#she's such a good character and yes she makes some stupid mistakes (like MANY characters do!!!) but literally everyone act irrationally???

[wikitpowers]

i see so much clary hate in the tsc fandom like calling her stupid and people saying she acts like a baby and whines too much like do some people not realize that this girl just turned 16 in cob???? like she is a baby, give her a fucking break this girl went through so much and yet still remained the biggest badass

#i dont see it so much on tumblr (ily guys <3) but like in general fandom talk it pops up a lot and just.... ugh piss off #fuck out of here with clary hate istg who are u #she's such a good character and yes she makes some stupid mistakes (like MANY characters do!!!) but literally everyone act irrationally??? #like hello?????? #and ESPECIALLY at that age #like some people out here acting like jace and the others weren't making st00pid decisions as well smh #i think she's the greatest and mad props to her bc i would probably shit myself if i went through half the shit she did #i believe in clary fairchild supremacy. #clary fairchild #the mortal instruments #the shadowhunter chronicles #tmi #tsc

[dancingdorito]

i'm gonna rant, and yes this is about certain screener spoilers from s3 that i've seen circling around the fandom. i've already had to unfollow someone because they were being so rude about this. im defending colin bc no one will.

some polin stans don't treat colin as his own character, they just simply see him as a means to pen's happiness or they treat him like an object. may i remind you the reason why the romance genre is a thing is BECAUSE men did that to women??

so even if these rumors are true, that doesn't mean colin HAS to be perfect in order to deserve penelope, because that is not what bridgerton is about. also, in this time period, sex worked differently! believe it or not! so if colin has a few scenes with sex workers to show how he bends to society's expectation for him or for character development or whatever, then so be it. polin will end up together either way.

to say that colin has "red flags" because he has sex with sex workers and has done drugs is so fucking dumb. do you actually hear yourself? WHAT person on earth do you know that hasn't had sex with someone they don't know or done drugs or both. be realistic. multiple times luke has stated that this season deals with how young colin and penelope are and how they are still finding themselves and navigating how to love under that burden of youth and immaturity. to say colin has red flags and PENELOPE DOESNT? bruh. I am a penelope defender to the death but she has made many questionable choices. These "red flags" are simple human actions, largely made off of good intention, and it doesn't make them evil or mean that they're gonna cheat on each other or anything. it just means that they're multi dimensional, and that they're like us in that way. because literally no one would relate to a character that never makes mistakes.

stop treating colin like he's just a way for penelope to get laid. he is a multi dimensional character like penelope is, which is why they work so well together. to say that these fictional characters can't make mistakes is unrealistic and stupid. the fact that i have to state that colin is not an object is not something new in this fandom. please be better.

please use your braincells.

#POSSIBLE BRIDGERTON SPOILERS #polin #bridgerton season 3 #bridgerton s3 #polin stans #colin bridgerton #penelope featherington

[swallowtail-ageha]

Scrolling through your asoiaf tag and you have such good and correct opinions like how can anyone love just Dany or just Sansa or just Arya like how can anyone not see the parallels between Dany and Sansa it makes me feel so crazy like why are there so few people who love all the girlies?? I genuinely love every single female POV character and can’t imagine hating any of them. I mean sure yeah Cersei is a villain but you’re telling me her tragedy doesn’t touch your heart? Watching this woman desperately try to avoid her prophecy as it unfolds before you doesn’t have you in a death grip? Or like are you unmoved by Sansa telling an annoying snotty little boy how brave he is because she wants him to feel better? Dany comforting Missandei when her brother dies? Arya getting to the house of the black and white and immediately thinning to being a man a cup of water (or at least what she thought was water)? How about Sansa telling Joffrey she hopes Robb cuts his head off? Dany sassing the man who wants to open the fighting pits? Arya telling Jaquen to kill himself? Like please come on. All three girls are obviously different but they share so many very endearing traits. I am fiercely holding tight to my delusion that Dany and Sansa will bond over stories and songs and Arya will teach Dany about all the flowers in Westeros and then Sansa will show them how to make flower crowns and embroider little emblems on Arya’s clothes

First of all tysm!!!!

The whole arya vs sansa vs dany fandom fight frustrates me to no end, mainly because all parties involved seem to have little to no empathy to the characters whose stans they oppose. It's all maliciously extrapolating some parts of the text to make them see worse than what they are (ex: daenerys' "if i look back i am lost" getting twisted from "dany knows that dwelling on what ifs and turning your back after you have taken a commitment will only damage you in the long term" in "dany doesn't want to reflect on her past mistakes and will go mad and get stabbed to death" or sansa getting frustrated at sweetrobin being a sign of her being ableist and classist while it's. Just a normal reaction of a stressed and traumatized 13 yo who is otherwise very sweet to her cousin)

For loving the female characters same! Even those who commit outwardly villainous acts do get lots of humanizing moments, Cersei, as awful as she is, is simply a product of the hyper misogynistic society she lives in plus years of parental and spousal abuse (and the doomed by prophecy vibes) and. I genuinely don't get how people can look at the walk of shame and say it's a fitting punishment to her crimes

Overall all the hate for female characters that are more complex or more driven or more morally ambiguous than what most female characters are presented as in other media in a fandom who (supposedly) prides itself in liking morally ambiguous characters is.. frustrating, really. I blame both fandom misogyny but also the GoT series, as it's outright changes in female character's actions and stories to make them look better or worse than what they originally were skewered the visions of almost everyone in the fandom (arya is an egregious victim of this. Scenes such as her caring for Weasel or her befriending sex workers in braavos don't exist and they added that "all girls are idiot" scene that i hate and they removed all her plan to free the northmen from harrenal and she got turned from traumatized child to hashtag no one super cool assassin and her character got straight up murdered in the tv series.)

Oh and also for kickstarting the whole jonsa vs jonerys thing which i'm pretty sure is the origin of the stupid dany vs sansa wars

And yes!! Dany Sansa and Arya should get to meet and reunite! While i do think that there will be some slight tensions between Sansa and Arya because they left on Not So Well terms, they have also matured a lot, so i do think they would have an heartfelt reunion. Meanwhile Dany and Arya could bond because of both their connection to Braavos and Arya's admiration for those who free slaves, and Dany would empathize (and feel a common ground) with Sansa for her being a child who had all her family die and got married extremely young while beeing creeped on by older men, while Sansa, who is shown to admire women like Margaery or Myranda, who are shown to be very keen regarding politics or social issues, something that Dany is

In the end, i genuinely hope that all three of these traumatized little girls get their happy ending and none of them dies, they all are interesting and complex characters that share parallels with each other, and it sucks that because of stupid ship wars or discussions on who would get the throne they get pitted against each other. THEY WOULD BE FRIENDS Y'ALL

#anyways i am holding onto the hope that ADoS ends with dany legalizing gay marriage and marrying sansa #sorry if it gets super rambly and incoherent anon because i always tend to do this when i get an ask #i just want to tell you that your ask made my day and it was all on point!!!! i hope you have a nice week month year life #asoiaf

[fragileheartbeats]

I have been thinking about something for a while now. what if aegon 2 was a bit like tywin lannister?

Ok I'm kind of lost for words because first, this question is interesting but stupid and funny at the same time. Second, idk why you're asking me this, I mean yes he's one of my favorites characters but there are people who obviously understand his character more like @very-straight-blog but since you asked this I try my best to answer you.

First of all Tywin was a proud man, he was proud that he was a lion. So Aegon would be proud of his Targaryen blood too. Instead of his short, greasy hair, he would have long and shine hair because it is a sign of his Valyrian blood (he would take good care of his hair, he may even braid it). He would probably saw himself more as a Targaryen than a Hightower. And instead of green, he would dress in red, black, silver and gold. He will also have a more muscular body because of the practice of swordsmanship and etc. And instead of teary eyes, he would have half lidded eyes and a sharp gaze.

He would saw himself as heir, unlike Aegon in the book that took the throne so he can protect his family and unlike him in the show that was a coward and wanted to escape. He wouldn't care what he's father said. Because when his father dies, his words have no value anymore.

He probably would admired his father, but on the other hand, he would saw his father as weak and annoying. He also would saw Rhaenyra as a foolish and spoiled woman (it was good for him tho, because in his mind, she would destroys herself).

When he was crowned king, he hold his head high, his eyes shine and a proud smile on his face.

he would be characterized by his strategic mind, ruthlessness, and a pragmatic approach to governance. This version of Aegon would be more calculated, less impulsive, and likely more effective in securing alliances and managing the realm. His cruelty, amplified beyond Tywin's, would instill fear among his enemies and even his allies.

From his birth, Aegon would be groomed for leadership, displaying a keen understanding of politics and warfare from a young age. His education under a Tywin-like mindset would emphasize the importance of power, control, and the necessity of making hard decisions for the greater good of the realm, albeit through a more cynical lens.

A more intelligent and cunning Aegon would approach the conflict with Rhaenyra with a sharper strategy. He would likely seek to undermine her support base, using espionage, strategic marriages (he would force his brothers to take a wife, or even promise his own children), and alliances to weaken her position before their forces met in battle. His plans would be meticulous, aiming to avoid unnecessary losses and to capitalize on any mistake made by Rhaenyra's faction. For example he would use any chance to point the obvious fact that her children are bastard.

He would also treat Helaena better, And he would listened carefully to her words and prophecies and would take care of her and try to have as many children with her as possible. He may even marry other women from other powerful houses, not only does this increase his allies, but he can have more heirs, and since each child gets a dragon, he can also have more dragons.

As a king, Aegon's rule would be marked by his strategic governance, focusing on strengthening the realm's central authority. However, his cruelty and ruthlessness could lead to rebellion and unrest. His intelligence would allow him to navigate these challenges with a degree of success, but his brutality might leave the realm in a state of fear and resentment.

Aegon's legacy would be complex. While some might remember him as a strong ruler who maintained the integrity of the Seven Kingdoms, others would recall his reign as a dark period marked by fear and tyranny. His nickname might reflect his dual nature, perhaps something like "Aegon the Iron," symbolizing both his strength and his unyielding cruelty.

Given his strategic mind, Aegon might be able to secure his throne for a longer period than in the original narrative. However, his cruelty could also lead to plots against his life. Assuming he could suppress major rebellions, his reign might last significantly longer, potentially stabilizing his bloodline's claim to the throne if he managed to produce heirs who survived the tumultuous politics of the realm.

In this scenario, Aegon might seek to eliminate Rhaenyra and her supporters as threats to his rule. However, he might also consider imprisoning or exiling them if he believed it would lead to a more stable realm, using them as pawns to discourage further rebellion.

In a world where Aegon mirrored Tywin in intellect and temperament, the Dance of the Dragons might have unfolded with less chaos and more cold, calculated brutality. His reign could be characterized by a strong, if feared, leadership, potentially leading to a more unified but oppressed realm. His victory in the war would be likely, achieved through strategy and fear rather than sheer force. However, the scars of his rule would mark the history of Westeros, leaving a legacy that would be remembered with a mix of respect and dread.

Well that's what I think. But honestly I love the original Aegon more because he's a broken man and I love him for it.

#𐙚 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐢 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤 — ֹ ₊ #house targaryen #house of the dragon #house of dragons #aegon ii targaryen #aegon #aegon ii #aegon targaryen #king aegon #aemond one eye #team green #hotd #aegon ii targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen #alicent hightower #game of thrones #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #aegon x reader #hotd aegon #aegon ii x reader #aegon targaryen x reader #aegon fanfic #aegon imagine #hotd x reader #hotd imagine

[katshuya]

Lyanna Stark carries some blame too!

Warning: This is not to hate on her, nor I'm denying that she was a young girl and to some degree MAY have been fooled. This is about accountability first and second her genius fans and the shippers

I literally talked to several people here who ships her with Rhaegar and they were ones who have posts that have most likes over discussions about them as I have seen so far and very clever takes that break down every argument as other Rhaegar and Lyanna fans claim. And I swear to god the amount of cope and stupid theories they say is ridiculous. Like all long posts and literally nothing!

My only regret is how I didn't take screenshots of their very clever arguments. All of them ended up deleting my comments when they couldn't reply and was hurt by me saying that Rhaegar could have very possibly liked Elia in Romantic way to some extent and that copmplex realtionship doesn't necessarily mean there was no love or attraction.

Apparently now we are liars and don't care about Elia and just want to shit on Rhaegar and Lyanna and if we truly liked her we'd want her to be a woman who never loved Rhaegar at all.

Not even a little feeling to the man, she agreed to risk her life for him and his prophecy no. We should say according to them that she did that to stabilize her position as future queen and mother of the next heir who eats, drinks and sleeps peacefully and that is more feminist as they MOCKED than her being hurt by Rhaegar (Rhaegar who is said to be very charming to all women but apparently he never charmed Elia according to their little hearts that refuse to accept there might have been something of romance between her and Rhaegar) .

Them: Like, what do you mean she would mind seeing her husband love another girl more after she did everything for him?😡 That's very not good interpretation and characterization of Elia. She should only care about her position! oh! She is the victim of her mother's AMbiTIOns

AND! Her liking Rhaegar and risking her life to give him children makes her weak!

Trasnslation: I can't accept her liking Rhaegar, or this will make the asshole prince I ship myself with as a self-insert of Lyanna more asshole and unlikable to others So Elia must never like Rhaegar in order for my ship to work! Let's work hard on making people believe this is the only possible scenario AND the only way for Elia to be strong good character otherwise she is weak silly girl if she loved her charismatic husband so my ship can sail!

That's the true strong woman and we Elia-fans are just bunch of haters and don't really like her and we are the actual misogynist for not saying she never liked Rhaegar and for not loving their GIrl BoSS lyanan stark.

No, I don't ship Rhaegar and Elia. I'm just stating a very possible scenario. I really don't do ships. I simply like Elia.

As for Lyanna....

Yes, Lyanna carries some blame, too, in case she knew of Rhaegar's plan and agreed to it and went willingly. You don't get to tell me that I shouldn't blame her because most blame falls on men, and she was young?????

Like make it make sense. To what extent could your age protect you from accountability when you hurt others? Since when being young gives you the right to escape accountability? How else do you make sure that they don't turn out nasty?

Her escaping Robert and her eloping with married man EVEN in a scenario where Elia agreed are two different things that don't connect. (Elia would never agree happily. In such a scenario, she has no choice because of the prophecy.), it doesn't delete her mistakes. It simply makes her less guilty.

Reminder! She didn't escape until Rhaegar appeared. This may mean she never intended to escape until she fell in love with this married charismatic prince charming even in a scenario where she was a greenseer and saw her and Rhaegar are a MUst Be. They still ignored many things like others' safety for unsure prophecy.

Her story is so much more than just her age.

You all just ignore everything to make her look like nothing but a victim.

I had one tell me we shouldn't blame her because of the girl's girl and because men take most blame in her story??? Yes, they do, and??? Is that how we deal with women's mistakes now? As long as the biggest culprit is a man and you are young, you are free from accountability?

If this is what a girl's girl means now, then I'm not a girl's girl.

And guess what? Yes, I blame her to some degree and don't hate her. Yes, I definitely don't see her as likable but definitely not evil, and I know many of you don't accept these things mixed, but like or not they do with me and with many others who are silent about it because they don't want to be called ridiculous for disliking young girl. But not me. I don't mind.

#anti Rhaegar #I don't hate Lyanan but I will not act like she is nothing but a poor victim because of her age #Lyanna stark isn't faultless #anti Rhaegar x Lyanna #anti R x L #ASOIAF #Elia deserves better #game of thrones #Rhaegar x Elia #Rhaegar Targaryen #lyanna stark #Elia Martell

[drakaripykiros130ac]

I don't understand how anyone can like the Greens in the series. I like them in the books because they are good villains, specifically Alicent. I would have given anything to see her come to life on screen rather than the pathetic thing we were treated to. That doesn't help with the fact that apparently Ryan Condal has finally confirmed he's team Greens... I'll never understand this guy. How could he read the book and say that no, the Greens were justified in any way ?! Also, the guts you have to have, even within this fandom, to openly say you support the group of misogynistic and blood purist usurpers... In the sense of saying that they are completely right or that Blacks are just as horrible! But in what universe ?! Ryan Condal would also have said that we would probably change preferred camps in season 2... Man, you can still dream, even with your stupid supporting documents for TG everyone still prefers the Blacks team. It's distressing that the director of the series himself doesn't understand anything he's adapting and that so many people are going in this direction. The number of idiots who tried to explain to me that both teams were equally horrible, that the Greens can't be pure villains because GRRM only writes complex characters, it's obvious. Like GRRM has never written a pure villain ? Are you sure you've read the books he wrote ? No but I swear that since the release of the series, asoiaf fans are worse than before in their unjustified hatred of the Targaryens... These people think they are moral by wanting to put the two teams on the same level or by saying that the Blacks are worse. That revolts me.

Essentially what neutrals think ;

“Yes, it’s not good what the Greens did, but the Blacks are no better seen as they dared to fight back for their rights.”

Like... What dimension did I land in ?!

Just last time, I received comments from someone supposedly accepting that the Greens were worse, but trying to explain to me that Daemon groomed Rhaenyra (which is false book or series), that the murder of 'a Greens child is unjustified (while the Greens shed blood first and we are in a feudal context) that Lucerys taking Aemond's eye is unjustified (Wtf ?!) ah and the best thing was to me say at face value that Daemon was not a gray character and that he was like Aegon IV... (Again... WTF ?!)

https://www.tumblr.com/darklinaforever/701570671006875648/i-hate-when-people-say-greens-and-blacks-are-on

(Afterwards I wasn't gentle in my answers either, but I'm fed up with this type of people)

I personally never liked the greens in the book. To me, they were always the villains. Always. I never viewed Daemon and Rhaenyra as pure innocent angels, don’t get me wrong. I recognize the few mistakes Rhaenyra makes in the book, as well as Daemon’s many, many faults.

For instance, yes, Rhaenyra should not have had Vaemond murdered (even though what he spoke was treasonous and threatened her position as well as the lives of her children). She should not have gone so far with the taxes during her reign (even though she was left with no choice).

However, in this story, despite all their faults, I always felt Rhaenyra and Daemon were perfectly justified. Because their good qualities kind of eclipse the bad stuff. The Blacks are the anti-heroes of the story. They have done some questionable things, but all of them have been justified/done with good reason and good purpose.

