#the outcome would've been the same more or less

[navybrat817]

Resignation

Pairing: Sugar Daddy!Andy Barber x Female Reader Summary: You get to know Andy a bit more and put in your notice, but your boss doesn't it take it well. Word Count: Almost 4.4k Warnings: Slow burn, getting to know each other, sugar daddy contraction, tension, flirting, slight insecurities, inner monologue, yelling (apologies to anyone named Sean), Andy Barber (he's a warning, okay?) Graphic talent and thanks: Banner - @sgt-seabass, Divider - @firefly-graphics, Header - yours truly Previous Part: Sign the Dotted Line A/N: Welcome back to my Terms and Conditions AU! Hope you lovelies enjoy. Beta read by the lovely @whisperlullaby but any and all mistakes are my own. ❤️ Please follow @navybrat817-sideblog for new fics and notifications. Comments, reblogs, feedback are loved and appreciated!

The feeling of floating on cloud nine wasn't something you experienced much in your life. There were high points, of course, but nothing like the elation that filled you as Andy went to make a copy of the contract. It was almost dizzying to think that for the next three quarters of a year, everything was going to be okay. Better than okay.

All thanks to Andy.

Estelle shrieked as she pulled you to your feet. “You're a sugar baby! You're a sugar baby!” she sang, making you laugh as she did a little dance with it.

“I thought you said I was going to be his ‘companion’,” you teased.

She leveled you with a look. “It’s the same thing,” she said, grabbing her bag. “And since your new ‘companion’ is taking you to the diner, why don’t we celebrate tomorrow? You better give me all the details.”

You giggled again at the implication as she squeezed you in a tight hug. If you weren’t happy before, you would've been thanks to her infectious attitude. “You sure don’t need me to head down with you?”

“No, I’m good. You just enjoy the rest of the day,” she said, winking at you and pointing at Andy when he came back. “Have fun and be good to her or I’ll destroy you,” she told him as she walked by with every ounce of confidence you wished you had. “And nice meeting you!”

You half expected there to be an air of awkwardness once the two of you were left alone and were surprised not to feel it at all. It was hard to describe the atmosphere outside of that, but it was something both familiar and new. Maybe that was because Andy continued to put you at ease all while exciting you. The next chapter of your time would be unpredictable in ways that you were looking forward to encountering.

Did he feel the same way?

Andy chuckled after a moment, the sound bringing a smile back to your face as he held up the papers in his hand. “I realize this is probably a bit outdated since everything is done electronically, but I prefer it this way.”

“I don't think it’s outdated,” you assured him as he handed you the contract, his fingers brushing yours. Would you ever get used to the jolt of electricity you felt at his touch? “It’s less of a chance of it getting leaked.”

Though it was you he worried about, you still wanted to protect his reputation.

“Yes, it is,” he said, smiling to himself when you tucked the papers carefully in your folder. “Estelle is serious, isn’t she? She’ll destroy me if I hurt you?”

“Oh, yeah. She isn’t afraid of anyone,” you said as you shifted slightly on your feet. “But I wouldn't worry about her. I don't expect you to hurt me.”

He had to know that.

Andy took a step closer. “She’s a good person to have on your side,” he commented, butterflies fluttering in your stomach at the soft look in his eyes. “And I have no intention of hurting you.”

You carefully considered his words with furrowed brows. “Aren't you supposed to say you promise not to hurt me?”

A sad smile touched his lips. “People make promises and usually do so for the right reasons, but they don't always lead to the desired outcome,” he replied as if he peeled back a small layer of himself that still left you with questions. “Take the weeklong silence, for example. I inadvertently hurt you by not reaching out.”

Your cheeks flamed, almost wishing you hadn't mentioned it. “But we talked about that. You didn't mean anything by it.”

“Yes, we did talk about it and I'm glad you told me how you felt. I still caused doubt in your mind though,” he said, his tone gentle and understanding without breaking eye contact. “So while I do want to promise that I’ll never hurt you, I'd rather promise that I have no intention of ever hurting you. Because I don't.”

It took a moment to recall that Andy was married once years ago. While you weren't sure why things ended, did his divorce give him a new perspective on making and keeping promises? Or was it his time as a lawyer?

Whatever the reason you had to respect him for his outlook.

“I appreciate that and I will hold you to that,” you said, falling in step beside him as you headed for the door.

He raised an eyebrow as he held it open for you to go through, allowing you to catch the scent of his cologne again as you walked past. You almost asked what brand it was just so you could get a bottle and spritz your worn in sweatshirts. “Isn't this the part where you promise you have no intention of hurting me?” He questioned.

“I don't think I have the power to hurt you,” you replied, not looking behind you as you headed toward the elevator. You were positive you didn't have that kind of influence nor did you want to hurt him. “But I promise that I have no intention to do so.”

You froze when he leaned in close, his beard ticking your ear and it took all of your inner strength not to turn your head toward him. “Never underestimate how powerful you are, honey,” he whispered, your breath rushing out of your lungs as he stepped back and gestured to the open elevator doors. “Shall we?”

“Sure,” you replied, your voice more breathy than you intended as you stepped inside. You swore you caught him smiling before he joined you.

“I gave my driver the afternoon off, so you’re stuck with me,” he said, pressing the button for the lowest level before the doors slid shut. “I hope that’s okay.”

“I think I can handle you driving,” you teased, happy that the two of you would be alone for part of the evening.

He chuckled before he went quiet again. The silence was comfortable, the soft dings as you passed each floor the only sound in the space. It gave you a moment to admire the man beside you. With his perfect posture, chin held high, and pristine suit, you tried to picture how he looked when he simply relaxed. No eyes on him. No one expecting anything from him.

Maybe he can show me that side of himself sometime soon.

“You’re staring,” he stated.

You smiled, not at all embarrassed that he caught you without looking your way. “I guess it’s because I’m still trying to figure you out.”

That and he was still one of the most handsome men you had ever seen.

But who was Andy Barber beyond his money? Your hero and your second chance at a better life, but what else? What did he do for fun? What did he want out of life, years from now?

Andy swung his head toward you as the elevator came to a stop. “I guess that makes two of us then.”

You found yourself in his car a few minutes later. The Audi still had that “new car” smell to it, the passenger seat sleek and not at all broken in. There wasn’t a spec of dust on the leather interior. Either he didn’t drive it often or he made sure to keep it in next to perfect condition.

Your mind drifted back to Andy’s earlier statement. What exactly was he trying to figure out? If he meant that he was trying to figure you out, he didn’t have to look too deeply. And if he was still trying to figure himself out, that was normal. Searching for your true self was a lifelong journey. And with your newfound sense of freedom at your fingertips, you’d be able to explore your own passions and visualize your ideal self.

But part of you figuring Andy out was getting to know him.

“Why the diner?” You asked, glancing over at him as he concentrated on the road in front of him. “I mean, why go there for coffee or food when you can go anywhere else?”

Maybe upscale places weren’t his usual style. He took you to the Courthouse and looked at ease there, but maybe the diner was an escape. Something different.

“I didn’t grow up with much, but my mom made it work as best as she could,” he admitted, a wistful note in his voice. “We never went hungry and she got creative with some meals so I wouldn’t get tired of eating the same thing. Things like fast food were considered a treat and diners were fine dining.”

You shifted in your seat as you listened, touched by the unexpected vulnerability. “I’ll bet she looked forward to those moments,” you said.

“She did and so did I,” he smiled over at you. “On the rare nights when she was able to save up and take us to a diner, she got a large breakfast or dinner meal for us to split. Best way to stretch her dollar and make sure neither of us felt hungry after.”

You almost reached over to take his hand, but you didn’t want to overstep. He was giving you a piece of himself by revealing a part of his past. That was more than you could ask for.

“I went to diners in college, too, when I was struggling to make ends meet,” he continued, stroking his beard for a moment. “I guess they kind of stuck with me because they reminded me of happier times. They also serve as a reminder to be thankful for what I have. It’s important to remember who I was then and who I am now.”

You let out a breath and closed your eyes as he turned onto the next street, wishing you could thank his mother for raising such an amazing man. “Thank you for sharing that with me.”

His hand covered yours unexpectedly when your eyes opened. “Thank you for asking.”

You turned your wrist so your palm met his, your stomach flipping as he held it a little tighter. Opening up was never easy, even if Andy made it sound effortless. You felt closer to him after hearing that important piece of his history. Even the crackle of electricity felt different this time. Instead of a jolt, it was like a steady hum.

Maybe that closeness was the reason you didn’t want to let go when he parked his car in front of the diner.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

You swallowed as you glanced out the window, the flashing lights from the sign of the beckoning for you to go in. “I just can't believe I'm actually going to quit,” you said, clutching your bag with your other hand. “I mean, I do believe it. I have my resignation letter here and everything.”

“Even when you had that bit of doubt that the contract wouldn't go through, you had your letter ready,” he smiled.

You toyed with the strap of your bag as you tried to hide your smile. “I guess I did.”

Preparation never hurt anyone.

“But if you’d rather hold off until tomorrow, I understand. I can even drive you back here if you want to wait,” he offered.

For a moment, you questioned if you should wait. As you bit your lip to fight your smile more and squeezed Andy’s hand, you made your decision. You signed the contract. You were more than ready.

Most of all, you deserved to start your path to a better future.

“I’m ready,” you assured him, reluctantly releasing his hand before you unbuckled your seatbelt. “Are you going in or did you want to wait here?”

“I’ll grab a coffee while I wait,” he said, stopping you as you reached for your door handle. “Allow me.”

You smiled to yourself as he went around to let you out. “Are you always a gentleman?”

“Not always,” he said without missing a beat, winking as you joined him on the sidewalk.

You licked your lips and gazed into his bright blue eyes. Could he see the want in yours? What would it take to make him lose control?

“I’m looking forward to seeing that side of you, Mr. Barber,” you smiled, brushing past him as he inhaled.

But first things first.

The bell rang as you walked inside and you paused to take it all in. Taking Andy’s earlier story to heart, you wouldn’t allow yourself to forget that this diner was part of your story. It not only led him to you, but also kept you from becoming homeless. It was a blessing.

“Hey,” Casey, one of the veteran servers, nodded to you from behind the counter before she looked over your outfit. She seemed to forget all about you as Andy as he walked in behind you. You didn't blame her. “Hi there. Sit anywhere you’d like.”

Andy put his hand on your lower back before he leaned in, your breath hitching slightly. “Good luck, honey,” he whispered, releasing you as Casey gawked in your direction. “I’ll just have a coffee, please,” he said as he took a seat at the counter.

The usual warmth Andy exuded was down a notch. Still friendly, but different. Or maybe you were just telling yourself that in order to feel special. “Is Sean here?”

“Yep. In the office,” Casey answered, pouring Andy a fresh cup of coffee. “Just got here.”

“I’ll be right back,” you told Andy, feeling his eyes on you as you headed through the employee only doors.

Sean had his head buried in some paperwork as he grumbled to himself. With a deep breath, you knocked on the open door. He didn't speak to you much outside of your shifts and hardly praised you for a job well done, but he wasn't a bad boss. You felt bad disturbing him, but it was now or never.

“Hi. May I come in?” You asked as he looked up.

“Yeah. Don't shut the door though. Lock’s broken,” he said, nodding to the chair in front of his desk. “Didn’t expect to see you today. What are you all dressed up for?”

“Oh, I had a meeting,” you answered, which wasn’t a lie. You did meet with Andy. “That’s actually what I needed to talk to you about.”

“A meeting?” He repeated with a frown. “Don’t tell me you’re quitting.”

Your stomach began to twist in knots. The last thing you wanted to do was disappoint your boss, even if he wouldn’t be that for much longer. Being a waitress also wasn’t your dream job, but it helped you when you needed it.

Now you have to help yourself.

“Yes, I am. I’m putting in my two weeks notice,” you said quietly, taking the letter out of your bag and placing it on the desk when he stared impassively. “I found another opportunity and I’m going to take it, but I’m happy to take any shifts I can over the next two weeks to help.”

Sean didn’t speak for a moment as he drummed his fingers on the desk. “Two weeks? No, that's not gonna work. We’re short as it is,” he said, shoving the paper away before he leaned back in his chair. Was he serious? “You're gonna have to make it four weeks and then we'll revisit after that to see if we need you to stay on longer.”

“No. I'm giving you two weeks,” you reiterated, your tone unwavering. You wouldn’t let Sean bully you into staying longer, even as guilt crept up since the place was short-staffed. “That's standard and I can't do more than that. I'm sorry.”

“Oh, no. I'm still in charge and you'll give me four weeks. That’s final,” he argued, waving his hand dismissively as you shrank a bit in your chair. “Unless you have anything else to add, I’ll see you next shift.”

