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emwritesstuff · 5 months

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DYNAMO | Steve Rogers x Reader | part 2.

HYDRA has made their share of human experiments. You're just one of them. One of the least successful ones. One of the least functional ones. At least your life in the facility gave you a few things: unwavering resilience, cool(ish) superpowers and a great sense of humor. Steve Rogers would strongly disagree with that last one. A single chance encounter with him reluctantly brings you into the Avengers Compound, and you're determined to make his life as miserable as you can. Feeling's mutual.

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notes: part 2 is up! I've had this written for a while and I didn't want to wait to post hehehe. Not a lot of Steve interaction this time around though, just getting the plot going </3 (warnings: mentions of human experimentation, violence, cursing) (2.5K words)

2: CONDUCTIVE ACCORDS

“So, I’ve been thinking about what that thing you asked me,” Natasha slides on a stool next to Steve, and he raises one eyebrow at her, silently waiting for her to elaborate. He asks her lots of things, all the time. “on the girl with the electric powers. And then I remembered something.”

She opens the laptop she’s brought with her, and Steve feels dizzy by the lack of, well, anything, in her desktop area. He’s aware she has a meticulously crafted system, and that it never fails her, because she is Natasha Romanoff. But come on. There’s not even a Google Chrome on there.

After a couple of clicks a PDF is up on the screen. Medical records, and a picture attached. Yeah, that’s her alright-- he could spot that intense gaze anywhere.

He reads her name on the top of the page and tests it on his tongue.

“Or…A-7463. They refer to her mostly like this, anyway. She was part of an experiment to get people into manipulating energy.”

“Seems like they were successful.” He’d know. His body was still recovering from that.

“Almost…They wanted an army.” Natasha scrolls down, and more pictures come into view. They all have a bright red VERSAGEN stamp over the pages. Failures.

Kids.

That makes Steve grimace. “She was the only one who survived.”

“Yes. And when I came across these for the first time I thought--”

Steve’s head whips to Natasha’s face. His eyebrows meet at the center of his face.

“You knew? You kept this from us?”

“Well, it didn’t seem relevant—"

“An enhanced HYDRA agent walking around free isn’t relevant?”

“She’s not so much an agent – she’s more of a victim, don’t you think?” Natasha sighs, and closes the laptop. Steve perks up in his stool, staring down at her, even though he knew damn well that intimidation tactic wouldn’t work. But he wants her to know that he’s angry.

A victim. She didn’t seem like a victim when he was writhing on the ground like a fish out of water.

But those cries of pain he heard then weren’t his. His jaw was too busy being clenched shut to utter any sound.

Steve pinches the bridge of his nose, trying not to feel sympathy for the girl—woman, actually; from her files she is around 23 something now.

She’s HYDRA, still. And hasn’t turned herself over to justice. There was something off about it, Steve could feel it even though he couldn’t pinpoint it exactly.

“And I figured they’d have eliminated her already.” That brings Steve out of his own thoughts. She had been slipping through everyone’s fingers, then – and that was intriguing.

Maybe they could get her to collaborate. Take down HYDRA once and for all. Smash all the heads, burn all the tentacles to a crisp. From the inside, or at least with an insider on their court.

Even though their first impression was less than positive.

“We should take this to Fury and the others.”

“As if we needed another one of those.”

“Tony—”

“No, no, let ‘im talk, Natasha. Those what?” Bucky plants both hands – one human, one a prototype – on the table in front of him.

“Those—”

“Will this ever stop…” Steve shoots a sympathetic look at Wanda, though Tony’s remarks were never directed at her.

“Those what, Stark?”

Since Bucky Barnes had moved into the Avengers compound with the rest of them, his and Tony’s bickering had become a constant. They revel in civility until Tony decides he’s bored and it all begins again.

“Okay, children, you can stop now.” Fury drops a manila folder on the table – theatrics, because he never opens it, and instead uses a controller to turn on a screen behind him right after. It works though, as all of them turn to look at him. Steve rests his chin in his hand.

The face of a young A-7463 is up on the screen, staring right at him once again. A mystery wrapped inside a challenging gaze. Steve’s need to figure out just what she wanted and who she was grew more every time he looked at her.

Wouldn’t you like to know, Cap.

“…so we make her an offer she can’t refuse: freedom in exchange of information. Of course, with the bonus of not letting another superhuman on the loose.”

“Temporary and conditional pardon isn’t really freedom, Fury.”

“Well not everyone is as lucky as you, Barnes.” Bucky clenches his jaw at the same time Steve does his.

But it’s different. Bucky was a prisoner of war. He was forced into it. Who’s to say which side the girl was really on.

And those powers… she could be dangerous. Taking her down would probably need all their forces combined. They all agreed on that, at least.

But the plan was set: find her, convince her to cooperate in exchange of a conditional. Keep the girl and her powers under their watch and their control.

Finding her would be Natasha’s job. Steve and Sam would play the diplomatic part. Or they’d try.

He had a feeling that would be the hard part. Maybe they should cause a power outage in the vicinity just in case.

A-7463.

He thinks about your name again. It’s fitting for a hurricane, and he’s about to walk right into it.

There’s something humorous about having blue hair when you have electric powers.

Your hair is dyed a deep indigo now – and it should make you easier to spot in any normal circumstances, but not in Los Angeles, it doesn’t. This specific shade of blue was sold out in all of the Sally’s you walked in. So, like the sensible person you were, you broke into an apartment and stole a jar of it. You know, as you do.

The good thing about this city is that there were plenty of empty apartments for you to stay in – granted, most of them were just arranged to look livable, but a couch is a couch and for a night, that’s enough for you.

It’s not like you can rent an AirBnb.

Your mousey life has been going okay so far – since meeting Captain America over a week ago, you managed to stay lowkey, powers included. A blackout in L.A. would be a dead giveaway.

The balmy air of the city fills your lungs and clings to your skin as you munch on the other half of the burrito you got for lunch. You haven’t been able to eat much these days—something about the migraines left you with barely enough energy (ha) to keep yourself alive.

You’d never thought you’d miss the devils in lab coats and gas masks, but you almost do. It’s hard doing it yourself, and you don’t have the access to the drugs they used.

The view is pretty from the top of the building you’re sitting on, all windows and lights and cars going up and down the elevated highways. It’s nice. You wonder what New York would look like, but you don’t have the guts to go up there. Too close.

“Nice view you got there.”

A woman’s voice makes you jump and drop your food on the floor. You groan in frustration, but your breath gets caught up in your throat when the red hair comes into your line of vision.

Natasha Romanoff.

She’s leaning casually against the door that leads to the staircase down, and you know it’s to stop you from getting to it.

“Smart move with the hair. I almost got to three other people before finding you.”

You shrug, but inside you feel a little spark of pride.

“You made me drop my dinner.”

“Sorry about that. Although half a burrito barely sounds like dinner to me. I’ll buy you a decent meal—if you agree to sit and talk to me.”

The offer was tempting, and Romanoff’s face made you want to trust her. You were starving, really, until the realization that she was going through an effort to keep that expression on made you take a step back and your appetite vanish.

“Not hungry. And I’m not really a conversational kind of girl.”

“We have a proposition you might be interested in.”

“An apartment behind bars? Rogers already made that,” Casually averting your eyes back to the skyline, you begin scanning the horizon for the rest of them.

“They’re not here. Relax.”

“Lie.”

“Yes and no. They came with me, but they’re not close enough to ambush you.”

You don’t miss how she skirted around the actual reason she was here – a proposition. Bullshit.

“Right.”

“Not that I think they couldn’t—but they won’t. Trust me.” Her voice sounds much closer than before, and you turn your head to meet her intense gaze as your hairs stand on end. She’s sizing you up; you know her methods.

You had classes on all of them before you got out.

A former field of study standing right in front of you, casually inviting you for dinner. You wonder if she knows you feel like you’re caught in a mousetrap.

“Should I?”

Natasha chuckles lightly. “Not if you’re smart. Now, I am dying for that Pho across the street, so I’m heading there. Offer stands until I walk out that door, and I’m not leaving without you. Noodles or handcuffs, take your pick.” She sighs as you square your shoulders and keep looking ahead. You can hear the creak of the door at the same time your stomach rumbles.

Oh, screw it. Might as well take your chances.

“Wait—” You catch up with her a second before the door closes. When in Rome.

Well, L.A.

Turns out the choice between food or handcuffs wasn’t one. You inhaled the Pho like it was your first meal in days, because it kind of was, and then you got your wrists bound behind you on the next.

There was just a little scuffle in the middle.

Honestly, it wasn’t your fault; Captain America and the Falcon descended on you just as you were leaving the restaurant, your belly still warm from the food.

All you managed was a snarl as you leaped away from the three and gathered the block’s electricity on your body. One by one the lamps were out, and your face was illuminated by the familiar blue glow.

Captain America’s shield deflected your first blast before being hurled in your direction, lodging itself on the wall behind you. The next hit him right on the chest. Your lips curled into a smirk.

And then the energy vanished from your hands. As if evaporated into the air.

Groaning, you concentrated on bringing it back and directing yourself to your second target. Spots filled your vision, and your head felt like it was being split open.

It was a fraction of a second, and the Falcon took it. He knocked you over your middle and handcuffed you. And that was the end of it. You vision was too blurry to react and you had to make an effort to keep yourself conscious. The lights returned to the street. Shit.

Your powers are unreliable, you know as much. And now here you are, being strapped into a high-tech aircraft by none other than Mr. America himself.

“Absolutely fucking not.”

They had finally shared what the proposition was.

You could be arrested. Or you could be arrested, but with a pretty bow on top.

“You don’t have a third choice here. This the most generous we’ve been to anyone ex-hydra.”

“Except for Barnes.” Rogers clenches his jaw, now even more pissed than he was by your swearing. “Pity you and I are not besties then.”

His hairs are still unruly from your energy blast, and it makes you smirk. No hair gel is invincible.

Natasha must have caught a wave of it too, because you notice her usually impeccable hair a little bit frizzy. You almost feel bad – she did buy you dinner, after all.

There’s something almost empathetic to her demeanor, but it must be to break your resistance. Good cop, bad cop, as they say. You’re honestly surprised Rogers is the bad one this time.

He must really hate HYDRA. And so do you.

Thing was, you were kept in the dark on most of their operations. You didn’t even know where your base was until you escaped from it: two days away from civilization across the frozen tundra.

And this felt like walking back to it, except with a government issued name.

“I don’t know all these things about them like you think I do,” You start, and you meet eyes with Sam Wilson.

“We’ll take whatever you got.” He’s frowning, as if he’s undecided about you.

“And then let me go.”

“You will be pardoned. But you’ll stay at the compound for the time being.”

That’s that pretty bow on top.

However long or what would be done with you after said pardon, no one was willing to make that clear.

“That’s a shit deal. Prison or prison! Who did you guys learn to negotiate with, the Russian mob?” You squirm on your seat, but the cuffs on your wrists and ankles are tight. Your powers nowhere to be found. All that lab fuckery for nothing.

“You’ll see the living conditions are pretty good there.” Natasha arguments. “And we have a pretty damn good doctor that can figure out whatever’s going on with you.”

You look at her like a deer caught in the headlights. You’ve always thought she had no special powers, but now you’re wondering if she can read minds.

All three of them are staring at you now.

“Your nose is bleeding.” She explains it, and you hastily wipe it on your shoulder. There goes your last good hoodie. “And I read your file. We did.”

Your file. She has your file, the thing you’ve been looking for, the answers you need.

As if on cue, the pounding on your head returns. You close your eyes, letting your head fall back and knock softly against the wall. All you wanted was to just live. No stupid powers. No running. No Avengers, no HYDRA, no migraines and nosebleeds. The boring life everyone complains about.

You didn’t want to waste away while your own body turned against you, mad someone tampered with it until things went haywire.

The promise of a solution at last makes you go quiet.

“Fine. The Avenger Disneyland it is.”

#steve rogers x you #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers fic #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers #emwrites

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meet-me-in-the-pouringrain · 1 year

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The Phoenix And The Rocket

Chapter 5 / 8-ish

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Emily Prentiss, at the insistent of her therapist, signs up for a Trauma ‘dumping’ site. She never expected that her Dump would connect her back to her old boss and the man she’s been in love with for over ten years.

Also the man she’s absolutely furious at for leaving

We’re moving spectacularly fast yall, i’m the one writing and i’m like 🫣 slow down guys

Edit : Since publishing I have been made aware that the term ‘Trauma Bonding’ is actually an abuse tactic and doesn’t mean ‘bonding over shared trauma’. Would like to make it clear that was a very strong mistake on my part and I apologise deeply for any offence.

Read below the cut

She's not surprised when Dave walks in her office when the case ends and they're home five days later, two glasses in one hand and a bottle of Jack in the other. She manages a smile at him as he shuts the door and sits up to pluck the bottle up.

"Wanna tell me what's going on?" Dave asks, teasing but Emily can detect the concern. "Who the guy is?" After her outburst at the precinct, he knew there was more to the story.

After the thing with Mendoza ended badly, Dave was Emily's sounding board. He was there for her in lieu of any of the girls as a drinking buddy, an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on.

Emily didn't have a father growing up, he ran out the second he could, and Dave has worked his way in, settling in her heart and filling that hole in her life. It's not a secret they have a relationship further beyond colleagues. He's her father figure in all walks of life and she's his daughter.

His favourite child out of all of them, if you will.

The concern he's showing her now is that of a father panicking about his daughter not of a colleague probing into another's love life.

She's told her girls, and they've most likely already relayed the information to Garcia so eventually the correct story is going to go around so she may as well confess her sins now.

Emily sighs and swigs the drink to hold of her reply. "I don't know" She admits finally. Seeing his confused expression, she looks down, fiddling with her glass. "It's an anonymous website" She tells him. "It's called TraumaBuddi-"

"TraumaBuddies" Dave finishes off, nodding. "Heard of it, it's where you unload all your shit right?"

"Yeah" Emily laughs slightly at his words. "Yeah it is. Some of the stuff on there is heavy" She breathes, shaking her head. "But uh. Yeah this guys story was intriguing so" She shrugs and finishes her first glass quickly, just after he took two sips of his own.

"So what is it?" The man asks, intrigued.

Emily pauses, wondering not for the first time if by telling a story that wasn't hers to tell would be betrayal. Dave seems to read her mind, for he nods and backs off.

But Emily decides to tell him everything that Rocket has told her. She can't hold it in any longer, and almost vows that she'll send Rocket an apology once Dave leaves.

She tells him all the details of his story but leaves out anything else. Dave gets told that Rocket's wife was killed by a serial killer but not that Rocket got a piercing on his ear when he was 15 and dared to by the girl who later became his wife. He gets told that Rocket had been stabbed more than 5 times but not that his favourite hobby is fishing because of the way his son laughed when the Bass he caught fought back. He gets told about how Emily talked him through the multiple identity crisis but not that Rocket's favourite movie is Interstellar.

"Wow" Dave laughs when she finishes. Emily is breathless by the time she spews all that out. There is more sneaky glinting in his eye that makes Emily want to scream. "Two serial killers, a car bomb, losing the love of his life?" He shakes his head and drains the rest of his whisky. "If I didn't know any better I'd say this 'Trauma Buddy' was Hotch" He says before standing and disposing of his glass.

Emily freezes mid pouring. His words echoed around her. "Hotch?" She laughs though it was shaky. Dave just looks at her suspiciously. "That's impossible" She shakes her head, resuming her task of pouring a healthy dose.

"Why?"

Another shake of her head and pathetic laughter. "Because it is, Dave" She insists through gritted teeth. A fume of anger sparks in her chest that she doesn't think is fair but also doesn't attempt to push away.

"Okay" The old man shrugs. "Don't drink any more of that bottle, Bella" He warns like a father on his way out of the office. "You drive here."

