#it just feels like the fourth wall being absolutely demolished

[phaginof]

when dan and phil reference their own content it’s like wait what do you MEAN you know about dan and phil.

#am i crazy #it just feels like the fourth wall being absolutely demolished #dan and phil #dan and phil games #dnp

[pinkoptics]

AU-gust 2021 Prompts

3. Hipsters / 16. Hippies

Erik detests hipsters and hippies and, to be honest, isn’t even sure what the difference is, nor does he particularly care. The things he will do for Charles…

Modern AU. Still have powers. Grumpy Erik. Adorable Charles. Meet Cute. Silliness.

3392 Words

*

Erik hated everything about this place.

Absolutely everything.

He could write a dissertation on its failings, which were abundant.

Its first sin was being directly across from his apartment building. When he looked out his window, he saw it. When he stepped out of the lobby doors, he saw it. When he pulled his car out of the parking garage, he saw it. It was an unavoidable part of every single day of his life.

Its second sin was what it had replaced. Previously, there had been a diner. A kosher diner. A diner that had tasted like his childhood. It had been a hole in the wall, never looked quite clean, but the coffee had been strong enough to caffeinate an elephant and the food almost as good as his mama’s. Most people had passed it by. Just another slightly dingy New York eatery that you didn’t give a second thought. Quiet. A refuge for those in the know. Then came the hipster gentrification, ruining not only his precious diner, but the neighbourhood in general.

Its third sin was its name. Plant. In and of itself the name ‘Plant’ was harmless, inoffensive. Just a word. It conjured images of a vegan eatery, bistro, restaurant, or maybe if taken 100% literally, a store that sold plants. All of which would have been fine. He had nothing against plants and, sure, he ate meat (kosher meat), but happily ate vegetarian dishes as well. But no, it was not a plant store or even a vegan eatery, it was a vegan coffeehouse. Coffee came from plants, Erik knew this, so the name passed on that technicality, but it did not scream ‘coffee.’ Why not ‘Bean’ if it needed to conform to the trendy one-word-naming that had for reasons unknown come with the gentrification. It was couched between ‘Table’ (a restaurant) and ‘Sweat’ (a boutique gym). Plant did not equal coffee, and that knowledge crawled under his skin every time he saw the stylized lettering.

Its fourth sin was the coffee. Erik wasn’t particularly picky about his brew, whether at home or out. Cheap diner swill, the finest Italian espresso, the Keurig at the office, the ridiculously expensive machine that produced the perfect cappuccino at Emma’s apartment, whatever. Plant’s beans were fine as beans went, the roast satisfactory, but then ruined with its accompaniments. They carried a variety of ‘mylks.’ Yes, with a ‘y’. He preferred lattes, and would have been fine with oat or almond— if only it was spelled with a fucking ‘i’. Every time he saw the pretentious letter, he felt the urge to take a sharpie and commit as many acts of misdemeanour graffiti as necessary until all the ‘y’s were gone.

Its fifth sin was its staff. He could have tolerated their always sunny dispositions (even if it were literally impossible for any customer service employee to be that happy all the time). He could have tolerated their ridiculous hipster (or was it hippy?) apparel, moustaches, beards and hairstyles (what was even the difference between the two?). What he could not handle was the way they called him ‘friend.’ Every. Single. Time. He could count his friends on one hand and none of them worked at Plant. Their ‘peace, love and joy’ vibe made him grind his teeth and wish he had a mutation that would allow him to send them back to the 1960s.

And yet…

“Good morning friend! Amazing day, right?” It was, in fact, pouring so hard the streets were borderline flooding. “Usual? Or do you want to try—”

Erik had long ago learned to immediately tune out the suggestions, but was sure he caught the word ‘sage.’ Who in their right fucking mind wanted sage in their coffee? Yes, he was inside the loathed establishment wasting precious brain cells wondering why anyone felt the need to mess with the simple perfection that was coffee and milk. Yes, he was there often enough that the employees knew him on sight. Yes, he had a usual order.

It wasn’t his fault.

It really wasn’t.

It was the fault of a pair of the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

This shouldn’t have been the case. The whole thing was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. The entire story more at home on the W Network or Hallmark, than in his very real, not-a-rom-com, life. And yet, here he was, having his 24th latte with mylk in a row and questioning his very sanity.

It had all started, just over a month ago, directly in front of Plant. To this day, Erik wasn’t sure whose fault it had been. He’d been on his phone, eviscerating a junior partner for a monstrous fuck up, and so livid that he was not at all paying attention to his surroundings. The blue-eyed man he’d run into, however, had claimed equal distraction, so perhaps the blame rested on both of their shoulders.

They had crashed into each other— papers flew, his phone flipped through the air and they ended up in a heap on the sidewalk, Erik atop the smaller frame beneath him. Already late for work, already pissed off with the junior partner beyond reason, Erik had been ready to re-direct his anger and tear whoever it was a new one, when the aforementioned blue eyes had arrested the words in his throat. He had admitted this to no one. Hell, he barely admitted it in the sanctity of his own mind because he was not a 12 year old girl, but a senior partner in one of the most prestigious architecture firms in New York. He did not go soft over a pair of gorgeous eyes (except, apparently, that he did), particularly when he hadn’t even seen the face that went with the eyes, which could have been grotesquely unattractive (it wasn’t).

The mouth that went with the eyes was absurdly red and absurdly kissable. The face angelic. To his eternal, internal embarrassment he had thought that exact word— angelic. He wished he could have blamed his temporary insanity on hitting his head, but having fallen on top, he couldn’t. If anyone had a concussion it was the ocean-eyed, ruby-lipped angel man. The ruby lips had spluttered apologies in a gorgeous British accent (not something Erik had until now found to be a turn on) as they scrambled off each other, righting clothes and belongings.

“Your phone!” the man had moaned. “Is it all right?”

The screen did appear to have a crack, but in another moment of lunacy, Erik pocketed it before the Angel could see and muttered something about it being fine. Instead, Erik helped him to collect the papers that had fluttered every which way, including the road, where they were already being demolished by a steady stream of vehicles.

“I hope those weren’t important.”

The man laughed, it was a very nice sound. “Not as such, no. I’m sure my students will be delighted to hear that their papers were torn asunder. They already mock me for printing them at all. I could mark them on my laptop like a proper 21st century individual, but there’s something about the feel of paper and pen that I just cannot let go of. It’s— and, as I go on and see your expression, I realize a simple ‘no’ likely would have sufficed.”

What did he see in Erik’s expression? A man besotted? Enamoured? Smitten? Any other number of words he had never used in regard to himself or anyone else in his entire life? Fuck. Erik tried to school has face into its usual disdain for the world and ninety-nine percent of the people in it, but if he was as in control of his facial muscles as he was of his thoughts, he knew he was failing miserably.

Erik handed him the last of the papers they could possibly retrieve. “I agree— about the pen and paper, I mean.” He did. As incredible as design software was these days, he always started on paper. The precision needed to draw the perfect straight lines and angles of a new building gave him a feeling of immense satisfaction in a way little else did.

“Oh, well, glad I’m not the only one who hasn’t forsaken the old ways.”

His smile.

Fuck fuck fuck.

Erik cleared his throat. “Let me buy you a coffee.”

Had he just said that?

Traitorous voice.

Was he gesturing at Plant?

Traitorous body.

He’d never been inside. On principle. Apparently, principle flew out the window for charming British men with cornflower (cornflower?!) blue eyes. The man blinked those eyes, as though not expecting the kindness.

Erik gestured at the papers. “I’ve clearly set your work back and I’ve ruined your—” cardigan. Erik blinked as his clothes came into focus. The man he was suddenly, desperately, attracted to was wearing a baggy, grandpa cardigan. Erik began to wonder if he had never woken up that morning. Maybe he was still in bed, across the street. Maybe this was a fever dream.

“Oh! I’ve dozens more just like it. It’s nothing.” He swatted ineffectually at the dirt covering one sleeve.

“Please.”

The man cocked his head. “Well… all right.”

So Erik had. In the end it had been a tea, not coffee. Earl grey with mylk. The interaction had ended there, awkwardly. Most likely his own fault. He didn’t do flirting with random strangers he’d just plowed into on the street. He didn’t generally do flirting at all. Moreover, he was now very late and had the junior partner’s fuck ups to fix before this afternoon’s meeting with their client. So, he’d left, stumbling over his goodbyes.

The day that followed hadn’t afforded much opportunity to think on the chance encounter. Not with employees to castrate and clients to placate. It wasn’t until he was home, looking out the bank of front windows at Plant that his thoughts drifted back to Blue Eyes. Which was, unfortunately, what he had christened him in his head because he’d never gotten the man’s name. Erik had gone to bed, mind clouded with thoughts, dreamt of him, and woken up with those same thoughts. Emma had always said his was one of the most disciplined minds she had ever encountered.

So much for that.

It was only a complete loss of that discipline that could possibly explain why he’d unnecessarily crossed the street the next morning and entered the obnoxious establishment for a second time, without even a moment’s hesitation. His eyes had immediately scanned for a mop of just overlong brown hair (yes, he’d noted that too, as well as just how much he wanted to run his hands through it). When they’d landed upon said hair, curling delightfully upon Blue Eyes’ forehead, Erik had been genuinely surprised. This clearly made the man a Plant regular, which should have been a point against him — a massive point — yet here Erik was, seeking him out regardless. Blue Eyes had looked up at him then, gifting him with a smile and acknowledging him with a nod, before returning to a set of what Erik had to guess were re-printed term papers.

Such was the story of how Erik had become a regular customer with a regular order.

Most days Blue Eyes was there before he came in, sometimes working on laptop or in a notebook, other times reading a book or a journal. Erik had caught a title once — The Oxford Journal of Genetics — which led him to conclude, that along with clearly being a professor, this proved the man must have a brain to back up the looks. Another point in his favour, as Erik had no patience for stupidity, no matter how pretty a package it came in.

Erik’s day was such that he usually needed to take his order to go. The few days where he could scrape together a few extra minutes, he grabbed his own table. He hadn’t once attempted to kid himself that it was because he enjoyed the ambience— that level of denial would have been absurd. No, it was clearly so he could spend a few extra minutes trying to stare, in a way that wasn’t blatantly obvious, at his… crush. Crush. He might as well think the word because that’s what it was. Only days after meeting him, Erik had caught himself, pen poised, about to doodle hearts on his notepad at a meeting. The mental pinch and knowing look Emma had sent his way had made him extra testy for the rest of the day. The wide berth everyone but Emma had given him was a testament to that.

