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crayons-cats-chaos · 2 months

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TW: Religious Abuse-Two True Trauma Dumps

So. Following some of the rules I had to maintain, here comes some vivid memories I have of my abuse. Note that these are only a couple of fucked up moments and that I have severe memory loss when it comes to my childhood, so some details maybe murky. 1) I was...oh I don't know...maybe 9? And everyone that was in charge of everything at the church (including my dad-he was in charge of the childrens activities for a while) discovered that I had a wonderful singing voice (I think its alright, they were mystified though). I was recruited to sing for EVERYTHING. I had to sit through hours of boring sermons just to sing a 2 minute song and not get home into bed until 10-11 pm (I was NINE and I had to be up for the bus at 6). Every single event I had to be ready to sing. It was expected. I had to use my wonderful vocal cords for G O D. Even if I was sick. One particular Christmas, we were doing our little play in which the adults and children all participated together. I was Gabriel. The night of the show, I was so SO sick. I had a fever that was making me hallucinate like I was in a dream and my voice was SHOT. I couldn't hit the high notes of my solo. Normally, you'd have a stand in. You'd figure SOMETHING out. And they did. But instead of me sitting this one out, I had to still be on FULL DISPLAY. I stood silently in my costume under painful spotlights while a ton of people gawked at me and an adult sung my solo. I literally just S T O O D there. I was SO uncomfortable. Then, I had to continue to be on stage the rest of the show. I was barely holding on by the time it was over, but no no no, I couldn't rest. I had to mingle for the after show refreshments. 2) Here it comes; the fun fucked up Baptism story that most of us abuse survivors have. To lead up to the event, I had to do "classes" with the Pastor. I was 7-8 at the time and it was expected, but I was CURIOUS. Thankfully, the Pastor was NOT a ped. He was, however, the "you must have blind faith" person. He did not like that I asked practical questions, and every time I did he would just say something to the extent of "because that's just how it is and that's how you avoid Hell". Anyway, I did my "classes" once a week for 6 weeks and was QUIZZED to make sure I was worthy of Baptism. Fucking Q U I Z Z E D guys. I passed, of course, because I knew the Bible by heart like a good little brainwashed muffin. So, the event was scheduled. I had all kinds of rules. I can't remember them all, but I do know I had to wear a white dress. It was non-negotiable. The pool was about 3 ft deep and I was walked into freezing cold water with a whole congregation watching me (they really liked to put me on display, and this was a big moment considering I was the "golden child" so a lot of people came just to see this) and was instructed to plug my nose with zero time to follow the command. I was dunked in the ice water once, twice, three times for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When I was allowed to get out of the water, there was no towel waiting for me. I had to stand, climb the stairs, and walk off of the stage with my WHITE GOWN clinging to my little child body. I don't know if there were peds in the audience, but its Christianity, so lets assume I was putting on a show. I was so cold and shivering, but I was not allowed to leave the stage until a prayer was spoken over me. Finally, when I was allowed to go and dry off, I was led into a room that was NOT a bathroom. It had HUGE OPEN WINDOWS and I was expected to get completely naked, dry off, and get re-dressed. I was NOT being watched, thankfully, but that does not take away the overwhelming feeling of vulnerability I was forced to feel at such a young age. I have so many more, but these are two of them that live rent free at the top of my brain....

#tw religious trauma #onetimemydadcalledmeawhoreforwearingbootiestochurch #jokesonthemallimawitchnow #breakingthosegenerationalcurses #ideservedbetter

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hamsahoney777 · 9 months

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The dream from two nights ago:

I was swimming in the ocean at night. I now realize that the ease in which I swam and the fact I could telepathically communicate with sharks in the water without fear means I probably was back in mermaid form. Not that I know how easy or hard it is to swim in the ocean. I don't know how to swim in this life.

I made my way to shore. Ryan is standing there waiting for me. He gives me a towel to dry off and suggests we go to a local place for some food. Wherever we were, it was not familiar to me but he is holding my hand and leading the way to a beach side restaurant/bar.

He had chosen a place with an open mic night. It was fun to watch in the crowd until he turned to me and said "So...I did sign us up to perform."

Not that waking Ryan particularly knows this, but after being subjected to monarch programing as a child, I developed severe stage fright. There's something about putting a global depopulation plan into the subconscious of a three year old, which just doesn't mesh well with being able to want to be perceived.

My mother very much wanted me to be a performer and child star and was often taking me up to LA for auditions until after being mk ultra'd, where I would break down crying at every audition.

Even as a teenager, living out my mother's dream of being a musician, I had a lot of issues with being on stage. I've dealt with a lot of this trauma as an adult, with the help of spirituality, so who knows what it would be like now. Do event spaces still even hold open mic nights? I wouldn't know.

I do actually believe Ryan and I first crossed paths back in the late 90s. Not that I would have been able to pick his face out of a line of people. We were both very young, but I remember the spirit.

The same spirit that showed itself to me when I went to his house while he was out of town. The same spirit that has always been with me, supporting me through the absolute hell that was imposed on me. The same spirit that never let me die, no matter how much pain I was in. The same spirit gently guiding me to calm waters after every storm. He was always there, in the spirit.

Trauma dumping aside, I respond with "us? I am so unprepared. Why would you do this to me? " He smiles and pulls out my makeup bag. It's special to me, and has foxes on it.

I nervously go to the restroom to make myself nicer. I walk out, and he's holding a guitar. Does Ryan even play guitar? Did he plan this? He tells me which song we are going to perform, there's maybe 30 people there watching. As we are getting ready to go on stage, the dream ends.

#ryan dreams

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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02′s influence on Adventure

You’re probably reading the title and going “...what? Isn’t 02 the sequel to Adventure? How would a series be influenced by its own future sequel?”

The thing is, assuming that Adventure was written in a vacuum and everything in 02 a retrofit runs very contrary to how both series were produced, and how this kind of anime is produced in general -- Adventure and 02 share almost identical staff members, and were separated only by a real-life single week in airing time. 02′s existence was not a sudden last-minute decision that was tacked on at the end! In fact, Adventure being extended to a second series was decided seven months into its production, right around the end of the Tokyo arc (sometime around the third cour). Despite it being a rather tonally different series, 02 is really just Adventure’s staff...writing more.

This means that by the time production had moved to Adventure’s final arc, the staff was very aware that they would be on for another year writing a sequel to this anime -- which thus likely became the fuel behind many of its creative decisions, made specifically to pave the way for 02.

The ending

Yeah, so, this ending. You know this really famous ending? The one that’s had such an impact on franchise history that a lot of later things have even tried to imitate it in some form? The one that everyone cites as one of Adventure’s most famous scenes (for good reason)? This ending only exists because of 02. You know what actually would have been Adventure’s ending if 02 hadn’t existed?

The 02 epilogue.

The ending that we now know as the “02 epilogue” was actually decided on before recording for Adventure had even started. (They weren’t even sure about finalizing the character personalities yet!) All of the most substantial details about that epilogue -- the series actually being the adult Takeru’s novel, everyone in the world having a Digimon partner, and, as it seems, even Yamato and Sora getting married -- were decided on before 02 was even in the picture. Most likely, the only material difference would have been that the four characters introduced in 02 (Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, and Ken) and their partners wouldn’t have been involved, but everything else would have roughly been the same as the “epilogue” we know now. (This especially makes sense when you consider that one of Adventure’s major influences was the movie Stand By Me, which is extremely culturally influential in Japan as a “childhood summer adventure story”, and involves a similar timeskip epilogue with one character growing up to chronicle the story as a writer.) All of this was basically intended to tie into Adventure as a narrative of “a story of humanity’s evolution”, so this ending was envisioned as the “natural conclusion” of the story of Adventure as a whole. If anything from the original Adventure ending would have been retained in this hypothetical scenario of only Adventure existing, perhaps the sentiment of “parting” at the end -- but then it would still be followed by a timeskip epilogue 28 years later and everyone in the world having a partner.

But then it was decided that a second series would be made, and at some point they decided it would be a series set three years after the first, resulting in: this.

What this means is that Adventure’s ending was only ever intended as an ending for a single chapter in the overall Adventure series narrative. A lot of people like to pose 02′s existence or epilogue as something that “undid” Adventure’s ending, as if it was supposed to be some “ambiguous bittersweet” ending about whether they ever met their partners again, but...that ignores the real-life context of Adventure and 02′s production, where Our War Game! (which depicted an easy reunion with their partners, went out of its way to cameo Miyako in advance, and, for all intents and purposes, practically spoiled Adventure’s ending by depicting them as separated at all) screened before Adventure’s last episode aired, and there’s also the Adventure mini dramas that depicted more incidental meetings (and despite the constant fourth wall breaking and absurd crack content in them, yes, they’re intended to be taken as canon).

Again: in real life, the first episode of 02 aired one week after the last episode of Adventure. Even the real-life audience was likely well aware that this wasn’t going to be the end (and if they weren’t, they certainly would be when the promotional trailers for 02 started airing right after Adventure’s last -- and that’s assuming you missed all of the promotion appearing in real life beforehand, including at the end of Our War Game!’s screenings). The production staff all knew, because they’d already been working on 02 for months now -- they postponed their originally intended ending just to make this new one, after all!

So yeah, this line isn’t supposed to be just a vague “oh, maybe they’ll meet again” in an abstract poetic sense -- it’s completely literal, because it’s hinting at said gate opening again one real-life week later.

From both a story perspective and a real-life audience perspective, this ending was never meant to be seen as ambiguous.

Takeru and Hikari’s character arcs

02 often gets an accusation of being lacking in the character development department (one that I seriously disagree with and have been working very hard to counter), but this accusation especially gets levied often at Takeru and Hikari, who are often said to be “flat” or “kind of just there” in 02 (which, again, I object to; more on this below). This is often rationalized as a theory that the writers didn’t know what to do with them because they’d already been in Adventure, but...this, again, assumes too much that Adventure was written in a self-contained vacuum and anything in 02 was just an addition done after the fact.

There’s actually quite a bit of evidence that the last cour (or at least a significant amount of it) was written with the idea that Takeru and Hikari were going to be starring in the next series in mind.

This is especially pretty apparent when you get to the last episode, where Takeru and Hikari are conspicuously the ones to leave off on the most confident “we’ll meet again” notes, compared to the other six. Of course, they do it in their own respective ways (Takeru and Patamon resolve to make it happen, while Hikari cryptically acts like it’s already bound to happen, borderline prophetically), and maybe you could chalk it up to the fact that they’re the youngest and therefore most naive of this group...but, again, remember: 02′s first episode aired one week after this one, where we would immediately be treated to Takeru and Hikari following up on this. Given that, you can basically see this as a wink and a nod: “yeah, these two have a story that’s not over yet.”

And as much as I may sound like a heathen to the fanbase by claiming this, I would actually say that it’s the opposite of the above claim: Takeru and Hikari both have pretty unresolved arcs by the end of Adventure compared to the rest of the other kids, and in fact are fleshed out more in 02. It’s honestly kind of a stretch to say that they “already got development” in Adventure -- Takeru still has a ton of unresolved issues with his family and trauma and emotional behavior that aren’t properly addressed to nearly the same degree as how the older kids have their core issues brought to the forefront, while Hikari really was only around for less than half the series, and not only is her main problem of emotional suppression told purely from Taichi’s mouth and not her own, we also get no real follow-up on how she intends to work past that.

Those are some pretty huge things to leave unresolved at the end of a series that’s known for its focus on individual character development, and considering that the premise of 02 involving an older Takeru and Hikari was likely finalized around the middle of the last arc of Adventure, it’s easy to believe that they decided to deliberately hold off on resolving Takeru and Hikari’s issues in full so that their story could be told in the next series. And, indeed, while their characters being built on “being difficult to read” makes their development not quite as visible as some of the more eccentric personalities in the 02 cast, their respective Jogress partners (Iori and Miyako) more openly discuss and get to the bottom of their issues that had been lightly displayed or hinted in Adventure but never truly been addressed.

A lot of things that were not in Adventure

Adventure was admittedly kind of written as they went along (they didn’t even originally plan to have Hikari as the eighth child at first), so it’s hard to tell exactly what was planned and what was a later addition (and at what point things were added), but considering that the 02 epilogue was one of the first things planned in the entire series, as part of “a story of humanity’s evolution” and tying into a really long theory about partners doubling every year, it’s probably at least safe to say that a lot of the worldbuilding and lore was determined very early.

02 added a lot of lore dumps about Digital World mechanics and things related to the overall state of Chosen Children, which have been said by many to be retrofits to justify a buildup to the 02 epilogue, but, again -- the 02 epilogue was supposed to be for Adventure, so it’s very likely that these lore aspects were intended for Adventure as well! This is especially because it’s been outright confirmed that there were at least certain things originally intended for Adventure that ended up in 02, or at least were in 02 because they felt Adventure didn’t sufficiently cover it:

The kids’ home lives. As famous as the Tokyo arc of Adventure is, it only covered about a quarter of it -- the rest of it was the kids stranded in another world, separated from home! It’s specifically 02 that went into all of the things like school life, family life, daily life in Odaiba, and everything closer to the real world -- basically, everything related to family backgrounds that was very likely to have been in the planning documents for Adventure but never made it.

The (in)famous 02 episode 13 (or, at least, something like it) was intended for Adventure. As much as there’s common speculation that this episode was intended to be some giant subplot that got canned, from what we’ve heard from the staff, the truth actually seems to be a lot more mundane -- Adventure was a series very big on “oddities about the Digital World that have no real explanation” (see: phone booths), and when you reframe it in Adventure’s context, it’s likely that Dagomon and the Dark Ocean were intended to be yet another of those as part of its wider lore about the multiverse, to make you think “the heck was that?” but never get any real answer to. (And while it’s unclear whether the original theoretical Adventure version of this episode would have still involved Takeru and Hikari, if you want to put a tinfoil hat on and entertain that theory, it lends even further credence to the idea that their respective character arcs were deliberately held off for 02...)

