Tumgik
#honestly i think i should be given a little credit for my coloring sometimes since i'm never shown accurate colors.
nguyenfinity · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
diamond dust
15 notes · View notes
nostalgicatsea · 4 years
Text
Racism in the Marvel fandom as seen through the number of fanworks per M/M ship on AO3
I talked about this on Twitter, but I'm posting it here with tweaks and additions.
A couple of notes about the ship selection process:
I focused on M/M ships here as they're the biggest and most common on AO3 overall and, for the most part, the Marvel fandom
I put aside my personal feelings, so the following selection ranges from my OTP and ships I like to ships I dislike or am squicked by and NOTPs. The big ships and crack/niche ships are ones that have the most popular male characters or I’ve seen come up the most often, but I'm sure the pattern is consistent with more minor characters and subfandoms with fewer works
I focused on ships that exist in the MCU (film side only, no TV), only or in addition to other universes, just to simplify things. The MCU fandom is the biggest, and it gets complicated once you throw in other universes considering the vastness of the Marvel multiverse
I looked at the overall fanwork count for the ships rather than fanworks for that ship in the MCU tag as people tend to miscategorize their works
As of 6/19/20:
AO3 fanworks of big MCU/MCU-based ships: 
Steve/Bucky: 50,501 
Steve/Tony: 36,638 
Loki/Thor: 13,071
Clint/Coulson: 10,940
Loki/Tony: 9,880
Bucky/Tony: 7,504
Spideypool: 7,271
Starker: 6,073 
Ironstrange: 4,844 
Bruce/Tony: 4,734
Bucky/Clint: 3,841
Stuckony: 2,331
AO3 fanworks of MCU/MCU-based ships with 1 or more POC where the characters interact a few times, have meaningful relationships with each other, or have genuine or crack potential: 
Sam/Bucky: 3,023
Steve/Sam: 2,908
Rhodey/Tony: 1,434
Erik/T'Challa: 578 
Ned/Peter: 429
Coulson/Fury: 264
M'Baku/T'Challa: 155 
Rhodey/Sam: 149
Strange/Wong: 82 
Heimdall/Thor: 50
Scott/Jimmy Woo: 36
Scott/Luis: 24
Fury/Pierce: 16 (fandom is also ageist)
The disparity between the two lists is particularly egregious when you consider:
Clint and Coulson had 17 seconds of dialogue and 7 lines with each other and never interacted again after Thor. This is a generous estimate as I included pauses
Loki and Tony haven't interacted since The Avengers 
The only time Bucky and Tony as a duo and Steve, Bucky, Tony as a trio interact is in the bunker in Siberia
Spideypool includes a character who isn't even in the MCU
Ironstrange didn't exist or really exist in MCU fanworks before 2018, and Tony and Strange only communicate once in their second movie together, with Strange holding up his finger silently 
Bucky and Clint never interact with each other
I’ll be focusing on the Captain America, Avengers, and Iron Man subfandoms first as those are the three biggest in the MCU. Before I start, here's my thread from last year about some of the ships I’ll be mentioning. 
Okay. How does Bucky/Tony have 6,070 more fanworks than Rhodey/Tony and 4,481 more than Sam/Bucky and Bucky/Clint have 818 more than Sam/Bucky? How do Loki/Tony and Ironstrange have 8,446 and 3,410 more fanworks than Rhodey/Tony, respectively, and Stuckony almost as many as Steve/Sam?
The gap is especially glaring when you compare Steve/Bucky and Steve/Tony to Steve/Sam, Sam/Bucky, and Rhodey/Tony; however, though it's important to point out that wide gulf, I lose my mind more over the fact that ships with white characters who have never interacted or only exchanged a few lines (Clint/Coulson never even STAND IN THE SAME ROOM, and they're one of the top ships!) have more fanworks than ships with POC who do or have potential. 
I will point out that at least with the MCU Spider-Man and Black Panther fandoms, you do see some diversity with their big ships (I’m including some M/F ships here to make a point in the next paragraph). MJ/Peter has 3,518 fanworks, and in addition to the two T’Challa ships above, Nakia/T’Challa has 286, MJ/Shuri 220, Bucky/Shuri 210, and Peter/Shuri 140 (Black Panther is a much smaller fandom, but some ship numbers are higher if you put BP and non-BP characters together, e.g., Tony/T’Challa (405) and Bucky/T’Challa (345). 
It's important to note, however, that these two films are significantly more racially diverse than all other MCU films; in fact, they're very much the outliers. These ships and Ned/Peter are also heavy indicators of racism in this fandom. These numbers are very low compared to the big ships, and there are fewer works for these fandoms especially in BP’s case. Additionally, ships with white non-BP characters rank second, third, sixth, and eighth in the fandom (Bucky isn’t a BP character as he is only in the post-credits scene). Nakia/T’Challa is canon but outranked by Tony/T’Challa and Bucky/T’Challa, and all other ships with only BP characters, not listed here as the numbers are much lower other than M’Baku/T’Challa (second-lowest among the listed), are outranked by all the ships with white non-BP characters. 
To sum up everything I said above:
white M/M ships are extremely overrepresented by a huge margin, even if they have little to no canonical basis
interracial ships are poorly represented even if the characters have meaningful relationships or potential (and even if they clearly have all the traits that would ensure that they would be a big ship had the character of color been white)
the ships with the least representation by a longggggg mile are ones that involve only POC. Their fanwork count is, aside from Erik/T’Challa (578), in the low 100s and 200s. Countless ships are below the 100 mark. 
If you want to make this even more infuriating, here's a random selection of white (or in one case, AI) crack ships and ships that are more niche that I’ve seen to compare to the ships of color above: 
Clint/Tony: 1,423
Loki/Steve: 1,251 
Clint/Steve: 986 
Bucky/Rumlow: 984 
Clint/Pietro: 837 
Hydrahusbands: 770 
Grandmaster/Loki: 633 
Steve/Rumlow: 547 
Steve/Howard: 457 
JARVIS/Tony: 414
And just for the hell of it because Darcy, a minor character who appears in only two movies and last appeared in 2013, shows up all the time in MCU fanworks (17,004 (these include ones where she’s not paired with anyone)) and is probably one of the top three or four little black dresses/fandom bicycles: 
Darcy/Steve: 3,013
Darcy/Bucky: 2,640
Darcy/Loki: 1,558
Darcy/Clint: 1,107
Darcy/Steve/Bucky: 676
Darcy/Tony: 326
The Darcy situation is a post for another day (she has more fanworks than all other female characters except ~3 women), but in the context of this post, it’s absurd that nearly all of the non-canonical ships above which feature characters whom Darcy has never interacted with (I don’t even remember if Darcy interacted with Loki) have more fanworks than the listed ships of color.
That said, if you like the aforementioned white M/M ships, even if they have little to no canonical basis, that's okay. Anything goes in fandom. It IS a problem, though, if you have more than one ship, but ALL of them are white M/M ships or, if you like F/F and M/F, those are also all white. If you only create and consume works for a single ship, which a good number of people do (many people only get into a fandom because of an OTP!), it's fine if it's a white M/M ship. Honestly, it’s not that surprising either considering most of the screen time and meaty development is given to white characters because of racism (that's a post for another day). However, it IS a problem if most or all of your other ships across your current and previous fandoms are white—and if the only media you consume is predominantly or all white.
This post is longer than planned, but tl;dr, fandom has a racism problem which is nothing new, and we should all examine the following and see and remedy any implicit biases that we have:
our feelings about different characters and relationships, both platonic and romantic
our decision whether or not to seek or make content with characters of color. This includes content with your white ships that have POC in the work because sometimes every other white character in the MCU show up except them or all of them play bigger roles than the POC despite their relationship with the protagonist(s)
the way we interpret and write/draw those characters. For example, is Sam a yes-man? An unofficial or official therapist for white friends? The bro who cracks jokes and/or gives sage advice but seems to not have any flaws, struggles, or life of his own outside of his white friends? The BFF who thinks his white best friend is being dumb about another white guy and wants them to get their act together already?)
1K notes · View notes
cyhyr · 3 years
Text
Whumpmas In July: "I Can't"
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: E
Pairing: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka; Mizuki/Umino Iruka
WC: ~4990
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Notes: Deception, Drugging, Prison Break, Dissociation, Rough Oral Sex, Conditioning, Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Character Death, Triggers, Hair-pulling, Violence, Kidnapping
A/N: This story follows a Non-Linear Narrative, for the most part.
A sequel to “Secret”
For @whumpmasinjuly prompt list
Read on The Archive
~
The day Umino Iruka walked into the clinic seeking therapy was the day Rikona changed her plans to fit her new narrative. Sure, she’d been next and available to take patients, standing right at the check-in desk as he filled out his paperwork; and normally, there was a day or two in-between registration and the first session, just so the team of psychiatrists and therapists could best review the potential case and match the best team with the patient. But none of that mattered. She was going to take Umino Iruka, and as soon as he finished filing his intake forms, she took the thin folder right out of Aiko’s hands.
“Right this way, Umino-sensei.”
“I prefer to be addressed with my given name,” he said on the walk to her office.
“Of course, Iruka-sensei. I’m Rikona.”
It’s so simple to establish a baseline with Umino. He wants to tell someone about his story, he wants to get better, but he doesn’t have the words for it and he doesn't know how to get there. She gently prompts him along, learning his past and keeping him from dissociating—she finds out in the first session that good is not a word Iruka can hear in certain contexts. She discovers trauma hidden in every corner of his life, coloring every interaction he’s had since he was eleven. She hears about Naruto and how Iruka’s as good as adopted him, even if the village won’t let it be official; and about Kakashi, the partner who suggested Iruka seek out counseling, yet forgoes his own mental health.
Really, it’s not hard to understand him.
So they have a couple of sessions and it’s working well. She’s getting to know him, while at the same time getting him to trust her and tell her more about his story.
But after only a few sessions, he is captured and tortured and she has to make a hospital visit when he's inevitably brought home—by none other than Hatake Kakashi. And of course, Hatake doesn’t leave his side throughout the hospital stay except for required psychiatric consults. Umino comes out the other side of his captivity with minor injuries and almost no backslide on his mental health progress.
Rikona gives herself much of the credit for that. To Hatake, she initially gives a modicum of a nod; he’s certainly present.
~
Iruka trips for the third time in almost as many minutes, and puts a palm to his temple. “Rikona-sensei, is there somewhere I can sit down for a moment?”
She looks back at him, brows raised. “Another dizzy spell?”
He nods.
Rikona leads him to a bench and lets him sit, guiding his head to rest in his palms, his elbows braced on his thighs. She had said that they were going to go straight to the Hokage Tower, but the hospital never felt this far away before. It feels like he’s been walking for over an hour.
“How much longer to the Tower?” he asks.
“Not too much,” she says. “Ten minutes.”
That. That doesn't sound right. The hospital is only a fifteen minute walk from the Tower. Why have they been walking for so long?
He lifts his head and looks around, but the wooded park they’re in looks like any other in Konoha. “Rikona-sensei, why are we in a park?”
“You asked for a little time to make sure the medication I gave you is in full effect before speaking to Tsunade-sama,” Rikona answers quickly. “Do you not remember?”
The world is still spinning. He carefully shakes his head before putting his head back down. “Are these dizzy spells also a side-effect?”
“Unfortunately, yes. You may have to just power through them.”
Iruka groans. “Okay, let’s keep going, then.”
Rikona offers her hand to help him stand, and her elbow to keep him steady as they walk.
The trees go by.
The sounds of the village fade away.
~
And then they find out that the Sato event traumatized Hatake. And honestly? She kept her cool in the meeting, but that night when she’s home, she has herself a good laugh. The man went and got himself traumatized over someone who he’s been manipulating for months, if not years? She’s not heard of a successful Reverse Stockholm syndrome; it’s hilarious.
But she also harbors a deep-set anger because it was under Hatake’s watch that Umino went and took that mission—he’s not an active field agent, shouldn’t be in the field, it should have never happened. It was under Hatake’s watch that the Sato incident occurred.
And then Umino talks about moving. And Rikona knows. This is the time. He’s asking for her advice, blushing as he talks about someday asking Hatake to move in together. But Hatake’s influence has been nothing positive and she knows exactly who Umino should be seeing instead.
She knows because she’s been covering for his usual therapist for over seven months and she’s a professional. She knows how to recognize abusers, manipulators. She can form an emotional connection with a carrot if it needs therapy—she’s good.
So when Mizuki tells her about his old boyfriend, this wonderful man he misses so dearly, who has never once visited him in prison; Rikona resolves to be the one to help this man, her patient, receive closure at the least—or reunite long lost lovers at best.
She knows she’s making the right decision. She knows Mizuki is good for Iruka. She knows because when she told him about what happened to Umino, she could hear his heart break.
“That’s why I never let Iruka take missions without me, see? Because I knew things like this could happen, and I care about him—Rikona, I care so very much—I could never have forgiven myself if something like this had happened to him while we were together.”
And no one can fake that tone, those heart-wrenching sobs, the tears, oh gods the tears.
Together they make a plan. And she’s so happy to help him, so happy that she’s essential to his reunion with Umino. Mizuki says it himself; without her, the plan could never be implemented. She even lets him write the first letter, so Umino can hear his words straight from his own hand.
And on her way out of the prison that day, she grabs a few forms, and some extra envelopes, and if one happens to be a request for a conjugal visit, well… Mizuki’s been alone for so long. The least Umino can do is reconsider.
...
(She didn’t know what that first letter said until Iruka-sensei brought it to her office, feeling like he could dissociate at any moment and experiencing a moderate anxiety attack. When she read it, she felt a sting of doubt, like maybe Mizuki wasn’t how she’d diagnosed him. But then she remembers Hatake, and how Mizuki says he changes things to fit his stories; and she realizes that this note must have been tampered with before it reached Iruka-sensei.)
~
The prison break for one goes like this.
It starts seven months prior, with the head psychiatrist for the hospital getting swamped with paperwork and a sudden flood of new patients, and it’s only her, Rikona, and one other therapist working the clinic lately. Tomi-sensei asks—practically begs—Rikona to take her prison shift on Fridays, that they’ll shut down the clinic except for emergencies. It’s only until further notice, only until Tomi-sensei can hire another psychiatrist, or at least another therapist.
When Rikona gets to the prison, the guard is wary at first—she'd already been there that week—but after a quick explanation he waves her through. She's been treating inmates in the East Wing for months prior, so she knows her way through security. But Tomi-sensei treats inmates in the West Wing. Three inmates, specifically.
The first she sees for an hour and a half. The first half hour is talk therapy, the last hour she oversees his electroconvulsive therapy. The second receives a cocktail of anti-psychotics, mood stabilizers, a tranquilizer, and extra medicine to help with the side-effects of all these. Then, Rikona sits with them and talks for an hour. After that, she breaks for lunch. Finally, the third inmate of the West Wing; who receives one large dose of a mood stabilizer, and two hours of therapy.
Two hours a week, for seven months. Sometimes she stays later if the story he’s telling is particularly riveting, and she thinks that his telling of the story will help him.
But at the end of the day, she signs off on all three patients, carefully writing Tomi-sensei’s name in place of her own. Tomi trusts her judgement, and her conscience is clear. All three patients are steadily improving, some at slower paces, but improvement nonetheless. Rikona bills the hours in her own name, though; Tomi can take the credit for their health, but she needs to pay her mortgage.
So it’s easy to check out one of the East Wing prisoners for electroconvulsive therapy that Monday when she heads in. And she’s been working in the prison for years, so security knows her, and the East Wing prisoners are minimum security risks anyway—Rikona, thin and small as she is, picks an old woman to lead to therapy. And if the room for electroconvulsive therapy is in the West Wing, well security knows that Rikona knows her way around there, too.
The old woman is feeble, slow, gentle. The prison system broke her years ago. The poor thing doesn’t need to be shocked into submission. That’s not why Rikona brought her along.
There’s a seal she knows—the only advanced bit of chakra use she ever learned, before she determined that the shinobi way wasn’t her way—which can render a person invisible for a short time. She knows that the loss of his ability to mold chakra is very hard on Mizuki, and so when she leads the old woman into his cell and gives him the premade seal, she returns the grin he gives her.
“It’s time,” she says.
“You have him?”
“He’s all yours, Mizuki. You just have to promise to be careful. Whatever’s been done, he’s—”
“Rikona-sensei, I could never hurt him.” She presses the tag to his chest and he disappears.
She closes the door to the cell, leaving the woman in there alone, and walks away.
Confidently, she strides through the halls of the prison. She waves to the security personnel she knows. And then she gets back to the woman’s cell, and pushes another tag onto it—one to keep the door locked for good. They won’t be realizing that she’s gone for hours, if not days. They only use the flap at the bottom of the door to push her meals inside, and the tag leaves that part alone, she makes sure of it.
She toes it, just a little, just to be sure. It sways.
Rikona walks out the front doors, Mizuki a silent, invisible presence behind her.
~
Does she feel bad for lying to her client?
Gods, yes.
But it’s for his own good.
Hatake is a terrible, manipulative elitist. He doesn’t deserve someone like Iruka-sensei.
They’re five minutes from her home, a wooden cabin she maintains deep in the forests outside of the village. It’s there that the medication takes full effect and Iruka-sensei collapses. She’s so much smaller than him, and he’s heavier than he looks, but she pulls him onto her back and drags his feet along the ground and up the stone steps and into the house.
She’s careful, laying him down on the rug in front of the fireplace. It’s warm, so she doesn’t feel the need to start a fire. He’ll stay unconscious for a few hours, just until after sunset. She puts a blanket within reach, just in case he wakes up before they get back.
And then she leaves to collect Mizuki.
~
Kakashi doesn’t know how to explain it.
But something’s wrong.
There’s an odd scent in the air.
He had been heading to Iruka’s house, but he sighs and turns around to head back to the Tower. He’s still not going to take that mission, but he needs to talk to Tsunade.
~
Rikona watches as Mizuki strokes Iruka’s face tenderly. She’s making dinner in the kitchen and they’re laying side-by-side on the rug in front of the fireplace, now lit and warming the cabin. Her heart swells to see them together again after all this time, and she hopes that Hatake hasn’t poisoned Iruka-sensei’s memories so much that he can’t remember the good times he had with Mizuki.
They look good together.
Iruka-sensei hasn’t woken up yet, but she checked his vitals when they came back and he’s coming back to himself. They had pulled his vest and weapons off of him and set them on the couch once they got back, so he could lay more comfortably. He should wake any minute.
~
“A bad feeling?”
“A bad scent.”
“Like an intruder?”
“I don’t know. Very likely.”
Tsunade steeples her fingers. “Track it. Do not engage. Report back.”
Kakashi nods and turns to leave.
“It could be Akatsuki,” she warns. “Be careful.”
Kakashi is gone as soon as she finishes her sentence.
~
This isn’t what she wanted. She didn’t want to be a part of this. This isn’t love.
Rikona can’t believe she was so thoroughly duped.
~
The pack at large doesn’t know the scent he’s trying to convey to them. All he can say to describe it is wrong and bad and that can describe any fucker who hits their partner or child, or any stall vendor who deliberately raises their prices for a certain kind of person, or—
“The ripe, rancid one?” Pakkun asks, growling.
And those are the words he’s been searching for, yes. The rest of the pack catches that same scent and readies themselves.
“That’s the one. What is it?”
“That’s the prisoner Iruka-Boss fought a while back, when the prison had that major breakout.”
Kakashi’s stomach flips and his spine chills.
Mizuki.
~
“You’re awake.”
Mizuki puts his hand over Iruka’s mouth to keep him from crying out, leans over and whispers in his ear, “You could never get away from me, don’t start trying now.” The tears glistening in the corners of his eyes shimmer in the firelight and he looks beautiful when he cries. Mizuki dips his head and kisses Iruka’s neck, relishing the whimper he receives.
He removes his hand, knowing he has Iruka’s obedience.
“You’re not real,” he mutters. “This isn’t real. It’s-It’s a side-effect. Of the m-medication.”
“Oh, baby, this isn’t a dream,” Mizuki lifts himself to hover over Iruka, pressing the length of his body along the tan one on the floor. “I’m here. I’m here to stay.” He shoves his knees in-between Iruka’s thighs and rolls his hips. “Hmm, missed this. Missed you. Did you miss me, too, baby?”
“Get off,” Iruka hisses.
Mizuki grins and presses his teeth to Iruka’s neck. “Don’t mind if I do.”
~
Kakashi sends half of the pack to find Iruka, and the rest follow Mizuki’s scent.
He goes to the prison; he needs to check himself. He needs Pakkun to be wrong.
The security personnel confirm that prisoner 834-769 is in his cell. Been there all morning. There’s no log of him being taken out. Kakashi doesn’t growl, but asks if someone can go down to the cell and give him visual confirmation.
“Chakra confirmation is sufficient when there’s no cause for alarm,” he’s told.
Chakra confirmation???
“The fucker has no ability to mold chakra! And there is cause for alarm,” he grits through his teeth. “My pack caught his scent outside. I need visual confirmation of his presence in his cell now.”
Security at least pretends to take him seriously. They send a team down to the West Wing and Kakashi considers following them.
And then a bone-chilling howl echoes outside, and Kakashi doesn’t care about visual confirmation. Because the howl is the one that says scent lost and it’s coming from Bull’s half of the pack, the half that’s supposed to find Iruka—
And if they lost his scent—
Kakashi bolts.
~
Rikona leaves them to reacquaint in the living room. She steps outside. The stew will be alright on its low heat, and the rice still has plenty of time left to steam.
The stars are nice. The moon is waning from full, and she pulls a throw blanket tighter around her shoulders. In the distance, she can hear wolves howling and smiles softly.
It’s such a nice night.
~
He can’t explain it. He doesn’t stop to try, to tell an ANBU patrol what he’s doing, or to find Gai or anyone else.
The look on the security guard’s face was enough. No one will believe him if he tells them that Mizuki has something to do with Iruka’s disappearance. Hell, no one will likely believe him if he tells them that Iruka’s missing. After the Sato incident—and his reaction afterwards; he can admit that he was being a little overprotective—no one will take him seriously.
Kakashi has to do this by instinct. He has the pack flanking him, leading him along the ripe, rancid scent. They understand without him explaining, thank the gods.
Iruka is pack. This knowledge is as an intrinsic part of him as his family name, as chidori, as his loyalty to Konoha. More than this, the deeper part of him recognizes Iruka as his and recognizes the reciprocal possession Iruka holds on his very being.
Whether he knows it or not, Iruka owns him.
Boss’s Boss, indeed.
~
Mizuki hears the door shut behind Rikona as she leaves. He puts his mouth over Iruka’s, and when his lips won’t part he pulls on Iruka’s hair knowing that it will force a gasp as well as remind Iruka whose he is. He pushes his tongue into Iruka’s mouth when it opens and rolls his hips faster. With his other hand—the one not busy with the hair—he reaches to his crotch and pulls down the front of his prison pants and frees his dick. He fights with Iruka’s pants, and then lowers those too and eventually grabs both of them together in his fist.
Iruka’s limp. That’s fine. He’s used to working with that.
Iruka winces into their kiss, muttering, “Stop.”
“None of that. You know better.”
Iruka turns away. “I said, stop.”
Mizuki lets go of his own dick and pinches Iruka’s, watching him wince and hold back tears and bite his bottom lip.
“You know I don’t like that word. You don’t get to tell me to stop.” He grabs them both and strokes. “There, isn’t that better?”
“No, please—I can’t—I don’t want—”
Mizuki pulls his hair harder, twists his fist in the strands, and Iruka relaxes and his eyes turn glassy and there he goes. Mizuki grins, bites at Iruka’s mouth, and says, “Beg me to touch you.”
The response comes like the last two and a half years never happened. “Touch me,” Iruka murmurs.
“Tell me you missed me.”
“Missed you, ‘Zuki.”
“Aww, baby. Don’t worry. I’ll make you feel good.”
~
Kakashi runs through the forest behind the hospital and another sinking feeling hits his belly.
Rikona-sensei was supposed to be in charge of Iruka’s care.
But if Iruka’s missing.
Where’s Rikona-sensei?
“Pakkun.”
“Boss.”
“You know Iruka’s therapist?”
“Yeah. She went this way, too.”
Mizuki took them both. Fuck.
~
“Want to suck my cock, baby?”
Iruka comes back, just for a moment, just long enough to get the n sound of his answer. Mizuki tugs his hair again—training Iruka to become his personal little slut at the pull of his hair was the most brilliant idea Mizuki had ever had; he pats his own back every day he remembers the time he spent on it. And, damn it took time. Iruka never liked having his hair pulled, so the pain and the sex and his never-ending desire to please Mizuki combined together to make a perfect storm. And it still took months, almost a year, of hair-pulling and ordering Iruka around to condition him into the perfect whore.
And now, thanks to Rikona, he’s got that back.
He pulls himself up to the couch and sits, slides his pants to his thighs, and guides Iruka into position over his cock. There’s still tears on his lashes, and that’s just fucking perfect.
Mizuki’s been using his hand for over a year, and Tsubaki’s cunt before that.
Nothing compares to Iruka’s throat.
“Oh, good boy,” he groans as Iruka slides down over him. It’s tight, hot, wet—perfect—he put so much work into training this slut to take him and blow him right and two years isn’t enough time for Iruka to forget it seems, because he gets to slurping and tonguing and bobbing his head like he never left Mizuki’s legs.
~
Rikona stops in the doorway, blinking.
Iruka-sensei has dissociated. Mizuki seems to be aware of this, yet isn’t trying to get him to come back. In fact, he’s using Iruka-sensei’s mouth as-as—
She turns and goes back outside, closing the door quietly behind her.
She looks up at the night sky and suddenly the stars don’t feel so relaxing.
~
“My sweet, good boy, sucking me soo good. Look at you. Right where you belong.”
He remembers what he’s heard about Hatake from Rikona. What a joke. “As if blowing someone else could ever change who owns you.”
Iruka whimpers. Gods that sound fucking drives him crazy.
“Who owns you, baby?”
Iruka pulls off of him, just enough. “You, Mizuki.”
“Fuck, missed this.” He pushes Iruka back down, hits the back of his throat and keeps going. He takes Iruka’s hair in both hands and moves his head for him; Iruka isn’t going fast enough to get him off. This way, though, “You’re mine, baby. So good. Mine, mine, mine—FUCK!”
He shoots down Iruka’s throat.
The first time they did this, Iruka had spat it out. Mizuki made sure he never did that again. He knows that Iruka throws up later, once he comes back to himself; but whatever. Right now, he’s swallowing down Mizuki’s come, his throat working his pulsing cock and it feels great. He pulls back near the end of his orgasm, and lets the last pulses of come splash on Iruka’s lips and chin, watching it drip down his neck.
