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#actually i lied it's not a mistake it's fucking HILARIOUS if i do say so myself
fyodor-s-rat · 1 year
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BSD - you telling them "i hate you" as a joke
ft.: Dazai, Chuuya, Akutagawa, Ranpo, Kunikida, Fyodor, Yosano, Edgar
tw: slight nsfw
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"I hate you."
Dazai
"Sure you do."
he smirks and kisses your cheek
this man doesn't believe you for a split second
is secretly planning a revenge
he'll make sure you will regret your choices tonight
"If you hate me that much, why should I let you cum, my belladona?"
Chuuya
"Come again?"
boy is actually taken aback
he comes closer to you and grabs your chin
"I dare you to say that again."
his deep voice makes you weak in knees
"Say that again and you won't be able to walk tomorrow."
Akutagawa
he's insecure enough, he takes it too seriously
he's very confused and frustrated
starts thinking about what he did wrong
"If you hate me that much, why don't you just get the fuck out of here?"
you have to tell him that you didn't mean it
forgives you but will think about it probably for the next few months :/
Ranpo
"Nice joke. Try harder next time."
doesn't even look up
he knows you don't mean it
finds it quite hilarious tho
"Interesting, that you didn't hate me last night, sweetheart."
Kunikida
"Oh? Have I done something wrong?"
is genuinely confused
tries to find out the reason you said this
goes through all the things he said to you for the past few hours
"I apologize if I made you frustrated somehow. However, I would appreciate if you told me what I did, so I can learn from my mistakes-"
he stopped because you started laughing
"We'll see who will be the one laughing this night." (imagine his angry face)
Fyodor
"Leave then."
this man doesn't give a fuck
because he can see through your lies
he then turns his back to you
but, of course, he knows that you won't leave him
he's not dumb and he knows you too well
"Just remember, no one would be able to satisfy you in the same way I would."
Yosano
"Oh?"
she's confused for a while before a smirk appears on her face
"My, my. Looks like we'll have to fix this."
*grabs her chainsaw*
Edgar
he's very hurt by your words
he has always admired you and now you say this?
starts immediately overthinking
comes up with an apology poem even though he has no idea for what he should be sorry about
when you tell him it was a "joke", he's still quite uncertain
"Oh. Is that so?"
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slow-burn-sally · 5 months
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My Favorite Characters with ADHD
Again, these are only my opinions.
Jeremy - The Secret Of NIMH. Come on. Look at him. He is a combined-type ADHD boy if ever there was one. Distracted, clumsy, impulsive, I bet the writers either had ADHD, knew someone who had ADHD, or had a child with ADHD.
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2. Newton Geiszler - Pacific Rim.
Also impulsive as fuck, a class clown, obnoxious, yet obnoxiously smart, and somehow still charming as fuck. He reads very ADHD to me. BB. Forgive me for using the meme gif. It's just so good.
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3. Rose Nylund - The Golden Girls
Who doesn't love Rose? She's friendly, sweet, fun, creative, horny, and hilarious. She also can't remember anything for more than five minutes, and is the human equivalent of a small, cute dog who bumps into things a lot by accident. I love you Rose. Long live Betty White.
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4. Sherlock Holmes (The Jeremy Brett Granada-Holmes).
I actually think Holmes may have had both ADHD and Autism, but really, Brett's Holmes is bombastic, impulsive (seeing a trend), able to hyperfocus at the speed of light. Overshares, blows up friendships. Cannot keep a clean flat. Hyper as all get out. Think about it.
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5. Nadja of Antipaxos - What We Do In The Shadows
She's a hot mess. Distracted, forgetful, intensely interested in some things, and cannot be bothered to give a flying fuck about other things. Out of sight, out of mind. She's probably also AuDHD actually, but for the purposes of this list, I will draw your attention to her many impulsive and rash decisions surrounding her emotions, and her over the top RSD. She's so beautiful, help.
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6. Jonathan Strange - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.
Oh my god such an ADHD boy! He cannot sit still, and he has no patience for rules or regulations. He's self centered, impulsive (hello!), running off on the King's Roads, and drinking mouse juice to make himself go mad on purpose. Failing at four careers before finally becoming a magician by absolute accident. I love you Johnty. Never change.
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7. Cornelius Hickey (or whatever his real name is) - The Terror.
He's impulsive (aye-oh!), makes sudden, rash decisions, is prone to flashes of anger, has off the charts RSD, and though he manages to hyperfocus on sabotaging the expedition for his own needs, he still makes a lot of careless mistakes and fucks it up royally. Too bad one of his hyper-focuses wasn't "learning about ships". I love you Hickey, you adorable bastard. How is his hair always so good?
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8. Back to JS&MN for Christopher Drawlight.
Christopher Drawlight cannot sit still to save his life. He's always being charming, chatting people up, and making social connections, both real and fabricated by himself. Only sometimes, he loses track of which lies he's told, and to whom, which gets him in a lot of trouble. His hyperfocus is social status, and he can't let it go, even at the bitter end. He's really one of my favorite characters, even if he is a horrible person. This goes for both book and show Drawlight, by the way. Both top notch. Both ADHD as fuck.
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9. Dory - Finding Nemo.
I mean... do I have to say anything else? I don't think I do. I love Dory so much. I relate so, so much. Inattentive ADHD Fish Sister.
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10. All versions of Doctor Who, but Tenant is becoming iconic, and I love him, so let's go with number 10!
Just an all around hyperactive ADHD guy. Fun, creative, adventurous, risk taker, IMPULSIVE (it doesn't end). But really, all Doctor Whos feel ADHD to me. There's something capricious and clumsy and dreamy and jumpy about all of them.
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WTF is wrong with Hamish Linklater
Ok, so when I discover a new actor or actress that captivates me, I binge watch a bunch of things they've been in. Lately, it's been Hamish Linklater.
Although this 6'4" tall dude looks pretty sweet and innocent, do not let that fool you. Oh no, that was a HUGE mistake on my part ! Saw him in Midnight Mass 1st, and though he does do some pretty fucked up shit, he seems pretty oblivious to what he's actually doing to his community and what is actually happening around them all. So, in my opinion, that innocent looking face of his fits pretty well with the character, even adding a pinch of creepiness to Father Paul's persona. He thinks he's doing the right thing and is so passionate about it, but yet, too much of a blind fanatic to even notice the harm he's doing to others.
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I mean come on ! Does he look like the type of dude that would even hurt a fly ? XD He's only trying to do good in his community, that's all ! x)
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He welcomes them with open arms and says good morning, ...
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he's a good listener,…
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he preaches about love and loves to sing,...
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he ask's if they need help and tells them when he's proud of them,...
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he promises shit he can't but apologizes,...
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he's up and about and wants to be left alone,...
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he lies and apologizes again,...
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and they all live happily ever after-ish. XD (Yeah, i had to put a crap tons of Gifs XD) You know, normal creepy pastor type of shit ! XD Doesn't change that he's trying to be a good man even if I found him to be a bit dumb on that part, but still. But not before being an absolute creep of a man. XD
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Da fuck are you trying to do there buddy ?! :D Wtf is wrong with your dumbass ?! :D You disturbing fuck ! XD
All jokes aside, I absolutely loved him in Midnight Mass and I'll have to watch it again, because, that shit was amazing.
Though he was perfect for Father Paul's character, his innocent face does a better job in an innocent role like Andrew Keanelly in the mini series The Crazy Ones, playing along side this legend of a man, Robin Williams (miss that man honestly <3). Better job as in his innocence fits much more for this nerdy dude. Don't get me wrong, it added the perfect amount of creepiness to Midnight Mass.
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Look how charming he is lol. I liked him in this role, since it's suits him so well. The perfect innocent nerd.
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I mean come on, look how adorable he is lol. Who doesn't love a handsome nerd !
Another role that fitted him well was the one and only Jeb Magruder from the mini series Gaslit. His innocence, mixed with this long legged idiot is perfect lol.
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Though is blue contact lenses did kinda give me the creeps. XD But hey, he does the role perfectly and I thought he was hilarious. I still can't get over his face when he tells those FBI agents that he's gonna "fuck them". XD Just look at this nervous fuck ! XD
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But then, upon his numerous perfect performances, I stumbled onto this mini series called Tell Me Your Secrets. And holy mother of God was he ever so excellent there.
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Look at this fucking creep spying on you through your window. And yeah, I hear you say "But Chloe, look how adorable he looks!" Yeah, no ! This twisted little fucker may look handsome when he's not a fucking psychopath, but this, this is a whole new level of fucked up. I just feel like punching him in the goddamn throat ffs ! XD
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"But Chloe, he's so sexy !" Nay nay I say ! XD What the fuck kind crack are you on ? XD (Yeah, sorry, I'm getting a bit overwhelmed over here XD) Regardless of the fact that some women fantasize about this, Idk why, you do you, he creeps me the fuck out.
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That fucker looks like an absolute psycho with that twisted smile and still, his damn so innocent looking face ! I literally can't get over this shit honestly. XD It just works so well with the character. A bit too well if you ask me !
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Da fuck are you doing there man ?!? Why must you destroy your friendly innocent self like this ? Why you do this to me Hamish ?! XD Plus, that fucking spit scene made me fucking gag. XD I hate spit on a whole new level, or any bodily fluids for that matter, that it made me vomit a bit in my mouth. Yeah, that sounds lovely doesn't it ! :D XD
Anyways, I'm getting a bit carried away now lol. But needless to say that I've watched TMYS twice so far and will probably watch it again, because I thought this was his best role yet. Despite the fact that this fucker creeps me the fuck out, like dude gave me nightmares ffs. XD I just think he does it so well and that, again, repeating myself, his innocence and his friendly looking face adds a lot more creepiness to the character and that's just fucking amazing if you ask me. I think any role he does is perfectly made to be fair. In Dead For A Dollard for instance, with that sick look mustache lol. He wasn't there a lot, but he was awesome.
I rarely get obsessed like this over actor's performance. Yeah, I have actors that I love and admire and love what they bring to their characters. But nothing like what Mr. Linklater over here. The fact that he makes every role he does fit so well with him is just, wow ! He brings a whole new level of fucked up to fucked up in TMYS.
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Look at this SOB. XD He's fucking creeping me out for the love of God ! XD Honestly scares the shit out of me. ! I think if I'd meet him irl, I'd freaking shit myself ! XD I've never been so creeped out by an actor like this before ! XD
Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed my massive review/rant on Hamish Linklater. Love the dude, he's amazing. Scares me, but still amazing lol.
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hematomes · 7 months
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Hey! I'm the anon who talked about how the whole Traveller getting mad at Fontaine twins scenario got spread like wildfire on social media. Just call me Kina for now.
There's something I wanted to add but didn't because my rant was long:
While the twins (and Freminet) aren't bad people (as far as we know), I do find it hilarious that everyone is salty over Aether/Lumine getting angry when anybody, no matter how understanding, will feel very frustrated, conflicted and confused about learning that someone who's been so sincere towards you turns out to be apart of a dangerous group that's responsible for something going wrong in your journey.
Also, Diluc's allowed to hate the Fatui (for very good reason) but the Traveller? No, no, no. Their the protagonist, their supposed to be understanding and everyone's buddy. What a fucking bs reason to justify demonizing Traveller.
i got some insight from the other side and they gave some understandable argument, although it still didn't really make sense to me
from what i understood, the "problem" (for a small minority of people who whine about it, imo. the one side i could picture actually) lies in the inconsistency, specifically when you put the fontaine situation side by side with the one back in inazuma
i could see how it's mildly frustrating to have a main character that is inconsistent on a logical level: being harsh when faced with a lie vs forgiving a character that embodies fanservice (ei) in the blink of an eye despite the fact that she subjected her people to countless horrors and civil wars
to this i say, not unkindly: suck it up. the inazuma archon quest was a shit show, we are finally back on something that MAKES sense and to me personally, that's what matters. id rather keep with an unforgiving traveler that has seen too much now to be too kind (let's however not forget that they offered to be the attorney for the very same people that lied to them lol) and not on their guard. it's what i would call character development - just like how they're more wary when it comes to the archons, thanks to input they got from dainsleif (among other things, like the abyss twin's input for example)
maybe im optimistic in the sense that i have decided to ignore the mishaps and focus on what i enjoy, which is messy yet coherent travels and decisions. let the traveler change, make mistakes, whether that's intentional or due to past poor writing management. maybe im also sentimental, but i like seeing humanity in the character, pouring from the writers' very own: errors, mistakes, whatever
it doesn't make sense? does it absolutely has to? does it really not make sense? i disagree. i like where it's going, and you, like some of us, are providing solid reasons as to why it just works, despite how frustrating it may be to see the main character being insufferable to you. let's use that as a reminder that aether and lumine aren't actual self-inserts
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apocalypticavolition · 8 months
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Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World! Chapter 41: Old Friends and New Threats
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NFT images are so fun to take and repaste everywhere, so enjoy this NFT of the Queen's Blessing. Remember not to right click and save and devalue the actual owner's version! It would be terrible if they got scammed! (Spolier alert: They got scammed. Also, this post will have spoilers for the whole damn Wheel of Time series so if you don't like spoilers, get outta here!)
This chapter has Moiraine's staff for its icon because she is back in Rand's life and she is ready to fix all of his problems by curing Mat. Hooray!
Lamgwin was sitting on a bench by the door, a brindle cat in his arms, when he came running up. The man stood to look for trouble the way Rand had come, still calmly scratching behind the cat’s ears. Seeing nothing, he sat back down again, careful not to disturb the animal.
There's something wonderful about a big man who loves kitties and treats them right. I don't remember if we ever get a Lamgwin POV, but I kinda hope we do now.
“The Queen, eh? You don’t say. We had Gareth Bryne out in the common room an hour or so ago, arm-wrestling the Lord Captain-Commander of the Children, but the Queen, now . . . that’s something.”
I'm sad that Bryne never got to arm-wrestle Niall or at least Galad, because that would be hilarious.
This man stands at the heart of it. Rand felt a chill. “I don’t stand at the heart of anything,” he said harshly.
Rand's capacity for denial is almost unlimited. He's literally having his dreams haunted by Ba'alzamon who he not unreasonably thinks is the Dark One. Darkfriends hunt him at every turn, aided by Shadowspawn and Padan Fain. An Ogier thinks he's ta'veren and an Aes Sedai foretells that he stands at the center of strife and suffering to come. "I don't stand at the heart of anything. They must have me confused for Brand al'Thur from Emma's Field in Illian. Common mistake; I get his mail sometimes!"
“I know,” Loial said. “I still cannot go into the streets without raising a mob shouting ‘Trolloc’ after me. But Mat, at least, only uses words. He has not tried to kill me.”
Fuck you Book 1 Mat.
Master Gill’s eye fell on the stones board and his mood seemed to lighten. “It looks as if we’ll have to start the game over later.” “No need for that.” Loial stretched an arm to the shelves and took down a book; his hands dwarfed the clothbound volume. “We can take up from where the board lies. It is your turn.”
Poor Gil, trying to at least get out of a bad game with some dignity intact and Loial won't even let him get that much.
