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avaetin · 4 months

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Meet the Parents (Pt. 1.)

@haiseiscute333, @sunshines-child

“Nico!”

Nico could only steel himself as Mrs. Sally Oceanus glomped him, almost sweeping him off of his feet with her surprising strength. Aeon had warned him that his parents, especially his mother, was excited to see him, to officially meet him as the fiance, but he honestly didn’t consider that she would be this excited.

“Oh my goodness! I always see you on the television and the Internet! I’ve gushed so much about you to your mother, Maria,” Sally cooed, cupping his cheeks affectionately. “You’ve grown so much since you were a kid, but you still look so much younger for your age.”

“Uhh… thank you…”

“Did Maria tell you how I constantly begged her to allow you to marry one of my sons? Ah, I bet she didn’t! She was always saying she would never meddle with your relationships, but I told her, ‘One day, I will make your son my son-in-law. And you’ll have to confess to one of my sons that it was you who was keeping them apart.’ When I see her, let me tell you, I’ll make her admit-”

“Honey,” Mr. Don Oceanus placed his hands on her shoulders. “Breathe. You’re overwhelming the poor child,” he pointed out, looking slightly amused as he stared at his future son-in-law who could only look at his wife with wide eyes.

“Ah! I’m sorry. I got too excited. You know I’ve always been fond of him, Don,” Sally breathed, patting her cheeks to calm herself down before addressing Nico once more. This time, she was more subdued, her smile more warm and motherly as she grasped his hands firmly. “Nico. I’m so glad to have you be a part of our family.”

“Thank you, Mrs.-... uhh…” Should he call her Jackson? Oceanus?

“Just call me Mom, silly boy. We’re going to be family soon,” Sally winked at him, causing him to smile.

“Thank you, Mom.” Nico barely finished his sentence before Sally pulled him into a hug once more, gushing about being his fan for the longest time.

“Hon, you’re going to scare him so bad he might back out of his engagement with Aeon,” Don teased, pulling his wife away.

“That won’t happen, sir,” Nico was quick to say before Aeon could say anything.

“Good. Because if you do, I think my son might choose to become a priest instead,” Don claimed. Somehow, Nico was sure that he didn’t mean it as a joke. The older male seemed completely convinced his son would do just that. “Anyway, welcome to the family, son. Just call me Dad as well, since we are going to be a family,” Don said, clapping a hand on his shoulder before pulling him in for a hug as well.

“Thank you, Dad,” Nico answered politely, returning the hug for a brief moment before letting go.

“No, thank you. You have no idea how worried we were for him,” Sally admitted, pinching her eldest son’s right cheek, much to Nico’s amusement and Aeon’s embarrassment. “He’s never shown interest to anyone in his life. We were worried he was going to grow old and alone. I didn’t have to worry for Percy. As you know, he has a few relationships here and there with people in the industry. But now that Aeon’s getting married, perhaps I should be getting worried about him too.”

Of course, Nico knew. He was one of said people Percy had been in a relationship with. He was the undisclosed one though, Percy’s guinea pig to same-sex relationships. This family should thank him for making their youngest embrace his heterosexuality more.

“Speaking of which, where is that boy? I told him we’re having his brother and Nico over,” Sally mumbled.

“He said he’s picking up his girlfriend, remember?” Don reminded his wife. Nico stiffened. Percy was picking up his girlfriend? Which meant-

“Sorry we’re late! Traffic was ho-orrible!”

Cautiously, Nico turned around, his eyes immediately meeting sea green eyes for the first time in months. Percy genuinely looked happy to see him, a wide smile on his face as he briskly walked towards his family’s direction. For Nico’s part, he felt… well, not necessarily nothing but there was a distinct lack of affection that he once used to harbor so much of for Percy. He glanced beside Percy, his eyes landing on Annabeth who was surprisingly staring directly at him as well, her eyes as stormy and as cold as he remembered.

“Percy! I told you to head out early so you don’t get stuck in the traffic,” Sally scolded her youngest.

“It’s my fault, Mrs. Oceanus. My shoot ran slightly later than agreed,” Annabeth said, lowering her head out of courtesy.

“Oh, if work is to be blamed, then you’re not at fault then,” Sally said, a polite smile curling her lips as she stared at his son’s current girlfriend. “Hello, I’m Sally Oceanus, nice to meet you. And you are?”

Annabeth blinked, slightly caught off guard. She… had the expectation that Sally knew her identity, admittedly. She and Percy paused by the doorway long enough to hear her gush about Nico and his work in great detail. She didn’t expect that she would have to introduce herself to Percy’s mother when Nico didn’t need to. An ugly feeling nestled in her chest, but she pushed it down in favor of returning a practiced smile.

“I’m Annabeth Chase. Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Oceanus,” Annabeth greeted Percy’s parents.

Don simply nodded in greeting, and Sally never offered to be addressed informally, much to Annabeth’s disappointment. Then again, it was to be expected. She was, in their eyes, just another one of Percy’s conquests who was bound to be nameless to them soon. They welcomed Nico warmly because he was the future son-in-law. Mentally, Annabeth scoffed bitterly. Not even her ‘boyfriend’ was acknowledging her properly, Percy’s eyes completely focused on Nico di Angelo at the moment.

“This is my eldest, and Percy’s elder twin brother, Aeon,” Sally then continued, gesturing towards said son. “And this young man is our newest family member, my son-in-law, Nico di Angelo. But I’m sure, since you are all in the same industry, that you recognize one another.”

They did. Unfortunately, they did.

“Isn’t it too soon for you to call Nico your son-in-law, Mom?” Percy teased, but Annabeth and Aeon easily detected an edge in his voice. Nico did too, but he easily assumed it was just Percy’s lingering bitterness over their break-up slipping into the conversation. What right did he have to be bitter? Him and Annabeth. They made him a fool for two years; he should be bitter. “They’re not even married yet.”

“We’re practically married though,” Aeon answered before their mother could, one of his arms slipping around Nico’s waist, pulling him close so he could press a kiss to his forehead. “We’ve done plenty of things that spouses usually do. A wedding is just to make our union official.”

“Is that so?” Percy rhetorically asked with a thin smile, his hands subconsciously balling to fists at his sides.

“But of course. I believe in being transparent with Nico from the very beginning, and showing him everything I have to offer so that he can make an educated decision whether he wants to be with me or not,” Aeon stated with a smirk.

“Security is good in a relationship, let alone in a marriage,” their father offered his input. “It’s a long term investment. You have to make sure that it’s well worth it before legally binding yourself to it.”

“I’m amazed at how the two of you can always turn a casual conversation to something so professional,” Sally chuckled, smiling affectionately at them. Turning to Nico, she looped one of her hands around one of his arms before guiding him towards the dining room. “Come now, all of you. Our chef has prepared an excellent feast tonight. We can continue all these talks at the table.”

Sea green eyes stared coldly into emerald green eyes, a silent conversation transpiring between them. Yes. They would continue this conversation at the table.

#ceo! aeon x celebrity! nico di angelo #aeon (pjo)#nico di angelo #nion #sally jackson #poseidon (pjo)#percy jackson #annabeth chase #pjo #sleep is claiming me now #i bid adieu lol

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biffhofosho · 2 years

Note

HIIII

Since I am in the same headspace, let’s continue with wasuremono!!! Hopefully this time I won’t have to fight you….

KAI MENTION!!!! Looooool I mean same, I would have also gone home with him

Even from here, he could tell she was damaged, and the damaged ones were the wildest fucks. DAMN, GURL!!!!!!!

I mean, first goddamn and now tattoos on the forearms, if I had not witnessed this happening a million times before I would not believe it.

Their whole dialogue is chef's kiss. Wow

I love this mix of confidence and doubt in him, he has lots of experience and still he has never been with a woman like her. Nice

OMG SHES AMAZING if i don’t cum you don’t either, let’s gooooooo

and while he was used to disappointing the world, his reputation as a sex god had never been in jeopardy. He’d see to that. LOOOL, my man would never disappoint. But very interesting all that we know about him so far

Oh Changkyun, baby, how the turntables

DID SHE TAKE A PICTURE???

|what is going on??? I did not see this story going this way!!!! It gave me whiplash!

MIN????? OMG WHAT’S GOING ON???

WAIT HER SISTER???????

OMG IS DENARII HER SISTER????? AM I CRAZY????

God if I had KNOWN this was like this I would have made you a video reaction instead!!!!

(Fuck starship)

HOLY FUUUUCK SHE IS!!!! NOOOOO I WAS DEFINITELY NOT EXPECTING THIS YOU MAD GENIUS, YOU POET, YOU SCRIBE!!!!!

Now I am gonna politely screech and writhe as an encouragement for you to write the next part before I die of withdrawal.

Have I told you that I love you?

Rod Stewart plays in the distance

*wonders if you still want to fight me...*

Girl, you know what a helpless ho I am for Kai. Never gonna hide that shit.

Bit of a change of pace/characterization/mood/intensity in this one. Boy, did I have fun writing this. It was a wild departure from my usual style in sooooooooooooooo many ways.

I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THE MONSTAS FOR OPERATING ON MY SAME BRAIN WAVELENGTH. I GET NO PEACE.

Yes! I wanted this OC to be someone Kyun could never anticipate. It was sorely needed for his character, ironically in the same way it was for Hyungwon/Denarii, though their connection is very different.

If you ever reread, you will see how some things were telegraphed before the twist unfolds, but, yeah, she def took a picture. <.<

The way your ask switches punctuation and caps at the mid-way point, I DIE.

I wanted the reveal to be as much of a shock for the reader as Changkyun, so I'm glad you felt the 1-2 punch as viscerally as I was looking for.

Okay, so maybe I enjoy an open-ended story because my mind loves wandering to another fic, and maybe this is the fic it wandered to because as much as I love open-ended stuff, I love a resolution more. :D

I PROMISE that the next segment is dropping this year, and hopefully in the very near future. I had some hurdles to conquer in order to resolve the narrative threads I have dangling, but I think I've resolved them, so we will have resolution at long last!

Thank you for letting me entertain you. I love Neo Seoul very much, so seeing someone enjoy it the way I do makes my heart pitter-patter. My vision of it is sickeningly detailed... Like, I could probably draw a map if I had any artistic talent whatsover. Guess I'll settle for painting with words instead. Heh.

#new bestie!#neo seoul series #dystopian future my beloved #asks #save denarii #gee thanks #i love a hard swerve heh heh

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abbynx · 3 years

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0 to 100 real quick

La Squadra reacting to a usually silent, patient teammate snapping and going off

Genre: Platonic, just the bois being bros, definitely a self-projection, comfort

Warning: Cursing, mentions of breakup and manipulation

Your phone rang for the umpteenth time, the stubborn caller failing to realise how many times you've wordlessly made it clear you want nothing to do with him. All you ask of him was to finally leave you alone and yet he continues to persistently pest you. Your will power proved itself mighty to be tolerating his nineteenth call in five minutes.

It was your ex being a stubborn son of a bitch who has a lot of time in his hands, constantly asking you to pick up the phone and let him 'smooth out and explain' his recent relationship with his 'friends' behind your back. You were nowhere near stupid, nor gullible after joining the mob. despite your outward appearance as an innocent, average civilian you've hardened over time with the help of your career and turning your feelings off was no longer a challenge. Over time it simply became a light switch.

After his recent actions came to light, you bear to hesitation to break it off. For a moment you felt guilty when he gave his explanation to why he started seeing other people without you knowing; of course you knew what you were getting into when you signed your soul away to the devil to work in this line of career, you were constantly faced with death and lacked the time to spend time with him. He had no knowledge about what you do for a living, but you knew how to make it clear you were never going to be a simple one-call-away. But over time you've finally gained some self-worth and self-preservation to see through his guilt tripping, before you dropped his ass.

Now you were here, rejecting his calls before pocketing it back in your pants before resuming the movie night. Even putting the phone on silent it continued to bother everyone around you as you continued to nonchalantly press the reject call button.

How can you be this patient, the rest of the team questions but the answer lay before them. Risotto hired the timid assassin with potential for their unwavering patience and swift wits to wiggle them selves out of severe situations, something the time could use to be honest especially when you have a ticking time bomb with no timer and goes off at random. Perhaps the question would be simply answered with a short and simple one: "It's just Y/N being Y/N."

With the pestering phone calls bothering you for the past few days, your team can't help to be annoyed on your behalf and would like to chuck your phone into the deepest trench of the ocean and buy you a new one.

Much to everyone's chagrin, they watch you pick your phone up, however, what you did next was new and unexpected. Instead of rejecting the call, you finally picked up. Most of the time you'd politely greet, but today was certainly different. As soon as you picked up the phone, you wasted no breathe to speak and cut to the chase. All eyes turned to you, some were concerned, curious, shocked, or proud.

"Can you quit blowing up my phone, dude? Twenty FUCKING calls every second is getting tiresome. If you're calling me to 'explain' to me how you're not meeting your hookups then fuck off and get lost! what? Do you miss your personal ego booster? Well then fuck you, go try and choke on your own dick! Do you fucking think I'll believe your half-assed bullshit lies and pathetic fucking cries and bitching will win me over? You must be so fucking DELUSIONAL to be thinking you're worth the effort! What? Are you sad that I’m not a passable doll you can manipulate and mold to your liking? Is that it, you crazy son of a bitch? Can't you fucking get a clue that I'm over it? Huh? I couldn't care less about the new lies you've come up with to try and win me over, I'm done! Finished! Tapos! Ho finito! He terminado! Я задолбался! WHAT OTHER LANGUAGES DO I NEED TO SPEAK TO GET IT THROUGH THAT THICK FUCKING NOGGIN OF YOUR’S? CALL ME AGAIN AND I SWEAR TO ALL THINGS CONSIDERED MIGHTY THAT YOU WON’T HAVE ANY TEETH LEFT, DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND YOU FUCKING CHEATER? DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND? Good."

As soon as you finished the call, you calmly set it down with a sigh of relief. Peace at last. You adjusted yourself comfortably on your seat, wanting to watch the movie on display, when you felt you've made yourself quite the spectacle.

“What?”

Formaggio

- “Woooh, they went off!” His initial response was to high-five you for some reason but you accepted, nevertheless.

- Very shocked and yet enthusiastic at how you handles yourself at the face of a situation like this. Not to mention, the build up! From you trying to tolerate the caller for the past few minutes, before picking up the call and gave them an ass whipping to remember for the rest of his life!

- He would feel sorry for the person of the other side of the line if it weren’t for the fact he cheated on you, so good for him to be told off.

Illuso

- “Heh, about time you told him off.”

- Silently supportive at how you handled yourself at the face of a situation like this and admires you for it. It was very entertaining while it lasted, now he just wants to go back to watching the movie.

- Along that, he was shock that this hidden side of yours came put of nowhere and came out strong, which he thinks is pretty fucking rad. He now thinks back at the times where he gave you backhanded comments and how you managed to keep yourself cool under it... He now reminds himself not to get on your bad side, ever.

Proscuitto

- “.... Thank fuck you’re done, I was starting to think about throwing your phone out.”

- Extremely flabbergasted, as he has never heard you speak fluent in profanities, nor raise your voice at the duration of your stay in La Squadra. and addition to that, the fact you leaned on your seat and calmed yourself immediately as if nothing happened.

- Nevertheless, he feels proud at you for standing up to yourself and standing your ground. You have always been the timid one entering the world of crime and he overlooked your development within this new and risky life style. Looks like his mentoring worked wonders on you and he feels proud of himself.

Pesci

- “......”

- He was too shaken up to speak, he has never heard you be this angry and frustrated before as you’ve always kept calm in every situation and he admires you for that.

- He is shaken up, sure but it doesn’t really change how he views you. You were still the patient person he has ever met-- he just happen to witness you lose your cool once but he’s sure that this won’t define you.

Melone

- “Good for you for getting rid of that guy.”

- He’s just relieved that you’re finally done with the guy who has been giving Melone weird vibes the moment you told him about your then boyfriend. A few alarm bells rang in his head as you detailed how he acts around you and despite being happy for you back then, Melone was extremely vocal about his concerns. Looking back at it, he feels that his ‘paranoia’ wasn’t far off.

- He isn’t really shock, he’s just happy that you’re standing your ground and establishing yourself as a person who don’t need no one to use as a co-dependent crutch. After being around Ghiaccio, he really isn’t that phased anymore.

Ghiaccio

- “Fucking finally!”

- Similar to Melone, he’s just relieved your done with the phone calls and clingy boyfriend who is a walking-talking red flag. He hated how you didn’t have time back then to hang out with your other teammates just to spend time with your boyfriend to make up lost times, that often lasts until midnight and Ghiaccio can still hear you talking to your phone.

- Ghiaccio cares about you despite his distant veneer, and wants the best for the people he cares about. So he was happy that you finally broke your relationship of with a guy who doesn’t deserve you. Also, he’s starting to think that your choice of vocabulary all came from him and is unsure whether he should feel proud or not.

Risotto

- “Oh... Okay, good for you.”

- He blurted the first thing in mind, because he was just so shock at how you responded. He hired you for being so patient and calm at all times and now looking back, he doesn’t really see himself thinking that one day you’ll be going off without stopping to breathe and stutter.

- Don’t get him wrong, he actually thinks it’s awesome that you stood up for yourself like that, but just give him time to reel back to reality. He just never thought you’d explode that hard.

Gelato and Sorbet

- “See Sorbet? I told you they’d snap eventually!”

- The couple was immensely entertained at your empowering speech being quite the ego breaker and worse-fate-than-death threat. They adore it whenever they see a usually timid newcomer becoming unafraid to stand their ground and tell their oppressors off, it honestly feels like a proud parent thing for them to see their baby kid all grown up and kicking people in the guts with their words.

- If you would want a rebound, they won’t hesitate to set someone up with you who is far better than your dog-faced ex because they know that people are barely worthy for you

#la squadra x reader #platonic #x reader #comfort #formaggio x reader #illuso x reader #prosciutto x reader #pesci x reader #melone x reader #ghiacchio x #risotto x reader #gelato and sorbet x reader #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #jjba golden wind #jjba part 5 #la sqaudra #all the foreign language are basically just 'im done'

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darealsaltysam · 3 years

Text

what your paladins main says about you

a comprehensive essay by a paladins player of right around 4 years

this is like really long so i’ll make it under the cut so my followers don’t have to scroll through this if they don’t wanna

(for context i’m a current maeve main, i used to main skye and sha lin and played tyra a long while ago)

Androxus

it’s not a phase, mum

“i don’t care we don’t have healer, i’m really good at him i swear”

you ult every time it loads in and you die before the final shot

your favorite mode is siege because you can fly up and shoot the whole point on ult

you’re usually really stand-offish and don’t communicate much and/or a 13 year old boy with anger issues

Ash

you are level-headed but in a scary way

you will hold the point solo even if it costs you your streak

“get on the point” “guys get on the point” “attack the objective”

you’ll ult to save yourself 99% of the time

good leader

Atlas

you probably used to main lex or androxus before he came out

“he’s like a flank, but a tank, he’s great!”

you chase after solo kills instead of sticking to the point

healers hate you, flanks and damages fear you

your favorite mode is death match

Barik

you’re a former/current tf2 player looking for something fresh

you don’t like working too hard so you spam turrets on the point and hope for the best

“healer stick to me i’m boutta ult”

actually really nice between rounds

but you don’t communicate much mid-game and kind of do your thing

Bomb King

you’re a really old player. you have the beta makoa skin and you were there when lex was first released. veteran’s discount.

your favorite maps are the old ones and they barely show up any more

the team always underestimates you

“who plays bomb king in 2021 lol?”

you need a hug

Buck

“wait, he’s a flank? i thought he was a tank??”

you’re also a veteran in the game

you’re a dying breed. i like never see you. do you even exist?

you’ve been here since like the first day of the game

buck gets so many skins and you want all of them but the best you have is a random recolor

Cassie

sweetest person alive

“we can do it guys! let’s try to all rush the point this time!”

you are the bane of every flank

the opposing team hates you, your own team kind of doesn’t notice you’re there

*casually gets a pentakill*

Corvus

you know those weirdly political kids who like ww2 and know the details of every tank to ever exist? yeah that’s you

but like that’s corvus. as a character.

but no one ever plays him.

like i never even see him do you exist???

you are a cryptid.

