, she should be alarmed. “Fire Lord Azulon. Can't you just call him ‘Grandfather’? He's not exactly the powerful Fire Lord he used to be. Someone will probably end up taking his place soon.” - this isn’t just Azula being insolent and stanning her dad, like her earlier comments. Ursa should have taken the second part, “someone will probably end up taking his place soon”, as a warning. But she doesn’t (at least not at that moment). She just silences Azula and doesn’t immediately think “oh shit my husband is planning something” or even “what kind of fuckery has my husband been discussing in our daughter’s earshot”. Instead her reaction shows that she is kinda clueless about what’s going on. She seems to think the issue is just Azula being a weird child, and doesn’t immediately link her words to Ozai. So what we can infer from that is that Ursa, before that day, wasn’t very... aware of Ozai’s ambitions. At best, she knew he’d like to be Fire Lord without realizing that he actually does intend to do something about it - sorta like just because you know someone is jealous of their sibling’s sport car you don’t suspect they’re gonna kill them to steal it. The idea of Ozai attempting to take the throne is just not on her mind like it is for us, the viewers, when we’re listening to Azula talk about how her dad’s glory days are coming.

Note that Ursa is not the only one who didn’t expect such a move from Ozai. Azulon is furious and surprised at Ozai’s impudent request.

This disconnect between Ozai’s ambitions and Ursa’s simple enjoyment of life is also shown through her relationship with his older brother: it’s clear from the little we see of them that Ursa and Iroh get along very well. Ursa seems very fond of him: she’s happy to read his letter, laughs at his joke, admonishes Azula for her callousness regarding him (“it would be awful if Uncle Iroh didn’t return”), and is genuinely heartbroken for him when she learns of Lu Ten’s death (”Iroh has lost his son”). These scenes are telling us that Ursa isn’t in on Ozai’s plans, and wouldn’t support him if she knew of them.

But Azula supports him, wholeheartedly. Azula wants her dad to be Fire Lord because clearly he deserves it. There’s something a little unsettling about the fact that Ozai’s little girl knows what’s in Ozai’s heart and what’s on his mind, his dark designs, but his own wife doesn’t. Was she spying on him (we see her do just that at least once) or did he just take her into his confidence (also very likely, it looks like they do spend time together without their other family members)? Whichever way she came by her information, it immediately creates a chasm between mother and daughter - because suddenly they’re not on the same side anymore, politically. And the worst thing is, Ursa isn’t even aware of that chasm - or at least, she doesn’t seem to understand its importance yet (even though Azula tries to tell her).

To go back to Ozai and Ursa, by the time of the flashbacks not only are they not on the same page politically, they’re also not aligned on the matter of parenting. Ursa admonishes Azula for words that could have come directly from Ozai’s mouth, were he honest. They also don’t react in the same way at all to Zuko’s fumblings: while Ursa is just sorry that he feels bad and is proud of his tenacity, Ozai is unhappy about him even attempting a demonstration. So however their arranged marriage started, they failed to become a unit on the two most important fronts of that contract.

But note that while Ursa makes a show of comforting Zuko, Ozai’s disapproval is actually subtle - the viewers see it because the camera makes a point to focus on it. I don’t think Ozai was full-on abusive toward Zuko yet at this point, when Ursa was still in the picture. Copy-pasting from a previous meta: “In these flashbacks, Zuko didn’t seem scared of his father yet. He wasn’t afraid to perform before him, to cry and lament his failures before him, or to be comforted by Ursa before him. He didn’t seem overly worried to have embarrassed him in front of Azulon himself. He wasn’t afraid to demand answers from him after Ursa’s disappearance.” So it is very possible that Ursa wasn’t very aware of the depth of his disdain for their son, just like she wasn’t very aware of how intensely (terribly) he desired his father’s throne. Before that fateful day, it seems Ozai kept the monster inside himself hidden.

So what happened between them the night of Ursa’s disappearance? One thing that is really important to note, I think, is that Ozai was ready for a takeover before Ursa decided to do anything. Not only does Azula basically spell it out before Ozai even makes his request to Azulon (he did not intend to wait patiently for his father to die of old age, he intended to replace him “soon”), we see after the fact that he has at least the head Fire sage in his pocket (“As was your dying wish you are now succeeded by your second son” - that was most certainly not Azulon’s dying wish). When telling the story to Zuko, Ozai rejects the whole thing on Ursa, saying she was the one to propose a plan - but the flashbacks imply he had one himself beforehand whether it involved her or not.

Ursa somehow found a way to get to Azulon in the middle of the night. How did she even have access to his chambers? Did she kill the guards too? Is she a secret ninja or did she somehow trick them?

Even though Ozai was in on Ursa’s plan (by his own admission), he still banished her for it. Now he didn’t do that to save face, since the official story is that Azulon died of natural causes (it’s actually less suspicious if his wife doesn’t disappear on the same day). It could be a weird thing like Ozai actually did feel some love/attachment for his father, or respect for his position as Fire Lord, and felt he was somehow duty-bound to punish her for his murder even if he himself incited her to commit it (maybe he let her do the dirty work so that he can still feel like he himself is clean?). Or he banished her to silence her or keep her from assassinating him next (the justification he gave in the comics).

But then, whatever his reasons for banishing her, the question becomes why didn’t he kill her instead? He did not spare her to avoid bad press or some form of retribution, since as far as the public eye is concerned him killing her and then making her body disappear would look exactly the same as what he eventually did. Ultimately, she’s much less of a hazard dead than alive somewhere out of his control. At the very least, he could have kept her prisoner. So, unless there’s some other variables we’re not aware of, I can think of two explanations. The first is that after she left Zuko’s room that night, Ozai did actually kill her (or attempted to and she somehow managed to escape) and just lied to Zuko during the Eclipse - though I’m not sure why he would lie in that particular context. The second explanation - brace yourselves! - is that Ozai let her go because back then he still had ~feelings~ and couldn’t quite bring himself to kill her.

