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harry-sussex · 10 months

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The media has branded Harry and Meghan a “flop” - there’s no coming back from that reputation.

That WSJ article just made my stomach drop. I have no idea how it’s possible that things have gotten this bad. The worst part is that there’s no way up from here - only further down. Rock bottom is a challenge at this point, and it feels like they’re shooting for it every single day.

This is what they wanted? This is better? They’re happy? No fucking way, man. No fucking way. If I know anything about Harry at all - and at this point, we all know Harry a bit too well - he must be outright miserable. There’s no way this whole thing has been worth it. None whatsoever. To someone like me, this is nauseating. I hate it. I hate this. I have always hated this, I always knew that they weren’t going to live the life they thought they would after they left, I’ve been saying for three years until I’m blue in the face - and the reception I’ve gotten from Sussex fans around the world has been horrific (you guys should see some of the shit that’s come through my inbox courtesy of the squad - so much for mental health, Harry and Meghan would be ashamed of them, but I digress).

If you give even a sliver of a shit about Harry, you’ll be able to get your head out of the sand and recognize that leaving was the absolute worst thing he could have done for himself. Look at him! Directionless! Lost! Misguided! Unproductive! Not to mention paranoid, tired, isolated, and he fact that he always looks miserable.

I will say it again and again and again - it. did. not. have. to. be. this. way. 3 years in - what do they have to show for it?:

A successful commercial venture? Nope - almost nothing has come out of Archetypes or anything else, as in the article. Bill Simmons called them “fucking grifters!” If he’s willing to say it loud and proud for the media to pounce on, how many are saying it behind closed doors?

More money? Their income hinges upon content they haven’t created yet. Clearly, these companies have no trouble pulling the plug on their deals and therefore cutting off the income. (Not for nothing - the more this happens, the less money they’ll be able to say they grossed by leaving the royal family. Since this looks like a trend, at what point do they stop and say ‘I probably would have more money at my disposal if I just stuck with the Duchy of Cornwall?’)

More exposure? Yeah, I guess, but look how shitty it is all the time. This is not the kind of exposure they were looking for.

More privacy? Totally goes against everything above, but they’ve never been more vulnerable to intrusive speculation. They invite it! Encourage it! Hand their personal lives over to the media and the public on a silver platter! The only thing keeping them ‘private’ is living in a gated community - imagine how private their personal life would be if they were in a palace instead?

Better treatment from the press? The American media are vultures too. The world media has made a fortune off of their bullshit. Even the gently critical ones that tell the hard truth - like the WSJ - show that the media does not care who you are if you deserve the criticism or if your bullshit is so completely out of this world that the story writes itself. Nothing is sacred, and it’s even worse now that there’s nothing standing in between them and the press.

The opportunity to provide universal service? What the hell have they done? One single Invictus Games? The occasional event? The occasional donation? They spend more time accepting awards for doing something rather than actually doing something!

Being happier? Bullshit, man. Look at Prince Harry. He hasn’t had a genuine smile on his face in public since 2021. I could go down a rabbit hole here, but you’re blinded by adoration if you can’t recognize he’s outright miserable and a complete shell of the person he used to be. That spark is completely gone.

I could go on, but these articles are starting to pop up in legitimate news sources. We’re not talking about the National Enquirer here - this is the Wall Street Journal. A legitimate news source is reporting on the way they’re failing to meet their own standards and the standards of those who control the purse strings - and how they’re nothing without their titles. If the money is the bottom line, then they need the star power behind their HRHs to make it. They don’t have anything else worth marketing. That star power is dwindling more and more as they get closer and closer to rock bottom and as they continue to bite the hand that has always fed them. Look at this from Vanity Fair:

So much for “service is universal.” They don’t get traction for any of their charity work because they spend so much time BITCHING. The world can’t focus on their service and help support those causes because they spend so much FUCKING TIME milking their only cash cow that nobody has any idea what kinds of causes they support! In fact - I’d bet that the only causes recognized by the general public are those they SUPPORTED BY WORKING FOR THE FAMILY. This isn’t about service - it’s about clout, star power, mystique, and the aura associated with the blurred lines between royal and celebrity. The service hasn’t been part of it for a long time. They’ve wronged their ship and there’s no way to right it anymore. That ship, for lack of better term, has sailed. The world doesn’t see them as charitable - the way they were seen when they were working for the family. The world sees them as washed up crybabies who don’t have anything to offer. It’s not just a “hater” thing anymore. They’ve lost their allure and that was the only thing they had going for them. Without that allure, they’re nothing compared to the Hollywood lights.

They’ve completely fucked up. I know it, you know it, Hollywood knows it, the Royal Family knows it. Harry and Meghan are the only people on earth who haven’t figured it out. They haven’t done a single thing they planned since leaving. They’re not happier, they don’t live a more private life, they don’t have more bandwidth to do charity work, they’re not making money hand over fist, they’re not successful in their new endeavors… they’ve completely fucked up.

Harry, in particular, has completely fucked up. He gave up a life of structure, service, wealth, luxury, success, protection, guidance, family, friendship for… this? And he’s pretending that it was the best decision he ever made? Please. He fucked up, and it will continue to come back to bite him day in and day out until he learns to sit down, shut up, get some help, and hire some competent people to make shit happen for him, because clearly he cannot direct the ship on his own.

This is not how it was supposed to be - not for us as fans, nor for them after leaving. It did not have to be this way. I’d bet anything that the part of Harry who wanted this is dwindling more and more each day. Someday, he’s going to regret the whole thing. The more I see him and hear him, the more I think he’s already there. He fucked up, and I think he’s finally on his way to realizing that they have to do something to make the world interested in them beyond their association with the family. That will diminish, and then they’ll really be shit out of luck.

What a complete and utter disaster, Henry. What a mess. With all due respect, Your Royal Highness - you fucked up.

#prince Harry #Duke of sussex #Meghan Markle #Duchess of sussex #British royal family #Harry and Meghan #my post #oh I’m going to get so much shit for this lolol

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shanastoryteller · 1 year

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Happy halloween! Ive wanted to be able to catch open prompts for so long i think just sending this ask is fulfilling lmao so how about writer's choice

a continuation of 1 2 3

Rowena has only had the misfortune of spending an afternoon in Godric Gryffindor's company once, but it was memorable enough that she argues vehemently against her little cousin's engagement.

"He's a barbarian with a pedigree," she snaps, looking her father straight in the face to glare at him just like he knows he hates. "Are our coffers running so dry that we'll sell Ingina as cattle?"

"A harsh summation of one of the most well renowned wizards of his age," her father says dryly. "Lady Gryffindor wishes to arrange her son a wife from our family. I'm not going to move against that family. Besides, Ingina is delighted."

"Ingina is sixteen and too stupid to see past his reputation on the dueling ring," she snarls. "If you won't handle this, I will!"

"Don't," her father starts but she apparates away before he can finish.

It takes almost no time at all for her to track down Godric's current whereabouts - another dueling competition, obviously - and even less to bribe what inn he's staying at out of the officials.

She knocks his door off its hinges with a slash of her wand. "If you think for one moment I'll let you put your hands-"

There's a handsome young man with dark coloring blinking at her and a plump woman with her wand outstretched in front of her, but no Godric Gryffindor.

"Ah," she flushes. "Apologies. I believe I have the wrong room."

"Looking for Godric, then?" asks the man.

"Just let her attack him," says the woman. "He probably deserves it."

"So is he here or not?" Rowena demands crossly. "Who are you?"

"Apologies for not promptly introducing myself to the woman who broke down our door," the man says dryly. She considers cursing him on principal. "I am Salazar Slytherin and this is Helga Hufflepuff."

#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #bixxelated #harry potter #and that's that for halloween prompts #4 days late but what are you gonna do

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f0point5 · 1 month

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What's your silly season prediction? I have been thinking bc to me there's no way Carlos doesn't have a seat for next year.

So we know that Lewis/Charles are in ferrari and Mclaren have their drivers locked down.

I think mercedes is gonna take Checo. Why? first they don't have the car to be breaking others drivers contract, they need a midfield that can help George but still be good at getting points, I feel Checo is better in a top car but not the top car. They need someone who bring some marketing, they are gonna take a blow now that Lewis is gone but Checo have the North America audience and is probably the driver that brings more money beside Lewis. I don't feel Kimi is ready for a Mercedes seat yet, Checo is old enough to retire when he's ready.

That leaves the RBR seat free, the obvious choice would be Carlos, I was very on board with this till the whole Horner mess and realized how messy Jos is and still have some power within the team so I bet he won't let Carlos get that seat lol. My bet is on Fernando then, I know Markos don't want him but Horner will, no way Daniel is getting that seat sorry.

So then Carlos to AM with Lance, hopeful it gets better and he can fight for podiums at least, he really deserves a top seat.

Zhou stay with Sauber but Bottas is gone, I'm not sure they would take their academy driver so my bet is Nico, he's wanted by Audi so he's just getting in one year early.

Haas stay with Magnussen because they won't have two rookie but Ollie gets the other seat.

Yuki stay and Daniel is out, Liam get his seat.

Williams stay with Albon, the other seat I'm not sure... I feel Kimi should do another year in f2 but Toto may get cocky and get him the seat. If not they would get maybee Gasly, I feel he wants out of alpine and this is the best he can get.

Alpine stay the same if Gasly doesn't leave, if he is gone then they are getting one of their academy drivers maybe Jack.

I agree with a lot of what you’ve said.

However, based on how things stand now, i think RB will resign Perez. They don’t need any more damn upheaval and he is delivering right now, as well as not making a nuisance of himself.

I think a lot of this hinges on Kimi and how he does in f2 and how much testing they are able to get him. But lets say he ends up needing another year in f2.

I think Alonso to Merc, and Carlos to AM. Alonso is not happy with the performance of the car, even Krack said it, he doesn’t want to drive in 10th. Toto likes a proven entity and Alonso is certainly that. But the other thing about Alonso, he’s old. He’ll take a one year contract because he doesn’t know how long he wants to do this, and Toto doesn’t have years to be offering, because he has to keep the seat warm for Kimi. You could say Carlos is ideal for Merc because there’s only one year until Audi comes in, but i have a sixth sense that Carlos would either want to bed down at Merc, or not go there at all. So I see Alonso to Merc on a one year contract, and Sainz to AM to hedge his bets on staying there if Daddy Warbucks manages to produce a good car, or switching to Audi if it’s the trenches.

On RBR, I don’t think anyone over there wants to add the sainzs to the list of obnoxious families involved in whatever is going on over there. And I don’t think they want to be playing games with Alonso either. They want to let Max do what Max does with minimal interruptions and as fun as Fernando is I don’t think his antics would be washing over there. I think Horner has lost too much pull over there to be making waves. He’s survived the assassination attempt but at the cost of realising he is ALONE in that garage. I don’t think he’ll be willing to stir up any animosity from Jos or Helmut by trying to bring back Daniel. And with Daniel’s performance he has no leg to stand on.

Yuki is a lock until 2026 which means Daniel is out and Liam is in (I think Liam has already signed).

Agree that Bearman and KMag will be the lineup for Haas.

Would love to see a whole new lineup for Sauber, but unlikely. I think they’re just as likely to stick with Zhou and Bottas as to get rid of them, because I think Audi will want a totally new lineup In 2026 anyway. I’m not sure what the pipeline is like for Sauber if Ferrari academy drivers go to Haas. Would not be surprised at all if it was Nico, I’d like to see him stay on the grid. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was Daniel, as an Audi audition and for the marketing.

I think Alex has one more year on the contract at Williams so he’s locked in. Sargeant definitely gone. I don’t know who else is in the Williams academy so can’t say who will get the seat. I am very skeptical about Kimi getting it. I think it will take James Vowles having NO other option before he takes on a Mercedes’ junior. I don’t think it’s unlikely that Kimi will go straight to Merc in 2026 (or 2025 honestly. They could use it as a test year for him if they are just giving up on the current regs). But yeah I see another rookie at Williams. Unless they get a hint that Alex is leaving…in which case they’ll be scrambling for someone with experience but idk who they will find. I don’t think they’ll take Gasly with that attitude of his.