And yet…

He never approached Blue Eyes. They exchanged nods, occasional hellos, but never anything more. Out of all of his out of character behaviour — and there was a lot of it at this point — this rattled him most. Erik had a reputation in professional and personal circles. He was confident, forbidding, occasionally arrogant, and brazen in pursuing designs no one else thought possible to execute. Erik went after what he wanted in life with borderline fanaticism.

He did not sit and observe from afar, mentally warring with himself, while also berating himself, for not having the balls to ask to join him, or buy him another tea, or inquire as to what he was reading. There were any number of conversational openings, but 24th latte in, he still hadn’t taken any of them. With each passing day the side of him that decided against it (or ‘chickened out’ as the nastier part of his mind supplied) became stronger and stronger. Blue Eyes hadn’t engaged with him either. Maybe he wasn’t gay. Maybe Erik wasn’t his type. Maybe he was already in a relationship. The chances that he was being just as melodramatic as Erik was being in his own head seemed slim. So, Erik continued to act foolish — alternately wondering how long he would continue to do so and how good a kisser Blue Eyes might be with lips like that.

It was on latte #26 that everything changed— no thanks to Erik.

He had decided to sit at a table that day and engage in his usual ‘I’m staring but I’m not staring’ routine. He was in the ‘not-staring’ portion, scrolling through his emails without really paying attention to any of them, when he was startled out of it by the chair across from him suddenly becoming occupied.

Blue Eyes.

“I can’t take it anymore.”

“Wha—”

“You come in here every day. Every day. Sometimes you stay, sometimes you don’t. It’s baffling because there is one thing I know for certain— you hate it here. No, you loathe it. And, there are literally dozens of other coffee houses within walking distance. You clearly don’t belong—” Blue Eyes gestured up and down at what was likely Erik’s three piece suit, then at Plant in general, where there wasn’t a single person so much as sporting dress pants. Erik counted at least two man buns, one head of dreadlocks and a form of baggy pants Erik didn’t even have a name for. “—and I am fascinated by things that don’t belong. Things that don’t make sense. Puzzles. You don’t make sense. There is no way the coffee is that good. And yet, here you are. Oh! Where are my manners? I’m Charles.”

Blue Eyes — no, Charles — extended his hand across the table and, reflexively, Erik took it, shaking it gingerly.

Charles laughed. “I don’t bite. I entirely talk too much, ask anyone, but I don’t bite.”

Erik rather wished that he did.

“How did you— my suit?”

Thankfully, Charles seemed to follow his meaning. “Oh no, the suit is only corroborating evidence. As is the way you look down your nose at everything in here. It’s your mind.” Charles tapped his temple. “Telepath. I swear to you I haven’t dug any deeper than the surface swirl of utter distaste for this establishment. Then I’d know, wouldn’t I? Wouldn’t be here asking.”

Telepath. Blue E— Charles was a mutant. Erik was fairly certain his knees went a little weak. Good thing they were sitting. However… what on earth could he say? ‘I’ve essentially been stalking you’ hardly seemed like an opener that was going to get him where he wanted to be. Erik cleared his throat, buying time, as those keen eyes continued to look at him expectantly. While Erik wasn’t verbose, he also never found himself at a loss for words, except for here and now, where the truth was exceptionally embarrassing.

His pause, it seemed, went on too long because Charles jumped back into the fray. “Good lord, I’ve ambushed you, haven’t I? Clearly, you don’t have to answer the mad man who mowed you down on the sidewalk and then ambushed the peaceful solitude of your morning coffee. I apologize and will bugger right off if you tell me to. However, if it helps any, I don’t like it here either. It’s trying too bloody hard to be ‘on trend,’ isn’t it? For a cultural subset who pride themselves on not being pretentious they’ve entirely failed, haven’t they? And, I’m English, I know pretentious.” He laughed self-depreciatingly at that.

A beat for his mind to catch up to the second verbal barrage and Erik finally had a response. “If you like it as little as I do, then why are you here?”

Charles’ mouth formed a perfect little ‘o’ of surprise. He scratched the back of his neck and, for a moment, looked everywhere but Erik. “Blast. I’m caught, aren’t I?”

His cheeks reddened adorably. Since when did Erik find anything adorable? Since now, apparently. This man broke all of his rules.

Charles gave an adorable (christ) little shrug of his shoulders. “I suppose I best come clean.” He looked Erik squarely in the eye. “You’re gorgeous. You bought me tea. I came back thinking I’d ask you out. But you’re so… I lost my nerve. Have been doing the same daily ever since.”

“I’m so… ?”

The cheeks reddened further.

“Entirely too gorgeous for me.” Charles gestured at today’s grandfatherly cardigan. “Besides that—”

“You’re perfect.”

Fucking hell. When had his mind decided to say things without his permission?

It produced another, adorable, surprised little ‘o’. “I’m sorry— What?”

In for a penny…

“I had never set foot in Plant before we crashed into each other. Never would have because I do hate everything about it. Everything except you, who I thought were a regular—”

“I thought you were a regular.”

“— and wanted to ask you out.”

“I’d never been here before ei— you wanted to ask me out?”

They stopped, collective words sinking into respective minds.

Charles threw his head back, laughing. “If I didn’t know better—“ He tapped his temple again. “— I’d think you’re having me on.”

His laughter was infectious and Erik found he was smiling despite himself. He gave his own little shrug. “I don’t lie.”

“No, you don’t, do you? I can’t believe we both—”

“Me either.”

“This is too much. Wait… Why are we still here?”

“I’m sorry?”

Charles leaned forward and plucked Erik’s latte with oat mylk from his hand. “Can I buy you a coffee? A real coffee? Where they know how to spell the word milk? At the cafe I actually frequented before I began co-starring with you in a romcom so terrible my sister wouldn’t even watch it?”

He was already standing up, as if assured Erik would say yes, which every single bone in his body was blaring loudly for him to do. It didn’t seem to matter to any part of him that he would be blowing off work, a thought he discarded as quickly as it appeared. Just another out of character thing to add to the list. He followed. “I’m Erik, by the way.”

Charles looked back, as he collected his belongings, and grinned sheepishly. “I know.”

That was the last time Erik set foot in Plant until exactly a year later. He ordered latte #27 with Blue-Eyed Charles on his arm, after having crossed the street from their apartment, to celebrate their first anniversary. As Charles smiled at him over his Earl Gray with mylk, Erik found he couldn’t quite hate the damned coffee shop as much as he had before.

#cherik #cherik fanfic #charles xavier #erik lehnsherr #pinkoptics fic #au_gust #augustwritingchallenge

[imagineabrighterworld]

Tsundere!Tenya Iida x Reader

A/N: Request from @coledrawsstuff , hope you like it! ^^

You meet him at the entrance exam

It was the day of the entrance exam, and you couldn't be more excited and terrified. You ran to the gates, opting out of using public transportation should you be late to the test, which meant you were already sweating despite the crisp breeze. Amid the students waiting to enter the testing room, you can't help but notice a boy stretching in blue gear. It was a little confusing, as it was yet to be the battle simulation test. Why was he stretching for.. Writing?

Suddenly you were grateful to have the excuse of over exertion on your side as you feel your face begin to warm.

He was.. Impressive looking. Though he was intimidating with how serious he was, he had the body of an Adonis.

Though you should have been studying your notes to prepare for the test, your eyes were glued to him. But your rational brain managed to snap you out of your gawking just enough to go back to the matter at hand.

Closing your eyes, you focus on the vibrations of metal around you. From a vending machine three miles away, the water fountain one block away, and to the steel charm in your palm, you relaxed and let your magnetism do it's work. You had to be in harmony with the metals you attracted, and this was the easiest way, just letting the metals come to you. Not that you were going to summon a vending machine to pummel something. That would make way to much of a scene. So you continued your little practice.

Meanwhile, you let your mind drift to the muscular boy in glasses.

Unfortunately your magnetism attracted something else too, or someone else

In your defense, the boy was built like a brick wall, which was hard not to look at. You couldn't help but wonder how much training and what kind of strict regimen it took to maintain a body like that. You surely didn't have the energy to maintain a system like his.

“What are you doing?!”

A voice snaps you out of your thoughts, causing you to stumble forward and smack into something sturdy. “Huh?” You look up, throat turning dry as you stare directly into the eyes of the Adonis himself.

He glares at you, his glasses catching the light and obscuring his dark blue eyes.

You hold back a squeak and back away, giving him an extra two feet of space. “Sorry about that, I didn't mean to-” Your body pulls itself back to him, causing you to bump knees with him.

You look downward and find the cause of the scene. He had engines in his calves.

Oh goddess..

You release your magnetism, tripping over your own two feet to create more space between you two. “I swear it wasn't intentional!” He holds your gaze for a moment, his mouth open as if ready to chew you out, but before he can the Pro Hero Present Mic yells over the cacophony of students, telling them it was time to start.

The boy mutters something under his breath and walks away, dropping to the ground and launching himself through the doors, bypassing a green haired boy that looked as nervous as you.

You give the frozen boy a sympathetic nod before running after the other students that had already begun their conquest of Battle Block B.

“Please don't let me find him.” You mumble to yourself.

You had laid out a trap and magnetized the robots to crash into each other, crunching them up into a ball of scrap metal

It was some miracle that the test was within the normal use of your quirk, so you were able to make a quick strategy on how to gather up points. You were uneasy of course, because they must know that there is bound to be a kid with magnetism or ferrokinesis on their side. Keeping that in mind, you build up on your plan for aiming for the top spot.

So far the test had been a breeze for you. With your magnetism you managed to pull the robots into themselves, crushing them like wads of scrap paper. Occasionally you would spot the green haired boy, feeling pity for him when he would arrive just a little too late to gather points. You were tempted to help him, but with the clock counting down, you did whatever you could to get more points for yourself. You were at thirty seven and were working on getting an extra six points by creating a giant trap. It wasn't something you had practiced before, magnetizing more than two large objects at a time, but you had little choice if you wanted to enter the hero course.

Gathering your strength you pull your hands together and magnetize three of the giant robots to clash together, but by doing this you miss seeing a fourth robot readying to bash you into a demolished building.

He saves you from a robot about to blast you, running and catching you in his arms

Tenya Iida was many things, he liked to believe that chivalrous was one of those qualities. As a member of the prominent Iida family of heroes, he strived to make his family proud. He put all his might into the test, knowing that the faculty were watching everyone with keen eyes, seeing how they assessed each situation and complication. But what he did not take into account was you. You threw him off his groove, off his calm mentality. Even now he wondered how you were fairing against the robots. But he didn't have to ponder for very long as he saw a level 2 villain bot prepare to smack you aside.