The Greens are a whole different story. Everything they have done (mainly Alicent and Otto), they have done out of jealousy and pure greed (hence why they were given the color “green” - the color of greed and envy). 95 % of the war crimes are done by the Greens. Literally the only thing the Blacks are to be held accountable for is B&C. Other than that, every crime was courtesy of the Greens.

To me, the Greens have always been split between those who are anti-villains (Aegon, Helaena, Daeron), and those who are pure villains (Alicent, Otto, Aemond).

For the anti-villains: The one time Aegon presents some goodness is when he has reservations about usurping his half-sister. Other than that, he is pure evil; Helaena can’t be considered a pure innocent soul either. She has good qualities, but she is extremely underdeveloped as a character in the book and we don’t know her thoughts, her motives. She didn’t protest the usurpation and accepted the position of queen consort easily; Daeron is somehow given a free pass by certain people because he is “the daring”, and while that’s true, these people forget how he burned a whole village of innocent people alive.

For the pure villains, not much need be said. Alicent and Otto are a bunch of opportunistic hypocrites and vicious upstarts. I haven’t sensed any bit of goodness in them. Aemond is a psycho with zero redeeming qualities.

Now, in the show, I don’t feel as if the Greens are portrayed better than they have been in the book. I feel like the show writers (mainly Ryan Condal) are trying to come up with lame excuses for them, and it’s just not working. The great majority of the viewers still hate Alicent as much as they did in the book, regardless how many times she presents those “doe eyes”, and the great majority still believe the Greens are in the wrong.

In the show, when it comes to the Greens, there’s always some sort of “reason”, some sort of “accident”. Alicent didn’t mean to shoot her mouth off and convince Larys to murder the current hand, Lyonel Strong, so that her father could return as Hand (even though that is exactly what she wanted). Aemond didn’t mean to let Vhagar know that he wants Lucerys dead (even though his pursuing and direct attack showed his intentions to murder the boy). Crispin somehow didn’t mean to crush Beesbury’s skull in that ball, even though he acted aggressively towards the man for simply speaking the truth and nothing but the truth at that treasonous Council meeting.

These excuses the show writers make for the greens make no sense whatsoever. They should have stuck with the actual canon portrayal, because it’s just ridiculous at this point.

So what if the two sides are not evenly matched?

They’re not supposed to!

GRRM doesn’t write purely good vs bad in his universe, that is true. He loves the complexity of the characters and the stories. However, that does not mean that he intended for the Blacks and the Greens to be evenly matched in this story.

He himself admitted that he wrote the book more in the Blacks’ favor because that’s how he felt (ironic, considering that Fire and Blood is told from the point of view of green supporters). It’s his story. I have seen people accuse him of being biased, always in favor of the Blacks.

Yes, he clearly wrote the Blacks as the protagonists, with better developed characters, with the best allies, the most heroic/epic deaths, most dragons, most Houses supporting them.

I mean, the Starks are TB, while the Lannisters are TG. That alone should give you a clue as to which side you’re supposed to be rooting for.

Clearly GRRM is Team Black, but who says he can’t be? Who says that the sides have to be evenly matched? It’s his story! If he says the Blacks are right, the Blacks are right.

TG stans are just in denial at this point.

#team black #rhaenyra targaryen #house of the dragon #pro team black #hotd #daemon targaryen #anti team green #anti team green stans #anti green stans #anti alicent hightower #anti greens #anti alicent stans #queen rhaenyra #team rhaenyra #pro rhaenyra #the blacks #canon asoiaf #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #pro daemon targaryen #anti aemond targaryen #anti aegon ii targaryen #anti daeron the daring #anti helaena targaryen #anti otto hightower #fire and blood #a song of ice and fire #anti aemond stans #anti hotd

[liaa--qb]

do you think that team black Stans takes this hotd war topic too much And They are very much hypocrite ?? I was new in this fandom and stand with team black. I hate to say this many of them spoil whole fun on Twitter debate.I have seen their jealousy alot at Aemond getting more attention than some of their characters by audience.They made stories about him like he r@ped Alys.They would have hated daeron if he was there since first season lmao. What's your take on team black stans. Don't mistake me as a Aemond wife. I am against team green but admitting I kinda liked his character only as villian. Helaena is the only person I love in team green

EXACTLY ! This..... EXACTLY this.. see firstly m not a team supporter or stan here. I am just enjoying d show till it's tolerable😅. I just want a good show dat's it. I am not on Twitter thankfully, I am well aware what goes on there n you can hate Aemond all u want. He's a villian ofcourse 🙏🏻

Fire and blood was boring but show has chance to be better atleast though if they ever want to try😑... Regarding ur take , it's gonna be bit long now as I don't do this long stuff unless it's a fic😭

lemme tell the truth now.... ik many dumb ones are not gonna like it 😂

yes there are majority of hypocrite team black Stans who would make up these bullshits mainly with Aemond like "they gave Jace's qualities to Aemond, Aemond r*ped Alys". Jace's one was the most random 😂

bitch... like where you thought after reading the book n watching show that they gave Jace's qualities to Aemond 💀😭 ??? Where... I read the book too😂. My friends who actually introduced me to hotd who are book purists too , even they laughed on this theory when I told them.

" Jace and Aegon were adapted exactly the way they were in the books ! " It's a fact Listen I love Tom Glynn Carney too (like how can you not🥵) but sorry to those Aegon girlies who were just saying that they forcefully made Aegon a r*pist. He was like this in the book very much. They both were shown correctly how they should have been in s1.

Both green and blacks were given some good and bad shots equally in show. Bad n good shots for God's sake doesn't mean one is Angel and other one being devil. It's about writing or storyline regarding both teams. N this whole jealousy or hypocrisy towards Aemond of some team black stans is nothing but a childish stupidity to me and it's obvious that Aemond would get alot attention in show than many N y not ? 🤦🏻‍♀️

[ top 3 characters from both teams will get attention. Show will be divided into two teams from Team black it's Rhaenyra, Daemon , Colrys n (someone with corlys) who would be focused more N from team Green it would Alicent, Aegon, Aemond. Majority of Attention would be given to Rhaenyra, Alicent n Aegon as they are main 3 . It should be very much clear to every person who read the book , to me it was as I read only after watching the S1 trailer. Wasn't this very much obvious in the book. ]

Also Aemond never r*ped or assaulted Alys in the book. We never got inside of their relationship in book. He can in the show though🤷🏻‍♀️.... if makers want to. He took her as war prize which was very much common for every guy winning war.

Honestly Alys was far yrs older fucking powerful witch😭 she would eat Aemond alive be fr if she wanted to. She would have killed him way easily in starting itself . Yes there relationship was problematic n it was power imbalance both sides. They both were using each other. Aemond was clearly under her spell or either for her powers and so was Alys. Who was taking her best from Aemond's position whatever she could get from both sides.

If Grrm lit wanted to show that Aemond r*ped Alys he would have done it very well like he does this with his all other characters who were actually r@pists but he didn't. On the contrary side he wrote Aemond as evil goth twink who never wanted to scare the ladies at court n wore eye patch bcz of that😂. Same guy was making out with his floris and fell hard under spell of strong bastard witch calling her 'my lady !'

Let me clear that also Aemond not being a r@pist doesn't make him a less bad person either. He was a sadist tyrant n murderer psychopath in book. This is what made him a villian or bad guy. But the problem with some team black Stans is that they knew that audience will start giving him the ' typical Kylo ren' treatment which he's getting. ( Idk how one cannot see this coming after reading dance of d in FNB, it was very much predicted I knew it). They don't want to give any good points to any team green characters in their silly game. Like as if audience don't hype bad guys more than good guys😑.

Same way when same audience hyped Daemon more than Harwin then they don't have any problem but if audience likes Aemond n Daeron more than team black kids then their ass hate to see this n would write whole new made up reasons for not to like any team green member while cheering any other character which they like for same thing.

Funny thing is that many team black daemon lovers would write how he was right man, he killed all r*pist from city while this is the same daemon who fucks literally little girls who are prostitutes n loves it which is very much written in book. Ofcourse mysaria was with him since her childhood. As prostitutes have no other options. Taking prince like daemon and Aegon was better for their survival.

He is canon p*dophile in book but yes if Aemond is r@pist then Daemon's account of doing r@pe is way higher than Aemond even before when Aemond was born. Now why would those black Stans admit this ? 😂 never....... Believe me when I say that some of them are that level of jokers who would say that Maegor is good and daeron is bad just because he is from team green.

I really like daemon too n daemon had his bad qualities n good qualities both 🧡atleast I like the way he is . It clearly shows that some Stans they cannot even like or hate the character for what they are. They are dumbass kids watching some cartoon fight with two team. They just want to hate one team for any reason n like other team for any random reason

Mind you....many of them even hate Helaena unnecessary but same time would love Laena and for what ????🤡🤡

what I hated regarding Aemond in show :-

now things I accept that Aemond not killing Luce was very much wrong and I hated that too. Because it was not good for plot tbh for me. It's just messing up with already messed up world building. Aemond as a villian got a very much reason to Luce n y should he not ? now that's thing I genuinely think that was done wrong regarding Aemond's character, people hating it is very much justified because it very much makes luc's death stupid rather than sad.

But making up reasons like they gave everything to Aemond like they didn't made Aemond totally bad during drift mark scene as we get sympathy for rhaena n we understood her reason for being angry on Aemond atleast n Aemond insulting her. but in books it's lit Nyra's kids who were not minding their own business n Aemond was just beating them n throwing them far away from him instead of killing them with rock like in the show but ofcourse this wasn't visible to team black Stans. Because in the book honestly Aemond was very much correct during drift mark scene.

They removed viserys's taunting Aemond regarding dragon which was very important.

They showed Harwin beating Criston but we all know it was Criston who took both Harwin and Daemon easily and so many of I started to count regarding team green were done equally wrong.

just see the dumbness and hyporcrisy I once saw Darkling and rhys Stans saying bullshit about Aegon and Aemond 😂😂. Same Darkling who physically assaulted Alina, abused her. The one who gave little girls like Genya to get r@ped by the old hag king for his benefit n

the way LB wrote him I can very say that she hated him as well. And Rhys is whole another level bullshit 😂if started to write. They were not even a good written bad guys. These same idiots would typing whole ass reasons to like them. It's funny that Darkling supporters would hate Otto hightower as if they aren't the same thing 🤣. Otto slays more as compared Darkling.

many of them pretend to care about representation saying that 'Jace should not have Sara n it would hurt baela n would make her unwanted ' while same time giving thousand reasons of there was nothing bet Nettles and Daemon so that it would not harm their Daemyra. So many of them were happy when there wasn't any news regarding nettles. ( It's not only team black , many of team green stans r equally hypocrite here you asked me of team black )

#house of dragons #hotd fandom #aemond targaryen #got fandom #hotd jace #jace velaryon #aegon ii targaryen #discussion #hotd discussion #hotd discourse #team black #team green #daemon targeryan #rhaenyra targaryen #rhaenyra x alicent #baela targaryen #nettles asoiaf #fire and blood

[kobitoshiningneedle]

If you wake me up in a 100 years and ask me what DGS fans are up to I'll answer: "arguing who's mischaracterizing Kazuma Asogi"

Honestly? I feel like it's simply people focusing on different aspects of his character and ognoring the others. Some will insist that Kazuma is an UwU sob wet cat who never done anything wrong and never deceived his friends, probably because they want to fulfill the happy wholesome asoryu endgame narrative, which is understandable, but it ignores some really important stuff. Yes, Kazuma really values his friendship with Ryunosuke, was willing to go great lenghts for him and never really outright lied to him. Still, it would be pretty stupid to deny that by the time the plot unfolded he still had a twisted sense of justice and what is right. He still was misleading Ryunosuke in his mission.

Also, I feel like people focus too much on the impact Kazuma made on Ryunosuke while ignoring the other, equally important person in his life - Susato! Honeslty, she got it much worse that Ryuno, because even after spending 10 years by his side Kazuma never bothered to give her at least an idea why he's doing all this. Kazuma actually considers telling Ryu his 'real' mission as it was shown early in 1-2, but not to Susato. In many ways feels like an afterthought to Kazuma, which really really isn't fair for her

Sure, many of Kazuma's misfortunes isn't his fault, but the guy still made choices. I believe that none of this would be enough to ruin their friendship or whatever, but they will fucking have to process this together. There's, like, no other option. Kazuma as a person has flaws and made mistakes that go way beyond "tee hee this man's silly"

And then there's the other side of the debate that pictures Kazuma as murder happy rude bastard, and personally to me it's a tad closer because my ass likes angst, but after I thought about it again, it doesn't seem right to me either. Regardless of his violent tendencies, Kazuma is a person who in the end strives to do the right thing. Almost everything he does he does out of love - to his father or to Ryunosuke alike. Kazuma's inherent kindness is what makes him understand van Zieks in the end and accept him as well.

Besides, never once in a trial he was outright rude to Ryunosuke, I think? Even on Barok's trial he still commends and encourages him. Even in 2-5, being all unhinged and borderline hysterical, he still manages to possess some semblance of moral integrity. It could be way worse, really

Kazuma is another good example of how good (!) people can be grossly mislead for other people's goals, and while it doesn't take away the responsibility of said good person or the realization that there's stuff to work on, they are still redeemable and deserve to be forgiven.

I don't think people should judge the character based on his worst moments. Nor everything the character does is a fuel to your OTP

#the great ace attorney #tgaa spoilers #dgs #kazuma asogi #tgaa critical #kinda

[thisgirlnamedblusy]

hiya! i love your works, and the way you write marilyn!! could you possibly write a hurt/com fic where reader begins to distance herself from marilyn because she feels sad over something and isn’t used to being emotional in front of people, but marilyn eventually corners her and reader opens up and it’s emotional and lovely and comforting…sorry if that made no sense - thank you!!

Yess!!! Here it is!!! I hope you like it!!! Sorry about the delay, and the language mistakes!!! :))))))))

Just a hard time

Pairing: Marilyn Thornhill x Fem! Reader

Warnings: Angst, hurt & comfort, fluff

Word count: 3,993

Summary: You're not the happy girl that she thinks, you have a lot of thoughts in your mind, and not a good ones…

N/A: Requests are open!!! Sorry about the delays, I’m working hard on your requests. I love you all!!!

“Have you like it? You haven't told me anything,” Marilyn said, gently caressing your cheek while her legs intertwined with yours.

You weren't thinking about what just happened, your mind was in a very far away place for several days. You simply faked a smile and nodded. Marilyn sighed, analyzing your gaze, and kissed you briefly on the lips.

Your smile slowly faded, while your mind continued to spin over a worry that stalked you at all time.

You were a simple girl, in your childhood you were happy, but your adolescence was like hell to you. Full of ridicule, friendless, struggling to ignore the contempt of your classmates.

But that time has passed. Now you were a 24-year-old girl with a job, a house and a wonderful girlfriend. How someone like you had been so lucky was a question you had ever since you met Marilyn. You weren't special, you had nothing to offer to her, but she still fell in love with you.

You never had self-esteem, but as the years went by, you at least gained some confidence. Lately that confidence was decreasing little by little and every day, every hour you thought about what the reason could be. You couldn't find it. Your life was perfect, but you didn't see it that way at all.

“I really need to take a shower...” Marilyn sighed, yawning. “(Y/N), will you join me?”

You shook your head, snapping out of your troubled world of thoughts. You looked at the woman, who got out of bed, stretching in an exaggerated way.

“No... I think, I think I just want to sleep right now,” you said, turning around and covering yourself with the sheets.

“Oh... Have I exhausted you too much?” The redhead asked mockingly, sitting next to you on the bed and stroking your hair.

“I'm tired,” you answered. The words didn’t express your feelings, they were weak, dull, lacking any emotion. Logically that caught Marilyn's attention, she frowned and moved your head slightly so you were looking into her eyes.

“Honey, are you okay?” She asked, carefully studying your gestures. You sighed and smiled again, trying to look happy, to look like nothing was worrying you.

“Yes, of course. I'm just sleepy...” You said, faking a yawn. Marilyn wasn't stupid, she knew you were lying, but she also knew how reluctant you were to talk about your feelings, so she decided to get up and go to the bathroom, giving you one last curious look.

You breathed calmly when you heard the shower running and turned around again, now looking up at the ceiling. You thought it was just a phase, that this strange sadness you felt would pass, but it wasn't like that. Not even Marilyn's affable character, nor her continuous gestures of love and affection could make you forget your torments.

Your low self-confidence made you ask yourself absurd questions every day, such as what that wonderful woman could have seen in a girl like you. You had no answer. You couldn't find the characteristic that could have caught her attention.

You weren't a bad person, quite the opposite, but you were very introverted. So many years isolated from others made you to close your mind, to not express emotions or feelings in front of other people, or at least the negative ones.

Making those bullies see that their mockery and insults were effective only made them see you weak, that their actions had the effect they wanted.

This is how you formed what would be your current personality. Good, kind, but reserved, confident with your feelings. If Marilyn hadn't asked you for that date, you probably would never have acted, you would never have told her that you felt the same way about her, about that red-haired woman you looked every morning in the cafeteria.

But, even though your life was wonderful, you couldn't stop thinking about the reason for your luck, why from one day to the next, you found someone as good as her, someone who loved you above all, and who does everything for you.

Marilyn was always thoughtful, she covered you with flowers and gifts whenever she had the opportunity. Every morning, she left a note on the refrigerator, a simply “I love you.”

All of this made you feel guilty, feeling like you weren't up to par with her, that she didn't deserve you. And so, wrapped in sheets, with your naked body in the bed, you got to the root of your problems, your low self-esteem.

You felt inferior, a girl who wasn't worth it. It didn't matter how many times Marilyn told you that she loved you, you simply looked for hidden motivations, some dark reason for her to want to be close to you.

You closed your eyes with those thoughts, with ideas that passed fleetingly through your head. She didn't even know about your tormented past, you couldn't even consider being completely honest with her. After two years, you were still a complete stranger, and only you knew why.

The next morning, you played with the coffee spoon, looking at the table, with a serious expression, just looking at the clock. Marilyn seemed strange because of your attitude, she looked at you constantly, under a tense, deathly silence, like the ones you usually had after arguing. But this time there was no jealousy, no absurd arguments. There was only an empty, sad (Y/N), looking for what you could give to the redhead that makes her to want to keep you.