Given that, and thinking about the 02 epilogue as the eventual goal for the series, you can also easily imagine a lot of 02-introduced things leading up to it as probably also having been baked into Adventure’s lore:

You know how 02 had a subplot about Chosen Children proliferating all over the world, as a lead-up to everyone in the world eventually having a partner? This was part of a “doubling every year” formula that’s been referred to a few times in background staff testimony. If you inspect this formula, this means that there were eight other Chosen Children besides Taichi and his friends, chosen between 1995 and 1999. Now, remember how Adventure episode 52 briefly touched on the bombshell of Chosen Children existing before Taichi and co., before never addressing it again? Considering all of the above facts, it’s very likely that’s intended to tie into that formula -- and, perhaps, had 02 had not existed to continue the subplot about “more Chosen Children”, Adventure would have taken more initiative about explaining the concept of Taichi and his friends not being the only humans with partners, and led it into their originally intended epilogue.

02 episode 33 involves Miyako visiting Kyoto and learning that there may be certain similarities between Digimon and Japanese youkai, to the point where they might be related somehow, despite predating digital technology. (The concept is revisited in Mimi’s track in Two-and-a-Half Year Break and the Adventure BD drama CD, both of them having been written after 02.) The thing is, the idea that Digimon and other similar entities actually existed prior to digital technology, and that said technology only allowed it to manifest physically in the real world, also is heavily tied to the original concept of Digimon partners being a manifestation of a part of the human’s soul, and therefore having a partner being a part of human evolution -- which is, again, heavily tied to the original intent behind the epilogue. So it’s very likely that this, at the very least, was one of the original lore points behind Adventure -- and if 02 had not existed, it’s possible that Adventure might have tried to cover it as part of a lead-up to that epilogue, rather than ultimately deferring it to 02.

This is, of course, speculation -- I’m not a member of staff, so I can’t speak for them -- but I do think it’s important to consider that while 02 was a tonally different series, it wasn’t just a sequel tacked on at the last minute, and rather just (mostly) the same staff learning three-quarters of the way through that they would have more time to continue this narrative, and reorganizing things to figure out what they wanted to do now and what they wanted to touch on if they had more time. Really, this whole narrative of “02 being a bunch of random additions they came up with and retrofit” seems to almost be the opposite of what actually happened -- while some of the ideas behind 02 were certainly created later, it’s less that Adventure was some ideal perfectly crafted story and 02 an addendum, and more that they had so many things they wanted to do in Adventure that couldn’t fit and used 02 to vent more of those out:

One of the concepts behind the prior series was for us to pack in as many interesting things that we’d seen, heard about, or read about as we could into it, so for 02, we thought, what else could we put in beyond even that?, and so we looked over what we needed to have, and put in all the things we could so that they wouldn’t be left out, and the story became a multi-layered one, overlapping and accelerating. It was to the point that, after we’d gone through 02‘s story, the scriptwriters told me that they’d worn everything they had out to the ground. In any case, we put everything we had into it back then.

Which means that understanding 02 is actually very retroactively important to understanding Adventure -- Adventure’s own writing was influenced by the knowledge that 02 would be part of its story, and 02 itself carries a lot of vital facts and story points from Adventure’s narrative that didn’t fit in the first 54 episodes, and, in real life, they were both written continuously as one story over the course of over two years. It’s also because of this that I seriously warn against seeing either series in a vacuum too much -- because both series are very deeply tied to each other, perhaps more so than a lot of people want to admit.

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #shihameta

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catharsis-in-a-bottle · 4 years

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AHSDHFHHJKKHD

THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT. WAS SO FUCKING GOOD.

[spoilers below if you haven’t seen it and you want to]

Here are some of my (not in any particular order) bullet points. This is gonna be long as hell because, you know, brain dumps amiright

First off, Anya Taylor-Joy’s acting. Is just incredible. In particular moments, you can tell what she’s thinking with a simple hand gesture or with the tiniest raise of an eyebrow. She develops Beth’s signature facial expressions and movements throughout the show, and you just feel like you know her. And during her chess matches, sometimes it feels like she’s staring into your soul. Especially when she gives that badass chin-on-the-hands look and she knows she’s going to win. Powerful energy.

Secondly, I fucking knew I recognized Harry Beltik from somewhere else but my mom didn’t BELIEVE me and then I looked up the actor and he’s DUDLEY DURSLEY, I WAS RIGHT MOTHER, I WAS RIGHT

I love love love how they didn’t make, like, a major romantic plotline. Beth doesn’t end up with a partner - she ends with a bunch of super supportive friends that have her back by the time she gets to Moscow, and like, she has a crush on Townes but they end up being just like super good and healthy friends and I love it?? So much?? Thank you producers

Townes. Just, in general. I really like his character, he’s super nice and his voice is oddly soothing

BORGOV. I LOVE BORGOV. HE IS SO GODDAMN RESPECTFUL. Like, he seemed like a very cold character at first - well-mannered and extremely professional, yes, but rather cold. But when she wins in Moscow? “It is your game. Take it.” I LOVE THAT SO MUCH. AND HE HUGS HER AND STARTS CLAPPING AND THE AMOUNT OF RESPECT AND ADMIRATION AND AFFECTION IN THAT SCENE IS INCREDIBLE. And you don’t see any of that in Borgov’s face when he’s playing. His facial expressions do not change at all. But then his face when she wins!! He’s HAPPY! He’s like, goddamn, I’ve spent my whole life mastering chess, it’s about time somebody fucking beat me! I know I’m repeating myself but just his RESPECT I absolutely adore it

And Beth’s officer-watcher-person in Moscow was all like “ahhh be wary of the Russians! communism!!” but they absolutely did not make this yet another evil Russian show, like please that trope works for plots but it’s about time somebody did something different - they showed the US government as suspicious of the Soviets but then they showed the solidarity between the chess players that Benny talked about earlier (”The Russians work together, Americans work alone” or something like that), and then they showed the kind and excitable people on the streets, and the amount of support they would have had no matter WHO won that goddamn match. The old man she plays at the end. Everyone is a community.

Continuing that - I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the old man with the very puffy white hair, but I loved him too. He sees Beth as the rising star she is, and he respects her. He admires her. The dynamic there is absolutely immaculate, contrary to the dynamic between Beth and the man she beats earlier, the one who walks off and doesn’t even talk to her. We don’t like that man - we like the ones who admit defeat and respect Beth!! I love them!! They are extremely professional, and they show the warm-heartedness that often doesn’t show with all of the cold stares and glares that pass between players during matches.

Joline. I’m so glad she came back. I love her. She’s extremely independent but she comes back for Beth because Beth needs her but she’s also like “I’m not your savior! Get your shit together!” which is fucking awesome. And the fact that the two of them interacted like the best of friends even after years of separation was really sweet to me.

I nearly cried when Beth went back into the school. (I say ‘nearly’ because there were other people in the room and naturally I can’t do that in front of other people. If I was utterly alone, maybe on my own planet, I would have.) Because of all of it. Because of her trauma, because that’s where all the shit began... and the music during that scene. It was hauntingly beautiful, especially when the melody began switching to cello. And then Beth saw all the pictures and newspaper clips that Mr. Shaibel had saved, because he cared about her so much, because he started it all - he’s the reason she’s going to national tournaments, to Paris, to Moscow. And in that scene, we know he’s too old to be alive anymore, and she does too. The whole school scene in general just feels so ghostly and ethereal.

I love Borgov, did I say that already? I just... strive to exude his energy. I want to be good at things but I want to hold deep, genuine respect and admiration for others who are also good at the thing, because sometimes I just have the biggest fucking ego and I can get carried away. ‘Borgov, Borgov, Borgov.’ A mantra. He wins respectfully and he loses respectfully.

BETH’S MOTHER (the second one) JUST FUCKING DIED OUT OF NOWHERE?? AND I WAS SO SHOCKED? Which is really an accurate reflection of reality because death often comes out of nowhere, but DAMN I was not expecting that shit

And the fact that the mother just,,,, let her chug a beer,,,, oof

THE ADDICTION. BETH’S DOWNWARD SPIRAL. IT MADE ME FEEL SO HORRIBLE BUT IT FELT SO REAL. Everything about her progression through addiction was just... I can’t find an adjective. But when she just fucking inhaled that bucket of pills as a kid and then collapsed. When that addiction lasted into her adulthood - it’s really impactful and horrible and just so real. She needed proper care throughout this entire goddamn show and she never got medical care, she just got supportive friends - which, btw, that’s one thing that kind of threw me off. Like, she didn’t have withdrawal in Moscow, she went from chugging like four bottles of wine a day to... not drinking at all?? Without withdrawal symptoms?? And I’m proud of her for throwing away those pills but honestly it felt really fast, idk

GIVING CHILDREN TRANQUILIZERS WAS AN ACTUAL THING THAT HAPPENED. I DID NOT PREVIOUSLY KNOW THIS. BUT LEGITIMATELY, IT HAPPENED. HOLY SHIT.

HARRY BELTIK. He was like, awkwardly in love with Beth and that shit didn’t work out but even afterwards he FUCKING CARED. He’d seen his father drink himself to death and he knew that would happen to Beth and he was scared. So he came back, he tried to help her, and at that point (when she had that fucking scary eye makeup, yeah that was rock bottom) she didn’t care much about the outside world anymore. She was angry, and she was closing herself in. It made my stomach clench in physical pain. Which is a good thing. But also not.

Harry Beltik in general just being so supportive and wanting to help her though, like yeah it was very awkward, but they were vibing

AND BENNY WATTS IS FUCKING GREAT. THAT WHOLE COWBOY LOOK, COWBOY CHESS PLAYER, NOW THAT’S AN AESTHETIC. He was concerned for Beth too. He wanted to help her. He wanted to create that American solidarity that he knew the Soviet competitors had, and ultimately he did when he and everyone else called her in Moscow. Benny is... chaotic good? Neutral? He is quite an interesting character, and Beth’s persistent social awkwardness fades away with him because he knows how to interact with her. He’s a dedicated and smart narcissist, and I’m here for it.

The fact that they made me love and hate Cleo at the same time, and also question Beth’s sexuality when she first met Cleo. Like, she’s from Paris. She considers ‘tomorrow night’ to be a very long time away. I love her mysteriousness. But also, she was the catalyst for Beth’s downward drinking spiral before the match in Paris, so like... I like Cleo’s personality, but not her choices in those previous moments.

The music. Did I mention the music? The soundtrack. The orchestrals. That one song that the mother plays on piano that I hear all the time and I still don’t actually know what it is PLEASE HELP. The music is melancholy in the right moments, upbeat in the right moments, intense and suspenseful in the right moments - and also absent in the right moments. There’s tacet. There’s silence. And it’s always been my firm belief that silence can hold just as much impact as sound.

Just an interesting note, my mom watched the whole show before me and then re-watched it with me, and when Mr. Shaibel showed up she quickly reassured me that he wasn’t a child molester, because quote “it may be a creepy basement but he’s just really nice” so... I was reassured

I love Mr. Shaibel, and Beth just kept sticking up for him in front of the press and,,, yeah

I hated that bitch from the high school, what was her name?... The one who showed up in the store with a child? It makes me think about the fact that so many kids are just jerks in high school simply because they can be... and occasionally their fuckery lasts into adulthood but oftentimes it doesn’t. You don’t have to be a jerk when you’re an adult, and you don’t have to be a jerk in high school! People remember, people always remember! So, to the bitch from the high school: fuck you for making Beth feel like an outsider and then trying to reverse gears and accept her, cuz Beth isn’t falling for that shit.

The twins, Matt and Mike. They’re so doubtful of Beth in the beginning but then bam, she’s competing nationally, and I adore how the three of them become friends. All those men playing chess in Kentucky in the beginning seem so condescending, but ultimately they show respect because Beth absolutely fucking deserves it.

I enjoy the fact that we never *really* know Beth’s age. It’s just like... she’s 9, she’s 15, she’s 17, she’s... twenty something? Who the hell knows? As many characters say, when it comes to skill level, age ultimately isn’t an important factor. This young woman beats the oldest man with the bushiest white hair in Moscow and age. Does not. Matter.

The Jesus people lmaooooo when Beth said “because it’s fucking nonsense” I just. Mad respect ma’am, don’t take their money, go be a communist and “sPrEaD tHe aThEiSt AgEnDa”

Wow I really just... wrote all that didn’t I damn wish I could write essays this fast at reasonable hours of the day

Beth’s relationship with her foster mother is so fucking sweet until she fucking dies

And fuck Beth’s legal father. He is an asshole. That is all.

The mother deserved Manuel, she deserved that sketchy Mexican salesman goddammit

As my final bullet point: This has made me want to play chess. This has made me want to get good at chess. You know that thing where you like, download the personality of the coolest character for like a day after you watch something... I don’t do that anymore (maybe), but I want to download those mad chess skills. This has made chess seem so cool. I want to wear a fancy suit and compete with people. I just have to, you know, actually develop some strategy and stop losing brutally against people online. I wAnT tO pLaY cHesS dO yOu HeAr mE

I’m going to stop now, but I just,,, peeps, I love this show. I’m absolutely going to require a re-watch in the future. I just love it. The characters and their development, their relationships with each other, the progression of time and of Beth’s maturity... it is simply incredible. This concludes my brain dump.

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jaskierswolf · 4 years

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The Grass is Greener Pt.1/3

Summary: Jaskier's mother is coming to stay and his garden is an absolute mess and his lawn mower has seen better days... luckily for him his ridiculously hot neighbour is there to lend a hand.

Geraskier

CW: Shitty parents being shitty.