The tears are falling freely, but Iruka will stay on his knees until Mizuki tells him to get up. Fucking beautiful.
~
Why would Mizuki take both of them?
It doesn’t make sense.
Iruka, obviously. Mizuki’s had it out for Iruka since they were twelve, if not younger.
But why Rikona-sensei? If nothing else, he should have killed her. They should have found a body.
They still haven’t picked up on Iruka’s scent. There’s a third scent, but it’s muddled and weird and Kakashi can’t place it.
“Boss.”
“Akino.”
“Smoke, up ahead.”
“That’s where they are.”
He knows it in his bones. In his soul. He’d bet his life on it.
… He’s also betting Iruka’s life on it. The pack is already at top speed, but for this last sprint they all push just a little more.
~
Rikona walks off the porch and down the path. She’s reviewing the last four months of therapy sessions with Iruka-sensei in her head, and the last seven months with Mizuki, wondering where she went wrong. She hugs her arms tight to her body and watches her feet.
Hatake-san is an elitist. A genius, gifted child who advanced through the ranks too quickly and thinks too highly of himself. He’s Friend-Killer Kakashi, known for leaving a teammate for dead, for putting his own fist through the girl who loved him for the sake of a mission. He’s manipulative, and known for reading porn in public, and tampers with his partner’s mail, and-and-and—
She’s reaching.
She knows she’s reaching.
Oh gods, what has she done.
~
Kakashi watches Rikona stop on the path and begin to shake. He slides out of the tree silently beside her, and says, “Yo, Rikona-sensei.”
She gasps, startled. “Hatake—”
“Where’s Iruka?”
She points to the cabin behind her. “Please, I didn’t know. He lied to me.”
“Hmm?”
“He told me you were bad for him. He told me that he missed Iruka-sensei. He cried when I told him about Sato.” Rikona bites her lip. “How did he fake that? Did he fake that?”
“I’ll deal with you later.”
“I’ll turn myself in.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Kakashi says. He glares at her, exposing the sharingan for full threat. “If he’s hurt, you get hurt.”
~
“We should go to Water Country,” Mizuki sighs, slipping his dick back into Iruka’s mouth. “They’ve got good clubs out there. I could make a lot of coin selling the use of your throat.”
Iruka’s so far gone, so far down, he doesn’t even react.
“And with the ocean and all, your vomiting won’t be so off-putting each night.”
The door breaks open and a pack of mutts crash through the windows around him. Mizuki pulls out of Iruka’s mouth, reaches in Iruka’s weapon pouch beside him for a kunai. He may not have the ability to mold chakra anymore, but that doesn’t change how well a blade can slice through the delicate life beating in a person’s neck. Mizuki pulls Iruka to his lap and has him cover his body, pressing the kunai under his jaw.
“I wouldn’t,” he warns. Hatake stalks into view, coming around the couch. “I promise, I’ll kill him faster than you or your mutts can get to me.”
One hand on the kunai, the other around Iruka’s waist. He doesn’t even need to keep a hand in his hair now. Iruka’s his.
He put in the time.
He put in the effort.
He built Iruka.
He sneers at Hatake. “You and your mutts can leave.”
“Not without him.”
“Iruka? Tell Hatake to leave.”
“Please leave, Hatake-san.”
Oh, that was good. Like he was slapped, Hatake flinches; just barely, but Mizuki catches it. That was nice. Worth a reward.
“Good boy, baby,” Mizuki purrs. He bites Iruka’s shoulder, relishing the soft whimper.
~
He’s under. He’s so far under and Kakashi has to be careful or he won’t get Iruka back.
This wasn’t a warning Rikona gave him; that came from Tomi-sensei a few weeks back, when she heard about one of the dissociation episodes he’d experienced during the Sato incident. He can’t trust anything Rikona has ever told him now, but Tomi-sensei never had a hand in Iruka’s care and so is objective.
He motions for the pack to stand down.
“Actually, I changed my mind,” Mizuki says. “Don’t leave. Just stay still.”
He takes the kunai away from Iruka’s neck and aims it at Kakashi.
He won’t hit him; Kakashi’s faster than anything he can throw. This is perfect. This is his chance.
He just has to be careful.
Iruka could still not come back if he’s not careful.
~
The bite of a blade against his neck is odd, but familiar. The slosh of come in his stomach is uncomfortable, but familiar. The taste of musk and come on his tongue is gross, but familiar.
Mizuki’s rumble against his back is nice and familiar.
Slipping into following Mizuki’s orders is simple. It’s easy.
The pain of his hair being pulled. The claustrophobic sensation of being boxed in as Mizuki hovers over him. Their bodies pressed together. His dick—pain—being stroked alongside Mizuki’s own length. It’s all familiar.
Falling is easy.
He can’t. He can’t handle being there anymore.
And then—
“Don’t move. Just stay still.”
The blade leaves his neck, and Iruka tracks it as Mizuki levels it at—
At—
Kakashi—
“Just sleep, dearest.”
“Please, Iruka, I wanna touch you please.”
“I like asking.”
“Please kiss me.”
“Hello, Love.”
“What do you need?”
“I will always come for you.”
“I will be wherever you want me to be.”
“Hello, Love.”
“Can I use the g-word tonight?”
“Hello, Love.”
“Hello, Love.”
“Hello, Love.”
And Iruka wakes up.
He reaches for the kunai out in front of him, disarms Mizuki and stands up out of his lap. He fights the vertigo, fights the chills chasing each other down his back and his arms.
He remembers the day he came home to Mizuki and Naruto, and how he put two kunai in him before kicking him out. He remembers the rage, seeing Naruto pull away from Mizuki like hot coals, remembers sending Naruto to hide in his own room because they had been in Naruto’s room; there was still a small blood stain on the floor of that apartment when he left, one he couldn’t clean up in time.
Mizuki can fuck with him all he’d like.
But he can’t fuck with Iruka’s family.
And maybe Mizuki couldn’t hit Kakashi with a kunai if he were point-blank. Maybe a thousand kunai couldn’t hit Kakashi if Mizuki were the one throwing them. It doesn’t matter.
Iruka’s been teaching Anatomy of a Kill and running disarming practicals for years. They can call him soft, and say his humanity is a weakness or a strength. He preaches the Will of Fire and he burns with it; he will protect that which is precious to him.
Naruto.
His own sanity.
Kakashi.
Whether or not it needs protecting, Iruka will be the shield.
He plunges the kunai into Mizuki’s chest, drags it through heart and liver, snapping ribs and muscle tissue as he goes, and settles the blade in Mizuki’s intestines. He stands over Mizuki as the life leaves his chest, gushing red and bloodying Iruka’s hands and clothes.
Mizuki’s eyes are dark with betrayal.
He whispers, “I will always own you.”
And then… and then he’s gone.
And Iruka breathes.
Gods.
I’m… I’m free.
14 notes · View notes
kitkatopinions · 3 years
Text
Accidentally deleted my Tyrian and Watts asks while I was trying to fix a mistake so... Sorry about that, everyone! Here they are! Tyrian and Watts for the RWBY character asks!
Let’s do Tyrian first, because I have less to say about him, I feel like.
My top three ships for the character
Tyrian/Watts. Dysfunctional villainous romance of the century, no one knows how they’ve managed to make it to their tenth anniversary without killing each other, including them. Tyrian/Salem is my second top ship for him. Major Bellatrix/Voldy vibes with this one, but I could see it. Tyrian/Hazel is my third ship for lack of options. Does this one make sense? No. But I can at least see Tyrian being super flirty and Hazel being endlessly tired, but never really stopping it. (Also I hate Hazel so much lol.)
My three least favorite ships for the character
Tyrian/Qrow sucks for me. Like... I kinda feel like two people fighting each other just gets shippers, which is fine and totally understandable. But for me, Tyrian poisoning Qrow and almost killing him and calling his beloved niece a bitch and then killing Clover is a big no from me, dog. On that note! Tyrian/Clover is also one big no from me, since Clover murdered him. And Tyrian/Ozpin is another really big no from me. Tyrian and his crazy Salem worship can stay five hundred and fifty feet away from my son.
My biggest criticism for the character
They went a little too much on the crazy in the fourth and fifth season and it made him feel annoying. Like, I don’t mind the Bellatrix vibes, but I do mind the movie version Bellatrix vibes, sometimes. It just got kinda annoying. I wish his crazy was always more on the dangerous side and less on the kooky side, but that’s just personal opinions.
My favorite thing about the character
The way people are so uncomfortable around him. Whenever Tyrian talks to Emerald or Mercury, he’s honestly freaky. Like both me and the characters are waiting for him to snap. That’s a great quality in a villain that we’re meant to hate or love to hate. He has a real presence and it’s enjoyable.
A headcanon I have about them
Tyrian doesn’t often try to act normal, but he can, and he’s got a great ‘respectable, cool guy’ act that’s actually a little reminiscent of Qrow or Clover. He’s even passed himself as a Huntsman here and there.
What I would change about them if I was making a re-write
More involvement in volumes 4 and 5, and I’d treat him a bit more seriously and make him a bit more dangerous. Maybe I’d have him wound a member of Team RNJR in his attack as well as poison Qrow (maybe give Jaune a reason to unlock his semblance in season 4 and in response to the pain of a member of his team. Also, his ‘Tyrian purple’ color should be more than just the color of his eyes. Like, how come so many RWBY characters season 4 and onward have such boring colors? I’d give Tyrian some strong purple and pink.
What I I think of their character allusion and what (if anything) I would change about it
Tyrian alludes to the animal fable ‘the Scorpion and the Frog,’ and that’s... really in name only, I think. A part of me wants to give them some kind of points for having Qrow work with him against Clover, only for Tyrian to kill Clover, which lines up with his ‘its just my nature’ scorpion stinging the frog so that they’ll both drown and die. But they didn’t mean for Qrow to really be wrong! They didn’t mean for the lesson to be ‘Qrow shouldn’t have trusted the poisonous villain’ it was ‘wowza does Qrow’s semblance hurt him. :( Too bad Clover got himself killed.’ Which makes the whole allusion kind of suck.
Now for Watts, the single best villain in my opinion.
My top three ships for the character
Tyrian/Watts. See above. This ship would be a dysfunctional mess, but it’d be a wild ride. Watts/Villain!Ironwood. I kind of hate this ship when it’s ‘fallen hero turned villain’ Ironwood. But if he actually had been written as a secret villain or obviously headed that way from the start, I can see him and Watts also being a dysfunctional mess of a wild ride ship, only with way more ‘evil power couple’ vibes than Tyrian and Watts would have. Also my favorite version of this features Watts having been the one to build Penny (maybe by stealing the plans from Pietro) and him and Ironwood raising a still bright and cheerful, still innocent and trusting, villain Penny who will attack to kill with a smile on her face and a ‘it was nice meeting you!’ And this is very weird and niche but Watts/Evil Stepsister (specifically the one with the sharp bangs and highlights.) Someone sent me an ask saying the Evil Stepmother and stepsisters should’ve been connected to Salem and gotten Cinder involved and I totally agree with this. I then started envisioning a world where the step sisters competed with Cinder and all three of them were raised in Salem’s circle. In this version of things, I could totally picture one of the step sisters having a romantic tension driven connection with Watts and the two of them subtly flirting sometimes (and bonding over their mutual hatred of Cinder.) I picked the sister with bangs for no real reason except that I like her look more.
My three least favorite ships for the character
Watts/Cinder. Watts thinks of her like a bratty little girl, and Cinder kills him. Watts/Lionheart. Kinda really hate this one because of how clearly Lionheart was terrified of him. Just a bit uncomfortable for me to see that in a relationship. Watts/Hero!Ironwood or Watts/HeroTurnedVillain/Ironwood. Sorry, but Ironwood in canon got such a bad, bad portrayal in season 8 and the end of season 7, and I just can’t help but blame Watts for quite a bit of it. I only like them as a ship if Ironwood is an antagonist from the start.
My biggest criticism for the character
They shouldn’t have killed him! He was one of Salem’s best followers and one of the best villains and it was such a big mistake to kill literally one of the only actual loyal followers. It threw off any character development for Cinder and it was a big mistake. I really wanted the Cinder / Watts / Neo team up to keep going! I’m so disappointed it got thrown away.
My favorite thing about the character
Watts is an entitled, petty bastard, and I think that’s so good for a villain that isn’t meant to be social commentary (because tbh, RWBY never should’ve tried to be social commentary.) Watts isn’t sympathetic, he’s an Atlas born and raised guy in a three piece suit, he’s posh, he’s upset because he wasn’t given exactly what he wanted. Most of the villains in RWBY are either victims of abuse, systemic oppression, or poverty, and that’s... Not fun in a show that’s never handled social commentary well and is about magical girls destroying Voldemort/Satan with the power of friendship (Ruby literally never says anything about Faunus rights iirc.) Watts is refreshing because he’s exactly the type of villain that you can expect in a show like what RWBY should’ve been, and he flourishes as that. Why would we be sympathetic to Watts when he’s just doing this all because he wasn’t picked first for his tech? Why would we feel soured towards conflicts with Watts and Team RWBY? He’s just a petty bastard being evil because he was snubbed. Why would we be frustrated that incredibly significant problems are being shoved to the side with Watts? He’s a fun villain, he’s not meant to be more, he’s not meant to make you emotionally invested only to then be gutted for it. You can hate to love him without it feeling bad. Maybe that’s why he’s just my favorite non-kid villain (other than Roman.)
A headcanon I have about them
Watts has been trying to build his own AI robot like Penny, in his spare time. He wanted it to be done in time to become a Maiden, but it wasn’t, and Salem gave that slot to Cinder and got after Watts for not contributing enough. He of course thought this was deeply unfair (especially after being made to contribute a lot to Cinder’s Beacon success without getting any credit for it.) And this just fueled his hatred of Cinder, his hatred of Pietro and Ironwood, and by extension, his hatred of Penny.
What I would change about them if I was making a re-write
I would keep him freaking alive and keep up the pair up he had going on with Cinder and Neo! But also I’d increase his relationships with Emerald, Mercury, Tyrian, Hazel... Just some more Salem’s Inner Circle moments to flesh out their characters. Other than that, I wouldn’t change much. He’s a pretty good character.
What I I think of their character allusion and what (if anything) I would change about it
Okay, I’ve talked about his character allusion in a very long post awhile ago, but I’m not scrolling down that far to tag it. To sum it up... I hate his allusion. XD I loved the Sherlock Holmes books and read most of them, and I didn’t realize he was supposed to allude to John Watson until I read someone else’s post saying so, and I started freaking out about how awful it was. Watts has so little in common with Watson, he’s essentially the anti-Watson. Which basically means he’s Sherlock Holmes, the opposite of Watson in almost every way, up to and including freaking faking his death which is one of the most iconic Sherlock Holmes thing ever. Watts is everything Sherlock Holmes is on his worst days, arrogant, callous, consumed with his projects, petty, smug, over the top - as well as being hyper intelligent and a genius who often just gets passed over. He has rivalries with his colleagues like Holmes did. And like I said, he faked his death, only to reveal himself to an old friend later on the cusp of carrying out a scheme. He’s evil Holmes! He has nothing to do with John Watson - caring, humble, down to earth, not brilliant like his friend but content to be ordinary and special because of his emotional depth and devoted heart, medical former doctor who spends quite a lot of time chronicling the successes of someone else because he’s content to live in the background. Don’t get me wrong, a ‘Watson’ character who is evil could work - Watson himself indulged in crime for the sake of Holmes sometimes in the original works and if he worshipped Salem or one of her followers and did everything for her while still being a more humble, more friendly, not brilliant person he could be good - but Watts is not that person. Even the gimmicks Watts is given are stupid and don’t make it obvious he’s Watson. Boy’s got a moustache and a revolver and they thought that’d be enough. Idk why they thought 'we’ll make him Watson’ when he’s clearly a Holmes! Also, he’s supposed to be ‘Watson if he’d met Moriarty instead of Holmes,’ and to that I say boo! Watson wouldn’t turn into a super genius just because he meets a different mastermind!
...That’s summing up my feelings, yeah. Because I have so many feelings about his warped, weird character allusion. If I was changing it, I’d just make him Holmes like I think he was clearly supposed to be.
9 notes · View notes
nobodyfamousposts · 4 years
Text
BURN THE WITCH! Part 4
It took more time than it should have to lose the akuma and her followers. Partly because of the shoes and the disguise as a whole doing more to slow her down than it did to protect her. Mostly because of just how many people were currently after her—and wow, was it a lot!
But she had managed to not only escape with life and hair intact (despite the attempts of the damn hairnet), but also find a place to hide until the akuma was dealt with.
From what she had observed, the akuma’s effects were carried by hearing her speak from that scroll of hers. Almost immediately after spouting off something else from the “list”, anyone within earshot would join the increasing number of minions, even if they had just been trying to run away moments prior. It was like the akuma could incite anger in anyone…self-righteous anger, and all of it specifically targeted at Lila.
She was going to have words with Hawk Moth about this. If he had an akuma able to enthrall people like this, why hadn’t he given it to her? She could have made much better use of it than Rose, of all people. Now he had an akuma solely focused on revenge instead of the masterpiece Lila could have been. Honestly, she would have Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated by now!
As it was, Lila had to survive. And to do so, she had to make do with her own skills.
Fortunately, the akuma’s reach—while growing—was only as far as people could hear her. Which made the boat at the Seine a perfect place to hide out.
Especially since the old woman and her son living there were easily drawn in.
“It’ll be all right, lass. You’re safe here.” The woman said, reassuringly. “We’ll man the gunnery if any of those fools try anything. They can’t get to you here.”
“Thank you! I just…I just don’t know why this would happen.” Lila gave another well timed but ultimately fake sob into her hands.
“Don’t worry.” The guy—a teenager, and not a bad looking one, either—rested a hand on her shoulder. “Ladybug and Chat Noir will fix this soon enough.”
Lila forced herself to smile. “I hope they do.”
If only because this was the one akuma she didn’t want to see win. Otherwise, she would fully be cheering for their demise. Possibly with popcorn.
Assuming she wasn’t the one doing it herself, of course.
“Luka, keep an eye out in case someone followed her here.” The woman ordered.
“On it.” Luka, apparently, guided Lila to the couch to rest before he moved to another part of the room. The woman took a pair of binoculars to one of the windows, trying to peer through them to see further into the distance.
Lila sighed and was preparing to finally relax.
“Why is the akuma after you, anyway?” He asked while grabbing something from the corner.
To her credit, Lila did acknowledge that Marinette had at least tried to help her. And surely the girl who helps everyone would want to continue to be of use. Even if she wouldn’t necessarily like what Lila was currently using her for.
But in Lila’s defense, Marinette DID shove her in a closet.
“I was helping with a friend’s charity work and some money went missing. There was a huge fight over it today and one of my classmates tried to blame me for the loss.”
“That’s horrible.”
“I know!” Lila continued, hiding a smile. “Rose is kind, but she is so forgetful that she could have lost the money anywhere. Then Marinette took advantage of the opportunity to claim I did it.”
Luka paused at that. “What?”
Lila nodded, mournfully. “She’s been against me from the first day I started school.”
Technically true.
“She’s been bullying me, calling me names, trying to convince everyone I’m a liar.”
Also technically true.
“I’m sure she was happy to paint me as the villain today, and everyone believed her.” Lila proclaimed with a little sob. “Nobody would even listen to me! Then Rose got mad and became an akuma, and Marinette left me to perish!”
“That doesn’t sound like Marinette.”
Immediately, all thoughts halted as she realized her mistake.
These two knew Marinette.
Okay, no big deal. She can just spin it.
“That was what I thought, too. But she showed her true colors when I tried to make friends with her! I even offered to help her with her crush on Adrien. But she’s just so jealous.” Lila insisted, laying on the charm and tears. “She’s been telling everyone such horrible things about me.”
Luka’s frown only increased though.
“She hasn’t mentioned you to me.”
She shook her head. “Then I’m sorry, but it seems you don’t know her that well.”
“What are you talking about?” The mother demanded, confused and annoyed. “That girl comes over here all the time. She’s a wonderful girl and a wonderful friend to our daughter.”
Wait…daughter?
The boy narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion.
“Where was Juleka in all this, if what you’re saying is true?”
“She wasn’t there.” Lila said, thinking quickly. Better not to implicate their daughter or try to throw her under the bus if they were getting suspicious already. “I know if she had been, things could have worked out. She’s such a good friend, and would never think badly of me.”
But Luka only looked angrier. He held up a remote.
“Then why is she with the mob?”
Lila spun in surprise at the sudden blast of sound. It turned out that the thing he had grabbed before was the remote to the television. Which was on—if muted during Lila’s story-telling.
On the screen, the akuma was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower reading from her list. The video showed Witch Hunter and her followers in full detail. Including Juleka.
Juleka, whom Lila was now realizing had to be the daughter and sister of the two in the room with her.
“She’s been influenced by the akuma! It’s her power.” Lila explained hastily.
But Luka chose to ignore her in favor of unmuting the television, which showed the akuma speaking and reading more of Lila’s crimes from the list. The scroll almost seemed to glow momentarily before she started to read.
“This just in! The Witch just tried to turn two innocents against Marinette and even their own family member. She lied about the cause of the fight! And this is after she already tried to sacrifice Marinette to save her own skin!”
Both mother and son froze at that.
“WHAT?!”
And as if it couldn’t get worse for her, the news proceeded to play a video from earlier. One that Lila had not realized was being recorded at the time.
It showed in full detail the inopportune moment where Lila shoved Marinette out from behind their shared hiding space and attempted to direct the mob’s anger onto the clumsy girl.
Slowly. Slowly…they both turned on her, furious.
“It’s not what it looks like!” She tried to claim. “She was already part of the mob and I was trying to get away from her. I was in danger!”
The two glared at her, clearly not buying it.
It seemed Lila had made a miscalculation as to the limits of the akuma’s range of influence.
Or perhaps it was just that she hadn’t counted on her would-be rescuers being family to one of her classmates.
The woman glowered at her. Without even looking, she grabbed a sword off of the mantle and pointed it at Lila with a ferocity she hadn’t seen before. In that moment, she appeared every bit the pirate she had previously been pretending to be.
“Make her walk the plank!” She yelled.
“We don’t have a plank, mom.” Luka growled, seeming downright disappointed by the fact.
“Then throw her overboard!”
It seemed her sanctuary was short-lived.
_____________________
“Kettle corn! Ready-to-cook over a fire kettle corn!”
Marinette sighed. “Master, not you, too.”
The man cheerfully sold a container to a customer, completely disregarding the problem as well as Marinette’s presence.
“Master Fu, please! The akuma is influencing everyone! Even Tikki is affected! And if I don’t do something soon, they’re going to burn Lila at the stake!”
The man gave her a blank stare.
“And what part of that is supposed to be the problem?” He asked.
“See? He gets it!” Tikki chirped.
“Sometimes, Marinette, an infected bud must be pruned for other flowers to grow.” Fu stated calmly as he imparted his wisdom.
“But flowers aren’t people!”
“It’s a metaphor.”
“Flowers don’t scream when you prune them!” Marinette shouted.
Tikki floated up to her chosen, trying to calm her. “Marinette, sometimes an akuma can actually be a good thing! Remember Bubbler?”
Marinette just gave her a dry look. “You mean when you lectured me for stopping Chloe from kissing Adrien, said it was an abuse of my powers, and emphasized doing the right thing? Remember that? The right thing? The moral choice that involves NOT letting people die just because you don’t like them?”
“This girl has been an obstacle to you and an ally to Hawk Moth.” Fu pointed out. “Would it not be better to simply let her be removed?”
She moaned. Honestly, it annoyed her when Tikki or Fu lectured her and had to be the voice of reason and morals she was pushed to adhere to rather than the support she needed in the moment. But this wasn’t support. It was just life throwing more temptation at her by having two of the people whose moral compasses she trusted pushing her to not care!
Give her a break, life! She’s having a hard enough time as it is!
"No!” She insisted. “I need the Dragon miraculous to stop this akuma! So please, help me!" 
"Another time perhaps, now is the time for popcorn!"
Marinette glared, put off at the way Fu ignored her to sell another container of popcorn to a customer.
Might as well try to take advantage of the situation though. While Fu was distracted, Marinette attempted to reach around him for the gramophone.
Fu slapped her hand.
She grabbed her hand in surprise before looking at him with a pout.
Master Fu didn’t even react.
She growled.
“Okay, that’s it!”
Later, Marinette decided as she picked up one of the pans, she would let herself feel bad for this.
Much later.
653 notes · View notes
grantyort · 4 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Prelude IV: Relight
Post-Surgery: DAY ONE
[Sean sits in the hospital bed, legs crossed, staring into space when he hears a familiar voice.]
Joey: Sean, Sean Diaz? Well damn. I never thought I’d see your sorry ass again!
Sean: Geez Joey. Is that how you talk to all your patients?
Joey: Just the ones I like.
[Sean chuckles]
Joey: C’mere big man.
[Joey gives Sean a big bear hug]
Sean: How’ve you been Joey?
Joey: Can’t complain. These days, they got me up in hospice care. You’re probably the first person I’ve seen today that didn’t need their bedpans changed.
Sean: Sounds terrible.
Joey: It’s all not all bad. Lot of these folks have stories that you wouldn’t believe. One of my patients has lived through five wars and two depressions, tells me I’m a credit to my race.
Sean: Yeesh.
Joey: (shrugs) She means well. It’s almost flattering compared to some of the stuff I’ve heard. Been on this job almost ten years now, some people still treat me like I have no idea what I’m doing.  
Sean: That sucks Joey.
Joey: Yeah... Anyway, you seem to be doing pretty well for yourself. From what I heard, this procedure cost a small fortune. You must have friends in high places.
Sean: Yeah, something like that.
Joey: And no guard at the door this time. I assume everything got cleared up with the police? Not planning to make a break for it again are ya?
Sean: Nah, no daring escapes this time.
Joey: Good. I don’t think I’d survive another blow to the head.
Sean: Listen Joey I’m really sorry-
Joey: (laughs) Relax Sean! I’m just messing with you! It’s ancient history as far as I’m concerned. Say, did you ever end up finding that brother of yours?
Sean: Yeah. He’s actually coming to visit me tomorrow.
Joey: Can’t wait to meet him!
Sean: Famous last words.
Joey: So… what you been up to these days?
Sean: Mostly just cramming for the SATs, drawing, listening to music. Normal teenage shit.