“Hey, (Y/N)...” Marilyn whispered, interrupting that tense silence. You looked up and nodded slightly, finishing your coffee. “I thought that… Well, today is Friday… We could, you know, do something…”

“Like what?” You asked, sighing. Every time you spoke you bit your tongue, regretting using that lazy tone with your beloved. Marilyn smiled nervously, blinking rapidly, sad cause she didn't understand the reason for your lack of spirit.

“Do you remember our first date? You know, the restaurant on the Main Street corner,” she said, getting up from the chair and caressing your back, bending down to speak in your ear. “Do you remember how much fun we had?”

You nodded, smiling sincerely.

“I threw a glass of wine on you,” you said between laughs.

“And I did the same... What do you think if we go there for dinner? Maybe it's a little late to book a table, but we can try...”

You closed your eyes with another long sigh. You remembered that night as one of the best of your life. But at that moment the only thing you wanted was to continue closing in on yourself, you didn't want her compassion, for her to pay for dinner like she always did, for her to shower you with all kinds of affection and comforts that you felt you didn't deserve.

“I... Tonight I preferred to stay home,” you whispered, getting up to wash your breakfast mug. Marilyn looked at you stunned, worried, and approached you, turning you around and cupping your face with her hands.

“Honey, I know something is wrong with you... Please, talk to me, tell me something, let me help you.”

You pulled away without being too unpleasant and shook your head.

“There's nothing wrong with me, Mari... I'm just tired... That's all,” you said, heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

“(Y/N)…” The redhead sighed, insisting. “Please…”

You stopped, ready to say something, to start talking about your worries, but you regretted it at the last moment. You would never be brave enough to do it.

That night…

“I think I'm going to sleep...” Marilyn sighed, picking up her dinner’s tray. “I'm exhausted.”

You nodded, not looking away from the television. Marilyn had been trying to get information out of you all night, asking you what was going on in your mind, but without success. You were closed hermetically, no one could access your feelings, not even the woman of your life.

“Well...” You said, changing channel to channel automatically, without thinking.

“Aren't you coming?” She asked, leaning behind the couch. “I promise you that I will be good and let you sleep…” She said with a suggestive and funny tone.

You smiled and looked at her, shaking your head.

“No, I think I'll stay a little longer. I'm still not sleepy,” you said, leaning back on the couch. Marilyn stared at you, frowning.

“You said you were tired,” she told you, crossing her arms.

You closed your eyes, lamenting how pathetic your excuses always were.

“Yes, I am, but it doesn't mean I'm sleepy...” You said defensively, in a harsher tone. Marilyn nodded and took a deep breath. Her face was serious, stoic. She knew you too well no matter how much you denied it. She knew you were lying.

“It's okay, come whenever you want, no rush,” she said in a whisper, leaning down to give you a quick kiss before entering the room.

The minutes passed and with them, the hours. You could hear the television, but you weren't listening, you only heard your mind making up horrible thoughts, lowering your self-esteem, tormenting you even more. You lay down on the couch, shedding a tear. You were depressed, you were not hungry, you didn't want to do anything, and you weren't even able to take refuge in Marilyn, in the woman who loved you, who means everything for you.

Your eyelids were getting heavier and without meaning to, you fell asleep.

Footsteps on the wood woke you up. You were curled up on the couch, shivering due to the cold. The light emitted by the television was annoying, but you didn't want to move so as not to lose heat. Marilyn approached and you closed your eyes again, pretending to sleep.

That horrible light went out and you felt the warmth of her hand on your head, caressing you gently.

“Baby, if you would just tell me what's wrong with you...” Marilyn whispered softly, trying not to wake you up. You moved, but you didn't open your eyes, you let yourself to be caressed.

Marilyn sighed and shifted, searching for something in the small entryway closet.

You opened one eye to watch what she was doing, but when she addressed you again, you closed it again.

You felt how a pleasant fabric covered your body. A blanket. Marilyn had gone to get a blanket to cover you, not to insist that you go back to bed... Your breathing became heavier while the redhead covered you lovingly, preventing you from getting cold.

That made you feel worse, feeling like you were a horrible person.

“Sweet dreams, princess...” She said, kissing your cheek and returning to the bedroom.

The sun's rays hit your eyes mercilessly. Your back hurt but thanks to the blanket you weren't cold. You sat up, sitting on the couch, sighing, thinking about everything that had happened, about your radically different attitude.

Marilyn left the room, leaning against a wall, looking at you pitifully.

“Did you sleep well?” She asked ironically. You rubbed your back and shook your head.

“Not much...” You said honestly, pulling the blanket away from you and rubbing your eyes. You needed to clear your head, clarify your ideas. A hot shower maybe can help. But your walk to the bathroom was interrupted by a strong grip on your wrist.

“Are you going somewhere, (Y/N)?” She asked without letting your wrist go, with a serious look.

“I have, I have to take shower,” you said, trying in vain to get out of her grasp.

“Oh, no, you're not going anywhere...” She said, smiling maliciously.

“Come on, Mari, give me a break,” you protested, stopping fighting to free yourself.

“We need to talk, (Y/N),” she told you, releasing you. You nodded, getting nervous. You waited for that moment to come, but you were still a coward.

“Great, but after a shower,” you said, walking past her. Marilyn sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Now, (Y/N),” she told you, making you stop. You looked at her, but continued on your way. Marilyn followed you, closing the bedroom door behind her, trying to corner you.

“I don't want to talk now, Marilyn, I need that shower,” you said, avoiding her gaze. Marilyn laughed nervously, facing you, grabbing your shoulders so you couldn't move.

“What the hell is wrong with you, (Y/N)? You, you're not yourself, you haven't been for a long time.” she told you, looking at you pleadingly. You avoided her eyes, fighting back the tears that were beginning to fall down your cheeks.

“Do you care?” You said defensively, without thinking about your words. “Leave me alone.”

“(Y/N)...” The redhead sighed, releasing you.

You closed your eyes.

“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have spoken to you that way,” you said coldly, passively, looking for some clothes in the closet.

“Do you think I don't care about what happens to you?” She asked. “For God's sake, (Y/N), at least tell me what I did wrong…”

“You haven't done anything wrong...” You responded, letting the clothes fall to the floor. “It's just... It's just that...”

“What? (Y/N), what's going on?”

You took a breath. Marilyn was persistent, you knew that at that point she wasn't going to give up. It was the time to be brave, to express your feelings, even though you didn't know how to do it, even though you would do it wrong.

“Marilyn, why are you with me?” You asked, fixing your eyes on hers. She shook her head, raising her eyebrows at that question.

“What? What's with that absurd question?”

“Just answer...” You said, stopping the redhead from questioning you. “Please tell me what you have seen in me.”

“You're not serious, are you? Tell me you're not asking me that...” The redhead said, confused. You nodded, pushing her hand away from your face.

“Answer me,” you insisted, moving away from her touch, that would distract you. Marilyn sighed open-mouthed, looking around.

“Honey, cause you are the most wonderful girl in the world... Because I love you...” She said smiling, trying to reason with you.

“That can not be possible. You're lying...” You said, wiping away a tear that fell down your cheek.

“Lying?”

“A woman like you would never want to be with me. Just think about it, Marilyn, you're older than me, you could be much happier with someone your age.

Marilyn blinked rapidly, shaking her head.

“What nonsense are you talking about?” She asked, now with a nervous expression, losing her patience little by little. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“You are... You are kind, you give me gifts, you take care of me... You are, you are perfect Marilyn... And I...”

“And you?” She asked, getting closer to you.

“I'm just a loser. I have never been important to anyone. All, all my life I have been insignificant to everyone...” You confessed, moving away from those absurd questions, beginning to open your heart.

“Insignificant? Honey... Why do you say that?” Marilyn asked, caressing your cheek. You were crying, there was no longer any need to be abrupt, or to continue pretending to be upset with her. You were upset with yourself.

“Because it is the truth. When I was in high school, everyone laughed at me. They said I was strange, that I was stupid, that I was ugly... “You explained, letting yourself fall on the bed. Marilyn sat next to you, motioning for you to continue. “Over time I learned to ignore all of that, but I don't think I've gotten over it...”

“Oh, honey... I'm so sorry to hear that...” She said softly, taking your hand. You looked at her, you watched how she caressed your skin. That made you sob and shake your head.

“I know that the life I have is not fair. I have everything I could dream of, I have you... But, no, I don't feel worthy... You are, you are too good for me. I'm pathetic, I haven't even been able to tell you anything of this before... I, no, I don't think I deserve to be by your side.”

Marilyn stirred, sighing in distress, looking at you horrified by your words.

“Do not say foolishness. You are wonderful, honey. I wouldn't be with you if you weren't.”

“It's just a facade, Marilyn!” You shouted. “I seem like an ordinary girl, happy, confident in what she does, but the truth is that I’m not… I have never felt comfortable with myself, I have never felt that I deserve anything I have.”

“Dear…”

“It's the truth. I'm just a girl who grieves alone and pretends to be happy when people are around. I'm worthless, I don't want you to waste your time with me, you should be with someone who makes you as happy as you make me...”

Marilyn didn't say anything, rather she did, giving you a gentle smack on the cheek. You put your hand to your face, looking scared at the redhead.

“Don't talk like that again,” she said with a firm tone.

“I'm not what you're looking for! I'm not a detail keeper, I didn't write you love notes, I don't give you gifts, I'm not good for loving.”

“(Y/N), you're starting to annoy me...” She hissed, squeezing your hand.

“Well, leave me then...” You whispered. Marilyn was going to say something, but she couldn't find the words, she simply got out of bed, wandering aimlessly around the room, shaking her head.

“You don't know anything, do you?” She said, breathing quickly. You did not answer. “I don't do those things so that you do the same. I make them because I like to see your face when I give you something, when you read one of my notes, and do you know why? Because you are the love of my life, because you make me happy, because you have decided to be with me being able to choose a young girl. I feel insecure many times too, (Y/N), but just looking into your eyes, just with your kisses, I realize that I’m in the place I want to be.”

You cried more, looking at the redhead.

“I'm nothing...” You sighed. Marilyn huffed and knelt in front of you.

“You are everything, honey, you are everything to me,” she told you. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, I know what it's like to have a hard time, believe me.”

You nodded.

“That is precisely the problem. I know everything about you, and I had never told you about the high school...” You said. Marilyn smiled tenderly, grabbing your hands.

“I don't care, honey... I'm not angry because you didn't tell me. I just, I just want to help you to understand that you are much more than a poor girl.

“They said I’m not.”

“Do you care what they said?”

“Of course I care. When you've been hearing the same things for years, you end up believing them...” You sighed, avoiding her gaze. You were embarrassed.

“You're not a loser, do you hear me? You are a good, kind girl... You are worth a hundred times more than all of them combined, my love... I have chosen you for who you are, not for what you look like. I like that you have weaknesses, that you are a person, a real one. We all have them. And I’m here to help you to overcome your complexes, to be by your side, to remind you how wonderful you are, and how lucky I have been with you.”

“Marilyn...” You sobbed, letting her pull your hands to stand up.

“Come here, hug me, honey. Let out everything you have inside...”she whispered to you. You lunged into her arms, resting your head on her shoulder, gripping her dress tightly. “Don’t worry, baby…”

You finally managed to vent. You didn't say anything, you just cried, hugging her, hanging on to her clothes.

Little by little you two descended to the floor. Marilyn hugged you, caressing your hair, your back, your arms... No one said anything, she just let you cry as much as you needed.

“Shh... My girl... I'm with you,” she told you softly, pulling you away a little, wiping your tears. “I could never be with anyone but you, my love.”

“Surely you can...” You sighed, settling into her chest.

“(Y/N), look at me,” she told you, lifting your chin. You let yourself to be guided, looking into those eyes that made you fall in love, those sincere eyes that you could now see clearly, without any dark thoughts, without fear, only with love. “The past can be horrible, but little by little it is being left behind. You are no longer in high school, they are just a memory. Don't let something like that get to you, my love. You don't know how much it hurts me to see you suffer, to see you doubt about yourself.

“I have always been weak, Mari… I can't help it.”

She smiled, kissing you tenderly, with love, making you feel really calm, with less and less desire to cry. Then you stood looking at each other like two people who had just discovered each other, as if an iron wall had fallen in front of you.

“Mari...” You said, making her smile wider. “There is still something that torments me.”

She nodded, hugging you again.

“You can tell me anything, honey...”

“It's... The floor,” you said, smiling, pointing your finger at the wood. Marilyn turned away a little confused and looked at the point your were pointing to.

“The floor?” She asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Have you seen how it is? When was the last time we cleaned the dust?” You said amused, running your finger along the wood, showing it to the redhead.

“If I remember correctly, it was your turn this week...” She said, following your joke, standing up and brushing off her clothes.

“That's a lie,” you said, taking her hand to stand up as well. You both looked at each other again and laughed out loud.

From one moment to the next, all your sadness, all your fear disappeared. She listened to you, she didn't let you despise yourself, she didn't know anything about your past, but she didn't judge you. She was authentic, a woman who truly loved you, and who you now knew you could count on on your bad days. Deep down you had always known it, but your bad experiences made you repress that pain, to pretend that your life had been happy.

“Honey, listen to me,” she told you, stopping laughing. “When you feel sad, when there is something dancing in your mind and you don't know what to do with it, please, talk to me. I will always be by your side, no matter what happens to you, no matter what worries you have. Is it clear?”

You hesitated for a moment, but nodded, kissing her now, barely letting her breathe.

“Okay, I'll do it... I'm so stupi...” you stopped when her gaze became dangerous. “I mean... I love you, Marilyn.”

“That’s the way I like it, because if you insult yourself again you will clean the dust for a month...” She told you, tucking a lock of hair behind your ear.

You looked at her threateningly, but laughed, reaching for your phone.

“What are you doing?” Marilyn asked, looking at you curiously.

“Shhh, shut up, I'm calling the restaurant...” You said, putting a hand in front of the phone's microphone.

Marilyn tilted her head, smiling widely.

“Great, thanks,” you said, hanging up and throwing the phone on the bed. “Tonight we have a dinner, Mari.”

“Shall we celebrate something?” She asked with a suggestive tone, grabbing you by the waist.

“No, we're just going to dinner,” you said, putting your hands around her neck. “I think it's better that we celebrate now, in the shower, don't you think?”

#marilyn thornhill #marilyn thornhill x reader #wednesday #ms thornhill #oneshot #fluff

[ineffablecolors]

hey just wondering why you think Roy reuniting w Keeley post s3 would’ve been bad for him? I sort of agree but also don’t want to bash keeley in anyway so I haven’t talked about it

Heya! Thanks for the ask and sorry you feel like you can't discuss something though I do understand why. I'll preface this by repeating something I've said before - canon did such a horrible job of holding Keeley accountable for anything and wrote her as if she could do no wrong and fandom seems to have picked that up and totally ran with it.

I do love that when reading RoyJamie fanfic, I never see Keeley bashing, as you call it, because vilifying female chatacters is such common practice in fandoms. But Ted Lasso fandom seems to swing to the other extreme where I've never even read a fic where Keeley apologises for something? And you can't even quite blame the fans, they just picked what canon put down - Keeley can do no wrong.

So, first of all, I think simply judging Keeley's actions is not bashing at all, it's just treating her the way every character BUT her is treated in both fandom and show. I think Keeley, like almost every other character, has made plenty of bad decisions and mistakes and, personally, how I react to them is a mix of how well I can relate to her and something else. Jack, for example, was a very professionally questionable decision but I completely sympathise with Keeley for it because 1) she faced consequences for her mistake even if it's never acknowledged that she made one and 2) I can relate to it! Hiring Shandy on the other hand was such a monumentally stupid decision that I could never relate to, so it just makes me annoyed with Keeley and the fact that the show treated it as her just being too sweet and wanting to give another horribly unqualified woman a chance rather than as a point towards her lack of professional skills.

Anyway!! The something else is important for my answer. As much as I love discussing my favourite shows and try to be objective, I very rarely am. Once I pick a favourite character, my opinion of almost every other character is informed by how they treat my favouriteTM. Is that fair? No. Do I do it without fail? Yes. Do I feel bad for it? Umm, no, that's my baby, nobody is allowed to be mean to them xD

And this is how we get to the Roy Kent of it all (finally! christ, this is gonna be long, sorry but also thanks!). Roy's my favourite, my baby, my grumpy, old, emotionally constipated and physically aching romantic. Roy can and has done wrong, I'd never claim otherwise. But I'd still claim he's the best chatacter and one of the best people on the show. And he's always gonna put himself last on his list of priorities.

Which is why I fully admit that I judge Keeley extra harshly when it comes to her and Roy. For brief context - I totally shipped Roy and Keeley and think they were good for each other, for the most part, in s1, I was ecstatic they were together in s2 and still shipped them like hell on my first watch (which was binged with s1!) and less and less on every consequent rewatch, part of me still wanted them to be together and then to get back together in s3 until I actually watched it all and completely changed my mind.

Shall I finally answer your question? I don't think Roy should reunite with Keeley because he gives too much of himself and she gives too little. I don't believe they are well balanced and I dont believe he'd feel loved with her again.

That WAS brief! But if you'd like more detail...

I think as sweet and good-hearted as she's portraited, Keeley is inherently a selfish person. Now, we circle back to bashing and judging. I'm doing neither. I'm myself a selfish person in many ways, that's not the worst thing to be in some regards. But I think Keeley is especially selfish in her romantic relationships and that simply does not suit someone like Roy. When paired with a selfish partner, Roy would just give and give and blame himself for not getting as much back.

I'm not saying there haven't been some great moments between Roy and Keeley, full of affection and care from Keeley, such as the scene at the end of s1. That's probably my favourite moment of theirs. But there have been some pretty shit ones too that for me outweigh the good and, more importantly, came once they settle into the relationship.

As early as their first kiss, Keeley got so annoyed and impatient, she immediately slept with Jamie. I know the show took it as an opportunity to have a kinda feminist moment but can you picture that turned around? Roy and Keeley kiss after tons of flirting and build up, and the day after Roy sleeps with a girl Keeley has a proper (however childish) feud with just cuz she told him she was busy that night. That would've never been fine. Again, I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm saying it's the response of a person who only cares about what they want and doesn't plan for the future.

