#not saying that what the trio said was completely untrue when it came to their feelings

[takkamek]

"Why would Elira, Vox and Ike agree to that stream?" because of their contracts, their livelyhoods depend on nijiEN and it's clear that despite everything, there were some good times. not agreeing to it could mean that they get terminated (depending on what their contracts say)

"How could nijisanji think that stream was a good idea?" because they're a company and they chose the three well-liked people of the community, who also were stated in the document that wasn't meant to be seen by anyone else than the lawyers.

Vox, Ike, Elira, the other nijiEN livers weren't meant to see that document, legally they shouldn't have but now they know which will undoubtedly create a rift between Doki and the remaining nijiEN livers--which will benefit nijisanji in the court if the other livers now refuse to side with Doki in court

the fans were already divided, even after Doki herself said that she wants to move on and not to harass or bully the livers, the haters/antis didn't want to stop since this gave them 'a reason' to harass the livers they already hated. and now with nijiEN sharing parts of the document, fans are even more up and arms about this.

i'm not saying that nijisaji is this mastermind/manipulator company, but they're a company nontheless whose main priority is to win this legal battle. and a black company is always willing to sacrifice its employees

#nijisanji en #ngl at first i was like. maybe we couldve moved on had the haters #not continued to harass/bully the livers. but after calming down i think they wouldve #done those streams nontheless due to the case #cuz whats better way to try to move the court of public opinion than to have the fan favorites #who were closest to Doki try to make it seem like Doki overreacted #not saying that what the trio said was completely untrue when it came to their feelings #as to find that out mustve been a shock that they were named in the documents #but considering what all the nijiEN livers have said about SH/etc #i do doubt that they would volunteer to say those things about their friend who almost died #also glad that Doki has a good lawyer cause she was like Yeah we figured theyd do something like this #and had a statement ready. idk enough about legal things esp when there are two coutnries involved #but i do hope that if not both then at least the bigger one is on Doki's side

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflakes 34: Full Swing

Part 33<-

Nick considered himself a generally nice person. Treat others how you want to be treated. Try not to raise hell out without a purpose, and always have a smidge of mercy in whatever you’re doing. Nick also believed in another thing, instilled by his aunt; mercy doesn’t give you first place.

The boy's foot was planted firmly against some rando competitor, sending her flying out of Amity Arena. The victory buzzer went off and the crowd once again cheered.

“Another round for the twins!” Port announced, “Goodness, I think I might’ve blinked and missed that one. Gilgamesh’s reputation precedes him.”

Weiss let out a weary sigh as she clapped for her children. “I wish that nickname would die already.” She told Ruby, who managed to escape the children section thanks to Penny.

“Why? Nick seems to like it.”

Weiss watched her son wave at the people as he walked off the field with his sister. Though he smiled, it was clear that match was boring and irrelevant to him. “Yeah I guess. It just feels a little disingenuous.”

In Atlas, the name Gilgamesh came from the tale of a magnificent warrior, a person who commanded many blades that were forged and won over countless battles. People started comparing the two after witnessing the boy’s cold and cut throat demeanor in a fight. “Channeling his inner Gilgamesh,” people said. As if Nick needed to create a persona before battling. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Fact of the matter was the people have it backwards, and all who really know him were aware. Nick never channeled being aggressive, he channeled being calm. Much like his family, it was the more…nastier side of them that was the genuine article. Summer had the stage, Nick had fighting. It was perfect really. No one expects proper manners in the middle of a fight.

“Another one in the bag. I’m thinking you lead next time. How about it?” Summer waited for a response but it fell on deaf ears. “Bro?” She touched his shoulder.

“Huh?”

“You okay? I was trying to plan our next match.”

“Oh, sorry. I was actually doing the same.”

Summer frowned, “Well don’t keep it to yourself. I have ideas too ya know?”

The two of them made it to their seats. It wasn’t uncommon for the lower rows to be filled with participants considering the fast nature of the matches. Eliza sat by them with Valerie and Veronica right behind her.

“Well here’s a trio I didn’t expect to see. Have you been cheering the two of us on?”

“Pfft, hardly.” Eliza rolled her eyes, “A match is pretty boring when you know the outcome.”

“So what you’re saying is you had faith in us?”

“That’s…ugh, spin it however you want.”

Nick looked at his two oldest friends. “What about you two?”

Veronica laughed, “Haha, what kind of cheerleader would I be if I didn’t cheer for the class I’m representing?”

“So you’ve participated in every cheer for every match.”

“Well~ I may have passed on a couple. I get tired.”

“More like uninterested.” Valerie said, “If you don’t see Nick or a cool outfit then you completely check out.”

“Untrue! I at least finish the routine. Unlike you, who’s watched all their matches exclusively.”

“Duh. I always do that. In case you forgot, I’m a veteran at this. I know what’s a good match.”

“Or prime time to plan against Nick.”

Valerie shot an annoyed glare at Vee. “As if. Nick doesn’t broadcast his true skill until he fights me. I wouldn’t be gaining much picking every battle apart. Not in doubles anyways.”

Nick couldn’t hide his smirk. Looks like he wasn’t the only one playing mental games. “I wouldn’t say I’m hiding anything. I’m doing what’s available when it is. Can’t worry about other matches if I don’t win the one I’m in. Frankly, I haven’t left anything up to imagination so far.”

Eliza knew that was a lie. If it wasn’t then she had done a sorry job training him. Nick hadn’t done any conventional glyphs yet. Then again, Summer was with him. Eliza could feel the tension in the air. Hiding or not, she could tell Valerie was definitely keeping an eye on Nick. The two of them felt more like enemies than even rivals right now. It was a bit gross. Usually they’d hype up one another.

Summer sensed it too. Neither had made up yet at all. They would both claim they’re focusing if she dared bring it up. Being the glue in their dynamic was not Summer’s thing. Nick was always the reasonable one. She looked at both Eliza and Veronica who either pretended not to notice or had no interest in helping the situation. Fortunately the tension couldn’t build for long. A solution came in the form of two annoying upperclassmen; Darren and Max. Mainly Darren.

“Well if it isn’t the goody two shoes council. Ugh, even out of uniform you all still manage to blend together.”

“Says the guy still in school uniform. Sounds like jealousy.” Valerie said.

“Why would I bother getting my good clothes all dirty, carrot top? I’m working smarter, not harder.”

Eliza clicked her tongue, “Please, the only thing you work on is other peoples’ nerves.”

“Aww, still hurt about what I said? Tell me, is your addiction to power a product of your loser of a father or drugged up mother?” Eliza nearly lunged at him if it wasn’t for everyone else’s anger. Veronica was the first to step up to him.

“I hope you realize how embarrassing it would be for you to get your ass whooped to someone in a cheerleading skirt.”

“Tsk, it’s cute that you think anything you say matters. Here I thought the annoying little prince was the only one who had you trained to defend. Guess there’s hope for me yet.” He smirks at the idea. “Then again I’m not a fan of someone else’s leftovers. Even if it is exotic.”

Nick was about to stand when Summer got up and put herself between Darren and Veronica. Maybe it was the thrill of the matches but she felt bolder than usual. “Leave us alone.” Her words are a little shaky.

“Oh so the princess wants to chime in like before? Careful sweetheart in just a few short matches I’m gonna show this entire stadium how you and your brother are nothing but hacks. But who knows, maybe I’ll pull my punches if I get a private concert?” Darren raised his right hand. In an instant, Nick and Valerie stood up and Veronica walked through Summer to grab Darren’s wrist. Fortunately for him. Max had grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him away.

“Hey! Max what the hell!?”

“Our match is next and you’ve made your point. Let’s go before we get disqualified.” The stoic man took his loudmouth partner away. Max looked back briefly at Nick, who’s eyes were as cold as his mother’s. “My father sends his greetings to yours.”

“Of course he does.” Nick groaned. Max wasn’t his favorite person but Nick couldn’t fault him personally too much. The guy would probably be less of an inconvenience if his father didn’t expect some kind of thrashing in every battle. Cardin knew better than to pick a personal fight with the Schnees or any close member of the group. Nick wouldn’t be surprised though if he crossed his fingers for certain battles to happen by chance. Nick didn’t care much about fighting Max. Darren however…

Summer could see the intense focus on Nick’s face. “So I guess I’m fighting Max?”

“I’m that obvious?”

“Never murder someone Nick. You’d have murderous intent written on your face from a mile away.”

“I’ll let you get your licks in. He’s lucky we all aren’t in this tournament.”

Valerie would’ve paid personally to get that guy into the solo event. “Nick.” He turned around to look at her for the first time today. “Kick his ass.”

“Right!” He smiled. Now he was fired up! “He’s racked up quite the list of reasons. Starting with almost hitting you with his car.”

Valerie had nearly forgotten about that day. That was Darren’s car!? It went by so fast she hadn’t noticed. Now she really wanted a solo match. Still, seeing Nick angry about it was…nice? Val almost smiled but quickly snapped back into tournament mode. This wasn’t the time for stray thoughts. Eyes on the prize.

Nick noticed the shift. It was a little aggravating but good motivation. He gave Eliza a side eye, gaining a subtle nod in return. No turning back at that point.

Their family watched from their seats. Everyone was surprised that Yang and Winter hadn’t jumped over there to give the punks a lesson.

“Looks like we’re getting a grudge match soon.” Ruby chuckled, attempting to defuse the tension. “They’ll be fine guys. Relax.”

“My, they really are an energetic bunch.” Said a man on the stairs. Everyone turned to see Henry Marigold looking at the small confrontation. “It’s amazing how it’s not infectious, seeing how my little Eliza looks pretty comfy in her seat, ay Weiss?”

“Agh, Henry.” She couldn’t hide her displeasure.

“Hey now, you can at least try to hold back your bile. Hello Jaune.”

“Sup.”

“See? He gets it. Short and sweet.”

Oh if only Weiss was in disguise right now…“Did you walk over here just to cause a headache? You can watch your daughter from plenty of other angles.”

“Relax. I’m just over here to say a quick hello to her since she left while I was in a meeting. Oh, and I’m donating to your daughter’s little charity.” He didn’t bother waving and walked off.

“We don’t need his charity.”

“Calmed down, Ice Queen.” Blake teased, “He didn’t even say anything bad.”

“All his words are laced in pettiness! Gods, how does a good kid come from his DNA!?”

Blake can see Eliza’s eyes light up as she notices him. “Well apparently he isn’t all pettiness if Eliza is smiling like that. I think he just hates you.”

“Fuck em.”

Ruby snickered, “Hehe, isn’t that why he’s mad? Didn’t he try courting you and you kicked him out and summoned a-”

“Yes Ruby, thank you!”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Ya know it might be more of the fact you continued to outdo any contribution the Marigold’s made for anything?” Jaune watched Weiss give him the evil eyes. “Don’t be mad because I’m right. You’re just as petty. That’s where Nick gets it.

Winter, Weiss, and Whitley crossed their arms. “What are you implying?”

No one bothered to answer, but laughed wholeheartedly.

All was well so far. Summer didn’t bother much looking at the brackets and chose to shut out her surroundings with music in her ears. Her knees bounced to the beat while her fingers tapped to the rhythm. Summer was feeling good, better than good. Almost…perfect; dangerously so. Veronica and Nick must’ve caught wind of it because both kept giving her glances. Summer took initiative and stood up before they could say anything.

“I’ll be back guys. I think I need to stretch my legs for a while.”

“Kay, I’ll call you if our match gets called.” Nick watched her run off towards concessions and pass the lockers.

“Is that twin thing of yours going off?” Veronica asked, “Because my nose is getting that smell a little.”

“Summer gets excited and full of adrenaline with stuff like this. She isn’t worried about it and it’s probably nothing.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“….Just a little chill. Nothing I’m not used to.”

Veronica nodded. If Nick said this was normal then she wouldn’t worry. Still…it was strange. Veronica made that outfit with the purpose of keeping Summer cool with the amount of moving around she’d be doing. Summer didn’t look overheated which was good. However, she didn’t look like she was sweating at all. “Summer isn’t dehydrated is she?”

“I…wouldn’t know. I don’t think she is. It’s not like Shiva stops her from drinking water, and Summer wouldn’t risk a performance by not taking care of herself leading up to it. Why?”

“I don’t know. Just a thought…”

Summer ducked into the empty band room, stumbling over to the vanity area and putting her hands on the countertop with her head down.. Quickly she reached inside the top of her dress and pulled out the vial of Diamond Dust she had taken; the substance was carefully put on a thin chain that made a makeshift necklace. Summer put it down and finely felt the stirring anticipation that plagued her very cells calmed down. She couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief

“Having fun?”

Summer tightened her jaw, looking up to see Shiva sitting on the speaker behind her.

“You look like you are. I mean you’re like 4-0 right now. Congrats. Also, you’re welcome.”

“Tsk, don’t try and take credit for nothing.”

“Nothing!? Who’s the one using who as a pick me up? Say, does it count as a performance enhancer if the thing you’re using is already saturated throughout your veins. I mean look at you go out there. Fight fight fight.”

Summer finally caught her breath. Her hand fixed her hair while her eyes stayed locked on Shiva’s annoying smile. “You’re getting pretty bad at lying. Don’t act like you’re giving me a power boost. I didn’t expect having the vial so close to me would keep my body on edge. Outside of that it’s all me out there.”

“True, but some would say having a security blanket would enhance performance. Why be worried when you got an ace in the hole?”

“You are not an option.” Summer said firmly.

Shiva couldn’t help but laugh at the girl. “Hahaha! Now who’s the liar. If you felt like you didn’t need me then you wouldn’t have taken that precious little vial. That’s a fact. Don’t want to risk failing like you always do. How’s summoning going by the way?”

Summer put her hands on her face and started rubbing them quickly, then did the same for her arms.

“I’ll admit that you’ve gotten quicker on the uptake, you stupid little princess. Constantly moving around in battle and even on stage, you’re constantly keeping your body temperature up to stave me off. Though these in between breaks for other fights…”

“Can you shut up already?”

“Hey, you brought me here. Live with it.”

The door began to open suddenly. Summer quickly covered the vial with her hand the moment the door knob clicked.

“See? Wouldn’t be that alert without me keeping you on your toes.”

It opened slowly and the bassist of the band walked in. Summer could see the girl's magenta eyes widened behind her messy teal bangs.

“Oh hey. Wasn’t expecting you here. Did you forget something?”

“No. I just…I needed a minute to myself.”

“Ah. Well don’t mind me. I’m just here to grab some cash from my bag real quick.”

“Take your time. I’m about to head back out anyways.”

“Must be a lot of stress, doing so many different things for one event. I’d pass out after two hours but you and your brother seem pretty out together. What’s your secret?”

“Trauma and guilt.” Shiva said, bugging Summer.

“Uhh practice I guess. I’m used to the stakes.”

“I heard that. I mean performing three times in a major crowd like this has we wired, but after doing the opening I think we-”

“Wait, I’m sorry, three?” Summer interjected, confused. “We performed one song.”

“Yeah, we have two more to go.” The bassist said casually. She smiled as she found her wallet but then froze seeing Summer’s face get pale. “Wait, you…did know we have two more performances? Halftime and closing.”

“I was told that I had to do the opening. Nobody said anything more than that.”

“Well…there’s always a middle and end. You’ve done this tourname-”

“Yes! And I’m aware of the closing ceremony, but that’s a speech! As far as halftimes go, I’m in the middle of set ups for singles or in the infirmary from the final fight!” Her voice reached heights that would make her mother jealous.

The poor bassist put her hands up, “Woah, relax. Halftime scheduled after the doubles. It won’t interfere.”

“I don’t think you get it. I haven’t prepared two more songs at all!”

“….Oh….that’s…a problem.”

“Ya think!? Also there’s no way I could ask Nick to do two more. Especially at halftime, he has to fight a completely new bracket. He’ll be too tired. How the- why wasn’t this mentioned in practice!?”

“We assumed you’d just use the practice songs! You made us play so many! Please don’t be mad!”

“I’m not mad! I’m- agh!!!” Summer sat down. This wasn’t good. Certainly not something she wanted to think about before a big match! The bassist walked over and squatted to her height.

“I can tell them we’re performing without you two?”

“But you can’t. I’m sure everyone in the stadium is expecting me at minimum. Even if some aren’t, I promoted a charity . Those who are expecting are going to be really shitty if I don’t come back. It could mess with donations.”

“Ummm. Crap.” She ran her hands through her hair, “Okay, what if you let us lead?”

“What?”

“Me and the gang do plenty of instrumentals as warm ups and for fun. Things we know by heart. What if you…sang over it?”

“That is insane. You are asking me to improvise a live performance!?” Summer felt her knees wobble and stomach twist. She might actually puke.

“Hey, hey! Breathe! You are Summer Schnee, the teen idol!”

“Yeah, who rehearses a song a thousand times! I-”

The bassist holds Summer’s face. It was a lot colder than she expected. “Listen, there’s no way the band can fall in line with one of your songs and get it right on the first try, but you’re different. I’ve seen your performances. Even in practice you were on another level; you’re a genius. I was jealous listening to you tune the guitar earlier. If anyone can improvise a song and get away with it, it’s you. I’ll tell the band what’s happening. Maybe if you have time you can look over one of our instrumentals to pick what works best. I’m sure you have lyrics swimming in that brain all the time.”

“Yeah it’s just…right. You’re right, okay…” Summer took a deep breath, “Okay~”

“Cool, you okay?”

“I think so. Thanks, that was really sweet. I don’t get compliments like that often. I needed that.”

“Seriously? You have fans everywhere, me included.”

“It’s different coming from a musician, better. I like how you play. Sorry if I’ve been terrifying through this experience.”

“Eh, I’m better for it. I can play for longer. I didn’t expect Summer Schnee to actually be this…colorful. You’re kinda a loner.”

“I get that. I’m also a huge asshole because I don’t think I’ve actually asked any of you what your name is.” She admitted, maybe she was a problem to work with.

“Don’t worry about it. Your brother prepped us for you. It’s Artemis by the way, Artemis Hill.”

“…Is your mother-”

“Terrible at names? Little bit; people call me Archery.”

“I’m sorry. At least you’re not named after a season we rarely see, or a direct descendant. Are you obligated to use a bow?”

“Absolutely.”

“Awww I’m sorry!”

The door flung open again with Eliza on the other side. “You!” She pointed at Summer, why aren’t you looking at your scroll!?”

“What!? No way it’s match time!”

“Well maybe you should see what’s happening outside!” Eliza waved frantically.

Summer sprung up and quickly put the Vial back in place and walked out. “We’ll talk later, Archey! Happy hunting!”

“Heh, you too. I got things covered.”

Summer zipped past people who let her pass to get to the railing. In the middle of the arena was Darren and Max.

“There she is!” The cocky teen said with a microphone in one hand and his blood red spear in the other.