"Relax, dad" Emily grumbles. "I took a cab" He doesn't hear her as he exits the office otherwise he'd have been forcing her in his car.

Emily sat alone, making no move to follow him, and drank a further two glasses. Dave's words made her lose herself in thought.

It can't be, right?

It was an hour later when the cleaners showed up and the lights shut off that Emily got moving. One of the janitors flashes her a friendly smile, too many late nights in the office was the cause of that, as she leaves. Her hands itched towards her phone as she waits for her cab.

A serial killer who got his Ex-Wife.

Foyet and Haley.

A Car Bomb that made his hearing go fuzzy.

NYC and Kate.

Another serial killer targeting his son.

Scratch and Jack.

Rocket checks all the major boxes.

Emily curses loudly and angrily upon entering her house. She throws her satchel forcefully, stomping towards her laptop. She wonders how in the hell she missed it? Is she that stupid? What kind of profiler is she to not read through the subtext. She slams her fingers on the keyboard, logging into that stupid website and immediately going to Rocket's page.

With every new sentence she grows more angry and resentful until one made her pause.

"After my wife died, I moved on. But just two years later, I experienced the same heartbreak again when I lost the woman who I had grown to love. She didn't know that, of course, when she left but I lost her all the same. She came back briefly for around 7 months but decided to leave again.

In the span of a year I lost the love of my life twice.

In the span of three I had lost two."

It couldn't have been Hotch.

Emily would've have known - Garcia would have blabbed the second it happened - if something that detrimental happened while she was away. In Paris or London. It couldn't have happened while she was here and she just didn't know about it.

It couldn't have been Hotch.

With a sigh of relief, Emily begins typing out a new message.

PhoenixPren : Hey Rocket! I see you haven't replied to my last message is everything okay?

She starts moving around, not one to wait for a reply, when her laptop pings almost instantly.

RockyRackoon : Hello. Sorry for not replying sooner, Max and I are moving house and it's been hectic. How are you, Phoenix?

She smiles, ignoring the warm feeling in her chest, and shrugs as if her partner can see her.

PhoenixPren : Max? Is that your son?

She types and deletes that message a few times before ultimately sending it.

PhoenixPren : And I'm okay.Ish. We have a rough case at work

RockyRacoon : Oof makes me glad i'm retired.

RockyRacoon : And yes, He's my son. He's 16 nearly, we're moving closer to his maternal aunt.

Emily grins at the personal details Rocket shared. Then her smile wavered. Jack Hotchner would be 16 and Jess still lives around here, somewhere, JJ saw her in a grocery store a few months back.

His name is Max, Emily.

She couldn't tell whether she was happy or disappointed at that.

Mid typing out a polite congratulations / good luck reply, Sergio suddenly shoots out of her workspace making papers fly everywhere.

"Sergio!" She scolds, exasperated. "What is up with you lately?" She shakes her head, putting a hand on her beating chest. She ignores the pest as he mewls for her attention, dropping to her knees to pick up the papers. Emily can't even tell you what half of them are and spends a while just reading over them with furrowed brows.

Until she gets to a paper that only she has and that she should have destroyed.

A letter of resignation, another of recommendation followed by two fake IDs.

Aaron and Jack.

Frank and Max.

Emily buckles, falling to sit awkwardly on her hip as she gasps. No fucking way. She scans each ID thoroughly, lingering on Jack's - Max's - for far too long.

Well now she was fucked.

A ping on her laptop made her whirl around.

RocketRacoon : Actually, Max's aunt lives in Alexandria, Virginia. Isn't that your neck of the woods?

She could scream.

With shaky hands, she types slowly.

PhoenixPren : Yeah. I'm in Dupont Circle.

RocketRaccoon : Oh, only 20 minutes away.

Emily is still on her knees on the floor, using her couch as a table.

Don't do it. Please don't ask. If you ask I cannot say no.

RocketRaccoon : This may be a bit forward, But would you like to get coffee? We arrive Friday Morning.

Ah, he did it.

Emily was typing before she could even think. The possibility that it was that man was making her act upon impulse.

PhoenixPren : Given that my team and I aren't on a case, absolutely. I know a great cafè in Alexandria. Rise and Grind.

She recalls, briefly, that R&G was his favourite coffee place but he never could get it because he lived in Quantico, almost an hour out.

RocketRacoon: I know the place. See you there, Phoenix.

PhoenixPren : How will you know it's me?

RocketRaccoon : I'll know.

Aaron stares at the computer, heart beating fast and filled with dread. Jack is next to him on the couch, waving his broken arm around like he could magically fix it.

He didn't know what the fuck just overcame him.

Inviting her out for coffee?

Where the fuck did that come from?

He removes the glasses from his face, wiping his hand over it tiredly. He groans lowly, making Jack snicker. The trees rustle harshly, mockingly, in the window making him shoot a glare out.

"Mom thinks you're funny to" Jack muses, smirking at the window. Aaron rolls his eyes and closes his laptop after Phoenix doesn't reply.

"Mom can shut up" He retorts, resisting a smirk of his own when the trees shake harder, as if Haley was yelling at him. She probably was, if he could delude himself that far.

Jack snorts. "That's you told" He says, switching the channel on the tv. "Told you dating is okay."

Aaron groans again and puts the laptop on the floor in front of him. The coffee table is gone, sold in a yard sale they had two days ago. The rest of the nicknacks and furniture around the room baring the couch has either been sold or packed away. They fly out on Thursday night, the cheapest flight times he could find, with the rest of their stuff meeting them throughout the weekend.

It's taken a lot of effort. Jack is in his sophomore year at school so Aaron has had to deal with admin pulling him out, then actually finding a house that's moderately close to another school, vetting the school and seeing which is best for him but also trying to find a house that's close enough to Jess but far away from any of his old teammates.

And that's hard enough in itself when you haven't had contact with any of them so you don't even know where they are living.

So yeah, moving across the country is a little hectic.

"Jack" He scolds. "It's not a date."

"You've been chatting up a woman-"

"I don't think you can call it chattin-“

"You've been chatting up a woman" Jack repeats as if his father hadn't spoken. He smirks as he remembers the woman's user name but wisely chooses not to comment. There's a reason his dad didn't tell him it was Miss Emily, so he won't push. "Flirting a lot and then you ask her out to coffee? Sounds like a date to me dad"

The trees rustle as if to back up his point.

Aaron rolls his eyes. "No it was a moment of madness fuelled by you and your mother's" He points to the tree. "Meddling tendencies." He stands and puts his laptop away in the bag in top of his suitcase. "It is not a date, I'm merely going to meet and thank this woman for helping me. Now, Are we playing Mario Kart or what?" He asks pointedly.

Jack side eyes the window again as Aaron leaves to find the game in one of the boxes. "I don't think we meddle" He says to the ghost of his mom. "Do we?" The trees shake again and Jack takes it as if she's shaking her head. He carefully watches the doorway. "It is who I think it is right, mom?" He asks softly. "Be still if it is." The child that still lives inside him holds out the imagination that the nature outside really is his mom, still with him.

The trees shake gently a few times before the wind miraculously dies down. Jack breaks into a wide smile as Aaron comes back with the game in hand.

"What?" His father asks suspiciously.

Jack just shakes his head. "Nothin" He replies nonchalantly. The tree backs him up with another shiver, making Aaron roll his eyes and start the game with no other thought cast to his ‘date’.

Word count :2200

tag list : @lonelychicagos @84hotpockets @serqueljisbon @loriprentiss @velvetblackness @castielryan

If you would like to be added or removed from the taglist, just DM me ❤️

#criminal minds #emily prentiss #aaron hotchner #hotchniss #criminal minds fanfiction #hotchniss fanfiction #hotch #agent hotchner #agent prentiss #the phoenix and the rocket

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dysfunctional-family-fight · 9 months

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Propaganda for the Fey Family

CW: murder

"The Feys are spirit mediums and leadership is hereditary; Maya is next in line and Morgan has tried to Get Rid of her twice (once by framing her for murder and another by actually murdering her), in order to make Pearl the new leader instead. Pearl is 8. Misty disappeared almost twenty years ago and left behind two kids, she was assumed dead but was actually living a fine life and awkwardly spying on her kids, one of whom did not recognize her when they came face to face for once. Mia abandoned the family in search of Misty and was murdered before ever finding her. Dahlia and Iris are Morgan’s kids from another marriage, and Dahlia was part of Morgan’s plans to murder Maya, while Iris… tried to prevent it but in a very ineffective way that ultimately ended with Misty getting murdered instead. It’s noteworthy that near the end of these games Maya says she wants absolutely nothing to do with the Fey clan anymore"

misty fey disgraces the fey clan and abandons her then-adolescent children, mia and maya, to go into hiding for seventeen years

said adolescent children were put in the care of morgan fey, misty fey’s sister, who actively hates both misty and her kids due to fey clan politics (misty’s kids were the successors to the fey clan and rightful leaders)

dahlia and her twin sister iris were abandoned by misty because they lacked spiritual prowess

heavily implied that pearl fey, misty’s youngest daughter, suffered abuse of some sort due to misty’s strict child raising tactics

honestly everything related to dahlia and her sister. girlies are fucked up. lots of murders and coverups and lies > oh yeah misty tried to have maya killed multiple times so that pearl could inherit the fey clan

canonically a lot of marriages fail in the fey clan because it’s an extremely matriarchal society, leading to pearl fey developing an unhealthy obsession with fairytale romances due to only ever seeing toxic and failed marriages in her life

i am SURE there is more fey clan politics but. listen. is this not enough. is the fey clan not fucked up enough

"IMMENSELY fucked up family based on the idea of spirit channeling, the familial power that's passed down through the women of the family. The most powerful of them gets to be the "main bloodline" and be the master of Kurain Village where they live, so there's intense power plays at work!

Misty and Morgan are sisters, and Morgan was originally going to be the master until it turned out she didn't have enough power. Then, Misty left the village due to a perceived failure and subsequent widespread ridicule, leaving her two daughters Mia and Maya in her (controlling, murderous) sister's care!!! Morgan had her own daughters, Dahlia and Iris, who were twins, but their father took them away, and Morgan LET HIM because they didn't have enough spirit power to become master :/ So she started plotting to kill Mia and Maya in order to become the main bloodline again, wanting her youngest child Pearl to become the master instead. All for power! And her new husband left too, just like all the other men!

Mia eventually left the village and got murdered by someone else, leaving Maya to be the lone member of the main family left. But Dahlia had already found Mia and developed a grudge against her. Dahlia is extremely fucked up (I love her tho) and murdered several people and also forced Iris to participate in her crimes sometimes. Iris is a good person overall but they sure are dysfunctional!! And then Dahlia (after being executed for her crimes) was able to come back as a ghost because Morgan hatched a plan to use Dahlia to kill Maya!! This is the second time Morgan has tried to get rid of Maya!!! And Morgan uses Pearl, who is, like, 9 years old, to do it, trying to get Pearl to channel Dahlia's spirit. This only fails because others, including Misty and Maya herself, channel Dahlia first, and Misty dies during it without even properly talking to her daughter she hasn't seen since Maya was a very young child...

Just... a very messy family full of people with their own goals. They may not all WANT to be the master of Kurain, but they're all haunted by the family legacy hanging over them constantly <3"

#propaganda #ace attorney #fey family

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ppgxrrblove · 2 years

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I am honestly glad monster high is officially been killed...the cgi child like reboot was okay, I didn't have a problem with it at all, it fit the target audience 100%

but the new reboot they're doing is just a woke, satanic - well woke is satanic in its core definition, if your a Christian you'll understand this, for those who don't understand - Satan, lucifer is woke himself. All of the woke hot garbage agenda comes from him, "shocking I know" lol - anyway, back to the topic; they changed possibly more characters personality, changed who they are originally to fit the woke agenda they even changed one or more character sex - to again please the woke sex cult, to be exact...and I honestly believed back in the day till this date..until I found out through reddit fanatics that it has always been a theory including the doll community as well - that it was true that clawdeen is bisexual, and...I forgot the rest lol cause of this ugly as heck live action movie, it was the only reason how I remembered this old news discussion.

But as I stated already it was false, it was made up by the fanatics that desperately wanted to project their personal life styles onto a children's TV show a bunch of adults - don't try to make up excuses that teenagers were the ones that asked for this a lot of times when they weren't, I still remember those early day comments and majority of the children viewing MH were more interested in how the show progressed, who Frankie gonna ditch next, or who she is gonna actually end up with, to making a huge stack of monster high oc - that's what majority of the children that watched MH were focused on, yes I know of the woke parents indoctrinated they're children towards their woke ideologies, that they will be asking for such stuff, however, they weren't as many as the regular child audience.

Nonetheless, it doesn't surprise me that the creator of MH is lgbt, - I found out by the time the lady gaga doll collab released, it hit me right there and then - of course, the books "hinting" it honestly more like treasure hunting hiding it because nick ain't about that life at said time this was occuring, they don't want to get again caught by grooming situation *cough* icarlycreatorandpeopleonnick , but yeah, i can see why they told the groomer - I mean creator for MH to not put that into the children's TV show back in the day...until they broke it off this year with loud house..really terrible show, I believe there may have been a before first lgbt stuff on nick content?? But that's the only one that I believe was the first time they've done that towards going on with there other grooming tactics lol.

Now the gromreator...trying to fuse groom + creator here e.e....not working, creating a monster name hahaha....- had stated on his Instagram that he was just gonna slap all types of grooming(making the entire cast well some of them, lgbt) content originally for MH but nick again didn't want to around said time - they need to rail in those fishes before they do such acts. So knowing that this happened...it sucks cause I love monster high, my first favorite monsti was Frankie stien until I learned about her just being a terrible, cheap dollar teenage whore...yeah...once you realize this- it..it don't look right even if they try to 'fix' it by potentially making her love interest be that unicorn Grey rainbow hair guy - sadly it didn't even last, like jeez they really destroyed her character on the relationship department and back then up until before this entire reboot live thing occurred people despised the heck out of Frankie and now people love her(note; reddit go to r/monsterhigh and scroll past until you find the post about Frankie being none binary - look at the comment section, and I do believe there is another one as well discussing it too) - not kidding, because she is none binary..because of that..they will ditch the real og Frankie- accept..like you're just trying to half butt clean a stain that has been left there for too long mate - it ain't gonna work for those who can see, smell the pandering, and yes they should've created a new character for that instead of grabbing an already existing character which really does fit with draculaura but we shall get to her in a minute, - fairly it doesn't really matter the real Frankie, will always be a skank, and a terrible ghoul nothing that you do will change about this character.

After me accepting that Frankie is like this, I drifted apart from the series, but, I did try my best to keep up with it by rewatching each web episode on their website back in the day. Thanks to me rewatching the episodes my love for drac, blew up - like drac, Gothic Victorian, Lolita cutie pie drac stole me away - I drew all my attention towards her until they gave her a wrong "boyfriend" ..sigh..I had hoped it would be someone else but yeah not into the whole pairing sorry, and clawdeen as well - I fell in love with her she was adorable, sassy and what made me love her even more was the matter of her being into fashion - her story progressing in the France movie was really sweet..but, that's not to state that I didn't like any of her outfits she wore cause boy oh there were times that i just couldn't stand some of the outfits at all she wore. I loved some but others ew.

Now in the live action, as I stated before I would be mentioning said quote i mentioned how they should have created a new character instead of stinking being lazy pieces of poop and taking an already beloved established character..again this a reboot to the series so..it doesn't surprise me but it disgusts me. They already *have* a witch character, so what do they do with draculaura? For those who don't know yet, they swapped her entire characteristic of what she does - just slap the witch gross sticker on her and call it a day..I am not gonna lie that I was upset about it but I already had moved on from it since i know that will never be og draculaura, even though..in the game that I have for MH I find out that she vegan..I forgot about her profile bio it's been so long and my memory ain't well at times, so me realizing it again, is yeah..not into her being vegan like I get it she's trying to avoid blood but she can still eat meat just cooked - i never understood why she couldn't eat cooked meat..- it doesn't have no blood at all lol plus it's coming from animals.. while clawdeen got 0 problems eating meat with the rest of the characters as well as ghoulia being a zombie xD - it just I don't get it.

