#oh yeah i specifically made this for my fanfic about her that’s why there’s random pics of yarn + the vogue book

[solar-halos]

i have been bitten by the moodboarding bug <3 annie cresta i love you

#couldnt decide between a lalala or okokok vibe so i did a mashup hehe #annie for this story def deserves something more colorful and messy #but writing deep dive annie and emulating deep dive annie are two diff things and this was the best i could conjure up #oh yeah i specifically made this for my fanfic about her that’s why there’s random pics of yarn + the vogue book #and the egg LOL #anyway lemme stop goin ham in the tags #girlblogging #annie cresta #odesta #the hunger games #messy moodboard

[bebx]

random don’ts in fanfic writing!

a disclaimer that these are just some suggestions from a fellow fic writer & you don’t have to agree with everything I list here. the intention of this isn’t to shame anyone but to only offer advices I personally take.

I hope you’ll find at least one of these useful.

don’t go “the taller man looks at her with a smile on his face” or “the blonde girl laughs, feeling his eyes on her” on characters whose names are already known by the readers. I admit that this is something I used to do for so long because I thought it was cool, until I learned it’s just unrealistic, because normally, if you know someone; say, if they’re your friend, you don’t call them “the taller man” or “the blonde girl” or “the older man”, you call them by their names. so unless your readers aren’t supposed to know the names of these characters yet, just say “Justin looks at her with a smile on his face” or “Sarah laughs, feeling his eyes on her” — it feels more natural this way.

don’t give readers your personal feelings. “the walls are closing in, and he still has trouble standing up on unsteady legs. panic’s making it hard to breathe as he realizes he’s going to die. what will poor Daniel do now?” — “poor” in this case is the author’s opinion, how they feel about their character. it’s unnecessary to add in your work because, with all due respect, it can make the whole thing sound like a children’s book where readers are not capable of knowing how they’re supposed to feel in this scene and so they need the author to tell them how to feel. unless you’re writing something specifically for kids, don’t do this. don’t insult your readers’ intelligence by constantly guiding them how they should feel about this particular character in this particular situation. your readers are not kids. they are perfectly capable of knowing how they feel. they will feel sorry for the character on their own. they will read your work and think “oh no, poor guy. how will he get out of this now?” on their own. you, as the author, don’t have to tell them to be sorry for the character.

don’t outright underestimate your own work. being humble is a good thing, but sometimes you just have to be proud. don’t directly say “this sucks” or “I don’t really like how this turned out” in the author’s note, it can actually drive readers away from your fic. it drove me away from a fic so many times. and it’s a shame, because I really believe your readers — I really believe I — would’ve loved your fic if they’d — if I had — given it a chance. but the disclaimer that outright says “this isn’t good” from the author themself is unfortunately more than enough a reason as to why readers decide not to read it altogether. so… don’t say that. you can be unsatisfied with your work, but your readers don’t have to know that. hell, they might even love it. so, yeah, be proud.

don’t replace eyes with orbs. I… admit that I frequently did this during my Wattpad phase, and it’s actively haunting my nightmares to this day. I guarantee you that you can just say eyes. “she looks right into his eyes” yes, you can say this, and it will always sound more professional in terms of writing than “she looks right into his beautiful blue orbs” which, if I’m being brutally honest, “orbs” used to describe eyes just makes it all sounds like a school essay where we purposefully use fancy words so that our teachers know we have those words memorized in our vocabulary. but yeah… it’s painfully cringe to call eyes orbs and it almost always makes me want to just stop reading your work, and I mean this with utter respect. don’t make the same mistake I made when I was an emo teenager. if you really must have to use other word that isn’t “eyes” just call them face balls or something (I’m joking, please don’t actually call them face balls). but seriously, literally anything that isn’t orbs. just… call them eyes. it’s already perfect.

don’t replace world with planet, if your work doesn’t include theme about space/sci-fi or if you’re not describing an actual planet (as in climate change towards the planet or a lost planet that’s never been found, for instance). — world and planet give readers two very different feelings. if you’re describing an antagonist, who is not a literal alien from another planet, whose plan is to corrupt or take over the world, just say world. “he knows he will watch the world burn in the end” sounds more aesthetically appealing and more professionally interesting than “he will destroy this beautiful planet” because, honestly, the latter sounds like I’m reading a fic about climate change, which yeah… unless you’re writing a fic about climate change, just avoid using the word planet in context like this and you’re good.

don’t avoid the use of Capital Letters at the beginning of a sentence and when you’re mentioning a specific name while writing a fic. you’re probably thinking I’m being the biggest hypocrite right now, because I’ve literally been deliberately using all lowercase phrases this entire post. I mean that’s because this is just a Tumblr post, not an actual AO3 fic. listen, I know writing fic is a hoppy, not a job. but if you really want to have your readers feel like they’re reading an actual novel while reading your work, I promise you the use of Capital Letters is your best friend, don’t neglect them.

*smut below the cut*

don’t replace cock with penis. I won’t go too deep here (no pun intended HELP💀) but cock sounds sexy, exciting and fun. while penis sounds like you’re describing a human anatomy during a lecture. smut is supposed to make readers feel aroused. it’s not supposed to make them feel like they’re reading a text book or are studying for an exam.

don’t replace cunt with pussy. in my very humble opinion, while talking about smut, cunt sounds explicit, raw, erotically mysterious and is overall a turn on while… I don’t know, reading the word pussy just doesn’t make me go AAAAAAHHHH the way reading the word cunt does (just my guess but maybe it’s because the word “pussy” is overused; we call everything a pussy nowadays that it just lost its meaning). also, from 99% of the smut I’ve read, it’s more professionally written if the author uses cunt instead of pussy.

***also, for the same reason why we don’t replace cock with penis in a smut fic, please don’t use the word vagina unless you’re preparing your readers for their anatomy class.

#writing #writing advice #writing tips #writing tip #writing suggestions #archive of our own #ao3 #whump #angst #fluff #writer #writers #writing trope #writing tropes #writing challenge #writing community #writing prompt #writing prompts #trope #tropes #whump trope #whump tropes #whump prompts #whump prompt #prompt #prompts #fanfic #writer on tumblr #fanfiction #writers on tumblr

[storytellering]

I really, REALLY hope that CAPCOM never reveals who Nero's mother is. I don't think I can take losing all the steamy Dante/Vergil Mpreg fanfiction and fanart!😥

Oh anon, I highly doubt the art and fanfic would disappear just because capcom gave a face to nero's mom! Even if they were to actually make her a character, I think me and everyone else who's deep in the hc would just keep going as if nothing had happened - after all, I highly doubt Vergil being Nero's actual mother would ever be made canon, so why care about what canon says on the matter? It fits incredibly well with his character and with the general vibe all of the spardas have that make them so close, at least in my experience, to the (specifically transmasc) non-cis experience, but it's one of those things that was likely just a happy accident and as such will probably never be recognized by the creators, even. Though while I think it's clear that the official intent of purely canonverse is to imply Vergil had a ONS with a random woman who got pregnant with Nero, I personally don't think it would serve the narrative to make her a full fledged character - something like that would muddle the story a bit too much. I think it works perfectly as a "yeah this thing happened but how or the details don't matter, what matters is that now Nero exists" thing rather than having its own detailed branching off plot. I just don't think DMC is the franchise to explore that - and besides, I think capcom, so far, hasn't seemed too interested in exploring that, which honestly I appreciate not just as a shipper (because again, like I said, at the end of the day what canon says matters relatively little) but from a narrative perspective.

#asks #mpreg #mpreg mention #pregnancy #pregnancy mention #sorry for the essay anon i have a lot to say on the topic dkfgdk #bottom line is I really dont think even if we follow the canon implied line of logic that vergil having some grand romance #would be in character or even serve the narrative at all #and even then nero's mom is implied to be dead by now so it really wouldnt matter #and i do honestly believe vergil giving birth to nero himself is the most poignant and emotionally satisfying way to handle that plot point #whether it's with dante or whoever else or even a faceless fortuna dude instead of a lady #but lbr capcom will never be brave enough to tackle that lol #we'll just have to be smart and correct and big brained on our own no matter what capcom says #Also i'm gonna be real honest lol if a LiR ever gets confirmed/shown and i wanted to play with canon #id just say she was trans/had a dick and vergil still was the one to give birth 🤷

[moonjxsung]

i love friends that share music💜 my hs friend group used to be based around music and it was super nice!

calico kitty update: she’s back at my friend’s house and is better, they sent her some antibiotics and probiotics so hopefully everything goes smoothly from here🫶🏻 thanks for your good wishes!

as for the chan dream: i feel you so much bc i never look at chan as being pervy or like super bold, like for me he’s always the dream bf, super nice and respectful. so i had never had a dream like this about him and like i also hope to make out with him (and every other member). my skz dreams are also usually about jisung and they’re always sexy dreams but super awkward.

i.n in the library is kinda traumatizing, so i get why you hadn’t shared it. but don’t worry, dreams are just made up from our subconscious consolidating things we saw or thought about. so that’s mainly why they’re so random. me: says this but i get super spooked about coincidences in dreams so i would include i.n’s library request anyways😂

to lighten up the dream mood, i also had a super sexy changbin dream that altered my brain chemistry so badly. and in the dream i went to like a donation place with bags of clothes and it was like a small church too (my bf was with me😭) and we go in and almost immediately these like gang of thugs come in and cm punk (the wrestler) was there and like a couple of clowns and ✨changbin✨. and they were there to steal something specific i guess bc they weren’t like stealing from anyone else and most people there were just like whatever. and i look at my bf and back at changbin and i tell my bf that i was going to shoot my shot with changbin and he was like ok whatever (supportive king) and i go over to bin and im like “hey wanna fuck?” and he’s like “sure”. and we walk upstairs to an area that had like showers and stuff but there was this guard lady and she wouldn’t let changbin pass so i had to distract her and get him in. so we’re in the showers making out (he’s a great kisser too btw) and he like pins me against the wall and just started going inside when the guard lady interrupts us. and makes us leave, so we do and he’s like “you’re kinda dirty, fucking me in a church” and im like “yeah, let’s go to the car” but just as we’re stepping foot outside the gang was like “we found everything, let’s go” and changbin kisses me says something like “i wish we could’ve finished but this means we have to meet again” and leaves. and my bf was just like ?!?! “not in front of me pls. did you get to fuck him?” and i told him i didn’t and he was relieved until i told him he said we’d meet again. (i never finish having sex with any of the members when i dream of them and i think it’s a part of me that feels guilty for my bf😂 even though ive told him irl that if given the chance to get with some specific idols i would and he’s always been like ok but i got dibs on twice😅)

so yeah, oh to be having sex with changbin, chan and/or jisung irl instead of my dreams 😪

anyways i love you pookie, thanks for listening to my rants🫶🏻

-🐈‍⬛

I love friends who share music!!! They are so special!! 🫶

YAYYYYY I’m so glad to hear calico is doing a bit better! I hope she has a smooth recovery 🥹

YES ABOUT THE CHAN THING I feel like it’s super interesting when you have a dream that establishes somebody as a dynamic you hadn’t really considered before and then you start thinking of them that way all the time 😵‍💫 it’s good inspiration for when I write stuff sometimes but it’s also HOTTTTTT AS FUCK it’s like your brain conjuring up your own personal little fanfic for you 🫶 ALSO THE CHANGBIN DREAM???? HELLO??.!:!!.!.!/!:!:!/!:!: THAT SOUNDS SO HOT? FUCKING CHANGBIN IN A CHURCH??????? 😦😦😦😦 I don’t think I’ve ever had a dream where I actually got to fuck a member but I definitely have my share of making out with them (particularly Jisung 😭) and I always wake up SO DIZZY…… but if I got interrupted while fucking one in a CHURCHHH GOOD LORD ID BE SO MAD….. there’s also something about the blasphemy aspect like maybe it’s this combination of religious guilt I always harbor a because I have terrible religious ocd and sexual repression from being on medication for ocd that just makes anything church-themed SOOOO HOT TO ME….. I feel like I’d be a little scared to write for it just because I wouldn’t want to offend anyone OR not do it justice but!!! Church stuff!!! Yes!!!! So much yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jisung what are you doing on Sunday morning

I LOVE U POOKIE I love hearing about your dreams they are genuinely SOOOO entertaining 👼🩷💓💕

#🐈‍⬛ anon #ask

[cttrajan1206]

When you get this, answer one of the questions (or all if you really want!) then pass it on to 5 writer friends! 🥰 If you have more than one WIP, pick at random! We want you to talk about your works, and celebrate with you! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

ok lmao so i had to go and ask you for the questions but i'll answer them now <3

What are you most excited to write with this WIP?

How has this WIP changed since the “daydream/brainstorm” stage?

Who is your favourite character in this WIP and why?

Ok so unfortunately for everyone involved i am not a novel writer-

WAIT I JUST REMEMBERED MY SHORT STORY!! DIGRESSION REDACTED. Literally. i actually had an explaantion typed out but you'll never see it now bc tumblr is a fuckwad <3

I'm gonna tag my writer friends to continue this because it's easier sdfogushdfg but thank you matt!!!

To follow the challenge (with fanfic or original):

@tsukiomoon @lovinglystrawberrycrepe @bea-writes-sometimes @genderlessfish @asadnerdtm @jawbone-xylophone @a-little-chai @blacksoul333 @hiddenarina @monoshii-wasu

(I kinda went crazy tagging a bunch of peolpe here because i'm genuienly curious for what you've all been up to and what you're writing!)

ok ahem ahem

Sheltered

What are you most excited to write with this WIP?

The ending. As a writer who loves to build up to specific moments and gestures, this story requires SO MUCH planning and care to achieve the effect I want which will hopefully be a mindblowing one. And also a very sad realisation I hope. I want the reader to be SHOCKED. i need them GASPING. i need them HORRIFIED. but i can't do that until i write everything else first </3 but god yeah i really really really want to skip to teh ending

How has this WIP changed since the “daydream/brainstorm” stage?

Initially in the daydream stage, I modelled this as a short film script! But I don't write scripts often so I scrapped it and made it a short story instead. Additionally, as I wrote it I realised extra motifs and secrets to add! For instance, Kanto tells you something and will always draw back to that point but as I wrote this in, I realised it would add to the plot twist to have Nafiz never acknowledge this explicitly until the very end! Little things liek that which will require extra planning but contribute so greatly to the payoff.

OH YEAH AND LIKE. ITS CHANGED A LOT FROM ITS FIRST DRAFT. MOSTLY BC THE FIRST DRAFT WAS 9 PAGES OF HANDWRITTEN STORY WHICH I THEN. LOST IN BANGLADESH </3 But honestly i really love the rewrite more so tbh alhamdulillah that happened. Taught me to save my work properly too sdfogushdfg

Who is your favourite character in this WIP and why?

So few people even know about the wip but even fewer know that the two main characters, Kanto and Nafiz, are just my Twisted-Wonderland self-inserts re-contextualised to be humans of different ages to their ogs. This is a little on purpose though since the story is very close to my heart ;D

But in that regard, my favourite character is actually Kanto!! She's a really young girl in Sheltered but her dialogue, mannerisms and actions are so fun to write and most importantly of all, she is integral to the plot twist. I love how much depth I need to pour into her and she's the expositional character!

Who doesn't love their beloved tutorial?

#cttrajan #sheltered #drabbles #kinda #writing game #matt #many many friends being tagged but if they reblog and do it ill tag them then

[jjm-blogspot]

Writing Tips: Advice on writing a good plot twist

Hey all, I’m back with some writing tips! My schedule has become somewhat packed, so I’m going to downgrade a bit and try posting tips every Monday morning to start everyone’s writing week off strong. Today I’ll be focusing on plot twists! This is something I utilize a lot in my writing, so I thought it might be fun to share advice on what I consider when crafting one.

Here’s what I’ve got:

1. Lay the foundation for the setup

Setup plays a large part in crafting a good plot twist because you never want your readers/viewers to be completely blindsided when it occurs. Plot twists are great because they give you a healthy in between. They make readers experience a range of emotions, and they also come with receipts. And by receipts, I mean your readers can backtrack through your story, and have somewhat of an epiphany. A great plot twist allows readers to say, “Oh yeah! That twist makes sense because of what character X did in chapter 18!”

Laying breadcrumbs is the foundation that holds it all together. A good plot twist is something that has been in the works long before it happens. It’s not something randomly thrown into the story to cause random mischief. If character Y, who has been loyal to a specific cause their entire life, suddenly decides to betray the organization they’re dedicated to…it doesn’t really make any sense. Now, if character Y went on a journey with an enemy, and learned a different side to the story, becoming sympathetic, then the betrayal works. It may be a shock, but it’s also kind of expected.

Here’s an example of a plot twist reveal in a She-Ra fanfic (Exploits of Power) I wrote a while back:

Mara keeps the wand aimed at Adora as she asks, “What tipped you off?”

Adora finds no use in lying now, “Retirement…I know you—at least, I thought I did.”

“You came to this conclusion all because I said I’m retiring?” Mara shakes her head. “No. You’re too dumb for that.”

Adora flinches—she knows she shouldn’t care what Mara has to say, especially not after what she’s learned, but Mara was her mentor.

“The hybrid tipped you off.” Mara spits with a cruelty Adora’s never heard off her tongue.

Adora shoots back, “I have a mind of my own. I’m the one who figured you out. I went to Lonnie’s house the night Octavia was arrested, I was under a glamor spell—”

“You were right there,” Mara realizes with a start.

Adora frowns. “And when Octavia said you were showing up I thought to myself, why would the Director of Magical Security be coming all the way out here just to sort through a stack of papers? You couldn’t search the house the first week of the murder because the case was still hot—too many people were investigating—so you gave it some time to cool off before you made your move. See, not as dumb as you think.”