I’m looking for Darkfriends, a boy from the Two Rivers—
This is actually a nice way to establish that the rest of the party's had enough time to reach Caemlyn now - and so have the Whitecloaks they escaped. These dudes are looking for Perrin and Egwene, wanted murderer and accomplice, and so ironically if they'd been allowed to finish their sentence things would have ended up a lot less tense for Gill (who isn't hiding them) and a lot more tense for Rand.
The scrape of chair legs was loud. Suddenly every man in the room was on his feet. They stood still as statues, but every one staring grimly at the Whitecloaks. The under-officer did not appear to notice, but the four behind him looked around uneasily.
Nothing but love for the inn patrons. I hope each and every one of these nameless heroes made it all the way to the end, and my headcanon says they do!
When he saw Rand, the innkeeper tottered off the chair and over to him. “Who would have thought I had it in me to be a hero?” he said wonderingly. “The Light illumine me.”
This might be a bit of ta'veren pushing Gill around, but let's remember that ta'veren doesn't completely change people, just makes them fall into the pattern. Gill always had it in him and before this series is done he'll do a lot more.
Nynaeve and Egwene ran laughing to throw their arms around him, with Perrin crowding in behind them, all three patting his shoulders as if they had to be convinced that he was really there.
Let's just all appreciate the stark contrast between EotW allowing there to be a quiet moment of reunion that shows how much the EF5 love each other and AMoL going out of its way to prevent any major group reunion and also being sure not to narrate any of the lesser ones that it couldn't help but acknowledge.
“I knew you were alive,” Egwene said against his chest. “I always knew it. Always.”
Girl which is it?
Rand nodded encouragingly, trying to tell him silently that it was all right. Moiraine was not like Elaida, with a threat hidden behind every glance, under every word. Are you sure? Even now, are you sure?
Usually Moiraine's threats are pretty blatant Rand. Remember how terrifying it was when she said she'd kill you herself if she had to? That wasn't subtle at all!
Rand exchanged a fleeting look with Perrin, who put his eyes down again right away. There was something odd about Perrin’s eyes. And he was so silent; Perrin was almost always slow to speak, but now he was saying nothing at all.
The lack of communication between the main characters is a lot more believable right now because Rand is just happy to see Perrin's alive and, not knowing what's gone down, doesn't want to pry too much about something that seems traumatizing.
Egwene touched Rand’s sword, fingering the red wrappings. “What does it mean?” “Nothing,” he said. “Nothing important. We’re leaving for Tar Valon, remember?” Egwene gave him a look, but she removed her hand from the sword and took up where Perrin had left off.
Rand dear, don't be dismissive. Everyone can tell something's up with this town and Egwene doesn't want to be in the dark in case this comes back to bite her.
“Pretty Nynaeve,” Mat spat. “A Wisdom isn’t supposed to think of herself as a woman, is she? Not a pretty woman. But you do, don’t you? Now. You can’t make yourself forget that you’re a pretty woman, now, and it frightens you. Everybody changes.” Nynaeve’s face paled as he spoke—whether with anger or something else, Rand could not tell.
With all three of the others, Mat seems to go right for the jugular. It almost feels supernatural. I wonder: is his loyalty to Rand just that much stronger than the others, or is it the fact that he was strongly loyal to Rand and didn't leave his side? If Mat and Rand had been separated for weeks, would Mat be coming at him now just as strongly?
One minute Lan was in the doorway, the next he was at the bedside, as if he had not bothered with the intervening space. His hand caught Mat’s wrist, stopping the slash as if it had struck stone. Still Mat held himself in that tight ball. Only the hand with the dagger tried to move, straining against the Warder’s implacable grip. Mat’s eyes never left Moiraine, and they burned with hate.
Lan, you're one hell of a badass. The man might be the best Warder that ever was.
You three have escaped them too long. It looks as if you’ve brought a new Trolloc War to Caemlyn, sheepherder.
Not yet, but maybe in a dozen books!
Perrin spoke with a soft flatness that gave his words more weight than if he had shouted. “We can’t stop it alive, either, now can we?”
Geez, the death march and nights of torture did not agree with this kid. It's actually impressive how much he'll bounce back going forward because right now he's got enough negativity to equal Gollum!Mat.
This was kind of a transitory chapter, firmly ending the second act of this book to set up for the final stretch, so there's not much to analyze. Next time though... more set-up as the group figures out just what it should be doing. But then... another transition as the group finds a way to leave town. So yeah. Bit stretched out, this section. That's okay though. It's gonna pick up.
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I posted 14,557 times in 2022
241 posts created (2%)
14,316 posts reblogged (98%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@whoretaglia
@svn-shyne
@a-pair-of-socks
@disney-drain-cleaner
@kwermaid28
I tagged 1,212 of my posts in 2022
#simper says stuff - 205 posts
#genshin - 64 posts
#genshin impact - 63 posts
#valorant - 32 posts
#iswm spoilers - 23 posts
#genshin x reader - 21 posts
#lego monkie kid - 20 posts
#genshin impact x reader - 20 posts
#lmk - 19 posts
#tfp - 18 posts
Longest Tag: 140 characters
#the best things here is scara's laugh and dottore's lil threat of 'just because you've got a godly puppet body that doesn't mean you're inde
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
Doing the gathering for shit for Lapis' furneal and wow SAGAU thoughts be wild
The ammount of food at the Li styled restaurant is honestly comedic. There's so much. 'All the best for the Creator,' Child says. You think Childe worships Rex Lapis
Zhongli's question of 'do you like Liyue or Mondstadt better' was mostly done so that Venti stopped mocking him for not meeting the Creator yet. Depending on your answer, Venti may or may not stop
There are no hilichurls at the pot. The soup is there, but the hilichurls just kinda. Packed up and left.
One shot from your Pyro character quickly filled your meter. Did you equip any artifacts on them that were that strong???
The money pouch that Childe gave you is almost hilarious in how much cash there is. Seriously, this dude gave you so much.
If you decide there's way too much and give some Zhongli ('use it to pay next time,' you comment as the Traveller hands them the pouch), you're pretty sure he's blushing. He's also very thankful to given Mora by the creator is a fucking dream come true all of his worship and devotion paid off
The man at the Silk Flower shop tells you not to contribute. Zhongli scolds him with venom in his tone. He mentions the Creator again. You really need to start collecting more books everytime you find one.
If the man recognizes his mistake, he apologizes and says you can contribute. Zhongli is happy.
If he didn't?
Well, when you pass by the store next time, you'll find a different NPC, selling Silk Flowers with no idea of how Bolai is.
501 notes - Posted September 17, 2022
#4
'Kaeya would totally cheat on you and constantly sleep around with other people' is like. The shallowest take ever. Like come on there's a lot of other ways you can angst. Dude has abandonment issues galore with his birth family abandoning him and the adopted family either dying or trying to kill him because he told them about his backstory at the wrong time. Do you really think that this fucker, once opening his heart out to you, would constantly betray your trust. Dude wouldn't even do anything that could lead to you leaving him/trying to kill him. Dude would rather die a million times over then think of betraying the trust of a person who actively puts their trust into him,,,,
521 notes - Posted September 20, 2022
#3
Your poor naïve fools. Sonic 3 will come out and you'll all be waiting for Shadow's badass line, but as he walks through that ring portal, and his mouth opens, your face slowly dawns with horror;
Shadow is voiced by Chris Pratt
628 notes - Posted April 9, 2022
#2
What if,,,,, what if the Reader had the most shittiest sense of humour ever
Like, it's almost sad. They laugh at the most dumbest shit. The acolytes are in tears but they don't want to disrespect the Divine One so they keep their mouths shut.
Some acolytes actually trust Y/N that much. They genuinely think this shit ass jokes are the bomb because 'the creator likes them'. Saying that the jokes are shit in their presence warrants retribution. Usually they would find these jokes fucking awful but it's the creator saying them so of course they're okay (cough cough Zhongli cough cough Ei)
Reader thinks that Cyno's jokes are a godsend. Cyno makes a mental note to make even more jokes if it makes the Creator happy. Reader and Cyno do stand up comedy and it goes as well as you think it would. The attendees are simultaneously overjoyed at seeing the Creator in person while also desiring nothing more then the sweet sweet taste of death
724 notes - Posted October 3, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
Heheh SAGAU Brainrot
The cliffs at Liyue and Dragonspine are far easier to climb then they were before. The height either appears to be shortened, or there's more slopes. It making climbing far less tedious so you don't mind,,,,
Whenever you accidentally lead someone to their doom (you were so sure that was a wind current for you to ride on), it seems they've come equipped with new lines, saying that they forgive you. Still makes you feel really bad though,,,,
The Hilichurls are seen in their dancing animation more often. You genuinely can't hurt when they're just so,,,, cute please forgive them they don't want to hurt you if they appease you enough you might get rid of this curse you're the creator after all they disappointed you so you cursed them please please give them your forgiveness
Zhongli mentions that he made another deal with the Tsaritsa to get his Gnosis back for a bit. Every five seconds, you're being notified because someone is sending 10M Mora in your mail. You think it's some fancy lore,,,
Your main didn't have an alternate outfit before? They do now. And it seems it's on a discount! (Sadly, making the outfit free fucked with the game too badly,,,,)
You get a lot more Adventure Rank EXP then you usually did. Hell, opening a chest nowadays is worth at least a hundred EXP!
You're pretty sure Friendship Level doesn't go up that high during one quest. But hey, character stories! (Yes they cried tears of joy when you said that they were friends).
Albert is nowhere to be found. You're very happy about that
You were a fan of La Signora? Turns out, she might be getting revived and become playable! Raiden Shogun doesn't even seem mad about it!
Everyone is at C6. And I mean everyone
1,537 notes - Posted September 12, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
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manie-sans-delire-x · 2 years
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I'm sorry but there is evidence of Depp's violence, one of them domestic, outside of his relationship with Amber, in addition to him being intoxicated and high inappropriately for a long time now. Since Heard is his most recent serious relationship, his past domestic history is kind of a moot point. Not to mention how the court has already found sufficient evidence of 12 cases of abuse prior to this defamation case. Oh, but Amber must've bribed the judge, right? He believed her because she's a woman, right?
I also think it's sad that you can say "Depp may have lied about his injury to defend amber as abuse victims tend to do" and then say "Why did amber not record the abuse/go to a doctor after the rape?". Please tell me you can see your double standards (not to mention how she HAS taken photos, such as her bruising, with everyone strawmanning saying it's photoshop, makeup, nail polish, fucking botox... They don't believe women.) Depp has told multiple people, not just the doctors, that he cut his own finger off. Let's say he did it to lay low as you say, there's still proof, CE included, that amber had gashes from her wrists to elbows and feet, and Depp may have hidden the abuse from others but somehow Amber couldn't have done that? Does that really make sense to you? She has medical documents. But oh they're probably fake, right? +All of Amber's past spouses/partners speak highly of her as well, or at least don't say anything against her. They're not really comparable considering how publicized Depp's relationships are compared to Amber's, though.
Depp's own witnesses have testified against him (albeit kind of unknowingly) declaring abuse. If you're following the case closely you'll know how the trial is happening in virginia and not cali and why this is the case, and how the psychiatrist that assessed Amber is complete BS and not even board certified, about the damning info about his lawyer, about the bot accounts, about the kind of people Depp is friends with... does none of that scream shady to you, but Heard not having full capital E Evidence makes you think Depp is innocent?
I'm not saying Amber is an angel, I'm sure she had her mistakes, but if I had to believe anyone it wouldn't be the middle aged man with substance issues that has married a woman half her age, fantasized openly about burning and then raping the corpse of the said woman, has dated a teenager, and one that laughs at amber's face and acts like a fucking baby in court.
Actually, fuck that. Not to sound like a radfem, but at this point I don't care if Depp's is innocent or not. What his actions are leading to is inherently harmful to me and my life as a woman. I'm no activist, I've never donated a nickel to a charity in my life, but this trial has taught me a lot, and it's that yes all men. The entire thing is a fucking circus show with the abused woman as the jester; men may think she's entertaining and they're sooo funny but I'm about to pull an Aileen Wuornos and be fucking hilarious. It's self preservation at this point.
Oh ok, idk I haven't heard of previous DV but I wouldn't be very surprised, you might be right about that. I know he's attacked paparazzi before, but many celebs do, understandably. Depp is definitely an alcoholic and drug addict, but that doesn't mean he's an abuser. Heard is undeniably an alcoholic as well. I wouldn't say his past domestic history is moot at all, past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior, its very telling. Yeah I've only recently heard about the 12 previous abuses, and you're right, that is a big point for Heard. I hope they discuss it in this defamation trial. I have no idea what the details of that are, so I cant say anything there.
Heard was clearly in the habit of taking pictures of any wounds, and constantly recording, she made a point of it, so no I don't think its a double standard to ask, well why not the time when it was most severe? Sure, she could have simply been too traumatized to think clearly like that, and thats certainly possible and understandable. It could also just mean it didnt happen. If the vaginal injuries that she said occurred occurred, she definitely would have needed to go to a hospital. And again, why was abuse not caught on tape when she secretly recorded so often? Hm...I've heard all the opposite of that- that Heard's exs talk badly about her. I hate how hard it is to know what the truth is... Ultimately only Depp and Heard will ever know the truth. The experts keep saying her wounds were faked, and what basis do I have to argue against that, I don't fucking know anything. I can't just assume they're wrong because I want them to be or don't like their professional opinion. Pros can absolutely be wrong or lie though, I understand your doubt. From what Ive heard no one has ever seen wounds on Heard...
Uh, I haven't heard a single of Depp's witnesses say basically anything against him. All of them speak quite highly of him. I'll look that up later, since of course I haven't watched every bit of the trial. Oh, I didn't know that about Virginia. Why is it not set in Cali? If thats true, wtf, I dont understand how the courts would let a uncertified person give professional testimony? I definitely think it's sketchy that Depp is friends with Marilyn Manson, and that Manson also recently sued his ex, who claimed abuse, for defamation. That's a red flag, I agree, and its one of the reasons why I swung over to Heard's side for a while. But still, legally speaking, that is not any evidence of guilt.
Heard also has substance abuse issues, but yeah I agree that dating someone half your age is another red flag. And yeah the raping the corpse text was vile, but again, either of these things are a crime. And as much as it suggests Depp being abusive or misogynistic, it could also be seen as an abuse victim (who is prob drunk/high) showing anger and resentment about his abuser/toxic relationship to a friend. Same with how he acts in court, I could see a victim being so sick of the manipulation, and angry, that they just laugh at the absurdity of the blatant lies. Just saying, its possible. I personally find that dubious as well though. From what I've seen he's been fairly respectful throughout the trial though. Snarky sometimes, but I don't hold that against him. Anyone would in that situation, especially with a lawyer like Mr. Rottenborn. I also admit that I find him witty and charming, even endearing, even wise, his subtle insults are undeniably funny, so yeah that definitely makes me and other people biased and favored to him. Unfortunately Heard simply does not have that social power.