He had no time to warn you as his instincts kicked in. Engines blazing, he jets towards you, scooping you into his arms and carting you both to a safer direction.

“You must watch out for yourself! A hero is vigilant and always aware of their surroundings! You could have been badly injured!” He yells at you, unsure why he felt so peeved. You wouldn't have died, the heroes knew to hold back enough for a simulation like this. And yet here he was, angry with you, someone he barely met.

You release your magnetism on the bots from earlier, knowing they were turned to scrape when you heard the resounding clang of empty metal. “I-I was fine!”

But of course he did not believe you. He just- it was frustrating to see you defend yourself when you didn't know the situation you were in!

He sets you down and runs off, barking from over his shoulder as he moves on to gather more points. “Keep an eye on your surroundings!”

Towards the end of the exam he realizes what your plan was and swoons on the inside

With the exams over, Tenya returns home and waits for his brother to drive before retelling the story of how his experience was. He made sure to include the people he got to meet, which included you.

“Maybe that was their plan.” His older brother Tensei says while using his chopsticks to dunk a dumpling in a dish of sauce. “Gather the battle bots to use them as a wrecking ball. If you don't have a weapon, you make one.”

Tenya pauses in his eating, covering his mouth to hide his mid bite into a cabbage roll.

Was that your plan? Were you just making yourself an opportunity? Did he squander your work?

His mother laughs while his father smiles at him as he shakes his head.

“Next time you see them, apologize.” Tensei winks. “And don't just go picking up people without reason.”

You are in 1-A, taking the place of Hagakure, meaning you were far in front of Iida

When you received word of entering U.A.’s hero course, you were absolutely ecstatic, nothing could ruin your mood! Except maybe the dreaded fear that engine boy would be joining you in 1-A..

Taking your seat in the front corner of the room, you fiddle with the steel charm on your necklace, latting it bounce above your fingertips and circle your fingers. There wasn't much to do other than to wait for the teacher to arrive. You were early, and gratefully so, as it took you awhile to find the classroom. Your nerves had begun to settle but as soon as the bell had run and the class filled with nearly all 19 students (excluding yourself of course), you knew what was going to happen.

“You there!”

Oh goddess.

The boy from the entrance exam walks up to you, towering over you as he stands erect in front of your desk. The steel charm you were playing with plops onto the desk with a light thud. “Yes?”

From the angle you were looking at him, it looked as though he were glaring into your soul, sending an uncomfortable chill down your spine.

He chops a hand in the air. “My name is Tenya Iida, of the Iida family! I apologize for what I did to you at the entrance exam, but you must show more care about your own well being! No one will be there to save you next time! We are supposed to be the saviors, not the saved!”

It takes you a moment to process his words, but by the time he moves to his seat, you have no chance to say anything.

What a weird boy..

You occasionally give him looks but are much too afraid to act

As class carried on and situations arised, you began to see past Tenya’s abrasive personality. He meant well, but he performed with such energy that it was difficult for you to relax near him. You wanted to be his friend, he was a good guy. You had heard his laughter and seen his smile with his small group of friends, and you thought it might be nice if he smiled at you like that.. But how were you to get through to him??

He too wants to get closer, but his personality makes it very difficult to discern anger from excitement

Tenya knows he's a bit on the.. Extreme side when he gets excitable, so he enlists the help of his friend Midoriya to talk to you.

“Hey um- over here?" Midoriya waves to you from his spot at one of the lunch tables. He was alone with just his tray, innocent enough, so you go to him. Despite being classmates you didn't get the chance to really talk with Midoriya before, so you figured now would be a good time.

"Hi, did you want to talk about something?" You question while sitting across from him, already picking up an orange to begin peeling it.

Midoriya looks down at his tray, hands fidgety. "Um, yeah. It's about Iida."

Your mood dips slightly, thumb accidentally jamming into the soft flesh of the citrus fruit. "What about him?"

"Do you.. hate Iida?"

This threw you off-course. You had been expecting him to talk up his friend and how great of a person he was, not question if you hated him. Because if you were being honest, you didn't hate him. Sure he intimidated you, but the way he acted around the others made you think he was just hard to get through. Sort of like Todoroki, though Todoroki still was in his own shell.

"I don't hate him." You pile the peels onto your tray, glancing around the room for Iida before biting your lip. "He's a little much.. but I think he's kinda sweet. He's just a little scary sometimes."

The boy in front of you sighs in relief, slumping slightly in his seat. "Yeah, he can be really excitable huh?"

You smile, "A little?" You mimic Iida's signature move of arm chopping the air.

Midoriya laughs. "Like that! But if you look past that he's a really good person. He scared me at first too. But, try getting to know him. We're classmates, and I think he wants to get to know you, he's just bad at it."

Considering his words, you pull the orange in half and offer him a piece. "I'll give it a try."

You two are paired for a project which leads you to slowly getting to know him better

For a class project, you had drawn lots to assign partners as there were obvious cliques already formed. Your teacher didn't like the idea of such bias and so the polling system was chosen instead. The girls urged you forward, trying to get your  mind off of the odds of you picking the boy glaring at you from behind the class. Reaching into the box, your heart nearly burst out of your chest when you read the words Tenya Iida in perfect script. Trudging back to your seat after announcing your partner, you take a peek at him in the most subtle way you could, but to your dismay, he was already looking at you with his normal stoic face.

“Is this okay?”

“Of course it is! It is perfect!”

You jump in your seat, laughing nervously when Tenya yells, drawing attention to the two of you. You had scooted your seat closer to his in order to talk about the details of the project. It was a week-long examination of Pro Heroes and their strategies. In a way you were grateful for having him as a partner, he was well organized and fair, and wasn't too bad to look at either…

You pinch yourself on the cheek.

He was overall a good person, he was just so intimidating.

“Which hero do you believe is our best candidate?” He asks, nudging the list of names closer to you.

“I haven't thought of that yet.” You admit while taking hold of the paper. Your eyes widen curiously. “Hey your brother is on here!”

“He is?” Tenya leans in closer to look over your shoulder at the names, causing a pink blush on your cheeks. “You're right!” He announces proudly.

Looking at his jovial expression, something so different from his usual scowling (at least when you're looking) was refreshing, and caused a smile to form on your face.

“We could do the assignment on your brother, that way we'll get the best information!”

For the first time since you've met him, he smiles at you. A genuine smile.

“You're right, getting our information from the source will give us an advantage over the others. Our project will be flawless!”

Again, the damned color red rushes to your face, but this time he notices. Seeing your face turn pink caused an odd feeling to stir in his chest. Sure he had told himself he was wrong about you, like how he was wrong about Midoriya during the exams. But he never had the opportunity to say it to you.

Now that he had the chance, he.. He couldn't do it.

“S-Shall we set up a time to meet for the project?” He stumbles over his words. “For the project. That is due in a week. This project.”

You spare him the humiliation of telling him he repeated himself way to much and instead nod. “How about tomorrow afternoon. Do you think your brother will be free then?”

“My brother?”

“You know, to ask him questions?”

He blanks.

You giggle behind your palm, taking a pen and scribbling down your number before tucking it into his hand. “Just call me when you figure it out, ‘kay?”

He was an absolute mess, but luckily he had Tensei

On the day of your meeting, you get to the Iida household fifteen minutes earlier than you were supposed to. Unsure of whether to enter yet or not, you stay outside, sitting on the stone porch, admiring the koi pond in the corner. It was peaceful listening tenth bubbling water and the occasional chirping of birds. But not long into your wait, a boy looking similar to Tenya walks in through then front gates and to the porch where you sat. 

The young man looks you over knowingly, a warm smile on his face as he offers his hand. “You're my little brother’s friend right?”

You take his hand and shake it firmly. “I am- I think.” You weren't sure exactly what you were to the young Iida really. He still acted rough and a little cold sometimes. 

His brother exhales, his smile only warming. “Don't mind him, he's got some getting used to when it comes to socializing.” Unlocking the door, he beckons you inside. “Don't be shy, it’s safe to come in. I’ll grab him for you.”

You follow him inside, looking around at the pictures on the walls. “Actually we need you too.”

“Ah- right, right. Well, I’m here till five.” He speaks over his shoulder, loosening his tie as he walks upstairs to what you assume is the living space. “Tenya! Your friend is here!”

Straight away a loud thump sounds off from upstairs, followed by the sound of an engine and another thunk. You wince at the sound, smiling when you see Tenya walk downstairs with a red face and glasses askew. 

Thats where the thumps came from. 

“I apologize for my late arrival, I should have been the one to answer the door. My sincerest apologies!” He bends at the waist but you wave it off. 

“Don't worry about it.” You hold up your bag where your laptop lay snuggly inside. “Lets begin.”

You finish the project in record time, leaving you with time for other things 

It was no surprise to the class that you both received high marks for your work; you both were dedicated and reaching for the top spots in your class when it came to academics. But what did surprise them was how slow you both were when it came to your relationship. Be it romantic or platonic. So the girls set up a little something to finally speed things up. Hopefully you wouldn't kill them later for it. 

Clutching a letter close to your chest, you stand in the middle of the training field, heart beating in your ribs like a wild horse. 

The letter was not something you expected to receive. And it definitely wasn't from the person you thought you might receive one from. It was heartfelt and near-poetic, it was sweet and- the complete opposite of what you expected from Tenya Iida, the straight forward stoic. 

Hell, you didn't even expect anything at all from him. Least of all a love letter.

During and after the project, you had to admit that deep inside his extreme exterior, he was a sweetheart. He meant the best and wanted only good things for others, but his excitement could make him.. terrifying. Still, you were willing to look past that and gibe him a chance. 

If he would give you a chance.. 

When his figure finally appears, you squeeze the letter tighter in your hand, not even thinking of how crippled the delicately written note would be once you opened it up again.

He was dressed in his uniform, sweat gleaming on his skin. He must've ran all the way here after he was done with whatever business he had to deal with after school. 

“You-” He pants, “You're really here.”

You furrow your brows. “I am. You wrote for me to meet you here.”

Tenya takes in a deep breath and exhales slowly, reaching into his breast pocket and drawing out a similar colored letter. “I was told to come here as well. By you.” He opens the letter, scanning through the words before stopping on a line. “Meet me at the training field by five o’clock. Please, don't be late.” 

