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#these guys deserve so much more praise and I really hope they become more popular soon
stickyspeckledlight · 22 days
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heya, i'm unsure if you'll find this ask sappy or whatever but forgive me, i just have to say this - sunrise, sunset, my destroyed body in the onset is just simply immaculate. the 'left me speechless, jaw hanging open' kind. i hope you know the words you wrote had me waiting for the next ones each time. the repeating metaphors about 'growing fangs and sinking them into the other's neck' was glorious, gave me a sense of satisfaction i never knew i could have! i also love how both aventurine and the reader are intriguing to me - not just aventurine who was meant to have the spotlight from a general perspective - your impeccable narration made the characters feel alive and more real, in a sense. that's rare. i don't even know if my babbling is worth your time but i'd like you to know, regardless, that your writing left an impact. a good one, i think it's admirable. thank you for writing that piece, wishing you a great day ahead!
(just a lurking reader skulking around, honestly. hope ya don't mind the ramble.)
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ANON........................................I, I...*GASP* ahhh I-I...I....grah.........
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Seriously, the reception to Onset has been so,,, unexpectedly amazing!!!!!!! I know not everything I write lands, but it's always such a great honor when it DOES!!!! And Anon? We are brainrotters here. I see no shame in proclaiming love for a fic. Or becoming a hivemind for a fictional man. But in any case, know that any author's greatest honor is to have left an impact, no matter how small.
I'm so happy I did the characterization well, esp since this was written within the week before 2.1. Aventurine is super interesting, and after 2.1 I am even more enthralled with this guy. He deserves to be happy, but...well, even if there is a 'happy ending,' the roots of it can be twisted, can't they?
More importantly. It seems I did not fuck up with the reader, lmao. They're honestly the main reason I'm so blown away by the reception, since from what I can tell readers who fight back tend to be more popular--and yeah, I get it! For one, conflict is much simpler to write, and there are a lot more opportunities where you can see the yan and reader at odds with one another, playing a game. For this fic though, I sort of just wanted to write about...a normal person, I guess. Definitely a bit indulgent, but if authors didn't indulge, we may as well whisk away all our fantasies. Onset is a psychological spiral when you really get down to it. I will definitely make sure to keep this solid sense of character and narration with me, going forward (and also just because I LOVEEEEEE when normal actions or seemingly innocent actions are described in really fucked up ways). In general, I really love keeping a sense and/or theme of 'mundanity' in my works. It's a really interesting concept to me, and I think to an extent, everyone is fascinated with it, to some extent. Whether they cling to it or despise how they can't seem to break out of its shackles.
Esp after 2.1, I am even more interested in yan!aven dynamic with Onset!reader, and I have soooooo many thoughts that I want to talk about but also want to save so I can splurge them with beautiful prose as I cook what is (hopefully) another Michelin star meal.
Have a wonderful day, anon! And to anyone else who's eyes fall upon this post, I will never hate anyone who shimmies on into my inbox to heap praise and boost my ego, or to go nutso with brainrot. At the end of the day, this blog is simply just another way for my mind to go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :D
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I saw something like this with Tsurugi and it was adorable, so can I have Teruya, Kakeru, Haru, and Yamato with an S/o calling them in the middle of the night because they couldn’t stop thinking about them, and they realized how much they love them
OKAY I LOVED WRITING THIS I HAD A SMILE THE ENTIRE TIME! I hope you enjoy these ((:
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TERUYA, KAKERU, HARUHIKO, AND YAMATO WHEN THEIR SO CALLS THEM SAYING THEY LOVE THEM
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TERUYA
-You had to have called him a bunch of times to even get him to wake up in all honesty, like I imagine he is a HEAVY sleeper. He probably woke up after a few and went back to sleep
-When he realized it was you his face lit up cause he loved whenever you called him! So believe me when I say he sounded more than ecstatic when he finally picked up.
-The moment you start spilling about how much you love him his face lights up even more. He’s half asleep and isn’t able to understand you well at all but he’s enjoying every moment of this.
-He’s 1000% gonna return the favor in the morning, you’re gonna be pepper with kisses and praise, it's insane. He might even spend some time making a new popular outfit just for the way you lit up his night
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KAKERU
-Okay genuinely when you called him this late at night (he was working on case files at the time) he was scared as hell. What could be happening to you???
-You could hear the panic in his voice when he picked up the phone. Kakeru was asking a bunch of questions to make sure you were alright.
-But you stopped him with your little love ramble and it actually brought him to tears. He feels so genuinely lucky to have someone that would do this, especially when he’s working through a rather hard case. I mean you didn’t know he was but still it was nice.
-He doesn’t know how to react though, he keeps trying to just say that he loves you too but it’s not that easy for him. He’ll wait until morning for that!
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HARUHIKO
-He was knocked out cold when you called him but I think he keeps his phone SUPER loud so you woke him up. He was hella drowsy but was happy to talk to you
-I dunno why but I imagine that he also started to cry when you went on your little ramble. But unlike Kakeru, it actually takes him a bit to start crying. He’s really giggly when he’s crying too
-Does he wanna go back to sleep? Oh 1000% but he’s not gonna hang up the phone cause someone deserves the same treatment now, sleep can wait!
-This becomes a pretty normal thing for the two of you actually! It’s more likely that you’ll start it but there are plenty of times when Hiro does.
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YAMATO
-Okay so my ideas for Yamato are kinda weird. I know the ask says that Y/N called him to start rambling but for some reason I imagine that you guys were already talking to each other already.
-Like you just start to ramble out of nowhere in the middle of your talk with each other. Yamato has no damn issue with this cause, well why would he? He loves hearing this!
-But this is Yamato, expect to have him try and one-up you with this whole thing. You’re talking about how pretty he is? Prepared to be berated with compliments.
-This is gonna go on for hours I promise you. You both will only get two hours or not get any sleep at all I promise you, he may try to do this again tbh.
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tinypuppysoul · 3 years
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This fight was SO good and both Kuroki Gensai and Kengan Ashura deserve so much more attention and praise
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hotdamnhunnam · 3 years
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I Wanna Be Your Slave
A/N: Here’s the next requested fic from my Dirty Little Secret – Super Kinky List! In which you and Jax are locked in a cellar and he ties you to a whipping post and whips your ass lol. Master/slave roleplay but in this fic (unlike some of my other Kinkfest fics...) Jax is actually a good guy not an absolute asshole. Title is inspired by the Måneskin song at the below link! **Please note the warnings: This fic is all about the kinks, please do not read if this is not your thing!!**
Pairing: Jax Teller x F!Reader Warnings: smut, swearing, dirty talk, rough sex, light choking, degradation, dom!Jax, bondage, master/slave kink, spanking, whipping Request: This Dirty Little Secret request (anon)
Word Count: ~3.8k
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Note: As explained in this post, this ‘Dirty Little Secret’ series consists of fics that I had originally written for another character/celebrity, which I’m repurposing for characters of Charlie! So if the characterization ever seems a little off please don’t judge me too harshly 🙂 ALSO note that this fic is just straight up shitty – I wrote most of it years ago without giving a fuck and am not bothering with improving the quality, I sort of used to rhyme back then but not consistently so it’s a shitshow really, I’m just shoving Jax into the setup for this fic with zero context literally, and I realize that the kinks in this fic are totally not mainstream and super filthy, so for once it’s really refreshing that I’m not gonna be sitting around hoping that people will shower my writing with praises or that this fic will explode in popularity 🙃
**Please note warnings above**
Triggering content after ‘Keep reading’ cut…
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You're trapped in a cellar. 
With Jax Fucking Teller.
There's a whole fucking story behind how the two of you got here—some shit involving stolen guns, some rival gang that hates the Sons, your father being all politically significant and powerful enough that you're now being held as ransom—and honestly you should be crippled with fear. But this tall blonde bastard is so fucking handsome. You've been crushing on him for years. And nothing else matters right now when you're so fucking horny for him that you're damn near to tears.
He looks and smells goddamn divine. You know that's not the kind of thought that should be running through your mind. Not here, stricken with fear for your safety. It's crazy. But losing yourself in desire for Jax just feels... fucking unreal. So damn good. Better than it should. It's comforting, or something. Dangerously comforting. In his presence, you don't even care if it doesn't make sense.
Ever since you got stuck in this mess, you've been clinging to him in the darkness. Clutching his flannel-clad arms in a tight grasp which quickly turns into a desperate caress. Through the cloth you can feel the incredible bulge of his biceps and God it's just...
"It's okay, darlin'," he says. Shifts to give you the comfort you crave as you bury your face in his broad sculpted chest. Presence warming and calming. Even after what's happened this morning, you somehow feel safe in the arms of the crown prince of Charming. It's totally fucked to be honest. "Hey, I'll get us out of this. Promise."
The silent answer in your head is beyond shameless. But here with your cheek pressed against his firm pecs... shuddering in bliss as you breathe in his mouthwatering manly essence... flooding between your legs, 'cause he is pure fucking sex... you could honestly just live and die in this man's godlike presence. You bite your tongue to fight the shit you really want to say, keeping it back. Please don't, Jax... don't get us out of this—I want to stay...
Neither of you has any clue yet that you're bound to serve Jax Teller in this cellar as his filthy little slave today.
With one hand still gripping his strong upper arm you reach up with the other, wrapping it over his leather-bound shoulder, clasping at the back of his neck and clinging to his strong sturdy body like ivy to brick. You can feel a faint layer of sweat on his neck that you're instantly dying to lick.
Your senses are reeling. Here, with him as you give voice to a wild irrational fear, you can't deny that dread isn't the only thing you're feeling. You'll take life-threatening danger if it comes with the reward of you and Jax fucking. "... are they gonna sell us as sex slaves or something?"
The hottest sound you've ever heard bursts softly from his throat. It's low and quiet, caught between a breathy laugh and breathless groan. You bite down on your lip then to stifle your own slutty moan. His bright blue eyes meet yours and you can feel the heat burning beneath, and from the way his tongue traces along the edges of his teeth, you can tell the answer to your question is no.
That's not the answer you want, though. It's precious that Jax doesn't already know. Some part of him probably does but hell if it won't take a little more for him to let it show.
You're gonna give him more than just a little more.
With a bat of your lashes, your flirtiest dirtiest smile flashes; you drop to your knees before him like a whore.
"Oh f—" he mutter, too shocked to even utter the full curse, sapphire eyes wide in wonder, "what are..."
"Practice," you purr as you lick your lips, eager hands framing his hips. "If I'm gonna be a sex slave then I think I should practice performing... service..."
Jax sucks in a sharp hiss as you bury your face in the crotch of his jeans, massaging his dick through the denim with your doting mouth till he's harder than he's ever been.
"Practice makes... perfect, doesn't it?" you say as you savor the smell and the feel of his meat. Good enough to eat. "Though you already are, Jax. Every inch of you is perfect. That's a hard fucking fact."
Jax throws his head back, huge cock throbbing with a luscious twitch. "Son of a bitch..."
"Mmm, make me your bitch, Jax. Please. I wanna be your slave. Serve you in every way. It's what the slut inside me needs... and craves..." you shamelessly confess as your hands set to work on his fly to unleash the glory of Jax Teller. "Nothing else even matters today. We're here now all alone together, in this shady little cellar..."
When his cock springs free you could swear that this piece of meat is your entire life's purpose. All set to be worshiped and serviced, because his delicious existence demands and deserves it. He's so. Fucking. Perfect.
You gaze up at his gorgeous face as you melt in his presence, and finish your sentence. "... so let's make it fucking worth it."
*************** 
The first order you take from Jax Teller, as he finally falls into his role as your master right here in this cellar... is to get your filthy hands off of his dick. You are not to touch it till you've fucking earned it. Like a dog, like the bitch that you are, he tells you to just sit. 
To stay down on your knees and to not move an inch, not even turn your head as he strides toward the far wall behind you, brutally keeping his beautiful self beyond your field of vision for a minute. 
You bite your lip, listening to the footsteps and movements that he won't let you witness. Rustling noises. You hope that he's stripping off his stupid clothes. That when you see him next, he'll be towering over you gorgeously naked.
And God yes, he is, when he returns at last to stand before his bitch. You groan in sheer bliss as your awestruck eyes try to take in every last flawless inch of his smooth, glowing skin. There is just... too much perfection. You couldn't even process the divine glory of Jax in a whole damn lifetime, let alone one split second.
Hypnotized though you are by him, your gaze then shifts to notice what he's holding, and... holy shit. Apparently he hadn't gone to the far wall just to undress. 
He had taken stock of the supplies and other items stored down in this shady cellar and he has returned bearing gifts: a coil of rope, long and thick, and a wicked-looking leather whip.
"Like what you see, huh?" he taunts, no doubt referring to both his new toys and his nude body, especially his dick. "Kinky little bitch. Now get up and strip."
"Yes, Master," you blurt out, rising to your feet, hastening to obey his order.
"Bad slave. You are not to speak until I say you can," Jax commands, taking a deliberate step toward you. With both rope and whip clutched in one fist, he reaches to cup your chin with his other hand. "Do you fucking understand?"
Fighting your burning urge to scream yes sir, somehow you keep your lips sealed and just nod your head.
Jax's blazing blue gaze devours your face as his fingers descend to frame your jawbone, then to close around your throat. "That's a good slut. Keep that dirty mouth shut. Or else you're gonna suffer some serious punishment."
Fuck—hearing him talk like this, while he strangles your neck in his dominant fist, is too much. You've become a trembling mess beneath his touch.
"Mmm, look at you shaking. Desperate piece of shit. I'm starting to think that maybe punishment…" he whispers in your ear as he tightens his grip around your neck, "...is what you fucking want."
Oh God, your inner voice grunts, struggling not to say it aloud. In the most painfully perfect way, the fact that he's choking you now actually makes it easier to stay silent.
His husky growl and twisted words are sending waves of pleasure through your body, hitting all the spots you never knew you had and soaking up your cunt.
"Yeah, you're begging for it. Already ignoring your master's orders. Disobedient bitch," he scoffs, shoving you up against a nearby wall, his every movement rough and quick. "Didn't I tell you to strip?"
Before you can even manage to nod at him, still just staring, Jax's hand drops from your neck down to the fabric of the fancy buttoned cardigan you're wearing. Your daddy is rich, so you typically dress like a spoiled little bitch.
"Need me to show you how to do it? You that fucking stupid?" he sneers, suddenly yanking it off you with just a few effortless jerks of his wrist. "Now take off the rest. And then go stand against that beam. Hands on the wood, head down, with your ass facing me."
Jax steps away, sharp blue glare dark and daunting as he watches his slave scurry to obey. In a matter of seconds, your clothes and shoes have been flung off, and you practically throw yourself against the wooden beam, grabbing the jagged surface desperately, wincing as the splinters graze your fingers. Even that sharp little sting feels good, because this is what Jax wanted.
You keep your head bent low, bowed submissively per your master's orders, breathing shallow as you feel his presence coming toward you from behind, steady and slow. A gasp slips past your throat when you feel his calloused hands upon your wrists, binding your hands to the beam with the thick, heavy rope. The knots securing you in place are strong and tight, expertly tied. This must not be his first time doing this, you realize, beyond turned on by his well-practiced dominance. By just what a masterful master he is.
"Mmm. You look so fucking pretty like this," he rasps, leaning over your body with his massive cock grinding into your ass, sliding against the crack so that you can feel the tip of it, swollen and wet, hovering over the small of your back. One of his hands tugs at your hair, arching your neck backward a bit as his lips attack the soft skin of your throat in a harsh, biting kiss. "Beautiful baby girl, all bound up naked and aching to be punished. You gonna take it? Good and hard, just like the slave you know you are? Gonna be a good little bitch?"
His hot mouth teases at the corner of your lips, knowing how badly you want to kiss him, to taste him, fucking torturing you with it. Though his firm grip on your hair is anchoring your head right where he pleases, you're sure that he can feel the way you struggle now to bob it up and down, to give him your wholehearted yes.
"Yeah, that's it. Ever done this before, you dirty whore? This sweet ass ever taken a beating?"
You're not quite sure how to answer that—certain guys from your past have given your ass a few smacks, here and there, when you asked... but you don't know if that kind of thing really counts as a beating. The dynamic with them was never nearly as brutal and degrading. And they had only ever used their hands; no toys or torture instruments.
"Can't even answer the question? Dumb little bitch," Jax snickers as his face moves away from your neck, standing to his full height behind you, then stepping back so that his dick is no longer brushing against your crack, leaving you feeling emptier than ever at his absence. "Not that it matters. 'Cause I'm sure you ain't ever been beaten like this."
Ohhh shit, you think, inhaling through your teeth with a loud hiss as you feel the first soft touch of leather on your skin, his wicked fucking whip. For now he is just devilishly teasing you with it, tracing lines down your back with the tip.
"This what you want, slut? Gonna need to hear you beg for it," he orders, his other hand still tangled in your hair, pulling your skull more sharply back. "Go on. Open that filthy fucking mouth and tell me what you want."
"Thank you, Master," you whimper, letting all your shameless words fall out. "I want you. God, I want you to beat me. Hurt me. Please. I want pain, if it will bring you pleasure, sir. I want my punishment."
"Mmmmn," Jax growls, clearly incredibly aroused, and you could seriously cum just from that sound. "Bet you do, bitch. Let's see just how bad you want it, huh? See how wet you've gotten. Needy little cunt."
You've already been dripping now, for more minutes than you can count. The next sound you hear is a soft thud, which you're guessing is the whip having been cast down to the ground. Jax needs his right hand free to start going to town on your pussy.
The words that have just come out of his mouth, coupled with the feeling of his fingers making contact with your slick mound, sliding over your clit, slipping into your slit and stirring you up, swirling your wet heat around, then plunging three digits in knuckles deep, pushing in and back out slowly first before he starts to fucking pound... this just brings all the walls inside you crashing down. Floodgates in you burst open on the instant as your arousal uncontrollably gushes out. It's killing you to stay silent through all of this, but you don't dare disobey his orders, don't dare make a sound.
"Holy fuuuck," Jax grunts as he pulls his hand off of your cunt. "So wet. Tight pussy squirting all over your master. Such a dirty fucking slut."
He reaches over you to shove his sloppy, sticky fingers in your mouth, your cheek pressing against the wooden beam, as you obediently suck them clean. You're not usually one to enjoy your own flavor that much, but fuck, it tastes better than ever now that you are being fed by him, the sex god of your dreams.
Then as soon as his fingers pull out, he leans in and angles your head toward him so that he can kiss your mouth, and holy—wow. 
You know right away that you could never get enough of the feel of his full, luscious lips against yours, the taste of his talented tongue as it fucking invades and explores. He hums and groans into the kiss, sending resonant vibrations of his dominance down your throat and all over your mouth, and damn, you kind of really want to die right now.
But you don't. Of course, not yet. More than anything you're still desperate for your punishment.
"Fucking perfect little slave," Jax snarls as he pulls away, and you can hear him squatting down behind you to pick up his whip. 
Before he does, while he's down there on his haunches, he takes the chance to manhandle your ass cheeks, groping firmly and then biting down on one of them, pausing to admire the mark that he made on your flesh with his ravenous teeth, then giving that spot a wet, open-mouthed kiss, and finally a sharp, stinging slap. Your knees buckle from how much you fucking liked that.
"Slut," he chuckles as he gives that cheek a few more smacks, each harder than the last. He makes sure to give the same sweet kinky treatment to the other cheek, biting and kissing then spanking both halves with his big, sturdy hands before he finally picks up his whip, one palm still groping your ass as he stands.
"Ready to feel this whip lashing your pretty little ass?" Jax dominantly asks. "Tell me, slave. How many do you want."
You're so blissed out right now that you barely have control over your lolling tongue. "Uh... uh—a lot."
"That's not a number, slut. Give me a number you can fucking count."
"Ughhhh..." you groan out as he trails the strip of leather wickedly against your ass, "...umm, a hundred?"
A soft laugh escapes his throat. "That's cute. You must be new to this, darlin'. I'm not about to beat you dead."
Some part of you right now kind of likes the sound of that. Which is maybe... sort of... bad? Jax is still talking, so for better or for worse, you don't have time to dwell on that.
"I can do a hundred. But only if each one is... weak... and soft..." he tells you, bending over your body to press his lips against your face again, kissing your cheek, tender and sweet. "Is that what you want? Or does this filthy bitch want it hard?"
His mouth has descended to bite down on your neck as he says it, causing you to cry out in bliss. "Fuck yes, please—hard!"
Jax huffs out another sexy little laugh. "That's what I fucking thought. I'm gonna give you ten to start," he offers, leaving wet kisses on the smooth skin that he'd bitten. "Ten nice and hard. That sound good, baby girl? And you just tell me if you want more. Or... if it's too much, if you ever want me to lighten up, or stop—"
"I won't," you blurt out. "God, Jax, I want... I need you to just fucking beat my ass off."
"Mmmn. Babe, you are fucking amazing, you know that?" he growls, fondly nuzzling your neck for a second before he pulls back, standing behind you, with his rock hard cock once again hovering over your crack. "But Jax ain't my name right now. Is it. What do you call me, slut."
You cringe at your own unforgivable error. "Master. I'm so sorry, sir."
"Yeah, you better be, bitch," he snarls, as the whip that has been gliding delicately over your body suddenly lifts away from your skin. "Fucking take it."
Holy—fucking—shit. The sharp, searing pain that you feel in that instant is so goddamn perfect. Electric, explosive, exquisite. Everything Jax is. Your life as you know it is finished; you live only to serve and to worship this god of a man who deals out such sweet punishment. You love it. You love him.
The rugged velvet sound of his voice in this moment just deepens your love for him, heightens your pleasure. "Count 'em for me, whore," he orders ruthlessly. "Want more?"
"One... Thank you, sir," you sigh, hazy from the incredible high. "Please, Master. More."
For a hell of a long time, Jax gives you everything you beg him for. And every second of the pleasurable pain is so damn dirty, so damn pure, completely perfect. But you both know that, given what a desperate slut and dedicated slave you are, you will literally never want him to stop. So Jax is the one who hits pause, when he decides he should. 
You never wanted it to end, but this is what your master wants—so as much as it saddens you, still you just give in, and still it feels good.
"Damn, baby," he breathes, dropping the whip, gently kneading your ass as he leans down to leave a trail of kisses up your spine with his soft, sinful lips. "Guess I should've known better than to ask you for a number. Such a good little slave. But we're gonna stop here, okay?"
"Yes, Master," you whisper.
"You know why we're gonna stop?" he teases as his mouth reaches the back of your neck. "It's not just because I'm done with beating you. Nah, the real reason is that... there's something even better I've been dying to do."
Part of you already knows what it is. And all of you wants it. Needs it.
Jax tilts your head to claim your mouth in a kiss, as his huge dick aligns with your soaking wet slit. "Mmmn. That's it, bitch," he moans into your lips. "Gonna fucking fuck you."
Every damn thing about Jax Teller is literally magic. So, as his massive cock basically breaks your body in half, as his heavy balls slap up against your cunt with each ferocious thrust so hard and fast, as his dominant hands grope and grab all over your just beaten ass... every inch of you feels so damn blessed upon contact. 
You can't imagine any better way to recover from your punishment. Not that you ever really want to recover from it—mostly you just want more and more of it—but no matter what you want, healing is what you need. 
And Jax heals just as well as he hurts. Even better, in fact. 
Once he's done fucking your pussy rough and dirty, shooting his divine cum deep inside you just the way you beg him to, he unties your ropes and then spends the next hour or so kissing and caressing and cuddling with you, massaging your ravaged ass cheeks with his hands and mouth, taking you to heaven when that sweet mouth eats you out, and even when he lets you worship his cock the way you've been dying to do, even when he grabs your head and fucks your face before he explodes down your throat, even then it still feels like healing. You both really needed that feeling.
He lifts you up to kiss you, deep and slow, on the lips before you are even done swallowing his cum. You let yourself drown in that beautiful face, hoping that Jax knows how damn good he tastes. How perfect he is in every way. That he is a fucking god, that everyone on earth should kneel before him as his slave.
When the kiss finally ends, as you both try to catch your breath for a few seconds, the cold hard fact of your predicament sets in again.
"We should probably put some clothes on, babe," he says, coming down from the high of his sex-heated haze. "Then I've gotta work out a way to escape."
You can tell that Jax sincerely meant it, when he'd promised he would save you from this place, and you don't doubt it for a minute. 
Still, there's no denying that you two are stuck in the middle of some serious deep shit. But after having experienced such punishment and pain and pleasure, such submission and service, such sex and love with Jax Teller, today down in this cellar—which you're pretty sure would not have happened under any other circumstances ever...
"Well," you sigh, breathing in his scent for what you hope won't have to be the final time before you die, "whatever happens next, Jax, this was..."
"Definitely," he cuts in to interrupt you with a few passionate kisses, then smiles down at you so devilishly it's delicious. So hellish it's heavenly. Finishes your sentence and it's just so fucking perfect. "Fucking worth it."
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… Sooo I know that was SUPER kinky shit, but I hope there are some filthy bitches who enjoyed it, and would love to hear if you did!! 😅❤️
– Main Masterlist
– Dirty Little Secret Masterlist
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imnothingbutpoetry · 3 years
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Happy Tears
Howdy people!
How are you? I hope that you are all fine and healthy during these times.
Today I have to show you some cute drabbles of our best boys in Haikyuu!! in a quite peculiar situation.
(I got a little carried away with these drabbles. This was going to be shorter, but, you know me - you really don’t -)
Please enjoy this writing, and constructive comments are always appreciated!
Once said this, let’s get into it!
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Pairings -> gn!reader x Bokuto Kōtarō / Tendō Satori / Yamaguchi Tadashi / Lev Haiba (separately)
Warnings -> Fluff and happy tears
Synopsis -> People always associate tears and cries with sadness, grief, and worry. But how would some of our boys react to a s/o who starts crying from happiness?