You clasped your hands in your lap to keep from shaking. You didn't expect him to react this way. “No, that’s not final. I can't give you four weeks,” you said as calmly as possible, even as you began to feel more uncomfortable. “I would if I could, but I can't. I’m sorry.”

“Can't or won't?” Sean asked, almost making you jump as he raised his voice. “Listen here, you've been a solid employee and I'm not going to lose you in two weeks or four weeks. Do you understand? And if you don't show up you can forget about ever getting a good recommendation from me. Might as well kiss that ‘opportunity’ of yours goodbye.”

Your eyes burned as your mind flashed back to when you were told you were laid off from your previous job, the compassionate tone of your old boss the opposite of the man in front of you. The situations were different, but both made you feel so small. Especially since Sean was essentially threatening your future endeavors. You refused to cry though.

He wouldn’t witness your tears.

You cleared your throat and maintained your resolve. “Two weeks, Sean. That’s it. I said I’m willing to work as many shifts as I can over the next two weeks, but I can't do more than that. I won’t,” you firmly spoke as his eyes widened. “I really don't want to end this on a bad note, please.”

He pushed himself to his feet as he thrust a finger toward your face as if it would somehow make him appear intimidating to tower over you. It wouldn’t sway you. “Listen here, you little-”

“Is everything okay?”

Andy’s voice made both of you jump as you spun in your chair. He stood in the doorway but didn’t look your way. He trained his gaze on your boss, his normally bright eyes narrow and cold.

Your boss must’ve felt malice in that stare since he sat down immediately. “Oh. Mr. Barber,” he said. Did he know him as a regular customer or merely recognize his status? “It’s just an issue with an employee. This doesn’t concern you.”

“There is no issue,” you corrected him.

“Actually, she’s with me, so it does concern me,” Andy spoke as he took a step into the office, staring your boss down with a clenched jaw. The space no longer felt like Sean’s. It was as if Andy owned it along with everything in it. “If you want to raise your voice at someone, I’m right here. You won’t speak to her that way though. Do you understand?”

The deep timbre almost knocked the air out of your lungs, your heart pounding from Andy defending you.

Sean coughed a bit as color filled his cheeks. He should be embarrassed. “I didn’t realize she was with you. I wouldn’t have…” he trailed off.

Your blood simmered. He wouldn’t have raised his voice at you if he knew you were with Andy. Was this a taste of what things were going to be like? How people were going to treat you moving forward?

“Who she’s with shouldn’t matter. Not to mention, your customers and employees could hear you since your door was open,” Andy added, disappointment thickly laced in his voice. “You said she was a solid employee. Why would you speak to her like that?”

Sean’s eyes flickered to you as you waited for an answer. “We’ve been short-staffed and I’ve been stressing over it. That’s no excuse. I'm sorry,” he said to Andy, making your blood go from simmering to boiling. A customer, a powerful man, got the apology, but not you. “Won’t happen again.”

“Maybe remind yourself to be kind to the people who work for you before you raise your voice again. They’re the ones who keep your business running,” Andy said.

With a hang of his head, your boss sighed. “Two weeks, huh?” He asked, the wind completely out of his sails as you nodded. “Okay. Two weeks it is.”

“Thanks,” you whispered before Andy walked over and held out his hand to help you to your feet. Luckily, you didn’t tremble as you took it and gave it a small squeeze. It was nice that he was on your side.

“And one more thing?” Andy added as Sean glanced up. “I’m not the one you should apologize to.”

You held up your other hand when Sean looked your way and opened his mouth. “No. The only reason you’re going to say you’re sorry is because he’s here,” you stated, looking at Andy momentarily. He responded with an encouraging smile. “And I don’t want an empty apology. You can keep it.”

It was nice that Andy wanted an apology on your behalf, but it wouldn't feel believable.

Sean’s face fell, but he didn’t argue. Up until today, he treated you decently. The pressures of running a business were tough, but he had no reason to take it out on you. At the same time, you felt bad for him.

“But thank you, Sean. You gave me a job when I needed one and I won’t forget that,” you added gently. “I’ll see you next shift.”

“Why don't I meet you outside? I just want one more quick word with your boss,” Andy said as Sean audibly swallowed.

Uh-oh.

“Sure,” you said, the knots in your gut unraveling as you left the two of them alone.

You exhaled as you walked back into the dining area, avoiding the gazes from a few of the customers. Your hand shook as you gave Casey a small wave. At least she didn’t look upset with you.

“Quitting, huh? Lucky duck,” she smiled sadly. “You okay? He had no right speaking to you like that.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you nodded, taking another breath. You didn't like anyone raising their voice at you, but you wouldn't allow yourself to dwell on it and didn’t need her to worry. All you could do was make the transition as smooth as possible over the next two weeks. “Didn't expect that kind of reaction. Didn’t expect anyone out here to hear it.”

“Sean’s voice carries and he’s probably just pissed that he’s losing another good one while he’s stuck here,” she guessed, glancing over her shoulder before she added in a whisper, “Oh, and that guy you’re with? He looked furious when he heard him.”

“He did?” You asked, an almost goofy smile appearing on your face.

“Yeah, he did. He had fire in his eyes. Put a bill down, got to his feet, and immediately walked back there. And I wasn’t about to stop him,” she said, her smile widening as she leaned on the counter. “I’d say he’s smitten.”

Your heart skipped a beat. First Estelle, now Casey. Though the latter had no clue about the arrangement. “He’s really something, isn't he?”

“Oh, yeah,” Casey said, straightening up when the employee door swung open.

Andy’s eyes landed on you as he walked through, his eyes soft again as he held out his hand. He also looked pleased with himself. “Ready?”

“Ready,” you said, taking it as you gave Casey a nod. “I’ll see you soon. Hope the rest of your shift is okay.”

“Me, too. See ya,” she said before she went back to assisting other customers.

“You okay?” Andy asked softly as he led you outside.

“I’m fine,” you promised, not wanting him to worry either or get upset. “But what did you say to Sean?”

“Nothing for you to worry about,” he answered, shaking his head. “Listen, I’m sorry if I overstepped by intervening. I just couldn’t let him talk to you like that.”

He easily deflected your question and you decided to let him have that victory for now.

You went in for a hug but kept space for him to breathe. He wrapped his arms tightly around you before you could pull away, your body melting into his. The bustling city around you faded as you focused on the warmth of his firm body. It made you forget all about Sean’s reaction.

“I’m glad you did,” you said, stepping back with a tiny smile. It meant the world that he defended you. “I tried to hold my own.”

“You did. You could've snapped back or walked out, but you didn't. That’s commendable and powerful,” he assured you, his gaze serious. “But I don't care if it’s your boss or a stranger or your best friend, I’m not about to let someone take their frustrations out on you.”

Warmth settled in your chest. You learned something else about Andy today: He truly wouldn't tolerate anyone disrespecting you. He continued to prove that he was a man of his word.

You also experienced firsthand how things worked in his world, how people would bend toward his will. If it was a test, you wouldn’t say you failed since you stood up for yourself. It wouldn’t always be that easy. Whether someone questioned your motives or place with Andy or not, you had to learn to grow a thick skin. Not just for your own benefit, but Andy’s, too.

He needed someone strong by his side.

“Thank you, Andy.”

“And, listen, if you don’t want to work those shifts or if he gives you a hard time-”

“I’ll be fine,” you promised. You doubted Sean would make it a hostile work environment, but you could handle it if there were any issues. “But I think I’d like to go home now.”

Andy blinked and gave you a single nod. “Sure. If that’s what you want.”

Is he disappointed at the thought of me ending the day right now?

You smiled as you tugged him in the direction of his car. “I’d also like you to see my place,” you said, his eyebrows shooting up. It surprised you that you offered, too. “It isn't much, but it’s comfortable. Maybe we can order takeout?”

It wasn’t exactly the ideal way to celebrate, but he shared a piece of himself on the drive over. The least you could do was let him see your apartment. And who knew where the evening would take you?

“Only if you’ll let me pay,” he smiled.

“You're not going to let me pay for anything, are you?” You smiled back.

“Not if I can help it,” he replied, opening the car door. “Let's get you home, honey.”

We all need a man like Andy. And what's going to happen at the apartment? Love and thanks for reading! ❤️

Masterlist ⚓ Andy Barber Masterlist ⚓ Ko-Fi

#navybrat writes #andy barber x reader #andy barber x female reader #andy barber x female!reader #andy barber x you #andy barber x y/n #andy barber x fem!reader #andy barber x f!reader #andy barber #sugar daddy!andy barber #sugar daddy!andy barber x reader #terms and conditions au #sugar daddy au #andy barber fanfiction #andy barber imagine #andy barber au #andy barber fic #chris evans #chris evans characters #chris evans x reader #chris evans x female reader #chris evans x you

[dlartistanon]

I want to share some interesting discussion about Arturia (and Executor by extension), including some discussion about neurodivergency--a lot of this informs their characters and actions and shines better light on how it can reflect real life.

Also, here's her prequel comic which gives more context

The outcomes of her actions are not often good, but she's definitely not supposed to be evil/malicious/sadistic. She is ideologically driven and, because of her morality axis being different from most, genuinely believes what she's doing is good/correct. She has reason for what she does, such as being opposed to Laterano's limited empathy and discrimination, and what happened in her childhood.

It can be read as a commentary on how the vast majority would rather remain sheep to survive, then be true and (possibly) die.

Her motivation can be summed up as: she wants people to stop repressing themselves. Which theoretically sounds good on paper, but obviously impractical in practice. Sometimes honesty isn't the best policy.

Kriede's fate, his death, was out of his own real volition. What resulted in him wanting to save Ebenholz.

It's unconfirmed, but she may be a victim to her own Arts. She has no inhibitions about removing other people's inhibitions. Or she gaslights herself/disassociates when it comes to her mother's death. She was probably traumatized, but underreacted. To her, Mom dying and using her Arts on her mom are two separate things that have no causation.

She does not regret using her Arts on her mother. She does regret being unable to have helped her mother go further to achieve her dream before she died. Arturia considers it her own failure that Mom died before she reached self-actualization. At the core of it all, Arturia wants to see more people be like her mother, willing to act on what they truly want.

People's despair are all worthy of being addressed and felt and released. That's extremely relevant to her worldview. It's what separates humans from animals acting on instinct. Arturia doesn't care for the Seaborn and thinks they are beneath notice. They are Nothing to her. You can be Good or Evil, but you must be human. Have human desires, because animalistic desire is boring. Human irrationality is what makes them beautiful to her.

People who say that Arturia caused everything to happen in Hortus de Escapismo ignore the fact that the overall situation had been deteriorating long before she set foot there. If anything, she may have just sped up the process of things that were going to happen anyway. Which is not the same as causing it. Looking at it from the perspective of the people living at the monastery, it's reasonable that there would be depressing thoughts floating around everywhere. But the Abbot tells Arturia that her music soothes the pain.

Laterano's response to the situation did nothing to alleviate the actual problem, the material conditions (ie no food). If Arturia's abilities worked the way some people think they do, everyone at the monastery would've been dead in a week or less.

If you're debating jumping off a cliff, then she isn't going to make you jump, nor will she influence you to jump. If someone is worried about Arturia's Arts affecting them, causing them to do bad things they otherwise wouldn't have, because of intrusive thoughts, then they shouldn't even be concerned. Because Arturia is not interested in that. Acting on intrusive thoughts is not what she looks for. It's more akin to helping someone dive deep into their subconscious to face the thing(s) they refuse to face. Some people choose to take this back up with them to the surface. People who contemplate doing bad things for brief moments normally don't have those kinds of thoughts sitting deep within their psyche to drag up.

Arturia obviously needs therapy, but the most important thing to her is whether you have the conviction to act on your desires. Let go and embrace how you truly feel. The extremities of pain and despair (and perhaps even happiness) are among what she values. A very complicated individual.

#dltext #arturia giallo #at worst she's an irresponsible driving instructor and would certainly not be licensed #not the most upstanding person since people have died; but she means well :) #after all; what's so bad about people realizing their potential? #(rhetorical question) #there's a difference between removing restraints/indecision for someone to properly make a choice #and being the person making the choice #someone compared her arts to anti-depression medication; while they don't cause sui/cide #they make your brain functional enough to go through with it; if you really want to #but to write off meds entirely bc of an unfortunate side effect is unreasonable #arknights

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for sort of lying to my parents about why my pillow smells like cigarettes?

🚬🍝 so i can recognize

To start things off: No, i'm not the one smoking.