I see alpine sticking with the baguettes. Maybe they dump Pierre but that’s a big maybe because the heck else are they going to get? Doohan doesn’t seem like he’d do a better job and their car is so bad a rookie might not even be able to keep it out of the wall. If they don’t improve the car, I see them sticking with the current lineup.

So yeah I mostly agree. But I’m just SO excited to see a couple of rookies on the grid, and Liam too.

#f1 #formula 1 #Carlos sainz #Alonso #kimi antonelli #ollie bearman

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twisted-wonderland-but-gayer · 2 years

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For the angst.When Yuu throw themselves in to finding a way home.No one knows how the comfort them.There all about tough love or don't know how.Kailm or Rook or Trey will possibly know how but the rest is up in air.The can all tell something is wrong (less eating, sleep deprived, shutting themselves out,) wither Yuu will keep pushing them selves to the limit or they give up.

Yuu has No Way Home

Platonic as this got dark and I do not want this to be interpreted as romanticization. Gn Yuu. Reader is called Yuu. Reader has no description. Yuu is very depressed and touches on some very dark mental issues. This became like 3k words dude

I recommend listening to the song Hansel-Sodikken before/while reading.

Being taken to another world always seemed like it would be adventurous and fun. Where you are the heroic MC that saves the day. There is a reason the isekai trope was popular anyways. A romanticized idea of found family and freedom. Adventure, starting fresh, learning new things.

At least, that's how it’s supposed to go. Most of those stories never considered the fact the heroes don't always get the recognition they deserve. The MC is a background character, and despite you being the protagonist, they fade away. Even when they save the day. Even when they starve so others can eat. Even when they fought blots with nothing but their fists to save the day. They are forgotten, with not so much as a thank you.

Even their friends, though kind, were unreliable. Even when you felt like you were losing it, they never caught on. Even when you were screaming for help or a thank you. Nothing.

The idea of being able to explore and adventure was taken away from you. No new friends. No new sights. No new start. Just trouble at every corner. To add insult to injury, the world you originally came from was awful. It was an apocalypse in the making. You weren't even sure if there would be anything to return to.

And what was sadder, is that it was better than here. You weren't from this world, and this world keeps trying to suffocate you. Food was a luxury, despite everything you do. You had nothing to call your own. You work just to earn the right to work harder until you give out. You had no ties here. It was crushingly lonely. The sadness never ends.

At least at home, you can actually relate to those around you. Even that was taken away from you. It was a fateful day that Crowley came knocking on the door, making fall over on its rusted hinges. I have some most important news! You remembered him saying. He sounded so happy, so proud of himself. Then the news hit you.

Hold it together. Don't fall apart. You are only allowed to be useful. The second you stop being useful, you will be replaced and left to starve. This cant be true. You ended up in this world, surely there should be a way out? A door goes both ways. Liar, you thought. He's a filthy fucking liar. He didn’t even try, you can't trust him when you’re here doing all his work.

This isn’t fair. You did everything you were supposed to. Where's the reward? And like that, you fell apart. You were going to die here. Alone. With no record of you existing. With no one to remember you. Locked away for damn near weeks in a room without Grim, away from ghosts. You doubt anyone would notice anyway. With how much you were used anyways. No one bothered to stop your impulsive self-injury spree that was fighting, so no one would bother to check on you. No one cared about you. No one would mourn you. You have become useless,

Kalim

It took a bit for Kalim to fully register your absence. The fun-loving teen was usually around other extroverted individuals, and most of his time went to the music club and socializing. Funnily enough, that's how he learned of your absence.

He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, he didn’t! Cater was just super loud. “I overheard Trey lecturing the freshies yesterday. Yeah so like, apparently Yuu has been missing for a few weeks and no one can find them. Yeah, I know! Crazy right? Not even Grim knows. Apparently, before they disappeared Trey said that seemed really down and no one checked on them…”

Eh? The nice Prefect is gone? The Prefect that helped him and Jamil? That Yuu? Well, that's not good. Sure they weren’t too close, but Yuu has always been kind to them. Hell, Yuu’s been good to everyone, even the ones to try to kill them. Kalim never got to properly thank them, so maybe when he finds them, they can throw a feast to celebrate!

After informing Jamil that he was going to Ramshackle, he took his carpet and flew. The decrepit dorm felt more… dark than usual. Perhaps that was just because of the broken door that hung open. “Yuu! … Yuu! Hey, are you there?” Kalim called out into the dorm, only being greeted by his echo as he stepped into the dorm, wood creaking as he walked.

Was no one home? Carpet shivered slightly, making Kalim pause to soothe it with a few pets and hushed words. “Hey, hey it's okay, this is our friend's home, remember?” Kalim’s smile lit up the room as he continues to explore. Upstairs he comes across a lot of locked rooms. “Yuu?” “Hoho! It looks like we have a guest…”

Kalim jumped at the sight of the ghost phasing through the walls. “Oh! it's just you guys!” Kalim laughed a bit, his apprehension dying down. “I'm looking for Yuu, have you seen them?” “Oooh, that poor kid…” A long, skinny ghost muttered, “They’ve locked themselves away in that room o’er there…” the ghost gestured to the end of the hallway. “They ain’t looking too good… I heard them cry themselves to sleep a few times…”

Kalim frowned at that. “They haven’t let us in there and were quite worried for our roommate yknow? We were originally gonna mess with you, but well… Good luck getting through to them…” The ghosts went to the sides of the room, allowing Kalim and his carpet through. Floorboards groan beneath his feet as he makes his way to the end. “Hello! Hellooo? Yuuu? Are you there?”

Kalim tapped on the door at the end of the hall, trying the knob a few times. “Hey! People are really worried about you! Yuu!” Kalim knocked a few more times, his cheery attitude dropping to worry. “We were gonna throw a feast for you.” Nothing. “Your friends missing you!”

Kalim sighed, wondering how he would get through to you. Suddenly, Carpet started to flatten itself, pressing itself against the ground before inching under the crack of the door. “Aw right, Carpet! I knew it was a good idea to take you!” The doorknob wiggled for a moment, before being opened by the carpet, and floating up to let Kalim in.

He didn’t know what to expect. He never had to experience this. He was hoping to see you sleeping, maybe hunched over a desk. You were instead leaning both your hands against a wall, hunched over, and breathing heavily. The walls around you were filled to the brim with notes. Open books are scattered everywhere. He swore there were dents or scratches across the walls.

Tears ran down their face as they kept murmuring under their breath. “Useless, useless. useless. useless, useless…” “… Yuu? What are you doing?” “It's all useless!” you screamed out, slamming your fist on the wall and letting out a strangled sob. Your vision blurred with tears. “I want… I want to go home! I miss my trash oceans! I miss the smog in the sky! I miss my friends!”

Kalims eyes widened as he froze. Your tears make his eyes glaze over with tears of his own. “Yuu?” “I hate it here! I hate it so much! No one stays with me, no one cares about me! I hate everyone! But it's a pain. I don't want to be alone… I want friends! It's not fair…” Your body shook as you turned around.

Kalim’s breath caught in his throat. Your eyes were bloodshot, with bags piling under them, your arms bruised from how hard you've been squeezing them. You looked dehydrated, and your face was thin. “I can be your friend!” Kalim tried to interject. “I care!” Kalim held out his arms to invite you for a hug, ugly tears building up in his own eyes. What does he do? The last time he tried to comfort someone— Jamil— he made it worse.

You just stared through him, turning away to look back at your walls of scribbled notes. There's no way home. Kalim stuttered not knowing what to say, before he slowly walked up to you, reaching out to touch you. Carpet zoomed past Kalim, making him spin around and stumble for a moment before looking over. Carpet was wrapping you in a hug, squeezing you tightly into a cloth burrito.

You froze, then embraced the rug around you, sobbing into it. Kalim approached you, placing a hand on your shoulder, before helping you sit down as he watched over you. Your lip quivered as you leaned into Kalim, allowing him to hug you. Soon your sibs came to stop, and you became quiet again.

“So… Um… Your home! Can you tell me about it? I mean you seem to miss it…” Kalim soothed, making your shaky breaths stabilize. You smiled a bit before talking of home, Kalim enraptured in every word you said. “Oh! I know what if we throw a party with food and customs from your world! It'll makes you feel better, like a piece of your home here!”

You chuckled before nodding. “That… that sounds nice…” Kalim smiles at you. “Wanna go on a carpet ride? It always makes me feel better after a bad day, especially looking back up at the stars…” Kalim helps to pull you up, the carpet unraveling from you as it stands beside you, proudly. “Come on, I know a nice place around here!”

Stepping onto Carpet with Kalim, you are taken out of the window to the sky above. And for the first time in months, a genuine smile crept to your face.

Trey

Trey noticed your drop in mood immediately. As the eldest sibling and honorary dad of the dorm, he is used to peacekeeping and reading through the lines. Trey is one of the very few students that has looked out for you, honestly. He would always nag the braincell trio about how they occasionally treated you and has probably pulled Ace’s ear after hearing about what he said to you in your first encounter.

You’ve been pretty dull the entire week, he hoped it was just exhaustion from dealing with the most recent problem on campus. Trey planned on giving you a pastry when he sees you again, and hoped to check in on you. He’s aware of all the unfair expectations and work placed on you, surely it had to be dragging you down.

One day passed. Then 2. Then 4. It’s been over a week and no one heard from you at all. Not even Grim. Ace and Deuce said you seemed fine and then just left. Trey was ready to give a lecture to his underclassmen on awareness among other things. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “I am going to go check on them myself, stay here. When you see them again I expect you all have something to say them?”

He swears he's going to put them on grocery runs. Packing up the pastry he made you, Trey made his way to Ramshackle. He just hoped you were okay. The walk made a gnawing sense of dread grow in Trey's mind, as the worst scenarios played through his head. You did seem down, I mean really down…

Quickening his pace, he made it to Ramshackle. A few knocks to the door and call of your name later, there was nothing. No response. “Yuu… Yuu!” Trey's knocks became a bit more frantic. The door was unlocked, and he made his way inside. “Yuu!” Trey placed the box he carried on the closest flat surface as he made his way up the stairs.

Has the Ramshackle dorm always been so long? He swore it looked smaller on the outside. Why were there so many rooms? One door stuck out to him the most. It was locked and looked to be blocked by furniture on the other side based on what he can see through the crack of the door. It felt ominous.

The floor creaked as he walked. “Yuu?” No response. “Yuu!” Trey attempted the doorknob. Surprisingly it was unlocked, but the door wouldn't budge in the slightest. “Yuu! Open the door!” “… Just go away, Trey.”

“Go away? We’re worried about you, you know?” “Just go away.” Trey sighed, then sucked in a breath. He could use some magic to break down the door, but it didn't seem urgent, furthermore, you may not want to talk to him if he brute-forced this.

“Yuu, please. What's wrong?” Deafening silence. “Do you want to talk about it?” Nothing. “I want to understand you.” Trey was pulling out everything he knew from being Vice-Housewarden. Problem solves, keep the peace. Trey sighed, pressing his forehead against the door.

He could hear you shuffling along with the papers being blown away by the draft in the dorm. Trey sat down next to the door. “You know, Ace is actually worried for you. Don’t worry I made sure to lecture him for the both of us.”

More silence passed. “Riddle was thinking of making you a guest for the next Unbirthday party.” “Even Leona seemed a bit surprised by your absence. He cares for you more than he’d admit.” Trey tapped his foot. “I'll stay here for as long as you need. Until you’re ready.”

A few more minutes passed before he heard the click of the door opening. He got up from where he sat, adjusting himself. “There you are. It's good to see you, Yuu. Let's go downstairs and talk, you'll feel better on a fuller stomach. Made your favorite."

Rook

Oh? Little Trickster, gone? Rook wasn’t actually too surprised. The hunter is quite perspective, after all. He knows of all the responsibilities on your shoulders, and how Crowley uses food as a leverage point for you. You were bound to break eventually.

Rook may not show it but he is worried about the little trickster he had come to enjoy. You always were quite a charming trouble magnet. You were always so bold and happy, he never realized just how much quieter it would be without you. The freshmen��s chatter was dulled, and softmores and juniors no longer had someone to but into their business.

