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mariana-oconnor · 10 months

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The Norwood Builder pt 2

Last time absolutely no one had any chill at all. We met a very excitable solicitor who had been told he was to inherit a substantial fortune, then framed for the murder of an old family friend (confirmation pending), all within 24 hours.

The body recovered had been burnt beyond recognition, which I only mention because my current theory is that the dead guy, whose name I cannot currently remember, had beef with the parents of the solicitor, and therefore faked his own death and framed their son in revenge.

It's a very convoluted plan, but as mentioned previously, everyone in this story is working at chill level -9000.

“My first movement, Watson,” said he, as he bustled into his frock-coat, “must, as I said, be in the direction of Blackheath.” “And why not Norwood?”

Because so far no one's actually inquired into what the connection between our young friend and his mysterious (and possibly dead) benefactor is.

Like, if the guy has faked his own death, but somehow dies over the course of this adventure in a way not connected to Mr McFarlane, would the will still be held as legally binding? Because that sounds just the right amount of karma for me to get behind.

Clearly in that case the will was not intended to be taken seriously, and also it was written up by the beneficiary, which is sus af, but still...

"No, my dear fellow, I don't think you can help me. There is no prospect of danger, or I should not dream of stirring out without you. I trust that when I see you in the evening..."

Guy gives up his job for you, and you just leave him at home like a sad little puppy.

This probably means that he's about to learn something that would give the game away, so it must not be exposed to the reader through our narrator. Or something.

It was late when my friend returned, and I could see by a glance at his haggard and anxious face that the high hopes with which he had started had not been fulfilled.

Oh no. So he didn't discover anything important from the McFarlanes. No epic rivalry or previous vendetta.

“Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the late lamented Oldacre was a pretty considerable black-guard. The father was away in search of his son. The mother [...] would not express either surprise or regret over the fate of Oldacre. On the contrary, she spoke of him with such bitterness that she was unconsciously considerably strengthening the case of the police [...] ‘He was more like a malignant and cunning ape than a human being,’ said she, ‘and he always was, ever since he was a young man.’"

Oh... so that's exactly what I thought. The old guy was horrible, they all hated each other. He seems the exact kind of person to take revenge for an old slight by faking his own death and framing his 'enemy's' son. I don't know what you're talking about Holmes.

Also, if you're going to just relate to us what happened, moment by moment, why didn't Watson just go with him, ACD?

“‘Yes, I knew him well; in fact, he was an old suitor of mine. Thank Heaven that I had the sense to turn away from him and to marry a better, if a poorer, man.'"

That's your motive. Right there.

"...she produced a photograph of a woman, shamefully defaced and mutilated with a knife."

That's creepy and exactly the stalker-like behaviour of a man who bears a grudge and who will absolutely take it out on your son decades later.

But whytf did you keep the photo? Just burn it.

"The blood-stains were very slight, mere smears and discolorations, but undoubtedly fresh."

So there's no real sign that someone was killed in that room, then?

"But it seemed to me that all the papers were not there. There were allusions to some deeds—possibly the more valuable—which I could not find."

Two theories: either they never existed or Mr Oldacre took them with him as he absonded.

"Mrs. Lexington is her name, a little, dark, silent person, with suspicious and sidelong eyes."

Three theories, the housekeeper took them.

"She could tell us something if she would—I am convinced of it. But she was as close as wax. Yes, she had let Mr. McFarlane in at half-past nine. She wished her hand had withered before she had done so. She had gone to bed at half-past ten. Her room was at the other end of the house, and she could hear nothing of what passed. Mr. McFarlane had left his hat, and to the best of her belief his stick, in the hall."

OK, so the police theory is Mr McFarlane left his stick in the hall, went in to see Mr Oldacre, came out to get his stick (specifically for the purposes of killing the man) then left the stick and went out again?

The real question is where is his hat? Did he leave that behind or did he take it with him, because if he had the opportunity to regain the stick for murderous purposes, then he had the opportunity to get his hat as well. No hat was mentioned at his first appearance, and Watson does like to describe a good hat, but he technically should have taken it off as soon as he entered the house.

Also, she's covering for the 'dead' guy. She knows he's not dead.

"I fear that the Norwood Disappearance Case will not figure in that chronicle of our successes which I foresee that a patient public will sooner or later have to endure.”

Tell us how you really feel, ACD.

Every time Holmes is dismissive of Watson's writing (or flat out insulting like he is here) I just see it as ACD projecting and it's a lot funnier.

“Surely,” said I, “the man's appearance would go far with any jury?” “That is a dangerous argument, my dear Watson. You remember that terrible murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in '87? Was there ever a more mild-mannered, Sunday-school young man?”

oh my god. omg omgomg... is this... is this a passage in a Sherlock Holmes story that outright states that appearance is not linked to criminal behaviour?

Do my eyes deceive me?

Watson's still plumping for the physiognomic view, and yet shot down immediately.

"On looking over the bank-book I found that the low state of the balance was principally due to large cheques which have been made out during the last year to Mr. Cornelius."

That sounds like an...

No, really. Oldacre is Cornelius, Cornelius is Oldacre. Everything makes sense now. He's been funnelling money into accounts under a different name so he can have funds when he takes on his new identity.

The carpet round his chair was littered with cigarette-ends...

Really Holmes? That's just nasty. I'm sure you have an ashtray somewhere. Do you expect Mrs Hudson to pick those up?

“Important fresh evidence to hand. McFarlane's guilt definitely established. Advise you to abandon case. — Lestrade."

Lestrade, my guy, I'm pretty sure that's going to turn out to be evidence that definitely establishes McFarlane's innocence.

Oldacre won't have been able to resist doing his own little 'cock-a-doodle of victory' and he'll overplay his hand. Or he'll be playing the part of a tramp who 'saw the whole thing happen'.

"After all, important fresh evidence is a two-edged thing, and may possibly cut in a very different direction to that which Lestrade imagines."

Holmes and I are on the same page, it seems. Even if he hasn't caught up to my masterplan of Oldacre and Cornelius being one and the same.

I have known him presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition. “At present I cannot spare energy and nerve force for digestion,” he would say in answer to my medical remonstrances.

Between this and the cigarette butts I'm just...

Within the gates Lestrade met us, his face flushed with victory, his manner grossly triumphant. “Well, Mr. Holmes, have you proved us to be wrong yet? Have you found your tramp?” he cried.

OK, now Lestrade has also lost his cool... we are all dramatic bitches in this story. No one is free from it.

Calm down, Lestrade. I'm sure you've been through moments like this before where you thought you'd beaten him but hadn't. In fact, I know you have because I've read some of them. Just take a deep breath and count backwards from 100.

"Step this way, if you please, gentlemen, and I think I can convince you once for all that it was John McFarlane who did this crime.”

I bet you a shiny new sixpence that you can't.

“This is where young McFarlane must have come out to get his hat after the crime was done,” said he.

OH MY GOD, It's the fucking hat. Did he have a hat?

Well, it's a fingerprint. Which wouldn't be accepted as evidence in the British court system until 1901. This story is set in 189? although it was published in 1903. So Lestrade is actually ahead of his time here. This is Cutting Edge Victorian crime fighting, people. Lestrade is a modern, forward-thinking law enforcement officer.

As he held the waxen print close to the blood-stain it did not take a magnifying glass to see that the two were undoubtedly from the same thumb.

Very impressive eyesight everyone has to be able to accurately compare and identify a thumbprint with the naked eye so quickly. My guys you are killing it with your perception rolls. And people say that the police in the Sherlock Holmes stories aren't very perceptive.

“What a providential thing that this young man should press his right thumb against the wall in taking his hat from the peg!"

I need to know if he even took his hat. Because if his own story is to be believed, then he went out the back way and left hat and cane behind. So if he didn't have his hat then this is clearly evidence he's been framed.

Admittedly, having the wherewithal to fake fingerprints when they're not even a legally accepted piece of evidence yet is some high level framing. Pity you wasted it on the hat story.

“It was the housekeeper, Mrs. Lexington, who drew the night constable's attention to it.”

Not suspicious at all. Look at this perfect bloody thumbprint that you missed. Right next to the hat that I absolutely did not remove.

“Only this: that I know that that mark was not there when I examined the hall yesterday."

You could have said that to Lestrade. He might have taken it as sour grapes, but I really feel like you should have mentioned that to him.

Finally, on the top corridor, which ran outside three untenanted bedrooms, he again was seized with a spasm of merriment.

Is Mr Oldacre hiding in his own attic? That would be impressive.

“I think it is time now that we took our friend Lestrade into our confidence. He has had his little smile at our expense, and perhaps we may do as much by him if my reading of this problem proves to be correct. Yes, yes; I think I see how we should approach it.”

Just waiting to be petty and dramatic about it, I see.

Also, I will be taking that sixpence, now, Inspector Lestrade.

I've gone back to double check and there is no mention of a hat in the first part, although they don't specify that they didn't go back out into the hallway, it certainly implies that they didn't. So if Mr McFarlane did not get his stick, he did not get his hat. That hat is somewhere around.

Or it's been burnt with the body.

Whatever, Oldacre's not dead, although he may have killed a random innocent bystander and burnt their body to cinders in order to effect his own escape. Oldacre's a dick, the housekeeper's in on it. I don't know how they got the fingerprint. They would have had to get Mr McFarlane to touch something soft enough to retain the mark, then make a cast of that, then use that cast to make the mark. Although this might all be based on Victorian understanding of fingerprints, so who knows.

#Letters from Watson #Sherlock Holmes #The Norwood Builder #long post

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gale-gentlepenguin · 2 years

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ML au: Cyberpunk Miracle Runners

-(thanks to @xhanisai for ideas and listening to my rambles)

-side note, they are all 18 and older in this cause it’s cyberpunk (and cause the knick knack paddywack is expected)

-Adrien is the son of a corpo that basically disowned him after he had the audacity to request better for the employees of Agreste tech.

-Alone and on the streets, Adrien did manage to take something from his father, a military grade experimental tech implant. The Cataclysm, basically it allowed the user when activated to f*** with whatever it made contact with, it was an atom scrambler.

-After being mistaken for another agreste tech punk, Ladybug tried to pickpocket him. And after some flirting and messing with Agreste tech corpos, they became friends.

-Adrien ended up recruited into Majestia’s crew. There Adrien took the alias, “Chat noir”.

-Rich boy learned the ropes quick and he worked really well with Ladybug. Who he learned the real name of (Marinette)

-There was also Knight owl, Rena Rouge (the team Net runner), Carapace, Bunnyx, Volpina (secondary net runner), Eagle, Uncanny, viperion, Tigress, and Pigella.

-Ryuuko also was part of the team, acting as a spy on the inside, and vouched for Adrien (as she knew his situation)

-Felix was the team benefactor, he gave them the eddies, and the missions on the high end.

-Gabriel had found a way to induce Cyberpsychosis in people and control them like puppets. He calls it his Akuma virus.

-Marinette managed to create an antivirus called “miracle bug” a virus that destroys the virus.

-Viperion was killed by a guy with Cyberpsycosis after the guy pissed on his guitar.

-Volpina betrayed the team and ended up getting most of them killed (save for Rena Rouge, Bunnyx, Carapace, Ladybug and Chat noir)

-Rena Rouge ends up fighting Volpina in the net and gets her to have her mind erased. Causing Volpina to go brain dead.

-Carapace had to fight G, (Gabriel’s imitation of Adam Smasher)

-Rena Rouge and Carapace died fighting him. G left after, feeling he should no longer serve Gabriel.

-Chat noir and Ladybug made it to the top of Agreste tower. Where they find a dead Ryuuko, killed for being a traitor.

-Gabriel reveals that he knew his son was attacking and activated his obedience chip, which was corrupted by the akuma virus.

-Adrien critically injures Marinette and after she kisses him (giving him the antivirus) he breaks free.

-But after seeing what he’d done, he overclocks his cybernetics and fights his father.

-Marinette uses that chance to upload the antivirus. She saves the city.

-Adrien uses the cataclysm on his fathers heart (one of the few human parts of him) causing him a gruesome death.

-Adrien’s body glowing white from overheating. He moved to Marinette. Both of them knew they were going to die

-He scooped her up, he jumped out the building and used his boots to fly

-“We may not have had long, but being with you was as free as being a star in the sky” Marinette said as she cupped his cheeks

-“I’m sorry I couldn’t take you to the moon”

-They kiss as they explode

-Marinette managed to turn off their pain receptors before the blast, let them enjoy their last moments.

#miraculous ladybug #ml au #miracle runners AU #ml x cyberpunk #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng

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darkdevasofdestruction · 3 years

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A Thousand Year Love ~ Ryomen Sukuna x Kitsune!Reader

Okay, I wrote the Reader's name as "Kitsune", but that's mostly because I envisioned a nine tailed fox without an actual name, that everyone would just call her "Fox" as if she wasn't anyone worth naming, despite her rank.

This is a little fic which explored Sukuna's supposed backstory, 1000 years prior to he action of Jujutsu Kaisen - Idk if it's accurate, I didn't yet read the manga, I still have 6 more episodes from the anime, but I had this idea and I couldn't stop myself from writing about it.

Most of it builds up the bond that very slowly grows between Sukuna and Kitsune, then snaps during a scene somewhere around episode 4 of the anime, when Sukuna takes over Yuji's body, and Yuji can't switch for a while, but with enough altercations that it's not exactly the same as in the said episode.

Hope you enjoy this <3

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"What are we doing here...?" Kitsune asked her parents in a voice that was barely audible as she looked left and right at the huge estate's gardens.

Estate? Rather said, palace, since this place was grandiose - Most likely, even more so than the Emperor's own Palace, the girl thought to herself. Everywhere she looked, cherry, plum and pear trees were in blossom, even though it wasn't their time. Statues and little shrines, along with various small pools with flowers, lanterns and lotuses were scattered as much as her vision would allow her to see. Looking up at the estate, she realised just how small she was in comparison to the intimidating and imposing energies radiating all over the place.

"You are going to meet someone very important, dear." her mother spoke, yet her voice wasn't as gentle as usual, rather, it sounded stiff, on the edge...Almost afraid, maybe? It was foreign for young Kitsune, as she has been confined in her little palace her whole life under the pretext of keeping her safe. But it did exactly the opposite, she believed, considering she itched to explore and go on adventures with each second passing. "Who is it?" she asked as soon as they stepped inside the palace...But it was so dark, save for the red, malicious light from the lanterns and candles lit in just the perfect places so it would guide them to the room they had to go to. "...You will find out soon." her father snapped at her, and she could only frown, her fluffy ears flicking as her tails wrapped protectively around herself. She knew something was wrong, and she had half a mind to believe she was brought there as a sacrifice for some War Deity that would allegedly save them from this era of war...Or something along the lines.

After a longer walk than expected, they found themselves in front of two large, red doors, and without any kind of reticence, Kitsune effortlessly slammed the doors open and saw a dimly lit room with a few stairs and a throne where a man with short, kinda spiky pink hair, garbed in a loose, white kimono was smugly sprawled over that royally embellished chair, while tons of gorgeous women dressed in the most luxurious kimonos, their hair done up with intricate headpieces and flowers that would put any living being to shame...

But what is this about? Kitsune was more confused than anything, and she could only step inside the room, slowly and carefully, before turning to look at her parents, who had a pitiful look in their eyes.

"What is going on?" Kitsune demanded an answer, her voice agitated, her body ready to go into a fight or flight mode, her eyes darting rapidly between her parents and the man on the throne whose name she wasn't interested in finding out. "Well, darling...You see...You had to find you a husband. You are old enough to be married, and you can't stay with us forever. You need to have a family and children. You are the princess of the Fox clan, there is nobody more beautiful than you -..." her mother tried to reason, but the young girl wasn't stupid. She understood what was going on. "No. No. If you want to speak - Then speak the truth. Don't lie to me. This guy is strong, isn't he? Some kind of demonic thing that everyone is afraid off. You are giving me away to this guy...To be his...Thousandth concubine in his harem or something, just because you're too weak to take care of our kin. That's the truth, isn't it? Go on, admit it. Stop trying to sugar coat the situation." her nine tails opened from around her in a large, undulating fan, making her aggression obvious, as fire began to immolate the tips of her fur. "SHUT UP, IMPERTINENT, UNRULY CHILD!" her mother slapped her face, not wanting their benefactor to hear his future concubine speaking so foul of him. "You are a woman, and the princess, nonetheless, and your role is to continue our kin and obey your family and husband. Do not speak unless you are allowed to!" but before her mother could grab her face, Kitsune's tail slapped her hand away, and she stepped back. "I am nobody's toy. I will not obey anyone's orders. Not yours, and not his. I will not be just another concubine for some disgusting, good for nothing lecher with no redeeming quality." the girl snarled at them, ready to make her escape out of there, if needed. "If your sister was alive, she would have sacrificed herself for the greater good of this family! You are nothing more than a selfish brat!" it was her father's time to accuse her, which made her ears perk up, while her tails completely deflated. "Yes, of course, how could I forget. It was me who should have died, not my perfect elder sister. Sorry, but you should curse the Gods, not me for that. But, since it seems that my life is meaningless to you, then I will make you a favour! I will end it myself! I'm sure you'll be happy without me, won't you? Ahh...But how will you save our war-ridden? Too bad I won't be alive to witness your demise, huh?" with a dark chuckle, Kitsune's hand went inside her kimono, taking the small kodachi sword and unsheathing it, hearing only the gasps and shrieks of fright from the harem girls. Kitsune could only guess that these girls were all high-born and unfamiliar to the horrible things happening outside of these walls. "What the hell are you doing, you idiotic child?! Cease this madness at once!" her mother shrieked at her, lounging towards her, trying to stop herself from impaling that blade through her body, and yet...

The second the girl launched her hand down to stab herself...She got stopped. The whole place became instantly silent, save for the sound of a blade bouncing down as it fell on the wooden floor. "Enough." a dark, annoyed voice resounded through the place as Kitsune's wrists were grasped by the man's...Front hands? While her body was immobilized in an embrace by his other two arms. "I was promised a beautiful princess as a concubine, and you failed to do as you promised. Leave, before I get bored and kill you." he threatened the two adult fox people who scurried away in a hurry, leaving behind their only daughter without a second thought. "You, however...Will remain here." he chuckled in her ear, but Kitsune wasn't one to be messed with. Her answer came in the form of lighting up her tails on fire an wrapping them around the man, who hissed and unhanded her, allowing her enough time to go into a corner and get in a fleeing stance. "Why did you stop me? I have no intention of being one of your whores. You should have let me end it right there." she scoffed at the man, who dismissed the bottom pair of arms and laughed. It was almost a psychopathic laugh, she thought, and it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up - Unsure if it was from fright or disgust. "You amuse me, little vixen. Very much, you amuse me. Having a little fox wag her tails around this place, all fired up, would give some sense of fun, wouldn't you say?" his voice was grating her, and she only wanted to sock him in the jaw. "Keep on dreaming. I'm not your toy, and I'm not here for anyone's entertainment. You have enough girls in this place to amuse you. I'll be going now, and even if you chain me, you can't stop me from achieving my freedom." Kitsune growled at him, slamming open the sliding door that would lead into the balcony, from where she could jump the hell away from there. "You proved you value your life even less than your parents do, so chaining you would do nothing. I have never seen a woman as fiery as you. All the ones I have are the same. Meek, soft...Afraid. Boring. They all like the same things, and hate the same things." he groaned pitifully, evidently bored out of his mind. "They hate you, don't they? You want women, but you don't bother treating them right. Can you get even more typically terrible? Pitiful and disgusting, that's what you are. You just want to break people for your entertainment. You are nothing more than a selfish megalomaniac. No wonder you are in need of entertaining, you are thoroughly boring." Kitsune's degrading words, however, didn't seem to phase the man at all - In fact - It made him laugh. Never, in this life, has he heard anything this degrading before - Everyone tried their best to appeal to his benevolent and merciful side - To at least spare their lives. He was stronger than anyone alive, so nobody dared speak up in front of him. It was obvious she had no idea who he was - All the better - He thought. "Ryomen Sukuna, missy, but you can call me your Emperor." that confident laugh was enough to drive Kitsune up the wall with anger as she stomped to his side and actually punched his jaw. It was annoying - The height difference - As he towered over her entirely, but at least she managed to reach where needed, little miss firecracker. "Piss off." the fox girl growled in anger at him...And yet...He only...Laughed. And he cupped her face, getting his own so close to hers that they could feel each other's breaths. "You. Are. Mine." his grin was so wide and sociopathic that he might as well have had his face split in two. "I will never be yours. I will never be anyone's. I'm not an object. I will not obey anyone. The second you leave me out of your sight, I will flee, and you will never see me again. And if I can't, I will find a way to kill myself. I have nothing to live for, but everything to die for." Kitsune bared her elongated canines at him, and gosh, was she enticing. "And if I get rid of the harem?" he asked, not bothering with everything she talked before. "You'll be a heartless jerk who'll destroy

the lives of so many women." she refuted just as quickly. "And if I don't fuck anyone but you?" he threw that, wanting to fluster her, but the fire in her eyes only ignited even higher. "As usual, you can only think with the wrong head, can't you? There's nothing to you but your stupid little prick. How pathetic. And you call yourself a man. Go die in the war or something." she grabbed him by the loose neck line of his kimono, only to hear him laughing condescendingly. "But darling, that just couldn't possibly happen. I am simply too strong to get killed. Everybody fears my power, why else do you think your parents were so willing to give you away? They were weak, just like you said, and every weakling needs the help of Ryomen Sukuna, Japan's own God of War." this statement made the girl's gorgeous eyes widen in shock...Only to start laughing, almost hysterically. "Oh, bow down to the self proclaimed God of War! Can you believe that! Your majesty, tone down your arrogance, it's gonna get yourself killed! I knew it, you're absolutely useless! All you can do is bark, no bite, little puppy! The only thing intimidating about you is your height, other than that, you are just a generic man who thinks he's all to powerful. How ridiculous." the fox girl couldn't stop her degrading laughing, which confused the man for a while, only to smirk and pick her up bridal style, carrying her out of that room, not letting her get out of his grasp, no matter how much she tried to wiggle or burn him. "I won't let you go until you acknowledge my infinite strength, cute, little fox. But don't think that just because I favour you, I will let you get away with all the shit you called me." his voice sounded darker, more ominously, but it didn't seem to intimidate the girl. "Not in a million years. Not even in your sweetest dreams. You're pathetic and I'll never acknowledge you as anything else but a disgusting, lecherous pig!" she yelled at his face, to which he responded by letting her roughly fall on a soft futon, then crouching by her side and gripping her face just as her mother did before. "Say that again when you'll end up screaming my name as if your life depends on it." he laughed at her before leaving her new room, which she won't leave for a while.

This annoying girl, Sukuna was intrigued by her, but at the same time, he was very tempted into strangling her or snapping her neck - Despite all that fire she lets out, he was curious if she'd end up groveling in self-pity, begging him for mercy, going back on her previous misguided and foolish courage. Wasn't it bad enough that she had no idea who HE was? He also had to endure such disrespect - And even worse - Enjoy it? That little fox bitch was ready to commit seppuku in front of everyone just to prove a point, what the hell else could be more entertaining? All the women he's had were given away by their families as tributes, and none said a word. He was a jerk to them, he fucked them, he mistreated them - Sukuna didn't give a fuck about any woman, man, child, animal...Or any living being in the world, except for himself. All were beneath him - Unworthy, weak, frail -...

And yet, they still lie to his face, trembling as they say all the fake, sweet nothings - "I love you, My Lord" the women would say, their voice shaky, jumping in fright as he'd touch them. He was a rough man, he never knew gentleness, nor mercy, no love - Through all the words spewed by the firey woman, the part where she declared he had no idea how to treat women properly - Yes, it was true, but did he care? Of course not.

Humans were all puppets with whom he could play as much as he wanted - All instruments for his entertaining in this terribly boring world, he would manipulate everyone like dolls on his strings, and when they've exhausted their means of entertaining him, the string will be cut, and the puppets will fall in an abyss of infernal fire.

For the first two weeks, Sukuna and Kitsune were literally acting like a cat chasing a mouse - And each time, the cat would surprise the mouse just as she was about to survive - He was giving her hope of success, only to pick her up by one of her many tails, or embrace her from behind, pick her up, trip her, show up from behind a tree, play with her hair as he came up from a tree behind her, and sometimes, even going as far as to mock her by pointing her the way out of the place.

But very soon, she gave up, and decided to starve herself to death by not leaving her assigned room, ignoring him entirely whenever she'd get visited by him - But that ended in the worst way possible - With her fainting and unable to wake up, and Sukuna freaking out because he didn't want his little toy to die before she got boring.

He laid next to her on the futon, holding her in his eyes, brushing her hair out of her face, playing with her vivid red hair - She truly looked like a fox in Sukuna's eyes, and he almost felt his heart warm up as he felt up the soft fur on her tails, waiting for his cursed energy to heal her up. After some time, he noticed the little red ball of fur getting smaller and smaller as she cuddled into his chest, resembling a defenseless kit searching for warmth, love and safety from its mother. She was so much smaller than him - So frail, so thin, so soft...So cute? - What was it that he was feeling? Calmness? Protectiveness?

He was furious at her for neglecting her health just so she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of toying with her - But that was also endearing, in its own, messed up way? She would go to such dramatic extremes to prove him wrong...It seemed that no matter what she did, it would still make him enjoy her company.

Whenever he'd fuck one of his harem girls, he wouldn't stay over, not even for a kiss - Hell, he didn't even know most of their names - Why should he? They were all the same to him - But he felt such a strong sense of protectiveness over he - He didn't want to strangle her to death anymore - Maybe just a bit of fun, some teasing, some startling - His hand around her supple neck as she looks up at him with her sparkling eyes, calling out his name - Sukuna, Sukuna - Pleading softly, but desperately to him for her sweet release - Sukuna, Sukuna - And he will be merciful, for once, and give her what she wants.

Just as he was caught in his own, sick fantasy, he felt the girl move and grumble, turning on her back, her small hands flying to rub her eyes awake - And he rolled over her, a playful, teasing smirk on his face as he waited for her to realise the position they were in - And yet, she was still out of it, for her eyes were half-lidded and gleaming, she was still weak from her lack of self-care, and she could only look up at him, dazed..."Sukuna...?" she mumbled in a whispery tone - What is she doing to him?! How dare she entice him so much? He wasn't supposed to be attracted to her in any way, so why...?!

"Relax, sweet-cheeks. I'm here." he spoke in a low voice, not wanting to alert her...Wait, what - "...Thanks." muttering that, she let out a soft sigh as she closed her eyes again, the corners of her mouth slightly turned upright as she allowed herself to fall back asleep and rest, not caring too much that she felt a slight pressure on both of her hands, in the form of the demon man pressing his own hands to hers, intertwining their fingers together as he towered over her, watching her chest rise and fall rhythmically as she breathed, her kissable, pink lips just a tiny bit parted. He couldn't stop himself - She was too irresistible, and he was much too insatiable - And he leaned down, pressing his own lips over hers - Gently - Very gently in fact, almost as if afraid of breaking a porcelain doll, as if afraid to crush a snowdrop he just picked from a glade, one just just barely managed to get out from under the remaining, melting snow of early spring. "You'll be the death of me, cutie." he found himself saying as he licked his lips, taking in the sweetness of the kiss.

Since then on, despite not being exactly friendly with the man, the fox girl didn't hate him that much anymore. It even got well enough for them to eat in the same room, or play shogi - The girl beating him at it more often than not, which left mixed feelings in his heart - And then he showed her the musical instruments that the concubines would sometimes use whenever he'd want a banquet and more sinful indulgences. He didn't ask her to play for him, though. He realised that the more he tried to push the girl, the less likely she'll actually do anything he wants.

