#the whole plot is literally will dealing with his exes

[mysticmilks]

Dark Rise series would be much shorter if Sarcean wasn't sleeping with around that much

#dark rise #dark heir #the whole plot is literally will dealing with his exes #no slutshaming you did nothing wrong #dark rise spoilers #dark heir spoilers #sarcean

[apollo18]

Not enough of the concept of Billy being nerfed by magic/god bureaucracy rather than limiting his abilities for plot alone. Like ex: he’s only allowed to use his abilities to a point that maxes out with the abilities of the most powerful people on that planet to prevent a champion from being OP or disrupting any cultures with a strength/battle based system of government and starting a god war on accident with that planet’s deities.

This is why people confuse him with a kryptonian, he typically has the same strength levels as Superman and gets restricted to some of the abilities they have in common because Superman happens to be the strongest hero he’s around at a given time and doesn’t do magic.

Anyway here’s billy info dumping to unnamed members of the league:

“So you’re not just holding back on Superman when you’re sparing or dealing with him on red K, you physically can’t be stronger than him? Why? What sense does it make to have a ‘champion’ that can’t be stronger than the strongest person in the room?”

“I know you don’t understand my whole deal and stuff and honestly the books plus Solomon’s wisdom is really complicated so I only halfway get it and there’s people present who think the whole ‘gods and goddesses’ thing are bullshit or just metas who were worshipped and don’t understand interplanetary and inter dimensional god politics so… uh?”

Okay, got it! Think of it like this. It’s my biology going ‘hello look at me, I do not threaten your position in the hierarchy or your followers’ but I also will not be subjugated by you.’ But you guys don’t really do that and your gods don’t mess with earth a lot so it kinda hinders me when you need more muscle than- like- Sups can provide and there’s a being without innate or holy abilities causing trouble.”

“Oh man. Is that what your beef with Black Adam is about, biological hierarchy bull shit.”

“Oh no, I was literally built to kill him but I don’t want to do that- but also hitting Adam feels really good because I was designed to kill him so… yeah… ,”

“… designed?”

#billy batson #dc captain marvel #Shazam

[andsomemaniacgotridofthewheel]

I think "Bad Writing on Purpose" is a misnomer.

And people focus too much on it.

First of all, I really don't understand why people were surprised by the cliffhanger. Everyone was talking about how Neil said season 2 was going to be "quiet, gentle, and romantic" but nobody noticed that he also, on multiple occasions, wrote that season 2 was not the sequel he and Terry plotted, but what needed to happen to get the characters to where they needed to be at the start of what they plotted as the book sequel but would now be season 3. He was always completely open that season 2 was a bridge, and after reading it here and there before season 2 came out, I for one knew that season 2 would most likely end with a cliffhanger.

I mean, I surely didn't know we would get OFMD-ed, that was indeed a surprise, but I knew there would be a cliffhanger. Why didn't you?

Now I have read ariaste's famous 15 000 word essay. I find her theory quite brilliant. I don't think she will be (totally) right about it, it's too specific and too reliant on her assumption of how the Book of Life works. I also disagree with some of the details of what she calls "bad writing". Especially Maggie might just be portrayed as a dork neurodivergent. And some of her visual "clues" already turned out to be simple homages. (Not "The Crow Road", though, I think. Yes, Neil and Terry were friends with Ian Banks. But he has written like 40+ books, why choose THAT one, the one that deals in part with people solving a mystery by going through old documents, just after we are shown that Aziraphale keeps diaries and definitely leaves them in the bookshop when he's going to heaven? Even if we ascribe its first appearance to the famous opening line which Gabriel reads aloud, why show the same book a second time, mid-frame?)

Also, yes, I disliked that Aziraphale's & Crowley's new first meeting put them on the wrong foot with each other, when their meeting in Eden had established them as kinda instant co-conspirators from the very beginning. The same with Crowley in the Job episode being the one to introduce Aziraphale to worldly pleasures instead of him discovering them on his own. But that is sometimes what happens when you learn more about characters from new canon, sometimes it doesn't fit your established headcanon. You either roll with it or you choose to ignore that part of canon.

But I do think she is on the right track. And the most important thing that ariaste pointed out is still the missing/unsatisfying payoffs and the unfired Chekov's Guns, which I am pretty sure is the very reason this season felt so "off" for most of us and why ariastes theory found so much resonance. But I wouldn't call that Bad Writing. I would call that at most Weird Writing Choices. Especially if

you view the whole of season 2, the bridge season, the quiet gentle and romantic interlude, as one. giant. setup.

Having Aziraphale use his never-before-mentioned halo as a deus-ex-machina option to defeat the demons in his bookshop is a weird writing choice. Especially when we know we have a literal Chekov's - Derringer - Gun hidden somewhere in there, which is not being used. Mentioning the Book of Life several times and have it be of no consequence, Crowley even doubting that it really exists, is another unfired gun. The Nazi-Zombies, which are somehow left to their own devices and never mentioned again, could be a Chekhov's Gun - and I feel a lot better knowing now that yes, the living dead are apparently part (a sign?) of The Second Coming.

But it isn't bad writing. It is setting up season 3. It has always been about setting up season 3. We got a nice, little, quiet gentle and romantic, fan-fictionesque Ineffable Bureaucracy main plot to go with it, but that was never the raison d'etre for season 2. It's main purpose was always to set. up. season. three.

After all, most paraphrasings of "Chekov's Gun" speak of acts. If a gun is shown in act 1, it has to be fired in act 2. If a gun is shown in one act, it has to be fired the following. If we look at Good Omens as a 3-act-story, with one season being one act, then all the Chekov's Guns were shown to us in act 2, and are not required to go off until act 3 - meaning season 3.

All of you who dismiss this and go "no one ever wrote bad on purpose just to fix it in the next season, why not accept this season was just bad" are missing the point, because you fixate on the "bad writing on purpose" misnomer. It's not bad writing. It's delayed gratification. It's setting up a payoff over more than one season. Which you can absolutely do if you have a plan, if you know where your story is going. It is what everyone still seems to expect from J.J. Abrams, even though we should know better by now. His setups never pay off, because he sets up things he never intends to resolve, never even has an idea about how they could be resolved, and keeps getting away with it. And yet, the overwhelming presence of his shitty writing in media has probably screwed with our expectations from mystery shows, which thanks to him are not very high. But I truly believe that Neil Gaiman (and John Finnemore, a frickin' COMEDY writer, for whom the setup-payoff concept must actually be like breathing) are both simply better than that windbag. There will be a payoff. Only later.

I believe we will come back to the halo. Aziraphale's Derringer Gun will be fired. The Book of Life will have meaning, even if it is different from what we might theorize. The Zombies will at least be mentioned. And I think even the weirdly framed and then forgotten Eccles cakes will make another appearance. We will have an actual, big-stakes gen plot next season. Aziraphale & Crowley will be stopping another apocalypse. It will have to do with Crowley's "all of us against all of them" line from season 1. It will have Anathema & Newt (I remember one Tumblr ask before season 2 where Neil was asked if they would come back for season 2, and he answered no, but they would hopefully be in season 3), and I personally think they're gonna regret burning that second book from Agnes. Crowley & Aziraphale will not have much time to talk about their relationship or to feel sorry for themselves, as a lot of fans seem to expect. This will not be fan-service, this will not be fan-fictionesque. The bigger picture is the second apocalypse and once again saving humanity, and saving earth. Doing that, Crowley & Aziraphale will find common ground again, they will find each other again. They will end up in their shared cottage in the South Downs, openly in love, and everything will be ok. I don't know exactly how, and I don't want to speculate too much, because that almost always ends up with me being disappointed by how canon actually turns out.

But I believe in Neil Gaiman. I believe he cares. I believe he might even care more about "Good Omens" than about any other of his creations. And I believe in the Brilliance of John Finnemore. I don't believe that he would have let Neil get away with these setups without real payoffs if he didn't see the point of them.

(And if Amazon and their greedy CEO/shareholders are the reason we won't get a third season, you'll hear about me in the news, I swear. 😡)

#good omens #neil gaiman #john finnemore #crowley #aziraphale #the magic trick theory #the magic trick you didn't see #ineffable divorce #ineffable idiots #ineffable dumbasses #good omens season 2 #good omens s2 #go2 #anthony j crowley #south downs cottage #good omens 2 #nikku.txt #aj crowley #az fell

[empressofmankind]

On My Silent Days

I Miss You A Little Louder

[Crocodile x female!OC]

Explicit with a capital E

Word count: 7k / 15 pages

A/N: Writing this has been my whole life the past 5 days, as anyone who has frequented my Dash recently can attest. I am obsessed with their chemistry.

Technically, this is part of 'The Show Must Go On'. You don't have to read it, but I recommend it. You'll get to know Shivs and her helter-skelter relationship with Buggy which sits as the background to this whole ordeal.

You see, this is like, Arabaste arch at the earliest - Cross Guild era more likely. By then, Shivs and Bugs have rollercoastered through so much bullshit and they've come out rock solid on the other side somehow. Clown keeps failing up, even with this relationship. Sir Crocodile finds the whole thing insulting, to say the least. And seems to think it is one well-placed remark away from utterly crumbling. Jealous ex, whomst? My dude, you fucked that up yourself. Repeatedly. You had more chances than you have fingers. Chemistry aside, this is absolutely a desert of his own making.

What else do you need to know? Shivs is only 2 or 3 years younger than Buggy (i.e. my age, come sue me), but Crocodile is 5 years older than the clown. So, she's in her mid 30s, he's in his mid 40s. She originally met him when he was maybe 28? Do the math. Oh yes, and for those less familiar with the Cross Guild era: our favourite clown has managed to accidentally become the lauded public face of what is actually Mihawk and Crocodile's venture. Understandably, the ex-warlords are a little miffed by this and spend decent amounts of time physically abusing poor Buggy.

Shivs' absolutely flawless plan is basically swapping sexual favours with her ex for get-out-of-jail-free cards for the clown.

My girl literally barging in here telling Croc: "I'll take ur cock if u leave my clown alone."

Yes. That's it. That's the plot.

She almost had him, too. Arguably, she had him the entire time. And then he gdamn snapped her from the pond edge like an unwitting gazelle in the last minute. Cuz we all - her included - forgot who we're dealing with for 14.5 pages straight. APPARENTLY.

screams into a pillow

Tag(s): Oh? Ok. Sexual favours! Is she fucking her boss? No, but he always makes it feel that way. Is she fucking her ex? Yes. Are they technically still married? Maybe. Blow jobs? Deep throat. Size kink? 100%. Filthy language. Graphic sex. Soft dom? Power bottom? I am on the fence. Little girl vibes on the margins, like, he tries. She too sassy and sooner a brat. Oh, orgasm denial! Big time. Humiliation? A little bit. Stretching? Yes. Moar size kink. Choking? Big yes. Spoiling? Also yes. She deserves nice things. Power imbalance? Yes. In whose direction? It kind of flip-flops. Did I need to spend so many words on their smoking and his cigars? Probably not, but it scratched an itch. With them, it counts as foreplay; I am sure. You know you're doing well when he takes the damn thing outta his mouth. World class banter, too. If I may say so myself. But really, the bottom line is that it's just oral and PIV dressed up real fancy.

ON MY SILENT DAYS 

I MISS YOU A LITTLE LOUDER

The double doors were as tall and foreboding as Shivs remembered. All bevelled hardwood and delicate gilding. She stood before them, gazing up. In the dead centre sat a brass knocker shaped like a bananawani's head, polished to a sheen. 

Knocking was for people with appointments, and waiting wasn't something she planned on doing here ever again. She put her palms against the cold, expensive wood and pushed the massive doors open as if breaking a siege. They swung on smooth hinges despite their weight and struck the marbled walls with resounding booms.

The opulent office beyond was exactly as she remembered. Marquina walls, fishbone parquet floors, blackwood furniture. The taxidermied juvenile bananawani set in the wall vitrine behind his desk was new. What had been there before? A map? A ship? No, a stone. An artefact of some kind riddled in curious glyphs.

Crocodile glanced up from his papers and the irritation flitting across his scarred face in the split second before he realised who'd dared barge in, set the hairs on the back of her neck on end. How often had she seen someone shrivel into a desiccated husk straight after that look?

Shivs held his pale gaze, set her jaw and strode into his office as if down the plank. 

The creak of leather as he leaned back in his seat. “You know I've killed people for less.”

She paused in front of his outrageous statement piece of a desk. She put her hands in the pockets of her baggy pants and forced her shoulders to unclench, her stance to relax. If Buggy’s dumb luck had managed to rub off on her in these past months, then now would be the time for it to start working for her.

“Lucky I am not ‘people’,” she said as she crossed her fingers in her pocket. 

Amusement squinted his eyes as the corner of his mouth twitched up behind his cigar. “No, you're not,” he said as he rose.

Shivs was not short. Not by any regular definition of the word. Buggy was only a head taller than her. She hadn't forgotten how tall Crocodile was, not really. And yet, as he came around his desk and towards her, there appeared to be no end to him as he approached. If she reached up, stretched her arm, she could nick his cigar. But only just.

"Do you still smoke?" he said as he stopped well within her personal space, forcing her to crane her neck to meet his gaze. He took a flat, brass case from the inside pocket of his coat and held it out to her. She remembered it. Remembered the exquisite taste of the narrow cigarillos in it.

"No."

"Liar." His gaze flicked down along his cigar at her. "You smell of cigarettes, doll."

"I have changed my ways."

Humour flitted under his gravelly voice. "For the worse." 

Shivs pursed her lips. "It's an expensive lifestyle when they don't come free with a goodnight kiss."

"Hah." 