Then, we have the infamous "Roy is a fridge magnet" episode which I still can't wrap my mind around so gimme a sec here. Your boyfriend is too into you, is perfect (by Keeley's own words) but not giving you the space you haven't asked for. So, instead of talking to him - don't even get me started on people writing Keeley as a character who's good as communicating - girl, where?? - you talk about it to his boss, a bunch of his coworkers and your ex who has an antagonistic relationship with him, and eventually as you're spending time together and he's trying to share one of his interests with you, you start screaming bloody murder at him about how clingy he is. Do I have that all correct? All of this would have been forgivable ofc, miscommunication happens, people aren't perfect, etc, etc, expect... forgiveness was asked by the wrong person. What on earth did Roy have to apologise for? This is the #1 example for me of that show trying so hard to make Keeley a perfect sunshine girl boss that they made 0 narrative or even logical sense. Honestly I hate that whole episode with a fiery passion.

Then we have the funeral shenanigans, which I won't even get into because I think Roy was 100% hilarious in that and Keeley was 100% overreacting (and yes, that's a heavy term to use towards a woman but here's the thing... she was). I guess this would be a good place to talk about their ILYs as well. Roy's ILYs always come with an acknowledgement of Keeley's feelings and his own fault for hurting them in anyway. Keeley's first ILY though has absolutely nothing to do with Roy. She's happy about her own success and he's celebrating her. That's it. That's the first time we see her say I love you. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Roy's aren't better but I think that just proves why he couldn't be happy with Keeley. Every time he's said ILY, it's been tinged with sadness and guilt and self-incrimination. Why would I want him to be with someone who constantly inspires those feelings in him?

This is now definitely too long so I'll try to wrap up with s3 very quickly and mainly the fact that the episode Keeley is drinking alone in the pub is one of the only ones where Keeley faces consequence for her actions (in this case, sleeping with her boss - again, not something I blame or begrudge her for but also something she should've probably considered can get her funding pulled when it ends, see: never thinking about the future (and why I don't see Keeley being successful without people like Barbara or Rebecca but thats a different topic)). Keeley responds to being made to face the music by using Roy to make herself feel better. I'm sorry but there's no other interpretation of their hook up for me. He's just read her a very heartfelt apology, ending with another guilt ridden ILY and then he was leaving. Except she chased him down, not to say it back ofc, but to use him for sex.

Thanks, I hate it.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to the fact that I think Roy was right to break up with Keeley. Not because she's not a great catch and not because there was anything wrong with her being successful or needing time for herself but because they're not right for each other. Roy is too selfless and ready to blame himself for everything and Keeley is too focused on herself and ready to take advantage of that.

Roy is the kind of romantic that would tell his cabbie to date his wife and compose a playlist for the girlfriend who treated him horribly yesterday. He's the kind of guy that's had to bottle up all his emotions forever and never talks about himself with people and has had his fucking watch stolen by his fucking hook ups. He deserves someone *cough*Jamie*cough* who is absolutely obsessed with him! Who will appreciate the things he does for them and the time he spends with them rather than take them for granted at best and be annoyed at worst. Who will make him feel like he's been struck by lightning! He deserve someone who cares about his feeling and frankly, in season 3 at least, I don't think that's Keeley or should be again.

#roy kent #ted lasso #anti-roykeeley #and i guess #anti keeley jones #just to be safe though it isnt really #gods and this is not even half of my issues with them

[bookishfeylin]

I joined this fandom loving Feyre, loving Feysand, loving the IC, just overall loving everything about the books. As such, I looked at the super pro-Feysand and such content. This was a mistake, as the longer I spend on diehard stan content, the more I want to punch walls. There's nothing wrong with loving Feyre, or even thinking Feysand is a cute couple you ship, but there are people who just deny them of ever having done wrong (not even to each other, just in general), or that Sarah didn't make some major oversights. The big thing I think of is Feyre as a high lady. I actually liked the whole "high lady" thing when I first read the series, but now I'm realizing how stupid it is. Feyre is wonderful, but she is still a 20 year old who has no formal training in accounting, in leadership, in politics, or any of the necessary requirements. You can't run for president until at least 35 for a reason. She can be as sweet as she wants, and host all the free painting classes, and be as motherly as possible, but when push comes to shove that won't lead a country. These people out here claiming "ah yes, Rhysand is pretty much retired at this point Feyre leads the whole nation and she's just the perfect High Lady" yadda yadda yadda, no. Also, I've discovered some people stan her destruction of the Spring Court? I'm not even pro Tamlin and I can accept that is absolutely not cool. Was it largely his own fault? Sure! But there was a necessary catalyst, and that's what they refuse to accept.

Anyway I'm just babbling at this point, but very few people in this fandom actually accept that Feyre is capable of wrongdoing (and that's okay! perfect characters are boring to read! you can love characters despite them being flawed!) AND can bear to tolerate a difference of opinion. Curate your fandom experience how you want it's your life, but don't be shocked when someone comes in with a valid point.

You've probably answered this 8000 times before, but what's your opinion on the whole "High Lady" thing?

Hi anon! This entire ask was such a pleasure to receive, and your ranting is perfectly fine (goodness knows I rant a LOT on a lot of my analysis posts in particular—). I actually have feelings™️ about the fall of Spring (though that is a post for another time and it’s something I’ve talked about before but I’ll keep from discussing it here so this post won’t be too long lol), but the High Lady thing is also something I have strong opinions on as well.

While I do understand Feyre's age and political inexperience being something that people get hung up on, I haven’t talked about it as much mainly because it’s not as big of a stickler for me. The main issue, for me, with the title of High Lady is that it is an empty title. No amount of Rhysand saying “look you have droplets of power from other people clearly you’re a ruler” changes that Feyre was not actually hand picked by magic to rule as defined by the (admittedly barebones) magic system we get. I talk about it more in this post, but ACOTAR 1 spells out that Hugh Lords are chosen by magic and as a result have a unique connection to their land and people. (PLEASE go read that post for the exact quotes I use and my discussion of said quotes!) Feyre lacks this connection, and is therefore not a real High Lady in any sense. It is merely an empty title, given to her to placate her and make her (and by extension her fans) feel like she has more power in her unbalanced relationship than she does, which is why she and many Feysand stans were blindsided by Rhysand's actions in ACOSF.

I say this, not maliciously, because anyone who’s read my content for any long period of time knows I’m actually very fond of book 1 Feyre in particular, but to point out that it’s merely another tactic by Rhysand to manipulate her. Feyre is left completely vulnerable and completely at her husband's mercy due to her incorrect belief that she has more power in their dynamic than she actually does, a dynamic that is showcased and exploited to the worst degree in ACOSF, and it’s largely possible because Feyre is not a legitimate High Lady in the full sense of the title who is owed her subjects loyalty and devotion the same way her husband is. It’s very tragic, actually, and it’s wild to me that the whole fandom fell for it.

#Someone save Feyre from her abusive husband PLEASE #Anyway thanks for the ask! And anon please go read that older post I linked to see exactly what I’m talking about #Because high lords are very unique in their magic and Feyre uh. Lacks that unique magic #ACOTAR analysis #Anti rhysand #rhysand's abuse #Anti acomaf #Sjm critical #Ask #anon

[ananad1]

I have just watched the School For Good and Evil movie and I have feelings:

Spoilers ahead obviously.....

If I had never read the books then this movie would be great and something I would enjoy at lot, but I have read the books and so it is an ok movie at best.

There are a few things I enjoyed about the movie

Anemone- her character was funny and stayed fairly true to the books

The beginning scene of the School Masters fighting, while unnecessary, was interesting and kept with the book in everyone believing Good had won out over Evil

At lot of the cast did a good job of making their characters work on screen given what they had to work with

Seeing Soman was a nice surprise and a fun nod with him being an Evil professor

Unfortunately the things I didn't like vastly out weigh those I did

I love all most all of the characters in the books and so many of them were done dirty

Other than Tedros and Tristan (and Gregor) the Ever boys were not given name and only a very limited number of the Ever Girls were as well. And all of the Evers were just straight up rude, bnot passive aggressive and acting with like 'southern charm' type of insults.

The Never boys had no mention, accept for Hort, and the Never girls had almost no better. The Nevers also all seemed to be closer to just regular teens rather than Evil, with the kill them all the time and nothing else.

Honora was already married to Sophie's father which is a big source of Sophie's problems in the future, and Honora is shown as being cruel or at the very least mean, which even in Sophie's POV in the books she is not.

Poor Hort somethings that really bothered me about his portrayal were that he came off as really creepy, which I feel like was not a bad in the books.

He also mentioned being Captain Hook's son, which is very much not the case, his father worked on Captain Hook's ship and Hort did know Hook, but Hook wasn't his father.

In the books it is explicitly stated several times that Hort is a MAN WOLF and not a werewolf (and that there are specific distinctions between the two).

Hort also did not come off as nerdy as I would have liked as well, but that may just be me.

The Coven's portrayals also bothered me a lot. They are the only Never girls other than Sophie who have names and it doesn't give them much. Yes they kept Hester's Demon and Dot's chocolate powers, but that is barely enough to separate them from one another. There is no power dynamic between any of them and they almost immediately fall to Sophie's feet.

In the book Anadil and Hester never did Sophie's makeover and though it was stupid, they were first in line in the movie.

I am plus sized and was looking forward to the representation from Dot, which just wasn't there. She was only slightly bigger than Hester and much smaller than Anadil, which takes away from her character and future development.

Anadil's casting did not fit for me, not because she was black, but because in the books she is albino. I feel like the albino community is underrepresented in movies (I could be wrong). And they could still have cast someone black, who is albino.

Hester had no real leadership role and was never shown to be the best and what Sophie needed to beat. And not including her in the Trial By Tale was a huge mistake.

Making Lesso 'in love' with Rafal was just stupid and didn't work for her and took away from the established relationship she had with Dovey through all the books.

Dovey was a differnt character and was not at all who she was in the books

Cutting some of the teachers was another mistake, specifically Sader, Princess Uma, Castor (and Pollix), and the Man Wolf (who I am counting as a teacher because)

Sader is massively important to the first book at the very least, but his overarching character is necessary for every other book. Whether it is for established characters or establishing new characters.

Princess Uma is also an important character, she comes in to play in several of the very crucial scenes in almost all of the other books.

Castor is a fan favorite and if you have him Pollix would need to be there too, but given how some of the CGI wasn't great maybe not having them was better than seeing them butchered.

Without the Man Wolf Sophie's character missed out on a major emotional and tide turning moment.

There were some scenes that needed to be included and some that were there that could have been so much better. And some that were added that should not have been there at all.

The Circus of Talents is a major part of the book and shows everyone Agatha's true power, as well as, showing how cruel the School Master is. Agatha's power also reveals what actually happens when you fail.

I wanted my animal stampede. Having it be Gregor that Tedros kills is fine, but only have it be him and no other animals realizing Agatha's power after the Wish fish sucked. Also they destroy the school which then needs to be dealt with and is a great backdrop for the rest of the story.

The Candy hall and Agatha eating it and getting in trouble (further ostracizing her from everyone else) is also important.

Tedros seeing Sophie's reflection and realizing what she is and then pulling Agatha further away from her is something I wanted to see.

Agatha's dress for the Snow Ball was clearly laid out (and something I would like to buy if anyone wants to make it for me) in the book and beautiful. The movie gave her a very simple, more simple than anything else she had worn up to that point, Cinderella like dress and called it a day and it was very disappointing.

Agatha wearing pants and a jacket, with colors other than just black, also didn't make sense to me. She only ever wore black until she was forced not to in the books.

By that same token, why were none of them in uniform, that would have been an easy way to keep things clearly defined and not get confusing as to who is Good and Evil.

I also did not understand why they were eating inside and all together, when in the books they were extremely separated.

And one of the only times they were not separated in the book was Forest Groups which was just all of the Evers instead, with no fun challenges.

Giving everyone the same finger glow (for the most part) was lazy and made it even more difficult to tell them apart. All of the main characters in the book had laid out colors that were all different.

Dot was never ostracized from the Coven and did not have any issues presented to her at all.

There were no School Crests which is another big piece in the book since you can't cover them up in any way.

There was almost no Morgfifing at all which was sad.

Anadil's rats were pretty much nowhere to be found.

Since Agatha only went to Evil once, there was no

Frog Pajamas

Barrier

Cockroach

They took away all off the mystery of the Head Master by having him talk to the students. And then Agatha was immediately believed when she said she spoke to him. And no one ever found out that their story was being told.

Agatha and Sophie did not already know about the school and kids did not get kidnapped every four years, which is very clear in the books.

Sophie was also way too nice and did not come off nearly as mean as she was supposed to. And she wasn't using Agatha as a good deed, they were friends since they were kids which doesn't make sense.

Sophie never failed so we didn't get to see her F is for Fabulous dresses or her teaching the Nevers how to improve themselves.

Agatha's casting bothered me too, again not because she was black, but because she was way too pretty automatically. Agatha learns to accept herself the way she is and is never out right conventionally attractive. (Speaking of I'm mad they cut that scene with Dovey)

They didn't do the side kicks, which takes out some of the fun towards the end with Sophie and Beatrix and what their sidekicks are sent to do to Agatha.

The addition of Blood magic was unnecessary and should not have been added.

I honestly think if they really wanted the narration then it should have been Soman doing it, but it wasn't really needed.

Agatha and Tedros liking each other right away pissed me off because they start by hating each other and then slowly see each other as who they really are.

Excalibur being magic was weird and didn't need to happen.

Sophie kissing Rafal also didn't fit (him popping up all over the place was stupid too) and is just going to make any sequels confusing, since in the book it didn't happen until the end of book two for the first time.

I have more thoughts if anyone wants to hear them, but my hand hurts and it won't let me type more on this text box.

#school for good and evil #sophie of woods beyond #agatha of woods beyond #agatha of camelot #tedros of camelot #sge movie #soman chainani #sge #hort of bloodbrook #anadil of bloodbrook #hester

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Author Discussion - Summer Nights Part 4

I ONCE AGAIN FEEL THE NEED TO JUSTIFY MY DECISIONS AS A WRITER, AND PROVIDE SOME CONTEXT THAT WAS NOT GIVEN IN THE INSTALLMENT BECAUSE OF THE PERSPECTIVE.

You can read Summer Nights, (Installment 8 of Physical Paradox) on AO3!

I will say, it's a bit refreshing to see people upset with Rinko instead of Gojo 😂😂 but also, my rejection sensitivity came out to play and this is my way of telling it to go fuck itself 😂🥹

Obviously, for many, Rinko's behavior was far from ideal. But it was human. Just like I've emphasized from the beginning: these characters are human. They fuck up and they make mistakes, and they don't always react the way they should.

It's also important to remember that this was Gojo's perspective of the events. So her laughter at him admitting his tattoo kink felt a bit exaggerated because he was embarrassed and felt awkward. As readers, we don't know what was going through Rinko's head. But I can tell you that it wasn't her just purely mocking him. It was disbelief. Part of her thought he was joking because it had been so obvious that he'd been turned on by her tattoo. She didn't think he was serious in not being sure about it being a kink, but as soon as she realized he was, she backed off and quit laughing. We didn't get to see that explicitly stated because Gojo was stuck in his own head at that point and didn't notice that she'd quit laughing.

I think people kinda expect Rinko to be perfect sometimes. To always react the right way and make all the right decisions because she's strong and intelligent and acts so confident in this AU. But everyone fucks up.

Sometimes I think we forget that while Rinko is very emotionally aware, she also has ✨abandonment issues✨ and self-worth issues. In Another Level, we saw Rinko, at least twice, trying to pull away from Gojo after an embarrassing moment or after a fight because it was her attempting to disappear before she could be rejected. She's still like that in this AU. But she doesn't have that constant overhead of possible sudden death forcing her to mature.

She gives Gojo a hard time about childhood trauma, but oh boy, does she have some fucking trauma. Because Naobito still called her an unwanted mistake for most of her life. Naoya still calls her a half-breed from a whore because he's a piece of shit. While she knows she's not those things, she's very sensitive about her self-worth and being made to feel like someone sees her as less than a person.

Gojo implying that her friendship was worth nothing more than a means to get sex really hit at something deep inside of her. And while she knew logically that he wasn't like that, she was buzzed, and those words triggered a part of her that she'd developed out of self-preservation.

We didn't see those thoughts or feelings (a purposeful choice on my part) because we only saw Gojo's perspective.

But Rinko was embarrassed. She was embarrassed that she let herself get so close. And, she'd even had the thought in the previous part that when he smiled at her a certain way, she could forget he was a fuckboy. She clearly likes him a lot more than she wants to admit to herself. And when he's sweet and affectionate, it makes her want to lean into the feeling and indulge in the idea that maybe he'd want more than just sex. She was still buzzed and he'd helped her into her room earlier that night when she was drunk. And it gave her alcohol-filled brain a little bit of hope that he might want something like a relationship if she ever slept with him.

When he accidentally implied that being a good friend meant he thought she should sleep with him, it ripped her out of that trance, and she felt stupid for letting herself think that he might want more from her.

Does he? Yes. He does. But even Gojo doesn't fully understand what that means because he's a dumb lil fuckboy who's never had a relationship before. He thinks he just wants to be friends with benefits, not a relationship. He literally had that internal conversation with himself. He doesn't realize that what he thinks of as a FWB, would really be a relationship.

Gojo has been giving her some mixed signals, too. He flirts with her a lot. Calls her pretty, digs for compliments for himself, and teases her just as much as she teases him. It's their dynamic that they've established, and it works for the most part. But it gives weird, mixed signals on both of their parts because again he is a dumb lil fuckboy who doesn't understand his own feelings just yet. He will. But it's gonna take a little longer.

In this AU, Rinko can already see that she would tip over and fall head over heels in love with him because he's so sweet and kind and caring with his friends. Part of her, in the back of her mind, hoped that maybe he'd say he wanted to give actual dating a try. But instead, he said he wanted to be friends with benefits and confirmed her belief that he would never see her as anything more than a friend he wanted to have sex with. She believes that a FWB would just end with her broken-hearted and without a friendship that she's come to value.

And, if we're all being honest with ourselves, she wouldn't have believed him if he had said he wanted to give a real relationship a try. Gojo was right in thinking that she would just believe he was trying to get in her pants. Because she has those super fun self-worth issues.