...With that being stated, I am done here, MH was a good show, it was fine while it lasted for me, now I have since moved on from it..though I will never move on from my favorite ghouls, I already have cut ties with media that has woke imagery in it..that includes og MH it had way too much of it, now the new one is gonna have a ton on blast it's just not my tea anymore, I rather continue following the lord then just engross myself with something that is vile.

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phoenixiancrystallist · 1 year

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Month 4, day 26, Keen gets better defined gauntlets and I finally put those Rheddig skeleton pictures I've been taking to use! :D Turns out that's not a helmet, it's a mask! Don't ask me how it stays on, I'm assuming like sticky tack or something (I'm joking, it's probably a combination of "the designers didn't think about that" and "who cares? It looks cool!" Both of which are more common design choices than you might think!)

Reference images under the cut, warning for skelebones

Poor bastard's neck fused with the stairs ): Probably not a pleasant way to go

Anyway, its a super interesting design, clearly meant to be intimidating! The eye-like designs are actually far above the eye socket, because they're not actually eyeholes! The eye holes are the two little slits you can see below the eye-shaped decorations. And yes, you can see out of those slits! It was a common design in certain styles of armor, because it afforded the eyes the most protection while still allowing some, albeit limited, vision. They're not wide enough to get an arrow through them (although you can still be blinded by the arrow splintering and piercing your eye), for example, but they are wide enough and sit close enough to the face that they don't obstruct much of your vision. These guys are probably foot soldiers, because even though you can still see out of those slits, they kind of fuck up the kind of distance viewing an archer or artilleryman would need. This particular design is more decorative than combat-practical, considering that massive blind spot in the center of their vision thanks to that beak, but it looks really cool and tells me something nifty about Rheddah's culture and priorities when it comes to combat.

Specifically, it tells me that Rheddah values intimidation as a valid battle tactic. Look at this thing! Look at how far up the eye motif is on the mask, and how hard to spot those slits are. First, it'd be fucking terrifying to see these fellows bearing down on you, armed with pikes. Or at least I assume the pikes I've seen lying around these guys are theirs, but they might belong to Sila's soldiers. Or it's the same design regardless of nation of origin; I mean why design two kinds of pole-arm weapons when one works just fine for your environmental story telling purposes? It's not like a very specific nerd is going to trawl through and photograph every tiny detail that she sees! That would be absurd!!!

...ahem, anyway. Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah!

Without the rest of the Rheddig field uniform to go off of I have no way of knowing, but based entirely on these battle masks, I'm fairly sure Rheddah likes to use optical illusions to their advantage in battle as well. Because of where that eye motif is situated, their soldiers seem taller than they actually are, and in the heat of battle that split second of "wait those aren't eyes" can make or break a combat encounter. Something like this can fuck with perception just enough that your opponent will be slightly off in where they aim their attacks, and a well-trained soldier taking this into account can certainly use it to his advantage. There's also, like, someone's aiming for your eye? No they're not, my eyes are down here, asshole!

Oof, I had more to say about this than I thought I did, and I have more to say, but it's past my bedtime, I've had a stressful day, and I am the sleepy tireds, so I'm off to bed. Good night my loves! I shall return to gush about various designs in this game another day!

#the great artscapade of 2023 #art #my art #forspoken oc #character design #how do I tag #work fried my brain y'all #on the bright side it took four of us to fix a printer?#well... one to break it while trying to fix it and three of us to ACTUALLY fix it #one of my coworkers is no longer allowed to touch the printer #I was standing RIGHT THERE watching her when she broke it too #and she kept denying it #like honey I understand that you're old and senile but jfc I literally watched you #she's a wonderful person but I can't wait for her to retire because she keeps causing problems #anyway #...I think I'm gonna have a snack before I go to bed #my tummy is making ''hey feed me'' pains and when that happens I can't sleep to save my life #so ugh yay I get to deal with that #in my tummy's defense all I had to eat at work today were a dozen mini donuts #but they were fresh made and had sea salt caramel and chocolate drizzle and were free! that should be filling!!!!!#...she says„ lying to herself„ like a liar

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sophieswundergarten · 1 year

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Does anybody remember the weird and excessively long post I made in the middle of the night earlier this week about S. Q. being psychic? Well I just did, so here's round two:

Once he shows up at the Benedict household it becomes highly apparent that he's psychic. The kid himself isn't aware of it, since he didn't talk to that many people at the Institute, so there's a little confusion at first by how strangely he's acting. At least, until Constance walks over and is like "Reynie, why didn't you tell anyone he's psychic? That seems like it would have been an important detail to mention.", at which point there's dead silence. S. Q. is certain that he's not psychic, and says so emphatically, until Mr. Benedict points out that he's been automatically covering his ears since Constance made her announcement, despite no one having said a word.

He sheepishly lowers his hands, at which point Constance grabs his arm and pulls him upstairs to her room (Which, while being close to the adults', is her private space, and she know's everyone will stay away while they decide what to do). She tugs a weighted blanket off her bed and shoves it at him, waiting until he's settled before asking questions.

Constance: "So, you can hear people's thoughts."

S. Q.: "Kind of? I guess. I haven't been around a lot of people before, so it hasn't been as obvious."

Constance: "But you can sense it now?"

S. Q.: "Yeah. I can still kind of hear everyone from downstairs, but it's not that bad, now." [He winces before looking curiously at her] "Yours aren't as loud, though."

Constance shrugs: "That is because I am dampening them. Can you not do that?"

S. Q.: "No, I can't really do anything. I didn't know that this was a thing until just now."

Constance: "Right. Well," [She closes her eyes, tilting her head slightly in concentration] "How is that? Better?"

S. Q., quietly surprised: "Yeah.Yeah, actually." [He looks toward the door] "How did you do that? I can barely hear them anymore."

Constance: "It is something I was experimenting with on the island, with the Emergency messages and everything. I won't be able to do it very much, though, so we'll have to find another method."

S. Q., nodding: "Okay. Thank you. You don't need to do it, though. I'll be able to figure it out on my own."

Constance, staring at him with disdain: "Right, and you're going to be figuring it out like you did downstairs? You'll go through life with your hands over your ears?"

S. Q., making a face: "Good point. Um, what do you do when things get too loud?"

So Constance stays with him for a while, sharing various tactics to quiet his mind (Using physical sensations to ground, reading with someone, and journaling among them). After a bit, Rhonda is elected to go and check on the two of them. S. Q. is doing a lot better, and so he agrees to come back down and talk to Mr. Benedict about everything. The other kids have been asked to go wait in the backyard for a bit, but Constance stubbornly stays with S. Q. It is decided that, since he obviously needs someone to help him, he's going to be staying with them for a while. He can live in one of the rooms that's further from the center of the house, and Constance and Mr. Benedict (as the only people remotely close to an authority on the subject) will work with him on how to control the constant influx/outflow of thoughts. S. Q., luckily, had grabbed one of Curtain's notebooks before leaving, so they have that to go off of. And, with a little bit of time, he gets better.

It goes much smoother because when words aren't helping Constance is able to simply shove the concept into S. Q.'s brain. (This doesn't make her sick because a) She isn't changing his thoughts, just adding information, and b) S. Q. is aware and open to it; he wants her to do it) The best bit is that, after a few weeks of working at it, S. Q. is comfortable being around the rest of the family most of the time. But he and Constance don't stop having entire silent conversations, so they'll be in a room full of people and suddenly someone notices that Constance has been really quiet, only to find her apparently engaged in a staring contest with S. Q. It's great.

#so #um #sorry guys #i know this is totally bonkers and you probably didn't want to hear about it #but it wouldn't leave my brain so i had to release it here in order to get other things done #i hope it isn't too confusing and weird #maybe i'll talk more about it later #we'll have to see if the bees leave me alone #and i didn't even get to the benedict twin parallels!#that was where most of this started #that and @kneeslapworthy 's post about the possible implications of the “george” bird #sorry again for being so wacky!#we will now (hopefully) return to your regularly scheduled programming #(whatever that is)#mbs #the mysterious benedict society #constance contraire #sq pedalian

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twoidiotwriters1 · 1 year

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Copycat: Genesis —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

A/N: I loved writing these chapters bc Cat is always surrounded by men and I was desperate to get her out of that 🤧-Danny

Words: 1,322

Phase Six Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘YOU AGAINST YOURSELF’ -by Ruel

xv: Miss Williams Holds Herself Accountable

"I do not need this shit right now!" Riri snatched papers from the board. "I swear to God, I was doing so well! Goin' to class on time! I must be dumb as hell— real dumb to think the princess of Wakanda and a young Avenger gonna show up at my doorstep and then shit about to pop off!"

Cat looked at her freaking out remembering how Peter had reacted when Tony had gone to his apartment to recruit him. It was a different world then, smaller.

"I think that I'm actually gonna take my chances with this merman— because at least he never brought the FBI to my garage!"

"I like her," Cat sentenced.

"Hey! Namor sank an entire ship of CIA operatives because of your little machine," Okoye informed her. "So those popo out there, are the very least of your worries."

"Oh, man," Cat muttered. "Is it wrong that I kinda like that Namor guy too?"

"Remember who's making your suit, Copy," Shuri warned her, then spoke to Riri. "Listen, we need to work together to get out of here. General, they've got us surrounded, maybe we should just split up?"

Okoye laughed. "Out of the question. Does this vehicle work?"

Riri made a face. "No."

"She's lying."

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry, you're not the one that's paying me," Cat shrugged.

"Everything in this lab works," Shuri pointed at the next option. "Including this bike."

"Don't even think about it," Okoye warned her. "Besides, there are four of us."

"Three of y'all. I'm takin' this."

Cat looked up and she felt a strange mix of emotions at the sight.

"You built one..." she said in awe.

"Whoo! I knew it! Don't tell me that you built this in two months!"

Riri chuckled. "I spent years on this. On and off... you okay?"

The mutant blinked back the tears. "Yeah! Jeez, I don't know... sorry, give me a minute..."

"Man, is it that bad?" Riri said worryingly.

"No," Cat turned back to her. "No, I just... Tony... it's a good-looking suit."

"You met Tony Stark?"

"He raised her," Shuri said. "All the Avengers did. Excuse her if she gets emotional. Have you flown it yet?"

"That thing can fly?" Okoye asked skeptically.

"There's an entire youtube channel dedicated to sightings of me."

"Spider-man and I had one of those when we first started."

"Didn't Spider-man come way before you did?"

"Riri, don't get on my bad side."

The lights went off abruptly. Cat activated M.O.U.S.E.

"Come!" Shuri handed the young girl a com, and Cat linked hers to their signal. "So we can communicate—"

"Don't try to scurry off—"

Cat nudged Riri forward. "You better soldier on, kid."

"You sure you good with what you got?" The girl asked her.

"Those are just men," Cat drew out her claws. "I won't even need my knife."

"The tactical unit will breach the entrance in three, two..."

"It's so nice to be back!" Cat whispered giddily.

"One."

The doors burst open.

"FBI DON'T MOVE!"

Cat teleported out of sight and reappeared behind one of the agents. She heard Riri igniting her repulsors. "Stay where you are!" Copycat pushed the man toward Riri's line of vision and the girl shot with no hesitation.

"Go little girl!" The mutant cheered. Cat disarmed the next guy kicking him in the face. Shuri got out of the car and activated her A.I., which drove Okoye out of the workshop while the woman shouted at her to get her out. "You'll be in trouble for that!" Cat teased her.

"Shut up and hop in!" Shuri shouted.

"Yes, your highness!"

Cat elbowed a guy and stole his gun, then kicked him on the crotch and shot him four times, though she pointed at his bulletproof vest. Another person attacked her but Cat seized them by the jacket and lifted them in the air, tossing them to the other side and knocking down two other agents in the process.

"Cat, stop playing we need to go!"

Copycat teleported one more time and landed on the back of the bike, she wrapped her arms around Shuri. "Can I drive?"

"If you find a way to switch seats in the middle of a car chase!"

Cat laughed. "It's like you don't know me."

"Griot! Give me a visual!" Shuri used a small elevation on the road to gain speed and caused two police cars to crash.

"That was amazing!" She exclaimed.

"Next one's all for you," Shuri replied.

"I'm calling dibs on the armored car," she joked.

"Okoye we're on our way to you!" The princess announced.

"Who's with you?"

"The Heathen!" Cat said happily. "We're having fun!"

"That is not a good thing!"

"Police car ahead!" Copycat announced. Shuri had to drift to avoid crashing against the car, and as she did, Cat jumped and teleported, landing on the vehicle's roof. "Go ahead!"

Shuri drove away from the scene, Cat stabbed the roof of the car with her claws, and with her free hand, she copied Wanda's powers and ripped the hood of the vehicle leaving it bare and at her mercy.

"Now, I'm no mechanic," with the scarlet mist, she seized the car's battery and pulled it out at once. "But I think this will do!"

The car came to a halt, Cat teleported and landed in front of Shuri.

"Holy shit!" The girl twisted the hand grip.

"Scoot over!" The mutant demanded.

"That's cheating!" Shuri let go and wrapped her hands around Cat's waist.

"I never play fair!" She replied. "I'm a better driver than you anyway!"

"You don't even have a license!"

"Irrelevant!" A car caught up with them and Cat smiled at the driver. "Hi, Okoye!"

"I don't understand why this country lets you walk around freely."

"I'm just really good at escaping prison!"

"We need to find an extraction point," the woman reminded them.

"There's one across the river," Shuri let them know.

"Hey, yo'— they're cutting off the bridge!" Riri said through the coms.

"I can't teleport you two at the same time," Cat informed them. "What now?"

"Princess, there is a surveillance drone locked onto you."

"How high?"

"Thirty thousand feet."

"I'm not sure I can go that high," Cat said worryingly. "I never teleport in that direction."

"Hang on," Riri said. "I got it..."

The girl went up without waiting for a reply, and Cat's hands started to sweat. "You got this, kid!" She told her. "Be fast!"

Riri took down the drone, but she was now falling aimlessly. Cat tense, preparing for teleporting to aid her at any moment. "Shuri?" She said.

"Wait," the princess replied. "Riri, are you okay?"

Silence.

"Riri!" Both young women shouted.

"Yeah," she breathed heavily, her suit turned on again. "I'm good!"

Cat shouted a couple of swear words but she was in the best of moods. "Good job, kid!" Ahead there were several police cars, Cat prepared to leave her spot again. "These will take a while," she mumbled.

"No worries," Riri told her, "I got a special delivery for y'all in three, two, one!" The drone landed directly on top of the police cars, clearing out the way. "You'll recruit me now?" The girl said humorously.

"Riri, if I ever make a team of super teens, you'll be the first I'll call!" Cat laughed.

"Nice one Riri!" Shuri exclaimed.

Cat drove faster across the bridge, Riri flew ahead of them but then she came to a sudden halt. At first, Cat thought her suit had malfunctioned, but then she heard something rolling down Okoye's car.

"Shit!"

A water bomb lifted the two transportations from the ground, Cat was quick to turn in the air and seize Shuri, she used Wanda's powers to shield the both of them and landed on the ground roughly. She left the princess there and ripped out the door of Okoye's car, Cat carried her out of her seat, also teleporting her to where Shuri was.

"Stay here," she said to Okoye, Shuri seemed to be a little stunned. "I'm checking on Riri—" The girl's body started to get dragged across the pavement, something was pulling her towards the water with a rope. "Hey!" Copycat set her free with her claws, she turned the girl around and examined her face. "Mouse, vitals?"

"Stable. She passed out."

"What the hell was that?" Cat looked over the edge of the bridge, but she couldn't see anything.