Even more, the more time they spent together, the more his concubines would get neglected - So much that he was completely drawn to this fox girl and all the other women were completely wiped from his head. - And he started gifting her a bunch of beautiful kimonos, only to find them in front of his room's door, rejected. She didn't want anything from him, nor did she want his favour, so she continued wearing her simple clothes.

Until...

Until one night - It was a special night, really - For the moon was full, and big, and gleaming with such a beautiful silver light that neither of them saw in the many years they've been alive. And Kitsune dressed in one of her festival yukatas and went to the lotus pond, surrounded by a few wisteria trees, as the mirror of the water reflected the celestial orb like sparkling zircons. The fox gingerly jumped in the middle of the sheen, walking on it like a spirit, only her feminine silhouette being seen, as her long hair was gently blown by the warm spring wind and her tails were dancing around her in perfect sync. As her feet moved to the sound of the melody she played on a vertical flute she was given by the owner of the place, Sukuna found himself unable to move from his place on the palace balcony, his sight fixated on the woman's form as she alternated playing the instrument and dancing with ribbon-fans.

Her moves were fluid and mystifying like those of a priestess leading a will'o'wisp to rest into kakuriyo, the land of the dead - what was he supposed to do now? He was confused and mesmerised. He's seen his fair share of beautiful women playing instruments and dancing for him - Hundreds of them, in fact - But none could match the effect this nine tailed fox girl had on him.

This continued days on end, but he never admitted to her that he was stalking her every night, nor that he was completely enchanted and under her spell, at the point of no return.

"I'm going to war tomorrow." he told her one evening as he poured himself some sake. "...Good for you. Finally, more entertaining for the most powerful man on Earth...Or something. Bring me a souvenir when you return, I guess." the girl merely shrugged her shoulders as she took the tea pot and poured herself some tea, not bothering with any reaction. "You're not worried for me, are you? What if I die tomorrow? Will you weep for me?" he leaned forward, taking her chin between his fingers. " 'Course not. You're the one who keeps boasting about how you're the most powerful man on Earth and The God of War or something. Besides - If you die, I will just steal all your money and get the hell out of this place, so I can finally see the world through my very eyes, not through inked letters on paper. I want to be free and fly. Life here is boring. I've had enough years of being home stuck, don't you think?" she snapped at him as she snatched the now empty sake up and poured herself some alcohol. "And what if I promise to take you out to see the world when I return?" he smirked at her, watching her ears perk up a bit at the proposition. "...I don't believe you." she looked away before she could reveal any real emotion in her eyes. "I promise. But you also have to promise to relax around me. You're always on the edge, even if you've been here for a whole year. I saw you play in the winter, jump to collect autumn leaves taken by the wind, pick up fruit after climbing up the trees, and make flower crowns in spring. I saw you get buried completely in snow, only one of your tails being seen, I saw you make fruit wine in autumn, send paper lanterns into the sky and bathe in the lotus ponds. We're not strangers anymore, and I've never hurt you even once. So, do we have a deal?" his hunter-like eyes carefully watched her every reaction, noticing how her bottom lip quivered ever so slightly, before biting into it softly - She was nervous, that much was obvious - And Sukuna was now a pro at reading her behaviour. "...I'll try. But if you go back on your promise...I promise you, you won't wake up the next morning." she scoffed, threatening him, but it only ended up making him laugh. "The little kitten has claws, how adorable. That's fair, I'll let you have that." the man chuckled at her, petting her hair just between her ears, making her close her eyes and blush just a tiny bit. He was finally able to reach her - Not by much, but even this much was enough for him...For now.

For a whole month, Kitsune was all alone in the palace - Or so she felt, despite the numerous harem girls and the servants - All who had to obey her every order - But she refused any of that. If she wanted to eat, she would make food for herself. If she wanted to drink, she'd get some herself. If she wanted to bathe, she would prepare the bath herself - Just as she's always done. However, all this time, she was never in need of company. She couldn't handle people, nor their fakeness and many other useless emotions that would only make them vulnerable and susceptible of being used and taken for granted.

She's been through that numerous times while living with her family, and she wasn't about to let that happen again.

Thankfully, Kitsune never felt lonely, nor bored - However, she realised that she actually enjoyed Sukuna's annoying presence, and somehow, she found herself awaiting his coming back sooner.

"Master came back, vacation's over. Take care, everyone...I heard he's been injured. Can you believe it? Never thought demons can bleed." the many rumours circulated around the palace, but the fox girl only snapped at the gossipers, glaring at them to shut up. But she didn't go to greet him, like everyone else did. Instead, she waited until night to go to his room, and she found him on the ground, calmly drinking some sake.

"Ah, look at this, a little fox found its way in my humble abode. What ever could you be doing here, I wonder?" he chuckled teasingly, as she only looked down at him, giving him a slight head tilt, yet no expression on her blank face. "Are you wounded?" she muttered in a low voice, almost half-wanting not to have been heard...But she was. "Ha! So you heard those rumours too, haven't you? How ridiculous! Me? Ryomen Sukuna, the God of War, getting injured? Preposterous!" his bark-like laugh echoed through the place, but it didn't move the girl in any way. Instead, slowly crouched next to him, snatching down the already loose kimono top from his torso, letting it fall down to his chest, as her delicate fingers traced his chest, arm and back, analysing each and every fresh wound and scar alike. "I thought you could heal. Cursed energy magic or something. What you did to me when I passed out. Stupid liar. All you know how to do is to boast to everyone, but you can't even admit that you are still capable of making mistakes sometimes." her voice was obviously pissed off, but not enough to sock him in the jaw again. "Anti-regeneration magic. I didn't know something like that existed. Gimme a break." he scoffed, looking away in mild embarrassment. "Lucky you. Now don't move, or you'll really piss me off." she sneered at him as she made blue fire light up her palms and focused on healing him. It was then that she realised how good it felt to feel someone's bare skin, to feel his muscles, sore from fighting so much. He was finally beginning to look more like a man - A warrior - Not like some obnoxious, bratty, entitled casa nova. "I didn't know you could heal people. It tickles." he smirked slightly, turning his head to watch her focused face. "You don't know many things about me, Sukuna. Don't even bother trying, you'll never be able to, anyway." she scowled at him, but this time, it wasn't as aggressive as usual. "I've always loved a challenge, sugar." he chuckled boastfully, only for her to frown and look at him. "Is that all I am for you? A challenge?" she asked in a softer voice, sounding almost disappointed. "Not anymore. You've always been an enigma for me. You were fun, that's why I kept you around. If you weren't, I'd have killed you. I have no regrets about killing anyone, reason or not. But you got under my skin. I don't want to unveil the enigma behind you anymore. I just want to know you." carefully, his hands found their way on her hips, just before pulling her on his lap, only for her to stiffen up completely, her hands quickly taken off of his skin, as she quickly snapped her head away from him, her face covered by the long hair that resembled the blood he spilled on the battlefield. "Aww, are you shy, cutie~?" his seductive voice was back again, one of his hands reaching up to cup her face - But she couldn't bring herself to speak - Instead, she just gulped and jumped away from him, taking a few deep breaths before getting out of the room, and climbing up to the roof, hugging her legs to her chest, leaning her chin on her knees, her bottom lip bitten into to the point of drawing blood.

What the hell was she thinking, letting herself getting touched like that? By someone like Sukuna, nonetheless, who, if given the chance, would have his way with her, then toss her aside like he did with all the other women in his enormous harem. Her heart was beating so hard, so fast against her chest. It was a foreign feeling that scared her so much that for a long while, she couldn't help but avoid him once again, going out of her way to only leave her room when she was sure he wasn't there. It didn't always work out as she wished, but she still tried nonetheless, as succeeded for most of the time.

"Are you scared of me?" Sukuna asked the girl one night, when he found her softly shedding tears up on the roof. "...No." she offered a monotone answer. "Then why are you avoiding me again? Do you hate me?" he asked again, only for her to hang her head and hug herself. "I realised that I shouldn't be alive. All my life I've known only two emotions - Hatred and Rage - All of them masked by a facade of complete neutrality, passiveness and uncaring. But, now...I can feel my heart beating. And it hurts. I was so ready to throw away my life, and I knew I would have no regrets. I lived for nothing. I have no memories of anything good happening in my life. I thought that...I thought that maybe...I would be able to feel, staying here, with you. I wanted to feel something good, for once. What was that called...Happiness? Love? I wanted to feel those too. I guess it's too much to ask from this cruel life. The second you touched me, I started panicking and I got scared. I was afraid. Not of you, but of the idea of possibly getting hurt. I don't know how to feel, and I don't think I'll ever be able to be a proper being...But maybe...Someday...I will be able to look up at the same sky, at this very same moon, and the very same stars...And smile...And my chest won't be hurting anymore. And I won't be afraid anymore. Maybe, in the next life...Or the one after that...I will be lucky. Maybe times will change, and people won't be so cruel anymore. I'm sorry, Sukuna. I didn't end up being who and what you thought I'd be. I will forever be a disappointment to everyone I meet." she wasn't sure if her words were directed to anyone at all, or if she just found the courage to speak for the first time in her life - To acknowledge the existence of feelings altogether - But Sukuna understood her. Except for the thrill of the kill and fleeting quenched lust, he didn't feel any relief. Just like her, anger and hatred, for the entirety of his life. How different and similar the two of them really were, he realised, as he went to hug her from behind, resting his chin on top of her head. "You have never disappointed me, Kitsune. You cannot disappoint me. I understand what you're feeling. It's a cruel world, and we are much crueler to everyone around us, including ourselves. If you ever think you have it in your heart to accept me, I will be waiting. Forever, if needed. And if not, I will be awaiting in the next life. Or in the next one. I won't give up on you." and saying that, he planted a kiss on her temple before leaving her alone to watch the same silver moon they've been looking up at for so long. "...Thank you." she spoke to herself after who knows how long.

And she smiled.

Every day passing, she would look at the pink haired warrior, and every day, she'd want to throw herself in his arms, but every time, she'd start shaking, and she'd turn around and leave the place. This whole ordeal continued for well over three months, until one day, the palace was attacked with burning arrows, and the whole place was lit aflame.

In the mayhem in cause, the fox girl made sure to gather all the civilians in the huge estate and lead them to safety, and by the time she was done, she rushed to search for Sukuna, the person the enemies wanted to bring down, once and for all. However, by the time she found him, the whole place was ablaze, the once blooming garden was now turned into ashes, and the Demon God of War was heavily bleeding, slouched and leaning his back against a wall.

Opposite of him, many meters away, a menacing looking enemy who had spears in his hands was ready to throw them at him...And Sukuna merely smirked, defeated, and closed his eyes, awaiting for the impact of his ultimate death.

"Sukuna...Keep your eyes closed." Kitsune's low, shaking voice called out to him, but instead of doing as he was told, his eyes snapped open, only to widen in terror seeing the girl he grew to love, impaled by numerous spears, acting as a shield for him. "K...Kitsu...Ne...?!" he managed to usher after getting over his shock. "I told you...To keep you eyes closed...Idiot." she shook her head as she curled her fingers on the wall, taking a few deep breaths, despite her legs shaking. "Idiot. Idiot. You are such an idiot." "No...You...You were supposed to run away...I told you to run away...I told you...To...Live..." his voice was desperate, trembling, not believing what he was seeing before his very eyes. "Not without you...We were supposed to...Go...together...And be happy...And look at the moon...And stars...Together..." but as she said that, she heard the air getting split by yet another set of spears that go through her tails and torso, making her lose strength and fall over the man she was shielding. With her last strength, she punched back the spears out of her body and crawled on his lap, cradling his body, wrapping it up protectively with her tails, holding tightly onto him. "I never learnt how to fight...I never had anything to protect...Until I found you. I have no regrets dying, if you live. Close your eyes, Sukuna. I...I love you." and just before all strength left her body, she cupped his face and stole a weak kiss.

She was happy. She finally found her courage to act as she wished - With her heart, not with her fears. She was finally able to expel all the bad things possessing her. She died, and yet, she was finally smiling. She regretted nothing.

She was really happy.

"...Look there, Kitsune. Look at the moon. And the stars. And we are together. In this life. And the next one...And the one after...I will find you. And I will protect you. Don't be afraid anymore...Nothing will hurt you again. Until then...Sleep well, my Princess...Wait for me...Very soon."

---------

"Don't worry, Yuji! We will find all the victims of this place and rescue them! You'll see!" the cheerful nine-tailed girl wagged her fluff left and right as she dragged her best friend to the ominous place, as their other two team mates followed soon after, both having different reactions, as usual.

As her shikigami fox and Megumi's white wolf were assigned to make sure no cursed spirit would sneak up on them, they tried to make heads or tails of the distorted reality inside the place - They knew they may be dealing with a Special-Grade monster, but to have power of such magnitude seemed...Unreal...And unsettling.

"Guys, calm down. This is the Innate Domain...Cursed energy made this foul play...But I've never seen anything like...This. We have to move fast, and not split up, or we'll get picked one by one." Kitsune gritted her teeth, feeling the fur on her tails stand up. "Where's the door?!" Megumi yelled, turning around, only for everyone to gasp, realising the way they got through completely disappeared. "Th-The door's gone?!" Yuji blinked, incredulous at what he was witnessing. "How?! We just came in through here, didn't we?!" Nobara freaked out, only to make a short, brain dead dance with Yuji. "Calm down. The dog remembers the scent of the entrance." saying that, the two fawned over the two canines as they let them lead the way, only to find three mangled corpses, one of them having a name tag - It was the name of the child of the desperate woman outside of the place, pleading to the police to rescue him.

However, a fight erupted between the two boys who couldn't decide whether they should run away or rescue the corpses, as closure for the woman outside, at least, and while Nobara yelled at them, trying to make them stop...She...Disappeared?! Through a makeshift hole in the floor that wasn't there before.

"B-But...Megumi's demon dog and my fox should have been able to sense the curse...!" Kitsune then quickly turned around, only to gasp, noticing the bloody corpses of the said shikigami protruding from the walls. "NO! CYNDER!" she whimpered, hating to see her lovely companion in such a state. "ITADORI! KITSUNE! WE HAVE TO RUN! WE'LL LOOK FOR KUJISAKI AND -" but before he could finish speaking, Kitsune's whimper, that grew louder, along with the presence of the demon she was pointing at, staring straight at her...Made both boys stop in their tracks, wide eyed and shocked...And very much afraid.

The trio was sweating bullets, trying to move, trying to get the hell away from there - But Yuji moved first, taking out his knife, slashing at the Special-Grade....Only for his hand to go flying far away...From the impact.

"Megumi, run away! Go find Nobara, I'll stay here and create a diversion! Give us a signal when you're out of here! Yuji can get Sukuna and save us!" the fox girl yelled at her brunet friend desperately as she pushed him away, but a mouth on Yuji's cheek, speaking very derogatory, pointed out he doesn't give a fuck about Yuji's body, and that he won't die, even if his vessel does. "Nope~! Even if parts of me inside you die, I've still got 18 other fragments of my soul! Still, irritatingly enough, I don't have control of this body, so go away and switch, if you want! But once you do...I'll kill that brat before the cursed spirit can! Then, I'll go for that woman. She's a lively one. I'll have fuck with her. And then...I'll claim this cute fox girl that you care so much for!" Sukuna kept talking, and it was creating a state of panic in Yuji's heart. "Don't listen to him, Yuji! I know you won't let him take over you completely! You can't hurt us!" Kitsune yelled at her friend, trying to snap him out of the trance Sukuna put him in. "No, no, no, darling, you're wrong. If he's too focused on me, his friends WILL die~!" the demon kept laughing at his vessel, until the Special Grade unleashed a full blast of pure, cursed energy. "Yuji, look out!" she jumped at him, getting him out of the blast's range. "Stop listening to him, and take care of yourself! This isn't Jujutsu, this is pure cursed energy! We have to buy Megumi and Nobara enough time to get the hell out of here! Look at this jerk, he's having fun. I'm sure we can figure something out." the fox girl gritted her teeth in anger, but before either of them could try to attack or dodge - In the blink of an eye, really - She felt herself getting picked up and slammed on the wall before her by yet another blast of cursed energy - Followed by another, that flew her on the bridge in the next room, rendering her barely conscious. "KITSUNE! KITSUNEEEE!" she heard her pink haired friend's desperate wail as he tried to shake her awake. "...Sukuna...?" she asked, her shaking hands trying to rub away the tiredness from her eyes, as she looked up at him with gleaming, half-lidded eyes.

Before he could answer, shocked that she would call him by his demon's name, and even more, his own demon shocked, hearing her say something like that, she managed to cling onto the boy enough to get herself back on her feet, turning towards the attacker, her big, fluffy tails opening like a protective fan for the boy, as she created a blast of blue spirit fire to try to counter the cursed energy blast from the enemy. It made her growl from the pain, but her mind was blank - She had no regrets - No matter what life she was living, she will only get stronger and stronger, until she succeeds and protects the ones dear to her.

But not in this lifetime.

She wasn't strong enough yet. She was nowhere near her mentor, Satoru, in power. She had no way to compete with him, nor could she protect her friends when needed.

How pathethic.

It was her last thought before the cursed energy took over her, burning away some of her skin and creating even more damage after getting slammed and breaking yet another wall. With the last bit of consciousness she was able to hold onto, she saw her pink haired friend still alive and well - By some standards, at least - And she could merely smile and fight back the darkness threatening to take over.

But...Something happened, for the boy now seemed fearless - And he even taunted with the special-grade...And then he healed his own arm, before going to her, looking down at her, shaking his head. The markings on his face...This wasn't Yuji. This was...

"Idiot." a much darker, more masculine voice came from the body of the teenage vessel as he crouched down to the girl. "You never change, no matter what life you reincarnate into, do you? But that's the charm about you, stupid fox. You never really lose your memories of the past, do you?" he gently caressed her face, feeling his heart beating a bit faster as he noticed she was smiling and leaning into his touch. "You said you'll find me...So what is there to fear?" she mused weakly, before she got picked up bridal style, allowing her to cuddle into his chest, finally allowed to rest at ease. "Let's teach this weakling a lesson and get the hell out of here. The moon is up." Sukuna chuckled as he walked up to the demon, effortlessly punching in the head, slamming it into the bridge, only to smash his foot into its head, breaking the bridge altogether. As they fell, the monster grabbed his leg, but the fox-fire burn on his hand was enough to get his to shriek in pain and let go, as Sukuna jumped on one of the falling rubbles, taunting and laughing condescendingly, as he ripped apart the monster limb from limb before impaling it into a wall, as soon as they reached the watery ground. "Honestly, I'm jealous. I could never get to your power with jujutsu alone. Satoru said this thing is 80% born talent. How disheartening." she grumbled, feeling better already. "There's nothing cursed in your heart, sugar. Let the killing to me. I promised I'll protect you, I'm not going back on my word. I'm not going to see you die again." he threw her up a bit to get a better hold on her. "Hang onto me, foxy. Let's show this sucker how we do things." seeing his infamous smirk on his face, she threw her arms around his neck, holding on tightly, seeing as he did a hand seal, calling out his Malevolent Shrine...And they were back home, dressed the same as they were so long ago...A thousand years ago...And the monster got split in 5 slices, before Sukuna dug out another one of his soul-fingers, and he started grinning even laughing even darker, realising that Yuji couldn't switch bodies again, which made villain jump out of the facility, right on top of it. "I guess...No matter what life we live, the sky is going to be forever beautiful." Kitsune sighed as soon as he let her down, but she didn't let go of him. Not this time. Fears won't take over her life anymore. "And yours is even more eternal than the moon's or the stars." he cupped her face, taking in her beauty for the first time in over a thousand years. "It's been to long. I made you wait far too long. I hope you didn't miss me too much." one of his hands found its fingers raking through her hair, and she closed her eyes a bit, taking in the warm, loving feeling that completely took over her. "I'll forgive you. You did take your bloody time...But at least you're here now. And you're not going anywhere. I won't let you." her hands slid down to the neck of his blouse, pulling him to her level, which only made him smirk smugly. "Good. That was my intention." his charming, dark voice spoke, making her heart beating faster, and feeling the hair on the back of her neck and the fluff on her tails stand up from excitement. "Won't it be weird? Being Yuji's body...?" she asked shyly, as he only chuckled, pulling the same Malevolent Shrine trick, so they finally looked as they did when they first met. "Better, sweet cheeks?" he pulled her flushed to his body, as she got on her tippy toes to get closer to his face. "Spectacular."

As the fox girl couldn't stop touching his face, raking her fingers through his hair, feeling his body closer to hers as her whole body felt hotter than ever before - It was just a kiss - His lips so sweet against her own, his arms, so strong, holding her, feeling her, loving her.

It was only them, under the gentle light of the silver moon, guarding them, as the stars softly twinkled, embellishing gold into the dark sky - Just like this love light up the darkness in their hearts.

Her tails wrapped around him instinctively, as they pulled apart, and looked each other in the eyes for the first time since they've known each other. Her eyes were sparkling with happiness, her lips were curled into a kitten-like smile, and she was glowing - It made Sukuna's heart have a pleasant arrhythmia as he saw in front of his very eyes a sight that he's been dreaming about for over a millennium - The woman that captured his heart - Happy, in his own arms, safe, and very kissable.

This feeling and image were worth waiting a thousand years.

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen imagine #ryomen sukuna #ryomen sukuna x reader #ryomen sukuna imagine #sukuna #sukuna x reader #sukuna imagine #yuji itadori #kugisaki nobara #megumi fushiguro #gojo satoru #kitsune #kitsune reader #fox #feudal japan

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melisa-may-taylor72 · 3 years

Photo

QUEEN BEFORE QUEEN

THE 1960s RECORDINGS

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PART 4:

THE OPPOSITION

JOHN DEACON WAS THE QUIETEST MEMBER OF A MIDLAND-BASED FIVE-PIECE WHOSE GREATEST AMBITION WAS TO PLAY ANOTHER GIG.

Initial research John S. Stuart. Additional research and text: Andy Davis.

John Deacon was the fourth and final member to join Queen. He became part of that regal household 25 years ago this month, enrolling as the band’s permanent bassist in February 1971. His acceptance marked the culmination of a six-year ‘career’ in music, much of which he spent in an amateur, Leicestershire covers band called the Opposition.

From 1965 until 1969, Deacon and his schoolmates ploughed a humble, local furrow in and around their Midlands hometown, reflecting the decade’s mercurial moodswing with a series of names, images and styles of music. The most remarkable fact about the Opposition was just how unremarkable the group actually was.

Collectively, they were an unambitious crew: undertaking precisely no trips down to London to woo A&R men; winning only one notable support slot for the army of chart bands who visited Leicester in the ‘60s (opening for Reperata & the Delrons in Melton Mowbray in 1968); and managing even to miss out on the option of sending a demo tape to any of the nation’s record labels. The band’s saving grace is its solé recorded legacy: a three-track acetate — although even this was done for purely private consumption, and has rarely been aired outside the confines of their inner circle.

It is perhaps indicative of the Opposition’s modest outlook that their most promising bid for stardom, a beat contest, was called off before they had the chance to play in the finals. For John Deacon and friends, it seems, merely being in a band was reward enough.

Considering of all of this, it’s easy to imagine the response to the following story, related in the ‘60s to one of the Opposition’s guitarists, Ronald Chester:...[ ]

...[ ] “There was a teacher who worked at Beauchamp School, which John attended, who told fortunes. They went to see her one Saturday and were told, ‘John Deacon is going to be world famous and very, very rich. Of course, they all fell about laughing. She was determined that this was going to happen. But they all thought it was a joke."

What particularly amused Deacon’s colleagues was the unlikeliness of this scenario, given the plain facts of his demeanour. John was born in Leicester in 1951, the product of affluent, middle-class, middle England. As a youngster, he was known to his friends as ‘Deaks’ and grew up to be quiet and reserved, what Mark Hodkinson referred to in ‘Queen — ‘The Early Years’ as “a ghost of a boy".

“He is basically shy,” confirms Richard Young, the Opposition’s first guitarist/vocalist, and later keyboardist. “I suppose he was quieter than the rest of us — but he was fairly static with Queen if you look at him on stage.”

Ron Chester agrees: “John was quiet by nature. His sister, Julie, was the same. Once he got going, though, he wasn’t any different from anybody else. But on first approach, you really had to coax him out of his shell. We’d have to pick him up. He couldn’t walk down the road to meet us."

CONFIDENT

Despite any lack of personal dynamics, Deacon was a capable teenager: “He was very confident," recalls another of the band’s guitarists, David Williams. “But in a laidback sort of way. He didn’t have a problem with anything. ‘Yeah, I can do that’, he’d say. We used to call him ‘Easy Deacon’, not because of any sexual preferences, but because he’d say something was easy without it sounding big-headed. I remember saying to him once, I’m going to have to knock off the gigs a bit to revise for my ‘A’ levels. What about you?’ ‘No’, he said, ‘I don’t need to. I’ve never failed an exam yet, and I’ve never revised for one’. Ultimately, he was just confident, with a phenomenally logical mind. If he couldn’t remember something, he could work it out. And, of course, he got stunning results.”

John’s earliest interest was electronics, which he studied into adulthood. He also went fishing, trainspotting even, with his father. Then music took over. After dispensing with a ‘Tommy Steele’ toy guitar, John used the proceeds from his paper round to buy his first proper instrument, an acoustic, when he was about twelve. An early musical collaborator was a school mate called Roger Ogden, who like Roger Taylor down in Cornwall, was nicknamed ‘Splodge’. But his best friend was the Opposition’s future drummer, Nigel Bullen.

“I’d first got to know John at Langmore Junior School in Oadby, just outside Leicester, in either 1957 or 1958,’' recalls Nigel. “We were both the quiet ones. We started playing music together at Gartree High School, when we were about thirteen. We were inspired by the Beatles — they made everybody want to be in a group. John was originally going to be the band’s electrician, as he called it. He used to build his own radios, before we had any amps, and he fathomed a way of plugging his guitar into his reel-to-reel tape recorder. He was always the electrical boffin."

The prime mover in the formation of the group was another Oadby boy they met on nearby Uplands Park, Richard Young. “Richard was at boarding school," recalls Nigel Bullen. “He was always the kid with the expensive bike. He played guitar, and what’s more had a proper electric, with an amplifier. He instigated getting the band together. Initially, we rehearsed in my garage, and then anywhere we could. John played rhythm to begin with. He was a chord man, the John Lennon of the group, if you like."

SWITCH

Despite his later switch to the bass, Deacon’s technique on the guitar also developed, as Dave Williams reveals: “Later on, I remember he could play ‘Classical Gas’ on an acoustic, which was a finger-picking execise and no mean feat. It’s a bit like ‘McArthur Park’, a fantastic piece of music, and when I heard it, I thought, ‘Bloody hell. You dark horse!’ Because he never showed off."

The Opposition’s first bassist was another school friend of John’s called Clive Castledine. In fact, the group made its debut at a party at Castledine’s ouse on 25th September, 1965 (their first public performance took place the...[ ]

...[ ] following month at Gartree’s school hall). Clive looked good and appreciated the kudos of being in a group, but he wasn’t up to even the Opposition’s schoolboy standards. “I was the least proficient, to put it mildly,” he admitted to Mark Hodkinson.“His enthusiasm was 100%,” adds Richard Young, “but his actual playing ability was null, so we had a meeting and got rid of him.” Deacon took over, initially playing on his regular guitar, using the bottom strings. “John was good,” Young continues. “It was no problem for him to switch to bass. He hit the right notes at the beginning of the bar, and we were a better band for it. Whereas Clive made us sound woolly, as anyone who just plonked away on any old note would, John was solid.”