Subtext does, in fact, support the idea that Ozai did once feel something for Ursa, whether this is the reason he spared her or not. In animation everything is a choice. The people who made Zuko Alone decided that on the morning of his triumph - his father’s death and his impending ascension to the throne - Ozai wasn’t celebrating or plotting. He was brooding while thinking of his wife, just standing still at a spot where we know she used to spend some time (she’s sitting there when she receives news of Lu Ten’s death). Even if he wasn’t sad, at the very least he was contemplating what he lost in order to get what he wanted. Which means that there was something to lose there, that he could have chosen another life, but did not. The writers could have elected to show him pretending to be mourning his late father, or plotting, or preparing for his coronation, or not to show him at all, but they didn’t. This is a characterization choice.

So I know this is controversial but I do believe Ozai chose power over love (the opposite of Aang in The Guru). It’s also hinted at via Zuko’s idyllic memories of his childhood - of their family vacations on Ember Island. At one point, Ozai was willing to devote some effort to being a husband and a father, enough to take his family to his summer house and give Zuko a few happy memories with his father - the memories that he desperately clings to years later.

It could also maybe tie back to “what is wrong with that child?” i.e. Ursa not immediately recognizing that her husband was the problem. Maybe Ursa was unable to see how far he’d fallen because she remembered the person he used to be at the beginning of their marriage, and maybe this is also why she accepted to leave her children in his power and didn’t even warn Zuko about him or anything. The last thing she ever says to Zuko before leaving forever is “no matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are” - she might be telling her son not to turn out like his father, if she feels like Ozai forgot who he was. These are all just possibilities though.

So I think that’s about it: what I can infer from the show about Ursa’s relationship with her husband and children. Before I conclude this post though, I also want to talk a little about Ursa’s family before her marriage, because I find this fascinating:

Ursa supports the war effort. I don’t think you can find a joke about burning Ba Sing Se to the ground funny unless you’re fully on-board with the Fire Nation’s imperialism. The writers didn’t have to show us this tidbit - it’s irrelevant to the rest of the episode - but they made a point of including it. It becomes even more interesting after we learn that Ursa descends from Roku and that Zuko didn’t know it. You don’t just forget to mention to your kids that they’re the Avatar’s great-grandchildren - this information was deliberately kept a secret. So there can be several possibilities:

Ursa wasn’t raised by Roku’s family i.e. she was raised by her other parent’s family, or she grew up in an orphanage, or she was adopted by some other folks. In this case, she might not feel any connection to Roku, if she even knows he’s her grandfather (Iroh knew but I don’t think this means we can irrevocably assume Ursa did too).

Ursa was raised by her family to support the war in spite of Roku’s position: this means that either Roku’s entire family basically disowned him and sided with Sozin, at least in appearance, or the family was divided in two with only one part rebelling against the throne.

Ursa was raised to support Roku, but she made up her own mind and decided she didn’t like being taught to hate her nation and Sozin was right, in spite of her family’s opinion.

Whatever the case, Ursa eventually just disappeared and no one seems to have made a fuss. So she either didn’t have any family left at that point, or she did but they were so alienated that they didn’t care, or she did but they were too utterly powerless to even demand an explanation.

#ursa #azula #zuko #ozai #atla #the fire nation royals #azulon #roku #iroh #this is long even for me I think #if anon is reading this:#sorry for not replying to your ask #I felt I had to write down my thoughts on her show appearances first #also i'm late but yk real life #if anyone wants to discuss any of this i'm very open #idk if anyone has the energy to read this #there isn't even a particular point #mp

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rachelbethhines · 4 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - Keeper of the Spire

You wouldn’t know it upon first watch, but today’s story is one of the few non-filler episodes of season two.

Summary: In order to acquire the third scroll piece, Rapunzel, Eugene, Cassandra and Lance travel to the home of the Keeper of the Spire and meet Calliope who informs them the third piece is kept inside the Spire’s vault at the top of the mountain. The group begins the long journey to the Spire's vault the following day and become increasingly annoyed by Calliope’s rude, arrogant and inconsiderate behavior. Despite Calliope's treatment, Rapunzel insists they still need her help all while they being dangerously pursued by the vault's protector, the Kurlock. The group eventually reach the Spire's vault, but again encounter the Kurlock and discover Calliope is not the real Keeper of the Spire.

Once Again, ‘Destiny’ Isn’t a Goal

If you want to build up some sort of mystery with the scroll pieces and what awaits Rapunzel at the end of her quest, then that’s fine. But at some point you have to actually explain what her destiny actually is, how the scroll connects to it, and most importantly, why she needs to fulfill it.

We’re never given a reason for why Rapunzel needs to reconnect to the moonstone, nor why she couldn’t have just stayed home and did nothing. The scroll itself doesn’t tell her anything and what it leads up to has nothing to do with ‘destiny’ and ultimately comes to nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Indeed, much like the quest itself, things would have been better for everyone had she not found the scroll at all.

Meet the Best Written Character In the Show

No, I’m not exaggerating. Calliope is the only recurring character in the series not to get royally screwed over by last minute rewrites and poor pacing. In fact her arc may have actually been improved by the dumb creative decisions of season three.

Which is a problem because she’s not a main character. Her story and arc shouldn’t be more well rounded than Rapunzel’s. It’s also clear, given how the writers try to pitt her as annoying thorn in the heroes sides that is only tolerated because she’s useful, that they weren’t expecting the general audience to identify with her, and so her subsequent portrayal as the most developed character in the show is fully accidental.

We Finally Get Some Indication of Cassandra’s Age

Well first off, we probably shouldn’t be getting such information about our deuteragonist this late in the game, but also, putting Cass in her early 20s recontextualizes her arc the same way Varian being 14 recontextualizes his conflict, but in the opposite direction. A 24 year old is more accountable for their actions than a 14 year old. Always will be.

And before people try to get all pedantic on me; yes she’s only 23 here, and Varian is currently 15. What I meant is those are their ages at the start of their villain arcs, because the linear progression of time is a thing.

This Joke Actually Highlights One of the Bigger Problems of Season Two

I laughed when I first heard this joke, but that’s cause I was under the assumption that they would go on to develop a friendship between Cass and Lance as the season went on. But they don’t.

Cass never has any focus episodes that aren’t about her failing relationship with Rapunzel. She never interacts with the other four people that she’s traveling with outside of group scenes like this. Not even with Eugene, who we spent the whole previous season establishing a bond with.

This undermines Cassandra’s arc in several ways. She less well rounded and developed without other people in her life besides Rapunzel; it ignores her place in the show as the older and wiser friend if she’s so majorly co-dependent upon only person. It also ignores what was set up in season one in order to push a certain narrative later that clashes with what we the audience already know.