Joey: That’s good to hear. I was worried about you man. You went AWOL after the hospital. I got police and Feds breathing down my neck for weeks. Then a month later, I hear about a couple of kids trying the border to Mexico on the news.
Sean: Sorry I never reached out. I just didn’t want to get you more involved than you already were-
Joey: You made the right call. They questioned me for hours. My apartment was filled with G-men, my girlfriend was freaked. I honestly thought she was going to dump my ass.
Sean: I’m really sorry Joey.
Joey: Don’t sweat it Sean, it was for a good cause. Besides, everything worked out in the end.
Sean: Yeah I noticed, how long have you been-
Joey: Almost a year now. We’re expecting our first baby in the summer.
Sean: Congratulations dude!
Joey: Thanks, but honestly, I’m kinda nervous, don’t think I’m ready to be a father.
Sean: You’ll be a great dad, Joey. You’re awesome at taking care of people.
Joey: You’re damn right. Speaking of which, we should probably take a look at that eye of yours.
[Joey takes off the bandage and gives Sean’s eye a thorough examination]
Joey: Well it looks a helluva lot better than the last time I saw it.
Sean: That’s good to hear. I wasn’t sure it would work.
Joey: Well it’s too early to say if your vision will fully recover. But at the very least you won’t have to walk around with a patch anymore.
Sean: Good. It’s hard enough finding a prom date let alone one that’s willing to go with a pirate.
Joey: Still with the pirate jokes huh? Hopefully, you’ll have to write some new material after this.
[Joey applies a new bandage on Sean’s eye]
Joey: And you’re all set. Now as much as I love our talks, I gotta make my rounds. Buzz me if you need me.
Sean: Later Joey.
Joey: See ya tomorrow Sean.
 [Joey leaves the room. Sean turns to look out the window. The door shoots open, and a small figure comes bursting in.]
Daniel: Sean! 
[He jumps onto the bed and into Sean’s arms]
Stephen: (out-of-breath) Sorry, I tried to stop him, but he outran me.
Sean: You okay Stephen?
Stephen: I am… just need a minute to catch my breath. The old ticker ain’t what it used to be- I need to sit down.
Daniel: Take it easy grandpa.
Sean: What are you doing here, enano? I wasn’t expecting you guys until tomorrow.
Daniel: I made grandpa book an earlier flight. I just couldn’t wait! 
[he hugs Sean again]
Sean: Haha easy. I just had surgery, remember?
Daniel: Oh right, s-sorry.
[There’s a brief flash, followed by a shutter click]
Sean: What’re you doing, gramps?
Stephen: Oh nothing, just commemorating the moment. Thanks to your brother, I finally got the hang of this newfangled smartphone camera.
Daniel (whispering): He had it stuck on selfie mode for days. Anyway, did it go? Is your eye…
Sean: I mean… it’s not 100% yet but I can sort of see again.
Daniel: T-that’s awesome! Can I see it?
Sean: Dude last time I showed you my eye, you almost cried. Besides, the doctors say I still need to keep the bandage on for a bit, while it heals.
Daniel: Right. That makes sense. Oooh this room looks cool. Do they have Netflix or a Playbox?
Sean: It’s a hospital, dude.
Daniel: Lame.
Sean: So catch me up. Did I miss anything interesting at home?
Daniel: Nah… Chris is still on that fishing trip with his dad so there’s no one to hang out with. Oh I almost forgot. He made you this card. Isn’t it awesome?
[Daniel gives Sean a hand-drawn “get-well-soon” card from Chris]
Sean: Yeah. It’s pretty cool. We can have Claire put it up when we get back.
Daniel: Grandma’s still in that feud with the lady from church.
Sean: Which one was that again?
Daniel: Agnes, the one who gives off major Lisbeth-vibes. She says grandma stole her casserole recipe for the church bake-sale. Lying bitch.
Stephen: Language!
Sean: Maybe one of us should try to smooth things over before it gets nasty.
Stephen: Hell hath no fury… lemme tell ya. I’ve been married to your grandmother long enough to know once that woman sets her mind on something… there’s no stopping her. Best to just let things run their course.
Sean: Claire can get a little… passionate sometimes. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen her lose her temper for real.
Stephen: There’s a fire in that woman. It’s part of the reason I married her. Just pray she never turns it on you. I hope I’ll never live to see that day, god willing.
[Sean notices Daniel circling the hospital bed, pressing his hand on various parts of the mattress]
Sean: (laughs) What are you doing, enano?
Daniel: Just trying to figure which side of the bed I want to sleep on tonight.
Sean: Dude. There’s no way this bed’s gonna fit both of us.
Daniel: The one in Mom’s trailer was way smaller!
Sean: Yeah well… you were a lot smaller back then.
Stephen: They have a nice area for visitors down the hall.
Daniel: But I want to stay with Sean!
Sean: I guess I could ask Joey to bring in a couch or something.
Daniel: Who’s Joey?
Sean: The nurse who took care of me after the accident. I told you about him, remember?
Daniel: Oh right! I can’t wait to meet him!
 DAY TWO
Joey: How are we doing today? Any headaches, dizziness, socket pain?
Sean: Nah it’s all good. Still getting used to having depth perception again. It’s kinda weird.
Joey: You’ll get used to it. Anything else to report?
Sean: Nothing major. I’ve just been having some really weird dreams.
Joey: We have a psychiatrist on-site if you need a professional to talk to.
Sean: Nah it’s alright, probably just the drugs messing with my brain.
Joey: Well your vitals look good. We’ll go over some basic tests. You know the drill.
(Sean covers his right eye and tries to read the chart. Joey then shines a light and asks him to follow along. Finally, he asks Sean to put the cap back on the pen.)
Joey: You passed with flying colors. The doctor will be in for a final exam tomorrow and then we can discharge you.
Sean: (sarcastically) Too bad, I was ready to become the first Mexican pirate to attend college. So much for being a trailblazer.
Joey: Good to see you haven’t lost that snarky-ass sense of humor.
Joey: Anyway, I’m taking my lunch now. Want me to get you anything from the cafeteria? Wait… don’t tell me. Chocolate pecan?
Sean: You know it.
Joey: I met your brother in the hall. Cute kid.
Sean: (deadpans) Give it a few days. Then see if you get a “second opinion.”
Joey: He does seem a little… “energetic”. But that’s normal for kids his age.
Sean: Yeah one minute I’m his favorite person in the world. The next, he’s off doing God knows what, and doesn’t want me “bossing him around”. You know how it is.
Joey: Can’t say I do. Grew up in a house with three older sisters. Guess I must have been the annoying one. Daniel’s lucky to have you looking out for him. Must be tough sometimes.
Sean: Oh you have no idea.
[Joey claps Sean’s shoulder, he feels a jolt shooting up his spine, everything goes white] 
(Sean sees a door marked: “Miranda A. Connolly, Hospital Director”)
Connolly: You’ve been a valuable asset to this hospital. Stellar feedback from all of your patients and attendings.
Joey: I sense a “but” coming.
Connolly: But, given the dubious circumstances surrounding your transfer and your past involvement with the law. The Board thinks it might be better for one of the other nurses to take this spot.
Joey: Please. I’ve got a kid on the way. We just bought our first house. Can you at least consider bumping up my pay? I haven’t gotten a real raise since I started here. There are kids coming out of nursing school that make what I make!
Connolly: The hospital has limited resources as it is, and the State just slashed our funding again. I just can’t justify raising anyone’s salary right now.
Joey: I break my back for this hospital, work extra shifts, get to know the patients. You promised me at the annual review that I’d-
Connolly: That was before this new information came to light. I’m sorry Joseph, maybe next year.
[Sean snaps out of his trance]
Joey: Sean? Sean are you okay?
Sean: Sorry, Guess I spaced out. Must just be the medication.
Joey: I can have the doctor come by and adjust your dosage.
Sean: I’m fine Joey. I swear. Weren’t you about to take lunch?
Joey: Oh right. We’ll pick this up later.
[Joey leaves the room, looking slightly puzzled.]
Sean: (thinking) W-what what was that? A dream? But It felt so… real.
[Sean takes out his phone and enters the name of the hospital, He finds their website. Under the ‘About’ section he scrolls to the Executive team bio. There is a photo of the woman he saw in the vision followed by a small blurb]
“Miranda A. Connolly is the President and Chief Director of Mt. Cedar General Hospital. She was appointed back in 2016 as Associate Director and has since made ground-breaking changes to the field of medicine and medical care. Under her leadership, this hospital was able to expand greatly, hiring new diverse staff members and vastly improving quality of care for all its patients.”
Sean: (thinking) Holy shit… it’s real. Does that mean I…?
Daniel: Hey Sean! What you looking at?
Sean: Dude! Don’t sneak up on me like that!
Daniel: I wasn’t sneaking. I was practicing my stealth!
Sean: Yeah sure.
Daniel: Are you looking at the new Playbox Pro? My birthday is right around the corner you know.
Sean: Birthday? It’s still January!
Daniel: Never too early to start preparing.
Sean: (rolling eyes) Yeah cuz everything’s always about you.
Daniel: Oooh I bet you were watching those dirty videos again. I’m tellin’ grandpa!
Sean: Hey hands off my phone you little-
[Daniel tries to grab Sean’s phone. Sean wrests his hand away. There is another a jolt]
[Daniel stands in front of the vending machine, staring at the jumbo chock-o-crisp. He looks around to check that the coast is clear. Then he waves his hand causing the chock-o-crisp to fall off the rack and into the dispenser slot.He gleefully retrieves it and devours the candy bar in a matter of seconds]
Sean: Dude, I told you not to eat any more chock-o-crisps! Do you want another trip to the dentist?
Daniel: What are you talking about? I haven’t had one in weeks!
Sean: Yeah sure. So you didn’t pig out at the vending machine before coming in here?
Daniel: How did you-
Sean: Maybe I have magic powers or maybe… you’ve still got crumbs on your collar.
Daniel: Aw, damn it. Promise you won’t tell grandpa.
Sean: Oh so you can tell on me but I can’t tell on you?
Daniel: (smugly) Exactly.
Sean: C’mere ya little shit!
Daniel: Sean stop! Ha that tickles. Quit it!
(After their little bout, Daniel curls up next to Sean, resting his head on Sean’s lap. Sean ruffles Daniel’s hair absentmindedly)
Sean: You ever wish you were… you know “normal” again?
Daniel: You mean not have my powers? Nah. They’re a part of me now. Besides, being normal is overrated.
Sean: (chuckles) I guess it is. But do you ever get that feeling like you thought you wanted something for a really long time but when you finally get it, it nothing like you thought it’d be?
Daniel: Uhhh… you mean like how I begged grandma to get me a PlayBox Live Subscription, but then the exclusives turned out to be shit? And now I have to act like I love it?
Sean: Yeah something like that.
Daniel: (yawns) Meh I’ll just ask for a gaming PC for my birthday.
Sean: Dude you’re like the greediest ten year-old I know.
Daniel: How many ten year-olds do you know?
Sean: Uh… just you and Chris.
Daniel: So, you want me to be more like Chris?
Sean: Wouldn’t hurt.
Daniel: (imitating Chris) “Only the purest of hearts may wield the power of Captain Spirit!”
Sean: Guess that rules you out.
Daniel: (playfully) Shut up.
DAY THREE
Doctor: Okay Mr.Diaz. I want you to follow the light. Look to your right, up and to the right. Good, good, excellent pupil response.  Now look at the chart, cover your right eye and read this line.
Sean: Uh… A, O, E, P… T? Sorry I can’t really make out the last one.
Doctor: That’s okay, it takes time.
Doctor: Now this is probably the last thing you want to hear, but I recommend that you wear a patch over your right eye. It’ll be temporary of course, just until you learn to see with your left eye again.
Sean: (laughs dryly) And here I thought my seafaring days were behind me.
Doctor: You know… pirate actually wore patches so their eyes could easily adjust to the darkness and see below deck- Sorry my son’s going through a pirate phase.
Sean: I know the feeling. My little brother’s been through every phase imaginable.
Doctor: Kids, you gotta treasure every moment. Because before you know it, they’ll be all grown up, ready to go off on their own. Look at me, rambling on. Anyway, I signed your discharged papers. They’ll schedule you for some outpatient care in the coming months.You’re almost ready to go. 
Sean: Sounds good.
Doctor: And you’re sure you don’t want to get do something about that nasty scar? A good-looking kid like you, it would be a shame to-
Sean: That’s okay, I think I’ll keep it… as a reminder.
Doctor: Alright but if you ever change your mind, I could refer you to a great plastic surgeon.
Sean: Thanks Doc, for everything.
Doctor: The pleasure’s all mine, Mr.Diaz. The groundwork we laid here could help hundreds of other patients in the future. We are making history. Your nurse should be along in a moment to help you get discharged.
[Sean sits in quiet contemplation. Reflecting on his dreams and new “vision”]
Sean (thinking): Be careful what you wish for... 
Joey: Looks like everything’s good to go. Remember to use your eye-drops-
Sean: Twice a day. Yeah Joey, I know.
Joey: Guess it’s goodbye again. Don’t be a stranger this time okay?
Sean: I won’t.
Joey: Here’s my number. Call me if ever need professional advice or just want to shoot the shit.
Sean: Thanks Joey. Let me know how everything goes with the baby.
Joey: Oh don’t you worry about that. Soon I’ll be blowing up your phone with pictures.
Sean: Haha can’t wait.
Joey: Now hospital policy says I gotta wheel your ass outta here. For liability reasons.
Sean: At least it’ll be a smoother exit than last time.
Joey: (laughs) Get in the chair smart-ass.
Beaver Creek, One Week Later
Sean: Okay, you ready?
Daniel: (takes deep breath) Alright. Show it to me.
Sean: So… how does it look?
Daniel: Looks… normal.
Sean: You almost sound disappointed. Were you expecting a bionic eye or something?
Daniel: No. I just… it looks good. I like the scar; makes you look extra tough.
Sean: You think so?
Daniel: Yeah… totally badass!
Sean: Thanks, enano.
Daniel: You need a new codename, like Scarred Wolf or Deadshot Diaz!
Sean: Let’s leave the nicknames up to Chris.
Daniel: Hey! I make up awesome names too!
Sean: Whatever you say,“Superwolf”
75 notes · View notes
popculturebuffet · 3 years
Text
House of Mouse: Mickey and the Culture Clash (Commission by WeirdKev27) or “What the Hell, Clarabelle?”
Tumblr media
Hello, hello, hello... I wish I could say I was in good spirits but i’m tired, have covid induced chills running down my spine.. and oh yeah there was an armed insurrection i the captial last night that showed just how broken this country was. And while Monster Bash would still be relevant... I couldn’t do it. I admit to being unable to do an episode where the millitant racist nutjob who harms people runs off into the night, and does much worse in later episodes, while the people she harassed are arrested the night after a bunch of millitant, racist, sociopathic, selfish nightmares sieged the captial, killed a woman, raised the fucking maga flag over the buildling and took pictures like they were goddamn heroes.  We got a stark reminder, not a wake up call, not an opening a REMINDER of just how badly broken our country is last night, and it wasn’t till this morning I found out just how BAD it was. The deaths, the flag, the fact josh fucking hawley, MY STAT’ES SENATOR and registered piece of shit, raised  A FUCKING FIST IN SOLIDARITY, which gives me the crippling fear his stupidity and unabashed racisim and support of a cou could mean riots at best and attempted uprisings at worst and who knows what kind of hate crimes against those of color and those in my own queer community. I am afraid, tired, and I am pissed and I feel we could ALL use something wholesome, warm and far removed from the shit going on. And in my hour of need to figure out something like that to put on the schedule.. Kev brought up a wonderfufl idea.  Every month this month till the end of it Kev is going to comission one episode of a show near and dear to both our hearts that has it’s 20th birthday this month. House of Mouse. He was intitally going to request Pete’s One Man Show, which is one of my faviorites, but was ironcially one I already planned to cover next month to celebrate both the show’s anniversary and Pete’s Birthday. But since he was happy to wait till then to comission it, he instead asked for another classic and one with easily my faviorite character on the show: Moritmer Mouse. 
One of the best things House of Mouse did was bring back Mortimer Mouse. Introduced in Mickey’s Rival, Mortimer was an ex of minnies who showed up for one short to be a dick to mickey before running off and leaving Minnie at the mercy of a bull he pissed off. He also weirdly kept electrodes and a car battery in his pants. The short itself is.. not great mostly because Minnie dimissies Mickey rightfully being pissed someone is hitting on his girlfriend in front of him, making jokes at his expense, and generally being a pillock as being jealous... which yeah, yeah he is. Most of the time jealousy and supscison of your partner is ugly, gross and damaging to a relationship.  You should trust them unless you’ve been given good reason not to, and if your paranoidly jealous about every friend she has she could be attracted to.. get some fucking help. Seriously, I need to, not for this for various other problems, but get some therapy to help with your trust issues or if your just being the kind of dick who naturally assumes men and women or men and men or women and women or men and nonibinary persons, or women and nonbinary peeps and so on and so on cannot be friends if they could possibly be togehter romantically... grow up.  I say all of that because those are serious underlying issues and I didn’t want it to seem like for a moment I was supporting them... and because sometimes i’ts OKAY to be jealous, to either just feel a little jealous of someone, or to you know be irate because your girlfriend’s ex is hitting on her in front of you and she’s being entirely receptive to it. 
Tumblr media
So yeah i’ts really hard to feel bad for minnie’s bull attack or find the ending sweet after Minnie was you know, what ramona said for an entire short. However my point for this rant, besides giving out about the short again because I clearly didn’t enough in my Mickey Birthday Special, is that Mortimer is still pretty great. He’s a frat bro in the 40′s sense sure, but the idea of a local douche hoping to swoop in and woo minnie away, who has an oddly specific sense of humor and a bizzare, memorable and wonderful walk, seriously the short is worth watching for mortimier’s “I got two car batteris in my pants’ walk, is a good one. While he’d naturally show up in comics and what have you Mortimer just sort of vanished. But clearly someone on the House of Mouse staff, and Mousewerks before it, agreed because Morty was made easily one of the best and most recurring characters in the HOM, and often more prominent than Horace or Gus. While he still tried his old “I’m gonna do your common law wife act” a few times he was mostly there to be an annoying douche when the ep needed one and to be taken down a peg by everyone in the house. And that VERY MUCH includes Mickey. That’s also part of why I love this show bringing him back: It gives Mickey someone besides pete to give out too on a regular basis. He’s still his charming self about it but it’s lovelyt os ee Mickey sarcastically roast someone. And I honestly attribute the main factor of his sucess on the show to VA Maurice LaMarche. While his original VA, Sonny Dawson, was fantastic.. it’s Maurice who very clearly made the character his. While others like Jeff Bennet have taken over since i’ts Maurice who gave him his signature “ha-cha-cha” catchphrase, swagger and signiture voice. And no i’ts not lost on me that one of Maurice’s OTHER best roles is another cartoon mouse.. and I now very badly want him to meet Pinky and the Brain. But yeah, Maurice just oozes the smarm that defines mortimer for me, oozes condescinon and assholery and he, is., glorious. He was a faviorite as a kid, he’s a faviorite now, and Disney needs to use him more.. and also have Maurice voice him for wonderufl world of mickey mouse, though Jeff Bennett is not bad at all I just prefer the master at the role. 
So obviously, after the nightmare of an evening america had yesterday, an episode not only about how wholesome mickey and minnie are but about Mickey teaming up with Mortimer was EXACTLY what i needed. So pitter patter, this is Mickey and the Culture clash. As always for house of mouse i’ll be chonking it up and since this one starts right with the wraparound, and sicnce you know I spent a godo few pagraphs going over mortimer and he’s only IN the wraparound this episode... let’s start there
Tumblr media
Mickey and the Culture Clash: Don’t Go Changin, To Try and Please Me So we open the episode and the review proper with Mickey performing a banjo sernade for Minnie, their song in fact. It’s a really sweet scene.. that’s quickly ruined by Clarabelle being an asshole, who says i’ts a bit crude. Minnie counters that while “It’s not mozart”, it’s nice and she clearly likes it and the gesture. Instead of you know leaving it there like a good friend, like she’s SUPPOSED to be to Minnie in most continuities, Clarabelle.. takes the things she said and her having to run out to wrangle pluto out of context, painting it as her thinking he’s not sophisticated and then running out because of it. Oh and she tops it by pointing to a classified add from a MM looking for sophisticated companionship. 
Tumblr media
It just paints Clarabelle not as Minnie’s friend or a chatty gossip, but as a heartless bitch who has no trouble implying one of her best friends would cheat on her boyfriend TO HIS FACE, and is fine wrecking a perfectly lovely relationship just to have more to talk about. Seriously she starts gossiping to everybody on top of it just in case you thought Clarabelle was a decent person in any shape this episode. She’s the one thing about this episode that dosen’t work despite being integral to it.. well two but hte other thing is a small, end of episode gag we’ll get to. This.. this is an integral part of the plot. It also relies on Daisy and Donald being absent for the episode for what I can only assume is their annual sex decathalon because otherwise the second she heard about her friend doing this, before reassuring Minnie, Donald would be holdiing her while Daisy beat the absolute shit out of her for hurting thier closest friend and not bothering to take a look into anything when leveling such a rough accusation at Minnie. In a really stellar, really well paced episode, Clarabelle being so heartless stands out. It’s also, might as well get this out of the way, teh final episode not inlcuding the two holiday specials.. and it’s a good note to go out on otherwise, I just can’t ignore the obnoxious cow in the room.. in both senses of the word. 
So yeah Mickey’s trying to be fancy, and Mortimer gets a good dig in about him reading “You having trouble sounding out the words”, but once he hears what’s going on, or rather once he realizes mickey things Mortimer’s personal add is in fact his girlfriend cheating on him, he decides to help Mickey. And to his credit for this con.. Mortimer actually thought things out on how to trick his rival, and his plan here is douchey as hell but incredibly genius: he offers to help mickey and while that’d normally be suspcious he offers a genuine, and very mortimer explination for helping him become a bit more sophisticated to win minnie back: if Minnie finds a handsome, sophisticated guy to date, what chance does MORTIMER have against that? At least with Mickey, in his deluded egocentric view of things anyway, he has a shot at beating him. 
So Mickey classes it up a bit, taking some sopshitcated stances when announcing and trying to woo minnie by talking in ye olde english. When that fails, she just finds it silly but charming, Mickey finds Jose.. hitting on her.
Tumblr media
Just.. I expect better from you man. Woo ladies all you like as long as your respectful but I expect better than to hit on someone else’s girlfriend.. which granted he has but given the last time we saw him do that, he nearly got stabbed a bunch and the last time he agressively hit on a woman he got punched in the beak as he should, you’d THINK he’d of learned something. Seriously once again Donald is only missing because this time Daisy would be holding Jose down while Donald hit him. Or possibly they’d take turns. Point is Jose REALLY shoudln’t be doing this and knows better.. marginally. But.. it is in character enough so ti’s not as bad as Clarabelle the homewrecker. 
So Mickey tries being fancy and goes on to do poetry instead of letting O’Malley and the Alley Cats play.. which is a nice running gag the series does as they NEVER get to play.. which while funny is a shame since I love the Aristocats. So then we finally get what Mortimer’s been playing at, he swoops in, claims MICKEY dosen’t need HER, and uses the same personal add to trick her. See, while what Mortimer’s doing is vile.. unlike clarabelle I can repsect it at least. I don’t condone it and i’m glad he gets foiled.. but as a bad guy plan it’s pretty clever and for someone like Mortimer whose usually pretty incompitent.. it’s pretty suprising he could pull this off. It’s still pretty damn low and scummy, no question, but props to being able to outwit and nearly outplay two people who deal with your crap on a regular basis and still convincingly conning both.  Thankfully while he tries to take Minnie out Mickey, in a great visual gag, puts two and two together, and busts out their song, with Mickey and Minnie heartwearmingly reuniting on stage as seen above. Then we get that gag I mentioned not liking: Mickey gets Morty back by planting a false marriage proposal from Moritmer to Clarabelle, again under MM and he gets carried off.. HAHA HE’S BEING FORCED INTO A MARRIAGE HE DOSEN’T. LAUGH. LAUGH AT IT. The gag just really hasn’t aged well, as otherwise it’s clever Mickey used Mortimer’s own trick against both him and the person who caused all of this but really.. Clarabelle gets no real compuance. At worse sshe finds out she was tricked.. but she again you know tried to break up her close friends relationship for shits and giggles. But .. it’s at the very end of the episode and very easy to ignore, so it dosen’t really bother me too bad, and compared to some gags of the type i’ve seen, it could be MUCH worse.  Overall this wraparound is one of the series best and a good one to go out on. it has a simple premise, a brilliant antagonist plot, some great bits from all involved, and even a great Belle and Beast cameo. All in all a really good wraparound only hampered by a sexist and dated ending and Clarabelle being portrayed as ...
Tumblr media
She’s the worst, in the world. Okay onto the shorts.
Tumblr media
Mickey’s Piano Lesson: That was a Fun One
It really was. It’s a simple premise: Minnie wants MIckey to do a piano recital and he decides “I don’t need practice i’m mickey mouse. “ And it’s REALLY nice to have a short that has, rather than aw shucks mickey, shenanigans mickey. While thanks to the new shorts we’ve had tons, it’s still nice to get one in the House of Mouse era, and it’s just fun to see Mickey take the usual donald roll of letting his overconfidence punch him in the face> It fits both though: Both are everyman and while I lean towards the duck, to no one’s shock, Mickey is just as capable, and his lack of practice comes off less like the angry and hostile way donald would dismiss it and mroe just loveable procastination. And as someone who REALLY struggles with procastination I related to this short, as Mickey does everything else he’d rather do from bathing the dog to skydiving till Minnie, in a great bit informs him everyone from the president, to several dignitaries from other countries, to a televised audience will see. We then get two really great and really beatuifully animated bits as MIckey wrestles with the notes on thep age then fights with his piano as he performs, still pulling it off but destroying the thing and rightfully earning a glare form his girlfriend. Just a fun, slapstick short with a great premise. 
Tumblr media
Dance of the Goofys: Scary Children Set to classical music, this one has a bunch of goofys as Fairy’s, who are making the flowers go and the one who sleeps in ends up saving the king from a horrifing looking little brat. He reminds me of Montanna Max a bit.. speaking of which Creer Summer recnetly announced Elmyra won’t be in the reboot. And while this does make me fear actually good characters like Fifi, Montana Max, and more will be cut like the animanics reboot and I do feel for Cree not getting to be involved and hope they find another roll for her as, given her status in the industry she deserves better.. THANK FUCKING GOD. I’ll go into this in another review I have planned for the future but unlike the cuts made to animaniacs this was a REALLY good decision i’m really greatful for. Thank you crew thank you. 