So, after feeling so embarrassed and humiliated, she decided that the safest bet was to stop being friends with him. To avoid him and Geto so that she wouldn't be embarrassing herself further by acting clingy when she drinks, letting her drunk lil mind imagine that he'd want more than casual sex for a while and disappear once she developed feelings that he wouldn't ever return.

Would he return those feelings? Yes. Does he already? Most likely. But Rinko doesn't know that.

So, she intended to cut things off at the knees and withdraw before he had the chance to abandon her instead. Was it selfish? A bit. But it's what she felt she needed to do to protect herself.

Oh, why did she open the door? Why did she listen to him? Why did she decide to stay friends with him? Because she likes being friends with him. She knows he's not a bad person. And she selfishly doesn't want to lose him, either. Seeing him care so much that he would apologize, embarrass himself in the process of doing so, solidified that he was a friend she genuinely wanted to have in her life.

We're going to see a very different side of Rinko in the next installment. An angrier, more bitter side of her that's somewhat justified and a whole lot traumatized.

I've said before that Naobito is sort of trying to make amends with Rinko in this AU. But she is not receptive to it. She hates him. She hates him more than she hates anyone except Naoya. Because she's waiting for the shoe to drop. For Naobito to decide that he doesn't actually care about his unwanted mistake. That he doesn't want a relationship. And she's bracing herself so that when he does decide that, she's not left picking up the broken pieces of a little girl who was called an unwanted mistake until she was eighteen. She's waiting for the man she knew the majority of her life, who did and said nothing to scold his son after he broke her arm over an argument when they were teenagers, to reappear.

We're going to see that Rinko in the next installment. And it's not gonna be all that pretty or graceful. But it'll be so human and flawed.

To give a lil spoiler, the next installment is going to be called Family Trauma. Because there's a hell of a lot of trauma to be addressed, and we're playing with the little phrase 'family drama.'

It's gonna be pretty angsty, I think. Still trying to get it written, honestly, but I'm excited for you to see it!

#physical paradox #physical paradox author dicussion #rinko kurisaki #rinko kurisaki aka my favorite oc i've ever written #rinko and gojo gonna figure shit out eventually

[whumpsday]

K&J x MMSS

Kane & Jim masterlist / Magnanimous Moonrise & Savage Sunset masterlist

content: vampire whumpees, multiple whumpees, rescue, recovery / comfort / caretaking all that good stuff, starvation, burns, begging, death wish, a teeny tiny bit of gore, vaguely implied past noncon, somewhat more detailed reference to consensual nsfw (not explicit), non-malicious misgendering of a trans character (in kane’s own head before he knows valen is trans)

it’s finally here!! a crossover between my Kane & Jim and @not-a-space-alien ‘s Magnanimous Moonrise & Savage Sunset!! enjoy this 11k collab!! takes place a few days after Impending on the K&J side, and a bit after 17S / 17M on the MMSS side.

-

Ari lopes across the street towards the unfamiliar hunter’s compound. “Christ, I can’t believe some other sick fuck got ahold of a vampire and got permission to torture it. I know it’s like 5 hours away but yeesh, how many psychopaths are there per square mile in this state?”

Lex tightens her fists. She’s determined not to make the same mistake again. They’d gotten word about another vampire being held captive and tortured, and this time they’d wasted no time in leaping into action. “It’s worse here. It wasn’t just one person, it was everyone getting in on it. And they weren’t even doing it for a reason like Nick. They just thought it was fun to torture it.” Lex can still hardly believe it. She can’t imagine everyone in the place where she worked being okay with that. At least some of them were uncomfortable with it…Not that it had done Valen much good.

“That’s honestly just stupid,” Ari spits. “Dumb fucks. Vampires are dangerous enough that it’s stupid to keep them alive unless you have a very good reason.”

Lex gives a wry smile. “We have a vampire at our house.” That scare with Bailey and Jerome had been the last time Valen left the house. He’d spent the few days since then on their couch healing. Slowly, but healing.

“And for a good reason!”

“Well anyway, they said this one isn’t dangerous because it can’t use persuasion.”

Ari stops on the sidewalk in front of the compound. “Yeah, I’m still not buying that. Never heard of a vampire that can’t use persuasion at all.”

“It’s been held captive here for five years. I think if he was faking it or something, he would have figured out a way to escape by now.”

Ari gives a hmmph. “Well, if this one is all starved like Valen was, he’ll barely have the strength to stand, let alone fight us off.”

Lex fidgets. “We still have to agree on what to do with it.” They’d argued about it on the car ride over. The fact that it would be wrong to leave it there to be tortured was all they had agreed on. Lex wanted to take this new vampire home and give him a chance, alongside Valen. Ari wanted to kill him, put him out of his misery.

And now they’d run out of time to argue. They’re here, at the front door. That meant they had to make a compromise, or one of them had to give in. Ari comes up with the solution instantly, eager to get on with it:

“All right, we’ll give him a chance. I mean, we didn’t give Valen a chance and we really regret that. So let’s talk to him for a little bit, and if we like what we hear, we can just take him home and plop him on the couch next to Valen. Nice new playmate for him. If we don’t like what we hear, just stake him through the heart. Sound good?”

“Yes,” says Lex. “Okay. Ready?”

“Yeah.”

They’d made arrangements with a sympathetic hunter who worked here, who agreed to look the other way when they came in and went to the basement. So when they walk up to the porch together, the door is unlocked, and they can walk right in.

-

Kane sits in his preferred corner of his cell, riding out another panic attack. They've come in waves ever since the hunters told him Jim is coming for him.

Please just kill me. Please just kill me. Please just kill me. It's the best option he has, at this point. His only good option. Barring that, he just hopes it's not worse than here. Please just don't make it worse.

His ears perk up at the sound of hunters approaching. They hadn't been hurting him much in the past few days, apparently wanting to let Jim handle that, though the silver cuffs they'd left him in burn into his wrists and ankles.

He wonders, not for the first time, if he'll ever get them off again. If he's left permanently in the sun with nights never long enough to heal, it will hardly matter.

Voices come down the stairs, unfamiliar, two women Kane has never heard before. They approach the cell without saying anything, taking him in and waiting for him to do something. 

Lex and Ari are not shocked by Kane’s condition. It’s not too dissimilar to the way Valen had looked, so they’d been prepared, although the silver cuffs melting his wrists elicit raised eyebrows from Ari and a sympathetic cringe from Lex. Kane shrinks against the wall, staring at them fearfully. He hasn't seen these hunters before. He hates unknowns, though that's still better than a guarantee of cruelty. He hopes they're just here to take a look at him before he's sent off.

"Stand up," says Ari. "Come over here. So we can talk."

"Yes, ma'am." Kane's voice is raspy and small as he stands obediently, his heart pounding as he approaches the silver bars of the cell. He stops just barely outside grabbing distance, hoping that maybe they're here to give him more information on what's going to happen to him.

“Is it true that you can't use persuasion?” Ari asks. “I don't buy it. I’ve never heard of that before.”

"Yes, ma'am. It's true." The pit of Kane's stomach churns with anxiety at the accusation that it's a lie. Technically, he never told anyone he didn't have it, they figured that out on their own quickly enough, but he would be punished just the same. "I'm s-sorry, I don't know how to prove it to you."

Ari scowls. The only thing to scowl about is the fact that she also doesn't know how he could prove it to her, but she radiates unhappiness at the lack of ability to confirm Kane is actually unable to overpower them. "Okay, fine. Kneel down on the floor, and stay there. We're coming in." She unlocks the cell and she and Lex step inside.

She's angry. Kane tears up, he's made the hunter angry, he's going to be punished, and there was nothing he could have done to prevent it. Hopeless hopeless hopeless. He kneels where he stands with another "Yes, ma'am," trying not to cry.

"Aw, don't cry," Lex says, and Ari gives her a withering glare that shuts her up.

Kane notices a bite mark on the hunter's neck. That makes sense, given her profession, though it's the first time he's seen a hunter sporting one. He figures that most hunters whose necks come that close to fangs likely don't make it back to the compound. This woman must either be very lucky, or very deadly.

Dread pools in him as he realizes these hunters are probably here for revenge.

Ari stands in front of Kane, looming over him with her arms crossed. "So, tell me about what you did to Jim Lieberman."

His heart spikes with panic. He can't lie, he knows this. The hunters are in contact with Jim. They probably already know everything, and if they don't, they can surely fact-check him. Instead, he's vague. He begins to shake with terror as he chokes out, "I k-kidnapped him, and I, I fed from him, and, and, I hurt him. I'm s-so sorry. I'm so sorry, ma'am. I'd do anything to t-take it all back. I've learned, I know better now, I know my p-place."

He starts to cry for real, wincing at the realization that he's just disobeyed her order not to cry. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! P-please, mercy, please!"

Lex is a bit distressed to see Kane cry, and starts to shush him before she thinks better of it. Ari, on the other hand, seems a little approving. She’s not a sadist, but she does like the look of Kane being submissive, because her main concern is whether or not Kane is a threat that needs to be destroyed. And…she wants to root out what his intentions really are. If he genuinely wants to be a good person, maybe he deserves a chance to try. And wringing the truth out of him is probably going to involve some crying. Can’t make a cake without breaking a few eggs.

"Sorry?” Ari scoffed. “Sorry that you got caught, maybe. If you'd managed to kidnap a second human, you probably would have done the exact same thing to them."

Kane sobs. No human will ever believe him. They hadn't when they only knew he was a kidnapper, they certainly won't now that they know he'd beaten his human senseless. He shakes his head in protest, wishing he could wrap his arms around himself.

"N-no, ma'am, I wouldn't now, I swear! I know what it's like now, to be trapped and hurt and s-scared, I'd never wish captivity on anyone, I'm so sorry!" He shudders, knowing a punishment is incoming. "Please, please, please."

Ari looks thoughtful for a moment. Then… "You said you know your place. What would you say that is, exactly?"

Finally, a question with a right answer. "I'm nothing, I'm lower than dirt, I exist to satisfy humans with my suffering. I'm getting what I deserve." Kane hesitates, then adds, voice small, "But... please."

"....Jesus Christ, all right." Ari says.

Lex squats down to get eye-level with him. "Hey, do you have a name?"

Kane cowers away as the hunter lowers herself to get closer to him. No one's asked him his name in a long time. "...Kane, ma'am." He doesn't feel he's worthy of calling himself a de Sang anymore.

"It's a nice name." Lex smiles. "I'm Lex, and that's Ari."

The compliment throws him off. This hunter is strange. Not a bad kind of strange, she hasn't even hurt him yet, but the newness of it makes him nervous. "Thank you, ma'am. Your... your names are nice, too."

Ari laughs. "All right. What do you think, Lex?"

"Yeah," says Lex. "Let's go. Hey, can you stand up for me? Can you walk?"

"I can just carry you if that'd be faster," Ari adds.

Kane sobs in terror. They're going to take him outside. "Please not the sun, p-please not the sun, I'll be good, I'll do anything, please!" he wails.

"We're parked in the shade," says Ari. "Behind the building. There's no sunlight to walk through."

Kane’s relief at no sunlight is complicated by the twisting of his stomach at the implication. This must be it. He's going to be taken to Jim, now. And then... he'll see what his former human has in store for revenge.

"Thank you, ma'am. I'll be good," he says dutifully. He shakily pushes himself to his feet, reaches up to wipe the tears from his face, then remembers the silver and lowers his hands back down before he can. The last thing he wants is for his face to burn in addition to the agony of his wrists.

"Should we take those off?" asks Lex.

"Hmm," says Ari. "Um, it kiiind of looks like that's going to be a whole thing to get those off, with the way they're melted on. And probably best not to hang around here for too long. We can probably take off the ankle ones, though."

Lex bends down to take off the ankle restraints.

Kane is excited at the possibility of his ankle cuffs being removed. His wrist cuffs have been left on for what must be over a week by this point, but his ankle cuffs were just put on earlier today, and haven't fused into his skin much yet. No matter how badly he wants the wrist cuffs off too, at least his ankles can start the healing process.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" He holds perfectly still as the hunter removes the ankle cuffs, letting out a pain-laden keen as some skin comes away with them. But when they're finally off, he sighs in relief. The wounds still burn horribly, but at least they're not actively searing into him anymore.

"Are you ready to go, then?” Lex asks. “Is there anything you want to bring with you?"

"I don't have anything, ma'am." Kane says, gesturing at the barren cell. His only possession is the pair of tattered shorts he currently wears.

Lex gets really, unbelievably sad when she realizes this guy literally doesn't have a single earthly possession. I’ll have to fix that, she thinks to herself, already combing through the enormous catalog of junk she has at home for a good gift.

"All right, let's go then," says Ari. They take Kane out of the cell and go upstairs, Lex first, Kane in the middle, and Ari in the rear. Kane becomes winded soon after attempting the beginning of the stairs, so Ari huffs, rolls her eyes, and picks him up to carry him the rest of the way.

They go outside, and just as promised, their van is in the shadow of the building and there's no direct sunlight. Ari opens the back of the van. "Man, I forgot we still have the fucking coffin in here. Well, we might as well use it, the last thing we need is this guy to lose his nerve halfway there and do something while we're driving. Recipe for an accident."

Ari clambers into the van and opens the cage sitting in the back.

Kane peers at what the hunter- Ari- is doing. Coffin. He likes the sound of that. Coffins are for the dead. Maybe Jim is planning on killing him, and the hunters are bringing this to transport his dead body. But as he gets a closer look, it becomes apparent this coffin is designed for living vampires. It's designed for restraint. He can't tell if the metal bars are steel or silver, and that scares him. If it's silver, he'll have no protection. He's half-naked.

"P-please, not more silver, I'll be good." he whimpers. "I won't do anything. I know how to behave. Please no more burning."

“The bars are coated with steel. It shouldn't burn or anything. If anything hurts you just tell us and we'll fix it, okay?” Lex assures.

“We'll get those cuffs off you asap, but for now we should get going.” Ari adds.

Kane barely calms at the assurance. This is it. He's being delivered straight into the hands of the person with the most reason to despise him. At least the journey won't be as painful as it could be. These hunters are strangely... kind.

With a "Thank you," he heads toward the coffin and lies down inside. He doesn't mind the enclosed space. It's almost peaceful in here.

Ari locks it, and the door shuts. The two reappear getting in the front of the van. Lex twists around in the passenger's seat to look back at him. "Ready to go?"

Staying and going are both horrible options. He's going from a known horror to an unknown horror. But he knows it's not a real question, he doesn't get a choice in this. "Yes, ma'am."

"Great!"

They drive off. Lex and Ari chat idly, and listen to the radio. Kane loves the radio. It's been so long since he's been able to listen to music.

One last comfort before whatever lies ahead.

They make a rest stop part way through, to get gas, to stretch their legs, to get snacks. Lex power walks around the van, to get out her restless energy. Ari leans against the door. She leans back into the window, eyeing Kane in the coffin from the front seat. “Hey, do you want to get those cuffs off now, or wait till we get home? We have a first aid kit, but nothing to wash off till we get home.”

He jumps at the chance to get the horrible cuffs off. "Yes, please! Yes, please take them off, please, I promise I'll be good!" He knows it will hurt horribly to have them removed, but it's so much better than keeping them on.

Ari glances around the parking lot to make sure nobody is nearby. They’re on the far end, not even close to the trucks parked to take naps. “All right.”

The back doors opening lets in some treacherous sunlight, but nothing that reaches all the way back to the coffin. Ari unlocks the coffin and tells Kane to sit up, while simultaneously pulling him up by the arms as though he won't. She has him sit on the bed of the van while Lex puts some towels down. Ari unlocks the handcuffs and, figuring it's best to rip off the bandaid quickly, and not give him much time to sit in dread of what's about to happen, simply rips them off in one smooth motion.

Kane lets out a strained scream through clenched teeth when the silver is finally removed, ripping his skin apart in the process. His wrists are a raw, bloody mess, the mangled remains of what could once be called skin hanging in tatters from the cuffs in Ari's hands. He takes a few quick breaths as fresh tears spring to his eyes, trying to calm down, but he's so relieved they're finally off. "Th-thank you, ma'am."

Ari tosses the cuffs to the ground in disgust. "Hmpph. Stop calling me ma'am. Do I look like a ma'am to you?"

Kane winces at the irritation in her voice. “S-sorry, sorry! I'm sorry. I won't do it again, I'm sorry."

Lex presses some towels into his wrists to absorb the blood, holding them there gently. He's unused to being helped with his injuries. For years, he's always had to deal with it on his own. But now someone is gently helping him with a towel. He sobs, knowing how temporary it is. He's going to be Jim's soon, and he doubts his victim will be as kind.

Lex wraps his wrists in bandages, which quickly soak with blood. "We can wash this off when we get home, all right?"

Ari half-supports, half-drags him back to the coffin. "We're halfway there, just a bit more to go. God, I'm tired already."

“I can drive for a while,” Lex suggests.

“No.”

This is the second time the hunters have mentioned home, and it baffles him. A new possibility dawns on Kane, one too good to be true. "Are you.... not delivering me to Jim? For revenge?" he asks.

"Huh?" says Ari. "Oh, no, we don't even know Jim. We're taking you to our house."

"We actually have one vampire there already!" Lex adds.

For the first time in years, Kane feels hope. He has no idea what's in store for him at these hunters' house, and the fact that they already have one vampire does not bode well, but anything has to be better than where he was, and they've already been treating him kindly. And this way, though he knows it's not right, he'll never have to face his victim's revenge.

"Thank you," he breathes. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I promise I'll earn it. I'm well-behaved, I'm obedient, I'll be perfect for you, even if it hurts. Thank you for taking me away from there."

"Awww," Lex coos, about to lean over and pinch his cheek before Ari elbows her to halt the advancing hand.

"Hmph, see to it you stay docile," warns Ari.

"What Ari means," says Lex quickly, "is that it seems like you've changed, and if you want to be a good person now, you deserve a chance to try. And that very well can't happen if you're locked in somebody's basement being tortured for fun."

"I will be docile," Kane promises immediately. "Always. Whatever you want, I'll do it." His heart pounds. He's getting a chance. He's wanted a chance so badly. "Thank you so, so much for giving me a chance. I have changed, I've changed so much I can barely even believe how I used to be. Thank you."