The bark of laughter actually reached his eyes, crinkling their crow's feet for a moment. He held out the case to her again. "You poor thing. I do support charities, you know."

She took it this time and flipped it open. The rich waft of tobacco and sweet Goji berries greeted her as if no time had passed at all. Might as well enjoy her sojourn back to hell while she could.

She put one of the thin cigarillos between her lips and let him light it. Watched the firelight catch and reflect in his rings. Took a moment to savour the blend, rich and sweet as polished Beli.

They were very good.

Always had been.

Shivs took the cigarillo from between her lips and blew the smoke up in rings through a slow smile. They almost reached him.

Crocodile leaned down through the cloudy hoops to pluck the shoulder of her red-and-white striped sweater between thumb and index finger, a judgemental 'hmph' escaping around his cigar.

She enjoyed the expensive smoke and his fascination while it lasted. Maybe, just maybe, this would be enough? Letting him treat her like a doll badly in need of a better dress up? He liked to spoil, always had. Now, more than ever, he had the means to take it to completely nonsensical levels. Her ego could take it, if that was the price of leaving Bugs alone.

Shivs indicated his everything with an up and down wave of her free hand. "No way to afford the good stuff on a waiter's salary."

He let go of the fabric to brush his thumb across the smear of grease paint near the collar, staining his skin and the gold of his ring red.

"Or a dud's haul." 

He hooked the silk kerchief from his vest's breast pocket and wiped his hand. She followed the length of his arm up to his face.

"The entertainment isn't half bad."

“Yes.” He chewed the butt of his cigar, derision twitching his thin lips as he tucked the kerchief into an inside pocket of his coat. “His pathetic antics can be mildly amusing.”

Shivs’ grip on the cigarillo tightened, but she smiled pleasantly. “I like it when a man can make me laugh,” she said, pointing at him with the thin smoke between her fingers. “Even if at his own expense.”

She frowned at his broad back when he turned away from her without a witty reply, retreating to the button tufted camelback near them.

“You're not here for a social call,” Crocodile stated as he sat down, putting his arms along the sofa's curved back. Something flitted past his pale eyes, but it was gone so fast Shivs couldn't nail it. “What do you want, doll?” 

Shivs rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet, pursing her lips as if preparing to drive a hard bargain. She intended to seem casual, unconcerned. But her palms were slick with sweat and her heartbeat drummed in her ears. She filled her mouth with smoke, tasting the rich flavours. Savouring them before blowing it out in small puffs through her pursed lips.

"I want you to leave him be," she said, extinguishing the cigarillo in his ashtray.

Crocodile shifted and put his shin across his knee. Her gaze flicked down and she saw him take note. 

"And if I do?"

She held his gaze. One breath, two breaths, moved her jaw but didn't form the words. She wanted him to leave Buggy alone. Even if that meant taking his… beating, instead.

He blew out smoke through his nose, waiting patiently for her answer. The hint of a smile lingered as his pale eyes held hers from above the waterline of his scar. And in that moment, he reminded her so strongly of a lurking crocodile. Watching. Waiting. Biding its time to strike. It sent a shiver down her spine, and not entirely out of fear.

Shivs pursed her lips, steeled her emotions, checked her resolve. I'll do it for you, Bugs. It's a deal I know he won't refuse.

She met his intense gaze head on, then dropped hers slowly to his crotch once more. Allowed it to linger there, before looking back up.

He chewed the butt of his cigar and beckoned her. "You never could fit all of me down that skilled throat of yours." 

Shivs watched him uncross his legs as she approached. She trailed her fingertips along his clothed thighs before leaning on them. It brought her face level with his and she deliberately took a moment to breathe in his secondhand smoke. 

“Want to judge if that hasn't changed for the worse?” she whispered against his lips as she savoured the distinct flavours that made up his private blend. 

Strong muscles flexed and relaxed under her palms, and she presumed that to mean ‘yes’. 

She ran her hands down his muscular thighs, taking in their shape until her palms rested on his knees. His breathing changed, she could tell from the way he exhaled smoke. Denser palls, deeper breaths. No resistance as she pushed his knees apart far enough to kneel between them.

Brushing her fingertips across his overstated belt buckle, she smiled to herself. Some things never changed. She slipped the tooled tip through the frame, her movements slow and deliberate as she listened for the subtle shifts in his breathing. She loosened the prong with a sharp tug on the strap, using more force than was strictly necessary. An undercurrent of need laced the grunt that escaped him in response. 

Shivs reached into his pants with both hands, catching his gaze as she drew his penis out, feeling it swell against her palms. She made a noise of appreciation as she let her hands slide down his shaft. His pale eyes hunting after hers when she broke their gaze to look at her fingers fitting around the base. She had not forgotten how tall this part of him was.

Leaning forward, she trailed teasing kisses from halfway down his shaft towards the tip. I’ve swallowed swords longer than this, and dicks aren’t even sharp, she thought as she flicked her tongue past the rim, playful-like. Length was only half the problem though, she knew that perfectly well.

She put a hand on his thigh and leaned on it as she ran the flat of her tongue across the head and took him into her mouth, suckling the tip. Inched his cock further with deliberately slow, short bobs, tilting her head to ensure he’d catch every movement of her lips as they worked around him. Need strained his stoic expression when she stole a glance up. A twitch of his eyebrows when the tip bumped against the back of her mouth. She sucked down and drew his cock back out, watched it twitch and his grip tighten on the backrest as she felt his thigh flex under her palm.

She took him into her mouth again and ran the tip of her tongue along the underside of his cock. Relaxed her neck and let it slip further than before, teasing at the entrance to her throat. Nudging it, stretching it just a bit before sucking down and drawing him back out, tasting precum for her efforts.

The frustrated groan that rumbled up from somewhere deep within his broad chest sent sparks flying down her spine. This is gonna work, she thought as he reached for her head, petted her hair while she teased the precum from him with fleet, wet kisses.

“Stop messing around and swallow my cock, sweetheart,” Crocodile grunted, pale eyes alight with hunger. The petting stopped, fingers tangling into the hair at the back of her neck instead. It was like the twitch on the line that told a fisherman to react.

Shivs glanced up along his hard shaft, and reeled him in: 

“Yes, Sir.”

The horny groan that drew from him, before she’d even begun to take him again, settled comfortably in her bones. Gotcha, she thought.

Shivs breathed slow, deep, steady breaths as she slid his cock along her tongue, lining him up. The head pushed past the entrance of her throat and she switched to shallow breaths through her nose. The grunts and huffs that escaped him every time she swallowed were inhuman and she needed more of it.

She slid his cock further down, felt his thighs tremble as she did. The closer she got, the more his musk pervaded every stifled breath she managed around his thick cock. It was a heavy, heady scent and she shifted her position to press her thighs together. He didn’t notice.

She stroked his legs, ran her hands up to his hips as she leaned closer, and took him deeper still. His fingers were fisted painfully tight into her hair, but his large hand followed her without force or resistance, resting heavily against the back of her neck.

Almost. 

Almost there.

And then the tip of her nose bumped against his flat stomach. She could hardly smirk with his dick this far down her throat but counted on the crinkle of her eyes to work for her as she caught his gaze and slowly raised her hands, palms up. She didn’t care that they trembled. 

Look. No hands, motherfucker.

Crocodile grinned down at her through a huff of smoke, cigar dangling between his teeth. She thought it looked a little worse for wear.

“The pathetic clown doesn’t know what a dirty little slut you are, does he?” Crocodile said, his gravelly voice thick with lust as he petted the back of her neck. “Giving such sweet head to save his sorry hide.” He ran his fingers along her throat as if trying to feel how far down his cock had gone. “I always knew you could do it, sweetheart.”

“Now,” he added as he huffed out a pall of smoke and she felt cool metal sliding around the back of her neck, barring a retreat. “I need my cock-hungry doll to make me feel good.”

Shivs dropped her hands to his hips, gripping the folds of hard muscle there for support. She slid her tongue between her bottom lip and the underside of his cock, making sloppy little noises with the slightest bob of her head. Even those small movements pressed the round curve of his hook into the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine that made her squeeze her thighs together. She didn’t bother to try and hide it.

His large hand joined his hook, strong fingers digging into the back of her head, twisting into the hair there and holding her put as his thick cock twitched so far down her throat she didn’t even know anymore where precisely she felt it. She worked her throat around him, drawing rumbling moans from him that pitched.

“Ah -nngh- you feel so good, doll. So. Damn perfect.” His thighs tensed under her arms, flexing his hips with short jerks. She closed her eyes as she swallowed around him, frowning with effort. His breathy grunts as he lightly fucked her throat made her pussy throb.

Suddenly, his grip tightened like a vice and he shoved her nose-first against his hard, trembling stomach muscles, stealing her breath. Her eyes flew open as her throat strained and cramped, swallowing around him in reflex.

 “Fuck, honey. Ah---! Yes, yes.” The satisfied, drawn-out moan as Crocodile spilled his hot cum down her throat reverberated through the quiet office. 

Her fingers dug around his hips, tears jumping into her eyes as she gagged, feeling cum come up around his cock as stars danced into her vision. His grip weakened as he rode out his orgasm and she pulled back before he was quite done pumping cum. Shivs swallowed it mindlessly while coming up for air. His dick slid wetly out of her throat and mouth, streaks of cum connecting them before they broke.

She glanced up from his softening cock, glistening with her saliva all the way to the hilt. He’d tilted his head back, held his cigar nowhere near his mouth as he came down from his orgasm with deep, steadying breaths that expanded his wide chest and flared his nostrils.

He straightened with a lazy groan and a roll of his broad shoulders. 

Shivs met his gaze, panting.

“You’re still my pretty little thing, aren’t you?” Crocodile said, his gravelly voice breathy as he reached for her, stroking her cheek with his thumb. The gold of his ring was smooth where his fingertip felt rough, the warm touch grounding her fried senses. It lingered at her eyepatch, lightly brushing the faded leather. “The things we let people do to our faces…”

He hooked the kerchief from his pocket and dabbed her mouth. She reached for his hand with both of hers, touching the back of it, taking the cloth. She watched him watch her as she cleaned her face.

“Don’t you have a new pretty thing? Miss Face-of-the-Casino in her cute kimono?” Shivs forced her tone to be casual, edged with light mockery, maybe. It was stupid that it’d stung when she’d seen the younger woman. An irrational, petty feeling. An old pain. And, none of her business, at any rate.

The dismissive look that flitted past his pale eyes was rather unexpected. “An investment, nothing more.”

“She’s pretty,” Shivs said. Perhaps, part of the sting had been the fact that Miss Pretty had not responded to her the way women did when they were into other women.

Crocodile looked at his cigar before putting it back in his mouth. “That she is.”

Their gazes crossed and she pursed her lips. He reached for her jaw, fingertips grazing its curve. Then leaned down and pressed a peck against her frown. She sat up and chased after him as he took another draw from his cigar, stole the aromatic smoke from him as she teased her tongue into his mouth. He blew it out through his nose, taking the cigar from his mouth as he caught the back of her neck with his hook and took control of the kiss.

“You can have one if you like, sweetheart,” he said when they broke apart, indicating his cigar. 

And lord, if she wasn't tempted.

“You share ‘em these days?”

His derisive ‘hmph’ made her smirk as she rose to her feet. 

“What about Miss Pretty? She enjoy your… cigars?” Shivs said, and noticed she’d gotten his cum all over Buggy’s sweater. Shit.

Crocodile glanced at her, pale eyes searching. “I prefer making deals with those who have something of value to offer, doll.”

Shivs put her hands in her pockets and rocked up on the balls of her feet with a mildly overacted grin. “Oh, it’s a deal then? You’ll play nice?”

“My compliance doesn’t come that cheap,” he said through a huff of smoke.

She crooked an eyebrow, risking a hint of ridicule in her tone. “Cheap? And here I was, thinking I have a unique skill up for offer.”

He actually cracked a smile as he flicked the butt of his cigar into the general direction of his desk and ashtray. Then beckoned her with hook and hand. 

“Come here, doll.”

It would have been too easy.

She sauntered back to him and linked her fingers with his, curling the others around his hook, letting him draw her into his lap, straddling his thighs. He shifted so his cock was between them, pressing against her clothed cunt.

“What else will it cost me?” she said as she rested her hands on his shoulders, lightly riding against him. Every rub along his dick pulsed pleasure up her spine, and she hadn’t failed to notice it was already stiffening again.

He stoked the tip of his hook along her cheek as his large hand took in the shape of her firm butt, guiding her movement. “I want to know if your tight pussy can take all of me now, too.”

“Here, on a couch?” she said as she slipped her fingertips under his coat and pushed it off his shoulders. She trailed her hands down the revers of his vest, grabbed hold of them as she dry humped against him. “I thought you said you weren’t cheap?”

The bark of laughter that drew from him shouldn’t make her smile the way it did.

He pressed a kiss against it. 

“I wouldn’t dare, honey,” Crocodile said as he gathered her up in his arms and rose smoothly from the couch, leaving his coat behind. He strode across his study and through the adjacent library to the expansive bedroom beyond. She remembered the sweeping view from its curving window wall and the sea of nightlights twinkling far below.

Instead of depositing her on his spacious bed, he set her down on the plush rug beside it. And motioned up and down her clothes with a dismissive gesture. “Take those rags off.”

Not my rags, Shivs thought as she kicked her boots aside, removed her baggy pants and grabbed the edge of the sweater. She didn’t wear a bra. She didn’t like them, and she hadn’t bothered wearing one this evening either.

Fingertips traced the lacy sides of her underwear while she had the sweater pulled over her head.

“You still have those.”

He sounded…not surprised. Curious, maybe?