"That must be the merman," Okoye said grimly.

Next Chapter—>

Taglist.

@mikaelsonwhxrebae @ieatpanicattacksforlunch @jesuswasnotawhiteman @siriuslysirius1107 @greengarsstuff @itsyagirl01 @23victoria @espressopatronum454 @jkthinkstoomuch

#twoidiots writing #marvel #marvel fic #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #marvel original character #copycat fic

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ellenent · 1 year

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Triangle Strategy spoilers!

Just finished playing the Golden route! Finally got my happy ending ;w;

If they showed us more about the wedding I would cry lol but yeah, I was so happy!! I know maybe this ending is too optimistic, but after seeing the other endings, I don't care lol

Also, I saw this and I'm like Anna is so short? kdjfkdj She looks like a child

Or Benedict is too tall? I wish we had the height chart for all of them, didn't know Serenoa is also higher than Frederica (in my head they had the same height)

I was wondering if they would reunite, I was happy that they did! Of course I would prefer like a scene where they meet again and talk "hey I'm your mother" (and I was expecting something like this in the battle with Lyla, but the dialog was kinda vague). And now I feel kinda bad for killing her in Frederica's route ops But Anna can still adopt Quahuag, she already got Decimal adopted lol I think I missed the final side story of him, but it's okay I think

I really liked the part that Serenoa finds another path option; I tried to think for myself what the solution would be, and I was pretty satisfied with the plan!

He looks so sad and small lol

The part where they divide the regiments caught me off guard; at first I was in panic, because I was so used to my favorite units, that I wasn't sure if I would succeed in the battles. Not knowing how they would go, which characters would fit the best the strategy and not being able to change them later got me nervous lol but I tried to balance all regiments (put at least one mage in each, one archer, etc) and leveled up the characters I didn't like to use that much (and later realize some were great actually!). The Frederica's regiment was the one without a unit, I never got to recruit Cordelia, so If I replayed the game again in the future, I would go for her! But the Benedict's battle was the hardest, at least I knew a strategy that would work best because of that one battle in the first chapters of the game.

And I really like how the battles went! I liked that even I couldn't edit the units, if you got a good strategy, you can work it out! I think I just didn't like that I couldn't edit the rings each character got (like Benedict had one that I wished to remove and give to a character in another regiment, so yeah makes sense we couldn't do this). Anyway I was happy to get out of my comfort zone for a bit!

The revelation of the hierophant was a little weird for me, because I already didn't expect it to be a person lol actually I didn't even think something was behind the curtain lmao to see it was a robot was the least of my problems. The battle against Idore was way harder on Frederica's route, this one was pretty okay after I killed all the automatons. I liked that all the characters had something to say to him lol

Overall, I really really enjoyed this game! I like tactics and political games like Fire Emblem, but I liked this even better; it feels more realistic, the gameplay is harder too (at least for me that likes to over level my units, TriStrat said I couldn't lol), the fact you have to make decisions all the time and they all have consequences is pretty nice and made my anxious lol convincing the others to vote for the path you wanted made me feel good lol I was a little afraid of playing this because I didn't like Octopath Traveler that much, so it was a great surprise for me! :D

I haven't done Benedict or Roland's route yet, but now I'm at 100 hours and I feel I must play another game right now lol and I don't know if I have the heart to do them actually lol I want to make some fanart aaaa I already read lots of fanfic, avoiding spoilers, but now I'm free lol

#triangle strategy #tristrat #just me rambling #it was the first game I finished this year and it might be one of my favorites!#long post #I have more Thoughts about this game but right now that's it lol #it's 1am time to sleep

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marzipanandminutiae · 3 years

Note

If you ever want to rant (I think you have in the past??) about the specific issues surrounding language in history when describing queer romance (aka Chopin's friend issue) I know I would love to hear it at least

Oh boy. It's. It's a lot.

So, first of all, in case anyone didn't read my blog description or is very very new here, I'm a gay woman. And a big history geek. Which means I really do get how frustrating- even infuriating -the erasure of queer people from history can be. It has been, and unfortunately continues to be, a massive stumbling-block in society's recognition of LGBT identities as an inherent, universal part of humanity.

Moreover, it just makes you feel really, really alone. To think there was never anyone like you before the 1960s...yes, that's incredibly disheartening.

However. I'm also a museum professional. So I also get how careful we have to be when talking about the past.

The terms people use for queer identities have a history of shifting around a lot. And, for a large chunk of at least western history, same-sex attraction in particular was less an identity and more a behavior. Something you did, not something you were. So in expressing these feelings, people might be less likely to label themselves than to just talk about what they were doing. Which means we don't even have preferred labels for them during their lifetimes, much less within the modern framework of queer identity.

Complicating things still further, the old Straight 1950s Historian rallying cry of "FRIENDS WERE MORE AFFECTIONATE BACK THEN!!!" is actually true. I mean, yeah, in some contexts it's a silencing tactic used to erase obviously queer relationships. But it's also just a real fact about western platonic friendships, for a long time. I have seen a lot of 19th-century primary sources to indicate that, yes, a woman could kiss her literal platonic female BFF on the lips and not have it mean anything sexual or romantic. In some eras and places, that applied to men, too. Pointing that out in the proper context is not erasing queer lives, because there are no known queer people involved.

And let's talk about "friend." The r/sapphoandherfriend crowd gets VERY torqued about this one. Let anybody with any hint of same-gender romance/sexuality be called the "friend" of someone they had a relationship with, and the gates of hell are flung wide. Again, this is another one that CAN be erasure, but definitely isn't always.

Straight married couples used to refer to each other as "my friend" or "my dearest friend" or whatever, all the time. Obviously society wouldn't use that term for them, except in poetic descriptions. But if you have a culture where "friend" can have connotations beyond "platonic bestie," you just might get queer couples also applying it to each other. And at that point, it might well be the only term we know for sure a given couple used. So what are we supposed to do but use their terms, describe what they did, and let the reader interpret that information?

"But you can tell what they'd call themselves today!" Sometimes. Sometimes we can't.

Anne Lister, for example, clearly and exclusively loved women. She also incorporated masculine elements into her gender presentation, sometimes used "male" nicknames, and felt strongly about that. We use she/her pronouns for her now, and call her a woman, because that's how she referred to herself. But given the modern spectrum of available terms and identities, would she still think of herself the same way? We don't know. All we can do is use the information these people give us, and their chosen self-descriptors, unless it's EXTREMELY clear-cut.

Finally, as a queer person working in the historical sector, it's incredibly depressing to me to see other queer people talking about how "historians erase queer identity" as a blanket statement. Because we're here! We're real! We're trying our best to uncover and amplify the stories of our ancestors, because we know how awful erasure feels! Don't minimize our work like that.

And don't say you want acknowledgment of queer people in history, then turn around and shit on it because it doesn't always fit into neat, modern Identity Boxes.

#academic erasure #queer history #ask #anon #rant #queer erasure #half the examples on r/sapphoandherfriend are scholarly articles #that make the subject's queerness PERFECTLY PLAIN #they just don't use modern terminology. so it must be erasure!!!!!!!

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procrastinatingsapphictrash · 3 years

Text

Already dating

Word count: 1618

Genre: Probably fluff, idk really

Pairing: Natasha x gn!reader

Warnings: None (let me know if I need to add any)

Request: could you maybe write something with Natasha x male reader (if your comfortable, otherwise you can write it with female or gender neutral) where Natasha blushes when the reader compliments her in front of the team and the team immediately goes crazy and does everything in their power to get them together, only to find out they've been dating all along?

Summary: Steve and Tony (mostly Tony) lock you in an elevator to admit your feelings, not knowing you’re already together.

A/n: Thanks @mochamoff for the request, sorry it took so long to do it! I’m writing this authors note over a week before I’m posting the fic which is unusual because usually I post within twenty four hours of finishing. Anyways it feels nice to be on a break and this fic being posted means I’m officially back which I’m excited for. To be honest this fic isn’t the whole team, just Tony and Steve, but I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out so I hope you all enjoy reading!

“Next time you have to listen to me in the field Stark.” Steve says as soon as everyone is settled into their place on the jet.

“Actually I don’t, you have absolutely no power over me and as much as you want to be the leader of this team you are not so stop acting like it.” Tony snaps back.

“Someone has to step up and lead.” Steve tells him. “It’s not like you could do any better, you would probably mess things up.”

“Maybe I would, but I would do a hell of a lot better than you are doing.” Tony says. “You like to pretend you’re all high and good and above us but who made you leader? Nobody. You crave control so you took it.”

“I did what needed to be done.”

You watch them snap back and forth at one another a few more times, rolling your eyes at Natasha. She gives you a small smile to show that she’s amused and turns her attention back to your two teammates whose argument has only gotten more and more heated.

“Y/n what do you think?” Tony asks, catching you off guard.

“About what?”

“About who would be a better leader for the team.” he explains. You think for a moment and they both stand as tall as possible (in Tony’s case it isn’t tall at all) and puff out their chests. You scoff, the male ego is so big, even in men who are good and try to do the right thing.

“Neither.” you decide.

“Neither- but the team needs a leader, you have to pick someone.” Tony splutters.

“Just because I don’t think the best leader is either of you doesn’t mean I don’t think the team needs a leader.” you tell him. How one of the smartest people in the world can’t figure that out for himself is beyond you.

“So who would you choose then?” Steve asks, confused.

“Natasha obviously.” you say, smiling at her. The corners of her mouth tug up slightly and even that small movement makes you feel proud.

“No offense, but Natasha???” Tony asks, seemingly outraged. “Why?”

“Well first of all she doesn’t have a fragile male ego like you dumbasses.” you tell them. “But it’s more than just that. She’s smart, both book smart and street smart. She can hack into computers and memorize information easily and knows how to blend in, or to get people to like her. She is more rational than the both of you combined but is also good at making decisions on the fly. She is an excellent fighter and can keep track of strategies and she has connections in and out of the government, with backup plans for almost every situation. Not to mention she has an amazing heart and don’t argue like some other people on our team tend to do. And of course she’s absolutely gorgeous but that doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

You wink at her at the end of your mini speech and are surprised to find her cheeks noticeably pink. She can’t help the smile that creeps onto her face when she thinks over your words.

“Abort mission, Romanoff is blushing and smiling, I think I might be about to die.” Tony states obnoxiously.

“Shut up, you’re just annoyed that she likes me better than you.” Natasha tells him, taking a breath to (mostly) collect herself.

“You’re scary when you’re happy. I haven’t seen you like that before.” he says. “Are you in love with Y/n or something?”

“Shut up.”

Tony smirks. “Make me.”

Natasha takes one threatening step towards him and that’s all it takes for him to back away, stuttering out apologies and mumbling under his breath about how Natasha is too scary to be a team leader. Natasha’s scare tactics do seem to work though because he doesn’t speak to anybody but himself for the rest of the ride home.

As soon as the jet touches down you and Natasha exit, heading straight to the room where you are supposed to be debriefed. Steve tries to follow but Tony grabs his arm to let him know to hold back a second.

“I know I joke but I honestly think they’re in love with each other.” Tony tells him. “I didn’t see it before today but there’s no way Y/n’s speech was platonic, who memorizes lists of reasons why they like their friends, not to mention their flirty wink at the end. And then Natasha, she’s scary but she was acting weird and happy around Y/n.”

“I hate to say this but I agree with you and they would make a cute couple.” Steve says. “But we should probably catch up now.”

Tony takes Steve’s words as an opportunity to stop being serious and become obnoxious again. “Onward dear captain, lead the way fearsome leader, how ever could I-”

“Tony I’m trying to be polite but you are making it very hard.”

---

“Tony no.”

“Tony yes.”

“That is a horrible idea.”

Tony opens his mouth in outrage. “I think it’s a pretty good idea actually.”

“I won’t work.” Steve counters.

“Well I think it well and need I’m the only genius here.” he says smugly.

“You can’t force love!” Steve tells Tony, running his hand through his hair in frustration.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Tony says, “I’m not forcing love, they are already in love. All I’m doing is giving them a little push.”

“By locking them in an elevator?” Steve asks in a deadpan voice.

“Exactly.”

“You can’t just go around locking people-” Steve starts to say but he gets cut off by Tony.

“Shhhhhhh, hi Y/n, hi Natasha.”

“Hi guys, what are you up to?” you ask, obvious to what was going on seconds before you entered the room. Natasha eyes them suspiciously because they are acting weird, holding their bodies stiffly, which means they are hiding something.

“We were just about to head down to the training room, want to come?” Tony lies smoothly while Steve shakes his head in the background.

“That sounds good,” you reply, “you want Tasha?”

“Okay.” she agrees, still eyeing both of them, Tony in particular suspiciously.

“Great!” Tony says and starts to walk towards the elevator and the rest of you follow him, Steve trying to convince himself that going along with Tony’s plan is doing no harm.

“Ladies first.” he says, stepping off to the side and giving a big flourish with his arm. It’s weird but then again Tony is always weird so you don’t think too much of it, stepping into the elevator. As soon as Natasha follows you in he orders Jarvis to close and lock the doors and to prevent the elevator from moving and then pulling up a screen so he can watch you.

“You better run when I get out of here!” Natasha yells. “You too Steve!”

“You’re going to thank me later.” Tony says. “Steve, why don’t you explain why we locked them in.”

“Um,” Steve hesitates, not knowing where to start, “well we think that you two need to talk about, um, feelings.”

“Feelings?” you ask, confused, while realization dawns over Natasha’s face.

“Um, yeah feelings.” Steve responds, feeling very awkward and hoping this works so he didn’t do all that for nothing.

“They don’t know we’re dating and they’re trying to get us together.” Natasha leans over and whispers in your ear before straightening back up and talking to Tony again. “I didn’t take you for such a romantic Stark.”

“What? I’m not- romantic me? Pepper says I’m the least romantic guy she’s ever been with.” he splutters, trying to regain his masculinity.

“And that is not a compliment.” you tell him. “But for some reason even though ‘you aren’t romantic’ you wanted to get us together.”

“Maybe I did,” he says. “but you have to admit that my plan is amazing and it's totally working.”

Natasha snorts “What part of this conversation screams working to you?”

“Well you haven’t killed Y/n yet and neither of you have denied your feelings so it’s obviously working. I expect a thank you speech dedicated to me at your wedding.” He says arrogantly.

“There will be no speech.” Natasha tells him.

“But there will be a wedding?” He asks, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and Steve has to look away because it looks ridiculous.

“Hopefully.” you say, teasing Tony with your vagueness but also making Natasha smile as she thinks about what that might be like.

“Told you my plan would work.” Tony brags to Steve before telling Jarvis to release you from the elevator.

“Your plan sucked.” Natasha tells him. “We were already dating dumbasses.”

She grabs your hand and pulls you out of the room as Steve and Tony stare after you, shocked.

“Did you know about this?” Tony asks, looking at Steve with suspicion.

“Not at all.” Steve answers, his mouth still half open. In hindsight it should have been obvious. Of course Natasha wouldn’t want to be open about her dating life right away, she likes her secrets way too much.

---

“You owe me fifty bucks Y/n.” Natasha tells you once you’re out of earshot.

“Seriously?” you whine.

“You said they already knew but they didn't, so pay up.” She holds her hand outwards expectantly and you both laugh.

“Later.” you tell her. “There are more important things to do now.”

“Hmm, like what?” she teases gently, taking a step closer to you. Your breath catches because you still can’t believe you are dating someone this beautiful. You match her halfway and pull her into a deep kiss, only pulling back when you need to breath.

“This.”