Words-> 4667
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Bokuto Kōtarō
Bokuto Kōtarō is a ball of fluffiness that needs constant affection, praise, and cuddles. If he doesn’t have that, he will fall into a pit of “emo feelings”, becoming his depressed self.
For this reason, all of his past partners never lasted long enough to finally get to know the boy: he was too much to handle for people who only wanted him for his looks and popularity, leaving Akaashi to look after him and take him out of his sad seasons.
Or at least, that was until he encountered you. You were someone who was willing to pamper him through his gloomy days and encourage him to be his best version, looking behind his pretty face and the popular agenda he was used to relating to. For this reason, he vowed to care for you and make you the happiest person to ever step on the earth.
Your duty as Bokuto Kōtarō’s partner was quite easy: give him cuddles, love, and baked goods, and he will be putty in your hands, as well as the happiest boy on the earth. Being his partner was a hard job that you were delighted to have, because, in return, the lover boy made you the happiest person on this planet, giving you lots and lots of love and kisses.
For this reason, you couldn’t understand how his anterior partners couldn’t keep up with the boy. You could tell that Bokuto was the sweetest person you ever met, and he was the most beautiful human, on the inside and outside, that stole your heart and protected it with all his care.
Because of this, when you overheard some of Bokuto’s classmates talking bad about your partner, you lost all your sense of rationality and went there to kick some asses.
“Who do you think you are, talking like that about a guy who is better than you in every aspect?” You stomped towards the two guys, who stopped talking at your abrupt appearance.
Looking at you up and down, one of them continued talking. “And who are you to interrupt us?” Laughing, both of the guys shared another look. Bitches.
“If you didn’t know, I’m Bokuto’s partner by the way.” At this, both of them paled a little bit. There may be some “rumors” about the volleyball captain's partner slapping someone because they were making fun of their boyfriend’s emo-mood. Yeah, “just” rumors… Well, continuing where we were. “So if you have anything bad to say, you can put your opinions up your a-”
When you were finishing the sentence, a hand on your shoulder silenced it. Turning your head, you saw Bokuto standing next to you. His presence alone was sufficient to make the boys storm off, leaving you and your boyfriend alone.
“Hey babe.” Bokuto said gloomily. That’s when you knew that he also heard what those two guys were saying earlier.
“Bokuto!” Hugging him, you started speaking again. “Baby you don’t have to listen to anything that these boys tell about you. You know how amazing you are and how beautiful and precious you are, and how you do everything from the heart, and how yo-”
“Y/n, it doesn’t matter, really.” Bokuto undid the hug you both were sharing, and you could see behind his eyes. He was affected.
“No Bo you don’t understand, you can let them talk bad about you, you can’t-” At this point you were speed-talking, and a glimpse of tears could be seen in your gaze.
“Y/N!” Bokuto shouted when he saw that tears started falling from your eyes. “Baby, babe, pup, what happened?” Whipping the crystal tears from your cheeks, Bokuto started caressing your face and neck.
“It’s just that-” Sniffling, you launched yourself at Bokuto, who caught you between his chest and arms, with one of them in your back, and the other gripping your thigh.
“Come on pup, what happened?” Rubbing your back and giving you a little peck on the cheek, your boyfriend tried to draw out the motive of your intense crying. “Are you ill? Do you need me to take you to the nurse's office?”
“No Bo.” Trying to recompose yourself so you could speak, you gave the bicolored-haired boy a soft look, which was even softer by the redness of your face. “It’s just…” Breathing in, you explained to him what was bothering you, and why you seemed so upset with those people before. “It’s just that I can’t stand people making fun of you. You are a beautiful person who always makes other people your top priority. Why does it matter if you need more cuddles than other people? I will always be here to take care of you, because I know that you will be here to take care of me. We are a couple, and my duty as your partner is to make you happy and content. My duty is to make you feel loved.”
With this little speech, Bokuto was the one that started tearing up. Then, it was his turn to speak. “That’s why you are crying? Because some other people made me upset?”
“That’s not exactly the reason.” Smiling through your tears, you gave the captain one of the brightest smiles he had ever seen from you. “I am crying because I am so happy that you are my lover, Bo. I’m crying because I never had someone like you before, and seeing other people make fun of you made me realize that I want to protect you and make you feel the one and only in this world. Baby, I am crying because I love you so much that I didn't know how to express it, Bo. Because I love you, and I will always love you.”
When you said this, none of you said anything during what seemed an eternity. You started thinking that maybe you went a little overboard with what you have said, so you started trying to climb down his strong arms. That’s when Bokuto reareacted, and gripping you tighter, he talked again.
“I love you so much, y/n. I think you broke me because I don’t know what to say, and the only thing that comes to my mind is that I love you so, so much. Baby, I love you!” While your boyfriend was saying this, he also started crying, tearing his eyes up with salty tears, while he hid his face on your neck.
This nearly broke you too, as your love for the boy seemed to increase with his sentence. What happened next, it’s something that both of you will remember as the happiest peak of your relationship, and the moment when you realized that you were a perfect match. For this reason, you couldn’t think of anything better than to shout “I love you’s” with your boyfriend.
“BO I LOVE YOU!”
“Y/N!”
“BOKUTO!”
While you were shouting each other’s names while crying and hugging with an incredible force, you didn’t notice a certain black-haired guy who was watching you from afar. The guy’s name was Akaashi, and upon seeing the scene in front of him, he let out a long sigh. Today, he wasn’t only left to take care of a sad burrito, but of two lovers who couldn’t stop crying and bawling their eyes out. Today Akaashi was going to be a nanny, but for his two friends, he would go to the end of the world and back so they could stay safe and sound and cry without anyone getting in their way.
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Tendō Satori
My my, this boy is an interesting one, and I think that he doesn’t have the recognition that he deserves.
Contrary to popular belief, I firmly believe that Tendō isn’t a yandere who will take pride in hurting you. So please stop making him like this, it isn’t his personality.
Said this, in my opinion Tendō is someone who will make “his paradise”, his pet name for you, the happiest person on earth, taking them to weird and unusual dates, but ensuring that his partner always has a smile on their face. So imagine his bewilderment when you start randomly crying on your date to the zoo.
“Come on my paradise, or we will be late to see the birds.”
“Tendō, we are running towards the zoo, we can’t possibly be late when they open in an hour!”
This conversation is the one that you have with your boyfriend Tendō Satori, while you both are running towards the zoo because he decided that today he wanted to see wild animals when in the first place, you were going to have a movie date in your house.
“What happened to Ten-Ten, my love?” The red-head then stops running, causing you to crash against his back. Thank god that he had your hand in a firm grip, because if it wasn’t, well, then you would have crashed against the cold hard floor.
“I would have called you Ten-Ten if we were walking, you know I don’t play volleyball like you!”
“And? A little adventure it’s good for everyone.”
You look into each other's eyes, and then you both start laughing with stars in your sight.
“Okay, you got me there Ten, but can we stop for a minute or two?” Running out of breath you push Tendō towards a bank in a small square, where your boyfriend sits down and pushes you on his lap. “We still have time, you know?” Caressing his face, you both kiss. When he breaks it, he starts talking again.
“I know, but, I just wanted to see the birds with you.” Putting his head on your shoulder, he lets himself relax a little bit.
“Ten-Ten, you may be able to fool your enemies in the court, but you know you can’t lie to your partner.” Tendō raises his head and looks directly into your eyes, as if trying to decipher the meaning behind those words.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I know you, babe.” As you talk, you let your hand play with his own, tracing his bandaged fingers and giving each one little kisses as you continue with your explanation. “I know the look in your eyes when you are lying to me. Maybe in the court this gaze is transformed into something indestructible, but with me, you know that I can understand each one of your glances.”
Tendō hugged your waist and gave a tiny kiss to your neck and shoulder. He always does this when he is nervous or excited about something.
“Well…” He starts talking while his eyes wander far from your form. “Maybe it’s not the birds what I want to see.”
“Then what do you want to visit, Ten? Do you want to return to my house and watch the new movie that you wanted to see with me?”
“No!” Exalted, he nearly shouted the word to you. Then, when he was a little calmer, he continued with his rambling. “What I really want to see is your smile.”
With his statement you turned your head towards his, and this time it was your turn to put your head on his shoulder. Giving him a tiny smile, you asked him with curiosity. “What does that mean, Tendō? You always see my smile when I’m with you.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s just that…” Your boyfriend stopped talking and you gave him an encouraging kiss on his head. Then, he continued. “You always make things for me, and do whatever I want, so I wanted to return you the favor.” Tendō grabbed your hand and interlocked your fingers with his bandaged ones. “At the zoo for today they will put this new section with a petting zoo of sheep and llamas and alpacas, and I know how much you love these animals, so I thought I could bring you there to see your smile while petting them. You always have this sappy smile when you talk about how you would like to pet an alpaca, so I thought it would be a great idea. I was just thrilled to see you happy, so I wanted to get there as early as possible.”
“Tendō…” Saying his name with a whispering voice, you were suddenly overwhelmed with all this love. You were on the verge of crying, and your boyfriend took notice of this too.
“The idea was that horrible? You look like you're about to cry.” Putting his hand on your cheek, he continued. “Do you still want to go to the zoo? We can just get some ice cream in the park next to your house.”
With this final sentence, abruptly all hell broke loose and you started bawling and tearing your eyes out.
“Babe?! Y/n why are you crying? We don’t need to go to the zoo if you don’t want, we can-”
“No no, it’s not because of the zoo.” Sniffling, you started explaining the motives of your crying. “It’s just because I’m so happy Ten-Ten.”
Tendō looked at you weirdly, but still with worried and loving eyes. “Are you crying because you are happy?”
“I know it’s weird but, it’s just,” Making a pause to recompose yourself, you finally looked straight into his eyes. “I am so happy right now with you. Nobody ever cared that much for me, nobody loved me as you do, and I certainly never have loved someone as much as I love you.”
You grabbed his hands, and you looked into his eyes as if it was the first time that you did so. “Tendō, I love you so much. So, so much. And you remember everything that I say, and you make me so happy. Yes, I want to go to the petting area of the zoo with you. I would like it so much.”
At this, your boyfriend got your face between his hands and gave you a little smooch. “My paradise, look at me. The shine of my eyes it’s because of you, because of how happy you make me. I would do anything for you. But babe, you don’t need to cry of happiness. In that case, you should only laugh. I want you to laugh every day, okay?” Giving you another kiss, he pushed you carefully off his lap and stood up with you.
“Now, my paradise, do you want to go to the zoo, or do you prefer crying a little bit more about how much do you love me?”
Giving him a tiny shoulder punch, you grabbed his hand and started running with him again towards the zoo. Even though you cried this day, you can surely tell that it was the best day of your life.
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Yamaguchi Tadashi
Yamaguchi has always been at your side.
Being childhood friends alongside Tsukishima, you found yourself falling in love with the freckled boy a little bit more every day, while having to listen to the nasty side remarks the blond boy threw at your side.
However, your friendship ended the day you decided to confess to Yamaguchi, having a tearful final full of surprises.
With the final ring of the school bell, classes finally ended and students were able to leave the school behind. Some people left towards an upcoming weekend full of adventures, and, some other people, left for a full weekend of homework. Thankfully, you were one of the lucky students who didn’t get any schoolwork, having done all your exams and having got good grades.
However, all the calmness that you could get by having a free-work weekend it’s replaced by the nervous feeling of having to confess to your childhood friend, whom you have asked if you could meet tomorrow morning.
“Why am I doing this?” You thought, “Oh right, because Tsukishima said that if I didn’t confess this weekend, he would do it for me” and believe me, it’s better if he doesn’t confess your feelings for you. He can be quite, hum, sarcastic and horrible when he wants to.
While you were lost in your thoughts, a usually nervous boy approached you with a sappy smile on his face. Can you guess who it is?
“Y/n, wait for me!” At this, you jumped a little bit and stopped walking towards the school gates. Turning your head to the voice, you encountered the love of your li-, your childhood friend.
“Yams, what are you doing here? You scared me, didn't you have practice?” Exalted you exclaimed.
“Well, we have a little break. I just wanted to confirm if tomorrow you still can meet me at the park.”
Sweating (when did you start sweating?), you answered. “Of course Yams, I will be there, you know I invited you in the first place.”
“Yeah, I know.” Yamaguchi started rubbing his neck with his right hand, and you swear that one day you are going to die of his cuteness. “And another thing before you leave, Tsukki is coming too.”
NO, No, no, no, “W-what?” if you thought you were sweating before, you haven’t seen yourself now. “Why is Tsukishima coming?”
“Well, he asked if he could come too because he said that he doesn’t want to miss something that would make him laugh a lot. I haven’t understood that part.”
That bitch. “Okay, don’t worry, we will still be together, so no problem. See you tomorrow, Yams.” I swear I can hear his stupid laugh.
“See you tomorrow y/n!” Now running towards the gym door, the boy disappeared, and you know that you never had this enormous urge of killing blondes before.
Tomorrow came earlier than expected, and you found yourself walking towards the park in slow motion. Little steps without confidence were the ones that you gave until you stopped at the large gates of the park.
“You can do this y/n, just ignore Tsukishima.” Repeating this like a mantra in your head, you advanced towards your special spot in the park, a little spot full of flowers and two swings. You always go there with Yams, and every time you end up with flower crowns made by the freckled friend.
“Look who's here already, our little shy friend y/n.” That bitch already. At least I know I have arrived in time for our meeting.
“Tsukishima.” Giving him your nastiest glare, you turn towards Yamaguchi, who is swinging in the wooden plaything. “Hello Yams! How are you?”
“It’s nice knowing that you care for me”
“Shut up Tsukishima, and go away.” Looking at him, you know that he won’t go away that easily. “Oh please lord Tsukishima, go away.” The disgusting things that I have to do for him to leave.
“Well if you insist, I’ll be right there.” And he only steps aside to the tree next to the swings. Well, this has to do.
“What's the matter, y/n?” Yams stands up and touches your arm. “Are you okay?”
Y/n please don’t mess this up. Please please don’t mess this up. Please don’t be nervous, you can do it, please-
“I LIKE YOU!”
“W-What?”
Congratulations y/n, you messed up. You really really messed up. And on top of it all, the blonde bitch is nearly falling from laughter. You have to solve this now.
“Okay Yams, I know that this isn’t how I should have confessed but… I really like you, since forever. You are always by my side, and you are what makes my world spin. I know that you don’t feel the same, but I-”
“I like you too, y/n.”
“What?” You look at him, and you feel like crying.
“I also like you… I have been liking you for a long time really, and, wait, are you crying?”
At this point, the pressure finally settled down, and you started sniffling, with tears running down your cheeks.
“I’m sorry Yams, I’m just, so so so happy-” Stopping to clean your face with your sleeve, you continued crying even more. “to be with you.”
“Come on, please don’t cry!” At this, Yamaguchi gives you a bear hug, and you can’t be happier.
“These are happy tears, Yams. I’m just so happy that you also like me!” And more and more tears.
“Well, then you are going to cry some more, because I’m going to be with you from now on.”
Hugging him even more, you nearly tackled him to the floor, and cried even more.
“I love you Yams!” At this, it was Yamaguchi who started crying of happiness, and the people at the park wondered why two teenagers were desperately bawling their eyes out, while looking at you with pity and some disgust.
“You both look ridiculous right now.”
“Shut up, Tsukishima!” And you remained hugging each other until the blonde boy had to separate you two because it was getting late, and lunch was going to be served in each of your homes.
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Lev Haiba
With Lev Haiba you know one thing for sure: it doesn’t matter how tall you are, he will always be taller.
Said this, this statement leads to him picking you up on every opportunity that he has, super comfortable bear hugs, and, of course, piggyback rides on every walk home.
Used to be alone all your life, this new and recently acquired affection brings back some tears that you thought you left behind, but this time, the tears have another flavor in them.
Watching volleyball matches wasn’t something that you overly enjoyed, but when Lev was on the court, the matches transformed into a movie that you could spend your entire life watching. Even though the boy wasn’t the best player, and definitely wasn’t the team's ace, all the effort that he put into those matches was something that you could observe forever. Lev was an upcoming star who made some mistakes, but on the court, life seemed to disappear and the only thing that mattered was the ball in front of him, calling for his name.
And while he was on the court, the only thing that mattered to you were his vibrant eyes that shine through the dim lights of the gym and reflect all of his passion for the sport. While he was on the court, you could only view how happy volleyball made him, and how happy it made you that Lev has something he could rely on forever, that he has something that makes his big eyes enjoy the small world he was seeing.
However, the shine of his eyes disappears when he touches the ball, changing into determination and dedication, only for it to return when the ball goes to the other side of the court and makes a point. Then, it’s when Lev would look up at the grades and search for some other eyes. Then, it’s when Lev would search for your beautiful e/c eyes and send you one of his killing smiles, one of the smiles that make your heart engulf your chest, and that makes hundreds of butterflies appear in your stomach.
When Lev gets a point, you know that right after he will be always looking after your gaze, and then it will be your turn to have shiny eyes that demonstrate how proud you are of him, and how much you love the half-Russian guy.
Even though it’s during the match when you are proud of him, it’s when it finishes that you can go next to the guy and actually show him how much it meant to you.
After every game, it doesn’t matter if it’s a practice or a significant one, he will always come running to you in the gym halls, grabbing you and spinning you in an enormous bear hug. While he is sweaty and tired, that doesn’t stop him from showing you his love.
“Y/n!” He would say while grabbing your tights and making you hug his neck so you don’t fall to the floor. “Have you seen me? Have you seen that point?”
“Of course I have seen it, Lev!” You would also exclaim, excited for the Nekoma’s winning. “You were amazing, as always.”
“He could have been a little more observant of the ball, and not of you.” Then, it was Kuroo’s turn to speak, when he usually guided his team to their bus. “He is always looking at the grades after you when you come to the games. Although I can’t complain, he plays better when you are here.”
“Kuroo!” Lev was always embarrassed when his captain talked to you. It was an adorable sight that you witnessed when the taller guy put you on the floor again.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. We are going to go get something to drink at the vending machines, and in half an hour we will be on the bus. If you are not there, we will leave without you.” The black-haired guy threatening your Lev was also a daily occurrence, but he never would leave without the half-Japanese teammate. Or at least, that’s what you two like to think.
“I won’t entertain him a lot Kuroo, don’t worry.” In the end, it was you who put a dot on the conversation, and while the team was going to eat something, Lev was busy talking to you. He preferred talking to you, and that made your heart beat faster each time.
“I know I’m sweaty, but, can I hold you again?”
While starting to blush, you respond. “Of course Lev, always.”
On every after-match you both have this conversation. The Russian asks if he can hold you again, and, who are you to deny that? Then, he goes to the nearest bank and sits with you, while hugging you even more.
“I was thinking about you while making the point. You always inspire me to do my best.”
After a game, Lev transforms into a big teddy bear. He’s tired, and he only wants you to cuddle him before going back to Nekoma’s gym. To make this cuddling session even more comfortable, he gives you his spare team jacket. A red coat that envelops you completely, drowning you in his cologne and his warmth.
“I know Lev. You always dedicate all of your points to me.”
“But this one was more special!”
“Oh yes? And why was this one more special?” You asked intrigued. This was a new conversation that he never mentioned before.
“Well, this one is special because I was thinking…” The boy stops mid-sentence, and you urge him to continue.
“You can tell me, Lev. I won’t tell anyone.”
“This one’s special because I was thinking about how much I love you.” Speechless, you let him continue. “I love you so much y/n. You make me better.” At this, the boy hides his face in your neck.
“Lev…” Hugging him even more, you finally answer the unspoken question that was lingering in the air with a breaking voice. “I love you too.”
“Really!” Separating his face from your neck, he notices something that worries him. “Wait, are you crying? Why are you crying? You just said that you love me… It was a joke?”
“No Lev, it wasn’t a joke.” Sniffling and letting even more tears fall down your cheeks onto his shirt, you continue. “I’m just so happy that you love me, Lev. I’m so happy because I also love you, and I have been dying to tell you this for a really long time.”
“If you are happy you shouldn’t be crying.” When he said this, he approached you and put his hands on your damped cheeks. “If anything, you should be laughing.” Finally, Lev put his lips on top of yours, and you two shared your first kiss.
It was a kiss full of tears, but you couldn’t have asked for a better first kiss when your Lev was the one kissing you and filling you up with an unspoken happiness, that would make you both the two luckiest people in this world.
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If you liked this, please look for my other works!
Kageyama x female!reader x Oikawa angst!
A fluffy bad day (Fluff drabble with Kenma & Hinata)
Tall girls love short boys most (Fluff imagine with Nishinoya)
I’m not a usual writer, but if someone wants to send a request and give inspiration, feel free to do it! My asks are always open!
Thank you so much for reading!
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giorno-plays-piano · 4 years
Text
Cry Little Sister
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Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader
Warnings: yandere, obsession, verbal threats, gaslighting, both reader and Peter are high school students, kinda slight incestuous undertones (the characters aren't related, though).
Words: 2214.
Summary: Your adopted older brother is not as nice as he seems, but no one is willing to believe you.
P.S. And yep, I used one of my favourite citations from Grishaverse in the end of this story. Hope you enjoy!
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"Peter, sweetheart, I knew you'd make it!" Your mother had clasped her hands together while your father patted Peter's shoulder. "The best test results in the whole class! My goodness, we need to celebrate it!"
You smiled at them tiredly, seeing the faces of your parents practically glowing. True, Peter was a damn smart guy. You had never achieved such high results despite all those nights you spent studying, while he didn't care much about it at all, it seemed. You hadn't seen him with a book yet.
"I'm gonna bake an apple pie for you." A smile of your mother made you feel bitter, and you averted your eyes, missing an odd look your older adopted brother sent you.
Half a year ago he finally came to live with your family once your parents finished gathering all the papers and waited for almost a year to receive "the call". You remembered how you had jumped happily in the living room along with your mom, believing it was finally over. Well, maybe it was over for Peter, but for you it was only a beginning. You could hardly imagine the sweet skinny guy who you considered very shy and bashful would change so drastically.
It started very subtle. First, Peter was trying to be helpful, assisting you when you did the housework - he was actually way better at cooking and cleaning than you and easily got praised by your mom. You were truly thankful to him for his help, especially since it was easier to get to know him while working together. It was then when you first spotted the odd looks he was sending you when he thought you didn't see. There was something... uneasy lingering in his gaze. You couldn't quite put your finger on it, but sometimes Peter made you shiver with the way he spoke or touched you discreetly. It was strange. Of course, the boy didn't do or tell you something that would make you worried, but you just couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. You blamed it on the fact you couldn't get accustomed to a new life with an adopted brother yet. Surely, it wasn't supposed to be easy?
But the more you spent time together, the stronger that feeling got. Despite Peter becoming a part of your family as easily as if he had always been your parents' son, you were wary of his sudden urges to touch you and always keep you in his sight. At first you thought he was just touch starved and needed human warmth. Maybe for Peter it was just easier to come to you rather than your parents since you were almost the same age as him.  But then... one day you saw him going through your things and taking one of your lipsticks from your makeup bag. You suddenly remembered losing a lip gloss two weeks ago.
Trying to voice your concerns, you talked to your mom who was so insensitive she went to speak with Peter right away. Of course, he said it wasn't true and you had probably misunderstood him since he only wanted to borrow a pen. He even showed his table and wardrobe to demonstrate he didn't hide anything.
From that time Peter had changed. He didn't hide his unhealthy behavior from you anymore, and he was scaring you with the things he had done, keeping an eye on you when you were around and stalking you if you were not, never staying far away aside from the time he had to be in class.
Of course, he sensed that you were becoming resteless, less and less eager to spend time with him, blaming it on lots of homework or sudden meetings with friends. You weren't blind to his frightening affection - if you could call his feelings like that. Why was he doing it? Despite spending only several months living with you, your parents loved him dearly, paying him twice more attention than you. You had never protested against it, knowing a poor soul like him who didn't have his own family needed all the help he could get now. But this... this wasn't alright. This wasn't a feeling siblings should have for each other. Did Peter consider you one? Did you truly consider him your older brother? You weren't sure. Nevertheless, it still didn't feel right.
Carefully, you attempted to talk to your father about it, vagualy wording your concerns and giving him little details - sure, you didn't like how Peter was behaving, but he didn't deserve to be banished from your family and sent back. You still believed something could be done to set everything right. Maybe the boy just didn't realize things were not supposed to work this way in a family. However, your father laughed it all off. He said little girls like you were thinking too much of themselves lately, claiming the whole world was obsessed with them. Peter simply tried to be a good brother and look out for you.
You had never felt more humiliated in your entire life.
Dropping all attempts to bring Peter's unhealthy behaviour to your parents' attention, you decided there was just one thing to do - separate yourself from him completely.
No more doing the housework together, no more chats in the kitchen in the morning, no more having lunch together at school, no more cuddles in the evening. You kept yourself as busy as you could - in the morning you did jogging, at school you spent time with your friends, in the evening you were taking your books and doing your homework in the park, at your friend's place or anywhere convenient. Even though Peter tried following you, you had started to change places all of a sudden to keep him away from you.
This was when he had enough of you distancing yourself.
Suddenly, Peter fighted for affection of your parents with such ferocity as if you tried to strip him of their love. His gradea were suddenly way better than yours - he claimed he had finally felt safe in his new home and could spent his energy elsewhere. The way he behaved was even more sweet than before. On the other hand, strange things started happening to you: once your mother found your expensive satin blouse torn and blamed it on you and your carelessness; the other time the chicken you cooked was so salty it ended in a trash bin; your friend received threats coming from your phone number, though you had never ever sent anything like that to her.