The silence was accompanied by stagnation. Boredom. Every day felt the same now, routine clockwork. There were no more fun surprises to be had. Surely you should be back by now, what happened?

“Oui, Monsieur Hearts, Monsieur Spade.” “By the fucking seven you scared me!” Ace quipped, relaxing from his stiff pose, his cheeks puffed out in a huff. “What is it, Rook?” Deuce asked. “I noticed you have been without the Trickster for some time now.” “Oh… That…” Ace went quiet and sighed, both freshmen looking away awkwardly.

“Look the thing is…” “We don't know” Deuce cut off the ginger.

“Deuce!”

“We don’t! They just locked themselves away with no explanation!”

“Well, you can't just say that,, it looks bad!”

The two bickered for a bit before Rook cut. “Ah, so the Trickster has been locked away in their room, yes?” Like a storybook, Rook thought. “Then I shall go and see if I can save them.” The duo stared at Rook in disbelief. “You will?!” “Oui, Monsieur Candy Apple has also been down about their absence.” “Ah but, last time we all went, they didn't budge…” Ace hummed in agreement.

“Then, allow me to scout it out for you both. I will go alone so as to not overwhelm them.” The duo agreed, asking for Rook to tell them anything he finds and if you were okay. Rook is a talented tracker and hunter, if he can’t find out what was wrong, then no one could.

An easy sweep of Ramshackle and a few inquiries to a trio of ghosts later, Rook went upstairs to the farthest locked up room. A few wraps of his knuckles on the door were enough to get you to stir. “Trickster, are you in there?” You were, he knew you were, but for now, it’s best to try a gentle, yet direct approach.

“Oh… hey Rook… Please leave me alone…” You croaked, going back to rip another page out of your notebook. “But Trickster, your freshmen friends are worried about you being locked away like this. Please, come out.” Rook's voice was gentle, soothing, it had to be. There was no response.

“Trickster,” Rooks tone took a serious turn. “I know you feel like no one sees your struggles, believe me, I do, however, I can attest to that. Everyone is worried, even if they don’t show it. The school has gone dim since you left. Everyone can feel it.” You started to tear up.

“And I also suspect you feel quite homesick, yes?” “Yeah, it’s a lot of things actually. All these stupid errands and just…” your voice cracked, “so much stuff.” Rook frowned at that, such a sad sound. “Then let's unpack it, together. Open the door, please?”

The lock clicked and the door opened to reveal you. You looked tired and malnourished, with dark circles and tear lines on your face. Ink was all over your hands and legs, and you twitched a bit with a blank stare. The room was a mess of paper and books. More tears ran down your face and you were ready to just curl up and die again, until you felt a comforting weight on your head.

"Here take this. There is no reason to be ashamed of crying.” You felt your head to recognize he put his hat on you. “Let it all out, I will be here when you are done.”

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #rook hunt #rook hunt x reader #angst #gender neutral #trey clover #trey clover x reader #kalim al asim #kalim al asim x reader

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hughungrybear · 3 months

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Me while watching Last Twilight Ep. 12 (Final Ep.):

Okay, we'll finally see if we should take P'Aof's offer and storm GMMTV if the finale for this episode is unsatisfactory 😂

1. Hmmm, so Day was never able to get a successful surgery to restore his sight? I guess I could understand since endings that are *remotely* happy does not need to mean that he will be able to see again.

2. So after three years, Mhok is now a sous chef? Also, is this episode going the Bad Buddy route??? Cause if it is, I need to get ready 😂😂😂

3. Oof. They are trying to fool us with Porjai saying the "groom will be here" right after they show Mhok trying to call Porjai's phone <after 5 seconds> There it is! Seriously, I would like Night to be loved and happy for the rest of his life as he truly deserves it 🥹🥹🥹

4. At least, they weren't fooling us with the location. They have indeed met accidentally on the escalators of a hotel, not an airport. <after 5 seconds> P'Aof!!!!! I almost thought you'll never appear in this series 😂😂😂

5. Didn't Day got sus with the "usher"? I mean, Mhok still smells the same, right? RIGHT???? <after a few irritating scenes of Mhok in denial> I knew that perfume will make an appearance eventually. I mean, pretty sure at this point it is an official GMMTV merch 😂

6. Aaaaaaargh. Day wrote a book entitled "Begin with same person"??? With him and Mhok at the top of that mountain as a book cover??? It even has Day's voice for the audiobook??? 😱😱😱 No wonder Mhok's smile is from ear to ear.

7. I'm beginning to hate (affectionate) Mhok and Day 😅😅😅 What kind of flirting is this??? 😂😂😂

8. Night saying out loud that he is not paying for Mhok's "excellent care service" sends me 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I kennat 🤣🤣🤣

9. If looks could kill, Porjai would be dead on the spot 🤣🤣🤣 Night and Porjai playing cupids is the dream tag team lol

10. Mhok is freaking relentless 😂😂😂 Also, Day, you can go with Mhok to the US. I mean, you're rich enough to hire an assistant for your book shop. 😂

11. Don't worry Mhok. I also did not get why Day broke up with you lol (not until I read the series' writer's thoughts about Ep 11). <after 5 seconds> Ngl, that's a good conversation between the two. 🥹🥹🥹

12. Glad that Mum have accepted Porjai without difficulties 🥹🥹🥹 Their scene did managed to activate my tearducts 😭😭😭

13. Oh? Dad is also here. Will Mum and Dad have a fresh start too? I mean, Mum looks a bit shook and concerned at the same time. Also, why is Night just calling people to give improptu speeches? 😅

14. Oh, boy. NightPorjai's wedding is just full of happy tears and I have feelings 😭😭😭

15. Ugh. I hate it when the self-reflection is so late, it ends up with them rushing to the airport (or a bus terminal) to catch their romantic partner before they go away for good. But then again, Night and Porjai running in their wedding attire to look for Mhok is effing epic (even Porjai lying to the airport's information counter get Mhok is just 🤌🤌🤌) 😂😂😂

16. Wait, if Night knew that Mhok returned to the hotel, why the fvck did they all run in their wedding gear all throughout the airport looking for Mhok??? Does Porjai know about this? 😂😂😂

17. At least, it looks like we are going to get a happy ending. I really thought we are going to get an open ending based on previous events and the end credit song lyrics. Although, I am still not sure if this a good thing for the series as a whole.

18. Day can finally see (although again, it would have been more acceptable if he had stayed blind since a happy ending should not hinged on his ability to see). Also, Night hitting Day for being more excited to see Mhok rather than their mum (or him, for that matter) is 🤣🤣🤣

19. Oh? Is that Gee and August? Are they a thing now or just badminton partners???

20. Looks like they repainted Rung's car. I guess, it also symbolises a fresh start for it.

21. Two chefs in the family? I'm envious (and also hungry. I haven't eaten breakfast yet 😅). Also, Porjai's preggy again!

22. And they are back to the mountain top again. I hope it's much easier hiking this time around 😅. Also, Day, why are you lying? What d'you mean Mhok (Jimmy) is not handsome??? Lol

And it's ended. And it's happy (though a tad fairy tale-ish) 😭😭😭 Now, it was rumoured that 23.5 degrees will take the Friday time slot. I wonder if it's true. Can't hardly wait for it 😭😭😭

#last twilight the series #last twilight series #last twilight ep 12 #mhokday #mhok x day #jimmysea #jimmy jitaraphol #sea tawinan

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autisticlancemcclain · 1 year

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fic rec friday 4

welcome to the fourth fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. Flip by @icypantherwrites

A very important alliance hinges on Voltron’s ability to perform a Sambayee — a show of athleticism and grace — and Allura had believed she was Voltron’s best candidate. But the aliens do not want an alliance and set an impossible bar that Allura is horrified to realize she cannot reach. There is no way any one can.

Except, she learns, there is. And there is far, far more to Lance than she had once believed.

Gymnast Lance and Allura angst. What more do you need? Seriously, I love them both so much, and the fic treats them both with respect as friends (which can sometimes be tricky, but this does great!)

2. A Wider Universe by @spiralled-fury

Lance, separated from his team, his family, his home.

For them, it wasn't long.

For him, it was two years.

Two years of endless fighting.

New scars, new pain, new hatred.

And new feelings.

I don’t really need to rec this fic -- sixty thousand of us have read it. It’s the voltron epic of all voltron epics. BAMF Lance of all BAMF Lances, slowburn klance, MFE pilots with important parts to the story, and the best Lance & Red relationshop literally ever written.

3. The Cracks in Your Mask by @chyeahlex16

According to Lance, he has a great life. A large family full of younger kids running around a cozy house, a stern father and a strong, loving mother, a large dog full of love for his owners, lots of space to run around and grow in the backyard. Only light and happiness, no tragedy to speak of. But this is far from the truth.

They’ll never know. If he has anything to say about it, no one will ever know the real truth.

- A journey following Lance as he comes to terms with his past and sexuality in a way he couldn't around his family on earth.

(Basically a very personal self-projection on Lance. Some material can be triggering, but I'm keeping it as vague as possible for obvious reasons.)

A major warning -- this fic is a very heavy deep-dive into the traumatising aftermath of childhood sexual assault. Lance, who was CSA’d as a child, is having more and more triggers in his every day life as a paladin. This story details his worsening spiral into his trauma, and his eventual snap and reliance on his team. It’s an excellent story, the team handles Lance with so much care, and it’s a really important story to read, I think (but, again, tread carefully).

4. Two Years On A Fucking Space Whale by vrepit_nah

After two years on a damn space whale, the Voltron team see Keith return to them. Lance missed Keith, and well, it seemed Keith didn't feel the same seeing as he brushed past Lance without even a 'Hi.'

Except, this isn't Voltron: The Show, but Voltron: My Retelling (And the one we all wanted.)

Keith changes his mind about ignoring Lance.

This is the reunion fic that we deserve! Sappy klance! Whipped Keith! Flustered Lance! I love reading this one when I need to feel better about season 6.

5. the electric synthesized pop ballad of why keith can’t have nice things by kay_cricketed

Keith can't have nice things. That's it. That's the story.

(Or, in which Keith slowly learns that sometimes the best family is the one you make, Pidge has strong feelings about peanuts, Lance has a secret but would've spoken up sooner if he'd known it would break Keith's brain, Hunk is the actual best, and Shiro is just relieved he didn't have to give anyone the Talk.)

Is this an ABO au? Yes. Am I a little embarrassed about it? Also yes. But I’ll be real, this fic is really good! It’s well written, it’s nonlinear -- which I love -- and it features absolute conniving shithead Lance, whom I adore. It’s a fun fic with interesting themes, including a big thing on trust, and I really recommend it.

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

#please dont discredit the last one okay i promise its great #vld #voltron #lance #lance mcclain #langst #bamf lance #klance #longpost #tw csa #gymnast lance #team as family #fic rec #fic rec friday

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tookishcombeferre · 4 months

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In Defense of Wish

Firstly, I want to say that I'm not trying to "gotcha" any of the critiques or change people's minds about the film in any way. I just wanted to pose a different viewpoint on the film because I have a child, and I think having a child has made me simultaneously more simple and given me more time to think in the privacy of my own mind.

Secondly, before I dive into my actual thoughts below the cut, I do recognize that there are lots of reasons not to feed into the Disney machine, or the film industry, or what have you. However, I no longer live in the world purely for myself. I do my level best to enrich my child's world with things that are actively anti-racist, and anti-capitalist, and radical - to many people in my family too radical. However, Bean is one years old and there's only so much they understand. I also, as a parent, recognize that I have to balance the realities of the world with hope, such that, they feel empowered to make change as opposed to feeling eternally hopeless about the world that I helped bring them into.

Which actually is a great transition into my thoughts on the film which is below the cut.

In regards to the actual film, I do agree with most critics in that it, at times, felt a little bit jumbled. I think this is because a lot of plot/ concepts that you need to make sense of the world are tucked in songs, facial expressions, or other more subtle places as opposed to being given in exposition. This CAN be fine if the frame stays on that topic long enough for folks to process it. Therefore, I think Wish could benefit from an Extended Edition or director's cut. I think some of the ideas in the story aren't conveyed as well as they could be due to the fact that the film sometimes feels rushed in some places.