“No reason to get rid of perfectly fine underwear,” she said as she freed herself from the sweater, finding he’d already undressed.

“They can stay on,” he said as she folded the sweater, her hand lingering on it before she turned to him.

“For now?”

A smile twitched the corner of his lips. 

“Here, doll.” He held something out to her, cream-coloured and neatly folded. It seemed small and delicate in his large hand.

When she took it, the fabric cascaded into a surprisingly classy, mid-thigh negligee of shimmering silk. The top was constructed from intricately detailed lace with tiny bananawani worked into the pattern.

“Pretty,” she said as she brushed a finger across the delicate lace. She put it on and it fit her so neatly it felt like a second skin. An outrageously luxurious second skin for the silk felt soft as sin and the lace light as air. She turned a full circle on her tiptoe, overacting it just a little. She knew he liked that.

“Looks good on you.” He reached for her head, combing his fingers through her tangled red hair, tucking stray bangs behind the strip of her eyepatch. “I’d never let you get so grimy.”

“Can’t be a dirty little slut if you wash me.”

“Hah.” Crocodile leaned down and scooped her up into his arms, just like that. “Come here before I shove my cock down your throat again to shut you up.”

“Don’t tempt me- ah!”

Her reply cut off when he suddenly let go, dropping her into his bed. And that was quite the distance, even if the landing was soft. He immediately climbed on top of her, caging her with his much larger body. She spread her legs, accommodating his wider hips as he reached for her breast. His thumb traced circles around her nipple through the fine lace, stiffening at his touch.

“Like what you see?”

“Always have, doll,” he rumbled against her collarbone. Though no longer smoking, she could still smell it on him. Would be able to pick it out of a crowd. Subtle tones that reminded her of burnt coffee, dry glass and cinnamon, mingling with the faint wax smell of his hair gel and heavier citric notes of his cologne.

A small gasp escaped her when he brushed the lace down and kissed her hard nipple, taking it into his mouth and licking the sensitive tip. She felt the curve of his hook press against her hip, hitching up the silk as his hand slipped between her thighs. Strong, confident fingers pressed against the fabric of her panties and outer labia underneath. It ignited old desires, flickering life into fires she’d thought snuffed out.

His rough fingers traced the delicate lace, undulating with its curling, stylised waves. Her breath caught when they found the edge along the crease of her thigh. A mewl on her lips as he dipped them under the smooth fabric, fingertips grazing the warm, sensitive skin of her outer labia and sending sparkles of anticipation up her spine. The delicate fabric stretched with an alarming whimper from the seams as strong digits brushed between her folds, not quite able to reach. He grunted against her breast at the soaked pussy he found there.

She felt him slip the hook under the edge, warm from resting against her hip. The thought of him pulling her panties down with it lit up every nerve in the vague vicinity of her hips. Her eyes snapped open at the sharp jerk, the sudden cry of fabric tearing at the seam between silk and lace. 

Shivs made a noise, nose wrinkling. Those were the nicest-.

“I’ll get you new ones,” Crocodile promised against the curve of her breast, his gaze down as he hooked the fabric from her hips. The hunger in his pale eyes as he looked at her pussy made her spread her legs further. He leaned down to caress her labia and press a light kiss against them that made her throb, thinking about his tongue.

A breathy huff escaped Shivs when he slid his middle finger between her folds instead, running slow circles around her inner labia. Gathering the moisture there before teasing them apart and brushing across her clenching entrance. Pleasure sizzled up her spine when he pressed it inside, mapping her inner walls and finding all the right places far too easily. If he kept this up, she was going to come very soon.

He switched to her other breast, teasing the sensitive skin as he inserted a second finger. “I seem to remember you liked getting your little hole stretched,” he rumbled against her nipple, and spread his large fingers apart. She moaned at the strength in them, the ease with which they pried her open. It sent twinges of sweet, sweet pressure blazing through the haze of need fogging her thoughts.

She reached down to his hand, stroke the back of it. Found his thumb and guided it against her clit with a needy moan. Her thighs trembled as he massaged it firmly, pushed his fingers all the way in, then spread them as he pulled out. She felt his knuckles and the hard edges of his rings press into her labia when he pushed them back in but she didn’t mind, kind of liked it. She reached a hand for his shoulder, neck, grabbing hold of the tout muscle there as she arched her back towards him. His pace was torturously slow and she was loving it.

Shivs let out a drawn out whine when he stopped, pulled at his neck, wrist, knowing perfectly well neither will give an inch but trying, anyway. She tried to clench her thighs, rub them together, nurse the need smouldering in her veins, but his knees were between hers and she writhed in vain.

Crocodile shifted unto his elbow, bunching the silk further up her hips while taking his hard dick in hand. A hoarse whisper close to her ear as he guided the head against her slick pussy: “Won’t you beg for my cock, sweetheart?”

“I need to feel your cock in me,” Shivs said as she caught his hungry gaze. “Feel it fill me, stretch me.”

He grunted with barely contained need, she could see it in the straining of his back as she reached for his thick neck, folding her hands behind it. Felt it in the way his hips twitched as he pressed his shaft through her wet folds, coating it with her juices.

“Am I not a good girl, sir?”

“Yes, you are.”

Shivs moaned loudly when he entered her. Whined at the delicious pressure as he pushed deeper into her soaking wet pussy, stretching her around him. She clung to his neck, mewling with incoherent need. Her hand went to his hair, messing it up but not caring. Neither did he.

“Ah -ngh- fuck,” Crocodile grunted, his breath hot against her neck.

Shivs held onto him for dear life as she arched against his hard body, savoured the sharp pleasure of him stretching her cramping, soaking cunt wide enough to plough through. He’d not bottomed out yet. If she could take him, she’d have him wrapped around her finger.

“You’re. Fuck. As tight. As I remember. Sweetheart,” Crocodile groaned into her neck, his gravelly voice strained to the point of being near unintelligible. It was getting tougher and tougher to push further through her tight, contracting walls.

“Almost there,” Shivs whispered as she brushed a stray bang of dark hair from his eyes.

The noise he made in response was inhuman and she drank it in as she closed her eyes, spread her legs further to accommodate his hips and relaxed every muscle she could still feel. A whimper bubbled from her lips when he pushed up against something deep within her that twitched a pleasure so sharp up her spine it sat right next to pain. 

“Fuck, yes,” he ground out as his hips pressed flush against hers, his breath hot, heavy pants buffeting against the crook of her neck. “Feels. So good.”

He managed to push himself up onto his elbow, satisfaction animating his whole face as he looked at their joined hips, her soft labia squashed against his pubes. Shivs whimpered, his movement nudging tight bursts of pleasure deep within her. 

“I knew you could do it, doll.” His tone was thick with lust, laboured from his heavy breathing. He gently brushed a strand of sweat-slick red hair from her forehead with his hook, looking so proud. “You like getting your little cunt stuffed, don’t you?"

Shivs gave a sharp nod, struggling to form words.

“I know you do, honey,” he whispered as he rolled his hips against hers, not truly thrusting. She reached for his face with trembling hands, stroking his hard jaw. He grunted under his breath with each push and she pressed pecks against the puffs of hot breath until he responded. Until he chased her tongue back into her own mouth and pressed her head back into the pillow with the desperate force of his kiss, demanding entrance with his tongue that she was more than willing to give. 

“That's all you g-got?” she whispered through a moan and a bated breath when they broke their kiss for want of air. “I b-barely feel it.”

“Ah? You want more, doll?” Crocodile pulled out with a grunt, just a fraction, before shoving himself back inside her to the hilt, making her mewl with pleasure through clenched teeth as his cock bottomed out and up against her cervix. “Shall I take you back to my study? Pound you bend over my desk, like I used to?”

Shivs whined into his mouth as she latched onto him again, arms tightening around his thick neck as her cunt squeezed around his cock from the pleasure coiling around her spine. If he took her from behind, he could probably push deeper still. Oh, she’d be in trouble.

“Who’s cheap now, hrm?” A breathy hum into her ear as the obscene slap of his hips against hers filled his bedroom. She whined in need, the heady mix of mind numbing pleasure laced with an edge of pain making her tremble against him. “Do you want to be my little whore again? My pretty fuck slut to sit on my cock whenever and wherever I want?”

All she could do was whine and roll her hips to meet his steady thrusts. Fingers digging into the taut muscles across his shoulders, keeping him close as he fucked her deeper than she’d ever felt a man, even him. She whimpered, the heady mix of mind numbing pleasure laced with an edge of pain all but overwhelming her. Especially when he thrust just right, shoving his cock against a sensitive spot so deep inside her she didn’t even know she had it.

“I missed my. Pretty cocksleeve,” Crocodile grunted into her ear. “The. Only. Little slut that can take me -hng- properly.”

“Fuck me harder,” Shivs whispered, hands massaging his broad shoulders. He groaned with effort, she could feel the bridled strength in the muscles working under her palms. His pace picked up, and so did the strain in his body. Every thrust stretched her so deliciously, stimulating every needy nerve inside of her. 

“Do it,” she moaned wantonly as his thrusts started to push her up on the bed, her weight no match against his strength. “I c-can take it.”

“Ah - hng- you’re. Going to. Make me cum, doll,” he growled through clenched teeth. He grabbed her shoulder, holding her in place as he jerked his thrusts up against her. Her mind was unravelling. The only thing she could think about was his cock filling her, burning up every single nerve she had as needy pleasure coiled in her belly. She wanted him to cum. She really did.

When he paused, she struggled to comprehend why. Her gaze found his. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his mouth slack to accommodate the deep breaths heaving his chest. He was barely holding still, strain thrumming through every inch of his large frame above her.

“Does. My pretty little thing want. Cum as deep in her tight pussy. As her pretty throat?”

She whined, pulled at his neck with both hands. “Y-yes.”

“Beg. For it.”

“P-please,” she whimpered as she tried to make him move, weakly rolled her hips towards him. 

“Please what?”

“Please, s-sir.”

The noise he uttered in response to that settled somewhere at the primal base of her brain. She wanted, no, needed, to hear it again.

“Please, sir. Pound my needy hole like I deserve,” she mewled into his ear, savouring the way his breath hitched, that noise came again. 

“Damnit, doll,” Crocodile grunted through clenched teeth as he picked up a pace that became quickly rougher, slightly erratic. He locked his hold on her shoulder, broad fingers digging around her thin muscles and narrow bones, keeping her put as he pounded into her soaking, cramping cunt. “Gonna fuck you so full, you'll be leaking my cum well into tomorrow.”

“Please, please, pleaaasse,” she whined and clenched around him as he fucked her into the sinfully soft matrass with long, deep strokes that shoved his cock shamelessly up against her cervix to fit it all in. She wanted, needed, to cum around it, desperate for release. “Fuck me full of cum, sir. Stuff my tight cunny like you did my slutty mouth.”

“I -ngh- will, honey. I am,” he ground out, barely intelligible as his pace lost all semblance of rhythm and he bucked against her in the grip of his orgasm’s first throes.

“Oh! Yes, yes,” she moaned as he shoved his throbbing cock as far as she could take it, cumming against the deepest corner of her cunt as she shuddered around his cock with unfulfilled need. He stayed buried inside her as he came down, breath erratic before steadying, slowing. She whimpered in need, clenching around his softening cock. She hadn’t been able to cum around it like she wanted. It was too thick to cramp enough for a proper orgasm. She knew that, but had thought maybe this time…

He knew it, too. Remembered it.

“You’re still my pretty little thing, aren’t you?” he said as he caressed her cheek, ran his thumb across her parted lips. “Unable to cum around a cock like a big girl.”

She made a small noise that he swallowed in a kiss.

They stayed that way until her breathing steadied as well. Then he sat up and gathered her into his lap. She held onto him, her cheek against his collarbone. Not quite ready yet to let go.

“You look parched, doll,” Crocodile said as he brushed a bang from her eyes.

Shivs peered up at him. “I would not say ‘no’ to a sweet white.”

A noise escaped him that could have been a fond one as he lifted her off his lap and rose. The sound of his retreating footsteps filled the quiet. He’d gone to his study, judging by the distance. Shivs got up as well and shimmied the negligee down. Despite everything, she did not feel like taking it off. It felt nice against her flushed skin.

She sauntered to the curved window wall and found the view precisely as she remembered it. A sea of nightlights twinkled across the city below, mirroring the deep blue, star-speckled sky above. The moon hung low, waning from view. It wasn’t long before he returned. She heard him uncork a bottle behind her and fill two glasses. The snap and swoosh of his lighter. The familiar scent of his cigar preceding him as he came to stand beside her, still naked.

He held a glass out to her, a cigarillo clamped against its curve. The wine was a deep bronze instead of the pale yellow usual to white wines. She accepted the glass and smoke, gaze lingering on the narrow slot through its delicate stem. It allowed him to hold them with his hook without slipping. She glanced sideways and up at him. A fond smile twitched her lips when she noticed his hair was neater than before. He’d evidently taken a comb to it for a hot second.

Shivs put the cigarillo in her mouth and turned to find his lighter lying on the nightstand beside the wine bottle, and a corkscrew with its split cork still attached. She glanced at the label as she lit the cigarillo. It read ‘1811’ in large, proud capitals, and a name in a curving script she couldn’t be bothered to try and decipher. She would not be able to afford it, anyway.

Taking a sip, she returned to his side. The wine was sweet, indeed. With hints of lime, honey, saffron. She made herself comfortable against him, her bum resting on his thigh. “It’s a nice view,” she said as she blew out a thin pall of smoke.

He glanced down at her and their gazes crossed as he idly stroked her hip. “It is.”

Shivs leaned into his touch, sipping the wine. It really was, very good.