She said tortured for fun as if it was something that would no longer happen. It's too good to be true. Perhaps now he would only be tortured for misbehavior? And he would never misbehave. A life without pain sounded impossible, but maybe, maybe there could at least be less.

"Sure,” says Ari. “Just don't blow it, got it? You're still a vampire."

Lex smiles. "She just likes scaring people for fun, I think. Don't worry about that too much."

"Stop undoing all my hard work."

Ari's words shake Kane to his core despite Lex's disclaimer. He has one chance. One chance to prove he's learned how to behave, or they're going to take him back to be tortured forever, or at least Ari will.

"I understand. I won't blow it. I know my place," he promises firmly.

They arrive at the house. Unlike at the hunter's compound, there's direct sunlight between the van and the house. They unlock Kane and let him out of the coffin.

"Hmmm," says Ari. "This is no good. Wait right there." She leaves and goes into the house, leaving Kane alone with Lex for a few minutes.

Kane is absolutely terrified when he sees the sun shining just outside the van. His breathing becomes panicked again, his eyes wide with terror.

"Please not the sun, please not the sun, please not the sun! I'll be good, I promise I'll be good!" he wails tearfully, looking to Lex with pleading eyes.

"Hey, hey, relax," says Lex. "We're not going to make you go out in the sun. I'm sure Ari will think of something good, she always does."

Ari comes back a minute later with a sleeping bag, one of the cold weather ones that zip all the way up. She unrolls it on the floor of the van and unzips it. "All right, big guy, get in."

Kane nods shakily with a "Yes, Miss Ari," obediently crawling into the bag. He watches with anxiety as it's zipped up around him, searching for any holes but finding none. A nervous whine escapes him before he can help it.

Ari hauls him up over her shoulder. They lock up the van and come up onto the porch, opening the front door.

Valen is sitting on the pull-out couch underneath a blanket. "Oh, is that- is that him?" he asks nervously.

Kane can smell that the third person in the room is a vampire before the bag is even open, no delicious aroma of human blood emanating. This must be the other vampire the hunters mentioned.

Ari puts the sleeping bag on the floor and unzips it.

When the bag is unzipped, the first thing Kane notices is he's in a house. It's not a very nice house, but he reasons that this is likely how commoners live. It feels surreal, being in a house again after so long in his cell. It's the nicest thing he can possibly imagine.

His eyes shift to the other vampire, the relief at being away from his prison giving way to horror. He doesn't know whether to feel disappointed, or to feel stupid for feeling disappointed. It's clear she's being tortured. Starved, burned, and legs broken, with a metal collar around her neck. At least the collar doesn't appear to be silver, he'd smell her flesh burning.

He snaps his gaze back to the hunters, much more on-edge now. "I'll be good," he repeats. "I promise, I promise. P-please no more burning."

"We aren't gonna burn you," says Lex. "Don't worry."

Ari thinks that maybe Lex should not be so generous with the don't worry’s. She would like a vampire in her house to worry at least a little. If he didn't worry, he might start being dangerous.

"Right, well,” says Ari, looking around. “I guess this is where you'll be staying. Um." She notices Valen looking a little alarmed. "I mean, I guess we could set you up in the dining room, although there's still room here in the living room. Um." Valen is starting to look a little panicked at the addition of this unknown variable, a man in the house, and he's pressed himself into the couch as far away from Kane as possible.

Ari points to Valen. "So, this is Valen. The golden child. To be clear, we like Valen better than you. You will not hurt Valen. You will not touch him, or scare him, or mess with his things. Got it?"

Despite the fact that the menacing tone is directed at Kane and not at him, and is, in fact, clearly meant to be a show to make him feel better, Valen still cowers a little.

Kane barely takes note of the fact that despite appearances, this vampire is a man, in face of the rules being thrown his way. This vampire, Valen, is apparently not his peer, but his superior. And if Valen looks like that... what are they going to do to him, when he's even lower?

"Yes, ma- Miss Ari," he agrees hurriedly. "I understand. I know my place. I will not hurt him or touch him or touch anything else or..." He hesitates. Valen already looks scared of him. He's breaking that rule right now. "I, I'll try my best not to scare him. I won't do it on purpose," he settles on.

"Good boy," says Ari.

Kane has always had mixed feelings about being called good boy by the few hunters that do. Being called good is safe, but... it's so infantilizing. If he were in a position where he didn't have much bigger problems, he would hate it. But it's the least of his worries, now.

"I think you'll like each other," says Lex, who seems delighted, like she's setting up a playdate with two puppies. "Oh, we should probably clean you off, huh? Do you want to take a bath?"

“Yeah, you're…” says Ari. “Um. Kind of gross-looking.”

Kane's heart soars at the possibility. "A bath? A, a real bath? Not a hose?" he asks, brimming with hope. He hasn't even seen soap in years.

"Yeah!" says Lex. "Come on."

The bathroom is upstairs, so Ari carries him again, and Lex starts running the water. “Oh, um, do you want some privacy?” says Lex. “If…I mean, you probably won’t try to go out the window or anything.”

“Yeah, you can have privacy for the bath if you want it,” says Ari. “If you don’t think you’ll need help getting in and out of the tub.”

Kane is so grateful for the opportunity. He'd be mortified if he was forced to strip the little clothing he was still allowed in front of these human women. "Thank you, yes, please. I'd love to be allowed privacy. Thank you so much."

"Okay, I'm gonna wait outside the door then if you need help," says Lex.

Lex brings in a fluffy bath towel and a washcloth, and they shut the door. Lex stays outside it as promised, while Ari goes downstairs.

Kane can hear Valen and Ari talking distantly, but can’t make out the words. Valen sounds vaguely stressed.

He tries to focus on what he’s been gifted. He hasn't experienced a joy like this in a very long time. He's finally allowed to bathe. He removes his shorts, washing those as best he can first and setting them on the edge of the tub to dry. The water quickly turns reddish-brown as he scrubs blood and filth and dead burnt skin from himself, and he ends up draining and refilling the tub. Finally being allowed to be clean is a privilege he never thought he'd enjoy again.

When he's done, he dries himself off with the wonderfully fluffy towel and puts his now-damp shorts back on. He keeps the towel wrapped around himself, daring to hope he might be allowed to keep it. Valen is allowed clothing, he notes, but they like Valen better than they like him.

"All done, Miss Lex," he calls out.

Lex opens the door. She has a handful of clothes: a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and socks. "Okay, you--oh, you, uh, you wanted to keep those shorts? I thought maybe we would just throw them out, they look pretty worn, but, but if you would rather just wear those, that's fine I guess."

Kane stares in awe at the clothes Lex carries. For him. He'll be allowed to cover up again. He's giddy at the thought, but quickly panics when she suggests taking his shorts away. "Thank you so much for allowing me clothing. I'm so, so grateful. Um, I would prefer to keep them, if that's okay, please. They're all I have left. They're the only thing I have left. Please."

Lex is a bit perturbed. Thank you for allowing me clothing is just a fucked up thing to hear anyone say. "Um, okay. Well, you can put these on, if you want to, and then come out again. We can put your shorts in the washing machine so they can be actually clean. Just leave them in the bathroom and I’ll come get them later." She puts the clothes on the counter and shuts the door again.

Kane shivers with nervousness, wondering what he said wrong, to make Lex look upset. She asked if he wanted to keep his shorts, but maybe he gave the wrong answer? He hopes she really does give them back.

He removes the shorts, putting his new clothes on in exchange. He sighs in contentment: it feels so good to not be exposed. Even when the torture starts, he can take it, if he's allowed comforts like baths and clothes.

"Done again, Miss Lex."

Lex comes in. "Okay. Oh, I forgot about your wrists already. Here." She takes some gauze out of the medicine cabinet. She also takes out some antibiotic ointments and starts rubbing it gently on Kane's torn flesh, before wrapping them up in gauze. "There, how's that?"

"That's... lovely. Thank you. No one's ever..." Kane can't help but start to cry again. He's clean and clothed and his injuries are being cared for. He would do anything for Lex, he decides.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," says Lex. She gently caresses his jawline.

Kane goes rigid as human flesh approaches his mouth, not daring to breathe as he waits out the touch. He's so hungry. Eventually, Lex pulls her hand back, and he relaxes.

"Let's go back downstairs, huh?” Lex suggests. “I just realized we introduced Valen to you, but we forgot to introduce you to him."

He's nervous about the prospect. The other vampire sounded disapproving even from upstairs, and it's quickly becoming apparent that Valen is a third authority as well as a fellow captive. He has to make a good impression, or Valen could make his life hell.

Lex helps him down the stairs. She doesn't carry him, but she does hold his arm to keep him from falling.

In the dining room, Ari has dragged an easy chair from the living room out into the middle of the floor. She's piled the sleeping bag and a couple of blankets on the chair. "Um," she says, scratching her head. "We only have our bed, and the pullout couch, so this is the best I could come up with. This is good, right? You can use these in whatever combination you want to, make yourself a little nest I guess. Kind of lame, but..." She shrugs.

Kane can't believe what he's seeing. "I... get to sleep on that?" he asks incredulously. "With, with blankets? Not on the floor?" He takes a step closer to the inviting chair.

"Yeah, man, go ahead," says Ari. "I just moved it out of the living room because Valen said he'd prefer not to sleep in the same room." Ari pulls the handle on the side to show him the chair reclines and a footrest comes out.

Kane stumbles toward the recliner, sitting on it and wrapping himself up in blankets. It's so comfortable, and with the blankets, he can cover himself completely. He won't have to worry about those curtains being brushed aside, he'll be entirely protected from the sun.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" He snuggles further into his little nest. "Um, did I do something to, to upset or offend Valen? I didn't mean to." He knows Valen can probably hear him, and hopes he takes this as a sign of well-meaning from him.

"Nah," says Ari. "You haven't been here long enough to do anything like that."

"He just gets nervous," says Lex. "He doesn't usually get along well with other vampires. Why don't we go talk to him?"

Kane reluctantly unwraps himself and stands back up. "Yes, please." He wants to befriend this other vampire, if possible. Someone he could count on as an ally. Valen would be able to count on Kane as an ally, too. He could definitely relate to getting nervous.

When he's led back to the other room, he kneels, remembering that Valen is his superior, and timidly introduces himself. "My name is Kane. You don't need to be scared of me. I behave. I will follow the rules. I have no desire not to." No hurting, touching, scaring, or touching his things. "I hope that we can get along...? I haven't, haven't spoken to another vampire in a long time. I don't want any trouble. I get nervous, too... sir."

It feels strange referring to another vampire as 'sir', but Valen is above him, so he errs on the side of caution. He hopes he's correct about the gender, following the hunters' lead when they’d called Valen ‘him’.

Valen scrambles backwards a little bit, eyeing Kane strangely as he kneels down in submission. "Um. Th-thank you, I suppose, but please don't kneel, sir," Valen continues. It feels a little bit better that this strange man is on the floor rather than looming over him while he is bed bound, but it feels...weird. It reminds him too much of when he'd been living with the nobility. And...when people supplicated before you, usually that meant things were expected of you. He'd also added the "sir" on the end out of habit, before realizing how weird it was for two people to both be calling each other sir out of deference.

Kane stands as ordered, heart sinking when he sees that Valen's fangs have been pulled. They’re starting to grow back in, but it's obvious they were missing at one point. Kane knows the feeling well. It's definitely not the worst punishment there is, but it's still horrible. He supposes he'd better prepare for it. But that's okay, he has comforts now. He can deal with having his fangs pulled if he gets to live like this.

"I feel like maybe I've seen you before, um... I want to say... de Sang? Is that correct?" Valen asks.

He freezes when Valen pulls out his last name. "Yes, that's, that's correct. I... don't feel I have the right to call myself a de Sang anymore, honestly." He narrows his eyes, trying to recognize the vampire before him. He doesn't, so he thinks about the name. Valen. Does he know any Valens? Not really. The only one he can think of is Priscus Kithrara's wife, who he'd never spoken to beyond simple exchanges of 'hello's decades ago at a party, and besides, she was a woman. But they did look very similar, even despite Valen's sunken cheeks that matched his own.

Oh. It clicks suddenly that Valen is not a just feminine-appearing man, but likely a transsexual. Priscus's wife and the man before him are one and the same.

"...Valen Kithrara? Priscus's wife- um, husband?" he questions with a tilt of his head, unsure of the correct terminology.

Valen folds his hands on his lap delicately. "Yes, that's--that's me. Please don't be embarrassed about, um, not understanding my sex. Queer folks are often--often confusing to some people." His glance flickers over to Ari quickly. "Um, yes, I suppose legally I'm a wife...Priscus often took me to events to mingle with the upper class. We saw each other, um...I don't remember what the event was exactly, but...I just remember you were very rude to the waitstaff."

Ari lets out a guffaw. "Uh-oh, looks like our second pickup is a fancy boy! Maybe we should let him take the queen bed upstairs!"

Kane's face reddens. "I apologize. I have changed a lot since then. I am not rude anymore." The thought of even trying to be rude to someone sends shivers down his spine. He almost feels like he's going to be punished for the event Valen brought up. "I don't want any trouble. Please."

"No trouble is good," says Valen. "We like no trouble. But, may I ask how you ended up here?"

The hunters already know, and Valen is unlikely to judge him, having married into nobility himself. "I was attempting to capture a human. My lack of persuasion made me an easy target for hunters, and made them feel safe keeping me to, to torment for their entertainment. I was a fool, simply put."

Valen starts to tear up. "They--they tormented you just for entertainment? That's--that's horrible."

Valen also vaguely remembers hearing about this member of the nobility who couldn't use persuasion, apparently a great embarrassment, though he couldn't imagine why anyone would care. He decides not to comment on it though, since it's probably a sore subject.

Kane shrugs. "Entertainment, or a proxy for revenge against whatever vampire had gotten away from them." He wants to ask about Valen's injuries. Does he often break the rules? Is that why he's so broken, given that the hunters here don't torture for fun? He'll wait until the hunters leave them alone to ask, though he doesn't want to be away from Lex. "I am very grateful to be here, where the punishments are... given for reasons?"

Valen looks hesitantly at Lex and Ari. He hadn't been worried about punishments before, but now he is, since it's been brought up. He wants to reassure Kane that there aren't punishments here, but he can't in good conscience because now he's nervous it's not true.

Lex also wants to reassure Kane there aren't punishments here, but she knows Ari would see that as giving him free reign to misbehave without fear of consequences.

Ari wants to reassure Kane there aren't punishments, but she's worried that would put Valen ill at ease if Kane thinks he can hurt him, since there's no punishment for doing so.

In the end they all just sort of shuffle awkwardly as Kane's tentative statement hangs in the air.

Kane is, funnily enough, the only one at ease with this response. That confirms it, then. He won't be punished without reason. It's a mercy he's longed for for a long time. As long as he behaves, he might not be hurt at all. It's too good to be true. He relaxes just a little bit.

"Um!" says Lex, breaking the silence. "Okay, well, Bailey and Jerome are going to come over soon, since we told them we're home now! That'll be nice, won't it?" Bailey and Jerome had offered to help with feeding, and Lex had asked them to be on call tonight since she had a sneaking suspicion they'd have two hungry vampires to feed today, and since Lex was still recovering it probably wasn't the best idea to let either of them feed from her, and Ari certainly couldn't feed two starving vampires on her own.

Valen perks up. "Oh, yes, that will be nice." He looks at Kane. "It'll be nice."

Kane tentatively trusts Valen. Valen is like him. What reason would he have to lie? He nods. "I'm looking forward to it, then. Um, why is it nice?"

Valen smiles softly. "Last time they were here, they both let me feed from them. And then we played a board game, and they let me win."

Kane falls back down to his knees. There's no way. There's no way these hunters are going to feed him, right? No matter how kind they are, even Lex?

But... they'd given him a bath, and clothing, and a comfortable place to sleep, and confirmed that punishment would only come for a reason. Valen was clearly starved, so meals were unlikely to be a regular occurrence, but something is better than nothing. He wants blood so badly.

However, there's the possibility only Valen will be allowed to feed, not him. The golden child. We like him better than you, Ari had said. Maybe Kane is too low to be worthy of food. If he has to watch Valen feed while he continues to go hungry, he's going to lose his mind.

"Please, please, please allow me blood. I'll do anything." He looks up at Lex and Ari desperately, tearing up again. "Please, it's been years, I need it. Please, please, please! I'll be good, I'll be so good, I'll do anything, please!"

"Christ alive," says Ari. "Calm down. We're not going to starve you."

Lex smiles kindly at him and pats his head. "Of course we'll let you have some blood. Okay? That's why they're both coming over. More blood to go around." She giggles like this is very funny.

Kane buries his face in his hands and cries. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't know what to say. I don't know how I could possibly repay your kindness. Thank you."

"Do you want a hug?" Lex asks.

He wants a hug so, so badly, but he knows it's a bad idea. He takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "Yes, please, but, um, m-maybe after? For... safety." If Kane ruined this by biting Lex, he would never forgive himself.

Lex laughs. "All right, good thinking." She puts a hand to the bite on her neck. "Don't know if I'd make it through another pointy hug, haha." Valen blushes fiercely at this.

For a moment, Kane is horrified. Lex didn't get that mark from hunting, she got it from Valen. That explains his injured state... kind of. Broken legs, burns, and pulled fangs are an extremely light punishment for biting. He was left out in the sun for a week for even trying to bite. He's once again filled with hope that his life here will be far, far less painful than his time with his old captors.

Don't blow it. He has one chance. As long as he's not sent back, he'll be okay.

Lex perks up, as though remembering something. "Oh! You know what, since you don't have any belongings, I bet you'd like something huh? I can give you a present!"

Ari rolls her eyes. "Here we go. Lex, they're grown men, I'm sure they don't want-"

"I can go buy-"

"You will choose from the ones you already have, you hoarder. Pick your least favorite ones. There's no room for me on the damn bed with all those things on there."

Lex pouts. "Fine." She goes upstairs for a few minutes and comes back down with two stuffed animals, a bear and a cat. "Don't listen to Ari, we all love stuffed animals. Valen already has some stuff so I think Kane should get to pick first. Which one do you want?" She holds them both up like they are very enticing prizes.

Kane is perplexed by Lex's offer. Ari is right, he's far too old for children's toys. But he finds it sweet that Lex is so excited about it, and... he has nothing. This would be something that's his.