However, my first major point is that, as a long time space nerd, I think Wish really hinges on a unique concept that is, in fact, scientifically accurate.

Human beings, animals, plants, and the universe itself is actually made of the same matter that composes the stars.

When the Big Bang occured, particles of space matter, star dust if you will, spread across the universe creating the cosmos. Thus, Wish actually touches on, and makes magical, a real scientific concept. This is the dust that we hypothetically return to when we decompose in death is stardust.

So, that earned a big thumbs up in my book because that's some pretty nifty world building.

I also really enjoyed that Magnifico was just evil. He was deranged. He was confident. He was a silver fox. I didn't need to know why he went all power hungry. I didn't need to know his trauma. He was just bad, and I was here for that. (I might have actually been happier if they'd just left out the tidbit about his crest and let him just be BAD without a hint of anything else.) I've missed the past Disney villains that were just evil for evil's sake. There's something refreshing about someone just being bad and getting what they deserve for being bad and lying to people.

On the subject of Magnifico, the depth that I discovered in the movie is what happens when people give him their wishes. In so many ways, they hand over their soul, their hearts desire, the thing that makes that person who they are in return for safety and happiness. Thus, instead of being able to work towards their dreams, people waste away longing to be reunited with their soul only once the wish can be granted magically.

This really struck me because I'm trans masculine, and I have begun a social non-medical transition. I have longed for a "boyhood" all my life. It's something I was never allowed. It's something that invaded my dreams every night. It's something that I, in my dinosaur pajamas, now try to give myself in small ways. I know what my wish is. I know what I am in that dream, and I try to become it in my own ways day by day. However, if that wish were taken from me, I would no longer be me. I wouldn't want to give up my "dangerous wish" and lose myself no matter what it afforded me. I was really struck by the way a person's heart's desire was, in a sense, their whole being. In losing their wish, they lost themselves, and I think that's a really powerful, and important thing.

Thus, Magnifico may think, in his twisted mind, that he's helping relieve them of a burden. He's allowing them to live without the pain of things that, like my own desire, may never come to be in the way that person desires it. However, in reality, he's not protecting people. He never has been. He wants to keep the wishes because they give him power. He's an ass through and through, and I'm here for that sexy silver fox of an asshole.

And, yes, like all the villains before him, he successfully dupes the hero into trusting him. However, Asha is smart and very quickly understands that Magnifico is a dick. She's faster to that conclusion than any other hero/heroine, and I think that's important. She sees the purity of all the wishes that Magnifico possesses though the wish of her grandfather. Her grandfather wanted to inspire others, and Magnifico's first thought is that he'll lead a rebellion. Asha is able to see though Magnifico's bullshit in a way few others can because she sees the purity of the wishes of her own people.

I've seen a few reviews that call Asha selfish because her initial reaction is just to save the wishes of her mother and grandfather. Valid point. I see you. However, I raise you that she could have just made a break for it and saved her own skin. I also draw your attention to the lyrics of her wishing song. "If I could show them everything I've seen/ Open their eyes to all the lies then/ Would they change their minds like I did?" - In the animation of these lines, Asha is walking through the courtyard and remembering the wishes, not of her grandfather or mother, but the wishes of some of the citizens of Rosas. The wish to fly. The wish to captain a boat. The wish to be strong and explore. Her hope is for all of her people. For the first time since "God Help the Outcasts," the heroine's desire is for others not herself.

She goes on to say, several times, "So I make this wish/ To have something more for us than this." Her desire is not for herself. Instead, her deepest desire is to give the wishes, the heart and soul, back to her people. Again, I find this to be an incredibly selfless wish.

This wishing song leads into one of the most lyrically dense songs in the movie. However, the line that I want to call attention to is "See we're all just little nebulae in a nursery/ From supernovas now we've grown into our history/ We're taking why's right out of mystery." This line dives into the depths of that star science I mentioned in the beginning. Each person, being made of stardust, is, in a way, their own nebulae that has their own history. Secondarily, we also have our own moment in history that weaves into other people's histories. This sets up the conclusion of the film really nicely, but this is something I think could have been expanded on to make clearer because this song is really, really fast paced and dense. (Bean loves this song and bounced on my, my mom's, and my spouse's laps in the movie theater to it.)

It's all great to know that we're stars, and that power lives within us because of that. However, Asha needs to grow in understanding the importance of community. She cannot do this on her own, and she comes to discover that her mother and grandfather aren't the only people at risk. She's young. She's somewhere between 17 and 18 years old. She's naive and innocent. She literally doesn't understand that Magnifico would do anything to keep his throne and power. However, alongside her friends, she discovers what's really at stake, and she works hard, with help, to make things right.

Thus, what Asha has in grit, determination, and independence, she needs to learn in community. She needs others to help her in her goals to save her family, and eventually to save her whole kingdom. When Magnifico takes matters into his own hands, and falls prey to his own conceit and lust for independent power, he's crushed by the weight of it. It, quite literally, consumes him. Her whole country decides to take their power - their heart's desires - back from Magnifico. They want those pure and innocent parts of themselves back. So, they unite their wishes for a better world, for their heart's desires, back because, no matter how weird or impossible, our dreams ARE us. (Don't dream it, be it - if you will.)

I think, at its core, Wish has two things it's trying to say in a very simple way.

In the purest sense, we are what we dream.

We are all stardust, and thus, we are all connected.

Wish is an incredibly simple story. It doesn't have deep twists. It's not long. It's saying a lot of complex things if you're willing to look. However, it's a very simple story. As a parent, Wish's simplicity is it's beauty. We have so many stories for children that are technical, complex, and deep. I do hope we can continue to see more stories like Encanto or Puss in Boots. However, I found Wish refreshing in some ways because of its simplicity. It's a story that a small child could summarize easily. It's bright and colorful and hopeful. It has a nice message, and it has a decent amount of diversity without diversity being a plot point TM. It's something I am happy to let my child watch because, even if Asha looks different from them, Asha has qualities that Bean should aspire to. To me, Wish is a fairy story with a background and protagonist that fit the modern world. But, as a fairy story, there's isn't a whole lot of depth in the plot. The depth comes from the morals it teaches us.

So, I guess, I'm a bit of a dreamer myself. I dream of a world that might one day accept me as I am even if I choose not to medically transition and "pass." I dream of a world where I get to remain who I am without someone sucking my passion, my dream, and my desire from me. I want a world for my squish where they are allowed to retain their innocence, and where all children are allowed the innocence of their youth. I don't want anyone to take away that dream because I don't want to lose the fight that's in me to achieve it. I'm not becoming a soulless zombie of the "Magnifico Machine" if you will. I have to dream a world worth living in if it's ever going to exist.

Those are the sorts of things I want my squish to hold onto for as long as they can. The world is a horrible place at the moment, but if we choose to cover our eyes, our ears, and our mouths, if we choose to stop dreaming of a better world, then, we won't have the strength to make a better one. Hope is one of the most important things anyone, but especially our youth can have. Without hope, nothing has meaning. School is useless. Nothing means anything. We all fall apart. We have to have hope. If everything is beyond saving, why try to save it at all? So, we have to keep our dreams, and keep them safe. Our dreams are us. Treat even your silliest ones with kindness. They just might change the world.

If you read all this, thank you. If you didn't, that's totally fine. If this made you angry, I'd love to hear why. If this sparks some thoughts, related or unrelated to this film, I'd love to chat.

Much love,

Pip

#wish #disney's wish #wish 2023 #disney #pip parents a bean #pip does parenting #parenting #hope #mental health #child development #family #family life

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pineappleciders · 1 year

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hi! im not sure if you did this request already but could you do RW mari, aubrey, hero, and kel walking in on the reader doing SH? idk it will make me very happy since they are my comfort characters and i deal with that stuff and all, but its okay if not! dont sweat it!

CONTENT WARNING: self-harm, blood, suicide blades that kind of thing

A/N: hi anon, i've done similar requests with different characters that you can check out in my masterlist if you'd like!! this is also assuming the SH is cutting, i apologize if it's something else! im also sorry if kel or heros part seems rushed or short i was tired

RW MARI, AUBREY, HERO, and KEL walking in on reader s/hing

MARI

"I'm sorry, may I be excused?"

You were having dinner with MARI and her family. They considered you a close family friend, so often times you'd be spending time with MARI and SUNNY at their home.

Something was said at the dinner table that night.

Getting up and pushing your chair in, you rush up the stairs and close the bathroom door behind you.

Sitting on the toilet, you dig around your bag to find the blade you more often than not carried with you. Not like you planned to do this all the time, but it was helpful to have one on hand.

You hiss and exhale as you cut, and you use the rag in your backpack to slow the bleeding. After all, you wouldn't want to stain their towels or waste any paper.

You hear somewhat loud talking downstairs, and you can make out MARI's voice. She seemed upset, but nobody was yelling. You tear up as you realize she was probably upset with her father for the comment he made. You knew she cared too much. You know she sees right through you.

The talking stops, and footsteps come up the stairs and stop at the bathroom.

"Y/N, can I come in?"

In any other situation, this probably would've been strange for her to ask to come into the bathroom with you. But she knows you better than anyone. You cover up and put your things away.

"Yeah, come in.."

MARI creaks open the door, slides it, and locks it shut. She turns to you, and you stand up. "Y/N, are you alright?" She places her hands on your shoulders.

You blink to hold back your tears. "Yeah.. I'm okay." She sighs and hugs you.

"I'm.. I'm really sorry. He didn't mean to say that, he doesn't think before he speaks sometimes.." MARI wanted to be angry at her dad, but she knew it wasn't worth it.

Pushing your face into her shoulder, you sigh. "MARI, can.. can you help me?" Your eyes dart down to your arm. You didn't want to, but it was bleeding and you needed to stop it.

"Oh, dear.." She takes a cloth from the rack and asks you to roll up your sleeve, to which you comply. She presses it onto the wound gently and holds it.

"Here, hold this. Let me grab some sterile strips," she says, worry in her voice. As she rummages through the cabinet, you can't help but let a few tears fall. This is incredibly embarrassing.

You wanted to go home.

The bleeding stopped, and she bandaged your arm and put disinfectant gel on the wounds. After rolling your sleeve back down, she looked at you deeply in the eye.

"Y/N, I know I can't fix everything, but please talk to me next time instead of doing this. I really don't like seeing you sad."

You could tell MARI wanted to cry, but she kept herself strong for your sake. You've always felt you didn't deserve your friends, but right now you especially felt MARI was too good for you. She didn't deserve to witness this.

She hugged you tightly. "I love you a lot, Y/N. I don't want you to hurt yourself. I'll always be here for you, okay?"

You teared up more and nodded, squeezing her back. "Yeah.. thank you. I love you too."

AUBREY

You quickly open the door to the park bathroom, using the intersex/family one as it was often less crowded than the other ones.

Opening one of the blue stalls, you lock it and sit down on the toilet. Public restrooms were always gross, but you didn't really pay any mind to it. At least, not right now. As you reach into your sock, you examine the drawings and writings on the stall wall. Silly things, doodles, words in a language you didn't know, so on and so forth.

Refocused, you take the razor out of your sock. Today was a day you knew something would happen. Something would go wrong. Something always does. As you make the first swipe, the door opens and someone walks in, with light footsteps. You put your feet up on the toilet and hope they don't try your stall.

You don't hear anything in particular after that. You assume they left, or maybe they're distracted in the mirror. You let your feet down.

Thirty seconds later, you hear a voice you very clearly recognize.

"AUBREY! Come check this out!" The voice of KIM, one of AUBREY's hooligan friends, shouts out. At the sound of AUBREY's name, you freeze up. Did she notice you?

A few seconds pass, and you hear talking outside the bathroom door. It opens, and you don't think you could get sweatier.

"Look at this drawing!" KIM snickered, and AUBREY scoffed. You almost sigh in relief that they haven't seen you yet. You assume that the drawing they're looking at is something inappropriate. Classic KIM.

"Heh. Check out this one, it's really good." AUBREY seemed to point out another drawing, earning an 'oooo' from KIM.

"Well, I'm gonna piss. You can wait for me outside with ANGEL." AUBREY walks away, right into the stall besides you. You hear KIM leave the bathroom.