Dredge

yo ho you’re a hoe

no seriously the other team views you and they FEAR you

“yeah i just got a penta kill” “YOU WHAT?” “eyes on the point mate don’t get distracted”

hella good at the game and hella casual about it

you like onslaught on the one sea map the most

Drogoz

another veteran, are we?

you’re either useless or can wipe out a whole team in seconds. there is no in-between.

you always have a really cool skin.

dovahkiin, dovahkiin...

“i don’t care about the point i gotta get them trips”

Evie

you bought her because you thought she was cute, admit it

*turns into ice right before dying* *turns into ice right before dying* *turns into ice right be

your personality type is identical to her. no question about that.

always buys faster reload and better speed

strangely good communication with the team

Fernando

gay gay homosexual gay

“he’s kinda hot if you look at him the right way”

fernando is the tank for gay people

you are gay people

i don’t have much more to say

Furia

mum energy. not as much as inara mains, but still, mum energy.

will protect every member of the team with your life, even the flanks

you’ve been maining her since she was first added

i bet you didn’t even know she’s canonically seris’ sister

“we’ve literally failed to capture the point the last 3 times we might as well give up and go to another game”

Grohk

“yeah i have a gremlincore tumblr blog, how could you tell?”

i honestly have no words

you’re kind of like a catboy but a racoon

do you even heal the team or do you just pretend

you were there when lex got announced and thought he was cringe, now everyone finally agrees with you

Grover

he was your first purchased character and he’s stuck around ever since

he’s the only healer you can play well

“i am groot lmao”

you would never say a word to your team

would give your life for the tank but that’s about it

Imani

daenerys targaryen on drugs

your favorite anime is my hero academia

your husbando is todoroki

you see where i am going with this

“team protect me i’m gonna ult” *dies 5 seconds into ult*

Inara

BIG MUM ENERGY

your team is your family. you will protect them with your life.

can only hold your own with a good healer so you have good teamwork going for you

*cutely places wall in front of your ult*

useless in tdm so you stick to onslaught, siege and koth

are you a furry, furry, or a furry?

“victow! dont ult on my tweam pwease! uwu!”

you 100% find her attractive in some way shape or form

you are either a 30 year old redditor who enjoys loli content or a 16 year old teen who is playing a shooter for the first time

she’s kind of cute, i guess

Jenos

i can never tell if i’m going to absolutely destroy you or if you’re gonna kick my ass

*cutely holds you up so the whole team can shoot you to death*

kamehameha

you’re a healer??? i guess???

your character has such deep lore and i bet you don’t even know half of it

Khan

one day you were playing and your team desperately needed a tank. you picked the first one you saw. suddenly, you’re lian’s foot stool

despite 2 layers of heavy armor, you’d still let this man walk all over you

“this skin is really cool, wish it wasn’t behind a pay wall...”

YEET

you actually know the game’s lore, for some reason

Kinessa

i never trust people who are good at a sniper. if you’re bad that’s natural and you’re 99% of the population. if you’re good you are definitely up to something

you’d sell your sister for 5 pennies if you could

you’re missing from the team all game and somehow have the most kills

“we have a kinessa???”

you are an urban legend to your team

Koga

someone’s been watching naruto

you are so shit at the game. like i’m sorry. no one’s good at koga i’m so sorry

how do you have so many skins for one character???

you’re always missing from the point

healers hate you. so does the enemy kinessa.

Lex

quit the game /nm

“who mains lex in 2021??? lmao???”

wall hacks, aimbot, and it’s all legal for you as an ability. you are a hacker in a world of puny vanillas. you like it easy so you go for the easy min max character. have fun getting hated

you think he’s hot and press on his loading abilities just so he can scold you and you can hear him being mad at you

*bonk* go to horny jail

Lian

"she could step on me”

you used to main some sort of healer but switched over when you got sick of everyone being needy

you can hold a point all on your own for a really really long time but the moment your team gets there you start flunking

you wish you had more skins for her

you don’t

Maeve

so imagine this. it was like 2018 and you were just chilling playing the game. you kept getting killed by maeve. in every game. she was in every game you went to and she kept killing you over and over and over again. you got frustrated, snapped, and bought her to see if you could do the same to others. you are now the maeve in every game. the cycle repeats.

your whole team doubts you but then you casually get a quad kill and they just sort of look away

you die a total of two times each round and 99% of the time it’s because you go too fast and fall off the map

you repeat everything she says in her accent because you think it’s cute

“welcome to ze meant streets, kitten!” “can you shut the fuck up” “i hate to cut and run, he-he!”

Makoa

you have the plushie skin or the beta skin, otherwise you don’t main and only play casually stop lying to yourself

“attack turtle go brrr”

you’re really good if you get paired with a good healer

otherwise you’re useless

you wish you could get better teammates because you could really thrive with an organized group. but on paladins you won’t get that, i’m sorry-

Mal’Damba

i always forget this guy is even in the game

you’re definitely under 6 foot IRL

you have an older sibling you always fight with

you’d love to have a snake irl

you’re really chill outside of the game, but when playing you hella rage

Moji

you are so precious

but also such a little shit

you annoy me but i also want to give you a hug

“let’s go guys!! to the point!! wheee!!”

please never change but also get out of my sight

Octavia

you always main the new character until the new person drops

somehow always have enough credits to buy the new champion whenever they come out

you don’t like having a stable main cuz you get bored

you like hanging out at the training rage

hate siege and love team death match, you like your games quick

Pip

you are the worst and best thing to ever happen to this game

you only pick him to heal yourself and hardly ever heal your team

no one notices you there until you ult

then you get focused

honestly you just seem like you wanna do your thing and i can respect that

Raum

you probably go to therapy or desperately need it

“BIG MAN BIG. HE IS BIG. BRRRR”

you always love the demons in media

you like being in charge of the team and wreck the point any time you are there, you like fighting on your own but having a healer nearby is nice too

you probably have daddy issues

Ruckus

you think ruckus’ and bolt’s dynamic is cool and that’s one of the main reasons you started playing him

he’s the only tank you can play

you used to main either inara or ying at some point but chose violence instead

really short irl. you physically relate to ruckus and spiritually to bolt.

“funny goblin man :)”

Seris

certified girlboss

you can hold an objective all on your own or heal your whole team no problem. either way you are SLAYING

“alright. who’s ass am i kicking today?”

mum energy is inferior to inara but still kind of there

i’m like 50% sure you have a foot fetish

Sha Lin

*pointing and chanting* incel, incel, ince-

whether that’s about you or the character you can decide

you like minecraft bedwars on the side

“if i don’t get this headshot i am literally going to spontaneously combust”

really useful when there’s no other long distance people - otherwise a nuisance

Skye

AWOOGA *jaw drops to ground, eyes roll out of head* BOOBA BOOBA BOOBA

you bought her for the tiddies, didn’t you?

she’s actually really satisfying to play once you get the hang of her, but can be real tough on rough days

you need a break i think - maybe play some other game for a bit?

*casually gets team kill with ult*

Strix

you own at least one pretty knife

you played him when he was unlocked on rotation, fell in love, and spent a whole evening collecting credits to buy him fully

“haha bird man”

i’ve said what i said about snipers. if you’re actually good at him you are hiding a body somewhere. i fear you.

why does everyone ship him with viktor????

Talus

little furry child

he reminds me of tommyinnit because he is small and annoying

if you play him you are tall and intimidating

i’m friends with a tall scary talus main

i can’t say bad things please spare me

Terminus

you always ult at the worst time and just get killed again 5 seconds after

“hey losers watch this” *goes on the point, dies, revives, kills one person and dies again*

you’re only a good tank if you cooperate

you don’t

on your own you’re a pretty good player

Tiberius

*sigh*

you think the cat is hot, don’t you?

“his accent is kinda cute tho hehe”

you saw that one ending scene in zootopia with the dancing tigers and it CHANGED you

you are probably a furry. if not your awakening is coming. be ready.

Torvald

you’ve been playing this game for too long

you’ve seen skins rise and fall. you’ve seen nerfs and buffs. you’ve seen reworks and remakes. you are ancient. older than the dragons and wiser than makoa. respect.

people see you on the opposing team and get really annoyed

“the point is really crowded, we can’t move in” “don’t worry guys, my ult is charged up”

you’re really good at all the characters but you like this guy a lot because you think he’s funky fresh

Tyra

you’re either new to the game or have been playing for too long

either way you can KICK ASS but you need to keep behind your team to do the most damage

flanks are the bane of you, especially the fast jumpy ones

you really want one of the cooler skins but you can only ever get the basic ones. such is the curse of maining one of the OG characters.

“bite me”

Viktor

you are level 100+ guaranteed, and everyone fears you

“oh shit they got a victor. flank focus him”

you probably play COD and CS:GO normally and wanted to go with something familiar and easy. your skill from the other more advanced games DWARFS everyone else

but why are you playing “guy with gun 132″ in a game with magical elves and fairies. like come on bro.

you don’t have any in-game friends because paladins is your guilty pleasure game you would never admit to

Vivian

“step on me” syndrome cranked up to 100%

this woman could spit on you and you’d still respect her more than your own mother. good for you

“i’m not a simp. i’m just tier 3 subbed to pokimane ironically”

you sweat the game hardcore. former victor main or he’s your secondary.

you’ve got her on level 50+ at least

Vora

like the maeve mains but somehow worse

bought her out of spite or played her while she was on rotation, now here you are grinding credits for her a day after she became unavailable

honestly you’re really good at the game i have nothing else to say

you enjoy the newer characters more than the OGs - you’re either a former vivian or lian main

you miss the play of the game feature in the game because you’d get all of them with this girl

Willo

you seem like the moji mains at first but show your true colors soon after

“fuck you” x50

you are a trash talker on max overdrive. you need to sit down, do some breathing exercises and have a drink.

you hate your own team more than the opposing guys

when you see a willow on the opposing team you make it your sole goal to eliminate her as many times as humanely possible

Yagorath

i bet you didn’t know she was canonically female until you read this

you don’t like sweating too much so you pick the tank that leaves you heavily relying on your healers and damages

you can hold a point really well so you like siege and onslaught

“are vora and yagorath connected in the lore somehow and do i really care?”

you have a friend who you always party up with to be your healer, otherwise you might switch to another character

Ying

“tanks love me, flanks hate me”

you are too powerful. literally. how are you so strong

you’ve mastered the most difficult healer in the game. the others are really easy for you to play but you have trouble with seris

motivate your team a lot but start shading and trash talking if they don’t cooperate

you’ll gladly play someone else for a long while and like taking breaks from her

Zhin

this is your first main after switching over from overwatch. we can smell it on you.

you’re really annoyed with his personality and voice lines but the character is too good to play for you to pass him up for that. you respond to his voice lines aloud very aggressively to let him know he’s an ass

“YES ZHIN HEALERS AREN’T USELESS YOU SELFISH PRICK”

you try your best but you’re not a great team player

infinite trips on a good day, die repeatedly without kills on a bad one and you switch over to vora or skye for a bit.

this took me hours to write out pls leave reblog and note thanks uwu

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hologramcowboy · 2 years

Note

Ok, just came here to vent.

I know we all love Jensen a little bit at least, regardless what he has done in the past.

But yesterday takes the cake *literally*.

Now we have clear examples of performative activism in play....when they want to.

I am so disappointed that all of this attention he (Jensen) had yesterday with all the boosting from almost every SM and didn't even consider doing AT MOST 1 post for support of Ukraine, or a story, anything. I know he's having fun and all, it's ok to enjoy the B-day as much as you can given the circumstances, BUT, your influence helps a ton to give a bigger beacon of light to those that need support who are struggling with this invasion right now , that have lost families, homes, ENTIRE CITIES, and may potentially trigger an even bigger war.

Use your influence man...

And don't get me started on Danneel. Ho ho boy. I'm so disappointed. Not only she hasn't posted about Ukraine in A WHOLE WEEK, but hasn't posted ANYTHING about the current Texas political situation either, given that she STILL lives there with Jensen & her kids. Keep in mind also that she usually used to post on her birthday about charities and to donate, but I'm shocked she hasn't posted anything about what's happening right now. Not even in her stories!

Especially now, being the wife of the most anticipated actors to appear in The Boys this year!

Meanwhile, Bri atleast posted about it in HER stories.

Danneel, GIRL, YOU HAVE MORE BOOST THAT EVER BEFORE, USE IT DAMMIT!

With Gen, I also got really disappointed too, because she literally posted about a book recommendation after talking about Ukraine instead of doing it in 2 different posts. That was distasteful man...

Meanwhile, Jared. JARED of all people. The one who is everyone's punching bag right now, POSTED ABOUT SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE CHARITY **even if its Stands which I have a dislike for, but 100% of the proceeds go to the support efforts with its really good**

So yea, it's ...been a week. I'm sorry that this may seem entitled but so much to post about other situations that need aid but in the end, nothing on these situations, and if some do, they do it waaay too tone deaf.

You can post this with anti tags or fucking whatever, I don't care! We are in a world situation that some people are taking kinda lightly and this time IT ISN'T TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY. Again sorry, I needed to vent.

Much Love to all the Europeans & Ukrainians out there <3

Danneel doesn't have the platform you think she has, Anon. Plus she only uses her "influence" (Jensen's) when it serves her directly. She's proved this time and time again so I'm not surprised she hasn't yet posted, I think she's realized people see through her sad act and this is definitely not the moment to famewhore which is all she knows how to do. As for celebs not posting, I think some people have a very hard time facing harsh realities and this means there may be a delay in reaction or an avoidance all together. Jensen for example never posted about his manager committing suicide recently. People need to remember posting on social media is not about getting praise like what Danneel does, it's about putting the spotlight on the issues and creating links so that people can easily reach required platforms to donate or get involved whichever way they can. That's what matters the most. I feel like Danneel and her stans seem to think doing good is a competition for attention and praise. It's scary that people can view things that way because it means they are completely disconnected from empathy and are merely going through the motions. Fully agree with you on the fact that Jensen could have opted to act like a leader of his fans and he could have pointed them in some good directions to help others but alas, he preferred to post about a tacky festival and make it all about himself. There's nothing wrong with that per se, it's just that the timing is completely insensitive and he lost an important opportunity to bring impact. This is exactly why he needs a coach, he's clueless.

#jensen critical #anti danneel

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lilyharvord · 3 years

Note

OKAY WAIT I LOVE YOUR CORIANE THOUGHTS!! i never really put much thought into marecal kids besides reading the epilogue or fanfics and being like okay cute. but your headcannon about the political impact of calore children with red blood is so interesting and i 100% agree with you. if you have any further ideas or writing i would love to hear it! the way the world world and silver succession would adjust/react to cal’s abdication and marecal’s relationship post broken throne is so fascinating to me.

🥺 NONNIE, I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED.

First of all, Cal's abdication is the biggest slap in the face to the Silver Secession (particularly Larentia who I headcanon leads the whole thing like a shadow puppeteer. Her husband died trying to keep that Calore brat on the throne, you can bet she's got two bones to pick with him even though she wants him on that non-existent throne just so they can go back to the "old ways"). They took him abdicating personally. They send him letters almost weekly, and they are all super passive aggressive comments about his birthright, and how denying it is akin to spitting on his father's grave, and later akin to pissing on it when Cal just burns all the letters and refuses to reply.

Anyway, the political impact of Cal and Mare's marriage. Ho boi, that one is a dousy. There's a reason they have a small wedding with only their very close family and friends. They try to keep it hush hush, for a little while, but of course the Silver Secession finds out because they find out everything. They bother the living hell out of Anabel until she sends one very threatening letter back after which the letters come far and few between (she never tells Cal what she put in that letter but she always gets a wicked gleam in her eye when he asks). But the political impact of their marriage is heard round the continent. Lets be real here: Cal is no longer a prince, but he is still a very high profile figure in the Nortan government (now the States). Mare is both a prominent Scarlet Guard figure and Montfort one. There are very LOUD whispers saying that Montfort forced them to marry to create a permanent bridge between the two countries. That Montfort is using Mare as a leash on Cal and the States to dictate how they function etc. (Which may or may not be the actual truth)

They dont want kids at first. Cal's a little heartbroken about it of course. He wants kids, has always wanted them. But Mare is right, and their children would be in danger from the moment Mare conceives. Then Mare says fuck it, I want a baby. They try and she gets pregnant. The Silver Secession finds out. Those letters that stopped coming for a while come back, but with a fury from hell. It gets so bad (after Mare is actually almost kidnapped at one point) that they have to go underground and hide until the baby is born. Dane and Carmadon offer the cabin in Paradise valley because it's location is actually incredibly secret and isolated and safe. So they go there, and Coriane is born a few months later. Cal cries in relief because her blood is Red. There is no way the Silver Secession will come after her now, but they try and it is the most hellish three years of Mare and Cal's life. It puts them off from having any more children. There are eleven kidnapping attempts before Coriane is even a year old (one for every month she is alive and breathing air)

Then they just stop. The letters stop coming, the kidnappings stop. Mare and Cal walk on egg shells, Coriane toddles along, growing by leaps and bounds and making them proud every second of every day. She's loud and proud and walks around saying: My name is Coriane BARROW Calore. When people try to call her Coriane Calore. They find out that the Silver Secession is not happy with Coriane being Red. And People whisper when they go to the States. Some people who are not exactly part of the Silver Secession but who still whisper "Long Live Tiberias the Seventh" when Cal passes in the street with Coriane on his shoulders and Mare at his side are not happy either. They sneer at the giggling toddler at his side reaching to touch the pretty things in the market. They jeer at her Red blood when she laughs so hard her cheeks burn bright, cherry apple red. They frown when they see Mare nuzzle her neck and press kisses all over her face. They especially dont like when Cal glares at them until they pull back into their stalls or shops or go back to their coffees and newspapers. Around this time, (In my headcanons) Coriane meets Nikolas Samos (second born to Wren and Ptolemus) and they become instant friends. A dangerous thing of course... for obvious dynasty reasons, and this fuels the Silver Secession for a little while.

Then Mare gets pregnant again. Shade is the definition of a Whoopsie! Baby. They immediately go into hiding this time. They take Coriane, Cal takes a leave of absence, Mare takes one too, and they dont tell ANYONE where they are going. The reason? The nurse who did mare's check up told someone it was a boy, and that person had some nefarious connections to a certain Silver Political group that was running on fumes up until that moment. The first letter that arrives at their little house in Ascendant is written in beautiful court handwriting (Larentia's unmistakable tact in every word of that letter) and swears fealty to Tiberias Calore the Eighth who isn't even born yet. Cal torches that letter with his bare hand before Mare can even read it. Coriane doesn't like being taken away from her cousins and her grandma and grandpa and her aunt Farley, but they go in the dead of night and don't look back.

Shade is born in the middle of a storm like Clara, and Sara is the only person to see Mare or Cal in six months. They come back to Ascendant two months after Shade is born with a healthy baby boy, and everyone looses their minds. There are six kidnapping attempts in two months. Mare and Cal dont sleep for weeks, there is one dead Silver Secession member who got halfway down the street before Mare used Brain Lightning for the first time and liquified his insides. She is so horrified by it she cries herself to sleep for three nights because Coriane saw her do it, saw what her mother could do, and won't come near her out of fear.