He tucks the letter away. “Those were your words, weren't they?” A strange look is in his eyes, and now you can't discern whether the color blooming on his face is from his run or from something else.

“It wasn't me.. I got the same letter, and I thought.. well.. I thought it was from you.” You open up the crumpled paper, looking over the confession that was written in delicate writing. It certainly didn't sound like his normal approach at talking, but maybe a part of you hoped that he.. liked you.

The two of you stay silent, listening to the whistling of wind passing through the trees. 

“Did you think it was true?”

Your gaze snaps to him.

“..What?”

He looks down, a hand on his neck while the other still clutches the love letter in his hand. “Did you believe it? That I.. like you?”

You think back: your first day meeting him, asking him for notes, watching him take on challenges with pure passion, encouraging his friends and never giving up on them, the softness of his hand when he helped you down the stairs of his home when you twisted your ankle. There was moments where you believed you might love him.

“I hoped it was true.” You say quietly. “I hoped you liked me.”

Again, silence. 

He looks at the letter in his hand, face ablaze with pink and red. 

“The letter, wasn't far off from reality.”

You don't have to look at him to know he's moving closer to you. Your magnetism allows you to feel when he's inches away.

Now you look up at him.

“You’ve attracted me.” 

It didn't take a magnet for your lips to collide. 

#bnha #mha #bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha tenya iida #mha tenya iida #tenya iida #Tenya Iida x reader #bnha tenya iida x reader #mha Tenya Iida x reader #tsundere Tenya Iida #really its Tenya being a giant unaware dork with no social filter #he's the slow fast boy #my beta is done with my shit #but we will go down like men in this fluffy soup bowl of feelings #I got new magnets and really liked the idea of a magneto kind of quirk #He was low-key high-key great

[frumfrumfroo]

Can "masculine" and "feminine" Fandom ever truly coexist or are they always destined for conflict? Everything I've seen indicates that even if it only happens in a passive-aggressive way,, they will always fight until one pushes out or marginalizes the other (and the creators will probably take sides).

I think they do co-exist all the time. For example Star Trek and DBZ both have huge fandoms of both temperaments, despite the common stereotype that they're ploty techy manly franchises for boys and only male nerds like them. TOS invented shipping fandom as we know it. Nor is there usually much tension between the two camps. It's just that the streams don't really cross; fic/meta/shipping fandom is over here and speculation/powerlevels/trivia fandom is over there. You can be in both, but you do them separately and usually one is way more 'mainstream' as the face of fans than the other. Doctor Who is the rare case where it's equally infamous for its no-romo anoraks and its die-hard shippers.

The fact that those are ancient, venerable fandoms is probably a factor, because fandom as a whole used to be more compartmentalised. You only hung out in the part that interested you and could engage for years without interacting with anything outside that bubble. Things like zines and webrings and livejournal groups were split up by topic. Although people say the days of mailing lists were more like now because it was a niche and everyone had to scroll past everything. I wasn't there, so these are speculations.

But what's definitely different now is that the fourth wall has been completely demolished and whining on SM can change the direction of multi-billion dollar franchises, so the old need to 'win' fandom and feel like the loudest voice has become something with real stakes. If bullying the 'wrong' audience out of fandom results in your faction being catered to, that incentivises aggressive gatekeeping. Which people already did even back when it was totally delusional to think the creators knew or cared what fandom thought, so having it actually work is going to make it ten thousand time worse. Franchise writing by angry twitter committee is probably going to continue and this will lead to many more pieces of Extruded Movie Product dreck while Disney and Amazon buy up the entire global entertainment industry until the inevitable collapse of mega-budget Branded Content which can’t come soon enough.

Do I expect shipping and emotional analysis fandom will continue to get the shorter end of the stick and be mocked for caring even as being a massive anorak who's memorised every meaningless stat in every issue of Captain Bland's Monotonous Adventure becomes ever more mainstream and acceptable? Yep. But this has never succeeded in pushing shipping out of fandom and while certain kinds of ‘nerdiness’ have become ‘cool’ (much like it’s socially acceptable to obsess about sports but not Magic: the Gathering tournaments), the genuine weirdos still have far more in common with people who write fanfic than they do with the casual audience who are the true target demographic of any big budget film. A lot of the pressure which causes fandom infighting is being exerted from outside and when trends change, the need to guard your terf so that senpai notices you lessens significantly.

Although I should probably take issue with the idea that it’s a ‘both sides’ thing, because I know of no example, ever, of a ‘feminine’ fandom rejecting or trying to drive out ‘masculine’ interests. If you want to talk about who would win in a fight in a shoujo manga or discuss the worldbuilding logic of Labyrinth from a non-metaphorical perspective, absolutely no one in the fandom will have a problem with that. I knew a guy who was super into the ‘lore’ and non-romance plot of Twilight (how? idk), and he got no shit whatsoever for ‘doing it wrong’ from the fans because they did not feel threatened by his perspective.

A lot of these ‘boys club’ fandoms do feel threatened by shippers or literary analysis (because icky lady cooties mostly) and that’s what it comes down to. Same with antis and any other ‘you’re doing fandom wrong!’ group. They are afraid of not being exclusively catered to if they aren’t the overwhelming majority. That’s the only reason there’s conflict. If they weren’t worried about not being the default and not having their worldview constantly validated, they wouldn’t care about us.

#fandom #watch independent cinema I'm just saying #anyway I'm sorry I feel like I wandered around and didn't address what you were asking about much at all #I keep starting posts and then losing all confidence I've written anything worth posting

[caandlelit]

HATE to that person but do you wanna give up some league in quarantine hcs, maybe with hawks depending on if you hate him rn

oh my fucking god ur asking me for quarantine hcs,,,,,,,, lets take a moment to acknowledge that thats a thing that you just did,,,,

like ill dO IT but like,,, after im done laughing my ass off 2020 is off the shits 

okay so this is like assuming that the league are all chill and vibing and alive at the time of corona alright

no one is in a glass jar pulling a mewtwo yet, no one is in jail with their past being revealed yet, no one is TRYING TO KILL TWICE

its corona time

so there would be absolutely no change in shigaraki’s behavior he already just sits around inside gaming and slash or planning a revolution and both of these are strictly indoor activities 

theyre not even allowed to take mariokart out of his room 

kurogiri forbid it after toga made an attempt on dabi’s life 

so shigaraki finds out theyre in quarantine when he realizes

dabi hasnt disappeared mysteriously and come back looking like someone mauled his neck for a whole week !

naturally he walks blearily out of his room at an ungodly hour bc he got thirsty and sees spinner, twice and toga playing monopoly while dabi sulks on the couch and hes like

‘what the fuck is going on’

kurogiri takes precautions !!!

not in a rich white person way 

more like

hes sanitizing the bar more often

he makes sure the gang has masks for if they feel the need to yolo and venture outside

he makes a dramatic speech 

‘so im sure ur all wondering why ive asked you here’

‘we cant leave kurogiri just get on with it’ - bitchy and tired and emo

hes embarrassed about it but he goes on 

‘please,,,, im begging you all,,,,,,, wash your hands i know some of you think of yourselves as above it but tomura i am begging-’

ok 

look im not calling him out or anything, no tomura hate i think hes very sexy (now... he wasnt at the start)

but does he LOOK like the kind of guy whos always washed his hands after pissing ? nO he looks like the guy who was recently cornered by his friends to under no uncertain terms, ‘wash your hair you can scheme later’

hes had a lot of character growth 

toga is really incredibly disappointed nothing is happening this sucks

sticks up a one of those small whiteboards up on the wall in the bar 

it says in bright red marker ‘⬜ days since quarantine’ 

shes also one of those ‘fearless’ kids,,,, 

shes like ‘no illness can hurt me im not afraid !!!’ 

sneezes once and she sits wondering if she should panic

starts wearing the mask,,,,

jin is kinda like 

just walking around as cool as you please

and compress, whos been freaking and panicking since day one, corners him and hes like ‘why ! arent ! you ! affected !’

‘i wear a mask !!!!!!!!!!! daily!!!!!!!!!! what the fuck could HAPPEN im basically in a hazmat suit im FINE’

compress is like ‘huh. reasonable’

spinner is unafraid he is a lizardman he will be okay

love him

boi got ,,, opinions,,,,,,,,

his take is that the government is either exaggerating because rich people are afraid

or that theyre hiding the full extent of the disease from news media

he doesnt know that its both

dabi is a walking talking freakshow

like okay hes horny and mad and sick and tired of being stuck at league hq 

he walks around with his eyes wide and unseeing and shigaraki is staring to get worried because he’s scaring the newbies

‘dabi what the fuck is wrong with you’

dabi, numbly: if endeavor dies because of coronavirus i’m going to hunt down the root of this virus and kill everyone starting with them

shigaraki exhales and purses his lips

slaps him on the back a few times in vague comfort and moves on

dabi’s also like

again 

‘really horny’

thats his excuse for why hes moping around 

when hes not bitching about endeavor to everyone who’ll listen

but he misses hawks

and he wishes he couldve been at hawks’ place when the quarantine was announced

hes complaining on the sofa to spinner on the first weekend as the rest of the league play risk, which shigaraki is dominating and absolutely demolishing everyone in

when

!!!!!!!! hawks appears !!!!!!!!

hawks at home on the fourth day of self isolation: *texting twice* sos please send teleportation guy ujiko whatshisname i miss u guys lol

twice, not knowing hes gonna kill him: aw okay fuck yeah ! bitch !

hawks at home ‘ahhh twice. what a nice guy. what a good dude. what a real homie’

hawks shows up at the league hq 6 days late with starbucks and tells himself hes using the quarantine as an excuse to get closer to the league but he misses dabi’s face 

appears and falls onto the risk board as dabi is mid sentence going 

‘god what id give to have him appear in my lap’

then everyone is shouting hysterically, shigaraki is pissed bc he was winning, toga is excited bc this is the coolest thing to happen in a week, twice is triumphant bc he organized this, dabi is stILL somehow complaining because ‘i said LAP was that TOO MUCH for the universe’ and hawks beams at the mayhem because he missed them

can u ??? tell im bitter ???? about something?????? 

#u can tell im out of practice lmao #dabihawks #league of villains #bnha spoilers #villainsquad #dabi #hawks #shigaraki tomura #keigo takami #toga himiko #spinner #twice #kurogiri #compress #ask #anon #hc #hcs

[psychcam]

OTHER    FRIENDS  .