About less than two weeks ago, my parents went to this fancy Salsa concert in another city, it was an event that had alcohol, parties, a lot of that adult things that made it impossible for them to bring me. I (16, trans male) wasn't interested in going either, so they decided to let my (28-30, i don't remember, F) sister take care off me just for the week. Now, mom is already distrusting of my sister mainly because they had many fights before and she didn't want to leave her precious daughter in the care of someone like Kate (fake name). She only agreed because there was no other option.

Kate dropped college twice, lives alone in a small apartment she doesn't pay for (mom does), and smokes cigarettes, barely has any money on her own and stole money from Grandma's wallet to buy more cigarettes. She has had like 2 part time jobs before, one was working as a cashier at a market and the other one was working in one of her friend's restaurant selling Mexican food (we're not Mexican, but still Latinos, just not from there). But she left them shortly after. These aren't ALL the reasons mom dislikes Kate.

I didn't mind having Kate take care of me, but mom made it clear that i MUST come over to Kate's apartment to sleep every night, because she didn't want me to sleep alone at our own apartment.

For the first night it was okay, we left pretty late so by the time we arrived to Kate's apartment all i wanted to do was sleep. Kate told me to do that and meanwhile she'll be outside the bedroom having a cigarette, I didn't care.

Now to cut some things, Kate and I decided to let me sleep at my own apartment and instead she'd just come to my house to cook Lunch and Dinner, and then at night she'd go back. So for a week straight we'd be having lunch at like 4pm and dinner at 9pm or something.

We lied to our parents about it because in Kate's words if mom ever found out she'd just straight up become Kate's enemy. But honestly mom already got problems with my sister anyway.

My whole life she'd be going around, mad and disappointed at how Kate's life is just going nowhere, in her own words, she just lost faith. Instead that faith got placed on me, but that's something for my therapist to hear about (I don't have one).

Anyway, I left my pillow and some small inflatable bed at my sister's house. Days after my parents arrived Kate gave me my pillow, and that shit smelled like cigarettes. So i assume Kate just went crazy near my pillows because i wasn't staying with her anyway. Same thing for the inflatable bed, the whole thing just smelled like cigarettes, it was unbearable.

Mom started questioning me about it because she feared my sister would've start smoking right besides me and therefore second hand smoking.

I remember the lie we promised, so i just nodded.

So now mom believes Kate just doesn't care and smokes right besides her little sister. Their relationship is already bad but i think i just added a new layer.

I feel like i'm TA because the second hand smoking thing didn't happen, the only time Kate smoked near me she left the room and smoke in the kitchen instead (i know it cause the next morning i wanted to check if there was something in the fridge. There was nothing, just rotten fruit). But i also just didn't want Kate to be in a much worse problem by telling mom about our little plan, but this outcome wasn't good either, it was like she was doomed from the start.

AITA for keeping the lie? Should I just be honest about it now? The bed and pillow still smell like cigarettes and it's been days.

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[f1letters]

bigger than the whole sky | ms47

"i'm never gonna meet what could've been, would've been what should've been you"

summary: guilt consumed her alive when she lost the baby she initially didn't plan on having... maybe the outcome could've been better if she did something different, she thought

warning: very heavy and very sad story, angst, heartbreak, swearing, mentions of a panic attack, grief, death, mention of unplanned pregnancy, miscarriage, brief mention of blood, loss of a child, mention of the hypothetical future that the baby would have had, happy-ish ending

pairing: mick schumacher x reader

word count: 2.9k

note: everything in bold are song references and in italic are thoughts, which includes memories from the past. I would also like to point out that this one has to be the hardest story I have written so far as it is very personal to me. I've thought a lot about NOT posting it over the past few days, exactly because of these heavy topics. but I think this needs to be spoken about a lot more than it is, especially with how many women/people with reproductive systems suffer from miscarriages in silence. please read the warnings before reading!

german words used: liebling = darling; schatz = sweetheart; mama = mom

on a less sad note, I think everybody knows how much I love mick, I hope we still get to see him next year (please papa toto, rescue my man!!!)and that he gets another chance in the 2024 grid. with this being said, I hope you enjoy this one and have your tissues with you!

masterlist

No words appear before me in the aftermath

Salt streams out my eyes and into my ears

Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness

'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea

Many say that grief is the price of love.

That grief is just a form of love; a love that can't be given anymore to someone we could hug and kiss and see before they were gone.

That grief is the result of a space that is left empty in our lives after someone physically loses strength and lets their soul rest.

But as much as we are prepared from childhood to grieve for someone we had time to love, nothing prepares us for the heart-wrenching experience of losing someone we didn't even have a chance to know and cherish.

Such suffering, pain and anguish seemed impossible to fit in Y/N's small and fragile heart, as she tried to accept the aftermath of the loss of her baby.

She stood there, stuck in time, just thinking of everything she could have done differently. Searching for an explanation for why life had played such a cruel trick on her. Wondering why. 

Why me? Why with us? Why them?

As the young woman lay on her back in the middle of her big white bed in search of answers, the only sound that echoed between those four walls was her painful sobs as salt streamed out of her eyes and into her ears.

That same sound was her only company, as her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen.

She couldn't blame him though. She knew that his absence in the room they shared was due to her own cold and distant attitude towards him over these last few days.

But she just couldn't face him.

Looking into his eyes would only make her realize that they mirrored the exact same pain in hers.

And as selfish as it sounded, she wasn't ready to face his loss when she could barely accept her own.

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

You were bigger than the whole sky

You were more than just a short time

And I've got a lot to pine about

I've got a lot to live without

She didn't want to see him or talk to him. Even during the night, Y/N found herself escaping to the uncomfortable couch in the living room to avoid sleeping next to Mick, almost as if she was too afraid to touch him and thereby infect him with her sadness.

Everything for her suddenly changed, and she couldn't wrap her head around how a being so fragile and so precious that never even had a chance to live could be the only meaningful thing in her life at that moment.

'Pregnant 1-2'

Leaning against the cold tiles of her bathroom, sitting on the marble floor, the young woman tried to calm her uncontrolled and panting breathing.

It couldn't be. This couldn't be happening to her.

Her eyes read over and over again the small letters on the digital display of the pregnancy test in her hands. Almost as if she expected that at any moment they would change and that she would wake up from the nightmare she saw herself in.

Her head was all over the place. She couldn't have a child now. She was in her early 20s, she had only been with her boyfriend for a little over a year, and he was just starting his second year in Formula 1.

Not that she doubted her love for Mick or his for her. If there was one certainty she had in the world, it was that he was the love of her life, even if their relationship was fairly recent.

But they never even spoke about having children in the long run, let alone already. She hardly saw him herself most of the year. How would she be able to take care of a baby in those conditions?

The pressure was building in her lungs and her vision was beginning to blur as the girl panicked more and more, until she was awakened by the sound of someone knocking on the bathroom door.

"Schatz, are you okay? You've been there for over thirty minutes." She heard the driver's concerned voice on the other side of the door. "I'm getting worried, can I come in?"

From inside the bathroom, Mick got no response and only heard the cries of his partner who had finally given in. Without thinking twice, he opened the door and went down to her level, kneeling on the floor in front of the girl.

"Liebling, what's wrong? Talk to me." He brought both his hands up to the sides of her jaw, leaving soft caresses with his thumbs until her gaze met his.

"I'm sorry, Mick. I'm so fucking sorry." Y/N replied, shaking her head in denial while crying uncontrollably.

The boy was only more confused by his girlfriend's apologies, but when he looked down at her lap and saw the blue stick, he immediately realized what was happening and his arms dropped to his sides in shock.

"Fuck. Y- You- Are you pregnant?" He asked, shaking with nerves. He leaned against the wall on her side as well, letting his head relax against the tiles. 

His hand went to Y/N's thigh in an attempt to comfort her and after a few minutes to assimilate everything that was happening, he spoke again. "Okay. Okay. We're going to be fine. Don't worry, we'll handle this together. I have more than enough money to support the three of us and-"

"Mick, stop." The young woman replied, with some aggression in her tone. "I can't have a baby right now. This is insane."

Remembering that day now brought only heartache and pain, because it was all over now, all out to sea.

I'm never gonna meet

What could've been, would've been

What should've been you

What could've been, would've been you

"Y/N, I know you're nervous. I am too, but I know that together we can do this." Mick confessed, grabbing both of the girl's hands and looking at her with the most loving gaze she had ever seen on anyone.

"I barely know your family, you don't even know my parents." She continued with her rambling. "I spend 99 per cent of the year alone in this house while you are God knows where around the world."

"I'll quit." Y/N's heart skipped a beat at the boy's suggestion. "You are worth more than any sport and any dream. You are my dream, both of you are. I want nothing more than to grow old with you and have a family together, so I'll quit in a heartbeat if I have to."

"I would never let you give up on your dreams, Schumacher, and you know it." Y/N felt her body relax for the first time in hours, letting her back lay against her boyfriend's chest, his hands resting on her stomach. "Are we completely crazy for even considering this?"

And for a short time, they were indeed crazy. Crazy for each other and for the future they envisioned for the three of them.

Even without seeing them or touching them, their baby filled their hearts so intensely, with a love they never knew before, that they grew in size with that insane amount of adoration.

Only to be broken into bigger pieces.

Did some bird flap its wings over in Asia?

Did some force take you bеcause I didn't pray?

Every single thing to come has turned into ashes

'Cause it's all over, it's not meant to be

So I'll say words I don't believe

For a few more weeks, the couple lived inside their dream bubble, filled with so much happiness and excitement for their future. Although no one else knew about Y/N's pregnancy yet, everyone noticed how much they glowed, more in love than ever.

Until Mick had to come back to the real world and had to travel to the United States for a race, leaving his girlfriend alone again in their home in Switzerland.

The young woman couldn't explain why she felt so apprehensive and so scared at the idea of being alone. It was not the first time this happened, but inexplicably her sixth sense was already on high alert as she held the German much longer than usual at the airport, as if she was too afraid to let him go.

Two completely normal days passed after the driver left: he called her every day when he woke up, at lunchtime, and when he went to sleep, in an attempt to make her feel less lonely.

But on the third day, she didn't answer him.

He didn't think anything special of it, thinking she was probably busy with something at work, so he went about his morning as if nothing had happened. Hours went by as he was dealing with his media duties, until, on his lunch break, he picked up his phone again and his world seemed to come crashing down in a single instant.

'15 missed calls from Schatz'

'9 missed calls from Gina'

'7 missed calls from Mama'

Alone at home and with no family living in Switzerland, Y/N found herself in complete despair when she saw blood running down her legs. She knew right away what it was, even though her brain begged for another possible reason.

The girl silently prayed for the better as she searched through the kitchen drawers for the paper where she knew her boyfriend's mother, Corinna's number was written.

Y/N simply couldn't face this all by herself.

Although they only met a couple of times before that day, the young woman couldn't be more grateful to have had the Schumacher family's matriarch by her side, to hold her hand and to wipe her tears away as the doctors told her the worst news she would ever hear in her entire life.

"I'm sorry miss, but I'm afraid your baby no longer has a heartbeat."

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

You were bigger than the whole sky

You were more than just a short time

And I've got a lot to pine about

I've got a lot to live without

Those words just turned every single thing to come into ashes.

And she couldn't help but feel guilty.

Maybe she had done something she shouldn't have done. Eaten something she couldn't. Made physical efforts that she could not.

Maybe she should have prayed for the baby. She should have accepted the pregnancy sooner. She shouldn't have doubted their ability to have that child.

She was looking for something: an answer, an explanation, a reason.

And although her head knew it wasn't logical, she blamed him too.

Maybe if Mick were here. If he hadn't travelled to the other end of the world. If only he hadn't left her in that house without help and company.

She needed him more than ever, but at the same time, all the distance between them didn't seem enough for Y/N.

The wooden door to their room opened unexpectedly, making the girl turn her back to Mick to prevent him from seeing her tears.

He slowly approached her figure and she felt the mattress lower next to her as he sat up and placed his hand on her bare shoulder.

"Please, I beg you. Talk to me." Y/N heard his voice shake, and it became clear that he was crying too. "I can't take this silence anymore. I'm suffering too, you know?"

She knew she was being unfair to him. After all, he too had lost his child, his future, a part of him, even if he wasn't the one to physically carry it.

She was a childless mother, but he too was a childless father.

I'm never gonna meet

What could've been, would've been

What should've been you

The truth is, she didn't believe the words she was saying in her head.

Mick was the most supportive person she knew. He made a point of asking her over and over again if she was okay, if she needed anything, if she wanted to talk.

But it wasn't until she was forced to face her partner's sadness that she realized that blaming him wasn't going to mend the hole in her heart.

He was the only one who could ease her pain if she let him in.