Plus there’s the added effect of other characters getting poor representation within the story.

So Why Didn’t the Others Come Along Again?

I understand not being able to take the caravan upto the top of the mountain, but the road was wide enough to get it up this far. Also it didn’t take you all day to get here so you could just walk back to camp.

But let's get to the real reason why the caravan was left behind. The writers wanted and excuse to get rid of Hookfoot and Shorty. Because they didn’t want to write them into the story. Because they have nothing to do with the overall plot and together they’re one too many characters to keep up with and give stuff to do to. Which begs the question of why they were ever included into the season at all.

Also why leave Adria behind? She was the one who sent them up here. She’s the one who has a vested interest in getting Rapunzel to the end of her journey. She’s the only one driving the plot at the moment, so why not have her present to do just that?

Rapunzel is a Hypocrite

There’s not a single description that Rapunzel says here that couldn’t be applied to herself.

Which would be funny if the writers ever actually acknowledged this within the series.

Having parallels simply exist on their own and not actually inform the story is bad writing. Same with character flaws; acknowledge them, use them to advance both the plot and the characters, and build off of them to establish character dynamics. This is in part why Calliope is the better written character between the two of them.

Behold, the One and Only Time Lance and Rapunzel Hold a Conversation with One Another!

Speaking of characters not getting enough focus.... It’s just a set up for a recurring gag in the episode, but this is indeed the only point in the series where Lance and Rapunzel talk, about anything.

It’s not just Cass who is prevented from establishing relationships, it’s literally everyone. All of Rapunzel’s focus episodes alternate between Cassandra, Eugene, or a random side character. Cassandra only gets focus when with Rapunzel. Eugene only gets development with either Rapunzel or on his own. Lance is only ever shown interacting with Eugene or Adria, outside of some highly specific one off instances like here. Hookfoot is left out in the cold save for three episodes and two of them double as New Dream folder.

We’ve managed to pair the cast down to only six, as opposed to a whole kingdom’s worth of characters, and yet they have less development here than they did in season one. The group does not feel like a group, and that is a problem.

How is This Meant to be Encouraging?

Ok, I get what the writers were going for here. Calliope has low self esteem. she feels useless because she’s lost her only support group, her mentor. So Rapunzel is ‘inspiring’ her to fulfill her dream of becoming the new keeper of the spire.

However, this is an incredibly bad take.

Calliope lacks self esteem because she’s lonely. Her dream of becoming the keeper is directly tied to her father figure, who up till now was the only person who gave a damn about her. She only wants to impress Rapunzel because she wants a friend and she believes that she needs to be useful in order to get that. And here is Rapunzel and the narrative reinforcing that belief under the guise of ‘achieving a dream’.

No fuck that!

You don’t need to have a ‘purpose’ to have friends.You shouldn’t have to prove yourself useful just be respected and included. Also, Rapunzel doesn’t even befriend her. She just uses Calliope to get what she wants and then avoids her for the rest of the show; only checking up on her out of obligation in season three.

So not only are we denied another female friendship in a show bereft of female relationships, but we also have a character who can be easily read as autistic by the audience needing to prove she’s useful to society in order to be accepted.

Ugh!

And yeah, I said autistic. We have a character who fails to pick up on social cues, hyperfixates upon her special interests, is rejected by society for trying to share these special interests, and she even pulls out her magic linked rings to fiddle with when stressed, which can be coded as a stim. I’m not saying that this was the writers’ intent, but nevertheless these are traits that people on the autism spectrum tend to identify with.

So how insulting is it to watch this episode and see someone you could relate to being constantly put down by the heroes behind their back and then never apologize for it, even when said character admits their own fault?

So Are We Ever Going to Get Any Background on this Spire?

So the spire is one of the few places that is plot important in the show. Yet we never find out why it exists, who built it, how it came to hold such important plot devices, nor the story behind the keepers who guard it. It’s just there, and that’s infuriating because it’s both a lack of much needed worldbuilding and lore.

Still A Better Dad than Frederic

Leaving for months on end without telling you loved ones why and where you’re going is a shitty thing to do. Doubly so if its just to teach your kids ‘a lesson’. However, The Keeper still winds up being a better parental figure than most of the other dads (besides Cap, who is awesome) in the series. That’s how low the bar has been dropped by Chris and his weird ideas on parenting.

So What Was the Lesson Here?

Ok first off, Calliope didn’t need to be reminded of anything. The Keeper says as much. She was always persistent. The only lesson that she does learn is not to lie but apparently that’s not what we’re supposed to take from this episode.

But what are we supposed to take away? Because Rapunzel doesn’t learn anything either. There’s no admittance of wrongdoing on her part and she does not change her outlook or behavior from this encounter.

Calliope at least learns to become more self assured after this episode and remains honest and true to herself once the episode is done with. Rapunzel however is the same. You can’t claim that this is ‘Rapunzel’s story’ (Chris’s words not mine) if it’s only random side characters who are allowed to grow. Which is yet another reason why the main cast of characters don't get the development and interaction that they should.

That’s also why Calliope is better written than the main character and she shouldn’t be. It’s a bewilderingly oversight of basic writing.

Conclusion

I don’t mind this episode. As I said in the beginning, it is one of the few non-filler episodes in season two. However, there’s a lot of problems with it to the point where I can’t actually call it good, just mediocre.

#tangled #anti-tangled #anti-rapunzel #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure

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el-moscorrofio-y-el-mercachifle · 3 years

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Same here: Betty, Marcela, and Armando- The holy trinity lol

Betty has my heart, but I find Marcela and Armando so fascinating and I love unpacking their dysfunctional relationship. There's just so much to discuss and analyze in their dynamic. Their competing egos, the incompatibility in personalities, and general lack of respect for one another, all wrapped with the irony that on paper, and in society's view, they were "perfect for each other". For me though, ultimately, both Armando and Marcela were victims of their own prejudice that was condemning them to settle into a relationship that made them both so unhappy.