     WOW I CANT WRITE FOR DAYS BUT HERE I AM WRITING FANFICTION IN EIGHT HOURS . 

disclaimer : I do not own the joker blog , the dark knight , the joker , harley quinn , joan ferguson. & zara belongs to @rowemuse / @clowncam .   all other oc’s and characters belong to me. 

 summary :   when zara enters arkham asylum with a plan to demolish her past ; things get a little tricky when jack napier  joker has a set of other friends . 

TRIGGER WARNINGS :   GORE , LANGUAGE  ,   BRUTAL  DEATH  .  BLOOD . CLOWNS 

timeline: jack napier and zara were friends in high school until harleen quinzel came around . their friendship is at risk when jack and harleen get together .  a fight between zara and jack land her dead ----  or so he thought. years later jack and harley were together in a strained relationship , harleen having his children helleen napier and jack napier jr . after 13 years of being together , jack believes his girlfriend and two children are holding him back from being the person he wants to be. he leaves in the dead of night without a trace . three years later the joker emerges and reins down on gotham city . after he is put under arrest and taken to arkham asylum it’s not long after that harleen quinzel a woman he used to know putting up the facade of a doctor with a wonderful fiance and two perfect children becomes his doctor. harleen hides the fact she knows who the joker truly is. instead she uses him as a way to get on top but that only makes joker grow an unhealthy obsession with her. after many sessions joker breaks out to crash his ex’s wedding , kill her fiance and gain the trust of his children again as a means to turn them against harleen. as guy kopski harleen’s fiance is dead , and harleen and joker facing off in a gun to loon showdown harleen leaves her wedding with her children. joker is brought back to arkham asylum and not long after he starts a riot . bringing down harleens new reign as head of arkham staff . he turns doctor harleen quinzel into his jester queen of crime , and his children the princess and prince of crime . a year later a nurse at arkham named claire turns out to not be what she seems .  zara wren comes to end the joker family’s rein on arkham , failing miserably she ends up in arkham herself. 

THERE THEY ALL WERE ! ALL FOUR OF THEM ! A HAPPY LITTLE FAMILY !

amongst the riot and blaring of sirens . amongst the yelling , screaming & crying of others zara wren had her target . THE JOKER. his little family would just be collateral damage to her revenge .

Throwing her nurse cap to the side and popping her neck , she reaches down her blouse reaching into the confines of the holster strapped against her ribs . eyes narrow but a large smile , teeth baring and visibly filled with RAGE .

❝ - well , well , well ! let me get a look at the MENAGERIE ! ❞ zara spoke in a light voice , hand moving to cock her gun as she walked over , black tresses of hair moving in front of her face as she tilted her head down looking at them all . ❝ you must be HELLE ! ❞ she looked over at the blonde teen , who looked back at her with confusion her shiv held tight in her hands . she twisted her head quickly to look over the long haired teen . ❝ you must be JACK JUN'YA'! ❞ zara gave a smile that twitched and faltered momentarily as she looked him over . he looked just like his FATHER. she forced herself to look at joker's goon girlfriend . eyes locking with her harshly . rage built up . ❝ and HARLEEN QUINZEL- well, he took you with him . ❞ her teeth barred once more , forcing a smile of sacerine on her face . ❝ - ISN'T THAT JUST SWELL !❞

Harley's eyes widened , cherry lips parting a gape in shock . familiarity in her eyes . remembering that old scorned JEALOUSYin zara's jaded blue eyes . she tilted her head some . inclining it forward before meeting the joker's eyes . joker's eyes were narrowed . the game would start soon !

❝ - it CAN'T BE. ❞ harley whispered . she stepped forward . a protective stance to guard her children and the joker . both her eyebrows raised as zara began to laugh .amused and angry was zara'a style of laughter .

❝ OH BUT IT CAN BE , AND IT IS !❞ zara swung her arms up , gun waving in a circle . ❝ and I gotta' new look and a few new toys . ❞ she looked her gun over , she pointed it at harley . ❝ that's gonna put an end to your - ❞ she looked over the family and snarled . a look of disgust filling her features . ❝ HAPPILY EVA' AFTA' , ONCE AND FOR ALL ! ❞ finger places itself on the trigger of her gun , and pressing it . the joker had grabbed harley's arm and yanked her to the side quickly before it was pulled . zara gave a look at joker , filled with ANGER & HATE .

Joker gave a look at helle and nodded his head . pulling harley roughly with him as he took off down the hallway , jack jr behind them . looking back as helle took off down the same corridor - however , entering the bathing quarters of the asylum . ( HELLE ! ) the screams of harley were heard as she was dragged down the hallway by the man who should have sworn to protect their little girl .

Zara gave a look . as much as she would have loved harley to be the first KILL ; joker's lil' girl will just have to do . after all , they were so CLOSE . she stood there a moment , watching helle enter the room . she smirked leaning down and sticking her gun in her boot and pulling out a switchblade . no need to waste another bullet .

A skip to her step began as she went down the hall , twirling the blade in her hands . she turned and faced the door the girl went in . bringing her foot up she kicked it open . zara stepped in , looking at the shower stall , eyes flash to the tub running . scalding water falling into its confines. What did helle have planned ?

Walking over to the closed stalls , whistles of a tune she felt in her heart left her plump lips. ❝ - oh helle ! come out , come out , wherever you are . ❞ she said in a sing-songy voice , she pushed a stall open slowly .

SHIV IN HELLE'S HANDS , standing on top of the toilet of the fourth stall down . she had this plan made out for someone else , but this BITCH would have to do .

SLAM ( ' you can't hide forever ! 'zara sang ) SLAM. one more . eyes narrow on helle's part . ready for the strike . a sickly evil grin spreads upon helle's face like a cheshire cat . come on , come on ! DO IT !

SLAM ,       ❝   surprise , BITCH ! ❞ helle shouted as she shot at her , jumping off the toilet ; shiv coming down on zara ! MEANT FOR HER CHEST , but got the face ! blood spews from zara wound , in result covering helle's hand . zara steps back harshly knife dropping as the impact made her hit against the wall of the bathing room.

Zara used the sleeve of her nursing uniform to wipe at the blood going down her face . she looked at helle slowly , anger filling her eyes . a growl leaving her lips as helle giggled . helle stepped forward kicking the knife out of reach and out of sight .

❝ I think there's been a MISUNDERSTANDING here ! ❞ helle giggles and points her shiv towards zara's face . zara's blood still dripping down her hand and in result down her arm . ❝ the joker family ? - we run GOTHAM NOW. we've establish- ❞

❝ - YEAH YEAH , i've heard . ❞ she snapped , interrupting helle . she looked at her with a scowl , but a smile formed upon zara's lip . ❝ i've had your guys' little message to gotham ON LOOP ! ❞ she yelled throwing herself at helle , landing on top of her and grabbing her by her hair . her other hand holding down the wrist of the hand that held the shiv . ❝ I just LOVEthe part where JACK NAPIER spends the rest of his days in this MISERABLE CITYwith a bunch of NOBODIES !❞ it was obvious she was getting angrier and angrier with each statement she said .

It finally clicked in helle's head that her father and this woman once knew each other once upon a time. she struggled against the woman's grip . there was one thing helle lacked . and that was physical strength. Her free hand reaches up and grabs a fistfull of the woman's hair .

Zara didn't let that act phase her , she let loose a laugh . she pulled helle's head up , still holding a firm grip on the girl's hair . ❝ that's right ! I've heard the story over and over again ! ❞ she bashed the back of helle's head into the tiled floor . helle giving a shriek of pain , and then laughter of her own. . ❝ GEE ! it's swell to finally meet HISother friends ! ❞ she bashed helle's head once more against the cold tiles . hearing a crack as the tile broke underneath helle's skull.

ADRENALINE PUMPING. helle gave a harsh shove with her free hand . effectively shoving zara off her who fell back onto the tile with a thud she gave a giggle in result . . helle got up quickly and threw her shiv at the ground . blood covered the tiles where helle's head once was . a dull ache helle felt , but not fully due to her sudden adrenaline rush . though her vision blurred slightly , her body swayed ever so ! black spots clouded her vision - BUT A NAPIER NEVER GIVES IN !

Zara noticed the way helle was beginning to fade , and she would absolutely use it to her advantage !she stood up and stalked towards her , watching helle bare her teeth like an animal , but visibly too weak and probably seeing doubles too do anything about it . zara's hand grabbed helle's cheek . ❝ what did he SAYabout me ? what did he say ? ❞ pretending to be tender , a sad look clouded zara's vision . hopeful that jack talked about her . that maybe even after all these yearshe still talked about her. Yet , at helle's confused look anger clouded her thoughts and eyes once more . ❝ WHAT DID HE DO WITHOUT ME ? , what did he do ?! ❞ she yelled in helle's face , anger and hurt lacing zara's voice . she pulled helle to her chest , feeling the girl give a weak struggle as she backed towards THE TUB. a hand reached up and stroked helle's hair , helle's fists weakly hitting at zara's sides . but helle's fight was dwindling . HER DRIVE was failing .

Finally zara shoved helle onto the ground in front of the tub , helle gasping for air as she was beginning to find it hard to breathe ! helle reached a hand up to the back of her head , bringing it down she looked at her once pale hand to find it covered in her own blood . she looked up at zara , as zara dropped down to her knees beside helle . helle brought her hand up to push zara away , but zara grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly . her other hand grabbing the hair connected to the back of helle's head and pulling it back . bringing her head back and hitting it against the tub . she let go and stopped the water . the tub overflowing by the time she stopped it. The heat of the water leaving steam in the air . she rolled her eyes as helle now laid on her side holding the front of her head letting out little strained giggles . she pulled helle up by her hair back onto her knees and then let go grabbing her chin . making helle look at her. The amused , yet terrified look in helle's eyes almost made zara stop . ALMOST .

❝ what did he play without me ? what did he play ?❞ zara asked in a pleading voice . a mess of her raven hair in her face . eyes gaining tears that she wouldn't shed . when helle didn't answer she grabbed helle by the hair once more holding blood stained blonde curls in a death grip . ❝ DID HE THINK AFTER ALL THIS TIME I WOULDN'T FIND OUT ABOUT YOU ?! ❞ helle's manic laughter ran out , helle had a feeling what was gonna happen next . all she could do was LAUGHabout it , LAUGHat her !