I feel your pain, this is the reason why I sometimes feel genuinely emotionally/mentally impacted by this case. I've always been a fan of Depp as an actor, and as a person. I would have considered him a celebrity crush, which is rare since usually I give zero shits about any celebrity. Yet again, another man, stranger as he is, may have betrayed my affection, admiration, and general trust in the most disgusting manner. Makes me want to kill him too. No matter what happens in this trial, the doubt will always be there now, and I'll never see Depp the same way again. And jesus christ, if Heard has been truthful- how horrid, how evil, how sickening this whole thing is for a victim. Its enough to make you lose all faith in society, humanity, lose all hope for women ever being free.
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@sundayswiththeilluminati replied to your photoset 
“Accidentally came up with two separate Good Omens fanfic concepts...”
Here's the real question though: does anyone ever try to sell/buy magical books at Aziraphale's bookshop, and what does he do with them if they do? Are magical books Not Allowed as per heaven, or does he end up running a sideline in magical texts since all of them are hilariously basic to him and he can part with them without guilt?
Your answer is provided in the form of a fanfic in which only the latter half relates to the question, but all of which I had far, far too much fun writing.
--
There is a disagreement between Heaven and Hell, as there are wont to be, about which side is responsible for unleashing magic among humanity. The suggestion that it was part of God’s design from the start - that it was in fact of neither angelic nor demonic origins - has been made exactly once, by Aziraphale, who only made this suggestion as a counter to Crowley’s suggestion that magic came about in humans for a reason to do with that flaming sword which Adam and Eve spent so much time about. Crowley then mockingly dismissed Aziraphale’s suggestion by hissing “ineffable” a few dozen times, as they were both a few bottles deep at that point and actually more concerned with heckling each other (and, more simply, with each other) than they were with unlocking the great secrets of Godly intent and Her design. 
This is not to say that Heaven and Hell, and of course more specifically Aziraphale and Crowley, have not meddled prolifically in the affairs of wizardry. It would be easy to blame Crowley for the existence of the Chamber of Secrets, for instance; and he may have taken credit for it but it pressed might confess that a basilisk is quite a bit too nasty for his tastes, that castle is full of children, and he just thought it would be nice for one of the Founders to appreciate snakes - they get such a bad rap, snakes, so undeservedly, and wouldn’t it be nice if they got to be the mascot of one of these Houses too? A bit of appreciation for snakes, really, is all he swayed Salazar Slytherin toward. How was he to know that the bastard would take it so far? And it ended with snakes getting a worse rap because of Slytherin himself, too. This last matter is how you are assured that Crowley had any hand in it at all, because the undercutting of his own intent is a typical Crowley design feature. 
(Crowley would also like to make the assurance that he had nothing in any way to do with Gilderoy Lockhart, even though Gilderoy Lockhart’s habit of claiming credit for things he did not do is also typical Crowley. Gilderoy Lockhart did not have Hell breathing down his neck demanding temptations be done, and frankly it is Hell itself who ascribes credit to Crowley for human inventions and he who simply nods and agrees and then goes to see what humanity has done to itself this time. Gilderoy Lockhart is no demon; he is, by Crowley’s standard of demonic, which is a very mild standard of demonic, much worse.)
Hogwarts’ moving staircases are to Crowley’s actual credit, however. That the sweets shop Honeydukes is built atop a direct secret passage to Hogwarts, allowing discerning students to eat their fill any time, is to Aziraphale’s.
-
To back up for a moment to the broadest scale - setting aside, for a moment, a particular angel and demon - neither Heaven nor Hell sees magic as an affront to themselves. Both know what they do is miracles, not magic, a subtle distinction in that magic has many more limitations than miracles. And even then, Heaven and Hell often conflate the two terms anyway. No one ever accused either of them of holding to strict logical consistency. 
Heaven is unsure whether magic was meant to end up in human hands, given the difficulty they often have over wielding it and the way it spills out of magical children like their bodies cannot contain the power they hold, but God’s intelligent design also includes both wisdom teeth and the intricate and delicate bones of the shoulder, so by that reasoning magic cannot be refuted as something that was part of Her original drafts. Hell does not care, because humans are easily tempted in their most basic forms, and the ones who carry small wooden sticks that assist them in thinking they can channel the full power of magic can even more easily be swayed to catastrophic choices, by virtue of how they are almost never found without those sticks upon them, ready and willing to attempt something that will likely go wrong. Demons are very fond of wizardry. 
Most of the wizarding side of British society is thus of demonic (read: Crowley’s) influence. This includes the rates of magical currency (29 knuts to a sickle, 17 sickles to a galleon) while Hogwarts does not teach any kind of maths courses (Arithmancy is absolutely not maths); rats becoming a popular pet in a society that to function is required to be full of owls; the practice of storing sole copies of prophecies in glass orbs on unstable shelves (Agnes Nutter was an innovator simply by writing hers down on paper); the given name of Harry Potter’s middle child; the entire sport of Quidditch; and some pervasive erroneous beliefs about unicorns.
(Crowley very much likes unicorns, ever since he watched one, survival and God’s plan be damned, book it as far from Noah’s boat as it could. He was thrilled to find that more than the one left on the boat had survived the flood, because they are beautiful and stupid and that is a combination that Crowley holds certain affection for. They are also quite soft and drool a little less than horses and have the added capacity to gore someone with a headbutt. The value of their hair, horns, and blood - though not drool, which is a shame, because Crowley could do a bustling business trading in unicorn drool - means that wizards seek them out, and that means that Crowley seeks to vex them. It is very wily and evil of him to keep the humans from those powerful magic healing properties, of course.) 
(One of his methods of diverting the casual unicorn-seeker was through the creation and spread of falsehoods about the kind of people whose presence unicorns tolerate. A few stray remarks, some influence applied to make sure it is believed, about “purity” being required to approach unicorns, and the wizards did the rest, deciding it seemed like girls were more able to approach unicorns. Thus already roughly half of the populace is discouraged from attempting, and the rest given weird hang-ups about it. Of course, this is all ridiculous, because Crowley, as a demon, ascribes to gender only when he wants to, and would be described by no one as “pure” in any way. Crowley did once attempt to describe himself as “pure evil, and unicorns only sense purity, so that counts” but he was promptly called a bitch by Newt Scamander and banned from the Leaky Cauldron again. He did not care, because drinking is only really fun with Aziraphale, and the fact of the matter remained that he still gets to cuddle unicorns when no one else does.)
-
There is a mild, subtle war fought between Heaven and Hell over most instructive books on magic. That is if “mild” and “subtle” could be taken to mean that there is one generally book-loving angel who very much disdains these particular books, and one generally book-agnostic demon who very much loves them. 
Wizarding Britain does not have a robust publishing industry. Wizarding Britain does not have robust anything, excepting their robustly ineffectual and expansive bureaucracy, but Aziraphale finds their literature particularly shameful. Surely some of this is owing to the limits of the courses offered at Hogwarts, where language and spelling is whatever of the form of your homework essays, as opposed to the much more valued content of said essays, that a professor chooses to comment on. (In a certain era, much of the spelling tutelage for a generation of Hogwarts students came from their Potions essays, because Severus Snape took a certain glee in marking up as much as he possibly could and watching the faces of students as they found their parchment returned to them covered in red ink even though the substance of their essays was sound.) 
This may also be a consequence of the way British wizarding society has a certain cultural stagnancy. The way things are done is the way things are done. (In this manner it reminds of Heaven and Hell and their inability to keep with the times on Earth. This is also another reason that demons like wizards, because they don’t have to keep up with new technology like “personal phones” and “computers”.) Hogwarts curriculum does not update with any regularity and looks much the same as it did 400 years ago, variation arriving mostly with the competency of the professors. 
And magic is what is valued, so magic is what books are written on. And while wizarding Britain has its innovators - it has humans, so inevitably it has innovators creating new spells, potions, and devices - they are not so encouraged and valued. And often they do not bother to write books. 
As a result, the bulk of the book movement through wizarding Britain is Hogwarts textbooks, which are rarely updated. The edition numbers occasionally change, as do a sentence or two of the interior, but Aziraphale lacks interest in any of it. He lacks an interest in all of this sort of magic. He cannot perform it - as a celestial being he can do far more anyway - and it cannot be learned - unlike coin tricks and sleights-of-hand and rabbits - and there is nothing exceptional in the writing or rarity of any of it. The wizarding books that Aziraphale has interest in are settled firmly in the great library of Hogwarts, and not for sale, though Aziraphale has made offers. He had then considered theft but decided that theft from a school was a certain step too far. 
(The one wizarding book that Aziraphale both cares about and possesses is a first-edition The Tales of Beedle the Bard, who is not Aziraphale’s favorite bard. However, Aziraphale does find “The Tale of the Three Brothers” to be an interesting look at the wizarding perspective on death. It is an inaccurate one, of course; Death does not grant boons, not even ones that will become curses to sooner send their holders into his hands. That is the parlance of demonic temptations, and Crowley will freely admit, though he has gotten numerous commendations for the Elder Wand over the centuries, that like Slytherin’s basilisk, the humans took the whole thing a bit too far.)
At any rate, Aziraphale’s bookshop was prominently placed on the map of wizarding London when he offered to purchase some certain unique volumes from Hogwarts, and this has been a curse of his own making, as more usually happens to Crowley. The wizarding population of London had, since the opening of A.Z. Fell and Co., admittedly always considered it one of theirs, in the same way that the Muggle population eventually came to consider it a front for the mafia, but the uptick of attempts to sell wizarding books back to the shop, or wizarding books just being left amidst the stacks, definitely corresponded with the one time Aziraphale made official contact with wizarding Britain. These magical books are a blight upon his bookshop and he would have miracled himself into being forgotten by Britain’s wizardry some time in 1847 were it not for the Arrangement.
That being, Crowley likes the books dropped at Aziraphale’s shop, often books on Hogwarts’ reading list, which are the most often sold, because it is very easy to accomplish simultaneously temptations and miracles with them.
Since the mid 1800s, it is known, amongst the poorer population of wizarding Britain, that there is a particular drop point in Diagon Alley where, if you are in need enough, you can find almost any relatively-common book that you were not able to afford but was necessary for your education. “In need enough” and “necessary” are miracles with much wiggle room. For instance, in 1992, the Weasley twins did not strictly need NEWT-level Charms and Transfiguration textbooks for their courses at Hogwarts, but they needed them to properly innovate on their pranks. 
Providing magical knowledge for free is, of course, very demonic, given the capacity for destruction by the untrained wizard, especially if that knowledge is far above their years. It is in fact incredibly necessary that it be for free, else parents or guardians would stop them. 
Truly, another genius ploy from the wily serpent. 
Almost as good as the bit with the unicorns.
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nashibirne · 3 years
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London Calling - 2
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So, guys...I know it took me a while but here it is. Part 2 of Bodyguard! August and his adventures in London. I hope there are still some people out there who want to read this. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Every single comment/reblog/like is very appreciated 💜
Pairing: August Walker x ofc (Lucretia "Lu" Johnson)
Words: ~ 3.2
Summary and A/N: This story plays with the thought of "what if…" What if August Walker had taken another road? What if he had turned into John Lark for completely different reasons? What if he had found love before becoming a bitter, disillusioned man?So the events of "London Calling" take place about ten years prior to MI:Fallout and August Walker hasn't joined the CIA yet, he's an FBI Agent and his new mission in London that lies ahead of him is going to be a challenging one. Maybe it's even going to change his life.
Find the previous chapter and my other fics here: Nashi's Masterlist.
Warnings: 18+! This story deals with the topic of a toxic/abusive relationship, gaslighting and problematic behavior of one of the protagonists in general. Please don't read if these topics trigger you or make you feel uncomfortable.
English is not my mother tongue but the lovely @sillyrabbit81 was so kind to be my very helpful and patient Beta! Thank you so, so much, bunny 🐇💜 (Edited by me, so there might still be mistakes and they're all mine)
Credits/Disclaimer: I don't own August Walker or anything related to MI:Fallout. Pics for the moodboard from pinterest, face claims: Lu - Hannah van der Westhuysen, Adam - Freddie Thorpe. FaceApp helped me with making August look a little younger.
Ready? Let's go!
*********
"John Lark," Adam said to Lu, who was sitting opposite of him at the dining table, having a coffee and some fruits for breakfast. He grinned and rolled his eyes. "What a boring name. Let's hope he has a boring personality as well and likes staying in the background just like poor old Eddie."
Lu shook her head with a sad smile. "I still can't believe he's dead. I mean, one moment he's alive and kicking and then he misses a red light and is six feet under."
"He should have been careful, baby. He was an idiot anyway. Please don't tell me you liked the old grinch." Adam ran a hand through his light brown hair and gave her a surprised glance.
"I did like him and he wasn't old, not even 50. He was a nice guy, always friendly and helpful." She leaned back in her chair with a sigh and looked out of the large windows that gave a fantastic view on the Thames and the city of London.
"Did you fuck him?"
Lu froze at the coldness in his voice, that sent icy shivers down her spine.
"Of course not, I…I would never...he wouldn't have..." She stared at the man she was going to marry in just a few months, eyes wide, lump in her throat, feeling offended and unsettled by his accusation.
Adam burst out laughing. "You should see your face, Lu," he chuckled with a big grin on his attractive face. "It's hilarious, you're so easy to lead on, darling. It's really cute how naive you can be. That's exactly the reason why I have to look after you by the way. People take advantage of you but no one fucks around with Adam Mayfield." He gave her a wink but she knew he wasn't just teasing her, he meant it. Lu forced a grin, trying to relax and regain her composure by taking a deep breath. Getting serious he reached over the table and took her hand, pressing a tender kiss on her knuckles. "I was joking of course, I know you are loyal, baby. You're not a cheating whore. If you were I wouldn't marry you and if you were I would know. Nothing remains a secret to me. Nothing, Lu. Never forget that. No secrets."
She gave him a sweet smile and squeezed his hand, her heart beating like crazy. "No secrets," she said because she knew that's what he wanted to hear.
Adam gave her an approving nod, obviously content with her answer.
"So, until Lark arrives the day after tomorrow, Big Ben is gonna take care of you."
"What about you, won't you need him?"
Lu was genuinely surprised. Since Eddie's accident, Andy, the third member of their security staff, had taken over his duties. Big Ben was Adam's bodyguard, more than that actually, over the years he had become his right hand, his assistant, his eyes, his ears, his shadow. The middle aged man, with the thin, sparse light blonde hair and the hooked nose that dominated his puffy face with the pasty complexion, was a nice guy on first sight, always very polite and friendly, always up for a joke, but he had something in his watery eyes that scared Lu. Maybe it was because he was so loyally devoted to Adam. Lu had never heard him question any order, he did whatever he was told to and Lu was absolutely convinced he would turn against her in the blink of an eye, if Adam asked him to. She feared him and she didn't trust him and she was quite sure the feeling was mutual.
"I can do without him for two days, right Ben?" He asked the man who was entering the room right then.
"Sir?"
"You'll look after Miss Johnson today and tomorrow and Andy will keep an eye on me."
"Of course," Big Ben nodded with a smile. The nickname was pretty ridiculous, because he was anything but big. He was neither tall nor broad. He was hardly Lu's height and a little overweight but he was tough and a skilled martial arts fighter. He had been pretty successful in his youth, winning various tournaments and he was still very strong and flexible. Lu had watched him doing some Jiu Jiutsu with Adam a few times and it had been impressive to see the stocky guy so agile and light-footed.