One of the many Jumbotrons displayed her face, while another had Nick standing from his seat. Summer looked around awkwardly, “Uhhh Port? Can you give me a recap? I’ve been gone for like ten minutes.” She yelled.

“Certainly!”

xxxx

About five minutes into Summer leaving, the victory buzzer rang. Darren and Max stood victorious in the ring to Nick’s misfortune. It would’ve been hilarious if their match could never happen.

“Alright, in about half an hour it’ll be- huh” Nick stopped short. Darren has begun looking his way and pointing, to everyone’s confusion.

“Mr. Diabhalta?” Port said.

“Let’s have the finals right now!” He declared to all. Murmurs spread amongst the crowd. Even Max looked at him like he was insane.”

“Darren, no!”

“Oh come on! We saw it. The champion’s didn’t even look bothered last match, and we’re still rearing to go!” He pointed at their aura boards, which showed them at 90%”

Nick stood up and cuffed his hands, “The final match is just that, final! You can’t change the bracket just because!”

“Oh quit your crying. Everyone else has already lost a match except you and us. I’m sure the crowd wouldn’t mind seeing who gets first right now, amiright!?” Murmurs turned into excitement. Of course people wouldn’t say no to a good fight. “See? But if you need a moment to stop shaking then I completely understand.”

“Ooooooooo” the crowd instigated. A camera put Nick on the Jumbotron for all to see his unamused expression. It gave everyone chills.

“Nick!” Eliza hissed, “He’s baiting you. The last thing he wants is you and Summer formulating a full plan. Be smart.”

Nick crossed his arms. He looked up at the announcer booth. “Port?”

“Well, it’s highly unconventional but your match is slated to happen and the crowd sure likes it, so as long as all four participants are willing.”

Darren looked at Max with a cocky smirk. Max could only sigh, shrugging. “If it’s what you really want to do.”

“Oh it is. Where’s your partner huh?”

Nick was already calling but got no answer. Maybe it was a sign or purely by chance she didn’t. Nick inhaled slowly through his nose and put together the calmest smile possible. “Eliza, can you glide over to where my sister went?”

xxxxx

And that was that. Summer was the deciding vote. She looked at her family who was absolutely no help, offering shrugs, thumbs up, and thumbs down all at once. Instead she looked at Nick. His calm eyes peered into hers from across the stadium. How easy they lied to everyone. He wasn’t calm. This tournament has been one big annoyance before it began for him. She heard him talk more about things to do after the tournament than during. The exam, Valerie

drama, Darren, preparation, getting sick, even Summer herself has added significant to Nick’s understandable irritation. No, he was not calm; his eyes were asking for one thing and that only she could give him right now. Priority.

Summer looked down at Darren like she had done on the practice stage. “Bring it on.”

The crowd went wild with excitement from those three little words. Nick walked straight over the railing and made a glyph that levitated down to the arena; Summer followed suit on her own glyph down. They were really doing this.

Weiss felt her body tense as she watched. “He’s too emotional. He’ll-”

“It’s fine.” Jaune held her hand. “Look.”

Nick and Summer’s aura gauge popped up with 85% and 76% respectively. Nick took note and made Summer take a position a few feet behind him.

Jaune smiled, “See? He’s still thinking rationally. Give him a little more credit. He’s not me.” Weiss gave him a squint. She always got pouty when he took jabs at himself. “You know I’m right.”

“I know, but don’t say it. I just hope he doesn’t get caught up trying to use his new abilities. Now isn’t the time for that; not if they want a safe approach.”

Nick looked over his shoulder, “You had an idea?”

“Huh?”

“Earlier you said you had ideas for the match.”

“Little late for that!” She huffed, “We have like ten seconds!”

“Then sum it up really quick.”

Today seemed to love putting Summer on a time table. “Darren wants to personally embarrass you. If I don’t help get involved then I doubt Max will interfere.”

“King and Queen’s guard formation is benched, got it. Wait, you think you can deal with Max solo?”

“Yeah.” She looked at the behemoth of a man. He had to be at least three of her in size and weight. How his uniform contained such brawn was beyond her. Then there was his steel sledge hammer that was her size. The pole was perfectly polished and engraved with wings that wrapped around it. The actual dangerous part of the hammer looked metallic with red dust pumping through it like veins delivering blood. “But you know, if you have the time to help…”

“Mmhmm, didn’t have to ask.” Nick wondered if that was even legal, or if Max was actually a teenager and not Cardin himself in disguise. Dude could eat an Ursa!

The biome generated shuffled. Much like a real fight, ya never know where one could happen. The arena became split evenly, the twins half becoming a small beach with a wrecked ship. A far cry from a typical fight in Atlas. Good thing places like Menagerie and Vacou weren’t foreign to them. In fact, Summer was glad.

“A little heat may do me some good.”

“Mind the water.” Nick warned.

“Pfft, I got it. I’m not gonna shock myself or anything if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The other half emerged. A sharp gut blew across the field as icecaps rose up. What better opposing side than the tundra.

Summer’s expression hardened. Nick looked back at her to see if this would be a problem. Summer smiled, “Stop worrying. It’s just another Tuesday over there.” She shook her arms and legs out. It was getting hard to tell what caused the pounding in her chest. Either way, she’s trained for this. Time to put it to use. “Let’s grab gold.”

Darren twirled his spear then hit it against the ground. “Let’s get this show on the road! I owe you for that day in the hallway.”

“Oh yeah?” Nick slicked his hair back. There wasn’t a soul in the stadium that didn’t know what that meant. Kid gloves were officially off.

“Alright, let’s have a good clean match! Darren and Max vs Nicholas and Summer; let the finals…begin!”

Both aggravated boys immediately homed in on each other, darting at one another with tremendous speed. Their weapons clashed violently in the middle of the area, the impact sending them back momentarily until they lunged right back into clashing. Darren’s height gave him the advantage. He maneuvered his spear over Mort Froide and directed it to the floor before running the edge of the spear across Nick’s face; the spear slid back through his hands then shot forward for a thrust attack aimed for the chest. A strike from this position was impossible to avoid. That’s what Darren had thought, so seeing Nick let go of his sword and gripping the spear tight.

“Oh?”

A gigas hand shot from the ground, grabbing Nick’s sword and slashing up along Darren’s torso then smacking his wrists to disarm him. Nick twirled the spear around and threw like a javelin, grazing Darren’s face while aiming at Max. The gigas flung Nick’s sword back into his hands for a slash at Darren’s face but the jerk manifested a pillar of solid green aura between them.

“An opening.” Summer muttered as she leaped up and over the wall as Max was about to catch the spear. His size was misleading compared to his speed. Not only did he catch the spear but instinctively threw it back at Darren for him to catch, raising it to block Summer’s attack. Not one to push her luck, she pushed herself off the polearm to land behind Nick again. “I thought I had it.”

“Don’t sweat it.”

All four stood their ground, gauging what the next move would be. The wall had now divided them, but only for three feet. Easy to go around but dangerous to be read so clearly. Darren stood two feet away from it and Max was further back with his hammer still on the ground, his eyes watching stoically. Darren got a certain satisfaction watching Nick rub his face.

“Like the taste of my Gae Bolg? Finest spear there is. There’s more of that to come.”

“Dude…he lit you hit him.” Max said lazily, “He’s being annoying and feeling you out.”

“What!?”

Nick shrugged, “I mean he’s correct but I wasn’t expecting you to go for a face shot. Guess you really are trash. All the more reason for me not to feel bad hurting you. Summer.”

She put a time glyph below the two of them. The wall was an excellent buffer, not that she really needed it. “Thanks for the divider.”

Darren panicked and immediately removed the wall to attack but it was too late. It only took the blink of an eye before two blades were coming for his face. Darren jumped back and left a gap that Summer ran right through.

She pointed her left hand at him, feinting an attack that provoked Max into rushing in. Summer saw the mighty swing of his hammer, Titan, and jumped on it to avoid a smashed torso. A few rapid thrusts to the chest that did less than nothing. Normally it’s poor taste to needlessly aim for the face, but that formality was not only already out the window, but understandable in certain conditions. Conditions like Max’s semblance. She didn’t hesitate to cut across the bridge of his nose. All it did was graze against living immovable stone. Max tried grabbing her leg so she backflips off the hammer. A quick fireball was sent from her sword and did nothing but melt the snow by his feet.

“You took being built like a statue personally.” Summer chuckled nervously. “Max ‘The Colossus’ Winchester.”

“Summer ‘Ice Queen’ Schnee. Let’s see if you melt.” His hammer glowed brightly as he slammed it into the ground; pure, blistering flames shot up in a row like geysers.

“No! I’ll burn!” She yelped. Summer ran towards the water and spun the chamber of her blade. The waves obeyed her command with the help of wind dust that blasted the water straight through the fire. Summer then changed to lightning dust that rained down on Max. It didn’t prevent him from charging at her with rumbling stomps. Getting close was not her best interest. Summer jumped onto the ship. Combining wind and lightning, the water below became an electrical whirlpool. Orbs of the water shot out in volleys.

Keeping his wits, Max dodged as many as he could as he advanced. An orb hit a glacier, carving a hole into it to his surprise. “Pressurized water?” Next came huge chunks of ice that rained down from several glyphs behind Summer. Max caught one then sent it flying back at her feet. His stone exterior crumbled away to increase his speed as he reached the sand. With the water off limits and the sky flooded with ice, boarding the ship looked impossible.

Winter watched with great intrigue at her niece. “She’ll burn through her dust at this rate, but frankly this might be her best option for now.” Her attention shifted to Nick. Him and Darren were going blow for blow. Each swing was met with the blade and pole of Darren’s spear in rapid succession. It actually looked like the arrogant upperclassman was on the defensive. Still, the quick movements had to be straining.

Veronica watched with the other cheerleaders as they cheered. Even she could tell this situation wasn’t favorable. “C’mon you two. I know you realize it. Switch opponents!” She screams internally.

Nick slashed to the right then spun down low at Darren’s legs but the boy jumped. Another wall separated them briefly. He was making sure to

Keep Nick within perfect spear range. A good tactic if it wasn’t so annoying. Nick went left and then swiveled right for a mix up. He flung the gigas sword to bring the spear into a block. Nick gripped Mort Froide with both hands. Gravity dust inside of it cloaked the sword in black as he swung down with all his might.

Darren grit his teeth. His knees actually buckled from that. “Cheeky little…” he made another wall that raised him up. “You’re not the only dust wielder!” He made a thin, long pillar in his hand and drew it back as his spear became black with its own gravity dust. He let go of his creation to see it launch like a massive arrow.

Nick rolled out the way and began circling around as arrow after arrow left craters where he stood. This might have been more annoying than the spear, but at least Darren was definitely using more aura. “Getting tired?”

“Fat chance you little-”

“DARREN!” Max shouted, his voice echoing.

He turned around immediately to Max. In the air was a massive chunk of ice the size of a boulder. It would appear Summer loved taking pot shots to interrupt when possible. How annoying and a complete buzzkill.

“Butt out!” He fired an arrow that pierced right through the ice, shattering it into smaller chunks around him. Darren looked back at Nick. “Your sister is a real- huh?” He wasn’t there. Not only that, but the ice wasn’t falling.

The chunks floated in place with glyphs, surrounding Darren. The ice turned into swords and the real blade was sent flying right at his feet to make him jump. In that instance, Darren spotted Nicholas behind him in the blade's reflection. He went to turn around to parry but forgot what thing. His spear was still channeling gravity dust, and so was Nick’s.

“Shit…” the spear flew out of his hand. The feeling of a blade’s frozen edge went right across his back then over his chest. Forearm, legs, ribs, neck; Before Darren knew it, Nick was breaking each blade against his body as he ricocheted on the glyphs.

Nick had become absolutely silent. Even his breathing was faint as he poured all his focus into slashing, catching, and then immediately slashing again within a fraction of a second. The only sound that pierced the wind rushing past his ears were the excited screams of the crowd.

Grins spread across his friends like wildfire. Val, Vee, and Eliza cuffed their hands, “Fuck him up!!”

The final blade was suspended at the very top. Nick caught it with his left; his right hand used a gravity glyph that pulled him straight down to his sword like a plummeting star. The impact slammed right down on Darren’s stomach and brought them both down on the aura wall, obliterating it and sending them into the snow.

All the air in Darren’s body left him. His body began to ache, but worse was the fact Nick was right on top of him. The boy's eyes looked down on him, expressionless; colder than the very snow. Nick didn’t even look to be enjoying this advantage. In fact, it looked like he had better things to do. Darren couldn’t help but shake in anger, hopelessly trying to grab his spear.

Mort Froide flipped into Nick’s hand. As he went to deal another devastating blow, his glance went towards a flaming pillar forming right by them. That blew up with his arm caught in it. The distraction was enough for Darren to grab his weapon and swing. Nick jumped off him and saw the flat side of Max’s hammer coming at his face. He formed a glyph that was shattered immediately but absorbed enough impact and gave time for him to block with his left arm. Nick was sent flying to the sand where he tumbled hard until Summer caught him.

Max got Darren on his feet. “Still got gas in the take?”

“Of course I do. Why’d you butt in? I was just about to make my comeback.”

“You’re welcome.” He didn’t show it, but Max could see that Darren was shaken. No, stirring with anger. “They wouldn’t be champions if they weren’t tough.”

“Yeah that’s sinking in, annoyingly so.” He emptied his spear of gravity dust, exchanging it for earth to create a javelin. He stabbed it into the snow. The ground began to shake as spikes shot up from the ground while geysers of flames were made by Max. Combined with the snow, they’ve managed to create the ideal blockade

Nick groaned. He might as well have been hit by a car. If Summer didn’t catch him or was sent in another direction then he very well would have ringed out. “Thanks Summ-” he gasped seeing her breathless and sweaty, body trembling.

“I’m sorry…I burned through too much dust to stop him in time. Guess he’d intervene on his own terms.” The sight of Nick’s arms wasn't great. His right was still smoking while his left was limp. Summer got up and stood in front “I’ll take the lead.”

“But-”

“I can do this!” Her voice shook. Her heart raced. Every part of her wanted this badly. It was time for her to step up!

Nick looked up at the board to see her at 40% while he was at 60%. However, his new injuries were surely gonna make all manners of fighting much harder. As well as make his aura more focused on soothing the pain. The odds weren’t great. Two physically injured, another with lower aura, and then there’s Max. Not only was he at a calm 76, but he didn’t have a real scratch on him. Nick rose to his feet with his sword in right hand.

“If you wanna get your own licks in on Darren, go low.”

Summer took out a vial of earth dust out of his sword and tossed it to Nick for him to use. A gust of wind brought never ending chills to her body. Summer took off running straight ahead. Darren couldn’t help but find it amusing.

“You must be joking. A frontal attack like that won’t-“

Summer’s feet hit the snow and her entire body accelerated up drastically, weaving through the spikes and hopping over flames before they exploded. Every nerve in her began to sting while her chest became increasingly cold. Summer pointed the top of her blade at the snow which began to swirl. Max turned to stone immediately. Clever as always. Unfortunately… Summer wasn’t feeling quite like herself anymore.

“Break.” A trail of ice shot up along the ground with an upward slash that slammed right into Max and lifted him off his feet away from his partner.

“The hell!?” Darren watched the girl dip in and out of cover until she closed the gap in an instant with her body poised to stab up at his chest with a lunge. He knew immediately to swipe low at the height of her upper body. The stone edge of the javelin nearly had its target when a surprise stone glyph appeared by her side and shot up a giant stone blade that blocked the javelin, destroying both while diminishing its reach. Darren’s calculated attack was now far too early and whiffed entirely.

“I got him.” Summer went all into striking Darren. Her blade aimed true for his body but in an act of desperation, Darren placed himself inside his own wall of aura. “What!?”

“DO IT MAX!” Darren screamed. A loud rumbled the ground. Festering heat built at their feet that gave way to self made magma, a fusion of the duo’s dust attack.

“AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!”Summer screamed in pure pain, her cries silencing everyone for seconds as her aura dropped immediately to 20%.

The feeling was indescribable and brief. The flood of orange and red dissipated around her along with the air. Her vision only cleared soon enough to see Max once again in front of her. This time with slightly chipped armor and a blazing hammer.

“I guess you do melt.” He swung true, aiming to finish her off.

Summer could do nothing but fall forward into it. Her body refused to compromise. If it wasn’t for the ice dust woven in her clothes, that last attack would’ve been it. Not that it mattered. With nothing else to do she shut her eyes in fear as they welled up. Summer waited for what felt like an eternity for the final blow to mark her end, when the sound of a visceral crunch hit her ears, yet, nor her body. Summer opened her eyes and managed a breathless gasp. White Arma Gigas armor faded before her eyes and left the sight of her brother soaring through the air. The crumbling hands of the summon pushed Summer away while Nick’s body fell limp off the ring. The sound of a single buzzer startling everyone.

Darren and Max stood motionless. They didn’t even see Nick get close. Not only that, but the sand from where he stood had only now begun to hit the ground. Darren turned his attention back to Summer, who was still dazed, and darted right at her, his spear poised to end this.

Summer didn’t even move as a million thoughts and the sight of Nick unconscious on screen flooded her very being. She had finally noticed Darren inches away from finishing her off when thick ice encased her in the form of a rose, too dense to see into.

Darren’s spear did nothing more than scrap the surface. “Dammit. You’re delaying the inevitable!”

Weiss covered her mouth in shock seeing her son hit the ground. A look at the screen showed his aura somehow dropped to 32% in the matter of a minute. It wasn’t critical but instant damage like that is serious, and hadn’t gotten up yet. Weiss had stood up but Harriet and Ruby appeared by his side with Penny a second behind.

Penny quickly scanned him. “He’s okay!” She said, relieved, “Just a bad hit.” Penny put him in her arms to carry when he suddenly took a deep breath and opened his eyes violently. “Hey! Hey! You’re okay. Deep breaths~”

Nick’s entire body trembled. Not only that, but Veronica suddenly felt her stomach go into knots as a familiar stench filled the air. She couldn’t take her eyes off the ice barrier Summer made.

Max and Darren did their best to pound away at it but it didn’t budge. Also, the snow from the tundra swirled around it.

“Ugh! Max, melt it away!”

“Out of fire dust.” He waved his non-glowing hammer. “Just keep smashing in one spot.”

“Tsk.” Darren did just that. Each strike invigorated him more and more. “Knock knock princess! Time to give up your crown.”

Stupid stupid stupid stupid; that’s all she could think about herself. Of course Darren would risk a move like that. Inside had Summer on her hands and years out of frustration and pure adrenaline. The sound of the attacks vibrated the fortress she had made. How did this happen!? She had all the choices in her hands. Why didn’t she refuse the challenge? Was Nick truly eager to fight or was she just eager to please. In the end it ended like it always does, him protecting her the moment she tried taking the lead. Another plan fell to pieces because she couldn’t see the obvious flaws. She didn’t even bother to ask what Nick’s plan was. He would’ve known better or been fast enough to dodge. He had done it literally moments prior! Now he was hurt because of her and it and they were going to lose. Unless…

Summer took out the vial of Diamond Dust. She shouldn’t. This shouldn’t be that important. No one would want her to. She told herself all these things and yet Summer wanted to win so much. The cold seeped into her very being and before she knew it, she was back in her headspace with Shiva standing a couple feet away.