Back on topic, it’s just a fun, really beautifully animated short about the goofies and hteir shenanigans with a really great high concept. 
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Maestro Minnie: Brahm’s Lullabye: Simply Irresitable Another simple but clever and lovely to watch one, and one I like quite a bit more. Minnie is conducting some living violins to Brahm’s Lullabye to get a baby Violin to sleep, and we get some really beautiful shots of her as she does so.. only to get comically interuppted by other insteruments turning up the noise. Not much to say on this one as it’s short and simple.. but sometimes short and simple is just what you need and the fun premise nad really beautiful especially for tv animation at the time visuals really sell this one.  ONce again, good stuff. 
Overall: This was a REALLY good note to go out on. While as I said the Clarabelle stuff can eat my entire ass, everything else is really damn good and I highly recommend checking this one out. Next time, in about a month, we’ll be looking at Pete’s spotlight episode for his birfday. While you wait tommorow we have my first look at legend of the three cabs. But for now, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. 
18 notes · View notes
twstarchives · 4 years
Text
More Accurate Than Any Scale
Tumblr media
Card: Lab Coat - SR Characters: Vil, Rook, Trey, Riddle (mentioned)
Chapter 1
—LABORATORY—
Vil: It was rather kind of the science club advisor to let us use the lab and its chemicals.
Have you been acting oddly compliant with your club activities lately, Rook?
Rook: He gave me the okay right after I told him I just wanted to help make some chemicals to use for special effects in one of the film club’s shoots.
Although, he did ask me to turn in a list of all the chemicals and reaction formulas I’ll be using, how long I’ll be in here, and a safety plan in case of an emergency.
Vil: You’ve gotten your teachers awfully wary of you! I suppose that means you act as free-spirited as you always do in your clubs too.
Well, let’s start already to avoid putting the time you got us to waste.
Now then, the chemicals we’ll be using are... ah, here.
Mix a spoonful of this in the colored water...
(Poof!)
Rook: Oh! That made black smoke appear! Are we finished already, then?
Vil: It’s a little different than the color I have in mind. It should be darker... black enough that it could blend in with the night.
I’ll try adjusting the amount we put in a little. A little more than a spoonful...
(Poof!)
Rook: Hmm. It grew a little darker. How’s that?
Vil: Not quite. It’s a little too blue now. Perhaps there’s something wrong with the water...
Rook: Would you even be able to tell the difference through the camera?
Vil: Do not ask me to compromise with something that’s going to appear in front of an audience. The smoke will take up a very wide portion of the screen.
Without an effective color that highlights the costumes, as well as the actors’ expressions, hair, and eyes, everything will be ruined.
We need to keep making small adjustments to prevent that. ...Perhaps this will work?
(Poof!) 
Vil: ...Yes, that is a nice black.
Now that we’ve made the smoke, our next shooting will be flawless.
Rook: Oh, even though you haven’t taken care of yourself yet?
Vil: ...Excuse me?
Rook: When are you going to start your diet?
Vil, you’ve gained a little weight here these past three days. Your jawline looks slightly off.
Vil: What—?! That can’t be right.
I’m never careless about my health, and not a single one of my 5 million-plus Magicam followers has pointed anything like that out.
Besides, I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary when examining myself in the mirror.
Rook: Ah, Roi du Poison. Between me and everyone else, who would you choose to believe?
I’m always telling you this: I’ve spent much more time looking at you than you have spent looking in the mirror.
Above all else, that is the one thing I’ll always guarantee you.
Vil: ...Alright. I’ll take your word for it.
Rook: Oh, I should get going now. It’s time for my very important fieldwork.
Vil: Ah, hold on! ...Running off right after he said what he needed to, I see.
Well, I’m finished with the smoke, so I should clean up and then head back.
—EXTERIOR HALLWAY—
Vil: I need to get back to the dorm as soon as I can to check my scale.
Trey: Hm...? Fancy meeting you here, Vil. Were you doing something in the lab?
Although, I could’ve sworn I’ve heard about a private lab in Pomefiore’s basement.
Vil: Oh, Trey. Today was an exception; there were some chemicals I needed in the school lab.
Rook let me know there should’ve been a bottle of the kind I needed here after I’d realized I was short.
Does everyone in the science club keep track of which chemicals are kept in the lab?
Trey: No, Rook’s just particularly observant. I don’t remember anything except the ones I use myself.
He’s good at memorizing the most random things, huh?
Vil: That’s for certain... Like people’s jawlines.
Trey: Jawlines...?
Vil: Oh, nothing.
Trey: I see. Hey, do you and Rook like sweets?
I actually have some cake leftover. Baking one in an 18-centimeter pan ended up a little too much for Riddle’s afternoon tea.
So I’ve been going around offering slices to everyone.
Vil: I was wondering what you were doing wandering around with that thing in your hands... So there’s a cake inside that box?
Trey: Yeah. Gotta say, I really outdid myself on this one. See how fresh the strawberries are? Makes your mouth water, doesn’t it?
Vil: Very true. But I’ll have to pass. I’ve just begun dieting.
Feel free to make Rook take two servings, though.
Trey: Seems like something happened between you two... Well, I can probably take a guess.
Vil, if you’ve got time, why don’t you stop by Heartslabyul?
I could offer you some of this delicious herbal tea I have.
Vil: Herbal tea... Is there any chance it has lemongrass in it?
Trey: Ah, yeah, it does.
Vil: I’d love to, then. Its detoxifying properties would be perfect for me right now.
Chapter 2
—HEARTSLABYUL DORM - KITCHEN—
Trey: Thanks for waiting, Vil. Here’s your herbal tea.
Vil: Thank you, Trey. ...It smells lovely.
Trey: I also brought a piece of cake just in case. I baked it fresh today, you know.
Vil: I can tell just by looking at it that it’s something you’re proud of. But, I still think I’ll just stick to the tea.
               (Vil takes a sip)
Vil: ...Mm, delicious. Where did you find these tea leaves?
Trey: The school store. It’s rare to see leaves with a hundred years of history behind them in stock.
You can take some back with you if you’d like; I’ve got plenty. I wouldn’t be able to finish them all myself before the flavor faded.
Vil: Well, if you insist. I take it you’ll wrap them up later.
Trey: Oh, and about our earlier conversation. What did you say happened with Rook?
Vil: It wasn’t anything important. I suppose you could say he’s just been watching me a little too closely.
Of course, it’s helpful that he’s able to notice changes in me quicker than even I can...
But don’t you think it’s so rude to just tell me “You got fat” out of nowhere?
There’s a difference between being honest and being considerate. I suppose he just left his ability to be “considerate” back in the woods.
Trey: Ah... Well, it’s true that wasn’t the best way to word it...
Rook always blurts out his thoughts, whether they’re good or bad. It surprises me at times too.
Vil: Hmph. Perhaps I should’ve expected that he’s like this even during club meetings.
Trey: The other day, actually, our club advisor proposed an experiment and Rook immediately went “That’s such a boring idea.”
We ended up doing a much more complicated experiment. The freshmen couldn’t figure out how to do anything, so they just wound up just standing around for the rest of the period.
Vil: I can imagine how that must’ve looked.
And it was all left up to you to lead the freshmen, wasn’t it?
Trey: Saying I “led them” is giving me too much credit, but... a little, yes.
Vil: You always work so much.
Riddle is lucky to have you in Heartslabyul.
Trey: What?
Vil: You know, you come up in conversations at the dorm leader meetings sometimes. About how great of a vice dorm leader you are.
Trey: Oh, that’s... the first I’ve heard of that. Honestly, I’m a little surprised.
I just don’t want to lose my head. I don’t think that should warrant any praise.
Vil: There’s no need to be so modest. You should accept praise when it’s given.
Those who can’t read into things might just blindly believe your words despite the fact that you’re just trying to be humble.
Well, if that’s the kind of impression you want to give, then that’s fine... but it’s still just selling yourself short.
Trey: You sure are harsh. But you must know what you’re talking about, as someone whose job is wholly based on others judging you.
I’ll try to watch myself from now on.
Vil: Yes, please do. It makes the one doing the complimenting feel good too.
Besides, letting yourself feel happy about getting praised helps alleviate stress.
Especially for you, who is always running around to tend to your selfish young master.
Trey: I really don’t think I’m stressing myself out over Riddle.
Vil: Well, alright. If you say so...
Trey: It’s the truth. After all, I have a trick to not feel stressed.
Vil: Oh? A trick? I’m curious.
Trey: Wanna know what it is?
Vil: My, you’re certainly acting cheeky now.
Trey: I’ll only say it once, so listen carefully!
Vil: Alright...
Trey: It’s to not hold back on the sweets. Especially cakes filled with fruit.
Vil: Incredible. I was wondering where you were going with this. ...Heh.
Alright. I’ll try a bit of your fruit cake.
I’ll just have to add a few extra laps to my run tomorrow morning.
Trey: I probably shouldn’t be telling you this since you’re a model, but...
I really don’t think one slice of cake is going to do anything to your figure. You’re already so skinny anyway.
Vil: I’d prefer the term “fit,” if you wouldn’t mind.
But Rook’s watchful gaze on me is more accurate than any scale. Perhaps even more than a mirror.
Trey: Really...
Tumblr media
Vil: Mm, delicious. You’ve gotten better at this, haven’t you, Trey?
Do let me know if Riddle ever has it be off with your head. I’ll make you our dorm’s personal pastry chef.
Trey: I’ll try not to let that happen.
Having to worry about the calorie count with every dessert I make for Pomefiore sounds troublesome.
Vil: Wouldn’t it be a great learning opportunity?
108 notes · View notes
The Stacks Two Year Anniversary Thing’a’ma’jig
Hey, ya so two years ago, today, August 11th 2018, I published the first chapter of The Stacks. I realized a bit too late that the anniversary was coming up, but I wanted to do something. So first I wanted to make this:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
If The Stacks ever were to become an actual book, I would like to think the cover would look something like this (please excuse the poor coloring)
Secondly, I just wanted to talk about the story, how I came up with it and all, so yeah let’s do that-
So I didn’t have any actual plan for the book when I started writing it. The only ideas I had were: steampunk, and Virgil is a clockmaker. That was all I had. Then when I started to write the first chapter and began world building I realized two things: this isn’t steampunk, and Virgil being a clockmaker doesn’t make sense.
I honestly didn’t know what or where I was going with the story when I started it, and I only got an idea around chapter 15 (which was around where I had originally planned to end it.) But I credit @impatentpending‘s Powerless as inspiration and drive for my story. Her take on societal issues (although a superpowered one) really inspired me to continue my story and gave me a bit of direction (also what’s not to love about enemies to lovers). My other inspiration was John Steinbeck, one of my favorite authors, specifically his book Grapes of Wrath, since my story had a lot to do with poverty and social class issues that were similar to the Great Depression and the plight of the Oakies.
Once I had this goal of what I wanted to portray in mind I started to delve deeper into the main four characters.
Virgil: I wanted to show the anger and strife of the oppressed, as well as showing the comradery that tragedy often brings out in people. This as well I also wanted to portray the feeling of helplessness and entrapment that abuse situations often brings, but also the kindness that can come out of it. In addition: his ‘romance’ (or lack of one for the majority of the story) was meant to display how looking to other people in romantic entanglements due to trauma can often be harmful to one or both parties. I wanted to show that Virgil first took the time to work on himself and heal from old wounds BEFORE he went into a relationship.
Patton: I wanted to mainly use him as a way to show the differences of social class, since he was the only one two live in both worlds as a Stacker and as a Non-Stacker. His interactment with new ideas and technology was meant to show just how little the Stackers have and know due to their confinement.
Logan: He was a tricky one to develop, as he kind of had his own subplot all together and didn’t interact much with the other main four besides Patton. However, I decided to use him to show how ignorance of other’s issues while being in a position of power can actively cause damage for the suffering minority. Those in power should know the intimate lifestyle of all citizens so that everyone has their needs met and recognized. I also used his perspective to show the corruption in Politics, and how some politicians actively choose do to evil to specific groups because they view them as less than another.
Roman: I said that Logan was tricky, but Roman was a whole ass struggle to write. Roman’s role is similar to Logan’s but taking a different approach. He’s ignorant to the struggles of the Stackers not because he doesn’t know anything about them, but rather because he was raised and taught perpetuated stereotypes about them. This was to demonstrate how generations of people who look down on or abuse certain groups act because of conditioned thinking taught to them by parents/school/media, etc. Not to excuse the bigotism that these people exude, but rather to show that this way of thinking can be unlearned if given time and self-checking. (This and also that when it comes to romantic pursuits with someone who deals with trauma, to never pressure them into anything or make them feel bad for not being able to give themselves to you the way you’d want.)
Bonus!:
Damien: Although I love and adore Janus, Damien can go burn in a pit of fire. Nevertheless the reason I wrote him to be so despicable was to portray those who take advantage of the suffering around them to benefit themselves. People who come from a harsh background and come out of it can sometimes shun those who live in similar situations that they did, or even make their lives worse, due to a lack of empathy, a feeling of superiority, and being a sociopa- I mean a dick.
Q/A Time! :D
 @dreamyzworldlove​ asked: do emile and thomas ever call logan dad??
A: Yes they do, they did in the last chapter. I tried to show the difference by having them call Logan ‘dad’ and Patton ‘pa’
Anonymous asked: Weird question I know but, in the stacks, if things had (from whatever point) played out differently, what other pairings do you think could’ve ended up together or you might have paired together in the World you built??
A: If Virgil hadn’t ended up with Roman than I like to think he wouldn’t date, at least not anyone from the main cast. I also think Patton and Roman would have made a cute couple if they interacted more in the beginning. 
Anonymous asked: did you have an idea in mind for Damien’s age?
A: I never thought too much on it but I had the idea that Damien took to power at age 17 or 18, ruled the Stacks for about three-four years before Virgil came to him to help Patton. That would mean he’s about 25/26, so around the same age as Roman and Patton
Final Thoughts:
The Stacks is my favorite work I have done so far, and I credit it for being the reason why I realized I wanted to be an author and what helped me develop my skills the most. It’s hard to believe it’s already been two years, and that it took took two years to write the damn thing. Nonetheless I am eternally grateful to all of you for being with me along the journey, and if you’re new, thank you for reading, and if you haven’t read it, then the story just got spoiled for you. Sorry.
39 notes · View notes
fanfics4all · 4 years
Text
Gabby
Tumblr media
Request: Yes / No 
Don’t be shy, request things! <3 Have a nice day/night
Spencer Reid x Fem!Male!Reader 
Word count: 4794
Warnings: Child abduction, Murder, Ya know Criminal Minds stuff
Y/N: Your Name 
Y/N/N: Your Nickname 
Y/L/N: Your Last Name
A/N: I’m doing this whenever I feel like it honestly lol 
PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK! 
If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you! 
Masterlist 
(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)
Tumblr media
We were on the jet quickly for this case. We were racing the clock for this one, something none of us loved doing. There was a lot of pressure with cases like this. A little girl was missing and Garcia was telling us the rundown. 
“It is now three hours and counting since four year old Gabby Hoffer was abducted from her cousin Sue Walsh’s car.” She said. 
“Why would anyone leave a little girl alone in a car at night?” JJ asked. 
“Sue told local authorities that she was a couple blocks from her house, she didn’t want to wake Gabby up, she was in and out of that mini mart in under four minutes.” Garcia answered. 
“That’s a pretty tight window of opportunity. Whoever took her must have been stalking them.” Morgan said. 
“Is there a history of child abductions in this area?” Alex asked and everyone looked at Hotch. 
“No, but the local registry shows a high concentration of sex offenders. We have no time to waste.” He answered. 
“We do have an eyewitness, but his recollection is limited to a dark van that he saw pull up next to Sue’s car.” Garcia said. 
“That’s pretty vague. So we don’t have a color or know who was driving.” Rossi said. 
“Are there cameras that we can look at?” I asked. 
“Yes, there is one camera, it’s in the store, but it’s ancient, but the footage is being sent to the lab right now for enhancement.” Garcia answered. 
“SSA Canning is on the scene with the southeast regional card team. They’re conducting neighborhood and roadblock canvasses.” Hotch informed us. 
“We all know what to do. If this is a stranger abduction, we’ve got fewer than 24 hours to bring Gabby back alive.” He added and I looked down at the tablet. Gabby looked like such a sweet girl, what monster could want to do anything to a child? Everyone ended up separating and working on their own theories, while looking over the little information we had. I was sat on the other side of the plane and Spencer came over. 
“Are you alright?” He asked and I looked up at him. 
“Yeah, cases like these always make me a little on edge, you know that.” I answered. 
“I think it makes us all on edge.” He said and I nodded. Spencer reached over and gently grabbed my hand. 
“She’s in good hands with us.” He said and I gave him a small smile.
“I know.” I said and gently squeezed his hand back. 
It was still dark out when we landed. We immediately hopped into the cars and went our separate ways. We had Garcia on the line to give us any more information we needed. 
“Garcia, where are Gabby’s parents?” Alex asked. 
“Away, but not together. They’re divorced. Mom, Kate, is coming back from a caribbean cruise with her new boyfriend. And Doug, Gabby’s bio dad, is a long-haul trucker who is on the road. And this is where bad turns to worse. Dad has a history of drug problems.” She answered. 
“Since Gabby’s under five years old and her father’s whereabouts are unknown, statistics say he’s more likely the offender than a stranger abduction.” Reid said. 
“He could have been the one who stalked them and grabbed Gabby.” Rossi said. 
“Morgan, you and JJ head over to Sue Walsh’s house. See if any of the neighbors have seen Gabby’s father lurking around.” Hotch ordered them. 
“Alright, got it.” Morgan said. They went to the house, while we went to the mini mart. The local PD had a set up of pretty much everything they needed. 
“Five hours and twenty-three minutes since Gabby was taken. Witness pulled up to pump number two here, saw the van parked there. Blocked his view of Sue’s car. Said the brake lights were on.” SSA Canning said as soon as we got out of the car. 
“The driver could have kept his foot on the brake while someone else used the sliding door to grab her.” Hotch said. 
“It’d be smart to use a partner out in the open like this.” Alex said. 
“We have nine registered sex offenders within three miles. Sometimes they work in tandem, we have teams going door to door now.” Canning said. 
“That’s good, cover your bases. But it’s the ones we don’t know about who are the most dangerous.” Rossi said. 
“What’s the word on the parents?” Spencer asked. 
“Mom and boyfriend Rodney are confirmed off conus. They’ll be at the P.D. soon.” Canning said. 
“What about the father?” I asked. 
“Still not answering his cell phone. It’s not pinging off any towers either.” She answered. 
“So he shut his cell phone off. That’s odd for a trucker.” Alex said. 
“Unless it’s a countermeasure. The dark van could have just been a transport vehicle to get Gabby to his truck.” Spencer said. 
“You’re thinking he waited for the opportunity to take her?” SSA Canning asked. 
“But would he really want to look suspicious like this? You’d think he’d be smarter since he took her out of the car and drove off in under four minutes.” I said. 
“He has motivation given that he lost custody. We should check rest stops for his truck as well.” Hotch said. 
“The problem is, interstate 59 is just three blocks away, and it goes to Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia.” Rossi said. 
“We’ve got the borders covered. Nobody’s getting out of here without a fight.” Canning said. 
“Agent Canning, can you get video footage for us from a five mile radius? We need to see if there’s any video of this dark van coming or going.” Hotch asked. 
“Not much hope there, Katrina took out a lot of the security and traffic cams. They haven’t been replaced.” Canning said. 
“Is Sue inside? We need to talk to her.” Rossi said. 
“An Agent drove her home and is staying with her in case there are any ransom demands. She’s a wreck. Not sure you’ll get anything new. Excuse me.” Canning said and walked off. 
“Alright, Blake, you and Reid stay with Canning’s people. If Gabby was a victim of opportunity, then the unsubs didn’t have a plan and they could still be in the area. Dave and I will go to the police station and interview Kate and the boyfriend. Y/N, we’ll drop you off at Sue’s house, I want you to talk to her.” Hotch said and walked off with Rossi. I went to follow them, but Spencer stopped me. 
“Be careful.” He said quietly. 
“I will, you be careful too, okay?” I said and he nodded with a smile. I quickly followed the two men into the truck and we were off. 
Hotch and Rossi dropped me off and I knocked on the door. I noticed a woman looking at me from the house next door, but ignored it. The cop that was staying with her answered the door and I noticed Morgan and JJ inside. 
“Y/N?” Morgan asked and nodded at the cop to let me in. 
“What are you doing here?” JJ asked. 
“Hotch wanted me to talk to Sue, him and Rossi went to the station and Spencer and Alex are with Canning and her team.” I said. 
“Alright, well, we’ll go ask the neighbors some questions, you got this?” Morgan asked and I nodded. 
“I’m good, you guys go.” I said and they nodded. 
“We’ll wait for you outside when we’re done.” JJ said and I smiled. They left and I turned towards Sue. 
“Hi, I’m Special Agent Y/N Y/L/N, may I sit?” I asked and she nodded. 
“I’m sure you’ve answered these questions already, so I’m sorry, but I have to go through them with you again.” I said and she nodded again. 
“Was there anyone related to you that could have done this?” I asked and she shook her head. 
“No, Kate’s the only family I got. She’s more like a sister to me than a cousin.” She answered. 
“Her parents took me in after mine died.” She added. 
“I’m so sorry, were you young?” I asked and she nodded. 
“I was eight.” She said and started crying a little. 
“I’m sorry.” She said. 
“It’s okay, this is a hard time right now.” I said and gently placed a hand on hers. 
“Is it okay if I ask you some more questions?” I asked and she nodded. 
“Did anyone take a special interest in Gabby since you’ve had her? Like did anyone ask about her alot, or offer to watch her for you, anything like that.” I asked. 
“No. No. I always had her right by my side of me… except… I was only gone like one second! I got her to sleep finally and I didn’t want to wake her.” She cried. 
“I understand, but there’s nothing you can do about that now, okay? You just need to focus on helping us find her.” I said and she nodded. 
“So think back, was there a delivery man? A service worker? Anyone?” I asked. 
“No.” She shook her head. 
“A neighbor?” I asked. 
“No, nobody. I don’t know, maybe everybody. I mean she’s so nice. She smiles at everybody.” She answered. 
“What about her father? Have you seen him? Has he tried to contact you?” I asked.
“No, he’s always on the road. He never calls.” She answered. 
“Did he know that you were watching Gabby?” I asked. 
“I don’t think so.” She answered. 
“Okay, Sue. Do you know anyone with a dark van?” I asked. 
“No, no. I’m sorry, I just can;t even believe this is happening right now.” She said crying a little harder. 
“I know, but that’s all I need to know right now.” I said and got up. 
“Just stay here and call me if you remember anything else that could help.” I said and left my card on her table. 
“Thank you.” She said picking it up and looking up at me. I nodded with a smile and walked outside to see JJ getting in the car and calling someone. I quickly walked over and got inside. 
“She’s seen a van.” JJ said as we both got inside. 
“Please tell me she’s safe.” Garcia answered. 
“Not yet, but we’ve got a lead on a dark van. It could belong to a plumber, check local businesses.” JJ said. 
“Well, that’s hardly anything.” Garcia said. 
“You’ve had less.” JJ said. 
“True.” She said. 
“Come on, baby girl, we need an I.D. and location right now.” Morgan said. 
“Uh, there are four plumbers in the immediate area. I’m pulling registrations. Eh, white minivans are all the rage. There’s the little family plumber, they have a bluish van that’s dark.” Garcia said. 
“Run employee background checks.” Morgan said. 
“That won’t be hard. It’s only the owner and his nephew, Ian Little, 25. He was released last year, for slinging bennies and heroin.” She answered. 
“Where is he now?” I asked. 
“Sleeping, I imagine. I’m sending you his home address. There it is. Morgan started the car and we were on our way. 
“You find anything out Y/N/N?” He asked. 
“Nothing much. She was really stressed about everything. She couldn’t remember things very well and I didn’t want to push her too hard.” I said and checked my phone. Spencer had texted me and asked if everything was okay. I answered and told him everything was fine. 
Morgan, JJ, and I walked into the station with Ian Little. Morgan had him and his face was blood, but not from Morgan. Hotch and Rossi watched us take him in the back, but Hotch stopped me. 
“Anything from Sue?” He asked. 
“No sir, nothing.” I said and he nodded. 
“What is he doing here?” A woman asked walking out of a room followed by a man. I could only assume this was Gabby’s mother and her boyfriend. 
“What the hell happened to his face?” She asked. 
“You know him?” Hotch asked. 
“Yeah. Doug used to buy drugs from him. Do you think Ian helped him take Gabby?” She asked. Rossi walked off to follow Morgan and JJ into the interrogation room. 
“Y/N, go help Reid.” Hotch said and I nodded. I walked into the room they had set up for us and smiled at Spencer looking at a map and trying to figure something out. 
“Need some help?” I asked. 
“Hey, how did it go with Sue?” He asked with a smile. 
“Nothing really helpful, but we just brought Ian in.” I said and sat down near him. 
“The father wasn’t with him?” He asked. 
“No.” I said with a sigh and started off into the distance. I’m not sure how long I zoned out for, but Spencer had come sat next to me and placed his hand on mine. 
“Y/N.” He said and I shook my head. I looked at him and he looked back at me with concern. 
“Are you alright?” He asked. 
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I said. 
“Really? Because I’ve been talking to you for the past ten minutes and you looked like you weren’t hearing anything I was saying.” He said and I blushed. 
“Sorry, I guess I zoned out.” I said and he gently squeezed my hand. 
“What’s wrong?” He asked. 
“Nothing, come on, we have a girl to find.” I said getting up and started looking through some papers. Before Spencer could protest, Morgan and Rossi walked in. Morgan called Garcia. 
“Talk to us baby girl.” He said. 
“There are no calls, but Ian’s cell pinged off three cell phone towers outside of town on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I sent you the locations.” She said. 
“Cell tower range and directionality can be dramatically influenced by atmospheric, electromagnetic, and traffic capacity variations.” Spencer said while drawing on the map. 
“Meaning?” Rossi asked. 
“He means a cell phone can travel to the same location but ping off of different towers on different days due to independent outside variables.” I said not looking up from the papers. 
“Garcia, can you see what’s at this intersection point?” He asked, making another mark on the map. 
“39-30 latitude, negative 89-42 longitude.” He said. 