In this scene, I focused on emphasizing those breadcrumbs I placed in my earlier chapters by having Adora mention it in her dialogue.

2. Don’t hold the reader’s hand

I know you’re excited about your story. When a big reveal approaches, you probably want to show all your cards, but don’t. One of the fun things about reading is coming to these kinds of conclusions on your own. Don’t be afraid to withhold information from your readers. And if you do release some information, make sure it’s subtle.

If you’re still worried about showing too little, it would be wise to find some beta readers to check out your first couple of drafts. Ask your betas how they felt during the plot twist reveal, and ask them at what parts of the story did they start realizing something was off. Was the reveal too obvious? Or was it not obvious enough?

3. Don’t let it be too much of a shock

I mentioned this a little bit earlier, and it ties into laying the foundation. Just keep in mind that your readers should be able to say, “That makes sense.” after a plot twist has been revealed. When the proper breadcrumbs aren’t left behind, that's when people say something was “rushed” or “that came out of nowhere”. So make sure to take the time to make sure you’re guiding your readers along the proper path as you approach that fork in the road.

4. Utilize characters no one would expect

If you’re stuck on coming up with a good plot twist then you can never go wrong with utilizing that quiet person on your character list. You know, the one who all your other characters would go above and beyond to ensure their happiness. A great aspect about this is, it also allows you to add some depth for that specific character. I’m sure we can all relate to googling a random name for an extra who ends up having a much bigger part in the story than we expected.

As long as the foundation is set, you’ll be good to go.

5. Stick the landing for the payoff scene

Okay, this is where it all comes together. You’ve set the foundation, and sprinkled those breadcrumbs, and now you’re ready for the big reveal. The question is...how do you do it? A good place to start would be asking yourself: which characters will be in the reveal scene? And more importantly, why these specific characters? Personally, I like to include the characters who have the most emotional ties to the reveal—the ones who will break down the most when they’re hit with it. Most times it will be the MC.

I usually place my MC in the reveal scene because, by this point in the story, the readers have grown with them. They’ve seen my MC struggle with rising conflict, and so they want to see what they’ll do when they’re faced with their biggest challenge yet.

If you’re able to put all these things together, then you’ll hit the nail on the head with your payoff scene. And believe me when I say, you want to stick this landing. Your readers have likely been with you from the beginning, following your characters on this wild journey, so you want to make it worth it for them.

6. Have fun!

Working on your plot twists, and reveals should be fun, and exciting (maybe a little—a lot—nerve wracking). So find joy in that aspect, even though you’ll probably have to do some crazy editing once the draft is complete.

Make sure to enjoy the ride. Just try not to laugh too manically when you’re spreading those crumbs.

#writing tips #writing advice #writers of tumblr

[nostalgia-tblr]

Hello this is me procrastinating having to actually write my sylki AU fic by writing a post about why sylki AU fics are a terrible idea. Pls enjoy, as I am sure you will.

Basically my premise is thus: the selfcest is not a bug it’s a feature and unless you specifically set out to create an AU environment where selfcest can actually be a thing then any given fanfic AU will lack that feature and now you face not only the traditional AU problem of “are these now just two random people who in the mind’s-eye of the reader look like the canonical characters?” but also you have to retool the entire thing because most of their canonical interaction and indeed the romance your fic is probably about is based on them being the same person.

Now I know that this is A Bit Controversial because when I say it boldly enough there is indeed pushback and so disclaimer that like all media takes this is subjective but that’s what I think. So many of the significant interactions between Loki and Sylvie, romantic or otherwise, are in some measure based on them being the same person. Like they would literally never have met if they weren’t. And now to prove this is A Serious Essay I will quote from the text:

“Your years-in-the-making plan was to tear the place down, create the ultimate power vacuum, and then just walk away. I’d never have done that.”

“Yeah? Well, I’m not you.”

Yes, that last line there points out that they’re not literally the same person, and indeed much is made of the ways in which they differ… but those differences are explored from an angle of “shouldn’t they be exactly the same” so even when it’s not about the selfcest it is in fact about the selfcest. But no, the first sentence is the one I want to focus on here. Ep 3 of the Loki show (the ep that quote is from, obvs) is what I like to call ‘the enemies to lovers speed-run’ which I am sort of joking about but also not, and that change and the speed at which it happens both rely on… yes, the selfcest, I admit this essay is a bit repetitive but bear with me here. Loki’s initial interest in Sylvie is ‘oh hey, another me’ and specifically that here is a he (well a she) who is doing something that would never occur to him and so now he needs to know why, which in the context of a redemption arc carries a certain element of ‘what would need to change to make me think like that, and should I make some attempt to do so?’ So now he has to follow her about for the remainder of the episodes and inevitably fall for her. A lot of which does seem to be based on her being The Only Successful Loki (arguable, I know, but just go with it for now) and so you have the self-attraction plus the differences between them holding the seductive possibilities of self-improvement. And also she’s hot.

And yes there are any number of fictional romances where people fall in love at first sight for no discernable reason but I contend that most of those stories are shite. Because fiction generally needs to make more sense than reality does and so we as an audience want to be able to go “okay I can see why these people would be into each other.” I at least generally don’t get that into ‘these two people have met and now they’re love. Because they just are. Love doesn’t have to make sense!!!!’

So back to the AU fic issue (remember that? I almost didn’t.) and you may see where I am coming from on this. This is a pairing with quite a lot of AU fics (probably because there’s about ten minutes of actual canon to work from and there probably is a saturation point for Fics Where They Banged On That Train, as unlikely as that saturation seems to me) and not all of them are any good. And many of them are good but not in ways that I personally find fannishly satisfying because they’ve strayed too far from what I want to read or whatever. Which often does involve the lack of selfcest and the corresponding ‘now you have to have rebuild their relationship from the ground up and it may or may not appeal to any given reader.’ I don’t care enough about these characters to read about them when they barely resemble these characters, if you get me. I am not that invested in the universe in which they are (made-up example) baristas. We have entered the world of ‘I want these two characters to get together and even though I have removed the very things that made them get together they are still going to because I am the author and that’s just how it’s going to be.’ Which is valid, obvs! But not always my thing! Arguably this is true of all AU romance fics for any pairing and the fun lies in seeing how you can make them bang when the circumstances have changed but this is a bit of an outlier in terms of what the original scenario was so it’s tricker than some.

(Also as an aside I noticed that while we all (rightly) go on about some aspects of the paring being gender-flipped a lot of AU fic keeps ‘Loki is annoying posh twat’ but then doesn’t keep ‘Sylvie is laser-focussed on a specific and slightly insane goal and is hardened by a terrible past’ and so he’s like IDK going to shut down a donkey orphanage and she has to stop him by thawing his cold heart with love which I note is basically flipping it back to what would be expected genderwise and if nothing else we’re now in territory I am less into and now that I think about it those Arranged Marriage AU things probably work more for me because they keep the ‘she is openly hostile and pissed off about her supposed destiny’ thing that I generally like? But I could be wrong about that. I am wrong about a lot of things. Possibly this entire post, even.)

I shall stop now not because I feel I have made my point and expressed it fully but because this is a lot of words and nobody has time for all of this shit do they?

#fandom #hot take oh no #sylki #anyway back to writing my AU fic in which they bang despite not being the same person (omg i am so problematical oh no) #the selfcest is a feature not a bug damn it #this post is 1000 words but it probably didnt need to be sorry #pls don't hate me now????? #like there is a fic I LOVE that i realised flipped the gender roles right back to the expected ones and... i still like it i just feel odd? #i realise i am abnormally fond of the selfcest angle but i tell myself everyone is even if they don't realise it yet #do we still call this meta? #or possibly even wank D: #loki series

[parcequecestnotreprojeeeet]

Hi, it’s me, Fanfic Anon #2. So I was reading a review of the new Karl Largafeld biography this weekend (random, I know) and it mentioned that he sent Brigitte a 5 foot tall floral arrangement in the shape of the Eiffel Tour just after they were elected and that image alone called for a fic in my mind. (PS. He also once said Brigitte had the best legs in Paris, so that’s what one of the references in here is to ha ha.) Hope you all enjoy it.

She heard a light knock at her door as she was working through all the letters she had been sent over the past few weeks - was this normal? Did all the other First Ladies getting this much correspondance?

"Come in!" She called out warmly, knowing it was likely to be one of her ‘boys’ as she’s lovingly nicknamed them. "Hi, Tristian. What’s up?" She greeted him warmly.

"Hello," he answered, clearly a little unsure of his next move. "Uhm. I don’t know how to say this -"

"I find honesty is the best policy. Just tell me whatever it is and we can go from there," she answered like the school teacher she is reprimanding a naughty student.

"No, no - nothing like that. There’s not a problem," he was quick to reassure, not wanting his boss to get the wrong impression of him, not this soon into the job. "Well, there is a problem," he qualified, "but it’s more of a logistical one?"

"That’s specific," she quipped in reply, teasing smile on her face.

"So you’ve received some flowers."

"Oh how lovely!" she exclaimed giddily, getting ready to whip out her phone to thank her husband, or her children.

"From Karl Lagrafeld," Tristian was hasty to add.

"Why did he send me flowers?" She asked confused.

"Yeah, I don’t know. But that’s not the logistics problem."

"Okay?"

"It’s not a bouquet. It’s kind of a topiary structure?"

She laughed at that, at his clearly desperate attempt to put it into words. "Maybe it would be better if I see it. Where is it?"

"That’s the problem, ma’am. We can’t get it through the doors."

"Oh - I’ve got to see this," she said, as she stood, rounding her desk, and grabbing her phone. She had a feeling her husband was not going to believe this without photograph proof.

After what felt like ages, she and Tristian found themselves at the loading dock at the back of the palace where food deliveries for catering or other big items were dropped of staring face to face with an Eiffel Tour made entirely of roses.

"This is it?" Brigitte asked, muffling a laugh.

"Yeah," Tristian replied. "I mean they told me this was here, but I don’t think I believed it until right now."

There was a short, silent paise before the two of them started guffawing, a full belly laugh pulled from them at the absurdity of the situation.

"That’s almost as tall as me!" she joked.

"What are we going to do with it?" Tristian finally asked when they caught their breath.

"Well, I don’t think Emmanuel would appreciate flowers from another man in our apartment - no matter how non-traditional," she joked. "So maybe my office?"

"It’s wider than the door frames," he said in reply, dutifully repeating what the florist told him before he gave up and left it in the loading dock.

"Come on, let’s put it on its side and pull it through."

"You mean -"

"Let’s turn it over and you grab one end, I’ll grab the other. How hard can this be?"

It turned out to be very challenging for them to make it past all the sharp corners with a rigid, inflexible arrangement.

"Brigitte?" She heard her husband ask, concerned as they passed him in the hallway, he on his way to a meeting, she struggling and with flowers now tangled in her blonde hair.

"Karl Lagrafeld sent this. It’s an Eiffel Tour full of flowers -"

"I can see that, but why are you an Tristian fighting with it?"

"The florist couldn’t deliver it past the loading dock. We’re moving it into my office."

"Oh no you’re not!" He objected loudly at that, scrambling to stop her in her tracks.

"Why?"

"Because -" he huffed.

"Chéri, you have absolutely nothing to worry about," she reassured, knowing this was coming from a place of jealousy.

"But he’s flirted with you, and now he’s sent you flowers!"

"One compliment does not flirting make."

"I don’t like another man sizing up your legs. Even if you do have the best legs in Paris."

Brigitte sighed, seeing they had an audience, and getting tired of carrying the heavy thing while they chatted, she turned to Tristian, and asked, "can you help me put this down and then give us a couple of minutes."

He smiled, reassuringly at that and as gently as they could, the two of them lowered the arrangement to the ground.

Once she was sure they were alone, she walked up to him and gathered him in her arms, telling him in a low voice "I’m not interested in wrapping these legs around anyone else’s waist. Ever."

She smiled as she saw his pupils react to that. "You better not be," he growled in response, looping his arms around her lower back and pulling her closer to him.

"They’re all yours," she promised. "And when you’re finally done for the day, I’ll show you just how fully yours I am."

"What if I don’t want to wait?" he asked, squeezing her ass.

"But your meeting -" she pulled back as far as his arms would let her, trying to be the voice of reason.

"I’m always late," he dismissed. "At least this time would be for a very good reason," he told her before kissing her senseless.

Hellooo fanfic anon #2! ❤️

I’m glad you read that review and had this cute piece idea hahaha

I just imagine the size of it and Brigitte and Tristan trying to get it inside hahaha

Emmanuel, don’t you dare get jealous of Karl Largafeld 😅 Everyone can look but Brigitte’s legs only belong to one person 😈

So, I wonder how many times he’s actually late because he’s busy with Brigitte 🤭

Thank you so much, fanfic Anon #2! ❤️❤️❤️

#fanfic #fanfic anon 2

[thewanderer-000]

The Random Adventures of Daniella "Danie" Spadina

(Note: this'll be random fanfic series with miscellaneous themes, many media themes, other thing and a touch of nonsense)

The neon sign illuminated the back wall of the bar Daniella inhabited, her new friend Sharky invited her to an after party at his cousins Hurk Jr.'s house. What could it hurt, Sharky said the magic word moonshine, a 'shine called Eden's Bliss, made specifically from a cults special tonic- narcotic, or something. But she was curious, what could go wrong, Danie already jumped time-lines already. What could a drink of another cultist beverage hurt? Plus Mayor Hancock gave her addictal stuff that makes addiction less addicting, like.

___________________

"Thanks for driving us Pratt, you're not as much of a dick everyone says you are. Maybe you'd like to try this 'shine me and Hurk made, I haven't tried it yet, but considering you're not on duty maybe you could take a load off" Sharky said as Officer Pratt drove us to Hurk Jr's dads. He kept looking at me as Sharky ramble on, obviously knew I wouldn't from around here, though I could understand the suspicion. Odd characters out there tonight, me, them three brothers that dropped me off at the edge of town were suspicious. Cute but suspicious. Big red asked a lot of questions, felt like a survey so I fired back questions as well. Except the marriage question, people never answered truthfully about that. They're attached to one person, or many, you never know.

"Hey, so you rode with the Seeds?" Pratt asked as we got there, Sharky went to go find Hurk Jr., I was startled since I zoned out reflecting on them three handsome brothers.

"Uh, yeah. Odd bunch, attractive but odd. All of them named with "J" initial, John, Joseph, and Jacob. If they have another brother I'll bet his name is James. The older brother asked a lot of questions, I answered but I asked questions too, it seemed like I passed their survey" Pratt chuckled at my jib, but he looked haunted after a moment which made me feel uneasy. Was that bad? Did I want to ask what it was about, probably best not to, not tonight I wanted to try this 'shine. Couldn't be worse than that brotherhood of steel cultist radioactive juice on Far Harbor.

"Hey! Hurk already started and Nick and Kim and some others are here. Senior is drunk out of his mind, the moonshine is a hit" Sharky said happily, I look and see the truck the three brothers were riding as I get out of Pratts car. I wave just to be friendly since they drove me through mountains and the country side to the edge of town, probably didn't see me but maybe they did.

Lovely people the Reyes, they left early since Nick had to be ready for a couple flight lessons in the morning. They didn't try the moonshine but it was understanding. Hurk senior was put to bed by his son and nephew, that was a shock to them since the old man can handle his drink, I didn't think much of it. But how could I when I kept seeing a few of the Seed brothers here and there when I blink. I drink more and more to see what would happen, Pratt/John/Joseph/Jacob take the bottle from me as I stagger to a lawn chair. And as he goes inside to grab me some water, minutes pass then a big wolf goes running, red lines was set on the head, I go to check on the creature. Grabbing the bottle of moonshine to help the big animal since it wasn't going to help me, except to get drunk.

"Hey, come here boy-, girl? You poor creature come on- back here, you're hurt. Come on, puppy, puppy. Come on- baby" I say chasing this behemoth of a wolf around the Drubman fishing hole, the beast out runs me. I still head in the direction of where I can hear distant foot steps ahead of me once we-, I cross the main road. I chase till I reach a cabin, and it's suspicious and it oddly stinks of the moonshine.

"Oh shit, where'd you go. I can't hear you, baby. Come on, you're hurt-, oh God, I'm outta shape and hella drunk" I looked down and realized that I took off without my boots, that explains why I could feel everything as I ran. I sit on the cabins stoop since I couldn't catch up. Taking a drink as I accept that I couldn't help the big beast.

"Oh, now that packs a punch. I wonder what the survey thing was, I wonder if big red was attached to anyone-" a howl made me jump as I take another long and unfortunate big gulp, I hiccup and burp feeling like I am either very lucky or unlucky for that.

"Hck, shit. Oh- mm" I lay back on the floor feeling weirder than usual and hot, the smell of the green barrels fueling my disorientation.

"Are you ok?" A cool voice said, I look over my form drunkenly and it's big red, I feel a warm tingle after, warm tingle all over. I try to not think about that and suppress it or that warmth would be running down my leg. Not the first time I pissed myself in front of people though this would be the first I wasn't on a toilet. And giving a sample for a bunch of lab coats.

"Why'd you- hck-, look so good?" I say not suppressing the warm tingle, and carefully laying my head back. I close my eyes then that was it as I fell asleep, I had the craziest dreams of mountains and this floating feeling, like I was being carried by the warmest clouds. I go through a door to an office like setting, very familiar like a lobby or activity room. I could only focus on how felt sticky the clouds feel but I enjoyed them since they didn't smell like the green barrels.