DIARY

Young turned out to be the Opposition’s archivist, keeping a diary of each gig played, the equipment used, and the amounts of money earned (as indeed did John Deacon). Richard’s diary documented the day Deacon — now, of course, bassist in one of the world’s most famous groups — first picked up his chosen instrument. “In an entry for 2nd April, 1966,” says Young, “it reads, ‘We threw Clive out on the Saturday afternoon. Had a practice in Deaks’ kitchen, and Deaks went on bass. Played much better.’ John didn’t have a bass, so we went down to Cox’s music shop in King Street in Leicester, and bought him an EKO bass for £60. I paid for it, but I think he paid me back eventually.”

“John’s bass style with the Opposition was the same as with Queen,” reckons Nigel Bullen. “He never used to play with a plectrum, which was unusual, but with his fingers, which meant that his right hand is drooped over the top of the guitar. Also, he plays in an upward fashion, which I’d never seen before, certainly when we were in Leicester. Over the years, I’ve watched many bass players adopt that style. I’d say he has been copied a lot. I’ve mentioned this to him, but he doesn’t agree.”

Clive Castledine wasn’t the last member of the band to be dismissed. “The vocal and lead guitar side of the Opposition was changing all the while,” recalls Nigel. “Myself, John, and Richard Young were always there — as were Dave Williams and Ron Chester later on — but we had a succession of other musicians who I can hardly remember now. There was a guy called Richard Frew in the very early days, and a young lad called Carl, but he didn’t fit in. After we began playing proper gigs, Richard decided he wasn’t happy with his singing and wanted to move onto keyboards, so we brought in Pete Bart (formerly with another local band, the Rapids Rave) as a guitarist and vocalist. He was good, but again, didn’t last long.”

“Bart was a bit of a rocker, while we were all mods,” remarks Dave Williams. “We were impressed by mod bands like the Small Faces and the original Who. Bart seemed to come from a different era altogether.”

“Deaks had the Parka with the fur collar,” remembers Ron Chester. “And short hair, a crew cut. Mirrors on his scooter.” Richard Young agrees: “John was more of a mod than us. But you couldn’t really pigeonhole the band, because our music went right across the board”.

”Buying Deacon his bass was no one-off, and Richard Young is remembered as the group’s benefactor. Being older than the others, he had a steady job working for his father’s electronics company in Leicester, which brought him a regular, and by all accounts, generous wage. He rarely thought twice before splashing out on equipment for the other members.

RECEIPTS

“Richard bought me a P.A.,” recalls David Williams. “But he didn’t ask, he used to think that the group needed it. He’d buy it and then say, ‘You owe me this’. My mum used to get really annoyed. She’d was at that going- through-my-pockets stage, probably looking for contraceptives. She once found a receipt from Moore and Stanworth’s, a local music shop. It was for a Beyer microphone, which cost about £30. I was still at school, getting pocket money, and my mum said, ‘What on earth is this?!’ Receipts on the Sunday dinner table, that sort of thing. It was good, though. The group needed it.”

“I was dead serious about the band,” claims Young, who switched to organ with the arrival of Williams in July 1966. “Perhaps more so than anybody else. I could see it going nowhere if money wasn’t pumped into it.”

“Dick Young was an accomplished organ player,” adds Dave, “and he improved the group quite a lot. He always had plenty of dosh, and a car. But he was totally mad, a crazy bloke. He’d come round with an organ one week, then next week, he’d have a better one. He ended up with a Farfisa, with one keyboard on it, then one with two keyboards — one above the other. Then he had a Hammond, an L 100. which was really heavy. Then he had a ‘B’ series one. The ‘L’ was top-of-the-range and he sawed it in half to make it easier to carry!”

Dave Williams helped to improve the group as well. “He was at school with us,” says Nigel Bullen, “but in another band, who we always looked up to.” That band was the Leeds-based Outer Limits (who went on to issue several singles — without Dave — in the late ‘60s). “I joined the Opposition after they asked me to watch them and tell them what I thought,” recounts Dave. “The Outer Limits were older lads, all mods, but I was after something a bit more easy going, and the Opposition were my own age. They were okay, but I first saw them at John’s house, when they were still practising in bedrooms, and they were absolutely awful. I said, ‘Have you thought of tuning up?’ They said they had. But it sounded like they were playing in different keys — totally horrendous. It was so funny. They were so conscientious, they’d all learned their bits, but hadn't tuned up to each other. That was my first tip.”

“Our first proper gig was supporting a local band, the Rapids Rave, at Enderby Coop Hall,” recalls Nigel Bullen. “They used to play at this village hall every week. and then we ended up doing it every week for quite some time.” Richard’s diary records the Opposition’s debut taking place on 4th December 1965, and that the band’s fee was £2. Thereafter, they began to offer their Services in the local ‘Oadby & Wigston Advertiser’, which led to bookings in youth clubs and village halls in local hot-spots like Kibworth, Houghton-on- the-Hill, Thurlaston and Great Glen.

SCHOOL WORK

By spring 1966, the Opposition were playing every weekend, school work permitting. The peaks and troughs of their career are illustrated by the following memorable gigs: one at St. George’s Ballroom, Hinckley, on 23rd June 1967, when just two people turned up and the band went home after a couple of numbers; and a September appearance in a series of shows at U.S. Airforce Bases in the Midlands, at which they were required to play for four-and-half hours with just two twenty-minute breaks. It was nothing if not diverse.

“It didn’t seem to matter what you played,” says Dave. “People would clap simply because you were making music. They never said, ‘Do you do Motown, or soul stuff?’ ” The band’s repertoire initially consisted of chart sounds and the poppier end of the R&B spectrum. “Although we were inspired by the Beatles, we never did any of their songs,” claims Nigel. “But we covered the Kinks, the Yardbirds, and things like Them’s ‘Gloria’, and the Zombies’ ‘She’s Not There’.

They also altered their name slightly to the New Opposition, which they unveiled at the Enderby Coop Hall. “The name-change was decided overnight, when John moved from rhythm to bass guitar,” recounts Richard, whose diary records the date of the transition as 29th April 1966. Interestingly, though, it makes no mention of another local group also called the Opposition, long thought to have been the reason for Deacon’s crew adopting the ‘New’. The change did act as an impetus for further development, however, instigated by Dave Williams, who soon took over as the group’s lead vocalist.

“When I joined they were doing all Beach Boys stuff,” he recalls, “and I think I may have brought in a little credibility. In the Outer Limits, I’d been playing John Mayall, the Yardbirds, that sort of thing, plus that group was into really good soul like the Impressions, and fantastic vocal bands from the States. So I had a broad musical knowledge by then, whereas the Opposition had been a bit poppy.” Appropriately, the words “Tamla” and “Soul” were now added to the Opposition’s ads and calling cards.

Towards the end of 1966, the New Opposition were enhanced further by the arrival of Ron Chester, who’d previously played with Dave Williams in the Outer Limits, as well as in an earlier band, the Deerstalkers. “Ron Chester was a bit eccentric,” claims Richard Young. “He never used to go anywhere without his deerstalker. He was a really good guitarist (“stunning”, adds Dave Williams). We were probably at our best when Ron was in the band.”

On 23rd October 1966, the New Opposition entered the local Midland Beat Contest. They won their heat, landing themselves a place in the semifinals on 29th January 1967. They won this, too, and steeled themselves for the finals, which were due to be held on 3rd March 1967, when they were to be pitched against...[ ]

...[ ] an act called Keny. The stars of the show would have been the nearest the Opposition came to having a rival: an outfit called Legay. (A year later, incidentally, this band issued a now collectable single, “No One” (Fontana TF 904,£80J.) Unfortunately, for all concerned, however, the contest never took place. “That was a fiasco,'' laughs Ron. “Somehow we won those heats, but in fact, I don’t remember seeing anybody else playing. I don’t know whether we won by default or not. After that, they pulled the plug on the competition — probably because they knew we’d be playing again!”.

CASINO

“The heats took place in a club in Leicester called the Casino, which was the place to play,” adds Nigel. “The guy who ran the competition was an agent for the club. His company was called Penguin (or P.S) Promotions and he walked like a penguin too, with his feet sticking out. The final was going to be held in the De Montford Hall, which is still the main venue in Leicester. We thought, ‘Crumbs, this is it, perhaps we might make the big time.�� But the guy did a runner with all the money — people had to pay to come to the heats. So the final was called off.”

David Williams wasn’t too fussed, as he scored another prize that night: “I remember taking a girl back to Dick’s car on the strength of us winning our heat. I said, ‘Can I borrow your keys, Dick? He said, ‘What for? You can’t drive!’ “

Were the New Opposition — or the Opposition, as they dropped the ‘New’ again in early 1967 — left in limbo by the cancellation of the Beat Contest? Having achieved the most public recognition of their talents so far, were they disappointed with the loss of the chance to prove themselves further?

“No. It was almost insignificant,” reckons Ron. “We didn’t really look upon it as a stairway to stardom.” And what would John Deacon have thought? “Nothing really,” suggests Chester. “ ‘It’s cancelled. What are we doing next, then?’ That would have been about the depth of it. We were a village band, all gathering at the church hall to try and improve our abilities. The financial aspect of it wasn’t in the forefront of our minds. We were more concerned with our music, and if we could get a booking doing it as well, to pay off some of the equipment, then that was a real bonus. Three bookings a week was enough for us while we were working or still at school.” Despite any dodgy dealings, history does have the Penguin promoter to thank for the only professionally-taken photograph of the Opposition. (“We didn’t go much on photos in the band,” remembers Dave Williams.) On Tuesday, 31st January 1967, two days after winning the semi-finals, the ‘Leicester Mercury’ dispatched a staff photographer over to Richard Young’s parents’ house in Oadby. Here, the group lined-up in the front room, looking more like refugees from 1964, rather than 1967. The only indications of the actual date are perhaps Ron Chester’s deerstalker hat and the ridiculous length of David Williams’ shirt collars — seven inches, no less, from neck to nipple.

“Dave was very extrovert,” recalls Nigel. “But we all had those silk shirts with the great long collars made by our mums and grandmas for our stage gear.” Dave admits: “Our clothes were all a bit mixed up. We had silk shirts with tweed jackets — which were fashionable for a while — and bell-bottoms. Musically, we were pretty good, better than...[ ]

...[ ] most of the local bands around that time, but we had this squeaky-clean, schoolboy image which let us down. I used to get frustrated when we were billed with other bands, and they’d all play with so many wrong chords but had a better image and still the punters applauded. Were they stupid? We were still at school — we didn’t leave until we were eighteen — and weren’t allowed to grow our hair long”.

“After the mod thing,” he continues, “long hair became really important. Bands were growing their hair right down their backs. I remember getting to one gig with John and Nigel a year or so later, and the other group were already on. And when they saw us they turned round and said, ‘Look! They’ve got no hair!’. We were quite upset about that”.

“We also went through the flower-power look,” Dave adds. “And then we got into those little jumpers without any sleeves that Paul McCartney used to wear, the ones so small that half your stomach showed. And then it was grandad shirts without the collars and flares.” Ron Chester: “The flowery shirts and flared trousers were everywhere. We looked like a right shower of poofters. But so did everybody else. You stood out if you didn’t wear them.”

1967 also heralded the arrival of an additional attraction to the Opposition’s stage show: two go-go dancers. At least, it did if the existing literature on the subject is to be believed. “I vaguely remember it,” admits Richard, “but speaking to Nig, neither of us can recal who those dancers were”.

Dave Williams throws some light on the subject: “They were the jet-set girls of the sixth form, they came from the big houses. They came to a couple of gigs and just started dancing. Somebody who booked us for the following week actually advertised us ‘with go-go girls’. But they were never really part of the show.”

ART

On 16th March, 1968 for a gig at Gartree School, the Opposition changed their name once again. “We called ourselves Art,” reveals Nigel, “because Dave was arty, that is, he was training as an artist. It was as simple as that.” Dave agrees: “It was my idea, because I’d been doing art at school.” Nigel Bullen was aware of another band using that name around the same time (the pre-Spooky Tooth outfit), but assuming them to be American, reckoned they’d be no confusion. As the Leicester-based Art never made it to London, there wasn’t.

Despite wording like “A time to touch and feel, to taste and experience, to hear and understand” appearing on the group’s tickets, Richard maintains that Art was “just the same band” as before. “Nothing changed."

“It was mutton dressed up as lamb, really,” admits Ron Chester. “We thought if we were called something different, people might come because they were curious. But it didn’t make a lot of difference. The audiences were captive at the places we played anyway. There was nowhere else to go on a Friday or Saturday night. Everyone used to roll up to see whoever was on, whether they’d heard of them or not.”

1968 was the year psychedelia caught up with many provincial British bands. The Art were no different, but their acknowledgement of what had been last year’s scene in London was via sight rather than sound. Their light shows seem to have been particularly memorable, as Dave Williams explains: “They were brilliant. We used the projectors from school, filled medicine bottles with water and oil, and projected through them to get this lovely golden, amber backdrop. As the image came out upside down, when we poured in some Fairy Liquid, it dropped straight through in a blob, but came out on the wall like a giant green mushroom cloud. It was amazing, and we had about four of them at the back, projecting over the band.”

John Deacon was party to another of Dave’s exploits. “One day,” recalls Williams, “John and I bought a 100-watt P.A. — which was pretty big for those days — and took it into the lecture theatre full of kids at Beauchamp School (which Deacon had attended since September 1966) for our version of Arthur Brown’s ‘Fire’. We cranked it up as loud as we could, put the light show on, and let off these smoke bombs, which were DDT pellets we’d got from the chemist. All the kids started choking, and then the headmaster walked in...[ ]

...[ ] with a load of governors. You could see the fury in his face. One of the governors asked what we were doing. ‘It’s a demonstration in sound and light, sir,’ I said. ‘We’re using these ink bottles turned upside down, but we’re a bit worried about these DDT pellets so we might knock the smoke on the head, but we’re still experimenting.’ And he fell for it!”.

INFLUENTIAL

Towards the end of 1968, a crop of new groups began to have a profound effect on the maturing schoolboys: Jethro Tull, the Nice, Taste, and in particular Deep Purple. Ron: “We used to buy Purple records and learn to play them. We’d seen John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the Downliners’ Sect in Leicester, the Nice, King Crimson. These sort of groups. We learned a lot from just watching them. They were influential. There was always a big discussion in the band as to whether we should do a particular song. Once we’d decided that, there’d be another big discussion as to how we should do it. Everybody had their say.”

Hair, too, had finally began to grow: “John grew his quite long,” recalls Ron. “We all had longish hair, but not shoulder length. We couldn’t look too unkempt for the normal side of life, but we didn’t want to be too prissy for the other end of the spectrum. That was when we started playing universities, and we went a bit heavier. The audiences were far more serious minded about music and more enthusiastic. In some of the youth clubs we’d been playing, the audience would be moving around on roller skates, or peeling bananas all over the place, things like that”.

“We felt we were making an impression towards the last year or two of the band,” he continues. But it went no further: “We were at school, some of us had jobs, and there was an element of common sense overriding what we would have liked to have done. None of us wanted to chuck in our apprenticeships or courses. If we’d had a flair for writing our own material, we might have taken off. But we just played what was popular, nothing different from most other groups. That wasn’t a basis on which to launch ourselves. So it never happened."

“We didn’t think that far ahead,” admits Richard Young. “I just thought of playing and getting repeat bookings. John was probably the least ambitious of all of us, to be honest. I think he felt that there was no mileage in what we were doing, although it was good fun. I think he had the impression that this was a hobby, a phase he was going through.”

Sometime in the Sixties, possibly 1969, but maybe earlier, Art recorded an acetate. Whatever the date, the crucial point is that John Deacon was present at the session. “We weren't asked to do it,” recalls Nigel. “We just wanted to make a disc. I think it cost us about five shillings.”

The venue was Beck’s studio, thirty miles south east of Oadby in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. “I’d never been in a studio before and it seemed awesome, really,” recalls Dave Williams. “It was a fairly decent-sized room for acoustics. It was all nicely low-lit, with lots of screens. The guy knew what he was doing.” Richard Young was less impressed, though: I’ve been in studios all my life,” he says. “That was just another session. Nothing about it stood out.”

The “guy” Dave remembered was engineer Derek Tomkins, who informed the group that they could record three tracks in the time allotted. “We’d only gone in there with two, ‘Sunny’ and ‘Vehicle’,” says Nigel, “and we didn’t want to waste the opportunity, so Richard knocked up a little instrumental called Transit 3’ — named after our new van, the third one — right there in the studio. Although we were purely a covers band, everybody had a bash at writing, but we never did anything of our own on stage. The exception was Transit 3’, which was incorporated into the set after this session.”

“ Transit 3’ was about about the only track we ever wrote," reckons Richard Young (“Heart Full Of Soul”, as reported in ‘As It Began’, is in fact a Graham Gouldman nurnber). “I initially had the idea, but I can’t really remember anything about it. It’s very basic. It wouldn’t take a great deal of effort to write something like that.” To the objective observer, “Transit 3”, taped in mono but well recorded, is a fairly uncomplicated, organ-led scale- hopper, reminiscent of Booker T & the MGs.

“Everybody was listening to ‘Green Onions’,” confirms Nigel, “so Booker T would have been an influence there.” But for all that, it’s well- played, with memorable lead and twangy, wah-wah guitar passages courtesy of Dave Williams. And, crucially, John Deacon’s thumping bass is plainly audible throughout. On this evidence, the Opposition were clearly a tight, confident outfit. “Transit 3” could have been incorporated into any swinging ‘60s film soundtrack, and no one would have jumped up shouting, “Amateurs”!.

UNFAMILIAR

The other two tracks, covers of Bobby Hebb’s ‘Sunny' and the more obscure, soul- tinged ‘Vehicle’ (later a hit for the Ides of March), featured a vocalist, but an unfamiliar one: another of the Opposition’s fleeting frontmen. “We had a singer for a while called Alan Brown,” recalls Nigel. “He came and went fairly quickly. He was good, really good. Too good for us, I think. That wasn’t him saying that. We just knew it.”

On both songs, Brown is in deep, soulful voice, sounding not unlike a cross between Tom Jones and the early Van Morrison — if such an amalgam can be imagined. The Art’s reading of “Vehicle” is edgy and robust, dominated by Richard Young’s distinctive keyboards and Nigel Bullen’s bustling drum work. Dave Williams is again in fine form, delivering more sparkling wah-wah guitar, while on the cassette copy taped from Nigel Bullen’s acetate, at least, John’s bass is very prominent, over-recorded in fact, booming in the mix.

“Sunny” goes one better, breaking into jazzy 3/4 time halfway through, before slotting back into the more traditional 4/4. It’s an imaginative arrangement, with alternate soloing from both Dave and Richard, while the whole track is underpinned by swirls of Hammond organ and John Deacon’s pounding bass.

“We did ‘Sunny’ as part of our stage set,” says Nigel, “but I don’t recall us ever going into the jazzy bit. That’s quite interesting. We might have talked about that before we went into the studio, but I think it was just for this session. Dave had two guitars, a six-string and a twelve-string, or it could even have been twin-necked. I still quite like the wah-wah he played on that track. By this time Richard would have been onto his second or third organ — he was heavily into Hammonds and Leslies."

Operating as they did in a fairly ambition- free zone, and having prepared the listener for a mundane set of recordings with their trademark laid-back approach, Art’s acetate comes as something of a revelation. Let any bunch of today’s schoolboys loose in a studio for an afternoon and defy them to come up with something half as good!

Just two copies of the Art disc are known to have survived. John Deacon’s mother is believed to own one and Nigel Bullen has the other. “I’d forgotten all about this record,” admits Nigel. “We know that one copy was converted to an ashtray!. We stubbed out cigarettes on Richards at rehearsal one night.” Although treated with anything but respect at the time, the importance of the disc is now apparent to Nigel Bullen: “This is probably John Deacon’s first recording, apart from tracks he did in his bedroom on his reel-to-...[ ]

...[ ] reel, which are probably long gone. Although, knowing John, they’re probably not!”

The beginning of the end for Art came in June 1969, when John Deacon left Beauchamp. With a college course lined up in London, his days with the band were obviously numbered. He played his final gig with the group on 29th August at a familiar venue, Great Glen Youth and Sports Centre Club. By October, he’d moved to London to study electronics at Chelsea College of Technology, part of the University of London.

Another blow was dealt in November, when the band's lynchpin, Richard Young, left to join popular local musician Steve Fearn in Fearn’s Brass Foundry.

“They were a Blood, Sweat and Tears-type of group,” recalls Richard, “and paid better money than I’d been used to. I was out five nights a week, on about £3 per night, against an average of about £10 between us.” The previous year, Richard had played session keyboards on the Foundry’s two Decca singles: “Don’t Change It” (F 12721, January 1968, £10) and “Now I Taste The Tears” (F 12835. September 1968, £8).

SAVAGE

Ron Chester departed shortly afterwards, and gave up music: “I left in the early 70s, after John Deacon moved to London. John was replaced by a bass player was called John Savage, who unsettled me. He had different tastes and drove us a bit hard. His approach was totally different from Deaks's, and he was much more interested in the financial side of things. We’d all been mates before, we didn't just knock about for the band. It just wasn’t the same.”

Nigel, Richard and Dave pushed on into 1970 with the new bassist, changing the band’s name again, this time to Silky Way. They returned to Beck’s studio to record a cover of Free’s “Loosen Up” with another vocalist, Bill Gardener, but that was the band’s last effort. Dave left after falling into Nigel’s drumkit, drunk on stage at a private party one Christmas. “I waited for them to pick me up the next day,” he recalls sheepishly, “but they never carne.”

Richard and Nigel moved into a dinner- dance type outfit called the Lady Jane Trio — “Corny, or what!”, laughs Bullen — but Nigel left music altogether soon afterwards to concentrate on his college work. Richard turned professional, moving into cabaret with the Steve Fearn-less Brass Foundry, before forming a trio called Rio, finding regular work on the holiday camp and overseas cruise circuit. In the late ‘70s, he joined a touring version of the Love Affair.

Down in London, John Deacon caught a glimpse of his future world-beating musical partners as early as October 1970, when he saw the newly-formed Queen perform at College of Estate Management in Kensington. “They were all dressed in black, and the lights were very dim too,” he told Jim Jenkins and Jacky Gunn in ‘As It Began’, “All I could really see were four shadowy figures. They didn’t make a lasting impression on me at the time.”

While renting rooms in Queensgate, John formed a loose R&B quartet with a flatmate, guitarist Peter Stoddart, one Don Cater on drums and another guitarist remembered only as Albert. The new band was hardlv a great leap forward from Art: they wrote no originals, and when asked to perform their only gig at Chelsea College on 21st November 1970, supporting Hardin & York and the Idle Race, they hastily billed themselves — in a rare fit of self-publicity for the quiet Oadby boy — as Deacon.

A few months later in early 1971, John was introduced to Brian May and Roger Taylor by a mutual friend, Christine Farnell, at a disco at Maria Assumpta Teacher Training College. They were looking for a bassist. John auditioned at Imperial College shortly afterwards. Roger Taylor recalled Queen’s initial reaction to Deacon in ‘As It Began’: “We thought he was great. We were so used to each other, and so over the top, we thought that because he was quiet he would fit in with us without too much upheaval. He was a great bass player, too — and the fact that he was a wizard with electronics was definitely a deciding factor!”

How did the members of the Art/Opposition back in Leicester, view John’s success with Queen? “It wasn’t sudden”, says Ron Chester. “First we heard he’d got into another group. We couldn’t believe that — were they deaf? There were all these sort of jokes going along. Then we heard he’d got a recording contract and the next thing he had a record out. It was a gradual progression. No one dreamed he would end up the way he did.”

“I don’t think we expected success for any of us" admits Nigel Bullen. “Richard maybe. He was the first one to go professional. But when John left for London to go to college, he left all his kit here. I thought that was the end of it for him. He had absolutely no intention of continuing. His college course was No.1. It was only after he kept seeing adverts for bass players in the ‘Melody Maker’ that he became interested again.”

He also seemed to lose some of that ‘Easy Deacon’ touch which so impressed Dave Williams in the ‘60s. “He’d ring up these bands,” continues Nigel, “but when he found they were a name act, he bottle out. When he went to auditions for anonymous bands, where he would queue up with about thirty other bass players, he had a bit of confidence. He just wanted to play in a decent band. Once I heard what Queen had recorded at De Lane Lea, and John played me the demo of their first album, I thought they were well set.”

CABARET

By early 1973, Dave Williams had forsaken a career in animation to join Highly Likely, a cabaret outfit put together by Mike Hugg and producer Dave Hadfield on the back of their minor hit, “Whatever Happened To You (The Likely Lads Theme)”. While Dave was in the band, they recorded a follow-up single which wasn’t released, before evolving into a glam rock outfit, Razzle, which later become the Ritz, who issued a few singles. “During Queen’s early days, before they’d had any real success, John came to see us once,” recalls Dave, “and said, ‘I wish I was in a band like this which could actually play some gigs’.” Dave concludes: “I remember John coming round once around that time, saying I’ve got a demo’. ‘So have I!’, I said. So we put his on first, and the first track was ‘Keep Yourself Alive’. My mouth dropped wide open and I thought. ‘Bloody hell! What a great track’. I remember saying that the guitarist was as good as Ritchie Blackmore — who was still our hero then — and thinking ‘They’re serious about this. This is the real thing’.”

RECORD COLLECTOR Nº 198 FEBRUARY 1996

⬅PREVIOUS: SMILE

https://melisa-may-taylor72.tumblr.com/post/639672109315014656/queen-before-queen-the-1960s-recordings

➡NEXT: IBEX, WRECKAGE & SOUR MILK SEA

@natromanxoff, @mephisto92, @moviestorian, @x5vale, @39-brian, @onegoldenglance, @crosmopolitan, @an-abyss-called-life, @his-majesty-king-mercury, @i-live-for-queen, @brian-39-may, @toomuchlove-willkillyou, @brimaymay, @sail-away-sweet-sister, @drummerqueenrmt, @old-fashioned-roger-boy, @briianmaay, @inui-mycroft, @deacytits, @iminlovewithrogscar, @drowseoftaylor, @brianmayislongaway, @balticlover, @astrophysicist-guitar-god, @miez-lakatz, @brianmayoucease, @jesus-in-a-life-boat, @aslongasthereismusic, @roger-taylors-car, @silapril, @sherrifanciesfriskyfreddie, @tenderbri, @brianmydear, @thosequeenboys, @millionairewaltz-carpediem, @painandpleasure86, @bribrifrenchfry, @xlucylennonx, @a-night-at-the-abbey-road, @inthedayswhenlandswerefew, @madformeddowstaylor, @queenrogertaylorfan, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @queen-for-life, @rethought, @drivenbybrianmay @mymakeupmaybeflaking, @old-but-still-a-child, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @warriorteam1924, @funnydressesweirdhairanddance, @painkiller80, @thefanhuman13, @yourtieddownmother, @hgmercury39, @brimi-stardust, @thefairyfellermercury, @retroromantics, @sailawaysweetbrimi, @sophiaintheskywithdiamonds, @holybrianmaywritingbear, @lydiannode, @39-yellow-daffodils , @ure-gonna-loveme-when-u-seeme, @kaykaybeachgirl, @foxmonkey, @deakysgurl, @redspecialandclogsandcurls, @briansrainbowsocks-deactivated2, @delilahmay39, @ohmybribri, @bless-the-queen, @everythingaboutfreddie, @doitforthevine67, @recordsoftheseventies, @rhysjoejoshtomfarisblog, @tenementfunsterwithpurpleshoes, @drummah-in-a-rocknroll-band, @beatlegirl1968, @maylorsqueen, @autumnscenemcyt, @gralto, @alittlepeoplemagic, @rainbowsockbrian, @frejudy, @drivenbybri, @yourlocalmusicalprostitute, @saik-ava, @omb-xx, @sassymaylor, @somekindofroger, @starlightmay, @freddiemercuryismylife, @sunshine112, @chrysochromulina, @glitteryloveravenue, @deakyislife51, @0-primejive-0, @just-a-skinny-lad, @bluewillowmom, @sassiesillie, @stesichoreanpalinode, @farrokhbulsaramercury, @tayloredofqueen, @rushingheadlong, @izzy-is-slightly-mad, @scandalacious, @0-my-fairy-queen-0 @39-volunteers-to-space@zodiacaldust, @deakytaylor, @queenband70s, @deakyeveryday, @drivenbybrimay @70smay

#Queen Before Queen #Pre-Queen Series #John Deacon #The Opposition #🎤🎵🎸👑⭐

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tinyboxxtink · 3 years

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Helpless *Part 5*

Note: I appreciate the support guys, you have no idea. You believe in this story and it makes me SO happy!! <3

Masterlist:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 6

Tag List:

@wanniiieeee

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@word-scribbless

@dumauier

You promptly followed Arianna to the back, practically stepping on her heels.