“Clever scheme you’ve gotten up to, in order to save the loser’s sorry hide,” Crocodile remarked as he blew a smoke ring against the narrow cloud she’d just produced. “But it has a flaw.”

Shivs let her weight shift from his thigh to his loin, only the soft silk between them. “You sure?”

A self-satisfied smile twitched behind his cigar as he gave her hip a squeeze. “None of this will work on Dracule.”

Only because I don’t have a penis, she thought, but no matter. They may have both grown older, but Croki was still fundamentally the same man she’d left years ago. And that would work for her, she was sure of it. Inevitably, Mihawk would pick on Bugs. She would take it upon herself to get irritatingly upset about it. Mihawk would no doubt insult her next, and Sir Self-Satisified here would take it personally by-proxy and shut him up. It’d be a win.

“I’ll think of something,” Shivs said as she blew a thin pall through his smoke ring, dispersing it.

He glanced at her, amused. “He’s partial to good wine, at least.”

“I’ll take it under advisement.”

She nipped her own wine, idly rubbing her thighs together. Pleasure skulked around the base of her spine, denied but not forgotten. She made a little noise against her glass when she felt his hand move up her thigh, his thumb brush under the edge of the negligee.

“Still needy?” he said as he bunched up the fine silk, rubbing his middle and ring finger against her clit in slow circles. It sent lazy sparks of pleasure straight to her brain. Drawing a shuddering whimper from her as he dipped his middle finger between her folds.

“Cum for me, honey,” Crocodile rumbled as he lightly ran the tip of his finger along the inner rim of her vagina, then teased the sensitive spot further down. Shivs gasped through her moan as the briefest shudder of an orgasm stole over her like a thief in the night. It was not enough, not nearly enough.

“N-need more,” she said as she put the glass down with a wobble. Reached for his large hand when he stopped, withdrew, tugging it back. Bunching two of his fingers together, of a mind to stick them into herself if he didn't.

“Come to our board meeting tomorrow. You’ll come sit with me and I’ll take good care of your needy little hole.” He shook her fussy touch and caught her pubes, massaging his palm firmly against her soft cunt, pressing her bum against his cock. “You can ride my palm like you used to, and I’ll make you cum on my fingers till your tight pussy is sore from cramping around them.”

Shivs wasn’t particularly keen on doing any of this semi-publically, least of all anywhere Bugs would be. Though she feared she wouldn’t be able to talk herself out of this, as easily as she’d talked herself into it.

“Don’t worry, doll. I’ll leave the pathetic clown alone,” Crocodile promised as he stroked her flat belly with the rounding of his hook. “Can’t beat the loser if my hand is occupied with something sweeter, hm?”

Shit. She had to tell Bugs. Forewarned, forearmed, and all that. She turned in his hold, his hand moving to her butt instead. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” she said, but he caught her wrist when she took a step back.

“Ah, ah,” he admonished as he stopped her, pulled her with him, back into bed. “You’re staying with me tonight.”

“I, what? Why?” 

Suddenly, she wanted to leave as he gathered her against him, nestling her into his lap and chest, spooning his large body around her like a cage. She wanted to leave, wanted to go to Buggy and cry when he guided his cock back inside her still moist pussy with an incriminating noise and a satisfied rumble. She’d meant to turn this trick and tell Buggy about it. Tell him her plan to manipulate the ex-warlord to leave him alone, to leave them alone. Tell him it had worked. 

Shivs pushed herself on her elbow but Crocodile pulled her back down to him.

“Stay,” he said as he hooked the fluffy underblanket and silk cover sheets about them, his arm around her waist, hand on her hip.

“Why.” She had to tell Buggy, but now she couldn’t. She’d left after they’d gone to bed. She hadn’t told him yet. He didn’t know. He’d wake up alone.

Crocodile stroked the midline of her belly with the tip of his hook, rippling the cream-coloured silk as it moved up her chest, counting to the fifth rib. The one behind which her heart sat.

“Wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

A quiet sob escaped her.

"Ssh, sleep, honey," Crocodile whispered into her hair, fingertips stroking her hip. “I’ll take good care of you tomorrow.”

~

Honourary mention tags: @smut-goblin , @ruledbyproblematique , @gingernut1314 , @swirlsofblackandwhite

(N/A): To anyone reading & making it to the end. Writing this has consumed me the past days. I want to know what you think! What did you like? What made you laugh? Was there something specific you noticed? Something you now wonder about? I am 100% open to lengthy comments and blow by blows, ngl. I am obsessed with this.

If you want for more, I jotted down some of my own thoughts regarding this debacle. I may also be plotting another stint. Because Impel Down, do you understand me??

#sir crocodile #one piece crocodile #crocodile x oc #op crocodile #cross guild #KINDA #crocodile x reader #crocodile fanfic #one piece fanfic #one piece smut #opla #op smut #crocodile one piece #smut #one piece #one piece live action #one piece anime #one piece manga #imperial fiction #buggy thoughts #imperial shenanigans #crocaine #crocodile x shivs

[mxlti-fand0m-imaginess]

Little Miss Perfect // JJ Maybank

request: none!

prompts: none!

summary: you’re practically kook royalty, so when you start dating jj you’re worried about what people will say. but by trying to protect your image, you ruin the best thing that ever happened to you.

warnings: angst, language, arguing, crying, hurt w/ a little bit of comfort at the end, reader is kinda a bitch in the beginning

word count: 2.2k

a/n: fem!reader, also i have no clue why tumblr labeled this mature??? like bruh its literally just an angst fic

join my taglist!

You were sitting on your bed with a book in your hands, currently invested in the plot of the latest novel you were reading. Page after page, you felt yourself get pulled in deeper, almost in a trance as you took in the story. You turned the page once more, suspense building within you, when a knocking at your window thrusted you back into reality.

Sighing in annoyance, you placed your bookmark back in between the pages and set your book down, turning to see who had interrupted you. Annoyance turned into anger when you saw your boyfriend, JJ, crouched outside your window with a cheeky grin on his face. You stood up and rushed over to the window, throwing the window open.

“What are you doing here?!” you asked, frustrated by his sudden appearance.

Seemingly oblivious to your displeasure, JJ crawled through the window, gently pushing you aside in the process. You scoffed as he closed the window behind him and walked over to your bed, laying back on it.

“What? Suddenly I need a reason to see my girlfriend? Just missed you is all, haven’t seen you in a few days.”

You groaned, walking over to your bed and standing in front of JJ, grabbing his arm and pulling him up into a sitting position.

“JJ, you know you can’t be here!”

He shrugged. “What’s the big deal? It’s not like we’re a secret anymore. Thought we wouldn’t have to sneak around still.”

You crossed your arms, huffing in annoyance. “Well, it was supposed to stay a secret. But someone messed that up.”

JJ’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, your harsh tone finally registering in his mind. He had thought you were just messing around and pretending to be annoyed by his sudden appearance, but the more he looked at you, the more actually upset that you seemed.

“Wait, babe, are you actually upset about that? I thought that you’d be happy about all this. People know, we can be together now.” He stood up and walked over you, gently uncrossing your arms and taking your hands in his. “Isn’t that what you want? To be with me?”

You frowned, pulling your hands away from him, noticing how his face fell as you did so. “Of course I want to be with you Jayj. But I wanted this, us, to stay a secret. That’s why we kept it hidden in the first place. So people wouldn’t know.

JJ shook his head in disbelief, the true meaning of your words sinking in and cutting him down to the bone. “You don’t want people to know about us? This whole secret thing was never about sparing your douchey ex’s feelings! You didn’t want people to know you were with me! I’m right, aren’t I? You’re ashamed to be seen with me.”

You shook your head, trying to deny his suspicions. “No. JJ, of course not. I just- wasn’t ready for this to be public yet.”

You tried your best to sound convincing, but you knew you were a shit liar. And judging by the look on JJ’s face, he knew it too. He stepped back, the hurt on his face slowly turning into anger. You were ashamed to be seen with him, to be with him, and he knew it.

JJ scoffed, his piercing blue eyes practically glaring at you. “No, no I get it. You’re embarrassed about being me. That’s why you’re trying so hard to hide it. What is it, huh? Is it cause I don’t have the fancy ass mansion or the shiny new cars? Everything surrounding you is just so perfect. Wouldn’t wanna risk tarnishing that.”

Hearing his words, having everything you’ve been feeling repeated back to you, you were finally understanding how stupid it all was. You loved him. God, you loved him so much that being without him was painful. You couldn’t breathe when you weren’t with him. So what if you’re a Kook and he’s a Pouge? That shouldn’t matter. That doesn’t matter. Not anymore. Being so worried about appearances and reputations had made you blind to what was right in front of you. Your whole life you’d wonder when you’d fall in love, have a real and true connection with someone. And now you did. But you ruined it. You could only hope it wasn’t too late to fix that.

“JJ,” you said softly as you stepped towards him, your eyes watering with unshed tears.

He shook his head, walking back over to your window and pulling it open.

“Don’t. You’ve made it quite clear how you think about me. I wouldn’t wanna ruin your reputation, little miss perfect.” The harsh edge to his voice made your heart break. You had never seen him act so cold and uncaring towards you. It was painful.

“JJ, I’m sorry! Please, just let me-,” you started, rushing forward and grabbing his hand, trying to get him to stay.

“Save it,” JJ said, cutting you off. He yanked his hand away and crawled out your window. “Have a nice life,” he said, not even bothering to turn around and look at you.

You watched as he walked away, your heart breaking even more as the distance between the two of you grew. Eventually, you pulled the window shut, your reflection in the glass startling you. You were a mess, eyes red and puffy, your face dripping with a mix of tears and snot. So much for being “little miss perfect.”

“I love you,” you whispered, knowing he couldn’t hear you but needing it to be said anyways.

Trudging back over to your bed, you fell down on top of the mattress, clutching a pillow to your chest as you sobbed your heart out. You’ve experienced heartbreak before, but nothing like this. Never with someone that you truly loved. You’ve been in relationships before, but it was just attraction. Never love. Things were different with JJ. And now that you ruined it, you weren’t sure you’d ever be able to find that feeling again.

~

The days passed, and you could barely bring yourself to get out of bed. JJ was the only thing on your mind, your thoughts spiraling with anguish and regret. You replayed the last conversation you had with him in your mind, over and over again, trying to get a different outcome. But it never worked. Somehow, you drove him away everytime, the pain in your heart worsening each time you saw that look of utter heartbreak on his face.

You wanted to change things. Go back in time and stop yourself from being such an uptight prude. You loved him, more than you’d ever loved someone before, and you threw it all away because of something as stupid as social classes. You were so caught up in what other people thought about your relationship, you completely ignored your own feelings about it. Being with JJ was the happiest that you had ever been, and you destroyed it.

You had decided to go outside today for the first time since everything good in your life fell apart. Hopefully walking on the beach would clear your mind and help to alleviate some of the immense pain you were consumed by. It had almost started to work too, until you heard a group of people talking, and an all too familiar laugh caught your attention.

JJ.

You walked a bit faster, your heart skipping at the sight of JJ when you finally reached him. Against your better judgment, you started to walk over to them, the lively conversation dying down as you approached. JJ must’ve told the Pouges what had happened. All eyes were on you as you stopped in front of them, well all eyes except for JJ’s. Your stomach turning at the sudden build up of nerves.

“Hi,” you said, your voice soft, almost a whisper.

“Hi!” Sarah responded cheerfully, not entirely aware of what exactly had gone down between you and JJ.

You smiled gratefully at her. She went to say something else before John B. nudged her and shook his head. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion but didn’t want to question it, instead turning to you and smiling apologetically.

“What are you doing here?” Kie asked you, a venom in her voice. It was startling to hear her speak that way, she had always been so nice to you before.

“JJ, can I talk to you?” you asked, ignoring Kie’s question as you didn’t want to deal with how aggressive she was currently being towards you.

“Why? Aren’t you worried that someone’ll see? I’d hate to ruin your perfect little reputation,” JJ said, not even bothering to look at you.

“JJ please,” you said, your voice breaking as you looked at him, willing yourself not to cry.

He looked up at you despite himself when he heard how broken you sounded. And now that he was finally looking at you, he could see just how much of a mess you were. Dark circles under your eyes and a permanent frown etched onto your face. He had never seen you so miserable, and even though you had taken his heart and pretty much stomped on it, all he wanted to do was make your pain go away.

He sighed, standing up and walking over to you. “Alright, fine. We’ll talk.”

The Pogue’s all looked at each other awkwardly before Pope finally spoke up. “Did you guys see that pregnant bird over there?” He stood up, followed by Kie, John B, and Sarah as they walked away while talking about his extremely horrible excuse.

Soon, you and JJ were alone. The two of you walked over to the ocean, sitting down in the sand in front of the water in silence. You had gone over this moment in your head close to a hundred times, but now that it was hear you didn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry,” you said, your voice shaking as tears welled up in your eyes. You didn’t want to cry. Not here, not now. But it was getting harder and harder to keep your tears inside.

JJ didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say. He was waiting for you to say something else, anything else. Just looking at you was hard for him, because he knew that if he did for too long her would take you back, forgiving you for everything just to see your breathtaking smile again.

“I fucked up. I was wrong, and I know that now. But I- I should’ve known it all along. It wasn’t right for me to treat you like that. You deserve better than that. You deserve better than me. And I- I’m not asking you to take me back or anything because I don’t deserve to be with you anymore, but I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you still hated me.”

You sniffled, wiping your tears off your face. You gave up on holding it all inside, it hurt too much to hide it.

JJ sighed, looking over at you for the first time since you both sat down. “Why did you do it? Why were you so ashamed of me?”