"I won't be much of a nuisance, Ben," Lu said, "I will be busy preparing the vernissage for the rest of the week, so we'll be at the gallery most of the time."
"That's fine, Miss Johnson. I like the gallery. I don't know much about art but you have some beautiful paintings there."
***
An hour later Big Ben was looking at one of these paintings and Lu was watching him closely. Something was off, not only today, it had been for a few days. It started with Adam letting Andy stay with her at the gallery all day. That was very unusual. Eddie had always run errands while she had been working or he had washed the car or whatever. She didn't need him around, the gallery was a safe place, nothing bad had ever been happening there. She had asked Andy a few times why it was necessary that he stayed but he'd always said he didn't know and was just following Mr. Mayfield's orders. And now there was Ben, who was obviously trying to pump some kind of information out of her, asking strange questions.
He was subtle, she had to admit that, but just like anyone, including Adam, he underestimated her. He and the rest of the world considered her to be just a blonde bimbo, Adam's arm candy, a classic gold digger and nothing more. She could hardly blame people for thinking that way and actually she even liked flying under the radar. It gave her a certain kind of freedom because nobody was really paying attention to what she did. Adam was the one in the limelight and since she'd never dare to steal his thunder even the yellow press found her too boring to write about her. So she was able to focus on her work and try to make herself a name as a galerist, not as Adam Mayfield's trophy girlfriend.
She knew most people thought she wasn't very clever, but as hard as her youth had been it had given her two very useful skills, street-smartness and the ability to judge character. She had more knowledge of human nature than most women her age and she for sure could tell when someone was trying to hide something from her.
"Eddie liked that painting too," she said with a smile. It was a lie, Eddie had never been taking interest in any of the artwork she presented in her gallery but she wanted to get Ben to talk.
"Really?" A sad look crossed Benjamin's face. He and Eddie had been pretty close and Lu imagined he was mourning his old friend badly.
She gave him a nod and a friendly smile. "You miss him, don't you?"
"Of course, Miss Johnson."
"Lu," she corrected him for the millionth time although she knew he'd continue calling her by her last name. She had no idea why he insisted on this formal way of addressing her, all the other staff members called her by her first name, but since he did the same with Adam she supposed it was just his way of showing respect and keeping a professional distance. "I miss him too. I can't believe he was so irresponsible. He was always such a careful driver, he never even got a ticket for wrong parking."
Big Ben wrinkled his nose. "I'm sure he wasn't acting irresponsibly. It was an accident."
"Well, Adam said he missed a red light because he was distracted by answering his phone. That's pretty irresponsible, if you ask me."
She saw his jaw working and his hands were balled into fists. Her accusations were making him angry and she assumed that meant they were wrong.
"We don't really know what happened. Just what the police file says," he replied with a shrug.
"And you assume that it's not telling the truth?"
"I don't assume anything, Miss Johnson. I believe in the things Mr Mayfield tells me. And so do you, I guess."
"Of course I do," Lu said quickly, dropping the topic, fully aware of the threat that his words involved. She had heard enough anyway.
****
August took a deep breath before he dropped his suitcase on the floor and took a look around. The room -his room- was nice. Big and bright, with large windows and a big bed that appeared to be very comfy. The en suite bathroom was luxurious and gave off spa vibes while the modern paintings and photographs on the walls made the room look like a very stylish and exclusive hotel suite. He liked that, but he had to remind himself that this wasn't a city trip for a weekend, this was his job and his new life.
He had spent the last days slipping on his new personality, becoming John Lark, embracing his alter ego. He grinned when saw his reflection in the window. That mustache and the three day stubble he wore now was an unusual sight but he had to admit he liked the new look, it suited him. August unpacked his suitcase, placing his clothes in the closet and the few personal items John Lark owned in and on the nightstand. A few books, a moleskin and a pen, a jump rope and a pull-up bar for staying in shape and his personal mobile. He had been handed out an official cell phone by that guy called Ben right at the airport where he had picked him up. He put on the watch Lark's mother had given him after high school graduation, his initials engraved on the back. 6:45. Fifteen minutes till dinner. He had been asked to eat with them to meet Mayfield and his Barbie. Miss Johnson. Just be professional, he scolded himself, she's your target.
Don't fuck this up. Kyle's words resonated in his head. This had to be his goddamn creed from now on if he wanted to join Erica Sloane's team at the CIA, and fuck he did. She was infamous for being the toughest and strictest woman at the agency and for being the best. Her team consisted of the most respected and effective agents and that was exactly where he belonged. He wanted to work with the best, he wanted to be top of the class, he intended to become primus inter pares. The best of the best, notorious, feared, valued, celebrated, desired...all those things that had been refused to him throughout his childhood and youth. He had been a victim till he joined the army, a loser, a pussy. Now he was a winner and he would become a champ and claim what he deserved.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Ready, Lark?"
"Coming."
He put on his jacket and straightened the soft brown fabric of his suit. Adjusting the matching tie, taking a deep breath he opened the door and smiled at Ben who just gave him a nod.
"Let's go," he said. "They're waiting."
****
She knew John Lark was trouble the moment she saw him. It was nothing specific that made her feel this way, not his looks or his behaviour, it was more the aura that surrounded him. Lu couldn't quite put a finger on it, but she knew she had to be careful around him right away.
"Mr. Lark...John," Adam greeted his new employee friendly, flashing him a bright smile. "I suppose it's okay to call you John?" Not waiting for an answer he continued while shaking August's hand. "Really nice to meet you. Welcome to your new home."
August returned the smile. "Thank you, Mr. Mayfield. Nice to meet you too."
"Please, call me Adam. There's no need for formalities. After all, we're going to live together, work together…"
Another charming smile. The guy was smooth, August had to admit. He was even more handsome than his picture had suggested, with fine facial features, tall and lean, exuding natural elegance and wit. A charmer and a ladies man for sure.
"This is my fiancee, Lu Johnson." Adam pulled Lu close, wrapping his arm around her shoulder in a possessive manner before kissing her cheek tenderly. He usually wasn't the kind of person who liked public displays of affection but Lu knew it was his way to put John Lark into his place right from the start, to make sure he was aware who she belonged to.
Lark was dangerously good looking and way too attractive for Adam to let it go without staking his claim. Not that Lu was interested in him, he wasn't even her type -too many muscles and probably too little brains- and she would never dare to even look at another man. But objectively he was very good looking, tall and broad shouldered, sharp jawline, a handsome face, outstanding blue eyes, and most of all he had an appeal that obviously hadn't remained hidden to Adam. "She's going to be your charge. I cherish her like life itself. Make sure you do the same when I'm not around."
Mayfield kissed her again and she blushed, obviously feeling uncomfortable being the center of attention.
"John," she said softly, extending her hand to him gracefully with a polite but distant smile on her pretty face. Just like her fiance she was strikingly beautiful but in comparison her beauty was a little steril, forced. She was lacking the naturalness Mayfield owned, maybe because she wasn't born into the social class she lived in now. It felt like she was wearing a mask. Her appearance was too immaculate to be real, too perfect. There had to be a crack in it, nobody was free of flaws, but whatever it was that was lying underneath the sleek, stainless surface, she was hiding it well.
"Miss Johnson." August shook her hand and held her gaze, giving her a smile and a respectful nod.
"Lu, please," she offered stiffly, pointing at the set dining table. "Why don't we sit."
"Yes, darling, you're right. Let's eat before the Beef Wellington gets cold."
***
August found all of his prejudice confirmed during dinner. Mayfield was a cocky prick, who tried to hide his asshole side under a veil of sophistication and British humour. That veil, luckily, was full of holes big enough for August to see right through.
Johnson however was an ice queen. Cool and aloof, not willing to lower herself to talk to the newest member of her royal court. He wanted nothing more than to ignore her, to make her feel that he wasn't in need of her attention, to make it clear that he wasn't attracted to her in any way. It was actually true. She was pretty of course and sexy, too, but the kind of beauty she represented was not his cup of tea. She was one of those ethereal beings who were much too fragile for him, too fanciful, too distant. Like a precious showpiece that was presented on a pedestal and that whispered "look at me" seductively but at the same time it shouted "don't touch…you're not worthy". He needed a woman to be more than beautiful, he liked women that were sturdy and energetic, lively and witty, confident and strong. He didn't want a queen, he wanted an amazon.
So all of this and more made him dislike her, but he still had to be friendly and charming to gain her trust and to make her fond of him without alarming Mayfield. He was obviously very possessive and protective, the jealous-for-no-reason kind of guy who would make his woman wear a chastity belt if it was socially acceptable. To sum it up, this job was a ride on the razor's edge.
"So how do you like your room, John?" Lu turned to him with a friendly smile. Those were the first words she addressed to him since they'd sat down to eat. Adam had engaged Lark in conversation from the very first moment and Lu took care not to interrupt him. He hated it and he'd accuse her of stealing his thunder afterwards for sure. So she kept quiet, trying to blend into the scenery, contenting herself with being not much more than a pretty ornament, decoration like the sculptures that were placed all over the penthouse - a beautiful, silent object. When Adams' phone rang, he took the call with an apologetic smile, leaving the room in a hurry. Now she was forced to make conversation with her new bodyguard and she felt uncomfortable and awkward because she assumed that he didn't like her. He had seen her and he had branded her, just like anybody else, she was quite sure of that.
"It's great, I like the modern style," August said, returning her smile.
"Really? I'm so glad to hear that." Her face lit up in an instant, her lips curling up into a genuine smile. "I refurbished it a few months ago and Eddie... your predecessor… he didn't really like it."
"Oh, why's that?"
Lu took a deep breath before she answered. "I'm not sure, I never asked him. I didn't want to put him on the spot, but I guess it wasn't cosy in his eyes. Not warm enough. He was a very traditional man…," Lu said and her expression softened with her words, her eyes giving away that she had liked the guy, that she was mourning him.
Not the ice queen you pretend to be, August thought surprised.
"Well, I'm not a traditionalist, I like it bright and clear. The black and white photos are really interesting."
"Aren't they?" Lu agreed with excitement that made her voice sound different, like it had just been brought to life. "They are works by a very talented young artist from France. I discovered her art when we were in Paris last year and now I exhibit her photographs in my gallery. People love her unique take on everyday life, the way she plays with light and angles. She's one of my most successful…"
"Don't bore your new guardian angel to death with your art stuff on the very first day, honey," Adam interrupted her chuckling, when he joined them again.
"I was just talking about the pictures in John's room."
"Sure, and those are lovely pictures," he gave her a generous smile and a peck on the cheek, "but we both know you tend to babble on about the topic and that can be a little unnerving."
"Of course, you're right, darling." Lu's mask was back on, her expression blank again. "I'm sorry, John. Sometimes I forget that most people don't share my passion for art. Consider yourself lucky that Adam saved you just in time."
John gave her a nod and a smile. He wanted to say something, feeling the need to let her know that she hadn't been boring him, but before he was able to do so, Adam carried on with their conversation about his new job and his duties and the wasted chance to show his solidarity with her left a bitter taste in John Lark's mouth.
*******
Taglist (let me know if you want to be added or removed)
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lenaellsi · 3 years
Note
Was there a moment Wilde became your favorite? Or did you enjoy his appearances from the start?
People seem to find him annoying at the start, but i didn’t mind him until i loved him at the end of Paris
@quantifierrasing THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME TALK ABOUT WILDE YOU HAVE MADE A MISTAKE BECAUSE I WROTE AN ESSAY
under the cut because i am a merciful and considerate soul
wilde's introduction is absolutely hilarious, obviously, but it's also so damn confusing. like, what's his game? at first you think he's going to be a one off, maybe one of those recurring characters that pops up to annoy the NPCs every so often and write about their adventures in completely skewed ways to complicate their public image (and create work for hamid, who was originally hired as PR). i got like...team rocket vibes. and i loved him even then, because i already hated b*rtie and i thought hearing wilde's take on the party's adventures would be super fun! then dover happened and i forgot about wilde for a bit, though he was still my favorite historical NPC. so for his initial ep 25 intro, while I thought he was a little annoying, it was very much "insufferable (affectionate)" even then.
and then paris. things we learn in paris:
1. wilde is a SPY. like international man of mystery hyper competent intelligence officer. but he's still Like That!!! he's still an annoying punny idiot!! he contains MULTITUDES.
2. he's a BARD and even better an ILLUSIONIST BARD. aesthetically that kicks ass, and it is such an amazing metaphor for his whole Thing. never saying what he means, drowning every word in irony, hiding his real feelings and motivations under sarcasm and puns and lies until it's impossible to take anything he says as truth. and yet he STILL manages to establish himself as a trustworthy contact for the party, and someone who genuinely is trying to do the right thing.
3. he's insanely powerful, bad rolls aside alex makes a point of that, plus there's a check against hamid that indicates a base charisma score that is like. 23-24 or something stupid like that. OP king
4. he's got a lot of enemies.
5. by the time the guivres attack on paris happens, he's already doubting the meritocracy and his place in it.
prague is where we start to see his illusion start to slip, obviously, and where the dynamic shifts from him and the party antagonizing each other equally to the party just.........poking at him while he's too tired to hold up his side of the banter. through cairo and damascus i got the sense that he was actually trying to connect with them and be helpful, but between the curse and the assumption that everything he said was meant to be antagonizing, he just...didn't, except for that perfect moment with sasha in the pun war.
and you see the results of that in season 4, where he's much more...careful, i guess? when it comes to party interactions. I think literally once a day about his line from the japan arc, where he and zolf are talking before hamid and azu come in for the rome debrief--zolf says something like "just try to be a little warmer, okay?" and wilde says "they don't like me when I'm warm." just!!! fucking!!!! GOD.
the only member of the party he had connected with at all was sasha, because she was the one that saw his wordplay as an attempt to actually joke around and make friends (something something sasha is no stranger to hiding her motivations and true feelings, something something unlikely kindred spirits, something something rome is the worst)
if you listen back to season 4, every single convo with azu and hamid he's constantly clarifying that he's being serious and he's not trying to antagonize them. he hardly ever jokes. it's a mask again, only this time instead of hiding behind humor he's just...not expressing anything at all. (except with zolf, who is the only person we see him being completely honest with).
i could get into his changes after the resurrection--how he's no longer using illusions (magical and otherwise) against his allies, and how he has committed to speaking more honestly with the people who matter to him, while reclaiming his humor as a way to express camaraderie and love--but i've already rambled enough on this post.
TL;DR: wilde was my favorite NPC from the start. after paris, he became one of my favorite characters in any media i've consumed. if he dies (again) i will personally sow myself a victorian mourning veil and you will not hear from me for a month. he deserves a peaceful, restful post-canon life.
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Teen Titans #29
So, one of my favorite types of fics to read is Different First Meeting fics between Jason and Tim. I looooove reading Enemies To Caretaker, of which I fed handsomely on fairly recently. Big Brother Jason fics give me warm fuzzies, and Tim Drake needs a hug, and I feel like if these two actually got to know each other and worked past their preconceptions, they’d get along surprisingly well. And Still A Jason!Robin Fanboy Tim Drake is just a fun concept. 