You thought you were nervous before. This is a whole new level.

What do you do? Do you continue? Do you leave? No, AUBREY's friends will most definitely see you. Do you say something? No way! You don't want to talk right now. You decide to wait it out.

Your shoes are still on the floor from your freeze-up earlier, and you consider putting them up, but AUBREY will sense your movement. Stay still, and she won't see you.

"Y/N?"

Fuck! She saw you!

"AUBREY? Hey.." You try your best to keep your voice composed, but you can't keep it up for long.

"Were you here the entire time?" She asks, and you chuckle. "Yeah.. didn't wanna interrupt."

A moment of silence passes.

"You okay?" She questions.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm chill." You play with the blade in your lap.

Another moment of silence.

"Okay, do you wanna come hang out with me and everyone else? We were gonna head to GINO's."

"Oh, no, I'm good. I have stuff to do, so.."

Yet another moment of silence. It breaks when you hear AUBREY flush, and open her stall door, her feet stopping at yours.

"Can I, uh... can I come in?"

You panic. "Uh, I'm, uhh.. shitting.."

"Your pants aren't down." You've been busted.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, you oblige and unlock the door for her. She steps in, her eyes somewhat averted in the case that you actually were pooping or something.

She looks at you, and you forget you're holding a blade, with a cut seeping blood on your arm. "Holy shit! Are you okay?!" AUBREY freaks out a little, getting closer to you.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Uh.." You fail to find an excuse as AUBREY connects the dots and takes hold of your wrist.

Her eyebrows furrow, and for a second you think she might yell at you. But, she doesn't.

"Fuck, okay, I have a band-aid on me- It won't do much but it's all I got, uh, here let's put some toilet paper on that," AUBREY stumbles to form sentences as she rips off a wad of paper and gently presses it to your wound, still having hold on your wrist with the other hand.

You awkwardly look to the side. "Y/N, I-.. You can talk to me, y'know that, right? We're-we're best friends, I've always.." She sighs, giving up on trying to say anything.

You notice that she seems frustrated, and you nearly break down. Why did you always make people take care of you? Can't you fend for yourself?

AUBREY seems to realize she's making you feel bad, so she regains her composure and leans down to hug you, keeping one hand pressing the paper onto your arm. "I'm sorry. I.. I understand. I don't.. understand everything but.. I understand the urge."

Your eyes burn and you can't help but lean in, taking a whiff of her. She smells surprisingly good. Not in a bad way or anything, but, usually delinquents don't smell like conditioner.

She sighs yet again and leans back up, removing the toilet paper and making sure the cut has stopped bleeding, before applying the band-aid vertically, as if it were a steri strip. She takes a moment to form her words before speaking, a habit MARI had taught her as to not fumble while talking.

"Listen. I know it's been so hard.. But, please, this isn't the right thing to do. It seems like it now, but, it'll only make it worse. Can.. can you tell me next time? If- If you need help, or something.. just call me. I'll be here ASAP." She places her hand on your shoulder while talking, a look of worry on her face.

You blink away any tears that formed, and nod. You want to thank her, but nothing comes out. But, she seems to understand. She seems to know what you want to say.

"Do you.. need some time? That, uh... GINO's offer still stands." She puts her hands in her pockets and looks away sheepishly. A light smile adorns your face, and you chuckle. "Hah, yeah, I'll come. Thank you."

You weren't necessarily saying thank you in response, but you think she knows that. She smiles and takes your hand. "Let's go."

HERO

A patterned knock at your bedroom door sounded throughout the room, filling you with panic.

"Hey, Y/N? Can I come in? I made some pancakes." HERO's voice rang and the door creaked open, as he peeked his head in.

HERO and KEL had decided to spend the night at your place, and they slept in your living room, as your room was far too small to house two people. Unbeknownst to them, you had unintentionally stayed up all night.

You weren't sure why, but you had a total breakdown. Maybe due to seeing your friends again, maybe something else. You're not sure, but it happened. And it just so happens that HERO walked into your room as you were taking care of it.

He stops when he sees you bleeding with a boxcutter in your hand. After hesitating, he quickly sets the breakfast tray down and runs to get presumably medical supplies. He comes back quickly, with a towel and a first-aid kit.

He rushes over to you, and you're still in a state of shock. How do you explain this to him? What if KEL walks in? What if your parents come home? What if he tells-

Your thoughts are interrupted by HERO placing the warm, wet washcloth to your wounds. He had taken the blade away while you were distracted. You're kind of pissed that he asked to come in but came in anyway, despite you not answering. Maybe he thought you were asleep.

The look on his face is sweaty and panicky.

"Hey, u-uh.." He tries to say something, but instead he removes the towel to see the bleeding has stopped, and immediately puts ointment on the wounds and bandages them with gauze.

Nothing can describe how HERO feels right now. This, this was his chance. His chance to help for once.

He.. he had been too late with MARI. But now that he knows you're hurting, maybe, just maybe, he can do better this time.

He sets down the kit and awkwardly sits next to you on the bed. He wants to hug you, but he isn't sure that he should. His eyes keep darting to your wrapped arm.

You avert your gaze, and for a moment an awkward silence fills the air.

When he was patching you up, he had been so hasty, so quickened and anxious. You can only assume why.

He wanted to save you. He wanted to help. You yourself had always blamed yourself for MARI's suicide, but you could only imagine how HERO felt.

"Listen, Y/N.." HERO tries to speak again, but tears prick his eyes. At this point, you feel like you should be comforting him. He takes a few deep breaths and gathers his thoughts.

"Y/N, I.. I know things have been rough these past few years. And, I'm sorry I left for college. I know you and the others have been going through a lot, and.. and I feel like I messed up. It was my responsibility to be there for you all." HERO is playing with his fingers and looking at his lap.

You feel awful. He was always one to blame himself when things went awry.

He sighs. "But.. I'm here now. I care for you and the others a lot.. So please know I'm here for you. Even.. even when I have to go back to school, you can phone me anytime. Or, you could talk to KEL, or-or.. maybe SUNNY. He's a great listener.. They-.. They care for you a lot. Even if they don't show it. We all do."

You feel yourself about to cry. You didn't want to subject anyone to anything that they didn't have to see. They didn't deserve you.

You can't help but reminisce of all the times HERO has been there for you. It wasn't often, but whenever you needed an ear, HERO was there. And you were there for him. He was almost like a big brother.

You wipe your eyes, and he finally pulls you into a hug, patting your head and rubbing it.

"I'm here, OK? We all are."

You cry into his shirt and grip it, and he holds you tight. It had been so long since you've had a HERO hug.

Eventually you pull away and he smiles at you. "You still want pancakes? I can re-heat the food if you'd like." He suggests, eyeing your plate. He was planning to bring you breakfast in bed.

You smile as well. "I'd like that."

KEL

You sit in your chair in your room, a razor blade in hand. You were really going to do this again, weren't you? You couldn't help it. Not under stress.

With each swipe, you hold a towel to ease the bleeding, then continue. You weren't sure how your parents hadn't noticed the blood stains all over your laundry. Maybe they did, but haven't brought it up yet.

Hearing a few voices downstairs, you grow uneasy, and your nervousness grows as you hear footsteps come up the stairs. If that was your father, you wouldn't hear the end of it. Your door was locked, though.

Or at least, you think it is.

A couple loud knocks at your door make you jump, and a sing-songy voice rings your ears.

"Oh, Y/N!! Guess what I have!!!" Your heart drops at the voice of your friend KEL. Oh dear.. now was not the time.

You don't respond. Maybe your best bet was to tell him to leave or say 'not right now', but your brain told you to freeze, and that's what you did.

"Y/N? Are you in there?" He says, his voice growing a but quieter. He tests the door, and you're fucked. A bright looking KEL stands in your doorway.

"There you are! Guess what I...." His voice trails off, and his grip on one of the older CAPT. SPACEBOY comics loosens in his grip. You turn to him and try to cover up.

"KEL? Hey, man.. Uh..." You try to say to come back another time, but he's already seen it.

His face grows with worry. "Are you okay?" He sounds genuinely concerned, and it tugs at your heart strings. You don't know what to say.

He very slowly walks into your room, setting the comic book on your dresser and approaching you in your chair, looking down at you.

His height is almost intimidating from this angle. Almost.

"Do.. do you need help?" KEL was a little unsure how to go about this situation. On one hand, he wanted to help you mentally, to talk it out and get you help. On the other, he wanted to run away. To leave you to your own. But he won't do that.

No, you need help.

You want to cry.

He skips away a bit, and starts running to your bathroom to grab stuff. "I'll be right back!" He shouts.

Returning with a couple Hello Kitty themed band-aids, and anti bacterial ointment, he kneels down.

"Can.. Can I touch you?"

You have to congratulate KEL for maturing. Although it might not seem like it from the outside, KEL's changed a lot. He's more aware of personal space now, you note.

You nod and try to avert your eyes as he applies the ointment and puts the band-aids over your wounds to close them up. He lingers on one knee after he's done, and starts chewing his cheek. You can see the gears turning in his head.

"I, um.. do you wanna talk about it?" KEL really wanted to know how you felt. He wanted to help, he wanted to know what was making you hurt yourself. But he just couldn't ask.

Your bottle bursts and you start to cry. He immediately wraps his arms around you once you fall into his chest, ranting and sobbing.

You really didn't care if he didn't get a word you said. You were so grateful to have someone like him in your life, and you couldn't express it enough.

He lets you talk, and doesn't say a word. Small, simple pats and rubs of your back and knowing he hears you is enough comfort. KEL never liked it when people cried.

You sit up and wipe your face, noticing the snot and tears on KEL's shirt. Oops..

"Hey.. I.. I know we're all struggling. These past few years have been rough, and I know.. I know you have your own problems. So anytime you want to, you can talk to me. Or just hang out. Or, I don't know, we can do.. whatever. But, um, when you wanna do this again, let me know, OK?" He takes a breath.

"I, uh.. I know I don't say it often, but I really care about you. A lot. So, please talk to me." He ends his sentence with a soft smile, and you can see his eyes full of hurt.

You tear up again and hug him. "Yeah, yeah. Okay. Thank you, KEL."

He gives a genuine smile, and you swear he lights up a room with his face. "Of course. Now, about that comic!"

#omori x reader #mari x reader #hero x reader #aubrey x reader #kel x reader #omori x sh reader #mari omori x reader #omori mari x reader #hero omori x reader #omori hero x reader #omori aubrey x reader #aubrey omori x reader #kel omori x reader #omori kel x reader #im writinrg this with terruble cramps they hurt so bad ive taken 6 acetometapohnn today help #omori sh #omori fandom #omori headcanons

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richtea-biscuit · 1 year

Text

So I've watched Knives Out and Glass Onion over the last 2 days.

Obviously Glass Onion is amazing and watching Helen smash Miles' shit and literally burn down his reputation felt so cathartic. Akin to watching Elon Musk burn Twitter to the ground after saying for years that he wasn't a genius (who doesn't enjoy being right?)

But for me, Knives Out is better and it hinges on the fact that Marta is more relatable to me. And it took for me to actually sit and think to understand why.

See the thing is, Marta is a Latina woman from an immigrant family and I am a white English woman. I have never experienced racism or xenophobia so while I could see the performative liberalism (on the mild end) of some of the Thrombeys, I have never actually experienced that.

So then I started thinking maybe it's because I just found it so much easier to hate the Thrombeys than the Glass Onion ensemble. Because I have seen those kinds of people who would throw everyone else under the bus for money. Especially the way those tendencies come out when there's money to be inherited. I have seen it among certain parts of my own family (the side that I am somewhat alienated from).

It was in thinking about family, that I realised what me and Marta have in common.

We are both working class with working class values.

People who are working class deep in their soul have key values that will always win out in the end. We look after family because we love them, and we recognise what they do for us, what our parents sacrifice to try to give us the opportunities they never had. And above all, we put kindness first because nobody else is going to be kind to us.

Marta is unapologetically kind to the point where it could lead to her getting caught and losing everything, and the only reason she's even trying to play the game is to protect her mum. She plays Go not to win but to create something beautiful. She becomes Harlan's friend not just because she's paid to be his nurse but because she recognises he needs one.