You felt your heart break at the pain in his voice. You just wanted to fix it, go back and stop yourself from being such a pretentious idiot. From ruining the best thing you ever had.

“I wasn’t ashamed of you, not really. I guess I was just scared of what people would say if they knew that I was with you. Cause well- I mean you saw how everyone was towards Sarah when she first started dating John B. I just didn’t want the same thing to happen to me with you. Which is so stupid, because why should I care about what anyone else thinks? I- I love you, and I don’t care who knows it,” you said, finally letting your real feelings show.

JJ’s eyes widened when you said you loved him. That was the first time you ever said that to him. You had always been too scared to say it before, even though JJ had told you that he loved you countless times. He smiled softly to himself, feeling everything he felt for you come rushing back to him like they had never left. Like nothing had ever happened between you.

“Yeah, that uh- that was pretty stupid.”

You looked over at him and saw the smile on his face, causing you to smile at him in return. Maybe this wasn’t going to go as bad as you thought it would.

“I know I was wrong, and I know I don’t deserve a second chance, but I can’t imagine my life without you, JJ. I love you. God, I love you so much that it hurts when I’m not with you. If you do ever decide to take me back, I’ll be different. I’ll be better. I’ll tell everyone that I’m with you because I would be proud to be your girlfriend. You’re everything to me, and I don’t care who knows this.”

“Fuck. You’re making it really hard to stay mad at you.”

You let out a huff of laughter, smiling over at JJ with tears in your eyes.

“Was that a yes…?” you asked, nervous that you had misread the situation.

JJ smiled at you and nodded. “Yes, that was a yes.”

You practically threw yourself at him, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him close, not ever wanting to let him go again. JJ wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into his lap, pressing a kiss to your cheek.

“Oh, by the way, I love you too.”

#imagine #imagines #x reader #oneshot #smut #blurb #outer banks #outer banks smut #outer banks x reader #outer banks imagine #outer banks oneshot #outer banks blurb #jj maybank smut #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank oneshot #jj maybank blurb #obx #obx x reader #obx smut #obx fic #obx fanfiction #obx imagine #obx oneshot #obx blurb #fanfic #fanfiction #fix #jj maybank fanfiction

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

what's your opinion about the whole "hints of Adrien as sentimonster already exist and obvious from s1 and sentimonster Adrien is not just a theory, never been"

This already stated by the ambassador in twitter when s4 aired but I just... call me denial or stupid, but those "hints" that people claimed as one? doesn't looks like hints at all for me. Like, there's other explanation for, say, Adrien feather allergy, other than "it's hint that he's a sentimonster" and this "hints" that they claimed range from trivial one like feather allergy to the irritating one like "reason Adrien can't disobey Gabriel is because he's a sentimonster."

It's irritating because as an ex abused child, seeing people claimed Adrien trauma respond as "hint that he's sentimonster" is irritating, it's invalidating for me. There's no amount of "yes Adrien is abused, him being a sentimonster doesn't change the fact that he's an abused child" validating my experience and feelings as an ex abused child because That! Is! Not! The same!! Our experience is difference!!!

I'm sorry for the rant it just everytime I see people praised the sentimonster Adrien plot or how it's already been there from the first time, make me want to pull my hair. Not only because of the reason I stated above but also because that means I feel like i spend years watching this show just for me to be tricked by the showrunner. ...or it just me who's reading the show wrong like my friends said, that it's never a show where Adrien fight for his freedom, realized that he's abused and get out from that situation, that its like my friend said, this show is Marinette story, it's never been about Adrien, that he's never meant to be more than love interest despite his name is in the title.

I hate it...

I think the so-called "hints" are just things that people came up with in an act of desperation to justify bad story telling as it's quite clear that Adrien wasn't a sentimonster until season four. Possibly even late season four. Fans of the BS point to minor things to try to prove that this was always the plan while ignoring massive plot holes introduced by the twist. I made a list of these plot holes, but the two big ones are Chat Blanc and Gorizilla. These episodes would not exist if the sentimonster plot had been the plan from day one.

If Adrien was always a sentimonster, then Chat Blanc and Ephemeral should have been near identical since both episode let Gabriel control the time and place of final fight by luring his son to his lair, meaning that Gabriel had time to get the ring in both episodes, but the episodes are wildly different. Adrien had free will in Chat Blanc while Ephemeral was basically used to verify the senti-twist for the first time. I don't know how anyone can watch both of those episodes and claim that this isn't clear evidence of a massive retcon or - at the very least - terrible writing.

Similarly, Gorizilla has Gabriel straight up say "[Adrien is] hiding something for sure... there's only one way for us to uncover his secret." If the sentimonster plot had been planned from day one, then the "one way" would have been using the ring. Instead, Gabriel risks his son's life because Adrien wasn't a sentimonster at this point, so Gabriel couldn't force the answer out of him. And don't even try to say that this just means that Gabe wasn't willing to use the rings at this point. He literally lets his kid almost die in this episode! A little forced Q&A is nothing compared to that and him using the ring is not treated as a big deal by the story. He has no change of heart moment where he puts it on for the first time. He just starts using it in the later half of season four almost as if that's when it came into existence.

As for the things people point to, I've talked about the feather allergy in particular before because that one just drives me up a wall. Tldr: Adrien is a magical construct that is exactly what he was intended to be by his creator and no other sentimonster has been shown to have a feather allergy, so if you really think that this is foreshadowing, then you're basically arguing that Emilie designed her kid to have a feather allergy as some weird sort of joke. This is extra true since the allergy is explicitly stated to be a pigeon allergy and not a catch-all feather allergy.

There's also the fact that one of the writers posted the original script of Origins on twitter which revealed that the peacock wasn't originally going to be missing from (or possible in) the miracle box, meaning that it was only added later in the game, which is not shocking in the slightest given the way that Adrien was written in season one. To be more explicit, he's not written as a sheltered romantic. Like, remember how Nino asked Adrien for dating advice back in Animan and Adrien was just like "ask Marinette on a date to the zoo!" That's normal teen type advice, not sheltered teen advice and especially not advice from roses-and-candlelit-rooftop dates Chat Noir who doesn't really exist until season two.

In my opinion, the senti plot only became a thing in the fandom because it explains Emilie's sickness if you assume that she knew what using the peacock would mean, but chose to use it anyway, which was a reasonable assumption. It's one I made! But we now know that she probably didn't have any clue because Félix wouldn't exist if the consequences were known as shown by the play in Representation (S5E24) which gave us these lines:

Félix: (as Gabriel) After much study, I have discovered a solution for you and your wife. But there will be a price to pay. You will give me your best knight to guard my future son. In exchange, I will lend you this magic amulet. It will allow you to give life to your dream and to control it. Félix: Some time after his son was born, the lord of war fell ill. And the weaker he grew, the more convinced he became that he was paying the price for using magic.

I remember watching this, hearing the "there will be a price to pay" line and thinking, "Oh, so they did actually know what the peacock would do. Interesting." Only for the plot twist that this is just Gorilla's origin story. In retrospect, it was honestly kinda funny, but the big takeaway here is still that the story never needed to justify Emilie using the peacock because she apparently didn't chose to die for her child. She only found out that having a sentichild would kill her after Adrien already existed at which point it was too late to give fully informed consent. Given the implication of how the Agreste's got the peacock, it's kind of hard to feel bad for her. If anything, it feels like karma, but we don't know how much Gabriel hid from her so I could be wrong. We'll probably never know for sure because I highly doubt that the Agreste plot will be revisited in a meaningful way.

In summary, the senti twist is terribly setup and ultimately pointless. It adds nothing to the story outside of cheap drama and means one of two things: the twist was a massive, last-minute retcon or the writers are terrible at following their own lore and setting up twists. Neither option is good, but if you like the senti twist (a POV I'll never understand), then you don't want to acknowledge that because you want to feel like it was a good addition instead of something that should have stayed in the realms of fanfiction where authors could reshape canon to make the twist work or treat it with the severity it deserves.

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

On a more personal note, I'm sorry that you're feeling invalidated by people's reaction to this twist. I agree that the ways its played really downplays and even outright ignores Adrien's trauma which is extra disappointing since it could have been used to highlight just how much Adrien's home life has hurt him. Supposedly he's no different from a normal human, but no normal human would be okay having their free will overwritten like he has. This change in status hasn't actually changed anything about how messed up his treatment has been unless you don't think Adrien is equal to a normal human.

Basically, there's a lot of cognitive dissonance that goes on in the minds of fans who like the way canon has handled this theory.

Even if we ignore that, the fact that Adrien's not the main character doesn't mean that he deserves to be nothing more than Ladybug's perfect, magical arm-candy. One of the show's major flaws is its obsession with focusing everything on Marinette. I've talked before about how that choice does her no favors.

Most long-running TV shows understand that it's actually a good idea to flesh out more than one character because you need a strong ensemble cast to make long-running shows work. Ron Stoppable, Tuxedo Mask, and other girl-power male love interests show us that good shows tend to give the love interest more development as time goes on. Meanwhile, Miraculous has made Adrien less and less important with each passing season even though he's a titular characters.

No, being in the title doesn't mean that he has to be important, but I use that phrasing as a short hand for the fact that Chat Noir was important for the first four seasons. The fact that his name was in the title made sense and felt totally earned because he'd earned equal billing to the lead. He was key to the plot. His father was the villain. He and Ladybug were the only holders chosen by Master Fu and the only holders given their miraculous full time. Chat Noir was also the emotional core of every final, giving Ladybug the strength to win the day. In other words, we were given the show the title promised until, suddenly, we weren't. The "twist" is that Adrien doesn't matter outside of giving Marinette someone to kiss and trauma dump on and we're now going into a season where the villain no longer has anything to do with Adrien and where everyone has a miraculous, so don't expect that status quo to improve. The bug and cat team is dead and gone.

So, no, I don't think that you were reading the show wrong by expecting Adrien's backstory to mean something. You're perfectly valid to expect good, logical writing instead of the nonsense we got. Hopefully you can find some good content in other works or in fanfiction for this show. The main reason that I write Miraculous fanfic is because there are so many good ideas that have been totally squandered in the name of cheep petty drama and it's natural to feel disheartened by that. The only reason I'm not devastated by season five is because I personally thought that the Queen Bee plot was a canary in a coal mine, warning us that this show was going to have terrible writing for anything that lasted longer than an episode. I never imagined how bad it would get, though, or I probably would have stopped watching sooner instead of keeping up with canon so that I could follow the fan content.

I have personally taken a great deal of pleasure in writing stuff where Adrien's trauma is acknowledge, Gabriel pays for his crimes, and Marinette gets to be a good supportive girlfriend instead of treating Adrien as her therapist while he gets nothing. I think it would have been beautiful if the show had focused more on Chat Noir being Ladybug's support instead of mostly using him as comic relief. If they'd gone that route, then they could have very easily let the roles reverse after Gabriel's defeat, letting Marinette finally have a chance to support Adrien after everything he's done for her. That's how you write a satisfying, balanced romance for the ages.

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml season 5 salt #senti salt

[myths-tournaments]

Awful Characters Round 1 Part 4 (2/8)

Propaganda under the cut!

VEGAS THEERAPANYAKUL

he's such a polarizing character because there's the group of us who are like Vegas <3!!! and then there's the people that point out his many crimes against humanity and lack of redeemable qualities or actions. he brutally tortures his love interest. he commits lots of crimes against the protagonist including drugging him. he's literally the villain. I love him so much though he's the poorest little meow meow of all time

As the oldest son in the minor mafia family in Thailand, Vegas seeks every opportunity to outdo his cousin from the main family. He hires an assassin to go after him. On another occasion he drugs, kidnaps, and assaults a guy to get at his cousin. He secretly schemes with the Yakuza, plots to frame that same guy as a mole working for the main family, fakes being in love with his cousins ex-boyfriend to the point of getting engaged (and then ditches him), and allegedly has done the same thing with the actual mole working for the main family. The definition of manipulate, manwhore, manslaughter. Vegas has a whole ass Patrick Bateman-style murder coat for torture. Methods of torture used: extracting a man's Cochlear, electrocuting a man's balls, forcefeeding by shoving said man's head into slop, whipping him with his own leather belt, setting a fake escape trap only to chase the hostage down and tase him. Whenever he makes deals he'll slip his hand into the other person's with a firm grip before they've consciously expressed a choice (so it always goes in his favor). He shields himself with other's bodies during shootouts, letting several people die for his sake. He's into BDSM (this isn't one of the bad things, but hoo boy people will act like it is). Listen, he's a piece of work. He cries because his pet hedgehog dies. He falls for his hostage, fucks him, and then continues to be shitty so the guy knocks him out to escape. He gets pathetic about it. He confesses his love and kisses him in a parking garage full of dead bodies in the middle of a mafia coup that he is leading. He's absolutely reprehensible and is treated as the main villain of the show for several reasons. Except I love him and his insanity. He gets a lot of shit that he doesn't deserve (both in canon and in the fandom). Not that I wanna fix him, that wouldn't be fun! Vegas and his partner deserve to serve cunt, be disgustingly in love, and murder to their hearts desires because I said so.

CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON

This is based on vibes and general like…hesitancy in others to agree that Milverton is worth simping over. He's the true evil foil to a necessary evil protag. He is always on a power trip he finds himself smart but can't pivot when things go off script, he's the king of blackmail because he isn't trying to get the money he's trying to make the person come to ruin and really wants to watch. His goon pissed on what they thought was Sherlock Holmes' Stradivarius, simply to humiliate him. He's a wet rat, sexy as hell, and entertaining af.