“You’ve seen better days, but then again I suppose you’ve also seen worse.” The cheeky girl looked at the vial. “And what in Remnant do you plan on doing with that?” She asked mockingly.

Summer stood up. “I’m…going to use you.” Her trembling stopped . “No, I will use you.” She said with vigor, “And you’re gonna let me!”

Shiva raised a brow. “I’ll let you? Heh, child, what ground do you have to order me around? In fact…” she stepped closer to Summer right to the point she was only a hair away. “I think I’ll finish our little game once and for all.”

Summer stood unblinking, her eyes giving no fear. “You won’t do it. Despite what you always say, I’m no idiot and neither are you. Taking me out would be so easy right now, but would the same be true for all the huntsmen and security outside? Yang wouldn’t even let you get off the arena let alone Amity itself. The first display of your power to the entire world, reduced to the significance of a snowflake.”

Shiva’s eyes narrowed. “Well aren’t we mouthy today?” She stepped away to look at the lake. “What an interesting letter scenario.”

“You’re always going on about just how great you are. Well show me then, no killing.”

“No shit.” Shiva looked back at Summer. The girl was clearly desperate, yet her argument was perfectly sound. Shiva could since the deep seeded desire to win. She couldn’t help but laugh a little.

Summer’s eyes narrowed, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. It’s just odd. Since when the hell do you look like me? It’s kinda creepy.” Shiva vanished and reappeared with her hand pressed against Summer’s heart. “Fine, I’ll humor you~”

Summer broke the vial…her mind began to fog as the tiny crystals filled the confined space. Summer began shaking.

“Don’t lose control. Don’t lose control. Don’t lose- lose control. Control. Control control control…control. Don’t… Don’t Lose.”

The brief interaction was only but a second for everyone else. Darren and Max had their weapons overhead to slam down in union when the sudden glow of the ice gradually became brighter before exploding violently. A plume of snow hid her from all. Watchers starred with the same anticipation as before, ignorant of what had transpired. Summer’s aura gauge itself didn’t move, but the 20% had become N/A. Port nearly rang the buzzer thinking the explosion took her out, but then witnessed the snow blow away. There she was, standing normally.

“Ummm I’m not sure what just happened but it looks like Ms. Schnee is still able to continue, but for how long in such an unfavorable situation.”

There wasn’t a family member that wasn’t completely still. Valerie found herself unable to speak and Veronica was no longer cheering like her peers. Even Eliza, though unaware of the situation, felt herself start to sweat as the camera panned to Summer who now wore a tiara of ice and whose eyes glowed pale blue to anyone who paid attention.

“So you finally show yourself!” Darren said with a smirk.

The girl who stood before him smirked back just as confidently. “Yeah. I’m finally here.”

#rwby #rwby twin snowflakes #rwby au #weiss schnee #jaune arc #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #penny polendina #nicholas schnee #summer schnee #val valkyrie #veronica belladonna #eliza marigold #whitley schnee #winter schnee

[markberries]

i  l i k e  y o u┊draco malfoy

info: you like draco, but he likes pansy. it isn't until a party in the room of requirement makes you realize how much draco didn't like you.

warnings: cursing

genre: angst, fluff, hufflepuff!reader, halfblood!reader

word count: 3300+ a/n: LMAO THIS IS SO BAD AND ITS UNEDITED HAKJSDADH enjoy

"isn't he just so cute?" you giggled, staring at your crush from across the room. the air smelt of burning wood, sunlight seeping through the window panes. professor snape was carefully eyeing each of the students as they prepped their potions, yet your eyes stayed glued to the well known trouble maker who sat in the front of the class.

"y/n, are you ever going to help me with this potion? i know you're good with them and i could really use your help!" ron whined from beside you, poking at your shoulder repeatedly. "bloody hell, were you slipped a love potion? it's just malfoy."

you turned to ron, smacking his arm, and he let out a small "ow". you sighed, helping ron gather materials to make the current potion. "stop acting like my crush on draco is new."

"but y/n, listen to me, nothing good can come out with malfoy, and i'm pretty sure you're just fascinated by the idea you have of him in your head," ron explains, tossing the items into the cauldron, "i mean, have you even talked to him?"

you freeze for a moment, clearing your throat. "y-yes i have, um.. i bumped into him in the hallway and i said sorry."

ron soon realizes what you mean, pity patting you on the head like a child. sighing, he says, "he didn't say anything to you, did he?"

you shake your head, taking a whiff of the potion you and ron created in front of you. you've had a crush on draco since the beginning of this year, which was currently your fourth year at hogwarts. of course, malfoy didn't pay any attention to you.

"god," you cringe, scrunching up your face after smelling the absolutely disgusting potion, "that smells terrible. guess we've made it properly then."

"ugh, you're right," ron replies, backing away from the previously brewing cauldron. you look around, seeing that students are still attempting to complete their potions, so you had a bit of time to waste.

you hear draco's laugh from across the room, pansy parkinson by his side. your mere infatuation with malfoy wasn't enough to make you jealous (because personally, you thought it was an ugly emotion), but it did strike something in you when you watched draco and pansy giggle like idiots together.

people always thought you were crazy to like draco; he was mean, rude, and a pain in the ass, but you continued to see the good in him (or the good that you thought he had). being a hufflepuff who was infatuated with draco didn't grant you anything when it came to popularity, but you couldn't care less. you just thought draco was truly a nice guy on the inside.

"hello? earth to y/n? class is over!" ron waved a hand in your face, making you snap back into reality. you blinked a few times, before looking around to see students exiting the class to go for lunch, and you watched draco leave with pansy.

"come on then, i'm starving!" ron hurried you, pushing you out the door to go to the dining hall, literally grabbing you by the robe because you could not stop staring a malfoy.

tonight was the night of the room of requirement party, all houses invited (hosted by gryffindor, and slytherin was somehow invited as well), and you wanted to use this to your advantage. you wanted to tell draco how you felt, because you were tired of admiring him from afar, tired of awkwardly blushing when you spotted him, and tired of hiding your feelings.

but, unbeknownst to you, draco did know that you had a crush on him. only problem is, he has been trying to get with pansy. he thought you were too quiet and that you weren't really his type, so he avoided you. he always noticed your stares and the way your cheeks heated up when you two met eyes.

when people told him that you liked him, he would brush it off with a scoff and talk about how untrue the rumors were, because he didn't want you to cry to him about how he didn't like you. so, tonight at the party, his plan was to avoid you completely.

—

you twirled in the mirror, taking a look at your fourth outfit change. it was a plain black skirt, paired with a tight yellow turtleneck with a black oversized sweater on top of it, only showing the collar of the turtleneck. you sported black converse high tops, and you honestly felt proud of yourself for actually choosing an outfit on time.

exiting the dormitory, you were greeted at the front of your common room by harry, ron, and hermione, who were talking amongst each other, before looking over at you.

"so i'm guessing today is the day then, right y/n?" hermione asks you, raising a brow. you tried to awkwardly laugh it off, but you were already nervous. harry noticed your difference in mood, and patted you on the back.

"don't worry y/n," harry comforts you, "it's just malfoy. still don't get why you like him, because he truly is an arse, but i'm sure he'll think your beautiful."

you bury your face in your palms, stressing yourself out by picturing the worst case scenarios. "oh god, i really hope it works out."

"calm down, i'll sucker punch malfoy if he says anything stupid, alright?" ron comments, and you hear a snicker from hermione, which makes ron look at her and say, "is something funny?"

the four of you start heading down to the room of requirement, carefully trying to avoid any prefects who were not on board to the party, and avoiding any professors. all of you entered to see students engaging with one another, laughter erupting throughout the room and bouncing off the walls.

it smelt like vanilla and you didn't mind, you waved at some friends from hufflepuff and greeted others, but only looking for one person in particular; draco malfoy. you peaked around corners and asked around, until you saw the familiar slytherin talking up pansy by the back wall.

he saw you coming, but averted your gaze in order to stay focused on pansy. she was talking about her classes and malfoy was listening intently as you made your way towards him, but he chose to ignore you. you waited patiently, hands clad together with sweaty palms. your heart was pounding out of your chest, but you attempted to control your body language.

for the rest of the party, you pretty much followed malfoy like a lost puppy. you just wanted to tell him, but you felt like he was always too busy to talk to. he was always around pansy, and you really didn't know what to do.

"y/n, are you alright?" you hear hermione from beside you, whispering in your ear.

"yeah, i just haven't really gotten the chance to tell draco yet.."

hermione nods, before giving you a pat and leaving to talk to harry and ron.

"hey pansy," draco says, clearing his throat. pansy turns to him, tilting her head. "yes, draco?"

"could we talk outside? just for a moment," draco asks her, and she complies, following draco outside the room of requirement. when they're outside of the party, he scratches the back of his head awkwardly, his face scrunched up.

"well?" pansy asks, waiting for a word out of draco.

"well.. i just wanted to ask you if we could go out for butterbeer sometime, but not as friends, you understand what i'm saying?" draco asks, and pansy looks speechless. she searches for a reason to reject malfoy, not wanting to carry the weight of guilt among her shoulders. she remembers you, following malfoy around, and she uses that to her advantage.

"sorry malfoy, but i think somebody might've already called dibs on you," pansy states, looking at draco, searching for any negative emotion toward her on his face. malfoy frowns, staring at the door of the room of requirement.

"i'll talk to you later," pansy smiles, entering the party once again. draco wasn't mad at pansy, no, he was mad at you. too blinded by the terrible feeling of rejection, he blamed everything on you. he thought about how if you had just left him alone, pansy would've gone out with him (which was not true). draco goes back to the party a few minutes after pansy had left, and you rush over to him, tugging on his black and green robe.

"um, draco i need to-" draco cuts you off, ripping his robe away from your grip. "no, y/n!"

you flinch, startled by the volume and tone of his voice. his face has anger written all over it, and you became frightened. the golden trio hear malfoy's yelling, turning to where the sound was coming from.

"i-i just wanted to say that i like-" malfoy groans, rubbing his face in frustration. "i know you like  me, y/n! for god's sake, everyone knew! you weren't very subtle, y/l/n. stop trying so hard, halfblood. because of you, i got rejected. i don't like you, and i don't consider you a friend. i don't even consider you as an acquaintance. just stay away from me."

your face turns red, growing warmer by the second. at this point, you're staring at your shoes, too scared to look up at draco. tears are welling up in your eyes, threatening to fall as malfoy continues to talk. your throat starts hurting because you refused to cry out, and your hands were trembling.

"draco malfoy!" harry roars, rushing to come to your aid. ron puts both hands on each one of your shoulders, trying to get a glimpse of your face. he sees your glossy eyes, and pulls you into a hug.

"oh now you've done it, malfoy," ron hisses, turning his head to look at draco. draco scoffs, crossing his arms. "what are you gonna do, weasley?" draco shoots back.

"he won't do anything," hermione starts, eyes full of hatred, "but i will." hermione punches draco in the face, making draco yelp in pain. he holds his nose while crabbe and goyle run over to him.

"i-i'm sorry," you sniffle, "it's my fault."

"no no, shh, it's not your fault y/n," ron coos, stroking your hair in an attempt to calm you down. draco eyes you, hearing the shaking in your voice, and feeling a slight pang of guilt. i mean, did he have to yell at you that much? hermione backs up to check up on you, and harry is still glaring at him.

"lets go y/n," hermione smiles at you, and you nod at her and say softly, "okay."

all of you leave the party, eyes glued to your form. when you finally got out of the room, you took a deep breath and felt a slight sense of relief to finally get away from draco. you thought that  this would've gone better, you expected rejection but not in a situation like that. on the way back to the hufflepuff dormitory, all four of you stayed silent.

you felt too tired to talk, and i think the other three understood that. when you reached the common room, you thanked your friends, saying that you were alright (which was not true, but they knew you didn't want to talk about it). you waved them goodbye, heading up to bed, and feeling nervous about the following day.

—

the next day, you got ready like normal, but you were awfully quiet, and draco took note of that. he no longer heard your laughter from across the room, and you stayed focused on your studies. you didn't want to look at him, afraid that he would yell at you again, so you stayed away, just like he asked.

your friends would ask you if last night had affected your new behavior, but you just assured them that it wasn't the case, which was a lie. you were just too scared to say something wrong, or to annoy draco again.

draco watched you as you wrote in your notebook, an unreadable expression on your face. he was restless, the night before, thinking if he had said too much. he thought it was a bit harsh to yell at you in front of everybody, but he still had that fresh feeling of rejection in his mind.

draco watched as your eyes wandered, looking around the classroom and other students, before accidentally catching his eyes. your eyes widened, almost like you were in fear, and then you raised your hand, asking to go to the washroom. you leave the room, gripping at your robe.

draco decides to follow you, he's not sure why,  but he just does. he follows you down the hall, and he sees you sit down on a bench, breathing heavily. draco approaches you, standing right in front of you. your entire body freezes, staring down at his shoes.

"i'm sorry that you were rejected because of me," you say softly, fidgeting with your fingers. draco honestly doesn't know what to do, he doesn't know if he should say that it wasn't your fault, or if he was sorry for yelling at you. he does none of the above, and just decides to stay silent.

"um," you say, looking up at him, and draco swore he thought you were on the brink of tears, "i'll make sure to stay out of your way. i hope parkinson accepts your feelings."

you stand up, rushing to leave, the last person you wanted to talk to was draco. you didn't want to face him, honestly you were considering leaving to go to muggle school, but the thought of leaving your friends here had stopped you.

for the next week, things had stayed the same. you stayed quiet, flinching at any loud noise, and trying your best to ignore malfoy's attempts to reach out to you. he felt incredibly guilty, and his feelings got worse as the days passed. he didn't really understand how much he did pay attention to you before everything that happened.

he kind of did miss catching you staring at him, and how you would shyly look away. maybe it's because he missed the attention you had given him all the time, even if you two didn't speak.

"y/n," you feel a hand grab your arm, you didn't see who it was, but you knew that voice.

"draco please, i already said i'm sorry," you say quietly, not wanting to anger him. your friends were right, maybe draco was a bad person. you wished you hadn't tried to confess to him in the first place.

"no listen- it's not that, okay?" he says, dragging you to the side of the hallway, getting away from the other students who were walking to their classes. "i, i wanted to say i'm sorry."

when draco admits it, your eyes widen, draco malfoy apologizing to someone was very new, and you didn't know what to say. part of you thought it was a joke, that he was going to do something horrible because you ruined his chance, but blue eyes seemed genuine.

"i shouldn't have yelled at you that day, um.. it wasn't your fault, uh, i realize now that pansy was just using you as an excuse, and i'm sorry that it took me so long to realize it. i hope we can start over.. maybe as friends."

you felt like your ears were deceiving you, and you weren't very eager on becoming friends with draco, after what happened. but, you being you, you slowly nodded, unsure of your own answer. "okay, i guess. but i'm not going to lie to your face and say i suddenly lost feelings for you, i just need some time to.. adjust."

something hurts in draco's heart when he hears the amount of uncertainty that laced your warm voice, but he still nodded, respecting your decisions.

"you do know i have been trying to talk to you since the party, right?" draco asks you, and you shake your head. you're taken aback, but you decide to not talk.

"yeah, i really have," draco admits.

you deadpan, "oh. um, see you around draco."

—

after a month, you still have those lingering feelings for draco. him being sweeter to you than usual, really wasn't helping. he would wave at you in the hallways, ask to partner up with you in classes, and he seemed deeply interested in your preferences, likes, dislikes, and your life in general. it was odd for everyone else, too. it was almost like he was actually trying to be nice to you.

even though you had told draco that you needed time, it's like it went in one ear and out the other for him. he was actively trying to talk to you, walking you to class, and more. it felt like you were floating, or like you were dreaming. you convinced yourself that the guilt had probably been eating away at him, because that was really the only explanation.

"by the way, what's it like living in the muggle world?" draco asks you, resting his head on his own hand, curiosity getting the best of him. you two were out on the courtyard, where you had originally been by yourself, but he had decided to join you. you both sat cross legged, facing each other.

"ooh, what does your mother do for a living? i hear there's so many different kind of jobs in the muggle wor-"

"what the hell is up with you, malfoy?" you question, almost snapping at him, but you kept yourself in check. draco only looks at you weirdly, saying, "what do you mean?"

you roll your eyes, "you know what i mean, malfoy. why are you treating me like i'm fragile? like i'll break any second? i told you before and i'll say it again, i need time to adjust. you know that i have feelings for you, so are you trying to rub salt in the wound? because i'm really not sure what is going on."

draco laughs, "you really are dimwitted, aren't you?" he shakes his head.

"i'm sorry?" you squint your eyes at him, and he laughs again. god, you really loved his laugh.

"you're such an idiot, y/l/n," and with that sentence, he places a hand on your cheek and brings you in for a kiss. his lips land on yours, and you feel like a statue. you didn't know how to react, i mean, was draco really kissing you right now?

his lips are soft, and you felt a little bad because you did not move at all. when he pulls away, you're in awe, staring at him, shocked.

"what," you manage to get out, and draco giggles, cupping your cheeks in his hands.

"i fancy you, you idiot," draco says to you, and you swear you can feel your heart jumping out of your chest. you're still sitting in place, confusion written all over your face.

"the fuck," you sputter out this time. "you fancy me? since when?"

draco sighs, tapping his chin as he thinks. "pretty sure it was the day i caught you sleeping at the library. you had been studying for hours, a little drool on your arm as well. that was the day i decided that i like you."

you turn red, blinking your eyes.

"you saw that?"

"yeah, you looked nice that day."

draco leans back and rests his hands on the grass, smirking when he saw how much he affected you. "so, are you willing to go on a date with me?"

"o-oh, okay, wow. haha, didn't expect this," you're at a loss for words, and you know malfoy knows it, because he can't stop smiling at how stupid you probably sounded right now.

"great," he replies, pressing a kiss to your cheek.

"you know, ron won't be happy about this."

"oh forget the weasley, is he your boyfriend?"

"who said i had a boyfriend?

#draco #draco malfoy #harry potter #ron weasley #hermione granger #draco imagine #draco fluff #draco angst #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy fluff #draco malfoy angst

[goldenchan-fx2thepeacock]

Quick AU where Danny stays in town during Girls Night Out

Yeah, random thoughts spring into brain. Danny is trans. I think that's enough background info. Also, Tumblr got a new post editor, so I'm betaing it right now.

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Danny was supposed to go fishing with his dad. But something came up. AKA, Vlad wanted him to go visit him without Danny. So Danny was in Amity Park when he was supposed to be having dad bonding time. What could he say? His dad got that dumb book and everything. It was gonna be epic. Except stupid Vlad had to go and ruin everything. Whatever. Dad said they would go next weekend.