___________________

I woke up in a room that I didn't remember entering, I roll out of the bed I was sleeping in and wonder why my pants weren't on. I remember seeing the one balcony door open and someone telling me to "go to sleep", then I think I turned to the voice and obnoxiously cuddled on to them. I don't know what happened after, most likely fell asleep.

I walk over to the balcony door and opened it to see everyone out there moving around and then I heard him, the voice from last night, far off yelling orders and encouragement to people. It was the handsome older brother, I get out and lean on the balcony to see where he was. We made eye contact once I found him, I wave and smile before going back inside to look for my pants and my boots. And that bottle of moonshine, but I might have drank it all.

"Where the hell did I leave my pants and boots? What happened to my socks, they're all dirty?" I say picking them up, at least I think these are mine, I rethink that they were mine. Just then a knock at the door startled me, I drop the random socks and stand as inconspicuous and alluring as possible.

"Come in" I answered quickly. "Jacob" entered, his stare made me realize that I forgot my pants, and the fact his face went a few shades red hinted at it. He immediately looked up so as not to stare at my cute panties, it made me blush because of course I'd forget.

"Well ain't you doing all the good?" Jacob remarked as he went to leave but I cross the room and pulled him back, man is tall and heavy. No easy feat pulling him back but I did it, I had questions and needed answers for what, how and why.

"Hold up, I have questions, nevermind my half dressed bawdy?" I say the last bit jokingly to lighten this awkward situation, though I felt a bit dizzy like the moonshine was still in effect. He made eye contact for the sake of not looking down than needed, I wasn't very tall.

"OK, shoot honey. I ain't got all day" I'm slightly caught off guard with his little southern twang, then I focus because I felt a cool breeze through the open balcony door.

"Where's my pants and boots, where am I and how'd I get here?" I asked hands on my hips, Jacob looked down then up and away.

"Look here. I don't care and besides didn't we sleep together-." I think and grow red as Jacob begins to pinken.

"Uh-, nevermind. You know what I meant-. I'm hungover and just waking up, my way with words has left me" I say just going and grabbing a drawer and grabbing the first pair of pants and slipping them on, my slutty mouth has to say the worst sentence at the moment. Could I make this more awkward, I had to leave before I said more gonk things, I suppose Johnny was right. My talking when awkward or intoxicated is too much, I swear he was the best and worst. How the hell was it cute though, fuck that guy and his Silverhand, it grabbed too hard during sexy times. Well not all the time but sometime. Jacob stood there as I quickly grabbed things that weren't mine, probably confused by the fact that I was grabbing stuff and heading out the door.

"Uh- did you want to? It can be arranged, Danie, if you wish?" Jacob said, I dropped the jacket and looked at him intrigued, not declining but interested. He's got a good physic, from what I could remember, granted I was just using part of him like a pillow. But who knows how long I'll be here, did it matter I'd have to leave this universe too eventually. And he oddly felt familiar but I couldn't place what it was that made me feel a degree of comfort about him.. This wouldn't be the first time I unintentionally joined a cult, hopefully they wouldn't deny. The amount of cults I came across they'd deny it.

"Ummkay, I could stay for a while, then look for my pants later" I picked up the jacket and put it back on the desk and dropped trou-, more like wiggle and boom I was pants less once more. But he quickly pulled them back up and came very close pushing me towards the double doors leading to the hall.

"Come on, I know a place" he said in my ear before laying a kiss below my neck, I immediately suspected this would be a good outdoor trip.

_______________________________

"What the hell!?" I whisper as I couldn't be more wrong as the tent we fell asleep in, after sexy time activities were done. A bunch of wolves surrounded us, well, me. Jacob must have went out for a bit, I could hear the wolves play fighting with an animal limb or something they hunted, I just seen their shadow. I wasn't ready for that, I was looking for my clothes but unfortunately I can't find them. This is probably what I get for making fun of that TV show about the naked people in the woods in that one dimension. I sift through the sleeping bags and blankets and find Jacob's shirt, I put it on then hear the distant sound of a vehicle. The wolves weren't forgotten just because it got quiet out, till I heard a rustling at the opening of the tent, a wolfy snout pushed its way in.

"Shit, this is where and how I end, or just get mauled a bit more. Jacob Seed, you were great in sleeping bag, and by camp fire" I whisper as the tent zipper gave way with a whole wolf pushing in to the tent as the vehicle got closer and closer. But the wolf made way and clumsily got in sniffling and snuffling, I was expecting hungry, vicious animal. The wolf seemed to be looking for something or someone as the large thing started to paw at sleeping bags and blankets. Then found me as the scent it was tracking was on me or me?

"Oh fuck" I murmur as the large beast snuffle Jacob's shirt, the size of the wolf was humongous, this looked larger than any wolf I saw before. I waited for it to bite and rip me out of the tent but nothing. Plop, she rested in my lap just cozy, I go to pat but she sees and naws on my hand.

"Oh! I'm sorry" I panic for a moment but realized that this wasn't a mad bite but something else. I wonder if they knew Jacob, maybe they followed us and watched us last night. I wouldn't remember or hadn't noticed since I was immensely preoccupied.

"Hm? You are pretty nice, like domesticated and very cute but still dangerous" I say as cautious as ever while the wolf licked and softly naw on my hand as my other hand pet her. The vehicle finally made it, after a moment the engine cut and a door opened and closed.

"Danie?" Jacob called, probably suspected that the wolves scared me off, but this isn't the oddest thing to happen, I've seen odd and experienced it quite a bit.

"Yeah, I'm being weighed down by a large soft girl with the cutest ears" I hear a sigh of relief as Jacob walked over to the tent.

"I brought you some clothes since I didn't know where the wolves took yours. We'll let you change" a sentence I had never heard from anyone, yet, I liked it. Because, well, wolves. Jacob handed me the bag and whistle to the wolf to follow him as he closed the tent.

"Thank you, oddly this isn't new, I lose clothes here and there, and judging by the shirt and jacket they took your stuff too" he chuckled lightly as his shadow displayed him giving affection to his wolves.

"They did, underwear, and jacket. If you're not careful they'll take your important shit, if not them the raven's will take stuff too. And now I have questions as to how, why and where you've lost clothing, sounds like interesting stories and adventures" I ponder on that, as I pull on the donated clothes, which smells like campfire and Jacob's fancy smell good spray. I found it in one of the drawers, I don't remember putting it back in my search for pants. I absent-mindedly left it out to smell later, though once Jacob came into his room it was instantly forgotten.

"I'm aware, wolves, raven's and corvids. All in cahoots, kinda cute. Though. I think I may have too many stories, it's all usually shoes, jackets, hats, though maybe few times I lost full outfits. That's not including the ruined clothes" I step out of the tent while doing a quick braid, I think on my adventures and remember.

"Once, I fooled around with a musician/former military guy. I went to a bar where this after party was, the guy was drunk, flirty and hella forward too. I avoided him at first but then when I was at the bar getting a few drinks for me and the group I befriended, yeah. He shot, his shot, my drunk self said something flirty and insulting an hour later we were getting busy in a restroom stall at the bar. Then I went to his place where it continued on the way to then against his apartment door. So clothes have been shed, sexy times have been had, I wake up clean myself up and as I'm about to look for my clothes I hear him talking to an irate woman on the phone" I stand trying to remember what happened next, being young, drunk and trying to hide from a one night stands significant others is stupidity I gradually learned not be in, in the past. I've been kinda better just had time-line jumping added to my messy mix.

"And shit, she was mad, and for good reason, her friends saw him a couple days before taking a woman to his place. I only grab what I can see, which are my bag and phone, he rushes in and says 'I don't have time for this' wrapped me in his bedsheet and told me to wait on the fire escape. I don't, I go down, duck in the nearest unlocked window grab some random shoes that fit while I hear him and the woman argue. I hear his window open and luckily I'm in some random apartment, I laugh out of regret because I've been in that same situation before. Their fight is louder, I change into some random woman's clothes, because Johnny and his woman are still arguing, even as I'm clothed and leaving out the front door of some apartment. I return the bedsheet, the fight isn't as loud she still sounds suspicious but he's putting on a good enough act to sway her. I just leave the bedsheet on the floor next to his door, and shake my head then leave, I had stuff to do and was so ashamed. I didn't want to add to the number of women she said he cheated with, three other women, ugh. I didn't see him for weeks but she broke up with him then we fooled around some more, I was cross with him but damn was he charming. His band mates seemed unphased, but they were nice like, I only was around for-, I think roughly half a year. Then work took me elsewhere, that was long ago, definitely a time to remember" who could forget a world with robotic like limbs and Night City, what a trip. Jacob gave me a look I wasn't quite ready for, did he know I wasn't from this time-line. I look away thinking of another memory where I lost clothing and nothing too out of the ordinary but that was difficult since I myself wasn't ordinary or from this time line.

"You're not from here, huh?" Jacob said inquisitive tone level as his eyes looked for evidence of my birth home. I see his eyes, searching me for answers, like he could recognize the truth through all my false efforts.

"Hehe, uh. What are you on about, like I'm not from Montana but-" he moved close caressing my cheek in a very familiar way, and like that I remember it. We met before, a long, long time ago, I knew those eyes, we found each other.

"You're Jake, Jake from Juvie" I say softly, remembering how I got picked up by police because the portal dropped me on a cop car. Luckily, they were patrolling kinda slow but the drop still hurt, I think I was 16. 16, no id card, my bag of belongings didn't help me, I was thrown in a juvenile detention facility for putting up a fight with the police. The lady who was my case worker fudged some documents for me, I knew enough but they took my time travel stuff. Plus, I had to wait for it to charge, this universe beat the earth that had human size bugs on it. Or I think it was earth. And there he stood, a husky tall redhead, big, bruised and bloody knuckles. I wasn't sure about this, I had a weakness for boys like him and I was right. We insulted each other but I knew, I knew it would only inspire more down the line.

"Hey, jailbait" I fumed at that Insult, why did guys use that and on me. Johnny Silverhand, Eddie, that Ted boys dad, and my professors snarky assistant.

"And good bye" I turn to leave only for Jacob Seed to laugh then close the space and wrapped me up in his arms. I thought I'd never feel this again or see him or this universe again.

"Don't be like that. You know, I never thought I'd see you again, I actually hoped that I would again. And for awhile I pushed the idea you ever happened away, for a long time, I looked all over for you once I was well. But the information given was false and the case worker had passed on, I only knew you by Danie. But any trace of you was gone like that light" I hold on to his hands, it's been too long since we been close. Too long, I seen his one coat had been from the army and I wonder what life he lived once I left.

"I hoped to see you again too, I never thought I would, sadly. I just had to keep moving, well, more like I had to buck up. Moving wasn't my choice, I wished it could be my choice" Jacob let me go to turn me to him, I did and look into his eyes and I felt like the teenager I met before was back in front of me. Then realization hit me, we were both 16 in juvie, Jacob looked older, I wasn't 40. Shit, shit, shit.

"So what's it like time traveling?" Jacob asked, I felt like my soul left my body, he wasn't going to beat around the bush. At least I won't have make up a long ass lie, besides I don't think I could make up a lie to cover the fact I am very much in my twenties. Late twenties but still, I smile at him not being freaked out, though he probably was freaking out before he returned to this here campsite.

"Ah, yeah. It feels confusing and I don't know how I got back to "this", this time-line. And the fact that we met in our teens. And it's given me more questions but I'll figure it out, and if I find my professor I'll have to talk about this and a hypothesis on why my device brought me back. The bonds maybe tied to this, we bonded while in juvie before I jumped-." I say giving it plenty of thought on it.

"Huh? Well, we did more than bond from what I remember back then" I blush, male ego. But can't deny he was my first relationship, amongst other things. I could choke him, or smother him in kisses, I try to think of something, anything else but how could I? I was fixing to take him with me, we'd have been jumping through time. Almost to adulthood but shy off 2 years, instead of a car I had a time traveling device that could take me to any point. All that stuff is the past now. We had some catching up to do till the particles magnetize and put me somewhere else. And who knew when, I had a reader for it but sometimes it moved faster than I could keep up at times.

"I'm almost surprised that we didn't get caught sneaking out or were caught going at it. You were always so loud, still are actually" Jacob rolled his eyes but smiled wickedly. I knew what that meant, I stepped back only to be lifted as Jacob roughly snuffled me while rubbing his beard into me. I scream and laugh, he stops to steal a few kisses.

"You're not going to make me say uncle? Are you, I kinda don't mind this as opposed to that stubble you had back then" he grimace at me then laugh.

"I think I'll shave now, thank you" I gasp, knowing I should have just enjoyed it and not said anything, I'll be sporting beard burn now.

"So rude, you're lucky you are handsome" Jacob stuck his tongue out.

"And you're beautiful, even when covered in beard burn and hickies" I couldn't help but blush at the prospect of doing that again, we could have some fun before I have to leave this universe/ time-line.

#alternate universe #Time line jumper #Jacob Seed #Far Cry 5 #The Random Adventures of Daniella 'Danie' Spadina #Daniella Spadina #old fallout 3 character #didn't get a last name till recently #mentions #Fallout 4 #Cyberpunk 2077 #writing

[marvellousstawler]

Halloween 2023 but the post was due yesterday

As a result it's not themed, sorry, no Halloweeny business from me, my life is almost constantly spooky themed so there's no point. I'll have you know that I did wear a werewolf costume to my important government job though. I was softly encouraged to remove the lipstick-and-eyeliner cheek scratches, but allowed to keep the fluffy mitten-hat.

Art I'm going to tentatively declare that what I've been doing this week counts as art. Actually I'm going to rescind my tentativeness because it absolutely does.

First one is fairly straightforward. Because I'm too cheap to buy one, I made a pinboard out of spare cardboard wrapped in cable tape to facilitate my now-much-larger pin collection following PAX. Now my whole room stinks of the tape but it's worth it because the pinboard works very well and I didn't spend a cent. Well. On the board. Maybe don't ask about the pins.

For the next one, some backstory: Pokémon has permeated my mind for about four-fifths of my life, I own and have completed at least one game from every generation since 3 including rom hacks, and I have not once actually completed the pokedex. So that is what I have endeavoured to do -- take Young Marv's stockpiled trove of TCG cards both real and fake, and arrange them in order to create a physical pokedex. Every card that I don't have, or that the mystery box of 80 random 2nd-hand cards I bought online can't fill, I will have to draw myself. So we'll see if Future Marv can complete that one before she expires too.

Writing Okay so it probably started with a conversation with a coworker/new friend following my declaration of the physical pokedex project, about the various overly convoluted fan theories I have about Cynthia (Pokémon) specifically, which led to me discussing those with Sammy (my best friend for whom I'm using a psuedonym because she's on here and she doesn't need her brand poisoned by mine), which led to us yes-anding each other about it way too hard, which led to "what if Cynthia went back in time in Pokémon Legends Arceus instead of Akari," which led to a short improvised script of a moment between Cynthia and Cogita which was way too sweet and impactful, which led to "oh no I might actually have to write this fanfic now," which led to Sammy's simple, one-word reply: "Nano!" So a big thank you/fuck you to Sammy for removing my excuse to put off this fic just like all the others. Way to keep me accountable for my own work, you wonderful asshole.

I'm very excited because this has all reignited a love for Pokémon which I had feared was suddenly and resolutely dead. Why? Well, it's because of a cruel prank. Some people at Nintendo pulled a fast one on everyone a while back, trying to convince the whole community that there are nine generations now, when everyone knows that there are only eight, and the series ended with the release of PLA, and the end of the anime. It seems that some people in the community have been completely duped into believing that "Gen Nine" is real, and it's pretty mean-spirited of the people responsible to give them false hope like that. Which made me pretty upset, evidently. So yeah, it's good to put that negative episode aside and go back to focusing on my bullshit about Cynthia, Cogita and the male one, and all the lore around them I can squeeze into a fanfic.

Reading Okay, apparently I have failed to placate the nostalgia beast by managing to feed her a goddamn unicorn -- the last copy in the only store I found that sold it, of a volume of the YGO manga (a manga with a bajilion volumes) featuring my favourite duel of my favourite character, who of course is Mai because I'm only allowed to stan semi-irrelevant blonde ladies in all forms of media (it's a real burden). No instead, the nostalgia beast was so ravenous that she made me fixate on finding two YGO structure decks, at the only store I found that sells them (bit of a theme in this city), to subject poor Sammy to playing a game with me because I've never tried. And in all the nostalgia beasts constant squawking, I forgot to pick up those copies of Donuts that I was going to get last week.

Oh what's that? You want to actually know what I read? In the reading section? Well, exactly one volume of Donuts Under A Crescent Moon, hours and hours of lore and theories written by Sammy over text, and an obscene amount of info on YGO archetypes that had me saying "fuck this, I'll get a structure deck" within half an hour.

#journal #marvomakesathing #pokémon #cynthia pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #cogita #pokemon discourse #ygo #nostalgia #yes-and #pokedex #arts and crafts #procrastination #champion cynthia #cynthia #marv's obligation to only stan semi-irrelevant blonde girls

[spideykaiparker]

Not Your Average Field trip

Peter Parker x Stark!reader

Field trip trope

warning(s) : slight smut, fluff

summary : peter's decathlon team are going on a field trip to Stark Industries, but peter wasn't allowed to go, long story short, they bumped into peter in the hallway, catching peter in a slight compromising situation.

author's note : okay, so this is my second peter parker fanfic, this is your typical peter parker field trip trope but with a slight twist, i had this idea for a while, so i hope you like it! it's okay if you don't, cause i just wrote this for my own entertainment, hehe. english is not my first language, so sorry if there's any grammar or spelling mistakes.