And those members of my family I mentioned before who are only interested in money? They're not proud to be working class, they don’t see the goodness in it, they don’t hold their heads high. They are wannabees and class traitors.

Not Marta.

Marta is (aside from everything else) a working class icon. And I'm so happy she got to kick these white shit-eaters to the curb. And I'm even happier that she got what she deserved by being a Good Person, she's Smart and she is A Good Nurse. It's like a fantasy to me- a world where people get what they deserve and not what they can exploite out of others.

I know this is a rambling mess but I just felt so emotional about this.

Remember everyone, the 1% are not our friends, they are not to be idolised and looked up to, they will not look after us. We have to look after each other.

And we have to take power away from them whether that's taking the inheritance that your friend gives you, or burning priceless art.

God speed and eat the rich!

#glass onion #knives out #marta cabrera #i had thoughts #analysis?

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lunar-wandering · 1 year

Text

Happy Salmon

A short lil LMK fic of just the gang having fun, because man, they deserve a break.

Summary: MK brings a new card game to game night.

Word Count: 1.5k

Read on Ao3

MK slapped the new game he had purchased earlier that day onto the table in the Noodle Shop. Everyone was sitting together, the Noodle Shop closed for this night's round of Family Game Night. Through a lot of bribing and convincing, Macaque, Wukong, and Red Son were joining them for the first time. They’d already played through some of their usual games, and aside from a couple small moments of laughter and over dramatics (when Macaque found out one game hinged on being able to tell who was lying and who was telling the truth, oh, he put his theatre voice on up to the NINES, speaking in the exact same overdramatic fashion at all times, making it impossible to tell if he was outright lying or simply overdramatizing the truth), but thus far, things hadn’t descended into true unrestrained chaos. Yet.

That was soon going to change.

As the others discussed how the past games had gone, MK sat in his chair and took out the game’s rule book to silently read through, knowing that so long as he read it at least once before reading it outloud to the others, he’d be able to articulate it in a way the others would better understand before they played their first practice round.

He didn’t even make it through reading the first sentence before he choked on his own spit, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

“Ya alright, kid?” Pigsy asked, and MK held one hand over his mouth for a moment, in shock, processing, before holding back laughter as he set the rule book down on the table so that the others would be able to look and read it over his shoulder.

“Oh, I think we’re in for it.” MK snickered, pointing at the very first paragraph. “The very first line says ‘this game is best played when standing’.”

A near simultaneous “Oh- no.” went around the table, and MK laughed even harder when he read the next line.

“This game requires you to shout at all times-”

Another, more serious “Oh no.”, mostly said with humor, albeit there were a few looks at Macaque, to see what he thought about it. Noticing the looks, he simply shrugged, waving them away. He could deal with it, it would be fine.

MK, laughing the entire time, ran over the rest of the rules. Apparently, you needed to find someone who was shouting the same action card name as you, perform the action with them, and then discard the card from your personal deck as fast as possible by any means necessary, even if it meant throwing the card over your shoulder or to the floor. There were a total of four actions, high fives, fist bumps, a kinda secret handshake-esque thing where you each lightly slapped the other’s forearm, and- MK nearly wheezed before he read the next bit- swapping places with the other person.

The air was tinged with the anticipation of chaos as they all stood up, moving the chairs they had been sitting on out of the way as MK set out the proper amount of card decks on the table.

“Ok.” MK said, as everyone picked up their own deck. In all honesty, the game sounded simple enough, just find someone who matched what you were shouting and miming the action of, discard your card, and be the first person to get rid of all your cards. It probably wouldn’t take too long, nor be that hard. “Everybody ready?”

There was a series of nods around the table.

“Then three… two…. one…. go!!”

Almost instantly, it was like pure chaos had manifested itself into the room. It was nigh impossible to tell who was yelling what, and MK could barely breathe from the energy as everyone frantically exchanged high fives and fistbumps- MK caught Tang also shouting ‘Switch it up!’, and upon making sure they had locked eyes, both of them took off running to get to the other’s spot on the other side of the table. At the same time, Pigsy and Wukong did the same thing, MK and his mentor almost bumping into each other as they skidded into place, tossing their cards down at the same time. Macaque’s ears were pinned against the side of his head in response to the loud noise, but still even he was smiling and laughing like a maniac as he fist bumped with Mei.

They almost missed it when Red Son shouted that he had won, all his cards gone, it taking him repeating it a solid 3 times, as well as slamming his hands down on the table, before any of the others noticed.

Almost instantly, it was like a pressure had abated, as MK practically collapsed to the ground, holding onto the table with one hand as he struggled to regain his breath, feeling like he had just run an entire race, struggling to take deep breaths in and out around remnant laughter. Holy shit, that had been far more intense than he had thought it would be, and it wasn’t even like he’d done anything difficult!! A couple of the others were in the same state, Mei and Red Son shrugging off their jackets, knowing full well that, with this practice round as an example, they were likely going to end up working up a sweat as everyone decided that they simply had to do multiple more rounds. Macaque rubbed at his ears a little.

“Do you need some headphones, Macaque?” Mei asked, as she went through the process of picking up the cards that had been scattered haphazardly around the table, sorting them back into their own colour coded decks.

“Nah, I’m fine.” Macaque picked up the purple deck as soon as it was finished, absentmindedly shuffling it. “I know what I’m in for this time, chaos isn’t nearly as annoying or painful as the background noise of electric lights.”

“Cheers to that.” MK said, picking up the yellow deck as soon as it was ready. “Alright, everyone ready for round two?”

There was multiple sounds of agreement, and things readily fell into chaos once again.

Round’s 2 and 3 were much like the first, filled with chaos, and a cacophony of noise. The only real difference was that, when MK won in round 3, overwhelmed by the sheer energy the game had put into him, instead of yelling that he had won, he simply shrieked, which ended up being a lot louder and higher pitched than he had been expecting. He covered his mouth apologetically as the others winced, and Macaque covered his ears.

“...Sorry.” Macaque waved him off.

“‘S fine bud, just don’t do it again.”

It was round 6 when things started to go a little downhill.

“Switch it up!!” MK had yelled- looking around the table and straining to tell if anyone had the same action card as him- only to yelp as it suddenly felt like the floor gave out from under him as he plummeted down-

There was a flash of violet, and suddenly he was standing on the opposite side of the table from where he had been before, Macaque standing where MK had previously been.

Oh.

Oh, so that’s how he wanted to play this, then.

Okay.

As soon as Macaque’s shadow-portalling had registered, it was instantly like all bets were off. Obviously, there wasn’t much that could be done in terms of the fist bumps and high fives… but the switch-it-ups were now a competition.

Red Son started using his fire teleportation- very nearly singeing Tang’s arm as he appeared right beside him, Tang only just barely managing to lean away in time. Both Mei and MK started using their enhanced speed to get around the table faster, very nearly hitting each other multiple times.

Wukong, unwilling to waste time with a backflip to summon his cloud, simply decided to outright vault over the table, sending cards flying everywhere with his action, and almost slamming into Macaque as he landed on the other side.

This went on for nearly 2 minutes- fire, green and yellow sparks, as well as purple shadows flickering around the room as the chaos unfolded.

It only stopped when both Wukong and Macaque threw their final cards down on the table and shouted “I win!!” at the exact same time.

Both monkeys immediately paused, before glaring at each other, fur standing on end in a way that MK mentally compared to two cats about to start a fight. Thankfully, they were spared from witnessing another monkey argument as Sandy spoke up.

“Uh, actually, I won about a minute or so ago- but you were all too distracted to notice.”

Everyone glanced over and, sure enough, there were no cards remaining in Sandy’s hands.

“I also think that, maybe, we should switch to a different game.” Sandy held up a nearly burnt card, using it as an example that had everyone visibly wincing. “Y’know, before we accidentally destroy Pigsy’s shop.”

…Okay, so maybe things had gotten a little out of hand.

…Happy Salmon quickly became regulated as a game to only be played outside, or in Wukong’s house.

#Monkie Kid #fanfic #my writing

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lmelodie · 7 months

Text

Bad Ending AU pt.2 (Finding Peace)

Part One / Part Two / Part Three (Epilogue)

Oops! Its nearly twice as long as part one!

This part is to frankly answer my own questions of: "Hey where the FUCK is Killian's actual best friend in this terrible terrible universe? She would never allow this kind of self-destructive behavior!"

And it's true, she wouldn't. So where is Chimera? Simply put: Not in the picture anymore.

And here is why:

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, it's all over.

Lucy raced down the cold and empty hallway in a mad dash to find the council. Jack no doubt keeping them somewhere hidden away where no one would look for them.

But she didn't have to search for long before the sound of a loud bang rang out from a corridor she just passed. She turned on her heels to see none other than Mother Nature storming out of the hallway, frost sticking to her shoulders, on the war path of the century in pursuit of Jack. The rest of the council follows closely on her heels, leaving the broken remains of two heavy and no-longer-locked wooden doors broken off of their hinges. Seven relics of a bygone era brought back from the icy grave.

Lucy leads them to where the struggle had ended. Killian still sitting on the floor next to an unconscious Jack.

Everyone was quick to jump into action starting damage control, as Killian himself was immediately placed under arrest for the role he played in all of this. He and Lucy filled in the council on what they missed for the past 715 years, as he was led away in cuffs.

And it was Lucy’s own testament in the end that actually got him a far lighter sentence than what he was going to receive. Most definitely far less than what he deserved. At his trial Lucy was to act as a key witness to Killian’s actions with dismantling Jack’s powergrid so to speak. She spoke freely and highly of all of his efforts in the three years that she’s known him. He helped her learn how to use magic and helped to provide a safe place for her and her family to hide from Jack’s prying eyes. She attested to the fact that he was the only reason why any of the council were standing unfrozen to have this trial today. The only reason why Jack is no longer going to be any more of an issue.

And with such a compelling argument, he was sentenced to twenty years jail time, with an indefinite amount of time of parole afterwards. He was also put on a number of security threat lists for most of, if not all, the realms, had many of his shadowmancing licenses revoked, and had his fair share of judicial rights confiscated because of his actions in staging a legendary coop.

But he got off easy. Some disliked this ruling, others despised it. But whatever the case, Killian himself was just happy that this was finally over and done with. He took his sentence in stride, as a little vacation more than anything else. Time to clear his head. Set himself straight again.

And it's not like he didn't get plenty of visitors from family and friends alike. Lucy being one of the more frequent visitors.

............................................................................

“If I didn't know better I’d say you seemed disappointed,” he said through the glass pane.

Lucy sat on the opposite side of the surface, twenty years old but carried an air of being far older. Weathered and world weary at such a ripe age.

“I am,” she said. “I want you to be out here.”

“You know that was never going to happen. I thought I taught you to be realistic, Scarecrow.”

“Need I remind you of the power of hope, Boogeyman? Way more powerful than people think. I like a good bout of wishful thinking.”

“Twenty years ain't so bad ya know,” he explains. “Leaps and bounds better than what they were planning on giving me. A thousand years at least.”

Lucy's eyes found a spot on the floor, dejectedly unable to look at him “It's not a long time for you, but it is for me. For people like me…who dont live very long lives.”

Killian physically deflates when he understands what she’s getting at.

“Twenty years is a long time,” she continues. “And I want you to be out here, seeing what we're gonna be doing. How were gonna undo 700 years worth of damage. Seeing the world heal. I want you to see that.”

“I will,” he quietly said. “I will when I get out. After that I'll have all the time in the world to see what you’ve done with the place. Great things I'm sure.”

“I want you to be there.”

“I can't be. I aided a criminal.”

“You defeated a tyrant.”

“Dont go giving a dead man so much credit.”

“But that's what he was! That's what he was to so many people,” she declared. “I'm being ‘realistic’.”

“So am I,” he shot back, “There was no way I was going to get out of something like this and I'm fine with that! I am going to be perfectly fine here. Sky’s above knows I could use the time to try and start unpacking… a lot of things. Everything, more like. I have a feeling doing my time isn't gonna be a waste.”