(Prompted by @alwenarin and based on this post by @infinite-mirrors)

________

Jaskier stared forlornly out at his garden. His mother was due to come over on her yearly visit and the next few days of his life were going to be hell. His mother was the sort to blast into his life like a fucking tornado, pull apart everything that he had built for himself and leave him broken, shattered into a thousand shards of glass. He wasn’t even sure why he still let her in, probably some childhood trauma that meant he was desperate to please her, to make her proud, but what did he know? He wasn’t a therapist, much to her displeasure. Anything would have been better in her eyes than a musician and occasional bartender.

He didn’t make much money. His band hadn’t taken off yet and only really had a small but dedicated following online that donated pocket money in exchange for small previews of new tracks or little poems that could be given to lovers or in greetings cards. Most of his rent was paid for in the tips he made at the bar. He was lucky to have the house at all really. He shared it with his housemates: Priscilla, his bandmate and ex, Essi, her younger sister, Valdo Marx, his former schoolmate, professional rival and absolutely twat face who lurked in his attic room and never really came out to talk to them, and last but not least, Regis, a kind scholarly type who had been living in the house before the other rooms had become available and most importantly made excellent homemade gin.

Said housemates had agreed to fuck off for the weekend so he could pretend that the house was his in a last ditched attempt win over his mother.

Of course, none of them had helped to tidy up before leaving and he’d spent the last twenty-four hours deep cleaning the house, and bolting the door to Regis’s bathroom shut. The gin in the bathtub wasn’t ready to bottle yet and he wasn’t exactly going to drain the tub of his elixir. He’d moved the furniture in his friend’s rooms around enough to make it look like they weren’t extra bedrooms, more… rooms that just happened to have beds in case he had company. Priscilla’s room now resembled a music room, Essi’s room had been turned into a makeshift study, Valdo’s he’d left a mess and claimed it was just an attic, and Regis’s room was sort of a library if you squinted hard enough.

That just left the garden.

“Bollocks!” He moaned.

None of them really cared much about the garden, apart from the box down the end which housed Regis’s herb garden for cooking. The rest of the garden a mess. The grass was practically a wild meadow filled with weeds. He quite liked it. He enjoyed looking at the dandelions, daisies and buttercups but his mother would have a fit.

Where was he even going to start?

Lawnmower. They must have one. He stumbled through his back door onto the patio and made his way to the shed that honestly barely lived up to its name. It was falling apart and leaked horrendously, but luckily inside was one rusty looking lawnmower.

“Bingo!” He grinned and pulled the mower out of the shed. It was heavier than it looked but luckily Jaskier was also stronger than he looked. Even so he wasn’t entirely how he was going to start the damn thing.

Perhaps Geralt would know…

Fuck.

Geralt.

Geralt had just adopted a newborn baby. Her name was Ciri. Most of the time Geralt just called her ‘Cub’ which Jaskier found to be incredibly endearing, a fact that had nothing to do with his teensy little crush on the mechanic.

He pulled up Geralt’s number in his phone. He’d been delighted when Geralt had given him his number, yes maybe it was because Jaskier kept turning up at Geralt’s doorstep after shifts at work because he’d forgotten his keys and none of his bastard housemates were answering the door and Geralt just happened to have a spare key, but the main thing is he had Geralt’s number.

After that they’d conversed a few times over text. Mostly if one of them was running to the shops and wanted to know if the other needed anything. Occasionally Geralt would text to ask Jaskier if he could watch Ciri for a short while if Geralt needed to leave the house. Once Geralt had even given him a lift to work because Jaskier’s bike had gotten a flat tire and he didn’t have enough time to walk all the way to the bar. So they weren’t exactly strangers but he wouldn’t really call them friends.

In fact Geralt was still listed as Hot Neighbour in his phone. He meant to change it, it was just that you couldn’t argue with the truth. Geralt was his hot neighbour.

J —Hey Geralt! Is it ok if I mow my lawn? I don’t want to wake Ciri if she’s asleep. :)

He stared at his phone intently until about an eternity later, Geralt replied.

G — The child must not be an obstacle.

Jaskier snorted as he read the response. He read it aloud a couple of times trying to mimic Geralt’s rough husky voice and managed to give himself the giggles.

His phone buzzed again.

G — I can hear you laughing at me.

“Oh shit!” He almost dropped his phone and his cheeks felt like they were on fire. “Sorry Geralt!” He called into the air.

G— Hmm.

Jaskier scoffed. Who text back “Hmm”? And why did Jaskier still find that so attractive?

But never mind that! He had the green light. Operation Finally Make His Mother Proud, or FMHMP for short, and yes you could absolutely say that if you tried hard enough, was go! He was going to mow the lawn like a proper adult!

He tried for about six years to turn the mower on but without any success. He kicked the lawnmower in frustration and the whole damned thing fell apart.

“Fuck it!” He yelled as he hopped about on his good foot that hadn’t been battered by lawnmower.

He sulked back into the house and flopped down dramatically on the sofa. It was over. His mother was going to hate him and he would die as a disgrace to the Pankratz name and the Lettenhove estate.

He was half way through his pity party when the doorbell rang. He grabbed his phone to check the time. Strange, his mother wasn’t due for another three hours.

“What the fuck?” He mused and padded over to the door. To his surprise Geralt was standing on his doorstep with Ciri tucked safely into a baby sling on his chest and behind him was a shiny lawnmower. “Ah. Geralt!” He grinned.

Geralt turned to the lawnmower and back to him. “Thought you might need some help.”

Jaskier blushed. “Right. Yes. Of course. Come on in!” He stood back to let Geralt through. “Oh, actually do you want to come round the side gate? The lawnmower probably shouldn’t come through the house. I’ve just cleaned up.”

Geralt grunted but followed Jaskier around the side of the house and into the back garden.

“What the fuck, Jaskier?” He grumbled when he saw the state of the lawn. “I thought you said you were mowing the lawn, not trying to find it!”

“Ah, yes, well. That is an excellent point.” Jaskier stammered, pulling at the hem of his shirt nervously. “You see my mother is visiting.”

Geralt raised an eyebrow. “Your mother, how old are you? Twelve?”

Jaskier gaped at his neighbour. “Geralt!” He whined. “I’m twenty-nine! Mother is just a cow.”

“Hmm. Fine. Let’s do this.” Geralt pulled Ciri gently out of her sling and passed her to Jaskier. “Hold her. I need to grab her stuff. This will take longer than I thought.”

“Oh hang on!” Jaskier called after Geralt but it was too late and Ciri began to cry. “Umm. There there.” He cooed and rocked her gently. “Shall I sing you a lullaby, cub?”

She didn’t answer, babies rarely did, so he decided a lullaby would be fine and began to sing in hushed tones as he rocked her in his arms. Geralt wasn’t long but he seemed surprise to come back to Jaskier rocking his daughter to sleep in his arms.

“Hmm. She likes you.” Geralt noted.

He was carrying Ciri’s car seat and a bag was slung over his shoulder. In his other hand was a large electric contraption with some nasty blades at the end. He dumped the scary looking monster and placed the travel cot on the patio table. Once Ciri was safely asleep they got to work.

Or more accurately, Geralt got to work. Jaskier mostly just watched and made sure Geralt had all the refreshments he needed. He also kept the conversation going by listing all the grievances his mother had with him from her last visit, Geralt hummed and grunted but didn’t offer much in return but it didn’t matter. Jaskier was more than capable of holding an entire conversation by himself.

“And then she starts wittering on about how my sister has a perfect husband and a darling little angel.” Jaskier moaned. “So of course then it’s ‘Julian why don’t you have a wife?’”

“Julian?” Geralt asked.

Jaskier glared at his neighbour. “Don’t ever call me that, I beg of you.”

Geralt shrugged. “I won’t. Just asking.”

“And I tell her, for the hundredth time, to say partner or spouse or lover or you know… not gender specific because she knows! Geralt! She knows. I don’t know how many times I have to tell her.” Jaskier sighed. “Oh, umm I’m bisexual just to give you some context there.”

Geralt nodded. “Right.”

“So of course she starts complaining that I always have to make everything gay, and I’m like… ‘Mother, I am gay!’” Jaskier announced with wide arms.

Geralt looked up at him, pausing halfway down the lawn that was now starting to resemble a lawn. “So why not tell her you’re seeing someone?” He asked. “Solve both problems if you say it’s a guy.”

Jaskier put his hands on his hips and tilted his head. “Yeah.” He scoffed. “Until she asks to meet him.”

Geralt shrugged. “I could do it.”

Jaskier’s heart jumped in his chest. “You what? Geralt!”

“My ex has been bothering me about finding someone.” He grumbled. “Two birds, One stone.”

Jaskier narrowed his eyes at his insanely hot neighbour who was now apparently suggesting they… fake date??

“What exactly are you suggesting here?” Jaskier asked slowly. “You pretend to be my boyfriend for my mother’s visit and we what? Send a few photos to your ex to prove you’re moving on?”

Geralt smirked. “As long as you promise not to fall in love with me.”

Jaskier’s jaw dropped.

Well fuck. _______

#the witcher #geraskier #geraskier fanfiction #geralt of rivia #jaskier pankratz #geralt x jaskier #jaskier x geralt #geralt/jaskier #cirilla fiona elen riannon #ciri #dad geralt #surprise fake dating #I could be persuaded to write a second part #let me know if you want part 2 #Update there will now be three parts #ask and you shall receive #the grass is greener

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makeste · 4 years

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BnHA Chapter 276: Our Turn to Save You

Previously on BnHA: In a refreshing change of pace from the usual “the adults refuse to tell the kids anything” shtick, Deku and Kacchan flew around trying to get Tomura’s attention while refusing to explain jack shit to Endeavor! Deku eventually thought to ask Kacchan why he was getting in on this, and Kacchan launched into a two-page Denial Speech which seemed expressly designed to prime him for losing his quirk any fucking second now! Tomura then showed up and the two of them were all “KJSDLFK” but thankfully Gran dove in to rescue them from dying INSTANTANEOUS HORRIBLE DEATHS, and reminded them that there are practically SIX WHOLE GROWN-UPS left who can definitely still fight Tomura and won’t die at all!! And one of those grown-ups is Aizawa! Who’s getting ready to fight Tomura now! Listen Horikoshi you fucker, when I asked for more Aizawa angst and badassery this ISN’T WHAT I –

Today on BnHA: Tomura is all “THIS QUIRK WON’T STOP ME BECAUSE I CAN’T READ” and sort of shrugs it off and continues to kick ass even though his Decay and AFO powers aren’t working. The pros all try to stop him with Endeavor taking the lead, and because THEY ALL SUCK, APPARENTLY, nothing they do is effective in any way whatsoever! Meanwhile Gran dumps Deku and Kacchan off and is all “YOU’LL BE FINE HERE” which is the most ridiculous thing anyone in this manga has ever said, and then pretty much as soon as he says it at least nine more High Ends (excuse me, NEARLY High Ends) just POP UP OUT OF NOWHERE and are all “RARR” and the heroes are all “oh shit” and Tomura is all “lol yeah I actually had more High Ends this whole time” and Ujiko is all “it’s true!” and, fuck. The chapter ends with Tomura charging in to kill Aizawa only to be intercepted by MY TWO PRECIOUS BABIES, MY DARLING LITTLE HERO HATCHLINGS, and...!! I blame Gran for this.

gotta say, my sense of time is distorted enough as it is these days without chapter leaks coming out A WHOLE ENTIRE DAY EARLY out of nowhere. not that I’m complaining, because I want to see Aizawa kick some ass & immediately lose his fucking quirk as much as anyone, but it is disorienting

anyway time to dive into this chapter which I predict will be titled “everything instantly goes horribly wrong.” I’ve had a lot of time these past two weeks to think about what is going to happen next, and I’m pretty sure I nailed it you guys

so we’re opening with a familiar sight

I like that Horikoshi thinks that helicopters go “chop chop.” well, close enough

anyway, so yet again we have a scene in BnHA of a town in the process of being destroyed by villains while a helicopter whirs (WHIRS, Horikoshi) and chuffs (SOMETIMES THEY CHUFF TOO) anxiously nearby. I wonder if this helicopter is going to fucking disintegrate. that’d be something new

ARE YOU GOING TO DIE, MISTER LIVE REPORTER SIR. OH MAN. OH GOD I’M ANXIOUS

dozens, you guys! there are dozens of them left! not to worry then. the good guys definitely still got this

oh hey it’s that news anchor with the cutely fucked-up backstory of chopping off his own horn so as to more handsomely report the news

oh god don’t tell me this whole thing is going to be broadcast live. that’s all we fucking need right now. I wonder what’s going to throw society into chaos more, the reveal of just how powerful Tomura is now, or the exposure of what the government-mandated child soldiers get to do during their super-educational practical on-the-job training! no coffee-fetching for these kiddos! we’ve got ‘em rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands good and dirty!

oh hey and it looks like this means that All Might will get to watch protege #2 lose his quirk live on TV -- HEY WHAT ARE YOU SERIOUS

BAD BABYSITTER!! MY GOD MAN, I KNOW YOU’RE THE INDULGENT GRANDFATHER TYPE, BUT MAYBE CONSIDER CHANGING THE CHANNEL TO DOC MCSTUFFINS FOR THE TIME BEING??!

also I know this is just a perspective thing probably but lmao his hand on her shoulder is fucking huge. All Might you been working out again

but seriously this is not good for either of them to witness. they don’t need more trauma in their lives! All Might doesn’t need yet another thing to blame himself over! and he has conflicted feelings about Tomura still on top of that which I’m sure isn’t going to make this any easier. ANGST ALL AROUND. EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK, EVERYWHERE YOU GOOOO

MOTHERFUCKER I --

is Mitsuki looking at fucking baby pictures of Kacchan. reliving the memories of the good old days, thinking about how far her baby boy has come and how proud she is. that’s just great you guys. that’s just fucking great. these aren’t even red flags at this point these are red fucking tapestries

(ETA: and this basically goes without saying, but I’m sure the fact that not one but THREE Todorokis are represented in this little montage means that Endeavor and Shouto are also going to be just fine.)