"You're WRONG about him, Arianna. He's too smart for this, for me-- for us," You warned. "AND he works for the MAYOR. Do you really want to go to prison when he figures out our game?!"

"See but THAT'S how much faith I have in you babe," She didn't even hesitate to shut you down. "I know you would never get us in trouble..." She wrapped an arm around you.

"...EVER," The arm going around your shoulder was soon pushing you back out into the restaurant, where a now composed Rafael sat, watching you intensely.

"....What the fuck was that?" He said in an eerily calm voice.

"W-What are you talking abo--" You tried to speak but he immediately jumped over you in an angry voice.

"What the FUCK, was that?!" He asked again, then proceeded to talk not waiting for you to answer.

"I have never, EVER spoken ANYTHING about my father out loud. To ANYONE. I have spent my entire adult LIFE making sure of it. And here 30 minutes with you and I'm making a flippant comment about my childhood trauma?!" His fist pounded the bar.

"What, the fuck...did you do to me?" he growled.

Alright, keep calm. You had this.

"What did I DO to you?" You snorted, like it was the stupidest question in the world.

"Rafael 10 minutes ago you didn't even BELIEVE in the science, and now all of a sudden I put a SPELL on you? Are you out of your mind?!" You rolled your eyes with a dismissive laugh, clearly agitating him more. People tended to be easier to read when they became emotional, and certainly easier to manipulate.

"Then how do you explain it, hmm?" He licked his lips, signs of disgust. God you hated this.

"Gee, I don't know Rafael. You ever stop to think maybe it was something MORE than science, some kind of different 'voodoo'?!"

"Like what...?" He blinked at you, trying to figure out what you were implying.

"Something about you just makes me feel...safe," You placed your hand over his once more, playing with the hair on his knuckles.

"Look, I understand why you're upset. But-- you know, it's not only you who's vulnerable right now," You lowered your voice into a soft, soothing tone.

"You know, I've never told anyone else about me and Ari before," you bit your lip and looked at the floor. Sure you hadn't, except every other guy Ari had made you scam.

"You ever think that's why you just blurted out stuff about your dad? Maybe that we had a connection that was bigger than some emotional reading bullshit?" Gaslighting was always a great way to knock someone down real quick.

You saw Rafael's anger dissipate from his face; you watched as his eyes filled with hope. You knew you were preying on his very obvious need for acceptance and affection, and you hated yourself for it.

"I...well, maybe..." he rubbed the back of his neck, you saw the logical side of him fighting with his emotional side, trying to remind him that 'soulmates' or 'connections' didn't actually exist. And you watched it lose, as a beautiful smile crawled across his lips.

"Maybe you're right," He now took both your hands, and looked deep into your eyes. Right then you could see every little bit of trauma, hurt, anguish, wanting, all being pushed down by the growing look of hope, and security. And suddenly, you couldn't do it anymore.

"No, I'm not," you dropped his hands, unable to look at him anymore.

"Wh-What? Seriously?" He shook his head in utter disbelief, trying to figure out how the hell you were so hot and cold from one second to the next.

"Look just, take this," You scribbled on a check and handed it to him. "Go pay at the register, and get out of here. And don't come back,"

"What the fu-- are you on something?" he stared at the check, then you, then the sky like he was looking for answers.

"Look, I'm--I'm begging you, Rafael. Walk out of here RIGHT NOW, before Arianna comes out here," you almost whispered, praying she wasn't listening.

"....Why do you not want--"

"Just, forget it. Please, go. PLEASE," Your voice was shaking, tears lined your eyes. You had literally never been this unhinged emotionally in front of someone other than Arianna before, EVER.

"I..." Rafael was clearly shocked and disturbed by what was unfolding, but he didn't want to see you like this. You could see him backing off because he pitied you, he felt sorry for whatever inner turmoil was happening with you, even if he didn't understand it. He put his hands up and walked to the register, pay and give you one last sad look before disappearing into the night.

You felt your legs shaking, your heart beating outside of your chest. You had NEVER let Arianna down before, ever. You had never just...broken, like that. Lying was your LIFE. You barely had a moment to process what just happened before Arianna came storming out from the kitchen.

"What the HELL, Y/N? Where did he go?!"

"H-He caught on, Ari," you looked at the ground, terrified to meet her eyes.

"HOW is that possible, you never--"

You jumped over her words immediately, defensively yelling at her:

"I DON'T KNOW, okay?! He--He came from the bathroom all freaked the fuck out because he had literally never told ANYONE about his dad, and then he-- he accused me of DOING something to him! Like I was a witch or something!" Well, you weren't lying. Not like she could've been able to tell, like she said she didn't have your skills.

"He wouldn't let me say ANYTHING. He just grabbed his check and stormed out of here! I didn't have TIME to work him over, okay? I'm sorry. I failed you," The tears around your eyes now dripped down your cheeks, little did Ari know they weren't for her.

"Aw...honey," Arianna's anger vanished, you knew she couldn't stand to see you cry. She wrapped her arms around you and coddled you like a mom to a toddler.

"I know, you tried your best. And I know it must've been hard, giving up your abogado like that," she stroked your hair.

"You'd just better pray we find another benefactor, FAST" her strokes turned into her acrylic nails running down your face, mildly aggressively. You looked into her eyes, she knew something had happened. She didn't know what and she would never accuse you, but you knew she knew. She always knew.

"I'm on it," You quickly tried to get away from her. "I promise,"

------

The night wrapped up pretty routinely, and the evening went about the same. The next day, you and Ari were walking up the subway towards Fazzoli's when you saw him-- Rafael was waiting, discreetly. Well, discreetly to him anyway.

"I uh-- You know what I forgot to make change before we left, I'm gonna hit the bodega real quick. I'll meet you inside, okay?" You quickly moved in front of Arianna as you talked, praying to God she hadn't noticed him. Luckily, she was thoroughly engrossed in a game of CANDY CRUSH.

"Mmmkay," She nodded and waved you off, not looking up from her phone.

As soon as she was inside, you walked straight up to Rafael and pulled him around the corner into an alleyway.

"What did I say?!" You hissed.

"Well first of all, this is my favorite restaurant, and I was here first, so you're not gonna 'ban' me from eating here," he stated. "And second, you need to tell me what happened last night,"

"No I don't have to tell you anything," you scoffed.

"But you want to,"

"HOW do you know that? You don't know that," you crossed your arms and rolled your eyes, signaling him to back off.

"Then what was that insane Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde act? One second you're batting your eyes at me and the next you're literally throwing me out! Are you nuts?"

"YES. Yes, I am unhinged and a psychopath, Rafael. Clearly. So you need to--to stay away from me," You huffed and turned to leave, but he grabbed your arm.

"I was right last night, wasn't I? That's why you freaked out,"

"...What are you talking about?" You stopped and turned slowly to face him again.

"You're not the only one who can google," he pulled out his phone and began reading an article he had found.

"...Behavioral scientists are hesitant to teach micro-expression reading to the masses, as it can be used for nefarious purposes,"

Your face fell-- You were right, he WAS too smart for you.

"People with these skills can easily manipulate any sort of information out of anyone, if trained properly," He continued, looking you straight in the eyes.

"I...Um.." Jesus Christ this had never happened to you before-- you literally COULD NOT lie to him.

"YES, okay? Yes, I manipulated you last night, are you happy?" You threw your arms up, starting to walk away again.

"No, I'm not! I wanna know why," He jumped in front of you preventing you from leaving the alley.

"Why? You wanna know-- does it matter?" You tried moving past him, but he wasn't budging.

"YES, it matters! For fuck's sake Y/N you-- you had me thinking-- I..." He trailed off, you saw the pain in his eyes. He had actually started to fall for you, and you had crushed him.

"Because it's what we do, okay?" You sighed. "It's not personal,"

"NOT personal? What 'we' do? What, you and Arianna?" he narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, but you don't understand ok? We, we lived in our CAR, Rafael. We didn't eat for WEEKS at a time, we started going through garbage like actual rats,"

"And then I found this book, and I studied it, and I just tried it ONCE--Just for a meal," you looked up, trying not to get emotional.

"And Arianna latched on to it. HARD," you looked everywhere but Rafael's eyes.

"She--She grabbed anything she could with information on micro-expressions, she quizzed me, she coached me-- she helped me," Finally, you let yourself look at him.

"So you could help her," he looked at you seriously.

"So I could help US," you argued.

"In six months we had enough money for a nice little studio apartment in the Bronx and a full refrigerator!" you heard yourself defending you and Arianna's life together, but saying it out loud you didn't know how much you believed it yourself anymore.

"...And what exactly do you do," His words made you shift uncomfortably on your heels.

"Y/N....." ," He lowered his voice, emphasizing his seriousness.

"I...we...Arianna picks a target, someone who's in the public eye and has money. and I...sweet talk them," you glared holes into the ground.

"...And then I get something out of them, something they don't want the public to know, that they don't want ANYONE to know," You could literally feel how these people must have felt because this was the last thing that you ever wanted Rafael to know, for anyone to know.

"...And she finds out more information about it and--"

"And shakes them down," He finished your sentence, you could hear the disgust in his mouth.

"Look I'm sorry, okay?" Your voice shook a bit.

"I know you are," He stepped closer to you.

"....Okay? Just like that? You're just gonna believe a professional liar?" you half laughed, rolling your eyes.

"Yeah, because if you really wanted to-- you wouldn't have kicked me out last night," a very small micro smile came across.

"I--Yeah, well um-- I...I couldn't," you bit your lip.

"Which makes me think you don't ever really like doing it at all, do you?" he looked at you with knowing eyes.

You shifted uncomfortably, not willing to verbally agree.

"So why do you let Arianna manipulate YOU?"

"Because she's all I have, Rafael!" You cried.

"She's literally the only person I have. It's been me and her against the world since high school, I can't...I can't just, abandon her! I can't let us starve,"

"You have honest jobs now, do you not?"

"Yeah I know, that's why I was pissed she asked me to do you-- I mean, use you," you bit your lip over your Freudian slip.

"She KNEW I was in love with you, and she just--" you stopped talking, noticing a smirk spreading across his face.

"I'm sorry, what?" He asked you with a shocked expression. You looked at him in confusion, then realized you had just spoken without thinking.

"I--It's a figure of speech. Like, "oh my god I'm so in love with Justin Beiber I could just die","

"...Don't like being compared to the Beebz like that but okay," he chuckled.

"Just...shut up. She knew I LIKED you, and she-- she just-- PERVERTED it," you spit out the words, your anger bubbling up. You knew from the moment he caught you sniffing his glass that you and him had something pure, and she just made it into something dirty, something evil.

"So...what EXACTLY happened, last night Y/N?" He stepped even closer, lowering his voice but his tone was soft not serious.

"I...You...You came in, and--everything was fine. It was just me, and-- and you, and we were--" You waved your hands, trying to be casual about it, but he grabbed them and made you look directly at him.

"...It was real," you whispered.

"And THEN, Arianna started telling me that I needed something out of you," your face went red again. "That-- that she hadn't 'planned' on using you, or me, but when she found out you were the ADA she just-- snapped," you went on again, feeling your anger rise again.

"She thought that she could use my actual feelings for you to get what she wanted, and I played along," you folded your arms, ashamed of yourself. You looked away, but Rafael's hand cupped your chin and turned you back to him.

"...But you didn't,"

"I COULDN'T," you could barely speak, tears choked your throat. Suddenly, feeling very uncomfortable having any kind of kindness being shown to you right now, you once again backed away from Rafael and paced around the alleyway.

"I...you don't get it. Lying is my THING. And--And usually okay maybe I have moral qualms about seducing dudes and exploiting them but I get over it, and I do it anyway!" You shook your hands into the air.

"B-B-But you, with you--your stupid eyes, god dammit those eyes!" you paced faster, shaking your head. Those fucking eyes.

"These eyes?" He pointed to his eyes, a very small smirk on his face.

"This isn't funny, okay? You--You made me betray my BEST friend," you stopped and stared into those eyes.

"With my eyes," he couldn't stop a smile.

"YES! I-I gave you that sappy load of bullshit about us having a 'connection', because I knew that was exactly what you wanted, what you ," you looked away in shame.

"Wow..." Rafael shifted uncomfortably, you did know what you were doing.

"A-And you just, you ate it up! YOU, the most level headed, narcissistic, pessimistic lawyer, you just-- believed me," you almost laughed, the thought was actually unbelievable.

"And you were so happy," you added sadly, feeling the guilt rise in your gut.

"...And I think I started to believe it myself. And then I just...I couldn't--" You walked back up to him, this time taking his face in your hands.

"With everyone else I am a shark, but with you I just felt...helpless," you pressed your forehead to his for a brief moment, an intimate moment to say goodbye.

"So I sent you away. And I told you to stay away!" You literally pushed him away, gesturing out of the alley way.

"Why send me away though?"

"Because Arianna will KNOW now,"

"So? Let her know," he scoffed.

"NO," You stepped back into his face, trying to show him how serious you were.

"She's given up on you, because I told her you figured us out,"

"And she bought that?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Well not figured figured out, just that you knew something wasn't right and we couldn't risk going to prison or something,"

"But if she knows that I just...let you go, she'll start digging on her own," your eyes grew wide with fear for him.

"And she will dig until she finds something. Something other than 'daddy issues'," you rolled your eyes.

"...And you think she'll find something?" he asked.

".... You're really telling me you don't have ANY skeletons in your closet, counselor?" now you raised an eyebrow.

"...I'm not leaving you alone with her," he took your hands again.

"Oh come on, I told you. She's my PERSON, she's not gonna hurt me. I don't need protection from her," you rolled your eyes, the thought of being afraid of Arianna was ridiculous. Kind of.

"That doesn't mean I won't fight for you," he touched your face.

"Raf please--" you pleaded once more.

"Give me your phone," he ordered, and you obliged.

"Wha--Okay..."

He took it and programmed his number into it, then handed it back to you.

"Arianna is NOT the only person you have now," he took your hand and kissed the back of your knuckles, before winking and walking away.

...What just happened?

#rafael barba #rafael barba x you #rafael barba x reader #rafael barba imagine #law and order special victims unit #law and order svu #law and order svu fanfiction #helpless

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coffee-n-bagels-comic-universe · 3 years

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Major Updates to My Weird Idea (that includes my Nightside OCs)

Go check my previous post on this - HERE

This is mainly an update for @schizoauthoress , @the--blackdahlia , @spacelizardtrashboys , @enigmaticandunstable and @piratewithvigor and I personally think @nattinngrst might like this.

I went on a trip to the beach yesterday with my parents and my older brother (who I bored and annoyed with this idea and you'll see some of his influence in this here post)

Anything written in italics is meant to be taken as a joke as you read through this wall of text, sending good vibes as always, hope y'all are doing well.

The show is set in Canadian, Texas (real place: Wikipedia). I'm thinking of this show starting in the mid-to-late 90s (1996/1997).

I've managed to do several things with that weird sitcom idea, so, where to start, how about with the three potential titles:

1 - Neighbourhood Watch

2 - First Call

3 - First Round (Which my brother likes)

Here are some options for bar names, starting with the Cop bar:

1 - The Donut Hole

2 - The Roasted Hog (which my big bro suggested)

3 - The Sherriff's Outpost

And the Biker Bar:

1 - The Handlebar Inn

2 - The Steel Horse Saloon

3 - The Rebel Room

Next on the list of updates: Cast additions, character roles and (Finally after 2 days) Names for Everyone!!

I'll start with the Cop Bar's owner & staff:

Rosalina Asturias 'Rosa' (Played by Billie Martinez) an employee of the local cop bar. Didn't grow up in the town, moved here for work.

Violet Croft (Played by Eli Herne) an employee. Grew up in town, never left, has the hots for one of the guys in the local police.

Sunshine Crawford 'Sunny' (Played by Holly Di Antonio) an employee. Grew up in town, left for college and came back.

Roscoe Power 'Ross' (Played by Jimmy Hart) the loudmouth who owns the bar, grew up in town, used to be a car salesman.

Olesya Pavlovsky 'Olivia' (Played by Penelope Voronin) an employee who grew up in town and has immigrant parents, goes by 'Olivia' because she would rather you don't f*** up her actual name.

Winona Vance (Played by Sam Griffin Silver) an employee who moved here from New York, for unknown reasons, and doesn't really understand the small town, everyone knows everyone lifestyle.

Lavender Whittemore (Played by Victoria Lucifarian) an employee who grew up in England but moved to live in America, settled in Canadian, Texas due to her love of westerns.

Next: The Local Police Squad:

Sergeant Valentine Gautier 'Val' (Played by Bret Hart) recently promoted before the series begins but still on patrol duty, watches over his younger brother.

Corporal Buck Morris 'Buckshot' (Played by Davey Boy Smith) the gun loving corporal of the squad and the only one to have both 'work' and 'home' guns.

Captain Napoleon Cooper 'Crazy Cooper' / 'Captain Crazy' (Played by Jim Neidhart) the police captain, recently reassigned to Canadian, Texas as there were rumours abut him which interfered with his work in his previous location.

Officer Duke Gautier (Played by Owen Hart) the young, recently recruited brother of Sgt Gautier, often put on patrol alone to ensure less arguments, but always checked on by his brother.

Next: The Biker Bar's Staff:

Ozzy Rains (Played by Charles Wright) A biker and member of the staff who grew up just outside of town but loves his fellow staff members like family.

Brock Martel (Played by Henry Godwin) a biker and member of the staff who grew up on a local ranch and loves beer, football and the current Mayor's down-to-Earth style.

Vincent Gore 'Vinnie' (Played by Kane) the owner's son and a known fire loving 'freak' often protected by his surrogate family, the bar staff, Vinnie knows no better than 'ooh, cool looking fire' and must be restrained or have his hands swatted away to stop him burning himself trying to touch campfires.

Raven Knight (Played by Kirby Roussimoff) the only female staff member, but also the girl who does all the tough jobs when needed, has a side business of making and selling artwork, such as portraits to locals, has designed some of the bar staff's tattoos.

Harlow Gore (Played by Paul Bearer) the owner of the bar and a loving father to his son, took Murphy (Undertaker) under his wing when they first met and also treats him, and the rest of staff, like family.

Hunter King (Played by Phineas Godwin) Brock's cousin and a member of staff, taught Raven how to shoot a shotgun and his father owns a local tattoo parlour.

Sequoia Reed (Played by Rikishi) an employee and Frankie's (Yokozuna) cousin, also a surrogate cousin to Raven, having been best friends since childhood. Reed loves his job and his staff family and will defend both at any cost.

Lupe Zapatero (Played by Savio Vega) an employee at the bar and possibly the shortest member of staff, towered over by the tallest staff members but is not any less of a fighter because of his size, a former mechanic who loves nothing more than taking things apart and putting them back together while listening to metal / rock.

Murphy Graves (Played By The Undertaker) Manager of the biker bar and an excellent member of staff, has an outlaw rules vibe, as in he would say to the police "Your jurisdiction ends when you walk in my bar." Very protective of the staff, and the owner.

Frankie Wolf (Played by Yokozuna) the most relaxed and laid-back of the staff, Frankie would prefer to be in the kitchen making potential 'Culinary Masterpieces' as he would call them. Sequoia and Raven's (surrogate) cousin, views his staff mates as family.

Next: The Local Band (Named: Exoskeleton Samurai)/College Students

Quinn Thorn (Played by Jeff Hardy) the bassist to Ros' (Lita) vocals / lead Guitar and older brother Garth's (Matt) Drums, a face paint enthusiast and an English major in college who never seems to find time to study, but always has time to date somehow.

Roz Jerome (Played by Lita) the vocals and lead guitar for the band and an art major who actually studies, dating Garth (Matt) and met Quinn through him. Roz also studies Spanish and French.

Garth Thorn (Played by Matt Hardy) Quinn's older brother and the band's drummer, a major in psychology and a horror movie lover, Roz' boyfriend and almost totally devoted to her, even at the cost of his college work.

Next: The Local Townsfolk of Note:

Mayor Robert Sweet (Played by Jim Duggan) rarely seen, but apparently a good man with good ideas, helps out in volunteer projects and absolutely loves the town. Trying his hardest and people know this, and they love him. (did I meme correctly?)

Rusty Jarvis (Played by Mick Foley) the local hippie who has never left town, somehow managing to know both everything and nothing at the same town. (Very Dude Love with hints of Cactus Jack and Mankind) Does know how to fight when he needs to.

Redd Wayne (Played by 'Sycho' Sid Vicious/Justice) the local baseball/softball star, helps out at the local school/college teaching sports and likes Raven's artwork, he watches her draw when he can, runs the local little league & minor league baseball/softball games.

Earl Black (Played by Steve Austin) the most often seen regular at the biker bar, absolutely loves both the bar and the town, a hardworking guy who has befriended the entire staff (including Harlow and Vinnie) of the biker bar.

Lex Aston (Played by The Rock) a local struggling actor, teaching an acting class to pay the bills and an absolute ladies man, and for that reason he goes to the cop bar, to try and pick up one of the bartenders who works there, often favouring Rosa as she will jokingly flirt back.

Finally (for this section): The Degenerates and Their Benefactors:

Reign Yates (Played by Billy Gunn) Leon's (Road Dogg) best friend, often the getaway driver for the group and a scout for locations, often getting all the info on a place before telling Matty (H.H.H) and Dell (HBK). Often leaves town with Leon to get the heat off them. (and make out in secret)

Zelda Hooper (Played by Chyna) the only female degenerate but possibly the toughest, has a rap sheet as big as her arms, not to be trusted when around the other degenerates as she is usually the actual brains of the operation.

Matty Battle (Played by Hunter Hearst Helmsley) the co-leader of the degenerates, often protected by Zelda or Mark (Kevin Nash). does most of the talking but has the piss taken of him for his looks often by either other degenerates or locals who don't care for the degenerates.

Romeo Colombera (Played by Mike Rotundo/I.R.S) the right hand man of the mysterious benefactor, and often the lawyer for the degenerates as well as a taskmaster for them, telling them what the boss wants done and by what date.

Mark Rake (Played by Kevin Nash/Diesel) the tallest degenerate with a rap sheet as long as his leg, a former bouncer at a now closed nightclub, alongside best friend (and possibly boyfriend) Galo (Scott Hall) and now a bodyguard (when needed) for Matty and Dell (HBK, also boyfriends).

Leon Rose (Played by Road Dogg) best friend of Reign and a scout for the group alongside him. Has found every possible way to piss off other townsfolk and often in the most fights because of it, always on the police's radar for one thing or another and constantly leaving town because of it.

Galo Villalobos (Played by Scott Hall/Razor Ramon) the only (supposedly) Latino degenerate, raised in Canadian, Texas but his parents are from Cuba, Galo is a former nightclub bouncer (alongside Mark) Galo is known (for his ability to give minus fucks) as the most relaxed member of the group.

Dell Pain (Played by Shawn Michaels/HBK) the co-leader alongside Matty, a known flirt with people regardless of gender or sexuality, just to piss them off on some occasions. Dell grew up in town, knowing it like the back of his hand.

Giles Rennell (Played by Ted DiBiase) the mysterious benefactor of the group, bailing them out if needed, he stumbled across the group after seeing a police bulletin and decided to use them to cause enough chaos to guarantee a chance in the next mayoral election.

Zac Noel (Played by X-Pac) the shortest and youngest degenerate, Zac is often treated as the child of the group, being taught how to get away with crimes and trick the police into just letting him go by clerical error and tomfoolery.

Next on my list of updates: Season 1's episode list, episode titles, episode synopses, some spoilers, and the revolving door idea a bit further explained.

Series running order:

Biker bar episode

Cops on Patrol episode

Band/College Students episode

Cop bar episode (yes these are different)

Degenerates episode

(last episode of each season/series only) town meeting/town get-together (E.X: town hall meetings, the town getting together for a sports game or barbeque or restaurant opening)

1x01: Insert Coin to Start: The pilot episode of the series sees the local biker bar of Canadian, Texas installing two, brand new, arcade machines. After leaving for the night, the team finds the bar broken into and both machines missing with no evidence or possible suspects to the robbery. The team finds the machines relatively undamaged in an alleyway nearby. By the end of the episode there's still no suspects. B plot includes an argument between father and son, Harlow and Vincent which ends when Murphy gets involved.

1x02: Hot Pursuit: Newly instated chief of police Chief Cooper [Neidhart] makes changes to the patrol teams before tasking them with looking for any persons involved with (1x01)'s robbery and break-in, leading to a high speed chase later in the episode. B plot includes the squad coming to grips with the new, and much crazier, police chief.

1x03: Making Noise: Local band Exoskeleton Samurai [Team Extreme] are writing new music late at night while Roz [Lita] tries to study for a class the following day but, during a moment of quiet, they hear a break in a couple of doors down and attempt to see who it is. The group get a glimpse of Zac Noel [X-Pac] and Mark Rake [Nash] but not a full glimpse. Now aware of the local degenerates, the band try and forget about it and focus on their own lives until their apartment gets broken into when they're not there.

1x04: Donuts & Beer: The new cop bar opens on the other side of town, serving mainly (both savoury and sweet) bagels and donuts as well as beer (on tap and bottled), the fact it's slightly more risqué gets (both good and bad) attention on the place. Winona Vance [Sam] gets in a fight with Zac Noel [X-Pac] as she's locking up. Winona [Sam] being put in the hospital with a broken arm makes the rest of [Cop Bar]'s staff double down on getting justice for the near break-in.

1x05: Dirty Work: The first episode from the degenerates perspective. The degenerates are just causing general problems for the town without reason because it's fun' but it's quickly losing their interest as the heat on them rises. The end of the episode has Matty Battle [Triple H] receiving a call from 'Mister R' [DiBiase] offering him a deal.

1x06: Blue & Black: A brawl breaks out at [Biker Bar] following whispers that the people who broke in are in the building. The bikers who work at the bar threaten to hurt anyone who works for the rival bar if they try and mess with business while in the biker bar.

1x07: Captain Crazy: A rumour that the current captain was moved location and promoted to smooth over allegations that he may not be fully sane, Officer Duke Gautier [Owen] is determined to find the truth while Sergeant Valentine Gautier [Bret] and Corporal Buck Morris [Davey Boy] are determined to keep the peace and catch the local degenerates.

1x08: Broken Strings: following an argument with an ex girlfriend Quinn Thorn [Jeff] finds his guitar smashed and has to work odd jobs to buy another one (starting a potential series c plot). Garth Thorn [Matt] ends up in a fight with Galo Villalobos [Hall] which ends when Roz Jerome [Lita] smashes a table leg over the back of Galo's [Scott's] head, knocking him out and giving him over to the police.