The girl turned to the boy, finding his back trembling with the sobs he let out. She hugged him from behind, feeling his body relax against hers with the physical contact he desired so much. 

Mick lay down next to her on the bed, pulling her as close to him as possible, and they stayed there for hours, in comfortable silence, while they both mourned their loss in each other's arms.

"I'm so sorry, baby." Y/N broke the silence. "I was trying so hard to find a reason for all of this that I ended up blaming myself, blaming you. It was unfair, and I'm so fucking sorry. I shouldn't have ever done that."

"It wasn't anyone's fault, liebling." Mick whispered with his lips brushing against her forehead. "It just wasn't meant to be."

Y/N looked up at the driver, meeting his sad gaze, and the two let the tips of their noses touch.

The two lovers' lips met again after days apart and, even if only for a moment, they both felt whole again.

What could've been, would've been you

What could've been, would've been

What should've been you

What could've been, would've been you

Nothing hurts like an unexpected goodbye, but they both knew they would carry their baby forever in their hearts, even if they hadn't been able to carry them in their arms.

They were never going to be able to see the baby say their first words and take their first steps.

They were never going to have the opportunity to see their child go to school for the first time, or attend their graduation.

They were never going to be able to comfort them when they had their first heartbreak, or tease them when they had their first crush.

But even though they knew their baby was more than just a short time, they knew the mark they left on them was permanent.

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

You were bigger than the whole sky

You were more than just a short time

And I've got a lot to pine about

I've got a lot to live without

Two years later, the couple couldn't be in a better place, even though their loss would never fully heal.

Y/N had just won a promotion at work, allowing her to reach the position she always dreamed of holding at the company she worked for.

Mick had returned to the Formula 1 grid after two troubled years in his career and now wore the four Audi rings on his polo shirt with the greatest of pride, alongside his longtime friend and returning champion, Sebastian.

But most of all, the incomprehensible sounds that came out of their rainbow baby's mouth were what made them the happiest they have ever been.

Their newborn baby girl filled their hearts with renewed hope and unlimited love, bringing back colour in a world that was previously only black and white.

I'm never gonna meet

What could've been, would've been

What should've been you

taglist: @dan3avacado @starxqt @roseinnej @spiidergirlsworld @ccloaned @hotpigeon22 @dr3lover @lovelytsunoda @primadonnasdream @luxebeautystyle @wallfloweriism @ilivefortheleague @gwynethhberdara @satellitelh @adavenus @audreyscodes @wifeoflucyboynton @th6ccnsp6cyy @classifiedsblog @flyingmushroomss @motylekrozi @claramllera @gabrielamaex @handsupforamiracle @pierre-gasssllyy @lorenaloveslewis

@idkiwantchocolatee @simpforsunwoo @kissatelier @xweirdxsceletton @micksmidnights @miniminescapist @inchidentwithmax @hopelesslyromantics-world @alwaysclassyeagle @indieclarke @capela-miranda @okokoksblog @pulpfixion @sins-only33 @sainzclerc @allisonxf1 @honethatty12 @amsofftrack @flannel-cures @junkiespromise @loudoperahumanoidpanda @honeyric3 @holy-macncheese-balls @ricciardosheart @pierreverstapkin

@ravenqueen27 @majkaftorek @home-of-disaster @buendiabebeta @itgirlofnowhere @roses-of-eden @thewintersunset @rubychocolatechips

(taglist continues in the comments)

thank you to everyone that asked to be tagged! please let me know if you want to be added to the next stories! 💌

#f1 imagine #f1 fanfic #f1 fanfiction #formula 1 imagine #f1 one shot #mick schumacher imagine #mick schumacher x reader #mick schumacher #ms47 #f1letters #f1 x reader #f1 x taylor swift #f1 x midnights #Spotify #mick schumacher one shot #formula 1 one shot #mick schumacher angst #mick schumacher fluff #ms47 x reader #mick schumacher fic #f1 fic

[pinksatinsashes]

The end of the year is the best time of year for us self improvement obsessed girlies because the planners are out, everyone's making vision boards and its finally time to write a nice long list of New Years Resolutions and achieve precisely nothing! Nothing!

Then the end of that year comes and we start the cycle again, making lists, checking them twice, achieving absolutely nothing, staying exactly the same and sometimes worse! How exciting! :)

When I was 16 I thought I'd have my life together at 18...lol! When I was 18 I figured I'd be totally together when I was 20. I'm 20 now...I think I've genuinely gotten worse.

But this year I am determined! I have said absolutely no more, absolutely no way is another year going to pass me by and I'm going to be stuck here in the exact same place. I NEED change.

Your 20's are meant to be the 'best years of your life'!

This is probably the easiest I'm ever going to have it! I have no children, no husband and I don't pay rent yet, if I don't do it now I will never do it..I don't want this to be my life forever.

Want to know how I'm going to make this year my year? Keep reading.

About two weeks ago I coined 2024 as the year of the Glow Up and started to meticulously plan out exactly what I wanted out of it.

My main goals for 2024 are:

To Hit My Goal Weight.

To Save Up Enough Money to Move to London.

To Be 75% of my Dream Girl

There are tons of other things I want to achieve of course, but If I don't achieve those three 2024 would genuinely have been a waste of time for me.

Now a couple years ago I would've just written those two goals down, put them on a vision board and went about my business...but Oh No, not this time.

I had a nice long think about the person I wanted to be at the end of 2024, financially stable, clear skin, goal weight, ready to move in spring 2025, closer to God, found her signature scent.

Each of these goals had a wider theme:

Routine

Fitness and Body

Food

Skincare and Hygiene

Beauty & Makeup

Hair

Clothes

God

Books & Brains

Music

Budget

I fired up Notion, created a home page that had a sub page for every month and then finally I created the Overall page, which has a sub page for every Goal Category and then I broke down each goal into lots of SMART goals. (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-Based)

So my 'get down to my goal weight' goal became:

Fitness and Body:

[ ] Size 10 clothes or under and 140 lbs (I'm 5'9 with naturally big boobs so this is my ideal weight)

[ ] Hour Glass Figure, building up glutes and upper body

[ ] Maintain Goal Weight for at least 3 months

[ ] Able to Stair Machine for 10 minutes

[ ] Able to go on a full Run

[ ] Do at least one form of Excerise a day

[ ] At least one form of Excerise a day

[ ] Take the Dog on Daily Walks

Food:

[ ] Try 12 New Recipes

[ ] Learn How To Cook 4 Different Nigerian Recipes

[ ] Form Consistent Eating Routines

[ ] Eat out twice a month or less

[ ] Stay in a Caloric deficit until I reach my Goal Weight

See how much more specific this is?

Having my goals listed like this makes everything so much easier because I'm tackling multiple things at once. First I'm changing the majority of my goals to habits or tasks (things I can control) from outcomes (things I may not be able to control).

Now I know that if I do all of these things written out, staying in a caloric deficit and excising daily there's a 90% chance I'll reach my goal.

This is much more effective than writing an outcome with no plan on how to achieve it.

From here, I'll break the Goal Down Even Further, into monthly goals.

For example, to reach the goal weight Goal by the end of December, January may look like this:

Eat at 1500 calories a day or 10,500 calories a week (to allow for the high calorie company lunches I often attend as part of my work, I'll simply eat less on the other days

Go to the gym 4 times week,

Complete X Fitness plan

Go on one Dog walk a week

Meal Prep ever week.

Lose 10lbs

To Save enough Money to Move to London by the end of the year, January might look like this:

Prep for no Spend Months in Feb and March (stock up on skincare, budywash etc)

Meal plan every week

Sell £200 worth of clothes on Vinted to spend on Spring Wardrobe (I'm not buying any clothes unless I use the money I get from selling my current clothes)

Stick to Budget

My Goal to get Smarter and Stop Mindless Scrolling may look like this in January:

Read at least 1 book

Listen to 4 Podcast Episodes

Limit Social Media use to 1 hour a day

Write 6 Blog Posts

Watch one Documentary

Setting the tasks in this way also allows me to feel a sense of achievement, every month I'm able to tick off my goals which can increase my motivation, instead of writing down a list of things to do and forgetting about it until the end of the year. It also allows me to recognise when I'm going off track faster and adjust for the next month.

You see how this is better?

I was strategic in using notion because I knew that I could then use it not only to set out my goals, but as a home base, a setting point to house all the things I could use to achieve them.

Under each section I've also included a bunch of things to help me, the Food section for example has a list of my go to recipes, so that when I can't think of anything to eat and want to run over to the closest KFC I have something to choose from. The Hair section has a list of hairstyles I've done and the Pro's and Cons, the Skincare section has a list of the products I've tried, if I liked them and If they worked for me.

Each month has its own page with a section for each wider goal and a spot for me to have a monthly write up, detailing what works and what didn't work so I can change and approve the following month and prevent falling behind.

I'm determined to make this year my year so let me know if you'd like me to keep you updated, feel free to ask any questions or send them to my asks. Also let me know if you want my notion template, here's a little peak-

Till we speak again!

-hannah🤍

#level up mindset #hannahlovesyou #level up #hypergamy #black femininity #black hypergamy #hypergamous #black women in luxury #glow up #new year #new years resolution #new year new me #dreamgirl #dream girl #lovehannah

[loveislandthegame]

my overall thoughts on season 7, writing edition: what in the world ? 😭 i cannot believe i thought this season was gonna be good. i’ll be joining rohan & S2 MC in the circus, since FB made me look like a damn clown. i don't even know where to begin

being a casa girl had so much potential, and it was something that a lot of players actually wanted, even before FB started doing these themed seasons. they really fumbled the bag here

i enjoyed casa amor. the guys were all unique, had their own dialogue, and it was cool to see their pre-established relationships (alex being the villa dad, bryson and rafa being partners in chaos, the beef between bryson & joyo) then we arrived in the villa, and it all went downhill from there:

everybody became an empty husk, so they could be forced into interchangeable roles: uma’s partner, bonnie’s partner, OG LI’s ex, loved up couple (summer/joyo or #rafne) to name a few. FB’s lazy asses ruined their own characters . why is alex, the supposed level-headed & mature one, being petty & childish af in my playthrough? 😭

MC literally had no thoughts, head empty. we barely participated in any of the challenges and games. it felt like we didn't do anything besides "get pulled for a chat" by your LI or the girls

the LI personality merge in this season was the worst it has ever been. all they do is agree with whatever you say, or tell you how great you are (gone are the days of LIs having their own interests, & getting extra dialogue because of that, like levi with artist MCs)

same problem as the most recent seasons, where MC doesn’t have friendships. she has a forced bestie, then potential LIs that sit around waiting for you to pick them, choose them, love them (they immediately disappear if you don’t pick them)

the plot made no sense at all. being a casa girl means we miss out on the first half of the season, but there were many different ways they could've shown what happened before we arrived (it couldve been something as simple as MC watching the show at home or during the jeep ride to the villa. lol) the timeline was inconsistent, so much important information was paywalled, and i’m pretty sure FB was just making shit up as they went along, since the drama with stephen and OG LI's ex genuinely came out of nowhere . he wasn’t previously mentioned in the beach hut, casa amor, nothing . his only purpose was to make the OG girl look bad.

speaking of the OG girls, what a disappointment . before we got to the villa, i honestly thought they were hinting at estelle and/or willow being LIs . even if they were forced to be our rival, they still could’ve had an interesting character arc . it would've been a lot more fun if she was like allegra, rather than OG LI's equivalent of suresh

i was gonna write, "why tf did she even make it to the finale?" but the answer is obvious : for the gem scenes. every damn volume, it's pay diamonds to upstage her, pay diamonds to clapback, pay diamonds so “your man” doesn't turn his head 🙄 it's already stupid enough, but it makes even less sense if you're not pursuing your OG LI

which leads me to the biggest problem of this season, the lack of branching. you're given the illusion of choice, everything leads to the same outcome . i didn't think it could get any worse, until i saw what happens when you choose the money . does your LI storm off? nope. they make you do the treasure hunt anyways...to win you back ??😭 MC should've called security on their ass

s7 had a promising start but ended up being a flop. it was better than s5, but that's really not saying much . i wish FB would just take their time��s1 and 2 had a whole year long gap between them. but it's clear that rushed seasons are gonna be the norm, season 8 is dropping in february . capitalism ruins everything luv x

#making a separate post about the art for the sake of my own eyes...i really hate making long posts #love island the game #litg #litg season 7 #litg s7 #litg spoilers

[chr0macide]

guess what fellas. I finished the oc. finally.

Magdalena Mercer

Or Lena for short. But she gets mildly annoyed when people call her that, especially if she doesn't know them.