It was easy to guess who was doing this to you, but Peter never admitted it out loud. Talking to your parents was worthless, too, as in their eyes the boy was a pure blessing. How could you blame him for things you did to catch their attention?
Shit. You knew something was wrong with Peter, but you could hardly imagine to what extent he could go to have his way. It was unbelievable a boy like him could manipulate people so easily, wrapping them around his finger. Why was he doing it? Everyone already loved him. Everyone but you.
"Y/N!" Your mother's sharp voice broke the silence, and you hurried downstares, finding your mom near the washing machine with a wet black sock in her hands. "Are you out of your mind?! Did you put your black socks in there when I said to bring your WHITE clothes?!"
"But I didn't!" You gawked at her, knowing perfectly you only brought her what she asked you to. "I swear I didn't!"
"Oh yes, of course, it's Peter who went through your dirty clothes to incriminate you, dear." She sneered at you. "You have to come up with a new excuse, this is getting old. Look what you've done, my white jeans are ruined!"
"Please, mom, I-"
"Go to your room. I don't want to see or hear you." She snapped, tossing the sock to the floor as you stared at her in horror. She had never been so irritated like in the past month when your "slip-ups" were happening more and more often.
Racing upstairs, you pressed your hand to your mouth, trying not to cry. Why was he still doing it to you? Why did Peter want everything to be like he wished? Why did your parents never believe you? It was you who was their true daugther, for God's sake!
Locking the door, you fell down on your bed, burying your head in your soft pillow. It started to become unbearable. Why was this all happening? Despite your growing hate towards Peter, you couldn't say that he was ugly and unpleasant. He was easy on the eyes and could be really nice to people around him, and it made Peter quite popular among the girls at school. Why on Earth didn't he set his eyes on anyone other than you? There were plenty of girls who'd be willing to date him and give him as much attention as he wanted.
You wiped away your angry tears with your pillow, biting on your lower lip. It was unfair, and you weren't going to give in to him just because Peter wanted to play with you like a spoiled child. You'd find a way to prove you weren't guilty of all those things he wanted to pin on you, you just needed to gather yourself and think properly.
Suddenly, you heard someone knocking on your window and rushed to it immediately: your room was on the third floor. Seeing Peter sitting on the bench of a tree, you gasped in shock. You opened the window right away, praying for him to stay still.
"Are you out of your mind?" You whispered in horror, holding out your hand to him. "What are you doing there?!"
He smiled at you like nothing was happening, taking your arm and crawling towards your window. In the next moment he was already inside your room, grinning like a kid and shutting the window behind himself. You furrowed your brows, your heart racing. Peter was insane!
"What if you slipped?" You asked him furiously. "Are you mad? Do you want to die?!"
"No, but you wouldn't let me in your room unless I came in the window." He admitted carelessly and smiled, reaching out to you and enveloping you in a hug. "I'm glad you don't want me to fall."
"You're out of your mind, brother." You grunted, trying to push him away, but his grip was only becoming stronger. "What are you doing? Let me go, please."
"But I want a hug from you. Is it so bad?"
You clenched your teeth, watching him angrily. "You just made my mom scream at me for that stupid sock. You think you deserve a hug?"
"I only did it because you're stubborn. It's your fault I had come to this, Y/N." His sickly sweet smile made you nauseated as you put your hands on his chest in attempt to keep him away. "Come on, why have you been acting so cold? I just want to be a part of your family."
"Are you serious?"
Your eyes could burn a hole in his face as you stared at him, getting more and more angry with his behaviour and trying to blame you for his own actions.
"This isn't like it should be in a family, Peter. We're siblings now. Siblings don't do it... l-like that." You felt your face growing hot as you became deeply embarrassed, knowing how your words could be interpreted.
"But we're not siblings, are we?" He tilted his head to the side, narrowing his dark eyes at you and smiling widely.
You growled in irritation, still unable to get rid of him holding you like a doll in his hands.
"If you don't want me to be your sister, what family are you talking about, then?"
"We'll, it's not the only family I can have with you, right?"
You stilled, unsure you understood what Peter meant as he chuckled with content, watching you getting more and more confused while he gently caressed your back. What other family he could possibly mean?
It took you a few seconds to realize he was talking about marriage between you two.
Your eyes popped out of its sockets. Was he fucking serious? That kind of family? No, he should have been out of his mind completely. He definitely had to see a psychiatrist or something!
"You're joking, aren't you?" You muttered, shocked. "You can't be serious!"
"But I am, sister." Peter's sweet smile was slowly turning sinister as he leaned closer to you, dropping a kiss to your temple as you shivered against him, wanting nothing but get away. "And you better stop with that silly attitude of yours if you don't want me to get real angry."
"And what are you going to do if I don't? What if I will tell everyone about this?"
He smirked, touching your forehead with his and closing his eyes for a second.
"I see you still don't understand." Peter whispered to you, watching you getting more and more nervous. “I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no one but me.”
___________
Tags: @finleyjayne @alexakeyloveloki   ​@helenaeisenhower @villanellevi @hurricanerin ​@void-hoechlin @abyssaint @heeeyitskay @chris-evans-indian-fanfic @rosalynshields @brattycherubwrites @sllooney @angrythingstarlight
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pocketramblr · 3 years
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other main character meta- Ochako, pt 1
<part 2>
“Could you send me there?” you ask, while i blink, confused. “The world where someone else is the main character? not because i have any hypocritical biases against the one i got, just curious how the fandom meta changes.”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” I nod, thinking, before tapping my wand against your forehead. “Let’s start with Ochako.”
"I'm going to warn you now- I will have to slightly adjust the plot like I did with Mirio, just to actually let her be the main character."
"Yeah, that checks out." You nod, thinking about certain arcs where the female fighting teams get no coverage while the dudes get four different backstory reveals and full fight focus.
"Very well."
The show begins with a brief narration by the girl of quirks and super hero fights- all flashy. Then it zooms out to show the destruction, and a small construction team moving in as Ochako explains that just as there are new careers in society for heroes, there's also a bigger market for construction companies, one of which her own family runs.
"I've always wanted to help them with it, and my quirk would be useful"- a tiny, adorable Ochako finally appears, making rocks in a park float- "but to get a work license like that is expensive and selective- you've got to make a lot of court appearances and convince them why is a good idea and won't destroy the economy. It's much easier to get a hero license."
Then she explains: "Of course, once you have a hero license, you can make a lot more money than just by helping the company. Especially if... Your family company isn't doing very well." A series of tired but loving parents are shown working all hours to make ends meet.
"I want to help them- my parents. They've done everything for me, and they deserve a break. So that's why I'm going to be a hero- their hero."
The training montage is quick, using her quirk during school in training, after school in secret, around the house. She saves up money too, and studies, aiming for a scholarship.
She applies and tests for many hero schools, and the exams all vary widely.
The first episode ends with her looking up at UA, her final one, the one she really hopes to get into.
"Oh, that's nice." You nod. "And we even get to know her parents' quirks here."
"Yep." I agree. "In general, there's a lot more of a look at the financial side. It's pretty interesting."
"And the fandom?"
"Well, certain people get praised for the bare minimum, but I'll admit having a female lead is super uncommon for shonen jump." It's an improvement, though it's up in the air how much of one it will be. "There's also, because we saw a lot more hero schools, a ton of "students at different school" fics, either because they were expelled or because of the danger UA gets into."
"I do kinda feel like this universe is lucky for that sort of world building." You nod.
"It's very cool to see the takes on the aus. But, I will say there's a cost for this world building- the AfO stuff reeeeally comes out of nowhere and tends to not be popular with fans."
The next episode starts, and Ochako helps a boy from falling. "Love interest alert!" The fans notice quickly when the cute boy blushes and doesn't manage to say much before she walks away.
"They caught on quick." You note.
"And they aren't wrong." Not that it's any real feat to be right.
The exam starts, and Ochako is off in a flash. You see a few glimpses of future classmates- Iida, Aoyama, Kirishima.
She does well, racking up villain points and rescue points, until she's a little too ambitious and falls into the rubble. Her nausea is well established by now, everyone knows she's at her limit.
She can't get up.
The green haired boy comes back and stops the zero pointer.
And breaks every bone in the process.
Ochako saves him in return, lifting up the rubble and stopping his fall.
And then vomits violently afterwards.
"You know, I think quirks suck, actually." The fandom tends to agree on this after that episode/chapter. "But it is interesting that there's such a price for the powers, balances it really well."
"Ha." You shake your head. "They caught onto that, quicker."
"Yep." I can't even say it's more highlighted here, it's the exact same way it was shown in our universe- down to the sparkling rainbow puke.
"Though..." You can't quite imagine that's the only thing the fandom is saying isn't actually that great.
"Ding ding ding." I nod. "Did our own main character get treated just like a damsel in distress? Sure, she saved him back, but that just meant she could have floated away on her own in that time, even if it made her sick. Better that than dead. Is it the sexism?" I shrug. "Most decide to wait and see a bit, and by the time they work together in the first battle exercise figure it's a pretty even split between them saving each other."
"So no sexism?" You get happy at that thought.
I cough. "Ah, no. Both in the show and the fandom. You wouldn't believe how many grown men complain about the lady mc, even as they keep watching."
"And have her body pillow."
"Please don't make me think about that." I cover my eyes, but don't deny that it's true. "Anyway, yeah. Get ready for a lot of people to point out that even though the main character is a girl, every single other girl is flat as cardboard so far and that she only has developed friends that are guys."
"Hey, they aren't flat-"
"In the first season? Yeah they are. Unless you meant, physically, in which case..."
"I didn't." You protest. "But I guess I can see your point, at the start."
"Right. Let's continue on."
Uraraka goes to Present Mic to offer her points. The man pats her on the head, and skyrockets to the position of fandom dad.
"It's all about Dadmic and then Dadzawa here," I explain. "The fans were very disappointed to learn Mic wasn't her homeroom teacher, but yeah... He got a huge head start before Dadzawa fics got going."
"Nice. And it's all fanon?"
"Yeah, it may be a good thing he's not actually in it much, or they might realize how much they just made up on their own."
Then she gets accepted in, on hero and rescue points- she's third place overall, and she gets the scholarship.
On the first day of school, she actually gets to know her love interest's name- Midoriya!
There's also the quirk assessment, which really leads to the "expelled to another school" au and the "fire Aizawa and replace him with better Mic" aus, the first of which lasts much longer in the fandom use, but the second one was just as passionate for a while.
Iida becomes the second friend, and gives her the "Infinity Girl" nickname- which actually is the fandom assumption of what her hero name will be for quite a while, a la 'ground zero'.
Then it's time for All Might's first appearance on screen, to much applause of the students, and the announcement that they get their costumes.
During the first battle exercise, there's a lot more lingering camera work in the changing rooms. Ochako gets to expand a lot more on how she didn't want her costume to be that tight. It's uncomfortable, especially when she thinks about wearing it in front of everyone.
"Oh, I forgot she didn't like it at first... Does she just, get used to it here?" It sounds horrible for the plot to just say 'get used to it' to the main character being sexualized by costume makers outside of her control, especially as a child.
"Not on my watch." I mumble, waving the wand. "Don't worry, she'll actually get more costume changes each time, like some other characters."
"Oh good."
Mineta, regrettably, still exists. You find the fandom manages to be even more violent in his removal.
The battle does even out the opinions on Midoriya, as well as lead to a boost in Iida's with his charming little attempt at thinking villainously.
And cements Bakugo as rather hated. No one has really liked him, when the first thing he did was blow up at Midoriya, then get revealed to have called him a cruel nickname all this time. And then specifically hunt him down because all he cares about it beating him up.
"Yeah he's not gonna get a lot of fans here huh."
"He sure never gets first place in the popularity poll." I agree. "Most consider him the subversion of the rival trope to show is just stupid and violent and in real life, people like that don't go anywhere."
"Most?"
I look away. "How dumb of a discourse do you think you could see today?"
"Oh please, show me." You lean in. "It's nice to not have to deal with it in my universe, so I don't care."
The discourse is such.
Bakugo is gay-coded for Midoriya, the violence is a result of him being shoved off for a girl's love interest when she should be single and independent, and the homophobic creator is vilifying all gay people by saying they are predatory to poor straight boys with refused.
"They............... What."
"If it makes you feel better, that's a very brief minority of the fandom. My favorite response to it was "he's not gay-coded, he's bully coded you sanctimonious sumph of a shmuck.""
"Oh good," you sigh. "I'm glad we don't have to deal with actual queerphobic tropes like that."
I stare at you.
"What?"
I sigh. "Nothing, put a pin in that until I bring up the predatory bi thing with Toga."
Your eyes widen, and you start to have some regrets.
"Anyway, we can talk shipping later. Time for more."
The 'exit sign Iida' gives him a boost in being shipped with Ochako, (as well as Yaoyorozu) and also the general idea that "Ochako has two hands."
That one hand can have a boyfriend with a lot of cash to spare for her and the other is also played with.
"I missed the main trio, like this." You smile as they walk off into the sunset after school.
"Yeah." I agree. "Anyway, time for some near death experiences."
The USJ marks the start of the gradual, gradual growth of Dadzawa fics. It also focuses far more on Ochako, Mina, Sero, and Iida having to think strategically to get around Kurogiri. It's only after Iida escapes that we cut back to a slightly abridged version of how Midoriya was doing, then the other kids, before help arrives.
He does still through his first non bone breaking punch though, which makes the audience happy.
All Might saves the day. Aizawa is battered afterwards. Many fans start out by saying they were disappointed, since this was supposed to be the first big fight, and the kids didn't do much. Many others say in response that's the point- we're looking at first years, they had to think and help each other, but in the end they had to rely on adults.
And then the sports festival is announced. They want to do well, because this is how they get work-week placements, which could become internship offers.
Ochako thinks about Hado Nejire, the only intern of a top ten hero, and senior at UA, along with a few others who are on the up and up. She's determined.
"Really? You're bringing in the big three early?" You ask, glancing at my wand.
It's not sparkling.
I cross my arms with a huff. "Look. Nejire is at this point the only intern in the top ten, she would have been recognizable to the students for that, even if they didn't recognize the big three (which really means that they aren't actually called the Big Three by everyone, or at least not a wide enough group for it to be as big a deal as it's treated. Anyway.) But she wasn't, even if she should have been the most famous of the bunch, considering the coverage the first years got in just their first night. That's because a certain someone doesn't actually think of his female characters much, but he has to in this universe, so."
"Ok, yeah, that's fair. So does that change the sports festival?"
"Not... Much." I admit.
“What?”
“Well, keep in mind in the first universe, our main character didn’t make it past the second round in the one-on-one’s. So she’s not exactly guaranteed a win here either.”
You have to nod, admitting that is true.
“And the conflict isn’t so much about having to live up to any predecessor or breaking down some people’s walls via breaking bones.” I tap my wand against my chin, thinking. “There really is two- one about Midoriya, and one about Ochako’s parents.”
“Oh?”
“One, there’s been the Uraraka’s not happy about how much danger Ochako’s been in. Its been hinted at in the phone calls, but really shows up when we get to see them at home before the SF for the first time since she moved for school. They aren’t sure if she can stay there herself, or if the right thing to do would be to pull her out and maybe try a smaller school.”
“I suppose that's fair, if they haven't been able to actually see her or her progress.”
“Right. The second one is- well. in this, Izuku’s win of the first round, and then breaking out of brainwashing, is more about really piling on how good his mind is- all that brain power. This adds more pressure when we see Ochako being offered a plan from him to beat Bakugo.”
“Oh that does sound neat.”
“Yep- but of course, she still refuses. It’s held up as a worse thing, strategically, initially- but then she comes up with a plan that Midoriya confirms in the stands is better than his, and proves to her parents that she’s smart and skilled enough to handle continuing at the school.”
You smile. “That is a cool arc to do, i guess, if very not traditional. But what about all the character setup and growth with Shinsou and Todoroki?”
“Oh, Shinsou’s largely gets delegated all the way later for the joint training arc, where Ochako’s team is directly against him. Todoroki...” I begin to giggle.
You wait for me to answer, getting more concerned the longer i laugh.
“Pocket?”
“Sorry, sorry, yeah. He actually tells her himself in this canon, a bit after stain. Oh! right, i forgot- the cheerleader incident.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes. of course they need this merch opportunity! But yes, it happens. The... shall we say, non-body-pillow portion of the fandom, generally saw it as the end of any goodwill to Kaminari, who had previously been seen as a tertiary possible love interest, since he’d flirted with her on the first day. Flirt, but harmless, and unlikely to be important. Then there was that breach of trust and international embarrassment, and anyway he’s basically the second least likely in 1a to be shipped with her now.”
“Wow. So none of that changed?”
“Well, the setup wasn’t under narration from Todoroki about how his mother was bought for her body and how much that sucked and impacted her and the family while on screen we see multiple girls tricked into barring their bodies and its treated as a laugh instead?”
You stare at me. “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.”
“Neither am I.”
“So, the Todoroki reveal?”
“Right. So, first you need to know the Stain thing- the claims he has against ‘false’ heroes focusing on money is better spotlighted. After Stain’s arrest, Ochako hears a couple of sidekicks at Gunhead’s agency-”
“Wait!” you interrupt. “She still interned with Gunhead? Then what was the point of showing Nejire and Ryukyuu earlier?”
I try not to massage my forehead. “To build up to it. She only made it to the first of the final round, she couldn’t get an internship with a top tenner yet. She’s also got to learn how to disarm someone who fights with a knife. These things build up over more time, small steps.”
“Ah.” You’re satisfied, and let me continue.
“Right, so, Overhears a couple of them talking about Stain’s philosophy and ends up just feeling really bad about it for a bit, trying to figure out if she’s actually being selfish or a bad hero for, you know, wanting her family to not be crushed due to capitalism.”
“Poor girl.” You shake your head in sympathy, the freeze. “Oh. did not intend that pun.”
“It’s alright, i know what you mean. And yeah, she bottles it up for a bit, until the second day back at school. Then Iida reminds her that him bottling things up last week got several kids in mortal danger, and she begrudgingly admits that he has a point and tells them about what has been bugging her.”
“And they comfort her?”
“Well, Todoroki also offers to tell off Kaminari because at this point his mention of stain upset both her and iida, but yes, A lot of reassurances.”
You squint. “I feel like shippers.”
“You’re learning! Yes, Todoroki is just a bit behind Iida in terms of popularity shipping with her. and she does basically get shipped A Lot with each girl in her class too, like imagine double to triple the amount with each girl now, and for the minor guys- but yeah. There’s a lottttt of ships. This was basically called ‘todoroki’s introduction into ochako’s harem’ in the fandom.”
Shipping. fandom just can’t escape it.
“So, then she learns about Todoroki’s past? oh, and what about Hosu? Does she- and everyone else- actually think Endeavor saved the three??”
I snort. “Oh, no. Todoroki’s flat ‘yeah my father totally helped us, as you read on the official report’ basically tipped the fandom off that something else had. But nothing confirmed either, you know? Filling in the hosu gap is another trope in fics that is pretty common.”
“Neat.”
“Yep. But yeah Todoroki tells her his backstory a bit after his introduction into her ‘harem’ of friends. It’s really played up more to caution Ochako- its alright for her to want to help her family, and to work for money to do that. But Rei accepted the marriage offer for money for her family too, and it ended up breaking her. Ochako has to accept a balance- she can work to help her family, and its good, but there are some things she cannot morally do to help them, and other things that she shouldn’t do because she has to take care of her own health first.”
“Ohhhh.” You hadn’t quite expected that, but you sorta liked it, now that you thought about it.
I smile. “It is pretty neat, yeah.” I glance at my watch. “Look, i hate to cut you off, but this post is gonna end up thrice the length of Mirio’s and i think tumblr might stop me, so we’re gonna have to do a two-parter.”
“That’s fine.” You are gracious for what you’ve gotten so far, and do have questions that you’re excited to see answered for the rest of the series. “It’s been fun.”
“It has been.” I agree. “Lets take a break, but you can ask me any questions too, before I return for part two.”
<part 2>
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sunshinereddie · 2 years
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i just wanna talk about bluey capsules michael for a sec because. oh my god he is everything to me
(bluey capsules spoilers :3)
how he idolized his father to the point that when cc tried to tell him about william and charlie, michael got so furious at cc trying to ruin the idolized image he has of his father, which turned his admiration for his father into even more his hatred for his brother, leading to cc’s death???? literally the last thing that michael said before the bite was “father come look!” because he was just so desperate for william’s approval no matter who else he put in danger ???? and yes we know that michael didn’t like cc and was a bad brother anyways even before cc tried to tell the truth about william, but i honestly think that to michael, cc trying to ruin their father was his last straw and maybe he wouldn’t have killed cc if it hadn’t been for that comment ….
BUT THEN for all of that to come crumbling down when william’s true colours show and he praises michael for what he did to cc??? the first thing that he says to michael after the accident is “i’m proud of you, you’re just like me” and michael realizes that his father isn’t the person he thought??? AND THEN when william tries to “recruit” michael and reveals the truth and michael finds out everything he’s done, that what happened to that girl, the boseman kids, and FRITZ were all his father ???!!!!??,???, oh my god the BETRAYAL the HEARTBREAK it’s truly so well written im foaming at the mouth
(also i could talk for hours about henry and michael and how michael deserved to be taken in my henry but that’s for another time)
and when i think it’s gabriel tells michael that he’s just like william and michael SNAPS and screams that he’s nothing like william?!?????? OH MY GOD the development of wanting to make his father proud and looking up to him to trying to separate himself as much as possible from him dhdvdjsgjdvd
AND HIS GUILT,,, the way that he feels like he is responsible for cc’s death but he also feels like elizabeth’s was his fault as well because he couldn’t save her… how with deaths of both of his siblings on his hands he thinks he is becoming just like his father which is his worst nightmare?!?!???!? he does everything he can to change his appearance so that when he looks in the mirror he doesn’t see william staring back at him, but his guilt just keeps reminding him that he’s JUST like william not matter what….. truly heartbroken
the scene where he’s crossing out william’s face on their family picture and he says, and i quote: “how am i supposed to feel? i trusted you, i looked up to you, i loved you… and i still do, i think… but what you did to those kids, your daughter, me, i don’t think i can ever forgive you. i don’t think i even should. wherever you are, i hope you’re just as miserable as i am. and when you die, i hope it’s indefinitely more painful than what you’ve put everyone else in your life through. and after that, i hope you burn in hell where you fucking belong!” … I HAVE LITERAL GOOSEBUMPS
but to finish on a brighter note……. michael and jeremy truly own my entire heart i really hope that michael is able to be happy again :’((
BUT i don’t know what direction the creators are planning on taking with the bite of 87 since it’s such a popular theory that jeremy is the bite victim,,, but holy shit could you fucking imagine if they do make jeremy the victim and the FUCKING PARALLELS of michael reliving cc’s death with jeremy being attacked…. like it’s canon that the ‘87 bite victim doesn’t die but oh my god THE PARALLELS GUYS IM SHAKING i absolutely love jeremy and i want nothing bad to happen to him ever but i want this so bad it would be so good
anyways that’s my rant about michael because i love him and i think that bluey capsules did such a good job with his character and story shebdhsbv sorry for the long post but if anyone made it to the end thanks for listening !!!! <3
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miraculouscontent · 3 years
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Didn’t Need Burrow (May 3rd-May 22nd)
Anonymous said:
Don’t Need Burrow to know that Ladybug’s distrust of Volpina will be played off as though she was simply jealous of her because she thought she was going to steal Adrien/Chat, even though she didn’t like Chat! Oh, but she did, she didn’t know it yet. That’s why she kissed him in Dark Cupid!
Not like she didn’t have a bunch of other reasons to distrust Volpina.
(the show also does this a lot where Marinette has an extra reason on top of “““jealousy,”““ like in “Oni-Chan” where the thing she was concerned about actually ended up happening, but the fandom boils everything down to jealousy anyway)
Anonymous said:
Didn’t Need Burrow: Su Han will take the Miraculouses from all the girls because he thinks girls don’t have the “physical and mental fortitude” to be heroes, giving them tto guys instead. The girls will find out about each others’ identities and join in the battle to get their Miraculouses back without any powers, led by Marinette, despite the fact that the genre of Miraculous Ladybug is supposedly Magical GIRL and thus the girls being powerful should be a given
(there was another part to this but I didn’t get it all so I clipped this ask a bit so it could work alone)
tbh the true ending should just be Marinette and the girls kicking each misogynist to the curb without any powers, and Su-Han goes last.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Luka and Zoe, from their styles and hints like the ice cream Luka holds in Truth and the flower on her shirt.... I'm sure at this point the writers will either send him on a tour with Jagged, or make him Zoe's bf offscreen somehow... Also more torture for Mari mentally :)
Of course. :)
Gotta make sure Marinette doesn’t have any choice but Adrien. :)
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Zoe will be Adrien's new love interest because she's "very sweet". Mari will be okay with it because she feels the Guardian must be alone. (And she's still punishing herself for hurting Luka.) The New-Bee and Chat also bond, making her feel even more alone. (But now Lila can't claim she's jealous and her hold over the class is lessened as Zoe becomes more popular.)
I’m super not here for Marinette punishing herself (and the show possibly presenting it as her “growing up” and “doing the right thing”) and for Ladybug getting jealous over the playboy cat.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Prince Ali/Rose turns out to be endgame, while Rose/Juleka gets Lukanette'd -- their relationship happened mostly off-screen and we only see them pulling apart. Juleka has to let Rose go so she can live out 'every girl's dream', possibly even being put on a bus/written out of the series.
In which the Couffaines aren’t allowed nice things because they’re poor-coded.
Anonymous said:
I can’t believe the Pig’s weapon is ACTUALLY a tambourine. I’ve had that down as my guess for the pig miraculous for ages but I never thought I’d actually be right. On that note - Didn’t Need Burrow: the Ox’s weapon will definitely be a hammer, and the Goat’s might be a shepherd’s crook or grappling hook, and the Rooster’s could be a horn.