I'm really sorry if it's bad, but i promise it gets better along the way!

anyways, happy reading! ^_^

it was noisy in the decathlon room, Mr. Harrington was in the principal's office because apparently there's some big news for the team.

about 45 minutes later, Mr. Harrington came back to the room with a bunch of papers, wearing an excited face. immediately all of the noise stopped and the focus was on Mr. Harrington.

"okay everyone, i have some exciting news here" Mr. Harrington said, practically shaking because he couldn't contain his excitement. "we're going to Stark Industries on Friday!" he continued with a huge grin.

"what?!"

"how?"

"we're going where?"

all of peter's decathlon teammates were freaking out, excited by the news, but peter, he was freaking out because of the fact that they were going to his work place.

but then again, his teammates except ned and mj doesn't even believe that peter got an internship at Stark Industries, they think that he's lying about his internship, hell, even some of his teachers doesn't believe him, even if he already gave them the legal documents, they still won't believe him, saying that he's forging the documents. where in reality, he really got an internship. Mr. Stark has gave him a real internship seeing as he's really intelligent, some might even say he's on par with Tony Stark himself. Mr. Stark made him his personal intern, but he could still work with the other interns.

"okay calm down everybody, I'm going to hand out these forms for your parents or guardians to sign, make sure to hand it in to me on thursday" Mr. Harrington explained while handing out the forms, still a bit excited himself.

"okay you may go now"

just as peter was heading out, Mr. Harrington called him over. "pete can you come here for a second" he said while gesturing with his hand for peter to come over.

"yes Mr. Harrington? is anything wrong?"

"ah yes, unfortunately, because some of the teachers don't believe that you really have an internship at Starks Industries, they decided to not let you go, they said that your lying has gone too far, and should be punished for it, therefore you can't come on the field trip"

"what? but I'm not lying, Mr. Harrington" peter questioned, a bit hurt that his teachers don't even believe him, but also a bit relieved, because he wouldn't have to go on a field trip to his own work place.

"i know you're not pete, but unfortunately the other teachers don't think so, but you can just stay at home instead of going to school" Mr. Harrington explained, feeling sorry for peter.

"okay, Mr. Harrington, thanks for informing me" peter said while walking outside.

peter went straight to Stark Industries after that, because May finally agreed for them to stay at Stark Industries after a lot of provoking from Mr. Stark.

once he arrived at Stark Industries, he went straight up to the living quarters, more specifically to Y/N stark's room, without needing to scan his badge because the employees there already knows him.

when he reached the top he went straight to Y/N's room, only to see her sleeping in front of her desk with a bunch of unfinished projects that she's working on.

smiling at the sight, peter slowly made his way to Y/N, picking her up gently, and carrying her to her bed, then getting inside under the covers himself. Y/N automatically snuggled closer to peter, feeling his warmth, inhaling his familiar scent.

"mm.. you're back" Y/N said while rubbing her face in peter's sweatshirt like a cat.

"yeah i just got back, baby" peter replied while stroking the back of her head, smiling down at her.

"what time is it?" Y/N questioned whilst rubbing her eyes.

"uhh, i think it's a little past four pm"

"let's head to the kitchen, I'm hungryy" Y/N suggested while slowly getting up from the bed, still gaining consciousness.

~

once they reached the kitchen, Y/N sat down on the counter, while peter made a sandwich for both of them.

Y/N, who was still a bit drowsy from sleep, noticed the sad look on peter's face while he was making a sandwich. she made her way to peter, hugging him from the back, resting her chin on his shoulder, but can't quite reach it because of the slight height difference. so she opted to just snuggle her face on the back of his right shoulder.

"is everything okay?" she questioned, tightening her grip around his waist.

"yeah.. it's just- i was supposed to go on a field trip here on friday, but the teachers wouldn't let me go because they think I'm lying about my internship" peter answered with a frown.

"what? how could they, they can't just do that, you gave them the documents, proof that you're really an intern here" Y/N said with anger clear in her voice, hugging peter a bit tighter.

"i know, but they think that I'm forging the documents" peter answered with a defeated look on his face.

"let's go talk to my dad, I'm sure he'll do something about it"

"no, it's okay, i don't care if they don't believe me, it's fine if i don't go on the field trip, i literally live here, why would i want to go on a field trip to my own home" peter retaliated

"but still—" she got cut off by peter turning around in her hold, hugging her back, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"it's fine, Y/N, I'm okay" he said with a small smile.

still a bit mad, Y/N just nodded her head with a small pout, resting her head on his chest, hugging him tighter.

peter laughed at her cuteness, resting his head on top of her's in return, rubbing the back of her head lovingly.

they spent the rest of the day watching netflix, talking about random stuff, just enjoying each others company.

~

thursday, they were supposed to hand in their forms to Mr. Harrington, and while his teammates excitedly talked about going to Stark Industries, peter was just resting his head on the table, waiting for the day to go by. ned offered to not go on the field trip and just hang out with peter, but peter couldn't do that to ned, so he insisted for ned to go the field trip.

peter just couldn't wait to go home, flash has been taunting him every second about his internship, saying that he couldn't wait to prove to the whole school that penis parker is lying about his internship.

"why the sour face, parker? scared that your fake internship would be exposed?" flash taunted.

peter didn't reply, instead he just buried his head in his arms, wishing for this to all be over so he could head home and cuddle with Y/N.

"not answering, are we? afraid that I'm right?" flash continued taunting peter with a smirk.

"just leave me alone, flash" peter answered, with a tired look.

"tch, fine, I'm going to prove everyone I'm right tommorow anyways"

"whatever you say, flash" peter said while rolling his eyes.

when it was time to go home, peter practically sprinted out of the room, can't wait any longer to go home and spend time with Y/N.

~

when he reached the tower, he went straight to Y/N's room, finding her working on a project she's been working on for weeks.

"oh peter, you're here" Y/N said, getting up from her desk and immediately hugging peter.

peter hugged her back tightly, burying his face in her hair, inhaling her comforting scent, immediately forgetting about today's events.

~

when nighttime came, they laid on the bed, talking about each other's days. but peter got distracted by the way her lips move, thinking about how her lips wrapped around him, taking in his entire length in her mouth, teasingly playing with the head with her tongue.

"—pete? are you listening?" she asked with a slight smirk. she knows that peter has been staring at her lips for a quite while, she could practically see what he was imagining in his mind.

"huh? y-yeah? what?" peter breaks out of his trance, looking into her eyes that held a mishchievious glint.

"i said, were you listening?" she asked with an innocent look.

"y-yeah, i was" peter stuttered back.

"really? i could've sworn you've been looking at my lips for a while then" she climbed onto his lap "probably imagining how it would look wrapped around your pretty cock, aren't you? how i would lick the head like a lollipop, or how i would take you whole, slowly rubbing your thighs.." she trailed off, kissing his neck, running one of her hand down his chest, resting it on his growing bulge.

peter gulped, looking up at her with doe eyes, gripping her waist tightly.

"i know you said that you're fine about the field trip peter, but i could see the look on your face everytime someone mentions it, so, let me take care of you, okay?" Y/N said, slowly rubbing his growing erection through the material of his pants. she tugged on his shirt signaling him to take of his shirt, he did it almost immediately.

she got off him, only to go down in front of his erection, slowly unbuttoning his pants, sliding it down his legs, leaving his boxer briefs behind.

she kissed the insides of his thighs, leaving bite marks on her way, slowly making her way to his clothed erection.

she rubbed him through the material of his briefs, teasing him while kissing his stomach and hips continuing to leave marks.

peter couldn't contain his moans, he threw his head back moaning loudly not caring if anybody hears, gripping the bed sheets, he couldn't wait for Y/N to finally wrap her lips around him.

Y/N went up in fornt of his face, kissing him roughly, still rubbing her hand up and down his shaft. then slowly making her way down, kissing his neck, leaving marks, going down to his chest.

she wrapped her lips around one of his nipples, swirling her tongue around it, slightly biting it, while her free hand went to his other nipple, pinching it slightly with her index and thumb, occasionally switching to rolling it with her thumb.

peter was absolutely losing it, the feeling of her lips around his nipples, combined with her hand slowly rubbing his hard on. he feels as if he's going to explode if she doesn't put him in her mouth immediately.

she then continued her way down, hooking her fingers around the waistband of his briefs, finally letting it out of its confinement. his member sprung up hitting his lower abdomen, precum leaking out of the pink tip, twitching when she wrapped her hand around it.

she slowly moved her hand up and down his hard shaft, her thumb gently pressing down on the head, immediately getting a loud moan out of him.

she leaned a bit, giving small kitten licks on the head, then finally wrapping her lips around the head first, swirling her tongue around it, then slowly went down further, until her nose brushed against the base. one of her hand playing with his balls, kneading it.

peter moaned loudly, throwing his head back, one of his hand making its way to her hair gripping it tightly, guiding her head to move up and down. peter couldn't hold his hips back from thrusting into her mouth roughly, hitting the back of her throat.

this slightly surprised Y/N, choking her slightly, but doing her best to keep up with his pace.

his thrusts becoming sloppy, his member twitching inside her mouth, indicating her that he was about to cum.

"i-i'm cumming" peter said, eyes closed, his thrusts becoming even more sloppy.

with a few more thrusts, he came inside her mouth, she removed herself from him, swallowing his load, helping him with his high, running her hand up and down his shaft, with some of the cum going onto her face.

when he was done, they were both panting, looking into each others eyes with blush coating both of their faces.

he leaned down and kissed her, slightly tasting himself on her tongue. the kiss was slow, and passionate, opposite of their kiss earlier.

they pulled back and smiled at each other, until peter remember something.

"wait, i didn't get to return the favor"

"it's fine peter, i told you i was the one who's taking care of you today, you can make it up to me some other time, okay?" she said, cupping his cheeks with her hands, kissing his lips one more time.

"okay..."

"okay, I'm going to wash my face now, then we can go to sleep" she said once again, while getting up from the bed heading to the bathroom. peter just wore his briefs, too tired to do anything else.

once she was done, they cuddled the rest of the night, with her head on his chest, her arm wrapped around his neck, and one of her leg was thrown over his thighs, while his arms wrapped themselves around her waist, burying his head in her hair.

~

the next morning, they woke up around 10.30 a.m, because of last nights... events. after they woke up, they decided to stay a little longer in bed, just talking, maybe sneaking in some kisses in between. they were both too distracted by each other that they forgot it was friday, a.k.a the day when peter's decathlon team have a field trip to Stark Industries.

~

the decathlon team arrived not too long ago. usually, Stark Industries doesn't allow school field trips to go higher than the general labs. but, their tour guide, harley keener, was specifically instructed by Tony Stark himself to allow them to go to the higher levels, where tony's and bruce's labs were at. but not only that, that's also where the avengers living quarters, common rooms, and training room/gym were at. just so he can prove everyone that peter is not lying.

"okay, so just a reminder, you are not allowed to touch or take anything from here" harley informed the team while walking down the hallway after going out of the elevator.

"so as you can see, these are some of the avenger's rooms, each of their names are labeled on the door"

the team was in awe with everything, they couldn't believe that they were allowed to go to the higher levels.

"woah is that Y/N stark's room?!" one of the kid's exclaimed.

just as they were about to pass Y/N's room, the door suddenly opened, and out comes peter, only wearing some gray sweatpants, his neck and bare chest littered with hickeys, and Y/N with an oversized t-shirt —probably peter's, with some short's that almost covered by the t-shirt. "yeah i was thinking about pancakes—"

"—peter?"

"—Y/N Stark?"

the decathlon team's mouths hang wide open shocked by the scene infront of them, even ned, mj was slightly surprised but didn't showed it. they couldn't believe that penis parker the nerd was coming out of Y/N Stark's room, shirtless, with hickeys littered around his torso, and has abs.

"huh?" they —peter and Y/N, turned their heads, and when they saw who made the noise, their eyes widened.

"harley! what are they doing here!, they aren't supposed to be here!" peter exclaimed, covering his chest, standing behind Y/N.

"i don't know man, Tony told me they were allowed to go here" harley answered with a shrug.

"but i see you had some fun last night" he continued with a huge smirk on his face.

peter blushed, wanting to just bury himself in the ground and forget this ever happened.

"peter! you really work here?" one of his teammates asked.

"well yeah, i did already told you guys, didn't i? you guys just didn't want to believe me"

"i believed you since the beginning, peter!" ned exclaimed happily.

"and thank you for that" peter smiled, still can't grasp the fact that this is actually happening, his teammates caught him coming out of Y/N's room, with him looking like that.

"peter! are you really dating Y/N stark?" one of his teammates asked again, wanting to know as much as possible about the situation right now.

"umm.." he paused, looking at Y/N, silently asking her if he should tell them, when Y/N nodded with a comforting smile, he continued, "yeah.."

hearing his answer, his teammates were once again shocked by the fact that peter was really dating Y/N.

"why?" a voice asked from the back, they all looked behind them, making way for the person to come forward. the person walked forwards confidently, with smug look on his face.

"why penis parker?" it was flash. once again not wanting for peter to have such a nice life.

"what did you just called him?" Y/N asked, daring him to call peter that again, her smile immediately turning into a scowl, eyes practically boring in flash's skull.

"penis parker, why him? out of all the people you could have, for example me" flash answered, still looking smug, but a slight fear crossed his eyes. his teammates were silently watching the scene unfold infront of them, slightly scared for flash, but also knowing that he deserves it.

"why, you ask? why not? he's smart, kind, selfless, caring, got a body to die for, a face that's cute and hot on the same time, i mean how is that even possible? he's perfect, he's everything you're not ever going to be.' Y/N answered, venom practically lacing every word she utters.

before flash can utter a word, she continued, "—you think you're perfect for me? have you looked at yourself? you think you're all that, flaunting all that money, but in reality, that's just your daddy's money" she said with a mocking pout, "but after this, are you sure you're still going to have money?, you better be scared for your dad, because after the stunt you just pulled here, I'm sure dad's going to take action about it. and before you say anything about me being a daddy's girl, having her dad take care of her problems, using all of her dad's money, no. unlike you, i actually help here, i actually earn the money that's been given to me, infact, most of the avengers gears were designed with the help of me." she ended, arms crossing infront of her chest, looking intimidatingly at flash, daring him to argue.

but flash couldn't even utter a single word, mouth opening and closing like a fish, embarrassed, not looking so confident now.

peter's teammates who were just observing, was also shocked by the words uttered by the Stark girl, feeling embarrassed for flash, and admiring her intimidating aura. peter looking at her with heart eyes, practically falling in love all over again with her.

when flash didn't utter a single word, she smirked, "so now that that's settled, peter and i are going to head on our way now, bye bye~" she waved her fingers with one hand, the other pulling peter away from his teammates.

"oh yeah, one more thing, you're all going to sign NDA'S to make sure, none of this is going to get out, if you were to even utter a single word about today to anyone, you better watch out because we are going to take action." she walked out, dragging peter with her, slightly swaying her hips, peter behind her looking at her with admiration.

his teammates were once again left shocked by the whole encounter, looking back at their retreating bodies with a new found astonishment.

it was silent for a second, then all of a sudden they all started freaking out, talking about the encounter.

"okay, so that happened, come on now let's continue the tour" harley cuts, silencing everyone.

~

peter and Y/N decided to have breakfast, or probably brunch, and then deciding to train for a while. they headed to the training room. they changed into their workout clothes, peter just wearing a tight t-shirt, kind of like the ones steve likes to wear, paired with some shorts, and Y/N wearing a sports bra, with some matching leggings on.

they continued sparring for a while, too distracted by each other, that they didn't realize that the decathlon team was once again at the door, watching them spar with each other with astonishment, still having the difficulty to grasp that penis parker was actually cool.

somehow, they ended up with peter being pinned down on the ground, with Y/N straddling him.

Y/N smirked, leaning down, her hands still bunched up around peter's collar, using that to slightly pull peter up, making him lean his body on his elbows, then kissing him. peter kissed back almost immediately, one of his hand coming around to grip her waist.

the decathlon team who was watching the scene unfold infront of them, was once again shocked.

"...okay, let's just leave them alone now." harley awkwardly suggested, ushering everyone out.

one by one, they left the training room with shocked looks on their faces, leaving peter and Y/N in their own worlds.

#peter parker x reader #peter parker #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x stark!reader #peter parker fic #peter parker smut #tom holland x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker field trip #peter parker x fem!reader #peter parker fluff #spiderman x reader #spiderman imagine #tom holland imagine

[mayihavethisdanse]

“What is this, the Dark Ages?”

Or, Arthurian themes and allusions in the Brotherhood of Steel mythos as seen in Fallout 4. (But that’s a lot of words.)

Yep. We're doing this. 

First, some obligatory caveats: there is no single Arthurian canon, just 1500 years of assorted fanfic based on the whims of whoever was writing at the time. For this extremely highbrow Tumblr meta, I have ignored most of it and drawn on my favorites. Also Wikipedia.

Also, I am not an expert in Arthurian literature (or Fallout lore, come to that), and I preemptively beg the pardon of anyone who is.

Finally, in no way am I claiming that all these parallels and thematic echoes are deliberate or even significant. In fact, I'd break it down into:

Clearly deliberate allusions, whether in or out of universe;

Probably coincidence, but could be someone deliberately capitalizing on a coincidental similarity;

Almost certainly coincidence, but fun to speculate about; annnnd

Blatant Monty Python references. (Because of course there are.)

I'll start with the big one.

Arthur Maxson, boy king and unifier

(source)

So across all the retellings and variations of King Arthur’s life story, there are a few consistent elements, particularly in his early life and rise to power. Some of these threads are echoed in the Fallout universe, specifically (and unsurprisingly) in the person of Arthur Maxson.

Both the legendary King Arthur and Arthur Maxson were born with a claim to power lying in their ancestry, both were fostered away from their families, and both proved themselves in combat at a young age. 