She has a tragedy mask instead of a comedy mask. I headcanon that the people who had always worked for Mary had roses on their masks and the ones who originally worked for Larry had theirs blank, so Magdalena has roses on hers.

Pretty short, about 5 feet tall. Her bad posture makes her look even shorter.

Constant thousand-yard stare. She emotes only when the emotion is strong enough (i.e. not often, kinda dead inside), and there would be an immediate jarring change in her facial expression.

Hair covers left side of her face. Definitely not just because I don't want to draw the roses all the time 🤫 but I drew her headshots without that so you can see what her entire face looks like.

Left eye doesn't open all the way. The eye is fine, just the eyelid doesn't work properly

Sallow skin, bloodshot eyes, skinny to the point of looking unhealthy, always shivering for a reason that I am gonna explain

She would be in her 20s as of the first Break In game. She went to Purge University, but not at the same time as the Scarys of course because she would've been too young

Ok now for her backstory

Magdalena was a student at Purge University who double majored in mechanical engineering and biotechnology. She made no friends because she actively distanced herself from everyone. She was destitute, so she took out a loan from the mafia to pay tuition as no banks in the city were willing to lend her the amount she needed. She was ultimately unable to repay the money soon enough and ended up working for the mafia to pay it off. It's possible that they sabotaged her career to ensure such an outcome.

Anyhow. Mary was the one in charge of her, and Magdalena was highly skilled in the engineering field, so she eventually became one of Mary's chief assistants. As such, they worked together closely, but the relationship was extremely businesslike since Magdalena wasn't much more than an indentured servant. If you asked one of them about the other, they'd say they know each other but neither of them would have claimed they were friends. As for her fellow mafiosos, she was on neutral terms with most of them. Some of them might have liked to antagonize her or kick her around since her demeanor is utterly pathetic, but Magdalena is the highly observant type and knew when some bullshit was about to go down. She would always just leave the area when it was about to start. One person who she was on relatively good terms with was the Brute Villain (who I gave the fanon name Markus so I don't have to keep typing out Brute Villain. And I'm gonna act like he survived Break In 2 since he doesn't fall into literal pieces like the other minions when you defeat them). Markus hated being annoyed, so he preferred her company because she was quiet and unobtrusive. The number of times she talked to him without being spoken to first could probably be counted on one hand, but Magdalena liked to hang around Markus because other mobsters were much less likely to start shit when he was there. Mutually beneficial relationship. Plus, neither of them liked Mary that much. Markus worked for Larry before he was defeated and he was a little bit iffy about the new boss.

Magdalena was one of the personnel involved in Mary's experiments on Larry. For the record, Magdalena never liked working for the mafia, and she liked it even less whenever Mary assigned her to work on one of her experiments (which was all the fucking time). Not that Larry would give a shit about that if he ever got his hands on Magdalena. And she dresses like she raided Spirit Halloween's steampunk isle during the last purge, so he would definitely recognize her if he ever ran into her post-Break In 2. Anyway. When the players defeated the final boss at the end of Break In 2, Magdalena and Markus took advantage of the chaos to escape the base. Markus thought he might be able to ally with his old boss. Magdalena wanted to break away from the mafia entirely, but she didn't tell him that. However, Magdalena ran away when they were cut off by a group of Mary's loyalists, and Markus followed her into a storage room where some wind-up key prototypes were being kept, kind of like the small ones that Larry kept in his mansion (I remember they exist because of one of junkzinterlude’s posts lol). These ones hadn't been tested before--at least not on humans--but Magdalena urged Markus to use one on her anyway as she was worried about getting killed by the other mobsters that were after them, so he did. He did not want a key used on himself, and she didn't ask him if he did either.

They both confronted the other mobsters, but Markus knew Magdalena was useless in a fight and was also skeptical about how strong an effect the key was going to have on her, so he told her to flee the base without him. Joke was on him though since she was about to do that anyway lol bye Markus. She didn't see what happened to him, but I will tell you he fucked those mobsters up and escaped the base as well. He and Magdalena haven't managed to reunite, though (at least not yet).

Magdalena hid in the woods surrounding the base, and now she had a suspicious untested key in her back. Well, turns out this particular type of key functioned more like a parasite. Either that or she just didn't have the physical toughness to handle the effects. She was always frail and kind of sickly. The strength boost only lasted about a day, and after that she was even feebler than before. That's why she looks like such shit underneath her mask.

So. Magdalena is weak and alone in the woods. Next purge is in eight days. She has her crowbar, toolbox and nothing else. How does she survive? Well. She avoids confrontation whenever she can, but I told you she was highly skilled when it comes to engineering and I meant what I said. When expecting to be attacked soon, she shows up at an abandoned factory. Any machine factory would do. Where does she find them? I don't fucking know, they just spawn in near her whenever the narrative demands it I guess. She held more than a few engineering jobs before she got sucked into the mob. She probably knows where the factories are. Anyway. Magdalena has enough expertise to refit one of the assembly lines to produce small robots out of scrap metal and whatever else is lying around in the warehouse. They're not hi-tech killing machines or anything like that, but they are enough to cause problems for anyone trying to reach her. They'd come at you in groups, maybe swarms if that type of bot is small enough. They would have a fair shot at killing anyone who wasn't prepared for them, and if they were prepared then they'd still likely buy Magdalena enough time to escape from her would-be attackers.

And now we have reached the present day, backstory over 👍

Yeah I made the 1324874th Break In OC with a wind-up key, I know I'm so original lmao. Magdalena's is silver instead of gold and has a little rust on it. It's also smaller than the ones on the Scarys.

About her personality and other stuff:

Magdalena has a polite enough disposition, but in a vaguely unsettling way. Her "vibes are off" so to speak. Most people who talk to her for a bit will be able to tell her cordiality is fake. If you speak to her for long enough she will gradually drop the fake shit and become snippy, or outright verbally belligerent if you're some random colleague of hers who is refusing to leave her alone.

Primary personality trait is bitter. Bitter about being born into poverty. Bitter about having to attend Purge University because she had no better options. Bitter about not being able to hold a job. Bitter about being forced to work for Mary. Bitter about the parasite stuck to her back. You could probably taste the bitterness on your tongue if you spent enough time around her. She holds long grudges but is generally too cowardly to be vengeful, so she tends to just marinate in even more bitterness.

Post-Break In 2, she doesn't really mind the presence of other mafiosos but will avoid the bosses at all costs, Larry for obvious reasons and Mary (plus the others) because she doesn't want to be roped back into the mob.

Very cowardly. Unwilling to stand up to her superiors. Will run from a fight whenever possible. And she runs fast as fuck when her life is in danger, that's her one and only physical advantage. So evasive that she would be gone if you looked away from her for a second, as if she teleported or some shit.

Very disinclined towards violence. During the purge, Magdalena steals a bunch of shit instead of killing. This stems partially from her cowardice plus her unwillingness to hurt people without a good enough reason, but also the fact that she is hopeless in melee combat. Mary never sent her to fight for this reason. She is fairly good with a gun (one-handed, the recoil from anything two-handed would probably knock her on her ass) but she was not allowed to have one back in the base, and she still doesn't have one.

She blinks way less than usual. Like maybe a couple times each minute. That's part of the reason why her eyes are always bloodshot. Speaking of her eyes, her left eye is like that because her wind-up key's roots burrowed into her slightly incorrectly (again, janky untested key model that maybe wasn't even meant to be used on humans) and fucked up her nervous system a little bit. Nothing too important was damaged but yeah that's why her eyelid is weird.

Here is Magdalena's toolbox. She keeps her tools in it (obviously) and maybe some spare parts and scrap metal. Also one of her little mechanical weirdos. This one could fit in your palm and she had a handful of these even when she still worked in the base. They would carry stuff to her sometimes (all of them would have to help drag the object since they're small). When they weren't doing that, they'd be crawling all over her, which some of her coworkers thought was creepy, especially the ones that happened to be entomophobiacs, lol.

Here have the first pic I drew of Magdalena. Actually I think the headshots might have been finished before this. But I definitely started this one first. Idk. Who cares. Started making this post on the 11th and now it’s the 21st that's 10 DAYS bruh. Why did I put so much effort into an OC that I might never even use for anything lol this is dumb. too lazy to check this post for typos. I'm going the fuck to sleep now lmao gn.

#roblox break in #break in roblox #roblox #break in 2 #scary larry #yeah i'm tagging him because the first pic has larry in it fuck u #break in oc #me when I make my oc completely insufferable instead of likable

[thotsforvillainrights]

so happy to see asks are open!! May I please request dating headcannons with Overhaul and a quirkless reader being by his side at the shei hassaikai base. What do the other members think of her? Obviously they can’t talk or even be near her unless they wanna be meat on the floor. Poor girl just wants to make friends but her hubby makes it so hard 😔😔😔

(I would've thought I did a quirkless reader for him before but I'm admittedly too lazy to check my HIGHLY OUTDATED masterlist so fuck it. Let's do it anyway! Also, I hope it's fine I'm leaving the reader kinda open ended as usual so everyone can kinda insert themselves into this better. Thank you for the request and the chance at writing more Kai content!)

(sidenote: I really need to update that masterlist but every time I try it's nearly impossible. I let it get too far behind, send help ahhhhhhh)

~Kai's Quirkless Reader & the Hassaikai~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

-Quirkless? Not that much of a shocker he'd fall for you. The boss being in a relationship? THAT is the shocker everyone hasn't managed to let go of just yet. In fact, most of his inner circle thinks he's holding you hostage while the other half wonders how you could've ever fallen for someone as rough as Overhaul in the first place. Did he even know how to date someone? Overhaul doing gentleman shit? Overhaul possibly kissing you one day or holding hands? Overhaul being in the same vicinity as someone else for longer than a few hours? There was a slew of gossiping he couldn't really shut down (or intimidate out of the men) for a very long time. He was trying to at least get it out of control before bringing you around to meet everyone for the first time.

-He took the time you introduce you considering he would have some of the members of the Hassaikai be your personal bodyguards or escorts when he couldn't join you out. Aside from this, he didn't really want you interacting with anyone else than himself. You were headstrong (or stubborn as he'd put it) and wanted on your own to develop meaningful relationships with his main group. Where he saw workers, you saw his friends despite him never calling them that. You wanted to be as important to them as he was. None of the men really complained since you were a breath of fresh air compared to Kai. With the help of Pops preventing Kai from killing the guys, you were able to try and get to know each of them.

-Hojo thought of you as a little sibling almost, no matter what your age is. You could literally be older than him and he'd still try to treat you like a little sister/brother/sibling. It was odd, but you didn't seem to mind how careful he was or protective nonetheless. Setsuno was a lot more careful with you since he didn't want to end up like mince meat. Had you not pushed hard for him to come out of his shell, you never would've learned all the wonderful parts of his personality aside from being a legitimate gang member. Tabe was more or less clingy to your kindness. This is especially true if you end up trying to greet him with something to eat. He adores you now.

-Rappa was actually pretty taken with you from the moment he met you. Someone brave enough to go against Overjerk's rules and do what they wanted regardless of the outcome? Oh yeah, he thinks that's fucking awesome of you. Tengai is more careful about guarding your feelings and still doesn't greet you by your first name even to this day. He also spends a lot of time scolding Rappa when he's around you since he's worried the big lug will offend you somehow.

-Nemoto has been and always will be the absolute most respectful with you. He greets you with the utmost proper manners and tries to make sure you have everything you might ever need whenever he's on duty for you. You've been trying for a long time to break down his walls and get him to chill out more but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon. Deidoro fucking loves you and loves even more the fact that he can be as crazy around you as he wants to be...well, as long as Nemoto isn't there to stop him from having that fun. You don't mind it. The man is a hoot!

-Chrono has become somewhat of a close friend to you. He knows when to let his guard down and relax ever now and then. Don't get me wrong, he still respects Overhaul very much as both a friend and a leader! It's just that when he's out with you, he's not gonna say no to putting a dollar in a prize machine and trying to win an IPAD with you. If you could chose anyone to hang out with for a day, it usually ends up being Chrono. It makes sense that Kai has gotten jealous a time or two of you relationship together. Mimic on the other hand...he doesn't worry as much with you two being together. In fact, your first impression of Mimic was that someone must've been pulling a prank on you. There's no way this beanie baby can turn into a full grown man on command. Mimic thought you weren't real when he met you too either. "How much did the boss pay for you to pretend to be his partner?"

-Katsukame was...a lot upon first meeting. He let a few inappropriate comments slip and you nervously laughed it off until Kai came out and killed the guy in front of you. Since then, Katsukame learned his place around you. Oh and Pops? That old man adored you since the very first moment. How could he not? You're giving his misguided boy a chance to experience real love for the first time! To him, you were considered family from the very first day you took Kai's heart.