Omg yes, in this victimization of Marcela, people fail to recognize how misogynistic she actually was!! Marcela took out all her frustration on not being able to control Armando's infidelity and her denial of how bad their relationship was, on the women that surrounded him, regardless if they engaged with him romantically or not. Her hatred for Betty is the biggest example of that. It's ironic that on paper, Armando hiring Betty as his secretary should have been the best news for somebody as jealous of beautiful women as she was. Yet literally her reason for hating Betty was that Armando was a cheater, even if (at least initially lol) she had nothing to do with that. But there she was, trying to justify her hate in creative ways when it was all rooted in misogyny and resentment towards Armando. Yet, breaking up with him was out of the question. The epitome of this is the scene where Marcela takes Betty out for lunch trying to get information out of her. I mean, she's broken and I genuinely feel for her in this scene, but when she tries to manipulate Betty using the female solidarity card 🙄🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️ AKJSDHAJDK. I CAN'T lol. That's exactly what she never showed Betty, solidarity... not as a woman, not as a professional. and not as a human being. But again, Marcela did have her moments where she was reasonable, showed good judgement as a boss, and it was hard not to root for her in general.

Yes, Armando's parents were terrible. They were terrible to both Armando and Marcela. I've seen criticism of Don Hermes (justified) but at least in Betty's household, she had genuine display of love and affection, even if they did handicap her in some ways with their overprotection. And that's a whole other discussion. But that's what so amazing about the series, it gives way for so much interpretation, perspective, and analysis. For example: Mario Calderon is a terrible human being, the ultimate villain of the series, but also he was almost impossible to hate👀😭🤣.

Lol! The Holy Trinity of Ambiguity and Chaos lol❤️

Same here. I love Betty for her sweet, way-too-innocent personality and her sense of humor (even if it’s more like a mechanism to deal with her insecurities and how much they affect her), but Armando and Marcela are so dark and interesting (although good to notice that Betty herself BECOMES pretty dark aftet she finds the Letter. She becomes just as abusive as Marcela in revenge). Yes, everything in that relationship was so, so wrong!

I’d say a great part of Armando’s and Marcela clinge to each other (Armando’s clinge to Marcela is strange— he “needs” her, can’t let her go because she “represents” a good, stable life dven though in practice it’s chaos, yet at the same time he’s desperately trying to free himself and get a breath of fresh air), more than prejudice itself, it was due to their parents. They have a very strange dynamic, as they both see Roberto and Margarita as their parents, and Roberto and Margarita also treat Marcela and Armando as their children (they constantly call them that), and often blur the lines in the relationship between the two, like that scene the day of the collection in which Claudia Bosch got drunk. That time Armando and Marcela were fighting and angry; it was a couple’s quarrel that could have seriously affected their relationship. But Margarita and Roberto treated it like a pair of little siblings fighting over a toy, and even asked them to hug each other, smile, and “make peace”. That was so, so strange. That was a siblings’ dynamic, not a couple’s. Armando and Marcela grew up together, so we can assume that it’s been this way their whole lives. This just can’t possibly be healthy. Add to that how Margarita was always partly helping Marcela, and partly helping Armando, because in her eyes they were both her children… and on top of it all, the constant drilling into their heads of how they were meant to be together and it was the Mendozas’ and Valencias’ dream to see their children getting married. They were treated like siblings and expected to love each other as a couple. Just weird.

We could also mention that, even though Armando was a womanizer, he only looked for beautiful women of a high status. The kind of woman that, were it not because he’s already with Marcela, his parents would aprove, unlike the poor guy that Camila married and got her exiled from the family. Even Armando’s rebellion and need for freedom restricted to what his family would approve.

Yes! Marcela even laughs at the idea of Betty being Armando’s secretary and mocks him that he’s “presenting symptoms of fidelity”😓 she hated Betty simply for being ugly, and completely disregarded her professional abilities based off her looks… but, funnily enough, she never criticizes or judges Gutierrez for being ugly, nor ever undermines his owrk or authority (except when he was trying to abuse his position to take advantage of Aura Maria). It was just all rooted in mysogyny and classism.

Omggg! Yesss! That scene always irked me. The way she says “we are both women, and we need to be in solidarity of that feeling”. Like, girl, whaaaat? She spent the whole show callinf Betty a thing, an animal, an undefined being, etc. Marcela even told Armando explicitly that she found offensive that Armando believed that she saw Betty as a female rival, and even Armando seems shocked or disgusted for a second there. Marcela genuinely didn’t even see her as a human being. She had her good side (thus why I can’t hate her), and I feel bad for her situation, but it’s important to also highlight her bad attitudes and not hide them under the rug like most of the fandom seems to do 😓😓

Lol, tbh I loooove Mario Calderon. He’s an a-hole, mysogynistic, manipulator, awful “friend”, maquiavelic, cruel, and much more, but he’s soooo funny. He has so much charisma! I can’t help but love his scenes because he always makes me laugh. Ahh, ysblf always finding a way ti make people love very wrong and broken characters😌❤️✨

#betty la fea #ysblf #yo soy betty la fea #armando mendoza #marcela valencia #mario calderon #beatriz pinzon solano #beatriz pinzón solano

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k7l4d4 · 3 years

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Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 5 Part 1

Hello all, I come before you with another chapter of Midnight Striga. Just to let you know, this chapter will mark a shift in the tone of the story. While this shift will not apply to every chapter, and certainly not every scene, things will now move a bit differently. Thank you.

With a sigh, Amity Blight, scion and heir-apparent to Blight Industries, tied back her hair into its usual short tail. And at that, she had officially completed her preparations for today, the day of the Covention. There, she would be presented by her Tutor, Emperor’s Coven Head Lilith, as a standard of excellence. While normally Amity didn’t particularly care to be used as a living advertisement, for a position as prestigious as the Emperor’s Coven, it honestly brought a small smile to her face, a sign that her skills were being acknowledged. Nothing like her mother’s annoying “Private Sales” she had to put up with.

A ding caught her attention. Turning to her scroll, she read off the new message.

Hope it goz great!! Gonna be watching, you rule!!! ~Skara

Amity allowed a soft smile to cross her face. She was surprised, pleasantly so, how much hers and Skara’s relationship had grown. A girl she had originally written off as a mean-spirited bully actually had a lot of depth to her; sure, she was catty, she could be bratty, and was an absolute gossip machine, but she was bright, funny, and always willing to help her. If Amity knew of a way to head back in time, she’d probably try and talk herself out of pushing away Skara. She frowned. Maybe if she had been a better friend to Skara, or at least tried to be a friend at all, Skara wouldn’t be so broken up over Boscha.