The first big issue was when Tucker disappeared. And he didn't. Might've been a dumb ghost thing. So he and Sam went to find stuff out. Except all the men in town were gone. It was glaring. "I-I'm sure it's nothing Danny!" Sam said nervously. "Yeah. It's gotta have been a stupid mistake. Maybe I'm immune cause I'm half ghost," Except there weren't any male ghosts either. "Yeah, that's gotta be it!" That when they heard Ember. "OH YEAH! NO MORE PESKY GUYS! IT'S A GIRL'S NIGHT OUT!" "Yes. You know, I'm surprised that worked. I was afraid it might've been a ghost only thing," Spectra drawled. "Of course it worked. The superior gender always prevails," Kitty replied. "And that's obviously female," Every vein in his body was pounding. "I think you might've confused sex for gender ladies," Sam said patiently. "We're not having sex!" Ember laughed. "You do realize how invalidating this can feel for trans people?!" Sam shrieked back. "If they're still here, that means it's a she," Spectra grinned. That was the last straw. He ran. As fast as he could. And for a half ghost that was fast. Once he got home, he slammed the door.

Sam saw Danny run off and knew how this was looking for him. "Isn't this rich? The ghost boy is really a girl," Kitty grinned. "I'm surprised I didn't notice sooner," Spectra laughed. Ember stayed oddly quiet for someone who was normally boisterously loud.

Danny curled in on himself. Herself. NO! Don't second guess yourself. It change the fact that it hurt. "All the men in town are gone!" He heard Jazz yell. "I realize that Jazz. Thank goodness your father is out of town," Mom sighed. "Wait, but Danny isn't! I really hope..." She was standing in his doorway. "FUCKING GHOSTS!" Jazz didn't swear. She never swore. "What is it Jazz? Oh. Danny, I'm so sorry," Mom pulled him into a hug. "I'll be fine," He grumbled. "Do you know which ghosts?" Jazz decided to change the conversation. "Spectra, Kitty and Ember," "Great. Spectra is going to use this horribly," Jazz grumbled quiet enough that only Danny could hear. "Listen, we have to get the guys back first," "Wait, if you're, that means any trans women in Amity are stuck there," Mom said. "Can we not talk about that? I'm seriously not in the mood," "At least pesky Phantom won't be here to get in the way," Jazz and Danny exchanged a look. Sam came bursting in. "Danny! Okay, I am going to make them even deader than before," Sam cracked her knuckles. "I'm fine Sam. Let's just find a way to fix this," "I have an idea!" Jazz said. "No," Danny, Sam and Mom said in unison. "Oh come on. Don't be like that. Not all my plans are bad," Jazz protested. "Speaking from experience (of being trapped in a thermos way too much for one night), that is completely untrue," "What was that about thermoses Danny?" Mom said. "Jazz put soup in my Fenton Thermos!" "I couldn't tell them apart! We really need to label things," "Like with a massive sticker that say Fenton?" "All our stuff has those!" "Fair enough," Danny conceded. It was the plan if anyone caught them talking about getting trapped in thermoses. It made sense because it actually happened. "Well, since Jazz's plan is out, I opt that we figure out how this whole thing happened," Mom said. "It's a combo between Kitty and Ember. Kitty has this thing that makes men disappear into another dimension. And Ember must've used her guitar to make it cover all of Amity. If we don't get them out in twelve hours, they'll be stuck there forever," "And I will have to resign to a life of raging dysphoria," "You were gonna have that anyways," "Times ten. This won't help anyways, but it won't be all bad," "Let's stop talking about you being trans. Danny, you're staying here," Jazz winked. He knew what that meant. They would get all the men back and Danny would keep the ghosts at bay. "Okay. So, from what they were blabbing, all we have to do is get them to do it again," Sam said. Once they had a plan in place, all they had to do was implement it. They left and Danny quickly transformed. Praying that Spectra wouldn't find a way to use this against him, he sped off. "Hey! Poo faces! I'm not gone, and it semi pisses me off!" He screamed. "Oh now sweety. Why would you want to leave behind the superior gender?" Spectra said. "Because it makes me feel horrible and like I was born wrong," "You were, weren't you," Don't let Spectra sink her claws in Fenturd! "Yeah, maybe I was, but if I work hard enough I can fix it," "How is Danny Phantom still here?" He heard Paulina say. Nope, not listening. "They're all going to know. You can't do anything about that," Spectra laughed evilly. "Now girls, follow the recipe! You too now," "I'm. NOT A GIRL!" The wail was probably ill planned, but Danny wasn't thinking straight. Shit, humans. He cut himself off. "Oh come on now. No matter how many times you tell yourself that, you still have to cover parts of yourself. Don't tell me you don't wake up every morning and wish you were a real boy?" "I am. I am a real boy. I just have to take a few extra steps to get there," "Oh come on now. Stop lying to yourself. Maddie, how can you possibly call these eggs? They're green," Okay, maybe dealing with Spectra first was a bad idea. But she was also taunting his mom. Deal with Ember. She must be better than this.

So he flew to a stage. Ember was rocking out with a bunch of girls. Sam was in the background. This was probably one of the less dangerous problems. "Listen, if you're going to taunt me for the fact that I'm still here, do it already," "Hey, listen kid. I'm not actually going to taunt you. Kitty and Spectra are being complete jerks, but I'm not going to judge you for being trans," "Y-you're not?" "Heck no! I'm doing this because I wanted to have a fun night without guys. You included. I'll just have to take a few extra steps to get rid of you!" Danny dodged the guitar strum easily. "Are you planning on bringing them back at the end of the night?" "That's really up to Kitty," "I guess," Sam could deal with Ember.

Next up was Kitty. Oh great, makeup. (I honestly forget what Kitty was doing, so makeup works) "Now girls. All you gotta do is apply the bronzer like so!" "Kitty! How would Johnny feel if he knew you were doing this?" "Oh come on now Ghost girl, you can't be serious. Johnny is having a guys night in all due time," "HEY! Don't you dare. Transphobia doesn't help anyone," Jazz yelled. "Oh stop complaining. She knows she doesn't belong with the guys. From the looks of it, Spectra's already gotten to you. This'll make this so much easier,"

The plan backfired immensely. Danny and Mom were a mess, Sam didn't manage to get the guitar, and Jazz just got in a debate with Kitty. Danny, having to keep up a facade, came downstairs. "How'd it go?" "Terribly. Though, I did learn the Ghost Boy is trans," Mom said. "Fascinating," "It's, well it's oddly human. Why would a ghost even bother?" "Turns out gender dysphoria comes to the grave," "Danny, this is no time for one of your morbid jokes," Yeah, maybe it was morbid, but it wasn't a joke. "Whatever. I guess we get to use Jazz's plan," "All we gotta do is convince them that a cis guy is still in town. Like wandered in after the disappearing act," "Great plan. Sam can't pretend to be me though," "How did you know I was going to do that?" "Lucky guess,"

So that's how Jazz ended up wearing a baseball cap and a pair of men's jeans into Ember's concert. "Did we really have to use a pair of dad's jeans? These barely fit," "You know, the fact that they fit at all should be surprising. Dad was skinny at one point in his life. Which means that one of us could be on his end of the gene pool," "It's probably you," "Don't make me think about that. Hiding what little chest I have is hard enough. If I got dad's genes, I'd honestly be terrified," "We haven't seen the women on his side of the family. And besides, you got the blue eyes black hair thing," "You are honestly scaring me. Now, I gotta scram before someone sees me talking to you. Mom or the ghosts," "Fair,"

And thus, the plan worked. Kitty, adamant that no men be left in Amity, blew another kiss. Ember amplified it. The men came back. The three got thermosed. Jazz laughed at their faces when they honestly though she was from out of town. Danny once again didn't get taken, even in ghost form.

Tucker and Sam found him curled up in his bed. "Hey man. I know this has gotta be tough for you," Tucker said. "Spectra had no right!" Sam continued. "Thanks guys. But I think I'm gonna take a few days off school," The trio heard Dash's voice outside. "Hey mom. I know what happened was scary. And I know it must've felt really bad, but I still see you as my mom," "Thanks Dash. I can always count on you to make me feel better," A woman's voice rang out. Danny looked over the window sill. "See Danny. It's not horribly weird. Just a few transphobic ghosts," Tucker laughed. "A couple," "What?" Sam and Tucker said in unison. "Ember isn't," "How do you know that?" "I talked to her," "Hey Fenturd! Don't you dare tell anyone about my mom! And don't be mean to her! I'm sure you wouldn't get it," "You'd be surprised Dash!" He grabbed his trans flag and hung it out the window. "I get it more than you seem to think!" Dash's mom smiled at him. "Y-you're trans? I thought you were just a loser!" "Yeah, and I had to talk to the transphobic ghosts. So I won't invalidate your mom!" Dash stared up at him. "Holy shit,"

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Praying that this uploads, cause I've got shoddy internet rn. And I'm working on my Gravity Falls crossover fic. I just had this pop into my mind. Prolly just gonna be a oneshot. I might make another fic about Jack's side of the family later, that's connected to this one.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #dash baxter #trans!danny #trans!dash's mom #maddie fenton #kitty (ghosts) #ember mclain #phic #penelope spectra #tw:transphobia #tw: gender dysphoria #jazz fenton

[digitalvoidheart]

A Pixelated New Moon

This is a random idea I came up when extremely down in the dumps and also wanted to try writing angst for the first time... (also new moon is a moon completely shadowed soit's basically something in the oneshot)

Also, this is a random au I made up where everyone's life is in a multiplayer game. I know not very original but pls enjoy!

Players/Characters:

♠ Moon (passive nightmare)

♠Nightmare (corrupted nm and a separate being)

♠Horror

♠Killer

♠Dust

♠Cross

Moon knew his team was unstoppable and was proud of it.

Horror, even with that cracked skull from a false 1v1 (his opponent had an accomplice hidden for a sneak attack, Horror came out victorious eventually), his agility is unaffected and he can pack a punch with his attacks.

He may say that he lacks in the defense department but when it comes to combat, he usually attacks when the team is surrounded, creating a soundwave-like attack with his bone weapon constructs, giving him the title of the team's main offence.

Next comes Dust. He's a mysterious one if Moon had to be honest. Not only did he refuse to narrate his backstory or history of his previous teams, but his level on all skills seemed to be on par. No one knows what he specializes in wether it is defense, healing or combat because he has activated his hidden card. A special item which hides the stats of the player. An expensive item but with the high level he's in, it's possible for him to own one.

He could protect the team in one second, heal Horror the next and attacking side by side with Nightmare on the next, all mid battle. Moon found it very impressive.

Another dangerous member is Killer. He may not have the same knockout attacks as Horror, nor the magic abilities like Dust, but he makes up the team by his traitorous speed. His slump posture may make it seem he's lazy but he's far from that.

He could land a good amount of slashes onto his opponent in the least amount of time, immobilizing them temporarily sometimes. He doesn't fear much, proven by the wide cocky grin plastered on at all times and the fact that he chooses close range attacks while his target shaped SOUL was always within the enemy's grasp? Deliciously terrifying.

Lastly, Nightmare. The leader of the team, one who plans ahead, always knowing way the opponents are thinking. He has the highest level compared to everyone under his wing, the aforementioned trio having a small reduction to reach his level, and Moon a LARGE one.

He didn't even know why he was needed in the team. Horror's attack, Dust's magic and Killer's speed made up the perfect balance of a team. His constant request for why they need him always went unanswered by Night. He can't even leave without Nightmare's consent, that being the rules of the life-or-death game they play. Any player who wishes to leave their team has to have their removal granted by the team leader. His permission for leaving went deaf as his questions.

The trio always had their answers on them for him, albeit it's a little untrue.

"Need ya for...shieldin' me. Got low defense, r'member?" You don't need me. You've got Dust.

Dust's minute responses were similar "You're useful..." No Dust, I'm just a burden. You don't need to heal me midbattle either. Use it for Nightmare or Horror instead.

"Pretty sure 'cuz you hold up a shield better than any of us" Funny, Killer. And I'm at least another 25 levels below you guys...

He's pretty sure no one knows of his secret to try up his levels, so that's out of the options. Everyone has their share of G, albeit higher than his for earning more EXP than him for being on the offense. So why do they want him if it isn't money or battle?

His answers come to him when they enter the next quest. The blue screen appearing before each of them reading :

-

Welcome to level XX!

Here, you will be separated into two groups. Team one with any number of players will be challenged with X number of quests through the white gate while team two with one player will pass through the abyss through the black gate.

Choose wisely!

-

Oh... A sacrifice.

"I'll go" Moon smiled even when the heavy words sent a metaphorical spear to his SOUL. He can do this. It's for the team. He might not know what the quest in the abyss is but no one's returned once entering the abyss r-right? They needed him so they could pass this level. So why did it hurt to line the facts together?

"No." Nightmare deadpanned, his decision locked with no room for argument. "We'll rest up at the checkpoint and discuss who to go where tomorrow."

What? I-I'm not th- a sacrifice?

Moon's voice failed him from the assertiveness of his leader. And like that, he was lead to the previous checkpoint where they discussed at the inn for whom to go, and honestly? Moon wasn't listening at all.

This could be his chance to detach his leeching body from their assets and give them a higher chance of success! Maybe they can even find a better player with a higher level than himself to benefit the guys more. But why do they need to discuss who to go when the answer was right in front of them?

While Nightmare and the others planned for who to go, Moon made his own plan to carry out during their slumber. As the moment arrived at midnight, he slipped out to carry a few errands quests the inn offered for G and his own personal plans.

He won't let their efforts go to waste. Not when he was around.

***

The next day, the team of five made their way back to gates of the next level.

Moon spared a glance at Nightmare to see him nod at the trio. As one of them stepped closer to the black portal. It was Killer. A valuable and speedy asset to the team.

Moon let out a sigh and exhaled his message to them.

"I'm sorry"

Killer was pulled away with blue magic as his purple cloaked companion whisked past his fallen figure and into the abyss. The portal closed before any of them had time to figure out what had happened.

---

The rumours were false. The Abyss wasn't heavy. Sure, it was dark but you could still see yourself in a white outline only. And apparently, he wasn't the only one.

He watched as players teleport into the Void, some calm, others screaming and shouting for someone (probably they were betrayed by their own team) before they all are faced with a monochromatic screen. Upon his distraction, he didn't notice the exact replica of the screen in front of him as well.

-

Welcome to the abyss!

This is a test of patience and trust for your team. You will watch as your team completes their quests and at the end, choose your fate

-

It didn't say much but the pixelated screen then glitched, showing a live view of his team. They look upset and unhappy, except Nightmare.

He looked furious. If he wasn't mad with Moon before, he was now. Maybe he might allow him to leave the team. That is if he can leave the abyss in the first place.

Looking back, he noticed the distraught player a small distance away from him as they tapped on their screen.

He watched, wide-eyed as they disintegrated into pixels. Like monster dust. Death...

Although, he was quickly distracted by another monster watching through his screen.

A skeleton monster they were. The same outline white around him didn't tell the colours the monster possessed but his right eye light and lightning-bolt scar on his right cheek were red. Does that mean eyelights remain their colour?

Getting a response from the new guy was difficult. He refused to speak.

After multiple attempts Moon sighed "Could I get your name at least?" More silence from the skeleton and Moon gave up.

"It's Cross"

His head shot back at the red eyed skeleton. Before he decided to shut up himself and watch his team.

He turned in time to see Horror summon a shield himself to protect Dust from an attack. So it was a fluke. The incapability to defend himself...

"I knew it..." he said to no one but Cross turned to his direction from the screen. "They really didn't need me. It was all a lie..." tears welled up in his sockets, blurring the view of his team effectively.

"B-but why did they wanna keep me if i wasnt for a sacrifice?" He croaked. He watched as Nighmare and the guys cleared the stage in a blur.

Another thing he was. A deadweight.

Completely forgetting that he was crying near a complete stranger, he swiftly wiped his tears and residual magic from his face. He pulled up his cloak's cowl only to hear Cross speak once more.

"You're their anchor." Moon turned to Cross.

"W-what?" What did he mean by anchor?

"Having high levels means you are more likely to loose control of your mind, resulting in messes you never intended on happening. "

Eyes never leaving the team, he continued, "You were basically kept so that they have a distraction from overdoing things. Like that grey hooded guy," he pointed at Dust "he seems to keep healing the guy with a cracked skull mid battle to avoid losing his sanity from his bottomless well of magic"

Moon looked at Dust, then averted his gaze to his feet in shame.

Cross explained how the others may have benefited from him and Moon took it all in.

And even if it seemed like minutes, Moon felt like he'd been talking with him for hours and have been friends for longer.

He didn't want to leave Cross. He could take him with and show him to the team. Maybe they will accept him and-

Ping!

Moon looked up to see hi- Nightmare's team has passed through all quests and now are waiting in front of a transporter. The screen glitched once, twice before turning back to the message screen. This time, it displayed a volume symbol and a female voice spoke.

"Player Moon, your team has successfully passed through level XX. You have an option to go back to your team which costs 78000 G, or stay in the void till you disintegrate. Choose wisely on what will benefit your team."

W-what? Already? He can go back! He has enough G for three tickets from scraping all the G from his secret task job in checkpoints! He can redeem himself, apologise to Nightmare and-

"Congratulations" Cross' voice pierced through his thoughts. He was smiling, but Moon knew better.

"Come with me" he demanded.

"That's against the rules, little Moon" Cross countered. He looked over Moon's shoulder at the screen, which had apparently heard him, giving a robotic 'affirmative'. "Besides, I don't have a team to go back to nor the G to buy myself out"

Moon's eyelights began wavering as he paced. Looking at his options, he only had three.

He took deep breaths to calm himself from the edge of panic. Opening his eyes, he looked at Cross.

He was hiding sadness behind a stoic mask, wanting to be strong with Moon returning safe to his team. It crushed his Soul to know that the determination in it was slowly burning out to a flickering flame.

Cross' stats were a considerably good amount, higher than Moon's obviously. His understanding and calm during a panicked situation is admirable.

But if only one of them can leave...

Who should?

☆********☆

I'll do 3 endings after my exams so look forward to it!

1

2

3

Btw to all angst writers... HOW TF DO YOU DO IT WITHOUT HAVING TO BE SAD?!!! I was only able to write this cuz I was sad. :(

#Void writes #digitalvoidheart #Moon #Nightmare #Killer #Cross #Horror #Dust #Game au #Tw depression #First time writing angst #Tell me how it is #C y'all after exams

[lilytriestoexist]

heIion is not good bi rep

hi, i'm lily, i'm bisexual, and i'm angry, in that precise order. someone on tiktok decided to say that sarah janet had decent lgbt representation so i'm going to discuss why heIion specifically is not good rep.

the following excerpts are from A C0urt of Wings and Ruin (final book in the AC0TAR series) by Sarah J Maas, pages 937-939. i have altered the names to follow tagging etiquette so stans don't see this post.