---

Taglist:@fayhar@xxxtwilightaxelxxx@acertainredhead@madamevirgo@megaqueenmaeve@cherryblossomskye@aaron-despair@chickenhavewisdom@emril-osvigne@nyankitty987@agathaharkness-simp@midnight-lestrange@thewidowsghost@nyx-aira@stephanieromanoff@satxnsupreme@likefirenrain@wlwlovesreading@stop-drop-and-drumroll@peggycarter-steverogers@casperlikej@redswing@mochamoff@king-star@blackbat2020

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #black widow #black widow x reader #marvel fanfiction

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vdlest · 3 years

Text

You matter

Characters:

Bucky Barnes x Girlfriend!Reader

Summary:

You and Bucky together with the other Avengers went to Florida for a mission. When your ex-suitor were also in the same area, your boyfriend, Bucky Barnes, is triggered by your ex's words. How can you make him feel better?

Warning:

Jealousy

A little bit of smut

Swearing

You and the rest of the Avengers are staying in the safehouse for a few days now. This mission lasts longer than you think. But since you are in a mission with your Bucky, everything seems alright. However, things became off-handed between you and Bucky upon the arrival of your ex-suitor, Frank, who is currently working under Stark Industries.

It turns out that Frank has been living in Florida for quite some time now, so Stark thought he'd be useful to this mission. On the other hand, you haven't seen Frank since high school and you must admit that you also liked him back then, but that's not important anymore since you're happy with your relationship with Bucky.

Speaking of Bucky, the guy clearly doesn't like Frank that much. He hates it when he is too confident when talking to you and the rest of the team. It's like he's showing you that he is better than Bucky, but you have no care or concern about how he thinks. All that matters to you are your work as an Avenger, your friends, and the love of your life.

"Sir, the information I gave you could be accurate if only Mr. Barnes here did not intervened and change the strategic plan I made based on my research," Frank said.

Everyone is in the dinning room for a meeting of what happened in yesterday's tasks.

"Excuse me," Bucky glared at Frank as he points himself, "Are you seriously blaming me for your inaccurate research?" he asked then he chuckled, "I am not the one who made that research, boy. So whether I intervened or not, your strategic plan could've worked out."

Whenever Frank and Bucky would be in the same room, a heated argument should be expected.

"Enough," Steve stopped Bucky and Frank, "We should just think of something else. We're running out of time already," he pointed out.

"Y/n and I could sneak off the building tomorrow morning and we'll give access to Barton and Banner," Wanda suggested.

"Yeah, I think the only way to get this mission done and over with is to use the "disguise & sneak off" tactic," you added in support of Wanda's suggestion. You turned to Steve, "Once Barton and Banner are in to hack the security system, the rest of you can take it from there."

Steve seemed to like your plan so he nodded and asked all of you to get the rest you all need because you have an early day tomorrow.

You left the dinning room alongside with the other Avengers, while Steve, Tony, Bruce, Clint, and Bucky are left inside the dinning room to finish their whiskeys that they started before the meeting. You're about to go to the kitchen to grab something to drink with Wanda and Nat when Frank approaches you.

"Hey Nat, Wanda, go ahead and find something to drink. I'll go catch up," you said to Wanda and Nat, they gave you a nod. Wanda gave you a warning look, she knows how jealousy and Bucky don't match up well enough. You faced Frank, "Hey, you need somethin'?" you asked him.

Frank smiled at you, "I was wondering if you want to go and visit a few places the day after tomorrow and before you and your friends go back home," he proposed.

You didn't want to be rude but you are not clearly into him anymore and you know that he isn't the guy you want to be with in visiting tourist places here in Florida. It's Bucky.

You clicked your tongue, "That's a very nice offer Frank, but I don't think it's a good idea."

His face turned into a disappointment, "It's Bucky, isn't it?"

You nodded, "Frank, Bucky and I are together. He's my boyfriend. I know things were pretty well between us during high school, but we didn't make it because it wasn't meant to be at all. So, let's just be friends and stay like that." You wanted to tell him about this since you got here in Florida, but he keeps on disregarding whatever you say about your relationship with Bucky.

Unknown to you, Bucky's near both of you and can actually hear your conversation with Frank.

"But y/n..." Frank moved closer to you and held both of your arms, "...he was a killer. He's the winter soldier. He killed millions of people."

You moved a step back away from him, making you free from his hands. You gave him a disbelief look upon moving away from him.

"You don't know him, Frank," you shook your head and glared at him, "You don't know who Bucky is. You may know him as the winter soldier but it wasn't him. He didn't have a choice when he did those awful things. He is the love of my life and the bad things you're telling me about him won't change how I feel for him. First of all, you have no right to judge him. You have no idea who he is."

Before Frank could say anything in reply to you, Bucky approached both of you. He stood besidd you as he give Frank a death defying stare.

"Say another word and I will break your neck. You'll see the winter soldier you are telling y/n about," Bucky said.

"See, y/n!" Frank said as he waved his hand to motion towards Bucky, "He killed lots of people from the past and he could do it again! He's a threat to your life, he's a threat to every man's life!"

You saw Bucky clenched his jaw and how his knuckles been wanting to punch Frank's face, but you immediately put your hands on his shoulder to calm him down. Steve, Tony, Bruce, and Clint came out of the dinning room and were already sensing not so good things between Bucky and Frank.

"Frank, I don't think it's advisable to go across my pal," Steve said as he drag Frank away from Bucky.

"Wait, Steve," you stopped Steve from dragging Frank away. You walked towards Frank and held him in his collar, his feet can't even touch the ground anymore as you lift him up in the air, "Bucky is not the winter soldier, he never was and he never will be. Put that in your mind. You understand?" when he did not answr you, you tightened your grip on him, "Do you understand?!" you repeated.

"Yeah, yeah! I understand." he answered.

The moment you put Frank down, Steve and Clint dragged him outside and talked to him.

You turned around to face Bucky, but when you're about to approach him, he walked away and went straight to your room.

"He's still sensitive about the winter soldier thing," Stark said behind you. He taps your shoulder before making his way to the kitchen where Nat and Wanda are, "You should go and talk to him. Make out after," he joked.

•••

You did not have to knock on the door of the room that you and Bucky shared in the safehouse, it is open and it is also your room anyway. When you entered the room, you found him near the window, staring outside and you could feel that he's thinking of something.

"You know what Tony asked me to do after I talked to you?" you closed the door behind you and rested your back against it, "He said we should make out."

It was just you, trying to lighten up the mood.

But he did not even dare to look at you. He is just staring at the glass window and what's outside.

"Bucky," you walked towards the edge of the bed, which is only a few inches away from where he is standing, "You know he's just trying to tear us apart. Whatever he said was all a lie," you reached for his hand to make him face you.

His eyes met yours, making you see how Frank's stupid and baseless words affected him. He has always been sensitive when someone is bringing up his past. He is not denying the fact that it was part of his past, but he also know that it wasn't him anymore.

You put his hand on your cheeks and leave a few kisses on his palm while your eyes are still with him, "No matter what happened in the past, it doesn't dictates who you are now. You are a different person from who was inside your head before. It doesn't even matter what happened in the past, only you and I matter. You matters, only you. So please, stop doing this to yourself over and over again," you said, almost in a pleading voice.

"I'm not affected by the fact that people are still seeing me as the winter soldier or who I was before, but I..." he kneel in front of you as he grabbed both of your hands, "...I am asking myself if I really do deserve you."

"You what?" you asked and you shook your head, "Bucky, come on. We're really doing this shitty conversation? Of course you deserve me. When you and I became a couple, there's not a day or any time of the day that I'd find myself smiling like a fool. Whenever you're out of my sight, in a mission or something, I'd find myself longing for you, your hug..." you pulled him towards you as you lay on the bed and putting him on top of you, "...your touch, and most of all..." you twisted your finger in his dog tag and pulled him closer to you, "...your kiss." you said before you kissed him on his lips.

You didn't have to wait, he kissed you back as soon as he felt your lips against his.

You found yourself deepening the kiss both of you are sharing, and few seconds later his hand moved to your waist and the vibranium one removed strands of hair blocking your face.

He pulled from your kisses as he caresses your face, "How did I get so damn lucky to have you, y/n?" he asked as he look into your eyes deeply.

You smiled, "We're both of lucky. We'll talk about your cocky attitude later, but for now..." you pushed yourself up and push him on the bed as you straddle him on his waist, "...I need you to do me."

He smiled as he pull your shirt up, undressing you and leaving you on your brassiere, "Oh, on the contrary..." he pulled himself up and unclasps your bra, "...I'm the only person who deserves you."

You grin but before you could say anything, he kisses you and claims your lips like a hungry beast and you're his last meal. While he's busy ravishing you with his lips, your hands are busy unbuttoning his shirt, but when you ran out of patience, you just rip it off.

Upon hearing the shattering sound of fabrics, he stopped kissing you, surprised with your aggressiveness, "Did you also learned that from Nat?" he asked.

You chuckled, "No, I learned that with you, asshole. Now stop talking, just do the work."

He pinned you against the bed, feeling the matress behind you as he slowly tug your pants down alongside with your panties.

"Spread your legs for me, and let me taste you, my love."

You obliged and spread your legs to the hungry man in front of you.

"This is gonna be a long night, so hang on and let me make it up to you," he said before he went down between your legs, remembering that Tony told you to make out, but you ended up doing a lot more. MORE.

-v.dl

#Bucky Barnes #Bucky Barnes x Reader #Bucky Barnes x You #Bucky Barnes x Y/N #bucky barnes fanfiction #Bucky Barnes imagine #Marvel #Marvel imagine #Marvel fanfiction

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cherry-gemz · 3 years

Text

Open Book: Part I

Summary: As the Assistant Librarian for a small town in Florida, you find yourself intrigued with an extraordinary little girl and her charming uncle. As each day goes by, you teach the girl about adventure and mystery with your love of books. Little do you know what's in store for you next.

Pairings: Y/N and Frank Adler

Rating: PG, all fluff

Word count: IDK, failed at the assignment 2k+ lol. So I split the fic.

Challenge Prompt: Write a story about someone trying to find the perfect birthday gift.

A/N: Happiest of birthdays dear @a-little-counter-esperanto. You are the bees knees and really a true gem! I'm so happy we've become friends - we have so many things in common it's cray. I'm wishing you all the love and happiness, sunshine! May you continue to have a fantastic birthday sleepover and enjoy being loved by all! Hope you enjoy the fic xx - Cherry

"Did you get the flowers?" Mary asked as she sat on the couch flipping through the tv.

Frank patted his chest and then his jeans in search of his keys.

"What?"

Mary kept changing the channels without a beat,"Frank. You're supposed to buy a girl flowers on the date."

Frank furrowed his brow, "Uh...no. Have you seen my keys? Really?"

Mary rolled her eyes, "She's not gonna kiss you goodnight."

He searched on the kitchen table and rummaged through old mail when a knock at the door interrupted his concentration. As he bee-lined to the door, Mary turned off the tv and hopped off the couch to grab her latest book she'd chiseled her way through for the week.

Frank swung the door open abruptly and started you as you stood at their doorstep.

"Hey! You made it, great!" Frank exclaimed. "Sorry, my head's a mess."

Mary now situated herself at the kitchen table and shouted over her shoulder, "It's because he hasn't been on a real date in over six months."

Frank turned red," What? No...I mean yes, but jeez, Mary. Remember we talked about how to read a room?"

He turned back to you, "Come in, come in. I'm just trying to find my keys."

You chuckled and nodded to the doorknob which held his set of keys and he smacked his forehead.

As you walked into the house, you noticed little knickknacks here and there on shelves. And books. Mountains of books everywhere. Piling on top of each other.

"Hi Mary," you smiled as she kept her back to you, nose deep in her book.

"Mary…" Frank scolded as he put his hands on his hips.

"Hi, Ms. Y/N."

You smiled as you approached her, "May I sit?"

She nodded in agreement and you pulled out a chair.

"I brought you something…" you say as you rummage through your canvas bag for your book on crabs. "Well, actually I was hoping you could help me...see…"

Frank smiled as he saw the two of you bonding. He caught himself admiring you more than he'd like to admit as he needed to head off to his date soon. He appreciated your assistance with babysitting Mary as the two of you first met at the local library. His date, Justine, was a waitress at the bar he would visit from time to time. While there was a chemistry between them, it was really just through vanity. With you, he had come to know you at a deeper level: the way you’d squint or furrow your brow when reviewing your clipboard. Or how adorable you’d look chewing on the cap of your pen when trying to finalize an email at your desk. He saw that you loved the color yellow, considering how many skirts and cardigans you’d paired together. And that you were a romantic at heart - the classics were your fave to read and how’d you get lost in historical facts when he had first asked you what your hobbies were. Seeing how a beautiful person you were, inside and out, he now regretted asking Justine out with you on his mind.

Mary's eyes scanned the books of quantum physics and mathematics. At first you thought perhaps she had another book instead, but as you watched her day in and day out, you were astounded at the tiny prodigy and her ability to ascertain such knowledge at her age. You'd correct the cataloging errors for the day and find her reading for enjoyment it seemed.

Then one day Frank arrived. Mary had always left on her own, but as if it were any old regular day, the handsome uncle came to retrieve his stellar niece. He had a warmness to him. His dark brown hair and beard complemented his face, one that was obvious in an overall attractiveness. And he was kind, he showed that by adopting his niece after her mother had passed away and truly nurturing her gifted talent. You learned he fixed boats for a living and lived not too far from the library. You smiled at the odd pair together, they somehow seemed to work however.

As you checked their books out, Mary tiptoed over the large walnut desk and glanced at you.

"You're pretty," she stated.

"Mary. What did we say?" Frank tsked, embarrassed, but didn't disagree with her observation.

"What? Frank, you told me that I need to state facts, rather than assumptions. And I am stating a fact that Ms. Y/LN is pretty. Do you think she's pretty, Frank?"

Frank coughed into his fist and blushed, you smirked, half wanting to know his answer, half laughing inside of how Mary was so blunt.

"Yes, Ms. Y/LN is very pretty," he replied and gazed at your eyes. He licked his lips and you had to turn away feeling flushed. You closed the last book and placed it in Mary's backpack.

"All set," you replied. "These are due on the 23rd."

Frank zipped up the backpack and slung it over his broad shoulder. "Thanks, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh?" You replied as Mary looked at you both attempting to assess the flirtation occuring before her eyes.

"Well, yeah, she loves it here, I mean. And we have a few other books to return."

"Yes, we'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Mary."

"Bye," Mary replied and skipped off.

Frank showed up every day after that. You found it endearing, but not wanting to read into something that wasn't there, you focused your attention on Mary. That only seemed to peak his interest further. While he had a knack for attracting women, his heart was never in it for the long haul since the minute they found out about Mary, they'd either run away from the possible responsibility, or Mary would run them off herself. But with you it was different. You were genuine and kind to Mary. Knowing quite well of her mathematical abilities, you would challenge her in other areas: art, zoology, history. You found that while she could read more college level books than any person you met in the small town, she still was a child wanting to learn about all other aspects of life. You'd sit together at a table: you, reviewing inventory spreadsheets for the latest book fair and her, immersed in some book that would put you to sleep at night.

"Frank, you should ask Ms. Y/LN out," Mary stated one day as the three of you sat at a table together. Frank practically choked and you shook your head, secretly wanting to say yes.

"Aw, Mary. Well, I bet Ms. Y/LN has guys lined up at her door every night."

"No, she doesn't," Mary replied as she turned a page of her book. Frank laughed and placed his hand on Mary's shoulder, pretending to shake her.

"Well, actually Ms. Y/LN…" he said as your heart skipped a beat.

"Y/N," you interrupted. "You can call me Y/N. I feel we're on a first name basis now considering you're here everyday."

“Y/N,” he smiled. His hair was more combed today. You had noticed that he seemed to be disheveled when you first met him, however either Mary’s tactics were rubbing off on him, or it was your pure imagination.

“Yes?” you piped. You haven't been regularly dating lately. There just weren’t many prospects these days. Not ones that could keep up with conversation, let alone intellect. So instead, you found yourself immersed with your favorite fictional characters in the sea of books you’d grown to know and love.