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #overhaul #kai chisaki #shie hassaikai #yakuza #eight bullets #eight precepts of death #eightfold cleansers #headcanons

[carlyraejepsans]

you just mentioned in the tags ''toriel stopping sans from [cutting the humans' journey short] by killing them'' ive always wondered, do you think sans would actually have killed the human if he hadnt made the promise to toriel? i think you mentioned once that the ''youd be dead where you stand'' moment is another one of sans fumbling attempts to seem threatening but despite that, do you think he wouldve actually done it ? if hed seen them kill monsters or during a pacifist run? or do you think it wouldve played out similarly to canon in the genocide route or that he wouldve been just less involved with the human during their journey in a pacifist run?

(ok i found this in my drafts and I don't remember where i was going with this, but i kinda went off so have this as it is lol)

i keep 5 versions of sans that are Ever So Slightly Different According to How I Interpret Different Details simultaneously rotating in my brain at all times. so uhhhhh yes and no.

jokes aside, I'm starting to gravitate more towards the interpretation that like... the threat he made at the restaurant? full on jackassery. shithead extraordinaire. he WAS messing with us.

but would he have tried to kill a human if toriel hadn't made him promise otherwise?

...yeah i think so. let me elaborate

here's the thing though: i think people put way too much weight on that! i mean it's a fighting RPG, every single other character—bar toriel—fights you to either capture and have you sent to the capital or to kill you themselves. either way they want your SOUL. papyrus... is his own neutral case here with his refusal to kill you.

my point being: every monster you meet wants to fight you. it's through that fight (or what happens afterwards) that you actively challenge their point of view and befriend them.

you don't go through this with sans. he never fights you, so you never need to change his mind because that belief was challenged before we even got to the underground, through toriel's words alone. that's... kind of admirable?

but it does frame his actions in a very creepy way from our point of view in-game. not to forget his dumbass scary pranks. because we go from someone a bit mysterious though ultimately friendly and goofy whom we thought we could trust, to someone who openly tells us he could've been a threat for us... and then never delivers. at least, not in any playthrough where we hear that line of dialogue.

so much of sans' character and appearance stems from tonal dissonance. he's shamelessly comfortable in the game's tone and vibes, but still stands out as an outsider. he plainly doesn't play by the same rules as everyone else, so we don't judge him by the same standards, either.

even more, if he actually kept his promise the way toriel meant it, that would've meant playing the entire game like a tutorial. sure, you can enjoy the story, but did you enjoy playing the section in the RUINs when she's with us? it's basically handholding the entire time. it's BORING for us, and ultimately, Undertale is a game! so it should be enjoyable to its player. which brings me to our next point:

ultimately... yeah maybe he would've tried to kill us. and yes it is kinda shitty that he only kept his promise by not doing that. in a sans characteristic troll way, i mean. but acting like the "sans was happy to watch a baby get beat up and killed" jokes are, well, anything other than jokes is just a plain bad reading. forget about post pacifist. during a gameplay, frisk IS the Human IS us IS the PLAYER. which means capable of RESET and SAVE. which means essentially immortal, at the end of the day. it's the "special power" sans tells us about in his judgement. you can't treat us with the same moral lenses as an NPC. the power we hold over their world in the game is lovecraftian. we can literally destroy it entirely, an outcome that was scientifically predicted by some characters in the game...

...sans being one of them. every interaction with you, every joke and every hand extended in friendship and eye closed to your shenanigans. all of it, the good and the not-so-good. it's all colored with the knowledge that the "human" in front of him could end the world. whether you actually do that or not.

this is one of my favorite moments in the canon. one time. one second where the mask slips and we see through the cracks in the façade of laid back confidence. and what we see is a mirror, held up to our face.

and it's fucking terrifying.

"waaaa sans is bad because he lets us die" boo-FUCKING-hoo brother! cry me a river then throw ice cubes in it. mans goes through all of this on the daily and still gives us a chance, you should be thanking him.

i have a few other opinions on this topic that i feel are relevant, but I don't feel like putting them into a coherent argument so I'll just list them instead:

there are some collateral factors that i think would've prevented him from killing us outside of toriel's promise. mainly the fact that papyrus was feeling down and meeting a real human would've cheered him up. then he would've befriended us because of course he would, and of course sans wasn't going to kill his brother's new bestie.

so would he have fought us in a pacifist or papyrus-friendly netral run? maybe not! but he WOULD'VE whooped ass sooner if things got out of hand.

it's kind of a given that sans figures out you can manipulate time very early into the game. he works for/with asgore, who knows from first-hand child-murder experiences that it's an ability humans have, he's a scientist who studied the space-time continuum of their world and he's a friend of alphys', the royal scientist who studied human souls and determination (and let's not even get into his connections to gaster). he's a bright lad. he put two and two together.

while he COULD have seen taking a humans' soul as a necessary evil for monsterkind's freedom (promise to toriel aside) he openly sympathized with the anomaly. he's not there to be a time cop. he just wants to avoid the literal annihilation of the universe.

[...? yeah i never continued this. still stands tho.]

#answered asks #undertale #sans #entry log

[hyperactivewhore]

Hello, so a couple of things I wanted to address regarding your takes on Hope and the Mikaelson family. So, I don't take anything from TO or Legacies as face value. I didn't even watch Legacies, because I was over TVD universe by that point. And I didn't even finish TVD or TO, because of how unbearingly bad they got. But I know enough about how the rest of the show turned out to give my take on things too. 

For a show that was supposed to be centered around redeeming Klaus and Hope being the source of redemption for the Mikaelson family, the writers failed miserably in that aspect. For one, they rewrote history, retconned their entire backstory, and made the characters incredibly out of character. Worst thing the writers could've done. There was no redemption or character development whatsoever for anyone. In fact, everyone got worse and became more unlikable as the seasons went on. 

You're saying Rebekah and Freya would've been terrible mothers and claiming that they were bitter, jealous, and resentful of Hope or even of their own kids, when we never saw anything that supports that notion. And it's unfair you single out the women in the Mikaelson family, but say nothing whatsoever about the Mikaelson men, who were just as unfit and unstable to be a parent or have any child under their care. How do you justify saying Rebekah and Freya would've been bad mothers, but justify Klaus and Hayley's shitty parenting? 

If we're gonna call a spade a spade, Hayley was the very definition of a terrible mother. She constantly endangered herself and Hope while she was pregnant and even after she gave birth and just pawned her kid off to Eve or whoever else to involve herself in dangerous situations she really had no business getting involved in, when she could've been there with Hope. Same with Klaus, he most definitely wasn't father of the year. And there's also all the times they neglected Hope as a baby countless times and would often leave her alone during the most dangerous situations too.

If Rebekah and Freya didn't deserve to be mothers or to have a chance at a normal human life, Hayley and Klaus deserved it even less. Overall, I don't get why you or anyone else are so surprised at the Mikaelsons turning out to be deadbeats and abandoning Hope, when their entire family history and dysfunctional family dynamic speaks for itself. You even pointed it out yourself, that the Mikaelson family are unstable. So, why so surprised at this outcome? What else did you expect? And that's the epitome of why having a spinoff about the Mikaelsons centered around a baby of all things failed miserably. It was the worst mistake the writers could've made and the worst route the writers could've gone.

I'll make sure to let this clear for anyone who decides to read through: I didn't finish The Vampire Diaries, I only got to watch season five before the plot bored me and I just watched season one and half of season two of Legacies, but I have read enough over the years and I know all that happens in the three shows, what characters appear and etc.

Is funny how you complain about the Mikaelson and company being "out of character" as if they hadn't been already ooc in season three. Klaus loved witches and the writers completely erased that from his character because recognizing it would mean having him go for Bonnie. Caroline was mean before turning into a vampire, and if they had followed the established lore and canon of vampirism, she would have been just worse than she was as a human instead of the preppy girl she turned into. They completely trashed Elena's character to have her fall for Damon and forget about Stefan, so the fact that you're complaining about this sounds like just an excuse to shit on both shows.

I don't know why you're so pressed about Hope's existence. I have never said she was her family's redemption, I have always said she wasn't and that it was completely unfair of Elijah to put that burden on a baby. She was a plothole and I have stated that her character shouldn't have been made no matter how loved she is. But saying she had no impact on her family is stupid: Hope didn't made them stop being monsters, that's true, but she played a big part on making them change themselves.

Her existence forced her father to stop seeing only for himself, she united Klaus and Rebekah after they literally tried to kill each other by making Bex look after her when she was only a baby, Elijah finally stopped taking his brother's side in everything and she made their toxic codependent relationships slightly better. But at the end of the day, Hope was just a kid and a kid would never erase a thousand years of trauma, abuse and toxicity. It's true, she wasn't her family's redemption but she's the only reason why they stopped being shitty to each other.

There is evidence of why Rebekah would be a bad mother, just see how she behaves around children/teenagers. Marcel was ten and she groomed him, the moment her niece grew up and she couldn't play house with her any longer she left her in the dust, all while remembering how she spent "glorious months covered in dirt" because she spent less than a year with her as a baby and that is what she wanted, a baby, not a child, and just look at how she acted with Elena and Caroline. Rebekah was jealous of both of them, she was jealous of Hayley and Freya herself even made a joke about how she would be jealous of their own niece - it was about how she would stay nineteen forever hence beauty forever, but my point remains.

Rebekah would be a bad mother as far as we know in canon because everything suggests that. She's a child herself, just seventeen and her brain isn't even fully developed yet: she's easily jealous, tends to have emotional issues and has a low self esteem. What would be weird is that she wouldn't be jealous and a bad mother to her child, not otherwise. I love her, but she is a bad person and doesn't deserve to be a mom.

Freya is literally the same. She was traumatized with the child she lost and she viewed him/her on Hope, but she never gave a damn about making sure her seven years old niece didn't grow up traumatized and she completely forgot about her the moment Nik was born so yes, this information is enough for me to think she would be a bad mother. And look at what she did to Davina, who was barely eighteen.

The Mikaelson didn't and still don't deserve a normal happy life simply because they aren't good persons. They would be shitty parents, the two canon parents we have (Klaus and Freya) are bad parents and they don't even know how to behave around teenagers.

Saying Hayley is a bad mother is wild. Did you want her to stay home with Jackson while her daughter's family was being attacked every time they breathed? Hayley never put herself in a dangerous situation while pregnant willingly, it was always people coming after her and their child because she was carrying a Mikaelson kid. I don't know how she "pawned" her kid to somebody else to go help the Mikaelson, she was fighting with them because once again, they were Hope's family. She made some shitty choices, yes, but she was stuck in the most dangerous family to ever exist and the only way out was death: she never had the chance to decide if she actually wanted to have Hope. Both Elijah and Klaus forced it on her, they never asked her if she wanted an abortion and it was quite clear she would have died if she tried getting one.

I guess you pulled all of this information from your ass, because I never justified Klaus’s shitty parenting; I've always said time and time again he was a bad father, and I never said I was surprised at the Mikaelson being deadbeats when they already were in The Originals.

I don't know why you say the show "failed miserably" when it didn't: the rankings are good, it was nominated for awards a plenty of times and it is the favorite show of more than half of the fandom.

#honestly 💀 #klaus mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson #freya mikaelson #hope mikaelson #elijah mikaelson #hayley marshall #marcel gerard #camille o'connell #caroline forbes #elena gilbert #the originals #the vampire diaries #tvd #to

[some-pers0n]

Trying to draft a scene that comes later in my Albatross fic. Here's Albatross snapping back at Lagoon and then feeling bad. Enjoy <3

"How disappointing," Lagoon said, looking out towards the sea. "Two dragonets, yet neither have animus magic."

"It's a more preferable outcome, I'll say."

She glanced at him. "Preferable?" She snorted. "Albatross, brother, they're your own dragonets. Shouldn't you be upset? Mournful? Show any sort of reaction? They missed out on your gift."

"Calling it a 'gift' is something only a dragon without animus magic would say." He sighed. "You know how I feel about it."

Albatross had brought his dragonets, Reef and Manta, out to a remote island as per Lagoon's request. Lagoon had been itching to do this test of sorts for years, even before Albatross had settled down with Marlin. It was like listening to a seagull screech the same dreaded swansong over and over again.

She didn't care for him having dragonets or having a lovely family. She couldn't care less about that. No, what she wanted was for him to have heirs. Offspring that held the same powers he did. More animus dragons to exploit. 

"If I may," Albatross began, "it was a stupid idea."

Her snout wrinkled. "Stupid?"

"Having them enchant the water in front of them. If they were both animus dragons, they could have harmed the sea life."