Look, the man is pure evil, he blackmails people not for the profit of taking the ransoms but to watch them frantically scramble to gather the ransom and then watch the light die in their eyes as he brings their worst nightmares to life before them. He ordered the death of a disabled child (and i’m still mad about it). He made his boyfriend destroy a violin (as far as he knew, a very expensive violin at that) by pissing on it. He would kick a puppy. But he’s also dramatic and fun about his pure evil, and I’m attached. He tries to make clowns out of my favourite couple, and gets called the whole circus for it. It’s funny. Also, his depiction in the musicals (specifically the fourth musical) dials this drama up to 11, while also giving him a very cute relationship with Ruskin. He’s the literal worst, but he’s fun about it, so it’s all totally okay.

He blackmails people for fun. He isn't after their money, hes already rich, but still he asks amounts of money that are over the limit for the people he blackmails. His greatest joy is to see good people blackmailed into doing bad things.

#awful characters tournament #tournament poll #awful characters round 1 #kinnporsche #kinnporche the series #kpts #vegas theerapanyakul #vegas kinnporsche #moriarty the patriot #yuumori #yuukoku no moriarty #charles augustus milverton

[sokkastyles]

I don't really love how Ursa was fridged by the narrative at all, but something I love even less is how the comics expanded on that whole backstory. Initially, I was fine with it, because I liked that Zuko had a chance to see his mother again, but now that I've thought about it, that's the only thing I like about those comics, that Zuko and Azula had a chance to see their mother again and get closure about everything that happened. But honestly, when Ozai talked about what she did during the Day of Black Sun, I assumed she was already dead by that point, because a) I couldn't really think of where else she could be or what could have happened and b) because Ozai said "perhaps" when Zuko asked if she was alive. The way Ozai said that made me think that he probably had Ursa killed after asking her to make the poison to murder Azulon. It's a very dark thing to think but Ozai isn't opposed to murder to get things that he wants, so were we really meant to assume he would just let Ursa live after what he asked her to do? What do you think?

I actually think Ozai is more likely to keep her alive, but keep tags on her, even while she's banished, like he did for Zuko, so that he could take further action if he needed to, like he did with Zuko. I think he'd much rather have them alive and under his control than dead. I guess that was why the comics felt like they had to have her face changed, especially if she stayed in the FN, which was breaking her exile. It's just such a deus ex machina and so poorly executed, I hate the mother of faces plot. There are a number of reasons why Ursa might be afraid to return to the FN, or ways to explain how she was able to not be found, or even ways to explain how she might be afraid to be found even after Ozai's defeat (possibly fearing what Ozai turned her son into, who is now the new firelord, or dealing with her own guilt over what happened to her children), and I feel like they missed an opportunity to make a parallel with Zuko's banishment. But given the fandom's readiness to blame Ursa even when a deus ex machina literally erases her memory, a realistic story about an abused woman would probably generate even more hatred.

#zuko #ursa #ozai #atla comics #atla comics critical #the search

[spectrum-color]

Just thinking about how much Robin Hobb had to do to force her OTP back together at the end of Fools Fate and being salty. It required:

-Burrich to be depicted as a decrepit old man when he’s like in his 50s and conveniently die, gifting Fitz with his family (!) as his last wish

-Fitz to finally realize and accept what “no limits” means with Beloved after an entire trilogy where this is a central theme and raise him from the dead because he refuses to live in a world that he isn’t part of, and then for this to not matter at all because Beloved decides actually he’s just an obstacle to Fitz’s true love Molly (?!) and leaves

-Fitz not being allowed to choose what he wants, because when he tries to choose Beloved he’s told no that’s not actually what’s good for you

-Molly not being able to choose if she would be ok with her ex bringing along his queerplatonic life partner because it’s already been decided for her that of course she wouldn’t

-Fitz getting lost in a Skill pillar for a month so he can’t have a rational discussion with Beloved about it as Prilkop the conveniently located agent of Clerres tells him all about how of course their Path is finished and staying by his Catalyst will only do harm

-Prilkop convincing Beloved that he should go back to Clerres, a place where he was physically and sexually abused before running away, because apparently it’s his job to fix them, and this actually working (!!!)

-Literally everyone in Fitz’s life, up to and including Burrich and Mollys eldest son who Fitz never speaks to on page again after this, pushing him to pursue her and telling him not to take no for an answer

-Molly and Burrich (actually Nettle) being granted Withywoods and a noble title by Patience so they no longer have to deal with the obvious issue of the class divide

-Molly magically accepting that he let her believe he was dead for 16 years and abandoned their daughter because he was upset she married someone else because her role in this book is to be his prize for completing the quest

-Neither Fitz nor Molly ever mentioning or even thinking about Burrich, his foster father and major formative influence and her husband of many years and father of her sons, except for a few passing references

So yeah, in a series where the characters generally act in believable ways even when it’s frustrating, this whole plot was just contrived as hell

#realm of the elderlings #rote #molly chandler #fitzchivalry farseer #the fool #idk how robin hobb wrote tawny man and was like ah yes molly was the love of fitzs life #and everyone will be thrilled to see them back together #and she acted surprised and affronted when people didn’t like the fitz/fool separation #like I could have told you that even without seeing other people’s reactions #unfortunately her anger and spite from that gave us beloveds treatment in f&f #and I know it’s annoying how much I post about this #but the alternative is the discord where no one wants to hear it #so be grateful it’s here where you all can ignore it

[playcaroplay]

I just finished A Fire in the Flesh and have spoily thoughts

I really wanted to like this book. I want to like this series so badly, but the last four books in this universe have felt so rushed and poorly edited. It has felt like Sera’s story exists solely to retcon plot points to buttress Poppy’s plot inconsistencies. And Sera’s mirror image personality is explained away because of Sotorias soul, and family lineage. They’re the same personality type with different hair.

1) Dialogue - I find the same dialogue being recycled has fallen flat for me. Sera and Poppy’s “tempers” and “stubbornness” feel like an easy way to introduce conflict or tension but it doesn’t often advance the plot or character arc. There are so many stagnant beats where Sera/Poppy and any character have this type of conversation:

Character A: slightly controversial but logical opinion

Sera: NO that is Wrong.

Character A: Rationalizes point

Sera: Do you want me to stab you?

Character A: oh shit

Sera: I’m known for my temper

Character A: I’m impressed/insulted.

(And if it’s Nyktos then you follow up with)

Nyktos: Your anger makes me horny

Sera: Ew, but also same.

Nektas: you two are so funny with your arguing/mean girls mom beat - you guys ok? Want condoms?

Sera: *walks away feeling empowered because she spoke her mind*

I would hope an editor would catch on to these repetitive beats and try to either pare them back or vary them enough that there’s purpose behind it.

2) Secondary characters are just there to watch the scene. You’ll notice in many instances, Sera and Ash have a blow up, and the side characters are there purely to comment on what’s happening and narrate Sera’s character arc. If you took them all away the scene would remain the same.

Ex. Sera fighting Ash in the courtyard in book 2. The secondary characters provide nothing but audience commentary.

Or in FTIF when Rhain is speaking to Sera about her deal and freeing him, and then Ash wanders up and they have another “you don’t know the meaning of the word argue” argument and the side characters literally step away from them and they repeat the age old conversation beat I listed above.

What’s the point in introducing a huge cast of secondary characters if their only purpose is to bear witness alongside the reader. Instead you could have them take an active role in the plot, and have impactful relationships, opinions and action that drive the plot home. They’re just padding.

This entire series could take place in Ash’s bed and you wouldn’t notice the difference.

3) Weak conflict- Using Kolis as the example. We understand from book 2 that he’s a monster. But the stakes are significantly lowered when his and Sera’s opinions stay the same the whole way through FITF.

Consider what the story would have been like if he and Sera found moments of genuine empathy and understanding. What if they shared moments of humour or appreciation for each other? Think of how conflicted Sera would be about destroying him.

Is his kindness just manipulation? Or is there a deeper reason behind his actions that she doesn’t know yet? The fact that Sera is always aware of his tactics makes it hard to invest in her goal of becoming his weakness.

I care less about Kolis seducing Sera or vice versa because I know it won’t actually happen. We already know Sera is devoted to Ash and she’s revolted by Kolis. So her conflict about “becoming nothing” and fulfilling her duty is a nonissue.

4) Show, don’t tell. Seras discoveries while in captivity are quite passive. Either Kolis or Callum just straight up tell her the secrets. She’s in a cage so she has to rely on characters telling her what’s happened. It feels like the plot of the book happened outside the room, and we are just getting reports about it.

Consider Sera manipulating Kolis into giving her time out of the cage where she has opportunity to wheel and deal with other gods and discover secrets in more active ways. (Ex hunting down a revenant and having them talk through their transformation. Or talking to an Ascended about their blood lust and their fight for humanity.)

Even in the final chapters. Ash confesses to Sera that he had visions of her and removed his Kardia after he met her. He tells her that removing the Kardia was irrelevant in the end. Yet again another plot point that’s rendered useless and discussed in a passive manner. Such a let down after all that conflict in book 2. It almost felt like these scenes were drafts of the dream walking beats and JLA added in at the end because she liked them.

Consider those revelations happening at the lake as she’s trying to say goodbye to Ash. The anguish and betrayal she would feel about his decisions, but still clinging to their last moments together.

All in all, I feel like JLA was done dirty in the sense that pumping out these books every year hasn’t given her the time to dig into her own universe.

#fbaa series #a shadow in the ember #fire in the flesh #fitf #sera x nyktos #poppy balfour #poppy cas #from blood and ash #seraphena mierel #daddy nyktos

[amantes-lunae]

wolfstar sickfic reclist <3

(because i'm coming down with a cold)

Fight Me - G, 1.7k

Remus is a bit more efficient when taking care of a very feverish, and slightly delirious, Sirius.

All Better - 2.2k

3 (and a half!) year old Harry Potter is determined to fix his Moony when he's 'ill'.

Stubborn - 1.2k

Despite his dramatic nature, Sirius becomes the complete opposite when he's sick.

Wake Up Alone - T, 1.1k

Waking up in the Hospital Wing after a particularly rough transformation, Remus did not expect to find Sirius watching him from the adjacent bed.

I'm Biting My Tongue - T, 3.9k

They fall silent again after that, breathing in tandem. Two bodies, one soul. Remus reckons that if nothing else, at least he has this. He marvels in Sirius' gentle puffs of breathing, and it should be gross knowing he's sick, but he can't find it in him to care. Treasuring the way he fits perfectly under his arm like a missing puzzle piece, Remus trails the notches of Sirius' spine, feeling the dips and smoothness of his skin. A work of art, he concludes. That's what Sirius is. Art. (or, where sirius is sick and remus looks after him because he's hopelessly in love)

The Best Cures for Being Sick are Soup and Cuddling - T, 1k

Harry's sick and Sirius naps a lot. I'm so bad at summaries Set in the same universe after my other work Midnight Revelations but not necessary to read Post-OotP where Sirius lives and is free Rated for one cuss word

Fever - G, 0.8k

When Remus is ill, Sirius can never stay away.

My Empire of Dirt - M, 15k

When Sirius gets a grave prognosis, Lily suggests that he makes a bucket list.

Wolfsbane - 3.2k

Post-war everyone live au. Remus signs up for the Wolfsbane Potion trial, but something goes wrong. Only his ex, Sirius, can make it better. (tws in tags)

All Sorts of Mornings - T, 1.2k

Sometimes, Sirius has trouble getting out of bed. Remus doesn't mind in the slightest. Or: Life is a mosaic, and every single tile has its own worth.

A Very Tired Wolf - T, 3k

“Oh lie down you asshole, it’s like you’re trying to hurt yourself, you’re going to hurt yourself,” “I’m fine darling it’s just-” “You’re not,” Full Moon Recovery fic, in which Remus is fully convinced he is healthy and Sirius has several heart attacks because his favorite werewolf is going to end up hurting himself. literally, just tooth-rotting fluff, basically Sirius and Remus banter with some caregiver vibes. read at your own risk

Glimpses of Wolfstar - E, 25k

Glimpses into the lives of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, in their twenties and disgustingly in love with each other. No plot, just fluff and smut. Set in the timeline of my fic It's a new dawn, but can be read independently. Basically, for context: Voldemort isn't a thing, everyone lives, and Remus is trans.

Crying Wolf - T, 2.5k

Sirius makes a big deal about not feeling well in an attempt to get out of his classes with meager success. But is there a real reason he wants to go down to the infirmary so badly? Or is he just crying wolf?

In the Eye of the Storm - T, 5k

Remus learned early on in life that some things just don't happen for people like him, but upon meeting a certain Sirius Black he slowly learns that maybe there are a few bright spots in the dark. or, The fic where Remus and Sirius are chronically ill and meet in hospital, they form a friendship based on mutual experience and a shared need for comradery in an isolating world. A whole lot of fluff, advice, and difficult situations ensue as they face the easy game of falling in love with one another, and the much harder trials of falling in love with yourself.

Also check out wolfstarlibrarian's hospital au list <3 happy reading

#wolfstar #remus lupin #sirius black #marauders #sickfic #fic rec #atyd #kate's wolfstar reclist tag

[sobeksewerrat]

Why was phoenix Wright falsely accused of murder? What even was the evidence? Literally WHY did he eat it? What the fuck??

This has been rotting in my asks since March 21st. Time to answer it I think

Okay, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PHOENIX WRIGHT; ACE ATTORNEY 3: TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS INCOMING!

This is gonna be long.

So, let us set the scene. There was this girl called Dahlia Hawthorne, she was the daughter of Morgan Fey of the Fey Clan and a jeweller iirc.

The Fey Clan is supperrrrrr important but the clan and Dahlia's backstory are too complicated to be easily summarised. But, basically, Dahlia doesn't possess a special ability the rest of her clan has, Spirit Channeling. Which made her an outcast and made her mother hate her. That's why her last name is Hawthorne, not Fey.