His brow furrowed, he seemed nervous and he picked at the edge of a book as he attempted to gather his thoughts.

“Do you have a favorite book?” Mary interrupted as Frank turned to her, but seemingly glad she saved him from embarrassment.

“Do I have a favorite book? Hmmm...” you thought and a childish smile appeared on your face. “I have many favorite books, Mary...The Velveteen Rabbit, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe…”

“Yeah, but what’s like your most favorite book?”

You extended your hand out to her and she willingly accepted. Frank perked up his interest as he watched the two of you scamper off into the fiction area. Curious, he stood up and decided to follow. The two of you giggled quietly as you made your way around the columns, your free hand lightly ghosting over the spines of the books. The subtle scent of paper and dust permeated Frank’s sense of smell. He was more of an outdoorsy person nowadays as he had left behind his scholarly days teaching in Boston. It’s where Mary learned most from, his appetite to keep learning, vernacular, and wit . You slowed down and perused a row until you found your favorite book.

“Aha!” you exclaim and hid the book behind your back as Mary jumped up and down with excitement. “Now, I’m not sure if this is something you’d be interested in, it’s more for ten year olds in my opinion. However, I know you’re a very mature young lady and I find that you’d quite enjoy the story if you give it a chance.”

Frank smiled, perplexed as to what book could possibly be your favorite. You pulled the book from behind and showed Mary.

“Little Women,” she stated. “By Louisa May Alcott.”

“Yes. It’s a beautiful story, really. About sisters and the trials they endure during the American Civil War. There’s friendship, love, and growth.”

Mary bunched her nose, you could tell she was on the fence about whether she’d enjoy a story about fictional sisters and yucky love stuff. You started to pull it away, however she grabbed it from your hands. You laughed and looked at Frank who leaned onto the columns and folded his arms.

“Seems someone is wanting to expand their horizons,” he chuckled.

“So it seems,” you smiled back as Mary skipped off to return to the table leaving the two of you behind.

“I’m more of a Lord of the Rings man myself.”

“Really?” you responded playfully. “The Hobbit included, right?”

“Of course,” he scoffed. “I think I actually just read that one to be honest, I just wanted to impress you. I spent my time reading Calvin and Hobbes more, probably how Mary learned my sarcasm.”

You laugh and touch his forearm as a reflex, but quickly realize and pull away. The spark that you felt when you connected was undeniable. You felt butterflies with him standing next to you and you hoped he hadn’t noticed your inability to remain calm.

“Y/N…” he started to say nervously. “Would it be alright if I called ya? Maybe we can get together sometime?”

“Oh, umm,” you replied, caught off guard. While you definitely had caught feelings for the handsome man, you never would have thought it’d be reciprocated. You stuttered, trying to gather your response.

Your hesitation threw him off, and he quickly replied, “I mean...like to sit for Mary or whatever. She really likes you.”

“Of course...yes,” you reply defeated in hopes that he would have asked you out. Instead of asking why he didn’t, you started to walk back to Mary. Frank scrunched his face in frustration in knowing he missed his shot with you and blurted out the most platonic question instead. He realized as well and quickly shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and followed your lead.

Frank watched as you comfortably plopped yourself next to Mary on the couch, dreading that he had to meet up with Justine. He’d much rather relax on the couch with you and the rugrat, enjoying some silly kids movie together.

You peered over the couch, “Is it okay if she has popcorn?”

“What? Yes,” Mary said flatly and jumped off the couch to the kitchen.

“Okay, miss. But not too much sugar. Bedtime is still at 9,” Frank replied as you shrugged your shoulders.

“It’s the weekend, Frank,” Mary called out from the kitchen.

“Yes, but-“

“Will you be late?” you asked.

He looked at you in surprise, “Um, no. Probably before ten?”

“Okay, have fun.”

“It’s Y/N’s birthday,” Mary replied, carrying two coke bottles and a bag of jelly beans.

You shook your head in regret of ever telling the child when your birthday was. She was so inquisitive that day, asking about all your favorites: food, animals, books, and now birthday.

“It’s your birthday?!” Frank asked.

“Yeah, no big deal.”

“How old are you?” Mary asked as she set the drinks on the coffee table and then remembered how Frank would scold her about leaving water rings. She grabbed the coasters and placed them under the bottles.

“Mary!” Frank detested and placed his hands on his hips.

“How old do you think I am?” You tease, waving off to Frank that it was okay.

“Older than Justine, that’s for sure. She said she was 24, but looks 34. But she acts like she's 12. She hasn't even read anything on quantum physics, she thought wave mechanics was something Frank was working on with a boat,” she said coolly and popped a few jelly beans into her mouth. She nestled herself back into the couch cushions and wiggled her feet.

“Mary Elizabeth!” Frank’s voice boomed as he entered the living room.

Mary leaned over to whisper to you, “Frank says I'm not supposed to correct older people. Nobody likes a smart-ass.”

“And a busy body,” he huffed.

You nodded and laughed quietly, entertained at his expense.

“Well I am 32,” you smiled and looked at your watch, “As of one hour ago as a matter of fact.”

“That’s good. You’re much more mature than Justine and a better fit for him. Happy Birthday.”

“Thank you.”

“Mary…that’s it. You’re on your last warning,” Frank bellowed. “Don’t make me let Y/N go home and then you’re stuck with me tonight.”

“What? No! Okay. I’m sorry,” she lamented and folded her arms.

Frank’s demeanor changed as he turned to you, “I hadn’t known it was your birthday. Don’t feel pressured to sit for her tonight if you have other plans.” Secretly he wanted to cancel on Justine and spend the night celebrating you instead.

“Oh it’s okay! It kind of appeared out of nowhere. I usually go back home and celebrate with friends and family, but my schedule didn’t permit it this year. Next year, perhaps.”

“What’s your favorite dessert?” Mary asked as she chewed on another handful of jelly beans.

“Red velvet cheesecake,” you smiled. “I have a sweet tooth.”

Frank couldn’t concentrate on his date with Justine. His mind was elsewhere. On you. Justine grazed her hand as they sat next to each other at the bar. He seemed unfazed by her gesture and looked at his watch, 9:14pm. Would it be too obvious if he cut the date short that he was into you? He coughed and took a swig of his beer.

“Do you wanna come back to my place?” She cooed and bit her lip in anticipation.

“What? Oh actually I was gonna head out. The sitter needed me home by 9:30,” he lied.

“Oh, sitter?”

“Yeah, Mary. Remember? My niece?”

“That’s right. How old is she again?”

“Seven,” He said, annoyed. He recalled they had met once before. The bartender approached them and handed Frank the receipt.

“Hey, do you have any desserts on the menu?”

Justine’s ears perked in curiosity of where he was going with asking about dessert.

The bartender grunted slightly and threw a mangled tri-fold menu and Frank grabbed it quickly.

“Buddy, ring me up for the red velvet cupcake.”

#Laurens birthday challenge #Lauren's birthday sleepover #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans x female reader #chris evans x you #frank adler #gifted #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fluff #♡ frank adler ♡#open book

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everythingsinred · 3 years

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Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Natsume (pt. 14)

Natsume has been putting himself on the line for his sister. He's currently manipulating his way into the Hana Hime den, completely unaware that he's falling for a trap set for him. At the same time, his manipulations involve spending a lot of time with Mikan, and how his feelings of love for her complicate things.

Chapter Fifty-Six

The boys dutifully dress in girls’ kimonos, even if they are embarrassed. Natsume will do anything for his sister, so dressing in drag is really nothing compared to all the other stuff he has done and will do for her.

Upon arriving at the house for the party, Mikan is very excited, waving her hands (including the one not-actually-stuck to Natsume) and dragging him all over, which he surprisingly allows.

Yeah, yeah, the scans are low-quality, but what matters is LOOK AT THEM. She's so excited and dragging him around and he just lets her! I'm obsessed.

They enter, escorted by Shizune, who leads them past the party on the first floor, which is open to all Middle school girls. They are headed to the more exclusive party on the second floor. Many of the Middle school girls gossip about the group headed up the stairs, but Mikan is happy to notice Misaki and Nobara in the crowd. Nobara is excited to see her, until she sees Natsume there too. Her mood changes from excited to scared, asking why Natsume has come to this place and warning Mikan to get him out because he won’t be safe there.

Nobara is surprised to see him, but also scared for him, which gives off the impression that either she didn't think Natsume would fall for the trap or she wasn't aware that there was a trap at all but knows that the Hana Hime den is a dangerous place for him anyway. With this in mind, we can see that something very dangerous is awaiting Natsume. If he does find his sister, it won't be easy getting her out safely.

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Almost immediately after arriving, Hotaru is able to separate from Ruka and Youichi, which spurs Natsume to finally give up Mikan’s hand as well. The MSP is obviously peeved by the boys’ presence and the role she was forced to play for Persona.

The flower princesses have decided to cheer the MSP up by choosing one of the incoming group to bully. Hotaru is absolutely out of the question, as she is the only one the MSP actually intended to invite. The boys are not chosen either, as Natsume is to be sacrificed to Persona and the princesses find them all cute. That leaves Mikan, who is immediately obnoxious and loud, the perfect target for ridicule.

Mikan is very excited about the traditions and rituals of the flower party, but she is very persistently excluded from each one. Even the boys get flower names (other than Yo-chan), but Mikan is ignored when she asks for one.

She is then excluded from the feast, with all the dishes purposefully taken from her and placed in front of other people. She is then given a “medicine” which only makes her smell bad so the other attendees want to stay away from her. Hotaru seems to be distracted by the special treatment she was so looking forward to, but Natsume is visibly bothered by the strange way in which the flower princesses are treating Mikan.

The games they play either exclude Mikan, mock her, or both.

In no time at all, she is thoroughly lonely, depressed, and hungry, her face painted all over.

They all sit around for another game, and the flower princesses decide that Mikan shouldn’t be invited for this one at all. Though Ruka and Hotaru are put off by this, Natsume has had enough, so he leaves the circle completely. Hotaru's way of defending Mikan is to get back at the girls through a game she invented, but Natsume's technique is a bit more straight-forward.

Natsume doesn't even like these people. Mikan, on the other hand...

Natsume has gone to fetch a dumpling for Mikan, a chestnut kuri kinton shaped like an orange. Perfect for her, he says. He then says he’s unbothered by the smell of her medicine, especially compared to the perfumes sprayed all over the place. Natsume doesn’t care about being polite and courteous to the MSP. He’s here to save Aoi, and standing by while these girls bully the love of his life won’t exactly help him save Aoi, so why should he do it?

So they end up bickering over something stupid again, and Mikan seems all cheered up.

She even seems sad to see him go to the bathroom, telling him to hurry so they can eat and spend more time together.

Pretending is so much harder when he can see that she actually enjoys spending time with him. How is he supposed to be okay with his fate when this is so much more pleasant?

He shuts her down, like it’s no big deal, but it is, of course, like everything else he borrows.

But he can’t have her waiting for him when he knows deep down there’s a chance he might not come back. He’s here for a reason after all, and that reason is sadly not to eat kuri kinton with Mikan. It’s to save his sister, who might be captive in a dungeon somewhere.

The MSP warns him not to explore too much, as she won’t be responsible for anything that happens to him.

He begins by looking for a bathroom, but there are no boys’ bathrooms, so he wanders around. His attention is immediately grabbed by some girls talking about “Yuki Aoi”. This is a trap, of course, just like everything else. He follows the girls downstairs into the basement, trying to look for Aoi, but the girls quickly report to Persona that it’s all going according to plan. It almost seems like too obvious a trap, but Natsume is desperate. He hasn't heard from Aoi in too long. He's so eager to find her that he doesn't see the warning signs, like that all the hints about Aoi are a bit too obvious.

Now is time for the Dangerous Ability Discipline Squad to be deployed.

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Natsume descends into the dungeons, perfectly aware that he could end up staying there forever, and that he’ll be horribly punished for sure. There isn’t a lot of Natsume in this chapter actually, but his friends grow concerned about his long absence from the party, and wonder if Natsume has perhaps been punished as the MSP warned, for wandering where he shouldn’t.

We learn that the MSP has a very strong barrier alice, one that protects the whole school, and that it is very powerful in the dungeons, where Natsume is.

When we do see Natsume again, he has only gone deeper into the basement, when he sees a cell with a girl in it. He quickly rushes to her side, convinced that it’s his sister, but is disappointed to find that it’s actually Nobara with a wig, unconscious.

The problem is, now he’s locked in a cell.

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Nobara, desperate as she was to make sure Natsume was okay, took Tsubasa with her into the dungeons, only to be isolated and put into a trance state. Natsume knows what the trance state means: it’s the only way she can be made to use her alice on missions, as she is usually good-natured.

He knows he’s in danger now, that the DA class has trapped him and that he might have to fight. And just like that, the Discipline Squad is there: Rui, Hayate, and Yakumo, all waiting for him.

Natsume has been acting out of line for quite some time now. He’s been going on missions that go against the agenda of the school, all to help his friends, specifically his "kitten of a different color". He’s been smiling and joking more, happy when he’s supposed to be eternally despairing. The higher ups don’t like that, and this is his punishment.

Rui explains what’s going on, since Natsume goes on missions on the outside and isn’t familiar. The Discipline Squad is a subdivision of the DA class to punish people who aren’t toeing the company line. The Hana Hime den basement is where they usually do their work. Tsubasa was once victim to Rui’s alice specifically as a punishment for his troublemaking, hence the curse mark under his eye. Natsume’s punishment will likely be much more severe.

Persona then appears, holding the unconscious Nobara, informing Natsume that this was the final test: that Natsume should have been obedient and not wandered down into the basement. However, he has failed the test and stepped out of line once again, and this is the last straw.

Ah, how nice to see the Discipline Squad, my beloveds. And Natsume looks so pretty in that kimono.

Natsume is immediately on the offensive, grabbing Persona and demanding to know where Aoi is, but Persona uses his alice on Natsume’s wrists so he pulls away. Persona then instructs one of the Discipline Squad to go and get rid of the four new intruders who have descended into the basement, so now Natsume knows he has an extra responsibility beyond simply rescuing Aoi (not that rescuing Aoi was ever going to be simple).

Despite always putting others first, he never considers that his existence matters to people, and that if he's in danger, his friends will come to protect him.

The squad decides Hayate will go, although he complains because he had apparently been waiting a very long time to be able to beat Natsume up. We can see that Natsume isn’t popular in the DA class either, and perhaps that Yo-chan is the only one who might admire him, even in a class where they’re all in a similar boat.

The silly antics and childish jabs of the Discipline Squad too are very interesting. They act big and tough, and were perhaps given heavy responsibilities, but they’re still children. Every single person in the DA class is a child, someone forced into these actions in some way or other, whether through emotional blackmail, physical coercion, or manipulation. All of these kids are under the illusion that they are more important than they are--simply pawns obediently doing their duty for the school’s benefit.

It’s an effective tactic to pit oppressed or victimized people against each other so they don’t focus on the real enemy, Persona and the ESP. The DA class demonstrates this quite well. Back in the day, Luna was pitted against Yuka. Natsume hates most of his classmates except for Youichi. He can lash out at Nobara, who is loyal to Persona, because he can’t lash out at the man himself. And all the other kids hate each other, get mad at each other, argue amongst each other. Hayate getting angry that Rui is calling the shots even though the real person in charge is Persona (and even further up, the ESP) is a great example of this. They are all so busy being mad at each other that they don’t realize the person pulling the strings is the one they should be angry at.

Anyway, Persona warns Natsume that because four new people have entered the fray, he might want to submit. After all, the dungeon has the highest concentration of the MSP’s alice, and he isn’t accustomed to it, like the Discipline Squad is. But if he refuses to submit, then Persona will give him answers if, and only if, he can defeat all three members of the squad. If he cannot defeat them, well, he’ll be trapped in the dungeon for the rest of his life. Naturally, Natsume has no choice but to agree to the deal. His sister’s safety is at stake, after all, and he would do anything for her, including possibly allowing himself to be locked in a dungeon forever.