He looks to Valen for a sign of whether he has a particular preference. Kane has none, and he knows his place. When he sees no indication, he hesitantly decides, "...The cat, if that's alright?"

"Haha, awesome!" says Lex, and she hands him the cat. She then puts the bear on Valen's lap.

"We can maybe get you some other stuff soon," says Ari. "Is there anything that you'd want? It looks like Lex's clothes fit you well enough, so we can just get some more clothes in that size."

Ari is offering him a blank cheque. An opportunity to request anything he wants. He didn't have anything beyond his shorts when he woke up today, but now he has a bath, clothes, blankets, a soft place to sleep, kind wardens, the promise of blood, and... a child's toy. Kane stares blankly for a few moments, completely overwhelmed. The only thing he really wants right now is blood. "Um... I, I don't know. You've already given me so much..."

"Okay, well you just let us know if you think of anything." Ari winks. "I'm sure you'll think of something while you're sitting here bored. Although, maybe Valen will let you read his books if you ask nicely."

"Th-that's fine," says Valen. "If you promise to be careful with them. Although, um, you might find them dreadfully boring. And not--and just don't touch The Natural History of Viruses. If you really want that one, I can read it to you aloud, but--but please don't touch it." Valen becomes a little panicked, realizing he's basically just pointed out the fastest and easiest way to hurt his feelings.

"I won't touch. It was one of the rules," Kane agrees hurriedly. "I'll be good, I swear. I don't, don't want any trouble. I know how to behave. I won't touch anything of yours without permission."

Valen beams. Maybe this won't be so bad. Kane is at least polite.

Valen and Kane hear the footsteps on the porch before the two humans do, followed by a knock on the door. Ari comes over and opens it, and Bailey saunters in. "Yooo-hooo, I brought the blood you ordered. Get it while it's hot."

Kane is not close to the path of the sunlight streaming in, but he staggers backward away from it anyway, clutching his plush to his chest fearfully.

Jerome comes in next, carrying a board game. "Well, I have it on good authority mine tastes better."

"And whose authority is that?" asks Ari.

"My own," says Jerome. "If I try really, really hard, I can make my blood taste like licorice. I'm the world's lamest X-man."

"You piece of shit," Bailey wheezes. They shut the door behind them, once again blocking out the sun, although it's starting to set outside.

Kane’s anxiety dissipates quickly. The door is closed again, and these men are here to feed him. He salivates at the concept, staring at them hungrily.

Despite the fact that Valen was the one who insisted this will be nice, he starts trembling a little even as he says hi. It still activates his fight-or-flight response to be in the presence of four hunters, especially so injured and unable to move, and especially especially now that there's also an additional male vampire here.

"And who's this one who's staring at me like I'm a nice juicy steak?" asks Bailey light-heartedly.

"Go ahead and introduce yourself," Lex encourages.

Kane winces, casting his gaze down. "S-sorry, sir. I'm sorry. My name is Kane de Sang. I didn't mean to seem presumptuous."

"Ha! You're good," says Bailey. He looks like he is about to give Kane a good-natured slap on the back, but then thinks better of it.

"So polite," says Jerome. "You sure do know how to pick out the polite ones, Ari."

"Turns out if you beat the shit out of them for months or years, they get really polite," huffs Ari.

"Well," says Bailey. "Lex and Ari told us about your little predicament, and they told us they were gonna take you home if you passed their smell test, so it looks like you're not a total piece of shit if you're here, and that means you get to eat." He does jazz hands. "So me and him are both on the menu, who wants to order what?"

"Valen already got an extra feeding recently," says Lex. "So Kane should get to pick who he wants to feed from."

"I have more blood," quips Bailey. "Just by volume. Although it doesn't taste like licorice, if that's what you're after."

Kane's heart bursts with joy. He's not a total piece of shit, and that means he gets to eat. It's the best news he's heard in years.

"More blood," he answers immediately, looking to Bailey with pleading eyes. "If, if that's alright, sir."

"Great!" Bailey drops his bag. "Might as well do that first, no sense making you wait around."

"One at a time," says Ari. "And let Valen eat first, so Kane can watch and copy him." Obviously Kane has fed from a human before--probably much more than Valen has, in fact--but it's been a long time, and Ari thinks it might help Kane know how to do it if Valen models for him.

"Guess that means I'm up first then," says Jerome. He takes a small knife out of his pocket, unsheathing it. "I gotta do it myself since V doesn't have any fangs right now. Hey, you're like an actual proper vampire, aren't you, Kane? Who's, like, fed from humans before? What would you say is the least painful spot to get blood from? Cuz last time I tried my palm and yeesh, that ain't it."

Valen blushes a little at the implication that he's not a "proper" vampire.

Kane backs away, horrified by the scene unfolding in front of him. This human is going to bleed, and expect him to just stand here and watch, and he's not going to be able to do it. He's going to fail, he's going to blow it, this wonderful dream of a life is going to be snatched away from him and they're going to take him back.

"Wait wait wait! I can't, I won't be able to stay still, please!" The horrible thought that all these niceties were just a taunt so that they could set him up to fail crosses his mind. Is it some kind of sick mind game? "I, I want to be good! Please don't do it in front of me, I won't be able to be good, I just wanna be good!"

Ari clicks her tongue. "Oh, ah, right..." She's thinking of the way Valen couldn't control himself for five seconds and went into a feeding frenzy upon smelling blood. It might be even worse for Kane, since it's been so much longer since he's fed. "Kane feeds first then. Okay, Valen?"

"Yes," says Valen, voice small. "That's fine."

"Me first, then," says Bailey. "The question stands, where's the least painful place to get bitten? I feel like you'd know better than any of us."

"...I don't know. I've only ever fed from the neck," Kane admits. I never asked. I just took what I wanted and never cared how he felt about it. There's no way he can possibly say that, though the implication is there. Guilt surges through him at the thought. He shouldn't have held Jim captive at all, but even if he did, he still could have been much kinder.

"Psssht," says Bailey. "Ugh, fine then. Well, you're not getting my neck. How about a forearm?" He holds his left forearm out, offering Kane the meat near his elbow.

"Just be gentle," instructs Ari. “And pull away when he tells you to stop, and lick it closed when you're done."

"Thank you so much, sir," Kane says, full of gratitude. He bites down as gently as he can, almost unbelieving that this is happening. The decadent taste of blood fills his mouth for the first time in years, and he can't help but cry from the relief, feeling as though he's being made whole again. He drinks and drinks and drinks, like the man is offering him life itself. He's never felt this good in his entire life. It tastes like nothing he could ever have imagined, it's the best blood he's ever had, settling warmly in his no-longer-empty stomach. Bailey says something, but all he can focus on is the sweet, delicious blood.

Ari grabs a fistful of hair and forcefully yanks his head back. "Hey," she growls. "He said that's enough."

Kane gasps, the best moment of his life shattered by the terrifying realization that he messed up. It's been mere hours, and he's already blown it. He's not going to get the same privileges as Valen, the one they like better, let off with a few broken bones and his fangs pulled.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm s-sorry, I'm so sorry!" His breathing picks up, quick with panic, his gentle, relieved crying morphing into terrified sobs. "P-please don't send me back, I'm so sorry, please, I can't go back there, I can't! I'm so sorry, please, I didn't mean to! Please don't m-make me go back, I'll do anything!" he wails.

He remembers the last part of his orders: Lick it closed when you're done. He can't lean forward to do so while Ari is holding his hair, but he sticks his tongue out, trembling.

Ari flicks his nose. "Put that away." She looks at his trembling, terrified form for a few moments and then sighs. "Yeah, okay, I guess that's on us. We know how hard it is for starving vampires to control themselves. All things considered, that was pretty tame. This might be a problem if you keep doing it when you start to get some strength back, but you didn't really hurt Bailey at all." She releases him.

Kane collapses to the floor, putting his tongue away as ordered. He kneels, looking first to Ari. "Th-thank you for your mercy, Miss Ari. Thank you for giving me another chance. I wouldn't do it if I wasn't starving, I would never. Thank you so, so much."

He looks up at Bailey next, still shaking. "I'm so sorry, sir. I'm so sorry. Thank you so much for allowing me food. I don't know what I can possibly do to repay you. I'm so, so sorry."

"Hey, you're good," says Bailey. "Accidents happen. I'm not gonna let you win at Monopoly now, though." He winks, then strips off his outer layer to reveal an undershirt that says BLOOD DONOR, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Ari squats down in front of Kane, sighing. "Okay, clearly this wasn't a fair shot because we let Valen drink from a drinking glass, and he got to eat as much as he wanted. So we can let you have a double portion today, I still have all my blood, so you can give me a little nibble too."

Kane is completely stunned. He's not being sent back, he's not being punished at all, and he's actually being rewarded. She's going to give him more blood. "Thank you, Miss Ari." he says, feeling like a broken record, looking at her like she's a god. "I, I don't know what to say. This is... so much more than I deserve. Thank you so much. I won't mess up again, I promise." He's fuller now, his head clearer. He knows he will be able to keep his head steady enough to control himself.

"Well, you're literally starving." She clicks her tongue and ruffles his hair. "Just don't say I never did nothing for ya." She holds her own forearm out. "I am going to keep my hand on your head and pull you away when you're done, though."

Kane melts into the touch. He hasn't been touched kindly since long before his captivity began. "You and Miss Lex have done everything for me, everything I could ever want. Thank you." He's more at ease with the precaution. He can't fail, now. He gently sinks his fangs into her arm, relaxing as he drinks more sweet, sweet blood. He's able to keep his head clear, this time. He looks up and makes eye contact with Ari to prove it, to show he's listening, that he can be good.

Ari is a little bit amused by this, she has the dirty thought that this is sort of how Lex looks at her submissively while giving her oral. She threads her fingers into his hair. "Good boy," she says. After drinking for a bit, she pulls him away. "There, how's that feel?"

Kane is completely mortified by the statement, flushing red and breaking eye contact immediately. He really doesn't know how he feels about it, safe and uncomfortable at the same time, but that doesn't matter. He's being fed.

As soon as he feels Ari start to tug his head back, he licks her wound closed as he's pulled free of her. "Feels amazing. I never thought I'd get to feel full again. Thank you so, so much."

Ari hums. "Good. Will it be a problem for you to watch Valen eat now?"

"No, Miss Ari. I can control myself now." Kane says. It occurs to him that he's just made Valen wait to eat. Not the best way to make a good first impression. Once Ari lets go of him, he turns to Valen apologetically. "I apologize, Mr. Kithrara. I didn't mean to make you wait. It won't happen again."

Valen smiles. "Oh, that's--that's all right. I've been feeding every day for the past few days, so-so it's only fair that you get to go first. You were." His cheeks flush. "You were actually a lot more restrained than I was when I broke my fast."

Kane swells with pride at the compliment. He's been restraining himself so long, it must finally be paying off.

Jerome comes over and makes a small cut along his forearm, extending it out to Valen. He meekly takes the proffered limb in both hands, licking daintily like a cat at a saucer of milk. When Jerome tells him to stop, he licks his lips and says, "Thank you for your generosity." Bailey then comes over and has Valen lick his wound closed as well, since Kane didn't get the chance. Bailey digs out a carton of juice from his bag and pops the lid open, drinking directly from it, sitting on the arm of the couch.

Kane studies Valen as he feeds, taking note. This is how the golden child behaves, the one the hunters like better. He will be sure to act similarly the next time he's allowed to feed. He sits on the floor, tired after everything that's happened today, even with a burst of renewed energy inside him.

"Aww, are you tired?" asks Lex, once again as though she's talking to a baby. "We were going to play Monopoly, would you rather not join us? You can just go to sleep if you like."

Both of these options sound lovely. Kane is overwhelmed by how good his life has suddenly become. "I can play, Miss Lex. I just can't stay upright for very long."

"I can't stay upright at all," says Valen, prompting a smattering of laughter from all the humans in the room.

They move a table near the couch so that Valen can play without having to be moved, and set up the game board. There's enough chairs for them all to squeeze around the table, although they have to squish together a little bit. Lex hands Valen the dice to roll on his turn, and she moves his token for him, since he can't reach the whole board.

Things get a little heated partway through the game when Ari starts to control more of the board, sending all the other players into a spiral of bankruptcy, and Bailey nearly flips the table when he keeps landing on her properties.

"Sorry," said Ari coolly. "Have you tried being better at the game?"

On Valen's turn, he hands Ari his entire stack of fake money, not nearly enough to pay off the outrageous debts he's racked up moving around the board. "I believe I am out of the game," he says.

"You can play on my team!" says Lex.

"That's not how it works!" Jerome shouts.

Kane is quickly becoming very anxious. He flinches at the shout, whimpering. He was doing reasonably well, but he doesn't want to play anymore. He sits rigidly, hoping that if he's quiet and still, no one will hurt him.

The table falls silent. Jerome looks at Kane. "Oh, hey, man, I'm not mad at you. Sorry, I just got a bit carried away."

Lex takes his hand and rubs it. "Were we a bit too rowdy? Sorry, I kind of forgot a bunch of people being loud might be scary."

This is insane. It feels so surreal, people actually caring. A human, a hunter, is holding his hand and comforting him. Another human, possibly also a hunter, apologized to him without having even done anything. "I'm sorry. Um, I didn't mean to flinch. I get scared easy. I know you're not mad at me."

Bailey lets out a breath. "It's getting late anyway. I'm sick of this stupid game. And I know you were cheating, Ari, I saw you taking money from the bank. We're playing Uno next time."

"Yeah, why don't we roll out," says Jerome. "See you, uh, I dunno when your next shift is." He packs up the game. "Nice to meet you, Kane, make sure you keep behaving yourself, yeah?"

That confirms it, then, that Bailey and Jerome are hunters as well. He never thought he'd feel happy to be around hunters, but he does. "Yes, sir, I will. It was nice to meet you both as well."

They pack up their things and leave. It's now fully night out.

"I'm beat," says Ari. "Are you all ready to go to bed?"

"Yes," says Valen quietly. He's already in bed. He mostly just goes to bed all the time already.

"Yes, Miss Ari," Kane agrees. "Thank you all so much. Today has been the best day of my entire life."

“Awwwww,” coos Lex. "Hey, do you want a hug now?"

"Yes, please." Kane melts into Lex's arms as she hugs him, finally able to be close to a human without having to restrain himself due to the gnawing hunger in the pit of his stomach. A few tears leak into her shoulder. "I haven't been hugged in a hundred years, I think."

"Jesus Christ," mutters Ari. She hadn't even considered how touch-starved someone could get being immortal. What a fucking sadsack they'd picked up.

Lex pets his hair. "Well, you can have hugs now if you want. You're being good."

"Can-can I also have a hug? When you're done?" pipes up Valen's small voice from behind her. He's looking at Kane enviously.

Lex chuckles. "Of course, plenty to go around." Lex gives Kane a final squeeze, then comes over and gives Valen an awkward side-hug, since he's sitting down.

Before they go, Kane asks what year it is. Upon hearing the answer, he mumbles, "Five years, then. It... felt like longer."

Ari grimaces. "Yeah, I bet. You think you'll be able to sleep okay tonight?"

"Definitely." Kane agrees. "It's so soft." The concept of being able to sleep in that blanket nest on a comfy chair is extremely enticing to him.

Ari rubs the back of her head. "Um, so listen, I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier. About how we like Valen better than you. What I meant by that, um, well..." She grimaces. "It's really complicated, okay, but we, uh, we kind of fucked up really, really badly and Valen ended up getting really hurt because of it, so we sort of feel like we owe him. And I just said that stuff because I wanted him to feel safer. But looking back it sounded kind of fucked up, so. Maybe I shouldn't have. Sorry."

Kane is touched by this. "Thank you, it's okay. I understand that I've been here less time than he has. You've been unbelievably kind to me."

Valen is also a little touched by this. Both by Ari’s confession that she feels like she owes him, but also seeing her apologize to Kane. His heart warms.

“Well,” says Ari. “Anyway. We’re going to bed. You’re allowed to move around the house if you want to, but don’t leave, okay? And if you want something, you can come knock on our door and wake us up.”

“I understand. Thank you both so much,” Kane says gratefully. “I have no desire to leave.”

After the women have gone upstairs, Kane turns to Valen. "Can I ask you some questions? What did you do to be punished like that?" He gestures to Valen's everything. "Just, just so I know how to behave."

Valen looks a bit scared to be asked such a thing like that. "Um, um I--I didn't do anything. I swear I didn't do anything."

"Oh." Kane's voice is suddenly small and scared. "But, but I thought... they said they wouldn't punish without a reason. It was a lie?"

"Oh, um, th-they didn't do this to me. It was someone else. They took me away from there. Well, I-I suppose they pulled my fangs, but that was just to convince the others I was dead. So he would stop looking for me." He shudders. "And I, um, broke my legs myself. Trying to run away. And, um." He fidgets with the metal collar. "They couldn't take this off me when we left, because they don't have the key, but they're going to figure something out eventually. They just can't ask for the key without letting him know I'm still alive."

Valen's explanation relaxes Kane tremendously. It wasn't them. "I'm sorry you're hurt. You seem very kind. It's a lot better here, though. Maybe we'll both be okay." He gives Valen a friendly smile.

"Thank you," says Valen. "I hope so. I hope you sleep well. I'm sorry you can't have a real bed."

"I've slept on a concrete floor for the past five years. I would be happy to have carpet, let alone an entire chair with blankets." Kane also wants to ask Valen how he ended up captured, but figures it may be rude to ask, especially because he seemed uncomfortable with the last question. "I hope you sleep well, too." “Thank you. Um, I know they said you are free to move about the house, but if you would please, I would request that if you want to come into the living room, you would announce yourself and ask first.” “Yes, of course.” Kane is thankful to be given explicit, easy-to-follow rules by both the hunters and Valen. He won’t blow it. He’ll be good.

Kane curls up in his easy chair, pulling the blankets over him so that every inch of him is completely covered, including his head. He's never been a stuffed animal person, but he rests the cat on the arm of the chair, glad for what it represents. Safety.

Kane is a very light sleeper, so hours later, he wakes to Valen crying in the next room. He hesitantly pokes his head out of the blankets, though he stays put in his chair. "Valen? Are you okay?" he calls softly.