Anyways, basically, Mr.Hawthorne and her mom, Morgan Fey, suck balls. And she has an older stepsister called Valerie Hawthorne.

They got her a a private tutor for school when she was 14 called Terry Fawles. Terry's whole deal is complicated especially since he is clearly mentally undeveloped but he was a creep and "dated" Dahlia (he was in his 20s).

Dahlia grew tired of her parents' bullshit and decided to use her creepy pedo tutor as a way to escape.

She plotted with Valerie n Terry to stage a fake kidnapping where Terry holds her hostage on top of a place called Dusky Bridge and asked for a very expensive diamond from their dad as ransom. But the Hawthorne sisters planned to stab Terry in the back and get him arrested.

It didn't go well. iirc Dahlia got scared and jumped off the bridge into the river hundreds of feet below.

The police concluded that she died. But Valerie found her.

They lost the diamond in the high current of the river, but Dahlia got herself a new life as "Melissa Foster".

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Remember the Fey Clan? Well, she has this older cousin called Mia Fey and her aunt is called Misty Fey.

Misty Fey is the Head of the Kurain Channeling School and the master of the Fey Clan. That's why Morgan wanted Dahlia to have more powerful spiritual powers and shit, to strip her sister of that title.

Anyways, in December of 2001 a defense attorney I will refrain from naming because of a huge twist in Ace Attorney 1 was killed in a courthouse elevator. There were no leads on who could've done it, and the only two possible suspects where the attorney's 9 year old son and a court bailiff.

So the police secretly got Misty Fey to channel the spirit of the attorney to tell them who killed him. But here's the thing, the victim was passed out when he died. He didn't know who killed him.

Anyways, a buncha shit happens, Misty Fey's credibility is thrown out the window, the case remains unsolved and the Fey Clan is in shambles.

The incident was dubbed the "DL-6 Incident" and I am not even exaggerating when I tell you this is single-handedly the most important event in Ace Attorney lore because it causes a huge butterfly effect that starts the problems of literally every. Single. Character. In the original trilogy. I wish I was kidding.

After this whole fiasco, Misty Fey goes into hiding, leaving her eldest daughter Mia to carry the weight of having to be Kurain's master.

But Mia doesn't want that. Mia wanted to become a defense attorney for reasons I am forgetting atm but definitely because of DL-6 too.

So she leaves for law school where she befriends (fucks) the now ex-Chief Prosecutor Lana Skye but that ain't important. That forces her little sister Maya to become next in line for the role of the Master but that isn't too relevant to Phoenix eating evidence.

Now, years after DL-6 and the Dusky Bridge incident, something happens. I don't fully remember the details, but Terry Fawles was being carried somewhere from prison before he broke out and met up with Valerie (remember her?) because she left him a message.

After he meets up with her, Valerie is found dead. Like murdered.

This case involves too many details I am mostly forgetting, but one of the witnesses for the case was Melissa Foster- Dahlia Hawthorne. And, spoiler alert: she killed Valerie because Valerie wanted to come clean about the fake kidnapping.

And who was Terry's defense lawyer? Ha. Mia Fey, fresh out of college and on her first case. She is accompanied by her soon-to-be-probably-boyfriend (she's a bicon) Diego Armando as her co-counsel, trust me he is relevant.

Shit happens, Dahlia's disguise is revealed in the middle of court. Terry is shocked, betrayed and confused. How could his Dahlia stab him in the back? (SIDE NOTE: TERRY IS A FUCKING PEDO. WE SHOULD ACKNOWLEDGE THIS. HE SUCKS.I ALMOST THREW UP WRITING THAT LAST SENTENCE)

Anyways, Terry fucking dies by suicide. How? He drank poison in a glass vial in a necklace that Dahlia had given him, and told him to drink if he stopped trusting her. It makes sense in context, I just really need to replay this case.

So Terry fucking dies on stand and Dahlia gets away scot-free.

Mia breaks down, Diego says one of the most earth-shattering iconic lines in the series, breaks a coffee mug with his bare hands and everything sucks.

Except, we're still not at the end. Oh no, we're just getting started.

Diego, in all of his cocky stupidity, decides to talk to Dahlia in the courthouse library. Seriously how is he so fucking stupid like I love him but what the hell.

Now, I don't remember how but that idiot left her alone with his coffee. I didn't mention this, but, Dahlia has glass bottle necklace identical to Terry, also containing poison.

A poison that activates faster with coffee. A poison called atroquinine*.

*this is speculation iirc, as it was never mentioned in T&T I don't think, but it was an important, albeit fictional, poison in Apollo Justice; Ace Attorney.

You can see where this is going. So while Diego stupidly drinks his poisoned coffee, Dahlia makes a run for it and runs into none other than PHOENIX WRIGHT. You know, the title character? The whole reason we're here?

He was an art student at the time, studying law at the side and reading up court cases for, you probably didn't guess it, reasons he is unaware are related to the DL-6 Incident. I told you it was important.

Now, Dahlia is what you would call a femme fatale. And young Phoenix (or Feenie as fhe fandom calls him for distinction) is a fucking moron.

So when pretty-girl-and-now-serial-killer-probably Dahlia Hawthorne offers him a pretty glass necklace, HE FUCKING TAKES IT. HE FUCKING TAKES THE ONLY PIECE OF EVIDENCE THAT COULD INCRIMINATE DAHLIA. HE FUCKING DOES IT.

This causes a...bit of an obstacle in Dahlia's way, since he won't return the necklace no matter what. Moreover, Diego, as she would later find out, did not die. But he was in a coma, and if he were to awake- she'd be in deep shit.

This was the end for Dahlia Hawthorne...

Or was it?

I must make a confession here, there's something I have been consciously omitting from the beginning.

It's an easy twist to figure out once you play the game, but it's very important, so if you want to stop reading here I totally understand.

...

Okay, done? Here we go.

Dahlia has a twin sister called Iris. And they're fucking identical, except that Dahlia has red hair*.

*though some speculate it is hair dye as nobody else in her family have red hair. It could be from Mr. Hawthorne, but it is very unlikely as Valerie has black hair like Iris.

Dahlia wanted to kill Phoenix to get the necklace back, afterall, what's another name added to her list of victims anyway? Iris stops her.

You see, Iris was sent away alone to live in a place called Hazakura Temple when she was young with this nun called Sister Bikini. Therefore, she is very spiritual, despite not possessing the Fey Clan's abilities either, and is one of the two main nuns at the temple. And her title is literally Iris Hazakurain.

Iris didn't want her sister's soul to carry any more sins, and decided to get her hands a little bit dirty.

Her plan was simple; fake-date Phoenix for a few weeks as Dahlia, ask for the necklace back and then skedaddle. And him and Dahlia were in the same university so it was easy!

However, Iris didn't account for something, Phoenix is a guy with a lot of abandonment issues.

He doesn't want to give her the necklace unless she provides a valid reason, because he is scared she'll abandon him once she takes back that "symbol of their love"...look, he becomes smarter down the road, okay?!

Another thing she didn't account for was that she would end up actually falling in love with Phoenix. (Istg if NaruMitsu/WrightWorth didn't exist, Feenris would be my top ship). And what was meant to be a fake relationship that lasted at most a few weeks, ended up being a serious 8 month long relationship.

And Dahlia, starting to get impatient, decided to take matters into her own hands...

Here's where shit hits the fan, one of Dahlia's ex-boyfriends, Doug Swallow, asked to meet Phoenix.

You see, Doug dated Dahlia 8 months prior, when she poisoned Armando. He was a chemistry student (iirc), and needless to say he started to get suspicious when certain chemicals- most notably, atroquinine -were starting to go missing from the lab after they started dating.

He did some digging around, connected the dots and figured out that Dahlia had something to do with Valerie's murder, Terry's suicide and Diego's poisoning.

Despite having no solid proof, he wanted to warn Phoenix.

Phoenix didn't believe him. He truly was inlove- just with Iris, not Dahlia. He didn't know that at the time.

So when this guy he never talked to before walks up to him, says he's his girlfriend's ex and straight up accuses her of being a murderer, needless to say he was pissed off and pushed him at the ground.

I don't fully remember what happened next, but Dahlia, never passing on the opportunity to commit sweet, sweet homicide, steps in and fucking kills Doug. In front of Phoenix.

I don't remember what happened to Iris, but Dahlia had managed to get her out of the picture before this incident.

Dahlia, ever the manipulator, somehow convinces Phoenix to not testify against her AND she frames him for the murder, and uses her failed attempt at murdering him to her advantage.

"What failed murder attempt?" you may ask, well, the answer is: Dahlia fucking poisoned his cold medicine bottle. SHE FUCKING POISIONED HIS MEDICATION.

So, his medicine bottle was found on the crime scene- and laced with atroquinine. Girliepop really has a thing for poison- honestly slay, I'm a toxicology nerd, I get it.

Phoenix goes to the famous Grossberg Law Offices for help, where Mia Fey, who works there btw, fucking jumps in to help the moment she finds out Dahlia will be the main witness.

Mia has been depressed since the Terry Fawles' case, and on a quest for vengeance against Dahlia after Diego went comatose. And this was the chance for revenge presented to her on a silver platter.

She becomes Phoenix's defense attorney (and later mentor btw) with the help of her boss and mentor, Marvin Grossberg.

Marvin is um...he sucks. He's a silly goofy old man but he literally caused everything bad that ever happened in Mia's life because the defense attorney for the Bailiff from the DL-6 Incident (remember that?) was a guy who worked for him so he attended the channeling of the DL-6 victim and he's the one who revealed Misty's involvement in the whole case and BASICALLY ORPHANED MIA AND MAYA BECAUSE HE COULDN'T KEEP HIS GODDAMN MOUTH SHUT.

This will become relevant later in the timeline during the events of Ace Attorney 1 (this is all backstory revealed in AA3) where he becomes an even bigger asshat in Case 2-1; Turnabout Sisters.

All you need to know about the case is that when Mia corners Dahlia and asks Phoenix to hand over the glass vial necklace she gave him to be tested for traces of atroquinine, PHOENIX FUCKING EATS IT. HE FUCKING EATS THE ONLY PIECE OF EVIDENCE THAT COULDVE SAVED HIM FROM EXECUTION. HE FUCKING CHEWS IT, NOT EVEN SWALLOWS IT, CHEWS ALL OF IT WITH THE METAL PIECES.

AND HE FUCKING LIVES. PHOENIX "EATS NECKLACES" WRIGHT LIVED AFTER EATING POISIONED GLASS AND METAL. IN THE MIDDLE OF A TRIAL THAT COULD LEAD TO HIM GETTING THE DEATH SENTENCE.

AND SOMEHOW THEY STILL WIN THE CASE. BY A MIRACLE, THEY FUCKING WIN.

AND DAHLIA GETS THE DEATH SENTENCE SO HAPPY ENDING FOR EVERYONE, RIGHT? RIGHT?!

NO, NO, NO HAPPY ENDING. BECAUSE DAHLIA SOMEHOW MANAGES TO BECOME EVEN WORSE IN THE PRESENT TIMELINE.

After all of this, you would think that Dahlia is the main villain of the entire original trilogy. She is not. She is fucking not. The main villain is the guy who caused the DL-6 Incident, I am not fucking kidding, he is an actual character. It's always the DL-6 Incident, IT'S ALWAYS THE FUCKING DL-6 INCIDENT.

#sobek yes #an the crabin #brainingsewer #<- not an analysis but i need to give it a place somewhere #ace attorney spoilers

[howlsmovinglibrary]

You mentioned in the tags of a recent post what you’d change about Funny Story to make it a different book. Would you mind elaborating on what you meant by that? I’m curious!

hey anon, thank you for being a massive enabler bc this has in fact been my special topic for the last 48hrs.

I want to state off the bat that I still gave this book 4.75 stars. I really, really enjoyed it. That being said, I'd literally rewrite the entire thing to get it to 5.

Answer under the cut to avoid spoilers! (also shout out to @eldritchcow bc these ideas are not formed alone but through a series of ranting voice notes lmfao)

The premise of Funny Story is that two exes move in with each other after their partners run away together - the main character, Daphne, has her wedding cancelled as a result, and Miles, the love interest, also gets a pretty crap deal bc his girlfriend literally breaks up with him via A NOTE ON THE KITCHEN COUNTERTOP, before running off on holiday with another man (after they hook up AT HIS BACHELOR PARTY. DAPHNE AND MILES DESERVED TO DO VIOLENCE). Miles and Daphne move in together, a series of circumstances means that Daphne tells her ex they are now dating, and that Miles will be her plus to the NEW WEDDING that they have been INVITED TO.

Personally, I think this - two exes move in, fake date, develop feelings - is such a juicy set up for a novel, that it could carry the whole plot. But at about the halfway mark, a bunch of other stuff - family drama, friendship drama - is bought in for the third act conflict. The exes and all their drama fades to the background, and its no longer about this Very Juicy Set Up, which I think is a shame. I think that the premise could've carried the entire plot and that there was no need to bring in additional conflict... except that Emily Henry is known for adding conflicts outside of romance to her novels (creating well-rounded, 'feminist' characters - I'm not being mean, that is just the perception of it and what she is known for) and that this is thus more brand appropriate. By the same logic, it is 'less feminist' of me to argue that the book should've been more about the romance.

But it should've been more about the romance.

If I rewrote/re-edited this book, I would do the following.