“Uh, that would be the old little farm. And that’s little, not like diminutive, but little family. That’s where Ian grew up.” She said. 
“So Doug went missing three nights ago and Ian’s been at that farm each night since then.” Morgan said. 
“Holy crappy childhood.” Garcia said getting our attention. 
“You can’t make this kind of sadness up. It’s also the place where Ian’s dad killed his mother with a shotgun and then turned it on himself.” She said and I covered my mouth in shock. 
“Oh my God…” I whispered. Rossi took the map and went to go tell Hotch to try and get information. It was morning now and the team had found a body. Canning, Morgan, Spencer, and I were sent out to take a look at it. They set the body down in front of us and Morgan ripped open the bag. It was a man. 
“Who the hell is that?” Canning asked. 
“It’s our main suspect.” Morgan said. I shook my head and sighed. Spencer gently grabbed my hand and squeezed it. He usually didn’t do things like this while we were on a case, it wasn’t profesional. We all got in the car and headed to the farm to search for anything that could help us. 
“Searched the entire property. We found Ian’s van in the barn. No sign of Baggy anywhere. What have you got?” Canning asked us when she came back after half an hour. 
“Coroner says Doug died from blunt force trauma to the head. Then it looks like Ian tried to burn Doug’s body here, which, of course, was harder than he thought it would be, so then he dumped Doug's body in the water.” Spencer answered. 
“Sounds like rage followed by just about every disposal method that we know of.” Morgan said. 
“Even wrapped the body, weighed it down with rocks. Could it be remorse?” Canning asked. 
“It’s more like concealment. We see it alot when there’s a connection between the vic and the killer.” Morgan said. 
“Coroner says Doug’s been dead for at least 72 hours.” Spencer said and Morgan looked at me with a raised brow. He knows I’m never usually this quiet. 
“That would be the same day he got here.” Canning said. 
“So what did this guy do to get himself killed?” Morgan questioned looking at the burnt dirt that we stood around. Canning left soon after to go back to the station. 
“What’s up with you girl?” Morgan asked and I looked at him confused. 
“What?” I asked. 
“You’re never this quiet, what’s up?” He asked. 
“Nothing, I was just thinking too much, sorry.” I said and started my way to the car. When we got back everyone was in the room they set up for us. We were going to go over what we know. 
“We know that Ian picked up Doug on Sunday, then he was killed. What if they surprised Sue at the house?” Rossi asked. 
“And Doug was threatening to take Gabby.” Morgan said. 
“They could have been trying to protect Gabby from him and he was killed by accident.” Spencer suggested. 
“Except they went to extravagant lengths to cover it up.” Alex said. 
“Okay, that may be true, but it still doesn’t answer where Gabby is or what anyone’s motivation is in hurting her.” I said and everyone looked at me. 
“We can keep theorizing, but every minute we do is a minute Gabby is out there.” JJ said. 
“Dave.” Hotch said and he and Rossi walked off. 
They came back fifteen minutes later and informed us that Ian told them what happened. That Sue killed Doug because he was trying to see Gabby. Morgan and JJ were sent to Sue’s house to see if it was true. One they found the proof Hotch, Alex, and Rossi went in to see how she reacts. 
“Kate’s right. Sue’s never gonna tell us where Gabby is. It’s her final move to punish Kate.” Hotch said walking in the room with Rossi and Alex. 
“Sue wants to inflict maximum pain upon Kate.” Spencer said. 
“So you’re thinking she’ll do whatever it takes to make Kate suffer and keep on suffering.” Rossi said. 
“Not knowing what happened to your child would be the ultimate torture for any parent.” I said. 
“But if Sue killed Gabby, chances are eventually we’d find the body.” 
“She’d need to find a way to get rid of her permanently, without killing her.” Rossi said. Everyone went their separate ways to try and figure out how to find this little girl. Spencer had pulled me over to the side, but before he could say whatever he wanted to say, his phone rang. 
“It’s JJ and Morgan. Hello?” He answered and put it on speaker.  
“Nothing’s out of place. In fact, all of Gabby’s things are packed up as if she was preparing to go back home.” JJ said. 
“That’s strong evidence of a false allegation.” Spencer said. 
“So all of this was arranged by Sue for what? To get back at Kate?” Morgan asked. 
“You should have seen her with Kate. She was relentlessly sadistic.” I said shaking my head. 
“So, Sue planned this with whoever was in the dark van. But there doesn’t seem to be any paper trail of it here.” JJ said. 
“And there’s no electronic trail either. There’s no computer or cell phone. Outside of a landline, this girl’s living tech-free.” Morgan said. 
“That’s because she’s hiding something.” Spencer said. 
“Yeah, Alright guys, thanks.” Morgan said and hung up. 
“Before any other interruptions come up, what’s wrong? And don’t tell me nothing because I know it and so does the rest of the team.” Spencer said and I sighed. 
“I didn’t see it…” I said and he looked at me confused. 
“I didn’t see through her act.” I said and he sighed. 
“It’s not your fault Y/N, people like her are good at hiding what they really feel.” He said and I shook my head. 
“If I saw it earlier we wouldn’t have wasted so much time!” I said and he pulled me to him. 
“It’s not your fault, none of us saw it.” He said. 
“But I’m the one that really talked to her. If I wasn’t so distracted I could have maybe seen it!” I said. 
“What’s got you so distracted?” He asked. 
“We found something.” Alex said before I could answer him. 
“Sorry, did I interrupt something?” She asked. 
“No, we were just talking, we’ll be right there.” I answered and she nodded. She left and Spencer let go of me. 
“Tell me what’s wrong.” He said and I shook my head. 
“It’s not important now, finding Gabby is.” I said and walked off to join the rest of the team. They caught us up to speed and then we were going to tell Canning.
“Disrupted adoptions?” Canning asked. 
“That’s what the people involved are calling it. They’re also referring to it as re-homing. And it’s been happening underground for some time now.” Spencer said. 
“Until now, it’s mainly been overwhelmed adoptive parents of problem children from overseas.” Alex said. 
“Good people go on the site looking for guidance or services, but bad people offer to take problem kids off their hands as a last resort.” Spencer said. 
“So they just give them away to some random couple?” Canning asked. 
“Calling them couples is a bit generous.” I said. 
“The article talks about these people who pose as families, but really they’re just freaks looking for access to kids.” JJ said. 
“And no one’s keeping track of them…” I added. 
“Why isn’t this illegal?” Canning asked. 
“Well, ‘cause it’s a relatively new practice, and unsurprisingly, no legislation’s been written yet.” Hotch said. 
“So how did Sue manage to give Gabby away?” Canning asked. 
“She posed as Gabby’s mother and gave her to a woman who claimed she knew how to deal with troubled kids.” JJ answered. Garcia had been working on a list of possible people while we were talking. 
“Garcia, we’re out of time, we need something.” Hotch said. 
“Okay. There are three families who responded to Sue’s post.” She answered. 
“Do any of them own a dark van?” Rossi asked. 
“There’s a Nicole Jones. She owns a blue ‘03 caravan. She lives in a shack twenty miles south of where you are off interstate 59.” She answered. 
“Let’s go.” Hotch said and we were on the move. We got to the house, guns out and ready. Spencer, Alex, and I went around back where we found a barn. We walked inside and found her hide. 
“Guys!” Reid called as she slowly rose up with her hands in the air. 
“D-don’t shoot me.” She said. 
“Where’s Gabby Hoffer?” Spencer asked. 
“She’s gone.” She answered and we cuffed her. She wouldn’t say anything more. 
“She must have panicked and gotten rid of Gabby.” Alex said. 
“This poor girl…” I whispered. 
“Garcia, who else from the area answered Sue’s post?” Hotch asked. 
“Uh… There’s one woman, Michelle Fader. She ran in the same sick circles. And she owns an old van. This Fader’s a real winner. She was evicted from her last known address.” Garcia said. 
“They probably won’t risk going back towards the abduction site, which means they’re headed southwest. Let’s go.” Hotch said and we all went back to the cars. 
“Okay. The woman I hope you’re about to arrest had all her biological kids taken from her five years ago because another child died while in her custody.” Garcia said while we were on the road. 
“She was never charged?” JJ asked. 
“Oh, no, she was, but for neglect. She didn’t spend a minute in jail. Social workers haven’t come by her house at all because none of her kids are in her custody.” Garcia answered. 
“They have no idea she’s been finding new children online…” I said shaking my head. 
“Those poor little darlings are being treated like trash. They don’t know that anybody cares. We care. We care.” Garcia said. 
“Garcia, widen your search to any known male associates of Michelle Fadeer.” Hotch said. 
“Yeah, will do.” She answered. 
“Oh… I got a picture of Fader with some guy who could win sleaze of the century award. And he’s got his arm all possessivey around a sweet little girl.” She said. 
“Run facial recognition software and get an I.D. on him.” Morgan said. 
“Okay, I got a match. Micheal Feehan. He is the perv in the picture with Fader. He’s not in any registries, but he has got a list of accusations. None of them were proven because all of the victims were too young.” She said and I had to hold back tears. 
“Garcia, did you get the address?” Hotch asked.
“Running it now.” She said. She sent it to us and we got there as quickly as possible. 
“Please, give me a reason.” Rossi said pointing his gun at Feehan. 
“What the hell is goin’ on!?” A woman shouted coming out of a room. 
“Michelle Fader, you’re under arrest for staging a child abduction.” Hotch said and put his gun away. 
“I didn’t do nothin’. Look, I was trying to help that girl.” She said. 
“You have the right to remain silent.” Hotch started reading her, her rights.  
“I have only tried to help that girl. She wanted a fresh start. She couldn’t take care of her own babies anymore.” She shouted as Hotch and Spencer took her out. JJ and I walked further in the house trying to find Gabby and possibly the other kids. 
“We’ve got Gabby. And there are other kids back here.” JJ called. 
“Are you okay?” I asked, bending down. 
“Can you take me home now?” Gabby asked and I smiled at her. 
“Yes, sweetheart. We’re gonna take you to your mommy.” I said and she smiled. Spencer had come over and smiled at me. 
“Okay, come on.” I said and lifted Gabby up. The other two kids followed and we took them back to the station. 
“Mama!” She shouted as soon as she saw her. I set her down and she ran up to her mother. 
“Oh, my sweet baby!” Kate said and held her in her arms. 
“I missed you, mama.” Gabby said. 
“I missed you so much.” Kate said. 
“Why are you sad?” Gabby asked. 
“I’m not sad.” Kate answered. 
“So those are happy tears?” Gabby asked, wiping the tears off her mother’s face.
“Yep.” Kate answered and I walked back to the team. 
“Y/N… you okay?” Morgan asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. 
“They don’t have anywhere safe to be…” I said looking at the other kids. 
“It’s not ideal, but they’ll be in foster care. Until they find a family.” Alex said. 
“Yeah, but how many more kids like that are out there?” Rossi asked. 
“That’s a good question.” Hotch said and Spencer pulled me into another room. 
“Are you better now that we found her?” He asked and I nodded. 
“Yeah, a little…” I said. 
“Now will you tell me what’s had you so distracted?” He asked, grabbing a hold of my hands. 
“I’m pregnant…” I whispered, looking at the floor. 
“W-what?” He asked, shocked. 
“I’m sorry.” I cried, but Spencer pulled me to him. 
“How long?” He asked. 
“I found out last month. I didn’t know how to tell you.” I cried. 
“Shhh, it’s okay.” He whispered and tried to help me calm down. 
“I’m going to be a father?” He asked, making me look up at him. I nodded with a slight frown and he furrowed his brow. 
“What’s wrong? You’ve always wanted kids.” He asked. 
“I know, but do we really want to bring a child into this world? I mean just look at how many monsters are out here and that’s just the ones we know of…” I said and he gently grabbed my face and kissed me. 
“Yes, the world is messed up, but we help make it a better place.” He said. 
“I know, but-” 
“But nothing Y/N, you’ve always talked about how badly you want kids and although it’s a little earlier than I thought it would be, I’m excited to be a father.” He said and I smiled. 
“It’s not too early for us?” I asked. 
“We’ve been together a year, I think it’s okay, if it’s okay with you.” He said and I smiled. 
“We’re gonna be parents.” I said and he kissed me again. 
“We’re gonna be parents.” He whispered back. 
Tag list: @les-bio-lie​ @tashy-bear​ @xrosesareredx​ @ashwarren32​ @hollie-blogs​ @schisbro87​ @lover-of-books-and-teas​ @nerdygaloresposts​ @alex--awesome--22​ @teenwolfbitches2​ @genius2050​ @drw0301bieber​ @softgamerking​ @lady-of-lies​ @simonsbluee​ @ravenmoore14​  @pettyjayy​
150 notes · View notes
sabinemorans · 4 years
Text
Mission Impossible: Nanny
Quinn McKenna x female reader
Words: 2,679
Warnings: none!
A/N: This was co-written with @nothing-but-a-comedy the title credit goes to @sailorsquadgoals
Tumblr media
Quinn was finally starting to get the hang of caring for Rory, but there were some days he wished he had some help. Shared custody with his wife was already a bit of a struggle, and Quinn knew that Rory could use an extra caregiver or two. It eased his mind that Rory was actually the one to suggest this idea since his mother had hired a nanny recently. Of course he said it in his way– very blunt and matter-of-fact– but Quinn enjoyed it actually.
Even though everything had changed after the Predators had come, this was a good thing to come of it. He felt closer to Rory now than ever and it would take a special person to be good enough to watch him, and a very special ad to draw them in. It was a normal ad detailing the basics up until it mentioned protection for his son, including the lines “people with ex-military or security background preferred.”
It took a little longer than Quinn had hoped, even if it was a unique ad, but he finally found the perfect candidate hit. She was educated, well reviewed, and passed a background check on the nanny site with flying colors.
That would have been enough for anyone else, but Quinn knew with his line of work, he’d have to do a deep search just to be on the safe side. He sent her name to Nebraska, knowing he could trust him to find out about any red flags. Surely she would understand, and if she didn’t, then Quinn would know she wasn’t right for the job.                                 
The best part was her suggestion for a secondary nanny as the request had mentioned this was protection for the child as well. The second one, a man, also passed with flying colors and was sent to Nebraska. When there were no red flags to be found after Nebraska had essentially done a deep dive-Quinn emailed them. Cause if Nebraska couldn’t find anything, then there was nothing to find. 
It looked like a solid deal, and Quinn was a little excited to be getting some extra help and a chance to make Rory happy. What he wasn’t expecting, however, was how attached he would become to her. To you. 
~~~
You’d partially given up on finding a new nanny job when finally good news was in your email. Quinn McKenna wanted to interview you! Grinning, you immediately called your backup and very best friend Din, telling him the news. 
“If he wants to see me, he probably wants to see you too, considering,” you said, moving from your kitchen counter to your stove where pasta was boiling. You had your headphones on so there was less chance of you dropping your phone into boiling water which had only happened once but Din acted as if it had happened a dozen times. Honestly, it couldn't have happened after he had left your apartment?
“Good, his was the only interesting job on there. I wonder if he’d be ok with me bringing the baby along at times. Maybe if the kid takes a liking to us, it might be good for him to socialize with a baby.” Din had adopted a baby at the beginning of the year. He’d gone with a mutual friend of yours to an adoption agency and just fallen in love. It had taken forever but as he put it, he’d just known as soon as those big dark eyes had found his that they were meant to be. 
“We’d definitely need to build some trust first. I know my little one doesn’t cry much, but to a child on the spectrum, it can be very hard to handle. That would be the best case scenario though since there’s two of us. Though this McKenna guy mentioned protection, so maybe he’s a political person or something. We don’t wanna bring that dark eyed angel into any danger.” You strained your pasta and dumped it a bowl, pouring sauce on top and beginning to mix.  
“Fair enough. Guess we’ll see, sweet girl, huh?” 
You smiled and shook your head at the affectionate nickname. “Don’t call me that Din, you know better. I always think you want something from me when you call me that.” 
“What me? Never,” came the reply where he was so obviously grinning like an idiot. God you hated him sometimes, it was so hard to love someone so ridiculous but you managed it even with knowing him as long as you did. You could ask for better company than him sometimes but you couldn’t ask for a better best friend. Bastard knew it too. The two of you were bonded for life, for better or worse.
“Smartass. I’ll call you with the details when he emails me back, love you Din.”
“Love you back, sweet girl.” You heard a laugh before he hung up and you pulled your headphones off. 
“Silly man,” you muttered as you began to eat your pasta and homemade sauce on the way to your couch. Turning your TV on, you settled with a comfort show so your brain could wander as you ate. Quinn McKenna...what an interesting name.
~~~
Mr. McKenna had been busy with work over the weekend, so it took a few days for the interview to happen. You arrived with Din by your side, as Mr. McKenna had proposed you had applied more or less as a team and would be interviewed as such. He told you that he liked your forethought to mention a second you already trusted, and that compliment made you smile. Thinking ahead had always been a strength of yours. 
“Should you knock or should I knock?” Din looked at you and you shrugged back with an indifferent look on your face. 
“Do you think it matters?”
“I guess not.”
“...you want to knock don’t you?”
The door to the cozy two story house had an old school knocker on it and Din’s grin gave you all the information you needed. 
“Go on then,” you chuckled, waving your hand at it. 
He knocked three times and sighed, satisfied with that stupid grin on his face. You shook your head. Ridiculous man. 
The man who answered the door looked anything but ridiculous. He was absolutely not what you’d been expecting at what-six foot two? Filled out well too with bright blue eyes you could get lost in, blonde hair shorter on the sides a little bit flopping at the top and a smile that screamed “good ol’ boy” more than anything you had ever seen.
And you were fucking hooked.
But you were a professional and despite the sudden mental images of jumping on him and pressing your body to his (likely muscular and strong and maybe even a bit pudgy) body you simply smiled brightly and hoped that Din would keep his professional manner even though Quinn McKenna was definitely one of your types. 
“Mornin’, thank you both for comin’,” McKenna said before waving the two of you in. 
Din let you lead and he followed both you and McKenna to the dining room table where your possible employer sat in front of both of you. He was prepared, both your resumes sat before him and he had them side by side with what looked like prepared questions written down. Din and you shared a glance that spoke volumes. He was very serious wasn’t he? Maybe he was political, maybe he was a part of the mob or maybe he was some kind of paranoid kook. It was a nice house and it actually reminded you of David Lieberman’s house in ‘The Punisher’ and then a fourth option to what Mr. McKenna did crossed your mind quickly followed by a fifth. 
Either he was a government spook, or he was the Punisher. Either way you weren’t that mad about it.
“Take a seat,” Quinn gestured to the chairs in front of him with a face that didn’t betray much emotion.
You noticed that he glanced at you a few times too many, but he made it hard to read what was going on in his head. He must have noticed the confused looks on your faces, because he gave you a reassuring smile as you sat down before clearing his throat. “You must be wondering why I needed two nannies with your type of background,” he chuckled.
You exchanged a look with Din for a split second before Mr. McKenna broke the semi-awkward silence. “I’m in the military too and I wanted people I could trust with my kid’s safety,” he explained. His answer was still a little vague for you, but you figured you’d ask him more about it later. It was nice to know he would understand the two of you though, you’d worked security for a little while and were amazed at how much people pushed back when asked what you thought was safest. With Mr. McKenna you might fight over strategies but at least he’d understand them.
You found yourself wondering what branch he was in, what his rank was when Din spoke, pulling you back to the present. 
“Well, in that case, you found the right people for the job,” Din said in a professional manner. “We both served in the Marines. I was a Corporal and she was a Sergeant as I’m sure you saw by our records.” Din explained, and you took a moment to admire how well he always pitched the two of you as valuable assets. He went on to detail (as much as he was allowed to) how you’d worked together for years. You did chime in here and there with details Din couldn’t remember and explained your individual special skills. 
Din was a master of stealth, infiltration and quiet extraction were his specialties. You on the other hand were a sniper. Your furthest confirmed kill was clocked at 1110 yards– a near record. The pair of you were well trained in hand-to-hand combat and familiar with most guns that could be thrown at you though with the choice between a gun or a knife, you favored the K-Bar while Din favored his Sig Sauer.
Mr. McKenna  crossed his arms in front of his chest, giving Din an impressed look as he heard his pitch. His eyes had lit up when you said you were a sniper and you smiled back, recognizing the look of a fellow sniper in him. The fact that you had something so specific in common was mind blowing really!  While you both derailed for a moment to talk about things you saw Din smirking a little. Ass. He knew exactly what it meant when you grinned like that. Trying to stay professional (and not give Din the satisfaction of knowing your thoughts too well) you locked down the thoughts of the two of you on a date, seeing who could  hit the farthest target even if it would probably be you. 
“Both of your resumes are impressive, but I’m wonderin’ why you guys left after spending so much time climbing the ranks.” Mr. McKenna quirked an eyebrow at you, so you chose to answer this question instead of leaving it to Din.
“It was just time for us to get out. With all the jobs I’ve had in the world I’ve listened to my gut about when it was time to seek out something else. Din trusted me enough that when I said the Marines wasn’t the right career for us anymore that he put in to leave when I did. A few months after we left we got word that a lot of our unit had been badly injured in an ambush masquerading as a rescue mission.” You shifted your hair from one side to the other and kept eye contact with Mr. McKenna, who let out a sigh through his nose and nodded. Nothing else needed to be said about that.
After that it lightened up. You felt at ease answering his questions; he didn’t seem as intimidating as you initially thought him to be, and the interview eventually flowed more like a friendly conversation than a job interview. You all even laughed about things! Maybe it was the fact that the three of you could bond over your military backgrounds (Quinn as he insisted on being called after the third time he was referred to as Mr. McKenna, was a Ranger Captain), or maybe it was because of the way that Quinn looked at you differently than he’d look at Din. You didn’t have time to put your finger on what kind of look it was exactly before a young boy came walking out of a nearby hallway but it certainly warmed you all over. It was nice to talk so freely with another man besides Din too, someone else who understood.
Din’s face lit up as he saw him, and you couldn’t help but smile as he exclaimed, “Oh hey, little man! Is that Rory?” He asked as he turned to Quinn with a bright smile.
“Yup,” Quinn responded, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he gestured for Rory to sit beside him. He ruffled Rory’s hair and pointed in yours and Din’s direction to introduce you to him. “These might be your new nannies, whaddya think of that, bud?”
Din held his fist out for Rory to bump and you shook the little guy’s hand in a greeting, smiling widely at how cute he was. You glanced up at Quinn as Din and Rory exchanged a few words, already acting like they were the best of friends. Quinn was obviously very protective of his son, happily watching the exchange, but you could tell he was watching closely to see how Din would get along with him. Din was being his usual self around children, boisterous but at a respectful volume, which was so different from how he was around most new people. You laughed at a stupid joke Din made which made Rory smile before running your hands through your hair again. Your eyes were pulled towards Quinn in soft glances and you noticed when he glanced at you as well, carefully timed to when you were listening to Rory talk about what he liked to do and how he liked things to be.
Before your eyes could meet Quinn’s and you could really analyze those glances, you heard Rory mention something about a fight. 
“I’m sorry sweetheart what did you say?”  Quinn looked at Rory, stunned and then at the two of you. 
“Now hang on buddy I don’t-“ His father started but Rory kept going anyway. He was definitely determined and had been waiting to say this. 
“I wanna see you guys fight, you know, see who’s better. And the winner can fight my dad! If you can beat my Dad or just hold your own you’re definitely good enough to be my nanny.” The sweet faced little boy was so succinct about his needs that you laughed a little incredulously but with no small amount of humor.
“You know what you want sweetheart I’ll give you that,” you said with a grin and shrug to Quinn and Din. “I’m game, but we probably shouldn’t swing to really hurt each other. Do you have boxing gloves maybe or we could do more Jiu Jitsu and grapple rather than throw punches.”
“Yeah no, no real hits. But if the little man wants to see a fight he’s gonna get a fight.” Din was already standing, making to take off his nice jacket and you were following suit when Quinn stood and waved his hands. Jesus-his hands were huge. How had you not noticed that yet?
“Hang on hang on,” he said looking at the pair of you, both paused with your jackets pooled at your elbows.
“But Daaaaad,” Rory whined, looking up at him.
Quinn raised a brow at his son before smirking and letting out a small chuckle. “You guys shouldn’t fight…” He grinned at Rory before adding, “...in the house.”