1x09: Badges & Bottle Tops: Captain Cooper [Neidhart] stops by [cop bar] to talk with owner Roscoe Power [Jimmy Hart]. Meanwhile the Gautier boys [Owen & Bret] interrogate Galo Villalobos [Scott Hall] about what the degenerates are doing and why, getting no information about the mysterious benefactor over than he pays them a lot of money depending on what they do.

1x10: Paid off: The mysterious benefactor 'Mister R' [DiBiase] pays Galo's [Scott's] bail, getting him free for a while but side-lining him too. The benefactor remains hidden in shadow but Matty & Dell [Triple H & HBK] have a meeting with him to discuss money and the next job.

1x11: Written in Ink: the tattooed bikers on the staff encourage regular customer Earl Black [Austin] to get a skull tattoo on his back and even take him with them to the tattoo parlour they frequent, finding it to be burned to the ground with a 'freaks get lost' sign planted in the wreckage. Murphy Graves [Undertaker] dismisses the rumours that the arsonist is the fire fascinated Vincent Gore [Kane] and even gives him an alibi when the cops come looking for answers, putting blame on someone in town who knows about Vinnie's [Kane's] love of fire, which is nearly every person in town.

1x12: Sergeant Heartbreaker: Sergeant Gautier [Bret] is accused of flirting with the staff at [Cop bar] leading to a paid two day leave to get heat off of him while he's ordered to remain at home. Officer Gautier [Owen] and Corporal Morris [Davey Boy] are put on patrol together, leading to a high speed chase of Reign Yates, Leon Rose & Zelda Hooper [Gunn, Road Dogg & Chyna] after witnessing a mugging, assault and graffiti from the trio, the cops eventually lose them down a back road on private Giles Rennell's [DiBiase's] land they would need a warrant for.

1x13: Failing Grade: Quinn's [Jeff's] lack of sleep leads to him getting a fail on an test forcing him to do the semester again. Enraged by this Quinn [Jeff] considers leaving the school but is encouraged to continue following Garth [Matt] ending up in hospital following [1x12]'s assault and mugging on Garth & Roz [Matt & Lita].

1x14: Microphones & Megaphones: [cop bar]'s owner Roscoe Power [Jimmy Hart] installs a stage for local acts in the bar, leading to Violet Croft [Eli] performing later that episode (the closing of the episode into the credits) and the night before the first performance the bar is covered in graffiti, leading to a massive clean up effort from the staff and local volunteers (like Mick Foley & The Rock).

1x15: Trench Warfare: Romeo Colombera [IRS] the benefactor's [DiBiase's] right hand man and go-to lawyer gives the degenerates an list of jobs, run the police chief out of town by the end of the year, run the bikers out of town, and ensure that 'Mister R' [DiBiase] the benefactor wins the next mayoral election.

1x16: Fuelling Up: after closing up [biker bar] Raven Knight [Kirby] narrowly avoids being burned by her motorbike exploding in a ball of fire. Her boss, Harlow Gore [Bearer] tells her to take the week off, leading to her coming into the bar and sitting at the back of the bar, sketching the regular customers and having a long conversation with local sports star Redd Wayne [Sid].

1x17: Brothers in Arms: Together: the Gautier brothers [Bret & Owen] are put on patrol together leading to the arrest of Zelda, Matty & Dell [Chyna, Triple H & HBK] before the trio are bailed out, the brothers interrogate Dell Pain [HBK] (leading to a very 'basic instinct'-esque scene with Shawn in assless chaps and boxer briefs) who gives them no information on their behaviour and why they are doing the things they've done.

1x18: Night Time Fun: the band attends a college party, unknowingly with Zac Noel [X-Pac] also in attendance, leading to the trio being high and drunk and the Thorn brothers [Matt & Jeff] end up in a fight, almost being thrown out of college entirely for their actions the next morning.

1x19: Head or Hart: Violet Croft [Eli] and (officer) Duke Gautier [Owen] meet properly for the first time on a blind date, leading to them walking through the streets of Canadian, Texas at night. The date is quickly ended after Duke [Owen] spots Leon Rose [Road Dogg] spray painting [cop bar] and gives chase after handing Violet [Eli] his number.

1x20: Grunt Work: The degenerates have a group meeting about how to sabotage the town meeting, leading to Rennell [DiBiase] coming out of the shadows to lead the degenerates in a coordinated attack on the town hall. Leading to the degenerates waiting until the town meeting to begin the next day.

1x21: Town Meeting: Mayor Robert Sweet [Duggan] conducts a town meeting, leading to everyone airing their grievances with the degenerates recent spree of activity. At the end of the meeting, paint bombs hidden above the townsfolk go off all at once, covering everyone in bright, almost neon, green paint.

#Kayleigh's weird idea #any thoughts?

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mischiefandspirits · 3 years

Text

Doppelgänger (11/?)

Previously on Doppelgänger ~ Masterlist ~ Next time on Doppelgänger

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were just 14 when they took a look inside the portal Danny’s parents had built. From there, everything changed. They woke up with white hair, green skin, and powers they could learn to control. They were hybrids, halfas.

They were the hero Doppelgänger.

{Life Lessons, Part 3}

The two ghosts led Valerie through the Ghost Zone in a weaving path. They were going at a pace slower than she was used to when dealing with them, but still fast enough that Danny had to hold on to keep from falling off.

“You okay?” she asked when his grip tightened during a turn.

“Yeah, just not used to it.”

“Maybe I should take you flying with me some time,” she said, glancing back at him and was pleased to see his smile.

“Sounds fun.”

The trip was thankfully short and soon enough Valerie was following the ghosts through a swirling vortex, coming out in the Fentons’ lab.

“Last stop, home,” Danny joked as he hopped down.

“What was that?”

All four teens froze at the voice before the ghosts darted through the walls and Valerie retracted her suit. A moment later, Danny’s parents came running down the stairs.

“Danny!” his mom shrieked when she saw them and the two adults swooped in to hug him. “We’ve been so worried! Are you okay? Did that awful ghost hurt you?”

“I’m-Mom, I’m-I’m okay! I-Dad, I can’t breath!”

The two pulled away and his mom held him at arm’s length to look him over. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, mom. Really.”

She didn’t look convinced, but turned to the other teen. “Valerie Gray, right? Are you okay?”

“Uh, yes ma’am,” she said, blinking. “Um, how did you know…”

“Your boss saw you and Danny get attacked and called it in,” Mrs. Fenton explained. “We tried to track it, but we found out this morning that it managed to get back to the zone somehow without using our portal. We were just preparing the speeder so we could come find you.”

“But you managed to escape on your own,” Mr. Fenton said, slapping Danny on the back hard enough that he stumbled forward. “That’s our boy!”

“The ghost didn’t hurt you?” Mrs. Fenton asked, looking Valerie over as she’d done Danny.

“No. He was some sort of collector or something. He just stuck us in a cage, like zoo animals,” Danny said.

“Well, I suppose that’s better than the alternative. I still want to be sure, though. Jack, why don’t you call Damon and the police and tell them the kids are back.”

“Yes, dear.” Mr. Fenton ruffled Danny’s hair then ran upstairs.

Mrs. Fenton checked them both thoroughly for injuries then grabbed what she referred to as a first aid kit, but turned out to be a large toolbox full of medical equipment. She used it to check their eyes, lungs, and heart before measuring any ectoplasmic radiation they were giving off.

“A 0.3er,” she read off after scanning Valerie. When she saw the girl’s curious expression, she explained, “Lower than I would have thought, which is good. It’s a completely healthy reading. It also means the atmospheric ecto-rad level of the Ghost Zone might be lower than we were expecting.” She then turned to Danny and scanned him. “A 1.18er.”

“Is that bad?” Valerie asked, worried.

Danny shook his head. “I run hotter than most. My whole family does, really, but I got into an accident a few months back so I run even hotter. That’s not much higher than my usual.”

“We don’t start worrying until a person’s ecto-rad level reaches 1.5er,” Mrs. Fenton added. “That’s when ectoplasm starts to negatively affect a human’s body.”

“Mom, Mr. Gray is here,” Danny’s sister said, poking her head in. Her eyes widened. “Danny!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny gave a pleased sigh as he cuddled up between his partners.

“Sorry it took us so long to find you,” Sam said, squeezing him.

He kissed her cheek. “It’s not your fault. Besides, it was kind of fun tormenting Skulker. I think he was actually tempted to send us back towards the end there.”

“Only you would think annoying the crud out of the homicidal ghost keeping you prisoner was a good idea,” Tucker chuckled, nuzzling into his neck.

“That’s why you love me!” Danny nuzzled him back. “How did you guys find us?”

“Someone found video footage of Skulker going through that random portal on their CCTV camera and turned it over to the police,” Sam explained. “Jazz told us when they were bringing in your parents to see the video so we were able to come along invisibly.”

“Weird as it is, Jazz is probably the hero this time,” Tucker said. “She also got you and Val an A on your baby assignment.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah, she came by that night and told us you were missing, then took both sacks with her. Said something about giving us time to process.”

“Which was good because we were up all night trying to find you.”

“Then the next morning after she gave us ours back she went to Tetslaff and explained what had happened. We don’t know what she said, but she turned in the sack and when Tetslaff handed out grades, she said you’d get As for trusting someone so responsible and mature to babysit for you.”

“Wow, score one for teacher’s pet Jazz. Maybe we should bring her in on the secret.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Sam snorted.

“She’s even more overprotective of you than you are of anyone. She’d never leave us alone,” Tucker huffed.

Danny’s nose scrunched up as he remembered how Jazz had hovered over him for two months after his parents had accidentally left him at the Christmas tree lot when he was six. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair. I’ll have to do something nice for Jazz, though. So how’d you guys do on the baby thing anyways?”

Sam smirked. “Well, I got an A.”

Tucker grumbled something and pressed further into Danny’s neck.

{The Million Dollar Ghost}

“Thanks for covering for me, Sam,” Danny said as he scrubbed ectoplasm off the lab’s floor. “There’s no way I’d have been able to get my chores done with all the extra work Lancer assigned me.”

“It’s fine. As long as we cover the next poetry night.”

“I will.”

“Did we charge the bazooka already?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Did we change the ecto-filtrator?”

Danny paused then went to do just that.

“We’d be lost without us,” Sam chuckled. “Did we talk to our dad about showing up at school?”

“Jazz and Mom were taking care of it when -”

“GUYS!”

“Tuck?”

“Volume!”

“Did you hear?” Tucker said, thankfully quieter.

“Hear what?”

“Turn on the tv! Amity news!”

“We’re on patrol,” Sam said as Danny went to the lab’s tv.

“Switching to FaceTime.”

“-etent, non-Jack Fenton ghost hunters in Amity Park has never been more obvious,” the news anchor was saying while footage of his dad’s attack on Lancer played. It switched back to the anchor and she continued. “Luckily a mysterious benefactor has offered a million-dollar bounty on the head of Amity Park’s most famous ghost and invited the world’s best-known ghost hunters to track her down.”

Danny’s jaw dropped as a picture of Tucker in ghost form appeared onscreen. “What?”

“Who on earth would place a bounty on us?”

“Besides Valerie, but we know she doesn’t have that kind of money,” Tucker added.

“Valerie wants to hunt us down herself, same for my parents,” Danny said. Then laughed. “Oh man, my dad is going to go crazy when he hears about this.”

“Dude, this is serious.”

“Aren't we worried? These are the best-known ghost hunters in the world!”

“Sam, they’re the best-known, they’re not the best,” he scoffed. “Trust me, I grew up around these people so I have a pretty good idea who’s going to show up. It will be great.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We’ll admit, they don’t look threatening,” the trio said, watching the gathering of ghost hunters from atop a nearby building. “It’s actually kind of sad.”

“Tell me about it.” The trio flinched and turned to Valerie as she landed next to them.

“Hey. Hi. You here for the bounty?”

“Lucky for you, no.” She sat down on the edge next to them. “I don’t trust this bounty thing. I’m here for the same reason as you, the show. Danny said his dad would be here to show up the out-of-towners.”

The four watched as the Fenton parents ran over a pair of ATVs.

“And that’s only half the show.”

“What do you mean?”

“SAVE DOPPELGÄNGER!”

The four turned to see a horde of teenagers marching into the Nasty Burger parking lot, all waving signs saying things like, “Protect the ghost boy!”, “Freedom for the ghost girl!”, and even just their name or picture. Paulina and Dash were at the head of the charge with fierce looks on their faces.

“I found out the popular kids at my school were organizing a protest against the bounty.”

“Well, don’t we feel special.”

“Apparently Paulina and Dash, the most popular sophomores, both have crushes on you.”

“Yikes. Wow. We don’t know if we should be flattered or creeped out.”

“You’re dead. It’s creepy.”

“Rude. Do they think we’re a guy or a girl?”

“Dash is adamant you’re a girl. Probably to soothe his poor straight heart. Paulina thought you were a guy, but I think my friend Star said something to her after I let it slip you might be non-binary because she’s been using they pronouns lately.”

“That’s… more forward-thinking than I assumed she could be. Given she’s the popular type.”

“She’s bi. As long as you weren’t femme, she would have been game.”

“Oh.”

“She’s still in the closet, so don’t say anything to anyone.”

“We won’t.”

Screams sounded over the arguing and the four looked back to the crowd to see a trio of bird ghosts dive-bombing the hunters.

“Those are Plasmius’s vultures. Should have known he was behind this whole thing.”

“Plasmius,” Valerie asked.

“A fruit loop of a ghost.”

“Let me guess, he hates you too?”

“Worse, he wants us as his kid. Tried to kill our dad and kidnapped our mom once.”

“Seriously?”

“Unfortunately. Do you mind taking care of this? The out-of-towners are idiots, but we’d rather not test the Fentons.”

She shrugged and climbed to her feet. They watched her drop down and start firing on the birds until a voice sounded behind them.

“Not going to lend your father a hand, Daniel?”

The trio turned to see Vlad floating behind them.

“Wow, you look even stupider than we sai-remember. You do realize the modern interpretation of vampires is a hot person, right?”

“I see you’ve been working on your duplication then,” he said with a scowl. “You do realize you don’t have to talk together, don’t you ?”

“You do realize there are better uses for your time than bothering a teenager, don’t you? Shouldn't you be getting home to the love of your life? Oh, that’s right! Our dad married the love of your life. We’re trying to watch the show, do you mind?”

Vlad scowled and fired on them.

“Should we really be teasing the older, stronger half-ghost? Well, we do outnumber him.”

Vlad split in three.

“Now we don’t.”

Sam raised a shield around her and Tucker while he grabbed onto the GAV’s controls and used it to fire on Vlad. Meanwhile, Danny put his speed to use diving around the three Vlad’s.

“You’ve gotten better,” one Vlad said as Danny curled around his blast, a bit of frustration leaking into his voice.

“And you’ve gotten worse,” they said.

Was it just Danny or were the Vlad’s slower and weaker than usual? Did duplication cut their power?

Interesting, and good to know for Sam.

A green blast flew by and Danny looked down to see they’d gotten the hunters’ attention.

Danny turned back to the Vlads and fired at the one closest to him. A pink blast joined his and the Vlad disappeared.

“Your stalker?” Valerie asked.

“Yup.”

“I believe that’s my cue to leave,” a Vlad said and they teleported away.

“And ours,” the trio said as a few more of the hunters’ blasts flew past them.

Valerie turned her blaster towards Danny, who raised his hands. “Thought you weren’t going for the bounty.”

“I’m not. This is for me.”

Sam and Tucker shot away as Danny flew down towards the crowd, distracting all the hunters and waving at their fans before he dove straight into the ground. He came up in an alley where his partners were waiting and all three transformed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I knew there was something sketchy about this mess,” Valerie said as she looked over her pistol. “I didn’t think a ghost would be the one placing the bounty though.”

“Ghost?” Danny said, coming back over with a now-empty thermos.

“Yeah, some enemy of the ghost kid. They said he wants them as his kid, but I don’t even know how that works for ghosts.”

“No clue. Maybe he’s just insane.”

“Probably.”

Valerie’s phone went off and she pulled it out. “There’s an attack downtown.”

He leaned in as she brought up a live feed.

A large, t-rex-looking ghost was stomping through the street. Sam and Tucker were already there, firing on its head. The hunters, Danny’s parents included, could be seen chasing them in the background.

“You going to join them?” Danny asked, pulling back and grabbing Valerie’s grenade launcher. His partners looked like they had it and they’d give him a call if they didn’t.

“And risk getting into another ghost discussion with those pathetic excuses for hunters? Pass.”

“You should see them at one of the conventions.”

The two worked in silence until Danny’s ghost sense went off and a device on the counter next to them started beeping.

“Ghost?” Danny grabbed it and checked it. “It shouldn’t be picking up the fight from here.”

Valerie loaded the cartridge back into her pistol while Danny grabbed the only other operational weapons on the table, the thermos and Fenton Ghost Gloves.

The vultures flew through the ceiling, then froze. “You should not be here.”

Valerie blasted all three in the face.

Danny grabbed one in one hand and sucked the second into the thermos with the other before they could recover. The third dodged around another blast from Valerie, only for the Jack o' Nine Tails to come shooting out of the stairs and wrap around it.

Jazz slammed it into the floor as she came into the lab. “You guys okay?”

“We’re fine,” Danny said, sucking the last two into the thermos. “You?”

“Fine. I was just heading into the kitchen to grab a snack and saw them flying by.” She watched as Danny went to empty the thermos, then turned to Valerie. “What are you guys doing down here?”

“Well now, isn’t this a surprise?”

The teens looked up to see Vlad hovering over the lab.

“Great, another uninvited guest,” Danny groaned.

The ghost turned to him in shock. “Daniel?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do I know you?”

Valerie shot Vlad before he could do anything else.

Jazz tried to grab him with the nine tails, but he caught it out of the air and yanked it away from her. Danny used the distraction to punch him in the back. He smirked down at the gauntlets when the older halfa was sent into the wall.

Valerie slid up to his side as Jazz grabbed the Fenton Foamer off a table and blasted Vlad. “Trade you.”

Knowing from personal -- bruising -- experience that Valerie was better at hand-to-hand, Danny passed her the gauntlets and took the pistol.

The kids didn’t give Vlad a chance to breathe, switching quickly between Valerie beating him into the ground and the Fentons shooting him out of the air. Soon enough, Danny was opening the portal so Valerie could toss him through.

“And don’t come back!” he yelled before shutting it. He turned and smiled at Valerie before meeting Jazz’s eyes. “Mom and Dad never hear of this?”

“Agreed.”

#danny phantom #danny fenton #valerie gray #sam manson #tucker foley #Doppelgänger au

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amphtaminedreams · 3 years

Text

COVID-19, Negligent Manslaughter, and a Timeline of Tory Indifference

“I feel sorry for Boris Johnson. He is doing the best he can in the situation and I don’t think anybody else could have done a better job.”

[exhibit A: a gem somebody that I’m Facebook friends with reposted earlier]

It’s a sentiment that I cannot quite wrap my head around. I sit here hopeless and furious and trying to hold back tears because it’s been almost a year since England first went into lockdown and yet here we are, almost 100,000 dead, in an even worse position than we were before whilst other countries begin to slowly return to normality. It is clear to me who is to blame for this, however there are a large proportion of people who don’t want to ��politicise” the actions of the PRIME MINISTER with regards to his approach towards handling a virus sweeping the country he GOVERNS.

Typically, these kind of posts making the rounds on social media will be accompanied by some kind of photo of Boris Johnson looking somber as if to suggest that the way things have played out were beyond his control and that he is some kind of broken man beleaguered by the suffering he has, despite good intentions, inadvertently caused.

This one in particular of Johnson with his head in his hands is a staple. In reality, this is a photo taken back in 2018 whilst he was receiving flack from party members for comparing Theresa May to a suicide bomber (for her handling of Brexit, ironically) as well as from the papers due to his rumoured (now also proven, in a completely non-surprising turn of events, to be true) affair with his former aide, Carrie Symonds.

So let’s shut this narrative-where we should feel for Boris because he’s doing his best, and apparently a better job than anybody else could’ve done in his situation- down right here. In a supposedly developed country with one of the world’s largest economies, if we’re talking by proportion, our COVID-19 death toll is up there with the worst of them. It seems that every other state figurehead (bar a small handful), and I mean almost every single one of them, is doing a better job. People love to throw figures out there about how densely populated we are to combat damning statistics as if we haven’t got just as many factors playing to our advantage, as if it’s unfair to compare our response to Germany’s or Japan’s or Singapore’s (both of which are far more densely populated) or New Zealand’s or Vietnam’s, but we are an ISLAND with world-leading technology and infrastructure and healthcare equipment and professionals and a relatively high standard of living. In what world is almost 70,000 dead in a country with abundant time and means to prepare a response reflective of said country’s leaders doing a good job?

Apparently we’re supposed to believe that Johnson feels some sense of moral responsibility for this astronomical failure. A man who refuses to acknowledge the multiple children he has fathered outside of his marriages and who has had repeatedly engaged in affairs and one-night stands throughout said marriages. A man who continued to cheat whilst his most recent wife was receiving treatment for cervical cancer, for fuck’s sake. Yep, a real stand-up guy.

So where does this idea that Johnson must feel remorseful for this catastrophe come from? We haven’t seen a second of remorse or a hint of accountability for the lives lost from him nor any members of his cabinet. That much is really no surprise; I have this hypothesis, and it’s not a stretch, that these people do not have an ounce of empathy in their bodies. These ridiculously privileged, privately-educated individuals who have had everything handed to them their entire lives simply cannot put themselves in the shoes of the average working person and that is the problem. Unable to recognise that what distinguishes them from most others is little more than the luck of being born into wealth and the abundance of recourses and connections that has entailed throughout their lives, they see us as beneath them-as less intelligent, less driven, and thus less deserving of the status and respect they enjoy. They see us as a bunch of whining, unmotivated idiots who do not recognise the chokehold they have over our media nor the fact that everything they do is a desperate grab to keep money and power within the hands of a select group of people, an exclusive members club from which most of us are barred (just take a simple Google search and watch Jacob Rees-Mogg’s opinion of the Grenfell victims or the buried Johnson speech where he talks about how inequality is essential). They know that we will squabble amongst ourselves about who is to blame rather than wising up to the truth which is that every decision they make is fuelled by cronyism and the inability to make and follow through with difficult choices, the pandemic being no exception. The supposedly self-made elite see the life of the average working class person as having far less value than their own, and their parties actions over the last 10 years have made that very clear.

It was in December 2019 that the first case of COVID-19 was declared to the World Health Organisation and on March the 11th that they announced they considered it as a pandemic. In Wuhan, people were dying of pneumonia in their clusters. And what was Boris Johnson doing in this time? Well for starters, here in the UK we didn’t even have a pandemic committee-Johnson had scrapped it six months before. If years of benefits cuts and defunding of the NHS in favour of funding nuclear weapon programs, keeping British troops on other people’s lands, and tax breaks for the mega corporations that donate to their party didn’t convince you that the Conservatives have little regard for human life, them getting rid of this committee-whilst a pandemic has been declared year after year as the greatest threat to mankind-should have been the first sign of trouble. As if that wasn’t enough, he also skipped five of the COBRA (meetings are made up of a cross-departmental committee put together to respond to national emergencies and PMs routinely attend those pertaining to crises on the scale of COVID-19) meetings addressing the situation. Whilst other countries were closing their borders and stocking up on PPE, Johnson and his ministers were selling PPE abroad and simply telling people to wash their hands to the length of the tune of happy birthday. Their only policy was one of “herd immunity”, which was in fact not a policy but just an abandonment of their party’s public duty disguised as one, intentionally obfuscated with pseudoscientific jargon.

Even thinking the absolute worst of politicians you would hope that when it came to the point where the UK’s non-response to COVID-19 was becoming an international disgrace, Johnson and his ministers would take proper protective measures if only to save face. But when they eventually seemed to do so, it became clear that the priority was not the safety of the ordinary people affected by the virus. Outsourcing their test and traces system to companies such as Serco, Sitel, Deloitte and G4S rather than public health services, Conservative ministers could not resist attempting to line the pockets of their friends and benefactors in the process. According to the Guardian, instead of reaching out to the experts or using publicly funded services to handle COVID containment measures, the Conservative party has awarded a disgusting £1.5 BILLION WORTH of contracts to businesses with explicit connections to its MPs and donors, the majority of which lack any relative experience of the tasks they’ve been trusted to carry out. Unsurprisingly, the National Audit office found that when awarding contracts relating to the production of COVID-19 protection measures and treatment needs, there was a “high-priority lane” for suppliers referred by senior politicians and officials; companies with a political referral were 10 times more likely to end up winning a government contract than those without. On top of this, it is not hard to draw a link between the late initiation of lockdown measures and preemptive openings of pubs and restaurants against scientific advice to the interests of frequent donors such as Wetherspoons owner Tim Martin. Even if one chooses to ignore the blatantly obvious correlation between the owners of the businesses whose profits were prioritised over safety concerns and the number of those owners who donate to the Conservatives, party officials at the very least were reluctant to follow the lead of many other countries in financing furlough schemes themselves and instead avoided this responsibility by using loose lockdown measures to leave it down to the discretion of small business owners, who couldn’t themselves afford to furlough staff, whether or not to stay open.

Time and time again, as the government flounder and fuck about, favouring personal desires to keep their powerful, high-paying jobs and to satisfy the corporate allies who make this possible, blame has been shifted from the public to care homes to NHS workers and back again whilst we, the public, make the biggest sacrifices of all under the illusion that we were being guided out of this pandemic rather than lied to and thrown under the bus. Whilst the elite continue to pick and choose what rules apply to them, it’s students and the elderly and the vulnerable paying the fines and scrabbling to afford basic living costs and hoping that they don’t lose someone dear to them.

Don’t get me wrong, a large proportion of the public have contributed to the spread too with their selfishness and entitlement and the arrogance it takes to develop a sudden refusal to acknowledge basic science from experts who have studied in the field their whole lives so that they can justify their need to go to the pub (speaking of, it’s absolutely HILARIOUS how many “mental health advocates” are suddenly coming out of the woodworks on football avi Twitter after they’ve spent years calling people on mental health Twitter attention seekers). And don't get me wrong, there were inevitably going to be casualties of this pandemic. But it didn't have to spread to this many people, and there didn’t have to be so many deaths due to a lack of preparation, and this wouldn’t have been the case if it weren’t for the inherent apathy of the Conservative party towards the lives of people of lesser status than them, the reluctance to put those lives before party interests. I wish I felt like there was an end in sight, I wish there was some positive takeaway from all of this, but even now, we continue to see corners being cut with the vaccine lauded as our saving grace and anti-maskers gathering outside hospitals to chant about how “oppressive” it is to be urged to wear a bit of cloth over their faces for the short periods of time in which they leave their houses and all I can think of is the selfishness that runs like poison through our country. It makes me sick and leaves me to question desperately where we go from here. I don’t like unanswered questions, I don’t like feeling politically directionless, and I don’t like the growing fear I have about the state of the world which seems to intensify every single day. In the UK at least, it’s starting to feel like nothing will ever change-we’re told we live in a democracy and yet mainstream media is owned by the people whose interest is to keep their Conservative friends in power. The stronghold they have over print media in particular allows them to continually get away with smearing and defaming every person who comes along and seems to want to actually help ordinary people, without being challenged, to the point where the only kind of “opposition” we’re left with promises nothing but a big boss approved tactical reshuffling of the status quo (which they call “electability”); it doesn’t feel like democracy when the majority of the country are being fed misleading information and convinced against voting in their best interests.