HE’S SO HAPPY just fucking try and tell me he doesn’t have a mental fucking link to Tomura and Deku you guys. this bitch knows exactly what is going down right now and he is LIVING FOR IT. that does it. someone please save my spot in the chapter for me I am going to go take a quick walk to calm down

and of COURSE that’s a fucking lie though, god -- [frantically clicks to next page]

LOL HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS

FUCKING MANUAL IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY LMAO. YOU CAN ALL FUCKING RELAX NOW. and fuck me, I’m so fucking happy RockLockRock is still alive as well but WHY ARE YOU STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO AIZAWA IN WHAT I LIKE TO CALL THE “CAUTION: YOU WILL GET SHOT” ZONE. swear to god Horikoshi THAT MAN HAS A FAMILY don’t you even think about -- !!

sigh, anyway so then the rest of the page is panels of Gran & The Boys, Endeavor, and Tomura, along with the text “WHICH SIDE IS THE VICTOR”, which is not helping matters any! also the title of the chapter is “Cheating” which I assume is a reference to both the erasure of Tomura’s quirk, and the soon-to-happen permanent removal of Aizawa’s. I’m just an optimist like that

oh hey and Tomura’s sending out some quick orders to his squad as well

and to think this homicidal maniac is in my top ten favorite characters. sob. I do love you kiddo so please don’t take it personally that I have to unequivocally root against you here. maybe if you listened to me once in a while and would even just consider my radical alternate plan of not killing anyone in sight

anyway lol but here everyone including myself thought he was going straight for the bullets and instead he was pulling out his phone. shows what we know. [braces myself for the follow-up panel of him putting the phone away again and THEN reaching for the bullets!!]

meanwhile we’re being introduced to some new sidekick of Endeavor’s who’s probably going to set the record for shortest time in between being introduced and dying horribly. sorry Kido. I’m just jaded

don’t mind me I’m just putting up emotional walls in between myself and any new lovable characters as a means of self-preservation. mmhmm. he can manipulate the trajectory of things. that’s nice. he seems nice. wouldn’t that be a nice quirk for Tomura to steal and then trajector a bullet straight towards Aizawa ffffff

(ETA: watch this space, everyone. Endeavor’s Sidekick Kido. gonna fuck everything up for everyone, mark my words.)

so I can’t help but notice that now that Tomura can’t use his quirk anymore and is helpless, they have all decided to just sit around doing nothing again?

like. far be it from me to openly wonder why they are not immediately knocking him out or setting him on fire again or whatnot. I am just a lowly civilian. it’s not my job to question these things

(ETA: I must learn to be patient.)

also lmao at Manual saying Aizawa’s ankle is “twisted”, similar to how Deku is constantly “twisting” all of his arms and legs all the time. or did he mean “twisted” in the sense that his leg was pretty much literally wrung out like a fucking towel

anyway so Manual is waterbending liquid into Aizawa’s eyes like that’s supposed to help him NOT close them

has Horikoshi ever had water splashed into his fucking eyes. he and I have had very different experiences as to the effects of this apparently

there we go!!

at least someone out here is fucking trying. for a second there I was honestly worried we were going to see a repeat of “oh well he seems dead enough, let’s just leave, see you at the victory party this weekend, X-Less”

LMAO WHAT KIND OF NONSENSE

[GRABS THESE PANELS AND WAVES THEM IN FRONT OF THE UNCONSCIOUS HAWKS] DID YOU HEAR THAT. DO YOU SEE THAT, BOYO. FACTS. BEING WEAK TO FIRE IS, IN FACT, 100 PERCENT A CHOICE. IF YOU HAD JUST DONE MORE PUSH-UPS AND TRAINED HARDER YOU WOULDN’T BE IN THIS SITUATION RIGHT NOW. SMDH. YOU FUCKING WIMP. YOU RECREANT. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED

hooooh man. hokay. whew. has anyone seen my suspension of disbelief. I’m so used to having it on me at all times when I read this manga that I must have let my guard down and now it seems I’ve spaced it out. well we’ll just keep a lookout for it

so now we’re cutting to Ujiko who is gleefully bragging that Tomura’s strength is on par with All Might Prime’s, which is just great. and now he’s also starting this sentence and then just... not... finishing it

that’s fine. you just trail off, then. hang those implications. whatever dude

meanwhile RLR and Manny are helping Aizawa limp away while he awkwardly has to twist his neck around to be able to still keep Tomura in his line of sight. I feel like there was probably a better way for them to do this but whatever

anyway thanks for confirming that Ujiko did make Tomura into a Noumu in addition to giving him AFO, though, Horikoshi! that’s very nice of you to unsink one of my theories like that. appreciate it

and hold up, so it occurs to me that “Being Fireproof” could still be a quirk, but just a mutant-type quirk rather than an activation type, meaning that Erasure would have no effect on it! aha! oh, there’s my suspension of disbelief lol it was in my pocket the whole time!!

anyway so Endeavor and Tomura are tussling but I really wish they’d be more careful because if Tomura is still capable of super strength and super speed then he could propel himself out of Aizawa’s line of sight really easily and I feel like this isn’t really helping

is it just me or do they look like they’re TRYING to jump in between Aizawa and Tomura, like?!?! GUYS

LMAO now Gran is just

SHUP. toss. dusts off hands. well that takes care of that

and apparently he’s under the genuine impression that a mere “now stay put you dumdums” is going to have any effect on these two whatsoever. lol okay. we’ll see

anyways YESSSSS, KACCHAN MEET GRAN, GRAN, KACCHAN

meanwhile Kacchan falls silent as he mentally tries to work out who tf “Toshinori” is lmao. I’M SO CHUFFED ABOUT THIS. YES THAT’S ANOTHER USE OF THE WORD “CHUFFED.” VERY VERSATILE AND REMINISCENT OF HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRLING

and now here’s a convenient map showing how far away Deku and Kacchan are from safety!

thanks for that. that’s so reassuring to have this nifty little visual

OH MY GOD GRAN

DO YOU WANT TO FUCKING DIE?? DOES EVERYONE IN THIS FUCKING ARC HAVE A DEATH WISH. MY GOD

“BUT FAR BE IT FROM ME TO LEAVE WITHOUT ANY OMINOUS FORESHADOWING!!” NO INDEED WE CAN’T HAVE THAT!!!

rather than focus anymore on how goddamn foreboding that is, I would instead like to take this moment to call attention to the fact that Gran apparently knows Bakugou’s name but not Present Mic’s. that’s amazing

sob

what good indeed. imagine if they couldn’t even do that. I imagine that would have some far-reaching consequences which might even be interesting to explore as part of a story

I made the same face as them just now fyi

fucking Schrodinger’s High Ends. they only exist when the plot says it’s convenient for them to exist. maybe they’re like fairies and if you say you don’t believe in them they drop dead. where the fuck did these things actually come from?!

WAY TO DROP THE BOYS OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF NOUMU FUCKING CENTRAL MY GOOD MAN. MAYBE WE SHOULD SCROLL BACK UP AND UPDATE THAT MAP. GOOD JOB LMAO

WHAT THE FUCK

welp. they deleted Tomura’s quirk and then sent the strongest guy they had after him, annnnnnnd he went and beat him anyway in like two fucking seconds. so that’s. ... wowee. ...so do we have a plan b, or...

like, holy shit though?? and can you imagine the kind of psychological impact this is having on everyone watching this live on TV right now?? this is literally the anti-Kamino. holy fucking shit. also did Tomura lose an arm or am I just not understanding this image right?? NOT THAT IT SEEMS TO BE BOTHERING HIM IN THE SLIGHTEST??

(ETA: somehow I missed the fact that he is even calling attention to it lol. “I’ll raise [the other hand] when it’s back.” fucking look at Mr. Transcendent here who’s so powerful that when you tear his arms off all it does is make him more sassy. is he secretly related to Mirko.)

idk guys I really think my original chapter title was better

at least Endeavor isn’t fucking dead just yet. four more pages and you might actually make it out of this chapter alive my good man

blah blah blah flashback to Ujiko explaining that the Noumu could be activated by an electric current flowing through them, and that they’re programmed to move only on Tomura’s orders. you know. just more good news

oh hey but at least these ones are mindless so I guess it’s okay for the kids to kick their asses without feeling too conflicted. it’s just too bad “their strength is higher quality than the others” but you win some, you lose some

OH GOOD, THEY’RE GOING STRAIGHT FOR AIZAWA

I’M SURE THAT MIDORIYA “MY BODY MOVED BEFORE I COULD THINK” IZUKU AND BAKUGOU “I’M THE ONE WHO’LL GET PAYBACK FOR THAT DAY” KATSUKI WILL TAKE THEIR GRANDPA’S SAGE ADVICE AND GO AND HIDE WHILE THEIR TEACHER IS IN DANGER. IT’S NOT LIKE THEY’VE LITERALLY GONE TO SCHOOL FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR EXPLICITLY MAJORING IN NOT DOING THAT. YES THIS IS FINE THIS IS FUCKING FINE AND GREAT

NOW WHAT’S HAPPENING THERE’S LOTS OF RUBBLE FALLING AROUND AND STUFF MOVING AND SOMEONE IS TALKING

OH IT’S HIM

excuse me. EXCUSE ME. no, you are NOT. going to fucking die, Aizawa Shouta. HORIKOSHI KOUHEI!!! YOU’RE UNDER ARREST FOR THE CRIME OF DRAWING THIS FUCKING PANEL. THIS ONE, RIGHT HERE. YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE DOING. HOW DARE YOU. how FUCKING dare you sir

and if anything happens to RLR I SWEAR TO GOD!! you know what?! you know what?!?

STOP IT

[sitting curled up into a little ball with my knees drawn up to my chest, drawing little finger circles on the floor] I see. so he’s not even concerned about himself at all. it’s his two tiny little hero eggs, his problem children, and the fact that if he dies here there won’t be anything preventing Tomura from finding and killing them. ahh. okay. it’s okay. that’s fine

and goddammit what is he pulling out from his belt. everyone is on the same page here, right? Aizawa’s Not Allowed To Die. that was the deal. WHAT HAS THIS ALL BEEN FOR OTHERWISE

(ETA: yeah but he seriously did just pull a knife out of fucking nowhere though like the kid in that fucking vine lmao. APPARENTLY HE’S HAD IT THIS ENTIRE TIME?? “what if I just stabbed him” lulz. based on the way things were trending, I’m willing to bet it would have literally bounced off of Tomura’s chest at this point, but I’ll give him credit for making the effort.)

NOPE NOPE NOPE NO

(ETA: Shinsou being in the bottom corner... ;_; )

is anyone listening to me!??! I’m over here screaming myself fucking hoarse??! AIZAWA ISN’T FUCKING ALLOWED TO DIE??!! HELLO!?!?!

lol well at least RLR didn’t get steamrolled over

well everyone. we’ve reached page 18. one more to go. what are the odds we end with the boys arriving in the ta-da nick of time to defend their teacher. just who is watching over whom

THERE IT IS!!!

OH NO OH GOD AM I CRYING??! YOU HAD TO GO AND PUT THOSE FLASHBACK PANELS IN?? HIM SAVING DEKU AND CO. AT USJ, PLUS THAT ONE TIME HE DEFENDED BAKUGOU DURING HIS MOST VULNERABLE MOMENT IN FRONT OF A NATIONAL AUDIENCE??? “IT’S OUR TURN TO SAVE YOU”???

and they look so determined and desperate?? and the “Aizawa-sensei!” echoing in both their minds?? and meanwhile Aizawa looks fucking horrified though, because of all the... [gestures] you know? the Terrible Danger?? sob??

anyway. I really let this manga do this to me every damn week. let it just have its fucking way with me. at least Horikoshi didn’t end up breaking the law after all. I don’t know if I could continue to support a mangaka who is willing to commit an actual war crime. no touching Aizawa. OKAY?? OKAY

#bnha 276 #aizawa shouta #shigaraki tomura #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #gran torino #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #so what sound do *you* think helicopters make?#I googled this and found some excellent answers #my favorite one was dubdubdubdubdub #but tocotocotoco was a close second #whop whop whop #batabatabata #wuppa wuppa lmao

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shinycorvidae · 3 years

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Headcannon Dump Part 3 of 6

The two Vs, Hiro Part 3 of 3. Backstory.

-Hiro or SKV, Street kid background (vaguely), he's @smilepal s

-NV is Vic, our other V, a nomad she's mine <3

After his parents died as a kid, ended up in the Tyger Claws-his parents house/possessions were reclaimed and he wound up being part of that.

Gets weird/off-topic if you ask him about his parents, they were druggies/BD addicts so he doesn't really like to talk about them much, was on his own pretty young

His relationship with Tyger Claws was always tense-He was an unwillingly member (mostly). Hiro has a bit of a chip on his shoulder and a serious problem with authority figures, including the Claws bosses.

Was in decent with Wakako since a small child, and she was one of the few people he managed to stay on the good side of-whether this was because she found him entertaining or he just got lucky, he still doesn't know.

Worked as a dancer/joytoy for the Tyger claws after a failed escape attempt

Don't ask him about it, or the Ho-Oh club--there’s a hell of a lot of trauma there and he still gets pretty heated about it

Had to forcibly extricate himself from the Tyger Claws and cut ties with them-it got to be too much and he wanted to get away before things went really south with them

Hiro never received a formal education, and was mostly self-taught, in addition to picking things up from TC, and later Vik/Mama Wells. He thinks he did alright, all things considered, despite the fact that he learned the best place to shoot someone before he could fully read

Dysfunction seems really normal to Hiro. He grew up with non-functioning parents living in absolute squalor, so to him anything above the bare minimum is fine. Part of the reason he put up with the Tyger Claws for so long was because he was like "...well at least they're not xyz..." "It could always be worse."