Congrats on being right!
We’ll definitely see on the whole weapons things.
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: That Rose's mysterious sickness from "Guiltrip" episode will be ignored in other episodes.
Honestly, it was ignored in “Guiltrip” too. Rose’s illness seemed to be related to headaches and then they literally have her headbanging in her transformation.
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: After "Guiltrip", the dynamics of Juleka and Rose's relationship will revert to the "romantic standing next to each other somewhere in the background".
Just look at them doing [friendly task]... romantically!!
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Tikki's comments about not really understanding love are later treated as her being in denial about her being in love with Plagg. Because the two of them are 'soulmates' *just like Adrien and Marinette*, and there's no such thing as a PLATONIC bond. Plus, it's denying another feminine-identifying character the right to define and declare her own feelings -- she's not ALLOWED to not love him that way! If she says otherwise, she's either in denial or mistaken! Or both!
[flashbacks to “Animan” where Alya denies feelings for Nino as being “like a brother to her” and then gets together with him at the end of the episode]
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: In the upcoming Mr. Pigeon episode, Chat Noir's behaviour toward Mr. Ramier in Lies will not be brought up at all.
Yeah, this is why I knew writing “Lying on the Job” was the right choice. :P The show wasn’t going to do it.
(part of me hopes that this acts as a jinx but I doubt it)
soap-lady said:
Didn't Need Burrow: It will be revealed Adrien always knew about Mari's crush. He tells Plagg it's because not only would rejecting a friend be hard, her akuma would be even scarier than her dad. He later admits at the end of the episode to Plagg that having an "awesome person like Marinette" crushing on him makes him feel good about himself. The show will frame this as charming rather than egotistical.
wow i hate it
throw the whole man away, Marinette
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: The "reverse love square" will happen as a result of Adrien being drunk on a love potion/under the control of a spell which makes him fall for Marinette. This will result in Marinette being uncomfortable with Adrien's relentless pursuit of her...AGAIN...which is, of course, played for laughs...AGAIN. Her friends will probably shame her, saying, "why are you so upset? You used to like Adrien and now he's returning that affection! What is WRONG with you, Marinette?". Meanwhile, during battle sequences Chat Noir will be less playful and intrusive of Ladybug's personal space because he's in love with Marinette now and not her, which is good(minus the"in love with Marinette" part, obvs), except that it will cause Ladybug to suddenly fall in love with the new Chat Noir who is being respectful(and "just like Adrien used to act"), and she'll act like a giddy schoolgirl over him, which will be used to humiliate her for comedy as Chat treats her like a freak now. And no, the show will NOT "call him out" for suddenly being averse to the affections of the "girl of his dreams" but will treat him as justified, because guys who pursue girls are gentlemanly and entitled to love back, while girls who pursue guys are pushy and obnoxious. There will even be a lesson on how you shouldn't have to put up with unwanted advances. Chat will be the one to learn it. There will also be a lesson on how you can't force someone to love somebody else. Adrien will be the one to learn it.
Wow, how’d you get the synopsis to Season 5? Impressive! (⊙o⊙)
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Chat will complain about Ladybug not trusting him, so she tries trusting him with further responsibilities which he then shirks, blows off and whines about. Naturally, Marinette is Wrong for DARING to think that her 'partner' should share more of the burden -- no, she HAS to carry everything herself and enable him to keep treating their duty as a game! It's not FAIR for her to expect anything more from him--!
oh my god
he would *gestures loudly to “Lies”*
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Chat Noir will *deliberately* mess up a vital task that Ladybug assigned/entrusted him with, either to punish her for some petty/imagined slight (which is treated as Incredibly Serious and Deserving his retaliation) or because he simply doesn't want to have to deal with the extra responsibility. Much like somebody who 'never learns' the right way to load a dishwasher/do laundry/other chores so that somebody more responsible is forced to pick up their slack.
Sounds about right.
“Bonus” if Chat Noir is presented as in the right because Ladybug’s task was “too difficult”/”she didn’t instruct him right”/”you can’t expect him to be perfect on his first try,” or Chat Noir’s shirking is treated as “payback” for something she did that he maybe doesn’t even know about.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette gives up on becoming a fashion designer because her duties as Ladybug/Guardian take priority. Tikki protests not for Mari's sake, but because she enjoys her creative drive/justifies it as a form of honing Marinette's creativity. Thus the lesson is not that Marinette was Wrong because she deserves to have things that make her happy/goals outside of her duties, but because she can fold them into her Greater Purpose.
Miraculous: Tales of Marinette Not Being Allowed to Be Happy
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Chat Noir will be (temporarily) killed during one of his 'Pity/Praise Me!' stints, because he decides that he can't function without Ladybug kissing his ass and she's too busy fighting the akuma to coddle him. Naturally, this is presented as Marinette's F-Up of the Week that she must fix at all costs and apologize for, insisting once more that she 'can't do this without him' despite being constantly forced to do this without him.
It’s Ladybug’s fault that Chat keeps sacrificing himself, obviously! She’s just not telling him not to in the rIgHt wAy, and she should be
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Ladybug will finally learn the truth about how Theo was akumatized, but Chat Noir will insist that he didn't lie and that she really WAS to blame for it. And anyway, that was 'so long ago' that she's not allowed to be mad over it anymore. (Bonus: this or other episodes will have callbacks showing that Adrien is still salty over things like being 'stood up', with HIS frustration presented as perfectly valid, as there's no expiration date on HER screw-ups.)
[flashbacks to “Stormy Weather 2″ where Plagg retcons Ladybug’s avoidance of Chat’s date as her standing him up]
+ Yeah, I don’t see Adrien not having expiration dates on his mistakes, and his are always for the better (i.e: stealing the book in “Volpina,” which was wrong obviously, and then Marinette covered for him immediately to get him back into school).
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Chloe is given a 'redemption arc' after all... in the vein of her falling for Kim or some other male character and being convinced to change her ways for/by them. On top of being grossly sexist, this lets them slam Marinette even more, painting her as a failure who couldn't help Chloe despite that never being her responsibility in the first place.
“Bonus” if it’s Luka who does it.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Rather than confirming Juleka/Rose, CHLOE is officially revealed to be a closeted lesbian, retconning all of her bullying into the tried-and-trite 'They're only tormenting you because they LIIIIIKE you'. Bonus points if this is used to reinforce the notion that Chloe is irredeemable because 'Evil Jilted Lesbian can't be saved by Hetero LI'/she lied about crushing on Adrien/other toxic and heteronormative bullshit. AND her evilness is Mari's fault for not loving her back!
It’s always Marinette’s fault for not loving people back.
Also, this just reminds me of how much I hate the “lesbian bully” trope fdkjgdfgdfg.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Chat Noir throws another Pity Me Party in the middle of a fight; Ladybug is sniped by the akuma while scolding him to stop fooling around. Naturally, this is presented as HER fault for not immediately accommodating his demands for attention. After saving her, Chat mockingly echoes her words about concentrating and keeping her head in the game.
╰(‵□′)╯
EVERY TIME!!
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Chloe gets another chance at redemption by learning how to mimic Adrien/Lila and feign niceness. Whether or not her 'redemption' sticks depends upon her patience level; if she sticks to it and 'grows' into another Lila/holier-than-thou lecturer like Adrien, it's considered good (and Adrien gets full credit for helping her change 'for the better'), but if she goes back to being *openly* judgy and bitchy, it's another sign that she's 'irredeemable'.
Ugh, when Chloe’s options are either to be a Lila or an Adrien. All I feel is disgust.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: The Love Square is reversed when Adrien learns Ladybug's secret identity and decides to focus on pursuing her as Marinette. Mari is put off by his advances/still convinced that she can't HAVE a romantic relationship with all her other responsibilities, and is further distracted and concerned by Chat Noir growing distant (as he's bitter over his failures and taking it out on LB/holding a grudge after learning she confided in ALYA and not HIM).
i hate it
And of course the method of “now she’s not interested so I’M interested.”
Anonymous said:
Didnt Need to Burrow: Despite being 'twins' with Juleka, Luka will never show up in another episode. Ever. And the only mentions of him are only about the breakup. Even in Juleka-centric episodes, Luka will only be a passing mention. Oh, and Juleka will 100% stick to just mumbling outside of episodes where shes akumatized. Because gIrL poWeR
I’m honestly just--expecting Luka to have like one/two episodes, maybe to get a charm, and then he’s gone forever.
I don’t know if it’s a mercy or an insult, but the constant mentions of the break-up between Marinette and He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-Outside-Of-Spiting-Him definitely are an insult.
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: "Gigantitan <insert high number>" episode
NO
NO
ANYTHING BUT THAT.
Anonymous said:
Didn’t Need Burrow: Ladybug and Cat Noir will be able to power up in some way, but they have to form a special bond (this is implied to be a romantic bond). They use this power up to defeat Hawk Moth. bEcAusE tHe pOWeR oF “LoVe” cOnQUerS aLL! Bonus if the characters imply that Ladybug should’ve accepted his affections sooner (Adrien won’t be mentioned at all, i wonder why:p)
I’m cringing so hard right now. I hate everything about this because you sound so correct.
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will be written out/ret-conned from a show because she was only a Unredeemed!Chloe stand-in for time of Chloe "redemption arc". Every speculation about Lila (next Hawkmoth etc) will be applied to Chloe instead as a "plot twist".
I’m half-expecting that she’ll get akumatized as a season finale bad guy, then just immediately move.
Anonymous said:
Didn't need Burrow: Alya is the one who comes up with the akuma repellent charms and Marinette is going to be jealous that Alya is so much a better guardian. Alya'll also probably be able to wrangle the kwamis better than Marinette.
Honestly I might as well just put this one on the card right now. :P
Anonymous said:
Didnt Need Burrow: When Ladybug tells Chat that she told somebody her secret identity, hes gonna be mad, talking about how she broke his trust and the show will portray it as her fault for breaking under the pressure of being guardian. Meanwhile the fandom is gonna be mad at Ladybug. Ignoring, of course, the entirety of the New York Special.
We could sum up the fandom card as just, “Adrien is right and a sad uwu sunshine child, Marinette is wrong and OP and doesn’t give Chat the respect he deserves.”
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Rose's 'mysterious illness' will naturally flare up during times where Pigella might have been useful, with Ladybug getting blamed for her flare-ups/worsening condition.
BANNED
I HATE IT DX
Anonymous said:
Didn’t Need Burrow: Building off of the “Adrien knows about Marinette’s crush and manipulated her for it”, any time Marinette does something Adrien doesn’t agree with or disagrees with Adrien himself, Adrien will play the cute, naïve, sad boi we all know and “love”, complete with Bambi eyes and gratuitous long eyelashes, forcing Marinette to give in to what he wants. This is treated as cute, quirky, and hilarious, never abusive, selfish, or misogynistic.
I mean, considering Chat Noir and “Chameleon,” yeah.
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: a) Episode, where Chat Noir is even worse than in "Lies" b) Situation where Chat Noir during meeting with Ladybug is like always (M'lady, Bugaboo, unwanted psychical contact etc.) then Ladybug reveals that she recognized him as impostor because "real Chat Noir never will be so pushy" (bonus points if false Chat Noir is akumatized Felix) c) Writers somehow manage to put both above options in one episode (obviously with real Chat Noir being even worse than his impostor)
“Copycat” but worse
differenttriumphdragon said:
Didn't Need Burrow to somehow correctly predict Zoe's identity as a joke based solely on some blurry pictures and an offhand comment about "secret siblings". Like, a YEAR or two ago.
I’m guessing this is referring to the writers creating her?
Because yeah, probably.
Anonymous said:
Didn't need the Burrow: We will get Lukagami. One of the reasons will be the clash of the Tsurugi-Motto of "No Second Chances" and Luka's snake power of "Second Chance" resulting in some weird sparks flying.
*puts head into hands and groans loudly* kill meeeee
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: The Multimouse!Mylene's model will be based on the Multimouse!Marinette's model (in the same way that the Rena Rogue's model is based on the Volpina's model)
plz no
plz
Anonymous said:
Didn't need burrow: Guilt trip hints at Adrien having actual depression, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but knowing the show, two things will happen: 1. His depression will only exist to make people feel bad for him instead of exploring his mental state and seeing him working through it, and 2. his depression will be magically cured when the LS becomes canon because "true love heals all your mental issues".
All of the above, yes. :|
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Ladybug gets a fresh new look (for the sake of more Real-Life ML Merch), and Chat Noir gets sulky about it. Both because he didn't get an upgraded appearance at the exact same time (despite doing absolutely nothing to earn it), and because he didn't get any input on her new look. So he passive-aggressively complains about the change, saying he preferred 'classic Bugaboo', and Marinette is presented as Wrong for not letting him dictate her power or appearance.
*stares at “Mr. Pigeon 72″* I’m waiting.
Anonymous said:
Didn't need burrow: Imagine after you made that fic where Bustier and D'argencourt get the miraculous they reveal in the show that Bustier's husband/boyfriend/fiance is D'argencourt.
I WILL DIE.
OF LAUGHTER? OF PAIN???
THE ANSWER IS “YES.”
“Bonus” if it’s a DJWifi dynamic where Bustier can get D’Argencourt to do whatever she wants and suddenly becomes aggressive/upset when he doesn’t, which D’Argencourt immediately folds to (because the only “““girl power”““ the show knows is “lol girls are scary when they’re mad”).
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: The Love Square gets 'Reversed' via Alya deciding that Marinette MUST have a crush on Chat as well, since she personally ships LadyNoir. All insistence to the contrary is waved off as denial, and Alya is bound and determined to hook up her BFF with ONE of her crushes, come hell or high water. Thus, Mari gets shoved towards Chat in much the same way she's forced towards Adrien, creating much awkward hilarity at her expense.
Marinette’s entire being: i want to go home
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Alya learns about Marinette getting jilted by Chat Noir during 'Weredad', possibly from Tom and/or Sabine.  She rubs this into Mari's face as proof positive that she really DOES have a thing for Chat, crowing about how she 'does her research' while teasing her about her awful luck with guys. This casual cruelty is 'balanced' by her insistence that she'll help her hook up with ONE of them by forcing her towards both.
Alya, looking at her plans and just shrugging: Hey, now her odds of getting a guy are doubled as far as I’m concerned.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Alya will insist that all of Marinette's romantic woes are her own fault due to her being interested in multiple guys. (Mainly meaning Adrien and Chat Noir; 50-50 on whether she acknowledges Luka's existence as more than just proof of her 'fickle heart'.) She 'supports' her by shoving her into humiliating scenarios with her love interests, blaming all her failures on her 'divided loyalties' and giving her grief for being a 'dirty two-timer' that can't even get off first base.
Yyyyup.
And of course Luka would only be mentioned to shade Marinette.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Tikki will keep nagging Marinette about her inability to solve her romantic woes until Mari snaps that Tikki doesn't know what she's talking about, throwing her own words about how kwami don't understand love back in her face. Naturally, this is Mari's Mistake Of The Week, as Tikki is driven to tears over the rebuke and all the other kwami get pissed off at Marinette for upsetting her, giving her grief until she apologizes.  Tikki barely apologizes in return, if at all.
Ugh, I am just dreading an almost-inevitable “all the kwami are mad at Marinette” episode, since Marinette literally cannot escape from them since the Miracle Box is in her room.
Anonymous said:
(Mylene's personality anon) Don't Need a Burrow: Mylene's "Marinette's trait" will manifest in Multimouse!Mylene's introduction episode.
Mylene: Soon, I will have successfully swiped a personality trait from each of my friends to form one of my own.
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: Characters who are popular fandom choices for alternate Miraculous Holders (Bee!Aurore, Fox!Lila, Cat!Felix etc) are akumatized into evil versions of Core Five Miraculous Team (Ladybug, Cat, Fox, Turtle and Bee)
Season 2462 finale.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: There will be more immediate self-contradictions, where Marinette is berated about how something she's doing/done is Wrong, badgered into following somebody else's 'good advice', and then promptly punished for doing so when the results blow up in her face.  These turnarounds will become so fast that they happen within the same episode.  Naturally, this is treated as entirely her fault.
At the rate her treatment is escalating, I would be 0% shocked. Still disappointed, but not shocked.
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: It will turn out that the mysterious future Hawkmoth successor that Timetagger talked about is simply the Shadow Moth.
I laughed at this one so hard because it’s so accurate. I don’t know for sure if it’s a reference to the whole “new villain who’s been around since the beginning who just turned out to be Shadow Moth” thing but omg.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: The akuma-resisting pendants are used as an excuse to push Marinette even further past her breaking point, subjecting her to ever worse humiliations and traumas.  If the fact that she basically NEEDS the pendant to survive is ever brought up, it's in a chiding way; obviously, as Ladybug, she needs to be mentally stronger than this and not rely on a 'crutch'.  Nobody else is insulted for needed the pendants' protection.
Imagine the pendants as metaphors for medication and this takes on a whole new meaning.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: In a counterpart to "Chat Blanc", one episode visits a Bad Future where Marinette was akumatized.  Naturally, this is depicted as entirely her fault, with both Maris being raked over the coals.  No matter what the breaking point was, it's treated as though it was petty and pathetic for her to let it effect her so much.  For bonus points, this was at a point after she got the pendant, but she accidentally ditches or pitches it while reacting to whatever broke her back.
Especially with the reveal of two new seasons, I’m very much expecting Marinette to get akumatized at some point.
“Bonus” for a “Miracle Queen” set-up where Adrien needs to wear the ladybug miraculous and is suddenly good at it despite being awful at it before, ala Snake Noir.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette will wind up making most of the anti-akuma amulets.  This is purely so that, when they inevitably fail, she can be blamed for it.
It’ll probably be like--Marinette needed to do something specific to make the pendants and they’re “only as strong as she is.”
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: The Love Square gets reversed when Alya decides she ships LadyNoir more than MariAdri, pushing her newfound agenda over her BFF's protests.  Meanwhile, Adrien reveals that he knew all along about Marinette's crush, starting to pursue her because he just doesn't uNdErStAnD why she's pulling away, feeling entitled to having her chasing after him even if he never intends to actually reciprocate.  Marinette is caught in the middle and blamed for all this drama.
Marinette, counting down the days where she can finally drink alcohol.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: One or some of Adrien/Chat Noir's past lies gets revealed to Marinette/Ladybug... for the sake of a moral about forgiveness and 'letting things go'.  Meanwhile, he continues to grouse and hold grudges against Ladybug for her supposed slights against HIM without being seriously challenged.
I’m seething.
Anonymous said:
Didn't Need Burrow: Marinette is shown a 'better world' wherein she never developed a crush on Adrien.  In this 'better world', Ladybug and Chat Noir are romantic partners.  Bonus points if this pushes forward the agenda of reversing the Love Square by getting Marinette to start seriously considering Chat as a potential love interest, treating this as her 'missing the point' of what she was shown... even if the goal was rather unclear beyond guilt-tripping her for having FEELINGS and DESIRES.
The true goal/moral is that Chat’s feelings are valid while Marinette’s are not.
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: Hawkmoth will somehow get Black Cat Miraculous and attack as Moth / Cat Fusion (Cat Moth?). After defeating this form, Black Cat Miraculous will be taken from him and without any questions returned to Adrien. Whole thing will happen in one episode.
“Bonus” if Hawk Moth just stumbles upon the ring and doesn’t question it.
Anonymous said:
Didn’t Need Burrow: All Ladybug and Black Cat Holders are soulmates/ have gotten romantically involved. This gives Chat even MORE motivation to invade LB’s boundari-I MEAN to pursue her. Also, LB reacts in horror to this (who wouldn’t?) but its played for laughs.
At this point, I feel like this is the only way for them to push the love square as hard as possible. “Chemistry” has just flown out the window and they need a crutch.
Anonymous said:
Don't Need a Burrow: Reveal that Rose has rich parents because ML writers can't make sad blond(e) character who doesn't have rich parents (and also to increase the "You see! They love each other despite so many differences between them" factor of JuleRose)
Zag, “Stop Giving Rich Kids Sad Backstories” Challenge.
Part of me imagined an episode that just shipbaits JuleRose constantly, with Juleka constantly asking Luka and others advice on “getting closer to Rose,” which just ends up being Juleka asking Rose to be best friends.
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putas-in-suffering · 4 years
Note
I wish u would write a story about angel being in love with a stripper but being cool with it and always coming in to support his lady 😉
Okay, sucias....strap in because we took this idea and ran with it. Because guess what? Your putas have zero chill 🙃🙃. We had hella fun writing this and now that the universe has been created, who knows? Maybe we’ll explore it some more 😏
Anyway, take a read and let us know what you think! Besos 💋💖
*We added a Part 2! Check it out here.
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You threw your robe on, hastily tying it so that you could go meet your boyfriend. You’d seen him walk in at the start of your dance, eyes captivating you as you gyrated on stage and slid down the pole in the center. He was your biggest fan. Your loudest cheerleader. He was unlike any man you’d been with. Fully supportive of you and your chosen career path. And you were going to do everything in your power to make sure you kept him.
Your six-inch heels clicked on the sleek black floor as you maneuvered through the throngs of bodies in the crowded club. Men tried to garner your attention, hoping you’d stop and pay them a visit. Most knew not to reach out and touch, but some had to be reminded. If you couldn’t send the message, the security team surely would.
You headed towards the small section that the MC liked to hold up in, the area still visible from the main stage but secluded for private dealings. Your man always sat at the bar when you performed, his eyes focused on you and only you. And you danced for only him. Every night. Even if he wasn’t there. You thought of nothing but him as you touched yourself and got lost in the hypnotizing beat of the music, feeling the breeze of crisp bills being thrown at your nude form. It was a high like nothing else. One that Angel Reyes had only made better since he’d strolled into your life.
You walked through the thin curtains that sectioned off the area, smiling when your eyes met Angel’s. He was sitting on the end of a long, curved booth, unlit cigarette propped in his mouth. You walked over, butterflies in your stomach as he opened his tattooed arms to you. He spread his legs, letting you stand between them as he looked up at you.
“Hi,” You greeted, leaning down to hover over his lips.
He pulled the cigarette from his mouth, pocketing it inside of his leather.
“Hi,” He mirrored, a smirk hidden beneath his facial hair.
You met in a kiss, the action becoming increasingly inappropriate as his hands began to wander under the sheer pink fabric of your robe. His hand skimmed the back of your thighs, meeting the flesh of your ass. You’d changed into a rhinestone bra and panty set, a favorite of his.
Your fingers threaded through his beard, feeling his tongue persuading yours further and further into his own mouth. He tasted like beer and mint, his cologne permeating the air over the usual scent of sex and smoke in the club.
“Hey! If you wanna give a free show can you at least move so we can see better!” Creeper yelled across the booth, effectively ending the moment.
You both pulled away to the snickers and chuckles of the other men, neither of you the least bit embarrassed. Angel’s fingers worked under the thin waistband of your panties, snapping the material against your skin as he licked his lips.
He was positively sinful.
And he was perfect for you.
“Did you like it?” You asked, heavily made up eyes blinking down at him in anticipation.
“Fuck yeah, mama. Made me hard watching you up there.” He confessed, his words making you shiver. His hands continued to roam your body, touching any patch of bare skin he could, which was a lot considering what you were wearing.
You beamed down at him, pleased by his praise.
“Really?” You asked seductively, leaning down once again to let what was left of your lipgloss stick to his bearded lips. You let your arms encircle his neck, playing with the raven ends of his slicked back hair.
His face was level with your breasts, his gaze flicking from them to your face. You pushed them together, arching your back so that they practically touched his nose. He moved the opening of your robe out of the way so that he could have access to your cleavage. You pushed your chest out further, silently begging him to touch you there. He rubbed his face into the pillowy flesh, his beard burning as his lips planted gentle kisses.
You closed your eyes against the intoxicating sensations, your body falling into him more as he supported you. He was sturdy and strong against you; his hard lines complimenting your soft curves. It was as if you both had the other under some kind of spell. The power each of you had to get lost in the other was almost incomprehensible. The chemistry. The tension. It made for an explosive union between two wild souls.
A wadded up napkin hit Angel in the back of the head, interrupting his exploration of your body.
“Lover boy! Some of us don’t wanna pop boners right now.” Gilly teased, chin gesturing to the fact that Angel’s hands were dangerously close to revealing your bare breasts to the men.
While you were a dancer and the men had seen you dance before, you had given no one but Angel a lap dance. They could watch from afar but touching was obviously off limits. It was a boundary that not only felt natural, but was also laid in place out of respect.
You both straightened, though Angel’s hands were still connected to your body. You smiled and finally waved at the group of bikers, the brood now as much your family as they were Angel’s. The line got fuzzy when you factored in Angel’s actual brother being there and seeing you naked. But neither seemed to have an issue with it.
“I sent a round over for you guys. Did you get it?” You asked, gesturing to the lowered tabletop that sat a few feet in front of them. Beer bottles and ashtrays littered the surface, random stacks of cash adding to the mosaic of debauchery.
“Yeah, thanks for that sweetheart.” Bishop said with a kind smile and wink, holding his new beer in his hand.
“Perks of dating a dancer.” You teased as Angel turned to face the rest of the guys, taking you with him and settling you into his lap. You sat on his thigh, legs crossed as he held you in place.
“Among other things.” He added slyly, wiggling his eyebrows comically. The action forced EZ to shake his head and laugh, the man unwilling to hear about his brother’s sexual escapades.
You got comfortable as you started to catch up with the guys, laughing and joking over the hum of music. A few of the other dancers made their way back to work over some of the men as they perched in their laps. You’d already given the crew a heads up on which girl was worth their time and money and which wasn’t.