This is the result of that. The state we find ourselves in is the inevitable result of being manipulated into helping the elite build their protective wall whilst the rest of us scrabble to get in and step on each others heads along the way, the people inside shouting over that it’s those even more vulnerable than ourselves that are taking our places. Outside the wall, the earth is falling from beneath our feet, and instead of throwing over the ropes to help us out, the people inside are stockpiling them so they can secure their firm place above ground and then later flog the rest. How many more people have to die before we reach some kind of widespread realisation of that? Where do we go from here and what do we do? Well for one, we can stop spreading those god-fucking-awful textposts on Facebook and get our heads out of our arses. Wear our masks over and wear them over our fucking noses. Have some fucking consideration for others. Don’t wait til an issue affects you personally to give a fuck about it. AND START HOLDING THE FUCKING PRIME MINISTER AND HIS MINISTERS AND HIS ENTIRE PARTY AS WELL AS THE OPPOSITION MPS THAT HAVE SAT BY THE SIDELINES AND ALLOWED THIS TO GO ON WITHOUT PROTEST ACCOUNTABLE. That would be a good start.

I’m so tired. Things didn’t need to be this way, and yet because of the selfishness of the few, thousands upon thousands are dead. It’s not about “throwing around blame”, it’s not about “throwing around” anything, it’s about expecting a leader to do his best to protect lives. If that is “throwing blame”, let’s get things clear, I have no issue with hurtling it torpedo style at those who handed out a death sentence to so many in this country rather than do anything that might compromise their own privilege. Honestly, pass me the shovel after and I’ll happily bury the wreckage in the ground. Who wants to join?:-)

#rant #politics #anti capitalism #anticapitalist #covid-19 #covid #england #labour #socialism #fuck the tories #fuck the torys #fuck boris #rant post

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treatian · 3 years

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The Chronicles of the Dark One: Breaking the Curse

Chapter 14: Change of Plans

Fucking Mayor Regina Mills.

Everything had been fine! Just fine! Perfectly, beautifully fine! Hell, he'd even gone so far as to say it was damn well fucking dandy!

Yes, Sheriff Graham was dead, but in one visit to his shop, he'd managed to affirm Emma Swan's intent to become the new Sheriff, and he'd given her a tool to share with Henry so that the pair could continue to do their work behind Regina's back. All in all, it should have amounted to a pretty damn good day for him.

But Regina Fucking Mills…sometimes she reminded him why he would have killed her in their world if he hadn't needed her so badly. He'd just cleaned up one of her messes for himself and the entire town, and just as he had, she'd gone and made another one when his back was turned like the child that she was.

It had been the middle of the afternoon, and he'd been feeling good about everything that had happened when Dove had called him, and his stomach dropped in his belly. Dove was a man of few words. It was why he preferred to use text messages for communication. So when Dove actually picked up his phone and called him, it was rarely a good thing.

"This better be good, Mr. Dove.

"Yeah, it is. Emma Swan came to see you this morning?" he questioned.

"Yes, to talk about her taking the Sheriff position."

"That's what I figured. I hate to burst your bubble, but it didn't last long. Regina just fired her."

The words traveled through him like electricity. His body shook and tingled as he considered the words he'd just heard, the words he hoped he hadn't heard. He felt his heart thudding away through his chest as he tried to contain his anger.

"You're sure?"

"I mean…I wasn't inside, but after she met with you, she went back to the police station. Regina showed up. A few minutes later, Emma left the station, clearly angry, with a small box of items in her hands. She practically threw it into the bug before she drove off. But she wasn't wearing any kind of badge, and it's too early for her to be going home. She's a nine to five kind of girl; she doesn't leave early. I stayed long enough to see Regina leave after she did. The pair stared at each other, the Mayor smiled, then locked the police building herself, and that was that. They got in their cars and left. Emma slammed the door hard enough I thought she'd break a window."

"Where is she now?"

"Back at the apartment, hasn't moved, and Mary Margaret isn't home from school yet."

Fucking Regina Mills. He should have known. He should have known that the woman who lost years of her life pursuing Snow White wouldn't just roll over and let Emma Swan take the role that had been held by her lap-wolf. He'd been planning this for fourteen days. Apparently, he hadn't been the only one planning something. What the hell was she playing at.

"So the reason I'm calling is to give you a heads up, boss," Dove continued, interpreting his silence as an invitation to continue to deliver him the bad news. "My friend Will Scarlet just called to inform me that tomorrow morning Regina is supposed to hold a small press conference in her office where she plans to formally appoint Sidney Glass as the new Sheriff."

"Sidney Glass? The editor of the newspaper."

Dove chuckled. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly. The guy doesn't exactly scream 'Sheriff Material.'"

"No, but he is in the Mayor's pockets…"

Not as good as being in her pants as Sheriff Graham had been, but Sidney Glass…he was the genie, the one that Regina had convinced to murder Snow White's father. Everyone in town knew that Glass yearned for Regina. He followed after her like a puppy dog. Making him Sheriff would be laughable to everyone in town, probably even Regina. But the choice made sense for that very reason. If it was true.

"How exactly does Scarlet know this?"

"He says his sources are his own, but trustworthy."

Fuck. He loved the idea of keeping sources private until it had the potential to work against him. But Scarlet had delivered information to Dove before. Whether or not he knew that, he turned around and gave that information to him. So far, the info that he'd given had always been accurate. Which meant that time to fix this new problem was limited. So limited that he considered for one brief, weak moment just letting it go and turning his attention to some other plan or idea. But then that moment passed.

He was angry. He didn't know what Regina was playing at, what her end goal in all this was other than to get rid of Emma Swan and send the town back into its unending sleep, but he knew that his plan was worth fighting for. So he got to work. He did what he had to do in order to solve this problem. He locked the shop up early that afternoon and went home. In his dusty old home office, he found exactly what he needed. One single shelf contained everything he'd "inherited" from his aunt on Storybrooke.

It took him less than an hour to find what he needed. That was no surprise. Regina may have cast the Curse, but it was always his. It figured that would play out in Storybrooke on this level too. Regina might be the Mayor, but no one knew more about Storybrooke than Mr. Gold. And right now, that knowledge was about to pay off. What was Regina playing at? He didn't know, but if this was any indication, then there was no time to waste. He had to make a plan, a good plan, one that was going to take time. Time he'd have, but only if he could accomplish his first step before Regina had that press conference and named Sidney Glass Sheriff. He hated starting his work before he was prepared for the end, but that was just how it had to be.

He'd arrived at the same time Mary Margaret had, home from the market it appeared, although the younger, non-handicapped woman moved faster than him into the apartment. He didn't even think that she saw him. When he arrived at the door, he could hear the two women talking inside, but Emma was the one that answered the door when he knocked. There was what appeared to be a toaster under her arm. It was so broken even he didn't think he could fix it, and that was saying something. Of course, so did the look on her face. Something broken, the loud music he'd heard when he'd pulled up behind Mary Margaret, the look on her face…someone was angry. Very angry indeed. He could use that.

"Good evening, Miss Swan. Sorry for the intrusion. There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Over her shoulder, in the kitchen, Mary Margaret suddenly chirped, "I'll let you two talk," and disappeared into another room. In this small place, their conversation wouldn't be private in the least, but he didn't particularly care. Allies in fights like these were good. And besides, it would save Emma the trouble of regurgitating every single sentence of this conversation later.

"Come on in," she exclaimed, opening the door for him.

"Thank you. I, uh…I heard about what happened. Such an injustice."

"Yeah, well, what's done is done."

He could work with anger. He could work with a willingness to fight. He couldn't work with someone willing to lay down and die. "Spoken like a true fighter."

"I don't know what chance I have. She's Mayor, and I'm…well…me."

"Miss Swan, two people with a common goal can accomplish many things. Two people with a common enemy can accomplish even more. How would you like a benefactor?"

"A benefactor?" she questioned. He smirked. Now, where had he last had a conversation like this? Ah, yes…from a man who knew how to recognize a desperate soul when he saw one. He couldn't hear Zoso now, not since he was human. But he knew enough to know the man was probably just as entertained as he was.

"You mind?" he gestured to the table, and both he and Emma took a seat. He laid the binder out on the table and opened it up, looking for what he knew was there. "You know, it really is quite shocking how few people study the town charter."

"The town charter?"

"Well, it's quite comprehensive. And the Mayor's authority? Well, maybe she's not quite as powerful as she seems. Ah!" he piqued, glancing down at his binder and finding the typewritten passage he'd located earlier. "For example: 'The office of Sheriff of Storybrooke is to be an elected position. When the office of Sheriff is in vacancy, the role of the Sheriff is to be filled by the Deputy after fourteen (14) days. If the Deputy refuses the job or is found to be unqualified, the Mayor of Storybrooke may elect a candidate to run for the office of Sheriff after a period of fourteen (14) days. If the candidate runs without opposition, then the candidate may take office. Should the candidate face opposition, then an election shall be called, and the office will be decided by popular vote of the citizens of Storybrooke, Maine.'"

He smiled as he looked up at Emma, but she only sat there with her arms crossed, looking utterly unimpressed with his work. "Beautiful," she drawled sarcastically. "What's it mean?"

"It means that Regina is allowed to appoint someone to the office of Sheriff, but that individual can only take over if they're running unopposed."

"So…"

"So…technically Regina was out of bounds by firing you. She did it because the chain of succession states that the position should have gone to you. But now that you are fired, there is a way back."

"I'm listening."

"As long as there is someone else who wants the job, then it calls for a town election. The Sheriff will be elected by the citizens of Storybrooke. Not Mayor Mills."

Something in Emma Swan's gaze shifted suddenly. There was a twitch at the corner of her mouth as if she understood suddenly what he was trying to say but was too timid to actually assume it for herself. "So…"

"So, Miss Swan, if there were someone else, a fighter, who wanted the position, fired or not, all they'd have to do to stop Regina would be to declare their intent to run."

Finally, Emma smiled in triumph.

#Rumbelle #Rumple #Rumpelstiltskin #Dark One #Mr Gold #Emma Swan #Regina Mills #Evil Queen #ouat #ouat fanfiction #fanfic

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ultraericthered · 4 years

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Anime Update 60

Dragon Ball - While Tambourine is still on his serial killing spree of martial artists around the world, King Piccolo is turning his attention towards seeking out the Dragon Balls and the Pilaf gang is starting to realize more and more just how out of their depth they really are in serving this guy. The most notable part of the episode is how Piccolo creates his new spawn, Cymbal. I knew how that would look before he did it but it was still disgusting and shudder inducing to watch.

Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions - The incident of Yuta saving Rikka from falling off the school rooftop pushed them a little bit closer together and a little bit further in how they process their feelings, with Rikka being the first to confess (I guess Dekomori’s a better help with these things than Sunohara is). But then Toka goes and puts Yuta in a spot where he has to get Rikka to finally face reality and give up on her Chunibyo since Toka’s made plans to go off to Italy and leave Rikka to take care of herself. What ended up frustrating me was that for some reason we weren’t actually shown the immediate aftermath of Yuta asking Rikka to take off her eye patch. It just cuts to the end of the cultural festival where Rikka sings her late father’s favorite song before removing her eye patch to reveal her eye looking normal (after the credits!), though I will say the idea that they had to substitute a Yuta VS Rikka performance with a Nibutani VS Dekomori performance (with very real hitting on Deko’s part) was amusing and felt right. I’m also finding that while I like Yuta as a character, I really don’t care much for his voice acting in the dub. He has this tendency to speak too softly and mutter his lines in serious scenes that just really bugs me and makes him sound way too disconnected from someone who ever had Chunibyo himself. In a mostly solid dub cast, Leraldo Anzaldua is easily the weak link.

My-Otome - We seem to be finally inching away from the “stuff happened” section of the series and getting into the real plot action that the show’s been building towards since the start. Arika and her two gal pals (y’know, her two gal pals who aren’t Nina and Mashiro?) are now actively striving to all become Meister Otomes while Mashiro is finally starting to get shit done from her throne. With Nagi casting aside Azwad and accelerating his work with the Schwartz, a stronger Otome response from Windbloom and Garderobe is required to quell the unrest and warring in Romulus and Remus. I did get a kick out of seeing that after sparks flew between Nao and Shiho earlier on in the show, Shiho has now gotten the last laugh as she’s been granted a crucial diplomatic role while Nao is saddled with a job that she doesn’t like because it messes up all of her life’s plans; sucks to be you, Nao! Arika wants her mystery benefactor (who we all know to be Sergay) to see her when she graduates to a higher Otome level and meet her in person. But evil is rearing it’s ugly head first in the form of Tomoe, who Arika beat in a dance battle at the start and for some reason wants to end all of Arika’s prospects, so she tries to fucking drop a dangerous acidic substance on top of Arika and would’ve succeeded had Erstin not got in the way! What is this psychotic bitch’s deal? And then by the very end, Nagi’s coup is underway!

Assassination Classroom S2 - Watched the two-part “Reaper Time” story arc that takes place some time after Bitch-Sensei’s birthday, which was on October 10. We found out more about Bitch-Sensei here; try as she might, she’s not someone who can totally put aside emotion for the sake of her line of work, whether that be in academics or assassination, which leads to some heartbreak thanks to Karasuma’s emotionally disconnected, strictly professional approach. Wanting to revert back to the heartless spy and assassin she used to be, Bitch-Sensei plays right into the hands of the Reaper, and from there we get to get into some of her backstory, how she lost her family in a war-ravaged nation, lived on her own in poverty, and was offered up to Lovro to train her in being a killer. While she and Karasuma seem both willing to turn on E Class and side with Reaper in the hopes of finally killing Korosensei, neither of them prove willing to let this go on to the point of risking the kids’ lives. Karasuma turns first, but Bitch-Sensei takes a while because Reaper has her convinced that she’s the same as him, even when she very clearly is not. I loved how it’s set up like we’re going to get the cliched “she’s gonna aim her gun at him but won’t be able to go through with it ‘cause she loves him too much” scene only for Reaper to very abruptly push a detonator and bring the place down on Karasuma and Bitch-Sensei before that point is even reached! And while Bitch-Sensei might have seemed a bit too easily forgiven for her betrayal, the kids did make a good point that backstabbing and working around lethal force fired by someone who was a comrade just a while ago is kind of part of an assassin’s life, so they’d be no good at what they’re being taught and trained to be if they couldn’t handle it well. I’m just glad she and Karasuma are back together.

My biggest quibble here, surprisingly, would be the Reaper himself. On one hand he’s a very creepy character, so seemingly ordinary and friendly that he can slip right in and catch his prey unawares, and his methods for trapping and killing were as sadistically slow and methodical as they were effective. He reminds me of Nagito Komaeda in Danganronpa with how, unlike Takaoka, his cheery demeanor and affable personality is legit a product of his insane mind, and Ian Sinclair’s voice acting for him was perfect. But on the other hand, he’s the weakest of the series’ four major antagonists for a number of reasons, a big one being that he just doesn’t live up to his own in-universe hype. He didn’t really kill Lovro (as we’ll find out later), he didn’t get all that close to killing any of the good guys (Itona honestly felt like more of a threat to Korosensei than him), and he ends up going down ridiculously easy in a fight with Karasuma. After losing his false face and revealing his true form to look like freaking Red Skull! It’s easy to loathe him, but the fear of him diminishes and it becomes increasingly difficult to take him seriously. He might improve a bit upon his inevitable return, but right now he’s a major letdown. Then again, he’s really just a copycat of the guy who killed his father and inspired him to kill in the first place, a man of mystery who Korosensei regards as a low-life fool, and for good reason...

Vinland Saga - This episode was more than a bit strange, as I didn’t even know where I stood on what it was doing. For a lot of time the focus is on the family of this girl named Anne and how...Christian they are. And when I say that I mean that they’re written almost like a Ned Flanders-esque parody of Christianity, with lines like “Jesus told us to pray, and Jesus is always right” and fearmongering about how sinners are damned to Hell to the point where poor Anne fears for her own soul due to having stolen a bracelet from the market some time back. But then Askeladd and his merry band of Vikings come along and ransack the snowy village for supplies right at a time where Anne is away, and this is when Askeladd finally crosses the line into straight up unredeemable monster territory. He assures all the frightened villagers, who are pleading for him to leave half the food with them so that they may survive the winter, that he won’t let them suffer from starvation...because he’ll have his men massacre each and every one of them. And that’s exactly what happens! It was a horrifying moment, but possibly even more horrifying is Anne’s response to having witnessed it - she prays to God, showing that she still believes in Him, but expresses her feelings of eustasy over knowing that He can bring such punishment upon the virtuous from men who don’t fear His condemnation, and spare a sinner like her. And then she passes out in the snow. Damn. I guess this marks the start of her path towards a life of sin, vice, villainy and....huh? Wait, she’s not going to factor into any future story? What the Hell!?

Magic Knight Rayearth - Just as the girls were finally reaching the point where they could revive the Rune God, Ascot corners them in person with the biggest, baddest monster he’s summoned yet, which was good ‘cause I was growing weary of waiting for this to occur. While I made fun of Ascot for this before, he really is a great character for playing with the typical high fantasy RPG disposable monsters trope, giving us someone who actually cherishes those creatures as friends and is emotionally devastated when the heroes slay them without a second thought. But of course the flaws in Ascot’s view of friendship are made apparent too as he’s not valued his friends’ lives enough to not send them charging into danger and the monsters don’t respect him as an individual to the point where they’d ever make any sacrifices for him. This is cleverly contrasted with the test that the Rune God gives Umi, and how she chooses to help her friends rather than obey the Rune God’s insistence. Now that Ascot’s retreated and the Rune God, revealed to be a giant robot, has been brought back out into Cephiro, Zagato notes that “they revived one of the Rune Gods.” So wait, there’s more???

A Place Further Than The Universe - Who knew that becoming eligible for the Antarctic expedition was as simple as getting in the good graces of a high school girl who was already set to be on it? That’s seriously what happens here - Shirase and her friends luck out when a teen celebrity named Yuzuki tries to get Shirase to take her place, and then they end up having to convince Yuzuki to go on the trip with her mother in exchange for being granted permission for themselves as reward. Granted it’s not TOO simple since Yuzuki really wants to stay in her hometown so that she may attend school and make friends, even though her celebrity status has only ever barred her from having a single true friend in her whole life. The part where Kimari, Shirase, and Miyake all show up at Yuzuki’s hotel room door to get her up and go with her to Tokyo, making her feel what it’s like to truly have friends and reduce her to tears, was incredibly moving, as was the “was it just a dream?” moment before where Kimari and co. reached out to her from outside the window. (This anime’s style, characters, group interactions and sentimental heart have been giving me a lot of Love Live! vibes and this was just pure Chika and Riko shit here.) I’m very interested in seeing where this goes now. Like, who was that woman with the picture of Shirase and her mother who showed up after the credits? The plot thickens!

AND

When They Cry: Higurashi - Re-watched the remaining arcs in the first season. To give my brief opinions and assessments on them:

Cotton Drifting arc - While the first arc was a great stage-setter for the rest of the series, this is the arc that really solidified it’s staying power. The horror factor of Oyashiro’s curse and all the going-ons around it is still present but rather than a ghost story, it takes on a more murder mystery approach, and unlike the blurry stream of paranoia that was the previous arc, in this one there turns out to be a true villain behind the events, one of the best in the series. It also gives a lot more depth to Mion, Rena and Rika (with Rena being one hell of a badass competent super sleuth), has Ooishi come off as just a little bit more reliable than he was before, and ends on one Hell of a jump scare. My two issues are that it has two different climaxes that both rely on Keiichi making the absolute dumbest choices that gets him nearly killed by the same person twice and drags the arc out more than it needed to be, and that it’s the only Question Arc that doesn’t stand on it’s own well - once you’ve seen it’s corresponding Answer Arc (Eye Opening), it’s impossible to not think of it when you go back to this one. Like the Sonozaki twins, they’re inseparable.

Curse Killing arc - This one was and still is my least favorite arc in the series. While I appreciate what it does for Satoko and Keiichi as characters and how well yet subtly it sets up the true mastermind of the curse, the subject matter of child abuse and how fucking terribly that issue is handled in Japan is so uncomfortable, the sheer amount of “adults are awful” instances (Teppei, Dr. Irie, Mrs. Maebara, Takano, and especially Ooishi are just the worst here) gets tiresome, the fallout of killing Teppei that Keiichi finds himself dealing with is screwy and unpleasant even for this series, and I think showing us a little girl’s mangled, disembowled corpse being feasted on by crows was taking just a step too far. It’s not a bad arc, just my least liked.

Time Wasting arc - Another one I’m not super fond of, but it’s only two episodes long and is at least something very different; set years before Keiichi moved to Hinamizawa, starring a new character, showing how things were like when the dam conflict was still looming large and Oyashiro’s Curse wasn’t an annual thing yet, revealing stuff about Rika that changes our perspective of the character, and serving as the main springboard for the entire rest of the series’ plot. The final scene where Akasaka remembers how Rika had predicted the course of the next couple of years’ deaths on Cotton Drifting night, ending with her own death and the quarantine of the entire village, was the one that really made it clear to me how invested I’d become in this story. I needed answers, the answers still yet to come.

Eye Opening arc - Possibly my favorite arc in the series and while not the scariest, it’s absolutely the darkest and most sinister. Shion Sonozaki comes out as a protagonist you never knew you wanted to follow, and as her story goes on we watch the state of her mind and her moral compass deteriorate, her spiral into madness, hateful feelings and vengeful intent warping her into the most diabolical and depraved villain to threaten Hinamizawa. It gives us more insight into Satoshi Houjo than the previous arcs to heavily factor him in as a plot device, raises so many possibilities for what might be the real truth behind the curse via Shion investigating into the matter only to definitively dash them all in the end, presents some of the most iconic, most gruesome, and most uncomfortable moments in the series (Shion getting three fingernails removed, Rika headbutting a knife ‘til she drops dead, Satoko getting crucified and stabbed to death), and it really tests the limits of how much you can stay behind your lead character and root for her in her fight against perceived injustice as her actions and behavior grow less and less excusable. It’s 6 episodes (the longest running arc in the first season) and it’s last episode is still really difficult to get through, it’s so horrific. My one quibble is that the anime really botched the ending. It feels like they ran out of time in the episode to actually properly conclude the arc so they just drop Shion to a super anticlimactic death. WEAK.

Atonement arc - Also possibly my favorite arc in the series! This more than any other chapter is a major turning point in the narrative, as it finally unveils some clear-cut truth about the long-standing mysteries of Hinamizawa (Oyashiro was a human medical healer rather than a wrathful deity, the “demon’s blood” that rises up in people is actually a parasitic virus from the Onigafuji swamp, and there’s some unknown group working within Irie’s clinic that is actually behind the killings and disappearances of the so-called curse during Cotton Drifting and who want the truth to stay covered.) It also tells a great character-driven story with Rena that ends up tying back to the first arc and blowing everyone’s minds when Keiichi actually gains memories of that arc’s events that turns everything we’d seen and thought we knew in it on it’s head. The climax is my favorite climax in the whole series, with Rena going completely batshit and holding her whole school hostage with even a fucking bomb threat, everyone working together to thwart a common threat, and an awesome Keiichi VS Rena clash on the rooftop that ends up bringing the arc to, for the very first time, a good end (and for a series called “When They Cry”, it hadn’t made me cry until the last two episodes, first with Keiichi’s Heel Realization and then with Rena’s.) It feels so much like setting a new standard and a new stage for the following season, making it an ideal first season finale.

#Anime Update

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dessiekarma · 5 years

Text

My Harem is Entirely Bad Boys (Kirisaki Daiichi x Reader) Pt.6

Chapter Six: Sorry For Your Tragic Backstory, But Don’t be a Dick!

“Son, are you up?”

Hara lifted his head up to glance at the large time on his phone. He was probably going to be late to school again, not that it really mattered.

“Yeah I’m up.”

“I wanted to remind you that you’ll need to skip practice today to make your doctor appointment.”

The door swung open with Hara facing his father, a clearly unhappy look on his face.

“What appointment? I told you I didn’t want to go to any other doctors.” Hara whisper hissed at the older male.

“Your mother and I had you on a list for an experimental treatment, we think it may actually help to stop-”

“It won’t stop!” Hara exclaimed before glancing back into his bedroom and lowering his voice again. “How many doctors have to tell you two that? I accepted it so why don’t you!?”

“Maybe not stop but slow down the degeneration an-”

Hara stopped listening as he turned back into his bedroom and shook the girl in his bed quickly. His father watched on with pursed lips, clearly wanting to say something but biting his tongue instead.

“Hey, you need to get going.” Hara nudged her out of the bed and ushered her to gather her stuff and take her leave.

“Kazuya, you know we don’t mind you having…friends but we’ve asked you not to let so many people into the house.”

“Then you shouldn’t have agreed to give me the room with the door leading outside.”

There was a brief stare off between the two before his father finally gave in and made no further effort to correct his son’s behavior. Hara sighed heavily as he pulled on his school uniform.

Of course, neither of his parents had the actual backbone to upset him in any way. Anyone who didn’t know their situation would call him a spoiled brat and he knew they were right.

“I gotta go.” Hara said pushing his bangs firmly over his eyes and walking past his father. “I’m staying late for practice…I’ll be home later.”

“Please, Kazuya why won’t you at least give it a try?”

The teen stopped walking but didn’t turn back to the desperate sounding man.

“Because we’ve been doing this for more than a decade…I’m sick of getting my hopes up.”