To Hiro, people always have ulterior motives. You don't keep people around because you like them, you keep them around because it benefits you in some way (even if that's not necessarily how he sees people) In a way he's always "waiting for the other shoe to drop". NV is originally a fucking enigma because of this.

was and is On good terms with the Moxes, and is old friends with Judy. Does not like Evelyn and trusts her about as far as he could throw her--but he can’t deny that they have a lot of shared history/went through a lot. He’s on good terms with Roxy, and very good terms with Tom--the latter and him having a amiable FWB relationship in the past.

Has history with Viktor that is rather delicate. They met when Hiro was still in the Tyger Claws and not doing great/was able to fix up his cyberware for cheaper/didn’t sell him absolute junk. He really looked up to Vik and for a long time thought it was just admiration. Vik is also the one who began to teach him more about hand to hand combat/was the person who was the biggest influence on his fighting style.

Viktor was definitely part of the reason Hiro realized he liked men too, and Hiro harbored some pretty intense feelings there. He's a lot better behaved around Vik than most people-will still tease him/give him shit but it lacks any real venom. He's also a bit more awkward than his usual smooth self/gets flustered more easily.

Vik in turn really dotes on Hiro/is super protective of him. He's always trying to make sure he's eating enough and the two eat together several times a week, Hiro will hang around the clinic when it's slow and keep him company.

NV knows better than to tease him about hid crush on Vik but Johnny still needs to be redirected when the situation arises

-*NV physically holding Johnny back from commenting, behind Hiros back, hand over his mouth*

-Johnny definitely licking her hand, which would turn into them either slap fighting or making out. Its a toss up.

-Hiro and Vik talking and just hearing scuffling in the background, turning with disapproving faces

NV"we are adults I swear"

*Johnny has to pull his hand out of the back of her pants*

NV"we uh, we'll just go wait at Mistys"

*Hiro finds them fucking in the alley later on his way out*

Plan Distract Johnny from teasing Hiro worked too well 😂😂

#Hiro #Hiro Oda #Headcannons #cyberpunk 2077 #V #V cyberpunk #excessive headcannons #Tyger Claws #Viktor Vector #wakako okada #its not sanitary to fuck in Night City alleys kids #but Johnny does it anyway smh #poor bb hiro needs love #Viktor Vector being an A+ dad #and also daddy 👀#johnny silverhand

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rainy-day-gracie · 4 years

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Old Friends 2

spencer reid x reader

BTW I kinda imagined this around season 7 Spencer, but you can do whatever you want :)

Chapter 3 has been posted!!

Chapter 2:

Garcia had a multitude of questions.

“How long did you guys date? Was he super different back then? Did you guys do the hanky panky? What-“

I was laughing so hard tears were getting in my eyes. “Garcia, stop. I am not answering questions like that.”

Emily, JJ, and I were all holed up in Penelope’s office. Her colorful knickknacks and stress balls made me smile, and the ladies and I were starting to really form a bond.

Emily put her hand on my forearm, faking seriousness. “Okay but- did you?”

I turned even redder than I was before. “Well-“

“Oh my god, that’s a yes!” JJ exclaimed. “Dr. Reid has game!”

“I’ll say,” I giggled, which caused them to erupt into even more laughter.

A knock at the door was barely heard over the ruckus of four grown women giggling like teens. Hotch opened the door quickly. “We have a case. It’s kids.”

A silence quickly fell over the room, and we all left in an instant.

This was my first case with kids. I knew from the moment we sat down in the BAU room that this was going to be a bad one.

“In Cedar Crest, New Mexico, two nine and ten year old boys have been found, dead, with both of their shoulders dislocated. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.” Garcia pointed to the TV with sad eyes. I looked down at my hands, avoiding the images of the dead boys. “Both showed signs of sexual assault.”

“We know from experience preferential offenders don’t stop until they’re caught, and work their kills methodically and carefully.” Hotch explained in a low voice. “Wheels up in 10.”

---

“Small towns like this are hard to build a profile around. There’s too much overlap in residents, and Cedar Crest has a population of 958 people.” Spencer glanced over to me, no doubt taking notice of my silence.

“Alright, when we land, Prentiss and JJ, you are going to interview the families, Morgan and Rossi you’re with me at the dump sites, and Reid and YLN, go to the ME and see what you can find out.” Hotch gave the orders swiftly, not noticing my quiet intake of breath.

Spencer leaned over quietly and gave my hand a small squeeze. “The first case with kids is always the hardest.”

---

The ME was good at her job. She explained all the grisly details quickly and without pause.

Walking out of the morgue was like being able to breathe again. I suddenly felt nauseous, and quickly threw up my breakfast over the sidewalk. Spencer wasted no time in holding my hair back until I was done vomiting.

“Sorry... this is my first case with kids. When I was a psychologist I studied children with traumatic pasts, but seeing...” I said all of this quickly and tears brimmed my eyes. I looked up at Spencer, his warm hands keeping steady on my shoulders.

“It’s rough, but we can’t let it distract us from catching this guy.” I took a deep breath and he let go of my shoulders. “You’re one of the strongest people I know, YFN. We are going to get him.”

Spencer’s phone rang, and both of us seemed to snap out of the trance we were in. “Hey what’s up?” He shut his eyes and sighed. “Okay, see you later.”

“What is it?”

“He just picked up another kid. Warren Jacobs, 10 year old boy.”

---

Patrick Younger is a 26 year old man. He’s lived alone all of his adult years and just recently got a job at the local elementary school as a janitor.

“Patrick Younger, FBI!” Morgan yelled. Spencer wasn’t lying when he said Morgan can sure kick down a door.

“Split up and search the house,” Hotch ordered.

I was the lucky one that got the basement. Walking down those stairs felt like I was trapped inside a horror movie.

The first thing I saw was the small child chained in the corner. And then there was the plate that smashed into my head.

I collapsed on the floor, dropping my gun on the way down. I scrambled away from Younger, stood up and faced him with my arms stretched in front of me. Younger wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Patrick, it’s okay.” The words tasted bitter in my mouth, and the sting on my forehead was making it hard to concentrate. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt any of those kids. You loved them.” I inched my feet forward, slowly.

He started tearing up, glancing over at the child, Warren, crying and chained in the corner. Blood was dripping in my eyes. “I-I did. I loved them.”

“I know you did, Patrick.” I spoke sweetly, looking him dead in the eyes.

My fist on his jaw knocked him to the ground. The other fist on his jaw was to make sure he stayed down. And the kick to the balls was just for me.

I flipped him over, pulling the handcuffs out of my pocket. “You are one sick son of a bitch. I got Younger and Warren!” I called upstairs. The team came rushing down to the basement, and I handed Younger over to Morgan.

“Are you going to take me home?” A small voice called from the corner.

I looked over into Warren’s big blue eyes. “Yes, I promise.”

---

Spencer stayed by my side the whole time I was with medics.

“Spencer, I promise I’m fine.”

The medic tending to my head snorted. “Oh no you’re not. You need 11 stitches, let’s go, you can ride with the kid. It’s a miracle you don’t have a concussion.”

Spencer looked dumbfounded. “11 stitches and you think you’re fine? How are you still this stubborn since college?”

I laughed, which made my head hurt. “Go home, Spencer.”

He looked confused. “Go home? I’m meeting you at the hospital whether you like it or not.”

JJ walked up next to him. “Oh yeah, we’re all meeting you at the hospital. Those stitches are going to leave a badass scar.”

“Hey, Agent YLN. It’s time to go!” The medic called out to me from inside the ambulance. The boy, Warren, was on a stretcher inside.

As I was getting in, JJ called out to me. “YLN! You crushed this case by the way.”

---

I hate hospitals. The smell of bleach and the fluorescent lights attacked my senses.

As I was sitting on my hospital bed, drinking coffee, my room was suddenly flooded with my team members.

“Hotch, can I go home now? All this fuss over a little cut is just nonsense.”

Hotch chuckled. “I’ll talk to the doctor.” He left, and Rossi handed me a book.

“What’s this?”

“Think of it as an official welcoming gift from us to you.” Rossi had a twinkle in his eye as he glanced between me and Spencer.

I looked at the cover of the book. ‘Peu de Poésie’ or ‘Little Poetry’ in English. “How did you guys know I was looking for this book?”

“We didn’t, pretty boy did.” Morgan answered, clapping Spencer on the back. “He told us you would read the English version incessantly at MIT, so we figured we’d get you the French copy as well.”

I hoped the blush on my face wasn’t as obvious as it felt. “Well, thank you guys. It means a lot.” I cast a glance at Spencer. After all this time, he still remembered what my favorite book is.

Hotch walked back in the room. “YLN... wanna go home?”

“Thank god, let’s go!”

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #spencer reid series #spencer reid fluff #dr spencer reid

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fantastic-rambles · 3 years

Text

The Skylark’s Song [1 /4]

Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Characters: Hibari Kyoya, Hibari Kyoya’s parents, Unnamed Gang

Warnings: Violence, Gang, Implied Rape, Attempted Murder, Murder, Police Corruption, Gaslighting

Word Count: 1.8k

Summary: My personal headcanons of the (pre-canon) experiences that made Hibari into the man that he is today. Part One: why he has such a strong hatred of crowds and the beginning of his commitment to discipline.

(The other parts won't be this dark. I think.)

It had been a day like any other.

On a warm spring afternoon, they'd gone out together as a family to his school festival, nine-year-old Kyoya running from attraction to attraction, his parents following at a more stately pace but always keeping him in sight.

"Mom! Dad! Here, here!" he called out, practically bouncing with excitement in front of his classroom. Laughing, they caught up to him, following him into the room as he tugged at their hands.

The walls were covered with the students' essays, and Kyoya paused by his, his chest puffed out with pride. Indulgently, they bent over slightly to read what he had written in his neat but still childish hand.

My Dreams

When I grow up, I want to be a great person like my dad. Dad is a hero, fighting the bad guys who are making people sad. He's like a policeman or fireman, except he's even cooler than that! Dad and Mom both love Namimori and want to make this town into a happy place for everyone, and I want to help them. They also love me very much, and I love them, too.

He beamed up at them as his mother knelt to hug and kiss him while his father ruffled his hair. Their pride practically emanated off them in waves, and Kyoya was the happiest that he could ever remember. After the festival, they'd gone to his favorite family restaurant, where he ordered a hamburger steak, still chattering away happily about school: how he was the top student in his year, how his teachers praised him for his work, what he was learning in class now... His parents had been smiling throughout his monologue, sometimes asking questions to encourage him to keep speaking.

But the day had to come to an end eventually, and the setting sun found them walking back to their house, Kyoya hanging onto his parents' hands and occasionally just completely lifting his feet off the ground so that he could swing between them, making all three of them laugh. By the time they arrived home, he was completely exhausted from running around all day, barely able to change into his pajamas and brush his teeth before he fell into his futon. The last thing he remembered before sleep claimed him was his mother sitting beside him, softly humming a lullaby.

It was completely dark when a loud crash woke him. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes sleepily, he called out, "Mom? Dad?"

But there was no answer, though he could faintly hear voices elsewhere in the house. Still only half-awake, he followed the sounds to the brightly lit living room, freezing in the doorway as the sight unfolded before him.

Men he didn't know were standing all around the room. His father knelt in the middle, his face battered and dripping blood onto the floor from a broken nose, while his mother sobbed quietly in a corner, held back by two men. A couple of the other men had wooden baseball bats... and guns. Kyoya started to shake as he recognized the weapons he'd only ever seen on TV before. Too scared to step into the room but too afraid to run away, he was frozen in place, at least until one of the men standing by the doorway looked down and saw him.

"Well, what's this?"

As he bent down, his movement caught the eye of Kyoya's mother, and he saw stark terror spread across her face as she recognized her son.

"KYOYA! RUN!" she shrieked. As if a spell had been broken, Kyoya turned and obeyed, his bare feet pattering on the smooth wooden floors as he blindly sought an escape. Suddenly, his familiar home was filled with strange shadows that jumped out of him, making him flinch in the dark corridors, all too aware of his pursuer behind him with steps like thunder. He'd just shoved open the sliding door that led to the garden when the man caught up, seizing him around the waist and swinging him onto his hip with ease.

"No! Stop! Let me go!" Kyoya yelled, pounding against his captor's back with his small fists. The man didn't even try to silence him--they lived too far away from anyone else for the commotion to be noticed--and returned the way they had come, eventually dumping the child in front of his mother. She grabbed him immediately, curling herself around him protectively and pressing his face to her chest as he squirmed, trying to turn around and see what was happening.

"Come on, you don't want to do this in front of your wife and kid, right?" a voice asked, harshly mocking. "Just give us the data and we'll leave, no harm done. It's not like we like doing this either, you know."

A few of the other men chuckled, covering up his father's quiet response, and Kyoya felt his mother cringe just before there was a dull, wet, thumping sound that was repeated several times. It sounded just like when they smashed watermelons on the beach.

"Change your mind yet?" the voice asked, sounding slightly winded. The only response was a groan and panting, and the voice sharpened. "Hey, bring me the kid."

"No!" Kyoya was pressed even harder against his mother's chest, half-smothering him, as hands reached out to grab him, trying to pull him away. Now he began to cry as his limbs were pulled roughly, twisted behind his back or jerked as if they were trying to rip him apart, but his mother still clung to him.

"Take me instead! Please! Leave him alone!" she begged above his wailing.

The voice clicked his tongue, then replied, "Fine, whatever. Shut the kid up."

Her hands ran through his hair, and she pressed a kiss to his forehead, murmuring quietly, desperately. "It'll be okay, Kyoya. Be quiet, shhh, shhh, shh. It'll be okay."