Chapter Sixty

Persona leaves Natsume alone with Rui and Yakumo, and Natsume thinks to himself that this is an impossible situation. His upperclassmen are very powerful and their alices suit the name “dangerous ability”. At the same time, he realizes that he has to win, because he wants to save Aoi and avoid being locked up. But Rui decides to take off, sensing Tsubasa in the dungeon, so Natsume is left with only Yakumo, which might make things easier. One on one is easier than two on one, after all.

But Natsume is actually not relieved. If Rui senses someone he’s marked, then there might be another person down with them. In any case, he doesn’t want Rui to meet his friends. Hayate is one thing, but Rui is far more dangerous, and they might be in serious danger if he decides to use his alice. After all, Natsume can hardly use his alice properly, so even if his friends had a chance with their alices, they’ll be at a serious disadvantage in the dungeon.

Yakumo tells him to snap out of it, to stop being distracted, because then Natsume will certainly lose. So Natsume has no choice but to hope for the best for his friends and that the mystery fifth intruder will protect them in his place, and focus on his fight with Yakumo for now.

This translation is a bit unclear, but he's pleading for the mystery intruder (Tsubasa) to protect his friends because he can't.

It’s interesting, from what we see of Yo-chan standing up for the other intruders in the dungeon, that Natsume told him to look out for the others in case something happened. Why did Natsume entrust such a task to a toddler, and not to Ruka or somebody else? Well, for one, Natsume has been entrusted with caring for everyone around him at a young age too. It was his job to be the serious and mature one after his mother died, taking responsibility to be as adult as possible and protect his father and sister, even though that shouldn’t have been on his shoulders at all. He won’t think it’s unfair to ask Yo-chan for this, because he’s been through it too and it’s normal for him.

Another thing is that every kid in the DA class is extremely powerful. To be in the DA class, it’s not enough to have a potentially dangerous alice, or many other kids would be in it. Tsubasa could have been in sooner, or Ruka could have been enlisted. Even Iinchou’s alice could be potentially terrifying if used in the right way. But they’re not DA students, because the alice has to be powerful enough to exploit. Yo-chan isn’t just in possession of a creepy alice; he’s a prodigy as well. He has control of his power and can do terrifying things with it. He’s been put on missions and trained too, even as little as he is, and he can do much more with his alice than the others can. Natsume trusts Yo-chan because he knows how dangerous these situations can be and he’s the most qualified to protect his friends.

Natsume please. He's just a baby.

It’s tragic, but it’s the truth. The DA students are living very different lives from the rest of them, much better acquainted with the school’s darkness than anybody else could comprehend.

And Natsume might be locked inside it forever.

Chapter Sixty-One

We learn that Yakumo has insect pheromones. Natsume is fighting hard, using his alice to protect himself, thinking hard of Aoi to keep himself aware of what he’s fighting so hard for.

There sadly isn’t much Natsume in the chapter. He’s busy at a stand-off with Yakumo and the battle isn’t really going anywhere.

Something of note is Narumi, looking at Ruka’s postcard from his mother, pondering why the children haven’t returned yet. He knows something is up, and has no doubt known the whole time at the very least that there were too many coincidences involved in the banquet to be mere coincidences. At most, he was somewhat aware that Persona was planning on punishing Natsume. With Narumi, it’s hard to tell.

And he was right all along...

Narumi recalls saying that Mikan could be the key to Natsume’s future, because he’d had the hunch that Mikan would become Natsume’s light. Natsume has, after all this time, realized that as well. Nobody wants to be locked up forever, but he especially doesn’t after he’s found something that helped make him happy again. So he will fight hard, because he wants to see Aoi again, and because he wants to see Mikan again too.

Conclusion

Natsume is ready to fight his hardest to find Aoi and keep from being locked away forever. He was aware before that he might not be able to easily make it back out, but it's become harder than he had imagined. Now that he knows Mikan and the others have followed him, he has even more to consider.

It’s a shame that I won’t be talking about Natsume and Ruka’s backstory in this essay. I brought up what I wanted to at the very beginning of this essay, and I won’t say much more than that here. I’ll touch on it in the Mikan POV essay, and I’ll go into every detail I can when I eventually analyze Natsume and Ruka’s relationship, but for now, there’s not much I’ll say.

This may be surprising! No Natsume backstory analysis in a Natsume essay?! But I’d be repeating what I’d said in the beginning. This isn’t just a Natsume essay after all. It’s a ship analysis, and I’ve said what I needed to already. I’m sad to skip it because it’s one of my favorite arcs in the whole story, but I’ll beat it to death in the future, so all is well.

I'm sorry if this was underwhelming. Like I'd said before, this arc is all about discovering Natsume, and Natsume... is Natsume, so he doesn't need to discover anything. I don't want to repeat myself or beat a dead horse just to fill up space. I reckon there will be one more part to this arc! I'm also sorry for posting this kinda late. I got very busy this morning and now everything is off-schedule. I'll try to post at a normal time tomorrow.

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#gakuen alice #alice academy #hyuuga natsume #natsume hyuuga #natsumikan #sakura mikan #mikan sakura #my meta #ga #mine #ga meta #ga meta: nm #ga meta: manga #ga meta: manga nm #let's talk about natsumikan #let's talk about natsumikan: natsume #ill be on something of a vacation for a bit. next monday i wont be able to post for sure. sorry abt that #ill try to queue something maybe but if i cant then im really sorry #this arc is so much abt natsume but the interesting stuff is for mikans pov... his is pretty standard Natsume Hijinks.#i listened to the twilight soundtrack while editing this for posting hehehe #yes i edit these kinda heavily and then format them and find pics before posting so they look nice for yall #our scans situation is a bit tragic. so sad. honeysuckle scans is our savior #the first pic. the dumb one with her holding his hand and dragging him around #i literally cant stop thinking abt it. theyre so cute #thanks for your patience yall. love ya #edit: for a sec i forgot the read more how cringe of me #heres the song rec: everyone but you by the front bottoms #if ur here now ur lucky cuz im updating my older essays w songs in the tags!

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verytiredblob · 3 years

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My reviews on Manhwas

Alright so, recently I've began to fall into the great Manhwa hell, as if I didn't have enough fandoms.

But I neither have friends to chat about this with, nor a Discord chat where I can fanby about it, so I just decided to throw it in here.

These are both Manhwas I recommend and my opinions on them. If there are any spoilers, They will be striked through and in blue for anyone that wishes to avoid them (if anyone even reads this lol).

1. The Villainess Reverses the Hourglass (악녀는 모래시계를 되돌린다)

Premise: Aria was a terrible person and was sentenced to dead by being beheaded. In her final moments, she discovers her step sister, Mielle, actually manipulated her during her entire life just so she could get Aria killed. She then is beheaded, and wakes up in the past, in her child body. So now, she must work to both survive and get her revenge on her sister.

Lovely story, and my first Manhwa. The art is simply stunning, and all the characters are very flashed out and developed. Aria (MC) is the pettiest person alive and I'm here for that.

Also, I noticed a trend where, even though the manhwa has "Villainess" in the title, the MC is usually a total angel. Well, not here. Aria is egotistical and a total Diva, she has her goals and one of them is her revenge and by all that is sacred she'll get it.

Mielle is a great villain, she has grown a lot in her own pettiness and tactics since she was a child, and I really like that. Also, watching her suffer for being a terrible person is delightful.

The Male Lead (Asher) is also really cool, I like how he's both witty and friendly, and how much he truly admires Aria and her achievements.

The side characters are also pretty good, and they get a lot of focus because of their interactions with the main cast.

Again, The art is S T U N N I N G. Look at this:

Literally all panels are drawn like this or better, I'm in love.

All in all, an awesome read, 10/10, I love this a lot.

2. The Monster Duchess And Contract Princess (괴물 공작가의 계약 공녀)

Premise: Leslie's life was terrible, and always centered on her big sister, Eli. After a failed attempt of her family to grant Eli her sister's skills and knowledge, Leslie searches for the feared "Monster Duchess" in an attempt to survive.

Another one with incredible art AND incredible characters. Leslie is an absolute angel, and seeing her grow as a person is awesome.

The gender envy I feel with the Duchess is unbearable, she's utterly perfect. And the entire family is so dotting and loving and sweet, my little grinch heart can't take it.

She's perfection, really.

The plot keeps getting more and more mysterious, and I'm here for it!

I love each of the main characters a lot, and even the villains are well done and fuel your hatred.

Also, Eli Sperado and her Dad can choke on those black flames for all eternity.

Another 10/10, although I must warn anyone that wishes to read this that the translations sometimes are very spotty and messy, so it can be a bit annoying.

3. I'll be the Matriarch in this Life (이번 생은 가주가 되겠습니)

Premise: Firentia was a girl that died in Korea in her past life, and was reborn into an influential family as the illegitimate daughter of the third son. Her life was pretty terrible, with in the end, her family ending up in poverty and disgrace because of her uncles and cousins, while she was exiled from the family. After another accident, she wakes up in her past, now with a goal: Become the Lombardi matriarch and stop the other family heirs from bringing it to ruin.

Awesome art and Awesome plot number 3! This is so good, genuinely. Firentia is such an awesome plotter, and her goals and actions are very well developed.

The Male Lead is my baby and I shall protect him, and the side characters? Utterly stunning.

The twins are the cutest fucking shit, seriously. Like, look at these two?? I'm dead. Although, all the children are very, veeery cute.

I like how Firentia subtly manipulates things around her to get what she wants. It's similar to Aria, but she's much more mature and knowledgeable, and has a much less petty goal.

Guess what? 10/10. Yeah, I know, I'm terrible at grading, sue me.

4. The Twins Siblings' New Life (쌍둥이 남매의 뉴라이프)

Premise: Arien and Arjen were a pair of twins that died in Korea, and were reborn again as twins and as the Emperor's illegitimate children. Now, with only each other to trust, they must do their best to survive.

My current obsession. I really like this one. The art is not on the same level of pure Awesome like the ones before, but it's pretty good nonetheless.

The plot is pretty nice, but I must warn you: DO NOT expect them to act like adults. Honestly, just forget they're meant to be reborn in this world. They're just normal children and that's it. They act like children, and they think like children. Honestly, I think the author just wanted to make this story about them as children and their producer went and said to make them reincarnates because that Isekai shit is popular nowadays (And to justify they having memories of their newborn days). Seriously, just ignore it, the experience reading will be much better.

Other than that, the story develops nicely. The characters are all very good and the plot is very mysterious. I am holding myself back to not spoil anything, aaaaa.

There is also only one another thing that disappoints me: Arien is very clearly the MC. The story is told by her eyes and we only know what Arjen thinks or feels when he says it 9 or by subtext). I really wish it was more balanced, because they're both different people and have different perspectives, and also I really like Arjen.

I have absolutely no idea where this plot is gonna go, and honestly? I like it. It's very rare when I don't know how things are gonna develop because of other stories, so it feels very fresh.

The brothers are freaking awesome. I was so scared they were going to hate the twins and be petty, because of other manhwas that are like that, but they're so loving and sweet?? All hail these idiots. Also, Daddy is the biggest dumbass of all, this poor clueless man.

An 8/10, because of the complaints above. Still a good read, and I really like it, even with it's defects.

4. I'm A Stepmother, But My Daughter Is Just Too Cute! (계모인데 딸이 너무 귀여워)

Premise: A seamstress dies of overwork in Korea, and wakes up in the body of Abigail, the vain Queen, and the evil stepmother to the princess Blanche. Yes, It's like she stepped into the world of Snow White, and she must now do her best to live and.. Dote on Blanche with toys and dresses as much as possible?

Again with the awesome art and nice plot. Why are there so many manga with awesome art?? I'm so envious.

May all hail this crispy, delicious art.

Abigail is a whole mood, and I enjoy how she is inserted into the life of someone who had already lived and had a reputation. Her actions baffle a lot of the characters, as do her motivations, and I'm here for it.

The King has also an amazing backstory that's very tragic and yikes. I enjoy it, really. Not something you see in men's backstories that much.

Also, I'm kinda saddened by the fact the MC and the king are bound to become an actual couple. They would be such good platonic friends stuck in a political marriage. I was robbed, y'all.

Abigail greatest ambition is to get to design a dress for Blanche and have her wear it, and you know what? Good for her! Sometimes, it's good to have an MC that is not plotting against world at large.

Also, her mirror? Verite is simply perfect, I love this guy. I non-jokingly ship him with Abigail more than her with the King.

Blanche is a sweetheart, she deserves to be in my "adopted children" wall.

For now it's more of a Slice of Life than anything? But I also don't know what happens in the novels, so I'm just going to wait.

For the current lack of a grater plot, this gets a 7/10. Still pretty good and entertaining, especially for when you just don't feel like trying to understand deep plots with lots of elements.

5. Beware of the Brothers! (그 오빠들을 조심해!)

Premise: Another one of those "I lived my life and then wake up in the past." Hari was adopted by this family after the death of their only daughter, and although her parents love her, her 3 older siblings very much don't. She lives a miserable life in their hands, and when it's the night before she is to get married and finally escape her brothers, she wakes up in the past, and has to deal with them all over again.

Another nice art one, and the background characters are very nice, as is the MC.

But for me, it has a big problem. And that problem is the main ship. It's Hari with her eldest brother, Eugene. Even though they are not related and yadda yadda yadda, they were raised as such, and thus it bothers me. Also, Eugene is as plain as white bread and just as generic when seen as the Male Lead.

I ship Hari with Johan, even though I know it's not gonna happen, Ugh, the pain..

For me, the main point in this is Hari's relationship with her other siblings and the other background characters. I'm here for that wholesome sibling interaction. Her relationship with Erich, specially, is awesome. I love these two so much

It also kinda lacks a plot? Other than the relationship development and their story as a family, but again, I have no idea how they will develop this.

Also, pet peeve? Why do they keep using Oppa instead of translating it properly as brother? I get honorifics and stuff, but it's so annoying.

I give it a 6/10. Good characters and good relationships outside of the bloody incest thing, and it's a good enough way to pass the time.

There are two more that I've read, buut it's like 4am and I'm sleepy as all hell, so I'll just add it in a reblog or attached post later, and I plan on doing this for other future manhwas as well.

Do you have any recommendations or comments or just wanna talk about any of these manhwas? Hit me up!

#The villainess reverses the hourglass #the monster duchess and contract princess #i'll be the matriarch in this life #I'm a stepmother but my daughter is just too cute!#Beware of the brothers!#manhwa #webtoon #manhwa recommendation #isekai

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lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks · 3 years

Text

I actually used my own experiences with grief and loss in this one, I could channel it better writing from Jazz's perspective

so yeah if you thought the last two were sad-

Part 3

Jazz had never gone ghost hunting with her mother before, at least never with just the two of them. It was uncomfortable, unfamiliar, like when her only friend at a party left her alone with someone she barely knew.

Her relationship with her mother had always been intellectual in nature, they would engage in philosophical debates over the ethics and morality of the ghost hunting profession while eating dinner, the discussions became far more intense after Jazz discovered Danny's secret. She was no longer debating simply for the sake of an interesting discussion, she was trying to introduce concepts that would smooth the way for when her brother was ready to reveal his other self to them.

It was a tactic she had used successfully many years before, albeit for a far more mundane reason.

Going ghost hunting with Maddie wasn't just uncomfortable because it was unfamiliar, it wasn't even because of her ethical disagreement with her mother's tactics.

It was because her father was supposed to be here.

Maddie rarely went hunting without Jack, not if she could help it, they had always been a team, they worked perfectly in synch with one another, but Jack wasn't here. Jazz was, and his shoes just didn't fit.

Jazz didn't have to go, technically, she wasn't even trying to help with the ghost hunting part, but... she couldn't let Maddie go alone.