Also, it just FEELS right for the middle siblings to band together after Damian comes along, lets get those abandonment issues in the party. 
So, for mysterious and very secret TimKon Week 2021 reasons, I was rereading some Teen Titans, and I stumbled over the Original Tim+Jason First Meeting, and I just sort of wanted to talk about some interesting things I found in there rereading it after several years. 
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First thing right off the bat, when reading fics, normally it’s either the Core Four at the tower that Jason puts to sleep, or it’s Tim alone for the night. In the comic, none of Tim’s close friends are even at the tower, Jason waits for Bart and Cassie to leave, and Conner actually hasn’t come around for an in-universe month, because this is after the Superboy’s Birthright arc where Lex mind controls Conner. 
The people Jason knocks out were his own teammates when he was a Titan. He specifically says he never got to work with Beast Boy or Cyborg directly, so he doesn’t feel bad electrocuting them, but he feels bad putting Raven under much more gently because she used to worry for him. 
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Tim has just gotten off the phone with Bruce when Jason shows up. It seems like Bruce might’ve been picking Tim up, but something’s come up with Martian Manhunter going missing, so Tim tells him he’ll catch a ride with Cyborg. 
This is actually really interesting to me, because it’s a small moment of Bruce letting Tim down. It’s a conversation he’s probably had with his biological father many times when Jack’s canceled on him. 
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Gonna acknowledge this abomination real quick. This is So Stupid, and I’m glad as a fandom we just all agreed Jason didn’t do this. It makes me ask so many questions. Where did he get that oversized Robin costume? Why’d he tear off his perfectly good clothes? Why did he do this? Why the yellow tights? WHY? 
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A lot of things are actually happening here that are actually Really Interesting if you just look past the stupid fucking outfit. Because this comic actually flew really close to greatness, they just ended up dropping the ball by not continuing to do more with it. 
First off, Jason doesn’t beat around the bush. He’s immediately like “yeah, yeah, yeah, Red Hood, whatever, I’m Jason Todd, bitch! Fight me.” 
Secondly, Jason’s done his homework. He knows A LOT about Tim. He knows his name, he knows he has a dad, he knows he went to prep school, and he knows the story of how Tim became Robin. How he GOT that last bit of information, I’d honestly like to know. But even HAVING the information isn’t enough; he’s still letting his preconceived ideas get in the way. The surface level information about Tim’s life only served to fuel his jealousy and anger (thanks, Lazerus Pitt!). He’s so focused on Tim’s privilege that he’s looked past evidence of hardship; if he’s done this much research on Tim, he’s no doubt seen records of multiple boarding schools, lengthy travel records, news reports, a death certificate.... He can’t even bring himself to BELIEVE parts of Tim’s story that aren’t lining up with his world view, like HOW he became Robin. 
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Jason has convinced himself that what he’s discovered about Tim and the period of time when Jason was dead - the fact that Bruce was spiraling after his death, that his family mourned him, that Tim had to step up to the plate at a weird suicide prevention buddy system - is all a lie. Despite the fact that he’s beating Tim’s ass, he speaks to him with the assumption that Tim’s a child who’s been manipulated and lied to. 
Meanwhile, it must be SO PAINFUL for Tim to hear Jason say these things: I bet he said the same thing to you he said to me, didn’t he? That you have the talent to make a difference in Gotham. That he needed someone he could trust in his war on crime. That you were one of a kind. The light in his darkness.
Bruce never said any of that to Tim. Bruce rejected Tim, he didn’t want Tim, and begrudgingly accepted Tim. 
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Going back to Jason waiting for Tim’s other young teen friends to leave the tower before going in, only drugging his own former teammates, is much of his anger seems directed at THEM, not just Bruce. To Jason, it looks like they didn’t mourn him either, he has no statue. I find it interesting that he smashes Donna Troy’s statue, who died after him, and I believe she came back before he did. 
Unless he was keeping track of the news from the League of Assassins, to Jason, Donna never died. 
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And most importantly? Tim shuts Jason down. Tim “Bitch, Please” Drake out here like: you’re a fucking idiot, he loved you to death, he barely let me audition for the role. 
Tim shows some deep resentment towards Jason in this scene. I mean... earned, Jason literally came into his house and starting hitting him, but Tim’s relationship towards the Idea Of Jason has gone through a few changes. At first Jason was ROBIN! THE BOY WONDER! And if maybe Tim thought Bruce wasn’t AS happy with Jason as he was with Dick, there was still SOME hero worship early on. But it only takes Bruce and Alfred and Dick using Jason’s death as a cautionary tale a few times to get Tim to see Jason AS a cautionary tale - the kind of Robin NOT to be. But the more Tim craved Bruce’s paternal attention and approval, and the more Bruce withheld it or made Tim work for it, knowing that Bruce did that, in part, because of his love and grief for his dead son (Tim having an actual living breathing father plays a part, too), and those feelings towards Jason have started to fester.
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Jason can’t let it go, though, he thinks the concept of Robin was a mistake and had always been a mistake, and if he can hurt Tim, so can Scarecrow, Penguin, The Joker. 
This is a good time to bring up that one thing I think Jason probably doesn’t know is Tim is injured. It is a little over a month since since Conner shattered Tim’s right arm. Tim is still healing from a comminuted fracture in his forearm. And looking at this picture that is - ah, yes, that is the injured arm Jason is swinging Tim by. Tim is probably healed by now, the cast IS off and he’s a child, but bones don’t fully return to full strength for 3-6 months. 
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Jason is conflicted. This is clearly, in part, a fucked up way of “protecting” what he sees as a manipulated child, to convince him to leave Bruce. But there’s also clearly some deep, deep jealousy thrown into the mix to complicate matters and cloud his judgement. Ultimately, Jason isn’t there to kill Tim. Tim would be dead if he was. He’s there to “beat some sense into him,” and he ultimately fails, and fails badly. 
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Tim is found by the older Titans, awake by now, though it seems Jason knocked him out to, uh, fuck with the memorial chamber, and Tim... does not beat around the bush. No secret identities here just “yeah, Jason Todd beat the shit out of me.” 
And their reactions are HILARIOUS. 
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One more little sidebar, in the comic, Jason gets in with a D.N.A. check that never removed him from its permissions. Usually in fic this is a unique pass code. I’m not sure which version I like better, honestly. There’s something about Jason physically inputting a code that accepts him even though he’s supposedly dead that I really like, and just feels better than a dna scan. A dna scan sounds SAFER, sure, but there’s something about the Titans leaving in an honest SECURITY RISK out of sentiment that I like. 
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Lastly, I really like how it ends. Jason honestly thinks Tim IS a good Robin, and it seems like Jason’s done some research on the core four, mentioning Tim’s “real friends” again while the “camera” is on Conner and Cassie, suggesting that Jason KNOWS about them and possibly that targeting the tower while they were gone maybe wasn’t an accident or out of convenience, but fully intentional. And again, Jason’s real problem is highlighted: he feels alone, forgotten, unmemorable, no family, no friends. 
Thank you for coming to my TedTalk. 
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theggning · 3 years
Note
Perfect timing for me to ask you this: what's your thoughts/opinions on Deacon?
It's always a good time to ask me to tl;dr, friendo, I love never shutting up, ever.
Ah, Deacon. The man of mystery, the liar, the Railroad's number one agent (though he'd rather you not believe it.) Everybody's favorite egg in shades. I really like Deacon. He's hilarious, handy in a fight, his voice acting is phenomenally fun, and has a lot of wise things to say about the lies people tell you to make you act in their interest.
Of course, Deacon's main character trait and personality is that he lies constantly. He is, admirably, upfront about the fact that he's a liar, and doesn't expect anyone to trust him. Sometimes his lies are clearly meant to be a joke. Sometimes they're a test, to teach the Sole Survivor a lesson about spycraft. But when it comes down to it, Deacon doesn't lie about important things, or things that will get someone in danger. He lies, with varying degrees of believability, so that when he *needs* to lie, nobody will know whether or not to believe him. He disguises himself, often poorly, so that when he *needs* to disappear, nobody will spot him.
But the thing Deacon lies about the most is himself. As with all the Railroad agents, his name is a pseudonym. He lies about being a synth (he isn't) and going places and seeing things. He lies about escapades he's been on and missions he's run. Even his appearance is a lie, as he admits he undergoes surgeries to change his face every so often. Every one of his affinity conversations ends with a charisma check revealing that he was lying.
And lies are all that you get from Deacon, until you reach his final affinity conversation. There, Deacon, unusually emotional and distraught, confesses that in his youth, he was a member of a gang called the University Point Deathclaws-- a hate group that targeted synths. After a particularly brutal murder turned Deacon away from the gang, he met and married a woman named Barbara. But years later, his old gang showed up at their doorstep and murdered Barbara-- as it turned out, Barbara was unknowingly a synth. Deacon proceeded to butcher every one of his former friends-- and impressed by his prowess and believing him to be sympathetic to the cause, he was then recruited by the Railroad.
If you believe that this story, too, is a lie, then we're left scraping for a motive or a baseline or just, anything we can actually use to pin Deacon down as more than a fleeting shadow.
People much more eloquent than me have dissected this reveal and all of their points are good and sourced, and they will do a much better job of it than I could, but in short, I do believe Deacon is telling the truth about his past. Everything from the acting to the expressions on his face to terrible things he confesses about himself point to real, genuine heartache under his usual glibness, and it also provides us a motive, one magical golden key that unlocks the most important facet of Deacon:
This man hates himself.
Deacon absolutely fucking hates himself. He hates his past, he hates his choices, he hates how he used to behave and believe, he hates what it did to the woman he loved. He views his service to the Railroad as atonement, that he also doesn't deserve and never will. Not only does the Railroad necessitate secrecy, making up lies, changing his face, turning himself into a mystery, but it also allows Deacon to pretend to be anybody else but himself (as MacCready ice burns him in one of their exchanges.) He fears that if anyone finds out the truth about him, spots even a small sliver of his real self, they will hate him as much as Deacon does. And he'll deserve it. The only future Deacon sees for himself is to die in service of the Railroad, in service of freeing the synths that he used to hate and victimize, in service of an organization he feels he's completely unworthy of belonging to.
This, I'm sorry to say to his fans, is the actual characterization/meta reason why Deacon isn't romanceable. Deacon hates himself so much that he's unwilling to let anyone know who he really is. He only barely feels comfortable exposing part of his past to the Sole Survivor at the end of the affinity conversations-- a romance would require letting someone in further than that, and Deacon not only refuses, but feels like he doesn't deserve it. Like, I cannot stress enough that in a canon full of companions struggling with self-image and varying degrees of hating themselves, Deacon is the undisputed Grand Champion of hating himself. He has a LONG way to go to finding even the slightest bit of worthiness in himself.
And that's really the sad and poignant part of Deacon. We can believe Deacon is a fun and likable guy with good intentions and a good cause. We can believe that a person can change at heart, can try to make up for their mistakes by doing good things. (I believe it!) But the tricky part is making Deacon believe it-- a man so thoroughly sunk in his own self-hatred that he truly doesn't believe he deserves to be forgiven.
Well, that was kind of a downer, so I'll rattle off some other fun facts about Deacon to close this out...
Deacon seems to be very well-read, with an interest in pre-War literature. OR MAYBE HE'S LYING?!
He is, however, very likely the same person as John D., a Railroad agent mentioned in Desdemona's terminal who came up with the dead drop system, the pyramid structure of secrecy, was the only survivor of an earlier Institute raid on Railroad HQ, and was also instrumental in rebuilding the organization. This raid took place in 2266, over 20 years before the game starts, so it's actually very likely that Deacon is in his 40s or even his 50s.
We all know Deacon (poorly) follows Sole through the early parts of the main quest, but he's been following them a lot longer than that. Deacon discovered the Institute's apparent interest in Vault 111 and theorized there was something inside that they wanted. This led Deacon to stakeout Vault 111, where he apparently sat and watched the doors for some time until the Sole Survivor emerged. (You can find his spot in the trees on a hillside overlooking the Vault doors. There's a chair, a few bottles of water, a sun shade, and the Railsign for "ally" carved nearby.)
And stolen verbatim from the wiki:
At one point in 2275, Deacon was kicked out of HQ by former leader Pinky Thompson because he was "sick of the lying, face-changing son of a bitch," after Deacon had spent a month as a ghoul, which "freaked a lot of people out."
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levmada · 2 years
Text
I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS
DFIJGRJ
//spoilers for new aot episode
sorry if i ramble, im on cold medicine. HOWEVER-
the OP and OT still fire me up and render me to tears (respectively) so so so much. when the title card came up and drums were already banging i was so HYPE-
Reiner coming close to sacrificing himself and giving in so many times is tragic by itself, and now porco (who bless his heart finally got some closure from his brother's death :((() sacrifices himself for Reiner, just like Marcel did😭. Reiner can truly never catch a break for all his mistakes.
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@ mappa whoever added his smirk..... thank you
arguably.. porco was a better man to the end - reiner was going to 'save the world' no matter what it took, even when he knew Marcel lied to get him there and it cost both Marcel's life and countless behind the walls. When Porco ran out of strength, he did his duty and gave up the power to Falco - i def see why porco feels that way bc tbf if my brother lied so i couldnt become a warrior, to protect me, and ended up dying for the guy who took my place? - i'd be angry too. IM GONNA MISS HIM.
COLT'S DEATH WAS SO SAD AND THE WAY HE WAS JUST BURNT AND GABI BROKE DOWN AT THE SIGHT OF HIS CORPSE.. fucking hell.
on the topic of brotherly love, u could tell it tore zeke up to go ahead and turn everyone into titans, if only bc it would mean sacrificing falco and most certainly the lives of ppl he's fought alongside for years. i think zeke suspected that eren didnt totally have his side after the scene where he dropped the baseball (which on the surface is fucking hilarious, btw) - but he definitely wanted to believe he did. i think zeke came to care for eren a ton, in his own twisted way, but it wasn't reciporcated in the end :(.
The music when Zeke screamed and everyone transformed??? i was thrown right back to season 1 . it was so so damn good. it tore me up somehow, watching Nile and so many in the MP+Garrison die😭😭. especially Pyxis for some reason; just watching his eyes go totally dazed when he became a titan was fucked.
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LEVI IN EREN'S MEMORIES
and i have sm to say abt the memory sequnce in general!! in the manga, it looks like this:
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which is so interesting bc many of these panels i didn't see (but then again i only watched once). in general, the way mappa adapted it was trippy as fuck, and so fun to watch. i enjoyed it a lot, but i noticed??
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mappa included the high school au from the manga in eren's founder memories??? nerd armin was there too but i didn't catch a screenshot of it. that is rly rly interesting bc while it is a joke story in the manga, the fact that it's here in the anime would confirm parallel universes, contradicting the theory that aot only has one, determined timeline.
isayama has said before that the high school au would be more important to canon than he lets on, especially when it comes to eren's character, but i didn't think it would actually happen??
i cant remember right now if panels from the au are in the canon manga, but if they aren't then mappa might be doing something different with the anime ending (scared).
anyway! the cover from the sauna scene is also there for some reason
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but you won't catch me complaining about a shirtless levi teaser when zeke's nipples were at the forefront in paths.. i still like him, even after all he's done and no matter how ugly his beard is.
i do miss levi though.