But that too passes after a few years, because it gets around that Shade is a Red baby that looks more like Mare and her dead brother than Cal. Then it's back to Coriane, who by now is old enough to begin to understand what is going on around her. She starts to notice the whispers, the pointing, the stares when she goes out with her dad to train. (She accidentally set her bedsheet on fire after a nightmare, and that is where the trouble begins again). The letters start coming again, but they're addressed to her instead. She's only ten, so when she gets the first one with her name on it in pretty writing, she opens it before Mare or Cal notice, and is so confused by what is in it that she shows them it for clarification. Mare takes it and rips it to pieces, and Coriane cries about it, because that was HER letter. They have to sit her down with a very young Shade then and tell her a story about brothers, crowns, and mutations, death, war, and pain, and sorrow, and love. Then she understands. She's eleven when she does her first broadcast to denounce a throne that doesn't even exist anymore. She shakes with nerves in front of a camera, and has to hold a notecard with what she has to say on it. She mispronounces five words, and almost cries when she stumbles over a phrase she doesn't even understand, something about ever and always and crowns being broken. Cal stands behind her the whole time, squeezing her shoulders in reassurance. The nightmares begin after that for him, because there is a letter sent telling him of a distant Calore relative who is very interested in Coriane and would like to meet her. When Cal looks into him, he finds out he's 45 years old. And when I tell you he packed a bag the moment he finished that letter and drove to the airfield to take an air jet himself and kill the man, I tell you that Mare stopped him by standing in the middle of the runway and refusing to let him take off without going through her. "You give them what they want if you go after him." she tells him when he breaks down and kneels before her while she sits on their bed holding his head against her stomach. They NEVER tell Coriane about that, but there is two more letters that come like it.

Coriane and Nik becomes very close, dangerously close. There is one fic I will write at some point where both of them are taken and they actually get them away from Montfort and to a secondary location. There is man hunt led by Cal and Ptolemus and they do not keep those children for long. There is no record of what happened at that dilated mansion in the middle of the woods in the upper States, but Cal comes back with Silver blood under his nails and Coriane in his arms four days later.

When she gets older, much much older, into her later twenties, three different people send requests for her hand in marriage. She burns those letters and doesn't even deign them a response. Shade gets similar requests, and he throws the letters away. The Silver Secession goes out with a whimper, and eventually Coriane and Shade are safe. But inbetween their childhood and those years, people start whispering different things. "The word is changing, it's really changing" they whisper, and then say, "A Calore had two children, both Red, and they are kind."

#(*ask lily*)#(*shut up lily*)#red queen #glass sword #kings cage #war storm #broken throne #post broken throne #coriane barrow calore #shade barrow calore #It's a long post I'm sorry!!!!#I just have a lot of thoughts and feelings on them #especially the political implications of their birth #and Mare and Cal's marriage

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xiyao-feels · 3 years

Note

new tu and xiyao fan from earlier. i searched ao3 as per your suggestion and there's only 500 or so fics for them. :( however, i do have a legit question - what are the differences between mdzs and tu (i've never read the latter). and if you want expand on nieyao (or xiyao) please feel free! i love reading meta! one of the few reasons i miss old school fandom spaces lol. thank you!! :D

Hmmm, I see about eight hundred if I limit to English? But I take your point! But that was just as a way to start; once you do find an author you like, you can look at their bookmarks, for example. (Also I'm not sure if you're familiar with the AO3, but if not, sorting by kudos when doing a general search is a way to get stuff that at least lots of people thought was good. I'm not saying it's perfect, but when you're starting in a fandom it can be better than the default by-date-updated.)

Also I'll take the opportunity to plug my absolute favourite xiyao author, roquen. I didn't mention them last time because they haven't I believe written a post-canon fixit, and you should know that they're mostly sticking to MDZS instead of CQL canon, although with some sprinkling of CQL elements and characterization. Some particular favourites of mine include their AtLA AU and their Sunshot/on the run fics (both series with a couple of short fics), their what you might call a mid-temple hopeful fix-it (divergence where LWJ strikes to kill and LXC takes the blow), the baby LXC fic ("Lan Xichen reverts to being a fifteen-year-old junior, and immediately gets an epic crush on Lianfang-zun"; disclaimer that I was fairly involved with the creation of this one but it's GREAT) and, of course, above all, their gigantic canon fix-it verse, it's worth it every time. It's SO GOOD and the characterization is fantastic and the prose is excellent and UGH. It's so good!!!!! Disclaimer that the second fic in the series, which is the main work, is still WIP, but roquen updates regularly and there are only a couple of chapters left; if you're still wary of WIPs, I'd at least recommend the first fic, which stands alone and is brilliant in its own right.

As to the differences between MDZS and CQL…ho boy. There are quite a few, both major and minor, and I'm by no means familar with all of them—especially the ones that don't involve 3zun, lol. I tried to google around but unfortunately the ones I found tended to be either short or, if more in-depth, contain inaccuracies about JGY/LXC—I think people tend to be more interested in the Wangxian, and then this stuff goes by the wayside. The wiki can be a good source for differences for specific incidents, and although I think it's not always accurate it /does/ usually cite chapter or episode, which can be pretty helpful.

This, by hualiann, looks like a good overview, though I'd add that JYL, WQ and WN didn't study at Cloud Recesses in the novel and that more generally MDZS has a lot of actual undead.

In general my advice is to take things people say about the novel with a large grain of salt, myself included. And about CQL, too! I have no idea if this is you but when I joined the fandom, if people asserted stuff about CQL I tended to just kind of take it as fact—oh, I thought, I must have misremembered! My memory is pretty terrible, and honestly there was absolutely stuff I did misremember. But also sometimes other people misremember, or fanon gets taken as canon, and then there's stuff like—I mean, I'm certainly not going to blame people for not realizing that "JGY conspired with XY at the Unclean Realm" is a lot more uncertain than you might guess at first, especially if they're more Wangxian focused which most people in the fandom are, but I'm still not going to present it as straight-up fact. (veliseraptor has a recent post examining this here which I would very much recommend).

Honestly I think I'd recommend reading the MDZS NMJ Empathy flashback—chapters 48, 49, and the beginning of 50. That gets you a lot of the JGY, LXC and NMJ backstory, and then you can compare for yourself! I'm also going to recommend Mercy's thread, here, listing common fanons about MDZS (I will add to the list, since it's a bugbear of mine, the idea that LXC recognized NMJ's fierce corpse by his abs).

Okay with all that out of the way, and in no particular order, Sun's extremely idiosyncratic and particularly- aka mostly JGY-focused differences list:

-In MDZS, LXC doesn't become Sect Leader until the burning of Cloud Recesses by the Wen, when his father is injured and then succumbs to his wounds. In CQL, he's Sect Leader from the beginning of the show, his father having apparently died not too long before the show started.

-In MDZS, MY wasn't working for the Nie at all before the beginning of Sunshot; he joined the Nie forces just after Sunshot began. NMJ didn't instantly promote him to be his deputy when he's telling at the Nie men for bad-mouthing him; it takes a few more encounters and/or battles with the Wen (after which MY clears the battlefield and helps the commoners).

-In MDZS, xiyao's first meeting happens when LXC is on the run with the Lan books after the burning of Cloud Recesses. We don't see it happen on the page, and we don't know any details of that time beyond, like, MY helped LXC.

-NMJ willingly sends MY away from the Nie, with a letter of recommendation for JGS, after, uh, an extended overhearing of a conversation between MY and LXC wherein MY's desire to be recognized by his father and gain a proper place in the Jin, the opportunity offered for that by JGS recruiting talent at Langya, and the possible difficulty of obtaining permission from NMJ are all established.

-NMJ sees MY stabbing a /Jin/ captain, at Langya, after he goes looking for MY. Rather than taking a blow for NMJ, MY stabs himself, faking suicide, then immobilizes NMJ (who's trying to save his life) and flees. This is because NMJ wants MY to go turn himself in for killing the captain; MY thinks they'll kill him, while NMJ says that if the captain has actually been mistreating MY as MY said, MY won't be killed. Personally I think that all the evidence suggests that MY is right, and NMJ is blind to the effects of his position to the extent it's a not insignificant moral failure.

-Okay, so, you know how in CQL MY stabs WRH while he's distracted with WWX, outside on the steps with the Sunshot alliance right outside? In /MDZS/, they're in the Sun Palace, WWX isn't anywhere near the place, he does it to save NMJ's life, and then he starts lugging NMJ's unconscious body out of the palace. And then NMJ comes to consciousness amd demands his sabre and tries to kill him. He likely only survives because of NMJ's wounds, and if LXC hadn't shown up (responding to a message MY sent for aid for NMJ) NMJ might easily have killed him. If you want a more in-depth analysis, I take a close look here in my response to someone's, er, imaginative interpretation of NMJ and JGY's relationship in MDZS.

-In CQL, NMJ's qi deviation happens at the stairs incident. In MDZS, it happens later, when he overhears JGY being upset to LXC about how NMJ treated him at the stairs, and, overcome with rage that JGY would dare (arguably in combination with being polite and pleasant to NMJ's face, although the last time he was confrontational to NMJ's face NMJ kicked him down the stairs and tried to kill him so), he kicks open the door and tries to kill him. He also kills several people as he's qi deviating (seeing them as JGY—while in CQL he also sees several JGYs they seem to be just illusions), and injures NHS.

-In MDZS, NMJ sets fire to all of NHS' nice things. I don't think we're told either way in CQL, although it's worth noting that in MDZS this happens after the stairs (and before JGY starts playing for him again). (I think they do something in FJ?? But I don't take FJ as canon for CQL; see confusion-and-more's post here).

-In CQL, JGY suggests to NMJ that he's always played the corrupted Clarity for him (though granted this is in Empathy, so it's hard to say for sure if this is what he actually said, but in any case it's the only version we're given). In MDZS, it's strongly indicated that JGY only started playing Turmoil for NMJ /after/ the stairs—there's a variety of evidence, but I think the most objective is that WWX, who in MDZS Empathy can literally feel NMJ's anger, actually observes it working beforehand:

Since [JGY started playing for NMJ], Jin GuangYao would travel from Lanling to Qinghe every few days, playing Sound of Lucidity to help quell Nie MingJue rage. He tried his hardest, without speaking even a single word of complaint. Sound of Lucidity was indeed effective. Wei WuXian could clearly feel that the hostile energy within Nie MingJue was being suppressed.

(Exiled Rebels translation, ch. 49)

And then the next scene is the stairs incident, so.

-In general, the degree to which JGY's position is completely awful is played down in CQL. confusion-and-more talks about it a bit here; I'd also note that some of JGY's dialogue defending himself is removed ( “Some trivial achievements?” He spoke in a shaking voice, “…What do you mean, some trivial achievements? ChiFeng-Zun, do you know how much work I put into such trivial achievements? How much I suffered? Glory? Without the handful of glory I have nothing!”, for example), we don't hear about his mother at the guqin scene, the temple flashback where his mother is dragged naked outside by a client and he's kicked down the brothel stairs is eliminated, etc etc.

-There is absolutely no second flutist in MDZS; also JGY tells us in the temple that QS was already pregnant before he found out about the incest. I think even in CQL it's questionable whether he actually intended to kill Zixuan (see this whole conversation), and significant unveiling or no CQL never actually says QS wasn't pregnant before their marriage so I tend to go with that too, but certainly it's easy to walk away with the impression that he definitely did both deliberately, especially if you aren't familiar with the novel.

-(In general, I think CQL JGY is a lot more sympathetic than most people think once you look closely, but he's also very much set up to look upon a more casual watching as Villain, so.)

-In CQL it's All A-Yao All The Time but in MDZS we see LXC calling him san-di after the sworn brotherhood, and then it's back to A-Yao in the present day (see my last addition on this chain here).

-In MDZS, JGY doesn't shove JL out of the way of the incoming attack.

-The LXC lifting JGY out of his bow thing is from CQL

-The watchtowers! Oh /man/ the watchtowers. God the watchtowers are so much. Uh, confusion-and-more has a post about how much they're mentioned in MDZS vs CQL here, and see my last addition to this thread for an argument that the watchtowers were indeed a force for good. God. Twelve hundred watchtowers. He must have saved so many lives...

-confusion-and-more's watchtower post also reminds me that CQL has the Guanyin temple giving out medicine, while MDZS does not

-The episode 23 scene where Sect Leaders Jin, Nie, and Lan agree to spare some of the Wen doesn't exist in MDZS (though I'll take the opportunity to observe that I disagree with popular interpretations of that scene, see point three here).

-In MDZS NMJ's fierce corpse is literally trying to kill JGY, there's no saber spirit. And like, it's been trying to kill JGY for a long damn time, that's why JGY dismembered him.

-The XY plotline—in MDZS, JGY recommends a young XY (who at thay point has a reputation but is not known to have committed any massacres) as a Jin cultivator, as part of an effort by JGS to recreate the Yin Tiger Seal. JGS has multiple people trying, but most of them aren't getting anywhere and XY is getting furthest. It's during this time that XY kills the Chang clan, and is discovered as guilty by XXC, who brings up the evidence at a conference happening in Lanling; the Jin are stalling, MMJ gets angry and shows up, he almost kills XY on the spot and gives JGS a lecture such that he's forced to relent and sentence XY to death (and incidentally scares JGY, imho quite seriously, while he's at it). Then JGS turns it into life imprisonment once NMJ has left, and then NMJ is extremely angry and attacks JGY at the stairs. (Ch. 30 and 118)

-I mentioned before but I'll add it here too: in CQL JGY asks LXC to stay and die with him, and LXC agrees.

-The CQL ending in general is...hmmm. Despite having most of the elements which complicate MDZS' ending (JL is in a terrible position!), it kind of presents as...happy ending all is fixed now? In MDZS I think it's presented as—more complicated, even though Wangxian do very much get their happy ending.

-Also LWJ is a lot less. uh. Okay, so in CQL he's more Mr Morality, and in MDZS it's much more Wei Ying Right Or Wrong. Also, he doesn't become Chief Cultivator in MDZS! I think that's my least favourite change, because it's like...LWJ hates politics, hates compromise, and never attends the cultivation conferences. At least one of 'this is going to be a major diisaster' and 'LWJ is going to have to go through some significant shifts in his worldview and approach' are going to have to happen, but that's not the vibe CQL gives off at all, and I think it really works against some of the major themes of the text :/

-OH RIGHT I knew I was forgetting something—in MDZS MXY's revenge is focused solely on the Mo; JGY is not part of the curse.

Okay I don't want to go too much on about xiyao or nieyao, because this is already quite long and I don't want you to be waiting forever, but broadly although I certainly think NMJ cares about JGY a great deal it seems to be about his competence and potential; he doesn't really seem to, like, actually like who he is as a person. JGY, meanwhile, is at first very grateful to and then increasingly exasperated by and very much fucking terrified of NMJ, but...well, he doesn't seem to be into him or interested in spending time with him for the sake of it or etc etc.

On the other hand—xiyao. Man, xiyao!!!! They just—they get each other so fast, they're /partners/, they work together so well, they like and they respect each other, they're both like—LXC and MS are on their own tier for JGY, LWJ and JGY are on their own tier for LXC, they're for each other in a way neither is for anyone else, they care a lot about the same things—it's not perfect overlap, obviously, but it's more overlap I think than either has with anyone else, they—invest, they're builders, JGY was planning the watchtowers project from way back and although I have no doubt he was driving it LXC was with him and!!!! ugh!!!!! xiyao are REALLY GREAT, okay.

#the best of men #more than one tag could contain #a gentle warmth filling the deepest of needs #anger burned in his heart #long meta #sort of #we can't change places #j #mostly jgy-focused discussion of differences between mdzs and cql under the cut

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random-mha-thoughts · 4 years

Text

Mama’s Boy/Lover’s Boy (Bakugou x Reader)

Pairing: Bakugou x Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff

Inspo: “Down for You” by Cosmo’s Midnight/Ruel

Summary: Bakugou hates being dragged to fancy parties for many reasons, but only one thing makes it all worth it.

Word Count: 2,322

Tags: @yuki-osaki @liviitehe @iamsoftsodonttoucheume-blog @bunnythepipsqueak

a/n: I absolutely adore this picture, ngl that was the whole inspo for this.

It's not fair that a whole Katsuki exists while I'm bleeding out and my hormones are out of whack. I'M A LOYAL SHOUTO HO, STAY IN YOUR LANE KATSUKI! DON'T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MY INSTABILITY LIKE THIS!

When I was at the last few paragraphs, I realized I would've loved to let Baku lose his shit and almost crash the entire thing like in Murphy's Law (man I loved writing that), but that wouldn't be good. We love a good chaotic fluff monster.

This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would, but I really like how it turned out! Definitely more fluff than I expected, but who's mad at that? I'm bleeding out of my uterus and my mom and dad got me feverish and sick and I definitely needed this, so I KNOW you Baku stans are gushing at this too. Thanks to @rubyred-imagines for one of the story beats here!

Spice might be incoming in the next day or two ;3 Not sure which character yet, but it's gonna happen!

"Babe, your face."

"What about it?!"

"Stop looking like you want to kill everyone."

"But I do!"

"I know you do, but don't look it."

Katsuki walks into the grand hall, muscular arm linked through his dazzling girlfriend's slender one. He really doesn't want to be here; he hates these high-class, uptight gatherings, he hates this constricting tuxedo he has to wear, he hates how he barely knows anyone here, and he especially hates that he could've been on a date with her alone instead of being surrounded by these suffocating faces.

His lovely girlfriend announced this unfortunate outing a few weeks ago right before Katsuki was going to suggest the idea of having a date night, since they haven't had any quality alone time together in a while. Her eyes lit up when she reported that she RSVP-ed for both of them to attend her company's fancy dinner. And his plans were crushed like that. He wanted to grumble and refuse, but she'd yell right back at him anyway, being the stubborn person she is.

She reminds him of his mother.

"You're just like my mom," Katsuki rolls his eyes. "She used to drag me to her company dinners all the time, too."

"We won't stay for long, I promise," she pats his arm with her perfectly manicured fingernails.

"She used to say that too, and then we'd be out for hours," he mumbles to himself.

The girl looks up at him sweetly. "And you'll be a good boyfriend and stay here with me the whole time, right?"

The blond growls low in his throat. "I don't even belong here, you were invited, not me."

"Katsuki, you're my guest, of course you belong here." She leans up to whisper in his ear, "Besides, you're more handsome than any of the guys here, show them all up."

That makes Katsuki smirk. "Damn right I am, babe."

The couple find their table after an irritating amount of time. Every few steps, some other pretentious stranger from his girlfriend's company sweeps over to exchange empty kisses and the same empty conversation. Katsuki thinks it's some kind of script everyone practiced from, no one deviating from the script or else the entire simulation might fall apart. Actually, he would like to say something inappropriate just to relish their horrified or disgusted faces, but he for the sake of his precious girlfriend, he keeps his mouth shut, teeth grit, and smile plastered each time he's introduced to a new face.

"Do you really know everyone here, babe?" Katsuki mutters in her ear as they finally approach the table.

"Not everyone," she hums in response, "I don't know most of the employees from the other two companies here, but I know the higher-ups through my boss."

He briefly remembers her saying this dinner was for a big merger deal between these three companies. His girlfriend works tirelessly for her boss, usually taking on more than she can handle and coming home late most nights. She'd been promoted from just being a regular company worker to being in a near-the-top position right under the main board managers. He admires her dedication, but he's always worried about her health and energy level. He may be a Pro Hero, but she's the real superhuman in the relationship.