Maddie was coping with Jack's death far worse than anyone.

From the moment they'd returned home from the hospital, after Jack had been declared dead, Maddie had been out every day and night hunting for the Wisconsin Ghost. It didn't matter to her that he hadn't been seen since that night, it didn't matter that he had always been too powerful for anyone to take on alone.

Maddie would drive around for hours, chasing any blip on her radar and ferociously ripping into any unfortunate ghost to cross her path.

Danny had been running damage control, warning the more agreeable ghosts to stay out of Amity, capturing the rest as covertly as possible, doing everything he could to stay away from Maddie while in his ghost form.

Jazz had been the only one left to do everything else. She had turned 18 just a few months before, so thankfully she had been legally able to sign all the documentation, to plan the funeral arrangements, the cremation, the obituary. All of it, by herself.

She was grateful, in a way. It gave her something to do, something to focus on that wasn't grief, that wasn't the cold empty hole in her life. Jack's presence had always been hard to ignore, his absence even more so.

Danny had tried to help with the preparations, when he wasn't in the ghost zone or cleaning up ghosts around town. He appeared to be holding himself together okay, but Jazz knew better, she knew that the guilt was eating him up from the inside. It didn't matter how many times she reassured him that he wasn't responsible for this, that he wasn't to blame, it made no difference.

It was only when Jazz had run out of tasks to do that she let herself cry.

She knew that sitting around was only going to make her feel worse, she couldn't let herself stew in her grief, she needed a purpose to pull her through. So she joined her mother on her feverish hours long hunts.

It was escapism, she knew that, for both of them. To Maddie, the hunting was something else to focus on so she could ignore her grief, it gave her a sense of control and purpose. Jazz was using looking out for her mother as her own distraction, her own grasp for purpose and control.

She knew these things, and she knew they were not entirely healthy, but she didn't know what else to do.

If this were anyone else she would have told them to seek out professional therapy, go to grief counselling, practice radical acceptance, to use visualisation exercises and grounding techniques to manage intrusive thoughts. Vengeance and fury weren't a healthy release, they would only build, they would only lead to more pain.

But her books hadn't prepared her for something like this, how could she seek help from someone she can't tell the whole truth? How could she grieve in peace when the justice system couldn't touch her father's murderer? He was still out there, he was still a threat. It was only a matter of time before he started working his way into Maddie's good graces, shamelessly emboldened by his successful assassination.

Jazz was furious when Danny insisted they keep Vlad's identity a secret. She understood where he was coming from. Her mother was struggling enough as it was, Jazz couldn't imagine what it would do to her to find out that it had been her husband's best friend all this time. That he had murdered Jack because he wanted her, the guilt alone would be soul crushing, and then there was the certainty that Vlad would reveal Danny's identity in return.

She couldn't even imagine...

Jazz was still angry, angry that Danny had to be the one to say it, angry that he was right, angry that he could be so rational while inside she was falling to pieces. She knew better, she knew how much he was hurting on the inside too, she knew that he was just good at hiding it, much better than she was.

She was still angry, but they both knew she wasn't angry at him.

When she got up that morning, her mother had been in the lab, her weaponry was getting more dangerous, less capture oriented and more destructive. Jazz wasn't sure if working down there was better than the hunting or worse, but at least no unsuspecting ghosts were getting torn to pieces.

Jazz had witnessed a few first-hand, it was bad enough seeing it happen to the formless, barely sentient poltergeists, she didn't want to know what a true spirit would look like, being eviscerated with such malice. She imagined a ghost like Johnny, laying on the ground with chunks ripped from his-

No, no that wasn't helpful, that was an intrusive thought, she needed to acknowledge its presence and move on, it didn't help her, let it go, like leaves on a string, let it go...

It would be back later, she knew.

Her breakfast was suddenly incredibly unappealing, not that that was anything new. She wouldn't be surprised if she'd lost weight over the last week, her clothes already felt just a little too loose.

A sudden and intense pang of longing hit her fast and hard, she missed him. It had only been a week and she already missed him so much. She just wanted him to wrap his big arms around her and hold her close and dig his chin into her hair in that way that annoyed her and tell her everything was okay Jazzypants and... and he was the only one who ever called her that. She hated it. She'd never hear it again...

She pushed her bowl of cereal away and stood, her eyes burning. She had to find something else to do, to keep her mind busy.

She went around the living room, clearing the coffee table and fluffing the pillows, there was a stain on the lounge, probably from a bit of fudge-

The curtains were looking dusty, they could probably use a clean, would they fit in the washing machine or would they need to be hand washed?

She'd started trying to unhook them from the curtain rod when the lab door banged open loudly, Jazz jumped, startled. She ran to the kitchen to find her mother in tears, hand over her mouth like she was trying to hold it all back. Jazz wrapped her arms around her and Maddie grasped onto her tight, like she was afraid she would be snatched away at a moment's notice.

Jazz rocked slightly and ran a hand up and down her mother's back comfortingly as they each cried into the other's shoulder. Maddie hadn't cried like this since the first night, Jazz recognised it as a good sign, she was letting herself feel again.

"Where is he?" Maddie stammered, "W-where'd he go, where'd he go?"

Jazz just squeezed tighter, it was a difficult question for someone who studied the dead for a living, to wonder what happened after. They were never a religious family, being raised by scientists there was never talk of a heaven or hell, just the ghost zone, what lay beyond that was a mystery to them all, even the ghosts.

She sniffed, she could feel tears clinging to her eyelashes, and an odd itch to her scalp.

"Jazz?" Danny's voice echoed down the stairs.

She heard Danny come into the room behind her, he made an odd sound, a quick and quiet intake of breath. Was he trying not to cry? Jazz hadn't seen him cry once, not since he was dragged off of Vlad that night, bruised knuckles dripping red. They were tears of fury then, she would never forget the sound of Danny's ragged screams as he pummelled Vlad into the ground, despite all the hands trying to pull him off the man.

Vlad had simply taken the beating, he'd use it later, she knew. He would forgive Danny, say it that he deserved it for failing to fight off that terrible awful Wisconsin Ghost when it overshadowed him. He would say it was all his fault, that he deserved all that pain and more, he was oh so sorry.

And Maddie would forgive him, because it wasn't his fault, it was that awful awful ghost. Vlad could never do something so terrible to his best friend. Vlad would always be welcome in their home, and welcome he would make himself. Jazz could see it all, and she could do nothing about it.

Danny placed a hand on his mother's shoulder. "Maybe you should do another lap around town, you might find something today." he pressed his head close to hers and spoke softly into her frazzled hair.

Jazz glanced at Danny with narrow eyes, annoyed and confused, their mother was finally making progress, and Danny was going to send her right back to her fruitless obsessive search for vengeance? He had to know it wasn't helpful, he had to.

He looked at her, wide eyed and thin lipped as he gave a quick jerk of the head and flick of the eyes to the front door. He wanted Maddie out of the house, for what reason Jazz didn't know and obviously couldn't ask, but she trusted her brother and did as she was told. Something was going on, but she would have to ask Danny about it later.

The day was warm and only a little humid, they drove with the windows down. Jazz enjoyed the wind on her face, she did not enjoy the silence.

It stretched on, unbroken by the radar as Danny's patrol earlier in the dawn had swept the town clean of ghost activity. It looked like Jazz wouldn't be watching another massacre today, she couldn't be more relieved.

"It's been quiet." Maddie said, out of the blue.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Guess it has," Jazz paused, "maybe you scared them all off?"

"They should be scared." Maddie's tone was low, threatening. If Jazz were a ghost she would be terrified.

There was more quiet, they passed the local park, the sound of kids playing and birds singing were loud for a few moments, until the trees disappeared into the distance behind them and the quiet returned.

"Haven't seen much of Phantom either." Maddie spat. "I'm surprised he hasn't shown up to gloat."

Pain shot through Jazz like an arrow, she would have to warn Danny to make extra sure to stay out of their mother's way, she was very clearly ready to shift a whole lot of misplaced aggression directly onto him.

She considered challenging her mother's assumption, but thought it best not to provoke her right now. Instead she merely hummed an acknowledgment.

They drove past the school, empty for the summer. Jazz's final exams had only just ended before her father's birthday, but she had missed graduation. She didn't want to go without him there, she was supposed to give a speech, she was too busy writing a eulogy.

They passed a group of people she knew from school, they gave her a little wave. Despite Jack's notoriety, everyone had been sad to hear the news, they'd sent a giant card around the school and everyone she knew had signed it, including the teachers, and everyone in Danny's year too. Mr Lancer brought it to the house with an enormous bouquet, he couldn't convince the school to pay for one so he bought it out of his own pocket.

Jazz had gotten texts and private messages, all saying they were here for her if she ever needed to talk. She responded to most of them, but sometimes she just sent a heart emoji. It was easier than writing the same thank you message over and over. She didn't take any of them up on the offer.

The drive wasn't too bad honestly, without any ghosts showing up it was almost relaxing. Maddie hadn't said much else other than a few observations about the traffic or the weather. When Jazz suggested getting some lunch Maddie had opted to use the Nasty Burger drive through so they could eat in the van. Jazz was grateful, she didn't want to run into anyone else from school.

Her phone buzzed, it was Danny sending her a thumbs up, they were safe to go home.

"We should probably head home." Jazz suggested, slurping the last of her drink. "We've been all over town, there's nothing here."

Maddie grit her teeth but revved up the van and turned toward FentonWorks.

As soon as they were through the door Maddie headed to the lab, presumably to drown herself in more work. Jazz headed up the stairs where Danny waited for her.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Danny shushed her looking over her shoulder down the stairs.

"It's fine she's in the lab," Jazz reassured him, "what's going on?"

He didn't answer, just grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward his room, closing the door behind them and locking it.

"I'm going to try something," he said, crossing the room to stand before her, "But I think you should sit down first."

Jazz frowned but she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Is this about Vlad? Did he come here?" A rush of heat spilled over her face, "If that son of a bitch tried anything I'll-"

"Jazz it's fine, it's not Vlad, it's fine." Danny breathed, running a hand through his hair nervously. "It's just, I'm trying something but I need you here to tell me if it works, okay?"

He nibbled his lip anxiously but he also seemed... almost excited about something. Had he developed a new power?

Jazz nodded and paid close attention as Danny took a few steps back and put a hand up, palm facing to the side and away from himself, his fingers curled slightly as if grabbing for something.

He took a deep breath and the heat of the summer air chilled, a trail of green mist flowed over his hand and began to form a shape in the air beside him.

Almost immediately as it began to form Jazz knew.

She leapt to her feet to stand before the large figure revealing itself gradually before her, when the mist crept over a square jaw and close cropped haircut she threw her hands over her mouth to stifle her gasping breaths.

"Dad." she breathed, she reached for him but didn't dare touch, afraid that she would ruin the illusion. Was he here? Was he real? She looked to Danny but his eyes were closed, face scrunched in concentration. He peeked at her for a moment, his grimace lifting into a strained smile.

"It's him." said Danny, through gritted teeth, "Say hi."

Jazz cried as Jack lifted a hand toward her face, he was still a translucent shimmering green, but she was certain she could see tears on his face. He mouthed words that she couldn't hear, but she knew them all the same.

Hey Jazzypants.

She was sobbing hard as she grasped the hand cupping her face, her fingers went right through it, but she could feel it, like she could feel his palm against her cheek. It was cold, and so light it almost tickled, but she could feel it.

She tried again, very gently feeling for that slight resistance to the air and holding her hand against it, she couldn't touch him for real, she couldn't hold him, but she could feel him. That was enough.

"I missed you dad." She smiled through her tears, "I missed you so much."

His features were still hard to make out, but it was clear he was smiling, he mouthed more words.

"Sorry, I can't hear you." said Jazz, sadly.

"He says he liked the obituary." Danny grunted, eyes still squeezed shut. "He knew you wrote it, he could tell."

Jazz laughed, it was only a little hysterical. Danny's hand trembled against Jack's arm. Jazz wanted to tell him he could stop now, but she didn't want her dad to go, not yet.

She raised her hands to cup his face, only just feeling the whisper of a few bristles on his chin. She didn't know what to say, what could she say?

"I'm so glad you're here," she said quietly with as much feeling as she could, "but, why are you here? You said you'd never... you'd never..."

Jack said nothing, but glanced over to Danny, whose hair had started streaking with white and glinting with crystalline shards of ice.

"Don't get to choose." He growled, his voice sounded distorted, his jaw clenched so hard Jazz could hear his teeth grinding, "Happens or it doesn't."

Danny's lips were pulled back in a pained snarl and were turning blue, his canines were sharpening as blinding flashes of green slipped from beneath his eyelids. A large puff of opaque mist rolled from his mouth upon each laboured exhale.

Jazz gave her father a careful hug, trying to lean into him without falling through.

"We're gonna figure this out dad I promise we're gonna figure it out."

She could feel his arms around her, the slight pressure reminding her of being buffeted by a strong gust of wind.

Danny took that as his cue, he pulled his hand back with a ragged cry and Jack's misty green form dissipated like smoke in a breeze.

Jazz stared into the empty space her dad's face had only just filled moments ago.

"Is he still here?" She asked, voice trembling.

"Yuh- yeah," Danny huffed, he was bent over, catching his breath. "I can suh- still see him, and hear him."

He stood straight as he pulled in a deep lungful of air. Then he laughed, a rough, exhausted laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.

"I'm so glad that worked, oh Ancients. I'm gonna need a minute." he crashed onto the bed face down.

"What exactly did you do?" Jazz asked, eyes still locked on the space where Jack had been, and presumably was still, standing.

"Dad only just formed a consciousness this morning," Danny grumbled into his bedding. "He's still warm, hasn't manifested a core yet. I just loaned him some energy."

"Still warm?" Jazz turned her nose up at the phrase.

"Yeah, it's uh, ghost slang. Means freshly dead, y'know like the body's still-"

"Yeah yeah I get it," Jazz waved a hand dismissively. "Gross."

"That's what dad said."

"Yeah! Because it's gross!"

Danny laughed, but it was barely more than a breathy huff. Jazz eyed him carefully, he was a little more pale than usual, there were bags beneath his eyes, his cheeks were a little hollow and his lips were still tinged with blue. All his usual signs of overexertion, but other than that he looked relatively okay.

"Why was it so exhausting?" Jazz asked. "I would've thought you'd have more than enough energy to share, especially for something as simple as visibility."

"Amount isn't the issue." Danny raised a finger pointedly, "Simple is the issue, imagine trying to fill a water balloon with a fire hose."

Jazz balked.

"Wait, that sounds unbelievably dangerous!" Jazz glared at Danny and then back at the empty room, "What happens to dad if you lose control?"

Danny groaned and flipped himself over onto his back, an arm flung over his eyes.

"Don't get mad at me it was his idea." Danny glared at the empty space for a beat before barking, "Was too!"

Jazz rolled her eyes, "Oh my god you are both children." She turned to Danny and pointed a thumb over her shoulder, "I can't hear him so you're going to have to tell me, what would happen to him if you lost control?"

Danny pressed his lips together and muttered guiltily, "He... could'a destabilised."

"He WHAT?!"

"I told you it was his idea!"

"I don't care whose idea it was!" Jazz alternated between glaring at Danny and at the space behind her. "You're both idiots for trying something so risky! There wasn't some way to practice?!"

"What do think we were doing while you were gone!" Danny exclaimed, "Also he's standing over there now, he moved so he wouldn't feel like you were yelling at him."

Jazz planted a hand over her face, and shook her head in disbelief, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry, her dad had been back for not even ten minutes and she was already yelling at him.

She spluttered a choked up giggle, wiping her eyes and sniffling.

"God I missed you dad." Jazz said, before she started bawling.

#lula's fanfics #danny phantom #tw death #tw loss #tw grief #yeah I really feel like I need these tags this time #danny phantom fanfiction #Bitter

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