The older man flinched as the front door slammed harshly.

~~~~~

“Oh shit, what’s with the face?” Yamazaki asked as Hara practically slammed his lunch tray down on the table beside him.

“He’s just all up in his feelings because we had to give Mako back today.” (Y/N) said with her own eyes looking red and glassy.

“I can’t believe she said we did the best on the project.” Hara commented cracking open a can.

Seto chuckled just a bit. “Probably because you two were the most realistic parents I’d ever seen with all that fighting. It’s no wonder everyone kept thinking Mako was real. I don’t know that the assignment had the desired effect, I thought you were a great mother.”

“Oh…” (Y/N) didn’t exactly know how to take her friends compliment. Her heart was suddenly beating faster and the room was a second from spinning.

Squinting her eyes shut tightly she focused on keeping her breathing leveled. She could NOT have a panic attack right now in front of her friends. Bringing herself back down she smiled at him.

“Thank you! I’m actually still pretty upset about giving him back but I know that’s pretty silly.”

“I don’t believe so.” Furuhashi commented. “You developed a motherly instinct and bond with Mako. It would be hard for a mother to give up her child.”

“Yeah.” (Y/N) pushed her food her plate before placing the spoon down. “Hanamiya, you want my lunch? It’s not going down right and I hate wasting food.”

“Sure whatever.” The black-haired male took her plate slowly and tried his best to seem uninterested in her or the food.

Though not a lie that she didn’t feel hungry anymore, she wondered if the rest of her team noticed that Hanamiya wasn’t eating today. And come to think of it there were other days when he didn’t eat much more than a can of coffee.

She didn’t want to assume but the thought had been in her mind ever since she ran into his mother. If she was working at a department store in the mall, she couldn’t possibly be making that much money. The tuition here was ridiculous and the lunch prices not much better. How the hell could he afford to go here?

Rich dad?

Benefactor?

(Y/N)’s thoughts were cut off by some random guy coming up behind her and slinging an arm around her shoulder. The guys watched as the girl stiffened upon immediate reaction before regaining her cool composure and turning to the male with an almost deadly look.

“How can I help you?”

“So polite, I can tell you’ve been in this business for a long time.”

The guys looked at each other in confusion while they watched (Y/N)’s face instantly grow darker.

“What do you want?”

“Come on you should know that one! I want a date!” The guys said pressing up against (Y/N)’s back harder, his hand rubbing her shoulder creepily the other slipping under the table. “So, what’s your price? Hourly or do you charge by our activities? How much to let me do it all hmm?”

The entire table went frozen at the male’s implications. Clear snickering could be heard from the table of girls not too far away. Sitting there was none other than Yamazaki’s ex-girlfriend herself.

Both groups waited patiently to hear what (Y/N) would say. Having been ambushed out of nowhere there wasn’t much time to think, she would either snap at him or give some cliché remark about her rates being too high for him. Her team looked on in surprise as the girl smiled at him with an almost genuine look.

“I haven’t thought about my pricing in a while! It’s a little tricky because too high and I won’t get nearly enough customers. But too low and I may put your mother out of business!”

The boys at her table almost started laughing before the mystery guy yanked the girl out of her seat by the collar in rage. (Y/N) held no expression as the male pulled her up closer to him and drew a fist back ready to land square on her face.

Just as the team was about to get up to help their manager, they saw her head slowly tilt back before jerking forward to make hard contact with an unsuspecting nose.

The loud crunch was sickening and by now most of the cafeteria had gone totally quiet. Any grip that was still clinging to the girl’s collar was soon released as she drew her knee back and brought it right up into the place no guy wants to be hit.

The team along with every male in the cafeteria cringed hard at the sight of the male literally throwing up from the force of that knee. With her would-be attacker on the floor curled up in a helpless ball the boys figured it was over but looking into (Y/N)’s face there was a dark look they hadn’t seen before.

Sure, enough her foot reeled back before making impact with the boy’s side. He yelped out in pain but (Y/N) kept the blows coming, sometimes lifting her foot to stomp on various parts of his body.

Hara stood up slowly and placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder making her jump hard and take a swing at him. The punch landed directly in his stomach, making him double over in pain.

As if suddenly becoming unblinded by her rage the girl’s face melted back into the look they had all become used to.

“Kazuya! I’m sorry!” (Y/N) said taking the male’s face into her hands and trying to look into his eyes unsuccessfully of course.

Wheezing just a bit Hara managed to straighten up and give her a reassuring smile.

“Remind me to never play punchies or bloody knuckles with you. Are you okay?”

“What on earth is going on here?” One of the school administrators bellowed, slamming the doors to the cafeteria.

Before anyone could speak up it was none other than Mei running up to him, looking as if she’d been traumatized by the events.

“My friend went up to (Y/N) to ask her out and she totally freaked out! Look at him!”

The administrator looked to the boy struggling to get up off the floor and narrowed his eyes at the accused girl. Before he could open his mouth, it was Yamazaki who was out of his seat.

“That’s not the truth! He accused (Y/N) of paid dating! He said he wanted to know her rates and he did it with the intention of embarrassing her! He said it so loudly everyone in the cafeteria heard him!”

“It’s true!” A small voice piped up from the other side of the lunchroom. The guys recognized her as one of (Y/N)’s reverse trap lovers. “He went up to her and asked her how much she would charge to let him ‘do it all’ totally unprovoked!”

“Be that as it may, it was no need for physical confrontation.”

(Y/N) sighed before whipping off her jacket and unbuttoning her white shirt to pull over her shoulder. There on her clear skin was a shiny dark bruise. Hiking up her skirt slightly, the boys gawked at a handprint shaped bruise colouring her thigh. The markings were so dark and done with so much force, it was a wonder she hadn’t cried out.

“He was purposely squeezing me to intimidate and hurt me. I was defending myself.”

“(L/N) (Y/N)? You’re the Tōō transfer…Surely you’ve heard of excessive force, right?”

(Y/N) bit her lip so hard the boys knew it was seconds away from bleeding. She looked pissed and expectant.

“Young man, get to the nurse and get patched up. (Y/N) please come follow me to the Headmaster’s office.”

“What that’s complete bullshit!” Hara found himself yelling loudly. “She has the proof that he was hurting her and she’s still in trouble? Excessive force my fucking ass! He was going to punch her in the face and if she let him get up who knows what he could have done to her!?”

“Settle down!”

“No, that’s the stupidest fucking shit I ever heard!”

“That is enough! I am giving you one last warning. I know your parents may allow you to do whatever you like. I however will not, condition or no condition.”

Hara was boiling with rage at this point.

“Fuck you!”

The administrator looked just as red and angry however his eyes flickered with thought. Sighing heavily, he deflated and waved a dismissive hand at the boy.

“Sit down and finish your lunch. Come on (L/N).”

The cafeteria sat dumbstruck at the lavender-haired boy. Anyone who talked to any of the school’s staff like that was sure to be suspended, yet here he was with nothing but a reprimand.

And you would figure anyone would be happy with that but not Hara. No, he was absolutely trembling with rage. His teeth grit harshly, and his eyes blurred even more with tears that he wasn’t going to let fall. Maybe he was crying because he was angry or maybe he actually just sick of this constant reminder.

Pounding his fist into the table he stalked off after (Y/N). Without hesitation Yamazaki followed quickly behind his friend.

“I should really go and make sure they don’t make things worse for (Y/N).” Furuhashi said throwing away his food.

“You aren’t afraid you’ll get into trouble and they’ll call your parents?”

“I’ve recently gotten engaged, they are content enough with me at the moment to let a few things slide.”

“I’m going too. (Y/N) didn’t look right and I never thought she could lash out like that. Best if we gave her some team support. Hanamiya you coming?”

The pale boy simply sat and continued eating his lunch like nothing ever happened. He shrugged his shoulders.

“What good would that do? I’m gonna stay here.”

~~~~~

“So, you see why we have to keep such a close eye on you?”

(Y/N) nodded her head solemnly. She knew she only put herself in this situation based on her current and past actions. Disagreeing did no good.

“You better not be expelling her!” Hara’s voice rasped from the other side of the door. “I will shit all over your office!”

The young girl couldn’t help but snort at the principal’s taken aback expression. Shaking his head he turned back to (Y/N) and gave her a small fatherly smile.

“That’s an interesting boyfriend you have there.”

“Kazuya isn’t my boyfriend. He’s just my teammate who cares whether or not I will still be a part of the team tomorrow.”

“You will be. Regardless of everything, I know you’re a good kid. You have a 4.0 GPA and have even managed to reign in that unruly basketball team with their rough play. Though I do hope they continue to win without it.”

“W-what? How long have you known about that?”

“Oh I’ve had my suspicions ever since Hanamiya hurt that Seirin player a few years back. Between you and I, so long as the ref never called them out on their play, I would have allowed it to continue in an effort to keep bringing in those wins.”

(Y/N) sat awestruck. Things just weren’t adding up. Hanamiya had said outright that the Headmaster was unhappy with the team’s actions and was keeping an eye on them. In fact, it seemed to be the exact opposite.

“Dear don’t look so concerned. Rough play is simply a part of sports. Take the Detroit Pistons for exa-”

“You never asked Hanamiya to stop the rough play?”

“No, I can’t say I’ve spoken to the young man since he asked permission to be coach. Which brings me to the deal I want to make.”

“A deal?”

“While I can understand self-defense, even you admitted to using excessive force. Now I can’t let that go without punishment. However, you know as well as I do that those boys on your team are a stubborn lot. They never will agree to this if I asked it of them myself. A local newspaper has asked two Tokyo high school basketball teams to sit for an interview and Kirisaki Daiichi would be one of them.”

“Why would the newspaper want to interview us?”

“They are doing a feature on student leadership and wanted to feature two excelling teams led by student coaches.”

(Y/N)’s minded whirled for just a bit before the lightbulb went off. Her lips parted into a soft o shape as her Headmaster nodded with a smirk.

“So, then the school we will be interviewing with is…”

~~~~~

Seirin sat awkwardly on the other side of a huge round table.

(Y/N) could feel her captain’s stare burning holes in the side of her head. The energy in the room was incredibly tense and the only sounds were breathing and the occasional pop from Hara’s gum.

“You’re going to run so many suicides for me when we get out of here.” Hanamiya whispered into (Y/N)’s ear, sending a chill down her spine.

It had truly been a struggle to get all the boys to agree to sit for interview questions and that had been without mentioning the other team that would be.

Yamazaki had agreed the moment he found out it was to help her while the other guys requested favors in exchange for their presence.

Furuhashi requested to be lifted from the homework duty he’d gotten thanks to the Valentine’s bet.

Hanamiya requested that she make him lunch for the rest of the month, no store-bought or chef-prepared bentos allowed.

Hara’s dumbass jokingly requested a kiss, which he got. Not expecting it, however, he had no time to react and bitched about being “caught off guard” and not getting the opportunity to kiss back.

Seto merely waved the girl off and said he would save his favor for another time when he could really use it.

Now the guys were thinking that they had been lowballed. Not only was this the team that killed their chances at the winter cup last year, but they were also the team they had the most tension with.

To top it off, the interviewer was running late and now they were all stuck there as neither wanted to be the “weak team” that ran away.

(Y/N) looked at the players on the opposing team. She had seen them during the Rakuzan v. Seirin game but just as she found with Yosen’s ace, it was much different being face to face. Kagami was nothing short of intimidating, with his piercing almost unnatural eyes.

Their captain was scowling hard in direct contrast to Hanamiya who had this aura of faux innocence surrounding his face. The glasses guy looked about ready to jump across the table and throw hands.

Kuroko was another story, looking as if he was the one analyzing her team intensely. Several times (Y/N) locked eyes with him and gave him a small smile which he surprisingly returned. Seeing him too, made her wonder how exactly he was this “phantom” or “invisible” man. He had baby blue hair for fucks sakes!

“Kuroko Tetsuya, I don’t believe we’ve met.” The blue haired boy said extending his hand to the girl, who hadn’t said a single thing the entire time they’ve been sitting here.

“(Y/N) (L/N), it’s very nice to meet you. I saw your game against Rakuzan and thought it was amazing!”

This seemed to snap the attention of all the team to her. Before she could reply the dark-haired male, in front of her slipped a paper to her secretively.

‘Blink twice if you’re being held against your will.’

The young girl was caught between a laugh and a scoff, confusing the sharp-eyed male who’d passed her the note. He tilted his head as he tried to examine her face.

“Okay you blinked like four times, so I’m a little confused.” Izuki said with genuine concern.

“I’m perfectly content where I am. I have classes with Kazuya, before I knew it one thing lead to another and I was managing the team.”

Before anyone could even comment on that, she was already noticing the looks on their faces and continuing with her explanation.

“I am not a naïve person and am very aware of the things they have done. We were able to have a nice clean game against Yosen not too long ago. It would go against everything I believe in to judge someone on only their worst qualities.”

“I agree.” Kuroko’s calm voice resonated in the room with a strong conviction. “It’s hard to defend someone when only you’ve seen the good in them and everyone else has only seen the bad. I know that too well.”

“Exactly, spoken like a true protagonist.” (Y/N) said with a wide smile.

“This guy is way too bland to ever be the protagonist of anything.” Hara chuckled snapping his gum rapid fire.

“You think so? He talks like one and even has the ‘spot the protagonist’ hair.” (Y/N) leaned across Hanamiya, ready to defend her opinion to the death.

“We just played a purple giant and there’s split brow red head right in front of us!” Yamazaki replied, clearly siding with Hara.

“All the generation has weird ass hair.” Seto added acknowledging the obvious.

“Because if the story was told with their team as the main cast then that Miracle would be the protag. Kuroko is the protag of Seirin because blue hair is way more unnatural than red. Come on guys, it’s really simple.” Furuhashi interjected after picking his side in the debate.

“Then am I the protag of KiriDaii?” Hara asked, twisting a portion of his bangs between his fingers.

“Hell no, that’s me!” (Y/N) said with indignation.

“What why?”

“Because your hair isn’t natural and I’m the middle of the year transfer student!”

Seirin didn’t know how to respond to the conversation that had unfolded in front of them. Talk about anime protagonists and hair colour wasn’t something they expected, especially from a team like Kirisaki Daiichi. Clearly (Y/N) had been some sort of catalyst for the group.

Of course, the boys have always made their public image out to be very presentable. If they ever did attend some sort of event, they usually came across as cold but polite. The stereotypical image of a rich kid who thinks they are better than you but know better than to show it.

To see them acting like normal teenage guys was almost unsettling. But it made sense…after all, regardless of what they were like on the court, off the court they were just that. Teenage boys.

Kuroko’s eyes left (Y/N) when he felt a different pair glaring in his direction. Turning, he met with a harsh pair of olive eyes. Hanamiya had gotten up in his face before and the two had definitely had a stare down to the death but this expression was unreadable. Finally, after what looked like an internal debate the older male opened his mouth.

“Wait, there’s no way that’s actually your natural hair colour.”

“Well I was born with it, so yeah. All the generation have natural hair.”

“Shut the fuck up, are you serious? I thought the rainbow scheme was just a gimmick.” Hanamiya asked looking more or less stunned and in disbelief. “What the hell was in the water your moms were drinking?”

“I don’t know how to answer that.”

(Y/N) snorted into her hand. She didn’t expect this whole situation to turn out the way it was. If she was being honest she was almost prepared for a fight to break out instantly.

Still it didn’t go unnoticed to her that one of the Seirin members was neither speaking to his teammates nor ever bothered to look up at her team. And she wasn’t naïve to who this person was. In fact, he was the first face she looked for when she walked into interview room today.

Extremely tall and one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen in her life, she wished he had an actual smile on his face. Her captain pulled those a lot.

Hanamiya did it to seem indifferent and strong to others. And the guy at the end of the table was fundamentally not so different, he was trying to put on a strong front and pretend like being there didn’t bother him. But from what she’s heard of him, he did that for others…not himself.

“Terribly sorry for running so late!” A flustered looking man said nearly out of breath. “Were you waiting long?”

“Not very, though Kirisaki Daiichi arrived before we did.” Riko said standing to shake hands with the journalist.

“I will admit it was a bit of a wait, seeing as my team strives to be professional with our time.” Hanamiya said with a bright smile through the subtle snark of implying the older man was in fact unprofessional.

“Right! My deepest apologies. Now, we can get through the joint questions first and then move onto individual teams. Now Seirin, there have been lots of eyes on your aces and while we are interested as well we figured this would be a great opportunity to get some info of your other members.”

“Of course!” The short-haired girl nodded.

“As for Kirisaki Daiichi, for such a high-ranking team in such a prestigious school there haven’t been many interviews conducted with you. And to my knowledge absolutely none since Hanamiya Makoto has taken the team. So, we would very much like to change that today!”

~~~~~

“I uhh”

While the tension had completely once been eradicated in the boardroom, the stuttering and aching silence let everyone know it was back with a vengeance.

“I apologize if that was an inappropriate question to ask given our current audience but I did my research. It would seem the only remaining player from that team is Hanamiya, however he seemed not to be directly involve-”

“Not directly involved?” Hyuga exclaimed before he had the chance to stop himself.

The other Seirin team members were trying their hardest to get him to calm down. (Y/N) nervously bit on her nail as she glanced to her captain. He was sitting almost unfazed, staring at Kiyoshi waiting for him to give his answer to the question.

‘After your terrible injury in the game against Kirisaki Daiichi, how have you managed to deal with these limitations?’

“Why don’t you finally admit it!? You had every intention of hurting him and everyone in here knows it!” Hyuga shouted to Hanamiya who finally looked away from the brown-haired male.

“He’s not wrong.” Hanamiya’s voice came out smoothly, shocking his entire team. “I was just an ordinary player on the team back then, but still…it was me who gave the order to use rough play on him.”

Even the reporter looked shocked by this admission and simply nodded before scribbling words down on his notes. Turning his attention back to Kiyoshi the reporter urged the male out of his overall shocked state.

“So, how exactly are you coping? Is there a lot of resentment…anger?”

“Acceptance. You can’t change what’s happened you can only come to terms with it. I’ve accepted that my peak has come and gone. It was halted early and without me ever even knowing, it passed me by. I’ll never be as good as I could have been, but I’ll keep trying to be the best that I can be now. That’s how I’ve coped with it.”

“I see. That’s very unfortunate but inspiring that you have continued to push out of a bad situation. And for you Hanamiya, is there any guilt? Was it your intention for it to escalate this way? Any comments?”

All of KiriDai was watching their captain closely. Way before now all of them had formed their own opinions on the incident with Kiyoshi but it wasn’t their game, none of them played in it so none of them ever bothered voicing their opinion.

Hanamiya always acted like he couldn’t be bothered to give a shit about anything or anyone but still they wondered if there was something else there. Then again, they figured he would give some bullshit answer to keep a public façade.

“As you can see Kiyoshi refuses to be broken by me and continues to put himself out there when playing me. Some people call that bravery…I call it reckless. He’s put his own flesh and bones on the line for others, I believe he will come to have resentment but not towards me.”

(Y/N) tried to read the male’s eyes but found them to be blank.

“I’ve lost every game I’ve ever played against him. I’ll never get the chance to beat him at his best….and I am unbelievably sorry for that. I take full responsibility for everything that’s happened to him.”

Kiyoshi was gaping at the male who refused to make eye contact. He heard it in his voice, that was almost an apology. Of course, he knew Hanamiya well enough to know that he would state that in the most selfish and underhanded way possible. He wasn’t smirking or mocking them for believing a lie…he was, for the first time, being genuine.

“I see…So, Hanamiya Makoto, what inspired you to play basketball?”

“My father.” Hanamiya replied without missing a beat, once again surprising everyone on both teams.

“Care to elaborate?”

“No.”

“Uhhh okay.” The journalist seemed to be fumbling with his notes, clearly trying to steer the topic away and remove the heavy veil hanging in the air. “Ahh yes Mitobe! There isn’t much information that’s been gathered for you. Would you be open to a few questions?”

“I don’t think I’ve heard you speak since we got in here. Talk about a man of few words.” (Y/N) smiled at the male who had appeared to be slightly nervous.

“More like a man of no words. Mitobe is mute!” The cat-mouthed boy stated awkwardly to (Y/N).

The girl covered her mouth in shock and appeared wide eyed. She wanted to smack herself for even trying to talk. Honestly, she had just been trying to break the tensions between both teams.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to offend!” The black-haired male lifted his hand as if to tell her not to worry about it but of course (Y/N) dug herself even deeper. “Do you want me to run and get you a paper and pen to write your answers down?”

“That’s okay, I can translate for him.” Koga replied with a smile as he tried to calm the girl down.

“Okay umm if you need to sit closer or something I can trad-”

“Oh my god just leave him alone! He’s mute, not invalid!” Hara shouted in a fairly loud and angry voice, startling everyone in the room. “He survived just fine without you, he doesn’t need your help now. So, sit down and quit embarrassing us!”

“Hey, you shouldn’t talk to your manager like that. She was just trying to help, even if coming off a little strong.” Hyuga spoke up in the girl’s defense.

“Yeah you were really too harsh with her, Mitobe knows she meant well.” Koga urged, seeing the face of a clearly distressed girl.

“She’s fine!” Hara asserted only to hear mumbling under the breath of the boy on the far end of the table. “What did you say?”

Fukuda almost didn’t respond, not really having expected the male to hear him from that distance. Still Hara was coming off as rude and it wasn’t gonna take much urging to him to repeat the comment he gave.

“I said ‘You must be blind or stupid not to see she’s obviously upset.’”

It happened so quickly that (Y/N) almost didn’t process what had happened. One second Hara was drawing his fist back at the boy and the next Yamazaki was pulling him out of the room.

“Okay, I’m calling it guys. We should probably end it here.” Seto said getting ready to stand before (Y/N) slid out of her chair first.

“No, stay and finish the interview. He probably doesn’t want all of us around him right now.”

“And you think he’ll be okay with you?” Furuhashi asked with slight concern in his eyes.

“Doesn’t matter.” (Y/N) said, heading out to find her friends.

With that the girl bowed respectfully to the other team and journalist before excusing herself. Almost immediately after turning the corner, her perpetually pissed-off looking friend nearly slammed into her.

“Zaki! Where’s Kazu-chan, what the hell happened?”

“He’s just sitting on the roof, sulking. Really, he just has some personal stuff he’s going through, and I thought it’d be best to leave him alone.”

“Nah, I need to talk to him.”

“(Y/N) wai-”

The girl was no longer listening as she bolted down the hall and right up the flight of stairs. Her legs were aching as she climbed the steps incredibly fast. Finally seeing the light shining in from the small window, she pushed the door open and squinted her eyes in an effort to adjust to the brightness.

“What the hell do you want? If I didn’t want Zaki here what makes you think I’d want you either?”

“God you’re in a bitchy mood today.” (Y/N) commented, finally spotting the male sitting on the opposite end of the roof.

Walking over to him she sat directly in front of him with crisscrossed legs.

“Just leave me alone. Why are you always in everyone’s business?”

“Because you’re my friends.”

“Friends usually know when to leave someone the hell alone.”

“Do they? I haven’t had many friends since I came to Japan so I wouldn’t really know. But in everything I’ve ever seen, the friend usually keeps pushing.”

“Yeah well this isn’t one of your fucking anime okay? All I need is for you to leave me alone and go away.”

“Kazuya just tell me what’s wrong? Why did you go off on that Seirin guy? Why’d you start yelling at me? I refuse to believe those were just bad attitude actions, so what gives?”

“I’ve had a bad week okay?”

“Well why?”

“Oh my god it’s just one question after another with you!”

“Yes! Because I want to know what’s happening with you. Maybe I can help!”

“You can’t! “

“How do you know that!?”

“Because I know me better than you! Not everything has an answer and not everything can be fixed! Stop trying to fix me!”

“I’m just trying really hard to understand you.”

“Fine! You want to try and understand?!”

(Y/N) flinched as he got up in her face and turned her head away from him screwing up her eyes. She didn’t think he’d hit her but it was her natural reaction to cower away. Hara suddenly had his thumb and forefinger on her cheeks, gripping her face slightly to turn her.

“Look at me.”

The young girl allowed him to face her towards him and was instantly surprised to see him looking at her eye to eye. He’d pushed his bangs off to the side and was staring at her intensely.

Maybe she didn’t know the words…but she knew right away something was different.

“Your eyes…”

“Are creepy?” Hara scoffed still holding onto the girl’s face.

“Suit you.”

The girl honestly meant that. His eyes were a pretty hazel colour with the black part of his pupils extending way too far down to look natural. Both seemed to split the coloured portion of his eye from the middle to the bottom. It made him look almost feline in appearance.

“What’s up with it?”

“It’s called coloboma.”

“Huh it makes you look like a demon or like a pissed off cat. That kind of fits your personality don’t you think?” (Y/N) smiled only for Hara to finally release her and sigh as he sat back. She thought about what Fukuda had said and as if all the pieces were clicking together, she cocked her head at him. “But that’s just cosmetic, if you went off on that guy back there…. Hara can you see?”

“Shittily but yes…for now. Something called a comorbidity or whatever the hell. One of my brothers has the keyhole eyes like me but I was just even more unlucky. I was four when I realized my eyesight was shit at night.”

(Y/N) could see Hara staring off to the side and knew he was about to let out everything and anything he had ever kept secret.

“So, they tested it and turns out that was just the beginning. Choroideremia, which basically just means my eyesight is going to gradually get worse and worse until I just can’t see at all. Completely, totally blind and there isn’t a damn thing anyone can do to stop it.”

There was a hard silence cloaking the two. It was even heavier than the one they had just experienced in the room with both teams. Hara was ready to just get up and leave, he didn’t regret telling her…with that outburst she would piece it together eventually.

His whole team probably would, when the only person who had known was Zaki. He knew it was foolish to think he could keep it from them for so long. His team would think he was a worthless player and he would gladly take that. But he knew (Y/N) would pity him and that was going to set him right back off.

“Yeah well I’m sorry to hear that but don’t think telling me that is gonna excuse you for being a dick.”

Hara’s eyes widened and his head snapped towards her like he couldn’t believe his ears. The girl was pouting and with arms crossed looked pissed off.

“What?”

“Like I said, I get that you’ve been going through a lot, but you were seriously about to fight a guy. He doesn’t know your life, cut him a break. And don’t ever fucking yell at me like that in public again! I’m your friend and manager, not a damn kid!”

“Is that seriously what you’re worried about right now?”

“Uhh yeah! You embarrassed the hell out of me! I think you owe me and everyone in there an apology!”

Hara blinked very slowly at the girl. Everyone who had ever found out about it pitied him. They treated him like some sort of feeble infant. Even Yamazaki had to outgrow that habit.

It would seem that, it didn’t matter the situation, (Y/N) was never going to react the way he thought she was. Whether it was her reactions to an arranged marriage or to a disability, she was never overly soft with people. Some people would even call that apathetic or kinda bitchy.

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me right now?”

(Y/N) sighed heavily and let her angry face fall into one of concern.

“It’s not that I don’t care about you, Kazuya or what’s happening. But it honestly changes nothing between us. You don’t get a free pass to do whatever the hell you like just because you have shitty eyesight. I’ve known you not even a full year. You managed to survive without me and I’m sure you’ll continue to do the same. I’m not saying I won’t make a mistake ever or that I won’t worry about you from time to time but you’re still the same person with or without your problems.”

“And when the day comes that I can’t see at all?”

“Then you’ll deal with it as it comes. We’ll get you a basketball that beeps or some shit. Look I don’t know much about blindness but millions all over the world deal with it and when it happens, I’m sure you will too.”

“Huh…you know you’re the only person whose ever reacted that way. I guess now I must just seem like a fucking moron that threw a tantrum huh?”

“Hell yeah, a big ass temper tantrum! Honestly one more outburst like that from you and I’m gonna have to put you in a time out corner or something.”

Hara laughed before looking up at her again. Under his bangs he could always see that she had a very cute shape to her body but with his eyes out for the world to see…he was really looking at her for the first time. From the face, she was plainer than he’d been able to see previously. But still he found himself drawn to her.

Crawling over to her again, his face was only inches away from hers. She was staring directly into his eyes in a way none of the other girls he’s ever been with has. She wasn’t staring AT his eyes she was looking into them. She was seeing him, looking at HIM.

His hand was gently caressing her face and he noticed her own eyes gently flicker to his lips. His smirk grew before he drew even closer and whispered,

“And how many tantrums do I have to throw before I get a spanking?”

The girl clicked her tongue before pushing him away.

“I’ll have Furu give you one now! He’s the sadist of the group, I’m sure all you have to do is ask!”

“Fuck that shit! I want a spanking from a cute girl not a flogging from my sicko teammate.”

“So, I’m a cute girl huh?”

“Yeah you are.” Hara admitted without missing a beat, surprising (Y/N) who had expected him to give his typical sarcastic ass comment.

“Ha funny, come on we should head back to the guys!”

“Awe don’t leave yet! I figured we could have some fun up here for a bit, after all I did just reveal to you my tragic backstory!”

“Yeah whatever!”

“Don’t even pretend! You were really into me for a second there!”

“Maybe in your dreams.”

“Come on, I’ll make you feel really good.”

“Don’t say things like that so nonchalantly!”