Katsuki does the gentlemanly thing of pulling the chair out for his lady and pushing her back in before settling in his seat next to her, purposely shifting closer to her than the person on his other side.

"What manners your boyfriend has," one of the older ladies at the table coos at the couple.

"Thank you, I'm very grateful to have him," the girl smiles politely in response.

Katsuki's heart melts at the pride dripping from her voice as she compliments him. "And I'm very lucky to have her." It felt like the right thing to say as he squeezes her hand under the table and briefly glances into her eyes.

The two don't tear away from each other until someone else approaches his girlfriend and she stands to greet him briefly. Katsuki surveys him in case he would do something ballsy to his girlfriend.

She turns and places a hand on Katsuki's shoulder. "This is my boyfriend, Katsuki Bakugou."

Hell yeah, I am, you better not pull anything, dumbass. He stands and shakes the other man's hand, polite but stiff.

"Nice to meet you. Your girlfriend is honestly a powerhouse, she's amazing," the man gushes.

"Yes, I'm aware," the blond replies tersely. He's on guard because he doesn't get a good vibe from this man.

Sure enough, he goes on a little too animatedly about how much his girlfriend does for the company and the rest of the company. It comes off to Katsuki as fake and kiss-ass. Nonetheless, his girlfriend accepts all the compliments like the graceful goddess she is. He realizes this boy is one of his girlfriend's juniors as they descend into a conversation surrounding work and future projects.

After dismissing him, another group of his girlfriend's underlings rushes over with compliments and "Oh my gosh, senpai! You look amazing!" and the like. Each time, she would accept the praise, introduce him, before launching into more work-related subject matter that Katsuki learned to tune out eventually.

Honestly, he's annoyed at how everyone here is overwhelmingly toxic. All the subordinates or peers are kiss-ups and her superiors are pretentious stick-up-their-asses that look down on his girlfriend. He can't stand that his lover is surrounded by this atmosphere all day. They don't know the genuine type of person she is, other than that she's kind and easy to walk all over. No one seems like they care enough to carry genuine conversation, and he'd rather not tune into that energy.

Instead, Katsuki directs his attention to his lovely girlfriend. Staring at her face, he recalls how painstakingly long it took for her to paint her face with makeup to look this flawless. He's sure she would've had a mental breakdown while doing her eyes, especially putting on her eyeliner. She was chanting to herself cutely to get them even, almost coaxing her shaky hands in front of the mirror to perform some kind of magic. If he had done the wrong thing and hurried her or teased her habits, she would've unleashed all her anger on him. He's learned that the hard way. In the end, she was able to achieve this masterpiece on her face without making herself look like a completely different person, highlighting her natural beauty.

Scanning downward to her dress, he remembers fondly going shopping with her last weekend. Her hair was in a topknot as she fumbled through the racks for a dress to wear. She had dragged him along because she trusted his opinion on fashion choices. While he would've liked for her to choose a scarlet red gown, Katsuki knew she'd look infinitely better in the sapphire blue number she's wearing now. The skinny straps holding the dress up leads down to a not-too-plunging neckline that suits her shoulders, collarbone, and chest perfectly. The dress cinches in at the waist to emphasize the figure he knows she has before falling straight down from her hips, and the mid-thigh slit on one side is subtly sexy without having her risk overexposure. Finishing the entire outfit is a classic pair of nude pumps, a dainty gold necklace, matching dangling earrings, and a clutch matching her shoes. Her hair is curled in waves cascading down her back with some stands hanging over one shoulder.

Katsuki can't help but smile unconsciously. He can't wait to someday place the finishing touch she deserves: a simple but elegant ring on her left hand.

After all the formalities, the two finally sit down and start eating the dinner courses that have started gracing their place settings.

"I know you wanted to go out for date night today," his girlfriend begins gently, "But we can imagine this is a fancy restaurant with just us two, and everything else is just a backdrop."

"Shouldn't you be paying attention to what's going on?" Katsuki quirks an eyebrow.

She waves her hand and takes a refined sip of her wine. "I've already heard them practice this speech too many times."

The devilish blond smirks and slinks closer to her. "That's not something a good employee would do, is it?"

"I'm not working right now," she smoothly responds back, replicating his energy.

The organizer of the dinner finally takes the stage and starts his speech. Katsuki keeps his gaze on his beautiful girlfriend, admiring her delicately picking and eating at her plate. She's so precious to him, he doesn't care if he's making heart eyes and everyone can see.

When the speech finishes, his girlfriend's glass also empties and she indicates that she's going to get another. It leaves him on edge, he hates being alone with all these strangers even for a few minutes. He doesn't want to tell you this, but if one of these people try to small talk him without you here, he might actually break something.

"So, Bakugou, what do you do?" the same lady from earlier chirps at him.

He whips his head up. For fuck's sake. "I'm a...public safety worker of sorts." He tries so hard to sound polite for his girlfriend's sake. He also can't resist scanning the room for her as a safety reflex. With all the shady people around, he doesn't trust that something bad won't happen. And he also wants your comfort in these uncomfortable situations, but he'll never admit that either.

"Oh, I see." The old lady seems satisfied with his tone, barely noticing his fidgeting as she launches into a whole story about her grandson wanting to do something like that, and all the tangents related to that.

Katsuki is relieved that he doesn't have to talk for the rest of the time, just nodding along and humming to prove he's passively listening. He finally spots his angel a few tables away, groaning internally that she was stopped by someone, keeping her from coming back to him. It seems they were having a deep conversation at first, but suddenly the man cracks a smile and a joke that makes her cover her mouth in respectful laughter.

Katsuki's annoyance is cut through at her wholehearted display of emotions. The entire night, he's been complaining about how much he hates everyone here, but it's only now he realizes how relaxed she looks in the entire situation. She's completely in her element; he'd get easily drained by all the suffocating small talk, but her? She thrives off this, she gains energy from it. Although she comes home late, overworked and tired, she still faces every day with a smile on her face. She makes it look so easy to talk to people, striking up and following conversations with everyone in the most endearing and poised way possible.

Katsuki smiles to himself, warmth washing over him. Yes, just like his mom, but it makes his girlfriend all the more stunning and admirable in his eyes.

His girlfriend finally returns to the table, her recently-acquired glass already half empty. "What did I miss?" she asks, buzzing with both energy and alcohol.

Katsuki leans his head on his palm. "Nothing much." He's still basking in the glow of his wonderful girlfriend, casually sipping his own wine absently.

She turns towards the clearing in the center of the room and takes his free hand. "Let's go dance, babe!"

Any other time, Katsuki would have sternly declined, but he can't resist her today. Without a single complaint, he rises and lets her drag him by their entwined hands to the dance floor. Guiding his large hand around her waist as her one hand plants to his shoulder, she raises their joined hands and starts swaying them to the classic orchestral ensemble's upbeat performance.

The man doesn't know if it's the overwhelming feeling of pride he recently uncovered, or the way their bodies press together gently as he inhales her floral perfume, but he can't find the words to describe everything he wants to say. He settles on simply smiling warmly down at her as he whispers, "You're amazing, you know that?"

His girlfriend's cheeks flush and she erupts into giggles. "What's with the sudden compliment?"

He shakes his head. "I just realized it, that's all. Just like my mom."

"You sure are a Mama's boy, aren't you?"

He scoffs at the idea. "I love the old hag, but I'll never tell her that. Besides, I'd say I'm whipped for a different woman in my life." He brushes hair behind her ear, her earring glinting against the light, and places a kiss on her perfect temple. "You look stunning tonight."

His girlfriend's eyes close in half-lidded affection. "I'm sorry this isn't the perfect date night you wanted."

The blond leans his forehead on her's, slowing their pace to allow time to pass much more leisurely around them. "I get to dance with you, I think that's a definite win."

"I guess so."

Katsuki comes to realize that he can be forced to come to all of these events. All that matters is his enchanting lover and her smile. When the night is over, he can't wait to let her take her heels off and carry her bridal style to their car as everyone watches in envy and awe. He'd let her recline and rest her weary feet, telling her stories of his adventures of night outings with his mom to lull her to sleep in his passenger seat. And then he'd carry her sleeping figure up to their bedroom and wake her gently so she can clean herself up and change into her cute pajamas, just so they can cuddle in each other's warmth until they fall asleep.

Maybe he's not a Mama's boy anymore. More like he's a Lover's boy.

#Bakugou x reader #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bakugou fluff #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugou #female reader #bakugou imagine #bakugou scenario #mha bakugou #bnha bakugou #mha x reader #bnha x reader #mha fanfiction #bnha fanfiction

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jade-doodles-questionmark · 4 years

Text

On Alexander, Angelica and Eliza

Heres some long-ass personal interpretation based on the musical that nobody following this blog signed up for lol. Not gonna be touching on history coz i’m no expert and there’re ppl way more qualified for that. and it’s good to keep things separated.

there’re obviously many similarities between the two A’s. Both are witty, outspoken, center of attention, and a bit of a flirt. To me, the most interesting trait shared by both is their awareness: They know exactly where they stand socially, and subsequently, how to play by the rules to climb up. This clear awareness is where I got the idea for the staircase drawings. “i’m a girl in a world in which my only job is to marry rich/ my father has no sons so i’m the one who has to social climb for one” is a demonstration of Angelica’s awareness, just as “As a kid in the Caribbean I wished for a war/ I knew that I was poor/ I knew it was the only way to rise up” shows Alexander’s.

it’s different for Eliza - i know as the show proceeds, she gradually becomes more ambitious and active, but in Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story, what she asks, instead of how to rise up, is: “Have I done enough?” this quiet insistence is why i always see her as someone who does things because she thinks it’s a right thing to do, no matter whether that thing in question would benefit her personally or not. sure, she gives off "cinnamon roll" vibes, but girl’s no less strong or badass than Alexander or Angelica.

More under cut coz I’m incapable of being concise:

Angelica:

what always strikes me as interesting about Angelica is the contrast of what she says vs. what she does.

In The Schuyler Sisters, the majority of her lines are about empowering women, which, I think, is where the depiction of Angelica as an angry feminist comes from in some fanfics. But in Satisfied, we see she plays squarely by the rules of patriarchy and social classes (the three fundamental truths part).

Similarly, in TSS, she says "so men say I'm intense or I'm insane", seemingly unbothered, if not lowkey proud, by these comments, but in Satisfied, she talks about the resulting gossip if she were to marry Alexander.

I saw a post which expressed that Angelica thinks like Alexander but acts like Burr, and I agree. She has a sharp mind and is unafraid to speak out, like Alexander, but she’s also got things to lose, like Burr. Having family responsibilities means that she does not, and cannot, act without restrictions and hesitations like Hamilton. She doesn't necessarily wait it out like Burr, but she does think things thru, because the important decisions she makes carry enough weight to not only affect the future of herself but also of her family.

I had mentioned in an old post that Satisfied is basically Angelica assessing cost & gain for each of the options she has, for all the parties involved. even though that song's ending has mixed feelings and it's DEFINITELY a heartbreaking song, Angelica's choice did maximize the gain for everyone at the time: She was able to maintain her bond with Alexander and married rich to ensure her material comfort. Alexander was able to marry a Schuyler and elevate his status. Eliza got the boy she loved and was happily married. She even foresaw some possible challenges the newly wed Hamiltons were likely to face (“He’ll never be satisfied”).

She knows she lives in a world of patriarchy; she isn't happy with it, but she knows how to take advantage of the system as much as she can. She knows how to be the center of attention, be charming, and appeal to ppl. She knows what kind of husband is beneficial to have. She knows how to influence politics in her own way (take a break). Part of why I found Satisfied so sad is that her mind and her heart wish for two different things. Angelica is a realist, over everything else. She can be a feminist, but definitely not an angry one.

Alexander:

I talked a bit abt him in an older post on Maria - and a lot of what I said abt Maria applies to him. If the challenge Angelica was facing is invisible societal restrictions on women, what Alexander faces is purely regarding survival. Having needed to fight and compete for resources, I imagine he's at least somewhat influenced by the philosophy of social darwinism. I also said, in the same post, that I don't think he'd be really inclined to help ppl in the same difficulty he used to be in, for the same reason. If he could make it this far with his own hard work, how would it be fair to make things easier for others now? Would those ppl even deserve their success now the bar has been lowered? It's not exactly a right way of thinking, but it's also hard to blame him. after having to compete for resource w others in order to climb up, it’s hard to change the mentality.

I've seen a music analysis (by Howard Ho on YouTube) on Hurricane, and it concludes that when Hamilton was singing that song, he wasn't exactly recalling the past - he's been mentally living in that reality and never truly left. (There's similar remarks that Hamilton's past in the Caribbean had always plagued him despite his power and position in Chernow's biography, but we're only analyzing the musical here.) He never fully turned off his survival mode.

To clarify: by survival mode, I don't literally mean he fights to survive. He didn't exactly show a strong will to survive and was quite willing to give up his life for noble causes, up until he met Eliza. What I meant is, he remembers being destitute and helpless, he remembers seeing deaths of trivial importance, so he fights to be as far away from destitution and helplessness as possible, he fights to have the opportunity to die a glorious and noble death. Because to be able to die for something matters is still a privilege. No matter how high up he rose to position, his insecurity that he may end up losing those never faded away. This raw energy, I guess, is what gradually turned the others in the musical to be more like him.

Eliza:

Eliza seems to be the one who's the most content abt their situations out of the three. After all, one of her motifs in the musical is "look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now", and the other one is “that would be enough”.

ppl usually say Helpless and Satisfied should be listened back to back (and nothing wrong with that), but comparing these two songs, Helpless doesn’t explore as much of Eliza’s character as Satisfied does Angelica. Throughout Helpless, she’s spent most of the song narrating what happened and falling head over heels for Alexander. As for her first appearance in TSS, she doesn’t have as much of a voice and show of character in comparison to Angelica, Burr, other Peggy either.

The first moment we truly see her thoughts is in That Would Be Enough. It’s also in this song, her two other motifs (”that would be enough” and “narrative”) are introduced. Unlike Alexander and Angelica at that point of story, she’s happy with her life, wants it to remain that way, and doesn’t ask for more.

i dont mean she’s not ambitious like the other two - she’s driven, but by other things. she doesn’t think of legacy, material comfort, status, position, etc. as important as Angelica and Alexander, as we can see in Burn. it’s not that she doesn’t know the rules - girl’s not playing the game at all.

unlike the two A’s, Eliza’s growth happens in the second act. Angelica’s barely in the second act, and in the same act we see Alexander’s most trusted weapon, writing, contributing to his downfall. but for Eliza, she turns from the observer in Helpless, the supporter in That Would Be Enough, to the only one on stage in Burn, and to being the center of stage in Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story. in the second act we see her going thru the series of most crushing heartaches: Reynolds Pamphlet, death of Phillip, and death of Alexander, but we also see her strength. she’s a good person, but ppl usually forget that being nice takes energy and strength too. it takes strength to support, to forgive, to mourn the passing of your loved ones, and to preserve their memories and legacy. she shines and grows after overcoming the loss and heartbreaks. Angelica says in Satisfied “she’d say 'i’m fine' but she’d be lying”, i don’t think she’s giving Eliza enough credit for her mental strength there lol.

side note: this is where i got idea for the eliza art from a few days ago - kintsugi represents the idea that your wound becomes your history and forms part of who you are, rather than something ugly to be ashamed of. I think it fits well with Eliza’s development.

Congrats! you’ve made it till the end! don’t know why u’d do that, but thanks!

if u’re reading this feel free to send me a simple art request to compensate the time u took reading my bullshit

#hamilton #alexander hamilton #hamliza #eliza schuyler #eliza hamilton #Angelica Schuyler #hamgelica #the schuyler sisters #character analysis #long post #*cough* Excuse me my lit major is showing #jades weird ideas

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thefracturedmosaic · 3 years

Text

A Week Pass

Mentions: @divergent-lines @synric-silversong

Nairus found himself in a lull between darkness and white light.

In the light there were voices.

“The wound…”

In the darkness, there were images of the inn room with the empty bed now laid in disarray. The shadows of light played along the walls and corners giving everything a black and white look. The plants were sitting quietly by the window. The chair he usually sat upon was set facing him.

Then there were bright flashes, followed by those voices once more. “Where’s the Priest? We can’t…”

The blackness consumed him followed by a sharp pain situated around his stomach. Blood pooled around him, slowly seeping into the wooden boards. A man standing with his back turned, was there several feet away, his eyes were cast over his shoulder glowing an eerily blue. The only color in the entire room.

A sharp bright flash came followed by, “We need to stitch him.”

“Mey,” Nairus called out as she stood in the doorway of the inn room. The world was still a horrible blackness around them. A cold chill lay over him as if the window had been open and winter was outside.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, staring at him, pain in her eyes, before she turned, soundless, out of his sight.

“Nairus,” the voice was deep, speaking his name in Darnassian. The sound was welcoming. “Nairus,” the voice said, and felt his hand being squeezed.

Nairus grunted, forcing some sort of movement in his body to indicate he was still quite alive and well. He was surprised how much it hurt to move anything but his toes and fingers.

“Easy, easy,” the voice said again.

Recognition began to settle in.

“Father?” Nairus opened his eyes to find the bright light all consuming once again, but there was a shadow, and as he forced himself to look, colors and features began to form.

His father was sitting beside him, a faint smile on his lips. “Thank Elune,” he said, letting the pressure ease from Nairus’s hands. “No, stay still,” his father said once more.

He stopped, but the confusion and the slow trickle of memories were beginning to set a new panic into his body.

After all, the room’s walls were unfamiliar to him. They should have been wood and dark in color. Instead they were stone, white, and bright. The sounds were of faint footsteps, when there had been children running and hollering only a day before.

Where were the birds? The wind? This place smelt of cleaning chemicals and incense.

Rapid fire as his thoughts were, another one set his blood cold.

His father shouldn’t have been here.

His father shouldn’t have even known he was in Stormwind.

“Ho-how are you here?” Nairus asked.

More memories settled in of Mey and the little dragon. Are they okay? Did the dragon--

His father’s voice refocused him. “They asked the other druids if they knew of any Amberleaf’s. Eventually they found your sister. She’s been coming to the city in order to help,” his father’s voice trailed away as his eyes seemed to adjust to something further ahead.

Nairus tried moving to see, failing to do so, tired and languish in his mind and body. He was beginning to realize that his father was slowly seeping in druidic magic into his limbs, relaxing him, forcing him to stay as he was.

A moment later, his father shook his head before looking back towards him.

“There’s detectives that want to speak to you, do you remember what happened? Why you are here?”

Detectives? Why would…

He’d been stabbed, found dying in a room. He remembered now of the guards that had asked him questions, who else was here, was the intruder around…

A long breath of air escaped him. “Lightly. Mostly fragments. I remember the guards coming to my aid, and…” he fell silent. And Mey and the boy and the dragon. A wince shot through him as his head throbbed with a pulsating quick beat before fading.

“They found you in a room, you were stabbed.” His father motioned lightly towards his lower area.

Nairus lifted his head to see only blankets.

“Do you not remember?” His father's voice was thick with concern.

Instead of feeling like he needed to explain himself, he asked, “How bad?” as his gaze flickered back to blankets.

His father's eyes grew wide with brief surprise, before softening and shaking his head. Finally, his father leaned back, letting go of his arm. “Gut wound. Pierced several inches in. They couldn’t close the wound. Curse magic or death magic they said. Humans,” he grunted. “I’m surprised they can even tell the difference apart sometimes. They had a priest come in and cure you after they manually fixed the wound. It's healed.”

Even though his father had said it was healed, his blood ran cold as images of the sword struck him, of him reacting to the pain, the dizzy amount of pain.

“What was it?” He wondered checking to see if he could move. His fingers and toes were still stiff, and joints moreso, but they twitched at his beckon.