59 notes · View notes
jungnoir · 4 years
Text
𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡!𝐛𝐭𝐬;
Tumblr media
bts but as witches in a coven. discuss
Tumblr media
𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐤𝐣𝐢𝐧: the supreme
ok not quite but he’s the most experienced in magic out of all the boys
his mother was a witch and she taught him everything he needed to know from birth to adulthood
his whole family is blessed with magic save for a few who didn’t get the gene but every family reunion they all dote on jin and talk about how powerful he’s become and how proud they are of him
the coven house where all of the boys stay is actually jin’s ancestor’s home from a long time ago
the place has brought up witches of all generations and jin was very eager to inherit it
while there’s definitely a lack of witches he’s been able to recruit, he loves his family of six so it doesn’t really bother him
he acts like he’s all serious but in reality he’s always casting spells on the youngins as tests (read: for fun)
jimin: why tf did you give me green skin
jin: if you had been paying attention during lessons you would know how to fix it :)
has definitely said this out of context more than once: ”any witch worth a broom handle knows how to get rid of poisonous snakes! you know back in my day…”
wears the flashiest outfits, but little do people know that they’re all homemade. he has a serious creative eye and seeks to make what simple human designers wish they could (taehyung is very eager to learn this talent from him)
goes all out on halloween with this talent too, creating uber realistic costumes
no he didn’t make a costume out of real human bones that year he went as a scarily realistic skeleton what are you talking about
no graves were robbed in the making of this outfit
if you couldn’t tell, his specialty is in glamours
honestly the guy should just tattoo “i’m a witch” across his forehead, he makes it so damn obvious
he openly practices magic too like it gives yoongi stress pains bc!! there’s still ppl who would very much like to burn witches still to this day!!! where is the self-preservation!!
jin doesn’t care. he’ll burn them right back. checkmate bitch
honestly charms anyone that comes in contact with him which is one of the things he never has to try at
the guys think he uses magic to do it but he’s honestly just, as jin would say, “born with it”
Tumblr media
𝐲𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢: the right hand man
*namjoon voice* and who do we got here right now??? ˢᵘᵍᵃ!!!
when it comes to magic, yoongi is pretty neutral
an awfully interesting feeling to have given that seokjin has appointed him the heir of the coven in case anything happens to him
he’s not obsessed with magic like tae, hobi or kook
he doesn’t spend his time learning everything about it like namjoon
and he’s not playful with it like jimin and jin
yoongi just… acknowledges it. its like it exists as something he can do and he’s proud but he doesn’t really care if that makes sense
most of his friends outside of the coven are human too and he has no reservations about telling them what he is bc if they cause trouble he is more than prepared to take care of it
they’re usually like “wow so cool! i wish i was a witch” but yoongi really doesn’t care lmao
with or without magic, yoongi is the same: he loves music, he loves making music, and he loves being a musician
yoongi, however, is guilty of having used magic to make his music just right before
sometimes a note just doesn’t sit with him right and it’s driving him insane
or maybe the bass doesn’t hit hard enough
he charms his music in a way that when one listens to it, they feel exactly what yoongi wants them to feel
people are always telling him he has a real gift in music and while he most certainly does, he feels he has to give credit to his magic for helping him along sometimes
but then seokjin will be like “isn’t magic your talent too? aren’t you just exercising it when you charm your music? it’s not like you can only make music well. you should give yourself props for your magic too”
it’s just. weird to him because he’s seen how much magic can corrupt people in much higher positions than himself and it’s Terrifying
he wants to know that no matter what he makes, it’s his and his alone, not attributed to any otherworldly advantage
this just kind of contributes to his need to be as detached from magic as possible
he’s too cheap to buy one of those coffee makers that automatically start brewing at a certain time in the morning and just uses magic to do it instead
“yoongi do you want me to buy you a new coffee maker for your birthday? they have ones that do all the work for you now-” “no”
he has to be extra, okay namjoon
jimin teases him sometimes but yoongi knows it’s all out of love
jimin understands yoongi in a way, and while the others are always like “yoongi you should have more fun with your magic!” jimin is always like “no no no, let him be”
besides yoongi could probably smoke all of them in a battle of magic if it came down to it lol
Tumblr media
𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐤: the perfectionist
HERE HE IS!!! ITS HE
hoseok is probably one of the most talented witches in the coven
hoseok is a perfectionist to a t so if he feels insecure about how he’s doing a certain spell he will do it over and over and over until he’s got it right which makes him a pretty formidable opponent
like even the boys wouldn’t go up against him bc they know they’re just gonna get their ass handed to them
he’s a sweetie tho and very light-hearted and he never lets his power get to his head
he mainly uses it to bother the others tbh
also uses magic to give himself and the boys cool ass hair colors
currently he’s obsessed with this orange he’s got going on
calls it “pumpkin spice” bc it angers yoongi
“it really brings out the burnt sunset hues of a pumpkin ya know? or like a mix of changing fall colors, like golden crisp and warm crimson” “it’s fucking orange” yoongi can be heard chiming in from somewhere else in the house
but don’t get me wrong, hoseok loves himself some yoongi and vice versa
yoongi taught hoseok directly bc yoongi was the one that found hoseok
he was just an average college student and wasn’t really finding a will to live outside of paying off his student debts
he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life and was pretty dead inside, working at a cafe and serving coffee to other dead inside college students when yoongi came in and sensed his strong magical aura
yoongi kinda forced hoseok’s magic out of him by tossing a cup of steaming hot coffee to the floor, causing hoseok to freeze the entire cafe in time, save for the two of them. yoongi told him what he was and the rest was history
now that it’s been so long hoseok still gets upset that yoongi was willing to break one of the cafe’s mugs to prove a point
because of course, when time unfroze, the mug fuckin shattered all over the place what a fuckin jerk guess who’s going to have to clean that up does he really have no respect for retail workers seriou
seokjin also was opposed to yoongi’s method but since it resulted in hobi joining their coven, he can’t be too mad
it was hoseok’s natural ability that yoongi was able to help hone, and when hoseok found a love for it, he took it upon himself to be the absolute best witch he could be
hoseok’s power of stopping time is uniquely his own and he’s worked hard to perfect it
sometimes he just stops time to stop it
hob: *freezes a movie theater right before something dramatic happens on screen* hold on yall I gotta piss real quick
freezing time is also super helpful during *cough* stressful exams* cough*
Tumblr media
𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧: the scholar
he knows…. everything
not only did he do the reading, he did an 8 page analysis on it and corrected a few mistakes too
namjoon was aware of his witchy nature even from the moment he was a little kid, and his parents were both human and a bit scared for him since they didn’t know how to handle it, but they gave him the option of pursuing magic or not. they made sure to do all their own research into where witches could go to hone their craft just in case
in the end, namjoon grew curious and started reading books about magic and magical things
tho he didn’t actually start using his power until his mid teens
by then he was a bit shaky with it, but he knew a lot and was very determined so he got the hang of it very quickly
rarely uses his magic outside of it being necessary tho bc he’s gone so long without having to use it that he doesn’t rely on it for anything
he also likes to be independent from his magic in a way
while magic is very much a part of him and his being, he doesn’t want it to be like a crutch, you know? his biggest fear is losing his magic, bc he’s heard it can happen
he’s also aware that some witches lose important life skills and miss out on opportunities to build their character bc they’re so used to being able to just magic their way out of a situation
went from student to teacher real quick
teaches the other boys how to properly say incantations
“its levios-ah not levios-ar”
actually?? a pretty scary dude when it comes to using his magic for real
don’t put him in a situation where someone is getting hurt because he will not go easy on the aggressor. the other boys can attest to this too, having been saved by him far too many times than is acceptable in namjoon’s eyes
basically dont fuck with namjoon’s boys or u gon die
does cute things for the boys on their birthdays with magic
one time taehyung was sad that it wasn’t snowing on his birthday so namjoon made it snow for hours
may have fucked up the climate a lil bit
yoongi almost lost a toe
namjoon frequents a library and whenever a lil kid is struggling to reach a book he uses his magic to drift the book down to the little kid and when the kid looks at him in awe he just presses his finger to his lips and winks at them
flirts using his extreme wicca knowledge, of which is either a major turn off or a major turn on. you decide
Tumblr media
𝐣𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧: the reluctant
jimin loves magic, but it wasn’t always like that
jimin kinda struggled with accepting his magical abilities at a young age bc he was really confused
like why wasn’t he just like everyone else? why did he have to be a witch? why did he have to have magic when he could’ve just been normal?
he often rejected it, never bothering to learn anything even to impress the family at reunions
but as he grew older, his parents grew worried he’d hate his magic and never use it again, putting him in a vulnerable position if his magic were ever to just come out when jimin isn’t in a place to control it, so they let him meet a slightly older witch that could help mentor him
his parents would’ve done it but jimin hardly ever listened to his parents about magic and they wanted to show him there were witches his age that were amazing people and embraced it, that it didn’t take away from jimin’s life but in fact added to it
in comes yoongi
yoongi, at first, really pities jimin
he understands the struggle between wanting to be normal and dealing with a part of his identity that won’t ever go away
where yoongi is concerned, that struggle for him was that he wanted to be himself regardless of being talented in magic. jimin... just hates it
but then jimin starts bashing magic and witches and he’s about to get angry at his parents for trying to force him into being a witch when yoongi just,,, slaps him upside the head
jimin’s shocked and yoongi is just like “respect your parents kid, they’re looking out for you. just because you don’t use your magic doesn’t mean people won’t know you’re a witch. its dangerous for a witch to go around with magic and not know how to use it”
jimin is shocked. he never thought of it that way
jimin feels embarrassed all of a sudden and apologizes and then yoongi cracks a smile and he’s like “no biggie kid, i’m just here to teach you the basics of magic and then i’ll be out of your hair”
jimin finds that learning magic with yoongi is really fun and soon he’s asking to be apart of the coven and embracing being a witch
he becomes carefree with it, like it’s another part of him, and he’s still kinda inexperienced, but he’s learning a lot from yoongi and namjoon
loves playing with temperature
the boys make him freeze their drinks for him, or ask him to heat up some popcorn while they’re all sprawled out on the couch on movie night bc no one feels like waiting two minutes for it to cook in the microwave
makes the water in the shower cold whenever one of the boys is taking way too fucking long in there which is Everyday
also jimin: *hitting on someone at the bar* *makes the room slightly warmer* “is it hot in here or is it just you?”
relates everything he learns back to naruto in some way, much to everyone’s complete and utter confusion
he just really kins the guy i guess
100% owns every single witch pun shirt known to man
“witch please” “witches do it better” “this is my resting witch face”
jungkook: by all means jimin why don’t you just burn us all at the stake yourself
it’s ok tho bc it’s his own little way of owning his identity, and if you want to avoid having your fingers frozen off, you’ll be sure not to step to him any kind of way
Tumblr media
𝐭𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐠: the transcendent 
my favorite witch!!! i wrote this whole thing for him
tae is like jin in that his whole family is magical and he grew up surrounded by magic his whole life
in fact, he’s so familiar with magic that he’s kind of sick of it (no he isn’t (most of the time))
taehyung is unique with his magic bc he’s actually able to transcend realms oooh~
the information on how many realms and parallel universes and such are limited as hell so taehyung actively helps broaden that knowledge as he travels, a very Dangerous and Scary job to anybody else
but to him he’s like!! fuck yeah astral projection!
basically, he’s able to put himself into a deep sleep where he moves through different realms, some more or less magical than the others
he’s so good at it that he can project himself into someone else’s dreams too
he’s basically capable of seeing more than most magical beings, and he can perceive spirits easily, as well as being able to actually see a magical aura around someone
so for instance, if a witch who didn’t know they were a witch walked into a bar, he’d know what they were instantly. besides the general intuitive feeling that most witches get, he can see the auras physically, like swarming tendrils of smoke unique to every person
each aura feels and looks different than others which makes it easy for him to point out shape shifters and vampires and werewolves and all the other guys pretty easily
bc of this ability, taehyung also likes to mess with the boys like everyone else lol
“tae, i just saw the most beautiful-” “they’re actually an ogre in disguise” “WHAT”
“man my english teacher is a witch” “she actually is”
in case you couldn’t tell tae’s favorite victim is jungkook
casually tells people he’s a witch just for the #reactions
if you’re wondering, no. nobody in this coven cares about keeping this shit a secret
since he’s more sensitive to dreaming, a lot of his dreams leave him incredibly emotional because sometimes he really is there
he once had a dream where all magical beings were universally accepted in the world and were loved and happy and woke up sobbing into jimin’s lap
also nightmares take a HUGE toll on him so his sleep pattern is fucked for real
usually ends up eating cake with jin in the dining room at four am and talking about life together to get the nightmares off tae’s mind
tae uses his magic on humans in a different way. like he doesn’t prank them that much, but rather manipulates their moods. he tries to charm anyone he comes in contact with to make them happy or to make them giggly
he wants to use his magic for good, because it often leaves a very painful burden on him in turn
Tumblr media
𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤: the prodigy
honestly i feel like if jungkook was a witch he’d probably be an underdeveloped one, you feel?
he finds out his power late bc either his family didn’t know (they’re all human) or they just didn’t tell him in hopes of him never becoming one
but jungkook is being bullied by some guys in his grade and they corner him after school one day and jungkook gets so frustrated that he just,,, makes them all start uncontrollably burping
as dumb as it is, those kids never bother jungkook again
when he does get a hang of it, jungkook probably uses his magic for fun more often than not
jungkook is recruited by jin for this very reason. he catches jungkook messing with old people at the park on his afternoon runs and he’s like this kid is such a brat. i want him
jungkook is SUCH a fast learner holy shit
he goes to namjoon for every little question, to the point where namjoon is positive he’s become a better witch simply because jungkook has prepared him for any fuckin scenario known to man
he also makes himself float upside down in the kitchen at night so when hoseok comes down for a glass of water he almost pisses himself
“haha did i scare you” 
cue hoseok making jungkook fall down as he mumbles “little shit” under his breath
halloween is his favorite time of year and he likes to pull harmless pranks on the kiddies while scaring the mean teenagers ruining all of the children’s fun
like he sees this guy in a deformed mask holding a plastic knife about to scare a little boy so Jungkook just gives the dude a wedgie with his magic
all the kids are laughing at him and jungkook just smirks
honestly he doesn’t like reading about magic as much as he likes just doing it from intuition/namjoon’s instruction. he’s a lot like hoseok in that he has a lot of natural talent but not a lot of proper training when he first starts honing his ability
since jin yoongi and namjoon are in charge of teaching magic they all hound on him like “did u do the reading”
jungkook maybe glosses over everything and then just over-performs as compensation
they get on him abt it but there’s no lying about it, jungkook is a strong witch on his own
he hasn’t gotten a special manifestation of his magic Just Yet but he only gets stronger as he goes. the more he applies himself, the stronger he grows
126 notes · View notes
docholligay · 4 years
Note
What hobbies or activities would your OW crew each try and pick up during corona quarantine?
Tracer
Lena is going to try and learn a second language. She took French in school, didn’t she? And didn’t she graduate school? Right! So this should be an absolute walk in the park. French it is. Her first choice was Arabic, as it was, in fact, the prospect of Amari drama that made her embrace the wisdom of being a polyglot in the first place, but Mercy’s gentle suggestion that she start with something a bit closer to home base made her try for French. Arabic could be her third language. 
And it isn’t that Tracer is stupid, so much as she has the full confidence that she can try hard and find success. This has been true so many times in her life, that she was simply the one most dedicated to the outcome, and so she managed to wrench it from the hands of fate. She is quick, and clever, and capable! What’s FRENCH got that she can’t handle. 
Lena, five minutes in: Oh, right, I hated school. 
She tries, god love her, but it just doesn’t hold her attention. She’s trying so hard to write verb forms and study and study, but she doesn’t honestly care much to KNOW French. It reminds her of Amelie, for starters, and that always gives her a little bit of a pit in her stomach, and without Amelie, there seems very little reason to know it. Only one in the house who speaks it is Mercy, really. 
So she takes account of the languages her team knows. 
Hana...Korean, of course, and at least some Japanese, mostly for promotional reasons. Lena takes one look at the Japanese rules of politeness and deference and gently sets the language to the side. She thinks about Korean--Korea’s been so much help since the omnic crisis, and it’s a good thing to converse with your allies--but the daunting aspect of having to ask Hana, who seems not even to know herself whether she likes everyone in the house or not, overcomes her. 
Fareeha, well, that’d be Arabic, and that’s it, so far as Lena knows, and Ang’s already warned her off of that one. Fareeha’s feeling a it pricky about the whole Arabic situation since her mother’s come back, anyhow, and all her workout music has turned to English, and Lena’s not certain why she seems to be blaming the entire Arab world for Ana, but then again, Lena doesn’t understand Fareeha in the best of times. 
Winston, he’d of course help her, but a lot of his knowledge is tied up in Latin and Scholarly Greek, and she’s not sure why anyone would take all the effort when you couldn’t even properly go on holiday. He does know a fair amount of German, she figures, but if she’s going to do that, she may as well go to Ang, and besides all that, Winston dos so much for her. No need to throw in another thing. 
Ana: No. 
Jack: No, but a bit softer. 
Angela seems the natural choice, as she knows so many languages, comparatively. Her father was a linguist of sorts, to hear Ang talk around the edge of it, and so German, French, Italian, Latin, Hebrew, at the least, all come to her quickly and easily. It’s English she likes the least, and she’s better at it than she gives herself credit for, near perfect but for a few stange tenses. It really only Ang who notices. But Angela is, well, Ang, and with all the troubles of the world, she’s lost her mind, a bit. 
So there’s no real help to be had, and Lena buys a few Muzzy tapes in French and learns how to say “I am a young girl” and “I like apples” before deciding that her quarantine time is better spent ensuring that she can actually climb the drain to the roof, jump from the roof into the pool, and other extremely valuable information. No one was hiring her for the language department anyhow. 
Winston
WInston is more used to solitude than the rest of them, and as far as he’s concerned, it’s not really loneliness if Tracer is with him. THough he feels bad for her, and how stir crazy she’s getting. It makes him sad to see her so bored and glum, though she is trying to make cheer of it. 
And so Winston has a genius idea. Tracer LOVES gymnastics, and Winston loves a project. So the idea for the super bounce trampoline is born. 
You cannot tell Winston this is a bad idea. You cannot tell Winston this is a bad idea, because, on some level, he already knows. He knows, but he sees Tracer doing her little cartwheels in the yard, running laps, trying to create little games for herself where she creates time trials around the house, trying to improve on each activity lap. At the time where she breaks three plates trying to see if she can beat her time for table service, it even starts to sound like a GOOD idea. 
He’s fine making little picnic lunches together and watching TV and having her ‘help’ in the lab, but she is becoming despondent with the boredom of it all. It has been ten days. 
And so, he looks at the metals he’s engineered for use in his prosthetic limbs. Couldn’t they also be used to create a spring that would double your strength and energy return of a normal spring? Than Lena could do all kinds of maneuvers on the trampoline, and besides, it’s always important to know the limits of engineering. 
Angela tries to remind him hospitals  are full. 
Dva
The first day of quarantine, Hana Song pops a soda in her pj shorts and says, “It’s a pandemic! Why do we have to improve ourselves? God, isn’t it enough to be alive?” She takes a deep sip. “I’ll do some charity streams, okay?” 
As she’s walking away Tracer asks her if she’ll help paint the upstairs den. Tracer is making little physical projects for herself in varying levels of horror, sometimes while watching the Muzzy tapes to convince herself she hasn’t given up on the bilingual dream. Painting seems tame. Hana stops for a moment, then agrees. 
She is the only reasonable person in this house. 
Mercy
Angela is in a panic. The entire world seems to be crumbling at her feet, and though she is no epidemiologist, she knows that none of this is good. She wants to go. Pharah begs her to stay. She is afraid for Angela. To put her in some ICU where she could get the illness, where it could be, as such, that Fareeha would not be able to come to her. She understands Angela’s need to help, but also, she says, what if something happened to you? You are the only doctor with any real knowledge of Tracer. What would be come of her. 
Angela only looks at her for a moment before her face darkens, and Fareeha shakes her head, ashamed. “I was using Tracer to excuse my own fears. I am selfish. You should go.” 
And in that moment, Angela does not leave not because she is the only physician who can properly work with Tracer’s condition, but for the great love of Fareeha Amari, who for the first time since Angela has known her, is truly afraid. 
The days pass with difficulty. She is writing guidelines and ideas to anyone she can, coordinating donations and writing out thank yous and pleas, sitting in the bay window of their bedroom as the sleeting snow and rain fall against the window one bleak afternoon. The sun and storm come in patches, she’s noticed, but the grey seems to speak to her most all. 
Fareeha comes to her one day. She has a mug filled with hot chocolate and whipped cream and brandy and love. She gently places her hand on Angela’s knee. 
“I hear you crying in the night,” she says, though she cannot look to Angela’s face, “You should go. You must go.” 
She loves Fareeha so very much. 
She goes. 
Pharah
Which immediately drives the sort of disconnected and floating morass of ennui that is the Overwatch household into Von Trapp style whistle blowing order. 
Pharah’s project, you see, is everyone else. 
Fareeha is a lovely person in most respects, all of them would say in one way or another, but she has certain control issues, and these never become more pronounced than when her life seems, well, out of control. 
No more laying about. There is a kitchen to be reorganized, there are drills to be done, when was the last time you lifted? There is a color coded schedule posted in the kitchen and we should all take note of the way Fareeha has scheduled our time. Tracer balks, of course, that she’s the leader as well, and Fareeha has a terrible habit of assuming that it’s her who’s the leader entire and complete, and you know what else--
Winston pulls them apart. Neither of them, he tries to say, are actually angry with each other. He shakes when he says it. 
And so Pharah tries. God love her, she tries SO HARD. She improves herself, and tries to let others be. She reorganizes the entire kitchen. She labels every bulk container, She scrubs every floor in the house to a gleaming shine. Her clothes, and Angela’s all washed and organized by sshade and season. 
One night Lena comes downstairs and sees her looking out the window, drinking a Labatt, rubbing at her wedding ring. Lena wouldn’t embarrass her by asking, but her eyes seem to beglistening, jsut a bit. 
The next morning, all three of the rest of the OVerwatch team are lined up, at the bottom of the stairs, at 6 am sharp. 
It’s true that Fareeha takes herself on three hour runs across the prairie in all weathers to give everyone some down time where they don’t have to be doing anything, but they broker a sort of peace wherein they spend a certain amount of time doing Fareeha Amari’s Twelve Point Improvement Plan every day, and time doing their own thing, and Fareeha seems genuinely cheered to be plotting out their workout and meal plans, their online seminars to listen to. She and Lena even watch a few Muzzy tapes together. 
She even forgives Tracer when the first test of Winston’s trampoline finds Lena sailing through Pharah’s (Thankfully open) bedroom window. 
Ana and Jack:
 They spend all of quarantine watching 90 Day Fiancee and eating TV dinners.
41 notes · View notes
rexsjaigeyes · 4 years
Text
Mission Impossible: Nanny - Part 1
Quinn McKenna x female reader
Words: 2,679
Warnings: none!
A/N: this was co-written with @sabinemorans​​ and the title credit goes to @sailorsquadgoals
Tumblr media
Quinn was finally starting to get the hang of caring for Rory, but there were some days he wished he had some help. Shared custody with his wife was already a bit of a struggle, and Quinn knew that Rory could use an extra caregiver or two. It eased his mind that Rory was actually the one to suggest this idea since his mother had hired a nanny recently. Of course he said it in his way– very blunt and matter-of-fact– but Quinn enjoyed it actually.
Even though everything had changed after the Predators had come, this was a good thing to come of it. He felt closer to Rory now than ever and it would take a special person to be good enough to watch him, and a very special ad to draw them in. It was a normal ad detailing the basics up until it mentioned protection for his son, including the lines “people with ex-military or security background preferred.”
It took a little longer than Quinn had hoped, even if it was a unique ad, but he finally found the perfect candidate hit. She was educated, well reviewed, and passed a background check on the nanny site with flying colors.
That would have been enough for anyone else, but Quinn knew with his line of work, he’d have to do a deep search just to be on the safe side. He sent her name to Nebraska, knowing he could trust him to find out about any red flags. Surely she would understand, and if she didn’t, then Quinn would know she wasn’t right for the job.
The best part was her suggestion for a secondary nanny as the request had mentioned this was protection for the child as well. The second one, a man, also passed with flying colors and was sent to Nebraska. When there were no red flags to be found after Nebraska had essentially done a deep dive-Quinn emailed them. Cause if Nebraska couldn’t find anything, then there was nothing to find.
It looked like a solid deal, and Quinn was a little excited to be getting some extra help and a chance to make Rory happy. What he wasn’t expecting, however, was how attached he would become to her. To you.
~~~
You’d partially given up on finding a new nanny job when finally good news was in your email. Quinn McKenna wanted to interview you! Grinning, you immediately called your backup and very best friend Din, telling him the news.
“If he wants to see me, he probably wants to see you too, considering,” you said, moving from your kitchen counter to your stove where pasta was boiling. You had your headphones on so there was less chance of you dropping your phone into boiling water which had only happened once but Din acted as if it had happened a dozen times. Honestly, it couldn't have happened after he had left your apartment?
“Good, his was the only interesting job on there. I wonder if he’d be ok with me bringing the baby along at times. Maybe if the kid takes a liking to us, it might be good for him to socialize with a baby.” Din had adopted a baby at the beginning of the year. He’d gone with a mutual friend of yours to an adoption agency and just fallen in love. It had taken forever but as he put it, he’d just known as soon as those big dark eyes had found his that they were meant to be.
“We’d definitely need to build some trust first. I know my little one doesn’t cry much, but to a child on the spectrum, it can be very hard to handle. That would be the best case scenario though since there’s two of us. Though this McKenna guy mentioned protection, so maybe he’s a political person or something. We don’t wanna bring that dark eyed angel into any danger.” You strained your pasta and dumped it a bowl, pouring sauce on top and beginning to mix.  
“Fair enough. Guess we’ll see, sweet girl, huh?”
You smiled and shook your head at the affectionate nickname. “Don’t call me that Din, you know better. I always think you want something from me when you call me that.”
“What me? Never,” came the reply where he was so obviously grinning like an idiot. God you hated him sometimes, it was so hard to love someone so ridiculous but you managed it even with knowing him as long as you did. You could ask for better company than him sometimes but you couldn’t ask for a better best friend. Bastard knew it too. The two of you were bonded for life, for better or worse.
“Smartass. I’ll call you with the details when he emails me back, love you Din.”
“Love you back, sweet girl.” You heard a laugh before he hung up and you pulled your headphones off.
“Silly man,” you muttered as you began to eat your pasta and homemade sauce on the way to your couch. Turning your TV on, you settled with a comfort show so your brain could wander as you ate. Quinn McKenna...what an interesting name.
~~~
Mr. McKenna had been busy with work over the weekend, so it took a few days for the interview to happen. You arrived with Din by your side, as Mr. McKenna had proposed you had applied more or less as a team and would be interviewed as such. He told you that he liked your forethought to mention a second you already trusted, and that compliment made you smile. Thinking ahead had always been a strength of yours.
“Should you knock or should I knock?” Din looked at you and you shrugged back with an indifferent look on your face.
“Do you think it matters?”
“I guess not.”
“...you want to knock don’t you?”
The door to the cozy two story house had an old school knocker on it and Din’s grin gave you all the information you needed.
“Go on then,” you chuckled, waving your hand at it.
He knocked three times and sighed, satisfied with that stupid grin on his face. You shook your head. Ridiculous man.
The man who answered the door looked anything but ridiculous. He was absolutely not what you’d been expecting at what-six foot two? Filled out well too with bright blue eyes you could get lost in, blonde hair shorter on the sides a little bit flopping at the top and a smile that screamed “good ol’ boy” more than anything you had ever seen.
And you were fucking hooked.
But you were a professional and despite the sudden mental images of jumping on him and pressing your body to his (likely muscular and strong and maybe even a bit pudgy) body you simply smiled brightly and hoped that Din would keep his professional manner even though Quinn McKenna was definitely one of your types.
“Mornin’, thank you both for comin’,” McKenna said before waving the two of you in.
Din let you lead and he followed both you and McKenna to the dining room table where your possible employer sat in front of both of you. He was prepared, both your resumes sat before him and he had them side by side with what looked like prepared questions written down. Din and you shared a glance that spoke volumes. He was very serious wasn’t he? Maybe he was political, maybe he was a part of the mob or maybe he was some kind of paranoid kook. It was a nice house and it actually reminded you of David Lieberman’s house in ‘The Punisher’ and then a fourth option to what Mr. McKenna did crossed your mind quickly followed by a fifth.
Either he was a government spook, or he was the Punisher. Either way you weren’t that mad about it.