King Arthur united the warring kingdoms of Britain into a single entity, making them stronger against outsiders and receiving general admiration and acclaim. Arthur Maxson united the divided factions of the BoS after the events of Fallout 3 and is held in similarly high regard by his men.

The name Prydwen is a reference to the ship of the original King Arthur. Presumably, Arthur Maxson (or someone in the BoS who anticipated his promotion) christened the airship in a deliberate homage to the Arthurian myth.

King Arthur is associated with his legendary sword. I think it’s notable that Maxson’s legend is associated with a bladed weapon, too. ("He killed a DEATHCLAW with a COMBAT KNIFE!”)

Probably coincidence, but fun: the historical emperor Magnus Maximus, who pops up a lot in early Arthurian legend, was known in Welsh as... Macsen. (⌐■_■)

Round Table, but make it dieselpunk

(Continued under the cut.)

Moving away from obvious allusions and into some looser parallels:

Like the Round Table, the Brotherhood is an exclusive knightly order with its leader being the one able to open it up to his chosen few.

Like the Round Table, the BoS sees itself as defending human civilization against forces of chaos. (I’ll touch on their tech-hoarding tendencies when I get to the Grail stuff.) This idea of civilization in the face of chaos goes back to the BoS’s founding, even though the level of isolationism we see in most of the Fallout franchise is not exactly what founder Roger Maxson had in mind: “Notably, Maxson's ultimate intention was to establish the Brotherhood as an organization that works closely with people outside of the Brotherhood, as guardians of civilizations, not its gatekeepers.” (source) In a lot of ways, Arthur Maxson represents a return to his ancestor’s original ideals.

Renegade knights? Internal politics? Traitors within? We gotchu.

In both the medieval legends and in all chapters of the BoS we’ve seen, there’s a big focus on bloodlines (ew). Ironically, it’s probably Arthur Maxson’s unquestionable ancestry that allows him to be more progressive than either of his East Coast predecessors when it comes to boosting Brotherhood numbers by recruitment (even though you can still see a clear division between “born Brotherhood” and recruited soldiers, but that’s a topic for another day). Maxson sees himself as an Elder who "cares for the people"—however misguided and patronizing that attitude might be—and whatever else you might say about the guy, you can't say he doesn't believe he has a duty. Which brings us to…

Know Your Enemy: Danse as Gawain

Before I start this section, an acknowledgement of authorial bias:

Gawain, as portrayed in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is my very favorite of King Arthur’s knights. (Other stories aren't always as flattering, but like I said at the outset: I'm sticking to the ones I like.)

That poem is my very favorite piece of medieval Arthurian literature. In this section, I'll refer to the modern English translation by Simon Armitage.

...that’s it, I have no other biases to disclose. 

What? 👀

(Art: Clive Hicks-Jenkins)

All right. So in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, you’ve got this himbo loyal knight of Arthur’s who finds himself caught up in... you know what, let me just paste in the Wikipedia summary. (The Toast, RIP, also did a pretty entertaining and more-or-less accurate recap.)

It describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is called into question by a test involving the lord and the lady of the castle where he is a guest.

Don’t worry too much about the plot details, though; for this post, I’m more interested in the thematic parallels. The Green Knight story is full of contrasts: order vs. chaos, civilization vs. wilderness, mortal man vs. Other... but let’s start with Gawain himself. 

Some stuff to know about Gawain:

He was "as good as the purest gold, devoid of vices but virtuous and loyal". Gawain took his principles more seriously even than the rest of Arthur’s knights, not out of pride but out of humility: "I would rather drop dead than default from duty," he says. 

He’s faithful and honorable and never even tempted to betray an oath, even when offered every variety of seduction and riches, except for a single moment of weakness in a desperate desire not to be executed for random shit by powerful forces for reasons he doesn't understand.  

Even though he doesn’t really understand why he needs to die, he sticks to his oath. Gawain's one weakness is a moment of desperate, private, human desire for survival. He'll submit to the headsman’s axe if he has to, but he'd still rather live. 

Above all, Gawain is the ideal of a human man: he might be the bravest and loyal man there is, but he’s still fundamentally human.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

A few more fun facts about Gawain that resonate with Paladin Danse’s story:

He’s got a bunch of really shitty brothers. (No comment.)

Gawain (SPOILERS!) doesn't actually end up beheaded, but he does willingly kneel for his execution and gets a cut on the throat as a reminder of his sin. And, uh, Danse can also get his throat cut! It doesn’t end as nicely but it’s, you know, a thing that can happen.

Gawain might be a really good guy, and he tries really hard to be one, but in the end he’s nothing more than that: there’s nothing supernatural about him, he has no special powers beyond his own principles and devotion. He’s just a dude doing his Best. 

Wait, why not Danselot?

Oh, that guy? Here’s the thing.

Lancelot personifies the continental ideals of courtly love that became popular in the High Middle Ages. Central to his story is the prioritization of personal relationships and romantic feelings in a way that you don’t really see in Gawain's, at least in the Green Knight tale. (Later stories hook Gawain up with an extremely delightful lady, but even that is a different flavor of romance than Lancelot's and has more to do with Gawain honoring his word and his egalitarian treatment of women (hell yeah). In the poem, Gawain is impressed by Bertilak's wife but resists her temptation; in fact, the biggest risk is not that he'll yield to her advances but that he'll be discourteous to her, i.e., violate his principles and cause dishonor to his king and his host.)

Lancelot is driven by passions over principles in a way that Gawain never really is (at least in the stories I’m talking about; later writers have committed character assassination to various degrees). Yes, you could argue that both Gawain and Lancelot betray their oaths, but Lancelot’s betrayal is never, um, blind. He knows what he’s doing and makes a deliberate choice to prioritize his love for the queen over his love for the king. It doesn’t make him a bad guy—he too is an ideal knight with one fatal flaw—but his character isn’t as comparable to Paladin Danse. 

Yeah, Gawain is (in most stories) a prince and a kinsman of Arthur’s, but he’s ultimately a native boy who doesn’t break the mold of a Knight of the Round Table. Likewise, Danse is portrayed as competent and valuable to the BoS, but not exceptional or breaking the mold of what a BoS soldier should be: he simply represents the ideal. Meanwhile, Lancelot is a foreign prince who was marked from childhood as special and fancy, and his storyline goes alllll over the place. (Much like this post.)

For example, Lancelot goes to absolutely absurd extremes to prove his devotion for no other reason than to prove it. (“I’ll do any useless humiliating thing you want. I’ll betray every oath except the one I made to you. That’s what love is!”) Gawain would never. Danse would never.

Ultimately, Gawain's tests are of his character and not of his love. And like Gawain, Danse’s devotion is to service and his principles, not to another person—even Arthur Maxson.

All that said, there are some similarities: both are beloved by Arthur, both are held up as the ideal of what a knight should be. And even if their fatal flaws are different, both make the point that no matter how good and brave and loyal they might be, no human being can be perfect. 

(Except Galahad. Who is, as a result, very boring.) 

I’ll conclude this section with a quote from someone else’s take on the Greek Knight poem:

I like Gawain. He’s not perfect, but he’s trying his best which is all any of us can do. He’s not like the other knights in the Arthurian legends who occasionally ‘accidentally’ kill women on their little adventures and then feel hard done by when they have to deal with the consequences of that. Gawain holds himself to a high standard – higher, it seems, than Arthur and his knights hold him to considering how hard they laugh when Gawain tells them how bad he feels about the whole thing.

I think Gawain is very relatable in this story. We all want to be better than we actually are.

And that, more than anything else, is Danse.

The Grail myth

What’s that? Lost relics of power? Better send some large armed men after ‘em!

The parallels to the BoS’s tech-hoarding ways are obvious enough that the games themselves lampshade them (albeit by way of Monty Python). But it also ties into the larger themes of “purity” versus “corruption” and the BoS’s self-image as a bastion between civilization and chaos. (See Maxson's line in response to the Sole Survivor’s quip about the Dark Ages: “Judging from the state of the world, it wouldn't be a stretch to say we're living in that era again.”)

But the ultimate futility of the Grail mission is also worthy of note. The BoS might want the power of prewar tech on their side, but they’re no more to be trusted with it than any other group of human beings. No matter how they try, the “corruption” of humanity can’t be overcome as long as they’re striving to harness power for their own ends. You can only achieve power by surrendering control of it.

The death of Arthur

The nature of gameplay being what it is, it's not guaranteed that the Arthur figure will be fatally betrayed, bringing Camelot down with him—but it's not unlikely, either.

Awkward.

Some final spitballing:

Outside the Brotherhood, there are some fun parallels of the Arthur myth with the rest of Fallout 4. Betrayal by one’s own son, for example.

The key difference between the BoS and the legendary Round Table: King Arthur’s knights, for all their flaws and human weaknesses, are usually presented as unambiguous Good Guys. The BoS is... a little more ambiguous...

...but damn if they don’t think they're the good guys. 

A-ad victoriam, fellas!

#fallout #fallout 4 #brotherhood of steel #arthur maxson #paladin danse #sir gawain and the green knight #sir gawain #gawain #knights of the round table #king arthur #elder maxson #fallout 3 #fallout lore #maxson #roger maxson #look mom I did a meta

[weelittleweasley]

destined for you (d.m.)

prompt requested by @sincerelymalfoy: everyone wanted to find their soulmate. that was except for draco malfoy. in this world, you find your soulmate because you can feel the same physical pain as them. this makes it harder for draco to avoid finding his soulmate.

pairing: draco malfoy x soulmate! fem! reader, friend! ron weasley x friend! reader

warnings: mentions of previous d*mestic ab*se, language, blood (from a nose bleed), burns from an open flame

word count: 5.6k

a/n: this fic mention’s draco’s abusive household at the end. if you find that this might be triggering content for you, please skip it or do not read this fic. take care of yourself please. fanfic is supposed to be enjoyable! so read with caution! all my love in the world, lex

You had heard of it before. Soulmates. Two souls put on this planet who were destined to find each other and spend their existence together harmoniously. Until death do them part. 

It all sounded very romantic to you. Finding someone who had a soul, a spirit that matched yours. Kindred together. Your parents were soulmates and watching their relationship grow and blossom as you grew up was something you had always wanted. A love that continued to grow no matter the circumstances. A love that would guide you, protect you, care for you, and spend its days with you. A soulmate didn’t sound half bad.

Until you realized what that meant.

In order to know that you had met your soulmate, you would have to experience the same physical pains as them. Meaning everything that hurt them, you in turn felt, even though it wasn’t happening to you. The person could be on the other side of the planet, but the universe would still make you feel the same pains as them. It was an annoyance, for sure, but to you, anything that brought you one step closer to them was enough.

You remember exactly where you were when you first experienced your soulmates pain. You were about the age of eight, in your bedroom, reading on the floor, laying on your belly, kicking your legs about happily. That was before you felt a red, hot stinging sensation on your right cheek. Like someone had just slapped you in the face. Confusion washed all over you before you cried out, “Mum!” like any child would when random waves of pain washed over them with no reason why.

In a flash, your mother was in the doorway of your bedroom, asking what happened. You turned your cheek and pointed to it, telling her that it stung and hurt badly. Your mother’s eyes grew wide and she gasped, walking down to her child and touching the sensitive area. “Did you do this to yourself, sweetheart?” she asked, making sure that she wasn’t getting ahead of herself. Your soulmate couldn’t have possibly started showing signs of pain this young. 

You shook your head and looked up at your mother worried about what was happening to you. “Am I gonna be alright, Mum?” you asked, your eight year old head full of worry and fear. This was scary for anyone, especially a child. 

“Yes, darling, you will be quite alright. When you are a little older, your father and I will explain it all to you,” your mother brushed your cheek gently as you relaxed into her warm, maternal touch. She placed a gentle kiss on your hairline before speaking, “This happens to everyone, dear. I know, it’s confusing and can be scary. But it will end with good things, I swear it.”

And you held onto that promise that your mother told you that day on your bedroom floor. From that day on, you continued to feel random spurts of pain. A pinch in the fleshy part of your arm, a slap upside the head, a gut wrenching pain in the your gut, but most often you felt pain in your chest. Less physical pain, but like someone had just broken your heart. It would go away within seconds, but for those few seconds, it felt like someone had told you the worst news of your life, your heart felt hollow. This continued on and on for years but when you turned eleven things changed.

Two weeks before your eleventh birthday, your mother and father had talked to you about soulmates and how you felt their pain no matter where in the world they were. Even more specifically, your parents had given you warning that you might be meeting your soulmate soon. “What do you mean?” you sat in the dining room chair, dropping your fork at the suggestion of meeting your soulmate at the young, ripe age of eleven. 

Your mother looked at your father who gave her a supportive nod. She took a deep breath in before speaking, “(Y/N), honey, you know that you’ll be going to Hogwarts soon. Kids from all over will be going to school with you. One of those kids could very well be your soulmate. I mean, that’s what happened to me and your father,” she tells you as your father grabs your mother’s hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

Whilst you sat at the dinner table, face blank, your mind was running a thousand miles a minute. You were going to turn eleven and all of a sudden you could be meeting your soulmate? You were a child. You should be focusing on school work, meeting new friends, having fun, enjoying this time of your life before it goes by in the blink of an eye. “But I don’t want to. Not yet,” you protest, tears starting to pool in your eyes. “I want to meet them soon, but not now.”

Rising from his chair, your father rushes to your side, not wanting to see his daughter torn over the news that she could be meeting her soulmate. She was supposed to be happy. “Hey, kiddo, it’s okay,” he wipes away your tear, brushing the hair out of your face, placing a gentle kiss to your forehead. “It doesn’t mean you’re definitely going to meeting them. You might. That’s all. What your mother and I are more worried about is you being safe and having fun. That’s all,” he tells you with a reassuring smile. And in that moment, you calmed down and succumbed to a sniffling mess. “Hogwarts is going to be a blast. You’re going to meet so many new people and have so many new adventures, pumpkin. No need to worry about a silly soulmate.”

Your father’s words soothed you, but that was only temporary. When you arrived at Hogwarts, you were too involved in the thrill of things to pay attention to the small pains you would get from your soulmate. Instead, you let yourself wander away with new friends, discovering new parts of the castle and the grounds. Soon enough, finding your soulmate became the last thing on your mind.

But the years started to go by and a lot of your classmates were discovering that they had soulmates within Hogwarts. Students were putting two and two together, realizing the pains they were feeling were similar if not the same as their soulmates. In fact, most soulmate encounters happened in the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey. A student came in complaining about a mysterious pain in their leg and low and behold, there was another student laying in a bed with their leg in a cast. Another match.

It came down to a new soulmate announcement happened every few days. You would groan and roll your eyes at the news, but deep down, you secretly wished that your soulmate would reveal themselves soon. Sure, when you first got to Hogwarts, you didn’t want to meet your soulmate because you wanted to focus on making friends and getting used to life at a new school. But now that you were in your sixth year and everyone was starting to find their soulmate, you felt left out. 

You sat in the library, studying quietly by yourself before someone hurls themself in a chair right next to you. “Quick, pretend like we’re having a conversation,” Ron grabs your arm tight and shakes you. You give him a puzzled look before he speaks, “It’s Lavender again.”

Shaking your head with a laugh, you mindlessly start talking about whatever, pretending to be deep in conversation with Ron. Out of your periphery vision, you see Lavender approach the table, but then stomp her foot in frustration before leaving the area you were in and out of the library. Ron sighs in relief and leans back in the chair as you chuckle. “Why can’t you tell her that you’re not soulmates. Is she still on you about that?” you ask him, crossing your arms across your chest.

Ron groans, “Because she makes shit up! Like in Potions! I had burnt my hand on the flame and it hurt and then she pretended like her hand burned too, but it didn’t!”

You continue to tease Ron. “Oh yeah? How do you know it didn’t actually hurt?”

He leans forward on the table and exclaims, “She’s making it up! Because when we were in class last week, she bumped into Katie Bell and she got a nose bleed. And me? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. We are not soulmates, (Y/N)! She’s bloody out of her mind.” You just sit back and laugh at Ron’s hysterics. You did have to admit though, making up pains just so you can be soulmates with someone who didn’t want to be soulmates with you. That was a little strange. “I’m telling you, we need to find our soulmates soon or I’m gonna lose my mind.”

At the mention of finding your soulmate, your heart speeds up and you gulp. You really didn’t want to talk about your soulmate right now. The thought just made you frustrated. The last sign you had gotten from them was about two weeks ago. A deep pain in your side, like something had smashed into it. 

“Have you felt anything recently? Maybe if you tell me, I’ll know of someone who felt it too,” Ron encourages. “Go on now.”

With a groan, you sit up and prop your head up on your hands as Ron waits for you to tell him. “Two weeks ago I had a crippling pain in my side. In the afternoon. Didn’t fade until an hour later,” you reveal to Ron.

He thinks for a moment and then speaks, “Which side? Where in your side? Like your stomach?”

“My left side by my ribcage. Hurt like a bitch,” you suck in, reminiscing the pain that had you curled over in bed as your roommate sat next to you in your bed, rubbing your back, trying to soothe the pain. But there was no use. 

Ron think again before speaking, “I mean...I know it’s a long shot, but I remember someone saying that during quidditch practice someone was sent to Madam Pomfrey’s for an injury. I don’t remember who, but you could probably ask Madam Pomfrey and see if she remembers.”

You shrug, running your fingers through your hair. “I don’t know if it’s worth it, Ron. What am I going to say? Two weeks ago my side hurt and I don’t know who was injured. Do you know who it was? It might be my soulmate,” you tease Ron who rolls his eyes. “When the time is right, I’ll find them.”