“Whatever it was, they cured you before I got here. They kept you sedated during the time, apparently you kept trying to use your magic or move with the stitches in.” He paused briefly. “I checked once I got here. You’ll be sore for a few more days, and it seems you're over your fever at last.” He reached out and set a hand to Nairus' forehead.

Nairus huffed, as his father pulled back, satisfied.

“You remember how it goes?” His father asked after a moment.

Nairus nodded. “Bed ridden for a few days until the muscle heals a little more.” He found strength in his arms, and finally pushed himself up.

His father didn’t stop him, in fact, he helped him to sit straighter against the bed frame. Now able to see his whole lower body, only a faint surprise came to see he was dressed in a typical patient gown.

He wasted no time pulling the edges up to see his own injury.

As his father had said, it was healed, only a pinkish scar remained. Nairus set his hand against it, closed his eyes, and let his own magic work its way through.

After a few seconds, he let out a final breath of relief.

His father was smiling. “I say let the detectives get what they need from you now, and move on,” he said as he rose from his chair. “However, do you need some time to gather your thoughts?” His tone was heavy, leaving an unmistakable unsaid question lingering in the air.

“I did nothing wrong,” Nairus frowned.

His father raised a hand before moving towards the only door in the room that was set behind him. “I’ll let them in.”

Two men wearing simple shirts and pants walked in after his father greeted them. His father gave them a long stare before he walked out and closed the door behind him.

Privacy.

“Nairus Amberleaf?” One of them asked. They looked alike, except one had a mole on the side of his cheek; he was not the one that asked the question.

Nairus nodded.

“My name is Lennon Davidson, and my partner Charlton Hermanson, we work with the guardsman and the SI:7 for internal issues among the city. We were hoping you would give us a minute to ask you a few questions about what happened to you.”

Once again, Nairus nodded.

Lennon smiled, as his partner drew out a notepad and a pen. “We understand what happened was tragic for you, and we don’t want to bring up anything that’s unnecessary. Please, start off wherever you feel most comfortable.”

The line was clearly out of formality and politeness, not because he cared but because his job required some sense of empathy. He could see all that in the man’s dull look in his brown eyes.

Nairus took a deep breath and began. “I was attacked in my room while taking care of…” he stopped his memories flashing back to Mey and the boy and the stranger. The memory struck hard and unexpectedly and it took the breath out of him and welcomed a sharp pain in his mind. A memory. A name. Jacorek.

“Is everything okay?” Lennon asked, his voice held more concern and he was already motioning to his partner to move.

Nairus felt sick, like someone had struck him in the gut. Something was there. Something attached to that name. Darkness. A cave. A feeling of elation and sadness.

Nairus raised a hand and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I remembered something about the attack just now.”

Chartlon was quick to write in his notepad.

“I was attacked by a man with a sword. He came into the room, lockpicked or used magic, I’m not sure. I was tending to some plants when it happened. He grabbed my attention before stabbing me through the gut and left me against the wall. My memory is fuzzy after that.” He looked up to the detectives. “People came and went and I heard shouting and questions before waking up here.”

Lennon nodded his head a few times, a quick look going to his partner who surprisingly saw it as he nodded writing whatever it was that Nairus had said.

“Do you have any description of the man that attacked you?”

The blue glowing eyes, the streak black hair, the smile...

He..he...Nairus eyes closed tight from the flood of memories that struck him. A cave was now painted firmly in his mind, torch light down beyond his sight but flickering off the walls. Pain. He could feel pain, not at his stomach, but his ears and his face.

Nairus must have looked terrible, for, the detectives were quick to ask if he needed a doctor, and when he didn’t respond, faintly, Nairus registered one was leaving.

The pain. They tortured me. He… Jacorek…

Nairus closed his eyes to the world, hoping the pain and memories would fade. They didn’t, instead, it seemed to amplify them with a woman with red hair walking into frame with a overly bored look on her face.

“Where are they?” She asked.

“Nairus,” the elvish came smoothly, dragging him away from the woman. “Nairus!’ His father's voice was stronger, and as he opened his eyes saw his father’s wide amber glow filled with worry and concern. “What’s wrong?”

“I-I remember. A memory,” his voice hinged on panic. Something bad was supposed to happen when he remembered. That’s what he had been told.

His father paled and did not move for what felt like a long chilling moment. However, once his father collected himself, things were swift to move. His father reached out with his magic and Nairus felt it trail through him, reaching out, and seeking something.

Nothing. Nothing happened for a long heartbeat.

Confusion flickered on his father's face first. Something bad was supposed to happen, but it didn't. His father's eyes locked onto him for a moment. “We’re done here. Please,” his father spun his head towards the two detectives standing patiently a good distance away. “Come back another time.”

“O-of course,” one of them said. Nairus hadn’t caught which one, as his father watched them leave. The door locked with a soft click.

“I need a Priestess,” his father finally said.

The title sent a shiver down Nairus spine. “Is it needed?” he asked as his father was already moving away, robes trying to catch up to him.

“I need someone with knowledge about these things.”

The door locked a second time, leaving him in silence.

A deep silence, with nothing but white walls, paintings of what the outside might look like if there were windows, books lining a single bookshelf, and a desk cleaned off and organized.

Nairus laid back down, his body still shaking from memories and fear as he closed his eyes. When he did, tears streamed down his face. He remembered. His lips curled into a pained snarl. He remembered how he ended up with all the scars on his face and his ears cut to human length.

And that man, Jacorek, should have been dead. “What is going on?” He asked the empty room.

His father returned a while after. Long enough, that the pain of the memory was controllable. The tears had dried up, but his heart still felt weak and heavy.

The Priestess that walked in was her. Nylaria. Her dark purple hair was wrapped into a spiral bun, and her eyes glowed a silvery shine that had the mark of relief and motherly concern.

She smiled.

His frown deepened.

He remembered her walking up to the house, asking him if he would accompany her to the Broken Shore. Fragments of memories, he realized, there was more to that story.

“I heard you remember something,” her voice was soft and elegant and held none of the rash undertone he was so used to hearing in other females. “Do you remember why you're not supposed to remember anything beforehand?”

“No.” He said sharply, not having meant too. He collected himself with a quick breath. “No,” he repeated softly. “I just remember one thing.”

Nylaria sat down on the edge of the bed. “May I see? Your Father says he can’t sense it anymore.”

A moment’s confusion flickered in him. Sense what? And at the thought his eyes trailed upwards. His father was a stone statue in expression.

Nairus gave a light nod and she reached out and touched him gently on the arm.

The warm light of Elune’s magic sent a shiver through his whole body. It felt invasive, it felt unnatural.

A moment passed before she removed her hand, a moment of curiosity passing before standing and giving his father a quick smile. “There’s none there.” She said excitedly. “Which would make sense why his memories would return easily now.” She looked back to Nairus. “How? What happened?”

Nairus shook his head. “I--”

“I think it's best we accept what we have and forget about those minor details for now.” His father intervened. “Thank you.”

Momentarily Nylaria stiffened, standing her position as she deemed rightful higher than a druid. However, his father stayed as he was. Older and an elder compared to her, he too had his own right in things.

Evenly, they stood, before Nylaria shoulders relaxed and the rest of her body followed with a spin on her heels. “Very well. I’ll stick around a little longer if you need my experience,” she stressed, “Again.”

The door closed with a soft lock leaving them both momentarily to stare at the suddenly more empty room.

It was an oddly quick visit. He expected a little more conversation. Perhaps some questions he could get answered.

His father gave a heavy sigh before looking back, a smile crept on his lips, a handset on Nairus shoulder. “Rest for now. Those detectives will come back tomorrow. They still want to talk.” For a second his father hesitated before he pulled back. “I can’t stay much longer. I’ll see you once more before I leave.”

Nairus nodded as he watched his father walk slowly to the door, his fingers set into his long green beard. He was worried, but not concerned.

They were going to talk privately. About him, about what he was missing now. His head throbbed, but nothing came from it but a dull ache.

As the door shut, Nairus looked back at where his wound lay hidden behind the gown he was wearing. What had happened? Curse or death magic. His eyes sharpened as he remember saying those same words to Mey as she responded, “I know...I’m sorry.”

“A letter for you sir,” the medic gave a brief smile as he handed him the piece of paper. Nairus nodded his thanks as he took it. It felt good to be outside, feeling grass and dirt under his feet, and the smell of flowers and trees in the wind. The sun was bright and the sky was clear.

His father was a ways off, speaking to the detectives once more. True to there word, they had come back the next day.

Their gestures seemed to be one of annoyance, especially his father who had erected himself to his whole seven foot height.

Nairus let his gaze settle on the parchment. It was lightly worn, perhaps, having traveled a ways or traded several hands in the last several days before it arrived here. Honestly, he was too tired to think about all the little things.

His memories of the cave and the torture had drained most of his energy from day to day. Nylaria's own memories tickled his mind of the apartment she had visited him at beforehand. It was a good distraction from the trauma he relieved in a short minute the day before, and was beginning to feel the after effects of shock.

So far, no other memories cared to reveal themselves.

Another riddle that helped distract him was one of Jacorek. He had saved him in those caves, told him to run, and now the same man had stabbed him in the gut. They felt like different people. They even wore Different outfits, had different weapons, and different eyes.

Nairus ripped open the top of the letter.

It read as thus:

“Nairus,

I’ve wondered for the past few days about your recovery. Are you well? I wanted to thank you in person, not just for this but I can’t leave to check since your patient is awake. He’s making steady progress, even if it’s slow. I’m sure without your help, he’d be in a worse state.

I do hope you’ve made a full recovery. I never meant I’m sorry you were put in harm’s way because of my decision. If there’s anything I can do to help you, please let me know. The weapon you came in contact with is cursed. There’s something about it besides the death knight aspect that plays upon the minds of those who wield it. I worry that magic could do something to you from the wound. I’ve yet to learn how to undo such an influence, but maybe with time I can find a solution.

Please seek a priestess priest to double check for intrusive magics.

I’m sorry I can’t provide a return address. I expect it will take some time to get him back to his old self. He remembers nothing and doesn’t recognize me from a stranger, but neither did you at first. Perhaps he will come around. Even if not, I’m overjoyed that he’s alive and well.

Thank you, truly.

Mey”

Nairus felt his throat sting. Mey. Synric. The man in the bed was Synric. He closed his eyes tightly. Fragments. All his memories were. He knew Mey was more, knew he had done something before he had forgotten, yet, reading her words and seeing her name triggered nothing. Yet, the word patient and seeing Synric on the bed brought back flashes of the young man here and there. A name, a relation, feelings from those memories. The same apartment came to mind where Nylaria had been in his prior memory. Had that been a place he had lived before everything had happened?

He would have laughed if the conversation some distance away wasn’t growing more heated. Their voices rose, demanding that Nairus was an adult and he had his own right to deny him, not an overprotective parent.

He quieted those voices and read the letter again.

Slower the second time, Nairus keyed into certain phrases and the scrawled out words in black ink.

Movement shifted his gaze and thoughts back into the present. The detectives were heading their way.

He folded up the letter and slid it into his robe pocket.

It felt good to be wearing his own clothes again.

The one detective he recognized from before who had done all the questioning the day before had said his name.

In the backdrop, his father cursed in Darnassian. Neither of the humans seemed to flinch at the harder words, most likely, because they couldn’t understand.

“I understand your not feeling well or wanting to talk, you don’t need to talk or tell us anymore than you need. However, we want to capture the man that did this. If we have a serial killer or an assassin or the starting of either one, knowing anything will be key in finding him and saving any other lives he may take, or have taken. Please, reconsider.”

A soft smile came to Nairus lips. “The man was only after one thing. He warned me if I got in his way, he would defend himself. I do not think you will find any more bodies from him in the city.”

The detective straighten. A questionable flicker in his eyes. “Are you wanting to drop all charges from being attacked?”

Nairus gave a slow nod. “Yes, I think that would be best,” he said, shifting his attention over towards the lake. It's better this way. I’d have to explain about Mey, about Synric, and the whole situation.

The detective stood a little longer, but Nairus never looked back. When it finally struck that he wasn’t going to get anything else, the detective spun and made his way back to his partner, a sharp, “We’re done here,” passed.

A few brief moments in silence passed before his father sat down beside him by the fountain.

“You should give them the details, at some point.” He said.

Nairus took a deep breath. “You’re leaving today?” He looked over.

His father’s eyes harden at the dismissal. “Yes. You should come back with me. This city--”

Nairus shook his head and stood up. “I have a job here. My time in the military is another several years.”

His father scoffed, rising as well. “We’ll talk later,” he said and for a moment seemed to wait. Wait for what, Nairus didn’t really know, and so the moment passed and his father's eyes drifted downwards.

He gave a small nod before saying to let him know if he needed anything else and walked towards the Cathedral and back into the city.

Nairus watched. A brief amusement tickling. In elvish, talking later could mean years, and right now, that’s exactly what he needed.

#nairus #writing #long

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ayamari-no-goshi · 3 years

Text

Verboten 2 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary: AU. When Danny was five years old, he went missing for 2 weeks. In the years that follow, his family tried to make sense of what happened, only for the truth to be discovered years later.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, language. Be prepared for some very weird things

Parings: Danny/Sam

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr. This fic is very heavily inspired by folklore surrounding mysterious wilderness disappearances

Chapter 2

“I’m honestly surprised your parents allowed you on this trip, Danny,” his friend Sam mentioned as they and their other friend, Tucker, packed their bags onto the bus.

The now seventeen year old Danny shrugged as he focused on trying to make sure his bag wouldn’t be squished in the luggage compartment of the bus during the trip. He brought a foldable telescope with him in case he had a chance to stargaze, and he didn’t want it to get broken.

His school, Casper High, had some sort of deal with one of the local National Parks. The school was allowed to camp at the park at a reduced rate as long as the students helped the Forest Rangers with some minor tasks. Both parties considered it a win-win situation as the Park Service received some extra hands, and the school was able to pride itself on the survival and conservational experiences its students received. Technically, the trip was voluntary for seniors, but the teachers indirectly pressured the students to participate.

“To be honest, I’m more surprised they convinced Tucker to go,” Danny eventually replied after he was satisfied with the location of his bag.

“You’re telling me!” Tucker whined as he waited for his two friends while he fiddled with his PDA. “My mother actually threatened to stop making her meatloaf for me if I didn’t go! They said, “It would be good for me”. Can you believe that?”

“I think a little bit of hiking do you some good.” Sam poked him in the stomach for emphasis.

As Tucker shouted in protest, Danny and Sam exchanged a glance. Tucker did not like the outdoors, and he was very vocal about it. His world primary consisted of technology, and while it was amazing what he could do with his handheld and twenty minutes, his physical prowess was lacking.

“But seriously, Danny,” Tucker injected after he finally fended off Sam, “how did you convince your parents to let you come?”

Danny shrugged as he headed towards the door of the bus. Shouts from the teachers made it clear they would be boarding soon. “It seems like the school board managed to somehow convince them. All I know is that they had a meeting with them to raise concerns and to tell them I wasn’t going to go, but they came back stating it was fine. It must have been one heck of a persuasive argument.”

“That’s because my mother was involved.” The boys glanced over to see Sam angrily kick a rock out of the way. Her parents were often a taboo topic. “I thought I told you she was on the school board. I don’t know the full details of it, but I know she was preparing counterarguments to objections.”

“I’m honestly surprised your parents are so gung ho about this trip. You’d think they’d consider camping beneath them.”

“It’s because of the prestige. They can brag that their daughter and their daughter’s school has ties to a government agency.”

While Danny raised an eyebrow, he admitted it seemed petty enough of a reason. Sam’s parents were very wealthy and liked to show off their wealth, much to their daughter’s dismay. They often argued with her regarding her appearance, music tastes, friends, after school activities, and other issues as they believed their daughter’s choices reflected poorly on them. However, they were usually fine with their daughter’s activism regarding conservation and animal rights as long as she didn’t go too far with it, such as the time she tried to stage a break out at the local zoo.

Their conversation ended as the boarding began. The three somehow managed to get the back of the bus, which allowed them to continue to talk without interruption. Most of the other students tended to avoid their group. They didn’t know why until one of the band members, Mikey, once asked Tucker how he put up with being so close to Danny. Confused, Tucker asked him to elaborate.

According to Mikey, a lot of the other students felt unnerved by Danny. As polite and quiet as he tended to be, there was something odd about him that no one was directly able to pinpoint. Mikey said he thought it could have been his eyes, citing how at times it almost seemed like Danny saw the world in a slightly different way than the rest of them. Tucker just laughed it off and explained that Danny had a traumatic event as a child so he often seemed unusually reserved. Mikey seemed to accept that answer, and afterwards, at least some of the students involved with the band were more open towards Danny.

The Fentons moved to Amity Park two years after Danny’s disappearance, so the majority of the student body was unaware of the event. If he was honest, Danny would never have told Sam and Tucker what happened, but his parents’ eccentricities forced the issue.

When his parent’s found out about Sam’s activism the first time she and Tucker visited their house, they made her swear she would not take their son into the woods with her. When he was finally allowed to take them to his room after Sam promised she wouldn’t, he hesitantly explained why they were so intense. His friends were very understanding, though they were just as puzzled about the entire thing as he was. Tucker even offered to hack into the old case file if Danny ever decided to look into it.

Sam did mention that it did help explain why they sometimes caught him staring off into space. She figured he was probably traumatized by something he couldn’t quite remember. Danny mentioned his sister once told him something similar, but he honestly didn’t remember anything that happened.

What he never admitted to his friends was that he knew why he sometimes seemed distant. Ever since his disappearance, he sometimes saw figures out of the corner of his periphery. Usually, he thought it was another person, but when he tried to check, whatever it was had disappeared. More recently, however, the figures seemed to let him glimpse them for a second or two. He could never make out anything other than the vague shape as a person. Since no one else seemed to notice them, he figured it was some weird sort of paranoia due to a repressed memory.

….

About a half hour after they left, Danny received a voicemail from his parents. He had forgotten he had put it on silent, but there was no way he could call them back while he was on the bus since Mr. Lancer was the chaperone for his bus, and that man was a stickler for the rules. Instead, he made a mental note to call them back as soon as he had permission as he clicked the play button.

His mother’s voice sounded absolutely frantic. “Daniel, you call me as soon as you get this! I don’t know what came over us, but we never should have let you go without some sort of protection. I should have never have let you go. If the teachers won’t let you call us, jest remember to never be the last or first in line, and never, under any circumstances, go anywhere alone. And, this is important Danny, if anyone you don’t know offers you food, don’t take it.” His dad could faintly be heard in the background talking about some sort of weaponry he made.

“And here I thought only my mom could sound like that. What was that about?” Sam asked. Her raised eyebrow told him she wasn’t going to let it drop until he had an answer.

“I think my parents finally realized I was going into the woods,” he replied as he put his phone away.

“I thought you said they were fine with you going,” Tucker chimed in while he rummaged through his back for a snack.

Danny didn’t immediately answer. He glanced away for a moment before finally he decided to open up about something which had been bugging him. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but my parents almost seemed like they were in a daze after that school meeting. They were so adamant I was not going to be allowed to go on that trip, and then they just changed their minds and stopped voicing their concerns. It was so weird that I actually called Jazz.”

It was true. He had called his sister at collage because of how out of character it was. While Jazz understood his concern, she reassured him one of the teachers or other parents managed to ease their concerns, and/or they realized some of their worries were silly and unfounded. He tried to tell her there was something more to it as she couldn’t physically see how off they were, but she just told him he was being paranoid and to enjoy himself.