“Take a seat,” Quinn gestured to the chairs in front of him with a face that didn’t betray much emotion.
You noticed that he glanced at you a few times too many, but he made it hard to read what was going on in his head. He must have noticed the confused looks on your faces, because he gave you a reassuring smile as you sat down before clearing his throat. “You must be wondering why I needed two nannies with your type of background,” he chuckled.
You exchanged a look with Din for a split second before Mr. McKenna broke the semi-awkward silence. “I’m in the military too and I wanted people I could trust with my kid’s safety,” he explained. His answer was still a little vague for you, but you figured you’d ask him more about it later. It was nice to know he would understand the two of you though, you’d worked security for a little while and were amazed at how much people pushed back when asked what you thought was safest. With Mr. McKenna you might fight over strategies but at least he’d understand them.
You found yourself wondering what branch he was in, what his rank was when Din spoke, pulling you back to the present.
“Well, in that case, you found the right people for the job,” Din said in a professional manner. “We both served in the Marines. I was a Corporal and she was a Sergeant as I’m sure you saw by our records.” Din explained, and you took a moment to admire how well he always pitched the two of you as valuable assets. He went on to detail (as much as he was allowed to) how you’d worked together for years. You did chime in here and there with details Din couldn’t remember and explained your individual special skills.
Din was a master of stealth, infiltration and quiet extraction were his specialties. You on the other hand were a sniper. Your furthest confirmed kill was clocked at 1110 yards– a near record. The pair of you were well trained in hand-to-hand combat and familiar with most guns that could be thrown at you though with the choice between a gun or a knife, you favored the K-Bar while Din favored his Sig Sauer.
Mr. McKenna  crossed his arms in front of his chest, giving Din an impressed look as he heard his pitch. His eyes had lit up when you said you were a sniper and you smiled back, recognizing the look of a fellow sniper in him. The fact that you had something so specific in common was mind blowing really!  While you both derailed for a moment to talk about things you saw Din smirking a little. Ass. He knew exactly what it meant when you grinned like that. Trying to stay professional (and not give Din the satisfaction of knowing your thoughts too well) you locked down the thoughts of the two of you on a date, seeing who could  hit the farthest target even if it would probably be you.
“Both of your resumes are impressive, but I’m wonderin’ why you guys left after spending so much time climbing the ranks.” Mr. McKenna quirked an eyebrow at you, so you chose to answer this question instead of leaving it to Din.
“It was just time for us to get out. With all the jobs I’ve had in the world I’ve listened to my gut about when it was time to seek out something else. Din trusted me enough that when I said the Marines wasn’t the right career for us anymore that he put in to leave when I did. A few months after we left we got word that a lot of our unit had been badly injured in an ambush masquerading as a rescue mission.” You shifted your hair from one side to the other and kept eye contact with Mr. McKenna, who let out a sigh through his nose and nodded. Nothing else needed to be said about that.
After that it lightened up. You felt at ease answering his questions; he didn’t seem as intimidating as you initially thought him to be, and the interview eventually flowed more like a friendly conversation than a job interview. You all even laughed about things! Maybe it was the fact that the three of you could bond over your military backgrounds (Quinn as he insisted on being called after the third time he was referred to as Mr. McKenna, was a Ranger Captain), or maybe it was because of the way that Quinn looked at you differently than he’d look at Din. You didn’t have time to put your finger on what kind of look it was exactly before a young boy came walking out of a nearby hallway but it certainly warmed you all over. It was nice to talk so freely with another man besides Din too, someone else who understood.
Din’s face lit up as he saw him, and you couldn’t help but smile as he exclaimed, “Oh hey, little man! Is that Rory?” He asked as he turned to Quinn with a bright smile.
“Yup,” Quinn responded, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he gestured for Rory to sit beside him. He ruffled Rory’s hair and pointed in yours and Din’s direction to introduce you to him. “These might be your new nannies, whaddya think of that, bud?”
Din held his fist out for Rory to bump and you shook the little guy’s hand in a greeting, smiling widely at how cute he was. You glanced up at Quinn as Din and Rory exchanged a few words, already acting like they were the best of friends. Quinn was obviously very protective of his son, happily watching the exchange, but you could tell he was watching closely to see how Din would get along with him. Din was being his usual self around children, boisterous but at a respectful volume, which was so different from how he was around most new people. You laughed at a stupid joke Din made which made Rory smile before running your hands through your hair again. Your eyes were pulled towards Quinn in soft glances and you noticed when he glanced at you as well, carefully timed to when you were listening to Rory talk about what he liked to do and how he liked things to be.
Before your eyes could meet Quinn’s and you could really analyze those glances, you heard Rory mention something about a fight.
“I’m sorry sweetheart what did you say?”  Quinn looked at Rory, stunned and then at the two of you.
“Now hang on buddy I don’t-“ His father started but Rory kept going anyway. He was definitely determined and had been waiting to say this.
“I wanna see you guys fight, you know, see who’s better. And the winner can fight my dad! If you can beat my Dad or just hold your own you’re definitely good enough to be my nanny.” The sweet faced little boy was so succinct about his needs that you laughed a little incredulously but with no small amount of humor.
“You know what you want sweetheart I’ll give you that,” you said with a grin and shrug to Quinn and Din. “I’m game, but we probably shouldn’t swing to really hurt each other. Do you have boxing gloves maybe or we could do more Jiu Jitsu and grapple rather than throw punches.”
“Yeah no, no real hits. But if the little man wants to see a fight he’s gonna get a fight.” Din was already standing, making to take off his nice jacket and you were following suit when Quinn stood and waved his hands. Jesus-his hands were huge. How had you not noticed that yet?
“Hang on hang on,” he said looking at the pair of you, both paused with your jackets pooled at your elbows.
“But Daaaaad,” Rory whined, looking up at him.
Quinn raised a brow at his son before smirking and letting out a small chuckle. “You guys shouldn’t fight…” He grinned at Rory before adding, “...in the house.”
20 notes · View notes
cdelphiki · 5 years
Text
Father came the next morning, just as he’d promised on the phone. 
Yesterday, Damian had been looking forward to this. A lot. He hadn’t seen his father much since moving to Metropolis, so the prospect of spending the entire day with him had been very exciting. Even if they were going to stay in Metropolis. Sure, Damian missed Gotham, but it was his Father he’d missed most.
But after his and Tim’s conversation the night before, Damian’s excitement had turned to apprehension. 
He wasn’t afraid of his father. He knew Father would not hit him in public. That wasn’t something he’d ever done. To any of them. He wasn’t even afraid he’d hit him in private. Because, really. Father had to be pushed. 
It was just the realization that…that was a possibility. At some point. In his life. That the man who claimed to love them all was capable of such a thing…
Well. The thought had kept Damian up all night. 
“You all right?” Clark had asked, at around 4am when came out to the living room, where Damian was swatching out the paints Tim got him. He’d never been one to just stay lying in bed when it was obvious sleep was never going to find him. 
“Mhm,” he hummed, mixing up his next color to swatch out. So far, each color had been insanely vibrant. Very saturated. They were interesting paints, for sure. He’d probably need to mix in other paints to help balance them out, though. His oil paints might mix well with these. That should be what he tested out next. 
Clark stood behind him and watched him work for a moment, his hand resting on Damian’s shoulder. It was incredibly relaxing, and since Clark was likely listening to his heartbeat, there was no doubt the stupid alien knew that and that’s why he kept it up. 
Honestly, the lack of privacy he got in this house. 
“I don’t know what you and Tim talked about,” Clark said slowly, after a moment, “but clearly it’s bothering you. If you want to talk to me about it, I’m right here.”
Well, okay. Maybe he got some privacy. It’s not like Clark could help the fact he could hear Damian’s heart-rate. It was probably as natural and normal to Clark as Damian seeing someone produce tears or hearing their breath catch. 
“Yeah, I know,” he said, maybe a little more testily than Clark deserved. But it didn’t deter Clark. No. Instead, he sat in the chair next to Damian and left his arm back around Damian’s shoulders. 
That was probably one of the many things he liked about the Kents. No matter how bratty he got, how much he snapped at them, or how rude he became, they never walked away from him. 
He’d almost cried, right then. 
But Clark saved him by asking, “So what are you going to paint?”
They’d spent the rest of the night… morning? The rest of the morning chatting about everything pointless. Damian explained how the paints worked and showed Clark his process for creating a piece, and Clark helped him decide on what to make. 
In the end, he’d painted a simple skyline of Metropolis. And just to make Clark smile, he’d added a tiny little Superman, flying above the city. 
Just a dot of blue with a smudge of red, really, but it’d helped him finish off his sleepless night with his own smile when Clark declared, “This is the best painting of me I’ve ever seen!” 
It was just another reason why he really liked the Kents. Because when Father showed up just after breakfast, Damian felt relaxed. Such a stark difference from his feelings the night before. 
Sure, he was exhausted, but he didn’t feel like his blood would shake right out of his veins or his heart would quit beating entirely with the stress and anxiety of the night before clutching away at his chest. 
When he answered the door and saw Father standing there, holding a wrapped present and smiling awkwardly, he was even able to smile back. He quickly put the present on his bed, then rejoined his father in the front room, eager to get going with their day. 
“Dinner’s at six,” Clark said, just as Damian was about to follow Father out to the car. While it had been phrased innocently enough, they all knew Father had just been given a curfew. 
That didn’t particularly matter to Damian. He knew the day with Father would not last forever. And, honestly, he didn’t want it to. He still needed… time. To process everything that had happened. 
Father, on the other hand, seemed particularly perturb at Clark, and Damian just barely caught him mumbling, “He’s my kid, Clark. I’ll keep him as long as I damn well please.”
Damian frowned, but didn’t comment as he climbed into the passenger seat of Father’s car. He wanted to have a pleasant day with his Father. Not one spent in the middle of a fight between Clark and Bruce. 
He really did not want to be forced to choose between the two of them. 
Thankfully, Father did drop it. Eventually. They spent the thirty minutes it took to get to their destination in silence, Father tightly gripping the steering wheel as he fumed. But once they pulled into the parking lot of the Natural History Museum, his shoulders relaxed and he turned to face Damian. 
“How does this sound, for at least the morning,” Father asked, scratching at his neck for a second before dropping his hand and asking, “Clark said you hadn’t been here yet.” 
“I’ve been wanting to come,” Damian said, letting a small smile onto his face, “There’s an exhibit about the t-rex right now.”
“You like dinosaurs? I didn’t know that.”
Damian shrugged and got out of the car after Father, then trailed along beside him as they went inside. “Apparently most American children learn about them at a young age. It was never part of my curriculum, but I’ve been reading up on the Mesozoic Era lately. It was a natural diversion in topic.” 
“Hm. Any particular reason for that course of study,” Father asked, just as they got in line to purchase tickets. 
“No,” he admitted, leaning back against the wall behind him, “Got lost on Wikipedia and found it interesting. Clark got me a card at the library so I could check out books on the topic.” 
Clark had actually been thrilled when Damian started showing interest in history. It’d only started a few weeks ago, thus the lack of visiting the Natural History Museum already. 
He knew had the entire Kent Family had a whole day off at the same time, they would have visited already. Clark didn’t like going out like that unless Lois could come, too. But every time they thought they had time, something came up. Usually Superman related, but sometimes Daily Planet related. 
Regardless, Clark had wanted to encourage Damian’s independent studying, and had brought him to the library one afternoon after school to get him his own library card. 
The name they used for it was fake, of course. Couldn’t have the librarian knowing the son of Bruce Wayne was living with Clark Kent in Metropolis, and being a minor he didn’t need an ID to get a library card. Just a self-proclaimed parent or guardian to apply for one for him. 
‘D. W. Kent’ was the name Clark had written down. When the librarian asked what ‘D.W.’ stood for, Clark had said, “Nothing, that’s his name,” putting on a thicker Kansas-country twang. The dopy, farm boy smile he followed up with sold it to the point the librarian obviously thought Clark was empty-headed, and Damian was left grinning, trying his best to hide it from the librarian. 
“Fake a country accent,” Clark had said, after they left the library, “City-folk are thrown by it and it’s automatic points against your assumed intelligence. You can get by with a lot.” 
It’d made Damian realize that Clark was more clever than Father gave him credit for. He’d already known the man was smart, but Clark could play up his perceived persona just as well as Father could. And that playboy wasn’t the only persona that worked for throwing people off a secret identity. 
“You could always purchase any book you wanted with your credit card,” Father said dryly, “I didn’t cut you off. Then you could keep it when you were done.”
“I don’t have any place to keep it,” he said, shrugging again as he pulled his weight off the wall to move with the line, “there’s not much room in the apartment, Father.”
“There’s plenty of room at the Manor,” Father nearly grumbled. Petulantly. Like a child. 
That was something Father did a lot, wasn’t it?
Why had Damian never noticed?
“I enjoy visiting the library,” Damian said instead of address any of that. He honestly did. It was fun. He could, and did, get lost in the stacks whenever he went. Clark usually found a quiet place to sit and work while Damian and Jon wandered around for as long as they wanted. Lois had even brought them once. It was great.
His day wasn’t, though.
The rest of the day went pretty much in the same manner, to Damian’s reluctant disappointment. 
They went out for lunch after the museum, then to the horticulture center across town for the afternoon. Father attempted small talk throughout the outing, but always managed to bring the topic back to Damian moving home. In a very indirect way.
He never once said, ‘Damian, come home,’ but instead pointed out how, in Gotham, Damian would be able to do something better or more often. Like when Damian had mentioned having to adjust to a bedtime, Father had said, “Bedtimes are pointless. It is why you don’t have one in my house.”
Damian had wanted to argue that he had, in fact, had a bedtime in Father’s house. He just never followed it. And Father was wishy-washy about enforcing it. 
But he was so exhausted. And the more he thought about it, the more his mind was comparing Clark to Father. Lois to Father. The parents they were to the parent Father was. 
And he was just so exhausted. He did not want to think about any of that.
Perhaps that’s why he hadn’t argued with Father about anything, all day. Pulling an all-nighter had really taken a toll. And really, the entire day before it, too.
It came at the end of their day, however. The real toll his exhaustion would take. 
Because Father had worn him out throughout the day, as well. Damian was fairly certain even had he received a full nights rest, he would have reacted in exactly the same way. 
They arrived back at the Kent’s apartment half past six, late for dinner, of course. But Damian doubted Clark actually cared. Not about them being late, at least. After Father parallel parked, he turned off the car and turned in his seat to face Damian fully. Damian raised an eyebrow, and just sat there, waiting for his Father to say whatever it was he wanted to say. 
He hadn’t been expecting Father to be quite so direct, though.
“Are you about ready to come back home?” 
“What?” he asked, because what did that even mean? It wasn’t up to Damian when he got to go home. At least, he didn’t think it was?
Father frowned, but rephrased the question to, “How much longer do you want to spend in Metropolis?”
And it left Damian no less confused. Because, again. “I- That’s not really my choice, Father.”
“Of course it is,” Father said, frowning harder now as he shifted some in his seat, “No one can keep you somewhere against your will, Damian.”
Damian blinked. And stared. Then he noticed his mouth had fallen open a little, so he snapped it shut. Because what made Father think this was all against Damian’s will? Damian had kryptonite in his utility belt. If he really wanted to get away from the Kents, he could. Now that he knew them, though, knew Clark better, he knew that they would never hold him against his will. If he demanded to be returned home, Clark would do it.
He might report Bruce to the authorities for abuse, but he’d return Damian home… 
But why would Damian fight to go back home? When Father never fought for him? At all? Father had made exactly one protestation about Clark taking him. One. Then he just dropped it and walked off. Hadn’t even said goodbye. It took Damian texting Father to even hear from him for the first time. 
Clark was willing to fight Father, his self-proclaimed best friend, although Damian was starting to doubt that was the case anymore, just to bring Damian to what he thought was safety. 
That’s what this was all about, after all. Deep down, Damian had always kind of known that. He knew that the first night, when Clark was flying him to Metropolis. He understood that Father had messed up, but he hadn’t quite connected it to him. And hadn’t really cared about his brother’s pain…
But he understood now. He got it. 
Besides, Father had never once shown any interesting in Damian coming home. The last time he’d seen Father, he’d asked, “Why can’t I live with you?” and what had Father said?
Absolutely nothing.
He’d looked away and ignored the question. 
Father had never fought for him. 
Why was he starting now?
“Damian, I love you,” Father said, soft and gently, as he reached a hand out to… do something. Damian wasn’t sure. Stroke his hair? His cheek? Whatever it was, he didn’t allow it to happen, because he backed up, pressing his back against the door behind him.
Father withdrew the hand like he’d been stung, but he didn’t immediately revert to anger, like Damian had been expecting. Instead, he just looked at Damian quizzically and asked, “Damian? What is it?” 
And all he could do was shake his head. Because he didn’t know. He wasn’t afraid of Father. All it would take was calling out Clark’s name, and he’d be there in an instant. 
No. He had nothing to fear from his Father. 
But that phrase just sounded so wrong coming from his father’s mouth. So alien. More alien than Damian’s best friend. And it set off alarms in Damian’s head.
Because had Father ever said that before?
Yeah, he decided. Exactly once. 
What was even happening? What was Father trying to pull, here? Why would he… Was he trying to manipulate Damian?
That’s what-That’s what abusers did. 
Manipulate those around them.
And Father was-
“Damian?” Father asked, reaching forward to touch Damian’s knee and shake it, slightly. 
Damian knew his face had likely drained of its color. What color it had, that is, with him being as sleep deprived as he was. He’d had a good look at himself in a mirror earlier. He looked like absolute shit.
“Father,” he started, then paused to clear his throat before continuing, “it was never about me. It’s always been about you.” 
Bruce gave Damian the most confused expression he’d ever seen on his father’s face, and said, “I don’t follow.” 
And before Damian could think better of it, his mouth was saying, “Do you love Tim?”
It was a valid question after all. 
“What?” Father asked, and Damian could see a touch of annoyance in his face now. Tim was likely a touchy subject for him. 
Damian didn’t care. 
“It’s just, you say you love me. But I’m pretty sure you said that to Tim, too.” He’d adopted Tim, after all. Damian hadn’t been a choice, so it only stood to reason that Father must love Tim. 
Father just turned his head slightly, like he wanted to look away, but couldn’t, so Damian added, “You’re supposed to. Tim, and Jason, and Dick. We’re your kids.” 
And he hadn’t. Father hadn’t. He’d said these things, he’d made them all feel safe and loved and protected, then turned around and betrayed each one of them. 
How could, how could he do that? How could Damian deal with it? Why would he want to?
The answer to that was, he absolutely wouldn’t. 
In fact, the only thing he wanted to do in that moment was going inside and curl up in his bed and sleep. Because he could feel the burning in his face, feel the stinging the preluded the one thing he didn’t want to do in front of his father, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“Damian?” Father said hesitantly, reaching a hand out again.
But Damian shook his head, forcing him to drop it, as he said, “And—just—how can I trust you, Father? You, you don’t even seem to care, about what you did. About any of it.”
“What are you talking about?” The exasperation in Father’s voice was just enough to help Damian clutch onto a kernel of anger. 
“Tim,” Damian growled, “I’m talking about Tim.”
 “Tim and my argument has nothing to do with you,” Father said, softening his posture and his face as he did. His voice sounded like he was trying to be reassuring, too.
But he wasn’t.
He was the exact opposite of reassuring. 
In fact, it was affirming Damian’s thoughts and that just plunged him deeper down the drain. There was no returning now.
“It- it wasn’t an argument,” he cried, trying and failing to hold onto his anger and only his anger, “It was- it was abuse. It was wrong. 
And Father reacted in the same way he always did when confronted. With agitation, bordering on anger of his own. “Damian.” 
“I thought, when I left… when I told Mother I chose you, I thought I’d left that part of my life behind me,” Damian said, turning around in his seat so he was facing forward again. So he wasn’t looking directly at the man he knew he was either severely pissing off or hurting possibly irrevocably. He didn’t care. That’s what he’d done to Tim. And Jason. 
“I thought, I’d never have to worry about angering a parent again. Angering my family. Because… because I make you angry a lot. I’m really good at it. Sometimes I do it on purpose, but most the time not. And… before. I didn’t have to worry about it. You’d yell, you’d ground me. Sometimes I’d laugh, and you’d storm off and pout.”
“Damian,” Father said, this time quieter. Void of the anger he’d been expecting.
“But… apparently I should have been worried. I… can’t…”
“Damian.” 
Damian looked over, and wiped the tears away so he could see. And his father was staring at him with absolute desperation in his eyes. Like he were able to hear Damian’s thoughts. See right inside Damian’s head and see the connections Damian was making. The realizations.
The decision that he’d rather stay with the Kents. Stay where being a brat didn’t result in anything happening, but maybe Lois or Clark telling him to ‘watch the tone.’ Where he could do whatever he wanted, and was encouraged. 
Where he didn’t have to wonder, ‘is this what’s going to set him off?’ 
He’d spent the first ten years of his life with that fear. He couldn’t do it again.
“You’re— you’re Dad. If you, if you did that. To me. I don’t think I’d ever recover from it. I can’t-” do this, he tried to finish, but his words were choked off by a sob. And this was the absolute last place he wanted to cry. He’d already cried yesterday. Why did he have to do it again, today? 
“Son, If I can-” Father started, but Damian unlocked his door and pushed it open, unwilling to stay and listen. 
He couldn’t do this. 
“I’m sorry,” he said, scrubbing at his eyes as he slid out and shut the door behind him. If Father tried to follow him, he hadn’t noticed, because as soon as he entered his code into the door, he ran as fast as he could, taking the stairs up to the apartment. 
Clark had obviously been listening in, or was at least tuned into Damian, because he had the door unlocked and open as soon as Damian entered the hall outside. 
“Damian,” Clark started, but stopped when Damian shouted at him.
“Leave me alone,” he screamed, mad at himself for still crying. Jon and Lois both looked at him, startled, but he could tell Jon had probably been listening, too. Damian hated their powers. “You had no right to listen.” 
He ran into his and Jon’s room and slammed the door behind him, then just collapsed onto his bed to hopefully get all of this out. Maybe he’d just fall asleep. 
But of course, he didn’t. Because life wasn’t fair. Nothing was ever fair. Why did Father have to be like this? He was a superhero, for crying out loud. He was supposed to be better. 
Damian had looked up to him his entire life, because he was a superhero. And superheroes didn’t stoop to the levels of the criminals they were sworn to fight. They didn’t have questionable morals and use lame excuses. 
Superheroes weren’t abusers. 
That’s what villains were. 
“Damian,” Lois said, as she knocked gently on the door Damian had no idea how long after he’d come to hide, “Damian, sweetheart, can I come in?”
“Go away,” he said, burying his face into his pillow as Lois opened the door, anyway.
“Honey,” she said, so sweetly, so kindly, that it made Damian look up. And when he saw his own hurt reflected back at him, he burst out in tears again. And before he knew it, she was sitting next to him, scooping him up into a hug, even though he was almost as tall as her. 
How she managed to make him feel both so tiny and so loved and protected in the one move, he’d never know. What he did know, though, was that it made him cry even harder. 
They sat there, like that, for what felt like an eternity. Whenever Damian thought he was getting ahold of himself, he got himself worked up again about something else. About how much Lois cared. Clark, too. And he remembered how in his four years since leaving his Mother, not once had he ever felt this loved and cared for.
Except for the short time he was with Dick. 
Which just set him off harder. 
Because Dick was gone. 
But he did eventually calm completely down. Except for the weird hiccupy sniffles he had going on. 
He was absolutely, completely, emotionally drained. It had been nearly 36 hours since he last slept, and that on top of the two very exhausting days, he could barely keep his head up. If it weren’t for Lois holding him up and brushing a hand through his hair, he’s sure he would have burrowed under a blanket already and passed right out. 
“You want to tell me what happened?” Lois eventually whispered, her voice a soothing rasp coming from right above his head. 
“Nothing,” he replied, which was an obvious lie. Clearly. He’d been living with the Kents for a while now, and this was only the second time he’d cried. There was no way she was going to take ‘nothing’ for an answer. 
Damian couldn’t come up with anything else to say, though. Because nothing had happened. It was a delayed reaction. A response to stresses he’d been dealing with since the start of this entire fiasco. 
He’d once heard, ‘if someone goes from 0 to 100 over spilled milk, you should ask how long they’ve really been at 99’ and he never understood it before. 
Now he did. 
Because he’d been building this up for months. Bottling it all away, ignoring everything and everyone just to avoid it. To the point that all it had taken was a little push from Father. A tiny little comment, that Damian might have once rolled his eyes at and argued back against. 
“Do I need to go all Mama Bear on Bruce?” Lois asked, with a hint of a smile on her face. 
It made Damian smile, too. A little. “No,” he said, pausing to sniffle, “He didn’t do anything.”
“Nothing?” she asked, clearly not believing Damian. Maybe Clark had told her everything Father said. Maybe he hadn’t, and she was just speculating. Regardless. 
“No, he’s just- He’s acting like it’s my fault I’m here,” Damian sighed, curling in on himself a little more, but not pulling away from Lois’s hold. Why couldn’t his own mother had been like this? It was nice. 
“What do you mean?” 
“He’s acting like…” he said, pausing to gather his thoughts. But they were all a jumbled mess, still trying to sort themselves back out after that massive break. “Like I’m being—I’m—He isn’t even sorry for what he did.” 
How could he be blaming Damian for choosing to live away from him when he wasn’t even sorry?
“Oh, baby,” she whispered, squeezing him a little in a hug, before relaxing again.
“He hit Tim,” he whispered, looking down at his arms. Staring at his watch, that his father had given him three years before. As an inheritance gift, upon his supposed death. Before, seeing the too-big watch always reminded him that his father had remembered him. Had cared enough about him to leave him something as cherished as his father’s watch. 
And when he’d come back from time, he hadn’t asked for it back. 
Looking at it always made him feel better, even if he always wished he could have the man instead of the watch. Now it just made him wish he had the man he’d imagined he was, back when he was ‘dead.’ Instead of what he got.
“Yeah,” Lois agreed, “He did.” 
“And Jason,” Damian added, “And Dick. And he doesn’t care. He doesn’t think it’s wrong.”
“He knows it’s wrong, sweetie,” Lois assured, resuming her petting of Damian’s hair.
“No, he said-” Damian started, but Lois cut him off.
“You wouldn’t be here if he didn’t know it was wrong. He would have fought Clark harder. But he didn’t fight, did he?”
Damian shook his head, and managed to whisper out, “No.” 
“Because he knew he was having trouble controlling himself. He knew you would be better off here, for now.”
“So why is he blaming Tim?” 