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in general, zeke n eren fucking served this episode. god bro. sjifdjfdfj. as did mikasa - it hurt so much to see the 104th still helping eren reach zeke after Sasha (and knowing what's gonna happen).
hhh
i probably need at least 4 business days to collect my thoughts. this episode was trippy and incredible - mappa outdid itself imo with how it adapted this part of the manga. 9.5/10.
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laurenbloomed · 2 years
Text
Okay i wanna talk about mid season finale because I have so much to say, first of all i’m in pain, lots of it and so much shock and confusion and happiness too. Yeah mixing emotions.
Okay secondly, when the episode started and Max was giving gifts to everyone and told Sandra (from billing) “Please tell me your cat didn’t die” I WHEEZED. I’m sorry it’s just so funny. Next Lauren’s gift was for her favourite restaurant and she just be like “IM A VEGETARIAN NOW” !!!!!!! girl you ate a whole damn steak in a hospital bed, okay but Leyla making Lauren vegetarian is hilarious i was like darling u what???? anyways, these couple minutes were FR funny and as always i enjoy Max’s ideas and chats with everyone.
Now moving to where things started to hurt!!!!!!!!! Lauren came really excited about the idea of a romantic dinner with her girlfriend at her favourite restaurant and david hun you turned OUR chance into the confrontation???????? (SCREAMING AND CRYING) Well, Leyla asking Lauren “how much did you spend to buy my residency?” No because in that moment i started to cry, Lauren’s face broke me and then “where did you hear that” no like my girl leyla ain’t stupid she can do some math and 2+2, gosh. Then when Lauren actually tells her the amount, Leyla’s face broke me even MORE.
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i’m broken. Anyway moving to where we have 9 CODE BLUE?!?!?!? that superbug was insane, but i loved how Helen and Max still couldn’t just leave them behind and stayed to help with the emergency they were going through. THEY LOOKED SO HAPPY THOUGH to start this new chapter together. The Iggy storyline wtf the boy who died and the parents not believing because he would do stuff for tiktok sent me. IGGY DIDNT DESERVE TO BE PUNCHED LIKE THAT MAN!!!!!! he literally did nothing ok.
HELEN WORKING WITHE THE RESIDENTS, my heart was so full.
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i love those residents so much they are just amazing.
WALSH BECAME INFECTED WITH THE SUPERBUG AND LAUREN STAYED BY HIS SIDE UNTIL HE WOKE UP!!!!! she cares so much for her people im crying again as i type this.
Loved that for walsh we needed some more of lauren and walsh.
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MOVING INTO MALVO IS FUCKING PREGNANT?!?!?!? Lyn baby what. Literally what. I just know it’s Floyd’s they have had spent so much time together. I wanna know how this poly will keep going and DOES CLAUDE KNOW?!!!! i need more information.
MOVING AGAIN BC I WANNA JUST GO STRAIGHT TO THE SECOND PART OF THE LEYREN CONFRONTATION AND HERE I HAVE MY FEELINGS MIXED. First Lauren expected Leyla not to be mad after she asked literally how much did she pay for her residency and decided to ask like nothing happened BBY i love you but come on. secondly, seeing Leyla so hurt hurt me immensely i started crying again, she doesn’t deserve that, she did nothing wrong absolutely nothing. Now here’s where things get rough because Leyla is completely right. Lauren was selfish, self serving and LIED to her when she asked if she had something to do with her recidency. However when Leyla told her “that’s not love” NO BBY these things didn’t need to be said. Lauren has never been this in love and she has no reference of healthy relationships. She thinks her actions are for the better, when she said “I just made sure everyone knew it and if i hadn’t you’d be halfway across the country, you’d be gone, we’d be over” Her abandonment issues took the best of Lauren, she thought making all of this would make everything better not realizing how Leyla would feel after she knew the truth. I understand Lauren’s feelings, sometimes when you’re in love you make everything so you don’t lose them but sometimes also all those actions you make without stop to think twice may make you lose them anyway.
Going back to where Leyla said “you tried to own me, you bought me that’s not love” She is mad and I get it, she’s hurt and I get it, everything she’s feeling is absolutely right but doubting Bloom’s love because of a mistake ? yes it was a huge mistake, what Lauren did was for love even though it looks so freaking bad. But Lauren loves her more than anything and it shows because she would risk everything for her. I know Leyla is hurt now and probably will need the time and space to process all of this before coming back to Lauren, and i want to talk about what Iggy was speaking to the married couple whose lost their kid . “Talk to each other is how you survive” I also think after Leyla takes her time they need to talk about it. Because they love each other we have seen it and I don’t think Leyla is gonna give up that easily, I just know she won’t she just needs time.
IM BROKEN PLEASE GIMME MY LEYREN ENDGAME. LAUREN FIX YOUR SHIT AND LEYLA PLS FORGIVE HER. HER INTENTIONS WERENT BAD SHE LOVES U.
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AND THE LAST THING I WANNA SAY ITS THE PROMO FOR NEXT EPISODE (Jan 4) PLS LUNA RUNNING TO HELENS ARMS???? I CRIED OF HAPPINESS WHATS THAT IT WAS THE LOVELIEST THING EVER. Luna and her mum brb im sobbing.
That’s it. If you read my rant thanks i appreciate, i’m still with lots of feelings on especially about the Leyren drama, but imma gonna hope for the best I just know Lauren can fix it somehow and make it up to Leyla and Leyla is kind and has a big heart she’s gonna forgive her, she loves lauren too. I hope she tells her that.
I have no idea what i’m gonna do until Jan 4 without my comfort show, gotta deal with the pain i have in this moment first 😭.
48 notes · View notes
kpop-zone · 3 years
Text
Selfish | Jihyo
Hogwarts AU | Enemies to Lovers | “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck this shit. Fuck.”
Wordcount: 3,890
A/N: Sorry if the formatting is weird, but Tumblr won’t let me post anything on my computer, so I had to post this from my phone 😬
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“Y/N!”
When Jihyo saw you running through the hallway, she could immediately feel anger seething within her, and she called your name with a sharp tone.
“Oh Jihyo, fancy meeting you here.”
After hearing her voice, you had stopped running abruptly and were now grinning at her sheepishly, pretending like you didn’t know why she was staring you down.
“Stop feigning innocence, Y/N. You’re late. Again! Snape will for sure deduct some points from Gryffindor.”
Jihyo felt like ripping your head off. Of all the Gryffindors you were by far the most reckless one and usually involved when your house lost some points in one way or another. Your favorite activity was to prank Slytherins which always led to particularly hard punishments for your house by Professor Snape, the head of Slytherin. But you just didn’t seem to learn from your mistakes.
“You’re late too though...”
You smirked cheekily, causing her to get even angrier.
“Yeah but I have this opposing to you.”
With her right hand, she pulled out McGonagall’s letter that allowed her to be late for classes if her position as prefect required it and waved it in front of your face.
“That’s unfair.”
You pouted and Jihyo had to suppress her laughter. It was a little unfair indeed. She had simply overslept this morning, but as a prefect, she rarely got punished for anything. But she always told herself that she deserved those benefits. After all, she had to deal with you and your shenanigans almost every day.
“It’s not. I had some...important stuff to do this morning. And now go before we’re even later!”
She lied and you rolled your eyes before starting to run again.
Like expected, both of you arrived late to class and Snape gave you a lecture about the unreliability of Gryffindors for almost fifteen minutes. At the end, he took away some points from Gryffindor with a smug grin tugging on his lips, causing Jihyo to curse you silently. She was sure that Gryffindor had only lost the house cup championships to Slytherin because of you the past years. This year, she had to put a stop to it. Talking with you, however, wasn’t useful. The two of you were in your fifth year already and not once had you listened to her. She had to find another way to keep you in check. The only question was how... The options had thinned out over the years and it seemed like she was only left with one by now. Despite hating you with a passion though, that option seemed to be a little drastic and Jihyo had shied away from pursuing it until now. A fact that changed, however, when she walked into the Gryffindor common room that night.
“That was hilarious...”
“You should have seen Sejoo’s face.”
“I would have never dared to do that.”
Agitated chatter was filling the whole room and Jihyo immediately knew that something bad must have happened; something that most likely was connected with you in some way.
“What happened?”
Jihyo huffed while plopping down next to Jeongyeon on the couch.
“I don’t think you want to know...”
Her friend responded hesitantly and Jihyo buried her face in her hands in desperation.
“Y/N?”
She asked although she already knew the answer to her question.
“Yeah...Let’s just say the incident involved Y/N, Sejoo, the ‘Ossio Dispersimus’ spell and... a 200-points deduction for Gryffindor.”
Hearing the statement of Jeongyeon, Jihyo’s head snapped up and she looked at her classmate bewildered.
“200 POINTS???”
She yelled, causing the surrounding Gryffindors to look at her in shock. But Jihyo couldn’t care less about them. Enough was enough. You could be glad that you weren’t in the room right now, because she was sure that she would kill you if you were standing in front of her in this moment. You had once again ruined the championship for them with your selfishness and she was tired of it. You had to disappear. If you weren’t part of the student body anymore, Gryffindor couldn’t lose points because of you. And there was one easy way to reach that: she needed to get you suspended for the rest of the year and she already knew how.
If there was one person in this school that hated you more than she did, it was Snape. He had tried to get rid of you on several occasions, but your misdeeds had never been severe enough to make him reach his goal. But if she would help a little, she was sure that they could get you out of the way with joined forces. It was a risky scheme, but Jihyo was sure that she could come up with the perfect plan. For two weeks, she martyred her brain to find a way to set you up while protecting her own reputation simultaneously. Coincidentally and much to Jihyo’s chagrin, you didn’t get into any more trouble in those two weeks. On the contrary, you actually stood out for behaving extremely exemplary. You were the first one to appear in every class and the last one to leave because you offered your help to the teachers who often made you stay longer to clean up the classroom. You also didn’t roam around in the hallways anymore after curfew and didn’t even prank the Slytherins. In fact, there were now other Gryffindors that did more mischief than you.
Your good behavior didn’t manage to lift Jihyo’s mood though. If any, it made it worse. Now that she had finally decided to take action against you, you were playing innocent? Of course, her conscience was immediately telling her to stop her plan and to give you another chance. But her brain strongly opposed to that idea. Your good behavior wasn’t enough to erase all the trouble that you had caused the rest of the year. Therefore, she decided to follow through with her plan, even though her bad conscience heavily weighted down on her.
On the due date of her plan, Jihyo went to the library, tightly clasping a letter in her hand while nervously looking around. Being secretive definitely wasn’t her strong suit. As a prefect, she usually advocated honesty and compliance, so everything that she was doing right now went against her principles. She kept telling herself that it was for the good of Gryffindor, but the little voice in her head kept telling her that she was acting out of pure selfishness and it took all of Jihyo’s strength to muffle it. Arriving in the library, she scanned the students and soon found the perfect protagonists of her scheme. There were some first-year Slytherins roaming the aisles, apparently searching for some books to help them solve their Transfiguration homework. Their school supplies were scattered across a table next to one of the huge windows in the library and Jihyo approached it while skimming her letter one more time.
If you want to learn some curses that they don’t teach at school, come to the Forbidden Forest at midnight.
Sincerely,
Y/N L/N
Jihyo cringed at the primitivity of the letter, but she knew that it would work. Slytherins were overachievers with an affinity for illegal activities. They would be too intrigued by the offer to turn it down. After looking around one last time to make sure that no one was watching her, Jihyo dropped the letter on the table of the first years before scurrying off. Her heart was beating out of her chest and she felt like she was close to passing out. She didn’t know how anyone could enjoy going against the rules; she felt absolutely miserable right now. Not being able to be around people any longer, Jihyo wanted to rush off to her dormitory, but before she could leave the library, someone suddenly called her name.
“Jihyo!”
Jihyo didn’t need a second to realize who the voice belonged to and her body froze instantly. Had you caught her red-handed? For a split second, she considered running away, but before she had the chance to, she could already feel your hand on her shoulder. Reluctantly, she turned around with guilt reflecting in her eyes, ready to get yelled at by you.
“Um...I know it’s a little late, but I wanted to apologize to you.”
You mumbled sheepishly and Jihyo’s jaw dropped. That was definitely not what she had expected to hear from you.
“I know that I’m the reason for a lot of your worries and I also know that I took it too far with the incident with Sejoo two weeks back. I’m really sorry about that and I will try my best to make it up to you and the whole house. I’m proud to be a Gryffindor, so I want to make you guys proud in return too from now on.”
You continued while firmly looking into her eyes as if you wanted to convey the seriousness of your words by allowing her a glance into your soul. A glance that Jihyo didn’t want, because she could feel the complete sincerity of your apology and it made her actions even harder to bear. Why did you need to tell her all this now?
“Um...i-it’s a little late for regret now, don’t you think?”
Jihyo stuttered, trying to sound snappish, but her bad conscience forbade her to harm you even more. You didn’t seem to notice the lack of sharpness in her voice though. Instead, you looked like a beaten puppy who was painfully aware of their misdeeds.
“I know and I’m really sorry. I hope you know that this is nothing personal. I’m really grateful that you’re our prefect, no one would be better at this job than you. I’ve never meant to upset you with my actions.”
You smiled sadly, managing to break Jihyo’s heart. What had she done? You didn’t deserve to be suspended and she didn’t deserve your kind words. What person would set somebody up like this? She needed to get that letter back. Panicked, she looked over your shoulder to the table of the first years, but to her sorrow, the Slytherins were nowhere to be seen. They must have left the library already. Looking back at you, she could see that you were anxiously waiting for some kind of response and she would have loved nothing more than to give you the chance to explain yourself. Maybe the two of you had started off on the wrong foot right from the start. But there was no time to talk right now; she needed to get that letter back first.
“I need to go.”
Jihyo exclaimed breathlessly before running out of the library, leaving you behind with a confused expression on your face. Frantically, she ran down the corridor while scanning the passing people. Yellow, blue and red uniforms passed her by but not a single green one.
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck this shit. FUCK! Where are those little brats??”
She cursed under her breath as she reached the stairs. She had no idea where the Slytherin common room was and even if she did follow another Slytherin student there, she would not know the passwords to enter. Desperately, Jihyo grasped her hair and turned around her own axis. What was she supposed to do now? The castle was too big to find the first years. Panicked, she walked up and down the corridor, trying to think of a way to prevent the fatal consequences of her plan from happening. Her only chance was to stop the first years from going to the Forbidden Forest tonight. If she could intercept the Slytherins on their way to the meeting point, they couldn’t get caught by a preofessor and the letter wouldn’t come into play. It was the only way to make this right.