Tucker whistled. “It must have been weird for you to do that.” Both Sam and Tucker knew full well how Jasmine “Jazz” Fenton tended to overanalyze almost everything. As a result, Danny often tried to avoid asking her questions regarding why a person would act in a certain way. The resulting explanation was often too lengthy to be interesting.

“As weird as that is, do you really think anyone in Amity would do something like drug or hypnotize your parents?” Sam argued.

“I… I don’t really know. Look, I never told you guys this,” Danny sighed as he steeled himself, “but, there has been a second incident prior to us moving. Our old house had a wooded area behind it. It wasn’t dense or anything, and you could see in it for like a half mile… but, according to my parents, and Jazz confirmed it, I went missing again for several hours in those woods. I don’t remember saying this, but they said I mentioned something about my playmate from the forest in Arkansas payed me a visit. There’s been an unspoken worry that this guy is following us for some reason.”

Neither of his friends said anything for a while until Sam spoke up. “That’s really messed up, but do you really think that’s the case? How would this person be able to find you? Do you even know what he or she looks like?”

He shook his head. “You know my parents are big names in fringe science. It’s possible he found us that way. I know that it’s really unlikely… It… It’s just… it was too weird, you know? With how my parents go on and on about other dimensions and being spirited away, them just suddenly changing their minds went against everything they believe.”

“Don’t worry, Danny. You’re with us and a bunch of other students. We’ll keep an eye on you.”

“And if something does happen, Sam can chase off the bad guy with those boots of hers. Ow!” Tucker glared at Sam as he rubbed his shin. “That was a compliment.”

She just snickered which caused the two to start bickering. The familiarity of it helped ease some of Danny’s worries. He knew he was just being paranoid, and that it was very unlikely anyone did something to his parents. It was just that he couldn’t shake off his uneasy feeling.

….

Their camp ground was in the Cuyahoga Valley region which was on the outskirts of the Allegheny plateau. The hills in the area were rolling due to the plateau and ancient glacial activity, but they were nowhere near as large as the ones found closer to the mountains in the next state over. Like many forests in the plateau, it was surprisingly old and dense.

Danny was unsettled by it. The hardwood trees blocked out a large percentage of the sun which cast permanent shadows on the area. Not only was it unlikely he would be able to stargaze, he kept thinking he saw something peek out from behind the trees. Chalking it up to paranoia, he decided to focus on the interior of the bus until they reached their destination. He didn’t need to freak out this early in the trip.

Due to the amount of students, the school split them into groups of about thirty and split them around the park. His group was sent to a series of cabins near one of the ranger stations. There were five or six assigned to each cabin. Thankfully for Danny, Tucker was also assigned to the same cabin.

After Mr. Lancer told them some general rules, they were told they had an hour to settle in before they would met up for lunch. The unpacking was fairly uneventful, though Danny was dismayed to learn some of the football players would be in his cabin. Most of them tended to leave him alone, but the one, Dash, liked to bully him. It was strange since he was the only person aside from Sam and Tucker who would come anywhere near him. Thankfully, other than a warning to keep his weirdness to himself, the football players decided to ignore him and Tucker.

He unpacked fairly quickly, so he decided he had enough time to try to contact his parents. Stepping outside, he tried to make a phone call. Someone picked up on the other end, but the signal must have been poor as the call was extremely choppy. After several minutes of trying to figure out what she was saying, he told her he would ask the Rangers if they had a land line he’d be able to use before he ended the call. He frowned as he checked the bars on his phone. There signal was strong enough that the call shouldn’t have been that choppy, but it was a cheaper phone since he had a bad habit of breaking them, so that could have been the reason.

They ate lunch at a mess hall in the camp complex. It was a fairly modest meal, but the beef and gravy was surprisingly good. Danny mused it was probably because his parents often experimented with cooking which often created strange results. He was also surprised that there was a vegetarian option available for Sam, but the school must have called ahead to let them know.

When they were finishing up, Mr. Lancer announced that one of the Rangers had an announcement. Danny glanced over to see a stern man, possibly in his late thirties, move towards the front of the room. He was fit and weathered, but every once in a while, there was a haunted look in his eyes.

The ranger, Rusty, gave the group a rundown of the general rules. He then paused for a moment before he spoke again. “This is unprecedented, but we are going to need your help for a search for a missing person.” Murmurs of excitement ran through the students. “This is a serious matter, and I request you pay attention. We have our search and rescue people and volunteers out right now looking for a twenty-two year old male. He is Caucasian and was last seen in a red jacket and blue jeans. He goes by Aiden.”

“Because you are not properly trained,” Rusty continued, “I only ask that you walk along the nearby trails for a couple hours in groups of two or more. Each group will be given a walkie-talkie. If you see or hear anything strange, call it into us. Don’t go off the trails. We don’t need more people getting lost today.” He fell silent and seemed to argue with himself for a moment before adding, “If you hear what sounds like screaming, particularly a woman screaming, call it in immediately. Large cats sometimes make that kind of sounds, and we definitely have Bobcats around. Luckily, they tend to avoid people, but we do like to know when we have signs of them.”

Twenty minutes later, the teens separated into their groups. Each group was provided a map, compass, and walkie-talkie. Rusty took them to a large map posted outside the Ranger station and explained a little about the area. The trails he wanted them to take circled the surrounding area and were well marked. Before he let them go, he again warned them to report anything off, but did try to reassure them by letting them know other rangers would be regularly sweeping the area.

“Well, isn’t this a reassuring start to our trip,” Tucker sarcastically mentioned as he tried to figure out the map.

“It can’t be helped,” Sam told him as she ripped the map out of his hands and corrected it before handing it back to him. “They must be desperate if they’re asking students to help.”

“Hey, I’m not used to replying on handheld maps.”

“You could try bringing it up on GPS,” Danny mentioned as they headed towards the one trail.

“That’s a great idea!” Tucker fiddled with his PDA for a moment before turning back to his friend. “Are you okay, dude? You sound a little off.”

“Oh, I guess this would hit a little too close to home,” Sam mentioned as she examined his expression.

Danny sighed as he glanced away from her. “Kind of. Even though I don’t remember it, I was in this exact same situation before. I hope they find the guy, at least for his family’s sake.”

The trio fell silent as they began their walk on one of the easy trails. They didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, though Tucker complained starting about halfway through the hike. Sam tried to distract them by identifying some of the local flora, but it only worked for so long.

By the time they made it back to camp, it was almost dinner time. Danny was glad to be back around the group. Although he never mentioned anything to his friends, he felt as if he was being watched the entire time. The trees seemed oppressive at times, and he was honestly surprised he didn’t have a panic attack while they were on the trail.

After dinner, he asked Rusty if there was a phone he would be able to use. Rusty told him that he would have to wait until the morning because they needed the line for the search. Danny understood and thanked the man.

Before he had a chance to head back to his cabin, Rusty called out to him, “While you’re here, make sure you never go off on your own.”

“I know. I mean, my parents drilled that into me for years,” Danny admitted with a shrug.

Rusty examined him closely before stepping closer and whispering, “You’ve witnessed something strange in the past. I can tell by the look in your eyes and how tense you are. In any heavily wooded area, the more open you are to the unusual, the more likely it might show up again.” He walked off without another word. Unnerved, Danny returned to his cabin and waited for his friend.

Tucker still wanted to complain about the amount of walking they did when he returned to the room, which prompted a discussion regarding how in the world Sam was able to enjoy things like that. Danny was about to bring up what the ranger told him when the football players burst into the room. Normally, Danny would just ignore them, but this time, he was intrigued by their excited whispers.

“Hey dweebs,” Dash addressed them, much to Danny and Tucker’s surprise, “did you hear what happened?” An evil grin appeared on his face when they told him they didn’t. “Kwan overheard the rangers talking earlier. You know that guy they were looking for?”

“Yeah,” Danny answered, “Did they find him?”

“Yeah, but he wasn’t alive.”

“Wait, what?”

“You heard me. They’re saying he’s dead.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of chapter notes :

The Cuyahoga (Ky-ah-HOE-ga) Valley is a real place. I chose it for some very specific reasons. 1) The forests in that area are extremely large 2) I’m fairly familiar with the landscape and weather as I grew up in another part of the Allegheny plateau 3) The parks in that area are a bit unusual as you have a mix of privately owned and government owned areas which I’m using to my design as there’s more leeway with what they can and can’t build in those areas 4) some old towns have been “swallowed” by the national park including one famous “helltown”

The Allegheny (Al-ah-gain-ie) plateau is one part of the Appalachian Mountains, which are said to be the oldest mountains in the world. You don’t really have the high peaks or rock terrain associated with other ranges since they’re so worn, but there are a lot of hills, valleys, creeks, and streams. There are also a lot of coal mines since it’s a coal rich area. What’s also very strange about the plateau is that you can be in a town or suburbs, but within 15-20 minutes, you can be on the outskirts of a deep forest. There are also some swamps and marshy areas within the plateau as well.

Also, a lot of the names for natural landmarks in the Allegheny plateau originate from the tribes who originally settled there. There are even some burial mounds in the Cuyahoga area.

#so i heard you like folklore #danny phantom #danny fenton #danny phantom au #dp #dp au #my writing #fanfic #fanfiction #fantasy #supernatural #sam manson #tucker foley #maddie fenton #jack fenton #vlad plasmius #folklore #sooooooooo much folklore #Verboten

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not-close-to-straight · 4 years

Text

Sugar, Sugar (Final)

Ho ho holy long break between chapters but we are back and ready to wrap this plotless thing up!

MASTERLIST HERE

Enjoy! ***************

The door at Sweet Peach Bakery swished open, the bell tinkling merrily and Tony checked on the cooking lemon curd before calling, “Be right there! Two seconds!”

“No rush, I’m sure you’re making something delicious.”

Tony went very still, gripped at the counter top until his fingers went white and then forced his voice to professional when he greeted, “Oh hello. Natasha, isn’t it? I remember you from the other day at Bucky and Steve’s.”

“Mmm.” Natasha pursed her lips and looked the little baker over. “I’m sure you do. Have you spoken to either of our favorite beefcakes?”

“No.” Tony grabbed a lemon and zested the hell out of it, taking his aggravation out on the citrus rather than the redhead. “But you know that already, or you wouldn’t be here. And you aren’t the sort of person to bow to pressure, so you aren’t here because they made you come which means you are here for the sole reason of buying cupcakes, so in that case--”

He took a deep breath and sent her a smile. “What can I get for you? The special today is raspberry lemon strudel.”

“Wow. You are at least ten times more observant than that ruffled apron would lend me to believe.” Natasha leaned over the counter and studied him curiously, and Tony’s dark eyes flashed in brief annoyance before he replied, “And you are every bit the bitch that particular hairstyle makes you out to be. Do you want cupcakes or not?”

Natasha’s pretty mouth fell right open and Tony went back to aggressively zesting. “I came here to apologize.”

“Well you’re terrible at it, so start over.”

“Fair enough. I’ll start over.” the redhead inhaled, exhaled then said, “I won’t apologize for telling Steve and Bucky about your past. Those two are some of my favorite people in the entire world, my closest friends and since I know they are halfway past stupid in love with you, I’m not about to let a perfect stranger lie to them, are we clear?”

“This is your apology?” Tony slammed the stripped lemon into the juicer and forced it through. “Great job.”

“I would break a strangers heart and face a dozen different times before letting one of my friends be hurt in any way, shape or form.” Natasha said calmly. “And I won’t apologize for that. But I will apologize for how I did it. I should have come to you privately and tried to understand who you were--”

“-- and I would have offered you a cupcake and told you to fuck off because you and I are perfect strangers.” Tony interrupted, and Natasha smiled the littlest bit. “So instead you brought it up in front of a room full of strangers, decided to throw it in my face with a few key words that brought back two years worth of really shitty memories. Do you know what I’ve done the last three days? Eat low fat ice cream. That’s how upset I was.”

“Low fat ice cream sounds incredibly depressing and I’m sorry for it.” Natasha agreed. “But unfortunately when it comes to broaching uncomfortable topics, my skills lie with sussing out terrible people not dealing with less than malicious bakers who just don’t trust anyone enough to open up yet.”

“Your skills?” Tony scooped up a bit of lemon curd and tasted it, then slanted a sideways look at Natasha and offered her a bite as well. “What is it exactly that you do?”

“Data collection.” Natasha answered evasively. “This is the best lemon...thing... I’ve ever tasted.”

“Of course it is.” Tony took the spoon back. “And by data collection you mean you’re a spook. My Auntie Peggy says the same thing when people ask. That’s why you were able to find so much information on me even though all the records are over in Italia and not much more than out of print tabloids that don’t bother keeping published records.”

“Whatever you want to believe.” she nodded. “And I won’t ask what happened or for further clarification cos to be quite honest, I don’t care. All I care about is whether or not you’re going to break Bucky and Steve’s heart.”

“It’s more likely that they will break my heart.” Tony said tightly, and dumped a pile of lemon zest into his mixing bowl. “You might not want further clarification but you read enough to know I was hopelessly in love and absolutely idiotic with how I dealt with the break up. Isabella and Ranieri were fine afterwards. Clearly I was not.”

“Were you ever going to tell Steve and Buck?”

“I had no intention of taking this past a hookup, so I can honestly say no, I didn’t plan on ever telling them.” A block of cream cheese and butter joined the lemon zest in the bowl. “And at this point, I never plan on talking to them again so--”

“Don’t be dumb.” Natasha peered into the bowl curiously. “Steve and Bucky have been practically feral these last few days waiting to talk to you. I know you told them to give you some space right after I ripped the proverbial band aid off, and trust me. I’ve seen an agitated Bronco or two in my day but I’ve never seen him or Big and Blond this agitated. Call them.”

“Nope. Don’t think I will.” Tony turned the mixer on and moved to his other table to line a cupcake pan. “I’ve been feeling like maybe things were getting too commitment-y and this is as good a chance as any to just cut the ties and move on.”

“...wait, are you serious?” she blinked at the baker a few times. “Are you serious? You’d walk away from those two just because it’s feeling like a relationship? Why?!”

“I’m sorry, did you not see the file of my mistakes?” Tony plunked a scoop of crumbly crust into the bottom of each paper and flattened it out. “The last thing I need to do is get involved with another couple! Falling in love once was bad enough, here I am halfway through doing it a second time and I’m not looking forward to getting my heart smeared across the front pages of another half a dozen tabloids. Leave it alone.”

“Tony--”

“Remember how you said we were perfect strangers?” Tony interrupted. “Well perfect strangers don’t offer unsolicited advice. Would you like a cupcake or not? Take one and get out.”

“Fine.” Natasha stuffed a few dollars in the tip jar, then a few more towards the cash register. “Thank you. Should I tell the boys anything?”

“Nope.”

“Alright then.”

Natasha left the shop as quietly as she’d entered, then immediately reached for her phone.

From Natasha: Your favorite baker is at least halfway in love with both your dumb asses and is terrified of getting hurt again. Don’t screw this up.

From Natasha: Also, he’s got lemon cupcakes today and I think I gained seven pounds just eating the frosting. Literally amazing. Marry him.

From Steve: How did you figure out he’s half in love with us?

From Bucky: WTF you went and got cupcakes with out us? Bring me a one.

From Steve: Focusing on the wrong thing, Buck.

From Bucky: Sure am. Tasha I’m surprised he didn’t try to kill you. What the hell were you doing visiting the bakery?

From Natasha: Data Collecting.

From Bucky: Riiiiiight. So. Half in love, huh?

From Natasha: And Terrified

From Steve: We’re on it.

***************

“Welcome to Sweet Peach, I’ll be right with--” Tony slowed to a stop when he saw who was waiting in the lobby. “--you? Hi. What are you guys doing here?”

“Heya Tony.” Steve’s smile was easy and soft and way to charming for how much it twisted at Tony’s heart. “How are you?”

“Still wondering why you’re here.” Tony was too frazzled to even be polite, folding his arms and then unfolding them, playing with his apron and then smoothing it back down. “What are you doing here?”

“Came by to get some sweet treats.” Bucky eyed the lemon cupcakes greedily. “And you know, some of that sweet peach you’re hiding in those leggings over there.”

“Bucky!” Steve hissed. “Tony, what Bucky means is--”

“--nah, I stand by what I said.” Bucky vaulted over the counter and came up close to Tony, wrapping both arms around the baker’s little waist and hauling him in for a long kiss. “Missed you these last few days, you doin’ okay?”

“I’m--I’m--I’m--” Tony’s hair was hilariously rumpled post kiss, eyes wide and maybe even a little scared. “I’m fine. But what are you doing?”

“I dunno what Bucky is doing, but our original plan was to come over and ask you out on a date.” Steve gave up on using words and pushed Bucky away so he could swoop a kiss onto Tony’s lips too. “Missed you, sweetheart. How are you feeling?”

“Very confused.” Tony touched his mouth where it tingled after Steve’s kiss. “You’re here to ask me on a date?”

“Well yeah.” Bucky dug his finger into a glob of frosting and mm-hmm’d in interest. “We’ve done the three months of hooking up, we’ve learned a bunch about each other and broken the ice and various surfaces while nekkid. Next step is a first date, right?”

“What Bucky means is--”

“-- would’ya stop tryna correct what I say?” Bucky kicked out at Steve in frustration. “I mean what I say, damn it!”

“What Bucky means is--” Steve dodged the next kick. “-- is that we want to make us official and we’re here to ask if you want to do the same. You want to date us for real, honey? Put a label on all this and maybe just move right on into all sortsa other good things?”

“Eh, I would’a said it better.” Bucky kept eating the frosting. “Babydoll what is this, lemon and lavender?”

“And vanilla.” Tony corrected. “But wait, you-- after you read what happened in Italy? You still want to date me?”

“We read what happened.” Steve swallowed and shared a quick look with Bucky. “You fell in love and got into a serious relationship, they changed their mind and broke up with you, you reacted about as well as anyone would in that situation.”

“Came stateside t’get away from it all.” Bucky finished. “Opened the best little bakery ever and managed to get two hunky beef-cake types to be all sorts of in love with your peach.”

“BUCKY!”

“And the rest of you!” the big brunette was quick to add. “In love with your sweet peach and the rest of you!”

“You guys are--” Tony audibly gulped. “You guys are in love with me?”

“But we aren’t saying anything like that until you’re ready.” Steve held up both hands peacefully. “We’re gonna start at square one. We’re friends, we’ve already done all the ‘get to know you’ stuff, now’s the time when we ask you out on a first date to see if a relationship would work.”

“You guys are in love with me.” The baker whispered. “Really?”

“Don’t matter if we are or not.” Bucky shook his head. “What matters is whether or not you’re gonna let us take you out for some winin’ and dinin’ and peaching this weekend.”

“...what about Italy?” Tony asked slowly. “Aren’t you going to ask me why they dumped me? Why I spiraled out of control?”

“The most we care about Italy is whether or not you’ll scream various Italian things the next time we get you in bed.” Steve grinned, and Bucky added, “And whether or not you’re really okay after it, or if you need s’more time. That’s it.”

“Oh.” Tony plucked at the ruffled on his apron anxiously. “Just like that? You aren’t going to ask a bunch of questions or think I’m unstable or-- or whatever?”

“M’gonna ask a bunch of questions about how much of this frosting I can eat before throwing up, and how much it would cost to hire you as a full time sweetie pie so you just feed it to me all day.” Bucky felt around for a ladle and dug it into the frosting bowl. “Stevie makes good money, he can afford to pay you for me.”

“Thanks for that.” Steve scowled at his boyfriend. “Tony, you tell us you aren’t willing to take a chance on us as a couple and we’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing. Or you don’t want to do that either, that’s okay. We’ll figure it out. All that stuff Tasha showed us-- we don’t care, alright? Life can mess us up and sometimes we move on, sometimes we don’t. We aren’t upset or-- or even curious, really.”