Anger filled zara's gut as she used her entire strength to shove helle's head and almost her entire top half of her body into the scalding water . zara's arms also in that hot water , which made her scream but she wouldn't let go . she screamed over helle's scream as she kept the young girl under the hot water . she didn't stop not until the girl's screaming and struggles finally let up . when HELLE QUINN - NAPIER WAS NO MORE . zara let go looking over quickly as the bathing room door swung shut , the sound of running heard .

❝ that's right i've heard the story over and over again - gee , it's swell to finally meet his other friends . ❞ she said in a bland voice , getting up and watching as helle's lifeless form landed on the floor of the bathing room . she walked over to where helle threw her shiv and picked it up .

HUFFING & PUFFING as he finally made it back to his parents . jack jr gave a look . his mind was reeling & in peril . his sister …. She was dead . joker gave a look at jack jr when he arrived without his sister next to him . joker was growing annoyed by the second as that NOBODY was terrorizing HIS ASYLUM &NOW HIS THINGS .

❝ she killed her , she killed helle . ❞ jack jr said , a far off look in his eyes . he couldn't let it upset him . not now at least . not when some looney toon bitch was trying to take her hand at ruining their NEW ARKHAM . harley gave a sudden wail , high pitch in nature . harley's only baby girl was now dead , and her and joker didn't DO ANYTHING TO PROTECT HER . guilt wracked at her bones . she was a terrible mother ! but all harley could do now was try her BEST TO PROTECT HER SON.

Harley wiped her eyes . ❝ - it really is her . ❞ harley whispered and shook her head , pulling her arm from the joker's grip . she ran a hand through her hair slowly .

Zara was agile , she managed to catch up to them all while humming the same tune from before the blade of helle's shiv scraping against the wall. yet , as she heard harley's words she paused her walking and humming . remaining hidden around the corner . she tilted her head . her arms still red from the scalding water , but the bleeding of her cheek had come to a stop ; however blood still stained down her cheek and chin and onto her nurses uniform .

Joker rolled his eyes licking his lips slowly . his hand snatching harley's arm once more . if they needed to get out of here , he was LEAVING with her . he didn't care about the other two like harley did . harleen was still his only interest . she was new . ❝ she isn't uh - serious. ❞ joker licked his lips and tilted his head . ❝ she's just a DOLLplaying dress - up , who can't get over the past . ❞ he shrugged and narrowed his eyes . ❝ and you , probably led her right to us , junior . ❞

Zara gave a quiet growl , tilting her head . her fingers tightening around helle's shiv . SHE WAS THE ONE PLAYING DRESS UP ?! has he looked in the mirror lately ?! she bit her lip to contain herself .

❝ you guys know her ? WHO IS SHE ? ❞ jack snapped . at the sound of someone punching the wall , jack jr looked behind him . his eyes narrowed . he looked at his father and gave a nod . joker started heading off to harleen's office , dragging harley with him . harley gave a terrified look back at jack jr . hand held out to him as if begging him to grab onto her . jack gave an apologetic look and turned away from her .

Jack tilted his head as zara came out of hiding . tears in her eyes . JACK REALLY DID NEVER TALK ABOUT HER . however , she paused upon looking at jack junior closely . rage still building a fire into her gut . he looked just like the boy she used to know !

As she stepped closer humming that tune , thoughts of what she was going to do with this lousy little JACK NAPIER COPY & PASTE ! - she stopped . getting closer made tears spring in her eyes . that look in the boys eyes , it looked just like HIS. just like his - flashes of jack napier and jack jr kept flashing between both in front of her . she COULDN'T DISTINGUISH WHO HE WAS !jack napier or jack jr ?! she grabbed the sides of her head .

Until finally all she could see she was JACK NAPIER ! and she was going to give that traitorous BITCH a piece of her mind !

❝ who am I ? WHO AM I ?! what are you even saying? ❞ she screamed at him . she pointed a finger at him tears welling up in her eyes , and FALLING . jack jr took a step back as she came closer with the shiv still in her hand . finally , jack jr's back hit the stone of the wall . ❝ I'm the LOSERof the game you didn't know you were PLAYING ! ❞ she pointed the shiv at him , but she gave pause . he was looking RIGHT AT HER PAST ! right at her enemy but she was frozen .

Jack jr furrowed his brows and tilted his head , and then his eyes went blank . a smirk coming to his features . she was addressing him as if he were his father . . . she thought he was jack napier . he could use that to his advantage . he took a step forward and held his hands up . ❝ doll , didja' miss me? ❞ jack jr spoke gently . ❝ how about we put this behind us , yeah ? ❞ he nodded

❝ no ! let's PLAY another game ! this time I GET TO WIN !❞ she swung at him with the shiv , jack jr dodged jumping back once again hitting the wall . a pained expression upon zara's face as she watched JACK. could there really be another chance for them ?! she lowered her weapon . she tilted her head. Slowly she looked at the smirk on jack's face and looked back up .

❝ let's play like old times …. ❞ jack jr paused his words , as he saw the look on her face . she looked like she was CRACKING ! ❝ come on , sweetie. lets get out of here . ❞he stepped forward again , once more . until he grabbed her pulling her into his chest . zara kept her arms at her sides , her left eye gave a twitch . JACK NAPIER never called her sweetie . she looked up at him , eyes WIDE .

Finally , that GOOD FANTASY turned into A TERRIBLE REALITY. jack napier's face disappeared and was REPLACED WITH JACK JR . teeth barred like a wild animal ! she STABBED HIM with the shiv , deep into his side , blood soaking her hands as she yanked it out . jack jr gave a groan and took a step back grabbing his side and looking at her with a heated look . he brought a hand back to slap her but she grabbed his hand as it went to go down on her , twisting it roughly !

❝ LIVES ON THE LINE ! ❞ she stabbed him in the stomach and falling back with him as the tall boy fell . he looked up at her with wide TERRIFIED EYES . just like his sister. ❝ WINNER TAKES ALL ! ❞ she ripped the blade out and stabbed him in the neck ripping it out , and then began to repeatedly STAB HIM. ❝ READY OR NOT , LETS BEGIN ! ❞

CHEST , NECK , STOMACH & HEAD ! and then jack jr was NO MORE. his eyes staring off into oblivion . she left the shiv in his head as she rolled off him . she looked at her hands and arms , covered in blood from jack jr and blisters from the burns of that scalding water from helle . the games almost finished . she sat up and reached into her boot pulling out the gun . time to finish the game .

❝ gee , it's swell to finally beat his other friends . ❞ she said with a smirk . looking at jack jr and reaching a hand over . running her hand over his cheek . she slowly reached to his eyes and closed the lids . she turned her head to look towards harleen's office . she pulled herself up and began humming , cocking her gun roughly .

A skip to her step once more , humming all the while . though , her skips weakened as she reached the door . the fire emergency box catching her eyes as she reached harleen's door . more importantly what caught her eye was the small handheld axe inside it .

Harley sat upon her desk , facing the door . she was waiting for jack jr . she wouldn't allow joker or herself to escape through the window without him . and the only reason she believed joker allowed them to do so was because she threatened never to forgive him for this .

❝ what did ya' do to her ? ❞ harley snapped looking back at joker with a snarl . ❝ someone who runs away from home , doesn't just come back ta' KILL YA' FAMILY ,MISTA J !❞ harley yelled . joker gave a look at her , growing angry at harley for talking to him the way she was . he couldn't have his girl getting ballsy . however , today he'd give her the benefit of the doubt . after all , her daughter just died and probably their son too .

❝ remember , harleen ? when I was tellin' ya' about my first kill ? ❞ joker licked his lips . he cocked his head to the side . eyebrows shooting up , waiting a moment for his sweet little clueless quinzel to connect the dots . when she did he gave a nod . ❝ guess she - ah , wasn't really it . ❞ he shrugged . harley shot up and slapped him in the chest .

❝ she was our friend ! ❞ she said in horror . but harley knew the truth . when harley came around - zara use to get jealous . she'd grow quiet , use to give her the stink eye . she knew zara LOVED JACK NAPIER. however , she stayed . SHE DROVE THEM APART , like a wedge in between an unbreakable bond . joker shoved her back onto the ground . a laugh leaving his lips .

❝ ah, no puddin' she was my friend . she hated you. ❞ he pointed at her . ❝ so , I uh - guess you could say this is all because of YOU. ❞ joker smiled , teeth barring in that way of his . as if acting like he hated being right .

Harley let out a shutter of a breath . he was right . this was all her fault . if only she had stayed away . tears left her eyes and she brought her hands to her face covering her eyes as she cried on the ground . bringing her knees to her chest . joker smirked to himself , time to swoop in like a hero and make her rememberwhy she loves him so much . he went to bend down - but paused -

❝ baby , - ❞ harley started and then flinched .

CRASH ! an axe blade sticks out of the door . and then gets pulled out . a thin arm sticking through the hole and reaching for the door handle . turning the lock and then the arm disappeared .

Harley stood up slowly , looking at the door . she looked at the joker with a sad look . grabbing his hands . ❝ when you're tired from the fight , when you're losing your mind - ❞ harley gave a pause a scared smile as the door to her office opened . ❝ I'm gonna be right by your side , no matter what . ❞ joker gave a look , confused by her sudden display of emotion . and then it dawned on him . what she was ready to do for him . die forhim . he raised a brow at her .

Zara stepped inside . axe in one hand , gun in her pocket . she was having too much fun to use that gun. However , a scowl falls on her as she sees this tender moment between jack napier and harleen quinzel . nothins' changed from highschool . shoved aside and left to ROT. she raised the axe over head with both hands .

As harley left joker's side and turned to face her , zara gave a blank stare . as the axe she had in her hands she threw as hard as she could . the axe landing smack between harley's eyes . the blonde jester fell to her knees and landed face first onto the ground . harley wasn't worth zara's effort . SHE HAD TO SAVE WHAT SHE HAD LEFT FOR HIM.

That's when it clicked in joker's head , harley wasn't ready to die for him . harley was ready to die to be with her children . annoyance flickered in his eyes as he looked at zara .

A sudden smirk filled the joker's features . ❝ hi , zee . ❞ he smacks his lips . ❝ how was uh - MEETING MYOTHER FRIENDS ?! ❞ he raised his eyebrows , suddenly cracking up . doubling over from laughing so hard .

Zara gave a smirk , ❝ BEATING your other friends you mean, jack . ❞ she growled at him. Joker laughed even harder making him stand up once more he looked at her hands falling to his hips. He stepped toward her , inclining his head down at her .