Therefore, Jihyo reluctantly went to the Gryffindor common room where she waited on the couch in front of the chimney like on pins and needles. The hours passed painfully slow, but after a while one fellow student after the other left the common room to go to bed until Jihyo was the only one left. 11:45, the clock face read, causing her to jump off the couch and to stumble to the exit. Under no circumstances, she could let the first years slip through her fingers; she needed to stop them. Being allowed to roam the hallways after curfew as a prefect, Jihyo didn’t worry about running into any professors and headed straight to the entrance hall where she was just about to open the heavy double doors when they suddenly swung open without her help.
“Oh Ms. Park, I’m glad to meet you here. Look who I’ve found loitering outside.”
Mr. Filch croaked smugly while dragging two of the first years from the library by their robes.
Shit.
Jihyo tried to fake a smile, but on the inside she felt like dying. How was she supposed to change the course of these events now?
“What a lucky catch. Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Filch. I can take them to their head of house.”
She tried to pull the first years to her side, but Mr. Filch tightly clasped their uniforms.
“It’s ok. I will accompany you. I want to propose some punishments.”
He giggled ugly before shoving the scared Slytherins forward. Reluctantly, Jihyo followed them to Professor Snape’s office while martyring her brain to find a solution for this hopeless situation. But there didn’t seem to be one. Before she knew it, Mr. Filch already knocked on the dark oak door to Snape’s office which swung open a second later to reveal the irritated-looking professor.
“What?”
He grumbled and Mr. Filch snickered silently.
“I’ve found two of your students outside. After curfew.”
Mr. Filch put exaggerated emphasis on his last sentence, causing Professor Snape to grunt angrily before motioning all of them to come inside. He looked at the two first years in disgust, making Jihyo wonder why he was the head of Slytherin in the first place.
“P-professor Snape, we can explain.”
One of the Slytherins stuttered anxiously before pulling out Jihyo’s letter from his robe, causing her breath to hitch in her throat. She couldn’t just rip it out of the younger student’s hands and destroy it, right? That would be too suspicious. Instead, she had to watch how Snape took the letter and started reading it grimly before his face lit up suddenly.
“Y/N...”
He mumbled, looking happier than Jihyo had ever seen him before.
“Let’s pay Professor McGonagall a visit.”
Before anyone could disagree with him, Snape already scurried out of the room and the rest of them had to follow him wordlessly. Jihyo didn’t know who looked more miserable right now. The two first years or herself. All of them slouched their shoulders and regret was written all over their faces. Filch and Snape on the other hand resembled two Cheshire cats, especially after bolting into Professor McGonagall’s office.
“Y/N has endangered the lives of two first years. I plead for an immediate suspension.”
Professor Snape blurted out before giving the other professor the chance to process this ambush. Jihyo had never been more distressed in her life to have a plan of hers work out just like she had wanted it to.
“I beg your pardon?”
Professor McGonagall asked confused, causing Snape to snicker in amusement.
“These two students here have willfully been lured into a life-threatening situation by Y/N L/N, your student.”
He repeated himself while handing over Jihyo’s letter. Silently, the head of Gryffindor read the harmful words before sighing in desperation.
“That is a severe delinquency indeed...but I’m sure there must be an explanation for this.”
Professor McGonagall was quick to jump to your defense, causing Jihyo to draw hope that was destroyed a second later though when Snape scoffed dismissively.
“Yes, there is an explanation. Y/N L/N is a danger for this school, or have you forgotten about the incident with Sejoo only two weeks back? As a responsible head of house, I can’t tolerate such behavior.”
He narrowed his eyes and Professor McGonagall straightened up defensively.
“I haven’t forgotten about that, but if I may remind you, it was your student who used a slur about Ms. Park’s decent here that caused this whole incident.”
She bit back while pointing at Jihyo who flinched in surprise. What did Professor McGonagall mean by that?
An unsettling feeling started to form in Jihyo’s stomach, and she gulped thickly. What if everything wasn’t like it had seemed?
“That still doesn’t justify the endangerment of fellow students.”
Snape tried to distract from the misdeeds of his own student, leading to a stare down between the two heads of houses. The tension in the room increased with every second until the door of the office suddenly swung open. Inside came Filch accompanied by you, causing Jihyo’s eyes to widen. She hadn’t even noticed that the caretaker had left the room.
“I’ve taken the liberty to bring L/N in.”
He snickered before shoving you into the room.
You ended up standing next to Jihyo and looked at her nervously.
“W-what is this about?”
You stuttered, trying to sound relaxed although a slight trembling in your voice gave away that your heart had to be pounding in your chest.
“You have been caught red-handed. It’s over.”
Snape grinned while pointing at the letter in Professor McGonagall’s hand. Confused, you frowned, obviously not being able to know what he was talking about.
“Why would you lure them into the Forbidden Forest?”
The head of Gryffindor asked in disappointment and you looked at Jihyo for help.
“I did what?”
The confusion and fright in your voice was unmistakable and Jihyo hung her head in shame.
“Quit playing innocent Y/N. We have all the proof we need!”
Snape yelled causing you to flinch in shock. In reflex, Jihyo immediately grabbed your hand and you squeezed it tightly.
“You’re going down for this! You lured two first years into the Forbidden Forest. They could have died if Mr. Filch wouldn’t have found them in time. I will not let this go until you are suspended for the rest of the year.”
With every word more tears started to pool in your eyes and Jihyo couldn’t manage to avert her gaze from you. You looked so helpless right now and all she wanted to do was to save you from this horrible place.
“I-I don’t know what you are talking about. I have never seen this letter before. Why would I Iure first years into the Forbidden Forest??”
Your voice cracked in desperation, but Snape just kept on accusing you aggressively. After all, you had a history of pranking Slytherins. Jihyo couldn’t imagine how wronged you had to feel right now, and she gently rubbed your hand with her thumb, not knowing whether she was trying to calm you or herself down by doing so. She knew that she could end all this by admitting that it had been her who had left the letter, but despite being a Gryffindor, she wasn’t brave enough to do that. How was she supposed to explain it? How would she be supposed to ever look into your eyes again?
“That’s enough. We’ve understood your point, Professor.”
Professor McGonagall eventually ended Snape’s rant before looking at you with a sad face.
“I see how this incident is out of character for you, Y/N. Nevertheless, I have to agree with Professor Snape, the evidence is overwhelming. Therefore...you are hereby suspended until we can prove your innocence.”
Your jaw dropped, hearing these words from the head of Gryffindor and you looked at Jihyo as if she was your last hope. But she wasn’t strong enough to save you. Instead, she flung her arms around your neck and pulled you against her body.
“I’m so sorry.”
She sobbed, not being able to hold back her own tears anymore. Suddenly, however, she could feel how you started to stroke her back soothingly.
“Hey, it’s ok. This is not your fault.”
You tried to calm her, apparently not suspecting her betrayal in the slightest.
“Y/N, let’s go to your dormitory to get your belongings.”
Professor McGonagall asked you and you pulled away. With a light smile tugging on your lips, you reached out and gently wiped away the tears that were streaming down Jihyo’s cheeks.
“Don’t be sad, your job is actually going to be a lot easier from now on. Although I really would have loved to celebrate our victory in the championship together at the end of the year.”
You chuckled sadly to cheer her up before trying to turn around to leave but Jihyo held on to you and crashed you into her body again. She couldn’t bear to see you cheering her up any longer. Not after what she had done.
“It was me. I wrote the letter.”
She whispered into your ear while new tears streamed down her cheeks.
In disbelief, you separated your bodies and stared at her with betrayal written all over your face, causing her to avert her gaze. Her guilt was squeezing all air out of her lungs and she waited impatiently for you to expose her. This charade was unbearable.
“And here I was thinking that you were starting to like me back... What a foolish thought.”
You chuckled, causing Jihyo’s head to snap up. Slowly, you started to back away from her while grabbing your forehead in disbelief and Jihyo shakily reached out for you.
“Y/N...”
The words in Jihyo’s mind were all jumbled and the only thing she could utter was your name. Why weren’t you yelling at her? Why weren’t you standing up for your innocence? Your calmness and the disappointed look in your face was slowly killing her. She needed you to punish her for her betrayal, but you didn’t show the slightest inclination to do so.
“No, it’s ok. Don’t worry about it.”
You mumbled, still seeming to be dazed due to her confession.
“Y/N, what are you doing? You should expose me...”
Jihyo shook your shoulder lightly, but you only smiled at her.
“Yeah you’re probably right. But I won’t. I could never hurt you like that.”
You shrugged while trying to remove her hand from her shoulder but Jihyo only tightened her grasp.
“What are you talking about, Y/N?”
She furrowed her brow in confusion although the blurry picture in her head was slowly starting to get clearer, revealing a truth that she would have preferred to keep ignoring.
“I genuinely hope that you’re happy now, Jihyo. That’s all I ever wanted. You should look out for Sejoo and his gang though. They don’t like to see a muggle-born in such a powerful position and I don’t know what they will do now that I’m not going to be there anymore.”
With that, you removed her hand from your shoulder and walked up to Professor McGonagall who looked at you apologetically before giving you a sign to leave the room. One last time, you turned around and nothing hurt Jihyo more than to see that the sadness in your eyes still couldn’t manage to erase the affection that reflected in them. She had been so blind all this time...
Who would have thought that she had been the selfish one all along?
165 notes · View notes
scarletjedi · 3 years
Text
untitled Untamed time travel au but make it Mingcheng PART 2A
@piyo-13
Part 1: The Setup
Part 2A: GUSU REVISITED (part 1)
EDIT: Part 2B now up!
y'all...I tried to do one part, but this notefic is quickly becoming fic, and I need to keep it small enough to fit on tumblr, lol. The second half of this should be up in the next day or two!
Okay, the next day they arrive in Gusu, have the run in with Zixuan, which....almost goes the same? Zixuan still buys out the inn, but WWX saw this dude, who made Yanli happy, die (and while JC says it wasn’t him, he still feels that guilt) and JC looks at him and sees Jin Ling’s father, and they just... leave. Do not engage. Perhaps with a look at each other like - we need him to see her for herself, but we don’t want to put her through the pain of losing him.
...okay, JC can’t leave without saying something along the lines of “we’re in Gusu to learn, but also to form alliances. Open your damn eyes, and you might actually make a friend” - Zixuan is shook, but Mianmian looks at JC assessingly. I am here for “isolated and therefore socially awkward Zixuan” and I think it’d be hilarious if he takes this as a sign that JC wants to be friends. So, he will kind of randomly show up where JC is, like a cat trying to signal that they’re friends by mirroring you? Luckily, JC speaks “stray animal” and eventually figures out that Zixuan isn’t trying to spy on him but trying to make friends. It eventually leads to a conversation where JC turns to him and just asks “Why don’t you like my sister?” ...but i’ll get to that.
So, they leave, and this time they double check that WWX has the invitation. He does, but they’re still delayed just a bit going up the mountain, so when they reach the top, Lan Wangji is waiting.
The party stops when they see him, mostly because it looks like he’s barring entry, but JC sees the way LWJ looks at WWX and *knows* that somehow, LWJ is back too.
Now, in The Untamed canon (which we’re in) I fully believe that WWX was in love with (and knew it) LWJ before he died, but either felt that his love was not returned, or that LWJ’s love would end if he knew, the time was never right, etc - so, he’s looking at this like and opportunity to present the side of himself that he thinks LWJ wants.
Meanwhile LWJ is like “THERE IS MY GREMLIN ALIVE AND WELL. THIS TIME I WILL LOVE HIM AND STAND WITH HIM NO MATTER WHAT.”
But when JC announces themselves and WWX pulls out the invitation, LWJ says “Wei Ying” in that WAY of his and WWX freezes because a) he realizes that LWJ is also back b) this doesn’t fit into his plan and c) stall. So he does that awkward laugh, flicking his nose, like “Ahaha, Lan Zhan. It’s me.”
And LWJ *SMILES* “It is good to see Wei Ying.”
And WWX *melts* because he is weak, and JC is like “kill me now” (JYL is confused but thinks its sweet) and everyone else is just *confused*.
Not taking his eyes off WWX, LWJ gestures for Yunmeng Jiang to follow him, and leads them (well, WWX and by proxy everyone else) to the student dorms where they will be staying. (WWX walks next to LWJ, and there is something about the way they fit together that makes JC *feel things* all over again, because here was one more thing WWX lost because of *him* and—
When they arrive at the dorms, the other disciples and Yanli all retire, but JC stays because if LWJ is back then they need to talk before JC leaves those two to “count each others eyelashes or whatever they do when they’re alone together” and the absolute bitchy-ass angry *look* that LWJ sends him has JC standing taller and WWX stepping between them.
“Ayia, Lan Zhan, there’s no need for that. Jiang Cheng and I talked it out. We’re good.”
Lan Zhan looks over at WWX, softening for a moment, before bringing the heat back for JC. “He killed you.”
“You-!” JC clenches his fist, and is thrown because there *aren’t* sparks because Zidian is on his *mother’s* wrist, and it’s enough to make him settle, enough for WWX to step in again and say:
“That fall wouldn’t have killed me if— If I hadn’t lied to him, then Jiang Cheng wouldn’t have had every reason to believe I would survive that fall.”
*That* causes a reaction, a widening of his eyes that would be subtle on any other face, at the implication that Jiang Cheng hadn’t been trying to kill him. But, it doesn’t make the frown disappear. “He did not stand with you.”
“Neither did you!” Jiang Cheng snaps, going for the *jugular* without even realizing, and LWJ just fucking *wilts*
“That...is my regret.”
But before he could say anything else, WWX spoke again.
“Look, there’s no reason to rehash the past. I’m alive! And I know what I need to do to not be bad again, but I would really appreciate it if my brother and my soulmate” and didn’t THAT cause JC’s eyebrows to rise “didn’t hate each other.” Suddenly, several things about the last few years made a lot more sense.
“I don’t hate him,” Jiang Cheng said, as Lan Wangji said “Wei Ying is always good.”
When *that* caused the three of them to stare at each other again, Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “Look, we need to talk soon about this whole time travel... thing, but I want nothing to do with whatever this” and gestures between them “is. So, I’m going to bed because I have been awake for two days straight and I would like to sleep. Figure it out!” and Jiang Cheng turned and went to find his bedroom (which he shared with WWX. Considering the way they were looking at each other, JC was pretty sure he’d be spending the first night without a roommate. Again).
MEANWHILE, outside, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying are left staring at each other. (Well, WWX stares after JC for a minute, mouth open, but that fades quickly when he sees Lan Zhan staring at him, all intent.)
Wei Ying would normally begin to fidget, but he’s transfixed, heart in his throat, without a clue as to what to do next and—
“A-Yuan.” Lan Zhan said, and Wei Ying’s focus sharpens.
“A-Yuan?!”
Lan Zhan nodded. “I found him, after. He was sick. I brought him here, gave him the name Lan to hide him.” He opened his mouth as if to say more, but fell silent.
Wei Ying was staring with shining eyes. “He lived? My little radish...” he trailed off, staring into the distance. He frowned, shaking his head. “But Lan Zhan, why would you—”
“I should have been there,” Lan Zhan interrupts *interrupts* angrier than he had ever sounded, but even Wei Ying can tell that it’s not directed at him. He cools quickly. “I will not make the same mistake.”
He catches Lan Zhan’s eye again and falls silent. “Oh.”