Amity scowled at the thought of the three-eyed Witch. She had never had a high opinion of the other girl, she honestly had a high enough opinion about herself for the entire city, but that day, any respect she may have harbored for her died in flames. She snorted at the thought, remembering those strange flames Boscha had been throwing around that day. She had heard the story from Skara, that Boscha wasn’t in her right mind; frankly, Amity didn’t care. Boscha had always been a certain level of difficult, but Skara owed the girl nothing, and still defended even her worst actions.

Boscha was lucky she had been avoiding everyone for the last few days; otherwise, Amity would’ve personally informed her of her… displeasure. Still, today was an important day for her future, no reason to ruin her mood thinking about painful things. Yet, Amity couldn’t help but have her mind wander back to that day; she had humiliated herself, acted rashly, and most likely ostracized herself even further from Willow, and she offended someone she had never even met before because she couldn’t control herself.

Amity’s eyes narrowed. That human girl was an oddity; her kind were not from the Demon Realm, so how did she get here? How did she stop Boscha’s rampage? Amity needed to know. The next time they met, while she would certainly apologize for her conduct, she wasn’t walking away without a guarantee to get answers.

Chomping down on her lighter’s flame, and wasn’t that still a weird thought, Boscha languidly ambled along, having gotten up and ready early so she wouldn’t have to interact with her parents. The Covention was today, one of the biggest events of the year, especially for Hexside Students. Boscha scoffed. She had never really gotten what the big deal was; before, her future was set on the image of being a professional Grudgby player, so the whole Coven thing was an annoying distraction at best. Even now, when she felt lost inside, she didn’t get the full appeal.

Although… she would admit to being rattled from her confrontation in the rain. A shudder crawled up her spine as she recalled the Owl Beast, it’s Witch-like face twisted into an animal’s leer. If something like that came to those who defied the Coven System, not that she necessarily believed it, then she would try to toe the line a bit, at least in public. But, when she recalled that fight, the way her blood pumped, her heart raced, the heady scent of fire filling her nose, she couldn’t fight the feral smile that crawled across her face.

Boscha wanted to fight again. It was something she just knew she had to do. Just thinking about it, the threat of violence and the clashing of strength and skill, made her feel so alive!! But… the screaming would come back if she fought for real, she knew it. She could even hear it now, the screaming, the accusations. Boscha slapped herself, forcing her mind away from the thoughts that were coming.

Still, it was a new day, something she should make the most of. She should probably check out the Covention today, if only to keep word spreading that she was a no-show. She couldn’t help but feel worried though. Would Willow be there? Would Amity? ...Would Skara? Biting her lip, Boscha trudged along, lost in her thoughts, heedless of the eyes in the shadows tracking her every move.

Eda sighed, bored out of her Titan’s damned mind. Business was slow today, but she couldn’t risk the possibility of missing out on a sail, even if it meant having to put up with Luz and King reading those Titan awful books. Seriously, that flowery language was a disgrace to magic!! But… she couldn’t ruin their fun, not after that night. She had just gotten the house all back together, to Hooty’s relief, and Luz had been making sure she had her potion taken every morning before she did anything else. It was sweet of her, if annoying.

Now if only she had something to get through this stupid BOREDOM!!! She let her mind wander to her newest tenant, one who had been rapidly worming her way into Eda’s jaded heart. She wasn’t sure how, but the kid had managed to eek out a soft spot with her, much to her bemusement; maybe it was the little hints of something not being right, the way she clammed up about her past, the oddly large collection of magic books and texts, or the strange injuries she had that, while healed over, seemed to weigh on her at times.

The kid had secrets, and had shared barely nothing about them, but Eda wasn’t one to pry. But if those secrets got her hurt, then even if it made Luz hate her, she’d pry them out and do everything she could to keep Luz safe and hearty. ...Titans, she was going soft!! Better prepare a crime to keep herself nice and tough.

Hello, it looked like they’d have a customer after all! If she wasn’t mistaken, it was that one kid, the human fanatic that came around every so often, what was his name… Goops? Whatever.

“Welcome!” She cheered, putting on her most customer friendly voice. Her eyes scanned the two, taking note of the details, specifically the lack of uniforms even though it was a school day. A chill ran up her spine. “What can I interest you two fine Witchlings in today?” Maybe she was hamming it up a little, but she needed something, dang it!

“Um, actually, Miss Owl Lady,” The girl, a stout thing with a friendly look to her, a noticeable amount of fearful respect in her eyes. Normally, Eda would’ve found it amusing, if she didn’t now have a better understanding of WHY Witchlings looked at her like that. She was going to have words with Lily next time they met. “We actually came to see Luz?”

“Yeah! I would normally LOVE to buy one of your treasures,” The Goops kid said with his usual enthusiasm, if not tinged with disappointment. “But we really have some awesome news to share with Luz!!” He certainly rebounded quickly, Eda would give him that.

Eda opened her mouth to reply, only to close it as Luz came walking up, King trotting at her heels. He was doing that weird breathing thing again, something that helped with those crazy spells of his, and wasn’t that a thought! “Hey, Hexsiders!” Luz smirked cheekily as she walked up. “Willow, Gus, what brings you two here? Isn’t it a school day?” She asked.

“Nope, not today!” Willow cheerfully said, Goops nodding along beside her. “The Covention’s today!!” Ugh, that thing!? No wonder the market was abandoned.

“What’s a Covention?” Luz asked, looking confused, and just a bit bored. Eda was never so proud to see a child wilfully dismissive of authority before!!

“It’s when the Covens put on a big expo to show everyone what they can offer!” Gus cheered. He settled down a bit for his next. “We were wondering if you wanted to come with us?”

And there was the moment Eda needed to start intervening! “Oh no!! No tenant of mine is ever going to set foot in that den of conformist propaganda! Coventions are for people who have no ability to question their lot in life and blindly accept whatever crap that authority spoon-feeds them.” She stated firmly. At the affronted looks of the two kids, and Luz’s own flat look of disapproval, Eda huffed, but relented a little. “No offense to you two.” Hey, she wasn’t going to completely back down!

The girl, Willow, Eda thought, shook it off. “Well, maybe coming will help convince you to find a coven to join!” She said trepidatiously, giving a hesitant smile. Now, ordinarily, Eda would’ve used a spell to mess with her for saying that, but after learning what she had about her reputation… she decided to go with a gentler touch.