You noticed EZ eyeing a girl across the bar. She was newer to the club, but popular among the patrons. She went by Luna and she was a sight to behold. Long dark hair with eyes to match and skin that tanned a warm caramel shade. She had a killer figure and had easily become a top earner amongst the dancers.
An idea popped into your head and you decided to give it a shot.
“Ezekiel,” You called, gaining his attention and beckoning him closer to you and Angel.
“What’s up?” He asked as he settled next to his brother, taking a pull from the beer clutched in his hand.
“You like her?” You asked, gesturing to the woman he’d been checking out near the bar. She’d made her way closer now, perusing the private sections for customers.
“Like her?”
“Yeah, you think she’s attractive...” You explained, hoping he’d take the bait.
He nodded. “She’s pretty.”
Angel scoffed next to him, clearly seeing where you were going with this. You playfully shoved at his chest, daring him to do more. He didn’t.
“Her name’s Luna. I can call her over if you want.”
“I don’t need help pulling women.” EZ said, chuckling as he did.
“I know. But she’s good. One of the better ones. New to the club. I think you’d like her.” You explained, shifting when you felt Angel lift his hips into your thighs.
“Oh, so you’re trying to set me up.” EZ accused, his head already shaking in response.
“Come on, EZ...” You pleaded, reaching for his arm. “She’s a nice girl. I think you two would hit it off. And if not, you get a bomb ass lap dance.” You reasoned, pleased to see him mulling it over.
“Live a little, lil brother.” Angel goaded, bumping EZ’s leg with his own. “She’s hot. My girl’s got good taste.” He said with a boyish smirk, kissing your neck.
“Alright, alright...if you guys will stop.” EZ finally relented, sighing as if he couldn’t believe he was letting you do such a thing.
You clapped, excited to play matchmaker for someone as deserving as EZ.
“I’ll be right back.” You said as you stood, adjusting your robe.
You stepped out of the sheer fortress of curtains and made your way over to Luna. She spotted you immediately, smiling in relief. She’d had trouble making friends. She was new and most of the other dancers felt threatened by her presence. You’d been friendly with her, instantly getting a feel for her personality. She was chill and super sweet. A perfect match for EZ.
“Hey, there’s someone I want you to meet.”
“Okay...a customer?” She asked, taking your outstretched hand and following behind you.
“Yeah. He’s really cute...a gentleman.” You said vaguely, not wanting to scare her off by saying you wanted to set them up. You figured you’d let the moment run it’s course and see what happened.
You pulled her into the section with you, noticing the way Angel and EZ were leaning close to each other and whispering. Upon seeing you, they pulled apart and straightened. You stepped towards Angel and pulled Luna along, placing her in front of EZ.
“Luna, this is EZ. He’s Angel’s brother.” You introduced, noticing the way Angel was looking between your clutched hands and scantily clad bodies. You could practically see the wheels turning in his head, his eyes giving away everything he was thinking. All filthy. All explicit. You felt your entire body heat at the notion.
“Hi EZ,” Luna greeted softly, the raspy tone of her voice making the words sound more sexual than they should.
You let go of her hand as she moved towards the younger Reyes brother and settled into his lap. EZ welcomed her, his massive arms surrounding her as they spoke in low voices.
A tug on your hand made you look towards Angel, his eyes now black and hooded with desire. You let him pull you back into his lap, but this time you straddled him. His hands immediately attached to your ass, his pelvis pressing into yours, letting you feel his growing hardness.
“What’s got you all riled up, baby?” You whispered into his ear, feeling him shudder in response. You nibbled at his flesh, biting and sucking on his earlobe as your hips began to swivel in his lap.
“You.”
He groaned when you began sucking harshly at his neck, his admission ratcheting up your arousal. You were wet and ready for him, desperate to have him inside you.
It wouldn’t be the first time you’d let Angel fuck you in the club, but you weren’t going to do it with all his brothers around. You’d have to wait. Sooner or later the MC would leave and Angel would hang back, ensuring you made it home safe. Under the guise of giving a dedicated lap dance, you’d fuck yourself on his cock in the empty section. You never got caught. But even if you did, nothing could be done. No one wanted to started trouble with the MC.
The perks of dating a Mayan.
The shifting of the couch pulled you from your spot nuzzled into Angel’s neck. His finger was lifting the edge of your panties to feel you when you stopped, his touch halting when he realized your focus was elsewhere.
Luna was pulling EZ behind her, his hand grasped in hers as she led him away. They were going to the private rooms.
You smiled, mentally patting yourself on the back.
“You’re proud of yourself, huh?” Angel asked with nod to his brother’s retreating form.
You settled into his lap again, your attention now back to the man in your life. You played with the buttons on his shirt and then traced your pink nails over the patches on his leather. His rings felt icy agaisnt your skin as his hands ran up and down your thighs and ass.
You were absolutely head over heels for this man.
“Yeah I am.” You stated with a smug smile, circling your hips to the slow, sensual beat playing through the speakers. “I’ve got good instincts.”
“You do?”
“I got you, didn’t I?” You challenged, raising a well-manicured brow at him.
“I thought I picked you up.” He said, running his mouth over your neck and chest.
“Not a chance, baby.”
He surprised you by slapping your ass...hard. The slap echoed as you gasped and then giggled, the sting sending waves of pleasure straight to your core. The sound caught the attention of the rest of the guys, but they quickly went back to their conversations when they realized what it was, some rolling their eyes as they did.
“Let’s go to the back. Dance for me, mama.” He softly demanded as he kissed your chin, hand lightly gripping your neck. 
You were unable to deny him. It was frowned upon to take your significant other to a private room for a lap dance. There was a risk of sexual activities taking place and that wasn’t allowed. Though that didn’t stop you and Angel. And usually there were cameras in the rooms for safety purposes, but you knew for a fact they were broken and hadn’t been in working order in quite some time.
“Okay, Daddy...”
You led him to the hallway of closed doors, music booming from behind each one. You found one that was unoccupied and stepped in, shutting the door. Angel immediately began kissing you, his hands grasping at your breasts through the thin layer of bedazzled lingerie.
You managed to break away and push him towards the black leather couch, shedding your robe as you did. He did as you wanted, already knowing the drill.
He sat there, thighs spread and dick hard. He looked dangerous and you knew if he asked you to kill for him, you probably would. He owned every part of you. And under the cover of darkness, you were going to let him have all of those parts...and then some.
Sucia Tag List:
@marvelmaree
@visintaes
@otomefromtheheart
@aquarius-smr-writing
@glimmerglittergirl
@arveeee
@fangirlingaesthetics
@maciiiofficial
@woahitslucyylu
@angelreyesgirl
@ifoundmyhappythought
@mheart27
@collegegirl83
@luna8819
@enamouravecleslivresetlechocolat
@everyhowlmarksthedead
@whatupitshuff
@noz4a2
@thesandbeneathmytoes
@minnicelli
@claytoncardenasbabymama
@brattyfics
@starrynite7114
@losolvidad0s
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okay so i’ve been going crazy these past few days. all about cockles/jensmish and obsessively watching their panels or reading the transcripts BECAUSE. THEY ARE LOUD. LIKE. i saw some fancams on twt and i thought people were just exaggerating but noooooooooo!!!???? so, getting to the point. you said that how do we know that jensen is performing masculinity? because jared isn’t and THAT IS A BIG BRAIN MOMENT. ON POINT. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. a particular moment from gag reel that jumps out (which you’ve talked about) when jensen goes ‘cas, you are my baby daddy’ and misha goes, ‘i know i love you too’ and jensen goes, ‘i didn’t say i love you’ and misha goes, ‘i know you wanted to’ and jensen says, ‘i love you’ WHAT THE FUCK! that was NOT a joke. yes, people took it as a joke and had a good laugh BUT I HAVE WATCHED IT TOO MANY TIMES AND IT LIVES IN MY MIND RENT FREE BECAUSE IT WAS NOT A PERFORMANCE. THAT WAS JENSEN. THAT WAS MISHA. jensen has a had trouble with the pda and being all touch feely (the breakup theory) and he gradually grew into it, accepted it and misha was right there all along, never pushed it. it was like a deancas au but tbh, 99% of destiel is because of cockles and we all know it. i just. jensen has latched onto dean as an emotional support because he tunes with it. understands it. projects on to it. yeah, i just had to say it and get it off my chest. (and what about those poetry pages on instagram? alma? what is your opinion?) btw, you have a lovely blog and your analysis are right on target.
so there is a LOT i’m going to address here(how dare you bring up [gunshot] i HAVE to talk about it now) so again!!!! under a cut it goes but i hope you appreciate my rambles anon it seems like you do :,)
1. jared vs. jensen and performing masculinity. hell yeah man. jared and jensen are both just ‘guys from texas’ but they are still so vastly different. today i actually had a revelation that i’m pretty sure has to do with me being bi. and it’s that i have a group of straight friends(that i love dearly but they care too much about hockey and pitbull imo could not be me) and i have a group of queer friends(who are also batshit[affectionate]). and it’s like whichever group i hang out with a different side of me emerges? they’re both me, it’s just that certain aspects of who i am as a person only surface depending on who i am around. however, i will say i feel like i watch what i say around my straight friends more. i see that very clearly in jensen as well. around jared during panels and on set, he’s definitely putting on an air of machismo and engages in typical guy talk. i do think an element of it is performative, because he wants validation from jared that they’re still just two dudes from texas taking on the world together despite his sexual identity. does that make any sense??? i hope so. but when he’s with misha he is an entirely different person and his sense of humour becomes wildly different. the machismo fades away, he’s way less caught up in what people think about him, lets his guard down, etc. to go back to my original point which is how j2 are different in that regard....jared does not do this. he is a constant. he does not flip a switch between ‘performing masculinity’ and ‘not’ because he isn’t performing any part of who he is. he just IS. so yeah these two are similar in many regards but there’s somewhat of a dissonance between them when it comes to how they perform masculinity because one of them is putting on a show and the other is merely being.
2. that crypt scene blooper(here just in case you need to see it again. do it. as a treat.) when i tell you i have easily seen this over thirty times??? since it first came out??? i mean it. it is such an overlooked(r*mantic) moment and it means so much more than people think it does. i’ve talked about the context behind it, and i think that’s why this blooper was so meaningful, so i’ll mention it again. jensen and misha had a LOT of trouble with this scene. the reason is that jensen couldn’t wrap his head around why dean would be saying these things, if i remember correctly, and both of them sat down and scoured over how they should play it for a while before filming(teamwork ;) teammates *ahem*). [to be honest we all know why jensen had a hard time with that scene and it is because it is blatantly romantic. rip to him but i would simply give in to it at that point but oh well] so anyway, their heads were scattered going into shooting, which is NEVER a good headspace to be in for a scene, ESPECIALLY not a pivotal one. but they had each other to help them through said weird energy on set that couldn’t possibly have invoked the best feelings, especially considering jensen STILL doesn’t think he played that correctly(but he praised misha on his performance :,) ). and with that context every single part of that video hits haRD 
-’stop pulling my face towards your crotch’ i think this is objectively hilarious because it really really looks like jensen is pulling HIMSELF towards misha’s crotch. again, you’re fooling no one, jensen. misha’s wheezing laugh and the way he wraps himself around jensen is also,,,sweet??? like i don’t know how else to describe how i see it but this moment really reads as jensen, in his weird ‘constructing elaborate rituals’ way is asking for security through a physical touch from misha and he happily obliges and gives jensen what he needs. because i mean...watch it again. jensen ‘fights back’, but not really at all, actually. pretty wimpy counterattack. he literally lets himself be smothered by misha, and i would literally describe what they end up doing as cuddling. 
-’i need you, cas. you’re my baby daddy’ i love having an actor’s perspective on things bc i think i can explain what’s going on here. jensen just delivered what was(in his own mind) a rotten take of the lines he’s most scared of delivering. so the scene was already messed up. therefore; ensuing fuckery is warranted to help him feel better. but there’s also for sure more than meets the eye for what he says here because of misha’s reaction after??? like he seemed genuinely touched. first of all, he’s saying ‘you’re my baby daddy’ as half-jensen, but not necessarily dean either(because he didn’t say the previous lines as true to his character...you get it), to misha, not cas. i think i’ve made this point before, but every single innuendo in the gag reels is to misha specifically, never once cas. therefore; logical conclusion: ‘you’re my baby daddy’ was for misha and it meant something deeper than we think because of what follows it
-this part. jensen’s giddy ass smile after he sees misha crack and then misha says ‘yeah, i know’ (can i just say his voice when he says this is so intimate???? like am i intruding guys??? sorry i’ll let myself out) also he is smiling SO BIG
- ‘i know’ ‘why are you laughing?’ ‘no i know i love you too’ this analysis is already so long but i still want to get into what THAT whole exchange means. ‘why are you laughing?’ to me sounds like jensen’s pretending to be affronted by misha laughing at something that is serious. and it’s serious because he quite literally meant ‘i love you’. he did. misha knows it. misha’s really REALLY good at cutting the bs and just getting to what people are actually trying to say. he has an innate sharpness to his sense of humour. so yes, misha is being 100% accurate when he says ‘i know, but you wanted to say it.’ misha isn’t lying here. jensen did want and mean to say ‘i love you’. and then he actually does say it(in a jokey way but not really). 
- so yeah. it is actually so romantic??? like in a weird way jensen was professing his love for misha here?????? and that’s why this clip will NEVER. ever. get old. 
3. jensen having trouble with pda and projecting onto dean: we can all call ourselves dean coded cas girls but NO one deserves that title more than jensen ackles himself. he is dean winchester but marginally less repressed because he actually did admit he was in love with his best friend and let himself be happy, and pretty early on too. one year and two months as opposed to twelve years. so. happy deancas au is correct. and yes about the pda thing: one day i want to write my own post about both of their body language when it comes to each other, but all i can tell is jensen, even in the early days, couldn’t help himself from flirting with misha, but if misha ever crossed a line, jensen would not be happy. clearly he’s come around, however. what i find sweet is that misha always follows jensen’s lead when it comes to how much affection they’re allowed to show each other onstage. it touches my soul
4. destiel is cockles fault. yeah. and the thing is everyone knows it, too. even non-cockles shippers will explain early destiel as entirely dependant on jensen and misha’s wild chemistry. and that chemistry is easily explained by the fact that misha and jensen are literally just wildly horny bisexuals who were crazily attracted to one another and were falling in love on screen before our very eyes. and when you have THAT insider info(which sounds cray doesn’t it!!!! the destiel actors are in love irl??? huh???) everything really does click into place. why destiel got SO popular when the show and actors never ever intended for it to happen.(i know some people think misha was playing cas as gay the whole time for shits and giggles, and i won’t deny that[especially considering he found out early on that destiel was why he was staying on the show], but i don’t think he really wanted it to amount to anything, nor did he care??? i mean he has the real thing with jensen, for one, so their characters aren’t really as important. for two, he loves joking about destiel because it’s a cultural phenomenon and it’s fascinating, and i’m sure he did ship it because he’s unhinged, but i don’t think it was vastly important to him either way.) destiel got popular because everyone was and is unintentionally reading into the real deal. i could pull up countless gifs that people have used as destiel proof that is actually just jensen and misha being messy. mainly jensen. if i’m being honest.  the symbiotic relationship between destiel and cockles is why i’ve stayed onboard the destielcule and shellerscape for three solid months now; because it is utterly fascinating to witness and kind of super beautiful, too. 
5. alma(and others). so. i do NOT want to really REALLY get into this in its entirety here and now so i will just give you my opinion on if i think alma is misha or not. also; i don’t want to mention the other poetry accounts here bc i feel like that’s a bigger breach in privacy, but a lot of people do know about alma now. way too many, actually. this is why we can’t have nice things. anyway-to answer your question-there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that yes, misha is running that alma poetry account. i am 100% certain. some people think it’s actually three people and they’re all connected to misha in some way but that is so needlessly complicated. as it goes in psychology; the easiest explanation is probably the right one. it’s just one person running that account, and it is misha collins. i don’t know why it’s so hard to believe KNOWN POET misha collins(who is known to spend most of his free time writing poetry anyway) would have created a secret poetry account to write about his intense secret relationship under an alias and also get legitimate feedback since no one used to know it was him. oh and the handwriting is identical??? you are blind if you do not see that i am sorry. and a million other things prove it’s misha too but yeah all you need to know is yes. it’s him. it would take a literal livestream from a random woman on that account to convince me otherwise. and honestly not even that because a random woman could technically still log in if misha asked her too. so. it would take a hell of a lot to convince me otherwise, clearly. that said DO NOTTTTTTTTTTTT GO ONTO THAT ACCOUNT WITH A SUPERNATURAL RELATED USERNAME AND COMMENT THINGS THAT ARE COCKLES RELATED. ARE YOU BRAIN DEAD WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT’S OKAY. sorry i got heated but god please just don’t be dumb so many people have already gone way too far 
6. thank you for your lovely compliment on my analyses!!! i love doing them but i don’t know if people actually like reading them so i really appreciate it
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radramblog · 3 years
Text
Album Discussion- Floral Shoppe
Haha why do y’all let me do this.
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It’s been almost a decade since Macintosh Plus (aka Vektroid, aka Ramona Xavier) popularised and codified vapourwave as a genre with its first actually popular release in Floral Shoppe. Since then this sub-sub-genre has developed its own subgenres and become its own flourishing marvel of internet music culture. But Floral Shoppe itself is worth examining- not to see where it all began (I haven’t even listened to Chuck Person’s Eccojams or Far Side Virtual yet), but where most people got into the genre. The lifting off point, as it were.
So grab your Arizona ice tea (don’t, it’s fucking awful) and lets dive in.
The first track, ブート(Boot), opens with a buttery smooth cymbal and saxophone line, obviously slowed down, but evoking a level of chill few songs manage to get to for their whole duration, in a total of approximately a minute. It’s a genuinely masterful piece of music. As the vocals come in, you hear them get twisted and chopped, distorted and looped, almost jolting you out of that trance, until it’s clear that the lyrics aren’t lyrics but another instrument, you get used to the nonsense, and you’re back in the zone. The looping with some of the instrumentation makes parts of it feel almost clockwork-like, in a very satisfying manner- especially as the majority of it gets muffled and you realise that opening bass/sax line has been running through the entire time. While the next track on this album tends to get most of the attention, I genuinely think Boot deserves just as much praise.
リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー (Lisa Frank 420/Modern Computing) is another one of those tracks where it’s just like, what could I possibly say about this that hasn’t been said. If you’re reading this, there’s basically no way you haven’t heard this song, so you know what I’m on about. It’s the quintessential vapourwave track, even if it’s showing its age a bit. It’s just so perfect. When I decided to write about Floral Shoppe, I didn’t really want to spend too much time here- me saying “hey I like this song everyone knows” isn’t the most interesting thing on the planet, I guess. I will say, it’s one of the few vapourwave songs you can actually sing along to, and that’s fun as heck.
Also, the lyric is “it’s all in your hands”, not “it’s all in your head”. To be fair, though, the distortion doesn’t help.
The album’s next track is 花の専門店 (Floral Shoppe, hey I didn’t know this album had a title song), a track that heavily relies on this really panned synth (you can’t even hear that on the left ear) and a lot of looping the same bit over and over again. Honestly, the first minute of this song gets a little grating, but it really picks up after that. It’s really fun and jazzy for a solid minute there, a lovely instrumental you can just groove to in your head. The fade out on this piece lasts wayyy too long for my liking, though- a full half minute of outro feels a little indulgent for this one.
Track four, ライブラリ (Library) is lowkey one of my favourites on the album- The slowed vocals work really well, and the instrumentation feels extremely deliberate and methodical. I think my biggest complaint with this song is just that it’s too short, considering Lisa Frank 420 is literally triple it’s length. But I suppose part of this project is how variable the track lengths are- it seems Vektroid was keen to work with these until she was out of ideas, and no longer, and I can’t help but respect that.
地理 (Geography) sounds substantially darker than the previous tracks, with incredibly low drones and a main line that… I mean I dunno how low it is but that shit is definitely in a minor key, you know. It’s also the sparsest track so far, with much more restraint in layering than anything else I can think of on the album. The atmosphere of this is heavy- I don’t know why, but it reminds me of that really creepy loading screen on the fuckin Magic School Bus goes inside the body Edutainment game. That’s probably a bit of a weird connection, but if you played that shit, you know how fucking eerie it’s soundtrack was, and that’s a bit of the vibe I’m getting from this track.
Our next track is a direct nod to Floral Shoppe’s predecessors in ECCOと悪寒ダイビング (Chill diving with ECCO), a reference to the aforementioned Chuck Person’s Eccojams Vol. 1 (itself a reference to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game Ecco the Dolphin), and Chill is absolutely right. While many vapour/synthwave pieces are more about entering an aesthetic or a vibe than actually listening to the music, as far as Floral Shoppe goes, that’s most true with this track. It’s also the third longest track here (behind Lisa Frank 420 and the next song), and while it doesn’t develop as much as one would hope based on that (or much at all), spending so long vibing out in a track like this is completely appropriate.
I’m going to be honest, I don’t care too much for the next track, 数学 (Mathematics). It might just be because it comes on the heels of ECCO, but the meandering in this doesn’t hit the same chord as that does. While I enjoy the saxophone on this song, all the shit going on in the background just kinda gets my anxiety going eventually. And by eventually, I mean about halfway through this near 7-minute monster. You’ve got these very chill elements that slowly get drowned out by the steadily rising and accelerating chaotic parts of the instrumentation that just take over eventually, and while it does chill back down again, that’s still a long time focussed on the worst parts of the song. This also really didn’t need to be as long as it is, considering the second half of the track is just, like, the same thing again…
We’re at track 8, and at this point I started looking at the Wikipedia page for the name translation and realising that I have no idea which song this is supposed to be. Like, the track lengths on the bandcamp suggest that this is the 2011 release and therefore this is 待機 (Standby), but it has the name of track 8 from the 2017 release, 外ギン Aviation (Foreign Banks Aviation)? This is confusing as fuck, but since this is the only track here with that issue, I’m assuming it’s actually Standby and someone fucked up somewhere. Oh right, the song itself. Well it’s fucking short, barely past a minute long, and doesn’t have too much going on. I’d call it short but sweet, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Jazzy, loungy, kinda chill. I dunno.
て(Te) feels almost out of place on this album. I mean, the vibe is similar, but the birdsongs really come out of left field. This sounds like the track you’d hear in a video game after you’re finally out of a cave you spent hours in. If the build in this weren’t so intense, I think it’d fit right in on the Minecraft OST. That’s a compliment, for what it’s worth. It’s also worth noting this light at the end of the tunnel bit was absolutely intentional, because this used to be the final track of the album. However, there’s two more here, added in a 2012 reissue (originally they were unnamed bonus tracks), so we might as well check them out.
…under no circumstances should you check out track 10, 月 (Moon). I don’t know what vocal sample that is, but it is loud, and grating, and obnoxious, and the instrumentation is not doing enough to carry the repetition through. Holy shit, this is 6 minutes long. I’m going to be honest, I skimmed through this one, and it never changes what it’s doing. This is… a bold play, I’ll give her that, but it absolutely does not pay off. This has gotta be one of the worst songs I’ve heard in a very long time. What the fuck, Ramona?
Finally, 海底 (Seabed). This… is just like Moon, in that it’s a fucked up vocal sample that is looped over and over with little changing instrumental. The key difference is this one is less bad- the vocals aren’t as jilting, the instrumentation is chiller, and it is mercifully only 2 and a bit minutes. It’s far from good, but it’s not as immediately awful. Okay, it is pretty bad. These should probably have stayed as extras- and seeing as they apparently weren’t on the physical versions of the album (in fact a bunch of these songs changed for that), Vektroid appears to agree.
So that’s Floral Shoppe, and it’s really one of those albums that kinda drags on at the end. Frontloaded with the good shit, I suppose. Moon and Seabed aside, it’s not like anything is completely awful, but after 25 or so minutes you’ve kinda gotten the point. With that said, the album is as influential as it is for good reason- the first couple tracks are phenomenal, and once you’re drawn in by those, you’re probably going to appreciate the rest of it at least a little.
Modern vapourwave basically sounds nothing like Lisa Frank 420/Modern Computing, or Floral Shoppe at all- the genre has moved past plunderphonics almost entirely at this point, and the aesthetic has shifted to a more consistent, less memeable tone. Even Macintosh Plus is going new directions- the single released in December 2019 as a teaser for Vektroid’s next project under the name sounds nothing like this album, though it is completely fucking awesome (and completely fucking batshit). While it seems like the genre itself has moved past Floral Shoppe, though, it’s still the touchstone the majority of people, especially those unfamiliar with the genre, recognize as the herald of Vapourwave. I’m pretty sure this was the first album to do the whole pink aesthetic, marble bust, computer graphics style, and clearly that’s the style everyone thinks of when they make bad vapourwave art. That’s the aesthetic this album inspired. Long may it reign.
(Ok seriously though guys go listen to VAPERROR or George Clanton or something)
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Discography Discussion: Wolf & Sheep
While Wolf & Sheep is my favorite album, I think it’s also the most recognizable one in H.O.T’s discography. No other album they’ve done has as many well-known tracks. In this discussion, we’ll be diving into the most teenage-geared album in the history of H.O.T.
The Wolf & Sheep Album
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H.O.T’s second album Wolf & Sheep came out on July 5th, 1997. It’s the only album (besides the OST for Age of Peace) to be released outside of September - which also makes it the shortest time between albums. It’s also the only album besides Outside Castle that features the members on the cover. In case you’re trying to figure out who is who, I assume (from their features that are usually depicted in artwork of them) it’s the order they generally are in when they’re on stage (facing the audience from the stage), meaning from left to right it’s Woohyuk, Kangta, Tony, Heejun, and Jaewon. Compared to We Hate All Kinds of Violence, this album is bolder in its statements and was a continuation of their ability to criticize and uplift their young target audience.