"How would you have known that?"

"Having two dragonets, ones who do not yet know how to properly control and regulate their magic, cast a spell like that at the same time? It's a recipe for a disaster."

"I highly doubt that's what would've happened."

The corners of Albatross's mouth tightened. "Mh-hm..." Of course, she wouldn't think that would happen. How could animus magic do so much harm if she was ordering them around? She only saw Albatross as a device she could use to make sparkly new statues and jewelry anyway.

But, of course, she didn't have to worry about those potential consequences. She never saw the thought process behind his spells; only the results.

Albatross watched on. Manta and Reef were playing around in the water. They kicked, splashed, and laughed away. He smiled warmly. Looking over, Lagoon had little more than a dim scowl. At least one of them was happy with this outcome.

"Well, if neither of them are an animus, then I suppose I have to get to work."

A seedling of worry spawned in his stomach. "Pardon me?"

"What do you think I'd do? I need to look into potential nobles who'd like to give over their own dragonets in marriage--"

"No."

Lagoon paused. "What did you just say to me?"

"I said no." Albatross firmly repeated. His expression dimmed. "You will not marry off my dragonets. That is final."

She scoffed. "Brother, this is for their own good."

"They can find love without you taking offers from some noble. You will not go near my dragonets."

"You're being ridiculous--"

"Am I?" He raised his voice. "I'm sorry that I am not exactly a fan of you treating them like a means for you to get a new animus."

"Albatross."

"Don't you 'Albatross' me, Lagoon," he let out a sharp, controlled hiss.

"You seem quite emotional about this," she snickered. "That's new for you."

"Possibly because you were the one who forced me into this marriage. Perhaps. A small, potential hypothetical reason."

"Oh, please..." She rolled her eyes. "You were dragging your talons to get married."

"I didn't want to. I was eight."

"And never had I seen you once express a want to get married. One way or another, I had to intervene."

"By marrying me against my will."

"Arranged marriages are simply like that. Besides, I think I picked a dragon you like. I've seen you and Marlin. Lovebirds, the both of you. I see how she dotes on you. Adorable couple..." she cooed.

"Marlin didn't deserve to be treated like that. Neither did I. You forced us to be together just so I could have heirs."

"How could you say that?" she said, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "It was inevitable. Just be happy I picked her."

He flexed his claws. "Regardless, I'm not letting this happen to Manta and Reef. They should have a better life. If you even try to pull this with them, I--" Albatross stopped himself. He shouldn't say that. That's a violent, terrible thought. He was already getting far too worked up and upset over this. He's better than that. He wouldn't. He can't be like this.

A flash of fear appeared in Lagoon's eyes. As quickly as it arrived, it faded into maliciousness. "You'll what, Albatross? What will you do?" she said in her familiar, condescending tone.

"I'll make sure you'll never see them again," he answered, looking away from her piercing gaze.

She grinned. "I know you weren't thinking that. Go on. Say it."

His jaw clenched. Cornered. She knew what he was thinking. His mind raced, trying to think of a lie believable enough so she'd get off his back. 

And yet, Marlin's words rang loudest in his mind.

Let her know how you feel. You shouldn't be bossed around by her. You deserve better.

He cracked.

"Fine. Want to hear it? I'll kill you. Gut you. Something. Anything. I don't want you to be recognizable by the end. I want to leave you to the sharks to feast on. I don't want them to find your body." Words spilled out of his mouth without warning. Decades of tension and anger poured from him all at once.

"Do you know what it's like to be me? Can you even imagine for a second what it's like to be in somebody else's scales, or are you simply that absorbed in your own imaginary world of gems and jewels?" He stepped closer. He towered over her. "I'm a danger. You go on and on about it constantly. I ruined her. I might as well have killed Sapphire that day. Now, she's rotting away on some island thanks to me. I do nothing more than hurt. Do you know what it's like to live with that guilt?"

"Alb--"

"Let me talk for once!" he snapped. "It's always about you. Am I selfish for wanting to be alone with my family for once? Am I really? I want to go one day without being reminded of how I ruined Sapphire's life. I want to be happy. I want to never hear your voice again. It hurts. Everything you say just hurts."

His voice began to break. "I don't want you to be in my life anymore. I want you to leave. All you've done is make me a miserable slave that obeys your every will all because I hurt our sister. I-- I don't even regret it sometimes. I was acting in self-defence! She was trying to kill me! You were both trying to kill me! Am I evil for that? Am I some terrible, messed-up monster for wanting to see you die? I just...I just..."

He stood there silently. His chest heaved. His breathing was deep, sharp, and panicked. Lucidity had struck him only at the end of that mad ramble. Shame and humility reentered his soul.

"I'm sorry..." He wiped his eyes. He felt like a dragonet again. Useless, pathetic, and let his emotions overtake him. "I should've stayed quiet."

Lagoon was quiet. Terror filled her eyes. He saw her shaking ever so slightly.

He hated himself for how he felt a shred of satisfaction in seeing her like this. Afraid. He despised himself for feeling a hint of gratification. He wasn't a monster. He shouldn't enjoy it.

She recovered slightly. "I knew you had all of this in you."

A pause. "It was obvious, wasn't it?" He couldn't look her in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I was...thinking back to what Marlin said. She said I should speak my mind." He hesitated. "Not let you push me around."

"...is that really so?" she asked.

"Yes," he muttered. "I should go now. I promised her I'd be back in before mid-day." He looked over to the ocean. "Manta! Reef! C'mon, we're going back home." He flew over to them, not wanting to even be near her.

How could he say that? How could he mean those things he said either? He shouldn't be like that. He was better. He needed to do better, for Manta and Reef. For Marlin. For everyone he loves and cares for. They needed a dragon they could see as more than a mindless, hateful monster.

#wof #albatross wof #sp-writing

[norrussell]

okay so this is my account @ynbabe (anon cause it's my side blog lmao)

but THANK YOU!!! People have a problem when there aren't any supporters for less popular drivers but then get pissed when they get supporters too.

and this decision was crazy!! I don't think any other team would do this! Is it Logan's fault Alex wrecked the car? NO

If the team didn't believe in his ability to bring home points then they shouldn't have resigned him instead of giving him (and his fans) false hope and treating him like a reserve.

I'll be brave and admit that I'm not fond of Logan at all and I love Alex so my reaction has nothing to do with how I personally feel about either of them. I just can't stand injustice when I see one.

This isn't even about who had what choice anymore. It's about how they treated the situation and their oh so valuable driver and the outcome is unacceptable. If it were any other team, I don't think it would've even been brought into consideration, but since we have Logan in the equation...

Logan has been the object of ridicule from the very beginning. And I can't lie, I find amusement in it as well. But there comes a point where we need to take a step back and think how that contributes to the aftermath. The internet walks all over him. This only adds fuel to the fire, but luckily I haven't seen anything that is that serious, yet. Yes, performance speaks louder than words, but how can he prove himself if he's not being let? How can he get better if he's not given the chance? There are other weekends--The same goes for Alex.

Logan's confidence is already shaken and this situation has the possibility to shatter it completely. I'm really scared to see if this will play into the affects of the results in the future races.

Williams has little to gain if this goes how they imagined in their heads it will go, but a lot more to lose than what they already did.

#While the decision makes sense I CHOOSE to be unreasonable about it #logan sargeant

[fullscoreshenanigans]

What's your thoughts on Ray and Norman's conversation after the spy reveal, where Ray says Norman should've discarded him and Norman says he would've but Emma convinced him otherwise? Was Norman really going to do that? (sorry if you've already talked about it but I missed;;)

You're good! I talked about the framing of the end of the scene here forever ago in internet time, touch on it here as an add-on to a post regarding the false belief there was a rivalry founded on the basis of a classic love triangle inextricably integrated into the core of the narrative (i.e., Norman and Ray actually dislike each other because they're both vying for Emma's romantic affection), and a brief summary of those feelings in this paragraph from this post, so my thoughts on it are kind of scattered about lol

Ray knows Norman, knows his sense of rigid morality well enough to account for him discovering his alliance with Isabella and using that to his advantage, to further push Norman away so he’ll be more comfortable with using him (he even chides Norman for not keeping his original plan to do this a secret) and so his death will hurt him and Emma less. And for roughly the entire back half of October 2045, Norman did genuinely hate Ray for his betrayal in the same way he hated Isabella, his reaction so visceral at being deceived and hurt by people he had loved all his life. He would have been willing to sacrifice Ray if not for intervention from Emma, which opened him up to directly confronting Ray and, in turn, led him to discover Ray’s true motives. He was so humbled and taken aback by the depths of Ray’s love and loyalty he returned to his original categorization of him: a dear friend who needed to be saved from his intended fate in their cruel world. Even if saving him came at the cost of his own life; even if he desperately wanted to live.

So I do believe Norman would have done it given the circumstances, and that Ray was banking on him doing so if Norman suspected him of being the traitor (and from Ray's perspective, this was the more likely outcome because of how much stock he puts in Norman's intelligence).

It fits with Ray's meticulous planning, Norman's overall morality when left on his own at this point in his life plus his pride and ruthlessness, and the series' themes of redemption/second chances for those who genuinely work toward change and the positive influence of friendship/solidarity over isolation.

Upon discovering the truth of the house, Norman's first instinct is to grab Emma and Ray and get out of there.

His mind is absolutely fried by what's just taken place and its implications, and he's scrambling to come up with a plan, focusing on whatever he believes is still familiar and safe to ground himself so he can shake off the emotional and mental paralysis he's in. I love how both the manga and anime convey how shell-shocked he is with the weary lines under his eyes and the thousand-yard stare he's got going on as he's floating outside himself. It's all completely understandable.

This is one of my most-cited details about the anime taking advantage of the medium shift. Both Emma and Norman are completely shocked by Isabella being there, but it only takes Norman a second to shift between that initial shock to sorrow over realizing what it means that the woman who he’s viewed as his mother his entire life is here casually talking with demons and not recoiling in horror at what’s taken place. He genuinely loved her.

(Chapter 6)

It's part of why he reacts so viscerally to her betrayal, another being his pride taking a hit due to being outmaneuvered by her. He's scored perfect 300s on his test since the day he started taking them at four-years-old, the first child in the history of Grace Field ever to do so. While he's never haughty or smug over this, he does find comfort in his intelligence. This undermines him in a way that not only cuts him to the quick, but also puts his family at risk, and he's determined to come out on top in this game of high-stakes wits and save them.

(Chapter 10)

So after being dealt the crushing blow that Isabella was raising him and his siblings just to be food for demons, a few days later he's dealt another one when Krone's appearance leads him to instantly suspect Ray as the most probable and convenient informant for her. Ray was one of his two main pillars of strength he could fall back on in a time where his whole world has shifted beneath him. They had been together ever since he could remember, and he was disgusted with himself for even thinking Ray could do this. Like Isabella, he genuinely loved him too. In the face of the insurmountable conclusion he'd drawn, however, he couldn't ignore reality, not when the lives of Emma and his siblings hinged on him not making any more mistakes.

The revelation of this betrayal silently festers over the course of roughly two weeks. During that time, Ray even encourages Norman to be ruthless when dealing with his enemies.

(Chapter 7)

It doesn't take long for Norman to get on board.

(Chapter 9)

And while he ultimately comes to the conclusion that suppressing the adults is the better course of action,

(Chapter 10)

the poignancy of the fork symbolism is still there: stay vigilant, stay sharp, stay ruthless. Even if it means discarding one of your best friends once he's no longer useful in the escape plan. (I'll use this as an opportunity to plug one of my favorite pieces of art on the subject by @nekokat42. It's funny how over the course of the story, Norman ends up taking after Isabella the most out of the trio on this front.)

In the same way his categorization of Isabella has shifted in his mind, so too has his categorization of Ray, and he would have stayed there if Norman hadn't sought Emma's perspective on the matter. It parallels nicely to when she acts as his moral compass in chapter 1/episode 1.

Emma's automatic, genuine desire to save everyone quickly sobers him up from his stupor and his plan for just the three of them to escape. He's touched by this, her being far more selfless than him, and he silently chides himself for not even considering trying before resolving to make Emma's ideal outcome a reality.

(Chapter 13)

Emma reaffirms the importance of considering the nuance and material circumstances of their situation, what the logical fallout would be for the traitor if they were left behind during the escape, and the biggest thing for Norman, striving for better instead of settling for pragmatism when you still have the opportunity to effect change on the world around you and reach an outcome you'll be happier with.

(Chapter 14)

(Chapter 13)

Norman being willing to use and discard Ray makes the impact of him switching his stance on the matter and later realization of Ray's true motives hit harder while also providing a basis for his actions and beliefs during later arcs after he's been isolated from the positive influence of his family.