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

Another week goes by and it’s another week of no pain. From either you or your soulmate. It was like they were doing everything in their power to prevent themselves from getting hurt. Even a paper cut. Nothing. And it was making you more frustrated then ever, seeing people happily walking in the hallway with their soulmates and yet here you were, soulmate-less and painless walking in the halls by yourself. 

You walk into Potions class with a sigh, not really wanting to be here. You’d rather be hanging out with your friends in the courtyard on this beautiful, warm day rather than being cooped up inside the castle, doing nothing. “You look thrilled to be here,” Cho teases you as you take your usual seat next to her and behind Ron and Harry. “You alright?” she asks as you simply nod, not really feeling like vomiting all your baggage right now. 

Class begins as normal and your assignment was to replicate Girding Potion successfully and quickly. The whole class was at work diligently as you opened vials, reading the ingredients list, dumping them into the cauldron. As you did so, girls around you chit chatted about their soulmates and their pains, taking them as clues as to who it could be. 

The chatter was like a fly in your ear, buzzing around and around and around, driving you towards a meltdown. Sweet Hannah Abbot gushed at how Neville told her that he thought they were soulmates, bringing her two bunches of beautiful, lush flowers. Girls cooed at the story, telling her how lucky she was. Hannah was lucky; having found her soulmate and that being Neville Longbottom, Hogwarts’ sweetheart.

Girls continued to chatter about their soulmate and how close they were to finding them and how excited they were. This only made your blood boil as you angrily tossed things into the cauldron now, fists tightening. “(Y/N), take it easy,” Ron laughs next to you as he watches you angrily toss things into your concoction.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Ronald. Is my frustration bothersome? I can’t help it that I’m one of the last people in this school to find their soulmate after relentlessly searching for signs that they’re still alive,” you angrily tear up dragonfly thoraxes, tossing them into the potion as Ron just watches you concerned. “I mean bloody hell, there are fourth years who have found their soulmates and I’m still clueless as if they even go to school here. You’d thing finding one person wouldn’t be so hard, but damn it, Ronald, I’m so exhausted of hearing everyone else’s stories and how happy they are and how in love people are whilst I’m standing here trying to figure out if I still have a soulmate at this point!” you whisper yell at him, growing angrier with every word you utter. “Ugh, whatever I ju-Ow! Fuck!” you hiss as you realize you’ve burnt your hand on the open flame that licks the the cauldron. 

Ron looks at the burn and his eyes widen. “Not again,” he huffs, having been through this before. “Come here, we’ll have to run it under ice water to stop the stinging,” Ron tells you, grabbing an empty cauldron. “Aguamenti,” he casts on the cauldron, filling it up with cold water as you submerge it fully, the stinging sensation subsiding. “Professor Slughorn! (Y/N) seems to have burnt her hand,” Ron calls over Slughorn who is attentive at another work table.

Slughorn turns around and lightly chuckles, “You too, Miss (Y/L/N)? Mr. Malfoy seems to have also burnt his hand. One moment and I’ll be right with you to take a look at the burns.”

Your eyes widen and your heart sinks for a moment. “O-Okay,” you stutter before you turn to Ron who looks at you in disbelief. Draco Malfoy? No. Absolutely not. No way. Not a chance. “It’s a coincidence,” you tell Ron with a shake of your head in disbelief. “Everyone burns their hand in Potions. It happens all the time,” you try to convince yourself as you focus on your hand in the cold water, watching it clench and flex underneath the surface. 

Ron opens up his mouth in protest, but you give him a look as if to say don’t you dare try to rationalize this. Ron sighs. “Whatever you say. It’s your soulmate,” he shrugs with a little smile. 

“Shut up, Ronald, or I’ll tell Lavender,” you warn him and he instantly shuts up.

The thought of Draco Malfoy being the person the universe chose to be your soulmate made you feel physically ill. Draco was nothing you wanted in a soulmate. He was cruel and vindictive and ill-mannered and vicious. He had no care for anyone except if it benefit him in some form. How could you manage to care for someone with a character like that? 

You glanced over at Draco who watched as Professor Slughorn wrapped his badly burned handle in cream colored gauze. The motion of him wrapping the gauze around his hand was almost hypnotizing as you watched it go round and round, your eyes trailing up to Draco’s face. His face was relaxed, but his jaw was clenched and tense, accentuating his bone structure of his face. Slowly, his head turned to face yours, his cold blue eyes meeting yours as you gulped. When he looked at you, your heart thumped against your chest like a drum. Shaking it off, you look back down at your hand, but you can still feel Draco’s eyes on you. 

“If he’s my soulmate, I don’t know what I’ll do,” you whisper down, not daring to make eye contact with Ron. 

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

Another week passed and their was radio silence from your soulmate. Nothing. However, you were kind of glad there was nothing after what happened in Potions class. You wouldn’t let yourself entertain the thought that Draco Malfoy could be your soulmate in some timeline. The more you thought about it, the sicker it made you feel. 

When you passed him in the hall, you refused to look in his direction and him you. The both of you knew what the other way thinking, but wouldn’t dare confront the other about it. It was far too risky to play that game. No need to talk about something if neither one of you wanted it to be true. 

You found yourself hanging out in the courtyard, messing around with a few of your friends as you sat on the grass, absorbing the brilliant spring sun. People chattered amongst themselves, delighted to be surrounded with their friends. As you leaned up against the tree, you chat lightly to Ron, watching other people toss around a ball, others lay around in the grass, some reading books. “Lavender finally off your back?” you ask Ron, giving him a nudge with a smile. 

Ron rolls his eyes, “Bloody finally. It only took forever.” You chuckle before resting your head on his shoulder. “Anything from you? We haven’t talked about it since....you know...” he trails off, not daring to say his name like it was You-Know-Who.

But he was always around. There was no escaping him. There he was, standing in the courtyard, surrounded by his little bitch boy posse as you sneered, “No. And I’m not even entertaining the thought that it’s him. He’s horrid.” 

Ron chuckled lightly, giving your arm a squeeze. “Alright, let’s get your mind off of him. Did you do the DaDa homework? Because I certainly did not and Hermione told me she won’t let me use hers again ‘cause I used hers last week.”

The two of you keep chatting for a little while until you feel a sharp pain in your left side, like the one you had all those weeks ago. “Ah,” you wince in pain as you hands meet you left side, clutching it in pain, writhing. “Not again.”

Ron turns and faces you, placing a hand on your shoulder. “You alright? What do you mean not again?” he asks, searching your eyes for some clarity. “You need a medic? Someone? Hannah? Come over here!” Ron calls out to Hannah Abbot who lays on the ground, head in Neville’s lap. She shoots straight up to meet you at your side, asking you what the problem was.

“It’s fine. This happened a few weeks ago. You can ask my roommate about it. I think it’s my soulmate actually. They hurt themselves badly and it seems like, ah shit, they’ve done it again,” you seethe in pain as you clutch onto your side, electricity shooting up and down your sides. 

Hannah looks at you and grabs your shoulders, trying to get you to stop contorting your body. “Don’t move, it’ll only make the pain worse, alright?” she tells you. “The pain should subside if it’s only your soulmate’s pain and not yours directly. That being said, you have any clue who your soulmate is? Are they at Hogwarts? ‘Cause if they are here, we can get them help which will ultimately help you,” Hannah explains.

And that’s when the moment you dreaded finally came. You gulp, your chest heaving up and down from the pain as you look up through your eyelashes to look across the courtyard. And low and below, there he was. Clutching onto his side, wincing in pain as he threw an arm over Blaise Zabini’s shoulder, using him as a crutch. 

From the distance, you hear him speak, “I’m fine. Honestly. I think I reopened whatever injury I got from that quidditch practice a few weeks ago. I’m alright, Blaise, honestly, no need to fuckin’ baby me.” Draco untangles himself from Blaise as brushes off his shirt while still wincing lightly at the pain.

Your heart sinks into your feet and all of a sudden you feel lightheaded. So the day in Potions class was real. Draco didn’t coincidentally burn his hand too. He felt your burn because you were soulmates. You felt his rib injury because you were soulmates. Draco Malfoy was destined to be yours. 

“I’ve got to go. Now,” you try and scramble to your feet, pushing through the burning pain up and down your ribcage, ignoring Ron and Hannah’s protests that you needed to take it easy. “The pain is gone. I’m fine. I need to go,” you simply call out, walking away from the group in the courtyard.

You were on a mission now and you were going to put an end to this. Once and for all. Without further hesitation, you grab your bag and start marching over to the other side of the courtyard to where Draco was. As you do so, he notices you approaching and starts to leave the courtyard, trying to prevent you and him having some sort of interaction. “God Godric, really, Malfoy?” you huff out to yourself, knowing that if this was the way he was reacting to the news, the future didn’t look too bright.

Draco starts to march through the corridors as you are quick on his heels, chasing him like a predator chases its prey in the wild. Draco turns to see if you are still on his toes and much to his dismay, you are right behind him. “Malfoy, would you stop running away from me? We need to have a conversation!”

He scoffs, “No, you want to have a conversation. I would like to go back to the common room and take a load off.”

You groan out in frustration before taking up a light jog and grabbing a hold of his wrist, pulling him into an empty classroom. Before he can squirm away, you shut the door and put your back against it, preventing him from going anywhere. 

The two of you just stand there, glaring at each other, both gravely disappointed with the reality that just slapped you both in the face. No one says anything for a moment. You two are just breathing, heavy and hot in the room, a few feet separating the two of you. Neither one of you dared to take a step closer to the other. 

“What’s the problem, (Y/L/N)?” Draco tucks his hands into his pockets, playing the fool. Pretending he isn’t bothered by this information that your souls were made for each other. He was trying to play it cool whilst inside his mind was screaming and shouting, how could this have happened? Someone like you with someone like him. The universe had to have made a mistake.

Oh, Malfoy, you fool. The universe doesn’t make mistakes.

Your chest is still heaving up and down as you speak, “We’re soulmates, Draco.”

He shakes his head, “Sure. Whatever that means. Congratulations, we did it. Go us. Now can you kindly move your arse out of the way so I can go relax in peace?”

“No!” you exclaim, firmly planted at the door, glaring at him. “Listen, I’m just as unhappy as you are with this outcome!” you reveal as Draco gulps with a scowl on his face. “But the universe chose us as soulmates for some reason and I’m going to listen to the universe. We both can’t ignore it anymore.” 

Draco looks away from you, refusing to look you in the eyes. For some reason, looking at you in the eyes was too much for him. It felt like you were looking into his soul, you knew all of his secrets with just a gaze into those iceberg eyes of his. 

“That day in Potions, you didn’t burn your hand...” you gently coax him. “That was my burn that you felt.”

“So what! We both burned our hands in Potions! That doesn’t make us any more or less soulmates!” he explodes in fury.

His sudden change in demeanor makes you change tactics. You knew that this conversation would be hard to have with Draco, but not like this. You didn’t think he would succumb to acting like a child at this news. Finding your soulmate should be something to celebrate, to rejoice about, but instead it was an uphill battle. But one you intended to win.

“Alright then, you want to ignore Potions. Fine! What about your rib cage? Four weeks ago, I was writhing in pain on my bed one afternoon for hours from the pain. Ron told me that a quidditch player got injured during timed trials. He didn’t know who. So, today, I feel the same pain in my side in the courtyard, just to look up at see you writhing in pain in your side. You were the quidditch player, Draco. And don’t you dare lie to me and say it was someone else. Because we both know damn well that neither of us deserve to be lied to again!” you exclaim, hot tears now brimming in your eyes, threatening to spill out. 

Draco hears the emotion in your voice and watches your soft face crack to reveal a truly sad person. His eyes soften and he gulps, feeling horribly guilty. But he doesn’t let you know it. 

“When I was younger,” you sniffle, “I always wanted to meet my soulmate. I felt so badly for them because I always felt their pain. And my soulmate was always hurting. In his body, yes, but in his heart,” you try to reason with him. “I told my mum and dad that when I met my soulmate I would give them a hug because I didn’t want them to feel anymore pain. I wanted them to feel loved.” Your eyes search Draco’s for some glimmer of hope. You weren’t expecting a proclamation of love or realization. You were looking for hope. “We were destined for each other.”

Draco takes a deep breath in before speaking, “We may be destined for each other, (Y/N). But I don’t think we can ever love each other.”

His words leave you blank. That was the best way to describe the way you felt. You weren’t surprised he would say that, but you were shocked that he had actually done it. His sad smile means nothing to you; in fact, it feels like he just twisted the knife that was in your gut.

He manages to slip out of the classroom, leaving you there, numb and blank.

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

You didn’t sleep that night. It was nearly impossible to sleep. The scene just kept playing on and on and on in your head until it became a broken movie reel. Your mind screamed to close your eyes and sleep, but your memories manifested themselves into a sick nightmare as you jolted awake, heart pounding. 

Your roommates were still fast asleep as you peaked a look at your clock. 2:22am. Angel number now? Great. Well, where were you hours ago? 

Slowly, you toss your legs over the side of the bed and grab a sweatshirt and slippers, pulling the cozy material closer to your chilly body. Quietly, you descend the steps of your dormitory and away into the castle to go for a midnight stroll, hoping that you would be caught by the Head Boy or Girl or any other prefect that roamed the halls patrolling them from midnight stragglers. 

The halls of Hogwarts were quiet. But not in a scary way. In a comforting way. The pictures on the walls slept gently, small snores coming from a few pictures making a small smile draw its way onto your lips as you shuffles the halls. The air was cool and crisp as you breathed it in, the sensation cooling your lungs as you sighed. This was much needed after a day like today.

As you stroll further through the castle, you come across the courtyard again and you gulp. The scene plays over and over in your head. “We may be destined for each other, (Y/N). But I don’t think we can ever love each other.” His words were a sick mantra in your mind. How could you possibly spend the rest of your life with someone who didn’t even want to put in an ounce of effort? You were supposed to be loved. Give love. Get love. But instead, you ended up with a shattered daydream of what things could have been. 

You peel your eyes away from the courtyard and to the corridor where on the edge of the wall sits who you wanted to see least of all right now. Your heart stops at the sight of his white blonde hair, sloppily slicked back. His eyes were dark and tired. He couldn’t sleep either. 

Maybe you could slip away without him knowing you were even there. Maybe if you turned around you coul-

“My father was ruthless to me as a child,” Draco speaks up without looking at you. You stop in your tracks and listen. Slowly, he turns to face you and gives you a sad smile. “Still is, to an extent. Not as physically ruthless, but...you get the idea,” he confesses as you sigh and walk over to him, taking a seat beside him on the cold brick, leaning your back against the wall.

Draco gulps and settles before continuing on. “I was always worried. That whenever he would make me feel hurt, my soulmate would feel it. My mother tried to tell me that they would be just fine, but I knew....I knew that she was lying to protect me. Protect me from whatever it was,” he trails off, becoming quiet. In the dark, you couldn’t really tell, but you knew he was softly crying, tears falling down from the pools of blue in his eyes. “I’m so sorry that you had to feel what I felt growing up...he’s a monster. My own father...”

You scoot over closer to Draco and shake your head. None of this was his fault. “Draco, you don’t need to apologize to me. Your father is despicable and you are not him,” you tell him as Draco wipes his tears before you could see them. He didn’t want to cry in front of you yet. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that all those years.”

He shakes his head, “You know, for years, I tried to convince myself that I didn’t have a soulmate,” he lightly laughs. “That way, I only had to protect myself. It was selfish of me. But...obviously, that didn’t work out. I would feel your pain too. I remember one day in third year, something had happened to you. You were running and you fell and you broke your arm. I remember yelling out in pain in the common room and Goyle looked at me like I had ten heads,” he laughs as you joined him, smiling at the memory. He was right. You were running with Ron when you had tripped and fallen in Hogsmeade and broke your right arm. “I remember you came back with a bright orange cast and everyone signed it in Divinations class. You told everyone Madam Pomfrey said you didn’t need a cast because of the Healing Potion, but you insisted on getting one because you had one when you were eight. I remember I thought you looked cute smiling and giggling as people wrote their get wells on your broken arm.”

The smile that appears on your face is wide as your heart gently flutters as he remembered all the tiny details of when you broke your arm. Draco knew for so long that you were soulmates and yet, you were so dead clueless. 

“I didn’t want to tell you that we were soulmates because I didn’t want you to be disappointed,” Draco confesses. “I guess I’m a bit too late on that one, eh?”

You shake your head and sigh, “No, Draco. I mean, do I think you’re a down right dickhead? Absolutely.” He laughs. “But I don’t think it’s too late for you to start trying to act differently. If you can remember me breaking my arm in third year and remember what color the bloody cast was...I think you can work on being a better person. Not for me. But for you.”

Draco inhales deeply before shaking his head, exhaling. “I want to be better. For me, but I want to be what you deserve. If we’re going to...do this, I want to do it right. And if, by some fucked up reason,” he laughs as you chuckle, “it doesn’t work, then at least we know that we tried.”

You feel his hand grab yours as he intertwines his fingers with yours. You look down at his hands and smile, giving it a soft squeeze, assuring him that his proposal sounded like a plan. You were going to give this a go.

If the universe believed in you and Draco, why shouldn’t you?

“That’s all I can ask for,” you whispered gently.

“And I promise I’m going to do more than you ask for. I swear on my life.”