Wolf & Sheep
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“Wolf & Sheep” is the title track for this album, and was their first attempt at targeting society - not just their teenage fans. Like other hard-hitting tracks in H.O.T’s discography, this one was composed by Yoo Youngjin.
Lyrics
It’s an aggressive song with lyrics about wolves attacking and taking sheep. The song is mostly metaphorical, and about people with power taking advantage of people without it. However, that’s only a surface-level understanding of the song. Usually, Yoo Youngjin usually writes about topics (and problems) that are prevalent across multiple societies and time periods, but sometimes he does write about particular events. “Wolf and Sheep” is about an event in the future that has already happened, but didn’t actually happen. The song starts with Woohyuk announcing, “The year 2000, June 28, they who had been foretold arrived.” This song was released in 1997, which was three years before that date. But it’s written in the past tense - in both Korean and in the English translation of it. However, when I looked up the date itself (June 28th, 2000) and ones similar to it, I didn’t find anything that matched or were of significance.
The closest thing I could come up with happened on June 28th, 1950.  (Source) During the Korean War, there was a massacre on that day at the Seoul National University Hospital by the North Korean army. (Source) Here are some lyrics that could support this: “All the sheep’s family were turned into the hunted..the sheep’s cities were turned into battlefields...50 years of peace was broken on that day, and everything was destroyed in their hands...What sin did I commit to deserve all this pain?” (Lyric Source)
To add to this, I found a blog on Daum that supports my theory. This blog also adds that the album was announced on June 28th, 1997, but its release was delayed because Heejun hurt his shoulder. Considering that this is the most research I’ve had to do for any H.O.T track, it’s nice to see someone else support this theory.
Music Video
The music video for “Wolf & Sheep“ is the first H.O.T MV to be filmed outside of Korea. It features the members riding around in LA with cuts to them performing the track on stage. I know it’s not a big deal, but my personal favorite part is at the end when they’re running down the beach and someone does a flip and knocks into the camera. There is an alternate version of the music video that’s basically the same, just edited together differently.
Another point of interest
Interestingly, the track and the MV are both echoed later in “I-Yah”. While “Wolf & Sheep” was about destruction and loss of life for an event that might not have existed, “I-Yah” was about a specific event that included destruction and innocents who lost their lives.
Both tracks have the members wearing outfits that are supposed to look intimidating.
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Both songs are arranged similarly, and have a point where Kangta wears a white and sings solo while the aggressive music momentarily becomes calm before he crescendos it back to anger.
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Also, both are their only two MVs (from their main album discography) filmed outside of Korea. They were filmed in the U.S., but on opposite sides of the country, with “Wolf & Sheep” filmed in L.A. (the west coast), while “I-Yah” was filmed in New York City (the east coast). Which I find interesting, as both are clearly about events in Korea, yet filmed abroad.
(If you want to know more about “I-Yah”, I did a Discography Discussion about it)
Final Thoughts
While this track was quite ambitious for the group, promotions for it didn’t last long as it was quickly banned for the use of profanity. (In all fairness, there is a lot of it.) However, that was not the end for this album.
If you pay attention to their discography, you’ll notice a pattern. Usually when they release an album, they will show the hard-hitting title track first that is about a serious issue (such as “Warrior’s Descendant”). Usually the track will do well and set the tone for the rest of the album. Then, the next track will be a happy/inoffensive track (such as “Candy”) and will get a lot of love from the public - which was especially useful when a title track got banned. This pattern is why they’re able to get away with having an (at times) violent and profanity-heavy discography while still being considered to be family-friendly.
After H.O.T debuted, there were quite a few groups who claimed to be like H.O.T at the time of their debut, but when their first hard-hitting song didn’t get as much praise as “Warrior’s Descendant”, their follow up track would be something light. These artists would then stick to singing inoffensive songs for most of their discography. Perhaps if companies (including SM) didn’t panic and drop to making groups strictly as pop groups reminiscent of the music industry before Seo Taiji & Boys, the K-Pop industry as we know it today would have been very different. Even to this day, there isn’t a K-pop group that has reached the heights H.O.T did with as high of a percentage of critique songs for their title tracks (let alone the rest of their discography) - the closest being B.A.P, to my knowledge.
In my opinion, this pattern is most visible with the Wolf & Sheep album due to the track they released after “Wolf & Sheep”.
Full of Happiness
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The next song to be released on the album was “행복”. The literal translation is “Happiness”, but sometimes you will see this song being called “Full of Happiness” because that’s the feeling this song gives. They lyrics are about meeting someone who was very kind in the past, and hoping the meeting will go well. This song takes the feeling of happiness that was given to someone, then giving it back as strongly as (or stronger than) they received it. However, the music video was about a tennis player feeling happiness winning a match after not being able to do so at the beginning.
There are a lot of adorable details in this music video.
1. Woohyuk and Tony play fighting until the other members have to hold them back.
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2. The other members stealing a table umbrella to shade Jaewon. My favorite part is watching them sneak around Jaewon’s back. Considering that it was a really hot day, I think that’s such a sweet gesture.
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3. Heejun and Kangta play fighting.
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4. Heejun smacking Kangta with a tennis ball, then fleeing while hanging onto his hat.
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5. When the tennis player wins, H.O.T are in the crowd and celebrate.
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With this in mind, I would like to remind everyone that this was the track media used when Jaewon was discharged from the military and all of the members reunited to call themselves H.O.T for the first time since disbandment.
Go! H.O.T.!
The first track on the Wolf & Sheep album is “Go! H.O.T.!” It’s a hype song about the group that lists each member and something about them.
Sexy Guy is a Kangta (Hey - Handsome!)
Wit Guy is a Heejun (Shinning Shinning!)
Mood Guy is a Tony (Hey - Funny!)
Wild Guy is a Woohyuk
Maknae Jaewon is a Shy Shy ! Guy Guy!
If you watch any live performance of “Haengbok”, you’ll see a part of this song sandwiched in the middle with the camera focusing on each of the members. Each performance is different, such as in one Jaewon does a flip and in another he pulls a comb out of nowhere and runs it through his hair.
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H.O.T’s Haengbok vs Super Junior’s Haengbok
SMTown used to release an album during the winter and summer seasons that brought together a lot of their popular artists. These albums would usually have one main song that everyone sang, then the rest of the tracks would be either split by group or just put different people together. On the summer 2007 album, Super Junior did a cover of “Haengbok”.
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When I first heard it, I adored it because I thought it was a fun, new take on a song I loved. Well, everyone seems to agree with that notion because when someone does a cover of “Haengbok”, they’ll usually do the Super Junior version, not H.O.T’s (even though it will often be labeled as a cover of an H.O.T song or say Suju cover, original by H.O.T). The two songs use different instrumentals, choreography, and even how the song is sung is different when you compare Tony and Woohyuk’s parts to the Super Junior version.
I assume the reason for this is that it’s newer, but also that it’s easier to copy and perform. Whereas the original is so H.O.T and feels older, so I don’t think a lot of groups could pull it off. With a track like “Haengbok”, each person performing it has to be vibrant, impossible to confuse with someone else, and have their own style of performing.
We Are the Future
The tone of the last major track on the album is not heavy like “Wolf & Sheep” or light like “Haengbok”, but instead is a mix of the two.
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“We Are the Future” is a high-energy dance track with lyrics about teenagers recognizing that they are the future, not the adults who are oppressive.
We're still in the shadows of the adults, We're still not free-
They fuss and bother us about this and that all day,
of course we can't do anything except get tired-
When are they gonna stop feeling satisfaction by forcing us to their ways?
One day goes by, and another day goes by,
we get more and more tired, feel like we're gonna collapse!
And yes, before you ask, this is another song by Yoo Youngjin.
Unlike “Wolf & Sheep”, which mainly rages about injustices that have been done, “We Are the Future” has a message of hope as well. The message is that you are the future, and you can change the world (and your life).
Within me, a new world is squirming to grow,
and now I will grow it and develop it on my own!
We are the future!
Throw it away! From now on, I tell you,
I'm the master of my life-
I'll believe it, I'll believe it, I'll be fine and strong on my own!
To add to this message, the MV shows a girl jumping off a roof, students getting hit by their teacher, a teenager shoplifting, and a student being bullied. These scenes are displayed between clips of H.O.T dancing and singing.
Compared to “Wolf & Sheep”, this displays scenes of reality that a lot of young people in Korea probably were familiar with either through seeing it happen to their peers or they themselves were going through it. This track is one of the reasons why H.O.T is called “The Nations First Idols” - they sang to people who were going through these issues. Unlike later groups, H.O.T never sang songs that were out of touch with their listeners.
Aside from the fact that this track is really catchy, I think it still resonates with people because they lyrics are about things that young people experience everywhere. For example, even though corporeal punishment was banned in Seoul back in 2010, it still happens sometimes in Korea (and in other countries as well).
But let’s be real, if you’re someone who isn’t at a good place in your life and you aren’t happy with where you are (or who you’re around), this song could apply to you too.
Other Songs of Interest
Free to Fly - This track also has an MV, but depending on the source, it’s a bit different. It’s cheesy 90s breakup song. If you didn’t know the lyrics you would probably assume it was a love song by how it sounds. I think this MV is part of the problem because it shows the guys being cute and saying sweet things - the audience awing over them doesn’t help either, hahaha. Yoo Youngjin must have been in a mood because “Tragedy” (which is also a track on this album), has the same kind of vibe.
The End of My Inferiority Complex - You’ve probably heard this track before because the beginning of it is at the beginning of the MV for “Haengbok”. This is the last song on the album that Yoo Youngjin had a hand in. It’s a teenage relationship drama told in one song. It’s about a guy who sees his girlfriend likes his friend more than him because his friend is all that. Since his friend has been so good to him, he feels like it would be best to breakup and let her be with his friend. However, at the end there’s a twist because when he goes to end things with her, she says:
You’ve got it all wrong,
That*s not the message I meant to give you,
I think I went too far in trying to express my feelings-
I was only so frustrated at you because you were so unconfident,
so unsure of yourself next to your friend-
Don*t be stupid, don*t fool yourself-
Hold me now, I love YOU! 
It was the 90s so it makes sense that this would be the conclusion, but I want to call BS on it.
Lost 12th Birthday - This is probably one of the catchiest songs in K-Pop, and I find that it’s pretty easy to sing if you don’t know much Korean. Whenever it’s a member’s birthday, they’ll usually sing this instead of the normal Happy Birthday song, and you can usually hear fans sing it during birthdays as well. It sounds really cute and kind of nostalgic...until you look at the title of the song and find out what the lyrics are about.
This song is about someone getting in trouble, so their parents decide to not celebrate their 12th birthday. It goes on to talk about how on kid’s birthday, they went home after church to find their friends waiting for them to say, “ A joyous day a pleasant day you beloved birthday. Today I genuinely congratulate your birthday. (Happy Birthday to you)”. The kid resolves to be better afterwards and study harder. (However, considering that the lyrics at the beginning talk about how scared the kid was of their parents, I don’t think the kid is completely at fault. >.>)
Since the perspective changes during the song (Your birthday is just like my birthday. I want to be born again by your side today. So as I light you 12th birthday candle today. I want to find the memory I lost a short while ago), it’s also possible to interpret it as, “I had a bad 12th birthday, so I hope you have a better birthday than I did”.
K-Pop boy groups nowadays can make hit songs about how much money or awards they’ve gotten. H.O.T, meanwhile, has a bop about not getting to celebrate turning twelve. (Why am I fan of these guys again??)
Other Points of Interest
This was a glorious era of cringe and stupidity for the group. From Heejun dyeing his hair purple and getting banned from broadcast (part of the reason why his hair was covered during this time) to poorly written/acted dramas, Wolf & Sheep promotions had it all.
H.O.T in Joseon
H.O.T Does Math
H.O.T Become Aliens
Behind-the-Scenes of Haengbok
H.O.T Pretend to be Animals
Conclusion
Wolf & Sheep was a successful follow up to We Hate All Kinds of Violence. It was more ambitious in its critiques of society, while managing to be uplifting at the same time. Many things that were in this album parallel other tracks later in their discography. It was released right at the start of the Asian Financial Crisis, so perhaps it can be looked upon fondly as being right before Korea was hit by it. With this in mind, I want to share one last quote:
I thought about it occasionally, in what state I would be as an adult-
Could I always live like this? Oh baby-
I'm gonna make a world of my own on my own,
Don't force the same way of life on me.
Within me, a new world is squirming to grow,
and now I will grow it and develop it on my own!
WE ARE THE FUTURE!!!
If I could sum up this album, it would be with this: The future is yours, so don’t let the past keep you from making the present better.
Links Lyrics iTunes Spotify
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outoftimewriting · 4 years
Text
Imagine (Son of Hades! Percy; Godswapped! Big Three's kids (6/7) or (11/12)
House of Hades Pt.2 - In the Argo II
Hello darlings! Before reading this, there's at least other 11 parts - and I almost had to divide this into two - check on the masterpost - but don't be sad is ending :(
First - I have no idea if I'll divide Blood of Olympus in two because I hate the climax Rick wrote - so probably? Also not sure if I'll need an epilogue - we're not delving into TOA, though.
Second - I'll keep writing! I have a handful of ideas that I want to do next - and the next AU will have Female! Percy - so keep logging in!
Check on the warnings before proceeding, and good reading :))
To say that things are tense in the Argo II is downplaying the major depression the ship seemed to be sunk in since Perseus fell.
Leo and, surprisingly, Nico are the only ones who are able to get anything done in the first couple of days, but they aren't fooling anyone - the white eyes of the son of Zeus seem to be every day a little more bloodshot, and more than one fire happens without no explanation.
Annabeth didn't stop crying for a second - even throughout Will's examination of her and her brother - for at least 12 hours. Then she crashed for another 12 hours - and when Annabeth woke up, she was enraged.
She is going to bring the damned statue back to Camp - and then she will kick her mother's ass. That's her best friend, not collateral damage.
And when her dumbass of a best friend comes back, Annabeth is going to kick his ass too. How dare he fall - for her, not even his closest friend - into freaking Tartarus?
Frank is devastated - he and Piper are coping by planning the future - how they can spend the summer at Camp and live in Nova Roma, how they'll visit Perseus if he decides to go to college in the mortal world. It feels a little like denial.
Hazel and Jason are coping in the totally opposite way. Where Leo and Nico are fueling themselves with determination, Annabeth is anger personified and the other two went in the road of negation - they're both in a deep state of panic.
The sea became too dangerous to travel - the tides answering to Jason's turbulent emotions - and any metal on board keeps exploding or becoming so fueled with energy that no one but Nico and Hazel can touch it.
They pray together - for Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, Letum, any god that Perseus ever helped (a lot of them) - for his protection. Jason holds evening prayers - just like in Nova Roma - and they offer anything, everything, for Percy to be alive. Everyone goes.
Except for Will, who is in a whole other league. The moment that he arrived at Camp, Percy was the one to settle him, and calm him, and take care of him. It was a side of him no other person in this ship had ever seen - Nico got in Camp in the worst timing possible, and all the others were pretty independent when they met Perseus.
But Will remembers - the nights with hot chocolate, Percy's warm sweaters, a pair of blue gloves messing his hair, the anxiety when the boy left for school, just for him to keep IMing Will every evening - and he misses Percy.
After the Labyrinth, the war, the losses, they reconnected - the prejudices against Percy's parentage long gone - and it felt like nothing ever changed.
It was Percy who helped him coming out for his mother. It was Percy that held Will after he lost Sibele - a daughter of Momus - to her injuries. It was Percy, always Percy.
Percy is much more of a father then Apollo - and much better as a brother then some of Will's siblings. So Will just locks himself up in his infirmary - and grieves. It's weird in such a hard mission to remember that Will is just fifteen and that he is a veteran of war.
The mood lingers, even when they start fighting regularly against the Apennines - and isn't this a whole other mess.
The mountain spirits are pissed - because Hades/Pluto and his wife are really pissed. It's Malcolm - the only one with a phone and a good connection to the internet - that tells them that the world started having earthquakes every few days.
The mortals are confused because most of these are not even close to the tectonic plates - and none of those cause turmoil at the sea. It's just Hades - mightly pissed his only son is beyond even his reach.
Three days in fighting the Ourae - who don't like having their mountains shaken over and over again - the sky also starts thundering. Coincidentally, it's July 30th - they've been traveling for twenty-two days - which also marks Thesmophoria - the greek festival of harvest.
But, alas, nothing is blooming. Persephone is as dangerous as her husband - and Demeter seems to follow her daughter's lead. With the Earth corrupted - the crops aren't growing.
Jason doesn't blame his matron - he is not really happy himself. Besides praying for Perseus' safety, he spends most of his days in patrol against boulders and rocks of all things.
Leo barely sleeps - too busy keeping the ship from falling apart - and Nico is, most of the time, right behind him keeping the ship steady. They try using canons and fail miserably. There's no way to fight against mountains - it's like Dom Quixote fighting against the windmills.
The others, even Will, rotate between fighting rocks and sleeping. Four days after Thesmophoria, Leo decides it's enough, turns the ship around, and solves to not cross the Apennines.
He just hopes Perseus can last another seven days.
Hazel - the only one awake, because this is supposed to be her patrol and Leo finds her the most reasonable out of all their friends, who would probably insist on keep fighting the freaking mountains - is praying. Like always.
Leo doesn't know how he feels about praying. His extended family was very catholic - they prayed for a god that they couldn't see or touch. But Leo met the gods - or, if Annabeth is to be believed, one set of them - and he doesn't like them.
They're petty children who have no care for the fate of their children - the ones who fight for them, go on their errands, keep them alive, y'know. Leo doesn't want to praise them. He doesn't think they deserve it.
But Hazel's prayers are answered when her venti, Tempest, appears aboard. Hazel tells Leo to go on without her - she'll be back soon.
He is concerned for her - like always. Of all new people, Leo seems to be the closest to her - his overall cheeriness and electric behavior are endearing to her, a light in these dark times. Sometimes, his smile makes her flush - just like Frank's did and still does.
Hazel mounts Tempest and the venti takes her, through mountains and hills, to a door. There's mist curling at her ankles and a chill in her spine.
She isn't very thrilled by meeting Trivia - Hazel heard stories of her greek son by Perseus, who seemed to hold the guy in high standard, but she knows gods. The goddess of magic wants something.
Trivia is an imposing woman - taller than Hazel, she has the same midnight skin as Perseus, though hers looks purple-ish, and her eyes are entire universes - stars bloom in her irises and twin moons rise in her pupils.
The goddess is fickle - she seems to be there and not, at the same time. Ghostly. There's three of them, then one, then five.
Trivia beacons to the daughter of Jupiter and she follows, the cursed little girl she is. The goddess offers her three options: Perseus, prone in the ground as she, Leo, and Annabeth battle an invisible foe, the two demigod installments at war, or the Argo II.
Hazel chooses the Argo II, but she promises herself, and the goddess, that she will save Perseus, and that no demigod blood will be spilled by other demigod's hand. Not again.
She will learn how to control the Mist. But Trivia is very mistaken if she thinks Hazel is going to become her acolyte. She remembers well what happened last time - she died.
The Argo II is traveling without much hassle - when they're crossing Monte Falterona, in the Campigna National Park, they are attacked by a new mountain spirit - and this one talks.
"Get Pluto his brat back, you useless halflings!"
Like the boulders the immortal is throwing at them will help. Leo screams this back at the mountain, who is not impressed at all.
Their next foe is in San Marino - a chimera. Most popular knowledge is wrong about those monsters: chimeras are not just goat-lion-snake mixes. They are an amalgamation of any three or more animals.
This one, in particular, is a very... candid mix of a Pyrenean chamois, a monk-seal, a mouflon, and a goose. Not very lethal or hazardous - just very angry. It's the first time they hear Annabeth laugh since Perseus fell.
While Malcolm is chasing and being chased around by an evil goat-goose-seal-weirdass deer chimera that he is fending off with an encyclopedia, the others can't even bring themselves to help. It's ridiculous - the thing is not even big. It's just ugly and it sounds like a honking clown.
Eventually, they get around to killing the clown chimera - it honks as it vanishes - and following route to Bologna. Frank tries to mutate to the chimera during the travel - to different levels of failure - which makes everyone laugh.
Thanks to their two encounters, the crew gets to Bologna at two in the afternoon.
Frank can't help counting the days as they pass him by. He is not the only one - he can see Annabeth muttering the time every now and then - but it feels like a countdown. Can Perseus survive one more week in Tartarus?
Even with the pressing worry for his lost friend, he can't stop thinking about Hazel and Leo. The two of them are thick as thieves - and Frank wants in.
But he knows it's wrong - Leo is a boy. Hazel is younger. Leo bares a power that could kill him. Hazel is his best friend. They're two people. - but he sees them flirting and can't keep his eyes to himself.
It's wrong. Soldiers aren't supposed to date men. Men who dated men are prostitutes, entertainers. Less. And two people at the same time? Outside of a bedroom? Preposterous.
Frank wishes he was more like Perseus. Perseus is all about duty: he would eventually marry Reyna. Or Annabeth, or other pretty and intelligent warrior, and have two point five kids with a picket fence.
But no. Here he is - midday, they are stopping for lunch, and he can't keep his eyes off Leo and Hazel - who are quietly chatting in the other end of the long table.
Frank ponders what would they think. Would the two be repulsed? Would they laugh at him? He can deal with laughter. Their disgust, however, would cut his heart in half.
Nico is in a very similar, and yet completely different, situation. He has been in love - or as close as love could be when you never dated the person - with Perseus Jackson.
He knows it's okay to be gay - he is friends with Will and Jake. He lives on CHB since he was a pre-teen. Perseus himself was - is - queer.
But the thing is, he'll never have a chance with him. Not the chance he is longing for gods know how long. He failed Perseus yet again - he let the demigod fall.
Perseus can have anyone. Perfect Annabeth Chase, Shrewd Reyna Arellano, Magic Alabaster Torrington, anyone. And he wouldn't have a problem with that - no. The problem is that he can't make a choice. Because he is in Tartarus.
Because Nico. Let. Him. Fall.
He isn't even sure if he let Perseus fall on purpose. A part of his mind knew someone would have to go. It was always meant to be Perseus. Did he purposefully let him go?
The rational part of his mind knew that if he tried to fly them off, all he would accomplish is falling into Tartarus with Perseus, probably dragging Annabeth with them.
But the guilt creeps into his heart - again, yet again, Perseus suffers for something he did or failed to do. He can't sleep. He doesn't know how anyone can eat.
A rock for him in these difficult times has been Jason. The son of Neptune seems to be as affected as Hazel or Annabeth - but Nico would never be able to rely on them.
Hazel has her own problems - a lot of them since Trivia appeared - and Annabeth is a painful reminder of everything Nico is unable to have.
Jason, however, is different. They had dreams of each other - something about their conquests, Nico didn't pay attention - and that apparently brought them close. Jason, differently from Annabeth, isn't a competition. He isn't vying for Percy's attention and love.
He is just a close friend - like Nico pretends to be most of the time - incredibly worried about the son of Hades. Nico would tell Jason about how he feels - but the militar roman's sensibilities might not be adjusted to the greeks' freedom yet.
Nico, however, is also not the only one with heart problems. Piper finds himself entranced by Annabeth Chase - even when she knows, she knows because of her powers, that Annabeth is painfully straight.
And Piper knows it's not love - it's the heat of the upcoming war and the hormones of being cooped up with just other teenagers for twenty days. She sees the blossoms of young lovers everywhere.
The yearning between Leo, Hazel, and Frank; Nico and Jason unconsciously sharing long-term crushes on Perseus; Will missing Jake and his parental figure;
She wishes she was more like Malcolm. Malcolm is asexual - besides being the only other transexual person on board.
Before this war spiked from nothing, the boy was just back from his mission for Hermaphroditus - a two-month search for a missing choker. He is still adapting to his body - it's bigger and broader and he doesn't have to wear a binder. Piper thinks it's amazing - he tells her it isn't that easy.
It's not a slow transition. One second your body is something - and then it isn't. One morning, the demigod caught him holding a red binder in his hands. Sometimes, she sees a shot of testosterone tucked in his pocket.
One day, he was a boy stuck in a girl's body. Then, he wasn't anymore. He has the body he dreamed of for forever - and it's difficult accepting it. Malcolm tells her is not exactly body dysphoria - is just difficult to conciliate.
Piper thinks after this, she'll get her body. After all of this, she deserves it - her body, all hers, with boobs and a killer jawline. Maybe then, it'll be easier to like girls as well. Maybe then, she'll shave half of her head and get a piercing. And maybe, a couple of tattoos.
But while this doesn't happen, she is whining to her asexual friend about her crush in his sister. Malcolm crushes her with logic - "Annabeth has only shown interest in men. She might be bi or pan or even a lesbian, but the odds aren't on your favor" - and she tries to put the blonde out of her mind.
Lunch, however, is a little ridiculous for her. As a daughter of love herself, that table is such a mess of yearning and pining and infatuations.
Malcolm seems to be the only rational - but even he is a little flushed. Piper totally saw that picture of Mitchell in his drawer last week.
She couldn't blame him really - her brother is hot. All demigods are - in very different ways of course, but their godly blood made them more or less otherworldly compared to mortals. Didn't matter their ethnicity, their gender, if they're disabled or not - they are all hot.
Piper, however, doesn't spend all her time freaking over hot people. She is a teenager with a friend who has a good connection to the internet, so she does that a lot - but most of her time these days is looking at Katoptris.
She's waiting for a vision of Perseus. Anything - just proof that he is alive, that he hasn't curled in a ball on whatever is the ground down there and went mad.