Eda sighed. “Look kid, there is no possible way I will ever join a Coven. Even if they forced me, I would literally rather die than be in one,” She stated bluntly, steadfastly ignoring the shocked looks her statement provoked. “I don’t know exactly what you kids have been told about me, not fully at least, but there is nothing a coven can offer me that I might want.”

“B-but a Coven gives you a place to belong!” Goops exclaimed.

“Already got one, it’s called my house.” Eda replied, checking her nails.

“It helps you make friends!” Willow followed up.

“I can do that without a Coven, and the kind of people who would be friends with me wouldn’t care if I was in one or not.” Eda said, summoning a file.

““B-But, But!”” The kids stammered.

“Look.” Eda snapped lightly, trying to hold in her temper. “I don’t need to be in a Coven. I am happier without one, and I always will be happier without one. I’m not gonna force my beliefs onto others, however much I might want to sometimes, so the least you two could do is respect mine, okay?” She finished softly. The two meekly nodded.

“I think we should go.” Luz offhandedly mentioned, piping up for the first time since the back and forth started.

“””What!?””” The three shouted, Willow and Gus in glee, Eda in shock.

“Yeah, we’ve got nothing better to do,” Luz shrugged, gesturing to the abandoned market around them, before continuing, “And it gives me an opportunity to check out more of the Isles. And Eda, are you seriously gonna pass up the chance to shake down a bunch of Coven Stands for everything you can get?” She grinned, arching an eyebrow in challenge.

“Using my pride against me, eh?” Eda mused, before snapping her fingers. “Ah nuts, you sold me. But,” she drawled, shooting a look at the two Witchlings, “Absolutely no talk of convincing me to join a Coven, got it?” She said gravely, getting rapid nods from the two. Eh, Eda was willing to milk her worse-than-realized rep for as long as she could.

As the group set off, they were utterly ignorant of the rustling in the trees behind them.

A bloody scream ripped through the Guard’s throat. Why was this happening!? He was just doing his job!! Did these psychos not realize who they were challenging going after a guard like this??

“Quiet.” A gravelly voice, like stone shattering and scraping against steel, drawled from the dark, twisting the knife stabbed into the guard’s ribs. He screamed again, only to be cut off by a hard slap against his mask, so strong he felt his jaw loosen. “We don’t want to hear a peep from you unless it is to answer our questions.”

“DO YOU NOT REALIZE WHAT YOU’RE DOING!?” The Guard demanded, fighting through the pain. “I am a member of the Emperor’s Coven!! If my body turns up with obvious signs of torture like this, the Coven will rip you to shreds for trying to challenge them!!” There… maybe that would get them to comprehend their position!!!

The shadowed group paused, as if in contemplation of his words. Then, one of them snickered, then another, and another. And the entire crowd, a veritable army really, started laughing to the heavens, as if what he had said was the funniest joke in the world, fit only for the Titan’s ears.

“Gilihihihihihi!!” An oily, sickly voice laughed from the shadows. “As if any of these backwater weaklings could challenge us?” A note of hysterical madness crept into the stretched out figure’s voice, when suddenly, his long thin arms darted forward. For a moment, the guard didn’t realize what had happened, until a familiar wetness dripped down his palm. He screamed. Giggling, the figure stretched his hand out of the shadows; resting in his palm, were four of the guard’s severed fingers, ripped directly off his hand. The figure lightly tossed the digits up and down… and threw them back down his gullet, a sick laugh ripping out of his throat after he finished swallowing and chewing the bits.

“Now, now, we need him alive to answer our questions, gentlemen.” Another voice peaked out of the dark, this one smooth, polite, and as cold as the coldest nights on the Knee. “We wouldn’t want him to feel stubborn enough to deny us, now would we?” The cold voice chided, getting solemn nods from the other two figures nearest to the guard, almost like children being scolded by their parent. “Now, my good man, we’ve been at this for hours! You’ve resisted our attempts at bribery, even spat into the faces of my soldiers. Why, we even had to remove that left eye of yours to make you realize we weren’t bluffing!” He proclaimed, holding up the eye in question, the guard’s own familiar tawny coloring staring back at him. The figure bent down, smirking. “Now, just tell us what we wish to know, and your suffering will come to an end, okay? Otherwise…” he sighed, gesturing to the chuckling figures behind him, many hoisting up cruel instruments, such as hooks and skinning knives, all aimed towards him. “We’ll have to use you as a message for the next guard.” He finished ominously.

“N-next!?” The guard whimpered, finally realizing they were willing to kill him, to torture him to death for what they wanted to know. And just like that, all the wind left his sails, his resistance crumbled. “I’ll tell you.” He whispered. “Anything I know. Ask away. If I know, I will tell you.”

“Good.” The figure smirked. As he rapidly rattled off his questions, gesturing to his cohorts to record the guard’s answers, his smirk grew more and more as the guard answered in detail. About the Covention. About the special guest. About all the people who came to see it. About what it meant for the Emperor’s Coven. “Thank you, my good man.” He sincerely stated. Then, without preamble, he slashed his dagger across the guard’s throat, relishing the shocked horror and betrayal as the life fled his eyes as his blood poured down his front. He could even divine the question. Why? “I said your suffering would end.” He whispered to the soon-to-be-corpse. “I never said you would live.” And with that, a look of utter despair coated the foolish guard’s eyes… and they turned lifeless.

Tossing his knife to the figure who had eaten the guards fingers, ignoring the sound of the blood being licked off the blade, he calmly ordered his men to move, the large group mobilizing around him. As they exited the dilapidated castle they had appropriated from the recent demise of that rotten Octopus, he grinned in satisfaction as strategically placed flames went off, consuming the structure, and any trace he and his organization were ever there. ‘We shall devour this world.’ He thought, chuckling darkly. ‘And not even their precious Titan and Emperor will be able to stand against us.’

#the owl house #fairy tail #owl house au #fairy tail au #owl house crossover #fairy tail crossover #amity blight #luz noceda #gus porter #willow park #eda clawthorne #boscha the owl house #trigger warning violence #trigger warning torture #magic

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wxldchxld · 3 years

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Beck and Nat ❤️

Send me a ship and I'll tell you...