Lucy looked at him almost in pity. She doesn't have any retort knowing that he’s ultimately right. A break would be good for him. But for her it’ll be more than a break, a good chunk of her life with him behind a piece of glass in a maximum security prison. The thought, no matter how right it is, just doesn't sit well with her.

“Don't go doing any of that,” Killian snapped at the soured expression on her face. “Neither of us are gonna miss a thing when you're required to visit at least once a week. Twenty years will go by so fast you won't even notice.”

Her smile was sad and small, but a genuine smile nonetheless, “Of course,” she sighed, “Twenty years? Bring it on.”

............................................................................

But while Killians trial was speedy and somewhat unanimous, it was Jack, like always, that was giving Mother Nature trouble. As soon as they found him, Jack’s body was temporarily moved to a secure healing facility in The Citadel as a means of keeping an eye on his vitals before deciding how he should be further handled.

The council members, and even Lucy herself all had their own ideas about how to “store” Jack away since he should be unconscious for the rest of the foreseeable future. Father Time insisted that Mother Nature be the one to make the final call on what to do with him, and pushed her to handle it as soon as possible.

But she quietly refused. Kept him in the healing bay while she found something else of great importance to worry about.

Jack was the only holder of winter magic on earth. She noticed right away that if he’s to remain asleep then there will be no one to bring about the season of winter.

So instead of unpacking the implications of her estranged son freezing her solid, taking her job and nearly destroying magical society, she switched gears. Burry all of that deep under the frozen ground for now while she tries to fix the most important problems at hand. Much to Father Time’s and Lucy’s chagrin.

She ordered the inspection of Jacks’ main home and other properties to find and retrieve any magical items of his own making. Crystals packed with ice blasts, snow blanketing enchantments, anything and everything that would give them access to a small portion of his power. Even the public was called upon to give up any products of his they might have purchased, under the guarantee that they will be reimbursed for the item tenfold if they did so.

Once these items were assembled, the council had put together a team of the finest magical/mechanical engineers in all the realms. Put in charge of creating something that will spit out the appropriate levels of winter magic, to see to it that the season comes and goes in Jack’s stead. It took most of the year, and almost cut it a bit close near the end of autumn, but it was eventually made.

A tall column with a large base in the very center of a decked out summoning circle was erected in Jack’s realm; In a clearing in the evergreen forest. The column and the spell circle on the floor had what seemed to be a million and one sigils carved into them in regular intervals, glowing a phosphorus blue. The flared base of the column expertly hid the myriad of wires connecting all of the winter centric items together.

Hovering in the air above the tip of the column was a huge diamond shaped crystal that shone in the same color. Occasionally admitting a few blasts of blue bolts to satisfy the natural order.

One history altering feat of engineering later, and winter was now fully automated.

Which now leaves the bit Mother Nature didn't want to think about; What to finally do with Jack? They can't try him at all, he can't carry out any sentence he isn't already serving. There's only so many options for the comatose body of a former dictator.

She didn't have the time, but mostly the courage to face the thing that he’s become. The thing she didn't even get to witness herself. She tried her damndest to put any kind of grief on the back burner, she reasoned that he was already too far gone when this happened. He was the only one she had, but he hasn't been her son in a very long time.

Which is why her typhoon of grief confused her so much. Why should she feel bad for him? She doesnt know this man, not any son of hers, nothing of her own blood and magic. She shouldn't feel anything for him. And yet this terrible cloud that keeps knocking at her door only seems to get bigger and darker. Rain falls from it and floods her floorboards. Why does she still ache for someone who doesnt exist anymore? Nostalgia? Longing for a memory of a memory?

She doesn't know. Not yet at any rate, and she doesn't want to either. There are still things to do, institutions that need her attention.

Ultimately she decided that he’ll be laid to rest in his own home. In his own bed that he’s made for himself.

His room was turned into a pseudo hospital suite. She was assured that the endless nightmare would keep his body in a state of limbo, but measures were still taken to keep an eye on his vitals as he slept.

Just to make sure.

And once everything was hooked up to him, preparations were all made, Mother Nature cleared the room to have a last moment with him.

She stood at the far edge of the bed and was almost afraid to move any closer. Afraid that he would suddenly come to, jump at her with the viciousness that she was only told about second hand. Afraid to come face to face with the monster she doesn't want to believe actually exists.

But when he doesn't move, and the air stays cold and still, she plucks up her courage to approach his bedside. She summons a small object in her hand and bends down to send him off with it. To store away this memory of him.

She gently, so gently, takes his hands and places a small chunk of ice in them, folding them over the ice and placing it on his chest. The piece of ice holds a tiny bioluminescent light inside. Small yet brightly glowing as a token of the past. When he was still new to the world, and still needed her.

She clasped her hands around his, and tightly shut her eyes, willing her feelings to be buried with him.

She eventually, silently leaves. Never to return.

The gate to his realm was promptly locked and sealed with Jack put to bed inside. Only medical attendants and very select authorized individuals were able to have access to him, if need be. Securely tucked away where he wouldn't hurt anyone again.

............................................................................

Then came the next hardest step, slowly rebuilding what was lost.

The council made detailed step by step plans to reinstate the major holidays that were long gone. The members who had these holidays made fast work of starting up production again; making new routing paths and sourcing all the needed material. All projected holidays were set to be fully back up and operational within the next year or two.

Any trace of Frostmas was quickly burned from existence, the general population very happy to be rid of it from their homes and minds. It was only 715 years, a somewhat small drop in the bucket for magical beings that could feasibly live to 10,000. But everyone was more tripped up by this violent intrusion than they thought. And the healing process of society would be a long and arduous path yet to come.

But already Jack’s temporary economic solutions were finally being addressed and dealt with. Either gotten rid of all together or built upon to be more sustainable. The people didn't have to fend for themselves anymore.

But this wasn't enough for Mother Nature. She was determined to keep herself busy with anything and everything she could find. Running towards fire after fire to try and put them out. It wasn't a hard task to look for things to do, but it wasn't solely out of responsibility and obligation to restoring the natural order.

She only kept running because she couldn't find the strength to stop.

To think about the loss of her only remaining family. Think about where it all went so wrong, where she went wrong. Think about how maybe all of this was just some big mistake. A cruel joke played on her by some kind of higher power that she didn't even believe in. She knows that her grief for all that she’s given and lost would surely be too much to bear.

So she fixates on continuing to mend more of Jack’s mess. Lasered in on saving those who still can be.

Father Time is first and foremost to pick up on this, but it was actually Lucy who eventually coaxed her out of such a state some odd years later to finally face her feelings.

She was oftentimes considered the only saving grace of not only the realms but the abysmal recuperation period in the decades to follow. Having gotten her powers at 17 and overthrew Jack at 20, she lost a critical state of her youth to freak circumstances. And yet still looked around at the state of the realms and saw that there was still more work to be done. She was a beacon of hope in the aftermath of it all, and grew into her power as naturally as any other spirit.

This is where she found her love in humanitarian work, determined to reinstate the much needed stability for those in need. Those who were hit the hardest in the wake of Jack’s reign. She utilized her powers well in bringing back a sense of balance and harmony to the realms; a much needed reprieve to everyone.

Which is why Mother Nature’s inner discord bothered her so much. It took years after the fact for Lucy to wear her down enough to finally talk about her state of mind.

They were actually in the far outskirts of the Easter Burrow when it happened, surrounded by flower fields and crisp air and open blue skies. Lucy worked her magic (figuratively and literally), and assured Mother Nature that nothing bad was going to happen if she let herself feel her feelings.

“It feels so much easier to just swim down with something like this. When something so bad happens. Something out of our control, hurt by people we love. None of it is ever easy. But the further down you swim, the more you’ll get crushed by the pressure. That's thousands of pounds of water, and you need to breathe.

Just breathe.”

And eventually, against her own better judgment, she did.

The Easter Burrow that afternoon was suddenly drenched in a horrendous and inexplicable downpour. Heavy and hard were the drops of rain, yet the wind held no malice. The air cried with its master, spewing a feeling of hollow pain down from the heavens onto the surface of the earth. Screaming about how unfair this all was. She wept so hard and so fiercely that everything was threatened to be washed away.

But then the heavy rain turned into a drizzle. Which turned into a sprinkle, then a mist. The sky eventually opened up for the sunlight to come through.

As it always does.

............................................................................

Splintered through the regular visits from Lucy, Duna and Vic, Killian found himself in a bit of a state as well.

Whether it was a conscious choice or not, he didn't do a lot of thinking while imprisoned. Did not deliberate too closely on his choices and if there was more he could have done or anything like that. The stark dullness and repetition of jail time was actually a welcomed reprieve from the overstimulation he’s been accustomed to for the past couple thousand years.

He thinks about things like that while he's here. How he spent close to two thirds of his current immortal lifespan with him. Getting dragged around and pushed from edge to edge and letting it all happen to boot. Letting himself get sucked into all of his problems so willingly because he couldn't seem to let him go. Even still he doesn't know if it was actually love or manipulation or trauma bonding or something like that. And how maybe he will never know.

But he also thinks about how different it is here. How much of a relief it is to not have the boat being constantly rocked, at the mercy of the ever changing tides. The waters here are calm for a change, so he takes this time to rest. To get reacquainted with himself amidst the quiet.

Some days are better than others.

Some days he finds it too quiet, the air missing the running faucet of nonsense that Jack's voice usually takes up. Feeling as though he himself is missing something instrict to his being. Feeling that the quiet is oppressive rather than freeing.

Some days it's too cold in jail to think straight. It only makes him think of him more. Like feeling his ghost lurk around every chilly corner. He turns expecting to see him, but he’s never there. He’s decided that he hates the cold, thinks about maybe moving somewhere much warmer to escape it once he’s free.

Every thought all at once and yet a numbingly empty mind. A strange and psychologically eventful twenty years will creep up on you when you least expect it. Because suddenly the day came when his sentence was finished, and his parole began.

............................................................................

He was given back his normal clothes and any small innocuous possessions that were taken from him at the beginning. He was led through a set of enchanted gateways, placing him firmly outside the confines of the prison. Somehow a free man.

Three figures stood at the foot of the path of the prison, waiting to walk him home. And when he reached them they all practically dog piled him into a group hug that could bend steel. His mother and nephew looked much the same. But Lucy was now a grown woman, hardly the same kid he led a revolution with all those years ago.

Her hair is longer somehow, and she has the beginnings of smile lines creasing her face. But she looks happier. He just wished he could’ve had a better look at how her face changed instead of through the glass. But he was never going to admit to her that she was right. Not even now.

Lucy held onto him in a bone crushing hug and spoke softly, as if not to scare him away, “Please don't go anywhere again.”

Killian hugged back, “I won't. Wouldn't dream of it.”

No one in the group said anything for a long while, not until the hug finally broke off and dissipated.

“How old are you now, exactly? Fourty or something?” Killian asks. “It looks good on you. Even though your youth has slipped right through your fingers where you’ll never get it back.”

She smacks her hand on his shoulder, “Oh please! You're a whole fifty year old! You're not that much older than me. And I'll probably look even better than you when I'm your age.”

“Fah! I'm older than all three of you together. Wait until seven thousand, fetita (little girl). Then you’ll know age like I do,” Duna piped up.

Everyone has a good laugh at this remark. Vic rediscovers the routine of climbing up Killian’s leg and perching on his shoulder.

“Come on,” Lucy says, leading the way to the bypass, “I have a lot of work you need to see.”

Killian smiled, “Cant wait.”

............................................................................

It's just as he remembered it. The same world he thought he lost over 700 years ago. The whole of the realms seemed to be taking sigh of relief. A rare stable breath that need no longer be held in an anxious wait for something horrible to happen. Everyone knows that this is just the beginning in getting things back to how they were, finding new strides in a new age. But nobody seems to fear this change.

Killian nearly drowned in the sea of distant relatives that welcomed him when he returned home. A vicious attack the likes of which Lucy has never seen before.

His home also remained largely unchanged. Dustier, staler air but all of his things are right where he remembered leaving them. Along with a few additional items that he forgot he still had.

Lucy was there to help him sort through them, the things that Jack left behind that he was now saddled to deal with. Tiny, boring, things that were gathered and packed into a small box or bag, set aside to be tossed into a bottomless pit or set aflame to burn them to ashes.