“He’s hurt, darling. At least, that’s what I assume. I don’t know him as well as you do. Or as well as Clark. He’s not a bad man, not inherently. He’s just…” she sighed, then shook her head, “I don’t know. Making excuses for himself, I think.”
“Excuses won’t fix anything.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“But hey,” Lois said, a minute later when Damian didn’t respond. She sat up, and took Damian’s face into her hands so they were looking right at each other. “We’re going to figure it out, okay?”
Damian frowned, so she pat his cheek and smiled a little, “We will. Clark and I will help your father however he lets us. We’re not trying to keep you away from him, we’re just giving you a safe place to live while he deals with whatever is going on.”
“Yeah.”
“Because we love you, darling. We really do.” 
“I,” Damian started, but his throat closed up on him as his eyes pricked. He had no tears left to give though, so he pulled his face away and rubbed at his eyes. “Thank you,” he eventually managed to get out.
Lois seemed to hear his unspoken words, anyway, because she smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Why don’t you get some sleep, all right? You’ve had a long couple days. I’ll make sure Jon is extra quiet when he goes to bed.” 
“Okay,” he said, as he let her pull the covers up and over his body. She tucked them in right under his chin and gave him another kiss on the cheek before saying, “Good night, D. 
And Damian took a deep breath. One that seemed to fully fill his lungs for, perhaps, the first time in months. 
He had cautious hope that his father would, somehow, fix whatever was going on. Lois said they’d work on it, after all. And he trusted Lois.
But if that didn’t happen. If it took too long. More than four years, Damian wasn’t going to despair. He loved living with the Kents, and he knew he could be happy right there. And that thought alone was enough to help him drift off into a quiet sleep. 
-
First six parts of this found on Ao3: /works/19310035/
227 notes · View notes
miumiu-chan · 4 years
Text
Miyase Go STORY 1 Chapter 12-1
Subbed video: STORY-1 12-1
-Kujo House / Study-
[MIYASE]: “......That’s amazing. There’s so many books.”
[KUJO]: “You can read any of them as you like.”
[KUJO]: “If you have a book you want, it’s fine to do so.”
It was the first time I set foot in Soma-san’s study.
I traced the spines of a line of books with my gaze and——...blinked with a sense of discomfort.
[MIYASE]: “......This.”
[KUJO]: “Hm?”
[MIYASE]: ““Kokin Wakashū”......Why is only this book so tattered?”
[KUJO]: “Aa, so you found that first.”
[MIYASE]: “Eh......”
[KUJO]: “That book, Ryoko-san’s father——Go’s grandfather had given it to me.”
[MIYASE]: “!”
[KUJO]: “As you can see, it has been read thoroughly but......if it’s all right, I’d like Go to have it.”
[MIYASE]: “I heard that my grandfather was a servant of the Kujo Family.”
[MIYASE]: “So there was such an exchange with Soma-san.”
[KUJO]: “Aa......but, I don’t remember it well.”
[KUJO]: “I heard that he died of illness when I was still young.”
[MIYASE]: “Ah......”
[KUJO]: “Go’s grandfather, if you would ask anyone what kind of person he was, they would say, “He was very kind.””
[KUJO]: “It seemed that he would put me to sleep while reading this book.”
[KUJO]: “That’s why, I put it in my study.”
[MIYASE]: “So that’s how it was.”
[MIYASE]: “......Could you please tell me more about my grandfather?”
[KUJO]: “I had a housekeeper show me some pictures......”
[KUJO]: “Go feels a little similar to him.”
Soma-san held out the old lonely “Kokin Wakashū” and presented it to me.
Without thinking, I accepted it and was surprised to find that it was much lighter than I imagined.
[KUJO]: “......The times when I was reading this book alone”
[KUJO]: “If Go were there, I am sure it wouldn’t have become this tattered.”
[MIYASE]: “Is that......perhaps”
[MIYASE]: “You mean because we could play together, you wouldn’t have time to read books?”
[KUJO]: “Aa. If you had time to spend with your siblings, wouldn’t you play with them?”
[MIYASE]: “Soma-san usually speaks like in poems, huh.”
[MIYASE]: “Sometimes it’s difficult when talking.”
[KUJO]: “I was not aware of these characteristics.”
[KUJO]: “......Until Go came.”
[MIYASE]: “......”
[KUJO]: “That the person you speak with is naturally around......I feel happy, and a kind of floating feeling.”
-Miyase’s Other House-
In the small garden that Go-chan may have built up with various feelings, the dark-red buds swayed in the wind.
[MIYASE]: “......Kujo Soichiro.”
[MIYASE]: “Everything that his ego left behind, was my target of revenge.”
As soon as I heard those words, there was the sound of the lock being driven in.
After drinking the Japanese tea, I returned a quiet nod and looked into Go-chan's eyes head on.
The change in him who accepted the truth, rather than tears, seemed as though blood shed from the corner of his eyes.
[RULONG]: (What the ego of Kujo Soichiro left behind, “everything”.)
[RULONG]: (——So that was the conclusion you had reached after all.)
[MIYASE]: “I’ve been, for many years......resenting Kujo-san with the wrong perception.”
[RULONG]: “But you can still go back to being family.”
[RULONG]: “——Ah, that’s wrong, isn’t it?”
[RULONG]: “Is “You can stay as family” the correct interpretation?”
[MIYASE]: “......”
[RULONG]: “Go-chan, I'll return this.”
What I quietly placed on the desk was the tattered “Kokin Wakashū”.
[MIYASE]: “You brought it with you?”
[RULONG]: “I said so, didn’t I? That it’s my favorite book to read.”
[RULONG]: “Do you remember the secret phrase when we would cause mischief long ago?”
[MIYASE]: “......The seeds in people’s hearts,”
[RULONG]: “grow into the countless leaves of words~” (T/N: The beginning in the preface of Kokin Wakashū, explaining the essence of Japanese poetry.)
[MIYASE]: “——Ha.”
[MIYASE]: “When we would call each other, we would say that instead of “hello”.”
[RULONG]: “And maybe when Go-chan would come to my house without an appointment. Thinking about it now, the idea was stupid, huh.”
[RULONG]: “But back then, it was fun.”
[RULONG]: “I got a lot better at Japanese by interacting with Go-chan.”
[MIYASE]: “You were good at it from the beginning.”
[RULONG]: “Because before coming to Japan, I worked hard to learn it. “Words” are a distinct power.”
[RULONG]: “You can control another person or convey love just by moving your mouth and speaking aloud.”
[RULONG]: “It's possible that all the actions are useless and only words are left as a last resort.”
[RULONG]: “——As long as the seeds of emotion are buried in each other's hearts.”
[MIYASE]: “What is it all of a sudden? You’re being quite poetic.”
[RULONG]: “Not really? It’s just, Go-chan.”
[RULONG]: “What I just said, from now on, remember it always.”
[RULONG]: “Until the very end.”
[MIYASE]: “——“
[RULONG]: “......”
[MIYASE]: “The......end, is it?”
[MIYASE]: “......Haha. You are as sensitive as ever.”
[MIYASE]: “Even during Hanafuda games, you try to read my set ahead of time.”
[RULONG]: “Even Go-chan has read my set right now, right?”
[RULONG]: “If so, then be kind. I’ll cry, you know?”
[MIYASE]: “Being kind......is tough.”
[RULONG]: “Being kind is kind, Go-chan.”
[MIYASE]: “............”
[RULONG]: “Anyway, I’m returning this book.”
[MIYASE]: “No, Rulong should have it.”
[RULONG]: “Really? Then, I’ll “keep it”.”
I cherished the paperback book, and lifted the corner of my lips with a smile.
[RULONG]: “Now then, now then, next, shall we have some fun negotiations?”
[MIYASE]: “If this is an equal deal, I will think about it.”
[RULONG]: “Don’t worry, Go-chan.”
[RULONG]: “Licorice will fully cooperate with Go-chan as long as the traitor Kagetsu can be crushed.”
[MIYASE]: “Fully......?”
[MIYASE]: “Why go so far——“
[RULONG]: “Because I’m also Go-chan’s family.”
[MIYASE]: “-......Family,”
[RULONG]: “When we first recognized each other, when I was found out swindling at the casino and thought I was going to die, only Go-chan helped me.”
[RULONG]: “Did you forget about that moving encounter?”
[MIYASE]: “I don't like the memory of suddenly encountering a bloody man on my way home from a part-time job.”
[RULONG]: “I'm glad you remembered.”
When I first met Go-chan.
My whole body hurt, it was cold and I was tired anyway, so I thought that I would die in the winter of Japan as it was.
But I wasn't the only one in the rotten smelling back alley.
[RULONG]: “At that time, I was lonely.”
[MIYASE]: “So that’s why you said such an absurd thing?”
『——You can treat me.』
『And then, how about you play Hanafuda with me?』
[RULONG]: “Right. Because even though I came to Japan, no one would play Hanafuda with me.”
[RULONG]: “The only things I brought from across the sea were sweet ambitions and Hanafuda.”
[MIYASE]: “......You said it was a keepsake of your mother’s, that Hanafuda.”
[RULONG]: “Yup. Without that, I wouldn’t have become “family” with Go-chan.”
[RULONG]: “It’s all connected, right.”
[MIYASE]: “At that time, I won the “Koi-Koi” match.”
[RULONG]: “That heated battle made us family.”
[MIYASE]: “Please stop dramatizing it.”
[RULONG]: “It was also a ritual. Stingy~ guy.”
[MIYASE]: “......That’s true.”
[RULONG]: “But since long ago, Go-chan wouldn't be happy even if you won.”
[RULONG]: “That's why I decided not to lose anymore.”
[MIYASE]: “The win rate is higher for me, though.”
[RULONG]: “Only for Hanafuda.”
[MIYASE]: “——Let’s get back to the conversation.”
[MIYASE]: “Rulong’s affection and bonds towards family, I think I understand it.”
[MIYASE]: “But, for the words “fully cooperate” to come out just because of that, honestly, it lacks credit.”
[RULONG]: “Right. I‘ll properly talk about the situation on my side.”
The despondent color in Go-chan's eyes became darker.
[RULONG]: (Ah~ah, he won’t like this.)
I wanted my loved ones to always be happy.
If that couldn’t happen, then I would suffer together with them.
[RULONG]: “…...The drug used by Go-chan's mother during her confinement and suicide.”
[RULONG]: “That was pharmaceutically developed by Licorice and sold to Japanese yakuza.”
[MIYASE]: “——!”
[MIYASE]: “Yakuza......meaning Kagetsu?”
[RULONG]: “That’s right. Licorice and Kagetsu were business partners even before Go-chan and I got to know each other.”
[RULONG]: “Kagetsu, and the Kujo Family predecessor.”
[RULONG]: “Go-chan's mother might not have died if Licorice didn't make that drug and sold it to Kagetsu.”
[RULONG]: “In other words, indirectly, my family killed Go-chan's family.”
[RULONG]: “There was also that guilt, for the reason for cooperating.”
[MIYASE]: “............”
[RULONG]: “Do you find me unforgivable?”
[MIYASE]: “———No.”
[RULONG]: “......Really?”
[MIYASE]: “It just became clearer that Kujo Soichiro was the only one to hold a grudge against.”
[RULONG]: “Go-chan......thanks.”
[RULONG]: “Then, from now on, you’re getting along with Licorice rather than with Kagetsu.”
[MIYASE]: “......Yes.”
[RULONG]: “I’m glad.”
——Really.
If he refused the cooperation, I was instructed to “kill”.
[RULONG]: (Because I can't do that, I had to take away all of Go-chan's “seeds of the heart” in a terrible way.)
[RULONG]: (Well, I didn’t know if it would be as simply as that.)
[MIYASE]: “But I can't make the deal at this point.”
[RULONG]: “You mean there are conditions, right? Go ahe~ad.”
[MIYASE]: “First, please withdraw the flower drugs from Japan.”
[MIYASE]: “If I can determine that the current Licorice has that power, I will seal the agreement.”
[RULONG]: “I thought Go-chan would say that, so I've already collected all the Licorice products.”
[RULONG]: “Except for those that are in the hands of individuals of untraceable levels.”
[RULONG]: “What‘s new to the market right now is the inferior goods that Kagetsu made in collaboration with South Korea. It’s the “Rowan” one.”
[MIYASE]: “Is it possible to prevent new kinds from appearing on the market as much as possible?”
[RULONG]: “Even when you were going to crush the Kujo Family, was it your plan to eliminate the drugs?”
[MIYASE]: “I was going to make an effort to do so.”
[RULONG]: “Strategy ple~ase.”
[MIYASE]: “I have a connection with a Kansai gang that is potentially in conflict with Kagetsu.”
[MIYASE]: “It is an organization whose leader is an old-fashioned person who is very against illegal drugs.”
[RULONG]: “Oh, the customer from when you were a dealer.”
[RULONG]: “Go-chan, you’re reaally good at making connections, huh.”
[MIYASE]: “......Yes. I talked to him and asked him to collect the drugs together with his concession, and was only going to dispose of the drugs.”
[RULONG]: “If you make the yakuza confront each other, won’t Kagetsu also collapse?”
[MIYASE]: “I already thought of that situation happening.”
[RULONG]: “You’re bad~”
[MIYASE]: “But with the method I just mentioned, it will take at least a month.”
[RULONG]: “If it’s Licorice, it’ll already go a little faster.”
[RULONG]: “We‘re already in the negotiation stage with the Korean side.”
[MIYASE]: “Then, please.”
[MIYASE]: “Remove the flower drugs from the market.”
[MIYASE]: “I don't want to involve unrelated people in this revenge.”
[RULONG]: (In the end, you can't be evil, huh.)
[RULONG]: (I know you, Miyase Go.)
[RULONG]: “Okay. Then, for the time being, let's make a detailed plan.”
[RULONG]: “Ah, before that, I’ll pour you tea for the first time in a while.”
[RULONG]: “As a proof of family trust and the agreement.”
[MIYASE]: “......I will help.”
[RULONG]: “That’s fine, but Go-chan, did you fix your carelessness?”
[RULONG]: “Don’t turn the tea set over.”
[MIYASE]: “I’ll be careful enough.”
[MIYASE]: “Because from now on, I can’t afford to fail.”
-Investigation Planning Division-
[YUI]: “It’s a barbecue murder case!!”
[REI]: “No......I was just invited for dinner to celebrate the resolution of the case, though?”
[NATSUME]: “You make it seem like it’s a sure thing.”
[YUI]: “Anyway, you’re about to go to the Kujo Family, right?”
Two weeks have passed since the Kujo Soma abduction incident by Kagetsugumi.
Today, after work, I was invited to a BBQ party held at the Kujo House garden.
[NATSUME]: “Isn’t it fine if Kotaro-san just goes too?”
[NATSUME]: “Shun-san was pushed on a business trip to South Korea with Seki-san.”
[YUI]: “No information can be obtained even if they go to the site anyway. It's just a business trip to keep appearances for the MHLW.”
[YUI]: “Both Seki-san and Imaoji-kun know that and can deal with it without fuss.”
[YUI]: “It’s the right people for the job.”
[REI]: “Neither the big Korean fixer nor the Chinese mafia as expected will let us get a lead on them.”
[AOYAMA]: “We couldn't get any strong clues from Miyase Go’s testimony.”
[REI]: (Miyase-san......)
That day two weeks ago, what was waiting for us out of the warehouse was our respective realities.
Immediately after heading to the hospital, finishing the medical treatment and examinations.
Miyase-san obediently followed to be questioned “as a cooperator”.
——And then, he calmly spoke “the truth of Miyase Go”.
-Interrogation Room-
[MIYASE]: “From the beginning to this moment, I have been a cooperator for the DCD.”
[MIYASE]: “The best proof of that is that I contacted Aoyama-san and Yui-san about the location of the warehouse.”
[SEKI]: “What about keeping silent to us about the relationship between Kagetsugumi and the Chinese Mafia “Licorice”?”
[SEKI]: “If possible, I would like you to share what your relationship is with the young man named Rulong.”
[MIYASE]: “Rulong......Being connected to Licorice and being connected to Kagetsugumi.”
[MIYASE]: “All of it was to prove the innocence of the Kujo Family.”
[MIYASE]: “The advantage of connecting with the Licorice side was that I was able to request the “withdrawal of the flower drugs from Japan.””
[MIYASE]: “The advantage of connecting with the Kagetsu side was that “I would be able to grasp their movements faster than anyone else.””
[MIYASE]: “Thanks to crossing that dangerous bridge, I was able to crush the abuse party of “Deterioration F”.”
[SEKI]: “When we missed it at that time, so it was you......”
[MIYASE]: “There is nothing shady about me.”
[MIYASE]: “All of my actions were sworn for justice.”
[IMAOJI]: “Why did you kidnap Rei-san?”
[MIYASE]: “Rei-san was “kidnapped” because Kagetsu acted arbitrarily and I was suspected.”
[MIYASE]: “To give Rei-san “protection”, that was the action I took in order to protect her from Kagetsu.”
[MIYASE]: “By being by my side, I intended to prevent direct damage from Uemura.”
[SEKI]: “According to Izumi's testimony, it seems that there was a conversation that it was planned she would be given as a “product” to the Korean side.”
[IMAOJI]: “Even if it was to suppress the connected Kagetsu’s actions on the spot, would you be able to go against the Korean fixer?”
[MIYASE]: “Aa, I’m sorry. It’s because of my lack of explanation.”
[MIYASE]: “The said Korean fixer was contacted by Licorice and had consented to be in a “neutral” position.”
[MIYASE]: “Therefore, the story of handing Rei-san to the Korean side was scrapped without Kagetsu's knowledge.”
[SEKI]: “——!”
[IMAOJI]: “You prepared that far ahead......”
[MIYASE]: “Licorice did.”
[MIYASE]: “I was in a position where I couldn't grasp the details of the negotiations.”
[SEKI]: “Still, wouldn’t it have been better to share the information you got everywhere with us?”
[MIYASE]: “Isn’t it said that to deceive your enemies, you have to start with your allies?”
[MIYASE]: “And anyway, the DCD has other cooperators besides me.”
[MIYASE]: “Such as, Seki-san’s “S” that came into contact with Kagetsu’s protege, the bartender.”
[SEKI]: “......”
[MIYASE]: “That S’s action made Kagetsu suspect me.”
[MIYASE]: “Of course, no one knew about the connection between the bartender and Kagetsu, so it was inevitable.”
[MIYASE]: “However, I think it was unavoidable to take action to keep information sharing at a minimum.”
[MIYASE]: “I definitely wanted to prove the innocence of the Kujo Family, and also return Rei-san unharmed.”
[SEKI & IMAOJI]: “............”
——In the end, Miyase-san was recognized to be a “cooperator” and was allowed to go home.
It was the next day that things changed significantly outside the jurisdiction of the DCD.
-Investigation Planning Division-
[AOYAMA]: “——Ha? They searched Kagetsu’s premises?”
[YUI]: “Is it reliable information?”
[NATSUME]: “Yes. All Kagetsu-affiliated offices were contacted by introducing the riot police on a large scale and conducted a search.”
[REI]: “Large scale......”
[SEKI]: “Apparently, there was a leak to the police side regarding the flower drugs.”
The faces of Miyase-san and Rulong-san crossed my mind.
[IMAOJI]: “Most likely with this, it’s completely over for Kagetsu.”
[NATSUME]: “Ah, or rather, it's already on the net news.”
We looked at Natsume-kun's computer screen.
The headline that jumped to the top news topics of major search sites was——
[REI]: “”Flower drug” is resolutely written.”
[AOYAMA]: “The information leaked to the media way too fast......”
The danger of flower drugs was also reported nationwide due to the police rushing into Kagetsugumi all at once.
As a result, the awareness of the general public had increased the sense of crisis about flower drugs——
At the same time, a "vigilantism video of flower drug users" by someone was quickly spread on SNS and other places, and the crackdown became an unusual reinforcement system.
[NATSUME]: “And so, the flower drugs disappeared from the market. And they all live happily ever after.”
[NATSUME]: “-Er, didn’t the story unfold a little too well?”
[YUI]: “I think it was Miyase Go and the Chinese Mafia who leaked it to the police.”
[AOYAMA]: “Well, that is an accurate guess.”
[AOYAMA]: “Paired with searching the premises, it was also found that the connection between the Kujo Family and Kagetsugumi was completely cut in the last few years.”
Traces of a “Kujo Group Purification” that was carried out after Kujo Soma officially became the representative certainly existed.
[NATSUME]: “Rei-chan, haven't you heard anything from Miyase Go?”
[REI]: “No, nothing......”
[REI]: “I‘ll be meeting the Kujo Family members for the first time in a while today.”
[REI]: “I made a few phone calls, but the conversations just ended up being checking up on each other’s health.”
[YUI]: “Just how much of a shady man is he.”
[YUI]: “The whereabouts of the Licorice member and Uemura who were at the Kujo Soma abduction site haven’t been clarified yet, right?”
[REI]: (Rulong-san......)
He and Uemura had disappeared from the scene.
[YUI]: “Miyase Go definitely knows where he is.”
[YUI]: “You should bring him in again and have him spit it out.”
[AOYAMA]: “Easier said than done.”
[AOYAMA]: “Miyase Go said about the mafia, “I don't know anything more after proving the innocence of the Kujo Family.””
[AOYAMA]: “He has no intention of being involved with them in the future.”
[NATSUME]: “Even if he says they’re old friends, it doesn’t seem like he’s a criminal companion just because they joined hands with the same interests this time.”
That was how the testimony of the two I saw as DCD was received.
[AOYAMA]: “In fact, as a result of investigating Miyase Go’s behavior, there was no case in which the DCD (we) were legitimately pulled along.”
[REI]: “Even the police haven't been assigned.”
[NATSUME]: “Except for the spying, is he really innocent?”
[REI]: (I believe so.)
Miyase-san at that time when he faced Uemura——.
Because he declared that both Kujo-san and us were “family”.
[YUI]: “Or maybe the Licorice side purposely kept Miyase Go away from their circumstances.”
[NATSUME]: “For what reason?”
[YUI]: “Who knows?”
[YUI]: “If anything, wouldn’t it be because he’s an “old friend”?”
[YUI]: “Almost all of the Kagetsugumi executives went missing before they could be taken in.”
[AOYAMA]: “So Miyase Go returns to the general public, and Kagetsugumi goes to hell?”
I felt chills in the pit of my stomach.
It was most likely that the Kagetsugumi executives were in the hands of Licorice.
[REI]: (Rulong-san never broke the stance of being “Miyase-san’s family” in front of me.)
But he was also “Licorice’s family”,
Which meant that he was a member of the Chinese Mafia,
So he probably had no mercy for crushing the traitors, Kagetsugumi.
[REI]: “......In the end, Kagetsugumi, which was a threat to both the Kujo Family and Licorice,”
[REI]: “was erased along with the flower drugs.”
[AOYAMA]: “That's exactly what Miyase Go and the Chinese Mafia expected.”
[NATSUME]: “Moreover, as a result, even for the good general public, everything is landing in a good direction~”
[NATSUME]: “The servant of the Kujo Family wasn’t just an ordinary person after all.”
[YUI]: “That’s why, don't go to that barbecue, Izumi.”
[YUI]: “If you want to eat meat, I'll cook it now.”
[YUI]: “I’m also pretty good at alcohol lamp grilling.”
[REI]: “That, has Yui-san ever eaten from it......?”
[YUI]: “There’s no way I would’ve.”
[REI]: (Saying it so proudly......)
[NATSUME]: “Well, isn't it fine? There are also familiar Kujo Family members that’ll be there.”
[NATSUME]: “In the end, it turned out that Kujo Soma was an ally of justice struggling to break the bad ties of his predecessor.”
[AOYAMA]: “If anything happens, contact us immediately.”
[AOYAMA]: “I'm not saying I can't trust the man named Miyase Go, but......”
[AOYAMA]: “Somehow, there’s still something bothering me.”
[REI]: “Eh......”
[NATSUME]: “Ah, like how Rei-chan and Miyase Go are already actually dating?”
[REI]: “Ha, eh!? Th-That’s not true at all!”
[AOYAMA]: “......Oi, you’re panicking too much.”
[YUI]: “It can’t be that when you were kidnapped, you were mind controlled!?”
[NATSUME]: “No, this feeling is just my intuition......Was there even a confession?”
[REI]: “!!”
[NATSUME]: “It's a hit.”
[REI]: “Y-You’re wrong! Well, there was a confession but-“
[YUI & AOYAMA]: “So there was......”
[REI]: “It’s not! Probably, that was......, ——that was,”
I didn't know how to interpret Miyase-san's words.
The confession at the spring festival. The white clover necklace.
“After everything is over, I hope you accept my feelings,” the words he said at that time——...
[REI]: (Was it Miyase-san’s “truth”?)
[REI]: (......But, then why, when we were together at Rulong-san’s apartment,)
[REI]: (Why did Miyase-san hit me with such cold words and deeds?)
[REI]: “Miyase-san......wants to be hated by me.”
[MIYASE]: “............”
[REI]: “But, you don’t want to be hated.”
[REI]: “You’re seeking my rejection......But, you also don’t want to be rejected.”
[REI]: “Both emotions are true.”
[REI]: “That they were seriously your true feelings and lies, I felt that way.”
[MIYASE]: “For a meaningless kiss, it only sounds like you’re asking for my favor.”
[REI]: (Why......What were you thinking, with that kind of attitude?)
[REI]: (Eventually, I......No, what am I going to do with the relationship......)
[NATSUME]: “Heeey, Rei-chan?”
[REI]: “............”
[NATSUME]: “Ah, it’s no good, she’s completely in her own world.”
[YUI]: “Alright, so it’s decided that Miyase Go will be castrated.”
[REI]: “Eh!?”
[NATSUME]: “You say that but, I don’t think he’ll make it easy for you?”
[NATSUME]: “I mean, he was a double agent between the yakuza and the mafia.”
[YUI]: “Don’t worry. There are various methods I can think of.”
[AOYAMA]: “If you have time for things like that, go on a business trip.”
[REI]: “Ahaha, it’s okay.”
[REI]: “I am just going and giving my greetings to everyone at the Kujo Family for the end of the undercover investigation.”
After a severe conversation, I found myself laughing surprisingly calmly.
[REI]: (Probably, because everyone in front me......)
My DCD comrades.
For me, they were “family” other than relatives.
Regarding Miyase-san, there were still some parts of him that were not yet visible, but......
Now, first and foremost, the story of “family” for him.
As Izumi Rei and Miyase Go, I wanted to hear it directly face to face.
5 notes · View notes