“Well, now I look as bad as Beron.” He strode straight past me with a wink, stalking into the sitting room. He grinned at AzrieI. “You handing Eris’s ass to him will be my new fantasy at night, by the way.”

AzrieI didn’t so much as bother to look over his shoulder at the High Lord. But Cass/ian snorted. “I was wondering when the come-ons would begin.”

right off the bat in this scene, it's established that heIion is flirtatious and often makes [sexually] suggestive comments. why is that questionable in this context, you may ask? because the idea of bisexual people being incredibly hormonal is a stereotype that's persisted for a long time.

this is the second time she's had a bi character with some semblance of significance to the story be hypersexual (the first was aedi0n in t0g, who was known as adarIan's whore and spoke of his sexual prowess). i'm not saying bisexual people can't be written as flirtatious and sexual, and i am in no way saying it's a bad thing to enjoy sex, but it's highly questionable when an author continuously writes bisexual characters with that stereotype. it reinforces that harmful stereotype and continues to give false impressions about the sexuality, as well as leaning into the idea that we are more likely to cheat due to this supposed universal high sex drive, which is totally untrue.

“It’s been what—four centuries now, and you three [AzrieI, Cass/ian, and M0r] still haven’t accepted my offer.”

M0r lolled her head to the side. “I don’t like to share, unfortunately.”

“You never know until you try,” HeIion purred.

The three of them in bed … with him? I must have been blinking like a fool because Rh/ys said to me, HeIion favors both males and females. Usually together in his bed. And has been hounding after that trio for centuries.

we've got heIion's bisexuality explicitly stated in the text! i really do think that was something sarah janet did right, instead of leaving it ambiguous and only slightly hinting at it. unfortunately, that's where the things she did right end.

so, heIion is bisexual. great! but in this scene this sexuality reveal is accompanied by heIion wanting a foursome with azrieI, cass/ian, and m0r, which he's been asking after for literal centuries. it's also stated that he likes males and females 'together in his bed.' not so great. why? because the idea of bisexuals being into threesomes and the like is a shitty and harmful stereotype that is seriously offensive to most bisexuals. it feeds into the idea of bisexual people being lustful and up for anything, which i can assure you is not an accurate generalisation at all.

i'm in awe at how sarah janet decided to write her lgbt representation here. it's honestly shocking how blatantly stereotypical this portrayal of bisexuality is, and how if you want to write good rep, you would not adhere to and perpetuate stereotypes. and no, i'm not overreacting, because heIion is a minor character without much pagetime and development, so this is the extent of his sexuality being discussed and portrayed, and it is pure, unjustifiable garbage. it's clearly stated that heIion likes threesomes (males and females together in his bed) and is even after a foursome with cass/ian, m0r, and azrieI. it's an obvious and well-known stereotype, it's completely unnecessary, and it's incredible that sarah janet decided this was how she was going to write her 'bi rep'.

in case it needed more stating: bisexual people aren't keen on threesomes just because they like more than one gender. bisexual people aren't there for you to fantasise about a threesome. not all bisexuals have a high sex drive. bisexuals aren't more likely to cheat.

I considered—Helion’s beauty and the others … Why the hell haven’t they said yes?

Rh/ys barked a laugh that had all of them looking at him with raised brows.

My mate just came up behind me and slid his arms around my waist, pressing a kiss to my neck. Would you like someone to join us in bed, Fayre darling?

My skin stretched tight over my bones at the tone, the suggestion. You’re incorrigible.

I think you’d like two males worshipping you.

My toes curled.

of course rh/ys mentioning heIion's bisexuality and interest in threesomes is used as a lead in for faysand's mental sexting. of course a character's bisexuality is used as an excuse for our least favourite heterosexual couple to fantasise about having their own threesome. i've got a bad feeling sarah janet only made heIion bisexual to use the infamous threesome stereotype so she could have faysand talk about having one, and if god forbid i'm right, that's incredibly shitty.

in conclusion, heIion is bad bi rep because he's portrayed using harmful stereotypes about bisexuals (lustful and hypersexual + threesomes) and isn't given any depth beyond that since he's a minor character, and sarah janet's attempt at being inclusive and having well-written diversity was an abject failure. i'll probably dissect m0r's disaster of a coming out as well at some point because holy shit, that was a trainwreck. but yeah. the end. 🏳️‍🌈

#anti sjm #anti acotar #lily rambles about diversity #diversity #bisexual #bisexuality

[ohnopoe]

We’re Not Just Friends | Inspector Valentine

Ship: Inspector Valentine x Reader Prompt: We’re not just friends and you fucking know it Word Count: 2.3k+

You were in a rush. There was only so long you could be away from work before your boss would find your absence unacceptable. Practically tearing your way through the front door to the police station, you almost ran right into a dirt ridden Father Brown who was stopped just inside the doorway; well, that explained part of what was going on, you thought with an amused huff of laughter, finally slowing in your pursuit.

“Miss Y/L/N,” Father Brown greeted you with a smile and a slight nod of his head, already eyeing up the bags in your hands with curiosity shinning through his gaze.

“Father,” you nodded in return, smile only growing as you noticed he was not alone in his dirt ridden state, with an equally messy Sid sitting on the bench behind him, and a surprisingly disarrayed Mrs McCarthy next to him, fidgeting where she sat as if desperate to keep any additional dirt as far from her as possible. “I see you’ve all been having a rather exciting day.”

The two men laughed in response, much to the disapproval of Mrs McCarthy. With a huff of displeasure, the woman in question offered a tense smile, one that clearly showed she wanted to be anywhere but at the police station in such a state.

“You could certainly say so,” Father Brown smiled softly. With a nod towards the bag in your hand, his curiosity clearly needed sating. “I take it you are here to see the Inspector?”

“Oh,” you startled, suddenly reminded of your reason for being there, and the rush you were in. “Yes, right- I should probably-” you gestured vaguely to the closed door.

With a quick apologetic smile at the Father and his little gang, you moved towards the closed door, offering a quick knock before entering without waiting for a response; having long since given up on waiting for what was often no more than a grunt of approval from the man within.

Your smile grew as you entered the room, a common reaction to being around the man, if you were honest. There was something about being in his presence, it was both calming and thrilling, and you tried not to think about just what that meant. But the thought was quickly rushed from your mind as you took in the state of him. Clearly he hadn’t been joking when he said he was desperate for a change of clothes.

You nearly broke down into laughter at the sight of the man hovering over his desk, determined not to sit down and rub the dirt into the furniture. If Father Brown had been muddy, well, this was an entirely new level of mess. Not only was there dirt and mud caked onto his trousers and the front of his shirt, but there were tears in the fabric too. A hole had formed on the side of the once white shirt, showing the singlet beneath, and the left arm was barely holding on. And judging by the sight of the muddled mess of fabric strewn across the waste paper bin in the corner, that vaguely resembled his jacket, it seemed some articles of clothing were now completely beyond repair.

You were glad you were biting your lip in an effort to hide your amusement when you finally met the inspector’s gaze, seeing the absolute look of irritation that sat on his brow. But as you pursed your lips, eyes shining in mirth at the sight before you, he seemed to relax before your eyes, if only slightly. Shoulders that were once tense seemed to drop as he stood up, and the corner of his lips quirked ever so slightly as he watched you take in the sight.

“I hope you’ve come with a change of clothes, and not just to gawk,” he huffed out, although his tone gave away the fact that he was starting to see the funny side of it too.

“I’m so tempted to say ‘no’,” you shook your head as a single laugh rolled off your tongue, the mischief in your eyes showing you were only joking. Still, the idea of leaving him to his dilemma amused you, and you could only imagine the rumours that would follow if he were seen in such a state by the rest of the townsfolk. “But, I didn’t go through the ordeal of searching your house for your bedroom for nothing.”

The silence that dawned at your attempt at a joke seemed to fill the room with an awkward aura. You had rarely actually been inside the inspector’s home, as it simply wouldn’t have been proper to do so as a single lady, but the fact you had been rooting around in his bedroom of all places… You could feel your cheeks begin to burn at the thought of it, the utter indecency of it all, and just how personal the task had been.

With an awkward shuffle forwards, unable to meet his eye once more, you proffered the bag to him, making sure to keep the table between you as if it were some form of buffer.

“Here,” you spoke simply, your voice suddenly sounding far more timid than it had beforehand. “I should really get going, don’t want to be late back to work.”

There wasn’t so much as a beat of silence before he was quickly interjecting, “I’ll drive you,” in a rush of words.

Your gaze raced up to meet his before you could even think to stop it, oddly stunned by the offer. It wasn’t that it was in any way out of the ordinary, he had given you quite a few lifts here and there, and it wasn’t as if it wouldn’t be helpful. But, somehow, the offer shocked you nonetheless. Perhaps it was the timing, perhaps you were simply lost in your thoughts of impropriety, or perhaps it was the fact that it was still very much the middle of his work day. But one way or another you simply stood there in shock, mouth hanging open slightly as you stared at him.

“That is-” he cleared his throat, attempting to sound more like his usual self. “Why don’t you let me give you a lift? I have some things to do on that side of town anyway.”

All you could do was nod in response, knowing full well there was no good reason not to accept the offer, and being rather grateful not to have to make the arduous walk back. “I’ll just- I’ll let you get changed.”

You barely made it out the door, pulling it to a quick shut behind you, before you were startled to a stop.

Father Brown, Sid and Mrs McCarthy were all watching you with differing levels of curiosity, but their questions still showed clearly on their features.

“So,” Mrs McCarthy started slowly, her gaze inquiring as she took you in with speculation. “You and the Inspector?” her tone left no space for questioning what she meant, holding more accusation than real wonder.

“The inspec- Oh!” you startled in realisation at what she was implying, glancing quickly towards the closed office door in surprise, as if the man behind it might suddenly come out and save you from the awkward questioning, yet desperately hoping he wouldn’t hear such questions.

“No, no, we’re just friends,” you offered with a slight laugh, quickly dismissing the thought.

With a quirk of his brow, Father Brown leant forwards with an air of mischief in his smile. “Friends who drop off clothing to the other?”

“Friends who have a key to each other’s house, you mean,” Sid piped up, throwing you a quick wink when the other two weren’t watching that did nothing to help your blush as it blossomed once more at the insinuation.

“For emergencies,” you huffed out the reply, not in any way amused at Sid’s joining in, even though you knew he was only teasing. “But then, I don’t suppose you’d know about that, would you Sid? You’d need to be good friends with someone, someone who trusts you for them to willingly give you a key.”

You could see the man opening his mouth ready to retort, the Father barely holding back an amused chuckle, and the way Mrs McCarthy seemed torn between placated at your words and displeased at the vulgarity of Sid’s implications. But just as it seemed the chauffeur was about to respond, the door behind you swept open in a rush of air, and a, now properly dressed, although still adjusting his tie, inspector Valentine came to a sudden stop behind you.

“Well?” the man huffed behind you, glancing about your little gathering impatiently. “Are we going or what?”

The sudden change in his demeanour threw you, and you could only gape in surprise as he moved to pass you for the doors without another word.

The door rattled as he forced it open, shaking you to your senses. Offering yet another apologetic smile to Father Brown, you gave the trio a slight nod of your head, a quick “good day,” and rushed after the inspector.

The car was running by the time you slipped into the passenger seat, and, were it not for the fact the inspector was clearly waiting for you to get yourself situated before he started to drive, you might have easily thought he had gone back on his offer. But as silence fell heavy and thick through the car, almost suffocating you, you knew there was something else going on.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” you spoke softly, not wanting to startle the man who was all but bristling at your side.

“It’s nothing,” he responded, but the way he practically grunted the words showed just how untrue that was.

“Is this about whatever mischief Father Brown got you in that destroyed your clothes in the first place?” you pushed once more, beginning to grow concerned at his sudden shift in temperament.

A huff was all the response he could give you, shaking his head as he did so, but still you could see his anger only growing, and you were beginning to get the idea that it wasn’t so much something that had happened prior to your arrival, but rather, because of you. But still, you couldn’t think of anything you could have possibly done to upset him so. You had used the short lunch break to leave work, rush to his home, find him a change of clothes and arrive at his office, surely that was something to be thankful for, not angry over.

“Do you not like that tie?” you asked almost humorously, hoping to at least illicit a smile, or quirk of his lips at your jest, knowing he wasn’t one to be overly picky over such a thing. But there was no show of amusement from the inspector, instead he slowly exhaled, as if desperately trying to calm himself of the anger that was practically radiating off of him.

With a measured breath, and not so much as a glance in your direction, he did his best to keep his tone calm, but the monotone sounded anything but as he slowly spoke. “I don’t care about the tie. I’m fine. Really.”

“I’m not daft!” the words rushed out of you, louder and angrier than you had intended. But you couldn’t stop yourself now. “Clearly I’ve done something to upset you, or do you normally hold the steering wheel as if you’re attempting to strangle it?”

“I said it’s fine,” he grit out, his teeth clenched in his own anger as he rung his fists around the wheel before stilling them quickly, realising the action was only proving your point.

“Oh, just tell me already!” you shot out. Unable to take the hostile environment any longer, and knowing your destination was getting far too close for the matter to be drawn out any longer.

“We’re not just friends and you fucking know it!” he slammed him hand down against the wheel in emphasis. You couldn't help but jump at the action surprised by the sudden movement, so much so that you didn't even take in his words properly. Never before had you seen him display such anger, and the action shocked you more than you could have expected.

It wasn't until the silence sat awkwardly between you once more that your mind finally begin to replay his words. Stuck on his sudden need to curse and the startling movement on his fist hitting the wheel, it seemed an age before the actual meaning of his words settled in your mind. ‘We’re not just friends.’ The term sat oddly familiar in your mind, and it wasn’t until you noticed the terse expression on his features that realisation came kicking in. He had overheard you speaking with Mrs McCarthy outside his office.

“You heard that,” your voice was softer than you intended, meek and shy, and you couldn’t help but cringe as the tone reached the man next to you. Regret and anguish quickly took any glimpse of anger from him as his posture drooped in his seat.

“I didn’t mean-” his own voice matched yours now, and were he not driving you knew he would have desperately searched for your gaze in a silent attempt to get his true meaning across; he never had been very good at expressing his emotions, let alone through words.

With a small nod of your own, you carefully shifted further towards him on the shared seat until your thigh touched his. The small contact seemed to draw him from his thoughts, forcing him to glance your way with a look that held so much sadness, you couldn’t help but lean in closer. Suddenly the anger made sense, a defence against the overwhelming sadness that sat in his gaze.

“No,” you offered slowly, resting your head against his shoulder as you curled your arm around his ever so lightly. “No, we’re not just friends, we’re much more than that.”

#inspector valentine #inspector valentine x reader #father brown #father brown imagine #father brown bbc #father brown fic #my fic

[darkspellmaster]

In defense of the Disney Princesses...Belle

The farther I go from the original trio, the harder it is to get direct issues about the Princesses. One of the qualities and shifts from dissing about the girls and more dissing the movies themselves. Unlike where people harp on Ariel from the little Mermaid, Belle from beauty and the beast, for the most part, get’s praised for her own personality and choices. I say for the most part because there are still detractors.

Belle, I’ll be blunt, was never my favorite princess, even though a lot of people see Belle in me, or so I’ve been told over the years. (Book worm, who likes to be slightly isolated, kind and friendly, kind of nerdy, etc. I happen to have brown hair…typically it’s older people, who tell me this.) However I do take issue when people start to act like she’s a horrible character when she’s not.

Beauty and the Beast was such a strong movie in 1991 that it went toe to toe with Silence of the Lambs, and lost the Best picture. When it’s name was called there were a ton of applause and, at the time, animators and artist alike were praying for this film to win because it would push into people’s minds that animated movies can be just as adult as other films, even with the G rating. It’s also important to note that this was the last film musically that Howard Ashman was able to complete before his death. So the movie has a place in the hearts of fans of Mr. Ashman.  

There is a lot of discussion about the songs in this film connecting to the LGBT community, and just about everything you hear in these songs can be seen as such. Belle being an outcast among the villagers and the Mob song especially ring true of the idea of how people are scared of the other. This plays a huge part in understanding what is going through the minds of the people in the town and due to the fact that it is Gaston, who is seen as the town’s golden boy, it’s easy to see how they are persuaded and how this could tie into Howards own feelings regarding his illness and how people acted about it.

But that’s for another piece. Back to Belle. The thing about Belle is that she’s a co-protagonist in this story. It’s not the story of Beauty, it’s the story of Beauty and the beast, and we see their roles connecting to this idea. While we don’t get a lot of Prince Adam’s/Beast’s backstory (Parents, why he’s a prince, etc…) he does get the bulk of the changing aspect. It’s his growth as a character that allows Belle to fall in love with him and gain a deeper understanding of him as a person. Whereas Belle makes up for the whole backstory (for the most part) as we know about her father, we know about what she wants out of life, we understand her living situation and why she is the answer to the question of “For who could ever love a beast?” that the narration posits at the start of the film.

Belle, as far as the story goes is a young woman that is dealing with her own issues, though these are not the ones you would think of in a typical fairy tale. Traditionally you would expect her to be desiring to fall in love and get married, or get away from a cruel step parent. But no, Belle wants to be away from the “normal” life that she’s been confined to. And I think that the movie does a good job in illustrating that adventure can be found even just ten miles from your own home. That you can discover the adventure from other aspects of life, and see things from a different lens if you look at a different perspective (see the mirror and other glass aspects in this film).

It’s also interesting that the story changed a lot before it came out. Belle was supposed to have other siblings and for it to be closer to the French Classic film, and instead that got thrown out the window for something different. Then she was to have an Aunt that replaced the siblings, but Jeffrey Katzenburg felt it was too dark and dramatic, and thus Kristen Woolven’s story became the movie we know today. It’s interesting to note that the story was seen as too dark, given that the first treatment we know of turns the lead villains into animals, and the second focused on her Aunt trying to marry her off to Gaston who was a nobleman because the family had lost money.

There are cannon factors placed into Belle’s home in Disney Parks (not sure if it’s Land or World that has her cottage) including an image of her mother. Hints are abound that her mother may have been the one with the money, and this is added early in the song about Belle and how they moved from where they lived before to the town they live in now.

What’s weird is that unlike Ariel or the older princesses, Belle doesn’t get as much grief for being the way she is. People applaud her being a book worm, that she’s different, and that she loves and cares for her father. They like that she’s a bit sassy to Gaston and that she comes off as a more independent person. On the other hand it’s oddly her love interest and non-love interest that gets more attention, and a majority of what I’ve seen about her comes down to her feelings about being kept at the Beast’s castle, and if Gaston is better for her as a love interest.