"Hurry it up," the voice snapped, and they were suddenly wrenched apart, the absence of his mother making Kyoya start crying again, until one of the men casually backhanded him in the face, the sudden pain shocking him into silence as the taste of blood filled his mouth. He subsided into small whimpers, his hand pressed against his burning cheek, as he watched his mother forced to her knees next to his father. The man who seemed to be the leader of the gang tossed aside his bat and reached into his pocket, pulling out a switchblade that he flicked open before crouching down in front of Kyoya's parents.

"You've got such a pretty wife, Hi-ba-ri-san," he taunted, resting the blade against her face. "It would be a real pity if something happened to her, wouldn't it? Looks are everything to a woman, after all. Do you think you'd still love her if she was all scarred, without her nose and ears? Would she still love you, for letting it happen to her?"

"You'll kill us anyways, after you get what you want," Kyoya's mother spat. "Just get it over with. We won't tell you anything."

She flinched as the man dragged the weapon down the side of her face, leaving a thin red gash across her cheek, but she continued to stare at him defiantly. The man snorted, getting to his feet.

"Brave woman. But let's see how long that lasts. Hold her down." He began to unbuckle his belt, his comrades grinning as they dragged the woman down, piling on to stop both Kyoya's mother and father from struggling. Kyoya didn't understand what was happening, but he saw the look on his mother's face, and he ran between her and the man, spreading his arms wide to protect her.

"Stop bullying Mommy!" he screamed, tears and snot running down his face as he shook like a leaf. The man's face twisted into an expression of disgust and annoyance.

"Someone take care of this brat," he ordered, and another man stepped forward, hefting his bat in his hand.

"You got it, boss." Like a cleanup hitter getting ready to smack a home run, he drew back and swung, the sharp crack drowned out by the shrill screams of Kyoya's mother and the hoarse cries of his father. Kyoya collapsed, and the last thing he remembered was the feeling of a foot in this stomach, kicking him out of the way.

He awoke with a splitting headache to a room full of people and bolted upright, screaming, "MOMMY! DADDY!" Startled, somber faces turned to look at him, and a woman in a police uniform walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him soothingly as he kept screaming for his parents. Bright sunlight was falling into the room as other men and women walked around, taking pictures and putting things into labeled plastic bags. The policewoman cradled his head, then drew away in shock, her hand tacky with blood.

"We need paramedics!" she called out, carefully lifting the boy into her arms and heading toward the door. Draped over her shoulder, Kyoya continued to scream, his eyes fixed on two lumps in the middle of the room, covered with white sheets.

A week later, Kyoya stood in the Namimori graveyard, watching as two caskets were lowered into the ground. His head was still wrapped in bandages from the surgery to repair his fractured skull, the doctors having proclaimed it a miracle that he'd even survived. The young boy's eyes were dry as he stared at the marble headstone, dressed somberly in black and surrounded by adults.

Shock, they whispered when they thought he couldn't hear them, shaking their heads sympathetically. Poor boy. Who could have ever imagined it? They had seemed like such a perfect family. But everyone has their skeletons.

The case had been wrapped up quickly: a murder-suicide. Kyoya's mother had found out about his father's affair, and in the midst of a passionate argument, he'd killed her. Consumed with regret, he'd then attempted to kill his son before taking his own life. The boy's story was nothing more than the result of head trauma and a completely understandable psychological refusal to accept the truth. So he'd invented a wild tale of home intruders, blaming nonexistent ghosts for the crime while repressing his memories. The officers in charge of the investigation hadn't even bothered to write down his account, sitting patiently with him for hours in the hospital as they tried to explain what had happened to him.

But he knew. His parents had been slaughtered by that pack of animals: weak, undisciplined cowards too afraid to do anything alone. And they'd had enough influence to cover up the crime, so that the only thing that was published was a short obituary listing his parents' names and ages, and the fact that they had been survived by their child.

Heroes didn't exist. But that didn't mean that he couldn't get revenge.

[Part 2]

#katekyo hitman reborn #khr #reborn #fanfic #fan fic #hibari kyoya #kyoya hibari #hibari #character study #headcanon #mine #don't ever expect chapter titles from me #i can barely come up with story titles

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much-obliged-timothy · 4 years

Text

Happily Ever Aftermath Part 5

Information of what Happily Ever Aftermath is here

Tim looked exhausted in the morning, but he just smiled at Maya when she came down. Blue was curled up on the table, tail flicking back and forth and looking smugly at Maya.

“He knows he isn’t supposed to be up here,” Tim said. “Here, I made coffee.”

“Don’t let Ava touch that,” Maya said, grabbing the mug he offered her. “The last thing we need is her caffeinated. Or Krieg.”

Maya made them breakfast and sat down with him as they ate. Tim had to toss the cat off the table, but Blue just meowed loudly before climbing into Tim’s lap with a familiarity that said he did it a lot.

“When the others wake up, we can go for a walk and head to the library,” Maya said.

“Great, they can even throw more candy at me. I was digging pieces out of my hair all night. Screw Jack for this. My old hair wasn’t nearly as thick,” he said, scowling and running a hand through it.

Maya looked him over. He was sitting in jeans and a light hoodie, his hair much shorter than when she’d met him all those years ago. The gray in it had spread a little. The scar that tore across his face and destroyed his left eye had become such a familiar sight that she barely even paid attention to it.

He looked like Jack, of course. But he’d made subtle little changes, like his hair and clothing, that made the body his own.

He’d come so far. She would not let him slip back into his trauma, no matter what it took.

They talked a bit until Ava stumbled downstairs, looking half-awake. Maya made her breakfast and Ava grunted a response before digging in.

“Hey, Ava,” Tim said.

She looked over at him. “What?”

“Tim, you jerk,” Maya said as the cat swiped a slice of bacon off Ava’s plate now that she was distracted. “Can he even eat that?”

“I dunno, but he sure looks like he’s going to,” Tim said, snickering.

“Wha- MY BACON!” Ava dove out of her chair in an attempt to catch Blue.

He darted out of her reach with ease, happily chewing on the bacon he’d stolen. Ava got up and glared at Tim.

Tim spread his hands. “I already ate, kiddo. Revenge will have to wait.”

Blue yelped and Tim nearly knocked his chair over with how fast he stood up. Maya put a hand out to him as Krieg dangled the cat in the air.

“He won’t hurt Blue,” she assured Tim.

“Put him down,” Tim said tightly.

“The beast has conquered,” Krieg said as the last little piece of bacon fell from Blue’s mouth. Krieg swiped it off the ground and set Blue down, tossing the scrap onto Ava’s plate.

“Ew! That was in the cat’s mouth,” Ava said, shoving her plate away from herself.

“Alright, enough. Let’s go walk to the library. Krieg, do you want something to eat before we leave?” Maya said.

“The meat feast comes at dusk,” Krieg said.

“You can’t seriously understand what this guy is saying all the time, can you?” Tim said.

“He must’ve snacked on the candy this morning. He doesn’t want to eat until dinner,” Maya said.

Tim scooped Blue off the floor and let the cat settle on his shoulders. “You’re all crazy. Let’s go.”

Maya led them out, and Ava ran ahead of the group to look at some flowers blooming farther down the path. Tim looked around, struck once again by the beauty of Athenas.

“Better than Pandora?” she said.

“Anywhere is better than Pandora,” Tim said. “I just...I grew up on a planet with grass and trees and flowers. This just kind of reminds me of home.” He shrugged uncomfortably. “Haven’t been there in well over a decade, though.”

Maya didn’t ask about his mom. She knew very well it was still a sore subject for him, and that he had no intentions of letting her know he was still alive.

Instead, she focused on the scenery. “Eden-6 has good scenery too.”

“It’s mostly swampy,” he said. “Humid, too.” He shifted nervously. “I think some of the women stare at me when I take my shirt off. But it just gets so humid, I sweat right through it.”

Maya laughed. “Gonna get yourself a nice girlfriend, Tim?”

“Hey, I can’t blame them. I sneak a peek when other guys do it,” Tim said, and Maya nudged him and laughed harder. “C’mon, don’t laugh at me!”

“You just have no shame sometimes,” Maya said. “I think it’d be good for you to get in a relationship.”

“Who the hell would want to date him when he looks like that?” Ava said. “Also, his cat is a rotten bacon thief. Good luck getting a date with that monstrosity living in your house.”

“Alright, alright!” Tim said, his face heating up a little. “Enough about my personal life!”

“He’s just embarrassed because his personal life sucks,” Ava said.

“A parade of one in the shame,” Krieg said.

“You’re all horrible,” Tim said.

Blue hopped off his shoulders and ran forward to sniff at a bush. Ava lightly kicked him so he tumbled into it.

“Kick my cat again, I’ll shoot you,” Tim said.

“I’ve seen you kick him before,” Ava said.

“Because he’s my cat and I’m allowed to do it when he’s being a brat. You, on the other hand…”

Ava squealed as Tim ran at her. She tried to head for Krieg for protection, but Tim caught her and hauled her up with surprising strength, slinging her over his shoulder. She punched at his back, but he kept a firm hold on her as he marched her off.

Krieg looked to Maya and tightened his hold on his buzz axe. Maya put a hand on his arm and shook her head.

“Nah, watch him. I think I know what he’s doing,” she said.

They both watched as Tim carried her over to a pile of leaves. He unceremoniously tossed her into them, and the leaves flew up around her. Ava glared up at him, but her lips twitched as she fought a smile.

She scooped a pile of them into her hands and threw them at Tim, laughing as some stuck in his hair. He kicked them so they covered her legs, then kicked a pile at her face, and had to jump back when she tried to catch his ankle to pull him down.

“He spent so many years on Helios. It’s good for him to let loose and just...play,” Maya said. “I know he’s an adult. But look how happy they both are.”

It was true; Tim had a wide grin on his face as he dumped a pile of leaves on Ava’s head. She managed to catch his ankle this time, yanking him into the pile with her and laughing so hard she could barely fend him off as he swatted more leaves at her.

Krieg looked between the two. Then he looked to Maya, who had nothing but pure joy on her face as she watched the people she loved smile and laugh with each other.

He bent down and picked up a fistful of leaves. He tapped on Maya’s shoulder.

She turned to him, and he threw them in her face.

Maya stumbled back in surprise, then grinned. “Oh, it’s on. The library can wait. Round two, big guy.”

Krieg tossed his buzz axe inside in favor of scooping leaves up in both hands. Maya copied him, and they began to dart around and throw them at each other, Maya attempting to tackle Krieg into a large pile. She wasn’t strong enough to make him fall, but he pretended she was, and they both rolled into the leaves.

Krieg reached up and gently plucked some leaves from her hair. Her eyes softened as laughter echoed around them.

Ava was trying to dunk Tim’s head into the leaves, but he had a hold of the back of her shirt and was trying to pull her sideways. Maya let a handful of leaves cascade down onto Krieg’s face, shoulders shaking with silent laughter as one caught in his mask.

“I’m so glad you’re all here,” Maya said, collapsing beside him in the leaves and just watching the other two continue their little leaf war.

Tell her you’re glad to be here too. Tell her you love the sound of her laughter.

“Slaughter the tree limbs!”

Eh, close enough. She’ll get it. She always does.

“Yea, it was fun,” Maya said, because she did get it. She let her head roll onto his shoulder, and they waited in content silence for the other two to finish.

Tim finally collapsed into the leaves, trying to catch his breath. He hadn’t played in the leaves since he was a child, young enough that his mom had picked him up and tossed him into a pile of them. They’d raked the pile back up together and she’d tossed him in over and over again.

Now, Ava collapsed partially on top of him, also trying to catch her breath. “Your cat stole my bacon. I get to use you as a pillow for a minute.”

“Fair deal. But I’m not promising not to execute some sneak attacks,” he said, flicking a leaf down her shirt.

“Timothy!” she whined, elbowing him in the ribs. “You suck.”

“About time you figured that out, kiddo,” he said, sprawling out on the leaves but being careful not to jostle her off of himself.

He closed his eyes, letting the warm sun beat down on them. He’d been nervous about coming to stay with Maya and bringing his problems to her. But he was damn glad he was here.

#borderlands #timothy lawrence #maya the siren #borderlands ava #krieg the psycho #borderlands fic #My writing #my post #Happily Ever Aftermath

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ellaintrigue · 4 years

Photo

Okay, let's talk about dating as a single parent, but from the view of an outsider. Don't get me wrong, I've never wanted kids of my own but have never been totally adverse to children. And there's plenty of cool single dads, but there's also a theme of priority and neediness with them. The last single father I talked to started talking about "when" he and his kids would move in with me after we got established in a relationship. Hold up!!

I have dated single fathers before and even thought, like, hey, if I ever married one then my mom might enjoy a stepgrandkid. I've kept an open mind about these things, however, my lack of jealousy has been more of an obstacle for me than anything else. My ex lived with his ex, who roomed outside of his room. Who was not entirely over him. I met her and it was awkward as hell! Finally she moved back to their home state of California BUT he was supporting his mom, sister and his grandmother by that time! What could I say? That was his family.

In the end he dumped me because I needed attention (more than 3 conversations and 1 visit a month) and his family took priority. If I had made sure I was with a man that prioritized me that wouldn't have happened. Instead I had an emotionally absent relationship for years with a dude that worked all the time and took care of his family. I never want that isolation again.

So I see all of these single dads with profiles like the ones pictured here or ones in chat that have told me directly that I would never come first.

And I get it. I do. You are taking care of this tiny precious human being that you would do literally anything for. They should be #1 and given the utmost protection and care. But at the same time, you can do that without putting up a hostile wall towards people you would like to date. People don't want to be told they will probably come last or be treated as a free babysitter or hell, an outright obstacle. So date, don't introduce the child right away, do what you need to do, but don't be a dick about it.