Who worries about how they will look when they’re older:

I'm don't think either of them will? Nat and Beck both age abnormally. Like I don't remember exactly what you've said about Nat but Beck is essentially immortal, and witches have always had a different way of aging/changing their appearance magically. Like technically until Beck goes feral she might age slightly, but probably never drastically. And I haven't really decided when Beck will end up going feral in this verse, but it would very likely be tied to Nat's death. Generally in situations where Beck has found love and "settled down" she tends to gain enough faith in humanity and a strong enough connection to her lover to stick around indefinitely. But when they die she will slowly begin the process of moving on. That's when her age will show much more prominently but by that point Beck is beyond caring.

Who makes the mix tapes/cd’s:

God they have such a strange life that I don't even know how like applicable this question is to them. I'm not sure where Nat stands on modern music and she certainly doesn't seem the type to make cheesy mixed tapes. Beck on the other hand adores music with every fiber of her being---but you get a device capable of making a tape/cd within 1000 miles of her and she's booking it. But Beck probably does have an internal list of songs that make her think of Nat and that she probably either sings to Nat or just sings in general (especially when Nat's away) because they make her think of Nat.

Clings to the other during scary movies:

Maybe Beck? On the rare occasion you convince her to sit still long enough to even watch a movie. She probably does it solely to sit close to Natasha. I do not think Natasha gets scared of movies lol.

Gets into the shower with the other randomly:

Beck would want to, but I think you would have to remove the randomization from it and it would be either very late into their relationship and after a very explicit talk about consent. Beck knows that Nat is the kind of person that often needs space and dislikes surprises/vulnerability.

Rather than randomly hopping into showers she wasn't invited to, Beck would probably either hint or outright ask if Nat wanted to shower with her, because Beck is the one that really doesn't have any boundaries in that regard.

Flashes the other when they walk by after taking a shower alone:

I mean I know Beck does, but does it count as flashing when she walks around half dressed or entirely naked half the time anyway? Nat might when they get more comfortable if she's being cheeky idk.

Initiates hand holding while the other is driving:

I hate to keep saying this but especially right now Beck just doesn't know how ok Natasha is with physical contact and while she deeply craves it, she isn't going to spring things on Nat. Partly out of respect but also because I think it would crush her to be rejected by Natasha. She already is kinda terrified by what she feels is Nat's lack of attraction to her because again, that's something she deeply craves from others especially her lovers. She also knows she's got a deep connection to Nat and even at the beginning of the relationship really likes her. I don't think Beck could handle it if she found out she was right about these things especially through some form of rejection. So she mostly sits back and contents herself with inviting Nat into activities in a casual way where she can't get her feelings hurt.

Secretly tries to touch the other in naughty places during public/family events:

I don't think this will be happening LOL. The only touching at family events is Beck desperately trying to keep hold of Nat so that she doesn't stab her brother in the eye because he said something stupid.

Asks weird questions in the middle of the night:

Beck does. And like given that weird is subjective Nat probably does too. Like if Beck is out in the pond in the middle of the night and Nat starts asking her what she's doing, Beck is going to think that's strange.

Asks “what are you thinking about?”:

Beck probably. Nat doesn't have to ask, Beck's usually the chatty one of the two.

Always has to be touching the other, (if either of them do):

Beck would love to always be touching Nat lmao but she behaves herself.

#half of this felt like a cop out but i wasn't sure #x.x so i'm sorry if this is awful/disappointing #bokketo

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talktalktalk · 3 years

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Penny Polendina: Robot Rep

Robots as representation has seen a lot of use throughout media, to varying degrees of success. Sometimes it is fairly explicit in the narrative, others it is more subtle. Often it is borderline impossible to determine whether intentional or not, such is the popularity of this trope.

RWBY has made attempts at representing marginalized groups over its run, similarly to varying degrees of success. One character, the focus of this post, is Penny Polendina, a robot girl who, while not explicitly confirmed by the writers of the show, is seen by some fandom members as a source of representation, most commonly as neurodivergent or transgender (usually nonbinary), but also as aro-spec or a-spec.

This post will be a collection of my thoughts, as a member of multiple of the above mentioned demographics, against Penny as a source of representation, as well as a few reasons behind these thoughts.

Contents

Who is Penny Polendina? (a summary of her story from Volumes 1-7)

Robots as Representation (in general)

Case-specific Additions (for Penny in particular)

Closing Thoughts

Who is Penny Polendina?

Penny is introduced fairly late in Volume 1 when Team RWBY quite literally runs into her. The group exchange greetings and names, though not before Yang asks her if she’s “sure she didn’t hit her head.” As they leave, Ruby offhandedly calls her “friend,” leading Penny to ask her curiously if she truly is a friend. Ruby agrees (to her teammates’ dismay) and Penny grows very excited at the confirmation.

Subsequent meetings with Penny, many of them by pure coincidence, reveal more about her character. She states that she doesn’t have a lot of friends, that she has never been to another kingdom before, and that her father, worried for her safety, did not want her to venture out too much during her time in Vale. Perhaps most notably, she tells Ruby in confidence that she is “not a real girl,” but rather a synthetic person built by her father (later revealed to be named Pietro Polendina). Ruby insists that she has both a heart and a soul, to which Penny becomes overjoyed and hugs her tightly.

In Volume 3, Penny is competing against Pyrrha in the Vytal Tournament when tragedy strikes. Emerald uses her semblance to trick Pyrrha into destroying Penny, slicing her into pieces with her own weapon, killing her and revealing her secret to the whole world. The villains use Penny’s death to incite panic and fear, and the Fall of Beacon ensues.

Penny is not seen for a long time following her death, but in Volume 7 she has been brought back, her robotic core recovered and a new body built. Her chassis and weapons are upgraded, and, remarkably, she shows little initial change in personality from her brutal death in Amity Arena. Penny remains largely the same earnest, slightly-naive girl who she was before the events of the Fall, still just as curious and excitable as ever.

Penny continues to play a part of multiple major events in Volume 7, namely the Council Election and Winter Maiden plotlines.

The former sees her framed for murder by Tyrian and Watts, and subsequent scenes reveal new things about the nature of her construction. When Ruby asks why Pietro is concerned for Penny’s safety, stating that “[e]ven if the worst does happen, [he] can always reactivate her,” Pietro reveals that her aura is actually given from his own reserves, and as such, with every reconstruction she grows more difficult to rebuild.