(The Good Place; borrowing because I like the conciseness and feel it's applicable to Norman, Ray, and Yuugo.)

With the way the final seconds of this sequence are framed in the anime—going from a shot of a giddy yet harried Norman to a self-chiding Ray to Eugene's drawing of a trio of children—I feel like they wanted to draw attention to this aspect of his realization more than chapter 14 did where Norman's more focused on what Ray's position as Isabella's spy affords the plan. Here it looks like he's taking in the full ramifications of the choice he would have made if he hadn't talked with Emma; a future where he threw away a dear friend who had made years of impossible decisions as Isabella's sheepdog and was willing to die so that they could have one, because for Ray it's always been about Emma and Norman. What once appeared to be a selfish choice to save his own skin was actually one born out of love and loyalty, and once again Norman is disgusted with himself over his presumptions and saddened by Ray's intention to die, though at this point he hasn't seen the lighter fluid stockpiled under Ray's bed, so he has yet to figure out how he plans to pull it off. It's an ache profound enough to leave him startled and reaching to cover his mouth in its wake. One that could possibly be prompted without Norman intending to discard Ray since on top of everything else already going on he's now aware Ray plans on killing himself, which is devastating, but I think it's more poignant if he was going to go through with it.

#The Promised Neverland #Yakusoku no Neverland #TPN #TPN S1 #Escape Arc #TPN 013 #TPN 014 #TPN S1e01 #TPN S1e05 #Full Score Trio #TPN Norman #TPN Ray #Norman #Ray #Emma #Long Post #FSS Asks #FSS Chatter #Norray #Noremma #for tagging purposes #Read More #obligatory “People improve when they get external love and support. How can we hold it against them when they don't?” TGP quote #me when this is already a tag on here jkdfsh #we're going to sidestep how Ray's self-sacrifice is selfish in its own way for him avoiding the fallout of it by virtue of being dead #even if the younger kids are quick to forgive him in Ch38 so canon doesn't have him spend much time on it either explicitly

[clericofshadows]

Do you mind sharing the tea about Regis and Garrus

I don't mind at all, anon :)

tbh a lot of Regis's feelings on Garrus are an extension of my own feelings which are: I don't like him and I find him boring and annoying. and a bit whiny about "justice" and shit.

but to look at it from Regis's perspective in a rambling post under the cut:

In ME1, Regis does not follow up on Garrus's lead first. He finds Wrex and Tali first, which is sufficient enough for him, and gets ready to go on the mission as a new Spectre. Garrus will stop you at the elevator if you didn't recruit him and stays in C-Sec if you change your mind. Regis refuses his offer, saying he works best with a smaller team (which is true, he hates the large group in ME2 even if it is technically necessary). With his newfound powers, back on the Normandy, he pulls up Garrus's C-Sec file, and based on comments his father made in Garrus's comic, Regis refuses to entertain the idea of recruiting him after reading about his disregard for rules all for his idea of justice.

He casts Vakarian out of his mind, and is essentially forgotten by the end of Saren's mission.

In ME2, Regis recruits Archangel fairly early on after getting Zaeed, Kasumi, and Mordin on his crew. He doesn't necessarily like the idea of recruiting a vigilante, but maybe there's more to the story.

And well, we all know how the recruitment mission goes. Regis doesn't immediately recognize Garrus, and instead asks who he is, only getting a vague recollection. Vakarian jogs his memory, and Regis has a moment where he wonders why the hell a C-Sec officer decided going to Omega is a good idea but casts the thought aside for now.

After the mission, he gives Vakarian medical attention and after he heals up, he sizes him up. He confronts him directly about his C-Sec file and some of his cases that Regis read about, recalling what he saw in his file. From there, it is basically a clash of ideas and differing morals/opinions, Vakarian assuming that as the Butcher of Torfan and generally having more 'renegade' tendencies that they would be of the same mind, but in reality, Regis refuses to sacrifice civilian lives and will always look for another way if at all possible. He's not as "murderous" as people think he is. Torfan was a choice he made knowing he'll be sacrificing Alliance lives, but he did it because he knew it would save far more lives in the end. The soldiers knew the score. Civilians don't. (Which makes Zaeed's loyalty mission something very interesting to tackle, especially as Regis and Zaeed are becoming lovers again. I have some ideas for that).

Their relationship comes to a head in the loyalty mission, and Regis refuses to entertain the idea of being part of an execution without having all the details, so he more or less tells Vakarian that if you want his help, you'll listen to him.

So, when Regis tries to signal him to stand down and not shoot Sidonis, Garrus does it anyway, thus making him effectively "un-loyal" and Regis keeps him out of his main squad rotation since he couldn't follow a basic order. I wish more of the loyal missions had fail conditions like this, would've made the game more interesting IMO, especially if you never took them on missions and so they wouldn't necessarily trust you the same way another character who had been on more missions.

Anyway, as my suicide mission is not perfect and well, it's not a golden outcome, Garrus dies as the crew escort, Grunt dies on the hold the line segment, and Legion dies as one of the squadmates part of the final fight. All thanks to Risky Suicide Mission lol. Will it happen exactly like that in Regis's fics? Probably not, but that's how it happened in game.

I effectively ignore Garrus in my playthroughs, so that's basically what Regis does. Not as much drama as the Liara stuff, but still, even on my non-Regis playthroughs he never gets recruited and dies on the suicide mission, since it's the only way to remove the forced best-friend bullshit between them that I don't like.

#ask #anon #regis shepard

[possessionisamyth]

If you don't mind, could you elaborate on how Ada is inconsistent?

It's less about how she's inconsistent, and more about how various writers treat her role in the overall narrative of the series. For a non existent attempt at brevity, I will not be talking about how she's handled in the remakes or any of the alternate raccoon city focused games. 1998 RE2 only!

So in the original RE2, Ada is a woman who's looking for her boyfriend who is a researcher at Umbrella. She was actually dating the man to get information on/a sample of the G-Virus, and whether or not her concern was sincere for this man is debatable as she plays it up. It's a useful truth that functions as a genuine cover story. After finding out the dude's dead, she seduces Leon so he'll follow her around like a lost puppy. (He's super whiny puppy but that was entertaining to watch). Plus when she doesn't shoot to kill to get the G-Virus sample from Leon, it turns out her affection for him is real. Whether this is her working from the rebound after figuring out her current boyfriend is dead is also debatable. I can only speculate that she might have been. Ada isn't heartless. Fake dating someone for months meant there had to be some chemistry as she could've picked literally any umbrella scientist to date to get to the same result. When we look at the epilogue scene from RE3, we see she is changed by her experience.

She's not the same woman anymore. Or at least she doesn't think she is. She wasn't so much a femme fatale in the first RE2 as much as she was a mercenary/spy playing her cards right until the smoke cleared.

And then we get Resident Evil 4.

In RE4, they hammer that femme fatale persona in HARD. She's sexy. She's teasing. She's always in the right place at the right time. She doesn't get hurt and comes out on top. Ashley's existence delays the damsel role she would be tossed in so Leon can save her, but doesn't prevent it. The time she spent between 1998 and 2004 was her building this persona to put emotional walls and distance up so she can better do her job. Hell, due to the great reception the game got, this version of Ada is who gets left in the hands of every future writer who has/wants to handle her. Yet, Leon being there in RE4 puts a few splinters in this persona. Wesker's kill order for Leon absolutely cracks it. Leon may be experiencing his own personal hell, but so! is! Ada! Wong! She doesn't have to do shit. She doesn't have to save Leon. She doesn't have to kill him. She can honestly just do her job and get out, but she hasn't changed. She's just gotten really fucking good at lying to herself. So we once again see her putting everything on the line for Leon, and risking her own neck so he can get out. And this is great! And you want to see more.

And then we get RE:Damnation.

Why was she there? Look. Look at me. I love Ada. She's my wife. Why was she in the Eastern Slav Republic pretending to work for the BSAA? Oh, to collect a sample of las plagas! Wait. Wasn't she in the village where there was a fuck ton of them before this event? Why wouldn't Wesker have that already? Oh no, she needs the special plagas that let's people control lickers for a limited period of time before the parasite develops and the host become one of those twisty head zombies. Ah. A failed plagas then? She wants a failed plagas? Well, she would've had a much easier time just stealing that from the rebellion. It then would've made her running into Leon a more natural outcome. They started that movie putting Ashley in the proverbial trunk to eliminate that romantic venue and brought in Ada to go "hey! remember! leon likes her! nobody else! we promise!". They're not risking anything for each other. Ada isn't doing what she has been doing the last two stories, and it's off. The femme fatale stuff is happening, but you can cut her out and lose nothing from the movie other than a cat fight. You can't do the same thing in RE4. You can't do the same thing in RE2!

And then we get Resident Evil 6.

I enjoyed watching the Ada storyline in the game despite all the strange mechanic choices they made with the game's play style. Up until this point in the games, her and Leon keep risking their lives and/or job credibility for each other. That's what they do regardless if people view their relationship as platonic or romantic.

This game with Ada's story was a great opportunity to show how she's also wearing a mask she's built up over the years. The one that gets cracked in RE4 with Leon's mere appearance and a genuine concern for his safety. The thing is in RE6, she's kind of all over the place. We first see her doppleganger not knowing it's a different woman, and every fan is up in arms about how reasonably OOC the act is. And they're right. Next we see the real Ada, and she seems just as natural as she was in RE4. We just assume it's an outfit change until she starts investigating. Then she goes from mercenary/spy to playing superhero.

The one thing I like about the resident evil games, is that when 2 characters are supposed to be on equal ground, they'll often save each other the same amount of times. They meet in the middle, and there's something sweet about it. In RE6, Ada is constantly covering Leon's ass the closer we get to the end. Leon gets to save her with that final Simmon's confrontation. We are not counting Leon protecting fake Ada from Chris because it wasn't her. RE6 was trying so hard to make the real Ada likable by having her go out of her way to do good for everyone as a sharp contrast to doppleganger Ada's actions. However, they lost some of what makes Ada so complex with these narrative decisions.

It's nice we get to see her hurt and anger by taking out doppleganger Ada's final experiment before it hatches, but that's the end of the game! We don't get a little epilogue scene of what she's doing or how she feels like everyone else gets! They say "oh yeah, she's fine, she has more work now. Nothing's changed." When we get to see the result of hurt like we did in RE2, or the knowledge she'll gladly disobey orders for her own peace of mind in RE4.

This was a lot of words to say RE2 and RE4 remember Ada's more than just a femme fatale, whilst later appearances in the series forget this.

The remakes for now don't do that. In the remakes, we know from the get go she's looking out for herself first, and other people come second. Leon ranks a little higher on this list than everyone else, and I'm very eager to see the depiction expanded on if we get a remake Separate Ways DLC.

EDIT: Oop, just realized she was constantly covering Leon's ass in RE4 too based on the OG separate ways. Ignore that one segment, but the rest still stands!

#resident evil #re #ada wong #aris asks #ask me to talk about my faves and you will get an essay #heh nothing personal kid #re analysis

[jukemaid]

with all the personas more or less confirmed to be taking place in the same universe, i was thinking about why the various groups can't or won't interact with each other and think i found a decent enough, broad explanation.

it comes down to the wild card and their journey, and how they connect to the world around them. they each have highly specific dilemmas to face that's only possible for them. absolutely everything going on ends up as a network connecting people, places, and events with the wild card at its center, whose personal journey hinges on these relationships. the greater conflicts are all connected to them and the results of those battles are determined by the wild card's decisions.

contrasting to a foreign wild card, who has zero investment in a journey not their own. they have no connections to the people involved, no disposition towards the network, and no responsibility to claim for what happens. they COULD go hard and bring their op shit and devastate, but it would be like punching a big hole into a tapestry to get rid of some loose threads, rather than bringing in a professional to repair it properly. the collateral would be severe to both the original wild card and their immediate world, and it'd damage all the efforts made for the people involved who DO have to take responsibility. the wild card would not be able to complete their journey as intended, and it would stunt their growth and possibly prevent them from stopping their respective Big Bad.

like of course i love crossovers where the wild cards all get together and go apeshit on maruki, but all of maruki's reality and subsequent problems were the direct outcome of ren's actions. he's innately tied into all that happened, and that's why it HAS to be him to solve it from start to finish. he has the bonds; he has the appropriate knowledge and skills. anyone can take down maruki, yes, but only ren and his team can not only stop maruki, but restore things to how they were meant to be (including the man himself). it's because of his journey that he's, they've, reached the point where they're able to do this, bc their resolve was something they fought for all on their own without interference (even if it would've been rly nice to have senpai oneshot the reaper).

#persona 5