It doesn't come. She is looking at this ridiculous lunch table, eating vegetarian burgers, and waiting. Just as it seems like her dagger starts glowing gold - two monkey twins sweep down and steal it. And Leo's tool belt and Archimedes' Sphere.
Piper is really pissed. She wants this mission to end - she wants to find Perseus and stop Gaea, and that's her magical item. It's important. So she and Leo go after the twin monkeys.
Using one of the armory's javelin - for lack of a better option - they sprint over roofs and marketplaces. Bologna is a beautiful city - but they have no time.
They corner the twin monkeys, get their things back - and some things pertaining to a god of harvest - Triptolemus. Perhaps if they make an offer to him, Demeter and Persephone will be more cooperative. Maybe Persephone will be able to calm her husband.
Piper really doubts it. If she learned anything in the nineteen days she traveled with Perseus, is that he calls Persephone "Kore" or "Mater". The only other person he refers to with such open childish joy is his own mother, Sally.
The guy IMed both of them twice a week - enough that Piper knows their voices. While Hades isn't high in the demigod's list of people, his wife seemed to be at least number #2.
But they go back to the ship and relay their plan anyway. They set route to Venice. In the hour that it takes them to get there, they're delayed twice: once by the personification of River Ádige - which enabled them to pass until Jason helped with a small problem - and then by a couple of ventis - which Hazel sent off.
Frank, Annabeth, Hazel and Nico venture into the drowned city - Piper declines to go, saying that she is waiting for Katoptris to cooperate - being Nico the only one who actually speaks Italian in the ship.
The city is infested with anteater-like herbivorous monsters called katoplebones, which are pointedly not from the Greek pantheon. It's pretty rare for monsters to cross pantheons - and the Egyptians are pretty good in keeping them under lock and key - but sometimes, this happens.
They aren't capacitated to deal with those. Annabeth has half a mind to call the Kanes and demand an explanation. Pretty sure they were possessed by the gods to avoid this kind of situation.
She doesn't have much time to think - Hazel is quickly overwhelmed by the poisonous breath of the cows. Of course - is there anything in Egypt that isn't connected to snakes?
They find Triptolemus - who is not thrilled with their presence. Demeter - his mistress - and her daughter are distraught by Perseus' missing status - and he blames Annabeth and Nico for it.
Annabeth tries to persuade him - after all, they have Jason on board, and he is blessed by Ceres. Triptolemus - a very greek god - is not swayed.
"Your trickster words shall not fool me, daughter of Athena."
That's how Annabeth became a rosemary bush - good for memory and brainpower. Nico, when he tried to fight back, became a corn crop.
Mars is whispering in Frank's mind - he is not really fond of his father but uses his help to kill the evil Egyptian cows and get a python for the god's chariot.
He can't let Hazel die. He can't see the light go off her eyes - to see the same pain reflected in Leo's eyes. But Frank is so using Nico's stunt as a corn plant as blackmail material later. Not with Annabeth thought - she would stab him.
Triptolemus, pleased, turns Nico and Annabeth back to human and heals Hazel. Then, he tells them they have to eat barley cakes - so they can survive the poison needed to enter the house of the dead.
Proceeding south down the Adriatic toward Greece, a journey that should take about half a day, the crew of the Argo II is first accosted in Koper - a city on the coast of Slovenia - by four monocerus in the middle of the night.
Monocerus, in Leo's very succinct explanation, are "evil unicorns with big feet that can't fly and shouldn't be in a flying ship".
Whoever, the monsters apparently don't care where they should or not be - and Annabeth - still reeling for her time as rosemary - takes two of them out, keeping the horns as a prize. Nico takes one, who is so beat that leaves nothing, and Malcolm kills one with a handgun.
It's not the most practical weapon, because celestial bronze is not that easy to fabricate/find/obtain - so to use it in bullets that will explode and render it unusable it's kind of a desperate - but it's the first thing he could get - Malcolm's double tessen was being repaired by Leo.
Because yes - not only was the twenty years old able to fight with normal blades, he also fights with freaking fans made of iron.
After the run-in with the evil unicorns - Annabeth looks really cool covered in gold blood and curved silver horns in her hands - they proceed across Croatia.
It goes well for about thirty minutes - in Zadar, they cross paths with Sciron. Sciron is a bandit and outlaw, who - for some reason, is assisted by a giant predatory sea turtle.
While Hazel tricks him into throwing himself off the cliff using her new-discovered Mist, Jason talks to the turtle. It says its name is Chelone - that it's the turtle who took Aphrodite Ourania from the depths of the sea to the shores of Cythera - when she was still young, with remains of other goddesses in her anima - Innana and Ishtar.
He convinces the turtle to stop killing people - mainly by saying that he should hunt elsewhere, deeper onto the sea. It may become a problem for his father, but Jason has bigger issues right now.
They go to sleep, and Hazel dreams. She expects any god to come - but who comes to her is none other than Pluto and his wife, Proserpina.
Proserpina is shrouded in black, and her eyes are not green - but yellowish, like dead leaves. She talks - and tells Hazel that the Doors of Death are in the bottom of the Necromanteion - her powers over metal energy would guide her - and will be guarded by Pasiphae, vengeful of Pluto - and, by default, Perseus - for the lack of punishment for Minos.
Her husband is a silent presence by her side. He is not in mourning... probably. It's difficult to tell, as he is always in black. But his eyes hold a weight easy for Hazel to understand - he just lost a son to the abyss. No matter that Perseus might be alive - he wouldn't get back whole and safe.
Proserpina ends her dream by telling her to wake up Piper - the goddess is putting all her strength to send a vision of Perseus to Katoptris - they need one much more than her, seeing that they are able to interfere.
What Piper sees don't tell them a lot - Perseus seems mostly okay, with some sort of companion that Nico says it might be Iapetus, a brand new scar over his face and a bad limp.
It's the last they'll see of him until their eventual meeting face to face, but it gives them hope.
Annabeth herself has a dream - a dream that the Romans give the statue to the greeks. She sends an iris message to Rachel - so she can meet personally with Reyna.
Reyna, on the other side of the world, mounts her pegasus, Scipio, and leaves. Not only her co-praetor is in freaking Tartarus, but they are on the verge of two simultaneous wars. They need peace.
As soon as she is out of the roman range, however, she sends an iris message to Jason - telling him to go to their hero's place of rest - she had a vision from Mars. That she will meet them in Greece. Jason tells Leo to set course for Split, in Croatia. There's a roman scepter there.
Of all of them, the most capacitated for this mission are Frank and Jason, who are both educated Romans, and Nico, who can fly - a very good power to have in unstable ruins.
They're confronted by Favonious, who takes them to his master, Cupid, in Dalmatia. Nothing good can come of talking to the personification of love - such an old concept that the god has been reborn twice.
"Well, well, well"
"What do we have here?"
Jason falls onto the ground - "You think you found true love, haven't you? But alas, I was where you last expected me" - and he hates love, for that single moment.
"I shall give you what you want, Romans, if each of you is able to tell me - who do you love the most?"
Nico trembles - guilt is a difficult pill to swallow - and Frank visibly wants to bolt out of there.
"Oh, are you afraid? But there's no hiding in the face of true love"
Jason - always the brave one - gives a look at Frank. His friend never met the greeks. He might hate Jason after this.
But they need this scepter.
"Perseus Jackson"
Two heads whips in his direction - one unbelievingly, and the other distressed.
"Ah, love crafted in dreams - the perfect mix between me and my wife. Tell me, Jason Grace, was it bad when he looked upon you and saw naught but a myth?"
A laugh creeps upon Jason's spine, and he turns around. His blade hits something hard, and he is on the floor again.
"Such luck, to be able to even graze love. Perhaps yours is the purest of all - not yet tainted by failures and mistakes. On that note, why don't you go next, Nico di Angelo?"
Nico shivers - he... they have no time for that. That is unnecessary drama - to cause unnecessary problems.
A memory rushes to the front of Jason's mind - that quick chat with Reyna in Nova Roma. "The blond girl, Di Angelo"
Nico loves Perseus. It rushes to Jason now - the way that the younger boy stared adoringly at the son of Hades. The drunkness of his lovesick gaze. The despair when Perseus fell.
"Tell them Nico di Angelo" Cupid prompts "Tell them all about your guilt, your mistakes, the way you let him down, again and again, and again."
Nico floats a little off the ground. It's years of pain and sorrow that won't bring Perseus back.
"Will you fly off yet again, in the face of rivalry? Will you be my next servant - just like Favonious, consumed by jealousy, Nico di Angelo?"
Jason sees the memories. Nico screaming at Perseus. Grover reluctantly telling him about their adventures. The way he betrayed Percy - and a dozen more scenes he never saw from Nico's perspective, only Percy's, that made him unable to speak.
"It's okay Nico... I.... I get it."
It's painful to utter these words - it's almost like he is giving up Perseus. But they have a war to get through - and then, when the other demigod is back, they can figure this out.
"P-Perseus Jackson"
And then it's Frank's turn. But Frank is as pale as a ghost - he seems to be close to vomiting.
"It's a costly thing isn't it, looking at the true face of love. Now it's the turn of the brave son of Mars. Will you tell your friends easily, or shall you be a coward like the son of Zeus?"
Frank doesn't talk. Jason doesn't understand why - it's Hazel, isn't it? Is it because of Nico? He mentions talking to the son of Zeus, but Di Angelo doesn't look at him - the Cupid knew very well how to play his game.
"Come on. Tell them - tell them of whom you think before you sleep and who dominates your first thoughts every morning."
"You don't scare me"
"Oh, I scare you very, very much. Face me. Be honest."
"H-Hazel. Levesque."
"That's just half my question, little half-blood. If you want to lead the roman legions, you must answer it fully."
"I love H-Hazel. She is the one I think before I sleep and when I wake up."
"Still hiding. You're not strong enough, Frank Zhang."
Frank tries to charge at the wind, but it just mocks him. It's weird seeing Frank crying - it looks like the world is crumbling at his feet.
Jason, yet again, doesn't understand. Nico is also confused - he looks between the Romans as if he never saw any of them before. But then it dawns on the son of Zeus.
"Not only my sister. That's why you keep gazing at them, isn't it?"
All the fighting and denial leave Frank at once. His sword clangs in the ground.
"I love both Hazel and Leo. Together." He spits out, still trembling. "That's the truth. Are you happy now?"
"I wouldn't say Love always makes you happy. It can make you incredibly sad, sometimes. But you have faced it now. It's the only true way to conquer me."
Cupid appears - in a flash of white wings. It might be the god Jason hates the most - his eyes seem to penetrate his very soul. There's a scepter in his hand.
"Only a true child of Mars Ultor can yield it. It's your destiny, Frank Zhang."
Then he promptly disappears. The demigods look at each other - there's a flurry of emotions deep inside their chests. Frank looked at both of them, waiting for an attack, or for them to start fighting.
"No one has to know" He starts "I'm s-so-..."
He doesn't end. There are copious tears rolling through his face - his cheeks are a deep shade of red. A sob escapes his throat.
"P-please, p-pleased-don't t-te-tell anyone." Frank sobs, and it's such a jarring sight that both Nico and Jason rally to reassure him, leaving their own issues aside.
"There's nothing wrong with loving two people at once. No one will have a problem with it, Frank - fuck, this isn't Nova Roma. Most of us are greek."
"Hazel would hate me though. This is unnatural- I- I can't."
"You don't know that. Hazel loves you, Frank"
But the son of Mars just keeps crying until they both promise not to tell another soul what they saw. It's enough for the weird atmosphere to return.
Midway in the trek back to the ship - a six-hour walk - Nico is too riled up to safely fly with two people and none of them being too fond of air right now - Frank summons enough power to ask the question.
"So... uh... hm... Perseus?... like, uh, I can see the appeal-... but... both?... forget I asked, just....uh oh, sorry."
Jason and Nico pointedly avoid looking at each other. It's very bizarre - Jason knows a lot about Perseus, but now he knows Perseus also from Nico's perspective - and this is all messy.
They go back to the ship, relay to Annabeth that they got the scepter, and immediately go back to their cabins - to cry, to scream, to think.
It's been a day and a half - and they're still eleven hours off Epirus. Leo is pissed - because not only their three heavy-hitters are pissed at something and won't communicate, and they're of course.
Emerging from the infirmary for something other than to eat and mend people is finally Will - at least. He takes patrol in place of Nico - the boy quietly mumbled at his friend that they had a run-in with Cupid. Will can imagine how that went.
He doesn't have a clue about Frank - but Jason and Nico? They have the same long-lasting crush on Perseus - everyone on board knows that. Except, apparently, for each other. And Perseus - because his mentor/kind of brother/bother figure is a dumbass.
When they're passing through the coast of Albany, they're attacked by Khione - who is still very pissed her ex-lover's son doesn't want to spend eternity frozen with her. Leo ends up being sent away - for the distress of both Hazel and Frank and the anger of his best friends, Piper and Jason.
Piper ends up stabbing Khione - while Frank transforms into the giant dragon and burns her - making her unable to freeze them. Eventually, she runs away.
Leo, however, wakes up on an island. There's a sad girl at his side - she is using a modern blue dress, and there's a crown of black flowers upon her head.
"You were not the one I was expecting."
The son of Hephaestus wants to scream. Well, he didn't want to be whatever here is either! But her face is so sad - her gaze down to her bare feet. She seemed to be crying. He settles for asking who is her.
"I... I am sorry. My name is Calypso. This is Ogygia."
It startles him. Mainly because he has heard this name before around camp - wasn't she supposed to be freed?
"What happened to you?"
The immortal girl relays her tale - how she got freed for a year, and then the war started. The gods - Zeus - didn't trust her not to turn against them. So they locked her up - she was not the only one. Leto, Themis, Rhea - good titans or their offspring. Locked away.
She, after a year of freedom that Perseus got her, was back into her old shackles. Calypso is waiting for him for months now - but she thinks he forgot her.
So Leo tells her what happened - the bits he knows anyway. Juno/Hera, Nova Roma, the mission. Calypso seems calmer. They stay together for a while - friends it seems.
Calypso tells him about her year - about how she wanted to explore the world. She tells him she wanted to join Artemis' hunt - but, courtesy of Odysseys, she is no maiden.
He tells her about Hazel and Frank, Perseus, and the love hexagons he doesn't even know he is in - omitting the part that he is now in Tartarus. They talk about Festus - Calypso tells him about how his father is good to hear - how he came to visit, sometimes.
A week passes, maybe a week and a half. Leo vows to take Calypso off the island once the war ends, and she believes - once, a hero as brave as Leo made her the same promise, and stuck with it through the end.
In Cancun, Africa, Jason and Nico are having daily audiences with Auster, the Roman god of the south wind, in connection with the Seven being able to proceed on their way to Epirus - seeing that their ship is all broken and they have no Leo.
Auster is indolent and seems increasingly disinclined to cooperate with Jason and Nico: he dislikes the son of Zeus, and the wind never had a good relationship with the sea. Annabeth also tries her hand at it - but it's rebuffed at every turn. Piper is prohibited from entering the palace because of her magic voice.
Jason and Nico - even though they aren't speaking to each other - have for a long time admitted they don't fit completely at either camp. Jason is still too militar for CHB. Nico is too old for CHB. Both are too free with their personal lives for Nova Roma.
Auster agrees to meet with them and tells them to commit to one side - greek or roman. They deny it - they're both. The gods are both, they have been thrust in a war of both sides, they commune with gods on both aspects and they ask them to run errands for both pantheons. They have the right to be both.
Auster is not happy with this - mainly because he believes they should keep the sides separated. But it's the first time Nico and Jason agree on something - and they fight together for it. No god has the right to define those petty things when the demigods are fighting their war.
Auster merges with his greek counterpart Notus - an amalgamation of both his carefree and his militar side - and sends The Seven on their way when coerced by the threat of a hurricane and a typhoon.
He sends them to Valletta, Malta, where they find the Argo II fully repaired and in the harbor. In the port, on a small cafe, there's Leo - sitting and raging internally against the gods, who once again, fucked up something.
They trade stories, and Leo just rages more. He isn't sure how Perseus didn't ally himself with Kronos in the first war if that was the bullshit he had to deal with every day.
First Khione, then Zeus locking Calypso up, then this Notus guy - they are a week and a half late. Is Perseus still alive after nineteen days in the Pit? Is he sane? Did he tried to get out - and they weren't there?
It's with a shocking gasp from Annabeth that they realize that Perseus's birthday is in three days. They have been traveling together for thirty-seven days now - and they have to get Perseus out of Tartarus before the 18th, at least. Is the minimum.
It takes them a day to get to Epirus. There are enough monsters in their way to start a menagerie - Gaea is actively trying to stall them, so there must be a reason. Perseus might be alive.
Arriving at the Necromanteion, which they learn is just a very fancy name for catacombs, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Annabeth, Will, and Piper descend into the ruins, leaving Nico and Jason - who are both completely useless under the earth - behind with Malcolm - who, since Arachne, is pretty much claustrophobic.
They eat the barley cakes to protect themselves against the toxic potion they must drink in order to enter the temple. It's difficult to swallow poison - it burns as it goes down.
The mist tries to confuse them at every turn - Hazel diverts it. Her power over metal energy guides them - she can feel the basis of the building, way down where they are.
Katoptris burns in Piper's hand. It shows her Perseus' face - he looks cadaveric, shrouded in death. Sometimes he flickers, like a ghost - but he is alive, and heading to the Doors just like they are.
It's enough to spur them forward. Perseus is doing the same journey - from a much difficult side. They will meet in the middle.
Earthquakes strike the caverns, making part of the floor collapse. In a side, Piper and Will, surrounded by monsters in all sides. In the other, Frank, Leo, Hazel and Annabeth. The son of Mars doesn't think twice - the scepter.
He uses the Scepter of Diocletian to summon ghostly Roman soldiers, and as a Legatus Legionis, he does have the power to command all of them. It would be more controlled if he was Praetor, but the actual Praetor is Perseus, and so, in his absence, Frank will have to do.
The tunnel collapses. Hazel. Leo. They might be dead - but Frank can't panic right now. They are alive. They will protect each other, they have Annabeth Chase with them. Hazel controls the mist - everything will be just fine.
Anger grew in his chest. Those are his friends, his... his loved ones. This freaking ruin don't get to kill them before Frank summons enough courage to submit himself to the ridiculousness of telling them.
Hazel wants to cry - they left Frank behind. He might be dead - they might be all dead. Leo isn't much better. For all that Zhang seems to hate him, his infatuation with the Canadian never disappeared.
Annabeth however, is practical. She tells them Frank will be fine - the guy can transform into a dragon. Or a chimera. Probably a poisonous one, after the stunt in Venice. He has an army - it's okay.
Pasiphae is a bitch. Leo hates the woman - she reminds him of Aunt Rosa. Or Juno. Or Lady Muddy herself. He and Annabeth let Hazel do the majority of the talking - but both of them bristle as the Doors shake.
An unauthorized presence. Perseus actually did it - they have twelve minutes, in accord to Annabeth - who Leo knows better than to doubt - to open the Doors. Or he is dead, lost forever.
"It's a pity Gaea needs a son of the Earth and a daughter of the Sea... But none of you are children of the Underworld or the ocean, are you? Not even the acolyte of Trivia."
Everything indicates that she'll open the door herself - but Annabeth can't risk she whisking Perseus away to Gaea before they can reach him. So she sneaks past with her cap while they fight.
Pasiphae goes down to Hazel's illusions. Annabeth opens the Doors, before cutting the chains as Hazel and Leo distract Clytius. Perseus stumbles out, a giant tiger in his heels.
Leo didn't think he would ever see a harsher picture. The tall boy was still muscular - but gaunt as if he hadn't eaten since the fall. There were scars everywhere.
He couldn't look more - Clytius is threatening Perseus, but both Annabeth and the tiger stay in his way. Trivia appears - but they aren't truly winning until Piper, Will, and Frank are able to reach them through Hazel's magic.
Will goes immediately to Perseus' side - there's panic in his eyes. Leo can't see much this far - he hopes the son of Hades isn't dead. Piper and Frank fight alongside them. Annabeth is still hovering protectively over her best friend's prone body.
There's not much need for help - between Hazel and Trivia, the bulk of Clytius powers are unusable. The shared power of Piper (love is never where you expect it), Frank (and his undead soldiers), a very angry Annabeth, and Leo is just overkill.
They win. Will is feeding Perseus ambrosia - there's something really wrong because there are tear tracks in the blonde's face. Leo comes closer - their friends follow.
Perseus is destroyed. He looks like he has been through hell - there's a scar crossing his face and his eyes are sunken in. But that's not where it stops.
Leo's gaze goes down, to the ragged clothes that are barely recognizable - the sweatpants he was convinced to wear to go underground, the once-green sweater - and sees what is missing.
Where Perseus' leg once was, there's a metal one. The boy is curled in the fetal position - his metal leg sticks out like a sore thumb, and it looks like he might cry if he wasn't so dehydrated. The tiger nudges its head against the boy's leg and growls at them, but it doesn't attack.
"I... I can't touch him. I touched him and he started panicking... I... We have to take him back to the ship. He is stable, but..."
Frank picks up Perseus in a bride-carry - a month ago, he wouldn't be able to do it. But now, he is stronger - and Perseus must weight ninety pounds wet.
The tiger follows - when they cross to the daylight, they can see it's not a normal tiger. Annabeth - with a distraught look in her face - tells them it's a skeleton tiger. Probably a saber-tooth.
They go back on board - Piper goes up to call Nico, so he can fly Perseus into the ship. He does, but the expression in his face is so crushing Leo almost wishes they had delayed it by destroying property and landing the ship on the street.
The mood of the ship is yet again somber. No one wants to leave the infirmary - but Will forces them to rotate, so as to not overwhelm Perseus. Hypocrite - he is living in there.
Leo, Malcolm, and Piper - the least close to Percy, even though they are friends - let the others take the bulk of the shifts. Annabeth, Nico, and Jason almost get into blows about it - she wins on the fact that she knows Perseus longer.
It's difficult to IM both Rachel - who is a minute away from depression since he fell - and Lady Persephone. It's even harder to tell Sally - they leave the task to Annabeth.
They harbor for two days, waiting for Reyna. She appears from the sky during dinnertime - her horse has to be euthanized almost immediately after a run with the spirit mountains.
They talk - and end up deciding that she will take the statue back to Camp with Malcolm, the most resourceful out of them. Percy would be the logical solution - taking him out of Gaea's reach - but the son of Hades would probably be unable to shadow travel so soon.
While this happens, the others will set course to Athens - to stop Gaea and destroy the Giants. For now, they eat.
Midway through their meal, Will comes into the board - everyone knows what it means. Perseus is awake - on his birthday to boot. They take their food to the infirmary - to see the boy looking at the ceiling.
He gives them a faint smile, but no one misses the way he curls into himself any time there's someone a little too close. Perseus relays his tale - it's heavily edited, Annabeth can tell.
But he tells them about the leg - but not how he lost it - about the tiger - the name is Small Bob, but he doesn't talk about Bob - and about the firewater - but not how he got the injuries.
Small Bob never leaves Perseus's side. The demigod insists that he wants to go outside - he ate enough ambrosia and drank enough nectar that even some of his scars are gone. Not the one in his face though. Will let him go - but Annabeth thinks that he just asked out of courtesy.
He doesn't have green eyes anymore - they darkened to a point they can't distinguish his pupil. They observe as he sits calmly in the deck, metal leg sticking out, and strokes the head of the tiger, who is acting more or less like a giant house cat.
None of them miss the tracks of tears across his face, or the look he gives the night sky - it's bittersweet.
"Bob says hello"
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crowautumnrain · 3 years
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review: Cherry Magic | Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!
Disclaimer: This is my very own humble opinion. If you  agree with my review, I’m glad that I’ve found someone like-minded, if  you do not agree, that’s fine too. Every opinion is valid. Don’t hate me  for mine.
I do not speak any asian language and therefore I rely solely on subtitles. And we all know that they are not always flawless. So if I misread a situation or misunderstand something, feel free to inform me. Spoilers ahead!
Genre: BL
From: Japan
Known Actors:  /
Trigger Warnings: cuteness overload
Rating: 8.5/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ☆    
Synopsis: When Kyoshi Adachi reaches his 30th birthday he develops an ability to hear the thoughts of other people by touching them. One day, he discovers that his popular co-worker, Yuichi Kurosawa, is in love with him.
Main Character(s): Kyoshi Adachi, Yuichi Kurosawa
Side Character(s): Masato Tsuge (Adachis BFF), Minato Wataya (Tsuges lover boy), Yuta Rokkaku (co-worker + Kurosawas “friend”), Nozomi Fujisaki, Kengo Urabe (Adachi's co-worker)
Short Appereance: /
Main Couple(s): AdachixKurosawa
Side Couple(s): TsugexMinato
My review:
I think I don’t really have to explain much, the title does a good job.This is going to be a little different than most reviews I do. I’m not going to comment every scene or comment on every step of the storyline, even though I will try to. For the most part I’m just going to ramble around for a bit. And try to write my thoughts down.
I remember when Cherry Magic fan edits popped up on youtube and it looked so cute I just had to watch it. During that time winter came into my town and another lockdown was around the corner. So, this show was really there to brighten my day once a week (or for a few days while I binge watched it).
The concept was really interesting, too. And here are my thoughts about it:
Adachi and Kurosawa
We start our story one day before our protagonsts 30th birthday. His name is Adachi. He has very low self esteem and and little confidence in himself (sounds familiar) but a big heart. It’s not always easy for him to say “no” (espacially to his co-worker). His life is mostly uneventful and repetitive. UNTIL one day on his 30th birthday he discover that the old wives’ tale that you develop powers if you are a virgin for 30years is actually true. He is able to hear peoples thoughts!