It should be as simple of that but I do suspect trauma with a lot of these people. In early 2019 after I became single I hit it off with the single dad of a 5 year old and we agreed we wanted to meet. He lived 3 hours away but about a week and a half in, he came to my town on vacation. He was with adult family members and his son so he could have time to himself while leaving the kid with them. So over the course of two days I waited to be asked out and he never did, he just sent me lots of beach selfies and photos of drinks. So, without trying to sound entitled or obnoxious, I simply asked, "how come you don't want to meet since you're right here where I am?" Okay maybe I shouldn't have asked and given it time but BOOM WHOOSH he ripped me a royal new one. He started saying that he was with his fucking family and that I was out of line. That his kid came first and that he was just trying to enjoy the fucking beach. And that I was a drunk loser that no one would ever want to be with. I'm not sure how that part came into play because I wasn't drunk texting him at any point especially then. I had simply mentioned that I drank regularly.

And if my drinking was an issue, then ditch my ass or speak your mind. Don't talk to someone for over a week and express interest in a relationship and say you want to meet if you don't want them! So he continued reaming me out and I said I was done, bye. He sent me 8 more insulting messages before blocking me. Whew, who burned his ass? Not me. So on top of kid drama, I don't need baby mama drama and trauma. I've had other single dads bitch about women and call single moms whores all because of their bad experiences. Men have traumatized the hell out of me but I don't slap them all under a negative label. I've met too many single dads like the dude I just talked about. One I actually told I didn't want to date a single dad and he screamed at me that I was a piece of shit. Irony.

But in general, the protectiveness, the neediness, the lack of time, and the drama make single fathers a no-go for me. If you keep having repeated negative scenarios then you need to stop and think about breaking the pattern. I don't want to be around men that make it clear that I will never be a top priority.

All I ever wanted was someone cute, loving and monogamous to see 1 to a few times a week, get high with and have fun. A concept of simple dating, however everyone wants to equate that to being "friends with benefits" which is a term for someone you fuck but could never love. Not for me. What ever happened to just going with the flow without using people?

I'm not sure what's going on in my dating life right now so these aren't active issues from me looking, but they are still presenting themselves in my inbox from my platonic OkCupid profile. And I'll never shut up with my dating opinions lol. I want to be a female Dr. Nerdlove!!

Hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend.

#Dating #Opinion #Love #Priorities #Toxic #Men #Dating scene #Romance #Thoughts #Drama #Relationships

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somegremlin-archive3 · 4 years

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— ✕ 『 ★ HEADCANON - The Entity The Goddess ★ 』 ✕

— LORE.

The following headcanon contains triggers including blood, death, maternal death during childbirth, child abuse, human ( child ) experimentation, religion, drugs ( in the human experimentation sense ), and cults. The premise of the following headcanon involves the cult and the Goddess it worshipped, Izanami no Mikoto or Izanami for short. The headcanon also discusses the entity possessing the Dogra Magra doll.

— THE BEGINNING.

There were two deities, Izanami no Mikoto and her husband, Izanagi no Kami, charged with the creation of the world. The two deities performed their RIGHTFUL duties, forging plentiful land and beautiful seas through their own two hands. And as the two deities were united through marriage, they created several more islands across the ocean’s waves. However, as Izanami gave birth to one more child, she passed in childbirth. Blinded by rage, Izanagi KILLED that child and began a quest to the underworld in the hopes of cheating death and returning his beloved to the living.

However, it was already too late for Izanami as she had consumed food of the dead and with those actions, lost both her ETHEREAL BEAUTY and any chance of being able to RETURN to the living.

Humiliated by her grotesque appearance, Izanagi decided to flee … but embarrassed by HIS arrival and his betrayal of their love, Izanami attempted to chase him down. And for the last time, she promised him

‘ I will strangle and kill one thousand men of your land in one day ! ‘

But that was not enough.

— DESCENT INTO MADNESS.

The circles of life and death still spun and in time, while Izanami could not return to the living as the Goddess she once was, she was reborn and reincarnated for centuries. And in every life, her goal was the same; to take away the lives of others purely out of spite and hatred borne from the betrayal at the world’s creation.

And in one life, she was truly a GODDESS.

Izanami was born as a woman with a truly HORRIFIC ability; a curse based ability she herself dubbed ‘ Dogra Magra ‘. The ability itself was a FRIGHTENING ONE; able to induce madness and death unto those that drew her blood and sparked her fury

The goddess arose in a Japanese shrine; full of listless, sullen people who had lost their faith in other Gods. These people had long since lost hope; having placed their praise in other Gods; only to have suffered many tragedies; including the untimely deaths of their Miko and Kannushi and the slaughter of members from other, more corrupt cults and power struggles within the cult. And thus, they cried out in sorrow; speaking out things like ‘ Why are we met with cruelty when we have devoted our lives to God ? ‘. As she heard these cries, she CURSED her past husband that forced them into lives they never once asked for and took charge of the shrine.

She formed a new religion; one based off BLOODSHED and MURDER. Her followers; driven by despair and agony, began to KILL all those that dared to enter; even make eye contact with one of their own. Those she even deemed ‘ worthy ‘ willingly subject themselves to a HORRIFIC ritual that allowed her to share her cursed ability with others. Many people SUFFERED … but it was all in the name of the new Miko and how she allowed, even ENCOURAGED people to lash out at the atrocious world she and her former husband created.

But another tragedy struck.

— THE BIRTH OF HER CHILD.

Despite the mistakes of her past life, she eventually falls in love with one of her most devoted followers and promotes him to Kannushi. For years, their marriage flourished … until one day, the Kannushi proposed to have a CHILD. There’s hesitation at the very idea; the PAIN her body endured before her body soon succumbed to the blood loss. And all of that agony was for NOTHING as her past husband murdered her own flesh and blood. But she agrees.

Soon, a child was conceived and for months, the pregnancy seemed fine. Until the day came when she was to give birth.

What should have been a smooth delivery was HELL for the woman. In the end, her husband had to sever her stomach and pull the child out as she passed.

So traumatic was the event, Izanami’s spirit refused to move on or wait until her next reincarnation. She feared what her husband would do to the child as her past lover DESTROYED her flesh and blood. Rather than move on, she manages to merge herself with the child; granting them her cursed ability without the bloody ritual.

That child would eventually be known as the Port Mafia’s greatest weapon, Yumeno Kyusaku.

— LIFE UNDER THE CULT.

Many of the cult members had mixed opinions about the newborn child. There were certain members that detested the child; having believed the child would bring RUINATION unto the cult as their birth had robbed them of their beloved Miko that taught them the truth of the world. Other members sensed something DIVINE of the child and believed that they would lead the cult down a bloody path into salvation. Their father was of the latter.

Believing that their child should be the one to replace the lost Miko, their father showed them no love, only teaching them of the darkness of the world and how everything ended in chaos and pain. And when the child was barely two, their father would put them through those same DARK, BLOODY RITUALS that the chosen ones had to go through to proclaim the Miko’s ability … even when those should have stopped with her death.

And for little reason did the child suffer, for they already HAD her powers. They already HAD her ability. The only problem was that they were a young child that couldn’t control the powers of a vengeful deity when the ADULTS could.

That act alone ENRAGED Izanami … but for once, she held back. Surely, the cult was only doing this for the sake of the beliefs SHE had instilled in them ! Surely, this was all out of undying devotion to her, even after her demise. And surely, their child would make a good replacement for her in her passing

Wrong.

With her death, the child was the only person left in their cult with this horrific ability, the child was subjected to the GRUESOME task of killing and torturing anyone the cult deemed fit. The child suffered relentless abuse and the only thing the child had left was a DOLL their mother left behind.

Normally, these bloodied acts would have pleased the Goddess … but seeing her child suffer in agony when they were forced to kill or seeing them be violently tortured for even hesitating or failing to kill only sparked her anger MORE.

And her anger influenced the child’s thoughts. The child still had their OWN firm beliefs; despair over what had befallen them and a constant questioning of WHY they were always met with cruelty. And yet with those thoughts came more VIOLENT thoughts. What if everyone just DIED ? Wouldn’t that be better ? DIDN’T THEY ALL DESERVE TO BE CURSED ?

Izanami realized she was right all along. She was a fool to create this cycle. Cult or not, all life that was created on this hellscape she herself made deserved nothing less than a BLOODY, PAINFUL DEATH.

Eventually, the child completely loses control and their own curse takes over; ravaging the ENTIRE CULT and destroying the damned religion that their mother created.

But that was only the beginning.

— GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER.

Eventually, the government finds the lost child wandering through the woods and KIDNAPS them, placing them in a government assigned orphanage to be researched on. Through records left behind from the cult, the government was able to get a good idea of just WHAT the child was.

The government tried to use the child for their own gain, employing a certain researcher to experiment on the child to find a way to manipulate the ability WITHOUT having the child around. That fails (more on this will be written in a separate HC) and the researcher only manages to partially separate the deity from the child and place it into the doll they carried; resulting in a less stable control over the ability and dooming them to never have full control; even if they grow up. Eventually, the government gives up and dumps them at the Port Mafia grounds. But of course, not without telling Mori what they DO know about them.

— THE PRESENT

Due to the meddling of the government, the child struggles to keep their ability under control. Even if they had not had morals, they still struggle to CURSE people on command sometimes. Yet on the other end of the spectrum, there are also times they just lose control altogether and black out; letting the curse take COMPLETE control of them and their actions to cause bloodshed; such as the incident in which they cursed Mori along with some of his other men or the incident in which they cursed the entirety of Yokohama.

Izanami herself, although partially bound to the doll, can still greatly influence their emotions and spike them to dangerous extremes. She cannot be a constant voice in their head; although sometimes, she can get through intrusive thoughts or nightmares.

Their more surreal, horrific nightmares that they CANNOT explain although somewhat a product of the sheer amount of drugs that are often used on them in the mafia and their own mental illness creating awful things, are also visions of Izanami’s first life and death. Often times, they see a strange woman dwelling in the world of the Dead. However, if asked, they’d have NO IDEA what they’re looking at.

Izanami herself has devolved into an entity of PURE CHAOS and BLOODSHED; any sense of creation and life she once had in her initial life lost. The only being upon the earth she actually holds in any regard is her own child, Yumeno. However, her own sense and trauma are so twisted and so far beyond repair; she’s hellbent on destroying indiscriminately the one thing stopping her the lack of control the child actually has over the ability.

Yumeno is only vaguely aware of just WHO the entity is. Save for the mentions of something called ‘ Izanami ‘ around them by researchers and by Mori, they only know that there is something bad in them and their doll. Around other ability users that they already know but aren’t comfortable with, they call their doll ‘ Dogra Magra ‘ or ‘ Dogra ‘ for short. However, due to these names plus a strange … feeling they have, they call their doll ‘ Nami ‘ when alone or around random people asking about their ugly doll.

#blood tw #gore tw #child abuse tw #abuse tw #religion tw #cults tw #pregnancy tw #death tw #drugs tw #human experimentation tw #ask to tag #╰ (✪∀<) ~ *:･ﾟ✧ It hurts to be forced to feel the heart’s break. ✧ 𝐇𝐂.#// I KNOW I CHANGED THE LORE 32098490234 TIMES #// AND WHAT THE DOLL IS NAMED #// BUT I THINK THIS IS THE ACTUAL FINAL TIME #// but this didnt actually change what i had already written too much?#// just that its parent and not parents since yumeno's mom died

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kinsbin · 4 years

Text

Cooking Lessons [SI/Canon - Platonic/Familial]

Title: Cooking Lessons Pairing: Xena[Batmom]/Damien Wayne [Platonic/Familial Self Insert/Canon] Rating: G Word Count: 1865

Summary: Damien and Xena have a relationship of mutual respect, and that’s usually about as good as it gets. A bonding moment between the two of them, however, leads to some surprising confessions from the youngest of the Bat Family.

A/N: So anyways Damien Wayne is my son and this is literally just a pice where he calls me mom for the first tIME

----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

The night at the Wayne Manor was quiet, the only sound a soft echo of a television set having been left on in a room somewhere further in the darkened halls of the ever-expanding home. Xena leaned on the granite counter of the kitchen island and took a long sip of her whiskey, exhaling through her nose as she tapped the edge of the fine crystal tumbler she had placed the beverage in. Bruce Wayne’s grandiose manor never failed to amaze her, no matter how long she had found herself a resident among its halls.

Bruce was out on business. By business, of course, it was Batman stuff, as it always seemed to be this late into the night. The mission was a small one apparently, nothing he and Jason (with Dick as backup) could’t handle on their own. That left herself, Tim, and Damien to spend time in the manor together. The thought of being left alone with the two boys left Xena uneasy for most the night, causing her to seek solace in a small drink alone as the boys spared down in the batcave, as their normal routine seemed to place them into doing.

The boys had been suspicious of her, as they had a right to be. With their father’s history in women, to be regarded with such sharpness was nothing unexpected that was for certain. It was Dick who accepted her first, followed swiftly by Jason and then, lastly, by Tim. The three elder members of the bat family seemed to find her well suited to Bruce and sweet enough that they let their guard down around her long enough to confess that they appreciated the change she had made in the older man’s life. Xena could only smile with appreciation at the generosity they gave her when it came to the so called ‘power’ she had over Bruce Wayne.

But then, oh, but then... there was Damien.

Considering what history she could gather from Bruce and the others, it was no surprise he was taking the longest. She didn’t feel like it was right to rush him in his ‘acceptance’ of her either, if she could call it that. It had gone from him detesting her to, at best now, tolerating her existence and behaving neatly around her when Bruce was in the same room. Alone was even more awkward, sure, but he maintained cordiality.

Though he was young he was smart. Xena never felt the urge to look down at him when they talked, her words flowing natural as they would with any adult conversation. It was in one of those conversations, something about the development of multi-media industries and their basis on socioeconomic culture amongst Gotham elitists, that he had actually referred to her by her name and not simply ‘Miss Imperial’ or ‘woman’. The words were shocking enough to nearly send her fumbling with her statements as she tried ot hide a smile, which in turn brought a blush of annoyance to Damien’s cheeks.