And Lan Zhan steps back, like he hadn’t intended to let that slip. “If Wei Ying does not feel the same—”
“I do!” Wei Ying bursts out, stepping forward and reaching out, not quite touching. “I do. Feel the same,” he said, quieter this time, for the two of them. Lan Zhan’s expression doesn’t change, but something shifts and Wei Ying knows him well enough to know it as *joy*
And, Lan Zhan reaches out and takes his hand.
(Yes, they use the next several months to actually talk though their relationship, but this is effectively a speed run from the way they feel in Episode 1 to the steps of jinlintai, bypassing all the *plot* that gets in the way of their romance, but whatever, it’s my fic. If this was a wangxian fic first, then I might do the “WWX needs to get a clue” thing he has going in the book, but.... Honestly, I *adore* the idea of *gremlin couple wangxian* on what is essentially their honeymoon in gusu. Like - pre-sunshot Gusu is not *prepared* for post-Yiling Laozu LWJ.)
The next morning, JC arrives to classes with the rest of the Jiangs, not at all surprised to see Wei Ying standing with LWJ (though everyone else seems to be weirded out by it, which may be because they’re standing far too close). LWJ nods at JC, who nods back, grimly pleased to see that there was no longer an open front of hostility. JC wasn’t foolish enough to think it was gone completely, but at least they should be able to discuss business when necessary. (And some part of his mind absolutely began planning the wedding. WWX was Yunmeng Jiang, and if JC had anything to say about it, he would REMAIN YMJ until he was damn sure to remember that he can’t get rid of Jiang Cheng that easily... and JC would be DAMNED if he let Lan Xichen steamroll the wedding prep, which he absolutely would, hopeless romantic that he was).
They enter and settle into their usual spots, though LWJ hesitates when he realizes that his seat would not let him watch WWX. JC continues on to sit in his old seat, determined to see *as little of this as possible* and turns to look at Nie Huaisang, who—
Oh, sonofabitch, Nie Huaisang was back too. How the fuck did their ritual have enough power to drag *four souls* back in time, especially one from *wherever the hell WWX was* JC widened his eyes at him, clearly saying *WTF* which had Nie Huaisang giving him a *look* from behind his fan, which fluttered, agitated. JC rolled his eyes, cutting them over to WWX, who was blatantly staring at Lan Wangji, chin propped on his palm. (And if LWJ had his head tilted so he could look back, well, *most* of the class probably couldn’t tell). Incredible. Jiang Cheng turned to look at JYL, who was hiding a smile behind her sleeve, when movement behind NHS caught his eye.
Meng Yao. Oh, that wasn’t awkward at all. Nie Huaisang flicked the corner of his fan, and JC turned back aground, knowing they would talk later, and then they were all standing as Lan Qiren walked into the room.
Which was when it dawned on Jiang Cheng that he would have to take these classes again. Judging by the soft whimper behind him, Nie Huaisang realized it, too.
The class runs the same, as clear as Jiang Cheng can remember, even if the recitation of the rules seems occasionally pointed at Lan Wangji, which is odd. He doesn’t dwell on it, however. He’s gotten good at looking like he was paying attention while thinking of other things, and Jiang Cheng had a lot to think about.
~*~
Like before, WWX invites NHS to go fishing (and JC isn’t sure if he realizes that NHS has also come back yet - in fact, he’s pretty sure he doesn’t), only this time, JC agrees to go with them and WWX pulls LWJ along, leading the group far enough ahead that JC and NHS end up waking behind. NHS keeps up with looked wide-eyed and confused until they leave the main areas for the backwoods.
“So,” Jiang Cheng starts. “Something went wrong.”
“Obviously,” Nie Huaisang hisses, snapping his fan closed. “I woke up in the same room as him.”
JC winces, because yeah, awkward. “I’m a little surprised he’s still alive, actually.”
NHS’s jaw clenched, and JC was reminded very strongly of NMJ. “No one would support flat out murder, even if they don’t really care about the victim.”
“And it’s messy,” JC offered, dry. NHS looked at him from the corner of his eye.
“It’s so hard to get blood out of white fabric,” he agreed and JC laughed.
THAT gets WWX to spin around. “You laughed!” he accuses, pointing a finger at JC.
“So?”
“So I haven’t heard you laugh in years, Jiang Cheng!” he pouts. “Why do you laugh at his jokes and not mine.”
“You are an *actual child*--”
Then, of course, NHS gasps, his fan falling from his hand. JC, catches it, reflexively, startled at the horror he sees on NHS’s face as the show drops. “Wei-xiong, you— but you—”
WWX laughs awkwardly. “No need to worry, I’m —” probably going to say something about not being evil anymore, or not following the demonic path, but NHS cuts him off.
“Back from the dead!?”
Which is when JC remembers that they used Baxia in the ritual, and if his core was enough to bring back WWX, then maybe...
“Da-ge!”
MEANWHILE, in Qinghe, Nie Mingjue wakes up, which is odd, considering the last thing he remembered was dying. Perhaps he didn’t die? Unless the doctors had some new pain medications, he didn’t feel as if he had just had a near-fatal qi-deviation.
Tentatively, he opens his eyes and sees...his bedroom ceiling. How long was he sleeping that they brought him from Lanling to Qinghe? His door opens and he’s reaching for Baxia before he can think — and stops when he recognizes Nie Zonghui (though not before Zonghui notices the aborted movement). “Sect Leader....troubled night?”
Nie Mingjue snorts. “That’s one way to put it.” There’s something rattling around the back of his mind, some detail that doesn’t quite add up as Nie Zonghui helps get him ready for the day. It’s not just that Zonghui doesn’t seem surprised (or relieved) to see him up and awake, it’s the names that Zonghui mentions in is reports — names of disciples who are, like Zonghui himself, long dead.
It’s when Zonghui mentions that a messenger bird had arrived from Gusu that morning, carrying word that Huaisang had arrived safely and that Meng Yao would be leaving tomorrow to return to his duties that the other shoe dropped.
“Zonghui, there’s something I forgot to tell Huaisang. I need to send him a message, the faster the better.”
Zonghui gave a short bow. “Consider it done.”
BACK IN GUSU
Nie Huaisang was pacing atop a long, flat rock on the river’s edge. It wasn’t a very long boulder, maybe 5 or 6 steps at most, but it was dry so Jiang Cheng wasn’t too worried about him slipping. Besides, Lan Wangji was sitting only a few stones away, playing a soft melody on his guqin.
Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian were both in the stream, robes and pants hiked up to keep them from getting too wet, as they waited to catch their dinner. Jiang Cheng remembered getting upset about WWX fishing their second night there, blatantly flaunting the “no killing” rule, but if LWJ felt like indulging his soulmate, what the fuck, then who was Jiang Cheng to complain.
On the rock, Huaisang was plotting out loud, starting ideas and rejecting them just as quickly. “You know, if you put this much effort into your studies this time, you might not have to come back again,” JC called over. Nie Huaisand didn’t even break his stride, just flapped his fan irritably in Jiang Cheng’s direction.
WWX darted forward, pulling a wriggling fish into the air in triumph. “Jiang Cheng, catch!” He tossed the fish, and Jiang Cheng caught it with ease. He considered, for a moment, throwing it at Nie Huaisang, but he was getting hungry. He tossed the fish into the bank, where it wouldn’t flop back into the water. Lan Wangji side-eyed it, warily.
“You know, he’s not actually done anything wrong yet,” Wei Wuxian said. “Can you really hold him accountable for actions he hasn’t taken?”
That made Huaisang stop. “To a certain extent, yes, I can.” That got him a *look* from both LWJ and WWX. “Look, all the decisions we make are influenced by the lives we live. And no, as far as I can tell, Meng Yao didn’t come back with the rest of us - and I still don't’ know why you came back too, Lan Wangji,” LWJ makes a gesture that is far too elegant to be, and yet totally is, a shrug, “but so far, Meng Yao’s life is *exactly the same* as the Meng Yao who committed those acts. That means Meng Yao is the same man who WILL make those choices, barring a MAJOR shift in the way he views the world.”
“Can we cause that shift, then?” Wei Wuxian asked. “I just don’t know if ‘kill him dead’ is always the best course of action.”
Nie Huaisang’s eyes narrowed, a fraction of the coldness Jiang Cheng had seen that day seeping through, before his expression cleared a bit. “It would be a touchy subject for you, yes, but Meng Yao is not Wen Ning.” Wei Wuxian flinched, and, surprisingly, it was Lan Wangji that spoke.
“One cannot change another’s mind,” he said, vanishing his guqin and rising to his feet, one hand behind his back. “One can only show the path; only they can choose to walk.”
“And we have the path to show him,” Wei Wuxian argued. “Don’t we have a responsibility to try, knowing the damage he can do? If we know we have the opportunity to change things and save lives, are we not bound to try? Is that not why Jiang Cheng was sent back in the first place?”
“I’m fine with killing him,” Jiang Cheng said. “He deliberately uses his own weakness to learn the vulnerabilities of others, and then uses that as leverage to get what he wants and then discard them once his objective has been met. He uses Jin Zixuan’s better nature against him. He used Mingjue’s sense of fair play against him and then used his biggest fear to kill him, and he used Zewu-jun’s kindness as a shield.” He looked up at Nie Huaisang. “Though, if you’re right and he’s back too, Meng Yao might not live long enough for us to do anything about it.”
“Oh no,” Huaisang said, voice dryer than dust. “What a tragedy.”
“His information was key in winning the war,” Lan Wangji said. “Can we win against the Wens again without him?”
“Hey, yeah,” Wei Wuxian added. “Speaking of - am I going to have to...” he trailed off, miming playing a dizi.
“You better not!” Jiang Cheng snapped. Wei Wuxian looked at him in surprise, then smiled sadly.
“No, you said not to, and I won’t refuse a direct order from my sect leader,” he said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I know how.”
“Meng Yao wasn’t actually that good a spy,” Nie Huaisang said, a faint frown between his brows that Jiang Cheng didn’t trust at all. It meant he had noticed something and was putting pieces together that Jiang Cheng wasn’t sure he wanted known. “More than once his information was either wrong or outdated. A lot of the correspondence was kept for our records, and I went back to check once I had my suspicions about him.”
“You think he was playing both sides?” Jiang Cheng asked. Nie Huaisang fluttered his fan and didn’t disagree.
Between them, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian caught more than enough fish to feed Huaisang as well, and he and Lan Wangji were both invited back to the Yunmeng dorms to eat with them and their sister. Yanli was surprised, of course, but rolled with it well enough. Luckily, she had chosen to make a soup that was in line with Gusu Lan’s dietary restrictions, so Lan Wangji was able to join them. WWX and JC exchanged smug looks when Lan Wangji blinked down at his soup in surprise, and began to eat more quickly.
Later that night, while WWX was walking LWJ back to his rooms, Yanli poked her head into JC’s room. “Second Young Master Lan seems to have taken quite a liking to A-Xian,” she said.
JC nodded, because that was certainly one way to put it.
“Which makes sense, A-Xian can be very charming,” she continued. “But from what the other female disciples tell me, Second Young Master Lan is ...” he paused, and Jiang Cheng filled in:
“A giant stick in the mud?”
“A-Cheng!” Yanli scolded, but there was laughter behind her voice. “...essentially, yes.”
Jiang Cheng sighed. He had no idea what to say here. He was never good at lies, never LIKED lies, preferring to neither confirm nor deny another’s suppositions when the need for secrecy was necessary...and he had never been able to lie to Yanli. Never wanted to. And besides, Nie Huaisang hadn’t covered this possibility with him.
“A-Jie,” he said, “There’s something I want to tell you, but it’s going to sound like a lie even though it’s the truth. I need you to hear me out, and to believe me, and I will do whatever I can to convince you that it’s real and true.”
And...he tells her. Flat out, just tells her about living the next ten years of his life - the end of her engagement, the indoctrination in Qishan, the burning of Cloud Recesses and Lotus Pier, the death of their parents, losing his core, gaining his core but losing Wei Wuxian, the War, her marriage to Zixuan, A-Ling, Nightless City, Nie Mingjue, death after death after death — and Nie Huaisang, like vengeance made flesh, with a crazy, desperate plan.
“So, yeah. They’re close because they’re, like, in love or whatever.”
“Because they’ve known each other for ten years.”
“Seven,” Jiang Cheng corrected. “They only had seven.”
Yanli looks a little stunned wild-eyed. She had looked sad yet resigned when she had heard about her engagement ending, hopeful when she heard about their wedding. Her eyes had shone suspiciously when she heard about Jin Ling...a few tears falling when she heard about Qongyi pass and Nightless City.
“Do...” he began. “Do you believe me?” he asked, voice small and hating it, but he couldn’t stand it if Yanli thought he would make this up.
Slowly, she nodded her head. “It sounds...wild,” she said. “But I know my A-Cheng. He is honest, and would not make up wild stories like this. So, if A-Cheng says it, it must be true.”
“A-jie,” He said, and had to stop, his voice choked off, and when Yanli leaned in to hug him, his tears were sweet with relief.
~*~
The next complication came the next day, at the presentation ceremony, when, once again, Wen Cho showed up to interrupt Yunmeng Jiang’s gifting. It took everything in him not to punch Wen Chao in his smug face with Sandu unsheathed, and Wei Wuxian was a dark, simmering presence next to him. Somehow, the steps played out like they had before - a brief exchange lead to swords drawn, lead to Xichen stepping in and Wen Qing soothing tempers with quick words.
Jiang Cheng wasn’t prepared to see her again. Her, or Wen Ning, who was a remarkably still shadow behind her. When they left, his eyes stayed lowered towards the ground. There was nothing to make Jiang Cheng think that there was something different, except the long running knowledge that he had the worst possible luck.
WWX was strangely unwilling to approach Wen Ning first, though he clearly wanted to. Some misplaced guilt, perhaps. He still clung to LWJ’s side, which was in no way avoidant behavior, WWX, but Jiang Cheng was surprised when Wen Ning found him first.
“I knew it!” Jiang Cheng cried out, to everyone’s surprise, even Wen Ning. He gestured at Wen Ning. “WWX’s here because he’s tied to me, and Wen Ning here is tied to Wei Wuxian.”
“That still doesn’t explain Lan Wangji,” Nie Huaisang said, tapping his fan against his cheek.
“Nothing explains Lan Wangji.”
“Aiya, Jiang Cheng, so mean!”
None of this has much of an effect on the present moment, however, save that it causes Nie Huaisang to adjust his plans *again*. “No one else has better come back!” he demanded. “All of these calculations are hard, and I am *delicate,* Jiang Cheng.”
“Yeah, a real wilting flower.”
Later that night, just before curfew, a missive arrived to Nie Huaisang from his brother. Huaisang walked as fast as he could manage from the Nie Quarters to the Jiang, bursting into Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian’s room, holding the letter aloft, speaking as soon as he’s through the door: “It’s him! He’s alive! Da-ge’s back!”
Huaisang slammed the letter on the table, reaching for the nearby inkbrush, quickly grinding some ink to circle letters on the page. There, written in an otherwise standard letter reminding Huaisang to mind his studies and practice his saber, was the phrase: Do Not Trust Meng Yao.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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