------

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[bigskydreaming]

Hi! I was reading a fanfic and it brought up Roy and Dick's fight, which I see a lot of in fics but never what they fought about and consequently why they don't talk. I thought it was a vague excuse/reason why Roy was Jason's friend not Dick's anymore but this fic brought up when Dick was batman so I was wondering if there was actually a fight between them? Btw I really enjoy your metas! They're v thought out and well articulated. Also it's v easy to separate what's your opinion and what's fact which is. Very helpful for me

Yeah this is one hundred percent a fanon thing that's kept deliberately vague to justify why Roy in his friendship with Jason seems to have no positive thoughts or concerns about Dick whatsoever. Now granted, Dick and Roy are not nearly as close in the New 52 as they were pre-Reboot. The lack of their friendship there is definitely one of the things I disliked most about the Reboot - and I actually don't care if Jason and Roy are friends tbh, its the total erasure of his history with Dick as if he can't be friends with both, that like, bugs most.

But so like, yeah, Roy and Dick aren't super close when they interact on the Titans in the New 52, but there's literally nothing in any of their interactions that explains the complete absence of him from Roy's life or a reason that Roy would like, hate him the way he tends to in a lot of Jason-centric fics.

When you factor in pre-Reboot stuff though, it starts to get a LOT more.....uh wyd? And this is why I have trouble buying that people just write Roy and Jason the way they do because its the only thing they know from recent comics. Like one, most fans talk about how they don't even read the source comics, so there's no reason their knowledge of the characters or events would be limited to just recent comics if they're going off wiki summaries and scans anyway. And second, most fans AREN'T limited in their knowledge to just recent comics.

Like, the second people start writing Roy and Jason and Kori but with their pre-52 characterizations and references to events from THAT timeline, it all gets very messy, the way they're like, completely antagonistic towards Dick a lot of the time. Because Roy and Dick were always solid. Yes, they fought. A lot. But they always, ALWAYS made up afterwards. They had conflict about Roy's drug addiction - it didn't stop Dick from being there to support him through rehab, or Dick being the first person Roy called to help him get Lian after he learned of her existence. Dick literally held Lian before Roy ever did? He's the one who first put her in Roy's arms for the first time.

(Which is the prime grudge I and most Dick Grayson fans have about Roy and Jason fics which make Jason like, the absolute apple of Lian's eye. If you want to expand Lian's circle of loved and trusted ones to include Jason as Roy's friend and thus her uncle, like go for it! But there's zero reason that should require invalidating and erasing the fact that Dick was this little girl's adored godfather and uncle for pretty much her entire life. And the way Dick is just shoved offstage from Lian's life entirely, to slot Jason into his place as though they're completely interchangeable, its like....THAT'S the kind of thing that gets people irey about how Jason 'steals' Dick's dynamics and character relationships.

Because there's nothing saying they both can't be major players in Roy and Lian's lives! But just that they're not interchangeable! You need to develop the specific role Jason plays there WITHOUT just overwriting everything Dick actually did in relation to the two of them pre-Flashpoint, which is what you're drawing from the second you write Lian, unless you're specifically going with the few appearances we've had of her within literally just the last year.

But I mean, when people just search and replace Dick Grayson in all Roy and Lian's pre-Reboot stories and act like Jason was the one doing all of that instead.....why wouldn't fans of the source material be annoyed by a character getting credit for interactions and things done for Lian and Roy that Jason literally NEVER DID, while at the EXACT SAME TIME, conjuring some mysterious, unnamed 'Falling Out' that Roy and Dick had, that was clearly all Dick's fault, and resulted from him being basically excised entirely from Roy and Lian's lives?

Same with Kori, for the record, and like despite being Dick's ex, she and Dick have NEVER been like, estranged? She and Dick have often been close even after their breakup. None of it makes any sense, and the fact that a lot of fans don't even try to make it make sense or justify it, and expect other fans to just be fine with settling for an inexplicable reversal of Dick's every actual dynamic with these characters while setting up Jason to occupy the exact same role Dick played in these other characters' lives, like.....lol. Its fun.)

Anyway, back to your question, like, there are fights you can go with pre-Reboot as the source of various conflicts between Dick and Roy - but again, I maintain its just as crucial that they're always written as getting past them. They have a very tempestuous relationship because they are the two people MOST likely to call each other on their shit, two of the two people WITH the most shit in common due to the parallels in their childhoods and the roles they've occupied in the Titans and the superhero community in general, and the two people most resistant to being called out on their shit by each other, lol. Mostly in that case because like, they do recognize that they have a lot in common and understand each other very well, so the second the other is calling them out for something, they're usually like "ugh, if HE'S saying this, its probably true and I am just not prepared yet to be wrong about this. I need more time being unjustifiably rawr about things." Its like that thing where they both look at each other doing something that feels familiar or calls back to their own reasons for doing something and they're like ugh I'm in this picture and I don't like it.

So they clash. A lot. But always with the implicit bedrock of like, there's nothing either of them can do or say to the other that will push the other away for good.

They fought over Roy replacing Dick as leader of the Titans when Dick's wedding fell apart, even though Roy actually didn't want to do it and was kinda pushed into it by the government, but again, Dick like, got over it and realized it was for the best and forgave Roy for it that very same issue. And on and on. It always went like that. So there's plenty of stuff that can be used or pointed at as a source of conflict between the two, but the part I'll always call unbelievable is the idea that they never make up after one of these fights. Why now? What fight, specifically, is so bad between them that despite everything else they've gone through AND gotten past, they can't get past this one? Y'know?

So yeah, that's my take on this. There is no definitive falling out between Dick and Roy as many fics like to point to in order to shove him offscreen and make room for Jason in Roy and Lian's lives, and personally, I just don't find it necessary and I actually think it makes Roy look REALLY bad. Because when you're not specifically detailing all the things that Dick has actually DONE for Roy, the lengths to which he's been there for his friend, and like, specifically invalidating each and every one of them as something that never happened in a particular fic, then literally anyone who reads that fic and has their own awareness of Dick and Roy's friendship is kiiiiiinda likely to be reading that and thinking wow what an ungrateful asshole, when Roy's just written as bitching about Dick with Jason and sandbagging him without any real explanation as to WHY, beyond just 'oh they had a fight years ago.'

(And coming up with some random awful thing that Dick did to justify Roy hating him now isn't like, a superior alternative, lmao, because again, its still just trashing one character for the sake of getting him out of the way of two other characters' friendship and people are going to think what they think about that).

Anyway, my now standard stock disclaimer that like, there doesn't actually need to be a canon fight obviously, for people to just write things this way and handwave that Dick and Roy had an epic falling out years ago and now they just hate one another or whatever, or just Roy hates him or vice versa. Obviously people are free to do what they want. They don't need a reason other than "I want to write it this way so Jason and Roy are friends and Jason doesn't have to 'share' him with Dick or have his friendship be overshadowed by their greater history together." That just happens to be a reason that no Dick Grayson fan is ever really going to be happy about, lol, for what should be perfectly obvious reasons, so it honestly shouldn't be surprising to people that fans of the source material often gripe about it.

Because yeah fanfic is a tremendous opportunity to transform the source material into something better, but if what's better for some fans actively takes away what was working perfectly well for other fans the original way, they're going to say that. Especially in a fandom where so many new fans take their view of the characters and their dynamics from fics rather than the source material - when fandom has that much of an influence on what new fans perceive to be 'canon,' fans are perfectly within their right to emphasize what is ACTUALLY canon and what isn't, so that new fans at least have the opportunity to determine for themselves what take they want to go with, instead of just accepting at face value that the nature of say, Dick and Roy's relationship is just that Roy hates Dick because of some mumble mumble ancient history vague mumble details not found mumble mumble fight.

[soulmate-game]

Can you do a prompt of Marinette being the daughter of the Joker and Harley but Harley left him before Marinette was born and when Joker found out about his daughter He decided to kidnap Marinette so she can become like him (Ace chemicals) (Daminette)

Woot, my first ask in a while! Let’s see how I can do this oddly specific ask that reminds me of a fic that might actually exist but tbh I’ve read so many fanfics idk if my brain is remembering right

—*—*—*—*—*

Marinette knew Sabine and Tom weren’t her biological parents. She had known ever since she was eight, when her mother by blood visited her for the first time, sat her down, and explained everything. Including, but not limited to, her disastrously toxic past relationship, her new girlfriend, and her recent success with long term rehab (unofficial rehab that mostly consisted of illegal anti-hero actions, but hey if it worked it worked).

Marinette understood. Well no, she really didn’t since she was only eight, but she understood that her mom— that Harley— was genuine. She had always had a knack for emotions and telling when people were sincere or not. And Harley really was regretful about not being in her life beforehand, and was serious about wanting to be part of her life now that her own was mostly sorted out.

So Marinette was not surprised when Harley really did stick it out. When Harley cooed over Marinette copying her hairstyle to show her support of her biological mom, when Harley never failed to call at least once a week even if she was in jail for punching some asshole or another. Harley never stayed arrested long anymore, she was usually found to be on the right side of the moral scale more and more often so the police didn’t bother keeping her locked up anymore. Through the years, Marinette always looked forward to her mom’s calls. Looked forward to being lulled to sleep by one crazy story or another from her mother’s past. Everything was nice. Perfect, even, for a while.

A thump sounded from her balcony, one late night when Marinette was thirteen. Blinking, the dark haired girl furrowed her brows. Who would be on her balcony? Cautiously walking towards the trap door leading to it, grasping her metal pencil holder as a weapon (she remembered all of her Mom’s stories about break-ins and random attacks back in Gotham), the teen strained her ears. Akuma attacks were only a few months old now, but she had already become in high alert for any sign of Hawkmoth or his victims. As per usual, Marinette’s paranoia began to kick in. Did Hawkmoth already figure her out? Was he here for her earrings? Would she be able to fight him?

She gently pushed up the trap door, catching a glimpse of black leather. Huh? Marinette narrowed her eyes, confused. Was it Chat? He should have been on patrol, on the other side of the city. What was he doing visiting her?

Suddenly the trap door yanked the rest of the way open, making Marinette yelp as the handle for it rugged away from her fingers. And there, backlit by the pure blue-white moonlight, was Not Chat Noir. It was Catwoman, in all her skintight black leather glory, grinning at her before pushing her cat-eye goggles up to the top of her head and crouching down by the trap door’s entrance, balancing only on the pads of her feet.

“Well hello there~” the woman purred. “So you’re the cute little kitten Harley is so secretive about. Nice to finally meet you,” the woman held out a hand, sending Marinette a sweet, if mysterious, smile. For a while, the pigtailed girl only stared before a squeal of excitement left her throat, leaving very little room for any doubt as to her bloodline. A large smile curled over Marinette’s lips, leaving her beaming widely at the catlike woman on her balcony.

“Auntie Selina! Mom’s told me so much about you! Come in, come in, come in! I’ll sneak some macaroons up for you. Or do you prefer croissants? What’s your favorite flavor? Are you really dating Batman? Oh my goodness, that necklace is so lovely! Did you steal it?”

Selina could only chuckle fondly at the word vomit, letting the smaller girl drag her down the trap door and into her very… pink room. Looking around, Selina was once again slapped with just how similar this kid was to her outgoing friend. Marinette clearly had no shame in indulging in the things she liked, such as the color pink and anything regarding fashion. But there were other things amongst the girliness of the room, like the posters of Jagged Stone and the training dummy half-sticking out of her closet door. There were a few ornamental knives hung up behind her computer, seemingly just for decoration although Selina could see that they were definitely battle ready and sharpened. A small mallet, clearly a miniature replica of her mother’s own signature weapon, leaned up against the side of the girl’s laundry basket. But then there was Marinette’s mannequin, which was surrounded by meticulously cut pieces of cloth and had other pieces pinned to it strategically. Marinette clearly had the same professionalism and love for her chosen career that had so completely defined Harley in the Time Before Joker. The same genius intellect hiding in those deceptively cheerful bluebell eyes. And for the first time, though not for the last to be sure, Selina found herself thoroughly relieved that it seemed Marinette had inherited very little from her father.

Except, as she would learn from stories Harley told her later, an apparent affinity for chaos.

“I’m not that picky, kitten. But I’m not that hungry, so don’t go too out of your way,” Selina decided to just react the same way she did with Harley’s rambles, and answer one question at a time. “Also, I am actually dating Bruce Wayne. But, if you promise not to tell anyone—“ she waited for Marinette’s eager nod before continuing casually, “— the two are maybe not as mutually exclusive as many think,” Selina finished with a conspiratorial wink. “No, I actually did not steal this necklace. Bruce has been adamant in trying to curb me of my thieving habit by buying me almost everything I so much as glance at sideways. It’s sweet. Naive, because I like stealing for the fun of it, but sweet.”

Marinette giggled, bouncing in place happily. She loved a bit of innocent gossip like this. “Is Momma Ivy ever gonna visit? I don’t think Mom told her much about me yet, and I still gotta give her the shovel talk!” the fierce look that overcame Marinette’s face made Selina laugh again. Oh yes, definitely her mother’s daughter.

“Pam has been trying to sneak over, but the laws regarding Metahumans in Paris suddenly got much stricter a few months back and have caused some problems. You wouldn’t happen to know what happened, would you?” Selina did not miss when her seemingly innocent question caused her niece to close off almost instantly. Bluebell eyes took on a familiar guardedness, and scanned her with the same soul-searching intensity that Harley had when she was channeling her Psychiatrist side. Selina found herself in a slightly concerning spot though—

Because she couldn’t predict Marinette at all. She was left to simply stand there as Marinette searched for some unidentifiable thing in her eyes, completely unable to read the younger girl’s face and with no idea of what to expect. The side effect of having chaos so thoroughly entwined in both of her biological parents, she supposed.

“Nope, no idea.”

Selina knew that was a lie, but knew equally as well that she would not be getting a better answer anytime soon. So, she let it go and the two of them once again dipped into innocent chatter.

Later that night, when Selina left and the sun threatened to rise at any minute, Tikki flew up from her hiding spot under Marinette’s pillow to land on her holder’s shoulder. Marinette giggled and looked over at her little friend.

“Tikki?”

“Yes, Mari?”

“Why was I chosen to be your holder?” She asked suddenly, flopping back into her bed and staring at her ceiling. The little goddess hummed, smiling knowingly before flying down to cuddle in the crook of Marinette’s neck.

“Because you are born from luck itself. Even when bad things happen, you have the luck and determination to get out just fine, and stronger than before. And despite the destruction and anarchy in your blood, you have the willpower to reign it in and keep control of yourself. That’s all order really is, Marinette. The decision to take all the chaos and madness around us, and make it make sense. Make it do something good. And that’s a large part of who you are, I could feel it in your soul the moment we first met.”

Marinette closed her eyes, biting the inside of her cheek. “What if I lose control?”

“... You’ll just have to get it back. It’ll be hard, but as long as you have people to support you, you will be able to do it. You aren’t evil, Marinette,” the small God seemed to sense the true question her holder was asking, and did her best to soothe the doubt the girl felt. “Just remember the reasons you fight against chaos. Remember everyone you love, and you’ll be okay. And you have me, I’ll always help you.”

“... thank you, Tikki.”

—*—*—*—*—*

“He’s going to find out, Mom.”

“No he won’t, don’t be silly! I’ve been very careful about hiding you from him, Nettie-pie.”

“Mom… I just have a bad feeling. I don’t think we can hide who I am from him. If he sees me, I think he’ll know.”

The phone went silent.

“If he hurts you, I’ll kill him. If I was crazy about him, Sugar, then I’m head over heels for you. Not even he can stop me from caving his skull in if he tries his usual tricks with you.”

“... My plane leaves soon, I’ll talk to you when I land. And mom?”

“Yeah, honeycake?”

“I love you.”

—*—*—*—*—*

It was uncanny just how often Marinette’s hunches were right. Her intuition was something to behold, truly, because it only took three days in Gotham before Joker snatched her right out of her room at Harley and Ivy’s apartment. At least Marinette had sixteen by then, so she had had enough experience as a hero in Paris and with generally unpredictable situations and people who were absolutely nuts for her to not immediately panic. Too much, anyway.

Because there was definitely a little panic there.

See, Marinette knew herself inside out by then. After her own battle with her toxic feelings towards Adrien and doing her best to heal from those before she turned out like her mom, she knew she was by no means mentally indestructible. Mental illness ran the high risk of being inherited, and Marinette was well aware that her own personality was scarily similar to her mother’s at times. She got attached quickly, felt affection and love for others very strongly and, as she found with Adrien, could easily become obsessive if she didn’t watch herself. At least Harley was the perfect person to help with that, and Marinette was serious about helping herself too. She did everything she could to keep an eye on her mental health and keep her behavior in check so she didn’t do anything too unhealthy with her relationships again.

But she knew, she knew she had a soft spot for family. She got attached too easily. And being in the same room as her biological father, despite being tied up by her hands and feet and knowing just how many unforgivable things he had done in his life, Marinette felt vulnerable. She didn’t want to hurt him, despite everything. She still loved him, despite every reason not to, despite her first meeting with him being with him shoving chloroform over her face and hogtying her to a metal chain dangling over a vat of acid.

Geez, she’d need more than just her mom as a therapist after this for sure. Even if her mom had a PH.D, Marinette felt like she’d need several psychiatrists to sort through her emotional turmoil right then and make sense of any of it.

Marinette licked her lips, aware that the only kindness that Joker gave his daughter was sparing her from the discomfort of being gagged.

“Don’t,” Marinette said, surprising herself with the amount of steel she was able to put into her voice. Somehow, she managed to make the single word sound more like an order than a plead. “Joker, put me—“

“Ah-Ah-Ah!” The clown walked over, tutting and waving his finger in the air in almost playful admonishment. He gave her a dramatically fake pout. “Don’t you know it’s disrespectful to refer to your father by his first name?” Neither of them mentioned that Joker was definitely not his real name. They both knew the point was moot. “Say it with me now— ‘Daddy dearest, I am more than willing to be dunked in acid for you,’ go ahead, say it.”