“So, is that a yes?”

~~~~~

“Why the fuck did you two take so long!?” Hanamiya shouted out at the two as they made their way down the final stair.

“Yeah we were kinda worried.” Yamazaki said looking between his two friends.

“Worried my ass! I just wanna get home but I can’t because (Y/N) has my damn train pass.” Hanamiya mumbled sounding just as grumpy as he’d been earlier with Seirin.

“Honestly though, is everything okay with you guys?” Seto asked (Y/N) more so than Hara.

“Yeah Kazu-chan had a bitch fit but he’s cooled off now. Maybe he is the protagonist considering how much he openly cries and causes drama.”

“Shut up.” Hara laughed, pushing the girl playfully.

The guys all narrowed their eyes at the two. They could see the clear shift, half as those who have experienced it first hand with (Y/N) and the other half as having witnessed it from their other teammates.

He was falling for her.

“Well now that that matter is solved, I think you owe us more than was offered.” Furuhashi broke the silence, placing his hand on (Y/N)’s shoulder.

“Yeah I know.” The girl deflated, not wanting to be reminded of the deception she used to get her team there today. “How about I treat us all to ramen? I just got paid and I think I can spare to feed my team.”

“Hmm you have a job?” Seto asked raising a brow at the girl.

“Yeah, of course! I told you I like to earn my things and not just leech off someone. So, are we getting food or not!”

“Fine, let’s go.” Hanamiya said, all but dragging the girl along out the door.

Standing at the back of the group, a certain two males stayed behind Hara was staring out after his team and Yamazaki was staring at him. When the rest were finally out of earshot he spoke up.

“She knows, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

“And you willing told her?”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

“I guess after seeing how she handled Furuhashi’s situation, I was hoping she would surprise me too. Tell me something I wasn’t expecting to hear, and she didn’t disappoint.”

“…You know Furu’s got it bad for her too, right? That he’s just too stoic to show it more than he already does?”

“Yeah, I’m not stupid.”

“And I’ve told you how I feel.” Yamazaki sighed as Hara looked at him almost sullenly. “You’re still not gonna give her up easily, are you?”

“You know I can’t.”

~~~~~

“Who the fuck wrote that!” Hara yelled accusingly at the now frightened students in class.

(Y/N) stared at the words on her desk, owlishly. The classroom had grown so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet and Hara was sure to cause hell when he found out who was responsible for this bullshit.

“Well!? I’ll look through everyone’s shit to find a pink marker! And when I find it, the person I found it with bet-”

“Haha how pathetic!” (Y/N)’s voice chirped out, laughing genuinely. Hara turned to her in surprise and watched as she licked her middle finger and swiped it over the desk smudging the ink.

While her voice and demeanor oozed confidence, Hara could clearly see a hurt look in her eyes as the words ‘Yariman’ and ‘Slut’ smeared across her desk.

“What kind of weak shit is this? If you’re gonna vandalize a desk, don’t be a fucking pussy and use a marker! Carve it in there to get your point across! Oh man, Kazuya, I’m gonna go grab a wet napkin to wipe this crap off.”

Hara watched as the girl took off down the hall, avoiding the gaze of everyone in class. He knew exactly who it was that went and wrote that on the girl’s desk.

It was growing more and more out of hand. Something told him there was more going on than just a jealousy for Yamazaki. (Y/N) said they’d had issues from before.

Whatever happened in middle school was finally exploding all around her.

And now that he thought about it, how much did any of them really know about (Y/N)?

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ldybluerse · 5 years

Text

The Nice and Accurate Tale of Beauty and the Beast

Chapter One: Beauty and the Beast Good Omens AU

“Oh hello again dear.”

Aziraphale gave the young woman who had just burst into his shop a smile that, for the unobservant, would be welcoming and friendly; the truth was that smile was quite forced and strained. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, as she was respectful and kept mostly to herself. It was simply the fact that he had no desire to sell (or loan) his books to a single person on this green Earth. Yet, no matter what he did to deter visitors, she would come back as soon as she finished one book, ready to borrow another. Her tenacity was almost admirable, if only it hadn’t been directed towards the Knight who just wanted his little bookstore to be left alone by others so that he may enjoy his collection of books in peace.

Aziraphale did have to hand it to the girl: she took the utmost care of every book she borrowed and only ever returned one in poor shape. She left that morning, completely happy to borrow a beloved book (for the third time, in fact), only to return moments later with the bottom of her blue dress and white apron covered in mud stains and her big brown eyes drowning in tears. She was so very sorry for what had happened to the book, she said, and that she’d tried to clean it with her dress before rushing back to his shop. Seeing her distress, Aziraphale almost wanted to forget his frustration with her. Almost. Sighing softly, he put his upset on hold to get the girl a calming cup of tea and then looked over the damages. It was only after she’d composed herself and finished her tea that he found out the truth: it hadn’t been the young woman’s fault at all, but the fault of a boisterous young man who (in Aziraphale’s opinion) caused far too much trouble and got away with too much of it. When she saw that the book had been completely cleaned up and that the shopkeeper wasn’t angry with her, she settled down fully and took her leave with the novel under her arm once more (along with a small blessing of protection on the way home).

He huffed softly, looking over his poor, abused book. Someone really should put that boy in his place. Alas, the trouble he caused was not enough to warrant the Knight stepping in and risk blowing his own cover; the boy, after all, was not the monster he was seeking--though, frankly, he did have quite the monstrous personality, even for a young human male. It had taken a minor miracle to restore that book properly, which wouldn’t have been needed if the young man hadn’t purposefully thrown it into the mud when he realized the young woman was giving said book far more attention than his half-baked and vulgar attempts to impress her. There was little to redeem the boy in Aziraphale’s eyes, what with his poor fashion sense (entirely too much flesh showing) and the horrible personality that was only accentuated as he stomped about town and bullied people, especially that one friend who followed about like a whipped puppy. He was certain the young lady felt the same way, which was why she was constantly dodging his advances. Aziraphale had instantly been wary of the young man since he’d arrived, but that feeling grew to a strong dislike when the personal harassment and mockery began (usually over his own fashion standards and the fact that he ran a bookstore). Nothing quite like a local land-owner’s son thinking he’s better than all those around him and grinding those “below” him beneath his boots to leave a bad taste in his mouth. Aziraphale did his best to ignore the young man when he was obliged to leave the shop, but sometimes it was unavoidable when the brute would try to use his large body to block his path and cause trouble. If he had to guess, he’d also say the young man targeted him because the young woman he fancied started spending so much time in his shop. (A ridiculous notion, honestly, as Aziraphale was just as annoyed by her frequent presence there as he was.)

A day or two later, the young woman appeared in his doorway once again. Tucking away a lock of brown hair that had freed itself from her ribbon, she smiled at Aziraphale as he approached from behind the counter.

“Back already?” he said. It sounded friendly enough, it really did, for Aziraphale was not one to be rude. He was ever the gentleman.

“Oh, yes, Monsieur Fell, I could hardly put it down,” she replied with great excitement. “Do you mind if I borrow another?”

Aziraphale was resigned to his fate of letting her borrow books, despite his own desire to keep them all locked away for his own enjoyment, as the girl did not take any polite form of “no” for an answer and he was not the sort to be impolite for no reason (and often when he did have reason, but that was neither here nor there). It was not that he disliked the girl entirely, as he did admire her love of reading and her impeccable manners when she visited his shop.

“You know my rules, Mademoiselle. Feel free to see what piques your interest.”

(His rules were actually “stop taking my books”, but that would be a funny rule to enforce when you’re running a bookshop and expecting it to stay open.)

She was a flighty young lady at times, but at least she was kind company during her blessedly short visits.

“Had you heard about the Baker children?” she remarked as she browsed the shelves. “The youngest fell ill. Coughing something awful for days, the poor dear. The doctor even told her parents they shouldn’t expect her to recover.”

“How dreadful! Are they really so certain of it?”

“That’s just the thing, Monsieur Fell! She’s nearly better now! Madam Baker’s been telling everyone that someone left this strange medicine pouch on their doorstep for the child. She told my father that they were going to lose their child anyway, so they were willing to try anything--and it worked! She says it was a gift from above… which, if you ask me, must be the case because no one saw who delivered it and the doctor is completely baffled.”

“Well, I’m truly grateful the child was saved. A blessing indeed.”

Aziraphale gave her a polite smile, but not one with such friendliness to invite more conversation. It seemed like an utterly foolish idea to give a sick child any kind of randomly-appearing medicine, but who was he to question desperate parents? Besides, if he did remark on his own thoughts, then the young woman might stay longer to gossip (and he very much wished for her to leave so he could get back to his reading). Thankfully she didn’t seem to have much more to say, as she was distracted by looking over books; not long after, she had selected a new book and was out the door, her nose already between pages.

Once the shop was quiet again, he spared another thought on who the mysterious medicine benefactor could be, as it was definitely not himself. Perhaps another Favoured was in the area? Although that made little sense, as the powers-that-be weren’t exactly known for popping in to give a poor family some medicine and then leaving again, and surely if someone like that was visiting the town where Aziraphale was known to be stationed, they would at least stop in to introduce themselves. He shrugged to himself and settled behind the counter again, sipping his tea as he returned to his book--only for the bell over the door to jingle cheerily again! (Blast that thing, and blast these customers!) He hardly ever had more than one visitor a day, and most days it was that young woman. Briefly, Aziraphale fretted that another book had met a muddy fate. The Knight stepped from behind the counter, and his mood soured even more when he saw something he wanted to see even less than a customer: his boss. Aziraphale put on his best professional smile and cheeriest voice as he greeted the two men at his door.

“Prince Gabriel, what an honor to see you! And the Knight Sandalphon as well, yes. Always a pleasure to have you.”

It seemed the two Favoured were attempting to blend in, but doing a shoddy job of it. The prince’s crisp fabrics and pristine cool greys weren’t exactly attire that the average layman would wear in this area. The spotless white and tan outfit of Sandlephon stood out in equal measure; the fabric of one sock alone was worth enough to feed a family in this town for a month.

“No, no, not ‘Prince’ or ‘Knight’, Aziraphale. We’re here undercover!” Gabriel announced, flashing a pearly-white smile that didn’t quite reach his amethyst eyes. (Sandlephon’s echoed smile was more a barely concealed snarl.)

Aziraphale quickly nodded and then approached them cautiously. He wasn’t sure why his superiors were visiting him in person like this, but he would be the gracious host no matter what; he does have standards, even for unwelcome guests.

“Is it safe to speak here? Are we alone?” The prince was still smiling as he looked about the shop, but it looked more fake than the gold in Sandalphon’s front teeth. Aziraphale could take lessons.

“Of course, let me just lock up and adjust the sign,” the Knight replied. “So no one accidentally walks in on us.”

He did just that, sliding the lock into place and feeling quite unnerved at having to turn his back on the two of them… which was just silly, he knew. They were Favored, the Good Guys. It shouldn’t be worrisome to have the good guys behind you, right? Yet, just having them both in the same town (much less right there in his personal space) made Aziraphale very nervous indeed. He flipped the door sign to “Closed” and then turned back to his guests.

“Now. How can I help you, gentlemen?”

His voice was even, calm, keeping the nervousness he felt well hidden.

“We’re just stopping in to see how things are going with the Fallen monster lurking about. Any news?”

Gabriel’s eyes seemed to flash with something that Aziraphale could not name, which tapped him further along the edge of unease.

“I’m afraid not,” he said, with regret. “Not even a shriek in the night. I’ve searched practically everywhere for its lair. Nothing in the usual places like cemeteries, bogs, or ditches… I even looked into one of the supposedly haunted homes at the edge of town. All I found there was some rats. Well, actually a lot of rats. None of them Fallen either, just normal rats.”

Ah--he was babbling. He shut himself up.

“That is most troubling news, Aziraphale!” the prince exclaimed, looking disappointed. “You need to find this Fallen and find out what it’s been doing. I mean, we all know it’s up to no good--it’s a Fallen!”

Gabriel laughed at his own joke, if one could call it a joke. Which, it really wasn’t.

Aziraphale gave a mild fake chuckle so as to not upset Gabriel. Sandalphon managed a sneer.

“I assure you, I will find this Fallen and thwart its evil wiles. The good news is that I’ve settled in peacefully and no one here suspects a thing. They all think I’m just a scholarly old bookseller.”

“Now, that is great news! You can sneak right up on that Fallen!” Gabriel gave his hands a soft clap before rubbing them together, looking pleased. “He won’t suspect a thing!”

“Exactly.”

He had to remind himself to remain cordial. Keep smiling. Act friendly. Just some good old boys discussing murder. No trouble at all. They’d leave him alone soon enough, and Aziraphale could return to what he wanted to do, instead of what he ought to be doing. Frankly, if the Fallen he was sent to “remove” wasn’t causing any trouble, then he didn’t feel the need to bother with it at all. But his superiors didn’t need to know that.

“Well, we’ll just get going so you can get back to work finding that Fallen! The sooner it’s found, the sooner you can come on home,” the Prince told him, like he assumed Aziraphale was as sick of being here as he was. “And don’t you worry, we’ll continue to check in on you from time to time! Make sure everything is going according to plan, that kind of thing.”

“That’s most gracious of you, sir.”

The last thing Aziraphale wanted was them popping in too often and finding out that he was not, in fact, doing his job as correctly as they thought he was. It wasn’t like he was completely ignoring his duties: he watched over the town and made sure everyone in it was safe (reasonably). There were plenty of times when a hungry family would find a basket of food on their doorstep, left there by an unknown benefactor. Others would find a few extra coins in the dirt on the same day the rent was due that would be just enough to cover the amount they lacked. The homeless always seemed to have a soft blanket and a hot drink to keep them warm at night. All of these little ‘coincidences’ were just a few kindnesses he’d done for the townsfolk since his arrival, small but positive changes that surely made a difference for the better. Finding a Fallen who hadn’t made itself known and wasn’t causing any trouble to speak of was not his top priority. The Prince and his Knight moved to leave, and Aziraphale remembered something he’d wanted to ask them.

“Oh! Am I to assume that you were the ones to deliver that special medicine to a sick child a few days ago? The parents are saying it was a blessing and are most thankful.”

Gabriel’s face took on an exaggerated frown as he thought for a moment.

“Nope, wasn’t us, not our department.” He looked to Sandalphon, who nodded in confirmation. “We just arrived this morning and have no interest in… local affairs. That’s your area.”

That was a surprise, and yet not.

“Yes, I... I suppose it is. Must’ve been another kind-hearted fellow who beat me to it,” Aziraphale replied, with what he hoped was a convincing smile.

“It seems your positive influence is leaving its mark on others. Keep up the good work! I’m so pleased you’re able to vigorously hunt for that Fallen and still make time for good deeds.”

Gabriel was beaming at Aziraphale as he and his Knight headed out, and Aziraphale wanted to feel pride in that praise but something behind that smile made Aziraphale want to jump right out of his skin. He waited until the door slammed shut and the shop was empty again to let out a long, slow breath of relief.

There was a reason why Aziraphale accepted positions that took him away from the elevated castle that Her people preferred, a reason why he loved posing as a bookkeeper instead of playing his role as a Favoured Knight: those fake smiles and pleasant voices were never as friendly or happy as they seemed. There was always... something hidden just beneath them that gave Aziraphale pause. He was a Favoured, but didn’t truly belong amongst their numbers and he knew that. In his bones, he hated the cold edge in those looks, the disdain, the disgust, the warning. Stay where you are. Know your place.

There was no reason to threaten him. He was here, and he was doing his job--he was just doing it at his own pace and enjoying what he could along the way. The city had more warmth in strangers then he had ever found in the pristine pillars of the palace.

——————————————————

Just to note, I am posting the full story here and on AO3. Also... still have no idea what I am doing.

HUGE THANK YOU TO @brstudios for her editing, ideas, ear to jabber on, and friendship. She really wanted this AU too, so I hope I am doing her a happy.

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rivalsofnycupdates · 4 years

Photo

“Her mind is an unquiet one, words and thoughts and impulses constantly crashing into each other.”

■ ABOUT. ■

name: Juliette Derby age: twenty-nine occupation: socialite & informant for the Devils gender: cis-female pronouns: she/her sexuality: utp

■ HISTORY. ■

With a rich father and trophy wife step-mother, Juliette grew up much like anyone would’ve assumed. From a distance, her life seemed perfectly put together. From her clothes to her studies, the girl hardly failed anything she set her heart too. This personality trait came from her father. Most of her personality mirrored her father, her mother, died when she was just a baby. She was told, that her mother was weak and she died in an overdose but as the years wore on, Juliette learned the truth. Being under her father’s roof was incredibly stressful. The pressures of being a Derby were heavy, bearing both a surname and a reputation to observe and appreciate. Juliette often had to try harder then anyone else just to make it appear as if she weren’t trying at all.

She was always taught it was better to be beautiful and unforgettable than witty and intelligent. With this kind of upbringing, the girl often kept her passion for science and math to herself. She hated social functions since she felt like her father would only be proud of her if she acted as if her soul had died. Nothing more then a pretty face with her father’s money, Juliette was often dismissed and overlooked when it came to many things. She grew to not mind it, and instead, preferred it that way. When she turned eighteen, her father whisked her away and sent her off to school in Paris where Juliette exceeded beyond her own dreams. She studied science for two years, and then her professor scouted her. Offering her a job she couldn’t refuse. She worked at a science lab where she was able to explore only a fraction of what her courses spoke about, but her dreams were finally becoming a reality. The years she spent at the lab, allowed her to break open those walls her father had built.

Juliette could have seen herself living in Paris for the rest of her life. The city was one she felt she couldn't live without. It wasn’t until she was twenty-six that her father requested she returned to New York. With her newfound confidence, she wanted to tell her father no, she wanted to be able to continue working on her dreams. Though her father held a fear over her she couldn’t explain. The second finished that phone call with her father felt herself shrink back into the girl she used to be. Without any discussion, she followed orders and moved away from her love of sciences and mathematics. She wasn’t sure why her father wanted her back into the city, though any assumption she had was wrong.

■ WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON? ■

Her father had always expressed an interest in politics, this wasn’t news to Juliette at all. What did surprise her, was her father's hand in the Devils workings. A behind the curtain benefactor offered him not only protection but support with his new campaign to become the Mayor of the city. Juliette’s world has been turned upside down as she is no longer just a socialite among many others, but the daughter of the next possible Mayor of New York City. The reasoning for her need to come back became clear. Since he didn’t have a wife to parade, he’d have to parade his daughter. The campaign would be a long one and Juliette was suddenly aware that any thought of being anything other than a Derby no longer existed, instead, she’d have to be the pretty face all that was expected and nothing more. It was as if her intelligence didn’t matter, as long as her hair was done, and she was wearing the most expensive clothes would she be accepted amongst the 1% of New York City.

■ KEEP THIS AWAY FROM YOUR ENEMIES ■

It’s been months since she’s returned to New York City, her father is about to finish his campaign, and Juliette has been doing her part at standing beside him like the good daughter the public sees her be. What her father doesn’t know is, throughout his campaign, she’s kept every single wrongdoing from anyone in his administration and kept a record of it all. She knew her father wasn’t a saint, so her original plan was to release it to the public to hurt his campaign. Though after a drunk night with, Marissa Diaz. They came up with a better plan. She was to provide any and all information to the Devils in order for them to blackmail him. This wasn’t a plan that offered her short term satisfaction, though the thought of her father being under the thumb of the Devils, just like she’d been under his thumb, for the rest of his life was an image she couldn’t pass up. After months of collecting more evidence, she’s found a place among the Quantum of Devils as an Informant. Using not only her looks but her connections as well, she’s able to insert herself into the life of the 1% and collects whatever information the Devils might need.

■ RELATIONSHIPS. ■

■ Foster Richman: Juliette doesn’t like the guy, and hasn’t since she first met some of the gang members. In fact, she’d maybe even title him as her least favorite member. Though that may be because of his occupation, and the fact that there is nothing she hates more than those who abuse substances such as drugs or alcohol.

■ Bellamy Leiberman: If she had to describe the male in one word, it’d be simply puppy. Sure he’s nice enough, however, the pair have met at least four times and she still can’t recall his name. All she knows is he’s good with computers, and she catches him staring at her whenever he thinks she isn’t looking. Then again whenever they talk, she swears he’s the only person who sees and comments on things more than just her appearance, almost as if she’s an actual person and not just an object.

■ Mia Alcott: She’s seen the other girl perform and she’s impressed. Though she would never admit that out loud. They’ve also run some of the same circles and have met on occasion. She respects how the woman has separated herself from her family's problems and made a name for herself. Though when Garrett takes notice of her interest in his daughter and suggests the two become friends, Juliette is no longer sure how she feels.

■ CONNECTIONS. ■

■ Isaac Abrigo > Casual Hook Up

■ Eva Nelson > Friend

■ Julian Meadows > Annoyance

Juliette Derby is a OPEN character and is portrayed by Lucy Hale who’s FC IS NEGOTIABLE.

#rp #rpg #bio rp #crime rp #city rp #all #fem #negotiable fc #juliettederby #devils #open #openf

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thewritewolf · 5 years

Text

Rekindle Chapter 28: Secrets

Marinette tries to shake off the lingering visions as the both of them search for the peacock miraculous shard.

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@marichatmay

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Marinette wasn’t sure where she was anymore.

Each time she moved her head was another location and different people filling it. Some were familiar - the foggy streets of London over a century ago, Greece in the time of gods and heroes. Others… were less so, but her gut gave her the names her head couldn’t. China. Peru. Egypt. And, of course, France. There was a pattern - someone, usually a woman, in red. And someone, usually a man, in black.

As the visions came and went, blurring together, she reached out for something, anything that could anchor her. She felt strong arms underneath her, hooked below her knees and back. With something she could feel in her heart as real and now she pulled herself out of the swirling maelstrom and back into the present.

The arms belonged to Chat Noir, her Chat Noir. By the way she was being jostled, he was carrying her. The distant sound of clanging metal gave her another reference point. They were being chased, but her Chat Noir is not easily caught and they were escaping. But why were they running away in the first place?

Her eyes flew open as everything came rushing back.

He glanced down at her. “How’re you feeling, Bug? Can you stand?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” she lied. She glanced around her, confirming her fears. The past was still imposed over the present, although it was now only faintly there. It was like a mural that had been poorly painted over another one, and seeing both at the same time was starting to give her a headache. The whispers at the edges of her mind only worsened things. She looked back at Chat Noir, who hadn’t set her down yet. “Okay, no, I’m not fine. But I think I know how to make things better. Can you please put me down?”

His cat ears twitched as he listened for any enemies and gently let her out of his arms once he was satisfied with whatever he heard. “So what’s the plan now?”

In way of reply, she said, “Spots off.”

“What are you doing?!” He whispered angrily. “We are still in a building flooded with bad guys, in case you forgot!”

“Sorry, kitty. I just couldn’t keep going like that. I guess you’ll just have to protect me.” She gave him a wink, but he crossed his arms, pouting at her as his tail flicked back and forth irritatedly. She looked around the side hallway that they were hiding in. Everything was as it should be and the voices were gone.

“That’s much better. Now let’s-” She blinked as she turned around. It was unlike anything she had felt before. Almost like a magnetic force leading her a certain way. “That’s weird…”

A tiny sneeze drew her attention back to Tikki, sniffling and tired looking. It wasn’t the worst condition she’d seen her kwami in, but it was far from the best. Her concern must have shown since she waved a paw at Marinette. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine after some cookies, ready whenever you need to transform. But you feel that, right?”

“That… pull? Yeah, I do.”

“Well I don’t,” Chat grumbled, arms still crossed.

She put her hands on his face and pulled his attention to her. “I know you’re just upset because you’re scared. But I’m completely fine. We’re going to win, just like we always do. Okay?”

It took him a moment, but he nodded and relaxed. “Okay.” He let out a breath. “So. What about a pull? Is this about the peacock miraculous?”

Tikki nodded. “Yes. Since it is broken, it’s energy is flooding out uncontrollably. Since it is charged with negative emotions, it is easier to sense. Between the two, Marinette is feeling herself drawn to a shard that is close by!”

“Why didn’t she feel it before?” Chat glanced between the two of them.

“I think I did, but there was a lot of background noise with those visions to deal with.”

“And when you didn’t have your miraculous active,” Tikki added, “those visions faded. Leaving the pull by itself.”

“So now what? We follow the pull and find the shard?”

“Sounds about right, kitty.”

Chat bowed to her with his usual dramatic flair. “Then lead on, my lady.”

Marinette almost wished she had taken time to change into something more comfortable before heading out as Ladybug. But there was no use whining about it now, she’d just have to deal with being in her ballgown as they made their way through this building. Her fears of having to run in a dress and heels proved to be unfounded when she realized that the knights weren’t coming to this part of the building. Maybe they were solely focused on protecting Andre, even above guarding the source of their existence?

The door to the room where the pull was strongest was locked and remained locked for the remainder of the time it existed. Which was approximately as long as it took Chat to call out ‘cataclysm’. They stepped through the ashes of the door and found themselves in the mayor’s luxurious personal office.

“Any idea where to go from here, bugaboo?”

Marinette focused, but got nothing. “No, the entire area is just too saturated with the energy. We’ll have to look by hand.”

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

Adrien watched Marinette as she scanned the room. He was still worried about these changes that were happening, but she seemed fine now. Even so, he knew her well enough that she would do her best to power through any discomfort she had before asking for help. It was up to him to look out for her and be there even when she didn’t say anything.

Marinette and Tikki walked over to the bookshelf and Adrien nodded to himself. It was probably a good move, very calculated - there were plenty of books, fittingly enough, on the shelf and many other things besides that the shard could be hiding in. If a shard had somehow found its way into the office by accident, then no doubt that would be the most logical place to search.

Something had been bothering Adrien, however - why the mayor’s office? Sure, people came and went there all the time, but it was often well guarded and the people that came here were generally close friends of the mayor. A shard wouldn’t end up here by accident. And Adrien knew Andre - knew him outside the mask, the same mask that puts the mayor on his best behavior. The question he had to ask himself was - if Mayor Andre, friend of Gabriel Agreste and known sleazy politician, were to hear about a magical artifact being broken, would he secretly obtain a part of it for his own vanity?

While Marinette searched the bookshelves, Adrien went straight for the mayor’s desk. Sitting down in the big, comfy armchair, he rattled the drawer. Locked. He applied some superhero strength. Not locked anymore.

The expensive pens, official papers, and a number of random curios didn’t seem to back up his hunch. Just before he stood up, however, he noticed something with his keen vision - a hidden panel. Curious, he deftly felt around with his claws and found the edges. After he pulled it up, he found a beat up leather-bound notebook, stuffed with papers and pictures. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find when he opened that notebook, but it stunned him anyway.

Compromising pictures of famous Parisians and more than a few reporters. Notes on the back, usually time, place, names of people involved. Each with a euro amount stamped on the back. There were notes about reporters paid off or blackmailed after getting too close. There were ledgers detailing monthly payments from wealthy benefactors - including, until recently, Adrien’s own father. Each of the entries had a note attached to it - some project the mayor had backed, something said in speeches, tasks to perform. With deepening dread, Adrien followed the lines to Gabriel Agreste’s entry: ‘Wear Agreste brand clothing for all functions. Blacklist upcoming new designers.’

Somehow Adrien wasn’t surprised. His father’s spark, his passion for design, had been guttering out for a while now. Maybe it was a result of running out of time and knowing it. His latest lines didn’t have the same boldness or visionary qualities that had first made his name. Adrien assumed that he just didn’t understand fashion since the business side of things was doing just fine, but this… this made things fall into place. Between Gabriel’s hand in other design houses and his suppression of potential competitors, no wonder-

Adrien’s head snapped towards Marinette as she let out a startled squeak. She’d accidentally dropped one book which had somehow caused a chain reaction that saw an entire shelf dumped onto the floor. As she groaned in irritation, he smiled faintly.

Then horrible dread sunk in and he began furiously searching through the pages. Marinette had often complained about how the internship was the best she managed to get after graduating from university. How they never let her do any actual design work. He remembered the unspoken pain she felt at not being trusted with doing her life’s passion. But how much of that was the studio simply being ignorant of her abilities?

It was clear that Mayor Andre was a meticulous note taker, at least where it came to his money. If that’s true then maybe…

Adrien found it. A list of designers blacklisted. Among them?

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

#Miraculous Ladybug #MarichatMay2019 #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Ladybug #Chat Noir #Marichat #Ladynoir #Tikki #ml fanfiction #my writing #Rekindle

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