“You aren’t curious?” Tony asked doubtfully. “At all?”

“Sugar, the last thing I wanna know is how bad someone else hurt ya.” Bucky said around a mouthful of lavender and lemon. “All we wanna know is how we can fix it and make sure you never look that sad again.”

Finally Tony gave them a tiny, tiny smile. “Really?”

“C’mere.” Steve brought Tony back in for a sweet, sweet kiss, brushing his knuckles just lightly over Tony’s cheek and tangling his other hand in the apron strings so Tony wouldn’t pull away too soon. “Tony. All that sort of stuff about Italy and whether or not we’re gonna work out in a relationship-- that isn’t first date stuff. That’s like, fifteenth date stuff we talk about when we hand over a spare key to the apartment and we start planning vacations. We don’t have to talk about anything yet.”

“Plus, we ain’t that good at talking anyway.” Bucky chimed in. “So we could first-through-fifteenth date it up and then talk about it when you feel better and when you believe us when we say it don’t matter.”

“I think I’d like that.” Tony finally admitted and both Bucky and Steve lit up with excitement. “I think I could handle a--a first date. With the two of you.”

“Sounds like the best first date of my life.” Steve grinned and Bucky whooped, pumping his fist in the air.

“When-- um when do you want to go?” Suddenly shy, and far too adorable, Tony bit at his lip and peeked up at them through his lashes. “On our date, I mean. When should we go?”

“Should be a proper date, so let’s schedule for Friday night.” Steve said promptly. “We’ll make reservations someplace nice, pick you up here at the shop or at your place if you prefer that. Drinks first, then dinner. We can go for a walk through the park around the fountain afterwards and share a sweet but chaste kiss before saying goodnight.”

“Sweet but chaste?” Tony’s dark eyes twinkled with laughter at the same time Bucky repeated scandalized, “Sweet but chaste?!”

“Should be a proper date.” the blond repeated. “But uh-- there’s no sayin’ what could happen on a second or third date, huh?”

“Huh?” Bucky waggled his eyebrows at Tony. “Right? No sayin’ what could happen!”

“I guess not.” Tony’s cheeks were flushed bright with excitement and maybe even relief. “You guys are sure, though. Really?”

“Really really, sweet thing.” Bucky finally put the frosting down and motioned Tony back for a quick kiss and then a long hug. “You and us-- we’re just fine.”

“Thank you.” the little baker melted into Bucky’s arms, finally let the stress of the last several days just wash away. “Oh my god, thank you.”

“We got time to figure it out.” Steve came over and hugged them both up close. “It’s just a first date, nothing more complicated than dinner and drinks and a goodnight kiss. You wanna talk, we can talk. Otherwise we’ll just do what we always do and uh-- maybe yell at Tasha a little bit for making you so upset.”

“She was just looking out for you guys.” Tony’s words were muffled in Bucky’s shoulder. “I’d contemplate murder for anyone I thought was messing with Pepper or Rhodey, maybe I should be glad all she did was data collect.”

“Yeah, we’ve really got to figure out exactly what she does.” Bucky whispered and Steve just laughed a little and squeezed them tighter and the three settled in to enjoy the quiet, the moment, together.

But then--

“Wait, if the first date is going to end in a chaste kiss, does that mean I have to wait till date three for sex?” Tony wrinkled up his nose in complaint. “Because that doesn’t seem very fun.”

“Damn Stevie, he’s right.” Bucky’s eyes went comically wide. “That doesn’t seem fun at all! I feel like there’s somethin’ we could do about that.”

“Bucky.” Steve tried to sigh, but Tony interrupted, “No, I think the Bronco has a point! I have two perfectly good couches--ACK!”

Tony shrieked when he was suddenly, unceremoniously beef-cake less, both Steve and Bucky all but bolting for the back room and pulling at their clothes as they went and calling for him to hurry up.

“Okay!” Tony burst out laughing when Bucky’s shirt ended up flung over the industrial size dough mixer. “Okay, just give me two seconds to get all this put away!”

He hurried around the kitchen wrapping up the untouched frosting and cooled cake, then tossed his apron away, turned some music on and sashayed back towards his office singing softly, “Honey, ahhh sugar sugar! You are my candy boy! And you got me wanting youuuuu---!”

**************

***************

“What, so those two dorks just showed up and said they wanted to take Tony on a first date after three months of juicin’ the hell outta that peach?” Clint was shoveling bacon into his mouth at a truly alarming rate, and Sam smacked him upside the head before snatching the plate back. “Ow! Damn it!”

“Yeah, apparently, they decided on a real traditional first date complete with chaste kiss and Tony went for it.” Sam ignored Clint’s grabby fingers and passed the plate to Valkyrie. “It must’ve went well cos they texted me about skipping group breakfast. Something about lavender and lemon frosting and Bucky not being willing to put it down.... I dunno. Sounds like kinky baker sex to me.”

“I’m just glad my data collecting didn’t ruin anything.” Natasha sipped at her coffee and cut her eyes towards Bucky and Steve’s bedroom door. “I do feel bad he was so upset but...”

“...but not enough to keep it a secret from your best friends.” Val finished. “No one blames you, Tash. Specially not since it worked out.”

“Must’a really worked out if they aren’t out here yelling at us for breaking in and eating their breakfast food.” Clint finally got the bacon back. “Think they spent the night at Tony’s?”

“They said a chaste--”

“Yeah, when was the last time you saw anything chaste about the Bronco and Steve?” Sam cut in. “No way. My guess is they spent the night at Tony’s cos they would definitely be out here shouting at us for taking the bacon and making a mess in their--”

“EDWARD ANTHONY CARBONELL STARK!” The front door to the apartment burst open and everyone in the kitchen ducked and screamed-- or rather, everyone except for Natasha who whipped a knife out of nowhere and then just as quickly tucked it away when she saw who had come in.

“TONY!” The Colonel James Rhodes didn’t even look at the group as he stomped past headed for the bedroom. “YOU PUT YOUR GODDAMN PANTS ON AND COME OUT HERE AND TELL ME WHY YOU BUTT DIALED ME DURING YOUR HOOK UP LAST NIGHT?!”

“Good morning.” Next through the door was Pepper, tall and beautiful and apparently wildly amused by the whole scene. “Nice to meet you all. I’m assuming Tony is in the bedroom with Steve and Bucky?”

“Uhhh---” Valkyrie’s jaw about hit the ground. “I um--”

“I TOLD YOU LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED THAT IF I HAD TO LISTEN TO YOUR NASTY ASS DURING A HOOK UP ONE MORE TIME---”!

“Rhodey!” Tony was shrieking with laughter, Bucky and Steve shrieking with fear when the Colonel kicked in the bedroom door. “Rhodey, I’m sorry! You are my top contact in my phone, I can’t help the butt dials!”

“YOU WILL HELP THE BUTT DIALS OR SO HELP ME GOD--!”

“So.” Pepper snagged a piece of bacon off the plate. “How is your morning going?”

“Eh. Better than theirs.” Natasha decided, and everyone went right back to eating.

“Honey Honey, how you thrill me.” Clint sang as he poured syrup on his waffle. “Uh huh, honey honey!”

“No singing Clint.” Sam warned, and Clint protested, “Tony sings!”

“If you had a butt like Tony, we’d let you sing.” Natasha countered and Clint gasped, “I am hurt and offended.”

“You are neither of those things, and your butt is fantastic.” Valkyrie informed him. “But lets leave the singing to the sweet peach, huh?”

“Fine.” Clint grumbled. “As long as my butt is as good as Tony’s.”

“Aw. Sure it is, honey. Sure it is.”

****************

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE FIC!

****************

@thanossucks @atomicfandombomb @thebuckybrigade @fanfic-up-to-my-tits @starknakedsluts @basiad @everything-is-applepie @kimstark @tulipsnbigcats @in-umbra-gratia @local1dreamer @igotsuckedintothevoid @ahufflepuffnannywriter

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#ncts fics #stuckony #tony stark #steve rogers #bucky barnes

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slashingdisneypasta · 4 years

Text

(Any Category Villains) x Reader || Drabbles

Plot: Congratulations, you have caught character A’s (Italics in the ‘Includes’ section) attention and they’ve been bothering you since you met (Caught you sneaking into the museum, caught Peter Pan bringing you into Neverland, or you transferred to Dauntless and jumped) and you have upheld the front that you dislike / hate him but your real feelings are given away when you see Character B, who is a reincarnation of Character A, and you are visibly attracted to this person.

Includes (Italics = The love interest. // No italics = The one you gush over) : Al Capone and Frank Castle / The Punisher, Captain Hook (2003) and Lucius Malfoy, and Eric (Divergent) and Captain Boomerang.

Warnings: Looking at our line-up, I’m assuming theirs gonna be some swearing and, because of the topic their will probs be sexual references. Some THIRSTING

Notes:

I dunno who will want this but I wrote it a week ago and was having trouble adding the last two character (Freddy and Buckman) but I got a new idea for Buckman (And Hoyt, and Jafar. Ya’ll just sit back and wait for what I’m brewing with these unholy three) now so no worries! Imma just post it. I like Al’s at least ^^ NATM fans will be maybe happy :D

~~~

Al Capone: Frank Castle / The Punisher ( @blueinkblot )

“So, you’re supposed to be the other me?” Al talks to his doppelganger with contempt in the other room, and you can just imagine the pinched look on his face. Chuckling about it, I get up from the lunch table and leave the break room, going to see what’s happening and oversee the visit – hopefully I don’t have to use the dreaded torch the museum gave me as a weapon,- , go-ghurt still between my lips and my teeth. Strawberry flavour! Its delicious. The cooling sleeve was a smart purchase, I think. Despite what Napoleon and Kahmenrah might say… Stupid, pompous bastards. Thinking yoghurt out of a tube is inferior to yoghurt out of a tub.

Pfft!

Rounding the corner, I see two Al’s. One of them is grey scale, of course, and he’s holding his tommy gun like it will make any difference in a fight if it came down to it, with is having no bullets and all, and the other looks like he’s recently been to war.

Oh, good, lord.

Really, he is as gruff looking as they come. Where Al’s clean and baby-faced, this guy has that sexy five o’clock shadow. He’s also buffer, human coloured and… is he taller?? I don’t know how it could be possible, but just way the way he looks at people makes him seem taller.

Suddenly he looks my way and I smile… but of course, I still have a tube of go-ghurt in my mouth and when I pull it out -a bit too excited maybe,- some specks of white yoghurt fleck onto my mouth. I go bright red with embarrassment and Al looks over to see what the new guy is looking away from, -me, - as I use my sleeve to wipe that stuff off. I miss his broad, knowing grin.

I flash him a toothless, joyless grin which I hope reads ‘Don’t talk to me, stop looking at me, don’t even mention me. I’m going to go find a hole to live in’ before raising a hand quickly to waive, slouching and slowly moping off to my hole. Go-Ghurt, how could you betray me like this!!

Ahhh, its better off that way anyway. Wouldn’t want Al to get to the idea that I think he’s attractive, haha. I sit down at the table Napoleon, Kah, Ivan and a couple other exhibits are playing go fish on and watch them play for a while, my legs stretched out under the table and arms crossed over my stomach, watching and not saying anything. Even when Kah matches a 6 of clubs with a 7 of clubs and no one else notices- I’d rather not set off any high-pitched French shrieking right now. My ears are still sensitive from last night, thank you very much.

When midnight strikes, they finally decide to give Go Fish a rest for the night, thank god, and disperse to separate areas of the museum. I’m just playing with the cards, shuffling them and organising them into suits and chronological order when Al plops down in the seat beside me. I glance at him between separating hearts and diamonds. “Your guy left?” Oh, thank god.

“Yeah; Said he had some work to do before the night was over.” He responds, and I nod in understanding. “Makes me wonder what kinda work he does, at night… with a gun… in all black… But I don’t ask questions.”

“Oh, you don’t?” I turn over my shoulder, set the cards down and look sceptically at him. I could have sworn he asks me a million questions about myself every chance he gets. “Do you?”

“Fine, I don’t ask that guy questions. I ask you, a lotta questions.” I make an immediate ‘Ahhh’ sound when he admits the first part and look back to my cards. I look right back at him through when I hear the legs of his chair scratch against the floor and find that he’s much closer now. “One more question.”

I raise an eyebrow at his mischievous face. “What?”

“Did you embarrass yourself checking the other me out?” A wide grin takes his mouth, and I gasp.

“I was no checking him out- and- and he’s not even like you, anyway. He looks completely different! In fact, I think he was 4 inches taller!” Okay, not quite that much taller, but if it gets under Al’s skin then fuck. Four inches is what I saw.

And it does get under his skin! His eyes go steely and he looks from you to where the guy had been a moment ago, then back. Pointing at the spot they were in, he exclaims. “There’s no way.”

“Oh sure, there was.”

“Bring a measuring tape tomorrow, we’ll see who’s really taller!”

I hold back a laugh, looking away from him and shuffling the cards again just to have something to do with my hands. “Sure, Al!~”

“You know what?” Ooh, he sounds frustrated. Success, for me! Yippee!

I grin, and ask him. “What?”

Then Al cups my jaw, drags my head around and plants a kiss right on my mouth. I shouldn’t- No, it shouldn’t have the effect on me that it does. I should push him off and leave, but I immediately transform into mush and turn fully to wrap my arms around his neck, tilting my head into it the kiss instead. I’m not gonna lie, I think, this boy can kiss. And maybe I’d been waiting for it.

A little bit.

Captain Hook (2003): Lucius Malfoy

“My dear Y/N come over here please! ~” Hook calls over to me from the lower deck, and I look up from my phone -surprisingly enough, I get great connection in Neverland,- like a sullen teenager, earplugs still in my ears, and wait for an explanation. What? What does he want? He’s keeping me hostage and now he wants something from me?? “I’d like to introduce you to my reincarnation! His name is Lucius Malfoy, he’s a wizard!”

For a moment I consider pretending I didn’t hear him, but then decide it’s always a good idea to stay on the good side of your kidnapper and huff. Getting up from the floor where I was sitting, I take my earplugs out and wrap them around my phone as I walk down the stairs to the lower deck where they are, stuffing it in my hoodie pocket when I reach them. “Hi, I’m Y/N. The Captains hos- “

“Consort! My fair Y/N.” A hook picks up a strand of my hair, and Hook watches as it slips off the hook.

What?! I look immediately up from the floor to Hook with a look of utter horror and ‘hell no’ carved into my features. Um, absolutely not- “Yes!” I hate myself for this, but what choice do I have? “That’s me, it’s nice to meet you- “

My mouth goes dry as soon as I see him for the first time and my expression softens quickly. So pretty! How?

I offer my hand to him to shake and he smirks -Lord help me, - and takes it, shaking for a good amount of time. “Lovely to meet you also, Y/N… Its funny, you look nothing like my wife. I guess reincarnation exists but not fate. Peculiar.” Hmmm, yes, or I was kidnapped. Not really his consort! Not at all!! No??!

Ahhhh, rats though. He’s married.

I run a hand back through my hair and take my hand back, smiling politely. Oh well. “Yeah, I guess! I haven’t really thought of it- Hook?” I turn promptly to him to keep up the conversation. I’m not going to. I’m anti-social and introverted. Besides, he started this. Conversation was thrust upon me.

When we connect gazes, I notice he was looking at me before I even turned. I flash a nervous, toothless smile and look away the ocean awkwardly. Oh, dear. What’s going on in his mind?

As they talk, and watch the ocean and feel… slightly, at peace watching the beautiful blue Neverland waves crawl over the expanse of water and the disperse into its depths after crashing. It almost feels like I’m back in Britain again… until a certain hooked arm hooks its way around my bloody waist and my head whips around to see what the hell he think’s he’s doing.

Plastering a smile on my face, I turn to my ‘husband’, giving Lucius a quick ‘excuse me a moment’, and gesturing for Hook to lean down to my level so I can whisper something in his ear. “Yes, hi. Hook. Get your fucking arm off of me; Your touch feels like gross bugs on me.”

He turns to face me, and our faces are uncomfortably close in this moment. “Dear, if you think I’m going to give up on you just because you’re too stubborn to admit you want me too because of some abomination of a moral dilemma then you’re mistaken.” My face burns, from embarrassment and anger -maybe just embarrassment? He touches his lips thoughtfully, then uses those same fingers to pull my chin up so I’m more at his mercy as his expression turns into a full smirk. Bastard. “And don’t think for one second that I somehow didn’t notice your reaction to my lookalike. I know just enough about how you feel about what I look like now to hold on. You will fall for me, you’ll see. “I watch with a deep frown on my face, heat running down my neck and into my clothes as he straightens up again to continue talking with Lucius. I take a deep breath, now that his focus isn’t on me anymore before he tugs me even closer against his body.

Eric (Divergent): Captain Boomerang (Keep in mind that I have never seen Suicide squad or anything else with Captain Boomerang)

Ohh, Eric was not happy about this. Eric isn’t happy about most things, unless they included the misfortune and pain of others and more recently, regrettably, me. But he reaaaaalllly hated this.

Contrasting drastically, I’m living for it. Naturally.

And the fact that ‘Captain Boomerang’, or Digger Harkness which is one of the sexiest given names I’ve ever heard, is gorgeous in that ruffled, dark way doesn’t hurt the situation one bit. No, it does not. Eric is villainous looking too, sure, but he’s so clean cut and angry looking. Its harsh on my irises.

“So, Captain, you said you grew up in Australia?” I’m enjoying this, and I’m sucking every morsel of joy out of it as I can- which means ask the Captain copious questions while Eric just stands with his arms crossed over his chest and tries to intimidate someone the same size and scary level as him, right beside me. I don’t know how he thinks that’s going to work out for him, but I think it’s the only form of offense he has right now to utilise. Poor, evil Eric. Boo hoo.

“That’s right, you ever been there?” He grins -he grins! The only time Eric ever grins is when he’s being cruel and because he does it so little, it’s kind of scary now. Very good for making birds fall out of the sky and babies cry, - and pats my arm. His hand is big, and I beam up at him because I’m getting attention from a pretty boy. “You’d like it, I think. Most people would.”

“Sure!” Will you take me, handsome?

Eric notices the Captain’s hand still on my arm before I do even, zeroes in on it, picks it up so tight I can see his knuckles are white and drops it back towards its owner. I press my lips together and bite on them, looking down at the ground for a moment to widen my eyes at the awkward tension.

When I look back up, they’re staring daggers at each other and it’s even more awkward. Eric! Could you go stand somewhere else possibly!?

Ooooor, maybe I will. This doesn’t seem like a safe place to be anymore.

“Well, it was really nice meeting you Captain. I have to go be somewhere else now, see yaaaaa,” I give him a jaunty and half-assed salute as I’m already occupied with turning and wheeling it out of there.

I was hoping to get away from them, but its two seconds out the door before I realise Eric has followed me. I continue on though, ignoring him and hoping he’ll get the hint- and screw off. I get that that’s a pipe dream though, so I’m not surprised when instead he starts speaking to me.

“So, what was that about?”

“Stop trailing me.”

“Answer my question.” He counters. Oh, scary stubborn Eric.

I know what he’s talking about. I know what he’s going to say. He’s going to say I think Captain Boomerang is pretty so I must think he is pretty- which is just not true!!

Is... is it?

No, no it mustn’t be that. I cannot be. I repeat, it c a n n o t be. “I refuse! Get off my tail Eric!”

He chuckles from behind me, pats my back and quickens up to leave me in his dust as he speeds down the hall effortlessly. “Sure, Y/N. Sure.” Soon, he’s out of sight, and I stop walking.

It… it’s not true, is it?

#Drabbles #Horror Drabbles #Slasher Drabbles #Divergent Drabbles #Misc Drabbles #NATM Drabbles #Al Capone #frank Castle #The Punisher #Captain Hook 2003 #Lucius Malfoy #Eric (Divergent)#Captain Boomerang #X Reader

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exoxobsession · 3 years

Text

Spring Days | Chapter 4 |

Characters : Kai x You, Sehun

Genre : Fluff, Angst, CollegeAU!

Description : Friends become strangers, trust is gone, he betrays their friendship, she moves on. What if they meet again? Will they become friends or stay as strangers with memories?

Part : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, so many things have been going on lately.

[Time skip]

It’s been two years since you’ve been away from home. If you were to be honest, you could say you were hiding. You hated how much impact he had on your life. You despised him. No, you didn’t; you were disappointed but mostly angry. It was like a breakup, but worse. Many people asked why you were so hung up on him, but they probably never lost a best friend.

You were packing up everything, moving back home. You won’t hide anymore. Your parents didn’t know you were coming, you planned on making it a surprise. There was one more year left of University, and you were leaving, so you would finish in Korea.

Boarding the plane, you put on your headphones, and slept the 14 hours of travel. You made friends here, you even dated only for it to turn out disastrous. You didn’t have feelings for any of them, maybe attraction or lust, but never love, you were sure they were the same.

You had daily calls with your parents, and even Sehun. Your friendship was strong, he knew you every day, and you knew his. You didn’t have feelings for him; he was like your brother, plus he was younger than you, you didn’t like younger guys.

You reached for your pocket to turn the volume up but panicked when you couldn’t feel the familiar weight. Panic filling your mind. You searched your pockets like a manic, not caring about the weird looks you were getting. Deciding to check your bag, you ripped your bag open to find it in there peacefully. Letting out a sigh, you grabbed it and sat down.

You woke up at the feeling of someone shaking you, looking up to find a woman smiling at you, “We’ve arrived dear, wake up now.” she breathed with a gentle smile. She looked like she woke up as well. “Thank you.” You thanked her and grabbed your bag and hers too. Handing her bag to her, you departed the plane and fished through your phone to call a cab.

After you got into the car, you told the man the address. You looked out, noticing the familiar roads and shops pass by. You missed this place. It took around 30 minutes to reach your house. Exiting the car, you walked up to your house, only to find the smart lock, locked. What? You dialled your mom’s number.

“Hello?” You spoke first.

“Hey, dear.” she greeted.

“Are you guys not home? Why is the smart locked not working?” you asked, confused.

“Oh… no, we’re in China right now. And your dad disabled it, just in case. Wait. You waiting outside now?” she explained.

“I wanted to surprise you guys, but it turned out like this. When are you coming back?” you sighed.

“It’ll take a long time dear, some people aren’t cooperating.”

“Then where am I supposed to stay?” you asked, clearly not happy.

“Tell you what, the neighbours are a group of boys your age, you can stay with them, I’ll talk to them,” she suggested.

“MOM!” you shouted.

“Y/N, they’re nice and I’m pretty sure you won’t leave them alone if they do anything, right?” She joked.

“Fine,” you spoke with still a bit of laugh. Then she hung up.

A group of boys started walking in your direction. Not thinking about it much and started scrolling through Instagram, but a silhouette fell on you, making you look up. There stood a boy with perfect facial features, not too tall but a bit taller than you. “Yes?” you started not knowing what to say.

“Are you Y/N?” he asked, showing you his radiant smile. You cleared your throat, “Yes, I am.” you stated with a slight nod. You shoved your phone into your pocket. “I’m Junmyeon, your mother called me and told me about your situation,” he said holding his hand out, which you took and shook and let go.

“Let’s go?” he was nervous, you just nodded, trailing your suitcase behind you to the mansion. “Uh, Junmyeon, mom said that a group of you so, how many of you are there?” you asked, looking at his oh-so-perfect side profile. “Twelve of us,” he said, still looking in front. Your eyes widened at the high number of boys that lived in this mansion.

He opened the grand door leading you inside the house. You looked around, and your eyes landed on the bunch of boys scattered in the front parlor.

“Wow, Junmyeon, weren’t you dating Minji? Did you break up with her?” the one that looked like a camel said.

“What? No!” he denied before you could. Your eyes then landed on a familiar boy. He turned around and when your eyes met, he jumped off the couch and engulfed you in a bone-crushing hug.

“Sehun.” You breathed while wrapping your hands around his neck.

“I missed you. So much.” He nuzzled his nose into your neck.

“Me too, Sehunnie.”

He finally let you go when you heard someone clear their throat. “You know each other?”

“Uh, yes. We’re friends.” You responded.

“I think we should introduce ourselves,” someone said, and you turned to look at them properly. Now that you inspected them, you noticed that every one of them was handsome.

“Hi, I’m Jongdae,” the camel from before said.

“Kris.” The cold one briefly introduced himself. You tried to smile.

“I’m Chanyeol, nice to meet you.” he smiled, which you immediately mirrored.

“I’m Baekhyun, ho-”

“Bacon?” you accidentally blurted, your hand going to cup your mouth, but before you could apologize, you heard a deep laugh coming from Kris. Everyone turned to him, “Did you just laugh, Hyung?” Bac, Baekhyun asked, not at all hurt from the nickname you gave him, but mostly focused on Kris’ laughter.

“Wah, this is the first time I heard him laugh.” Jongdae retorted.

Kris immediately stopped and was about to say something, but the door opened, letting a few other boys in. That when you saw him. Jongin. What was he doing here?

“Y/N?” his honey voice called out. A small, inaudible gasp escaped your lips as you tensed up, feeling tears filling your eyes, memories flashing through your mind. You thought you could ignore him, but you weren’t as strong as you thought. Why? Why was he here? Is he living here? Millions of questions you had no answers to.

“You know each other?” Chanyeol’s voice broke through the air, while you blinked away your tears.

“I know her, she’s my-”

“I don’t know him.” You interrupted him, you didn’t want him to finish that sentence. “Can you show me to my room, I need to freshen up.” you politely asked Junmyeon before anyone can say anything.

“Sure, come on.” he led you out of the parlor and up the stairs.

“This is the guest room, you can use it. There’s a private bathroom in here, you can use it, and if there’s anything else, you can tell me,” he said before going back down.

The room was pretty decent; you didn’t want to unpack; you weren’t going to stay long. Walking around to the window, you saw that the view was beautiful; the sun was at its lowest point, the clouds different shades of red and orange. Deciding to take a shower, you opened your suitcase and took black shorts and a white tee.

After your shower, you were in a debate about whether or not to go down. That when someone opened the door, you immediately looked up. “Sehun,” you sighed in relief. “Come for dinner,” he grabbed your hand and led you down to the kitchen.

The kitchen fell silent as soon as you came. “Please, don’t be awkward because of me,” you said uncomfortably as you hid behind Sehun. “Of course not.” Chanyeol piped up. You were thankful for this giant because as soon as he spoke the tension reduced by a fraction.

Dinner was awkward, even though Chanyeol and Baekhyun made jokes. Maybe it was just you. You knew Jongin was looking at you, you could feel his eyes on you. Quickly eating whatever Kyungsoo made, you exited the kitchen. Walking up the stairs, you noticed another flight of stairs. You followed them only to be led to the rooftop. Your breath hitched in your throat at the beautiful city lights below you.

You don’t know how long you’ve been there but; you jumped a bit when you heard someone call your name. Turning around as carefully as you can, you saw Chanyeol sitting beside you. “How did you find this place?” he asked. “I just followed the stairs.” You said in a ‘duh’ tone. “Are you okay?” he inquired. You turned your head to face him, only to see him already looking at you.

“I mean, it’s none of my business but, but you looked kinda, I don’t know how to put it but, lost and scared.” He pinpointed your feelings.

You just gaped and turned away. “Jongin told me you both know each other, but you denied, and you were lying. Did something happen?” You could see him turning to face you, probably seeing your tears. He quickly added, “I didn’t mean to, oh god, you don’t have to tell me,” he panicked.

You laughed as tears in your eyes escaped. “We know each other, more than anyone. We know each other like the back of our hands,” you wiped the tears in your eyes. “I don’t what I did, he just started ignoring me, I tried talking to him, but he-” you choked on your tears, as he wrapped his arms around you. “he walked out of my life like it was nothing, so being the coward I am, I left. And seeing him again, I don’t-” You felt safe around Chanyeol. No, not that kind.

He rubbed your back as a way to calm you down, but you cried. You showed no one your tears, except your mom. “Y/N, look, I knew him longer than I know you, but let me tell you were an asshole for leaving you like that. I don’t know how it is like to lose a friend, and I hope I won’t either-” you let out a breathy laugh on his chest. “-but what I do know is that you shouldn’t waste your tears on someone who doesn’t care about you.”

“And instead of him, I want to take his place, because I just knew you were a nice girl, but I also saw that he broke you inside. I want to fix it. Not that way, I just see you as my sister.” he declared.

You just smiled at him, happy that someone as positive as him came into your life. “One question though.”

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gayathreya · 3 years

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leftist suriya characters appreciation post

since soorarai pottru, been thinking more about all the explicit leftist characters suriya has played in his career. and i actually mean explicit - characters that are supported by the narrative framing and structure and not just my own headcanons and stuff or a throwaway generic goody-shoe typical hero line. i have been itching to talk about this cos it’s obviously in my field of interests

suriya has played 4 openly various brands of leftist now, and that’s pretty cool! i love that none of them are cookie cutter personalities of each other, they all have their own select trait. this post is a toast to them;

michael vasanth (ayutha ezhuthu, 2004)

vimalan (maattraan, 2012)

iniyan (thaanaa serndha koottam, 2018)

maara (soorarai pottru, 2020)

[small write up on each character with pics behind the cut]

*****

1. michael vasanth (ayutha ezhuthu, 2004)

so michael was his first, said to be inspired by an actual university popular marxist student leader, george reddy. michael is very obviously somewhere along these lines - he himself is within the film known as the leftist student leader on campus with a huge following, much to the chagrin of his professors who want to stamp that out of him. he’s openly engaged in campus politics as well as politics outside, and he’s most definitely no weak willed liberal because he has no problems with violence or direct action, which he organises. he organises villagers to stand against others on their own feet, never once preaches about lying down and taking it easy or playing polite. which was nice to see lol i hate liberals who have morals about property damage but in ayutha ezhuthu, michael clearly doesn’t give a fuck. he and his group break things and smash cars and lorries on their way and threaten physical violence on their opponents too which is the way it should be because to him human lives are worth more than any property or vehicular damage. he never shies away from that. hell yes to violence and structural damage!

probably the most definite trait of michael compared to other suriya leftist characters is that michael still believes in the establishment and electoral politics, which u don’t particularly see his other leftist ones talk about. but here, michael works within the system, and trusts it to bring change if u put in the effort into that. though, it’s not as frustrating as it sounds cos michael’s work is not geared towards other liberals, but in villages and rural districts where he goes to spread word, and makes them choose their own leadership to represent. it’s way more marxist aligned and ~rise of the proletariat~ here instead cos he bypasses liberal bougie nonsense and never once is his voice used for that, but used towards and for the working class directly to both take up arms and resist violently themselves + hold ranks for themselves and choose their own leaders to influence their local politics/protect their environment.

michael is fundamentally very marxist, with a dose of direct action plus violent resistance if need be, and supports organised proletariat uprising within an established political system playing towards electoral politics

(of course, a point to note in why this isn’t as frustrating as it sounds as mentioned above is cos this film was released in 2004. would michael still believe in the establishment and electoral politics now? things in 2020 are very different with all of us more aware of things around us and globally, it’s definitely a debate to be held. i doubt he will, since he’s not a pacifist or liberal. he’d say fuck electoral politics, all my homies hate electoral politics)

2. vimalan (maattraan, 2012)

second very openly communist character he played. prob gone a bit forgotten for others since he does die halfway through the film (which itself isn’t a favourite of anyone either, fans or neutrals) rip but can’t go by without mentioning cos i remember liking this character a lot and i teared up in the cinema first watch when he died. i was mad they killed the suriya i loved instead of the other one whom i found annoying lmao

vimal supports workers’ strikes and unions against bosses, even when that boss is their own shitty father. this automatically makes him stand out instantly considering he is sympathetic to the working class despite at the cost of his father’s annoyance with him. he’s also the first character suriya plays who’s explicitly anti-capitalist with line(s) about it, since michael had no canon lines regarding capitalism from what i recall. vimal outright does.

the leftist imagery tied to vimal the most is che, which is a nice touch. his room has at least one poster of him, and his phone’s wallpaper is also him. u can also see bhagat singh and ho chi minh books on his shelf. so.. safe to claim where vimal’s political ideologies are. it’s both tied in pictures and him siding with workers for their rights against corporations, since he obviously likes revolutionaries. vimalan was a class traitor and a supporter of the working class poor bb tragically gone too soon. ilu u didn’t deserve your terrible fate, sweet commie good boi :(

3. iniyan (thaanaa serndha koottam, 2018)

iniyannnnnn i love him and i think it’s a suriya char with one of the best character arcs in his whole career. mostly cos he had a very distinct ‘’yes i want to work for the government and change things from within’’ phase which gets squashed over the course of the film. we see him start off obviously in a very blatantly communist neighbourhood in a song that is also very specifically anti-establishment/politicians with a lot of hard resistance vibes. the entirety of sodakku is a very good introduction to him and what he stands for - in general the film promises upon wealth disparity, useless bougie politicians, and the rest of us being crushed under them.

what happens to him at the end of the movie is FANTASTIC because he no longer gels with what he wanted at the start of the movie. iniyan’s key leftist trait to me is that he’s the most anarchist of suriya characters, varying from other leftist suriya characters. he refuses to work with government powers and authorities, he looks down on their entire establishment and institutions (he does not at the start of the film, which is vital cos again, he wanted to work alongside them at first), and depends more on the good will of individual people over job titles, while clearly engaging in mutual aid and distributing wealth. these are very distinct anarchist ideals. i’d still peg him as anarcho-communist but would say he leans more towards anarchy and progressing on mutual aid over official state resources or state people for any kind of positive change since his faith in them has pretty much diminished by the climax. he does not give a shit about politicians, cops, or any kind of authorities at all, leaving them in the dust to raise his black flag and do his own anarchist hot shit.

iniyan is a good example of an anarchist arc for me in tamil cinema in simple commercial terms without heading too deep into actual words and phrases in a big hero movie, cos it’s also very easy to explain to anyone the shift in his ideas and his eroding faith in institutions with power. good for him!

4. maara (soorarai pottru, 2020)

this should be fresh in everyone’s memory, but yes, a character who is obviously in your face about it since he has an actual line - ‘’you’re a socialite, i’m a socialist’’ which caused all of us with good taste to whoop and cheer. plus he was very sexy in this whole scene, so what a bonus. it’s the most explicit thing said by him in the film, but there are also other little things peppered into his speech and background imagery showing u the kind of person maara is.

he gets married to bommi in a self-respect wedding ceremony. no priests or any kind of traditional hindu iyers/chants involved. u see it clearly with a periyar pic hanging behind him explaining who he is. he wears black a lot in the film, which fits him being a periyarist so i’d label him as such and consider it his standout trait from other leftist characters suriya has played previously because this is the only character with explicit periyar symbolism (i kid u not i saw multiple sanghis being very angry suriya dressed in black in this movie and were harassing him on twitter constantly since sp released. die mad, uglies). obviously, this also fuses well with the little things we see of him implying he’s ~lower caste~ like his in-laws being embarrassed about him on behalf of their own caste, and paresh sanitising his hands after shaking hands with maara on the plane, which is not subtle at all and trademark casteist behaviour about touching someone ‘’lesser’’ than you and u view them as ‘’dirty’’ or beneath you. as well as maara’s remark about breaking the class and caste barrier during his radio interview. being a periyarist fits seamlessly.

there’s also a bts vid of suriya on his bike where you can see an ambedkar pic pasted onto the side. i can’t remember any scene in the film where u can see his bike from this angle but it doesn’t matter, cos u can definitely tell the kind of person maara is and how he was envisioned as a character - an explicit socialist and periyarist, with a natural fondness for ambedkar too since ofc they overlap as many do irl as well. it is very in tune with his background in the film and i liked seeing the tiny aspects of these things seeded within the movie throughout from beginning to end. it’s explicit in a way that isn’t jarring or artificial, and a nice layer to him and feel endeared to since maara is a great character. u support him all the way with him being unquestionable in his stance and ideology. the sexiest leftist suriya character, if i say so myself, ahem.

/////

5. ngk (ngk, 2019)

bonus: THIS IS IT. THE BIGGEST SIKE. THE BIGGEST WHIPLASH. THE BIGGEST BASTARD.

it’s here cos damn, when they released that first look, i completely lost my shit cos that poster was sooo heavily che inspired and very, very obviously marxist. cue me thinking that holy shit suriya is openly playing some kind of marxist guerilla revolutionary in ngk and he’s gonna be some brand of violent radical leftist i’m gonna fall in love with. the beret, the raised fists, the red.. i was ready to be head over heels for this guy.

except of course, none of this was true, cos once the film released, u know that poster was only meant to signify how his village looked up to him before he sold them all out. it’s literally just a mural on the wall where a kid stares up at him in a larger extended poster. he COULD have been that character, but ngk’s character arc was a negative character arc and his moral downfall from the start to the end of the film, sacrificing all he stood for to arrive at his end point which was just dragging his village and all the youngsters who believed in him to the pits before jumping party to the winning group and abandoning all of them after manipulating them to act in his favour to gain sympathy. not to mention, also selling out to corporate tools to harness their power and influence in order to rise to the top himself, something he very openly states at the beginning of the film to his mum and wife that working like that is no way to live. he has a full reverse by this point, compared to how ngk was introduced to us as an audience with that first look of him.

the marxist poster was a complete 180 to how ngk falls on the spectrum at the end, but it was a great ride nevertheless and at least one thing was still true - i still fell in love with him cos he was such an asshole bastard but still so hot i had to give in. biiiicchh. i love u, non-leftist regressive jerk. u may have pulled the biggest sike on me, but.. my heart is yours, slut <3

*****

ok that’s really it and all i wanted to say so hopefully at least a few people read this lmafooo. i do think these characters and time have sort of seeped into suriya over the years as evident by his shifting left in the last couple of years, and openly also saying he has had a lot of perspective changes on things around him. he has been noted in recent interviews saying stuff like how he’s in favour of a cashless society, talking about a whole new level of poverty class being created during this pandemic. his written articles/statements/agaram related speeches takes jibes at india’s education system being brahministic/casteist in nature and how it creates barriers for the lowest strata of society while also being very sensitive about student suicides, showing understanding of it as a systematic failure and not an individual one, courts not functioning for justice, not demonising protests as it’s the only act left for the voiceless, etc. it’s nice. i wouldn’t go as far as to call him a leftist until he proves that to me (suriya is still very much in that liberal zone of appreciating the police and military institutions so i will never consider him one of us until he sheds these allegiances and rethinks his stance on them in society), but i’d say he’s definitely the furthest left of all prominent actors in tamil cinema as no one else really has said or written the things that he has, for which i’m very proud of him.

so keep up the good work and hot shit comments and ballsy articles, suriya, i look forward to u shifting further left and pissing off everyone from right wing patriotic assholes, to centrist bootlickers, and even cowardly liberal pacifists. i believe in u and i hope he crosses that steep liberal curve soon since we were all there at some point as well.

that’s all goodbye i love suriya thanks for reading

#hooo lads finally wrote this like i wanted to! target audience? spare target audience??#suriya #tamil cinema #kollywood #mix #mine*#commentary #politics

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