Make Daphne and Miles be messier people. These two characters behave like FUCKING SAINTS, while their exes are awfully and affably evil. I've had multiple friends say that Daphne should've hit Peter (her ex) with a car. I don't necessarily think that would've been the way, but I think she should've made much more spiteful decisions. I think Henry is very concerned in stressing that these are Two Very Goody and Utterly Blameless main characters, but I think they should've gotten a little spite as a treat, actually.

And the spite they should've gotten as a treat is - fucking each other.

As is the way with romance books, there are certain 'acceptable thresholds' for smut/romance scenes. So I get it, I really do. But Daphne and Miles only bang once it's a healthy decision... and I'll be honest, it would've been sexier if they had had sex in an unhealthy place. (for the people who've read the book: kiss at the drunk night out with Gil, sex at the truck or before the truck, then Sex With Real Feelings at the point where they actually have sex)

If they had had sex out of spite/petty revenge first, then the entire plot of the book could've been around 'catching feelings' and this would still have been a totally valid character arc. I would've liked to have seen more questionable decisions that are still somewhat about the exes - more of the 'are we doing this for them or for ourselves?' conflict which is microdosed at the midway point - and then feelings developing, and then making the 'no I actually really like you so we can't do this for the wrong reasons anymore' be the final sex scene before the third act conflict

Two things would be vastly improved by this change: 1. a weird scene where Miles sees Daphne in her former wedding dress, and they really should've fucked? but they don't? because that would be the tiniest bit weird??? (like, slightly weird and messy, in such the smallest way, but I think it was sanitised down for that reason) 2. the fact that their exes break up and call-off their wedding off screen. Have them break up at the rehearsal dinner that Miles/Daphne are attending, actually. Then you have your third act conflict.

The third act conflict of Funny Story is insane, convoluted, and unrelated to the story, IMO. Is it still well written? YES. Emily Henry, you will always be famous. But my favourite parts of it were 1. both Miles and Daphne get caught in their exes' orbit as they break up, and this causes them both to doubt their relationship (shout out to Miles having such low self esteem that he automatically thinks they're back together, I understand you king) 2. Daphne fucks up a promise she made to a friend (but bc she's not allowed to be a bad person - see the first point - it's for totally understandable reasons), leading her to wonder if she's just become part of another couple, where she's swapped one man and his house for another man, and his house. I personally think that these VERY MINOR FOOTNOTES in what is ACTUALLY the third act conflict... are a third act conflict in and of themselves. And... if we go back to what I said about Emily Henry being known for Feminism™, the second part of that is a totally valid trope/feminist critique to dig into in depth that would, if given time to breathe, be 'on brand'.

In this book, Miles drives 2hrs to try and get Daphne's shitty dad to come back to her. Where is this energy, for Peter? I think, Miles should've punched Peter, as a treat. And Petra should've had more scenes, so that she actually had a personality beyond 'being hot'.

I think we should've had a messy wedding scene. Daphne and Miles are each others plus ones, but they never get to attend bc the wedding is called off. But that wedding?!!! or that rehearsal dinner?!!! IS THAT NOT THE STUFF THAT THIRD AT CONFLICTS DREAM OF???

TLDR - I think Funny Story should've had more sex, and been more about the romance premise and the kind of fucked up, messy choices and weird feelings that premise engendered. I think the third act should've been connected to pre-existing conflicts, instead of creating new ones. I think Miles and Daphne could've had a little revenge, as a treat. They should've allowed to be sexy and weird about it.

#asks #anons #funny story #and again! I gave this book 4.75 stars!! a very well written book but the more distance i get from it the more i'm confused by the editing. #also let emily henry write more sex!! i know she's good at yearning but do you know what's she's also good at!! writing sex!!! #booklr #book review #(I guess????)

[rogueddie]

ok so i’ve always had this plot in my head, born out of spite where post-season 4 after they’ve defeated vecna, everyone’s fine-ish, nancy, and jonathan break up but like steve doesn’t know that they’ve broken up all he knows is that they are having issues and he notices ronance getting closer and because steve knows what nancy’s like when she has a crush he immediately clocks her and he just like, he gets really really pissed off because as far as he knows she’s still with jonathan and he thinks that history is repeating itself. so he just gets really really passive-aggressive towards nancy, i’m talking about the season 1 scene in the alley except with no homophobia and he’s constantly in bitch mode and just incredibly standoffish to nancy. everybody clocks his behavior and they’re like, “what’s wrong with steve?” and they think he’s doing it because he either has a crush on nancy and is jealous of robin or he has a crush on robin and is jealous of nancy. (and it’s up to the writer if robin is aware that it’s his protective streak and she just doesn’t understand why he’s being extra hostile to nancy or if she also thinks that he’s jealous). but either way, steve is just being completely brutal to nancy, and it’s just like any form of like friendship between them just evaporated overnight. and i want a scene where it all comes to a head and literally, anybody can be there but the spicy six, all six of them have to be there. and let’s say he sees ronance having an intimate moment or maybe they’re planning a road trip and steve knows what happened the last time nancy went on a road trip with someone while she was on the outs with her boyfriend, so he just gets incredibly pissed at them. maybe he walks away or he says something snippy and nancy can’t take it anymore like it has been days, weeks, months of this and she’s just tired and she just like calls him out, and she’s like “what do you want? what is your problem? why are you acting like this towards me?” and steve is just like incredulous like, “are you seriously asking me what the problem is when you know very well that you are the problem?” and he just goes off on her and he’s like “this is the second time you will be pulling this shit with your partner where you guys argue and instead of maybe i don’t know sitting down and talking about shit you run off with the next available person and the next thing you know that’s your new partner. how am i supposed to trust you with robin when you have done the same thing to me and now jonathan? because this is your thing now and if you think i’m going to let you do this to robin, you must have inhaled too much of the upside down because clearly, you are delusional.” steve realizes that he’s probably being unfair to nancy but he legit doesn’t care are in that moment because he is so filled with rage at nancy’s audacity to pull this shit again and with his fucking platonic soulmate at that. and he just unloads all the anger that’s been festering from 1984 on her and that’s when everybody but mostly her and jonathan realize that oh shit the breakup fucked him up more than they realized and robin, who was under the impression that steve was mad at her for dating his ex realizes that he wasn’t mad at her he was mad for her and steve also realizes that nancy wasn’t cheating and he feels a little sorry, but he also feels so much better after his rant so he’s not that sorry. and then, in the end, everybody goes to therapy, and everybody deals with their stuff, and ronance get together, and jargyle get together, and steddie get together and everybody’s happy and in love, and they all become besties. this isn’t to like bash nancy, i’m just tired of seeing people having steve move on like that from the whole “bullshit” thing with little to no apologies, and i wish people would stop having him be okay with ronance right from the jump. but most of all, i just want steve to be petty with nancy and jonathan as a treat.

I don't know what it is about this ask but every time I try to read it it's like it goes in one eye and out my ears. Sorry, I think it's the wall of text that's just making my brain shut down.

It's just- to your last point; YES. I do love ronance but I specifically love the fanon version. Like, the Nancy that takes care of Robin or the Nancy that finds her rambling cute. It's very lovely and their personalities would vibe very well.... if only we didn't know what Nancy is canonically like with Robin... Or Steve... Or Jonathan.

I love Nancy, that's my girl and I do indeed support womens wrongs... but she should not be in a relationship asdfdsasd. Jonathan maybe but even they need couples counselling.

There's also like literally no way that Robin would even think about Nancy at all without having a very long, very drunk, bathroom talk with Steve. And even then, if she sees that Steve is still hurt by the bullshit thing? Or actually hears the real and full story? Bro code trumps all, she would drop Nancy without hesitation. Not even friends. They're enemies now.

Steve is her soulmate, they're ride or die.

Sorry for going off topic probably but like... as much as I do adore ronance, I do have to ignore Steve to ship them. If I start thinking about how Nancy is in canon, with Steve and Robin? I just cannot ship them at all. It's either completely fantasy fanon fluff or nothing. Robin deserves to have a girlfriend who would canonically treat her the way she deserves (like VICKIE, her CANON GIRLIE? (but also chrissy bc she's a sweetheart))

#ask #I'm gonna go back into my fantasy land where ronance would be cute in canon even though logically I know it's not #it's just a lovely made up place I have and I live here :)

[victimsofyaoipoll]

alright time to write an essay detailing whatever yaoi has done to my girl nancy wheeler. so like, even when it comes to yaoi shippers nancy has had stonathan, harringrove, AND steddie over four seasons with steddie already having massive popularity + the other shippers, wheras thankfully eleven only has to deal with byler shippers when it comes to the victimization. but not to diminish eleven any more because she has def gone through it in fandom, im going to get into nancy's stuff: you will notice all three ships she supposedly gets in the way of (ignoring jargyle because the shippers are chill in my experience) involve steve harrington, AKA the most popular character if i had to guess and the white boy of the month. see, they were dating at one point in s1 and s2. the breakup was messy. like he kinda was complicit in her slutshaming at one point and didnt let her grieve her dead best friend properly and she ambiguously (as in nobody can fucking decide when the break up was) cheated on him so yeah. messy. mutually. if not more on steve's side given he was a bit of an asshole in s1-2 but gets better. yadda yadda fast forward to harringrove in particular, AKA steve x the guy who attacked a black child and abused his younger sibling (and im not attacking anyone thats just. what happened). basically 90% of them try to convince people nancy is abusive for the two arguments that occurred and is a slut and privileged (never mind steve being probably the most well off member of the main cast + hes a white guy in the 80s) blah blah blah. also ironic they call her abusive OFTEN when billy (one half of harringrove) kinda like threatens his sister max and breaks her things and otherwise abuses her Often. but yeah. they hate her for breaking his heart. they hate her for getting in the wya of their ship possibly. they hate her in general. add that to the general fandom misogyny and suddenly a large number of people are writing essays about how much they hate her and how she's a piece of shit, actually. fast forward to s4 and steddie and a new problem arises: steddie shippers keep flooding her character and ship tags with primarily steddie. so now your options regarding her are mlm ships and mlm shippers shitting on her. also keep in mind there is now more content for half of that ship, a guy who shows up for an hour and dies in the same season, than nancy, a mc. and if you like nancy ships like jancy or ronance, too bad those tags are flooded as well. as in someone did analytics in august for ronance i think and at one point the majority of main pairings in the ronance ao3 tags itself was steddie. either way both ships usually end up as side ships or bait into a steddie centric fic or tumblr post. or nancy ends up third wheeling and getting them together. as a nice bonus (not really) recently steddie shippers have decided that they too hate nancy and have entire posts and common plots (i have seen tumblr ficlets/hc's and people discussing this as a common trope for steddie fics on ao3) about how nancy was a horrible person who damaged steve's self esteem and ability to be in a relationship or something from a break up, as if the relationship wasnt mutually harmful and compounded by nancy's whole dead best and possibly only friend thing. and whoops for ships like ronance that isnt allowed either because steve's friend isn't allowed to interact with his ex despite the fact that said friend literally said he was an ass in the s1-2 timeline. all of this making it impossible to find any positive content without it being interrupted for a character who, if i remember correctly, has almost as much screentime as eleven (and eleven at least has popular fan content and other ships that dont somehow loop around to byler/mike). and whats worse is that while canon doesnt have yaoi victimization it does have heteronormative bullshit in which she is forced into a love triangle with the same guys TWO TIMES. she literally cant win so let her win a poll maybe also sorry this is super fucking long <3

Whoooo Nancy

#not poll #propaganda

[myths-tournaments]

Awful Characters Round 2 Part 2 (5/8)

Propaganda under the cut!

NANAMI

Literally killed a kitten and yet is so iconic you can’t not love her

VEGAS THEERAPANYAKUL

he's such a polarizing character because there's the group of us who are like Vegas <3!!! and then there's the people that point out his many crimes against humanity and lack of redeemable qualities or actions. he brutally tortures his love interest. he commits lots of crimes against the protagonist including drugging him. he's literally the villain. I love him so much though he's the poorest little meow meow of all time

As the oldest son in the minor mafia family in Thailand, Vegas seeks every opportunity to outdo his cousin from the main family. He hires an assassin to go after him. On another occasion he drugs, kidnaps, and assaults a guy to get at his cousin. He secretly schemes with the Yakuza, plots to frame that same guy as a mole working for the main family, fakes being in love with his cousins ex-boyfriend to the point of getting engaged (and then ditches him), and allegedly has done the same thing with the actual mole working for the main family. The definition of manipulate, manwhore, manslaughter. Vegas has a whole ass Patrick Bateman-style murder coat for torture. Methods of torture used: extracting a man's Cochlear, electrocuting a man's balls, forcefeeding by shoving said man's head into slop, whipping him with his own leather belt, setting a fake escape trap only to chase the hostage down and tase him. Whenever he makes deals he'll slip his hand into the other person's with a firm grip before they've consciously expressed a choice (so it always goes in his favor). He shields himself with other's bodies during shootouts, letting several people die for his sake. He's into BDSM (this isn't one of the bad things, but hoo boy people will act like it is). Listen, he's a piece of work. He cries because his pet hedgehog dies. He falls for his hostage, fucks him, and then continues to be shitty so the guy knocks him out to escape. He gets pathetic about it. He confesses his love and kisses him in a parking garage full of dead bodies in the middle of a mafia coup that he is leading. He's absolutely reprehensible and is treated as the main villain of the show for several reasons. Except I love him and his insanity. He gets a lot of shit that he doesn't deserve (both in canon and in the fandom). Not that I wanna fix him, that wouldn't be fun! Vegas and his partner deserve to serve cunt, be disgustingly in love, and murder to their hearts desires because I said so.

#awful characters tournament #tournament poll #awful characters round 2 #revolutionary girl utena #nanami kiryuu #kinnporsche #kinnporche the series #kpts #vegas theerapanyakul #vegas kinnporsche