❝ tell me , pun'kin ? ❞ the joker clicked his tongue looking up at the wall of the office . looking at the jester painting . the one he painted for harleen . now how did that get there , harley never got that picture . he destroyed it . he smirked some and looked at zara . ❝ - didn't this seem a little too easy ? almost like it wasn't - REAL ?! ❞ he was dangerously close to her now . grabbing her shoulders and squeezing them .

Zara stood stock still , eyes wide and then she looked at her hands . hands and arms clean of any blood , looking at the full size body mirror in harleen's office . there was no joker in it . she looked at joker , to make sure he was there . HE WAS ! she looked back at the mirror . it was just her , standing in harleen's office . no dead harley , no joker ❝ no - NO! ❞ zara yelled at the reflection and then looked at Joker arms suddenly shooting up and hands wrapping around his neck . pushing him until he was against the wall. ❝ NO , I WIN ! I FINALLY WIN ! ❞ tears she didn't know she was shedding fell down her face in pools . a sob racking her body as she continued to choke him.

Joker laughed and laughed whilst zara choked him , not putting up a fight . only holding her arms as she choked him . until finally laughter tuned into trying gasps for air . though that smile still stuck on his face as blood covered fingernails dug into her forearms . and then joker sank to the floor , zara going with him , kneeling in front of him as she watched the light leave his eyes . and joker was no more . she slowly brought her hands away , her tears still falling from her eyes . her hands go to her mouth as she releases a sob .

Slowly gets on her hands and knees , looking at the carpet taking deep breaths . she met joker's lifeless eyes , she looked over his slumped body . hands at his sides . she took a deep harsh breathe , wiping her hand over her tear stricken face . she crawled between his legs , turning and sitting between them . he was still warm . with a shakey hand , she reached down and took his lifeless hand in hers wrapping his arm around his chest . ❝ I finally won, aren't'chya' proud of me ? ❞ she leaned against him . letting a laugh leave her as she squeezed his arm against her . her other hand reached into her pocket . pulling out her gun . she pressed the barrel against her temple .

Without joker , she didn't have a reason to keep on living . she gave a sharp breath in . ❝ it really was swell , meeting your other friends jack . who knows - maybe they could have been mine too . ❞

BANG .

JOAN FERGUSON , the new warden of arkham asylum gave a raised eyebrow look at the girl strapped to the bed . a lifeless look in the woman's eyes as she stared at the young woman whispering to herself ❛ I won … I won ❜ . what could possibly be going on in this girl's head .

Ferguson gave a sigh . ❝ who is this ? and what happened ? ❞ she asked in a stern voice to the nurse . the nurse gave a small scared look . the nurse looked down at the chart , so she wouldn't have to look at her new warden . ❝ well , out with it . ❞ ferguson snapped .

❝ her name's zara wren , ❞ the nurse started . ❝ harley quinn states she found her trying to kill helle quinn in the bathing room . her and helle then bashed her head into the tub and tried to drown her in hot water . the joker and jack were there rooting it on . ❞ the nurse sighed . ❝ she then had a meltdown in medical & tried to kill the doctor , and myself . we had to sedate her . ❞ the nurse finished . ferguson gave a hum in response .

A guard cleared his throat . ❝ what should we do with her? Throw her into max? ❞ he asked with a cross of his arms . ferguson's eyes darted towards him . she shook her head. ❝ no , no we'll have her thrown back into the general population once she comes off the sedative . ❞ ferguson nodded to herself . watching the nurse and guard nod and walk off . ferguson smirked to herself . reaching into her pockets she pulled out leather black gloves , putting them on herself she places two fingers on zara's cheek , slowly bringing them under her chin and making zara look up at her . a soft look , yet her ' emotions ' didn't quite reach her eyes .

❝ I have other plans for you , miss wren . you will win ❞

THE END.

#the joker fanfiction #harley quinn fanfiction #jarley fanfiction #joker x harley fanfiction #joker / oc fanfiction #joker's son #joker's daughter fanfiction #wentworth fanfiction #joan ferguson fanfiction #dc fanfiction #arkham asylum fanfiction #dc x wentworth crossover #batman fanfiction #the joker #jack napier #harleen quinzel #harley quinn #joan ferguson

[ragdollrory]

Lin x Mako. #35.

I believe this is one of my favourites so far. Sleep deprived Lin is my new favourite thing in the world. Enjoy!

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The days right after Kuvira’s attack, that first week where the destruction was still so fresh that there was actual smoke coming out of some buildings, even on the fourth day after it, were a mess. The empty city was being cleared of the biggest chunks of rock, and metal, and robot parts, before they could slowly begin to bring people back to the livable parts. There was a really big group of people, benders and non-benders from the four nations and the City itself working hard day and night to give the inhabitants a place to return to from their exile. And there was one person, working all the shifts, and then some more.

Lin Beifong, Chief of Police, already married to her job and city, was put in charge of the coordination of this first stage of the rebuild by President Raiko, and had thus become a slave to this all. She worked incessantly, going from one city’s end to the other, to aid the different teams and relay the new orders, she barely ate, and she had only managed to take thirty minutes naps between tasks, adding up to a total of five hours worth of sleep in four days. There were people getting worried about her, Bumi and Tenzin were amongst those, as usual, nagging about the need to take care of herself, bringing her some food, offering to step in for her for a couple of hours. She dismissed them, always. But there was also a new voice, really concerned for her wellbeing, one of her Detectives, the young one, the firebender one. He asked Lin how she was doing an excessive amount of times, brought her coffee and filed her paperwork, and kept her desk tidy, and his pulse was always honest and caring, and skipping a beat everytime Lin thanked him.

Lin eyed him one day, as he put everything in order in her office while she was on the phone. He was meticulous with his work, borderline obsessive, even now, his injured arm in a sling, he was effective, quick, and seemed to have watched her a lot, because he knew exactly how she kept her things in order. She leaned against the wall, allowing Mako the room to go around her desk and fix the mess on top of it. Had she asked him to do this? She couldn’t recall, but she had likely done it, she had ordered a bunch of stuff in the last few days. Still, she never had officers working when injured. She was about to ask him when an answer was required from her on the line, and she went back to observing the Detective. He had filled out from his time as beat cop, Lin could see his muscles defined even under the uniform jacket, and his jaw had squared a tad too, he was not a kid anymore. He was not and adult either, she reminded herself. What are you thinking about, Lin Beifong? And yet, when he stepped closer to her, she checked his height out, and the way his hair was tousled from his running his fingers through it. Lin shook her head, ended the call and left the office without even a word, she was definitely delusional.

It was two days later that she saw Mako again, after purposely avoiding the boy every time she saw him coming, and going to her office only late at night, when she knew he was sleeping, like every normal person should. Lin had finally give in to Bumi’s request to go eat with them at Air Temple Island, and as she was working on reserve energy, she might as well do it, even if only to appease him. She got on the ferry to the island and that’s all she could remember before someone called her name, and she opened her eyes. She was at the door of the Temple’s dining room and had absolutely no recollection of how she had gotten there, sleepwalking being the only explanation. She pressed the heel of her hands to her eyes, trying to fully wake up, but it was futile, her vision was blurry from tiredness. Whoever it was that had found her, was helping her to her feet and carrying her away from the dining room and to a bedroom. “You need to sleep.” He’d said. Lin tried to argue, but she couldn’t find the will to protest against such a strong and warm grip on her waist. And he smelled so nice too, Lin let her head fall to his shoulder and enjoy the musky scent, maybe a little moan escaped her lips, and the hand on her waist faltered for a second before pressing harder.

They were on the room now, some random Air Acolyte room, her eyes better adjusted, Lin stepped away from his grasp, and turned to thank him.

“Detective? What- What the fuck are you wearing?” There he was, Mako, arm in a sling, mussed hair, cute smile, dressed in Air Nation clothes. Lin shook her head, she had to be asleep, this was some bizarre dream, clearly.

“Oh, I- Well,” He looked down at his clothes and around the room, Lin copied him, and noticed just one thing off with this Acolyte room, there was a Police Department badge atop the bedside table. This was his room. “Bolin and I are living here for the time being, you know, until we find a new place in the city, our apartment got demolished. And, uh, Tenzin- he lended me some clothes to use, while my uniform and other clothes are getting cleaned.”

Oh, no, this was not a dream, this was a nightmare. Here she was, in a bedroom in Air Temple Island, tired and in her uniform, like many times before, and in front of her was a very attractive Detective of hers, a warm firebender, and he was wearing Tenzin’s clothes? Lin shivered from how wrong this was and took a seat on his bed, dizzy from the lack of food and sleep deprivation. He knelt in front of her, his good hand unsure of where to go, so he placed it on the mattress next to her.

“Are you okay, Chief? Do you need me to call Tenzin? Or Pema?” Worry tainting his voice.

“Spirits no, ugh, anything but that. Just, take it off, please.”

“I- what?” Mako looked at her like she’d lost her mind, and really, she had. What was she doing, asking him to undress? And all because she could not stand to see him in yellow and orange. But, there was something fundamentally wrong with Mako in those colors, and in Tenzin’s clothes to make things worse.

“You heard me. Take. It. Off. It’s an order Detective.” Oh, and she was tossing orders around now, she definitely needed to go to sleep. Lin let her hand run over the mattress, how she missed beds, and she looked back at Mako who was actually following through her order, and working his way out of that disgusting yellow robe.

Lin felt very short of breath suddenly, as Mako stripped in front of her. He was blushing furiously, but his face was determined, and she wondered, what else would he do if she ordered him to? Would he, say, kiss her? His lips looked inviting, and she too wanted to run her fingers to his hair, and mess it up even more, and- spirits, she’d have to implement some new rule to have him train and work shirtless, because the way the defined muscles of his torso and abdomen were making her hot and bothered, was too good of a feeling, not to repeat it every day.

“Chief, uh, the pants too?” Lin was in a trance and shook her stare from his body to look up at his bewildered expression. She got up from the bed and took the little step between them, letting her gaze work its way up from the waistline of the pants to his darkened tangerine eyes.

“If I’d ask you to, would you do it?” She asked feeling her chest heave with the prospect of his answer.

“Yes.” Mako answered without skipping a beat.

“If I’d ask that you kiss me, would you do it?” Lin asked boldly, a hand trembling slightly by her side, unsure of what she was doing, disconcerted as to why she was allowing this to happen. His pulse spiked, and he snaked his good arm around her waist, pressing her to his naked torso, and Lin cursed the damn metal for not being able to feel him properly. Mako run the back of his burnt hand over her scars, traced down her jawline, and took her chin between his fingers, angling her face upwards to his.