Marinette’s jaw clenched. Familial love or not, she would not tolerate being ridiculed like that. She dealt with enough ridicule when she was fourteen and fifteen during school, before she put Liar Rossi in her place. She had spent the past three years as a hero in charge of the war against Hawkmoth, in charge of protecting all of Paris from an emotional terrorist.

And gee, wasn’t that what Joker was, too? Sure, he was a terrorist in the classic meaning of the word as well, but he was nothing if not a skilled manipulator. He knew the human mind just as well as Harley or any other psychiatrist did, he just used his knowledge for different means. He had emotionally abused Harley for years, he emotionally abused and manipulated people all across gotham on a daily basis. He was just another Hawkmoth, but with more physical violence in place of magic.

With these thoughts strengthening her resolve, Marinette narrowed her eyes at the man who donated half of her DNA. She let her anger boil into her irises, hitting him with one of the few traits she knew she inherited from him.

Her ability to intimidate others on the tip of a hat.

“No,” she growled back at him. She took a deep breath. It had taken her a while, but she refused to be ashamed of who she was regardless of her blood relation. She would have no problem using the very things she inherited from Joker against him. She might have gotten most of Harley’s personality, she might have inherited her mother’s habit of falling in love hard, fast, and obsessively, but she also had Joker’s defiance. His bone-deep inability to be stopped from doing exactly whatever the fuck he wanted.

And then, there were Marinette’s own traits. The ones that were completely her own, developed over her life organically. Like her refusal to bow down to bullies, her creativity, her ability to take even the most chaotic situation and see some sort of balance and sanity in it that she could use to her advantage.

That she WOULD use to her advantage. The shadows she saw move out of the corner of her eye gave her the chance to do exactly that, she just needed to buy a few more seconds. Just a few more seconds.

“Excuse me?” Joker growled right back, his own intimidation, honed over more years than Marinette had been alive and thus much more potent than her own, reading its ugly head as he stalked towards her. His face was pulled down into an ugly snarl, his shoulders tensed and back straight as he glared right at her. From his spot on the metal walkway, he was easily able to reach over the railing and grab her chin in one pale, viciously strong hand. “I think you’re misunderstanding something here, little Marionette. I’m your father. Half of your life came directly from ME. That makes you my puppet. You exist to follow my orders,” his right grip suddenly let go, leaving behind the beginnings of a bruise as his entire demeanor changed from angry to cheerful. He spread his arms as if gesturing to the whole chemical plant victoriously, and an unnaturally large smile curved over his lips and bared yellowing teeth at her. “But that’s okay. I’ll forgive you this time, you haven’t learned any better yet. That’s why we’re here. We need to cleanse you of all those icky bad habits you’ve learned up until now, all you need is a little,” he bounced in place with a wicked smirk to illustrate his next words— “jumpstart. A little acid goes a long way to enlightenment you know, you’ll see my side of things in no time. And with my blood in you, you’ll make a better sidekick than that idiot Harley ever did. I can sense it, you’ve got a real talent for Chaos in you, it’s exciting, Heheeeheheee! Now then, we should probably speed things along before our family reunion is cut short. Hang in there, my little Marionette,” the man actually had the gall to spin in place while humming a tune cheerfully before all but dancing over to the lever that held Marinette’s length of chain in the air over the vat of chemicals below her. “Everything will clear up in that little head of yours in just a second!”

There! Right as Joker pulled the switch to lower her into the bubbling vat underneath her, Marinette was able to finish untying her hands. She couldn’t contain a small yelp as gravity flung her body forward, leaving her upside down on the chain for a brief moment. That was when the chain started lowering rapidly, and Marinette was barely able to rip the rope off of her ankles in time to swing off of it and onto the metal walkway that came up right next to the giant metal container of liquid death and insanity. Joker had barely enough time to shout in rage before the windows near the ceiling shattered, admitting the city’s vigilantes themselves. Batman, Nightwing, Red Robin, Red Hood, Robin, and evening Black Bat all landed on the same metal platform above Marinette’s head that Joker was still on, buying the teen time to start running. But she didn’t go towards the exit right away, instead heading right up the stairs into the thick of the fight. Robin briefly separated from where Joker was managing to hold his own, goons flooding from side doors to inhibit the heroes in their attempt to bring their boss down.

The katana-using vigilante kept one eye on Marinette the whole time, suspicious of why the girl would come back up if not to help her father. But that wasn’t what she did, instead she flipped and kicked and punched her way through the quickly growing sea of Joker thugs until she reached a small pink purse that had been abandoned near the lever that had nearly sent her into liquid insanity. Three thugs surrounded her right as she snatched the purse up and slung it over her shoulder, but Robin barely had the chance to head over before she was heaving the men, who were all easily three times her size, over her shoulder and was slamming elbows into soft spots and the side of her hand into pressure points. By the time Robin got to her side, all three men were unconscious and bound to wake up in utter agony.

Marinette glanced up, getting ready to haul Robin over her shoulder as well before she realized who he was. She let her shoulders relax just a tick, sighing in relief before returning her eyes to scanning their surroundings. She shot him a brief grin.

“Good thing my adoptive mother, Mom, Momma Ivy, and Auntie Selina all made sure I knew how to take down a small army on my own, huh?” She asked rhetorically before they were both unceremoniously dragged back into the giant brawl.

—*—*—*—*—*

“Nettie-pie!”

“Marigold!”

Harley and Pamela Quinzel-Isley shoved down anyone and everyone who dared block their direct path to their daughter. The girl of the hour stood next to the bat clan, a shock blanket held tightly around her shoulders as she did her best to finish her statement to both the vigilantes and Commissioner Gordon.

“You untied yourself… from a ship-grade knot in high quality rope… with a phone charm?” They heard Gordon ask incredulously, to which Marinette could only give a lopsided smile. That was when her mom and stepmom crashed into her, enveloping her in a nearly suffocating hug.

“Gah— mom— momma Ivy—“ Marinette flailed in their arms for a bit before finally getting her head free and continuing her statement as if she didn’t have two of the most dangerous women in the city still giving her a bone crushing hug. “That’s better. Yes, Commissioner. You see, I realized when I was in the car with Joker, while I was pretending to still be unconscious, that one of the charms on my phone had pretty sharp corners that I could use like a serrated edge if I had enough time. So I carefully detached it from my phone, and held it in my palm. It took almost an hour, but once Joker noticed I was awake I kept him talking so that he didn’t notice what I was doing even as he tied me up to that chain. Really, it’s just lucky that I was able to get it worn down in time,” Marinette rubbed the back of her neck with a nervous chuckle. “But regardless, I think Batman and his partners,” she nodded to the listening vigilantes just to the side of her. “Were close enough that I would have been caught anyway, I just wanted to make sure they had less work to do. The sooner I freed myself, the sooner ‘Daddy Dearest,’” she grimaced as she mockingly used the same term Joker had tried to get her to say earlier that night. “Could go back behind bars where he belongs.”

“Oh my little Nettie-cake,” Harley cried, finally pulling back from the hug long enough to wipe her cheeks. It was clear that she had been crying for a while, and her colorful pigtails were mussed and tangled from where she must have been tugging on them in worry. “You were right. I’m so sorry, I never should have let you come to Gotham when I knew he was out of Arkham.”

Marinette was quick to shake her head frantically, pulling her arms out of Ivy’s hold so she could grasp Harley’s shoulders firmly. “No. No, Mom, I’m fine! And besides, we knew I couldn’t stay secret forever. I really like staying with you and Momma Ivy! Everything turned out fine though, and he’s headed back to Arkham. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay, Nettle,” Pam argued, distracting herself by running her hands through Marinette’s bangs. She had only known the girl for two years, but that was more than long enough for her to consider the teenager as her own. “He took you right out from under our noses. You were supposed to be safe in our home, and he still got to you. That’s not okay. We weren’t able to protect you like we should have been. Maybe you should go back to Paris early.”

“What?! No way!” Marinette argued, eyes wide. “This is the first time I’ve been able to ever visit you guys in Gotham, I’m not letting some psycho sperm donor keep me from enjoying time with my family! I came here knowing full well that it was dangerous. I’m not gonna just run away after one bad experience.”

Harley snorted, and then devolved into uncontrollable giggles. “Heh— psycho sperm donor. Good one, sugar!”

Marinette smiled and rolled her eyes good naturedly at her mom’s usual immature antics. Seeing as Gordon had walked away muttering to himself a short while ago, Marinette pulled herself the rest of the way away from her moms and turned to the vigilantes. Without a second’s pause, she bowed to them just like her Maman Sabine taught her.

“Thank you for helping save me. I know it’s probably a shock that I’ve been kept secret from you guys all this time, but I hope you don’t lump me in with the likes of the green-haired half of my DNA. I’m staying with my Moms in their apartment, if you guys decide to patrol by our place like I suspect, I’ll leave some baked goods and coffee out for you on our patio. It’s the least I can do for you all after tonight. And don’t be too hard on Auntie Selina. Me and Mom swore her to secrecy, even from you guys.”

Batman jerked a little at the mention of Catwoman’s real name, jaw twitching for a second. Behind his cowl, his eyes narrowed. Marinette laughed, easily reading his body language and expression.

“She never told me who you are, but she didn’t exactly hide it either. It was easy to put the last pieces together on my own. But don’t worry, SHE swore me to secrecy too. I won’t tell anyone.

“How the hell are you related to the Laughing Asswipe from Hell?” Red Hood blurted out, his confusion clear even from behind his hideous helmet. Marinette burst into giggles, and both Pamela and Harley smiled knowingly.

“Mom gave me up for adoption when I was born, so I spent my whole life in Paris up until now,” she admitted. “Mom didn’t visit me for the first time until I was eight, and she and my adoptive parents are so awesome that it must’ve suffocated the worst traits from his DNA before they had a chance to develop,” she guessed out loud with a good natured smile.

Batman grunted. Marinette knew that one run-in wasn’t enough for them to trust her. After all, she was still the biological daughter of their arch enemy. But she didn’t mind, she understood the caution even if she didn’t fully agree with it. They weren’t outright hostile, despite the fact that Robin had never stopped glaring at her since they fought back-to-back against the mob of thugs earlier. She could live with their suspicion, as long as they continued to not be outright rude or mean to her.

At least she could empathize with Adrien now, whenever she figured out how to break it to him that Hawkmoth was definitely Gabriel and couldn’t be anyone else. Hopefully she could help soften the blow for him a little.

Harley and Ivy were starting to herd Marinette towards their car and take her back home, where they could continue to smother her in care and make sure she didn’t have even a scratch on her, when Robin’s voice stopped them all in their tracks.

“You are a surprisingly capable combatant.”

Marinette froze, blinking in surprise for a second before turning to stare at Robin in shock. The rest of the Bat Clam was doing the same, nobody expecting Robin of all people to be the first to directly complement Marinette. He tutted, crossing his arms, but never moved his gaze away from Marinette’s eyes.

“But your form could use some work. Most of your style is incredibly improvised, which I can appreciate since you do it well, but you would benefit from more structure in your fighting. I will set up a time and place for us to spar. We start in two days, if you think you can handle it.”

It took a while for what Robin said to sink in, and another few seconds for Marinette to decipher what his semi-aggressive, order-phrased proposal really meant. And she smiled.

“It’s a date.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Woo! This started off a little rough, but I really like how it ended up! Thank you, Anon!

#ml x dc #maribat #mlb x dc #eventual daminette #pre daminette #daminette #Bio!dad joker #bio!mom Harley Quinn #Joker Sucks #Request #Oneshot #Fanfiction #crossover

[booksandwords]

Loveless by Alice Oseman

Read time: 5 Days Rating: 4/5

The quote: You know why people pair up into couples? Because being a human is fucking terrifying. But it's a hell of a lot easier if you're not doing it alone. — Ellis

In the interest of full disclose this is an almost automatic 5 star book for me. Any book that features an aro/ace protagonist and treats them with respect and dignity will get 5 five stars, any writing plot or character other flaws be damned. The world needs more aro/ace representation where we aren't the best friend or something to be fixed. But even without my usual aro/ace crusading, this likely would have been a 5. The character are individual, realistic and oh so human, the plot is centred on identity and confusion but is written in a manner that it is readable. And it is oh so relatable for an ace (aro? demi? grey? my romantic orientation is up in the air) who found out well after school what they were. The anger, confusion, sense of overwhelm, and the bizarre sense of mourning due to the loss of what was impressed on you as the normal. One of the best phrases in the book may be "Says who? The Hetronormative rulebook? Fuck that Georgia Fuck that." and you know what amen to that Rooney. The ending is satisfying but still open as is only right for something written for this demographic. This isn't the end of their story it is only the start.

It is worth saying that for those of us who are ace and comfortable with their identity are aware very early on what is going on with Georgia. Georgia is an anxious, touch averse Ace who is trying to force herself to be "normal". With an extended family of almost perfect hetronormative ideal relationships, met early married had kids that have been subconsciously impressed on her as the future and expected of her. Combined with her love of fanfiction it had to be her to the idea that there is the perfect person for everyone. As stated in the intro to this review Georgia is very realistic in her reactions to her newly discovered identity. Confusion, anger, mourning, insecurity. I personally felt all of these and I know others in the community did as well to varying degrees. Georgia does have a conversation with the wonderful Ellis, an ace in her 30s who had to discover her identity and learn her way on her own. Moments leading up that earn this a trigger warning for something that may or may not be alluding to conversion therapy, either way, it is slightly distressing. Ellis is a beautiful woman and a great inclusion. She is a successful woman, making her own way and living her life regardless of what others think.

A moment on the character who for me is the absolute stand out. Sunil is Georgia's College parent, they end up being a something of fairy godace for Georgia. They would hate that term, but it's so fitting for me. Sunil is a homoromantic nonbinary ace with the preferred pronouns they/him (Georgia/ Oseman use him never they), he is the one who introduces the term asexual to Georgia and tells her the potential of it. I really like him, he makes me smile. No one in an Alice Oseman book is two dimensional in their identity (racial, romantic or sexual), Sunil is no exception. He is handled well with the respect of an only slightly older figure, one who is still not entirely set on their feet. And while Georgia is cis white as well as being an enby Sunil is of Indian descent.

The other supporting characters are Rooney, Pip and Jason. Rooney is Georgia's Shakespeare obsessed roommate. They meet on the first day of university and are total opposites. I like their relationship. It's non-traditional but love in a way I want to see more of. Georgia is loyal despite all of Rooney's actions. Pip and Jason are Georgia's best friends. Pip is chaos, Georgia is silent and Jason is clam. They are something of an odd combination but it works well. Jason and his love of Scooby-Doo is both funny and cute. They are all individual and that there is some conflict between them is a good thing.

This is relatable for aces in a similar way to I Was Born For This was relatable for fandom. I would say that if you enjoyed I Was Born For This for its fandom aspects you will enjoy this, even more, fandom specifically fanfic is part of Georgia and her romantic education such as it is. Georgia (, Sunil and Ellis) face misunderstandings about their sexuality. Those phrase aces hear and hate. Sunil's is particularly important they face bigotry from other members of the LBGTQ community, where it is called a made-up sexuality. Georgia gets the 'you'll find the right person', 'have you tried...', 'what about when you are older'. We've all heard them and I could hear the tone. Some of the statements are apologised for others are not, the ones that are are important and say a lot about the importance and development of the character.

A random dump because concise reviews are not possible for Alice Oseman books.

Tommy ending up in the fire is funnier than it should be. I see all kinds of unwarranted metaphors.

Fried Egg is the cutest nickname that would make no sense to anyone but the participating people involved.

Kinsey Scale Test is something hadn't heard of but yeah that is a result a questioning person doesn't want to see.

QUILTBAG is an acronym I had never heard in the LGBTQ community. It's not new, I found it in a 2012 article, where I found this definition it is a good article. "It stands for QU is for queer and questioning, I for intersex, L for Lesbian, T for transgender and transsexual and Two-Spirit, B for bisexual, A for asexual and ally, and G for gay and genderqueer. Even with all those letters, we’ve missed some of the possibilities (such as pansexual and fluid, both of which are identities I’ve heard people claim), but QUILTBAG still offers a rainbow of different ways to identify. It’s also a lot easier to say than LGBTQIA (which is what I started using after I realized how exclusive LGBT and queer were)."

Am I the only one who doesn't know what the Bailey Ball is? They aren't an Australian thing. Well, that and I studied uni by distance.

Rooney and Ellis make some brilliant points about friendship and its importance to aces. The way it is made lesser than romantic relationships in general.

Apparently all the Oseman books are set in a common universe, the easiest evidence of this in Loveless is in the reference to Universe City from Radio Silence.

Roderick the plant as a metaphor was smart. I quite liked it.

This is a really quotable book there are fantastic quotes about love, friendship and maturity.

As an aside. The protagonist brings up her love of fanfic early in the book. There is there are precious little aspec fanfics out there. Mostly one would suspect because sex makes the tv industry go-round (see Shadowhunter and Riverdale for their treatment of originally aroace characters). As Clotpolesonly wrote in reply to me "aspec AUs are practically unicorns, they're so rare in fandom". One fandom that does have fanfics for them is Teen Wolf. Derek Hale can easily be read as an aspec (usually closer to the demi or grey part of the spectrum). So even if you don't know the show have a fic rec Magic and Drag Queens and Lizards, Oh My by clotpolesonly. Also That's When I Knew by Stennerd, this is for the 911 fandom pairing is Buddie, demisexual. There are I know more but not nearly as many as there are for some others.

#alice oseman #osemanverse #loveless #lgbtq #book review #asexuality #aromantic #sorry people this review is almost obsencely long #ktreviews #read 2020 #jazzyjess #clotpolesonly #jess and jessica i'm tagging you because i reference your fics