So what makes this movie so different than say Little Mermaid? Well, to me it’s the fact that I think that Belle is a co protagonist. Opening up the movie is the question of “Who could ever love a Beast?” clearly with the follow up showing Belle, it indicates that it’s supposed to be the story of them, not just her. With other Disney movies, the princesses tend to be the one that have the backstory and the Prince is given very little information save for maybe who their father is (Cinderella) or how they feel about various things (Sleeping Beauty), but they’re never given a lot of background info.

Belle to me is the flip side of this, or is the start to it. We’re given some info about her but not a lot, allowing viewers to get a better understanding of the Beast. We know about his struggle, his feelings, why he’s falling in love with her. Sure we get Belle’s thoughts in the songs, but for the most part this is the story of the Beast and how he comes to learn to love himself and grow as a person. For a good portion of the second act we get more of Beast’s back story than Belle’s. Act one is clearly about her but then the rest of the movie is about him. Act three seems to be a mix of both, though I tend to think there’s more in regard to Beasts situation since he’s the one being attacked. It’s an interesting thing as there’s a hint of a pride and prejudice sort of story going on with this movie.

The fact that both characters are given just about an equal amount of development helps out a lot in this case to provide for more of a story for them and seeing them grow allows us to judge their flaws and I think where a lot of people start looking for things that aren’t there. This brings us to the whole issue at hand in regard to Belle and why she sometimes gets called out by people.

Belle stays with her kidnapper thus she’s got Stockholm syndrome

Honestly I think Lindsey Ellis’s piece on this issue explains this better than I can.

Some important things to note about this situation. A lot of people make the assumption that the Beast holds Belle, or any version of Beauty, against her will, but this in fact is untrue. Take for example one of the earlier tales of Beauty and the beast, where in Beauty’s father runs afoul of the Beast because of taking a flower for his daughter. Said Beast gives the dad time to go home and say good bye to his children as he refuses to give up one of his precious things in exchange for the rose. So he opts to go and let the beast kill him instead, or at least he assumes that’s what’s going to happen. Beauty, feeling guilty about asking for the flower and not wanting to see her father die, goes to the Beast and offers herself in her father’s place. This, to his shock, thaws out his less merciful stance, and he, rather than “kill” her offers instead to have her remain at the castle as a replacement for his rose and to take on her father’s punishment.

Other versions have it where Beauty is offered to be given the chance to let go after a year, but by this point she feels closer as a friend to the Beast over her vile brother and sisters, and it’s only when her father is dying from illness does she venture home.

In the case of Beauty and the Beast, at no time does Belle get taken by the Beast. Rather she willingly goes and makes a deal with him. And it’s surprising for the Beast as he’s not expecting this. The thing is that Beast doesn’t come off as the sort that will totally keep his word in regard to keeping Maurice there. We see through the movie that the rest of the cast can, and do, talk sense into him, and no doubt given Maurice’s condition he may have even let him go, though it’s hard to say when.

However, we know that Belle was able to go where she wanted save the west wing. We also know that she was able to run out and grab her horse and leave and Beast didn’t follow. So she could have probably snuck out during the day. There’s nothing in the movie to show that she could not leave. She got out of the gates, she was able to get into the woods.

So this idea that she’s been brainwashed to stay with someone who is keeping her captive is off by a long shot. She’s staying because she wants to, because he’s changing, and because he’s changing she wants to get to know him. This is a huge difference than being held captive and acting like you’re friendly with your captive. Belle at no time takes any shit from the Beast. When he’s pointing out things he sees as her mistakes she gives it right back. (And yes I’m paraphrasing here.)

“That hurts!”

“Well it wouldn’t hurt if you held still.”

“Well I wouldn’t be hurt if you hadn’t have run away.”

“If you hadn’t have frightened me I wouldn’t have run away.”

However the moment that he calls her on something she knows she did wrong, she answers back in the same, not denying that he is right about her actions, but she also points out his wrong actions too. Causing them both to mull over their actions and her to apologize first because she did break his rules, which he had laid out for her at the very start.

“Well you shouldn’t have been in the west wing.”

“Well you should learn to control your temper.”

And then her saying, “Thank you for saving my life.” To which he responds with a “Your welcome.”

This shows that they have an equality going on here. Neither is dominating the other, neither has the emotional edge over the other. Which shows that at least in this situation, unlike with Gaston, there’s a sense of balance between them. Beast never treats her as below him, belittles her, or views her as weird or just his “little wife”. He sees her as someone that has courage and guts to stand up to him, to put her life on the line for those she’s loyal to and loves, and that’s something I don’t think he’s seen outside of his servants who he thinks only do so because he signs their checks.

Says she wants something but doesn’t go for it. She wants Adventure, but then gets married

This is an odd one honestly. I’ve only seen this come up a few times. Belle’s song opens up with her complaining about the town she’s living in. Every day it’s the same situation over and over, nothing changes, nothing is new. So she feels unfulfilled. We as viewers tend to see her reprise, as she’s yelling about Gaston and his desire to turn her into “His little wife”. “No sir, not me, I guarantee it.” Not to mention then she belts out “I want Adventure in the great wide somewhere, I want it more than I can tell. And for once it might be grand, to have someone understand. I want so much more than they’ve got planned.”

The thing is that we see that Belle’s idea of stories seems to be more akin to fairy tales and those sorts of adventures. During the opening song we see her mull over a book she’s taken out, which actually gives us the plot of the movie, “Now isn’t this amazing. It’s my favorite part because, you see. She’s wishing he’s prince charming, but she won’t discover that it’s him till chapter 3.” Pretty much painting the idea of Belle learning that the Beast is Prince Adam in the third act. But again this paints a picture here of Belle. Her idea of Adventure isn’t going out into the world to fight wars or travel the world. No her version of “Adventure” comes down to finding some sort of romantic mystery. She wants to not be stuck as the wife of Gaston in a world where no one gets her.

And that’s the thing, she does get her adventure. She discovers a mystery, which is what she’s longing for. She wants excitement in her life, and she gets it. Her desires were never overly dramatic, though the ways she phrases them are. They are fairly simple. Gain some excitement in her life, get away from her dull town, meet people that get her, fall in love with someone who is a bit of a mystery. We see that in the way she talks about the book, I her reprise, in even how she talks to her father and when Gaston talks with her about Marriage.

Belle is not a “I want to be a pirate” type of person. She does go for it, but in her own way. She’s not built for becoming a warrior, nor does she desire this. She willingly puts herself in danger for her father, and deals with the fall out of that. She never talks about what her view of adventure is, but she does talk about how she wants someone to understand her, and in Adam she gets that. It’s an interesting note. When she’s belting out that she wants adventure it’s a grand sweeping moment, something most teens do at certain points in their lives. Yet we see a more genuine sentiment when she mentions that she want’s someone to understand her, to like her for being her, and not to want to use her for their own plans to make themselves out to be someone better than they really are.

When all is said and done, Belle does achieve the goal that she set for herself. While, yes the Castle isn’t that far from her home, it also is in the middle of a place she has no idea about, surrounded by dangers and she is living the adventure in the book that she loved. It’s the desire that book worms have to escape into that world that they read about, and I think, in some way, the movie executes this brilliantly. While Belle at first isn’t sure of anything, she uses her charm and curiosity to discover about the world around her. She’s in a magical place, and is living her books story. “She won’t discover it’s him till chapter 3” showing that Belle’s desires have always been to be a heroine in one of her books. That is her desired adventure. Her need though is to have someone that understands and appreciates her, even though she doesn’t fit the model that they have of a person in the town. And she get’s that.

Tries to change a guy with a kiss and telling him she loves him.

This I’ve seen more frequently. In a lot of complaints against Belle, one of the harder ones, after the whole syndrome thing, is the idea that she’s making girls think that by telling the Beast she loved him he changed, he became this new person. However the change doesn’t come from the “I love you” but rather from all the changes that Adam has gone through in the movie. The spell was that if someone could care for him in the same way and that he could care for them. He lets her go because he loves her, and was ready to give up his and everyone else’s freedom for Belle’s. Belle pointing out that he’s her friend, that she cares about the Beast, answers the question that’s posited at the start. And the thing is, the whole situation with the “I love you” comes after several months since we see the weather changing from fall to winter to spring. There’s been a long time, and Beast changes not just for Belle but himself as well.

The “I want to do something nice for her” moment shows he’s thinking less of himself and more about what she wants. Early on we see Adam pointing out his own desires, what he wants. “She eats with me or she doesn’t eat at all.” Yet he does attempt to be a decent host, “I uh hope you like it here, the castle is your home now,” and he tells her she can go anywhere except the west wing. Fast forward to him giving her his library and her teaching him to read. We see the changes and why she starts becoming close to him. We also know that she’s willing to reject him if he still acts the way he’s been acting. As we see her thinking of leaving him to die in the snow, so Belle, if she didn’t trust him later, could have left.

Doesn’t leave when she has the chance

Again. As I said above, Belle could leave. We saw her run out of the castle. She doesn’t leave because she gave her word and because of how the Beast has changed since their argument. There’s nothing holding her back from leaving. Beast even tells her to go to her dad and, unlike the original story where there was a time limit, Beast doesn’t even tell her to return. It’s her choice and that’s something that I think shows how different he’s become.

You have to consider too that she does almost leave him in the snow. She is about to mount the horse and leave when she hesitates because she knows that he just helped her and she feels guilty in leaving him like that. I would think that Belle, who is smart enough to know a jerk when she meets him, clearly has enough of a sense of agency to get out of a bad situation as we saw when she handed Gaston the door.

Needs to be rescued rather than rescuing herself

This one here always gets me. The fact that people think that there was any way for her to get out of the cellar. We see at the start that the only way in is via the outside and that the lock is on the outside as well. How exactly was she going to get out of there?  On top of that we see that once she’s free she goes to save the Beast and stop Gaston. So rather than her rescuing herself, she’s going to rescue him. It’s not brought up as often as other things, but it’s something I’ve seen people talk about. This whole idea in saving herself physically. The thing is, she does. By getting to know the Beast she starts to change his view. She saves herself from having to marry someone like Gaston by going to save her father, by being willing to help someone change with her kind nature and willingness to be bluntly honest with him. She saves her father by coming back for him, even though she’s happy with Adam, and she doesn’t want to go back to the life that she had been living, but she does so to help her dad. There’s many other ways she saves herself, even though she’s not battling evil hordes.

The biggest way she saves herself is by actually accepting one of her flaws. By realizing that he’s right about her going into the west wing against his request Belle comes to the realization that both she and the Beast were in the wrong. This allows her to apologize to him and for him to, in his own way, apologize to her. Thus allowing their relationship to come forth.

She does too much for her father

While she does tend to help out her father somewhat, her actions never dictate that she’s doing everything for Maurice. During the earlier parts of the story, she cheers him on, helps him to find his tools, but for the most part he’s doing most of the work on his own. Later, when she willingly takes his place, she does so in order to protect him and in return he plans on going after and saving his daughter himself as he believes she’s in danger.

Never at any point does she come off as someone that does everything for her father, rather she seems to be someone that cares a lot about him and wants to help him, as he has helped her. It’s clear that Maurice has helped foster her kindness and curiosity, which both helps and hinders her at points in the story. Consequently it’s those same pros and flaws that allows her to befriend Adam as she can see beyond his strangeness and see the kind and compassionate person that dwells in there.

She’s selfish at times and a snob as well as mean

I’ve only seen this a handful of times, and while I can agree that Belle can come off as a bit of a jerk here, she is nowhere near being a selfish snob that is mean. These are all ideas that are thrust onto her by the other people around her. The trio of sisters clearly point out the question of “What is wrong with her?” “He’s gorgeous.” Regarding Gaston, (at the same time props for him for seeing past their shallow nature so good on him for that, at least…he kind of wants a more intelligent woman than a door prop, kudos Gaston? –Can’t believe I’m complimenting that man…), even he seems to think she’s a bit strange rather than a snob.

To the viewer, especially viewers who’ve had the ‘smart’ person look down on them, Belle’s actions can come off as rude. She calls the town poor and provincial, and points out how it’s all the same every day, and hasn’t changed since day one. That the people are so busy with their own lives, they don’t have time for other things, or things that could be different or unique. No one wants to hear about the book she’s read, and the girls her age are well…the trio. So there’s no one to talk with.

The thing is, thanks to Belle’s cottage, we get a better understanding as to why she feels this way. There’s a painting of her mother, one that clearly shows that the woman in question was not poor at all. Given the story that we’ve gotten for the original drafts and what we see in the cottage, and what Belle says we can infer a few things.

Firstly, we can guess that Belle lived a fairly well off life before she came to the town with her father. She clearly notes the town is poor, meaning that the people there are not well off. Farmers, crafts men, etc. There are no upper class merchants or others that would have grand like homes, or money. This would mean her world was colored by being in a home where there was many things to do for a young child and probably time for leisure, like reading and the like. Whereas here in the new town she can’t do that.

Secondly given that Maurice is trying to get money back, which tells me that they lost it. More than likely Belle’s mother was the one that had the money and may have been disowned after marrying Maurice, who was probably below their station. It’s also likely that the town they came to live in was the same one that Maurice grew up in, since the people in town seem to know him well, not just as the inventor.

My honest guess is that up until Belle’s mother died the family was well off, and Belle lived a life where she could learn and grow to be far more independent than the girls in the town where they are living. We see she only owns one book and it’s clear that her borrowing the books indicate that she doesn’t have the cash now for owning them. This at least makes sense then why she’s excited to have the library, since it means she can read a lot and have access to so many stories.

Belle to me doesn’t come off as rude or snobbish, or even mean, as she never badmouths anyone for what work they are doing. Yes she is a bit judgmental, but that is something she has to grow out of and something she learns to not be as the story progresses. She comes off as someone who has to get used to living in a world that wasn’t what she was used to, and dealing with people who didn’t have the time to talk to her about the world in the stories that she read. It was her escape from real life, and again, Belle’s flaws in the story are about not judging based on appearance or first impressions.

Belle goes from lovey girl to Barbie doll

This depends on your view of how she looks in the movie. To me Belle doesn’t change all that much. Yes her dress is far more elegant in during the dance, but to be honest most of the clothing that she wears (the green dress, blue and red) all seems to be simple in nature. She wears her hair the same until that scene and the ending scene where it gets put up. Other than that, it’s always in a ponytail, nothing that stands out and really she doesn’t wear makeup.

Belle’s “transformation” is the opposite to say Cinderella’s or even Aladdin. She doesn’t even were that dress when she leaves, she goes back to her simple blue dress. One could argue that it’s in that moment that she leaves the dream world that she’s in and goes back to reality. Her travel back to home, away from the adventure she craves for responsibility that later rewards her for realizing that she can’t escape the realities of the world.

The redesign of her really has nothing to do with the movie and is more a marketing thing than an actual representation of the character. So I can’t really do much compare and contrast other than to say they glammed her up to make it easier to design the “fashion” dolls of the characters.

She’s not really the protagonist of her own story.

Now this is an interesting situation because Belle is a co-protagonist. She shares the screen time with Prince Adam and the equal nature of their stories running side by side allows us to see them in a different way than say Jasmine and Aladdin. Belle’s story is in Act one, we get to learn about her and her life, what she wants and all that fun stuff. Adam gets act two and we see how he’s changing being around her, though we get some hints of her own feelings. “New and a bit alarming…” she intones to herself, and from him “No it can’t be, I’ll just ignore…” showing that both are struggling with these new found emotions. Act three though is clearly a mix of both, having her being rescued by Chip and then riding to save him. While he struggles with his loss, and fights with Gaston.

This story is strongly about both of them going through changes, while Belle is Beauty in this case and Adam is the Beast, there’s a huge deal here in regard to both being their own opposites. Belle can be seen as a beast due to her judgement at times, and her growth in seeing past Adam’s exterior and bratty ways shows that she grows as a person. On the other side we have Adam for all his beastly actions and rants, he does have a beauty to him in that he appreciates things that she does including literature and clearly given that he only trashes his room, the rest of the castle.

So this idea that she’s not the protagonist of her own story isn’t exactly true. She is a partner in the story, a co-protagonist, and the story of Beauty and the Beast is a shared experience between two young people that have growing to do.

So…Next up…Princess Jasmine.

#in defense of the disney princesses #beauty and the beast #disney's beauty and the beast #disney beauty and the beast #princess belle #belle #prince adam #beast #disney's beast #gaston #disney animated films

[yoosungiib]

Hi I have a request where they meet the MC's parents and see how they insult her I'm sorry if it's a bother I'm so scared to ask for an request you don't have to do it again sorry if it's a bother

Please don’t ever be scared to send in a request. I love to write for you guys and I love to hear what you guys think. And don’t worry about ever bothering me with a request. I’ll write whatever people send into me unless it really is something I am uncomfortable with, but that rarely happens. I hope you enjoy this, and I really hope this doesn’t happen to you. Feel free to message me if you need to talk, or just want someone to listen to you vent.