It was small, she supposed, but it was progress. It was what she was grateful for.

Xena wondered now, though, if the situation in the night was going to be too much for them both. There was a mutual understanding now of treading carefully among one another, taking time to plan out situations and discussions as they met. Bruce insisted she didn’t have to be so careful with Damien, but Xena argued that it wasn’t ‘careful’ so much as it was ‘respectful’. She had known the annoyance of being a child and not being taken seriously by adults. She had seen the resulting trauma that could grow from such behaviors and vowed never to treat a child like something so delicate and breakable, or like a pet to be trained. They were human. Damien was human.

A very tiny, sometimes intimidating human.

Footsteps brought her from her thoughts and she could feel her back tense at the sight of the very boy she had been thinking of.

Damien froze in the kitchen doorway as well, his eyes wide as he watched her back. Neither had been prepared to run into one another in the kitchen, clearly, and the suddenness of their proximity created an air about the both of them that wasn’t necessarily awkward as it was unsure. New and distinct in its presence as they were given time with one another and no on else.

It was... different.

“Hey,” Xena finally piped after another slow sip of her drink, “Did you and Tim wrap up training?”

“Yes,” Came Damien’s curt reply as he walked further into the kitchen, “I was just going to get something to eat before retiring for the evening.”

She smiled despite herself, his proper demeanor never ceasing to fascinate her as she put her beverage down and sighed, stretching a little.

“I can make you something.” She offered.

“I couldn’t ask you to do that, Miss Xena.”

“It’s no trouble,” She smiled, “I was about to make some food for myself anyways. No reason I can’t make a little extra. Chicken and rice sound okay to you?”

There was a hesitance in his form before slowly, surely, he gave a nod of approval. With a smile back at him, Xena turned to the kitchen to begin preparing the food she had planned on making anyways, taking out fresh jasmine rice alongside some herbs and digging through the kitchen for broccoli and chicken with a hum to her lips. As she gathered and prepared the food that was soon laid before her, Damien found himself sitting comfortably upon the bar stool of the island, leaning his chin in the palm of a hand as he watched the woman work in silence.

“Why are you so happy?” His question was sharp, even though it didn’t mean to be, but Xena was unphased.

“I like cooking. I’ve always have a bit more fun doing it for others.”

“It’s tedious.Having servants to do it for me was far more useful.”

“Which is why you don’t know how to cook anything.”

“I can cook!”

“Cereal and toasting things don’t count.”

Damien blushed and looked away with a frustrated huff and Xena laughed as she chopped up the chicken and set out pots to start boiling water for both the rice and broccoli, dipping the chicken in seasonings as the bite sized chunks formed on the plate before her.

Xena finished chopping and set a few different food items aside as she looked over at Damien with a tilt of her head and a thoughtful pause. It ended as she finally spoke with a curious hesitance in her tone that made Damien perk upwards to listen to her more:

“Would you like to learn how to cook this? I can show you now.”

There was a long, thoughtful pause and, for a moment, Xena was afraid she had overstepped their boundaries. Her pushing may have been the sharp wedge that removed them both from their once comfortable spot in respecting one another. Perhaps she had put the relationship of her and the youngest wayne family member in jeopardy? Her heart beat loud in her ears as she tried to swallow casually.

“... Very well, show me.”

When Damien spoke those words she couldn’t help the sight of relief alongside the twitch of a smile against her mouth as she gave a nod.

“Go wash your hands first before you touch any food.”

“My hands are perfectly-”

“Damien.”

“Okay, okay I’m going!”

---

Damien wasn’t as patient with cooking as he was with other things. He grew frustrated when he couldn’t cut the broccoli pieces evenly enough and nearly threw the knife across the room when a splash of boiling water hit his hand as he dumped half of the rice down in one swift movement. Xena could only stifle her laughs at his struggles and talk him through each movement with patience as she showed him the proper way to hold a knife and helped run his hand under cold water until the burning of the previous boil had ceased.

By the end of it, though, they had a meal. A real meal that looked edible and carefully crafted: piles of rice topped with broccoli and chunks of chicken, sprinkled with soy sauce and sesame seeds for added flavor. The dishes steamed with an enticing array of smells to them that had both members of the chef team drooling with anticipation.

“Now for the best part,” Xena grinned at Damien as she handed him a fork, “Eating what you make.”

Damien stared down at his food, wincing curiously at it before slowly bringing a portion to his mouth. He chewed with a careful cadence, judging both the meal and himself in the singular bite he had taken from it. Xena watched as she scooped a bite into her spoon and chewed carefully, her eyes widening and her smile spreading across her lips in delight as she chewed with renewed vigor.

“It’s edible.” Damien observed in near disbelief in himself.

“Edible? It’s delicious!” Xena beamed with excitement, “You did really well Damien! I’m so proud of you!”

The words fell from her lips with delight and genuine pride. So much so that Damien felt a sense of his own pride welling deep in his chest. It bubbled fitfully under the surface as he bit back a smile through another bite of the food he made with her help.

His words, though, fell without a filter. They fell without his permission:

“Thank-you, Mother.”

The silence now was thick as Xena stopped mid-bite of her food and stared down at the boy to her side with shock in her eyes. Damien, in return, felt his own eyes widen and a bright red streak of embarrassment coat his face in a vehement shade. He choked on what rice he did manage to keep in his mouth as he leaned forward and coughed.

Xena’s hand touched him hesitantly, rubbing his back to ease the rice out of his mouth. Damien’s shoulders tensed at the feeling and he sat up shortly after he stopped coughing. Grabbing his food, he made any and all effort to run from the kitchen. Xena watched him speed off with surprise.

“Damien, w-wait!” She called, reaching out for him, but by the time she stuttered out his name he was gone. Swiftly returning to his room and hiding away as the words of his mistakes echoed in the halls he ran through.

He had... called her mother.

It was unintentional but so, so genuine that Xena felt her heart rise with an ecstatic delight that likes of which she had never felt before. Her lips curled into an excited smile as she rolled on the balls of her feet and tried not to giggle in delight as she sat on the bar stool Damien was previously occupying and ate the rest of her meal.

She would talk with him about it later. The poor boy, without a doubt, had a lot to think about in that moment.

All she could think about was how she couldn’t wait to tell Bruce when he got home.

#damien #batfam #kinley writes #self insert #self shipping #platonic self ship #platonic selfship #platonic f/o #mY SON MY BEAUTIFUL BABY BOY SON

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in-tua-deep · 5 years

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Hi! Ok so I'm totally taking you up on your offer and gonna send in some stuff! So, I did a rewatch recently and took a few notes (mostly following 5 bc his concept and interactions are just so fascinating to me) and I noticed some stuff! 1] none if the kids have practically ANY physical interaction unless it's a fight or Allison and Vanya. Idk about you, but to me, that implies an oddly formal relationship even tho they're family and makes 5 and the handler that much stranger (1/?)

(2/?) And gives it that much of a contrast. I think someone on here counted that she touches him like 20 times or something? Idk BUT 2) there is such a clear divide between the “older” and “younger” siblings bar Diego and Klaus that it almost feels like 2 different families at times and it’s really interesting! 3) only 3 siblings have canon PTSD flashbacks/visions if we exclude Vanya during her breakdown: 5 and Klaus obviously, but also Allison, which is really interesting and plays into how

(3/3) Her growth bc of Claire. 4) 5 had to see his dead siblings, we know this, but he was also the one holding the cloth over Allison’s neck when Vanya attacked her, which is a horrifying detail but I love it. 5) there were 2 extra seats at the dining table in the flashback of all the kids! It’s probably not important, but with the shows attention to detail I can’t help but wonder. Also I’m sorry I just completely dumped on you but I wanted to know your thoughts 😅😅 that and I love your metas

yeAH my sister pointed out to me at one point that the Hargreeves familiarity with violence was alarming in that a lot of their physical interactions with one another were… violent. Diego fighting with Luther at the funeral. Klaus smacking Five across the face at the eyeball place. Luther choking Klaus. Luther choking Vanya. Ben punching Klaus. Like genuinely a concerning amount of their interactions with one another involve some form of violence oof and none of them really apologize for any of it either. It’s accepted and made to seem almost normal which says all manner of bad things about their family dynamic rip

BUT they also have interactions I feel are at odds with that - Vanya taking care of Five’s arm, Diego tying up Klaus to detox, Klaus attempting to comfort Luther even after literally just being smacked around by him, Diego with Klaus at the vet bar, Klaus and Five’s conversation on the steps of MeriTech where Five tells Klaus about Dolores - just these soft in between moments where they look after or confide in one another

and all of those moments are private, they’re one on one whereas in a group they tend to fight and put up walls and argue which says to me that collectively the family wasn’t allowed to show weakness (thanks Reggie) and so they fight in order to protect their weak points before anyone can attack them

there’s like, the four A’s of how people handle conflict and one of those is aggression. It’s attacking because you feel like if you aren’t on the attack then you’re the one being attacked. It’s raising your voice and being the aggressor and starting conflict because you’re trying to protect yourself, because you’ve learned that it’s kill-or-be-killed and if you aren’t on the offense then you’re being hurt (i know there’s avoid and appease and i can’t remember the other one off the top of my head whoops)

so what i’m saying is that when there’s witnesses, when there’s a group, they’re on the offensive from the start. But alone, there’s a little more wiggle room for weakness. Alone is at night when there’s no training left in the relative safety of their own rooms. Alone with one other person is private, and privacy is safety in a house like that.

So there’s this paradoxical roughness and softness with one another, they were in competition with each other no doubt but they’re also family. Reginald pitted them against one another, but there’s no possible way to keep walls up ALL the time, you know?

but yeah i have a lot of feelings about the kids interactions with one another to say the least u picked a topic i like to ramble about as is clear from all this text and i didn’t even talk about the handler and how i feel like her touch was with the primary motivation to make Five uncomfortable and to punish him for his rebellion

okay there is more to this ask and this response is going to get so long I can already tell sorry in advance

and yeah the divide between the siblings with ‘older’ and ‘younger’ siblings is interesting!! Luther-Diego-Allison are one-two-three and are sort of purposefully portrayed as the older siblings. I definitely think Luther and Allison were off in their own little world as kids and they were definitely the golden children, the good kids, the ones who didn’t really question their father and avoided a lot of punishments. They were set apart from the rest of the family - and I think a lot of that was on purpose.

Because Reginald Hargreeves pitted these children against one another, in a move that honestly was smart even as it speaks to the fact that he’s a horrifying human being: because if there is discord among the ranks and rivalries and pettiness then the kids aren’t banding together against the true threat in the household - they’re going at one another’s throats instead of Reginald’s. The rivalry between Luther and Diego is probably the clearest portrayed tbh but Five was clearly also held up as someone to beat, someone who was competition (”he ADAPTED”)

so it’s almost like there are three groups really - the ‘good’ kids, the middle kids, and the disappointments. You have Luther and Allison at the top, Diego and Five and maybe Ben in the middle (and Five is only in there because he’s too headstrong, too willful to be at the top because Reggie doesn’t appreciate those that can think for themselves), and then you have Klaus and Vanya way down at the bottom. And there’s crossover relationships between the tiers (Diego and Luther’s rivalry, Five and Vanya’s solidarity, Klaus and Ben being bros etc.) but they were divided up on purpose tbh

alright moving on i could yell about how reginald fucked up a bunch of perfectly good kids all day lmao but

Allison is such an interesting character in general??? like she’s not even in my top three for the show but damn if tua doesn’t have some seriously interesting characters in the show hot damn like her journey from petulant and manipulative child familiar and comfortable with violence to an adult trying desperately to piece her family back together and prove to herself that she can be the good mother she desperately wants to be to Claire

i feel like i yell an awful lot about luther and allison for someone who has them towards the bottom of their list of favs tbh whoops

also GOD how dare you remind me of Five’s Extra Trauma regarding that scene holy heck like is wasn’t enough he had to find his siblings dead bodies in the apocalypse he also has to press his hands to his sister’s throat and literally see the life fade from her eyes as they rush to save her?? like shit man and that’s a concept that i haven’t seen anyone really do anything about as well like actually @ authors who aren’t me bc i have a dozen other aus to write on top of my various ideas, someone please address this

also do you think that’s the reason that Five initially agrees to killing Vanya at the bowling alley?? because he’s thinking about Allison’s blood hot against his hands and he missed the entirety of the apology/Vanya freaking out scene???? I mean even though I yell about Five’s motivation being his family I don’t think it was out of character for him to turn on Vanya because in his mind stopping the apocalypse has become so entwined with saving his family that they might as well be the same goal

if it helps though i don’t think five would ever actually kill Vanya even if he did okay the plan like look the boy could have jumped behind vanya himself and snapped her neck like did you WATCH the fight scene in Griddy’s holy shit but he does Not do that because he doesn’t want his sister to die and he especially doesn’t want to be the one to kill her and that’s the tea on that

alright where was i

HMMM i dunno if there was any significance to the bigass table other that i mean,, technically there are two other family members?? There’s Grace and Pogo if you count them, but i mean otherwise I think it’s just a feature of a mansion to have a bigass dining room table that can’t possibly fit the entire family

so maybe it was a statement about Reginald not considering Grace and Pogo to be members of the family and excluding them

or maybe it’s just a rich people table lmao

but i really enjoyed all your thoughts and observations 10/10 feels free to yell at me again ;3c

I will admit that i’m a bit of sham because i’ve only seen the series like,, one and a half times?? like once all the way through and then watching the first few episodes again and then jumping around the random points to fact check or other things oops but i do plan on rewatching sometime when i actually have free time to spare!! only a few weeks until the end of the school year oof

#ask me #embersofstardust #far tua long #tua #the umbrella academy #luther hargreeves #allison hargreeves #diego hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #number five #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #reginald hargreeves #tua spoilers

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