Valen has been lying there for hours trying to sleep. He just can't seem to fall asleep anymore. Every night, as soon as he's lying down alone, the anxiety starts coming back.

Unsafe, you're unsafe. You're out in the open. There's no bars to stop anyone from hurting you.

He's so tired, he's on the verge of asking to just be locked in the coffin again so he can maybe finally just fucking fall asleep. And now he has this added stress of there being a man in the next room. Kane was nothing but perfectly polite and docile, and he seems to have less than zero interest in hurting Valen, but Valen is still vulnerable here, hurt even worse than Kane is. There would be nothing to stop him from walking on over, clapping a hand over Valen's mouth, and doing whatever he wants to him. And that's really all he can think about.

"Don't come in!" Valen cries. "Please!"

But no, that's stupid. If Kane came in and hurt him, he could just tell Lex and Ari the next morning. This wasn't like when Nick would just hurt him in secret, and he'd have no way to tell anyone about it. Nevertheless, he doesn't take back his plea to Kane, pulling the covers over his head, hugging the stuffed bear Lex gave him earlier.

Kane shrinks further into his chair. "I won't! I won't, I promise." Valen sounds scared. He supposes that they've been through something similar, it makes sense that Valen is scared. Alone is safe. No one can hurt you when you're alone, because there's no one else. "I'll stay right here. It's okay."

"Th-thank you. I’m sorry," says Valen. "…Can you, if you don't mind, can you try telling me that I'm safe? And that I don't need to try and run away?"

"It's okay. You're safe, Valen. You don't need to try and run away." The concept is baffling to Kane. Why would anyone want to run away from this paradise? And he can't run anyway, not with those legs. "Lex and Ari are kind and merciful, you're safe. You're going to be okay."

Valen sobs a little bit more. "Thank you. Okay. Sorry to wake you up. Good night."

"It's okay. I don't mind. I'm, I'm happy to help if you need anything. Good night."

Kane falls back asleep easily, nice and warm under his blankets. He can’t believe this is his life now. For the first time in years, he thinks that just maybe, he’s going to be okay.

-

once again thank you nasa for writing this with me :)

taglist (apologies if you got duplicated i just coped from both stories’ taglists):

@annablogsposts​

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@darlingwhump​

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#whump #my writing #and nasa's writing :) #vampire whumpee #multiple whumpees #rescue #recovery whump #caretaking #starvation #burns #begging #death wish #implied past noncon #kj x mmss #whump writing

[safyresky]

So I've only watched this last week's (this has been in my drafts for WAY too long) episode once (I usually do it twice but have yet to do a second watch and feel a rewatch will be in order at some point) but I have been rotating it around in my head since tscs mutuals first started posting their thoughts and I have SO MANY thoughts because this episode ONCE AGAIN packed soo many things in one go. Why don't they understand how PACING works? My GOD.

Anyway~

My initial thoughts before even watching the episode were "this is whack". Here's why.

This is episode 3.

Of 6.

We are halfway through. And our antagonist (Mad Santa) and Protagonist (Santa Scott) have yet to cross paths. And post watching S2E3, Mad Santa only JUST got his hands on some North Pole magic.

THREE EPISODES IN. HALFWAY THROUGH.

Do you know how much stuff is going to be packed into the next THREE EPISODES? Let me make a list (bc I LOVE lists)

Mad Santa getting back to the Pole

The obligatory "I've failed ):" from Santa Scott when Mad Santa gets to the Pole

Mad Santa GETTING to the Pole

The Council giving Scott 3 months to get Cal shipshape, and episode 3 starting with Olga saying IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS.

(ALREADY????)

So we still have THAT to look forward to, assuming they even LISTEN to their own boundary, since we know this show's track record with continuity is. Bad.

PLUS we still have a Sandman cameo coming! And a big old snowball to be thrown in Scott's face! (I have my clown shoes on)

Carol is STILL trying to find the missing nutcracker. She has gotten no closer; her trail is so cold she's looking at JACK as a suspect (yes I saw the cameo too, absolutely delightful for us Jack stans on main)

(pun absolutely intended)

Cal and Sandy are only JUST talking to one another about how their magic training is going, and are only JUST like. Diving into the drawbacks of being raised up North AND NEVER GOING ANYWHERE as well as the trauma that must be there from experiencing life in the real world, ENJOYING IT, and being yanked back to the Pole for the "family business"

Befana and Sandy. So THAT is a thing that was lovely then fell apart for no good reason--it was ONE MISTAKE and could've been handled better Befana, come ON girlie!

Easter Bunny being turned back into his EB form (tho tbh we should keep him as a bunny. Sorry not sorry, I have always been an EB hater on main)

Cal dealing with A) first heartbreak over Riley (which was stupid, more on that later) B) not wanting to be/do the Santa thing BECAUSE of a MULTITUDE of reasons he has NOT shared with Scott and C) the fallout when he realizes the vest is gone. He is NOT going to tell his parents at ALL. His whole existence practically rides on "I gotta make Dad proud!" and this deffs won't do it, but HEY! Maybe the writers will surprise me and he'll be OPEN and HONEST with his Dad!

Bc let's be real, ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS COULD BE SOLVED WITH OPEN COMMUNICATION

I am off topic. Deep breaths. Whew. SO. We have all THAT to focus on.

PLUS Sandy's powers! She's apparently more powerful than Befana thought? Sandy now has to deal with that SANS her mentor and I DOUBT Carol will be helpful with that. She WOULD'VE BEEN in the MOVIES. But SERIES CAROL? APPARENTLY NOT FUCKING LIKELY SINCE ALL OF HER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT HAS GONE OUT THE DOOR FOR TOKEN FEMINISM THAT IS IMMEDIATELY CHECKED OFF A LIST AND MADE IRRELEVANT WITH THE PLOT OF "One woman is jealous of another woman"

Oh my god off topic again. SORRY. RIGHT. So, we have Sandra's magic to deal with still. Her mentor/mentee relationship with Befana. Cal's own magical struggles and his relationship with his Dad in terms of Mentor/Mentee. These kids need THERAPY, SOMEONE CALL NEIL

SO ALL OF THAT. IS GOING TO BE JAM PACKED INTO THESE LAST THREE EPISODES. AND I JUST KNOW (based on last season) THE RESOLUTIONS WILL NOT PAY OFF.

So yeah, thems the opening thoughts (with some watch thoughts leaking in, admittedly).

AS FOR THE EPISODE ITSELF.

OH BOY.

It's still very mid. It gives a lot of good bits but either A) contradicts them or B) gives them not enough time to flourish (see: Carol and Befana for A, and Cal and Sandra for B). It is also STILL ignoring its own continuity, and not just from the movies, but from literally the first two episodes of the season!

Did Cupid not say. One to two episodes ago. "Hey Santa, we, the Council, aren't really sure about this Cal thing? So uh. You've got three months. and if it's not working out. We're calling it."

And did Olga not say. At the start of this episode. "It's been THREE MONTHS since we escaped and we are NO CLOSER" yadda yadda yadda.

So THREE MONTHS have passed between THIS EPISODE, AND THE LAST ONE?

SO WHERE THE HELL IS THE COUNCIL? HELLO???

I actually thought that that would be like, the big crunch time thing for the series, you know? THE plot motivator. Or at least, one of many. Like I was expecting a montage and for each episode to have a month packed in and for the final episode to involve resetting everything to Scott's ideal status quo and defeating Mad Santa and Olga. Needless to say, I was SHOOK when they opened with THAT.

Olga and Magnus are fucking hilarious, full stop. I kinda want Olga to do a stab ngl!! Their whole dynamic has been interesting lol.

The Judy cameo was a fun Easter egg, but it's a shame they didn't give it a bit more hype, you know? That would've been fun. The Jack cameo (if we can even call it that) was ALSO a fun Easter Egg, tho I am much too mad at Carol's writers rn to be like WOO JACK. But you bet your ASS I saw that lil easter egg, lol. It's kinda frustrating? They keep throwing these lil cameos/easter eggs at us like it's an attempt to placate us or smth. Idk, I am tired and JADED and Don't Trust Like That.

Right so what else. Going in for round two. Wish me luck:

Agree with ALL OF YOU about the poor elves being used as reindeer stand ins 🙄🙄 AWFUL. SOMEONE KNOCK THIS GUY OFF A ROOF FOR GOOD! DAMN! (Santa not Cal)

Sandra and Carol. GOD. So much cringe! SO MUCH! BECAUSE OF BAD PARENTING. HOW DO THEY SUCK SO MUCH AT BEING PARENTS? WE ALREADY HAD 3 MOVIES OF THIS AND CAROL WAS NEVER A W F U L

(RIP spider on Carol's shoulder)

Carol and Scott talking about the kids was just. They are SO OUT OF TOUCH. AND SCOTT HAS A SISTER??? I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS PERIODT. He has only child energy, and wow did he EVER suck at reassuring Carol. Anyone else sick of Old White Men? Anyone?

Sandra reading the transformation spell and then accidentally doing it is deffs foreshadowing. She's gonna transform the SHIT out of Magnus, calling it NOW

EB HAS APPEARED! KIDNAPPED BY OLGA! ICONIC! And they were PALS??? Magnus I am so intrigued. Who Are You

And obligatory "BLERG BLAH CONTINUITY" re: EB being there all the way back then

NTS: There is an Easter Gopher too. I am taking notes.

Scott being an undignified, pathetic name: GET HIS ASS (count: 9)

EB is so wrong about Peeps. He is falling lower and lower on my list of Legendary Figures. Him laying the egg. Cool EB magic, disgusting execution. I am 99% sure bunnies don't even LAY EGGS

Where tf do they get the eggs from???

OKAY CAL AND SANDRA

Love that they're having sibling bonding. "doing it for everyone but yourself" GET HIS ASS, SANDY. (GHA Count for Cal: 1). Hate how short the scene was and how it boiled down to a sort of silly joke (being a crossguard instead of Santa). Like. They could;ve axed the dinner with Noel scene, cut tight to Santa training Buddy (Cal), and after that debacle moved on to sibling scene and having them bond. Like. There is substance and it is there but it is not being well executed. LET THE KIDS HAVE ROOM FOR GROWTH! (but dani! we have 3 more episodes to go! SEE MY FIRST LIST! THEY DON'T HAVE THE TIME!)

Santa asking for a jetpack and Carol being like "don't force your son up there to get over the heights thing" and then telling him to just say "I love you and I'm proud", GET HIS ASS (GHA Count Scott Edition: 10. And we're not even halfway through the episode). GOD. I wish Carol would take her own advice re: Santa and Cal and apply it to Sandra and Herself, come the fuck ON guys. DO BETTER.

DINNER WITH BEFANA (Scott: can't make it Carol: Gonna kill him. GET HIS ASS)

Cool idea, HORRIBLE execution. I am not a fan of how Carol was like "woo! ladies being ladies!" and them immediately we get a plotline of her being jealous of another woman. It's very. Token/preformative feminism. It's like they are checking items off of a list. I dislike how SHALLOW most of these subjects are in the series. Like, if you don't know how to handle something like that, THEN DON'T WRITE IT. GOD.

Like. When Sandy lifts the salt with magic, SUPPORT IT. Don't be like I NEED TO ONE UP IT. Also, interesting that Mrs. Claus. Despite being Legendary by marriage. Doesn't have magic?? I think she should. GIVE CAROL MAGIC 2k23. Carol overreacted and then so did Sandy and I just think that this whole La Befana/Mrs. Claus plotline could've been done better!

Especially Befana inviting Carol over and then Carol promptly asking if she should bring a broom, something something, witch stereotypes being a thinly veiled allusion to magical racism something something

I BET IF BUDDY HAD GONE WITH CHARLIE TO THE "CLUB" HE WOULD'VE GOT IN JUST FINE

"Are you talking to the float or me" I am SO angry for Cal/Buddy. The poor kid thinks his Dad is super not proud of him, his whole existence seems to hinge on his dad's approval and I am so upset about all the implications of this I'm gonna explode things with my MIND

"Hare to the throne" Cal you are so stupid. And my GOD the Hare vs Heir argument being the reason Sandy explodes things like I just. That could've been done better.

This whole SCENE could've been done better! Befana didn't need to be so mean! It was an ACCIDENT. She explains it loud and clear and what do you MEAN something else entirely I'm SCREAMING. Befana being like we're stepping back? Like. UGH. And then the jealousy thing? Oh wow! More pitting ladies against ladies! GOD. I'm so upset about this whole thing it's unreal ):<

OKAY. SO THE SLEIGH STEALING SCENE AND WHERE THAT GOES.

WE LOVE TO SEE BUDDY AND SANDRA BONDING! STEALING THE SLEIGH! (not to get all OCs on main but JACQUELINE APPROVES). I love to see them working together to be delinquents, but my GOD the Riley thing

UGH

Like. I know we're supposed to feel bad for Buddy but like, the whole romance between him and Riley has been so ick and the way their breakup went. It was like. You KNOW. It was written to be poignant with lines like "you're always busy with your dad" and "I want you to dust me so that you never met me" which would have worked if. You know. They weren't FIVE. (16-18). It just didn't work :\. I haven't had time to like, enjoy them and they made Riley very, very. Unlikable tbh.

ALSO. Cal from CALGARY? As a Canadian, THERE ARE A BUNCH OF OTHER PLACES YOU COULD'VE PICKED! VANCOUVER? TORONTO? YOU WENT WITH CAL FROM CALGARY? I can't with y'all. ALSO. THEY DID SCHOOL TOGETHER FOR A YEAR. I FEEL AS THOUGH THE KIDS SHOULD KNOW WHO HE IS. OH YEAH THAT WEIRD EXCHANGE STUDENT WE HAD FOR A YEAR. Y'ALL ARE DOING LONG DISTANCE? SUPER! LIKE. HELLO???

Kudos to Sandra for being the funniest bitch alive with the creeping in the corner like "That was rough af bud." It's giving

ehehehe.

And FINALLY Mad Santa has his magic back. Here's how I'm guessing the next episode is going to work:

Mad Santa practises using his magic to make Santaopolis all fancy smancy

Manages to make it up north by the end of the episode

Cal has a fallout with his Dad over the Santa vest thing

It becomes a bigger deal than expected

Sandy cameo probably bc EB is missing and he was last seen THERE (Man Santa, you're really getting on the Council's radar in all the bad ways, huh? Putting Jack to shame! 273 counts of attempted upstaging of Santa vs how many billion counts of magical exposure? And an EB kidnapping? Bc I bet that'll be a thing posited next episode)

As if La Befana can't undo a spell (I AM ROLLING MY EYES)

They will make ZERO progress on figuring out who Mad Santa is and they will be very confused when he makes it to the North Pole next episode

I also tho wouldn't be surprised if they stretch Mad Santa getting to the Pole to episode 6. That seems on brand for how they treat pacing (as if it does not exist).

tl;dr: too much preformative stuff. very mid. Cal and Sandy are fun but I wish they were given more time to shine! Pour one out for our boy Noel who is having a rough go of it tbh and Kris too who's gonna get back from Costco very, very confused

#other thoughts: noel having the claus's over for food was fun. wish it had had a point aside from a scene transition #'YOUR SHAME IS SAFE WITH US' followed by olga liking marshmallows lmao that was silly #THEN THEY TRIED TO RIDESHARE WITH A GOAT??? amazing. #the santa clauses #tscs #dani watches tscs #long post #tscs wank #bc this isn't very positive and if y'all see this and are enjoying the series? i strongly suggest scrolling past it! #dani speaks

[ladyniniane]

Endings and beginnings

Below some musings and me being emotional on main (and I will try to stay coherent even if my skull is currently being split in two by a headache. Sorry for the typos).

Yesterday I reached 30k in my NaNoWriMo but more than that, I wrote the last words of my Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfic La geste des preuses/Quatre guerrières (Song of the valiants/Four warriors).

(By the way if you want to read the thing, it's here or here. It's still being updated and it's good. Or so I was told ;) ).

Yes, after 1 year and 9 months working on it, I finally wrote the last words. And it ended with a character who started the story suicidal saying out loud and she wants to live and exist in the present. What a perfect way to end this.

The whole thing is certainly more than 150k long (idk how long it is really.)

It's my first time committing to a project of this scale. So that's a huge personal achievement. I remember that, when I got the idea, I told a friend: "I did something crazy". Because yes, 4 main characters, long fanfic...it was something else. I didn't imagine that I would get this long.

When I began writing it, my mental health was improving and I was starting to get in a better place. However, I still struggled with writing. I had previously finished an original project, but I still somehow lived with a hater in my head. I was afraid of failing and I doubted my ideas and my writing. I even doubted when I saw pretty stupid (IMHO) takes on Tumblr. I was like "no one will ever want to read this". (Since then, I've learned to block and ignore).

Doing it and sticking to it was the best decision I could take. It bolstered my confidence and taught me to write consistently and without worrying. Thanks to this story, I've spend many amazing moments and met amazing people (more about that later).

Here are some of the things I learned

-Write for myself and write what I want to see and be unapologetic about that. Yes it's niche and it isn't the way to be popular in fandom (not that I care about that). But it's what I like. And it's by having fun that I will create something I'm proud of.

-Screw perfectionism. It prevents you from getting things done. I'm doing this for free and on my free time. So it won't be perfect. But that's okay because even professional writers make mistakes.

-My writing style improved, I learned to properly write dialogues and to make my sentences less...wordy. I've also challenged myself into writing stuff that I didn't easily write.

I also want to thank all the people who supported me. First of all is the incredible @lilias42. Thank you for your energy, your advice and for still being there. Your FE stories are amazing and well thought, keep going!

Same goes to all the people who left kudos, votes and comments on AO3 and Wattpad. And even to those who read silently. You made it possible!

Maybe I still don't realize that it's over...because it's not! I still have many chapters to proofread!

In the future, I also want to go back to original projects. I still don't know if I want to get published or not, but I know that I've learned and progressed. And I'm sure that all this will be useful.

So what now? For the rest of the NaNo I will board the Ravka Express and write another chapter for my Shadow and Bone OC, Marya. And I will also begin a brand new project that is a sort of sequel of Four warriors! Did you think I was done with Fodlan ;)?

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo 2023 #ao3 #écriture #writeblr #french writeblr #fire emblem three houses #fe3h #fe3h fanfic #fe3h ocs