“Is that an order, Chief?” He breathed to her lips, and she closed her eyes, taking in the soft minted scent of his breath, letting her hands feel up at the muscles of his back.

“It’s and order, Detective.”

#lin beifong #mako #linko #tlok #sleep deprived lin and obedient mako are my kink #linko or bust #answered asks

[maximuswolf]

Kropotkin's idea of the Free Commune via /r/Anarchism

Kropotkin's idea of the Free Commune

This is a brief text about Kropotkin's idea of the Commune. I'm writing this because far too often I've read people talking about Kropotkin's Commune who completely misunderstand it. I can not be sure but I think the crux of the misunderstanding lies in reading Kropotkin's enthusiasm's towards the medieval commune as an endorsment of it. In fact, and this is exactly what we'll see in this post, Kropotkin opposed to the medieval commune what he called the Free Commune, or the Communist Commune. Let's begin.

A Short Introduction or, why is this subject important for Kropotkin and Anarchists

As I pointed out Kropotkin didn't call for a return to the medieval Commune (and he also rejected the Paris Commune, see the appendix). He had two main reasons for this, one the Medieval Commune was in his mind founded on the same governmental principle it tried to evade second and it is linked to maintaining the government, these communes also kept in place private property and thus couldn't revolutionize relations of domination towards free relations, the Medieval Commune soon found itself both exploiting the countryside and making compromises and alliances with their former lords.

In freeing itself from the lords, did the Commune of the middle ages free itself also from those rich merchants who, by the sale of merchandise and capital goods, had gained private wealth in the heart of the city? Not at all! Having demolished the towers of the overlord, the inhabitant of the town very soon saw within the Commune itself the citadels of the rich merchants who sought to subdue him being built, and the internal history of the Communes in the middle ages was that of bitter struggle between the rich and the poor, a struggle that ended inevitably with the king's intervention. As a new aristocracy took shape in the very heart of the Commune' the people, having fallen into the same kind of servitude to the lord within the city as it had hitherto suffered to the lord outside, understood that it had nothing to defend in the Commune; its members deserted the walls they had built to gain their liberty and which the regime of individualism had turned into the ramparts of a new servitude. Having nothing to lose, the people let the rich merchants defend themselves, and these relations were usually limited to a treaty for the defence of urban rights against the lords, or perhaps a pact of solidarity for the mutual protection of the citizens of the communes on their distant journeys. And when real leagues were formed among the towns, as in Lombardy, Spain and Belgium, these leagues were too lacking in homogeneity and too fragile because of the diversity of privileges, and soon broke up into isolated groups or succumbed under the attacks of the neighbouring states.

In making clear what Kropotkin thought was to be the Free Communist Commune I hope to first clear the distinction between communalists and anarchists and second to put an end to marxists accusing anarchists of wanting to develop "decentralized states under another name".

I. Kropotkin's vision of the Free Commune as a structure

This might not be the best to start with as it can be a bit complexe to understand without the other parts of Kropotkin's reasoning, but talking about the structure is important because it will show quickly how mistaken people are about Kropotkin's vision of the Free Commune.

If we admit, in fact, that a central government is absolutely useless to regulate the relations of Communes between each other, why do we grant the necessity to regulate the mutual relations of the groups that constitute the Commune? And if we concede to the free initiative of the communes the task of coming to an understanding between themselves on enterprises that concern several cities at once, how can we refuse this same initiative to the groups of which a Commune is composed? A government within the Commune has no more right to exist than a government over the Commune.

First point, Kropotkin didn't think of the Commune as a territorial organisation, much less a government creating laws and organizing the life of people living in a specific territory. For Kropotkin the Commune if it is to take any structure, is to take that of organisations which do not have a legitimacy to rule (even by mandate) and do not either have a specific territory. They're simply organised groups, like you can have a communal council in district's bakery so that the different people who bake bread can make decisions together about what kind of bread they want to bake. That's pretty much it. Kropotkin has no imperative about majority/consensus democracy inside those structures because regardless, they shouldn't be deciding for others anything.

But there is another thing to be considered. For the burgesses of the middle ages the Commune was an isolated State, clearly separated from others by its frontiers. For us, "Commune" no longer means a territorial agglomeration; it is rather a generic name, a synonym for the grouping of equals which knows neither frontiers nor walls. The social Commune will soon cease to be a clearly defined entity. Each group in the Commune will necessarily be drawn towards similar groups in other communes; they will come together and the links that federate them will be as solid as those that attach them to their fellow citizens, and in this way there will emerge a Commune of interests whose members are scattered in a thousand towns and villages. Each individual will find the full satisfaction of his needs only by grouping with other individuals who have the same tastes but inhabit a hundred other communes.

So forget the way states are organized with national, regional and municipal levels, this is not what Kropotkin had in mind. Kropotkin's Commune is not a smaller state, and the federation is not an alliance of these juxtaposed states. In Kropotkin's mind anyone can organise at any point, with anyone, on whatever "level" they want, but regardless of the organisation's "level" it can't decide either for individuals or for other organisations. There is no "chain of command", those Communes are similar to informal anarchist networks, but they're just different in that they're formal.

The Commune will then feel the need to contract other alliances, to enter into other federations. Belonging to one group for the acquisition of food supplies, it will have to join a second group to obtain other goods, such as metals, and then a third and a fourth group for textiles and works of art. Take up an economic atlas of any country, and you will see that economic frontiers do not exist: the zones of production and exchange of various products interpenetrate each other, tangle with each other, impose themselves on each other. In the same way the federations of Communes, if they were to follow their free development, would very soon start to mingle and intersect, and in this way form a network that would be compact, "one and indivisible,'' in quite a different way from these statist groupings whose parts are no more than juxtaposed, like the rods bundled around the lictor's axe.

  The Commune of tomorrow will know that it cannot admit any higher authority; above it there can only be the interests of the Federation, freely accepted by itself as well as the other communes. It will know that there can be no middle way: either the Commune will be absolutely free to adopt all the institutions it wishes and to make all the reforms and revolutions it finds necessary, or it will remain what it has been up to today, a mere branch of the State, restricted in all its movements, always on the point of entering into conflict with the State and sure of succumbing in the struggle that will follow. The Commune will know that it must break the State and replace it by the Federation, and it will act in that way. More than that, it will have the means to do so. Today it is not only small towns that raise the banner of communal insurrection, it is Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Cartagena,[31] and soon all the great cities will unfurl the same flag. This will mean an essential difference from the Commune of the past.

II. Kropotkin's vision of the Free Commune as revolutionary action

Now that we know what structure Kropotkin thought of when he talked about "The Free Commune", we have to talk about a second, maybe more important point. This point is that The Free Commune is not supposed to be just a structure, in fact it could be not a structure, in discussing the structure previously we were just discussing the form that Kropotkin viewed as a possibility, not a necessity. So then, what is the Commune?

The Commune is to but in bluntly, freedom. Freedom not in the liberal sense of "use and abuse" of property, but freedom in the anarchist sense, the abolition of all rule. And just as the first part related to the medieval commune maintaining the government structure, this second part relates to the medieval commune maintaining the economic structure. Opposed to this then Kropotkin sees the Commune as the social revolution which abolishes property. The Commune only exists insofar as property is abolished, which is similar for Kropotkin as the freedom of the people. And not only must it abolish property, it must abolish the relations of dominations and competition with the surrounding communes and the countryside to turn them into communist relations and mutual aid.

Make sure of victory first! As if there was any way of transforming society into a free commune without laying a hand on property! As if there could be any real way of defeating the enemy so long as the great mass of the people was not directly interested in the triumph of the revolution, in witnessing the arrival of material, moral and intellectual well-being for all! They sought to consolidate the Commune first of all while postponing the social revolution for later on, while the only effective way of proceeding was to consolidate the Commune by the social revolution!

On this point he is very clear, The Commune will not be The Commune if it is simply an organisation, much less if it is a governmental organisation. The Commune is the extent to which communism is achieved during the revolutionary period.

Certainly not. The Commune of the nineteenth century, strong of its experience will do better [than the medieval Commune]. It will be Commune more than just by name. It will not only be communalist, it will be communist ; revolutionary in politics, it will also be in the question of production and exchange. It will not abolish the State to rebuild it, and many Communes will know to preach example, by abolishing representative government to safegard their sovreignty from the randomness of elections.

Appendix, Kropotkin's view of the Paris Commune

Here I will just collect Kropotkin quotes about the Paris Commune to show how his view was much more nuanced than simply wanting a collection of communes like that of 1870-71.

But in 1871 the people of Paris, which had overthrown so many governments, was only involved in its first attempt at revolt against the governmental system itself: it submitted to governmental fetichism and gave itself a government. We know the consequence. It sent its devoted sons to the Hotel-de-Ville. Indeed, immobilised there by fetters of red tape, forced to discuss when action was needed, and losing the sensitivity that comes from continued contact with the masses, they saw themselves reduced to impotence. Paralysed by their distancing from the revolutionary centre-the people-they themselves paralysed the popular initiative.

  It was the same with the governmental principle. In proclaiming the free Commune, the people of Paris proclaimed an essential anarchist principle; but as this principle had only feebly penetrated people's minds at this time, they stopped in mid-course, and in the heart of the Commune the people continued to declare themselves in favour of the old governmental principle by giving themselves a Communal Council copied from the old municipal councils.

  What is worse is that France itself, which seemed to be opening new vistas, has continued to lapse into the same error. Disgusted by the sad experience of a constitutional monarchy, the people one day (in 1848) overthrew its government, but on the morrow it hastened to elect an assembly, merely changing its name and confiding to it the cares of government, which it would sell to a brigand[43] who would provoke the invasion of the fair fields of France by foreign armies.

Twenty years later (1871) it would fall into the same error once again. Seeing the city of Paris free of the troops and authorities who had deserted it, the people did not set about experimenting with a fresh approach that would facilitate the establishment of a new economic regime. Happy at having subsumed the word Empire in the word Republic, and the latter in the word Commune, the people hastened to apply once again, in the heart of the Commune, the representative system and to falsify its new ideal by evolving the worm-eaten heritage of the past. It abdicated its own initiative into the hands of an assembly of people elected more or less at random, and it confided to them the responsibility for that complete reorganization of human relationships which alone could have given strength and life to the Commune.

Submitted October 11, 2020 at 07:50AM by ipostanarchism via reddit https://ift.tt/2SLNBS4