The latter plotline features her in relation to Winter, who is slated to take on the Maiden powers after the current holder, Fria. Winter states in previous scenes that she dislikes how she allows her emotions to get the better of her, at first stating that Penny wouldn’t understand but then attempting to apologize and clarify her poor wording. Later, during a battle with Cinder, the Winter Maiden surrounds herself in a whirlwind of freezing air, fast enough to rip Winter’s gloves from her hands and cold enough to leave ice burns on her fingers. Penny, seeing this, decides to dive in, relying on her leg-mounted rockets and synthetic skin to soldier through the dangerous conditions. This, combined with Winter’s efforts to hold back Cinder, allow Penny to secure the Maiden powers, taking them up herself.

Robots as Representation

Robots are a powerful tool for tropes because they are in most cases created as imitations of life, most commonly humanity. Combined with sentience or even simply heightened degrees of knowledge/adaptability compared to real world robots, this allows for many philosophical questions to build off for subplots (what is a person, what is emotion, etc.) However, the same factor that makes a robot such a good exploration into what defines humanity simultaneously makes them such a poor allegory for marginalized groups.

Real world bigotry is between humans, from one group of humans to another based on superficial differences. All parties involved are the same species with the same key makeup. Bigots often insist that groups are different in some fundamental way that makes them the enemy or the outsider, a strategy to rationalize their bigotry when in reality, no such fundamental differences exist. All people are all human, all people deserve the respect and dignity of a human being.

With a robot, however, the definition of “human” can get blurry. Robots are, at their core, imitations. Depending on the media, this could mean, for instance, operating on different logical principles, or that possessing physical traits, internal or external, that mark them as definedly not human. This blurring of the lines is good thing for “what is humanity” plotline, but an incredibly bad one for representation. This is in especially poor taste when the groups that said robot is often supposed to be representing (a-spec, aro-spec, neurodivergent, and/or nonbinary) are frequently referred to as “robotic” as an insult. It is used to dehumanize us, to insinuate we are lacking in something that would otherwise make us more.

There is also the issue of context. This trope being as widespread as it is, some traits in a robot are markedly “human” while others are markedly not. Generally, these traits include the ability to articulate emotion, the ability to take things figuratively, feelings of attraction (platonic, romantic, sexual), and others. These, coincidentally, all line up with the very same groups robots are most often coded to represent. Some neurodivergent people have difficulty articulating their emotions or understanding subtext. Some aro-spec or a-spec people do not feel romantic or sexual attraction, respectively. Robots like the Terminator, who shows little emotion and frequently takes things too literally, are generally seen as less “human” than a robot who clearly articulates their emotion (i.e. Transformers, the Iron Giant, Wall-E, etc.)

Allegories, for all their versatility, always go both ways. Comparing a real-world minority to a definedly inhuman character may grant said group some much-needed spotlight in media, but it can just as easily lead to the audience drawing conclusions that said minority can be likened to robots, or at the very least that the author/showrunners believe said minority can be likened to robots.

Case-Specific Additions

Penny Polendina’s plotlines lend themselves to some specific facets of the allegory for marginalized groups. Firstly, her arc is primarily about what makes a “real girl.” This is a point in her direction, as it puts the idea that she is a person front and center.

Unfortunately, this is likely the only point in her favor. Starting from her very first outing, Yang refers to her as “weird,” Weiss voices skepticism about her ability, and Ruby is urged by all of her teammates to deny that Penny is a friend. The issue here is, first and foremost, that none of these reactions are framed as bad by the story. If anything, they are barely acknowledged at all. This lends itself to the notion that it is okay to treat people who are different than you in such a way, which is not a good message for representation.

In Volume 3, perhaps the most egregious instance, she is quite literally ripped apart on live television, her secret revealed to the world against her will. This not only results in her death, but in the deaths of many others due to the Fall of Beacon. Beyond the brutality of this scene and the message it sends through the lens of representation (being unwillingly “outed,” violently murdered, and used as a tool for further violence and death), it also created the Volume 7 conundrum of her being brought back to life.

Morbid as it sounds, mortality is one of the things that ties all humans together. Death is permanent and tragic, but one could argue it is integral to the human experience. Penny, however, defies this with her resurrection, not by magic nor miracle, but by virtue of her robotic core being retrieved and a body being rebuilt around it. The story tries to rectify this by saying that Pietro can’t restore her forever, but this does not actually put a hard limit on the number of times she can be brought back. It simply puts a limit on the number of times Pietro alone can bring her back; anyone with a reserve could theoretically donate the needed aura to rebuild Penny should she be destroyed again (provided her core is retrievable).

Finally, the end of Volume 7 sees her claim the Maiden powers. While it seems the narrative attempts to frame this as a confirmation that she is a real girl, the context surrounding that same scene shows otherwise. The howling vortex of freezing wind was shown to be too strong and too dangerous for a flesh-and-blood human to reach through, tearing apart Winter’s gloves and freezer-burning her fingers when she attempted. Penny’s ability to penetrate this whirlwind was not thanks to her supposed humanity, but thanks to the upgrades to her chassis that included both strengthened synthetic skin and rocket boosters on her legs. Both were only added during her reconstruction, which was only possible due to her robotic nature. Penny’s storyline in Volume 7 renders the foundations of her humanity-based plotline shaky at best, contradictory at worst. Unfortunately, this leaves her with more negatives than positives.

Closing Thoughts

In summary, robotic characters are generally a good way to explore what it means to be a person, but due to the dual-edged nature of allegory, they often make poor allegories for marginalized groups. Ways to rectify this would be making an explicitly human character also a member of the demographic(s) the robotic character is a part of, though that requires at the very least some form of confirmation from the writers, which as of now, has not been given.

Of course, these are just my opinions on the matter, but if you have not scrolled past or clicked away already I hope that you take my points into consideration when making your own opinions and/or headcanons. Please also note that my thoughts on Penny as poor representation do not reflect my thoughts on her as a character, nor are they intended as an attack on those who like her. Finally, please remember that Penny is not (as of yet) canonically confirmed to be a member of any of these groups.

As much as I would like to see myself and my demographics represented in the show, I simply believe that Penny Polendina is not the best way to go about it.

#rwde #maybe?#idk but i'm playing it safe here #penny polendina #rambles

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