And in the middle of this miniature purge, Killian stopped when something in the corner of his space caught his eye. Reminding him of one of the greater tasks still at hand. A bigger bridge to rebuild.

Sitting next to the fireplace was a potted Belladonna plant. Long since shriveled and browned in its place, it gives him a staring problem from afar. It somehow makes itself largely known and obvious in its pathetically deceased state.

Chimera’s gift to him lifetimes ago.

The recognition of something being amiss was instantaneous, second nature to her at this point. Lucy looks over to him when she notices he stopped moving.

“Kills?”

He keeps his gaze firmly on the plant, remorse trying to seep into his pours, “...Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” She gently sets down the box she was holding onto the floor, saddling up behind him.

He doesn't say anything at first, his micro expressions going a mile a minute trying to find the right words to use. A feather soft hand on his shoulder eventually pulls it together and out of him.

“I really need to talk to her.”

And she knows exactly what he’s talking about. Mostly, anyway. The two of these very unlikely friends have had many deep expanding conversations while in visitation. Of course, since Lucy took up a bit of psychology in between helping the realms, she worked her other, more human form of magic by trying to give Killian some kind of mental help while imprisoned.

And the subject of his once friend Chimera did come up and was somewhat explored. The nitty gritty was never explained to her in full, but she didn't need it to be. Jack taking the realms by force, with Killian’s help no less, was a struggle for everyone to come to terms with. A nasty falling out happened between him and Chimera in the immediate aftermath of the shift of power.

Contact was severely limited and then cut out all together, something she attributed to Killian’s descent into eventual codependency later on. A connection he never intended to sever.

“I think you should,” she nudged.

“She’s not gonna wanna see me.”

“I think she will.”

He hesitates, “You think so?”

“I do. You know I've been talking to her.”

“Is she still doing okay?”

“Perfectly fine,” she smiled, “talked to her a week and a half ago. Finally convinced her to update the flatscreen. Nice and sleek!”

“Hm,” was all he could manage before growing mute once again.

Lucy lets out a long sigh, “Maybe she won't wanna see you, maybe she won't forgive you. But she deserves to at least receive your apology anyway. You owe that to her at the very least, for her own sake.”

Her other hand comes up to hold onto his limp arm, his eyes growing sadder. Swimming with more thoughts than he was expecting, more than he was capable of handling at the moment. Lucy swings herself around to the front of him.

“Tomorrow,” she says, “having that talk is a tomorrow problem. Right now, all we gotta focus on is taking out the trash. And you keeping your promise about lunch.”

A ghost of a smile threatened to crest his face at the comment, “It's a hole in the wall…”

“Those are my favorite kinds of places!” She took both of his wrists and led him back to the box on the floor, facing away from the dead plant. “Obscurity and mystery is the best ambiance for food.”

“You're not gonna like it. Might not even be anything there you can ingest. That's the gimmick, all of it is still alive when it gets to your plate.”

She grimaces through a smile, “Lovely! Can't…wait.”

Killian snickers, “You dont look like someone that can hunt down their own food. Never thought one of the first things I do on the outside is dinner and a show.”

............................................................................

The following day was harder to digest than a living beast scuttling around on a restaurant table top.

Both Killian and Lucy had made the journey to Lycia in anticipatory silence, and now they stood at Chimera’s front door step. Well, many steps leading up a hill on the side of a cliff face, stone architecture details carved into the mountain.

He would never say anything of the sort to anyone, not even Lucy here in this moment, but he was nervous. Scared. A friendship that sadly fizzled out what seemed like a lifetime ago and here he is trying to reverse time. Truly an impossible task.

But Lucy silently and gently nudges him onward, keeping by his side as he very slowly trudges onward and upward to his fate.

As they get closer they can hear the faint sounds of Chimera conversing with someone, the smell of sulfur and methane grows stronger and they can see all her normal bright colored lights illuminating the home.

Once they get to the top, the both of them creep further into the entryway, and from afar they can see Chimera through the rest of the house. She stands in the middle of her work table, in front of a very fresh pot of boiling acid. Wooden spoon in hand, she absentmindedly stirs the glowing green liquid and makes light conversation with someone on the other end of the crystal ball on the table next to her.

“She said she didn't want to take the pole shift because it's too ‘difficult’ with three other people on there. And I said, girl! You're all gnomes! What do you mean there's no room on the pole? Yall arent even 5 feet combined.”

And just like many other things he’s reacclimating to, everything about her is somehow still just as he remembers.

Lucy gives him another pat on the shoulder and a reassuring glance before strutting further into the home as if she owned the place. Leaving Killian lingering behind, ready to leave at a moment's notice.

“Hey Mera. Don't mind me, just popping in for a sec. Brought a friend if that's alright,” She walks up behind Chimera and steals her attention away. Her feline-esque face lights up upon recognition.

“Hey girl! Haven't seen you in a minute,” she abruptly and rudely ends the call on the crystal ball with a swipe of her hand. “Hello fresh meat back there! Just give me a second.”

His gaze is locked on straight ahead of him, but he can feel his throat get dryer as she unknowingly starts talking to him for the first time again.

When she finally turns around she freezes. The two beings look. And stare. And linger in their spots for what felt like hours. Hours of just seeing who stood before them and trying to compartmentalize the fact that they're both here.

After another long silent moment, Chimera casts a glance to Lucy; twisted into annoyance as if to say: “Of course you would try to pull off some kinda bullshit like this.”

Lucy merely gave her a look back, wherein her smile was nervous but her eyes were confident. She’s been mending all kinds of bridges for the past twenty years, it's her job, and job she’s become real damn good at. She takes a couple steps away from the both of them, giving the conversation room to breathe.

Chimera doesn’t look back to Killian and instead snaps her head away in a huff, “...Killian.”

“Chimera,” was all he could manage to respond with before another awkward lull took hold.

“Why are you here?” she spat over her shoulder, crossing her arms.

“Uh...a lot of reasons.”

She continues to turn her nose up at him, her tone sharp and bitter, “Hm. So…the past twenty years been kind to you? Kinder than I've been?”

“They've been as okay as they can be,” he treads lightly, “I've actually enjoyed prison time more than I thought I would.”

“Tch. Of course you would. Never could stay away from a cold, inhospitable place, could you?”

Her phrasing cuts right where it needs to, right as intended. It slaps him out the idea of dawdling any longer. It's like a bandaid, and now's the time where he has to rip it off.

“You were right,” every word is molasses as he speaks. “You were right about the whole thing…”

“I was, wasn't I?” she swivels her head back around to face him. “Who knew that I can actually know what the hell I'm talking about sometimes.”

“Mera—”

“Don't you Mera me! It's my turn to talk and you didn't listen to me then but you're sure as hell gonna listen to me now!” Her voice plunges from its irritated high into a more remorseful softness, “Do you have…any idea how much that hurt me?

I was only trying to help you. I knew things were gonna go south and they did, and you didn't wanna listen to me.”

Everyone's mind drifts off to the part that she’s referring to. The point of time in question wherein Killian was faced with a choice and a challenge that there was no winning.

Chimera and Jack got into a heated argument soon after the news aired on the crystal ball's public access. A date was set in place when the passover of the torch would be held, where the Council of Legendary Figures would be disbanded and be replaced with only Jack at the helm.

Killians part to play in this scenario remained untold as they violently yelled at each other. Chimera claiming that Jack was unfit to take over and was the least qualified person available to do so. And Jack retaliates with his own claims of legitimacy and solidification, there being nothing anyone can do about it.

It all boiled over quicker than either expected, and Chimera delivered the first crisp slap to the face. It only devolved from there.

Ice and acid do not make a great elemental combination. The entire space they were occupying became wet and slick with water and liquid poisons. Holes burned into random surfaces and walls, half melted icicles everywhere you looked.

And it was this actual war zone that Killian ended up walking in on.

He is forced to separate them, trying to keep the physical damage of both his best friend and his partner as minimal as possible.

And while being held back from the fight, Jack revealed Killians involvement with all this. In an effort for her to point her finger at not just him in this situation. Afterall he’s equally to blame for it just as much as me.

And Killian will never forget the look she gave him in that moment. The utter disbelief, the betrayal in her eyes that he simply wasn't prepared for. A haunting look that would continue to plague him hundreds of years.

And even though the question itself was never asked, they both looked to Killian in that moment, hoping he would choose them to side with.

Which relationship was more important here?

“And what did you do? Nothing! You didn't choose at all, which means you didn't choose me!” Chimera rattled off. “I thought I was more important than that.”

“You were. Of course you were but I chose wrong anyway,” Killians defense was only as loud as it needed to be. Quiet enough with remorse but loud enough to make a point for her to hear.

“I don't…have a valid excuse for ignoring your advice. I—I just wanted it to work so bad. I wanted that more than anything else. For hundreds of years I wanted to keep thinking it was gonna work out eventually.

But low and behold, I put all my eggs in one basket and this is what happened. And I shouldn't have done that to you…I should've listened to you when I had the chance. I know hindsight makes it seem really easy to say but it's still true.

I'm sorry, Mera. I was wrong about everything.”

The last bit of his plight slipped into a deeper regret, smoothed with sincerity that Chimera could not only feel but see on his face.

She hadn't noticed until now but he somehow looks older. Immortal beings like them don't get older, and yet he’s done it. Maybe it's all the new gray in his hair, maybe it was the dark circles under his eyes. Whatever it was, the most undeniable thing about him was that the past 2,000 years attached to the hip of one Jack Frost did not do him any favors.

She imagines that this is what the embodiment of what a walking talking regret looks like.

The self reproach was undoubtedly genuine.

“Ya know…I was kinda hoping it would've worked out too,” she lets out a weighted sigh, her eyes finding some boring stone on the floor to fixate on. “Even after we had that big fight, we didn't talk. I would see you around with him occasionally and I thought, ‘God I hope it was worth it’. Even in a spiteful sense, I still kinda wanted you to be happy.

I was thinking that it would've even been okay if I was in the wrong. That maybe I didn't know what I was talking about, and that you would've been happy together anyway.”

He seems taken aback by this comment, and it takes him another moment to say anything, “I wouldn't have been. It was a lost cause from the very start. And I shouldn't have chosen him at your expense. He shouldn't have been that important. And he wasn't. But I didn't want to see reason at the time.”

Suddenly he shakes his head a few times, as if to snap him out of the sentimentality he slipped into.

“In any case, I just came here to apologize. For everything that I did and didn't do. For how I treated you,” he takes a few cautionary steps backwards towards the front door. “And you don't have to accept it and you don't have to talk to me again after this. It's just been uh, long overdue.”

Chimera’s expression doesn't change from a rugged hardness as she finally approaches him. He takes another step back in response, but has no choice but to stare down the barrel of the gun as she looms over him.

They both stare at the other and remain resolute, until Chimera bends forward and hugs him. A hug that isnt bear-like, but constricting and cagy.

And Killinan, still not used to receiving hugs of any kind, freezes up and dares not to move. For all he knows she could be slipping some kind of lethal toxin onto or into him when she’s this close.

But he glances at Lucy out of the corner of his eye and sees that she is all smiles. Making the hand motions for “go on”, prodding him to hug back.

He can hear his heart beating louder in his chest when he decides to do so, slowly bridging his arms up to her shoulders to reciprocate.

“This doesn't mean I fully forgive you by the way,” she mumbles close to his ear, “that's gonna be a whole other thing.

But I want to…I wanna try.”

He almost didn't want to believe it. He felt as though maybe it would've been an easier pill to swallow if she had simply ripped him a new one and threw him back out of her life again. He couldn't argue with that, but he couldn't argue with this either. This was the choice she was making, and he had no say in the matter whether or not he was going to be truly forgiven.

But he didnt question it further. He instead hugged her back with more strength and conviction. Savoring a small sliver of warmth he has thus far denied himself.

“Thank you.”

#nonart #musings #bad ending au #this project has both taken and added years to my life #the mother nature angst in here was TASTY GOOD to write #i say put that mother through HELL #PUT EVERYONE THROUGH HELL #YOU GET A BAD ENDING #AND YOU GET A BAD ENDING!!#yeah :)

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