At the beginning he isn’t really sure if it’s just all in his head or if he really has this power. On his way to work he meets his co-worker Kurosawa. Due to a very crowded elevator, Kurosawa accidentally touches Adachi. Because of that, Adachi finds out that his super popular and super handsome co-worker is actually madly in love with him (relatable right?)
At first Adachi tries to ingore his powers. He can not be sure that the things he hears are really other people’s thoughts or just him making stuff up. He avoides crowds and Kurosawa. But fate just throws these two together again and again.
Since Adachi can read thoughts, every encounter he has with Kurosawa from now on excalates pretty quickly. Because our boy Kurosawa is just as horny as we all are. One day Kurosawa is being a “nice boy” and helps Adachi with the workload that his co-worker asked him to do. Totally selfless of course, not in any way him trying to be near his crush or anything noo. After hearing Kurosawa gushing over Adachi’s mole on his neck, that Adachi wasn’t even aware of, he is now pretty sure that his powers are real.
Adachi knows that - if the tale is true - he will only lose his powers if he also loses his virginity. And let me tell you something... Honestly, sex is probably really great and all but...you have powers. You are basically one step away of becoming a superhero. You can help people with that. Come one now, this show just proves that asexuals are above us all and are so powerful and deserve to be wizards. If you were able to life a life without sex to your 30s, it’s not that hard, you are almost halfway there. Just hold on.
This show follows mostly our two main leads, Adachi and Kurosawa, trying to manage their love for each other. But what makes Cherry Magic so sweet and heardwarming is the fact, that there are other topics being addressed besides same-sex-love. Like I said earlier, Adachi has extreme low self-esteeem and this is one of the biggest reasons why it takes so long for Adachi to realize and accept that he is not only in love with Kurosawa but also that he deserve this kind of love.
So many times, Adachi chickens out of telling Kurosawa how he feels and espacially when Kurosawa wants to take things to the next level, Adachi needs time. And Kurosawa respects that (bare minimum, but sadly the bar is so low) and gives Adachi time.
Kurosawa also suffers from some incecurities that he not often talks about, but since Adachi has his powers, we are often granted a quick look into Kurosawas head. And these little thought trains that we get tell us so much more about Kurosawa and fully flesh him out as a character.
We get to know about his fantasies, his wishes, his fears and insecurities. Sometimes, when Adachi reads Kurosawas mind, we get little fantasies. We see Adachi through Kurosawas eyes and it’s always a cute scene of Adachi smiling. We see how beautiful Kurosawa thinks of Adachi.
We get one episode from Kurosawas perspective, where we discover how Kurosawa fell in love with Adachi. He was always “aware” that he was there, but he never really “noticed” him. One day, when they both are having dinner with their boss and some random creepy lady, both realize pretty quickly, why they are really there (because of their looks). Kurosawa notices that Adachi does not drink alcohol and therefore he takes his glass and get’s drunk quickly.
Even though, it seems like a dumb thing to do, it tells you so much about Kurosawas character. How he wants to help people, even if that means he is the one to “suffer”. No matter the consequences, he helped his co-worker out there. The lady starts harassing Kurosawa and he turns her down in a very obvious way which was apparently something he wasn’t allowed to do. But fuck this lady and fuck his boss. Kurosawa, you did nothing wrong. She did.
He overhears his boss saying that Kurosawa is only a pretty face and apparently he can’t even do that right. This just gives him the rest and he leaves. Adachi, who was surprised by Kurosawa’s actions (drinking the alcohol for him), follows him outside to comfort him.
It’s a very touching backstory and it’s great that we get it in the middle of the show and not at the beginning, only allowing the characters to become more fleshed out.
When Adachi reads Kurosawa’s thoughts, he mostly thinks about how much he adores Adachi and how much he wants to help him becoming more confident. He often is pretty hard on himself and blames himself for things too often. He seems calm on the surface, but his inner-monologues show how much of a chaotic hopeless romantic he really is.
A reaccuring theme is Adachi being a little put off by how often Kurosawa get’s presents or just admiring looks or words. Because he get’s none and if so, he can’t really take compliments well.
What is really interesting is that through Adachi, we can hear that Kurosawa is not really enjoying all of this presents and kind words of his (mostly) female co-workers. He just wants to be praised for his work not his looks. Which is something only pretty people say. No, fr, I can only imagine that it’s super annoying that people only view you as “pretty” and therefore do not acknowledge your talents and skills. This show actually deals with that nicely. In Kurosawa’s episode he has this beautiful monologue: I had an advantage because of my looks. I hated that people only saw my looks. I knew it would annoy others if I talked about it. So, I pretended it didn’t bother me.
This show was not only about love, but also about loving and respecting yourself. Trusting yourself and gaining a little more confidence in yourself. What I loved so much about Kurosawa and Adachi is that they bring out the best in each other and help each other in so many ways.
At one point, Adachi tells Kurosawa the truth about his powers. Kurosawa tells him that he actually is happy that he has his powers, since they were the reason they got together in the first place.
But Adachi is not so happy about it. He grew used of the powers and now fears that his relationship won’t work out with Kurosawa, once he loses them. Since he wouldn’t be able to read his mind anymore, like he used to. The only option Adachi sees is: breaking up. And since Kurosawa respects his wishes, he leaves (hoping that Adachi would fight for him and maybe hold him back).
They make up in the end, when Adachi realizes that maybe communicating would be another option they have left. Because, guess what, that’s what most people do. So, they get back together and Kurosawa basically proposes to Adachi, which seemed...quite abruptly tbh. But hey, everyone has their own pace.
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Minato and Tsuge
Tsuge is Adachi’s best friend and also a virgin. Later, he becomes a wizard like Adachi, being able to read minds. He is a writer and spends his time at home 20/7, the 4 hours are probably just the hours he is willing to leave for grocery shopping and eating out with Adachi.
He has a really sweet cat and this cat will help him get him his future boyfriend. Minato, is his name. He works as a deliveryman. Tsuge doesn’t like Minato very much, since he is a so called “youngster” (oh gosh I think a brain cell just died while writing this).
Minato feels the same way about Tsuge “the old man”, but does love his cat. Tsuge develops feelings for Minato pretty quickly and even begins to stalks him, to find out more about him. He orders so much stuff from different shops just so this guy would show up at his doorstep again.
He finds out that Minato is actually trying to fullfil his dreams of becoming a dancer.
While it would’ve been a sweet idea, this couple couldn’t really win me over. First and foremost, how old is Minato supposed to be? The actor was at that point approximately 20/21 and he looks way younger than that tbh.  And in the show it’s never stated how old he is, his love interest states multiple times that he is “young” and refers to him as “the youngster(s)”. And it’s clear that Tsuge is 30. So...I just can’t ship them. Like, they are both of age and adults but it still feels weird for some reason. If the actor would at least look older...I guess that would maybe change my view on them. In reallife they are 6 (?) years apart which is still a lot but way less than what seems to be 8 or 10 years on the show.
It really didn’t help that Tsuge was the one initiating the relatioship and stalking Minato. Others called him even a pervert and honestly...he acted like one. Secretly talking pictures of someone, following them around, etc.
On top of that, their scenes often included cringy / over the top acting and triggered my second-hand embarassment, which...was that really necessary? Maybe, it was part of Tsuge’s character in the Manga, but you just can’t translate everything into a life-action show, because it looks hideous and awkward. In the more serious scene that Tsuge was in, he actually wasn’t all that bad.
I can take cringy acting, that’s how I survived most BL’s actually. But was it really necessary to have Tsuge kneel before Minato and scream at him how sorry he is in public? While people are watching? And Minato doesn’t really seem to be delighted by that. I’m sorry, but that’s where I draw the line, my cringe-o-meter exploded. I’m a very private and introverted person, so that just wasn’t it for me.
It actually hurts my heart that so many people think this is how socially awkward people behave, which - as a socially awkward person - I can’t confirm. We don’t flinch everytime people touch us, we don’t scream and shout and talk very fast, when we get nervous (at least not to that extent). And we don’t...ugh..back to the series.
I mean they had potential, they could’ve been cute and I don’t mind if anyone is shipping them, it’s just really icky to me and I can’t do that.
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Things I disliked
The actors ages. I mean, I know that most asians look very young, but come on. No one can tell me that these guys are supposed to be 30. I guess the actor of Kurosawa was about 29 (?) so he comes closest (he doesn’t look like he is 30 but I appreciate the attempt) but the others...They just don’t look like they are 30. And please, don’t cast some really young-looking dude as the love interest of a supposedly 30-year old.
Over the top “humorous scenes”. It doesn’t make me laugh, just cringe. But this happened only with scenes between Minato and Tsuge. Sometimes, I just skipped them. But yeah...not everyone’s tea I guess.
No kiss. I don’t need NC scenes or anything too intimate. But the whole no-kissing seems more like a “no homo” situation here. These guys are insanely in love and are basically married and you tell me that they didn’t even kiss on camera ONCE? Don’t tell me they are asexual or anything (even though I would love to see more representation like that, I mean if the actors don’t wanna kiss or the management is against it, why not create a little more representation while you’re at it?) because I would support that, they just didn’t want to show that or maybe the actors didn’t want to kiss. But then again I ask myself...why not cast actors who actually want to act out the role? Or was it a management issue? Whatever it was, defiinitely made it seem less believeable and it felt more rushed. Like, even if you give me the classic “fish kiss” with eyes wide open and it’s basically just them pressing their lips together...this treatment most Korean BLs get (thank you TMS honestly) it would’ve been better imo.
Also, Minato and Tsuge had a kissing scene (it wasn’t good but still). And that even further aligns with my theory of the actors or the management not wanting them to kiss. But this show is still cute and enjoyable, so I’ll let it slide this one time.
Rushed ending. Like I already said, this kind-of-proposal came out of nowhere for me and felt rushed. Sure, they know each other for years, but they only began to grow closer over the last couple weeks. Shouldn’t they start with dating first, then go to living together for a few couple of months and then - after really being sure that they want it and after talking it through - propose? But hey, I’m the single one here, so maybe I am in the wrong here.
Things I liked
How they handlded Adachi’s powers. Adachi was suddenly able to read peoples thoughts. One of the most private and intimate things. And Kurosawa was just like ‘“k, I’m actually glad you secretly kept reading my thoughts” which seemed a little too anti-climactic. Please, sweety at least pretend that you are a little hurt that your boyfriend kept reading your most private thoughts. It’s like someone reading your diary without your permission.
But apart from that, they handlded it actually quite well. Adachi wasn’t super okay with reading other people’s thoughts. He didn’t use it for revenge, there were no bad intentions. He always wanted to help and only used it as a way to help others or clear things up. When he did use it for his own advantage, he felt bad afterwards.
Miscommunication subplot. Overused, lame, just for the sake of plot, annoying - these are the first things that come into my mind, when thinking about miscommunication subplots. But Cherry Magic actually did a decent job at it. There was a miscommunicating subplot at the end and I expected to hate it, but I actually did like it.
It makes so much sense here, since Adachi was so used to his powers at some point, that losing them seemed like he was no longer able to understand people or their feelings. The “oh no I lost my powers and since I used them to understand Kurosawa better I don’t know if we can be together now that I don’t have them anymore” struggle seems realistic.
Tsuge only made it worse by saying: “I forgot how difficult it is to sense other’s feelings [without being ablte to read their thoughts]” after having a minor fight with Minato. And since Adachi is a person that worries and overthinks quite often and easily, he didn’t take it too well. It could’ve been so much better, if they did actually drag it out a little more. But maybe it’s for the better like that. They got the most important points across, even though they resolved it pretty quickly.
No happily ever after. This title is actually a little misleading, since the couple did get a happy ending. What I mean with that is that they didn’t give the couple a “they are now offically a couple so there story ends with that”. Most shows think that viewers only want to see the couple coming together and call it a day. In Cherry Magic the story doesn’t end with them getting together. We see them struggle with their relationship, going on cute dates, breaking up, resolving their issues and semi-propose.
It’s nothing new or groundbreaking, but it’s rare and refreshing to see. I do like that shows always try to give us the “and all was well” happy ending after they get together, but seeing storyline like Cherry Magic, where they actually deal with them being a couple and show us their ups and dows, I really appreciate that.
Special episodes. IIRC there are a total of 3 special episodes that are just the cherry on top of this cake. I really did enjoy them. They weren’t necessary for the story to work, but were a nice add to it. Pure fluff and comedy. Speaking of fluff-
Fluff and feel-good. This show in no way ITSAY or MOD and nowhere near them. It doesn’t make you ugly cry at 3 o’clock in the morning. And it’s not a mystery where you sit at the edge of your seat, trying to figure out who is the big bad guy. But - and this is important - this show is not meant for you to feel these kind of emotions. Cherry Magic is more of a rom-com. A feel-good show. Some sort of “grab your blanket and some hot chocolate and watch it and feel safe” kind of show. Espacially needed during whatever the hell is going on right now.
So, if you ever want a show, where the leads are adorable and relatable, where there is a little sprinkle of magic and a ton of fluff and you just wanna lay back and find a safe space to escape reality, this is the show for you.
I think this covers my thoughts on this series. Thanks for reading. Check out my other reviews.
My BL Review List: https://urmyquerencia.tumblr.com/post/627642344497364992/bl-reviews
- urmyquerencia
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stanbillyhargrove · 4 years
Text
Ghosts chp 20
Ally's Story
T/W: sexual assault, eating disorder
Ally's story is NOT nice, it's based off Cat's story from Demons but without the support system that Cat had
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Katrina's POV
Ally was perched on the end of my bed, watching as I changed the bandages on my stomach. I taped sterile white gauze to my skin and eased myself back onto the bed with a groan.
"You've been hanging around a lot," I mumbled.
"Do you not want me here? I can leave."
"No! Wait, stay. Please, I like the company. I just mean, I hadn't seen you in a long time."
"When he's around we can't get close to you," she explained, "he keeps us away. But he's weak right now."
She sat back against the wall with a sigh, eyeing me after catching me staring at her, "what?"
"What's your story, Ally? What happened to you?"
She held her arms up so I could see the two long cuts that ran down her forearms, "isn't it obvious?"
"That's not your story, not all of it."
She dropped her arms into her lap, "you don't have to pretend to care. I'm already dead."
I stretched my hand across the bed, reaching for her, "I do care."
Her eyes were teary when she met my gaze, her jaw tight, but she still moved closer to take my hand.
--
"Mommy, Daddy's home," I announced.
She shook her head, "no, sweetie, he's not off work for a couple hours."
But then, a few minutes later, he walked through the door. Sent home early because of the blizzard sweeping through town. My mother brushed it off, saying I must have seen his car even though I was playing nowhere near the windows at the time.
That feeling, that sense of knowing, it never went away. As I got older, I realized it wasn't normal to know when someone was getting close. It wasn't normal to turn around and yell out your friends names when they were trying to sneak up on you. I started losing friends fast, nobody wanted to be associated with the outcast. The chubby cheeked weirdo that gave everyone the heebie jeebies.
I was twelve when the bullying shifted from my weirdness to my weight. The rest of my classmates had shed their baby fat and were lean where I still had a layer of pudge. That's when everything started to turn for the worst. Boys who knew I was crushing on them would sneer and laugh to their friends when I passed them. They'd pretend to like me outside of school just to turn around and shun me once in a group of classmates. Girls looked down on me, snickered when they saw me eating lunch.
Comments started coming from my family through the years too. Things like, 'haven't you eaten enough?' 'You know, everything you put on has to come off.' 'A moment on the lips, forever on the hips.' And, 'do you think you need seconds?'
My mom too, liked to tell me how little she weighed as a teenager. Joked about how her and her friends would compare thigh gaps like it was no big deal. She complained about how much she weighed now that she'd had me even though she still looked like she could be whisked away by a strong breeze. She thought she was helping by telling me maybe I'd have more friends, maybe boys would like me if I lost some weight.
At fifteen I found a website filled with pages and pages of wispy girls who's bones stuck through their skin. Girls who bragged that they had to wear children's clothes because nothing else fit, bragged about the amount of exercise they'd done that day. They shared tips and tricks to curb your hunger, told you if you followed all the rules you too could be beautiful, weightless, like them.
By sixteen, I was one of them. Comparing each days food and exercise with a group of people like me. I finally found my people, my sisters, the ethereal Wintergirls. I fed exclusively off people's compliments and they loved to tell me how much better I looked now. My mom praised my hard work, indulged my diet coke addiction. She was proud to have created a Wintergirl in her image.
Nobody in those groups liked to talk about the negatives. They didn't warn me that becoming one of them wouldn't be glamorous. That it meant constantly freezing, that your body starts growing more hair to keep you warm, that the hair on your head will get thin and lifeless, your nails turn blue and even a light brush will leave bruises on your skin. They didn't tell me that no matter what goals you hit, there would always be another. I wasn't prepared for my life to become consumed by numbers. How many sit ups, how many inches, tracking weight down in a notebook and sobbing if was more than last time. They didn't mention that I'd still hate myself no matter what.
I started swallowing handfuls of pills, secretly hoping that this time it would be enough to poison my liver. I want to go to sleep and not wake up, but I don't know that I want to die. I want to be normal, to eat and not hate myself, but that's not who I am anymore.
I kept waking up, forced to struggle through another day. Started drowning myself in alcohol every night and on the weekends, trying to find something to make me feel again. Some of the more popular girls started talking to me, asking for the secret on how to look as good as I do now, inviting me to parties hoping to get me to spill. I went to the parties but not to spill my secrets. I went for the free alcohol and eventually the drugs that the boys brought.
I had found my usual party group, the people who carried baggies of various things in their pockets. Accepted a baggie from a baby faced jock who smiled when he passed it to me.
"It'll be fun," he whispered in my ear, "trust me."
I looked at the pills for a moment before tossing them into my mouth and taking a swig of my drink to swallow them down.
"Good girl," he praised.
He didn't leave my side, didn't let me leave his sight. He was always there with an arm around me even though I didn't know him. Tempting me with tinted eyes.
This doesn't feel right.
I should have known better.
After a while, I started to feel weird. My limbs felt too heavy to move and I thought I was going to pass out. I leaned heavy into the boys side, not trusting my legs to keep me up anymore.
"It just hit you, didn't it?" He asked, holding me up.
My tongue felt too thick to move, to protest, when he picked me up. Threw me over his broad shoulder and took me back to his house.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of you," he soothed.
I struggled to cry out, to push his hands away but he was so much bigger than me, had layers of muscle where I had only bone. His hands were too rough when he grabbed, when he held my wrists in one hand and undressed me with the other.
I tried again to move my legs, to fight him, but nothing worked.
"Relax," he murmured, "I'll make you feel good."
The room faded in and out through eyes blurry with tears. I could feel him. Everywhere. Every inch of me consumed by his warmth. The moments where I could almost grasp clarity were filled with pain.
He wiped a tear from my cheek, his touch tender now when he whispered, "I know you're into it...God, you feel so good."
I didn't wake up again until sometime in the morning. The sun had barely kissed the sky, just enough that the room I was in wasn't pitch black anymore. Just enough light to see that the sheets I was wrapped in were blue, not white. Just enough light to know I didn't know where I was. It took me a moment to realize there was someone else in the bed with me, a large arm wrapped loose around my waist. Tanned skin tight around broad shoulders that I might have felt safe in before. I screwed my eyes shut tight, hoping this was a horrible nightmare. But, when I opened them I was still here. The dark bruises in the shape of his fingers still stuck on my skin, the pain was still there.
I slid out of the bed, biting the inside of my cheek and praying that I could get out of here without him waking up. Apparently the universe thought I deserved this small favor because I was able to find my stuff, get dressed and slip out of his house without anyone seeing me.
Outside, I pulled my phone from my pocket to figure out where I was. I was an hour's walk away from home. By the time I got home...I'd have to get ready for school right away. I sent out a quick text to my group for someone to bring me something strong to get me through the day and started my long walk of shame.
I did the best I could to hide all the bruises under my clothes before going to school. Long sleeves pulled down into my fists, dark leggings, I even layered on a shirt with the tallest neckline I could find. Hid the red circles around my eyes under dark makeup and called it good enough.
I disappeared into the crowd at school, slinking from shadow to shadow like I was hiding from a spotlight. Thankfully, someone answered my text and slipped a baggy into my pocket during a quick hug. I wasted no time swallowing the pills, didn't even question it. I just needed everything to stop.
I only got through my first class without seeing him.
I was at my locker when suddenly I was picked up and spun around. I was too shocked to do anything more than shriek. Hit the ground and spun around to find myself face to face with that same boy. The star of the football team, he was all broad shoulders and a soft, innocent face. He came from money and everybody loved him because of it. But, of course, they didn't know what really lied behind that sweet face.
"Hey babe," he cooed, "missed you this morning. You could have stayed, I would have driven you home."
The breath rushed from my lungs and I was reliving flashes of memories from the night before. Once again trying and failing to fight back. Hearing his voice in my ear.
"Hey, Bryce!" Another jock clapped him on the shoulder, "introduce us to your girlfriend!"
"I..your...what?" I stammered.
"Guys, Ally...Ally, guys," he beamed, pulling me into his side.
The group of them said their hellos, and then quickly disappeared to their own lockers. I shoved him as hard as I could, but I barely moved him an inch. He still had a smile on his face even though his eyebrows had knit with confusion.
"Your girlfriend?" I hissed.
"Well, yeah? I assumed, after last night, y'know?"
"You assumed!"
He lifted his hands defensively, "take it easy, don't need to shout."
I spun and stalked away from him, to a quieter, more secluded corner of the school to try and calm my nerves.
He followed me, practically purring, "trying to find somewhere private for us?"
I stopped, dumbfounded, giving him time to come up behind me and plant a kiss to my neck.
I recoiled, shoving Bryce away and shouting, "get off me!"
"What the fuck is your problem? You gave it up so easy last night and now you're gunna act like a prude?"
"I...I didn't give anything! You took! You drugged me, carried me home when I couldn't walk and had sex with me when I couldn't say no! You raped me!"
"Babe," he started, "come on-"
"No! Don't fucking call me babe, I don't even know you! I'm not your girlfriend! I'm your victim!"
He got in my face, close enough I could feel the heat from his skin, and growled, "fuck you. We could have been something, y'know? I could have given you everything. You asked for the drugs, remember? You're just a fucking whore, using men to get what you want and then dropping them. You wait, I will fucking destroy you."
By the afternoon, everybody had seen the pictures he took of me unconscious and were calling me a whore. Calling me a skeleton, ugly, a tease, a user. Nobody could believe I didn't want it. 'Look at him,' they'd say, 'he's gorgeous. How could you not want him?' Or, 'I'd give anything to have him even look at me and you're complaining?'
--
It only took a couple days before someone approached me outside of my class. Asked if I'd sleep with him if he gave me something.
"Are you serious? You think I'm a prostitute or something? Try being a gentleman and asking a girl on a date, you'd have a better chance."
His eyebrows raised, "you wanna go on a date with me?"
"Not now I don't, shitdick," I scoffed, pushing my way into class.
Later that day, people were saying I'd slept with him anyway.
--
This went on for months. People would approach me asking for sex and when I turned them down, they made up a story and spread it around.
There was one boy...I thought he was different. He said all he wanted was to take me on a date, for me to give him a chance. So I did. I let him take me out for a coffee since I didn't eat in front of anyone. We actually had a good time, he made me laugh for the first time in a long time. For a minute, I felt like maybe I could see a way out of the dark.
Then, our way out of the cafe, I thought I saw a glimpse of Bryce but when I looked again, I didn't see him.
He drove us away from the city, to a secluded area where it was just the two of us. We sat in the back of his car, talking for a while until he brought me close and kissed me. Fingers started to tug at clothing, pulling a noise of protest from my throat.
"I took you out," he murmured, "now be a good girl for me."
I let my mind go blank, let him take what he wanted. Saw Bryce in his place and let a few tears fall silently.
I realized that no matter how good I thought things could be, no matter what I do, Bryce would still be on top of me and I still wouldn't be able to breathe. He'd always be there, sneering that he'd destroy me.
--
Eating was hard. Breathing was hard. Living was the hardest.
I felt like I had started dying the night Bryce took me home. Like everything since then had to have been a fever dream caused by cells deteriorating. Last night had nailed that feeling home. That I was already dead, just stuck in hell.
I showed up at school to see a snickering crowd in front of my locker. 'Whore' was painted across the door along with 'Liar' and 'Dirty Slut'.
Standing at the front of the crowd with a wicked grin on his face was Bryce and the rest of the football team.
He invaded my space, my senses, the heat radiating from his skin threatening to burn me up. The heady cologne he wore, a toxic gas that stole oxygen from my lungs and replaced it with poison.
His voice, low and husky in my ear when he sneered, "nobody believes you. Nobody cares about you. I bet nobody would even care if you were gone," he pulled away just enough to look into my eye, "I win."
I was holding back tears as I tried to retreat from the school, walking as fast as I could to escape the laughter when my arm was caught in someone's hand. I looked up at the girl who grabbed me and recognized her from some of my classes. We weren't really friends but we were close enough to know each other.
"You okay?"
I faked a smile, tried to ignore my voice cracking, "awesome...I'm awesome."
"Hey, screw those assholes, Ally."
I knew she was trying to help, that she thought her words would be enough to break through months of abuse hurled my way.
They weren't.
My shoulders slumped, "haven't you heard? I already did."
I slipped between her fingers and didn't look back.
--
"Whatever happened to chivalry?" Ally sighed, leaning against the wall next to me, "romance? I always wanted a relationship like in those cheesy old movies. You know, where the love interest makes some grand gesture to say they love you? That's what I dreamed of."
I wiped the tears from my face, "Ally.."
She smiled sadly at me, "I always thought I'd find the one when I became perfect. That if I could just be good enough...but that never happened, perfect never came."
@alias-b @charmed-asylum @champagnesugamama
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