RFA + Minor Trio reacting to a female MC’s parents insulting her

~~~

★ Yoosung ★

Yoosung was already very nervous about meeting your parents; what if he said the wrong thing, what if they didn’t like him, what if he farts by accident and it’s really loud and smelly?

All these possibilities were floating around in his brain as he awkwardly shook your dads hand and sat down in the booth.

After about three minutes of awkward silence, things began to go well as Yoosung started talking about work as a vet, and bonded with your dad who also happened to play LOLOL.

But then you knocked over your drink. There was hardly anything left but it made a small mess getting the napkins wet.

Yoosung straight away went to help you but stopped cold when your mother began to shout at you.

“You stupid girl! Can you do anything without making a mess? God, sometimes I wonder if I raised a human or monkey.”

“You’re lucky your soda didn’t get on my pants. They are worth more than your entire life,” your father spat.

Your parents made a huge mistake criticizing you though.

Yandere mode: a c t i v a t e d

“It was an accident,” Yoosung snarled as his face scrunched up in anger. He stood up straight, glaring down at your parents, who were still clearly agitated, but a little uncomfortable now under Yoosung’s gaze. “How could you treat your own daughter so terribly. We’re in public and everyone can hear how ill-mannered you guys are. I hate to know what you guys are like at home.”

He grabbed your arm and purse, and pulled you from the booth, keeping you in front of him and away from your parents as they rose and tried to get you guys to sit back down.

“No. You will not come near her, ever again. Not unless you guys learn how to respect her.

“I won’t let you touch her again, so heed my warning, don’t come looking for her,” he warns.

May have also made a comment about your dads guild being shit.

In the cab back home, Yoosung frowns as he watches you stare aimlessly out the window with your head pressed against the glass. He could see a glimpse of your reflection and the couple tears that slipped down it. He thought he maybe was a little extreme telling your parents they couldn’t see you again, but as he sees it, you are much better without them anyways.

He grins a little when he sees you smile as he wraps his arms around your waist and gently pulls you to him. He rests your back against his chest and keeps you close and steady as the car bumps up and down. He kisses just below your ear and whispers, “I’m always going to protect you. I may look small but I’m fierce.”

♪ Zen ♪

Oh, hell no.

He went through this with his parents so he knows how it feels.

Your parents made comments about you holding him back, teased you for your appearance, made fun of your job, called you stupid, pointed out any insecurity you may have.

Zen was livid.

The second he sees the tear slip down your face he is up and arms, shouting at your parents for being so disrespectful towards you and for dare making such a rude comment about you.

If they weren’t at a pub filled with people, Zen may have made a bigger scene then he did, but he didn’t want to embarrass or draw attention to you.

He could see you breaking down, so he didn’t want to make things worse.

“There is a special place in hell for parents who take pleasure out of making their children feel bad about themselves,” he spits at them, slamming his drink on the table. He tosses some money at a confused bartender and pulls you from the pub, ignoring the shouts from your parents as they demand you to come back.

Outside the pub, unable to hold in any of your tears you let out a wretched sob and collapse against Zen’s chest.

He coo’s to you gently, wrapping his arms around you and rubbing your back. He nestles his face on the top of your head, and he rocks you back and forth.

“I-I’m so sorry, Zen, that was so humiliating, I didn’t think they would do that, and-”

“What are you apologizing for? This isn’t your fault. And I swear, MC, I will make sure they never insult you again.”

You let out a small laugh into his chest. “You can’t do that. They’re my parents.”

“I don’t care. That doesn’t give them the right to treat you so poorly.

“You know everything they said in there is untrue, right? You don’t hold me back, you’re not pathetic, you’re not stupid. I hope you didn’t believe them for a second.”

He took you home after that and asked Jumin for a favor; he needed your parents to get the message that their behavior towards you would not be tolerated. And after Zen explained to Jumin what happened, Jumin was more than willing to help. The two of them drafted a letter with a threat of legal actions if they ever tried to insult you again. It was made very clear it would be marked as harassment.

Zen refused to tell you what made your parents stop being cruel to you all of a sudden. He didn’t want you to be upset knowing he decided to take a sort of legal action. But he couldn’t bare to see you so upset like you were at the bar. He was willing to do anything, including talking to the person he hated the most and using money to get rid of a problem.

❀ Jaehee ❀

At first, when Jaehee saw how nervous you were after inviting your parents for lunch at the cafe, she thought it had to do with her.

Why would you be so nervous about asking your parents over for dinner if it wasn’t that you were somewhat concerned with them meeting her?

But then when your parents sat down at the small table by the window and were nibbling at their treats did Jaehee realize just why you were so nervous.

Your parents were mean.

Every second it seemed they hurled an insult at you, which you just took with a grain of salt.

You’d smile and awkwardly laugh, then look at Jaehee and mouth to her it’s fine. You could see Jaehee was getting a little worked up, and Jaehee could see just how you too were becoming unsettled.

Jaehee completely lost it after the homophobic remarks.

“We brought you so many young and handsome men, and yet you always went for women. I don’t know where I went wrong sometimes.”

Your father’s ignorance struck a chord in both of you. You let out an exasperated sigh as you excused yourself, Jaehee quickly following after you.

“Why do you stand for this?” she asks, confusion written clearly on her face.

You just shrug and try to pass off like it didn’t upset you, but Jaehee could see that it did just that. “They’ve always been like this. You get used to it. Let’s just get this done and then we won’t have to see them until our wedding.”

“Will they even come?”

Your breath hitched slightly, and you gasped a little when Jaehee left you in the backroom to go back out to your parents. You thought she was going to sit down and just do as you suggested, but you suddenly heard Jaehee snapping at your parents. You came back out from the backroom and watched as Jaehee confronted your parents on their behaviors.

“Do you not see how much you upset your daughter? She may take this abuse from you, but I won’t. I am going to ask you politely to please leave our cafe and I suggest that you guys do not come back. You are not welcome here. Not if you’re going to treat my fiance like this.”

And with a huff, your parents left.

Jaehee sighed as she walked back towards you, gently taking your hand in hers.

“I hope I did not upset you just then, but you shouldn’t let them talk to you like that. You don’t deserve it.”

“I don’t know, sometimes I think that they might-”

“MC,” Jaehee warned, her hand resting on your shoulder tenderly. “You don’t deserve it.”

☂ Jumin ☂

Jumin had booked reservations at the most elegant of restaurants in Korea for meeting your parents.

He wanted to make a good impression, and he wanted to them to know how happy he was to be married to their daughter. He wanted your parents to know how happy he was about bringing them into his family.

The dinner was going really well until your mother made a crude comment that was enough to make Jumin cough on his wine; “I can only wonder just how good my daughter is in your bed for you to stay married to her. I can not think of a single achievement that would make you want to be with her.”

Jumin was very quick to your defense.

Though he was incredibly shocked and surprised that any parent would say such an inappropriate thing about their child, he needed to make it very clear to your mother he would not allow her to make such comments, and he would make it very clear just why he married you.

“You clearly do not know your daughter very well then. She has achieved very much in her life. And to think you think I would stoop so low as to only marry some for a ‘good bed’, you are dead wrong. I married your daughter for their kind heart, their compassion, their desire to help others, and her beauty. I will not allow you to sit there and insult her. Certainly not after I’ve paid a lot of money to fly you guys here and to have a nice dinner with you. So I suggest you apologize this moment or this dinner will be done, and you can have your bags packed and be ready to leave by the hour. It is your choice.

“Oh, and as for our sexual activities since you are so curious; Kitten knows how to please her master well.”

Both your parents huffed before begrudgingly apologizing. Jumin was about to say something about it not being sincere enough, but you had stopped him, and gave him a small smile.

That night you thanked him by the window, the dull light from the moon shining down on you guys,  wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.

“No need to thank me, darling. I am your husband and I will defend you whenever someone does you wrong.”

☺ Seven/Saeyoung ☺

Anger is an understatement.

The bubbly 707, Defender of Justice, was gone in a heartbeat the second the first insult came tumbling out of your fathers mouth.

Before he could react, your mother was spatting another one, startling you as she snapped.

Seven was a little… flabbergasted.

What surprised him the most was though you would get startled, you wouldn’t react. You’d just smile and nod your head, keeping your gaze down. Seven let out an exasperated laugh, leaning across the table at the 90’s dinner towards your father.

“I’m sorry, but who the hell do you think you are talking to?”

Your father rose an eyebrow, taking a bite of his food. “My daughter. I have the right to tell her just how I feel, and if I feel she is being a pig, I’ll say so.”

In a heartbeat, Seven grabbed your father’s wrist, twisting it until it made a snapping noise and your father let out a howl. 

You were in shock, 

Your mother let out a scream.

“I don’t think so,” Seven said, a grave tone to his voice. “I’ll tell you this now. If you think you can get away with how you talk to your daughter.” He twisted the wrist a little more, a few more cracking sounds made. “You are dead wrong.”

He released your father’s wrist and laughed as the man writhed in pain. Your father and your mother quickly rush out of the dinner, leaving you and Seven.

Seven turned to you, giggling softly as he wrapped his arms around you.

“S-Seven, don’t you think that was a bit too much?”

“No. I think I should have done a lot more, but we are in public.”

“But Seven, they’re my parents-”

“Therefore they should treat you with respect. Now come on, let’s enjoy our dinner. We can go home after and have a movie marathon with Saeran! How about that?”

You smiled softly, resting your head on Seven’s shoulder, and allowed him to feed you. He was right, you did deserve respect. And you were sure as hell glad you had such a wonderful boyfriend to remind you.

❆ V ❆

V had met your parents before, without you, and they always seemed like wonderful people. So he didn’t understand why you were so upset that he invited them over for dinner.

He figured out why as he sat at the table and listened to them spit insult after insult at you.

He watched as you tried not to fall apart in front of them, keeping your head high and your gaze on your food.

V is not someone to usually show his anger, but it was getting pretty hard to hold it back at this point.

You had reached for the salt, yet your hand accidently knocked it over and bits of white got onto the blue cover on the table. It was a small mess, but your parents made a huge deal out of it.

“See what I mean? Jihyun, you are better off without her. She’ll bring nothing but hardship.”

“Take this from her parents who had to live with her for twenty years. It doesn’t end here.”

At that, V watched as you slapped your napkin down on the table and excused yourself, going to the bedroom. He was quick to follow you, closing the door behind him and pulling you towards him.

“This is why I didn’t want them over, V, all they do is criticize me. Sometimes I think maybe they’re right and I’m as stupid as they say.”

V shook his head, brushing the hair out of your face before pulling you back to his chest. “No, you are not stupid. Everything they have said tonight is wrong. Stay here and I’ll be back. We’ll watch a movie together, and I’ll bring some snacks. But first I need to get rid of our guests.”

He walked back to the dinning room, a smile on his face though he was ready to tear apart your parents. They asked where you were but he said they didn’t need to know.

“As for you guys, I would like you to leave our household. You have disturbed it’s peace and you are no longer welcome. In this household, we respect each other and we love each other. Clearly, you don’t know how to do anything of that, so therefore, you are not welcome here. I’ll ask you one more time to please gather your things and leave.”

Your two parents spat a few curses at him but he didn’t care. He just smiled and endured it, showing them to the door and locking it behind them. He then went back to you and cuddled besides you, his blue hair tickling your cheek. For the rest of the night, he worked to remind you just how wonderful you are and just how much he cares for you.

☻ Saeran/Unknown ☻

For a few moments, he was silent and in shock.

For a few moments, he thought he was a child again, back at home where his mother was cruel and abusive and hurled the same insults your parents hurled at you to him.

Your parents cruel words did not reach the extent of his mothers. But it was enough to remind him of his mother’s cruel behavior.

He was angry. He wanted to scream. He wanted to throw his dinner across the room for god sakes.

But then he heard you sniffle. And he look down at you next to him on the couch, and he saw how your head hung pitifully, and a few stray tears slipped down your face.

If anything, this was affecting you more than him because these were your parents, not his. And they were treating you terribly.

He remembered a time he told you that you would never understand the abuse he endured, but as of now he was realizing that wasn’t particularly true. You did understand to an extent because you have lived through some of it.

He thought back to when he would have panic attacks or nightmares about his mother, and you would always comfort him and reassure him that he was safe, loved and protected.

He needed to do that for you now; comfort you, and reassure you that you are safe, loved, and protected.

But first he had to get you out of this damn house and away from the sorry excuse of your parents.

“She is not the problem, you are, you pieces of shit.”

The whole room went silent at Saeran’s curse, none of them having expected it from the quiet boy. Of course, none of them would know what a temper Saeran has, and what a small tolerance he has for disrespect and attitude, especially of that towards his girlfriend. No, he went to the dinner dressed in a nice button up, smiled whenever he was spoken too and always responded softly. Was very protective of you, but not overly protective. Just the clingy type. So the sudden bite in his voice and the daggers he was shooting across the room with his mint eyes was enough to startle and threaten everyone.

You whispered softly to him, telling him he didn’t need to do this, that it was alright, but he wouldn’t let them talk to you like this. He wouldn’t let them insult you or disrespect you.

You never let anyone give him bullshit, and he certainly was not about to let anyone give you it.

“How could you say something so horrible to your own daughter? Your suppose to cherish your children, not belittle them.”

“She’s our daughter, we can talk to her anyway we want to,” your father said taking a sip of his drink ever so calmly.

That was a big mistake.

You gasped as Saeran rose from the couch and started to make slow strides to your father, his voice gradually becoming deepers and his eyes squinting. The Unknown in him he works so hard on to hide was coming to light.

“You think because she’s your daughter you can treat her like that? You think because you are her father and you her mother you can abuse her?”

“We do not abuse-”

“That is exactly what you do! If you get pleasure out of making your child feel bad about themselves, that makes you abusive. You’re all sick.”

At this point, Saeran was up in your father’s face, his nose inches away from your fathers who tried to push himself back against the armchair he sat in. Only now did your father start to show a little fear at the boy in front of him.

Saerans eyes and voice softened when he felt one of your small hands on his shoulder, and the other take his hand. He turned to look at you, and he could see how pale you were and how read your eyes were. You gave him a small smile and tugged slightly on his arm. You told him you just wanted to go home.

He nodded, gave a final glare to your parents and lead you out the door with a tight grip on your hand.

The whole car ride was silent. Saeran was furious just listening to you trying to choke back sobs. You thought he was going to take you home but he surprised you by pulling into the parking lot of the ice cream parlor. Saeran let out a sigh before turning to you, his body moving awkwardly in the small confinement of the car. He reached over to gently cup your cheek, yous thumb stroking just beneath your eye.

“I… I apologize for my behavior. I was no better.”

You let out a small laugh, placing your hand against his own your cheek. “What are you talking about? You were sticking up for me. I’m so grateful for that. No one has ever stuck up to them for me before,” you say, your voice cracking. It was painful for Saeran to hear. He bent down to gently kiss you, letting his lips linger there before he pulled back slightly and whispered against your lips;

“I’ll never let anyone hurt you. I’ll never let anyone be ill mannered towards you. What do you always tell me? That you’d walk the entire earth just to make me happy?

“I’d do the same for you in a heartbeat.”

✌ Vanderwood ✌

Appalled.

It was supposed to be a nice dinner where Vanderwood could meet your parents.

You guys had gone to your favorite restaurant.

But everything went downhill fast.

Vanderwood is not someone to usually show their emotions, if ever, but from the first insult your parents hurled at you his blood was boiling.

He was willing to stay quiet after you put your hand on his thigh beneath the table to calm him down.

When he looked towards you and saw the sad smile on your face, he could tell you were used to this, and that just angered him even more.

You deserved respect, especially from your parents. You were their daughter for christ sakes. Why would they be so cruel to you?

It was the comment on how you were a disappointment, and the single tear that slipped down your face that made him snap.

Without a word, he just took your hand in his and pulled you away from the table. When your parents starting asking where you guys were going, he just turned to look at them and spatted, “We are going home.”

“Why?”

“So I can make sure you daughter realizes everything that you have said tonight is bullshit, and she does not deserve this treatment.”

The whole ride home was silent. Vanderwood’s fingers curled tightly around the wheel, and he would fiercely turn and speed up whenever he felt a sudden bit of anger. Back at home, he sat you down on the couch and went to make you tea. When he got back, he sighed as he saw you quickly wiping away your tears.

He sat besides you and wrapped his arm around you, pulling you towards him. His leather hands playing with your hair soothingly, and his lips pressed against your hairline.

He felt now wasn’t the time to talk, but just the time to hold you and keep you warm and comforted. That’s what you needed after what you endured at that dinner.

When he felt the time was right, as he kissed up your neck to your cheek, he whispered against your skin, turning you towards him slightly. “For every mean word they said to night, I’ll replace with a kind one. Bare with me though, this isn’t easy. I’m not used to this.

“You are not stupid. You are intelligent. You are the smartest woman I have ever met.

“You are not ugly. You are beautiful. Your beauty outshines a blooming rose.

“You are not useless. You are worth so much. I can not imagine a life without you.

“You are not a disappointment. You are so, so far from that. You make me proud every day with how you stand tall and smile through everything.

“I don’t hate you. I love you. That is why I married you.”

You smiled, moving your hands to go into his long, auburn hair, tugging slightly so you could pull his lips to yours.

You cuddled into his chest and laughed slightly as you listened to his heart beat. “You didn’t have to do that, honey. Though you blush, I can see you cringing.”

Vanderwood snorted, patting your back gently. “It’s worth the cringe to tell you just how much you mean to me.”

Cringed again.

But he really loves you so it’s ok.

~~~

Requests are closed right now, but to find rules of requests you can check out my masterlist page!

#Yoosung Kim #Zen #Hyun Ryu #Jaehee Kang #Jumin Han #Seven #Luciel Choi #Saeyoung Choi #V #Jihyun Kim #Saeran Choi #Mystic messenger #Mysme #Mystic messenger Headcanon #Mysme Headcanon #Vanderwood #Mary Vanderwood 3rd

[redbud-tree]

Splash

Summary: Because even serious guardsmen have to have fun sometimes. (Okay, when are these three ever serious?)

A/N: This was originally posted as a meme response elsewhere, but I thought I’d put it here because it’s too much fun to get lost in the depths of headcanon memes. Maybe I’ll turn it into something longer eventually, but for now... enjoy a nice memory. Once again, heavily based on my own and @strangefellows​‘ headcanons, especially her version of Braig. 

Pairings: None

“Listen. Braig. The idea has merit, but you need to understand that you can’t do it - and I don’t mean that it’s specifically impossible for you, I mean no-one can do it. I’ve known that man for years, and barring possibly using that warping magic of yours you are not going to get him to fall into the lake.”

On the one hand, Dilan couldn’t even begin to understand why he needed to explain this. Aeleus was a living mountain - if he didn’t want to move, he wasn’t going to move. So Braig’s insistence that he could knock the large man into the lake if he wanted to was obviously untrue. On the other… well, he was curious about just how he meant to go about it.

“I’m goin’ to, Dil’, just watch me.”

“…I’ll wager an extra week’s worth of night shifts that you can’t.”

“Done!”

Wager made, the two met up with Aeleus, Braig wheedling him into walking with them down to the outer edge of the Garden, down by the water - not that it took overmuch, because the lake was nice this time of year, and all of them needed a few minutes away from the castle now and then. At one point, Aeleus turned a suspicious squint to Dilan, well aware that Braig was up to something, but Dilan simply shrugged, indicating he had no idea what their fellow guard was up to. (Which, to a certain extent, was the truth - after all, Dilan had absolutely no idea how Braig thought he was going to manage tossing Aeleus of all people into the lake.)

When they neared the water’s edge, the trio spent a few minutes enjoying the view - and that’s when Dilan felt a hand at his back. Being caught completely off-guard (as he’d presumed Aeleus would be the only target of this shenanigan), he had nary a moment to react or regain his balance before he went tumbling head-over-heels into the water with a splash. He came up spluttering, murder in his eyes, and reached out toward Aeleus’ offered arm - and then Aeleus was pitching forward too, landing almost square on top of him and shoving them both entirely underwater.

Surfacing this time brought with it the sight of Braig grinning like a madman, clearly pleased with himself.

“I told you I could do it, Dil’,” the brown-eyed man said as the two other guards climbed back out of the water to stand, dripping beside him. “You never said I couldn’t use you t’ do it - wait - hey!”

His gloating was interrupted by the pair of arms under his, as without saying a word, Dilan and Aeleus had come to an agreement. Lifting Braig clean off his feet, they turned gamely toward the water and, moving as one, tossed him in.

#kh blogging #writing #my writing

[multiimuse]

❣ - Dilan, 💝 - Isa, 💜 - Ven, 💗 - Riku

❣- A memory that leaves them laughing

 “Listen. Braig. The idea has merit, but you need to understand that you can’t do it - and I don’t mean that it’s specifically impossible for you, I mean no-one can do it. I’ve known that man for years, and barring possibly using that warping magic of yours you are not going to get him to fall into the lake.”

On the one hand, Dilan couldn’t even begin to understand why he needed to explain this. Aeleus was a living mountain - if he didn’t want to move, he wasn’t going to move. So Braig’s insistence that he could knock the large man into the lake if he wanted to was obviously untrue. On the other… well, he was curious about just how he meant to go about it.

“I’m goin’ to, Dil’, just watch me.”

“…I’ll wager an extra week’s worth of night shifts that you can’t.”

“Done!”

Wager made, the two met up with Aeleus, Braig wheedling him into walking with them down to the outer edge of the Garden, down by the water - not that it took overmuch, because the lake was nice this time of year, and all of them needed a few minutes away from the castle now and then. At one point, Aeleus turned a suspicious squint to Dilan, well aware that Braig was up to something, but Dilan simply shrugged, indicating he had no idea what their fellow guard was up to. (Which, to a certain extent, was the truth - after all, Dilan had absolutely no idea how Braig thought he was going to manage tossing Aeleus of all people into the lake.)

 When they neared the water’s edge, the trio spent a few minutes enjoying the view - and that’s when Dilan felt a hand at his back. Being caught completely off-guard (as he’d presumed Aeleus would be the only target of this shenanigan), he had nary a moment to react or regain his balance before he went tumbling head-over-heels into the water with a splash. He came up spluttering, murder in his eyes - reaching a hand out toward Aeleus’ offered arm - and then Aeleus was pitching forward too, landing almost square on top of him and shoving them both entirely underwater.

Surfacing this time brought with it the sight of Braig grinning like a madman, clearly pleased with himself.

“I told you I could do it, Dil’,” the brown-eyed man said as the two other guards climbed back out of the water to stand, dripping beside him. “You never said I couldn’t use you t’ do it - wait - hey!” 

His gloating was interrupted by the pair of arms under his, as without saying a word, Dilan and Aeleus had come to a silent agreement. Lifting Braig clean off his feet, they turned gamely toward the water and, moving as one, tossed him in.

💝- A memory that made them feel loved

 “So should I call Kegan now, or in the morning?” 

Hearing that question, Isa peeled his eyes open and shot his mother a betrayed glare - or at least an attempt at one. Judging by the way her lips quirked into a smile despite the worry in her eyes, his glare probably looked more like an irritated puppy; he could almost hear her cooing over him. This only made him more disgruntled, and he wiggled away from the hand that was incoming to brush his hair back from his face.

“Lea’s probably fine,” he said, turning and half-burying his face into the pillow to try and ignore how queasy he felt. “He bleeds ice cream, eating a few extra bars isn’t going to make him sick.” Not like it had Isa, who is definitely feeling regret for having ever engaged his best friend in a speed-eating contest, let alone of Lea’s favorite ice cream. But there had been a bet involved, and a dare, and since Lea was prone to brain freezes there had been a slim chance of maybe managing victory, and - 

And preteen honor demanded he not back down from this.

… Twelve bars of sea salt ice cream later, Isa was regretting his decision and convinced that he could never look at ice cream again. Fortunately, his mom seemed more amused than upset as she tucked him into bed and set a mug of ginger tea on his nightstand.

“Well, I’ll give him a call just in case,” she said, running a hand through Isa’s hair. “We don’t need him thinking you two have gone and caught something again.” He could hear the laughter in her voice, now, and tried to swat her hand away with all the dignity a twelve-year-old could muster… which wasn’t much, because he still felt like he could be sick at at any moment. This must have registered somewhere on the Mom Radar of Trouble (or maybe he just looked a little green), because she nudged the bucket placed by his bed a little closer, then leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Get some rest, sweetheart. I’ll be nearby if you need anything.” 

…It was only because he wasn’t feeling well that he didn’t try to push her away this time. Really.

💜- A memory about one of their loved ones, happy or sad

Sometimes, Ventus didn’t think he was really supposed to be here. He was trying to be tougher, to be a better leader, but the other four were all a little older, a little more experienced, a little more… determined to make it through. And he tried, he did - he knew that what they were doing was important, that he had to step up, failing wasn’t a choice, but… but it was hard, and he was tired and scared and there was so much to be done…

So here he was, lying awake in the middle of the night after a nightmare woke him and trying not to make any noise lest he risk waking the others. You never slept alone, not if you could help it - not when doing so meant a risk of not waking up at all. Instead, they all slept in a group, one or two people on watch throughout the night. Someone, Ephemer he thought, decided Ven shouldn’t be taking the bulk of those watches since he was the youngest, which was well-meant but made Ven more convinced he shouldn’t be here. What kind of leader could he be, if the others were always looking out for him?

“…Ven?” A voice called out from a corner of the room, and the blond startled before remembering it was Lauriam’s watch,and of course he would notice that Ven wasn’t sleeping any more. Now Ven was presented with a choice: he could pretend to still be asleep and ignore his friend, try to endure like a grown-up might, like a real leader could do, or he could do something else, instead. In the end, it was the latter that won, and Ven carefully sat up, disentangling himself and his blanket from the pile of other kids.

He wrapped the blanket over his shoulders and shuffled over to sit by Lauriam, who watched him with tired blue eyes but said nothing at first, simply lifting an arm to let him snuggle in for a hug. For a few minutes they sat there, Ven simply listening to the pink-haired boy’s heartbeat and reminding himself that they were both alive, that his friend was here, but eventually Lauriam broke the silence with a whispered question. 

“Nightmares again?” Ven could only nod in response, and the older boy gave him a sympathetic smile. “Well, don’t worry, we’re all here for you.”

“You shouldn’t be,” the blond found himself spitting out, voice choked with bitterness and shame. “If I’m supposed to be a leader, too, then - then I should be able to handle a few stupid nightmares without… without running crying to somebody else like… like a weak little kid!” How he managed to say all that without raising his voice, he didn’t know - but he must have, because none of the others stirred, aside from Blaine, who shifted a little and nudged the hat he kept tipped over his eyes as he slept.

“Ven -” Lauriam started to say, but Ven cut him off with a shake of his head, fists tightening in the blanket he’d brought over here with him.

“No! No, I mean it. If I have to run to someone over a nightmare and I can’t keep watch and I’m not as smart or talented or brave as the rest of you, then - why am I here? And don’t say it’s ‘cause of my kind heart or I swear I’m - I’m gonna punch you in the stomach.”

Alright, so that threat fell a little flat, but his frustration was real, and he tensed as Lauriam tugged him a little closer.

“Well, it’s true,” the older boy said, and only the fact that he obviously wasn’t done kept Ven from twisting around to halfheartedly sock him in the gut for the statement. “But Ven. You’re here because you can do this. There’s no rule that says you have to be able to endure a nightmare alone, no rule that you have to be a certain kind of smart or skilled - what gifts you do have are more than enough, I promise.”

Ven opened his mouth to counter that statement, then sighed and ended up sagging against Lauriam’s side, expression tired. “…Still feel like I could do more,” he murmured, tugging absently at the blanket.

“Well,” Lauriam said, and Ven found himself sitting up again, something in the other boy’s voice making him pay attention. “You could always help me keep watch tonight.” 

“…Okay.”

💗- A memory about a good deed they did

 “Easy, now,” Riku murmured, keeping his voice as soothing as he could. Well, as soothing as he could make this voice sound, anyway, this too-deep too-old voice made for a body that wasn’t his but that he was stuck in. He winced at the sound, then firmly reminded himself that he had chosen this form and had better get used to using it and resumed what he was doing. “Easy, come on, boy, I’m not going to hurt you, it’s alright.”

The dog, a fluffy thing he’d noticed around Twilight Town (often enough that DiZ had coded it into the digital one Roxas was now inhabiting), whimpered and limped shyly toward him, crying out whenever the motion pulled at a thin cut running down the side of one leg. “What happened, boy?” Riku found himself asking as he knelt on the forest floor, holding out a hand that the dog sniffed, then licked as it pressed its head against his hand. “You didn’t try to chase something that chased you back, did you?”

Thinking on it, that was definitely a possibility - with how frantically the Organization was looking for Roxas, it wouldn’t surprise him if this dog had run into a lesser nobody and decided the frantically-twitching thing looked like a good toy. “Silly dog, don’t go looking for trouble,” Riku chided it, scratching the animal behind its ear. “You have somebody waiting for you, don’t you? You want to be able to -” his voice caught and broke, but he forced himself to finish the thought anyway. “You want to be able to go home, right? Chase things too far and you might not be able to.” 

Ugh, what was he doing? A dog couldn’t understand him, and this one was in pain besides. It didn’t need to sit here and listen to him mope about where his own choices had led him. He sighed and gave the animal another pat, then called up a cure spell - he wasn’t that good at cure magic, especially now, but it should be enough to heal a scratch like this. Sure enough, the pained whimpers the dog had been making turned to a confused yelp, and then excited barking as it wiggled all over, then bounced around him in a circle.

Despite the dark thoughts plaguing him, Riku found himself laughing at the animal’s antics. “Alright, alright, stop bouncing before you hurt yourself again,” he told the dog, and got to his feet. “Now go home already. I’m sure your family’s looking for you.”

#;hc: dilan #;hc: isa #;hc: ventus #;hc: riku #strangefellows

[lynchkavinskyparrish]

songfic prompt that no one asked for? for any combination of Ronan/Adam/Kavinsky I guess: " I know you - I walked with you once upon a dream; I know you - the gleam in your eye is so familiar a gleam; and I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem; but if I know you, I know what you'll do - you'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream."

(I’ve never written a songfic before so i had no idea what i was doing but i did my best - thanks for the ask!!)

It was the strangest andsaddest thing Kavinsky had ever seen. Ronan had brought the scholarship boy tohis substance party. The dusty interloper didn’t fit in like Ronan did but,then again, no one had ever fit in at his parties quite like Ronan Lynch did.That didn’t stop Ronan from staring at Adam like he held the answers to all thequestions of the universe.

The worst part – theunforgiveable part – was that Kavinsky was beginning to agree. He’d neverinteracted with Adam beyond the occasional exchanging of glares, but recently,he’d become a common sight in Kavinsky’s dreams. Whether it was Ronan’sobsession rubbing off on Kavinsky or something else entirely, Kavinsky couldn’ttell. The thought of Adam Parrish being significant alongside Ronan was onething, the idea that he could be important independently was terrifying.

But, whenever Kavinskyfeared something, he embraced it. He would rather be a reckless fool than acoward, so he walked towards where Ronan and Adam were sitting. With a knowinglook on his face, Kavinsky sidled up to the pair and let his words fallsmoothly from his lips. “Look what the cat dragged in. Dick’s second favoritepet.” Adam’s response, a blunt“Kavinsky”, didn’t disappoint. Kavinsky could have predicted that exactresponse. In fact, he had before, in his dreams. 

He was filled with a sense ofperverse pride; being able to forge someone he didn’t know was more than skill,it was pure magic. Maybe Parrish was simply easily understood, nothing morethan trailer trash, but it didn’t feel that way. The feeling of pride soon gaveway to an unnerving feeling. He’d only met dream-Adam but Kavinsky felt like heknew real Adam Parrish.

I know you - I walked with you once upon adream

Ronan was immediatelyperturbed by Kavinsky’s expression. More accurately, he was disturbed that itwas directed at Adam. Kavinsky frequently leered at him but now he went almostunnoticed. The intense coil of anger Ronan felt at this simple exchange wasprobably unwarranted. And he couldn’t react in anger without giving away morethan he was willing.  

A disproportionatereaction on Ronan’s end would result in, at best, Ronan looking possessive ofAdam and, at worst, possessive of Kavinsky. Neither of them were necessarily false butRonan didn’t want to parse out the web of emotions that had formed seeing Kavinskyand Adam interact.

He never agreed to havefeelings for either of them; having feelings for the both of them wasunimaginable. Apparently, Kavinsky was reaching the same conclusion. Wherebefore Ronan saw his lecherous grin, akin to the look a predator gives itsprey, he now saw what could only be described as fear.

Ronan had never seen thelook on his face before but he recognized it nonetheless. He must have beenwearing the same expression. It was an expression borne from the overwhelming,crushing, realization that the potential, beautiful, tangible future from yourdreams was never going to be realized. Sometimes, Ronan thought, it was worseto wake up from a good dream than a nightmare.

I know you - the gleam in your eye is sofamiliar a gleam

Adam was equally wary ofthe look in Kavinsky’s eyes but for a different reason. He may have been amagician, but he couldn’t walk among dreams the way Ronan and Kavinsky did. Thecomplex expressions that flited over both Ronan and Kavinsky’s faces spoke moreof their shared dreaming than anything else had so far. Usually, Adam had nodesire to be a dreamer, but he didn’t much enjoy being left out.

He may not have knownKavinsky, but he was beginning to know Ronan and they were more alike thanthey’d admit. Or maybe they’d admit it freely; Adam wasn’t fluent in theirlanguage just yet. Even so, he could tell that they were exchanging chargedmessages, and for some inexplicable reason, they included Adam. He should havebeen disgusted by the very idea of Kavinsky’s attention, and on some level, hewas.

All he knew aboutKavinsky came from Ronan’s rare and undecipherable comments and Gansey’s, morefrequent, disparaging remarks. Gansey had once said Kavinsky was unredeemable,worthless. He rarely said anything as outwardly condemning, so Adam took it toheart, but not in the way Gansey had intended. Before those comments Adam had aview of Gansey as having a saintly level of forgiveness and acceptance. It wasone of the things Adam had appreciated the most about his friend.

Unfortunately,afterwards Adam knew that Gansey’s judgement-free appearance was, at leastsomewhat superficial. This made Adam even more paranoid that he was constantlybeing judged and found wanting. Ironically, Gansey’s comments pushed Adam toreserving judgement on Kavinsky. The small amount of discomfort he felt at theidea of Kavinsky was wiped away by incredibly-human look Adam imagined he sawpass over Kavinsky’s face.  

and I know it’s true that visions are seldomall they seem;

There was nothingKavinsky liked more than being one step ahead, and nothing he liked less thanbeing caught off guard. He would have expected that having learned about AdamParrish in his dreams would have left him powerful, but instead he was filledwith an unwelcome sense of vulnerability. Kavinsky may not have had completecontrol over his dreams, but he prided himself in always being able todistinguish between dream and reality. His impromptu meeting with Adam andRonan was challenging that.

Originally, Kavinsky hadbeen pleased at how accurately he had predicted Parrish’s behavior, but now hewas overwhelmed. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t psychic. That left twopossibilities. Either he had dreamed Adam or Ronan had. The first wasimpossible and the second extremely unlikely. The silence that had descended onthe trio served as a reinforcement of Kavinsky’s unease. He was faltering, andit was showing.

He was about to saysomething, anything, to regain balance but stopped short. He was struck by athird possibility. Kavinsky was a firm believer in nothing. It wasn’t that helacked belief, rather that he believed there was no point. He didn’t believe ina cosmic purpose or karmic retribution. Furthermore, he believed that those whobelieved in those things were naïve idiots, unaware of the absence of justice.That made the third possibility, not impossible, but irreconcilable with hisworld.

There was no way thathis least unpleasant dreams were premonitions of a possible reality. In hisdreams involving Adam and Ronan, shameful as they were, he was happy. They werehappy together. And in no lifetime – in no imaginable universe – did JosephKavinsky get a happily ever after. Fairytales were for children.    

but if I know you, I know what you’ll do -you’ll love me at once,

Kavinsky’suncharacteristic silence was not lost on Ronan. Had Kavinsky been wearing histrademark sunglasses, Ronan would not have been able to piece together thereason behind the silence. As it was, Kavinsky had chucked them into a burningcar earlier in the evening in a show of dramatics. That meant that Ronan sawthe confusion and calculation that colored Kavinsky’s face as he stood insilence.

It was probably unwiseto jump to conclusions, but Ronan valued his intuition. He’d recently beenhaving dreams about Kavinsky and Adam. Separately, they were nothing to writehome about. However, they increasingly been about KavinskyAndAdam. Unusuallynon-abstract visions of unnervingly mundane interactions. The look on Kavinsky’sface made Ronan think they’d been sharing in the dreams.

That, in and of itself,was unusual. Maybe when they attempted, in person, they could manage a vaguedream-based collaboration. They hadn’t attempted it, but he felt on a baserlevel that it was possible. While he knew it was possible, he’d never imaginedthat it would have occurred unintentionally. Especially with dreams as soft asthe ones he’d been having lately. He knew Kavinsky, and the Kavinsky he knewhad no softness to him.

But there wasn’t anotherexplanation for the strange dreams and Kavinsky’s even stranger reaction toseeing Adam. All of it was nonplussing, leaving Ronan bereft of words.The most surprising reaction of all, however, was Adam’s. There was absolutelyno way Adam had shared in their dreaming, yet he didn’t seem as put off byKavinsky’s presence as Ronan would have predicted. Instead he looked defensiveand closed-off but, more than anything, interested. He hadn’t written Kavinskyoff. It was almost like he was unconsciously mirroring dream-Adam and theirdream-meetings.        

the way you did once upon a dream

Adam had never been moredaring and idiotic than when he’d been with Ronan. He’d also never been morefree. It may have been that same, infectious, idiocy but he felt that Kavinsky wasa similar force. There was a magnetism about him. Simultaneously repulsing anddrawing Adam in. It was stupid; Kavinsky had done absolutely nothing to convinceAdam that he was anything more than the rumors. But, then again, he’d neverdone anything to Adam that validated the rumors either. And Adam knew that thehalls of Aglionby held many rumors about him as well; all untrue.

It wasn’t easy, sparingjudgement of the likes of Joseph Kavinsky, but Adam tried. An unfortunate sideeffect of this was that Kavinsky’s magnetism became less repulsive. Adam stoodin the fragile silence and wished that Kavinsky would say something. He knewthat if he opened his mouth he’d be able to walk away. Kavinsky’s insults wouldinevitably break whatever spell had been cast over Adam. However, Kavinsky wasa contradictory creature; he never did what people wanted or expected him todo.

Instead of speaking heturned on his heels and headed back to the center of the party. He resumed hisusual revelries and virtually ignored Adam and Ronan for the remainder of thenight. Adam looked at Ronan, an equally contradictory being, and saw himlooking at Kavinsky. Ronan’s unease shouldn’t have comforted Adam, but it did.It felt nice, knowing that Ronan and Kavinsky were equally unbalanced by whatshould have been an exceedingly forgettable interaction.

Had they been lessaffected, Adam could have convinced himself that he’d imagined everything. Hecould have moved on, forgotten Kavinsky altogether. But now he was stuck. Hestood by the BMW, exchanging stolen glances with Ronan and Kavinsky. Standingin a twilight-zone esq present, envisioning an even less understandable future,Adam Parrish felt more and less knowable than ever.        

#pynchvinsky #rovinsky #parinsky #joseph kavinsky #kavinsky #ronan lynch x adam parrish x joseph kavinsky